The basic texts for these four secondary professions are not expensive. If purchased with gold coins, each one would cost approximately 10,000 gold coins; if purchased with military merits, each one would cost only 1 military merit.
"One point of military merit is equivalent to ten thousand gold coins?" Lin An asked in surprise.
"Of course not. Gold coins cannot be exchanged for military merits, but military merits can be exchanged for gold coins. However, most people don't do that. Generally, 1 point of military merit is equivalent to 100,000 gold coins."
The man smiled and said, "After all, our Heavenly Vault Army soldiers are stationed on the front lines. Although they can't use the gold coins, their families can. Consider this a small benefit for the soldiers."
Lin An suddenly realized that if his family was still worrying about food and drink while he was risking his life on the front lines, then no one would be willing to risk their life.
"I've already redeemed all four secondary professions, and I'll also redeem three Diamond Tier cultivation techniques."
Lin An selected the " Crimson Sun Saber Technique," " Body-Protecting Gang Qi," and " Shadow-Skimming Steps."
These three Diamond Tier cultivation techniques cost Lin An nearly five million gold coins in total. Fortunately, Lin Xiao gave him another ten million gold coins before he left, otherwise he really wouldn't have been able to afford them.
However, he knew that this was considered cheap. In Guangwu City, a cultivation technique of this level would be auctioned off, and it would be normal for one to fetch two or three million gold coins.
Then Lin An bought another batch of pills needed for cultivation, spending almost all of his gold coins.
"I wonder if these pills are enough for me to break through to the Platinum Ninth Grade."
"If that's not enough, we'll have to take on some logistical missions to earn some military merits."
Thinking it over, Lin An followed the others out of the exchange hall. Afterwards, they strolled around Heavenly Vault Pass, had dinner together that evening, and then returned to their respective residences.
Lin An didn't rush into cultivation. Although the room was well soundproofed, he still took out some materials and set up a Aura Concealment Formation in the room.
As Diamond Tier array master, the Aura Concealment Formation also reached the Diamond Tier Perfection, making it easy to set up; it only took a few minutes.
After doing all that, Lin An first took out the four basic books on secondary professions.
[You spent 100 attribute points to learn the basics of puppetry; you have become a puppeteer.]
[You spent 100 attribute points to learn the basics of animal husbandry, and you have become a breeder.]
[You spent 100 attribute points to learn the basic texts of Spirit Mark, and you have become a Spirit Mark master.]
[You spent 100 attribute points to learn the basic texts of Spirit Music, and you have become a Spirit Musician.]
[...]
As a series of notification sounds rang out, he then received four Heart of Auxiliary Cultivation, along with a continuous stream of server-wide announcements.
" The Heart of Auxiliary Cultivation."
[You have successfully fused the Heart of Puppetry, the Heart of Spirit Music, the Heart of Breeding, and the Heart of Spirit Mark; the effect of your Heart of Auxiliary Cultivation has been enhanced.]
[ Heart of Auxiliary Cultivation ]: Awakened One Talent. All auxiliary cultivation items (creatures) you create (cultivate) have their effects increased by 70%, the time required for creation (cultivation) is reduced by 70%, and the success rate of creation (cultivation) is increased by 70%. You can continue to fuse new Heart of Auxiliary Cultivation to enhance their effects.
Lin An nodded in satisfaction, then took out the three cultivation manuals.
[Does the player want to spend 100 attribute points to directly learn the Diamond Tier skill " Crimson Sun Saber Technique "?]
"Study."
[The player has successfully learned this technique and has reached the beginner level.]
[Technique]: Diamond Tier Crimson Sun Saber Technique (Beginner level 0/500 attribute points)
Lin An immediately began allocating attribute points to his character.
[You have spent 500 attribute points to upgrade your Crimson Sun Saber Technique proficiency to Master level.]
[You have spent 2000 attribute points to increase your Crimson Sun Saber Technique proficiency to minor mastery.]
[You have spent 10,000 attribute points to upgrade your Crimson Sun Saber Technique proficiency to Mastery.]
[You have spent 50,000 attribute points to raise your Crimson Sun Saber Technique proficiency to the maximum.]
The Diamond Tier skill, from learning to mastering, cost a total of 62,600 attribute points.
Compared to the Platinum Rank cultivation technique which only requires 7650 attribute points, this is a significant improvement.
Fortunately, Lin An still had attribute points, so he immediately spent another 125,200 attribute points to upgrade " Body-Protecting Gang Qi " and " Shadow-Skimming Steps " to perfection.
At this point, he only had 276,924 attribute points left.
"Next is cultivation, to improve your cultivation level."
Thinking about it, Lin An looked at the Spirit-Devouring Ring. The ten Sin Beast had all been refined and turned into a ball of spiritual energy.
He had originally planned to buy a batch of Sin Beast corpses today, but buying a hundred at once would be too conspicuous, so he gave up on the idea.
"Let's see how effective this Spirit-Devouring Ring is."
Lin An immediately entered a meditative state and began to activate his Spirit-Devouring Ring.
Buzz...
The Spirit-Devouring Ring glowed faintly, and the spiritual energy within was rapidly drawn out and poured into Lin An's body.
In just about an hour, Lin An's aura surged, breaking through to the Platinum Second Grade.
At this time, the aura had shrunk by about half.
"Not bad."
Lin An nodded in satisfaction; it was already excellent that ten corpses could provide him with so much spiritual energy.
Lin An then continued cultivating, spending another hour absorbing the remaining spiritual energy orb.
But Lin An did not stop cultivating; instead, he took out 10x Cultivation Card.
This was the reward he received when he became the first Awakened One in the entire server. It was very effective and lasted for a month.
Without hesitation, I used it directly.
[You have used 10x Cultivation Card; the effect lasts for 30 days.]
Following the instructions, Lin An took out the pill, swallowed it, and began cultivating.
For the rest of the time, he immersed himself in cultivation.
He Changshan and a few others also came to his door to ask if he wanted to go out on a mission together to earn military merits.
However, he refused them all, since earning military merits wasn't too difficult for him, and there were still three months to go.
He Changshan and the others did not force the issue, nor did they become angry or embarrassed by Lin An's rejection.
Time continued to pass.
Half a month later, the other six members of Lin An's ten-person team, who were previously only at the Gold Ninth Grade Realm, also broke through to the Platinum Realm.
These six people also came to see Lin An, but Lin An politely declined them again, and the six did not bother him again.
Soon, Lin An had been at Heavenly Vault Pass for a month.
For the past month, he has mostly stayed in his room cultivating and rarely goes out, He Changshan and the others have almost forgotten about him.
On this day, Lin An stopped cultivating.
"As expected, the pills are still not enough. After the Platinum Realm, the spiritual energy required for each breakthrough increases, not to mention that I have already undergone three Marrow Cleansing and Meridian Strengthening processes."
Lin An opened his eyes. The effect of the 10x Cultivation Card had disappeared, and all the pills he had previously purchased were now consumed.
As for his cultivation level, Lin An opened the panel to check it.