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Ren was told about his basic duties as well as given a tour of the 10th division's barracks. The 10th division had been tasked with entering Hueco Mundo previously and lost many of its members including the previous individuals who held the 2nd-13th seats on the day after Ren took his exam.

Takeda was, originally, only the 15th seat. They had gotten their new 3rd seat from another division while the lieutenant was the previous 14th seat. All in all, the 10th division was pretty much crippled at the moment.

That was why all the shinigami he saw within the division earlier appeared to be so busy. They had to pick up the slack since there were only 30 members instead of the usual 300.

Ren was currently put on standby and would be trained on his tasks in the future when everyone had more free time to do so. There was too much work that needed to be completed and just not enough qualified officers who could teach at the moment.

So once Ren was shown his room, Takeda quickly went back to the officers' building in order to catch up on more paperwork. Ren did not mind this though. He decided to use this as a chance to visit the division's library. Ren wanted a better estimation of when he was.

He left his room and followed the path that Takeda had shown him earlier until he entered the library. There was no one inside to watch over the area so Ren just casually walked inside.

He walked from shelf to shelf and got as many books that he could find that related to history. After picking up 8 total, he found himself a seat and began to flip through them.

After spending two days inside, he finally got as many answers as he was going to get. What he found out was that the Gotei 13 had only been around for about 200 years. He also knew that Yamato had killed a powerful Quincy about 100 years prior.

'But it said nothing about the quincy extermination. Does that mean that they are not willing to write about it or that there was more than one battle between the shinigami and the quincy?

I am no closer to finding out when I am than when I began. Ugh!'

Ren kicked over the chair next to him. He left the books on the table while he took himself to the canteen to get something to eat. Since he had not eaten for a few days, his stomach was crying for something to eat.

When he entered, just like every other place he had been, the place was empty. Aside from the occasional worker who he saw making food in the back, Ren was all alone. He made himself a large plate of food before picking it up and taking it back to his room for the day.

By the time he got back to his room, half the plate of food was already gone. He devoured the rest pretty quickly before he sat in the lotus position and placed his zanpakuto across his legs.

Ren began to quietly meditate as he bonded with his zanpakuto. Ren had been doing this ever since he entered the academy but had yet to achieve shikai or learn his zanpakuto's name. It was not due to lack of effort or trying but simply due to the uniqueness of his zanpakuto's spirit. Once his mind was clear, he entered his inner world once more.

Ren's inner world was a large forest filled with lush, green trees that gave off a strong feeling of vitality. Ren ignored all these trees and walked in a particular direction. He kept walking until he reached a tree that looked half dead.

Ren walked up to it and placed his hand on the trunk before speaking to it.

"Still as silent as always, huh? I've been feeding you for about 3 years now and you don't even make a peep. Makes me wonder if I should keep doing this."

Even though he said this, Ren picked up the same sharp rock he always did and cut his wrist before letting blood spray on the tree. The blood did not just stay on the tree bark after it touched the tree but was rapidly absorbed by the tree.

It kept absorbing more and more blood until it could no longer take any more in. Then, the blood simply sat on the surface of the tree.

Seeing that his spirit was full, Ren just kaido to heal himself while he looked at the tree that had been drinking his blood for years.

"You just take as much as you want before giving me the cold shoulder. Sigh. What a terrible spirit you are."

Ren kept teasing the spirit but it would just not respond. He would have thought that the spirit was dead or defective but he could tell the difference in the tree. Every time he fed it blood, he could feel more vitality and life energy gathering at the center of the tree.

Ren put his back to the tree before sitting down and getting into a comfortable position. He decided to take a nap underneath the dead branches of the tree in order to avoid the sunlight on the other side. Ren quickly fell asleep under the shade.

It was quiet in the forest for a while before something occurred. A being emerged from the tree and looked over Ren's body with no emotions showing in its glowing eyes.

"Master... "