Ichiro's Choice!

Back in his dorm, Ichiro threw himself onto his bed and stared silently at the ceiling. After a long while, he raised his Zanpakuto and gazed at it.

He lingered on the Reishi Alchemy array etched into his sleeve for a long time before sighing, "Are all Zanpakuto this exclusionary?"

Reishi Alchemy had finally taken initial shape after decades of work, and while it was now basically usable in combat, this wasn't necessarily good news.

Because as the Reishi Alchemy matured, the Zanpakuto's voice—let alone its name—had become faint and intermittent.

In other words, he had reached a crossroads: choose the Zanpakuto, or choose alchemy.

Without a doubt, Ichiro chose the latter.

He knew clearly what had allowed him to grow this far. Without the spirit food created through alchemy, he never would have been admitted to the academy so quickly, nor would his spiritual pressure have surged at such a rate.

Even his monstrous talent for Kido was a gift of alchemy; Reishi Alchemy had skyrocketed his control over spirit particles, while the practice itself had caused a mysterious transformation in his soul, making him more sensitive to Kido.

Not to mention that Reishi Alchemy held vast potential. As for the Zanpakuto, what did it matter if its ability was heaven-defying?

A Soul Reaper's battle is a battle of spiritual pressure!

Soi Fon's two-hit kill is strong, right?

But if your spiritual pressure is high enough, you can simply erase the mark of the first strike!

Kira's gravity-doubling ability is strong, right?

But does he have enough spiritual pressure to double it infinitely?

Aizen's Kyoka Suigetsu is strong, right?

But doesn't he still have to go to great lengths to weaken or avoid the Captain-Commander?

Therefore, while a Zanpakuto is an important asset for a Soul Reaper, it is not absolute—spiritual pressure is!

Thus, Ichiro was more interested in how Shikai and Bankai could enhance his spiritual pressure than in the abilities of the blades themselves.

"Swish."

"Hm? Back so early? Finished your studies?"

"Yeah, there's nothing left to learn. It's all just grinding now... Ugh, it's agonizing."

"..." Urahara fell silent for a moment before blurting out, "You freak!"

Ichiro ignored the comment, his eyes lighting up as he looked at the Zanpakuto in Urahara's hand.

"You finally found it. It's strange that even with the resources of you nobles, it was this hard to track down."

"There's no demand for them. Everyone wants an Asauchi; finished Zanpakuto are basically non-existent." Urahara shrugged helplessly.

Only people in the Rukongai would settle for such a blade. They usually used brand-new Asauchi, but Ichiro already had one of those. Now, he needed a finished Zanpakuto for data comparison.

Of course, he could use his own, but what if the experiment failed?

To be safe, he had asked Urahara and the others to help him find one.

"You still haven't given up on this research? I still think Sword Meditation is more reliable."

"More options never hurt. You have to believe in science!"

Urahara's mouth twitched. "Science... I met a Plus from the future in the Rukongai once. According to him, the very existence of the Soul Society isn't scientific..."

"I've told you how many times: science is a way of thinking, not a specific phenomenon." As he spoke, Ichiro jumped off the bed and began carving an alchemy array into the floor. "Take my method of studying Kido, for example. I break down every incantation, categorize them, study them, and summarize the similarities and differences. That is the simplest form of scientific thinking."

"Science isn't about denial; it's about questioning, then verifying. And one verification doesn't mean a permanent truth. The world contains relative truths and absolute truths."

"Relative truths are truths within a certain scope; beyond that scope, they cease to be true. Absolute truths have no scope; they are the sum of countless relative truths. Abso—"

"Wait! Stop reciting!" Ichiro had barely started before Urahara shouted.

It wasn't that he didn't like it—as someone with future knowledge, it was impossible not to be interested—but! But!

The premise was that he had to be able to understand it!

Ichiro himself only had a half-baked grasp of the concepts. He knew how to do it, but he couldn't explain it, making his lectures sound like convoluted tongue-twisters. After hearing it a few times, Urahara was terrified of it.

Rather than listening to Ichiro, it was more efficient to just watch him work and copy his methods.

Ichiro shrugged and continued tinkering with the array on the floor; he had a decent sense of his own limitations.

A moment later, Urahara placed the Zanpakuto onto the array and stepped aside to watch the performance.

Ichiro pressed both hands onto the array, closed his eyes, and activated it. As the array began to glow, streams of information flooded his mind.

Alchemy, simply put, consists of three steps: understand, decompose, and reconstruct. Understand the structure, decompose it, and finally, reorganize it into a different structure.

As long as the mass and quality are equivalent and within the practitioner's ability, one can transmute anything!

That is alchemy!

An unscientific ability that follows scientific laws!

Of course, Ichiro was only on the first step: understanding.

He needed to acquire comprehensive data on the Zanpakuto, analyze it, and compare it to find the principles behind Shikai, so he could forge his own Shikai, or even...

A mimetic Shikai independent of the Zanpakuto!

This was Ichiro's current research goal, and he had already completed the majority of it. He was only missing the final few pieces of the puzzle!

Although only one semester had passed, Ichiro's progress was immense, especially now that his Reishi Alchemy had begun to take shape!

The initial formation of Reishi Alchemy meant that Ichiro had successfully converted about half of his research findings from his previous life.

Firearm Transmutation: all small-caliber firearms completed!

He had even adjusted them by incorporating Kido, resulting in firepower that completely surpassed the heavy weaponry of his past life.

Body Transmutation: his previous achievements were fully integrated, and by combining them with the knowledge of Soul Society, he had taken his abilities to even greater heights.

Gunpowder Transmutation: eighty percent replicated.

The only area lagging behind was the reconstruction of the various transmutation arrays he had learned in his previous world, with only about ten percent completed.

In reality, this portion was the very essence of what Ichiro had studied in his past life.

The previous items were merely the core of Ichiro's combat system—the parts that provided the greatest boost to his combat power—whereas this section was the core of his alchemy itself, which is why this single category accounted for nearly fifty percent of his work.

Don't be fooled by its chaotic nature; it is precisely that complexity that makes it vital, for the world is not composed of a single substance, but a vast variety of materials (Fullmetal Alchemist).

Alchemists like Ichiro usually specialize in a single substance to maximize their combat effectiveness, but they must utilize a wide array of transmutation arrays when conducting research.

It is much like how one cannot complete all mathematical operations using only addition or subtraction; they are essential, yet not powerful on their own.

Therefore, this was the reason Ichiro remained at the academy; his period of rapid growth had not yet ended.

Intermission

"Why... why... Lord Ichiro... why did you abandon me... Ichiro... Tenshin Ichiro! I hate you!"

"Don't... don't leave me, Lord Ichiro..."

Thanks to Drifting Sail for the monthly ticket.