Grade 2 Cursed Spirit: I Have to Fight Long Xi? Seriously?

[Culling Game instance temporarily concluded. Calculating...]

[Current viewership rating: A+! (New followers: 17,860; total followers: 270,000 and counting...)]

[Rewards issued: Study Card ×2 (raises an ability below Grade 4 by one grade)! Cursed Energy Efficiency Boost Card (increases cursed energy usage efficiency by 20%)!]

[Livestream Assistant Card ×1! Character Card ×1!]

[Cursed technique: Wind of Co-Heaven!]

[New skill: Cursed Energy Manipulation Precision LV.2]

[Physical attributes greatly increased, cursed energy greatly increased!]

[Soul strength increased!]

[Grade 1 cursed tool obtained: Swift Wind (ring) (effect: reduces your weight to 1/10 without affecting your physical attributes.)]

[Unused custom cursed tool detected. Available customization grade increased to Grade 1.]

Long Xi only glanced through the rewards displayed by the system, but he still couldn't understand why there were so few.

He had fought three battles in a row, even if his first fight against Guangdong Pigtails had amounted to nothing but running away!

But the next two fights had been seriously intense, hadn't they?!

And all that only earned him an A rating? In that case, what would an S rating give him? A pair of Six Eyes?

Though he wasn't entirely happy with the rewards, the greatest gain from this instance wasn't actually a reward...

Early Access, which had been stuck at 78% ever since his first livestream ended, had finally reached level two!

The improvements it granted were downright outrageous!

Besides the original cursed energy recovery, it had added the livestream assistant space and gift mechanism!

Those two features were fairly easy to understand. The livestream assistant space was like a gaming room that had appeared inside Long Xi's mental space.

A livestream assistant could help with his streams from inside it in complete safety. However... the gift mechanism and livestream grand prize weren't quite like viewers sending gifts to a streamer...

In other words, viewers couldn't send gifts in Long Xi's livestream. Instead, when all the viewers' emotions converged at one particular moment!

He would receive an enormous boost!

For example, the emotions stirred up when he faced Ryu Ishigori could have condensed into a livestream gift.

That could produce effects like fully restoring his cursed energy or stamina, rapid recovery, an attack concentrating all his strength, or a grand prize granting one minute of immortality!

In other words, it was a modified version of Kinji Hakari's ability.

It made Long Xi feel like he could already hiss in Sukuna's face.

"Long Xi? What are you looking at now...?"

Lost in his thoughts, Long Xi was finally brought back by the boy beside him. Seeing the puzzled look on his face as he drank his strawberry milkshake, Long Xi merely waved a hand.

"Nothing. Just thinking about a few things..."

"Really? I guess it's pretty troubling, what with the Grade 2 cursed spirit and all..."

Yuji Itadori set his milkshake on the table and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"It really is dangerous..."

"Even with Fushiguro here, judging by what happened yesterday, we might not be able to beat it, right?"

The moment he heard Megumi Fushiguro's name, Long Xi's newly furrowed brows instantly relaxed.

[Megumi Fushiguro: You wicked Grade 2 cursed spirit! Take this! Furube Yurayura!]

[Grade 2 Cursed Spirit: You're merely a mortal born in an era without me. I'll probably forget you soon...]

[Megumi Fushiguro: I'm sorry I couldn't give the great Grade 2 cursed spirit a satisfying fight...]

The live chat instantly filled with merriment...

"Don't worry, Itadori..."

Long Xi was far more relaxed today than usual, and the tension between them had quietly disappeared.

"If it were before, it'd be hard to say..."

"But now? It's just a measly Grade 2 cursed spirit... nothing more than a side character born in an era where I exist..."

"Other than making Hissgumi hiss a little, it won't be able to do anything..."

"I'm the strongest, after all..."

Looking at Long Xi, Itadori couldn't understand why he seemed so completely different from when they had first met.

When he first met Long Xi a few days ago, he had always seemed incredibly cautious.

But the Long Xi standing before him now...

"I'd win!"...

"I'm the strongest, after all!"...

Something felt a little off...

It was like he had turned into something called Jiahao.

Still... Long Xi was smiling so happily, nothing like his somewhat reserved attitude over the past few days.

That had to be a good thing!

So this mission would definitely...

"We're in danger..."

Huh?

Looking at the blank expressions on Long Xi's and Itadori's faces, Megumi Fushiguro pressed a hand to his forehead in exasperation.

They had clearly agreed to come out on a mission. How had these two brazenly gone back to sipping drinks again?

Could they take this a little more seriously?!

Megumi Fushiguro couldn't understand it. In theory, his two new classmates had only known that guy Satoru Gojo for a few days, hadn't they?

How had they already become just as unserious?!

"Anyway... listen to me first..."

"Our situation is pretty bad. The principal has already given me information on the Grade 2 cursed spirit we were supposed to face..."

"It's a cursed spirit that can disguise itself as a human, and its disguise is extremely convincing... it can also spread curses by touching people..."

The two waited for him to continue, but judging by Megumi Fushiguro's reaction, he had nothing else to say.

"That's it?"

"That's all?"

"Isn't that troublesome enough already?!"

"You two need to put a limit on that hot-blooded enthusiasm!"

Seeing how laid-back Long Xi and Yuji Itadori were, Megumi Fushiguro understood true mental exhaustion for the first time.

"This isn't a Grade 2 cursed spirit we can handle! In certain circumstances, it might even be harder to deal with than a Grade 1!"

"It can disguise itself perfectly as a pedestrian right now. Do you understand the predicament we're in?..."

It could perfectly disguise itself as a pedestrian?

He had to admit, if that was true, this cursed spirit really would be extremely difficult to handle.

"We should be able to detect it, right...?"

"I remember you saying this before, Fushiguro. Cursed spirits are supposed to be easy to spot..."

Cursed spirits, also known as curses, were entities born from the cursed energy generated by humans' negative emotions.

Since these creatures were fundamentally born from human negativity, sorcerers could hardly overlook them.

Unless they had some way of concealing themselves...

But very few cursed spirits possessed such means, never mind a Grade 2 cursed spirit that might even be intelligent.

Was this the work of those damn higher-ups again?

Having such a troublesome cursed spirit turn up on his very first mission made it hard not to suspect something...

Should he split off an account first and do a little cleanup...?

After all, these higher-ups were getting a little too urbanized again...

Seeing Long Xi's serious expression, Megumi Fushiguro finally managed a small sigh of relief. At least there was one sensible person on his team.

"So you understand the situation now, right?"

"If we don't want Gojo-sensei and the others coming to help, we need to be extra careful..."

"I'll summon the Divine Dogs to keep watch. They should be able to pick up the cursed spirit's scent, so once we find it, we need to eliminate it as quickly as possible."

As quickly as possible?

Both of them looked toward the street corner. That approach did make sense, since they were in the city, and it was daytime.

With so many people around, they couldn't let ordinary people get hurt. The most important thing was to finish the enemy off the instant it appeared.

"Also, this cursed spirit might be intelligent. If possible, Long Xi... I'd like you not to use your cursed technique. We can't put up a curtain quickly enough..."

"So we'll have to avoid changing the terrain as much as possible..."

"And remember, if the Divine Dogs don't catch its scent, keep an eye out for other things too. It might poison food, for instance..."