Chapter 22: Reverse Cursed Technique
Recap: Mai checked his Status and later upgraded his system. Upgradation time is estimated to be 10 days. Later he talked to Mechamaru and in between, Gojo found out that Mechamaru was indeed lying about his real-time location.
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"Well, now it's confirmed," Mai said without any change in expression.
"How can you be so nonchalant about this, Mai?" Utahime was angry. The fact that Mechamaru was the mole made her feel betrayed for a second.
"Sensei. Don't get angry at this point. He is what he is because of what he chose. I cannot judge him because I've never had to live such a life." Mai said.
"Well, we need to keep an eye on him for now," Gojo said while reading some Jump manga.
"We should confront him as quickly as possible," Utahime said.
"Hey now. Don't be like that. We'll monitor him for a few days. It's not like he can run away." Gojo said.
"But his Cursed Energy...that is definitely a problem," she said remembering the conversation.
"That's certainly a problem. That's...I would say about 15 times that of my reserves. How does he even have that much?" Gojo pondered.
"Probably his Puppet Manipulation. It must have different Extension Techniques.
Either way, Gojo can keep tabs on him from time to time while I use my spy bot to monitor him 24/7."
"Spy bots? What are those? Also, Mai. We're supposed to have a talk, remember? The only reason I'm trusting you is because of your binding vow with this idiot." she looked at Mai with a glare.
'She doesn't have that face at all. Now I can see why Gojo keeps teasing her.'
"Ok, ok. No need for that glare."
"And also, how the hell did you know all these things? Since when did you know? Why didn't you warn anyone before the event? What would you do if someone had died? In fact, the two guards were killed and four of your companions were injured. What do you have to say about that?" word by word, her anger kept increasing.
"Alright. For the first one, I won't answer 'how' I know all these things.
Second. You asked since when. I knew since the day my gender changed. I didn't warn because I had to confirm whether the information I had was true. For all I know, one of you could've been a mole.
Third. The fact that two guards died means nothing to me because it was a job they chose. My classmates were injured. That was a risk I was willing to take because not making a mistake is more important than them dying. If the enemy catches wind of the fact that I know their plans, it would be even more of a problem." Mai put on a serious face while answering Utahime.
"...Fine. Those answers are acceptable. But you better not lie to me again." Unfortunately, the wording she used was wrong.
'I won't lie but I also won't tell the truth.' Mai thought before he nodded his head.
"So, what is this spy bot you were speaking about earlier?"
"It's an invisible hovering camera that monitors a given area. The camera is not just a camera. It's an extremely high-quality imaging tech that also has a shit ton of sensors equipped with it. Anything notable happens, we get to know." Mai said explaining with images on the phone.
"Invisible camera?" Utahime asked.
"It uses a new technology to become invisible. You don't need to know too much." Mai dismissed her knowing she won't understand techy topics.
"So, is this it?" Gojo asked.
"Yeah. I'm going to bed early. I'll have to be in good shape for tomorrow's baseball." Mai left saying those words.
Utahime was just in contemplation as Mai left those two alone.
"You know, the reasons he gave are all plausible," Gojo said.
"I know. I just don't want someone I know to keep things from me. You know what happens, right?" Utahime said.
Gojo didn't answer and thought back to how Geto kept things to himself.
Here, Mai had knowledge of some things and was doing the same.
Being away from his companions and doing things by himself.
"Well, at least he isn't a Special Grade." Utahime herself commented comparing Mai to Geto.
"Don't keep underestimating him. He'll probably get there." Gojo replied.
"Huh. What do you mean? The only change that happened to him is the increase in Cursed Energy.
Before, it was just above average level for a human and now, it's a bit above average for a sorcerer."
"I didn't tell you about what happened during the morning, did I?"
"He took you to the location, you exorcised the Curse and brought back Sukuna's finger. That's what happened, right?"
"Hahaha. Where did you get that from? He was the one that took care of the Curse. Alone. All by himself.
It was amazing. He pulled out more than 10 Black Flashes in the fight." Gojo said with a gleaming face.
Utahime was shocked because Mai was someone who would avoid combat as much as possible. But wait..
"How? Even if that was possible, he shouldn't have Cursed Energy enough to fight a Special Grade all by himself," she said knowing that Mai had Cursed Energy Reserves around her level.
"Well, both of you have almost the same amount but you know, he even used Reverse Cursed Technique at the end. That kid has as much potential as Yuta if not more."
"..."
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Mai had pretty much nothing to do now. The baseball match the next day was mostly for fun. It no longer mattered who would win the event. During the event, he also couldn't do much with Maki being the pitcher.
She was definitely using full strength when Mai was the hitter. The whole event happened without any issues and the Tokyo team won the event as Mai didn't bother much.
The same day, they returned back to Kyoto.
But the grind shan't be stopped. He knew that the System could make him more powerful than he was in his past life.
Such powers needed control and understanding beyond normal to actually be of any help.
For that, he needed to understand himself. His body, his mind, his soul, the connection between them, the harmony between them, and their individual strengths. He needed to understand all of those things.
And that was accomplished through the good old meditation.
Mai instinctively felt that his mind and soul should be prepared for what the System would offer later on.
So, he decided to put most of his time into gaining insights into his Spirit Manifestation and Innate Domain or Mindscape.
He wouldn't neglect physical training but it will take time. Unless some Gacha offers him a shortcut, his physique will take time to grow.
And he's not about to go and use [Construction] on his own body to make it stronger.
Well, he could, but it was risky and he decided to postpone it until at least the System was online and his skill level was at [Expert] level.
His general schedule revolved around 6 things.
Physical Training.
Cursed Energy/Technique Training.
Meditation and Spiritual Training.
Reverse Cursed Technique Training.
Jujutsu Theory studies, and
Day-to-day school activities.
He also wanted to cram in a few more things but decided that that should be enough for now.
And thus began the grind.
Not just him but everyone was more motivated after what happened. Mai's sudden growth also gave them a goal to catch up to. Especially for Nishimiya and Miwa.
Ten days passed quickly.
Mai barely slept for 2 hours a day and spent either doing meditation or practicing Reverse Cursed Technique.
Creating positive energy(aka Reverse Cursed Energy) from negative Cursed Energy was extremely hard. So hard that only a chosen few could do that.
As of now, the number of Jujutsu sorcerers numbered around 500-600, in Japan, excluding the Ainu Jujutsu Society. Outside of Japan, a total of even 1000 would be too much and it was hard to get data because of them residing in remote locations.
And among these 1500 or so, only about 10 sorcerers can utilize Reverse Cursed Technique. And among them, the ones who could use it to heal others were 3 or 4.
This shows the rarity of Reverse Cursed Technique users. Also, Mai could go beyond his limits while doing workouts and such.
Any muscle tears and damage can be undone by pumping his body with positive energy for faster regeneration. The bigger problem was the Cursed Technique Reversal.
Theoretically, all Cursed Techniques should have a Cursed Technique Reversal. But practically, they don't. There were various reasons for this.
One, there isn't a manual to practice the Reverse Cursed Technique(aka conversion of cursed energy into positive energy).
Two, using Cursed Technique Reversal meant that you would be performing Reverse Cursed TEchnique and your own Cursed Technique at the same time. That would be much harder.
Third and most important, NOT EVERY TECHNIQUE HAS A REVERSAL.
For example, let's take the Ten Shadows Technique. What will happen if Reversal is tried on it? Will the user control light instead of shadows and summon light shikigami instead of shadow shikigami? Will the user himself becomes a shadow? Will the user enter the shadow realm instead of bringing the shinigami from the shadow realm? Will...
The point is that the word 'Reversal' can be interpreted in different ways. Reversal of a positive number will always be negative but the reversal of a technique can't be interpreted the same way.
"Haa. That was exhausting." Mai was trying different ways to get positive energy. It was not as simple as "- x - = +". In fact, that comparison was just for shitty logical purposes.
The main way was two make two Cursed Energy sources combine with each other and 'multiply' them. But what if 3 sources were used at once? Four? Five? The process was not actual math multiplication.
It was an instinctive process. Some idiot in the past must've accidentally gained the method. After all, this was not something you would obtain through logic.
But that's what Mai wanted. A logical and systematic approach to gain positive energy aka a Reverse Cursed Technique that could be learned via training.
If he could actually do it, he would become a legend for ages.
"Easier said than done." Even with his superior mental stamina, he was tired. He couldn't come up with an answer even after 10 days.
Even though his proficiency had increased in Reverse Cursed Technique, he could still only do it instinctively.
*BEEP*BEEP*
The time allotted for this training was over and it was time for Meditation and Domain training.
This was the topic where his growth could be seen. After a few days, he gained a rough image of his Innate Domain.
'Control it. Mold it to your desires. Like a thick membrane around yourself.' He kept repeating to himself trying to manifest the domain outside of his body.
He knew the concept behind Domain Expansion. But what he was trying to do was much simpler. There was no need for any Expansion, any barriers, or enormous amounts of Cursed Energy.
Mai was manifesting the Innate Domain out of his body like a membrane via Cursed Energy. It was the same as Cursed Energy Enhancement but one's Innate Domain was also combined in that Energy.
"Finally." he did it. He accomplished and the next moment, he collapsed. The result of not sleeping properly finally showed its results. He fell unconscious on the floor.
~12 hours later~
'Mmm. Feels like when you doze cozily under a palm tree on a beach.'
His eyelids felt heavy the next moment and Mai realized what happened.
'Overwork.' It was probably the first time in both lives that he had ever overworked.
'System?' he called out but only a single prompt was shown.
[Estimated Time for Completion:
5 days, 6 hours, 22 minutes, and 15 seconds.]
Unlike what he thought, the estimated time actually ended up being 15 days instead of 10 days. The seconds kept decreasing one by one.
Mai, when he was doing meditation, could feel his System connected to his soul. Like an invisible anchor holding on, he could feel tiny changes happening within it.
What changes it would bring was not known but either way, with it or without it, he was getting stronger.
And the best news, all of his powers were under his control! How great!
"I should probably meet him for a spar." Mai finally decided to have his spar against Gojo. Even if they talked every now on then on the phone, he didn't meet him for over a week.
They kept tabs on Mechamaru and both Gojo and Utahime were doing background checks and whatnot on others as well. He knew they were also investigating him but Mai didn't care.
"Yo. What's up?" Gojo asked.
"When will you be free?" Mai asked.
"Uhh, about 3 days later. I'm abroad right now. Why? Are we finally going to the Moon?"
'Darn. I completely forgot about that. Hmm. 5 days should be enough time for preparation.'
"Y-yeah. How about...this Sunday? I'll get everything ready by then. But what about him?" Mai asked about Mechamaru not revealing his name out loud.
"Hmm. You're right. I'll bring in someone who can keep an eye on him if needed. Is there anything else?"
"Uhh. I had a doubt. Do you know about this Tengen? I feel like he should know something about what's going to happen."
"I know nothing. He only meets select individuals and even I can't enter the place he's in. His mastery in Barrier Techniques is too good even for me to break through. Sorry."
"It's fine. We'll meet after a week. Bye." Mai said and hung up.
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"Who was that, sensei?" A blue-eyed kid with disheveled black hair asked Gojo.
"Do you know about Maki's twin sister?" Gojo asked.
"Not much. Maki-san talked about her once or twice but that's it." Yuta said while eating something that looked like a burrito.
"Well, she got caught in a Curse's weird technique that turned her into a boy. After that..." Gojo explained the situation to Okkotsu and finally said,
"I'm going to meet him on the 16th. You're also coming with me."
"For real, sensei? Then..." his face lit up knowing that he could meet his friends after a long time.
"Ah. Sorry. You're not meeting Maki and others. I have a task for you to do because I'll not be available at that time."
Yuta slumped after hearing that. It had been a long time since he saw his friends.
"Don't be like that. You'll only be here for a month instead of two. Things are getting rocky there and I should also probably inform Kinji."
"Is it that serious?" Yuta asked.
"Yeah. I'll tell you later about it. Now tell me about you and Miguel. Did you find those ropes?"
"No, we..."
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"That someone was probably Okkotsu. I might end up sparring with him too. I'll have to train more if I don't want to end up like a beaten-up rag doll."
Even though Mai was saying those words, there was a small smile on his face.
As he looked at himself in the mirror,
"Am I smiling? Over the fact that I'll be having a fight? Me?" He realized that he was also changing bit by bit.
In previous life or even this one, he was not someone who never liked fighting or combat. But here he was, anticipating it.
'I guess it's because I can control my powers. Well, I should probably train to not get consumed by such thrills.' He easily accepted the change instead of denying it.
'I guess I'll put a bit more effort.'
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone