Alm and Bruno looked excitedly at the notification screen. They had hoped that their religion would gradually spread, gaining many followers in the long run. It was a pleasant surprise to have achieved this so quickly and to receive a reward on top of it.
’I’m really getting good at this,’ Bruno commented, laughing lightly. ’My power of faith is going to multiply rapidly. But the main thing now is knowing that the system can give us rewards, even without giving us a mission.’
’It already gave us the mission to conquer a planet before. Now, it sent a clear message: whenever there’s an opportunity to diminish the Queen’s influence, we should go for it, and we’ll be rewarded. It’s a good deal,’ Alm added.
Bruno nodded and began to reflect. It wasn’t in the plans, but now the two planets had become their domains, and they would have to manage them minimally to maintain them. He would have to use the missionaries from the two planets more actively, and fortunately, after receiving the celestial knowledge of the power of faith, he could transfer words, techniques, and do things from a distance safely.
The space around the whale and Ruri began to stabilize, and they quickly found themselves back in the lunar world. This method of transportation was much safer and costlier than the one used between the lunar world and the planet Pristine, allowing them to traverse it even with the space still unstable. The spatial formation used much of its energies to protect the people so they could travel long distances.
Once they found themselves back in the world of the Moonlight family, they waited patiently, and a dozen elders appeared with a strange look. The two of them took just over fifteen days to resolve a war that had lasted for thousands of years? Everyone was skeptical, but with the power already demonstrated by them, it was perfectly possible to accomplish it, but it should have taken several months or years.
The whale didn’t care and just confirmed the conclusion of the punishment. Then it made a simple report. It didn’t tell a big lie, but it also didn’t tell the truth.
They said that, fortunately, using the power of faith, they realized that the emperors were under slavery seals. So they simply set up a move and exposed everything, and with the power of faith, they managed to remove the seal. The families didn’t know much about the extent of the power of faith, but those who went to the divine sects knew that this was possible. They were correct, but they couldn’t imagine that the whale didn’t even have a third of the power needed to do this.
The guilty parties would be investigated by the families themselves. They didn’t need to say what their goal was, nor that they took the demonic rune; after all, their reward was anything they wanted from the planets. The rune was on the planet, so they could take it and not mention it in the report.
After they discovered the guilty parties and the massacre that happened to them, who would believe that two mortal cultivators did this? The whale would just pretend ignorance, and there were no logical reasons for them to demand any explanation from him. Something unknown happened, and that’s it.
Before leaving, the whale sought out some elders for a negotiation. It presented some herbs, saying it brought them from those planets. The elders seemed to want to laugh, but when they called a human alchemist, they immediately saw the old man’s eyes widen.
These were herbs that only existed in the divine world. They weren’t extremely valuable, but for the families, it was something rare and hard to come by. The whale said it was a reward from the natives of the planets for resolving everything.
Those planets were ascendants very close to the divine world, and ascending planets often, extremely rarely, generate things only found in the divine world. It was completely random, perhaps happening once or twice every million years. The planet Pristine was a different case because the Behemoth was sealed in it, but those two planets having these herbs wasn’t absurd. And the whale being rewarded by the natives with that was plausible.
"I need Essentia Crystal to use in my world," the whale said lightly to the alchemist and the elders. They all nodded, understanding that, in the world given to him, only a minimal amount of resources was left. Everything must have run out, and now he only had the option to trade with the families or ask for jobs to do.
Quickly, the whale received a good amount of resources for the herbs. Obviously, it was all a lie. The herbs came from the secret continent and were the lowest-level ones found. Almin himself selected them and ranked them for the whale; the good ones stayed in the city. They only delivered these because they needed to pretend that they couldn’t use the spatial channel and their resources were running out.
With the punishment fulfilled, the whale returned to the city along with Ruri. Kaiyka was still in the city, and Ruri only mentioned to the family that she would return with her.
Upon arriving after fifteen days, Almin had already completed half of the pills. It took quite a while because the quantity of pills was many times greater. Analyzing the thousands of pills he received, Alm reflected calmly.
’The level of the pills stabilized with a dozen five-ringed and the rest with four rings; it won’t go beyond that. It’s already very satisfactory for a pill that is at the peak of level two of the Alchemist God’s Dao. Even renowned alchemists from the divine world would find it impossible to do at this level.’
Bruno nodded in agreement and then remembered something. ’We had to study these pills a bit to make everything happen. Maybe...’
With a thought, the green window appeared.
[Upgrade Points available: 45]
[Celestial Points available: 20]
These were the accumulated points from the optional quest related to the Onis, added to the reward for having added those two planets to their domains. The two ignored the celestial points, as they had already used the three available options once; now all of them could only be used with a minimum of 30 points.
They thought about the list of options to exchange the upgrade points, but didn’t waste time with it, as the numbers for everything were equal. They already knew that only when completing a main quest and changing realms would new options appear. In the list, only the level of the techniques they had already purchased during this period had changed.
Bruno wanted to check the third level options and opened them.
[Level 3] [Dao of the Alchemist God] [40 Upgrade Points]
’As I imagined, the value decreased from 50 to 40. We received levels one and two for free, now buying level three for Almin will help us a lot; his level of knowledge and skills will multiply, so the Nine Heavens Pills will level up,’ Bruno said, excited.
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[1 Random Chest] [5 Upgrade Points]
[Level 3] [Dao of the Alchemist God] [40 Upgrade Points]
[Total: 45 Upgrade Points]
[Accept? Yes / No]
Since there were five points left, they exchanged them for a chest. They accepted everything and called Almin to deliver it to him. When he arrived, he had a worn-out and weary expression, as he had been working day and night making pills. But when he received the third level, his aura seemed to burn and soar to the heavens in excitement.
Ruri was beside the whale and smiled, seeing his happiness. But after Almin left, she looked at them as if expecting something silently.
Alm noticed that and reflected. They had given her the third level of mental cultivation over a year ago, and she still hadn’t completed it. Cultivating the power of the mind was something complex that didn’t depend on resources, but rather on a mental state and elevated understanding. Alm looked into her eyes and felt that she would get there very soon. The recent events with the couple had a great impact on her; Ruri had a very intense first experience. Feeling that for the first time for a woman was striking.
’Hmm... open chest,’ Alm commanded the system, without thinking much.
[Generating...]
[Level 77/100]
[Heartgold Chest acquired]
[Opening...]
[Ring of Timeless Bond, made by an immortal dwarf, acquired]
The space in front of the whale gently distorted, and a ring of golden-pink hue emerged. Ruri’s eyes sparkled. Alm and Bruno quickly analyzed the ring; the description said it was made by an immortal dwarf, but even using their divine souls, they felt nothing different from an ordinary ring. However, it was beautiful and eye-catching, perfect for what Alm wanted.
The whale moved and slowly placed the ring on Ruri’s finger; her heart beat like a drum as she smiled radiantly. "It’s called the Ring of Timeless Bond, made by someone important. Its name is quite significant, but I’m not sure if it has any effect," they said calmly.
Ruri didn’t respond; her eyes trembled with excitement, then her body moved as if there was a magnetic attraction. She fervently kissed his lips, and they remained like that for quite some time, completely immersed in each other. Who cared about the effect? Ruri would never take that ring off her finger, no matter the situation.
A day later, Kaiyka finally emerged from seclusion. She went to talk to the whale, and upon entering the castle’s room, she bowed completely in gratitude for the mental cultivation. That would change her future forever.
"You’ve only mastered level one, which exists in the city. Ruri has up to level three, and you are authorized to study everything. But I need your help," the whale spoke calmly.
Kaiyka responded seriously, "I will assist with whatever you desire, I’ll pay for..."
"Stop. Just don’t disappoint me, and I won’t treat you poorly. You’re taking care of Ruri; it’s only natural for me to help," the whale cut her off abruptly. "Anyway... your grandfather left an inheritance for you; I want you to gather information in the sect. With the power of mental cultivation, you and Ruri can control the minds of the elders and investigate calmly. I wouldn’t allow Ruri to do this alone, but now I trust you, and you have the ability to help her."
Kaiyka listened and seemed to understand what the whale meant. Sensing her fluctuations, the whale quickly finished with a dry snort.
"Stop thinking nonsense; I won’t keep your inheritance. Whoever left it was someone like me, so it must be very useful for you. If you become stronger, Ruri will be safer, and I’m giving you a vote of confidence."
She was a bit stunned. This figure had given her multiple times more than she had given to him, and now he was going to leave the inheritance to her?
Seeing her confusion, Ruri just sighed and approached, saying, "You’ll understand in time. Let’s go back; it’s been many days already, and the Leader can use this to cause trouble for both of us."
Only now did Kaiyka realize that a long time had passed; with her excitement, she hadn’t noticed the days passing. Ruri turned to the whale and smiled, bidding farewell. Alm and Bruno saw the shiny ring on her finger and were sure she would rise very quickly, as her mind was completely stable and receptive. Thus, the two departed with a goal in mind and renewed spirits.
A week passed. With the third level of the Alchemist God’s Dao, Almin cooked the other half of the pills in half the time of the previous ones.
The whale received the pills excitedly. Not only did their level rise, but it multiplied several times. Half of the pills had six rings, and the rest had five rings; his brother did not disappoint, and the results were excellent.