Looking at Ji Yan's pouch in his hand, he recalled Aiva's words.
"…Loot acquired?"
His lips twitched. He had no idea where she picked up something like that, but it sounded way too much like a video game notification.
"Don't tell me… she actually learned that from my memories?" he muttered, half-suspicious.
If Aiva kept absorbing random junk from his head, she'd start picking up all the bad habits too. That thought made him uneasy—after all, she was his biggest cheat in this world.
As for why he kept referring to Aiva as her—since AI technically had no gender—do you even need to ask? It was his preference, plain and simple.
Any man would rather have a calm, pleasant female voice echoing in his head than some gruff male one. And Aiva's tone already leaned softer, almost feminine. So in his mind, she wasn't an it. She was a she.
He then opened the pouch to see if Ji Yan had been carrying anything worthwhile—and sure enough, thirty low-grade spirit stones gleamed back at him.
It wasn't a huge fortune, but for someone like him—poor and still a newcomer to the outer sect—it was a solid gain. Free money, courtesy of Cultivation World's favorite pastime: bullying the weak until Karma punches you straight in the dantian.
Counting the pouch's contents with his own, he now had forty low-grade spirit stones jingling at his side.
"Alright," he muttered, tying it shut. "Time to hand in the actual mission before someone else decides to 'loot' me."
He slung the bag of Spiritdew Grass over his shoulder and started toward the mission hall, already picturing the reward waiting for him.
***
He arrived at the mission hall, the place where disciples submitted their completed missions in exchange for rewards. He casually walked up to the counter and dropped the big cloth bag with a dull thud.
The clerk behind the counter raised an eyebrow at the oversized sack. His expression carried the same bored detachment he wore every day—after all, most of the time disciples brought back weeds or common grass instead of the rare herbs actually listed on their mission slips.
But the moment he opened the bag and peeked inside, his demeanor shifted. First came a flicker of confusion, then disbelief, and finally his eyes widened in open shock.
"This much Spiritdew Grass?" he muttered, reaching in to pull out a stalk.
He turned it over in his hand, running his fingers along the stem before examining the roots. The freshness was undeniable—each blade shimmered faintly with dew, as if plucked only moments ago. "And all of them… perfectly harvested. Even the roots are intact."
He looked up at Lin Chen, now with genuine surprise. "How long did you spend collecting all of this? Most outer disciples only manage to gather a handful, and even then, half of them are barely usable."
Lin Chen scratched the back of his head and gave a modest smile. "I guess I just got lucky."
Of course, he didn't mention that it was his AI companion Aiva who scanned the entire forest like a spiritual radar and picked every herb with mechanical precision.
The clerk nodded in approval and said, "Alright, for this amount and the quality, I can offer you two reward options: 500 low-grade spirit stones or 10 Qi Gathering Pills."
Lin Chen blinked, stunned for a moment.
500 spirit stones?! That was way more than he expected. He thought he'd be lucky to get 100 stones for this easy mission. And Qi Gathering Pills? That was a rare reward for such an easy mission.
He quickly weighed the options. Spirit stones were nice—they could be used for cultivation, trading, or even bribing people. But the pills... were direct and efficient.
Qi Gathering Pills were made to help low-level cultivators like him absorb essense Qi more easily, especially those with trash-tier talent.
"Hmm… I'll take the Qi Gathering Pills," he said firmly.
The clerk chuckled and handed him a small bottle. Lin Chen opened the lid and took a peek—ten round, white pills glowed slightly, each one releasing a faint medicinal fragrance mixed with spiritual energy. These were the real deals.
He took the bottle and gently tucked it into his cloth bag.
***
After receiving the reward, Lin Chen returned to his small room.
He sat down cross-legged on the bed, took a deep breath, and set the bottle of Qi Gathering Pills in front of him.
"Alright… goal's simple. Don't stop until these ten pills are gone."
He popped open the bottle and took the first pill. As soon as it entered his mouth, the medicinal energy burst out and spread through his meridians like warm water.
He quickly shut his eyes and entered a meditative state, following the flow of energy and guiding it and absorbing it.
Days had slipped by in a steady rhythm. One pill every few hours—swallow, cultivate, rest a little, then repeat.
With Aiva's assistance guiding his breathing and circulation, Lin Chen managed to absorb every drop of essence Qi from the pills, not letting a single trace go to waste.
After one week—
Lin Chen finally opened his eyes. His body trembled slightly. A faint glow was around him as residual energy dispersed.
"Hah… it's done." He looked at his hands and felt the steady, dense Qi flowing in his body. "Third stage of Root Vein… peak stage."
He got up slowly and stretched his limbs. His bones cracked with the satisfying sound of someone who hadn't moved in hours. Or days.
A small smile crept onto his face. "Not bad… but not great either." He could clearly feel it—his cultivation had reached the very peak of the Third Stage of Root Vein.
Just one step remained, a thin barrier keeping him from the Fourth Stage. With a proper push, perhaps in three or four days, he would break through completely.
He looked over at the empty jade bottle that once held ten pills. Now it was just sad and hollow, like his wallet.
"Ten pills, and I only broke through one stage…" He sighed. "Cultivation is really unfair. Some geniuses probably need only one pill to jump two stages."
"If talent was a game stat, mine would be like… zero. Or negative."
Still, he wasn't entirely discouraged. Because compared to a week ago, he had made real progress. Slow progress was still progress.
Today, Lin Chen decided to take a break from endlessly sitting cross-legged and burning through pills. After all, his body was finally holding enough Qi to make use of some actual martial arts techniques.
Besides, he knew one simple truth—no matter how much Qi a cultivator had, without solid fighting techniques, they were just a walking bag of energy waiting to be beaten. Power without skill is wasted power.
So, he made his way to the outer techniques Hall.
***
In the Outer Techniques Hall.
Outer disciples weren't allowed to take anything out. You had to read what you wanted right there—under the watchful eyes of a sleepy-looking elder and a bunch of surveillance talismans stuck all over the walls.
Even though the techniques were low level, that didn't mean the sect didn't care. If everyone started taking books and never returned them, the shelves would eventually turn empty.
Nobody wanted that to happen—after all, even a basic fist technique could be the foundation of someone's future strength.
When he entered the Combat Arts section, he found a handful of other outer disciples already inside, flipping through books seriously as if they were cramming for an exam.
Compared to the cultivation manual section, which was practically deserted, this place had at least some life. After all, you could change combat techniques whenever you wanted, unlike cultivation techniques, which are pretty hard to change.
Some were copying diagrams into their notebooks, others muttering technique names under their breath like they were casting spells.
'So diligent,' Lin Chen thought as he casually walked past them and picked up a random book near the shelf.
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