Three days later, a massive roar erupted from the laboratory where Katasuke was stationed.
Inside the facility, Arima gripped his Quinque with both hands. The weapon, which originally resembled a knight's lance, now had its tip flared open like a blooming flower. Strands of electrical arcs flickered continuously within the dark void at its center.
The wall directly facing the lance had been blasted with a large hole. On the ground, countless gravel fragments similarly crackled with tiny, lingering bolts of lightning.
Arima looked at the scene in disbelief.
He had not expected that in just three days, Dr. Katasuke would truly research a way to combine the Quinque with chakra, and that he would successfully unleash it himself.
For the longest time, Arima had been stuck in a misunderstanding.
He had simply treated the Quinque as a weapon.
Under this mindset, the only way he could think of to raise the weapon's ceiling was to add Ninjutsu.
For example, he thought of using Ninjutsu to enhance the power of the Quinque's attacks, much like how a ninja uses standard ninja tools.
However, through Dr. Katasuke's recent experiment, he finally understood the essence of the Quinque.
The Quinque was a part of his body!
By definition, a Quinque was created by using a Ghoul's Kakuhou to parasitize a portion of a human body. After a certain amount of interference, it formed an independent, specialized weapon capable of resonating with its host.
In Arima's case, his arm had been parasitized by a Kakuhou by pure chance to form his Quinque.
Other Quinques were improvements refined by Dr. Katasuke. He could extract certain cells from a host for cultivation, allow a Kakuhou to parasitize that cultivated flesh, and then use secret techniques to interfere and form the weapon.
Because of this high level of cellular homology, the host was able to resonate with and control the Quinque accordingly.
Therefore, in essence, the Quinque was a part of the host's own body. It should never have been treated as merely a simple tool of war.
After realizing this misconception, Dr. Katasuke began to improve his experiments.
He integrated the ninja combat system and redesigned the cultivation method for the Quinque.
A ninja fights by extracting chakra from their cells and then using hand signs to convert that chakra into the corresponding Ninjutsu.
Since a ninja could refine chakra from cells, could a Quinque host extract chakra from the RC Cells that made up the Quinque?
Dr. Katasuke immediately called Arima to experiment on this question.
The experimental results were quite clear: it could be done.
After all, a Quinque was essentially made of mutated cells. Since they were cells, one could rely on meditation to refine chakra from them.
Of course, there were limits to refining chakra this way. The prerequisite was a high degree of homology with the Quinque. Furthermore, it required a long period of tempering so the weapon could carry one's soul.
Only by extending one's soul onto the Quinque could one use spiritual power to refine and utilize the corresponding chakra from within it.
Undoubtedly, Arima already met this prerequisite.
After Arima successfully condensed the unique RC Chakra, a new problem arose.
The structure of a Quinque was vastly different from a human's. Consequently, it was impossible to use hand signs for Ninjutsu!
Even signless Ninjutsu was out of the question.
After all, the essence of Ninjutsu did not lie in the hand signs themselves. Instead, it was about how to make chakra flow through specific meridians and pressure points according to the requirements of the technique before releasing it.
Since the structure of a Quinque was entirely different from a human's, it naturally could not construct or release Ninjutsu in that manner.
So, how was Arima able to release such a terrifying lightning strike?
The reason lay in the fact that the chakra condensed through the Quinque was quite unique.
Since it was condensed from the RC Cells of the Quinque, Katasuke named it [RC Chakra].
This chakra differed greatly from ordinary chakra. The most significant difference was its elemental nature.
While the element was highly consistent with the host's own affinity, its properties were extremely active.
For instance, ordinary Lightning Style chakra needs to be converted through hand signs before it can strike as a thunderous fist, but RC Chakra did not.
Due to its extremely volatile nature, it would automatically transform into powerful lightning and be released the moment it left the Quinque.
In other words, using a Quinque allowed one to achieve the effects of Ninjutsu without weaving hand signs!
Of course, this wasn't entirely a good thing.
A ninja's hand signs do more than just convert chakra into an elemental attack; they also serve to finely control the attack.
Although it was still chakra, releasing it through Ninjutsu could manifest various characteristics and more diverse ways to play—like carving a dog's head onto the technique, for example.
But releasing it through a Quinque was different.
It could only convert directly into a certain element, such as lightning, fire, or water.
One could not manipulate the form of these elements; they could only perform straightforward attacks.
Even so, this was a terrifying breakthrough in the use of Quinques.
After all, every second counted on the battlefield. The mere fact that one did not need to weave signs allowed them to potentially insta-kill an opponent in a direct confrontation.
After realizing this, Arima's expression became more solemn.
Such a breakthrough might even change the situation on the battlefield.
The strategic significance of the Quinque would be greatly enhanced. Perhaps in the future, one would encounter more Quinque users like himself on the battlefield.
Naturally, one could not be over-optimistic.
Talented Quinque controllers like Arima were likely rare. Reaching this level was by no means an easy task.
"It worked! It actually worked!"
Compared to Arima's shock, Dr. Katasuke was almost falling into a state of frenzy.
A year of hard work had finally yielded results. He was nearly moved to tears of joy.
It was imaginable that his breakthrough would leave a significant mark on the development of the entire shinobi world!
And all of this was because...
Katasuke knelt on the ground, silently pulling out that dark red necklace from his chest. A smile appeared on his face.
Performing a mission in the Anbu, Simu suddenly curled his lips slightly.
It had to be said that this Dr. Katasuke truly counted as a genius.
That night, he had only slightly reminded him about the misconception regarding the essence of the Quinque. He hadn't expected the man to react so quickly, immediately beginning three days and nights of frantic experimentation. In the end, he truly researched a way to refine RC Chakra.
Besides Dr. Katasuke, Arima's talent in controlling the Quinque was also quite exaggerated.
After clarifying that misconception, he had only gone through a brief meditation before entering a state of being "two as one" and "completely integrated" with the Quinque in his hand.
The two were almost indistinguishable. Refining RC Chakra was as effortless for him as refining his own chakra.
I am very much looking forward to seeing what choice you make next.