Looking at his home, which was almost exactly the same as when he had left, Uchiha Kazuhiko felt everything was so illusory and unreal.
If not for the pile of Blood Orchids in his storage space, he would have thought it was all just a dream.
Checking the time on the wall, he discovered only a few seconds had passed. This meant that time in the Naruto world stood still while he was executing missions in the task spacetime.
"Excellent. This means I won't have to explain my disappearances when I go on system missions in the future,"
Uchiha Kazuhiko was very satisfied with this. He then opened the system's Multiverse Mall to see what system-produced items he could buy with the 6 system gold coins he had earned from this mission.
No sooner had he opened the Multiverse Mall interface than he was utterly shocked by the billions upon billions of items inside.
From the lowly Crocodile Tail Scissors, Wind-Fire Hooks, Iron Sand Divine Palm Pure Yang Skill; To the supreme Pangu's Axe, Eastern Emperor Bell, Three Pure Ones Immortal Technique, Rahu's Eye.
In short, whether he recognized them or not, everything imaginable was available in the Multiverse Mall.
The dazzling array of goods made Uchiha Kazuhiko's eyes spin. It was only after using the filter function, prompted by the system, that the number of items was drastically reduced, leaving behind some suitable for his current strength.
[Sun Yang True Solution]: Black Iron Mid-Lower Grade. Basic cultivation-class technique, low efficiency. Price: 19 Gold Coins.
[Superpower Awakening]: Black Iron Low-Upper Grade. Provides one chance to awaken a superpower. Awakens a random type of superpower based on the individual's differences, 50% success rate. Price: 8 Gold Coins.
[Fierce Bull Strength Art (First 5 Layers)]: Black Iron Low-Mid Grade. Nine layers total. Cultivating to the fifth layer grants ten thousand jin of strength. Price: 5 Gold Coins.
[Low-Level Meditation Technique]: Black Iron Low-Mid Grade. Can increase mental power and arcane perception ability. Price: 4 Gold Coins.
[Gene Primordial Energy Cultivation Method]: Black Iron Low-Mid Grade. Can absorb the universe's free energy, low efficiency. Price: 4 Gold Coins.
...
[B-Rank Fire Release: Severing Flame]: Black Iron Low-Lower Grade. Fire attribute attack skill. Price: 1 Gold Coin.
[Water Cold Sword]: Black Iron Low-Lower Grade. Cold attribute weapon. Comes with technique: Icy River's Chill. Price: 1 Gold Coin.
[Snow Shadow]: Black Iron Low-Lower Grade. One of the 21 O Wazamono Grade Swords. Price: 1 Gold Coin.
[Laba Congee]: Black Iron Low-Lower Grade. Can slightly increase total primordial energy. Price: 1 Gold Coin.
[Nine-Flower Jade Dew Pill — 3 pills]*: Black Iron Low-Lower Grade. Low-quality healing elixir. Price: 1 Gold Coin.
...
The long list of items in the Multiverse Mall made Uchiha Kazuhiko's eyes burn with desire.
He truly wanted to acquire them all. Unfortunately, he only had 6 system gold coins and could only afford the cheaper items.
Seeing the Blood Orchids priced at 1 gold coin, Uchiha Kazuhiko thought of the ones he had collected himself in the system space.
He opened the recycling interface to check their value.
[Stone Spider]: 0.01 GC
[Mutated Snake Gallbladder]: 0.01 GC
[Mature Blood Orchid]: 0.1 GC
[Blood Orchid Plant]: 0.3 GC
His system storage space contained his additional gains from the previous spacetime: 3 highly venomous Stone Spiders, 24 Mutated Python Gallbladders, 184 Blood Orchids, and 14 Blood Orchid plants.
After a moment's thought, Uchiha Kazuhiko recycled one hundred of the Blood Orchids. After a 20% handling fee was deducted, he received 8 gold coins.
Though extremely reluctant, Uchiha Kazuhiko spent 13 gold coins to purchase [Superpower Awakening], [Gene Primordial Energy Cultivation Method], and the [Nine-Flower Jade Dew Pill].
As for the remaining gold coin, Uchiha Kazuhiko naturally had another use for it.
He opened the [Post Task] option in the mission interface and used his last gold coin to post a task to the myriad worlds.
[Refine Medicinal Ingredients]: Refine the Blood Orchids and snake gallbladders into pills or potions that can maximize their medicinal efficacy as much as possible. Attached materials: 80 Blood Orchids, 20 Snake Gallbladders.
Posted by: Uchiha Kazuhiko
Task Commission: 1 Gold Coin, 4 Blood Orchids, 4 Snake Gallbladders.
After posting the task, Uchiha Kazuhiko exited the system and began using the Superpower Awakening opportunity he had just purchased.
Upon confirming use, Uchiha Kazuhiko found his consciousness entering a pitch-black space devoid of any light.
An ethereal, faint voice echoed softly throughout this space.
'Self', 'Illusion', 'Reality', 'Awaken', 'Transcend'.
The barely audible voice cycled endlessly through these few simple words.
Uchiha Kazuhiko's consciousness was continuously assaulted by the sound, becoming drowsy and muddled until it finally sank into a completely unconscious state.
At that very moment, the originally dark space suddenly erupted in a kaleidoscope of dazzling colors.
They intertwined and changed over time, finally stabilizing into a single hue: blood red.
Once the bloody hue stabilized, the entire space shattered like a bubble, transforming into points of bloody light that merged into Uchiha Kazuhiko's consciousness.
His consciousness returned to his body. Uchiha Kazuhiko woke up, and upon sensing the superpower he had obtained, a look of slight surprise appeared in his eyes. Clearly, he hadn't expected to acquire that particular ability.
Relying on his Chunin-level mental strength, Uchiha Kazuhiko spent half an hour familiarizing himself with the superpower, raising its level to LV3 (Strong Esper).
Drawing inspiration from characters in novels and movies from his previous life, he developed several practical skills.
Setting the superpower matter aside for now, Uchiha Kazuhiko took out the manual for the Gene Primordial Energy Cultivation Method and began attempting to absorb cosmic energy.
Compared to the original soul of this body, Uchiha Kazuhiko's mental power was much stronger.
He quickly sensed the presence of cosmic energy and, guided by the technique, drew it into his body.
After the invisible, colorless cosmic energy entered Uchiha Kazuhiko's body, it was devoured by the mitochondria within his cells, which then fed back a strange energy to the cells.
As the cosmic energy was continuously devoured, all the cells in Uchiha Kazuhiko's body underwent fundamental optimization or rather, evolution towards a higher form of life.
Although the Gene Primordial Energy Cultivation Method was only Black Iron Low-Lower Grade, the lowest rank in the system, its effect of optimizing life itself was countless times superior to the Uchiha clan's Chakra Extraction Method.
Time passed bit by bit. Only after three hours, when all his cells were saturated, did Uchiha Kazuhiko stop absorbing cosmic energy.
Uchiha Kazuhiko opened his eyes, a smile appearing on his face.
"The Swallowed Star spacetime truly lives up to being a high-level one. The grade of cosmic energy is even higher than that of natural energy in the Naruto spacetime. This means the quality of my primordial energy has reached a new level."
Getting up and going into the courtyard, he did some simple adaptive training. Uchiha Kazuhiko discovered his physical fitness had already surpassed the Genin threshold and reached Chunin level.
Considering the ninjutsu and taijutsu he currently mastered, his overall strength was roughly equivalent to an average Chunin.
However, combined with his high-grade primordial energy and his unique superpower, he could put up a fight against a Special Jonin.
Once he obtained higher-level ninjutsu and taijutsu, it would be logical for him to reach Elite Chunin or even Special Jonin level.
It was already quite late.
Uchiha Kazuhiko prepared to rest, awaiting tomorrow's graduation team assignments at the ninja academy, and the potential survival exercise.