Collecting attributes and converting them into Spirit Power—at its core, this system was nothing more than squeezing out every last drop of value from each Hollow.
Once a Hollow's very essence had been stripped away, its spiritual structure would unravel, collapsing into scattered particles of reishi.
"With such a massive body, and all you knew was burrowing through sand to run away… no wonder you died so miserably."
Shin muttered to himself, patting the Hollow's cold corpse in a final gesture of respect. After all, he had just profited from it—showing at least some reverence was the least he could do.
Moments later, faint cracking sounds echoed from within the corpse.
Lines of fractures spread across its surface, its reishi composition already beginning to collapse.
Soon enough, its existence would vanish entirely from Hueco Mundo.
Shin didn't linger. He turned and moved to the next body.
This one was a smaller Hollow, lizard-like in form, cut down through its Hollow hole.
Shin repeated the same process, activating his Attribute Editor.
Placing a finger against the corpse, he waited a moment. A flash of light passed, and the data was laid bare.
[Ding~ Congratulations, host. R-Rank attribute acquired: Reishi Infusion. Reishi Infusion +1000]
Shin frowned, deep in thought.
Since awakening his golden finger, this was the first time he'd encountered such an attribute.
Reishi Infusion—from the name alone, it sounded more like a support ability than a direct combat skill.
And its primary beneficiary wasn't himself, but others.
Still, it was R-Rank—rare, and not easily found.
He couldn't bring himself to discard it, so he decided to accept it.
This time, instead of flicking it away, he clenched his fist, drawing the attribute's power into himself.
The glow faded, and the energy was absorbed completely.
At the same time, a sharp sound rang in his mind. In the world of his consciousness, a formula book appeared out of nowhere.
This book was the system's core—a collection that stored, edited, reorganized, and deleted attributes.
Its pages had once been blank, but every attribute Shin collected was inscribed there in image and annotation.
Through his earlier efforts, it already held nine abilities, including Sonído and Cero.
Now, with Reishi Infusion added, the total reached ten.
Satisfied, Shin moved on to the next corpse.
One after another, he carried out the same process. Before long, the task was nearly complete.
By now, most of the bodies he had handled had already decomposed by more than eighty percent.
After a long stretch of work, only one corpse remained.
He pressed his fingers to it as usual, drawing out its essence.
[Ding~ Congratulations, host. SR-Rank attribute acquired: Columnar Cero. Columnar Cero +2000]
Shin's heart leapt. SR meant "Super Rare"—an ability of exceptional value.
He hadn't expected such a rare skill to come from such an unremarkable corpse.
Normally, a Cero was classified only as R-Rank. But this Columnar Cero had risen to SR.
The reason lay in its nature. A normal Cero spread outward in an uncontrollable radial pattern.
In other words, no matter how dense the reishi at its point of origin, as the blast extended forward it would expand, covering more area but diluting its concentration. By the time it reached its target, the power per unit area had diminished significantly.
Columnar Cero was different.
It maintained a rigid, cylindrical form, never scattering. Regardless of distance, its destructive force stayed tightly focused.
Without hesitation, Shin stored the attribute away.
Dusting off his hands, he rose and left the basin.
In truth, he had been doing this kind of corpse-clearing for quite some time.
Once, while extracting attributes, one of the Fracción had happened to witness his ability.
That subordinate reported it to the Espada.
Since then, Shin had gained a small reputation within Las Noches.
Because his golden finger appeared harmless—no attack power, no threat—the Espada never bothered to be wary of him.
So whenever such tasks arose, Shin was the first they called upon.
To this day, he hadn't once set foot inside Las Noches itself, nor seen the Espada in person. Yet he had already completed dozens of decomposition jobs.
Most of the attributes he collected were worthless N-Rank scraps. But even converting them into raw Spirit Power was still a significant fortune.
…
Shin walked alone across the endless sands, bathed in eternal moonlight.
Hueco Mundo had no day, no vegetation, no joy. Only silence and death.
Here, even passing the time was a luxury.
But ever since meeting Nel, his inner world had grown richer.
Even if it was nothing but endless games of hide-and-seek, the boredom had been eased.
His current destination was a dead tree half a reishi-mile away.
Though "tree" was a generous term—it was really just a heap of sand hardened into shape.
This was the agreed meeting point with Nel's group. If they ever got separated, they were to regroup here.
Shin hurried on, and after ten minutes arrived.
Usually, Nel and her companions would bury themselves in the sand, waiting for him to search for them first.
But today was different.
Pesche and Dondochakka were seated right out in the open, shielding little Nel between them. Something was clearly wrong.
"What happened?" Shin asked, striding up to them.
Dondochakka tilted his wide face upward, his tone anxious. "Shin, thank goodness you're back. Lady Nel was perfectly fine, but suddenly her body weakened—and it's getting worse. What do we do?!"
"How could this be?" Shin pressed, worried.
He brushed aside Nel's messy bangs. She was asleep, her breathing uneven, the chubby little face drained of energy.
Since the day they met, Nel had always been lively and spirited. This state was rare indeed.
Pesche hesitated, then murmured, "In my opinion… it's from a lack of reishi."
He stopped there, not wanting to reveal her true identity.
Which made the situation seem even stranger.
The three of them were all unharmed—yet only little Nel, of all people, had collapsed from reishi deprivation? It made no sense.
After all, Hueco Mundo's atmosphere was denser with reishi than even Soul Society. A Hollow could normally survive just by breathing it in—especially one as small as her.
But Shin, who knew the storyline, understood well who she really was.
She wasn't an ordinary Hollow. She was once the 3rd Espada.
After being ambushed, she lost both her power and her memory. Her two retainers had guarded her ever since, wandering the desert in hiding.
Right now, she was still recovering from her grievous wounds. Her body required vast amounts of reishi to heal.
But she hadn't eaten in a long time, and the ambient reishi wasn't enough. Her reserves had run dry.
"I'll step out and return quickly."
Pesche stood abruptly, resolute.
He didn't say why, but everyone knew: he intended to hunt Hollows to feed Nel.
Seeing this, Shin quickly stopped him. "Wait, Pesche. Leave it to me. Let me try something for Nel."
Then, he sank into his inner world—
"System, activate the attribute Reishi Infusion!"
This was the R-Rank attribute he had just collected today. He hadn't expected it would prove useful so soon.
[Hello, host. Attribute Reishi Infusion successfully activated.]
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150 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter