8 Assessment

Metropolitan Curse Technical College - A Week Prior to the Start of First Semester

In one of the training grounds of the Jujutsu High, white haired male and a complete opposite, dark haired teenager are having a spar. While quite ahead of the opponent in terms of speed, strength and technique, the white haired male is surprised by what he is seeing. 

"Did you get strong so quickly because I am your teacher?" The teacher in question was Gojo Satoru and the person in front of him was his first official student in the Tokyo Jujutsu High. "Woah~ Your cursed energy is also five times of what I could observe a month ago! You truly are growing, Jin-woo." He spoke in Japanese. 

The Korean had a bit of trouble comprehending everything, but living in Japan forced him to learn Japanese much quicker. Some more time and he could probably start speaking fluently, although, about being indistinguishable from actual Japanese… let's say it was years away. 

"You taught me a lot, Gojo-sensei." Jin-woo was not trying to hide a bit of ridicule of Gojo, but his teacher understood it either way. Teacher definitely had a big input in Jin-woo's sudden rise in strength, but there were more factors that were still unexplainable and the Korean refused to directly tell Gojo.

*Punch* 

"So strong, I almost budged.~" The special grade sorcerer had too much power for now, Jin-woo was still far away from reaching that level. He'd assume that system would probably rate Gojo as level hundred, due to him being the pinnacle of strength, but would that really be true? After all, what made Gojo special was his techniques and innate abilities. 

Compared to that monster, any existing special grade would have a run for life. 'I probably will need years just to close up to his strength… Why am I even thinking about this now? I simply need to get strong enough to not feel threatened.' Somehow, Jin-woo was already thinking about rivaling even great Gojo Satoru, but those were pipe dreams for now. 

'The system gives me a hundred health points per each stat invested in vitality, while the cursed energy points increase with a half of already available cursed energy points…' Seemed like a valid deal… not just valid, this really was a cheat code. When he steps into the realm of thousands, his stats will skyrocket. 

It wasn't that far away either, maybe when he invests into intelligence stat more then yes. Vitality will be a different story as it only increases by a hundred all the time. 'Gojo will get suspicious… but Sensei will be only happy, the Jujutsu Association will be mad.' 

Seeing that his student was progressing quickly, the teacher stopped. "Let's take a break and talk about the upcoming semester. How are you feeling about your new classmates?" Gojo asked as they finished the training session. 

*Huff* Bit exhausted, Jin-woo settled down on the ground and took a breath before answering. "I can't really tell yet, can I? Should I hope that they won't be the way you described them?" Jin-woo returned with a question. 

"~But where's the fun in having normal classmates?" 

From Gojo's words, being a sorcerer was such a position where you were deemed to have something wrong with your mind. So it meant that a lot of people were really just a bit crazy, even himself, he was a bit crazy… maybe not just a bit. "Both of your classmates are strong, but thankfully you really managed to catch up. Even with my eyes, I wouldn't be able to draw much difference between you a month ago or now." 

Gojo's eyes were laid on the physique of Jin-woo which changed drastically. For a teenager, he had abnormally defined muscles in the forearms. Not only that, but he became much taller in just a month. 'This can't just be the influence of training, but… the stretch marks are visible on his back which can only mean he had a growth spurt. He got taller quicker than his skin could handle.'

"What grade would you classify me as a sorcerer, sensei?" Jin-woo's question was a bit thoughtful, he wanted to know where he stands for now in the Jujutsu world. 

Gojo gave it some thought as well and considered every aspect of Jin-woo, from his physical strength to cursed energy, "Somewhere around grade two I would say, not quite there, you still need some kind of technique. Usually grade two is given to sorcerers with some innate technique, but judging your cursed energy at the moment paired with physical strength, you should jump in very quickly." 

"So, I'm not far away, but the door is locked." 

"That's exactly right. Either way, the grading is messed up. It was created by Jujutsu Higher ups and is assigned by them as well. They can't really measure my strength, can they? But I'm in the same category as some people, even though I'm clearly the strongest~" 

"What about my classmates, are they already grade two sorcerers?" 

Gojo smirked, "Well, if you want the direct answer, just due to the fact that they have innate techniques, they might be stronger than you… They are right in the category of grade two sorcerers, but are assigned to three at the moment. Students are usually just assigned to grade four, but they were exceptions."

"Do I have a chance of getting an innate technique?" 

"Probably not, it manifests quite early. But it shouldn't matter for you, while it can be quite beneficial to have innate technique, if you are able to amplify already existing cursed techniques, then it's better to focus on acquiring as many of them as possible."

… 

Satoru Gojo wanted to test the improvement of Jin-woo in a better environment. So, testing the newly acquired power of his student on a mission was a great start. Tasking Kiyotaka Ijichi find them an appropriate mission. Which he did almost instantaneously, as Jin-woo gladly took up on a mission. It also meant he would get to level up. 

'These days, the mystery box doesn't give me any more of the talismans. I guess it is rare. So, the mission will help me a lot this time.' 

Gojo and Jin-woo were driven by Kiyotaka Ijichi in a dark sedan that seemed to belong to the government. While they were sitting in a car, Gojo had a casual conversation about how curses act when facing a human. Of course, Jin-woo already had an idea about all that, because he worked for the association for quite some time. 

"By the way, if something goes wrong, I'll be there. Though, this won't apply to other missions in the future. When you are a student, you will be given missions according to your grade and you will be paid a salary according to it as well." 

'Essentially, I'm still employed by the Jujutsu Association… I can't say if it's good or bad. Gojo-sensei doesn't seem to care that he is working for them as well, at least for now. I guess he is paid well.' Jin-woo had no idea how much money the strongest sorcerer was making, but could guess that it was staggering amounts. 

The coordinator, which in this case was Ijichi, wore formal attire and looked like he was employed by the Jujutsu Association directly. Jin-woo had his suspicions about the man from the beginning, but they were eased by Gojo Satoru, as he mentioned the man being his underclassman and very cowardly. 

"A lot of sorcerers don't have guts to continue and work in this sphere, they usually return to civil life. However, there is something else that stops sorcerers as well and that is death. A lot of sorcerers die in action, when trying to exorcize the curse that appears to be wrongly evaluated. That happens frequently." 

Jin-woo understood that, "What is the chance of the cursed spirit being wrongly evaluated in my mission as well?" 

"Very low, but it is still there." Gojo didn't deny it, but assured the boy, "It wouldn't matter either way, since I'll be overseeing the process of you exercising this curse. Then we'll go and celebrate your successful completion of the mission!" 

Just as they finished talking, the car arrived at the destination and they got out. In front of them was an abandoned building. Typical place that most of the curses inhabit. This particular building was an abandoned factory, meaning it attracted a lot of negative attention from people living around it. 

Ijichi proceeded to set up the curtain. Jin-woo and Gojo went directly into the factory's front door. There was a lot of mold and vegetation growing on the walls, indicating that the factory was abandoned for years. But the curses in those types of places don't live long, they are naturally found quickly, as sorcerers know that these types of places are their birthplace. 

Jin-woo was going to be dealing with a young cursed spirit this time. He had no idea about its nature, but so far the atmosphere wasn't so pressuring either. His dark eyes tried to spot anything out of the ordinary, so far nothing. Though the perception stats increase could definitely be felt. Jin-woo could sense the direction in which the singular cursed spirit resided. 

'Yes, of course, the cursed spirits I dealt with in Shinjuku were different from these…cursed spirits are territorial just like in this case, they don't let other curses near. Similar thing with that Altar…' 

Gojo gazed at his student with new found interest. In a couple weeks his student changed so much that he was almost unrecognizable. His cursed energy surged through his body almost instinctively, and it was a lot more than previous, but compared to what it can be it was still little. He picked exactly a direction in which the curse was as well, as if his senses knew where it's location was. 

'He definitely knows where the curse is…how interesting.' 

Gojo hasn't thought much about cursed energy, yet, Jin-woo was capable of controlling it to some extent and had some affinity towards it. Much like himself, but Jin-woo didn't have Six Eyes, and did all of this without much training. The teacher couldn't wait to teach him about cursed energy in the near future, he was ready for it.

Meanwhile, their walk continued in complete silence, only their steps resounded in the corridors. The cursed spirit's presence was becoming more apparent as well, although it was probably not aware of their entrance in its lair. 

"It's on the second floor." Jin-woo said as he turned to the staircase. Gojo smiled, this cleared his doubts. 

They walked up the staircase, their footsteps being heard by the cursed spirit. When they came into the corridor of the second floor, they were instantly greeted by the cursed spirit. Its presence is not too intimidating, but it definitely looked like an abomination. 'Low grade.' Jin-woo noted, it was grade three cursed spirit at most. But very low in the food chain it seems. 

"Don't let it destroy the building, remember, there are civilians around." Gojo reminded Jin-woo as the latter began to walk towards the curse. 

The curse was quite large, it took up the whole corridor frame and Jin-woo would've had to directly face, there were no ways to just slip around and attack from the sides. The sad humanoid face suddenly turned even uglier as it grew a hand almost out of nothing and went for the sorcerers. 

Its hand extended like rubber and reached Jin-woo's head. The teenager only made a slight step to the right and avoided the incoming attack. Due to increased perception, the attack also seemed much slower than it actually was. Jin-woo grabbed the curse's hand and pulled it towards him. The curse rolled forward due to its massive size and having a very high center of balance. 

It managed to send another hand towards Jin-woo, who expected it, but calmly moved away. "Gojo-sensei, can I lure him outside?" "Just don't cause too much damage outside and it'll be good." With the teacher's reassurement, Jin-woo went in to grab the hold of the curse's hand again. 

And unexpectedly, he jumped outside of the window using the hand as a rope to land on the ground softly. Next thing he did was rip the hand of the curse apart, to make it fully concentrated on him, instead of switching to Gojo, it really forced all of its attention on the young sorcerer.

'Now I have full freedom.' The factory's yard was obstructed by the curtain, so Jin-woo could really just go all out on the curse if he wanted to. 'Gojo-sensei, so this is just my assessment test. Fine…'