Someone in the Multiverse, Starting as Fu Hua Chapter 42

Fu Hua opened her eyes, the first thing she did was check whether the contingency she had left on Amber, specifically targeting Black Amber, had been triggered. Finding that nothing major had occurred, she spoke to ask.

Amber directly explained Black Amber's intent.

Although Amber could equip the Core of the Herrscher of Reason back herself, having just interrupted the Herrscher of Reason's sales pitch and made her somewhat displeased, she felt too embarrassed to pull that move again. So Fu Hua had to act as the intermediary relaying messages between the two sides.

"Give me a moment."

Hearing Black Amber's speculation, Fu Hua furrowed her brow, then closed her eyes. After a long moment, she opened them again: "Your classmates are in danger."

"Huh?"

Amber was stunned.

They're scheming against me, so how are my classmates in danger?

No, wait—does that mean the jujutsu world really is plotting something?

The flow of time within the Feathered Dust differed from the outside, giving Fu Hua time to explain: "According to the Herrscher of Reason's deduction, you and Gojo Satoru were lured here by Liao Ta. Amber, do you still remember the Binding Vow between Yuji and Sukuna from the juvenile detention center?"

"That time at the juvenile detention center, when Yuji died and Sukuna promised to revive him with that Binding Vow?"

Amber naturally remembered that incident. All the subsequent tragedy had been foreshadowed from that point.

"The juvenile detention center incident was designed by Liao Ta. This time, your being lured away was also designed by him."

Fu Hua nodded.

"But that doesn't make sense? That juvenile detention center incident shouldn't have happened this early, right?"

Amber frowned.

"The Special Grade Cursed Spirit at the juvenile detention center appeared because it consumed one of Ryomen Sukuna's fingers."

Fu Hua laid out the Herrscher of Reason's viewpoint: "The jujutsu higher-ups are Liao Ta, the fingers are Liao Ta, and luring you both away is also Liao Ta. The entire affair was orchestrated by Liao Ta. Under these circumstances, maintaining a sense of timeline is meaningless, because your arrival changed Liao Ta's mindset, making him impatient."

There was one more thing the Herrscher of Reason didn't say—that this wasn't entirely Amber's fault either... The trouble she was stirring up now was probably the real catalyst driving Liao Ta to act rashly.

But since Liao Ta had already made his move, the great Herrscher of Reason magnanimously chose not to mention that minor detail.

Hearing this, Amber felt her scalp go numb. She and Gojo Satoru had already been here for a day, and getting back would take some time. Was she going to miss it again? Then what was the point of her coming here?

(Navigator: It's Recognition.)

"Gojo-sensei! We need to hurry back!"

As her consciousness returned to reality, Amber's face grew anxious.

Chapter 25: Gacha!

Gojo Satoru wasn't stupid. While it could be said he was weak in the humanities and had flaws in political maneuvering, his excellent grasp of the sciences meant his mind worked fast.

"You're saying the higher-ups are targeting Yuji?"

He instantly understood Amber's meaning, but found it impossible: "Even if those Rotten Oranges' brains often malfunction, unable to face reality while fearing change, they wouldn't be stupid enough to provoke me like this."

Because everyone knew he could genuinely purge the jujutsu world. If they did something that truly angered him, he could completely wipe out the higher-ups without caring about his reputation.

It was just that such an act would only replace them with another batch of Rotten Oranges, bringing no real change while tarnishing his name, so he hadn't bothered yet.

Don't think ruining one's reputation doesn't matter to the strongest. Maybe for others, but Gojo Satoru's goal was to change the jujutsu world. If he did something like slaughtering the higher-ups for personal gain and replacing them with his own people, what difference would there be between him and those higher-ups? No one would genuinely follow someone like that.

Besides, he had no one to replace them with. His people weren't the Gojo Clan members, but his students. Even with a reason, doing something like purging the higher-ups would still make people uneasy. To put it bluntly, if you want to be a good person and have good people trust and follow you, you have to let yourself be held at gunpoint. Breaking the rules once means you'll do it again, no matter how convincing the justification. (Same goes for Dumbledore.)

That was why he chose the path of education—to wait for the blood that could change the jujutsu world to grow, and then act as the one paving the way, clearing obstacles for them.

(In the original work, Gojo Satoru only killed all the higher-ups without regard for consequences because he believed he was going to die.)

Amber also knew Gojo Satoru was confident those Rotten Oranges wouldn't dare take risks, but what he didn't know was that among those higher-ups, there was one who simply wasn't afraid of death—he could just swap bodies and be done with it.

Unfortunately, she couldn't say that directly, so she could only say: "Another me's concern is still possible. Shier also wants to hurry back and check."

Though he felt Amber's worry was unlikely, since his most well-behaved student had said so, Gojo Satoru nodded readily: "Alright~ Since little Shier says so, let's hurry back."

"Sensei, do you know Senior Yuji's location?"

Amber asked.

Seeing the girl so rarely this anxious, Gojo Satoru called his Assistant Supervisor, Ijichi. Since the three new Jujutsu High students had just enrolled and hadn't been assigned an Assistant Supervisor yet, Ijichi was temporarily handling them.

Ijichi naturally didn't hide anything when Gojo Satoru asked.

Today, following orders from the higher-ups, he had taken the three to the Yingji Juvenile Detention Center in West Tokyo to handle an incident caused by a newly appeared Special Grade Imaginary Cursed Spirit. Though it was called "handling," it wasn't about defeating it, but rescuing the victims trapped inside the detention center.

The reason a Special Grade was being handled by three sorcerers who weren't even Grade 1 was that this Special Grade was still in its Cursed Womb state. While still powerful, it couldn't move around freely, so as long as they fled in time, their lives wouldn't be in danger.

This kind of over-level incident handling wasn't common, but it wasn't rare either. Often, it was caused by misjudgment from the 'Window' that specialized in observing Cursed Spirits. Knowing clearly that this one was Special Grade was already quite good.

After all, sometimes misjudgment led to sorcerers dying.

Gojo Satoru's furrowed brow relaxed slightly, but Amber's didn't.

Limited by information, Gojo Satoru didn't know that this Cursed Womb was now a full Special Grade Cursed Spirit, but Amber did: "Have Senior Yuji and the others already gone in?"

"Ah... yes, they've been inside for about half an hour. They should be coming out soon."

Since the call was on speaker, Ijichi could naturally hear Amber's voice. But he still hadn't realized the severity of the situation. To keep Amber from worrying and affecting her performance in the upcoming assessment, he even smiled reassuringly: "Don't worry. If it's just a Cursed Womb, even if it's Special Grade, as long as they don't clash head-on, there shouldn't be a problem. Miss Shier, it's better to focus on the assessment later."

Those words were indeed meant to reassure, but "no problem" didn't mean no injuries. Even the possibility of serious injury was far from small.

But he couldn't show that he was actually worried either—after all, he was facing a child.

"Shier, go take a look too...!"

Hearing this, Amber couldn't wait any longer. She Quantized herself directly and appeared beside Ijichi through his observation.

Ijichi was stunned by the situation: "...Shi... Shier? How did you get here? What about the assessment...?"

"The assessment is already done~ Super fast."

Gojo Satoru sounded relaxed on the other end of the phone, but his heart sank. Strange—little Shier's demeanor was as if she knew something would happen... Did the other Shier tell her something...?

Because of his trust in Amber, Gojo temporarily set aside his suspicion that Black Amber might be up to something and turned to consider other possibilities.

But no matter what, being far away in the mountains, he couldn't act immediately. He could only say, "Regardless, little Shier is now a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer. There's no problem with her joining this mission."

"I understand..."

Ijichi also sensed that something might go wrong with this mission. He nodded solemnly to Amber: "Shier, it's up to you now."

"Mm!"

Amber nodded back. Just as she was about to enter, she heard what sounded like a wolf's howl, then saw Fushiguro Megumi running out with Nobara, whose forehead was wrapped in bandages. Both of them had some injuries, and their eyes lit up when they saw Amber.

"Yuji is still inside!"

Fushiguro didn't bother asking how Amber got here. He quickly briefed the situation: "The Cursed Womb inside has fully matured! Yuji is fighting a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, and if nothing goes wrong, he's going to let Ryomen Sukuna out!"

Amber realized she was too late. Since it had already come to this, rushing wouldn't help.

By now, Yuji's body must have been taken over by Sukuna, and Sukuna would destroy the heart to prevent Yuji's consciousness from reclaiming the body.

To avoid the two forming a Binding Vow in this state, the only way was for her to heal Itadori Yuji's body—in other words... the Herrscher of Death Core.

Compared to the core, directly pulling the Herrscher of Death and Life Character Card would be more convenient, since a Character Card not only frees up a Weapon Slot but also comes with its own weapon, like the Herrscher of Reason.

But thinking it over, there were drawbacks too: a Character Card requires transformation to use the Herrscher of Death and Life's abilities, while the core can be equipped anytime, offering greater flexibility.

Shaking her head to clear these thoughts, Amber walked into the Juvenile Detention Center dormitory building and opened the Gacha Interface.

'No time to overthink! Navigator, all in!'

Chapter 26: Fukuma Mizushi

[Confirm Gacha]

'Confirm!'

The Recognition in the top-right corner, which had quietly reached 32,000, began to drop rapidly. Amber felt a pang of heartache—this was the first time she'd spent such a huge amount.

But the reward made her breath catch.

[Character Card: Shier (Otherworldly Twin) x1, Herrscher of Death Core x1, Shier Herrscher of Death and Life (Mid) x1, Shier Herrscher of Death and Life (Bottom) x1, Character Card: Vita (Masked Fool Period) x1]

Wait, why did Vita pop out?

[The Gacha Pool can produce anything. The pool's cover art is the current pool's Up Anchor. Around the Up Anchor, the probability of drawing any item increases significantly]

'So if I'm lucky, I could even pull Bronya?'

Amber felt a bit tempted, but in a way, pulling Bronya from Shier's pool would be a miss, right? No, no—Vita's strength is still considerable, probably stronger than an Ascended Herrscher, though she didn't know Vita's full power.

Probably not as strong as the Collapse Immortal or Tengen Mad-Goose? Or maybe on the same level?

'Right, I have so many Character Cards now, and a lot of them I can't use. What can I do with the extras?'

[Excess Character Cards can be combined two-for-one into other Character Cards through the System Shop]

She'd almost forgotten about the shop. Come to think of it, Navigator had mentioned before that Star Stones and those miscellaneous materials could all be spent in the System Shop...

If only she'd saved 3,500 Recognition to awaken the Main Control Consciousness...

[Reminder to Host: 3,500 Recognition is not enough to open the System Shop]

'Huh? Didn't Navigator say before that 3,500 Recognition could awaken the Main Control Consciousness?'

[Yes, but awakening only sustains the Main Control Consciousness briefly. Of course, while the Main Control Consciousness is active, the System Shop can be opened temporarily]

...No wonder they were both reluctant to awaken her back then. So that was the reason? Thinking about it, at that time she had only done her second Gacha and had no resources. Even if she had awakened the Main Control Consciousness, aside from a short chat, she couldn't have done anything...

'Then how much Recognition does it take to fully restore the Main Control Consciousness?'

[The Recognition energy level is insufficient to support the system's complete operation]

[Method 1 to restore Main Control Consciousness: Reconnect to the Main System, allowing the Main System to restore power supply to System A0522 and maintain system operation]

[Method 2: Continuously consume Recognition to maintain system operation]

'Continuously... how much?'

[Based on energy conversion, every 2,000 Recognition can maintain system operation for half an hour]

'...That's a bottomless pit... Can this kind of consumption really be balanced with income?'

[Numbered systems are branches of the Main System. Recommendation rate for Method 2: 0.023%]

'And Method 1...?'

[0.000020042%]

Even more hopeless...

Amber couldn't imagine how she was supposed to continuously obtain Recognition higher than 2000 every half hour.

To reach that level, it'd have to be some kind of global idol... and one that everyone liked, at that? The main issue was that this Recognition could only be provided by key story characters... otherwise, maybe it would've been possible.

Temporarily abandoning those unrealistic thoughts, Amber updated her Character Card to Otherworldly Twin and equipped the scythe she'd already drawn before, the Door of the Other Shore.

After updating the Character Card, Amber felt completely different all over. Not only could she sense her own far greater power, but her connection to the stigma on her chest—Black Amber—had grown much tighter.

And power surged endlessly from the stigma.

It was just a pity that, since Amber had already experienced the strength of the Crimson Kite Immortal, although Otherworldly Twin was far stronger than the previous Illusory Sea Dream Butterfly... the gap compared to the Immortal's power was still enormous.

But Amber wasn't in a rush. With the Herrscher of Death Core in hand, she could transform into the Herrscher of Death and Life at any time. She was just afraid she'd misjudge the force and kill Sukuna along with Yuji, which was why she was sticking with the Door of the Other Shore for now.

The atmosphere around her was cold and pitch-black. Since she was inside a Cursed Spirit's domain, the place was saturated with the creature's aura. Pulling her thoughts back, Amber barely managed to track Itadori Yuji's Cursed Energy, following it by taking the fastest route possible.

Which meant bulldozing straight through in a straight line.

But before Amber could tear down more than a few walls, this domain—which had no inscribed techniques and was nothing but vast—began to shake and gradually collapse, revealing the building's original form.

Well, that settled that. Without the interference, Amber directly phase-shifted to the location where she sensed Itadori Yuji's Cursed Energy.

The moment she appeared, the first thing she saw was Sukuna leisurely pulling his hand out of his chest, shredded pieces of internal organs sliding off his fingertips along with dripping blood.

The sight made Amber feel a strong wave of disgust. Her delicate brows furrowed, and anger rose unbidden to her face.

"Appearing before me all of a sudden—is that a teleportation technique?"

Sukuna naturally noticed the fluctuation in Cursed Energy beside him. Looking at the girl who had landed near him, a mocking grin spread across his face. "Too bad you're too late. That brat isn't coming out anymore."

As he spoke, he deliberately raised his right hand, showing off the remnants of flesh and blood still clinging to it.