Mu Xingqi originally wanted tonight's New Year's Eve dinner to foster closer bonds among his family members. After all, everyone was busy with clan affairs, making the relationships within their large household a bit distant.
However, he did not expect to resolve his father's inner knot, which turned out to be an unexpected bonus.
Father is still condensing his Spirit Platform right now. According to the original destiny, he wouldn't successfully achieve Foundation Establishment until January of the fourth year.
Now I have reformed the family businesses ahead of schedule, which means the people in the clan can enjoy more resources.
During his last simulation, he had relied on some high-quality spiritual herbs obtained by the elders to accelerate the speed of condensing his Spirit Platform. Although condensing a Spirit Platform relied entirely on a cultivator's spiritual awareness, certain spiritual herbs could enhance that awareness and thereby speed up the process.
Still, he had never heard of any spiritual herbs capable of enhancing spiritual awareness within the borders of Jinzhou County. Yet, herbs that could temporarily boost spiritual awareness—acting almost like a shot of adrenaline for the mind—did exist in Jinzhou County.
It was just that their prices remained exorbitantly high, so the Mu Family, who previously had to tighten their belts just to get by, naturally could not spare the spirit stones to make such a purchase.
But things were different now.
Perhaps father can break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm ahead of schedule too! By then, our family will boast three Foundation Establishment cultivators!
Mother only just broke through to the eighth layer of Qi Cultivation, and Xing'er only broke through to the fifth layer not long ago. The road to Foundation Establishment is a long and arduous one.
Naturally, he would think of ways to elevate his mother's and Xing'er's cultivation realms so that the two of them could also break through to Foundation Establishment as soon as possible.
At the very least, on the path of Foundation Establishment, he would not abandon any member of his family.
As for the lineage, at this stage he needed to maximize the welfare of the elders and disciples as much as possible, ensuring that everyone in the clan possessed sufficient cultivation resources.
Yet, it was impossible for him to nurture those who lacked the drive to improve. Afterward, he would definitely revise the family rules as well.
To those who strive, he would crown them himself!
He needed to forge a powerful immortal-cultivating family!
"Simulator, activate!"
Mu Xingqi cried out loudly, summoning the simulator.
He immediately poured all the spirit stones he had on him into the simulator. This was his reward for rising to the position of young clan leader, and coupled with the massive profits he helped the clan businesses generate, a generous share had been allotted to him as well.
Even so, he had bought a Yellow Grade Mid Rank storage bag, which cost him two hundred.
Even with everything poured in, he only had:
[Simulation Points: 126]
This should be enough for me to simulate three or four times!
I'll never have to endure those bitter days of having to complete missions every month just to earn a simulation anymore!
"Start the simulation!"
[Simulator is activating]
[Detected that the host's cultivation has increased, meeting the system upgrade conditions. Would you like to upgrade the system?]
"?"
"The system can even be upgraded?"
"Needless to say! Upgrade immediately!"
[System upgrading...]
[System upgrade successful!]
[Simulation Life System 2.0 loaded successfully!]
[System upgrade optimizations: 1. Simulated Talent Slot +1; 2. Random simulation talent probability adjusted (White 50%, Green 40%, Blue 9.9%, Purple 0.1%); 3. Simulation Points can be expended to reroll random simulation talents, with the reroll cost equal to the Simulation Points deducted at startup; 4. Settlement rewards increased from three to four items.]
"Oh!"
"There are optimizations too? A pleasant surprise!" Mu Xingqi exclaimed.
"This simulated talent slot +1 is extremely useful! There were several simulation talents I encountered previously that really tempted me! Now I finally don't have to agonize over choices anymore!"
"And this probability adjustment—why does it feel like nothing changed? Could it be that previously it was 90% white, 9.9% green, and 0.1% blue? That's actually quite likely. No wonder every single random simulation talent I rolled in the past was white!"
"Also, this reroll simulation talent feature is utterly useless. Mainly because the Simulation Points consumed for a reroll equal the points deducted at the start. In other words, rerolling once is equivalent to restarting entirely, so he might as well just restart."
"As for this fourth point, what good is adding one more optional reward? It doesn't give me an extra reward to choose anyway."
"Forget it, forget it. Having optimizations at all is already pretty good."
"Continue the simulation." With that, Mu Xingqi looked toward the simulation panel.
[Detected that the previous simulation talent has not been saved. Would you like to move the simulation talent "Business Acumen (White)" into the talent slot?]
[Remaining talent slots: 1]
"Yes!"
Anyway, he could replace it in the future. Now that there was an empty talent slot, why not take it?
[Talent slots: Simulated Memory (Blue), Business Acumen (White)]
[Simulator is activating]
[Deducted 100 Simulation Points]
[Simulation starting]
[Randomly drawing simulation talent...]
[Drawn simulation talent: Proficient in Alchemy (Green)]
[Congratulations on acquiring the Green Simulation Talent: Proficient in Alchemy!]
"Huh? No way!"
What surprised Mu Xingqi wasn't that he had drawn a Green Simulation Talent, but rather why it had directly deducted 100 simulation points from him.
Could it be that because his cultivation had increased, the simulation points required now had also grown?
Yet last time he broke through from early-stage to mid-stage Qi Cultivation, it had only increased by 10 simulation points. Even breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refining only saw the cost go from 20 to 30—an increase of just 10 points. But now that he had broken through to Foundation Establishment, it required 100 simulation points?
This was practically robbery, and he couldn't even call the police.
"What a bandit system!"
Just moments ago, he had been thinking about being able to simulate three or four times, but now it dealt him two resounding slaps in the face. This reality check came truly fast!
Complaints aside, the simulation still had to go on.
[Proficient in Alchemy (Green): You are passionate about learning alchemical knowledge, hold your own views on the Dao of Alchemy, and your intuition regarding alchemy has always been extremely accurate. Your speed in learning pharmacology and alchemy far exceeds that of ordinary people by double.]
"Not bad, I can finally practice alchemy."
With a mother who served as the master of the Pill Hall, he naturally understood some alchemical knowledge from childhood, yet he had never had the opportunity to systematically study the art of pill-making.
Yet he had always yearned for the Dao of Alchemy, especially the prospect of refining pills entirely on his own.
[Early in the morning, you wake up startled from your bed!]
[You instinctively brush away the sweat on your forehead, feeling that your entire body is soaked through.]
[You had a nightmare!]
[It felt so real that you felt it was not a dream at all.]
[You dreamed: After you drastically reformed the family industries, your Mu Family's Healing Powder successfully monopolized the market throughout Jinzhou County. Yet you were still unsatisfied; perhaps due to your inner craving for spirit stones, or perhaps as a strategy for the family to weather hard times, you pushed Mi San and Half Mi San without any bottom line. Driven by your own selfish desires, you harmed a large number of rogue cultivators in Jinzhou County.]
[The rogue cultivators held a deep, bitter hatred for you, and even pooled their funds to hire assassins to hunt you down. Perhaps your actions truly defied the heavens, for the assassins struck right as you were about to break through. Although your grandfather discovered it in time afterward and forced the assassins to commit suicide, cracks nevertheless formed within your Spirit Platform. Later, with the family's assistance, you expended a heavy price to repair the Spirit Platform.]
[Yet this sudden turn of events shattered your original plans. You were forced to plan ahead, traveling together with your grandfather to the Myriad Treasure Tower in Lin Commandery City to purchase spiritual treasures. Your grandfather successfully brought back two Thunder Pearls and a Spirit Guarding Formation Flag. You had long anticipated the appearance of the Fire Cloud Evil God old man, even making thorough preparations in advance, thinking that as long as the Fire Cloud Evil God dared to come, you would ensure he never returned!]
[Time flew by, and August of the fourth year quickly arrived. You had long since prepared to welcome the Fire Cloud Evil God old man, and he indeed arrived right on schedule!]
[Yet...]
Before you continue