Chapter 574: The Water in the Courtyard, The Influence of Soul Crystals

In the group chat, after finishing the topic on the White Shadow Ninja's usage, Broly thought of another matter and sent a private message to Miss Lich.

"Teacher Wiz, there's something I'd like to ask you about."

"What is it?"

Wiz, who was lurking in the group chat, responded quickly.

"It's about the soul power in the world I'm currently in; they seem to be able to condense into a special kind of crystal in this world."

"That really is quite amazing; what do you mainly want to ask about?"

"What I want to ask is how to stably obtain this kind of crystal."

"Then how did you acquire the first crystal?"

Wiz inquired, and Broly didn't conceal it, informing the other party of the specific process.

"Fulfilling a ghost's wish, proactively dissolving the contract to let it pass on, thereby obtaining the passing spirit's gratitude — this isn't just guiding the dead, is it?

I understand; this is the pure soul power left behind after a ghost is guided, we have it on our side too, however, this power is too weak, and not like the magic power existing in the atmosphere.

So, I usually just disperse this lingering ghost power, to prevent it from possibly constituting a special environment that could nurture undead creatures.

Of course, sometimes I'll collect a bit too; this also counts as a material that can be used to make Spiritual Power Potions.

It's just that collecting it is more troublesome and takes effort; using this to make Spiritual Power Potions is not as good as using other materials to make them."

Something rarely seen in the Food Spirit World, in the KonoSuba World belongs to the obscure category and isn't a very usable magic material.

However, since Broly needed it, Wiz also told the boy the method of collecting soul power.

Of course, due to differences in existing worlds, methods usable in the KonoSuba World might not necessarily work in the Food Spirit World.

"You'll need to research this yourself; or alternatively, having me come over to help you research works too."

Wiz hasn't been to an Isekai yet; although she can go anytime, she normally has to watch the shop.

But if Broly needs her help, not watching the shop and going to an Isekai to help is also fine.

【Hmm, this absolutely isn't wanting to take the opportunity to go out, producing the thought of going to an Isekai to play~】

Miss Lich put on a serious face in her heart to defend herself.

"No need to trouble Teacher Wiz, I'll research it myself first; if I can't figure it out, I'll ask Teacher Wiz to come over then."

Broly's response made Wiz feel a bit disappointed.

"Alright then, if there's a problem, come find me."

Miss Lich is the more passive type; she gave Broly this one reply.

"Honestly, if you want to go play in an Isekai just say so, still putting on an act like you need a reason."

The magic tool shop clerk, Masked Demon Vanir, walked over and teased with a sentence, causing Miss Lich's face to redden and retort 【No way】, upon which he turned his head toward the Adventurer customer entering the shop and said 【Welcome】, with a posture of fundamentally not arguing with the money-losing goods Boss.

"Eh, Miss Wiz, is it like that?"

Yunyun, who also works at the magic tool shop, saw it, walked over and asked the Lich behind the counter.

"It's not like that, this is all that guy Vanir spouting nonsense!"

Wiz hurriedly waved her hands to deny; she's not a little girl who likes to play, but a mature Lich big sister whose specific age cannot be told in detail.

"Although you're plenty good at giving the story setting, if you yourself are no good, there's no way to do the things imagined beforehand.

So, get up, and have a practical bout with me, let me see what level your strength in this world is actually at."

Ending the communication with Wiz, Broly looked at the White Shadow Ninja who had been kneeling on one knee to the side, said this, went to the side to grab a bamboo sword, threw one to the White Shadow Ninja; the ninja silently caught the bamboo sword and stood opposite Broly.

The White Shadow Ninja is not a creature, but a Magic Construct; it has a certain intelligence yet no self; for all commands issued by Broly this little master, it only executes them and will not raise objections; it readied a combat stance, just waiting for the master's next instruction.

And as Broly shouted the word to start, it unhesitatingly threw the bamboo sword in its hand toward Broly's direction, then its hand reached into its pocket and fished out a cross-shaped shuriken, also throwing it toward Broly's side.

Seeing this, Broly was a bit speechless, because what he wanted was swordsmanship practical drill, not the current situation.

However, forget it, let's talk after the fight...

"Snap—"

Broly used the bamboo sword in his hand to twist, twisting away the flying bamboo sword; then his figure flashed, *tap tap tap* sounds rang out, he dodged the shuriken, which nailed into the wooden floor behind; he raised his head, the White Shadow Ninja had already silently leaped over, crossed hands falling toward this side.

Broly back-jumped once, *crack* a sound, the wooden floor at the original position was split open by the White Shadow Ninja's crossed hand knife falling down.

Bamboo sword tightened, its tip was grabbed by the White Shadow Ninja who rolled forward a circle and approached, using its hand; the other hand fished out a kunai, directly stabbing toward his hand holding the bamboo sword hilt.

Broly could just tank the stab, but considering Isayama Huangquan couldn't tank it, so he chose to let go and retreat back, placing both hands vertically in front of his body.

The next moment, the ninja followed the momentum to spin and kick; the kick landed on his vertically placed forearms.

The force wasn't bad; with Broly not blocking hard, choosing a small jump to unload the force, the White Shadow Ninja's one kick sent him flying to the other side of the dojo, feeling just like being hit by a one-to-two-ton compact car at sixty kilometers per hour.

Broly tapped his feet twice, easily unloading the kick's force; the White Shadow Ninja summoned in this world is quite a bit stronger than the White Shadow Ninja from Xiao Yu World.

However, the Qi used to summon the other party, Broly didn't use much of it; this should be the performance improvement the other party obtained from the added Soul Crystal as the summoning core.

"Alright, you're done attacking, it's my turn now."

In the White Shadow Ninja's pale gold pupils was reflected the diving figure; Broly adjusted his own speed and strength to about the same level as his summon.

Approaching, it was a high raised leg, heel vertical chop; the ninja raised the bamboo sword in hand to block, the bamboo sword was directly chopped in half.

One person and one summon entered the close-quarters grappling phase, but the White Shadow Ninja only parried three to five exchanges before being forced into an opening due to the gap in combat skill between it and Broly this master.

Very quickly it fell into a predicament of being hard-pressed on both sides; often blocking Broly's fist, it would then take Broly's kick, becoming the passive side getting beaten.

"Smack—"

The White Shadow Ninja was kicked to the ground, body bouncing up; it supported the ground with both hands, performing a big whirlwind kick motion on the spot.

And this move to drive away enemies approaching its surroundings was reversely utilized by Broly; he grabbed the ninja's leg and following the force threw the other party up, spinning circles in mid-air, smashing toward the wooden pillar to the side.

Although it made a motion to block the smash, the White Shadow Ninja still fell into a stiff state; its back took a kick and was kicked up to the ceiling, and after coming down from the ceiling, it was then like a ball kicked flying out; when it landed and wanted to climb up again, it was stomped back onto the wooden floor by Broly with one foot.

"Alright, stop, I already know your level."

Of course, if not for this sentence, it would definitely have continued to resist, rather than truly stopping, as if nothing had happened, kneeling on one knee again before Broly, head lowered awaiting new orders.

"The Soul Crystal seems to have granted you higher learning ability; during our sparring I could feel you adapting to my battle rhythm. Now, pick up your bamboo sword and learn swordsmanship from me."

After Broly finished speaking he was about to grab his own bamboo sword, only to discover it had already been kicked apart by him earlier, and there didn't seem to be any new ones here.

The White Shadow Ninja had already picked up a bamboo sword; it looked at its master staring at the broken sword on the ground, then at the intact bamboo sword in its own hand, hopped over, knelt down, and presented the sword in both hands to the boy.

"Thanks, but then you won't have a sword."

In response, the White Shadow Ninja pulled a ninja short sword from its pocket; its pockets were like a fourth-dimensional pocket, able to produce all manner of ninja tools.

Back in Xiao Yu World, Broly had examined them — they were tools condensed from magic power, not genuinely carried items.

And the White Shadow Ninja summoned in this world seems to possess the same ability, except the power condensing the ninja tools is no longer magic but this world's spiritual power, similar to the hanging rope controlled by the hanging evil spirit.

Once separated from the body for a period of time, if not continuously maintained, they would quickly dissipate without a trace. Broly didn't pay too much mind to these details; once he confirmed the White Shadow Ninja had something in hand to practice swordsmanship with him, he took up a bamboo sword and began demonstrating moves.

From noon until afternoon, he only stopped when the sky outside neared dusk — not because Broly wanted to stop, but because the White Shadow Ninja's learning capacity had hit its ceiling.

Of the third-rate swordsmanship Broly taught it, the White Shadow Ninja only copied about thirty percent; any higher and its spirit body would flicker and lag.

"Alright, being able to simulate thirty percent of the swordsmanship is enough, but in terms of combat, the water element is still more reliable after all."

The White Shadow Ninja's pale-gold pupils gazed at its master with an innocent look; the Soul Crystal inside it was nearly burning smoke, but what it couldn't do it simply couldn't do — all it could do was take what it could do to the absolute limit; as for the rest, that wasn't something a mere summoned creature could decide.

"Alright, I know it's not your fault; you've already done very well."

The ninja with the added Soul Crystal reacted more like a person; facing those innocent eyes Broly felt a bit awkward and hurriedly praised it.

The White Shadow Ninja, for its part, didn't react much — aside from lowering its head to show an obedient posture, it made no other superfluous movements.

"Hmm, can you clean up this place?"

At this point Broly noticed the dojo was a complete mess, thought for a moment, and asked.

Hearing that, the White Shadow Ninja — looking as if it burned with white-gold flames — nodded, fetched a water bucket, wrung out a towel, and lay on the floor meticulously cleaning the dojo's hygiene.

It formed a stark contrast with the hanging spirit from last night that Broly had already dismissed; his own ninja was far more capable.

"Now this is a summoned creature — though one cleaning is too slow."

Broly raised his hand toward the dusk sunset, trying to summon a few more White Shadow Ninjas to help, only to discover the water element's magic crystal core couldn't be applied to the White Shadow Ninja.

He suddenly realized that in this world, the White Shadow Ninja was probably, for the time being, only the lone seedling crouched over there cleaning the dojo floor — unless he could obtain another Soul Crystal.

"Water Elemental Summon, go help it; responsible for cleaning the floor hygiene."

After summoning and instructing the water elemental, Broly then spoke to the ninja over there.

"Ninja, job change — you go repair the damaged wooden flooring in the dojo here."

The water elemental and the White Shadow Ninja glanced at each other, then each set to work.

The water elemental was responsible for mopping the floor, cleaning up.

The White Shadow Ninja took the money Broly handed it and ran outside for a while.

Before long it returned with some new wooden planks, and taking the hammer, nails, and glue found in the Isayama household, it skillfully set about repairing the floorboards.

One must say, the Black Shadow Corps template is truly strong; the White Shadow Ninja fabricated from that template handles all kinds of household chores with effortless ease.

*Tap tap tap* — the sound of hammering echoed in the dojo; the White Shadow Ninja worked hard at the task its master assigned, while Broly noticed some changes on its body.

"Say, have you become insubstantial?"

This wasn't an illusion from changing light — the White Shadow Ninja's body had truly turned somewhat transparent.

"Right, you're a spirit body now; what you need to replenish isn't Qi, but spiritual power converted from mental strength."

Broly slapped his forehead, walked over, and channeled spiritual power into the White Shadow Ninja; its previously translucent body rapidly solidified.

With spiritual power replenished, its work seemed to gain strength; the *tap tap tap* of hammer on nail sounded like it had sped up a bit.

Before long, several damaged wooden floorboards were replaced, and the cleaned-up dojo looked brand new.

"You've both worked hard."

Broly praised the two summoned creatures with a sentence, then had the water elemental go to the courtyard and canceled the magic power maintaining its existence; the water elemental instantly turned into a puddle of liquid, spilling onto the courtyard ground.

With that done, Broly looked at the White Shadow Ninja beside him and asked: "In this world, can you still hide yourself?"

The White Shadow Ninja's pale-gold eyes looked at the damp mud floor; perhaps due to the Soul Crystal's influence, its gaze actually held a trace of sorrow, as if mourning the former comrades-in-arms who once worked chores together but had now passed away.

Upon looking back at Broly, its young master, its eyes seemed to gain a touch of resolve, as if accepting the destiny that a ninja, once used to the point of uselessness by its master, would be ruthlessly abandoned.

It nodded, then shook its head.

Immediately after, its body sank into the ground.

"You mean, as long as there's light you can hide perfectly within it, but without light you become like this?"

Broly looked at the unlit ground where a white human-outline — the kind police draw around a victim's corpse at a murder scene — had appeared, and asked.

The White Shadow Ninja poked its head out from the white outline and nodded at Broly.

This was indeed far more concealed than the original White Shadow Ninja, which would emit a white glow on the ground or walls when hiding and moving at night, but it seemed even more likely to scare ordinary people.

After all, whose murder-scene victim outline can move around everywhere, and even—

Broly watched the white outline walking on walls and flying over eaves, and couldn't help falling into thought.

His own summoned ninja's art style seems to have an obvious difference from this world's ghostly creatures.

"Forget it, as long as the disguise is good enough it's not a big problem."

Broly rubbed his belly — it was mealtime too.

*Ding-ling-ling~*

The landline rang inside the house; Broly, just about to call the White Shadow Ninja to go out together, had to return to answer it.

"This is the Isayama residence, may I ask—"

"Broly, Father and I won't be back tonight; remember to eat properly. If you don't want to go out to eat, Sister will order takeout for you—"

The call was from Jianshan Huangquan.