"Amaterasu!"
It was Su Yang's first real encounter with a ghost, and he wasn't about to mess around. Without hesitation, he unleashed Amaterasu, his black flame jutsu, aiming to test its effect.
But what happened next caught him completely off guard.
Whoosh!
The black flames of Amaterasu ignited on the ghost's body like gasoline meeting a spark. In the blink of an eye, the entire ghost went up in flames.
"Aaaahhhh!"
A sharp, chilling scream echoed, and the ghost turned into a puff of black smoke, vanishing completely.
"???"
"Wait, it's dead? Just like that?"
So weak??
Su Yang stood there, stunned. That was way easier than expected.
"These ghosts are seriously this fragile?"
He shook his head, baffled, and then something even more unexpected happened.
[You have killed a Level 5 Ghost. Simulation Point +1!]
"Wait, what!?"
The system notification rang in his head, leaving Su Yang momentarily stunned, then absolutely delighted.
"Are you kidding me? Killing ghosts gives me Simulation Points? And I've been wasting my time mining for them?!"
Su Yang practically leapt with excitement.
Whoosh!
He jumped out his window and landed outside, fully energized.
Now that he knew ghosts could be farmed for points, he went full-on ghost hunter mode.
But pretty soon, he hit a snag.
"I thought this world was crawling with ghosts! Where are they all?!"
After an hour of fruitless searching, Su Yang was close to losing his mind.
"How come Yuko's always bumping into ghosts left and right, but I can't find a single one?!"
"Is this… protagonist aura bias?"
That was the only explanation he could come up with.
Still, he didn't give up. He changed his approach and started searching through abandoned factories and buildings.
And sure enough, in a run-down old warehouse, he struck gold.
[You have killed a Level 5 Ghost. Simulation Point +1!]
[You have killed a Level 5 Ghost. Simulation Point +1!]
Over and over again.
With Amaterasu activated, these so-called Level 5 ghosts were no match for him.
But Su Yang also realized one big problem, if he kept spamming his Mangekyō Sharingan to kill ghosts, he'd go blind in no time.
Thankfully, he discovered something else:
Channeling chakra into his fists was more than enough to punch ghosts into oblivion.
Just as he was getting into a rhythm…
"You can see me! You can see me! You can see me!"
A wild, crazed voice rang out behind him.
Su Yang spun around, and saw a ghost that was very different from the others.
Unlike the blurry, indistinct ones he'd been fighting, this one was horrifyingly detailed, its grotesque, terrifying appearance made Su Yang feel physically ill.
"Eugh. Gross. Time to die!"
He immediately activated Kamui, his right-eye Mangekyō ability.
Vmmm, !
Space twisted and warped, and the ghost was instantly sucked into a violent distortion.
Boom!
It shattered into pieces.
[You have killed a Level 4 Ghost. Simulation Points +10!]
So Kamui worked on ghosts too. Nice.
Although that ghost was clearly stronger than the rest, Su Yang hadn't needed Kamui, he just wanted to test if it could vaporize ghosts.
And it did.
"Wait… a Level 4 ghost gave me 10 points? But it was stronger than the Level 5s?"
Then it clicked.
"Lower number = higher threat level. Got it."
By the next morning, Su Yang was yawning on the way to school.
He'd covered a lot of ground overnight, but he hadn't actually found that many ghosts.
Still, he'd earned over 50 Simulation Points, a solid haul.
Right now, he had 25 points left after redeeming the 'Small Gains Add Up' talent.
He wasn't expecting to grind out 3000 Simulation Points in a single night, but hitting 75 and being able to reroll for a green-grade talent tonight? That was already a win.
"Hopefully there are a few ghosts at school…"
A bit of wishful thinking.
Unfortunately, he was disappointed the moment he stepped through the school gates.
Not a single ghost in sight.
But what did appear was a certain energetic girl bounding over to him.
"Yaaah~ Hello, Su Yang-kun!"
Dango-chan bounced up and slapped him playfully on the shoulder.
"Feeling any better today?"
But then she spotted the dark circles under his eyes, and her smile immediately turned to deep concern.
"Oh no… those eye bags are awful! Did you not sleep? Is your cold getting worse?"
Su Yang had skipped school yesterday and casually blamed it on a cold.
"Ah, I'm fine now," he replied. "Totally ready to crush you at karaoke after class!"
"No way!"
Dango's face turned serious.
"Su Yang-kun, you're clearly still sick. Karaoke can wait, we need to get you rested!"
"You need proper recovery!"
Did I just shoot myself in the foot…?
Su Yang started to feel a hint of regret.
And that regret only grew stronger throughout the day.
He was bombarded by a flood of sweet, concerned classmates, especially the girls.
But all of them had the same message: "Rest up!"
Even when he suggested doing cosplay later with Marin Kitagawa, she was tempted… until she saw how pale he looked. Then she instantly shook her head.
"Su Yang-kun, you need to take it easy. I'll visit your place another day, okay?"
Even Kasumigaoka Utaha, the sharp-tongued queen of sarcasm, sent several heartfelt texts urging him to rest.
On the walk home from school, Su Yang made up his mind.
"Screw it."
"Time to simulate again tonight."
"Women only slow down my path to power!"
He was just about to shift into his "no woman, just grind" mode when he spotted someone.
A tall girl with long black hair and golden eyes.
But something was off.
She was trembling, visibly terrified, clearly holding something in with sheer willpower.
Then he saw why, behind her loomed a massive ghost over three meters tall.
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Note: If you're enjoying the story, you can read up to Chapter 48. You can read 37 chapters ahead of the current one) on my Patreon: patreon.com/Aurevynluv