Fang Yun had only taken a few steps when he saw a young woman walk in from outside the Dan Cloud Pavilion.
She was wearing the uniform of an Outer Sect disciple.
Averting his gaze, Fang Yun kept walking.
The Celestial Cloud Sect had thousands of disciples; naturally, he didn't know most of them.
"Senior Sister Song, Senior Sister Wang."
"Isn't this Junior Sister Wei? It's been a while since I've seen you."
"Oh, as you know, Senior Sister Wang, my little one has already had his Spirit Root tested. Unfortunately, it's a Four Spirit Roots, so I've been spending all my free time teaching him. Oh, and Senior Sister Wang, I'm here to buy six bottles of Lower Grade Qi Nourishing Pills..."
The voices inside faded as Fang Yun exited the Dan Cloud Pavilion.
'Six bottles of Lower Grade Qi Nourishing Pills, thirty pills in total.'
'The sect makes a profit of three Lower Grade Spirit Stones just by reselling them.'
Fang Yun mused on this. He was certainly envious, but to him, time was the most valuable resource.
Injecting Spiritual Power into his Light Spirit Shoes, Fang Yun rushed to the three-acre Spirit Field he tended at top speed.
By now, Tian Ruifeng was no longer surprised by the long intervals between Fang Yun's visits to tend the Purple Corn.
Last month, Fang Yun had tended to them once a day, but now it was closer to once every day and a half, and sometimes even longer.
After meticulously tending to the Purple Corn, Fang Yun returned to his quarters to eat his fill before enjoying a deep sleep.
He didn't rest for long this time.
Upon waking, Fang Yun immediately took out an Upper Grade Qi Nourishing Pill. It was time for what he'd been anticipating.
'Time to use an Upper Grade Qi Nourishing Pill to boost my cultivation!'
After swallowing the Upper Grade Qi Nourishing Pill, he immediately felt its pure medicinal potency.
He activated his cultivation technique and began rapidly refining and absorbing the energy.
'Perfect. This is exactly what I wanted.'
In less than four hours, Fang Yun had completely refined and absorbed the pure medicinal potency of a single Upper Grade Qi Nourishing Pill.
'Now that's efficiency!'
In terms of sheer medicinal potency, one Middle Grade Qi Nourishing Pill couldn't compare to two Lower Grade ones. By the same logic, one Upper Grade Qi Nourishing Pill was weaker than two Middle Grade ones.
The medicinal potency of one Upper Grade Qi Nourishing Pill was close to that of three Lower Grade Qi Nourishing Pills.
The gap in potency didn't match the gap in price. It was less than three times the potency for four times the price.
The premium price was mainly justified by the time saved, with the secondary reason being resistance.
One could take large quantities of Upper Grade pills over a long period without developing significant resistance, but the same wasn't true for Lower Grade pills. You could consume many Lower Grade pills in a short burst, but doing so over a long time would lead to strong resistance.
When that happened, one would need to undergo a long period of normal cultivation to lower the resistance. Only when it had subsided enough could one resume taking the pills.
In the end, it all came down to time.
'If I keep cultivating like this, I'll reach the peak of the third level of Qi Refining in no time.'
Watching his cultivation grow, Fang Yun's hope for the future felt more tangible.
「Five days later.」
Fang Yun had just finished refining and absorbing another Upper Grade Qi Nourishing Pill.
He stopped cultivating and opened his eyes, waiting. December would be over soon.
The monthly settlement was about to begin.
'It's here.'
---
Refining Lower Grade Qi Nourishing Pills x98, Talent Points +98.
Refining Middle Grade Qi Nourishing Pills x84, Talent Points +126.
Refining Upper Grade Qi Nourishing Pills x9, Talent Points +18.
Perfect Watering x19, Talent Points +57.
Perfect Pest Removal x15, Talent Points +45.
Perfect Weeding x3, Talent Points +9.
Standard Weeding x17, Talent Points +17.
Affiliated Faction: [Celestial Cloud Sect]
Sect Level: 3
Sect Position: Outer Sect Disciple +20%
Sect Influence: 1%
Regional Influence: [Locked]
Talent Points Bonus: 63%
Total: Talent Points +604.
---
With enough Spirit Stones to buy Spirit Medicine, acquiring Talent Points through Alchemy was much faster than through planting.
The rate of gaining Talent Points was completely unbalanced across the various life professions. The game designers never bothered to fix it. Instead, they just gave players a choice of three Life Talents, letting them figure out how to balance things themselves, and even "cleverly" added a lottery wheel.
They spun it as "Randomness makes it more fun."
'Fun, my ass.'
The thought of not being able to freely upgrade talents with his points, instead having to rely on a lottery wheel for talent fragments, made Fang Yun curse the game designers from across worlds.
When he used to write game guides, it hadn't bothered him much. Only now, experiencing it firsthand, did he truly understand the agony.
Randomness meant uncertainty, so he had to plan his path much more carefully. If not for that, his development could have been far more flexible.
The bonus this time was 63%, so there wouldn't be any decimals in the final calculation.
The calculation didn't use standard rounding; instead, it always rounded up, regardless of the decimal value.
Because of this, some people had even tried to defend the designers, claiming they must have a conscience to use such a generous rounding method.
'If that counted as having a conscience, you'd need a microscope to find the designers'.'
One talent point a month was only twelve a year. It would take over eight years just to save up one hundred points. Compared to the massive amounts of Talent Points needed later, this tiny bonus hardly made a difference.
Fang Yun looked at this month's settlement results.
Just as he'd expected, all his pest removal and watering actions had been perfect. However, because the intervals between tending the Purple Corn had grown longer, he had achieved perfect weeding less often.
With his current two-star Planting Talent, he could perfectly cultivate even Tier One Spirit Medicine, as long as he dedicated enough time to it.
This settlement gave him 604 Talent Points. Added to his previous 83 points, that made for a total of 687.
Without a moment's hesitation, Fang Yun chose to draw for Life Talents.
He did six pulls in a row.
Alchemy Talent Fragment x2
Artifact Refining Talent Fragment x2
Planting Talent Fragment x2
Two fragments for each talent—a perfectly balanced result.
After obtaining two Artifact Refining Talent Fragments, his Artifact Refining Talent also reached two stars.
Alchemy Talent ★★ (3/24)
Planting Talent ★★ (2/24)
Artifact Refining Talent ★★ (1/24)
Raising all his Combat Talents to one star would require at least 6,000 Talent Points. Upgrading all his Life Talents from two stars to three would require at least 7,200.
For Fang Yun right now, Life Talents were more important.
Since the difference in required Talent Points wasn't that large, Fang Yun's plan prioritized upgrading all his Life Talents to three stars.
Three-star Life Talents would be just enough to get by even during the Foundation Establishment Stage.
...
「Mid-January.」
Recently, Fang Yun's life had fallen into a very regular pattern.
He would wake up, head to his three-acre Spirit Field to care for the Purple Corn, then go to Dan Cloud Peak to rent an Alchemy Room for his pill refining. Afterwards, he would return to his residence, take an Upper Grade Qi Nourishing Pill to cultivate, and sleep once he had absorbed all its potency.
The entire cycle took a little over a day and a half. This meant sleeping twice every three days, which was a bit indulgent for a Qi Refining Cultivator, but manageable.
Recently, Fang Yun's refining of Qi Nourishing Pills had hit a bottleneck.
His best result so far from a single batch was one Upper Grade, three Middle Grade, and one Lower Grade pill.
The quality of the ingredients was holding him back, and he had been stuck at this level for a while. To produce two Upper Grade pills in one go, he'd need even more experience—something that could only be accumulated over time.
As for producing three Upper Grade pills from a single batch? With the quality of the materials he had, it was simply impossible.
With his two-star Alchemy Talent, Fang Yun knew this for a fact.