Days as a Tryhard at Shin'ō Academy (I)

Five years was neither a long time nor a short one.

It was long enough for a seven-year-old child to grow into a twelve-year-old boy, yet short enough to pass in the blink of an eye in Soul Society, where people had little sense of time.

But for Liu Ziyun, those five years were the most "fulfilling" days of both his lives combined—if "fulfilling" meant being worked like a dog every day.

At four in the morning, before dawn, while all of Shin'ō Academy still slept, Liu Ziyun was already sneaking out of the dormitory to begin his "special forces-style training."

At first, his roommates would be woken by the noise and rub their eyes as they asked, "Ziyun, are you going to train again?"

Liu Ziyun would put on an "I have no choice" expression. "What can I do? What I lack in talent, I make up for with hard work. You guys keep sleeping. I'm going to work myself to death."

Eventually, his roommates got used to it. Now, even if Liu Ziyun did push-ups in the dormitory in the middle of the night, they could sleep like logs. After all, if your roommate got up to train at four every morning for five years straight, you'd get used to it too.

Liu Ziyun's Zanjutsu training began with a sudden "flash of inspiration."

During Zanjutsu class one day, the instructor demonstrated the basic slashing movements, then said, "The essence of Zanjutsu is control. The highest level is being able to apply and withdraw your strength at will."

As Liu Ziyun listened, martial arts films from his previous life suddenly flashed through his mind—heroes who swung sabers weighing dozens of jin with tremendous force, yet could also snap a stone stele with a willow switch.

That's right! I can train like that!

So the next day, he sneaked off to a blacksmith's shop in Rukongai and ordered a custom-made "training sword."

"How heavy do you want it, kid?" the burly, fierce-looking blacksmith asked around the pipe in his mouth.

Liu Ziyun thought for a moment. "Thirty jin to start with."

"Thirty jin?" The man puffed out a mouthful of smoke. "Can a scrawny kid like you even swing it?"

"If I can't, that's all the more reason to train!" Liu Ziyun said confidently.

A week later, he received the thirty-jin "lump of iron." The first time he swung it, he nearly sent himself flying—the blade was so heavy and carried so much momentum that his whole body spun around with it before he crashed into a wooden post on the training grounds with a bang.

Some senior students passing by burst out laughing. "Look at that freshman! Is he doing acrobatics?"

Liu Ziyun got up, dusted himself off, and said expressionlessly, "I'm practicing the art of becoming one with the sword. You wouldn't understand."

And so, he began his "self-torture" training:

Stage one: adapting to a heavy sword. He swung it a thousand times a day, starting with thirty jin, then fifty, then eighty... A year later, he could easily wield a heavy iron sword weighing 120 jin, slashing freely with tremendous force.

Stage two: strength control. After reaching the limit of what he could handle—150 jin—he reversed the process, gradually reducing the sword's weight. One hundred and twenty jin, one hundred jin, eighty jin... Finally, he switched to a flexible willow branch.

When his roommate Kentarō saw him practicing Zanjutsu with a willow switch, his eyes nearly popped out. "Ziyun, have... have you trained yourself stupid? How can you cut anything with a willow switch?"

Liu Ziyun said nothing. He simply flicked his wrist, and the switch snapped out like a nimble snake—

Crack!

A wooden post on the training grounds snapped in two, its severed surface smooth as a mirror.

Kentarō: "..."

Ryōta pushed up his glasses and analyzed it calmly. "In theory, if the speed and force are sufficient, a flexible object can indeed produce a cutting effect..."

Yūji said in a muffled voice, "I think Ziyun's just a freak."

Liu Ziyun put away the willow switch, concealing his skill and taking no credit. "It's called wielding the heavy as if it were light, and the light as if it were heavy. Mere mortals like you wouldn't understand."

In truth, he had paid a painful price to reach this level. Long-term use of heavy swords had severely strained his wrists and arm muscles, forcing him to seek treatment from Tazawa Kentarō in the Fourth Division every week.

As Tazawa Kentarō applied medicine to him, he complained, "What's wrong with you, kid? Who trains their Zanjutsu like this? We Soul Reapers value Reiatsu and technique, not brute force!"

Liu Ziyun grimaced in pain. "I-I call it well-rounded development... ow... easy!"

If his Zanjutsu training was "self-torture," then his Kidō training was "self-mutilation."

Liu Ziyun had discovered that Soul Reapers needed to recite the full incantation to use Kidō, and the process was too slow. In battle, an enemy wouldn't wait for you to finish a long line like "O sovereign."

I need to simplify it, he thought. Just as mages can cast low-level spells instantly, I should be able to cast low-level Kidō instantly too.

So he began researching "abridged versions" of Kidō incantations.

For example, the original incantation for Hadō #4: Byakurai was "Pierce him, Shinsō!"

Liu Ziyun tried simplifying it. "Byakurai!"

On his first attempt, the Kidō exploded at his fingertip, covering his face in soot and making his hair stand on end.

His roommates gathered around, stifling their laughter. "Z-Ziyun, are you putting on an explosion art show?"

Liu Ziyun breathed out a puff of black smoke. "I'm... researching a new way to incant Kidō."

The second attempt, the third... After blowing himself up who knew how many times, he finally grasped the trick: it wasn't simply a matter of shortening the incantation, but of understanding the essence of Kidō and using Reiatsu to directly reproduce its effect.

Half a year later, he could instantly cast every Hadō and Bakudō below number 30.

A year later, below number 50.

Two years later, below number 70.

He even began trying to simplify Kidō above number 70—but it was too dangerous, and practicing at the academy would easily attract attention. So he sneaked off to practice in the remote mountains outside Seireitei.

Once, he tried to simplify Hadō #73: Sōren Sōkatsui.

"Blue fire!"

Blue flames gathered in his palm, then... went out of control.

BOOM!!!

A huge crater was blasted into the mountainside, and Liu Ziyun himself was hurled more than ten meters by the shock wave, plunging headfirst into the river beside it.

He climbed out of the river, soaking wet, and looked at the mountainside, which was still burning. Still shaken, he thought, Good thing I came far away... If I'd done that at the academy, I'd probably have been arrested and interrogated already.

From then on, he was more careful when practicing high-level Kidō. Not only did he choose secluded places, he also set up soundproofing and protective barriers beforehand.

His Shunpo training was even more "freakish."

Liu Ziyun's method was running with weights.

At first, he strapped sandbags to his legs—five jin on each leg.

Then ten jin.

Then twenty jin.

That still wasn't enough, so he also carried the heavy iron swords he had used for Zanjutsu training on his back—sometimes one, sometimes two.

As a result, the students of Shin'ō Academy often saw the same sight: a boy with a scar on his face, carrying one or two enormous swords on his back and wearing sandbags on his legs, sprinting wildly across every kind of terrain the academy had to offer.

He ran on level ground, up mountainsides, across rooftops, through woods...

Once, he even tried running on water—only to fall into the lake with a splash. When he scrambled ashore, bedraggled, some girls passing by laughed so hard that he wished he could crawl into a hole.

But he stuck with it.

Three years later, he could carry 200 jin of weight and move across all kinds of difficult terrain as though it were level ground. Once he took the weights off, his speed was astonishing—so fast that he could leave afterimages.

Once, he encountered a Hollow in Rukongai. When it lunged at him, he dodged with a flash step, leaving a clear afterimage behind.

The Hollow swiped at the afterimage and froze. Why had its claw passed through?

Liu Ziyun had already appeared behind it and brought his sword down.

After the Hollow dispersed, he stood there, still shaken. Good thing I trained my flash step first... Otherwise, that attack just now would've killed me.

In the academy's flash step classes, however, he was a completely different person.

"Liu Ziyun!" the instructor roared. "You fell again! That's the seventh time you've fallen today!"

Liu Ziyun got up, dusted himself off, and put on an innocent expression. "Sorry, Instructor, I-I'm not very good at keeping my balance..."

Then he "accidentally" stumbled again, nearly crashing into the student beside him.

The instructor pressed a hand to his forehead. "Forget it, forget it. Go sit over there and watch the others practice."

As though granted a pardon, Liu Ziyun sat down in a corner, but inwardly he was thinking, That movement just now wasn't right. My center of gravity shifted by 0.3 seconds when I turned. I need to adjust it next time...