By the time his progress reached ninety-eight percent, Lucas stopped training.
He had already learned Reishi Manipulation, but he was not sure he could immediately conceal the spiritual pressure that would erupt during the awakening of his Fullbring.
So he did not rush it.
He chose to pause instead.
He planned to go find Uryū first.
Having the man keep an eye on things would put him much more at ease.
As for exposing his Fullbring in front of Uryū, he did not care about that at all.
Once it awakened, there was no way he could avoid using it.
On top of that, he had used exactly this as his excuse to fool Uryū in the first place, so letting him know was no issue whatsoever.
Since it was still night and he had not slept in a while, he simply went to bed.
The next morning, Lucas arrived at Uryū’s apartment once again.
Uryū was not surprised by the visit.
He had taught the man how to perform Reishi Manipulation, but he did not believe anyone could master it after two days of fumbling around alone.
So he assumed Lucas had come to ask questions about it.
“Did you run into problems while training? There’s no need to rush. After all, you’ve only just started learning, and mastering Reishi Manipulation takes quite a bit of time.”
Uryū said it after pouring him a glass of water.
“That’s not the issue. I feel like my special ability is about to awaken, which is why I came to see you.”
“Didn’t you tell me that changes in spiritual pressure inside the city would be detected by the Shinigami? I’m worried the awakening might cause too much of a commotion, so I came to ask.”
Lucas shook his head as he spoke.
He had already mastered Reishi Manipulation, and with his limiter removed, surpassing Uryū in this area was only a matter of time.
“Your special ability is about to awaken? That fast?”
“Wait. Why can’t I sense your spiritual power anymore? Did you learn to conceal it?”
Hearing this, Uryū instinctively reached out to sense the man’s spiritual power, and was dumbfounded when he did.
He could not sense anything at all.
He still remembered their first meeting.
It was fortunate there had been no Hollows around.
Otherwise they would definitely have locked onto him the moment they sensed it.
Uryū found it incredible that the man had learned to conceal it.
After all, it had been two days at most.
To learn concealment in two days, just how monstrous did someone’s talent have to be?
“I did indeed learn it.”
Lucas looked at the disbelief on Uryū’s face and could guess exactly what he was thinking.
There was no helping it.
Someone with a removed limiter was simply that broken, with potential that had no ceiling at all.
Seeing that Lucas was practically wearing an expression that said, isn’t this normal?, Uryū’s mouth twitched.
Why did he keep getting the feeling that the man looked so punchable like this?
Then he glanced at his own scrawny frame, thought about ton-level strength, and decisively gave up on the idea of ever sparring with him.
“You really are a monster. Let’s talk about your special ability.”
“Your concern is correct. Karakura Town is always under Shinigami surveillance. If you suddenly release spiritual pressure beyond the scope of an ordinary person, it will definitely be detected.”
“I’ll take you to the place where I usually train. There’s a Reishi Array I set up there to conceal one’s presence.”
He did not know the Shinigami’s Kidō or their barrier techniques, but the Quincy had various Reishi Array traditions of their own, such as the Seele Schneider Array.
He released spiritual pressure himself whenever he trained, so with the array’s help, he never had to worry about being targeted by the Soul Society.
As for actual fighting, the Hollows that appeared in Karakura Town were very weak.
Uryū could take care of them in one hit.
Moreover, the Quincy were more sensitive to spiritual pressure.
He would have a Hollow finished before the Soul Society could even send word.
And even if that momentary release got detected, as long as he concealed his pressure again, they could not find him.
The reason he was taking Lucas out to his training ground was that he did not know how long the awakening would last, or whether the man would be leaking spiritual pressure the entire time.
If so, then going in unprepared meant getting flagged by the Soul Society for certain.
His grandfather had been surrounded and killed by a group of Hollows, and the Shinigami had clearly arrived long beforehand, yet only intervened after letting the old man die.
From that moment on, Uryū had hated them.
Eliminating Hollows in the human world was supposed to be the Shinigami’s job.
The Quincy could kill Hollows too, but it was never their duty.
So in a sense, Ishida Sōken had been fighting on the Shinigami’s behalf back then, and all he received in return was cold indifference.
It was also because Uryū did not know that Sōken had not actually died that day, but had been taken by Kurotsuchi Mayuri for experiments.
Otherwise he would not have merely competed with Ichigo.
He would have sniped him from a distance outright.
Under Uryū’s guidance, the two arrived at a waterfall outside Karakura Town.
Lucas recognized the place.
This had to be where Uryū did his special training before heading to the Soul Society.
“We’re here. There’s a Reishi Array I set up a long time ago to conceal spiritual pressure. If you awaken your ability here, the Soul Society won’t target you.”
Lucas nodded and began.
After last night, his progress had risen another percent.
It now stood at ninety-nine.
Two hours at the most, and his Fullbring ability would awaken.
While he worked, Uryū watched from the side, and the more he watched, the more shocked he became.
Because he realized the man had not only learned to conceal his spiritual power within two days.
He was also quite proficient at strengthening it.
It was hard to imagine anyone learning these things in two days.
Setting it against the memory of his own lessons with his grandfather, Uryū was suddenly seized by the illusion that maybe he was the idiot.
But his grandfather had clearly said his talent was very high.
So why was he this far behind?