Inhale… exhale…
Seimei took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
He calmed his mind, and while the insights were still fresh, he focused, raised his hands, and formed the seals for the "Three Elements Sealing Technique."
"Ha!"
With a soft shout, he slapped his palm against his abdomen.
The next moment, intricate sealing patterns spread from his palm, crawling across his entire body before quickly contracting into an equilateral triangle with slightly curved edges.
From the three corners of the triangle extended three sealing chains, each made of delicate seal patterns.
One chain burrowed into his body, connecting to his physical energy. Another stretched into his mental realm, rooting itself in his mental energy.
The final chain searched his body, as if looking for something. But after fumbling around for a while, it found nothing.
Seeing this, Seimei's expression shifted as a realization hit him. Crap, he thought, moving to fix it.
But before he could act, the "Three Elements Sealing Technique," which had nearly taken shape on his abdomen, suddenly unraveled.
Since two of the sealing chains were anchored to his physical and mental energy, the seal's collapse sent a backlash through both his body and mind.
"Ugh!"
A muffled groan escaped his lips as specks of blood trickled from the corners of his mouth, leaving two thin trails.
Seimei wiped the blood away, cursing himself under his breath. I rushed it.
The issue was straightforward: the third sealing chain couldn't find any natural energy in his body to anchor to, so the seal failed to form, dragging his body and mind down with it.
Why did it need natural energy?
Simple. The "Three Elements Sealing Technique" was built on three pillars: physical energy, mental energy, and natural energy.
Only by rooting itself in all three could the seal hold firm.
That's what made it so effective—it could store massive amounts of natural energy.
Heck, it could even handle Sage Chakra, the fusion of physical, mental, and natural energy, with ease.
In Seimei's eyes, this technique was a perfect fit for his goals.
From his perspective, it even had the potential to become an S-rank sealing technique.
After all, physical, mental, and natural energy were the cornerstones of the ninja world's extraordinary powers. A sealing technique built on those three had sky-high potential—it made sense.
But its unique nature came with a catch. The seal's effectiveness depended heavily on the skill of the caster and the strength of the target.
The caster's skill wasn't a big issue—as long as the seal formed, it wouldn't affect the outcome much.
The target, though? That was trickier.
If the target's physical, mental, or natural energy was too weak, the seal's foundation would be shaky.
The result? A subpar effect.
That's exactly what happened just now. Seimei hadn't accounted for the lack of natural energy in his body, so one of the three pillars was missing, and the seal didn't even form.
Still, he couldn't entirely blame himself. After finally registering the technique on his panel, he'd been eager to capitalize on his lingering insights to boost its proficiency.
But he'd forgotten one critical detail: his body was already drained of natural energy. By the time he realized and tried to fix it, it was too late.
The result? Failure.
No big deal, though. He could always get more natural energy and try again.
With that thought, Seimei acted fast. He dispelled a nearby shadow clone that was absorbing natural energy.
In an instant, nearly a thousand points of natural energy flooded into his body.
He focused, channeling the energy into the alternate space in his abdomen.
Then he closed his eyes, carefully reviewing the clone's memories.
It took about a minute to fully absorb the training experience, converting it into proficiency for "Natural Energy Sensing" and "Natural Energy Control."
Once that was done, he followed his understanding and cast the "Three Elements Sealing Technique" again.
At first, everything went smoothly. Two of the sealing chains anchored successfully to his mental and physical energy.
But when it came to the third chain, trouble struck again—it searched his body but still couldn't find any natural energy.
With no other choice, Seimei guided it toward the "All-Encompassing Seal," hoping it could latch onto the natural energy stored there.
But when he brought the chain to the "All-Encompassing Seal," he hit a wall.
Subconsciously, he'd assumed that since he'd created both seals and they were on his body, they'd merge easily.
Nope. Not even close.
In the past, all his sealing techniques, including the "All-Encompassing Seal," only dealt with mental and physical energy.
But the "Three Elements Sealing Technique" was built on a foundation of mental, physical, and natural energy.
Their core logic was completely different, so merging them was out of the question.
Sensing the "Three Elements Sealing Technique" growing unstable, Seimei quickly dispelled it.
Even so, his body and mind took a hit from the backlash.
Another muffled groan, and a streak of crimson appeared at the corner of his mouth.
But it didn't matter. With his current Constitution attribute at 28, his recovery was strong enough to heal minor injuries like this in no time.
Standing still, Seimei waited a moment, thinking through solutions.
A short while later, he raised his hands, formed the seals, and cast the "Three Elements Sealing Technique" again.
This time, after anchoring the first two chains, he immediately tore a small opening in the "All-Encompassing Seal," letting some natural energy leak out.
Using that natural energy as a base, he filled the final gap and completed the "Three Elements Sealing Technique."
He succeeded—but also failed.
Succeeded, because his panel registered a one-point increase in the technique's proficiency.
Failed, because the seal on his body only held for a brief moment before collapsing due to an unstable foundation.
The backlash caused a few more drops of blood to spill from his mouth.
But Seimei didn't care.
He casually wiped the blood away and dove right into another attempt.
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