"Ding! Detected that Seele eliminated a Grade 1 cursed spirit to protect the host. Reward: 500 points."
A few seconds later, the system prompt rang out by An Xiu's ear again.
"Tch, boring."
Black Seele returned to An Xiu's side through the hole she had blasted open and said lazily before handing control of her body back to Seele.
"The cursed spirits here have all been cleared out by Seele. It's already very late, so let's go back, An Xiu-ge."
After carefully sensing the surroundings and confirming that no cursed spirits had been missed, Seele spoke softly to An Xiu.
"We should head back. Coming all the way out here this late has made me a little hungry. Seele, can you cook?"
"Well... I don't know how to make many things, but Seele will do her best."
After the two left, the Abandoned Construction Site fell silent once more.
But before long, another unfamiliar figure arrived nearby.
"Seriously, just finding a godforsaken place like this wastes so much time. I'll have to ask the school for extra hazard pay later."
Meimei's Investigation, Suspected Special Grade?
"A remote place like this takes quite a bit of effort just to find. No wonder the school sent this out as a commission."
Wearing a dark purple dress, with silver hair braided into two long plaits at the front and back, the tall, mature woman complained about how unfriendly the commission's location was as she strolled toward the Abandoned Construction Site at an unhurried pace.
"This is the place. It shouldn't be wrong. It's a somewhat famous Suicide Holy Land online, after all. There can't be another similar building within several kilometers."
After looking at it from afar and confirming she had found the right place, Meimei checked the information for this commission again.
"According to observations from the window, this location is suspected to have Grade 1 cursed spirit activity. There are also a large number of low-grade cursed spirits, though the exact number is unknown..."
"This is quite a big job. No time to waste, then. Let's get to work."
Having come out in the middle of the night for a commission, Meimei planned to have a good drink at an izakaya she knew well once this was over.
She skillfully activated her technique, Crow Manipulation, and controlled a prepared crow to fly above the construction site. Through the vision she shared with it, Meimei observed the situation inside the Abandoned Construction Site.
However, the mission site, which should have been filled with cursed spirits according to the report, was completely empty under Meimei's observation. Forget the Grade 1 cursed spirit that had been specifically mentioned as a possibility—there was not even a trace of a Grade 4 cursed spirit.
"What the hell? Did the school's intelligence get it wrong? The cursed spirits at the commission site all disappeared together? Don't tell me they went off for team-building."
"Wait... There are signs of battle here!"
Circling above the empty construction site, Meimei quickly discovered numerous traces of combat through the crow's eyes.
Ground that appeared to have been sliced cleanly in two by something sharp, broken walls, collapsed buildings, and most importantly, cursed energy that still lingered on the battlefield without having dissipated.
"Did someone beat me here?"
Meimei was not particularly angry about someone stealing her commission. After all, she always collected payment before doing the job.
The money was already in her hands. It was none of her business if someone had eliminated the target before her. There was no way she was returning the money. They could not expect a Grade 1 sorcerer to make the trip for nothing, could they?
Still, Meimei had the crow lower its altitude, intending to collect more detailed information to take back and shut the school up.
The moment the crow flew into the construction site, Meimei seemed to feel, through her technique, a cold, lifeless cursed energy presence that inspired terror from the depths of her heart.
"Hey, hey, isn't this a little excessive? I'm observing through my technique right now. I haven't even gone inside..."
Her tall body stiffened for an instant. Meimei raised a hand to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead. Could a human truly possess cursed energy that was so cold and terrifying, like pure death itself?
Damn it. Could this dump have quietly produced a Special Grade cursed spirit?
At that thought, Meimei very sensibly retreated to what she considered a safe distance before using Crow Manipulation to have the crow continue deeper inside.
There were plenty of battle traces throughout the Abandoned Construction Site, but based on her observations, Meimei judged that most of the fights had ended instantly. The many cursed spirits that had originally gathered in the area seemed to have been one-shot by some powerful existence, without any sign of prolonged combat.
Most of the battle traces throughout the Abandoned Construction Site were much the same. Controlling the crow into the key Abandoned Building, she found that the situation inside was basically identical.
Only after flying all the way to the upper floors did Meimei discover a different trace at a spot where a large hole had been punched through the ceiling.
The lingering cursed energy here was denser than elsewhere. This was likely where the Grade 1 cursed spirit mentioned in the report had been.
There were somewhat more signs of battle here than in the other places, but they were still very limited.
By observing the battlefield from all sides and calculating the number of attacks exchanged based on a Grade 1 cursed spirit's destructive power, Meimei concluded that even with a Grade 1 cursed spirit present, the entire fight had probably lasted less than ten seconds.
A Grade 1 cursed spirit had not even lasted ten seconds?
As a Grade 1 sorcerer herself, Meimei was confident she could eliminate a grade-one cursed spirit as well, but the fight would never have been this clean.
Following the hole in the ceiling upward, Meimei soon discovered another location where the residual cursed energy was clearly stronger than in the surrounding area.
"I see. There was a second Grade 1 cursed spirit? I knew the window's intelligence was unreliable."
"But..."
Observing the second battlefield, Meimei quickly discovered an absurd fact.
At the previous Grade 1 cursed spirit's battlefield, although the clash had been brief and might have lasted only a few seconds, it had at least been a clash. The Grade 1 cursed spirit that had been killed had resisted, however briefly.
But no matter how she examined the battlefield before her, Meimei could reach only one conclusion: an instant kill.
There was no trace of any exchange. A powerful Grade 1 cursed spirit had been killed in one blow without being able to offer any resistance.
The entire battlefield contained only a slash over ten meters long that had pierced through and split both the floor and ceiling in two. Other than that, there was only the lingering cursed energy filled with an aura like death.
A massacre. Even Grade 1 cursed spirits had been one-shot. It was clear that before she arrived, a thorough massacre had played out in this Abandoned Construction Site.
Based on that alone, the existence that had beaten her here and slaughtered every cursed spirit was absolutely a Special Grade!
In other words...
"Damn it, did I get ripped off on this job?"
Compared to coming to some remote place to eliminate a Grade 1 cursed spirit and a bunch of low-grade cursed spirits, a commission involving a Special Grade carried several times the reward and danger.
In other words, Meimei had effectively taken the commission fee for clearing out a Grade 1 cursed spirit, then inexplicably handled a job involving a Special Grade.
Considering the school's erroneous intelligence—that there had originally been two Grade 1 cursed spirits here rather than one—even without the current situation, she would probably have taken a loss.
At once, Meimei felt like she had become a total sucker.
"They need to pay more. Once I get back, I'm making the school pay more! Information about a suspected Special Grade? I refuse to believe they won't be interested."
With the intention of making a hefty profit, Meimei did not linger after finishing her investigation of the Abandoned Construction Site. She immediately dispelled her technique and left without stopping.
After all, a suspected Special Grade had appeared here, and judging from the residual cursed energy, it had most likely been not long ago. Now that she had the information, Meimei felt extremely unsafe remaining nearby.
Gojo Satoru's Arrival
Evening, Tokyo, atop a building nearly forty stories tall.
A silver-haired man in a uniform, wearing a blindfold and sporting spiky hair, stood on the edge of the rooftop wall in such a casual posture that it could have scared someone with acrophobia to death on the spot.
The man held a phone and appeared to be speaking with someone.
"Information about a suspected Special Grade? Looks like there's an unexpected surprise."
"Take this seriously, Satoru! This is a suspected Special Grade with absolutely no prior records. We must investigate and confirm its identity, determine whether it is a curse user, and if possible, recruit it to the sorcerers' side."
On the other end of the call, Gakuganji Yaga, who had just finished dealing with Meimei, immediately felt his temper flare when he heard Gojo Satoru's familiar unserious tone. He sternly corrected him.
Since Meimei's commission had been issued under the school's name, she sent the information to Gakuganji Yaga, the principal of Tokyo Jujutsu High School, after returning to a safe area, while also demanding a hefty intelligence fee and compensation payment.
Gakuganji Yaga did not have any particular thoughts on the matter. Information on an entirely unrecorded Special Grade was indeed important. The moment he received the detailed information, he contacted Gojo Satoru, who was out on a mission, and explained the situation.
"Relax, relax. I'll go to the scene and investigate it further, then try to find its trail."
"If I find it and confirm it's not a curse user, I'll invite it over. Of course, if it isn't interested, that won't be my problem."
And what if it was a curse user?
Gakuganji Yaga did not ask at all. He could already guess what Gojo Satoru would say if he did.
"Don't worry. After all, I'm the strongest."
The figure that had been standing at the edge of the building vanished in an instant. Only the surging cursed energy in the surroundings indicated that a powerful sorcerer had been there moments ago.
The next day, noon.
After sleeping until the sun was high in the sky, An Xiu finally got up with a yawn under Seele's care.
Of course, nothing had happened after they returned last night. An Xiu was not that impatient; he was not about to sleep with Seele on his first day after transmigrating.
No matter what, he needed to get used to things for a while first. So last night, An Xiu had simply hugged Seele's soft, fragrant body like a body pillow and slept.
It had been an extremely pleasant experience. Sleeping while holding a beautiful girl really was good for the body and mind. The people online in his previous life had been right.
After washing up and eating the breakfast Seele had prepared... no, it should have been called lunch, An Xiu sat on a chair in a daze while Seele washed the dishes.
He was considering a very important matter: making money.
Although he had transmigrated into Jujutsu Kaisen, he still could not do without money for food, clothing, and daily expenses. In this world, An Xiu was a high school dropout working online. His income was not much, barely enough to support himself, and he clearly did not have much in savings.
He did not intend to continue with that line of work, either. It did not make much money anyway.
There were classic transmigrator money-making methods, like writing light novels, but An Xiu did not plan to write those either.
After all, he was living off a woman. What kind of person living off a woman still needed to make money himself? Wouldn't that defeat the entire point?
Maybe he could consider some of the ways sorcerers made money. Seele was quite strong, after all.
"Seele, I've decided not to work hard anymore. How about you make money and support me?"
"Huh? An Xiu-ge doesn't want to work anymore?"
Hearing that, Seele looked over from the kitchen, then smiled and nodded.
"Alright. Seele will work hard to earn money and support An Xiu-ge."
"It won't be enough just to work hard and make money. I have standards for quality of life, after all. Food and drinks, replacing my computer and getting a better graphics card every now and then, plus games, light novels, merchandise, and all that—it adds up. It would be best if we could move into a bigger place too. If we add all that together, Seele will need to make a whole lot of money."
"Mm. Then Seele will definitely work hard to make lots and lots of money. Seele will buy An Xiu-ge a new computer, move us into a new home, and buy the other things An Xiu-ge likes. Seele will also cook for An Xiu-ge, clean the house, and stay by An Xiu-ge's side forever."
"Yes, exactly. But don't worry, Seele. When the time comes, I'll definitely manifest other clones to work hard with us. I won't make you support me all by yourself."
Having received Seele's answer, An Xiu completely gave up trying.
Sorcerers—or rather, powerful sorcerers—had many ways to make money. Whether good or bad, with Seele's strength, there was no need to worry about being unable to make money in this world.
All he needed to do was wait for Seele to earn money for him, then spend it enjoying himself.
"Ding! Detected that the host has given up trying. Reward: 50 points."
The system prompt rang out beside his ear.
Yes, lying flat like this and relying on a woman to support him could also earn points. After all, this counted as a classic case of living off a woman, and it even provided points continuously.
The interval was simply very long. An Xiu had heard it once yesterday, and this was the second time now. In other words, could it only trigger about once a day?
Just then, Seele suddenly came to An Xiu's side.
"An Xiu-ge, someone is here."
As she spoke, Seele looked out the window.
On the street across from them, a silver-haired man with spiky hair and a blindfold was waving at the two inside the house.
Noticing their gazes, Gojo Satoru, standing outside, immediately put on what he considered a serious and handsome smile.
"Yo, you two. Good afternoon."
"Aren't you going to invite me in? Or perhaps... shall we talk outside?"
Living in the suburbs did have some benefits, especially at the apartment where An Xiu and Seele were currently staying. It was difficult to find even a few living people within several kilometers, so they did not need to hide when doing things they did not want others to see.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Gojo Satoru. I'm a teacher from Tokyo Jujutsu High School, as well as a Special Grade sorcerer."
"By the way, if you two haven't encountered information about the Jujutsu World before, you can understand Special Grade sorcerers as the strongest sorcerers. And I just happen to be the strongest among the Special Grades."
On the roof of the Abandoned Construction Site building where An Xiu and Seele had cleared out cursed spirits the previous night, Gojo Satoru gave the two a simple introduction.
"How did you find us?"
An Xiu offered no comment on Gojo Satoru's introduction. He had known about the man in his previous life, so this modest statement of his was entirely expected.
Before you continue