Chapter 175: Source and Technique
A few days later, Riko Amanai successfully advanced to Special Grade.
Naturally, she could no longer be evaluated by Jujutsu High's standard system—her promotion was assessed based on Sōjun Minamoto's own criteria.
"What a shame."
She sounded a little down but quickly perked up again.
It had only been a few days since she left Jujutsu High, yet her strength had grown dramatically. The suffocating sense of stagnation she once felt, like something stuck in her throat, had vanished. She finally felt at ease.
And she knew exactly why—it was thanks to those black jade orbs.
After she finished absorbing the initial five, Sōjun Minamoto continued supplying her with more. By the time she extracted the twenty-sixth one, she'd finally broken through.
It felt like her life had reached some kind of fulfillment.
And it wasn't just in her head.
It was like she'd been meant to grow to 180 cm, but had been forcibly capped at 160. Her body had always had the potential to develop, but something held it back. Now, that ceiling had been lifted—the space above her had opened up. She could finally stand tall at her full height.
The restrictions were gone. She no longer felt the ceiling above her head, which was the normal state for a sorcerer—common sense they accepted without question.
But Sōjun Minamoto could still feel it. However tall the person was, the "room" around them only expanded accordingly. That was still limiting.
He wanted to tear off the roof altogether...
Sōjun Minamoto ran a brief test with Riko Amanai, and her [Shadow Fixation Technique] had clearly become more powerful.
The key was the sheer amount of Cursed Energy at her disposal—when funneled fully into a technique, even the simplest technique became formidable.
And hers had never been simple to begin with. Now, she could completely immobilize the body, soul, and Cursed Energy simultaneously—unlike before, when she only managed to partially restrain her target, always leaving some openings.
Even Sōjun Minamoto, if caught completely off guard, would be frozen for several seconds.
Still, freezing and killing were two very different things.
He watched as Riko Amanai played around with her abilities, clearly enjoying herself. With her Cursed Energy limits removed, her technique usage had grown much smoother. There was still room for growth, but at this stage, she could already hold her own against the Disaster Cursed Spirits.
Sōjun Minamoto plucked an eyeball from the sky and placed it in his palm. A few moments later, it transformed into a soft, radiant orb—large enough to be cupped in two hands.
It was a physical [Star Eyes] entity he had brought back from the non-physical world, glowing with gentle starlight.
"Here." He handed it to Riko Amanai.
She held out both hands. The orb didn't drop—it hovered steadily in her palms.
"This is a 'Light Source,'" Sōjun Minamoto explained.
Right then, a beam of starlight swept across her, completing the "master recognition." The orb descended fully into her hands, and she felt an immediate, inexplicable sense of connection—like it was part of her.
The [Star Eyes] had a certain weight to them. Without the recognition process, she wouldn't have been able to lift it—unless Sōjun Minamoto consciously intervened to control it.
Now, the orb existed in its second form: as a cursed tool.
He had given it to her precisely as he said—to serve as a "light source."
Riko Amanai quickly grasped what he meant.
The Shadow Fixation Technique, after all, could only function when a shadow existed. With this "light source," she could create her own shadows on demand, manually fulfilling the condition.
Once activated, the technique was practically inescapable.
It would be an invaluable asset in supporting Sōjun Minamoto going forward.
She cradled the light source like a treasure. Just moments ago, she had already given it a name—also "Light Source."
But as she kept gazing into it, her expression gradually turned serious.
Inside the orb, she spotted a faint trace of sky-blue.
With her ability to perceive souls, she instantly understood what it was.
Sōjun Minamoto noticed her realization but made no move to explain.
What she saw was a fragment of his essence. As long as she held onto this orb, he couldn't die.
It was effectively a second life.
Though it appeared sky-blue, it was actually gray—containing a sliver of his soul, a piece of his flesh, and a trace of the fused power he now possessed.
He felt no hesitation leaving it with her. With her current strength, she could protect it well enough.
Besides, it was only a contingency.
...
As the end of the month approached, only a few days remained. Sōjun Minamoto decided to pay a visit to the Church of the Stars.
He stepped out of a black vortex and appeared directly in the main hall of the church. Riko Amanai followed a step behind, glancing around curiously. There was something about this place that felt familiar to her.
Sōjun Minamoto looked up at the murals on the walls. The [Seven Deadly Sins] still played a critical role—not in gathering Cursed Energy anymore, but in strengthening six unique techniques.
Only the White Bone Tree, the symbol of Pride, had yet to awaken its technique. As a living Barrier, it still slumbered.
The other six had already manifested their abilities.
The more followers a technique had, the stronger it became.
Right now, Sōjun Minamoto was generating Cursed Energy at a rate far exceeding what the Barriers could produce. The excess couldn't be stored, so he returned it to the believers. That empowered them, which attracted more followers, creating a virtuous cycle.
When ordinary people suddenly surpassed professional sorcerers in strength, some of those sorcerers began to stir uneasily.
Once the first sorcerer joined the church and quickly rose from the bottom ranks, more and more followed.
He had replaced Heaven and Technique with [Source] and Technique—stronger alternatives. Both sides were pleased.
Truly, something worth celebrating.
Sōjun Minamoto still had many blank eyes left. Techniques originating from the non-physical world could supplement them to a degree, but the real supply came from other sorcerers in the physical world.
From assimilating techniques, to plundering fragments of the [Immortality Technique], to bestowing and restoring techniques—his understanding of techniques had become profound.
Where he once could only imitate, he could now create from nothing. He had become both the source of techniques in the non-physical realm and a living embodiment of technique in the physical world.
Technique was one of the essences of power. Once he pushed the other essence—Cursed Energy—to its limits, his focus naturally shifted here.
If he could plunder and replace enough techniques, he might even erode the metaphysical "Heaven" of the Jujutsu World—assimilating it bit by bit.
Just like he had done with the non-physical realm.
And so, it was time to start "preaching."
The high-level powers in the Jujutsu World could be counted on one hand. Below that level, numbers hardly mattered—so a few more wouldn't hurt.
His metric for high-level was simple: if you could form a Domain, you qualified.
He stepped out of the main hall. The guards stationed at the entrance tensed, then relaxed upon seeing him. They resumed scanning their surroundings, expressionless.
Sōjun Minamoto ignored them and instantly crossed space to the top-floor office.
Suguru Geto had already returned. Sōjun had noticed as soon as he arrived at the Church of the Stars.
"Kindred spirits, huh?" he mused, eyeing the sorcerers around Geto.
There were people of various races—black and white alike. It looked like they had indeed traveled extensively.
They were deep in conversation when Suguru suddenly paused, turning his head.
A black vortex unfurled nearby. Sōjun Minamoto and Riko Amanai stepped out.
"Long bangs!" Riko called out.
Suguru looked at her and immediately felt a strange pressure radiating from her.
"Special Grade?" he muttered, surprised.
Then he turned to Sōjun Minamoto, who remained silent.
Suguru had actually returned a while ago, but only just made it back to the Church of the Stars today. He hadn't paid much attention to the organization itself and hadn't noticed the changes within.
Sōjun hadn't come to chat—he had something to give him: Sukuna's fingers.
Eventually, they would return to the hands meant to hold them.
He took out all of them and handed them over.
"This is... Sukuna?" Suguru asked, unfamiliar with the situation involving Itadori.
Sōjun Minamoto didn't explain. Suguru would find out soon enough.
Including the ones Itadori had consumed, there were now thirteen fingers accounted for. Seven remained uncollected. Jujutsu High should be able to gather those, right?
He thought to himself.
Suguru still looked a bit puzzled.
Sōjun Minamoto had already shifted his gaze past him to the group behind. His eyes stopped on a thin young man.
He grinned. "Want a technique?"
"It's strong."
The young man radiated heavy negative emotions—mostly frustration and a bit of... envy.
A quick scan through the [Star Eyes] told Sōjun enough: poor talent, weak ability, lots of self-pity. The usual "If only I were stronger..." kind of mindset.
As expected, the young man hesitated.
"Toshihisa Negi..." someone called out.
Toshihisa snapped out of it, glanced at Suguru, then shook his head.
Sōjun Minamoto smiled casually.
"Well, I'll be off," he said, nodding at Suguru.
Riko Amanai waved. The two disappeared into the vortex moments later.
Just as the last tendril of black mist faded, Satoru Gojo appeared in the office.
"Tch, too late?"
He clicked his tongue, then turned to Suguru, raising a hand.
"Yo, Suguru—welcome back."