Mind-Controlled Calligraphy

"Skill trait? What's that?" Hyuga Ningyuan asked quickly.

"When a skill reaches levels that are multiples of 5—like 5, 10, 15—it gains a skill trait, which gives the skill an extra effect!"

"Huh?" Hyuga Ningyuan froze, then felt a wave of regret.

My Breathing Technique was already at Level 4—just one more level and it'd be Level 5!

And I went and fused it away?

Still...

If even a black skill can get such a good trait, the Phoenix Genealogy Chart is a blue skill—there's no way its skill trait would be worse, right?

Hyuga Ningyuan let out a sigh, forcing himself to take comfort in that thought.

"Hyuga-kun?" A surprised voice sounded beside him. Hyuga Ningyuan looked up and saw Yūhi Kurenai approaching.

But her gaze...

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Hyuga Ningyuan touched his face. "Something wrong?"

"No, no!" Yūhi Kurenai quickly shook her head. She just felt like her deskmate had somehow gotten a lot better-looking!

And those Byakugan—yesterday they'd seemed a bit scary, but today they looked like deep, clear springs, making you want to get lost in them.

If yesterday Hyuga Ningyuan had been the one taking the initiative, then today...

Yūhi Kurenai had already reached out and placed her hand in his!

When a girl meets a handsome guy, that's how proactive she gets. If you've never experienced it—well.

It's probably because they haven't noticed your charm.

Especially in the Naruto World, where girls are naturally outgoing.

"That dance you taught me yesterday—I practiced it a lot at home too!" Yūhi Kurenai said softly.

"Mm!" Hyuga Ningyuan nodded. "Good. Once you've got it down, we'll take on a job together!"

"Mm-hmm!"

As the bell rang, Shōhoku Sōun walked in carrying a copy of Standard Language.

Hyuga Ningyuan held Yūhi Kurenai's hand with one hand and pulled out his math book with the other, starting to scribble furiously.

After finishing the entire book, the system sound rang out.

[Ding, you have completed a Learning Activity. Arcane Art Gallery level +1. Current level: LV1 (2/100)]

Hyuga Ningyuan was speechless. Bro, I did a Math Activity, and you're leveling up Arcane Art Gallery—does that even make sense?

Looking at this Arcane Art Gallery still stuck at Level 1, he figured he might as well level it up.

System, add points!

[Ding, Arcane Art Gallery level has been raised to LV2 (0/500)]

[Ding, Arcane Art Gallery level has been raised to LV3 (0/1000)]

General Experience: 310

"Whoa!" Hyuga Ningyuan felt a cool sensation in his brain, and then a library packed with books appeared in his consciousness.

This space seemed boundless, and as for the books on the shelves...

Hyuga Ningyuan randomly pulled one out—it was Linear Algebra!

"These are all the books and knowledge I saw in my past life." After a brief sense of it, Hyuga Ningyuan understood the function of this mental space.

Absolute memory, logical reasoning, data analysis—these were its basic functions, because the foundation of the [Arcane Art Gallery] skill was his brain, and his brain's capabilities had naturally been enhanced as the skill leveled up.

Storing and strengthening mental energy was the true origin of the "Arcane" name.

After that, although the skill description said he needed to view mountains and rivers to grow his mental energy, Ningyuan found that after leveling up further, he didn't need to look at landscapes anymore—just keeping his eyes open was enough.

After all, even ordinary scenery contains the great Dao.

Finally, Hyuga Ningyuan could channel this mental energy through painting. Since this was the Naruto World, when manifested externally, this mental energy took the form of Yin Release Chakra.

Yin Release Chakra could create all things, but for now, Ningyuan still needed a medium to release it—paper and pen were his medium.

"My painting skill has improved a lot too!" Since the painting skill had been merged into the Arcane Art Gallery, leveling up the gallery also boosted Hyuga Ningyuan's painting ability.

Now, his painting skill could be considered to have entered the hall of mastery!

"Do you have any money on you?" Hyuga Ningyuan turned his head and asked.

"Yes!" Yūhi Kurenai didn't even ask what he needed it for—she just pulled out a bill and handed it to him. "Here you go!"

100 Ryo!

Ryo was the currency unit of the ninja world, like yuan, yen, or berry—not a unit of weight.

The bill was mostly brownish-yellow, with the denomination written in the top-left and bottom-right corners. In the center was a large portrait of a person, with seven kanji above it reading [Directly Issued by the Daimyo of the Land of Fire].

On the back was a painting of a mountain—no idea which mountain. Hyuga Ningyuan wasn't very familiar with the mountains of the ninja world.

The current technological level of the ninja world was far behind that of Earth in his past life—roughly on par with the 1970s—so naturally, the quality of its currency production wasn't high either.

At least from Hyuga Ningyuan's perspective, whether it was the level of detail or the anti-counterfeiting marks, it couldn't compare to the banknotes from his past life.

In other words

This stuff could be forged!

Of course, Hyuga Ningyuan couldn't do it right now—he didn't have the tools.

But with his drawing skills, making a template was no problem. Then he could get Snake Uncle to handle the acid-free paper and the color-shifting ink.

That would obviously be illegal. But what if he didn't forge the Land of Fire's currency, and instead made the currencies of the other four nations?

War was coming anyway—wasn't destabilizing the enemy's economy during wartime standard procedure?

Hyuga Ningyuan filed this thought away. It might come in handy later.

After one and a half classes.

[Ding, your Glazed Robe has been upgraded to LV3]

Hyuga Ningyuan used Chakra to lift a brush and stood it steadily on the paper!

"Got it!"

Raising the Glazed Robe to LV3 not only increased its Chakra load capacity to 1KG, but also greatly improved its control.

But that alone wasn't enough for Hyuga Ningyuan to write with a brush.

What made it possible was the upgrade of the Arcane Art Gallery to LV3!

His mental power surged, and since the Arcane Art Gallery included painting skills—and painting used a brush—

The combination of these two skills let Hyuga Ningyuan steadily control the brush standing on the paper.

With that step achieved, he could now try writing with the brush.

Since this was still school, Hyuga Ningyuan didn't show off. He pretended to hold the brush with his hand, but actually kept it loosely gripped.

Then he pulled out a notebook and started copying the textbook.

At first, his writing was crooked and shaky, but soon his proficiency rose, and the strokes became much steadier.

By the third class, Hyuga Ningyuan's handwriting was neat and square!

[Ding, you have completed a Mind-Controlled Calligraphy activity. Mind-Controlled Calligraphy level +50. Current level: LV1 (50/100)]

"A new skill! But the calligraphy level is rising so fast!" Hyuga Ningyuan checked the system while leveling up his calligraphy.

Then he calculated: every ten characters written gave one experience point. He'd gained 50 points, meaning he'd written 500 characters!

This might be the easiest skill to level up, since the system didn't restrict what he wrote.

So writing nothing but the character "one" over and over would still raise the level!

"Time to grind!" He figured he had nothing better to do anyway. And as his Mind-Controlled Calligraphy level increased, not only did his handwriting improve, but his writing speed also picked up.

From 30 characters per minute, it quickly rose to 50.

[Ding, your Mind-Controlled Calligraphy level has increased to LV2]

Hyuga Ningyuan could no longer feel any difference between using Chakra to control the brush and using his hand.

No, that wasn't quite right—the characters written by hand weren't as beautiful as those written with Telekinetic Power!

"Right, painting and calligraphy go hand in hand. Can Mind-Controlled Calligraphy and Arcane Art Gallery be fused?" Hyuga Ningyuan thought of this.

Besides, it was inconvenient that the mental power in the Arcane Art Gallery could only be used through painting. If he fused it with calligraphy, maybe he could release it through written words!

Initiate Skill Fusion!

[Arcane Art Gallery] + [Mind-Controlled Calligraphy] = ?

[Arcane Brush Palace]!