Curse Return: Swordsmith Start

Suppressing his worries, Yue Ren set off again, and soon arrived safely at his school—Kaicheng High School.

This is a high school located in Araku Ward, Tokyo. It is one of the top private high schools in Japan, with excellent students, high admission standards, and very high tuition fees.

However, in contrast, the students' deviation score can reach 78, the pass rate of the University of Tokyo is extremely high, and the teaching quality is also extremely outstanding.

In short, it is the most expensive and best high school in the Tokyo area.

Deviation value is a standard used by island nations to evaluate students. It is a numerical evaluation of students' learning abilities according to a fixed formula and is very important for anyone who wants to pursue further education.

However, the deviation value does not represent a student's score, but only indicates their approximate position within the entire student population; it represents a student's "distance from the average."

Kawasaki Koshito's deviation score on the entrance exam was 75, but he was in a car accident shortly after enrolling, which set him back more than a month from his studies. It's not something that can be done in a day or two to catch up.

The reason why students can attend such a prestigious private school is not only due to their outstanding academic abilities, but also because of the financial support from the old man. Most of the students here come from well-off families.

Private schools are an option for people with money or power.

Unlike his sister's school, which he knew very little about, he was quite familiar with this place. After showing his student ID to the security guard and explaining his purpose, he quickly arrived at the teaching building.

Ignoring the questioning glances he received from those around him, Yue Ren walked straight to the teachers' office.

It's normal for a peer not wearing a school uniform to appear at school.

Fortunately, we didn't encounter any members of the disciplinary committee along the way, otherwise we would probably have encountered some trouble.

"..."

"I see. You've recovered already? That's wonderful. How about Yue Ren starts classes next week? As for this quiz, we'll temporarily cancel your grade. We hope you'll try your best before the next one."

"Understood, thank you, teacher..."

With a soft click of the door closing, Yue Ren walked out of the grade director's office.

Everything's settled at the school!

It was a bit easier than expected. Well, after all, the students here are all rich kids. This kind of private school is not like the ones in China, where the school and teachers rely entirely on the students and their families to make a living. In this situation, how could you offend the big spenders?

After greeting his homeroom teacher, a beautiful woman in her twenties or thirties, Yue Ren left the school.

I raised my hand to check the time.

——13:25

The sun was already high in the sky, and the temperature was twice as high as when I went out in the morning. Ripples could be seen on the ground that blurred my vision. People still walking on the street at this time either had to hurry up and end their stay in this sweltering environment, or they were about to lose consciousness.

Yue Ren, however, remained calm and composed. It wasn't that he wasn't afraid of the heat, but rather that he had suddenly come up with the idea of ​​covering his upper body with a thin layer of magical energy. The effect was excellent. This cold magical energy, which should have been flowing within his body, felt like his body was wrapped in shaved ice when applied to his skin. It couldn't be more refreshing in this kind of weather.

The only problem is that maintaining this level of skill requires focusing your attention on the operation at all times, but it's not a big deal; consider it a form of training.

Pedestrians hurried past, and standing alone on the roadside, I felt out of place, as if I had been detached from the world.

Upon closer reflection, without specific people and events, this city is nothing more than an ordinary big city.

Dispelling the fragments of youthful excitement in his mind, Yue Ren drew his attention back to himself.

Finding a restaurant at this time of day is not easy. Although he didn't feel hungry because of the hearty breakfast he had in the morning, he didn't want to break his long-standing lunch habit, so he had no choice but to buy some snacks to fill his stomach.

Today's plan was completed, but it was still early, so on the way back, Yue Ren did not return the same way but took a detour, away from the suburbs of the city center, and came to the "abandoned area" that he would not normally go to.

From yesterday to today, and with the help of his memories from his past life, he has come up with some conjectures, and now he just wants to verify them.

First of all, he felt that the chances of a cursed spirit being born in a place with "no human presence" (few or no human activity) and "high pressure" (enough to increase human stress) were probably greater.

This was a conclusion he reached based on the nature of the cursed spirit.

Cursed spirits are born from the cursed power that gathers in the environment, and cursed power is a force born from human negative emotions. In other words, places where negative emotions are easily generated are more likely to produce cursed spirits.

Places with "lack of human presence" and "high pressure" are more likely to breed negative emotions.

The surrounding desolate places, where almost no one comes, are the kind of places he feels fits the description of "no one around".

Seemingly confirming his suspicions, the familiar system task notification sound appeared after he turned a certain street.

"Temporary Task"

Difficulty: Intermediate

Mission objective: Defeat the hidden cursed spirit.

Time Limit: One Hour

"Timer begins"

The font was slightly reddish, giving the impression that the mission was dangerous.

He thought to himself, "As expected," but instead of rushing in, he took out his phone's map, marked his location, and then went to a place where he could see his destination. He searched for the address of the building that the Time Capsule was pointing to using keywords, and words such as "murder," "haunted house," and "abandoned" immediately appeared below.

Having understood the situation, Yue Ren put away his phone and turned to leave.

An hour later, just as he was about to get home, the notification sound came again.

"Mission failed"

Then there is no more then.

Yue Ren nodded silently. So the missions were randomly triggered. As long as there was no penalty, not doing them wouldn't be a problem; there would just be no reward. They weren't mandatory. Besides, regardless of anything else, defeating the missions seemed to be a kind of detector, with a distance of about two hundred meters in diameter...

I got home, opened the door, changed my shoes, took a shower, and went upstairs.

Lying in bed, Yue Ren opened the panel again, this time focusing on the non-physical items he had acquired so far: 64 attribute points and 10 skill points.

首先是属性点，看了看面板上的「速度：4（12/50）」越人点起了后面的「+」号，当38点投入进去之后，速度变成了「速度：5（0/100）」

At the same time, a warm current suddenly surged through his body, enveloping him completely. It disappeared a second later, and he felt his body become lighter, and the world around him seemed to slow down a little.

He suddenly sat up, summoned the "Black Key," and performed a series of fluid sword-testing movements. The speed was 20-30% faster than when he attacked the cursed spirit, and the sound of the weapon rubbing against the air could even be faintly heard.

I see. "Speed" refers to the overall sense, not just physical speed, but also the speed of conscious reaction. And, perhaps because the shortcomings have been made up, everything feels more coordinated.

After playing around for a couple more times, he turned his attention back to the panel, this time leveling his spell to level 2.

"Tracing the Origins lv2 (0/15)"

Introduction: Perceive the essence of an object through contact with magical power. (The more complex the object and the greater the difference in strength, the more magical power is consumed.)

Note: Using it with a large discrepancy may result in failure and backlash.

It seemed like nothing had changed, but when Yue Ren used the spell to cover the weapon in his hand again, he noticed something different.

"Black Key" (Normal)

Materials: Sanctification spell, peach wood...

Time: 2 days

Craftsmanship: A product of a blessing ceremony; preparations are required for the ceremony...

Description: Exorcism equipment used by the Holy Church has weak physical destructive power, but it has the ability to interfere with spirits.

It consumes less spell power, provides more detailed information, and also introduces the most crucial element, the knowledge related to the "Sanctification Formula," into the mind.

Having reached this point, Yue Ren felt that as long as he had the materials, he could replicate this thing.

The effect is immediate! It's already so effective at level 2. I wonder what level it can reach with further development. I'm really looking forward to it.

Next test.

He put away the "black key" and took out the weapon case he had brought from the workshop that morning.

After opening it, he did not touch the weapon first, but picked up the two letters instead.

He opened the letter to himself to read, and after a moment he opened the letter to the college.

After reading the entire letter, Yue Ren casually placed it on the bed and gave a knowing smile.

He wrote two things in his letter to himself. First, on the first page, there was only one sentence: if he had unearthed this thing by chance, he should not look at it, but put it back in its original place until someone came looking for it. If it was not by chance but was discovered by following the traces left behind, then turning down the page would explain everything.

It turns out that the old man was not only a swordsmith on the surface, but also a spell tool forger who had connections with the High School. The item in the box was a spell tool commissioned by the High School and his final work.

He also explained that the terrible book was a record of knowledge related to the forging of magical artifacts. The old man meant that if he had already awakened magical power, he could try to learn it. If he couldn't learn it, he could either burn it or find someone to pass it on. It was better to burn it, since this kind of thing could easily attract covetousness.

The second letter to the high school stated that the money would be paid on the spot, except for the deposit, and given to his heir, Kawasaki Etsuto. It was assumed that Etsuto was unaware of the world of magic at this time, and that he should not be told the truth. He was to be a normal swordsmith from now on, and the book was to be given as a thank-you gift, whether to destroy it or take it away was up to him.

After reading it, Yue Ren could only say that the old man had truly given him all his expectations and love, which made him feel quite embarrassed.

The whole incident was full of the old man's clever ideas. Although the Yue people had made finished weapons, the old man had been in charge of storing and selling them before that. So even if someone came to him with a receipt and said they wanted to pick up a weapon without his knowledge, he would most likely take the person to the workshop to take a look, even if he didn't know anything about it.

Any sorcerer who opens that warehouse will discover the anomaly. The initial state of the two letters is that the one from the advanced level is on top. It is highly likely that after the other party reads it, they will directly proceed with the process. The other party will not see the subsequent letters to them, but will only receive a notification that the order is completed and a balance.

A smooth transition was achieved directly, and the secret was buried along with his death.

However, judging from the current situation, this tradition cannot be broken.

He put the letter away, then opened the book. He immediately sensed something unusual; the material was definitely not paper, but rather had a skin-like feel. Could it be…?

As a certain possibility came to mind, he unconsciously became serious.

The book was very thin, with only about ten pages, and Yue Ren finished reading it very quickly.

He then frowned.

Blood, sacrifices, cursed objects... all sorts of bizarre materials and methods of use were wildly pushing the boundaries of his morality, to the point that he almost experienced physical discomfort as he read on. And, unsurprisingly, the material was indeed human skin.

He finally understood: cursed implements... the essence of weapons imbued with cursed power—weren't they just demonic weapons, like demonic swords and evil swords...?

For a moment, Yue Ren lost interest in continuing to read. This stuff was simply polluting his mind and could definitely be called "heretical." The only useful parts were probably the techniques for forging weapons using incantations and the methods for inscribing incantations and spells into metal.

Recalling the memories in his mind about the creation of magical artifacts, Yue Ren seemed to understand something.

There aren't many ways to create cursed artifacts. One way is to soak a weapon in cursed power for a long time. For example, in the original work, Nanami's knife-like weapon, after being soaked in the cursed power of its wielder for a long time, can damage cursed spirits without being attached to the cursed power. This is the most normal way to make cursed artifacts. However, the drawbacks are also obvious. One is that it requires a lot of time. The other is that cursed artifacts made in this way are generally of low quality, unless the user is very powerful, like Sukuna. If he had a weapon that has been passed down from ancient times and has been held by him all this time, then it would definitely be a top-grade cursed artifact now.

The second type is similar to the one in the Yue people's hands, which is a cursed tool made through special rituals or forging methods. Its advantage is that it can be made quickly, but its disadvantage is that the things he just hated, such as demon swords and demon blades, are always made using methods that are difficult for ordinary people to accept.

There is also an unconventional method, "intangible cultural heritage." The black rope in the hands of the foreign man Miguel is a top-grade cursed tool that can temporarily hold off Gojo Satoru. It was hand-woven by the sorcerers of Miguel's hometown using a unique cursed power manipulation technique, taking decades to complete. The method is somewhat similar to forging, but it also takes a lot of time. It can be said to combine the advantages and disadvantages of the first two methods, and therefore does not have much reference value.

Cursed power, cursed tools, and cursed spirits are essentially the same thing—a curse.

The so-called exorcism is most likely the use of a larger, stronger curse to attack and devour a curse weaker than itself...