Aptitude
After spending nearly two hours planting the fields, Lin Xiao began to think about what he needed to do in the near future.
First was the sect's main hall. There was no way he could forget that; a pile of excavated dirt was still heaped up in his private storehouse.
The second pressing matter was earning Spirit Stones.
He was almost out of Spirit Stones to pay the renewal fee.
Third was earning money.
After what had happened last night, Lin Xiao had thought a great deal before going to sleep.
As the sect developed and recruited more people, it couldn't remain confined to Xiushui Village. If outsiders really did join the sect in the future, what they would eat and where they would live would both be problems.
People weren't little demon chickens; a grass shed to shelter them from the wind and rain wouldn't be enough.
So the sect was bound to need its own money and provisions.
Realizing that he might soon have to take responsibility for the food, clothing, shelter, and transportation of many people, Lin Xiao felt his head begin to ache.
Then there was the matter of dividing up tasks within the sect.
Things like growing spirit herbs.
Lin Xiao opened the sect member panel.
Come to think of it, when Tietou and the others had joined earlier, he seemed to have forgotten to check the aptitudes of the three of them. Oh, and Fellow Daoist Xiaoluan's too.
With that thought, he opened their details.
[Name: Hu Liang] [Sex: male] [Bone age: 12] [Aptitude: nothing special] [Cultivation: mortal] [Sect status: outer disciple (changeable)] [Sect position: none (changeable)]
Mm, just as expected of Tietou, all muscle and no brains. Lin Xiao nodded silently. The aptitude assessment was right on the mark.
[Name: Qin Jianghe] [Sex: male] [Bone age: 13] [Aptitude: fairly ordinary] [Cultivation: mortal] [Sect status: outer disciple (changeable)] [Sect position: none (changeable)]
Jianghe was actually only fairly ordinary... Lin Xiao rubbed his forehead. Jianghe was usually quite smooth in his dealings with people, so he hadn't expected his aptitude to be like this. Perhaps the aptitude assessment applied only to cultivation and was a little different from what he showed in everyday life.
Lin Xiao continued reading.
[Name: Liu Yunan] [Sex: male] [Bone age: 12] [Aptitude: outstanding (previously "not as good as some, but better than others"; upgraded)] [Cultivation: Qi Refining First Layer] [Sect status: outer disciple (changeable)] [Sect position: none (changeable)]
Whoa!
What was he seeing?!
[Aptitude: outstanding (previously "not as good as some, but better than others"; upgraded)]
Lin Xiao was pleasantly surprised.
So aptitude could actually be improved!
I wonder if my own aptitude still has room to improve...
The last one was Fellow Daoist Xiaoluan.
[Name: Luan] [Sex: female] [Bone age: 2] [Aptitude: one part in a hundred million Luan Bird bloodline, a fighting chicken among pheasants] [Cultivation: Spirit Awakening First Layer] [Sect status: outer disciple (changeable)] [Sect position: none (changeable)]
Lin Xiao was somewhat surprised.
Fellow Daoist Xiaoluan actually had some Luan Bird blood in her veins, though it was only one part in a hundred million, and though he didn't know how good a Luan Bird bloodline was.
But since the system had made a point of noting it, he figured it must be extraordinary.
Looking over everyone's panels, Lin Xiao pondered for a moment, then began changing their sect statuses and positions.
First came their statuses: he changed them all to personal disciples.
There was no limit on the number of personal disciples anyway, was there?
Next were their sect positions.
Lin Xiao first created the position of [Teaching Elder] and assigned it to Sun Yigao.
Then he added the position of [Finance Elder] and gave it to Qin Jianghe without hesitation.
Having known Qin Jianghe for years, Lin Xiao had complete confidence in his ability to manage money. He paid particular attention to wealth, or, in common terms, he was greedy for money.
But his character was beyond question.
Right afterward, Lin Xiao added the position of [Infrastructure Elder] and gave it to Tietou. From now on, Lin Xiao intended to leave organizing work like digging dirt and stripping trees to him.
Next was [Farming Elder]. Only Jiang Youfu, Fellow Daoist Xiaoluan, Lin Yun, and Liu Yunan were left, so Lin Xiao decisively gave it to his elder brother, Lin Yun.
Of all of them, his brother was the best at farming!
As for the remaining members, Lin Xiao had no good ideas for the time being, so he left them as they were.
He would see where they were needed later.
Suddenly, the system notification sounded.
[Ding-congratulations, the number of sect positions has increased to five, triggering the mission [Sect Members' Stipends]-a stable, well-run organization needs stable benefits to sustain it. Please distribute stipends to everyone in the sect reasonably and as soon as possible, host.]
Stipends?
Only then did Lin Xiao remember. Well, great. From now on, he not only had to find a way to build up the sect so it could house its members, he also had to pay everyone a salary.
Realizing this, Lin Xiao felt as though his one head had become two.
He couldn't very well pay their stipends in ordinary money, could he? Or rather, he couldn't pay them only in money, could he? They were cultivators, after all; their stipends had to include something like Spirit Stones, at the very least.
That raised a problem: the Spirit Stones from missions weren't even enough for him and the sect's construction. What was he supposed to use to pay stipends?
Lin Xiao propped his chin on his hand beneath the peach tree and stared into space.
Then he suddenly heard the system's emotionless voice sound in his mind again.
[Ding-congratulations, sect member Sun Yigao has advanced to the Qi Refining First Layer.]
Lin Xiao smiled faintly.
That was good news. Sun Yigao had reached the Qi Refining First Layer too.
Now, the Lingxian Sect had three cultivators at the Qi Refining First Layer: Jiang Youfu, Liu Yunan, and Sun Yigao. Oh, no, four, including Xiaoluan.
Lin Xiao suddenly felt deeply gratified.
In just a few days, more than half the sect's members had entered the Qi Refining First Layer!
It had to be said that their Xiushui Village was a place blessed with gifted people. Quite a few of them had high aptitude.
Then another thought occurred to him. He couldn't really put it that way; Xiushui Village had several hundred people, and perhaps only these few had good aptitude.
It was quite possible that birds of a feather had flocked together. After all, he himself was so outstanding!
Thinking this way, Lin Xiao felt full of motivation to build and develop the sect again.
Make money, make money, make money!
Wasn't it just a matter of making money?!
As it happened, tomorrow was the day for the monthly trip to the town market.
As for Spirit Stones, hehe, the sect was too poor, and everyone was still a mortal for now. What did they need Spirit Stones for as a stipend? Weren't copper coins good enough?
Although he didn't have even a copper coin right now, copper coins were far easier to obtain than Spirit Stones, which he could currently earn only through missions.
But when he thought about how everyone was a cultivator and yet didn't even receive a stipend of Spirit Stones, it really seemed rather lacking in prestige.
Suddenly, Lin Xiao remembered the [Item Synthesizer] he had unlocked earlier.
Since unlocking it, he still hadn't had time to study the function.
So Lin Xiao immediately opened the [Item Synthesizer].
Come to think of it, he had unlocked this function while thinking about making Storage Bags.
Since the system had always given him things based on his thoughts and needs, there was a good chance the [Item Synthesizer] could synthesize Storage Bags.
As for how to synthesize them...
He first opened the synthesizer.