(Brain storage area + Mahoraga's wheel)
A fine, hazy drizzle fell, wetting the glass.
Sakura Continent, Fuyuki City, a towering modern skyscraper.
Lights glittered, neon intertwined.
"The heavenly king subdues the earth tiger."
"Let me think... the precious pagoda suppresses the river demon?"
"Imperial jade liquor."
"Uh... well..."
"Hmm?! A mole among us?! Odd changes, even stays the same!"
Outside the office, a tall man in a suit darkened his face. No longer willing to play along, he pushed the door open and walked in.
He held several reports.
He had a slender build, and a black ponytail reaching his waist swayed gently behind his head.
At the conference table sat a middle-aged man with his fingers interlaced, his hawklike eyes sharp and his expression grave.
"Haru-san, are you a traitor?"
"Boss, did you pick up something weird from Central Continent TV dramas again? I told you, as an assassin organization, we have to be serious internally, dark enough! You need to lead by example!"
The ponytailed man pressed a hand to his forehead, speechless.
"You want dark? Then I've decided I won't pay your social insurance anymore."
"No, that's way too dark!!!"
The middle-aged man's purple eyes carefully scrutinized his longtime subordinate, as though he were genuinely considering something.
"And everyone online says anyone who can't answer isn't from the Central Continent. Definitely a mole."
"But we're from Sakura Continent, boss!"
The ponytailed man wanted to cry but had no tears. He felt like coughing up blood.
"Oh, right. Haha, I forgot."
Forgot, my ass! No, I can't get angry. He's stronger than me right now...
Once I break through to tier two, I'll kick you out sooner or later!
The ponytailed man took a deep breath, his expression solemn as he calmed himself.
The purple-eyed middle-aged man's gaze was deep as he thought:
You little punk, always thinking about usurping me. I'll wreck your mental game.
"These are the target details you asked me to compile yesterday. This is also the person we're going to assassinate."
The ponytailed man got down to business and handed over a paper dossier.
The first thing that caught the eye was a photograph. In it, a handsome, black-haired young man held a long saber as he taught a class.
[Mission target: Lu You] [Estimated cultivation: Early First Tier (or Middle First Tier)] [Occupation: Fuyuki High School-swordsmanship teacher] [Analysis: a thorn in the side of Fuyuki's local powers. He has long survived under the protection of Fuyuki High School's principal. The principal will be transferred away in half a month, and the target intends to make a desperate last stand. There is a chance of encountering contingencies left by the old principal during the assassination!] [Overall assessment: extremely dangerous!] [Suggested price: 10 million Sakura Currency]
Lu You's eyelid suddenly twitched.
He slowly opened his eyes to a shabby room. The cramped teachers' dormitory had not been renovated in a long time, and he was actually the only person living in the entire building.
After all, anyone who could become a teacher at Fuyuki High School could not possibly lack the money to rent a decent room or even buy a home.
Only an unlucky bastard like him would spend twenty years unable to even leave the school.
"I suppose those rats in the gutters are thinking about how to get rid of me."
He sneered inwardly.
He was not from this world.
Half a month ago, he had been playing Delta Force in his dorm when a Dayun truck suddenly flew out of the sky and crushed him to death (why would a Dayun truck fly out of the sky?). Then he had transmigrated to this world, replacing the original owner of this body.
This place was called Blue Star. Blue Star had thirteen continents, each a separate cultural region. He was currently in Fuyuki City on Sakura Continent, and Sakura Continent resembled Japan from his previous life.
He had breathed a sigh of relief after learning this.
Because that meant he would feel no guilt even if he slaughtered his way through all of Sakura Continent.
"People of Sakura Continent, it wasn't me who doomed you, but these troubled times!"
He sighed helplessly.
It really was not Lu You's fault that he was so bloodthirsty. This period had simply been far too stifling. Because of his parents, the original owner had been deeply hated by Fuyuki City's local powers since childhood.
Those powers had constantly sought opportunities to kill him.
Without the old principal of Fuyuki High School protecting him all this time, the original owner would have long since had his bones ground to dust and his ashes scattered.
But half a month ago, news had suddenly spread through the school that the old principal would soon be transferred elsewhere, and the man himself had not denied it.
That meant the original owner was not far from death.
The old principal could not take him along.
"Power! If I could possess strength like the old principal's, all these threats would cease to exist!"
Feeling the warm energy circulating through his body, he clenched his fingers, and crackling currents seemed to gather.
Lu You's gaze turned piercing.
Psychic Energy!
Blue Star was a world with supernatural powers. Five hundred years ago, Star Gates had descended upon Blue Star, and Divine Envoys had emerged from them, bringing methods for awakening and cultivating Psychic Energy.
Then they had completely changed the course of this world.
High-tier Psychic Energy users could destroy heaven and earth, like living gods. Even low-tier Psychic Energy users commanded respect.
And the old principal of Fuyuki High School was one of the strongest Psychic Energy users in all of Fuyuki City, ranked second.
"Although I've been cultivating desperately ever since coming to this world, I still haven't even touched the threshold of Middle First Tier. I started too late."
Lu You frowned, deeply feeling how difficult cultivation was.
To eliminate those threats completely, he would have to be at least a tier-two powerhouse.
Fuyuki City was not particularly large. Tier two already placed someone among the tiny group at the very top.
However, he did not despair over this, because he had something of his own to rely on!
"Open the panel!"
[Name: Lu You] [Psychic Energy cultivation: tier one (early)] [Divine ability: Astral Transit (red)] [Skills: basic swordsmanship-white, basic hand-to-hand combat-gray, Psychic Energy control-gray] [Constitution: physical fitness-gray] [Loaded template: none (one draw available)] [User guide: after drawing a character template, increase Synchronization Value to unlock the template's abilities. The higher the Synchronization Value, the greater the subsequent settlement rewards. Note: template functions only take effect after traveling to another world.]
As a transmigrator, Lu You naturally had his own system. This template system had appeared when he first arrived, but it had only finished charging today.
The system's functions were simple: draw a character template, then increase Synchronization Value to gradually unlock that character's abilities.
"But that alone isn't enough to turn things around, because I'm desperately short on time... fortunately,"
Lu You looked at the radiant red lettering on the azure screen: divine ability-[Astral Transit].
[Astral Transit (red)]: the user's physical body can enter Star Realm Space and invade other worlds through consciousness. Remaining invasions: 1 [invasion attempts must be redeemed using specific items (red)]
Simply put, by searching for high-value red items, he could redeem world-travel attempts through the system, then draw a character template and travel to another world.
Once he left that world, he could collect his settlement rewards.
"Searching for reds... is this Delta Force too?"
The system's skill classifications also resembled Delta Force, going from lowest to highest: gray (level 0), white (level 1), green (level 2), blue (level 3), purple (level 4), gold (level 5), and red (level 6).
As for whether anything higher existed, he did not know yet.
As a swordsmanship teacher, his basic swordsmanship was fairly decent, rated white (level 1).
But everything else was utter garbage.
Even his swordsmanship was the result of his frantic efforts during this period. The original owner had barely cultivated at all.
Of course, it was not that the original owner had not wanted to cultivate, but that he could not. Lu You understood.
Cultivation meant a threat. Those people would absolutely go mad, making it even harder for the original owner to survive.
"But I don't need to worry about that."
Lu You smiled and gripped the long saber at his waist.
"Because in half a month, once the old principal leaves, either I die or they do."
His mild tone carried naked killing intent.
"Whether I live or die is all up to you. System, draw a template for me, then send me to another world immediately!"
[Received! Searching templates across all worlds... 10%... 50%... 100%] [This search found 380 trillion character templates. Filtering... removing non-carbon-based lifeforms... removing universe-restricted characters... drawing...]
The panel abruptly grew deep and dim. Then a strand of purple radiance rapidly expanded, dazzlingly bright.
[You have obtained the template: Yuji Itadori (purple)]
Lu You frowned.
"An athlete, huh... barely passable."
[Name: Yuji Itadori] [Age: 383]
"Wait, how old??"
Before you continue