I’m Winning Big!
22: This Bang for My Buck…
I’m Winning Big!
Chapter 22: This Bang for My Buck…
I’m Winning Big!
The punch tore through the air with a sharp whoosh, almost producing a faint sonic crack.
“So this is what reinforcing the body with Cursed Energy feels like?
Crude, but extremely direct and effective.” Shu looked at his fist and nodded in satisfaction.
Even with only that tiny amount of Cursed Energy coating his fist, he could clearly feel his raw physical striking power increase by roughly ten percent.
In close combat, that kind of sudden boost could definitely catch an opponent off guard.
But this minor improvement in taijutsu wasn’t the main reason Shu had purchased Cursed Energy.
The real experiment was only beginning now.
Shu sat cross-legged on the floor.
‘With the Main God watching over me, even if I screw up and damage my nerves or tear apart my chakra pathways, I can just pay some Reward Points for Full-Body Restoration.’ ‘As long as I don’t die, there’s nothing to be scared of!’ With that ultimate safety net behind him, Shu became much bolder.
Sharingan—activate!
His eyes snapped open.
His irises instantly turned crimson as a single black tomoe slowly rotated around each pupil.
Shu steadied his breathing and began controlling the Cursed Energy inside his body.
Carefully, he guided a thin stream along specific pathways and slowly moved it toward his eyes.
Bzzzt— The moment that pure negative energy finally touched the network of optic nerves connected to his eyeballs— “Ugh!” Shu grunted.
A sharp pain stabbed through his eyes.
But immediately afterward came an intense burning sensation.
Through the Sharingan, the world suddenly became even clearer.
The lone tomoe in each eye began trembling slightly before accelerating its rotation.
“There’s a reaction!” Shu was ecstatic.
‘My gamble was right!’ Cursed Energy, an extreme form of negative energy, really did fit perfectly with the Sharingan’s evolutionary mechanism.
It could actually substitute for the Uchiha clan’s normally harsh emotional awakening conditions.
Unfortunately, Shu’s excitement only lasted a few seconds.
The burning sensation quickly faded.
The tomoe slowed back to normal.
Because…
That pitiful amount of Low-Grade Cursed Energy had already been completely exhausted.
‘So there’s just not enough Cursed Energy.’ ‘It can’t break through the barrier to Two-Tomoe.’ But Shu didn’t care.
He had already proven the path worked.
There was no reason to hesitate anymore.
Shu raised his head toward the Main God.
“Main God!
Keep strengthening me!
Show me the next level of Cursed Energy!” The screen flickered.
A new exchange option immediately appeared.
[Intermediate Cursed Energy] [Description: From Jujutsu Kaisen.
Basic combat level for a fully fledged Sorcerer, corresponding to Grade 2 to Grade 3 Sorcerers in the original world.] [Cursed Energy reserves are five times greater than D-Rank Low-Grade Cursed Energy, allowing for considerably longer combat.] [Cursed Energy Manipulation is greatly improved, allowing precise output and recovery of Cursed Energy.] [Cursed Energy may completely coat the body to form a basic defensive layer capable of resisting ordinary physical attacks and low-level Cursed Techniques.] [Note: With training, the holder may learn Barrier Techniques and simple Cursed Techniques.] [An Innate Technique must still be awakened through a separate exchange.] [Exchange Cost: 1 C-Rank Side Plot and 2,500 Reward Points.] “Buy it!” Shu didn’t hesitate for even a second.
Light descended once again.
This time, the icy energy pouring into his body was obviously much greater.
Feeling the Cursed Energy inside his dantian increase fivefold, Shu couldn’t help clicking his tongue in amazement.
“Tch, tch, tch…” “In Jujutsu Kaisen, everyone’s total Cursed Energy is basically fixed from birth.
You could train your entire life without increasing it by even a little.” “But unfortunately for those rules, this is the almighty Main God Space!” “Here, as long as you’ve got money, your so-called talent ceiling is nothing more than another number on the exchange screen!” Feeling the abundant Cursed Energy of a Grade 3 Sorcerer inside him, Shu once again guided it toward his eyes with practiced ease.
This time, he attacked the barrier with overwhelming force.
BOOM!
Something seemed to shatter inside Shu’s mind.
His eyes burned violently.
But along with that pain came an unprecedented increase in perception.
Shu abruptly opened his eyes.
Beside the lone black tomoe in each crimson iris, a second tomoe had appeared.
The two tomoe slowly revolved around his pupils.
Two-Tomoe Sharingan— Success!
Shu couldn’t help letting out a long breath.
“Ah…
That feeling of power surging through me is seriously addictive.” Only after personally experiencing it did Shu truly understand how abnormal the Uchiha constitution was.
Whenever the Sharingan awakened or evolved, the user’s fundamental attributes increased along with it.
Shu could clearly feel that after reaching Two-Tomoe, his base strength, neural reaction speed, and other physical attributes had all risen significantly.
Even his chakra reserves, which had previously only been at Genin level, surged dramatically.
The quality of his chakra improved as well.
Shu tried pushing straight toward Three-Tomoe.
But it didn’t work.
He was still missing something.
For now, he had no choice but to stop.
After testing his Two-Tomoe Sharingan, Shu confirmed that both its perception and Genjutsu capabilities had become much stronger.
He clenched his fist and started calculating.
“If I upgraded my Sharingan directly through the Main God, going from One-Tomoe to Two-Tomoe would’ve cost 1 C-Rank Side Plot and 2,000 Reward Points.” “But upgrading through Cursed Energy cost me a total of 1 C-Rank, 1 D-Rank, and 3,300 Reward Points.” On the surface, he’d spent an extra D-Rank Side Plot and 1,300 Reward Points.
It almost looked like a loss.
But that wasn’t how the math worked.
Shu hadn’t merely evolved his Sharingan to Two-Tomoe.
He had also gained an entire Cursed Energy system equivalent to a Grade 3 Sorcerer.
That meant he now possessed two independent energy systems.
He had gained a method specialized against spiritual entities, and his close-combat capabilities had increased substantially.
More importantly…
He had discovered a stable shortcut for evolving his Sharingan without subjecting himself to extreme psychological trauma.
‘This value for money…’ ‘I’m fucking winning big!’ And that still wasn’t everything.
The excitement in Shu’s eyes grew stronger.
He was beginning to understand that the Main God’s exchanges weren’t as simple as they first appeared.
Every exchange only granted the most basic lower limit of an ability.
How high its upper limit could ultimately reach depended on the Reincarnator’s own exploration and development.
It was like receiving a gun and an instruction manual.
The Main God taught you enough to load it, aim it, and pull the trigger.
If you wanted to master every trick possible or modify the weapon far beyond its original design, that was entirely up to you.
The description of Intermediate Cursed Energy had made this particularly obvious.
It stated that this level corresponded roughly to Grade 2 through Grade 3 Sorcerers.
In Jujutsu Kaisen, a Sorcerer’s overall strength was determined by three major factors.
Talent for Cursed Techniques.
Total Cursed Energy reserves.
And Cursed Energy Manipulation.
Innate Techniques were ninety-nine percent determined at birth.
Total Cursed Energy also had an extremely strict natural ceiling.
That left only Cursed Energy Manipulation.
It was the one core factor that could genuinely be refined and improved through relentless training.
What the Main God had implanted into Shu was merely the most basic Cursed Energy Manipulation necessary to control his current reserves.
It was like giving a brand-new driver a license.
Being able to move the car without immediately crashing into a tree was already good enough.
The Cursed Energy Output granted by the Main God was equally mediocre.
Shu closed his eyes and focused on the lingering heat inside them.
He could sense it clearly.
The amount of Cursed Energy he possessed was actually enough.
When he’d tried breaking through just now, he’d felt it.
The barrier to Three-Tomoe was already right in front of him.
He was only missing that final push.