(Major update)
『Have you decided which path you will take, Orion?』
I thought about it briefly before nodding. 'I've decided, Saul. I choose...Slime Lord!'
As soon as the thought reached my mind, the burning bush before me was incinerated, leaving only ashes and a tiny sapling in its wake.
I was about to question Saul, but the fog suddenly started spinning around me until it dispersed and revealed a familiar new environment.
There were seemingly endless pastures on both sides of the tree-lined road I was standing on. In the distance, you could see large pine trees that reached into the starry night sky as they surrounded the property. Lights could still be seen a ways off.
This was my family's farm. The internet sucked, and it was a long way away from any stores, but it was always my home away from home.
My reminiscing was quickly disturbed, though. A man stepped out from behind the trees, blocking my sight of the far off lights.
This man was Tensa Zangetsu, the culmination of my Hollow, Shinigami, and Quincy powers.
He wore a white shihakusho, and his eyes resembled White's. The most significant change was the addition of the single, black-horned, quarter mask he wore.
"I suppose you already know why you're here, Orion. I'm not sure how this is all happening, but I suppose I'm here to teach you about this thing." As Tensa Zangetsu spoke, the released form of the black sword materialized in his hands.
It was quite impressive seeing him in real life. The pressure he emitted with his reiryouku was on a completely different level than what I was currently capable of, despite the fact we both had the same amount of reiatsu. It left me utterly speechless as he continued.
"I have watched your exploits in this world. The use of magic is... interesting, but more to the point, it is very similar to the way Shinigami and Hollows manipulate spiritual power. The difference is that instead of using your mind to manipulate mana, spiritual beings use their soul to manipulate reishi, spiritual particles. Try and feel them now."
Tensa Zangetsu (TZ) used flash step to instantly appear behind me, and as I turned to face him, TZ stabbed me in the center of my chest with his sword. The black hue of the sword moved towards my body like ink from a pen towards paper. It spread across my body and enveloped me in an inverted version of TZ's shihakusho, Ichigo's standard bankai robes.
As the new outfit wrapped around me, my [Reiryouku Perception] skill was triggered, and I could suddenly see the world in a different light as my mind processed massive amounts of new information.
Everything around me was made of Reishi, and the spiritual power exuded by TZ was almost blinding when filtered through my vision. Even when only used as an additional sense, the energy I felt was incredible.
『[Reiryouku Perception] has evolved to [Spiritual Perception].』After spending a few minutes observing everything and learning to separate the sense into its own feeling; Saul informed me of the world rewarding me with an upgrade to my skills.
"Good, Orion. With your enhanced spiritual perception, you will find it much easier to communicate with your partner in the future," saying his peace, TZ slowly removed his sword from my chest, and as he did, the wound opened into a hole slightly larger than my fist.
As the hole opened, I felt my spiritual powers grow chaotic and violent as it tore apart my shihakusho. A black tattoo spread across my chest and face as two large, pointy horns grew from my skull.
The whole process was excruciating, and it felt as if my entire being was being eviscerated. I clutched my head as my mask began to form, and darkness encroached on the sclera of my eyes.
"While the Hollow can't control you due to [Solomon's Pride], if you can't control your own power, it won't make much difference." TZ waited for my mask to finish covering my face before he tapped it with the butt of his sword. Slowly the mask disintegrated, leaving only two large blade-like horns and the black tattoo covering my chest. Even the hole in my chest was sealed up as my mask disintegrated.
"I have sealed most of your Hollow powers in your sword alongside your Shinigami powers. Your Quincy powers lie in your blood, and they give you an advantage against other spiritual beings. As you use your spiritual powers more, your Quincy powers will naturally awaken, but to properly make use of some of them, you will need to use a conductor like the Quincy Cross. The conductors will need to be made of magic iron at a bare minimum. Those are the main things I needed to teach you; my time is done now. Goodbye, Orion."
Finished speaking his piece, Tensa Zangetsu began to dissolve, and a gust of wind swept through the road, lifting me through the air and out of my inner world. I was regaining consciousness quickly, but as I left, I thought I could feel the weight of my sword within my hand. I finally had access to my own Zanpakuto, and hopefully, it would be there with me when I returned to the physical world.
•••
A few moments later, I awoke within the real world. In my hand, I could feel the heft of a sword, but not the one I was expecting. In my hand was s sheathed Asauchi. It was a plain, nameless Zanpakuto, which meant I would not receive Zangetsu. I guess it's okay since that means I get my own sword, though. I'm just curious about what abilities it has.
More concerning at the moment was my lack of clothes, and what I found where they should be. Thankfully, my manhood was still firmly established, unlike another slime I know of. Unfortunately, the horns and fur cuffs around my wrists remained, even managing to puff out from beneath the carapace bandages on the right side of my body.
The last thing I noticed was the mask I was wearing. I was sure that if I tried to remove it, the mask would de-materialize, so I unsheathed my blade and held it up to check my reflection. It was a black skull-like mask that covered everything but my lower jaw. It had red stripes that ran down across the eyes, but that was the only similarity to Ichigo's hollow mask. My voice had the familiar distortion of a Vizard, which convinced me this was also part of my powers.
When I removed the mask, my horns and the wrist cuffs unfortunately remained. After my evolution, my Soul Eater powers had all thoroughly combined with my material form, giving me the perfect fusion of traits from a human(Quincy) combined with those of a Hollow and a Shinigami. I think I'd make Aizen and Urahara-san proud.
Next, I flexed my magical power, followed by spiritual power. Nothing drastically changed with my mana, but it had become purer and denser. My spiritual energy, on the other hand, became much denser and heavier despite remaining similar in quantity to my pre-evolution state. It was so thick that it could be seen if I did not restrain it. The aura it created was mostly black with a dark-violet purple hue towards the edges. It wafted off me like smoke when I released it, but I quickly restrained my aura lest I ruin this magically and spiritually enriched land.
Another reason why I quickly retracted my power was that when I released my spiritual power, something changed in me, and my [Blut] was instinctually awakened. Light violet vein patterns spread across my skin and seemed to be drawing in the spiritual energy from the environment. If I could keep it up constantly, my spirit parameter would slowly grow all on its own over time.
I was using the defensive [Blut] by default. Still, I could also feel the pathways to use an offensive version that would dramatically increase my physical power and augment my weapons. If I had unlocked this earlier, even the low-quality kobold katana could have easily cut ribbons from the (p)orcs.
I could also notice a minuscule amount of my spiritual energy being absorbed by my sword. Not any amount that would be harmful to me, though. Hopefully, this would help me awaken it sooner; after all, I am extremely curious about what sort of power it will have and what kind of spirit it will have.
『A soul weapon has been detected. Would you like to allow it to link with your soul, Orion? [Y/N]』
'Go ahead, Saul, Linku Start!'
『...』
'Hehe, sorry.'
I would have liked to try my Hollow abilities too, but aside from highly destructive abilities like [Cero] and [Bala], the only other notable skills I had were my passive ability [Hierro] which reinforces the outer layer of my skin and [High-Speed Regeneration], an upgrade to my previous [Self-Regeneration] skill.
I used [Bala], and the compressed spiritual power launched from my fist like a cannonball, and blasted. A small crater in the ground. More than strong enough to punch a hole in the Orcs from earlier.
Speaking of Orcs, I was about to release hobu-Mi and the remaining Orcs when a visitor decided to surprise me. I didn't detect her at all until Saul warned me as she stepped out of a nearby healthy tree we had left standing in the center of our training field for shade.
"Sir Majinn, I was hoping I might speak to you for a moment." She was remarkably beautiful, and her curious countenance had an almost ethereal glow to it.
Still, I had immediately withdrawn my Asauchi as soon as I was alerted to her presence and carefully examined her consulting my [Appraisal] skill and Saul.
[Appraisal]'s skill level seemed too weak to glean much other than her race, and it's innate abilities.
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Status:
Name:???
Race: Dryad (3rd evolution)
Age:???
Titles:???
Lv. ???
Blessings:???
Unique Skills: [Nature's Path], [Nature Magic]
Skills:???
Magic:???
Special Notes: A powerful spirit entity of the forest. As a spirit, she has an innate resistance to magic and physical attacks to a certain degree. The use of your Asauchi is highly recommended if forced to engage.
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