Awe

Including the money he already had left, his balance now stood at 500,000 yen.

"System, put all 500,000 in!"

"200,000 into constitution, 300,000 into speed!"

[Ding!]

[Successfully deducted 500,000 yen!]

[Constitution +20! Current constitution: 38!]

[Speed +30! Current speed: 52!]

Boom-!

As the system notifications ended.

Yagami Jue felt his body undergo another earth-shattering transformation!

If the earlier increase in strength had turned him into a mammoth with boundless power.

Then now!

The simultaneous surge in constitution and speed had evolved him into a cheetah with no weaknesses in any aspect!

His heart beat as forcefully as a war drum, each pump delivering vast amounts of oxygen to every corner of his body.

His reflexes had reached an even more incredible level.

He could even clearly see the slow-motion movements of a fly beating its wings in midair!

"Whew..."

Yagami Jue exhaled a breath of white mist.

He suddenly threw a punch where he stood!

"Crack!"

His fist struck nothing, yet a sharp explosion rang out in the air!

A punch into empty air had produced a sonic boom!

The bald trainer beside him was completely dumbstruck.

He felt as though all his years of training had been utterly wasted.

Where the hell had this monster come from?!

"Strength 52, speed 52, constitution 38."

Looking at his newly transformed panel, Yagami Jue finally felt confident.

With his current physical capabilities, he should already have surpassed an ordinary Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer and could even go toe-to-toe with a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit in close combat.

But that was still nowhere near enough.

There were two months left until Ryomen Sukuna's incarnation sent the plot spiraling out of control.

Before then, he had to push every stat past a hundred!

And even unlock [Physical Release · Eight Gates Formation]!

"I hear the underground black market has plenty of high-paying assassination jobs and cursed tool retrieval missions."

"Looks like I'll have to find some time to check it out."

Yagami Jue wiped away his sweat and picked up the jacket draped over a chair.

Ignoring the awed looks around him, he strode out of the gym.

By then, the rain outside had stopped completely.

A cold crescent moon hung high in the night sky.

Yagami Jue looked up at the moon.

The image of a white-haired, blindfolded man hailed as the strongest surfaced in his mind.

Satoru Gojo.

"The strongest, huh..."

An arrogant smile curled Yagami Jue's lips.

"Once I've pumped enough money into this, one of these days..."

"I'll smash that Limitless you're so proud of with nothing but my bare fists!"

In this world where jujutsu sorcerers relied on bloodlines, talent, and innate cursed techniques.

He, Yagami Jue.

Would be the outlier who crushed everything through spending money and absolute violence!

The next day.

Sugisawa Third High School.

First-year Class 3.

Sunlight streamed through the classroom windows.

Yuji Itadori sat in the back row, enthusiastically discussing the Occult Research Club's activities with the students in front of him.

"Hey, did you hear? Apparently something supernatural happened in the back streets last night!"

Yuji Itadori had a striking head of short pink hair, and his large eyes brimmed with curiosity.

"I heard some unknown monster broke a few thugs' arms and legs. When the police arrived, they were all screaming about ghosts!"

"Seriously? Itadori, you're not just trying to trick us into joining your Occult Research Club again, are you?"

A classmate rolled his eyes.

"It's true! My grandpa saw it on the news at the hospital yesterday!"

Yuji Itadori spoke with absolute conviction.

Just then.

Someone shoved open the classroom's sliding door.

Thud.

The sound wasn't loud, but it carried an inexplicable sense of pressure.

The noisy classroom instantly fell silent.

Everyone's eyes settled on the boy standing in the doorway.

Yagami Jue.

With both hands in his uniform trouser pockets, he swept a cold gaze around the classroom.

Finally, his eyes lingered on Yuji Itadori for half a second.

So this is the vessel who's about to swallow Sukuna's Finger...

Yagami Jue thought to himself.

He looked like an idiot, with little more than a body stronger than an ordinary person's.

If they fought right now.

Yagami Jue was absolutely confident he could snap the boy's neck within a second.

However, he had no intention of interfering with Yuji Itadori.

Only if the plot progressed normally would he have opportunities to fish in troubled waters and make a fortune off the dead.

If he killed Itadori, Gojo went berserk, and the entire world's trajectory fell into chaos, that would be real trouble.

Yagami Jue withdrew his gaze and headed straight for his seat in the corner.

The students along his path stepped aside, a trace of instinctive fear in their eyes.

They didn't know why.

But they all felt that Yagami was even more frightening today than usual.

It was like facing a primordial beast wearing human skin!

Yagami Jue had only just sat down.

When a girl in the row ahead suddenly turned around and looked at him timidly.

It was Asakura Yuki.

She had changed into a neat school uniform today. Though her face was still a little pale, she looked much better than she had in her disheveled state last night.

"Yagami..."

Asakura Yuki bit her lip, tightly clutching an elegantly wrapped lunch box.

"Um... I made this lunch myself. I wanted to thank you for yesterday..."

It took every ounce of her courage to offer him the lunch box in front of the whole class.

After returning home last night, she hadn't slept a wink.

Yagami Jue's utterly cold words had kept echoing in her mind.

She didn't want to die.

She wanted to live.

And in this school, the only person who gave her even a shred of security, or inspired even a hint of admiration, was the cold boy before her.

At the sight.

The entire class gasped!

"Holy shit! Asakura, the prettiest girl in class, is giving that loner Yagami lunch?!"

"Am I seeing things? Doesn't Asakura always ignore boys?"

"Could they be...?"

Yuji Itadori's eyes widened too, his face full of curiosity as he watched.

However.

Faced with the lovingly prepared lunch personally offered by the class beauty, Yagami Jue didn't even raise his eyelids.

He leaned back in his chair, his gaze as indifferent as if he were looking at a rock.

"Take it away."

Yagami Jue's voice held no warmth whatsoever.

"I don't eat this kind of time-wasting junk food."

"And I told you yesterday, saving you was just incidental. Don't bother me."

Boom!

The whole class erupted!

"Holy shit! That's way too arrogant!"

"Asakura made that lunch herself, and he called it junk food?!"

"Who does this guy think he is, acting all cool? What an ungrateful jerk!"

Several boys who secretly liked Asakura Yuki immediately grew furious, slapping their desks as they started to stand.

Asakura Yuki's face instantly turned deathly pale.

Her hands froze in midair around the lunch box, unable to move forward or pull back.

Tears of hurt instantly welled in her eyes.

But she fought to keep them from falling.

"I'm sorry... for bothering you."

Asakura Yuki bowed deeply, then withdrew the lunch box and turned away, her voice trembling.

At that moment, she looked utterly pitiful and meek.

The sight only fueled the boys' righteous indignation.

"Hey! Yagami Jue! You're going too far!"

A tall athlete on the school basketball team finally lost his patience.

He strode up to Yagami Jue, looming over him and pointing at his face as he shouted.

"Asakura was kind enough to bring you lunch! What the hell is with that attitude?!"

"Apologize to her right now! Or I'll cripple you today!"

As the athlete roared, the other boys in class chimed in.

They looked ready to gang up on him.

Yuji Itadori stood up, trying to calm things down. "Everyone, take it easy. Maybe Yagami's just in a bad mood today..."

"Shut up, Itadori! If we don't teach this guy a lesson today, he'll really think he's something special!"

The athlete slammed his palm onto Yagami Jue's desk, making it rattle with a deafening bang.

"Did you hear me? Are you deaf?!"

Faced with the athlete's provocation and the whole class's condemnation.

Yagami Jue slowly raised his head.

There wasn't a ripple in those deep, pitch-black eyes.

Only the icy look one gave a dead man.

"You want to cripple me?"

Yagami Jue's voice was very quiet.

Yet in that instant, the air throughout the classroom seemed to freeze!

A terrifying, vicious aura, like mountains of corpses and seas of blood, suddenly erupted from him!

This was the palpable killing intent honed by killing a Semi-Grade 2 cursed spirit last night and spending years on the edge of life and death!

Taking the full brunt of it, the athlete's pupils abruptly contracted!

He felt that what stood before him wasn't a high school student at all!

It was a primordial beast that could open its bloody maw at any moment and crush his throat!

"I..."

The athlete opened his mouth, his earlier arrogance instantly extinguished.

Cold sweat drenched his back in a flash.

His legs began trembling uncontrollably!

"Get lost."

Yagami Jue uttered just one word.

Simple.

Brutal.

Charged with an authority that brooked no argument!

"Gulp..."

The student athlete swallowed hard and instinctively took two steps back.

He no longer dared to look Yagami Jue in the eye.

He did not even dare offer a parting bluff, slinking back to his seat instead.

The entire class fell deathly silent.

The boys who had been shouting moments earlier were all like ducks seized by the throat, unable to utter a word.

Just one look.

One word.

And he had cowed them all!

What kind of monster was he?!

Asakura Yuki turned around from the front row and stared at Yagami Jue in shock.

At that moment, she finally understood why Yagami Jue had dared to say something like, "If I don't get stronger, I'll die."

Because he himself was a powerhouse who stood above everything else!

Yagami Jue withdrew his gaze, paying no further attention to these boring, sheltered weaklings.

He lay his head on his desk and closed his eyes to rest.

Study? No way was he going to study.

He had only come to school to keep up appearances and check how far Yuji Itadori's storyline had progressed.

After school, he would have to visit Sendai City's underground black market.