Unohana swiftly healed her injuries, though she did not erase the scars completely. "You have passed the assessment. You may graduate from Shin'o Academy now."
She walked over to Luke and picked up the arm she had severed. "Let me handle this. Your Kaidō still isn't good enough."
As she spoke, she reattached Luke's arm and began restoring it with Kaidō.
Luke had to admit that Unohana far surpassed him in the field of Kaidō. In only a few breaths, his arm had fully healed. He moved it a little and found no lingering issues.
"Thank you for showing mercy, Teacher Unohana."
Luke said.
"Oh? I didn't show mercy. You really did win that final exchange."
Unohana tied her hair back into its usual style, then glanced at the wrecked Japanese-style room with a headache brewing. She had assumed the fight would end quickly. Instead, it had turned into this disaster. The old man was definitely going to chew her out afterward.
"There were several times when I was injured, yet you didn't press your advantage, did you?"
Luke grinned. "If you had kept the pressure on then, I might have lost before I could use Shikai."
Although he had told Sosuke that he had grasped some of the key points of Shikai, he had not been completely certain he could release it. In the end, he had only succeeded by trusting his instincts and taking a dangerous gamble.
It was not that he needed to be on death's door before he could fight seriously. Rather, if he had entered that resonant state again and lost consciousness like before, he would have been truly finished.
That was why he had initially chosen to fight Unohana without using Shikai. But after trading blades with her, he had reached a conclusion: without Shikai, his chances of defeating Unohana were far too slim.
"A win is a win. And haven't you forgotten something?"
Unohana straightened her clothes, seeming to return to the gentle, beautiful Fourth Division captain everyone knew. "This is my examination hall, not my hunting ground."
Luke froze. "Come to think of it... Teacher Unohana, what exactly were the passing conditions for this assessment?"
Unohana wore a gentle smile. "Didn't I tell you? You pass as long as you survive under my attacks for ten minutes."
Luke: ???
You never told me that!
Thinking about it carefully, Unohana had already stopped attacking before he released his Zanpakuto.
At the time, he had thought she was excited by the prospect of a worthy opponent and wanted to see how he would change. But calculating the time now, had he already passed by then? Was that why she had stopped attacking?
Then he had released his Zanpakuto, gotten fired up, and fought Unohana to determine a winner...
"So not only have you passed, I personally give you full marks. Don't worry. Tomorrow, you will officially become a member of the Gotei 13."
Unohana smiled, walked to the entrance, and slid open the door. Then, under Luke's thoroughly bewildered gaze, she left the examination hall.
Surviving for ten minutes under the attack of a captain-level opponent had been the assessment standard set by the Captain-Commander. But Unohana had to admit that she had gotten a little carried away midway through.
If Luke had not displayed new power through his Shikai, she might truly have "accidentally" killed him during their extended battle.
Once Unohana had left, Luke looked down at the only intact scrap of cloth preserving his dignity and let out a long breath.
The instant Unohana vanished, he heard Endspace's notification, informing him that his main mission had been completed.
He had gained the qualification to return. However, the mission's predetermined stay had only been three months, so he could remain in the world of Bleach for at most two more days. Once that limit passed, Endspace would forcibly retrieve him.
Luke lowered his eyes to [Prison Demon]. Although its Shikai had been released, it had transformed from an Asauchi into his personal Zanpakuto, and its appearance had changed accordingly.
Vine-like engravings had appeared along the formerly silver-white blade, while the pure white hilt had become purple-black. The entire weapon gave off an air of mystery and danger.
When he used Endspace's appraisal function again, its information had changed.
[Prison Demon]
Origin: Bleach (Derivative World No. 401118)
Rarity: Rare
Main Weapon Type: Blade
Durability: 60/60
Sharpness: 20
Toughness: 20
Description: A Zanpakuto forged when Explorer No. 40440404 infused their soul into an Asauchi. Automatically bound. This equipment cannot be sold or traded, and no other user can activate this weapon.
Weapon Skill 1 (Passive): Soul Nourishment
Skill Description: After the Explorer kills an enemy using [Prison Demon], it devours a small portion of the enemy's soul power to nourish [Prison Demon], increasing its growth progress. The Explorer may also feed [Prison Demon] with their own soul, greatly increasing its growth progress through this method. Warning: This method is extremely dangerous.
Current Growth Progress: 0%
Weapon Skill 2 (Active): Shikai
Skill Description: Upon releasing Shikai, the Explorer continuously consumes Soul Source to manifest [Prison Demon's] form. While in Shikai, all of the Explorer's combat attributes temporarily increase by 2 points, neural response speed is enhanced to a certain degree, and [Prison Demon's] Sharpness and Toughness increase.
When [Prison Demon] damages an enemy, it inflicts an Erosion effect. An enemy affected by Erosion has their natural recovery rate reduced by 10% and suffers Erosion damage every second equal to 10% of the attack's maximum damage. The Erosion effect lasts 5 seconds, and Erosion applied to the same wound can stack.
Cooldown: None
Rating: 100+ (30–100)
Evaluation: A demon god is imprisoned within your heart.
After awakening, his Zanpakuto had become his personal growth-type main weapon. Every one of its attributes had undergone a massive leap, while Shikai's effects were brutally straightforward. Luke could regard the attribute boosts as this world's equivalent of increasing Spiritual Pressure.
The 10% reduction to healing might not look like much, but it would be devastating against enemies with powerful regeneration. During his fight with Unohana, it had affected even her Kaidō recovery speed. And the Erosion damage-over-time effect was vicious too—each of his slashes effectively came with an extra 50% delayed damage.
Most importantly, the effect had no cooldown. In a prolonged battle, the damage he inflicted would accumulate to increasingly horrifying levels until his enemy suddenly collapsed past the breaking point.
His attributes had not all risen by 2 points in the battle against Unohana. The main reason was the field's suppression, which prevented him from breaking past sixteenth-tier Spiritual Pressure. In a free state, he could unleash even greater combat power.
As for Endspace's rating system, he had learned the rough ranges from the information available in Endspace over the past few months.
At his current authority level, the equipment grades he knew were: Broken, Gray-White, Fine, and Rare. Anything beyond that remained unknown.
Broken equipment was basically trash, rated at 0. Gray-White equipment ranged from 1 to 10, Fine equipment from 11 to 30, while Rare-grade equipment had a much wider range.
His current [Prison Demon] was rated as a Rare-grade item at the maximum score. By Luke's estimation, it was an excellent weapon among rookie Explorers.
After reviewing [Prison Demon's] attributes, Luke stepped out of the examination hall and discovered someone waiting outside.
It was Sosuke, holding a fresh set of clothes.
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