Spark Lens

The room fell into a deep silence, with only the sound of Ren's own breathing clearly audible.

He took a deep breath, touched his heart which was beating rapidly against his chest, and gripped the Spark Lens tightly in his right hand.

Recalling a pose that had become almost blurry in his memory, he swung his arm forward and held it high above his head, whispering as if he were doing something illicit.

"Ultraman Tiga, transform!"

The room remained silent.

Only the awkward sound echoed in the air of the room before dissipating.

The Spark Lens was held quietly above Ren's head, its crystalline material shimmering with a magnificent luster under the lights.

Yet, it did not burst into the brilliant light he had imagined, nor did any miracle occur.

Ren maintained that slightly shameful transformation pose and blinked.

His previously high spirits deflated rapidly, like a balloon pricked by a needle.

He looked up at the unresponsive Spark Lens in his hand, his face twitching, then took another deep breath and set his stance once more.

"It must be the wrong pose, or the wrong transformation incantation. Ren, use your brilliant brain and try to remember properly..."

Ren's movements stiffened as he recalled the conditions for transforming into Ultraman Tiga.

One of them was the requirement for the "Genetic Factor of Light" left behind on Earth by Ultraman, which was the genetic code of the ancient warriors.

"--Damn it!"

He finally couldn't help but curse out loud.

"Even the light of my childhood requires a bloodline? As expected of a work from the Land of the Rising Sun, commoners aren't worthy of being heroes, right!"

Ren cursed bitterly, lowered his arm in frustration, and stopped tormenting himself.

He held the Spark Lens in his hand, teleported back to the building's lobby, and sat back down on the sofa.

While feeling the loss and shattering of his beautiful childhood memories, his brain began to race.

"I remember when Tiga fought Gatanothor, all the children in the world on Earth turned into light to save Tiga."

"Does this prove that this gene might be hidden within all humans, and Daigo just made it dominant?"

"But this is useless anyway. I am a [Vegetative Person] from the Hokage world; I don't have a shred of Ultraman Earthling DNA. Did I just draw a luxurious piece of scrap metal?"

"Giving me a GUTS fighter jet would have been better than this."

Ren shook his head slightly, abandoned the idea of taking a shortcut, and directly channeled his Sharingan ocular power into the Spark Lens in his hand.

The continuous stream of ocular power was like a clay ox entering the sea, failing to stir up even the slightest ripple.

However, he could feel that the Spark Lens was absorbing the power and accumulating energy.

"...Could this thing be one of those pieces of junk that takes three years to charge and can only last for three minutes at a critical moment?"

Just as Ren was left speechless by the Spark Lens, Daju's voice called out from the kitchen.

"Young Master, the midnight snack is ready."

He placed the Spark Lens on the coffee table in the living room and stood up to head toward the fragrant kitchen.

Daju, still sleepy, watched his "wicked master" enjoying the midnight snack, licked its paws, and swayed back to the living room.

It skillfully jumped onto the sofa, preparing to curl up and continue the dream that had been interrupted, when its gaze was caught by a faint light reflected from an object on the coffee table.

"Huh? What is this, meow?"

Daju tilted its head and leaned in curiously to take a look.

Under the warm yellow light, the Spark Lens lay quietly on the table, emitting a mysterious, holy aura that made the cat feel a sense of closeness.

"Is this a new toy from the Young Master? What a strange shape, meow?"

Ren had drawn many novel toys from other worlds through the Cyan-White Stone Gate.

And given his Young Master's steady personality, Daju naturally didn't think it was anything dangerous to have it lying in the living room.

It stretched out a furry paw and pressed its entire pad onto it—

At that very moment, the Spark Lens lit up with a soft and pure radiance, flowing, flickering, and dimming as if it possessed a life of its own.

Daju was stunned. It grabbed the Spark Lens with both paws, waved it around haphazardly, and tilted its head to observe it closely.

Soon, an obvious look of disappointment appeared on its round cat face.

"It doesn't make a nice sound, and the light isn't bright or dazzling enough..."

It muttered softly, its ears drooping. "Ayan definitely wouldn't like a toy like this. It's a failure, meow."

In the open-plan dining room, Ren sat at the table, staring blankly at his fat cat waving the glowing Spark Lens around like a cat teaser—

The scene was so shocking that he felt his own eyes were deceiving him!

"What the hell! Does Daju possess Earthling genes? Is it the chosen child of justice? Is it about to transform into Ultraman Tiga?!"

"Is this reasonable?! A simp cat turning into a righteous and majestic Giant of Light?!"

"Could it be... that this is the true meaning of light—love?!"

Ren was somewhat dazed.

"Then what about me?"

"As the future patriarch of the dignified Great Love Clan, is my capacity, my 'love,' not even comparable to a cat?!"

Connecting this to the Cyan-White Stone Gate's evaluation of the item, "Love is a beam of light," Ren was so shocked he almost lost the ability to speak.

Discovering that Daju might be able to become "light," he felt incredibly uncomfortable inside.

His childhood dream, cherished for so many years... had actually been NTR'd by a fat cat whose brain was filled with nothing but female cats!

"Calm down, I must calm down!"

"Think carefully, if Daju can really become a 'Tiga Jinchuriki,' it might not be a bad thing for the family and me; it would be equivalent to having an extra trump card up our sleeves."

Ren thought to himself while eating his midnight snack, which tasted like chewing wax.

"Besides, it's no big deal! It's just a mere Ultraman; when the time comes, I'll just slap a Susanoo on it and take off directly!"

"I, Ren, am invincible!"

Ren watched with bated breath as Daju poked at the glowing artifact with its paw, his heart rising and falling with every sway of the Spark Lens.

He was terrified that in the next second, that chubby body would suddenly let out a classic "Hey—tiah!", smash through his ceiling, and transform into a streak of light flying into the night sky.

This feeling of his own "white moonlight" being ruined by his own cat was simply... too frustrating!

Finally, watching Daju put the Spark Lens back on the table and fall asleep on the sofa, Ren couldn't help but teleport back to the living room and pick up the Spark Lens.

The moment his fingertips touched the Spark Lens, a strange sensation surged into his heart.

Was the Spark Lens calling out to him?

"What is this supposed to mean?"

"After going from being the pure love exclusively favored by me to being NTR'd by a blondie, it has awakened into a public bus that anyone can ride?!"

"Do you have to play it like this?"

Ren held his forehead, unable to fathom it, his gaze shifting back and forth between the purring Daju and the Spark Lens.

"Is there a possibility that my ocular power changed the Spark Lens's requirements for genetic factors, and then, and then..."

"Forget it, I won't think about it!"

"As long as it works, that's all that matters!"