The Demon King, reborn in Japan as a monk

"I am leaving."

Friend A opened his eyes, glanced at him, said nothing, and went back to sleep.

It's clear that you were quite exhausted last night.

Afterwards, Ishihara Akira left his friend A's apartment and took the city rail transit back to the temple.

Naturally, by this time, Hanako had already left the temple to work at a nearby cram school, but she had left him a message. So, Ishihara Akira easily found the breakfast and hangover soup that Fujiwara Hanako had prepared for him in the pot in the kitchen. Without being polite, he quickly finished them off, washed the dishes, and returned to the Zen room to wait for the start of the day's business.

"But speaking of which, what exactly happened yesterday?" Sitting in the meditation room with his eyes closed, Ishihara Akira couldn't help but think of what happened last night and muttered to himself with a frown.

"And that portal... what's behind it? It's preventing me from even logging off. It can't be the real world of One Piece, can it..."

Thinking of this, Ishihara Akira paused, and his expression turned strange.

Could it really be true?

After all, when he was writing books in his previous life, he had seen quite a few books that described the multiverse as a collection of human thoughts that were born from nothingness by chance or for some inexplicable reason and then continued to exist.

If we extend this line of thought, these two-dimensional worlds could also be dream worlds!

After all, aren't dreams just human thoughts and fantasies?

Thus, the two sides are connected by the same dream content or characters, which leads to the creation of a portal that allows people to jump from the dream into the real world—this is not an incomprehensible thing.

It's just time travel.

Hasn't he already accomplished this process?

Although his time travel bears some traces of manipulation by the Demon King Mara, in essence, it's not much different from the process of traveling through dream worlds...

This explains why the method to revive one's "offline" self failed to escape that ocean-filled world.

"But what happened next?"

He needs to figure this out, otherwise if he only knows how to get there but not how to get back, and if he really gets trapped there, he'll have nowhere to turn for justice.

Furthermore, it makes it difficult to utilize the dream world.

"I remember it was because I thought of Friend A in the end?" Ishihara Sho muttered somewhat uncertainly.

After all, he was almost unconscious at that time, and his consciousness was extremely blurred. Who knows what he was thinking at that moment?

However, it is indeed related to friend A.

Unfortunately, he fainted after returning and had no idea where he had returned to, so he couldn't use that information to deduce what had happened.

"But it's worth a test."

How to test it?

Naturally, you can construct information about your own world, see if you can activate the interdimensional portal, then cross the portal into the two-dimensional world, and then before you take action, construct information related to Friend A or yourself, and see if you can reactivate the reversal channel. Then everything will become clear.

As for what to do if it fails during this process...

So what if I fail? It's just a matter of living in a different world. Anyway, I've already acquired the abilities. Even if I really go to the two-dimensional world, I can still use my dreams to find a world that suits me.

At most, it's just that Ishihara Sho is a bit unlucky in this world and needs to actually die.

But that was his predetermined fate. In fact, if it weren't for my arrival, he would have died half a month ago, or even been cremated and buried underground for several days now.

Furthermore, he wasn't the original Ishihara Sho himself, and he didn't seem to have much close relationship with his so-called relatives, nor would he be affected by the emotions of parting. So, if we're really talking about it, it's just that.

Ishihara Yuu, of course, wouldn't be held back by this...

At least compared to understanding one's own abilities, being hesitant and timid will prevent one from standing at the forefront of the times.

……

In the afternoon, Ishihara Akane's energy recovered somewhat, and his head no longer ached as if he had been drinking fake alcohol. He then returned to the temple courtyard to greet the pilgrims who had come from all directions.

"By the way, since I can absorb the power of the seven emotions and six desires in reality, can I also take it from other people?" Ishihara Sho suddenly thought as he was strolling through the temple.

Without hesitation, he immediately focused his mind, released his spiritual power, and swept it over the surrounding worshippers.

The ball of emotion trembled, and wisps of emotional power drifted out from the worshippers in the temple, drawn by some invisible force towards Ishihara Akira's body.

Instantly, Ishihara Akira, who had been suffering from a headache, felt his mind clear up. It was as if he had taken a big bite of ice cream on a hot day. A refreshing coolness spread through his mind, dispelling the pain and relaxing his furrowed brows.

"It really worked!" Ishihara Akira said happily.

Then, without further hesitation, he boldly began to absorb the power of the seven emotions and six desires from the worshippers in the temple.

Unfortunately, the range of his spiritual power can only be a little over five meters, which is the same as the maximum range he can absorb the power of the seven emotions and six desires. So, it's okay if the worshippers are near him, but once they are far away, he can no longer absorb them.

So they had no choice but to wander around again, constantly moving towards areas with more pilgrims.

However, this would shake his already weak concentration, weaken the effect of projecting his spiritual power, and consequently, cause him to lose the ability to absorb the power of the seven emotions and six desires. So in the end, he could only choose a place where there were relatively more worshippers, who stayed longer, and who wouldn't bother him, the abbot of the temple, to stand. While concentrating on maintaining his concentration, he tried his best to absorb the power of the seven emotions and six desires emanating from the worshippers to restore his own spirit.

Chapter 15 Attempt

After an afternoon of effort, not only did Ishihara Yu's mental trauma recover, but the range within which he could absorb emotions and desires also expanded from a little over five meters to almost seven meters, making Ishihara Yu very happy.

"If this continues, I believe that before long, my strength will undergo another qualitative change, and I will be able to discover more of my own abilities."

Then, after cleaning up the temple and officially closing it, Ishihara Akira took the rail transit back to his friend A's place.

"I'm back," Ishihara Shou shouted as if he were returning home.

"Have you eaten yet?" Friend A leaned out and asked.

"I've already eaten, but I'm a little hungry again," Ishihara Akira replied.

"Wait a minute, I'll make you a bowl of ramen." Friend A said, taking out a small electric hot pot, finding a package of instant ramen, putting it in the pot, adding water, and cooking the ramen for Ishihara.

"Do you remember how many days we've been together?" Friend A asked Ishihara Sho, who was sitting down at the floor table.

"The 20th day?" Ishihara Akira asked, somewhat uncertainly.

“That’s right, it’s been 20 days already,” Friend A confirmed.

"So, in 10 days, this kind of life of ours will come to an end. Are you going to just give up then, or do you want to continue?"

“I would like to continue, but that would mean I’ll run out of money for living expenses next month. Although I won’t be homeless or starving because of you, you can’t leave me with no social life at all, can you?” Ishihara Sho spread his hands with a helpless expression.

"So, you're saying you're not planning to continue?" Friend A confirmed expressionlessly.

"I'm sorry," Ishihara Akira said apologetically.

Although he personally felt quite reluctant to give up such an outgoing, good-looking, and harmonious female companion, he was simply short of money.

In addition, considering his friend A's profession, Ishihara Akira was honestly somewhat bothered by it.

So instead of continuing to hang on to her, you might as well put more effort into winning over other girls, or wait until you go to the world of anime and fall in love with the girls there.

Anyway, he now has a channel to absorb the seven emotions and six desires, unlike at the beginning when he couldn't get the seven emotions and six desires without entering a dream, so he even lost his last valuable friend A.

So barring any unforeseen circumstances—such as him suddenly achieving financial freedom and being able to spend hundreds of thousands of yuan without worrying about the future—their life together, which resembles that of a married couple, will likely end here.

“Okay, then I’ll talk to the madam at the shop tomorrow and tell her I’ll go back to work in 10 days,” Friend A replied without hesitation.

Ishihara Sho fell silent and sighed quietly.

Just like that, a dozen minutes later, the ramen was cooked, and friend A brought chopsticks and placed the electric hot pot directly in front of him.

"Let's eat it like this."

“Okay.” Ishihara Sho didn’t mind. Anyway, he had done things like eating directly from the pot before in his previous life. He picked up the pot skillfully, swung his chopsticks, and started eating the noodles in the pot.

……

After resting, watching TV, washing up, and exercising together, friend A drifted off to sleep again, leaving behind Ishihara Sho, who could fall asleep and wake up in an instant since awakening his lucid dreaming ability.

"Before the official test, let's find out whether the inability to 'log off' is due to being in someone else's dream or because it's a 'real' two-dimensional world..."

As for the method, it's quite simple: just extend your mental energy into Kobi's room again, enter that otaku's dream, and you'll understand everything.

As for why not use friend A for testing?

That's because she can't detect anything when used for testing!

The two were so close that their arms were touching, unlike the nerdy guy next door. There was no contact or interaction between them, so it wouldn't trigger any inexplicable rules that he hadn't yet mastered, and it would allow for a clearer test of the accuracy of certain things.

So the next moment, Ishihara Akira had an idea and once again barged into the dreams of those around him as planned...

However, it's no longer the dream world of the otaku I initially wanted to experience, because this guy's cultivation nature has kicked in, and he's currently watching a Japanese movie, looking very energetic, but showing no signs of wanting to enter a dream.

Therefore, having no other choice, Ishihara Akira changed his target from the neighbors on the left to the neighbors upstairs and downstairs. He then found one of the sleeping residents and entered their dream.

The first thing that caught Ishihara Akira's eye was a large office, the kind often seen in Japanese dramas—an office with many desks and employees working together. The dream's protagonist sat smugly at his workstation, his face full of arrogance. Even when so-called section chiefs or department heads approached him, he remained unmoved, as if his buttocks were glued to his chair, ignoring the obsequious requests from these work superiors.

Several attractive female employees surrounded him, constantly feeding him grapes, coffee, and watermelon chunks, treating him like royalty...

It's basically a dream that most Japanese male office workers would have.

Ishihara Akane didn't go over to disturb him. Instead, he activated his offline skill, and in a flash, he returned to reality and saw his friend A sleeping next to him.

"As expected, as long as it's a dream and the target is within my perception range, the 'Logout' skill works normally, unlike yesterday when there was no reaction at all. So... is that the real two-dimensional world...?" Ishihara Akira's eyes lit up as he confirmed one of his guesses.

"Well then, let me see what I'm capable of."

After thinking it over, Ishihara Akira closed his eyes again, entering his dream space in a lucid dream mode. As the dream's master, he used near-creator-like abilities to reshape his dream—

Friend A's apartment room was transformed into a hospital ward, with several young women in pink nurse uniforms standing on either side of his bed, all looking at him with gentle eyes.

Moreover, Ishihara recognized all of these people; they were female characters from a well-known anime series—Nanase Ren, Shinjo Remi, Fujisawa Ayako, and Kodama Hikaru.

And soon after, the hospital director, Narumi Jinguji, also entered the ward to visit this special patient.

"Then next should be the teleportation portal... I wonder if it will appear," Ishihara Sho muttered expectantly.

At the same time, his eyes began to wander around, scanning the entire environment of the ward.

Chapter 16 Success

Unfortunately, Ishihara Yu waited in the ward for more than an hour, but the circular white portal he had seen before never appeared!

It was not even found in the entire hospital.

The same applies to toilets...