As soon as Azrael heard about the reward, he instantly perked up. His hard work hadn't been in vain.
"By the way, Uncle Lian, what is this book about?" Now that the benefits were secured, Azrael was ready to satisfy his curiosity.
Lian stared at the screen and fell silent. After a long moment, he whispered, "Telling you now would only harm you. You'll understand when the time comes."
"?!"
The Riddler strikes again!
Seeing that Lian wasn't going to reveal anything and was playing enigmatic, Azrael felt exasperated. But he quickly calmed down. After all, these mysteries were temporary—only the tangible rewards truly mattered.
Seeing that Azrael had no intention of pressing further, Lian breathed a sigh of relief and muttered a name under his breath: "Jin."
Lian took out a spare phone from his jacket and began importing the computer's information into it.
After the data transfer was complete, Lian stood up. "No need to see me out. You did excellent work this time."
Azrael leaned against the wall. "When will I receive the reward?"
Lian walked out of the study. "We'll have to wait until the Crimson Oath Society reviews these materials."
After watching Lian leave his apartment, Azrael slumped onto the sofa. "Finally over."
Now it's time to make a card!"
That's right—he was going to try to advance Yoriichi.
But first, he needed to buy another material for safety. After all, this was his first attempt, and he was mentally prepared for failure.
He currently had 1.6 million Empyrean dollars in cash. Including the materials from Sword Lake that he planned to sell, his total reached approximately 2.5 million.
Opening his phone, Azrael began browsing suitable materials. "For the Shinigami body, I can use Ghost, and for the Zanpakutō, Conscience."
"I feel like something's missing."
Just as Azrael wrestled with his thoughts, inspiration struck:
Right—Zanjutsu, one of the four combat skills mastered by Shinigami.
Originally, Azrael had been searching through magical materials. However, he just realized that the most striking aspect of the original Yoriichi was his talent for swordsmanship.
However, his current Yoriichi wasn't particularly outstanding in this regard due to the inferior initial materials.
Many powerful Shinigami rarely relied heavily on Kidō anyway. Take a certain "Getsuga Tenshō" user, for example.
In that case, it would be better to strengthen Yoriichi's swordsmanship.
"This way, I don't need to search for additional materials," Azrael murmured while touching his chin. Azrael murmured, touching his chin.
Sword Lake had conveniently provided him with Sword Seeker (purple), eliminating the need to seek other materials.
Holding Sword Seeker (purple), Conscience (gold), and Ghost (gold) in his hands, Azrael summoned Yoriichi.
As he used his mental power to tightly bind the three materials to Yoriichi, Azrael found himself transported to a mysterious space.
"I knew it! I can attempt advancement without a predetermined route!"
Seeing his theory confirmed, Azrael couldn't contain his excitement.
[Please begin crafting your story.]
On his deathbed, the elderly Tsugikuni Yoriichi seemed to glimpse the figure of his late wife, Uta.
He tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't. His consciousness gradually sank into darkness.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself on a somewhat desolate street.
"Where am I?" Yoriichi looked at his hands, which had been restored to their youthful appearance, and couldn't help feeling dazed.
Just as he wondered about his situation, he heard a sinister laugh nearby. "Newcomer?"
The next moment, a shrill whistle cut through the air toward him.
But Yoriichi's fighting instincts allowed him to dodge the attack. Even weaponless, he easily defeated his assailant.
Under Yoriichi's questioning, the attacker explained his circumstances.
This world was called Soul Society, and all humans came here after death.
They were currently in Rukongai's West 80th District, which had the worst environment and could be considered hell for newcomers.
In theory, souls arriving in Soul Society receive "sorting tickets" and are distributed among the 80 regions according to their order of death.
But Yoriichi had appeared here directly.
However, Yoriichi didn't concern himself with these details. He thought absent-mindedly, "In that case, Uta should be here somewhere, too."
For some time afterward, Yoriichi traveled throughout the West 80th District, searching for traces of Uta.
Unfortunately, everyone he met told him that separating from relatives after arriving in Soul Society was normal.
During this time, Yoriichi became a well-known "villain" in the West 80th District.
The term "villain" referred to a strong individual who had made a name for themselves in the district.
With his terrifying swordsmanship, Yoriichi had never encountered a worthy opponent.
Until that day.
He met a great villain with long black hair—unprecedented and unparalleled.
"I am Captain Unohana Yachiru of the Gotei 13's 11th Division." After severely wounding Yoriichi, the cold, bloodthirsty, black-haired woman declared, "If you want revenge, come find me in the Seireitei."
At that moment, lying in a pool of blood, Yoriichi didn't understand the woman's motives and had no thoughts of revenge. He simply whispered, "Gotei 13? Can you help me find my family?"
The black-haired woman's expression remained unchanged. As she turned to leave, she said, "Yes."
After days of recovery, Yoriichi set out for the Seireitei.
Along the way, he gathered information.
The Gotei 13 was led by spirits called Shinigami. Essentially an organization of assassins, it was called the Gotei.
Due to the recent war between the Gotei 13 and the Quincy, there were numerous vacancies among the Shinigami ranks.
The Quincy were a demon-hunting group in the living world, but they had been destroyed.
"No wonder Muzan grew so arrogant," Yoriichi thought silently.
Precisely because of the need to fill these vacancies, any wandering soul with even modest spiritual talent could join the Gotei 13.
Thinking of this, Yoriichi touched his empty stomach. "I should have some talent."
After a relatively short journey, Yoriichi arrived at the Spiritual Arts Academy's registration office.
After waiting in line with the crowd for a while, it was finally Yoriichi's turn for the talent assessment.
Accompanied by a flash of dazzling light from the instrument, Yoriichi's test results appeared.
"Eighth-level spiritual pressure."