Reiryoku=Spiritual Power)
(Reishi=Spirit Particles)
(Reiatsu=Spiritual Pressure)
(Reiryoku is the energy reserve. Reiatsu is the energy exerted.)
Around 7 am in the morning, the selected participants for the Hollow Extermination Expedition had gathered on a square where the Senkaimon gate will be opened leading to the realm of Hollows, Hueco Mundo.
Adam followed the memories of Shiro and waited on the square after taking his attendance. Exactly sharp 7 am, the commander of the expedition, someone assigned from the 1st Division, divided up everyone into a group of 10. With 200 total Shinigami participating in the expedition.
Adam is assigned as leader of Team 15 because he is experienced in regard to the expedition with nine other Shinigami under his control. His team members are very happy with the allocation because Shiro is very experienced in Hollow hunting and his team always has the lowest casualty rate.
"Alright, let's go." The expedition commander said before ordering the Kido corps members on standby to open the Senkaimon into Hueco Mundo.
Starting from Team 1 led by the expedition commander, one team after another entered the gate and arrived in the white desert of Hueco Mundo that is always in perpetual night time.
"Our quota today is 500 Hollows. Which means each team will hunt 25 Hollows."
"Yes. Yes. We follow the Team Leader's arrangement. Right, guys?" Someone replied.
"Yes!" x8
"Alright. Then as usual lets go to our usual location and place down the bait." Adam said and led his team to split off as many other teams did.
Once they are decently far away from other teams, Adam places down a device that stimulates souls that they considered as delicious in the valley where they will ambush the Hollows that get baited.
They all hid near the face of the valley until two Hollows actually arrived.
As planned, the rest of the team will hold and distract the Hollow while Shiro or Adam will cast Kido.
"Ye lord!
Mask of blood and flesh,
All creation, flutter of wings,
Ye who bears the name of Man!"
The two Hollows noticed Adam from the sudden surge of Reiryoku and his team members went forward to block their advance.
"Inferno and pandemonium,
The sea barrier surges,
March on to the south!
Hado 31: Shakkaho!"
Reiryoku rapidly condensed on his palm that he held facing the hollows. The condensed Reiryoku transformed into a red orb twice the size of his fist and shot out a red pillar of beam at the Hollows.
His team members quickly dodged away when the beam arrived and pierced through the two Hollow's bodies. Killing one and injuring another. His team killed the surviving Hollow that was severely weakened.
"Impressive, to think he can use Kido above 30 and he joined the academy barely ten years ago." Some newcomers whispered in surprise and awe.
Adam however, is looking very focused on his System. He looked very shocked and also excited.
[Killing LV 3 Common Hollow obtains 250 EXP and 3 Spiritual Power.]
Three Spiritual Power is a small drop into the ocean considering he has over ten thousand Spiritual Power. That is considered Average-Class among most Shinigami in Gotei 13 but Shiro being very young and barely trained for ten years makes him a genius because others take decades to reach the Average-Class some even century.
He remembers that Reiryoku is something that grows when the user engages in a life and death battle. This aligned with what he just observed. If Adam fought an equally stronger Hollow instead of this weak Hollow, his Reiryoku gain might have been even more substantial.
"Team leader!"
"Huh? Oh, sorry. Let's continue our hunt." Adam was woken up from his daze and they returned to hiding to ambush other unsusceptible Hollows that might have fallen for their trap.
———
Half an hour later, Adam and the rest of Team 15 returned to the assembly point and submitted the device that recorded their kill count to the expedition commander.
"Shiro? Good work. You are as efficient as ever." The commander nodded after verifying the completion of Team 15 Quota and ordered Team 15 to rest while waiting for the others.
"Excuse me, Commander. I have a request." Adam stood still instead of going to rest like the others.
"Hmn? What is it?" The commander asked without showing any expression to indicate his mood.
"I wish to continue hunting Hollows." He said, which made the Commander frown.
"You have already reached your Team's quota. Why do you want to continue hunting Hollows?" The commander wondered.
Shiro has always been obsessed with saving up money and is well known to most people he meets. That's why he always participates in the Hollow Extermination expedition. However, he has neither a sick mother or family stricken in poverty. They do not understand his reason to save up money and the commander is curious.
"I wish to hunt stronger Hollows. The weaker one isn't enough." Adam said, thinking about the higher Reiryoku gain he can get from killing stronger Hollow.
The commander misunderstood and thought Adam was hinting about the higher bounty price of stronger Hollows.
"Haah… Young people." The commander sighed since he didn't have reason to refuse Adam's request. "Fine, you have until evening to return." The Commander said.
"Thank you very much, Commander." Adam bowed before he left.
"No need to thank me. Just get your ass back here in one piece. I don't want to be blamed for the death of a brilliant genius." The Commander said before turning away from Adam.
Meanwhile, Adam happily used Shunpo and dashed deeper into the Hueco Mundo where the concentration of Reishi in the atmosphere is much denser than the outskirts.
Adam hangs the bait on his obi sash and charges deeper until he reaches a cave where he senses the Reiatsu belong to Hollows.
Sensing the delicious bait hanging on Adam's waist, those Hollows immediately ran out of the cave and rushed at him. Adam stood in the distance, immediately drew his gun and filled these Hollows with bullet holes.
[Killing LV 8 Common Hollow obtains 340 EXP and 8 Spiritual Power.]
[Killing LV 5 Common Hollow obtains 280 EXP and 5 Spiritual Power.]
[Killing LV 11 Common Hollow obtains 400 EXP and 11 Spiritual Power.]
…
…
…
A single encounter and Adam gained almost 50 Spiritual Power. He is incredibly excited as he continues his killing spree and marches deeper into areas with higher Reishi density that have more and stronger Hollows ripe for picking.
Adam also learned that his SAS4 System skill is usable and his Crysis suit somehow transferred over despite him having a soul without a physical body for it to bond over. Whatever, better not look a gift horse in the mouth. He won't question it as long as it's beneficial.
Six hours later, Adam hunted over a hundred Hollows and his gain is very substantial. Thanks to his honestly overpowered gun.
His Hornet sniper rifle not only benefits from the Outer God's power to inflict poison, disease, etc that can even affect Hollows. But also his Semblance that weakens the opponent the more Adam lands to inject his Aura into them and also the fact his Semblance makes his Aura able to erode energy which also means Reishi which made up the body of Hollow and Shinigami.
All Common Hollows he meets no matter the level will get folded by Adam and have their Reiryoku harvested to nourish Adam's own Reiryoku.
His act of terror and racial cleansing cause many intelligent Hollows to flee deeper into the higher level area in fear while carrying news of a bloodthirsty Shinigami with a weird rod that collects and brutally kills and eats the Hollow's soul.
In actuality, he might look like eating the Hollow's soul due to his System collecting loot which includes the Reiryoku the Hollow gathered since transforming into a Hollow and then releasing the human soul back into the Cycle of Reincarnation.
Adam also tried out his Shinigami fighting style on the weaker Hollows he used as training dummies. He has superficial mastery of those skills. Just enough to use it but not enough to use it skillfully unless he relies on Shiro's proficiency.
However, none of those matters. What matters is that his Reiryoku has increased by almost half! Half of his original Reiryoku reserve. Around 4k Reiryoku.
To put it into perspective, the expedition commander who is an Average-Class Unseated Shikigami that is among the top tiers have Reiatsu a few dozen times his own while Lieutenant and above was unmeasured by Shiro because their Reiatsu is just too dense. Reiatsu is just the amount of Reiryoku they can release. So, to compare Adam with the others. He is still nobody within Gotei 13.
———
"Hmn. You are back. Good. It's almost time to return. Any later than this, I would have sent out a search party for you." The expedition commander said to Adam before addressing everyone, ordering their return back to Seireitei.
When Adam returned, he cashed in his bounty which shocked the officer handling the counter before he was rewarded his money, a big bag filled with a ring-shaped coin like Edo period Mon coin which is named Kan.
Cashing in bounty of overa hundred Hollows earn him a big pouch filled with copper Kan which can let him live like a rich for a week. But it didn't matter for Adam and he immediately made his way back to his barrack while in deep thoughts.
After he returned, he returned the empty bento box to the auntie and thanked her before going to wash up and immediately go to train on his combat style. Mainly the first three since Kido cannot be trained randomly because it's dangerous.
Adam has great stamina and as long as his Aura is never drained, his Stamina is basically infinite. He can train day and night for weeks without stopping if he wants without needing rest and meals.
That is exactly what he did and started with Zanjutsu. He trained in the dojo till late at night, committing the form, footworks and technique into muscle memories without any rest.
When the next morning came, Adam continued his training and shocked a few people that came to also train because there was someone earlier than them. Not knowing Adam has been doing this since last night.
His efforts were rewarded in the end too.
*Ding*
[Zanjutsu(Untrained > Basic)]
[Host reached the basic prerequisite condition to obtain skill [Zanjutsu].]
[Skill, Swordsmanship(Expert) had been merged with Zanjutsu(Basic). Resulting with Zanjutsu(Skilled)]
"That's unexpected." Adam commented as he noticed that wielding his Asauchi became more natural and his body subtly shifted into a stance automatically.
He made a casual slash infused with Reiryoku and the practice dummy instantly cut in half diagonally and slowly slid off. The surface of the cut is very smooth almost like it was sanded which indicates his mastery of wielding the Asauchi to make precise and clean cuts.
Adam cleans up soon and wash off the sweat before grabbing his breakfast. Since the next expedition is next week, Adam will spend all his off duty time training his Shinigami combat styles.
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