Select Yujina Itadori as the simulation target!” Rui immediately blurted out, cutting the system off.
No kidding—if he let this conversation drag out any longer, his cover was going to be completely blown.
The second they actually cross-referenced their stories, where on earth was Miss Itadori supposed to have gotten this online friend from?
[Loading simulation, drawing Heavenly Restrictions and traits….] [Traits drawn successfully.
Host, please select two traits from the following options to serve as your talents for this simulation.] [As Strong as a Demon-God (Your cursed energy pool will slightly increase after every single battle you experience)] [Mind Like a Clear Mirror (Your willpower receives a moderate boost)] [Jujutsu Succubus (Your attractiveness to female jujutsu sorcerers is significantly enhanced)] [Hearts Entwined (When your forehead is pressed against someone else’s, you can perceive each other’s emotions and thoughts)] [Talk-Therapy for the Strong (It is significantly easier for you to build favorability with individuals who meet the criteria of “the strong who harbor deep isolation”)] [The Core of Cursed Energy (The probability of you landing a Black Flash is slightly increased)] “Hmm…
Let’s go with The Core of Cursed Energy and Hearts Entwined.” He felt the quality of the traits drawn this time around was rather mediocre.
The only ones that actively influenced combat were As Strong as a Demon-God and The Core of Cursed Energy.
However, when it came to his cursed energy pool, Rui already had an entirely different plan in mind— “System, put me into the custom starting configuration.
Select the options The Omen, Heavenly Restriction, and Dual Innate Techniques.
Then, let me carry in Construction Technique and Idle Transfiguration.” [The Omen (+50 points): You are a child of ill omen.
Those who were originally supposed to be close to you and care for you will view you as a literal curse in this simulation, avoiding you like the plague.] [Heavenly Restriction (-30 points): You are born with a Heavenly Restriction, but it cannot be predetermined whether you are trading your physical body for cursed energy, or your cursed energy for a physical body.] [Dual Innate Techniques (-50 points): You are naturally born with two innate techniques.
Of course, the prerequisite is that your technique storage pool contains no fewer than two techniques available to carry over.] Back when the custom starting configuration had first unlocked, Rui had already been thinking about selecting the Heavenly Restriction trait just to mess around with it—Idle Transfiguration, baby!
If he randomly rolled the variant that traded his physical body for massive cursed energy, he could completely utilize Idle Transfiguration to shape an entirely flawless, pristine physical body for himself.
It would literally be a free cursed energy duplication glitch.
On the off chance he rolled the variant that traded all his cursed energy for a monstrous physical body, then there was even less of a reason to pick As Strong as a Demon-God.
What would be the point of boosting his cursed energy pool after battles if his base pool was just an empty log?
As for the The Omen option, that was a calculated risk he chose after carefully weighing the pros and cons.
After all, the simulation target this time was Yujina Itadori—a girl capable of looking right at Sukumi and saying, “If you come back inside my body, I won’t kill you.” Rui figured that as long as he didn’t actively cosplay as Mahito, there was absolutely no way he could make her hate him.
Should he say it was exactly what one would expect from a romance simulator?
Ever since his last simulation, Rui had faintly realized that the rewards didn’t seem to be determined by how many people he slaughtered or what world-shaking events he accomplished; rather, they depended entirely on his conquest progress with the simulation target.
In other words, he couldn’t just lose himself in the absolute thrill of raw combat; finding ways to foster their emotional bond was an absolute necessity—which was precisely why he had selected the Hearts Entwined trait.
[Traits officially confirmed as “The Core of Cursed Energy” and “Hearts Entwined”.] [Currently equipped traits: The Core of Cursed Energy, Hearts Entwined, The Omen, Heavenly Restriction, Dual Innate Techniques (Construction Technique, Idle Transfiguration).] […] [Warning: The host’s selected options will cause the simulation’s world-line to severely deviate from reality.
An Immersive Simulation can be triggered.
Would you like to trigger it?
YES / NO] “Immersive Simulation?
What does that mean?” [Replying to host: The option “The Omen” will cause a massive upheaval in the host’s interpersonal relationships, creating a distinct rift from the realistic world-line.
Therefore, the host can choose to immersively experience the critical junctures of this simulated life and directly inherit the corresponding memories.] “So you’re basically asking if I want to experience firsthand what it’s like to be hated by humanity and dog alike…
Well, it’s not like I can’t handle it.” Rui gave it a quick thought, figuring that an immersive simulation might even allow him to leach some hands-on experience regarding cursed energy manipulation.
He tapped “YES” on the simulation interface.
[Commencing simulation.] [Simulation target: Yujina Itadori.] [Initial relationship: Strangers.] The world before his eyes gradually dissolved into a blur, and a flood of memories materialized inside Rui’s mind.
“…A monster…” “Uwah, that’s terrifying…” “What a pathetic creature.” “To look like that…
Sigh, even just being born is a form of tragedy for him, isn’t it?” ——Ever since he arrived in this world, the only things he ever heard were these utterly repulsive, ear-grating words.
There were no windows in the hospital room.
The solitary light source was an incandescent bulb dangling limply from the ceiling.
That light was structurally incapable of turning off, forcing him to bury his head deep beneath the blankets whenever he wanted to sleep.
Because of this, Rui had long lost the ability to distinguish whether it was currently day or night outside.
He had lived in this hospital room for a very long time…
a year?
Two years?
It had been long enough that he was genuinely beginning to doubt whether “transmigration” and his “past life” were merely a beautiful dream he had woven for himself—that perhaps he had truly lived here since the very moment of his birth, and would continue to stay here until the day he died.
According to the doctor who ran a physical assessment on him every day, his body carried a exceptionally rare genetic condition that prohibited any contact with fresh air, lest his skin instantly erupt into ulcerations and rot away— He didn’t know whether to call it a stroke of luck or a curse, but the disease was so phenomenally rare that it possessed immense research value.
That was the sole reason he was permitted to cling to a pathetic, lingering existence here, rather than dying early on the streets outside.
“Take good care of your health, patient Rui.” The doctor, whose surname was Kamo, offered a polite smile as he bid farewell, clicking the door shut behind him.
…It had already been several months since he had laid eyes on a single human being who wasn’t a medical professional.
Propping himself up against the bed frame, Rui forced himself to lift his right hand in front of his eyes.
Just this minor exertion alone left him thoroughly exhausted…
The palm reflecting in his eyes was tiny and frail, looking significantly more withered and emaciated than a normal eight- or nine-year-old boy.
It felt as though it would snap in half with the gentlest touch.
He formed a hollow fist, aiming it directly at the glowing orb of the incandescent light.
He wanted to chat with someone, he wanted to hold someone’s hand, he wanted to feel the genuine warmth of another human being…
These basic, incredibly simple desires were all systematically impossible to realize within the confines of this hospital ward.
The doctor would only speak a few token words of encouragement, draw his blood, administer medication, monitor his brainwaves, and promptly leave.
Lying on the bed, being jarred awake by waves of agony, calling for the nurse to empty his urinal, having absolutely nothing to do, fantasizing, rotting away…
If the remainder of his days was fated to look like this, it might honestly be better to just die right now.
——*Creeeak.* Someone slowly pushed the door open.
This wasn’t a standard hospital ward; the door was designed similarly to an operating theater…
making it incredibly heavy.
Yet, the person pushing it open slipped inside with an unbelievably light, nimble grace, sliding into the room in a flash.
Standing right there…
was a girl.
She looked to be roughly the same age as Rui, perhaps a tiny bit younger.
She sported a tomboyish, short pink haircut, her eyes sparkling with vibrant light, her cheeks still retaining the slight baby fat unique to young children.
She looked exactly like the type of girl found in every single elementary school—the one who ate her lunch incredibly fast, dashed right at the front of the pack during spring field trips, ran the final anchor leg of the relay race during sports day, and then threw her hands in the air to cheer alongside everyone else.
Her face was perpetually flooded with an unprovoked, bursting vitality.
The kind of sight that made a person thoroughly irritated just looking at it.
“Hello…?
Um, is this Wasuna Itadori’s room?” Rui turned his body away, having absolutely no desire to pay her any attention.
When he had first heard the creak of the door turning, he had repeatedly prayed in the silence of his heart: *please don’t let it be the doctor, please don’t let it be the doctor, literally anyone else is fine…* But now that someone else had actually appeared, his temper flared instead, and he wanted nothing more than to curl right back into his blanket and go to sleep.
Yet, this newcomer was explicitly not going to let him have his way.