August 8th, 2005
Fuin stood at 6'3" now, with broad shoulders and large muscles. His face had lost the last traces of childhood softness over the past year, giving him wolf-like sharp features.
His mother had passed away a year ago following his father. Heart failure, but Fuin knew it was more like her body was dying form heartbreak of his father's passing. She'd been working late, came home, went to bed, and didn't wake up. He had found her in the morning when she didn't come down for breakfast.
He'd lived alone since then for about a year, off his parents' savings. The account had enough to cover living expenses for another two years if he was careful. After that, he'd need to figure something else out. But two years was plenty of time before he started work as a sorcerer to cover his expenses.
In two weeks, he'd start at Tokyo Jujutsu High. The invitation had arrived three months ago. They'd known about the Unmei family's son for years, apparently. Waiting until he was old enough to enroll just to send him an invitation.
The second floor of the Unmei family home had been converted into a laboratory over the past year since his mother passed. Three rooms total. The first contained his research materials and notes stacked on book shelves.
The second room was the testing chamber. Reinforced walls of steel, minimal furniture, a clear space in the center where he could work without worrying about collateral damage. This was where he performed the actual experiments.
The third room housed the lab mice in many small cages.
There were forty-two of them currently, kept in standard cages with food, water, and bedding. He maintained them carefully. They needed to be healthy for the process to work properly. Sick or dying mice couldn't absorb fate pressure effectively.
He'd discovered the reversed technique of [One Percent] eight months ago, after repeated attempts to manipulate positive cursed energy. The standard technique used negative cursed energy to increase probability of his success, but accumulating fate pressure that threatened to crush him. The reversed technique used positive cursed energy to do something different.
It swapped fate.
When he touched another living creature while channeling positive cursed energy through [One Percent], he could transfer his accumulated fate pressure to them. Any impending consequences that should have targeted him would instead target the other creature. The transfer was temporary; it lasted as long as physical contact was maintained, plus approximately thirty seconds afterward.
But if the creature died while the fate was still transferred to them, the fate died with them and wouldn't transfer back to him.
It was a perfect solution. Every time he used [One Percent] and accumulated fate pressure, he could transfer it to a lab mouse and let the mouse die. The pressure would dissipate completely. No crushing weight or risk of being destroyed by his own technique. He'd tested it extensively. The process was reliable as long as the transfer completed before the fate pressure manifested.
Today's experiment was more complex than usual.
Fuin stood in the testing chamber, a sealed cursed object resting on a metal table in front of him. It was one he'd created six months ago—a Grade 1 cursed spirit compressed and bound into a small wooden charm. The spirit inside had possessed a technique related to temperature manipulation.
His goal for this experiment was to inherit the cursed technique from a cursed object without being possessed by the cursed spirit or exploding from failure.
He had a theory. If he could run [One Percent] with both positive and negative cursed energy simultaneously, he might be able to separate the technique from the spirit. The negative energy would increase his probability of successfully inheriting the technique. The positive energy would allow him to transfer all failed attempts to the lab mice to deal with as long as he was fast enough.
It required precise control. Channeling two opposing types of cursed energy in different parts of his body at the same time wasn't something most sorcerers could do. But he had special-grade reserves and years of practice manipulating cursed energy in unconventional ways.
He'd prepared all the lab mice for this experiment, kept in a cage next to the table within arms reach.
He placed his left hand on the sealed cursed object. His right hand rested on the cage, fingers touching the wire mesh so he could make contact with a mouse quickly if needed.
He channeled cursed energy into the object. Negative energy through his left hand, activating [One Percent]. Positive energy held ready in his right hand, prepared to trigger the reversed technique.
He grabbed the small cursed object and swallowed it whole.
*THUMP*
Fuin immediately grabbed one of the lab mice with his right hand and channeled positive cursed energy. He felt himself self expanding as if he was about to explode from the failure to merge, he quickly transferred it to the lab mouse in his hand.
The small creature convulsed once, its eyes going blank, then exploded. Blood splattered across the room and walls of the lab.
He hurriedly picked up the next cursed object and attempted the next merge, now with an increased chance of success of 1%.
*THUMP*
He transferred it to the next mouse in his hand, before throwing it out like a live grenade into the next room.
*Splat*
The mouse exploded in the next room.
Then came the next attempt, then another, and another.
On the 15th attempt, something finally changed.
Instead of the bloating feeling of being about to explode as the cursed energy of the object clashed with his human body. He paused cautiously from transferring the effects to the lab mouse. A cool feeling like ice slide down his spine causing his entire body to feel goose bumps. He felt a surge in his cursed energy total as it increased but about 30% compared to before. The cursed object perfectly matched his cursed energy at just the right moment, merging with him.
His eyes lit up as his experiment succeeded!
He relaxed his cursed technique and glanced around the messy lab rooms, now filled with blood splattered everywhere. Tension he never knew he had, left his body completely.
He glanced down at his blood stained lab mask and clothing. He needed a shower. He would feel the cursed technique obtained through this after.