The night sky was crystal clear.
The glowing lights of Tokyo's skyscrapers seemed incredibly small beneath Satoru Gojo's feet.
Yet, the waves of shock surging within his heart were far more dazzling than the city below.
That overwhelming sense of astonishment filled his entire being once more.
A single slap.
That boy named Ian had used just a single slap again.
To forcefully smack the soul of Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses who possessed the strength of nearly ten fingers, right out of Yuji Itadori's body.
This person's potential in the future would likely be no less than his own.
Satoru Gojo's heart, which had been lonely for far too long due to his "invincibility," began to pound with unprecedented intensity.
Far from feeling fear, he was enveloped in an extreme sense of exhilaration.
He had truly found it.
An opponent worthy enough to make him, Satoru Gojo, finally get serious.
He wanted to fight him!
Not for the balance of the jujutsu world, not for the orders of those higher-up geezers, but solely for himself.
He wanted to witness the source of that power with his own eyes.
The [Six Eyes] operated without reservation. Within his azure pupils, the world's flow of information surged past at an unprecedented speed.
The next second.
He locked onto Ian's location.
Without a moment's hesitation, Gojo's figure vanished from the rooftop.
...
At an abandoned construction site.
Ian stood there, bored out of his mind, seemingly admiring the moonlight.
A flash of blue light flickered.
Gojo's figure appeared before him, standing about a dozen meters away.
This time, there was not a trace of his usual frivolity.
"Let's go again," Gojo said, his voice deep and serious.
"No interruptions, no consequences."
"Just a battle to determine the victor."
Ian slowly turned his head, looking at the highly enthusiastic white-haired man before him.
He found him rather annoying.
Like a peacock constantly trying to prove how impressive it was.
Ian could not even be bothered to speak.
He simply raised his hand casually and gave a gentle wave in Gojo's direction.
The motion looked as though he were swatting away a fly.
However, through Gojo's [Six Eyes], this wave appeared to pose absolutely no threat.
Yet, an intense blare of warning exploded from the very depths of his soul.
Gojo's expression instantly froze.
The cursed energy within his body boiled over without reservation in a split second.
His [Limitless Cursed Technique] was pushed to its absolute maximum.
[Limitless] expanded before him, infinitely dividing the space. In theory, nothing could ever touch his true body.
This was the foundation and reliance of his status as the "Strongest."
But Ian's palm simply passed right through once again.
The fully activated Limitless failed to block or even slow it down in the slightest.
It was as if that layer of [Limitless] did not exist at all.
Ian's palm lightly swatted aside Gojo's instinctively raised arm.
And then, it landed squarely on his shoulder.
There was no massive force, no destructive cursed energy.
Only the purest, most incomprehensible, and utterly unblockable "contact."
Gojo stood completely frozen in place.
His mind went entirely blank.
His proudest cursed technique, the [Limitless] that made him famous, had truly failed. The last time wasn't an illusion.
No, it wasn't even a failure.
It had been completely ignored.
"Too weak," Ian commented with a lack of interest, seemingly disappointed by the outcome.
His figure faded into thin air right before Gojo's eyes, then vanished completely.
Leaving Gojo standing alone in the empty construction site, the night breeze rustling his white hair.
He slowly raised his hand, staring at his palm, before touching the shoulder that had been struck.
'Is there something wrong with my [Limitless]?'
'No.'
That thought only flashed by for a fleeting moment.
He did not doubt his own strength.
He simply could not comprehend the other party's strength.
'To think that a power capable of ignoring my Limitless actually exists in this world!'
Gojo smiled.
There was not a single trace of dejection in that smile.
Instead, it was filled with an even more intense, burning desire for exploration.
...
Meanwhile, Ian had already returned to his consciousness space.
To him, the brief interlude just now didn't even count as a warm-up.
At this moment, his attention was completely captivated by the brand-new module that had just unlocked in his mind.
[[Jujutsu Kaisen Mod]]
[You can play as characters such as Yuji Itadori and Satoru Gojo, using their cursed techniques to embark on adventures. Players can unlock new characters and items by completing quests.]
[In terms of combat, a unique battle system is introduced. Players can fight enemies like cursed spirits, and can also obtain cursed technique books and cursed tools by defeating them to enhance their strength.]
[A small beginner's gift has been issued. Please check your inventory.]
A translucent light screen, resembling a game interface, appeared before Ian.
In the corner of the screen, a small gift box icon was flashing.
With a thought, Ian opened the gift box.
A bizarre, pitch-black bug that looked like a silkworm pupa but had several tiny, segmented limbs appeared out of thin air in his hand.
[[Eternal Gluttony Bug]: A peculiar cursed spirit. Upon consumption, the player's hunger value will never decrease.]
Ian examined the squirming little creature.
He casually tossed it into the Transmutation Tablet beside him.
A massive amount of EMC instantly flooded in.
The energy contained within this thing was actually quite decent.
Next, he exchanged for an identical Gluttony Bug from the Transmutation Tablet.
This time, as if tasting some novel snack, he casually tossed it into his mouth.
It was crunchy.
It didn't have any particular taste.
After studying the mod for a while, Ian discovered some interesting features.
Not only could he learn and use all the cursed techniques of this world,
He could even perform a [Race Switch] to experience what it was like to be a cursed spirit.
And there were two ways to level up.
First, by exorcising cursed spirits to gain experience.
Second, by destroying a special item called a "Weather Box."
Every time a Weather Box was destroyed, there was a minuscule chance of it dropping a "Recommendation Letter" of varying grades.
Using a Recommendation Letter could directly increase one's jujutsu sorcerer grade.
"Leveling up?"
And items could drop from breaking things.
He found this method quite amusing.
With a thought, he opened the Transmutation Tablet. Now, it was time to start cheating!
Subsequently, a colossal amount of EMC was consumed in an instant.
The next moment.
Tens of thousands of "Weather Boxes" materialized out of thin air, instantly filling the space before him.
Ian stood at the peak of the mountain formed by the stacked "Weather Boxes."
He reached out his hand and lightly snapped his fingers.
"Unbox."
BOOM—!!!
All the Weather Boxes violently exploded at the exact same time.
Countless streaks of golden light, representing the "Recommendation Letters," transformed into pillars of light that surged madly into his body like a breached dam.
The entire consciousness space was completely illuminated by this golden radiance.
In less than ten minutes.
Ian's jujutsu sorcerer grade skyrocketed from "Ordinary Person" on his status panel.
Grade 3, Grade 2, Semi-Grade 1, Grade 1...
Ultimately, it locked onto the highest grade the system could define.
[Special Grade].
At the same time, a skill book that allowed him to switch between different cursed techniques at any time appeared in his inventory.
But to him, this was practically useless.
Because he discovered that he didn't need to switch at all.
He could use all the cursed techniques of this world as he pleased, whenever he wanted.
Ian felt the extra sliver of "cursed energy" within his body—an amount so minuscule compared to his massive energy reserves that it was almost negligible.
He revealed a smile.
'So, what will be the first interesting ability to try out?'