Grinding is Eternal

Ok for some reason, even though I haven't donated any power stones to myself, my fan value keeps on increasing.

Does anyone know why this is happening?

If you do, let me know.

Also, drop a review on the story.

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As Shuichi stretched his body to make room for more flexible movement and maneuverability, an ethereal construct of bright blue burning flames began to take shape in the still air behind him.

The air itself seemed to resonate with whatever it was that was forming, twisting and turning as if relishing in a melody of the highest order.

The bright blue inferno materialized into a deep matallic luster, that looked to be somewhere on the line of reality and imagination, an unreal object on the crossroads of fantasy and actuality.

As Shuichi finished his stretching, his hand reached out to grasp the handle of the newly formed 'pseudo-metallic' object in an iron like grip.

His hands firmly pressed upon the still burning pyres of cursed energy that lit up the surrounding motionless air, and with a gentle pull of the energy, it transformed in a whip like structure which solidified into a katana.

'I'm getting better at making constructs'. He mused.

Earlier, what he was capable of was only the bare minimum that would be required for him to effectively operate his technique. Unrefined and inefficient, like the methods of a brute. But now that he had a better understanding of the concept of the very laws that the world of jujutsu governs upon, along with his precise control over cursed energy, he could do way more than that.

The pieces of enlightenment that he had achieved through the system had worked wonders. Although his cursed energy control was not that refined, only being at the level of an experienced semi-grade 2 sorcerer, his understanding and connectivity with the concept of cursed energy was something that was above the level of a normal sorcerer. Normal sorcerers would not be able to have such understanding of cursed energy, and that was the reason that his strength would far outclass that of a sorcerer of the same grade.

Enlightenment was not something achieved easily, neither was it something to be taken lightly.

And the fact that the system was just able to hand out enlightenments like it was an ice scream festival in the middle of summer vacation was baffling. Sure, they were 'Pieces of Enlightenment' and not true 'Enlightenment', but that itself was pretty shocking.

According to the books he had read, specifically the one of Black Flash, it read, "For a sorcerer, achieving enlightenment is akin to a rebirth. The very perception of the world and the power system would be so utterly flipped over that one would achieve incomparable power from before."

Although these sentences were at the very end of the book and not elaborated on, it was still pretty tantalizing to think about. Black Flash offered a similar phenomenon, albeit at a lower level.

'I should work on increasing my control and trying to achieve Black Flash. After that, I might be able to reach the level of a Reverse Cursed Technique... though I don't think I'll be needing that with [Hard to Kill]' Shuichi thought and dashed towards the various curses that were scattered across the graveyard.

With the ethereal katana in his hand that burned with the bright blue flames of negativity, he began slashing away at the various grade 4 and grade 3 curses in the area. They came in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

One resembled a tiger with snail like eyes, one looked like a grotesque monstrosity of human limbs, another was just a giant crocodile like.. thing.

Anyway, as varying as the shapes and sizes they had, they all were grouped up in the dozens with other curses with the same look.

The majority of them were grade 4 and the rest were grade 3. And looking at the amount of control Shuichi had over cursed energy, they were not going to hold out long in front of him.

Materializing several knives and swords in the air, Shuichi impaled all of the curses with them, killing them off with frightening ease.

Sensing the steady increase in his cursed energy, he smiled and continued this on for the next 10 minutes or so.

And after ten short minutes, the curse infested graveyard which had almost a hundred curses wandering around was completely cleared out, except for a strong presence that Shuichi had been feeling at the center of the graveyard.

During the grind, Shuichi had leveled up a total of 2 times, gaining him another 20 skill points.

Looking at the now clear graveyard which was sending out huge waves of cursed energy just a short while ago, he was surprised and elated at the increase in his own strength. It had not been long since he had got into the new world and made himself comfortable, yet he was already on his way to becoming the strongest.

'Everything else in life is temporary. It is the grind that is eternal.' Shuichi mused with a happy expression, which soon turned serious as he looked towards the center of the graveyard, where he could feel a particularly strong spirit.

If he had to guess based solely on the amount of cursed energy he could feel, he would say that the spirit was at least a semi-first grade.

"To think the graveyard held such a strong curse." He said.

And then, brandishing his cursed sword, he began to walk towards it with steady and slow steps.

If it was Shuichi 2 days ago, he would not have even dared to confront such a curse head on. A cursed spirit that was at the least, semi-first grade.

It was a presence that demanded the respect given to the strong wherever it was present, even if that strength was held by a curse. No, especially if that strength was held by a curse.

One had to know that the gap between a rank was more than just the sheer output of cursed energy. It helped for sure, but the resulting output was always a culmination of several factors that could define the strength of a spirit, like intelligence, cursed techniques, healing capacity, etc. It wasn't an iron rule, but it was the general direction that was followed.

A first grade curse was akin to an inconceivable existence in front of a normal sorcerer. It was a level that Shuichi could never have imagined to confront. That is, if it was the previous Shuichi.

Right now, he was quite confident in his second cursed technique, [Hard to Kill].

He was sure that he could even fight against a special grade with it...

Okay, that may have been a bit too much, but the fact still stands. Hard to Kill was a cursed technique that could get him classified as a special grade, purely due to its potential.

Mahoraga's adaptability was so strong that it overwhelmed even the effectiveness of a reverse cursed technique. Being modeled after Mahoraga's Dharmachakra, Hard to Kill made his survival prowess and tenacity the equivalent of a cockroach.

But that did not mean that he could walk freely around the jujutsu world. Unlike Mahoraga, who had to be killed in a single clean strike, Shuichi was not that unkillable. He could be killed if he was repeatedly attacked before he could adapt. His power had a limit after all.

But anyway, that did not matter at the moment. With the speed at which he kept growing, Shuichi felt that he could reach the equivalent power of a special grade in a little more than 3 months. If he went on these escapades regularly, he could amass the cursed energy reserves of a special grade within as little as 4 days!

Obviously that did not mean he would have the same amount of power, reserves did not equate to power after all, but it was still a bit shocking to imagine his growth rate.

As Shuichi walked along the graveyard, he eventually reached the very center of the graveyard, where the semi-first grade spirit was located.

'Considering the sheer output, it is well above a second grade, but not quite at the level of a first grade.' Shuichi mused and with a thought, an ethereal armor like the one worn by japanese samurais materialized around his body.

'I still haven't tested how much the armor is capable of taking, but there's always a first time I guess.'

The cursed spirit was laying dormant above a grave in a fetal position. It was vaguely humanoid in shape and looked to be something akin to a bloated baby, with sickly greenish purple skin.

Its small and fat arms held its legs to its head as it silently floated in the air above the graves, its face hidden from the world.

With a simple flick of his hand, a chainsaw materialized in his hands, emitting a faint glow of power.

'I wonder why I like chainsaws so much.' Shuichi thought as he fired up the chainsaw, that woke up with a majestic roar.

'It's probably because of that one manga I read in the past. What was it's name again? Chainsaw Man?' He smiled and then quickly shook off these thoughts.

In a fight, a moment of distraction is a moment where death looms over you. And that was a lesson that his predecessor had known and realized all too well.

'No distraction, no hesitation.' That was the phrase that the Hei and the Kukuru units of the family often said while his predecessor was still in training. Well, more like torture but you get the point.

Clearing his head of all unnecessary thoughts, reinforcing his body and kneeling down into a peculiar position, Shuichi's body shot out like a bolt of lightning. Cracking the ground beneath him and rippling through the air like a bullet, his body slammed into the bloated and jelly like body of the child resembling curse.

VRMMMMMMMMMM*

SPLAT* SLASH* SPLASH*

With a maniacal grin plastered on his face, he embedded the chainsaw right into the side of the curse, splattering the purple 'blood' of the curse all over the ground and on himself.

As the flesh and blood of the curse were shredded into pieces, the blood spurt out like a fountain that the curse woke up with an uncannily human cry.

"WAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" With the cry of any typical baby, the giant bulk of mass, that had the imposing figure that stood 5 times Shuichi's size, the baby twisted his body while still floating in mid air, throwing him away with his chainsaw.

The body of the baby curse twisted in an unnatural position, as if it had no bones in its body.

'Gotcha. I got the first hit and dealt a lot of damage. Surprise attacks are really helpful!' Shuichi thought as the world around him slowed down in his perception.

As Shuichi was in the air, the baby curse, stopping the weird display of beyond exorcist level body bending, and snapping back into position, raised it's chubby right arm.

And with a giant gust of wind, the arm suddenly elongated and turned into a gigantic hammer in that air that loomed over Shuichi.

"Ah... Shit-" The hammer smashed into him as his body was thrown into the ground, kicking up the various graves and uprooting trees as Shuichi was thrown skidding through the ground into various objects.

BOOM*

CRASH*

The result of the clash came as a dust cloud that impeded the observation of the current condition.

SHKRUK*

Pant* Pant*

Shuichi panted as he threw off the massive chunks of dirt that fell on top of him and began to desperately search for air.

The impact had not hurt him as much as he had imagined it would. His body was still mostly unharmed, courtesy of the reinforcement and the body armor he got.

Getting his breathing under control, Shuichi looked down at his body at what else was on top of him.

It was a half-decayed skeleton and what seemed to be pieces of a broken wood.

"...Okay..." Shuichi said, a bit startled by the skeleton.

With a burst of cursed energy, his figure blew out of the rubble in which he stood and cleared out the dust cloud with a wave of his hand...

Only to see the demon baby curse to have transformed its arms into hundreds of tentacles with needles at the tips...

'...Shit...' Shuichi thought as the baby curse threw the drill like tentacles at him like a compressed string.