Chapter 146: Leveling Up Like My Life Depends On It

Chapter 146: Chapter 146: Leveling Up Like My Life Depends On It

There were roughly thirty in total, ranging from 4th-Grade pills to a 6th-Grade Divine Descent Pill. These were not rewards from his system.

They were spoils he had collected after killing the Lindsay family’s senior members.

Tomorrow, he planned to bring Maya several martial arts manuals as well.

Once she had the resources she needed, he expected her to devote herself to training rather than waste the opportunity she had been given.

Looking at the pills spread before him, Xavier could not help but feel satisfied with the previous night’s gains.

The Lindsay family had been one of the most powerful martial arts families in the Valemont region, and its wealth had certainly lived up to its reputation.

In fact, the thirty or so pills he had just given Maya represented only about a tenth of the medicinal pills he had obtained from the Lindsay family.

His harvest from that single night’s battle had been astonishing.

During the journey back to Valemont with Maya Knox, Xavier had already taken the time to examine the treasures he had seized from the Lindsay family.

Now that he was settled, he began reviewing his inventory more carefully.

The medicinal pills were the first category. He decided to disregard anything below the 4th Grade.

For someone at Reginald Lindsay’s level, such low grade pills offered little benefit, so the patriarch had not kept many of them in his spatial ring anyway.

After sorting everything, Xavier counted 192 4th-Grade pills, 88 5th-Grade pills, and 11 6th-Grade pills. Fortunately, the Lindsay family had maintained a sensible system for storing its treasures.

Each jade bottle had a label identifying its contents, which saved him the trouble of examining every pill individually.

Even if some of the labels turned out to be inaccurate, it would not be a serious problem.

Xavier had no intention of consuming these pills himself.

He planned to invest them in Mira and Maya, and the system would notify him if anything was wrong.

With that in mind, he was not particularly worried about misidentification. His system was a far more reliable appraisal tool than any ordinary method.

Next came the weapons and other equipment. There were twenty pieces in total, with the highest quality item reaching the 7th Grade.

Unfortunately, these were not particularly useful to Xavier.

With the Dragon Slayer Sword already in his possession, even a 7th-Grade weapon offered little temptation. For now, he could only keep them until a suitable investment opportunity presented itself.

Two jade talismans caught his attention, however. One was a Gale Amulet, and both appeared to belong to a special category of equipment worth investigating further.

Items like these had several advantages. They were compact, required only spiritual energy to activate, and could produce their effects almost immediately. Their convenience alone made them valuable.

Still, the equipment was hardly the most impressive part of his haul.

The truly remarkable treasures came next. He had obtained two Destiny Coins, six rune fragments with different properties, and a wind elemental rune stone.

There were also twelve mid grade spirit stones, five high grade spirit stones, and one top grade spirit stone.

The martial arts manuals were equally impressive. Among them were the 7th-Grade cultivation technique Seven Waters Profound Skill, the 6th-Grade movement technique Dragon Instantaneous Movement Technique, and two 6th-Grade offensive techniques: Sky-Piercing Slash and Thunderbolt Blade Manual. He had also collected four additional manuals of the 4th and 5th Grades.

However, their contents did not particularly interest him, and he doubted Mira would have much use for them either.

After all, a person’s time and energy were limited. Mira was already devoting herself to the Star Tempering Body Technique, and General Victoria Quill had apparently taught her another 7th-Grade martial art.

Whether she would have the time to learn yet another cultivation technique was uncertain.

Even so, Xavier was not disappointed.

"Looks like staying cooped up all the time isn’t the best approach," he mused. "I should get out more often. If I happen to stumble across another suitable investment target, I could make another fortune."

His encounter with Maya had been entirely unexpected. Without that chance meeting, he might never have discovered her unusual constitution or the opportunities it presented.

There was no telling how many other promising targets were waiting to be discovered.

As for the martial arts manuals, Xavier had a specific reason for not handing them over to Maya immediately.

His previous experiment with the Everlasting Life Force had produced an interesting result. By investing the same technique in different people, he might be able to trigger multiple system returns.

That possibility was too valuable to ignore.

Unfortunately, there was only one copy of each manual. He would have to reproduce the contents himself before investing the same techniques in both Mira and Maya.

If his theory proved correct, he could receive rewards from both investments without having to search for another copy.

With that matter settled, Xavier turned his attention to the final item he had discovered in Reginald’s spatial ring. It was an invitation.

He could not identify the material from which it had been made, but its surface carried a faint golden sheen. Five prominent characters were inscribed on the front.

Invitation to the Destiny Realm!

The reverse side contained instructions explaining how to use it.

According to the information written there, the invitation could be activated by pouring a substantial amount of spiritual energy into it.

Once activated, it would open a portal large enough for a single person to pass through. Beyond that portal lay a special dimension known as the Destiny Realm.

The place was divided into two distinct areas: a trading zone and a combat zone.

Unfortunately, the invitation offered no further details about what awaited visitors in either area. It did, however, specify the opening schedule.

The Destiny Realm would be accessible from the first through the fifth day of every month, and only martial artists who had reached the Star Sea Realm or higher could enter.

Xavier glanced at the date. It was May 18th. He would have to wait a little over ten days for the next opening.

Rather than rush into something he did not understand, he decided to investigate the Destiny Realm before making a decision.

Still, a gathering place where Star Sea Realm experts traded treasures and fought one another sounded extremely promising.

Given the caliber of people allowed inside, he was certain there would be plenty of valuable opportunities.

He had no intention of missing out.

* * *

Inside Arcadia Academy, Xavier stared at the two pages of notes on his desk and rubbed his aching temples.

"Writing a martial arts manual is exhausting!"

He had already made photocopies of the Seven Waters Profound Skill and the other manuals he wanted to preserve.

Those were straightforward enough. The real headache was the secret manual he was currently preparing: the Heaven Piercing Sixfold Finger.

Although Xavier had completely mastered the technique, putting its entire cultivation method into writing was an entirely different challenge.

Knowing how to perform a martial art and explaining every step so that another person could learn it were two separate skills.

It was rather like asking someone who had just graduated from high school to write an entire high school textbook.

The task demanded far more thought than he had expected. He had to work through every detail, carefully considering how to explain the technique’s principles and cultivation process.

Unfortunately, there was no alternative. From his conversations with Reginald and the other Lindsay family experts, Xavier had learned that no complete manual for the Heaven Piercing Sixfold Finger had been preserved.

It was not something he could simply purchase, regardless of how much money he was willing to spend.

If he wanted to invest the technique in Maya, and perhaps invest it in Mira again, he would have to create the manual himself.

The original technique had come into his possession through an investment involving Mira’s Spiritual Finger, with the system providing the Heaven Piercing Sixfold Finger as a return.

Now, he wanted to use that same technique to generate further rewards.

The work was tedious, but the potential payoff made it worthwhile.

Ordinarily, improving a martial art from minor mastery to major mastery, and eventually to perfection, required considerable time and effort. If the system could help him bypass some of that grinding through repeated investments, the savings would be enormous.

Just as Xavier was struggling to organize his thoughts, a familiar voice came from the doorway.

"Honey, I’m home!"

He looked up in surprise.

"Weren’t you supposed to be staying out a little longer?" he asked.

After Damon Veil, the leader of the Bloodshadow Cult, had attacked Arcadia Academy, Victoria Quill had decided to keep Mira close to her for protection.

Xavier had assumed his wife would remain with the general for some time.

Then he remembered what had happened the previous night. With the Lindsay family’s most powerful figures dead, there were far fewer people capable of threatening Mira.

Victoria no longer needed to be quite so cautious about keeping her under constant protection.

That explained why Mira had returned early.

"Sweetheart, are you saying you don’t want me here?" Mira pouted, looking genuinely disappointed.

Xavier quickly realized how his words had sounded.

"Don’t misunderstand me," he said. "I’m just surprised you came back so soon. If anything, I’d love to have you beside me every day."

"Hehe! That’s more like it," Mira said, her expression brightening immediately.

Xavier was about to continue when he noticed something different about her. She bit her lower lip and looked at him with watery eyes.

Her breathing had grown slightly uneven, and her hands moved restlessly as she stood before him. He understood at once.

A mischievous smile appeared on his face. Without wasting another moment, he swept Mira into his arms and carried her away to practice the Phoenix Cultivation Technique.

Two and a half hours later, their cultivation session finally came to an end.

"Honey, I prepared something special for you," Xavier said, looking at Mira, who now rested against him with little strength left in her limbs.

He reached into his spatial ring. One after another, he brought out the medicinal pills, spirit stones, and martial arts manuals he had selected for her.

A cascade of system notifications rang through his mind.