Chapter 078: Leveling an Alt to Feed Your Main
Matsushita Yusuke lay back on his bed and opened both quest reward screens with great satisfaction.
The first was the entry exam.
Every Zanpakuto category up by ten across the board: the kind of comprehensive boost that hit every system at once and left nothing untouched.
His Zanpakuto panel had changed dramatically.
[Zanpakuto Ability Panel]
[Physical: 28]
[Elemental: 14]
[Kido: 24]
[Biological: 17]
[Rule: 14]
This was it.
The closest he had ever come to Shikai threshold on any category. Physical was sitting two points away. Two.
The anticipation was real, and it wasn't even the main event.
Because Kijishi's timeline had been pushed back through Aizen's arrangements, Matsushita Yusuke had room to push hard on development without the immediate pressure. The window was there.
If the problem before joining the faction had been a consistent shortage of stat gain opportunities, then Aizen's private training was exactly what filled that gap.
This was looking very good.
He could start working on the next Zanpakuto appearance stage now if he wanted. But that could wait. The secondary details could wait.
Because the bigger reward was still coming.
The faction quest. The one that had been sitting there since chapter one.
Come on. Let's see it.
[Quest complete... Reward acquired]
[Rewards: Hogyoku Power (fragment), Kido Mastery, Kido Chant Omission (50%) Technique]
No raw stat numbers in this batch. But every one of these three was substantial in its own right.
Start with the simpler one.
[Kido Chant Omission (50%) Technique]: no direct stat increase, but by cutting the incantation time on any Kido by half, the practical effect in combat was the ability to catch opponents off guard at a frequency that would have been impossible before.
Incantation length was directly tied to output. Cutting it in half for any numbered spell, at any time, made ambushes significantly cleaner.
For context: in the original story, when Aizen revealed himself, even omitting a third of Kurohitsugi's chant had been enough to obliterate several opponents in an instant. With full output and only half the chant required, the implications were obvious.
Between this and the Kido Mastery still to come, his effective range in a fight had just expanded considerably.
Next.
[Kido Mastery]
This one was categorized differently. It didn't sit under techniques but appeared as a direct suffix attached to the four base disciplines, specifically Kido.
[Kido Mastery]
[You possess comprehensive knowledge of all Kido and understand their origins and principles. Using Kido comes as naturally to you as breathing, and your body has internalized the form that power takes. Kido output: +100%]
That was a blunt description for something extremely not blunt.
A flat doubling of output. No conditions, no caveats. Everything Kido-related hit twice as hard.
The most elegant kind of enhancement was the kind with no moving parts. This was exactly that.
Paired with the Chant Omission technique: half the casting time at double the output.
Matsushita Yusuke lay on his bed making a sound of unconcealed delight and rolled over.
Tonight was going to be a good night's sleep.
And then there was the last one. The one he was most curious about.
[Hogyoku Power (fragment)]
The Hogyoku was the root of everything Aizen had worked toward. The reason he had eventually concluded he could stand against Yamamoto himself. A fragment of that power, sitting now in Matsushita Yusuke's reward panel.
What would it actually do?
He focused on it, expecting something to materialize.
Nothing appeared.
Matsushita Yusuke stared at the empty space where something should have been.
Where's the Hogyoku? Hello?
Before he could form the question properly, another notification appeared.
[Hogyoku Power (fragment)] converting...
[Hollow Power Panel] has been unlocked for you.
The same disorienting flash as when he had first woken up in this world. A brief blankness, and then new content unfolded in front of him.
[Hollow Power Level: 0]
[Sonido: 0] [Cero: 0] [Hierro: 0]
[At Hollow Power 30: Hollow mask state becomes accessible]
[At Hollow Power 60: Resurreccion state becomes accessible]
[At Hollow Power 100: Hollow power fully integrates with Shinigami system]
[Note: Shinigami and Hollow panels and release abilities can be stacked. They do not conflict. Complete integration of Hollow power will substantially enhance overall capability.]
At the bottom of the panel, a small figure had appeared.
It looked like him.
Completely white. Hollowfied. And very small.
Also not particularly intelligent-looking.
Not the same situation as Ichigo's inner world. Whatever this was, it wasn't going to come charging at him announcing its intentions.
He reached toward it cautiously. Confirmed: it responded entirely to him. A separate controllable entity. A suit, essentially. No independent will.
After a brief stunned pause, Matsushita Yusuke processed the situation slowly.
Was this...
An alt account?
He looked at the panel layout. He could now switch between the Shinigami panel and the Hollow panel manually, as two separate but linked systems running under the same account.
Two completely different characters. Same player.
The Hogyoku fragment had essentially opened a second character slot.
And according to the description: the Hollow panel's stats could be developed independently, and their effects would stack directly onto the Shinigami side.
So the alt's progress fed directly into the main.
Leveling an alt to feed your main.
He could feel his gaming instincts going into planning mode immediately, alongside a faint ache of anticipated effort.
Game studios would do anything to keep players logging in.
But beyond the grind ahead: this was genuinely exciting.
His ceiling had just gone up again.
***
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