Several days have passed in the blink of an eye.
As Shiraishi gradually became familiar with the environment of Beginning of Spring in the West District Ten, he felt that it was a nice place.
In seven days, including the one in front of him, he killed a total of three Hollows, earning 1,500 rings, enough to pay off his debt to the owner of the Odd Jobs.
He deftly flicked his sword, then sheathed it. The small, ethereal body in front of him crumbled into black particles, dissolving into the air.
Shiraishi opened the attribute panel, wanting to see how much experience this Void creature had given him.
Since reaching level nine, he has had virtually no trouble dealing with these small Hollows; a single Steel Tempest followed by Steel Tempest is enough to easily take them down.
This makes it difficult for him to accurately grasp the experience provided by small virtual entities, and there are always some deviations.
He wouldn't care if things veered in a certain direction.
At the very least, they'll complain a couple of times.
Soon, his attribute panel appeared before his eyes.
Hero: Shiraishi.
Level: 9 (1130-1350)
Reiatsu: 6200
Zanpakuto: Infinity (Chance of critical hit, doubling the power of the next attack or skill.)
Passive: Way of the Wanderer.
[ Resolve ]: As a wanderer, you accumulate sword intent as you move. The faster you move, the faster you acquire sword intent.
When your sword intent reaches its peak, a shield will form when you are attacked by an enemy, absorbing some of the enemy's power.
[ Intent ]: Death is like the wind, always by your side. You have never been afraid of death. You wield your sword in desperate situations, and your heroic posture wins Infinity favor, granting you a 100% critical hit rate.
Skill:
[ Steel Tempest (Level 3)]: When Steel Tempest hits an enemy, it gains one stack of Gathering Storm, lasting 6 seconds. After accumulating 2 stacks of Gathering Storm, Steel Tempest will create a whirlwind that can knock enemies away.
[ Wind Wall (Level 2)]: Creates a wall of air that can block all enemy flying attacks for 4 seconds.
[ Steel Tempest (Level 3)]: You will transform into a gust of wind and move forward, piercing through the enemy's body. If you use Steel Tempest during the dash, Steel Tempest will be launched in a circular motion.
[ Last Breath (Level 1)]: You can teleport to an enemy flying in the air and cause all enemies within range to remain airborne for an additional second.
Upon landing, you will gain full Sword Intent and reset the Gathering Storm stacks of Steel Tempest.
In the next 15 seconds, you have a 50% chance to ignore any enemy defenses and strike directly at their main body!
After reviewing his stats, Shiraishi smiled. The small Hollow had provided twenty-three experience points, which seemed to be better than expected.
He's currently only 220 experience points away from advancing to the next level. That's a small amount of experience he only needs to kill 11 small Hollows or 5 giant Hollows.
Unfortunately, giant Hollows are not very common in Soul Society.
The more powerful a Hollow is, the more it prefers to stay in Hueco Mundo and devour its own kind, rather than coming to Soul Society to hunt for food.
Shiraishi had previously considered going to Hueco Mundo to run dungeons, but later felt the risks were too high and abandoned the idea.
Getting to Hueco Mundo isn't difficult. Just injure a Hollow, let it escape back to Hueco Mundo, and then follow the Garganta. You'll reach Hueco Mundo, where Gillian is as common as a dog and Adjuchas roam everywhere.
It wasn't easy for them to come back.
Hueco Mundo is so vast that the probability of encountering a Hollow returning to Soul Society on that day is slightly higher than winning the lottery.
If he can't return that day, he will face a food shortage in Hueco Mundo.
You should know that Hueco Mundo is a godforsaken place, consisting of nothing but white sand and towering, rocky trees, without even a drop of water.
Those ethereal beings survive by devouring their own kind, but he can't do that.
This logistical problem was enough to extinguish his desire to level up, allowing him to stay in Soul Society and level up by killing Hollows without any worries.
Shiraishi turned around, Steel Tempest, and left the forest, returning to Rice Village, twenty kilometers away, to see if there was any work to be done there.
San Tou Xu has to repay 1,200 rings to Ichirō Yagyū, leaving him with only 300 rings, which is far from enough for his food expenses these days.
The Kawakami Clan only provides three meals a day for free on days when there is a "virtual killing" (a type of incestuous event). On other days, not counting workdays, food and drinks have to be paid for.
This was Shiraishi's insistence.
He didn't want to owe Kawakami Saburō any favors.
Debts of money can always be repaid with effort, but debts of gratitude are not so easy to repay.
"Big brother!" A child below noticed a shadow on the ground, immediately looked up, saw it was him, and shouted, waving his chubby hands on tiptoe, "Come down and play with me!"
"No, I need to find the elders to see if there are any odd jobs available. Adults can't spend all day spinning tops."
Shiraishi jumped off the roof, not using his Steel Tempest to travel, and the children stopped spinning their tops and gathered around, "Big brother, were you fighting a Hollow just now?"
"What does a 'hollow' look like?" "I heard it looks terrifying and eats disobedient children."
"Idiot, those are just lies adults tell us."
"I'm telling you guys," Shiraishi was about to complain about these brats' nagging when the Denreishinki suddenly beeped.
Is it fake?!
What a surprise! Usually, if I feel weak all day, I'd consider myself lucky.
There were actually two today.
Shiraishi hurriedly pulled out his Denreishinki, which resembled an early Nokia phone. It had a small screen and could only display text messages and make phone calls; it had no other entertainment functions.
Eighteen li south of Beizhu Bamboo Village on the day of Beginning of Spring (the beginning of spring).
With that simple sentence, he quickly recalled the map of Beginning of Spring District and located Bamboo Village. "I have to go to work now. I'll come back and play with you guys later."
With the last word uttered, he used the Steel Tempest to leave, rushing towards the coordinates.
Upon arriving here, an unusual sense of oppression emanated from the sky.
Unlike the smaller Hollows of the past, this giant Hollow...
Could it be that the Menos Grande Gillian...?!
Shiraishi looked up and saw several dark cracks in the azure sky, like shattered mirrors.
Soon, the long, pointed nose burst through the blue sky, followed closely by a huge, pale mask.
The crack rapidly expanded downwards to the ground, reaching a height of thirty or forty stories, causing the flowing black cloak to billow outwards.
"Haha." Shiraishi couldn't help but laugh, his eyes filled with excitement, his hand gripping the hilt of the sword, and he stepped forward.
Smack
Blue-white lightning scattered in the air, and a small hole appeared on the forehead of Gillian's mask. Then the entire mask collapsed, and his massive body turned into black particles and dissipated into the air.
"That bastard stole my kill?!"
Shiraishi's smile froze, and he jumped up in a rage, looking northwest, but he couldn't see anyone.
There is only one large mountain shrouded in mist.
My Spiritual Sense were sharpened, but I couldn't find anyone, which meant they were three kilometers away.
Shiraishi decided to go and see which captain was behind this.
That was the first time he had ever seen prey of Gillian caliber, and he wouldn't be able to sleep at night until he found out who had stolen it.