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A few months have passed by since the winter break.
The seasons changed, and now Naoya was a second-year student at Kyoto Jujutsu High.
His school life continued without a hitch, albeit there were a few changes.
Firstly, Yuki graduated, and now Naoya is the only remaining heavy lifter for the Kyoto branch.
His improvement was still steady as ever, though now he was focusing more or diversifation of his techniques rather than just stat boosting.
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Name: Naoya Zenin
Title: Body Stealer, Possible Zenin Heir, Busiest High Schooler, Hei Rank 1, Special Grade Sorcerer, Big Brother, Little Uncle, Hei Captain
Cursed Technique: Ten Shadows Technique (Active) / Projection Sorcery (Active)/ Solid Shadow (Active)
Cursed Energy: 102830/102830
STR: 550 / 690 (+19)
DEX: 561 / 750 (+21)
VIT: 610 / 690 (+35)
INT: 640/ 850 (+42)
LUK: 420/ 1000 (+47)
Extra Points: 0
Achievements: ()
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Another new change in his life was the addition of a new feature on his status screen.
There seemed to be limits that were imposed now. This was not something he was expecting as he continued to grow stronger, though the moment he reached 600 in VIT, the max limit section appeared on the screen as if telling him that he should manage the stats, knowing that he could only go up to a certain extent.
At first, he was quite bummed out by the revelation; to him, it seemed like a scam of sorts, but after contemplating for a while, he came to terms with it.
He was already quite lucky to be able to not only monitor his growth but also grow at an unconventional rate in more ways than one. Stats, milestone rewards, potential boosts. All these things were normally not achievable for people. There were simply no drawbacks to having the system, only benefits.
And now, when the same thing told him that there were limits to his growth, he was not gonna argue much. Sure, it looked like someone was trying to cap his growth and prevent him from becoming the most ridiculously OP being, but it is what it is.
He theorised that these must be the maximum a being of his world could theoretically go up to.
Taking Toji as the example, he represents the peak of all things biologically possible for lifeforms of his world and considering that he was only somewhat weaker than him in pure strength, the limits somewhat made sense to him. According to him, the moment he hits his physical stats limit, he will be at the same level as Toji without using CE or CT.
The INT and LUK stats must be like that too, in his opinion, though he was not sure what made the cap of INT and LUK, since those things are metaphysical and don't have any constraints as the mortal body does.
Something like even LUK is bound by fate, maybe that's why there is a limit on that.
For INT, he did not have any theory, and he was not that interested in knowing about it that much either. Since now he knows about the limits, he will work on the stats accordingly.
If there is an end to his growth journey, then he will achieve that.
Anyway, leaving the limits aside, Naoya's potential boosts now totalled 26, meaning a 260% increase.
With his [Projection Sorcery], he could now move at 86.4 frames per second theoretically, but for now, he was able to manage 85 frames. He could now also choose to move between 24 frames to his current limit, depending on the situation.
Though not beneficial for him, it was a nice mind game for enemies who somehow 'guessed' the frame limit and tried to move accordingly, only to be hit by a completely different set of rules and be frozen again.
His [Ten Shadows] was being effective as ever. He did capture quite a lot of curses, but had almost all of them be sacrificed for [Funeral Tiger]'s growth. The only curse turned shikigami that he bothered to keep around was a new-age cursed spirit.
Fusai-Gami(Debt Collector): A cursed spirit born from the fear and tragedies caused by debt collection. The new shikigami was kind of broken in a way. It was only a Semi-Grade-1 cursed spirit, but its technique was kinda insane. Its technique was called [Predatory Lending]. The technique was based on a simple domain and had a simple rule: if the target is in range of the domain, the shikigami forcibly loans its cursed energy to the target at the rate of 100% per minute. It works just like normal debt collection. The target can utilise the provided extra CE, but if the debt collector asks for repayment, then they need to return the whole amount they owe. This includes the amount the shikigami lent and the interest on that amount that the target owes. If the target has insufficient cursed energy, then horror starts as the debt collector starts asset seizure. The target's body is evaluated, and depending on the debt, the collector takes over the assets spiritually.
For example, if it takes over the target's finger, the target's finger stops functioning; this continues till either the debt is repaid or the target's vital organs stop functioning and they die.
The only way out of this debt is to kill the collector.
This technique was scary, but it was effective because it would work through simple domains, so unless the target deploys an anti-domain technique or attacks the shikigami from a long range, they would get hit. Even Satoru was not spared from the technique's effect unless he followed the above countermeasures.
The only limiting factor for this technique was that the shikigami could only lend as much CE as it had, and its own reserves were only a bit higher than average Grade 2 curses. Also, the more CE it lends, the weaker it gets, and it also becomes an easier target to kill.
The shikigami was not the strongest among his arsenal, but it could still f*ck over trickier opponents.
Also, if that wasn't enough, the potential boosts gave the shikigami to share the 'profits' gained from interests with its allies. So if Naoya or his allies were ever in a pinch, Naoya could simply give them CE from the 'bank'.
Naoya knowingly named the shikigami, Kakuzu.
Now for the final technique, the [Solid Shadows], it was the one that he explored the most because of his grandfather's words, and honestly, even Kagenori was amazed by how much Naoya was able to enhance the technique. The applications that came out of this technique were already insane. Still, Naoya's deep analysis, because of Kagenori's insistence on being vague and letting Naoya find answers on his own, made this technique more insane than it ever was in his own hands.
The old man now came to realise how Naobito felt when Naoya's [Projection Sorcery] surpassed his own, and it really hurt.
The author was about to explain the new findings, but he wanted to build some hype later, and that's why he was going to cut the explanations.
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"Naoya-senpai." "Cashew!!!"
Naoya, who was going over some notes, suddenly heard familiar voices calling him.
The ones who called him were the new first years who joined the Jujutsu High Kyoto branch this year.
The first one was a boy with a traditional long ponytail. His name was Hideaki Kamo. Like Naoya and Satoru, the boy belonged to one of the three great clans. At first, he was very aggressive towards Naoya, but after getting his ass handed to him constantly, the boy calmed down a lot.
The other one was Shion Inumaki, a twin-tailed cutie with a relatively smaller stature.....Shion was a trap. Nice on the eyes, sausage between the thighs.
"What happened?" asked Naoya, and closed the notes and looked at his juniors.
"Cashew Cashew Almond Pecan!" said Shion.
Hideaki looked at the Inumaki beside him and said, "Do you think anybody understood that?"
"Some people from the HQ are looking for me? Why?" asked Naoya, understanding the Inumaki code language.
Shion looked at Hideaki and gave a shit-eating grin to the Kamo.
"Peanut."
"Huh? Why the hell did you say Peanut while looking at my pants?!"
"Now, now, Hideaki-chan, you don't need to be shy with us. We accept all your 'short' comings," said Naoya and patted Kamo's shoulder.
"Why is there emphasis on SHORT!!!!" complained Hideaki.
Naoya and Shion looked at Hideaki for a while before both of them snorted and grinned.
A vein popped up on Hideaki's forehead.
"Anyway, where are the people from the HQ?"
Hideaki calmed down and sighed.
"They are waiting at the Torii gates at the entrance. It seems important."
"Is that so. Okay, thanks you two," said Naoya and walked towards the entrance.
There, he spotted three people from the HQ who were standing all serious and shit.
Once they spotted Naoya, they bowed respectfully to him and led him to the car.
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Currently in a dark room, Naoya stood in the centre of it and around him were screens made of paper behind which he could see the visages of people sitting.
'What's with this over-dramatic setup? What the hell are these higher-ups trying? Did they go senile?' thought Naoya and looked around.
He could feel the gazes on him, and sensing no malice for him, he stood there calmly.
"Special Grade sorcerer Naoya Zenin."
Suddenly, one of them spoke and called him out.
"Present, sir," replied Naoya with a smile.
There was a ripple of disapproval in the air, but no one voiced their complaints.
"You have been summoned here for a very high-stakes mission. Please be serious and maintain your dignity."
A dignified voice came, though it didn't carry anger.
"My bad. I will try to act accordingly."
"Good. The details of this mission are highly confidential, and we expect you to abide by the rules of secrecy."
Naoya nodded and turned a bit serious.
"As you must be aware, Tengen-sama plays a very important role in monitoring and controlling cursed activity across the country. It would not be wrong to say that they serve as the foundation of the jujutsu world."
Naoya nodded. This was nothing new.
Master Tengen was a well-known figure in the jujutsu world, and their contributions to society were immeasurable.
"Tengen-sama's technique is Immortality. While it sounds incredible, it does not prevent aging. Because of this, once every five centuries, they must merge with a new host to reset their body's aging process."
Naoya raised an eyebrow.
"The individuals capable of acting as their host are called Star Plasma Vessels, and right now, the time limit for Tengen-sama's current body is about to expire."
Naoya understood immediately.
The higher-ups were sugarcoating a sacrificial ritual.
Though it's not like he had a better word for it. Still, it surprised Naoya a bit. He didn't know Master Tengen needed maintenance.
"Let me guess," Naoya said.
"You want me to retrieve this Star Plasma Vessel."
"No."
The answer came immediately.
"We want you to detain Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto, the criminals who kidnapped the Star Plasma Vessel, and bring them back before the full moon."
Naoya blinked in surprise, and after he processed the information once again, his thoughts jumped off his tongue.
"...What the f*ck..."