Fused Chakra Refinement Technique

As Hayate lay on the living room table writing his report, Hanfu's mother, Keiko, finally woke up, slid open the door, and stepped out of her bedroom.

When she saw Hayate hunched over the table doing his homework, a gratified smile immediately appeared on her face. "Hayate, doing your homework?"

"Aunt Keiko."

Hayate looked up, his expression somewhat aggrieved, looking as if he had something he wanted to say but was holding back.

"Ahem!"

Hanfu coughed loudly twice.

The little brother immediately straightened up.

"Hayate, ganbatte!"

Keiko didn't notice the secret exchange between the two brothers; she offered a beaming word of encouragement before turning to head into the kitchen to start preparing dinner.

Remembering Shennong, Hanfu immediately followed her into the kitchen.

Before speaking, Hanfu organized his thoughts in his mind, then asked in a "calm and composed" manner, "Mom, I heard a doctor with incredible medical skills came to the hospital, named Shennong?"

"Hm? Feng-chan, how did you know about that?"

Keiko was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "Hayate must have told you, right? But that doctor, Shennong, hasn't arrived at the hospital yet."

Hanfu asked, "Then when is he coming?"

Keiko looked at him strangely. "Feng-chan, is something the matter?"

Hanfu spoke with a look of admiration, "I really look up to him and want to meet him. If possible, I'd even like to learn medical skills from him!"

"Ah?" Keiko was bewildered. Her first instinct was to discourage her son from this impractical idea. "Feng-chan, your current task is to study hard at school, you know that, right?"

"I see..." Hanfu had no choice but to aggrievedly settle for less. "I understand. Then I won't learn medicine from him, but can I at least meet him?"

Keiko hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement.

In Keiko's view, she had already refused Hanfu's request to learn medicine; if she refused a simple meeting as well, it would be truly unreasonable.

However, even as she thought this, Keiko felt like something was a bit off.

"Thank you, Mom!" Hanfu smiled. "So when is Shennong arriving, and when can I see him?"

Keiko snapped out of her thoughts and said, "He arrives tomorrow afternoon. If you really want to see him, I'll take you to the hospital after dinner tomorrow."

"Great, it's a deal!"

Hanfu was overjoyed. "Then I'm going back out."

Only after he walked out of the kitchen did Keiko begin to process what had happened.

"This child..."

Keiko didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She shook her head with a sigh and continued cooking.

Living room.

"Brother, I'm done."

As soon as Hanfu came out, Hayate handed him his notebook.

Hanfu took one look. Just one page?

That definitely wasn't enough words!

Hanfu shook his head. "This isn't five hundred words. Rewrite it."

Hayate pouted. "Brother, five hundred words is so hard to write."

"Hayate, you must never let a measly five hundred words defeat you! Think about when you practice swordsmanship. Every day you're drenched in sweat and exhausted—isn't that much more tiring and difficult? Yet, didn't you stick with it?"

Hanfu began to pour on the chicken soup for the soul, encouraging him to be brave, to strive hard, to persevere, and to forge a path to glory!

Hayate was so bewildered by Hanfu's smooth talk that he couldn't tell north from south.

"This is the trouble of growing up!"

Hanfu concluded, "Everyone has to go through this stage! Go on, Hayate, ganbatte!"

"I understand."

Hayate was truly fired up. He took the notebook and began to rewrite it earnestly.

Seeing this, Hanfu smiled with satisfaction.

A five-hundred-word reflection would take Hayate at least two hours to write. If he made it a bit harder for him, three hours would pass in no time.

For Hayate, practicing swordsmanship was just like those people addicted to video games in his past life—once they fell into it, they couldn't pull themselves out. Whenever Hanfu thought about the sickly, frail appearance Hayate would have when he grew up, his heart ached!

Therefore, he had to set up an indestructible "anti-addiction" barrier to make Hayate play... practice swordsmanship less.

Of course, there was a side effect: he probably, likely, maybe, perhaps would never be able to do homework again in the future.

I suppose this is the trouble of my own growing up, sigh!

After dinner, Keiko washed the dishes, prepared bento boxes for the two brothers for tomorrow, and then headed out to the hospital.

Hanfu had already given up all hope for Keiko's bento, so he sat in the living room, urging Hayate to continue writing his reflection.

Hayate's writing speed was not fast, and with him stopping to think every now and then, at this rate, two hours might not even be enough.

Hanfu waited for a while, feeling a bit bored, so he walked to the side and sat down cross-legged.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

Seeing his older brother about to do something, Hayate quickly put down his pen.

"Keep writing, don't stop!"

Hanfu said sternly, "I'm going to perform the Chakra Refinement Technique. I'll be checking your homework later, you hear me?"

"Got it."

Hayate picked up his pen and continued writing.

At the same time, Hanfu closed his eyes and began to refine Spiritual Energy and Physical Energy, merging them in a one-to-one ratio.

As soon as he began the fusion, Hanfu noticed something unusual.

Previously, the speed of refinement was so slow it would make one fall asleep, but now, it was at least 40% faster!

40%?

Hanfu's heart skipped a beat.

He had collected the Chakra Refinement Technique twice from Hiramatsu Daishi and twice from Kashima Isamu!

That was exactly four fusions of the Chakra Refinement Technique!

In other words, each fusion increased the efficiency by 10%?

At this rate of improvement, ten fusions would mean a 100% increase, one hundred fusions would be 10 times, and one thousand fusions would be 100 times!

If I collected the Great Fireball Technique a thousand times and fused them all, would its power be 100 times that of a normal Great Fireball?

Hanfu felt a surge of excitement, but then he remembered he could only collect three times a day. Even if he succeeded every time, it would take nearly a year to reach a thousand!

So, even if he really wanted to choose a ninjutsu to strengthen a hundredfold, he would have to think it through carefully: it needed to be a technique known by many people, and it had to be powerful...

Uh... thinking about it that way, the Great Fireball Technique really did seem quite suitable.

Hanfu felt his imagination running wild and quickly reined in his focus, silently refining his chakra.

Half an hour later, Hanfu felt he had reached his limit.

Although the speed had increased by 40%, after adapting to this refinement pace, Hanfu realized it was still too slow!

Sharpening the axe will not delay the work of cutting wood; it seems I really need to do more gathering!

Hanfu opened his eyes and saw a large head only a few centimeters away from him. Instinctively, Hanfu lunged forward with a headbutt.

Bang!

"Ouch!"

Hayate clutched his reddened forehead and cried out, "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts... Brother!!"

"Oh, it's little Hayate."

Having suffered as much as he inflicted, Hanfu rubbed his own forehead and said, "Why aren't you writing your reflection paper? Why are you squatting here watching me?"

"Brother, my hand is sore. I'm resting for a bit before I write more," Hayate said, aggrieved.

Hanfu's eyes lit up.

Sore hands—that was exactly right!

Hayate was just a child. If his hand felt sore after writing five hundred words of a reflection, yet he never complained of soreness when practicing swordsmanship for hours on end, what did that mean?

It meant that when Hayate practiced, his body reached its limit, yet he kept gritting his teeth and pushing through. Forget about breaking through physical limits; Hayate didn't have the monstrous constitution of the Might Father and Son. If this continued, his body would inevitably collapse!

Hanfu patted him on the shoulder and smiled. "Then take a ten-minute break."

Hayate's eyes shone. "Then I'm going to go practice my sword!"

"..."

Practice your head!

Thanks to book friend Meng Xianweng for the tip and support!