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A flurry of thoughts raced through Seimei's mind, but he pushed them aside. Raising his hands, he formed the "Boar" seal and once again cast the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."
Poof, poof, poof~
With bursts of chakra smoke, eight hundred shadow clones materialized in the clearing.
Gazing at the dense crowd of clones before him, Seimei didn't waste words. He swiftly divided them into two groups.
Five hundred clones were tasked with absorbing natural energy.
The remaining three hundred were assigned to continue experimenting with the fusion of seven chakra natures, working to develop the power of the Bloodline Net.
With the arrangements set, Seimei sent them off.
Next, he channeled chakra from the interdimensional space in his forehead to replenish his own reserves.
Then, forming hand signs again, he cast the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique" once more.
This time, he created ten shadow clones.
These were specifically for practicing "Sage Mode."
So, Seimei infused each with an equal amount of natural energy.
"All right, get to it!" he said.
The ten clones nodded without a word, each finding a spot to begin training "Sage Mode."
As for Seimei himself, he ventured back into the volcano's interior to start a new round of cultivation.
---
An hour later, Seimei returned to Moon Island.
After waiting briefly for his body to recover, he dispelled the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."
In an instant, all the clones—both on and off the island—dissolved into nothing.
A flood of memories hit his mind like never before. Even with his 34-point "Spirit" attribute, Seimei felt a pang of headache from the sheer volume.
Gritting his teeth against the discomfort, he followed his usual routine: first sorting and storing the returned chakra and natural energy, then diving into the memories to absorb and process the cultivation experience they held.
Time ticked by, second by second.
Twenty minutes later, he opened his eyes again.
Seimei carefully reviewed the experience he'd just gained.
As expected, after this period of experimentation, he could now increase the number of shadow clones working on the Bloodline Net to three hundred.
At this number, the balance between the experience gained and the cost was the most efficient.
Well… speaking of cost, adding fifty more clones to develop the Bloodline Net naturally increased his chakra consumption.
Based on the chakra used in the past hour, Seimei calculated that maintaining three hundred clones for this task would require an additional three hundred thousand points of chakra.
That meant his investment would rise from 2.3 million points to 2.6 million.
And it wasn't just the Bloodline Net. The number of clones absorbing natural energy had jumped from three hundred to five hundred, also demanding more chakra.
Originally, three hundred clones consumed seven hundred thousand points of chakra per day. Now…
Seimei sensed the past hour's consumption and did some quick math. The new total came to one million points.
Another increase of three hundred thousand.
As a result, his daily chakra shortfall would rise from 3.58 million (9.1 million minus 5.52 million) to 4.18 million (3.58 million plus 0.3 million plus 0.3 million)!
"Four point one eight million…" Seimei murmured to himself.
He then mentally checked the chakra reserves stored in the wooden clones near his cabin.
With a soft exhale, he relaxed.
No matter how you sliced it, this level of consumption was still within his acceptable range.
At least for the short term, he wouldn't have to worry about running out of chakra.
As for the long term… he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.
With that, Seimei didn't waste any more time. He swallowed several enhanced soldier pills to replenish his energy, formed hand signs, and cast the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique" to begin another round of training.
---
Days passed in a blur.
A week later, Seimei took another day to rest in the village.
That afternoon, after completing a training session and returning to Moon Island, he dispelled the "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique," recalling all his clones. As he absorbed and processed their hour's worth of training experience, his "Sage Mode" broke through to Level 8 without fanfare.
In that moment, he felt his understanding of "Sage Mode" climb to a new height.
This allowed him to enter "Sage Mode" even faster.
Seimei estimated that now, it would take less than two minutes to fully convert his chakra into sage chakra and enter "Sage Mode."
Additionally, he could sustain the state for longer.
Without engaging in intense combat, he could likely maintain it for two hours with no issue.
This meant he could cover the few-minute gap, using "Sage Mode" throughout an entire hour to boost his training of "Body Extremity," enhancing the efficiency of his physical strengthening.
Moreover, the upgrade to "Sage Mode" gave him greater control over himself, especially over his sage chakra.
This reduced the chakra and natural energy needed for both strengthening his body with "Body Extremity" and training "Sage Mode" with shadow clones to grind proficiency.
But exactly how much it reduced would require thorough testing.
With that thought, Seimei formed hand signs and began another round of training.
Tick, tick, tick~
An hour passed in a flash.
When Seimei finished this session, he had his answer.
After reaching Level 8 in "Sage Mode," using ten shadow clones for practice saved him about five hundred thousand points of chakra daily, dropping the consumption from 4.5 million to 4 million.
Meanwhile, his proficiency gains didn't decrease—they increased, rising from around three thousand points to three thousand five hundred.
In other words, the chakra cost per proficiency point dropped from fifteen hundred to about eleven hundred.
As for the cost of physical strengthening…
That decreased too, from roughly 27.6 million points to around 27 million—a reduction of six hundred thousand.
This reduction might seem larger than the one for "Sage Mode" training, but compared to the original cost, it was almost negligible for physical strengthening.
The reason was simple: at Level 8, "Sage Mode" enhanced his "Body Extremity" training even more.
His body could evolve faster, which naturally required more chakra.
With one factor increasing and another decreasing, the fact that his overall consumption still dropped was honestly a bit surprising.
Seimei had braced himself for the possibility that it might increase instead.
All in all, the Level 8 upgrade to "Sage Mode" brought significant benefits.
With the five hundred thousand and six hundred thousand point reductions, his chakra burden would ease, and the chakra he'd stockpiled would last longer.
Feeling a spark of excitement, Seimei took a brief rest before diving into another round of training.