Chapter 148: Redeeming the Sacrificial Lord's Strength and Skills

Watching Tsuchimikado Kenji nod in acknowledgment, Tsuchimikado Xia Mei was unable to collect herself for a long time.

Anyone who learned that their close friend was a transcendent being, born in another world and raised in this one, would be shaken—even the clever Tsuchimikado Xia Mei was no exception.

Just then.

Tsuchimikado Kenji asked Tsuchimikado Xia Mei.

"Is Kamikawa Mitsu coming to our house as a guest this Saturday?"

A few days earlier, Tsuchimikado Xia Mei had told her family that she had invited Kamikawa Mitsu to visit their home to see the family's collection of ancient texts. At the time, her family hadn't thought much of it, only surprised that Xia Mei was inviting a boy home for the first time.

This had originally been nothing more than a perfectly normal daughter inviting a friend over, but with Kamikawa Mitsu's identity now exposed, the Tsuchimikado family could not help but take it seriously.

Setting aside the fact that Kamikawa Mitsu was a transcendent being, the mere fact that he came from the Ashiya family—the ancestral sworn enemies of the Tsuchimikado family—meant Tsuchimikado Kenji had to think it over carefully.

As Tsuchimikado Kenji's words rang out, Tsuchimikado Xia Mei sensed something and couldn't help but ask.

"Grandfather, what are you trying to say?"

"Nothing, I was just asking out of curiosity—why would Kamikawa Mitsu want to come see our Tsuchimikado family's texts? After all, he comes from the Ashiya family…"

Before he could finish, Tsuchimikado Xia Mei cut Tsuchimikado Kenji off.

"Kamikawa-kun could not possibly have any scheme against our family, because the invitation was something I proposed on my own. Kamikawa-kun never once mentioned wanting to come to our house to see the texts."

She understood the unspoken meaning behind Tsuchimikado Kenji's words.

Kamikawa Mitsu was a descendant of the Ashiya family; the Ashiya family was founded by Ashiya Douman; and Ashiya Douman was the sworn enemy of Abe no Seimei, having once stolen Abe no Seimei's texts.

Tsuchimikado Kenji suspected that Kamikawa Mitsu's coming to see the Tsuchimikado family's texts was not out of curiosity about Shinto, but for some other scheme.

After all, although the Tsuchimikado family had no transcendent beings, they were indeed descendants of Abe no Seimei, and the texts that had been passed down were ancient. Although Tsuchimikado Kenji had read through quite a few of them and hadn't found anything special, he was ultimately not a transcendent being and could not judge whether the texts might contain certain secrets.

In fact, Tsuchimikado Kenji felt an impulse to look through the texts again, to see whether they contained secrets—or even some hidden transcendent information deliberately left behind for the Abe family when they vanished from this world.

Was Kamikawa Mitsu coming precisely for this transcendent information?

"Grandfather, I trust Kamikawa-kun. Don't overthink it. How many years has it been since our ancestors and Ashiya Douman's grudge? You can't conclude that their descendants should bear the same enmity just because of that."

Clear, beautiful eyes, with a steadfast light passing through them.

Tsuchimikado Xia Mei did not believe Kamikawa Mitsu was using her to steal the Tsuchimikado family's secrets, because she herself knew best what a curious gaze toward Shinto looked like. Kamikawa Mitsu's eyes were the same as hers—full of curiosity about Shinto, with not a trace of scheming or trickery.

"You were the one who invited him?"

"Yes, I invited him."

"Then maybe Grandpa is overthinking it." Tsuchimikado Kenji scratched his head.

Then his expression grew slightly awkward. He glanced at Xia Mei, his tone faltering, too embarrassed to speak:

"By the way, Xia Mei, Director Takahashi's side also knows about you inviting Kamikawa Mitsu to our house. This time he came to deliver materials to us, but he actually had another layer of intention, which is… since you and Kamikawa Mitsu are on good terms, they were wondering if you could find a chance to ask Kamikawa Mitsu about matters concerning transcendent beings."

Tsuchimikado Xia Mei frowned. She, who was always gentle and sweet-tempered, changed her expression, seeming to have grown angry.

"Grandfather, Director Takahashi wants me to pump Kamikawa-kun for information, doesn't he?"

"Yes…" Tsuchimikado Kenji said very softly, looking guilty.

Having watched Xia Mei grow up since childhood, he knew why she was angry.

But there was no helping it—Director Takahashi's words had to be conveyed.

At this moment.

"I will not pump Kamikawa-kun for information." Tsuchimikado Xia Mei's tone was firm, her attitude resolute: "Kamikawa-kun is my closest friend. I would never do something like pumping my good friend for information."

Tsuchimikado Xia Mei was very clever, but she was also straightforward.

In her eyes, good friends could have secrets from each other, could refrain from prying, but there should never be such scheming. If one truly did that, friends would no longer be friends—it would turn sour.

Even if this was a request from the upper echelons of the state, she would not compromise or agree, firmly refusing to do anything that would betray her friend.

Tsuchimikado Kenji shook his head with a wry smile: "I knew you'd say that, you girl. When Director Takahashi brought this up, I told him you wouldn't agree, but he still wanted me to pass the message to you and hear your answer in person. I'll go give Director Takahashi your answer now."

Hearing this, Tsuchimikado Xia Mei nodded.

From beginning to end, Tsuchimikado Xia Mei had never considered that her refusal of Director Takahashi's request would incur his displeasure.

Because the Tsuchimikado family was a descendant of transcendent beings, and the family provided the government with a great deal of information, Director Takahashi wouldn't be displeased over such a small matter. Moreover, he hadn't intended for this matter to necessarily succeed—Tsuchimikado Xia Mei was only a Gao Zhongsheng, and one couldn't force a young girl to do something she was unwilling to do; otherwise, what would be the difference between that and being a beast?

……

Tokyo, Japan, Arakawa Ward, apartment.

After dinner, Kamikawa Mitsu returned to his room.

Ding! Host has completed the script, rating 95 points.

Ding! Please host edit the script video, upload it as a video, and the system will give a rating based on the video's popularity upon upload. The system will then give a comprehensive rating based on both script completion and upload popularity, rewarding corresponding script points.

The cold system notification sounded.

Kamikawa Mitsu immediately entered video editing, editing the Tochigi Prefecture video and uploading it online.

A long while later.

After uploading the video, his consciousness withdrew from the video-editing space, and Kamikawa Mitsu spoke in an expectant tone.

"Once I get the script points from this one, I should be able to redeem the Sacrificial Lord's strength and skills."

He looked at the system interface, at the script points in the script column.

Last time, from the saliva incident, he had obtained 85,000 script points. Subtracting the 5,000 script points spent on Abe no Otomaro's portrayal and the saliva, he ended up with 80,000 script points.

Adding the 100,000 script points obtained from Master Konghai's incident, he had 180,000 script points.

But this time, creating the transcendent scene in Tochigi Prefecture—several thousand golden skeletons, jade-bone corpses, and a very large-scale scene—had cost a full 50,000 script points.

Adding and subtracting before and after.

He now had only 130,000 script points left.

Before this, when the script reward from Master Konghai's incident had not yet come in, he had planned to redeem the Sacrificial Lord's skills and strength. However, after the 100,000 script points came in, he found he couldn't afford to redeem the Sacrificial Lord, because redeeming the Sacrificial Lord's strength and skills required a full 150,000 script points.

150,000 script points, but he only had 100,000 in hand—still 50,000 short.

Fortunately, the system updated with a small-script feature, keeping Kamikawa Mitsu's hope from being completely dashed. He intended to use the small-script feature to obtain more script points and redeem the Sacrificial Lord.

Originally, after the drool incident was completed, Kamikawa Mitsu's script points had accumulated to 180,000, enough to redeem a Ritual Lord, but he did not redeem one.

180,000 script points — redeeming a Ritual Lord would cost 150,000, leaving only 30,000.

30,000 looks like a lot, but it isn't much.

Kamikawa Mitsu had to keep some backup for incursions from other realms; these remaining script points were that backup. 30,000 was really too few. Not to mention encountering an even more powerful incursion from another realm — even an incursion on par with the Void Demon Realm alone would not be enough to withstand with 30,000 script points, even if he himself redeemed the strength of a Ritual Lord.

The Void Demon Realm — Void Demon Overlords at the same realm as a Ritual Lord were not nonexistent; there were several.

Kamikawa Mitsu understood the principle that two fists were hard pressed to fight against four hands.

He had to keep at least 50,000 or more script points in reserve, so Kamikawa Mitsu did not rush to redeem. He would wait until the supernatural phenomenon in Tochigi Prefecture was implemented to earn script points, then make plans to redeem.

……