"What is this?"
After finishing that week's lesson, Yaga Masamichi handed Minamoto Soujun a notebook. "See for yourself."
He left without looking back.
Soujun opened the blank cover. On the title page were two handwritten lines: "New Jujutsu Learning Standard, Beginner Part 1 (Upper)" and "Published by Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu High Specialized School."
It was clearly written by hand.
He read the new standard carefully. It mainly recorded basic common knowledge of the jujutsu world. The rest was shallow in scope, worthy of the name "Beginner Upper."
Soujun's days were packed.
He had already completed compulsory education and moved straight into high school material without a break. At his current pace he would finish in about half a year.
His study of human biology was on track as well: cytology, motor neurophysiology, nutrition, acupuncture points in traditional medicine, the brain and hormones, ketone bodies and hormones, and more. The theory alone was immense.
All of this he was pursuing with a plan and with practice.
His martial training relied on diligence. He rarely went to coaches anymore. That circle had almost been drained dry.
Soujun is iron. Coaches flow like water.
By now he did not need to cling to fixed forms. With perfect control guarding the gates, he had no taboos.
Which movements suited him best, how to generate force for maximum power, how to adapt techniques to his height and frame.
He was already thinking about his own martial path, moving with ease and confidence.
More of his time still went to jujutsu studies.
Cursed energy growth was slow. He had learned how to refine it, but that could not be overdone.
Controlling soul and body to induce emotional fluctuation would in turn affect body and mind. He was still seeking the balance point.
Practice a little each day at a set time. Exercise restraint. Keep a good mood. If you tip into mania, recovery is a pain.
Push body, soul, and cursed energy to full development. Reach your personal limit. Approach perfection.
Then maintain that limit and keep the body at peak at all times.
That was his current goal.
He had begun to intervene actively.
In this period he tried many things: securing enough sleep and reasonably stimulating growth hormone secretion, controlling gut motility to speed nutrient intake and absorption, training actively to promote skeletal growth.
Every step he took was careful and cautious in order to avoid negative effects.
The limit of a ten-year-old body is not the same as that of an eighteen-year-old.
Complete development mattered. Many of his plans were built on that foundation.
He was still constrained by the balancing mechanism. His physical development had become the battlefield. It was not that speed could not be increased at all, only that the increase was small.
At its widest, the gap between his development and his actual age had been six years. It had narrowed since. Now he could at most push it to three years.
As he gained experience against the balance, he felt he could set it up later.
Body develops, development ends, the body ages.
Speed up the front half. Slow down the back half. He did not truly care about the numbers. He simply wanted to be contrary.
You picked this, balance mechanism. I call the shots here. Not even a savior could stop me.
To hell with the balance mechanism.
As for developing his technique:
From bone to blood, to meridians, muscle, and skin.
Across the body's major systems: nourish the marrow, purify the blood, strengthen fascia, enhance muscle, refine skin and hair.
Five senses and a sixth sense. Speed, strength, constitution, bodily functions all climbed rapidly.
On the soul side he kept it pure and strengthened the essence to anchor and stabilize the flesh. No flashy abilities had emerged yet.
But the indirect effects were many. A photographic memory, iron will, a powerful mind.
Four hours of sleep a day were enough to restore him.
That left more time to study.
—
After the next week's lesson, Yaga handed over another notebook.
He again walked off without looking back.
"New Jujutsu Learning Standard, Beginner Part 1 (Middle)," published by Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu High Specialized School.
"…"
Seated cross-legged on a cushion, Soujun's back rippled with churning flesh.
He held his breath and focused, gathering strength inward.
A large bulge would rise under the skin on his back, then recede.
Something was trying to break through.
Schlk.
Like pulling a foot from wet, sticky mud, a slick sound rose.
Clots of blood and flesh pushed out from his back. Amid the surge a forearm took shape, smeared with blood and tissue. Fine blood vessels dangled and draped messily between the fingers.
It was a gory sight.
Soujun controlled the arm to tremble lightly. The flesh quickly sank under the skin and the arm became smooth and clean.
He opened and closed the fist several times. Muscles swelled and settled.
The lines were clear, like taut steel wires, every strand brimming with strength and beauty, as if sculpted by nature.
Folding both hands on the desk like a model student, he had the arm on his back clumsily pick up a pen and note down key points of the test.
"Excellent. I will call you the third hand."
The arm gave a thumbs-up. It moved more and more naturally, no different from his other two arms.
Playfulness took over. The third hand swung freely through all kinds of motions. A careless straight punch sank into the middle of the desk and punched a large hole.
Breaking something and punching through it are very different. The latter requires far greater force.
Left hand held the paper. Right hand held the pen. The third hand did a deadlift. After a round of tests he wrote down: Strength Level 3.
The third hand began to change in other ways.
The right palm merged and elongated into a spike. He jabbed the desktop and pierced it with ease, without the slightest drag.
Next, the front half of the arm morphed into a scythe blade, cutting the air with a shrill whistle.
Soujun moved once and sliced off all four desk corners in the blink of an eye.
Record: Hardness Level 4, Sharpness Level 3, Free Morphing Level 3.
He released control and let the third hand hang naturally.
Eyes opened all along the arm. Their gazes skewed in different directions. The blink rates were chaotic. Some pupils trembled continually, the stares vacant and dull.
Sanity plummeted.
After one minute the eyes closed one after another. The arm faded as well. Half of it dispersed as black mist, half reabsorbed as flesh.
Final notes:
The structure was half cursed energy and half flesh by default. By adjusting the ratio you could draw out different strengths.
Current power was around the peak of Grade 4, approaching Grade 3. Measured against curses, ordinary Grade 3 could be handled easily.
—
"Here." Yaga handed over another notebook.
Soujun opened it. As expected:
"New Jujutsu Learning Standard, Beginner Part 1 (Lower)," published by Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu High Specialized School.
The content grew richer. It now included analysis of common techniques, cursed spirits, cursed tools, and barrier techniques, with increasingly in-depth material.
He received a new one roughly every six months. This was the third. At Soujun's learning speed, that pace held him back.
"Can't you just give me all of them at once?" he asked.
"No. This pace is the most suitable," Yaga refused.
"Is it because the next volume is not finished yet?" Soujun probed.
Yaga shot him a look and skipped the topic. "Your strength is close to Grade 3, right?"
Answering a question with a question. Rude.
Soujun nodded.
"Get ready. In a while I will take you to experience the real life of a jujutsu sorcerer."
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