After leaving Fresh Food City, Lu Wu had confirmed the conditions for sacrificing internal organs.
The organs had to be intact, and the energy stored within them had to be sufficiently concentrated. None of the intact organs he had ordered from other Demon Beasts could complete a sacrifice!!
Moreover, the better the offering, the greater the reward. Even when the reward was Stars Enhancement, the degree of enhancement depended on the quality of the offering.
In that case, the same applied to sacrificing other things: the more concentrated the energy, the richer the reward.
In the days that followed, Lu Wu even stopped going to school.
Aside from meeting Mu Nujiao, he spent every day either cultivating or working part-time to save money.
More than four months quickly passed.
Outside, bitter winds raged. Lu Wu had long since returned to his residence, and after adjusting his condition, he began meditating to control his Stars.
He looked at the seven brilliantly shining Stars. They were several times more robust than before.
Every one of them was dazzling. Under the control of Lu Wu's mental will, the Stars that had originally moved chaotically through his Stardust slowed down.
Beginner Mages possessed Stardust, which contained only seven Stars.
One, two, three Stars swiftly lined up, forming a line. The fourth struggled briefly before taking its place behind them.
The fifth took a little more effort. The sixth struggled this way and that, but ultimately submitted to Lu Wu's tyrannical might and obediently fell into line.
But the seventh swore to resist to the death. No matter what Lu Wu did, it guarded its chastity like an unyielding woman.
"Forget it, forget it. I'll try again next time."
The standoff left him mentally exhausted, so Lu Wu withdrew. Unfortunately, he still had not managed to conquer the last one.
Still, Lu Wu was very satisfied with his progress.
Over these past four months and more, he had cultivated constantly and barely attended any classes. His homeroom teacher was already furious.
"Four hours. My daily cultivation time is still too short." Lu Wu found that four hours was currently his limit.
Four hours of meditation was not particularly outstanding, but it was certainly not little.
After all, he had completed another sacrifice during these past four months and more. With his Stars enhanced to their present state, controlling them took somewhat more effort.
It was already late at night outside. Lu Wu stood by the window.
"It's been so many days, and I still haven't fully controlled this seventh Star. Looks like I need to think of something." Lu Wu stood at the window, looking down at the endless stream of traffic below.
The place he lived belonged to Grandpa Shen, the old man he had met in the magic world, who excelled at crafting magic tools and magic equipment.
He had not replied to Lu Wu's messages for more than four months now. Presumably, he was in the middle of crafting something.
"Why not go take a look? I haven't heard from Grandpa Shen in months, and the New Year is almost here. I'll go spend it with him."
Without another word, Lu Wu packed his things that very night and used his phone to buy a high-speed train ticket to Rongcheng.
Although he wanted great strength, Lu Wu understood one thing.
Being anxious was useless. Rather than fret, he might as well find ways to improve himself. Four months had passed since his Magic Awakening, and most people were actually only just beginning to control their Stars.
Under normal circumstances, after awakening an element, one needed one to three months of meditation to bring the forming Stars into view.
Of course, some were faster and some slower, but they were in the minority.
He was already progressing very quickly!!
But he still wanted to go a little faster. If that did not work, he would find ways to improve in other areas.
The Dark Fire Ape, Little Fire, was currently his strongest trump card!
Little Fire was at the Servant Level, but there were differences between Servant Level Demon Beasts. Just how strong Little Fire was still needed to be tested.
This time, aside from preparing to celebrate the holiday, Lu Wu had his own ideas about seeking out Grandpa Shen.
Cultivation consumed resources. By barely going to school, he could better manage his cultivation time, but he had lost access to the school's cultivation resources.
He used the Sacrifice System to improve his strength, so staying at school all the time was not convenient.
Judging by the degree of his Stars Enhancement, Lu Wu was confident that his magic would be many times stronger than other people's!
Since he still could not control the final Star, he could find ways to improve Little Fire's strength.
Or rather, test Little Fire's combat ability.
Most importantly, he had yet to develop Little Fire's abilities to their fullest.
According to the Sacrifice System's introduction, he could use Little Fire's ability to move through darkness and shadows.
Just like the Shadow Element's Beginner Magic, Shadow Escape!
But he had yet to succeed.
Rongcheng.
As one of the largest cities near the Wuyi Mountain Range, it was among the more prosperous cities in the area.
In particular, ever since unrest began within the Purple-Bellied Horned Toad tribe in the Wuyi Mountain Range, it had drawn mages from all over the country.
The tallest building at the very center of Rongcheng stood a full seventy stories high, truly soaring into the clouds.
"I didn't expect the Hunter Union to have such high standing in Rongcheng, with an entire building this big." Looking at the people streaming in and out of the Hunter Union building, Lu Wu felt rather moved.
The Hunter Union managed mages who worked as hunters, maintained order among hunters, and administered hunters and their contribution points.
The Hunter Union had even more branches worldwide than the Magic Association.
Not every city had a Magic Association, and sometimes a single Magic Association managed an entire region.
But the Hunter Union could be found in any reasonably large city. In some small cities, it had only a single hall.
An entire tower like this one in Rongcheng was relatively rare. There were probably few enough worldwide to count.
The first-floor hall was enormous, with a full four huge screens displaying missions.
But Lu Wu was not interested. Before becoming a mage, he had no way to register as a Hunter Mage.
"Young fellow, coming to the Hunter Hall at such a young age-are you here to post a mission or register?"
When Lu Wu entered the hall, someone approached and asked him.
The newcomer was not very old, around his twenties. He smiled at Lu Wu. "I just formed a Demon-Hunting Squad, and we need a Wind Element or Earth Element mage to serve as a scout..."
"I'm not interested." Lu Wu actually did want to join a Demon-Hunting Squad, but that would have to wait until he could cast magic.
"If you're not interested, forget it. Today, you ignore my Demon-Hunting Squad; tomorrow, it'll be far beyond your reach," the man muttered upon hearing his reply.
Watching the man leave, Lu Wu could not help finding it funny. He had been about to ask about Grandpa Shen's whereabouts when he saw the densely packed missions on one of the mission screens vanish entirely.
They were replaced by an announcement in large red letters.
"Recruitment: Master Shen Shitian requires a Fire Element mage to travel to Hanging Coffin Swamp. Three hundred thousand."
This line replaced those densely packed Demon-Hunting missions, immediately stirring up towering waves in the Demon-Hunting Hall.
No one knew who Master Shen Shitian was, but anyone who could get the Hunter Union to dedicate an entire mission screen to him was surely no ordinary person.
Naturally, Lu Wu was even more surprised.
Although he knew Grandpa Shen held high standing, he had not expected it to be this high. Yet from the look of things, not many people knew him.
Seeing people heading over to accept the recruitment mission, Lu Wu followed to take a look.
He could not possibly accept that recruitment mission himself. Like Demon-Hunting missions, recruitment missions had rank and Demon-Hunting point requirements.
Because this recruitment was somewhat special, everyone knew the compensation would surely be good, and it attracted many people.
Moreover, since the person recruiting did not require confidentiality, quite a few people came to watch the excitement.
Lu Wu followed the crowd to the second floor.