The incense in the quiet room had not yet fully dissipated as Hiroki withdrew his gaze from Isayama Yomi.
"I still need to arrange a reasonable identity for her."
"She will go to study at the Central Spirit Arts Academy and then become a Shinigami."
However, sending her directly under the name of the Shihōin or another noble clan would be too conspicuous and wouldn't fit the 'conventional' promotion path for a soul from the Rukongai.
Immediately, Hiroki summoned his little maid, Chizuru.
A moment later, the door to the quiet room was silently pulled open a crack, and a figure swiftly and respectfully slipped inside, bowing by the door.
"Young Master, did you call for me?"
The newcomer was Tamaki Chizuru.
The girl who once had lively eyes and a hint of youthful innocence had now transformed into a capable woman with a steady temperament.
Her jet-black hair was meticulously tied back, with a few silver strands quietly added by the years shimmering faintly at her temples. She wore a kimono that outlined her still-vigorous figure, though fine lines of time were clearly visible at the corners of her eyes and mouth, leaving the mark of passing years on her once smooth and tight face.
Those eyes, which once were as clear as melting snow, now held a deeper sediment of life experience, like an ancient well that had weathered many frosts—calm, yet possessing an indescribable tenacity.
Hiroki nodded, but his gaze did not immediately move away from Chizuru's face.
He looked at her, at that familiar yet quietly changing face. A strange emotion, like a pebble cast into a deep pool, rippled through his heart—the estrangement of time.
Over twenty years. For this vast Soul Society, where time is measured in centuries and millennia, twenty-odd years were but a blink of an eye, the age when young Shinigami were just beginning to make their mark.
However, for a soul not born with a naturally long lifespan and whose spiritual pressure had failed to reach the peak, twenty-odd years meant having already lived through a significant portion of life's journey.
Chizuru's talent was indeed quite good for the Soul Society. Through hard work and considerable insight, she had already attained Lieutenant-level spiritual pressure.
However, Lieutenant-level spiritual pressure, even with proper care, could only support her for two or three hundred years.
She was already over a hundred years old; the bright radiance of youth had quietly faded from her, and she was unstoppably moving toward maturity, stability, and would eventually continue toward... old age.
Perhaps in another hundred years, would this shrewd, capable, loyal, and reliable maid in his eyes become a white-haired, stooped old woman?
Hiroki subconsciously raised his hand, his fingertips lightly brushing his own cheek.
The skin was smooth, without a trace of the passage of time; the touch was even more delicate than it had been twenty years ago, a transformation brought about by the promotion of his spiritual pressure.
The immense vitality of Third-Class Spiritual Pressure was so vivid in him.
The time of this body seemed to have frozen the moment he transmigrated, or perhaps it was infinitely stretched out through the repeated leaps in his spiritual pressure.
The twenty-plus years since he transmigrated were, to him, like a wisp of rosy cloud drifting past the window—fleeting and leaving no trace.
This sense of displacement became incredibly clear and heavy at this moment as he faced Chizuru's face, which had been eroded by time.
"...Young Master?" Chizuru's voice rang out again, carrying a faint, barely perceptible note of inquiry.
Hiroki instantly snapped out of his chaotic thoughts.
His lapse was only for an extremely brief moment, and the deep sentiment in his eyes was quickly covered by his usual calm.
"Yes," Hiroki spoke, his voice regaining its customary steadiness. "Chizuru, make arrangements for Yomi." He gestured with his eyes toward Isayama Yomi, who stood quietly to the side.
"Yes, Young Master." Chizuru immediately straightened her back, her sharp gaze fixed on Yomi as she quickly assessed this unfamiliar woman who possessed startling spiritual pressure.
Hiroki continued his instructions:
"Find an identity for her, choose a place of origin from one of the... lower-ranked Rukongai districts. Let her walk step by step from there to the Seireitei, and finally... enter the Central Spirit Arts Academy to study Zanjutsu through the formal process."
This was the path most commoner students had to take.
A flash of understanding crossed Chizuru's eyes.
Having followed Hiroki for many years, she was well-versed in his style of hiding power and planning for the long term.
Starting Yomi from the poorest and most chaotic fringes, letting her go through the screening and exams, and finally relying on 'talent' to enter the academy was the most secure way to integrate and hide her extraordinary nature.
This involved a large amount of paperwork, identity forgery, memory guidance (for souls in the know), and setting up the entry process. Every link required meticulous arrangement to prevent any possible flaw from being detected by the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.
The main thing was to hide it from the Eighth Division's intelligence network, but with the Second Division under his own family's control, hiding it from the Eighth Division's investigation wasn't difficult.
"Understood."
Chizuru responded concisely and forcefully, her mind already racing through the specific execution plan—which Rukongai district to choose, how to make Yomi appear 'naturally' and be registered by the low-level administrators, and when to schedule the selection node for entering the Shino Academy... To a veteran like her who had handled countless 'gray affairs' for the Shihōin, these processes were long ingrained in her mind.
"Go then, arrange it as soon as possible." Hiroki waved his hand, signaling that the two could withdraw.
Usually, at this point, Chizuru would immediately take her leave to carry out the order.
However, today Hiroki did not withdraw his gaze as usual.
Just as Chizuru turned around, his voice rang out again with an unusual tone: "Wait."
Chizuru stopped immediately, turned back, and respectfully faced Hiroki again: "Does the Young Master have any other instructions?"
Hiroki was silent for a moment, his gaze once again tracing the lines representing time on Chizuru's face.
The woman before him was one of the few figures who had consistently stayed by his side and was worthy of complete trust throughout his twenty-plus years in this strange world.
When he realized she was being dragged toward her twilight years by irresistible natural laws while he remained eternally young, a complex emotion surged in his heart—was it pity? Regret? Or perhaps a sense of... powerlessness regarding the essence of power?
Lieutenant-level spiritual pressure... in the Soul Society, where powerhouses were as common as clouds, it was like dust.
With a thought, he communicated directly with the existence in his mind.
"System, can the spiritual pressure I redeem be directly bestowed upon others?"
[Yes.]
The cold prompt was as direct as ever.
[Based on the assessment of the target's spiritual body strength and soul compatibility, the points and additional processing fees required to bestow different levels of spiritual pressure vary. Once manifested, spiritual pressure essentially belongs to the rule-buff category of consumables.]
[For example: Bestowing Third-Class Spiritual Pressure (the threshold for an ordinary Captain) requires 100,000 points for the basic consumable. Cross-host target transfer fee: 50,000 points.]
Hiroki's heart skipped a beat: "Fifty thousand for a processing fee? You're robbing me of my points!"
This system was getting darker and darker.
The system remained calm and indifferent: [The manifestation of information flow and the transfer of rules involve the reconciliation of the laws of time and space origin, resulting in huge losses. The processing fee is a fixed value, linked to the target's soul strength and the host's permissions.]
Hiroki did a quick calculation.
He had risked his life in the Saint Seiya world, and between the main quest and various miscellaneous 'contribution points,' he had accumulated over three million points. A Third-Class Spiritual Pressure had a base price of 100,000, plus a 50,000 processing fee—that's 150,000 to 'buy' a Captain-level.
Three million divided by 150,000... 'Theoretically, I can buy 20 Third-Class Spiritual Pressure Captains!' This number made Hiroki's heart pound.
A personal guard unit composed of 20 Captain-level powerhouses? That would be enough to walk sideways in the Soul Society!
But this excitement lasted only a fraction of a second before being ruthlessly extinguished by reality.
Captain-level? This threshold was way too shallow!
He thought of the upcoming Battle of Karakura Town.
Many people thought Captain-level was the peak? Ha... the gap between Captains was bigger than the gap between a human and a dog!
There was Aizen Sōsuke, who always wore a gentle smile and played with Kyōka Suigetsu to perfection.
Even as a normal Aizen, he would perform a magnificent "one sword, one kid" play in the future!
The Captain of the 5th Division Hirako Shinji, the Captain of the Seventh Division Komamura Sajin, the Visored group... they were all carved up like vegetables!
Even including the future successor to the Captain Commander, that old fox Kyoraku Shunsui, he was almost killed in one hit as well! And this was Aizen before merging with the Hōgyoku, achieving total suppression relying solely on his own strength and Kyōka Suigetsu!
If Aizen hadn't needed an audience, those Captains really would have been one hit each.
Not to mention the complete hōgyoku Aizen—that was simply off the charts!
What use was it to scrounge up twenty Captain-levels now?
In front of Yamamoto Genryusai's 'Ryujin Jakka,' which could evaporate the entire Seireitei, or in front of Aizen's nonsensical Kyōka Suigetsu, what the hell was the point of stacking numbers?
It would just be delivering snacks to them.
Having thought this through, Hiroki completely calmed down. Power was not something where quantity could make up for a gap in quality.
Furthermore, a gathering of excessively large, unknown power would only invite the greatest suspicion and crackdown from the Thirteen Court Guard Squads and even Squad Zero.
Forget it, for now, I should take care of my own people first.
His gaze refocused on Chizuru.
Improving her, at least so she could live longer and see further scenery—those 150,000 points were worth spending.
His mind was made up.
"System, redeem one... Second Class Spiritual Pressure!" Hiroki said without hesitation.
"Ding, 1,000,000 points deducted."
After the one million points were deducted, he clearly felt a slight warmth deep in his soul, as if being shone upon by the gentle light of a star.
That warm current was not a violent injection but an extremely natural soaking, merging, and sublimation of his spiritual body's essence.
His original spiritual pressure seemed to have been injected with sourceless living water, becoming more condensed, profound, and majestic.
There was no earth-shattering explosion of aura, only an internal, essential leap.
Instantly, Hiroki felt his perception become sharper; the 'amount' contained within his body surged several times over, and every movement seemed to contain a mighty power that could easily tear the earth apart.
Second Class Spiritual Pressure, achieved!
He subconsciously muttered in his mind: "System, open the panel."
[Host Panel Updated...]
Name: Shihōin Hiroki (Kuroki Hiroki)
Identity: Proxy Head of the Shihōin Clan, one of the Four Great Noble Clans
Spiritual Pressure: Second Class
Skill Levels:
Hakuda: B
Shunpo: C
Kido: D
Zanjutsu: C
Equipment:
Zanpakuto: Bankai · sagittarius gold cloth
Looking at the row of skills on the panel that, except for Hakuda, all remained at C and D levels, Hiroki couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
"Sigh..."
This was his most realistic portrayal.
Possessing Second Class Spiritual Pressure was equivalent to having a genuine veteran Captain-level spiritual pressure.
His current pure spiritual power 'quantity' had already surpassed most Captains.
This level of power was terrifying. If matched with the same level of mastery in Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Shunpo, and Kido, he would be a top-tier Captain-level combatant.
However, the reality was... Hakuda B, Shunpo C, Kido D, Zanjutsu C... aside from the Hakuda foundation he had built through day and night cultivation with Yoruichi during that time, the rest... were simply eyesores!
However, relying on his Second Class Spiritual Pressure to crush some ordinary Captain-levels... well, he should... probably... maybe not fail, right? Hiroki felt a little apprehensive in his heart; after all, if one's technique reached an extremely high level, it was indeed possible to defeat the strong with the weak.
Hiroki's heart was full of helplessness.
Should I focus my mind and put in some hard work to practice?
This thought inevitably popped up.
Thinking about getting up before dawn every day to swing a sword ten thousand times until his arm lost all sensation, or exhausting all his spiritual pressure to repeatedly perform Shunpo and attempt Kido incantations until he collapsed from being drained of every last ounce of strength, only to rely on his powerful recovery to get back up and continue... the sense of pain and hardship in that imagery was overwhelming.
Just imagining it made Hiroki feel a deep fatigue seeping out from his bones.
'Forget it, forget it...' He instantly dismissed the idea.
With that time and energy, wouldn't it be better to look at some pretty girls?
The daily fighting and killing should be left to the professionals. With the Uchiha group of thugs with Mangekyo and Susanoo, why should I do it myself? I'll just be a strategist sitting firmly on the sidelines, a one-shot superman.
Hiroki's philosophy of 'lying flat' gained the upper hand again.
Thinking this way, he suddenly felt the future was bright (in a lazy way).
He looked at Chizuru again.
Improving her would require another 150,000 points; he still had over two million, so 150,000 was an 'acceptable' expense.
Looking at Chizuru, who was still quietly waiting for further orders, Hiroki finally switched back to the current topic:
"Regarding Yomi's matter, arrange it like this. The identity, starting point, and process must be secure and show no flaws."
"Yes, Head of the House. Please rest assured, I will arrange it properly."
Chizuru bowed deeply, her tone full of steady confidence. She could feel that Hiroki's mood had fluctuated slightly just now, but it was not something she should question.
She turned to Yomi, her tone flat but not lacking respect: "Lord Isayama, please follow me. We need to make some preliminary preparations."
Yomi didn't speak; she just glanced at Hiroki, and after receiving a slight nod of approval, she silently followed Chizuru out of the quiet room.
The door closed gently, cutting off all sound. Hiroki was once again alone in the quiet room.
The incense was still curling, and sunlight cast long spots of light on the floor through the window lattice.
He raised his hand and once again touched his youthful face, which had become even more perfect due to the enhancement of his Second Class Spiritual Pressure.
Outside the window, in the courtyard, a cherry blossom petal was swept up by the wind, lightly brushing the spot where Chizuru had just stood before finally landing on the ground.
Time flows silently and will not stop for anyone.
Next step: continue accumulating points!