Dreamland: Freedom (Terror Infinity, Ultimate Evolution)

It all made sense now.

Eden easily connected the dots: the price of the bounty, why the stolen object was not named, and why Maggie said he would be involved.

On the side, leaning on the bed weakly, Stitch coughed and spoke weakly, "Thanks for coming."

Maggie approached the lifepod and observed the still body. Eden tried to use Analysis too.

[Name: Satoru Gojo]

[Title: Honored One]

He got just as much as he had when he had inspected Mictlantecuhtli, the literal God of the dead. Eden wondered who would win in a fight.

Meanwhile, Maggie said, "You are bold, I'll give you that. Scheming against your own guild to steal this… I'm impressed."

Stitch chuckled helplessly and looked at Eden earnestly, "I would have never dared if not for Ozymandias."

Eden pointed at himself, questioning, "Me? You mean the fruit?"

Stitch smiled, and Maggie corrected him, "Not just the fruit, you."

She turned towards him and added, "Let me explain to you what is going to happen if you agree to this. Stitch here will maybe manage to possess Gojo Satoru's body and earn immense power. But whether he succeeds or not, you will earn yourself the endless hatred of the Hall of Perfection and its Guild Leader, Simmons."

"How would they know? The Fruit of Life and Death disappearing would not be strange, with the sudden flux of new items."

Maggie shook her head and explained, "Ever wondered why Guild Players seem to know about their mission world in advance? That's because most big guilds have seers, or Players capable of looking into fate and causality. They probably already know you're here, but if you refuse, you won't get any problems."

Eden tilted his head, "And if I accept, they will want to hunt me down?"

The two nodded, and Eden asked, "Why even ask me? You do hold the Fruit. Do I have a choice in the matter?"

Maggie snorted, taking out the Fruit and tossing it to Eden.

Catching it, Eden muttered, "You seem intent on helping him already. Won't you get in trouble, too?"

Stitch chuckled at that, and Maggie replied seriously, "My relationship with Simmons can't get any worse. So, what do you say?"

Eden leaned back against a wall, crossing his arms, but keeping the Fruit out of his Inventory as he conceded, "You guys are nice people, and while I'm sure there's some bigger picture here… I'm not putting this kind of trouble on myself for nothing," he grinned, and added, "Well, I can do the possession if you want."

Unexpectedly, they smiled back. The two shared a look, and Maggie said, "Nice idea, but wrong timing. Gojo Satoru is a Tier III being, and a special one at that, deeply entrenched in causality. Even as a peak Tier II, the only reason Stitch has even a remote chance is the Fruit and my preparations. As a Tier I, you don't stand a single chance. No matter how strong your soul is."

Eden paused, then narrowed his eyes and attested, "You can see it."

Maggie nodded, "Yes. It's your Talent, isn't it? Even then, that alone cannot bridge the gap between you and Satoru Gojo."

Stitch picked back up, "But you are ready to exchange your Fruit of Life and Death for a good enough reward, aren't you?"

"That's why you're glad it's me who got the Fruit?"

Stitch shrugged the best he could with his missing limbs, "Not many would accept to offend someone like Simmons, no matter what is offered. You'd have to be quite mad, to be honest. But, what's one more Guild on your ass, right?"

Eden smiled. The Holy Order had already issued a bounty on his head, and although that bounty had not changed, he had pissed off quite a few big guilds during his last mission. They had not done anything because they were more preoccupied with the Tier II wave, but Eden would not be surprised if they started attacking on sight on his next mission.

Seeing this, Stitch looked at Maggie, who nodded, and his eyes lost focus for a moment before Eden received a message. It was a screenshot of an item's description.

[Ryomen Sukuna's Finger]

[Rank: Epic]

[Effect: Contains a portion of the soul of Ryomen Sukuna. Eating it will grant the Cursed Energy power system.]

"I have seven of them. They are highly toxic, but so long as your vitality is above 15, you will be fine. The only thing that makes these unusable to most is Sukuna's soul inside… but that's not much of a problem to you, is it?"

Eden, his heart rate accelerating as he asked, "What will happen exactly if I eat them?"

"Since you are not an artificial container like Yuji, and don't have any Cursed Energy of your own, you will gain whatever quantity of Cursed Energy contained in the fingers, as well as Sukuna's technique."

Eden stopped for a moment before casually tossing the Fruit over to Maggie.

Understanding this was Eden saying he accepted, Stitch took out seven deep purple, gnarled fingers.

Eden approached to take them.

They were lukewarm to the touch and looked like they were covered in a thin layer of wax. Putting them in his Inventory excitedly, Eden said, "Well, everyone got what they wanted, so I suppose I should leave you alone to deal with the whole possession thing."

Maggie nodded, and Stitch peeped, "Thank you, again. And be careful out there."

Eden dismissively waved over his shoulder and exited the warehouse.

The residential district was part of the protected area, so Eden returned to his own house carelessly, and as expected, no one tried to stop him, making him wonder what exactly the Hall of Perfection would do to… express their discontent.

For now, though, he had much more important matters to deal with.

Sitting down in the middle of his room, with Oona watching from a corner, Eden took out one of the fingers and observed it closely. He could not discern anything with his naked eye, but holding onto it, he could feel a powerful energy contained within.

An energy that would be his.

The finger was quite long, but Eden easily swallowed it as it started dissolving the moment it entered his mouth. It had a soapy taste, the wax sealing the finger being the cause of it, and its powerful energy spread through Eden's body rapidly.

Closing his eyes, Eden did not even have to focus on his Talent to follow it, as well as the foreign presence in his body. He felt a pull, as it was trying to draw him into its mindscape.

Eden did not even take a chance with Sukuna and directly erased his soul.

Without having to worry about Sukuna's soul, Eden used his Talent to carefully observe the Cursed Energy as it soaked his body, strengthening it. To his relief, it did not have any reaction to his mana, the two energies ignoring each other.

Once it had settled down, Eden tried to manipulate it through his Talent, and just like with Mana, it came to him easily, reassuring him.

While walking back to his personal room, Eden had internally debated on a matter: whether to keep Sukuna's soul or not.

Although he was certainly dangerous, as far as he could tell, Eden was unrivaled in matters of the soul, and even with all twenty of his fingers, he should not be able to represent any threat to Eden.

Moreover, keeping him around would have granted him the best of teachers for learning to manipulate Cursed Energy. As Stitch had told him before, important and powerful NPCs were most often more talented than Players, especially when it came to manipulating their own power systems.

And even Satoru Gojo, the most talented Sorcerer in the Jujutsu Kaisen world, took years to learn the more complex applications of Cursed Energy, like Reverse Cursed Technique or Domain Expansion. Eden did not have years to study it. By then, he would either be dead or have become powerful enough that it would not matter.

Keeping Sukuna's soul inside and allowing him to use his body would allow Eden to progress just like Yuji Itadori had, allowing his muscle memory to learn the advanced techniques when Sukuna used them while possessing his body.

Still, in the end, Eden had decided to erase his soul. Although he was confident in his soul, Maggie had warned him about the gap between Tiers, and even if that was only applicable to the physical body, Eden would rather not take a risk.

Moreover, while cool as a villain, Eden did not want to have Sukuna in his head all day long. The man, or curse, was psychopathic, cannibalistic, and immensely arrogant. They might share some traits, but that only made them less compatible.

Fortunately, just like with mana, Eden's Talent did not disappoint and granted him supreme control over it. That should allow Eden to learn to manipulate Cursed Energy much more rapidly. Adding to that the fact that he already knew everything about his cursed technique, being Sukuna's Shrine, also helped.

Letting go of his Cursed Energy, Eden opened his eyes and was greeted with a couple of notifications.

[You have integrated a new Power System, Cursed Energy, gaining the attribute 'Sorcery'.]

[You have gained the Perk 'Immense Cursed Energy III'.]

[You have gained the Perk 'Shrine'.]

Eden's eyes lingered on the 'III' for a moment before he opened his status with a chuckle.

[Name: Ozymandias]

[Title: Monster Hunter II, Omen of Death]

[Talent: Soul Overlord]

[Perks: Tier I, Spirit Flame I, Will of Steel I, STD Free, Immense Cursed Energy III, Shrine]

[HP: 250/250]

[MP: 630/630]

[CE: 1632/1632]

[Strength: 20 (23)]

[Agility: 21 (26)]

[Physique: 22 (25)]

[Intelligence: 34 (35)]

[Wisdom: 33 (34)]

[Sorcery: 48]

[Skills: Analyze (Support), Demon Claw (1st Circle), Dark Pool (1st Circle), Evil Possession (1st Circle), Strengthened Fireball (2nd Circle), Dark Vision (2nd Circle), Mists of the Underworld (3rd Circle), Undead Servant (3rd Circle), Binding Vow (Support)]

[Currency: 30020 Dream Points]

Each of his physical attributes had increased by one, which was a nice bonus. Moreover, that was without either the Necronomicon or the Rosa Estrellada equipped. Were he to have his sword, Eden's Agility would rise to 30. Of course, the new attribute stole the show.

Eden did feel that his body had been filled to the brim, and his Sorcery attribute confirmed it. Eden had learned from Maggie that Tier I spun from 20 to 49, Tier II starting at 50. This meant Eden was only a single attribute point away from the absolute peak of Tier I.

But in reality, Eden had acquired Sukuna's Tier III Immense Cursed Energy, which pushed his cursed energy well into the domain of Tier II.

[Immense Cursed Energy III: Born to be superior to all others, Ryomen Sukuna possesses far more cursed energy than any other. All Sorcery Attribute Points are now worth 34 CE.]

Of course, he had no mastery over that power for now, making it next to useless, but it meant potential. Moreover, that was only with one finger, and he had six more. Curiously, though, his Sorcery attribute did not benefit from his cape, despite his Umbra Velum adding +1 to all his attributes. He figured the 'all' only applied to basic attributes.

While the remaining fingers were tempting, Eden refrained from eating them, placing them back in his Inventory instead. He felt they would do more harm than good at the moment.

Sorcery had become one of his attributes, and were he to push it to 50 and beyond, he would officially become a Tier II Player.

Not only would that place him in Tier II worlds that vastly outclassed him, but he would also lose the opportunity to earn perks for his promotion. The finger had proved that Tier promotion was not the only way to earn perks, but that would still be a waste.