I sat under the waterfall, trying to reverse the flow of the water while, practicing the technique from hunter x hunter. This continued for hours. I was getting faster and faster, and after what felt like days—probably was days, honestly, since I’m pretty sure I dozed off a couple times—it’s hard to tell with time.

  Anyway, I finally managed to deploy all my spirit energy to one part of my body in a millisecond. Getting to the point where I could do this like second nature was much harder.

  This time, I began levitating boulders I created using creation magic, lifting them with telekinesis. I froze the water in the waterfall mid-flow, reversing it again. Even the boulders were orbiting, spontaneously catching fire—then not. This repeated itself as I tried to master the technique, changing the area of the body I deployed my spirit energy to, all while maintaining everything else. The reason I was multitasking was to make it second nature.

  Anyway, I continued. Days turned into months. Months into years. Or maybe not. I have no idea—maybe it's just that I don’t have a human perception of time.

  I trained until I was interrupted by a telepathic message. Most of the materials we could collect were ready, but we were still missing some special ones.

  I explained that I knew someone with the ability to get them. Naturally, he was surprised I hadn’t mentioned it before, but I told him the person refused to become my race—and the spell required consent to work. No point in forcing it.

  Finding him wasn’t hard. He was wearing Mandalorian armor. Could’ve been mistaken for a cosplayer—if he wasn’t radiating that much energy. He claimed he couldn’t use magic because of how much mana he had, but there’s no way someone with that much to play with couldn’t learn. Ironically, having too much mana is said to make control difficult—but that’s not really true, you can just keep practicing until you get good at controlling it.

  I managed to convince him to go world-hopping to gather materials from other realms—stuff we couldn’t get naturally here. All I had to do was promise him a spell that would allow him to produce a nuclear diamond battery. Not sure why he wants them, but it’s pretty simple.

  A nuclear diamond battery is essentially a radioactive diamond encased in a layer of normal diamond, which can be used as a power source. The larger ones can last well over 100 years; the smaller versions—like the kind you’d put in a smartphone—can last about a century too. They work because the radioactive diamond gives off an unstable magnetic field. So if you place it in the middle of a coil of wire, it consistently generates electricity. I also included a small battery in the design—just to provide a bit of extra power storage. The battery helps stabilize the energy delivery to whatever device you're actually trying to power.

  I’m still training to master the technique, so it might be a while before I make my grand entrance again. So I continued my seemingly endless training, I finally mastered it. And it had only been a month. I really don’t have a perception of time. It felt way faster… or maybe way longer. Honestly, I can’t even tell. Time is kind of overrated for an immortal race anyway.

  Anyway, now it’s time to give certain individuals some much-needed attention.

  Flair had already mastered Armament Haki, Observation Haki, and Conqueror’s Haki. Apparently, spiritual lifeforms are extremely suited to it, and she integrated it into her technique—now calling it the “Turtle Shell Technique.”

  The worst part? She can throw up other barriers. So you have to get past the first, then she focuses 100% of her spirit energy and Armament Haki into one spot and adds multi-layered barriers on top. The first layer disperses, the second blocks, and that’s just for good measure.

  With that level of absurd defense, she’s nearly impossible to kill—especially given how resilient souls are. She’s basically a tank who maxed out all her defenses and stacked a ridiculous number of passive buffs.

  She was impressed that I had mastered the technique. I smiled and cast a spell to erase my memory of it—well, more accurately, to seal it—along with the fact that I had mastered the Hunter x Hunter technique.

  She noticed and asked about it, but I simply said I didn’t know why I did it.

  She sighed. “Well, I’m sure you have your reasons.”

  I shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re talking about… but you’re probably right.”

  As someone who fights hand-to-hand, she’s monstrous. She can throw a ridiculous number of buffs and debuffs into the mix, making her almost unstoppable in close-quarter magical combat. Not to mention, she’s naturally gifted with magic.

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  It seems she preferred to develop one ridiculously broken technique and spare no effort, rather than diversifying. Mastering one skill to perfection.

  Wait—you already mastered basic Haki?

  “Well, it’s all about spirit and will, isn’t it?” she said. “Spiritual lifeforms, being spirits themselves, already have absurdly strong souls—even the average ones. But willpower? It’s the only ingredient we really need to use Haki easily.”

  She explained how to do it. I tried—and yeah, it was easy to use. Mastery will take time, but I still need to work on the Hunter x Hunter technique, and Observation and Conqueror’s Haki later.

  Anyway, I believe you needed me for the realm cores. We still need the rest of the materials. The guy wants his payment. I created a scroll and said:

  “This is a fine-tuned creation magic spell, along with detailed explanations about the nuclear diamond battery. It’ll give you the info and spell you need to use it.”

  I said modern-day machinery isn’t advanced enough to mass-produce these, and even if I knew how to build the factories, it wouldn’t help unless they developed all the tech first. He nodded and vanished.

  Naturally, we began the process of creating the Soul Society. This version, however, is calibrated to put more strain on souls—to encourage evolution into Soul Reapers. Those who succeed will master Shikai, at the very least. Average human souls will only survive about 1,000 years in this realm—maybe 10,000, max. That’s just theoretical, not accounting for Hollows and other external dangers.

  We poured massive amounts of energy into refining the materials—ironing them into orbs. He formed multiple, using enchantments. The Runes he wrote into the air formed a massive magical circle. The number of names for this stuff is absurd, but they all mean the same thing. Some people are just sensitive about terminology.

  After seven days, we were done—completely drained. It’ll take a while to recover. He said that if all the Soul Reapers and Diamonds poured spirit energy into the orbs, they’d activate instantly and begin forming the Soul Society.

  We needed to configure the gate first. Ivory, the leader of the Soul Reapers—the guy who looked like Ichigo—had already thought of that. He planned to create a key: a ring bound to its wielder, so no one else could use it.

  The only problem? While there would be rivers and lakes, most of the land would be barren and rocky. We’d need to modify the souls of plants so they could survive and create vegetation.

  I added weather. He randomized it completely. There’s also an expansion function—but it’s slow. It’ll take thousands of years before it noticeably expands. And no, it doesn’t expand outward—the entire realm scales proportionally. Once fully formed, it should span about 100,000 km from edge to edge. Plenty of space.

  We agreed on a magical contract:

  We acknowledge each other as representatives of our respective races: the Soul Kingdom and Diamond Kingdom.

  We agree to a non-aggression pact.

  If conflict is unavoidable, we agree to cease hostilities once the death count reaches 10,000.

  The outer zones are no-man’s land—neutral ground ruled by none.

  We agree to open trade.

  “What about money?” he asked.

  “I can make a device that prints a limited amount each year,” I replied. “It’ll have counter-duplication spells. Even if someone tried, perfect copies would be hard. Each coin will have a serial number.”

  I’ll make a magical tool that mass-produces money. Sure, its enchantments are weaker than hand-crafting, but that’s fine for currency. I’ll cap production at 10,000 gold, 100,000 silver, and 100,000 bronze per year. The device will gather spirit energy from the Soul Society itself. It’ll have limits. Each coin will say:

  D1 of 10,000 — Year made

  Or S1 of 10,000 — Year made, for silver and bronze coins

  it will say

  D1 of 100000 or

  S1 of 100000

  Once it reaches the cap, it won’t make more until the next year. Using a single currency will simplify trade.

  I drew a magic circle. Time for the ritual to obtain my shard. You need Captain-level spirit energy for this. The ritual turns half your refined elemental body into unrefined, then summons the elemental spirit. Fail—and you become a mindless elemental beast. Succeed—and you gain a shard.

  Thanks to the knowledge implanted in my head, I knew they were highly resistant to magic—perfect counters to my race, who rely heavily on it. But I had a plan. I wasn’t stupid. All my training led to this moment.

  I sat inside the circle and activated the ritual. The pain was unbearable as half my body reverted to its raw elemental form.

  The elemental spirit manifested. It looked like me—if an abomination had tried to copy my form.

  Without hesitation, I attacked. I wasn’t expecting to do any damage, but it cut through my fireballs with anti-magic claws.

  Duly noted.

  I guess I’ll have to set up some barriers when I’m done. I already have a rough draft in mind.

  “Ivory,” I said, “if I become a mindless elemental beast, you’ll have to kill me. That’s why I’m doing my Shard ritual in front of everyone. Besides, we’ve got nothing else to do while that damn thing finishes creating the Soul Society. It’s going to need way more spirit energy than what we put into it—but the process has already started."

  "Also, make sure no one else interferes, and keep everyone at a safe distance for the time being.”