The Infinite Powerhouse Mixed in with Sakura Dormitory

The touch beneath my head was warm and soft, and I could smell the faint fragrance emanating from Shiina Mashiro. With the gentle breeze blowing across the river, I felt that this was such a comfortable day. For a moment, my mind went blank, and I lazily didn't want to move.

After Jiang Jing closed his eyes, Shiina Mashiro looked down at him for a while, then took out a colored pencil and a sketchbook from her backpack. Gradually, the outline of a face appeared on the paper.

The girl sketched with her head down, while the boy rested his head on her knees and fell asleep.

This scene was witnessed by the occasional male students passing by, who all looked at the seemingly content and happy guy with hostility. However, these looks had no effect on Jiang Jing.

Jiang Jing didn't open his eyes until the afternoon class bell rang. He yawned and said lazily, "Zhen Bai, class is starting."

Shiina Mashiro remained motionless, meticulously drawing bit by bit with her hands, and calmly said, "Sorata, don't move, it's not finished yet." She showed no intention of going to class.

"Ok."

Hearing this, Jiang Jing didn't care. He just lay there and looked at Shiina Mashiro from another angle, and then noticed that the two peaks seemed to have grown even bigger.

"Zhenbai, it seems like your recent increase in meat consumption is having some effect."

"Eat meat, Sorata, have you noticed I've grown taller too?" Shiina Masashiro paused in his eating, a happy look appearing in his eyes as he looked down at Jiang Jing.

"Sorata, I measured myself yesterday and found that I've grown a centimeter! I really do need to eat more meat to grow taller," Shiina Mashiro affirmed.

"Uh...is that so?" Jiang Jing thought for a moment, but still didn't say that what he meant by "growing up" and what Shiina Mashiro meant by "growing taller" were actually different.

As for Shiina Mashiro's growth in height, it should be because that Law Bloodline Network began to take effect, and while modifying her body, it also caused Shiina Mashiro's body to evolve towards perfection.

Regardless of the type of life form, the path of cultivation is actually about evolving towards near perfection. This perfection does not refer to appearance, but rather to another kind of great perfection.

However, in this process, the appearance will also adjust itself as the strength increases.

There's no precise concept of the perfect human appearance; generally, men are handsome and tall, while women are beautiful and voluptuous.

In other words, Shiina Mashiro, who was already as exquisite as an ethereal being, will become even more beautiful over time.

No, it seems that with this misunderstanding, Shiina Mashiro will be even more justified in taking meat from his bowl in the future. Jiang Jing suddenly thought of this.

"Sorata, Ayano texted me at noon saying that my application to speed up the serialization of EVA has been approved," Shiina Mashiro suddenly said.

Jiang Jing nodded casually: "Starting this week, are we publishing ten pages at a time in the weekly magazine?"

"No, it's page twenty," Shiina Mashiro corrected.

"what?"

Jiang Jing asked, somewhat puzzled, "Why are there twenty pages?"

Weekly manga is an opportunity for many new illustrators in Japan to debut. Each issue of the weekly magazine allocates five pages to an illustrator. Works that receive a good response after publication will continue to be serialized, while those that do not receive a good response will be canceled.

So while it was a bit difficult for Ayano to release ten pages at once, given EVA's current popularity—more popular than any other manga serialized in the weekly magazine—Jiang Jing felt it was normal that it could be released.

But page 20 is a bit strange; it doesn't make sense for one person to occupy four spots.

Shiina Mashiro quietly said, "I just told Ayano that I wanted the serialization to be faster, and she said that the three comedy anime series in the last issue didn't do well, so she gave me the slot."

"Is that so?" Jiang Jing raised an eyebrow, vaguely guessing that it was because of his identity.

Just as Jiang Jing had thought, Ayano Iida, Shiina Mashiro's editor, had already received a reminder from the board of directors to meet all of Shiina Mashiro's needs.

Similarly, Jiang Jing's works, whether novels, comics, anime, or games, are treated as top priorities.

Allocating the most resources and the most publicity, with the sole purpose of ensuring this big shot has a great time and is satisfied.

For the Uemura family behind Dengeki Bunko, sacrificing some useless money to curry favor with a powerful superhuman is an extremely profitable investment.

After all, hundreds of millions or billions of dollars are negligible for a family of their status, but the favor of a superhuman who might save their life at a critical moment is more important than anything else.

Even if the powerful person doesn't care about these actions, everything has a process. They only need to express respect and goodwill; everything else can wait.

"Sora, look." Just then, Shiina Mashiro finally finished her drawing.

"Oh, let me see." Jiang Jing said, sitting up and taking the sketchbook from Shiina Mashiro's hand.

However, Jiang Jing's gaze flickered slightly when he saw Mashiro's artwork. The painting on the canvas depicted him, but not his usual languid expression.

His face was angular and his features were well-defined. His long, black hair, reaching his ears, fell to the side and slightly obscured his straight, sharp eyebrows.

Below, a pair of clear, black and white eyes shone like stars, their gaze cold and distant, like a deity holding a throne atop the stars, looking down upon all living beings.

Dignified, indifferent, and detached from everything.

What Jiang Jing cared about was not the painting, which looked almost like a real person standing in front of him, but the subtle Daoist charm emanating from it.

Jiang Jing wasn't surprised that Shiina Mashiro, with her abnormal talent for drawing, would find a way to achieve enlightenment through painting after gaining extraordinary power, but he was somewhat surprised that she had done so in just two or three days.

As for how Shiina Mashiro saw him, Jiang Jing didn't care much. He never cared how others saw him.

"How about it, Sorata? Don't you look very dignified?" Shiina Mashiro looked at Jiang Jing.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jing smiled slightly, handed her the easel, and nodded: "It's a good painting. I think you can try to pursue a path of enlightenment through painting."

"Entering the Tao through painting?" Shiina Mashiro tilted her head, looking at Jiang Jing with a puzzled expression.

"Whether it's painting, singing, or playing the piano, it's all just about conveying one's emotions and the ideas one wants to express."

"The so-called 'entering the Tao through painting' means to express one's perception and understanding of the landscape or figures one wants to paint with a stronger intention that even interferes with reality."

Just as Jiang Jing was explaining to Shiina Mashiro what it meant to "enter the Tao through painting," in the activity room of the Mysterious Research Department, Rias sat quietly in her personal executive chair, looking at the ancient book in her hands.

In the sofa area, Himejima Akeno and Toujou Koneko, who had both skipped class today, sat comfortably facing each other, enjoying tea and snacks.

However, the occasional tremor in Himejima Akeno's hand as she held the teacup revealed that her heart was not as calm as it appeared.

"It seems that Sorata won't be coming this afternoon. It's rare that they even prepared snacks and had some good tea delivered for him," Akeno Himejima said with some regret.

"Sorata? My classmate said at noon that he saw Sorata sleeping in the shade of a tree behind the school building, with his head on Shiina-senpai's knees." Toujou Kyouko said casually while eating a biscuit.

Upon hearing this, Rias put down the book of demons in her hand, put her hands together and rested her chin on them, and said calmly, "Is that so? No wonder."

After the banquet that day, Rias and the others developed a tacit understanding with Shiina Mashiro to keep to themselves and not interfere with each other.

At Sakura-sou and school, Eijiro belongs to Shiina Mashiro in the mornings and at noon. In the afternoons, Eijiro no longer goes to the rooftop to sleep, but instead goes to the activity club to enjoy the service of the two women, which is very harmonious.

But today, this tacit understanding seems to have been broken.

"Forget it, we're too late after all. There's no point in arguing about this. Anyway, we're practically family with Sorata now." Just as Akeno Himejima looked at Rias, Rias said calmly.

Himejima Akeno lowered her head, took a sip of tea, and smiled slightly: "That's true. We demons have a long history, so we don't need to care who is by Sorata's side now. We just need to be there for him a thousand years from now."

"Minister, Akeno-senpai, do you like Sorata that much? Is love, as humans say, really that good?" The younger Koneko Toujou looked at Rias and the others with some confusion.

Looking at the kitten, Himejima Akeno smiled and said, "So-called love isn't that complicated. At first, I was just a little curious about Sorata, but as we spent more time together and after those things happened, I gradually became attracted to him."

Himejima Akeno thought for a moment and said quite frankly, "I guess the reason I like Sorata is probably because he's too outstanding."

“Too outstanding? What’s the reason for that?” Tacheng Xiaomao was taken aback.

"Then what reason do you think it should be?" Himejima Akeno asked Toujou Koneko with a smile.

"But that's not how love is portrayed in books and on TV. You fall in love with someone just because they're too outstanding?" Tacheng Xiaomao was a little confused.

"So-called love, in its initial stage, is essentially based on attraction to the other person. This may be due to appearance, inner qualities, or strength."

"For example, most human women react in two extreme ways when approached by tall, handsome men versus short, ugly men. It's cruel and realistic, just like the law of the jungle in the animal kingdom," Rias said calmly.

"We demons, on the other hand, focus more on power. I never hide the fact that I was initially attracted to Kong Tai by his great strength before I gradually came to like him."

"As for the beautiful descriptions of love in human poetry, such as 'love arises from nowhere and is so deep that it is unwavering,' these are merely embellishments of this cruel law of the jungle. In fact, the essence of love is very realistic and direct."

"I like it, I want it, I feel good about it, it's all based on the most primal impulses and desires."

"However, as beings with independent thinking, consciousness, and emotions, our feelings for each other will gradually change after spending a long time together, transforming from rationality to emotion, and in the end, we just want to accompany each other to the end of life."

"...Minister, what you're saying is so profound." Toujou Koneko looked at Rias with a blank expression.

Rias smiled slightly: "You'll understand when you grow up."

……

With his hands behind his head, Jiang Jing lay lazily on the grass under the shade of a tree. He turned to look at Shiina Mashiro, who was drawing a manga next to him: "Mashiro, why don't we just go back early today?"

It was only three o'clock, more than half an hour before school ended.

Shiina Mashiro, who had skipped class once before and then went shopping with Jiang Jing Misaki, brightened up and said, "Okay."

"Let's go then, let's go home early today." Jiang Jing said, sitting up, and Shiina Mashiro next to him also started packing her things.

The school was very quiet during the classes, so Jiang Jing and Shiina Mashiro stood out as they walked across the empty playground.

However, after thinking about who these two people were, the security guard in the gatehouse just shook his head and had no reaction to the two who were blatantly skipping class.

"Sora, where are we going?" Shiina Mashiro asked excitedly.

"Back to Sakura-sou?"

"what?"

Jiang Jing reached out and stroked Shiina Mashiro's long hair on her back: "Stop it, let's go."

With that, he slung his backpack over his shoulder, took Shiina Mashiro's hand, and walked along the tree-lined path toward Sakura Dormitory, much to Shiina Mashiro's disappointment, who had thought she could skip class and go shopping with Jiang Jing.

So Shiina Mashiro kept her lips slightly pursed throughout the journey, pretending to be a little angry and ignoring Jiang Jing.

The two returned to Sakura Dormitory a little after three o'clock, but when they arrived at the entrance, Jiang Jing did not go in. Instead, he looked at Shiina Mashiro and said, "Should we go and see Texas and the others?"

He had promised Texas and Exusiai that morning that he would visit their base after school and, while he was at it, help treat Frostnova and Ifrit, whose infections had become severe due to overuse of power on the battlefield.

The association arranged accommodation for these women in a manor apartment building about a mile in front of Sakura-sou.

Shiina Mashiro shook her head: "I'm not going."

Jiang Jing nodded: "Okay, I'll come back later to cook."

……

"Wait a minute, I won! Haha... I won by self-draw, pay up, pay up..."

Inside the elegantly decorated and spacious room, Exusiai, who had behaved very obediently in front of Jiang Jing that morning, smiled smugly as she sat at the card table, happily gesturing to Texas, Platinum, and Winter, who were smoking cigarettes, to give her money.

On the sofa in front of the wall-mounted monitor in the distance, Yukinoshita was sitting with her head down, looking at the documents in her hands. On the sofa next to her sat Froststar, who had long silver hair, rabbit ears, and a full and round figure.

At this moment, Frostnova was eating snacks and drinking soda while watching anime on TV with great interest. However, the black crystal on the back of her hand indicated that her infection was already quite serious.

Skadi, a beautiful woman with long white hair and red eyes, sat quietly by the door, looking somewhat lonely from behind.

"Exusiai, what if the boss sees us like this?" Platinum, the beautiful silver-haired, brown-eyed woman, said somewhat boredly after reluctantly handing over the money to Exusiai.

"Don't worry, didn't Miss Yang say that the boss doesn't get out of school until 3:30? There's still plenty of time. Come on, let's play another round." Exusiai said nonchalantly.

.