For the first-year students who were already used to this, there was little to say. The issues were old and familiar, things that required slow, steady polishing over time. What was truly worth mentioning was the newly joined prep student, Megumi Fushiguro.

  “For the next period of time, you need to focus on improving your close combat abilities,” Akira said. “Hand-to-hand fighting, tool usage, and coordination with Shikigami.” This was the initial plan he laid out.

  “Not subjugating Shikigami?” Megumi Fushiguro asked, puzzled. In his view, mastering as many Shikigami as possible was the fastest way to grow stronger. It seemed obvious to him.

  “That’s important too,” Akira replied. “Everyone will help you think of ways.”

  “I appreciate the kindness,” Megumi Fushiguro said, “but the subjugation ritual doesn’t allow outside interference. Once external force is involved, it’s judged invalid.”

  If it were possible, Megumi Fushiguro would have already brought all ten Shikigami under his control. Unfortunately, he happened to have the “strongest” person by his side, which complicated things.

  Akira simply wagged a finger. “That’s small thinking. Your perspective is too narrow. What counts as external force, and how is it defined? As long as you understand the trigger conditions, there’s always a way around it.”

  Megumi Fushiguro’s biggest problem was that he was too conservative about certain matters. He was trapped by habitual ways of thinking. Those invisible limits held him back.

  He was like a model student who only knew how to study hard, solve problems honestly, and rely on his own ability in exams. That mindset had served him well, but it also confined him.

  What Akira wanted to teach him were methods he had never even considered before. They were ways of bending the rules, approaches far beyond what he had imagined.

  Author: Third Magus

  “Based on my understanding of Jujutsu, there are only two ways it gets judged,” Akira said calmly. “Individual judgment, and Cursed Energy judgment. Individual judgment can be further split into body judgment and soul judgment.”

  “Body judgment is the easiest,” he continued, speaking as if it were routine. “Grab a few Cursed Spirit as cannon fodder, or borrow a Cursed Corpse from the principal. Wear it down most of the way, then let Panda beat it up, and if that is still not enough, Gardevoir can hold the line. You take the final blow yourself.”

  Megumi Fushiguro froze after hearing that. “You can do it like that?”

  “Rules are dead, people are alive,” Akira said, continuing his life philosophy. “This world is not about who follows the rules better, but who can bend them legally and reasonably. As long as the subjugation is complete, the process does not matter at all.”

  “Jujutsu Sorcerer already live outside normal society, in the shadow of common sense,” he went on. “If you do not know how to adapt, you will die.”

  The so called delinquent teenager had his values completely refreshed, and his fairly handsome face twisted as if it were about to wrinkle into a rag.

  “Then what about soul judgment?” the shaken boy asked.

  “That one is more troublesome,” Akira replied. “Cursed Spirit definitely will not work, and I have never tested Cursed Corpse. Even if it does not work, we still have Cursed Tools. Smash it in the face with Cursed Tools first, and once it is beaten enough, you go in and subjugate it.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  This was the exact method that let the great hero king become an Archer, and Akira called it the “Golden Flash Tactic.” On second thought, “Panda Tactic” also worked, since they were both ancient human techniques.

  Maki Zenin chuckled when she heard that. “The Cursed Tool Vault of Tokyo Jujutsu High is under my control. We have dozens of Cursed Tools, more than enough for you to throw.”

  Megumi Fushiguro fell silent.

  It really felt like he had walked into a den of thieves, and the whole tone was completely off.

  “Cursed Energy judgment is even more annoying,” Akira continued. “You cannot use Cursed Corpse, Cursed Tools, or Cursed Spirit. The good news is that Tokyo Jujutsu High never lacks close combat fighters. Even without Cursed Energy, they are still strong.”

  “We can find a way to restrain the movement of Shikigami,” he added. “You just focus on attacking.”

  Akira clenched his fist, while Maki Zenin flicked her ponytail. Together, they looked like a perfectly matched pair.

  As an aside, Akira had already tested Gardevoir’s psychic powers. At their core, they were mental power, and since Cursed Energy was part of that, it was also excluded.

  “Unfortunately, none of that works,” Satoru Gojo said, pouring cold water without any change in tone. “The restrictions of Ten Shadows Technique include all of the above. Makoto was a very stingy ancestor.”

  “If Taira no Masakado or Abe no Seimei knew about this, would they be angry enough to crawl out of their graves?” he added casually, while exposing the old secrets of the Three Great Clans.

  The origins of the Three Great Clans corresponded to three infamous vengeful spirits in the legends of Japan.

  The Gojo Clan traced its origin to Sugawara no Michizane, which needed no explanation.

  The Zenin Clan originated from Taira no Masakado. It was said that Taira no Masakado had a son named Taira no Masakuni, and that Taira no Masakuni was the original name of Abe no Seimei. The relationship between Shikigami and Abe no Seimei was well known, and Ten Shadows Technique also carried traces of Abe no Seimei.

  As for Kamo Clan, its origin lay with Emperor Sutoku.

  In his later years, Emperor Sutoku was exiled by Emperor Go-Shirakawa. To prove his sincerity, he copied five sutras in his own blood, but Emperor Go-Shirakawa regarded them as curses and refused to accept them.

  Enraged, Emperor Sutoku bit through his own tongue and wrote in blood on the returned sutras, vowing to become a great demon king and bring chaos to the world, dedicating the five Mahayana sutras to the evil path. He neither ate nor rested after that, and died in fury, his death resembling a yaksha.

  It was said that after Emperor Sutoku died, even after the coffin was sealed, blood kept seeping out for a long time. From that blood came the signature technique of the Kamo Clan, the Red Blood Manipulation, using blood itself as the medium.

  Akira did not doubt Satoru Gojo’s judgment, nor did he feel discouraged. He still wore a calm expression, as if everything were under control.

  “It is fine, there are still solutions,” he said. “We can use terrain and tools, like building a cage strong enough to trap Shikigami inside, then slowly attack it from outside. There are also modern machines, excavators, Road Roller, anything that can conduct Cursed Energy. Even if it were something like Cthulhu, I would load it onto a ship and take it away.”

  “Of course, these are external aids,” he continued. “They can be borrowed, but never relied on. The key of a technique is always the caster. No subjugation ritual can restrict the caster themselves.”

  “Do you understand now,” he asked, “why I made you train close combat, tool usage, and coordination with Shikigami?”

  Megumi Fushiguro’s pupils shrank. “The caster should not be limited by the technique. The caster controls the technique.”

  “Bingo,” Akira said. “You never only have Shikigami. Do not let Ten Shadows Technique box you in. Like I said, techniques are dead, people are alive.”

  As he spoke, he glanced quietly at Satoru Gojo. This was someone who had innovated on an almost perfect inherited technique, pushing Makoto from strongest toward unbeatable.

  It was a pity that Satoru Gojo had done it himself, but never passed that idea on to others.

  Given his personality, he probably never realized how important that insight was.

  That was the gap between geniuses and ordinary people. Geniuses grasp everything by instinct, while ordinary people have to summarize, correct, and refine step by step just to catch up.

  Akira was glad that what he possessed was a “Pokémon Trainer” System. Starting from an egg, starting from zero, allowed him to observe everything clearly and take on the role of an assistant teacher, opening new doors for others again and again.