— — — — — —
After some time...
"It really is the same type of ability."
After seeing the messages from Veyron and Chika in the chat group, Hancock wasted no time and used the quest Veyron posted to teleport over.
After a round of tests, Yagokoro Eirin finally gave her verdict.
"No wonder…"
Hancock nodded in realization. Ever since unlocking the Gene Lock, she had already noticed that the way her Sharingan felt was oddly similar to Chika's experience with her Byakugan.
"They're the same type of ocular powers, yeah," Veyron added from the side. "They both originate from the same world and manifest through the eyes—but they develop differently. Your Sharingan evolves through intense emotional triggers, while Chika's Byakugan needs to be 'purified' to a higher level."
"Wait—pure Byakugan?"Chika blinked in confusion.
"Yep. I'm sure of it," Veyron confirmed with a nod.
And this wasn't just based on his memories of Naruto from his past life.
With his fourth-stage Gene Lock, he had complete microscopic control over gene structures—so when he analyzed both of their eyes, the conclusion was backed by solid data.
"Great. Guess that means my Byakugan's stuck where it is," Chika sighed.
She had made some progress before—when she first awakened the Byakugan and started training, its zoom, x-ray, and insight capabilities did grow a little. That was likely due to the increase in her ocular strength.
But purity?
She couldn't exactly expect the group lottery to cough up another Byakugan, right?
Let's be honest: that gacha was a bottomless pit. Even Merlin—who had over 100,000 group points—and Veyron, who scored great stuff twice with several tens of thousands of points, didn't dare throw too much into that black hole.
If she wanted to evolve her Byakugan, her best bet was the group shop, which refreshed every seven days and stocked 128 new items each time.
And even then—consider this: Hancock's Sharingan had already evolved once, from single tomoe to double tomoe. But according to both Eirin and Veyron, even two tomoe weren't enough to unleash one percent of the eye's true potential.
So even if she did get another Byakugan, odds were it still wouldn't be enough to push hers to the next level.
"…Why not ask the amazing Yagokoro Eirin?" Veyron said with a grin, shooting a glance at the silver-haired genius beside him.
"Sensei…?" Chika turned toward Eirin with pleading eyes.
"If you don't mind, I can try cloning a Byakugan using your eye cells as a base," Eirin replied calmly—before kicking the ball back to Veyron.
"But instead of relying on me, maybe you should be asking yourself: how is it that someone just touched your eyelid and could give a more precise analysis than I could?"
Oh, right!
Chika turned sharply to look at Veyron again.
"If you remember the info I gave you guys about Gene Locks," Veyron said, "you should recall one of the fourth-stage abilities—awakening dormant genes."
He continued, "If your body contains even a trace of another race's bloodline, you can complete the gene sequence and unlock its traits. It's like getting a bloodline boost out of thin air."
"And your eyes—both yours and Hancock's—fit that criteria."
"In other words," he added, "if either of you manages to unlock the fourth-stage Gene Lock, you won't need the usual conditions. You'll be able to evolve your eyes your own way—just like that."
"Of course, if you haven't hit fourth stage yet, I could try modifying your eye-related genes to push the evolution anyway, but…" Veyron shrugged. "Honestly, I'd suggest giving Eirin's cloning idea a shot first. It sounds pretty promising."
"Then I'll leave it to Sensei," Chika said, nodding as she looked toward the ever-capable Yagokoro Eirin.
With the eye topic settled, Chika—knowing full well that Veyron hadn't come here just to chat about Byakugan theories—sensibly grabbed Hancock and stepped out, leaving the space to Veyron and Eirin.
"…So, what kind of 'favor' are you here for this time?" Eirin muttered as she formed a quick seal and activated a barrier against eavesdropping.
"…Is that seriously the impression you have of me now? That every time I come to you, it's for that?" Veyron looked deeply offended.
"Yes!"
Eirin said it instantly like no need to even think of it.
— — —
—Some time passed—
After putting away a bottle of freshly white tonic—only good for three days—into storage, Eirin dressed herself, while Veyron, now back to a serious tone, said:
"I heard from Kaguya… that before the Lunar Capital was founded, you spent quite a bit of time traveling the lands during the Age of the Gods?"
Eirin nodded. "That's right. My foundation in pharmacology comes from that era. The Bloodwing Blade Kaguya gave you—yeah, I picked that up back then too."
"Yeah, I know… and also those books you gave me recently to help with visualization training," Veyron added.
He raised his hand. In his palm, a spinning Yin-Yang Tomoe ring slowly took form.
(A/N: The visualization in ch 25)
"So, Eirin… do you have any in-depth knowledge about Ki?"
"You mean this?"
Eirin lifted her hand too—palm up. Though nothing appeared to the naked eye, Veyron could clearly sense the presence of a concentrated swirl of Ki resting in her palm.
"Yep, that's the stuff!" he nodded enthusiastically.
"…Why the sudden interest?" she asked, dispelling the Ki. "I mean, your current powers are already pretty well-balanced, but if we're being honest—aren't you a bit overloaded?"
"You mean it's all getting kind of messy, right?"
Veyron didn't beat around the bush.
Let's take a quick look at his Trait System and break down his current setup.
---
{Trait System Overview}
→Talent Traits
•[Comprehension (Red)]
•[Gene Lock (Gold)]
•[Destined Death (Gold)]
•[Friend of the World (Gold)]
•[Photosynthesis (Orange)]
•[Swordmaster (Blue)]
(Talent Traits Ranking: white < green < blue < purple < orange < gold < red.)
→Skill Traits
•[Basic Swordsmanship]
•[Armament Haki]
•[Observation Haki]
•[Conqueror's Haki]
•[Spiritual Power]
•[Energy Release]
•[Martial Arts]
•[Telekinesis]
---
While some of these—like the Gene Lock or Destined Death—serve as universal cores or conceptual powers, and others are flexible techniques, there's no denying the redundancy in some systems.
For example, he's already tapped into three different core energy systems:
Haki (willpower/conviction-based)
Spiritual Energy (standard energy loop)
Telekinesis (manifestation of mental force)
Individually, they didn't conflict. In fact, his current full-power strike relied on layering them:
Using Spiritual Energy as the foundation, overlaying Haki on top, then enhancing the move further with bonus effects from other traits like Basic Swordsmanship or Energy Release.
He'd top it all off by boosting the final move with Telekinesis.
(Adding Destined Death into the mix… well, that was still a whole separate discussion.)
Even Veyron himself had to admit—it was a lot.
If not for the sheer strength of the Trait System, plus his fine-tuned control through the fourth-stage Gene Lock, he'd have already drowned in the chaos.
It'd be like trying to stack layers of power only to end up with a jumbled mess. But instead, he made it work like 1 + 1 = 13… not just three.
Still, figuring out how to streamline and optimize all these overlapping systems had always been a goal of his.
In the past, all he could do was think about it. The third-stage Gene Lock had unlocked parts of his brain, closing the gap between an average person like him and a genius like Eirin—but just thinking smart wasn't enough to solve the problem.
But now, things were different.
Now that he'd hit stage four of the Gene Lock—even just the early phase—he had the ability to simulate energy loops through micro-level energy control and gene adjustment.
Over the past month, while hunting Yukari, he'd started experimenting with a new technique while riding on Inukimi's back—one that used his spiritual nature to resonate with the world's energy, guided by his Observation Haki.
That was his first baby step toward solving his "too many systems" problem.
He wasn't just playing around with Ki sensing either.
He'd already merged Armament Haki and Observation Haki—not just switching between them, but fully fusing the two, since they were both based on willpower and belief. (Unlike basic users who just stack them one after another.)
He'd even pushed further—melding Armament with Conqueror's Haki, then injecting a trace of Spiritual Energy into the mix.
Through all these trials, Veyron had come to a realization:
Spiritual Energy, while solid and self-contained, just wasn't quite enough for everything he had in mind—especially if he wanted to integrate it seamlessly with Haki, and eventually, whatever other forces he'd pick up down the line.
So now… he was looking at something much bigger.
A grand, overarching concept that could unify everything under one banner—
A truly universal Energy.
.
.
.