Changes in Strength

The days of training continued for nearly a month.

During this month, Kūkaku made Duan Mu understand what it meant to follow through on one's words. If she said he couldn't leave the Great Kūkaku Training Hall, he couldn't leave, and she made sure he didn't see the sun for the entire month.

Only when the training results were barely satisfactory to Kūkaku, and coupled with Duan Mu's argument that he hadn't worked in a month and needed to earn a living, was he finally allowed to leave the Great Kūkaku Training Hall. As for Iwao... he was still deep underground, in perpetual darkness, struggling against the 'special training rings.'

However, the gains from this month of training were also extremely rich.

Name: Duan Mu

Race: Human

Level: Stage Six

Physique: Novice (243/500)

Spiritual Pressure: Intermediate (2840/10000)

Hakuda: Low-level (982/1000)

Shunpo: Low-level (843/1000)

Zanjutsu: Low-level (248/1000)

Zanpakuto: Not Activated (Activation conditions unknown)

Kidō:

[Hado]:

Low-level Hado 'Numbers 1-29': Quantity (4) (↓ Expand to view details)

Intermediate Hado 'Numbers 30-59': Quantity (4) (↓ Expand to view details)

[Bado]:

Low-level Bado 'Numbers 1-29': Quantity (5) (↓ Expand to view details)

Intermediate Bado 'Numbers 30-59': Quantity (3) (↓ Expand to view details)

High-level Bado 'Numbers 60-89': Quantity (1) (↓ Expand to view details)

Special Techniques:

[Canceled Incantation] Intermediate (28/10000)

[Healing]: Low-level (64/1000)

[Post-chanting]: Low-level (354/1000)

Current Experience Points: 15000

↓ Expand to view favorability interface.

In this month, Duan Mu's most rapid progress was undoubtedly in his Spiritual Pressure, jumping from less than a hundred proficiency to nearly three thousand proficiency.

Although his level hadn't changed, his strength had greatly improved.

If the Duan Mu of a month ago had a Spiritual Pressure strength that barely met the standard of a low-ranking officer, his current Spiritual Pressure strength now surpassed the vast majority of low-ranking officers, infinitely approaching that of weaker high-ranking officers.

However, this was Duan Mu's own estimation; he wasn't actually sure how he would fare in a real fight.

After all, the officers of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads were not like Daimaru, who had Spiritual Pressure but didn't know how to use it. Anyone who could be promoted to officer, barring a few with severe specialization imbalances, even low-ranking officers, possessed some level of mastery in Zanpakuto, Kido, Hakuda, and Shunpo.

Most importantly, whether high-ranking or low-ranking, the ability to use Shikai was the most basic requirement. The myriad abilities of Zanpakuto could often allow one to defeat a stronger opponent.

This could be seen from the system's level evaluation.

Even though Duan Mu's Spiritual Pressure was infinitely close to that of a high-ranking officer, his level was still in 'Stage Six,' equivalent to a low-ranking officer.

However, for Duan Mu, advancing to 'Stage Five,' equivalent to a high-ranking officer, was not difficult; he only needed to invest the remaining fifteen thousand experience points.

He had been supervised by Kūkaku all month, and to avoid exposing the system's existence, Duan Mu hadn't used any experience points.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Kūkaku, but because the system was his greatest trump card. No matter how much he trusted someone, he wouldn't let anyone detect this trump card, not even suspect it.

Therefore, aside from initially upgrading the four intermediate Kidō to 'Intermediate,' Duan Mu had only invested over 500 experience points into the [Canceled Incantation] this month, where it wouldn't be noticed.

Now that he wasn't under Shiba Kūkaku's daily supervision, Duan Mu no longer had this concern.

If he wanted to, he could easily use over seven thousand experience points to instantly raise his 'Spiritual Pressure' to 'High-level,' equivalent to the 'weakest Lieutenant.' Although it would be an empty shell with Spiritual Pressure but no corresponding techniques, it would still possess the qualifications to contend with high-ranking officers.

Of course...

That would only be against normal high-ranking officers. After all, there were many monsters among high-ranking officers who had 'not been promoted' for various reasons, and their combat power was no weaker than that of a Lieutenant.

Of course, this doesn't mean increasing Spiritual Pressure is useless.

Kūkaku had given Duan Mu many high-level Kidō, but Duan Mu hadn't activated any of them. This was because after activating the only high-level Bado, 'Bado #61: Rikujōkōrō,' he found that his Spiritual Pressure could only barely meet the minimum standard for release, and he couldn't use it in combat at all.

Even if he were to upgrade Rikujōkōrō to Intermediate now, it would be the same, as his Spiritual Pressure completely couldn't provide the Spiritual Pressure required for high-numbered Kidō.

Based on Duan Mu's observations in West District 1 over the past few years.

Soul Reapers of Stage Six (Low-ranking officers) possess decent Spiritual Pressure, can use Shikai for their Zanpakuto, and can use intermediate Kidō below number sixty.

A Soul Reaper of the fifth stage (High-ranking Officer) possesses high Spiritual Pressure, can Shikai their Zanpakuto, use advanced Kidō below level seventy, or is proficient in Taijutsu, Hakuda, and swordsmanship, and skillfully uses Shunpo.

From this, it can be seen that to easily unleash advanced Kidō, one must at least have the Spiritual Pressure of a High-ranking Officer.

Therefore, Duan Mu's plan is...

To only increase his own Spiritual Pressure to the level of a High-ranking Officer, rather than jumping straight to advanced, then save a small portion of experience points, and invest the rest into 'Shunpo,' 'Hakuda,' and 'Intermediate to Advanced Kidō.' This way, the experience points can be utilized more effectively.

After all, experience points don't just enhance one's own abilities; they also act like a 'mentor,' bestowing more knowledge upon Duan Mu, allowing him to train independently even without experience points, rather than stagnating once the experience points run out.

This is a benefit that cannot be obtained by investing all experience points solely into Spiritual Pressure. There are only a few methods for cultivating Spiritual Pressure, and most of them Duan Mu cannot yet use.

Even if he were to solely pursue Spiritual Pressure strength, he wouldn't gain much training knowledge; instead, it would hinder the progress of his other combat skills.

Most importantly...

There's only one Shiba Kūkaku in Rukongai. Until he finds other ways to gain a large amount of experience points, he'll return to his previous state of only gaining a few thousand, or even a few hundred, experience points per year.

"Sigh, Sister Kūkaku's favorability isn't increasing at all."

If only his great brother 'Iwao' could visit a few more times in the later numbered districts.

Brother Iwao, since you call yourself the 'Crimson Bullet of West Rukongai,' 'The Person People Most Hoped Would Become the Big Brother of West Rukongai for 14 Years,' 'Number One Person Who Hates Soul Reapers in West Rukongai,' and so on...

How can you stand by and watch those 'great villains' in District 80 of West Rukongai claim to be the strongest in West Rukongai?

However, Duan Mu was merely thinking about it.

After what just happened, if he were to go and instigate Iwao now, he would definitely be slapped to death by Sister Kūkaku.

Getting back to the point, Duan Mu had already made plans for the distribution of experience points during this month of training, so after leaving the Shiba residence, he began allocating them.

Spiritual Pressure naturally needed to be increased, but not too much. Duan Mu only invested '4160' experience points into Spiritual Pressure, bringing it to '7000' proficiency, which was roughly equivalent to the mid-tier of a High-ranking Officer.

He invested over 3000 experience points into Hakuda and Shunpo, bringing both skills to the intermediate level (1500/10000) at the same rate.

Then, from the unactivated Kidō, he selected 'Kidō #63: Raikōhō' to activate and directly upgraded it to intermediate, along with 'Kidō #61: Rikujōkōrō.'

"With bindings and offensive measures now sufficient, my only defensive ability is still Kidō #8: Seki. Seki is suitable for close combat with Hakuda and is worth upgrading to intermediate."

"But it's not applicable in all situations. If the enemy possesses 'large-scale attack' abilities, I also need large-scale defensive measures."

With this thought, Duan Mu carefully selected from the Kidō and finally chose 'Kidō #39: Enzansen.'

Unlike Seki, which forms a palm-sized 'spiritual energy shield' on the back of the hand, Enzansen forms a circular protective shield in front of the user, shielding the entire caster behind the 'spiritual energy shield,' making it more suitable for defending against large-scale attacks.

Finally, Duan Mu upgraded the newly learned 'Post-chanting' to intermediate.

In fact, compared to abandoning incantation, post-chanting is more practical. Although Duan Mu's 'abandoning incantation' has been upgraded to intermediate, it can basically only unleash the full power of Kidō below level ten when 'abandoning incantation' is used.

For intermediate Kidō like 'Kakaka Hō,' to unleash its full power while abandoning incantation, it needs to be at least 'advanced.' Simply put, [Incantation Destruction Abandonment] requires the Kidō to be a full level higher.

[Post-chanting] is different; using it at the same level can unleash the full power of the Kidō.

After the allocation, his experience points directly dropped from '15000' to '2000.' Duan Mu planned to save these last two thousand experience points and use them when he encountered bottlenecks in his independent training.

With a massive investment of '13000' experience points, Duan Mu's level finally reached the fifth stage, equivalent to a 'High-ranking Officer'!