This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 31 Dragon Vein

What is the most powerful force in this world?

Is it the Rinnegan?

Is it the Tenseigan?

Or perhaps it's a celestial body or a celestial mode?

Or is it the power of the Bloodline Limit or the power of the Six Paths?

No, neither.

The most powerful force in the world is chakra, which is the most primal, weakest, yet most vast and powerful force.

The so-called Sage's Eyes, Sage's Body, Bloodline Limits, and Six Paths Power are nothing more than byproducts of chakra.

As long as one can analyze the essence of chakra and master it perfectly, one can control all things in the universe and become a god-like being.

That's why, the moment Ryuji received the observation device, he never stopped analyzing chakra.

Only by analyzing the essence of chakra can we deduce the method to perfectly control it.

To this day, although the observation instrument has not yet deciphered the essence of chakra, it has revealed many characteristics of chakra that were previously unknown to the ninja world.

Using these characteristics, combined with the otherworldly knowledge gained from daily check-ins, Ryuji developed countless byproducts.

Chakra-amplifying exoskeleton, artificial soul, ninjutsu imprint, chakra storage device, spiritual ocean...

But none of these are what he wants. What he wants is to completely control chakra, become the ultimate being in this world, and even transcend the limits of the world to become the only one.

Although the essence of chakra has not yet been fully analyzed, Ryuji has already made a guess about its nature based on the information he has obtained.

That is the energy of life.

The divine tree bears chakra fruits, which cause the earth to dry up, the seas to dry up, and the forests to perish.

The depletion of chakra in the body can lead to mental fatigue and physical aches and pains.

Based on this phenomenon, Ryuji speculated that chakra is generated by absorbing life energy.

The Divine Tree absorbs the life energy of the Earth to produce the Chakra Fruit (a setting added in Boruto), and humans extract chakra by absorbing the energy of their body's cells and spirit's cells.

Both of these are related to life.

Based on this conjecture, Ryuji began experimenting with a chakra generator.

Although it was just a conjecture, without any clues, it led to countless failed experiments.

But in the process of adapting countless times, many problems were also verified one by one.

Ryuji became increasingly certain of his theory that chakra originated from life itself.

Therefore, he turned his attention to the Dragon Vein and the Grell Stone.

God is my witness, Long Er's plan for the mechanical city was definitely not proposed for his own selfish reasons.

However, this simply overlapped with his original purpose.

Even without the Mechanical City project, he still wanted to explore and study the Dragon Vein and the Grell Stone.

Why?

In Ryuji's conjecture, if chakra originates from the power of life, then the Dragon Vein and the Grell Stone should also be so.

Assuming the hypothesis that chakra originates from life energy is correct, then the Dragon Vein and Grell Stone are chakra born purely from natural changes without any external intervention.

If we can understand the process of this natural change, then it may be possible to create a chakra generator based on its principles.

Even further, one can understand the essence of chakra from this process of its birth, and completely master it, becoming a god who controls all things in the universe.

Therefore, what Long Er needs is far more than just being able to use the power of the dragon vein like Bai Zu.

Instead, we should study it and thoroughly understand its principles.

That is why he asked the Queen of Loulan to seal the dragon vein.

He wanted to see the connection between the seal and the dragon vein, and the connection between the Loulan Queen and the dragon vein, so that he could further study the dragon vein.

This tower was the residence and office of Queen Sasha of Loulan, and it was heavily guarded.

Ryuji also sneaked over.

At this moment, he used a transformation spell to become one of Sasha's guards, using puppet strings to control Sasha to walk in front while he followed behind, heading down the dragon vein.

It must be said that Loulan's construction equipment was very advanced.

Utilizing the mechanical skills brought by the centipede and the dragon vein as power sources, each tower is equipped with elevators and lighting equipment.

Even at night, the room is as bright as day.

Ryuji and Sasha took the elevator to the bottom floor, and then stepped onto the spiral staircase that seemed to lead to hell.

I walked for a long time, with no end in sight and no bottom in sight; all I could see was a dark void.

Ryuji couldn't help but complain, "I'm speechless. Why does the top of the tower have advanced lighting and elevators, but the bottom uses torches and stairs for walking?"

"Lord An Lushan must have had his reasons for designing this." Sasha seemed to blindly trust the prime minister, even offering his protection despite such an illogical design.

Long Er scoffed at this.

A rogue ninja puppeteer from Sunagakure, whose strength was merely that of an ordinary Jonin. While there was nothing to criticize, there was nothing to praise either.

The guy made this design here because he was worried that someone would get close to the dragon vein.

However, he didn't say much. This young girl blindly trusted and even worshipped An Lushan.

Saying something bad about someone at this time might trigger an unexpected reaction.

"Walking like this is too slow, let's fly!"

"fly?"

Before Sasha could react, her body went awry and she jumped off the steps.

"Aaaaaah!!!"

Sasha couldn't help but scream, but suddenly realized that the boy who had kidnapped her had also jumped down.

Although fear still lingered, curiosity crept in, causing them to forget to scream.

"untie!"

Ryuji took out a scroll, opened it, and then formed hand seals.

As smoke rose, a mechanical bird made of thick hardwood and steel flew down from below, catching its master and the girl, and together they spiraled down into the abyss below.

"Eek...we're flying!"

The girl brushed the strands of hair that had fallen across her forehead behind her ear, cheering with a mixture of surprise and joy, completely forgetting that she had been kidnapped.

"It's just flying, what's so strange about that?" Ryuji said irritably. "Can't all the puppets here fly?"

"But there aren't any seats available for passengers!"

"So that An Lushan was an idiot, he couldn't make good use of the power of the dragon vein at all."

The boy's mutterings were carried away by the wind, and the girl, not hearing them clearly, asked loudly, "What did you say?"

The boy was about to repeat it when the "purple lava" below came into view.

Not wanting to cause any accidents, Ryuji didn't say much, "It's nothing."

Sasha noticed the boy's obvious perfunctory attitude, but considering her status as a prisoner, she didn't ask any further questions.

Before long, the mechanical bird carried the two of them down to the bottom.

It resembled a volcano crater, with thick, magma-like purple chakra flowing below, occasionally bubbling and splashing.

That immense power was terrifying.

(End of this chapter)