'It has been six years since I joined the sect. My skill point farming plan is more or less a success and I have accumulated a few magic tools, spells and consumables to GTFO if shit hits the fan. I think my status screen is satisfactory now.' thought Fang Hao as he summoned his status screen.

STATUS SCREEN

Name:

Fang Hao

Race:

Human

Gender:

Male

Age:

20 years

Titles:

Lord Lard

Class:

Cultivator

Unused Skill Points:

102

Realm:

Qi Condensation

Level:

6

Current Experience:

208037

Level Up at Experience:

222303

Active Effects:

Stats

Physique:

16

Finesse:

14.3

Spirit:

17.1

Qi

53.7/53.7

Traits

Calm

Lucky

Primal Instinct

?? Immortal Monk's Prospective Disciple ??

1st Seal - Primordial Marrow

Manuals and Scriptures

Sublime Qi Manual (1st Realm, 10th Layer)

Divine Vajra Body Scripture (1 seals, 4 moves)

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Aura Fist Manual (+) (3rd Layer)

Spells and Techniques

Aura Infusion (Perfection)

Fire Serpent (Basic)

Wind Blade (Expert)

Elementary Qi Barrier (Expert)

Frost Chains (Expert)

Aura Fist (Expert)

Phantom Aura Steps (Expert)

Concealing Mist (Expert)

Minor Illusion (Expert)

Telekinetic Hand (Expert)

Call Clouds (Expert)

Static Web (Expert)

Acid Splash (Expert)

Lion's Roar (Expert)

Floating Leaves Step (Expert)

'20 months of farming sure did give a solid amount of skill points by grinding the two new Aura spells and 8 other spells to Expert Proficiency! And I got quite a bit of consumables and a few magic tools too. Only after my preparations I am piss poor again with less than 300 contribution points. On the bright side I have additional 3 shiny magic tools! Not to mention that Flame Snake (Expert) evolved to Fire Serpent Spell for a grand total of 24 skill points.'

The newly evolved Fire Serpent spell was much more powerful than the Flame Snake spell with significantly higher Qi Costs. However, he could cast the Flame Snake Spell almost instantly without any gestures! He did require a few seconds to cast the Fire Serpent spell at full power however. He had also upgraded Aura Infusion from Master Proficiency to Perfection Proficiency for 8 skill points and wanted to evolve it too. But unfortunately, the option to evolve the Aura Infusion Spell was grayed-out when he summoned the Use Skill points window.

Most of the new spells he learned were support spells. The Concealing Mist spell caused a thick fog to spread around him which obstructed the senses. It was a nifty distractions spell with a short cast time. The Minor illusion spell allowed him to change a few minor aspects of something in range. He could, for example, make the Concealing Mist spell change color, or produce simple sounds at range for distraction. He could even produce a stinking smell in his surroundings. He had tried to use the Minor Illusion spell to make his Fire Serpent appear like a regular Flame Snake, but apparently that was out of scope of the Minor Illusion Spell. Still he could imagine the possibilities of a cheap well timed minor illusion spell could provide, despite the limitations.

Telekinetic Hand was a simple spell that allowed him to do simple actions like picking up an object from afar and bringing it to him, or slapping someone at range with an almost transparent hand. If he willed the conjured hand to exert too much force or lift something too heavy or move something too fast, the spell would disperse. The Call Clouds spell summoned a few grayish clouds and it's main utility was for setting up the static web spell. The Call Clouds spell had a bit of longer cast time, but however, a coppery wind-vane shaped magic tool improved the effects and shortened the cast time to use the call cloud spell. It was one of the new magic tools he had acquired with his contribution points.

Static Web was one of the few AoE crowd-control spells available for Qi Condensation disciples. Along with the coppery wind-vane and Call Clouds spell, it was a quite good crowd-control spell combo. Acid Splash was another spell he had acquired and that summoned a floating orb of acid and splashed it towards the target. It had lower offensive power and slower travel speed than Aura Fist and Flame Snake, but it had additional corrosive properties! While it may not do much against a decent magic tool, it was great for sizzling mortal steel and appeared to be especially effective against Qi Barriers.

The Lion's Roar technique was basically a loud shout that did a small amount of damage to everyone in close vicinity to the caster potentially stunning and dazing them. It was a hybrid damage/crowd control technique at close range which could provide a few extra seconds when mobbed. The last spell he had learned was Floating Leaves Step. It was an entry level movement technique which focused on sustained speed. While he had Phantom Aura Step for movement, Phantom Aura Steps was focused more on quick bursts of high speed whereas floating leaves step was focused on sustained bursts of moderate speed boosts.

Fang Hao felt that these spells covered all the scenarios he could think of. He had also spend several thousands of contribution points stocking up on minor healing pills, speed talismans, barrier charms and quite a few explosive beads having stocked a respectable amount of consumables. Not to mention that he had hoarded over 250 Qi Condensation pills which the Great Elder provided him weekly with his spirit wine. Fang Hao was tempted to use the Qi Condensation pills to speed up his practice of Divine Vajra Body Scripture like the spirit wine, but refrained from doing so.

While wasteful, he could use Qi Condensation pills to refill his Qi relatively quick. It was one of his trump cards. Even if he spammed powerful spells, he could use the Qi Condensation Pills to swiftly recover Qi to continue his barrage. This was not a novel idea, but how many Qi Condensation disciples could bear to use such a decent cultivation resource for simply restoring Qi?

Along with the Coppery Wind Vane magic tool for quick casting powerful call clouds, Fang Hao had acquired two other magic tools. One of them was a leather boot which increased his speed significantly when he supplied Qi to it. The leather boot magic boot along with Aura Infusion and Floating Leaves Step guaranteed him a fleeing speed which most Qi Condensation disciples would find it difficult to match. Of course, fleeing at this speed would be Qi intensive, but he had plenty of Qi Condensation Pills to counter that!

The last piece of equipment he had was a soft Grade 2 inner armor. It was suitable for late/peak Qi Condensation Cultivators and could withstand a certain amount of damage before disintegrating. He had bought it mainly as a counter to lessen the impact of sneak attacks if he was caught unawares with his barrier down. It could also provide him enough buffer time if all his barriers was depleted to use a few talismans or pop a few pills. Combined with his Divine Vajra Body Scripture, Fang Hao had one of the most perverse defenses amongst Qi Condensation disciples. It was because of this that Fang Hao was finally ready to attempt some missions outside the Sect's Safe Zone.