A Few Minutes Later…

  Bubai vented all his dark emotions over being a three-minute man.

  “Ah, short and sweet… all for the sake of cultivation…”

  Quantity over quality. If possible, being a one-minute man was even better for fuel efficiency!

  Alas, it’s hard to do it any faster after all those successive rounds...

  How many times did he do it? He didn’t bother counting.

  Bubai only knew she had actually been working the entire time he was sorting through all that loot!

  Crazy, right? Seriously, will her mouth get tired from working so hard? Haha, of course not.

  Perhaps other mortal dolls might wear out from overuse or rough treatment, but when it came to his toy…

  The more she was used, the more his nutritious essence energizes her and the subtle rejuvenating effect even repairs any old injuries she sustained over her service years!

  In exchange, he gets a hard-working employee in tip-top condition!

  Merlin’s beard, what a eco-friendly cycle!

  This was really the pinnacle of keeping a machine well-oiled and running smoothly!

  But even the finest engines must eventually cool off. All good things must come to an end.

  After letting another memory condense into an orb, Bubai cast his gaze down.

  Seductive eyes peered up at his own.

  Silky essence slowly flowed out and filled a vial to the brim...

  Great, that’s another spare vial harvested!

  It’s never too early to start stockpiling for the grand opening of his nutty Bubai Glue Shop.

  Of course, these vials weren’t just for business.

  They doubled as a spare battery for the ever-thirsty doll on particularly dry days—when her heaven was too stingy to water the flower.

  Prepare for a rainy day, ain’t that right? Haha, but that’s enough preparations here. Time to move on.

  Bubai gave the woman’s head a light pat. “About time you took a little break.”

  Those hazel eyes gazed up at him with pure devotion. “Jali will never tire of worshiping my king’s totem.”

  Bubai rolled his eyes. “That’s enough dungeon exploring for tonight. I still got things to do.”

  An Jali fluttered her eyelashes seductively. "At least... let Jali clean up for my king."

  Bubai grunted and looked away. Amitabha! See no evil! Know no evil!

  This was a story of righteousness, a sanctum free of worldly corruption!

  There’s no games unsuitable for children here!

  Just a lucky sucker taking the fall for any bad luck that happens.

  In the game of luck, somebody had to take the blame, right?

  Of course, Bubai doesn’t like playing the blame game all day.

  Instead, he preferred to look for the silver lining. Is there one in this situation?

  Bubai’s consciousness dived into his storage warehouse and filtered out all the distracting pleasure outside.

  His divine sense poured into the cubic room and inspected the small treasure box placed on the shelf.

  Inside, the magic beast core was still there.

  It’s just that the fiery-red marble seemed dimmer now, as if it had lost its essence.

  “Hmm... all that’s left should be Qi. Even if someone swallowed this now, I guess there probably won’t be any chance of enlightenment. Eh, not that there was much of one in the first place.”

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  After all, Bubai certainly didn’t feel enlightened at all!

  “No wait…” Bubai suddenly felt like he grasped a solid clue. “The essence of the matter...”

  “That’s it! Perhaps that special quality that got sucked out is what brings about the expansion in my core dantian?”

  “But what is that quality? Where exactly is the link?”

  “Uh… now that I think about it, beast cores are technically the inheritance left by beasts, aren’t they? Could it really be… something related to the inheritance factor?”

  Bubai’s thoughts went down this rabbit hole, but in the end, he sighed. “Alas, there’s not enough data. Just no way to be sure.”

  For now, all he could do was tack on another side quest to his ever-growing gathering log: collect more Magic Beast cores.

  After transferring the treasure box containing the magic beast core over to a shelf in the Trade Corner, Bubai gave his amassed wealth another once-over.

  Today’s haul really was great. But...

  “Wealth only goes so far if I don’t have the strength to protect it. Skills are where it’s at!”

  Bubai went over the archive of skills in his memory bank.

  “The library is growing, but so far, I’ve only learned a subset…”

  There’s footwork skills like Illusory Beast Steps and Cloud Ascension Steps.

  Illusion-type spells like Dream Transmission and Dream Fishing.

  General offensive spells like Lightning Crusher.

  Then auxiliary skills like Turtle Breathing and Needle Picking technique plus a handful of miscellaneous life skills…

  Not to mention the various martial arts integrated into his fighting style...

  “That’s actually a lot on my plate, huh?”

  Sure, his foundation was still shallow, but it’s definitely not little!

  Know that most outer disciples were stuck learning a single skill for life! Any mastering a few could already take the lead in the pack!

  As for inner disciples… five or six could be considered average. But most were restricted to around this number.

  Hardly surprising though.

  Perhaps the key elites groomed by the sect or a noble clan can get access to more skills in their clan’s library or the sect’s book pavilion, but for most disciples, every skill acquired is an indispensable asset!

  A larger skill bank meant more choices, and given time, more adaptability!

  Any disciple was happy to expand their skill banks, either through mainstream or even unscrupulous means.

  The longer they live, the deeper their pockets.

  Given the short time since he started walking the true road of cultivation, it’s quite the miracle that he could even match those short-lived ghosts of the inner sect!

  This was the power of... hugging thighs and eating soft rice!

  Fairy and granny, check. Sword maiden, check. Cat, check.

  Yup, awesome! Thanks to all those sketchy trades and sponsors from good dead men...

  Counting the techniques he has yet to learn, his current collection wasn’t enough to start a sect, but it certainly was enough to be the foundation for a small third-rate clan! But…

  Once there’s too much of something, it also becomes a problem.

  "What should I learn first? Those two new water-attribute spells? The knife-throwing technique? Fire-blowing? Or focus on formations? Ugh, Merlin… too many choices!"

  The sheer abundance of options made choosing what to practice its own headache, especially when there were other hurdles to consider—like affinity and comprehension.

  Affinity is simple to talk about.

  That was like a bridge. Some have better, well-built bridges while others are stuck with a rickety suspension bridge missing planks all over.

  Regardless of which case, as long as one knew the way, they can make it across.

  But comprehending the way to cross it was another matter.

  Comprehension wasn’t something that could be taken for granted.

  Even crawling and walking requires comprehension, let alone some outlandish supernatural power.

  The so-called comprehension was like understanding both the unseen logic governing a technique and also grasping the technicalities needed to mold energy to achieve the intended effect.

  With talent for control, muscle memory from practice, and each cultivation realm advancement, the technical part will become simpler.

  But the science wasn’t something anyone can grasp.

  Thinking about his own struggles when trying to figure out how certain spells work, Bubai sighed inside.

  "Even I am not exempt. The reason I could even learn certain mysterious skills like Illusory Beast Steps and Lightning Crusher so quickly was thanks to the knowledge I’ve accumulated."

  Not just in this life, but from all his past lives!

  The scientific memories of that glorious winner in life especially came in handy!

  Understand the mysteries behind how heat bends light to generate a mirage, blend that into what the cat taught, and bam, he got mail.

  Master the science of lightning... charges, voltages, and how to control currents all were indispensable to make learning lightning-based spells lightning fast.

  But not all skills had the luxury of riding on that electric shortcut.

  It might seem like he mastered a lot of techniques, but except for the few frequently-used skills, the other learned techniques were all still stuck in the initiation realm…

  Then, among the learned skill bank, there were many that weren’t even suited for combat.

  Even those geared towards combat had a learning curve that plateaued out.

  Science can give him a head start, but it only gets him so far in a short time.

  That was why he needed a new skill—something fresh to beef up his combat rating.

  Bubai wanted to say, “Children makes choices, I want it all!”

  But that was protagonist BS.

  He didn’t have a golden finger that can help him comprehend stuff left and right. His time was essentially limited.

  One wrong step, one detour, and he might be comprehending why the flowers are so red.

  So, choices must be made carefully.

  “Well, learning a new skill isn’t a matter of a single day. That choice can be left till later. Now…”

  Bubai’s gaze fell down to the woman obediently kneeling like a proper concubine abiding by ancient traditions.

  This time, she was not so desperate to overstep her boundaries to push for more.

  Bubai suppressed the rising urge and let his holy hand grace her head.

  “Good girl. Now, back to work. Once you’re done coating the needles and selected weapons in poison, call out to me. I’ll recite some text for you to copy down.”

  “By your command, my king.”

  The bridge opened. The sun-kissed beauty was sent away.

  Bubai quickly tucked on his pants, his mind moving on to a more pressing matter.

  “Huh, they should have sorted out their territories by now…”

  Tying the pouches back on his waist, Bubai stepped out from the prison cell and looked toward the dungeon exit.

  “Well, guess it’s time I handle the hot potato upstairs.”