Chapter 304: A Shameless Individual
As for the Dragon Ball world's Kamehameha and Thunderclap Fist—two techniques whose actual ceilings were anyone's guess at this point—Ryū figured they didn't need a Breakthrough Card just yet.
Precisely because their ceilings were so far off, he wasn't willing to burn a Breakthrough Card on either of them. No point waiting around that long for the payoff.
The two techniques he actually wanted to break through were the One Piece world's Armament Haki and Life Return. Once freed from their caps, both would be every bit as valuable as Kamehameha or Thunderclap Fist, if not more so.
Life Return, in particular, might extend a person's lifespan indefinitely. And Armament Haki, in close-quarters combat specifically, would arguably outperform even Ki from the Dragon Ball world.
After all, Armament Haki had been purpose-built for close combat from the ground up.
"These two Breakthrough Cards go toward Armament Haki and Life Return, then—both already at Perfection tier."
Once Ryū made up his mind, he didn't waste any time second-guessing himself—he used both Breakthrough Cards immediately, one on each technique.
In an instant, he felt something shatter loose, like some long-sealed restraint finally giving way. His entire body and spirit seemed to shift all at once, and he let out a soft breath of relief.
[Skill Breakthrough Card used successfully! Congratulations, Admin "RawrSoFierce"—you've successfully broken the ceiling on "Armament Haki"!]
[Skill Breakthrough Card used successfully! Congratulations, Admin "RawrSoFierce"—you've successfully broken the ceiling on "Life Return"!]
With both skills freed from their previous caps, Ryū felt like an entirely new version of himself.
It was like running the 100-meter dash and always maxing out at 9 or 10 seconds—then suddenly discovering you could run it in 8, or 7, or 6...
Hit 5 seconds, and you'd feel like an entirely different person.
Or, to put it more relatably: imagine your skill ceiling in some competitive game always capped out at Diamond rank, and then one day you suddenly "get it"—unlock some technique that gives you a genuine, guaranteed shot at climbing all the way to Master tier.
Once you realize what you're actually capable of now, you let out a huge breath of relief, and everything about you just feels better.
That was more or less exactly how Ryū felt right now. Breaking through both ceilings left him feeling completely renewed, his mind noticeably clearer too.
"Right now I've got 20,000 Points total, with 1,000 held in reserve that I can't touch—so really, I've got 19,000 usable. Actually, let's not blow through all of it. I'll hold onto 9,000 plus the 1,000 reserve; might come in handy for something critical down the line."
"That leaves 10,000 Points I can pour into Armament Haki and Life Return. Both skills just broke their ceilings, so investing Points now should produce genuinely dramatic results."
He split it evenly—5,000 Points toward Armament Haki proficiency, 5,000 toward Life Return—and immediately felt a whole new layer of understanding settle in for both abilities.
Coating his palm in Armament Haki, Ryū examined the layer settling over his skin, murmuring in genuine astonishment, "Armament Haki's actually seeping into my own skin cells! Which means my Armament Haki isn't just a defensive/offensive coating on the outside anymore—I can apply it to every single cell in my body individually?"
That discovery was genuinely staggering. If every cell in his body could be individually coated in Armament Haki...
There was really no way to even estimate how much that would boost his overall combat strength.
Of course, pulling this off required Life Return's assistance—only with Life Return's perfect control over his own cells could Ryū actually coat each one in Armament Haki individually.
Which meant his combat strength had just climbed yet another notch. A small notch, sure, given he'd only just broken through the ceilings.
But even a small notch was still remarkable, given how monstrous his baseline strength already was.
Even a tiny fractional gain like this, handed to someone else entirely, would be enough to launch them straight to the top of their own world overnight!
"Whew...this haul really was something else. Every single group event turns out to be a genuine windfall—the gift box rewards are never a step behind even the best group missions."
Naturally, Ryū hoped for as many events as possible going forward. Unfortunately, though...
He still hadn't quite figured out what determined which real-world holidays the Dimensional Chat Group used as the basis for its events.
Last year it had been Children's Day and Mid-Autumn Festival. This year, so far, it had been New Year's.
Who knew whether the holiday lineup changed every single year?
If it really did change year to year, that opened the door to some genuinely bizarre "holidays" potentially becoming group events down the line.
Something like November 11th—Singles' Day, that absurd made-up holiday?
Not entirely out of the question. Guess he'd just have to wait and see when the time actually came.
Shaking off the stray thoughts, Ryū slipped his consciousness back into the Dimensional Chat Group.
Eternally Seventeen: This humble self just used a Breakthrough Card to shatter a long-stuck ceiling! Ahahaha! Feels like I could go run wild across all of Gensokyo now, no need to worry about that lazy dragon god who never bothers with anything anymore.
Eternally Seventeen: Behold, Gensokyo's strongest youkai sage, Yakumo Yukari, has arrived! ROAR!!
Kaguya-sama: I can practically feel Yukari-nee's smug face from an entire world away.
Kaguya-sama: @Sakura Matou, Sakura-chan, quick, snap a picture of Yukari-nee while she's like this.
Sakura Matou: [Image] Is this the kind of photo you meant?!
RawrSoFierce: Pfft...old hag, that expression is next-level smug. Genuinely makes me want to smack you one.
Eternally Seventeen: Hey! With looks this good, there's no way anything this humble self does could ever come off as smack-worthy. Isn't the whole deal that being gorgeous means you can get away with anything?
Crazy Diamond: Sure, Yukari-senpai's looks are legit top-tier, but that shamelessness runs just as deep as the good looks do.
Admiral Kizaru: Agreed. Probably the actual secret to being a "senpai" around here, honestly. Guess old me should start thickening up my own skin a bit too.
Eternally Seventeen: Hey, HEY! This humble self has thin, delicate skin, thank you very much! Unless you mean literally callused-over skin, who's actually "thick-skinned" around here?
RawrSoFierce: How is that not a thing? I've personally seen someone with zero calluses whatsoever, and somehow the thickest skin imaginable.
Eternally Seventeen: Eh? There's actually someone like that? Who?
RawrSoFierce: Closer than you think—it's YOU.
Eternally Seventeen: PFFT!!!
[...]
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