Ding!

You have amassed enough Inferior Spirit Slag for exchange. Would you like to exchange it for System Points?

“Fucking finally,” Arthur could not help but say as the pile of dust near the white cube doubled in quantity. Technically, he had already completed the quest at this point, but he still had to exchange the Inferior Spirit Slag he converted into System Points to actually receive the rewards.

With that in mind, he asked Sisa, “So… how do I exchange this?”

“Well, just like any other tip I’ve given you before, you just have to say a specific word, and the system will handle the rest. In this case, say ‘Exchange.’”

“Exchange,” he said the moment Sisa was finished speaking, instantly receiving a response from the white cube in the center. Unlike when he activated [Qi Conversion], wherein it would rotate at incredibly high speeds and absorb a portion of the qi in his body, it instead glowed brightly, even making Arthur, who didn’t have eyes, look away from it.

Glowing a very bright white, the pile of fine gray dust near the cube started to glow white as well not long after, eventually glowing as bright as the cube itself. Then, about half a minute later…

Whoosh!

It disappeared from Arthur’s mind as a white bullet of some sort was shot out by the cube. Watching as the white bullet headed upwards, he could not help but wonder where it would end up, though he soon placed the thought at the back of his head. After all, he had just finished his quest. That took precedence.

Ding!

You have exchanged 100 grams of Inferior Spirit Slag for 1 System Point.

You have completed the quest [System Quest: Adjusting to a New Life].

You have received 5 System Points.

“And with that, I can finally upgrade my stats,” Arthur said to himself, his tone that of relief and satisfaction. Pondering over what he had to say in order to upgrade his stats, he thought about asking Sisa. However, with how the system was simple to operate and how it was familiar to him, he decided to follow his hunch.

“Upgrade.”

Ding!

Upgrade Module [System Points] 6 --------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Stats: Cost: [Qi Capacity] - 10/10 (+1) 1 System Point [Qi Purity] - Tier 0, Grade 0 (+1) 1 System Point [Qi Recovery Rate] - 1/hr. (+1) 10 System Points --------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Skills: Cost: [Qi Conversion Lv. 1] (+1) 1 System Point

Looking at the things he could upgrade at the moment, it was a given that he instantly went ahead and chose to upgrade Qi Purity to the next level. After all, with what Sisa told him, it would increase the speed at which he amassed System Points.

Would you like to upgrade [Qi Purity]? This will cost 1 System Point.

“Yes.”

Ding!

Whoosh!

At the very instant he had accepted the prompt, a faint gust of wind started to blow in Arthur’s mind, implementing a few changes to it in the process.

The first change in his mind was the fact that the white cube in the center was not white anymore. Instead, it took a very faint shade of light blue, a color that corresponded to qi for him. As for the next change, it was how he perceived his mind. Before, he interpreted the inside of his mind as a massive room that spanned endlessly. However, with this simple upgrade, his mind seemed to have gained substance, bringing a bit more color to it as the ground felt slightly more solid than before.

Of course, the most important change was the fact that he could perceive more and process more than before. With the purity of his qi only increasing by one level, the increase in his mental acuity wasn’t anything drastic. However, it would be an understatement to say that it did not change anything at all.

After a few more minutes, the process was finally over as the system notified him of the changes. In fact, there was one line of text that he did not expect to obtain.

Ding!

[Qi Purity] has been upgraded to Tier 0, Grade 1.

[Qi Conversion] now yields 20 grams of Inferior Spirit Slag.

With [Qi Purity] meeting the minimum requirements, you have unlocked the active skill [Spirit Sense].

“This…” Although he had no idea what [Spirit Sense] actually did for him, with the knowledge he had from his past life, it was no surprise that Arthur instantly became excited as he asked Sisa, “Is this what you meant earlier when you said it’s more exciting if I find it out for myself?”

“Hahaha! Yep!” Sisa laughed as she replied, easily noticing the joy evident in Arthur’s voice. “Go on, identify the skill and see what it does!”

Mentally nodding in agreement to Sisa’s words, Arthur went ahead and identified the skill through the system, quickly showing a few blocks of text that told him how the skill operated.

Ding!

[Spirit Sense Lv. 1]

As a spirit vein does not have the five basic senses a human would normally have, they would have to find another way to sense the world. Being attuned to the world’s qi, they have decided to use the qi as their sense, allowing them to look at the world from a perspective never seen before.

The skill consumes 1 point of qi to form a basic sensory field that spans 100 meters. This field lasts for 10 minutes.

To increase the range and duration of the skill, one could opt to upgrade the skill, or one could opt to upgrade the user’s Qi Purity.

Field Range: 100 meters

Duration: 10 minutes

Upgrade Cost: 5 System Points

‘So it works similarly to the qi sense cultivators have in those cultivation novels,’ Arthur thought to himself, his excitement palpable as he wanted to use it right away. However, as he scanned through the skill’s description for a bit more, he could not help but fall into a short silence as he pondered over it.

‘According to the skill, 1 point of qi is equivalent to 10 minutes. With each hour being equivalent to 6 points of qi, I could only use this skill continuously for 2 hours… well, an hour and 50 minutes. After that, I would have to wait 10 hours for me to be able to use it for another 2 hours,’ he muttered inwardly. ‘Since I have 5 System Points, I could opt to upgrade the skill, but I don’t know how much time I’d get in exchange.’

“Hey, Sisa. If I upgrade [Spirit Sense] to Level 2, how long would the field last?” In the end, he decided to ask Sisa, slightly curious if she was allowed to tell him of the upgrades beforehand. However, just like what he expected to happen, Sisa replied, “Unfortunately, I cannot tell you.”

“As expected,” Arthur murmured. ‘Then again, I could also upgrade Qi Purity to increase the duration of the skill… but just like the situation with the skill itself, I don’t know how much of an increase it would give me.’

Looking at the small list of upgrades that was still open, he noticed that he would need to spend 2 System Points to upgrade Qi Purity to the next level. Guessing that the next level after that would cost 3 points, Arthur could not help but ponder as to whether he should upgrade Qi Purity by two levels or upgrade [Spirit Sense] by one.

‘Well, one has more utility than the other, so I’ll just choose that.’ With those words in mind, Arthur went ahead and upgraded… Qi Purity.

Ding!

[Qi Purity] has been upgraded to Tier 0, Grade 2.

[Qi Conversion] now yields 30 grams of Inferior Spirit Slag.

[Spirit Sense] can now create a basic sensory field spanning 150 meters, lasting 15 minutes before disappearing.

“An increase of 50 meters and 5 minutes, huh.” Mulling over the decision he had just made, Arthur decided to invest his remaining System Points into Qi Purity once more, seeing that it cost 3 System Points, just as he predicted. However, if the upgrade cost 4 System Points, which meant that each upgrade doubled in price, he would instead allocate the remaining System Points towards increasing his Qi Capacity. Either way, the final duration wherein [Spirit Sense] would be active would still be greater than the original 2 hours.

Ding!

[Qi Purity] has been upgraded to Tier 0, Grade 3.

[Qi Conversion] now yields 40 grams of Inferior Spirit Slag.

[Spirit Sense] can now create a basic sensory field spanning 200 meters, lasting 20 minutes before disappearing.

‘With each hour now being equivalent to 3 points of qi, I can have [Spirit Sense] active for close to 5 hours. That’s quite the substantial increase,’ he thought. ‘However, I still have to convert qi into Inferior Spirit Slag, so I can only use the skill for about 2 hours at most, possibly 3.’

‘I should really invest in upgrading Qi Capacity or Qi Recovery Rate next,’ he muttered inwardly. In any case, he was quite satisfied with the fruits of his first upgrade session. The fact that he had regained the ability to see the world was totally unexpected, even for him. Nevertheless, he welcomed it with open arms.

“[Spirit Sense],” he said not long after, shocking Sisa as she quickly told him, “Arthur, better prepare for-“

Whoosh!

In an instant, a myriad of sights and sounds bombarded him, instantly putting a massive strain on his mind, which had already undergone three bouts of improvement thanks to Qi Purity. Fortunately, those enhancements to his mental acuity barely allowed him to adjust to the sensations he had regained, muttering, “So I guess this is what it’s like for people that can’t filter information in their minds. Goddamn, it hurts.”

Thankfully, after a few more minutes, he was more or less used to the senses brought about by [Spirit Sense], with his mind finally filtering out a great portion of the information it received. Looking around with his newfound sense, he noticed that he could look underground, seeing the dirt that surrounded him, as well as his body.

‘Man, I’m smaller than a molecule of dirt,’ Arthur could not help but think as he looked at his body from a third-person perspective. However, his attention was soon attracted by a small pile of fine gray dust on the surface above where his body was.

“Wait a goddamn minute…”