A Change in Attitude

Duan Mu woke up groggily. He'd had a nightmare, but he'd forgotten what it was about, only feeling an inexplicable irritation in his heart.

His opened black eyes were lifeless, like those of a dead person. After a moment, his unfocused gaze gradually gathered, regaining its spirit and a touch of vitality.

He hadn't had a nightmare in a long time.

He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, lost in thought.

After a long while...

Duan Mu let out a long sigh, the negative emotions accumulated from the dream dissipating into the air with his breath.

"Falling Sky Collapse Vortex Pattern?"

Duan Mu sat up, looking at the carved patterns on the wall, and immediately knew where he was.

Judging by the furnishings, it seemed to be a bedroom, and the air was filled with the scent of medicinal herbs.

"Yarrow, Spirit Reed,狱荞..."

Although he hadn't mixed many herbal medicines, his basic knowledge of Kido allowed Duan Mu to easily identify the herbs in the medicinal aroma.

He looked down at the bandages wrapped around his chest and nodded. Based on the 'Kido' knowledge he possessed, the bandaging was done very well, and with medicinal treatment, he should fully recover in a few days.

Just then, the bedroom door was pushed open, and two people entered, one after the other. It was the Shiba siblings.

"He's really awake?"

Iwao peeked out from behind Kūkaku, his voice filled with surprise. "Just like Big Sis said."

Kūkaku, in a more imposing manner, pulled over a chair and sat by the bed, taking a puff from her pipe. "You're quite the actor, kid. How are you feeling?"

"Huh?"

Duan Mu blinked. What did she mean by "quite the actor"?

"Indeed."

Unlike Duan Mu, Iwao, standing behind Kūkaku, nodded in agreement. He looked at Duan Mu and asked, "How exactly did you hide your Spiritual Pressure?"

The combat power Duan Mu had displayed in their previous battle had truly astonished him.

Especially the intensity of his Spiritual Pressure. This guy had acted like a mere Soul Reaper Academy student in front of him.

If it were just hiding it from him, that would be one thing, but even Big Sis said that if Duan Mu hadn't gone all out, she wouldn't have known his Spiritual Pressure had reached a level comparable to that of a low-ranking officer in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.

So that's how it is.

Duan Mu gave a wry smile. "It wasn't intentional to hide it from you. I just don't know how it works myself. Maybe it's due to my physique. As long as I don't fully activate it and let my Spiritual Pressure leak out of my body, others can't detect my Spiritual Pressure fluctuations."

He wasn't lying to them. Since his abilities were already exposed, there was no need to continue hiding them. Moreover, he had never intended to hide them from the two of them in the first place.

"You don't need to explain to us."

Kūkaku waved her hand. "If it weren't for you this time, Iwao, that brat, would have been in danger."

"Big Sis, I..."

Bang!

"..."

Watching Iwao being punched to the ground, a large lump visibly swelling on the back of his head, Duan Mu instinctively shrank back onto the bed.

"What do you mean, 'I'? If it weren't for Duan Mu, you might have been fine, but have you considered what Hawk and the others might have encountered?" Kūkaku scolded him, continuing to stomp on Iwao's head with each word. It was clear that Iwao's unauthorized trip to the lower-numbered area had truly angered Kūkaku.

This made Duan Mu, who had been about to step forward and intervene, swallow his words of persuasion.

And...

Duan Mu was also somewhat annoyed with Iwao. If he had known that the lower-numbered area was so dangerous, while he would still have gone with Iwao, he definitely wouldn't have been so unprepared as he was this time.

If Shiba Kūkaku hadn't secretly followed them, he might have already died at the hands of that big guy.

As expected, he really needed to accumulate more experience points to deal with various unexpected situations.

"I've already asked Kin Hikō to notify your shop's employees. You'll stay here to recover for the next few days," Kūkaku said to Duan Mu after finishing her lecture to Iwao.

Duan Mu didn't refuse. In his current condition, even if he returned to the shop, he would need a few days of rest and wouldn't be able to work. Compared to being alone in the shop, being taken care of here was more suitable for recovery.

As for Uzuki...

Despite her age, she couldn't even cook. She had lived in the Soul Society for decades with an attitude of "just eat and wait to die." If she were to take care of him, his injuries might worsen.

"Thank you for your trouble, Big Sister Kūkaku."

"It's no trouble at all. Treat this place like your own home." Kūkaku bent down, picked up the barely conscious Iwao from the floor, and left the room.

Watching Kūkaku's retreating figure disappear, Duan Mu withdrew his gaze, sighing inwardly. Indeed, the attitude was completely different between a '9' affinity and a '30' affinity.

In the past, when he visited the Shiba residence, although he wasn't driven away, Shiba Kūkaku's attitude towards him had always been cold. She had never been as enthusiastic as she was now.

This incident, though dangerous, had yielded extremely rich rewards.

Current Experience Points: 18600.

Looking at the experience value on the system interface, Duan Mu's eyes turned red. In the nearly four years since he came to the Soul Society, this was the first time he had accumulated so many experience points!

Moreover, after Kūkaku's affinity reached 30, gaining one more point of affinity had directly granted him 2400 experience points.

What if it reached 40, 50... or even broke through 60, what would that be?

Duan Mu shook his head, extinguishing the dangerous thought that arose in his mind.

"I should focus on figuring out how to turn this experience into combat power first."

Duan Mu opened the Kidō details page, his eyes showing contemplation.

Kidō:

[Hadō]:

Low-Level Hadō (Numbers 1-29):

[Hadō #4: Byakurai] Low-Level (3320/10000);

[Hadō #11: Tsuru Raijin] Low-Level (213/1000);

[Hadō #12: Fukuhi] Low-Level (154/1000);

[Hadō #26: Honō Sai] Low-Level (432/1000).

Mid-Level Hadō (Numbers 30-59):

[Hadō #31: Shakkahō] Low-Level (643/1000);

[Hadō #33: Sōkatsui] Low-Level (432/1000)

[Kidō]:

Low-Level Kidō (Numbers 1-29):

[Kidō #1: Sentō] Low-Level (215/1000);

[Kidō #8: Kyaku] Low-Level (843/1000);

[Kidō #9: Hōrin] Low-Level (432/1000);

[Kidō #21: Sekienton] Low-Level (89/1000);

[Kidō #26: Kyokō] Low-Level (14/1000)

Mid-Level Kidō (Numbers 30-59):

[Kidō #30: Shitotsu Sansen] Low-Level (143/1000);

[Kidō #39: Enzansen] Low-Level (142/1000)

※Number of Unactivated Kidō: 37 (Please activate in the activation interface.)

By 'teaching' students, Duan Mu had collected a lot of Kidō over the past six months. However, many low-level Kidō had overlapping functions and low practical utility, so Duan Mu had abandoned them. Even with ample experience points now, he didn't plan to activate them.

The low-level Kidō he had activated, both Hadō and Kidō, were the most practical among the low-level ones and were also the most frequently used by members of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.

He didn't lack Kidō now; what he lacked were mid-level Kidō.

However, the students only knew and could fully release four mid-level Kidō in front of Duan Mu. Unless members of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads came to him to learn Kidō, the possibility of learning 'new mid-level Kidō' from the 'Soul Reaper Cram School' was extremely low.

As for high-level Kidō, that was merely wishful thinking.

Furthermore, even if a student brought 'high-level Kidō' to ask for his guidance, Duan Mu's Spiritual Pressure strength would not be sufficient to meet the standard for releasing 'high-level Kidō.'

Duan Mu looked at the Kidō details page, a conflicted expression on his face. "Indeed, all these low-level Kidō are worth investing experience in." After all, these Kidō were 'masterpieces' he had carefully selected from a pile of low-level ones. Even if he learned mid-level Kidō, these low-level Kidō could still play a role in combat.

"Hmm, I should first upgrade the four mid-level Kidō to 'Mid-Level.' This way, at least I won't be like this time, having no other offensive means besides 'Byakurai'."

Duan Mu had also considered whether to spend a large amount of experience points to upgrade Byakurai to High-Level, but after careful consideration, he abandoned the idea.

Although Byakurai was practical, it was still a low-level Kidō. Once the mastery level reached a certain point, its power would entirely depend on one's own Spiritual Pressure strength. Even if upgraded to High-Level now, the power it could unleash would be very limited.

And under the same Spiritual Pressure strength and mastery level, the upper limit of a mid-level Kidō's power was clearly higher than that of a low-level Kidō.

Of course...

The main reason was insufficient experience points. Eighteen thousand experience points seemed like a lot, but besides Kidō, Duan Mu also needed to consider Hakuda, Shunpo, Spiritual Pressure, and other abilities. He couldn't invest everything into Kidō.