Decisions
In the three tents designated to Kol, Vayu, Noland, and Ron, one was occupied by Kol, the other one was occupied by Vayu, and the last one was taken up by Ron.
"Can't sleep?"
Noland smiled while looking at the pale blue moon as Trilok sat outside the tent while gazing towards the Sky Ocean.
"No... it's strange. I feel tired, even of sleeping," Trilok replied without moving as Noland sat cross-legged next to him.
"Did you read the scroll that talks about the stars beyond the Sky Ocean?" Noland inquired.
"Ain't nobody got time for what's beyond sky or not... I'm thinking about real stuff. What we're going to do once the time is up..." Trilok sighed softly as Noland looked slightly puzzled.
"We buy ourselves more time, what else," he shrugged, "Anyway, we can't really think of long-term plans at the moment."
"Yeah," Trilok nodded as he looked to his side, "I'll be going for the drain of my house. I feel like I'll make a breakthrough in my body."
"Nice," Noland smirked, "Want the support of my pills? The best way to cultivate the body is by being relaxed..."
"Fuck you," Trilok stood up and walked towards the location of his house.
Although his residence had been torn apart, it didn't change the fact that even the internal drainage system of the ship was sturdier than houses and enchanted with inscriptions. Usually, people would go to the locations of their homes to take a bath and allow the water to go through the drains, of course, this option was only for those who did not care about exposing themselves. Trilok, however, was sensitive about the marks on his body.
Still, he went towards the drainage system without hesitation and then continue moving forward towards the Chief's house, basement to which would lead him into the safe houses.
Of course, he did not have to enter Jolly's residence.
"Hrmm? Oi, you drunk? Trying to rob your chief? I'll fight you!" Jolly hollered after pushing his face through the broken windows while Trilok eyed the man for a moment before scowling and opening the doors to the safe house.
While many members of the ship got to have their personal tents and were allowed to live on the ship once again, a few of them were unlucky enough to remain stuck within the suffocating rooms of the safe house.
"That's right! You better runoff!" Jolly hiccuped while slowly sitting back on the chair and gazing towards the moon intently.
Meanwhile, Trilok made his way towards the empty toilet of the safe house.
'With the Special Traits of my Cultivation technique, the impurities are no longer expelled but burnt off from my body with the help of traces of lightning flowing through the veins.' Trilok thought to himself while walking towards one of the empty restrooms.
'But others don't know that and I... fuck, who the hell achieves breakthrough in a toilet,' Trilok shook his head but in the end, it was the safest place to breakthrough. Others, of course, won't come around sniffing when thunder rumbles through the toilet. Nobody likes a heavy 'hitter' in the toilet, after all.
'It's a pity but focusing on short-term gains is really the way to go,' Trilok locked the door after entering the restroom and leaned against the door.
'If I upgrade my cultivation technique to heaven-grade, all my accumulation will be lost. Not to mention that in the coming days, my earnings would be heavily shortened. If the storm hadn't hit, this decrease would have been gradual under the increasing threat of pirates but now, every single one with the least amount of brain would focus on investing in himself or herself. And those who are already strong will take advantage of this void in the market and increase the price sky-high...
Even I won't dip my toes in such a thick pond if my profits are not substantial much less others...
And I was so close in having a heaven-grade cultivation technique,' Trilok bit his lip and opened his information tab.
[Name: Trilok
Age: 20
Spirit Vein: Purple (Upgrade Requirement: 5,000,000)
Cultivation: Spiritual Enhancer— 5 (Upgrade Requirement: 47,000), Common Physique— 6 (Upgrade Requirement: 9800)
Spirit Points: 2,015,249
Technique: Sea God's Essence (Earth-Legendary)(Special Traits: Heart of Sea— 2, Ruler of Ocean: 2)(Upgrade Requirement: 2,000,000)
Emperor's Shock Fist (High-Legendary)(Special Trait: Lightning Veins— 1)(Upgrade Requirement: 100,000)
]
The last two days, Trilok had absorbed spirit energy without the help of spirit trace oil and barely obtained an amount close to 25000 points.
But, should he upgraded his Technique to heaven grade, an amount greater than 2,000,000 will be deducted just to restructure his base cultivation. At this moment, Trilok couldn't afford quick breakthroughs in spirit cultivation, effectively alerting those around him about this abnormality. The danger would only increase tomorrow when the reinforcement of the Ark arrives tomorrow.
Not to mention the fact that Spiritual Cultivation has a learning curve. Each realm signifies an important step of a Cultivator's life and those moments cannot be rushed. Even the skills need training and experience to be considered usable in a possibility of a battle.
But, body cultivation only focused on raw strength, defense, and speed. A great achievement in body cultivation will allow Trilok to make a few mistakes here and there.
And that's why, he decided to take Body Cultivation to the extreme.
'Upgrade.'
Trilok began with upgrading Emperor's Shock Fist.
His pupils dilated while his body instantly felt warmer. His veins squirmed as he felt ants running within his body.
*Thud*
'Don't fall into the toilet! Don't fall into the toilet!' Trilok began chanting. This time, his body cultivation had its own set of ordeals.
[Lightning Tyrant's Might]
Trilok's body trembled as his impurities that were going to be expelled from his body were instantly burnt off by a visible layer of lightning through his body. Even Trilok's shirt and shorts were damaged. His body's quality increased by a notch. His skin grew more elastic and even the scars on his back became more prominent.
Body Cultivation did not reform the body, it only enhanced.
Since Trilok's body already had these scars, they were already considered a part of him and would only be enhanced as such.
"Ugh," Trilok grunted as he heard the soft crackling of electricity around him.
After a few short breaths, he slowly sat on his butt with his legs cross-legged due to small space and exhaled heavily. With the back of his head leaning against the door, he gazed at his information once again.
[Name: Trilok
Age: 20
Spirit Vein: Purple (Upgrade Requirement: 5,000,000)
Cultivation: Spiritual Enhancer— 5 (Upgrade Requirement: 47,000), Common Physique— 6 (Upgrade Requirement: 27,000)
Spirit Points: 1,908,549
Technique: Sea God's Essence (Earth-Legendary)(Special Traits: Heart of Sea— 2, Ruler of Ocean: 2)(Upgrade Requirement: 2,000,000)
Lightning Tyrant's Might (Earth-Legendary)(Special Trait: Lightning Veins— 1, Zap Reaction— 1)(Upgrade Requirement: 1,000,000)
]
Once again, an amount more than the requirement of the Technique was deducted and Trilok instantly attributed this to a round of enhancement against his base form.
'To reach the peak of common physique, the lowest requirement is to remove 50% of one's impurities. However, the Emperor's Shock Fist Technique made sure to remove 65% of the impurities by the peak of common physique and the Lightning Tyrant's Might states that 80% of the impurities will be removed by the time I reach the peak of the common physique.
I haven't fought a body cultivator on even terms but even a fool would understand the greater the percentage of impurities removed, the better the result.
With his lips already dried, Trilok gazed at the option of upgrade and nodded in his heart.
Upgrading the spiritual cultivation technique would leave him with nothing but the upgrade of body cultivation technique will still allow him to keep a large portion of spirit points to upgrade his cultivation.
"Upgrade..."
Trilok whispered while gritting his jaws for the accompanying pain.
[Prime Lightning Divinity]
---
*Crackle*
Jolly's eyes snapped open as he pushed his head out of the window to look at the sky.
Out of nowhere, the sky ocean was lit up with an arc of flashing purple lightning soon followed by a rumbling that represented utter destruction, the sound itself making others open their eyes in fright.
"We're not unlucky enough to encounter another sudden storm, right?" Jolly narrowed his gaze with a scowl.
---
8th day of the ninth month.
A few figures of importance to the community stood close to the edge of the port. From one look, the more common members of the community would realize that these men, including the Chief, were men and women of many achievements and great reputation.
The sky ocean was lit up brightly, indicating that it was quite late in the day.
"Hey, that's Jakel, right?" Trilok looked towards a middle-aged man with loose brown hair and broad shoulders. His face was clean and slightly remarkable at best. But, the sword buckled on his waist couldn't hide its extraordinary nature and the runic sheath only accentuated this feeling.
"The best swordsmith..." Noland gulped, "I heard he's already a peak enhanced and can use his spiritual energy to quench the raw materials in the forge."
'Well... he's a step away from the peak,' Trilok added in his heart.
"Look, that's Cassindra!" Noland gazed at a middle-aged woman with a warm smile on her face while she faced the ocean. However, her pretentious nature could be felt from meters away since the woman deliberately positioned herself in a manner that her expression of supposed serenity could be viewed by everybody.
"Personally, we shouldn't even be here... not right now, at least," Trilok clicked his tongue.
"Now, now, don't be so glum," Wide palms patted Noland's and Trilok's back as they looked behind and matched Roa's gaze.
He had cleaned his face to scrape off his slow-growing beard and wore his hair in a well-combed low tail with not a single strand set loose on his forehead.
"The two of you have caused quite a ruckus already. It's not about strength right now, if it was, the three instructors and Jenc would be here, too. This meeting is about prestige. Dad is giving you two a chance at making acquaintance with those from the Ark. Here's a helpful hint— If you're intimidated by them, then they'll only look down on you. Seniors of the Ark are well-read and behaved. Much more than barbarians of some community. So, don't fear in entering a logical argument... but also don't push too far."
Trilok and Noland nodded.
Giving his status a look, Trilok sighed.
[Name: Trilok
Age: 20
Spirit Vein: Purple (Upgrade Requirement: 5,000,000)
Cultivation: Spiritual Enhancer— 5 (Upgrade Requirement: 47,000), Common Physique— 9 (Upgrade Requirement: 71,000)
Spirit Points: 740,049
Technique: Sea God's Essence (Earth-Legendary)(Special Traits: Heart of Sea— 2, Ruler of Ocean: 2)(Upgrade Requirement: 2,000,000)
Prime Lightning Divinity] (Heaven-Legendary)(Special Trait: Lightning Dharma Physique— 1)(Upgrade Requirement: ???)
]
'Yeah... even the body cultivation alone will drain my savings dry... no, in fact, only body cultivation should be this demanding. After all, Vayu's spiritual technique is a Heaven-grade Unique-ranked technique but at the peak of the spiritual dweller, he only required 27,000 spirit points.
But, the greater the consumption, the larger the benefits. The Lightning Dharma Physique itself is one of the greatest boons in my life, right below that Drunkard's death and receiving the green crystal.'
Trilok thought internally.
His situation had changed in just a single night!
"Well, isn't this the dynamic Trio," A derisive chuckled echoed from behind the three men as they turned to find an old man in grey clothing. His eyes were murky and his nose crooked.
"For the last time, Rehia, I didn't mean to knock up Nelly," Roa spread his arm in helplessness, "If I tell you the details, I'm afraid you'll roll over and pass out. Your daughter isn't as subtle and gentle as you think."
"Eat mah shit! Oh, what are you teaching these two fine gentlemen? How to have unprotected sex? For fuck's sake, Roa! You wanna be like your daddy? Wetting your cock in any young hole?" Rehia growled while Jolly, who stood ahead from the group had his lips twitching.
"Hey! Don't you dare pull me on his level! And bitch, just because you're without a tool to wet doesn't mean that others don't. For crying out loud, even your daughter doesn't think that either!" Jolly scoffed while Rehia's expression reddened.
"Tch, keep telling yourself that. And you two, don't you go around knocking up someone else's daughters. Have some elegance—"
"That's why I sell butt pills. Want one?" Noland interjected.
"I mean, what's the point of wasting time with sex? It doesn't earn enough revenue," Trilok shrugged.
The surrounding men and women were speechless.
Rehia's expression brightened.
"That's right! Spoke like true virgins!" He clapped his hands with a jovial laugh.