Spencer read through the entire description of the mission.

Mission issued by: Grand Elder Lyra

Mission title: Experiment on star based cultivation scripture. Need volunteers. Healing will be provided in case of unfortunate injuries caused during experiments.

Mission timing: Commencing 4th December at 11am, with an indefinite end date.

Mission venue: Grand Elder Lyra’s personal training hall.

Mission requirement: Qi gathering stage. 234/400

Mission reward: 20 spirit stones per day, may increase with time.

Mission penalty: Participants need to give a proper reason to Grand Elder if they want to leave the mission ahead of time, else they would have to pay 30 percent of whatever they’ve earned till date.

Spencer’s eyes glinted as he looked at the mission. It was 3rd December today, the time was perfectly comfortable for him. It also had one of the highest rewards out of anything he had come across during his browsing, the other high paying ones all included staying on the Earth for long durations of time.

Lord Lysander really did give me a lot. 1000 seems like a lot compared to what other Qi gathering stage cultivators get. They’d have to take on and complete missions in a day just to barely earn 20 spirit stones. Considering how Clara considered 500 as the average to refine all meridians, it will take 25 days just to gather the funds, not to mention all the other costs of living and time to cultivate. No wonder the majority of newbies can’t hold onto their cave after the month of protection ends.

Seeing how 234 of 400 slots had already been filled, he swiftly notified the receptionist about his choice and left the Credit hall. With drowsy eyes, he took the ID from the same lady in the Administration hall, collected the clothes he had given for laundry and returned to his cave.

Despite having the meridians of his legs refined, Spencer still felt drained from all the walking. This absolute behemoth of a sect was definitely not walk-friendly.

He removed his shoes and immediately went to sleep on the floor, not caring if the mattress was present or not. Thankful instead that the room was made of marble and not some random rock tile, or mud.

Spencer dreamed of incredible things as his mind wandered off in sleep. He imagined himself employing the ball grabbing, or better, ball flicking technique.

This time he was using it in tandem with Atlas’ Schrodinger’s steps.

Topping it off with invisibility.

It was an invincible technique.

Imagine flicking balls while you were invisible, and even if the opponent deployed area of effect cultivation arts, none of them would be able to even so much as graze you. The opponent would be helpless against it.

Spencer felt himself increasing in realm, giving the cultivation art better and better names.

Qi gathering stage cultivation art- Phantom Ball Flick.

Foundation building stage cultivation art- Invisible Celestial Ball Flick.

Golden core stage cultivation art - Unseen Ball Flick of Dimensional Untouchability.

Nascent soul stage cultivation art - Null-Point Oblivion Ball Flick of Quantum Shroud.

…..

What is the next stage?

His brain glitched, waking up Spencer. The young man with ambitious and revolutionary ideas for cultivation arts woke up groggily and looked up at the clock.

I slept for 4 hours?

Obviously, Spencer had experienced sleeping such less hours before, but never had he felt so refreshed.

His brain felt clear of any fog he might have accumulated from all the long transition from the Earth to the cultivation world. All the fatigue his body endured had vanished into thin air. He never felt so flexible, so fresh, so…aware of the surroundings.

He heaved a soft sigh and smiled.

Is this cultivation?

It was a long and arduous journey, but it also ensured that it was all worth it in the end.

Spencer didn't get up from his sleeping position but curled up and mentally clicked on ‘+’ in his meridian tab. No time to waste.

Approximately ten minutes later and 50 wealth points poorer, Spencer left the cave. It was afternoon, but he wasn’t hungry yet, the body didn’t consume as much energy when it was sleeping. He wanted to check out the market area of the sect to test out an idea which had been brewing in his mind for a while now.

The walk was painfully long as usual, he kicked the stones on the road and followed a particular one, trying to keep it in his lane of walk.

He discovered along the way that his control over the leg had somewhat improved. It wasn’t a marginal increase but he could still sense it. His stones used to go everywhere but stay in his lane when he previously did it, but now, the one he had chosen had been rolling along his lane for a long time. Dutifully following along where he kicked it. Suddenly, a profound thought struck his mind.

Could this stone be more spherical?

Maybe it wasn’t the control over his leg which had increased but he had chosen a rounder stone to kick.

Spencer bent and picked up the stone. After inspecting it for a while, he pocketed it and continued walking towards the market. The stone wasn’t spherical, it was his control which had increased.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Spencer 1: Stone 0

When he finally arrived at the market, he found it was a bustling scene just like the day before. The market was divided into three layers.

The outermost layer consisted of stalls set up by outer sect disciples. The middle layer was made up of stalls set up by inner sect disciples. The difference in treasures in these two markets didn’t vary by a huge margin. It was entirely possible that the outer sect disciples’ luck caused them to stumble upon treasures not inferior to ones found by inner sect disciples.

One couldn’t compete in luck. The only difference was, the places where inner sect disciples, and outer sect disciples might end up would vary based on their strength. It was one of the few factors which would differentiate the treasures between the two.

That was about treasures, but when you shifted the topic to items, like pills and weapons. There was a huge margin between ones made by the inner sect disciples and outer sect disciples. But it still wasn’t as big of a margin between innermost layer and middle layer, and by extension the outermost layer.

It was because the innermost layer was where Elders and Grand Elders put up their stalls. The Sect Master of this generation didn’t practice any production art, else there were also some Sect Masters of the previous generation who set up stalls here. Apart from these things, the innermost layer also had auction houses, with even the famous Rolling Stone pavilion having their branch here.

Spencer strolled around the outermost layer of the market. He visited several stalls, comparing prices of the pills and asking about their effects. For now, he had no plans of getting anything related to fighting. A disciple, regardless of their status, could freely roam in the outermost and middle layer of the market. But they need to have a permission token by any of the Elders of the sect to enter the innermost layer.

Spencer was searching for stall owners of new or rundown stalls. When he spotted a new one selling pills, Spencer immediately made his way over. The seller was sitting on a makeshift chair behind a cart where multiple bottles were kept. All of them had words written over them in bold, indicating what kind of pill each bottle contained.

There were eight bottles on this stall. His mind worked to recollect everything he had learnt when he looked at the titles.

1. Qi Gathering Pills: Enhances the absorption of qi from the environment. It was a worse alternative for spirit stones, which were made entirely of qi, allowing one to absorb them directly. These pills assisted in absorbing qi present in the environment, which was a more difficult task.

2. Body Tempering Pills: Enhances physical strength, and resilience. It was a slow but gradual process when one used these pills. But it was usually only favored by someone who really wanted to train their body or someone who had no hopes of reaching the next realm.

3. Healing Pills: Accelerates the healing of injuries, mending wounds, and restoring physical health. These pills were high in demand among people who frequently took on missions related to battle.

4. Vitality Pills: Restores stamina and energy, helping a cultivator recover from exhaustion. Similar to healing pills, they were more famous among people who took on missions related to fighting. But they were also used to train a physically taxing cultivation art if you had too much money to spend,

5. Mind Calming Pills: Clears the mind, enhances focus, and stabilizes mental state, preventing deviation during cultivation. Famous among all types of people.

6. Poison Cleansing Pills: Neutralizes and expels toxins from the body, counteracting poison effects. Similar to Healing and Vitality pills in their use.

Among them, he noticed that Vitality pills had a lesser price tag compared to other stalls. These pills inherently had less usage, adding on top of it how the stall seemed to be a newcomer, it was apparent they hoped to sell this pill by lowering the price.

Spencer set his sight on one of their bottles and began bargaining, still not willing to expose his wealth. From all his recent exploration, it was apparent to him that 1000 spirit stones was truly a large amount.

“Look brother, I am a new disciple. Lord Lysander scouted me, I am a talent from Earth. Aren’t you worried Lord Lysander will beat you up if you don’t lower the price?”

The stall owner had a speechless look on his face. Are you threatening or bargaining? And use a better name for threatening alright? Everyone knows Lord Lysander doesn’t care about small stuff like these.

Spencer didn’t know much about bargaining except 3 main rules. It applied to both buying and selling.

The three secrets to completing a transaction were:

1. Persistence

2. Shamelessness

3. Persist in being shameless

And he was completely focused on following these rules.

“Lord Lysander wouldn’t care about such small stuff. Please stop using his name for such trivial matters, and pay the entire price.”

“Is that so? Then how about you invest in me? I am a talent scouted by Lord Lysander, I am destined to be someone big in the future. You can invest now to reap greater rewards in the future, I will definitely not forget you. What is your name?”

I would rather you forget about me. Why did I get such a difficult customer on my first day of opening a stall? Everyone said it was profitable to practice alchemy, but I am getting looted on my first day. The stall owner bitterly wept in his mind before replying after a pause. “My name is Caleb, and please, I don't even know you. Why would I invest in you?”

“My name is Spencer, and isn't that even better? Caleb, look, it's the right time to invest in me when no one knows about me. Do you think you’d get the chance when I become famous and people struggle to even throw pill bottles near my feet?”

His expression was so earnest that someone might have thought he was saying something serious if they didn't actually hear the nonsense spewing out of his mouth. Caleb rolled his eyes, struggling to hold back from slapping the newbie to kingdom come. Fortunately for Spencer and unfortunately for him, violence wasn't allowed, or people could easily be threatened into unfavorable deals.

“Please be sensible and buy the pills at the price which is shown. I’ve already put Vitality pills at discount because of their unpopularity.”

“No no no. Look, I'll give you some proof. You can ask around and learn that I only arrived at the sect yesterday. But see, I’ve already refined more than three meridians today. Doesn't that mean I am a heaven defying talent? C’mon, you are definitely getting a deal here.”

Spencer controlled the qi in his dantian and brought it on his finger tips.

There were 120 meridians to be refined in the Qi gathering stage. There were 20 in each limb, 20 in the torso and 20 in the head. Qi gathering stage 1 to 3 dealt with refining the meridians of legs and arms, which were a total of 80, divided into 27 27 26 meridians for 1st, 2nd and 3rd stage respectively.

Caleb sensed that Spencer was indeed at the 1st stage of Qi gathering realm, if he hadn't refined any meridian then he wouldn't have had the aura of a Qi gathering stage cultivator even if he had completely imagined the route of basic cultivation scripture.

Well, that's not really something great. But someone from Earth to have achieved what he did in a day is definitely something to look at differently. He has the will to persevere and move forward.

After some thought, he decided it wouldn't be that bad to cut down a few spirit stones.

Spencer laughed in joy when Caleb agreed to discount further. He already had them at 45 spirit stones per bottle of 10, contrary to the 50 per bottle other well established stalls sold them at. After negotiating with Spencer, he agreed to sell them for 40 spirit stones for a bottle of 10.

Spencer would’ve bought just one pill if he didn't feel that he would be going too far. He paid 40 spirit stones and took the bottle, congratulating Caleb in the process.

“You’ve definitely made the right choice. You have a great future ahead of you, I’ll visit you again.”

Caleb snapped as soon as he heard the last sentence. “Get lost.”

Spencer increased his pace with a hearty laughter as he left the market area. In front of his eyes was the system panel displaying his wealth. It had increased by ten.

The system allows me to resell and earn the difference!