Time flowed onward, and the perspective shifted.
Within Raize's Minecraft world, the viewpoint arrived at a vast ocean composed entirely of cubes. The blocky seawater here was surging and boiling violently, as if something godlike and scorching beneath the surface were burning the ocean itself.
Five thousand feet beneath the surface of the Minecraft world's sea, a figure with a bare, muscular upper body was coiled within the pitch-black, high-pressure waters.
There was no light source in the darkness, and Raize was the only existence visible in those deep, black waters.
His tightly packed muscles shone like a blazing sun, blood-red wisps of energy burning across his body as they continuously roasted the surrounding seawater.
He maintained a one-hundred-percent Absolute Domain to resist the crushing pressure of the deep sea.
Gurgle, gurgle!
Streams of bubbles rose past Raize's body. In this environment, even a truck would be crushed flat by the pressure.
A terrifying circulation of Absolute Domain energy flowed beneath his skin, helping him withstand the immense water pressure.
He had been here for a long time without eating or drinking. Matters in the real world were handled by doppelganger, allowing him to focus entirely on training.
Over the past few days, Raize had already cleared Bleach vs Naruto and Street Fighter IV.
Only Ultimate Spider-Man remained unconquered, because he needed time to digest the rewards he had obtained.
The latest Subnautica game would have to wait. He was currently focused on assimilating the rewards from his completed games.
After clearing Bleach vs Naruto, he obtained random character power templates: Orihime Inoue, Bankai White Ichigo, Naruto Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, and Eight-Tails Killer Bee.
The rewards from this small game were exceptionally generous.
Orihime Inoue's Shun Shun Rikka, Rejection of Phenomena, struck Raize as having immense developmental potential. Its principle could not be explained by time reversal or spatial restoration; it was an outright violation of divine authority.
It could negate events that had already occurred. When Orihime healed her companions, she was rejecting all negative influences upon their bodies, completely nullifying damage and effects by "rejecting" them out of existence.
This was a high-tier ability by any measure, and Raize intended to focus on developing Reject Phenomena in the future.
Next was the inheritance of White Ichigo, which awakened spiritual pressure within Raize. However, this spiritual pressure felt excessively violent.
Moreover, after awakening this violent spiritual pressure, Raize sensed Hollow traits emerging within himself.
After all, White Ichigo was essentially the fusion of Hollow power with Shinigami power, created by Aizen.
It possessed both Shinigami and Hollow abilities.
In the Bleach universe, both Shinigami and Hollows had upper limits. To break through those limits, one had to combine the powers of both. Shinigami had to undergo Hollowfication, while Arrancar were Hollows undergoing Shinigami evolution.
The power Raize obtained was of this very nature, and he was currently working to master control over his newly gained spiritual pressure.
Next was Golden Naruto, referring to Naruto after acquiring Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. After winning the internal tug-of-war and extracting the Nine-Tails' chakra before resealing it with the Eight Trigrams Seal, Naruto could choose between using tailed beast chakra or his own. When using the former, markings of the Sage of Six Paths appeared on his body, patterns emerged on his face, and golden chakra enveloped him entirely.
Some viewers even nicknamed this form "Golden Man."
Raize obtained an incomplete version of this level of Nine-Tails chakra. In addition, from the inheritance of Eight-Tails Killer Bee, aside from Bee's techniques, he also gained the Eight-Tails' massive chakra reserves.
Calculating Raize's total chakra reserves, they were no less than half of the Nine-Tails'. He could practically call himself "Chakra-ton."
This immense chakra had fused into his own energy system, and the properties of chakra were now shared by his own power.
After clearing Street Fighter IV, he obtained four rewards, three of which were character templates: Evil Ryu, Gouken, and Chun-Li.
Among these, Gouken was the strongest. He was a hidden character in Street Fighter IV.
He was the second-generation grandmaster of the Ansatsuken, Akuma's biological brother, and the master of Ryu, Ken, and Dan.
Though brothers by blood, Gouken's personality was completely different from Akuma's Satsui no Hado (Surge of Killing Intent). He was gentle, avoided killing his opponents, rejected the ultimate form of the Hadoken, and instead awakened the power Akuma called the "Power of Nothingness" (Kyoi no Hado).
The Wave of Nothingness was the complete opposite of the Surge of Killing Intent Wave. The latter focused on lethal combat, while the former embodied a calm, reactive supremacy.
In Akuma's Street Fighter IV ending, this was clearly demonstrated. Gouken barely moved and effortlessly neutralized Akuma's signature technique, the Shun Goku Satsu/Raging Demon, as if Akuma had only struck an empty illusion.
Raize now possessed both the Surge of Killing Intent and the Power of Nothingness. Normally, acquiring the Surge of Killing Intent could lead to berserk madness, but Kirby's power allowed him to absorb it without side effects.
These two opposing waves elevated Raize into the realm of Ultimate Power. Not only that, the Surge of Killing Intent allowed him to comprehend Dark Power.
Beyond Absolute Domain, Ultimate Power diverged based on one's obsession. Those with righteous hearts attained standard Ultimate Power, while those driven by evil or negative emotions entered the realm of Dark Power.
In The King of Fighters, only the Orochi clan possessed true Dark Power. Others merely wielded imitations.
Raize did not possess imitation Dark Power. After absorbing a drop of Orochi blood earlier, combined with the mind-corroding nature of the Surge of Killing Intent, he acquired genuine Dark Power.
"Wave" or Hadoken referred to massive energy circulating within the body in oscillating vibrations. Absolute Domain and Ultimate Power were highly compatible with this form of energy.
The final reward was an item once carried by a powerful being.
[Prayer Beads Tainted by the Killing Intent of the Mad Demon]
『Quality』: A+++
『Effect』: Originally ordinary prayer beads, but after being worn by Akuma for a long time, they became saturated with dense Surge of Killing Intent Wave energy, turning into a special equipment item. They amplify the Surge of Killing Intent and deepen one's comprehension of killing intent.
『Warning』: The killing intent within the beads will erode the wearer's will, carrying an extremely high risk of losing control. Use with caution.
Raize had no interest in wearing prayer beads. He directly swallowed them using Kirby's power, absorbing the killing intent contained within.
Although he was not overtaken by the Surge of Killing Intent thanks to Kirby's ability, the murderous aura and hostility within his heart were nonetheless stirred.
Hadoken-based martial arts were special. When wave energy circulated within the body, it resonated with the mind. Continuous killing through wave energy would cause mental descent, and the killing intent generated would, in turn, contaminate the Hadoken energy itself.
The fusion of killing intent and wave energy formed a high-tier force: the Dark Hado, manifested in blood-red hues like freshly spilled blood.
Compared to the Wave of Nothingness, Raize seemed more compatible with the Killing Intent Wave. Even slight exposure caused him to recall the angriest moment of his life—when his past-life memories first awakened.
Being eroded by killing intent did not mean losing rationality. Raize remained fully conscious, though the surging desire to kill rising from his heart was somewhat difficult to control.
Fortunately, the Power of Nothingness and the Primordial Sacred Radiance kept the negative effects in check.
Gurgle, gurgle!!
Within his robust body, blazing blood and energy surged endlessly. Raize suddenly opened his eyes, azure-blue pupils flashing with blood-red lightning.
Dense crimson energy steamed around him. On the surface of his resilient, muscle-packed back, a blood-red character for "Destruction" flickered briefly before vanishing.
Boom!
Without any visible movement, the crushing water pressure exploded like dynamite, forcing Raize's body out of the deep sea.
A figure burning with blood-like energy erupted from the boiling ocean and landed steadily upon the surface, bare feet stepping on the water as if it were solid ground.
All seawater on Raize's body was instantly evaporated by the raging aura. The violent power coursed within him like a blazing furnace, continuously steaming the surrounding sea.
He took a deep breath of long-missed air, then instantly retracted his vast blood energy and aura back into his body. The compressed power within him was like a dormant volcano, capable of affecting everything within a hundred-li radius if fully unleashed.
After retrieving clothes from his inventory and putting them on, Raize locked onto a direction and instantly broke the sound barrier.
In just a few seconds, he arrived at the naval base constructed within the Minecraft world. In his field of vision, several of his clones were driving dozens of massive roasted pigs, their packs still emitting hot steam.
Other clones were herding along several sheep with colorful wool.
All of them were living fantasy ingredient: Barbeque pigs and Baatton Candy.
As for why living fantasy ingredient creatures existed here, the reason was simple. Using the vast knowledge stored within his mind, Raize had constructed a biological regeneration chamber, cloning and restoring these creatures from raw ingredients.
After regenerating lower-level, relatively docile fantasy ingredient creatures, Raize handed them over to the Manjuus to look after.
If the little Manjuus got hungry, they could even prepare and cook the food for themselves through very simple methods.
"Mm, all the materials have been manufactured, right?"
After landing on the ground, Raize casually tore off a large lump of cotton candy from a fairly large sheep that was still bleating and stuffed it into his mouth. Chewing clearly, he asked his clone.
A few days earlier, he had already obtained the shipgirl construction facility. The reason he did not immediately construct a shipgirl was because he wanted to manufacture some special steel materials first.
Building a shipgirl did not only require a Wisdom Cube, but also various resources such as steel blocks, aluminum blocks, compressed fuel, and compressed ammunition.
Although Raize had acquired plenty of resources, in order to welcome his first shipgirl, he personally crafted better materials using the knowledge in his mind.
For example, special metals from the Marvel universe could be produced by simulating cosmic radiation environments within the laboratory.
All of these were materials prepared specifically for shipgirl construction. While Raize was training, he entrusted the work to his shadow clones.
The shadow clones who were working did not respond. One of them glanced at Raize, then with a soft bang, turned into white smoke and vanished, transmitting the relevant memories to him.
"Go prepare that…"
After silently nodding, Raize issued instructions to his clones. Once the shadow clone nodded in response, Raize immediately headed toward the construction room that had been arranged by the Manjuus inside the naval base.
With all the materials ready, only Raize's Wisdom Cube remained.
Chirp chirp chirp chirp…
Inside the massive shipgirl construction facility, adorable Manjuus could be seen everywhere. Some cooperated with one another, operating forklifts to move cargo larger than their own bodies, while others skillfully operated precision instruments.
Though the space was filled with chirping sounds, it was not noisy at all.
Several Manjuus wearing commander caps raised their wings and saluted adorably upon seeing Raize. He smiled and gently patted their fluffy bodies in response.
After communicating his purpose with one of the Manjuus, he was immediately led into a designated construction chamber.
The equipment before him was complete: a construction pod, five resource conveyor lines, and a row of indicator lights representing the various shipgirl factions.
Specific shipgirls would emerge from their respective faction indicators. Raize planned to wait directly at the Eagle Union section, since Laffey belonged to the Eagle Union faction.
Beep beep—
{Commander identity verified. Please complete the construction process according to the operational instructions within five minutes}
{Please place the Wisdom Cube in the designated position and input the amount of resources to be invested on the display}
{If modification is required, please insert the modification blueprint and add the corresponding special materials}
The machine's prompts sounded, signaling that Raize could begin.
If construction relied purely on luck, then even setting the resource input time to the slowest would not necessarily increase success rates. With bad luck, one might build nothing at all.
However, Raize possessed a designated shipgirl Wisdom Cube core. He glanced at his resources and decided not to cut corners. The resources had been prepared precisely for this moment, not for skimping.
After checking his stockpiles, Raize operated the console, input the resource amounts, and confirmed.
Then he inserted the prepared modification blueprints into the device and entered the required special resources once more.
{Base material input locked. Beginning base material deployment…}
Hummm…
The resource conveyor belts began operating at high speed. Raize's customized base materials flowed rapidly into the construction pod, moving so fast that ordinary people could not perceive them with the naked eye.
On the screen, the golden Wisdom Cube he had placed inside began radiating dazzling golden light. Strands of energy formed around it, completely encircling the cube.
Whoosh—ding!
A string of numbers refreshed on the display—
02:00:00
01:59:00