Shiyu felt a little uncertain, perhaps due to his Chakra enhancement.
The Chakra refinement seemed to boost his physical and mental energy, so he didn't feel much when he performed the refinement for the first time.
He decided to go through a second round of Chakra refinement. This time, it took the same half-hour to complete the process. However, after this refinement, the system didn't prompt him, meaning it hadn't surpassed the quality of the previous refinement. But that didn't matter; the important thing was that Shiyu still felt no strain!
"No energy consumption at all!"
Once could've been a fluke, but twice was no accident. Shiyu grew even more excited.
"Skills without energy consumption?"
If it were just Chakra refinement, it wouldn't matter much, but if it worked for other ninjutsu techniques, too…!
He glanced at his skill bar. He had equipped the Chakra Refining Technique, allowing him to refine Chakra without using up energy. So he decided to try another technique, equipping the Clone Technique.
[Passive Skill 7: Clone Technique]
He noted that the passive effect of the Chakra Refining Technique was still active. Shiyu quickly jumped out of bed and started the hand seals for the Clone Technique. This time, however, it felt different. With a puff of white smoke, a clone appeared.
But this time, he could clearly feel the Chakra consumption.
"Wait… isn't it supposed to be free of consumption?"
"Could it be that only the Chakra Refining Technique can be used without energy cost?"
Shiyu felt a bit disappointed as he casually dispelled the clone. Sitting back on the bed, he sensed the six strands of Chakra growing within him, and he started to feel that something wasn't quite right.
All of these techniques were skills, so why could the Chakra Refining Technique be used without cost, while the Clone Technique required energy?
Maybe the system could differentiate between skill types?
He examined his skill bar: six refining techniques, one Clone Technique.
"Quantity," he thought. "The difference must be in the number of techniques equipped. Could it be that the Clone Technique isn't fully installed?"
He frowned and tried again.
[Passive Skill 6: Clone Technique]
[Running]
[Passive skills 6 and 7 are now linked.]
As Shiyu was about to attempt the Clone Technique again, he felt a slight shift within him. It was hard to explain, but he could sense something different.
What would happen now that the Clone Technique was fully installed?
Shiyu sealed and released the Clone Technique once more, noticing a smoother, more fluid sequence as he formed the hand signs. His body felt as if it had developed muscle memory for the technique, and he performed it with greater speed.
Poof! With a burst of blue light, the clone appeared again. This time, he looked at it closely and noticed it seemed… better, more refined.
But what surprised Shiyu the most was that his Chakra hadn't decreased at all!
"So, it's because of the number of skills equipped!"
With only one Clone Technique, he couldn't perform it without cost, but with two, he could. No wonder his Chakra Refining Technique was without consumption!
"Is this… a hidden feature?"
It didn't feel that way. It felt more like a glitch in the system. Normally, a working system wouldn't allow him to install two identical passive skills. However, with the system damaged, he could equip skills however he liked—and if he equipped two identical passive skills, he could bypass the energy cost!
Of course, this only worked if he loaded a skill into two skill slots.
With seven passive skill slots in total, he could equip three non-consumable skills at once, leaving one slot for Chakra Refining.
He realized that Chakra Refining would not only boost his Chakra capacity but also restore it. If his Chakra was full, he might only be able to extract a small amount. But if his Chakra was low, one refinement could restore over half of it. With Chakra Refining equipped, he could complete a refinement every five minutes, essentially giving him passive energy regeneration.
For Shiyu, at his current mid-Genin level, the restored amount wasn't much. But as his Chakra grew, so would the amount he could recover.
And if he could eventually learn Sage Jutsu, he could swap the technique for Sage Chakra Refinement, allowing him to continuously absorb natural energy and condense Sage Chakra in battle. This could potentially achieve the same effect that Naruto aspired to create—a continuous refinement of Sage Chakra mid-battle.
Even without Hashirama's incredible ability to automatically absorb Sage Chakra, Shiyu could reach similar results through his passive skill slots, effectively converting active Sage Chakra absorption into a passive skill!
His potential had just reached a new level.
Shiyu looked out the window, his hand clenched.
"Average?"
"No, no, no... from now on, the entire ninja world will be shaken because of me!"