In the end, Akashi returned to his home rather frustrated. He had tried his best to hold on, to not try too hard and accidentally become strong to the point where Rias and Sona could not reincarnate him.
The result? They still refused in the end for whatever reason he did not know.
Frustrating was an understatement to how he felt about it, so when he got back home he decided to use what his system gave him.
Looking at those items, he first took the Bone Tempering Pellet. According to the system this was a pill from the world of Ancient Strengthening Technique and was a rather great thing.
This pill could strengthen the intensity of the consumer's bones, allowing the bones to become rigid like metal while increasing one's elasticity even further. The tenacity of the bones would be increased as well, enabling the user to endure powerful external impacting forces.
Don't look down on this, this strengthening of the bones means not only an improvement of one's defenses, the amount of strength one can exert also increases and the capacity of blood recovery also increases so blood loss in battle becomes less of an issue. It was an all around physical improvement that could make Akashi's already monstrous strength for a human take a few steps further.
The pellet could be consumed once per month as well with no limitations imposed on how many one could consume in a lifetime so all four pellets could be consumed to constantly and without failure improve one's physical conditions to the point his bones may one day become even stronger than metals like Adamantium.
Akashi looked at the small green pellet in his hand and looked apprehensive. His system did not mention any sort of collateral effect, but he long since learned that his system was not that reliable when it comes to this sort of thing and he had no idea if this pellet would cause him any discomfort or trouble.
Thinking for a bit he cleaned his living room and opened the space so that there was nothing around he could damage in case his body had some sort of bad reaction. He also covered the floor with some plastic bags and towels in case there were more impurities or something coming out of his body.
Those wuxia world items seem to always generate this sort of thing after all, and after his time eating the Immortal Herb and releasing all those impurities in the bathtub, his bathtub was still stained in several places as well as smelling bad even after he spent almost an hour cleaning it up. Better not let the floor of the living room be like that as well.
"Let's do this." Akashi said, putting the pellet in his mouth and swallowing it.
A few moments later he felt the pellet dissolving inside his body. Even without being an actual cultivator or anything it was hard not to feel it when the dissolved pellet became an energy that felt almost like maggots traveling throughout his entire body.
It was an utterly disgusting sensation, but strangely enough there was no pain… at the start.
Soon a strange itch started in his body through the places where the 'maggots' passed. It was just a little thing at the start but soon it began to spread and intensify together with that energy becoming more and more rampant in his entire body. Finally, after half an hour, the itch he could not scratch went away and was replaced by a burning pain in his entire body.
Akashi moved fast to shove his own t-shirt in his mouth so his screams would not be heard. The pain increased second by second as it felt like his bones were each and every one being smelted and forged again inside his body. This was the worst pain Akashi has ever felt and he cursed that he had taken this pill now instead of before the Immortal Herb.
Had he done it then his body's pain resistance would be lower and his system would have made him pass out and take care of this whole process without him needing to rationalize this pain at all.
It was another three hours of pain before he was finally back to normal. Feeling exhausted Akashi looked down at his body and could see how there were not many stains and impurities in his skin this time around. At least this pill did not cause him to look like a sludge mummy or something, so for that Akashi was thankful enough.
Closing his fists, Akashi could not really personally feel much of a difference in his body but, as he moved his touki, he felt his lips twitch upward since his touki had improved by around 30% this time around.
"Maybe, if the Kaguya family bloodline appears later, it would not be a bad thing to choose it." Akashi mutters as he thinks of that bone wielder clan.
With his bones now and in the future he felt relatively sure that he would be able to use that Kakkei Genkai from the Naruto world quite nicely.
Smiling, he checked the clock. He still had time so he put away these pills and took another reward from that same world. It was a group of ten small red fruits that looked a bit like cherries. Looking at them, Akashi hoped this would not backfire somehow and cause him even more pain.
If this happens again he might get traumatized regarding those wuxia items and wonder if those wuxia protags were just a bunch of masochistic narcissists with a stick up their ass.
So, you know, a wuxia protag with maso tendencies.
These fruits are called Vermilion Fruit, they are another type of treasure of the world in that one fruit can improve the meridians's power, flexibility and all aspects by 1%. This was great news considering how the meridians were where energy in the body, regardless of what type it is, passes through so improving the meridians would improve the person in all aspects.
Energy amount, power able to be released, speed of training and improvement of energy, it even had some effect on control over one's energy. A 1% improvement flat in all aspects was not too bad, and when you consider you can eat up to 100 such fruits then it is all the better.
Akashi put the said fruit in his mouth and soon after he felt the fruit dissolving in his mouth before he could even swallow it. A fragrant sensation spread in his mouth as he ate the fruit and his eyes lit up.
This thing actually tasted really good.
It was hard to describe the taste, but it was refreshing and Akashi felt the discomfort in his body ease up and his body relax as the fruit was absorbed inside him and spread through his body.
Not being satisfied so easily, Akashi ate the other fruits but kept the seeds separate just in case.
According to the system these seeds could generate plants and ripens within 50 years, would it not be nice if he could eat such fruits more often even if they stopped being effective after 100? Besides, he could sell them or even just make wine with them since, according to the system description, the wine made with these fruits was exceptionally tasty.
After all 10 fruits were consumed and everything was done, Akashi looked at what he had left in hand and was just about to take the fire magic one when a thought struck.
Those devils may have denied him joining their peerages, but it might not be impossible to obtain books from them about magic and such. Even if they did not want him in their peerage, they would likely want him at least as a friend or ally so books might still be possible to exchange. Getting some books on magic then should not be that hard.
Thinking thus, Akashi took the experience card from Sun Breathing technique and activated it.
In a prairie with grass up to one's knees, Akashi looked around in surprise as he did not know what was going on.
"So, you are the one who wants to learn my technique?"
Looking ahead, Akashi was surprised as he saw the man in front of him.
In front of Akashi was a tall man with a muscular build, fair skin, maroon eyes, and long spiky hair with red tips that he kept in a ponytail as well as having an aloof and solemn look on his face, rarely showing emotion.
With a Nichirin Sword carried at the left side of his waist, conventional to most Demon Slayers, he was the strongest demon slayer ever seen, Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
"Raise your sword, I will teach you what I can." Yoriichi said and Akashi was still in doubt over what was going on.
CLANG
In the end, he could only raise his sword and barely block a sword strike from Yoriichi.
"We only have so much time, train hard and follow me." Yoriichi said with a tone of indifference.
Akashi was not given much time at all. Despite his reflexes and body many times stronger than Yoriichi he was played with by that man from start to finish. Days went like that with Yoriichi merely beating up and 'killing' Akashi over and over again. If not for his body regenerating from any injury in this place he would have died at least 90 times within the first 4 days of this hellish training.
And that… was only the beginning of the torture.
Mistake the breathing, get killed in combat.
Be too slow to strike, get killed in combat.
Be too fast and overextend, get killed in combat.
The footwork is messy, get killed in combat.
The footwork is too rigid, get killed in combat.
Not paying enough attention, get killed in combat.
It took the first four months just to firmly plant the basics of Sun Breathing and fighting experience in Akashi's mind.
When that happened, Yoriichi declared.
"You are not suitable for this style."
Then, before Akashi could curse at this stone-faced asshole who had killed him over 500 times during this time, he was in another place.
"Why do you fight?"
Looking up, Akashi saw the spider demon that he saw Tanjiro fighting in Demon Slayer, Lower Moon 6 Rui.
And so, Akashi was forced to start fighting the 12 kizuki from Demon Slayer, and die again and again against them.
No way, Akashi was not nearly as talented with the sword as talent freaks like the Hashiras or Tanjiro who could survive those fights whole. Akashi completely lost count of how many times he died and by the time his consciousness returned to the real world he was still trembling all over as he had just once more failed to kill Gyutaro and Daki together. The two working together were a bitch and a half to deal with alone, that is for sure.
Luckily he did not have a nichirin sword in hand, otherwise he would have really killed himself without realizing he was now back in the real world.
Panting heavily, Akashi finally could not stand anymore, his mind blanking out as he completely passed out cold. Exhaustion taking him fully away and not even being able to use the other experience cards and fearing just what he might experience in them.
Saturday came and went, finally arriving Sunday Akashi was finally able to get back up but his body was still trembling from the previous day's experience.
Let it be known, experience cards are utterly terrifying and Akashi was confident to say that those actual demon slayers were honestly the most ballsy and absurd beings ever.
Being able to walk with balls of steel that big is something that should be respected, that is for sure.
Defeating those demons with no respawn like Akashi had or even without the capacity to regenerate faster or a particularly high strength, what sort of monsters were those Hashiras to do that?
"Scary, scary, this must be the first time I am glad to be in DxD." Akashi said to himself.
No way, those demons were far too scary and if there were only breathing techniques to face them then Akashi really could not handle it at all.
Going to the kitchen, Akashi prepared his breakfast but, as he finished it, he noticed something.
"... Did I forget to buy coffee? Fuck."
This was just not Akashi's week. He did his best to impress those two heiresses only for them to, in the end, not take him. Then he used that Experience Card and spent the equivalent of several months of non stop training with the sword and dying over and over again. And finally, he went to the market to do his groceries for the week but forgot to buy his coffee!
How can he possibly go through the week with no coffee? He still needs his recommended dose of caffeine in his system for it to function, thank you very much.
Putting on his clothes, Akashi actually felt they were a bit small now. No way, those herbs and whatnot may have cleaned his body of impurities and whatnot, but they made his body much tougher and, consequently, a bit bulkier than before.
Looking in the mirror the clothes now were somewhat tight in his body in several places, making him decide he would need to try and check some clothes stores.
Luckily, there was the usual open market place near the bus station in Kuoh. They sold good clothes for affordable and good prices, so he quite enjoyed going there.
Checking his wallet to make sure he had his credit card in place Akashi opened the door and got out towards the station.
"I think this should be good enough." Akashi said to himself as he finished buying his clothes. Strangely enough the sales person looked at him with weird gazes when he had finished selecting his last jacked, he even felt great as he asked if he could just put them on right now in the place.
Thankfully they had made some small space for changing clothes, so Akashi was able to put on the clothes he selected.
Now, wearing what he thought were stylish clothes, Akashi went to look for somewhere to eat since it was lunchtime and he had yet to eat something.
Looking around for a restaurant, he found someone unexpected in one of them. Checking the time Akashi saw that, of all people, Akeno was eating in one of the said restaurants.
"Well, I may as well go there." Akashi says to himself as he goes to said restaurant.
He was honestly surprised Akeno had not noticed him even when he sat right in front of her. Her mind was completely elsewhere during this entire time.
"Are you doing okay there?" Akashi asks as Akeno, for the first time, seems to snap into reality and notice he was sitting there.
"None of your concern, Akashi-kun." Akeno said venomously as she glared down at him. "Also, this is my table so you can sit somewhere else."
"I mean, I could, but all other tables are occupied and I don't feel like sharing a table with someone I do not know." Akashi said, causing Akeno to growl as she seems to really hate him right now.
Even standing up to leave, but stopped when the waitress arrived.
"Here you go miss, your combo burger with extra bacon and cheese as well as your big size fries and your milkshake of chocolate with chips."
Akeno, who was about to leave, sat back down as she really, really wanted to sink her teeth into those things right now. Besides, she was a devil who, by definition could not get fat so at moments like these she really enjoyed going overboard like that.
Seeing that Akeno started to eat, Akashi said to the waitress.
"I'll take the same, just make the milkshake strawberry please."
"Understood, thank you for the patronage." The waitress said as she went to get the meal ready.
Akeno gave Akashi a once over, after swallowing a big mouthful of her burger, amd said.
"So, is this a dare or something?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, why else would you wear this abomination?" she said, pointing at Akashi's green and orange tiger tank top hoodie that showed off his muscles as well as his white jeans shorts.
Akashi looked down at his get up once more, and felt his appearance looked very cool.
"What are you talking about, these clothes look great."
Akeno with a single raised eyebrow just looked at Akashi as if he was completely insane and she shook her head.
"You really… your opinion on things really is worthless even when it comes to everyday things like this."
"Hey, I resent that." Akashi said. "My taste isn't worthless. I just have a unique taste beyond my time, that is all. It is not my fault you plebes can't understand greatness when you see it, I pity you all, I really do."
"More like a dumb taste if you go out with those clothes. Do you need someone to accompany you to go shopping or something?" Akeno teased, enjoying this back and forth a little bit.
"Nah, I think I can get by just fine. These are some of my very best clothes even. I was thinking of having a video call with my girlfriend later to show off my new drip." Akashi said, thinking his girl would like these clothes too.
Well, hopefully she will be free to text him. She was quite busy due to some recent work issues and with her boss being an asshole. She really did not have all that much free time recently.
"Oh, that poor girl." Akeno sassed Akashi who just glared before replying.
"Fuck you."
"You wish."
"Not really, my girl is much better than a sadistic blushing virgin."
The two kept glaring, it was almost like they just could not help but but heads with one another for some reason.
Finally, after a time passed by, Akashi's meal arrived and he started eating as well with the two shooting glares at one another from time to time.
By the time the two finished the burger and were eating their fries, Akashi could not help but ask while between bites.
"So, did Rias say why she and Sona would not have me joining them?"
Akeno, on her side, merely shrugged at that.
"Not really. After you left Sona soon went to the Underworld and last night Bucho went as well for some reason. She didn't tell me about it but it is not dangerous or anything, but she asked me to stay in town with the others."
Akashi, hearing this, sighed as he was no closer to finding out what the hell had happened and the problem was.
Meanwhile, Akeno with a melancholic face, questions what has been plaguing her mind for a while now.
"If-"
"Huh?"
"If I had used it, that power I mean, would I have won?"
Akashi, without hesitation and despite Akeno's wishes, honestly answers.
"Yes. From what I felt from you, had you used your full power, then that last strike would have been enough to finish the match. Honestly, even without it you still almost broke my touki, with it, you would have won without question."
"... I see." Akeno says, her face even more depressed even as she gives a self mocking smile. "I guess that that person's tainted power still haunts me."
"Weird, from what I felt you did not have an external connection to someone to draw power or something else giving you power. All I felt was your own power, your own and no one else's. Even if the power is inherited by someone else, now it is yours so that is about it really. Honestly, denying something so obvious is stupid on so many levels I can't even be bothered to detail."
Akeno flinched at that before she stood up and, leaving half her fries uneaten, turned to leave.
Akashi, however, held her in place.
"Let me go, I have places to go and-"
"There are hungry people in the world who are starving right now. Will you throw this food away knowing that?" Akashi said seriously and Akeno shivered as bad memories of her past went through her head at the mention of starving.
As those memories remind, Akeno went back to the table to eat without another word and Akashi too did not say anything else as he finished eating. As he did so, Akashi stood up and said to the girl.
"Look, we are not friends and I don't have to care for your wellbeing all that much. Honestly, if I heard you died tomorrow it would not really affect me at all. We mean nothing to each other right now, simple as that."
Akeno nodded her head at that, right now they truly were barely even acquaintances and she wondered why she even bothered listening to him right now about things he knew nothing about.
Akashi, meanwhile, continued his speech without a care.
"However, if you intend on limiting yourself like what you did during the spar when you get into a fight that really matters, restraining yourself like that because of whatever reason, then do yourself a favor and quit while you still can. If you will not take your life seriously and try your best, then change jobs and go find some job that doesn't need you to fight, because fighting like you did in that spar is just asking to die. And worse, you will drag your friends with you because of your own incompetence."
Akeno freezes at that, her hands trembling as images of Rias dying pass through her mind. Her friend's death looked eerily similar to that of Akeno's own mother in Akeno's mind causing her to need to shake her head free from such thoughts.
"And how would you know that?" Akeno asks with a trembling voice. She was trying to act strong, but even a blind person would be able to see that she was not taking this all that well.
And, with an indifferent tone, Akashi continued.
"I really don't. But, you can only go so far if you don't even try to do your best. This world, I may not know it all that well but what I know tells me it is dangerous and if you will fight while not trying your best then, one day, you will die."
After saying his piece Akashi confidently left the restaurant with his head held high. He felt that maybe, just maybe, Akeno might change with this.
Akeno could only stare at him leaving as his words kept echoing in his mind. Memories of her mother's death and thoughts of how her father was too slow to arrive in time passed through her mind.
Her mind ran all over the place, remembering that terrible day and she wondered if maybe, just maybe, had she been strong enough at that time, perhaps she could have saved her mother herself. Be the hero herself instead of merely holding on to hope someone else would come to save her.
This thought, after taking root in her head, would not leave it as it germinated into a desire she never have had until this point. Until now, she always chose to just hate her father and the fallen angels, but maybe the fault was her own.
She then thought of Rias, her best friend and the person she owed so much to. What if, like Akashi said, one of these days Rias dies where Akeno might have been able to save her?
Would she be able to forgive herself if that were to happen, and she only failed because she did not actually try hard enough?
Clenching her fists at the thought of her best friend dying because of her own incompetence, Akeno swore she would not let that happen.
"Even if I have to use this cursed part of me, I will not be weak. Never again." Akeno said as she stood up with determination flashing across her eyes and she started walking to the door when-
"Dear customer, the bill."
Akeno turned to pay automatically and as she was doing so she noticed something.
"Did, did Akashi left his bill for me to pay. And even got take-out while I was thinking?" She said incredulously and the waitress looked at her strangely as she answered.
"The gentleman before said you would not mind it and it was a fee for 'life counseling'."
Akeno did not know if she should laugh, rage or cry at that and, as she paid the bill, she had to wonder.
Did Akashi make her stay behind just so she would be the one to pay the bill?
The answer… Of course.
As for Akashi, after getting home and eating his breakfast, he started by absorbing the Purple Beast Flame. It is a fire from the world of Battle Through The Heaven and originated from a creature that, the Purple Crystal Winged Lion King, if it was in DxD, should be around Ultimate class more or less.
Sure, that fire was not particularly strong amongst other special flames, but absorbing it with the help of his system was very fast and, by nightfall, he had finished taking that flame in.
His body grows a bit stronger once more but the greatest difference now being a more wild energy circling around him since the creature it originated from was a lion king as well as enhancing Akashi's compatibility with fire slightly more.
Having raised his physique and fire compatibility to as high as he could, Akashi activated his final Experience card, the one for Fire Magic in Mushoku Tensei. It may be a slight waste to do this now, Akashi admitted as much for himself, but holding up for later indefinitely would not help him.
If the two kings in Kuoh refused to reincarnate him for whatever reason, then he would just go and become so strong that he would not need to go look for someone to reincarnate him. Others would come and beg for him to join and he'd have his pick of offers to pick.
Fuck those two brats, he could do better.
But, as Akashi activated the experience card, he hoped deep in his heart he would meet someone that would not be as much of a hardass as Yoriichi.
His hopes were dashed when, in front of him, stood none other than the Technique God Laplace, one of the strongest beings of the world of Mushoku Tensei and the half of the Dragon God of that universe that inherited all the techniques and skills of said original God that was capable of folding several dimensions for fun.
A person that could achieve that level of power while not inheriting any of the raw power of the Dragon God, still able to defeat even those thousands of times stronger in raw power just based on how good he was with his techniques.
Seeing the person in front of him smirking, Akashi felt a rather familiar shiver run down his spine as he cursed himself, understanding one thing. Experience Card mentors were always sadistic assholes.
AN:
Hope you guys enjoy it. Soon the waves caused by Akashi's choices will start to be felt.
Also, just out of curiosity but what you guys think of my solution in regards to how the MC can get the time to actually learn what he needs to know? Experience Cards let him gain the mastery, muscle memory, and such of being trained by the very best in whatever field it comes from under ideal circunstances. They can certainly be considered a top reward overall just based on how useful they can be.
Heck, 5 months is not a particularly long time for an Experience Card. Imagine, say, 10 or 50 years experience card for whatever, fuinjutsu from Naruto or something as an example. Experience cards only 'weakness' is that one does not gain power in them, no matter how much you train your body will not grow stronger and your magic will not grow more powerful, but this still means you will learn how to use what you got perfectly instead of improving too much on your 'stats' while using the card and not being able to use that while on the real world.
Oh, and yes Akashi in 5 months learned the Sun Breathing to a good degree and has managed to kill all six lower moons solo as well as fight in mostly equal grounds against Upper Moon 6. Use that information as you want.
