Chapter 304: Collecting The Loot
System, how long has it been? William asked after maxing out his Cultivation Base for a second time. Other than checking on his Plains Vultures and regularly going out to clear the Beast Tides near Blue Moon City, William hadn't done much else.
After reaching the limit of five hundred thousand stored Spirit Qi, William had spent all of it to reach the peak of the Core Formation Realm, but he wanted to fill his Cultivation Base one more time before attempting the Tribulation.
There was no real reason, really, other than to deal with some [1] OCD of his.
-56 days.
-Really? How much have my Beasts and other sources earned in that time?
-Your Chasm Guards have killed many Beasts near the Chasm: +2144 PP
-Potential Farms: +16800 PP
-You have yet to visit the Fire Mine, so no Potential Points are gained.
Two thousand Points in just under two months, it'll be a few more months before they earn back what I spent on them, but I've gained plenty from Blue Moon's Beast Tides.
My Potential Farms are also very slow, I should upgrade those soon.
Overall, William wasn't upset with his current improvement speed. His Beast Slayer Title had even reached Mythical after killing 25000 Magical Beasts, which increased his damage to Magical Beasts by 75 percent. Enjoy exclusive content from m-v l'e|m,p-y r
William inspected his Heavenly Core with the spiritual senses he had since the Foundation Establishment Realm. The only reason he hadn't used them before was because he had the Vision Talent, which was much better when looking at others.
The Heavenly Core had formed automatically upon reaching the highest ninth stage of the Core Formation Realm. It was a vibrant marble the size of his fist, glowing in all different colors of the rainbow and pulsating slowly as if it had a life of its own.
Once William reached the Golden Core Realm, the Heavenly Core would progress to a Heavenly Golden Core, which usually granted Cultivators with insane combat strength compared to others of the same Realm.
It would be the same for William, since both his Physical, Magic, and Passive Talents would benefit greatly from the boost. At that point, his combat power might reach the Ascension Realm!
He left the Gravitas Ruins and checked on the Fire Mine, where his team of Cultivators were waiting with a small storehouse that was half-full of Greater Fire Shards already.
Separate from the main group of Greater Fire Shards, William noticed that they also collected a few hundred damaged ones that were extracted improperly and were no longer valuable.
He collected all of the Greater Fire Shards in good condition first and compared it to Wen Xai's notes, then disposed of the others since the System wouldn't accept it.
-Acquired a Greater Fire Shard (x23102): +577550
That's a lot of Points! William exclaimed in his mind. Compared to the Potential Points gained from killing Magical Beasts and waiting for his Potential Farms, this was clearly much more efficient. At this rate, he would max out his Talents in no time!
Hmm, but the numbers aren't right. There are twelve missing according to Wen Xai's notes. Someone might have broken through my restrictions...
"Wen Xai." William said.
"Yes, Master William?"
"Don't call me Master. How many Greater Fire Shards are there supposed to be here?"
"23 thousand, one hundred and fourteen. Is something wrong, William?"
"And how many Greater Fire Shards are here?"
"23 thousand, one hundred and fourteen?" Wen Xai looked confused.
"Wrong, you're missing twelve. Where are they, and who has them?"
Hearing William's words, Wen Xai became nervous and called for the other Cultivators within the Fire Mine.
The workers of the Fire Mine were all lined up into neat rows and inspected until William eventually discovered the twelve Greater Fire Shards in someone's Space Ring. As a Tier 6 Array Master and a Space Mage, William had no difficulty breaking into someone else's Rings.
The Greater Fire Shards were neatly packed in a row and almost looked the same as the others, with the only difference being that the boxes had Wen Xai's stamp of approval on them, meaning they had already been accounted for.
William secretly looked at the man's shoulder, where his Enslavement Array was much weaker than the others'. It had only been two months, yet this person was already close to breaking away from the restrictions.
"I'll be taking these. They don't belong to you." William took the Greater Fire Shards from the nervous Cultivator's Space Ring then left without another word. If the man was stealing resources already, there was probably more going on behind the scenes.
-Acquired a Greater Fire Shard (x12): +300 PP
--Title upgraded to Rare: +3 PP
--Title upgraded to Epic: +20 PP
-Loot Goblin (Uncommon --> Epic): You have expressed a deep desire for Goblinry, the lost art of being greedy for treasure. Your greedy nature has led you to actively waste time looking for every last scrap of your loot, even interrupting your subordinates' daily routine. Looting speed increased by 30%.
Hey! I was checking their Arrays, don't say I was wasting time!
-Suuuure. And you just had to take the Fire Shards afterwards, right?
Well... they're mine so. Also, since when did you talk like that?
-Hmph!
Before he left the Fire Mine, William checked on the extraction progress of the cave itself. The number of Greater Fire Shards extracted this time was quite a lot, and even if his entire team of workers combined was still slower than him alone, they were still covering a lot of ground.
Over twenty kilometers' worth of Greater Fire Shards had been extracted already, and there was only a seventy-kilometer expanse where Greater Fire Shards existed.
In just over half a year, the Greater Fire Shards would no longer exist! At that point, William would need to send them to extract the Dragonstone, Flamerium, or regular Fire Shards. The Fire Shards would take the same amount of time to extract, but were worth less Points, while the Dragonstone and Flamerium were worth more but took much longer to extract just a single piece.
With William's group, it would probably take an entire day just to extract a single piece of Dragonstone.
I can think about that later. For now, I just need to focus on upgrading my Talents and increasing the speed that I earn Potential Points. William decided. Even if the entire Fire Mine was exhausted, he didn't care.
Because...
POTENTIAL POINTS: 669503
With so many Potential Points, William could upgrade anything he wanted! Even his Legendary Elements, which were all at S-Rank, could be upgraded for just fifty thousand Points. As long as he didn't mind dying to the Chaos upgrade later, of course.
No. I may have a lot of Points, but I need to focus on the long-term here. If I keep losing lifespan after every upgrade, I'm going to die of old age sooner or later.
William organized his System Panel and made a list of things he absolutely needed to upgrade, setting aside the rest for later.
[1] OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder): A mental and behavioral disorder that causes one to have unwanted thoughts or fears and repetitive behaviors that interfere with daily life. OCD is more common in mild cases.