Hideki Yuta opened his eyes. He was confused at first, but quickly came to his senses.
At a glance, everything in front of him looked unfamiliar.
The horizon was touched with pale white, and the bright red sun slowly rose, casting the earth and sky in rusty crimson.
The dry ground stretched beneath him, dotted with dead trees. Each branch looked brittle enough to snap, like the arms of someone on the verge of death.
Green moss peeked through cracked soil-but otherwise, life was invisible.
His throat burned as though it had caught fire.
"Where is this?"
"Didn't I spend all night revising my plan?"
"All I remember is my head suddenly aching…"
"Did I die?"
Memories crashed down into his mind.
Zaraki District. District 80. Rukongai. Soul Society.
The most barren zone in all of Soul Society. Clean water was rare enough to kill for.
Food wasn't nearly as important. Ordinary civilians couldn't use spiritual power and rarely felt hunger anyway. Sustenance came mainly from water and ambient spiritual particles in the air.
Beginning in Area 78, water became so scarce that robbery over it was common. Some treated it as tradable goods, hoarding for profit.
"So I've crossed into Bleach's world… That's not too bad…"
His expression tightened.
"…I do feel bad about leaving my family behind. My parents…"
Yuta licked his chapped lips, overwhelmed by thirst again.
"Hss…"
He sucked in air sharply. It felt like his throat had been sandblasted from the inside out.
What kind of sick joke was this?
Slapped into Soul Society with no water? He was about to die of thirst before doing anything?
"System?"
"Any cheats?"
Nothing responded when he called out in his mind.
"You're joking, right?"
Despair crept in until-
[You awaken the wisdom of your previous life, receive the blessing of Earth's mother planet. Your talents are strengthened, and your understanding is elevated to a heaven-defying level.]
In that instant, something in his thoughts clicked.
His mental clarity stretched far beyond what he imagined possible. Abstract ideas simplified themselves. Complex theories revealed their flaws and solutions in seconds. His recall became flawless; every memory from his life could be rewatched at will, played back like high-definition film with perfect clarity.
"What am I supposed to do with this? Eat my enlightenment?"
Yuta cursed aloud but froze halfway through.
It couldn't quench thirst directly-but it gave him answers. Ideas flooded into place. He understood why souls craved water: energy absorbed from the soul matter in liquid form sustained their spirit bodies. As long as enough spirit energy could be extracted from the atmosphere-even drinking or eating wouldn't be needed for survival.
Even better-the composition of water itself no longer seemed mysterious to him. He could break it down in his mind and shape it freely.
He sat down on the dirt and closed his eyes.
[You try to analyze the composition of spirit particles in the atmosphere, combine it with your past life experience, and understand the method for turning gas into water.]
Yuta's eyes snapped open as realization struck.
He raised his hand-and the air responded instantly. Moisture pulled from the surroundings spiraled into his palm until he held a full handful of clear water.
He drank it quickly-and it tasted faintly sweet against his cracked throat.
More gathered in his hands until he burped and leaned back with satisfaction, holding his stomach loosely with one arm.
That peace evaporated when he felt eyes on him again.
From behind shadows that had once looked empty, men stepped forward with twisted grins on their faces and blades in their hands. Malice simmered behind their expressions.
They moved without hesitation-it was kill or be killed in Zaraki District. They'd seen someone conjure clean water. That made him worth chasing down immediately.
One man rushed first, swinging down a worn but deadly blade toward Yuta's skull with the confidence born of countless easy kills-but Yuta wasn't paralyzed at all.
Time slowed before Yuta's perception. The arc of the attack unfolded frame by frame in his vision; he saw its origin, its weakness-and every possible motion that would follow next.
[You observe the Rukongai gangsters' beheading techniques and combine them with your past life experience to create your own style – The Autumn Wind Rises.]
The opponent didn't realize Yuta had already moved until it was too late-
His own blade was in Yuta's hand now.
Steel flashed-
Blood followed immediately afterward.
The blade's cut was silent and final-the kind that stopped movement without delay or wasted strength.
As fast and cold as wind blowing through dry leaves in fall-
Yes, this is the Autumn Wind Rising…
The man's face stayed frozen in disbelief as he collapsed without understanding what had happened-or how he lost his blade… or why anyone would develop swordsmanship that pretty…
Yuta wasn't shaken by his first kill.
In fact, it felt disturbingly natural to him-as though survival had filed fear away into some useless corner of his mind that no longer mattered now.
He kept stabbing deep and fast-and soon enough there were several corpses sprawled across the soil around him-
[You practiced swordsmanship, gained some insights, and successfully understood the second form – The greatest sound is the faintest sound]
[You practiced sword skills, gained some insights, and successfully realized the third form – a dream in a floating life]
[You integrated the three moves and successfully created the Falling Leaf Knife Technique]
The blood soaked into the dirt beneath him slowly.
And suddenly-it all felt meaningless again. The killing… served nothing beyond itself right now…
Questions crept up again as his thoughts settled: how did he control vapor earlier without having spiritual pressure awakened?
The lingering moisture from earlier-that too had been spirit-based matter… so how did he command spiritual matter without being awakened?
He stood there immobile as attackers kept coming-but now they fell as soon as they reached blade distance. His body moved without thinking about where to cut-it simply did what needed doing to end movement as fast as possible.
His attention wasn't on them anymore-it turned inward toward understanding how he was drawing power at all…
[You have successfully understood the nature of all things in Soul Society and learned "Spirit Collection" and "Spirit Arms."]
CLANG!
An enemy sword collided against something hard-and bounced back violently from what looked like thin air.
Before Yuta stood a spirit shield-a shimmering wall of particles pulled from thin air-or rather-from thickly concentrated spirit matter all around him. Its surface fluctuated softly as nearby particles were drawn into it endlessly like stardust orbiting gravity centers-
The energy forming the shield could shift-
Could it also become a weapon?
The edge shimmered quickly-and then reshaped itself into a glowing blue sword at Yuta's command-
Others followed-with multiple newly formed blades spiraling behind him in loose formation-as though awaiting command-
"go."
They flew out instantly-and slaughtered every man left standing who had dared approach him with bloodlust smeared across their faces-
The silence afterward rang louder than any scream they'd issued before death took them-
Yuta exhaled slowly while staring at the rising pile of dead bodies at his feet.
He understood one thing clearly: in Soul Society-you survived by getting stronger than anyone else around you. There were no exceptions-
To get stronger… start with spiritual pressure itself-
Spiritual power came from condensing spirit matter within you… and controlling it efficiently outward-
Rank 20 defined standard Gotei soldiers…
Rank 4 or 5 marked vice-captains…
Captains stood above rank 3-
He sat cross-legged again-and started drawing spirit particles toward himself gradually-
[Are you trying to understand the spiritual pressure training method?…]
(T/N: i'm mass uploading 20 chapters today to start this fic off with a BANG!)
(T/N: oh yeah i forgot... GIMME ALL YOUR POWERSTONES!!!!)