Fang Hao had won a total of 150 contribution points and obtained around 1000xp for four consecutive wins. 'Nice xp grinding. Each win is roughly 250 xp. I think 4 wins is not too little and not too much, a good amount to farm xp without gathering too much attention. This rate combined with my weekly chores gives me around 1200 xp n average.' thought Fang Hao as he reached his cottage.

'With this source of xp, my leveling speed has increased several folds. It would have taken me months to reach the 3rd layer of Qi Condensation, but I will reach in under a month now, if the xp rate is maintained. Now my only glaring weakness is long range offense, and perhaps crowd control. Speed is a bit low too as I lack any proper movement technique. And I am severely lacking in life-saving trump cards also. In the safety zone of the sect, I don't need to worry about life-saving trump cards as long as I avoid the lethal arena. Speed with Aura infusion is still manageable for the time being. As for crowd control, Qi Condensation stage lacks truly good and versatile spells for CC, so that leaves long range offense.'

'I have a few options. The easiest would be to master Aura Fist after I reach the 3rd layer, which isn't that far anyway. If I continue winning matches at this rate and earn 150 contribution points per week, I can earn 10,000 contribution points per year including my other two chores. That is more than triple my previous rates.'

'I can either save up to buy a few magic tools, or buy low leveled skills to quickly farm skill points. And use those skill points to upgrade a few focused spells giving me more options. I should also stock on some one use talismans for no Qi insta-casts. Come to think of it, if I could cast the flame snake spell without any gestures I could probably burn away all those entangling vines and the outcome of that match might have been different.'

Fang Hao had many different options now that his xp and contribution point farming rate had increased drastically. Although magic tools were attractive, providing an quick boost in battle power, they wouldn't be too useful at the foundation establishment stage or later. Whereas buying skills and grinding skill points could allow him to upgrade his spells, potentially evolving them. He wasn't sure whether he could evolve all the spells he had learned, nor how powerful an evolved spell could be. Still, he decided to use the fire snake spell as the spell description had hinted that it could evolve. He also focused on hoarding a few distraction and speed boosting talismans. Ultimately, if he was ever in danger, he would first focus on getting out alive. And a few barrier talismans wouldn't hurt either. It wouldn't hurt to keep a magic tool or two for the same effect.

He decided that if he did buy these talismans and tools, he wouldn't use them in the non-lethal arena ever and would be his hidden trump cards. His armadillo leather glove's membrane barrier was more or less revealed, but that was more of a necessity for quick xp farming. Rest of the defensive/evasion magic tools/talismans he bought would be kept a secret unless absolutely necessary. A few powerful explosive beads, that functioned pretty much like a grenade, could also be stockpiled for emergencies.

'I also do not lack pills for regenerating Qi, as the Great Elder Shi routinely gives me Qi Condensation pills. But other consumable pills with the effect of detoxification and healing would be good to have. I have confidence that the healing / detoxification pills available to me at this stage would be less effective than the constant passive effect of Primordial Marrow trait, but those healing pills would help keep up appearances!'

'Some assholes might be after my life chasing me for some treasure or whatever and aim to tire me to death. If I cannot dispose of them, I could just use the talismans to stall for time while periodically popping pills while letting my Primordial Marrow trait do its thing to keep me at peak condition. This may be unfounded paranoia, but it is best to be prepared for a ruthless and indifferent world. The scene of that Qi condensation cultivator killing that mortal guard with one flame snake the day I joined the sect is still fresh in my mind. Sure I can't do shit if a core formation cultivator is determined to fuck me up now, but I should be able to at least flee from a group of mid Qi Condensation stage cultivators with my little life, if not defeat them.'

Ultimately, after quite a bit of deliberation, Fang Hao decided to prioritize stocking up on a variety of talismans, pills and consumables for difficult situations and a good magic tool or two for emergencies. He would also start learning a couple of useful spells to the expert tier. Instead of learning too many trashy spells just at basic level for 1 Skill Point and never using them, he decided to start learning a few useful spells up to the Expert Proficiency and using the skill points earned to upgrade his desired spells to master and above.

Increasing above Master Proficiency in spells the hard way seemed too difficult. It was much easier to just learn a few spells up to Expert Proficiency in the mean time and use the skill points to upgrade the Master spell. Learning a spell up to the Expert Proficiency granted him 6 skill points while upgrading from Master Proficiency to the Next Proficiency had a Skill Point cost of 8. Although learning spells only up to the Basic proficiency seemed good on paper time-efficiency wise, he did not have an quick cheat for infinite contribution points or spirit stones!

Fang Hao had firmly decided upon the Skill Point farming methodology. He would then invest those skill points in an attempt to evolve the fire snake spell and perhaps also upgrade the Aura Infusion spell. Right now, his Aura Infusion spell was a core of his battle tactics, and instead of practicing endlessly in order to upgrade its proficiency, he would rather spend the time on farming skill points and use the said farmed skill points to upgrade it.