The slender Tensa Zangetsu fully demonstrated its sturdy nature at this moment.
With a forceful exertion, Ichigo sent Yoshi flying heavily.
Tensa Zangetsu once again pointed at Kariya. Ichigo asked strangely, "I don't understand. What makes you dare to provoke me?"
Hearing Ichigo's question, Kariya's face twitched, finding it hard to answer.
"Damn it, why is heaven so unfair?!" Kariya roared. He never expected his grand undertaking to be cut short right at the start by a boss of beginner village.
"Bastard, I'll fight you to the death!" Brandishing the wind blade on his hand, Kariya engaged Ichigo in blade-to-blade combat.
But how could mere gales stop Ichigo?
"Eight Flash!" Ichigo casually made up a name.
In the next second, his Hollow mask covered his face for an instant, his body turning into an afterimage, instantly delivering eight slashes across Kariya's body. Crimson blood flowed everywhere.
Thud!
Kariya was declared defeated.
"Is that all?" Ichigo performed a beautiful blood flick and sheathed his sword.
At this point, this group was completely dealt with by him.
The problem was, first, the game gave no notification… second, it gave no explanation.
'Had I misjudged? Were the Bounts not the event prepared by the game?'
'What's going on?'
Ichigo looked around, trying to find something amiss.
The problem was, the people at his feet were indeed dead beyond dead!
'A major arc's big boss, just gone like this?' Ichigo truly didn't understand.
Fortunately, as he took another step forward, stepping on the sticky blood, Ichigo's intuition finally told him what was wrong.
'The amount of blood is off!'
If he had really killed this many people, shouldn't there be more than just this splatter of blood?
"Wait!" Looking at Kariya and the others again, Ichigo's eyes suddenly noticed something.
"Ah, this..." Ichigo reached into Kariya's mouth.
A somewhat discolored Mod Soul was pulled out from Kariya Jin's mouth.
Ichigo's expression darkened. He suddenly turned around.
"Shopkeeper Urahara, come out!"
"Yare yare, you even discovered that, Kurosaki-kun?" Fanning himself with a small fan, Kisuke walked out.
"What's the meaning of this?" Ichigo asked, puzzled.
"Actually, it doesn't mean much. Just testing the combat capabilities and fighting styles of these Mod Souls with you!"
"If I had known you'd use Bankai, I should have turned up their settings a bit more!"
Kisuke replied helplessly.
"But why not tell me about testing combat data?"
"Wasn't I afraid you'd hold back against their true combat data, Kurosaki-kun?" Kisuke chuckled awkwardly.
"The concentration of Reishi in the world is: Hueco Mundo > Soul Society > Living World."
"Coming back from a high-Reishi density place like the Soul Society, I was afraid you wouldn't know how to control your current strength properly!"
"But seeing you now, I'm relieved!" Kisuke said.
"So, the test for Ishida and the others, that was also your arrangement?" Ichigo looked curiously into the distance.
"Yes!" Kisuke nodded. "Not just Ishida-kun, but Inoue-kun as well, I had arrangements for them too!"
Looking at Kisuke like this, Ichigo was puzzled. "No, what exactly are you trying to do?"
Swish!
Kisuke lowered his hat. "I told you, it's just a side test, and to gather some intel on these people!"
"Not long ago, on a night like this, a group of people broke into my lab and took something!" Kisuke explained.
"Huh?" Ichigo was shocked.
"What did you lose?" Ichigo asked, puzzled.
"Uh... some data about how to hitch a ride on Hollows to get to Hueco Mundo, then use Hueco Mundo as a springboard to reach the Soul Society?"
"You... that's possible too..." Ichigo was speechless.
Kisuke's stolen data completely disrupted Ichigo's plans. He had been thinking of using his spiritual bow to cheat the game when Kariya opened the portal!
"And what about these people?" Ichigo scratched his head.
…
Meanwhile, in Hueco Mundo.
Having used their Dolls to control Hollows, a group of people emerged from a dark opening!
"Hahaha, such a thick concentration of Reishi!"
"Indeed, coming here was the right choice!"
Feeling the Reishi concentration in Hueco Mundo, so dense you could get full just breathing, the Bounts were overjoyed.
"Quick, strengthen yourselves immediately!"
Absorbing massive amounts of Reishi, the members of the Bount squad rapidly transformed.
The Dolls, the foundation of the Bounts' existence, also quickly changed.
But then, the game announcement came again!
[Limited-Time Event: Hunt the Bounts, begins!]
"It's started!"
"It's finally started, huh..."
The moment the game announcement went out, numerous players looked at the game notification.
From entry until now, three months had passed. One-tenth of the two-and-a-half-year game duration had been consumed.
But overall, aside from freaks like Ichigo who could directly participate in major Shinigami events, and players in Hueco Mundo who could grow by killing Hollows,
most other players had spent the three months in silent training.
The problem was, for long-lived species like Shinigami, once strength reaches Captain-level, lifespan starts at a thousand years.
Even without reaching Captain-level, living for a few hundred years was no problem.
Compared to hundreds of years, three months was too short. Most hadn't trained abilities they could take out with them in any significant amount. That was reality.
The exceptionally talented were always a minority.
Therefore, such a game event open to all players was something every player desperately needed.
All players began to move.
In the Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force, Chu An found Wang Zongchao. "Coach, did the game say anything about how you Hollow-type players are supposed to get to the Soul Society?"
"Hollows can go to the Soul Society, but they'll be hunted by the Seireitei. How do we handle that?"
"..." Wang Zongchao, wearing his wolf-head mask, was also quite helpless. "I don't know either... Eh, wait!"
Wang Zongchao suddenly froze. He looked at his game panel. "This is... It can do this???"
The next moment, Wang Zongchao's appearance suddenly changed!
A Shinigami wearing ordinary Shihakusho appeared before Chu An.
"What's going on, Coach?" Chu An was very confused.
"I don't know either. The game just gave me a mimicry skin and a disguised Zanpakuto. Using Shikai lets me transform into my previous familiar form."
Wang Zongchao replied, still a bit dazed.
"Hey, want to try Shikai?" Chu An suddenly became interested.
"Alright, I'm curious too!" Wang Zongchao nodded, drew his Zanpakuto, and chanted: "Howl at the Dawn Moon, Wolf Fang!"
A brilliant light enveloped Wang Zongchao from the Zanpakuto. A werewolf appeared before Chu An.
"Just like this! Hides the mask, huh..." Chu An realized.
"Seems so!" Wang Zongchao nodded. His Hollow identity was indeed hidden by the game, but what about other things?
Wang Zongchao looked at Chu An: "How do we get to the Soul Society?"
Chu An scratched his head, a bit stumped. "Uh... this... For the Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force to return to the Soul Society, there's quite a bit of paperwork."
"Anyway, going through the Expeditionary Force's official channels, I feel we won't make it in time..."
Hearing Chu An's words, Wang Zongchao was troubled. "Then what do we do?"
However, as if hearing their discussion, the game acted again!
A Garganta appeared before the two.
Looking at this Garganta, they both understood it was prepared for them!
"Let's go!" Wang Zongchao stepped into the Garganta first.
Not long after, they set foot on the soil of the Rukongai.
An intangible stream of information arrived.
Chu An looked beside him: "The game tells me I'm currently on vacation status. What about you?"
Wang Zongchao replied: "My identity is a 10th Division's patrol officer, responsible for patrolling the Rukongai."
"Good, then I'll patrol with you for now!"
"Alright, let's familiarize ourselves with the terrain first!"
Subsequently, the Wang Zongchao and Chu An duo began their patrol.
Other Hollow-type players and Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force players were handled similarly.