How had this human suddenly turned into a Brahma that even ghosts fled from?!
"Mother" and "younger sister" stood stiffly rooted to the spot. This was partly due to the hard-control effect of Fearful Smile, and partly because the evil spirits' simple minds couldn't process what was happening.
The two translucent evil spirits wanted to turn around and flee the haunted house immediately, but could only watch as Uesugi Tetsu walked toward them at an unhurried pace, utterly unable to move.
"Mom, long time no see."
Uesugi Tetsu warmly embraced the evil spirit that resembled his original body's mother. His arms tightened, and Ghost God Power surged through his entire body, twisting the evil spirit little by little into a braid.
"Ugh... Ugh uh..."
Under "younger sister's" horrified gaze, the "mother" being hugged by Uesugi Tetsu could no longer bear the strain. With a bang, she transformed into a floorful of gray mist.
[You killed a stray wandering soul and obtained 10 soul ash]
Uesugi Tetsu shook his head regretfully. "Old thing, didn't you pay twenty years' worth of retirement insurance? How come you only dropped this little gold?"
"Now then..."
Staring at the trembling "younger sister," who had just barely regained the ability to move, Uesugi Tetsu asked in confusion, "Sis, didn't I say I wanted to live a peaceful life by myself? Why are you still coming to bother me?"
"Go... Go! I'll leave right now!"
Blood streamed from "younger sister's" empty eye sockets as she let out a low sob. In a panic, she turned around and tried to float out of the room.
"Since you're already here, make yourself at home."
A blue-black claw rested on "younger sister's" shoulder. Under the terrifying pressure, the frail evil spirit struggled desperately, but to no avail.
Watching "younger sister" struggle without stopping, Uesugi Tetsu fell into thought.
--With his current strength, he seemed to have nothing to fear from so-called stray "wandering souls"—the ghosts and specters most commonly encountered by ordinary people.
The effect of Terrifying Smile was pretty good too. It could hard-control a stray wandering soul for nearly fifteen seconds, and it was also a large-area AOE.
Then let's try this...
With a thought, Uesugi Tetsu equipped Hundred-Eyed Demon's eye pupil onto the [Laughing Brahma] card.
At once, he felt his vision blur.
When his sight cleared again, Uesugi Tetsu was astonished to discover that his field of vision had expanded from 180 degrees to approximately 270 degrees in front of him!
A faint nausea washed over him.
Faced with the sudden increase in his field of vision, even Uesugi Tetsu in Laughing Brahma form felt dizzy and light-headed.
Still, this minor problem would disappear with enough practice.
After standing in place and rotating his gaze a few times, Uesugi Tetsu couldn't help feeling disappointed--was this really all Hundred-Eyed Demon's eye pupil was good for?
He might as well let it fly around and act as a scout.
He shook his head, but when he shifted his gaze back to "younger sister," his eyes narrowed slightly.
That was because a faint white mist tinged with yellow was now floating above "younger sister's" head.
This mist had not appeared before he equipped Hundred-Eyed Demon's eye pupil.
But what did the mist represent?
After thinking briefly, Uesugi Tetsu first took the cloth doll from his pocket. Along the way, he had "accidentally" wrapped a large wad of tissues around its eyes. He saw nothing above its head.
So it had no effect on dead objects, even supernatural items?
"Stand here. Don't move for now."
After informing the "younger sister," who didn't dare even breathe loudly, Uesugi Tetsu walked onto the balcony and peered toward the street through a gap in the curtains.
As it happened, a hazy human figure floated past beneath a streetlamp not far away. A ball of white mist also floated above its head, but it was much fainter than "younger sister's," and there was no trace of yellow.
I see.
"Thanks for your effort, sis."
After giving "younger sister" a quick death and obtaining another 10 soul ash, Uesugi Tetsu thought:
--The second effect of equipping Hundred-Eyed Demon's eyeball on Demon Incarnation was probably the ability to distinguish an opponent's strength.
Although it was still unclear whether this "strength" referred to an objective level of power similar to the star ranking, or subjective strength relative to himself...
In any case, he was very satisfied with the effect of Hundred-Eyed Demon's eyeball.
Uesugi Tetsu withdrew the Laughing Brahma mask and sank into the soft sofa.
He had no intention of immediately using his newly obtained 20 soul ash to draw from the half-star card pool [Deep Bamboo Forest]. Instead, he planned to save it and draw after unlocking a one-star card pool in the future.
After all, the drop rate of the half-star card pool was simply too low.
Even if he got lucky for once and drew useful cards like Laughing Brahma or Hundred-Eyed Demon's eye pupil, that still couldn't conceal the fact that he had drawn [Soul Soothing Incense Ash (Minor)] for the overwhelming majority of the rest.
Those were nothing more than little experience bottles that polluted the card pool.
As for how to unlock the one-star card pool...
He only needed to possess a one-star Demon Incarnation card.
At present, the simplest method was to cultivate the half-star Laughing Brahma to one star. As for directly drawing a one-star Demon Incarnation, the probability was below one in a thousand, so Uesugi Tetsu immediately abandoned the idea.
Never mind that he didn't have enough soul ash. Even if he had enough, Uesugi Tetsu wouldn't waste it that way.
It was more realistic to upgrade the cards he already possessed.
He selected [Laughing Brahma (Juvenile Form)] on the interface.
Then he could feed it the faintly glowing [Soul Soothing Incense Ash (Minor)] in his inventory.
Uesugi Tetsu tried it and discovered that the maximum per feeding was ten portions. He currently had twelve.
["Laughing Brahma (Juvenile Form)" upgrading: 0%]
Watching the Laughing Brahma mask spin within the exquisite card, Uesugi Tetsu couldn't help sighing:
What a damn dogshit game planner. Had they even calculated this?
Draw a pile of Soul Soothing Incense Ash from the card pool, feed the ash to the Demon Incarnation, then use the upgraded Demon Incarnation to unlock a more expensive new card pool...
This was practically a perfect internal recycling mechanism.
Still, the feeling of being able to watch Laughing Brahma gradually grow stronger was quite satisfying.
After all, didn't Laughing Brahma growing stronger mean that he, Uesugi Tetsu, was growing stronger too?
He just didn't know whether Laughing Brahma could advance a star from eating only these ten portions of Soul Soothing Incense Ash...
Seeing that the progress bar still hadn't moved at all after dozens of seconds, Uesugi Tetsu estimated that it would take at least two or three days to finish. If things went slowly, it might even take more than a week.
Judging from the sudden appearance of "mother" and "younger sister" in his home tonight, as well as what Nanjō Emi had said earlier, supernatural incidents might not be common, but they didn't seem to be extremely unlikely either.
So while Laughing Brahma was upgrading, he also had to develop his strength as quickly as possible.
If he met Ririko tomorrow, he would have to tell her not to investigate that club for now. It wouldn't be good if she attracted the military police.
Just as Uesugi Tetsu was making plans, the sound of a soccer match suddenly came from the television beside him.
He was dazed for a moment, and countless warm memories of spending time with his "father" suddenly surged through his mind.
Then Uesugi Tetsu turned toward the figure beside him and smiled. "Dad, why are you still awake so late?"
The middle-aged man beside Uesugi Tetsu didn't reply. He merely stared silently at the soccer match playing on the television.
"Ah, forget it." Uesugi Tetsu shook his head. "You can stay up all night watching the game, old man. I'm going to bed."
With that, he stood up and walked toward his room. Halfway there, he didn't forget to remove the "restraints" from in front of the cloth doll's eyes.
Then he found a short piece of string in his room and hung the cloth doll at the doorway.
Sister Nanjō had given him this doll, so he might as well use it as a door guardian. He could take it with him whenever he went out.
Bang.
Uesugi Tetsu stared at the [Enter Everworld] option that had abruptly appeared before him, then eagerly shut the door.
Outside the room, the cloth doll hanging in midair turned lightly, its pitch-black eyes reflecting the middle-aged man's utterly empty face.
Before you continue