Chapter 10: Spiritual Pools, Currencies
...…
BLING!
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{[Infinite Clone System]}
[Host: Lucifer]
[Race: Human]
[Lifespan: 18/213]
[Cultivation: 100% Marrow Tempering Stage (Body Refinement Realm)]
[Battle Power: Absolute Peak Body Refinement Realm]
—---
{[Clones:]}
[Body Refinement Realm Clones: 1150]
[Clone Essence needed to summon the highest realm Clone: 0.1]
[Clone Essence Bank: 420]
—---
{[Physique(s) and various external power augmenters:]}
[Cultivation Talent: Early-Mortal Rank]
[Spiritual Roots: ???] (Rank: ???)
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Although Lucifer initially received a 'boost' for his first clone kills, in reality, no significant noticeable boost was given, as any Clone Essence value below 0.1 would automatically be rounded up to 0.1.
He didn't fully understand why this had happened, but it resulted in Body Refinement Realm Cultivators, who were likely worth less than 0.01 Clone Essence, suddenly increasing in value.
And it was because of this little exploit of the system that Lucifer was able to take full advantage of his early-game grinding tactics.
"With over 1100 Clones, plenty of Clone Essence to spare and on top of all the loot I have snatched from the victims, I can begin concocting even more pills."
While his Clones were hard at work, Lucifer made sure to actively concoct pills, and with another massive haul acquired from a few dozen Peak Body Refinement Realm Cultivators, his resources had increased more than a hundredfold!
Moreover, he didn't just acquire rare herbs and some coins, but also a number of techniques that could be used to boost his Battle Power.
Although most of the techniques were of the low-common rank, there were a select few of the mid-common rank ones that had likely cost their previous owners their entire life savings.
In the Fire Nation, there were two widely accepted forms of currency.
The first one was Fire Coins. For example, 10 Fire Coins could sustain a common family for an entire month, allowing them to live modestly.
Of course, there were smaller denominations, such as scraps or nuts, but they were more a form of small change and not a commonly circulated monetary currency.
On the other hand, there was a second generally accepted form of currency—a currency that was not just limited to the Fire Nation.
And that currency was the…
The Spiritual Stone!
That's right, it was the spiritual stones that truly made the world go round, as they were the primary currency circulated among cultivators.
Considering that cultivators ruled the planet, it was only natural for them to use their own higher form of currency. To be clear, only Qi Condensation Realm Cultivators and above were considered true cultivators.
Body Refinement Realm noobs could only dream of seeing a spiritual stone in person, as even the lowest-ranked spiritual stones were beyond their reach.
However, the 6th Young Master of the Devilduke family was lucky enough to acquire a total of 3 lowest-ranked spiritual stones from a few unfortunate souls who had lost their lives and possessions to him.
Jingle! Jingle!
Lucifer jingled a bag filled with dimly glowing blue stones, all of which were spiritual stones.
They would also be his key to accessing a Spiritual Pool!
Spiritual Pools were a natural phenomenon, formed by the condensation of Qi between heaven and earth. Their purpose was none other than to enhance the cultivation efficiency of anyone who bathed in them!
It was this very real truth that led Lucifer to already knowing what he was going to spend his spiritual stones on.
'With three lowest-ranked spiritual stones of this size and quality, I should be able to rent out a Spiritual Pool of the Blank Element for about 21 hours.'
The Blank Element was a term used for those who were born without one of the Ten Major Elemental Attributes.
These specific Elemental Attributes were: Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, Air, Ice, Shadow, Light, Darkness, and Nature Elements.
If one were lucky enough to be born with a Spiritual Root of one of these 10 Elements, then they could begin specializing in a niche and later master it to completion.
However, for rare cases like Lucifer, who didn't have a Spiritual Root, they were given the default 'Blank Element'—an element that was compatible with all attributes yet proficient in none.
In simple terms, it was considered useless for the vast majority of cultivators.
But for Lucifer and his Infinite Clone System, it was the perfect Element to have, as it held unlimited potential for one as long as they were talented or wealthy enough.
After all, those with case-specific Elemental Spiritual Roots would never be able to cultivate the Elements that weren't related to their Spiritual Root.
But those with the Blank Element could potentially cultivate all of the Elements, albeit at the cost of focused proficiency.
In a sense, they were jacks of all trades, with the only difference being that they were looked down upon by just about everyone in the World of Cultivation.
However, the 6th Young Master of the Devilduke Family intended to make full use of this unexpected opportunity he had been provided with…
_____
"Time to sneak past the chaos outside and make it to the Fire Spiritual Pool."
Lucifer's raspy voice echoed in his room as he rose up off his cultivation mat, quickly disappearing from his spot.
In no time, he was weaving in and out of groups of pedestrians, who were frantically screaming as they discovered more and more corpses in various bushes around town.
'From all the times it worked in Assassins Creed, I assumed it would be just as effective to hide dead bodies in bushes, but I guess not…'
Lucifer mused an interesting comment inside his head and decided to try a different approach the next time he went on the grind.
But in the meantime, he had a Blank/Fire Spiritual Pool to reach.
Luckily for him, after a few minutes of navigating through the cracked, cobblestoned roads, he ultimately found himself at the entrance of a red-lined cave.
There, an old man sat to the left side of the cave's entrance, decrepit but keen.
Opening one of his aged eyes upon noticing the arrival of a newcomer, he seemed to be analyzing Lucifer, but upon finding nothing noteworthy, he hoarsely shouted, "One Lowest-Ranked Spiritual Stone for every 7 hours of cultivation in the Blank/Fire Spiritual Pool!"
Lucifer didn't mind the old man's straightforward way of speaking. He simply took a bag of three spiritual stones and tossed them in the old man's direction.
.....