After a week of helping Elder Qing, he was given a break, and now he had to see how he could help his fellow batchmates. The first person he checked on was his roommate, Yu Huadao.

He was still in early 2-stars, and because he didn’t have the special pills, Mingwei reckoned that he was only gathering about 200-300 Qi per day. It would naturally take him 3 times as long to get to the 3-star realm!

He thought about it long and hard. Most cultivators don’t really understand the numerical background to their cultivation, so that was something he could manipulate. Some of them would likely think more about their cultivation and would realise that something is up. If he wanted to help someone, he had to choose someone who’s a little... dense.

Thankfully, his roommate, Yu Huadao, was one such person. He seemed entirely cultivation obsessed. His building was home to a total of 15 boys, well, 14 now, one of them apparently left, but still, if he could do something, he could probably do it to the entire building. Perhaps a building-wide cultivation formation?

That would require more Qi, but that’s something he, as a middle 2-star cultivator had! Materials too!

He needed something that would ‘burn’ itself out, and he looked at the beastbones that he gathered. Certain materials cannot withstand prolonged ‘rune’ use, and such that they would frequently ‘burnout’. Beastbone fiber is good as brushes, but not as the anchor.

Sigh.

Gems would do well, but that’s a bit too long-lasting, and eventually the formation will be discovered. He needed something more subtle.

So, he walked over to one of the Sect’s many storerooms. Generally, the Sect had 5-grades of storerooms. The Master’s personal storeroom, the Elder-class Storeroom, the Core Disciple Storeroom, the Inner & Outer Disciple’s Storeroom, and lastly, the General Storeroom.

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This is where rubbish is essentially thrown away, and is frequently treated in a similar manner.

Mingwei’s past life wouldn’t have naturally come here, but he had seen this world treat gems like scrap, so he figured that it’s quite likely he might find gems here.

Indeed, he found some candles. Cultivation Candles. When lit, they would improve Qi gathering in the general vicinity, and it fit his criteria. It would last no longer than 2 months! The effects of the candles were quite mild, it would increase the Qi gathering by around just 100 Qi per day.

BUT, there was a trick! If runes were added into the cultivation candles, it’s effects can be increased quite significantly, to about 500 Qi a day!

He smiled, and he took out his Beastbone Brush. Each Normal-class Rune would cost 300Qi, but thanks to the Brush, it only costs 240Qi.

He still doesn’t have enough Qi to write a Greater-Class Rune, which needs 9,000Qi.

One candle. With his brush, he could write One Normal Rune. It would increase it’s effects by 5x, pushing it to 500Qi, and it would last for a month. He smiled.

He went back to his block, and found a quiet area in the middle of the building. The candle’s effects would permeate the entire building. And he lit it. In truth, he too, would benefit from the cultivation candle, but he would intentionally hold back on breaking through the 3-star realm until a few of his batch got through.

Next, was a boy who lived on the 2nd floor. His name was Ma Yuehao, and he was already in the middle 2-star realm. He too, had apparently acquired some pills and resources that boosted his cultivation from outside.

Mingwei looked at him and he fit the profile of an arrogant mid-tier noble young master, and thought he should be given a boost. He seemed in many ways to be the perfect lightning rod, and he would take away all the attention and pressure from the seniors.

He, too, didn’t seem particularly observant. So, one day when he was out, he quickly snuck into his room and took a look at his pills.

3-star Light Greenduck Extract Pills that gathered 300 Qi a day, for a week. Decent, but could be better.

Writing runes on pills was something that’s not quite encouraged, and there’s the rule of no more than one rune during every 2 steps of the pill manufacturing process. Multiple runes used on the same pill would require a period of ‘cooldown’ before the subsequent runes are used.

Thankfully, these were plain greenduck pills, no rune was used in their production.

The pills were small, and so he could only squeeze in a small lesser rune. He used his Beastbone Brush, manipulated his Qi such that the tip of the brush became extremely sharp, and quickly wrote Qi-Gathering Lesser Runes. Lesser runes cost only 10Qi, and are pretty much the easiest ones to write. It’s even possible to write lesser runes without a core, by just collecting the Qi that floated around!

With the lesser runes, the pills now gathered 600 Qi a day.

He smiled, and now, it was time to wait. He reckoned Ma Yuehao would be the first to break through 3-stars, befitting his status as the arrogant young master of the batch.

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