Rika was gone before I even knew it.
My body felt heavy. Depleted of… Something.
Chi?
No, I'm Yuta right now, it would be Cursed Energy, not Chi.
But what's the difference?
Chi is the energy of life, Cursed Energy is the Energy created from negative emotions.
Chi manifests itself as power itself and it's used as the energy for Bending.
Cursed Energy manifests itself as power and is used as the energy for Cursed Techniques.
They're two power systems that are strangely incredibly similar. Two sides of the same coin with a few major differences.
I know a lot about Jujutsu Kaisen, I could even be called a superfan. Much more than ATLA.
And now I'm Yuta.
There are two possibilities.
One: Rika is a Cursed Spirit
Two: Rika is a Shikigami
Depending on which one of those two options are in place will heavily decide my future.
I'm Yuta. But only in face and name.
My personality is slightly similar, that's why I like him as a character and may even be the reason why I chose him, if we are to assume that a ROB gave me three wishes or something.
But I'm not him.
If Rika is a Cursed Spirit, I'll be on thin ice, trying to pretend to be Yuta the best I can, because Rika is in love with Yuta. That's the entire reason why Rika even follows Yuta.
If Rika is a shikigami, a puppet like the Divine Dogs or Nue, then I don't have to worry about that.
There is a third choice, that being Rika is nothing like the Rika from Jujutsu Kaisen.
She could be a Cursed Spirit native to this world instead of transported to it.
The knowledge in my brain seems to be survival knowledge. Maybe something like a basic appraisal in those shitty Isekai Mangas.
But it could also be some form of Survival knowledge that gets unlocked as I see things related to it.
I'm smart. I'd like to think I'm very smart, actually. Smarter than most people.
I wouldn't be dumb enough to choose something that'll so easily put me in danger.
Hmm…
I don't have any memories about how it got here. Only when I woke up…
I frown and think. I think and think and think and think some more, because that's the only thing I could do.
"The Law of Equivalent Exchange?" I murmur to myself. There cannot exist an effect without a cause. That's the law of Causality. The effect is my lack of memory, so maybe the Cause is something else.
What if I used the Law of Equivalent Exchange somehow? I sacrificed some of my memories to bend the rules.
My story may be tragic, or supposedly tragic enough for a ROB to take pity on me and send me here, but that doesn't give a free pass to send some random guy into another world.
Karma. I'm not the best guy, nor the worst. Assuming I have an average amount of Karma, I may have only had the opportunity to have maybe one or two wishes, before exchanging my memories of those wishes into knowledge that could help me out.
Like for example, my survival knowledge.
"Status." I speak out loud. I like system manhwa but a system isn't all good.
Nothing popped up. Figured. I wouldn't use a wish on that.
Seeing as how my knowledge of Cursed Spirits in this world is slightly in depth, considering I instantly knew the cause for the Cursed Spirit that attacked me and that it even was a Cursed Spirit, I could try exploring that.
I'm smart.
I would've left hints. I already have everything I need to figure out what happened when I got transported here, I just need to know it.
My body works on a different power system…
No- What if it runs on the same power system?
I wouldn't voluntarily choose myself to be a child without a reason.
Or at least a teen.
I chose it because I needed time.
Time to figure out this power before I could leave.
That's also why I placed myself in a secluded area with both abundant food and water.
I don't have Yuta's memories or any of his Cursed Techniques with me, so maybe instead of giving me Jujutsu Kaisen Yuta, I was given an ATLA Yuta.
That would make sense.
Then it's important to make a distinction.
In the series, people aren't able to perform the physical feats of Jujutsu Sorcerers.
Meaning Chi and Cursed Energy aren't the same. Two sides of the same coin.
I need to think.
This Cursed Energy isn't Cursed Energy at all.
It's something similar. Cursed Spirits in Jujutsu Kaisen are made due to negative emotions, yet in this world, they're made when regular spirits become polluted with negative emotions.
They aren't made by it but tainted by it.
Curses and Sorcerers use the exact same energy in almost the exact same way. Assuming I became a Sorcerer in this world, then I must be using the same energy as the Curses in this world.
Chi. But it's different. My hearing was enhanced by Chi, and if Chi was so easy to move around in your body, everyone would be superhuman. So I'm either a genius at manipulating Chi, or I'm using something else entirely.
Chi tainted by negative energy.
Chi that's been Rotted by the impurities of the world.
Rotten Chi.
In Jujutsu Kaisen, Cursed Energy enhances the body but can't regenerate it. It's a negative energy used for attacking. And seeing how Chi can heal and even allow access for the Avatar State in Aang, Rotten Chi must do the opposite.
A non-healing hyper-aggressive energy. Exactly like Cursed Energy.
Which means I'll have access to Chi if I find a way to invert Rotten Chi…
No- Would it be the same as Chi?
Gojo stated that the Reversed Cursed Technique was multiplying Cursed Energy against itself to spit out a positive energy. But Rotten Chi is in itself initially a positive energy that's been rotted by impurities.
The RCT of it may either make Chi or a healing energy more potent than it. Or maybe even a more powerful version of Rotten Chi.
I'll dub this theoretical energy 'Reverse Rot Energy'
I close my eyes and funnel my Rotten Chi through my body and I keep thinking.
Manipulating Rotten Chi is the most important thing. High control will increase my ability to save it.
Yuta had astronomical amounts of Cursed Energy, so if I'm right…
It was like a small lake. Nothing to scoff at, but I thought there would be more.
It was much less than Yuta's Cursed Energy Amount.
But it felt… Strange.
I look at the ring. It feels as if there's something, a part of me, in there.
Is the ring sealing my Tainted Chi amount?
Makes sense, if anybody could see it flare about with my pitiful control, I'd have people run and find me. The exact opposite of the isolationist lifestyle I want to have right now.
Now, everything I previously said may sound like it came from my ass, but I had one piece of evidence leading me to believe it.
I picked Yuta, not Gojo.
Or even Sukuna.
I picked Yuta.
Meaning that Gojo and Sukuna weren't viable options.
I may have steered away from Sukuna because it's way too easy to kill people with Dismantle and Cleave. I'm human before I'm a transmigrator. I'm not some edgy brat that's okay with killing, or slavery, or any other kind of horrid act just because I'm in another world.
Even if it's the most vile of vile villain, I wouldn't want to kill them.
After all, having them rot in a cell is a much better alternative. Just because someone else was an asshole doesn't mean I should be forced to have their blood on my hands. Killing people is fucking disgusting, murder is murder with very few exceptions.
I'm also weak willed. I don't know if I could ever stomach killing people, ever. I'd have nightmares about it for years. And something like that isn't something I should force myself to go through just because someone was an asshole.
But Gojo?
I would've picked Gojo in a heartbeat, so why didn't I? The answer is simple, it's not that I didn't, it's that I couldn't.
The Six Eyes and Limitless are overpowered abilities that would break the balance of this world. And ATLA is a very spiritual show, with the moon being something that can literally be killed.
Chi is in of itself a law of nature in this world, like gravity or kinetic energy.
An ability like Limitless would go against the laws of this world in such a way that it'd probably break down everything.
Like adding a single electron to every atom in the universe, something with impossibly dire consequences.
But Yuta is fine…?
Why?
I think some more.
His ability is Copy.
Assuming that the Curses of this world can also sometimes manifest Cursed Techniques, I would be able to copy them.
But the fact that I can only copy preexisting techniques means that these techniques can't ever break the balance of the world.
I move Cursed Energy through my body, before stopping.
I pool it into the ring on my necklace.
Nothing happens.
I pause.
"Rika?" I call for her.
"...Yuta…" again, a taller grotesque creature, a Cursed Spirit, came out.
I could tell. It didn't originate from my energy, it had its own separate energy that it used for itself.
Shit.
"Rika, Darling, do you know what Japan is…?" Communication was a must. I have to at least be able to communicate with her to some degree.
She looked out at me, before lunging at me. I flinch.
Her large white boney arms wrap around her form as her one giant eye warps into a figure of glee.
She floats upwards slightly, jumping with joy almost.
"Darling…! Darling…!" She screeched, as I covered my ears, her voice like nails to a chalkboard. Scraping across as she holds her face with her long fingers, what could only be called a smile on her inhuman face, "Yuta called me darling!"
Shit. I didn't account for the language I should use.
I defaulted to darling because I wanted to suck up to her a little, but I didn't expect it to have such a reaction.
"Rika…?" I asked as she paused in the air. A tendril of black lowering to the floor as she anchored herself and looked at me.
Like a puppy.
"Yes Yuta…?" Again, distorted. Like she was under water or something, her voice warbly.
"What do you know about Japan…?" I asked again. I need to know if she's native to this world or not.
"Japan…?" She pauses. I could tell from her voice, she didn't know.
"Nevermind. Who am I?" I point to myself. This may be suspicious, but information is a must.
"Yuta is… Yuta…!" I frown.
I should've given myself information.
Like I've already said, I'm smart.
I'm sure whatever ROB dropped me here wouldn't want me to just die after saying something wrong to Rika.
So I would've asked for that knowledge.
I close my eyes.
I need to dig through my mind.
It should be there…
But it wasn't.
Actually, it felt like I should know something but didn't, it made me feel…
Sad?
Like when I thought back to whatever happened before I even met the ROB, it just made me feel sad.
I didn't cry, but I did feel pity rise from me as I looked at Rika.
But it also didn't feel like something that far.
Sealed, not removed.
Could I perhaps unseal it later on?
I groan in frustration.
Past me isn't making this easy, is he…
"Whatever, Let's just train…" I need to refine my Rotten Chi Manipulation to as much as I can. I want to reach a point where I can't grow any further without battle experience.
I should also head into areas full of Cursed Spirits to see if they have any Cursed Techniques I could copy.
I pause.
Should they even be called Cursed Spirits?
Not to be pedantic, but I feel that it doesn't really work without Cursed Energy.
Maybe Rotten Spirits?
That works.
And for Cursed Techniques, I'll use Rotten Techniques instead.
Both because it sounds cool and two because it fits more with the powers I'm using.
But that does make me think, am I the only one in the world who can use Rotten Chi?
Hmm…
I'll have to expand upon that train of thought later.