Not So Simple

"Well this isn't good" Lucas said seeing the now empty Spirit Node. Not trying to panic he began to fill another node, this time is a normal round circular one. He spent a few minutes filling the node till it was full. Once it was he watched it for a few more minutes and noticed no mana leaked out. 

"Uh oh."

He began to examine his body for more Spirit Nodes. After 2 hours of counting he tallied he had 400 round circular nodes and the other 1,600 were all ripped! He began to sweat in a panic. 80% of his Spirit Nodes were ripped to shreds! He couldn't progress his cultivation path! He quickly opened his eyes and got up. He looked around trying to think of a way to fix things. 

"Maybe the GalactiNet would know!" 

He rushed from the [Meditation Room] to the [GalactiNet Café]. If there was any place to learn how to fix this that's where it'll be. He climbed into this chair and paused for a moment. If he went in and was disguised as Kur asking about this information. Would that ruin his image? Kur was supposed to be this all-knowing calculating being. Ripped Spirit Nodes could be a common issue. Maybe the System can help?

Seeing as this could be a better option he opened his System to the [Store] tab. He looked around and found nothing to repair ripped Spirit Nodes. Only items that could help cultivation. Some were even about upgrading rooms with VP's, but he'd focus on that later. 

"System. Is there a way for you to repair my ripped Spirit Nodes? H#ll do you even know how I ripped them in the first place? I want to avoid this in the future."

[Notice. User ripped their Spirit Nodes while fighting the Vampire. User pushed themselves too beyond their limit by creating and utilizing new skills. User created skills to only be used in the Core Formation realm. To repair the Spirit Nodes requires a Neutral Spirit Stone at the Nascent rank. User may purchase one from the [GalactiNet Café] or preform a Scheme for the System in return for one]

Lucas thought about this. He didn't realize he had pushed himself that far, but he couldn't argue with reality. He had royally f#ck#d himself. He had a lot of credits and thought he could purchase one, but then it hit him. How would he retrieve it?! He couldn't have it sent to him and he didn't have a space ship to travel to a planet. Although he could have it sent to where Yimi and the Druids were.

He decided against it. He really didn't want to go back there just yet. There was also some part of him that yearned to go on adventure. He had just went on one, but he couldn't ignore this part of him. Whatever it was was pushing him to explore the universe. 

"Okay System. What's this Scheme?"

[New Scheme: Back to School]

[Notice. User has no knowledge of anything. User must learn basics of many topics to be able to survive this deadly universe. User will be sent to an Educational World for 6 months. During that time the System will be turned off. This will force the user to rely on himself, no Minions or henchmen to summon. Also during this time User will have a temporary ID with a connection to their credits, runes, and skills. Once 6 months are over user will be rewarded the Neutral Spirit Stone and keep any item they receive during those 6 months]

Lucas was shocked! He had to go back to school for the Neutral Spirit Stone?! He thought he should be utilizing his persona as Kur to take over the Underworld of the universe. Did he really have to go back to to school?

"THATS HALF A YEAR! System do I really need to go back to school for that long?"

[Notice. The System is providing an excellent way for user to get stronger with least risk. If User wishes for another Scheme of equal level. The System can send them on an Extermination Scheme. To conquer a planet with a population of 100 Million and weakest Cultivator is in the Core Formation realm]

"Yeah. Let's not do that" Lucas quickly changed his mind. Maybe school wasn't so bad. It couldn't be as bad as he thought. Right? "Okay if I'm gone for 6 months what will happen to Alduin and the Wolven?"

[Notice. The Henchmen Alduin will take some time to complete the Scheme he is on now. His speed and progress rely solely on him. The Wolven, once they return, will go into a stand-by mode and guard the lair. No Schemes will be preformed]

"Great. During that time I won't be making any money." Lucas went into thought. Not making money in that time was a harsh blow, but he began to think of the benefits he could gain. He could learn new skills, meet new people, learn new things and maybe even level up his skills, The problem was once he was back he'd only have 3 months to make as much credits as he could before he needed the meeting at the Black Market. He sighed in defeat.

"Fine. I'll preform the Scheme. How much time do I have to prepare?"

[Notice. Once the User accepts the Scheme they have 24 hours to prepare. Please note User will also gain access to the [Credit Conversion] tab. This will allow the user to convert credits into VP's. For every 1,000 credits the user will receive 1 VP]

"Are you kidding me?! That's such a rip off!"

Lucas wasn't happy with that! He only has 250,000 credits right now. That would only equal 250 VP's! Seeing as he had no other choice he accepted the Scheme. "Okay System. I accept the Scheme."

[Notice. Scheme Accepted. 24 hours till teleportation. Please prepare as best as possible]

Lucas sighed. He didn't think he would be spending that much time away from what he thought was his role. But then again this tournament would last years or decades. How long would it take to conquer a universe? He shook his head. He was at too much of an early stage to think about that right now. He had to figure out what he had to do next. 

He could send his Wolven back out on 2-3 more Schemes. Make as much credits and VP's as possible. He also looked over his [Tasks] list and checked if there was anything he could accomplish before he left. Task number 4 quickly caught his eye. He had to build a suit of armor and a weapon to get 500 VP's and 2 random combat skills. That would be easy! He already had his suit, Kur, and only needed a weapon.

Lucas stopped himself and made a list of what he needed to do before he left.

{1: Craft a weapon}

{2: Send the Wolven on as many Schemes as possible}

{3: Convert Credits to VP's, saving 50,000 credits}

{4: Purchase any skills I think would be useful}

He was satisfied with his list. It was small and not detailed, but was sufficient. He went back to his [Workshop] and saw this Wolven. They were in a slightly damaged state, but more than strong enough to handle Scheme. 

"Sorry guys. I won't be repairing you for a while. I will be gone for about 6 months. So the next two Schemes will be the last ones for a while. After that I'll leave you in Alduin's care. So go out there and make me some money!"

The Wolven didn't act or move at all. Lucas palmed his face before picking a Scheme for them to preform and watched them leave. He just shook his head and turned his attention to the [Workshop]. He had to think of a weapon! The problem was he had to think of a weapon that not only matched him, but Kur. And figure out his fighting style on top of that!

He scratched his chin and began to think. When he was Kur he was forced to fight hand to hand because of how many undead there was. He didn't want to fight hand to hand, but Lucas had a feeling he wouldn't have a choice. Though that didn't help him. Should he make an actual weapon or maybe something to act as his weapon? Should it have runes inscribed? He could say its a weapon given to him from his fictional master if need be. That will be his plan. 

He still wasn't sure what weapon he needed. He climbed into his ruined Kur suit and double checked how much mana he could use. Thankfully he could still the full 2,000 mana and use 10 runes. The problem was what weapon could he craft that could hold 10 runes and had the right equipment to utilize the runes. Then it hit him!

He quickly spend 50,000 credits, leaving him with 200,000. He thought it was slightly overboard, but he would rather be safe then sorry. His idea was to make bladed gauntlet for his arm with an attached scanner! He decided to make a left arm version of this weapon. He would build a gauntlet that had claws he could use as the main weapons and then have the runes as a support system!

The first thing was narrowing down the runes he will use. That was the tough part. He spend an hour going over his large list of runes and finally picked the ones he thought would be the best. 

[Supportive Rune: Enhanced Vision]

[Supportive Rune: Awareness]

[Supportive Rune: Regeneration]

[Protection Rune: Kinetic Energy Absorption]

[Protective Rune: Mana Deflection]

[Destruction Rune: Force Multiplier]

[Destruction Rune: Gravity Manipulation]

[Destruction Rune: Dark Energy Manipulation: Hell Flame]

[Destruction Rune: Dark Energy: Darkness]

[Destruction Rune: Technomancy]

Lucas smiled and nodded at his picks. He wanted [Soul Manipulation], but he had 2 counter thoughts. One; if he could manipulate souls that might draw too much attention to him. Two; soul manipulation was Alduin's thing. He wanted every Henchmen to be different and not all have the same skills. Now that he had the runes he decided on he began to shape his weapon. Excitement began to fill him as he worked. He couldn't wait to test out his weapon.