[You have accepted to learn Artificial Cursed Corpse Creation]
[You have used: 30 skill points]
Jin froze for a few seconds while staring at his adventurer guild card. After all these weeks of hard work, he had finally succeeded.
He now had his own cursed technique.
"Not just any one, but one belonging to a man deemed worthy of Special Grade level, and without conditions as heavy as my self-imposed vow," he thought, recalling the pain of using power beyond his actual strength.
The self-imposed vow.
It was a form of vow usage in Jujutsu Kaisen, according to Claud's memories.
The principle basically worked like any other vow: sacrifice something for a gain.
Jin had created his vow using the model of two fictional characters:
Nanami Kento and Gon Freecss.
He had divided his vow into three conditions, also including his opponent in the fulfillment of these three elements.
The first condition was quite simple: Jin must not be supposed to be working at that time of day, according to his schedule.
The second condition: he must fail in his conjugal duty, receiving warnings or worry from a loved one because of his delay due to "unforeseen" work.
The final condition was to fail to convince the obstacle that he could not continue "working" and that he must go home.
If all these elements were met, but the obstacle still refused to let Jin go home, then he could use force to persuade it—or even eliminate it if necessary.
For this purpose, Jin could borrow the strength of his future self, capable of "eliminating" the work or convincing the obstacle.
However, the strength gain tied to eliminating the obstacle was granted in an imbalanced way by the vow.
Jin received more experience in his cursed energy production capacity, but a smaller quantity of energy than what he produced.
This situation created a countdown.
Jin had to finish off the obstacle or convince it, otherwise he would die from the overload of energy produced by his body.
A bit like an engine forced to produce more power than it was originally designed for.
Madness.
All these conditions led to obtaining exceptional strength, but they also carried a significant risk.
Death.
It was the real reason that differentiated Jin from the sorcerer Miwa during her confrontation with Kenjaku in Shibuya.
Unlike her, Jin had not gambled with his potential. The act was far too risky, and also similar to playing Russian roulette.
Jin didn't know how much he was worth on the jujutsu scale, nor whether he could survive relying solely on magical energy.
The option of wasting his potential in a vow had been stupid because of the unpredictability of the outcome that act would bring.
He preferred to bet his life and borrow strength from his future self, while also paying for the act with his own body.
The idea respected the sacrificial aspect of a vow and did not make the act simplistic in usage, because Kenjaku and his father had to notice the anomaly of his absence due to work.
'Still, I paid an enormous price for a technique that's unusable for now…' he thought before glancing into the spatial pocket containing Kazuma Satō's belongings.
To use Yaga's method of creating an artificial cursed soul, Jin needed soul information from a person to craft the cores necessary to execute the cursed technique.
For that, he needed at least one main core, plus two others to stabilize the entire autonomous creature.
The first would be the main consciousness, while the second would simply serve as a tool assisting the cursed corpse to make it autonomous.
That was why Jin's gaze naturally turned toward the amulet crafted by Megumin using Aqua's hair.
According to his memories from the manga convention, Megumin had used the hair of all the female members of the group in its creation.
"… No, it's too risky to try creating an autonomous being from Aqua's soul information with my current level," Jin muttered after dismissing the idea.
Aqua might be stupid and clumsy, but she remained a goddess capable of bringing Kazuma back to life.
Beyond the aspect that defied life and death, Aqua was the natural enemy of anything related to curses.
Jin didn't believe he was capable of influencing a fragment of a purity-focused goddess's body with a level 1 skill.
"Hm… yes, I'd better avoid touching Aqua and her spiritual information for now," he concluded mentally.
Jin decided he would try to create a pseudo-god in the future and stored the artifact away.
In the end, he chose to start small.
[You have acquired the skill: Reading]
'I'll start with a simple goal that I can already begin, like studying anatomy. Then I'll aim for a bigger target, like a Special Grade cursed corpse,' he thought while reading an online book.
….
"Welcome back, Jin-san!"
"I hope you won't have any more incidents!"
"See you later!"
"Thank you sincerely for taking care of me," Jin replied after giving a slight bow to the hospital nurses.
'Even though I only spent a short time with them, they were really nice,' he thought to himself, without noticing the stir among the nurses in charge of his hygiene.
Jin wasn't exceptionally handsome, but he certainly had a good physique after getting back in shape.
How could ordinary nurses in a manga-like world have resisted?
The only reason a hospital hentai scenario didn't happen was the existence of Kaori, who had proven very persuasive toward these hungry women.
That was why Jin had been able to study and rest comfortably during those five days at Sendai Hospital, after the doctor's observation.
A period of time that Jin did not waste in total rest.
The Reading skill allowed him to read faster, but also to better retain information from books.
A practical skill for learning.
"Dad?" he said unconsciously upon seeing Wasuke at the hospital exit.
(Image)
"Not even a hello? And why are you making that face? You look like you've seen a ghost…" The old man narrowed his eyes at Jin but eventually let out a weary sigh.
It seemed his mind wasn't mentally prepared to make the effort to dig deeper into his son's strange behavior.
An act well received by the latter.
"Sorry, father-in-law, Jin is still shaken by the assault," Kaori declared after observing the awkward atmosphere.
"He wouldn't have gotten roughed up by thugs if he hadn't stopped his training," Wasuke muttered before turning his gaze toward his only son.
"Besides that, you're not going to leave me hanging, are you? Shouldn't we celebrate your recovery with a prayer at the temple and dinner?" he suggested in a less grumpy tone.
Jin hesitated a little at the mention of the temple.
The original Jin Itadori had been religious, but that hadn't been the case for Claud originally.
However, he remembered his unique situation and the fact that he literally had the magic of a goddess with him.
'Indeed, gods do exist in some way,' he thought while approving his father's proposal.
"Oh~ it's been a long time since we've all been together like this," Kaori suddenly declared. However, Wasuke merely cast a brief glance toward her.
His originally sullen face had relaxed a little at the idea of spending some time with Jin. Unfortunately, it closed off again at the sound of Kaori's voice.
It was clear that Wasuke did not like Kaori. Yet she did not get discouraged in the face of the old man's grumpy mood and multiplied her attempts at rapprochement.
The atmosphere remained like that until their arrival at the Sendai temple. Once there, Kaori stepped away to buy spices for dinner.
This act allowed the father-son duo to be alone again.
"Tell me the truth, Jin." Wasuke's voice broke their silence in front of the altar.
Jin averted his eyes from what was in front of him after paying the offering, then glanced toward his father.
For some unknown reason, he felt that this conversation would not be ordinary.
"Were you assaulted by Kaori… no, by that thing?" he said while looking directly into Jin's eyes.
At first, he wanted to immediately deny Wasuke's question about the assault by Kaori. However, a memory from Jin came back to his mind.
Wasuke had warned him that the being by his side had little chance of being his real wife, but Jin had brushed off the question and his father's suspicions.
But the truth was more disturbing than the old conservative Wasuke could imagine.
The original Jin knew full well that this Kaori was not his Kaori.
He had simply turned a blind eye to it.
Out of madness?
Perhaps.
Many would judge his act that way.
But Claud knew, after merging with the rest of Jin in his body.
The man could not live without Kaori.
Kenjaku had simply given him a reason to keep going.
Thus, Jin better understood the origin of this question.
"No… it's more complicated," he said in an honest tone to Wasuke.
"More complicated? I see," Wasuke replied without pressing further.
Jin didn't understand the reason for the old man's vague response, but he seemed to know a great deal.
'Has he been approached by Kenjaku in the past?' Jin thought while looking at his father's back.
The idea that his father had been Kenjaku's first candidate to conceive Yuji wouldn't surprise him.
After all, he was the reincarnation of Sukuna's brother. Nevertheless, Jin judged that his father had not been cooperative.
A different gesture from his own.
'Is Jin Itadori the only one in Sukuna's family line willing to accept eating Kenjaku?' he thought before dismissing the idea.
The less he knew, the better Claud's mental state would be.
***
Author's Note: A little family intrigue doesn't hurt before Yuji's arrival.
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