Heaven and Earth
Ryu seemed to forget about the world, entering an unprecedented state of focus.
Usually, he wouldn't want to rely on external items to supplement his battle strength. He felt that if he did so, the moment he lost them, he would end up in an untenable situation where his strength would plummet and his life would be in danger.
But the truth of it was that this thought process was too inflexible. What good was not relying on external items if your strength wasn't going to get to the point naturally any time soon?
If he ran into an enemy that could take these "external" items from him, or even destroy them, then without them he would be even more screwed…
Not to mention the fact that these were not normal external items.
It had taken him too long to realize this, but his alchemy, his formation mastery, his blacksmithing… all of these things were part of his strength.