Awakening

With Shiro disregarding the consumption of Chakra, the wind blades, like a curtain of rain, lasted for a full half minute before gradually subsiding!

"Whoosh~ Tap."

After the Thousand-Faced Wind subsided, Shiro calmly descended from the dissipating stone pillar. Upon landing, Shiro glanced around briefly.

They discovered that the Hoshigakure had been almost completely wiped out, with only a few remaining clinging to life. Of course, there were also some lucky villagers and some children who had returned due to the influence of the Magic Barrier.

However, Shiro ignored them, only glanced at it briefly, then summoned the Blue Snake and sent it to handle the matter, while Shiro slowly walked towards the direction of the Meteorite.

Although Shiro wasn't a sensory ninja and only knew a rudimentary sensory Magecraft, the energy emitted by that Meteorite was quite high, shining as brightly as a light in the dark in Shiro's eyes.

Therefore, finding the location is not difficult.

After that, amidst the sporadic screams, Shiro walked deeper into the Hoshigakure Cave.

Not long after, Shiro found Meteorite emitting purple Chakra amidst the ruins.

"Ding! High-purity energy detected. Absorb?"

"Tsk, getting this thing was really not easy. Absorb it."

"Begin absorption."

Following Shiro's command, the Meteorite seemed to be drawn in, and purple energy surged towards Shiro.

At first, Shiro subconsciously tried to defend himself, but after finding that it had no effect, he gave up, stood still and listened to the system's prompts, quietly waiting for the system to absorb his information.

"Energy reservoir has reached its limit, repairs in progress."

"Repair complete, begin absorption."

"Energy reservoir has reached its limit, repairs in progress."

This process repeated itself, and the system's repair progress gradually increased, while the Meteorite's light slowly dimmed.

During this process, Shiro discovered a problem that made him incredibly glad he made the choice: the system's repair consumed all the energy in the energy tank!

In other words, assuming you want to repair from 45 to 47, you need to accumulate energy twice, once at 45 and once at 46.

So Shiro is now extremely grateful that he didn't choose to kill ninjas or use Mana Crystal to recharge his energy; otherwise, he would have been exhausted to death.

A moment later, as the last Chakra entered Shiro's body, the Meteorite turned completely black, and at the same time, the system notification sounded.

"Energy absorption complete. System repair progress is currently 72%, and energy tank is 60% charged."

"Perform a self-check to see if any functions have recovered."

"Self-checking in progress."

After explaining the system, Shiro walked towards the direction of the Blue Snake. The screams there had stopped for a while, but what puzzled Shiro was that the Blue Snake had not released its summoning.

Furthermore, the battle had already ended. Shiro had already seen it when he landed. The ninjas escorting the Hoshigakure Flame were only of average strength and were no match for Blue Snake.

This is why Shiro handed them over to Blue Snake, but what happened on Blue Snake's side made Shiro very curious.

When Shiro entered, he found that the Blue Snake hadn't been fighting anyone and wasn't injured; it was just quietly coiled up there.

Shiro curiously approached and discovered that the Blue Snake wasn't simply coiled up; in the middle of its coiled body, a group of children were huddled on the ground, trembling.

"Blue Snake, what's going on with them?"

"Hiss~" Blue Snake glanced at the group of children, but did not speak. Instead, he used the secret code of Ryūchi Cave to convey a message to Shiro.

Upon receiving the message from the Blue Snake, Shiro was slightly taken aback, then smiled.

"No need for that, just kill them. They don't have any price to pay."

Before he could finish speaking, the smile on Shiro's face slowly faded. He had now realized the change in himself.

In the past, he wouldn't have been particularly kind, but he would have spared children, even enemies. After all, they were still lives, and young. Unless it was required by a mission, he would generally let them go if possible.

This is also why Blue Snake didn't kill him, because it's Shiro's habit.

But right now, Shiro's primary concern isn't whether they'll seek revenge in the future, but whether it's worthwhile.

At the same time, Shiro also recalled a problem he had been avoiding all this time: he was becoming increasingly indifferent to humanity, especially those who were unrelated to him.

Just like when Shiro first signed the contract with Ryūchi Cave, Shiro would rather go to great lengths to defeat and subdue the Blue Snake than, like Orochimaru, use human lives as a bargaining chip to exchange for the battle against Manda.

However, Shiro gradually crossed his own bottom line. The deal with Manda could be said to be out of necessity, but since Shiro left the village, most of the time Shiro has used snakes from the Tongling Ryūchi Cave to clean up the battlefield.

At the same time, as Shiro comes to his senses, things he had subconsciously ignored in the past begin to surface one by one.

A moment later, amidst the terrified gazes of the children, Shiro suddenly gave a nervous laugh, looking at the Magic Crest that had become one with his right hand and whispering:

"So, it turns out I've been a Magecraft all along!"

So-called Magecraft' talent in the study of Magecraft is secondary; their most important quality is that their way of thinking is very different from that of ordinary people.

In the pursuit of Magecraft, it is common to use humans as research subjects; even the bonds between family members take a backseat to Magecraft.

Shiro's actions now indicate that he is gradually growing into a Magecraft and beginning to think about problems using Magecraft's mindset.

Surprisingly, Shiro showed no aversion to this, nor did he break down because it conflicted with his past values; he remained remarkably calm.

But upon closer reflection, it becomes understandable. His change didn't happen suddenly; it was a gradual process. No matter how sudden his subjective feelings were, it wouldn't affect him.

Because Shiro had actually made preparations long ago. It was all his own choice, and he wasn't worried that he would lose himself completely in the pursuit of the Root, like those Magecraft in the Nasuverse.

At least not now!

Shiro's goal has always been clear: to become stronger to protect himself, and then to protect those around him. Everything else is just a hobby!

Therefore, after realizing the changes in himself, Shiro accepted them quite readily.

"Blue Snake, release all those previous restrictions, except for the one about eating people. I'll give you specific instructions if you have any requests."

"Yes, Lord Shiro, I'll head back now."

"Yes, thank you for your hard work."

After the Blue Snake turned into white smoke and disappeared, Shiro glanced indifferently at the children who were looking at him in terror, said nothing, and directly summoned Flying Bird and jumped up.

Just when they thought they had escaped disaster, a Gilgamesh red bottle landed between them.

"Boom!"

See the bottom left corner? Go for it! (≧▽≦)/