First Signs of Brilliance

(Place to store your brain)

"Who's the current head of the Kujou Clan again? It's still that old bastard Kujou Takayuki, right?"

As Lin Yiyi walked, he thought to himself. The Kujou Clan currently commanded the Tenryou Commission. As for Kujou Kamaji from the Raiden Shogun's story quest, he was merely Kujou Takayuki's descendant and had yet to formally become clan head.

"I can just throw this Shogun's Decree at them and let them see it, right? Hm?" As he pondered, Lin Yiyi's hairs suddenly stood on end, and he instinctively turned his head.

"Whoosh—" An arrow grazed past his hair, slicing off two strands.

"Who goes there? How dare you trespass in Inazuma!" As a stern voice rang in his ears, Lin Yiyi looked toward it and saw a short-haired woman in purple standing before the Kujou residence with her bow drawn at him. A red mask rested atop her head, while her golden eyes and brows carried a chilling air of deadly resolve.

A squad of Shogunate soldiers stood behind her.

"So it's Kujou Sara. How is that bow? Easy to use?" Lin Yiyi teased, entirely unconcerned by the taut bowstring aimed at him.

He had the Shogun's Decree, after all. As Raiden Shogun's fiercely loyal and capable general, Kujou Sara would surely swear to serve him unto death in a moment.

The woman held a golden longbow resembling a harp, its strings connecting the limbs and tips. It was the high-base-attack Skyward Harp that Lin Yiyi had equipped for her in the game.

Yet a cold glint flashed through Kujou Sara's eyes, and another sharp arrow shot toward him like lightning, aimed straight for Lin Yiyi's head!

The arrow stopped before Lin Yiyi's eyes, right in front of his face.

After catching the arrow between two fingers, the young man put on a solemn act and declared, "By the mandate of Heaven, I proclaim the decree of the Narukami Ogosho, the Lord of Thunder. I have come to borrow a batch of Shogunate troops from the Tenryou Commission to maintain order during the Inazuma festival."

"This is the Narukami decree, offered as proof." With that, Lin Yiyi took out the Shogun's Decree—a black lacquered charm bearing the Threefold Thunder Insignia, engraved with words and patterns personally carved by Raiden Shogun, or perhaps Raiden Ei herself.

Upon seeing the charm, Kujou Sara remained suspicious at first. But after Lin Yiyi tossed it over for her to inspect personally, her expression softened considerably.

"It truly bears words written by Her Excellency the Shogun herself."

"My apologies for my earlier offense. I beg your forgiveness, my lord."

Kujou Sara quickly changed her previous attitude. A true man could bend and stretch, so Lin Yiyi jokingly said, "Then go back and punish yourself by swinging your sword three million times."

Kujou Sara looked troubled. This lord's punishment was far too severe, wasn't it?

Three million times? Her arms would break from all that swinging!

And why had he said "too"? Had he done it himself before?

Still, he was a friend of Her Excellency the Shogun. She did not dare disobey, so she could only agree.

But after Lin Yiyi casually added, "Just kidding," Kujou Sara's expression seemed to change again.

The young man soon turned serious. "You understand the order I just gave, correct?"

"I understand. This subordinate will arrange the manpower immediately."

As a general of the Tenryou Commission, she was far quicker to deal with than Kujou Takayuki. Since he had run into her, Lin Yiyi had the dozen or so Shogunate soldiers behind her assigned to maintain order at the festival.

Lin Yiyi let out a breath. With Her Excellency the Shogun's order, no one would dare claim that the Yashiro Commission had failed in its management duties. The Kamisato Clan's burden would be much lighter now.

Moreover, unlike previous festivals, this one covered the entirety of Inazuma City, making it much harder to manage. The army and people were as close as fish and water. The Tenryou Commission was one of the Tri-Commission—surely it ought to look after its own citizens and improve its reputation, shouldn't it?

After Kujou Sara returned the Shogun's Decree to Lin Yiyi, he left. His task here had only been to borrow people from the Tenryou Commission, and now that he had accomplished it, it was time to consider the environmental issue—as much as he could help, he would.

"This world doesn't seem to have things like trash cans..." Lin Yiyi pondered. Besides throwing trash into bins, any litter left on the ground could, if necessary, be handed over to those round little Slimes with barely any offensive power.

Since Lin Yiyi was currently in Inazuma City, quite far from the Kamisato Estate, he took two sheets of yellow paper from his pocket—paper he could use to draw talismans after biting his finger, just in case. He tore out two little paper figures by hand, chanted an incantation, then told them about his idea for trash cans and sent them flying toward the Kamisato Estate to convey his intentions.

Like sending messages by carrier pigeon, except they would relay it verbally instead of carrying a letter.

Once that was done, Lin Yiyi decided to wander around.

The cries of Yae Publishing House's vendors, the waves of fragrance drifting from Timber South Pavilion, the ringing hammer blows from Amenoma Tougo, the dazzling array of clothing at Ogura Textiles and Kimonos... If he had not seen it with his own eyes, the young man would still have found it hard to believe that everything from the game was now so vividly real before him.

Soon, he left the city and arrived at Byakko Plain.

Many foxes roamed this grassland. Like humans, animals had different personalities. Some foxes fled as soon as they saw an unfamiliar face, while others remained where they were and watched.

Further ahead, there were three Electro Crystalflies beside a Hilichurl camp.

Lin Yiyi tapped on his phone and pulled a purple longsword out of thin air, then slowly walked over.

He intended to test whether his strength had been weakened in this world, and he also wanted to determine whether the monsters had grown stronger. If he encountered danger in the future, he would at least have some ability to protect himself.

"Ya!" As the unfamiliar creature entered the Hilichurls' territory, the group quickly raised the alarm.

Lin Yiyi noticed an especially robust Mitachurl among them. Since this was Inazuma, its axe could be infused with Electro.

Without any haste, Lin Yiyi turned and casually swung Mistsplitter Reforged, beheading the most ordinary Hilichurl in a single stroke.

He then rolled aside to evade the Mitachurl's brutal chop. Taking advantage of its lengthy windup, he pierced the remaining two Electro Hilichurls—Hilichurls that threw Electro Slimes. But when he turned around, he found that the Mitachurl had already closed in. Its axe, suffused with purple Electro energy, came crashing straight down at him.

He had forgotten that he was in reality. The Mitachurl would not rigidly swing twice before it could move, as it did in the game.

"Clang—" With no time to dodge, Lin Yiyi could only hold Mistsplitter Reforged horizontally before himself and block the heavy blow. The tremendous force drove him partly to his knees.

"As expected of a Mitachurl renowned for its strength. It truly isn't to be underestimated," Lin Yiyi sneered. Unfortunately, as a mage, he could not match such a monster in physical strength during close combat. "But this is all you've got."

With his knees drawn inward, waist and stance aligned, and center of gravity lowered, the Wing Chun pigeon-toed horse stance quickly stabilized Lin Yiyi's footing. From that moment on, the Mitachurl's strength could no longer shake him in the slightest.

He raised his hand and used Mistsplitter Reforged to deflect the axe, then rolled away to widen the distance.

Without a Vision, he could not wield elemental power, but that did not mean Lin Yiyi had run out of methods.

"I am Amenoma, pursuing the heavens. Clear as lightning, illuminating the eight extremes, seeing through surface and core, subduing all things. By the laws of heaven, swiftly obey!"

The young man chanted under his breath. Then Mistsplitter in his hand flashed with purple lightning. Lin Yiyi lunged forward and pierced the Mitachurl's heart.

Mitachurls were not monsters with particularly high health. After taking Lin Yiyi's buff-enhanced attack, it collapsed on the spot, unable to rise again.

"An unknown force has been detected..."

"Dispatch a Golden Wolflord to investigate."