In the Academy as Sukuna

(POV: Ryomen Sukuna)

(25 Days Later…)

I was at the forest near my mansion.

As I punched the air, sweat streamed down my face, falling to the grass below.

Even though my punches were slow, and physically weak, they hit hard.

From my previous life, I knew some martial arts, which I implemented here, although it was a little difficult with such a weak body.

I wasn't able to improve my physical strength at all, which was probably due to the System doing something.

And… that is not good.

I punched the air with my right hand, using full force. There was a delay of 1 second before a loud boom echoed in the silent forest.

You see that? That's divergent fist.

At first, I was quite confused, since, as far as I could recall, divergent fist happened because Yuji had good physical strength.

I couldn't figure out why, but my best guess is that my control over cursed energy is so bad that even with such low physical strength, it happens.

I have been focused on only increasing my proficiency, which led to my control being absolute crap.

Anyhow, my Cursed Energy Proficiency is currently at 18.9% and I still have 7 days till the entrance exam.

I have noticed that the speed at which the proficiency increases has been steadily decreasing as it grows.

This will be quite a… "Problem," I muttered, punching the air one final time, my breathing ragged.

I took a deep breath, turning around to face the mansion, bathing in sunlight quite far away.

And what came into view was something that filled me with pride. There was a line of trees fallen, their trunks exploded in the middle.

This was, obviously, done by me. I was practicing punching with cursed energy, even though almost all of them were divergent fists.

I started walking back, down the road of fallen trees I had paved, as I opened the System screen, scrolling around to check if there was something different.

My eyes landed on the skill [Unshakeable Heart].

My footsteps made squishy sounds on the slightly wet soil as I walked. I sighed, this skill was quite difficult to deal with.

To make it clear, [Unshakable Heart] isn't like the thing in Overlord, it doesn't suppress my emotions, it is more like emotional control.

Although, sometimes those emotions still leak out, I'm not sure why.

However, the times when it controls my emotions, as per what I've observed, is completely random, which makes it hard for me to understand it.

There was a branch hanging a little high up, so I took a little head start and jumped, raising my hand.

My middle finger barely grazed the branch, and I silently celebrated.

I continued walking, the occasional rustling of leaves the only things audible besides my footsteps.

I did a little testing with the mana system of this world, and how my cursed energy would react to it, and it yielded some interesting results.

Some things I observed are that most of the medical devices make mana flow into you and detect the changes in the mana when it comes back.

The technology of this world has evolved in a way different to my previous one, as it is heavily dependent on mana.

"I can't use mana, but mana can't use me either," I muttered, the sunlight suddenly hitting my eyes as I walked out of the forest cover.

That sounded edgy, but what I meant was that no such devices work on me as my cursed energy interferes with the flow of mana.

In the same way, mana interferes with my cursed energy.

For example, if one uses a fire spell on me, then it will be a normal fire, obviously.

But if I make some cursed energy flow into its surroundings, then it might gain some inconsistencies, such as being shaped weirdly, or having its trajectory slightly altered, or maybe decreasing its temperature.

I have also been told that no medical devices worked on me since birth, which means that I had cursed energy since birth.

From the memories I got, this body has used cursed energy only once.

So, there are two possibilities: One, I have always had cursed energy, but always concealed it, or two, I had some sort of 'Dormant' cursed energy.

Also, since cursed energy disrupts the flow of mana, it also disrupts the flow of mana INSIDE someone's body.

So if I emit cursed energy near someone, they start feeling dizzy, a little sick, and all such symptoms.

I don't have information about if this can be lethal or not, it probably can, but I will have to perform a few tests to figure that out.

.

(5 Days later)

I was punching the air again. My shirt was completely drenched, each punch sent sweat flying off my arms.

My techniques and movements had gotten better in the past few days, and using cursed energy meant that I could tackle the entrance exams even without Dismantle.

But… why not to get Dismantle?

A translucent blue screen floated to my side, on it was a bar, filled with a deep blue color around a fifth of the way through.

This was the progression of my proficiency, and currently, I was on 19.95%.

"A little more," I muttered, unleashing punch after punch, violating the air with all my might.

Suddenly, my movements became a little sluggish as a sudden sense of unease gripped my heart.

It was as if something was watching me. I stopped for a second and looked around, but there was nothing.

"What was that?" I mumbled, deciding to continue my training, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling.

I slightly jumped as a loud sound rang in my ears.

My head snapped to the System screen, on which, there was a notification that sent satisfaction coursing through me.

['Dismantle' Unlocked]

I was ecstatic, which caused me to not realize the growing sense of unease inside me, the feeling was dreadful, but overshadowed by the joy.

The fire in my eyes burned brighter than ever, my breathing was ragged, and a huge smile graced my face.

"The next goal," I muttered, my voice slightly dry as I kept staring at the System screen. "Is to meet the main cast…"

My smile only widened as I thought of the upcoming days. "And COMPLETELY flex on them."

Abruptly, I felt something… something I was all too familiar with, something which could be… death.

A sudden WHIZ passed by, a fast gust of air that made me freeze in my tracks.

On a tree next to me, there appeared a hole with thick, white smoke coming out of it.

I knew what it was… a bullet.

Without thinking, I leaned forward, shooting forward into the wilderness, jumping for cover behind a boulder.

As I jumped, my head snapped back, my gaze meeting the glint of a scope in the middle of the trees, aimed directly at my head.

I hid behind the boulder, peeking out to see the figure of a man jump down from the tree and start to run away.

What I didn't know was that I had a huge, almost devious grin on my face.

I slowly got up, my right hand raised, making the shape of a gun with two of my fingers out, pointed directly at the fleeing attacker.

A silent command, and cursed energy started to flow towards my hand, concentrating on my fingers as my grin only widened.

"Dismantle."