The pain didn't stop.
It just kept going, constant, like my body was being reminded every second that something was wrong.
At some point, I stopped reacting to it.
Not because it got easier. I just didn't have the energy or time to care.
I stared at the ceiling for a while, then let out a slow breath.
"…Yeah. This isn't my body."
That thought hit different the second time.
Before, it was panic. Now it was just… fact.
I tried to move my legs.
Nothing.
Not numb. Not weak.
Just nothing.
I exhaled again.
"Alright. Mechamaru."
The memories were already there. Not fuzzy either. Clear enough to understand everything.
Heavenly Restriction.
Crippled body.
No sensation below the waist.
Skin that couldn't handle light.
Parents who thought he died.
"…Great."
I rubbed my face, then stopped halfway.
Even that felt off.
Didn't matter.
Complaining wouldn't fix anything.
I needed to figure out where I stood.
First thing.
Age.
Twelve.
I clicked my tongue.
"Could be worse."
Then timeline.
I went through what I remembered.
Yuji.
Finger.
Megumi.
Gojo.
None of that had happened yet.
So that meant—
"Five years."
Roughly.
Five years before everything starts going crazy.
I leaned my head back.
"That's actually decent."
Not safe.
Just decent.
Enough time to build something.
Or die trying.
I shifted slightly in the tub and immediately regretted it. Pain spiked hard.
"…Right."
I looked down at myself.
Thin. Fragile. Useless.
"This body is garbage."
I'm not gonna sugarcoat it.
If I didn't fix that, I wouldn't even survive basic situations.
So—
What do I have?
I ran through it.
Novice Management.
Enhanced Focus.
Reinforcement.
Pain Conversion.
Adept Chemistry.
Domain Seed.
I nodded slowly.
"That's not bad."
Actually, it was insane for a start.
But none of it mattered without control.
So I started there.
I closed my eyes and focused.
The pain helped.
Didn't fight it. Just used it.
Pulled from it.
A small thread of cursed energy formed.
Weak, unstable.
But it existed.
"Again."
I did it again.
And again.
Each time a little cleaner.
Enhanced Focus made it easier to stay locked in. No distractions. Just the flow.
Pull. Shape. Hold.
I lost control a few times. Each time the feedback hit harder.
Didn't matter.
I adjusted.
After a while, it started responding properly.
"…Okay. That works."
Next step.
Reinforcement.
I directed a small amount inward.
Wrapped it around my arm.
Ouch
Instant backlash.
Too much for my body right now
I lowered it.
Spread it thinner.
Evened it out.
This time it held.
Barely, but it held.
I flexed slightly.
Still weak, but…
"Better than nothing."
Then I tested Pain Conversion properly.
I focused on the pain instead of ignoring it.
Pulled harder.
The output jumped immediately.
My eyes narrowed.
"…That's broken."
As long as I kept control, I could keep generating cursed energy nonstop.
No waiting.
No cooldown.
Just constant output.
That alone changed everything.
I didn't stop.
I kept cycling energy.
Control got better.
Reinforcement got smoother.
Less backlash each time.
Then something popped up in front of me.
[ACTION RECOGNIZED]
[First Successful Cursed Energy Manipulation]
[Reward: 50 Cursed Points]
I stared at it for a second.
"…Alright. So it tracks progress."
Good.
That means I can farm this.
I shifted my focus outward.
There was a basic puppet nearby. Nothing special, just functional.
I reached out mentally.
Connected.
The link formed instantly.
Clean.
The puppet twitched.
Then moved.
I blinked.
"…That's easier than expected."
I moved it again.
Walked it forward.
Turned.
No delay.
It felt natural.
Like moving a second body.
I pushed a bit more cursed energy into it.
Reinforced it.
The strain hit immediately.
External reinforcement was harder.
More precise.
I adjusted output.
Slowed down.
Balanced it.
Then it stabilized.
The puppet moved cleaner. Stronger.
Another notification.
[First External Reinforcement Applied]
[Reward: 75 Cursed Points]
I exhaled.
"Yeah, this system is useful."
I kept going.
Tested transfer speed.
Short bursts.
Long flow.
Different output levels.
Too much caused instability.
Too little slowed everything down.
I found the balance point.
Locked it in.
Another notification.
[Energy Transfer Optimization Achieved]
[Reward: 100 Cursed Points]
I leaned back slightly.
Pain was worse now.
But my output was way higher.
Worth it.
I glanced across the room.
The mech.
Even sitting there, unfinished, it felt heavy.
Complicated.
Dangerous.
"…Not yet."
I wasn't ready to use that.
Not even close.
If I messed up with something that big, I'd fry myself.
So I stuck to basics.
Control.
Reinforcement.
Transfer.
Over and over.
Time passed.
Didn't know how long.
Didn't care.
Another notification popped up.
[Sustained Training Completed]
[Reward: 150 Cursed Points]
I smirked slightly.
"Alright. That adds up fast."
That confirmed it.
As long as I kept training, I'd keep growing.
No bottleneck yet.
I looked back at the mech again.
"…Soon."
Not now.
But soon.
I closed my eyes again and gathered cursed energy.
Cleaner this time.
More stable.
More controlled.
Five years until everything starts.
Plenty of time.
If I don't waste it.
I shifted my focus across the room again.
That thing was hard to ignore.
The mech took up almost half the space. Even unfinished, it felt massive. The upper frame was mostly complete—arms, shoulders, part of the torso. The lower half was still incomplete, exposed wiring and unfinished plating everywhere.
It didn't look clean.
It looked heavy. Built for output, not aesthetics.
"…Damn."
I moved the puppet closer.
Step by step, slow and controlled.
No rush.
The closer I got, the more the memories lined up.
This wasn't just a machine.
It was a cursed tool.
Every joint. Every plate. Every connection point was designed to channel cursed energy.
Not store it.
Channel it.
That changed how I looked at it immediately.
"…So it's basically an amplifier."
Not just a puppet. Not like the small one I was using.
This thing multiplied output.
If I fed it energy, it wouldn't just move.
It would hit harder.
Move faster.
Scale everything up.
But that also meant one thing.
"…If I mess up, it's over."
I crouched the puppet near the torso.
Up close, it was worse.
The amount of wiring alone was insane. Layers of it. Not messy either—organized. Precise.
Mechamaru knew what he was doing.
And now…
So did I.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
My eyes shifted.
There it was.
The core.
It sat embedded deep in the center of the torso, partially exposed since the plating wasn't finished yet.
Large.
Dense.
It didn't glow or pulse dramatically.
It just… existed.
But I could feel it.
Even without touching it.
Cursed energy.
Compressed.
Refined.
"…That's the heart."
Everything ran through that.
All output.
All movement.
All amplification.
I moved the puppet's hand toward it.
Slow.
Careful.
The moment I got close—
Feedback.
Sharp.
Immediate.
I pulled back.
"…Yeah. Not passive."
That wasn't just storage.
It reacted.
Like it was alive.
Or at least responsive.
I narrowed my eyes slightly.
"…So it's not just a battery."
It regulates.
Filters.
Maybe even stabilizes output.
Which means—
I looked back at my own situation.
Pain Conversion.
Constant cursed energy generation.
High output.
Low stability.
Then I looked back at the core.
"…That's what I'm missing."
Control on a higher level.
Not just managing flow.
Refining it.
If I could sync with that core—
Everything would change.
But I wasn't stupid enough to rush it.
I stepped back.
Literally.
The puppet moved away a few feet.
I needed to test smaller things first.
I redirected cursed energy into the puppet again.
Reinforcement.
Steady.
Then I increased output slightly.
The puppet's arm moved faster.
Good.
No instability.
I pushed a bit more.
The joints strained slightly.
Not enough to break.
But close.
"…Limit's lower than I thought."
I adjusted again.
Lowered output.
Smoothed the flow.
Better.
Another notification appeared.
[Reinforcement Efficiency Improved]
[Reward: 80 Cursed Points]
I nodded.
"Good."
Then I tried something different.
Instead of constant flow—
Bursts.
Short, controlled injections of cursed energy.
The puppet reacted instantly.
Faster movement.
Sharper response.
Less overall strain.
I paused.
"…That's better."
More efficient.
Less waste.
I repeated it.
Over and over.
Each time refining the timing.
Shorter bursts.
Cleaner transitions.
No overlap.
Another notification.
[Technique Variation Discovered: Burst Reinforcement]
[Reward: 120 Cursed Points]
I smirked.
"Yeah, I can work with this."
I looked back at the mech again.
Still unfinished.
Still out of reach.
But not impossible.
Not anymore.
I studied the exposed sections more carefully this time.
Joints.
Connection points.
Energy pathways.
A lot of it wasn't complete.
Which meant one thing.
"…I can modify it."
That's where Adept Chemistry came in.
Not just chemicals in the normal sense.
Materials.
Reactions.
Structural behavior.
If cursed energy interacts with matter—
Then I can change how that interaction works.
I looked at the wiring again.
"…Too inefficient."
Not in design.
In material.
There were better options.
Stronger.
More conductive.
More stable under pressure.
I just needed time.
And resources.
I leaned back slightly.
Mind running faster now.
Everything was starting to connect.
Pain Conversion feeds energy.
Core stabilizes and amplifies it.
Mech outputs it on a massive scale.
And I sit in the center controlling everything.
A slow grin spread across my face.
"…That's actually insane."
But there was still a problem.
Control.
If I couldn't handle my own output, none of it mattered.
So I turned away from the mech.
Back to basics.
Again.
Cursed energy gathered.
Refined.
Controlled.
I pushed it through the puppet.
Clean.
Then I split the flow.
Two channels.
One for movement.
One for reinforcement.
The puppet twitched.
Almost lost balance.
I corrected instantly.
"…Focus."
Enhanced Focus kicked in harder.
Everything narrowed.
No distractions.
Just flow.
Adjust.
Balance.
Hold.
It stabilized.
Barely.
But it held.
A new notification appeared.
[Multi-Channel Control Achieved]
[Reward: 150 Cursed Points]
I exhaled slowly.
"…Okay. That's big."
That's what I needed.
If I can handle multiple outputs at once—
Then controlling the mech becomes possible.
Not easy.
But possible.
I opened the system briefly.
Total points had climbed up.
Faster than expected.
"…So this is how I scale."
Train.
Experiment.
Adapt.
Get rewarded.
Repeat.
Simple.
I closed it.
Looked back at the mech one more time.
Then at the core.
"…Not today."
But soon.
Very soon.
I leaned my head back against the tub.
Pain still there.
Constant.
But now it felt different.
Useful.
Like fuel.
I closed my eyes again.
Gathered cursed energy.
Refined it.
Split it.
Controlled it.
Over and over.
No wasted movement.
No hesitation.
Five years.
That's all I needed.
I opened my eyes slightly.
A faint grin forming.