Sora arrived at the Sarcophagus Stone Mine training ground.
He planned to verify his idea of using the lightning created by 'Shinnyo Gorai' to unleash a Kidō sword technique.
He stood in the center of the training ground. At the other end was a row of Sarcophagus Stone targets and special Kidō testing targets developed by the Technology Development Bureau.
The Kidō testing targets were very durable and could withstand several 'Raikōhō' blasts without damage.
Only a high-tier Hadō could exceed their tolerance limit.
Sora drew his sword. His body and the blade flickered with lightning.
Swoosh—
A flash of lightning, and the Kidō testing target was cut in two.
"'Raikiri' is a Kidō sword technique. The Kidō power it contains is stronger than the low-tier 'Tsuzuri Raiden' but a bit weaker than the mid-tier 'Raikōhō'."
Sora examined the cut surface of the target. It was very neat.
This was damage caused by the slash. The lightning attack from 'Raikiri' had not damaged the target itself.
"'Shinnyo Gorai's' power is equivalent to a high-tier Hadō. If I use it to cast 'Raikiri', the power should be even greater."
Sora returned to the center of the training ground.
"Shinnyo Gorai."
Sora raised his Zanpakutō with one hand, and the spiritual pressure in his body surged.
Zzzzzzzzt—
Countless electric snakes roamed the training ground, forming an electromagnetic field.
The lights in the facility instantly went out, but the flickering, flowing electric snakes quickly lit it up again.
Zzzzzzzzt—
The electric snakes multiplied, and the training ground grew brighter. A terrifying magnetic storm was brewing rapidly.
The countless snakes converged in the air, forming a maiden of lightning.
Her long hair, body, and sash were all composed of thunder.
"Still not proficient. It took more than ten seconds to complete..."
The preparation time for this Kidō was a bit long, but with practice, the casting speed would become faster.
He focused his mind, and the maiden immediately lunged at him.
Sora used the secret of 'Raikiri' to fuse the lightning power into his Zanpakutō and himself.
The moment the maiden descended, even though Sora was not her target, he could feel her power.
The power of 'Shinnyo Gorai' far exceeded the lightning power inherent in 'Raikiri'.
Zzzzzzzzt—
Sora struggled to contain the lightning power on the edge of his blade.
If it weren't for his high-level Blut Vene, he would probably have been injured by now.
The next moment, a flash of lightning streaked across the training ground.
A dark path was left in its wake.
The ground had been melted by the power of the lightning.
The row of targets at the other end of the training ground was all cut down.
"Whew— not easy to control. I need more practice."
Sora sheathed his sword and smoothed his hair, which was standing on end.
According to the law of "the more stylish, the stronger," Sora still cared a lot about his image.
He currently had the image of a handsome, with a single ponytail.
He checked the targets. The Sarcophagus Stone targets were all cut in two. Using the lightning power of 'Shinnyo Gorai' to cast 'Raikiri' did not affect its sharpness.
The Kidō testing targets, however, had been shattered into carbon slag.
They had been melted by the terrifying lightning power.
The research and development was a success!
"It maintains its sharp cutting power while also giving the move the might of a high-tier Hadō."
Sora nodded with satisfaction.
Using the lightning from 'Shinnyo Gorai' to cast 'Raikiri' was a technique with power no less than the sword techniques he could unleash in his 'Raihi Ryōgen' state.
"If there's a fire-based Kidō comparable to a high-tier Hadō... to use with 'Shinnyo Gorai' to cast 'Raihi Ryōgen'..."
Now that he had an enhanced version of 'Raikiri', Sora couldn't help but think of an enhanced version of 'Sekichō', or even an enhanced 'Raihi Ryōgen'.
"I have to take it one step at a time. First, I need to get proficient with 'Shinnyo Gorai'."
Sora still needed to continue training. The time it took him to cast it now was a bit long, making it impractical in a real battle. After all, the enemy wouldn't wait for him to charge up a big move.
"Let's try 'Fūatsu-ken' next."
Sora did not intend to test 'Fūatsu-ken' in the training ground.
Because its description was: changes the atmospheric pressure, causing destruction over an extremely wide area.
It was the first time the system had used "extremely wide area" to describe a move. Its range far exceeded the size of this facility.
A moment later, Sora found a sparsely populated area in the outskirts of the Soul Society.
"This is a good spot... barren land."
This was not the first time Sora had come to this place.
The 'Hell Gate' incident had occurred here.
Yamamoto had released his Zanpakutō here, and as a result, twenty to thirty years had passed, but the land was still barren.
"The ground has melted. Not even weeds can grow..."
Sora looked at the black earth and couldn't help but exclaim, "Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's strength is truly terrifying!"
The soil here had been fired into a material similar to ceramic or brick, devoid of all life.
Sora drew the Zanpakutō from his waist, lunged, and raised his blade, a stance similar to when he used 'Shungeki'.
Spiritual pressure surged within his body, and a gentle breeze began to swirl around him.
The wind grew stronger, soon becoming a howling gale.
The turbulent wind gathered around his Zanpakutō as its center.
The surrounding air was sucked in and compressed.
The next moment, Sora thrust his sword forward.
Fūatsu-ken!
A straight, rotating stream of air instantly shot out.
Boom—
The entire land trembled. A forest a thousand meters away was knocked down by the immense shockwave.
Sora looked intently. The black earth in front of him was gone, replaced by a semi-circular trench over ten meters wide.
The trench extended in a straight line for a very long distance.
Swoosh—
Sora arrived at the other end of the trench.
"About the length of two soccer fields?"
Sora nodded, very satisfied with the range of this move.
It consumed a lot of spiritual pressure, but his own spiritual pressure was no longer a weakness, and he had enough to handle such a move.
...
The next day, at the Technology Development Bureau, Kisuke Urahara's laboratory.
"Captain, these are the data for the 'Bount Reigai Puppet' technology."
Urahara brought out a large number of documents from a cabinet.
"So many..."
Sora felt a bit of a headache seeing the several half-meter-high stacks of data.
He had come today to get the data for the 'Bount Reigai Puppet' technology from Urahara.
This was a Reigai puppet technology jointly developed by Mayuri and Urahara after studying the Bounts.
The main ability of the Bounts was to create puppets similar to a Zanpakutō, with all sorts of strange abilities.
Mayuri and Urahara had combined this with Reigai technology to develop the 'Bount Reigai Puppet' technology.
"I also think it's a bit much, so I made an index," Urahara swiped his hand over the data stack, and some reishi floated out, forming a reishi screen.
He searched for the data he wanted on the screen, then tapped his finger. The data on the ground flew up.
Countless sheets of paper spun in the air like dancing sprites. A few of them broke away from their companions and landed in front of Urahara.
"So fancy... query 'Bount Reigai Puppet' instance..."
Sora tried to replicate Urahara's operation and found the corresponding data fragment through the reishi light.
"My direction is different from Third Seat Mayuri's. He prefers to have the Zanpakutō control the puppet, while I prefer to have the person control it," Urahara gestured for Sora to follow him. "Come with me, Captain. I've made a batch of instances."
"I've seen Mayuri's plan. It's based on a Reigai and provides a control interface for the operator," Sora nodded and followed him into a separate laboratory room.
Inside were three incubation tanks filled with solution, each containing a Reigai.
The three Reigai all looked identical: a long-haired black woman.
This was the appearance of Urahara's Zanpakutō, Benihime.
"Let me demonstrate for you, Captain," Urahara drew his Zanpakutō and seemed to be listening to some sound.
A moment later, the power of his Zanpakutō left the blade and attached itself to the Reigai in the middle.
The next moment, the Benihime Reigai in the middle opened its eyes.
"This technology has a drawback."
Urahara pressed a button, and the solution in the tank quickly drained, opening the door.
"Investing the power of the Zanpakutō into the Reigai will also affect the main body's performance."
The Benihime Reigai walked out of the tank. "Overall, I don't think this technology can bring an improvement to a Shinigami's combat power."
The Benihime Reigai was controlled by Urahara, so its words were his own.
"If used as a reconnaissance unit, it should be useful," Sora nodded.
"Hmm... the puppet can be controlled remotely, which can indeed make things safer for the Shinigami..." the Benihime Reigai stroked its chin.
That was precisely Sora's purpose.
The Sternritter had appeared in the recent Quincy war.
Other Shinigami who did not know the future were unaware of their identity, but Sora knew them well.
This group of elite Quincy came from the Wandenreich.
After Yhwach went to sleep, the Wandenreich was in a state of self-seclusion. The Sternritter would not leave for no reason.
And he had also seen their 'Vollständig' form.
This was a power bestowed by Yhwach.
The Quincy had not displayed this power when they attacked the Soul Society with Yhwach.
The 'Vollständig' of Robert and Quilge was either granted before Yhwach went to sleep, or he had awakened ahead of schedule.
Therefore, Sora wanted to go to the Wandenreich to investigate.
However, the Wandenreich was full of powerful fighters, and it would be extremely risky for him to go personally.
He planned to use the 'Reigai Puppet' technology to infiltrate.
After all, he was also a Quincy!
He was going to create a Quincy Reigai puppet and use it to sneak into the Wandenreich and gather intelligence.
"After being converted into a puppet, how does the Shinigami power detach?" Sora asked. This was a key question. If it couldn't be detached, the loss would be great.
"It's simple. Just destroy the puppet. When the puppet is destroyed, the Shinigami power will have no vessel and will automatically return to its owner,"
Urahara raised his hand, and the Benihime Reigai in front of him instantly turned to black ash. The Shinigami power returned to his body.
"Thank you for your hard work. I'll take this data back to study," after getting the data, Sora left Urahara's laboratory.
...
Two weeks later.
In Sora's laboratory, there was a new young girl with long, orange, wavy hair.
This girl, who looked identical to Sora's Quincy power, was the newly created Reigai puppet.
"The power of a Bount is to attach a part of one's soul to an object and transform it into a puppet..."
Sora now understood the source of the Bounts' power.
Shinigami power and Quincy power were also a part of his soul. Attaching his Quincy power to a Reigai puppet to transform it was, in principle, the same as the birth of a Bount puppet.
Sora had already attached his Quincy power to the Reigai puppet.
He now felt as if he were controlling a shadow clone, with multiple perspectives at the same time.
With his experience in controlling shadow clones, he quickly adapted to controlling the Reigai puppet.
"My Quincy power can also control shadows..."
Sora made a surprising discovery.
He found that even when he could only use his Quincy power, he could still control shadows.
"Could it be that my 'Schrift' ability is to control shadows?"
Sora thought of some of the elite Quincy who had their own unique abilities, like Gremmy's 'The Visionary'.
Sora tested the Quincy's shadow control. The ability was relatively basic, similar to his Shikai.
The most powerful Bankai ability, the ability to summon the shadows of himself and others to aid in battle, could not be used.
Sora tried to fire a Heilig Pfeil, but two targets were hit.
The shadow of the Heilig Pfeil could also cause damage to the target!
"The direction of shadow materialization has been enhanced. The combat power in my Quincy form can be guaranteed."
"Other functions are still to be developed..."
Sora controlled the Reigai puppet to sink into the shadow.
The puppet continuously descended within the shadow space, until it reached the depths.
A moment later, he found a space in the depths of the shadow that was isolated by a reishi shield.
Sora felt a heavy spiritual pressure fluctuation from the shield.
This level of spiritual pressure, in the entire Soul Society, could only be compared to Yamamoto's.
The spiritual pressure on the shield should be Yhwach's.
Sora took out a silver object. This was the Sun Gate Key he had confiscated from the Quincy instructor, Quilge.
Through the Sun Gate Key, he could enter the Wandenreich without a sound.
After approaching the reishi shield, the key was instantly activated, and an invisible wave enveloped his Reigai puppet.
Sora quickly understood the use of the invisible wave and passed directly through the reishi shield.
The result was as he had expected. He passed through smoothly.
"So this is the Wandenreich..."
Sora observed the environment inside the shield.
In the distance was a huge complex of palaces.
The architectural style was very familiar. He had seen this style in the scenes materialized by Gremmy.
"First, I'll sneak into Silbern."
Sora looked at the buildings in the very center of the complex. The tallest group of buildings was undoubtedly the main castle of the Wandenreich—Silbern.
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