Chapter 114: Breakthrough
"It’s alright, Master. Don’t be discouraged. This is only to be expected!"
Lily stood on Rios’s shoulder, patted him on the head, and comforted him, hoping to lift his spirits.
Flick!
"Get lost, Thumbelina."
Rios flicked Lily on the forehead with his finger, sending her flying away.
"Hey! That wasn’t nice at all! That really hurt!"
Lily clutched her head with both hands, tears welling up in her eyes as she protested.
"You’re an AI. Why would you even feel pain in the first place?"
Rios scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"Those cruel words are hurting my tiny little heart."
Lily flew back, lay across Rios’s shoulder once more, held her chest dramatically, and began putting on an act.
"Tsk."
Rios turned his head away from the painfully obvious performance.
"So, Master, are you going to stay here and continue exploring, or are you planning to do something else?"
Lily stopped acting and asked about what truly mattered.
"No. I’ve had enough of this place. Let’s do something else."
Rios shook his head without hesitation.
He couldn’t tell her that he had already fully comprehended the Cosmic Law of Derivation, or it would only arouse suspicion.
Since he was impersonating Ozir within The Eternal Night Heaven, he had to maintain the image of someone who possessed only an Immortal-grade talent in the Law of Life.
If he suddenly revealed that he had comprehended the Law of Derivation despite having no talent for it, the consequences could be disastrous.
He had always preferred safety over regret, and caution over recklessness.
"So what are you planning to do now, Master?"
Lily sat cross-legged on Rios’s shoulder, wrapped her arms around her legs, and looked straight into his eyes.
"Hmm..."
Rios stroked his chin. After thinking for a while, he opened his status screen inside The Eternal Night Heaven and entered the Store section... specifically the Red Lotus Palace.
"Since the Cosmic Red Lotus Empire specializes in the Soul Path and, more specifically, the Law of Arrays, I should be able to find what I’m looking for there."
Rios muttered to himself while filtering the list for what he needed.
"What are you looking for, Master?"
Lily climbed onto Rios’s head, lay down comfortably, and watched the screen with him.
"I’m looking for a cultivation method for the Soul Path, a cultivation technique for comprehending the Cosmic Law of Formation and the major Law of Arrays, along with some related skills and techniques."
Rios spoke calmly, but when he remembered how much money he had left, he felt a dull ache in his chest.
Aside from the ten thousand Prime he had poured into the Awakening Array during the Awakening Ceremony so it could operate at full capacity, withstand such a massive number of people, and shatter all those seals...
He had also spent more than ten thousand Prime over the past week purchasing five Nine Lotus Leaf Arrays, each specialized in gathering energy and creating an ideal environment for cultivation and breakthrough.
On top of that, he had bought cultivation and energy-gathering techniques that were easier to understand and practice than the Nine Lotus Leaves Technique, which required exceptionally high talent.
Now, he had only a little over twenty thousand Prime left. After this purchase, he would most likely be left with only around ten thousand.
In just one month, Rios had spent nearly seventy thousand Prime.
If one of the lesser emperors heard this and discovered that Rios ruled nothing more than a single city, they would immediately mobilize every fleet they possessed to invade him and uncover the secret behind how such a small city possessed such astonishing wealth.
Looks like I’ll have to go on a large-scale hunting expedition soon.
Rios frowned inwardly, but Lily’s voice quickly pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Master, buy this technique... and this one... and this one... and this one..."
Lily rapidly pointed at several techniques before opening a second screen beside the main one, displaying all the techniques she had selected for Rios.
Rios looked through the techniques Lily had chosen and found that they were all the most expensive ones. On top of that, each one had the word (Exclusive) written above it, meaning they were available only to Rios or customers of the same rank.
In the end, Rios bought only a few of them—the ones he actually needed. Even so, the total exceeded ten thousand Prime by a little. Had he bought just one more technique, his remaining balance would certainly have fallen below ten thousand Prime.
"Alright. Looks like my visit ends here."
Rios stood up and stretched. After confirming the payment, he logged out of The Eternal Night Heaven.
---
After returning to the City of Light, Rios headed straight to the Training Complex.
"Hah! Hoo!"
"Hah! Hoo!"
"Hah! Hoo!"
...
The moment he entered the Training Complex, Rios heard the shouts of martial arts practice.
The Training Complex was enormous, large enough to comfortably accommodate several tens of thousands of people at once.
It was divided into several sections.
One section was dedicated to teaching martial arts.
Another was reserved for practicing Law skills and learning to control them.
Another served as a resting area.
And another housed six enormous Nine Red Lotus Arrays.
The first array was reserved for the three Heaven-grade talents.
The second was reserved for those with mutated Legendary-grade bloodlines.
The third was reserved for those with Legendary-grade bloodlines.
The remaining three arrays were reserved for those with Basic- and Ordinary-grade bloodlines, due to their overwhelming numbers.
"Your Majesty."
One of the Royal Guard captains stepped forward from behind, stopped beside Rios, and knelt.
"How is the overall progress?"
Rios nodded and gestured for him to rise.
"The results are extremely promising, Your Majesty.
Thanks to the arrays and cultivation techniques Your Majesty provided, nearly everyone has reached Level Two, while the three youngsters all reached Level Three today. Only little Imris was faster than the other two, having broken through yesterday.
In addition, several Royal Guards, veteran warriors, and army commanders who chose the Soul Path have also reached the same level.
That brings the total number of Level Three warriors to one hundred—one hundred warriors ready to draw their swords for Your Majesty at any moment."