"Forget it~"
Iori smiled and said nothing. Yuki was quite open about it instead. "They're all trivial things. No matter how many secrets you have, I only know that Aizen Iori is my 'family', and that's enough."
The boy knew that no matter how careful he was, it was impossible to leave no traces at all, so he didn't pay much attention to that.
He acted carefree and casual everywhere, only holding firmly to his bottom line. And in Yuki's eyes, this kind of attitude felt especially warm and familiar.
Because she also had a secret she was hiding from everyone, and she was confident that her secret was even more shocking than Iori's.
After all, no one would ever imagine that a mere Shinigami trainee already possessed vice-captain–level spiritual pressure, and that his Zanpakuto even had the power to dominate everything.
"There's one more thing." Yuki steadied herself, lifted the loose strands of hair, and tucked them behind her ear.
Under the setting sun, her pitch-black long hair looked as if it were draped in a crimson veil, while a faint fragrance, like that of gardenias, gently rippled through the air.
"Thank you for putting the glasses on me… I really like the gift you gave me."
"Because we're 'family.'" Iori's expression was gentle. At one moment, his pupils shrank slightly, and his heart surged with excitement.
Just then, a notification sounded in his mind.
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[CG Recorded]
[Scheming Glasses: Day of Origin]
[Category: Bond CG]
[Rank: C+ (High item drop rate)]
[Quality: Legendary (Increased chance of high-tier rewards)]
[Drawing…]
[Calculating…]
[Reward List]
[Attributes:]
[1. Stamina: Slight increase]
[2. Endurance: Slight increase]
[3. Mental Power: Small increase]
[Talents & Skills:]
[Discarded Chant (Proficient)]
[Skill (Upgradable)]
[Shortens or omits the incantation required to cast Kido. The side effect is reduced Kido power, but the higher the proficiency, the smaller the reduction.]
["Proficient" means Kido power can be maintained at about 40–50%.]
[Scheming Glasses]
[Talent (Not upgradable)]
[After putting on glasses, it becomes easy to leave others with the impression of being a good, honest person. It does not reduce presence, but instead makes oneself "harmless."]
[Required item: Old-fashioned glasses (or naturally squinty eyes).]
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'Tsk! Just a bond CG?'
'Even though the attribute points and skill were also very valuable, I still wanted a special CG that could increase style value~'
'After all, this is Bleach, a world where art style decides everything!'
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[Main Character Card: Aizen Iori (Current)]
[Identified Name: Aizen Iori]
[Race: Human & Spirit Body]
[Profession: Shinigami (Candidate)]
[Status: Rapid Growth]
[Upgradable Attributes: Stamina, Endurance, Mental Power, Mobility, Accuracy, Evasion]
[Style Value: 28]
[(You have no way to stay low-key, because no one will ignore your repressed flashiness, ah no, your hidden elegance.)]
[Spiritual Pressure Cap: 390]
[Current Spiritual Pressure: 375]
[Talents:]
[Perfect Shinigami (From Aizen: Genius Bond)]
[1. Balanced development, rapid growth, a well-rounded fighter.]
[2. Continuous training brings comprehensive improvement, without becoming mediocre due to spreading effort across multiple fields or developing weak points.]
[On the contrary, because every aspect is a strength, it appears to lack distinguishing features.]
[Elegant as Poetry (From Shunsui: Drifter Bond)]
[1. Increases outward charm, regardless of gender, a talent that naturally makes others feel fondness.]
[2. Words and actions are flirtatious but not vulgar, lustful but not obscene, maintaining elegance, calm and free-spirited.]
[Scheming Glasses (From Aizen)]
[1. After putting on glasses, it becomes easy to leave others with the impression of being a good, honest person. It does not reduce presence, but instead makes oneself "harmless."]
[Required item: Old-fashioned glasses (or naturally squinty eyes).]
[Techniques:]
[1. Swordsmanship: Minor Mastery]
[2. Hakuda: Minor Mastery]
[3. Shunpo: Minor Mastery]
[4. Kido: Minor Mastery]
[(The above are evenly improved due to talent effects.)]
[Discarded Chant (Proficient)]
[Skill (Upgradable)]
[Shortens or omits the incantation required to cast Kido. The side effect is reduced Kido power, but the higher the proficiency, the smaller the reduction.]
["Proficient" means Kido power can be maintained at about 40–50%.]
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For someone like Iori, whose spiritual pressure aptitude was limited, it was almost impossible to make a name for himself in Soul Society. But perhaps he had accumulated good karma in his previous life, so when God closed one door for him, He also opened a small window:
[CG Complete Collection Codex]!
This thing, which popped up in Iori's mind like a shady advertisement every now and then, could at least be considered a cheat. It was one of the foundations that allowed him to survive after transmigrating.
However, unlike the popular cheat systems on certain sites, daily sign-ins for rewards, lying flat to level up, anti-routine tasks, and so on, Iori's thing was rather… troublesome.
Simply put, it was a system that exchanged rewards by randomly collecting various CG images.
CGs were divided into four types: Normal, Bond, Clear, and Style, their value increasing in that order.
Among them, "Normal CGs" and "Bond CGs" both dropped attribute points or skill talents. The difference was that the former had a pitifully low drop rate, and even when something dropped, it was usually very little. The latter, comparatively speaking, was much more valuable and could directly increase strength in a very visible way.
As for "Clear CGs," they were ultra-rare CGs obtained only when a storyline came to a temporary conclusion or when the world setting expanded to a certain extent. Their corresponding rewards were also astonishing.
[Open a door to another world]
In other words, this codex system had the ability to take Iori freely between different worlds.
In fact, after passing the entrance exam for the Central Spiritual Arts Academy and obtaining the status of "Apprentice Shinigami," Iori did receive one and even tried it… though the actual experience was somewhat subtle.
That other world… was not exactly a paradise.
All three of the above CG types had their uses, but the one Iori wanted the most and relied on the most was the final type.
[Style CG]
[Grants a variable amount of style value based on specific circumstances. Essentially, it collects the influence you exert on the world, solidifies it, and applies it to yourself, manifesting in a form that fits the current world setting.]
[That is, it increases the size of your own "container" by a certain ratio, breaking original limits, accelerating growth speed, and materializing potential.]
(Using Bleach as an example: with Iori's aptitude, he originally could only raise his spiritual pressure to around 100 before hitting a bottleneck.
But with the boost from style value, the cap could be raised to the thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even higher!
And before his spiritual pressure reached that value, he would grow rapidly without encountering any bottlenecks!)
[The specific conversion ratio of style value fluctuates depending on the importance of "style" within the current world setting.]
For example, style (cool factor) is extremely important in Bleach, so the ratio is set at the maximum of 1:10, 10 points of style in exchange for 100 points of spiritual pressure cap.
But if it were One Piece, the ratio for converting to Haki would only be around 1:3.
[After conversion, the recovery speed and purity of the energy will also be raised to a level appropriate for the corresponding realm.]
'This thing is insanely useful!'
According to the description, even in a magic world, style value could still be converted into maximum mana. And the phrase "raised to a level appropriate for the corresponding realm" meant that as long as the quantity was sufficient, going all the way up to a Immortal level would be no problem, and it would even purify mana along the way.
Other CGs each had their own uses, but they were clearly not as precious as this one, so Iori had always paid special attention to it.
Over the past few years, he had gradually collected 28 points of style value, greatly expanding his own "capacity." With the stacking effects, his spiritual pressure cap had been raised to 390.
And indeed, on his path of cultivation, he hadn't encountered the slightest obstacle, growing naturally to his current state, spiritual pressure 375.
This number didn't look that big, but based on Iori's usual interactions and perceptions, vice-captain–level Shinigami probably had spiritual pressure in the five- to six-hundred range.
As for captain-level Shinigami… Iori had basically only interacted with the like-minded old rogue Shunsui, and the old man Yamamoto who occasionally came to inspect the academy. With Iori's current strength, he couldn't gauge the depth of either of them at all.
Under normal circumstances, for a Shinigami to grow to vice-captain level, even with sufficient aptitude, it would take hundreds of years.
Yet Iori had only transmigrated three or four years ago. From officially entering the academy and starting cultivation, it hadn't even been a full two years, and he was already close to that standard~
And for Iori, this was just the beginning.
The stronger he became, the more big shots he would come into contact with, which in turn would increase the efficiency of collecting CGs. His style value would soar, and his "aptitude" and "capacity" would explode geometrically.
His leveling speed would eventually surpass geniuses like Aizen and Toshiro, and even cheaters like Ichigo.
Unfortunately, CG triggers carried a certain degree of randomness, and he couldn't control what type would appear.
Sometimes one would pop out during interactions with others; other times, one would appear automatically for no reason at all when he hadn't done anything.
For example, back then he had clung to Aizen all day, hoping their interactions would trigger a CG, but in the end, he got nothing.
Instead, one day while opening the shop, after finishing work with Granny and Aizen and chatting and laughing together, a bond CG appeared: [True Family].
Later on, Iori gradually figured out a pattern and felt that the key might lie in things like "iconic scenes," "commemorative significance," or "trendiness."
Following that logic, he had collected quite a few CGs over the years. Even though the drop rate was comparable to some mobile games, and the precious [Style CGs] were still relatively rare, after stacking many attributes and raising his original spiritual pressure cap, he could now be considered somewhat accomplished.
In the eyes of others, Iori was already a "prodigy." After all, just a little over a year after enrolling, his spiritual pressure was already comparable to veterans of the Gotei 13. Even if he were placed directly into the 13 divisions now, he could easily make it to a seated officer position.
Don't look down on the mere rank of seated officer (top ten within a division). It might not sound impressive, but in reality, if a Shinigami from Rukongai reached this step, it would absolutely count as making a name for themselves. Even the noble class would view seated officers differently.
Given Iori's "starting line," being able to have seated-officer–level spiritual pressure at this age was undeniably a sign of boundless potential. Calling him a "genius" wouldn't be an exaggeration.
But Iori knew very clearly what that title of "genius" was worth.
Absolutely nothing.
Two years to reach seated officer makes you a genius?
Do you know that Ichimaru Gin graduated in one year, and before he'd even grown any hair, he solo-killed the third seat of his division?
Do you know that Aizen reached the limit of a Shinigami in just over two hundred years, with nowhere left to advance?
Do you know that the protagonist Kurosaki Ichigo learned Bankai in just a few days?
Do you know that a certain genius youth, hailed as the "strongest ice type," the youngest captain in the Gotei 13, whose Zanpakuto is, by setting, on par with Ryujin Jakka, ends up in the story getting used over and over as a measuring stick for others' combat achievements?
And that's only within Bleach. Iori hasn't even brought up monsters like the bald demon king who trained for three years, the strongest genin whose mouth alone wins every fight, or the low-class Saiyan warrior whose combat power skyrocketed from one hundred thousand to over a hundred million.
These days, cheating isn't novel at all. Analyzing strength based purely on settings is even more ridiculous, after all, some people would still get run over by a motorcycle even after turning on Time King…
Iori had already figured it out: in this era where anti-tropes run rampant, neither bloodline cheats nor destiny cheats are reliable. Only "cool factor" never depreciates.
Of course, some people might bring up examples like Gojo Satoru, Garp, or Sasuke, characters with insane settings and great strength, yet who always end up inexplicably underperforming.
But don't you see that characters like Captain Levi, Tsugikuni, or Ashina Isshin, even when crippled, aged, or sick to death, still make people feel overwhelmingly strong despite their greatly weakened power?
The reason is simple.
When your cool factor reaches a certain height, even the original author is helpless.
With "art style" backing him, how could Iori possibly be satisfied with just the title of "genius"?
In fact, he wouldn't even stop at Bleach.
And if he really chose to settle for a modest life, having a bit of strength and just muddling through peacefully, then knowing the plot in advance, that would simply be stupid.
Even in the early and mid stages, captain-level powerhouses get beaten all the time. By the late stage, an omniscient and omnipotent Yhwach appears, massacring everything the moment he shows up, fully capable of destroying the world, the kind of existence that can't be restrained unless the author forcibly kills him off in the plot.
In this crisis-filled Soul Society, for the sake of protecting himself and his family, Iori had long since decided on his ambition:
He would place "art style" above the frost-covered heavens.
Looks, chunni level, coolness, call it whatever you want. Supreme art style is the combat power that never loses value.
And since the first world he landed in was Bleach, then he'd set a small goal first.
Surpass "Mugetsu" in trendiness.