Strength out of Weakness

The land was lush and green. It was a strange place in the wastelands. In many areas there were hollow everywhere. Here, however, seemed peaceful and serene. Snopy stood at the center of a clearing in the forest. On three sides he was surrounded by trees. On the fourth there was river, the other side of which held even more foliage. It was a good place for Snopy to hone his skills. He had water if he needed it and would most likely go undisturbed.

Snopy's prime concern was his Kidō. It was his main method of fighting, so he needed to improve his skills with it. For his strength level, the blonde Shinigami was not bad at Kidō, but he didn't feel it was enough. He raised his hand up and aimed at a nearby rock. His body began to be enveloped in a pink aura as he slowly chanted the incantation for Hadō #1.

Hadō #1, Sho.

As the spell fired off the grass around him moved due to the released energy. The spell struck the rock. The grass around it moved, and some dust flew up, but there was little in the way of motion for the rock itself. He scratched his head.

What a pain this is.

He shrugged off the failure and went for a second try. There was a breeze blowing that Snopy felt was nice, but he had to focus. He spoke the incantation for Sho once more. This time he placed some more energy into the spell before releasing. Once again, there was little movement in the rock. However, around it more dust and small pebbles blew up than last time. Though it wasn't nearly enough for Snopy's taste. If he was fighting a hollow or some other beast, his spell wouldn't even make them flinch. Snopy had decided he didn't enjoy the idea of being lunch and kept going.

Before he tried again he walked over to the river. He sat and cupped his hands before placing it into the slow flowing waters. He took a nice long sip of water. He spent a brief moment enjoying the peacefulness. However he didn't have the time to be lazy, so he stood up and prepared for some more training.

Before he moved on to the next spell he wanted to see some kind of results with Sho. He went back to the rock and cracked his neck a bit before beginning. He spoke the incantation again before pointing at the rock.

Hadō #1, Sho.

Once more his attack collided with the rock, and this time there was some movement. Snopy was a little shocked because he hadn't really put any effort into that attempt like he had done with the others. He spoke the incantation a fourth time and tried once more. This time he put effort into it and there was notable movement in the rock. Huh?

Snopy didn't quite understand what happened. He tried hard and he had gotten nothing. Tried harder and gotten a little more than nothing. Then he didn't try and he got results, before trying and getting good results. He shrugged it off as he usually did and moved on. All he really wanted was to get the training over with. Repetition was never fun for him. The next spell on his list was Hadō #4. This one he had found himself to be good at in the past. He could just fire a few off and move on, but he wanted to actually work with it. He looked around, it was such a nice area he didn't want to end up damaging it. So he walked over to a tree where he had put some training dummies he had brought. Destroying them wouldn't be a problem in the least.

He stood a distance from where the training dummies stood. He raised his finger, sparks flying off of it. Speaking the incantation, he fired off a beam of electricity. The dummy he aimed at had a giant hole in it. Snopy was a little disappointed, he wanted to be able to vaporize it. Though deep down he knew that at his current strength he stood no chance. He shrugged as usual. Snopy stood for a moment, listening to the sound of the wind through the leaves, before starting up again.

He took a deep breath as he began to charge up the spell. When Snopy cast a spell his stance was always the same. He stood up straight, and rarely had his body facing the direction of his opponent. In many instances, he didn't even look in his target's direction. Hadō #4, Byakurai. Another beam shot out of about the same size as the one previous. It hit the next dummy for the same amount of damage as before. Not good enough. He stopped for a moment and began to take a deep breath. The grass around him started to move as he built up energy in his body. His aura was once again visible. Hadō #4, Byakurai.

The beam shot off, its volume overshadowing the wind. The beam was larger, not much, but larger. When the beam struck the dummy, the hole was about 1/2 an inch wider. He shrugged, it was an improvement. He saw no reason to complain. He walked over and removed the dummies from the posts, placing the destroyed ones off to the side. As he brought out the new ones the wind picked up a bit. Snopy looked up as he heard a loud snap as a small branch from a tree hit him in the head. It wasn't enough ti do any damage. but it hurt him. Well, so much for my good luck streak. Shame. Very little ever bothered him. He just took things as they came. Alright, time to finish this training and finally relax a bit.

Snopy placed the new dummies onto their posts and went back to his spot. He began to charge his energy once more for another go. At this point he had stopped caring if any further improvements are noticeable. He preferred training with someone else with him. As he charged up the Byakurai once more, he thought of one of his friends from before he died. She was extremely annoying, but training was never dull back then. Hadō #4, Byakurai. This time he tried it without the incantation, and the beams size was notably tinier. It was an improvement, as it wasn't long ago he couldn't cast a spell without an incantation. Either way, it was still utterly useless without an incantation. Even if he sneaked up on a hollow from behind and fired at it, nothing would happen, well he would be eaten if his combat skills failed him further.

He charged up yet another spell, and this time went back to citing the incantation. Hadō # 4, Byakurai. The beam was the same as the last time he used the incantation. Not too large, yet still quite loud. Either way, Snopy was done with it for now. Later he would practice refining his Reiatsu in order to cast spells more efficiently. As one last cool off he decided one more Sho would be a good finish. Hadō #1, Sho. He fired it at the one dummy not destroyed. However, due to it being secured to the post it did not move. Though Snopy was satisfied, that last spell was a bit stronger than when he arrived. Snopy sat down and pulled out a small canteen. Normally he had it filled with water, but this time he had it filled with Sake. H felt a little relaxation was something he hadn't experienced in far too long.

Training: Completed
WOO, just another small step closer to finally not being Tier 4-3.