Mei led me back down to the third level of the pagoda.


    “This is where you’ll be staying,” she said. “Third level is for all the scrubs. If you can contribute enough, you’ll get bumped up to the fourth.”


    “Thanks,” I said.


    “No worries. Take some time to relax. We have to get back to work, but if you need anything, SuYin or any of the other attendants can show you around. Just head down to the shop floor and wander around. You should be able to find someone easily enough.”


    “Do I need any ID?” I asked. “Sect members all carry jade tokens, right? Does the Pavilion have anything I need to get access to the upper levels?”


    “Nah,” she said with a shake of the head, “the guards should have already been informed about you, so there won’t be any trouble. WuJing can get you a Pavilion Badge to use when you go to other branches, but you won’t need it here, so might as well hold off on getting it. Right now, you have zero contributions, no cultivation, and no proven ability. That means you get the lowest-level badge. Work your way up a little first, otherwise, you’ll be replacing it before you even use it.”


    “Thanks," I said with a small laugh.


    “Now, take a break and stop bothering me. I have to get to work,” she said with a wave as she walked away.


    <hr>


    My room in the Pavilion could only be described as opulent.


    In the sect, after moving to the Eyes’ enclave, my apartment was nice. It was well-made and clean, but it wasn’t anything special. It was a single large room with no decorations and only a bed for sleeping and a mat for cultivating.


    The Pavilion apartments, even for the lower-level members, were something else. They had a sitting room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and a separate cultivation room. The sitting room had a table and chairs, a couch, a couple of armchairs, and a stocked bookcase. The bedroom had a large, soft bed, flower vases, wall art, and a window overlooking the city below. Only the cultivation room retained an ascetic’s sensibilities. It was a small room with no windows and only a mat for cultivation.


    Dismissing the luxuries, I sat down in the cultivation room to consider my future course.


    I needed to improve my affinities, there was no question about that, but I also wanted several other upgrades, and it would be difficult to pay for everything.


    As far as the early stages of cultivation, my biggest worry was the advancement to Grandmaster. I had read through the Rank 3 cultivation technique I was going to use, and building my dantian for it would be extremely difficult. I highly doubted it would be anywhere close to correct the first time, and I didn’t want to have to repeat everything up to that point to fix it.


    “System, how much does a temporary reset point cost?”


    Current price is 30 credits.


    “What do you mean by ‘current?’ How is that price calculated?”


    You would gain 10 credits if you died now. If you advance one stage, you will gain 20. Adding the two together, the cost of a temporary reset point is 30 credits. If you were a Martial Disciple 2, the cost would be 20 plus 30, for a cost of 50 credits.


    Note: The cost of each return to a temporary reset point will double until the host returns to the fixed reset point. For a temporary reset point that lasts three deaths, it would cost 30 + 60 + 120, for a total of 210 credits.


    So, if I wanted to set a temporary reset point as a Martial Master Peak, it would cost 120,000 credits, but if I set it as a Martial Master 10, it would only be 30,000. I could save more credits by moving it even earlier, but the additional savings would be marginal.


    I suddenly thought of something and started talking to the air, hoping the powers that be were listening.


    “A boost to my affinities changes my body, that’s why temporary affinity boosts aren’t taken with me. However, if I give myself a temporary boost, and then set a temporary reset point, the effects of that temporary boost should persist without cost until my next permanent reset. Any changes to my body from before the reset point should remain upon death, right?”


    I waited several moments, hoping my words might have an effect.


    “System, if I temporarily raise my affinities, will they remain raised after a death back to a temporary reset point?”


    If they were raised before that point was created, then yes, they will remain. However, an additional cost of 10% of the price of all temporary boosts will be added to the base cost of a reset point.


    Additional Note: Purchasing temporary bonuses before changing your permanent reset point will result in a substantial price increase.


    I smiled. I didn’t know if my soliloquy had any effect, but I got the result I wanted. Now, I could start making purchases.


    “System, modify my Rank 1 and 2 cultivation techniques as discussed earlier. Make the mental effects personability, focus, and dedication.”


    Cost 101,000 credits. Purchase Confirmed. 448,200 credits remaining.


    “Upgrade all my affinities to temporary peak seven-star.”


    Cost 86,250 credits. Purchase Confirmed. 361,950 credits remaining.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    That was a good start, but I would need more to reach Martial King. I hoped I would find something to boost my affinities naturally, but until then I could take one more step with the System.


    “Raise my fire affinity to temporary low six-star.”


    Cost 100,000 credits. Purchase Confirmed. 261,950 credits remaining.


    With the most important ones down. Next, I wanted to deal with the problem of my fire seed. I couldn’t let anyone know it was a seed. It had to seem like a normal spirit fire, and I wasn’t confident I had the knowledge and ability to pull that off.


    “System, purchase mastery of my current fire seed.”


    Mastery of Seed of the Yellow-Rank Cold Mountain Fire costs 90,000. Purchase Confirmed. 171,950 credits remaining.


    For my last purchase, I considered how I had as much time as I needed to slowly master all the skills I wanted, but that was only if I was willing to stretch that learning out over several lifetimes. In my last life, Wen Hao was able to become an excellent Grandmaster Alchemist in less than 40 years. In the end, I may have surpassed him in the fundamentals, but it took me nearly 80 years in that life along with centuries of building a strong foundation.


    Extrapolating that out, I could guess it would take over a hundred years for my skill to meet the requirements of Pill Lord, and Pill King might take two hundred. Simply spending time at that level was an option, but I wanted to claim that spatial fire seed as soon as possible, which meant I needed to be a better version of myself.


    “System, I want to spend 20,000 credits to permanently enhance each of the following: my alchemy comprehension, my herbalism comprehension, the rate of my soul growth, the rate my qi control improves, and my comprehension of cultivation techniques.”


    Total cost 100,000 credits. Purchase Confirmed. 71,950 credits remaining.


    After the enhancements, I didn’t feel any different. I wasn’t sure how much a 20,000 credit enhancement would help, but if I allocated a portion of my earnings each death to this kind of upgrade, it would slowly build up over time.


    I was left with enough credits to create a single temporary reset point at Martial Master 10. That would give me one extra chance to ascend to Grandmaster properly, and if I succeeded, I could parlay the credits from that into additional attempts at perfecting my dantian.


    Purchases complete, I stood up and left my apartment. I wasn’t ready to start cultivating quite yet. Instead, I wanted to find SuYin to learn a little more about my new life.


    <hr>


    “SuYin,” I said with a smile as I spotted her down on the shop floor. It looked like she had just finished up with a customer, so I grabbed her attention before she moved to someone else.


    Seeing me approach, she smiled and bowed. “Hello again, how may I help you?”


    “Hi, I just became a member of the Pavilion. Mei said you could show me around.”


    “Oh?” she said with a surprised look. “You’re a full member now?”


    “I believe so. I talked with Secretary Jiang and he set everything up.”


    “Congratulations,” she smiled. “You are joining as an alchemist, right?”


    “Yes,” I confirmed, “but I’m not sure about the details of what I should do. I was hoping you could fill me in.”


    “I’d be happy to. Let’s head upstairs.”


    She took me back up to the fifth floor of the pagoda. At this point, I was beginning to wish the place had an elevator. If this was what my life was going to be like, constantly climbing stairs all day, I needed to hurry along my cultivation.


    The stairs to the fifth floor opened out into a large room. Another female attendant waited behind a reception desk, and hallways branched out in three different directions.


    “All of our workshops are on the fifth floor. We have several rooms for alchemists and formation masters, but we also have places for rarer professions, such as talisman crafters. There is even a workshop dedicated to weapon and artifact refining, though it has never been used.” As she spoke, she pointed in the direction of the rooms she was talking about.


    “How does being an alchemist member of the Pavilion work?” I asked. “I’m not too clear about where to begin.”


    “Ah, it’s simple,” she said as she walked me over to the receptionist’s desk. “This is Xu YuLin. She, or whoever is working here at the time, will help you with anything you need.”


    “Hello, sir,” said YuLin with a bow.


    “Sister Xu, this is…” began SuYin before remembering she didn’t know my name.


    “Su Fang,” I interjected.


    “This is Su Fang,” she began again. “He is a new alchemist member of the Pavilion, and I’m showing him around.”


    “A full member? At his age?” asked YuLin in surprise. “Congratulations.”


    Why did they all keep congratulating me? It seemed like joining as a member hadn’t been a problem for me. Was it so much more difficult for the average person?


    “Let me introduce you to how our system works,” said YuLin. “First, while you can buy ingredients on the shop floor like anyone else, it isn’t necessary. You may come here and order any herbs you require, and they will be delivered to your workshop or apartment. If you wish to choose them yourself, you may visit the warehouse floor in the basement where an attendant can show you everything we have available.”


    I nodded at that. It would be nice to be able to pick out my own herbs, but it usually wasn’t worth the time.


    “Is there anything specific I should make?” I asked.


    “As a member, we will buy any pills you concoct at a regular price of the ingredients plus 50% of the profit,” she said, before pulling out a thick book. “This is a ledger of pills in demand, and if you sell those your percentage will be increased to 55%. Selling pills deemed to be in urgent demand will provide 60% of the profits.”


    She flipped to a different part of the book before continuing. “These are special request pills. They are either more difficult than normal or require rare ingredients. There may be penalty clauses attached if you accept a commission to make these, as we cannot waste rare ingredients, but selling them will give you a 70% share of the profits. If we have an urgent commission, someone from the Pavilion may contact you directly for your assistance. As a full member, you have an obligation to assist, but your compensation in such events is increased to 75% and any penalty is waived.”


    I wasn’t too surprised that I would be obligated to make certain pills, but having a bonus to the payout was a benefit I didn’t expect.


    “Finally,” YuLin said, walking to a place where several names were hung on the wall, “these are craftsmen who are available for special requests. The Pavilion will help coordinate these requests, but they are, in the end, an agreement between the craftsman and the buyer. You will receive 85% of the profits if you complete a special request, but they are usually subject to steep penalties.”


    “If I began working now, what pills would be best to focus on?” I asked.


    “The Su Clan just completed their annual blessing ceremony,” answered YuLin. “Other families also have blessing ceremonies around the same time, so there will be a large demand for Qi Gathering Pills in the near future, though they are always needed. Other than that, pills to restore energy will also be needed since they get used a lot during training. Later in the year, when the new cultivators start wandering around, they will need healing pills and such, but there isn’t too large a demand at the moment.”


    “Sounds good,” I said, “do I need to pay for the herbs up front?”


    “As a full member, you can purchase common herbs on credit which will be deducted from future sales. Rarer herbs must be paid for upfront.”


    “Alright then,” I decided, “send a dozen sets of ingredients for Superior Qi Gathering Pills to my apartment. I’ll rest for a bit then come up and begin work.”


    “A dozen?” she asked in shock. “That may not be a good idea…”


    “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine,” I said smiling.


    I turned to SuYin who had been waiting there patiently during my discussion with YuLin.


    “Thanks for showing me around,” I smiled, “we can continue the tour later. I need to get to work.”