Oh Great System, I Was Only Joking Just Now
The pressure of the loans was too great. The more he borrowed, the more he owed.
Lu Ping decided to rely on his own abilities and give it a try.
Lu Ping chose B.
[You chose B.]
[You handed the yellow paper back and said sincerely,]
["Thank you for your concern, senior brother. But I owe money on my alchemy student loan, and I really can't come up with ten Spirit Stones."]
[The deacon studied you for a moment. He seemed a little angry and was about to flare up.]
[Bully at Home activated.]
[The deacon's back stiffened, as though some terrifying existence were staring at him.]
[Within the bounds of the Greenwood Sect, the deacon was also only a minor cultivator at the Qi Refining Stage.]
[He had just raised his hand when he slowly lowered it again.]
[He snatched back the yellow paper and tried to leave you with a few threats, but his tongue caught.]
[Day ninety-three.]
[You finally gathered enough medicinal ingredients to refine Spirit-Eroding Powder.]
[Oh, no. You pauper, you finally used mostly substitute herbs to improve the formula, producing an inferior Spirit-Eroding Powder that could theoretically retain seventy percent of the original's medicinal properties.]
Lu Ping was indignant when he read this.
You're just an Office Survival Simulator stranded in the cultivation world. What right do you have to laugh at me for being a pauper?
But the text that appeared immediately afterward made Lu Ping drop to his knees.
I'm sorry, oh great System. I was only joking just now.
[Artisan Spirit activated.]
[Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement activated.]
[After using ten batches of ingredients in succession, you finally refined one batch of inferior Spirit-Eroding Powder.]
[Your wallet and medicine box were both empty.]
[Fortunately, you had refined a poisonous powder with seventy percent of the original formula's medicinal properties at only one-tenth of the normal cost.]
[You used the presence of the inferior Spirit-Eroding Powder to mask your own spiritual power fluctuations.]
[The presence you gave off dropped from Qi Refining, Second Layer to Qi Refining, First Layer.]
[Day one hundred and ten.]
[You broke through to the Third Layer of Qi Refining.]
[In total, you had absorbed one hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones and fifteen Qi-Replenishing Pills.]
[That was equivalent to the Spiritual Qi in one hundred and forty-five Low-Grade Spirit Stones.]
[The Spiritual Qi required to advance from the second layer to the third layer of Qi Refining had doubled.]
[You continued to wear your feeble Qi Refining, First Layer shell and attend lectures in the lecture hall.]
Lu Ping felt much better when he read this.
Now that's the right way to do it.
Having ability doesn't mean you have to flash your employee badge.
In his previous life, a new hire had said he knew every system as soon as he joined, only to end up doing the work of three people for three months.
[In the Alchemy Hall, the rumors about you grew increasingly outrageous.]
[Some said you relied on Poison Pill to stay alive.]
[Some said a Pill Furnace explosion had damaged your foundation.]
[Others said you were so deep in debt that you were preparing to sell yourself to the Mining Hall.]
[You offered no explanation. In fact, you deliberately coughed twice in the crowd.]
[The feeble Qi Refining, First Layer facade became even more convincing.]
[An old disciple spotted you from a distance and immediately covered his nose and mouth.]
["Stay away from him."]
["That guy's got poison on him."]
[Another newcomer lowered his voice.]
["Can he really last until five years are up?"]
[The old disciple curled his lip.]
["Like hell he can."]
["A low-grade cave abode, a broken furnace, no advanced classes, and he refines poison every day."]
["If someone like that passes, I'll eat my Pill Furnace."]
[Age twenty-one, three years of service.]
[Generating Trait...]
[Congratulations, you have obtained the Trait: Workstation Dust (D-rank)—your workstation will always gather dust. The day after it is cleaned, it will return to its original state.]
No replacement.
[For the next year, you continued attending lectures during the day, infusing stones with Spiritual Qi in the evening, refining pills at night, and cultivating in the latter half of the night.]
[Your loan principal rose from fifty Low-Grade Spirit Stones to seventy.]
[Your battered Pill Furnace was finally on its last legs.]
[You worried that if it exploded one day, you would have to pay compensation.]
[You spent five Low-Grade Spirit Stones a month to rent a standard Pill Furnace.]
[You went further and further down the road of living paycheck to paycheck.]
[As the accounting disciple stamped the contract, he looked up at you.]
["Your repayment record is good. I'll raise your limit to eighty."]
Looking at that line, Lu Ping was left with only one workplace truth in his mind.
The bank's favorite customers weren't rich people.
They were people who stayed in debt but never missed a payment.
[Age twenty-two, four years of service.]
[Generating Trait...]
[Congratulations, you have obtained the Trait: Plant Killer (D-rank)—any plant you care for will wither within three days.]
No replacement.
[That year, you broke through to the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining.]
[The Spiritual Qi you needed to absorb had reached approximately the equivalent of three hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stone Equivalent.]
[The higher your cultivation, the greater the consumption.]
[Almost all the Qi-Replenishing Pills you refined went into your own stomach.]
[You could only use the Spirit Stones you infused each day to pay your various expenses.]
[You could now infuse six Spirit Stones a day.]
[But you still lived paycheck to paycheck.]
[The accounting disciple looked at your ledger, his abacus clacking.]
["You owe eighty-nine. But your repayments are steady. After discussing it, the Internal Affairs Hall unanimously agreed to raise your limit to one hundred."]
[He pushed a new contract over to you.]
["Want to renew the loan?"]
[Options appeared.]
[A: Refuse to renew the loan, slow down your cultivation, and reduce your debt first.]
[B: Renew the loan, continue cultivating and refining pills, and gamble on turning your life around by getting certified after five years.]
[C: You grabbed the accounting disciple's hand, dropped to your knees in one smooth motion, and clung tightly to his thigh. Gazing at him with tender affection, you rubbed the tears from the corners of your eyes onto his Daoist robe. "Senior brother, I'll lay my cards on the table. I don't want to work hard anymore! I really can't afford these Spirit Stones, so why don't you take me in? I can warm your bed, scrub you in the bath, and even refine poisonous Qi-Replenishing Pills for you every day! As long as you pay off my student loan, I'll wash myself clean and wait for you tonight in the poison-gas cave abode, No. 13, Ding Character. I guarantee you'll be in heaven!"]
Little C, what are you doing!!!!
Is there anything normal about that option?!!!
Lu Ping felt that Little C had come to test his limits.
Lu Ping chose B.
Once he started borrowing, he had set foot on the road of no return, taking out loans to pay off loans.
[You chose B.]
[You successfully renewed the loan.]
[Age twenty-three, five years of service.]
[Generating Trait...]
[Congratulations, you have obtained the Trait: Workplace People-Pleaser (C-rank)—everyone in the organization will have at least a passing level of favorability toward you. As long as their interests are not involved, no one will go out of their way to cause you trouble.]
C-rank?
If he had gotten this Trait at the start, it would have been somewhat useful.
No replacement.
[Your success rate at refining Spirit-Eroding Powder rose to sixty percent.]
[You could now refine Qi-Replenishing Pills without failing.]
[The cost had fallen to one-tenth of the original. Their medicinal effect was the same as that of the original formula.]
[But you still couldn't sell them.]
[The fine for selling without a license was ten times the amount.]
[You could only eat the pills or sell them back to the Alchemy Hall at a low price to help cover your daily expenses.]
[There were many registered Alchemists in the Alchemy Hall.]
[An Alchemy Hall deacon took your Qi-Replenishing Pills, broke one open, and sniffed it. He paused in slight surprise and asked,]
["Who refined this pill?"]
[A disciple beside him pointed in the direction of No. 13, Ding Character.]
[The deacon's expression turned cold, and he put the pill back in the bottle.]
["Take them back as defective goods, at twenty percent of the price."]
[The disciple was stunned.]
["Senior brother, the medicinal effect isn't bad. The person at No. 13, Ding Character is talented."]
[The deacon let out a cold laugh,]
["Talented? Without a license, he's nothing but expendable material!"]
[The cultivation world did private-label production too.]
[Age twenty-four, six years of service.]
[Generating Trait...]