Bang—
With a dull impact, Kanoh Agito was sent flying, crashing onto the dojo floor.
He performed a clean breakfall, rolled, and sprang back to his feet, instinctively taking up a fighting stance.
But the man opposite him had already stopped attacking. Instead, he walked over and casually tossed Kanoh a bottle of water.
"Mr. Rei," Kanoh asked curiously as he caught it, "where do you think I'm lacking?"
This was the first time Kanoh had ever encountered someone like Kurosaki Rei—someone who completely overturned his worldview.
He had once believed he stood at the very peak of the world. Like a mountaineer who had conquered Everest and even challenged K2, he had become lonely at the top. There were barely any interesting fighters left who could face him, and as a result, his evolution had long since stagnated.
But now, he realized that there existed mountains far higher than any he had ever climbed—mountains so tall they reignited his fighting spirit.
"Where are you lacking?"
Kurosaki Rei took a sip of water and smiled.
"Everywhere."
He wasn't trying to belittle Kanoh, but since arriving in this world, Kurosaki Rei had indeed felt a hint of disappointment.
The abnormalities brought by the Origin Seed hadn't yet caused drastic changes—perhaps simply because not enough time had passed. At least for now, people like Kanoh still firmly belonged within the category of "human."
Kanoh's raw stats weren't as high as Kurosaki Rei's. As for technique, if one were to use the Space's proficiency rankings as a reference, Kurosaki Rei felt Kanoh had only just brushed against the threshold of the Master tier.
Raian, on the other hand, was probably only at the peak of Expert level for now.
Yes—Kurosaki Rei had discovered that the Space's combat proficiency ratings were surprisingly meaningful.
Judging purely from sparring experience, he honestly found the battles at the Shinigami Academy far more exhilarating. There, many opponents had higher stats than him, and some had trained for hundreds of years.
After being tempered by the Captain-Commander in the Bleach world, followed by his final duel with Captain Unohana, and further refining himself using the Space's mirror-training function, Kurosaki Rei's combat proficiency had skyrocketed.
Several of his core proficiencies had already broken past level 25 in the Master domain. By comparison, Kanoh probably hadn't even reached level 10. Raian, after Kurosaki Rei's "special training," could barely be considered Master-level.
The Space provided numerical references for combat proficiencies—higher levels granting higher damage bonuses—but numbers alone could never fully represent a martial artist's realm.
Understanding of martial arts, judgment in battle, instinct, perception of force flow—these combined factors were what truly determined a warrior's strength.
Kanoh wasn't weak. His stats weren't much lower than Kurosaki Rei's normal state.
So why could Kurosaki Rei so easily catch Kanoh's punch?
The answer was realm.
The moment Kanoh threw his punch, Kurosaki Rei had already grasped the flow of its power through pure instinct, vaguely capturing the "point" of force within it.
Kurosaki Rei remembered his master once saying that ancient martial artists from their homeland could perceive the core of objects and understand the principles behind force flow. Upon reaching such a realm, even the slightest effort could shatter a massive boulder.
Conversely, if one reached that realm, then even a punch carrying tremendous power could be neutralized—by analyzing its flow, finding its "point," and suppressing it with ease.
That was why Kurosaki Rei didn't retreat when catching Kanoh's full-powered blow.
It wasn't because his strength far surpassed Kanoh's—it was because he had grasped martial arts.
He wasn't overpowering Kanoh with brute force. He was blocking with technique.
To ordinary people, this might sound mystical and incomprehensible—but Kurosaki Rei could do it.
And the cruel truth was that this kind of skill was extremely difficult to teach. It required not experience or hard training, but talent.
Even if another explorer possessed the same level-25 Master-tier combat proficiency, they wouldn't be able to replicate this feat. They lacked the ability to perceive the "point" of force—that eye, that instinct.
It was precisely because of this combat talent that Kurosaki Rei had completed an impossible task in the Bleach world. Otherwise, how could he have surpassed Captain Unohana—an absolute sword genius with a millennium of experience—in technique?
In terms of pure proficiency, she was far above him.
Yet he still won—because of combat intuition.
"Everywhere, huh…"
Kanoh didn't sound dejected. He wasn't talkative by nature and wasn't good at expressing emotions, but after today's sparring, he had truly felt his own shortcomings.
He understood now: the man before him possessed a superhuman physique rivaling Wakatsuki Takeshi, yet had never neglected technical training. That was how he achieved such overwhelming strength.
Kanoh couldn't change his physique—but he believed his technique could still improve.
Because a new mountain had appeared before him.
"You two really are obsessed with fighting," a pleasant female voice came from the dojo entrance. "You've been at it since morning, haven't you?"
Kurosaki Rei and Kanoh turned their heads.
Standing there was Katahara Sayaka, daughter of Katahara Metsudo.
"Sorry, it was me asking Mr. Rei for guidance," Kanoh said honestly, offering an apology. As the daughter of his benefactor, he naturally treated her with respect.
Kurosaki Rei glanced at Sayaka. She was in her early twenties, tall and well-proportioned, with healthy tan skin and a lively, energetic aura.
He remembered that she would later serve as the host of the Kengan Annihilation Tournament—capable, professional, and excellent at hyping the crowd.
Seeing her up close for the first time, though, one thought couldn't help surfacing:
Katahara Metsudo is something else… She must've been born when he was over seventy, right?
"Rei, this is the information you asked for," Sayaka said.
Despite having met him only twice, she spoke with easy familiarity—but it wasn't unpleasant. This, too, was one of her talents: she got along well with almost everyone.
"Thanks, Sayaka," Kurosaki Rei replied.
He took the documents, flipped through a few pages, and quickly understood everything.
This file was the joint investigation result of the Wu Clan and Katahara Metsudo—comprehensive and highly reliable. When these two forces worked together, efficiency was guaranteed.
Less than twenty-four hours had passed since Kurosaki Rei made the request the previous night.
"Recently, there really has been someone within the Kengan Association whose behavior is… a bit abnormal," Sayaka said curiously. "Mr. Rei, why are you looking into them?"
Kanoh also looked toward Kurosaki Rei, unsure of his purpose.
"Of course, to eliminate anomalies," Kurosaki Rei replied calmly, closing the file.
He already knew who to look for.
Although many Kengan fighters had seen minor improvements recently, the most abnormal by far was a newly arrived fighter from Kōō Academy—
Kiryu Setsuna.
Kurosaki Rei remembered this character quite clearly—not because of sheer strength, but because of how utterly unhinged he was.
In the original story, Kiryu Setsuna was the protagonist's deranged stalker—powerful, emotionally twisted, and utterly merciless when killing. Back when Kurosaki Rei first read the manga, he had assumed Kiryu was the protagonist's destined rival, someone who would fight his way to the finals.
Who could've guessed the manga would refuse to follow clichés? Just when it seemed that the early "background character" Kuroki Gensai would be used to prop Kiryu up—
The old master crushed Kiryu without mercy.
If Kiryu Setsuna had obtained the Origin Seed, then he had become far more dangerous. Judging him by his original strength would be a fatal mistake.
Combined with the recent surge in explorer-hunting incidents, everything suddenly made sense to Kurosaki Rei.
He had originally thought a violator was behind it all—but now it seemed far more likely that Kiryu Setsuna was the killer.
After all, his "beloved" Ohma Tokita was dead.
Kurosaki Rei wasn't arrogant enough to think explorers were all weak. The fact that Kiryu could repeatedly hunt down high-attribute explorers meant he had already gained significant power.
Fortunately, Kurosaki Rei had used his brain this time.
By leveraging external forces, he had locked onto the target in just six days.
The Kengan Annihilation Tournament hadn't even begun yet.
At this point, Kiryu Setsuna shouldn't have grown to an uncontrollable level.
And that meant—
It was time to act.
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