Aren't You Human?

"So... you were just having Teacher Unohana slash at you? So you could deeply experience the wonders of Healing Kidō healing yourself?"

Aizen's gaze turned strange after hearing Lu Li's explanation. "Have you become addicted to getting slashed?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Who would get addicted to having their heart cut open by a godspeed slash?!"

Lu Li was rather speechless. To keep Aizen from getting any strange ideas, he had just explained things to him and asked him to keep it secret.

After two months together, he could not vouch for anything else, but he was at least certain that Aizen could keep his mouth shut. He probably would not spread it around.

"But I heard that the Healing Kidō classroom after school is always filled with cries of, 'Teacher, please do it again.'"

Aizen said this expressionlessly.

Lu Li's expression stiffened. "That's because I wanted to improve too badly... Wait! Who exactly did you hear something like that from?!"

Aizen swept his gaze across every student in the classroom. "Within the True Spirit Arts Academy... probably no one does not know about it. It has already become one of the academy's Seven Mysteries."

"Huh? The Spirit Arts Academy has Seven Mysteries too?"

Lu Li was stunned again. Weren't campus legends like this something only middle and high schools in the Living World had? Usually they were about ghosts and stuff, but you people are Shinigami. You're into this too?

"Yes. Haven't I told you, Lu-kun?"

Aizen gave a solemn rundown. "The Bloodstained Bamboo Sword in Equipment Warehouse, the Asauchi That Vanishes at Midnight, the dormitory building where Spirit Particles diminish after nightfall, the White Mouse That Never Stops Bleeding, the Rice That Disappears in the Midnight Cafeteria, the Staircase That Changes Floors, and... the Healing Kidō classroom that gives off strange sounds after school."

Lu Li held his forehead with one hand. He had to hand it to the students of the True Spirit Arts Academy. All he could say was that this bad habit of gossip seemed inescapable, whether one was human or Shinigami.

And he really wanted to point out that Sōsuke, you clearly had to take the blame for some of these so-called Seven Mysteries too, didn't you!?

The Spirit Particles in the dormitory building becoming thin after nightfall was clearly because of you, you grind addict!?

"Lu-kun, the rice in the cafeteria at midnight..."

Before Aizen could finish, Lu Li raised a hand, shook his head, and blurted out in one breath, "Absolutely not me!"

After that little interlude, he and Aizen both settled down to resonate with their Zanpakuto. Though Aizen was merely putting on a show, since he had already mastered Shikai.

Over these two months at the True Spirit Arts Academy, Lu Li had gained a great deal. Not only had the levels of his various combat specializations risen, but he had also mastered a whole host of skills.

For example, the advanced Shunpo technique, Utsusemi, that he had won from Yoruichi; Shinigami Healing Kidō, which he had learned from Unohana; and all manner of Bakudō, along with relatively practical Hadō, that he had learned in Kido class.

He had already attained considerable proficiency in Healing Kidō. Now, Teacher Unohana only needed to handle the slashing, while he could treat himself. His speed, however, still needed practice.

For a fatal wound running from his left shoulder to his waist and abdomen, he now only needed ten minutes to heal it. If he were working backup in a medical unit, that level would already be more than sufficient.

But he wanted to use it immediately in battle, and this speed was still far too slow. At the very least, he needed to be able to recover from light injuries instantly and severe injuries within a few breaths.

The reason he was not considering fatal wounds for the time being was that no matter how quickly he trained his Healing Kidō, if he encountered an enemy capable of inflicting a fatal wound on him, he would most likely be beyond saving anyway.

If possible, Lu Li wanted to train his Healing Kidō until he could recover from severe injuries in an instant. That would give it tremendous practical value in combat.

But as things stood, that goal was still very far away. At the very least, he probably would not reach that level during his stay in this world.

Of course, his current training was far from useless. He could already begin using Healing Kidō in battle, and he treated physical injuries very quickly.

As for Reiatsu, it was not that Lu Li had given up and become lazy. He simply did not want to become a showy fraud who only had attributes.

Master had once taught him that he did possess a certain beauty in his numbers, but that was only compared to ordinary people. If he relied solely on overwhelming strength, he would eventually suffer when he encountered a true expert.

Therefore, honing his martial skills was the highest priority. He had already mastered the method of cultivating Reiatsu and could practice it anytime, but if he missed a place like the True Spirit Arts Academy, where he could freely acquire high-quality techniques, that would be far too regrettable.

Most importantly, he had analyzed his mission. If he wanted to speedrun the True Spirit Arts Academy, he might have to face some sort of special assessment.

The Examiner's Reiatsu would definitely be higher than his, but the other party would most likely not use Reiatsu to bully him. Thus, what he most needed to improve right now was his overall skill.

Over the next while, however, he would also ask Teacher Unohana to go easier on him. His Healing Kidō had already reached a respectable level, so there was no need for the after-class guidance every day to be so intense. That would also preserve his strength and let him grind at night.

Lu Li lowered his head and looked at the Asauchi before his knees. Over the past two months, he had tried to resonate with it every day, but he had failed each time.

He felt it was neither because his Reiwei level was insufficient nor because he lacked the talent to resonate with a Zanpakuto. Rather, there seemed to be something... strange deep within his soul.

He examined his heart and stared into his soul. Facing that boundless purple-black expanse was like staring into an abyss.

The deepest he had ever stared into his soul, he had felt as though he were falling. Terrifying roars seemed to echo in his ears as well.

"Sōsuke, what was it like when you first heard your Zanpakuto's voice?"

After some thought, Lu Li decided to ask Aizen for advice.

"My Zanpakuto's voice?"

Aizen opened his eyes. He had not actually been resonating with it; he had been cultivating his Reiatsu instead. "A Zanpakuto's voice is the voice of our soul. I have somewhat forgotten what it said to me the first time."

Lu Li did not believe for a second that Aizen had forgotten. The other man most likely just did not want to reveal his "privacy," so he asked differently. "Did the Zanpakuto speak human language? Was its voice calm or violent, gentle or terrifying?"

Aizen gave Lu Li a slightly strange look. "A Zanpakuto is a reflection of one's own soul. Generally speaking, unless one hates oneself, a Zanpakuto would not bear ill will toward its Master, would it? As for whether it speaks human language... Lu-kun, aren't you human?"

"Of course I'm human."

Lu Li's face darkened a little. He understood what Aizen meant. Under normal circumstances, a Zanpakuto would certainly speak human language—unless he himself was not human.

Since a Zanpakuto's spirit was born from its Master's soul, their linguistic knowledge would naturally be the same. Even if he knew many foreign languages, it would still count as human language if the Zanpakuto spoke one of them. It should not be speaking something he could not understand at all.

But the problem was that amid those terrifying roars, he seemed to have heard a few inexplicable whispers as well.

"Then do you hate yourself, Lu-kun?"

Like a psychologist, Aizen seriously analyzed Lu Li's problem.

Lu Li fell silent for a moment, recalling his life before he entered End Space.

He had had no parents since childhood. Master had taken him in when he was still an infant. In this life, there had only been two people he cherished most.

One was Master.

The other was his Senior Apprentice-Sister.

But they were both dead, killed before his eyes.