56 Test of Eating

Orihime only barely heard what Tenjiro said as the soothing sensation washed over her. The healing bath felt extraordinary and she wanted to just sink in deeper. After she was completely healed, she felt the benefits immediately. The flow of her spiritual power increased considerably, which would allow her to maximize her speed. She guessed that is why Tenjiro was known as Lightning Tenjiro. With access to such a powerful ability, his speed must be equal to or higher than lightning goddess form Yoruichi.

She exited the bath and was uncomfortable with being drenched in water. However, she was even more uncomfortable with undressing in a foreign environment. It was one thing to get your clothes destroyed, it was another to remove them on purpose. She made her way toward the adjacent pool of water making sloshing sounds. When she entered the room, the first thing she felt was tremendous heat. The water which looked like boiling blood was very ominous.

She slowly walked into the water and her clothes began to ignite and burn away. Strangely though, the heat was only comfortable to her. The blood-like water seeped into her pores and refilled the vitality she didn't know she was missing. Many things happened after she arrived to this world, and apparently, they left behind permanent damage she didn't notice. Another benefit that she didn't expect was her Quincy blood was being supplemented and expanded.

The medicinal strength of the pool didn't discriminate. It must have reacted to the incomplete Quincy blood flowing through her and is enhancing it. If Tenjiro or Yhwach knew that she was able to take advantage of both of their powers for her benefit they might just vomit blood. After soaking for a while, she noticed the water wasn't helping anymore, and instead began to make her feel pain. She got out before it escalated and put on the plain kimono laid out for her.

Orihime left and followed Tenjiro's instructions. The banquet hall across was huge. It had multiple stories which she couldn't count since there were no demarcations. The door was huge as if meant for giants. When she was about to knock, it was blasted open by a large, well nourished, supple woman. She had purple hair and wore a standard uniform. The woman hooked an arm around Orihime and brought her in for a hug.

"Oh, my dear, you made it. I hope Tenjiro didn't give you too much trouble! I am Kirio Hikifune, Second Officer of the Zero Division. Follow me, your next test will be very exciting. It will take several days, if not weeks to complete, so make yourself at home. Feel free to sleep in any of the rooms, they're all unoccupied. Now, lets go to the dining room!"

She was led to a room with a long table. Kirio then went behind the red curtains and began cooking. Soon after several dishes began populating the table. Various tempura, barbeque, stir-fry, rice, and curries. The portions were enough for a group of four with each dish she was throwing out. After a hundred dishes filled the table, she came back out in her slender form.

"Your test will be to eat a hundred portions one hundred times. You have as much time as you need, but you fail if you lose control of the Reiatsu in your body. Your time here will bring your Reiatsu to be on par with the other Royal Guards, which is a minimum requirement for joining. Don't worry about exploding, to control food is to control life itself."

Orihime's eye twitched and didn't realize her test would be something so ridiculous. However, the idea of getting so much Reiatsu enhancing food made her eyes red in greed. She was about to start eating when she realized that her mind and Reiatsu went out of control. She looked up at Kirino and realized she was giving a sly smile.

"This won't be as easy as eating until you're full and then resting. The aroma from my cooking inhibits your self-control and induces a feeling of wanting to gorge oneself to death. This test starts now!"

Orihime looked at the food and gulped in fear. Each dish was screaming at her 'eat me, eat me.' She carefully approached a large bowl of shrimp tempura and began to eat it slowly. However, after the first bite, her mind was accosted with sheer ecstasy. She couldn't help herself and began to devour the whole dish. Her body was very resilient after the first test, so a single dish wasn't enough to even reach her limit.

She moved onto the next dish which was a giant bowl of noodles with pork chops, giant eggs, various vegetables, and a glistening beef broth. She began to devour the noodles and the texture and flavor was beyond belief. Her spiritual power was steadily climbing; however, it was far from full. Inside of her personal dimension was a large empty space where the spiritual power from this food was filling. Kirino was surprised to see that after two dishes, she didn't seem even slightly phased.

This meal was different from her normal Reiatsu enhancing dishes. It would forcibly expand the consumers spiritual power and start to collide with the edges of their Hakusui. What Kirino didn't know was that Orihime had long since altered her Hakusui into an independent dimension. She was able to freely get stronger by passively absorbing spirit particles.

Now that she was absorbing an extraordinary amount of Kirino's spiritual power from the food directly, it was filling her dimension at incredible speed. However, the speed was like filling a bathtub with bottles of water. Orihime ate and ate until she was half way through all of the dishes. She did her best to maintain control, but her obscene amount of capacity for spiritual power and the tantalizing meals left her in a half-conscious state.

By the time she finished the fiftieth meal, Kirino began to bulk up on spiritual power again. In order to cook these meals, she used her own body as ingredients, which put a heavy strain on her soul. Watching Orihime devour the food she created without suffering any backlash inspired her chef heart to create even better dishes. Once Orihime finished the last dish, a cake with several layers and perfect amount of cream and frosting. The cake was so moist and delicious she almost cried when she took the last bite.

Burp—

"Excuse me. That was delicious, can we start the second course?"

While Kirino prepared the next one hundred dishes, Orihime took the time to regain her mental clarity. Although she gave into eating with reckless abandon, she was prepared to take control and stop herself. However, she underestimated how much spiritual power she could ingest. Unfortunately, this was still external power and she had to incorporate it for herself. The heavy mists filling her Hakusui began to condense and drip into the pool of spiritual power that formed thanks to the healing bathwater previously.

The once eighty percent filled Hakusui was returned again back to a large void once all of the spiritual power was refined and condensed. At that point, the next set of dishes began to fill the table. Orihime ignored caution and began to eat, cherishing their taste. It was truly a meal fit for royalty. Although she dealt with the previous meals spiritual power, there was still an ultimate capacity which she would gradually approach with every course.

However, to Kirino's frustration, Orihime didn't reach her limit until the seventeenth course. By this point, she was very slim and even had a slightly hollow look around her eyes and cheeks. Orihime needed much more time to consolidate and she also felt bad for Kirino, so she stopped and went to rest. However, on her way back, the hogyoku's power exploded out through her and expanded her Hakusui dimension by ten percent. Although a small increase, the volume change was considerable.

If she continued this kind of training, she could far exceed any of the Royal Guards saw spiritual power reserves. The issue was that her control began to fall to eighty percent even with her bonuses. The rapid increase in spiritual power left her Reiatsu behind in the dust. Kirino's test enhanced her mind and spiritual power, but didn't aid in her control over spiritual power. She deduced that the next test would likely involve closing the gap of control.

Putting it numerically, her spiritual power had already reached the fifty-four. The weakest Royal Guard was probably at seventy, she couldn't get a good read on them. This means Aizen was likely nearing ninety or a hundred after two years of being sealed. He is truly a monster. Orihime hoped to reach that point as well. She finished settling the ravaging spiritual power and fell asleep. This cycle would continue for several more days.

"It took you six days to finish all hundred courses. You are really remarkable. I look forward to seeing you pass all of your tests and joining us! Go out through the kitchen and get on the floating disk. It will take you to your next test at Senjumaru's loom."