Transformed into the leader of an esoteric sect in Japan

It evokes the image of a phantom moon reflected in a mirror-like lake, dreamlike and ethereal, shrouded in mist and rain. It's the kind of beauty that isn't immediately striking, but grows more beautiful the closer you look. Kurosawa Shizuki thinks she deserves a 95 out of 100, but the five points deducted are probably due to the overly sickly impression her body gives off.

Undoubtedly, this is a school uniform, and the original owner of this body was obviously a high school student. The system did indeed see the title "active high school girl". It is really hard to believe that the original owner, as a high school student, went through something to become such a terrifying cult leader.

Moreover, in a male-dominated society like Japan, Kurosawa Shizuki absolutely refused to believe that this girl could control such a large cult simply because of her beauty or the monster in the shadows behind her.

Kurosawa Shizuki found a light blue women's handbag in the room. After checking it, she found her ID card, phone, wallet, and bank cards—everything she needed was there, which made her feel a little relieved. She also had over 100,000 yen in cash on hand.

She had no idea about the bank card's PIN. It seemed she would have to try subtly getting the cult members to help her get a new card. The Black Sun Cult operated so many cultural industries at the same time, and as a branch saintess, it shouldn't be a big problem for her to embezzle some of the cult's internal funds.

Inside the handbag, Shizuki Kurosawa also found a student ID.

Kurosawa Shizuki, Yamahiko Private High School, Mizuno Ward, Class 1-B, 2019 cohort.

Could it be that as the leader of a secret cult, she really goes to school every day? Kurosawa Shizuki hesitated for a moment. Could it be that the original owner used a high school student as a disguise? After all, if any normal person were to investigate matters related to secret cults, they would never suspect a seemingly harmless high school girl, especially since this body's appearance is so deceptive. Even if the cult were to be destroyed one day, who would blame a high school student like her?

After all, it seems that minors in Japan can be acquitted no matter what crimes they commit? Kurosawa Shizuki had heard more than once in China about how high school and middle school students in Japan could get away with their crimes and act with impunity because they were minors and thus could escape the death penalty.

Kurosawa Shizuki knelt by the window, pondering what to do next.

How can I integrate into the various identities of this body?

Where should we begin to investigate the original owner's past social relationships?

Should this esoteric sect, which looks so sinister, continue to operate under its leadership? If it doesn't want to continue, how can it extricate itself?

And how should we utilize the system on our bodies to gain an advantage?

Kurosawa Shizuki hadn't forgotten the side quest the system had originally given her—how exactly did the original owner die? And what were the "hidden dangers around her"?

A girl in a sailor uniform, enveloped in a hazy fragrance, knelt in a deathly quiet room, her deep blue eyes unconsciously drifting towards the window.

Springtime is in full bloom, and the whole world is bathed in gentle peace and tranquility.

The sunlight shone into the girl's deep pupils, but it did not reflect the slightest glimmer of light.

The dim blue light from the ceiling light flickered and changed direction, which seemed to be a paranormal phenomenon.

The girl's shadow stretched extremely long, as if it had completely swallowed the entire room into shadow.

P.S., dear readers, please recommend and bookmark this! Vote, and more votes!

PS2: Regarding the protagonist's appearance, you can refer to the cover with black hair.

Section 8, Chapter 8: Wanting to buy everything, but unable to afford any of them.

The date was April 16, 2019. Spring was in full bloom, and dusk was approaching.

Kurosawa Shizuki sat in the back seat of a not-so-high-end maroon sedan. The driver was naturally her loyal follower, Nakamura Yukise. Nakamura Yukise was a good driver, driving very smoothly and at a decent speed.

As you drive off the overpass, you're surrounded by a sea of ​​cars on both sides, weaving through a dense steel forest. Thousands of pedestrians come and go, neon lights blaze, and the sounds of advertisements, music, and the rumble of trains never cease. This massive city is like a tireless beast, forever moving forward, forever radiant.

There were all sorts of advertising signs, and occasionally you could even see a few that belonged to companies affiliated with the Black Sun Cult.

Promotional material for a tour concert by a girl idol group.

A large promotional poster for a new character with an increased drop rate in a certain pay-to-win mobile game.

A large-scale color-illustrated promotional poster for a famous cartoonist's collected volume: "1000 million copies sold!"

Heijō, the capital of Japan, is roughly equivalent to Tokyo, which she was familiar with in her previous life. Kurosawa Shizuki, who had never visited this city before, found everything in front of her quite novel.

The city's reflection flowed through her clear pupils. Her hand rested on the car window, and the setting sun shone through her fingers onto her almost transparent profile.

Although she appeared to be looking out the car window, her pupils revealed various system interfaces constantly opening and closing.

She was actually browsing the unexpectedly complex online store, which made her dizzy.

By expanding the cult's scale, recruiting followers, and completing system-issued tasks, Kurosawa Shizuki can obtain a system currency called "Nightmare Points," which can be used to exchange for various equipment, skills, and cult members in the in-game store.

It has a strong mobile game vibe.

I glanced at the equipment, skills, and cultist exchange interfaces and found that they were all divided into white, green, blue, purple, and orange categories based on quality in a fairly straightforward way. There were a huge number of items to exchange for; I could scroll through hundreds of pages and still not see them all. Fortunately, the system had a search and filtering interface, so the UI design was quite useful.

I first browsed through the store's contents at random.

[System notification: The skill card you redeemed from the shop consumes relatively few Nightmare Points, but its proficiency is initially at the "beginner" stage. Further upgrades will require more Nightmare Points. You can also improve it through real-world training.]

Green and white skill cards have four proficiency levels: Beginner, Proficient, Master, and Perfect. Blue skill cards have a fifth proficiency level: Spiritual. Purple skill cards have a sixth proficiency level: Divine. Orange skill cards have a seventh proficiency level: Creation.

[White Skill Card, Latin, a dead language, lifeless like a diamond. Requires 208 Nightmare Points to redeem.]

[Green Skill Card: Shinto Katori-ryu Swordsmanship, a swordsmanship passed down from Katori Jingu no Kyouzu. Upon mastering the technique, one gains the qualification to receive full mastery of this style. It also comes with the special effects "Killing Intent" and "Slicing." Requires 890 Nightmare Points to redeem.]

[Green-tier equipment, Soul Hunter's Dagger, a dagger capable of simultaneously wounding the body and spirit, once used to assassinate a great governor. Comes with the special effects Soul Hunter, Heartbreak, and Chill. Requires 3000 Nightmare Points to exchange.]

[Blue Cultist, Hirakawa Aki, feels most at ease under the moonlight. The night holds no secrets for her, yet she is often overlooked during the day. Rationality 21, Spirituality 18, Physique 10. Initial skills: Stealth, Ancient Pine Breeze Archery, Dark Blade Walker. Requires 40,000 Nightmare Points to exchange.]

[Purple Skill Card: A Delusional Fantasy, Your Thoughts Are Often Controlled by Ghostly Illusions Even When You're Awake. Grants a significant boost to your artistic abilities, a profound perspective allowing you to see creatures in multiple dimensions, and includes the special effects of Telekinesis, Mind and Skill as One, and Mind-Matter Conversion. Requires 20685 Nightmare Points to redeem.]

[The Purple Cultist, Miss Elegy, a painting depicting a dark-skinned woman with snow-white eyes and short, bone-white hair standing before a small marble tomb overgrown with white vines. Signed "Jonas B. Munch," painted in 1811. Rationality: None, Spirituality: 99, Physicality: None. Initial Skills: Momentary Recollection, An Event, World in a Painting, Spiritual Divination, Unfinished Painting. Requires 180,000 Nightmare Points to exchange.]

[Orange equipment, Double Pupils, the eyes of an imperial prince, symbolizing the overlap of multiple dimensions; He is both here and on the other side. The possessor can traverse multiple histories with their physical body, gaining a significant boost to their destiny and becoming the chosen one of an era. They also gain a certain degree of insight into fate. Includes the special effects of ethereal transformation, immortal body, an unseen realm, and high-level luck. Requires 830,000 skill points to exchange.]

According to the system, skill exchanges consume relatively few Nightmare Points, but require a large amount of Nightmare Points to upgrade later. In contrast, equipment and Cultist exchanges often consume several times more Nightmare Points than skills, but the exchange is a one-step process. Moreover, some items can grant the owner multiple traits at the same time, which is equivalent to binding multiple skills. Furthermore, most Cultists start with many special skills and can also grow and act autonomously afterward.

Kurosawa Shizuki suddenly felt something was off. Exchanging skills and equipment in the system shop made sense—skills were directly implanted into her mind, and items were delivered directly to her hands. But how was this exchanged cultist going to appear? A flash of golden light, and a cultist descended from the sky? This was just too incongruous!

[After you redeem the cultist from the shop, the system will modify the cause and effect. You will soon encounter the cultist in reality and have the opportunity to recruit him.] Although the system doesn't have much emotion, it at least answers Kurosawa Shizuki's question.

So does that mean that all the cultists who can be redeemed in the store existed in reality from the beginning, and all the system can do is create causality between me and them?

That's one way to understand it.

Unexpectedly, the system possessed extraordinary power. Was altering cause and effect so easy to do? In the end, what exactly was the origin of this so-called "system" parasitizing her? Kurosawa Shizuki felt that it was definitely more than just a game system.

Kurosawa Shizuki checked her current skills and initial equipment.

Her initial skill, the fourth stage of Dark Spirit Body, is purple in color; this starting account is indeed quite good.

[Dark Matter Spirit (Fourth Level Perfection Stage), Sun Apostle, your dark matter power is as blazing as the sun, you are the Black Sun's most beloved bride.]

Characteristic: "Avatar", your dark matter can detach from the original body and move freely, and can even disguise itself as the host's appearance for a short period of time, lasting 3 hours;

"Blade Form": Your dark essence can be transformed into extraordinary items with blade attributes for attack;

"Beast Form": Your dark matter can transform into the monstrous beast form that you once devoured;

"Wall Form": Your dark matter can be transformed into extraordinary items with wall attributes for defense;

"Immortality" means that your dark matter is connected to your life. As long as your dark matter is extinguished, you will be immortal. Each time you are reborn through your dark matter, it will greatly consume your spirituality. When your spirituality is exhausted, you will die completely.

"Shadow Enslavement: Intelligent beings devoured by you will become your servants. You can access their knowledge and memories from their previous lives and summon them from the Netherworld at any time. Summoning consumes your mental energy."

It only has one skill, but this skill can be considered both offensive and defensive, and it seems to be able to be used as a summoning skill as well. No wonder it is a purple skill that costs tens of thousands of points to learn in the store.

The only starting item was the [Black Sun Divine Stone Fragment] that she had accidentally taken out and used to kill countless cultists, and it was also of purple quality.

[A fragment of the Black Sun Divine Stone, a meteor falling from the winter night sky, altered the fate of an empire. In mythology, it was once the divine body of the Black Sun, at least partially. Limited to those of the Black Sun Cult's Chosen rank or higher, currently bound to its owner, Kurosawa Shizuki.]

Using this item, one can perform the secondary Black Sun ritual 'Corona', igniting the worshippers who are performing the ritual to please the Black Sun. All believers who survive the black flames will receive the Black Sun's blessings.

Trait: "Body of the Spirit": Reduces damage to you from all spirit-related monsters by 60%, makes it easier for you to gain the approval and fear of spirits, and increases your success rate in making contracts with spirits by 15%.

"The Unburnt": Flames, sunlight, and intense energies below the level of the Long-lived cannot harm you.

"The Blessing of the Black Sun": The growth rate of the Black Spirit increases by 15%, its attack power is increased by 30%, its spiritual energy consumption is reduced by 25%, and it will never suffer betrayal from a Black Spirit.

This equipment is indeed a perfect match for her; it grants immunity to fire, counters evil spirits, and enhances the attributes of the dark spirit body.

Next, Shizuki Kurosawa checked the Nightmare Points she currently possessed. What could she possibly buy in the shop with her current Nightmare Points?

P.S. Sigh, the initial character panel shouldn't be this complicated. After this chapter introduces it, I probably won't bring up the panel again and mention it repeatedly. It's pointless to pad the word count, and I'm too lazy to calculate messy data.

Section 9 Chapter Nine: I Actually Have a Younger Sister?

With a starting nightmare point of just over 2100, Kurosawa Shizuki couldn't quite figure out where all those nightmare points came from, since she only had a little over 100 nightmare points when she first transmigrated. Fortunately, the system had been keeping track of the sources of her nightmare points.

The souls of the believers who died during the ritual were converted into Nightmare Points, totaling about 800 points. It seems that killing someone can generate Nightmare Points? However, Kurosawa Shizuki really didn't want to gain Nightmare Points in this way anymore. Burning so many people at once was obviously short-sighted and against her conscience.

The reward of 1,000 points for completing daily tasks and holding a ceremony seems more like a newbie perk from the system.

The remaining two hundred or so Nightmare Points were all listed as originating from "negative emotions and faith output".

What does the system mean by generating negative emotions and beliefs?

Each cult follower you recruit will provide you with a certain amount of Nightmare Points daily, based on the strength of their faith. In addition, if your actions in the real world evoke negative emotions such as fear, sadness, or resentment in a large number of people, you will receive Nightmare Points proportionally.

[According to system estimates, your current daily Nightmare Points output is approximately 325, of which 122 are from Faith and 203 are from Negative Emotions.]

System, if someone hates me to the core in real life, approximately how many nightmare points would they have per day?

[100 people generating persistent negative emotions towards you will provide 1 Nightmare Point.]

Is that outrageous? Wait a minute, if that's the case, over 20,000 people experience negative emotions because of me every day? Where exactly do these negative emotions come from?

[System notification: Your light novel has just been published.]

"Wow," Kurosawa Shizuki finally understood why the original owner, as the leader of a secret cult, would write novels—it was to make more readers feel depressed and generate negative emotions!

No, not only that, Kurosawa Shizuki felt that there was clearly more hidden in the original owner's novel...

In Kurosawa Shizuki's eyes, this character's initial stats were already very strong. Kurosawa Shizuki couldn't find many flaws that needed to be made up for, after all, she had a purple skill and a piece of equipment at the start.

Upon careful consideration, the biggest weakness of this body at present is probably the lack of combat power of the original body. Although most battles can be resolved by the omnipotent black spirit body due to the powerful initial spiritual attribute, it can't be without any close combat ability, right?

Equipment and cult members are not a consideration for now; the priority should be to enhance the main body's combat power.

Since she currently has no equipment that can be considered a weapon, Kurosawa Shizuki doesn't plan to use her two thousand-plus Nightmare Points to exchange for swordsmanship, knife skills, or similar items. She's still thinking of exchanging for fist techniques, internal energy cultivation, or other skills that can be used unarmed. As for the Black Spirit Body, although it can transform into a weapon for a short time, the kind of weapon she transformed into before was really not stable or reliable...

After browsing the shop for a long time, Kurosawa Shizuki's eyes lit up when she found a skill card that required relatively few Nightmare Points but was surprisingly familiar, which made her somewhat eager to try it.

[Blue Skill Card, Feigned Blade Style: A secret school of swordsmanship that uses the swordsman himself as a sword. Its founder believed that the strongest swordsman is the one who does not use a sword. Through Feigned Blade Style, you can use your body as a sword and master many of its basic "sword forms." 2500 Nightmare Points are required to redeem the beginner level.]

Surprisingly, the system even contained skills from anime, swordsmanship that could be performed bare-handed. This would undoubtedly greatly enhance her close-combat abilities. She could use these skills without weapons and still hold her own against many swordsmen with weapons, making it a very cost-effective option. Furthermore, Kurosawa Shizuki, who had watched *Katanagatari*, had always admired the incredibly powerful Kiri Nanami's Phantom Blade style techniques.

By the way, speaking of which, is there such a thing as the legendary "Seeing the Ancients"? It's the ultimate eye that can see through all things in the universe.

Surprisingly, I actually found it. It's an orange skill card, and even the entry-level one costs 180,000 Nightmare Points. Goodbye, goodbye. Moreover, although the effect is powerful, it also comes with a super negative buff called "100 Million Illnesses." Kurosawa Shizuki doesn't think her current physique can withstand it.

I also searched for skill cards from other familiar anime and entertainment works... Rinnegan, 25. Six Paths Rinne Fist, 41. Ama no Kusanagi Sword, 300 million... Forget it, I can only look on with envy. Who knows when I'll be able to exchange for them?