Finished dealing with the rest of the world and leaving them to focus on understanding the answers the System gave, Herman himself decided to go through a list of priorities for the Immortal World. He grabbed a pen and a notebook, fully immersed in writing and vocalizing the words on paper. It wasn't any sort of immortal spell or weird things like that, rather it was a 'to do' list for when one would ascend to the next realm, however not applicable for earthlings.

After another four to five hours of writing and reading aloud, he tore apart the paper and burned it into nothingness using Spiritual Qi.

"With that, it can be considered paying off my debt to you. I am sorry but from here on out, I cannot allow you to keep spying on me."

With a slight intention of will, an invisible string was cut and his body fell to the ground while writhing in pain. The spasms stopped after about half an hour and Herman dragged his weak body under the shower. The link between him and his 'benefactor' was cut due to them already arriving in the Immortal World, while he would be able to only after these two days pass.

Also, he had his own agenda and that couldn't be shared with anyone else for the time being.

"System, has the show been open for perusing? Can I access it?"

Affirmative!

The various functions of the System have been opened, however, certain ones remain restricted due to you still being in the mortal world.

That meant that, while he couldn't open his Inventory and equip the Level 1 items he got as a reward, he could still buy stuff that would be deposited in it. Once he ascended, he would be able to gain access to them fully. The important thing was to set the roadwork in advance.

He first checked his attribute panel and was relieved to see the increase. While it's true that the Heaven Ascending Steele and the Warring Drums were dangerous for newbies, it was indeed an opportunity if one knew how to grab it.

The Steele would further cleanse and unblock the circulation pathways while also enlarging the meridians. The result would be a much higher Perception and Absorption. The drums also played an important role in removing impurities out of the body. Even if the acupoint opening process did that, it cleared impurities found only on the skin in specific areas. The reverberations of the drums coursed through the entirety of one's body, therefore forcing a much better removal.

"And once the impurities in one's blood, marrow, bones, and muscles get removed... this happens!"

Personal Information

Attributes

Ultimate

Pill

Name: Herman Roy

Cultivation time: 0 Years

Spiritual realm: Qi Gathering I

Body realm: Mortal Flesh I

Ascension number: N/A

Attributes

Life Essence: 264

Attack: 1320

Strength: 263

Defense: 1315

Vitality: 415

Health Points: 6225

Dexterity: 264

Evasion: 792

Fortune: 27

Critical Strike: 9

Perception: 350 Points (Locked until ascension to the Immortal World)

Efficiency: 175 Primordial Qi points / 1 hour

Absorption: 51.4 points

Superior Qi Absorption: 25.7 Spiritual Qi point / 1 hour

Character (Locked until ascension to the Heavenly Realm)

Personality (Locked until ascension to the Immortal World)

While his various attributes increased big time, there was also a terrifying change. First off, he received a boost of 100 points in Life Essence, Strength, and Dexterity. The bigger boost was to his Vitality where he got a big chunk of 200 at once. The cleansing process was helpful to the body, therefore why it benefited the most. His Fortune went up the moment when he climbed on top of the Steele and reached the 1001st step, gaining a bit 24 points at once. Many tried to figure it out, but there are only theories about this stat point being something that only games can explain. It was a chance of hitting the enemy with a critical strike, while it was also the providence one's soul had, or better put, the amount of luck.

"If one is unlucky, they can wander all he/she wants in the Immortal World, yet not come across even a strand of Spiritual Grass. Fortune is an attribute that is almost impossible to increase unless one has fortuitous encounters. For example, if you were to wander in a realm and come across the tomb of an Immortal Venerable (although that's impossible), the System will award you an increase in points. It's difficult to say if that's because your luck wasn't properly calibrated before and the System is adjusting its value, or if by receiving the extra points, your luck increases in the long run..."

While the main attributes and the Fortune were an amazing haul, he was happier about the 100 points in Perception and the 10 in Absorption. He would've been running around the villa all day long while singing if that would've been all, however, there was another addition to the panel. Or better put, it wasn't an addition but a slight modification made to Efficiency and Qi Absorption.

"To suddenly go from the same amount per every five minutes to getting it only after one hour, it must be because of the unsealing process was started. If the Immortal World wanted to unseal such a big piece of territory in the Heavens, they had to use Qi to do it. That means a beyond-average decrease in the Qi's density all across the realm. It's the same on Earth. If one was to take away 90% of available oxygen humans could breathe, with the remaining 10%, people would have a hard time living."

The only difference was that in this case, the cultivation process would be slowed down quite a bit. There were, of course, ways around it. Such as buying manuals and techniques focusing on Perception and Absorption. The only problem was that there were only two ways of getting them while in the Immortal World: one was to buy them with SJ and the second was to gain them through contributions in a sect that provides them as the fifth skill.

Herman could feel a migraine forming due to the new things in play, making a mess of his original plan.

"It seems like there's no other way around it. System, bring up the Immortal Market's interface."

Treasures Hall Sutras Hall Spirit Jade Hall Reputation Hall Top Up Foundation Pill:

1 x 9 Spirit Stones Gold Core Pill:

1 x 45 Spirit Stones Soul Wandering Pill:

1 x 99 Spirit Stones Foundation Pill Formula

Cost: 350 Spirit Stones Gold Core Formula

Cost: 480 Spirit Stones Level 1 Alchemy Furnace

Cost: 998 Spirit Stones Level 1 Cauldron

Cost: 998 Spirit Stones 100 Reputation tokens

1 x 998 Spirit Stones (20 pieces available) Alchemy Room plans

Cost: 1000 Spirit Stones Equipment Room plans

Cost: 2500 Spirit Stones Level 1 Strength-enhancing Pill formula

Cost: 2585 Spirit Stones Level 1 Bone-refining Pill formula

Cost: 2585 Spirit Stones Level 1 Soul-extracting Pill formula

Cost: 2585 Spirit Stones Level 1 Anti-Immortal Pill formula

Cost: 2585 Spirit Stones Level 1 Soul-gathering Pill formula

Cost: 2585 Spirit Stones Silk Casket:

1 x 300 Spirit Stones (5 pieces available) Level 1 Treasure Map

1 x 250 Spirit Stones (5 pieces available) Level 2 Treasure Map

1 x 500 Spirit Stones (5 pieces available Level 3 Treasure Map

1 x 1000 Spirit Stones (5 pieces available

With a simple look and he felt so sick he could throw up. In his last life, he toiled like a slave to buy the trash sold on the market, only to find out later on that more than 80% of the things sold on the first level were trash that newbies shouldn't spend money on. Take the pills for example! One could easily gain those from the sect they belong to, but also through adventuring in the 20 sealed realms inside the Immortal World.

"It was much easier to just fight against fallen Immortals or wounded beast cultivators and take their belongings. Cruel, but that's how life will be from now on..."

Reputation tokens were only for rich cultivators, the pills formulas are good... well some of them at least, and he needed to buy the Level 1 Alchemy Furnance and the Level 1 Cauldron. The Silk Casket was a gift used to woo girls, so it was good but it could be earned as well from other venues and finally the treasure maps. As much as Herman wanted, with his pitiful savings of 12.500 Spirit Stones, just a look through it would make him poor.

"*Sigh* System, I want to purchase the Level 1 Alchemy Furnance, the Level 1 Cauldron, the Level 1 Strength-enhancing Pill formula, the Level 1 Bone-refining Pill formula, the Level 1 Soul-extracting Pill formula and finally the Level 1 Soul-gathering Pill formula..."

Acknowledged!

The transaction has been completed!

12336 Spirit Stones have been removed from your account!

"Urgh... it physically hurts to become a pauper once more. Now I need 836 more for the Alchemy Room plans and another 1.000 for my first entry in the Cultivation Room of the sect I'll join... which I haven't decided on yet... *Sigh* Let's see the Sutras Hall next. System, do your thing..."

Treasures Hall Sutras Hall Spirit Jade Hall Reputation Hall Top Up Pieces of Five Elements III

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Yin Pieces I

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Enigmatic Thunder V

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Pieces of Five Elements IV

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Yin Pieces II

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Yin Pieces III

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Pieces of Five Elements V

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Enigmatic Thunder VI

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Enigmatic Thunder VII

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Yin Pieces IV

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Matrix Pieces I

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Matrix Pieces II

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Yin Pieces V

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Enigmatic Thunder VIII

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones Matrix Pieces III

Cost: 499 Spirit Stones

"Who says money doesn't make one strong... With enough currency, you can get all ten pieces of the four basic skills and breeze through anyone under the Nascent Soul realm..."

Well, Herman could've easily bought the available skills, however, it wasn't a good idea to do so early on. If a Qi Gathering realm cultivator suddenly gets all the skills, yes, his attributes would increase at a rapid pace, yet in exchange for quite the loss. Even the worst of the skills available to buy were designed for Foundation realm cultivators and higher. If one was to learn them faster than their intended purpose, the number of attribute points gained would be far lower than the one gained if at a higher realm.

"It all has to do with the body's Primordial Qi saturation. Originally, if I could've reached the Foundation realm within two-three months and waited around one more, it would've been sufficient. Now that the Qi is less concentrated, it will probably be at least a year before I can learn any attribute enhancing skills."

One could argue that since Herman decided to go for speed instead of strength, he should just gather all the attributes he can and challenge the Array of Heavens. That wouldn't be smart at all, since waiting for that extra year would net him at least another 250-500 points per each main attribute.

Since there was no way to ascend within the first year and he already had quite the headstart, there was no need to rush and ruin his foundation with cheap tricks.

"And that's that! System, bring up the Top Up interface."

Negative!

The Top-Up interface is currently unavailable!

"I figured as much. With the need to wait almost one thousand years before being able to sell my proprieties for Spirit Jade, I am thankful for the 129.566SJ I have left. With that being said and given that I have no way to buy stuff from the Reputation Hall, for the time being, there's one thing left to do... System, bring up the Spirit Jade Hall interface."

Treasures Hall Sutras Hall Spirit Jade Hall Reputation Hall Top Up Spirit Into Body

Cost: 12 Spirit Jades Wood:

1000 x 3 Spirit Jades Iron:

1000 x 5 Spirit Jades Food:

1000 x 2 Spirit Jades Spirit Stones:

100 x 2 Spirit Jades Spirit Stones:

1000 x 10 Spirit Jades Prajna Heavenly Book

Cost: 1 Spirit Jade Eight Trigrams Heavenly Book

Cost: 10 Spirit Jades Four Phases Heavenly Book

Cost: 100 Spirit Jades Reshape Pill

Cost: 12 Spirit Jades Memory Pill

Cost: 12 Spirit Jades Prajna Mantra

Cost: 1 Spirit Jade Eight Trigrams Mantra

Cost: 10 Spirit Jades Quaternary Mantra

Cost: 100 Spirit Jades Marrow-cleansing Dew

1 x 2 Spirit Jades Message Stone

1 x 10 Spirit Jades Level 4 Treasure Map

1 x 8 Spirit Jades Level 5 Treasure Map

1 x 20 Spirit Jades

"Eh!? System, why aren't you bringing up the other floors of the Spirit Jade Hall!?"

Conditions have not been met!

The user needs to have already ascended to the Immortal World, as well as hold the title of Inspector for the second level. The alternative is to spend 500 SJ!

The user needs to have already ascended to the Immortal World, as well as hold the title of Censor for the second level. The alternative is to spend 1000 SJ!

The user needs to have already ascended to the Immortal World, as well as hold the title of Censor and Inspector for the third level. The alternative is to spend 2500 SJ!

The user needs to have already ascended to the Immortal World, be at least at the Soul Wandering realm, as well as hold the title of Censor and Inspector for the fourth level. The alternative is to spend 5000 SJ!

"*Cough**Cough* One needs to spend that much just to have access to higher levels!? As expected from a greedy f*cker like you... But the two titles of Inspector and Censor should be available for purchase, right?"

Affirmative!

Currently available for the user are the following perks:

*Censor title (Cost: 168 Spirit Jades)

*Inspector title (Cost: 50 Spirit Jades for every 30 years bought)

*Immortal Housekeeper (Cost: 6 Spirit Jades for every six months or 150 Spirit Jade for permanent hire)

*Oracle title (Cost: 5% of the user's proprieties per each category - Locked until Censor and Inspector title are in effect)

Please advise if the user wants to acquire certain perks!

Seeing the System go in salesmen-mode, Herman was speechless. If the System would be reincarnated into a human being, it would be an absolute Scrooge, yet a quite skillful salesman. There was no way around it and he was going to buy... well, all of them! From what he remembered, each one had quite a several advantages over the competition.

It was time to figure out how many.

"System, explain each perk!"

Acknowledged!

The censor title provides the following advantages:

Resources You automatically get 3 convenience skills (would otherwise cost 100k Spirit Stones): Soul Wandering (Automatic exploring, worth 30k Spirit Stones) Gathering (Automatic selling of equipment while auto exploring to the System, worth 50k Spirit Stones) Ensoulment (Reduce auto-exploring from 4 days to 1 day each, worth 20k Spirit Stones) +1 Spirit Jade monthly Inspector salary increase (Requires Inspector) +100% monthly Sect Salary -25% Reputation cost when quitting sect +10% success rate of Overcoming Tribulations +1 Message Stone when greeting leader Allows descendants with bloodlines belonging to Fairy Qingxia, Bai Qian, and Princess Longji to ascend and become Servants Increased caps +2 Hell attempt yearly (default is 7) +1 Fishing attempt yearly (default is 2) +1 Black Market attempt yearly (default is 2) +1 Encounters refresh yearly +1 Ruins slot (default is 1) +2 max Visit (default is 8) +2 Immortal-Foster Pool attempts yearly (this costs Spirit Jades though) Convenience Auto-upgrading Spiritual Root through use of Spiritual Qi (still requires the user to store Spiritual Qi) Auto-upgrading Skills through use of Spiritual Qi (still requires the user to store Spiritual Qi) No position limit to access Cultivation Room (default position requires Inner Disciple position in the sect) Timer indication of maximum Dwelling resources +2 Baby Pet max Vitality (default is 1) Auto-interact with Spirit Pet (reminders when available and the user is still needed to participate) Auto-Visit (reminders when available and the user is still needed to participate)

All the perks that are also available with the Inspector position (income bonus, cost reduction, increased caps) are stackable.

The Inspector title provides the following advantages:

Resources 1 Spirit Jade yearly (needs to be claimed) +50% yearly salary -10% Reputation cost when quitting the sect +5% Success rate of Overcoming Tribulations Increased caps +1 Hell attempt yearly (default is 7) +1 Fishing attempt (default is 2) +2 max Visit (default is 8) Convenience No position limit to access Cultivation Room (default position requires Inner Disciple position in the sect) Auto-upgrading Spiritual Root through use of Spiritual Qi (still requires the user to store Spiritual Qi) Auto-attack in Outer World with no need to confirm each action

All the perks that are also available with the Censor position (income bonus, cost reduction, increased maximums) are stackable.

The Immortal Houskeeper provides the following advantages:

Resources 6 Spirit Jades immediately 1 Spirit Jade and 1 Message Stone yearly (needs to be claimed) Double yearly resources saved up by the housekeeper in Dwelling Increased caps +1 yearly brewing (default is 3) Convenience Auto-Fishing

The Oracle title provides advantages based on the category bought.

Currently available to the user is the Realm Oracle title. Its benefits once bought are as follows:

For each realm reached a certain amount of resources will be provided: Foundation realm: 20 Spirit Jades, 5.000 Wood Essence, 5.000 Iron Essence, 5.000 Food rations, and 5.000 Spirit Stones Gold Core realm: 24 Spirit Jades, 10 x 100 Reputation tokens, 10 Treasure Tokens, 100 experience points for your Blacksmith, 100 experience points for your Alchemist Soul Wandering realm: 28 Spirit Jades, 20 Life Essence pills, 20 Strength Pills, 20 Dexterity Pills, 20 Vitality pills Nascent Soul realm: 32 Spirit Jades, 2 x Level 2 Treasure Maps, 2 x Level 3 Treasure Maps, 2 x Level 4 Treasure Maps, 2 x Level 5 Treasure Maps Ensoulment realm: 36 Spirit Jades, 10 x 1000 Spirit Stones, 100 Meridian Pills, 10 Superior Booze bags, 10 Marrow-cleansing dew solutions Nihility realm: 40 Spirit Jades, 1 Three-eyed Bead (adds 100 points in Life Essence), 1 Mortal Lotus (adds 100 points in Strength), 1 Rootless Fire (adds 100 points in Vitality) and 1 Chaos Essence (adds 100 points in Dexterity) Ascension realm: 48 Spirit Jades, 50 Chrysotile pieces, 50 Lunar Stones, 50 Blood Essence Lotus pieces, 50 Ghost-Tendrils Grass (*all items are used in Alchemy or Blacksmithing) Half-Immortal realm: 56 Spirit Jades, 10 Spirit Pact Books, 10 Servant EXP Scrolls, 10 Spirit Pact Scrolls, 10 Spirit Troops Amulets More realms and rewards become available after reaching the Half-Immortal realm

The Oracle title can be bought only through the exchange of proprieties from one's original world. If the System finds the exchange acceptable, 5% of the user's owned land can be exchanged for each category.

Please advise what the user wants to purchase!

"Well... f*ck it! I want to buy all of them!"

Acknowledged!

Calculating...