"Why did it stop? I can take more."
After waking from his confusion, Orochimaru looked up at the Slug Sage, a flicker of excitement in his eyes. "Your Excellency, please don't hold back. This level of illusion is nothing to me."
Seeing Orochimaru's reaction, the Slug Sage paused. "Why did you recover so quickly?"
This blue gem had been inside her body for seven or eight hundred years, if not a thousand, steeped in mental power for so long.
Even Senju Hashirama, the reincarnation of Ashura, only endured it for half an hour.
For an ordinary human, ten minutes is the limit. Any longer and their thoughts would be twisted by the gem's power, turning them into a mental slug.
The Slug Sage had guessed Orochimaru was exceptionally talented, which was why she extended the time to fifteen minutes. She hadn't expected to have underestimated him.
Orochimaru tapped his temple. "My soul is a bit special, a little stronger than most people."
And with the genie as backup, illusions had lost their effect on him long ago, even the Slug Sage's powerful mental energy.
For others, touching this gem would passively affect them with illusions. But for him, it was just playing a role he could choose to enter, and he could break free whenever he wanted.
Seeing Orochimaru's insistence, the Slug Sage spat out the gem again.
Besides the Senjutsu inheritance effect that had been developed, this thing only had the function of storing natural energy. Neither of these was very useful to her.
"..."
Orochimaru picked up the blue gem that floated before him again. This time, instead of directly inputting Chakra, he examined it closely.
After the immersive learning experience last time, he completely understood the Slug Sage's splitting technique. Experiencing it again wouldn't bring him much more improvement. This time, he was interested in the gem itself.
The blue gem might be useless to the Slug Sage. She had no descendants and was immortal herself, so she didn't need to pass anything down to offspring.
But in the ninja world, a world where generations change every twenty years, it could be very useful.
Other secret technique families aside, Sharingan, for example, could be popularized by experiencing the various pains of their predecessors to achieve eye activation.
After physical enhancement surgery, there wouldn't even be worries about side effects.
After playing with it for a while, Orochimaru looked up and said, "Slug Sage, where did you find this gem?"
Judging by its material alone, it was impossible to identify the type of gem. Without another one as a reference, he couldn't know whether its ability to be a heritage stone came from the gem itself or from the White Snake Sage's power.
"I told you before, it was inside my body at some point."
The Slug Sage looked confused. "You're interested in this thing?"
"Yes."
Orochimaru nodded, looking a little disappointed.
So it wasn't something from the ocean, just a gallstone of the Slug Sage.
That was very unfortunate. He couldn't ask her to grow another one for his research.
"If you want one, I'll give you one. This isn't anything rare."
The Slug Sage took back the blue gem. "But this one is not for sale. It's the first one."
"Give me one?"
Orochimaru looked surprised. What did she mean by "give me one"? Did she have many of them?
As if sensing Orochimaru's confusion, the Slug Sage tilted her head slightly. "Look up."
Orochimaru followed the Slug Sage's gaze, and on the dome of the cave, he saw a sky full of stars.
The reflection of the unknown "jewels" in Orochimaru's eyes, shimmering with various colors. He had thought it was a display of the Slug Sage's taste and aesthetic, but now, the origin of these stones was questionable.
And under Orochimaru's complicated gaze, a pure black gem fell from the sky, slowly floating in front of him.
A soft female voice spoke slowly, "This color is very rare, and in my opinion, it suits you well."
"How do you have so many?"
Orochimaru couldn't contain his curiosity and asked, "Didn't you say it just appeared in your body?"
"The first one actually did..."
The Slug Sage paused and said unhurriedly, "I thought it was beautiful, so I wanted more. Is that strange?"
"It's not strange. Gems indeed have ornamental value."
Orochimaru held the black stone, which was the size of a head, and felt a slight emotion.
The thoughts and habits of these immortal beings were truly peculiar. The White Snake Sage liked watching snake fights, while the Slug Sage liked collecting stones.
In Orochimaru's opinion, both were very boring activities. They were wasting their long lives.
But with that said, the products of these interests might have some value.
Holding the black gem, Orochimaru began to infuse Chakra into it.
Unlike the one in the Slug Sage's body, there was no mental power in the black stone. It only contained abundant natural energy.
This was exactly what Orochimaru wanted. Memories flashed in his mind, and he began to imprint a method of casting a Ninjutsu into it.
This process took Orochimaru a full fifteen minutes to complete.
He tossed the black gem to the Slug Sage. "I tried to imprint the memory of casting a Ninjutsu into it. I don't know how effective it is. Please test it, Your Excellency."
The Slug Sage took the black stone and hesitated. "I've never learned human Ninjutsu."
"That's perfect. The test value will be higher."
Orochimaru smiled. "Please."
The Slug Sage held the black stone and directly injected her mental power into it.
The gem inside her body was passively infused with mental power, carrying seven or eight hundred years of time. This black stone was different. The Chakra Orochimaru infused was not as prolonged, so she needed to experience it repeatedly to grasp that hint of feeling.
Crack… crack…
Five minutes later, the black stone lost its luster and became uneven. A crack appeared in the center, spreading rapidly until it split the black stone into two pieces.
"..."
The Slug Sage remained silent, as if savoring something. Orochimaru didn't rush her, just waited quietly.
Another fifteen minutes later, waves suddenly appeared in front of the Slug Sage.
A water wall rose out of nowhere, reaching nearly fifty meters in an instant, like a crashing wave.
"Splash…"
Amidst the sound of water, the waves continued for a moment and then subsided. "It seems a bit difficult."
Despite what she said, Orochimaru heard a hint of excitement in the Slug Sage's voice. Clearly, learning a Ninjutsu she had never mastered through this method was a significant event in her long life.
Orochimaru chuckled. "You can try more. It's just the application of Chakra, after all."
The water-based Ninjutsu he just stored was a hand-signless casting technique he had researched before.
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