join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr
"If you suddenly sneeze, it must be me cursing you..."
Humming a tune that was completely off-key, Ishikawa spun his hammer a few times in his palm while looking at the new door he had made, nodding in satisfaction.
Behind him, the Maggot's Nest was bustling with activity, as prisoners in pristine white uniforms were busy cleaning it with various tools.
Similar deep cleans were carried out several times a month.
Initially, some were unwilling to work, but after a few years, no one refused anymore, because the madman humming terrible songs was truly mad...
If they didn't want to be beaten, and by that, he meant the kind of torture where they were beaten, healed, and then beaten again, it was better to just obey him honestly.
Many times, even if they hadn't provoked this madman, as long as he found a reason, he would still beat them up.
His posture was as if he was treating them as human punching bags.
Over time, whenever Ishikawa arrived, all the prisoners would become model prisoners. The few troublemakers occasionally didn't even need Ishikawa to act; they would be dragged aside and severely dealt with by other prisoners who feared being implicated.
The main gate of the Maggot's Nest remained open as usual.
However, the several prisoners cleaning the dust from the gate were all meticulously cleaning, not even glancing at the exit.
This was because, in the past, if they looked at the exit a few too many times, the madman would use the excuse of 'you're trying to escape' to beat up all the prisoners.
However, besides constantly beating the prisoners, they also had to admit that ever since Ishikawa took over the Maggot's Nest, both the living environment and the quality of life had significantly improved.
He even made many recreational items for them, such as mahjong, poker, and a fighting arena.
From time to time, he would also help them improve their meals. It could be said that, apart from the 'liking to use prisoners for practice' aspect, everything else made the prisoners feel that...
Warden Ishikawa treated them as humans.
Hmm...
When he was beating them, that madman definitely didn't treat them as humans!!!
"Da da da—"
Ishikawa used the newly made doors to replace the damaged ones one by one.
Normally, doors should be the least likely things to break. Although the doors Ishikawa made were wooden, he would carve some reinforcement Spiritual Crests onto them after they were made. Normal opening and closing would never cause the doors to break.
However...
For these guys, who had nowhere to vent their energy and would kick down doors to break into other people's cells at the slightest provocation, no matter how sturdy Ishikawa made the doors, they still needed to be replaced several times every month.
However, Ishikawa didn't find it troublesome. Anyway, besides tidying up, he had nothing else to do every time he came.
Giving himself more work might even increase his favorability in Soi Fon's eyes.
Although he hadn't seen Soi Fon for a while, ever since Ishikawa returned from Hueco Mundo, his several attempts to visit were met with rejection from Soi Fon, as if she didn't even want to see him.
This made Ishikawa realize that she must have discovered something.
Thinking of this, Ishikawa couldn't help but sigh.
Making friends is good, but the process of making friends is mutual understanding. While he understands his friends, those friends will also gradually understand him.
Many things are easy to hide from people who don't understand you, but it's very difficult to deceive people who understand you well.
"Ishikawa-sama, our cleaning is complete."
Nijima approached Ishikawa, adopting the posture of a loyal lackey, and said, "Would you like to inspect it?"
"No need."
Ishikawa shook his head, stood up, and looked around. He found that, except for a few individuals who had returned to their rooms to sleep, most people were standing upright nearby, saluting him with their attention.
"Very good. It seems you've stayed here because you want me to check your progress in strength, right?"
"???"
The expressions of all the prisoners changed, and then their eyes turned into dead fish eyes.
What else do you want us to do?
They were standing here, naturally not to have Ishikawa check some ridiculous progress in strength.
It was because the last time Ishikawa beat them, his reason was:
"You finished cleaning and went to rest without waiting for my inspection. It seems I need to teach you what discipline is."
Then, using that as an excuse, he brutally beat all the prisoners.
Therefore, this time, after they finished cleaning, most of them stayed here, only hoping that Ishikawa would be satisfied and leave.
As a result...
This madman, now he's not even pretending.
How could anyone living here care about strength or anything like that!
...
Two hours later, Ishikawa stretched his shoulders and walked out of the Maggot's Nest with a look of relief.
Indeed, if he wanted sparring partners, the people in the Maggot's Nest were the most suitable.
Regardless of whether there was a strength gap, or whether they were afraid in their hearts, once they saw red, these guys would charge forward completely oblivious to their own lives.
Moreover, fighting them, besides refining some moves, also allowed him to research and experiment on everyone's spiritual bodies under the guise of 'treatment'.
To others, these were just a group of prisoners.
But in Ishikawa's eyes, this group of people were invaluable sparring partners, plus precious samples that he could conduct human experiments on at will!
Therefore, Ishikawa had always taken great care of the prisoners in the Maggot's Nest.
From time to time, he would even pay out of his own pocket to treat them to incredibly lavish meals, although most of the time... Ishikawa would add some of his self-made potions to these meals and then observe their reactions after eating them.
The only regrettable thing was...
He couldn't kill anyone!
If he could kill people, the entire Soul Society might not be able to find such a perfect human experimentation base where samples could be continuously replenished.
But experiments are experiments. Under the premise that no one can die and no after-effects can be left, whether it's the research on those potions or the carving of Spiritual Crests on them, it will ultimately bring them some benefits, which can also be considered a kind of alternative compensation.
Some prisoners had their Reiatsu enhanced, while others had their physical condition improve.
However, Ishikawa did not research everything like some other mad scientists.
Although he researched quite a few things, his main research direction had never changed, which was the study of tracking-type Kido.
The research on tracking-type Kido, from the time Ishikawa entered Seireitei until now, has never stopped, but the gains have been minimal.
This made Ishikawa feel a bit anxious.
Regardless of his progress in strength, if he couldn't create a method to be immune to Kyōka Suigetsu, Ishikawa would be at a disadvantage from the start when fighting that Lord of Hair Gel.
After all, he wasn't some substitute Shinigami who could be immune to someone's abilities just by relying on 'protagonist's halo'.
But if Kido that could be immune to Kyōka Suigetsu were that easy to create, that Lord of Hair Gel wouldn't have been such a good guy in Seireitei for so many years.
In fact, besides tracking-type Kido, Ishikawa had also researched integrating Kaido into the body to create a technique similar to Shunko.
However, this research has been abandoned by Ishikawa.
Because...
It's useless now.
Originally, his plan was to integrate Kaido into his physique to gain an ability similar to a Hollow's 'ultra-fast regeneration', while Kaido could also continuously restore his Reiatsu, allowing him to fight for longer.
However, after Ishikawa's physique broke through to the Top Level, he naturally acquired an ability close to 'ultra-fast regeneration'.
Ishikawa had experimented with his recovery ability during this time. Ordinary knife wounds, even without treatment, could generally heal within half a minute, provided there was no strong Reiatsu residue in the wound.
As for whether he could regrow severed limbs, Ishikawa was unsure.
He wasn't crazy enough to cut off his own arm to see if it could grow back... After all, with Ishikawa's mastery of Kaido, regrowing a new arm was not an easy task.
Moreover, whether it was reattaching a severed arm or finding a way to grow a new one, Ishikawa couldn't guarantee that the recovered arm would be able to exert the same strength as the original.
Getting back to the main topic.
Self-healing ability was already present, and the ability to restore Reiatsu could be completely replaced by Development Spiritual Marks, so whether or not to integrate Kaido into the body like Kido was no longer necessary for Ishikawa.
System, give me some strength!!
Ishikawa silently encouraged the system in his heart, although he also knew that only after he created a prototype could the system perform deductions.
"Sigh—"
Sighing softly, Ishikawa looked at the system interface in his mind.
...
Name: Ishikawa
Race: Human
Level: Third Stage
Physique: Top Level (15377 / 1000000)
Reiatsu: Top Level (311090 / 1000000)
Hakuda: High Level (2864 / 100000)
Shunpo: Top Level (0 / 1000000)
Zanjutsu: High Level (16540 / 100000)
Zanpakuto: High Level (53642 / 100000)
...
Looking at the numerous zeros, and then at the mere 70,000 experience points, and then thinking about the various demons and monsters hidden throughout Seireitei, Ishikawa only felt a bleak future.
His physique remained as unmoving as ever, or rather, it hadn't moved before either.
Although increased Reiatsu could drive physique, there was still an upper limit. Once that limit was reached, no matter how much Reiatsu increased, his physique remained unchanged.
As for Zanjutsu, it steadily improved, neither making rapid progress nor stagnating.
Instead, Shunpo, which was originally far weaker than Zanjutsu, had hit a bottleneck, but Ishikawa was not anxious. Top Level Shunpo was already sufficient to handle most situations.
However...
Ishikawa's 'gaze' lingered on the Zanpakuto for a moment. Just one complete Shikai caused the Zanpakuto's proficiency to skyrocket.
Rather than saying he made the Zanpakuto stronger, it was more like the Zanpakuto's own consciousness was eager to become stronger.
But it still posed no threat to him. In a one-on-one situation, no matter how strong it became, he had never lost in Sword Zen, unless it was intentional...
Originally, Ishikawa would intentionally lose sometimes, but now, Ishikawa would often enter his spiritual world to fight his Zanpakuto and then emerge victorious.
Of course, for fairness.
Ishikawa mostly used Kido to respond, purely engaging in Kido offense and defense with his Zanpakuto to train his Kido. Only when he was about to lose would he use other techniques.
Erasing the true name was not a step that could be completed in a short time.
Although Ishikawa had already mastered the method, he needed to gradually reshape his Zanpakuto before he could give it a new name.
As for whether this new name could change the Zanpakuto's abilities, Ishikawa wasn't very sure.
But one thing he could be certain of was...
The moment he completed the reshaping, the Zanpakuto would completely become his own ability, and the sword itself... or rather, the Asauchi, would no longer be important to Ishikawa.
If he wanted to, even if the 'shell' of the Asauchi that contained the ability disappeared, he could still condense a new sword, and even without the Asauchi as a medium, he could use the Zanpakuto's abilities.
To give a simple example, the Asauchi in Ishikawa's hand now was like a kind of egg, and what Ishikawa had to do was hatch this egg. When the new Zanpakuto hatched, the eggshell named 'Asauchi' would become something that could be discarded at will.
Of course, this was Ishikawa's ultimate goal.
To achieve this, many preconditions still needed to be met!
Before that...
The Zanpakuto in Ishikawa's hand was nothing more than scrap metal that could be used for cutting.
Shaking his head, he didn't dwell on the Zanpakuto any further. Ishikawa turned his gaze to his Reiatsu, his expression somewhat conflicted.
During this time, he had been considering whether or not to challenge Captain Unohana.
But...
That first encounter had deeply imprinted Unohana Retsu's figure in Ishikawa's mind. The trembling from the depths of his soul had not subsided even now.
It made Ishikawa realize that until the trembling disappeared, he had no right to draw his sword before her.
It was as if she knew that one day he would challenge her, and she had already set a threshold for Ishikawa's challenge.
When his strength was insufficient, he didn't have this feeling; only after his strength grew stronger did he realize this, and the impression Unohana Retsu left on him at that time became even deeper.
300,000 Reiatsu proficiency was already among the best of Low Level Captains, even stepping into the threshold of Mid Level Captains.
Yet, even with such strength, he still trembled in his soul whenever he thought of fighting Unohana Retsu.
How strong could she actually be?
Ishikawa made a rough estimation.
Putting aside other aspects, she had claimed to have mastered all schools and sword styles thousands of years ago, so her Zanjutsu had most likely reached Top Level full proficiency.
Even if not full, it should be infinitely close...
Considering her other abilities, Ishikawa's mouth twitched slightly, and he decisively gave up the idea of challenging Unohana Retsu.
Hmm...
He wasn't afraid. He just wanted to try other ways to make friends with her. There was no need for violence to make a friend...
After comforting himself in his heart, Ishikawa walked straight into the Comprehensive Relief Station.
He wasn't after anything else, just safety!
"Hmm?"
As soon as he entered the Comprehensive Relief Station, Ishikawa was startled.
Looking around, he saw a group of Fourth Division Squad Members gathered together, seemingly watching something.
Ishikawa went to the back of the crowd, and when he heard their conversation, he almost turned around and left immediately.
"Why is Captain Aizen here?"
"It seems a Squad Member was injured during an external support mission."
"Captain Aizen is truly gentle. He personally brought the injured Squad Member for treatment."
"Yes, I originally wanted to join the Fifth Division. How wonderful it would be if I could meet a Captain like Captain Aizen... Hmm, of course, that's not to say Captain Unohana isn't gentle, but a gentle and refined man like Captain Aizen is a woman's best reliance!"
"Tsk tsk, didn't you say yesterday that Mr. Ishikawa was a woman's best reliance?"
"That's a different matter. Mr. Ishikawa is indeed as gentle and kind as Captain Aizen, but strength is the fundamental thing."
"..."
Safety?
If it weren't for the fact that leaving right after arriving would easily arouse suspicion, Ishikawa would have already used Shunpo to escape back to the Maggot's Nest.
Hmm...
It should still be safe. He couldn't possibly be here for him, could he?
Apparently, it seemed, perhaps... it wasn't entirely impossible.
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr