[3rd POV]
(Honshu Island: Nagano Prefecture)
The Kuragane clan.
Once upon a time, their name carried weight in both Jujutsu Society and the rest of the world.
They were one of the most unique clans to have ever existed. Unlike the other clans that rely on blood and the inheritance of specific curse techniques, the Kuragane Clan has a secret art with which they laid down their legacy.
Cursed body Hardenning. It was a simple and straightforward technique that anyone could learn and practice. You do not have to be born gifted to practice this art. What it does is that it tempers the natural body with curse energy, giving the practitioner a superhuman body, so to speak.
The unique characteristic of this technique was its permanence. After the body is strengthened, it remains as it is without the constant use of curse energy.
Warriors who practice this art are defined by their supernatural strength, their nigh infinite stamina, and their durability.
But their technique was not as overpowered as it sounded on paper; otherwise, they would've been one of the big clans in the Jujutsu Society, but they never came close to that kind of power, even in their prime.
The Cursed Body Hardenning technique could be learned by anyone, but it had a very low ceiling as its limit. A decent practitioner who had trained for years could at most resist swords and arrows, nothing more.
Most Jujutsu Sorcerers did not even bother learning this technique because the effort did not match the benefit. The technique was also a hellish one to practice, so other than the Kurogane Clan, most of the other clans did not bother practicing it.
But it was not quality in whcih the clan excels but quantity. Since their unique art could be practiced by anyone, they had lots of mid-level Sorcerers and competent soldiers compared to the other clans.
And due to their unique art, which permanently strengthens the body, they could interact with the rest of the world. In the times of an era marked by war, like the Sengoku Era, the Kuragane Clan thrived.
But the decline of wars and the introduction of gunpowder and modern warfare marked their descent. Most members of the clan could not resist the power of explosions, so their utility in war dropped dramatically.
And as the ages passed, the Kurgoane Clan slowly but surely lost its influence and power. Nowadays, they retreated to the mountains of Nagano, settling in a quiet village in the Togakushi range.
But the clan still exists, clinging to maintain the fraction of power they once held.
It was 13th January 1990.
On this seemingly ordinary date, month, and year, the Kuragane Clan got their prayers answered.
Inside the Kuragane Clan compound, located just outside the village, an event to remember was unfolding. The whole compound was bathed in an unnerving silence, every member of the clan waiting in anticipation.
They were all witnessing the birth of the first heir.
Inside the main estate, a woman in labour was crying out in pain. She was surrounded by midwives and doctors. And sitting right beside her while holding her hand was the husband and the current leader of the Kurogane Clan.
The labour was short and painful. But the doctors and midwives note the ease with which the woman was able to give birth to the baby. This was a testament to her title as a practitioner of the clan's technique.
The whole thing was over in just a few hours, and the wife gave birth to a big, healthy boy.
The whole compound was soon filled with the absurdly loud cry of an infant. The mother was given time to rest while the baby was given to the father.
Cradling his son in his arms, the leader of the clan had a rare smile on his face. He was not only happy as a father but also pleased as the head of the Clan.
The child was born healthy and large. Well, large was an understatement because the baby weighed more than 5 kilograms right at birth. He was destined to become a mountain of a man as he grew.
Indeed, the boy would make a worthy heir.
"Kurotatsu, meaning the Black Dragon," the father spoke to his wailing son.
"Your name will be Kurotatsu Kuragane."
And so, the universe welcomed a new life that was going to decide its fate one day.
..
..
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[1st POV]
(7 years later)
Kurotatsu Kuragane.
That's my name.
My new name, to be exact.
Because at last, after seven years of being born into this world, I finally got my past life's memory.
"The headache wouldn't stop," I said while clutching my head, alone in my room.
Yesterday was my 7th birthday. The whole clan celebrated my birthday as I was their beloved, genius heir. It was a tiring day because of that, so I went to bed early. But as I slept, my past life's memory finally came back to me.
When I woke up this morning, I did so with an excruciating headache and a new set of memories of a different life.
My past life. It really didn't feel like my past life. Maybe it was because I was born into this world as a new slate entirely, but I felt more attached to this world than the other one.
The series of events was all messed up in my head. Instead of someone being reborn into a new world, it instead felt like I was always a person from this world, and on my 7th birthday, I somehow slipped into the other world, lived 16 years there, died, and then returned to my original world.
Kind of like how those people in coma would live a whole different life while they sleep and then wake up back to their original world.
After my headache got better and the new sets of memory settled, I genuinely did not know which one was the truth. But my question was answered after I called out a word.
"System, show me my status," I said.
And voila!!
[Status :-
Title: [Clan Heir], [The Prodigy], [Warborn], [Reincarnation of the Black Dragon], [The Last Son of Dragon], [Practitioner of Cursed Body Hardenning]
Age : 7 years
Affiliation : The Kurogane Clan
Hero Template : Yu Zhong (Fighter)
Integration Rate : 10%
Power Source : Dragon Qi, Dragon Soul
Affinity : Darkness, Destruction
Items : [Empty]
Emblems : [Empty]
Battle Spells : [Empty]
Summons : [Empty]
Battle Points : 300
..
Close]
..
Welp, that confirms it. My other life was my original, and this is my second life, not the other way around.
I looked at my status and realized that it was not showing much unknown information other than the Battle Points and my template rate.
"Speaking of which, Yu Zhong template?" I said, and a smile stretched my face. Yu Zhong was my favourite hero, and I felt so lucky getting him on that roll.
I quickly got up from the futon where I was sleeping and ran across the room to look at myself in the mirror.
"Hahaha, it's true," I said while looking at my reflection. With my new set of knowledge, I realized that I looked like a child version of Yu Zhong.
But as I continued looking and admiring myself in the mirror, I found a problem.
I looked like a child version of Yu Zhong. And Yu Zhong was a dragon; he had horns.
Now I had horns.
"oh," I mouthed while focusing on the small horn I had on my forehead. They were quite small, enough to fit my frame, but it was still obvious. No one was going to miss that.
After a long silence filled with worry, I relaxed and shrugged my shoulders. I did not live in the normal world anymore. My second life was in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, and there were literal talking pandas in this world.
The horns could be explained by saying I awakened a cursed technique. Normally, people awaken their cursed technique between 4-6 after their brain matures but I could also be a late bloomer.
I looked around at my room, whcih felt familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. It was a traditional room with a futon and minimal furniture.
Like I said before, my second life felt more like the original to me. I just got my new set of memories last night, so those felt fresher in my mind as well.
I shifted my focus back to my status panel. It had disappeared completely, but when I thought about it, it automatically appeared as a transparent panel before me again. It was the size of a notebook.
"Hey system, what is battle point?" I asked.
...
And then nothing.
"Hmm, no sentient system?" I asked myself and tried to talk to the system a few more times, but I got no response.
That had its pros and cons. But I was honestly glad that I had no living system with me.
I tried to find other ways to get an explanation, and soon enough, I found that if I clicked on the texts, I could get the context.
After I pressed the text 'Battle Points', another panel came up. It was smaller than the status panel; it was the size of a small notebook.
..
[Battle Points : Battle Points are the system's currency. You can use them to buy things in the system shop. They are earned through battle, as the name suggests. The amount gained depends on three things.
1} Impact of the battle – the amount of impact the battle has on the universe, fate, and the lives of people. The more impactful the battle, the higher the points earned.
2) Enemy strength – fighting stronger opponents grants more BP, though defeating equal or weaker foes still provides some. The strength of the enemy is determined in both comparison to the user, but also the powerscale of the universe.
3) Outcome – victory yields the most BP, but even in defeat, you can still earn Battle Points. If the two other conditions are met, you can still earn a fair amount even in defeat. ]
...
Okay, that was very straightforward and easy to understand. But there was one thing that confused me.
"System shop?" I said out loud, and right then, the status panel shifted to a shop panel.
..
[System Shop :
Heros
Items
Emblems and Talents
Battle Spells
Summons
Skins and Upgrades
Resrources]
..
I literally vibrated in place due to sheer excitement. The things in the shop were categorized into seven parts, but just looking at them, I already had an idea of what they were.
I began checking them one by one.
..
Heroes.
This was the most obvious. It listed every single MLBB hero, which I could use as a template, like I did with Yu Zhong, gaining their unique sets of powers and skills. But it also gave the summon option, whcih would allow me to summon the heroes into this world so that they could serve me.
The summon price and the template price were different. Summoning them costs more than buying them as a template.
The heroes were also categorized into different classes, which I assumed was based on their power level. The classes went from E all the way up to SSS. But I also noticed that the classes were just categories and didn't exactly have much effect on the price. For example, Bruno, a footballer, and Chou, a martial artist, were in the same category but had different prices.
Suffice it to say, I was excited for this. But with my wealth of 300 battle points, I could not buy the toenail of the cheapest hero.
...
Items.
This was basically the same as the shop in MLBB that every player has access to while playing the game. The items were further categorized into Attack, Magic, Defense, Movement, and Jungle.
But one thing I noticed was that the items did not have the buff or stats that was usually present in the game. Rather, it seemed the items were more based on the lore instead of giving me buffs and stats.
Again, with my generational wealth of 300 battlepoints, I could not buy even the normal boots which could boost movement speed in the game.
..
Emblems and Talents
This section made me grin. Emblems were passive stat boosts, and Talents were like miniature skills. Assassin Emblem, Mage Emblem, Tank Emblem, Support, Jungle, etc, all of them were here.
Back in my past life, the emblem was my secret sauce and why I was able to dominate the exp lane in tourmoments. It was often overlooked even by pros, not realizing how important they were, especially during the early game, where fighters shine the most.
Although not proven, I was hopeful that these could be stacked, unlike in the game. where you can only take one emblem in battle.
..
Battle Spells.
Battle spells were an extra skill or ability that we could take in battle. The shop has all of them, and from what I can see, it was also slightly different from the game.
The battle spells were a one-time purchase but usable infinitely after. The system said that the spells were not locked to cooldowns as it was in the game. Their power scaled with my own personal power. The stronger I was, the more devastating the effects of spells.
Imagine spamming Flicker in battle {A spell that can instant teleport for a short distance}, or imagine a permanent Vengeance {A spell that reduces the damage of incoming attacks and inflicts a portion of the damage automatically to the attacker}
But at the cost of such versatility, the battle spells were disgustingly expensive.
..
Summons.
This one caught me off guard. Not only could I buy beast-like summons from MLBB lore, like Zhask's Nightmaric Spawn, Selena's Abyssal Devil, and Leomard's horse, but I could also buy creeps and jungle monsters.
Every creature that existed in MLBB, if they were not heroes, I could buy them here. The lowest price summon was actually quite a reasonable price. But all of them were still above a thousand battle points.
..
Skins and Upgrades.
Now this completely blew my mind. In the game, the skins were just for cosmetic effect, not really having any other effect on the hero.
But the skins here meant buying a whole alternate version of the hero. I guess that was why it said upgrade and not just skins. But to buy skins of the hero, I had to obtain the original version of said hero first.
An example would be Lesly, who was marked as a low-rank class in the hero section, but her legend skin here was marked as an SS class. The Legend skin is an alternate version of Lesley that could literally one-shot a planet with her sniper.
This section of the shop was honestly absurd. It was also the most expensive category so far.
...
Finally, Resources.
This was the most flexible category in the shop. I could buy magic dust and potions here. Including some things I never saw in the MLBB game.
An example was the hero roll. The hero roll was categorized in class as well. The roll was priced exactly at the average price of each category. So if I buy one, I had the chance to roll a hero that was better than what I paid for. At the same time, I could get the cheapest hero for the category.
It was the most interesting section for me since they were things I was not familiar with.
..
"I need time to process all this," I said while pulling out a chair and sitting down on my study table.
I was going to look more into the system, the shop in particular, but after a few minutes, I heard a knock at my door.
And without my permission, the door was slid open. It was like the knock was just for formality purposes. It was like saying, 'I am coming into your room, and there is nothing you can do about it.'
I turned towards the door quickly like a kid who had something to hide. And I was greeted with the face of my father.
"It's time for training, Kuro," he said and then paused.
He blinked before narrowing his eyes on my horns.
"What happened to your forehead?" he asked.
I gave no reply and simply stared at him silently for a moment. Then I got off my chair and slowly made my way towards him.
I hugged him at his waist. His hands came up, surprised at the sudden show of affection.
"Uh...what is going on?" he said, but a smile bloomed on his face.
I didn't realize it before but I missed him. With all the new memories, one night felt like sixteen years for me.
Finally, I looked up at him and smiled.
"I awakened my cursed technique!" I said.
..
..
..
[IMAGE]
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