Chapter 167: A Massive Influx of Techniques into the Vault
Stand Name—[Pseudo-Hermit Purple]. Its Stand ability is Spirit Photography.
If you were to ask if this Stand ability is strong... it is undoubtedly super strong. It requires no additional conditions, and the Stand user himself doesn't even need to know what he wants to photograph; it can directly produce information closely related to the user. In the entire JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, there are likely very few Stands as versatile.
If it weren't for the fact that [Hermit Purple]'s precision is indeed a bit lackluster—meaning when photographing information the user doesn't know, it isn't always accurate and might only produce vague clues—the third part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure probably wouldn't have lasted so many episodes.
Similarly, the reason some claim this ability isn't "strong" lies right there. Furthermore, now that Emiya Shirou has awakened the memories of his past life, he can sift through those memories for the information he needs after transmigrating without relying on [Pseudo-Hermit Purple]. Because of this, the Stand [Pseudo-Hermit Purple] hasn't been projected by Shirou in a long time.
But once something truly happens—once a situation arises that Shirou doesn't know about—[Pseudo-Hermit Purple] is absolutely the Stand he trusts the most.
Thus, in front of Gojo Satoru and the others, he used the camera to perform Spirit Photography. After producing a photo showing Mahito's appearance and another "Marauder's Map" style photo marking Mahito's current location, Shirou didn't quite understand the full context of what was happening yet. However, by comparing it with the content of his past-life memories, he naturally guessed the general gist of the situation.
"Is this the Shikigami you mentioned before, the one that allows you to perform prophecies and know so much hidden intelligence?"
Gojo Satoru, using the terminology of the Jujutsu Kaisen world to describe [Pseudo-Hermit Purple], was impressed every time he saw these Shikigami (Stands) on Shirou, even though, not being a Stand user, he couldn't actually see them.
"So the mastermind is this person... no, this Cursed Spirit."
Accepting the Spirit Photography prints and realizing his trip hadn't been in vain, Gojo patted the shoulder of Okkotsu Yuta beside him with satisfaction.
"Then, Yuta is in your hands, Emiya.
You can observe Yuta's technique for as long as you want; of course, the Domain is no problem either. However, unlike me, even though Yuta's Cursed Energy reserves are quite high, his efficiency in using that energy makes it difficult for him to open his Domain multiple times in succession.
Therefore, regarding the number of times you watch and use the Domain... I hope you can be a bit understanding, Emiya. After all, when it comes to Yuta going out on missions, a sorcerer who can use a Domain and one who cannot are completely different.
You wouldn't want Yuta to fail a mission and be unable to show you his technique again because he used his Domain too many times for you, would you?"
Even Gojo felt a bit embarrassed to look at Shirou after turning his back on him immediately after receiving a favor. But for the sake of his student, Okkotsu Yuta, Gojo still chose to pull a long face and add this restrictive condition. Fortunately, since the upper half of his face was covered by the blindfold, his embarrassment didn't show.
"Of course, to make up for your loss, Emiya, I've traveled to many places and visited many acquaintances so that Yuta could copy many techniques he hadn't copied before."
Speaking of this, the previously embarrassed Gojo immediately began to boast proudly: "I can't speak for other techniques, but most of the techniques within the school, and even among the Jujutsu Higher-ups, have already been recorded by Yuta. Whatever technique you want to see, just ask Yuta to demonstrate it for you."
Gojo wasn't lying. During his process of "physically" persuading the Jujutsu Higher-ups, he had "accidentally" obtained many of their body tissues from those he had injured.
After losing the Cursed Spirit Rika, Okkotsu Yuta, who could previously copy techniques unconditionally, reverted to having conditions for his mimicry. The condition for his copy technique just happened to be obtaining the body tissue of other sorcerers or Cursed Spirits.
Having seen Emiya Shirou—who also possessed a copy-type ability (Projection Magecraft)—and how versatile and flexible Shirou's combat was during their battle, Gojo's intended "homework" for the returned Yuta was naturally to have him familiarize himself with more techniques.
Forget the body tissues of the Higher-ups; Gojo had even used his connections to find many people, not even sparing Suguru Geto's corpse, to expand Yuta's technique vault massively. In fact, if [Pseudo-Atum]'s ability weren't so powerful—just as Shirou used Matou Zouken's soul in the Type-Moon world to suppress the rampage of the Crest Worms in Sakura's body—he also used Kenjaku's captured soul to suppress the rampage of the spirits following the death of the [Cursed Spirit Manipulation] user. Had it not been for that, the technique vault Yuta was about to expand might have been even larger.
As for whether he felt any shame in describing an arrangement originally meant for Yuta as something "specially prepared for Emiya"...
"By the way, hasn't our position reversed now?" Thinking of this, Gojo added with great interest.
"It's not that I owe you a Binding Vow, Emiya, but rather that I've prepared the reward in advance and handed it over to you—so now you're the one who owes me a Binding Vow!"
That's right, Gojo felt no shame at all! "Win-win" to him simply meant he won twice!
"So while you're playing with Yuta, remember to prepare more intelligence, Emiya!"
Before leaving, Gojo didn't forget to remind him: "Once I can't find the guy in this photo anymore, I'll be back to ask you for more info!"
Watching Gojo use [Cursed Technique Reversal: Red]—compressing spatial distance to achieve a teleport-like effect—and vanish after dropping those words, Emiya Shirou looked at Okkotsu Yuta. Yuta seemed accustomed to this and didn't say a word about being "sold out" by his teacher.
Shirou sighed from the bottom of his heart: "With a teacher like that, you guys really have it rough~~"
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