Bleach: Stirring Up a Storm

According to Roca’s description, the ability of Soul-Snatching Web was not modification. It did not maintain the target’s individual consciousness while implanting thoughts of absolute trust or loyalty toward someone.

To be precise, Roca’s ability was a form of remolding. With her current level of power, she could only mold extremely simple, almost instinctual personalities—such as gluttony. Those controlled by her lacked even the most basic capacity for thought, let alone the ability to conduct research. At best, they were only slightly more advanced than machines executing fixed, repetitive actions.

This gave Kōe quite a headache. Relying on Roca’s ability, he could indeed control his intended targets, but if they lost their individual consciousness in the process, it would completely defeat the purpose.

For top-tier combatants like Starrk and Neliel, their combat instincts were certainly outstanding, but what made them truly valuable was their ability to adapt and strategize on the fly during a battle—something Kōe referred to as ”combat IQ.”

And for scientists like Szayelaporro, their uniquely brilliant minds were of the utmost importance. If they were reduced to mindless idiots, their existence would become entirely meaningless—at least to Kōe.

However, this flaw was not entirely irreparable. When Roca had invaded Soul Society, her use of the ability had leaned more toward instinct; all she could do was turn the targets of her Soul-Snatching Web into copies of herself.

But now, she could mold personalities that did not belong to her. Whether in terms of the precision or the intensity of her control, this was a clear sign of progress.

The Zanpakutō of a Shinigami and the innate abilities of a Menos were both capable of evolution. For example, the transition of a Zanpakutō from Shikai to Bankai was not merely a significant leap in Reiatsu, but also a massive enhancement in the strength of its abilities.

There were even special cases like Suì-Fēng’s Zanpakutō, Suzumebachi, where the abilities of its Shikai and Bankai were polar opposites, walking two entirely different paths.

Still at the Adjuchas stage, Roca remained constrained by her own ability. Much like a Shinigami who had only just achieved Shikai, she likely did not yet truly understand the power that belonged to her.

A Shinigami only truly began to master their Zanpakutō after training to the Bankai stage. According to Kōe’s reasoning, Roca would need to evolve into a Vasto Lorde before she could witness the full scope of her ability.

Helping Roca become a Vasto Lorde-class Menos in a short amount of time seemed to be the most direct and convenient solution. Coincidentally, this was exactly one of the research directions Kōe was currently pursuing.

The transition from a standard Hollow to a Menos was a process of increasing Reiatsu. However, becoming a conscious Gillian was a process of will conquering instinct—it was the very passport required to evolve into an Adjuchas.

Therefore, a conscious Gillian only needed to continuously devour its own kind; evolving into an Adjuchas was merely a matter of time.

But an Adjuchas evolving into a Vasto Lorde was a much more troublesome affair. Kōe had no experience fighting a Vasto Lorde-class Menos, nor had he ever witnessed the birth of one. Thus, his only current source of information was Roca.

Unfortunately, Roca’s description of a Vasto Lorde was far too abstract. In her mind, a Vasto Lorde-class Menos was simply fear incarnate—a terrifying existence that represented death itself.

This left Kōe feeling as though he were staring at an abstract painting; he knew it was supposed to be a masterpiece, but he had absolutely no idea why it was good. It was a truly headache-inducing description.

As for the question of how an Adjuchas evolved into a Vasto Lorde, Roca’s answer was roughly the same as what Kōe already knew. It required continuously devouring others to enhance one’s Reiatsu. If a point was reached where the Reiatsu could no longer grow, it meant that the Hollow was incapable of ever evolving into a Vasto Lorde.

Whether or not one could become a Vasto Lorde-class Menos was destined from birth. It was an unchangeable fate for every Hollow, or rather, every Adjuchas-class Menos. And this favorable fate only smiled upon a tiny minority of lucky individuals.

This minority was truly minuscule. One had to understand that in Hueco Mundo—a place where essentially every inhabitant was a warrior—there were, to Roca’s knowledge, only about five or six existing Vasto Lordes. There were absolutely no more than ten.

And how many Adjuchas were there? A relatively strong Adjuchas could devour thousands of other Adjuchas every single day, and this process could continue for years, even centuries.

From this alone, it was clear that becoming a Vasto Lorde-class Menos was no easy feat. Statistically speaking, it was tens of thousands of times more difficult than becoming a captain among the roughly three to four thousand Shinigami in the Gotei 13.

Because of this, there had always been a saying in the Seireitei: ten Vasto Lorde-class Menos could destroy the entirety of Soul Society. Of course, Kōe knew this was purely them scaring themselves. Ten of them? They might make a decent appetizer to go with Old Man Yama’s drinks, but leveling Soul Society? Forget about it.

However, it was undeniable that if he wanted to artificially interfere with the formation of a Vasto Lorde-class Menos, that baffling concept of ”destiny” was a problem he had to solve. Yet, at present, Kōe knew absolutely nothing about it.

Perhaps he could still approach it from the angle of Hollows undergoing Shinigamification. If he treated an Adjuchas as a Shinigami who had achieved Shikai, then a Vasto Lorde would be one who had achieved Bankai.

And Kōe couldn’t be clearer on the difference between Shikai and Bankai. To manifest one’s Zanpakutō spirit and force it into submission—that was Bankai.

Menos, however, did not have Zanpakutō. But the innate abilities they possessed were essentially equivalent to an invisible Zanpakutō. And from another perspective, a Zanpakutō could be viewed as a type of innate Kidō possessed by a Shinigami.

Kōe had already verified this point. Back in the underground training grounds, when he blocked Yoruichi’s Shikai, he had relied on [Bakudō #81・Dankū]—a special binding spell capable of completely defending against any Hadō up to number eighty-nine.

Roca’s ability could similarly be blocked by Dankū, which was enough to prove that Kōe’s line of thinking was correct.

The next step was figuring out how to manifest and conquer this ”innate Kidō.” To be honest, without a Zanpakutō acting as a medium, achieving this was going to be quite difficult.

Therefore, Kōe’s current train of thought remained focused on the exploration of Kidō. Or rather, he wanted to convert Roca’s ability into a Kidō, developing an entirely new spell.

This was completely different from Kōe’s initial process of developing Kidō. Everyone experienced the process of casting Kidō differently, and in this regard, Kōe was uniquely gifted. For him, casting a Kidō felt like using Reiryoku to trace out different intricate patterns.

As he delved deeper, the patterns he traced became increasingly clear in his perception. This allowed him to trace partial patterns of certain high-level Kidō, analyze their functions, and then make alterations to them, forming new Kidō that achieved his desired effects.

In essence, this was actually a form of deconstructing and reassembling known Kidō. Strictly speaking, they couldn’t be considered entirely brand-new spells.

But now, the process was completely different. To convert Roca’s ability into a Kidō meant he had to rely on his own power to trace an entirely new pattern—one where perhaps every single segment was unlike anything he had ever known. It carried a certain profound sense of piercing through illusions and grasping the true nature of things.

This was the path that every seeker of knowledge, seeker of truth, and pioneer would eventually walk. And now, Kōe had finally arrived at the starting line, embarking on his own long, solitary journey.

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