Time slipped quietly by amid the regular, fulfilling routine of the Puppet Manufacturing Department. Like a stream merging into a river, Shaye swiftly adapted to his new environment. His exquisite craftsmanship and keen understanding of structures soon earned the recognition of the members of Team Three, especially Tota. The doubtful looks once directed at him because of his age and size gradually gave way to admiration and curiosity.
Yet beneath this surface-level integration, a deep sense of anxiety grew stronger in Shaye's heart with each passing day. The Manufacturing Division's work exposed him to more advanced puppet technology, but it also allowed him to see more clearly the vast gulf between himself and a true puppet master.
He could polish the most precise components, understand the most complex transmission mechanisms, and even inscribe basic runes with minimal error on practice boards. But whenever he saw his colleagues pour enormous amounts of chakra into puppet cores and drive war machines several meters tall through all manner of complex movements; whenever he saw puppet arms on the testing ground spew scorching flames or sharp blades, he could feel with painful clarity just how pitifully inadequate his own chakra reserves were.
No matter how ingenious his Spider was, it could not change the fact that his own body was frail. He was like an engineer with the mind of a top-tier designer but equipped with an old tractor—endless ideas and blueprints, yet lacking the most fundamental power needed to drive any of it. In an environment where strength was constantly compared, that sense of helplessness became especially glaring.
This had to change! He had to repair this body from the very foundation! This thought was no longer a vague desire, but the ultimate problem that urgently needed solving.
He began seizing every opportunity to frantically search the medical records and human meridian charts Chiyo had allowed him to read for anything related to "physical improvement," "foundation repair," and "potential activation." Yet the results were discouraging. Traditional Medical Ninjutsu focused more on treating acquired injuries and illnesses. For congenital, fundamental frailty like his, it was regarded as an almost irreversible problem. Records were scarce, and most were vague and inconclusive.
One day, he watched a large puppet energy core being tested in the department. It operated violently, radiating massive yet stable energy fluctuations. Then a fragment of memory from his previous life flashed through his mind—the miraculous transformation chamber that frail Steve Rogers had entered in Captain America! It had used some unknown energy to forcibly rewrite his life blueprint and forge a perfect soldier!
"Energy... external energy infusion... transformation..." Shaye's black eyes suddenly lit up!
Wasn't chakra a universal form of life energy? It could be used for destruction, but also for creation and healing! Since the effects of microscopic Medical Ninjutsu stimulation were limited, could he instead use pure chakra on a macroscopic, large-scale, directed level—like tempering steel—to subject his entire body to a kind of "cleansing" and "reconstruction"?
The idea made his heart race. He immediately seized upon the inspiration and began feverishly planning. He envisioned constructing a device similar to an "energy chamber," where a person could lie inside while a stable, pure chakra energy source was supplied externally. Through a complex energy-conduction system, the energy would evenly permeate every cell in the body, forcibly activating the cells, stimulating division and regeneration, and repairing congenital flaws...
To that end, he sought Chiyo's guidance once again and subtly proposed the idea of "using a stable external energy environment to strengthen oneself."
After hearing him out, Chiyo contemplated for a long time before finally shaking her head slowly and dousing him with cold water. "It is quite an ingenious idea. But chakra is not water without a source; it carries a strong personal spiritual imprint. Foreign chakra is practically poison to others. Forcibly infusing it will only trigger violent rejection, perhaps even irreversible damage. This path... will be difficult." Her words pointed out the most fundamental technical barrier—energy rejection.
Unwilling to give up, he found another chance to consult Sasori, discussing the possibility from the technical perspective of pure energy conversion and infusion.
Sasori had been assembling a puppet's eye mechanism at the time. Without even looking up, he coldly remarked, "An inefficient and dangerous method of energy application. Pursuing physical enhancement is meaningless. The end of frail life is nothing but decay. Only by abandoning the fickle flesh and embracing the eternal art of puppetry can one reach the ultimate path." Sasori's obsession warned Shaye from another direction, yet it also rejected his idea.
Having been denied by authoritative figures twice from two different angles, Shaye sank into deep frustration. Was this road truly impossible? Was there really no way to break the shackles of this body?
He sat dejectedly at the workbench, his fingers unconsciously tracing lines through the dust-covered surface. Fragments of memories from his previous life and the knowledge system of this life tangled and churned chaotically in his mind... super-soldier serum... energy chamber... the nature of chakra... Medical Ninjutsu... energy rejection...
Just as despair was about to swallow him whole, a term—a miraculous creation from a Chinese animated series he had once watched—struck his thoughts like lightning splitting the darkness!
Under One Person... Ma Xianhong... the "Body Refining Furnace"!
That miraculous artifact could transform the abilities of gifted individuals and even grant supernatural abilities to ordinary people! Its core principle seemed to lie in "conversion" and "bestowal"! It did not directly infuse foreign energy. Instead, the furnace itself carried out a process of "purification," "conversion," and "harmonization"!
"Conversion... harmonization...!" Shaye shot to his feet from the workbench, his eyes wide and round as his breathing suddenly quickened!
That was it! The key was not directly infusing foreign chakra! What he needed was an "intermediary," or rather, a "converter"! Something capable of taking external energy—whether natural energy, Tailed Beast chakra, or chakra of different attributes supplied by many people—and "purifying," "converting," and "harmonizing" it, erasing or neutralizing its personal imprint and transforming it into the most fundamental, neutral, and easily absorbed form of pure energy!
Then, this "furnace" could safely, controllably, and precisely inject that energy into the target's body, gently and continuously repairing their foundation, improving their physique, and stimulating their potential!
This concept perfectly bypassed the greatest obstacle: "energy rejection"!
"Body Refining Furnace... yes! I'll call it the 'Body Refining Furnace'!" Shaye was so excited he nearly trembled as he suppressed his voice and whispered. He had finally found a theoretical breakthrough! A direction clearer than ever opened up before his eyes!
The concept was wildly ambitious, and its technical difficulty far exceeded anything he could presently achieve. It involved chakra technology, Sealing Technique—energy restraint and conversion—Puppet Technique—the furnace structure and control system—Medical Ninjutsu—life-energy guidance—and perhaps even advanced energy theories. But it was undoubtedly a theoretically viable path!
Never had his goal been so clear.
He knew this would be the highest-priority project into which he needed to pour all his effort for a long time to come. And the first step was to design and create its most vital component—the "energy core" capable of stably supplying and converting energy.
Shaye took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the wild joy in his heart before sitting back down at the workbench. His gaze became incomparably sharp as it fell upon those cold tools and components.
The blueprint of his dream had already been drawn. Next, he would use these hands to turn that fantastical idea into a light shining upon reality, bit by bit.
Starting with repairing this body.
End of Chapter.
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