Magatama: Secret Prayer

There were quite a few items among the talismans Ōgami Masaya had provided. All had been worshipped with incense and offerings for many years, and some had even been passed down from far more ancient eras.

They were imbued with an immense amount of information.

That was why they were all recognized by the space.

Bai Cangshu had already vaguely understood that the Infinite Dimensional Space sent Reincarnators into these worlds in order to seize this unique information. He simply still did not understand what value these derivative worlds truly possessed.

He quickly skipped past the lowest-grade items, most of which were amulets capable of providing a faint degree of protection.

Bai Cangshu was a straightforward person—or rather, someone with an exceptionally clear sense of purpose.

Just as, the first time they had met, he had guessed that these old Shrine Masters simply could not let go of their power and wanted Hirohito dead, rather than acting on some supposed Divine Oracle from Inari Ōkami.

He had agreed to help kill Hirohito for the sake of demanding payment.

If this Shrine Master caused further complications now, Bai Cangshu truly had no intention of wasting words on him. Killing him would save more time instead.

Although many considered Bai Cangshu a madman, he had always seen himself as an overly rational "outsider."

And a rational person would not be constrained by concepts that had become fixed as "common sense" in the eyes of the masses through all manner of channels.

This so-called common sense was whether the rewards granted by the Reincarnation Space were truly the most valuable things in a mission world.

After struggling through multiple missions, many Reincarnators gradually realized that the mission worlds themselves contained resources more valuable than the mission rewards offered by the Reincarnation Space.

Bai Cangshu had benefited immensely from the guidance of the martial arts master Mercenary Tao in his first world, so he had understood this point long ago.

The greatest reward in a mission world was never the paltry reward points and special points one might eventually obtain after causing all sorts of trouble there.

In the eyes of most Reincarnators, the most valuable aspect of the Demon Slayer Derivative World was its bloodlines!

Kibutsuji Muzan offered a relatively cheap way to obtain the bloodline of a Man-eating Demon. As long as one dared to risk their life, they could obtain a bloodline specialized for survival.

Even with its enormous flaws, for novice Reincarnators living day to day in uncertainty, the temptation of an Immortal Body was simply impossible to resist.

Even before discovering the hidden faction of Shintoism, Bai Cangshu had realized that besides the obvious thread surrounding Kibutsuji Muzan, the Demon Slayer World had always concealed another thread!

The system of religious mythology.

By investigating Kibutsuji Muzan’s existence, one could discover that the bloodline of Kibutsuji Muzan’s Man-eating Demons was, in essence, a bloodline of pharmacological—or perhaps biochemical—nature.

Its power came from medicine. It had been created to treat Kibutsuji Muzan’s unusual illness. His powerful vitality, fear of sunlight, bloodlust, and so on were all derivative effects of that medicine.

In contrast, the Ubuyashiki Family had indeed suffered a curse after giving birth to Kibutsuji Muzan, an evil seed that plagued mankind.

This curse left the men of the Ubuyashiki Family plagued by illness from childhood, unable to live past the age of twenty.

At the Shrine Masters’ suggestion, they had married into families of Shinto priests generation after generation in order to preserve their bloodline.

Unlike Kibutsuji Muzan, the curse suffered by the Ubuyashiki Family possessed strong occult elements.

It clearly hinted that this world did indeed possess power beyond common sense, but that power had weakened to the point where it could no longer exorcise Kibutsuji Muzan on its own.

Thus, unwilling to become a Man-eating Demon controlled at the whim of an idiot like Kibutsuji Muzan, Bai Cangshu naturally set his sights on this power.

He had thought his opportunity to come into contact with it would lie with Ubuyashiki Amane, but after arriving in Kyoto, he had unexpectedly come into direct contact with the Shrine Master of the largest shrine.

As Bai Cangshu’s thoughts raced, his gaze had already reached the items farther down the list.

Dark Curse Substitute — Requires 30 Reputation to exchange (Friendly)

Quality: Blue (Rare)

Description: A Shintoism ritual implement containing the power of incense offerings and faith

Effect 1: After equipping, can block one yin-element attack or instance of damage of moderate intensity or lower

Effect 2: Can be crushed voluntarily to transfer the user's current negative status to the substitute and remove it

Bai Cangshu was somewhat tempted, but he did not exchange for it immediately.

Magatama: Secret Prayer (Left) — Requires 50 Reputation to exchange (Revered)

Quality: Green (Set 1/2)

Description: A magatama worshipped with the power of incense offerings and faith for centuries, containing special power

Spirit +1, Energy +2

Effect 1: After equipping, the Reincarnator gains the ability to hear the voices of spirits, Over Souls, and the like

Effect 2: After equipping, gains a slight degree of immunity to spirit attacks

Set Effect (2): The Reincarnator gains the special ability: Spirit Summoning

Magatama: Secret Prayer (Right) — Requires 50 Reputation to exchange (Revered)

Quality: Green (Set 1/2)

Description: A magatama worshipped with the power of incense offerings and faith for centuries, containing special power

Constitution +1, Energy +2

Effect 1: After equipping, the Reincarnator gains the ability to convey their voice to spirits, Over Souls, and the like

Effect 2: After equipping, gain the ability to attack spirit bodies.

Set Effect (2): The Reincarnator gains the special ability · Spirit Summoning

This pair of special magatama was the first complete set item Bai Cangshu had seen. Both magatama were earrings. Once equipped, they not only increased energy attributes by a considerable amount, but also granted the Reincarnator a special ability called Spirit Summoning.

Unfortunately, they were quite expensive. Not only did they require a Revered reputation rank, but exchanging for both together also cost 100 reputation points. With Bai Cangshu’s current Revered (15/100) reputation, exchanging for one would cause his reputation to drop to the Respected rank.

In other words, Bai Cangshu needed to farm some more reputation before he could exchange for the complete set. If he exchanged for Magatama: Secret Prayer (Right) now, Bai Cangshu guessed he could achieve the Spirit-Toucher (Rare) milestone.

Moreover, Bai Cangshu had discovered that there was actually a small "loophole" in the Infinite Dimensional Space’s rules regarding exchanging reputation for items.

That was, reputation rank and reputation value were counted separately.

For example, Bai Cangshu’s current reputation rank was Revered, but his actual reputation value was Revered (15) + Respected (100) + Friendly (100) = 215;

In other words, Bai Cangshu ostensibly had 215 points available as currency for exchanges, but he still had to meet the reputation rank required for an item.

If Bai Cangshu wanted to exchange for the Secret Prayer pair of magatama earrings, he had to maintain a Revered reputation rank. But as long as he met the Revered rank requirement, even if his displayed reputation was only Revered (15/100), he could still exchange for an item requiring 50 reputation points;

Therefore, the optimal method was for Bai Cangshu to farm reputation until he reached Revered (51/100), then exchange for the two items in succession.

Bai Cangshu had originally planned to exchange for one first and complete the milestone, but he suddenly felt his clothes being tugged twice.

Looking down, he discovered that it was the fox-girl-like Shikigami.

Her scarlet eyes stared at him. Then she slowly floated up, transforming into a ray of light that entered the talisman paper.