After the strange event with strange woman who had some strange wish to bed him… Yes, he knows she just wanted to get his money because she thought he was rich judging from his clothes… Anyway, he decided to continue his… apparently senjutsu, as they call it here… Though for him it's just taking environmental energy, but anyway.

He pulled the energy inside himself, and as expected, it tried to make him part of nature. But now he was ready! And so he immediately started mixing the newcoming chakra with his own… Yes, just like did back then with Shadow Mana and Fire Mana; as he always said, once you get enough knowledge and dig deep enough, you will realize that everything is interconnected, and your skills in one field can help in another field should you find the right application… He said it mainly so Eta would stop bothering him, though, but that's besides the point.

Anyway, moving on. As expected, taking nature's chakra went a bit differently than how it was with mana. Taking environmental mana was safe as long as you didn't jump over a certain limit your body could handle… Though even then with precise control you could wield more mana than body could handle, and after some point it will adapt to new amount. Nature's chakra was completely different: it was way more invasive and tried to refine user into part of nature, and if they weren't careful with drawing it… Well, rest in peace, then.

However, Cid now was not Cid from months ago, and he pushed the nature's energy to mix together with his physical and spiritual one. A bit here, a bit there… Alright, first small chunk is ready, but… It's kinda small, if he's being honest. Can't he, like, speed up the process?… Hang on a second, why is he being stupid?

Poof!

Clones! You see, clones not only gave the experience they received back to user… But also chakra! And if he was correct, they could also grant the refined nature's chakra… Hmm, was it called senchakra when refined? Or senjutsu chakra? Eh, anyway, it should give chakra!

And he wants it!

In a deep, deep secured placed with pristine white walls, one brown-haired woman with sharp and intelligent purple eyes sat on the chair… with legs on the chair itself.

And despite the intelligence she possessed, she was growing frustrated.

"Mou… Master… Couldn't you leave… more hints…"

Her lethargic speech was a lot like of wronged child as she pouted, starting at the research results with irritated look.

"M-Miss Eta, please relax…" her cute pink-haired shy assistant tried to calm her down.

"How can I… There's… Shadow Wisdom!…" her eyes shone fanatically.

This is Eta. Head of Research Department and the one responsible for 90% of organization inventions… and also one of the only two members of Research Department, with second one being her assistant, Sherry Barnett… Technically some Shadow Garden members are quite proficient in magic technology, too, but Eta doesn't even consider them Research Department members, despite all papers saying otherwise. Such is a way of genius, a bit cold-hearted science prodigy.

Though her nature didn't stop her from developing feelings for her Master and savior… As twisted as they were, anyway.

"Miss Eta, I understand your frustration, but you have to rest…"

"No!… Shadow!… Wisdom!…" and she also completely lost herself in trying to decipher all the hints left by him before he used Black Rose.

Her logical brain immediately calculated all the connections between items he gifted seemingly at random. Indeed, each and every item just like how the knowledge between two, at first glance, completely different fields suddenly could be applied together to tremendously increase efficiency.

It was true that magic book gifted to Epsilon could help in deciphering how Black Rose works, but the Invitation Card that allowed to travel to another realm safely provided a clear example of how it should work, without need to risk their subordinates. Especially considering how hard, knowledge-heavy some of his works became further and further in the book…

Pylon System? Ah, yes, principle of parallel magic combined with quantum physics (books provided by Master were very beneficial) that allows brief access to pocket dimension, held together with Runes and Will Inscription (which she still quite couldn't grasp)… And also held an untold amount of strange energy that Master was clearly familiar with, yet the whole principle of it evaded Eta just as much as annoying mosquito evades the slap…

Alpha's weapon? Well, rune system was created by Master himself, and quite honestly was way simpler to use than Ancient one… But it was not limited to rune system. Once again, Will Inscription. And some kind of binding system which only allowed the chosen wielder to use it… Which was Alpha. How many times Eta begged to lend it for study… Only to wail in frustration when she realized whatever she did before that was just a worse copy of the Masterpiece that was Master's gift. Usage of many elements, nigh-perfect magic conductivity, listening to user's commands… at this point Eta had a feeling that weapon was actually sentient.

Invitation Card? That one was actually one of the easiest things to decipher: it was quite similar in how portal to Sanctuary worked, albeit a bit different… Instead of access to pocket dimension, Invitation Card connected two realms via analogue of quantum tunneling and then allowed anyone from either side to pass through. Once it was done, portal was immediately closed, and without another usage it would be not possible to go back.

Her own, as he called it, 'crafting set'? Ah, yes, clearly the possibility of just placing blank sheet of paper on the table and getting a full enchantment on it is possible… Yes, it was possible. Eta tested it multiple times. The only deciding factor was the quality of paper itself. All enchantments were roughly the same in quality. Oh, how about this strange forge that allowed you to work with material directly within it, combining both forge, anvil, and precise tools? Her own attempt to create a copy by herself ended up in lots of explosions… But when she tried to use this forge to create another forge, she actually ended up with getting a good copy. Not full replica, but still functional, albeit with way less functions. Moreover, once she fed enough knowledge to it, it slowly gained new functions.

In comparison, Espionage Set and Silent Collar were quite easy: just a set of rune enchantment on each… Though the quality and quantity of runes still left her baffled.

Endless camera was… Well, quite strange, but nothing unusual; the only interesting part is its ability to re-create the material for photo and its quality.

Magic book was that, magic book. Read it if you want to understand all previous ones.

In short, Eta was there for a long time… Not like she minded it.

The only thing she missed was being able to cuddle with Master…

Cid sat down across the hill with expression of an elder sage that has seen what this world had to offer and now was ready to impart the knowledge to young generation… Ptui!

Cid coughed in embarrassment. Yeah, he tried to sound like a cool grandpa, but he didn't quite have a lot of knowledge about being one. Anyway, nature's chakra. Or senchakra.

Just as he expected, Shadow Clones were a universal cheat for everything related to chakra and knowledge. They actually could take and refine nature's energy to some point. And if something went wrong? No problem, they just dissipate and release the wrong energy into environment, allowing him to continue without problems and with new knowledge of limits.

First hour passed, second, and then Cid gradually gained an understanding on how much of his chakra he needed to mix with nature's one in order to produce a proper mix. Viola! Sage mode, how it was called!

Though all the books and scrolls mentioned that Sages usually make contract with animals, and these animals help with getting Sage mode, which in turn leaves a certain mark on the contractors… But he had no animals other than Hams, Todd, and Diva, so it did not affect him.

And, to be honest… Sage Mode was freaking cool!

Like, you know all these little things he does to make his stage better? Small, unnoticeable wind movements that move his cape in a certain way, magic lines and aura that emphasizes his might, manipulating air in his mouth to alter the sounds? All this small stuff? So, Sage Mode did all of that without his input. It was as if nature itself listened to his commands and complied! Ah, yiss! This is life!

All the other stuff like increased physical prowess, faster reflexes, and other was successfully skipped. Yeah, he is already aware that it was supposed to give boosts to his power, but the stuff that makes him look cooler! Give two!…

Cid stared blankly in water's reflection at how his suit started moving in even cooler way as his eyes glowed menacing red, while his whole body was encompassed in purple aura.

So, apparently, it did, in fact, double, well, everything. And yes, he means the aura, the amount of circuit lines on his body, how fast his cape flutters… Lesson learned: it does everything he wants literally.

However… It was cool! Really cool! Just this one was already worth this whole 200+ days trip!

Even more! Attunement with senchakra apparently allowed him to sense the environment without needing to rely on magic sense… Well, 'sense' as he could feel how nature's energy moved around. Really interesting stuff. It also combined greatly with magic vision, increasing the range… by a lot.

And that led him to discovering something… unusual.

First were these strange lumps of energy that he felt from distance. Upon further inspection he realized they were a bit similar to Naruto's one in stomach, but still different… As funny as it sounds, with different flavor? Taste? Smell? You get the point. It was different, but similar. He didn't want to bother with them yet, so he focused on second type of energy.

And second one was… dark. Really dark. Like, Demon Diablos' limbs dark. But darker. Dark. And in two parts. Similar to Diablos. Dark.

Slowly, he got fired up. Apparently, this world also had some kind of sealed evil in a can… well, maybe not a can, but sealed and evil. Very sealed and very evil. Does he repeat himself too much? Yes. But that's because that's all he can pick up at the moment.

Led by curiosity, he allowed himself to jump… and once again he launched himself into the skies. Apparently, he underestimated how heavily senjutsu boosts his capabilities. Oops.

After some time of readjusting his power he finally got to the point where he could use senjutsu together with magic to make his flying comfortable without setbacks. Interesting observation: senjutsu and magic go along way better than any other way of using chakra. Is it because senchakra, having nature's properties, doesn't mess with magic too much compared to normal chakra? Probably… Needs testing.

Anyway, he arrived. Arrived at some kind of temple.

With a lot of stone figures that depict, uh, some kind of soldiers? In short, there was a lot of dark energy. Dark chakra, he means. Yeah, apparently this guy really was some kind of a demon or something, because it had similarities with Demon Diablos, albeit… Different. Well, yeah, Diablos he knew was actually just a human that got injected with actual demon's cells and became, well, Diablos. This guy over here was a real deal… Though he still felt weaker than her when she was at her peak if he recalls correctly…

Hmm, this thing is pretty interesting… A sealed evil awaiting its awakening… Hmm… You know what? Now that's a stage he was looking for!

Muh-ha-ha! Time to play-! Aha, stupid fly! Sage Mode squatted you!

Right, time to make a grand stage! And you know what? Sage Mode is now honorable Eight Stance!