“Huff!”

  Aleph was forced to take a deep breath. The sensation of drowning in water was still fresh to him just now. He looked around his surroundings and saw the familiar bedroom.

  “...I’m back.”

  His sight was caught by the lines of text in the er.

  [Achievement Unlocked: Profit Pneswalker]

  [Achievement Unlocked: Esg Death]

  [Profit Pneswalker: Travel to another space-time twice.]

  [Esg Death: Experienear-death five times.]

  Upon reading them further, he saw their rewards.

  [Power Transformation: Transform the space-time artifact {Worlds’ Light} into a mark. It be pced anywhere on the body. During this state, all of its ges could be detected.]

  [Blink: A power belonging to the Sequence Five Traveler of the Door Pathway. It is an instantaneous short-distaeleportation. Its maximum distance is teers. Its cooldown is five minutes per use.]

  “...”

  Aleph became silent at the rewards. He took out the [Power Transformation] first. At ohe mirror on the box fshed before it turned into a mark akin to a silver sword. He tried moving it on his forehead, right arm, and even his chest.

  Surprisingly, it was able to turn invisible at his thoughts. Aleph decided to pce it on the back of his left hand.

  was the [Blink]. It physically maed into a blue crystal door. The moment he crushed it, something was born inside him. Several ‘thoughts’ rushed at his mind which expis fun.

  ‘A sihought…’

  An average speed of thought was between 300 to 500 milliseds. Aleph’s thought acceleration multiplied that several-fold. [Blink] turned into a terrifying on in his hands.

  “The cooldown…”

  Unfortunately, there was a cooldown to such a strong oheless, it was added to his arsenal of deadly trump cards.

  “I’ll go back for now. There’s still the training cards to be dealt with…”

  Soon, a silver light streaked through the sky.

  *****

  “...So that’s it.”

  “Yeah. I was trying to diffuse their flict. I also had something to tell Mobius.”

  “You’re not calling her with a title. I see.”

  “Hm?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  After a while, Aleph ehe daily call with Mei. For some reason, the more he ied with other women, the worse his foreboding became.

  ‘I’m not in danger… but I feel the danger.’

  There was only oher girl who made him feel like that. The said girl was now treated as the worst spirit with thousands of kills in her hands.

  “If that’s how it is…”

  Aleph was filled with urges to bee even stronger.

  “Grade One… I handle most honkai beasts, save for the emperor-css. I haven't faced o. As for others, those robots in Kurumi’s world weren't that hard to deal with…”

  Once again, he realized how broken his ratio teique was. As long as he mao stay close to his ehey won’t be able to defend from his strikes. That became evident when he mowed through the steel robots with ease.

  His attack power, at the very least, was extremely strong. His only problem remaio be his body’s endurance.

  “Fifty five senzu beans…”

  Aleph recalled the magical beans from his [Achievement Hunter]. After some experiments, he found out they healed even severe injuries. Those findings cost three such beans.

  With [Great Sage], it was able to deduce its position being simir to a Full Potion capable of speeding cell growth to a terrifying degree. Only, the Senzu Beans were even stronger and cked any form of disadva was a bean that restores the body’s state into its peak form!

  “I o find some way to work on my shortings…”

  His attention was finally taken by the silver cards. The one he was holding had a silhouette of a man with a fmi behind him.

  With the ret experience from the other world, Aleph became slightly more fident in the [Achievement Hunter]’s credibility.

  He even prepared himself to open the [Random Box] he disregarded for months within the few months or so.

  “Usage is to pinch it tightly, then think of wanting to enter…”

  It was unknown how long Aleph stayed still. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw the sery of a ruined city. The leftover aura from it (i.e., residual cursed energy) was enough to surprise him.

  Just as he was w where “Kashimo Hajime” was, a strong sense of danger pricked the back of his neck. It was numbing enough to match—or even surpass—the feeling he had from the fourth Herrscher.

  “Tsk, really? I have to eain someone even after my death?”

  A man with disheveled hair approached him out of nowhere. He was holding a Nyoi Staff as he walked leisurely towards Aleph.

  Without any warning, his figure disappeared. The danger signs Aleph felt were strengtheo the extreme. He didn’t even think much before he used [Blink] to move teers backwards.

  Sou-!

  Bam-!

  Kashimo’s figure reappeared at the exact same spot where Aleph was oanding The impact geed by his swing was enough to shatter the ground.

  “Oh?”

  Once again, his figure disappeared. This time, Aleph came prepared. His instinctual activation of [Blink] proved that everything still worked ihis ruined city.

  The moment his thoughts were accelerated, the perception of time became slower to him.

  From not being able to see Kashimo’s figure, he finally saortion of his afterimage. All of his parallel minds began w full-time. Several predis where Kashimo would strike slowly unveiled in his mind.

  By the time Kashimo was about to strike another bloh took out [Durandal] from the [Seven Swords] mark. The silver light turned into a sword in his hands. A ratio line was swiftly created at the staff Kashimo held.

  Then—

  Bam-!

  Crack-!

  At first tact, Aleph’s body flew straight to the other side. The strength tained within Kashimo’s body pletely overwhelmed that of a normal Grade One. Several fractures appeared in his body—mainly his right arm.

  “...Huh.”

  Kashimo looked at his severed Nyoi Staff in surprise. It was exactly cut between the seventh ratio line. A name immediately appeared from his memories. One of the person he kalked about it.

  “Ah. Nanami’s cursed teique could cut through many things. It’s a pity we lost him.”

  The sole holder of the ratio teique in the Jujutsu Society—Kento Nanami.

  “Iing.”

  Kashimo tinued pushing Aleph further. He immediately appeared in front of Aleph, to which the tter immediately thrust his bde. This time, the impact tained within it far exceeded his previous attack.

  Bam-!

  Kashimo was forced to block it. He ushed back by several steps. Surprise filled his eyes as he wondered hoh was able to do it.

  Finally, he relented.

  “I’ll give it to you. What do you want to learn?”

  Aleph also put down his fighting stance. He stared dazedly at Kashimo who overpowered him in many aspects.

  heless, he hadn’t fotten the name of that item.

  Training Card.

  Meaning to say, it was an item used for training. As to how it works?

  Kashimo’s existence already expined everything Aleph o know.

  What the rerovided was a mentor.

  Thus—

  “Everything.”

  —he was dead-set on learning everything he could offer.

  *****

  A/N: Welp, here he is. Gege's "sed ultimate" victim". I have way too much things to talk over (i.e., rant) if I had the eet Gege in real life; this is one. I was ao see a broken teique (Mythical Beast Amber) go out in seds.

  Kashimo literally pulled a peashooter a out in half a chapter!

  Though it was quite reasonable (in Megukuna's case sihat guy was broken/fraud), I couldn't uand why Kashimo didn't utilize his teique differently. Like, he knew about hydrolysis during their fight with Hakari. Why not utilize some physical sce (ionization, x-ray, eleagic forces, just anything else) during the fight? Either way, that fight did feel very rushed.

  In the end, that might be Gege being too burnt out. I don't bme the man, but if I do meet him...

  The rant's over. Happy Reading~!