A cultivation bottleneck, another trip to Magic City

After leaving the Wild Goose Pagoda, Zhou Sining headed to the designated gathering spot.

The rest was simple. Once everyone had been counted, they were dismissed.

A few people tried to strike up a conversation, but he really had no time for them. His two feeble elements were still waiting to be fed.

After taking a taxi home, Zhou Sining eagerly entered his spiritual world.

The two patches of star dust had already moved away from the Fire Element nebula, each claiming a spot in the surrounding chaos.

They were pitifully weak, their starlight sparse and dim. Even their seven stardust stars lay motionless and listless.

Without the chaos mist as a backdrop, he would never have recognized them as clouds of stellar dust containing boundless magical power.

Only when Zhou Sining arrived did the stars stir a little, flying over to circle him.

"There, there. Daddy's here."

Zhou Sining simply redeemed a Soul Grade Stardust Magic Tool, activated both the Spirit Level Stardust Magic Tool he already had and the Soul-Consolidating Heart Chain, then fixed his gaze on the weaker, moon-white patch of star dust.

As energy poured into it, points of starlight appeared one after another, and the star dust visibly grew fuller.

Only when it no longer looked sparse and scattered, instead resembling a moon-white disc, did he turn his attention to the pale-white star dust beside it and repeat the process at the same cultivation pace.

After roughly three days of focused cultivation, Zhou Sining finally nursed both patches of star dust back to full health.

The stars no longer looked sickly. As though completely transformed, every one of them bounded energetically through the star dust.

Perhaps they had sensed Zhou Sining's care during their recovery. Even though he had yet to begin practicing control in earnest, he could easily control the first three stars, and with a little coaxing, he could reach the remaining four as well.

With the stars so attached to him, he was only two or three days of cultivation away from fully controlling them.

It was a blessing in disguise.

"Let's see. Moon-white, so you're the Summoning System." Zhou Sining smiled at the star dust. "It really is standard issue for transmigrators."

Still, the Summoning System was pretty good. Who wouldn't want a mount that was both cool and powerful?

Especially since it could develop toward commanding an army of demon beasts, which suited him even better.

With the system, he couldn't obtain spirit essences from demon beasts, but he certainly wasn't short on resources. He could afford to support a Summoning System.

Zhou Sining nodded in satisfaction, then looked at the pale-white star dust on the other side.

Strictly speaking, this star dust was colorless. It only showed traces of white when its starlight occasionally rippled like waves.

He had looked it up. This was the Mind Element.

"A god-tier pick for fighting other mages. Very nice." Zhou Sining's smile widened. "Looks like I really am talented. Mind and Summoning. Mm-hmm, not bad. Just what you'd expect from me."

Hearing his narcissistic speech, Gangsha couldn't help rolling its "eyes" beside him.

After absorbing three spirit seeds, Gangsha had grown increasingly sentient, and it tossed out a little fireball.

Zhou Sining tilted his head to dodge it and snorted. "You're just jealous!"

Ignoring the white flame, he threw himself back into cultivating his Summoning System and Mind Element.

Cultivation was always tedious.

Magic artifacts could boost cultivation, but they couldn't make it any less boring.

Throughout almost the entire summer break, Zhou Sining had found himself scrolling through his social feed late at night more than once, seeing which classmates had gone out to have fun and where.

Considering that he was in the prime of his youth and had neither money nor time to worry about, he would have been lying if he said he wasn't tempted.

His urge to go out and have fun grew stronger, reaching its peak after his sixth failed attempt at a breakthrough.

"Fuck this! I'm done cultivating!"

After failing yet again, Zhou Sining kicked out in frustration, only to realize there was nothing covering him.

"..."

That was the downside of cultivating the Fire Element. His body ran so hot that even with the air conditioner set to sixteen degrees, he couldn't bear to use a blanket.

He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, then rolled over, picked up his phone, and started scrolling through videos to calm himself down.

Over two full months of cultivation, Zhou Sining hadn't slacked off at all.

His Fire Element nebula had already reached that invisible barrier. He had attempted to break through at least three times, finally managing to crack it.

His Summoning System and Mind Element had progressed in tandem.

With all his cultivation magic artifacts running and Zhou Sining giving it his full attention, both had reached Primary Level 2 in just two months.

They were even on the verge of reaching beginner level 3.

Without the Wild Goose Pagoda or the Little Loach's round-the-clock nourishment, achieving this much already represented a terrifying cultivation speed.

It was proof that Zhou Sining had decent talent and put in enough effort.

Perhaps spending the entire summer in seclusion had made him increasingly restless.

He had become too concerned with speed rather than quality when attempting breakthroughs, leaving him unable to break through no matter what he tried.

Thinking of that, he decided it was time to relax a little.

People weren't machines. Staying consistently passionate about cultivation over the long term was impossible.

Keeping at it for two months was already doing himself justice.

His repeated failed breakthroughs had also taught him that cultivation couldn't be rushed.

Besides, he had already made his final exchange for life points, bringing his remaining lifespan to 10.8 years.

The System Shop was still a long way from level 7, so he had no more opportunities to redeem lifespan.

As for other magic artifacts and magic equipment, he had already redeemed everything he wanted and could obtain. There was no need to force himself to wander aimlessly around the Outer City Wall again.

In that case...

"All right! Time to go have some fun!"

Zhou Sining quickly made his decision and booked a flight to Magic City without hesitation.

He hadn't explored much on his last trip, and there were plenty of attractions he hadn't visited.

Besides, a big city had plenty of gorgeous women!

A beautiful figure surfaced in Zhou Sining's mind. The thought of her somehow made him look forward to the trip even more.

His plane landed at Pudong International Airport. Zhou Sining first took a taxi back to his hotel, and by the time he finished unpacking, it was already dark.

He went out to wander around and, before he knew it, found himself near Pearl Academy.

There were still three days before Pearl Academy's term began, but quite a few new students had already arrived to register.

Plenty of roadside stalls had already sprung up outside the gates, and students streamed in and out, making the area fairly lively.

"Mo Fan should be at school by now. Maybe I should ask him out for a catch-up?"

Looking at the grand, imposing gates, Zhou Sining, who had no friends to keep him company, finally remembered the protagonist, Mo Fan, whom he hadn't seen in a year.

As he stepped through Pearl Academy's gates, he searched his phone for Mo Fan's contact details.

They had added each other after the Bo City disaster but hadn't spoken once in the past year. While Zhou Sining hesitated, he suddenly heard a low, angry voice.

"What exactly do you want me to do?! I've already lost everything for you. Even my family has abandoned me!"

Zhou Sining abruptly stopped and looked toward the voice.

It came from a small grove near the entrance. Few people went there at night, and with no streetlights, it was quiet and secluded.

He could vaguely make out two figures hidden behind the trees. His appetite for gossip flared, and he couldn't resist edging closer.

The owner of that angry voice spoke again, this time sounding aggrieved and close to tears.

"I really don't know what else to do. I just want you to look at me with love. For you, I gave up the Imperial Capital and came to Pearl. Do you really not like me even a little?"

After two or three seconds of silence, the other person being accused finally spoke.

"Shen Feng, could you stop harassing me? I was just passing by. Why should I have to listen to these self-righteous accusations of yours?"