Chapter 49: Prajna Are Ghosts and Gods

Uesugi澈 casually found a shop to buy an XXL hooded coat and a fox mask, then stored them in his spatial inventory.

Since tonight's area unlocking mission required his physical body to board the train, he decided to transform into the Hannya of Smiles at the first sign of any anomaly, just in case.

The coat and the mask were props to be used for disguise in front of ordinary people if needed.

Sitting down on a rocking chair in a secluded park, Uesugi澈 began searching for information related to Kisaragi Station on his smartphone.

He was naturally aware of this urban legend, which was famous throughout Japan, but he had forgotten most of the finer details.

Since it concerned the unlocking of the next area, he could not afford to be careless.

—The legend of Kisaragi Station, simply put, was about a girl who boarded a train late at night bound for the Netherworld. After stepping off the train, she arrived at Kisaragi Station, a name that shares a homophone with "demon" in Japanese.

Then she encountered all sorts of demons and monsters, getting lost alone in the Netherworld, unable to ever return to the mortal realm.

It was as simple a story as that.

Yet Uesugi澈 read through it with utmost care, not only reviewing the original version but also carefully reading various later derivative works.

With the precedent of Lady Futakuchi in mind, Uesugi澈 knew that no matter which version it was, and no matter how wildly it deviated from the original, it could potentially become part of a real urban legend.

Thus, he focused his research on "the passengers on the train" and "the tunnels and stations along the route."

Since the sole objective of this trip was to reach Kisaragi Station, the only potential sources of danger would come from the train itself and the passengers within it.

"Five sleeping passengers... or perhaps five different monsters."

However, because most of the Kisaragi Station legend focused on events after stepping off the train, Uesugi澈 could not gather more detailed information.

He only knew that he needed to be wary of the passengers inside the train.

"Merely being vigilant is not enough without sufficient strength."

Putting down his phone, Uesugi澈 retrieved the weeping-yet-smiling White Hannya mask from his spatial inventory.

Without any hesitation, he used it, activating Effect Two!

The moment his will commanded it, the White Hannya mask shattered, transforming into a weeping sound laden with deep fury that lingered around Uesugi澈's ears.

[You have used the "Mask of White Hannya"!]

[Your demon avatar, Hannya of Smiles, has reached the required potential!]

[The quality of your demon avatar, Hannya of Smiles, has been upgraded from "Super Excellent" to "Rare"!]

As the notification popped up, Uesugi澈 immediately felt his body become a fraction more powerful.

He raised an eyebrow slightly; it seemed that quality upgrades also brought attribute boosts to the demon avatar.

However, the main event was yet to come.

[Detected that the quality of your demon avatar, Hannya of Smiles, has reached "Rare", distributing rewards...]

[The quality of your demon avatar, Hannya of Smiles, has been upgraded from "Rare" to "Epic"!]

[The quality of your demon avatar, Hannya of Smiles, has reached its limit!]

[Notice: When your demon avatar, Hannya of Smiles, reaches one and a half stars, it will evolve into the demon avatar, White Hannya!]

This promotion was exceptionally quiet, and the physical strength within his body did not increase further. Were the main changes concentrated in the upper limit and potential?

Uesugi澈 gently swayed on the rocking chair and opened the brand-new Hannya of Smiles panel—

[Hannya of Smiles (Youth Form)]

[Quality: Epic]

[Tier: One Star]

[Tier Limit: Three and a Half Stars]

[Talents: Ghost and Deity (Weak), Greed, Hatred, and Ignorance (Weak), Berserker]

[—Hannya of Smiles, White Hannya, Red Hannya. All are Hannya, ghosts and deities alike.]

The first thing that caught his eye was, naturally, the eye-catching word "Epic" following the quality designation.

Before today, Uesugi澈 would never have imagined that, without even possessing a few items of Rare quality, he would manage to elevate the quality of his first demon avatar to the unimaginable Epic tier.

The notification had mentioned that the demon avatar's potential met the requirement; so that was why the Hannya of Smiles had emitted a purple glow when it was first drawn.

If it had been any other Hannya, he might not have been able to use it even with the White Hannya mask in hand.

It could only have hung there like an accessory, while also suffering the penalty of a massive reduction in charm value.

Secondly, although the tier remained unchanged, the limit had indeed increased from "one and a half stars" to "three and a half stars."

It seemed that the upper limit for the Hannya race was a three-and-a-half-star evil spirit, leaving a small, insurmountable chasm before reaching the legendary four-star [Ghost and Deity].

Next were the two talents that had undergone slight changes, aside from "Berserker"—

[Ghost and Deity (Weak): The power of ghosts and deities, the might of ghosts and deities, the countenance of ghosts and deities.]

A talent whose description felt somewhat ambiguous at a glance, but it should be an upgraded version of the original "Power of Ghosts and Deities." As for its specific effects, he would test them out the next time he transformed.

[Greed, Hatred, and Ignorance (Weak): Deals additional damage to targets harboring negative emotions. The more negative emotions accumulated, the higher the damage dealt.]

The original crowd-control skill had turned into a passive ability?

"Or could it be that this is a youth version of the complete talent, requiring further upgrades to slowly flesh it out into a complete, powerful talent?"

Uesugi澈 felt his reasoning was sound, which meant that the plan to upgrade the Hannya of Smiles to one and a half stars also needed to be put on the agenda.

When he checked the Hannya of Smiles panel, he discovered that the 50 points of Requiem Incense Ash originally required for the upgrade had increased to 75 points.

Upon closer reflection, this was entirely reasonable—powerful demons required relatively more resources consumed during their advancement in order to gain strength surpassing demons of the same tier.

Now he had a little over 400 points of soul ash. Once he unlocked the Kisaragi Station area tonight, he would surely be able to pull another tenfold draw soon to initiate the second upgrade of the Hannya of Smiles.

[Because the quality of your demon avatar, Hannya of Smiles, has reached "Epic", you can now materialize it into a special equipment piece to wear.]

The final notification popped up, causing Uesugi澈 to raise an eyebrow slightly.

What did this mean?

He clicked on [Equipment Conversion] next to the name of the Hannya of Smiles with his mind, and then Uesugi澈 found that he was holding an exquisitely crafted, lifelike Hannya of Smiles mask in his hand.

[Mask of Hannya]

[Quality: Epic]

[Effect: Stores one talent of the "Demon Avatar: Hannya of Smiles", retaining 50% of its effect. Wearing it does not consume an equipment slot.]

[—An exquisitely perfect evil spirit mask; even the top-tier craftsmen could not pick out a single flaw.]

Uesugi澈 was slightly stunned, seeming to understand the true significance of the demon avatar reaching Epic quality.

In an instant, he even envisioned himself in the future wearing dozens of similar items, carrying tens or hundreds of different talents.

"However, let's take things one step at a time for now."

Uesugi澈 touched his empty stomach. His last meal had been the bento box breakfast at home, and now it was already evening. Not to mention he had just been through high-intensity combat, leaving him utterly starved.

Time to eat first.

Uesugi澈 casually picked a Yoshinoya by the roadside, intending to order an extra-large bowl of gyudon to fill his stomach.

Yet just as he walked into the restaurant, he caught sight of two familiar figures.

Uesugi澈 froze for a second, looking at the woman who had casually tossed her black tie aside, her cheeks flushed, chugging beer straight from the bottle,

"Senior Sister Nanjo?!"