Mei led me back down to the third level of the pagoda.

“This is where you’ll be staying.” She gave me a playful smirk. “The third level is for the scrubs. Once you contribute enough, you can get bumped up to the fourth.”

“Thanks.”

“No worries. Take some time to relax. WuJing and I have to get back to work, but if you need anything, SuYin should be available to help you out. Just head down to the shop floor and wander around a bit. She’ll find you, and if not, I’m sure one of the others will.”

As Mei turned to leave, I hurried to ask a question. “Do I need any kind of identification? Sect members all carry jade tokens, right? Does the Pavilion have anything like that? Something I need to carry around to get access to the upper levels?”

She shook her head lightly. “Nah, the guards should have already been informed about you, so there won’t be any trouble. WuJing can get you a Pavilion Badge to use when you go to other branches, but you won’t need it here, so you might as well hold off on getting it. Right now, you have zero contributions, no cultivation, and no proven ability. That means you get the lowest-level badge. Work your way up a little first. Otherwise, you’ll be replacing it before you even get to use it.”

I let out a small laugh. “Thanks.”

“Now, take a break and stop bothering me. I have to get to work.”

Her tone was playful as she shooed me away and turned to head back downstairs.

My room in the Pavilion could only be described as opulent.

In the sect, after moving to the Eyes’ enclave, my apartment was nice. It was well-made and clean, but it wasn’t anything special. It was a single large room with no decorations. It only had a bed for sleeping and a mat for cultivating.

The Pavilion’s apartments, even the ones for the lowest-level members, were something else entirely. They had a sitting room, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. They also had a separate, soundproofed cultivation room. The sitting room had a table and chairs, a couch, a couple of armchairs, and a well-stocked bookcase. The bedroom had a large, soft bed, flower vases, wall art, and a window overlooking the city below. Only the cultivation room retained an ascetic’s sensibilities. It was a small room with no windows and only a mat for cultivation.

Dismissing the luxuries, I sat down in the cultivation room to consider my future.

I needed to improve my affinities, there was no question about that, but I also wanted several other upgrades, and it would be difficult to pay for everything.

My grasp of low-level techniques was solid, but I was a bit worried about making the ascension to Grandmaster. I had read through the Rank 3 cultivation technique that I was planning to use, and building my dantian for it would be extremely difficult. I highly doubted it would be anywhere close to correct the first time, and I didn’t want to have to repeat everything up to that point to fix it.

In the past, I had asked the System about creating a ‘temporary’ reset point that would only work for a single life, but I didn’t remember the details.

“System, how much does a temporary reset point cost?”

Cost 30 credits.

Note: Cost is based on your level of cultivation. You are currently a Martial Disciple 1, which is worth 10 credits. Advancing one stage will make you a Martial Disciple 2, worth 20 credits. Adding these two numbers together, the cost of a temporary reset point is 30 credits. If you were a Martial Disciple 2, the cost would be 20 + 30, for a cost of 50 credits.

Note: The cost of each temporary reset point will double until the host returns to the permanent reset point. For a temporary reset point that will last for three deaths, the cost would be 30 + 60 + 120, for a total of 210 credits.

Note: Additional charges may apply.

So, if I wanted to set a temporary reset point as a Martial Master Peak, it would cost 120,000 credits, 20,000 for Peak Master and 100,000 for Grandmaster 1. However, if I created it as a Martial Master 10, it would only be 30,000, 10,000 for Master 10 and 20,000 for Peak Master. From there, I could save more credits by moving it even earlier, but doing so would also limit the value of such a reset point.

I suddenly thought of something and started talking to the air, hoping the powers that be were listening.

“A boost to my affinities changes my body, that’s why temporary affinity boosts aren’t taken back with me, right? However, if I give myself a temporary boost and then create a temporary reset point, the effects of that temporary boost should persist without cost until my next permanent reset. Any changes to my body from before the reset point should remain upon death, right?”

I waited several moments, hoping my words might have an effect. Then, I checked to see the result.

“System, if I temporarily raise my affinities, will they remain raised after a death that sends me back to a temporary reset point?”

If the affinities were raised before that point was created, they will remain. However, an additional cost of 10% of the price of all temporary boosts will be added to the base cost of a reset point.

Note: Purchasing temporary bonuses before changing your permanent reset point will result in a substantial price increase.

I smiled. I didn’t know if my soliloquy had any effect, but I got the result that I had wanted. Now, I could start making purchases.

“System, modify my Rank 1 and 2 cultivation techniques as discussed earlier. Make the mental effects personability, focus, and dedication.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 101,000 credits. 448,200 credits remaining.

“Upgrade all my existing affinities to temporary peak seven-star.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 86,250 credits. 361,950 credits remaining.

That was a good start, but I would need more if I wanted to reach Martial King. My hope was that I would be able to find a way to boost my affinities naturally, but I could at least use the System to take one more step.

“Raise my fire affinity to temporary low six-star.”

Cost 100,000 credits. Purchase confirmed. 261,950 credits remaining.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

With the most important purchases complete, I needed to deal with the problem of my fire seed. Namely, I couldn’t let anyone know that I had a fire seed. I needed anyone who saw me use it to think that it was only a normal spirit fire, and I wasn’t confident that I had the knowledge and ability to pull that off.

“System, how much would it cost for me to gain complete knowledge and mastery of my current fire seed?”

Mastery of Seed of the Yellow-Rank Cold Mountain Fire. Cost 90,000 credits.

“Purchase.”

Purchase confirmed. 172,450 credits remaining.

Finally, there was one last purchase that I had been considering carefully over recent decades.

Technically, I had as much time as I needed to slowly master any skill I wanted to learn. However, doing so would require me to stretch my learning out over several lifetimes. After all, while I considered myself to be a rather skilled Grandmaster Alchemist, how many centuries had I spent studying the craft?

Extrapolating this out, how long would it take me to become a Pill Lord? Another hundred years? Two? And then, what about Pill King? Another millennium? With my blessing, I could make this work, but spending countless years to advance my alchemy skills a single step seemed… wasteful.

Strangely, while learning alchemy had taken me hundreds of years, in the Twin Mountains Sect, there were plenty of people who could become Grandmaster Alchemists in only a few decades. How? Was it their blessings, or were they simply that much more talented than me?

I wasn’t sure, but if it was natural talent, then that was a problem that I could solve.

“System, can I… can I enhance my ability to learn alchemy?”

Alchemy Comprehension. Cost variable.

Note: State the number of credits you wish to spend.

I nodded. Alchemy comprehension. It was something I could buy, but… what would it do? Would it change my brain? If so, then the effect would likely only last a single lifetime.

“System, if I improve my alchemy comprehension, will the effect be permanent or temporary?”

Permanent.

That meant that it likely wasn’t a physical change to my body. So, what was it?

“How will purchasing such a boost change me? How is this boost implemented?”

The cost of this information is not possible to calculate at this time.

Somehow, I had been expecting that answer.

While I couldn’t be exactly sure how boosting my ‘comprehension’ would help me, it seemed to be what I needed to do. Considering this, I thought through a few other similar purchases that might also be helpful.

“System, I want to spend 20,000 credits to permanently enhance each of the following: my alchemy comprehension, my herbalism comprehension, the rate of my soul growth, the rate my qi control improves, and my comprehension of cultivation techniques.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 100,000 credits. 71,950 credits remaining.

I tried to sense any changes to my body, but nothing felt any different. Had this purchase even done anything? Even if it had, how much would a 20,000-credit enhancement help me? I wasn’t entirely sure, but I would just have to trust in the System.

In any case, I was left with enough credits to create a single temporary reset point at Martial Master 10, and I could use it to work on perfecting my ascension to Grandmaster.

Purchases complete, I stood up and left my apartment. I wasn’t ready to start cultivating quite yet. Instead, I wanted to find SuYin to learn a little more about my new life.

“SuYin!” I smiled and waved when I spotted the girl down on the shop floor. It looked like she had just finished up with a customer, so I grabbed her attention before she could move to someone else.

Seeing me approach, she smiled and bowed. “Hello again, how may I help you?”

“Hi, I just became a member of the Pavilion. Mei said that you could show me around.”

“Oh?” Her eyes widened. “You’re a full member?”

“I believe so. I talked with Secretary Jiang, and he set everything up.”

She beamed at me and clapped her hands together. “Congratulations. You are joining as an alchemist, right?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure about the details. What am I supposed to do? What does being a member of the Pavilion entail? I was hoping that you would be able to fill me in.”

“I’d be happy to. Let’s head upstairs.”

She took me back up to the fifth floor of the pagoda. At this point, I was beginning to wish the place had an elevator. If this was what my life was going to be like, constantly climbing stairs all day, then I needed to hurry along my cultivation base.

Exiting the stairwell on the fifth floor, we entered a large, open room. A female attendant waited behind a reception desk, and hallways branched out in three different directions.

Gesturing around, SuYin explained.

“All of our workshops are on the fifth floor. We have several rooms for alchemists and formation masters, but we have places for rarer professions, such as talisman crafters, as well. There is even a workshop dedicated to weapon and artifact refining, though it’s never been used.”

She guided me over to the receptionist's desk. “This is Xu YuLin. She, or whoever’s working here at the time, can arrange a workshop and ingredients for you.”

Smiling, YuLin gave me a short bow. “Hello, sir.”

“Sister Xu, this is…”

SuYin looked at me and blushed.

“Su Fang.”

“This is Su Fang,” she began again. “He is a new alchemist member of the Pavilion, and I’m showing him around.”

“A full member? At his age?” Like SuYin, when she heard this, YuLin widened her eyes in surprise. “Congratulations.”

Why did they all keep congratulating me? Joining as a member hadn’t exactly been difficult. Was it so much harder for the average person?

YuLin smiled at me ingratiatingly. “Let me introduce you to how our system works. First, while you can still buy ingredients on the shop floor like anyone else, it isn’t necessary. You may come here and order any herbs that you require, and they will be delivered to either your workshop or apartment. If you wish to choose them yourself, you may visit the warehouse floor in the basement, where an attendant can show you everything we have available.”

I nodded at that. It would be nice to be able to pick out my own herbs, but it usually wasn’t worth the time.

“What kind of pills should I make? Are there any requirements?”

“As a member, we will buy any pills that you concoct at a regular price of the ingredients plus 50% of the profit.” As she spoke, she pulled out a thick blue book. “This ledger lists pills that are currently in high demand. If you sell pills on the ledger, your percentage will be increased to 55%. When you sell us pills that are in urgent demand, you will receive 60% of the profits.”

She flipped to a different part of the book before continuing. “These are the special requests. They are either more difficult than normal pills, or they require rare ingredients. While the Pavilion will provide the herbs necessary to complete these requests, if you accept such a request and are not successful, then you will need to pay a penalty fee. However, for completing such a request, you will receive a 70% share of the profits. If we have an urgent commission, someone from the Pavilion may contact you directly for your assistance. As a full member, you have an obligation to assist us, but your compensation in such events is increased to 75%, and any penalty for failure is waived.”

I wasn’t too surprised that I would be obligated to make certain pills, but having a bonus to the payout was a benefit I hadn’t expected.

YuLin walked to the side where several names were hung on the wall. “Finally, these are the craftsmen who are available for personal requests. The Pavilion will help coordinate these requests, but they are, in the end, an agreement between the craftsman and the buyer. You will receive 85% of the profits when completing a personal request, but be aware, such requests are usually subject to steep penalties upon failure.”

I nodded, confident in my abilities. “If I began working now, what pills would be best to focus on?”

YuLin smiled gently. “The Su Clan just completed their annual blessing ceremony. Since several other families also have blessing ceremonies around the same time, there will be a large demand for Rank 1 Qi Gathering Pills in the near future. While such pills are always in demand, at the start of a new year, this is especially true. Other than that, pills to restore energy will also be needed since they get used a lot during training. Later in the year, when the new cultivators start wandering about, they will need healing pills and such, but there isn’t too large of a demand for them at the moment.”

“Sounds good, do I need to pay for the herbs up front?”

“As a full member, as long as you are making pills for the Pavilion, you do not need to purchase common herbs. However, if you wish to make pills for your personal use, or if you wish to use rarer herbs, you must purchase them upfront. If you then choose to sell us the pills made from these herbs, we will reimburse you for their cost.”

I nodded decisively. “Alright. Send a dozen sets of ingredients for Superior Qi Gathering Pills to my apartment. I’ll rest for a bit and then come up to work on them.”

“A dozen?” YuLin’s eyes widened in shock once again. “That might not be a good idea… While these are common herbs and you will not need to pay for them immediately, if too many are destroyed…”

I waved away her concern. “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”

I turned to SuYin, who had been waiting patiently during my discussion with YuLin.

“Thanks for showing me around. We can continue the tour later. I need to get to work.”