Core of all Power [Mastery #3]

Once more, we begin to delve into the battle against Dresden-- as seen in "Fellow Recruits", this is where Erek is introduced to the idea of reishi initially, even if he doesn't retain a complete grasp over the ability itself-- what he does grasp, is the idea that the energy around him is key for his abilities. This is emphasized when for the first time Erek is forced to fight for dominance over the reishi in the room in his battle against Dresden. This is his initial interaction with the idea that he must "wrench control" of the energy as a limited resource, and foreshadows the climax of this mastery.

After traveling to Berlin, and meeting Freyleif in "A New Knight Get", he is finally able to get a complete and total understanding of not only reishi, but also of blut and many other aspects related to the energy itself. From this, we begin to dive into the more extensive studying of the abilities-- learning to manipulate the reishi into a proper spirit weapon and slowly growing used to the natural spiritual energy that surrounded him in the area. This, however, later becomes a hindrance-- as when shown in "Not Exactly "Tech-Savvy"", interacting with Rick-- I decided to have Erek go the opposite route. Often, Quincy are placed in Karakura or other reishi-enhanced environments, and they grow stronger, quicker.

However, Erek was far too new-- to everything. Instead of the overwhelming amount of reishi benefiting him, they hindered him-- like spiritual weights, he wasn't able to adjust to the sudden immense density of reishi within Karakura, unable to gather the mental fortitude and focus required to properly control it. This was, in part, due to his own mental block and lack of understanding on how exactly to control the reishi to a greater degree. This is the point in which Rick forced his hand-- trapping him in a coffin that was crafted from reishi, used with an Experts hand-- and Master when it came to the usage of creating permanent items with reishi-- Erek is forced into a situation that, as far as he is concerned, could end his life if he panics or allows his weakness to show.

Not knowing Ricks personality, for all he knew the man would seriously allow him to die-- it was always a possibility. As such, he digs deeper. Forcing himself to reach out, to expand his natural senses and wrench open the door that has been closed by making a realization-- reishi, as much as he tried to grant it scientific basis-- was fundamentally the energy of life itself. With this discovery, he obtained the mentality he needed-- and comparing it to killing, he destroyed the coffin that Rick-- who held tremendous skill in such creations-- near effortlessly. Not only this but when given a Seele for the first time, he near instantly managed to not only control it-- but condense it, controlling the flow of reishi perfectly through the weapon.

This latent talent in the control of reishi, and awakening to the idea that "creating" things with reishi was like when he treated someones wound, and "destroying" spiritually created items were like when he killed someone-- allows him to brush past the barriers that were surrounding his skill and understanding. Pushing forward, and allowing him to truly emphasize his skill briefly in "Returning to a Friend", in which Erek effortlessly manifests and destroys multiple floating, complexly designed knives rotating through the air, perfectly controlling them, and destroying them in seconds.

A final straw, being in "False White Knight", in which Erek not only shows his control over his reishi-- but hones his focus to even greater levels, while already struggling through a tremendous challenge in the shape of maintaining his blut at the edge of exhaustion, the tactical Hollow begins to counter his last hope: draining the reishi from the surrounding area. Here, the foreshadowing with Dresden becomes evident, and realizing the feeling-- he knows that if he doesn't stop her, he will lose. Here, he shows the first step-- forcing her eggs to halt in their absorption, and consciously dragging the reishi back to him so that her tactic will not work-- something that should have caused him immense focus.

But it didn't-- due to how ingrained the control of his reishi had become, it was second nature, allowing him to maintain that focus with immense ease. However, this isn't enough-- as eventually, the reishi in the area becomes far too thin, and without a source of fuel for his powers-- they begin to dwindle. Here, is when the true moment of his mastery takes over-- Erek, in desperation, drains the reishi and energy from the very eggs that Shinku is producing, while they are midway through growth. Draining the energy from them, as well as the reishi stored in the other eggs-- not only replenishing his supply but killing the fetuses before they can even properly mature.

This is extended into his Mastery within the threads of "Hone your Edge" where he casually utilizes reishi in order to alter the terrain, with perfect control to turn a mass of rubble into a perfect training mat down to the exact detail of individual tiles polished with raw force and reishi pressure. Similarly, in "Welcome to Hell" he is shown casually flipping between perfectly made weapons of varying sorts and examples with ease and detail work, showing complete control and mastery when it comes to bending the reishi to his will into weapons and items at will. Similarly, in this thread, he shows extensive ease in analyzing the reishi particles of Martin's ability, breaking it down, and learning how to counter and adjust to it.

This also allows him to rapidly analyze (with a bit of help from Martin) his own power and rapidly learning to not only use it on a whim, but perfectly control the reishi so that he can remove his powers effects at will instead if he so desires. The last note being his excessive ease in which he casually manifests reishi to his call on a whim in "The Friendly Smell of War", forming table utensils and utilizing the energy casually for normal activities with ease-- causing no drain or loss of focus for him to summon and maintain such.

None.