CH31: Research

It's believed that when binary neutron stars collide, gold and other extremely useful heavy metals are created. So while Silas didn't have the pressure necessary to turn obsidian or ivory into plasma, that didn't mean their interactions bore no fruit.

Soifon's visit had given him far more than anticipated. "Don't feel guilty friends should exchange gifts when visiting," Dotty said.

"Why should I feel guilty?" Silas asked.

A small grain of Shinigami power rotated around a chipped grain of hollow power. Both were crystal formations in rotation around each other and drinking in spiritual energy. The two continuously absorbed spiritual energy from the air as they rotated under his control.

Silas had imprinted his will upon them and could feel the hollow and Shinigami energy at the edge of his senses. He raised a tiny grain of human spiritual energy and joined it to their rotation. For a moment, they seemed in balance before they tried to combine. Then, a tiny explosion detonated in his lab under his immortal's cave shaking the area.

Both energies were attracted to the human spiritual energy, and when they collided, something was missing. In place of the three was an imperfect red speck of an unstable crystalline structure. But that was exactly what Silas was looking for.

Dotty brought a compass to him, and he placed the speck in its bearing. The arrow on the compass turned a few times as he adjusted the settings. Once the arrow froze towards the East, he made a few adjustments and calculated the distance was less than 100 miles. So, there was a quincy within the territory of Pennsylvania near landfall.

"Thou have collected a small amount of our ally's spiritual energy," Dotty said.

There were plenty more tiny sand-sized obsidian crystals. Silas had started with one and fed the structure under pressure until it reached the size of a marble before shattering it into many shards. Then, under the same conditions he used to make the first spirit crystals for cultivation, he created Shinigami crystals or obsidian. Urahara replicated his original process and added notes to it, helping Silas break through a bottleneck in his plan.

As a cultivator in a new and strange land, it was important to experiment with every resource he could get his hands on. Bount crystals were interesting if unstable. They required a large supply of human spiritual energy to keep their Shinigami energies from depleting something his farm had a surplus of.

Bounts were very similar to Shinigami already. They fought with their dolls and had an initial and final release where they merged with their doll. Each of them had different powers and enjoyed a long lifespan. However, they were also ill-equipped to live as they did. Bounts were a hopeless existence without the ability to reproduce. In other words, they were a dead end.

Well, that was how they were supposed to be. Silas pulled out two crystallized examples of human spiritual energy. One was the light blue of a crystal extracted from a living soul, and the other was the dark blue of one created from his formations. The crystal looked like a common spirit stone from any cultivation world. While the density could be better, it had a familiar feel of a cultivation resource. But, on the other hand, the light blue human spirit energy crystal was far more static; it felt like uncultivated fire, snow, wind, or any other natural element he could think of.

Silas removed a red stone the size of a marble, one of the first ones he had created. The marble had been a grain of sand, unstable and ready to collapse like his other example.

"Mayhap thou have not paid attention," Silas said and lifted his hand. "We art the lesser party and need every advantage we can get."

The red stone leaped to his hand and rotated around his palm, excited like a puppy. Human cultivation had altered the experiment changing the imperfect crystal into something more. It fed on spiritual energy and became stable;. However, it wasn't the expected result of his experiment; it did something he hadn't expected.

Silas had disproved his hypothesis that his spiritual energy was the same as human spiritual energy. There were too many differences.

He could push his aura through it like a magic treasure, and when he did, he felt a connection to the Dao. Unlike the red stone, which was only kept stable by formations, it didn't look for quincy spiritual energy. Instead, the tiny marble of red crystal had been altered by cultivation energy. It searched for natural laws.

Silas decided to call it a Dao Eye.

"Methinks thou should be satisfied with the orb and not look for trouble," Dotty said.

Silas nodded, raised his storage ring, and accepted the Dao Eye into his storage space. The connection remained, and he kept a part of his focus on the Dao of space. If he could bring his understanding of the Dao to the initial stage, he might start becoming truly strong.

The Dao or the path was, in a sense, existence, nonexistence, and every concept in between, including gods and devils. There were stages to knowledge over each Dao and no end to the number that could be learned. Each Dao changed how a cultivator could react to a problem on their path; sometimes, the cultivation path was in pursuit of the Dao. Immortality was thought to be a byproduct of Dao Seeking. Cultivation wasn't just a struggle against the mortality and weakness inflicted on mortal kind but a struggle for understanding and dominance over existence.

The Dao Eye was better than he expected, and it was a miraculous treasure in the world of bleach for a cultivator. He could use the treasure to connect with the Dao and overturn the laws of heaven and earth eventually. At the moment, he could use it to cultivate his space Dao and cultivate space martial techniques in the future. He could already feel the gradual understanding of one of the minor Dao of space distance.

Still, the true prize was out of reach.

"Without risk, there art no great rewards. To solidify our place, we need a sample of quincy spiritual energy. If we had that, then I could create a godly tool." Silas said, then tried to relax. "Rushing over a cliff because treasure is in front of me is not wise."

He wanted to capture the quincy before the massacre and get a sample of her spiritual energy. Then he could make a crystal, and maybe he was doing it wrong. Maybe he should talk to Urahara. It wasn't like the quincy were friends of the Shinigami, and they had shown goodwill to each other in the past.

Silas put everything away and locked everything down with formations. Even if Urahara found the place and broke the formation, they would detonate the items inside. He had other samples hidden.

…

Silas rode Dotty around the lake with Soifon in front of him on the saddle. Undead worked in the fields while a waterfall of spirit liquid filled the lake and condensed the spiritual energy trapped within his farm. He stared at his compass and the arrow turning slightly as he moved throughout the day. Two arrows moved one west towards the quincy while the other pointed north. Soifon pushed her back against him as they moved towards a sunny hill free of snow.

It was a beautiful day, and he decided to treat his best Shinigami friend to a picnic. He also promised his concubines to treat them when their guests left. Of course, not all wanted picnics, but he was willing to give them attention.

"Thou didn't have to," Soifon said as Silas placed down the cotton cloth while Dotty grazed on some green turnip shoots.

More greens poked through the snow than he expected, thanks to the tide of spiritual energy flowing from the lake. There were still another two months of winter before spring, and already he could tell it would be powerful.

A persimmon tree that was thought dead when he arrived was coming back to life. Thick strands of spiritual energy flowed through the tree, and it was bound to have a heck of a flowering. A small orchard of apple trees planted in England had grown by several feet and hadn't shown any signs of stopping. The cows have taken to fertilizing all the fields possible and ate everything they could along with the horses, goats, sheep, and bull bison he purchased from the market. It wasn't even plowing season, so he let them eat what they wanted except for the winter crops. He had those fenced in to prevent accidents.

Ultimately the farm was a foundation that he was already building off of his spirit stones. Storage rings would revolutionize the transportation of goods allowing for the easy movement of endless goods. Silas only had to develop a method of fast travel, and he could create a transportation business.

Gaining flight hundreds of years early would change the world completely, using it to move supplies even more.

He blocked a sharp kick aimed at his neck and countered without thinking with a throw. Soifon went sailing through the air and flipped back to her feet.

She gained a stance and smiled. "Thou shouldn't stare into space when I'm talking to thee," Soifon said.

"My apologies; sometimes my thoughts get away from me. I am glad to take thou out and enjoy a warmer day." Silas said.

She flashed, and he felt her appear before the spiritual pressure of her blow caught him in the gut, and he turned with the blow. A cross hook was blocked by her before he smashed his shin against hers and pressed out with his palm. A concussive wave of telekinesis blasted out at the size of his palm. The wave slid off her spiritual pressure before she shot forward. He took a few blows as he felt the rust peel away from old days in training halls battling other servants for paltry cultivation secrets.

It felt good to move in the old familiar martial arts. Soinfon's style was clearly to get close, while Silas's own was to gain distance to finish the job with a spiritual attack. Besides his concussive force, he only had one way to end a fight. He felt the familiar condensing of his aura at the tip of his finger. He only had to press forward for a piercing attack.

Silas dispersed it before he could commit and threw himself forward with his aura. They traded blows, but Soifon clearly had more power and technique. As they fought, he learned and adapted to counter her more effectively with technique. She did minor things with her spiritual pressure that he hadn't thought to do before. It was a lesson he wouldn't forget and wanted to continue.

"Marry me," Silas said, and Soifon chuckled.

"My place is with mistress Yoruichi, but thou can try and bribe me. It will make my return to my mistress so much sweeter when I tell her of how loyal I am despite thy offers of wealth." Soifon said.

Silas pulled the cork out of a bottle of wine with telekinesis and poured them each a glass. They each took a sip before digging into their food. It was mostly smoked trout glazed with plums and fried to give it a nice crisp bite. There was enough spiritual energy within it for Soifon to enjoy the flavors. Even if some of the physical matter fell chewed up beneath her body, it wasn't a waste.

"Thou art playing a dangerous game with many old monsters gazing down on thee. My mistress can only shield thou for half a century at most until greed overpowers caution and the old monsters strike out for themselves. Expect Shinigami without signs of their rank or squad to pay thou a visit." Soifon said.

"I thought giving Urahara a foundation to work from would satisfy the powers of soul society," Silas said.

Half a century was enough time to reach the 3rd rank and comprehend a few Dao. The Dao Eye in his space ring had already helped him take the first steps towards comprehending the Dao of space. However, he was sitting in the first stage, and his little fight with Soifon had let him know how rusty he had become. To move forward, he needed a fight against someone on his level to force him to get stronger.