"Well, is there anything unique about your affinity? Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me—I’m not the type to spill."

Spencer nodded, a glint of determination in his eyes. "I can upgrade it," he said, his voice steady but laced with anticipation. "Can I get some spirit stones?"

"An upgradable affinity?" Grand Elder Lyra’s eyebrows arched with interest, her voice measured but intrigued. "That’s exactly what I need right now. So, how much do you need?"

Lord Lysander gave me thousand spirit stones, five hundred shouldn’t be a lot to ask for right?

He hesitantly displayed five fingers.

"Five thousand?" Grand Elder Lyra raised an eyebrow, her lips curling into a faint smile. "A little more expensive than I expected, but fine. I’ll deduct it from your increased pay later on."

…Alright?

After a moment of lapse in his thoughts, a huge bubble of joy burst inside him.

Grand Elder Lyra is loaded!

Somehow, Spencer’s mind glossed over, or perhaps chose to ignore, the part where the extra cost would be deducted from his pay. In the rush of excitement, all he could focus on was the opportunity—the fine details seemed less important compared to the chance to enhance his affinity.

"You sure you don’t need any other help? Like my connections to acquire the items necessary for the upgrade?" Grand Elder Lyra offered, her voice casual.

Spencer shook his head. "No, just the spirit stones will do. I’ll manage the rest." His tone was confident.

Technically, Spencer wasn’t lying, but Grand Elder Lyra didn’t know that. She interpreted his response as reluctance to disclose more—a disciple keeping his cards close to his chest.

A moment later, Spencer left the room with five thousand spirit stones in his bag and headed towards the restaurant. Seeing Noella dining alone, he used some of the spirit stones to buy food and took a seat opposite her.

Spencer was keenly aware of the importance of forging connections and gathering information. He didn’t want to be isolated in the sect. The only reason he didn’t take up on the offer of protective squad and initiate conversation with Ralph during their ride was because their morals didn’t align with him.

Despite a few minutes passing in silence, Spencer realized he would need to break the ice. He leaned forward slightly, trying to sound casual. “Do you know of any noteworthy events happening in the sect or coming up soon?”

Noella perked up, her long black hair swaying as she nodded. Setting aside the bite she was about to take, she said, “The sect has seen a rise in disciples seeking to earn Merits, which has, unfortunately, led to an increase in our death count. This trend is partly why our admission standards have been lowered over the past few years. Birds die for food, and humans die for wealth.

“As you might know, Credits are worth 1.25 times the value of a spirit stone, but Merits are worth 1.75 times. Credits are given as rewards for all kinds of missions, except those related to the Demon world, which reward Merits instead. I might consider visiting the Demon world myself once I run out of my savings.”

This was new to Spencer, who had mostly focused on cultivating and experimenting with the System. “Why would you skip missions from the Credit Hall and head to the Demon world, which is clearly more dangerous?”

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Noella looked up with a determined glint in her eyes. “Time. I don’t have much of it. I plan to participate in the Newbie Tournament, which will be held in two months.”

Spencer noticed the fierce spirit in her eyes whenever she spoke about fighting or cultivation. “What’s this tournament about?”

Noella took a bite of her food before continuing, “There are two major events coming up. One is related to the Martial Council, where disciples who wish to occupy a position challenge those currently in authority. For significant positions, like a vice president, newbies are selected by both sides. While their matches don’t influence the outcome directly, they serve to showcase their insight, discernment, and other qualities of the main challengers.”

Does she have connections to some information channels? The Protection squad maybe? Because I remember Drith said he only knew of the reason behind newbie battles after asking an Elder. Or do Elders readily give away answers no matter who asks? Or is it because Noella is a talent that the Elder answered?

Spencer shoved away those thoughts, and continued listening as Noella took a bite and resumed. “This will take place in the first week of January. The second event is the Newbie tournament in which only the disciples who’ve joined after 1st of January this year are eligible to participate. We might be late but we shouldn’t lose hope.

“Newbie tournament’s prizes are extremely beneficial to us. They give out those rewards for ranks as far as thousand. I reckon it’s possible for me to at least reach that rank, since we have about 25000 outer disciples, with around two thousand to three thousand joining each year in the recent couple of years.”

I should join too!

Spencer excitedly thought. He didn’t have many thoughts about heading towards the Demon world when he already had so many resources, but he definitely appreciated getting more. Especially when he had the cheat which allowed him to cultivate fast. How to fight? He would eventually learn that.

He thanked Noella for the information and left the restaurant, intending to look for a secluded place where he could start increasing his affinity after conducting a small experiment.

A couple minutes later when he felt he was sufficiently deep inside a forest nearby, he seated himself by the trunk of a tree, and opened up his system panel.

[Name: Spencer Lowell]

[Age: 21]

[Cultivation level: Qi gathering]

^ [Meridians refined: 27+]

[Wealth: 5020]

[Flora bound: 1]

^ [Slot 1]

[Young tree name: Eternal Starwood]

[Stage 2: Young tree+]

[Vitality liquid: 10ml for 10000]

^ [Slot 2]

[Empty]

[Notifications: 0]

He took a deep breath and began his cultivation session, focusing intently on the task. Spencer realized that since he had started his journey, he had never truly filled his dantian. Instead, he would control the refined qi to circulate through its path, where it would then be consumed by the meridians being refined. Each full circulation allowed him to absorb a small amount of qi into his dantian, but this was always offset by the consumption of refined qi, meaning his dantian was never completely full.

Spencer had read that refined qi had a slightly higher efficiency when used as a fuel for cultivation arts. For example, higher offense, and defense in offensive, and defensive cultivation arts respectively.

He intended to fill his dantian today, to see if it brought any kind of change. It was worth a try right?

Finally, after nearly an hour, his dantian was full of refined qi. The first thing he realized was that Grand Elder Lyra didn’t seem to have declared the end of the break time yet.

Next thing, he didn’t notice anything different with himself, except feeling as if he had a satisfying meal, not physically but spiritually.

When he opened the system though, there was a slight change in it. There was an additional panel.

[Refined qi: 21/21 +]

The plus symbol was grayed out.