"Ugh... Damn it! my eyes hurt! Sister lily! Help!" Ray yelped in pain as once again, his attempt at using soul sight failed.
A week ago, after Reio had sent Ray back with a foul mood and new information that hinted at the existence of soul reapers in this world, Ray had been trying to manipulate his reishi towards the eyes (helps to see soul related entities) like a madman. However, it failed in spectacular ways, most of them leading to dry eyes and extreme pain. Luckily sister Lily with her water based minor healing magic could handle it just fine.
After the incident with rivechi, Asta and Yuno had been training diligently like no tomorrow, honing their grimoire control to perfection. of course by grimoire control I refer to Yuno, as Asta is busy training his sword skills with the Demon-Slayer Sword.
Ray rubbed his eyes once, after sister lily healed them, then ran off to try the soul sight again. He activated his grimoire and tried again. This time he tried not to let his focus slip. He had been extremely close to getting it in the previous try. He held his focus for almost an hour, continuously supplying reishi to his eyes before he felt a reaction.
*WHOOSH!*
It was like he was looking at the world using colored glasses. Everything had a secondary form to it from within. Ray turned on the spot as he sensed the arrival of a human. It was a standard villager of hage village passing by. But to Ray he looked more like a shell then a human. ray could see the man's innate potential and mana quantity.
*ROAR!*
Just then a roar echoed through the forest however the villagers around Ray didnt even flinch. as if they hadn't even heard it.
Frowning to himself, Ray took off towards the source of the roar. There, he saw it. A massive Boar-like beast with a white mask and a hole in its chest, was fighting an cloaked figure wielding a scythe. The figure was at an clear disadvantage.
Ray grinned at the sight and mentally labeled them as Soul reapers and Hollows of the Black clover world. He jumped down from his vantage point and shouted at the 'hollow'.
"Oi You!" The 'hollow' and and 'soul reaper' stopped fighting and towards me.
"Yes you! Big baby in a white mask! I can smell the rot of your soul from here. Even death spat you out, didn't it? Heck, why do you even wear a mask? oh wait i know! You wear that mask to hide what's left of your pathetic face, don't you?" Ray taunted, and successfully enrage the 'hollow'
*ROAR!!!!!*
*WHOOSH!*
The 'Hollow' attacked him, but Ray was faster, he ducked under the extended arm, while simultaneously summoning and slashing at the hollow with the [Seele Schneider] from his grimoire. The 'hollow's' arm was severed, and without giving the 'hollow' any time to regain it's bearings, he lunged at it, severing its mask in one slash.
*Thud!*
The dead body of the 'hollow' dissolves into fine reishi particles that float towards Ray and merge with his body.
*DING!*
User has come in contact with 'Soul reapers' and found a method to improve reishi value!
Criteria for partial activation achieved!
*DING!*
User Data -
Name: Ray
Race: Human (Quincy)
Age: 15 (+18.6)
Magic - 500 (+500 Reishi, Improvement Locked. Storage = +1 Reishi)
STR - 20 (Affects User's natural Strength, Improvement Locked.)
DEX - 23 (Affects User's Natural Speed, Improvement Locked.)
DEF - 16 (Affects User's Natural Toughness, Improvement Locked.)
INT - 143 IQ (Gifted, Improvement Not Possible.)
Innate Talents: [Archery (Unsealed)], [Aiming (Unsealed)], [Combat Instinct (Unsealed)], [Hand-To-Hand Combat (Unsealed)]
Grimoire - Quincy cross
Spells - [Seele Schneider], [Hirenkyaku]
Ray's eyes widened as he saw the familiar screen of the system once again. His face brightened with a smile before he composed himself and turned to the 'soul reaper' who was still looking a bit shaken up.
"You ok there buddy?" Ray asked, extending an hand to help the figure up. But the figure swatted the hand away and ran the opposite direction, his figure flickering unnaturally.
"What... talk about unfreindly..." Ray grumbled at being rejected and headed out of the forest.
For, the next 3 days, Ray hunted down the 'Hollows' within hage village's forest. and multiple times during this "Minor Training arc" Ray met the cloaked figure, however the latter never tried to accept Ray's friendly advances.
At the 5th time though, Ray lucked out.
"W-Who are you..." The Figure said in a shaky voice. it had once again been saved by ray from a hollow.
"Ray! im from the nearby orphanage." Ray replied. "what about you? what's your name. also what are those creatures? and what exactly are?" Ray fired off questions like a machine gun.
Though momentarily overwhelmed, the Figure regained his marbles and replied,
"I am Sanders. I am the one who oversees the quiet passing of pure souls and extermination of evil ones. I'm what you humans call a Grim Reaper. and the Creature you just fought? those are the evolved versions of Evil souls. when a evil soul has no regret tying it down. that is when that regret has somehow stopped anchoring the soul's humanity, the soul with undergo a mutation and becomes a cursed creature we call them, the Vacuans" the figure called sanders said.
"ahh... i see..." Ray said nodding.
'so these, grim reapers are essentially the soul reapers of the black clover world. then maybe... just maybe there might be quincies as well!' Ray thought
"so, like have you ever met a human who can... you know, see the Vacuans and you know... exterminate them... like me! have you...?" Ray asked.
"No..." Sanders shook his head in denial.
Ray sighed and smiled lightly 'looks like I'm the first quincy of this world huh...'
"what about the place these guys go to? you have any idea? also, where do you grim reapers live?" Ray asked.
"Uh... I dont have a clue about where the Vacuans go to, but we Grim reapers are from the underworld, which is further divided into heaven and hell, where the souls we reap, be it evil souls or pure souls, are judged based on their overall karma and dharma values." Sanders replied.
"I see..." Ray replied curtly, pausing to think a bit before continuing "How about we make a deal. for the next 6 months ill help you clean up the Vacuans in and around Hage village. in return, one day you take me to the underworld with you. I wanna have look around."
Sanders frowned a bit, but then nodded. "Alright. deal."
Ray grinned and shook hands "by the way, what exactly are those scythes that you carry around? are they special or something? do they have call out names that lead to their souls or something?" Ray asked curiously, hoping to get a sneak peak at the shikai transformation of a zanpakuto.
"Im not sure what your on about, but you see, these scythes are know as soulbrands. they are able to store the properties of a vacuan we have previously defeated and can use it whenever necessary. like for example that rhino shaped vacuan you beat yesterday. before you came, i drew blood from it. from that i managed to extract the rhino vacuan's Tough skin and Heavy blows properties... get it?" Sanders replied.
"I see..." Ray replied vaguely once again.
And so, began the minor-major training arc for Ray.