Gusion pretty much strolled out of the prison. The guards' quality was questionable—though even if they stopped him with all their might, he was confident he could leave safely.
Breaking out wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing. Even though End Space seemed to want him to obediently enter the deadly Kengan Annihilation Tournament, he had no interest in that level-by-level playstyle.
Sadly, many fighters in the tournament just wanted a worthy opponent and a good fight.
But the tournament's nature doomed the matches to never be pure. In these bloody fights, it was all about the businessmen's profits. To put it bluntly, fighters were just playthings for the merchants.
They wore suits, sat in the stands sipping tea and eating snacks, watching fighters kill each other—just like the nobles at Roman gladiator arenas, their laughter tinged with blood.
That wasn't the martial arts tournament Gusion envisioned, and with his strength, he had no interest in fighting from prelims to finals.
He'd still go to Kengan matches, but not as a challenger. He didn't want to be anyone's dog; he wanted equal partnerships.
He broke out for another reason, too: his mission.
[Main Mission Phase 1: Ashura]
Mission: Win 1st place in the deadly Kengan Annihilation Tournament in ten days and show the true "Ashura" form.
Difficulty: Easy ~ Hard
Reward: 10,000 End Coins
Failure penalty: All attributes -1
[]
There was only one main mission—rich reward, mild penalty. Though the difficulty could be high, Gusion felt his focus shouldn't be on the main mission.
[Hunt Mission: Hunt Rule Breaker #41213802]
Mission: During your stay in this world, kill Rule Breaker #41213802. If the Rule Breaker comes within 10 kilometers of you, you will know their exact location.
PS: Make sure to kill the Rule Breaker before they contact the "Seed."
Difficulty: Normal ~ Certain Death
Reward: Pioneer Bronze Medal x1
Failure penalty: All attributes -2
[]
Gusion didn't expect to get a mission like this right after becoming a Pioneer.
He thought, "By contract, shouldn't this be the Adjudicator's job? End Space knows how to use people. How much work do they want me to do in one world?"
He complained because he had another special mission.
[Pioneer Mission: Origin Seed]
Mission: In this world, find the source of the mutation, kill the current holder of the Origin Seed, and transfer the Seed's ownership.
The Seed's holder will have significant power-ups; you can identify them this way. When the Pioneer's mark touches the holder, you will get a clear notification.
Difficulty: Normal ~ Certain Death
Reward: Origin Seed
Failure Penalty: Erasure
[]
That was the real headache. The mission could be extremely hard, and failure meant erasure.
From the description, he figured the Origin Seed was something that made people stronger over time. The longer it dragged on, the more dangerous it got—even if he found it later, he might not be able to win.
He felt if he couldn't finish the mission during the tournament, it'd be almost impossible—after that, people would scatter and be harder to find.
He reasoned the Seed wouldn't just fall to a random NPC. If it did, End Space would have given some kind of location clue; otherwise, the mission would be ridiculous.
So, he figured the Seed would be on a major fighter from the original story—someone he could find.
"Let's get my thoughts straight. At times like this, what would Aizen Sosuke do…?"
Gusion muttered in the moonlight, walking along the riverbank to figure out his location. The manga never said where the prison was.
…
The next day, in a Tokyo ramen shop.
Gusion finished the last extra-large bowl under the waitress's shocked gaze, then happily chugged cola.
"This cola is awesome," he thought. "Too bad it doesn't exist in my era anymore—only weird drinks from the Company."
He wiped his mouth and tossed some cash to the waitress.
Oh, the money came from a few punks he met last night—who, bawling, insisted on donating to him. How could he refuse, right?
Full and satisfied, Gusion opened a special interface in his mind.
This was the public channel End Space had specially opened for this world. After reading the chat for a while, Gusion understood why they did it.
["There's an Origin Seed in this world. It's real, not a legend. Can you believe it?"]
["Sounds awesome, but my mission to find it only gives a mediocre reward. I guess it's not that great."]
["You know nothing. I once heard our guild leader talk about it—there's a legend in the End Space, and the 'Seed' was mentioned."]
["Huh? What's the legend? Tell us. I won't fight you for the Seed."]
["Tch, what's there to fight for? Even if you get it, you're just helping the End Space reclaim it. Did you think you'd get to keep it?"]
["What are you talking about? Can you just say what the Seed does? Is it for watching adult videos?"]
["Screw you! This is the Origin Seed, one of the legendary nine. Our guild leader talked about it like it was a myth. Who'd have thought it was real—and in a tier-one world."]
No one replied—everyone waited for the expert to explain.
["According to what our leader heard, there are nine unique Seeds in the multiverse. No one knows where they came from or what they do, only that they're miraculous and tied to the origin of the End Space."]
["If the Seed in this world is that legendary thing, it's no wonder they opened the public channel and gave us the same mission. The End Space must be desperate. If not for rules, they'd probably send in high-level bigshots."]
Gusion kept reading and got the gist: the Origin Seed was a huge deal. For his future and the mission, he had to get it.
Explorers were placed randomly with various identities and locations, but the public channel sped up information gathering.
Gusion now wondered: was the Rule Breaker also in the channel?
He'd asked before—End Space said Rule Breakers were explorers who exploited loopholes, got marked after repeated violations, and were then hunted by people like him.
So, essentially, Rule Breakers were still explorers, under the big rules, and would be deployed in the mission world. So, they could probably see the public channel too.
Gusion thought: "Why is the End Space so troublesome? If someone breaks the rules, just erase them! Why bother with manpower? Seems fancy, but why so many loopholes? The End Space has been running for years—never optimized the rules? Even constitutions change annually…"
In short, Gusion found both the existence of Rule Breakers and the End Space's manpower reliance odd.
Was this some kind of ecosystem?
He shook his head, deciding not to overthink. Any more thinking would just kill his brain cells.
He typed in the channel: ["Anyone know how to find the Kure Clan?"]
His nickname in the Space was "Mazuko," and only nicknames showed up in the channel—a way to protect identities.