As long as you didn't break any taboos, the Main God wouldn't issue an impossible mission, nor would it give you one whose actual difficulty exceeded its rating limit.
Even after taking certain factors into account, this time, Uchiha Xiu—who had gained enormous benefits in the Naruto World—still wrapped things up with a speedrun.
[Main Mission complete: eliminate the undead Imhotep. Reward: two B-rank side-story missions for the whole team and 6,000 points.]
"Imhotep killed. Obtained one A-rank side-story mission and 8,000 points!"
The data on the Reincarnation Watch updated in bulk.
As the one who had killed him, Uchiha Xiu received two major rewards. They were extremely substantial!
And that didn't include the various undead guards and Sphinxes Kaguya-hime had killed with Rotation, or other minor details.
"Side mission triggered: clear all Cursed Invaders from Cairo within twenty-four hours. Success: one B-rank side-story mission and 4,000 points."
"Failure: 8,000 points deducted."
"A reasonable points-farming round before the team battle? A little unreasonable, but compared to our first time landing on the Xenomorph ship, the Great Light Sphere is much more generous this time."
"Not counting the points farmed on our second return, I only need to explore a little further, and I'll easily be able to afford an AA-rank resource pack."
"Then I can exchange it for a powerful new system to complement the fully developed Naruto system, achieving an effect greater than the sum of its parts."
His thoughts raced for a moment.
Then he pushed them aside.
Uchiha Xiu dispelled his compressed Susanoo form and exited Lava Release Chakra Mode, letting his Four-Tails-powered super battery rest after its brief burst.
So far, he hadn't encountered a single powerful being in a story world who could go toe-to-toe with him.
"Maybe that'll happen after the newbie team-building period ends. I wonder which Reincarnator team we'll be matched against for our first team battle. Surely we won't go straight up against the Devil Team."
The next instant, the Main God's announcement rang out in his mind again.
Uchiha Xiu had picked up an ancient book from the ground.
[Obtained story item: Black Book of the Dead. You can learn dark necromancy spells. The holder must possess a negative or neutral energy cycle to use it. You can decipher the incantations yourself to learn specific spells, or pay 1,000 points in the Main God Space to unlock them...]
According to the Main God, the Black Book of the Dead in his hands was a sealed magic item, with a functioning model built in for each incantation.
So all the user had to do was act like a "fool," supply some energy, and use their mental power to shape it into a specific form.
It was like a craftsman turning mechanical gears to transmit power, with the device then producing a result in response—except the Black Book could also amplify the output to a certain extent.
But none of that mattered much.
Even if chakra counted as a neutral energy cycle and he met the requirements, he had no intention of becoming a traditional spellcaster. Right now, he was figuring out how to simplify—or even skip—Hand Seals.
Who had time to wave their hands around?!
He could give the book to someone on the team with a talent for mental power who was interested in that path. There were thirteen newbies this time, so surely one of them would fill a role the East Sea Team currently lacked.
"Wait, that doesn't seem right. Why doesn't the Black Book, which connects to the underworld, have a resurrection function? Am I remembering it wrong?"
Frowning slightly, Uchiha Xiu tossed the book to Kaguya-hime and asked her to put it away in the Kamui Dimension.
With her Byakugan's penetrating vision, Kaguya easily located the Book of Amun-Ra, which radiated a powerful positive energy, and pointed out where it was.
It was inside the statue of Sun God Ra, in a small compartment that stood partly open.
He reached in with one hand.
The moment he touched it, the mechanism triggered again:
"Obtained story item... You can learn spells for restoration through light. The learner must possess internal energy, mental energy, magic, telekinesis, true essence, immortal energy, divine contract power... to use it. You can decipher the text and learn on your own, or learn after returning to the Main God Space. Learning costs 1,000 points... You must possess this book before returning to the Main God Space to use the skills it contains..."
Finally!
Uchiha Xiu had long yearned for an ultimate fallback, and there, at the end, he saw the very thing he'd been longing for.
[Return Altar: Can resurrect any member of a Reincarnator team the holder has met. Each member can only be resurrected once. Upon resurrection, their condition will be restored to what it was before their death. Resurrection requires the points the member once possessed and spent, as well as twice the number of side-story missions.
Remember: each member can only be resurrected once...]
Gold controlled the power of life!
Black held the terror of death!
"Maybe I did remember it wrong. Resurrection was actually tied to the Book of Amun-Ra. Right, I'll let Kitagawa Nacai, our pretty healer, look after it. Her Holy Light meets the requirements for using the book, and it'll give her some extra types of spells to work with."
Muttering to himself, Uchiha Xiu looked up, satisfied with his haul, and met the gaze of Sun God Ra, who stood over a hundred meters tall.
--An eagle's head on a human body, with a solar disk on his head.
He looked imposing.
In the mythology of every ancient civilization, the sun was an absolutely sacred creator god.
"Meow~"
Their eyes met.
For a moment, he thought he heard Hajimi giving a soft, lively cry. Instinctively, he found it rather cute.
In the Naruto World, the Uchiha Clan had a deep bond with cats.
"What's wrong?" Seeing her master with his arms full of loot, Kaguya-hime smiled and stepped closer. "You suddenly froze."
"Didn't you hear a cat meow?"
"No. Ever since you nailed Imhotep to death, this entire underground hall has been silent."
After she spoke, the two fell silent.
Kaguya pushed her Byakugan to its limit, unwilling to miss even the slightest detail.
At their level of life, there was no reason for him to hear things.
So Uchiha Xiu, who was staring at Ra, had clearly experienced something.
"Aside from the aura of the underworld, there's nothing."
Time passed.
On high alert, Kaguya-hime shook her head.
Uchiha Xiu, who still felt there was something there, sighed helplessly. "Maybe the god here was playing a little joke."
The Cat Goddess Bastet, daughter of Sun God Ra, changed in form and role over the course of history.
In the early Pharaoh dynasties, she was a lion-headed god of war and the guardian of Lower Egypt, symbolizing war and revenge. She was an incarnation of the Eye of Ra, and once became a fire lion to punish impure humans. Later, she was lulled to sleep with red wine and became a gentler figure.
In later dynasties, she became a household guardian who presided over fertility, joy, and healing. Carrying a sacred ring or a musical instrument to ward off evil, she was a gentle figure who symbolized abundance. In ancient Egypt, anyone who harmed a cat could be sentenced to death by the temple priests.
"I'll investigate more carefully when we return to farm resources a second time. The Cat Goddess... the Uchiha... Reincarnators..."
Even with his brain running at full capacity thanks to his third-stage Gene Lock, Uchiha Xiu couldn't connect the dots. Still, he didn't spiral into mental exhaustion.
"Let's go. We'll escort the three native protagonists to the outskirts of Cairo, then see how the team members are doing with their training."
"And we'll finish that generous side mission while we're at it."
Clear all the cursed people in Cairo?
Did that mean clearing them out in a literal, physical sense, or finding a way to cleanse the curse on those Egyptians?
The latter, surely. The Main God had always favored the human side.
Before you continue