As Takeshi plummeted through the endless darkness, the demon's final words echoed in his mind:
"Let's see how well you're suited to be a thief."
The moment he fully returned to reality, Takeshi frowned.
A thief? he questioned himself.
After a few moments, his mind drifted to the demon's prayer:
"The great master of taking and unmaking, stealer of essence and breaker of claims."
That certainly sounded like a thief.
Does that mean his power lies in the domain of theft? Takeshi wondered.
But how does that even work? Both Renji and Aiko's powers were clearly material—Renji wielded fire, and Aiko controlled shadows.
But theft?
How could one "wield" theft?
No matter how long he pondered, he couldn't come up with a satisfying answer.
He then turned, intending to thank the meditating monk for his suggestion—which, in the end, had worked.
But before he could speak, something else stole his attention.
His left arm.
Or rather, the lack of it.
To Takeshi's surprise, only the part below the elbow was missing. He had expected the demon to take the entire arm.
He's… quite considerate, Takeshi thought.
He closely inspected the "wound"—but there was no blood. No torn skin or shattered bone. It was as if that part of his arm had simply been erased from existence.
Then, a voice echoed inside his head:
"Do not consider me your ally, human. Even though we are contracted, you are nothing but my servant. I plan to arrange a test for you the next time you enter the Shadow Realm. If you survive, then you will have proven that you are worthy to wield my power. But if you fail… well, then I won't have to waste my time on you."
Takeshi's eyes widened.
Without thinking, he shouted aloud—completely disregarding the monk:
"What kind of test?"
He waited. A minute passed.
No answer.
It seems he still doesn't want to talk to me.
Even though they were bound by a contract, the demon clearly meant what he said—they were not allies.
With a sigh, Takeshi turned to the meditating monk.
Once Takeshi turned, the monk opened his eyes and studied him for a moment. Then he spoke.
"From the looks of it, you were successful."
Takeshi nodded in approval.
The monk continued, "I wasn't lying when I said I know very little about demons. Because of that, I hope you don't mind me asking—what kind of powers do these creatures have?"
Takeshi thought for a moment before answering.
"I've only been involved with the Shadow Realm and demons for a few days, so I'm not very familiar with their powers myself. But from what I've seen, their abilities are quite diverse. They can range from control over physical elements like fire, to more abstract domains—like in my case, theft."
The monk nodded, seemingly deep in thought. Then, with curiosity in his voice, he asked,
"How does one wield theft?"
Takeshi scratched the back of his head and offered a slight, sheepish smile.
"Well… I'm not sure either. It seems pretty obscure to me too."
Once again, the monk nodded, then looked at Takeshi with an expectant expression.
What is he waiting for? Takeshi wondered.
After a few more moments of awkward silence, the monk finally spoke.
"Aren't you going to try out your new abilities? I imagine you're quite curious."
Takeshi's eyes lit up a little as he stood, realization dawning on him.
But then he hesitated and said, "I have no idea what powers I even have, let alone how to use them."
The monk stood as well.
"Why don't you ask your demon?"
I would… if only he wanted to talk to me, Takeshi commented silently.
With an awkward smile, he said aloud, "He's not very talkative."
The monk chuckled.
"Then let's try to figure it out ourselves."
After a brief pause, the monk laughed and added, "Listen to me, being so officious. I should ask first—do you even want my help?"
Takeshi gave a faint but sincere smile.
"Yes, please."
The monk then said, "Very well. But you'll also have to give me some information, so I know in which direction to think."
Takeshi replied, "Alright, what do you need to know?"
The monk calmly answered, "First, I need to know—when a person initially gains their powers, how do they manifest? Are they weak, strong, or something else?"
Hearing this, Takeshi thought,
He's basically asking how powers work at stage one.
Renji is at stage one, and from what Takeshi had seen, his powers were impressive, but nothing overwhelming. He seemed to have basic control over fire—able to generate small amounts, enough for a fireball, and manipulate it to a certain degree: make it cling to his blade and flow forward.
Takeshi summarized this and explained it to the nameless monk.
The monk put a hand to his chin, falling into thought. Then he looked at Takeshi and said,
"Well, let's think about it. What does theft bring with it? Stealing, of course. Stealing can be obvious—like snatching an apple from a market stall—or it can be something subtle and stealthy."
After a short pause, he continued,
"Let's try something."
He bent down and picked up one of the cracked, thorny beads that had been carried in by the wind. He held it tightly in his hand and said,
"This is mine."
Then he stood still, clearly expecting Takeshi to act.
Understanding what the monk meant, Takeshi stepped forward and attempted to take the bead. At first, the monk dodged his hand, avoiding Takeshi's attempts to grab it.
After a while, it became clear that Takeshi hadn't gained any abilities that could help him catch the monk's hand more easily.
Then, the monk stopped dodging and held his hand out steadily, gripping the bead even tighter. He wanted to see if Takeshi could do something to make retrieving it easier.
Despite his best efforts, Takeshi couldn't pry open the monk's hand—at least, not with ease. Frustrated, he eventually gave up.
I guess I'll have to ask Renji and miss Aiko for guidance, he thought.
But just then, he felt something unusual—a strange sensation, as if an illusory string extended from the core of his being all the way to the item held tightly in the monk's hand, a few meters away.
Takeshi focused deeply on the sensation, trying to understand it better.
The monk noticed Takeshi's intense concentration and chose not to interrupt.
Then, Takeshi fully grasped the feeling the illusory string created.
What once felt like a foreign object forcibly attached to him suddenly became his—fully his, as if it had always been a part of him.
He willed the string to retract—to return to him.
And just like that, in less than a second, the item the monk had been gripping appeared in Takeshi's palm.
He stared at it, eyes wide in disbelief.
It teleported? he thought, struggling to make sense of what had just happened.
Then he heard the monk speak in an amused tone,
"Fascinating."
Takeshi stared at the item in his hand for a few more seconds before snapping back to his senses.
He then turned to the monk and couldn't help but ask,
"What just happened?"
The monk chuckled and replied, "You tell me. One moment it was in my palm, and the next it appeared in yours."
Takeshi stood there, stunned once again, before saying, "Let's try again."
He and the monk then proceeded to perform a series of experiments, from which Takeshi drew several conclusions about his new power.
First, he learned that he could only steal items within a five-meter radius.
Second, he discovered that he couldn't steal just anything—it had to be something someone claimed or considered as their own.
And third, he found that he couldn't steal objects larger than himself.
He believed these restrictions would gradually lift as he progressed through the stages of power.
He also loosely grasped how his power worked. If there was an item he could steal within his range, he would feel an illusory string stretching from his body to the object. Then, if he focused deeply on grasping the string, it would eventually fall under his ownership—allowing him to take the item it was attached to. Based on his experiments he concluded that right now this was limited to only one item.
Although he was impressed by what he had discovered, there was a clear issue—his ability had no offensive application. If he were to encounter that terrifying skeleton again, he would be just as helpless as the first time.
He considered asking his demon if there was something he was missing, but he doubted he would get a response and didn't bother trying.
Once he had finished familiarizing himself with his power, it was still only midday.
Takeshi felt there was nothing more for him to do here.
He stretched slightly, then turned to the monk and said,
"I think it's about time I continued my journey. I sincerely thank you for all the help you've given me."
The bald monk looked at him with a wide smile and, bowing slightly, said,
"May the Lord bless you."
Takeshi hesitated. He didn't consider the deity the monk worshipped to be his lord, but felt it was appropriate to return the gesture.
He bowed and said,
"May the Lord bless you too."
Without wasting any more time, he turned and headed up the giant staircase, leaving the sacred grounds—and the monk—behind.