Victor laughed as his vision turned dark. The five lights appeared. The shops had been refreshed and Victor immediately picked the cultivation shop. The light that represented the cultivation shop shot towards Victor and Victor was slightly surprised that the procedure was the same. The light turned to a shop list which transformed into the wheel. Victor had thought that the flighty System would take the chance to change things up after the level up, but he was wrong. He quickly stopped the wheel before Reunion could change her thoughts.

“Sorry host, you got a lower prize again.” Reunion said.

A book appeared before Victor and the title was ‘Seven Body Tempering’. Victor flipped through it and realized that it was an exercise book.

“Reunion, what is this? Why is this exercise book in your cultivation shop?”

“It’s a training book. The ‘Seven Body Tempering’ is a set of exercise that non-cultivators practiced in the Counter Realms to open their seven meridians. That is the most popular cultivation technique over there. This exercise was designed for normal people to open the meridians. Once their meridians are opened, they can become cultivators and practice their cultivation arts.”

“So, this exercise is to train normal people to become cultivators?”

“Not really,” Reunion said. “It makes it easier for people to become cultivators. If you have no talent in cultivation, all the training in the world won’t change that.”

Victor opened the book and looked through it slowly. There were several sets of instructions written in the book and after reading through it, Victor noticed that the book emphasized on seven body parts. The eyes, ears, mouth, body, hands, feet, and heart. Victor wondered if these are the ‘Seven Meridians’ mentioned by Reunion. Something he would need to investigate later.

“Reunion, can I used this to reach people to become cultivators?”

“Only if they had the talent. If they don’t have it, the ‘Seven Body Tempering’ is just a normal set of exercise.”

“Is there a way to make someone a cultivator even if he has no talent?”

“Well, there’s no real consensus on that.” Reunion admitted. “On some cultivation worlds, everyone is a cultivator, but the weakest of them are only a little stronger than normal humans. Most cultivation worlds believed that if your talent is so low, then you should not waste your time being a cultivator. Far better for these people to focus on other things.”

“So, there is a possibility?”

“With enough training and resources, anything is possible but if their talent is low, why would you want to encourage them?”

Victor thought about what the System said and realized that she was right. It was like his view on The Game. Just because everyone could join doesn’t mean everyone should. The lifestyle wasn’t suitable for everyone.

“Hey Reunion, I see I gained a number of points for this task. How do you judge how many points to give out anyway?”

“The points are given based on how well you completed a task. I must say you don’t fool around. You just need to commit a crime, and you did both ‘breaking and entry’ and ‘murder’.”

“I needed to make a statement, and the guy deserved it. What about the beatdown I gave the Green Leaper? Doesn’t that count?”

“Not according to the laws of this planet. Maybe next time you should kill a hero live on camera. That should probably count as a crime.”

“Knowing H.A.V.E, they probably have an army lawyers on retainer for such an ‘accident’.”

“They do. How did you managed to punch through that guy anyway? Your punch shouldn’t be that powerful.”

“It was just simple qi manipulation. Bear’s Charge required me to move my qi to my feet. I just moved the qi to my fist instead. Not that difficult really.”

“Maybe not, but on some cultivation world that would be considered a cultivation technique. Host, you just created a new technique.”

“Do I get a prize for it?”

“Don’t push your luck.” Reunion said. “I’ll be leaving. Till next time.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying, right? Thanks for the prize.”

Victor got up and did his daily necessities. He walked out of his motel room and there were two men outside. The two men were from the Banger Boys and had been assigned as his bodyguards. Victor wasn’t sure how much help they would be in a fight, but every crime lord needs a bodyguard or two. He greeted the two men and took the car to Jennifer’s Place.

Victor need transportation and the Banger Boys was more than happy to provide a car. Victor agreed and the car turned out to be a pimped-out muscle car. It was big, powerful, and armored. Someone had installed armored plates all over it, making it looked like a minutiae tank. Victor loved it!

They drove along the empty streets and Victor took the time to look at his new territory. Potholes, unswept streets, weeds growing on the broken pavements, the King’s was in bad shape. Victor was glad. Nothing gets people behind you like making their lives better and that was a low bar to clear for the King’s. He would need to raise some funds first, but he was hopeful that the hacker called Owl-girl would get something from the files they got from the pervert. They reached Jenifer’s Place in minutes and one of the men opened the car door for Victor. Victor got out and walked towards the diner. He turned back when he realized the two men were staying by the car.

“You two had your breakfast already?” The two men looked at each other in surprise before shaking their heads. “Come on in then. You can’t protect me on an empty stomach, right?”

Victor walked towards the diner, confident that his bodyguards would follow. It was always advisable to show your new underlings that you cared for their welfare. It costed you nothing and help build loyalty. Victor always wondered why more bosses didn’t do the same.

They walked into the diner, and Victor was happy to see that there were several customers there already. He had heard from Jennifer the diner was undergoing a lean spell after the revelation of their relationship. That phase seems to be over. The place went deathly silent as he walked to the booth at the back. Victor’s new bodyguards took the booth beside him, and a couple sitting near them quickly decided to find another seat. A waitress came to take his order and the diner slowly got back it’s voice. His breakfast came quickly, and it was Jennifer who delivered it. Her daughter sat down opposite him, and Victor dug in as he waited for her to start the questioning.

“What was that yesterday?”