The Barracks Module system existed to complete a full-fledged military structure.
It was complex by design — low cost, high output, and formidable combat power. All of it boiled down to one thing: cost-effectiveness.
The Romantic Turret: Pumpkin fit those criteria perfectly.
Its bullets, generated through mental energy conversion, were limitless. Moreover, the more danger the user faced, the greater their firepower became.
If those two traits could be preserved...
Then this weapon would be the undisputed choice for integration into the Weapon Module.
Besides, perhaps it was because he'd dared to threaten the Red-Haired Emperor — but Ren's luck seemed to be rising again.
There wasn't just one prize suited for a military system this time.
Another was a curious little object: two seemingly ordinary disposable cups.
Yet these cups came from the world of Doraemon—a miraculous piece of technology.
[String Phone Without a String]
Origin: Doraemon Dimension
Type: High-Tech Device
Effect: A product from Doraemon's world — String Phone Without a String ignores distance, enabling communication anywhere. It recharges automatically by converting sunlight into electricity.
Cost: Electrical Energy
At first glance, it looked just like those childhood toys — paper cups connected by string.
Except there was no string. With just two communicators, conversation could happen instantly.
Ren found this feature extremely fitting for the Barracks Module's communication system.
The Iron Knights currently weren't very useful; their biggest issue lay in their limited mobility.
Their operational range capped at three kilometers — restricted by the Redstone Intelligence Core's limits.
"Not bad at all," Ren mused.
He then looked toward another item from the same world. It seemed this particular draw had been a Doraemon-themed jackpot.
[Experience Recorder]
Origin: Doraemon
Type: High-Tech Device
Effect: A product from Doraemon's world — the Experience Recorder can store and replay sensory memories. It perfectly simulates human senses such as taste, pain, and touch.
Cost: None
On its own, it didn't sound particularly useful.
But what if... combined with another old friend?
The Synthesis Scroll.
[Synthesis Scroll]
Origin: Game Dimension
Type: Rule Code
Effect: A scroll inscribed with rule-level code — a crafting formula.It contains a six-slot interface. Once five components are placed, and a compatible core item is added into the sixth slot according to logic, synthesis begins — producing a perfectly fused product.
Cost: None
Ren had already witnessed the power of the Synthesis Scroll when crafting the Thunder Spear.
If he unfurled the scroll and combined the Experience Recorder with the Imagination Chamber Helmet, the outcome was easy to imagine.
"A perfect synthesis like that could become a shortcut for rapid combat enhancement," Ren murmured." And with five total slots, there'd still be room — perhaps I could include the Healing Pod as well?"
A function capable of synchronizing recorded sensory data directly with the body would have both benefits and risks.
For instance — syncing the memory of running would grant the same physical training effect...But it would also cause fatigue, rapid heartbeat, and physical strain.
And that was just running. What about memories of dying? Would those effects also transfer?
"This issue can't be ignored," Ren judged. "But it's definitely a potential path forward."
Still, something in him whispered that rushing this synthesis wasn't wise.
The Golden Roulette had proven the quality of its rewards. Perhaps it was worth waiting — for the right puzzle pieces to appear, so that the best possible artifact could be crafted.
"Let's wait and see."
Ren stored the relevant items inside the Four-Dimensional Chrysanthemum space.
Next came a blade.
A long blade measuring 1.61 meters, with a pitch-black hilt and a closed eyeball embedded in its pommel. The guard was shaped like a honeycomb hexagon, and beneath it ran cyan-blue patterns outlining half the face of a wicked demon.
The blade itself gleamed pure white, veined with inky black cracks — forged from a thousand fragments.
When driven with power, the weapon radiated a sinister violet glow — the manifestation of the demon sealed within.
And then, the light screen displayed its information.
[Cursed Blade: Thousand Edge]
Origin:Scissor Seven
Type: Cursed Spirit Weapon
Effect: One of the national treasures of the Divine Forge Kingdom. Its crafting method is exceedingly complex. The blade's one thousand fragments can shift shape, attacking in various ways. Purely offensive and peerless in destruction — the most aggressive weapon known.
However, without recognition from the curse spirit within, it remains a fragile piece of junk.
The blade possesses multiple traits:[Cursed Spirit], [Energy Absorption], [Qi Conduction], [Strong Link], [Indestructible].
Cursed Spirit: A malevolent spirit sealed within — both the weapon's soul and its core. Recognition by the spirit unlocks all properties.
Energy Absorption: A living blade capable of draining blood and energy from its victims, storing it for future use — either in attacks or to nourish the wielder.
Qi Conduction: Each of the thousand fragments responds to and channels the user's Qi with near-zero loss, maintaining unity even across great distances.
Strong Link: The blade's fragments share an energy network, allowing instantaneous coordination and shape-shifting over a ten-kilometer range.
Indestructible: Forged with hyperdense Divine Forge technology, its durability, strength, and resilience far surpass ordinary steel.
Cost: Recognition from the Cursed Spirit
"One thousand fragments — nearly half more than the replica, and with far more traits," Ren noted.
He placed his hand on the sheathed blade. Nothing happened.
It seemed this spirit differed greatly from the replica's imitation. Still, as expected, recognition from the spirit was required.
Ren's eyes drifted to the Killing Intent panel. After the Don Krieg Pirates incident, his killing intent had evolved into the Fiend Shade stage.
Then came the base purges, the Nanohana Landing, and the Alabasta conclusion. Those combined campaigns had left countless corpses behind.
Most of them had fallen to the Thunder Spear's predecessor — the Gáe Bolg — but the count was monstrous nonetheless.
Over three thousand men at least, not to mention all those the Iron Knights had slaughtered.
Altogether, his kill count easily exceeded ten thousand.
That was the realm of the Myriad-Slayer.
And with it, his killing aura evolved once more.
[Demon Lord]
Type: Killing Aura
Effect: A killing aura forged from the wrath and malice of over ten thousand souls. It manifests around the bearer as the terrifying presence of the Demon Lord. Like the butcher's stench of blood, or the coroner's chill of death — it will haunt him forever.
Intimidation evolves into Soul Tremor — allowing eye contact alone to send foes' spirits reeling. Depending on their willpower, victims may freeze, lose control, or collapse in terror.
Lesser spirit-type entities instinctively submit to such demonic power, while even stronger ones feel unease and dread before it.
This aura can still evolve further — its next stage: Fiend God.
Remark: "As though Heaven itself has cast down a Demon Lord — a true calamity upon mankind."
"Should be enough... Ten thousand kills, huh? Feels almost numb now."
Ren exhaled and pressed his palm to the cursed blade once more, channeling Qi into it.
Blue light flared along the etchings of the guard, the spirit's outline sharpening — its eyes gleaming red.
Then, the world changed.
Reality peeled away from his sight, replaced by the depths of the underworld.
He stood atop a tiny, wavering boat drifting across a vast, dark marsh.
The murky waters glimmered faintly, littered with countless abandoned weapons.Even from a distance, he could feel the murderous aura they exuded.
Above him loomed a purple-black sky swept by ghostly wind.
At its farthest edge, a column of light pierced the heavens — like a sword raised to the firmament.
And upon its summit sat a dark figure haloed in shadowed radiance.
The little boat rocked onward toward the pillar.
Up close, Ren realized the "light" was the Cursed Blade: Thousand Edge itself — extending hundreds of meters skyward, its fragments suspended apart, bound together by the spirit's energy.
Hovering above the black hilt was a simian-shaped apparition, its red eyes snapping open.
A monstrous wave of killing intent surged out like a tsunami.
The light screen appeared again.
[The Cursed Blade: Thousand Edge challenges you.]
Trial Type: Battle of Wills
Notes:
Victory decides all. Defeat means death by this blade.
Mental combat wounds the spirit far more than physical pain. Beware.
This may be illusion… but if you lose, it may cease to be illusion.
The weak have no right to wield the Cursed Blade.
"So that's how it is..."
Ren pondered briefly, then accepted the challenge.
Crack!
The boat beneath him shattered, and he plunged into the dark waters below.
BOOM—!
The purple-black sky caved in, collapsing upon the marsh as waves surged upward.
Within those churning waters, countless black shapes emerged — ghastly beings like drowned spirits.
Each grasped a weapon from the depths and rushed toward Ren, riding the waves or slithering beneath them, their killing intent suffocating.
The little boat was gone, torn apart by the storm.
Immersed in the abyss, Ren felt his strength vanish — as though every skill, every module, every technique had been stripped away.
He was no more than a mortal man again, adrift in a sea of vengeful ghosts.
(End of Chapter)