New Chapter 5: Training finished; First Step Forward

"That's that. A whole year, and I have to say, being completely free of distractions is wonderful! Imagine if I had gone to a city or met people; I would have so many people wasting my damn time."

I opened up my skills list and observed the last focus of my training.

[Domain Amplification: (8/10), Shrine (2/10), Hollow Wicker Basket (8/10), HTH (10/10), Domain Expansion (0/10)]

My skills have skyrocketed, and I've achieved higher levels than I thought I'd get done in a year. Actually, I'm only guessing it's been a year; the four seasons have passed, and spring is starting again, so I don't think it's wrong for me to assume! Not that time really matters in a world with gods, magic, and my own JJK system.

"Haa~" I sighed in relief as I dipped my body in a nearby river. I didn't fear anything would attack me as I made it very clear in this ecosystem that I was on top. My body had long shed any form of normal mortality and was shaped like it was formed by the gods, which technically it was. 'Haha, funny to think I can say that and it isn't an exaggeration!'

Black markings lined my chest, back, and even made their way all up to my face, which I believe is a sign that I was near completion in the [Sukuna] path. The only evidence I had was that, well…I was really almost done! I guess I should start considering what path I'll tread down next; I have a total of 63 SP, which is way more than I thought I'd get.

'I think Megumi and the Ten Shadows might be good, or even Toji! My body could become even stronger, and with it, my soul will naturally form itself. If it doesn't, I could just choose a path that would promote the growth of the soul. I also have the option of making my own discoveries!'

Forging my own path seems nice. I don't have to completely follow the skill tree. I can make alternate skills using the existing skills! There are so many options! Should I consider Satoru's path as well? Actually, let me look at these paths rather than just thinking about it.

[Satoru —> 1st skill. Six Eyes]

'Six Eyes is the first skill…damn.'

[Toji —> 1st skill. Weapon Mastery]

No damn way. Couldn't I just spend one point each and have both these abilities? Wait! That's exactly what I could do. Six Eyes plus Weapon Mastery would be great foundation builders! Six Eyes, more so for correcting techniques or discovering new techniques. Weapon Mastery, much like it sounds, would help with learning weapons, but it will also build the necessary muscles for those weapons. Thus, bringing my body to even greater heights!

[Satoru —> 9th skill. Limitless]

"…"

'Fair enough. It's not like I should expect Limitless to be the second skill; sad…hold on. How is Curse Technique: Red and Blue before Limitless? Both techniques are applications of Limitless. This doesn't make sense; is it because it has to do with positive and negative energy? Even still, the techniques themselves require Limitless; I don't understand.'

'Whatever. I'll worry about it later; I'm just going to spend two points for Six Eyes and Weapon Mastery!'

[SP: 63->61]

[Beginning Assimilation...]

I got out of the water, dried myself off with Fire, and put my pants on. Then, I waited for the whole process to begin. That's when a small headache assaulted my mind with the knowledge of most weapons; it didn't contain some of the unique ones, but I probably wasn't going to use those anyway!

A few seconds passed, and the process was done. This left me completely stunned as it couldn't have been this easy for both skills.

[Beginning Rebirth...]

'W-What? Rebirth?!'

POP~!

My eyes burst apart. That's all I could manage to figure out before my consciousness faded from the sheer suddenness. I managed to get one more complaint in before completely passing out; 'I really hope this passing out thing stops, hah~!'

[An hour later]

"The Six Eyes are an innate gift rarely inherited within the Gojo clan. They are a nonstandard jujutsu trait manifesting as a pair of bright blue eyes that grant the bearer extrasensory perception. 

This includes seeing the flow of cursed energy in extreme detail and the ability to use that flow to read cursed techniques. The eyes also allow for ultra-precise control over the user's cursed energy, which is indispensable for properly utilizing the Limitless technique," I muttered to no one in particular; it just helped with digesting information.

It doesn't really feel innate when I can just press a button and obtain these eyes. Also, the series doesn't do a good job of explaining the beauty of these eyes at all. Actually, the anime did a pretty good job showing its mystical traits! I guess I can't blame the manga either, as it's just black and white, but there were many panels from other series and some from JJK that showed the artist could have done it if he tried.

I removed my eyes from the reflection in the water I was using and observed my surroundings.

'The world is truly beautiful... so this is what Satoru was seeing. Truly wonderful! I can see a whole 2 kilometers away, I can see the flow of cursed energy, and I can even feel my control over C.E has increased by an enormous degree! If I had to guess, I would say down to the atomic level is how good my control of C.E is. To think it's all because I got some new eyes... Damn, Satoru really had it good!'

I played around with my Six Eyes for an hour before I decided to move on. The funny thing about this skill was that it didn't have a proficiency rating unlike other skills, which I figured I knew the reason why; the skill said as such in its description!

'Status.'

[Status]

Name: Enkidu

Level: 0 (Requirements met; Will it and it will happen)

Age: 16

Race: 1/2 Cursed Spirit and 1/2 Blessed Human

Innate Skills: [Heavenly Physique], [Cursed Spirit], [Prosperity], [Six Eyes]

[Attributes]

Cursed Energy (Magic) -> SSS-1500

Endurance -> SSS-1500

Power -> SSS-1500

Agility -> SSS-1500

Dexterity -> SSS-1500

[Skills...]

"…"

'I can just level up. What were the requirements? I'm so confused... hah~ I can't go over 1500 either so I might as well just go ahead and do it.'

[Level: 0 --> 1]

[Attributes]

Cursed Energy (Magic) -> I-100 (SSS-1500)

Endurance -> I-100 (SSS-1500)

Power -> I-100 (SSS-1500)

Agility -> I-100 (SSS-1500)

Dexterity -> I-100 (SSS-1500)

'Dang, my stats went down! I guess this is really Danmachi; nice to have it confirmed rather than to keep guessing. If I remember correctly, while the numbers did go back down in the series, the last level's progress acted as a foundation, so the stronger the foundation, the better the effects of leveling up. Thankfully, I have the best foundation. I'll have to make that my goal for leveling up now! All my stats must be at 1500.'

I closed the status screen and appreciated the surroundings before making a decision. No time better to go to the city of Orario than now! I feel ready, and my progress should be quicker in the dungeon as long as I'm not distracted, but that shouldn't be a problem! I hope so, at least.

—

[Third POV]

Rattle~ Rattle~

The sound of a carriage moving filled the surrounding forest, breaking any silence. The carriage was mainly colored in light blue but also had specks of green, perhaps to signal who owned it! If one looked even closer, they could see an emblem of a bow and arrow over a crescent moon. Guards surrounding the carriage rode their horses with great competence, not bringing any shame to the owner and themselves; however…

"GUAH!" An arrow came out of nowhere and pierced the head of one of the guards, ending his life painlessly, minus the arrow, you know…piercing his head.

"ATTACK! Protect the carriage!" one guard ordered, presumably the leader, dressed in expensive-looking armor, with tied-up reddish-brown hair, and eyes that followed a similar color scheme. She moved her right hand towards her waist, grabbing her sword out of its sheath. The sword was finely crafted and didn't seem to be anything special.

Swoosh~ Swoosh~

Ding~ Ding~

The leader deflected more incoming arrows and got off her horse; she couldn't fight well on a horse as she wasn't trained well enough to do so. Heck, she didn't even need horse-riding most of the time, not to mention practicing for combat situations like this!

"DIEEE!"

A random man, or thug as the woman labeled him, rushed out of the bushes of the forest and charged towards her with a spear in hand! The woman dodged the pathetic excuse of a technique and sliced the bastard's head off, blood sprinkling everywhere, dying the ground and some of her own clothing in crimson!

Unfortunately, the man wasn't alone but instead with 30 more men who surrounded the carriage, giving no room to try and escape.

"FIREBOLT!" one of the thugs shouted, and an orange-red bolt of fire struck one of her teammates, killing another. They only had 20 people with them, minus 2, making it 18 who could fight. Fortunately, there was only one non-combatant, but it wasn't like she couldn't join the fight if she was forced to; the captain would make sure not to get her goddess involved!

"Familia! All means available can be used; just kill these bastards!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the other 17 women shouted in unison and made their counterattack, or at least they tried to before something weird happened.

Tap~

A young man with long, light-green hair going past his shoulders landed on top of the carriage that the guards were supposed to protect! However, everyone present was too occupied to worry about the carriage; this man's eyes were blue, but they shined with such luminescence and mystery that every single person, be it guard or thug, was stunned. They didn't even care to notice the glaring black markings on his face, which went downwards, trailing his entire body.

"Hmm, why aren't you continuing the slaughter? I just wanted to have a closer look. Don't mind me!"

[Enkidu POV]

I encouraged the battle before me. It was a great way to learn much about this world: how people fight and the direction combat could help my understanding improve. After all, reading about something versus experiencing it is way different! Also, I don't think my fighting bears and other animals is comparable to fighting other humanoid life forms.

"-_-"

"-.-"

The group of women and men stared at me, still dazed. How was I supposed to handle this? Should I say I'm a part of a faction and kill someone? Hmm. Not a bad idea!

I raised my right hand and swiped it to the right, drawing a very clear line. Nearly instantaneously, one of the thugs, as I deemed him, was sliced in half! Drawing the attention of both parties, both wondering how I just did that.

"Oh, my allies~, I have taken one down. We should fight back~!"

"…Sure. How about we just pay you and you handle it?" the woman with reddish-brown hair mocked. She could tell I was being sarcastic! I raised an eyebrow at the pretty woman; she is smart, I can say that for sure. I also need money, so deal!

"Sure, but how much?" I gotta make sure.

"How much do you want?"

I didn't say anything and just raised a single finger. How much she interprets off that is her own problem! She can't say I asked for too little or too much. I could just kill everyone at that point, though, no need to waste my time with a back-and-forth hassle.

"Only that much? You would be saving us from using our own resources and possibly save a few of our lives…Sure! One million Valis it is!"

'O-One million!? I should extort—no, no, greed kills people; I shall graciously accept!'

"Deal!" I couldn't help but start laughing. Oh, I just realized that I'm only wearing pants. Whatever, these women can enjoy the show if they want for one million! I'm surprised no one has said anything or thought weirdly of my black markings. I wonder if they think of them (the black markings) as a special skill of mine! It actually wouldn't be wrong to assume that.

I turned towards the thugs; they were clearly scared. It seems they had this planned out, and I came and ruined it. I turned my eyes back towards the ladies and gave them one warning!

"I recommend closing your eyes if you don't want to see something a little gruesome." Thankfully, I haven't lost control of myself to my dangerous tendencies, maybe because of the Six Eyes; however, I had no proof of that.

Giving the warning, I hopped down from the top of the carriage and landed on the paved road. In the same motion, I pointed and swung two of my fingers downward! Two more bodies became split in half.

'27 more. Not that it makes a difference! I wonder if I should do the rest with Dismantle. If they get too close, I'll hit 'em with Cleave.'

I dashed forward, taking most of the thugs off guard, but I could notice two were more composed than the rest. Appearing in front of one of the unsuspecting ones, I coated my right palm in fire and grabbed his head. I put more C.E into the flame, increasing its heat! The man's head turned to ashes and didn't even get the opportunity to slowly melt.

His body fell, and to the horror of the thugs, I didn't waste any time! I swung my palm, sending a wave of the same empowered fire that turned half of their allies into ashes.

[Skill Obtained: Cursed Flame Wave]

I didn't take notice of the System alert. I just deactivated my flame and with a grin turned towards the last half.

"And be buried with the earth!" one of the thugs apparently was chanting the whole time. How pathetic. If I had to chant to use my basic moves, then I wouldn't even attempt them in combat! Anyway, a massive boulder approached me at what others may consider fast, to which I caught the piece of earth and turned it into pieces with Cleave.

Shaking my head, I gave the thugs an opportunity to cause me some kind of trouble.

"Look…This is pathetic. I won't use my hands, just my legs and feet. I won't use any magic either! Just try not to make this boring."

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE US!" a bigger thug screamed and charged towards me. I raised my left foot and kicked upward diagonally. I sent a Dismantle at him! His body became another to join his half brethren.

"Y-You said you wouldn't use magic!!" a scrawny thug tried calling me out, but I really didn't use magic.

"I didn't use magic." My face was deadpan, but I was laughing inwardly. Who the hell believes their enemy in the first place!? Still, I used cursed energy and not magic, so I wasn't in the wrong. And if I was…then I'd just kill him. Oh! I'm doing that anyway.

"Okay, I'm not going to lie. You guys are boring, so I'm just going to kill all of you!"

'Spiderweb!'

Cracks resembling a spiderweb split the ground, ruining the footing of all thugs and even some of the ladies from the rich group.

"Fūga." A dance of flames, which strangely looked different from my normal fire, coated my hands, and I urged them forward, sending a goldish-red wave of fire that turned the rest of the thugs to ash.

'I really did want to take my time, but there wasn't anyone worthy enough for me to feel it necessary! More importantly…'

[Skill Evolved: Fire to Divine Fire.]

Proficiency reset to (1/10)

Requirements to use: Chant "Fūga" to open the divine path of flames.