Amane felt that she was in a very strange state right now.
What was her current situation?
Her last memory was the White Snake Sage's "attack," but the speed had been so great that she couldn't dodge at all, followed by a sudden blackout.
So, was she currently unconscious?
But Amane felt her consciousness was incredibly clear; in fact, she felt even better than when she first arrived at Ryūchi Cave.
It was just that everything before her eyes had long since defied common sense.
All her physical senses had vanished, yet she felt she could perceive things more comprehensively and in greater detail than before.
In an instant, Amane saw why the White Snake Sage had tested her at the last moment. She also saw that White Snake had actually passed the trial and was currently helping her adjust her position.
This wonderful sensation continued to spread and expand in the blink of an eye.
Amane saw the three snake-woman sages from earlier.
The structure of Ryūchi Cave became clear at a glance, and she even saw where Shin Ya was located.
It was coiled up, gnashing its teeth and spitting out words of anger toward humans.
An unknown distance outside Ryūchi Cave, villagers were farming, and commissioned Ninja were irrigating fertile fields.
Further away, she saw a short old man who seemed to be scolding a beautiful young girl.
On a snow-covered land, countless samurai wearing protective masks, katanas at their waists, and clad in armor were on patrol.
An old man in worn-out clothes was taking a bath inside a volcano.
Uncle Snake was sulking again today because of a failed experiment, but he quickly adjusted and went back to tackling the difficult problem.
Momohime? She was at home arranging flowers, a peaceful smile on her face.
Karin seemed to still be studying Medical Ninjutsu, while Brother Cheng Long was saying he wanted her to manage a base on her own in the future.
On a distant sea, a girl with the same hair color as Amane was training a new Summoned Beast.
Tiring of the distance, she began to test her precision. Delving deeper, she could know things as small as how many earthworms lived in a single patch of soil and how many times each one wriggled.
It felt so comfortable.
This physical sensation of feeling nothing yet perceiving everything was like admiring a masterpiece that would never end.
She just wanted to keep watching, keep reading, and keep satisfying her infinite curiosity and thirst for knowledge, just like... the first trial!
With a decisive will, Amane forcibly withdrew her consciousness and pulled it back into her body.
Sure enough, Amane's internal state had undergone a world-shaking change!
In this state, Amane could realize that her entire body had been encroached upon by a mysterious energy.
If described with colors, there were currently four colors within Amane's body.
One set was the blue and green that Amane inherently possessed.
These two colors coexisted harmoniously, allowing Amane to move and mix them at will. With just a little bit of feeling, she understood that these belonged to her own Physical Energy and spiritual energy.
In other words, the source for synthesizing Chakra.
However, within these colors that should have been pure blue and pure green, the presence of a small white patch made the colors appear slightly pale.
But the energy contained within that white patch crushed Amane's original colors in terms of quality, though the situation was completely reversed in terms of quantity.
The two had reached an equilibrium but had not fully merged.
Amane tested it and found she could completely control the movement of this small white patch with her will.
Then there was the dominant color of the invasion: Red!
This color possessed a powerful personality and dominance. Once Amane's blue and green came into contact with it, it was like ink dropping into clear water; the main tone of the color would be completely overtaken.
I see.
In an instant, Amane understood what she needed to do.
Just like what she learned in the first trial—to face temptation with decisiveness. This next step was naturally to act by analyzing the rules, yet daring to break through her... self.
Amane couldn't help but be dazed, recalling the distant past—the pain on the experimental table and the sense of despair when facing death.
Even today, if she were to do it again, even knowing she had succeeded, she might not necessarily dare to undergo the fusion once more.
[Colors? But my green and blue aren't pure. To achieve this, I must break the existing balance... I really am a bit afraid.]
The next second!
The white within the green and blue began to gather toward the position of the small white dot!
In reality... Swish, swish, swish!
If the White Snake Sage hadn't been quick-eyed and nimble-handed, White Snake would have been skewered by the countless Wooden Spikes growing out of Amane's body!
"Hehehe~ Even though you're so afraid, your actions are so decisive. Not bad, not bad."
The courage and decisiveness to actively break the balance between the external Sage Body and herself to accommodate new power—how could this not earn the White Snake Sage's admiration!
And the reward for this courage was that the moment Amane used pure blue and green to touch the red!
While the three underwent countless mysterious changes in an instant, they also merged into one in a flash!
[This is!]
At this moment, Amane's perception ability was already extraordinary. These instantaneous mysterious changes were fully visible to her.
What changes would occur if Red (Natural Energy) and Green (Physical Energy) merged alone, and what changes would occur with Blue (spiritual energy)!
Ah~ I see.
This is the mystery of the Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode!
Suddenly, the situation inside Amane's body underwent a fundamental change in an instant!
Red, as the invader, suddenly felt the resistance before it completely vanish.
However, just as it was about to surge forward, countless bits of blue and green turned into sharp blades, splitting it apart by targeting weak points, then instantly devouring and merging with it entirely.
The green and blue that had gained red turned into light yellow, purple, or cyan, while some simply turned white.
The light yellow was far faster and more agile than the green. The light purple became more flexible and versatile than the blue.
As for the light cyan, it inherited both the traits of speed and versatility.
In this way, although pure red held a massive advantage in quantity, it was far inferior to the three newly emerged colors in terms of combat power!
Moreover, as time passed, more and more red was devoured, and the quantity of these three colors increased simultaneously!
The red that was originally the invader had now completely become the prey and nutrients for the blue and green of this "land." How could there be any chance of victory left?
However, this didn't mean the "land" was safe!
In a corner, a large amount of white was engaged in a "battle" with a white block.
Unlike the red battlefield where one side waxed and the other waned, the battlefield here was a process of mutual assimilation.
Like ice and water.
Though both were different manifestations of water, when ice is submerged in water, either the water turns the ice into water, or the water is frozen by the colder ice.
This was a war of mutual attrition—one relying on quality, the other on quantity—just like the relationship they had maintained when they were in a state of compromise.
Soon, the red battlefield was completely finished, yet Amane seemed to want more.
She looked toward the white battlefield; the block there was smaller than before, but it was still resisting tenaciously.
So, Amane quickly "transformed" the recently shifted colors into white and had them join the fight over there.
But after waiting for a long time, that white block still hadn't changed much.
It seemed Amane needed more red to merge with the blue and green she was constantly refining to form more white.
But the red originally in her body was now exhausted. What should she do?
Instantly, Amane recalled the settings regarding Natural Energy and why she had instantly gained that intoxicating perception after the White Snake Sage injected it.
She spread her consciousness out once more, but this time, what Amane wanted was to perceive the world more deeply and more intensely.
In this way, it felt like a long time had passed, yet it also seemed like only a moment, as Amane saw the colors of the world.
A lot of red poured in again!
But this time, the red's aggressiveness was very weak—one could say it had almost none. So in the blink of an eye, it was all cleaned up by Amane.
Thus, the white battlefield also entered a state where one side grew as the other shrank.
In reality... after watching Amane lying on the ground grow Wooden Spikes from her human form, piercing her body with holes, not long after...
Her body first grew snake scales, and then a long tail appeared behind her.
Then, various parts of Amane's body, which had almost turned into a snake-person state, turned back into her original fair human skin.
With such constant changes, the White Snake Sage knew that Amane had already learned to control Natural Energy.
The amount forcibly injected through the venomous fangs could no longer kill Amane, so this final trial was considered passed.
Then next... Under the expectant gazes of the White Snake Sage and White Snake, as the Wooden Spikes on Amane's body gradually retracted, the snake-like features began to increase.
If a practitioner from Mount Myōboku saw this, they would surely shake their head.
If this practitioner didn't immediately expel the Natural Energy from their body, they would certainly turn into a snake-shaped stone.
But if a Sage from Ryūchi Cave heard this, they would surely scoff.
To become a dragon, one must naturally first become a snake, then transform into a krak, and finally leap over the Dragon Gate to take the final step.
Under the White Snake Sage's expectant gaze, just as Amane was becoming almost unrecognizable as a human, the last wooden spike on her body disappeared.
Purple eye shadow appeared around Amane's eyes.
The snake features began to gather from all over her body to the sides of her forehead. A pair of small dragon horns began to sprout.
"Tamazu-hime, bring me the Contract Scroll."
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