Mastery Request(s): It's a Kind of Magic

Threads

A number of these are unfinished but the elements needed for this request have been covered.

• A Noble Guest?
  
• Teaching Wolves New Tricks
  
• Know your Limits
  
• All That Glitters Is Not Gold
  
• Battle Arena Crackdown!
  
• Spellcraft 101
  
• Hunting the Hunter
  
• A Difference of Centuries
  
• Paper Beats Rock
  

Skills: Kidō [Bakudō & Hadō Specialities]


The Story
Zenji has never been a good Shinigami, he barely passed the Academy and by the time he joined the Gotei he was already half a Century out of practice. However the one skill he has always been capable of, and proud of, is his usage of the Demon Arts. It is a well known fact that he rarely trained as part of his role as a Soul Reaper. However Zenji is of the Hatayama Clan, an ancient group of quasi-mystical monks with an unimaginably vast archive focusing on the arcane, and so he only really ever pursued this element of the Zankensoki.

During the second half of A Noble Guest we see Zenji drawing upon esoteric spiritual knowledge, less formalised than standard Kidō , when explaining theories for possibly modifying Watari’s Zanpakuto while referring to pre-Gotei methods of Reiryoku powered spellcraft. Although not directly tied to modern Kidō this does help show Zenji;’s deep interest in the arcane. Perhaps most notable he easily hides a stack of documents with an illusion and, when alone, even uses a forbidden teleportation spell to send the secret documents to his study.

In Teaching Wolves New Tricks Zenji is tasked with training Yuki in the Demon Arts however her issue is that she can’t produce any sort of result despite performing the spells correctly. To start off with Zenji provides some basic theory as well as showing how a basic mid-level Hadō can also have non-combat utility uses. The session evolves from training to Zenji attempting to analyse the problem and coming to the conclusion that her technique should be enough to produce something but it appears that she is unable to properly harness her own Reiryoku. Zenji provides her some advice and access to his Family’s library so that she can continue her studies.

A botched Living World patrol leads to the events of Know your limits which is the first real combat situation the inexperienced “warrior” has been involved with in years. During the events of this thread we see our nobleman using a number of Kidō without incantations such as Enkōsen and Byakurai to defend and attack a Hollow. We then see him use Horin to grab his unconscious and badly injured patrol partner and yank her away from the attacker. In an attempt to protect his unconscious colleague, named Suki (NPC), Zenji even manages a level #81 Bakudō without incantation. Throughout the battle we see his limit is not a matter of skill but rather a lack of pure strength to supply the Spiritual Power required for continuous high level casting. An unorthodox usage of the Demon Arts is to use a small mystical array, discussed in A Noble Guest? to power a barrier around the unconscious Suki while he continues the battle. Expanding on his repertoire of spells Zenji shows himself capable of hiding his presence and Reiatsu before using a level #75 Bakudō with incantation. This last attack almost drains the injured Soul Reaper of his life force due to the sheer amount of power needed before using Sekienton to obscure the Hollow’s vision and to flee.

No masterful event occurs in All That Glitters Is Not Gold but rather we see Zenji once again falling into the role of Kidō teacher to a younger Soul Reaper. During this Zenji shows his skill through the use of a level #61 Bakudō followed by a level #63 Hadō immediately followed by a chantless Enkōsen. He seems to show some resilience here that we haven’t really seen before as there is no intense exhaustion afterwards.

Again no great battle occurs in Battle Arena Crackdown but Zenji, in an attempt to force two brawling Shinigami to break up a fight, uses the potent Ryūbi no Jōmon barrier. He also shows his knowledge of utilising Kōjutsu Eishō, the technique of reciting the incantation after the initial casting to enforce the existing barrier. He also throws out a Hōrin afterwards although he shows obvious fatigue from using the barrier and is forced to use the associated incantation. Zenji then shows some skill, in a more subtle fashion, when instead of simply dismissing the barrier he slowly lowers it to the ground so as to not accidentally hurt Nao who stands upon the summoned wall.

Once again we see Zenji putting on his teaching hat in Spellcraft 101. Here he acts as a temporary instructor at the Academy to teach a class the usefulness, and how to perform, Eishōhaki. A spell without incantation as well as demonstrating just why this is such a useful skill for combat. During this he identifies a particularly gifted student and believes him to be a talent which deserves special attention.

Hunting the Hunter is largely only relevant at the beginning simply because it's the first time Zenji ever uses Nijū Eishō outside of training to twin cast Hōrin and Shakkahō. Once more we see his limitations come in the area of strength rather than technique.

Again only relevant at the very beginning but in Difference of Centuries we see the sort of activities that Zenji gets up to in his private Demon Arts Workshop. Here, at the beginning, we see that the nobleman is trying to come up with his own spell and is performing an experimental forbidden Kidō to try a custom made time suspension spell limited to a specific zone.

In Paper Beats Rock Zenji plays the role of Second to Nao during her challenge for the Third Seat of the First Division. After the duel ends Nao’s old Supervisor, bitter and fearful of his abused underling’s swift rise to the Division’s upper echelons, tries to challenge the result. With Nao unconscious Zenji chooses to act as her second to assert her new authority. However the Supervisor pushes too far by using a Bakudō and drawing his blade. Zenji's noble blood causes him to fly into a rage response. Getting his fury under control the furious Lord of the Hatayama Clan decided to punish the commoner whilst also demonstrating his power to silence anyone who might challenge Nao. This results in Zenji using the famous Hadō Black Coffin and severely injuring the man who only survived because of Zenji’s limited Spiritual Strength.


Conclusion
Being an Kidō Expert is a core aspect of Zenji’s life. Not only is it his main form of attack and defense but it is also the one set of skills he feels skilled enough in, even with his low self-opinion, to instruct others in. More than this it is the one aspect of his powers as a Shinigami, and Nobleman of the Hatayama, that he pursues with a feverish passion even if it means breaking some rules.

As a master of both branches of Kidō Zenji considers himself not just capable of all catalogues spells as well as the Hatayama House’s personal repertoire of spells. From this point he feels he is more than capable of teaching other Soul Reapers in the Demon Arts. From here he seeks less to master new spells but to discover how to use them better, more efficiently, whilst also overcoming his limited Reiryoku supply.


Relevant Future Plans
Zenji has set his eyes upon becoming seated with a special interest in overseeing, and occasionally taking part in, the training at the Academy. Although his speciality may be better suited to the Third for now he wishes to continue to support the First which he respects so much.
It may be worth noting that Zenji believes his Mastery in the Demon Arts more than qualifies him to rise to a Seated Position although he’s less confident in his relatively low Reiatsu.


Other
Due to the newness of these request types feel free to give me a shout if there's anything missing.

So a mastery request should include material that demonstrates

The Baseline
The Work
The Triumph

The baseline is the baseline, it's you demonstrating your character's skill, representing at least Journeyman but perhaps also Apprentice and below depending on where you began with the skill. This is meant to establish:

The work! This represents the effort of your character in Journeyman as they work to deepen their understanding and develop the skills. This could be study, practice, practical use, study under a master, anything that demonstrates this is a skill they use and are trying to hone. Until finally, they hit:

The triumph! Which can be seen as a corollary to the 'moment' seen in Release requests. This does not need to be big and flashy, but it does need to be satisfying, you must clearly establish the character as a master, demonstrating that they represent refined and capable expertise over the skill in question in some form of practical application or expression of insight.

Each builds on the other, one thread could potentially cover multiple, multiple threads could cover one but I imagine ideal and easiest is at least a thread for each. The sequence is important! Feel free to include more threads if you wish to provide material to support but highlight where these three key areas are expressed.

With that bit of boilerplate as the first mastery is out of the way let's dive into the specifics!

I don't want to belabour it. A lot of this stuff could function as Baseline or Work, I think those areas are well covered, A Noble Guest, Teaching Wolves New Tricks. Know Your Limits is solid Work. I think the Chantless Enkosen in All That Glitters is a bit bold since chantless spells are a mastery technique, and maybe premature, more appropriate to a Triumph but we're still figuring out what's appropriate when and where so I'm willing to be cool.

The Kurohitsugi in Paper Beats Rock is a little wild, considering that's meant to murder people! But you deal with the fallout appropriately, though you do undercut your own triumph by mentioning how weak the result was it still feels at least an appropriate triumph for Hado at least as a first Mastery attempt. A Difference of Centuries kind of works in the other direction, it's the kind of stuff I'd expect from someone angling for Grand Mastery, a thing that does not exist yet, or even further beyond that!

Ultimately, the request is a mess, it's all over the place, it's a little unfocused but the use of Hado and Bakudo here is so well documented, and the errors and missteps can be easily attributed to the still establishing state of the site. This is your first mastery, and indeed the first mastery of the site and god help me I just appreciate when people go for it. Not only that, but it's also clear the use of this stuff fits the narrative beats and isn't strictly baiting for the mastery which I think is pretty vital.

These missteps will count against you moving forward, but overall I think this is a very good request and I am happy to say

Congratulations! You have been approved for mastery in Kido!

As for your notes, mechanically Bakudo and Hado are identical, I am okay with you being a mastery of both, but if changes mechanically occur where they split we'll figure it out and you certainly won't be punished for it. Just buy Kido mastery.