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"Really!"
Ishikawa Katori nodded, having to admit…
The conditions Ōmaeda offered were too tempting for him. Five million Kan were secondary, but if the Seireitei branch opened and was equipped with a Denreishinki, then his business in Seireitei could truly begin to flourish.
"No problem!!"
Ōmaeda was extremely generous, waving his hand without hesitation: "As long as you can find those three people, I'll give you an additional one million. You'll receive a total of seven million as a reward once it's done."
Ishikawa Katori looked at this wealthy tycoon with a hint of admiration. He suddenly wanted to call him 'Ōmaeda-sama' again!
"Hoo—"
Exhaling lightly and composing himself, a look of solemnity flashed across Ishikawa Katori's face as an incredibly powerful Reiatsu erupted from his body.
"South's heart, North's eye! West's fingertip, East's toe! Gather with the wind, scatter with the rain…"
As he chanted softly, Ishikawa Katori rotated his hands on the ground, and a pitch-black circle was instantly drawn. Then, Reiatsu surged into his hands and violently poured into the ground's patterns, causing the circle to gradually emit a dazzling light.
"—Bakudo No. 58: Kakushitsuijaku!"
Kakushitsuijaku, huh?
Seeing this, Ōmaeda frowned slightly.
As a rare Kido for reconnaissance, Ōmaeda naturally recognized it, but Kakushitsuijaku was not omnipotent. This type of reconnaissance Kido consumed a great deal of one's own Reiatsu, and the higher the mastery, the greater the Reiatsu consumption.
This was because the higher the mastery, the larger the tracking range. Often, before the specific location could be tracked, one's own Reiatsu would already be insufficient to sustain the use of the Kido.
Most importantly…
Kakushitsuijaku could only detect Shinigami within its perception range who had not 'hidden their Reiatsu'. Since those three fleeing Seated Officers had made so many preparations before escaping, they naturally wouldn't forget to hide their Reiatsu. Therefore, he didn't think Ishikawa Katori's current use of Kakushitsuijaku was a good choice!
It really isn't that easy, huh?
Ishikawa Katori frowned. To scout the impending attack from Genji, he had activated 'Kakushitsuijaku' and directly raised it to intermediate level. After defeating Genji, he didn't give up on this rare reconnaissance Kido. Although he hadn't invested any more experience points, he hadn't slackened in his research and practice in the slightest.
After all…
He was still hoping to use this as a foundation to create a new 'reconnaissance Kido' prototype specifically targeting Kyōka Suigetsu.
After relentless training, his current reconnaissance range far exceeded what it was before. Once activated, he could detect all objects with Reiatsu within a 15KM radius centered on himself, regardless of what kind of creature they were.
1, 2… 6… 13… 17…
Strange-shaped characters appeared in the light circle, each representing a person or a Hollow.
The battle in Kagamino was over. The Onmitsukido lost one member, and the nine ordinary Squad Members were completely annihilated. As for the direction of the support unit's battle against the Hollows, there was no Reiatsu reaction, so they should have returned to Soul Society.
Not enough!!
Ishikawa Katori felt the rapidly depleting Reiatsu within him, gritted his teeth slightly, and fully unleashed his Reiatsu.
[Current Experience Points: 14360]
Looking at the experience points accumulated in his mind for nearly half a month, a hint of pain flashed across Ishikawa Katori's face. He directly invested 3654 experience points into a Bakudo.
Then, he placed his left hand on the light circle, and with his right hand, he drew a square pattern around the circle with his thumb, once again chanting:
"Upper bridge, lower coronet! Footprints, distant thunder, sharp peak…"
"Hm?"
Ōmaeda was startled, subconsciously mumbling: "Bakudo No. 77: Tenteikūra?"
No!
The chant was wrong. Tenteikūra was a Bakudo that spread Reiatsu in a net-like search and transmitted messages to locked targets. Although the Bakudo Ishikawa Katori was currently performing looked very similar to Tenteikūra, the chant was completely different, with a format more akin to Kakushitsuijaku.
But it gave him a feeling similar to Tenteikūra.
What Kido is this?
Wait…
Ōmaeda's pupils suddenly contracted. This wasn't a double chant, but rather…
Post-chanting!!
Strictly speaking, it was more like a supplementary chant, as if the same Kido had two different chants, thus giving it two different characteristics.
And that was precisely the case.
Although it didn't create a fast-casting, reconnaissance-type Bakudo targeting Kyōka Suigetsu as Ishikawa had envisioned, after more than half a year of research and consulting countless related materials at the Shiba, he accidentally created a Kido prototype recognized by the system during a failed experiment.
Rather than creation, it was more like Kaminawa, a fusion of two Kido.
And the Kido fused with Kakushitsuijaku…
Was precisely Bakudo No. 77: Tenteikūra, as Ōmaeda had mentioned.
However, unlike the fusion of two Kido in Kaminawa, this fusion primarily used Kakushitsuijaku, abandoning Tenteikūra's most important communication function and only retaining its function of spreading a Reiatsu net to capture targets, which was then integrated into Kakushitsuijaku. At the same time, a magical Spiritual Crest taught to him by Sister Kukaku was added as an adhesive to fuse the two.
It wasn't a reconnaissance-type magical Spiritual Crest, but a protective Spiritual Crest inscribed on objects. As long as the Spiritual Crest was imprinted on a protective charm, Ishikawa would immediately sense it if the person holding the charm encountered danger.
"…Return to Earth, Night Ambush, Cloud Sea! —Bakudo No. 58: Kakushitsuijaku: Modified!"
Buzz—
Ripples spread out, and an invisible Reiatsu net extended in all directions from Ishikawa Katori's center. The original 15KM reconnaissance range suddenly expanded at that moment.
Buzz, buzz, buzz—
The constant sensation of contact made Ishikawa Katori's face turn pale.
Once the modified Kakushitsuijaku was released, the Reiatsu net would spread out from Ishikawa Katori's center again and again like a radar search. When it swept over someone with Reiatsu, whether the person had concealed their Reiatsu or was hidden in a Gigai, it would trigger the Reiatsu net.
Thereby, Ishikawa Katori would sense it and immediately pinpoint their location.
However, precisely because its effect was extremely sensitive, even if there was only a tiny obstruction, or if the target was just an ordinary human with spiritual power, Ishikawa Katori would still sense it. Therefore, at the moment of release, an incredibly vast and chaotic amount of information would flood into Ishikawa Katori's mind.
Even though Ishikawa Katori's brain, under the system's almost brutal influx of knowledge, had long since surpassed that of ordinary people in terms of endurance, he still couldn't help but tremble all over, with blood flowing from his nose.
Ōmaeda, who was beside him, couldn't help but take a few steps back, looking at Ishikawa with increasing strangeness.
This was because Ishikawa Katori's Reiatsu was extremely unstable at this moment, and he was twitching all over, with nosebleeds… It felt as if he would self-destruct at any second.
Thinking of this, Ōmaeda couldn't help but retreat a few more meters.
Who knew if this Lunatic would actually explode? It was better to be careful.
"I'll risk it!"
Ishikawa Katori gritted his teeth fiercely, enduring the pain in his brain, and invested all his remaining 10706 experience points into Reiatsu.
…
Physique: Intermediate (1616 / 10000)
Reiatsu: Advanced (21306 / 100000)
Hakuda: Advanced (2054 / 100000)
Shunpo: Advanced (877 / 100000)
Zanjutsu: Advanced (1250 / 100000)
…
"Hm?"
Ōmaeda immediately noticed Ishikawa Katori's change, and his expression changed.
He got stronger again!
What exactly is going on with this guy?
Among all of Soul Society, he was undoubtedly one of the people who understood Ishikawa Katori the most. From the moment he knew of such a person, he had secretly observed Ishikawa Katori and, at that time, judged him to pose no threat whatsoever…
And the reason he made this judgment was simple: because a person's initial spiritual power intensity basically determined their future growth limit. The Shin'ō Academy had always used this as a standard for admissions since its inception.
Of course, there were exceptions.
For example, the Vice-Captain of the Ninth Division, Hisagi Shuuhei, was once rejected twice by the Shin'ō Academy due to his poor initial spiritual power talent, barely passing on his third attempt.
But Hisagi Shuuhei was the only one who became a Vice-Captain like that, and he only reached his current level through his own efforts, through years of continuous, grueling training.
That being said, his growth speed wasn't particularly fast. Many Vice-Captains of the same rank were his juniors from the academy, but their Reiatsu intensity now largely surpassed his. One could only say he was a hardworking genius.
Thus, it was clear.
Even with exceptions, the initial spiritual power intensity was enough to determine a person's growth rate.
However…
This point was completely broken when it came to Ishikawa Katori.
Ishikawa Katori's initial spiritual power intensity, according to the Onmitsukidō's investigation and statistics after his arrival in Soul Society… his spiritual power intensity wasn't just weak; it was almost non-existent, only slightly stronger than ordinary Rukongai residents who lacked Reiatsu.
Even if the Onmitsukidō had made a mistake in their judgment due to not caring at the time, Ōmaeda himself had observed Ishikawa Katori secretly on more than one occasion. It couldn't be that he was mistaken too, could it?
"Found them!!"
Just then, Ishikawa Katori's eyes lit up, and the Reiatsu emanating from his body instantly receded, causing the light circle to dissipate.
"Really?"
Ōmaeda looked at Ishikawa Katori with a suspicious expression.
"Hiding in plain sight."
Ishikawa Katori wiped away the nosebleed, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. Having invested so many experience points to complete this commission, he was definitely not in a good mood right now, though adding the experience points to his Reiatsu wasn't exactly a waste.
"Those three Seated Officers haven't left. They used a barrier to conceal themselves and are hiding on the edge of the forest where we first arrived in the Human World."
"Huh?"
…
At the same time.
In a general store called 'Urahara Shop' in the eastern part of Karakura Town, 20KM away from Ishikawa Katori and Ōmaeda's location, a man and a cat were sitting in a room behind the shop, watching the television in front of them.
"Kisuke, you've been found."
A slightly playful voice came, but it wasn't from the man in green clothes and pants with a green and white striped fisherman's hat, but from the Kuroneko lying on the man's lap.
"Hahaha— I was careless. I didn't expect that just trying it out of curiosity would make the other party sense me."
The man called Kisuke didn't mind the playfulness in the Kuroneko's tone. Instead, he laughed heartily and said, "It's a very interesting Kido. Fusing two Binding Methods to maximize the 'reconnaissance' function, but besides the two Binding Methods, it seems there's something else…"
"It's a magical Spiritual Crest from the Shiba."
The Kuroneko's tone was extremely certain. Then, looking at the image on the TV screen, he said with interest, "I haven't seen them in so many years. When did Kukaku's family produce such an interesting young man?"
If Ishikawa Katori were here, he would realize that the image on the TV that the man and cat were watching was precisely him and Ōmaeda.
"Someone from Miss Kukaku's family?"
The man nodded: "However, compared to his identity, I'm more curious about what he actually is."
"Hm?"
The man looked at the image on the TV and murmured, "He is something with 'form'."
"Has form?" The Kuroneko was startled, then its unique vertical pupils trembled: "You mean he's human?"
"No, humans aren't 'things'… Hmm… although he does possess a human form."
As he spoke, the man took out a remote control and pressed a button randomly.
Although the image on the TV screen remained unchanged, only Ishikawa Katori was left, and he was… completely naked, while Ōmaeda beside him had vanished without a trace.
"You arrived late, so you didn't see it. This was the first image I captured."
The man looked at the 'fair-skinned' youth on the screen: "Whether it's the data fed back by the monitoring bacteria or judging by the naked eye, his body is undoubtedly a Spirit Body. If Shinta and Ururu hadn't accidentally bumped the equipment while playing, I wouldn't have discovered that he possesses a physical form."
"That's a good physique, isn't it?" The Kuroneko couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.
"He gives me a feeling somewhat similar to a modified soul, but a modified soul involves injecting a combat-use soul into a body that has lost its soul. He, on the other hand, is more like the moment the body dies, before the Spirit Body has left the physical body, it was forcibly integrated into the physical body by some unknown power." The man's eyes subtly gleamed.
"Although I don't know how it was done, his body has become a Spirit Body with 'form', and he can even pass through the Senkaimon without a Reishi converter… And have you noticed, when he conceals his Reiatsu, his Spiritual Crests disappear? If you're not close, you can't detect his Reiatsu at all."
"Even if you are close, the Reiatsu you detect is what he has after concealing it!"
"Such a creature is simply too interesting!"
The more the man spoke, the more intense the light in his eyes became, and by the end, his tone clearly showed excitement.
"No, I actually want to see him run freely in the city, and then see what expression humans have when they see him!"
"…Uh."
…
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Ishikawa Katori suddenly stop in front of him and look around, Ōmaeda's expression changed: "Did those three people disappear again?"
Ishikawa Katori shook his head, a hint of confusion in his eyes.
For some reason…
He had suddenly felt an inexplicable chill just now, as if he had been seen through.
It didn't feel like an illusion.
Ishikawa Katori frowned slightly. There weren't many people in the Human World who could secretly observe him without him noticing anything. If there were no accidents, the two of them should have been under someone's surveillance.
However, Ishikawa Katori didn't pay it much mind. Let them monitor, he had nothing to hide anyway. It was probably just his previous Kido that had attracted their attention.
"Nothing, let's keep going."
Shaking his head, Ishikawa Katori once again used Shunpo, quickly heading towards the forest where they had first arrived in the Human World.
"Oh, right."
Thinking of the Human World, Ishikawa Katori couldn't help but ask Ōmaeda beside him, "Don't Shinigami of Vice-Captain rank and above have their Reiatsu restricted when they come to the Human World? Why wasn't it restricted this time?"
"You know quite a lot…"
Ōmaeda shook his head: "Reiatsu restriction is a precautionary measure taken when it's uncertain if a battle will occur, to prevent people with Reiatsu of Vice-Captain rank or above from moving around in the Human World and affecting humans."
"The situation this time was urgent, and it was confirmed that a battle would occur here, and we would return to Soul Society afterward, so there was naturally no need for restriction."
"I see."
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