First Battle

First Battle. Jie Jian felt as if his entire body was brimming with power.

"System, can I test my abilities here? I want to try out my cursed technique."

"Yes, but time will not reset here. If the host has an accident here, there will be no second chance. It is recommended that the host conduct experiments during challenges."

Jie Jian's face lit up, and the cursed energy he had been about to circulate came to an immediate halt.

"That's my brother for you—so considerate!"

The system's reply remained emotionless, showing no reaction to Jie Jian's praise.

"Would the host like to begin a new challenge?"

"Start it, start it, start it!" Jie Jian waved a large hand.

Challenge 12 has begun. Good luck, host.

The familiar white light flashed, and the sensation of weightlessness returned. Jie Jian felt himself flying once more.

But this time was different from before. He was no longer the ignorant rookie he had once been!

Looking at the ground a hundred meters below, Jie Jian curled his lips into a disdainful smile.

The next moment, his unique lightning cursed energy activated, arcs of electricity dancing across his body.

A massive amount of lightning cursed energy enveloped Jie Jian's body, raising his physical defense to an unimaginable level.

At that moment, Jie Jian did not even curl himself up into an impact-resistant posture.

He simply stood straight in midair, like a Sword of Damocles, plunging straight toward the ground!

Several seconds later, Jie Jian's body slammed viciously into the earth.

Centered on his body, a powerful shockwave swept in every direction.

A circular crater several meters wide was blasted out beneath Jie Jian's feet.

Jie Jian shook out his hair, dusted off the dirt on his body, and spoke to himself with a look of admiration.

"As expected of me. This landing method is just too skillful!"

Of course, that was only Jie Jian's own idea of perfection.

If any proper jujutsu sorcerer had been present, they would have criticized his method of landing.

Wasn't it just falling from the sky?

Didn't he waste far too much cursed energy?

A trained jujutsu sorcerer could have landed lightly on the ground with ease. Who would make an entrance like a missile the way he did?

But none of that had anything to do with Jie Jian.

As a jujutsu sorcerer who had only just started out, he did not understand so many twists and turns.

Save cursed energy?

Cursed energy needed to be saved?

Wasn't this something that could never be used up anyway?

After reveling in his own strength for a while longer, Jie Jian began surveying his surroundings.

This respawn point was an amusement park. He had never respawned here before.

Eager to test his cursed technique, Jie Jian had no intention of hiding himself as he had before.

He spread his arms and shouted boldly.

"Hey, hey, hey! Anyone camping the respawn point? Come out and spar with me!"

Jie Jian's voice echoed through the empty amusement park.

Unfortunately, no voice answered his call.

He scratched his head helplessly. "No one? That shouldn't be right. How could no one be camping the respawn point?"

There was nothing wrong with Jie Jian's reasoning. People did camp respawn points, just not right now.

Today was only the first day of the Culling Game, and many jujutsu sorcerers were still in the exploratory stage.

Other than a few respawn points, most were not being watched by jujutsu sorcerers.

Just as Jie Jian thought the amusement park was empty, a shout came from a corner.

"Hey, stop shouting. Other than me, there probably isn't anyone else in this amusement park for now."

The VIP reading experience had been optimized. Tap the center of the screen to bring up the menu, where you could conveniently select "Settings," "Previous Page," "Next Page," or "Back to Top."

Jie Jian's heart leaped with joy as he looked toward the voice.

He saw a foreigner in a suit standing not far away.

"Huh! A foreigner, too."

Jie Jian's reaction did not make the foreign man unhappy. Or rather, he had long grown accustomed to receiving extra attention because of his face.

He pointed at himself. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Charles Bernard."

"Charles Bernard?"

Jie Jian unconsciously repeated the name under his breath. It sounded somewhat familiar to him.

The next moment, he suddenly remembered.

"Ah! It's you! You're the manga artist Charles Bernard!"

The person before him was none other than Charles Bernard, the modern jujutsu sorcerer who had fought Kinji Hakari in the story!

When he heard himself called a "manga artist," a trace of surprise flashed across Charles's face.

"Y-You've read the manga I drew?"

Charles knew very well that although he considered himself a manga artist, he had not officially published any manga yet.

Strictly speaking, he did not even qualify as a rookie manga artist. He could only be considered a manga enthusiast.

By all rights, the person before him should not have known him.

Naturally, Jie Jian could not say that he knew Charles through the story.

He quickly took several steps forward and came before Charles.

"No, I haven't read your manga, but your face is practically covered with the words 'manga artist.'"

Charles subconsciously touched his face.

"I-I really look like a manga artist?"

"You don't just look like one. You are a manga artist!"

"Really?!"

Jie Jian's words filled Charles's face with a smile. This was the first time he had received such strong recognition from someone else.

Seeing Charles's joy, Jie Jian hurriedly brought up his goal.

"Since we're both here, if you've got nothing else going on, how about we have a spar as jujutsu sorcerers?"

Jie Jian's words woke Charles from his intoxication with his dream of becoming a manga artist. He scratched his head with some annoyance.

"A spar? But I don't want to fight people."

Unlike those jujutsu sorcerers who loved fighting everywhere, Charles had only joined the Culling Game because the rules had forced him to.

If possible, he did not want to take part in this battle royale game known as the Culling Game.

Without any special reason, Charles did not want to fight anyone.

And the person before him was one of the few people who recognized him as a manga artist, making Charles even less willing to fight him.

Charles's refusal made Jie Jian stiffen somewhat.

He was not some bastard like Hajime Kashimo, who would rush in and fight someone regardless of whether they wanted to or not.

At the very beginning of the challenge, Jie Jian had decided that he would only fight people who came looking for trouble with him.

If Charles did not want to fight him, he really could not just attack him outright.

Jie Jian scratched his ears and cheeks as he thought for a long time, then asked in confusion:

"Charles, you only became a jujutsu sorcerer after the Culling Game started, right? Don't you want to try out your cursed technique?"

Jie Jian's words made Charles fall into thought. He spoke with some difficulty.

"I have thought about it, but I really can't think of any reason to fight you."

Seeing that his words were working, Jie Jian struck while the iron was hot.

"I just obtained my cursed technique too, and I want to find somewhere to test its effects.

Just think of it as fulfilling the wish of one of your future fans. How about sparring with me?"

The word "fan" completely shattered Charles's final line of defense.

"Why drag this out? You're already my fan, so what else is there to say? We'll spar, then!"

"Now that's the spirit, brother! Let's do this!"

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