Chapter 307: Lilynette's New Ability
Young friend Satoru,
I hope this letter finds you well.
Our previous spar was most enjoyable. This old man's body is fine, so do not worry.
If you wish to spar again, you may notify the Shiba Clan at any time and come via the Heavenly Pillar Chariot.
I am prepared and ready for a second round at any time.
You have lofty aspirations, young friend. Stay true to your heart—do not frequently shift your goals and disturb your spirit.
As a pioneer on the path of Shinigami, though I cannot openly assist you, I shall offer my silent support in spirit.
Should you encounter any difficulties in your training, feel free to consult this old man at any time.
By the way, is the Silver Rathalos' difficulty intentional? Merely a Flying Wyvern, yet its challenge rivals that of an Elder Dragon?
I am not angered by this, but I must remind the designers to watch their step when going out!
— Hyōsube Ichibe'e
Holding the letter in his hand, Satoru narrowed his eyes with an expression of speechless exasperation.
He casually guessed that the Great Monk had used a Longsword against Silver Rathalos.
This wasn't clairvoyance—he'd simply noticed that most Shinigami in Soul Society gravitated toward Longswords when playing the hunting game.
They seemed convinced that real-life sword mastery would seamlessly translate to virtual prowess.
Had they shown some adaptability and brought ranged weapons instead, they wouldn't have resorted to complaint letters.
Satoru tossed the letter aside and snorted coldly.
"Frivolous pursuits corrupt noble aspirations—unbecoming of a gentleman!"
"What right does a scumlord have to say such things?"
A frosty voice descended from above.
Maintaining his face-down position on the bed, Satoru tried to turn his head, only to have Suì-Fēng's tabi-clad foot press against his cheek, halting his movement.
"Mmph... Suì-Fēng, how dare you step on my face with your foot? Though soft and pleasant, this is far too disrespectful!"
"I wouldn't have stepped if Scumlord hadn't intended to peek at inappropriate areas."
"I'm lying face down! How could I possibly see anything inappropriate?"
"Scumlord's body defies conventional logic."
"Are you implying I'm not human?!"
Satoru fumed, simultaneously playing with Suì-Fēng's petite foot while voicing his protest.
Wait...
He paused abruptly.
Had this girl already started casually addressing him with such rude terminology?
Rangiku sat beside Satoru in a seiza-like pose, massaging his arm.
"Satoru, if you want to look, you can look at me!"
"Compared to Senior Suì-Fēng, I have far more worthwhile sights to offer!"
"?"
A vein bulged on Suì-Fēng's forehead.
Satoru turned to observe Rangiku.
He had to admit—the girl's genetics were terrifying.
When first rescued, she'd been just a slightly curvy child.
Now, with proper nutrition and age, her figure had developed to a degree envied by most women in Seireitei.
Though appearing no older than a high school to college student, her "ambitions" had already reached E-cup proportions.
Suì-Fēng's envy was beyond words.
Regarding this, Satoru maintained that petite was also charming.
This earned him a long-awaited "lower dominating upper" retaliation from Suì-Fēng.
After studying Rangiku's "ambitions" for several seconds, Satoru adopted a serious expression.
"Rangiku, step outside. I need to speak with Suì-Fēng."
Alert.
Rangiku's gaze sharpened: "About what?"
"Adult matters... why would a child pry?"
Satoru raised his hand, shadowy tendrils coiling around Rangiku's nape before tossing her out by her collar.
Thump!
Rangiku landed seated by the doorway as it slammed shut behind her.
She rose, gritting her teeth, ready to charge back in.
But before she could push the door open, voices filtered through:
"Mmph... Scumlord, don't be reckless—it's still daytime..."
"Not there!"
"Hnn..."
Rangiku's hand froze mid-reach.
The girl's face flushed crimson, several times she wanted to push the door and go back inside.
But in the end, she just stamped her foot in frustration before turning and running off.
Damn that Satoru, treating her like a child!
Miss Rangiku would definitely make him pay!
...
...
Stepping out of the room, Satoru stretched lazily.
He felt completely refreshed.
To be fair, Suì-Fēng's body was truly a treasure among Shinigami.
Though trained in combat since childhood, due to the unique constitution of Shinigami, her skin remained exquisite with exceptional texture.
That slender, petite frame could be arranged in various positions.
Whether it was the space between her arms and torso, the gap between her thighs and calves, or even the long braid adorned with circular accessories...
Every position could be utilized for intense battles with Satoru, leaving him utterly captivated.
Yet, beyond all these, the most delightful aspect was the girl's changing attitude.
From initially cold stares filled with disdain, calling him "trash lord," to gradually emitting all sorts of pleasing sounds and actively clinging to him...
Recalling the scenes from their recent battle, Satoru felt somewhat emotional.
Who cared about things like human compassion? His little bee needed no such thing!
In high spirits, he headed to the Fifth Division looking to kill time with Aizen.
However, arriving at the Fifth Division captain's study, he found no sign of Aizen.
After scanning the room, he discovered a hidden message left by the other.
Gone to Hueco Mundo?
Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since he last visited Hueco Mundo.
The Sleep Plan, Zero Division, Unohana, Sixth Division...
With so many recent events, he hadn't had time to visit Hueco Mundo.
Now seemed like a perfect opportunity.
Having made up his mind, Satoru went to Aizen's laboratory.
After passing triple verification through iris, fingerprint, and voice recognition, what appeared before him was the final puzzle verification stage.
Satoru was familiar with this security measure.
Sōsuke had set up extremely difficult questions to prevent anyone from bypassing the previous identity verifications through shortcuts.
If answered incorrectly, everything in the laboratory would instantly self-destruct through explosion, leaving no traces behind.
Curling his lips into a smile, Satoru prepared to tackle the questions.
He'd show Sōsuke how to solve those elementary-level problems of his!
Under Satoru's gaze, the door display began rapidly presenting various data.
After a few seconds, a line of text appeared on the screen.
Here it comes!
[Verifying identity...]
[Identity confirmed as Satoru. To protect the laboratory, skipping knowledge assessment phase]
[Please enter]
Click, the door lock disengaged.
"?"
Satoru narrowed his eyes.
He felt somehow maliciously targeted... was it just his imagination?
Using the device Aizen had left in the laboratory, he opened a Garganta and traveled directly to Hueco Mundo.
Over time, Las Noches—which had once been half in ruins—now appeared completely renewed.
The massive palace walls, pure white as if carved from single blocks of stone, created an oppressive feeling of insignificance just by looking at them.
On the palace walls, he could see Arrancar wearing white Las Noches uniforms standing guard.
Satoru couldn't help but feel impressed.
Luxurious, too luxurious.
There was a time when Arrancar were ultra-rare beings numbering less than a handful across all of Hueco Mundo, yet now they were numerous enough to serve as soldiers.
Indeed, under the guidance of his extraordinary talent, Las Noches was heading toward prosperous days.
Upon seeing Satoru, the Arrancars all revealed delighted expressions and bowed to him.
Satoru wore a faint smile, hands clasped behind his back, occasionally raising one to give a gentle wave—like an inspector dispatched from the corporate headquarters.
At his request, the female Arrancars in Las Noches all wore uniforms in a short-skirt style.
The Arrancars had no objections to this.
As Hollows, though they resembled humans in appearance, their thought processes had long since undergone significant changes.
Not to mention just wearing short skirts—if Satoru wished, turning this place into a paradise wouldn't be a problem.
Passing through a long corridor, he arrived at the central courtyard.
There, in the open-air area of the courtyard, a green-haired girl was busily working on something.
It was Lilynette.
Not far away, Starkk sat on the ground, yawning.
"Hey, what are you up to?"
Satoru walked over and greeted the two.
Seeing it was him, Lilynette's eyes lit up.
The girl grinned, revealing her small fangs:
"Satoru, you came at just the right time!"
"I'm researching a Resurrección where I take the lead!"
"Before, every time we used Resurrección, I'd turn into the twin guns and Starkk would take control—it's so boring!"
"This idiot only knows how to slack off and sleep, fighting like a complete moron."
"Rather than letting him lead the battle, it'd be better if I took over!"
Hearing this, Satoru nodded in agreement.
During the decisive battle in Karakura Town, Starkk had been completely dominated by that cheap senior brother from start to finish.
Although the senior brother was indeed strong, belonging to the first tier below Yamamoto, he was still quite far from Yamamoto's overpowered level.
As the Primera Espada, putting up such a pathetic performance against that cheap senior brother was somewhat embarrassing.
Seeing Satoru agree with her, Lilynette showed a happy smile.
Starkk sat nearby, opening his mouth as if to refute.
But after thinking about it... too troublesome.
Better to sleep some more.
He closed his eyes and prepared to lie down right where he was.
Only to be abruptly pulled up by Lilynette.
"Stupid Starkk, no sleeping! Practice with me!"
"No way..."
Starkk voiced his despairing protest.
However, halfway through his protest, he stopped.
After some thought, Lilynette's attempt wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
If they really succeeded, in future battles he'd only need to transform into guns.
No need to worry about battlefield analysis, no need to exchange banter with enemies, and no need for positioning or competing in reaction speed.
Most importantly... in future battles, he wouldn't have to worry about losing companions due to depleted wolf souls.
Thinking about it was quite appealing.
Although short-term training might be somewhat exhausting, compared to permanent ease afterwards, it seemed like a good choice.
Under Satoru's watchful gaze, Lilynette began attempting Resurrección.
However, after several attempts, she couldn't succeed.
When she finally managed it once, she transformed into twin pistols and flew into Starkk's hands.
After releasing Resurrección, Lilynette sat angrily on the ground.
"Damn it, what's going on?"
"Does Resurrección require Starkk to take the lead?"
Satoru leaned against a pillar nearby.
Hearing Lilynette's words, he shook his head:
"Not necessarily."
"Eh?"
Lilynette looked up at him in surprise.
Starkk also turned to look.
Earlier, he had tried his best to cooperate, but it just wouldn't work.
Although Satoru was strong, he couldn't possibly conjure solutions out of thin air for others developing new abilities, could he?
Under their gazes, Satoru grinned:
"Watching your Resurrección just now, I sensed your Reishi transformation process."
"After watching twice, I basically confirmed... after you two undergo Resurrección, your dominance priority is equal."
"As for who ultimately takes the lead, it depends on whose decomposition is slightly faster during the Reishi splitting and fusion process."
He raised his hand, making a pinching gesture.
Seeing they still didn't quite understand, Satoru simply walked over.
"Need my help?"
"Mm-hmm!"
Lilynette quickly nodded.
Although she didn't fully understand what Satoru said, she believed this guy definitely had a solution.
Satoru chuckled and pointed at himself:
"Then give me a kiss here."
Without any hesitation towards his request, Lilynette immediately jumped up and kissed him on the cheek.
Feeling the soft touch of the girl's lips, Satoru felt somewhat conflicted.
Although it was nice, he felt like something was missing.
Indeed, in situations like this, it would be more interesting if she showed some reluctance first before reluctantly complying.
At this thought, he was suddenly startled.
Damn, had he been successfully brainwashed by Suì-Fēng?
With mixed feelings, he reached out and placed his hand on Lilynette's head.
"Come on, try Resurrección now."
"Just like that?"
Lilynette was somewhat skeptical.
But since Satoru had spoken, she still activated her ability.
The next moment, to her astonishment, Starkk, who had been sitting on the ground nearby, suddenly transformed into a Reishi storm and rushed toward her.
As a massive amount of Reishi poured into her body, Lilynette knew it had worked this time!
As the storm dissipated, her entire appearance had completely changed.
Originally only 1.4 meters tall with short hair, looking like a middle school student, she had now grown to about 1.7 meters.
Her short hair had also turned into smooth, long locks.
Meanwhile, Starkk had transformed into twin pistols and fallen into her hands.
Lilynette was somewhat surprised.
She looked down at her "new body."
"It really worked... As expected of Satoru, so strong!"
"Hmph, worship me all you want!"
Satoru crossed his arms and laughed triumphantly.
Lilynette looked left and right, then suddenly seemed to remember something, revealing a mischievous smile.
"Satoru, can you still remain so calm when you see me now?"
"Look at these beautiful long legs, this beautiful long hair, and here!"
She pointed at her chest above her Hollow hole, which had become somewhat larger than before, her eyes full of pride.
But Satoru just said expressionlessly:
"It's alright, I don't feel any particular change."
"If I had to say, your previous form was actually cuter to me."
"?"
Lilynette had a question mark pop up over her head.
There must be something wrong with this guy, right?
She pouted and said discontentedly, "Stupid Satoru, fight me!"
"I've never been in control of battles before, this time I must find someone strong to have a good fight with!"
"Oh, no problem!"
Satoru grinned, showing a rugged smile.