One Last System

My time was running short.

My visit to the sect grounds turned out to be pretty fruitful. From settling a deal with the auction hall, through dealing with the logistic office all the way to establishing a supply line to Mia, I used up every last second of my stay to grow.

And now was the time for the last even. The last matter to settle before leaving for the camp.

'I need to get stronger,' I thought.

Ultimately, this was the very reason why I did everything that I did.

In itself, strength was only a means for me to secure a happy future with Mia. And for that purpose, I was willing to do anything.

But the time of schemes and shady deals was now over. In the end, I still had to take care of my own measly cultivation.

"Welcome, young master," yet another receptionist greeted me when I crossed the doors to the auction hall. "How may I be of service?"

'The information spreads quickly,' I thought, noticing the manner in which the man called me out.

"I would like to set up a quick meeting with the boss," I informed with a nod of my head. "It would be extremely convenient if you could arrange it for me," I said.

"It would be my pleasure, young master," the receptionist said.

He then walked away from his desk and led me deeper into the building. Soon, I crossed the doors of the room I had once visited before.

Just like back then, the boss of the place sat behind a desk swarmed with papers.

It appeared that being in a position of power included ten percent of fun and ninety percent of paperwork. But rather than disliking the idea, I quite enjoyed the sight.

The high level of the organization was a footprint of a developed structure. Just like barbaric nations had hardly any administration, the sophisticated cultures had an extensive network of bureaucracy.

And the most striking feature of a civilization reaching a higher level of complexity was the number of resources it would rule over.

'The sect doesn't even begin to compare,' I thought, waiting for the boss to finish whatever she was studying.

"Damn, those taxes are really getting out of hand," she muttered, still immersed in the writing.

She then brought her pen? up and placed a sign on the scroll before finally raising her eyes.

"It's you," she said, her lips forming a small smile. "You have no idea how refreshing it is to see you instead of all those letters and orders," she admitted, pointing at the pile of papers with the tip of her chin.

"I take it that my visit is well received, then," I replied curtly, lowering my head with respect before the woman.

In terms of seniorship, there was no decided structure that could classify our relationship. But when faced with a veteran of conducting business like the current boss, I couldn't help but feel humbled.

Compared to her, I was nothing more but an upstart inventor hoping to conquer vast markets of the world.

"You are not in the wrong," the boss said before turning her eyes away. "We have a problem with sourcing the monster bones," she revealed a second later.

"Figures," I muttered in response.

It didn't surprise me any bit. The only reason why I ever collected them was that I was desperate to make some more money. And on the local market, hardly anyone bothered to trade with them.

In other words, the crucial ingredient behind the dildos that I came up with was nearly unaccessible on the market.

'I guess they could somehow source it if necessary...' I took a moment to think, refusing to treat this matter lightly.

"It will cost you a lot," I finally replied, raising my eyes at the woman's face.

"Huh?" the woman shrugged. "How is that a problem?" she asked.

'I guess she expected me to pay such a tiny favor back without a word of protest,' I saw through the woman's reaction.

"It's not that I don't want to do it," I said while shaking my head. "The one rule that my Overseer instilled in me is to get the monster's core and ditch the place. The faster, the better," I explained.

It was the one rule that I stretched but ultimately strictly followed. Unfortunately, the number of bones I obtained was so small, mostly because I had no time to properly dissect my prey!

"So it's impossible, then," the boss muttered, lowering her eyes. She even raised her hand only to bite down on the nail of her thumb.

"That's not what I said," I pointed out. "I only said it would cost you a lot,"? I added, echoing my earlier words.

"What do you mean?" the woman asked, confused by my words.

"Right now, I'm too weak to take my time with the things I hunt," I explained. "When other monsters swarm the place, I'm too weak to fend them off. That's why I need to ditch the place and leave so much."

"So you need to get stronger, right?" the woman finally understood. "What level are you on? Seventh? Eight?" she asked.

"I'm still at the core expansion stage," I revealed without even a second of doubt. "But I'm nearing the breakthrough. I just need a little more push," I added.

"That's going to be tough, then," the boss said, lowering her eyes as she started to think again. "I'm not sure if you know, but crossing the ninth stage is a crucial moment," she said, raising her eyes at my face.

"Huh?" I was quite surprised by that. It was the first time I heard that there was anything special about the next cultivation stage I would enter.

"While advancing past ninth and tenth stage brings you to an entirely different level of existence, it's extremely costly to break through them," she said, shaking her head.

"The number of cultivation resources that you need to consume to bridge the gap... Even if there was no limit to their number, it would still take you a long time to grow enough," she explained the problematic nature of my next cultivation stage.

But wasn't the answer to this trouble rather obvious?

"I said that it would cost you a lot," I echoed my words from before while a small smile crept up on my lips. "But I never said that I need a lot of resources," I added, sending the woman a wink.

"What?" she raised her eyes at me, a look of powerlessness appearing in her eyes. "Do you have yet another brilliant idea?" she asked.

"Instead of feeding me some insane amount of resources reserved for my grade," I introduced the idea.

It came to my mind the second I heard about reaching a higher level of existence.

If someone could break through the limits of human nature, then the resources he would use to cultivate would be different, wouldn't they?

After all, the stronger one became, the harder it was to advance even further. Wasn't this the most common trope in literally... everything in the world?

'I'm sure there is some sort of smart quote that describes this,' I thought before clearing my throat and fixing my looks.

"Tell me, could you maybe provide me with the cultivation materials that those of the higher cultivation ranks use instead?" I asked. "I know it will be expensive; I know those will be hard to obtain," I announced, defensively raising my hands.

"I'm leaving for the camp in an hour," I added after a moment, looking directly into the woman's eyes. "Could you come up with some before that?"