In the world of Genshin Impact, Su Mo had successfully roped Venti into his team and was preparing to get involved in the Stormterror incident.
Meanwhile, in the A Certain Magical Index world...
Twenty years had passed before Su Mo finally received his golden finger—his long-awaited cheat—and returned to the city he knew best: Academy City.
Granted, this golden finger didn't grant him instant invincibility. But at the very least, it gave him hope. With his previous abilities, it would've been impossible to get involved in the major events to come. Even surviving the earlier ones required extreme caution. Many of the early "bosses" might have appeared on the scene early, but their power was anything but lacking. Whether it was Archangel Gabriel during the Angel Fall incident, or Aureolus Izzard in the case of the Misawa Cram School, these enemies weren't to be underestimated. Su Mo's former self had no guarantee of surviving any of them.
But now, with the power shared from his alternate selves across different worlds, he had achieved a level of strength that could rival star-busting capabilities. While this still fell short of the Magic God tier, it was more than enough to intervene in the Third World War initiated by Fiamma of the Right. In fact, more than strength, what truly mattered to Su Mo now was hope.
Even if none of his alternate versions reached multiversal levels of power… Even if most of them were weaker than a Magic God… Even then, he wasn't without options. Because with enough versions of Su Mo, it was only a matter of time before some odd, broken ability cropped up. Just like the Su Mo from the Pokémon world—his powers, while quirky to others, could potentially become stepping stones for Su Mo in this world to complete advanced magical rituals.
Because in the Index world, magic… had the potential to reach Magic God level.
Su Mo couldn't help muttering to himself. In Toaru, figures like Terra of the Left were originally just ordinary humans, yet managed to ascend to angelic-level power using angelic ritual techniques. Acqua of the Back was born a double saint. Even the Queen of England could wield power rivaling an archangel simply due to her bloodline.
In this world, no matter how hard one worked, there were barriers that talent alone could break. And "talent" was determined the moment one was born—just like the Level Upper system in Academy City, where the potential cap of one's esper abilities wasn't something effort could surpass.
But for Su Mo, things were different.
His talent could evolve—could stack. The physical bodies and unique abilities of every Su Mo across different worlds were gradually accumulating within him. While for other versions this just meant an extra method to fight enemies, for this Su Mo, in the Index world, they were tools—pieces he could use to build magical rituals.
Thanks to the "idol theory" in Toaru's magic system, Su Mo could use the Su Mo from DanMachi—a real member of Hestia's familia—as a conceptual anchor. Drawing from that identity, he could reproduce magic tied to Hestia with far more potency than normal. On top of that, any divine-style magic and techniques could be called upon through his shared divine-slayer authority from the Campione world.
In short, among all his alternate selves, this Su Mo had the most potential to maximize the "power sharing" ability.
Still, he hadn't revealed this in the Mist Space. It wasn't because he was trying to hide it—after all, they were all himself, and there was no reason to keep secrets. Any of them could've guessed his situation based on the knowledge they shared. No, the real reason was simple.
"Lack of knowledge…" Su Mo sighed.
He had spent his whole life in Academy City. Naturally, he was most familiar with espers and their powers. Magic? He had only begun studying it last year. Even if he had a solid grasp of magical theory and could use a good number of spells, that was purely because of the vast resources provided to him by the Roman Orthodox Church. Most of the spells he used were beginner-level Church rituals. He didn't know much about other magic systems.
After all, the Church emphasized devotion and did not tolerate heresy. Even someone as "special" as Su Mo would probably be branded a blasphemer if he wrote them a letter requesting to study Greek myth-based magic. He'd be excommunicated by morning.
Large institutions weren't exactly accommodating in that regard.
But Su Mo was a realist. He didn't care where power came from.
Fortunately, Index would soon return to Academy City. Her vast reservoir of magical knowledge—even excluding the 103,000 grimoires—was a goldmine to Su Mo. If he could absorb even part of it, he might finally take a huge step forward in his understanding of magic. Then, next time he returned to the Mist Space, he could be the one acting like a big shot.
While Su Mo was still immersed in thoughts of magical theory, a familiar voice broke into his thoughts.
"Lacking knowledge, are we?" said the honey-blonde girl with star-like eyes in a teasing tone. "That's rare to hear from you, Su Mo-sensei. Did something happen to shake your confidence? If it helps, I don't mind lending you a shoulder to cry on."
The speaker was none other than the Level 5 esper known as Mental Out—Misaki Shokuhō.
The two of them were currently in a small, private office—specifically, one of the staff rooms at Tokiwadai Middle School. Misaki, naturally, was a student. Su Mo, on the other hand, had been specially invited as a guest lecturer. His course? "Esper Development and Practical Applications."
For a prestigious school like Tokiwadai, which aimed to outshine its rivals in academic rankings, bringing in Su Mo to teach was practically a necessity. If their competitors had him and they didn't, they'd be left behind. In this competitive, cutthroat atmosphere, Su Mo's lecture fees had skyrocketed year after year—to the point that even he was surprised by the figures.