The Art of Waiting at a Table to be Picked Up

'It feels like I'm being pricked by tiny needles all over my body. How uncomfortable.'

I sat cross-legged inside a bubble of semi-transparent silver gas while practicing the meditation technique Hasrem showed me to stabilize my emotions. It just about halved the intensity of my emotions, quite worth the cost of two questions.

The dome of gas I sat in covered an area big enough to fit 50 people inside, but it was nothing compared to the grandness of the other Genesis Essence areas. On the inside of the Genesis Essence, there was nothing except for the dirt that lay beneath me and the silver gas that surrounded me. It was similar to being lost in a deep fog. But I wasn't lost. This was Firearm Genesis Essence, left by the dead body of Indere.

His records say that he was killed in a fight while repelling a Wild Beast tide, though I do doubt the sincerity of that. Either way, since when a Fruit Cultivator dies they let out all of the Genesis Essence in their dead body, he asked for his body to be used as fuel for the next Firearm Branch Fruit Cultivator to come out of this sect, and the sect complied. He really was a Gold Class Fruit Cultivator to be able to produce so much Genesis Essence after death.

I breathed in. I could feel my body… opening up? No, it was more like I was accepting the Firearm Genesis Essence as a part of my body. It went through the pores of my body and traveled until it reached my Duranian due to my careful guidance. It entered the Duranian, enriching the soil of my land, and the density of my Genesis Liquid.

This was how Fruit Cultivators strengthened their Duranian. After some more time on this, I'd break through to the 2nd Stage of Dirt Class. And once I got to the 9th Stage, I would have to break through to Stone Class. But… was there really any use in cultivating?

I would be left behind if I didn't, but wouldn't that be true either way? While Hasrem did have a point in the fact that Talent wasn't everything, mindlessly trying to play catch-up wouldn't get me anywhere.

Should I just search for the inheritance instead? But in the case that I'm wrong about the inheritance, I would lose big time. Both options were a risk.

'But… if I were to find the inheritance in such a weak state, what would happen?' I asked this question in my mind, but I already knew the answer. It would most likely result in me being mauled to death. After all, who's to say the inheritance isn't dangerous?

'I should just cultivate then?' No, this wasn't the correct answer either. Yes, I would get stronger, but that would take too long. In that case, I must focus on my strengths. I'm weak in Talent and, assuming that I even found it, I am not strong enough to take on the inheritance right now. But… I am probably better than everyone in this sect at one thing. Close combat.

Normally that would be useless in a world that uses magic… but this world used Fruits. Fruits had two different main categories they fell under: Magic Path and Technology Path. Fire and Wood Branch Fruits would fall under the Magic Path while the Firearm Branch belonged to the Technology Path.

There are many differences between the two paths, but the one I cared about was the fighting styles of both. Magic Path Fruits mostly specialized in far combat, but Technology Path Fruits… they specialized in close combat. I had already guessed this when I read the effect of the Crossbow Bolt Fruit, but I confirmed it in my recent visit to the library.

This means I must do one thing with my time… I had to practice with my Fruit and integrate it into my style of combat. However, there was a problem with this. A big one too; one that troubled not just me, but everyone.

It was a problem that could be described in one word. A word that could make a person either laugh out loud or cry tears of despair. A word that could cause a nation to ascend to the heavens, and likewise, a nation to fall into the pits of hell...

Money.

Growing Fruits in your Duranian costs resources and resources cost money. According to my research, this world doesn't have a global currency, instead, most Regions have their own type of currency. The currency of the Jungle Region, where I resided, was called the Dschungel.

Unfortunately, Dschungels were hard for someone like me to get my hands on. I had no family to give me an allowance, and I couldn't work while attending cultivation school.

'How could I get rich quickly, to then get stronger quickly, to then get the inheritance?' That was the question I had come to. To get money, one either needs a service to provide or an item to sell. Unfortunately, I had neither of these. But those were only ways of making money legally.

While in the middle of sucking in more Firearm Genesis Essence, I suddenly smirked a smile with evil intentions behind it. There were a multitude of ways to unethically make money. Theft. Extortion. Blackmail. And many more. But my way of making money was many times simpler than these methods. I would use the art of seduction.

I was about to give on cultivating for the night and start searching for the inheritance when I noticed something strange, 'Hm? What's this?' A little silver orb was in the hole created by my sitting cross-legged. I picked it up and was surprised to feel a smooth, metallic feeling between my fingers. While I was wondering what caused such a thing to appear randomly, a theory came to mind.

'Could this be?!'

After a burst of inspiration, I began the process of cultivating again. This time, however, my focus wasn't on the surrounding Genesis Essence, but on the little silver orb in front of me.

Even with the change of target, nothing out of the normal happened. Genesis Essence entered my Duranian just like it would when I used the Genesis Essence gas around me, but this time, the orb was gone when I opened my eyes.

'It's as I predicted. I must have absent-mindedly gone through the process of making mana crystals in my old world. Except this time the target was not mana, but Genesis Essence. And it would seem that there was a reaction.'

This probably had many profound meanings behind it, but with my current knowledge, all I knew was that this was something that could be used.

'All right then, I've decided. I'll spend the rest of the night experimenting and creating these… Genesis Orbs. Yeah, that's a good name.'

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"Well, that's all for today's class. I'll see you all tomorrow. Oh, wait! I almost forgot! The dean wanted me to announce the first cultivation competition. The first student to reach the 2nd Stage of Dirt Class will be allotted 20 Dschungels. That's all, be on your way then! Also, make sure to get some lunch at the Food Hall on your way out. Feeding yourself is just as, if not more, important than cultivating. Don't starve yourselves!"

Hasrem said her goodbyes to the leaving students. And just as I was about to leave alongside them, she grabbed my arm and put me in a lock of some kind.

Luckily I was able to resist immediately breaking out, but I still was a bit scared. No one else was in the room. I gave a nervous gulp and said to Hasrem with a frog in my throat, "Um, Ms. Attu. I thought you said you would wait a year before trying anything on me…"

"You little…" She seemed to want to correct me but instead, after looking at where my head was pressed against, just shook her head and let me go, "Never mind your dirty thoughts. Beulus asked me to invite you to the bar with him and I. Will you be able to come over? As the saying goes, "All cultivation and no beer made Jack a dull boy.""

"I can't help but feel like you said that saying wrong… But yeah, I'll pass by." This was a chance to get more information, I couldn't just say no to such a tempting offer. Plus it would only help my current plans to get closer to those two drunkards.

"Good, if you said no I might just have had to give you an essay assignment on the effects of an unbalanced work-life schedule." She let me go and said happily to me, "I'll see you tonight then, go and get some food at the Food Hall." She practically pushed me out of the classroom after saying this.

When I heard the door loudly shut behind me, I couldn't but wonder if she truly did just ask me to go out drinking with her.

Shaking off these strange thoughts caused by my slightly less, but still unstable emotions, I began making my way to the Food Hall.

It was time to begin the seduction.

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I sat down at an empty table, a wooden tray in my hands filled with an assortment of different foods. The sound of friends talking with each other permeated throughout the Food Hall, leaving no room for my own thoughts.

My plan involved this Food Hall greatly. After all, how could I seduce her without being able to see her? This was the only place I could meet her without coming off as creepy. I took a bite out of my sandwich. It was bland.

"Ughhh." I gave a long and rueful sigh while thinking about what I was about to do.

But just as I was about to stand up and make my way over to her, I felt a small hand being placed on my shoulder. This feeling was soon followed by a voice, a voice filled with the absence of impurities.

"Do you mind if I sit next to you?"

I turned around to meet her cool, violet eyes that were filled with indecisiveness, yet at the same time determination.

It was the target of my seduction plans: Pulchra L'Amour.