Thank you for the reviews!

Guest: "Ah yes, obligatory daddy issues."

Of course there are, what kind of fic would it be without random bullshit?!

Jacobgrey: "Is Adam's system a full gamer system or is it nerfed to not be broken."

Nerfed, 100%. He's got an inventory he doesn't use right now, skills he gains at random, and stat points he chooses not to use in order to not make him overpowered too quickly.

Jacobgrey: "Nice story with an interesting premise so far I'm looking forward to your next chapters"

Thank you! I'm enjoying writing this story as well, so I hope you stick with me for the long run!

After his talk with Fushigoro the month prior, Adam began to slowly get closer to his black haired comrade. They shared stories from their childhood, or in Adam's case, things he learnt from within the confines of his room. They hung out often, even if their hangouts often ended with Fushigoro giving Adam an impromptu Japanese lesson while Adam gave him some notes on English; rarely, Gojo would pop in and assist with them, often tagging on playful insults with each of his lessons.

Another development that had occurred was the rapid development in Adam's skill in the jujutsu arts, which helped his cursed tendrils carry far more of a payload without snapping; he often used them as bindings in order to control unruly curses before exterminating them. He hadn't gained any new skills, listed ones, but the levels of the ones he did have increased greatly, along with his stats, which he still refused to invest in.

-STATUS-

Name: Adam Revine

Age: 15

Level: 24

Occupation: Student

Health: 210/210

Cursed Energy: 310/310

Stamina: 220/220

-Stats-

Health: 11

Strength: 8

Cursed Energy: 30

Endurance: 12

Charisma: 6

Unspent points: 90

-Skills-

Cursed energy manipulation [2/100]

Cursed tendril [13/100]

-Inventory-

The increase in his stats proved Gojo's theory that they reflected his physical status, which only made the stat points part of his cursed technique more confusing. Was it based on some sort of binding vow system that he wasn't aware of? What were the requirements to learn skills? He'd used different things during training, but none of them had drawn out skills; did that mean that certain things didn't create them?

So far, his leading theory was that skills would only form via distinct new abilities, or during a life or death battle. He wanted to lean towards the prior option, but the latter seemed much more likely. He hadn't been in any real dangerous battles since the vengeful cursed spirit, his lack of experience barring him from attending higher ranking missions, but that would change soon.

"Hey, hey! What's up my little pupils?" Gojo strode into the classroom with a wide smile on his face, one that was not mirrored by either of his students. The strongest sorcerer twirled around, magically procuring a manila folder from his side and holding it out. As per tradition, Fushigoro took it from the man with a frown before pushing his deck next to Adam's so they could look it over. "That one there has the potential to be a pretty big fish." A knowing glance was sent Adam's way, and the boy rolled his eyes in response.

He still hated his cursed technique, feelings like that weren't quick to fade, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't interested in gaining new skills. Especially since they seemed to have an effect on their performance. For instance, his cursed tendrils; experience played a part in improving his use of them, of course, but there always seemed to be a massive jump in skill or output with each new level gained.

At level one, it was a simple strand of energy that could attach to surfaces and act as a pivot point for movement. At level two, the strand thickened and became durable enough to bind one of Fushigoro's dogs for a short time. At level three, the adhesion grew much stronger, allowing him to swing around like a budget Spider-man. Several other improvements followed those as he leveled up the skill.

Another theory that carried some merit was the one that levels would rise far quicker when in mortal danger, along the same lines as skill formation. They hadn't been able to test that theory for the same reasons as the previous one, until now.

"A construction site?" Fushigoro asked, looking up at his teacher for confirmation.

"Correct! Their workers have been getting injured mysteriously, animal based wounds, like bite marks and such. Of course, we know this is the work of a vengeful cursed spirit." Gojo turned towards the blackboard, procuring a stick of chalk out of another random part of his body. "You remember how they're formed, correct?"

"When people are infected by a cursed spirit, or have a significant amount of cursed energy, and are killed with regrets via non-cursed means." Fushigoro replied, using a textbook answer as he usually did.

"Right! So the situation is basically this: an activist wandered onto a construction site without protective gear and sat down in front of a steam roller in order to stop the production of the building they were working on. The driver didn't see them, and the activist was crushed to death. After this, 'invisible' animals have been attacking the workers and preventing them from continuing." The blackboard was now covered in a sketch of the building site, a long, but thick line separating it from the forest next to it.

"Hmm, alright." Adam looked over to Fushigoro with a questioning gaze. "Are we still doing that subjugation test later?"

"For Orochi? Sure." Fushigoro had made plans with Adam in order to test out how close he could come to subjugating the large snake shikigami, the fourth shikigami related to his cursed technique. When Fushigoro originally arrived at Jujutsu Tech, he'd already subjugated the rabbits, the toad, and Nue; named Datto, Gama, and Nue respectively. Orochi, the snake, was next on the chopping block.

With the subjugations able to be done in any order, Fushigoro had taken time to decide on the order in which he would subjugate the shikigami of his technique. The divine dogs came with the technique automatically, and they were a huge help in tearing up the toad. Gama was perfect for defeating Datto; using its tongue to pull out the main beast so it could be defeated. Datto was used to great effect in distracting Nue while the divine dogs hid inside of the horde, escaping before lightning could strike. So his next plan was to use Nue as a support for his divine dogs against Orochi. Things had gone perfectly so far, but Fushigoro refused to take any chances when it came to his technique; the horror stories from Gojo only cemented that fact.

"We'll head out soon, I have something to prepare first." Adam closed the file in front of him, sliding it towards Fushigoro before leaving the room. Gojo called out to him before he reached the door, reminding him that his Japanese assignment was due the next morning.

Gojo hummed in acknowledgement before turning back to Fushigoro, "how's your sister doing?" The black haired boy frowned, standing up from his desk and handing the folder back to his mentor.

"Not any better, but she's been stable." He replied with a sigh. Gojo flicked the boy's forehead with a smirk.

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of the situation." His mentor said reassuringly, taking on the slightly caring tone he usually did when it came to the Fushigoro children. Fushigoro huffed, smiling inwardly as he left the room.

Despite how annoying the strongest sorcerer could be, Fushigoro couldn't bear to hate him. He'd taken care of him and his sister, sponsored their education, covered all of their medical bills and other expenses, while also allowing them to maintain healthy social lives. He also didn't try to replace their parents, which Fushigoro was thankful for, but he thinks that Gojo just had no interest in being a parent to them anyway.

Bringing his thoughts back to the day's plans, Fushigoro headed towards the pagoda in order to notify the principal of the track field's usage. The second years were still on their mission in Okinawa, so they wouldn't be back for at least a week. "Speaking of which…I don't think Adam has met any of them." Megumi sighed quietly at the potential conflicts that would occur.

In his experience so far, Adam seemed to be a serious individual that held great respect for strong, or hard working people; a perplexing thought, since most sorcerers kept to themselves or put down others for the most part. Ijichi was the greatest example of that though, considering the man probably couldn't beat a pair of fly heads in a fight, but had still managed to earn Adam's respect. In that regard he'd probably get along well with Maki, the fact he used cursed tools only adding onto that. Inumaki would probably get along well with him, despite the fact he never talked; both seemed to enjoy being in another's presence rather than having to actually talk to them.. 'On the other hand though…' Fushigoro pushed open the doors to the principal's office with a frown, 'he might try to beat the stuffing out of Panda.'

"Hm?" Yaga looked up from his desk, where he had been stitching up a new doll instead of doing his paperwork. "Is there a complication with your assigned mission, Fushigoro?"

"No, nothing like that." Fushigoro scratched the back of his head; the principal always managed to make him antsy. "I will be using the track field in order to subjugate a new shikigami this afternoon."

"Of course. Good luck." The principal kept his response short before waving the boy off, only to stop him before he could fully exit the doorway. "Can you please deliver this to Adam?" Yaga reached under his desk and procured a letter. "I'm not sure if he will want it, but it's from his family." Fushigoro gently took the letter and tucked it into his pocket.

"Why would they send him something?" Fushigoro muttered to himself. Yaga seemed to have heard it by the way he glanced up at the boy.

"They said it was something regarding his mother." Yaga said simply, finishing the conversation as he returned to stitching up his doll. Fushigoro hummed in thought before bowing and making his way from the building.

'Now I just need to find him.' He headed towards the dorms first, finding nothing but an empty room with his weapons on their racks. Next place to check was the lane of vending machines near the track field, but he wasn't there either. The boy eventually gave up and summoned one of his dogs in to track him, which led to the predicament he found himself in next. Sitting at the top of the staircase entrance to the school was Adam; watching the morning sun with a blank stare. "Are you…smoking?"

Adam frowned, turning his head slightly to meet Fushigoro's gaze. "Yes?" The divine dog huffed before returning to Fushigoro's shadow. "Is it a problem?"

"I mean…" The black haired boy shrugged, "have you received permission to do so?"

Adam nodded with a smirk. "I always have one for Mother's day, kind of a way to connect to her." Despite his limited connection with the woman, Adam seemed to carry a surprising amount of knowledge about what his mother was like as a person. As such, Fushigoro knew she was a heavy smoker; pack a day type, if what Adam said was to be believed.

"Right…well this is regarding her, apparently." Fushigoro reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter he had received from the principal. "Your family sent this over, and the principal gave it to me to deliver." Adam took a long drag of his cancer stick before stamping it into the ground and letting out a cloudy breath. He took it from Fushigoro's hand before using his nails to tear off the wax seal that held the object closed.

"To, Adam. As our contract with your maternal lineage has expired, you are hereby stripped of the 'Revine' name." The boy closed his eyes, rubbing on either side of his nose to cover up the few tears that had formed.

"Are you sure you want to continue reading this out to me?" Fushigoro said calmly. He couldn't help but feel he had intruded on something, but the boy didn't seem to mind as he turned around and returned to his seat at the top of the stairs. After a few moments of the boy not continuing, Fushigoro spoke again. "You said you didn't really care about them anymore…"

Adam sighed, clenching the letter tightly within his hands. "I don't…really. It's just that the contract lasted until one of my parents died. I'm sure my old man is probably kicking."

"That means…" Fushigoro frowned, "your mother passed." He barely waited a moment before adding, "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't worry about it." The letter only crumpled further as a scowl grew on the boy's face. "There's still more though." A shallow huff of breath escaped his throat as he unfurled the thoroughly folded page and began to read. "As a part of your mother's will…what?" Fushigoro looks at the boy with furrowed brows, only to see a smile forming on Adam's face; it wasn't one of happiness or glee, but one of genuine bewilderment and confusion. "I-Here, read for yourself."

Fushigoro felt his eyebrows raise as his pupils traced the text that outlined the objects received as part of the will. It barely came out as a whisper, but he couldn't help but feel like the name could be heard for miles.

"I feel like an overpowered character in an anime." Adam chuckled, reaching into his jacket and pulling out another cigarette.

"Where did you even get those from?" Fushigoro asked, handing the note back over to his classmate.

Adam hummed in thought for a moment before bringing out a lighter from his pocket and setting the cigarette alight. "Would you believe me if I told you that the nurse gave them to me?"

"Yes." Fushigoro sighed, resting his head in his hands. "Yes, I would."

"Good, because that's what happened." Adam laughed, turning around towards the dorms. "We should go pick up our gear, I don't feel like fighting a snake in the dark." Fushigoro snorted, but shuffled after the boy with a smile.

They reached the jobsite at 2 pm, Adam making sure to leave not a single scratch on Ijichi's car when grabbing his weapons. Gojo stood nearby with a smirk, watching his two students strategise while Ijichi began preparations for the veil.

"Since there have been animal bites, we can assume the cursed spirit has access to at least one shikigami." Fushigoro held a hand to his chin in thought. Adam tapped the handle of his spear against his shoulder, keeping the tip far away from anyone.

"Since there were dozens of different marks though, we can assume the spirit is either a shapeshifter, or has dozens of shikigami." The white haired boy huffed in annoyance. Crowd control was not one of his specialties. "If the latter is the case, I'll take care of the main spirit while you support me." Fushigoro nodded in agreement, just as the void colored liquid divided them from the rest of the world. "Since Ijichi finished, I guess we can start properly investigating." The white haired boy began to walk away at the end of his statement, Fushigoro following close behind with his two demon dogs summoned.

With the shade of the veil covering the entirety of the construction site, what was once a bustling workplace almost seemed like a ghost town. Large concrete pipes left strewn across the dirt ground, small benches with tools scattered haphazardly between them like whoever had once tried to make use of them left in a panic. Devoid of human presence, the construction site had gained an eerie aura, presenting what could only be described as a deep rooted anxiety within anybody who dared to enter.

Adam's fingers dug into the edge of a wooden pallet as he lifted himself onto the pile of construction supplies. They'd previously been used as platforms for product, but now only served as obstacles for the spiritual investigators. With a short breath, the white haired boy engaged with his senses, staring down the dirt expanse that surrounded them. "I can't see any residuals around…when was the last time anybody worked?"

"Over a week ago, so it makes sense that there are no traces." Fushigoro answered, vaulting onto the stack of pallets they'd decided to perch from. His dogs, which had yet to sense anything either, bounded after him. "Try luring it with your cursed energy."

Adam readily obliged, his body exploding in a bright blue glow that lit up any surface within several meters of him. While the boy focused on reigning in the unruly aura, Fushigoro kept his eyes peeled for any changes in the environment. Despite his keen senses, he barely noticed the shifting of leaves before a small brown object was sent flying towards Adam with the force of a rocket. "Kuro!" The black dog immediately leapt into action, tearing the projectile out of the air with its maw before landing back on the wooden platform.

Without needing to be told, Kuro dropped the spoil onto the ground in front of its master. Fushigoro knelt down, scanning the object with his eyes several times before looking at his teammate. "It's a squirrel. Barely a grade 4 spirit."

"So I guess that means…" Fushigoro nodded at the unfinished response, eyes zeroing back on the forest. Several meters of concrete had separated the two sites, and two dozen more between the wall and the duo, yet the animal hadn't lost a single modicum of force while traveling. "We should move quickly, we're sitting squirrels up here." Fushigoro groaned at the horrible pun, but quickly slipped off the pallet and returned to ground level.

Adam was about to follow before another brown projectile was sent rocketing towards him. The boy twisted to the side, barely dodging the flying animal before it rebounded off of a nearby wall and hit him in the side of the head. Fushigoro's eyes widened in shock as his white wolf caught his teammate before he could hit the ground. Before he could ask what happened, he was forced to leap backwards as several more projectiles peppered the ground in front of him. Without sparing a second to recover, the missed projectiles flew towards Adam. "Watch out!" Fushigoro yelled out, before putting both of his arms instinctually to guard against the backhand that was sent his way.

The white haired boy, still dazed from what had most definitely been a concussion, hastily reached for his bag, tearing the spear through the zipper in time to block half a dozen squirrels from mauling him.

Now that they were close, Adam was able to spot a few not so minute differences between the shikigami and the normal animal. Their eyes were a dull, light green color that illuminated their face slightly, like the light of a match. Another difference was their coat, patchy and gray like the hair had been torn off in rough handfuls by a particularly rabid sadist; disgusting, hive covered skin laid below, black as the darkest tar one could imagine. Before the boy could note any other differences, the animals began to move their teeth, trying to bite through the handle of his favored weapon. With a mighty twist, he tossed the shikigami away into a wall; dark colored blood splashed across the concrete like discarded paint. Quickly spinning around again, Adam turned towards the forest, trying to spot their attacker. "The veil certainly isn't doing us any favors." He murmured quietly; due to the innate nature of barriers like veils, only a sliver of light could permeate through without the use of talismans or binding vows. It was like they were walking through a street without any streetlights to guide them, things like branches and walls were just barely visible, while people were unrecognizable unless you got close enough. "We need to get in close!" Adam announced, glancing to the side where the silhouette he could assume was Fushigoro was walking towards him.

"That's obvious." Fushigoro's voice came out in a garbled mess, almost as if it was being handled by somebody who didn't know how to use an audio mixer. In an instant, the figure was forced to weave out of the way of a spear head being launched towards its ribcage. "Adam?"

"Oh, so you're a smart fucker?" Adam's face hardened into a challenging scowl as he got into a stance. "I'm assuming you won't tell me where you put Broodgoro?" Surprisingly, the spirit seemed to understand and pointed towards the forest. Adam's smile only widened as he charged forward, throwing his spear forward with immense force. The spirit weaved again, opening its mouth to reveal a bright green glow.

The body of a human, decayed skin flaking off of its corroded bones to reveal faintly glowing organs the color of the night sky. It had barely any clothing to speak of, the residual fabric of a pair of purple tracksuit pants being the only sign the spirit had worn clothes to begin with. Usually, curses would adopt a more feral look as they formed, especially vengeful cursed spirits, which couldn't control their energy due to the raw emotions swirling within them, yet this one seemed different; less than a fifth of its body wasn't distinctly human, the rest of it resembling a decayed cadaver that belonged within the depths of a poorly directed Romero movie. Said remaining fifth of the body was a goat's skull with glowing green eyes and sharp, curved horns protruding from either side of its head.

'That's definitely going to bruise…' Fushigoro groaned in pain while beginning to stand back up. His arms were in a metric ton of pain and his back wasn't faring much better; as was the usual when you were punted through a 3 meter thick concrete wall. 'I'm lucky I was able to reinforce my back with cursed energy before impact.' Despite his calm thoughts, his body continued to snap towards any direction he heard noise from.

The once rare sounds of leaves rustling quickly became commonplace as Fushigoro put his hands together, hooking the thumbs in with each other while the wrists crossed to create wings with his hands. In unison with the sound of splashing water, a huge orange bird blasted into the air. The next moment, hundreds of different animals burst from the treeline and into the clearing where Fushigoro was standing. Without an ounce of hesitation, the boy called upon his dogs and put his hands up.

The boy ducked under a fox that had leapt towards him, pivoting backwards as Kuro tore it in half with a clench and twist of its jaw. As it recovered from its leap, Fushigoro threw out a kick in order to push back a deer shikigami. Shiro, his white dog, leapt past him to finish it off, while Nue dived back down behind the trio and blasted a shower of purple sparks across the horde of animals. The black haired boy bent backwards to avoid another attack, throwing up a energy enhanced kick in order to blow apart an owl that had attempted to swoop him.

'With the amount of enemies here, I won't be able to get back to Adam!' Fushigoro mentally shouted, ducking under another attack and perfectly countering it with one of his own. 'These things can't think too well, they're acting more on instinct than anything. Is it possible they aren't shikigami?' Mentally cataloging the theory in the back of his mind, Fushigoro began to ponder what he knew about vengeful cursed spirits and their abilities.

Adam grunted quietly, massaging his newly bruised stomach behind the cover of a concrete pipe. 'This thing is monstrously strong!' The boy was immediately forced out of his thoughts via a kick from the cursed spirit. 'And it doesn't even seem to be trying!' Adam planted the bottom of his spear into the ground, halting his forced momentum and returning to his feet.

With a grunt of effort, some of the energy Adam had been circulating through his body flowed through his fingertips. The cursed spirit merely stood lazily opposite him, hand on its hip in a sassy manner.

Ignoring the searing pain in his stomach, Adam ditched his spear towards the spirit like a javelin. It tore through the air with speed equal to that of a bullet, but was dodged easily by his opponent. An explosion of dirt erupted from the point of impact, the spear's cursed technique taking effect; it was barely enough of a distraction for Adam's plan to work, the cursed spirit looked back.

Stretching out his right hand while dashing forward, Adam fired off several cursed threads from his fingers, attaching them to small objects nearby and throwing them towards the spirit; it destroyed them easily, punching or kicking each object away without trying, but Adam's main goal wasn't to harm it. His left hand shot out next, 5 distinct strings wrapping around the handle of his spear and dragging it back towards him.

A glob of green colored blood erupted from the curse's mouth as the pommel on Adam's spear smashed into its spine, launching it forward. The smile on the boy's face was almost painfully wide as he thrust his fist into the curse's face, sending it careening backwards into a demountable building.

The boy's spear settled nicely in his hand with another tug of his fingers, allowing him to once again settle into his stance. "It's time for round two, hopefully you'll take me seriously now!"

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