Because the reputation Ren Kuroda had gained in such a short time was still far from enough to push his demonic power from A-rank up to true A-rank, all the reputation he'd earned since entering the rankings remained unused.
At present, he had accumulated a little over two thousand points of Human Reputation.
Two thousand points might not sound like much, but one had to remember that although Ren was considered the strongest among the younger generation on the rankings, his sequence ranking was still more than a hundred places down the list.
People noticed him, sure—but compared to the overwhelming attention received by those ranked within the top hundred, the difference was night and day.
Since returning to this world, Ren had finally figured out the second stage of the quest titled "Tokyo Yokai Lord." Specifically, what the system meant by so-called A-rank yokai factions.
In the current era, yokai carved out territories much like the warring states of ancient times—large and small powers standing side by side.
Some factions were strong, others weak. Ren's second-stage objective was clear: his base demonic power had to reach A-rank or higher, and he had to personally wipe out two A-rank yokai factions.
As for what qualified as an "A-rank yokai faction," the system had provided a reference—roughly on the level of the Kamaitachi group he'd encountered before.
Before the great upheaval of heaven and earth, finding a yokai faction of that level would have been nearly impossible.
But in the current world? They weren't exactly everywhere—but they were no longer rare, either.
For Ren's present strength, wiping out a faction of that caliber on his own wasn't especially difficult.
The real problem lay in the second requirement: raising his base demonic power to A-rank.
Ever since his demonic power reached A-minus, the effects of Low-Grade Demonic Power Crystals had grown weaker and weaker. They still worked—but using them to brute-force his way to A-rank would require an absurd amount.
That was only natural. Low-grade demonic power crystals were C-rank items. Expecting them to have a dramatic effect on someone already at A-minus was wishful thinking.
Because of this, Ren had already given up on exchanging reputation for more low-grade demonic power crystals.
His home's defensive strength was already sufficient, the formations layered tight as an iron barrel. At this point, the remaining value of his reputation lay in one thing only—
Gacha.
To be honest, Ren had always earned far more Human Reputation than Yokai Reputation.
But the actual rewards drawn from Human Reputation gacha… aside from Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain, most of the items felt distinctly inferior to what he got from Yokai Reputation.
Letting his consciousness sink into the system, the familiar colossal machine appeared before him once again.
Ren currently had a little over 2,300 points of Human Reputation. Based on the coin exchange rates, he could perform up to 23 draws.
Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to exchange twenty-three 100-point coins.
Leaving luck aside—even if his gacha luck exploded—he had to admit that the rewards in the 100-point tier no longer meant much to him.
Items and skills at that level hovered between D- and C-rank. Even if he pulled a C-rank item… so what?
With his base demonic power at A-minus, and his full combat output reaching S-minus, what use was a C-rank item to him?
Besides, Ren had no intention of spending all his reputation in one go. He needed to keep some in reserve—for survival.
After all, the system had just issued another notification: tonight, he would be crossing worlds again. As for where he'd end up, even the system hadn't said.
After a long hesitation, Ren decided to hold back 800 points of reputation as emergency reserves.
He then used 1,500 reputation points to exchange for one 500-point copper coin and one 1,000-point silver coin.
When Ren dropped the 500-point copper coin into the machine, it burst into light. The forty slots on the display filled with randomized rewards.
Because the coin was exchanged using Human Reputation, all the rewards shown were human-related items and bonuses.
Some of the icons made Ren's face darken instantly.
Samurai topknots. Old clothing. Other suspicious-looking junk.
Thinking back to items he'd drawn using Yokai Reputation—things like Spider Silk of the Jorōgumo or Mermaid Scales—Ren could already guess what those samurai topknots and belts were.
Just like certain accessories taken from yokai, these were probably personal effects once worn by famous warriors of antiquity.
If they came with decent stat bonuses, fine.
But if they were just collectibles or decorations?
That would be a catastrophic loss.
"Are you kidding me?" Ren muttered. "This is a 500-point draw! Aside from the guaranteed eight skill slots, most of the other thirty-two slots look absolutely cursed!"
Unfortunately, no matter how dissatisfied he felt, there was nothing he could do. The rewards were randomized.
The coin had already been inserted. There was no refund button.
All he could do now was pray that his luck would hold—and that he wouldn't pull something utterly bizarre.
Honestly, after seeing the reward pool, Ren had already given up hope of getting anything amazing from this draw.
All he wanted was to not pull a samurai topknot or a belt or some other nightmare fuel.
Most ancient famous warriors were men, after all. Ren had absolutely no interest in collecting personal items once worn by other men.
Even if they had stat bonuses, he'd still have trouble accepting them on a psychological level.
The light-train began to race around the display, and Ren's heart tightened with it.
He'd gone through this many times before, but that moment of anticipation—of hoping for a jackpot—never lost its pull.
He might joke about becoming a salted fish, but even a salted fish needed a dream or two.
The lights gradually slowed.
They passed a skill icon.
Then drifted dangerously close to the samurai topknot icon.
Ren's hopeful expression collapsed into despair.
But just as the light seemed about to stop there—as if a goddess took pity on a salted fish about to dry out in the sun—the light jerked forward one last time.
It crawled ahead by a single slot—
And landed on a blue crystal.
The shape and size were immediately familiar to Ren, though the color was different from what he remembered.
When he checked the item description, his expression shifted to one of resigned acceptance.
"Congratulations. You have obtained Low-Grade Spirit Power Crystal ×1.Item Name: Low-Grade Spirit Power CrystalItem Rank: C-rankItem Description: A crystal condensed from spirit power. Can restore spirit power, awaken spirit power in ordinary humans, and amplify existing spirit power.P.S.: A must-have神器 for home, travel, killing humans, and slaying yokai!"
The description was almost identical to that of a demonic power crystal—just replacing "demonic power" with "spirit power."
Holding the blue crystal in his hand, Ren felt as if he'd just ridden a roller coaster of emotions.
At the moment, though, he was genuinely happy.
Even without pulling a skill, this Low-Grade Spirit Power Crystal was more useful to him right now than almost anything else.
As mentioned before, although Ren had awakened spirit power, he had no proper cultivation method. His spirit power had been stuck at C-minus for ages.
Kujō Hinano's situation wasn't much different. She'd awakened at around D-rank, and only reached C-rank thanks to riding the wave of the spiritual vortex.
Now that the Onmyō Academy had accepted large numbers of ordinary students, it obviously couldn't hoard spirit cultivation methods the way it once did.
But any method shared openly was bound to be low-level.
Not only was the speed of absorbing five-element spiritual energy painfully slow—it was only enough to cultivate spirit power up to C-rank at most.
The great exorcist families would never share their core cultivation techniques. In their eyes, a method that could reach C-rank was already more than enough for commoners.
After all, people like Ren or Kujō Hinano—who reached D- or C-rank the moment they awakened—were rare exceptions.
To those major families, ordinary people lacked resources and had already missed the optimal cultivation window. At best, C-rank was their ceiling.
And did anyone seriously believe those exorcist clans were altruistic?
They'd waited generations for a chaotic age like this.
Now they had status. They had power. Why would they genuinely nurture a group of rogue civilian exorcists who might threaten their position?
All things considered, for civilian exorcists to rise was almost impossibly difficult. A single decent spirit cultivation method alone was enough to block most of them.
Ren himself had once considered hoarding points to exchange for cultivation resources from the Countermeasure Division's vault.
But now, with the appearance of Low-Grade Spirit Power Crystals, that problem no longer existed.
No matter how amazing your cultivation method was, how fast it trained—could it beat directly absorbing spirit power from a crystal?
In the face of a literal cheat, all so-called talent and technique had to kneel and sing praises.
And unlike his A-minus demonic power, where low-grade crystals barely made a dent, Ren's C-minus spirit power was perfectly matched to a C-rank crystal.
Swallowing this blue crystal wouldn't just give a noticeable boost—
It would be ridiculously effective.