7 Chapter 7
I woke up the next day to someone shaking me gently. I groaned once before I remembered what day it was and shot up into a sitting position. As I did, I saw that it was my mother shaking me, which wasn't strange, but her expression was odd. I looked at her quizzically before spotting a piece of paper gripped tightly in her hand. I reached out and grabbed it, quickly reading it over and digesting the news written there. I could see why my mother was emotionally torn about the contents, but I didn't care.
The note read, "For the Gojo Clan: Arika Gojo was found dead in downtown Tokyo at the sight of a haunting caused by a Special Grade cursed spirit. Luckily, Suguru Geto was nearby and was able to exorcise the curse, but it was too late for the Gojo clan member who had suffered grievous head and chest wounds."
I crumpled the note up and dropped it to the floor. I walked out and hugged my mother gently. Showing this affection was still slightly uncomfortable, but I had been working on it. Over the past few months, the relationship between my mother and me has improved quite a bit. There are still gossip and rumors about my father getting exiled from the clan, but now that he is dead, people will naturally stop talking about him. The chance of forming a vengeful spirit just through talking about a dead sorcerer is extremely unlikely to do anything, but people feel better safe rather than sorry.
As I hugged my mother, I stopped paying attention to everything going on outside my body, instead turning my perception inward. I had done this many times over the years to no effect, but this time was different. I could feel an ocean of power lying dormant inside of me, but a thin sort of membrane was keeping me from accessing the power. I pushed at the membrane and tore at it, causing small tears to begin to form in the shield blocking me from my cursed energy. As the tears began to go deeper and deeper, I suddenly had a moment of clear thought.
"Mama, can I go outside?" I asked as I pulled away from the hug.
This seemed to snap my mother out of her funk, "Sure baby, but come back so you can eat some breakfast before your training with the clan head, okay?" she said with a radiant smile that caused me to subconsciously grin as well.
"Of course, Mama," I said with a laugh as I ran out into the cool darkness that would soon give way to the light of day.
I found a small patch of soft dirt on the ground and sat. Before my butt even touched the dirt, I was already diving deep into myself once more. I continued to tear down the barrier keeping my power away from me frantically. My excitement was at an all-time high as the membrane finally looked like it would give way. My scratching finally weakened the barrier enough that when I tried to force my way through it, I was able to. As soon as I poked through the barrier, there was a rush of cursed energy that tore away the rest of the barrier in an instant. I suddenly felt an intoxicating explosive increase in the amount of power I could wield. I checked my system to make sure this wasn't a dream.
- - -
Name: Arima Gojo
Age: 5
Grade: 4
Cursed Tool: None
Perks: - - -
Faster Leveling
High Cursed Energy Output
Immense Cursed Energy Reserves
Active Skills: - - -
Cursed Energy Manipulation (Lv. 1), Innate Technique: Replication (Lv. 1)
Passive Skills: - - -
Swordsmanship (Lv. 54), Hand-to-Hand Combat (Lv. 57), Pain Tolerance (Lv. 36)
Technique Slots: - - -
1) None
2) [Locked Until Lv. 25]
3) [Locked Until Lv. 50]
4) [Locked Until Lv. 75]
- - -
I grinned as I saw everything unlocked and felt the flood of cursed energy filling my body. Also, as soon as my two perks were unlocked, I gained knowledge of how much they will impact me. Firstly, [High Cursed Energy Output] gave me an output slightly worse than Ishigori's, which was still impressive. Next, it turns out that I have more cursed energy than Yuta, but I still have less than Sukuna by a large margin. If I had to guess, then I would say that I have about 125% of Yuta's cursed energy reserves.
As soon as the massive thick aura of cursed energy was released from my body, every sorcerer in the clan came running. The thing that surprised me was the sudden feeling of being able to sense and see cursed energy all around me. It was like a sixth sense that is impossible to explain, especially how I could sense the cursed energy of sorcerers I couldn't see at the moment. Despite them not being in sight, it felt like I had a radar in my mind that was constantly pinging the sorcerers around me, and the biggest ping was fast approaching. Before my uncle arrived, I had time to see a notification pop up in front of me.
[New Passive Skill - Heightened Senses (Lv. 1): +2% Awareness, +1% Range, -1% Sensory Overload]
I just had enough time to read the notification before the clan head arrived. I could see a Red already charged up in his hand, but now that I had the ability to see cursed energy, I could tell that it was incredibly sloppy. It was only then that I could actually see with my eyes the drawbacks of not having the Six Eyes alongside Limitless. His Red looked about 75% weaker than Satoru's Reds in the future.
The Red died as he looked around and noticed the immense amount of cursed energy flowing off of me. Taking his arrival as I sign, I tried to draw my cursed energy back into my body. It took me a little bit, but in the end, I was able to do so. The problem I had was that I had to draw so much back into myself. Luckily, that meant that just the act of trying to control so much cursed energy gained me a few levels in Cursed Energy Manipulation. While I was at it, I also reinforced my arms with cursed energy just so I could get the skill quickly. As the cursed energy flooded my arms, I saw the notification appear in front of my face.
[New Active Skill - Reinforcement (Lv. 1): +5% Power, +3% Damage, +1% Efficiency,-0.8% Damage Taken, -0.9% Cost]
I nearly whistled out loud as I saw the benefits of Reinforcement. As more and more clan sorcerers and guards poured out of the buildings to see what was going on, I saw my mother running from our house frantically. She stopped and began to beam happily as soon as she saw that it was my cursed energy that had drawn everyone over. Eventually, the clan head called out clearly above the noise of the crowd, his voice reaching everyones' ears clearly.
"Nothing to see here. Everyone, I exempt you from work for the day. Prepare for a celebration," He called out, getting everyone roaring in excitement at not only no work for the day but also a celebration.
It is customary in the Gojo clan to celebrate whenever a child of the clan awakens their cursed energy and innate technique. Speaking of innate techniques, I glanced at the skill descriptions of my Innate Technique as well as Cursed Energy Manipulation.
[Cursed Energy Manipulation (Lv. 3): +6% Speed, +3% Efficiency
Innate Technique: Replication (Lv. 1): N/A]
I smiled as I looked at both, CEM was a simple skill that was probably the most important. I couldn't help but imagine what 100% efficiency would look like in the future. 'I'm pretty sure not even the Six Eyes grants the user 100% efficiency,' I thought to myself happily. For a split second, I was confused by my Innate Technique having no bonuses, but I quickly figured out why it didn't. 'My technique forms each replicated technique into a skill with bonuses of its own, most likely,' I thought as the clan head and my mother both approached me.
The clan head cut straight to the chase as soon as he got close, "So, what is your cursed technique, son?" he said, not even trying to disguise his clear interest in my technique and my technique alone.
"Kenji," my mother said angrily, "let the boy have a moment before you start harassing him,"
"First of all, it's Clan Head, not Kenji. Secondly, it's my right and duty as clan head to know the boy's technique. After all, his technique more or less decides his worth as a sorcerer. No amount of getting mad at me will change that fact, Emi," The clan head said with a shrug of the shoulders.
Despite his rebuke, my mother continued, "What about Kusakabe, I hear he had made it to Grade 1 at last. He even got a job as a teacher at Tokyo Jujutsu High,"
"True," the clan head conceded the point, "But he will never be able to stand against those with powerful cursed techniques despite him managing to claw his way to Grade 1. Now tell me, what's your technique?" he said while leaning closer to me, hard eyes regarding me closely.
