Wondertainment: "Tsukumo got done so dirty in canon
I also wonder what Adams' domain expansion would be?
anyways, peak fiction"
She did get done dirty in canon, I hope I don't do the same here. Expect her to reappear a few times throughout the story though.
Keep in mind Gojo's words.
Thank you for the compliment!
Raxon1221: "every time I see an update i get excited thinking we might get to see what you cooked up for excalibur but it hasn't come yet"
Uhh, that excitement may take a while before it's sated; currently, excalibur hasn't even made an appearance as of chapter 29 (which I'm writing right now.) My patrons voted for what it does though, so I hope it lives up to the hype!
NaraSadow: "what Grade is he now? 1?"
In the eyes of jujutsu society, he's still a grade 3.
That guest lol: "No way! Adam was first shipped off to Japan by his family and now is being shipped off to Russia by his teacher LOL! Hilarious.
We're gonna get chapters with Tsukumo to, one of my favorite culling games chareters! Damn! I'm getting exited and so hyped for the next fiew chapters.
Honestly, thank you, Author. I'm so happy to get to read theyse chapters and look forward to them. G thanks."
At least the meaning is different this time; instead of him reducing him to nothing like his family did, Gojo is sending him off so he can improve! Tsukumo plays a large role in this chapter specifically, but won't be making too many appearances until after Shibuya and during Culling Games (which I do plan on writing…somehow.)
I'm glad you're enjoying the chapters, and I hope you enjoy this one too!
"You're still not doing it correctly, make a barrier, don't just flood the area with your cursed energy in a vaguely circular shape." Adam flipped off his mentor with a scowl.
"Because I'm supposed to understand what that means; vaguely repeating the same phrases over and over again isn't teaching." He growled, settling into the stance he'd been refining for the past week.
Tsukumo stuck out a finger at him with a smirk, "as if a pipsqueak like you would know what real teaching looks like." Adam sighed in annoyance and let his energy flood the area once again. "Barrier, ba-rri-er, not circle."
"Well how about you show me again, because I'm not understanding this crap!" Adam slid out of his stance with an annoyed glare, something his mentor had said she reveled in.
"Sure, just make sure you're watching closely this time. You only have 1 week left on your time limit, so make use of it." Her right foot slid backwards, with her torso tilting to the side and her left hand connecting to her right hip like she was going to unsheathe a sword. Yuki looked to her student for confirmation to continue, and the boy nodded, watching as a circular barrier spun into existence under her feet. Its edges extended out for a couple of meters before rising into the air to create a dome around her body.
"What the hell am I doing wrong?!" Yuki looked up to see her student scratching at his head in annoyance. Suddenly, he crouched to the ground with a tight frown. "Come on, what am I doing wrong?" He snatched up a stick from nearby and began to sketch a few crude drawings into the snow.
"First off, you're only projecting cursed energy, not creating a barrier." Adam looked over to his quickly approaching mentor. "So what you're doing will not protect you from the sure hit attack from a domain." She snatched the stick out of his hand and made her own drawings. One was a stick figure in a dome, while the other was a stick figure with a bunch of arrows sprouting off of it.
"Then how can I change from one to the other? I have the intent, and I believe I have the experience to do it; just not the…oh." Adam looked up at his mentor with a tired smile. "Can you open a domain?"
Yuki stared down at him quizzically, "of course I can. I'm not going to though, if that's what you plan on asking."
"What? Why not?" Adam hopped to his feet and settled into the stance he'd been taught. "I need the skill for it." Tsukumo rolled her eyes and took a few steps back.
"You act like skill is a tangible thing; and if you were to get hit by my domain without a countermeasure up, a stringy body like yours would get crushed in an instant." Yuki replied. "Once I open my domain, any living target besides me within the barrier will experience the full weight of its surroundings."
Adam's eyes widened minutely as he began to look around. "So all of this snow…"
"Yes, you'd be crushed under the weight of over 200 tons of debris. Not only that, if I was to increase my virtual mass, that weight would also be applied to you." A smirk formed on the woman's face as she watched her student pale slightly.
Adam slumped over in defeat with a sigh, "then how the hell am I supposed to gain the skill for this?" Yuki stared at him with a confused expression, prompting him to explain. "You mean Blindfold didn't tell you about my cursed technique?"
"No, is there something I should be aware of?" Tsukumo asked in return. Adam huffed and kicked a bit of snow near his feet while thinking of how to respond.
"Nah, not really. I just need to be in a life or death situation to get any real growth. Like, I can do stuff outside of it, but my growth rate is positively insane in those scenarios." Yuki's unimpressed stare instantly told him he'd said something wrong.
"Yeah, that's kinda the reality for everyone."
"That was a really bad explanation for it; just like, I don't know, just try it." He wasn't too keen to show off his stat page, especially if his normal teacher hadn't deemed it necessary or smart to tell the woman in front of him about it. Adam slid into a fighting stance while Yuki stood across from him with a lazy smile on her face.
"So you want to fight?" Adam nodded. "And you want me to make it seem like I'll actually kill you?" The boy nodded once more. "Can you use reversed cursed technique?" Before his nod could even come out, Yuki's shin slammed into his stomach with all of the power of a racing freight train.
Adam rolled across the snow painfully for several meters, but couldn't even correct himself before he was kicked again like a football straight into the air. "If you can't.." Adam's eyes widened as he heard Yuki's voice come from behind his back.
'We're over 20 meters in the air, how the hell can she jump so high?!' He hastily reinforced his back with cursed energy before he was suddenly lifted further into the air by his clothes, allowing the woman a free shot on his unprotected stomach.
"Then maybe you'll actually die!" Her fist impacted with Adam's diaphragm painfully, causing the boy to cough up a small glob of blood before he found his throat being snatched by one of the woman's hands. "Brace yourself!" She mocked loudly, flipping backwards as her voice rang out across the frozen plains they'd chosen to train in that day. With a loud grunt, Tsukumo threw Adam straight back into the ground.
The explosion of snow and debris that followed almost reached her face as Yuki began to fall to the ground. With a quick flip, she raised one leg into the air to prepare for a devastating ax kick, empowered by several dozen kilograms of virtual mass. Her target barely managed to avoid the attack by rolling away before she made impact with the ground, causing the boy to be flung into the distance from the force. 'Was he exaggerating earlier? He made it seem like it was something special, but a phenomenon like increased growth rate under dire circumstances is incredibly normal.' Her mind flicked back to the image of Adam settling into his fighting stance before she kicked him for the first time. 'But that face…held absolute confidence.' Yuki felt her eyes widen as the boy she'd been kicking around just moments before stood up to his feet no worse for wear.
"Good, this is exactly what I need." He murmured with a smile, the words coming from his mouth barely permeated Tsukumo's ear canals as he stalked forward.
'Is he insane? I felt his ribs crack when I punched him earlier! Even with reversed cursed technique, that pain would be unbearable for a 15 year old kid!' Yuki watched the boy's approach carefully, eyeing the calm smile on his face with no small amount of suspicion.
"Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
'He's setting up a veil? Why?' As the barrier melted into the ground, a second one was immediately erected within the first. 'A second?' Once again, the chant left the boy's lips quietly, causing a third barrier to drop down. "What are you doing?" Yuki asked.
Adam stopped his chanting momentarily to look at his mentor's face. "Like I said, I improve most when in life or death scenarios. 2, 3, no maybe even 5 times faster than other people; and that same rule applies to my cursed technique." Another barrier dropped over the field of snow, this time without even having been chanted. "See? Just now I reached the point where my barrier can maintain half of its strength without a chant, another 30 or so levels and I'll be able to make that full strength. Maybe at its max level, it'll evolve, or maybe I'll be able to create a barrier 2 times stronger than usual."
'He's…' Yuki narrowed her eyes dangerously. "What the hell are you talking about? I don't know if it's the blood loss causing this, or the adrenaline going too far into your head, but life isn't some video game." Much to her surprise, Adam smiled and raised a hand. Thousands of bright blue fibers shot out from his palm and raked across the ground, clearing out a wide circular area around him without snow.
"That's where you're wrong; for me, it is." Adam's strings dissipated into the air as he slid into the stance Yuki had been pushing into him for the better part of a week. "With my barrier creation skill all leveled up now. No, you know what, I might not even need this."
'Is he…gloating?' Yuki watched Adam stand back up to his full height, the small smile on his face looking almost feral as cursed energy spun to life below him.
"New shadow style: Simple domain." A perfect mimicry of Yuki's preferred domain countermeasure fizzled into existence around the boy's body, reaching just barely over 30 cm away from him. Adam seemed to notice this, as he looked down and shrugged. "That'll increase with levels." His strides towards his mentor continued again, causing the woman's eyes to widen even further.
'He's…moving?' One of the core weaknesses to the art of simple domain, or any domain countermeasure really, was the way it forced the user to stand still while they focused on defense. 'Only someone with a second brain or some crazy kind of multitasking ability would be able to do something like that.' Suddenly, the boy's attention was caught by something invisible on his left.
"Oh hey, I'm level 39 now. That makes 45 skill points in the bank." Adam's finger reached out and tapped the air a few times before he exhaled a content sigh. "Perfect, something easy for my final level." He looked towards his mentor as the barriers around the area and his own body faded. "I'm running just below a 10th of my reserves."
At once, all of the adrenaline dropped out of the duo's bodies as they sighed. Yuki had a proud smile on her face while Adam wore a satisfied grin as he stared into a blank space in the air. "Sooooo, what're you looking at?" Adam looked at her questioningly despite the obvious reason for the question sitting on the corner of his vision. "While you were walking over, you kept talking about a bunch of crazy stuff."
"Oh!" Adam laughed. "Visualizer, on." A bright blue screen shimmered into existence in front of his eyes. Yuki drifted towards her student silently, curling around his abc to peer over his head. "As you can see, I wasn't lying earlier." A wide grin formed on the boy's face as he glanced back at his teacher. "Life is a bit of a game for me." Yuki scowled at the boy before smacking him over the head with her fist. "What the hell was that for!?"
"For not telling me how your stupid technique works!" She winded up a kick and slammed it into the boy's backside. "Now activate it ten more times, hold each rep for 20 seconds before letting go." Yuki turned away and started trudging off, "if you can finish before we get to the bar, I'll buy you a drink."
"I feel like I've been scammed." Adam had a smug grin on his face as he sipped on the beer his teacher had bought him. "You weren't supposed to win, now I look like a bad teacher!" With her head slumped on the table, Yuki continued to whine about her loss.
'The first bet I've won.' Adam thought smugly, staring down at the orange colored liquid encased in the bottle he'd been gifted. 'A sucker's bet, sure, but a bet all the same.'
"How the hell was I supposed to know that your skills don't cause any stress on your brain?" Yuki bemoaned once again. Adam stuck his tongue out at the woman mockingly, earning a groan in response.
Several drinks later and Adam was watching his mentor curl around a bottle like it was her long lost sibling. He was still nestling his long empty bottle while the woman said random phrases to the logo on the front of the glass. "Heyyy, kiiiiid." Adam sighed and brought his attention back to the woman who was supposed to be his mentor.
"Yeah?"
"What do you think about jujutsu society?" She slurred. Adam blinked owlishly at the change in topic.
"Uhh, I haven't really thought much about it." Adam replied awkwardly. "I've mainly been focused on improving my strength and stuff."
"Ohhh…" Tsukumo said slowly. "I think it's all dumb…" Her eyes drooped slightly as she let out a low yawn. "What do you think the job of a sorcerer is?"
"To protect people from curses by exorcizing them." Adam replied after a few moments of thought.
"Be more specific, why do curses exist?" Yuki asked tiredly.
"People's negative emotions, and because they can't control cursed energy." His slow reply brought out a nod from the woman sitting in the booth chair opposite him.
"I want to stop curses from existing…jujutsu society as it stands is just putting a bandaid over a wound too big to fix without surgery." Yuki drawled.
"Are you sure this is a topic you want to discuss while you're shitfaced?" The blonde woman nodded again, the action being as unconvincing as humanly possible without just being a straight faced lie. "Well…I agree in any case. It'd be better if curses didn't exist at all, but that's impossible. Jujutsu society exists across the globe, but one player in Japan isn't going to be able to change much."
"Mmm, a revolution only needs one person to start though…I wouldn't mind having some others to help though." Yuki mumbled. "What're your goals as a sorcerer?"
"I…" Adam paused for a few moments to think. "I'm fighting to protect innocent people right now…but I'd be lying if I said that was my goal." The boy stared into his bottle with a frown, "I'm fighting because it's the right thing to do; the people themselves don't really matter to me, because I don't think I'll ever meet someone that would've died without my intervention. I used to fight for something else, or at least I tried to before I realized it was dumb." He looked up to see his mentor frowning towards him.
"Why don't you just quit? There's no point in putting your life on the line for something you don't care about." Her drooping eyes scanned the boy up and down before a sigh escaped her lips. "But that doesn't feel right to you, does it?"
Adam laughed slightly in response. "Yeah, you're right. I have the strength to protect and help others, so it's my responsibility to do so."
"Why do they matter?" Yuki's frown only deepened as she began to sober up. "Why do they matter when you're the one putting your life on the line? I'm a special grade sorcerer, and I don't take a single mission because I don't want to, simple as that."
"I'm not you. Simple as that." Adam responded harshly.
"Then what do you want, forget about everyone else for a second and all of this 'power means responsibility' crap and think about it." Yuki instantly retorted. Her body posture became slightly more rigid as she sat straight back up and stretched.
The boy across from her slumped in his chair slightly, "was this your plan all along? To have me spill my guts after filling me with alcohol?"
"1 beer is hardly filling, but I must ask, is it working?" A teasing smirk danced across her lips for a moment before Adam nodded tiredly. "Then think, why do you want to be a jujutsu sorcerer?"
"Haha, why…" Adam looked up at the roof lights with a frown. "Ever since I was younger, I've been pushed to become one by my family, since that's the profession they chose. Nowadays, I can't really imagine myself as anything else."
"That's not what you said before." Yuki pointed out with a smile.
Adam laughed dryly in response, "I guess it isn't." He exhaled deeply and tilted his head down to face his mentor. "Sorcerers are a hypocritical breed, after all." Silence filled the booth for several moments while Yuki waited for her student to continue. "I want to have a family, people I can rely on and protect with all of my strength." The words almost came out in a whisper, but it was as if they were being shouted straight into Yuki's ears with the weight behind them.
"Hmm, well why do you have to be a sorcerer for that?" She asked quickly. Adam laughed before shrugging.
"I guess I just don't want to keep things hidden from my family, cursed energy would be such a pain to hide, after all." Adam closed his eyes to imagine it for a moment before feeling his hair being messed up. "Hey!"
Yuki laughed at the boy's shout before retrieving her hand faster than he could grab it. "Too slow!" She chirped, sitting back to watch the boy fix his unruly white hair before continuing. "That's a good reason to fight, I like it. Is there anyone you consider family so far?"
"I think so…" Adam replied, trailing off as his thoughts wandered elsewhere momentarily. "Fushigoro is like a twin brother, somebody who understands me like no one else. Gojo is also like a brother to me, like a rich one who only comes around once in a while during Christmas." Yuki snickered at the boy's active imagination while he continued. "Ijichi reminds me of a hard working uncle, one that works his ass off but always finds time to visit over the weekends."
Yuki laughed for a few moments before speaking, "I wonder if I'll ever have a spot in your 'family' one day."
Adam shrugged and leaned even further into his seat. "Maybe one day, there could be an aunt position waiting just for you." With his face tilted towards the ceiling, he couldn't see Yuki blush slightly at the response before she began to laugh again.
"That sounds perfect." She replied, holding back another laugh as she slid out of her booth and headed to the register.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please stay seated while the plane is landing. We will announce when you can begin to disembark." A familiar boy with silver hair slid off his headphones before glaring at the speaker at the end of the hall.
He huffed in annoyance before sliding the devices back on, "they ruined my nap." He murmured, shifting back into a more comfortable position and closing his eyes.
Not a moment later was he interrupted by another announcement over the intercom. "We have now landed, please take your baggage and exit the plane in an orderly manner." The attendant's staticy voice rebounded around the cabin, leaving mayhem in its wake.
People rushed for their things, some even hopping over others in order to grab their luggage from the overhead space. The silver-haired boy groaned in annoyance when a baby began to cry from all of the sudden noise.
After the first group left, he straightened out his black shirt, being careful not to tug out the golden pin sitting next to his left pec. He scowled in annoyance as his black jujutsu high issued coat caught under the seat, stopping him from leaving. With a tug, it unraveled itself and allowed him to leave; Though the boy silently waited for the rest of the passengers to get off so he could take his luggage without issue.
When he was finally alone, he flicked open the overhead cabinet and grabbed out a black golf bag with a spearhead poking through the zipper. Said spearhead was colored a bright orange and had a curved prong on either side of the blade, presumably to stop the victims from getting closer after being impaled. After slinging the bag over his back with a flourish, the boy left the plane quickly so as not to waste anymore time, his excitement for seeing his friends almost palpable as he scrambled out of the plane doors.
He slinked past the airport security without any difficulties, mingling in with the other new arrivals as he made his way towards terminal 3, where his ride should be located. The boy ignored the weird looks he received at the spearhead poking from his bag, instead choosing to look for a board with his name on it.
That's when he spots his name written out in hastily, and poorly, scribbled English, he'd probably have to get used to that. He walks towards the man holding the board, looking him up and down. "Sup, Ijichi!" Adam high fived the man with a wide grin, something he seemed surprised he'd even reciprocated in.
The duo quickly made their way outside, with Adam placing his weapons in the trunk before hopping into the front seat. "Not so often I get to sit here, huh?" Ijichi laughed in reply before nodding. "How's Fushigoro doing?"
"Ah, he's been wrapped up in missions ever since you left." Ijichi chuckled, "he didn't want to let you get ahead with the training you were doing, something about you getting a big head." The man flicked down the visor above his head to block out the late afternoon sun.
"Wow, how rude." Adam said with a laugh. Ijichi let out a stray chuckle of his own before they both lapsed into casual conversation regarding their lives over the past half a month.
As they pulled into the car port Ijichi had become most used to, he asked one final question as they left the vehicle. "Where's Tsukumo off to next?"
"Africa, apparently. She said something about linking up with Okkotsu for some training before she'd come back here. Ah, she also said she'd come and visit before this year's goodwill event."
"That's good to hear." Ijichi clicked open the trunk of his car and handed the bag off to Adam. "So now that you've seen Russian architecture, do you still think these buildings are the best you've seen?" He asked.
Adam fell in line with him as they began to make their way towards the pagoda to meet with the principal. "Definitely! The Russian stuff was so bland and boring, totally different to here." The boy glanced around at the walls and buildings surrounding them with a small smile. "I wish we had snow here though, it was cold, but fun."
"Hmmm, that would be nice. Maybe every once in a while, like during Christmas." Ijichi saw Adam's eyes widen in recognition as he moved slightly faster than before.
"That'd be nice." He replied happily. "I want to drop off my weapons first, can we stop past the dorms?" Ijichi shrugged disinterestedly before following the boy as he turned the corner to head towards the dorm buildings.
Without a care in the world, Adam flicked off his shoes at the building's borders and walked inside, passing through the lengthy corridors of the dormitory before stopping outside of his room. He couldn't hear Fushigoro's footsteps, so he assumed the boy was out on a job or was returning from one. Adam quickly unzipped his bag before putting his weapons on their respective racks and returning to the front of the building where Ijichi was waiting. "Have you got everything?" The man asked.
"Yeah, I was just dropping off my weapons." Adam replied quickly. "Ah, thanks." He immediately added afterwards, realizing Ijichi had fixed up his thrown off shoes while he was inside; the man merely waved him off with a smile before starting his walk to the pagoda.
With the sunset heating up their backs, Adam and Ijichi entered the pagoda with smiles on their faces. Principal Yaga was once again sitting on his large stack of dolls, as the man often did when he didn't have a scheduled meeting that was reserved for his office. "Hello." Adam greeted, bowing slightly in order to hide the faint blush on his face caused by the accent that still plagued him.
"Good evening." Yaga replied in Japanese. "It's good to see you back, Adam, I'm assuming your training went well?"
"Yes sir." Adam bowed once again.
"Good to hear, please enjoy your evening." Adam quickly left the room while Ijichi stayed behind to finish his own business. Once the boy was out of earshot, a certain white haired sorcerer waltzed out of the shadows like he owned the place. "Did you see that, Satoru?"
"Hmmm, I think so." Gojo had a hand tucked under his chin and a smile on his face, much to Ijichi's confusion.
"See what? Am I missing something?"
"He's grown a lot." Yaga commented, completely ignoring Ijichi's questions.
"I know, right?" Gojo laughed. "When he first came here, I honestly expected him to pick homelessness over sorcery, now he's gone and become a full fledged sorcerer all on his own."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, he still has much to learn. 3 years will be more than enough for that." Yaga replied calmly.
"Is this something only strong sorcerers can see? What did I miss?"
"That fire in his eyes, I might actually have my work cut out for me!" Gojo laughed. He let out a happy sigh before clapping his hands and disappearing from the room.
"Welcome back." Adam glanced to his left to see Fushigoro approaching with a soft smile on his face.
The white haired boy raised his hand and met his friend's in a loud high five, "good to be back. Did you just come from a mission?"
"Yeah, a bit ago; I was actually coming here to ask when you were flying in." As soon as his words were spoken, 3 blue curses leapt out from his hair and onto Adam's shoulder. "You said you were worried about the cold for them, but I think they would've preferred to go with you anyway."
Adam shrugged in response, simultaneously allowing his curses to climb back into his hair with the action. "They can come next time, after they eat enough to grow."
Fushigoro nodded with a smirk, "you still have 2 more days until your cooking bet is up." Adam sighed tiredly before shuffling after his quickly retreating friend. "You know what? I'll cook tonight."
"Yes!" Adam cheered, quickly speeding past his friend on the path. "I'm going to head to the showers, you better make something good!" The boy quickly turned a corner and left Fushigoro's line of sight. A small smile formed on the black haired boy's face as he began to follow the path his friend took to get to their dorms.
"Why did I even offer?"
Reviews are greatly appreciated!
Question for this week, what would you like to see Adam learn as 'skills'?
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