After Sōsuke Aizen finished experiencing the power beyond limits, Sora asked him to return to the Soul Society first.
Sora still had matters to deal with; he needed to go to Las Noches.
Upon arriving at Las Noches, he didn't disturb the other disciples but went directly to find Nelliel.
Nelliel hadn't seen Professor for a few months and said joyfully, "Professor, you haven't been to Hueco Mundo for a while!"
Sora rubbed Nelliel's head as she leaned in. "You have basically mastered everything I taught you. There is no need for me to come over often to check your progress."
Nelliel pouted, "But we all miss Professor!"
Sora knocked on Nelliel's head and laughed, "You are just greedy for snacks, aren't you?"
Nelliel giggled, "Hehe, I knew I couldn't hide it from Professor!"
After being taken to the Soul Society by Sora to live for a period, she had fallen in love with the snacks there.
Every time Sora came to Las Noches, he would bring her some of her favorite snacks.
Sora took out a snack box from his Reishi space pocket. "A new pastry shop called 'Sugar Heart House' opened near the dojo. Kana tried it and thought their pastries were quite good, so I brought some for you."
Nelliel was pleasantly surprised. "Did Kana buy them for me? Thank you so much!"
She and Kana Azashiro shared similar tastes. When they were in the Soul Society in the past, they had a very good relationship.
"I have another matter for coming to find you this time. You have passed the rapid growth period, and your Spiritual Pressure hasn't changed much in the past two years."
Sora took out the Hōgyoku and continued, "You have also seen the 'Hōgyoku'. It can allow you to continue evolving."
The ultimate mission, 'Path of Transcendence', was the key for Sora to move forward.
To complete the 'Path of Transcendence', he still needed to train a disciple who reached the limit of a Hollow and a disciple who reached the limit of a Quincy.
Sora planned to complete the task of training a disciple to the Quincy limit by training Ichigo Kurosaki.
As for training a disciple to the Hollow limit, Sora planned to try using the Hōgyoku to complete it.
It had already been verified when developing White; implanting the Hōgyoku into a Hollow's body could promote the Hollow's evolution.
Nelliel asked in confusion, "Can the Hōgyoku allow me to continue evolving?"
When the Hōgyoku evolved Harribel into an Arrancar, Nelliel was present. However, at that time, she thought the Hōgyoku could only evolve unmasked Hollows into Arrancars.
"The power of the Hōgyoku is far more than that." Sora nodded. "This time, I will leave it inside your body."
This was an attempt by Sora. Letting Nelliel be in long-term contact with the Hōgyoku might allow her to evolve further.
Displaying the limit-breaking Hollowfication in front of Sōsuke Aizen earlier was another attempt.
After Sōsuke Aizen witnessed Professor's Hollowfication, he would definitely try to enhance the Hollow power in his body.
If the Hollow power in his body grew to the limit, it might also count as training a disciple who reached the Hollow limit.
A moment later, Sora implanted the Hōgyoku into Nelliel's body.
What surprised Sora was that the Hōgyoku inside Nelliel's body actually responded to her immediately.
Nelliel quickly entered her half-human, half-antelope Resurrección form.
After entering Resurrección form, her transformation continued.
The half-antelope skull mask covering her forehead cracked into fragments and fell off.
The white horns turned into a pair of black horns.
The bone armor on her upper body, just like the antelope skull mask, cracked into fragments and fell off.
Her long green hair turned blue, and the hair on her tail also turned the same blue as her hair.
Her conical long lance also changed its appearance greatly, turning into a short spear burning with dark pink Reishi flames.
What was magical was that the Hōgyoku, originally implanted in Nelliel's body, had now moved into the handle of the flaming short spear.
"The Hōgyoku in my body went to my spear..."
"My Spiritual Pressure..." Nelliel was pleasantly surprised by her changes. "It has become so much stronger!"
"Your Spiritual Pressure has already surpassed Starrk." Sora nodded.
"My spiritual pressure is still increasing!" Nelliel said. "It feels just like returning to that earlier period of rapid growth!"
Nelliel didn't reach the Hollow limit directly, but the good news was that the growth was continuing.
"There is absolutely no mask left." Sora checked Nelliel's body and found no residual mask or shell anywhere. "Try to see if you can deactivate the Resurrección state. Your human form's mask should have also disappeared."
"I'll try. The power skyrocketed suddenly, so it's a bit hard to control." Nelliel closed her eyes and carefully felt the changes in her body.
A moment later, Nelliel's body changed again.
The half-human, half-antelope body turned into a complete human form.
The antelope hair on her lower body also faded quickly.
Even her blue hair returned to green.
The short spear burning with dark pink Reishi flames turned into the appearance of a Zanpakutō.
The only thing that didn't change was the pair of black horns resembling demon horns.
"Your evolution direction is evolving towards a form closer to humans."
Sure enough, Nelliel's human form had no mask either.
If one ignored the pair of black horns, Nelliel no longer had the characteristics of a Hollow.
Nelliel in this form reminded Sora of a creature called a 'Succubus' in the movies and games of his previous life.
"I look more like a human now. Can I occasionally go to the Soul Society to find Professor?" Nelliel asked in a low voice, her face slightly red.
"You can come anytime," Sora said in surprise. "Didn't I leave you a set of clothes that shield Spiritual Pressure?"
He had long noticed that Nelliel wanted to go to the Soul Society, so he made her a set of clothes that could shield Spiritual Pressure.
"Although I can hide my Spiritual Pressure, if someone sees my mask, it would still cause trouble for Professor..." Nelliel was afraid of causing trouble for Professor, so she hadn't dared to go to the Soul Society alone.
"No need to have so many worries." Sora rubbed Nelliel's head. "You can come back to the dojo anytime you want. If you crave snacks, you can go to the 3rd Division to find Kana."
"Mhm!" Nelliel nodded repeatedly. Now she only needed to wear a hat, and no one would notice anything strange.
Sora glanced at Nelliel's panel.
[Nelliel]
[Talent: SS]
[Spiritual Pressure: lv98]
[Reputation Level: Admiration]
[Status: Hōgyoku Fusion]
Before fusing with the Hōgyoku, Nelliel's Spiritual Pressure was level 95.
Now it had directly risen to level 98.
More importantly—
Fusing with the Hōgyoku actually affected the talent rating!
Nelliel's talent increased to SS rank!
Sora's 'Patient Guidance' trait improved disciples' learning ability but didn't affect their Reishi aptitude.
The talent displayed on the panel was a comprehensive rating including Reishi aptitude.
Sora believed that only those with a talent rating of SS rank possessed the Reishi aptitude to grow to the limits of Shinigami, Hollow, or Quincy.
Both Sōsuke Aizen and Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni were SS rank ratings.
In other words, Nelliel, who had fused with the Hōgyoku, indeed possessed the potential to reach the full extent of a Hollow's power.
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