You Leveled Up

"Jashin-sama's Raising Mini-game reminds you: thanks to your unremitting efforts, the reputation of the Jashin Cult has increased by 6,436 points!"

"You have leveled up!"

"Your soul strength and mental power have been significantly enhanced!"

Kamizuki Simu looked at the message popping up before him and gently adjusted his glasses. If it hadn't taken the initiative to remind him, he might have forgotten about this system entirely.

However...

He had finally reached level 2!

Although there was no major change in Kamizuki Simu's expression, his body couldn't help but feel a surge of joy.

Specifically, this manifested as...

The Blood Pool in the Shrine began to bubble and churn.

The cultists responsible for guarding the Shrine ran out in a panic, reporting, "Disaster! Jashin-sama is so happy he's bubbling!"

Kamizuki Simu: ...

A certain Jashin: What the hell does that have to do with me!

To be honest, Kamizuki Simu had no idea his internal state would manifest in such a way.

Regardless, the impact of the Jashin Cult's actions this time was indeed massive.

After all, the Sakamoto Trading Company was the largest merchant guild in the entire Land of Rivers, possessing intricate ties with numerous dignitaries and a sphere of influence that radiated into several neighboring countries.

Yet, a guild with such vast power had been slaughtered overnight.

And it was done by an organization called the Jashin Cult.

While this Jashin Cult had some fame in the Land of Rivers, it was only at the level of being heard of. No one expected that once they took action, they would be...

So bloody and brutal.

It was said that they piled all the corpses from the Sakamoto Trading Company into a mountain of bodies to perform a sacrifice to their so-called Jashin.

It could be said that because of its extremely intense religious style, the Jashin Cult became an overnight sensation during this incident, attracting the attention of many.

That was why the reputation points of the Jashin Cult had skyrocketed by over six thousand.

Although he didn't know how these reputation points were calculated, such a harvest was undoubtedly very satisfying to Kamizuki Simu.

After leveling up, Kamizuki Simu's system panel also underwent an update.

[Jashin-sama's Raising Game]
[Host]: A Blood Pool named Kamizuki Simu
[Level]: 2 (Next level requires 10,000 reputation)
Note: The host's mental power will increase as the level rises.
[Jashin Reputation]: 7,207
[Ability 1]:
[Womb of the Primordial Creator]
[Gene Bank]: Ordinary Human Gene, Leafcutter Mantis Gene, Giant Centipede Gene, Giant Man-eating Spider.
[Genes Currently Being Analyzed]: Jashin Gene (Analysis progress 0.91%), Water Release Ninja (88.7%)
[Producible Races]: Weihe: Centipede, Koukaku: Spider, Rinkaku: Mantis, Koukaku: Ant-Man, Human Clone, Raven, Black Beetle.
[Ability 2]:
[Blessing of Jashin]: Your body is blessed by Jashin. Until Jashin falls, you will possess an Immortal Body.
[Introduction]: I want to create a world for Jashin-sama!

After the upgrade, Kamizuki Simu could clearly feel that his soul and mental power had been greatly enhanced.

This was specifically reflected in the research progress of the [Jashin Gene] and [Water Release Ninja] genes.

One had to know that when Kamizuki Simu was at level 1, no matter how much mental power he invested into researching the [Jashin Gene], the progress bar wouldn't budge at all.

But now, just a few days after leveling up, it had surged to 0.91%, and this wasn't the end. At this rate, it was very likely he could push it to around 5% in one go over the next period.

As for the [Water Release Ninja], it went without saying; the speed could be described as advancing by leaps and bounds.

The body genes of that fellow Kikuchi Miura had almost been thoroughly researched by Kamizuki Simu.

Of course, the reason Kamizuki Simu named this gene "Water Release Ninja" meant his pursuit certainly didn't stop there.

No matter what, Kikuchi Miura was only a Chunin, or at most had the strength of a Special Jonin; he simply couldn't satisfy Kamizuki Simu's requirements.

In the future, he would inevitably research and analyze more Water Release Ninjas.

Just like this time, he had used Ravens and Black Beetles to quietly devour all the ninjas from the Sakamoto Trading Company and Yugakure, transporting them back to his main body.

Although they were all Chunin, Kamizuki Simu had classified these ninjas based on their varying strengths.

For instance, the ninjas under Sakamoto were basically rogue ninjas; their strength was still inferior to those from proper ninja villages, so they were categorized as Rogue Chunin level.

As for the Chunin from Yugakure, they were classified as Small Village Chunin level.

Behind that, Simu reserved the Chunin level of the Great Ninja Villages for the five great ninja villages.

Further behind that were the levels of Special Jonin and ordinary Jonin.

Most of the research materials Simu currently had on hand were at the Chunin level, primarily consisting of Water Release and Earth Release, with one each of Lightning Release and Fire Release; as for Wind Release, he had none at all.

In order to better study the essence of ninjas, Simu created three new analysis tasks on the system.

[Earth Release Ninja], [Fire Release Ninja], and [Lightning Release Ninja].

With Simu's current mental power, combined with so many materials, not to mention Lightning Release and Fire Release, he should be able to make breakthroughs in Water Release and Earth Release very soon.

Beyond that, what concerned Simu even more was another line of research.

Research regarding a new type of Kagune.

Before leaving Shuiyu Village, Simu had the Black Beetle devour and take away Sakamoto's corpse, the molted remains left behind by Shiraishi Mori, and a vial of blood drawn from Shiraishi Mori.

Clearly, during that battle, the Kagune on both Shiraishi Mori and Sakamoto had undergone varying degrees of mutation.

What Simu needed to do now was to determine the mutated genes through the analysis of their tissues.

Then, he would replicate and integrate the useful genes into a new Kagune to create a more powerful and versatile Kagune.

Thinking of this, Simu raised his palm and looked at it.

It was time to modify this body as well.

As the Spokesperson of Jashin, keeping such a normal body was truly too abnormal.

"Arie! Finally back at headquarters!"

Hidan stretched fiercely, his words carrying a rare hint of excitement.

However, he wasn't excited about returning to headquarters, but rather that he could finally rest.

He simply wanted to rest; as for phrases like "headquarters is my home," those would absolutely never come from Mr. Hidan.

If not for Simu's obstruction, he would have already taken action to sacrifice all those hypocritical believers in the base to Lord Jashin.

In Hidan's heart, anyone who had not received the blessing of Lord Jashin was an insincere hypocrite!

As Hidan kicked the headquarters gate open, the atmosphere throughout the headquarters instantly became tense.

"The two God Children, you have returned?"

Hidan, with his thick-headed nature, completely failed to notice the change in the headquarters and swaggered directly toward the newly built cafeteria.

"Delicious pork cutlet, here I come!"