Chapter 16 - Planning

The last piece of information displayed was related to his luck, quite the metaphysical concept. Arthur wondered how exactly something like luck was measured.

But regardless, the luck value seemed quite fitting. With the life he had lived, having a luck value of zero was truly fitting.

There were several other categories displayed in front of him, but unfortunately, these showed no further insights, all being covered with question marks.

This was very likely related to his mastery over this specific technique being far too low. If he managed to strengthen it, these categories might be unlocked.

Though, to be quite frank, he had no idea how he should go about doing so.

It was another headache that he would have to deal with later.

Anyway, not all was bad. The information he had access to at the moment was already quite useful. For now, he shouldn't be greedy and should be satisfied with just that.

He stretched himself, the sky above him still light blue, without a single cloud in sight.

"Well, there's certainly a lot of work to do."

First and foremost, he had to get stronger. That was the baseline. Without strength, nothing else mattered. Money, power, influence, all of that crumbled in the face of absolute power. That was why so many risked their lives in this dangerous cultivation journey.

But his path was going to be far more treacherous than anyone else's. As someone striving for perfection, attempting to master the three cultivation paths simultaneously, calling the journey ahead of him difficult would be an understatement.

"Impossible" would probably be a more fitting word. Most people would see this ambition as nothing more than a little kid daydreaming, not comprehending the immensity of the world. Someone due for a rude awakening from the harsh reality of life.

But Arthur saw this a little differently. If he was going to embark on this journey, what was the point of half-assing it? If he was already going to put in the effort, he might as well go all the way. If he failed to do so, then so be it.

He'd rather give it his best shot while he could than just give up before he even tried. This was something he always admired in humans in his previous life. Even knowing how fragile their lives were, with the most simple thing being able to make everything around them crumble, they still braved the harsh realities of the world, working tooth and nail to make their dreams a reality.

If you thought about it logically, perhaps it didn't make sense. Maybe they were simply giving in to their self-destructive tendencies, perhaps they were being blinded by their emotions, perhaps they would end up regretting it, perhaps they would end up losing everything.

This irrationality was what made humans interesting to him. As someone who lived his life without feeling anything, while he wasn't able to relate to their struggles, he certainly admired and felt great joy in observing people living their lives to the fullest, venturing into the unknown without ever looking back.

And so, he wanted to live his life in the same manner: diving headfirst into this world he knew nothing about, setting the most ridiculous of goals, and doing everything in his power to accomplish them.

A small smile appeared on his lips.

Regardless of whether he succeeded or failed in this, he was looking forward to it.

Now, while getting stronger was indeed a nice goal, it was too generic. If he wanted to succeed, he needed to lay out a more well-thought-out plan. Ambition was nice and all, but misguided ambition with nothing to back it up would end up being nothing more than a waste of effort.

He could use his two abilities to serve as a guide for him. They were both very powerful abilities if used right, so he should try to make the best use he could out of them. This would give him a more concrete view of what he ought to do.

His power allowed him to store any book he found inside his mind, granting him access to an unlimited amount of information. However, for this to work, he needed to gain access to said information first.

Overall, the best place to gather large amounts of books in order to optimize his ability the most would be a sect. Sect libraries typically contained a myriad of books related to various themes.

The variety of the libraries would usually depend on the specifics of the sect itself. If the sect was a more general organization, accepting disciples from all walks of life and with all sorts of fighting styles, their libraries would usually have a much wider array of concepts explored. So, in terms of general knowledge, they were preferable.

However, sects with a more focused approach, accepting only disciples that met certain conditions and imparting in them a specific style of fighting, while they wouldn't have such a general amount of knowledge, their specialized knowledge in the area they focus on would certainly be far deeper and more profound compared to a more generalized sect.

Both had their pros and cons.

However, before even deciding which type of sect he would try to find, there was another, more pressing concern: How would he even get into a sect in the first place?

Getting in as a student was out of the question. He was already far too old. Outside disciples would usually be accepted between ages 13 and 18.

He was already 20.

This might not have been a problem if he were an amazing talent. In most cases, any sect would be willing to accept a talented individual who wished to enter their sect. If there was one thing every sect would vie for, it was young talent capable of shouldering the future of the institution.

Unfortunately for Arthur, he could no longer be considered a genius. Those two years Lao had wasted wandering around the wilderness without any real gains ensured that basically everyone his age with decent talent had already left him in the dust.

Forget genius; he might not even be considered average for his age. Even with his dual affinities, there would be no sect willing to open their doors for someone like him.

And so, what exactly should he do moving forward?