Chapter 57: Revelations

After answering a few questions regarding the facilities he would like included with his estate, Nobu had Chikako take Midori to the bath before gathering all three of the girls together in his room.

Seeing the trio lined up in front of him, each demonstrating varying degrees of nervousness, Nobu honestly didn't know what he was going to do. He had considered asking the Matriarch to let them back into the kunoichi program but that wasn't exactly doing them any favors. They were already considered to be failures, so, even if they were to join their original generational group, they would undoubtedly find themselves ostracized while forced to undergo training that no girls their age should have to experience.

As this and several other thoughts crossed his mind, Nobu passed his gaze over each of the girls in turn. The tallest, a girl named Yoshitsune Sachiko, possessed ruby-red eyes and raven black hair that flowed past her shoulders. She still had chubby cheeks and an immature physique that lacked even a hint of feminine charm, yet, had they been back on Earth, Nobu could easily picture her in movies or commercials.

Shifting his attention away from the ridiculously photogenic young girl, Nobu set his sights on the only person within the group that didn't appear afraid, a tomboyish girl with pale-blonde hair and honey-colored eyes. Her name was Yoshitsune Nariko, and, though she was clearly nervous, there wasn't even a hint of fear in her eyes. In fact, much like the girls who had swarmed him during his journey up the mountain, she appeared more excited and curious than anything else...

After instinctually classifying the pale-haired girl as the most troublesome among the trio, Nobu shifted his attention to the smallest girl within the group, the teal-haired Midori. He wasn't quite sure, but Nobu believed Midori literally translated to 'green'. As for the girl in question, she had darker skin than the other girls, natural green hair that could never be found back on Earth, and, most notably, pupilless orange eyes that resembled crystal clear amber.

Tensing up the moment Nobu looked towards her, the only thing preventing Midori from looking away was the fear that she would be discarded. She, like the other girls, knew nothing about Nobu, so, the longer the awkward silence continued, the more nervous she felt.

Noticing the teal-haired girl's considerable fear, an exhausted sigh escaped Nobu's throat as he shook his head and said, "Just relax...I'm not going to do anything bad to you. I can't really blame you for having doubts, but I was serious when I asked the three of you to be my friends. For now, just pay attention and tell me if you notice anything strange..."

Having said that, Nobu bit the bullet and invested 1362 Aura into adding Sachiko, the raven-haired girl, to his Friends List. To his surprise, the stone tablet briefly flashed before an exact copy plopped down onto the ground. Nobody else seemed to notice this but Sachiko's eyes immediately followed the device, confusion appearing in her ruby-red eyes as she tilted her head to the side.

Picking up the second tablet, Nobu asked, "Can you see this...?" while tapping the screen with his thumb.

Though everyone else present seemed more than a little confused, Sachiko invariably nodded her head before meekly replying, "Y-Yes...it looks like a thin piece of river rock that has been polished into the shape of a rectangle...?" while following the device with her eyes.

Nodding his head, Nobu ignored the inquisitive looks he was receiving as he attempted to activate the secondary stone tablet. Truth be told, he wasn't all that comfortable with handing out his cheat to others. This was undoubtedly selfish of him, but, considering it was the only thing that made him special in this world, he was reluctant to hand out copies...

Unfortunately, even after several minutes of awkwardly fumbling around with something only he and Sachiko could see, Nobu was unable to awaken the second tablet. Thus, after a considerable amount of hesitation, he gestured for Sachiko to come closer, his tone audibly helpless as he said, "Take this tablet and press your thumb to the polished side..."

Though she was nervous about approaching anywhere near Nobu, Sachiko swallowed hard before obeying his instructions. This caused her to feel a tremendous amount of pressure, not from Nobu himself, but the kunoichi closely monitoring her every movement.

Noticing the tense atmosphere, Nobu adopted a serious expression as he said, "Y'all need to chill the fuck out. She is just an eight-year-old brat. Stop glaring when she is literally just following my instructions..."

As if someone had just opened several windows, the tense atmosphere in the room immediately vanished as the kunoichi present resisted the urge to lower their heads and apologize. Kumiko had advised them against overly formal behavior when they were alone with their Lord, so, while it was remarkably stressful, they did their best to appear calm.

Shaking his head, Nobu gestured for Sachiko to come even closer, basically forcing her to sit right next to him so he could see what she was doing after receiving the tablet.

Unsurprisingly, the surface of the tablet immediately lit up the moment Sachiko placed her thumb against the surface. This startled her quite a bit, but, believing the object was something invaluably precious, she held onto it with both hands so she wouldn't drop it.

After an annoyingly long boot process, a frown appeared on Nobu's face as he saw the apps that had appeared on Sachiko's tablet. They appeared functionally identical to his own, so, unless there was some kind of restriction in place, this meant her tablet had the same functions as the original.

"Click on the little icon that looks like a sphere..."

Though she was mesmerized by the glowing screen and strange symbols, Sachiko immediately obeyed Nobu's words. This caused the same series of logos Nobu had seen previously to flash across the screen, but, once the app had fully loaded, he immediately noticed a few differences in the UI and layout of Sachiko's cultivation app compared to his own.

While there was a slightly luminescent sphere showing her current cultivation base, the number representing stockpiled clicks had a maximum value of 100. The left side of the screen also had a blue silhouette that vaguely resembled a transparent Sachiko sitting in a lotus position. Inside of this were various nodes linked together, each representing one of the various meridians within a person's body.

Since it didn't work when he tried to interact with the screen, Nobu had Sachiko navigate through each of her tabs. One showed a similar status to the one that had appeared when he performed a comprehensive analysis of Midori while another included upgrades ranging from bone and muscle density to troubling values such as breast sensitivity. As for the final tab, it was functionally identical to his own cultivation tab, but, at the present moment, everything but the Metal Infusion Technique was locked.

Seeing this, a feeling of dread swelled within Nobu's heart as he picked up his own stone tablet and noticed a new tab called Units and Upgrades. When opened, it showed a chibi version of Sachiko in her current outfit striking a battle-ready pose. Next to this was a [+] sign, and, once clicked, each of the tabs that appeared on Sachiko's tablet now appeared on his. In other words, she didn't upgrade herself using her own Aura. He had to use his own to make her stronger...

Taking an inordinately long and deep breath, Nobu ran his fingers through his hair in a desperate attempt to keep himself from completely losing his shit. Then, in a voice that sounded more like a threat than the casual suggestion he intended it to be, Nobu stared at the trembling Sachiko and said, "Try tapping the glowing sphere on your screen..."

After swallowing the lump in her throat, Sachiko nodded her head before proceeding to tap the screen with her tiny thumbs. This caused a 1.362 to appear on her screen, a value that made Nobu's eye twitch since his high click thus far had netted him a whopping 0.006 Aura. If not for the fact her Aura value hadn't increased in the slightest, he might have directly confiscated the tablet then and there.

Returning his attention to his own tablet, Nobu's expression visibly relaxed as he muttered, "Keep going..." in a much gentler tone. Sachiko immediately obeyed this order, and, as could be expected, each of her clicks caused the value of his own Aura to increase by 1.362.

As if his previous anger had been an illusion, a massive grin appeared on Nobu's face as he began to laugh like a mental patient. He suspected that she would only be able to click a maximum of 100 times a day, but, even then, that was a free 136.2 Aura per day. In other words, he earned 1/1000th of Sachiko's Aura each time she clicked. If this trend continued as she increased her base, she might very well become the primary source of his earnings in the near future.

"So that's how it's going to be...I see...hahahahahahahaha~!"

Though Sachiko was terrified by Nobu's sudden behavior, she continued to click tirelessly until her stockpile had completely depleted. This caused the value to turn from white to red as a timer that displayed the remaining time until midnight appeared. From this, Nobu could extrapolate that the stockpile of his "units" would reset every day at midnight, but, considering he could earn back his investment after a mere ten days, he didn't care about such minor inconveniences in the slightest.

Surprising the raven-haired girl quite a bit, Nobu ruffled her hair with the same massive grin on his face as he said, "Good job, kid. There are still a few things we need to test but you can't even begin to imagine how fucking stoked I am about this development. Just make sure you continue to tap on the screen whenever that counter at the bottom turns white, okay? So long as you remember that, I promise to help you become super strong. Deal?"

Despite her tremendous confusion, Sachiko nodded her head as an excited smile blossomed across her face. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but it felt good to be praised. It had been years since anyone told her she had done a good job, so, even if she was still concerned about her future, such thoughts seemed to evaporate the moment she had her head pat by her Lord...

...

..

.

After a series of experiments, Nobu confirmed that Sachiko's cultivation app was basically a human-powered auto-clicker. Her clicks increased his own Aura value, and, by investing in her growth, the value of her clicks would increase exponentially. As for her other two apps, the messenger app was basically just a chat room that allowed him to literally gift Aura while the camera app was just that, a camera. They could take as many pictures as they, but, if they wanted to know the specifics about any specific object, he would need to spend points to identify them.

Simply put, the duplicate tablets served as extensions of the original, not standalone devices that would allow others to receive the same benefits. The only way they could benefit from them at all was if Nobu invested additional Aura into them. In exchange, they contributed to his strength and allowed him to passively stockpile Aura without needing to click. In other words, it was a mutualistic relationship that prioritized his growth since he was singularly responsible for enhancing everything from their potential to their physical appearances...

("Things just got a whole lot more interesting...")

...

..

.

(A/N: That...that's overpowered as fuck...! Someone call the Developers! They done fucked up big time with this shady ass harem-building system...!)