Although he did not understand why the last remaining requirement to unlock a new module was to ask the system if he could obtain more knowledge, since it was already unlocked, there was no need to think about it any further.

Letting out a light sigh, he went ahead and commanded the system to show him the newly obtained Knowledge Module. As he looked at it, he could not help but be slightly surprised that he had two pieces of knowledge that he could obtain at the moment. Though, once he looked at their titles, he felt like it made sense.

Ding!

[Knowledge Module] “To seek knowledge is to have the yearning to understand the world around them.” Obtainable Knowledge: Cost: [Cultivation Aptitudes, Races, and You: An Introduction] 50 System Points [The Basics of Cultivation: Volume 2] 100 System Points [The Intermediate Realms of Cultivation] Missing requirements [Side Professions 101: A Guide] Missing requirements [Essence of Qi] Missing requirements Obtained Knowledge: [The Basics of Cultivation] Available System Points: 205

Seeing how he still had over 200 System Points available for use, Arthur went ahead and spent 50 of them on the first piece of knowledge, wondering if the knowledge contained in it would be enough for him to answer the questions he had regarding the things he saw on Lady Guang’s status screen.

Whoosh!

Just like the first piece of knowledge he obtained, he slowly organized and assimilated the knowledge given to him by the system, looking through the information one by one as he slowly became more and more familiar with it.

Fortunately, as he continued to look through the knowledge he had just unlocked, most of the questions he had come up with so far regarding aptitudes had been answered. Then again, he had only seen two types of cultivation aptitudes so far, which were Soul Palaces and Soul-Heart Bridges.

Well, according to [Cultivation Aptitudes, Races, and You], there were three widely known types of cultivation aptitudes. The first one was the Soul Palace aptitude, which meant that the person was more talented in manipulating qi and souls. The second one was the Radiant Heart aptitude, which meant that the person was more talented in terms of body cultivation and weapons. As for the last type of aptitude, it combined the two of them, giving off the feeling that anyone that had this aptitude would be a prodigy in anything they set their minds to

.

That aptitude… was the Soul-Heart Bridge aptitude.

Of course, even though two people might have the same type of aptitude, that did not mean that both would excel to the same extent. Because of that, there’s another type of classification for aptitudes, separating those that were only slightly skilled in one aspect among those who were gifted talents in the same aspect.

From what Arthur had obtained, the classification was similar to the floors of a building, where one tier was the lowest level of aptitude one could have, while nine tiers was the highest level of aptitude. In essence, someone with a One-tiered Soul Palace would only be slightly better at techniques that involved qi. On the other hand, someone with a Nine-tiered Soul Palace would probably master multiple techniques of qi along their journey, even going so far as to become the progenitor of a new path for qi.

Naturally, that meant that those born with Nine-tiered Soul-Heart Bridges could be considered the children of heaven. After all, everything they could possibly come across in their journey of cultivation, they definitely had the ability to master.

But of course, those bestowed with such an aptitude were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

With all of his doubts regarding cultivation aptitude being more or less dispelled, he then moved onto the part regarding the various races in the cultivation world. However, he did not dwell on it too much for now, seeing as the knowledge he obtained contained over a hundred races at the very least. And that was only the introduction.

With that in mind, he focused on the part that talked about True Humans, which popped up in Arthur’s system as Human (True) through [Spirit Analysis]. According to the knowledge, True Humans were similar to humans in every way possible, yet they had one thing that set them apart from regular humans.

That was the fact that their meridians were wider. Because of that, they had the ability to compress their essence to an even higher level of quality, basically having the innate ability to fight those that were a realm above them, perhaps even two in rare cases.

Satisfied with the information he had received, he wondered if he should go and buy the other piece of knowledge he had access to. Though, before he could come to a decision, a notification from the system stopped him in his tracks.

Ding!

A few tasks from your quests have been updated.

‘Have another person from the Xu clan recognize you’ has been completed.

‘Have another person from the Huang clan recognize you’ has been completed.

‘Increase the number of people that recognize you to 10’ has progressed to 5/10.

Reading through the notifications he had obtained, he went ahead and focused on [Spirit Sense], noticing that the three were already bidding their farewells to the couple. Wondering how much time had passed since he started assimilating that piece of knowledge, he checked the position of the sun, realizing that it was already afternoon by the time he was done.

“I guess this is a good way to pass time,” Arthur muttered to himself before looking back at the screen that showed the Knowledge Module. After pondering over it for a bit, he decided to go for it, finding the assimilation of new knowledge a better way to pass the time compared to just watching through [Spirit Sense]. After all, what he was doing resonated quite a lot with his introverted nature.

And so, spending 100 System Points on another piece of knowledge, he went ahead and repeated the process, organizing the influx of information he had received from the system before starting to read through them and processing them.

While undergoing that process, he noticed that the new piece of knowledge only contained a few important tidbits regarding the first three realms of cultivation. For one, he found out that he could not use [Spirit Aura: Infusion] on any being at the Body Refinement Realm, lest he wanted them to explode from an overabundance of qi in their bodies.

Then again, it did make sense. Infusing qi into a person that had to focus on improving their body would do nothing in aiding the person in their cultivation. At that level, it was more of a nuisance than a boon.

After that, he also found out that he could infuse as much qi into people as he wanted, as long as they were at the Essence Gathering Realm. From the information he had obtained, the cultivation realm was just focused on amassing greater amounts of qi inside their bodies. In exchange, he had to limit himself once he met people at the Essence Condensing Realm, which focused more on quality over quantity.

Cultivation-related information aside, the new piece of knowledge also contained something else that definitely piqued Arthur’s interest…

…but was better saved for later.

By the time he was finished assimilating all of the information he obtained from both pieces of knowledge, the moon was already at the peak of the night sky. Somewhat surprised that quite a lot of time had passed while he was, in essence, reading through information, he placed the thought at the back of his head as he went ahead and activated [Qi Conversion] once more.

“Now that I think about it, I should probably ask that.” While in the midst of gazing at the night sky through [Spirit Sense], Arthur could not help but remember one of the mental notes he made sometime ago, recalling that he would ask the system if there was a way to automate the conversion of qi into other products, just like how [Spirit Sense] would automatically reactivate once the duration was up.

With that, he went ahead and asked the system if something like that was possible. Fortunately, the system’s response was on his side, telling him that something like that was indeed possible. However, there was a catch.

The automation process would only be applicable on the item he bought the automation process for.

Being informed of that, he then asked the system how much it would cost to automate the conversion of qi into Inferior Spirit Slag. In response, the system told him that it would cost him 50 points, exactly 5 points less than the amount he had right now. Well, there was also the fact that it was about five times as much points it took to upgrade [Qi Conversion] to Level 10.

In fact, he asked the same question soon after, but the item this time around was Spirit Slag. Obtaining a response that it would cost him 5000 System Points to automate the process, Arthur quickly came to the conclusion that it would cost five times as much points to automate the process compared to hastening the process

.

With that in mind, he decided to buy the automation process for Inferior Spirit Slag, quickly finding out that he had the ability to toggle it on or off. As converting qi into Spirit Slag was more profitable for him, it was no surprise that he toggled it off at the very instant he found that out.

After that, he focused on what he would do next, looking through his stats and seeing which one was close to reaching a bottleneck of sorts. Thinking about the system quest he still had active, he decided to focus on Qi Capacity for now. After all, he only had to upgrade it 10 times to advance from Spirit Seed to Early Spirit Nucleus.

And so, with less than two days having passed by, Arthur looked at the 500 grams of Spirit Slag near the bluish-white octahedron with a hint of excitement. Checking to see if the couple were nowhere near the pile through his [Spirit Sense], he went ahead and exchanged it for 500 System Points, unhesitatingly spending all of it on Qi Capacity.

Ding!

[Qi Capacity] has been upgraded from 99 points to 100 points.

You have met all of the necessary requirements to advance to a higher level.

Would you like to advance to an Early Spirit Nucleus?

Seeing as he upgraded his Qi Capacity to 100 points to complete this part of the quest in the first place, it was no surprise that his answer was…

“Yes.”

Ding!

And so, with a notification sound from the system…

Arthur soon fell unconscious.