Chương 39: Chapter 38: Cypher Art Merger?

[Confirmed, Blue Phoenix Manifestation… successfully acquired.] [Confirmed, Spectral Touch… successfully acquired.] [Notice: Path of Phantom has been added as an extra for acquiring the Cypher Art: Spectral Touch.] [Notice: the Prehistoric Gene Talent [The Endless Path] is influencing a merger between Cypher Art, Phantom Path, and its form, Spectral Touch.] [Commence with the merger?] Yes/No"Merger?" That was new. He'd never even heard of a gene talent that could influence the merger of a Cypher Art and its path.

"Is it because the gene talent, [The Endless Path], has the word 'path' in it?" Nero mulled over the choice. He had zero idea what the end result of such a thing could be. A merger of the very path of a Cypher Art and its form? That was unheard of.

"The path in a Cypher Art is supposed to be a category under which more forms of similar nature are enlisted." He sat there in his bed for nearly thirty minutes, contemplating the whole thing, before deciding to postpone the choice for now. He instead opened [The Endless Path]'s progression panel, where the other Cypher Arts were enlisted. Yes, all techniques that dealt with genes and their utilities, like elemental energies, fit within the definition of Cypher Art.

After all, Cypher Art, at its core, was just a term for techniques that decoded and brought out the potential of a biological creature. Even monsters could use it. Though most tended to only refer to specific learnable techniques that weren't gene talents as cypher arts. Which made sense, and was also why his new Cypher Art, which used the Beast Soul, Nascent Phoenix, and his sub-ability of his Aura of Decay, the Pristine Aura's Pristine Sphere, was labeled a Cypher Art.

[Meditation Technique (Intermediate)] 123/1000 [Pristine Aura Manipulation (Intermediate)] 43/1000 [Blue Phoenix Manifestation (Basic)] 0/1000"So far, from what I've learned, grinding out a Cypher Art on [The Endless Path] enhances its efficiency and power density." Which made this new technique entering the path all the more beneficial, since using the beast soul directly, as is, wasn't ideal for his elemental energy reserves.

"This way, it's kind of a loophole." Nero's lips widened into a grin at the realization. Normally, the use of a beast soul required a great deal of elemental energy, or qi, as cultivators called it. And the use of a beast soul could only be optimized so far to reduce energy costs. But this way? He could potentially cut the energy costs to several times less than what anyone else ever could!

"And if this really is how it works, hehe." If it truly lowered energy costs, and he could afford to use the beast soul at maximum output, that would also open up his previously closed path of cultivating the beast soul itself! Usually, to sustain a beast soul and keep it from disappearing or losing its power, one needed to feed it more beast souls. That was also why lesser beast souls, like the ones Red Rats sold, were in such high demand.

Owners of higher-rarity beast souls often fed these lower-quality souls to their own to sustain it and prevent its erosion. Feed it well, with higher-quality souls, and a beast soul could actually grow like it would have as a dungeon spawn! That was exactly the kind of thing several sects around the seventh circle specialized in. They were referred to as beast-taming sects. But instead of taming actual beasts, they tamed and cultivated beast souls!

Often catching and bringing over unique dungeon spawns alive, breeding them with others to produce even rarer dungeon spawns, and extracting their beast souls through specialized techniques! Normally, acquiring a beast soul depended entirely on luck and chance. But these sects, over hundreds of years, had found ways to improve their odds. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. For now, Nero headed toward the dungeon again.

On the way, he made sure to borrow a better, more spacious dimensional bag to store more materials. After reaching the dungeon, he sifted through its supplies. The chickens had once again hidden behind that chamber upon his arrival. He ignored them and focused on the loot. He'd already sold off all of the dungeon's water elemental mana crystals, and today he'd smashed apart some fire elemental pillars instead and collected the purer bits before selling them to the guild.

After earning nearly 5 crowns, Nero returned to the sect and bought himself four spirit stones, along with a sect library access pass, from the transaction desk. He then ascended the grand hall's stairs to the second floor, where the sect library was located. On the way, he passed several inner sect disciples, to each of whom he gave a deep bow before moving forward, earning odd, often surprised looks from all of them. After reaching the sect library, he handed the librarian his pass and stepped inside.

"Whoa!" His mouth dropped open at the sight before him. It was huge, many times larger than the guild library. The ceiling stretched up for what looked like ten stories!

"Wait, how is this possible?"

"Space path magic, kid." Nero jumped to the side, startled. To his left stood the librarian, a woman with long, flowing red hair and eyes whose pupils gleamed crimson. The librarian was easily several years older than him, and her robes made her station clear: one of the inner court disciples. Her eyes held a curious look as they scrutinized him.

"It's quite rare for an outer court disciple to come to the library, much less an unofficial one." She said, her eyes turning more amused as the scrutiny faded.

"Say, did your Martial Aunt Sylvia give you that pass? You don't seem like a noble." Nero felt a tingling bit of annoyance gnawing at the back of his head at the words. Still, it wouldn't do to show displeasure toward an inner disciple.

"No, Senior Martial Sister. I bought the pass with my own money."

"Senior sister will do. So, what are you looking for?" He felt like she didn't buy his words. Nero nodded.

"A manual regarding gene talents and Cypher Art mergers." He wasn't sure if it was wise to tell her that, but he didn't have much choice. Instead of asking the sect for such manuals, he had the alternative of requesting them from the guild library. And that's where the problem lay. Because him being a sect disciple, official or otherwise, while also selling materials to the guild and not using the sect's library but the guild's instead? That would appear very suspicious to anyone paying attention.

And he was certain that in a sect this established and powerful, there had to be some sub-organization keeping tabs on suspicious behavior among the disciples. Red Rats had one: a specific one for the harvest department that made sure no materials were stolen by the harvesters, and one for the vanguards, who kept tabs on whether any members of the battle crew were entertaining any fantasies that could potentially harm the agency at large.

Thus, Nero tried to maintain balance while juggling both his loot-selling operation and his ingredient purchases. He could very well buy his spirit stones from the guild too; they might even come slightly cheaper. But his current method was better. Selling the loot to the guild ensured the sect didn't grow suspicious of where this no-name, slum-born disciple was generating such high-quality mana crystals.

And using the funds to purchase spirit stones from the sect, instead of the guild, kept the sect happy, showing he wasn't just leeching off them but actually contributing to the sect's internal economy. From the outside, every organization and the people working within it appeared simple. But even among the simplest organizations existed internal politics and loyalty testing. No organization would let him take advantage of them without getting something in return.

The senior sister looked surprised at the subject of his search, and after a contemplative pause, she pointed toward the aisle on the left side of the first floor.

"You should find it on the lower shelves. If I recall correctly, they're a set of brown leather-bound books. It contains three volumes, each diving a level deeper into the topic. I'd recommend you read all three."

"This junior is grateful for the senior's generosity." Nero dipped his head, thinking he was doing rather well with sect etiquette. But as it turned out, not really, because the sister pursed her lips before burst into soft, elegant laughter instead.

"Hahaha, sorry, but you're not at all good with sect etiquette, are you?" Nero scratched the back of his head, unsure how to respond. She simply waved her hand. She was easily two feet taller than him, so to come down to his level, she crouched slightly, her ample breasts nearly threatening to spill over. Nero tried his best not to look. Now that I think about it, unlike the female disciples of the outer court, who're mostly average or below average in height, these seniors are nearly all six feet plus…

And that wasn't even counting their almost otherworldly beauty and fair, clean skin. The time he'd seen Sylvia, she hadn't looked much different, but he was sure that was because she hadn't yet begun cultivating with full focus.

"Now look over here, junior." The senior sister tilted his chin up with her long index finger.

"I don't know where you've gotten the money for a pass this early into your cultivation journey. But since its expiration date is six days, here's a list of scriptures I'd recommend you check out. Don't waste all your time on a single book." Her index finger moved to his temple, and with a soft tap, Nero felt a flood of memories, books and scrolls, rush into his brain. While he was taking in the inflow of information, the senior gave him a smile as she stood straight.

"The name's Xiao." She winked, then walked back to her desk.