In Tokyo, I draw cards and become a big demon

Chapter 76 Zashiki-warashi Muscle Form

The mysterious village of Arakawa became even more desolate.

Uesugi Che walked on the deserted street and howled loudly several times, but he didn't see any trace of the monster. Even when he released the eyes of the Hundred-Eyed Demon to fly around, the same thing happened.

This made his plan of severely defeating the weak opponent come to nothing.

I don’t know what happened that caused these monsters that were once everywhere to disappear without a trace.

Uesugi Tetsu guessed that there might be a problem at the factory - because since he came in, he hasn't heard the rumbling sound of machines running that he used to hear every time.

I just hope the little guy didn’t disappear with them.

Following the route he remembered and arriving in front of the blacksmith shop, Uesugi Tetsu vaguely heard the sound of blacksmithing coming from the backyard of the townhouse, which was sometimes crisp and sometimes dull.

Ding! Dong! Dong! Ding!

There was no one in the shop, and I guessed that the blacksmithing sound coming from the back must have been made by the little guy.

Uesugi Tetsu knocked on the doorstep and said "I'm coming in" which was considered as a greeting.

He walked into the almost empty shop and searched for a long time before he saw the half-open wooden door in the dark corner.

Pushing open the wooden door, a long and narrow corridor came into view, with plants on both sides that Uesugi Che had never seen before.

Clear dewdrops kept falling on the top of each plant. I don’t know what magical technique was used to achieve this.

Uesugi Che touched the leaves of the plant with his hand, and a prompt immediately popped up in front of his eyes -

【Essence Grass】

【Quality: Excellent】

[Effect: Provides a noticeable sense of fullness to certain demons and monsters that feed on the energy of heaven and earth as a meal replacement.]

[——Blacksmith Improved Hybrid Essence Grass Version 2.018, easier to maintain and grow.]

He took a quick look and saw that there were at least a hundred plants of essence grass planted in the two plots of land next to the corridor. Could this be the little guy's daily food?

The soil is not fertile.

Without disturbing other people's farmland, Uesugi Che continued to walk inside following the clearer sound of iron hammering.

After walking a few dozen steps, I felt the view suddenly open up.

Then, Uesugi Che was stunned at the entrance to the backyard.

"what?"

In the spacious backyard, a petite girl with muscular body was standing on a high stool.

She was wearing a simple vest, holding half a piece of essence grass in her mouth, and holding a blacksmith's hammer, hitting the fiery red gold ball on the anvil again and again.

The anvil seemed to have been driven into the ground long ago, so no matter from which angle or how hard the girl hit it, it would not move.

A black and red kimono was neatly folded beside the girl, and behind the kimono was a blast furnace burning coal, making the entire backyard feel as if it were in a hot summer.

On the other side, there were three large vats placed side by side, which seemed to correspond to water quenching, oil quenching, and a quenching liquid that Uesugi Che was not aware of.

It seemed that the blacksmithing had entered the most critical moment. The girl was concentrating on using a hammer to hammer the golden ball clamped in the pliers, and did not notice Uesugi Tetsu's arrival and gaze at all.

This bizarre scene was really beyond Uesugi Che's expectations.

Uesugi Tetsu had never expected that the timid little girl when talking to him would turn out to be such a fierce woman after taking off her disguise.

Besides, she is a Zashiki-warashi, right?

Uesugi Tetsu shifted his gaze to the black and red kimono.

This piece of clothing, plus the two golden bells he saw at the ends of the other person's hair last time, is enough to reveal the other person's identity.

The name of Zashiki-warashi is well-known to even a novice like him who can only recognize common demons.

But according to legend, isn’t Zashiki-warashi a monster that brings good luck to people?

But what is happening in front of me...?

The coal fire made the girl's face red, and shiny sweat splashed everywhere under each hammer, making Uesugi Che almost unable to hold back from shouting "Forty, forty"!

The little god of fortune who brings good luck to everyone was asked to learn blacksmithing, and he actually developed a nice muscular body. It's really amazing that the blacksmith could come up with this idea.

but--

Uesugi Tetsu thought about it and realized that since Zashiki-warashi could bring good luck to others, then the success rate of blacksmithing and the perfection of weapons after quenching must be much higher than those of others.

If you think about it this way, isn't Zashiki-warashi a natural blacksmith?

After thinking about this, Uesugi Tetsu was full of confidence in the subsequent strengthening of Kaga Kiyomitsu.

"Phew—that's it!"

After quenching in water, Zashiki, with her pigtails, wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at her new bell with satisfaction - to be more precise, the new golden ball.

Because she thought the original bell was too light, it would shake and make noise but had no attack power, so she turned it into a solid golden ball that looks like the bell it is today.

This way, she would have an unexpected weapon in the future.

Although it hurts my hair, there is nothing I can do about it.

My master often taught me to prepare more self-defense measures. In today's world, sometimes being a little more prepared than others means saving more lives.

Zashiki believed that this was absolutely correct and that it was not just the master's teaching.

Let’s not talk about anything else, just talking about those Warring States daimyos and black-hearted factory owners, if you look easy to bully, those people will definitely drag you to the battlefield and factory to use you as consumables without saying a word.

After hanging the cooled golden ball back on the end of her hair, she looked up at the Zashiki-warashi at the backyard door in surprise.

She subconsciously followed her muscle memory to take out the pistol hidden in her kimono.

But the next moment she suddenly reacted, screamed, and fell off the high stool.

Uesugi Che was quick-witted and quick-handed. He immediately used the Qihe technique and flew up to save the ball and picked up Zashiki-warashi.

——This is the honorable blacksmith who will strengthen his weapons later. How can he let his hands be injured?

"Ugh!"

Zashiki cried out in surprise, then cautiously opened his eyes and said timidly, "Long time no see... Mr. Hannya, you seem to have become more majestic."

Uesugi Tetsu thought to himself that this felt so weird. Zashiki was forging iron with great enthusiasm just now, but why did he dare not speak when he saw an outsider?

Could it be that the common social anxiety symptoms in today's world tend to spread to the ordinary world?

Never mind, these are just minor issues.

After carefully putting down the Zashiki-warashi, Uesugi Tetsu held Kaga Kiyomitsu in his right hand and took out two spirits from the storage backpack with his left hand.

"I came here this time to ask you for a favor—see if you can help me inject these two spirits into it."

Speaking of blacksmithing, Zashiki's round face suddenly became serious, and his timid tone disappeared. "Spirit? Is it a weapon enhancement? The one that Master gave you, Mr. Prajna?"

She stretched out her little hand without hesitation: "Can you show me everything?"

"Of course." Uesugi Tetsu handed everything to Zashiki. "If the enhancement is successful, you can ask me for whatever conditions you want, as long as they are within my reach."

At this point, Uesugi Tetsu paused, "By the way, what's your name?"

"A zashiki will do."

The girl pulled out Kaga Kiyomitsu with some difficulty, examining the blade and the blade carefully. "Master said that I am not worthy of a unique name until I can become a disciple."

After a while, she sheathed her sword and said to Uesugi Che, "Mr. Prajna, I have two vague strengthening plans. I wonder which one you would like to choose later."

Chapter 77: Are you willing to be my Shikigami?

Here I have to mention the panel of the Green Ghost Spirit again——

[Broken Green Ghost Spirit]

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Effect: Directly injects spiritual energy. Use on designated weapons and items to grant them a "weak resistance to knockback" effect.]

[——The broken green ghost spirit, as if it had been hacked into this state by some kind of knife.]

The effect of the Green Ghost Essence seems to be really good, and it can help me pursue my dream of parrying.

However, Uesugi Che believed that this weak effect might cause him to be unable to block with the knife smoothly in most cases, thus causing him to suffer more serious injuries.

"Mr. Prajna, this primordial fire spirit is quite easy to deal with."

Zashiki placed the dim and broken Blue Demon Spirit in front of his eyes and examined it carefully: "But this Blue Demon Spirit... it should be the Blue Demon Spirit, but it doesn't seem to fit this Kaga Kiyomitsu."

"You know so much about Zashiki?"

Uesugi Che was slightly surprised. He was just about to introduce the two spirit essences.

"This is all basic knowledge. It covers most demons, strange stories, and celebrities, as well as their weapons, armor, and accessories, as well as the types of tools used in each era, etc..."

Once she was immersed in the ironwork, Zashiki seemed to have completely changed. She spread her hands and said, "Master won't let me go out until I finish memorizing these."

"Compared to this, Mr. Prajna."

——Has your Kaga Kiyomitsu become even more powerful?”

The girl's nose twitched twice, and she smelled a complex and faint scent of blood. "Is it because he killed so many demons? If it's convenient, could you tell me about his current situation?"

I didn't expect Zashiki to be able to see this. It seems her forging skills are very high.

——Not looking down on her because of her appearance was indeed the right choice.

So, Uesugi Tetsu explained in detail the three current effects of Kaga Kiyomitsu.

"——Thrust and slash enhancements?"

After admitting that he was unable to influence the effect of "Zanpaku", Zashiki stared at the iron felt and fell into deep thought.

The initially vague plan quickly took shape. Less than a minute later, Zashiki spoke again: "The first option is to use the Green Ghost Spirit's second unknown effect to transform it into a [Knockback Effect] at the cost of the Bushi Fire Spirit's energy."

Is this actually possible?

It was the first time that Uesugi Tetsu realized that weapon enhancement was not just a matter of luck.

"What about the second one?" he asked.

"The second method is to consume the unknown effects of the Blue Ghost Essence and the Bushy Fire together to strengthen Kaga Kiyomitsu's original effect, making it even more powerful."

Zashiki hesitated for a moment, "While we can bet that the second unknown effect of the Bushihara Fire Spirit is very powerful, I don't recommend it."

She looked troubled. "Because I've seen full-body armor with the [Intense Burn] effect applied before. The result is that once the armor is put on, most wearers will be roasted alive within a minute."

Uesugi Che understood that this unknown effect was a realm that only gamblers could reach.

So he said without hesitation: "Choose the second option, which is to enhance the effect of Kaga Kiyomitsu's slashing attack."

"Okay, Mr. Prajna, just sit over here and wait for a while." The girl lifted up the stool and slowly placed Kaga Kiyomitsu into the scorching furnace. "It will be done soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kaga Kiyomitsu's blade began to turn red rapidly. It trembled violently in Zashiki's hand, as if trying to avoid the pain of being reforged.

"do not move!"

Zashiki's cold rebuke made Kaga Kiyomitsu quiet down immediately.

Soon, Kaga Kiyomitsu turned red from the inside out and looked so weak that it was very worrying.

Uesugi Che was shocked, but he did not have the bad habit of giving advice to experts.

“Out of the oven!”

Zashiki let out a low cry, and quickly placed Kaga Kiyomitsu on the iron felt, and then threw the spirit of Congyuan Huo on it.

boom!

The hammer fell and smashed it into pieces right on the blade.

This simple and crude forging method immediately made Uesugi Tetsu think, "I can do it too."

But he couldn't understand what happened next.

Or rather, it was over before Uesugi Tetsu tried to understand it.

Zashiki took the hammer and started hitting Kaga Kiyomitsu, which contained complex and strange spiritual power fluctuations.

In the end, before Uesugi Tetsu even noticed when she had integrated the Green Demon's spirit into it, Zashiki had already grasped Kaga Kiyomizu's hot sword handle and stuffed it into the third large vat to begin quenching it carefully and meticulously.

Uesugi Che, who was standing aside, suddenly felt a fluctuation in his spiritual power, which was actually a sign of growth.