Chapter 2: Ryujin Jakka

Night passed quietly amidst the roars of numerous beasts in the forest.

The first rays of morning sunlight penetrated, bringing silence to the once tumultuous primeval forest.

"Ha~~" Alex opened his eyes, yawned, and slowly got out of bed, assessing his body's condition.

Nodding to himself, after a night of rest, his injuries had completely healed. Alex now felt full of energy.

Alex dressed in the clothes lying beside his bed. Despite his robust constitution in this weather, he wouldn't feel cold without covering, but perhaps out of habit, Alex couldn't sleep without something over him.

As he rose habitually, his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of a katana lying beside the bed.

"What's this?" Alex looked puzzled. He had never owned such a katana before, and now it suddenly appeared before him.

"Could someone have come and left this knife by my bed? But that's impossible." Alex was baffled.

Alex picked up the katana, and instantly, a mechanical voice sounded in his mind.

[Ding! You felt you were too weak, so you sleepwalked to another world and stole the Ryujin Jakka!!]

"??"

Alex was utterly bewildered. What did it mean by feeling too weak? Though he might be a bit weak, he didn't think poorly of himself, did he?

Moreover, sleepwalking to another world to steal the Ryujin Jakka? How could he have such abilities? If he could steal Ryujin Jakka, how could he still be weak?

"Are you a system?" Alex asked, recalling from his past life having read a couple of transmigration novels where systems were commonplace for transmigrators.

There was no response after the mechanical voice sounded in his mind, suggesting it might indeed be his system. Alex tried calling out to it in his mind.

After waiting for a while without a reply, Alex gave up. It seemed the Ryujin Jakka must have been a gift from the system. Nonetheless, having such a blade couldn't harm Alex.

Alex couldn't help but think that the owner of this blade, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni from the Soul Society, might come to chop him down.

With this in mind, Alex picked up the katana and recalled memories from his previous life regarding this blade.

Although Alex had to work hard from an early age to earn a living, he never had time to watch anime. Still, he had heard about the three most popular series—One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach—from others.

Ryujin Jakka was said to be the Zanpakuto of the most powerful Shinigami in Bleach. In its Shikai form, it could reach temperatures like the surface of the sun, and in its Bankai form, it could even reach the temperature of the sun's core.

It was the oldest and most powerful fire-type Zanpakuto.

Capable of incinerating everything, turning all into ashes with its terrifying power.

Thinking of this, Alex's eyes sparkled. He tried pulling out the sword and saw the blade, which seemed to flicker with a cold light at the tip.

"But how can I unleash the power of the Zanpakuto?" Based on discussions with friends from his previous life, to unleash its true power, one needed to communicate with the soul of the Zanpakuto.

Each Zanpakuto had its own soul, thoughts, and personality. By engaging in a mental dialogue with it, the user could learn the Zanpakuto's name and thus gain its power.

But Alex already knew the name of the Zanpakuto. Could he directly activate Shikai?

With this thought, Alex gripped the handle tightly and pointed it forward, chanting, "Release, Ryujin Jakka!!!"

. . . 𓅯. . .

A crow seemed to fly across the sky.

"Ryujin Jakka, release!!!"...

Alex let out a disappointed sigh as he lowered the blade. "No good, I don't know the release command. Just shouting its name doesn't seem to work."

Realizing this, Alex slapped his forehead. "Why didn't I finish watching those anime in my past life? Even knowing just the release command would have been helpful."

Thinking back to his childhood in the orphanage in his past life, Alex had to drop out early to work and support himself. He had no time for entertainment.

Even knowing about Ryujin Jakka was hearsay; otherwise, he wouldn't even know what kind of blade it was.

With these thoughts, Alex shook his head. Since he couldn't cheat and use Flowing Blade Like Fire directly, he would try to communicate with it and learn its release command through the Zanpakuto.

With determination, Alex focused his mind and began to communicate with Flowing Blade Like Fire.

...

Time passed slowly. On the 21st attempt, Ryujin Jakka finally underwent a change when Alex called out to it. The blade began to emit a red glow.

The glow spread from the blade and soon covered Alex's entire body.

At that moment, Alex felt something strange. It was as if his soul was communicating and interacting with Ryujin Jakka. It was a peculiar sensation.

As their souls connected, the glow on Ryujin Jakka's surface intensified. However, Alex suddenly felt a rapid depletion of a special energy within him!!

"What's going on?" Alex felt the unique energy within him dissipating as he instinctively focused on the Ryujin Jakka in his hand.

"Is this your doing?" Alex pondered silently, sensing his special energy rapidly decreasing, though new energy continued to flow into his body every second.

"Could it be that you need energy?" Alex thought, unconcerned as long as it didn't drain him completely, since it wasn't much different from his normal energy consumption.

A short rest would restore him.

However, after a while, the absorption of the Ryujin Jakka's energy didn't stop, and Alex began to feel uneasy. Could this thing really intend to drain him dry?

Alex didn't know what would happen if his special energy were completely drained, so he could only pray he would recover from it.

Just as Alex's energy was about to be depleted, the Ryujin Jakka ceased its absorption, and at the same time, a sentence floated into Alex's mind.

"All things under the heavens turn to ash, Ryujin Jakka!!!"

Alex knew this must be the so-called Shikai incantation. At that moment, the Ryujin Jakka also subsided, and Alex picked it up again.

This time, it felt completely different from before; previously, it was like holding an ordinary knife with no additional sensation.

But now, Alex could feel he could wield the power of the Ryujin Jakka at will.

Moreover, according to the original, using the Zanpakuto required spiritual pressure, but for some reason, Alex could use the Ryujin Jakka with his own special energy.

Perhaps this was due to the differences between worlds, as different paths lead to the same outcome.

Alex wasn't a researcher; it didn't make sense to dwell on such fine details.

"Grr—" Alex rubbed his growling stomach, smiling helplessly. "I'm so hungry, let's get something to eat."

Thinking of the flying fish he caught yesterday, Alex's mouth watered uncontrollably. He impatiently cut off a piece of meat from the fish and roasted it on the spot.

Since the last wing of this fish had been consumed by Alex last night, he could only eat the meat from its body.

First, he sniffed to ensure the meat wasn't spoiled, then Alex happily roasted it, swallowing saliva that was flooding his mouth.

Finally, when the fish meat was cooked, Alex couldn't wait to take a bite...

"It tastes awful~~~" Alex's face instantly twisted into a bitter melon color. Various strange flavors echoed in Alex's mouth, making it even worse than eating a detergent.

Even though Alex had never tasted it, he could imagine it.

...

"Hmm? A massive wildfire has inexplicably erupted in the Western Wilderness Forest? A mountain peak has completely melted?" In the center of Magnolia Town, within the Fiore Kingdom.

Here lies a first-rate guild called Fairy Tail, belonging to the Fiore Kingdom.

At this moment, inside Fairy Tail guild, a man with orange short hair, a small beard around his mouth, and dressed in a dark green cloak, stood in front of the mission board, looking at a prominent "S" mark on the top of a commission.

After thinking for a moment, the man reached out and took down the commission, walking down the stairs to the bar and addressing an apparently elderly man there, "Guild Master, I'll take this mission."

The Guild Master opened his eyes and glanced at the mission sheet, nodding, "Be careful, Gildarts."

Ten days later, Alex still hadn't exited this forest.

Alex couldn't figure out why he couldn't leave this forest.

"Could it be that there are no humans in this world at all? Could this world still be in its primitive era?" Alex's face was full of panic at the thought. If that were true, he would be the only human left in this world.

Alex couldn't imagine the loneliness of being the only person left in the world; it would drive anyone insane.

"Is anyone there???"

Alex's shout echoed in the forest, startling flocks of birds, but it served no other purpose.

After a long while, Alex reluctantly accepted the fact that he might have to play solo in this world forever. He shook his head, marking a sign on the ground for future recognition.

Then he turned back.

On his way back, he passed through a place where large trees were reduced to mere trunks, and in the center, there was a huge crater with solidified magma inside.

This was where Alex had deliberately chosen a hill made entirely of rocks to test the power of the blade-like fire. He had thought it wouldn't cause much impact here.

But Alex was still amazed by the power of the Ryujin Jakka; at the moment of Shikai activation, the temperature rose dramatically, akin to the surface of the sun.

With flames reaching up to 6000 degrees Celsius, it directly melted the hill beneath Alex's feet. Moreover, the extremely high temperature even ignited the surrounding forest. In that moment, Alex realized he had caused a major disaster.

Hastily deactivating Shikai, but the fire had already ignited the forest. Just as the entire forest was about to turn into a sea of flames, rain suddenly poured from the sky, putting out Alex's troubles.

Since then, Alex had never activated Shikai in the forest again, and this incident gave him a clear understanding of his current power.

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