Ryūsaki's strength has been recognized, and Long'an, following Jugram Haschwalth's orders, has allowed him to be nominally registered as a Reserve Forces member of the Sternritter.
He was assigned to live on the outskirts of Silbern, not far from the city walls. It was a standard three-story villa with a back garden, and food and other necessities were delivered to him regularly.
Long'an also arranged four servants for Ryūsaki, two men and two women, to take care of Ryūsaki's household affairs.
He told Ryūsaki, "Do your best to increase your strength, don't worry about anything else," and was about to turn and leave when Ryūsaki asked with a smile, "Wait, you haven't told me how to become Sternritter!"
Ignoring Ryūsaki's faint smile, Long'an looked directly into his calm eyes and said seriously after a few seconds:
There are currently two ways to become a member of the Sternritter.
"The first method is very difficult; it requires defeating members of the Knights Order. At that time, the Knights Order Commander Jugram Haschwalth will personally awaken the abilities of the victorious Reserve Forces."
"The second option is relatively simpler: if a member of the Sternritter dies unexpectedly, they can compete with other Reserve Forces for a position; of course, with dozens of people vying for one spot, there's still pressure."
"A long time ago, there was a third way: to gain His Majesty's favor and approval. However, His Majesty has been in a sealed state and has not yet fully awakened, but it will be soon."
After listening quietly to Long'an's explanation, Ryūsaki smiled and thanked him, then saw him off. After pondering for a while in the living room, she returned to her own master bedroom.
Ryūsaki's idea was simple: first, find out the approximate strength of those guys, and then make a plan.
After searching her room and finding nothing that could be a surveillance camera, Ryūsaki lay on the bed playing with the nameplate made of the Blanks Blade.
Ryūsaki thought to herself, 'This thing is for eavesdropping. The information Long'an explained to me has probably already been obtained by Inaba Kage, but they certainly aren't interested in that...'
With a thought, Ryūsaki, who lived on the third floor, instantly flashed to the Hall on the first floor and summoned a Servants, asking her to explain the information about the Sternritter to her in detail.
In the millennia-long evolution of the Wandenreich, the Sternritter was no secret.
The New World, the Palace of Aizen.
Aizen has been diligently training in seclusion lately. He is not satisfied with the complete evolution after obtaining the Hōgyoku and wants to further improve his strength.
Having learned from past mistakes, Aizen no longer believed that achieving complete evolution would allow him to do whatever he wanted; relying solely on that might make it difficult to break through the Zero Division.
He set a personal ideal level of ability that required a comprehensive upgrade.
After finishing his training for the day, Inaba Kage arrived on time to report the information delivered by Ryūsaki...
"Lord Aizen, we have intelligence on the Wandenreich. Their Quincy are divided into four main groups. We don't need to worry about the third and fourth rank."
"The second tier, known as 'Holy Soldiers,' consists of a large number of Grunts, comprised of elite combat forces. A single Holy Soldier can already defeat Gillian, and they can further enhance their combat power through group cooperation. According to analysis, a few Holy Soldiers are capable of fighting the Vice-Captain alone."
Seeing Aizen's indifferent expression, Inaba Kage quickly continued, "The first tier is called the Sternritter,' and each member possesses their own unique ability. Based on the previous tier and Ryūsaki's position, these individuals are at or above the Captain-level in terms of combat strength."
"Initial information indicates there are over 26 people, each with abilities represented by the first letter of a word, such as Ability B or C. Ryūsaki Ishida is merely their Reserve Forces, but he should not be underestimated."
Aizen narrowed his eyes slightly and said calmly, "There are also records of this unit in the Great Spirit Book Gallery. These people are quite different from the Captain-level of that time. It seems that after a thousand years, these Quincy have evolved."
Ryūsaki has shown his combat strength quite a bit. He was able to fight against Captain-level a few years ago, so he must be strong now as well. But it's surprising that he's still Reserve Forces.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the Sternritter's combat strength is definitely not weak, at least not much weaker than the current Captain-level, and they have a numerical advantage.
Inaba Kage added, "There's one more thing. It's said that their Quincy Emperor is about to be resurrected. That person is the progenitor of the Quincy, and the abilities of those Knights were all bestowed upon them by him..."
"Huh? Yhwach isn't dead yet? Interesting."
Aizen was slightly surprised at first, then smiled. He had already seen the description of Yhwach in the documents.
'So, even Captain-Commander Yamamoto didn't completely eliminate this man back then; was it a fabricated victory? Should I embellish their story?'
Aizen's mind stirred slightly, and schemes, both overt and covert, began to oscillate in his mind; safe plans were constantly being eliminated, and he had to choose the most interesting one.
The World of the Living.
Masaki Kurosaki went to university, while Isshin Shiba, who had become an ordinary person, could only honestly become a doctor.
All his power was transferred to Masaki's body through specially made Gigai to help her suppress the Hollow's power.
Because of the Hollows and the power of the Soul Reaper, Masaki's strength was greatly reduced and she was severely suppressed.
If she were to encounter a Menos Grande with the same fighting power as White, she might not even be able to escape, let alone fight back.
Isshin, who still couldn't forget Masaki, finally managed to get her to have dinner with him using the contact information he had already exchanged. Afterwards, their love blossomed like dry tinder, and their path to romance went smoothly.
The Wandenreich, a few months later.
A month ago, Ryūsaki received the latest version of the 'Quincy Vollständig' training guide, a technique that can be considered standard equipment for Reserve Forces.
After all, if you can't even Vollständig, how can you be qualified to challenge those true masters?
He also learned a lot of information, such as that the 'Sealed King' was about to awaken, and that he had deliberately 'encountered' some members of the Sternritter.
Those guys were all very strong, but they were all incredibly arrogant, a consequence of being in a position of power for so long.
In the morning, the technology department made it drizzle, so that ordinary people could feel the reality of the world as much as possible.
Just as many people were about to begin their day's practice or work, a bell suddenly rang out in Silbern, followed by a second and a third.
Ordinary people stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of the Ice Palace Silbern.
Upon hearing the bell, all the Holy Soldiers, including Ryūsaki, gathered at the plaza outside the Ice Palace as quickly as possible.
At the very front were the members of the Sternritter, followed closely by the Reserve Forces standing in the first row of the Holy Soldier, and then the Holy Soldier themselves.
The knights stood side by side, about five meters away from the Holy Soldier formation behind them. The formation was orderly, but not completely silent.
Several female knights in front of Ryūsaki were whispering among themselves:
"What's up with Jugram Haschwalth now?"
"I don't know!"
No notification received.
"This is so annoying, my makeup isn't even done yet."
Ryūsaki heard their discussion clearly, and the other members of the Knights also looked slightly puzzled, but did not express their dissatisfaction as directly as they did.
Shortly after, footsteps approached, and Jugram Haschwalth walked expressionlessly to the high platform, proclaiming to the crowd. "Today is the most joyous day since the founding of the Wandenreich. Our King has awakened today..."
The entire arena fell silent, but most of the knights and Holy Soldiers could hardly contain their joy.
For them, Yhwach's status remains supreme. Even though many people born here have never seen him, they all grow up listening to his legends.
Jugram Haschwalth continued, "You can keep your cheers and joy until the day you destroy Soul Society, then you can vent them... Knights, follow me! All Holy Soldier, be on alert!"
After saying this, Jugram Haschwalth turned and walked into the Ice Palace, followed by the knights with varying expressions.
They had just leaped onto the platform when an elderly Reserve Forces in the front row of the square burst into tears, choking out, "His Majesty has finally awakened!"
Finally, the young and spirited Holy Soldiers could no longer contain themselves and cheered:
"Destroy the tyranny of the Soul Reaper, the world belongs to us Quincy!"
"Trampling on the Soul Society, the blood feud from a thousand years ago must be avenged."
"Destroy Hueco Mundo and bring complete world peace."
"Long Quincy!"
After a few minutes of cheering, the Holy Soldiers returned to their posts, and the Reserve Forces began to disperse to the perimeter.
Ryūsaki watched these fanatics quietly. To his surprise, a small number of obviously elderly Reserve Forces members and Holy Soldiers did not show much joy on their faces.
Instead, there was a hint of worry in their eyes.
'Doesn't everyone want the emperor to wake up?' Ryūsaki wondered to herself.
These people probably didn't grow up in the Wandenreich! After all, until more than two hundred years ago, the Wandenreich was secretly recruiting people into the World of the Living.
Recently, Ryūsaki has also seen a lot of content praising Yhwach's achievements and teachings against the Soul Reaper in various history books of the Wandenreich.
They also included the defeat a thousand years ago, but the reason for the defeat was simply written as: the Sternritter was defeated by arrogance, His Majesty was ambushed by Soul Reaper using underhanded means, and was ultimately besieged and defeated.