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As an Earth-Rank technique, it was significantly more complicated than the ones I had used previously. I would need to open a total of 361 acupoints throughout my body. Each of these points required complex qi filters that would both purify the qi and allow it to flow freely into my body without turbulence. For some reason, the technique included four different filter designs which were applied to different acupoints seemingly at random.

I wanted to use this as my cultivation technique in this life, but before I did so, I wanted to understand how it would influence me mentally.

“System, how much to upgrade my technique appraisal to work on everything up to Rank 3 Earth.”

Cost 49,995,000 credits.

Too much for the moment.

“Upgrade it to only Rank 2 Earth, then.”

Confirmed. Cost 495,000 credits. 125,265,655 credits remaining.

I appraised the first two volumes of the technique.

Writ of True Earth, Peak-Earth Rank 1 Cultivation Technique, Earth Qi, Effects: Makes one more loyal.

Writ of True Earth, Peak-Earth Rank 2 Cultivation Technique, Earth Qi, Effects: Makes one more loyal.

Loyalty was an interesting effect. Had Manager Cao been trying to make me more loyal to the Pavilion when she gave this to me? That didn’t make much sense. She couldn’t have been expecting me to cultivate this technique personally, right? Was she simply trying to make my subordinates more loyal to me? This was possibly the kind of technique they used for all their high-level employees. Not a slave mantra, but something that would serve a similar purpose.

I thought about this effect for a while and whether it was something that I would be willing to accept. The implications of it being similar to a slave mantra worried me on an instinctive level, but I pushed beyond that and forced myself to analyze it critically.

After thinking about it, I decided I didn’t find the effect too objectionable. If I joined a sect or took a master, I would generally expect myself to maintain loyalty to them. A technique working to reinforce that was not the worst possibility.

The fact that these feelings of loyalty may remain after death was a slightly troubling possibility, but if the sect were true to me, I would be true to it anyway. If they betrayed me, any remaining thoughts of loyalty from a technique shouldn’t have too much of an effect on me. I just needed to make sure that if I felt its influence was becoming too powerful, I ended my life immediately instead of letting it linger.

In truth, at this point, I didn’t have a better idea of what kind of mental effect would be acceptable, so I was willing to walk down a path of loyalty for at least one lifetime and see where it took me.

I familiarized myself with the technique as much as possible, but when I was convinced there was nothing left to learn until I cultivated it, I put the book away and closed my mental library. I wasn’t ready to start advancing quite yet.

Next, I looked deep into my soul where the spatial fire seed had been waiting for me.

Long ago, I had purchased knowledge about how to expand my storage space without needing to spend credits on it. The key to that was this fire seed, but my knowledge of how to use it was somewhat limited. I had a basic idea from the earlier purchase, but before I started messing around with things, I needed more.

“System, how much for complete knowledge on how to use the spatial fire seed?”

Mastery of Seed of the Profound-Rank Expanding Realms Fire. Cost 10 billion credits.

All right then…

“How much for limited mastery, knowledge of ways to use it to expand my storage space?”

Cost 10 million credits.

“Confirm.”

Confirmed. 115,265,655 credits remaining.

The knowledge that flooded into me made me glad that I hadn’t simply tried to figure out how to use the seed on my own.

There were essentially two different ways I could use it to expand my storage space. I could use it externally, keeping it in my soul and applying the expansion effect to the space in its entirety, letting it slowly grow over time. The other option was to place the seed within the storage space itself. This would allow me to create the equivalent of a storage bag within the storage space. The second option held intriguing possibilities for the future, but it wasn’t what I needed at the moment.

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In my soul, I moved the fire seed so that it was centered around the metaphysical location of the storage space within my soul. This allowed the seed to apply equal expansion in every direction. Instead of being a cube, the space would slowly turn into a sphere.

Seed in place, my storage space naturally began to grow at a slow pace. The seed drew energy from the environment, ‘burned’ it, and converted it into space. Located in my soul, the speed at which it could draw in energy to do this was extremely limited. The rate at which the space grew was nearly imperceptible.

To increase the speed, I need to send qi into my soul, feeding the fire. I wasn’t willing to advance my cultivation level yet, but I could still cultivate to draw in qi and send it directly to the fire. As a Martial Disciple 1, the amount of energy I would be able to send it was pathetic, but it was something.

I spent a day cultivating a Peak-Yellow earth qi technique and sending all the energy to the spatial seed. After a full day, it had grown by only one cubic centimeter, about a tenth of a percent of its current size. If I continued cultivating with all my energy, by the time I reached the sect, I might be able to increase its volume by a total of 10%.

This was a waste of time. I breathed in and out. I had told myself I needed to relax more and find more balance. Spending over a month on a futile task was the opposite of that.

I signaled to the driver, and the next time we approached a city, we stopped in front of a large bookstore. I didn’t have any money to purchase books with, but with a mere touch, I sent copies of countless tomes into my mental library. Once I was back in the carriage, I dedicated myself to reading histories and fantasies of the Nine Rivers Continent.

Engrossed in my reading, the trip sped by. This brief period of indolence lasted several weeks and was only broken when the carriage entered South Gate City, the main entrance to the Nine Rivers Sect. It was time to get to work.

“System,” I said the moment we passed through the city gate, “create a temporary reset point so that after my next death, I will return to this point in time.”

Confirmed. Cost 30 credits. 115,265,625 credits remaining.

While my goal was to join the Nine Rivers Sect, I had no assets and zero cultivation. I was in an untenable position, so the first thing I needed to do was gather resources. With a slowly expanding storage space, I could begin to freely carry real wealth back with me, but starting out was going to be a little tricky.

I stepped out of the carriage in front of the city’s Blue Wind Pavilion and turned to the driver.

“Can I borrow a few silver?” I asked with a sheepish expression.

He gave me a bewildered look. I had been riding in one of the most expensive carriages the Pavilion provided, yet I was begging for pocket change instead of tipping him. Thankfully, he was charitable.

“Of course, sir,” he said, handing me a ten-silver piece.

I gave him a short bow. “I will be sure to repay this debt.”

He drove away, and I entered the Pavilion.

“Hello, sir. How may I help you today?” asked an attendant in a blue and silver qipao when I walked inside.

“An alchemy room and as many sets of herbs for Rank 1 Superior Qi Gather Pills as I can buy for 10 silver.”

The attendant gave me a strange look. “Sir, a set of herbs for that pill costs 35 silver.”

“Ah, yes, sorry,” I said, blushing. This was what I got for not caring about money for so long. “What about herbs for the Improved version?”

“15 silver, sir.” She hesitated but continued. “Our alchemy workshops cost 5 silver per hour. With the other 5 silver, you can purchase five blue peonies for the Basic version. Will that be acceptable?”

“Yes, thank you,” I said, giving her a smile.

I almost felt lucky I hadn’t been thrown out of the building. What made me even more surprised was that while there had been several people within earshot of this conversation, none of them made any snide comments about me being too poor to be here. Everyone just acted… normal.

The attendant gathered the flowers for me and took me to a small workshop in the basement. It was cramped, but it was all I needed.

I sat down to begin working.

I would have liked to use one of my fire seeds to concoct pills more quickly, but I didn’t think I would be able to control the spatial seed properly, and I wasn’t willing to risk trying to swap it out with the seed of the Cold Mountain Fire. I thought about extracting a strand of spirit fire from the Cold Mountain seed, but it would be nearly impossible to use without qi.

Instead, I had to rely on controlling a common flame with my fire affinity and the few specks of natural energy in my body.

It was simple work that I could have done with my eyes closed, but my lack of energy made the process slow. At the end of the hour, I had only been able to make two pills.

I walked outside the room and found the attendant waiting for me.

“Will that be all, sir?”

I held up my two pills. “Please sell these for me. I will return inside for another two hours. You may deliver any remaining funds from the sale to me at that time.”

She quickly glanced at the pills, simply noting that they should be worth more than the two-hour fee, then nodded. “Of course, sir. I am happy to be of service.”

I turned around and got back to work.

Two hours later, I exited the room to see the attendant waiting for me.

“Hello, sir. 30 silver for the pills minus 10 silver for the room fee leaves 20 silver,” she said, handing over two coins.

I weighed them in my hand for a moment while I thought.

“How much longer are you open for the day?”

“About four more hours, sir.”

“How much does a decent hotel in the city cost for a night?”

“It depends on what you are looking for, but there are options which may suit you for as low as 10 silver a day.”

I was sure there had to be cheaper options available, but I was willing to spend a bit on somewhere nice and clean.

I handed the attendant the three pills I had just made.

“Three more, same quality as the last two. So, 45 silver, right? Give me four hours in the room and ten more peonies. That should be 30 silver. You can hold onto the excess for now, and we can settle up at the end of the day.”

“Of course, sir,” she said, carrying out my request.

Paying to use an alchemy workshop was eating into my profits, but buying a cauldron and making them in an inn room wasn’t an option without more upfront capital.

As the hours passed, my concentration and speed waned. I was only able to make eight more pills, leaving two flowers for next time. I sold five of the pills and kept three to help me advance my cultivation. Once I began breaking through, the speed at which I would be able to work would significantly increase.

My first day in South Gate City, I left the Pavilion with 90 silver in my pocket.

The entire process of earning money made me swear to myself to never go through a reset without a properly stocked storage space again.

After paying 10 silver at a nearby inn, I went to my room and quickly fell asleep. I needed to cultivate, but that could wait for tomorrow.