First Meeting with the Spiky-Haired Guy and the Electric Girl

Rod looked up at the sky speechlessly. Never in his life had he felt so utterly at a loss for words.

I thought I'd already be invincible after getting Sukuna's max-level template. Whose damn general is this?

Infinite Transcendence System

Host: Rod

Gender: Male

Age: 23

Race: Human

Constitution: 350 [The average value for an ordinary adult male is 1]

Strength: 334

Agility: 380

Mental: 420

Talents:

Infinite Transcendence (No so-called bottlenecks remain. Transcend without limit, continuously surpassing one's own limits. Theoretically, there is no upper limit.)

Max-Level Sukuna Template (100%)

Abilities:

Slashing Technique [Dismantle], Slashing Technique [Cleave], Reverse Cursed Technique, Domain Expansion [Malevolent Shrine], Flame Technique [Open], Blood Manipulation, Ten Shadows Technique, World-Cutting Slash, Ryomen Sukuna's True Form

Weapons:

Cursed Tool: Kamutoke, Cursed Tool: Hiten

Items:

None

His attributes had risen drastically alongside the fusion with Sukuna's template, but this level of strength was still nothing impressive in the world of A Certain Magical Index. It would probably be enough to deal with early-game bosses like the first Level 5, Accelerator, but against later opponents such as Fiamma of the Right or Acqua of the Back, it would be completely inadequate.

"Eh, forget it. There's no point thinking about all that now." Feeling the hunger in his stomach, Rod decided to stop dwelling on it. Rather than complaining about fate, he might as well take things one step at a time.

Rod was the sort of person who believed that when you reached the bridge, it would naturally sink.

Just as he stepped forward to leave the alley, he heard the noisy voices of a group approaching from its entrance.

"The huge noise from earlier came from this direction, right?"

"Hey, do we really need to check it out?"

"Heh, if you're scared, then get lost!"

"Who says I'm scared!? I... I just..."

A group of scruffily dressed delinquents entered Rod's view. The moment they saw him, a red-haired punk swaggered forward and said in a mocking tone, "Hey, mister. Wandering around at night instead of staying home is dangerous, you know~"

Mister? Rod's mouth twitched at that. This unshaven red-haired punk looked like he was in his thirties or forties. To be safe, Rod still asked, "How old are you?"

"Huh? Fifteen!" The red-haired delinquent sneered, shrugging with an insufferably smug look that left Rod even more speechless.

"You're fucking fifteen!?" Rod blurted out in disbelief.

"Huh!? What's wrong with being fifteen?" The red-haired punk stepped forward with a dark expression. Just as he was about to press his forehead against Rod's, Rod placed a hand over his advancing face. He could feel that with the slightest exertion of force, the man's brains would burst open and paint the alley red.

As though he had realized he had just brushed past the King of Hell, the red-haired punk began trembling violently. Cold sweat poured down his face, and his breathing gradually grew heavy.

"Hey..." Before the others could continue threatening him, the terrifying aura that leaked from Rod—like a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood—made the delinquents so physically ill that they began vomiting.

Once the group had nearly vomited up all their bile, Rod spoke lightly. "You came at just the right time. Leave your money behind, unless you'd rather leave your lives behind."

Seeing the scarlet gleam in Rod's eyes, the delinquents shuddered all over. They had no thought of arguing, and before long, they handed over the loose change they had barely managed to scrape together—ten thousand yen in total.

Looking at the scattered coins and bills before him, Rod said speechlessly, "My first haul from robbery, and this is all I get? I'm saying, even if you went to a construction site to haul bricks, you shouldn't be so broke that you can't hand over more than this."

"Y-Yes, yes, you're absolutely right, boss!" The delinquents nodded frantically, terrified that upsetting the man before them would get them all killed.

"Forget it. Get lost." Rod had no interest in casually crushing ants. Even though he had obtained Sukuna's template, his personality had not been affected too much; he had not become excessively brutal or bloodthirsty.

"Th-thank you, boss..." The group of punks supported one another as they barely rose to their feet and staggered out of the alley.

Rod casually stuffed the money into his pocket, then looked toward the rooftops. With a single step, his figure flashed onto the top of a building. As the breeze blew against him, Rod took a deep breath and surveyed the city beneath the night sky.

Academy City was a metropolis with the world's most advanced technology, built over several decades by Aleister Crowley, chairman of the Board of Directors. It was a circular city located in western Tokyo, Japan—also encompassing parts of Saitama and Kanagawa Prefectures—whose land was itself surrounded by Japan. Possessing its own territory, population, and governing body—the Board of Directors—it had effectively become a nation within a nation. Its population reached 2.3 million, eighty percent of whom were students. It was a great city of science and education, its defining feature being the development of esper abilities. These supernatural powers were products of science, divided by strength into seven levels, from Level 0 to Level 6.

This city was also where the story of A Certain Magical Index began.

"What I need now is information on today's exact date. The plot should begin around June or July, and the weather seems pretty hot right now. If it's summer, then it should be around April to June, which means it's probably before the plot begins or during its early stages. Well, before that, I'd better find somewhere to eat." As he thought, Rod darted through the night sky above the high-rise buildings. Experiencing this extraordinary power, the unprecedented thrill it brought made him perform difficult moves like backflips in midair. As they said, men remained boys until the day they died. Don't think that gaining invincible power meant you had to immediately start conquering heaven and earth—the first step was naturally to enjoy the thrill that power brought.

"Ahahaha, sorry, sorry. My friend caused you trouble." An apologetic young man's voice drifted up from below. Rod instinctively looked down and saw a spiky-haired boy casually walking toward a girl surrounded by a group of delinquent punks.

"Who are you?" The girl's 'sincere' words shattered the boy's goodwill into pieces. He collapsed inwardly, rubbing his spiky hair as he shouted in dissatisfaction.

"Ah! Doesn't that mean my plan to 'pretend we knew each other and casually take her away' has completely failed!?"

"Hey, hey, hey. You punk, are you looking down on us?" The delinquent leader grabbed the boy by the collar, glaring maliciously at the spiky-haired youth.

"Ah! Yeah, I am looking down on you! Hitting on even a middle schooler—aren't you guys way too desperate!?" The spiky-haired youth provocatively yelled at the delinquent thugs as though he had given up entirely.

"A middle schooler? Huh? What... do you mean by that, you bastard!?" Veins bulged at the girl's temple, and faint arcs of electricity flickered around her forehead. She seemed especially enraged that the spiky-haired boy had questioned her appeal.

Watching the scene unfold before him, Rod immediately understood how far the plot had progressed. At the same time, he could not help but complain internally.

"Are there seriously too many delinquents in this city? Don't tell me eighty percent are students, and the remaining twenty percent are delinquents?"