The slowly declining power of the internal nexus lasted longer than Samantha expected, taking several hours to fully dissipate. By the time the fount vanished from within her, her cultivation was pressing up against the threshold between Peak Copper and Low Bronze. Unlike her previous experiences with being on the cusp of ranking up, the jump from Copper to Bronze felt much more significant. The amount of pressurized qi in her dantian and meridians was nearly equivalent to how much she needed to accumulate in all the previous ranks combined. It made her feel bloated, like she had eaten too much at a feast and was on the brink of a stomach ache.

She intuitively understood that even a little more cultivation would push her over the edge and rank her up to Low Bronze, but she didn’t dare to advance just yet. For one, her body needed some time to acclimate to the new rank before gaining another. As it stood, she was already having a difficult time containing her new potent aura. Killing intent was subtly leaking out of her at all times now, despite her best attempts at stealthing. Secondly, she needed more information about what happened during the Low Bronze core formation process before committing to it. Lastly, and arguably most importantly, it would be much too suspicious if she gained two cultivation ranks in a day. She could explain going up to Peak Copper if she told people she was close to ranking up before her duel with Eileen, and then she cultivated enough after the fight to break through. No amount of explaining could rationalize her going up to Low Bronze, however.

A small part of her was frustrated that she needed to stifle this growth spurt to avoid complications. She had gotten a taste of what true strength as a cultivator could be like, and she wanted more, but she knew this was for the best. Because of how quickly she had been progressing through the cultivation ranks, Samantha was already behind on reaching her full potential on what her Attribute values could be. After reforging her body and receiving a boost to all Aptitudes, she could feel the latent potential within her grow even further.

Before she became a cultivator she had exercised and trained regularly. Still, she had only managed to achieve a 2 in Strength, 4 in Agility, 3 in Endurance, and 2 in Resilience. What this meant, essentially, was that her aptitude for Strength and Resilience were relatively low, her aptitude for Endurance was average, and her aptitude for Agility was high. Most mortals could only hope to achieve a 5 in any attribute if their aptitude for it was excellent, with only the true freaks of nature with exceptional aptitudes reaching a 6.

In general, a person’s attribute growth was determined by two factors: their innate aptitude for the attribute, and their cultivation rank. As cultivation rank increased, so too did the upper limits for attributes, though a person would still need to put in the time and effort to reach their full potential. The exception to this limit was opening meridians. Stat gains from meridians were counted in addition to what a cultivator could achieve through hard work, meaning a cultivator could go beyond the attribute limitations of their rank and aptitudes by opening additional meridians.

When the second rank of As One increased her aptitude for Agility, her body went through physical changes to reflect her now-excellent aptitude which made it easier and faster to train the stat. Now, after her body had been reforged, she had become a freak of nature herself–at least when it came to Agility with her aptitude becoming exceptional. Her Strength and Resilience were upgraded to be average, and she now had a high aptitude for Endurance. She just knew that if she put some more effort into training now that her stats would rapidly jump–given that progress was faster the further your stats were from reaching their full potential. She estimated that if she reached her full attribute potential and counted her meridian bonuses now, she’d end up with Strength and Endurance in the late teens, Agility in the low 20’s, and Resilience in the mid teens.

Her excitement at the idea of advancing her attributes so far was only tempered by the fact that it would take a lot of time and effort to get there. Luckily, being 100 gold richer, she could afford a lot of training aids to speed the process along before she ascended–supplements that the average cultivator would find too expensive to invest in just to save some training time.

All she needed to do was get her discounts after dealing with the cultivator terrorizing the Southern Business District, figure out what she wanted to purchase in preparation for the next floor, and then calculate how much money she’d have left over to play with.

By the time Silas and Samantha maneuvered their way out of the waterways it was getting dark outside. Samantha took the least traveled roads possible through Yivesh to return to her home, on account of smelling horrid from both extended time in the sewers, a cultivation rank up, and expelling detritus from multiple meridians.

After a long, thorough bath, and a change of clothes into the repaired Laminar that had been delivered to her home by the Braxand armorers earlier that day, she went out into the streets to see if she could catch the Verdant-Stallion-Riding-cultivator traveling to or from his favored brothel. She had Silas grow the most intimidating pair of horns he could, and hoped that her Laminar combined with Silas’s unique appearance would make her recognizable to the man. Perhaps he had even been one of the audience members in the Coliseum when she dueled.

While she waited to see if he would show up tonight, Samantha reflected over the changes to her status page. The most obvious differences were those changes she gained from opening new meridians. She was now 3 points stronger and 3 points faster, and thanks to meridian synergy the cost for Swift and Flurry had been halved. She also had gained more bond ability points and two new bond abilities, but there was a more subtle difference that she almost missed, too. Rank 3 of As One, which had previously stated that she had not met the requirements to purchase it, was now missing that detail. She wasn’t sure if she met the requirement because her body was reforged, she ranked up to Peak Copper, Silas ranked up, or she opened all the leg and foot meridians, but she really didn’t care all that much which it was. All that mattered was that even though the description still was only listed as question marks, she could purchase the ability now if she wanted.

The question marks puzzled her somewhat and made As One a risky investment, but she had a feeling it would pay off. As One had been one of her most powerful bond abilities, and she had to believe that maybe the question marks were a signal that there was something special about the third rank. Maybe if she bought it she could choose from multiple skills? Or maybe the skill was generated when she purchased it based on her relationship milestones with Silas thus far? Or maybe something else entirely.

Before she could get lost too deeply in her musings, she saw him.

Samantha could tell by the way that the man’s eyes looked ahead without focus and his body wobbled unsteadily from side to side as the Stallion walked that he was inebriated. His ornate, golden robes were slightly askew, revealing smears of lipstick on his neck and chest, attesting to a busy day at the brothel.

She stood in the middle of the empty street–impossible to miss as almost everyone else had gone inside after word had gotten around that she was planning on dealing with him tonight. Only a few high ranking members of the Business Committee watched on from a distance, wanting to see that she completed the job they paid her for. Still, despite her being the only other person in the road, he showed no sign of stopping or steering his horse away from running directly into her.

His gaze only sobered slightly once Samantha unleashed the full force of her Peak Copper killing intent towards him, and he pulled back on the Stallion’s reigns to signal a halt.

He squinted blearily at her, confused as to why she was standing in his way. Once he realized that she was indeed a higher rank than him, he gave a slight bow of his head and began to steer towards her left to go around her.

Samantha stepped to her left to get in his way again.

He paused somewhat uncertainly, then addressed her, “Honored sister, I am trying to get home.”

Deciding not to mince words with the man, Samantha made her demands clear, “You’ve rudely traveled this area on horseback without concern for others, pushing aside and nearly trampling on those who get in your way. I assume you must be from another town, because in Yivesh those traveling with mounts or other beasts of burden are expected to take the wider roads, not go through business districts that have heavy foot traffic. I will give you two options on how to atone. Option one: pay 10 gold to make up for the injuries and loss of business you have caused for these shops–one of which is owned by my family–and agree never to travel through this road with your steed again. Option two: I will challenge you to a duel right now and beat you within an inch of your life in the Coliseum, and take the gold anyways as a wager. In either case, if I or other cultivators in my family see you in this area again with your steed we will challenge you to fight. Now, choose.”

The man looked taken aback by her words, but had the sense of mind even while inebriated to not immediately speak rudely to someone of a higher rank. After a few moments of thought, he said, “I recall no laws that forbid me from traveling anywhere in the city on my mount.” He smiled smugly, as if he had won some great debate.

“It is called ‘the law of common courtesy’, and it is usually not required to be written anywhere for those with any sense. Are you claiming you are unaware of how to be decent to others? Perhaps if you did not go out of your way to be a nuisance, no one would have had an issue with you in the first place.”

“A nuisance? To whom? We cultivators are gifts to these sad mortals. They should be thankful I come through here at all, and if a spirit beast attacked I could protect them.” he declared haughtily.

“The only spirit beast they need protecting from is yours.” she said with growing irritation, “Now, what will you choose to do? Pay up, leave, and only return here if you travel on foot? Or will you fight me?”

The man sat up straighter and looked down on her from his steed, his previous politeness vanishing, “You think to challenge me? Do you know who I am? I–”

Samantha sharpened her killing intent on the man as she lost her patience, the horse rearing back slightly beneath him as the weight of her aura settled on them. The man began to sweat under the pressure and his words faltered in his throat.

“My name is Samantha Cray, and I tire of your stalling. Choose, or I will challenge you. Keep in mind, the last people to challenge me were exiled from this floor.” she said with steel in her voice.

A spark of recognition flared in his eyes at those words. He looked over her attire, her spear, and down to the hissing Jackalope by her side. After a few seconds of taking in the sight, the connection formed in his mind and his eyes widened. He knew exactly who she was. Although he had not personally attended the duel yesterday, talk of the exciting fight and the results were a popular topic of conversation everywhere in the city.

His straight posture deflated at once, “Forgiveness, I understand now. I will pay the requested amount and I will not travel through here with my mount again. You have my word as a cultivator.”

Samantha drew back her killing intent as the man fumbled through a waist pouch for the coins and handed them over to her. He proceeded to bow and then turned around, directing his mount back towards the wider main thoroughfares of Yivesh. Though she didn’t know what his word as a cultivator amounted to, she didn’t think that the business owners would have any more issues with this particular man again.

The committee members that were watching walked up to her, elated at the results of the confrontation. Clyde–the head of the committee and the one who had given her the job in the first place–spoke first, “He really won’t be bothering us anymore?”

Samantha nodded, “He swore to only come back through here if it was on foot, which I expect will be not at all. I also told him if I saw his steed around here again one of the cultivators in my family would challenge him to a duel, so I’m confident he’ll keep his word and just take another route.”

“Marvelous! Simply marvelous.” Clyde said, clapping his hands together excitedly. “Thank you for your fine work. I’m sure everyone will be thrilled at this news.”

Samantha handed Clyde the 10 gold she had just taken from the High Copper cultivator, and he looked at the shining coins with great confusion.

“Distribute this money evenly amongst those who contributed funds to hire me for this job to reimburse them and repay some loss of business they may have suffered.”

Though Samantha was not required in any way to hand over the funds she had received, she considered many of these people to be like family to her. She didn’t want to be the reason for financial hardships for any of them. Besides, she had more than enough money right now as it was.

Clyde’s eyes began to water as he was overcome with unexpected emotion. But before he had the chance to get too sentimental, Samantha gave him a sly wink and added, “...Also, please let everyone know that I’ll be doing my shopping tomorrow to receive my discounts.”

He and the other committee members laughed, and promised to let everyone know to expect her. Clyde handed her back 5 Silver in change to give to her parents, and everyone parted ways with their hearts a little lighter.

Samantha woke up feeling blissfully rested.

Last night she had wanted to learn the Indomitable Body art, but truthfully she had been too tired to focus. After her brutal battle against Eileen Braxand she hadn’t had much time to recuperate. She was dragged to the Braxand manor, tasked with stealing an elixir, had to stay up memorizing the combat art manual, went immediately to the sewers to rank up, came out of the sewers to confront the Verdant Stallion cultivator… it was understandable why she needed to sleep so desperately.

Now refreshed and revitalized, she was raring to go. She was determined to browse every store in the Southern Business District and look for anything that could potentially help her on the next floor, or perhaps could be a gift or memento left behind for her parents. After she was done shopping, she would come back and take the time to learn the combat art.

As she got ready, she noticed that 5 silver pieces had been placed on her bedside table next to a small note that read, “Allowance for your shopping today. Have fun! -Mom and Dad”. Her parents must have set it there after she had fallen asleep.

Samantha’s heart warmed at the sight of the note. Apparently, her parents did not want to accept the ‘repayment’ she had given them last night and gave it back to her instead. She believed that they probably needed the money more than she did at this point, but couldn’t bring herself to try and return it to them a second time. Ultimately, she added it to her overflowing coin purses and decided to accept it. Extra money never hurt when shopping, after all.

All in all, the entirety of her personal wealth amounted to 100 gold, 37 silver and 46 coppers. This was the richest she had ever been in her life, and she was likely going to make herself poor again in short order. Samantha immediately set aside 40 gold pieces for training with the sadist. She planned on leaving for the second floor 13 days from now (1 day prior to the ascension deadline) to prevent any possibility of accidentally exceeding the time limit. This meant she would need 12 days for training since she was using today for shopping. She opted not to set aside the full 60 gold pieces to fund the training, banking on her ability to win the ‘free training’ prize at least once every three sessions. This would leave her with 60 gold, 37 silver, and 46 coppers to freely spend on whatever else she wanted.

She met her parents in their kitchen and gave them hugs in greeting. Silas was already feasting on his breakfast herbs, but as delicious as her parent’s freshly cooked pancakes smelled, she wasn’t feeling the least bit hungry at the moment. She hadn’t eaten since the feast at Ol’ Man Whisper's, but she still felt physically satisfied despite the lack of recent sustenance. Perhaps this was a result of her ranking up to Peak Copper, similar to how her body generally required less sleep? Or maybe it was a result of her body being reforged and becoming more efficient. She’d have to wait and see.

She left Silas behind to be spoiled by her parents and visiting patrons, and told everyone she’d be back by dinner. Then, her shopping spree truly began.

Samantha decided that her first priority should be survival gear. A way to start fires, build shelters, find and store water, tools for cooking and preparing meals, and utility items like ropes or light sources. She had no idea what kind of environment awaited her beyond the Obelisk, so she’d have to prepare for everything as best as she could. This led her to the "Caravaner’s Depot", a store that specialized in stocking caravan’s for travel necessities as they moved goods through the vast wilderness between cities.

She clamped down on her aura as tightly as she could as she walked into the shop, unable to fully suppress it but hopefully mitigating the effects enough where no one would be too uncomfortable standing next to her. It would probably make a mortal’s hair stand on end–like there was a danger nearby–if they walked near her, but it would not cause them to feel sick or faint.

She was welcomed by the owners like a member of the family, and after telling them that she planned on ‘taking a journey’ outside the city soon and explaining what she thought she would need, they offered her some items they thought could help.

A majority of the items they showed her were qi enchanted, on account of her cultivator status. Qi enchanted items came in many varieties, and depending on how they were scripted could be powered either by ambient qi (like the Granvich backpack she had found that preserved the goods inside), use of spirit pearls, raw qi from the cultivator, or a combination of the three. This made them expensive, but especially useful for a cultivator in a survival situation where resource availability was uncertain. After all, at least a cultivator would always have their own qi to rely on.

The first enchanted item that caught her eye was a canteen. The large container looked like it should hold about a gallon of water, and had a heavy-duty adjustable strap that could be looped over the shoulder to carry it. Samantha was confused at first by exactly how sturdy the strap was, as it seemed like it should be connected to something much heavier than the canteen, but after the shop owners explained what the qi enchantment did she understood.

The container could actually hold 10 times the amount of water inside of it, though the weight of the water itself would not be reduced at all. With Samantha’s Peak Copper body generally needing less sleep, food, and water than a mortal, this meant she could carry well over a month’s worth of water with her at once. The rank 1, water-attuned spirit pearls that typically powered the canteen (such as those that came from aquatic creatures) would last for about 6 months before needing to be replaced by a new pearl. Thankfully, these low rank cores were only a few silver each, so she decided to buy the canteen and a few extra pearls just in case. In a pinch, the canteen could also be powered by non-water-attuned pearls or raw qi from a cultivator, but would only hold 5 gallons of water and would need to be recharged more frequently. If the container was full when it lost its charge, it would eject any water that could not normally fit within the 1 gallon volume violently from a specially designed release valve integrated into the lid.

She was informed that these containers were normally placed in a cart and carried by a beast of burden, and were not meant to be carried by a singular person since a full canteen weighed over 80 pounds. However, she was confident that with 10 Strength the weight wouldn’t hinder her much. She could also dump out some water if it turned out there were plenty of water sources on the next floor and she didn’t need to hoard so much of it.

The second enchanted item that interested her was a scripted fire-starter. The obsidian, fist-sized sphere could emit a small, fingernail-sized flame when activated through the use of ambient qi. A larger flame could be created by fueling the sphere with a spirit pearl or raw qi to cook or create warmth with. Since Samantha didn’t know how much wood or kindling would be available on the second floor, she considered this purchase money well-spent.

The third and final enchanted item that she got from this shop was a handheld lantern. Samantha’s Prey’s Perception gave her the ability to see better in the dark, so she chose not to invest in the most expensive and feature-rich lantern they sold. Instead, she purchased a small, sturdy lantern that only ran off of ambient qi and emitted a dim light in an adjustable beam.

The rest of the survival gear she got from the shop was relatively mundane: a woolen blanket, bedroll, waterproof tarp, cooking utensils, small cooking pot, 50 feet of sturdy rope, small hand shovel, an ax, saw, and a few other minor items. The total of everything together would normally cost around 15 gold, but with her discount combined with minor haggling it was brought down to only 11 gold and 3 silver.

Samantha went through the next several shops trying to spend at least a silver at each. She purchased food stuffs, clothing for different temperatures, hygiene and personal care items, gifts she planned to give to family members, and some small items that could entertain her such as dice and cards. And, even though she still wasn’t hungry or thirsty, she bought something from every food vendor just to enjoy the flavor. Anything left over she happily shared with other shop workers she visited or the children longingly staring at her snacks– provided their parents didn’t mind. This only put her out a little over a gold piece.

Samantha saved the ‘best’ stores for last, meaning the ones that she would find the most exciting (and expensive) to shop at.

The ‘Art of Combat’, which was aptly named due to selling only combat art manuals, was her next stop. This shop constantly hired cultivators to serve as both guards and salesmen, given the high-value items held within and cultivators being the only clientele. Samantha was primarily looking for arts that would be synergistic with her open meridians, but she was open to anything that could prove useful for survival or traveling through different terrain. Not wanting to give away that she had more meridians open than was standard, she only mentioned one foot, one leg, her heart, and her mind meridian, which kept in line with the golden ratio at Peak Copper. After explaining her needs to one of the salesmen, he began combing through the shelves and expertly picking out arts that matched her criteria.

As his stack of options grew, Samantha did some browsing of her own, but didn’t find anything that suited her current needs and abilities. She did see that she could buy the “Identify” art for 1 gold, and she remembered back to when she first learned “Inspect” and had been using it for a similar purpose.

The short description on the “Identify” manual described it as a way to see basic information about people or objects for only a fraction of a qi point per use. Samantha considered picking it up since it was relatively cheap, but after speaking to a different salesman she eventually put it back. He had informed her that her Inspect art could do the same thing–though less efficiently–in addition to being useful in a fight. Inspect gave her more information about a fighter such as stat values, and could overcome resistances that would thwart Identify. Samantha felt vindicated after talking to the salesman, recalling how Thomas had mocked her for her usage of the skill before. It was nice to see that Thomas did not, in fact, know everything.

The first salesman she spoke to had finally finished gathering the manuals he felt would suit her and called her over to the counter to look through the options. She began to go through them one by one, starting from the least expensive and going to the most expensive.

A few arts she discarded out of hand because they were too similar or less efficient than abilities she already possessed–such as ones that increased speed but were not nearly as versatile or powerful as Swift. Others she discounted because they were too expensive, even for her ample budget of over 48 gold. It wasn’t that she couldn’t afford them, but she still had another shop to visit after this one and wanted to have some money to spend there.

After picking through the stack, there were a few she was fairly confident she would purchase.

The first was “Geas”, an art that utilized an open mind meridian to impose a contract on another person. Geas essentially let the user place a small ‘bomb’ of their own qi into another person’s dantian, which would explode if some condition the user set was broken. If the target was of an equal or higher cultivation rank to the user, the Geas must be mutually agreed upon, else the target’s natural qi defenses would reject the bomb. If the target was of a lower cultivation rank the Geas could be forced, provided the user put enough qi into the art to break through the natural defenses. The amount of damage the Geas would cause to the target’s cultivation base was also dependent on how much qi was put into the art. The Geas remained actively connected to the user through a gossamer thin thread, similar to Samantha’s bond to silas.

This was apparently a popular choice among cultivator nobles, as it was frequently used to keep tabs on people or ensure business dealings were ‘honest’, though it was admittedly limited in several ways. The Geas reserved whatever qi was invested into it, meaning that until the target broke the condition and received damage from the Geas, or the user chose to harmlessly dissipate the Geas, the user’s total qi pool was reduced. There was also the potential of spiritual backlash if the attempt of forcing a Geas on someone failed, causing the user’s own cultivation base to be damaged instead. There could also only be one condition per Geas, and the condition being ‘broken’ was dependent on the target’s own rationale and intentions. Thus, conditions needed to be carefully worded, or someone could potentially ‘think’ their way around the condition without consequences if they were clever enough.

This art reserved a minimum of 5 qi per Geas to maintain the connection and inject a small amount of qi into the target, making this a rather expensive technique. However, despite the limitations, Samantha now had a larger qi pool than ever and could think of several useful implications of this art. If there were other people alive on the second floor, she would need a reliable way to keep them from betraying or cheating her.

The second useful manual contained “Hyperfocus”, and was actually more of a mental technique than a combat art. This was a passive technique that enhanced the effectiveness of her mind meridian by further increasing reaction and mental processing speeds. There were almost no downsides to learning this, save one. Other passive mental techniques, such as Sage’s Rumination, could not be active at the same time as Hyperfocus–at least not with her current level of ability. It was difficult enough keeping her mind partitioned into two sections, let alone three. It would also take time to switch which technique she was practicing, as they required almost opposite mindsets. Sage’s Rumination was focused on tranquility and peace, while Hyperfocus necessitated a sort of subconscious intensity that Sage’s Rumination didn’t allow for, and she doubted that the two could ever run smoothly together.

The third art, “Last Wind”, was an interesting double edged sword that relied on an open Heart Meridian. For 1 qi point a minute, the user would gain +5 Endurance, which would wipe away exhaustion and get them back into the fight if they were on the brink of collapsing. However, when the art is stopped the user will take on all of the unnaturally accumulated exhaustion at once. Depending on how long they relied on the art for and what state they were in when they started using it, this could cause anything from being winded to falling unconscious. Samantha could see many situations where this could save her life in the future, such as if there was an extended chase and she needed to flee, or if she just needed a little more time to finish a drawn out battle.

Samantha was thrilled by these three arts, but still disappointed that there were no leg or foot meridian arts that were better than what she already had.

Seeing the small pile of discarded options, the salesman asked, “Was there an issue with the leg and foot based arts that I brought you? Perhaps you were seeking out something a bit different?”

“I just felt that these techniques were a bit similar to what I already possess. I was hoping for something more unique or powerful other than speed or kicking arts.” she admitted.

“Well, if that’s what you’re looking for, I do have one thing in mind. However, I must warn you that it’s rather expensive and also requires both feet meridians to be opened, so you wouldn’t be able to use it unless you break the golden ratio now or after you rank up to Low Bronze.”

Samantha schooled her expression, not wanting the man to suspect she already met the requirement, “I’d love to at least take a look, if you’d bring it to me?”

“Of course. One moment.”

Samantha did a quick tally of the cost of the books if she bought all three and calculated that before discounts it would cost her around 18 gold. She estimated that with the store discount and a healthy round of haggling she could get the cost down to around 13 gold.

The salesman came back with a tome priced at an eye watering 30 gold and set it down gingerly in front of her.

“30 gold?!” Samantha couldn’t help but gasp. “Is this tome multiple-use or something?”

The salesman shook his head, “As you know, most combat art tomes are imprinted with qi inscriptions that assist the reader in learning the correct flows and patterns to manipulate their spirit and perform the art. Once that inscription is fully understood and absorbed by the reader, it vanishes from the tome and the pages are rendered inert. This essentially turns the manual into a normal book, and then usually the book itself dissolves due to the stress of releasing the power in the inscription. Multi-use tomes are incredibly difficult to make and maintain, and are generally… kept in a collection by the Big Three and out of the reach of the average cultivator. It would be quite a bargain if we were selling one out of this shop for only 30 gold.”

Samantha looked over the combat art description to see why it was priced so high, and her mouth practically began salivating as she read.

“Cloud Step”, as the salesman had mentioned earlier, required both foot meridians to be open for it to be used. 1 point of qi invested into the art would create a solid surface of condensed qi directly beneath the chosen foot. Regardless of where the surface is placed or in which orientation the user is facing, it will remain steady and usable as a platform until one second has passed or the user chooses to move their foot to another place. In other words, Samantha could literally run circles through the empty air around her enemies and fight them while she was upside down if she wanted to. She could also use it to climb or descend from great heights, cross wide chasms, walk on water… the applications were numerous.

Samantha had to have it.

Samantha brought the four tomes up to the shopkeeper and began the most intense session of haggling that she’d ever done in her life. Unfortunately, the price on the Cloud Step tome was not as flexible as the others were, and she could only get the price down to 26 gold. As a result, it was simply too expensive to get all four items right this instant.

Samantha decided that the most important items for her survival would be Cloud Step and Hyperfocus. With no knowledge of what the terrain would be like on the next floor, Cloud Step would give her the ability to traverse virtually anything except an endless ocean. As for Hyperfocus, it was a generally useful ability and could possibly help with the Active effect of Prey’s Perception. If she could use her sphere of dominion more often, that could be a lifesaving ability she relied on in fast fights.

While Geas would be potent in her interactions with other people, that required that she actually met others on the second floor she could use it on. For all she knew, everyone would be more powerful than her and she couldn’t force a Geas, or she could be the only human present on the next floor–a very lonely but possible future. As for Last Wind, it was extremely useful in a pinch but not necessary for most situations. She could live without it if she had to, though she would have felt more secure with it in her arsenal.

Samantha made her choice and coughed up 31 gold for the two tomes, leaving her with 17 gold, 32 silver, and 22 copper.

With just over 20 gold left to spend, Samantha journeyed to the last shop on her list, “Grandmaster Nutrition and Cultivation”. This alchemy shop specialized in training aids and supplements for cultivators who were working to advance their attributes, much like she was planning on doing over the next couple of weeks.

When she met with a shop worker and explained that she wanted to raise every attribute as much as possible over the next twelve days, the woman got a greedy glint in her eye.

Needless to say, Samantha ended up buying 12 doses of the most potent alchemical powders the store crafted for each attribute. She was instructed to mix one spoonful of each powder into water and consume the drink 30 to 60 minutes before she began training for the best effects. The woman claimed that the powders would increase her workout productivity by around 3 times, making her 12 days of training as effective as 36 days.

When she walked back home and sat down to eat dinner with her family–again more for the experience than for satiating any hunger–she only had 3 gold, 28 silver, and 22 copper remaining. After finishing dinner she decided to head to her room for the night.

Samantha then began the arduous task of trying to learn the techniques from the three new combat art manuals she obtained: Indomitable Body, Cloud Step, and Hyperfocus. She decided to learn Hyperfocus first, since it would hopefully improve her learning speed and retention on the next two tomes.

It was going to be another long night, but she was looking forward to how much she would grow by the time the sun rose tomorrow morning. Wouldn’t the sadist be surprised?