“Oh, did you see the new upgrade on the Assistant Advancement Module?” said Sisa in response to Arthur’s words, prompting the latter to let out a light sigh as he said, “I know I upgraded [System Integration] to Phase 2, but you could’ve at least acted a bit more surprised, no?”

“I am surprised,” replied Sisa, letting out a light chuckle not long after. “After all, choosing that means you’re basically sacrificing the chance to increase your point yield per hour. Upgrading [Qi Conversion] or Qi Purity makes much more sense if we’re talking about increasing point yield.”

“Really? I think it’s a good choice, though,” Arthur asked, bringing up the contents of the Assistant Advancement Module once more to get a better look.

Ding!

[Assistant Advancement Module] “For a system to function, one needs a capable assistant.” Rudimentary Upgrades: [System Integration — Phase 3] 25,000 System Points Assistant Skills: [Secondary Qi Conversion] 1000 System Points Available System Points: 13,685 System Points

“Identify [Secondary Qi Conversion],” he commanded, only to say soon after, “Surely, this upgrade wouldn’t be that bad, no?”

Ding!

[Secondary Qi Conversion] An assistant skill of the Assistant Advancement Module. Allows the assistant of the system to convert a part of the user’s qi into a byproduct of the user’s choosing. Allows the assistant of the system to simultaneously convert qi into byproduct alongside the user.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Arthur,” Sisa told him just as he finished reading the description of the newly unlocked upgrade. “Although the description of the skill might sound appealing right now, with you upgrading [System Integration] to Phase 2, I can tell you that there’s a chance you might regret buying it once you do.”

Hearing that, Arthur could not help but become silent for a bit. After all, this was the first time Sisa dissuaded him from buying a certain upgrade. With that, he pondered over it for a bit more, weighing the pros and cons of such a move. Eventually, he came to a conclusion, asking her, “Before I make my decision, let me ask you this.”

“Do you get bored doing nothing?”

“Well… not really,” Sisa said in response. “Though, I do end up feeling bored if you don’t talk to me for quite a while.”

“Hmm… if I buy [Secondary Qi Conversion], would that mean you would have something to do?” he asked soon after, to which Sisa replied, “Well, yes. However, I still wouldn’t recommend you b—“

“That’s all I needed to hear. Buy [Secondary Qi Conversion].” Unfortunately, before Sisa could finish talking, Arthur went ahead and commanded the system to buy the newly unlocked upgrade.

Ding!

[Secondary Qi Conversion] has been bought. Current yield of assistant is 0.5% of the user’s yield.

“…” After reading the notification that had appeared just as he had bought the newly unlocked upgrade, Arthur could not help but be left at a loss for words. As for Sisa, she could not help but let out a sigh before saying, “I did tell you that you’d probably end up regretting buying it.”

“You could’ve at least told me that buying the skill would lead to this, no?” Arthur said in response, slightly annoyed that Sisa didn’t tell him more. “If you told me this would happen beforehand rather than beat around the bush, you would’ve probably dissuaded me.”

“Well, I’m sorry that [System Integration] is only at Phase 2, user,” Sisa replied, her tone somewhat sarcastic. “With the upgrade at its current phase, I can only get a hunch of what’s to come in terms of upgrades. If it was Phase 3 or higher, I’m sure I would’ve been able to warn you, oh user of the Spirit Improvement System.”

Hearing that, Arthur could only let out a long sigh. In any case, the current situation was due to the system’s fault and his foolhardiness…

Mostly his foolhardiness.

But of course, Arthur wasn’t going to admit that he was foolhardy as the amount of time he needed to regain the losses of buying the skill was only an hour or two at most. If it were an upgrade that cost tens of thousands of points, then he would have already apologized outright.

Nevertheless, as she was more or less his companion on this journey, it wouldn’t be good for him if their relationship worsened. With that, he let out a light sigh and told her, “Alright, alright. I’m sorry that I didn’t listen to your warning earlier.”

“You’ve got to be more sincere than that,” replied Sisa, to which Arthur figuratively rolled his eyes in response as he murmured, “How the hell do I…”

“Haah… fine. You were right; I was wrong. Happy?” asked Arthur, to which Sisa gave off the feeling of nodding, saying, “Yes.”

“So, is there any way we can salvage this current situation?” Arthur asked soon after. “Well, not necessarily salvage since it won’t matter much in the long run. But, is there any way we can take greater advantage of it?”

“The answer to your question would be the newly added upgrade to the Assistant Advancement Module,” Sisa said in response, prompting Arthur to bring up the module again. Focusing his attention on the newly added upgrade, he could not help but look at Sisa and ask, “Really now?”

“Well, at the very least, buying it would make the skill more worthwhile,” she replied.

Ding!

[Secondary Qi Conversion Mastery — Stage 1 ]

An upgrade to [Secondary Qi Conversion], an assistant skill from the Assistant Advancement Module. Buying this skill allows the assistant to increase the yield of their conversion to 5% of the user’s yield. However, the assistant is only limited to converting the user’s qi into byproducts up to one tier lower than the highest tier byproduct the user has unlocked.

Note: If the user has bought the automation upgrade for that certain byproduct, the assistant can also make use of the upgrade.

“If I’m getting this right, you can only convert my qi into Spirit Slag at most,” Arthur asked after he was done reading through the description.

“That would be correct,” Sisa replied in an affirmative tone.

“And each conversion would only yield 5% of how much I earn per conversion,” asked Arthur yet again, to which Sisa responded, “That is also correct. Currently, you’re producing 160 grams of Spirit Slag per conversion. So, that means that I will produce 8 grams of Spirit Slag per conversion alongside your 160 grams.”

“What if I asked you to produce Inferior Spirit Slag instead?” Arthur asked once more.

“With your current yield at 390 grams, I’d produce 19.5 grams of it per conversion,” Sisa replied. “However, keep in mind that each conversion of Inferior Spirit Slag now takes 55 seconds, well around 52 seconds with the passive. Either way, that means I would consume much more qi than how much you’re recovering at the moment.”

“That much? Isn’t [Qi Conversion] only at Level 21?” Arthur could not help but ask, shuddering in fear as to how short of a time it would take for him to convert his qi into byproducts at higher levels. At that point, he would have to increase his Qi Recovery Rate into the thousands just to make sure he was making the most of his time.

Pondering in silence for a bit once more, Arthur eventually let out a sigh as he said, “Although having you convert my qi into Inferior Spirit Slag would actually yield much more System Points, as we both know, I don’t have the necessary Qi Recovery Rate to facilitate that.”

“Anyways, I should buy the upgrade first,” he said not long after, commanding the system to buy it.

Ding!

Would you like to buy [Secondary Qi Conversion Mastery — Stage 1]? This will cost you 2500 System Points.

“It’s not like I have a choice if I don’t want it to just collect dust,” murmured Arthur. “Yes.”

Ding!

[Secondary Qi Conversion Mastery — Stage 1] has been bought. Current yield of assistant is 5% of the user’s yield.

“Well, that’s that,” Arthur said after buying the skill. “Go ahead and start using the skill, Sisa.”

“Was already doing that while you were mulling over whether to buy it or not,” Sisa said in response. “In any case, I timed it so that both our conversions would finish at the same time.”

“Cool to hear,” Arthur replied, noticing that the next stage of the skill was available for him to purchase. Although he knew for a fact that he was probably going to be disappointed at the upgrade, he went ahead and identified it. Surprisingly, the description of the skill was actually slightly different than what he initially had expected.

Ding!

[Secondary Qi Conversion Mastery — Stage 2]

An upgrade to [Secondary Qi Conversion], an assistant skill from the Assistant Advancement Module. Buying this skill allows the assistant to increase the yield of their conversion to 15% of the user’s yield. However, the assistant is only limited to converting the user’s qi into byproducts up to one tier lower than the highest tier byproduct the user has unlocked.

Note: If the user has bought the automation upgrade for that certain byproduct, the assistant can also make use of the upgrade.

“And here I thought it would increase by 5%,” Arthur could not help but say. “In any case, it costs just as much as Phase 3 of [System Integration], so I’ll leave it be for now.”

With that, he closed the Assistant Advancement Module as he took a peek at Qin, who was close to fully assimilating the point of qi he had infused into her body. Waiting for a bit more, he went ahead and infused yet another point of qi into her as she broke through to the 9th Stage of the Essence Gathering Realm.

After that, he returned his attention to the system as he took a look at the amount of points he still had available.

Ding!

Available System Points: 10,185 System Points

“Since I still have a bit over 10,000 points available, I should probably focus on upgrading Qi Recovery Rate for now,” Arthur muttered to himself, asking Sisa soon after, “If I were to choose between upgrading the Spirit Receptor Module or the Qi Recovery Rate stat, which one would give me more with the amount of points I currently have?”

“The Qi Recovery Rate stat, obviously,” Sisa replied. “In any case, with the amount of points you currently have, you could upgrade the stat to 16 points of qi per hour, increasing your effective Qi Recovery Rate from 19.5 points of qi per hour to 31.2 points of qi per hour.”

“That’s quite a jump,” Arthur could not help but say. “I guess I’ve been neglecting my Qi Recovery Rate for quite a while already.”

“So, want me to go and buy the upgrades?” Sisa asked, to which Arthur figuratively nodded. “Yes, please.”

Ding!

[Qi Recovery Rate] has been upgraded to 16 points per hour. The effective recovery rate is now at 31.2 points per hour.

“And I guess that’s that for now,” Arthur said, finding it satisfying that his Qi Recovery Rate had significantly increased.

“Now what?” Sisa asked after that.

“Well, what else can we do?” Arthur said in response.

“There’s nothing else but to wait and accumulate more System Points.”

“Well, that and watch Qin break through to the Essence Condensing Realm.”