"Shin, I've been out on missions lately. Could you please take the first-years along on missions? That's all, hanging up."
After Satoru hung up the phone, Shin discovered that he had already sent over two mission lists.
The first list consisted mainly of missions involving Grade 2 Curses, which were perfect for the first-year students to practice with.
However, the second list that Satoru sent consisted entirely of missions involving Grade 1 Curses or suspected to be Special Grade. It was obvious that these were Satoru's own missions, which he had dumped on the first-years to be lazy—or more accurately, dumped on Shin.
Ever since the first exchange meeting between Jujutsu High and Jogo a few days ago, the first-years seemed to have been stimulated and had been training constantly. But Cursed Energy is one of those things where progress through training is a little bit slow.
They were mainly focused on continuously refining their control over their Cursed Energy, because their recent research topic was the principle and activation of Black Flash.
Both Nobara and Megumi had made very obvious progress.
However, because the gap between Yuji's physical strength and his Cursed Energy strength was too large, he had been unable to fully synchronize his Cursed Energy strikes with his physical strikes, so his attacks were still split into two stages.
"Itadori, although it's said that a Jujutsu Sorcerer's Cursed Energy core is in the abdomen and must flow from there when used, high-level Jujutsu Sorcerers treat their entire body as the core of Cursed Energy, keeping it flowing constantly. There are many benefits to doing this. For example, your opponent cannot judge your movements by sensing the flow of Cursed Energy in your body, and it also makes your punches much more powerful."
Yuji still looked like he didn't understand at all. Shin couldn't help but sigh while covering his forehead.
"I originally didn't want to explain it this way, but it seems I have no other choice now. Simply put, the flow of Cursed Energy is like the casting animation in a game."
"If we were to quantify a punch carrying Cursed Energy, let's assume my punch damage is eight. Since your physical strength is far higher than mine, even though your first stage of attack doesn't contain much Cursed Energy, its damage can still reach four, and the second stage of Cursed Energy attack damage is six."
"Although it looks like your total value is higher than mine, our attacks must first penetrate the enemy's defense before the remaining amount becomes effective damage."
"Assuming the enemy has a fixed defense value of two, then the effective damage we both cause would be the same. If the Cursed Energy gets a bit stronger and the defense value reaches four, I would be able to cause four points of damage, while you would only have two."
"Simply put, your current attack method is fine for dealing with low-level enemies, but when dealing with powerful enemies, you can't even penetrate their defense. Understand now?"
Yuji finally revealed an expression of sudden realization, clenching one fist and smashing it into the palm of his other hand.
"I get it! So you mean our goal now is to shorten the casting animation to increase instant damage, right?"
Shin nodded. "That's exactly it. And when your Cursed Energy strike and physical strike hit the opponent almost simultaneously, space will distort, and the Cursed Energy will emit a black light. This is Black Flash, just like landing a critical hit in a game."
Shin finally managed to explain the principle to Yuji.
Yuji was deliberately speeding up his Cursed Energy flow, but this was not something that could be trained overnight.
'As expected, training is far inferior to life-and-death combat. It looks like I'll have to drag them out on missions.'
—
Above an abandoned hospital in Tokyo, a pitch-black Curtain covered the entire building. The first-year students of Jujutsu High were inside, exorcising Cursed Spirits.
It was a pure white Grade 1 Cursed Spirit. Its entire head was covered in eyes, and the several fingers on its two arms exuded a cold light, just like scalpels.
"Eee, eee... Hurry up and take your medicine... take your medicine..."
Shin stopped Megumi, only allowing Nobara and Yuji to go exorcise it. After all, if all three of them went, it would be a bit too easy. Shin planned to wait a few days to find a Special Grade Cursed Spirit for the three of them to practice on.
But not now, their strength was not yet enough to fight a Special Grade.
Below, the Cursed Spirit screamed and rushed toward Yuji. Its claws were emitting a greenish light, which clearly seemed to be its Cursed Technique. Yuji naturally knew that getting scratched by this thing would definitely be bad, so he quickly jumped aside.
But unfortunately, this Cursed Spirit's head was covered in eyes, and it instantly changed its move, grabbing at Yuji again.
Bang!
Not far away, a nail imbued with Cursed Energy flew over at high speed, sinking deeply into the Cursed Spirit's arm. The powerful force caused its arm to involuntarily deflect.
Yuji naturally wouldn't let this opportunity slip by. He smashed a fist into the Cursed Spirit's face, causing it to stagger, and the second stage of Cursed Energy followed immediately, knocking it to the ground.
However, the Cursed Spirit immediately flipped over and stood up quickly, reaching out to pull out the nail. The wound was also quickly healed by Cursed Energy, and it looked almost uninjured, grinning with its mouth full of sharp teeth as if mocking the two of them.
Megumi, standing to the side, couldn't help but feel a bit anxious. "Kagura, the two of them can't exorcise this Grade 1 Cursed Spirit right now. Why don't I go too?"
Shin said, "Is that what you think? Fushiguro, I actually think the two of them are fine. Itadori is a genuine genius, and Kugisaki is not bad either. I firmly believe that the two of them will rapidly grow in battle and give us a surprise. Don't worry too much."
After all, so-called Cursed Energy is power extracted from negative emotions, and during life-and-death combat, emotions like fear, anger, and tension will break through their upper limits and reach new heights.
Their Cursed Energy will also increase at these times, but negative emotions will also lead to distorted movements during combat and errors in judgment of the situation. It can only be said that there are pros and cons.
While Shin and Megumi were chatting, Nobara and Yuji fell into a disadvantage. The Cursed Spirit's speed was far higher than the two of them, and even though it was two-on-one, they were struggling immensely.
Boom!
Yuji smashed another full-power punch into the Cursed Spirit's chest, while he himself retreated a few steps, panting.
Nobara instantly shot out four nails. The Cursed Spirit raised its claw and waved it, knocking away three nails, while only one grazed it's arm, causing a slight scratch.
When Nobara reached into her bag again to try and pull out a few more nails, she discovered there were only two left in the bag. A fine layer of cold sweat appeared on her forehead.
Although she knew Shin was right behind them and that she wouldn't be in any real danger, she couldn't shake the panic of running out of weapons.
A sense of frustration welled up in the hearts of both Yuji and Nobara.
Shin had left them too far behind, and even Megumi could barely exorcise a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit on his own, but they were so weak. In battle, they would be the ones holding everyone back.
'I refuse to accept this!' * 2
The Cursed Energy within the two of them suddenly surged.
Yuji and Nobara exchanged a glance, and after communicating with their eyes, they both ran in opposite directions.