Breakthrough

On the other side, Duan Mu was walking home, completely unaware of Kūkaku's thoughts. At that moment, he was blankly "looking" at the system interface in his mind.

" Kido?"

Name: Duanmu

Race: Human

Level: Stage Eight

Physique: Beginner (54/500)

Spiritual Pressure: Low-Level (776/1000)

Hakuda: Beginner (432/500)

Shunpo: Beginner (428/500)

Zanjutsu: Beginner (490/500)

Zanpakuto: Inactive (Activation Conditions Unknown)

Kido:

Hado: Hado #4: Byakurai, Intermediate (3216/10000)

Special Techniques:

Destruction of Incantation, Low-Level (29/1000)

Kaido: Inactive (0/50)

Current Experience: 954

↓Expand to view the Affection Interface.

Duan Mu recalled what had happened earlier, and a look of realization flashed through his eyes. Those four members of the Punishment Force had indeed treated that middle-aged Soul Reaper right in front of him. The "Kido" on the system panel must have appeared at that time.

Duan Mu did not know much about Kido. He only knew that it was a type of healing technique. Unlike Bakudo and Hado, it did not have a strict numbering system, nor did it require an incantation.

Most of its practitioners were members of the Fourth Division. Few members of the other divisions knew Kido, because aside from a few Soul Reapers who wanted to join the Fourth Division, hardly anyone would study a healing technique that was useless in battle.

However, this technique was extremely useful to Duan Mu. After all, unlike the Soul Reapers of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, he could not simply be sent to the Fourth Division for treatment if he was injured.

And Duan Mu...

If he was injured, he could only wait to recover naturally. After learning Kido, he would be able to train with far fewer reservations.

After pondering for a moment, Duan Mu directly added 50 experience points to Kido, activating it.

He ignored the pain. After experiencing it so many times, the pain of having knowledge instilled in him could hardly affect him anymore.

Duan Mu turned his attention back to the system panel.

Nearly five months had passed since he decided to give up Zanjutsu and switch to practicing Shunpo and Hakuda.

During those five months, he had worked hard to run the Yorozuya in Rukongai. Through various commissions, he had met quite a few female friends, though most of them had only provided him with five to ten experience points.

Although what he gained in an entire month might not be as much as what he had earned in a single day today, five months had still allowed him to accumulate some experience.

As for using his experience points, he had continued to conserve them as much as possible, only spending them to overcome bottlenecks.

But what had happened today gave him an inexplicable sense of danger.

He had always believed that as long as he lived quietly and did not provoke trouble, he should not encounter any danger.

But now, it seemed that having a certain level of self-defense was still better.

After pondering for a moment, Duan Mu broke through both Hakuda and Shunpo to the low level. The instant he broke through, a vast amount of knowledge surged into his mind, while waves of tingling spread through his body, causing him to stumble.

"Gah... Next time, I'd better do them one at a time!"

Compared with the beginner level, the amount of knowledge contained in low-level Shunpo and Hakuda was more than double. Duan Mu stood there for nearly half a minute before completely digesting the knowledge that had appeared in his mind.

"I still have 764 experience points... Hmm?"

Duan Mu was checking his remaining experience points when he suddenly froze. He discovered that after Hakuda and Shunpo had broken through to the low level, his level had changed from the original "Eighth Stage" to "Seventh Stage."

A breakthrough?

Duan Mu had made some deductions about the stage levels long ago based on his memories. At the time, he had thought that the "Eighth Stage" was equivalent to the level of a fifth- or sixth-year student at the Soul Reaper Academy.

The "Seventh Stage," meanwhile, should be equivalent to the stronger members of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.

But after observing quite a few Soul Reapers, he had overturned that deduction. The strength of Duan Mu's spiritual pressure had surpassed that of fifth- and sixth-year students at the Soul Reaper Academy long ago, and was even stronger than that of many Soul Reaper officers. Yet his rank had not changed in the slightest.

"Is level not assessed by the strength of spiritual pressure, but by combat ability displayed in battle?"

Duan Mu stroked his chin, his eyes filled with thought.

Indeed, with only Byakurai as his single Kido technique, even if his spiritual pressure was already stronger than that of many officers, he still could not face a Soul Reaper officer wielding a Zanpakuto head-on.

That was because Canceled Incantation weakened Byakurai's power considerably.

And if he did not cancel the incantation, he did not know Bakudo. His enemy might well cut him down before he finished chanting...

If he wanted to win, he could only rely on a surprise attack from the shadows instead of confronting his opponent directly.

But after his Shunpo and Hakuda broke through, things were different. He could now create enough distance to chant in time. Even if he could not create that distance, he could use Hakuda to respond. He truly possessed the strength to contend with the stronger members of the divisions.

Ultimately...

The assistance provided by a Zanpakuto was simply too powerful. It was enough to make up for the gap in spiritual pressure and technique.

"A Zanpakuto, huh..."

Duan Mu let out a bitter laugh. Since he had not joined the Soul Reaper Academy, he truly could not find a way to obtain an Asauchi. It was not as if he could run off and kill a Soul Reaper, right?

He shook his head and did not dwell on it. There would be an opportunity sooner or later.

For now, the priority was to strengthen himself as much as possible, so that if he encountered danger in the future, he would not even lack the basic ability to resist.

With that in mind, Duan Mu invested another 224 experience points into spiritual pressure, raising it directly to the intermediate level. Finally, he gritted his teeth and added 500 of his remaining experience points to Kido. Compared with his other abilities, Kido would be of greater help during his upcoming training.

Learning Kido would not only let him recover from injuries sustained during training, allowing him to train even more recklessly; the various medical principles it contained could also give him some insights applicable to Hakuda and Zanjutsu.

Most importantly...

The knowledge granted by the system was extraordinarily comprehensive, countless times more complete than what was taught at the Soul Reaper Academy. Kido even contained knowledge of various medicinal herbs, which would likewise assist him in his future training.

Name: Duanmu

Race: Human

Level: Stage Seven

Physique: Beginner (54/500)

Spiritual Pressure: Intermediate (0/10000)

Hakuda: Low-Level (0/1000)

Shunpo: Low-Level (0/1000)

Zanjutsu: Beginner (490/500)

Zanpakuto: Inactive (Activation Conditions Unknown)

Kido:

Hado: Hado #4: Byakurai, Intermediate (3216/10000)

Special Techniques:

Destruction of Incantation, Low-Level (29/1000)

Kaido: Low-Level (0/1000)

Current Experience: 40

↓Expand to view the Affection Interface.

The experience points he had accumulated over five months were gone in the blink of an eye, making Duan Mu's heart ache.

Fortunately, after meeting Shiba Kūkaku, he had gained a shortcut to obtaining a large number of experience points.

However, Duan Mu did not know...

After noticing that something was wrong with him, Shiba Kūkaku's name had already vanished from the favorability interface...

But Duan Mu generally did not open the favorability interface to check it. There were simply too many people inside, and most of them only had single-digit favorability toward him.