Chapter 19: Agency

In the classroom, Chen Mobai sat by the window, a gloomy expression on his face.

He had almost believed he was about to change his fate. One azure carp could increase water-affinity spiritual roots by 2 points; eating a few dozen would surely turn him into a Heavenly Spiritual Root of water affinity.

But he forgot one crucial detail: the 'Cultivation Assistant' software had detected that his adaptive spiritual energy, cultivated that day, had fluctuated for only one day. By the second day, it had returned to normal.

Reality was somewhat cruel.

That day, he ate eight in one go, boosting his water-affinity spiritual root to 39 points. He had never experienced such a feeling while cultivating before.

The efficiency of absorbing spiritual energy was nearly double what it had been. Besides the increase in spiritual root attribute, cultivating on a second-tier water vein, with these two factors combined, almost made Chen Mobai switch to cultivating the 'Black Water Art'.

Fortunately, he always acted cautiously and waited a day.

The next day, still feeling uneasy in the school's cultivation room, he used a spiritual energy test strip again and found that his water spiritual root attribute points had dropped once more.

Disbelieving, that evening he returned to the water mansion and caught five more azure carp to make sashimi.

His water spiritual root surged again, but after cultivating for a night, it dropped once more.

However, it wasn't all bad news. Perhaps because Chen Mobai had eaten so many, the power of the azure carp had subtly strengthened his spiritual roots.

After five days of frantic eating, with nearly forty azure carp consumed, Chen Mobai's water-affinity spiritual root points fluctuated like a stock market curve, eventually stabilizing at exactly 30 points, unable to rise further.

Of course, they didn't drop again either.

In the end, Chen Mobai's water-affinity spiritual root points had still permanently increased by 7 points.

Name: Chen MobaiAge: 18Realm: Qi Refining, Fifth LevelSpiritual Roots: Metal 23, Wood 27, Water 30, Fire 17, Earth 10Cultivation Art: Five Elements ArtSkills: Leaping Art, Cleansing Art, Spiritual Energy Shield, Qi Nurturing Art, Water Manipulation Art

Opening the personal panel software on his phone, Chen Mobai hesitated for a moment, but ultimately manually changed the water attribute number in the spiritual root section from 30 back to 23.

He had a feeling that it was best not to let anyone else know about the water mansion.

Although the Immortal Sect had no shortage of cultivation arts and medicines that could enhance spiritual roots, there were few that could instantly boost water spiritual roots so effectively. It was almost 20-30% as potent as the Azure Dragon Carp from Kunpeng Dao Academy.

Each Azure Dragon Carp, when consumed, could permanently enhance a cultivator's spiritual roots. Kunpeng Dao Academy had once used this to cultivate a water-affinity alchemy genius with astonishing comprehension, transforming their ordinary 33-point water spiritual root into an 80-point Heavenly Spiritual Root. This had been widely publicized by the Immortal Sect; for a period when Chen Mobai was a child, television news reported on it daily.

Although the azure carp from this water mansion couldn't compare to the Azure Dragon Carp, their cumulative effect had still permanently increased Chen Mobai's water spiritual root attribute by 7 points. If word got out, it would certainly cause a huge stir.

Because the Azure Dragon Carp was cherished by that Nascent Soul True Monarch, no one had been able to consume them for the past two decades.

However, Chen Mobai wasn't dwelling on that matter now. He opened his 'Cultivation Assistant' software, and seeing the five halos around his avatar frame in the upper right corner, he fell into deep thought.

This had happened last night. The proxy button in the 'Turtle Treasure' software suddenly lit up and protruded. Unable to resist his curiosity, he clicked it.

Then, the 'Cultivation Assistant' software on his phone changed.

Five halos appeared around his avatar.

Resources were scarce on the Terrestrial Star. However, the pioneering wars, occurring every millennium, were unavoidable. To protect their homeland, thirty-six Tiangang satellites orbited in the sky, forming a massive grand array.

These thirty-six Tiangang satellites also provided all network and communication services for the Immortal Sect on a daily basis. Each satellite was also a supercomputer, but most of their computing power was used to draw in cosmic spiritual energy, distribute it to countless households, and supply it for the cultivation of three hundred million cultivators.

Precisely because of this, to prevent computational waste, the permissions available to cultivators of different realms within each software were also distinct.

For example, as a cultivator at Qi Refining, Fifth Level, Chen Mobai could only use the most basic functions of the various apps on his phone.

Taking the 'Cultivation Assistant' software as an example:

If Chen Mobai were to establish his foundation, while using the 'Cultivation Assistant' to analyze cultivation videos, he would also be able to request access to footage of Golden Core True Monarchs cultivating the Five Elements Art from the database. Comparing the two, he could not only correct his own cultivation errors but also learn the most correct methods and various tips for cultivating the Five Elements Art.

The Immortal Sect's software permissions were all displayed visually using halos.

For instance, Qi Refining was Tier 1, so there would be one halo around the avatar frame.

Then the question arose:

These five halos should represent Tier 5 permissions, right!

What realm did Tier 5 correspond to?

Chen Mobai mentally calculated for a moment and immediately gasped.

Good heavens, he had directly become a Soul Transformation Ancestor.

There were only two such individuals in the entire Immortal Sect.

Couldn't this 'turtle shell' proxy be a bit more low-key? Getting a Golden Core Tier 3 permission would have been enough; how did it just go straight to Tier 5, max level?

While Chen Mobai was feeling inexplicably flustered, in an office at the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy, several cultivators were also frowning as they looked at the data that had suddenly been transmitted.

“This… could it be that an ancestor has awakened? A divine avatar traveling the world, living life like a game?”

A user with Tier 5 permissions had suddenly appeared. As the developer of the 'Cultivation Assistant' software, Shi felt both surprise and a hint of trepidation.

One must know that the two ancestors had been in secluded cultivation for over three hundred years without any activity, and his software had only been developed two hundred years ago.

Although five tiers of permissions had been classified, only the third tier had actually been fully developed.

Because he himself was only at the Golden Core realm. Above that, at the next tier, there were only a dozen or so Nascent Soul True Monarchs in the Immortal Sect, and they would typically seclude themselves for decades. The only things that could assist their cultivation were the cultivation videos and guidance from Soul Transformation Ancestors.

Until a Soul Transformation Ancestor uploaded their own content, the highest realm the 'Cultivation Assistant' software could truly help with was the Golden Core realm.

Therefore, when the first Tier 5 user appeared, Shi felt both excited and apprehensive.

“Check the location using the backend. Then we'll go to the site and confirm who it is. It might be a hacker who cracked your software's permissions.”

The major investor, the big boss, remained very calm. His words immediately calmed down the other cultivators who had been wondering how to curry favor with the ancestor.