As soon as Rin stepped into the training ground, his gaze landed on the wooden lunchbox in Mr. Miguel's hand, and the question he had been holding in all this time finally burst out:
"Boss, why are you still carrying a lunchbox? Didn't you eat enough for lunch?"
Mr. Miguel looked at his curious expression, raised an eyebrow, and tapped the lunchbox:
"Of course, I ate enough. This isn't food; it's teaching equipment for you to practice Cursed Energy control. Also, why are you calling me 'Boss'? Didn't you call me 'Mr. Miguel' before?"
Rin's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't possibly say that he felt Mr. Miguel's demeanor was too similar to Kobe's, and 'Boss' just came out naturally, could he? He quickly laughed it off, scratching his head to deflect:
"Oh, I just feel 'Boss' sounds more intimate and much more comfortable than 'Mister'! Don't you like it? I think this title suits you perfectly, it's both imposing and stylish."
Mr. Miguel was amused by his words and laughed, patting Rin's shoulder: "Alright, call me whatever you like."
Thinking that he must have been conquered by his aura as a combat master, he walked straight to a stone table in the corner of the training ground, placed the lunchbox on the table, and opened it.
Rin leaned in to look and was stunned. The upper layer of the lunchbox was covered with white, plump pieces of tofu, still slightly steamy, while the lower layer contained a full box of walnuts with hard, gleaming shells.
He turned to Mr. Miguel, his eyes full of suspicion:
"Hey, Boss, are you sure these two are training equipment? Not ingredients you just grabbed from the kitchen, planning to have an extra meal after training?"
"What do you know, kid!" Mr. Miguel raised his hand and flicked his forehead, not too hard, not too soft. "Don't underestimate this tofu and these walnuts. If you can use them well, your Cursed Energy control will greatly improve."
Seeing that Rin still looked unconvinced, Mr. Miguel simply picked up a piece of tofu and asked, "Let me test you first. If you want to make the weapon in your hand harder, what should you do?"
"That's easy, isn't it? Just inject Cursed Energy directly into the weapon!" Rin blurted out without thinking. This was basic knowledge for Jujutsu Sorcerers, like injecting Cursed Energy into a knife to enhance its sharpness, or into a shield to increase its defense.
"What if you inject too much Cursed Energy? What will happen?" Mr. Miguel asked again, gently pinching the tofu with his fingertips, his eyes showing a hint of a test.
"The weapon will break!" Rin answered even more decisively. "Too much Cursed Energy will make the weapon explode."
"That's right." Mr. Miguel nodded, his tone becoming serious:
"Cursed Energy looks controllable, but its essence is actually very violent. Ordinary steel weapons need to be injected with Cursed Energy very carefully, for fear of damaging them if not controlled properly, let alone something as soft and fragile as tofu. If you inject Cursed Energy into it, even a tiny bit too much, it will directly shatter. A tiny bit too little, and it won't achieve the strengthening effect."
With that, Mr. Miguel slowly injected Cursed Energy into the tofu in his hand.
Rin could clearly see a faint Cursed Energy halo enveloping the tofu. The originally soft tofu slowly became firm, its surface glowing faintly, yet without any damage.
"If you control this force well, the tofu won't shatter, and the Cursed Energy can even increase its hardness. Although it can't compare to steel, it's more than enough to crack a walnut."
As Mr. Miguel spoke, he took a walnut from the lower layer of the lunchbox and placed it on the stone table.
Immediately after, he raised his hand and smashed the Cursed Energy-wrapped tofu fiercely onto the walnut. With a crisp 'crack' sound, the walnut shell instantly shattered, and the walnut kernels scattered on the table. The piece of tofu, however, bounced perfectly intact and landed on the stone table, without even a single crack.
Rin's eyes widened in amazement. He quickly leaned over, picked up the tofu, and touched it. It was still soft to the touch, yet it had a subtle resilience, completely unlike something that could crack a walnut.
"This kind of training is about your 'fine control' over Cursed Energy."
Mr. Miguel put the tofu back in the lunchbox and looked at Rin, saying, "When you released 'Revolver' and 'Rifle' before, you wasted so much Cursed Energy because your control was too crude; you didn't know the proper balance of 'releasing' and 'restraining'.
Once you can protect the tofu with Cursed Energy to crack a walnut like I did, and keep the tofu perfectly intact, then when you release a Cursed Technique, you'll be able to precisely control the output of Cursed Energy. This will not only greatly reduce consumption but also make the power of your Cursed Energy bullets more concentrated, for example, increasing the armor-piercing ability of 'Revolver'."
Rin suddenly understood. He quickly picked up a piece of tofu from the lunchbox and tried to inject Cursed Energy like Mr. Miguel. But as soon as he exerted force, the tofu'splat' and broke in his hand, leaving his hands covered in tofu dregs.
"What's the rush? Take your time." Mr. Miguel smiled and handed him a tissue. "First, feel the Cursed Energy flowing inside the tofu. Don't think about'strengthening'; think about'supporting' it, like gently cupping water in your hands—you can't let the water spill out, but you also can't grip too tightly and squeeze the water away."
Rin nodded, picked up another piece of tofu, took a deep breath, and slowly injected Cursed Energy.
This time, he didn't rush to apply force, but focused on feeling the contact between the Cursed Energy and the tofu. Sure enough, when the Cursed Energy became gentle, the tofu no longer shattered. Instead, it was slowly enveloped by the Cursed Energy and gained a slightly firm texture.
As soon as the Cursed Energy at his fingertips deviated even slightly, the tofu, which had been wrapped in a soft halo, instantly shattered into dregs with a'splat', covering Rin's hands with white tofu dregs.
He stared at the broken pieces in his palm, his brows furrowing slightly. He had clearly gotten a feel for it just now, able to make the Cursed Energy flow along the tofu's texture, but with a slight lapse in concentration, the Cursed Energy lost control and still burst the tofu.
"It seems this delicate work truly cannot be rushed." Rin sighed, wiped the tofu dregs from his hands, and picked up a new piece of tofu from the lunchbox.
He knew that there were no shortcuts for this kind of Cursed Energy control technique. He could only rely on repeated attempts, finding the boundaries of 'force' through failure—a bit too much and it shatters, a bit too little and it remains soft. The difference lay in that millimeter of control.
Watching him try repeatedly and fail repeatedly, thin beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Mr. Miguel walked over and patted his shoulder, his tone filled with comfort:
"No need to rush; this isn't a task you need to complete today. Don't expect to master it in a day either. It took me several years of practice to slowly find the balance between Cursed Energy and soft objects to master this technique."
He pointed to the remaining tofu in the lunchbox and continued:
"I'm teaching you the method today so you know which direction to practice 'fine control'. After today's combat training, if you have time, take a few pieces of tofu back to experiment with. If you don't have time, that's fine too; take it slow. This technique is for yourself anyway; mastering it a day earlier or later won't affect the current training."
After a pause, Mr. Miguel changed the subject, his eyes becoming serious:
"Our main task today is still combat training. Although your previous physical techniques could withstand Cursed Spirits, they relied purely on brute force with no real skill. That might work against those idiotic Cursed Spirits, but when you face true experts, you'll find that your physical techniques are utterly useless."
Upon hearing this, Rin immediately put down the tofu in his hand, straightened his body, and his eyes refocused:
"Alright! Let's start training now!" The frustration that arose from the shattered tofu was instantly replaced by anticipation for combat techniques. He knew very well that compared to Cursed Energy control, which required long-term refinement, the immediate combat training would improve his practical combat ability more quickly.