Leaving the matter of getting no congratulatory remark whatsoever from the system after buying the automation feature, Arthur was quite satisfied with the feature he had just bought. After all, he wouldn’t have to manually convert his qi into Spirit Slag anymore, something he had been doing from the start until now. If he were to upgrade [Qi Conversion] to a higher level in the future, where the conversion would possibly take a few seconds at most, it would become incredibly annoying for him if he were to consciously activate [Qi Conversion] again and again.

In any case, now that he had automated the conversion process for Spirit Slag, a thought quickly surfaced on his mind.

‘I should probably upgrade Qi Recovery Rate.’

Even though he did not have to worry about it for the time being, Arthur knew very well that there would eventually come a time where the demand for higher qi recovery rate would become more obvious.

With that in mind, he checked his stat screen, seeing that his base qi recovery rate was at 6 points of qi per hour. Thankfully, he had already unlocked the Spirit Receptor Module, which boosted it to about 10 points of qi per hour.

With his current qi recovery rate, he would be able to maintain an equilibrium as long as the duration for each conversion did not go below 7 minutes. But as far as he knew, there was the possibility of it going even lower. Inferior Spirit Slag, with [Qi Conversion] at Level 20, already had a conversion time of 1 minute.

And he was certain it would go even lower if he upgraded it any further.

Thus, he allowed himself to take advantage of the automated conversion process, wondering what it would be like for him to use [Spirit Sense] without being interrupted by a notification from the system regarding the completion of the conversion process.

Well, it was no surprise that he quickly found out that it was more boring than he had expected. In contrast, he was exhilarated to be able to use it the very first time he did. Of course, the main reason as to why using [Spirit Sense] had become boring to him was due to the fact that he could not move. If he could move, allowing him to see other sights, then he would surely find such idle time quite enjoyable.

Sure, he could see the periphery of a nearby town through the skill, but it was incredibly blurry due to it not being in the true range of the skill. With that, he was more or less stuck on looking at the couple’s house.

Well, he did enjoy what they did at night from time to time… but that was beside the point.

Nevertheless, after only an hour had passed since he had automated the conversion process, he was contemplating as to whether or not he should deviate from his original goal of upgrading Qi Recovery Rate and focus on upgrading [Spirit Sense] instead.

Well… that or Qi Purity. Then again, upgrading [Spirit Sense] took less points so…

Fortunately, around two hours into the conversion process, he had finally recalled a certain module he had unlocked in the past, remembering very well that the module allowed him to pass quite a lot of time if he wanted to.

“System, open the Knowledge Module,” he quickly commanded.

Ding!

[Knowledge Module] “To seek knowledge is to have the want to understand the world around them.” Obtainable Knowledge: Cost: [The Intermediate Realms of Cultivation] 500 System Points [Side Professions 101: A Guide] missing requirements [Essence of Qi] missing requirements Obtained Knowledge: [The Basics of Cultivation], [The Basics of Cultivation: Volume 2], [Cultivation Aptitudes, Races, and You: Introduction] Available System Points: 35

Looking at the contents of the Knowledge Module once more, he could not help but notice that there was a piece of knowledge available for him to obtain. From the name of the knowledge itself, he had a feeling that it would continue where [The Basics of Cultivation: Volume 2] left off, which not only included the next few realms of cultivation, but also something that was an integral part of the cultivation world.

Bloodlines and innate physiques.

From what he had obtained from [The Basics of Cultivation: Volume 2] back then, he found out that every person in the cultivation world had a bloodline of sorts. In fact, not only did every person in the cultivation have a bloodline, each person was also born with a unique innate physique.

In short, bloodlines and innate physiques functioned similarly to a person’s cultivation aptitude, but just more niche. On top of that, bloodlines and innate physiques got stronger the earlier they were awakened, with bloodlines and innate physiques awakened at birth being the strongest ones among them.

Of course, that did not mean that bloodlines and innate physiques only awakened at birth were strong. There were also some bloodlines and physiques that awakened at a higher realm and eventually became strong. Though, from what Arthur knew, that was mostly due to the diligence and effort put in by the cultivator to make their bloodlines and physiques stronger.

As he recalled this, Arthur could not help but think about the other piece of knowledge he had unlocked before he advanced to an Early Spirit Nucleus, [Cultivation Aptitudes, Races, and You: Introduction].

Other than the various types and levels of cultivation aptitudes the piece of knowledge explained, as well as a list of the most known races in the cultivation world, it also explained how spirit veins were born. In fact, Arthur could still remember very well that the piece of knowledge called spirit veins a race in itself.

According to the piece of knowledge, spirit veins were born similarly to elemental races, races that were born due to an overabundance of qi attuned to a specific element. However, unlike elemental races, spirit veins were born due to an overabundance of spirit qi, a pure type of qi that had no affinity, yet could meld with any element at the same time.

Excluding a few places in the cultivation world where trace amounts of spirit qi could be found, the only place spirit qi could be found would be the core of the world, making Arthur come to the conclusion that the reason why spirit veins existed underneath the surface was solely due to this reason. Then again, he had no idea as to why spirit veins weren’t nearer to the core because of this same reason… but he did have a few wild guesses in mind.

Realizing that he had been recalling the knowledge he had obtained from the Knowledge Module for the past couple of hours, Arthur eventually decided to exchange 500 grams of Spirit Slag for System Points, buying [The Intermediate Realms of Cultivation] without hesitation, seeing how him blanking out while thinking about information basically allowed him to skip time.

After obtaining a massive influx of information from the piece of knowledge he bought, he went ahead and organized the information he had received before processing it, eventually muttering to himself, “Huh. So it’s formatted the same way.”

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, [The Intermediate Realms of Cultivation], just like [The Basics of Cultivation], tackled the next few realms of cultivation, being somewhat detailed in its description as it clearly explained the process of cultivation from the fourth realm onwards.

As for any mentions of bloodlines and innate physiques, there was none of it in the piece of knowledge whatsoever, just like [The Basics of Cultivation]. With that in mind, he thought he would just have to buy the second volume of it once he was done.

Then again, unlike [The Basics of Cultivation], [The Intermediate Realms of Cultivation] explained the fourth to seventh realms of cultivation, exactly one more realm compared to the former. On top of that, it also allowed Arthur to finally know the names of the cultivation realms that came after Essence Condensing, murmuring, “Nascent Foundation, Nascent Core, Stellar Foundation, and Stellar Core…”

“Stellar… why that term, though?” he could not help but mutter soon after, processing a bit more of the information before finally getting the answer.

From what the information told him, the reason why the last two realms had the word ‘Stellar’ on them was due to the fact that the cultivation system in this world emulated the gradual creation of a universe.

“That’s surprisingly advanced,” Arthur could not help but say to himself after reading that.

After obtaining the answer to that question, he finally read the entire process of cultivation from the Essence Condensing Realm up to the Stellar Core Realm.

Once one had reached the Peak Stage of the Essence Condensing Realm, one would then use their condensed essence to form a field made out of condensed essence inside their body, which would be considered the place where the cultivator’s true foundation would be birthed. That was also the reason why the next realm was called the Nascent Foundation Realm.

Then, after going through the 10 stages of Nascent Foundation, with each stage erecting a pillar on the nascent foundation, one of the nascent foundation pillars would crumble, gradually heading towards the center of the nascent foundation before transforming into what would eventually become the cultivator’s true core.

Nine false pillars surrounding the false core. That’s what people would say when they congratulated someone who had just entered the Nascent Core Realm.

At the Nascent Core Realm, each stage, excluding the first one, added a layer to the false core, with someone at the Peak Stage of Nascent Core having what’s called a ‘Nine-Layered Nascent Core’. Only with the false core at that level could the nascent foundation break out of its shell and take on a bit of the properties of the heavens, transforming into what’s commonly known as the Stellar Foundation.

Once one is at the Stellar Foundation Realm, the pillars would gradually break out of their shells during cultivation and integrate with the Stellar Foundation, with those at the Peak Stage of Stellar Foundation having 9 Stellar Pillars. In fact, those that have the talent or time could go even further, achieving what’s called a ‘Stellar Resonance.’

In any case, after reaching the Peak Stage of the Stellar Foundation Realm, the nascent core would then explode with great ferocity, emulating the birth of a star as the nascent core transforms into a Stellar Core. While reading this part, Arthur was certain that people found this realm incredibly painful… and annoying. After all, from what the piece of knowledge told him, the greater the explosion of the nascent core, the stronger one would become at the Stellar Core Realm. Plus, one could store more qi.

With that said, he had a feeling that a lot of people stopped at the Peak Stage of the Stellar Foundation Realm before taking a long time to eventually achieve what they thought was a perfect breakthrough to the Stellar Core Realm.

Just as he was about to continue reading what he still hadn’t read from the piece of knowledge, he inadvertently found out that…

A day had already passed.