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Chapter 101: Temporal Energy
Chapter 101: Temporal Energy
Feng Ye wondered if the scenes that appeared in his dreams were mere figments of his imagination or if they were somehow connected to the Ethereal Clock, influenced by its mysterious powers. Instinctively, he felt that the abilities showcased in his dream likely belonged to the twelve notches of the Ethereal Clock, though he couldn't pinpoint which ones exactly.
"It would be incredible if I could unlock the ability to freeze time," Feng Ye mused to himself.
In the world of ninjas, the ability to manipulate time would be virtually unstoppable. If he could master time freeze, even facing off against the formidable Kaguya Otsutsuki would be like following a walkthrough.
With time freeze, even if there was a chasm-like gap between the Kage and Rikudo levels, he could still pluck out the 'Rinnegan' in a frozen moment and slowly absorb the power of the tailed beasts and their chakra, siphoning away all the power of the Six Paths.
At this thought, Feng Ye closed his eyes.
The image of the Ethereal Clock appeared before him, and he glanced at the 'Notch III'. The mist covering it had thinned slightly, but it was still far from completely disappearing. At this rate, he estimated it would take another two to three years to unlock.
After checking his other abilities and finding no significant changes, Feng Ye shook his head inwardly and decided to stop his fruitless contemplation.
With the acquisition of the Ethereal Clock in this world, despite the many unanswered questions about its capabilities, Feng Ye could make some educated guesses.
Firstly, the powers of the clock seemed to unlock gradually over time, and this unlocking process followed a fixed timeline, seemingly unaffected by external factors.
Feng Ye had a bold hypothesis—perhaps the current state of the Ethereal Clock did not represent its full potential. As time flowed, it might be constantly drawing temporal energy, restoring and enhancing its powers, moving towards completeness.
The fact that the time acceleration range expanded roughly every year seemed to support this theory.
Additionally, the 'temporal energy' of the Ethereal Clock seemed infinite but was, in reality, finite and subject to a constantly rising limit.
Feng Ye had discovered this during one of his experiments.
He had plucked a strand of his hair and attempted to turn back time on it, not just by a few seconds but by over a decade, all in an instant.
The hair had vanished instantly, and in that moment, the entire Ethereal Clock had dimmed, its golden hue turning to a faint silver, with only the very bottom retaining a hint of gold.
Feng Ye surmised that the golden color represented temporal energy.
The reason his time acceleration and reversal abilities seemed to have infinite usage was that the rate of consumption was far lower than the rate of regeneration.
However, reversing time by several years in an instant would result in a massive surge in energy consumption.
Based on Feng Ye's calculations, the total amount of temporal energy currently stored in the Ethereal Clock was roughly equivalent to fifteen years' worth of time reversal. Using it to reverse time by more than fifteen years in one go would instantly deplete all its energy.
Feng Ye didn't know what would happen if the energy was completely exhausted, and he had no intention of finding out since such an extreme reversal of time held no appeal for him.
As for the source of this temporal energy, Feng Ye was still unclear.
All he knew was that after that experiment, which had depleted about four-fifths of the clock's energy, it had taken almost ten days for the Ethereal Clock to regain its vibrant golden state.
This recovery process was unaffected by external factors.
Feng Ye had tried killing other ninjas and performing various other actions, but none of it influenced the recovery of temporal energy—neither speeding it up nor slowing it down.
Either the 'time' possessed by individuals was negligible, or the 'time' represented by the Ethereal Clock was tied to the very fabric of the world, existing on a plane far beyond the scope of mortal lives.
This guess wasn't without reason.
Feng Ye had conducted a second experiment, using time regression on a single strand of hair and then on ten strands, and the result was the same consumption of temporal energy.
In other words, the consumption of this ability was unrelated to the object it affected. Whether it was a single strand of hair or an entire person, the amount of temporal energy consumed remained the same, and the consumption was only dependent on the length of time being reversed.
Additionally, Feng Ye discovered another intriguing aspect.
The upper limit of temporal energy that the Ethereal Clock could store wasn't fixed; it slowly increased as time passed by.
While other aspects remained unknown for now, it seemed that the Ethereal Clock was constantly 'evolving' or 'recovering' as time went on, becoming stronger and more advantageous for Feng Ye with each passing moment.
As for whether there would be any negative consequences, Feng Ye wasn't sure.
At least, none had been discovered so far.
"If there is a downside, perhaps it's the power itself," Feng Ye mused silently. "Perhaps as one stands at the pinnacle of the ninja world for hundreds or thousands of years, their humanity and emotions will gradually fade away."
Feng Ye had an instinctive feeling that this might be the truth.
If he achieved eternity and stood at the apex of the ninja world, his human emotions might gradually disappear over the centuries. But those thoughts were far too distant for now, and he didn't need to consider them just yet.
Those were concerns for when he had truly reached the pinnacle and obtained eternity.
Currently, he had only attained the Kage level.
If he were to face a super-Kage level existence, like Nagato with the Rinnegan, he might instantly perish from a single 'Bansho Ten'in' followed by a 'Soul Separation' jutsu.
His current strength was still far from sufficient; at most, he could handle most Kage-level opponents in the ninja world. Even then, some unique Kage-level individuals would be extremely troublesome to deal with, such as Minato Namikaze, who excelled in the Flying Thunder God technique and sealing jutsu, or the Third Raikage, who possessed absurd speed and defensive capabilities.
Just as Feng Ye was deep in thought, there was a rustling noise from the bedside.
He turned to see Shizune, who had been sleeping on the innermost side, sitting up and rubbing her eyes sleepily, having just woken up.
"Hmm..."
As she became a little more alert, Shizune looked in the direction of Tsunade and Feng Ye. Despite the darkness, her keen senses as a ninja allowed her to see that Feng Ye was awake.
Glancing at the still-sleeping Tsunade, Shizune carefully climbed out of bed and walked to Feng Ye's right side. She spoke softly, "Feng Ye, are you awake? How are you feeling?"
Feng Ye exhaled and replied, "My meridians are fine now, but my muscles still ache. It's a bit difficult to sit up, so I'll need some more time to rest and recover before I can move around normally."
"Mhm."
Shizune nodded gently and said, "Medical ninjutsu can heal wounds, but it doesn't promote rapid cell growth. While the torn muscles have been healed together, it will still take some time for the gap to completely fill and recover. By the way, you must be thirsty. Let me get you some water..."
She paused for a moment, then stood up and walked to the table. Looking at Feng Ye with admiring eyes, she said, "By the way, Feng Ye, you were amazing on the battlefield earlier. You even defeated that powerful Chiyo. I'm sure your name will spread throughout the ninja world in no time."
Feng Ye tilted his head and smiled gently,
"Probably."
(End of Chapter)
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