Chapter 892: Chapter 893: The Power of Disobedience Is Equal to Nothing
Maintaining balance with just fingertips while standing on one’s head requires extremely high control over spiritual power. This method was essentially training Ichigo’s ability to control his own spiritual power.
Considering the intensity of Ichigo’s spiritual power, even if his method was somewhat wasteful, it would not become unbearable in a short time. That was why the board and nails Ethan used had some special effects.
"Are you starting to feel tired?"
The ball of light coming from Ichigo’s hand had clearly become smaller. Ichigo, who had felt quite relaxed just a moment ago, began to feel extreme fatigue.
As a spiritual body, excessive spiritual power consumption leads to weakness. Moreover, this headstand was not only about spiritual power consumption, it also tested mental will. Maintaining the same posture for a long time placed a heavy burden on the mind, no less than intense physical exercise.
"Didn’t you ever wonder why this is happening?"
"What? Isn’t it normal to feel tired during training?"
Ichigo had not thought that far ahead. From his response, it was clear that he even believed feeling tired was normal. After all, this was training. It would be strange if it stayed easy the whole time.
"..."
Ethan covered his face speechlessly. He realized that if he did not explain things clearly, Ichigo might continue in confusion.
Under normal circumstances, he would not explain so much. He would simply make sure the kid suffered enough.
Unfortunately, this was crash training, and there was not enough time to deal with it slowly. If he waited for Ichigo to figure out the problem himself, who knew how much time would be wasted.
"According to my standard, you need to be able to maintain this headstand for at least eight hours. And now..." Ethan casually pulled out an alarm clock and glanced at it. "Only three hours have passed."
"Eight hours? How is that possible?"
In fact, with Ichigo’s spiritual power intensity, eight hours was not difficult. After all, his situation was very different from Yusuke Urameshi, the previous person who underwent this training, whose spiritual power was not very strong when he practiced it.
However, under the influence of the special equipment, Ichigo’s spiritual power was being consumed very quickly. If he could properly control the loss of spiritual power, maintaining eight hours would not be difficult. But if he continued like this, completely unable to control it and allowing his spiritual power to be wasted freely...
"At your current rate, your spiritual power will be completely exhausted in at most thirty minutes."
Ichigo felt his strength quickly draining. He even started to suspect that this training was just meant to mess with him. But just as he was thinking that, Ethan explained the purpose of the training in detail.
"So you could have easily completed eight hours of training, but you’re wasting spiritual power like this..."
"..."
Ichigo understood where he had gone wrong. He also remembered that when Ethan performed the headstand earlier, the spiritual power at his fingertips was almost invisible. That meant Ethan only released just enough spiritual power to maintain balance, not wasting even a little.
He began trying to restrain the spiritual power in his hand. As he adjusted, the spiritual energy around his arm began to shrink. However, the improvement was limited. It only reduced from covering his entire forearm to covering about half of it. At the same time, the leakage of spiritual power was still clearly visible. No matter how hard he tried, he could not stop the waste.
"Or you could choose to push yourself again. While you still have strength, challenge me."
Ethan offered another option, but Ichigo did not recklessly challenge him again. He had already realized the enormous gap in strength between them. That was not an opponent he could defeat just by pushing himself.
After half an hour, Ichigo could barely maintain the headstand posture. The spiritual power light on his hands flickered constantly. He could even feel the stinging sensation of something sharp pressing into the flesh of his fingertips.
When it pierced him again, his mind went blank for a moment. His spiritual power collapsed completely, and he could no longer maintain the headstand. Ichigo fell heavily to the ground.
Gasping for breath, Ichigo felt as if his entire body no longer belonged to him. Even moving a finger was difficult. Ethan stood beside him and watched, then calmly said only one sentence.
"If this is all you can do, then give up. Right now only Rukia is being executed by the Soul Society, and if you go there, you’ll just end up dying with her."
"Damn it!"
Ichigo was extremely frustrated, but he could not offer a strong rebuttal. He still could not move and could only continue lying on the ground.
Ethan walked away and ignored him. The large training space fell silent.
Orihime wanted to come over and heal Ichigo, but Yoruichi stopped her.
It looked like Ichigo had been abandoned there, but in reality, the ground where he lay was covered with faint green grass. Yoruichi, who was very familiar with the training space, knew that there had originally been no vegetation in that area.
The green grass had clearly been placed there by Ethan, most likely to speed up Ichigo’s recovery.
After training for most of the day, Orihime and Sado were not in spiritual form. They still needed normal food and rest. When they returned to the shop upstairs to rest, only Ethan and Yoruichi remained below.
They stayed some distance away and quietly watched Ichigo, who had already sat up. At least this kid had one praiseworthy trait. He did not become discouraged or give up. After regaining some strength, he immediately began practicing again.
He was not trying to last eight hours yet. Instead, he used the headstand posture to practice controlling his spiritual power.
"I understand recovering from injuries, but how is his spiritual power recovering so quickly?"
Yoruichi watched Ichigo training and could not figure it out. Healing techniques could indeed restore a Soul Reaper’s spiritual power, but not this fast. Especially when the spiritual power had almost been completely exhausted, recovery should be even slower.
"Besides the fact that he still has a lot of potential that hasn’t been squeezed out, that is originally his spiritual power."
"His spiritual power?" Yoruichi narrowed her eyes and carefully observed for a while, quickly discovering the trick. "That nail board does more than accelerate his spiritual power consumption. It also absorbs and stores the spiritual power?"
"Yes, and then slowly returns it to him. It is originally his own spiritual power, so there is naturally no problem absorbing it. As long as the return speed is controlled properly, he will not even notice that the spiritual power is flowing in from outside. He will just think his own strength is recovering faster."
"So that’s how it is." Yoruichi nodded. Ethan’s method was quite clever. "But starting with such a basic level of training, is there enough time?"
"Why wouldn’t there be enough time?" Ethan knew what Yoruichi meant. With time so limited, he was starting from the most basic spiritual power control. By the time Ichigo completed this training, it might already be time to depart for the Soul Society. "And for Ichigo, this is the only thing he truly lacks."
There was not enough time to teach combat techniques or battle experience. There was not enough time to train how to properly use a Zanpakuto either. That was why Kisuke focused only on mentality, hoping Ichigo would develop the mindset of a warrior who could face battles that might cost him his life.
Ethan approached the problem from another angle. As someone who became a Soul Reaper halfway, Ichigo had no concept of control, which prevented him from fully utilizing his own advantages.
"I don’t expect him to control spiritual power as well as you do now. As long as he understands how to use spiritual power, it will be enough."
Ichigo’s advantage was his massive spiritual power. As long as he could properly use that advantage, it would be enough to complete this mission.
This repeated consumption would also improve his control over his own strength. At the same time, it could accelerate the fusion of his different spiritual powers.
In the original story, Ichigo often burst out with greater power at critical moments. From a narrative perspective, this could be called the author giving him a cheat. But from a realistic perspective, it meant there was still power hidden within him that he had not yet released.
According to the setting, the existence that manifested as Ichigo’s Zanpakuto, Zangetsu, was actually Ichigo’s Quincy power. As a manifestation of Quincy power, Zangetsu strongly resisted Ichigo’s Soul Reaper and Hollow powers and actively suppressed them.
In other words, Ichigo should have possessed greater and more powerful spiritual power because of his unique nature. However, due to the internal conflict between his different powers, he could only use part of it.
"So that’s the situation?"
After Ethan explained everything, Yoruichi finally understood his intention. He was pushing Ichigo to the limit and constantly squeezing out his potential, trying to force the fusion of the different powers within him under extreme pressure.
"That is why I dislike powers with self-awareness. Other than causing trouble, they are completely useless."
Yoruichi glanced at Ethan. She also disliked powers with strong self-awareness. That was why she decisively abandoned her Zanpakuto. After reaching a certain level of strength, she destroyed it and absorbed that portion of power back into herself.
Ethan had helped her a lot at that time. From then on, she understood Ethan’s attitude toward power. This man was extremely controlling.
Someone like him would certainly not tolerate his own power suppressing another part of his power inside his body.
"No wonder you crushed Ichigo’s Zanpakuto the moment you arrived."
"If possible, I would prefer Ichigo to completely abandon his Zanpakuto." Ethan knew Ichigo had this potential. Once he achieved that, his strength would almost stand at the peak of this world. "Unfortunately, the time is too short. There is no way to reach that level in just a few days."
(To be continued.)
