The road ahead

Three days later, Ichiro, his face brimming with excitement, returned to the Soul Society alongside his dejected classmates.

Regrettably, although they had eventually abandoned that flawed line of reasoning, the time consumed was so great that the final Soul Burial had to be completed by members of the Thirteenth Division.

In truth, the method was quite simple: use Kido with minor hypnotic properties to communicate with the young boy and persuade him to let go of his obsession, rather than fulfilling his wish. Most Soul Burials followed this approach; only in rare cases, like that of the little girl, was it necessary to help fulfill a lingering desire.

Thus, their first Soul Burial was considered a failure. The members of the Thirteenth Division and their instructor felt no regret, however, as they had held no expectations from the start. Soul Burial is not something one can accomplish simply through raw strength; it requires a humane approach.

Compared to his peers, Ichiro had reaped a massive harvest this time. Not only had he acquired material data from the living world, but he had also successfully Reishi-fied the two guns he had transmuted and brought them back—a feat of vital importance to his research.

The principles of alchemy are comprehension, decomposition, and reconstruction. Therefore, these two Reishi-fied guns served as a bridge, connecting the Gun Alchemy of his past life with the Reishi Alchemy of the present.

This would significantly accelerate the progress of his Reishi Alchemy research. For Ichiro, no breakthrough could compare to one in Reishi Alchemy, as it was his core ability.

As his Reishi Alchemy improved, the growth rate of his Reiatsu would accelerate, and his aptitude for learning Kido would sharpen. Furthermore, once he reached a profound level, in this world composed entirely of Reishi, he could potentially turn the concept of "invulnerability to all techniques" into reality.

Upon returning to the Soul Society, the instructor took attendance, announced the time for the next class, and dismissed the group. Ichiro immediately declined all invitations and hurried toward his dormitory.

He needed to record the data in his mind as quickly as possible. Although his memory had been significantly enhanced after becoming a Soul Reaper, it was not yet photographic. As the saying goes, a dull pencil is better than a sharp mind; taking notes was the most basic requirement for an alchemist.

At the same time, he intended to attempt to replicate the two Reishi-fied pistols within the Soul Society and re-plan his future trajectory.

That night, after organizing his data, Ichiro wrote the words "Reishi Alchemy" on a blank sheet of paper. Below it, he wrote "Body Transmutation - Reiatsu - Weapons." After a moment of thought, he added "Human Transmutation" at the end, only to cross it out—it was not yet the time.

Body Transmutation and Human Transmutation were different; the former referred to transmuting only the physical flesh, generally used for healing and enhancement, and was a standard discipline. Human Transmutation, however, was an absolute taboo.

Human Transmutation generally referred to the ability to resurrect the dead or create human life—powers that encroached upon the authority of God.

Ichiro understood a bit about Human Transmutation; at the very least, he knew the most basic transmutation arrays, though he had never used them, nor did he dare to.

But this life was different. If his hypothesis proved correct, then Human Transmutation would no longer be a mere dream for him.

However, not now. It was still too early for Ichiro to touch upon Human Transmutation, so after a moment of reflection, he crossed it out.

Next, Ichiro drew a circle under "Reiatsu," indicating it was a project for continuous research but not a top priority.

Reiatsu, in practice, referred to spiritual food that could directly increase one's pressure. There was no other way; he had to experiment one by one. It was destined to be a long process, and Ichiro didn't even know if there were more effective methods, so it could only remain a daily research task.

Then, he drew a triangle under "Body Transmutation," marking it as a key project to tackle. Body Transmutation was linked to the improvement of his Hakuda, which was also very important. He had already found a suitable method for this and would be able to get it on the right track in a few days.

Next was "Weapons," which Ichiro circled repeatedly. This was the most important. Currently, firearms were not particularly powerful in the Soul Society, but they represented the crystallization of some of the alchemical techniques from his past life. Thoroughly researching these Reishi-fied versions would greatly elevate his level of Reishi Alchemy.

After pondering for a moment, having finished the important points for Reishi Alchemy, Ichiro wrote "Zanpakuto" and "Kido" next to it.

Under "Zanpakuto," he branched out to "Shikai," and under "Shikai," he wrote "Zanjutsu - Sword Meditation." He hesitated for a moment before adding "Alchemy" after "Sword Meditation."

In truth, Zanjutsu should have been on par with the Zanpakuto, but Ichiro lacked the talent for it, so he could only place it under Shikai as a method to gain insight into it. However, after a second thought, he crossed it out. He was well aware of his own swordsmanship talent; he had no chance of gaining any insight there.

He left only "Sword Meditation" and "Alchemy." Sword Meditation was a mandatory daily practice, needless to say, but as for alchemy...

He felt it had great potential. If he could understand the Zanpakuto from a fundamental principle, he could even conceive of achieving Shikai and Bankai without relying on the Zanpakuto itself. Simply put, he would abandon the Zanpakuto's abilities to focus purely on increasing his Reiatsu.

This direction was quite promising, as one never knew what kind of nonsense a Zanpakuto might manifest upon Shikai, much like the bald man from the Eleventh Division in the original story.

The Asauchi was a sword, the Shikai was a gun, and the Bankai was even more bizarre—three giant blades. What was the point of that? It was a single weapon, yet one had to learn three sets of techniques.

Therefore, for some Zanpakuto, this approach was more practical. Of course, if possible, Ichiro still hoped his own Zanpakuto's ability would be as overpowered as possible.

Under "Kido," Ichiro hesitated before writing "Learning Kido - Developing Kido - Developing Kido Techniques." After a moment of thought, he chose the latter over developing new Kido.

Learning Kido was straightforward; he had only reached number thirty. The focus was on developing Kido and Kido techniques. Ichiro believed that developing new Kido was useless—at least for now. The existing Kido were already very detailed, covering healing, support, and attack. Furthermore, the auxiliary Hado and offensive Bakudo each went up to ninety-nine, with an outstanding range and upper limit.

Unless under special circumstances, there was no need to develop Kido from scratch. Conversely, Kido techniques were worth researching.

Because although Kido was powerful, its effectiveness in actual combat was poor due to the need for incantations. Even with the use of incantation abandonment, its status remained unchanged. Thus, Ichiro believed his Kido talent should be applied here, rather than in developing new spells.

After finishing, Ichiro thought it over once more. Confirming that these were his current goals, he decomposed the paper into Reishi and destroyed it. His train of thought had been clarified in the process; keeping the paper served no purpose other than risking a leak of information.