Azalea glanced at Grandpa Vremya. The two had agreed to keep each other’s computer screens away from one another for the sake of fairness. For some reason, she had a bad premonition. What did it mean for a mortal to have a premonition? Perhaps they were anxious about something, and their subconscious was influencing the way they felt. What did it mean for a god to have a bad premonition? It meant Grandpa Vremya was surely up to no good! However, for the sake of her integrity, she wasn’t going to peek at his computer screen. Instead, she’d focus on diligently raising her cactus. She looked forward to the day it became an immortal. Actually, she wasn’t even sure it could become an immortal. The amount of spiritual energy within the fast-time world was simply too low. After a billion years of development, it had been depleted by quite a bit. Even though spiritual energy was renewable, a little bit would still be lost every year as more and more cultivators absorbed energy but didn’t die to return it to the land. Either way, Azalea was confident her cactus was going to do better than Grandpa Vremya’s user.

***

“Do I really have to kill the cactus?” Howard muttered to himself. He had just attended Teacher Brawn’s first lesson, and the teacher had brought his youngest disciple with him. The disciple was nineteen years old, one year older than Howard, but the disciple was already in the foundation-establishment stage. Right now, Howard was at the seventh level of qi condensation, and he didn’t think he could break through foundation-establishment in a year. As the first-place student during the entrance exam, he thought his potential was high, but he hadn’t expected the whole freshmen class to be so subpar. It must’ve been the weakest class to enter the academy in a few generations. As such, why would Teacher Brawn accept any of the students as his personal disciple?

[Don’t forget you can bribe an upperclassman or drug the library patrol to obtain the Myriad Mist Cultivation Technique as well.]

Howard shook his head. Bribing an upperclassman? With what money? He was simply too poor! Although his ancestors were immortals, a billion years had passed. They had an uncountable number of descendants. The family had long branched off into multiple subfamilies, eventually becoming families of their own. It was too difficult to make money unless one was in the golden-core stage and was capable of condensing liquid spiritual energy to sell. Howard’s parents were golden-core stage cultivators, but to bribe an upperclassman to break the rules would take too much money. If the upperclassman was caught, both Howard’s and his senior’s cultivations would be taken away through crippling of the dantian. Unless Howard gave the upperclassman enough money to retire without worries, it wasn’t feasible. As for drugging the library patrol? What a joke! The library patrol was a massive creeper vine that covered the whole building, having leaves and vines on every floor. It wasn’t as simple as slipping a sleeping pill to an old man.

[Teacher Botan’s class starts in fifteen minutes. If you head there now, you’ll be able to claim a front-row seat. That along with my help in answering questions for you, Teacher Botan will surely take you in as her personal disciple.]

Howard’s expression darkened. He wanted to be a great warrior; he wanted the forces of evil to tremble when they heard his name. As a hot-blooded young man, how could he be satisfied with taking care of plants? He didn’t want to be a babysitter for plants! Immortal Mercenary Paul was his idol, not Immortal Gardener Max!

[Once you obtain the Myriad Mist Cultivation Technique, your combat strength will skyrocket. Your cultivation speed will increase as well. If you started training in the technique right now, it wouldn’t be a problem for you to reach the foundation-establishment stage in half a year. By then, Teacher Botan and Teacher Brawn will realize you’re more suited to combat than botany, and it shouldn’t be a problem to convince Teacher Brawn to accept you as his personal disciple.]

Howard exhaled. If he wanted the Myriad Mist Cultivation Technique, then it really did seem like assassinating the cactus was the only thing he could do. System, is there really no other way to obtain the technique?

[There is another way, but the probability of it succeeding is so low that it may as well be zero.]

Howard’s brow furrowed. From the sounds of it, there was still a chance. Wasn’t attaining immortality nearly impossible as well? If he couldn’t even succeed in something like this, how was he going to become an immortal? System, don’t keep me in suspense. Tell me the method!

[You can seduce an upperclassman or teacher and convince them to read and memorize the technique for you. Love will make people do the strangest of things.]

Ah? Wasn’t this feasible? Why did the system say the chances of it working were close to zero?

[User, I suggest you take a look in any mirror before considering this option.]

A piercing pain stabbed Howard’s heart. Yes, he might’ve been born with a bit of a handicap in the looks department, but that didn’t mean he’d be unable to seduce a woman! Women weren’t only attracted by handsome faces and smoking-hot bodies. At the very least, Howard could attract a gold digger! Unfortunately, he wasn’t that rich. If he couldn’t bribe an upperclassman, how could he seduce one through money? As for finding a girl who’d fall for him because of his potential? As a member of the weakest generation, he could just forget it.

Howard frowned. If he wanted to enter the second floor through his own power, he needed to be at the foundation-establishment stage. However, to quickly reach the foundation-establishment stage, he needed a cultivation technique from the second floor.

[If you diligently cultivate with the technique you have now, you’ll reach the foundation-establishment stage in two years. Do you want to waste two years of your time? It’s a widely accepted fact that one can’t become a powerhouse without paving the road with corpses. You’ll have to kill people sooner or later when the resources start getting scarcer and the competition for them increases. Why not start a bit earlier than the rest of our peers? Pave the first step of your road to immortality with the corpse of your classmate. When you become an immortal, it’ll have been his honor to help you ascend.]

Howard gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, mulling over the system’s words. After five minutes had passed, Howard’s eyes shot open, and he marched down the hall, heading towards the greenhouse where Teacher Botan conducted her lessons. Perhaps his earlier thinking had been a bit too naïve. The world was a cruel place, and if one wanted to achieve something great, other people had to be stepped on. Howard sighed. At least he was only being tasked with killing a plant and not a fellow human.