"The system rewards receive better enchantments, but they are so expensive. Not only do I not have the levels, I don't even have enough lapis for any more enchantments…"
Taro sighed as he began to acknowledge how much grinding he had to do. He began planning the construction of the XP farm, but from memory alone, it proved to be a struggle.
Taro wasn't a genius—far from it—nor did he have a memory that could store unlimited amounts of information without losing any. In the end, he was just your average joe, and so he began experimenting.
From his past builds, he remembered the core items, which were seven to ten building blocks of any kind and hoppers.
"If I remember correctly, it should be built in the ocean, or something like that. Then around 80 blocks above ground… or was it 100?"
He shook his head in frustration. "Fuck it, let's just do 90…"
Gathering all the necessary items for the build took almost three hours in the real world, and through trial and error, the build was finished in five real-world hours.
The build wasn't anything flashy; if anything, it was ugly. However, what took time was getting everything right: having the mobs spawn in the right places, the right height, and the right measurements.
The platform was above the ocean and was 100 blocks above ground. Using the ten stacks of building blocks (wood blocks), Taro created a 20x20 square platform for the base of the farm. Then he built walls two blocks high with a roof to block out all light completely.
What took most of his time was figuring out where to place the trapdoors. It took him nearly an hour to finally figure out the right edges where mobs would think the gaps were full blocks. After the trapdoors were placed, he created four water streams flowing into a 2x2 hole in the center of the build.
Then he built down a 22-block drop to leave the mobs at low health so he could kill them easily. Finally, he placed the hoppers and chest to finish off the build.
"Finally, I'm finished… But I should probably head back to the ninja world, it's been some time since I last went there."
Taro exhaled in relief and opened a portal to the ninja world.
He stepped outside of the cave and saw the night sky full of stars. It was already dark, yet two ninjas guarded the place.
Taro raised an eyebrow and asked, "What are you guys doing here? I didn't ask for guards…"
The two weren't that old, around Kise's age. The one on the right was familiar to Taro, as he was with Kise when they arrived in the clan about a month ago: Enka.
Enka yawned, "You think we wanna be here, pipsqueak?"
On the left was someone who had guarded Taro when he first transmigrated into this world, Toji Hosai.
"Stop that, will you?" Toji scolded. "Sorry for my younger brother's antics, he doesn't mean any harm."
Taro raised an eyebrow and checked their stats. To Taro's surprise, the two had decent potential. Enka was at the peak of chunin, stronger than Hotsu by a mile. Not only that, he had the potential to be an Elite Jonin.
On the other hand, Toji had the same potential, but his stats weren't like anyone else's.
[Name: Toji Hosai
Title: None
Rank: Chunin
Chakra Affinity: Earth
Potential: Elite Jonin
IQ: 115
Battle IQ: 120
Strength: 203
Speed: 199
Durability: 300
Chakra: 10]
Taro thought to himself, "How is he not a jonin? He has insane stats… I'm guessing he's at the peak of chunin, or at least a special jonin. It seems that he's like Rock Lee from Naruto, who could barely use any chakra."
Taro paused, then murmured, "What if I tried recreating the Eight Inner Gates and gave it to this guy? Or maybe the Seven Heavens Breathing Method. Either one would be a good fit."
"Is something wrong?" asked Toji.
Enka rolled his eyes, "How long do we have to be here? This twerp has already left the cave, so can we leave too?"
"Who even told you to come here?" asked Taro.
"Kise. If it weren't for your big bro, I wouldn't even be here," Enka said.
"Kise is here?" asked Taro.
Toji nodded, "Yeah, he just got back a few hours ago."
Taro nodded, then remembered something. He went back inside the cave to "grab" something, but in truth, he just opened his inventory and grabbed his sword.
"Enka, let's have a spar. I wanna test this sword out," ordered Taro.
Toji was about to interject when suddenly Enka's laugh echoed, "Hahahaha! Hey twerp, if it weren't for the fact that you're Kise's little brother, I would've grilled you by now."
Toji smacked his little brother, "I'm sorry for his attitude… If you're asking for a spar because he has been rude to you, I will personally beat him up."
Toji turned to his brother and cocked back his fist while holding the now screaming Enka. "Stop, I'm sorry, Big Bro!"
To Enka's delight, Taro quickly stopped Toji. "No, it's not because of that." He pulled out the sword and lightly gathered chakra on it. The blue chakra turned orange and heat gradually started emanating from the blade. "I just want to test this out."
Toji and Enka's eyes went wide, and Enka asked in excitement, "W-What is that?! Is that a chakra-conductive sword? But why is it orange? Are you secretly not human? Can I try it out? Did you make that? How did you make it?"
With the endless bombardment of questions, Taro only answered one. "Yes, I made it a few hours ago. Although Kise was the one that gave me the sword, I upgraded it for my own use."
Enka jumped up and down with excitement. "Alright! I'll spar with you." He paused and raised a finger. "However, if I win, you'll have to let me borrow the sword for at least two months! And if you win, I'll do whatever you ask me to do for three months!"
Taro smiled and thought to himself, "This guy is a Kise dick rider, isn't he? I can just ask Kise to get the sword back if I really lose."
Taro nodded with a practiced smile and agreed, "Sure, why not. But why do you even want the sword so badly?"
Toji chuckled, "My little brother is a weapon enthusiast. He collects any weapon he sees as interesting. He even tried to fight the clan patriarch for his personal weapon, but he was severely beaten."
Enka scoffed and pulled out the naginata from behind his back. "I only lost to him because he cheated!" He stopped the childish banter and took on a serious face. "Get ready, little twerp, I won't go easy on you!"