Now inside the school grounds, Shin focuses on listening to the source of the disturbance. As Shin listened, he could hear sounds that mimicked blunt force and heavy breathing from 2 individuals, so Shin wasted no time and proceeded to run to the school's outdoor field. Upon reaching the location, Shin was surprised by the sight of Yuji and Megumi fighting one another, to be more precise Yuji was fighting Megumi's Divine Dog, Totality.
Shin could not help but be impressed by Yuji's fighting prowess and power behind each of his punches and kicks. Amazed, Shin wonders where all that power and physical capabilities come from. "The Yuji from the manga and in front of me is still just as impressive, however, seeing it now with my eyes and experiencing the power of both sorcerers and curses he's still an anomaly."
Looking around, Shin managed to find a comfortable shaded spot on the branches of a nearby tree to sit down and watch. Totality's veracity could cause if it manages to get up close and personal, however, despite fighting Yuji in close quarters it is still unable to do much since Yuji is maintaining both control and distance as every punch he throws pushes Totality back a good distance while blocking them.
Shin then noticed Megumi extending his arms to the ground before it weirdly entered through the ground like nothing for a few minutes. Seeing this Shin was perplexed by Megumi's action, "What's he doing?" Megumi then pulls out a wooden sword and proceeds to aim at Yuji's blindside moving as silently as possible while using Totality as a divergent.
Megumi is now within range of Yuji's strike at him, however, upon impact the sword broke when it came into contact with Yuji causing the fight to come to a close. Shin, seeing both parties stop, decided to approach them from the sideline, they both greeted him upon noticing him.
Megumi: "Won, thus making this 3 out of 5 wins for me."
Yuji looking disappointed: "It's not easy dodging you and this werewolf at the same time, 2 vs 1 is kind of unfair."
Megumi: "It's not about being fair, my job as your opponent was to take you out and so I did, you're dead because you failed to notice me."
Yuji: "But that sword is completely broken though, so doesn't that mean I'm still alive and kicking?"
Megumi now annoyed: "It's not about the sword being wooden or not, it's about you failing to dodge beside if that was an actual sword you wouldn't be so carefree, would you?"
Yuji looking down: "You're not wrong, it would've hurt, a lot."
Megumi lets out a sigh: "Anyway, that's enough for today, make sure you fill in that hole you made over there before we meet up with Nobara for lunch. See you later, you too Shin go get washed up."
Megumi starts walking towards the dorm after saying goodbye and now Yuji is fetching a shovel to fill in the hole he made. As Yuji left, Shin took it upon himself to approach the hole and look down at it. "That's just inhuman, was this was curse or without curse energy amplifying him? If I train, could I get stronger rapidly?" As Shin wonders about the result of the probable fight Shin hears sounds coming from the gym room.
Curious, Shin walks inside the gym and notices Maki practicing swinging her sword. Maki doesn't notice Shin entering and continues swinging her sword which gives Shin an idea as he quietly approaches her from behind with a plan to surprise her. As Shin gets to the feet of Maki, she jumps forward and turns around to face Shin in a fighting stance.
Upon seeing who was behind her Maki relented her stance and let out a breath of air.
Maki: "Oh, it's just you. You thought you could scare me huh? Too bad, I notice you from the smell and change of air, go take a shower."
Maki gave Shin a smirk before picking up her stuff and heading back to the dorm to get cleaned up for lunch. Shin, now alone inside the gym took a good look around to see if anything was interesting and something hanging caught his attention, 4 hanging punching bags that varied in levels from left to right. Looking at them, Shin was able to discern their levels by weight, 20kg, 100kg, 300kg, and 700kg.
Shin proceeded to assess each level and noticed he could manage 20kg easily, 100kg with minor effort, and 300kg with major effort but needed work, but 700kg was too much for him to even budge. "700kg huh, you're my goal."
Shin, although disappointed to know he can't effortlessly handle the 700kg bag, he was happy to know he still has room to grow and new heights to reach. As Shin grinned while walking back to the dorm, he was able to sense Gojo from around the corner from the cologne he had on him. Shin stopped in his tracks and called out to Gojo which prompted Gojo to come out sad that he was not able to surprise or scare him.
Gojo: "Welcome back, I'm guessing you finish without running?"
Shin: "Yeah, it was easy, is there another request I can do? I'm itching to head back out there."
Gojo smiles: "Enthusiast, aren't you? Well, I do have something that might pique your interest. A bit trickier this time, though."
Shin, interested: "I'm all ears."
Gojo, chuckles: "I like your spirit. We got a report of a grade 4 rogue sorcerer causing problems in a city not too far from here, Ijichi can give you more details later. In the meantime, you should hit the shower and rest up. Later~"
Shin continued walking back to his room for a short break, washing up, before heading towards the cafeteria. Meeting up with everyone, Shin told them about his experience in the forest and what he did but made sure to leave out the part where he was training while using the Curses as disposable tools.
Shin finished his meal before excusing himself to go back to his room for a nap. Waking up, Shin looked at his phone and noticed he slept until 12:46 PM. Sitting up, Shin knows falling back asleep will take too long so he changes into his active attire and starts running 5 laps around the school before resting inside the gym.
Shin's breathing returns to stability as he glances at the 700 kg, now in front of the bag Shin throws his strongest punch but it did little to nothing to move the heavy bag. Not wanting to give up Shin decided to punch the bag with all his might for 10 minutes before resting for 3 minutes. This cycle continues until morning rises and after many punches and kicks Shin notices the bag sway a bit more compared to before.
Seeing the fruits of his labor, Shin focused more intensely as he continued the cycle until several hours later, he had to stop when hunger overcame him. Making his way to the cafeteria, Shin met Shoko and he proceeded to wave at her. Shoko, seeing this waved back but stopped midway as she rushed to Shin and grabbed both of his hands before looking at him with a calming face with a serious tone.
Shoko: "What the hell happened to your hands? Be honest"
Shin, confused: "What do you mean?"
Shin, looking down at his hands, was surprised to discover it covered in both fresh and dried blood. His hands were so damaged that Shin noticed a bit of skin hanging from his knuckles and proceeded to pick at them to remove them. Shoko, seeing what Shin was doing slaps his hand to stop him.
Shoko: "What are you doing? stop that and follow me."
Shin: "Ok"
Shin follows behind Shoko as she leads him into the nurse's room, points at an empty chair, and suggests he sits there. Shin, doing what he was told without words being exchanged sat down on the seat. Shoko took a seat in a wheelchair scooting closer to Shin and suggested he hang his arms out and hands open, Shin proceeded to do so. Shoko then places her hands over Shin's damaged hands and proceeds to use reverse-curse energy to heal Shin.
Shin could not see the curse energy covering his hands, but he was able to feel his hand healing as he watched his damaged hands heal before him as if he were watching a timelapse video. Upon completion, Shin gripped his hand and felt a cool refreshing sensation.
Shoko: "Next time, be conscious of your condition so that it doesn't handicap you in your mission or goals."
Shin: "I have a question"
Shoko: "What is it?"
Shin: "When you heal are you increasing the regenerating rate or are you reverting the damage to when it wasn't damaged at all?"
Shoko was perplexed by the question: "It increases the regenerating rate of your cells through curse energy, why?"
Shin: "Could you heal my whole body too? I feel a little funny after my first mission."
Shoko: "Sure I can do that; it will take longer though so be patient with me."
After 10 minutes, Shin felt his whole body experience refreshment and coolness. Shin smiles as an idea comes to his mind. "If I train like hell and have Shoko heal me, I can increase productivity by double."
Shoko: "Alright, you're all healed, anything else?"
Shin: "How many times a day can you heal?"
Shoko: "Hmm, about 50, I think."
Shin: "Good to know, we're going to be seeing each other more frequently. Take care."
Shoko was confused by what Shin said: "What did you mean by that?"
Before Shoko could receive an answer, Shin was already running towards the cafeteria as he felt hungrier than ever before being healed. "This hunger is not the usual type, if healing increases the regenerating, then that would mean my body is going to be extracting more nutrients at a faster rate to replenish those dead cells. I'll be sure to eat after each workout before visiting her."
After breakfast, Shin returned to his punching cycle until dinner time, this time Shin made sure to not overdo it. After another 5 hours, Shin stopped while realizing he again improved but this time the result wasn't that compared to before. "Is it because my body isn't built for more output? I guess I should strengthen the foundation."
With a new goal, Shin ate a protein-focused lunch before returning to Shoko for her healing. After healing, Shin shifted his focus from outputting more power to building up his body muscles and stamina. Shin started running at 7 mph for 30 minutes and rested for 10 minutes, Bench pressed 200 Ib for 3 sets of 20 reps and rested for 30 minutes, squats for 3 sets of 20 reps and 30 minutes resting, and Plank for the remaining 2 hours while taking breaks every 5 minutes.
Shin redid this cycle until getting healed by Shoko for the fifth time today and finally stopping for the day by 9:32 PM. For the next 3 days, Shin repeated the same cycle until Shin looked at his stats.
Name: Shin Zenin
Lvl: 7
HP: 90 / 90
CE: N/A
Title: N/A
Stats:
Str (7) + 10
Dex (6) + 10
End (9) + 10
Spd (7) + 10
Vis (5) + 10
Aud (5) + 10
Olf (5) + 10
Luk (0) + 5
Points: 2
"For now, I'll save the free points and focus on trying to increase my main stats of Str, Dex, End, and Spd. I do want to put all points into Luk, just to see its effect but thank god I can increase my basic stats through rip and tear."
Sitting up, Shin checked his phone and noticed a message from Gojo. Gojo: "Morning~, today's the day for your second mission, you ready? Meet me at the front at 10 AM." Shin quickly washed up, changed, and carried my staff before heading to the cafeteria. As Shin ate breakfast, everyone else started waking up one by one and joined me as we conversed over small things like restaurants, movies, and training, every now and then Shin would share his opinions but most of the conversation was carried by Yuji and Nobara.
Checking the time, Shin realized he had 20 minutes left until it was 10 AM so Shin excused himself as he left for the gate. Meeting up, Gojo was able to notice physical changes in Shin, also taking note of Shin's frequent visits to the nurse's room for healing.
Gojo: "So that's how you've been able to get so strong so quickly, it's not a bad move but one problem~." Shin: "What is it sensei?" Gojo: "Aren't you cheating? ~ It's almost like you are taking curse steroids without going through the trials. ~" Shin: "It's .... uh, well .... yea you are not wrong. Sorry, sensei." Gojo chuckles: "Don't worry since you have no curse energy you got to do what you got to do to make sure you don't die today for tomorrow."
As they walk and talk to the closest train station, we both notice Ijichi waiting for them while sitting down at a bench looking at his watch nervously. Upon noticing them approaching, Ijichi quickly greeted them both and explained to Shin what his new mission was and all the fine details regarding it. Gojo waves goodbye to Shin as Shin and Ijichi ride on the train.
After listening Shin was able to simplify the information given: Go to the district over and subdue the rogue sorcerer causing problems for both civilians and sorcerers. The sorcerer's name is Malachi Jiu, a sorcerer whose ability is 'Forget Me Not'. He can force anyone with a sorcerer's average amount of curse energy within a 4-meter radius to forget about his existence for 24 hours without any limits, hence why he is slippery to catch. Those who were normal people working for us were sent too but all of them were defeated or killed since Malachi could enhance his physical capabilities with curse energy which lets him overpower the agents. His crimes so far have been assaulting and sexual assaults on women and children, as of recently he has been reported by civilians screaming and waving at no one to come and catch him. Upon further inspection we notice the areas in which he has done these acts have been increasing in curses attacks, leading us to believe he is luring curses to a populated area of non-sorcerers to kill without direct actions. The higher-ups are fed up with his actions and crime and are demanding you either kill him or subdue him and bring him in. From what is given it's safe to believe he does not have a goal but rather has a mindset of being untouchable.
After hearing Ijichi's explanation, Shin was filled with happiness to know that he was finally hunting down sorcerers as he was getting bored with curses. Getting off the train, in the district the sorcerer is believed to be residing in Shin was given a thumbs up by Ijichi and a snack before Ijichi heads out.
"Alright, first thing first let's investigate the area in which the reports have been originating from."