Infinite Anime [290-291] (Patreon)

Chapter 290: Settlement

As the white light faded and Gusion once again felt solid ground beneath his feet, he found himself back in his own room.

[No significant injuries detected on the Pioneer. Begin settlement?]

Gusion felt energized and had no intention of resting. He replied directly, "Settle."

[Beginning settlement of the derivative world rewards…]

Large Derivative World: Naruto

Difficulty: Lv10–???
World Exploration: 128.69%

[Beginning settlement of Pioneer 008's mission completion…]

[No main quest in this world. Settling side quest: Bounty Hunter…]

[Side quest: Bounty Hunter completed multiple times. Total reward: 150,000 End Coins.]

[Beginning settlement of hidden quests…]

[Hidden quest: Kumo Undercover — rewards have been distributed in batches within the mission world. Please tally them yourself.]

[Hidden quest: The Uchiha's Redemption completed. Hidden quest chain detected; settling chain together…]

[Settling hidden quest chain…]

[The Pioneer has received the highest reward currently available for this hidden quest chain: Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Please use it within your space. This bloodline item is custom-tailored to the Pioneer and is invalid for others.]

[Hidden quest: Zabuza's Ambition completed. Quest rewards have been distributed within the world. Please tally them yourself.]

[Hidden quest: Nagato's Ideal not completed. As a special hidden quest, progress has been preserved.]

[Tip: There are items pending authentication in the Pioneer's storage space. Please authenticate as soon as possible. If not authenticated before the next mission world, the End Space will reclaim them.]

All missions performed outstandingly; overall evaluation of this world increased.

Beginning comprehensive scoring for the Pioneer's current mission world…

Detected that the Pioneer's mark level is lower than the world's overall difficulty; score increased; Pioneer experience increased.

Overall Rating: S+
Received: One S+ Honor Medal. This medal can be used to exchange for special permissions.

Pioneer level increased to Lv.30 (must meet attribute standards and pass the Promotion Trial to continue leveling).

[Based on the Pioneer's comprehensive score, choose six rewards from the following nine.]

A. 18 Free Attribute Points
B. 200,000 End Coins
C. Dark-Gold Bloodline Item Chest (Obito Uchiha drop compensation)
D. Epic Random Equipment Chest (guaranteed perfect-score equipment)
E. Inheritance Crystals (Medium) x10
F. Title Upgrade Permissions x2
G. Tome of Talent Awakening: Continuation x1 (extremely rare; may appear at 100%+ exploration)
H. Random Mastery Specialization Scroll
I. World Locator: Shinobi World Calamity (Special)

[]

Faced with these options, Gusion analyzed his needs.

He wanted the free attribute points; option B's End Coins were cost-inefficient compared to the rest, so he passed.

Option C's Dark-Gold bloodline chest was juicy—even the worst drop would conservatively be worth 400,000+. A must-pick.

In comparison, he wasn't keen on D, because its value was similar to E, but Inheritance Crystals are harder to buy.

Option F was generous—two title upgrades. He guessed this was because he maxed out reputation across major factions in the Shinobi World; this option could be expanded for details.

Though called "upgrade permissions," they weren't fully free-choice. One was bound to upgrading his "Calamity" title. He figured this was because he used that moniker to secure an initial identity in Naruto and then caused havoc to cement the name—reputation likely tied to it—so the title was locked for upgrade.

The other upgrade permission was flexible. He had only three titles total, so it came down to choosing between upgrading "Brute" or "Demon Slayer."

Overall, this option offered good returns. Skipping it would waste his reputation grind, so he decided to pick it.

When he checked option G's details, his eyes lit up. It could help a person awaken an extra talent—no wonder it was labeled extremely rare.

[Tome of Talent Awakening: Prologue]

Origin: Origin Space
Quality: ???
Effect: After use, the Pioneer may accept a Talent Awakening mission. The End Space will issue the mission within a mission world. Complete it and return to awaken the talent within the Space.

Evaluation: I strongly protest Origin's monopoly on the Tome of Talent Awakening!
Rating: ???

[Tip: Typically, each Pioneer/Explorer can awaken at most two talents. Talents greatly aid combat. Early awakening is recommended.]

From the End Space's evaluation, Gusion sensed strong resentment. He didn't really know the situation among the various Spaces, but it seemed each had its "specialty products."

And between Spaces there seemed to be some "trade," allowing them to acquire each other's specialties to reward their own Explorers.

However, at the Explorer level, Explorers from different Spaces were undoubtedly enemies. Encounters in mission worlds usually devolved into combat—no justification needed—double drop rates on death chests were temptation enough.

Gusion didn't know about others, but he had already awakened one talent when he entered the End Space. So if he completed the Tome's mission, he'd have two talents.

No need to overthink—auto-pick. Difficulty could be dealt with later; besides, he liked a challenge.

As for the last two options, he didn't need the specialization scroll; the world locator was great, ensuring he could return to the Naruto world at a critical moment.

The item stated an entry time—around the Fourth Great Ninja War—and suggested he reach late Stage 4 or early Stage 5 before entering.

World locators were rare and seldom sold on the market. Generally, if you spend to buy one, you intend to enter that world next.

Otherwise it's wasted money—no one knows what their level will be after the next world. If your situation changes, the prior purchase is sunk cost.

Thus Lonely Noise's logic was sound. If Soul Singer bought a Bleach world locator, he'd definitely enter next time—they were bound to cross paths.

As to whether he would seize the other's spirit seed or get hunted instead—that would depend on skill.

After selecting A, C, E, F, G, and I, Gusion claimed his settlement rewards.

With the comprehensive settlement complete, Gusion started tallying his current assets.

First, cash. He'd also hunted some high-bounty targets in-world like Kakuzu for bounties during downtime. The side quest gave him 150,000 End Coins. With this, he could authenticate the items in his storage and get things circulating.

Before leaving the Ninja World, he obtained some research from Orochimaru, which had a pitfall:

He had the hidden quest [Orochimaru's Research], which should allow him to share Orochimaru's research results and claim them as quest rewards.

But because he pursued the hidden quest chain route, he could only take the highest reward and thus couldn't repeatedly fleece Orochimaru for minor gains.

There are always tradeoffs. Compared to ordinary minor projects from Orochimaru, Gusion valued premium bloodlines he could actually use.

Before leaving, he picked items that he thought would sell. One was Orochimaru's tuned, transplantable Hashirama cells. Upon entering the Space, it was classified as an Epic bloodline item that grants a degraded version of the Sage Body.

Though "degraded," the Space-tuned version had excellent compatibility—it didn't only fit chakra systems; other energy systems also benefitted.

And within the Space, anything is possible—this bloodline only starts slightly below the true Sage Body. With Inheritance Crystals to strengthen it, gradual upgrades could cause a qualitative change into a true Sage Body.

Mm, this should sell, but Gusion didn't plan to sell it—he planned to use it himself.

He was about to "install" the Eternal Mangekyō. While the EM's eye power doesn't degrade with use and vision is unaffected, increasing the cap of ocular power still depends on the source.

He wouldn't dare transplant Hashirama cells using Orochimaru's half-baked in-world methodology. But in the Space it became a highly compatible bloodline item—getting a Sage Body, even a low-tier one, would boost his ocular power.

He had a Chaos Spirit Seed anyway; if he didn't want it later, he could "unequip" that bloodline from the slot. No need to agonize.

Over a few months, his Chaos Spirit Seed completely absorbed the Devil Fruit powers and evolved to Stage 4. He now had four slots, likely stronger than Body Killer back then.

Body Killer consumed three fruits plus his angel sequence bloodline, totaling four bloodlines. Since everyone can have one native bloodline, Body Killer should have had three slots.

Gusion, with four slots, can host up to five bloodlines including the native slot. After installing the Mangekyō and adding the Sage Body, he'd still have one slot free for flexibility.

Besides Hashirama cells, he took Orochimaru's curse mark foundational theory. Brought back, it turned into a special skill item—using it grants the power of the curse mark, i.e., a degraded Sage Mode.

Many Explorers didn't care about aesthetics. Curse marks provide significant temporary stat boosts—a premium "burst mode" skill, rated Epic as a skill scroll in the Space.

The last from Orochimaru was the latest Edo Tensei. That was a big one—rated Dark-Gold as a skill scroll. Back in the Space, it would be adapted for cross-world compatibility—not necessarily requiring a pure chakra system to drive.

Gusion didn't plan to use it since he already learned it from Orochimaru. He'd just sell it.

Sigh, having super learning ability is troublesome—he hadn't even enjoyed the Space's "learn-it-for-you" service.

A fourth item: the "Living Corpse Reincarnation" variant Orochimaru developed. Gusion wasn't sure it would sell, but he picked what he thought might be valuable.

He got four items from Orochimaru. For the last authentication slot, he reserved it for the Konoha Forbidden Techniques Compendium scroll.

Worth noting: the Konoha Forbidden Compendium is also a Dark-Gold skill item, containing many techniques. Though many are niche, to Gusion it's great fertilizer to feed his Spirit Seed.

And techniques like Edo Tensei are recorded there too—though it's Tobirama's older version, less practical; Orochimaru has iterated multiple versions with different quality tiers.

After organizing what to authenticate, Gusion didn't head straight to the market but focused on title upgrades.

"End, upgrade my Fourth Calamity title."

He first upgraded the fixed one to see the effect.

After a while, the title upgrade finished. Gusion opened the menu.

[Special Title: Fourth Calamity]

Rating: S+ (E– to SSS+)
Source: Gained in the Derivative World: One Piece; further made famous in Naruto. The Calamity's might is known to all.

Effect 1: When dealing damage to enemies, gain a Calamity bonus: an extra 50% magic damage. If the damage type matches common impressions of a "calamity" (e.g., flames, gales, lightning), this bonus is doubled.

Effect 2: When entering certain worlds, you may select a special identity matching this title.

PS: In One Piece, this title grants +5000 base reputation.
PS: In Naruto, this title grants +8000 base reputation.

Evaluation: A traveler from another world—the Fourth Calamity descends.

[]

The upgraded title was brutally straightforward. From personal testing, it didn't require the damage itself to be "calamity" type for the bonus to double.

For example, when he used Mazuko to slash someone while wreathed in lightning, the damage type matched "common impressions of a calamity." In fact, due to his low-level Raijin bloodline, the lightning damage was far lower than the blade's base physical damage. But in damage settlement, the extra magic damage was calculated against the total.

For example, if his blade's physical damage was 100 and the lightning was 10, with a 50% bonus to magic damage, he'd deal an extra 55 magic damage.

With this discovery, Gusion felt the title's power. He didn't need to first upgrade the bloodline to raise lightning damage—so long as the external "effect" was present, his damage would massively increase.

Chapter 291: Enhancement, Changing Fate

After upgrading Fourth Calamity, Gusion was ready to use his optional upgrade permission. Choosing which title took only a moment.

Long term, "Brute" was decent; short term, "Demon Slayer" might help more in the next world.

He wouldn't underestimate his opponent. Even with two spirit seeds, he wouldn't assume unbounded advantage. The opponent might also be a Pioneer and be Stage 4—one macro-tier above him.

Hunter and prey are relative. He wants spirit seeds; so does the other side.

He had to push himself to the highest state possible before the next world, maxing every factor.

The Demon Slayer title would be a huge boost in Bleach. Considering spirit seed stakes, it was a long-term investment.

Decision made, he applied for the title upgrade. After some time, he checked the new title.

[Special Title: Wraith Hunter]

Title Rating: S
Source: Upgraded from Pioneer 008's "Demon Slayer."

Effect 1: While holding this title, when dealing damage to any targets commonly defined as ghosts, demons, evil entities, or to spirit-type targets, gain an additional 30% true damage.

Effect 2: While holding this title, upon entering a world, you will naturally gain -2000 reputation with ghost/demon/evil factions and +2000 with their enemies. In certain worlds, you can select specific starting identities.

Evaluation: Tremble, wraiths!

[]

Gusion was pleased. In Bleach, the End Space disguises Explorer identities.

For instance, when he first entered the End Space, he was disguised as a "spirit." Explorers not entering as human Quincy would be disguised as Shinigami or aligned with Hueco Mundo.

Note the phrasing "commonly defined"—as long as targets are defined as such in that world's consensus, the title applies.

This makes the scope broad—even if you're biologically human, if your deeds are defined as demonic within the world's common values, the title still triggers.

As for spirit bodies, it depends on definition. For example, in One Piece, slashing Enel also triggered the title—Logia users in elementalization are evidently judged as spirit-like.

All in all, in Bleach the title's returns are high. Even if his opponent starts as a human Quincy, he can leverage this title elsewhere in the world for advantage.

"End, if I reach 100% exploration, can I collect a world?"

After upgrading, Gusion asked.

[If exploration reaches 100%+ and you fail to obtain the World Core, you will trigger an extra rare reward, distributed in the comprehensive settlement.]

He understood. He'd upended Naruto to see what happens at full exploration, found it can exceed 100%, yet still no world control.

It seems the World Core is necessary to collect a world; exploration is auxiliary and more tied to Explorer benefits.

He wasn't disappointed. As long as he grew stronger, he could pierce Naruto next time.

With titles sorted, he headed to the Enhancement Hall to spend his free attribute points.

Funny enough, despite stirring storms and killing multiple Stage 4 Explorers, he was still a humble Stage 3 Pioneer, with many base attributes below the Stage 3 cap.

Aside from Constitution and Spirit, others had only just reached 60. He relied on burst states in combat; without them, his base stats were quite low.

Short term, this let him fight above his weight, but now he had to invest in Strength and Agility—he was a Stage 3 taking down early Stage 4s, yet couldn't meet advancement standards…

The End Space's advancement standard: at least three attributes must reach the current tier cap, and the Explorer/Pioneer/Judicator mark at the current tier max level, to receive the Promotion Trial next world. Pass to advance.

Currently, not just Strength and Agility—even Constitution and Spirit weren't at cap. He was simply too good at bursting.

…

At the Enhancement Hall, he picked a quiet spot and entered the man-eating flower.

[Pioneer 008, your bare attributes (including equipment and title bonuses) are:]

Constitution: 67 (+1)
Strength: 61 (+1)
Agility: 60 (+1)
Spirit: 68 (+2)
Charisma: 5
Luck: 2

[]

He hadn't been idle in Naruto. While absorbing skills with Hollow Stone, he used it in bed, so basic attributes rose slightly through training—still far from Stage 3 caps.

He had 18 free points. Considering new and old bloodline gains, he allocated:

Strength +8, Agility +9, and the remaining +1 to Constitution.

After a period of painful yet joyous enhancement, the flower spat him out.

Peeling himself off the gooey floor, he stretched, feeling the new power.

With Agility and Strength at 69, his body felt "balanced" overall. Attributes clustered in the same range improved bodily clarity.

He still didn't meet the advancement standard at 68–69 overall, but he would soon, even surpassing it.

Back in his room after a rinse, he began bloodline enhancement.

"End, upgrade Clearheart Bloodline once."

[Upgrading Clearheart Bloodline requires: Inheritance Crystal (M) x5 and 50,000 End Coins. Proceed?]

"Why did the price go up?"

He was annoyed. Last time, the next upgrade only needed 4 Medium Crystals and 40,000 coins.

[After your last enhancement, you broke an attribute barrier. Upon entering a new domain, certain changes occur. The Space will expend more resources to enhance you. Please understand.]

Fair enough. He confirmed the enhancement.

He was pulled into a pocket dimension and put through various operations. When he came to, seven hours had passed.

He stretched and checked his details. Clearheart Bloodline to Lv3 not only gave +5 Constitution and Spirit, it boosted control-resistances.

Feeling the changes, he didn't think it was a waste—quality costs. He proceeded to enhance the Raijin Bloodline.

[Upgrading Raijin Bloodline requires: Inheritance Crystal (M) x5 and 50,000 End Coins. Proceed?]

This time, no hesitation. "Upgrade."

About six hours later, he finished. Main combat stats +3—instantly reaching Stage 4 in base attribute domain.

Now his attributes were less "lopsided": Constitution and Spirit at 74; Agility and Strength at 72.

He had considered cranking Constitution higher and leaving less for Agility and Strength, but relying on burst states every fight wasn't sustainable.

Having to pop a state for any encounter was inconvenient. As power rose, certain secret arts developed at lower levels were losing effectiveness.

For example, Demon God skills felt notably weaker in Stage 4; freeing potential was strenuous.

This didn't mean his potential was exhausted; rather, his earlier design lacked the vision for such a powerful physique.

So he would review all his burst skills and ideally develop a more adaptable, higher-ceiling burst mode.

His martial intuition said long-term imbalance wasn't good. True powerhouses are hexagonal warriors.

He wasn't abandoning the burst route, but would craft a comprehensive burst that boosts everything, not just squeezes physique.

With the bloodlines upgraded, his ready cash dwindled. Fortunately, he had "rental worlds."

"End, collect rent."

[Income from two worlds has been sent to your mailbox.]

His rent had increased—this time 54,880, about 10,000 more than last time.

Upon inquiry, he learned the Kengan world's energy level rose slightly due to early influence from the spirit seed, increasing his income.

He hadn't expected that. Not much, but better than before.

After resting, he headed to the World Tree's lower level to complete his deal with the sailor-uniform girl.

After bloodline upgrades, he was short on cash—hard to cycle through authentications. He was reluctant to sell chests.

A Dark-Gold chest—if the roll is bad, that's a huge loss. Considering that chest and long-term gains, he decided to raise his temporary Luck.

That meant the custom "full-home" plan he'd arranged with the sailor-uniform girl.

At the World Tree's base, Gusion went straight into a small alley and soon reached the "Private Customization" shop, where he found the girl dozing and drooling.

"Wake up, customer here."

He tapped the desk. How carefree was she? Did no one else place orders?

"Donut… don't run…"

She slept deeply, smiling blissfully, undisturbed by the noise.

Gusion moved closer and knocked the desk hard again.

She started like a rabbit, "Wah!"

Gusion looked speechlessly. "Support personnel have to enter worlds sometimes, right? With vigilance this low, how are you not dead?"

She blinked awake, unfazed, dabbing the drool with a tissue. "I have special lifesaving methods, no need to worry."

She yawned. "I'm this sleepy because of you."

"Because of me?"

He looked puzzled.

"As my premium client, I carefully designed your full set of furnishings. But when it came to fate-alteration, I ran into unusual difficulty. What's with you? Born this unlucky?"

She grumbled, "I revised multiple versions and couldn't get the layout to ideal results. I only rushed it to completion yesterday."

She held out a fair hand. "Balance."

"Show results first."

They'd agreed on 200,000; he prepaid 100,000 with Inheritance Crystals and would pay the balance on delivery.

"Che, don't trust my skills?"

She muttered, tidied the shop, grabbed her things. "Let's go, feel peak fortune."

Eager to change fate, Gusion took her straight to his room.

She grew serious and professional, quickly placing furniture in all the right spots. She'd seen the layout and style; the designs matched Gusion's aesthetics.

"Now sit on the central sofa in the living room and check your Luck."

After finishing, she looked confident.

Gusion went over expectantly, sat, and opened his status.

His eyes lit up—Luck really changed.

Luck: 7 (Temp +5)

Holy!

It works!
Counting from his original base 1, he had six times more now!

Two hundred thousand for long-term control over chest RNG—worth it.

"Well? How many points now, low teens?"

She asked curiously. As the arranger, she can't directly see the user's increase. She'd estimated based on experience.

Gusion had been excited, but when he heard her second half, his face stiffened.

"What do you mean 'low teens'?"

He looked confused, a bad hunch rising.

"Huh? Don't tell me under this layout your Luck still didn't break 10? Or do you have 20-something?"

She looked shocked.