"Evolution Cube..?"
Aleph tried to glean any kind of information using elemental sight.
"Ugh…"
The moment he did so, he was greeted with a sudden influx of 'indecipherable' information. It was akin to a static radio noise blasted to his ears at full volume.
He had to rest for a while before he recovered.
"It's similar to the Sanctum. They should have the same origin." He wondered. "Great Sage. Try to decipher a part of that information."
{Analysis starting…}
Aleph tried to summon out a prompt of sorts, but to no avail. His Achievement Hunter did not provide him any sort of description to it.
"Hm..?"
Just then, he was shocked to notice a 'connection' with it. The Evolution Cube reminded him of one thing—Worlds' Light.
When he thought of it, the black cube disappeared from his grasp.
'It's gone. But…'
The moment Aleph thought of it again, it reappeared atop his palm. He did the same thing several times before concluding its connection to him.
Aleph cleared his mind before moving to his next agenda.
He scrolled through his past rewards and decided to claim one of them.
[Limited Instance (Shibuya Incident): A fixed point in time in another world. Upon completion, gain various rewards. (See More)]
[Note 1: The instance key sends you to a fixed point of time. A copy of your current body as well as your consciousness will be brought over. You can only stay until the duration of the incident ends.]
[Note 2: The more significant your presence in the instance is, the greater the overall reward. Meeting special requirements grants additional rewards.]
[Note 3: The instance key is used by pasting it on your forehead.]
[Note 4: No items can be brought to the instance world. A set of indestructible outfits will be provided throughout the duration of the instance.]
[Note 5: Non-native items may be brought over given if they are connected with you.]
It was none other than the 'instance key' Aleph gained during his fight against the fifth Herrscher. It served as a key to a 'dungeon'.
Coincidentally, it led to the origin of his powers. Kashimo, whom he had defeated, also came from that world. Aleph visited him once during the eight day crusade and knew much information regarding the 'Shibuya Incident'.
In the simplest terms, it was a form of 'Jujutsu Terrorism', that is, the usage of cursed energy and cursed techniques to cause a wide-scale public attack. Its main perpetrator was 'Kenjaku', a thousand-year-old Jujutsu Sorcerer. He was also one of the enemies to be dealt with before Kashimo died.
'I know what to do now.'
There was a reason why he didn't use it immediately.
For once, he couldn't bring anything save for the items with 'connections'. Only his [Worlds' Light], [Evolution Cube], and the [Seven Swords] could be brought over.
Secondly, he wanted to see whether he could earn more achievements before he did so. This wasn't a mistake as he went from his original 2,700 to the current 4,900 cursed energy (converted). Even now, Aleph doesn't know how strong he had become.
Thirdly, there was still something he hadn't used.
Originally, today was the day when Aleph would meet with everyone—the people part of their small group. Hua will arrive at the fifth institute tonight.
With all the emperor-class honkai beasts he killed, one of them turned out to be Garuda. Aleph expected for it to appear during the seventh eruption, but his existence changed the course of time and brought it forward.
With that, he was rest-assured to let her use the original ICHOR she used. It was, after all, the thing that saved her life numerous times.
"It's only seven o'clock…" He muttered. "Alright. It's time to settle this."
Aleph summoned forth one of the rewards he hadn't claimed.
A qiang appeared in his grasp. It was a 2.5 meters long spear with a long red tassel near its blade. Just by holding it, Aleph felt a special kind of aura emanating from it—as if it was something that went through hundreds of battles.
Following the same usage as the [Diary of a Magus], Aleph thought hard to use it.
Shiing-!
A golden light emerged out of its blade before crawling up to his right arm.
A brand new 'thought' appeared from his mind.
The first thing it told Aleph was:
"Hm. What the hell?"
The qiang (spear) did not disappear from Aleph's hand. As if possessed, he swung it several times before testing several stabs.
'This physical strength is way too absurd. How come I haven't found a way to better utilize it?'
It was a lament to Aleph's lack of knowledge and experience. He knew how to execute Juezhao and Sphere Boundary to its fullest, but he was stuck at the beginning of the No Second Strike.
It was no longer a problem of physical strength, but something else.
In martial art terms, it was intention.
'Troublesome.'
The 'thoughts' borne from Li Shuwen's spear began cramming everything into Aleph's body. For the next thirty minutes, Aleph entered a state of using the qiang to make seemingly random movements.
'Intention is the key.'
'Grasp the intention from your heart.'
'To have a heart as big as a world.'
'To treat your surroundings as a world of your own. A domain where you are in control.'
'You already know the disciplines. All that was left was to grasp it.'
'Such was the Liuhe Quan (Chinese Martial Arts).'
The past thirty minutes felt like having the cheat sheet to the examination papers. Many of Aleph's doubts regarding Sphere Boundary and Juezhao were cleared up.
Hum-!
The qiang in his hands slowly turned into silver particles of light. Aleph was woken up from his trance.
With a sigh, he focused his thoughts on what he learned.
"Liuhe Quan… No, Zhou Tian (Cosmic Orbit) as well…"
Only now did he realize the real meaning of his Sphere Boundary and Juezhao. Throughout the times he used them, there was always one phrase that baffled him:
The world is I;
I am the world.
It was the common point between the two techniques. Li Shuwen pointed out that the principles behind them were very simple.
'Utilizing qi to dominate an area… This is how it feels like to memorize the formula's pattern but not the principles behind it..!'
Aleph's heart itched for a fight. He was excited to verify his new learnings into another world—one filled with strong enough foes. He didn't dare to face the Honkai with such simple thoughts, but it was different when it comes to another world.
Shiing-!
A yellow talisman paper appeared in his hand. It was the instance key that served to transport his mind into the other world.
"I will be going out for a while, Kurumi."
He spoke in the direction of his shadow. A second later, Kurumi emerged from it.
"I might be sleeping for a while. Don't panic if I am unresponsive."
"Hm~" She nodded. "Where are you going?"
"To another world."
Aleph sat on one of the few chairs amidst the empty warehouse.
He placed the talisman paper on his forehead. It took an instant before his consciousness went to darkness.
A feeling of sinking into the sea appeared everywhere. It blocked his nose and mouth as he tried to breath.
Moments later, he went out of that state.
"Fu…"
Aleph was forced to take a deep breath.
"Jujutsu…"
What welcomed him was the night sky of another world.