Having finally gotten the attention of the grumpy Rival, Aven didn’t wait for Commander to wake up from what he was doing and took out his innate ability notepad where he had prepared all his arguments and what he wanted answers to.

Clearing his throat intentionally to add some theatrical gestures, he began his planned one-sentence sales pitch, “I can instantly learn anything anyone in the military with the same or less authority than me has learned as long as I contribute to the military in general.”

Then, he stopped talking and looked at the black-haired old man before flashing a somewhat condescending smile, “That’s it. Any questions? Even if I doubt you can process such an impossibly unique and revolutionary innate ability in such a short time.”

True to what he had just said, Aven didn’t say anything else after that and simply waited for the inevitable questions without giving any directions.

‘I’ve said what I wanted to say. Now, the ball is on the other side.’

Taking a big sip of his probably coffee mug after more than 5 minutes of silent cogitation, Rival finally spoke again, “The implications are certainly interesting. What’s more interesting however is that the deeper I try to calculate all the different paths such an innate ability allows you to take, the more I find myself bogged down in more and more complex and unfathomable paths.”

From the grumpy and forceful decrepit old man, Rival had totally transformed the impression he gave into a wise and experienced cultured gentleman appreciating his cup of surely coffee over a fine discussion.

“As the owner of such a power able to easily propel you to the peak as long as you put in the necessary work, why don’t you tell me in more detail what the best scenario you came up with is?” Finally asking a question, Rival stopped looking at the one who was going to answer it soon and picked a random metal bit.

As Aven was turning the page of his notepad to properly answer, he missed the extremely comical action of Commander being hit by a projectile and turning his head in naive and innocent confusion.

Arriving at his best plan pages, he started reciting what was under his eyes, “The best scenario involves successfully finding an industry that all tech supers don’t want to be involved with but is nonetheless crucial, receiving a customized accelerated tutoring on this industry to quickly get my innate ability going, getting access to lots of grade 1 cultivation resources to quickly reach the next grade and find out what my grade 2 innate ability get me while increasing my average contribution due to an increase in energy infusion intensity, securing a continuous coaching…”

Enunciating his dream scenario conclusion, he only sent a glance when Commander sat at the messy table and also got a mug of hot certainly coffee from somewhere.

“I will need to do some research to know the actual state of the military and what’s most in need, I’ve been disconnected for too long as my services aren’t needed on the more warrior side,” surprisingly expressing his intent to help directly, Rival made a satisfied smirk appear on a certain face.

Wearing a kind and caring elderly smile on the side, Commander was trying to silently understand the situation from the side as he alternatively looked at the 2 concerned people.

“If only from my decades-long experience in the military, I advise you to prepare yourself for working in the ammunition industry. Back then, tech-produced ammunition were always on demand and there was never enough of them,” reminiscing about a time only he and those of his super generation knew, Rival picked up a tablet from somewhere on the messy table and started typing on it at a fabulous speed.

Seeing that his main conversation partner was now gone on his own journey, Aven turned his head to look at Commander who seemed to have completely no clue as to what was happening, “Good morning Commander.”

“Is it morning already? Not that I’m that interested in the answer more than the way you used to make Rival stop his experiment in the middle. For as much as I know him, it’s a feat worthy of celebrating,” finally getting a foot into the conversation, the short white-haired and clean shaved old man let his innate chattering ability burst forth.

“That’s what discovering your conversation partner has a revolutionary innate ability does to people,” going straight to the point, Aven didn’t let his chatterbox-self take over, “I just told him I needed help, that you could give a massive amount of it now, and that I’ll soon be able to totally make up for all of it ten times over. Nothing less, nothing more. What would you do if you were in his place?”

“It depends on the area you can help us after,” Commander brought a wrinkled hand to his chin and exposed his live train of thought, “If it's money, then he would have sent you flying, and that’s probably what he thought your proposition to be at first. If it’s cultivation resources, then he would have been mildly interested. If it’s knowledge, however~”

Looking at Rival who was furiously typing on his tablet, he nodded to himself, “I would say you really became an official engineer in 1 month and that your innate ability is still massively useful to a mind-blowing degree here in the military. Am I right?”

“Only the general context and not the fine print,” Aven judged this conclusion made in a few seconds impartially, “The point is, my innate ability is more than just revolutionary from my own understanding, and I’m at my weakest state now.”

“Huhu~” Having his theory confirmed, he continued with a few more insiders, “I don’t know if you know, but from my point of view, your ‘best scenario’ certainly is handy. There’s no need to invest money, and if it’s only to take you to grade 2, it’s easier than you think for us to get you a few dozen grade 1 energy cultivation trinities.”

“Trinities?” An unfamiliar term included in a sentence that involved energy cultivation made his curiosity flare up instantly, “What are trinities?”

“Oh… Yeah, right. You’re a one-month-old super from a civilian background, of course you wouldn’t have come into contact with this term,” surprised by not so much after remembering some parts of Aven’s identity, Commander was a bit lost for words on how to explain this concept before deciding to start with the beginning.

“There are 3 components of energy cultivation that can be affected via cultivation resources: The cycling speed, the amount of energy contained in a cycle, and the downtime period duration. The downtime component is slightly more complex than the other as there are multiple ways to affect it, but the cycling speed and the amount of energy cycled are pretty much universal,” he carefully explained from the most basic foundation pieces any super would know.

Seeing that Aven seemed to have followed until there, he finished up lightly, “Now, it’s possible to take them all separately, don't get me wrong. But the best way is of course to take cultivation resources affecting all those 3 components at the same time, and that’s why a package of cultivation resources gathering all those properties is called an energy cultivation trinity.”

“And they’re easy to get?” Going back to before he asked what energy cultivation trinities were, Aven nodded to show he had understood what they were.

“Yes,” Commander didn’t hesitate one second before nodding and agreeing with an arrogant tone, “Grade 1 trinities aren’t really difficult for me to allocate if I want to. Grade 2 trinities are much more difficult in comparison, but not impossible. As for grade 3 resources… You already know that at grade 3 there’s a great shift, right?”

“Grade 3 means that one’s energy takes on an identity!” Aven blurted out the major change that happened at grade 3 before realizing the implications, “Wait! Don’t tell me that from grade 3 onwards cultivation resources are split into the 5 energy systems?!”

“Hehehe~ What a great misery, isn’t it?” He revealed the truth he had personally experienced until now without a hint of pain, “That’s the reality though, grade 3 is the true start to energy cultivation, and accompanying this start is a huge web of restrictions that anyone has to accept.”

Remaining silent facing this unexpected discovery that the grade 3 shift was clearly not as simple as he had thought, he ultimately stopped digressing and came back to the reason he was here, “So… What’s next?”

Gulping down his whole cup of obviously coffee, Commander stood up and stretched his back, “We let Rival find you your best possible industry while we go and raid enough grade 1 trinities to last you for a week, of course! Where else would we begin this heavenly investment opportunity?”

…

“How many cycles do you require to advance your energy cultivation by 1 point anyway?” Making small talks to pass the time, Commander waited for the military officer before him to finish digitally allocating a few dozen grade 1 trinities.

“I’m at 8, neither the worst nor the best,” standing like a model student to the side, Aven was hardly believing how easy he would be receiving cultivation resources.

“Not bad overall, it's average enough for you to remain inconspicuous for as long as you want,” randomly bringing a point that didn’t seem to have its place here, the old man acted like there was a conspiracy at play.

“I don’t think my talent in energy cultivation will be the first thing people interested in me will check, but why not,” shrugging in non-interest, Aven didn’t continue talking when the military officer finally stopped typing.

“20 grade 1 trinities have been allocated to official engineer Aven Amias under your authority Commander. He can now go and fetch them at the cultivation resources depot,” extending a freshly-printed document out which Commander directly took, the unknown man then did a salute, “Is there anything else, sir?”

“Nothing else,” departing after leaving these words, the senior tech super seemed overly at ease with his authority for someone that should only be an engineer.

“Let’s fetch them now, the depot is not far. Take this too, it’s yours after all,” commenting on where they were going next, he gave the official trinities allocation document to Aven who eagerly took it.

A few minutes later, they reached a security gate where only after they gave the precious document and their identity was thoroughly checked they were allowed to pass. And there was still someone accompanying them all the way to the next checkpoint.

All in all, it took the 2 half an hour to finally exit the building with Aven now having in his arms a big password-locked box.

“I think it’s best for you to start grinding towards grade 2 today without waiting. Just go back and don’t worry about anything until I contact you. Take on an optimized cycling schedule while I and Rival find out which industry is the best for you,” using a domineering voice, Commander pushed Aven to go back by himself after getting their number exchanged.

And Aven being himself, he quickly secured the box in his backpack and didn’t try to put on a caring front as he directly jumped on top of his bike which he took to accompany the walking old man, and followed what the old man wanted him to do to the letter, “Sure! Bye then! You got scammed too! Hahaha!”

Accelerating as much as he could after leaving behind a friendly joke, he reached his quarters a bit more than 5 minutes later and rushed through the gates, corridors, and stairs to arrive back in his room where he speedily took out the metal box and put it on the dinner table.

“Hehehe~” Creepily laughing as he entered the password to open the box, the inside was finally unveiled.

20 compact boxes and an instruction manual.

“Hahaha!” Finally exploding in laughter, Aven felt the adrenaline from a perfectly executed plan rush through him, “Grade 2! Here I come!”

Plunging on the couch with the instruction manual in hand, he put on some background music with a simple button press and started reading the very thin and condensed instructions.

‘Mark 12 Rainbow Fairy Grade 1 Energy Cultivation Base Increase Serum. Artificially increases the amount of energy being cycled during grade 1 energy cultivation by 330%. Gives greater end results as well as a longer period of active cycling. Artificial increase cannot go beyond grade 1 maximum threshold.’

‘Mark 9 Rainbow Fairy Grade 1 Energy Cultivation Cycle Boosting Serum. Increases the energy cycling speed of grade 1 energy cultivation by 410%. Rapidly exhaust any cultivation for consequent time gains. Duration of cycle boosting is fixed.’

‘Mark 4 Rainbow Fairy Grade 1 Energy Cultivation Cycle Sustaining Serum. Postpone the energy cultivation downtime period by revitalizing all the spent energy artificially. Massively increase the cycling time. Cycle sustaining is limited by cycling intensity.’

Once he had finished reading the introductory paragraphs of the 3 cultivation resources he was going to use, he moved on to the practical guide which told him how to correctly use them.

‘Take an energy cultivation base increase serum and an energy cultivation cycle boosting serum to begin… When the downtime period starts, take on the cycle sustaining serum… All products’ effects are designed to end at the same time…’

The more he read, the more starry-eyed Aven became.

The world of the super looked so much more interesting now that he had cultivation resources on hand. And the way he had received these resources made him even more starry-eyed.

“What can stop me now? Seriously. What can?” Feeling like his life was already a foregone success now that he had gotten his hands on so many cultivation resources so easily, he translated his exhilaration into a provocation against the whole world as he stood up from the couch and headed for the holy box.

‘400%... Now that I know how important and powerful cultivation resources are, why would I ever cycle my energy again without such a boost to back me up?’

Picking one of the 20 packages present inside, he closed the box behind him and returned to the couch where started browsing through the catalog of documentaries.

“He said the ammunition industry, right…?” Entering a few keywords, he quickly found dozens of documentaries about the ammunition industry, from how it was built to how it was used.

Reviewing the knowledge he already had about this precise industry, he put on a documentary that sounded and looked much more credible than the others, though obviously, he intended to watch them all.

As the documentary started with an epic introduction scene of bullets flying across a desert warzone with a similarly epic soundtrack, Aven started unpacking the small box he had in his hand.

Ending up with 3 small transparent flasks each containing a red-purple grayish liquid, he carefully read what each of them was before popping 2 of them open and draining them until their last drop.

Feeling a dense liquid leaving behind a unique aftertaste as it descended down his throat, he didn’t lose any time and started to cycle his energy.

At first, the cycling happened as it normally should, but after a few minutes, the serums he had just taken started showing their effects.

For reasons he didn’t know yet but certainly planned on knowing one day, his energy cycle went from its normal cycling speed to a mind-blowing one, and its density also changed to one so much heavier that Aven hardly believed it was even possible to have such dense energy being contained inside his body.

But dismissing all his worries after some time had passed, his energy cycle held strong and just continued to become faster and faster and denser and denser.

Until it stabilized at what his energy sense talent and basic deduction ability allowed him to know was a 410% faster and 330% denser cycle.

A simple smile appeared on his face as he realized that compared to what would have been a normal energy cycling, one where he would need 3 and a half hours to enter his downtime period, now, all the mathematics involved were crushed to oblivion.

‘And now, I am cultivating in the best way I possibly can. My perfectionist self is so fulfilled that I think I could die now and be happy. Though the world would probably lament my death, hehehe~’

With a documentary about the hundreds of ammunition types that existed and how they were developed and why in the background, Aven slowly entered a complete state of focus where nothing else but his sense of hearing and his energy sense were still activated.

Less than an hour in, proving that the path he had chosen wasn’t the wrong one, he felt his energy cultivation advance, so he brought up his status.

Aven Amias

Faction: Nation of Eland Military

Energy Grade: 1

Energy Cultivation: 22/100

Energy Affinity: Tech

Physical Talents: None

Energy Talents: Basic Tech Energy Affinity, Basic Energy Sense

Spiritual Talents: Inquisitive Spirit, Basic Knowledge Integration

Universal Talents: Unawakened Fairy Ancestry

Seeing that it hadn’t been his imagination, Aven only had one thought as to what this meant for his future.

‘It’s a fact then. Instead of wasting my time cycling my energy without cultivation resources to make it more efficient, I’ll just wholly focus on grinding FCP.’

Thinking some more, he ended up interrupting his cycle to take quick pictures of the few pages of research he had about his quests and how to best exploit them.

‘I should have done that before. Let’s send them to Commander, it’ll surely help them.’

Speedily restarting his cycle, it took him a few more hours and a few more energy cultivation points before he had to take the cycle sustaining serum.

If no one interrupted him, he was going to make sure to grind through everything he had. After all, the earlier he reached grade 2, the more he would excel at tech-production that seemed in hot demand.