"There is a lot of historical info but I assume we can skip that." The girl started.
"You can tell me later over some snacks. Important info first." Shiki replied.
Satisfied with the proposal, Benihime revealed what she had learned.
"The old man knew not only about the location of the hidden temple and its secrets, he also knew the methods to mine the Gelel Ore and refine it into Stones of Gelel." The girl started.
"And despite knowing that, no one across the generations tried to exploit the vein for their own benefit? That's some dedication." Shiki commented.
"It would seem so. But then again, the process of refining the ore and forging Stones of Gelel is done with the flesh and blood of one's body and without the appropriate constitution, it is nearly impossible. The nomads have no one that meets the requirements." Beni explained.
"Do we then need to find someone like that?" The boy inquired.
The girl shook her head.
"Using the Stones is easy and intuitive. It is crafting them and implanting them for use that is more troublesome." Beni continued.
"The Stones of Gelel's implantation process is not very hard so long as you have the right knowledge. Forging the Stones from the ore is the real issue but with your absolute body control and adaptability, you might end up doing better than the original forgers." The girl concluded.
"There is also a formation in the Gelel Mine to summon what they call a Spacetime Hole, it is meant to dispose of the entire mine and all its Gelel Ore as a last resort but only the blood of the Royal Family can activate it." She added.
"Hmm . . . I suppose it is an ancient summoning contract. Only the right blood can invoke it, much like the Summoning Jutsu of today." Shiki theorized.
"When we arrive at the location I'll use Emanation of Ecstasy to link our minds and you can pass the knowledge required to forge the ore and control the Stones to me." He declared.
*
A few hours went by.
With a shinobi's speed, reaching the hidden temple took no more time than that. Much like the boy predicted, the nomad caravan never strayed too far from the secret they were meant to be guarding.
'Nirvana Art: Emanation of Ecstasy'
As an evolved derivative of the Yamanaka's jutsu, liking minds was one of the many uses of this technique.
Shiki softly touched Benihime, holding her face with both hands, their eyes locked and his scent entered her cute nose like a fragrant perfume.
The boy hummed a pleasant tune, gracing the girl's ears and, in a few moments, their minds were deeply linking.
With such a deep level of connection, communication, the transmission of information, it all occurred at blinding speed.
Benihme felt closer to Shiki than ever before.
'Like a perfect dream . . . I don't want to wake up.' The little girl thought.
But alas, all good things must come to an end.
"Ah! Shiki-sama!" Beni mentally exclaimed as she felt their connection weaken and vanish.
Shiki could only lightly cough at the girl's lost expression.
Her deepest thoughts of longing and admiration for him had directly bombarded his mind, it was literally impossible for the boy to miss them.
Beni soon realized this, blushing far more heavily than ever before, to the point she actually had to look away, attentively observing her own feet as if they were the most interesting thing in the world.
Whatever the case, the passing on of relevant information was a success and the pair tacitly agreed not to talk about what just occurred as they headed into the temple where the Gelel Mine was hidden.
*
The edifice's structure reminded Shiki of a Mayan Temple, only much much larger.
It was lodged between two huge cliffs, surrounded by dangerous terrain but for shinobi, it did not pose any trouble at all.
Entering the structure, the pair traversed the maze-like corridors as per the information extracted from the caravan leader and arrived at an enormous central chamber.
The echoes of their steps, the skittering of small animals, the sound of moving stone, as if the temple itself was alive and responding to their intrusion . . .
All of it contributed to the haunted ambience.
Eventually, the two treasure seekers came across a circular platform which they knew was a hidden elevator.
Carefully sliding a floor tile triggered quite the fast descent as the pair plunged into the depths of the temple.
Crossing a small tunnel after the elevator came to a stop, they arrived at a large domed circular chamber supported by several thick pillars.
On its walls, murals depicting the rise and fall of the Empire of Gelel grimly reminded the visitors of the price of the Stone's power.
And on the floor, the summoning formation for the Spacetime Hole.
Shiki was hugely interested but rather than mess with it and accidentally trigger the thing before he could obtain the Gelel Ore, the boy decided to first gather said ore before he began his study of the formation's formula.
He took out a scroll and, with a single hand seal it expanded to become huge, taller than the seven year old him.
Then, by weaving a sequence of hand seals, he summoned the huge stone tablet where the foundations of the Nirvana Seal: Transcendence were engraved.
It barely fit in the stone chamber but thankfully there were no issues.
"Right then . . . Beni-chan, you better step back, outside of the chamber even, I don't know how violent the flow of energy will become." Shiki spoke and the girl solemnly nodded, accepting the suggestion with her safety in mind.
The boy then moved near the mechanism to access the ore and created a sealing barrier to protect it and himself, just in case, he then began weaving the hand seals to activate the Nirvana Seal and enclose the entire Gelel Vein within it.
A flesh, metal-like substance, much akin to the one produced by the Chimera Jutsu, only with a purplish tint, emerged from the Nirvana Seal, then activation of the Nirvana Art: Samsara that was embedded into it.
Shiki triggered the Gelel Mine mechanism and the top of the stone chamber's dome opened up to reveal a massive hollow atop which an enormous mass of greenish, crystal-like stone, glowing with immeasurable power.
"Seal!"
With a command word, the purplish metal-like, fleshy substance surged upwards and began to draw in the energy of the Gelel Vein above.
Violent cascades of greenish energy descended, nearly overwhelming the seal.
'I need to slow down the absorption, give the seal time to adapt.' Shiki realized and adjusted accordingly.
Still, the effort required to accurately balance just a massive and heavy amount of energy was incredible.
The boy was rather confident in his stamina but now, he began to doubt whether he could hold on during the entire sealing procedure.
With such effort being constant, time moved forward at a crawling pace.
Each second dragged on for what felt like an eternity as Kukyo's inner void became the only reason Shiki's mind did not falter.
His body on the other hand . . . Was already showing signs.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -