Cyril Nicholas!

Cyril Nicholas!

"Hello there, little one. What are you doing here?"

The bespectacled girl brushed back her hair, crouched down before the young boy, and asked gently.

However, the boy merely looked up at her timidly before lowering his head again, burying his face between his knees.

The girl looked back at her teammates in embarrassment. After receiving a signal, she wore a slightly awkward smile and said, "Well... big sister has things to attend to, goodbye then."

With that, she returned to their base as instructed to re-discuss their plan of action.

"What do we do? That kid doesn't seem easy to talk to, and we don't have much time."

"Let me think..." The noble wearing the Kenseikan rubbed his chin in contemplation and raised a question, "How did the seniors before us communicate? They managed to strike up a conversation immediately. Even with extensive experience, that shouldn't be possible, right?"

"Could they have used Kido?"

"But every use of Kido requires prior authorization; that shouldn't be it." A boy immediately dismissed the idea. However, the noble with the Kenseikan's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he said:

"No! They definitely used Kido! Think about it carefully: doesn't every Kido application have a specific characteristic? Not all Kido are meant to alter or completely confuse someone's will, but some Bakudo possess a subtle bewitching effect. It should be usable for enhancing favorability."

The boy grew more excited as he spoke; he felt he had found the core of the problem!

Unfortunately, Ten-shin Kazuo poured cold water on him: "Then, does anyone here know a similar Kido?"

"..."

"..."

A long silence followed. Naturally, no one did...

If any of them knew it, it would have been brought up for discussion from the start. The group looked at each other in silence for a moment, then turned their gazes toward Ichiro and his companions—or more accurately, toward Yoruichi.

As the next head of the Shihoin Clan, Yoruichi's talent was legendary among the nobles. Such a minor Kido was truly no challenge for her.

"Um... Lady Yoruichi, I wonder if you know Bakudo #16: Hoshin? We need your help."

"Bakudo #16?" Yoruichi handed the iron scrap she had just dug up to Ichiro, and she and the others turned their heads to look at the group with curiosity.

"Ichiro, go!"

"???" Ichiro looked at Yoruichi in confusion. They were calling for you, Yoruichi; what does that have to do with me, Ten-shin Ichiro?

"I don't know how to perform Incantation Abandonment for this one. You do it."

"???" The confusion in Ichiro's eyes deepened. "It's just a level sixteen Bakudo, and you're telling me you can't perform Incantation Abandonment?"

Yoruichi's mouth twitched, and she gritted her teeth: "Incantation Abandonment isn't that simple! Not everyone is like you! Generally speaking, most Soul Reapers can only abandon incantations for Kido they are highly proficient in, or those far below their own skill level. You can't do it for every Kido you've learned!"

"..." This time it was Ichiro's turn to twitch his mouth. He had never understood the mindset of Yoruichi and the others. Was Kido really that difficult?

Of course, he had some self-awareness regarding his own Kido talent, so he stopped showing off. He extended his right hand toward the bespectacled girl in the distance, pressed his index and middle fingers together, straightened his thumb, curled his ring and little fingers, and pointed his palm at her, casually chanting: "Bakudo #16: Hoshin!"

"Whoosh~"

After finishing, he lowered his hand, shook the dusty bag at his waist, and continued filling it with stones and iron scraps, saying without looking back, "It will last for an hour. Go ahead. Even though it was an abandoned incantation, it should be enough to deal with that little guy."

While the three of them continued scavenging, the others were not so calm...

Level sixteen Kido... Incantation Abandonment...

What kind of monsters are these!

They had only been studying for a year!

At this moment, they finally understood why Ichiro could hang out with Yoruichi and Urahara every day. This wasn't about climbing the social ladder; it was the instinctive gathering of geniuses...

The noble with the Kenseikan clenched his fists, took a deep breath to suppress his frustration, and turned around, saying: "Alright, let's try again. Everyone, think about how to guide him."

"Yes!" x n

As the bespectacled girl and her team began a new "operation," Ichiro's bag, now turned a dusty grey-black, was full. After signaling their teacher, he, Urahara, and Yoruichi moved away from the rest of the class and stopped at a distance.

The three crouched in a circle. Yoruichi and Urahara watched quietly as Ichiro picked and chose, laying the materials from his bag onto the ground one by one.

"Iron... various stones... wood... what are you planning to do?" After a year of contact, Urahara roughly understood the iron rule of Ichiro's Alchemy—Equivalent Exchange.

Whatever was created had to be composed of these materials; it was impossible for other substances to appear out of thin air. Therefore, he was quite looking forward to seeing what Ichiro would make.

"You'll know in a moment. It will definitely surprise you!" As he spoke, Ichiro pulled out a glove inscribed with a transmutation circle and put it on.

A transmutation circle was one of the basic requirements for activating Alchemy. Except for the few alchemists who had paid a price to achieve circle-less transmutation, one had to inscribe a circle to perform it.

For convenience, alchemists usually inscribed their most proficient transmutation circles in advance to carry with them. A mature alchemist usually had two or three circles on their person, some even seven or eight.

The medium for a transmutation circle was not limited; it could be clothing, a pocket watch, or even parts of the body.

In his past life, Ichiro had once fallen into the hands of a pervert who had inscribed a transmutation circle on his tongue. He had nearly been defeated and ultimately had to abandon the capture mission to kill the man. Although he saved his life, the mission was a failure.

Ichiro's habit was to inscribe transmutation circles on his gloves, with miniature ones on his collars and cuffs just in case.

However, he hadn't started preparing this habit in this world yet, because he hadn't researched transmutation circles suitable for the Soul Society. In terms of pure combat power, they weren't as strong as his Kido, so there was naturally no need to prepare them.

Placing his gloved right hand over the materials, Ichiro closed his eyes and focused all his energy on them...

"Zzzzt~"

As Ichiro activated his technique, waves of electric light surged from the faintly glowing transmutation circle, enveloping the materials below!

Metal shaping... Transmute!

Wood decoration... Transmute!

Gunpowder refinement... Transmute!

Final assembly... Transmute!

Firearm transmutation—Revolver... Complete!

As the white light dissipated, a revolver with a slightly elongated barrel appeared beneath his right hand!

The firearm transmutation that Ichiro had mastered in his past life was finally revealed in this other world for the first time!

Eat shit, my lord!—by Gun Alchemist Cyril Nicholas!