Without hesitation, the couple quickly dashed towards the spot Qin pointed at, soon arriving in front of a pile of Inferior Spirit Slag that weighed around 10 kilograms at the very least. Seeing so much Spirit Slag in front of them, the two could not help but look around their surroundings, wondering if there was any other person in the plains who was planning to settle down here. In fact, they even went so far as to shout out if there were any other people. However, what they got in exchange was pure silence.

With that, they could not help but look at the pile of Spirit Slag in front of them with a great amount of confusion. After all, who or what would put Spirit Slag here out in the open for no apparent reason. Eventually, the two of them decided that it would be better for them to not think about it, but instead approach it in a way that the heavens wanted them to settle down near the pile of Spirit Slag, telling them that building a house in the plains would be their best course of reason.

Naturally, like any other person that believed in the existence of the heavens, the two truly did plan on where they were going to settle down in the plains, reminding themselves of the pile of Spirit Slag in front of them. While talking about where they were going to place their house, Qin could not help but ask her husband, “Jian, is this Spirit Slag going to last us for very long?”

“It will, Qin. Don’t worry.” Jian nodded in response. “In fact, just a kilogram of this stuff would last us for 5 years, much less to say about the great amount of Spirit Slag in front of us. Perhaps we would have already advanced to the next realm before we would have even used up all of the Spirit Slag here.”

“Seriously? That long?” Qin could not believe it.

“I swear on my life that I am not lying to you,” Jian replied, making Qin look at her husband with a loving gaze before embracing him. Naturally, Jian accepted the embrace and hugged her back, embracing each other for a bit before letting go.

After talking about their plans for a bit more, the couple looked at each other with a nod as they went ahead and did their own things. From what they had planned, they were going to build their house a hundred meters away from the pile of Spirit Slag, with the land Jian was going to till for planting being located right beside the house. Since there were only two of them, Jian planned for the field to not be that big, but made sure that the plants he would plant were diverse.

As for Qin, she headed to the nearest forest in order to cut down a few trees, aiming to build the foundations of their house within the week if possible. After all, she was the one more capable between the two of them when it came to building.

With that, the two of them focused on their job while an inanimate object below the ground watched all of this unfold.

…

“People… they noticed the pile of Inferior Spirit Slag!” Arthur could not help but shout as he used [Spirit Sense] in all its entirety.

With Qi Purity now at Tier 0, Grade 9, he focused his attention towards improving Qi Capacity, aiming to get it as high as it could go until the system stopped him. Of course, with each conversion now yielding a System Point, Arthur was certain that it would take him a lot less time to reach the limit of Qi Capacity unlike when Qi Purity was at Tier 0, Grade 3.

Of course, with the duration and range of [Spirit Sense] greatly improved thanks to the upgrades brought by Qi Purity, that meant that Arthur could now use the skill more liberally than before. After all, he now regenerated 2 points of qi an hour. In fact, if he focused all of his qi towards activating [Spirit Sense], then it would be no problem for him to have it active at all times.

Nevertheless, there was still a bit more to go until he reached that point, which was to either upgrade Qi Purity to Tier 1, Grade 0 or upgrade Qi Recovery Rate. In any case, by the time he activated [Spirit Sense] while waiting for the conversion to complete, the sight of two silhouettes appearing within the range of his vision quickly caught his attention.

Seeing how they were standing in front of the pile of Inferior Spirit Slag, Arthur was sure that the quest would be complete sooner or later. With that in mind, he could not help but look at the couple, muttering to himself, “Are all the people in this world more attractive than usual?”

As he thought about it, he could not help but come to the conclusion that there was a possibility that his idea might be the case. After all, just like any other cultivation novel he had read in the past, there was a realm wherein the body would be tempered and reformed to be better suited for cultivation. Depending on the cultivation technique they used, that realm would allow them to customize their appearances while also obtaining greater power.

While waiting for the system to recognize that the requirements for the quest have been met, Arthur listened in on their conversation, obtaining information that the couple was planning to settle down near where he was, or more specifically, the pile of Inferior Spirit Slag above him.

Making sure to activate [Qi Conversion] after the previous conversion was done, he continued to listen, wondering why the system was taking so long to figure out that he had basically completed the mission. Eventually, he was at his wits’ end, pondering why the quest still wasn’t complete even after the two of them left to do their own things.

“Am I not understanding something here?’ he could not help but ask Sisa. After all, he was sure that once they noticed the pile of Inferior Spirit Slag, they would also notice his existence as well.

In response, Sisa replied, “Yeah, kind of. What they’ve noticed right now is only the pile of Inferior Spirit Slag you’ve produced. What the quest wants you to achieve is to have people notice you, not the products you’ve produced.”

“But I have [Spirit Aura] active,” Arthur replied. “Surely they would notice the slightly higher density of qi around the pile, right?”

As he said that, he focused his attention above ground once more, seeing that the man was getting closer to the pile of Inferior Spirit Slag, aiming to grab a kilogram before hoisting it to the land he tilled. Just as the man was about to go back, the man could not help but notice that the qi was slightly dense around the Inferior Spirit Slag for some reason.

Unfortunately, just as Arthur was expecting that the man would notice his existence because of it, the man instead shrugged his shoulders and said, “I guess the Spirit Slag is just releasing a bit of excess qi, hence the slightly dense qi in this place. I should tell Qin to cultivate here after we’re done settling down.”

With that, the man left with a kilogram of Inferior Spirit Slag in tow, leaving Arthur, who was expecting the quest to be completed at this moment, to be incredibly disappointed. “And here I thought I would already complete the quest now that humans have appeared in the area I’m in.”

“Sadly, the system wants the humans to take note of your existence,” Sisa chimed in. “How about expanding the range of [Spirit Aura]? Surely they’d be able to notice you more easily through that, right?”

“I guess.” At this point, Arthur did not know what to do. “But let’s say that I do upgrade the skill’s range. What are the chances of them noticing my existence over thinking that the extra qi came from the pile of Inferior Spirit Slag?”

“Well… that is true,” Sisa said in response. “What are you planning to do, then?”

“I’ll still upgrade Qi Capacity in the meantime,” Arthur replied. “After that, I’ll also upgrade [Spirit Aura] to around Level 4 or 5. Eventually, the effects of [Spirit Aura] would overpower their hypothesis that the qi is coming from the Inferior Spirit Slag. After all, Inferior Spirit Slag could only have so much qi in them.”

“In the end, the main reason why I haven’t been noticed yet is the fact that there’s a large pile of Inferior Spirit Slag above me,” he continued, only to become silent after that.

A couple of minutes later, Arthur was still silent, prompting Sisa to ask, “Are you fine, Arthur?”

“I’ve never felt any better,” he replied, chuckling. Surprisingly, the gloomy mood he had before was now gone, being replaced with that of excitement. Naturally, Sisa was curious as to why.

Responding to her question, he told her, “I just realized that there’s an even better way for me to make them realize that I’m here.”

“And what way would that be?” Sisa asked.

With a laugh, Arthur told her of his plans, making Sisa go silent as he explained, “Since they only noticed the pile of Inferior Spirit Slag and not me, how about I make more Inferior Spirit Slag than what they can feasibly use? Eventually, they’ll notice my existence, right?”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Sisa asked once more.

“Quite simple.” Arthur chuckled. “I just need to upgrade the bread and butter of the system.”

“And that is?”

“[Qi Conversion].”