Several days passed in a flash.
Shiraishi gradually grew familiar with Beginning of Spring in West District Ten and found it a nice place.
In seven days, counting the Hollow before him, he had killed three Hollows in total and earned 1,500 kan, enough to repay his debt to the odd-jobs shop owner.
He gave his blade a carefree flourish and sheathed it. The small Hollow before him crumbled into streams of black particles that dissolved into the air.
Shiraishi opened his status panel to see how much experience the Hollow had given him.
Since reaching level nine, he had found fighting these small Hollows almost effortless. A Steel Tempest followed by another Steel Tempest was enough to finish them off.
As a result, he couldn't gauge the experience small Hollows provided very precisely, and his estimates were always a little off.
If he got more than expected, he didn't mind.
If he got less, he would complain a little.
Soon, his status panel appeared before his eyes.
Hero: Shiraishi. Level: 9 (1130-1350) Reiatsu: 6200 Zanpakuto: Infinity (Has a chance to critically strike, doubling the power of the next attack or skill.) Passive: Way of the Wanderer. [Resolve]: As a wanderer, you accumulate sword intent while moving. The faster you move, the faster you accumulate it. When your sword intent reaches its peak, an enemy attack will generate a shield that offsets part of the enemy's power. [Intent]: Death is like the wind, always by your side. You have never feared death. When you draw your blade in a desperate situation, your heroic bearing earns Infinity's favor, granting you a 100% critical strike chance. Skills: [Steel Tempest (level 3)]: Cooldown: 5 seconds. On hitting an enemy, Steel Tempest gains one stack of Gathering Storm, lasting 6 seconds. After accumulating 2 stacks of Gathering Storm, Steel Tempest creates a whirlwind that can knock enemies airborne. [Wind Wall (level 2)]: Cooldown: 24 seconds. Creates a wall of air that can block all enemy projectile attacks for 4 seconds. [Steel Tempest (level 3)]: Cannot be used on the same target again within 8 seconds. You become a swift wind and dash forward, passing through the enemy's body. If you cast Steel Tempest during the dash, Steel Tempest strikes in a circle. [Last Breath (level 1)]: Cooldown: 80 seconds. You can flash to the side of an airborne enemy, keeping all enemies within range airborne for an additional 1 second. After landing, you gain maximum sword intent and reset Steel Tempest's Gathering Storm stacks. For the next 15 seconds, you have a 50% chance to ignore all of an enemy's defenses and strike their body directly!
After looking over his panel, Shiraishi smiled. The small Hollow had provided twenty-three experience points. It seemed stronger than he had expected.
He was now only 220 experience points short of the next level. For that little experience, he only needed to kill eleven small Hollows or five giant Hollows.
Unfortunately, giant Hollows weren't very common in Soul Society.
The stronger a Hollow was, the more it preferred to stay in Hueco Mundo and devour its own kind rather than come to Soul Society to hunt.
Shiraishi had considered going to Hueco Mundo to grind a dungeon before, but he later decided the risk was too great and abandoned the idea.
Getting to Hueco Mundo wasn't difficult. He only had to wound a Hollow, deliberately let it escape back to Hueco Mundo, and follow it through the Garganta. Then he would reach Hueco Mundo, where Gillians were as common as dogs and Adjuchas roamed everywhere.
Getting back wouldn't be so easy.
Hueco Mundo was so vast that the chances of encountering a Hollow returning to invade Soul Society on the same day were only a little higher than winning the lottery.
And if he couldn't return that day, he would face a food shortage in Hueco Mundo.
After all, that godforsaken place had nothing but white sand and a bunch of stone-like trees. There wasn't even a drop of water.
Those Hollows could survive by devouring their own kind, but he couldn't.
That supply problem was enough to snuff out his desire to level up and keep him contentedly killing Hollows in Soul Society.
Shiraishi turned around and used Steel Tempest to leave the woods, returning to Rice Village twenty kilometers away to see if there was any work to do.
Of the money from the three Hollows, he had to pay 1,200 kan to Ichirō Yagyū, leaving him with only 300 kan. That wasn't nearly enough to cover his food for the past few days.
The Kawakami family only provided three free meals on days when there were Hollows to kill. On the other days, when there were no Hollows, it didn't count as work, and he had to pay for food and drink.
Shiraishi had strongly insisted on that.
He didn't want to owe Kawakami Saburō any favors.
With enough effort, a monetary debt could always be repaid. A debt of gratitude wasn't so easy to settle.
"Big brother!" A child below noticed another shadow on the ground and immediately looked up. Seeing that it was him, the child hurriedly called out, stood on tiptoe, and waved a chubby hand. "Come down and play with us!"
"No, I need to find the elder and see if there's any odd work. Adults can't spend all day spinning tops."
Shiraishi jumped down from the roof and continued without using Steel Tempest. The children stopped playing with their tops and crowded around him. "Big brother, were you fighting a Hollow just now?"
"What do Hollows look like?" "I heard they're really scary and eat children who don't behave."
"Idiot, that's just what the adults tell us."
"You kids..." Shiraishi was just about to complain about how much the little brats talked when his Denreishinki suddenly began beeping.
A Hollow?!
What a surprise. Usually, getting one Hollow in a day was like hitting the jackpot.
There were actually two today.
Shiraishi quickly pulled out his Denreishinki. It resembled an early Nokia, with a tiny screen that could only display messages and make calls. It had no other entertainment features.
Eighteen li south of Bamboo Village in northern Beginning of Spring.
It was a simple message. He began recalling the map of the Beginning of Spring district and quickly located Bamboo Village. "I have to go to work. I'll play with you when I get back."
As soon as the last word left his mouth, he used Steel Tempest to leave, racing toward the coordinates.
When he arrived, an unusual sense of pressure came from the sky.
Unlike the small and giant Hollows from before...
Could it be a Gillian-class Menos Grande?!
Shiraishi looked up at the azure sky, where several pitch-black cracks had appeared, like a shattered mirror.
Before long, a long, pointed nose broke through the blue sky, followed by a huge, pale mask.
The cracks rapidly widened downward to the ground, reaching a height of thirty or forty stories. A flowing black cloak billowed out.
"Haha!" Shiraishi couldn't help laughing, his eyes full of excitement. He gripped his sword hilt and stepped forward.
Smack.
Blue-white lightning scattered through the air. A small hole appeared in the forehead of the Gillian's mask, then the entire mask crumbled, and its massive body dissolved into black particles in the air.
"Which bastard stole my kill?!"
The smile froze on Shiraishi's face. He leaped up in a rage and looked northwest, but couldn't see anyone.
There was only a great mountain wreathed in clouds and mist.
He spread out his spiritual senses but found no one, which meant they were more than three kilometers away.
Shiraishi decided to go see which captain was responsible for this.
That was the first time he had seen Gillian-class prey. If he didn't find out who had stolen it, he definitely wouldn't sleep that night.