Students at Silverwood Elite School didn’t have access to a Cultivation chamber with Spiritual Energy concentration as high as 20x, so everyone had no choice but to Cultivate honestly in the school’s chambers.
"Boss, why did Evelyn and Lucian ask for leave together? Are they up to something shady?"
Eric was already in a bad mood, and hearing his lackey’s words only made him more irritated.
Everyone else was in the school’s Cultivation chambers, desperately seizing every moment to improve their strength.
Yet Evelyn and Lucian had both asked for leave at the same time.
There was obviously something going on.
Eric felt as though someone had just put a green hat on his head. His expression became increasingly ugly, especially with his lackeys snickering and egging him on from the side.
Evelyn was the woman Eric considered his forbidden prize, yet she wouldn’t even spare him a proper glance. Instead, she was acting all sweet and intimate with that bastard Lucian.
The more Eric thought about it, the more irritated he became. He turned toward his snickering lackeys and barked coldly,
"Are you all that bored? Instead of using your time to Cultivate, you’re standing around gossiping? Damn it, I’m already close to completing a Heavenly Cycle. And where are you guys?"
The lackeys’ expressions immediately fell.
As E-Rank and F-Rank Talents, their Cultivation speed was painfully slow. They hadn’t even successfully sensed Spiritual Energy yet.
Eric, on the other hand, was a B-Rank Talent. With a mountain of Spiritual Pills and Cultivation Pills provided by his Family, he had already made significant progress in absorbing Spiritual Energy and was now close to completing his first Heavenly Cycle.
If even a B-Rank Talent could progress this quickly, then Evelyn, an S-Rank Talent, must have already begun circulating her Heavenly Cycle!
The lackeys fell silent. With no other choice, they could only grit their teeth and desperately try to sense the surrounding Spiritual Energy.
...
"Envoy, how should we deal with the S-Rank Talent in Silverwood City? The Sterling Family’s strength is not something we can afford to underestimate."
"Use your brains. Our target is Evelyn, the S-Rank Talent, not the entire Sterling Family. We’re not here to fight them to the death."
"Then, Envoy, what should we do?"
"Are you all idiots? Lure Evelyn out. Or use someone she cares about to threaten her and set a trap. Isn’t that obvious?"
The Envoy wearing the pig mask was screaming inwardly.
You all worship the Pig God, but that doesn’t mean you have to act like actual pigs! Do I really have to teach you something this simple?
"Does Evelyn have any boys she’s close to? Or perhaps any particularly close female friends?"
"According to our investigation, there’s a poor kid named Lucian who is very close to Evelyn. She even brought him to the Sterling Family."
"Oh? So that’s how she likes to play it? Keeping a boy toy around? Interesting... hehehe."
The subordinates of the pig-masked Envoy fell silent as they watched their superior get completely sidetracked by gossip.
"Just find an opportunity to capture this Lucian. Then use that boy toy to lure Evelyn to some remote place. I don’t need to tell you what comes next, right?"
"The Envoy is truly a master strategist..."
The Envoy—
Master strategist my foot!
This is something even you idiots could have figured out if you had bothered to use your brains!...
Lucian was completely unaware of everything that had happened.
At this moment, however, he was in an exceptionally good mood because his subsidy had finally arrived.
Ten thousand Federal Currency was a huge sum of money for him.
Even so, Lucian remained completely immersed in his Cultivation.
After all, once he became a Martial Artist and started hunting Otherworldly Beasts, earning money would be much easier.
After frantically Cultivating in the 20x Spiritual Energy chamber for an entire day, Lucian had already completed 223 Heavenly Cycles, yet he still hadn’t felt any sign of reaching his limit.
By now, Lucian was already used to it.
His progress was clearly visible. Just looking at his 1,100 kg punching force was enough to prove that his strength was continuing to grow.
Following Evelyn’s reminder, Lucian had spent some time frantically researching what happened to a Martial Artist’s pure physical strength after advancing to the Martial Artist realm.
A Martial Artist who broke through using a normal Heavenly Cycle would have a punching force of only 200 kg at the first stage. Each subsequent stage would increase their physical strength by another 100 kg.
By the peak of the ninth stage, a Martial Artist who followed the normal Heavenly Cycle route would have only 1,000 kg, or one ton, of pure physical strength.
A Martial Artist who achieved success through a Small Heavenly Cycle would have a punching force of 300 kg at the first stage, with each subsequent stage increasing their physical strength by 200 kg.
By the peak of the ninth stage, such a Martial Artist would possess 2,000 kg, or two tons, of pure physical strength—twice that of someone who followed the normal Heavenly Cycle route.
A Martial Artist who achieved success through a Great Heavenly Cycle would have a punching force of 400 kg at the first stage, with each subsequent stage increasing their physical strength by 300 kg.
By the peak of the ninth stage, their pure physical strength would reach 3,000 kg, or three tons—three times that of a Martial Artist who followed the normal Heavenly Cycle route.
As for a Martial Artist who achieved success through a Perfect Heavenly Cycle, they would have a punching force of 500 kg at the first stage, with each subsequent stage increasing their physical strength by 500 kg.
By the peak of the ninth stage, their pure physical strength would reach an astonishing 5,000 kg, or five tons—five times that of a Martial Artist who followed the normal Heavenly Cycle route.
Furthermore, the Spiritual Seeds formed by each cultivation path were vastly different.
A Small Heavenly Cycle Martial Artist’s Spiritual Seed contained three times the total amount of Spiritual Energy as that of a Martial Artist who followed the normal Heavenly Cycle route.
A Great Heavenly Cycle Spiritual Seed contained seven times as much, while a Perfect Heavenly Cycle Spiritual Seed contained an astonishing ten times as much Spiritual Energy as a normal one.
The difference between Talents was truly enormous, even at the very beginning of the Martial Artist realm.
Lucian was also curious about how powerful his Spiritual Seed would eventually become—and just how many Heavenly Cycles he would complete before finally becoming a Martial Artist.
For some reason, his intuition told him that the moment he finally became a Martial Artist, he would be in for a surprise.
Seeing that it was getting late, and with more than ten thousand Federal Currency in his pocket, Lucian suddenly had an idea.
"Evelyn, I’ll treat you to barbecue today. Otherworldly Beast meat barbecue."
"Okay. I haven’t had barbecue in a long time."
The two hit it off immediately. After contacting their families and informing them of their plans, they headed out for dinner that evening.
The night market street only came alive after dark. Before sunset, the entire place was practically deserted, with most of the shops still closed.
Lucian took Evelyn to a barbecue shop he had heard about many times but had never actually visited, the Baldy Otherworldly Beast Meat Barbecue Shop.
"Give us some Otherworldly Beast pork kidneys, fifty skewers of Otherworldly Beast lamb, and some chives."
Lucian turned to Evelyn.
"Evelyn, take a look and see if there’s anything else you want. Eat your fill today."
"This is enough for now. We can order more after we finish."
"Alright!"
As they waited for the food, Lucian’s thoughts drifted toward the future. He imagined what it would be like to go into the Wilderness with Evelyn, hunt Otherworldly Beasts together, and grill the meat themselves.
"Evelyn, someday I’ll take you hunting in the Wilderness. We can grill the meat ourselves. By then, we’ll have an unlimited supply of Otherworldly Beast meat."
Evelyn glanced at him and teased, "Then you’d better master your grilling skills first. I don’t want to end up eating burnt Otherworldly Beast meat."...
"Boss, bring a whole roasted lamb to our table."
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from nearby.
Lucian looked up.
It was that brat Eric again.
Enemies really do cross paths.
A whole roasted lamb cost 15,000 Federal Currency. Could that brat Eric even afford it?
As if sensing Lucian’s gaze, Eric looked over and their eyes met.
"Young Master Eric, it’s that kid Lucian. And Evelyn is with him too."
One of Eric’s lackeys had spotted them as well.
"I’m not blind. I don’t need you to tell me."
As he spoke, Eric walked toward Lucian’s table.
"Evelyn, you’re here too? Why didn’t you go to school to Cultivate today?"
Eric greeted her enthusiastically, completely ignoring Lucian as though he weren’t even there.
Evelyn’s expression remained cold.
"Eric, please call me Evelyn. We’re not that close."
Eric had offered a warm smile only to receive a cold shoulder in return, leaving him visibly embarrassed.
"Hahaha, Evelyn, you’re joking, right? We’ve been classmates for six years."
Eric forced a laugh, trying to hide his awkwardness.
"Sorry, but I don’t remember you."
...
"Pfft—hahahaha!"
One of Eric’s lackeys struggled to hold back his laughter, but Lucian couldn’t help himself.
"Eric, stop putting on airs. Just tell us, what do you want?"
Eric’s face instantly darkened.
He glared at Lucian with a sinister look in his eyes.
It’s you again, you little bastard!