Chapter 20: Ch21: Next Realm

Silas sat at his homestead cook fire surrounded by Shinigami, bounts, and his wayward former slaves and overseer. Grease smeared his mouth, and his stomach bulged with salty pork and cabbage boiled in spirit water. Silas drank spirit water with crushed grapes added for flavor and cultivated quickly.

 

More spirit energy entered his body than most could handle, and he pushed it into his remaining veins and capillaries. Cultivation wasn’t supposed to be sped up or forced without building a proper foundation of knowledge, resources, and mentorship. Any mistakes could damage his future advancements. Still, he ate like a pig in front of his guests to gather all the spirit energy he needed to reach the peak of the pre-natal realm or the realm before the first stage. But, of course, with the amount of pork he was eating, he might have had a heart attack from the cholesterol.

 

98%

98.67%

98.993%

98.9992%

 

He was so close and felt more powerful than ever. Normally a mentor would help him through the first hurdle, but he was laughably the most knowledgeable cultivator present. Cultivating was dangerous at the best of times, and having enemies nearby when he reached the first stage wasn’t ideal. It could crack his foundation if he was attacked at a critical point. Fortunately, Silas attempted to move to the first rank, cultivating vital organs under Yoruichi’s watch.

 

Some called it the hardening or conditioning stage when it was transforming the human body to handle spiritual energy. So in a sense, the early stage of cultivation used the human body as scaffolding to mold spiritual energy to the body.

 

“If thou do not mind my questioning, what is that red-capped mushroom for,” Kisuke said.

 

The others quickly took an interest in the fungus Silas had taken from his cave. Potent spiritual energy radiated off the fungus in waves from its sheer spiritual importance. In the Americas, it was highly valued by priests, mainly the Aztec worshippers of Quetzalcoatl. They called the mushroom Teolnanacatl, believed to translate to god’s flesh mushroom. It was the most potent spiritually of the many fungi in his cave. While he had no idea if it was the correct Aztec mushroom, it was the most spiritually potent, and the cows he fed it to hadn’t died.

 

99.18739%

 

 

“Methinks thou can sense the shroom’s spiritual potency. As for what it's for, I will use it to ascend to the next stage.” Silas said.

 

It was not clearly answered by the raised eyebrow of Yoruichi and Kisuke. They clearly spend a lot of time together if they share reactions like that.

 

“Methinks further clarification tis required, lord,” Eugene said.

 

Silas saw the man smile and felt like a rabbit under the eyes of a hawk. Did he plan to use the Shinigami’s natural adversity to allow others to gain the power to remove their protection? It was a smart move; if the Shinigami left, then Silas would be vulnerable. He might as well leave for greener pastures, perhaps out in the desert where there are fewer people. Bounts feed on human souls, so a lack of people would make their pursuit difficult. Dotty had far more endurance than any horse on the farm or in the world, most likely.

 

“I have merged spiritual energy with the veins, arteries, and capillaries that run through my body. That was in preparation for what I would like to call the next realm, fusing spiritual energy with my heart. Doing so would allow my body to pump spiritual energy throughout my body. The mushroom tis a method to expedite the process. It will increase my reserves by a factor of 3.” Silas said.

 

 From a normal human to the first stage was normally an increase by a factor of 10, but he reached the 10 times increase at 80% vein cultivation. Silas could sense he should get 3 times increase at a minimum by making the final leap into the first stage. As for why he was so much stronger than what was natural, he blamed his lack of resources ironically. Silas wasn’t taking pills to speed up the process and instead concentrated spiritual energy. He wasn’t a half-taught servant working off the right to cultivate. Silas knew how to cultivate properly and wouldn’t make the same mistakes.

 

“That isn’t bad for a human; any new powers?” Yoruichi asked.

 

“Mayhap everything I do now, I will do better. Tis an important leap and the true first step; all I have done until now was preparation. This farm was built for that reason, along with earning money.” Silas said.

 

Kisuke chuckled. “Well, thou must make a living. I am curious. Do thou mind if I watch?”

 

“I think we should help him, mistress,” Soifon said.

 

“Methinks thou would think differently if thou knew who he would marry. The same tart who held thee at spell point tis Silas’s betrothed.” Yoruichi said.

 

Ok, maybe Yoruichi wasn’t on his side after all, or she could be trying to gauge how he reacted to accusations. Then again, this could be a scheme to get back at John.

 

Soifon gave him a sad look. “Methinks by that look that she was a terrible captor. If so, I apologize on her behalf; it was never my intention to bind thee before we sought the hollow in its den. Thou would have been bored by the battle. I fear my part was carving formations.” Silas said.

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“From John’s words, thy wood carvings decided the battle by ripping the resources the hollow gathered. Thou art a strange human but not an enemy to soul society by my reckoning. Thy land would make an excellent retreat for Shinigami on duty. If thou were willing to take up such a task under the great house of Shihouin, then I would stand vigil in thy protection.” Yoruichi said. “Besides, thou helped out my dear little bee. Tis the least I can do.”  

 

“Mistress, thou give a great honor,” Soifon said, pulling him to his knees beside her to bow.

 

She gripped his hand, and it was an experience he wouldn’t forget. Soifon’s body, if it could be called that, was more a human-shaped mass of powerful aura than a body with a nucleus of spiritual energy. To his spiritual sense, her hand felt soft, if a bit cooler than he expected. Then again, she was a little further away from the fire than he was.

 

Once Soifon allowed him to sit upright again, he picked up the mushroom and glared at it. “I have heard of some Aztec soul reapers referring to a certain mushroom as God flesh. Methinks that is what thou hold.” Kisuke said.

 

“It isn’t the flesh of a god, believe it or not, or naturally spiritual. Tis belief that makes it so. Or that’s what I have observed. If I say anything queer, do not hold it against me.”

 

“Thy foolishness under the effects of thy mystical mushroom will be forgiven,” Yoruichi said.

 

Silas took a bite and felt massive amounts of spirit energy flood his body. All of his will and focus, every bit of spiritual power he possessed, devoted itself to pushing the vast well of spiritual power through his veins. That was the reason for their cultivation to allow the quick and efficient flow of spiritual energy. Veins were the nutrient highway of the body, and he had made them suitable for transporting spiritual energy. His 100% cultivation of them allowed every bit of the mushroom’s spiritual energy to travel to his heart, where he went to work.

 

His first beat resounded, and he flooded the massive muscle with all the spiritual energy he could and went to work cultivating it with all the skill he gained from his past life. Time was of the essence; if he failed, any new attempts would weaken his foundation more until he succeeded or ruined his heart and died. Silas knew the game and focused on areas that weren’t compromised by the beating of his heart first.

 

Once the easy parts were done, he worked on the intricate areas and used full beats to complete sections. There were only 9 heartbeats allowed per attempt, and he calmed himself enough to slow his heart rate.

 

Fortunately, there were no pillars or foundations to set, only a single heart to cultivate with spiritual energy. Crisscrossing patterns appeared along Silas’s heart to his spiritual sense as he finished delicate work. The mushroom’s psychedelic effects hadn’t kicked in yet, allowing him to get the job done right the first time.

 

Silas felt his heartbeat send spiritual energy echoing through his body and carried through his veins. He felt the change subtly at first while his aura rose. The heart is the first vital organ cultivated, and the brain last. Spiritual energy like oxygen would travel through his body, and a certain amount would be cultivated with every heartbeat. Even his veins sucked in some spiritual energy.

 

With the change, he started seeing things. He could feel his aura grow beyond what he thought possible. Instead of three times his 100%, it was more like 5. While he hadn’t been incredibly strong before, the jump was highly noticeable.

 

Colors swam around him as thoughts took him back in time; he wanted to build a great machine to suck up all the spiritual energy in the world to hasten his cultivation. That idea had been shot down by practically everyone stronger than him. But, apparently, that’s the idea every young formations specialist gets when they learn how to manipulate the currents of spirit energy. Between finding that bastard X and calculating the trajectory of spirit particles from differing fractal positions in grand arrays, the mundane nature of his craft knocked out his dream.

 

He no longer needed to take it all for himself when he could produce it. Unless he captured a hollow, forced it to open a Garganta, and tossed a signal rod through it.

 

Silas stood up, the world danced while his aura tossed up dirt, and he heard the most obnoxious laughter. He needed many herbs and an area that wouldn’t attack the malignant energy within the corpses. There was also the need to make a post connected to Oscar to siphon the hollow’s energy.

 

He stood on his feet and jumped but didn’t manage to fly. That didn’t feel right to him; he remembered being able to fly before, but after he died, he couldn’t. Memories plagued him while his heartbeat steadily pumped spirit energy through his body, transforming him. He was in the first stage and could be called a cultivator.

 

When he came to his senses, Silas found himself in his bed with Soifon sleeping on top of him. His memories blurred into flashes of opaque colors, but he wasn’t unhappy. Having a beauty like Soifon on his chest wasn’t bad.

 

It was strange being in the first stage after so much time being mortal. His body ached from the constant influx of spirit energy, but that would pass. His current cultivation and the spirit energy of his property could be a decade before he reached the second or foundation stage, as many call it.

 

Silas couldn’t take mushrooms again; they messed with his sense of time and reality. At one point, he remembered conversing with a strange red woman about the fundamental nature of reality. The discussion included a theory about a flesh queen. If there was a balance and one side of that balance represented all things spiritual, then surely there was a representative of all things physical. But, of course, those were the ravings of Silas’s insane mind demanding parity from an uncaring universe.

 

He had things to do and so little time to do them. Being in the first stage would help, but he needed to dig his cave deeper and recurve it for better efficiency. Soul society could still try to purge him, and who knows what other monsters would come out of the woodworks. Aizen might pay him a visit and ask if he wants to see the man’s Shikai.

 

Silas closed his eyes and had the best sleep of his life. He felt Soifon’s nubile body press against him and hoped they could do things together next time she visited.

 

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