Chapter 187

Haruto glanced at the pile of books and gave up.

Haruto understands the principle of not biting off more than you can chew, and unlike the Kidō, this one cannot learn from lower-level Kidō.

He can't use the basic or niche skills.

"I won't look at the stuff; it's too much trouble to find anything useful here."

"I'll just tell you the name, can you check if I have it?"

"... OK."

Can you read the skill name?

Haruto is indeed Quincy, but his understanding of Quincy is definitely limited. If he were to become interested in a particular ability during a battle with World of the Living Quincy...

"The Sankt Bogen."

"... ah?"

"The Sankt Bogen, the one you used to exchange beams with Schubert before."

Haruto spoke with reason and evidence.

"Well... you'll have to start by learning the most basic Small Heilig Pfeil."

Sankt Bogen?

This is the highest-level Heilig Pfeil that can only be used by Captain-level, and its power is basically on par with Soul Reaper Number 90's Hadō.

"Can't we just learn the Sankt Bogen directly?"

"Can you skip the Soul Reaper's basic spiritual arts course and learn the 90th level of the Kidō?"

"... Okay then."

Haruto glanced at his mouth.

Heilig Pfeil?

Haruto has no shortage of long-range weapons; this thing is less practical than the Shakkahō.

"Etc!"

"Heilig Pfeil..."

"Each Quincy's Heilig Pfeil ability is different, right? Could I awaken a new ability too?"

Haruto asked Uryū Ishida.

"No."

The latter simply shook his head.

"The special ability of the Heilig Pfeil is, simply put, an ability derived from the fusion of natural Reishi and the soul of Quincy. The principle is the same as that of Soul Reaper's Zanpakuto."

"You have already mastered the release of your Zanpakuto; there is no way you can gain new abilities through the Heilig Pfeil."

"... All right."

Haruto's newly sparked interest was instantly extinguished.

He also knew that Sōken Ishida was right: his Zanpakuto ability inherently contained the part belonging to "Seisen".

"Next..."

Haruto carefully considered Yhwach's abilities.

"Blut Vene Anhaben."

"... What?"

Sōken Ishida's hearing seems to be not very good, as Haruto always has to repeat himself several times.

"Blut Vene Anhaben."

Haruto brought it up again.

"Never heard of it."

"It involves extending the Blut Vene outside the body to create a regional protective capability."

Haruto explained.

"The Quincy's Blut is a technique that enhances defense or destructive power by injecting Reishi into the bloodstream; how much blood would you have to bleed yourself out of just to activate such a defense with almost no effect?"

"..."

It seems that at this time, Quincy did not yet have the concept of Blut Vene Anhaben; their Blut effect could only extend to the surface of their bodies at most.

After rejecting Haruto's two proposals in a row, Sōken Ishida was somewhat embarrassed.

"How about I teach you how to use the Blut first?"

"Yugram's power was inherited through his soul; you can definitely be considered a Pure-Blood Quincy."

"Mastering Blut only requires simple practice; it's not as difficult as Mixed-Blood Quincy."

"Can."

Haruto nodded.

"But we'll talk about that later."

"I just thought of a new ability..."

Haruto was still searching his mind for the Quincy techniques he knew.

"I think it was called 'Sanctuary Praise'?"

"..."

The air froze for a moment.

"I know how to do that."

Sōken Ishida nodded somewhat stiffly.

"Then--"

Haruto finally saw some good signs.

"The prerequisite for mastering the Sanctuary Praise is to cultivate the Heilig Pfeil to its ultimate level... Apart from the Quincy: Letzt Stil and the Vollständig, this is the highest level ability I know of."

"Even within the Order of Knights, Quincy are rare; to master this immense domain spell that combines offense and defense is truly exceptional."

The promising start was nipped in the bud.

"... Can I learn Heilig Pfeil first?"

That's great that you're willing to listen to advice.

Sōken Ishida smiled with the satisfaction of a proud father.

"Also, give me the Sanctuary Praise and the training methods for the Letzt Stil... Don't be surprised, my learning speed is beyond imagination."

"..."

"No problem, these are just part of social etiquette."

After thinking for a moment, Sōken Ishida did not refuse Haruto's request. The heaviest few bricks in the pile of books soon fell into Haruto's hands.

"Good."

Haruto was very satisfied and put them into the Kukai Box).

"Oh, right."

Haruto suddenly thought of something:

"This Reishi space you created is quite convenient to use, isn't it?"

"... It's called a space, but it's actually just Reishi channel connecting to a certain place in the World of the Living. Its security is far inferior to the Heavenly Bestowed Armaments you just used."

"Never mind then."

Haruto quickly gave up after hearing the explanation.

To create a Reishi space large enough to encompass the Seireitei, it seems one must be at Haschwalth's level.

It's not too late to learn later; for now, the Kukai Box is sufficient.

There's nothing I want to learn for the time being.

"The silver nugget you wanted..."

Haruto loosened the collar of his uniform.

"No, no, no."

"I can operate on myself; it feels awkward to have a bow pointed at me."

Then he stopped Sōken Ishida from condensing the Mini Heilig Pfeil — Haruto didn't distrust Sōken Ishida, but as a seasoned professional pallbearer, he could never lose his sense of caution.

"Can you find it?"

Although Sōken Ishida was somewhat uneasy, he still put down his bow and arrow.

"We hadn't tried blood vessels and organs before."

At the same time, a pale blue light, characteristic of Blut, lit up on Haruto's fingertips and chest.

"!!"

Sōken Ishida's pupils dilated for a moment:

Pure-Blood Quincy can indeed passively activate Blut, but its use is limited to a relatively rudimentary level.

He hasn't even taught Haruto how to use the Blut yet!

"Since Reishi can move freely within the body..."

Haruto inserted a finger directly into the area slightly above the heart.

"This is nothing."

Ten minutes later.

"Snap."

The small door leading to the rooftop was reopened.

"So fast?"

Byakuya raised an eyebrow.

"It wasn't a troublesome matter to begin with."

Haruto shrugged, mirroring Byakuya's eyebrows.

#!

A little bit cheeky.

However, compared to usual, it's still far from Byakuya's maximum capacity.

"... Has there been any change in you?"

Byakuya stared at Haruto for quite a while.

"I've reached the Fourth-Class Spiritual Pressure."

"... Are you a sore loser?"

"Look at you, I haven't told a single lie, Ishida -kun can vouch for me."

"?"

Byakuya looked at Sōken Ishida, but the latter didn't respond in the slightest, even replying with the same question mark as if he knew nothing:

"?"

"Sigh... the world is going to the dogs."

Haruto could only let out a heavy sigh.

He wasn't lying to Byakuya: Haruto had successfully removed the silver nugget buried in his heart just a short while ago.