Heaven Rewards Diligence: New Discovery

Kamiya Keiyun calls the Transformation Technique and Substitution Technique "divine arts" because he finds them utterly ridiculous.

However, after studying them closely, he realizes they aren't as outlandish as he initially thought.

The Transformation Technique, firstly, only allows him to change himself; it can't alter other objects.

Secondly, after using the Transformation Technique, he cannot use Chakra, as it would interfere with the jutsu's operation.

Despite this, the Transformation Technique remains outlandish because Kamiya Keiyun discovers that what he transforms into isn't an illusion but something tangible and real!

If he turns into a rock, he truly becomes a rock. If he turns into a sword, he becomes a genuine sword!

When he transforms into a girl, he can even feel the softness of her chest!

Perhaps because he's never touched a woman, the softness feels a bit artificial, but at least outwardly, there's no flaw.

Kamiya Keiyun speculates that if he could understand matter more deeply, like knowing the molecular structure of a rock, he could even transform into a flawless rock!

But what's the principle behind it?

Why can a person turn into a wooden stake? Does his entire body's cells turn into plant cells?

But if his cells change, why wouldn't he die?

Even in many body-refining books from his previous life, the ability to transform endlessly is considered an extremely high realm. Even in the scientific system, one would need perfect mental control over every cell to achieve such transformations!

And even then, it's limited to organic matter, not inorganic.

Lucy only started turning into stone at the very end!

Kamiya Keiyun scratches his head desperately, feeling like he's going bald.

This feeling is strangely familiar. It reminds him of a time when a Fields Medal winner came to his school to give a lecture. He knew he, a botany major, shouldn't have bothered, but curiosity got the better of him, and he went to listen.

Then, faced with a blackboard full of equations, he understood nothing, absolutely nothing, leaving him completely bewildered.

"Alright, at least I understand the Transformation Technique more deeply!" Kamiya Keiyun consoles himself as he begins to study the Substitution Technique.

Surely he wouldn't be completely clueless about the Substitution Technique too!

He discovers that by infusing Chakra into a wooden stake, he can swap positions with it.

However, the Chakra in the wooden stake constantly dissipates. Once the Chakra dissipates to a certain extent, the Substitution Technique becomes ineffective.

This duration varies depending on the amount of Chakra infused into the wooden stake; the more Chakra infused, the longer it can be maintained.

But no matter how long, it never exceeds 3 hours.

The amount of Chakra that can be infused is also related to the size of the wooden stake and the type of tree.

The larger the wooden stake, the more Chakra it can hold. The denser the wood, the more Chakra it can hold.

He also experimented with other materials, including stone, metal, glass, and plastic, but none could contain Chakra.

Kamiya Keiyun then speculates if a certain substance has the effect of retaining Chakra. The elemental composition of wood is essentially cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and water.

He doesn't know how to separate specific substances, so he first tries burning it completely to obtain carbon.

Then, he brings Chakra into contact with carbon, but the result is that carbon cannot contain Chakra.

He then tries water, injecting Chakra into water. The result is that Chakra seems soluble in water; if not actively controlled, it dissipates directly.

"So, is it because of the water?" Kamiya Keiyun ponders. This is something easy to compare.

He cuts down a tree about a bowl's width in diameter in the backyard and divides a one-meter-long section of the trunk into three parts.

He leaves one part untouched. He roasts one of the other two pieces of wood with fire for half an hour, and the other for an hour.

This results in three pieces of wood with varying degrees of dryness, meaning different water content.

When he infuses Chakra into them, as expected, the wood with the highest water content can hold more Chakra!

"So, the best wood for the Substitution Technique is dense and moist wood," Kamiya Keiyun analyzes. Unfortunately, this research is useless for humans, as human density and internal water content are roughly the same.

However, if there were Water Style ninjas in this world, perhaps their Chakra reserves would be immense?

During his research, Kamiya Keiyun had an unexpected pleasant surprise: he discovered that by wrapping his feet with Chakra, he could walk on water!

Just like when Kamiya Keiyun climbed trees, as long as he controlled the amount of Chakra at the soles of his feet, he could walk, and even run, on the water's surface.

"This probably isn't a unique skill of mine. After all, ninjas must have accidentally fallen into water before. If they just tried it, they'd discover it easily!" Kamiya Keiyun doesn't consider this a remarkable skill because he found no difficulty in learning it.

The moment he stepped onto the water, he stood firmly. Therefore, this should be a common skill that everyone possesses.

After experimenting with the effect of wood types on the Substitution Technique, Kamiya Keiyun starts researching the range of the Substitution Technique.

If he could use the Substitution Technique with wooden stakes a hundred meters, or even a thousand meters away, then this wouldn't be the Substitution Technique at all, it would be spatial transfer!

But unfortunately, he can only swap with wooden stakes within three meters. As the distance increases, the Chakra consumption within his body rises sharply. While he can easily carry a wooden stake at a three-meter range, the moment the distance becomes 3.1 meters, he instantly becomes overwhelmed.

When the distance extends to 3.2 meters, the Substitution Technique simply becomes ineffective.

"This is a bit disappointing," Kamiya Keiyun shakes his head. Although he is researching the principles of the Three Body Technique, he hasn't forgotten why he is studying it.

He wants to use this jutsu to leave Konoha!

But the result is that this jutsu cannot get him out of Konoha, because Konoha's walls are six meters thick. Coupled with the ninjas patrolling inside and outside Konoha, his Substitution Technique's casting range would need to be at least 20 meters to transfer from inside the village to outside without being detected.

Kamiya Keiyun squats in the yard, stirring a pool of water. The result of an afternoon's research is that his application of the jutsu has greatly improved, but he has gained no insight into its principles.

He knew this was due to his poor foundation, much like a student wanting to solve math problems; you at least need to know addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division first, you can't just conjure knowledge out of thin air.

Without even understanding the most basic principles, progress would be incredibly slow, even with Heavenly Dao's diligence reward.

What was most frustrating was that the Three Body Technique offered no help whatsoever with the real-world problems he encountered.

Kamiya Keiyun suddenly turned around and saw Sanyō standing in the hallway, holding Ruri, who looked innocently at him.

"Are you done cultivating?" Sanyō asked.

"Mhm, I guess so!" Kamiya Keiyun looked up at the sky, which was already darkening.

"This is dinner. We saw you cultivating earlier and didn't want to disturb you," Sanyō said, bringing out three plates and a bowl of rice.

Kamiya Keiyun touched his stomach; he was indeed feeling hungry.

As Kamiya Keiyun picked up his bowl, about to eat, he noticed Sanyō's conflicted expression.

"Is something wrong?" Kamiya Keiyun asked.

"This..." Sanyō shook her head. "No."

"Just tell me what's on your mind, don't be cryptic, I hate that the most!" Kamiya Keiyun said helplessly. "Or, should I put down my bowl and focus on listening to you?"

"You should eat first!" Sanyō wouldn't dare to interrupt Keiyun's meal, but she felt like a useless waste for disturbing him with this matter, unable to help in any way.

Yet, if she didn't say anything, she feared she might be delaying Keiyun's important business.

After hesitating for a long time, she finally spoke, "I've realized I really can't teach Ruri. I've been very patient."

"Meow?" Ruri stretched and said, "We analyzed it. I don't think it's Sanyō-sister's problem. When you teach me, I feel like the whole cat is alert, and I can easily remember what I learn. But when Sanyō-sister teaches me, I just can't remember."

"Is that so?" Kamiya Keiyun was stunned.

"It's not just Ruri, I have this problem too!" Sanyō said. "My solo cultivation during the day makes almost no progress. On the other hand, those two hours I cultivate with you every day are equivalent to a full day of effort!"

"Huh?" Kamiya Keiyun was even more speechless. "How is that possible? I don't have any 'Preaching and Teaching System,' nor am I carrying any Divine Artifacts like Bodhi seeds. How could I possibly affect your learning progress? Wait a minute."

Kamiya Keiyun suddenly remembered that it was indeed possible!

[Heavenly Dao Rewards Diligence: Heavenly Dao will reward you accordingly based on your efforts!]