Satoru vanished abruptly, leaving me to fend for myself in the forest that was overrun with cursed spirits. Within moments of his departure, five low-leveled spirits pounced on me from all directions, revealing that Satoru was the only thing keeping them at bay previously.
Despite feeling unusually sluggish, I managed to dodge each of the spirits' attacks with much more effort than I usually needed. The corners of my lips lifted in a smile as adrenaline pumped through my veins, but that excitement was short-lived as I felt a sharp stinging pain in my left arm. I looked down to see what appeared to be a sharp object protruding from my limb.
A cursed spirit resembling a mosquito had pierced my arm with its proboscis.
"I'm already injured," I scolded myself for my overconfidence. "Two minutes in, and I let my guard down." With a flick of my wrist, I activated my gravitational cursed energy and obliterated all the spirits within a 6-meter radius, reducing them to nothing but a pool of blood.
"Shit," I muttered under my breath as I watched the blood flow out of the wound in my arm, similar to steam escaping from a geyser. I rushed deeper into the forest, not wasting a moment to tear a strip of cloth from my shirt and wrap it tightly around my arm to slow the bleeding.
I was forced to admit that Satoru was right, as much as it pained me to do so. Despite my increasing cursed energy and strength, I had neglected actual combat proficiency, relying too heavily on my raw power.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" I yelled in a hushed tone, cradling my arm as the pain pulsed through it. "If I survive this, I'm going to kill you, Satoru!"
I quickly assessed my injury, looking around warily as I searched for any signs of danger. I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized that there were no curses in the immediate vicinity. The attack I had launched earlier had drained nearly a fourth of my cursed energy.
Avoiding combat was absolutely necessary.
My relief was short-lived.
My eyes shot open and the hairs on my body rose with alarm as I realized a cursed spirit was lurking just 15 meters away. Had the penalty taken away my ability to sense curses?
As I stood facing the Curse, its inky tendrils reached out towards me, in an attempt to entrap me within its grasp.
The curse itself wasn't all that big.
In fact, it wasn't big at all. It was simply a blackball bearing a wide, sinister smile.
As a set pattern of attacks came rushing towards me, I used my agility to deftly dodge and weave through them, avoiding each attack with ease. However, just as I approached the Cursed spirit, another burst out from the grove behind it. This new curse was larger and more imposing, with the head of an anglerfish and a body resembling that of a crocodile, though its skin was incredibly smooth.
Instinctually, I coated my body in cursed energy, bracing for the impact that came just a second later.
I felt my cursed barrier do little to shield me as I was launched into the air well above the ground. I tumbled and spun, my vision blurring for a moment as I desperately tried to regain my balance in mid-air. When my sight cleared, I locked eyes with the Curse as it raced towards the spot where it expected me to land.
"So it's come to this," I muttered to myself, feeling the danger of the situation. I could see the determination in the Cursed's eyes, and I knew that I needed to act fast if I was to survive this encounter. With a fierce determination of my own, I focused a good portion of my energy into my body a move that would surely cause my death if it missed the assailant. without a second thought, I increased the gravity upon my body and shot down towards the curse like a missile
several tendrils lurched towards me and I let out a breath of realization as i took notice of the other curses survival.
Fucking hell.
This was far from a desirable outcome.
The charge attack I had prepared was significantly weakened as our two bodies collided, and I found myself landing atop the much larger Cursed.
It was evident to me that brute force alone would lead to my death, so without hesitation, I used the moment of my reorientation to flee for my life. Dodging and weaving through the obstacles in my path, I stumbled upon a clearing and decided to take a moment to assess my surroundings, rather than blindly running into more dangers.
I remembered what Satoru had told me about the Cursed: "The weaker a Cursed spirit is, the more they tend to group up." I couldn't help but curse him under my breath for his involvement in this. Despite my reservations, I couldn't deny that this experience was testing my skills and fortitude.
As I sat down, trying to catch my breath and assess the situation, I couldn't shake the feeling of having grown rusty whilst being bedridden.
No even before that, the rapid power growth had left me lacking in the important skills and knowledge that other Jujutsu sorcerers had picked up earlier on. This harsh self-assessment was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was the truth.
From just behind me, trees toppled over and several explosions went off just behind me, making it all the more clear that this was no ordinary forest. Curses only existed in places of malice and if forests were truly this dangerous, it would be impossible for Jujutsu sorcerers to keep their existence hidden from civilians.
"A testing ground, maybe?" I muttered to myself, still wary of my surroundings
"I cautiously approached the water, carefully observing my surroundings to ensure I wouldn't be caught off guard again.
I had depleted less than half of my cursed energy and still had 20 hours remaining, but with enough rest, I could replenish it.
"Besides there's no way Satoru-san would be so cruel as to make things difficult and have spirits attack his only NEPHEW at night" I yelled out the last part truly hoping my concerns would reach him.
Unfortunately, fate was a cruel mistress and Satoru Gojo never failed at being an intolerable ass and decided that having these spirits hunt me down would occur throughout the night.
000
"Enjoy, your time?" Satoru said with a wide grin.
My normally unkempt hair was looking far worse than usual as twigs and leafs stuck out of my hair. I looked like a human that had interacted with civilization for the first time and Satoru grinned smugly as he snapped pictures of me in preparation to send them to the others.
"It was great, I suppose," I said through gritted teeth. If not for Satoru's infinity, I would have already tried pummeling him to the ground, even if it meant the end of my own life.
"Good to hear," Satoru said. "You'll have a shower, a day of rest, and then we'll up the difficulty."
My jaw slackened at the thought of more training. "Another 24 hours?" I asked.
"Jujutsu sorcerers have to be ready for anything," Satoru explained casually. "Three days a week, you'll have ten hours of training. Sundays are reserved for 24-hour training sessions."
"Why 24 hours? That's too long!" I yelled.
"Jujutsu sorcerers have to be prepared for anything," Satoru repeated. "And if I recall correctly, I'm not the one constantly being hunted."
Sighing, I gave in and Satoru gave me a reassuring smile. "This isn't because I hate you. It's because I care about you, understand?" he said.
"Yeah, yeah," I waved off his words as we left the forest.
I wasn't looking forward to the training, not in the slightest
...but I'd be lying if I said wasn't eager to see the results.