Chapter 100 100 – Undercurrent Troubles
"Overall, you earned 3,520 MP from the fourth-stage disciples."
"How does the rewarding work for the ranked disciples?"
Ken asked curiously. He thought it'd be round, but 2,600 divided by 5 wasn't round.
"Top 1000 gives you 200 MP, and for every 100 ranks, there's an increase of 50 MP in your reward. You killed 4 disciples from the top 200, and each awarded you with 600 MP, and one more from the top 1000 which awarded you with 200 MP."
"I see, thanks. What ranking is it?"
"There are many ranking lists. There is a list for alchemists, a list for formation masters, and a list for combat power, and they are divided by age. There is some overlapping in those lists, but overall, there are around 6000 ranked disciples in the fourth stage."
The clerk changed his attitude after seeing Ken's battle spoils. No matter how he did it, it showed serious potential. If Ken could continue raking in MP at this pace, he might have a chance at getting into his sect.
"Okay, what about the tokens belonging to fifth-stage disciples?"
"Right, you have 22 of them. 8 belong to outer disciples, 10 belong to inner disciples, and 4 belong to ranked disciples. I don't know how you did it, but it's amazing."
The disciple at the counter nodded with appreciation.
"Thank you. How much did I earn?"
"160 for the outer disciples, 500 for the inner disciples, 2,200 for the ranked disciples, making it a sum of 2,860. Since you're at the fourth stage you get double the amount, so you receive 5,720. Overall, you have 9,240 MP. Before you leave, I must ask. Did you find any inheritance?"
"No, I've been lying in wait the whole time in the same cave, didn't explore much of the area."
"I see. May I help you with anything else?"
"Just check the matter regarding entering the libraries for me. I want access to the Alchemy library, the Formations library, and the Runes library."
"Sure, you can come back tomorrow for the answer. Meanwhile, you can purchase access to high-quality training rooms where you can cultivate peacefully under great conditions. It costs 1,000 MP."
Ken made the purchase and thanked the man before leaving the Exchange Office. He headed to the training grounds to start his cultivation. His core was at its original size, and he needed to make it grow to the maximum size before condensing it again.
'That's strange. One group of enemies we took down during our time consisted of disciples just as tough as the last group we defeated, so how come they weren't in the top 300 too?'
Upon entering he handed over his disciple token and was granted entry. To his dismay, he still had to pay 5 MP per hour to be in the training room even after buying the access for 1,000 MP.
'They really do their best to squeeze us dry. One must kill 20 inner disciples just to access the training rooms, and each additional inner disciple killed is enough only for 10 hours in the training rooms.'
Ken paid the female disciple at the counter 75 MP, renting the room for 15 hours before he goes to sleep. He was satisfied when he saw they used the method of stacking formations, although they could only combine two. He didn't want to change anything since those formations were sixth-rank, better than what he could achieve.
He popped out a white pill to help his body absorb Qi faster as well as another pill, the yellow-colored Core Expanding Hastening Pill he had invented some time ago.
The first pill's job was to increase the volume of Qi that entered his body, while the second pill's job was to allow his core to work with the increased Qi volume inside his body better without wasting it.
'There's almost no Godly Qi left in my body. The little that remained should be enough to allow my body to mature to the best extent.'
Ken used the reserves of his Godly Qi while cultivating the Foundation Phase which consists of the first three stages. Now, in the Nurturing Phase, he had to do with normal Qi.
The Godly Qi he could spare was officially over when he formed his core and entered the Low Core Formation Stage, but it didn't bother him; his goal to maximize his foundation was achieved.
He focused on enlarging his core for those few hours and did nothing else. He already left 5 pills to Emrys before leaving and told him that he would starve to death if he eats them before time, forcing the pup to control himself and eat only during mealtime.
Once his 15 hours were over, he returned to the house and found the girls waiting for him there while watching the pups play among themselves.
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2 days ago in Serene Lotus Sect, also known as the 1st ranked sect in the continent:
"Elder Elmer, some of our disciples died last night."
Elder Elmer, an intermediate eighth-stage cultivator and a respectable elder of Serene Lotus Sect, oversaw a certain operation the sect was running in the central zone.
"Did they have stolen tokens?"
"Yes, they sent us a message a few hours before their fall that they got tokens from some disciples of Four Seasons Sect they had killed earlier, and that they were going to hunt Divine Sword Sect disciples."
"Good, it means there is no evidence they're from our sect. It's a shame we lost some disciples from the top 500, but we were ready to accept casualties as long as the losses were bigger for the other sides."
Elmer gave the order to continue the operation and warn the disciples to be more careful. Even if they were known to be the strongest out there, the other sects in the top 5 weren't much weaker. Being overconfident will cause unnecessary casualties.
Serene Lotus Sect sent many of their top 500 disciples out to infiltrate the territory marked as a war zone. Their job was to kill disciples from one side, steal their disciples, and kill as many disciples from the other side of their new identity as they could before returning.
Last night, a group of 4 disciples wandered into Ken's ambush and got killed, marking them as the first casualties of the strongest sect in the continent in this war.
'We can't let them have peace. We need to flare the war and make their relationship truly irreconcilable.'
With this thought in mind, he decided to go along with Elder Theodore to enter the Central Zone and watch the operation. The two of them were extremely proficient in concealment, making them the best for the task.