Half a month passed quietly...
Over those two weeks, besides accumulating experience and teasing Unohana, Araki discovered something interesting.
His previous main quest...
Main Quest: Take up a post in the Gotei 13 in Seireitei.
Had recently been settled.
After Araki claimed the main quest reward, something called a Tier 2 EXP Pack appeared in his mind.
Araki was somewhat curious about this item called a "Tier 2 EXP Pack." He lightly touched the pack in his mind with his thoughts and received the following answer...
Tier 2 EXP Pack Notes: An EXP Pack worth one billion experience points. It can be used as experience for leveling up, providing the host with one billion experience points. It can also be used as fusion material to synthesize a Tier 1 EXP Pack!
Tier 1 EXP Pack Notes: The highest-grade EXP Pack, capable of providing ten billion experience points. It can be synthesized using ten Tier 2 EXP Packs.
"Ah, so that's how it is..."
After reading his system's explanation of the so-called EXP Packs, the corner of Araki's eye twitched slightly.
Come to think of it, advancing from Third-Class Spiritual Pressure to Second-Class Spiritual Pressure required exactly one billion experience points, while advancing from Second-Class Spiritual Pressure to First-Class Spiritual Pressure happened to require ten billion...
So that was where the ranks of these Tier 2 and Tier 1 EXP Packs came from?!
At the same time, Araki felt rather emotional. Compared to the experience he had accumulated through daily quests in the past, these one billion points had come far too easily...
Who knew how long he had accumulated experience back then just to raise his Spiritual Pressure to the second class?!
Thinking of this, Araki shook his head slightly and refocused on his quest!
Araki still remembered the note attached to his main quest.
Notes: The amount of the main quest reward depends on the rank of the position held by the host within the Gotei 13 of Seireitei.
This quest's reward depended on Araki's position within the Gotei 13!
"Since becoming a captain gave me a Tier 2 EXP Pack, if I replaced Old Man Yama and became the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13, wouldn't I directly receive a Tier 1 EXP Pack and raise my Spiritual Pressure to the level of First-Class Spiritual Pressure?!"
Araki thought this, but quickly shook his head...
Defeating Old Man Yama and becoming the new Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13 was something he could only think about. If he actually had to do it, he would rather go somewhere cool and rest for a while~
Araki would not assume Old Man Yama could no longer lift his sword just because his own strength had improved slightly...
"sigh..."
Araki let out a long sigh, then opened the character template in his mind.
Movement
Shunpo: LV1(+)
Kido
Hado: LV1(+)
Bakudo: LV1(+)
Kaido: LV1(+)
Araki ignored the information above and looked at the Movement and Kido sections.
He had never upgraded these abilities, which was why they were still only level 1.
Speaking of which, among all of Araki's attributes, only Kido and Shunpo were level 1. Aside from Spiritual Pressure, nearly all his other attributes had reached level 10!
Of course, it was not that Araki had never practiced Shunpo or Kido. It was simply that Shunpo was not as useful as the ROOM of the Ope Ope no Mi, while he genuinely had little talent for Kido...
High Spiritual Pressure did not necessarily mean high Kido talent. Kenpachi Zaraki and Kurosaki Ichigo were prime examples of people with immense Spiritual Pressure but abysmal Kido talent!
Or rather, once Spiritual Pressure reached a certain level, simply cutting down one's enemy was enough to kill them. There was no need to use Kido at all...
Besides, apart from Spiritual Pressure, which used labels like "third class" and "second class," every other ability in Araki's system was represented by LV. The greater the number after LV, the stronger the ability!
LV1 meant Araki merely knew how to use it. It did not even count as getting started...
It was like Araki had just learned the rules of multiplication but had not yet memorized the multiplication table.
Even so, for techniques like Shunpo, Araki could force his way through using his formidable physical fitness and captain-level Spiritual Pressure.
In other words, Araki's raw stats were high enough that even with terrible Shunpo technique, he was still faster than those with frail Spiritual Bodies and weak Spiritual Pressure but masterful Shunpo skills!
This was what they meant by strength creating miracles. With enough power, even a brick could fly! Araki's Shunpo had no technique at all; it was all brute force...
But if he encountered a monster with stats equal to, or even stronger than, his own, the advantage of technique would become apparent!
With that in mind, Araki glanced at his experience point section...
After half a month—fifteen days—of accumulation, Araki had saved up a full 46,890 experience points. The system's daily training quests still steadily gave him two thousand experience points, while his daily quest had changed to checking in at the barracks every day...
Well, without realizing it, Araki had become an excellent office worker.
Clocking in and out every day, while always arriving late and leaving early on time!
As long as his late arrivals and early departures followed a regular enough schedule, others would assume those were simply his working hours.
"System, add points!"
Without another word, Araki invested all his experience into Shunpo.
As 11,110 experience points vanished, Araki's Shunpo instantly reached LV5!
That was right. Other than the two attributes of Spiritual Pressure and Spiritual Body, whose upgrade costs started at ten experience points...
Every skill-based ability in Araki's system, such as Shunpo, Hakuda, sword strikes, and Kido, started at one experience point, with level 10 as the maximum!
In other words, both sword strikes and Hakuda among Araki's Zankensoki had already been raised to max level! This made Araki's current panel look severely unbalanced, so he made a few minor adjustments.
Although Araki could max out all those skill-based abilities with just over 1.1 billion experience points!
For the current Araki, Shunpo and Kido, which had substitute abilities, did not need to be maxed out at all. Around level four or five was enough...
Seeing that he still had 35,000 experience points left, Araki frowned slightly. Being somewhat obsessive, he also raised Hado, Bakudo, and Kaido in his Kido section to LV5!
Although level-five Kido was not particularly meaningful to Araki, whose Reishi Manipulation had reached LV10, it did improve his precision somewhat.
"It's not much stronger, but it still counts as an improvement."
Araki murmured to himself.
From now on, the experience provided by the daily training quests issued by the system...
Araki would use it to improve his weaker abilities, because accumulating daily experience to raise his Spiritual Pressure level was no longer realistic. At three thousand experience points a day, saving up ten billion would take a full ten thousand years...
By then, it would be far too late!
In Araki's view, if he wanted to raise his level in the future, he would have to rely on main quests and obtain EXP Packs by completing them.
"sigh..."
Thinking this, Araki let out a long sigh. At last, he left the Captain's Office and headed outside.
When Araki passed the Swordsmanship Dojo of the 11th Division, he happened to spot Unohana Yachiru...
Or rather, the current Unohana Retsu. With a Zanpakuto in hand, she was directing her subordinates as they continuously swung wooden swords through their daily training.
"Retsu, put the training aside for now! Come with me!"
"If we don't go soon, Old Man Yama will start nagging again..."
Looking at the sweat-covered Unohana Retsu, Araki drew the Zanpakuto at his waist.
As green light flashed, the beads of sweat on Unohana Retsu's body instantly vanished, replaced by a faint herbal fragrance.
"Alright..."
At his words, Unohana Retsu sheathed the sword in her hand and walked toward Araki.
"Araki, I feel like something has been troubling you..."
"Are you worried about why Captain-Commander Yamamoto summoned us?"
"If that is the case, I do not think you need to worry too much..."
"Today is probably just a simple captain's inauguration ceremony, so you can become acquainted with the captains of the other divisions..."
Having spent half a month with Araki, Unohana Retsu had become thoroughly familiar with him. Seeing his tightly furrowed brow, she asked him about it. At the same time, she tried to reassure Araki based on her experience as the former captain of the 11th Division.
"No, it isn't because of the Captain's Meeting..."
"Retsu, don't you think Soul Society has been too peaceful lately? Peaceful enough to make one uneasy. It gives me a powerful sense of impending danger!"
Araki and Unohana Retsu left the Gotei 13, 11th Division barracks and walked along the road toward the 1st Division Barracks.
That was right. Several months after Araki took office as captain of the 11th Division, Old Man Yama had finally convened a Captain's Meeting! He had explicitly required every captain of the Gotei 13 to attend, regardless of whether they had business there or not! No personal leave or sick leave would be permitted...
This struck Araki as somewhat strange. He had the feeling that storm clouds were gathering.
That was also why Araki had casually raised even the Shunpo and Kido he did not value much to LV5...
If Araki had guessed correctly, a Thousand-Year Enemy who had existed alongside Soul Reapers for a millennium was about to invade Soul Society.
"sigh..."
"Soul Society truly is living through troubled times!"
Shaking his head as he spoke, Araki led Unohana into the Gotei 1st Division barracks.
"..."
Unohana Retsu did not know how to comfort Araki. She could only silently grip her Zanpakuto tightly and follow behind him.
No matter what happened in Soul Society, she would stand firmly at Araki's side...
A little transition here~ Katori was expected to officially appear next chapter~ Then the first major arc would begin: Yhwach's invasion!
Before you continue