Throne Of Supreme

Chapter 278: Past Omissions

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Without rushing to experiment, Aoki stored the Seed of Nature and opened the system interface.

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[Name: Aoki]

[Strength: 142]

[Physique: 142]

[Intelligence: 143]

[Agility: 142]

[Occupations:]

Hunter

King of the white walkers

Martial Artist

Doctor

Infinite Dragon Beast

Nature Spirit

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[Infinite Dragon Beast]

...

[Nature Spirit]

Quality: ★★★★

Level: lv32 (631/3200)

Skills: Nature Spirit VI, Armament Haki III, Observation Haki II, Conqueror Haki

Free Skill Points: 8

---

Thanks to leveling up and the Nature Spirit class reaching level 4, Aoki's attributes had surpassed 140 points across the board.

To summarize in one word: invincible.

With 8 free skill points available, he considered his options. He could upgrade his Observation Haki to level III or enhance his Conqueror Haki.

However, after a moment's thought, he decided to save the points.

"If I level up once more, I can max out my Armament Haki. That will be another significant boost," Aoki reasoned.

Gradually, the aura around him dissipated, and he reverted to his human form.

Seeing this, kurome approached him and asked, "What just happened to you, Aoki?"

Aoki, in high spirits, smiled and replied, "My strength improved a little."

"A little?" kurome repeated skeptically, eyeing him carefully.

"Your form just now gave me a strange feeling," she added.

"Oh? What kind of feeling?" Aoki asked, curious.

kurome thought for a moment before replying, "It felt... like the gods in some temples."

Aoki chuckled in realization. "That's just the natural manifestation of power leaking out."

The Spirit of Nature was, in essence, a divine entity. The zoan-type Devil Fruits also contained the corresponding will of the creatures they represented.

Upon awakening, such manifestations were inevitable.

For example, after Luffy's Nika Fruit awakened, his constant laughter was one such manifestation.

If a user's physical and mental cultivation were insufficient, they could even fail to awaken, their minds overtaken by the will of the animal.

"Fortunately, I awaken through the system's power, so there's no risk of failure. But the external manifestations remain unavoidable," Aoki explained.

kurome nodded, appearing to understand, though she didn't dwell on it. Instead, her gaze shifted to Esdeath, who lay unconscious on the ground.

"You're not going to kill her?" kurome asked.

Aoki shook his head. "I need strength right now. Esdeath is powerful and exceptionally talented. She'll be useful."

kurome nodded, saying no more.

She bore no personal grudge against Esdeath. Their earlier battle had been motivated by her desire to help her sister and atone for her own sins, with Esdeath simply being the target.

Aoki then stored Esdeath in his alternate dimension.

"What's the plan now?" kurome asked. "Should we head back to the Imperial Capital?"

Their mission had been to restrain Esdeath. With that threat neutralized, their objective was complete.

It seemed there was little else to do but wait for Esdeath and Akame to recover.

Aoki was about to respond when a thought struck him.

"kurome, summon the four-winged dragon. I want to take a look at it."

Although puzzled, kurome complied. She unsheathed the Yatsufusa, and black lightning crackled at the blade's tip. A massive figure materialized—a dragon with two pairs of wings on its back.

The four-winged dragon lowered its head and growled menacingly at Aoki.

"Roar!"

kurome explained, "The puppets controlled by the Yatsufusa retain some of their strongest instincts from life. Since you killed it, it seems to hold a grudge."

"He does hold a grudge," Aoki said nonchalantly, unfazed.

He wasn't afraid of the living, much less the dead.

Under Kurome's control, the four-winged dragon refrained from any aggressive actions, though its hostility was palpable.

Walking to the side of the four-winged dragon, Aoki stretched out his hand, pressing it against the creature's body. A faint but distinct throbbing resonated beneath his palm.

"Sure enough, the bloodline is still intact," Aoki muttered to himself.

From the beginning, his reason for asking kurome to turn the four-winged dragon into a puppet was to test whether its bloodline could be preserved.

Though the four-winged dragon was only a three-star creature, its bloodline carried spatial attributes.

Aoki had a deep appreciation for the power of spatial abilities. Space Travel, one of his most relied-upon techniques, had proven invaluable in both combat and life-saving situations.

However, Space Travel was starting to show its limitations.

As Aoki's strength grew, the energy consumption of Space Travel became increasingly significant.

With the Natural Spirit form of the Human-Human Fruit, this drawback was mitigated to some extent, but the challenges persisted. Enemies were growing stronger, and spatial abilities were no longer as rare as they had been in the Demon Slayer world.

Moreover, Space Travel was highly susceptible to interference.

"If there's a chance to upgrade Space Travel, I can't afford to miss it," Aoki thought.

His experiment had been a success. The bloodline of the four-winged dragon had been perfectly preserved.

But now came the question: should he devour this bloodline?

Aoki hesitated.

While a spatial attribute bloodline was undeniably valuable, the four-winged dragon was still only a three-star creature.

The gap between three-star and four-star creatures had been vividly demonstrated in his battle with Esdeath.

"Is it worth lowering the quality of bloodlines I absorb just for spatial attributes?" he pondered.

After all, there were only four slots available for the Devour ability.

In the Pirate World, there were spatial-type Devil Fruits such as the Ope-Ope Fruit, the Door-Door Fruit, and the Teleport-Teleport Fruit. Wouldn't those be better options?

As Aoki wrestled with his thoughts, kurome suddenly spoke.

"Aoki, Aoki," she called.

"What is it?" Aoki asked, temporarily setting aside his dilemma to look at the girl beside him.

kurome pointed toward a direction and said, "When I was controlling the four-winged dragon and other super-dangerous species, I occasionally felt like something was attracting them over there."

Aoki followed her gaze, his expression shifting slightly.

"Is it that secret place?" he murmured.

kurome nodded. "I think so."

Aoki's eyes narrowed as he muttered, "Did I miss something?"

Thinking back, something indeed seemed off.

In this era, super-dangerous species were already incredibly rare.

Yet, on this small island, there were four of them. That alone was abnormal.

Even more unusual was the fact that the four super-dangerous species coexisted peacefully.

As the saying goes, there can't be two tigers on one mountain.

If tigers couldn't share territory, how could super-dangerous species—creatures as powerful as natural disasters—live in harmony?

And then there were the silver beads.

"Did the four-winged dragon really condense those beads?" Aoki wondered.

Even if it had, how could it have placed them inside the heads of the other three super-dangerous species?

"It seems I may have overlooked something important," Aoki concluded.

He turned to kurome. "I need to go back and investigate. Do you want to come with me?"

Fortunately, he had left a spatial mark at the location. Otherwise, returning would have been far more troublesome.

kurome nodded without hesitation. "I do!"

Aoki glanced at Akame, who was still unconscious on the ground.

"Let's put Akame into the alternate dimension first. She won't wake up for a while," he said.

kurome had no objections.

Aoki stored Akame away, then grabbed kurome's hand.

The two figures vanished in a flash.