After I died in the attack on the Twin Mountains Sect, I woke up in my tiny house inside the Su Clan with no desire to jump right back into the meat grinders that were my lives. My last life was the first one that felt like a real, full lifetime. I had lived to a similar age in the past, but those lives were like shadow plays where every day blended into the next. This past life had been a complete experience.


    I needed to take some time to breathe and assess everything that happened. I made extraordinary gains, both in knowledge and credits, and it would take time to work out how I wanted to move forward.


    I only had a few hours until someone from the clan came to take me to be tested, and I needed to prepare before that happened. How did I want to play this? Everything the clan did after the testing was based on my affinities. I had a mid eight-star fire affinity, low eight-star affinities in the other four basic elements, and a million points to play with.


    I just wanted to be left alone for a short while to figure things out, and a good way to get that time was to appear to have no affinities. I could do what I had done in the past and pay for the system to hide them, but now that I had a little more understanding of the testing apparatus, I had another option.


    “System, permanently raise all my basic affinities to mid eight-star.”


    Permanent mid eight-star Water, Earth, Wood, and Metal Affinities. Confirmed. Cost 10,000 credits. 990,290 credits remaining.


    Now I should appear completely worthless to the clan which meant I would be thrown right back in here for a week without interruptions.


    I knew I would be summoned for testing soon, so I didn’t bother diving too deeply into research. Instead, I spent the few hours I had organizing my thoughts. There were a few things I wanted to try now that I once again had a clean slate to work from.


    <hr>


    “What is your name?” asked the elderly man who always tested affinities.


    “Su Fang.”


    “Place your hand on the orb and channel your qi into it.”


    I channeled my qi into the orb, but only a flicker of chaotic lines appeared. I pushed harder, showing that I was trying, but nothing more happened.


    “Zero elemental affinity,” the elderly man said.


    “What can you tell us about the blessing you have received?”


    “I don’t know. My body feels a little stronger, but that’s all.”


    The old man gave me a look, and I could feel energy from him lightly probe my body. After that, he nodded to the scribe.


    “He will be given the Earth Heart Mantra and returned to his original quarters.”


    <hr>


    Returning to my house, I sat down and got to work.


    I had obtained a myriad of cultivation techniques in my last life, and I wanted to see what I could do with them. Most important to me were the two dual-element techniques I had obtained.


    I had studied the wood-fire cultivation technique a bit in the past, and it had given me a few ideas. Put simply, a single-element Rank 1 technique floods all the muscles in a part of the body with qi of that element. This dual-element technique sections off muscle groups, flooding some with fire qi and some with wood qi.


    There were two main things I wanted to look into. First, this technique was only Mid-Profound, and that seemed to be because it only provided limited qi purity. Could I adapt the filtering systems from a Peak-Yellow technique and implant them into this one to make a Peak-Profound technique? Second, this dual-element technique divided the muscles into two groups. Could I divide them into five groups, creating a five-element cultivation technique?


    While I believed a five-element Rank 1 technique should be possible for me to create, I was extremely doubtful I could make the Rank 2 version. The Rank 2 dual-element techniques created separate meridians for both elements, so a five-element technique would need separate channels for each element. That would be extremely complex to design. Still, the fact that I wasn’t ready to begin with the Rank 2 version wouldn’t stop me from attempting a Rank 1 version.


    First, I wanted to check on the pricing.


    “System, how much to change this Rank 1 Mid-Profound technique into a Peak-Profound one?


    11,000 credits.


    That was ten times more than upgrading a Mid-Yellow to Peak-Yellow.


    “System, how much to change this Rank 2 Mid-Profound technique into a Peak-Profound one?


    1,100,000 credits.


    Those two prices gave me the answer to my next question, but I wanted to ask it anyway. I took out the copy of the Rank 3 dual-element technique from my storage space.


    “System, how much to change this Rank 3 Mid-Profound technique into a Peak-Profound one?


    110,000,000 credits.


    I was somewhat confident I could alter the Rank 1 technique to become Peak-Profound on my own, and I believed it should be possible to do the same for the Rank 2 version, but I had no confidence at all in changing the Rank 3 technique. I had several lifetimes of experience to draw on when working with Rank 1 and 2 techniques, but only a single experience with Rank 3, which made it much trickier.


    Upgrading Rank 1 wouldn’t do too much good unless I could upgrade all of them, but I didn’t lose anything by trying. I wasn’t willing to spend credits on this, however. Unless I could upgrade all three ranks, any upgrades could be more detrimental than helpful.


    <hr>


    By the end of the week, my experiments had hit a brick wall, and my cultivation base was a complete mess.


    I had quickly reached Martial Disciple 2 by practicing the basic wood-fire dual-element cultivation technique on my upper right arm. This was mainly to get a general feel for how the technique should work and try to see how I could go about changing it. Then, on my upper left arm, I switched to the fire-earth dual-element technique to see how that one worked. Having two completely different techniques for different element combinations in my body caused a bit of havoc with my energy, and I sustained a few internal injuries.


    These techniques used very different qi filtering principles. The fire-earth one was a lower tier, and that may have been the reason for the differences, but it felt like they were built from two completely different perspectives on how a dual-element technique should work. Knowing only that the wood-fire technique had a higher rank, I chose to focus on it.


    To avoid the chaos of energies that was my chest, I began cultivating in my lower right leg. The dual-element technique had a single qi filter that separated wood and fire qi into two separate streams and directed them to different muscle groups. After reviewing the Peak-Yellow techniques I had for the two elements, I began working to modify that filter. It went poorly and collapsed, flooding my muscles with impurities. Switching to my lower left leg, I tried again, but the results were no different.


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    As the end of the week approached, I sighed and decided to give up. I needed far more experience with dual-element cultivation to make this work, and there were other things I wanted to get done. I would spend some time cultivating this technique normally instead. Then, I would have a much better starting point for modifying it.


    These difficulties also meant that my dream of creating a five-element cultivation technique wouldn’t be coming true any time soon. Upgrading the dual-element technique would become a long-term goal, but creating a five-element technique would need to be completely shelved until I had a wider knowledge base to work from.


    At this point, my cultivation base was in tatters, and I had been marked as having no affinities by the Su Clan. I was about to be targeted, and I wasn’t going to let the instructor take out his aggression on me during the end-of-week training session, so I popped a poison pill into my mouth.


    You have died. Calculating…


    You died as a Martial Disciple 1. 10 credits awarded.


    Total Credits: 990,300


    <hr>


    The assessment of Martial Disciple 1 was a little surprising since I should have technically been a Martial Disciple 3. I had completed cultivating both my upper arms, after all. Possibly, it was the unresolved wood and earth clash that caused me to have a reduced evaluation.


    I didn’t want to spend too much time stuck on the problem of cultivation, so I put that aside to think about later. Having mid-quality techniques would mainly affect my qi purity, but that could be handled through qi purifying pills. The only problem was that after taking too many of those pills, the toxins would begin to build up. That just meant I needed to be able to make Perfect pills so that wouldn’t be a problem.


    I could already make Perfect Rank 1 pills, but to make Perfect Rank 2 pills I needed at least a peak eight-star affinity in all elements, and for Rank 3 I needed at least peak seven-star.


    “System, what is the cost to permanently raise all my basic affinities to peak seven-star?”


    Permanent Peak 7-star Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, and Metal Affinities. Cost 862,500 credits.


    That was a serious chunk of my profit from the last life, and I didn’t think it would be wise to spend everything on this one area. Better to spread the wealth out a little more. I could still buy temporary affinities at 10% of the cost of permanent ones. Over time, permanent would be a better value, but I had seen the effectiveness of temporarily raising one beyond normal bounds.


    “System, after I raise my fire affinity to peak seven-star, what is the additional cost to raise it temporarily to low six-star?” I asked just to be sure.


    Temporary Low 6-star Fire Affinities. Additional cost 100,000 credits.


    “That doesn’t seem right. The cost of affinities only increased by ten times for each star level. Shouldn’t it be 10,000?”


    9, 8, and 7-star are considered lower affinities, so the costs increase by ten times. 6, 5, and 4-star are middle affinities with a cost increase of one hundred times. 3, 2, and 1-star are upper affinities which increase the cost by one thousand times for each star increase.


    Upgrading my affinities was going to be a huge black hole. I could use the spring in the Twin Mountains Sect to improve my fire affinity, but it was limited in how much it could help. It would only help with fire, and it couldn’t push an affinity past peak seven-star. Also, I didn’t like the idea of needing to sneak into the sect after every restart just to boost an affinity. I needed a better solution.


    I put a pin in that topic since I needed to move on. I wasn’t ready to commit so many credits just yet.


    Thinking back to my goals from my previous life, the only thing I wanted that I didn’t accomplish was acquiring a spatial spirit fire seed. I hadn’t even heard mention of a fire seed other than the Cold Mountain Fire. The sect was not a place where I would find such opportunities. I could venture out and explore, trying to find something, but I had no idea how long that would take.


    “System, how much to purchase the cheapest spirit fire seed capable of helping me expand my storage space?”


    Space-attributed spirit fire seed. Cost 500 billion credits.


    So, not going to happen.


    “System, how much to learn information about the location of a spatial spirit fire I could acquire myself along with the time and circumstances under which I could get it?”


    Cost 350,000 credits.


    It was expensive, and it would eat into what I needed to raise my affinities, but getting that seed was my most important goal by far. Every moment without it was a moment my storage space wasn’t growing.


    So, upgrading cultivation techniques was put on hold, but I needed to purchase affinities and this information. Was there anything else I needed immediately?


    I was going to use the wood-fire dual-element technique, but I needed to rework the mental effects to be more suitable for what I wanted to accomplish. I had dozens of cultivation techniques with a variety of mental effects now, so I had a little more freedom to choose how I wanted to modify them.


    I carefully considered my options. What did I want in this life? I wanted to head outside the Wastes this life, and I knew who I would work with to do that. What would help me there?


    The Rank 3 cultivation technique I was going to use would only make the effects of the Rank 1 and 2 techniques more intense, so as long as I was happy with the Rank 1 and 2 effects, I didn’t need to worry about Rank 3, which would make things cheaper.


    I would need to deal with many different people. The techniques I had been using increased my friendliness, which I had begun to not like. The friendliness made it so I capitulated very easily to the demands of others. This wasn’t a horrible problem for me, I still got what I needed in the end, but I wanted to go in a different direction. Instead of being friendly, I just wanted to be personable. I wanted to feel free to say ‘no’, but I didn’t want to be constantly starting fights.


    I wanted to find novel solutions to problems, so something tending toward inventiveness? I didn’t have any techniques to help me there though.


    I would need to spend long stretches of time simply improving my alchemy. My Rank 1 skills were solid, but I could still see room for improvement in Rank 2, and my Rank 3 skills had massive gaps. That doesn’t even begin to consider the higher ranks I hoped to reach.


    Most importantly, I needed the techniques to only affect my behavior and not my perceptions or memories. That way, when I cut off the mental effects from the techniques, there should be minimal lingering effects.


    “System, how much to change the mental effects of the Rank 1 and 2 fire-wood dual element cultivation techniques so that they improve personability while also making one more dedicated and focused?”


    Cost 101,000 credits.


    Did I need anything else?


    “System, how much to upgrade my mental technique library so it can hold Rank 3 and 4 techniques?”


    Upgrade to Rank 3. Cost 90,000 credits. Upgrade to Rank 4, an additional 900,000 credits.


    “Alright System, purchase the Rank 3 mental bookshelf.”


    Confirmed. Cost 90,000 credits. 900,300 credits remaining.


    “System, purchase requested information about a spatial seed.”


    Confirmed. Cost 350,000 credits. 550,300 credits remaining.


    Formation Emperor Du XiongMing is currently in possession of a spatial spirit fire seed that meets your requirements. In 127 years, he will die in the Brilliant Sun Empire, located in the southern part of the continent. Upon his death, a war will erupt with many sides fighting to claim his fire seed. If you are present in the capital of the Brilliant Sun Empire at the time of his death, and you have a connection with its ruling dynasty, it may be possible for you to claim this seed as your own upon his death.


    Credits expended, transaction complete.


    Formation Emperor. Alchemists were divided into Disciple Alchemists, Master Alchemists, and Grandmaster Alchemists for Ranks 1 through 3. Above that, Rank 4 would be Pill Lord, Rank 5 was Pill King, and Rank 6 was called Pill Emperor. Formation Emperor Du XiongMing was a Rank 6 formation master, and to get a spatial spirit fire seed, it sounded like I would need to rob his corpse. To even have a prayer of pulling that off, I would need to be close to him when he died, which meant I needed to be his peer. A peer to a Formation Emperor had to be at least a Pill King, if not a Pill Emperor. I wasn’t sure it was something I could accomplish in a single lifetime, but I would give it my best effort.


    Truthfully, this mission might be easier if I approached it as a formation master, but that would mean learning an entirely new set of skills all the way up to Rank 6, and I had no idea how many lives that would take me. It would mean starting from nothing again. No, I would first try approaching it as an alchemist. If this path didn’t seem likely to succeed, I would at least be able to parlay my alchemic skills later in life into some basic knowledge of formations to establish a firm starting point.


    I still needed to raise my affinities and fix my cultivation manuals, but I didn’t want to rush that. WuJing had a Profound level cultivation technique he had promised me in a past life, and I was ready to claim it.


    “System, teleport me to Dragon Gate City.”


    Confirmed. Cost 30 credits. 550,270 credits remaining.