"If everyone in the village supports Orochimaru-senpai, then the Uchiha will have no objections. We will fully assist Lord Orochimaru and help the village through this difficult time."
Uchiha Fugaku quickly added.
The prerequisite was that Orochimaru gained their approval.
Mitokado Homura naturally understood the implied meaning in Uchiha Fugaku's words and immediately said, "Orochimaru will gain approval. Back when Hiruzen was acting Hokage, it was I, Danzō, and Koharu—Hiruzen's classmates—who helped him stabilize the situation both inside and outside the village, allowing it to safely get through the Great Ninja War.
Hiruzen also gained the unanimous approval of the entire village during that process and officially took on the duties of the Third Hokage.
This time, Tsunade and Jiraiya, as Orochimaru's classmates, will do the same. We old folks will also fully support Orochimaru. No matter what, only by uniting and pooling all the village's strength to overcome this crisis can we consider what comes next."
Minato Namikaze glanced at Mitokado Homura, then at Uchiha Fugaku, and understood.
He was an exceptionally intelligent person and naturally sensed the subtle tension between the two.
"Elder Homura, Fugaku means no harm; he's just concerned about the village. After all, becoming Hokage is the dream of most shinobi in the village, including myself. However, at this moment, I believe Clan Head Fugaku will undoubtedly lead the Uchiha Clan in fully supporting the village through this crisis."
Minato Namikaze spoke with a gentle smile, offering a few more conciliatory words to give both sides an out.
Mitokado Homura naturally didn't believe Uchiha Fugaku could unseat Orochimaru in this situation. He was only worried that Uchiha Fugaku might cause trouble with the Uchiha Clan, leading to internal instability in Konoha.
At a time like this, Konoha couldn't afford any more internal chaos; they had to unite and face external threats together.
Uchiha Fugaku himself was indecisive. He wanted to be Hokage but knew his chances were slim. He also hoped to secure a high-ranking position as a fallback, to facilitate cooperation with Madara, but he didn't want to back down in front of Mitokado Homura. So, he deliberately avoided the topic, allowing the conversation to continue.
After a long while, the discussion inside the tent quieted down.
That night, taking advantage of Mist Hidden's recent defeat and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen being incomplete, Konoha launched another attack on Mist Hidden.
Uchiha Fugaku once again rendered great service, leading the Uchiha Clan's elite to severely damage Mist Hidden's main forces.
Minato Namikaze quietly returned to Konoha Village after the battle concluded.
He needed to join the western front to assist Orochimaru and Jiraiya in confronting Sand Hidden.
Orochimaru no longer hoped to defeat Qingshui, let alone kill him.
He only wished to stall Qingshui.
Previously, when three Kage-level experts fought against Qingshui, before Qingshui revealed his Blood Demon Art Flying Thunder God and ambushed Hiruzen Sarutobi, Konoha was not at a disadvantage.
If they could have held out until his Puppet was destroyed, there might have been a turn of events and a victory.
However, Orochimaru no longer had that intention.
His plan was to bring in Minato Namikaze, the shinobi with divine speed. As long as he could keep up with Qingshui's speed and interfere with him, that would be enough.
Both sides were incredibly fast, capable of instantaneous movement regardless of obstacles or time. Neither could kill the other. With Jiraiya, who had sufficient hard power and sensory abilities in Sage Mode, holding the front, they couldn't defeat Qingshui, but they could still entangle him for a long time.
Coincidentally, Konoha Village and Cloud Hidden Village both made similar contingency plans for Qingshui.
For such a difficult-to-defeat opponent, if they couldn't kill him, then they would drag him out at the lowest possible cost. Once breakthroughs were made in other areas, they would then consider other methods.
The chaotic situation in the Ninja World continued.
...
...
Marvel Universe, Watt Manor.
Several Hollywood actresses and more than a dozen beautiful models left Watt Manor in batches, avoiding the paparazzi and curious eyes.
On the messy bed, Qingshui rubbed his slightly sore lower back and yawned.
The room was a mess after the party.
"Watos, tell Jorge to add goji berry tea to my breakfast."
"Yes, sir."
"Prepare hot water. I need to wash off all these lipstick marks and whatnot."
"Hot water in the shower will be heated to an appropriate temperature in approximately three minutes."
Qingshui climbed out of bed, naked.
This body was just that of an ordinary human with Chakra, relatively strong, but without any physical enhancements. It was perfectly normal to feel tired after a wild party.
After taking a shower, having a simple breakfast, and doing some morning exercises, specifically focusing on squats, he then processed some documents with Watos's help and had a video call with Hill and Nick Fury before finally heading into the lab to begin work.
The final step of making the Electrolight Armor into a Magic Tool was almost complete.
The day flew by in a flash of work.
The cool white light swept across the curved shell of the Electrolight II armor, casting a cold metallic glint that made one's eyes twitch.
Wiping a few beads of sweat from his forehead, he looked at the steel robot in front of him and opened the panel.
The Electrolight II armor's transformation into a Magic Tool was complete, and its rating had reached S-.
"Is it also an S- rating? It seems that compared to Platinum, the Electrolight hasn't fallen too far behind yet.
If I could spend more time nourishing the Magic Tool with Qi, perhaps the armor's basic performance in all aspects could experience a leap, gaining properties close to those of transcendent metals. Then it should reach the S-rank standard.
However, even with Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements, that would be quite time-consuming. Just refining it into a Magic Tool would take several months, and if I wanted the quality of the entire Magic Tool to undergo a transformation, the time estimate would likely be one to two times longer."
"It seems I'll have to shift my focus to other methods," Qingshui mused, resting his chin on his hand as he gazed at the Puppet before him.
As S-rank Puppets, Electrolight II was undoubtedly stronger than Platinum, though the gap in their performance wasn't yet significant.
Due to better base materials and the inclusion of six Arc Reactors, Electrolight II surpassed Platinum in overall offensive output and endurance.
Half of these six Arc Reactors were made using palladium isotopes, while the other half used ruthenium isotopes.
The former emitted blue light when activated, and the latter, yellow.
This conveniently matched the Infinity Stones corresponding to the two elements.
In terms of power output, there wasn't much difference between the two types of reactors; they were almost identical, and their energy conversion efficiency was also quite similar.
Aside from color, Tony had yet to determine if there was any difference in the energy activated by the two elements. He was currently planning to study the ray spectra of both energies to find any distinctions.
However, Qingshui had already discovered the difference between the two energies, a step ahead of Tony.
On the technological side, the energy difference wasn't significant, but in the realm of magic, there was a clear disparity.
This disparity lay in the nature, or rather, the attributes, of the energy.
Perhaps because the original Arc Reactor used palladium, not palladium isotopes with the same atomic structure as the Tesseract, its performance in this particular characteristic was weaker and went unnoticed by Qingshui.
Now, with the second-generation Arc Reactor, combining it with the rechargeable low-end Magic Tools crafted by Kamar-Taj mages using Runes, the implications became clear.
Its spatial properties could be used to cast spatial magic for Magic Tools.
Currently, this group of research-minded mages had already achieved one breakthrough:
A switchable Portal.
Kamar-Taj already possessed this technology, but the energy from the second-generation Arc Palladium Reactor could conveniently replace the cost mages typically had to pay.
Unlike the mages' Portals, which relied on the power of Vishanti and could pinpoint locations purely by imagination, this type of Portal required precise coordinates of two locations for directional teleportation.
The energy consumed for teleportation depended on the distance and the mass and volume of the transported object. The energy from just one second-generation Arc Reactor was enough to sustain many uses.
With Qingshui's sponsorship, Kamar-Taj had already placed several interconnected Portals at its headquarters and the three Sanctum Sanctorums.
When a Portal ran out of power, they simply replaced it. To prevent accidents due to power loss during teleportation, these Portals were equipped with larger Arc Reactors, with an additional one wired in parallel as a backup, ensuring at least one Arc Reactor was always at full power.
As long as something the size of a building and denser than gold didn't suddenly teleport in, accidents were basically guaranteed not to happen.
As for ruthenium metal isotopes, they proved quite effective in magic related to the mental domain.
Hypnosis, mental enhancement, and psychic protection—there were now Magic Tools powered by ruthenium metal isotope reactors for all these purposes.
In the mental domain, the mages' research was no less impressive than their spatial research, and the barrier to entry was considerably lower, leading to more frequent breakthroughs.
Qingshui was now contemplating whether he could enchant the Puppets with Runes and Talismans to enhance their combat effectiveness.
To Qingshui, the Rune Magic from the Book of Altos and the Talisman techniques passed down from Longhu Mountain's Celestial Master's Mansion were very similar; in many aspects, they could even be considered the same thing.
Both used patterns to simulate and utilize the rules governing the operation of all things in heaven and earth, thereby manifesting various incredible functions.
Both also required a medium. Talismans needed yellow paper and cinnabar to carry Qi as energy, while Rune Magic had a slightly broader scope but also required energy and a medium capable of carrying that energy. In many ways, they were identical—different civilizations in different worlds using similar yet distinct methods to harness the same power.
"I've already mastered Tongtian Lu. This technique allows me to temporarily draw Talismans without a medium, and it can also be used to cast Rune Magic. This sufficiently proves that they are essentially the same method."
Qingshui skillfully drew two Talismans in front of him.
One was the Fire-drawing Talisman from the Celestial Master's Mansion, and the other was one of the thirteen basic fire Runes from the Altos Dimension, used for generating fire.
"There are indeed many similarities, but if I'm going to enchant an armor, I definitely can't use these types of Runes."
The armor didn't lack offensive capabilities.
Regular Talismans could be cast at will using Tongtian Lu, so there was no need to embed them into the Puppet.
What should be prioritized are Runes that can enhance defense and guard against sneak attacks, such as the Vajra Mantra, and ideally, Talismans for mental and spiritual protection as well.
As for the rest, he could discuss them with Tony, who served as Sorcerer Supreme in another universe, when he handed over the Book of Altos in a few months.
Tony's armor followed that very path.
"But then again, Tongtian Lu is truly a good thing. Grandmaster Lu Jin's usage didn't grasp its true essence. If I hadn't encountered the Book of Altos, relying solely on the basic Talisman techniques from the Celestial Master Talisman Grand Merit Record, I really wouldn't have understood this."
Qingshui waved his hand, dispelling the two Runes before him, and fell into deep thought.
He had already obtained two of the Eight Unique Skills.
It was clear that some of the Eight Unique Skills had side effects, such as Qi Body Origin's "one life, two natures," where the nascent soul born in the body was another soul; or Six Storage Immortal Thief, which would eventually lead to a distorted, inhuman personality because the fate cultivation, enhanced by Six Storage Immortal Thief, far surpassed the nature cultivation; or Spirit Control and Summoning, where using the spirit-devouring method would lead to rejection by the spirit entities; or Wind-Rear Strange Gate, where a mortal body arbitrarily manipulated the four plates, affecting time and controlling heaven and earth, leading to qi counter-reactions.
Some had solutions, like Zhou Sheng, who understood how to set up a central palace within his body, using his innate primordial Qi to command the seventy-two microcosmic orbits. By leading the microcosmic orbits with his innate Qi and transforming himself into a king, he could not only regulate the backlash within his own body but also change into various forms, like the seventy-two transformations.
However, some founders did not discover solutions, like Ruan Feng, who eventually transformed himself into a neither-human-nor-ghost state.
In contrast, Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements and Tongtian Lu had almost no side effects, but if used in a purely clumsy way, their power seemed lower than the other Eight Unique Skills.
Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements was powerful, but it only allowed for the creation of more Magic Tools, not stronger Magic Tools than existing ones. If someone had a sufficiently large organization behind them, then simply carrying more high-grade Magic Tools would make fighting a user of Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements no different.
Tongtian Lu was the same; it seemed as if simply preparing a large number of Talismans beforehand could achieve the same effect.
However, in the original work, Zhang Zhiwei lamented that Lu Jin hadn't used Tongtian Lu to its full potential, and Zhang Lingyu also agreed, directly stating that the key to Tongtian Lu lay not in "Lu" (record), but in "Tongtian" (reaching heaven).
"Tongtian Lu, Tongtian Lu. The Sanyi Sect's Reverse Life Triple cannot reach heaven, but it is the Tongtian Lu left by Zheng Zibu for his friend that is the true path to heaven.
It seems Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements is the same; the key is not in 'Divine Mechanism,' but in 'Refinements.'"
-----------
Machine Translation by: https:// beta.randomtranslator.com/
Read 1111+ original & fanfic translations in English, Español, Português, Deutsch, Français, or Русский at: https:// beta.randomtranslator.com/
Join our Discord: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------