Kenjaku clapped his hands vigorously in excitement.
"Incredible!"
"Incredible!"
"Mahito, in less than half a year since your birth, you have created a new, advanced race!"
"If you, Jogo, Hanami, and Dagon are the noble first-generation species, then what you are doing now is creating the second generation."
"As long as you can imprint your Idle Transfiguration into the Innate Technique of every race you create, then it's foreseeable that there will be third-generation and fourth-generation species!"
"Not only that, but you could even transform humans into Half-Cursed Spirits..."
Kenjaku's body began to tremble slightly with excitement, and his voice quivered imperceptibly.
"I can already see it—the formation of a new world!"
"What will happen in the future?"
"I can't wait to see."
"Ah, there are indeed benefits to living a long time, whether as a human or a Cursed Spirit."
"It's all so incredibly interesting!"
"Fantastic, Mahito!" Jogo shouted.
"It's a success!"
"We've truly succeeded!"
"From this moment on, we New Humans have truly established our footing in this world!"
Hanami made a series of rapid sounds, her voice overflowing with excitement.
Dagon stared wide-eyed at these newborn Intelligent Cursed Spirits, unable to stop himself from straightening his posture—from now on, he was a senior too!
Magon Ashiya let out a long breath.
"I have witnessed a miracle, indeed."
"It really is amazing," Kinji Hakari couldn't help but say.
"I know Mahito is creating Intelligent Cursed Spirits, but the ones you create are different from the naturally born ones, right?"
"I remember that your naturally born first-generation species gained innate intelligence because they received an excess of Cursed Energy; you were born knowing language and common sense."
"But how can the second generation you created also know language from birth?"
"And common sense?"
"Did you instill it using Idle Transfiguration?"
Kinji Hakari easily accepted Kenjaku's 'first-generation and second-generation' theory; it was so vivid that he immediately related to it.
"Surprisingly, that's not the case."
Mahito looked at the samurai girl.
"Kusakabe?"
"Yes."
Kusakabe Sha looked at Kinji Hakari with a serious expression, her tone carrying the crisp clarity of a samurai.
"Before this, I had some level of consciousness, but it was very blurry."
"I just went with the flow, living and hunting according to instinct."
"However, even before this, we were able to learn much common sense and knowledge from the Cursed Energy residues in the atmospheric cycle, including language."
Kinji Hakari's pupils contracted.
"...Learning knowledge from Cursed Energy residues in the atmospheric cycle?"
"I have an unrefined theory," Mahito said slowly.
"Whether it's humans or Cursed Spirits, they all return to the River of Souls after death."
"That River of Souls isn't a specific physical object; rather, it's the cycle of energy."
"Kenjaku should have some research on this."
"I remember Kenjaku once said that to create a vessel for Ryomen Sukuna, he utilized the Incarnation of Ryomen Sukuna's unborn twin."
"Indeed."
Kenjaku regained his calm by adjusting his breathing and smiled.
"In fact, every Jujutsu Sorcerer has the potential to observe this River of Souls, but only upon death, or when being pulled into that illusory space by an opponent during a near-death match."
"I am absolutely certain this river exists, but none of us can actively interfere with it."
"But didn't you clearly interfere?" Kinji Hakari asked.
"Isn't the Incarnation of Ryomen Sukuna's twin the result of your interference?"
Kinji Hakari was referring to Yuji Itadori; they had long since discussed Yuji Itadori being the vessel for Ryomen Sukuna.
"That wasn't interference, but merely 'going with the flow,'" Kenjaku shrugged.
"It's like throwing a message in a bottle upstream, running downstream along the river, following the bottle, and timing it perfectly to fish it out."
"That can hardly be called interference."
Energy.
Kinji Hakari's heart stirred slightly as he suddenly thought of Jogo and the others' self-introductions.
Intelligent Cursed Spirits formed by containing an excess of Cursed Energy—the key wasn't actually the 'Intelligent Cursed Spirit' part, but the 'excess Cursed Energy.'
Souls and Cursed Energy always shared a faint connection, and this so-called excess Cursed Energy very likely carried the memories of the deceased.
These fragmented mem—
—ories were integrated and gathered, and combined with the core identity of a curse, they were born.
This might be the fundamental reason behind the appearance of Intelligent Cursed Spirits!
Why had Intelligent Cursed Spirits, unseen for a thousand years, appeared so frequently in this era?
Because the sheer volume of the population dying and being born in this country every day had promoted the accumulation of excess Cursed Energy, allowing for the birth of four Intelligent Cursed Spirits—a phenomenon not seen in a millennium.
Human prosperity was also the prosperity of Cursed Spirits—this was the truth behind the birth of Mahito and the others!
"Through this creation process, I've also confirmed something."
Mahito sighed.
"It's easy to make defective products, but to create a perfect Intelligent Cursed Spirit, there must be a directional target for the Cursed Energy—that is, Imaginary Vengeful Cursed Spirits."
"Because they can precisely absorb specific Cursed Energy, they are born with a foundation perfectly suited for an Intelligent Cursed Spirit."
"Other spirits find it difficult to perfectly develop sapience."
Cursed Spirits without sapience could only act and grow based on instinct, so they naturally could not impact the current Jujutsu world.
This was why the Jujutsu world had remained prosperous for so long, and it was the source of their confidence in pitting Grade 1 Sorcerers against Special Grade spirits.
But now, because of Mahito's appearance, the landscape had finally undergone a massive shift.
He turned back to look at the five newly born Intelligent Cursed Spirits and smiled.
"Now is not the time for you to emerge into the world, but I believe in your infinite possibilities."
"I will provide you with the best learning environment and am willing to carve out a new path for your future..."
"Kusakabe Sha, Hafu, Yayoi Rin, Ori, and Nami... welcome to the real world, as 'humans.'"
All the newborn Intelligent Cursed Spirits couldn't help but cheer.
Jogo was extremely excited and said bluntly, "Then I'll teach them."
"Hanami, I'll have to trouble you to stay home and take care of the newborns for the next few days," Mahito said, interrupting Jogo.
"Although they have basic common sense, they have just been born, after all, and there is still much they need to learn."
Hanami felt a great sense of mission.
She nodded calmly, hiding her inner nervousness.
Jogo opened his mouth, "And me—"
"Additionally, Kenjaku, I'll leave the development of their Innate Techniques to you," Mahito said.
Kenjaku nodded, unsurprised.
"Leave it to me."
"Let me see the potential of these newborn Intelligent Cursed Spirits."
A drop of sweat rolled down Jogo's forehead.
"Mahito, I..."
"Teacher Ashiya, can I trouble you with their physical techniques?"
"Heh, that little girl named Kusakabe Sha looks like a perfect fit for my New Shadow Style."
Magon Ashiya agreed without hesitation.
"I'll give it my all."
"However, my primary teaching objective is still you... you understand, right?"
"Of course, that's exactly what I hope for," Mahito smiled.
Jogo felt a sense of crisis out of thin air.
"I... I..."
"Dagon, you can help too," Mahito said gently.
"But don't lead the little ones astray, okay?"
"You can take them to the beach to play."
Dagon hopped on the spot and made a proud sound.
"I—I can too," Jogo said hurriedly.
"Jogo, I have another great mission to entrust to you."
Mahito suddenly turned serious.
Jogo was stunned.
"Perhaps you could make a few more trips and see if you can find any more Imaginary Vengeful Cursed Spirits?" Mahito asked.
Jogo reached the end of his patience.
"You just want to get rid of me, don't you?!"
"You don't trust my teaching?!"
"Hanami, Dagon, and I ran a full circle around Japan following Kenjaku's instructions just to find five Imaginary Vengeful Cursed Spirits!"
"Now you're asking me to go find them alone—how could I possibly find any?!"
Seeing through it but not saying it, Mahito thought to himself.
Was there even a shred of your teaching ability that anyone could feel at ease with?
Even Dagon was less of a headache than you.
But Mahito couldn't say that out loud.
"Searching for new Imaginary Vengeful Cursed Spirits is an extremely important matter."
"It determines whether we can add new companions; you should understand that, right?" Mahito said solemnly.
"Of course, I know it's hard to find more even with another search, but for our future, please go look one more time no matter what."
"This is for the Great Cause!"
"Th-this is indeed important."
Jogo was left speechless.
He stared blankly at the sky, feeling like he had just been hoodwinked.
But after thinking for a long time without finding any loopholes in Mahito's logic, he concluded that instead of being hoodwinked, he had actually been entrusted with a heavy responsibility.
Finally—
"Kinji."
Mahito looked at Kinji Hakari.
Kinji Hakari crossed his arms and smiled.
"Yo, I understand."
After a pause, he added, "I'll handle things on Mr. Gojo's end!"