Chapter 20: AFK Cultivation

Storing the ten arcane cards close to him and placing the other discarded spiritual cards in his bag, Duke took advantage of his available time and took a trip to the Arcane Tower.

It wasn't that he wanted to go out for fun. It was because he had earned some money and wanted to exchange it for a new meditation technique.

Back then, in order to facilitate Xiaoyi's help with his cultivation, he had chosen the easiest "Blank Slate Meditation Technique," which allowed Xiaoyi to practice on his behalf without affecting his own actions.

Now, it seemed that Xiaoyi's capabilities were strong enough to handle even higher difficulty meditation techniques for his cultivation.

On his second visit to the Arcane Tower, he was already familiar with the route.

He headed straight to the Meditation Technique Management Office, and Mr. Wilgan, whom he had met before, was in charge again. He recognized Duke a bit: "It's you. What are you here for?"

"Um, Mr. Wilgan, I want to exchange for a new meditation technique."

"Exchange a meditation technique?"

"Yes, the efficiency of the 'Blank Slate Meditation Technique' is too low."

"Hmph, I warned you before that you must choose a suitable meditation technique..." Wilgan rolled his eyes, "Whatever, you young people never listen... Which meditation technique do you want to choose? Let me warn you in advance, re-copying a meditation technique costs 1 gold dragon each time. Be careful not to mix up two different meditation techniques!"

"Alright, I choose the 'Field Meditation Technique.'"

"Huh?" Wilgan furrowed his brows as he looked at Duke's information sheet, "Are you sure? With your slightly below average talent, I advise you to stick with the 'Steadfast Meditation Technique.'"

"No, I want to challenge myself!" Duke insisted.

After all, he wasn't the one practicing; it was Xiaoyi, his 9-ring arcane artifact, doing the practice. The difficulty of a spiritual apprentice-level meditation technique wasn't much of a challenge, no matter how high it was.

"Haha." Wilgan chuckled.

He decided not to persuade Duke any further and instructed his assistant, "After he finishes the card process, take him to transcribe the 'Field Meditation Technique.'"

Same room, same machine.

Putting on the helmet, mysterious energy enveloped his thoughts. A brand new meditation technique was being transcribed into his Sea of Spirit through the machine's energy transmission.

After a moment, the transcription was complete.

Duke didn't linger and headed straight back to his small inn.

"Xiaoyi, is the 'Field Meditation Technique' properly set up?"

"It has been initially calibrated, but please note that the 'Field Meditation Technique' has a higher difficulty than the 'Blank Slate Meditation Technique.' When Xiaoyi practices on your behalf, it might be more susceptible to external disturbances."

"It's alright, let's give it a try."

Duke wasn't too worried. If it failed, he could always switch back to the 'Blank Slate Meditation Technique.'

Ever since he had Xiaoyi, a top-tier AI, a 9-ring arcane artifact, he felt like his Sea of Spirit was a computer, and Xiaoyi was the CPU of this computer.

However, the computer's hardware was still lacking in various aspects other than the CPU.

Running a simple program like the 'Blank Slate Meditation Technique' was manageable, but for a more advanced program like the 'Field Meditation Technique,' it was uncertain if it could be executed effectively.

Right then.

He started researching the discarded spiritual cards from the waste card station, while Xiaoyi began practicing the 'Field Meditation Technique' within his Sea of Spirit. Shortly after, he felt the sensation of his spirit being absorbed by his body.

However, just as he was about to communicate with Xiaoyi, the sensation of absorbing spiritual energy quickly faded away.

"Apologies, Master. There was an error during the practice of the 'Field Meditation Technique.' It has now collapsed, and Xiaoyi is analyzing the cause of the failure."

"Did it fail? That's alright, learn from the experience and try again next time!"

"Understood, Master."

"By the way, while I'm sleeping, you can switch the meditation technique to the 'Field Meditation Technique' to increase the efficiency of the practice."

The night passed, and Duke woke up early in the morning. He checked the condition of his Sea of Spirit and noticed that after switching to the 'Field Meditation Technique,' the condensation speed of spiritual fluid had indeed increased, though not by a significant margin. Between different meditation techniques, substantial differences would only become apparent after long periods of practice.

"I heard that the Central Chenjiao Grand Hotel is built directly above a spiritual spring's source in the city center. Each room is filled with a misty spiritual atmosphere... I wonder what the effects of cultivation would be there. When I have the money, I'll definitely give it a try!" With hopeful anticipation for the future, Duke settled his bill and left.

The Black Beetle Car cruised along the route towards Snakehead Town as usual.

With a mounted knight escorting him, he safely arrived at the station.

"Phew, safely back!"

Duke looked toward his home's direction with a touch of self-mockery, "It's just ten arcane cards, there's not that much danger waiting for me."

Although he said that, caution was still important.

The next time Duke went out for card purchasing, he would continue to be cautious, ensuring that he was far away from danger at all times.

Returning to the shop, he handed the supplies over to Sally and the others and hurried to the kitchen for a meal. Since hiring Aunt Abby to handle cooking and cleaning, he no longer wasted time on household chores.

After lunch.

Duke headed straight to the address that Ronnie had left for him, but Ronnie wasn't at home, and no one answered the door despite knocking for a while. Duke had to return to the shop and planned to come back to knock on the door in the evening.

This time, the door opened, revealing Ronnie.

"Did you bring the arcane cards?" Ronnie's eyes lit up.

"Of course."

"Great, swipe the card!" Ronnie took out his spiritual dragon card, swiped 50 silver dragons from Duke, and then took the arcane cards, saying, "Duke, you've done well. If I have another need, I'll come to you."

"It's my pleasure to serve you." After taking the money, Duke politely bid farewell.

When he returned to the shop, he suddenly felt a sense of ease spreading over him. He quickly realized that the binding force of the contract he had agreed upon was dissipating.

"Amazing!"

Duke was becoming more and more curious about the realm of spiritual magic, wondering how much incredible power there was beyond the ordinary.

After locking the shop doors at night, Duke returned to his living space, which he had transformed from the warehouse. He began browsing through books and waited for Xiaoyi to make yet another attempt at practicing the 'Field Meditation Technique.'

Throughout the day, Xiaoyi practiced, failed, and analyzed continuously.

As the room was lit by the lamp, only the sound of Duke flipping through pages could be heard.

He didn't know how much time had passed when the sensation of absorbing spiritual energy continued to linger, never dissipating.

At that moment, Xiaoyi's voice came through, "Master, the 'AFK' cultivation of the 'Field Meditation Technique' has been successfully achieved, and all error factors have been thoroughly eliminated."

'AFK' was Duke's term for Xiaoyi practicing on his behalf.

It was one of Xiaoyi's most essential functions at the moment.

"Great. By the way, Xiaoyi, how's the progress on improving the Desert Eagle?"

Xiaoyi responded, "During the formal practice of the 'Field Meditation Technique, Xiaoyi is unable to allocate more processing power for the Desert Eagle's improvement. Currently, the improvement progress for the Desert Eagle is at the stage of material application."

The forging of arcane artifacts required more than just a spell model; it also involved material application.

Only when compatible materials merged with spiritual power could they forge an arcane artifact that could adapt to the spell model. Otherwise, the spell model would never be released, and the arcane artifact would become a useless pile of material.

Xiaoyi added, "I recommend that the Master purchase more books related to materials. Xiaoyi needs to expand its database to complete the material application for the subsequent Desert Eagle improvement projects."

"Don't worry, I'm reading one right now." Duke shook the book in his hand.

The book was titled "Comprehensive Guide to Spiritual Gold Refining Formulas," containing a vast number of openly shared spiritual metal refining formulas. Most of them were formulas whose patents had expired.

Every year, the Knowledge Tower would release expired patents to the public.