Aside from two people entering the River of Time at the same moment and in the same way, like Ryosuke and Uchiha Itachi a few days ago, in all other circumstances, the River of Time is relatively independent.
It's like each person buying their own movie DVD to watch at home. Even if Ryosuke and the Slug Sage can both wander through the River of Time, even if they appear at the same point in time, there is absolutely no way they could meet inside the River of Time.
But today...
Just as the beam of light pierced into the River of Time, the Slug Sage faintly sensed a trace of… A tremor?
The River of Time rippled outward in expanding circles.
"Is… is that an illusion?"
It stared blankly at Ryosuke, who was sitting cross-legged, and after hesitating for a moment, activated its ability to share perception in reverse.
The Slug Sage wasn't trying to uncover Ryosuke's secrets.
It was simply genuinely curious, what exactly was Ryosuke doing?
Then, the Slug Sage saw… that beam of light standing in the River of Time.
It didn't need extra perception at all, the soul fluctuation, vast like the stars, spread over, and the Slug Sage subconsciously swallowed.
"I should've reminded Ryosuke to use just a tiny bit of soul power as the 'stake,' right?"
It suspected that Ryosuke had used all of his soul power as the "stake."
"No, no, that's not right, even if it were all of his soul power, that's still way too much…"
While the Slug Sage was thinking, Ryosuke moved.
He stretched out his hand to grab the light beam.
Compared to the massive beam of light, Ryosuke's hand was obviously far too small.
But as his hand "reached forward," his body gradually grew larger, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into a giant.
Ryosuke grabbed the light beam with his left hand. His right hand curled slightly, raised high, and a hammer slowly condensed in his grasp.
The dazzling radiance lit up the River of Time, like a blazing sun rising. Reflected in the Slug Sage's eyes, its mind went completely blank.
The next moment, the blazing sun fell...
BOOM!!!
The light beam smashed downward heavily, embedding deeply into the River of Time.
The soul fragments scattered from the hammer strike were like shimmering stars, sprinkling across the River of Time, left to be washed away by the current of time, but… all that remained were fragments.
Whether facing the light beam that pointed straight toward the heavens, or the immense giant god-like figure, the River of Time, after flowing for countless ages, seemed as weak as a small stream.
Ryosuke exhaled lightly and raised the hammer again.
BOOM!!!
BOOM!!!
BOOM!!!
The impacts echoed, and the Slug Sage felt as though its own soul was going to shatter under the violent shockwaves. Its shared perception with Ryosuke grew weaker and weaker.
Until, at a certain moment, the connection was completely severed. It was kicked out of the shared perception state, and its consciousness became blurry.
It didn't know how long had passed.
"Sage… Slug Sage… are you okay…"
Ryosuke's voice echoed in its ears, and a faint ripple spread toward it, attempting to heal its body.
"I'm fine."
The Slug Sage woke up. "How long was I asleep?"
Ryosuke pointed at the sky outside, tinged with the pale white of dawn. "It's already morning."
The Slug Sage calculated the time. It had been unconscious for more than five hours.
Recalling the scene before it fainted, then looking at the Ryosuke before it now,
It truly couldn't connect the light-giant it had seen with Ryosuke at all.
The Slug Sage had seen plenty of strong humans, and even trained with Senju Hashirama and Tsunade before.
It could understand physical training no matter how strong it was.
But how do you train the soul?
Ryosuke's soul strength had clearly surpassed everyone the Slug Sage had ever known.
The two hadn't known each other long, but they always spoke honestly when they did. So the Slug Sage directly voiced its question, it genuinely wanted to know how Ryosuke had done it.
"This might sound exaggerated, but your soul is practically like it contains a whole universe."
"Mm…"
Ryosuke thought of the stars that descended from the sky every time he drew a card, and how when he used the Dimensional Ascension Star Core, he'd seen white holes and black holes.
Maybe it wasn't just "like"?
Last time, that demon-spirit had the same feeling. After invading Ryosuke's consciousness space, it slammed into an impossibly solid wall, and on the other side of that wall was an unknown starry sky.
Seeing Ryosuke fall deep into thought, the Slug Sage assumed he didn't know the reason either and simply shook its head and let it go.
Just like it could use limitless clones to evade the River of Time's corrosion, Ryosuke naturally could have his own special method.
The Slug Sage sighed a little, then looked at Ryosuke's skin, the cracks that originally exposed bone had mostly faded and healed, leaving only a few faint fissures that still glowed with a soft violet light.
"Looks like you succeeded."
Ryosuke glanced at the fine cracks on his arm and said, "It can only be considered a pretty good start."
He had indeed established his Past Projection. Using a deeply embedded strand of soul within the River of Time as an anchor, he could continuously pour energy into the projection.
But the Past Projection could only hold a limited amount of energy.
Ryosuke had only transmitted a small portion of the dragon-vein power, and it was already filled.
Now he had only gotten rid of the pain. His daily movements no longer risked exploding, but he still needed some time before he could fight again.
He needed to keep training, to expand the capacity, and once the Past Projection expanded to its limit, he could attempt to build a second, a third Past Projection, repeating the cycle.
Simply put, he had to become… a hoarding rat.
"Your Past Projection is the largest I've ever seen, so the amount of energy it can hold will also be greater," the Slug Sage said. "At this pace, with your second Past Projection, you should be able to store all the excess energy in your body."
Ryosuke nodded.
By then, he would have an incomparably massive energy reservoir.
Not only that, after the constant tearing and healing from the dragon-vein energy, Ryosuke's physical strength had greatly increased.
He had truly turned misfortune into fortune.
And all of this was because of Uchiha Itachi.
Ryosuke's emotions were complicated. The more he thought about Uchiha Itachi, the more incredible the man seemed.
Whether enemy or teammate, no one could ever predict what Itachi would do, or what consequences he would trigger.
"I should get going," Ryosuke said.
He had been on the ship when it exploded, interrogating Researcher Nakajima Daishi, when he received the news that Gaara and Rasa had been attacked. He used Heavenly Transmission to teleport to the scene and chased Uchiha Itachi all the way, leading to everything that followed.
The Slug Sage glanced at the light outside again. It originally thought Ryosuke would need to train for several months in the Shikkotsu Forest, and had already sent small slugs to purchase supplies.
But unexpectedly, he only needed one night…
In fact, even less.
After observing, the small slugs realized that Ryosuke had long finished his training and had been sitting nearby waiting for the Slug Sage to wake up.
In short, Ryosuke's training was done, and the supplies the little slugs bought had become useless.
The Slug Sage opened its mouth. "How about… you stay for breakfast before you leave?"