At this point, Ren Kuroda still had 1,000 points of "Yokai Prestige" and 1,000 points of "Human Prestige" remaining.
Aside from the thousand prestige points he had originally planned to keep in reserve, this meant he could now choose whether to continue drawing using Yokai Prestige or switch to Human Prestige.
After thinking it over again and again, Ren ultimately decided to use Yokai Prestige for the draw.
There was no other reason—right now, he wanted to raise his yokai power to A-rank as quickly as possible.
Besides, his current skill 『Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain』 was temporarily sufficient. Even if he happened to draw some powerful onmyō techniques, with his present spiritual power, he might not even be able to use them properly.
A thousand prestige points vanished, replaced by a silver coin stamped with the number "1000," representing its value.
At the same time, the number of skill-type slots on the machine jumped to sixteen, nearly taking up half of the entire panel.
Betting most of his remaining fortune, Ren's expression was filled with anticipation.
A 1,000-prestige draw—this was his first time ever doing one. Compared to the 100-prestige draws from before, this was truly ten times the stakes!
As the silver coin slid into the machine, its lights began racing wildly around the panel. Ren's eyes followed them like a toy train speeding along its track.
But what Ren didn't expect was that the single stream of lights suddenly split into two as they ran.
And then—under Ren's utterly dumbfounded gaze—the entire panel lit up at once.
As a former arcade rat who practically grew up in game centers, Ren snapped out of his confusion almost instantly, his face exploding into sheer ecstasy.
This machine was basically an old-school slot machine.
And when everything lit up like this… wasn't this the legendary jackpot?!
"Don't tell me…" Ren muttered, staring at the fully illuminated grid."…I'm getting everything in all forty slots?"
Reality quickly proved that yes, he'd hit the jackpot—but wanting to carry off every single reward was pure wishful thinking.
Ding! Congratulations, Host, for obtaining a hidden reward: Skill 『Demon King's Contract』.
Skill Name: Demon King's ContractSkill Rank: S–Rank (Upgradeable)
Skill Description:A special technique developed by a mysterious Demon King to restrain and command his subordinates.
By activating this skill, the user may form a one-way contract with yokai who willingly submit. When needed, contracted yokai can be summoned across worlds to fight on your behalf.
Current Summon Limit: 10 yokai
Activation Requirements:
Number of yokai under command reaches at least 100 (Completed)
Yokai Prestige Title must be at least "Notable Yokai" (Completed)
PS:"As a great demon ruling a domain, how could you not have a reliable gang of underlings? Say no more—brothers, get him!"
Staring at the flood of information, Ren's head was buzzing.
An S-rank reward!
This was the first time he had ever drawn anything at S-rank!
Even if it was only S–, this clearly wasn't an ordinary S-rank skill. The words "Upgradeable" alone made that obvious—it still had room to grow.
A hidden reward was naturally on a completely different level from the items in the standard slots. This pull was an absolute win.
And after reading the description of 『Demon King's Contract』, Ren's expression turned into unrestrained joy.
He had been feeling frustrated before—he had worked so hard to build up his forces in the Nura World, expanding his influence and gathering more and more subordinates.
But if he couldn't bring them back to the main world, none of it mattered.
If he tried to bring yokai like Kumohime back the same way he had before, it would cost 500 prestige points per yokai. Ren knew very well that he simply couldn't afford that.
But this Demon King's Contract skill perfectly solved that problem.
The description clearly stated that summons could cross worlds—which meant that Ren, while in the main world, could summon Nekomata and the others who were still in the Nura World.
Although the current summon limit was only ten, the fact that the skill was upgradeable meant that ten was clearly not the ceiling.
As for the activation conditions—while they were harsh, Ren just so happened to meet them all.
A hundred yokai under his command?
The Kidōin alone had several thousand yokai, big and small, under its banner.
As for the so-called Prestige Titles, Ren was actually noticing them properly for the first time.
They hadn't seemed very useful before, so he had more or less ignored them.
Still, he knew that whenever he accumulated Human Prestige or Yokai Prestige, the title attached to them would sometimes change.
From the original "Unknown Minor Yokai," it had eventually become "Notable Yokai."
Before coming to this world, both his Human and Yokai Prestige titles had been "Notable Minor Yokai" and "Notable Ordinary Human."
But after completing the first phase of the Lord of Tokyo's Yokai quest and gaining a large amount of Yokai Prestige, the word "Minor" disappeared from his title.
This made one thing clear: some higher-tier skills or abilities likely couldn't be used immediately upon acquisition.
These Prestige Titles would probably serve as usage requirements.
Thankfully, prestige titles seemed to be calculated based on total accumulated prestige, not how much he currently had. Whether Ren spent prestige or not didn't matter—only how much he had earned overall.
Otherwise, if gaining power always required spending prestige, he'd probably be stuck as an "Unknown Minor Yokai" for his entire life.
Staring at the newly added 『Demon King's Contract』 skill, Ren was bursting with excitement. He immediately summoned the yokai of the Kidōin to come and sign contracts with him.
At first glance, this skill didn't seem to directly boost Ren's personal combat power—but as a summoning-type ability, it was already terrifyingly strong.
Nekomata and the others might not be overwhelming right now…
But what about later?
What if they reached B-rank, or even A-rank?
A black tide of great yokai descending at once—tell him, who wouldn't be scared?
Since the current summon limit was only ten, Ren didn't want to waste any slots. He only selected the strongest members of the Kidōin.
After Ren explained everything openly, Nekomata and the others dropped to one knee without the slightest hesitation, declaring their willingness to sign the contract and fight for him.
They were even proud that Ren had chosen them instead of anyone else.
Out of the ten slots, Ren didn't fill them all. He chose Nekomata, the Samurai Spirit, the Samurai Effigy, Hooked Needle Woman, Hand-Washing Specter, Cliffside Imp, and Amanojaku—seven of the strongest yokai in the Kidōin.
He planned to reserve one slot for Kumohime.
As for Nurabe-kabe… with that guy's cowardly personality, the moment he heard about interworld combat, he'd probably be scared out of his mind.
Besides, Nurabe-kabe still had the responsibility of protecting Masami and Ruki, so Ren decided to leave him out of it.
As for the four Red Oni back in the main world…Well, their strength was honestly too weak. Even if he summoned them, they wouldn't be much help. Better to leave them at home to assist Nurabe-kabe in guarding the family.
Ten slots total.Seven used.One reserved for Kumohime.Two kept in reserve.
Perfect.
Because a large number of small yokai had recently joined the Kidōin, Ren used his remaining 1,000 prestige points to exchange for Low-Quality Yokai Power Crystals, strengthening the weaker members.
Those yokai who had come seeking refuge were already deeply grateful to Ren. After being showered with the "sugar-coated bullets" of yokai power crystals, their gratitude and admiration skyrocketed.
As a result, Ren quickly harvested back nearly all the prestige he had spent.
This, in turn, gave Ren an idea—a way to exploit a loophole in the Prestige Title system.
Since prestige titles were based on cumulative prestige gained, Ren could theoretically strengthen his subordinate yokai using Low-Quality Yokai Power Crystals, then reap prestige from their gratitude to increase his total accumulated prestige.
Of course, prestige from the same type of emotional response could only be gained once—otherwise, he could farm it endlessly.
And for this to work, the base number of yokai had to be large enough.
All in all, after this series of operations, the lower-tier yokai of the Kidōin grew noticeably stronger, and Ren successfully boosted his accumulated prestige.
This time, instead of exchanging the reclaimed prestige for more low-quality crystals, Ren splurged on the ridiculously expensive Lower-Grade Yokai Power Crystals.
And rather than consuming them himself, he distributed them to Nekomata and the others.
For Ren, these lower-grade crystals were little more than a drop in the bucket—they wouldn't even help him break through A–rank yokai power.
It was far better to use them to strengthen his subordinates.
On one hand, it was a reward for Nekomata and the others' unwavering loyalty in signing the contract. On the other, thanks to Demon King's Contract, the stronger they became, the greater the benefit to Ren himself.
Lower-grade crystals didn't do much for Ren—but for C-rank yokai like Nekomata and the others, the effects were phenomenal.
After consuming the crystals, the Samurai Spirit and his peers surged from C-rank straight to C+.
Nekomata, Hooked Needle Woman, and the Hand-Washing Specter even broke through the C-rank barrier entirely, reaching B–rank yokai power.
Ren exchanged for a total of ten lower-grade crystals. Each of them received one, and he planned to bring the remaining three back to give to Kumohime.
She had always worked tirelessly, and as things stood, she was the most capable yokai under Ren's command.
With only B–rank power, she wouldn't be able to hold the line for much longer in the future.