Onmyoji

Early March, and spring was in full bloom.

The cherry blossoms had yet to bloom, but it would not be long now.

It had snowed a few days ago. Shinji felt that had probably been the last snowfall before next winter arrived.

At dusk, beneath an empty riverbank where the snow had only just melted, a blue-haired boy whose body was still somewhat frail due to his age and various other issues was bare-chested, doing one-armed push-ups on the bank beside the swift river.

Sweat had long since soaked the patch of ground beneath him, but Shinji still gritted his teeth and persevered.

"...Two hundred ninety-nine... three hundred..."

After counting to three hundred, Shinji finally stopped. His arms gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.

Grandson, twenty-second rest countdown. Nineteen... eighteen... seventeen...

Listening to Siri's voice in his head, which had become familiar over the past three years, Shinji was no longer as angry as he had been at first. Perhaps he had simply gotten used to it.

As for why it had switched back to Siri, it was because the other domestic voice options sounded far too emotional!

What kind of experience was it to have someone emotionally calling you "grandson" in your ear every day? You would break down!

As for Siri...

She had no emotions!

Forcing himself back to his feet, Shinji pulled off his pants without a second thought, leaving only the swim trunks printed with anime girls, then dove headfirst into the rushing river.

The icy water instantly jolted Shinji awake, but he did not dare hesitate. He immediately began swimming desperately against the current.

He really was exhausted, but there was no helping it. Who told him he was a working stiff?

Grandson, only one hundred ninety-eight meters remain of your two-hundred-meter daily task. Come on, hold on. I believe that you will one day become an emperor like your grandfather.

...He really wanted to smack this Dog System, but he could not reach it, nor could he mute it.

A momentary lapse in concentration disrupted Shinji's rhythm, and the swift current instantly swept him far downstream.

But Shinji did not lose heart. He still gritted his teeth and persisted. Starting from the second day after obtaining this Dog System, Shinji had begun training his body according to the daily tasks it assigned. Three years had passed since then.

In the System's words, to become a qualified emperor, one first had to possess a strong body.

Of course, the System never called itself the System. It called itself the First Emperor, claiming to be Shinji's grandfather from many lifetimes ago, who had chased him into this world in order to make up for Shinji's father, Fusu.

Shinji did not believe it. He had even wanted to uninstall it.

He struggled again and again, only to be swept far away by the cold, rushing river time after time, but Shinji never gave up. After all, the progress bar for the main quest was still woefully lacking. If he did not work hard on the daily tasks...

At last, before the last rays of dusk vanished and darkness descended, Shinji successfully completed his daily task: two consecutive sets of three hundred one-armed push-ups and two hundred meters of freestyle against the current.

With not a shred of strength left, Shinji clung to the riverbank and forced himself ashore. At the spot where he came up, he used a nearby stone to carve a mark.

A closer look would reveal that the entire bank of this swift river was covered in marks: five meters, ten meters, twenty meters... all the way to the current two hundred meters.

"Whew..." Shinji lay on the ground, still gasping for breath. Only after around two minutes did his breathing ease somewhat.

Shinji pushed himself up, just about to open the System interface and check his daily reward, when the corner of his eye caught sight of a little purple-haired girl standing atop the embankment. With a ribbon tied in her hair and a backpack on her back, she stared at him with empty, unfocused eyes.

Sakura Matou, originally Sakura Tohsaka, had been adopted into the Matou Family for a full four years now.

Her hair and eye colors had also become closer to purple after the "training" that Shinji did not wish to imagine.

That dark, rotten, disgusting, bone-chilling basement... if possible, Shinji never wanted to go there for the rest of his life.

Slowly getting to his feet, Shinji walked step by step toward the backpack he had left by the shore two hundred meters away.

After taking a clean towel from the backpack and roughly drying himself off, Shinji put on his clothes, slung on his backpack, and climbed step by step up the embankment.

"Brother..."

As he passed Sakura's side and heard her soft call, Shinji showed no emotion. His face remained indifferent, and only after walking several meters away did he coldly respond.

"Mm."

Hearing that, Sakura lowered her head and silently followed after him.

To be honest, over the past few years, Shinji's attitude toward Sakura had gradually changed from not disliking her before he recovered his memories—and even bullying her while showing her a little affection—to indifference and coldness.

Shinji had done this deliberately. After all, he needed to cover up his daily training and tasks, so the only option was to act like he had discovered the truth and been driven by his pride to work hard.

There was another reason as well: he absolutely could not treat Sakura too well or let her become dependent on him. Otherwise, Bug Grandpa would definitely toy with him to death, using him as a pawn to threaten and twist Sakura's personality during the Fifth Holy Grail War, which was only seven years away.

Shinji did not doubt for a moment that if Sakura developed any sort of dependence on him, Bug Grandpa would absolutely dare to do such a thing—and absolutely would!

That old man would never speak of family bonds.

Therefore, before he had the strength to protect himself, he could only keep his head down and continue acting.

Fortunately, his acting was convincing. In the eyes of his cheap father and cheap grandfather, he had discovered the truth these past few years: that Sakura, an outsider, was actually the Matou Family's heir. That cruel reality was why he had become increasingly cold toward Sakura.

He had even begun searching for other methods to resist Sakura—such as reading records from the old man's past travels around the world, records of Eastern magecraft, training his body, and seeking out and learning Eastern martial arts and qigong.

They probably thought that he was unwilling to give up, but they did not pay much attention to him. After all, he was merely a useless person without the slightest talent for magecraft.

Whether it was Bug Grandpa or his cheap father, both had now placed all their attention on Sakura and paid Shinji no mind.

But that suited Shinji perfectly. As long as he was given enough time...

Shinji looked over the status panel and quest panel floating before him, visible only to himself. With a thought, he confirmed completion of the small daily training task.

In an instant, a cool current that somehow carried an indescribable warmth and satisfaction entered Shinji's body from nowhere. The comfort nearly made him moan, but thankfully, he held it in.

Grandson, it took you three years just to reach the entry level of Qi Gathering for an Onmyoji. You still need to work harder.

An Onmyoji was fundamentally similar to a cultivator in xianxia novels. However, this world had no Spiritual Energy or anything of the sort, so the only way to obtain the Spiritual Energy he needed was through System rewards for completing daily tasks.

Though he had spent a full three years barely reaching Qi Gathering, the lowest realm of an Onmyoji, it also meant that from now on, he was a qualified Onmyoji.

Shinji had long memorized the qi circulation method and the Meridian Chart by heart. Ignoring the System's voice, he cautiously attempted his first qi circulation.

Shinji was lucky. He succeeded on his first try.

Feeling the Spiritual Energy flowing slowly through his meridians, gradually transforming into Inner Core, Shinji felt delighted inside, but his expression did not change.

As they passed through a brightly lit shopping street, Shinji suddenly remembered something. He stopped and looked toward a jewelry shop nearby.

Today seemed to be this poor little sister's birthday...