Experimentation

After a bit of contemplation, Bell could not help but let out a sigh as he landed on top of a nearby branch. Seeing that his mind was still somewhat surprised with Sixth Void leaving him all of a sudden, he decided to focus on reaching the peak of the 6th Stage of Qi Sensing for now, thinking of making a plan only after he had achieved that.

With that, he closed his eyes and attuned himself to the qi in the surroundings once more as he returned to creating more and more qi wisps. While he was doing that, he could not help but think about Sixth Void for a bit. Although he knew for a fact that he would have to leave sooner or later, it still came to him as a shock. After all, staying with one another for a month was enough for a friendly relationship to bud among them. Adding on the fact that the two of them were quite nice to each other, that made the separation a bit more jarring to Bell.

Nevertheless, after a few hours of mindlessly absorbing qi from the surroundings, Bell eventually dispelled the initial shock he had as he decided to focus on himself for now. After all, the deal they made wouldn't happen for 500 to 1000 years at most. On top of that, he had to reach the Greater Immortal Realm, which he knew was an incredibly high realm given the slight hesitation on Sixth Void's face when he said that…or at least that's what he read through his eyes anyway.

And so, after about nine days of continuous absorption of qi from the surroundings, Bell eventually opened his eyes as the 60th qi wisp was formed, creating six wheels of qi wisps circling in his body. Checking the position of the sun, he then checked the amount of qi he would have to amass to create his 61st qi wisp and enter the 7th Stage of Qi Sensing.

Sharply inhaling a bit of air after he noticed that he had to amass 69,400 points of qi to just create the next wisp, Bell could not help but think about his plans from now on. Of course, knowing that the amount of qi he would have to absorb would increase the higher he went, he put enhancing his Qi Root or enhancing the [Strengthened Qi Root] as his main priority. While thinking about it, he also thought about his cultivation manuals as well, reminding himself that they were still at Mortal Low-grade, the lowest grade possible for a technique.

After that, he then took a look at the other features he had unlocked through the system, immediately dispelling any thoughts of upgrading the mastery of his Constitution skills for now. At the moment, the amount of Impure Blood Energy needed for him to upgrade one of the Constitution skills was around 1,700 points, already a quarter of his maximum capacity. With how the cost of upgrading the skills sharply increased with each purchase, he could probably only upgrade a few Constitution skills by a few tiers before having to need to upgrade his capacity again.

With that, he then took a look at the various skills he had obtained after undergoing through three evolutions. Of course, he already knew what [Strengthened Qi Root] and [Vitality Siphoning] could do, given how he had profited from their effects a lot already. Thus, he focused his attention towards the two other skills he had obtained but neglected, [Stealth] and [Mass Siphon].

Commanding the system to give him the description for [Stealth], a small screen soon appeared in front of his field of vision, only for him to let out a sigh not long after as he muttered, "If I upgraded this back when I had just undergone my first evolution, I would have probably been able to absorb more Impure Blood Energy than I used to. Then again, better late than never."

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[Stealth Lv. 1]

A skill obtained from evolving to Night Walker Mosquito. This skill allows the owner to shroud their presence in front of beings under a certain cultivation level, allowing them to move unhindered without anyone noticing the owner.

Current limit: Qi Sensing Stage 1 and below

Upgrade cost: 100 Impure Blood Energy

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Seeing how he could move unnoticed even with tons of 1st Stage Qi Sensing beasts surrounding him as long as he had the skill activated, Bell knew that eventually, he would be able to move unhindered through beasts and humans of a higher realm as long as he upgraded his [Stealth] skill high enough.

With that, he upgraded the skill by one level, seeing that he still had some Impure Blood Energy left over. After a few seconds, the upgrade process was finished, allowing Bell to read the newly upgraded description of the skill. And just as he had expected, the upgrade now allowed him to move unhindered even when in front of a being at the 2nd Stage of Qi Sensing.

"So, that means I could move unhindered in front of someone at the 1st Stage of Qi Gathering once I upgrade this skill to Level 10," Bell muttered, thinking of all the things he could achieve with such an advantage like that. Not only would he be able to increase his lifespan further by siphoning the vitality of less beings, he would also be able to amass more Impure Blood Energy in less time.

"Hmm…how about [Mass Siphon]?" With his curiosity towards [Stealth] satiated, he then focused his attention towards the second skill, commanding the system to show him its description. With the text on the small screen changing to the description of the skill, Bell could not help but instantly think as he read the skill.

'This can definitely be a killing technique.'

Ding!

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[Mass Siphon Lv. 1]

A skill obtained from evolving to Shadow Devourer Mosquito. This skill allows the owner to absorb more Impure Blood Energy from a being at once, with the amount being proportional to the owner's Siphoning Efficiency.

Current multiplier: 5x the Siphoning Efficiency stat

Upgrade cost: 100 Impure Blood Energy

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Knowing very well that the Impure Blood Energy he siphoned was related to the blood that was circulating throughout beings, utilizing a skill like [Mass Siphon] would instantly send the being he was siphoning blood from into a state of hypovolemic shock. Sure, it wasn't anything useful if he was just siphoning blood from a being just to amass Impure Blood Energy. But if he were to say, come across a being that was out for his life, then something like [Mass Siphon] could be considered an ultimate skill of sorts. Naturally, while thinking of it from this perspective, he knew of its limitations.

"Too bad I can't siphon blood from far away," he lamented before placing the thought at the back of his head. Since he was in a cultivation world, he was certain that there was a way for him to do something like this sooner or later. After that, he also upgraded [Mass Siphon] to the next level, increasing the multiplier from 5x to 8x. With such a multiplier, he thought that it was enough for him to siphon the blood of one of the first beings he siphoned in one shot, maybe even two.

In any case, with an idea of what to do next, he started flapping their wings before imbuing it with qi, increasing the speed at which he flew to something even he could not have imagined a month ago. Right now, he was searching throughout the forest for beasts that were at the 6th Stage of Qi Sensing, just like him.

With that, he zoomed through the forest, inwardly shaking his head when the beasts in the area he was in only had beasts at the 4th Stage of Qi Sensing at most. Realizing this, he flew beyond the canopy of the forest he was in, wanting to check where he was currently. Sending a bit of qi into his eyes, he soon found out that he was still at what was considered the outer regions of the forest, prompting him to head into what was considered the inner regions of the forest.

After heading into the inner regions of the forest, he quickly noticed that the lowest cultivation among the beasts he had encountered were at the 3rd Stage of Qi Sensing. In fact, along the way, he had come across a few groups of humans who were out to hunt a few of the beasts. Although he was curious as to whether they were there because of missions or something else, he quickly put it at the back of his head as he eventually spotted a beast at the 6th Stage.

From its appearance, it was apparent that it was a wild horse. Yet unlike any of the other horses Bell had seen before, the mane on the back of its head seemed to have a metallic sheen to it. The same went for its coat.

Even though he was certain that the skill wouldn't work on a beast at that cultivation level, Bell still activated [Stealth] in order to get used to it. Surprisingly, the process in which the skill worked on was quite similar to the shrouding technique Sixth Void used. Consuming a bit of the qi inside him, a dark energy shrouded his body, mitigating the presence he released off to a certain extent. Every few seconds, a small amount of his qi would be consumed, letting Bell realize that he could not use the skill indefinitely…yet.

Reducing the speed of his flapping wings to a minimum, he made his way to the metallic looking horse's back before poking through its skin with his proboscis. Surprisingly, it had taken Bell a few tries to even get a bit of his proboscis through its skin, realizing that its skin had slightly taken on the toughness of metal. Placing the thought at the back of his head, he checked how much Impure Blood Energy from the horse, somewhat satisfied after seeing he could siphon around 1,300 points of it.

Just as he was about to start siphoning its blood, Bell thought that this was the perfect opportunity for him to test out the effects of [Mass Siphon], which fortunately did not consume qi unlike [Stealth]. However, just as he was about to use [Mass Siphon] twice in a row, it seemed that his proboscis would constrict in response, prompting him to take note that there was a cooldown between each [Mass Siphon].

Nevertheless, the effect of having a lot of blood being taken away could be seen instantly as the strength in the horse's legs waned before it caved in on itself. After a few seconds, the horse turned unconscious as its heart eventually thumped its last beat around ten seconds later. Seeing how effective the skill was, Bell could not help but lament once again the fact that he could not siphon blood from afar.

In any case, he still continued to siphon blood from the now dead horse, adding a new Constitution skill to his list while increasing the amount of Impure Blood Energy. Through the Constitution skill, he soon found out that the name of the beast was the Steelskin Horse.

Retracting his proboscis, he continued to siphon more Impure Blood Energy from a few more beasts at the same stage of cultivation, adding 4 more Constitution skills that gave him a total of 0.35 points of Constitution, including the Constitution skill he obtained from the Steelskin Horse.

With his blood storage filled to the brim after siphoning Impure Blood Energy from the five beasts he had encountered, he was just about to allocate around half of it towards upgrading his Qi Roots when he could not help but focus his attention towards his cultivation techniques.

Although the cost to upgrade them was a thousand points each, he had a foreboding feeling that the effects of the upgrade would be worth it to him. In the off chance that the effects weren't worth it, it still increased the speed at which he cultivated, so it did not matter too much.

With that, he allocated 2000 points of the Impure Blood Energy he harvested towards his cultivation techniques, improving them from Mortal Low-grade to Mortal Middle-grade. As he read through the various notifications he had received from upgrading both cultivation techniques, Bell could not help but let out a light chuckle as he muttered, "Well then."

"What a pleasant surprise."