The bright moon drifted high in the night sky, and absolute quietness hung over the manor.
The post-rain air, soothing and pleasant, could comfort the deepest aches of one's heart.
Through the carved wooden window, Lu Fan could be seen sitting on the bed inside the room. The canopy of the bed was down, obscuring his form.
His eyes were sparkling with excitement.
Lu Fan pulled up the Stats System Page.
Having successfully saved Nie Changqing, he completed Side Quest 3 with a Quest Rating of A, which earned him 5 Available Points.
With the five Available Points, Lu Fan could now enter Refined Qi Level 2.
Lu Fan had been anticipating this rise in level, and his expectations were rather high.
At Refined Qi Level 1, the more wisps of Spirit Qi Lu Fan had used, the fewer he had left. He couldn't renew it. The only way to get more Spirit Qi was to exchange his Soul Strength for it.
His Qi Core was unable to recover Spirit Qi.
Take Ning Zhao as an example; although she was only at Second Stage Qi Core Realm, she could use her Qi Core to recover the Spirit Qi that she used in battle. This was quite different from Lu Fan's situation.
"System, please add 4.5 Available Points to Soul Strength, and add the remaining half a point to Physique Strength," Lu Fan instructed silently.
Soon, the numbers on the Stats Page had changed.
His Soul Strength was 6 points now.
His Physique Strength wasn't that pathetic anymore. Now it had one point, which meant that he was finally as strong as a regular person.
"Please turn four points into Spirit Qi," Lu Fan said.
Instantly, an unseen wind stirred through the room.
Paintings hanging on the wall started to shake. Brushes on the brush rack also jumped back and forth.
Wisps of light blue swirled around Lu Fan.
[Great oaks grow from little acorns. Congratulations on entering Refined Qi Level 2. Your stock of Spirit Qi is now 100 wisps. Reward Earned: Spirit Pressure Chessboard and 10 Random Spirit Weed seeds.'
[The Host has entered Refined Qi Level 2, earning self-recover ability (Spirit Qi, Soul Strength, and Physique Strength).]
System messages popped up in a continuous stream.
Lu Fan's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
The System Page in front of his eyes also changed.
[Host: Lu Fan]
[Title: Qi Refiner]
[Refined Qi Level: 2 (progress towards Refined Qi Level 3: 100/1000 wisps)]
[Soul Strength: 13 (exchangeable: 2)]
[Physique Strength: 1 (exchangeable: 1)]
[Spirit Qi: 90 wisps]
[Transformation Reward: Fantasy Creation Qi Refining Manual]
[World Ranking: Wuhuang Continent (Low-Level Martial World)]
[Access: (Quest) (Dao Impartment Platform) (Spirit Qi Deployment)]
[Sub-access: (All Method Furnace [LV1])]
This was the first time he had leveled up.
In general, not much had changed. But the change that Lu Fan did notice proved his previous assumption.
As expected, once he entered Refined Qi Level 2, he had earned the recovery ability, which would allow him to recover Spirit Qi, Soul Strength, and Physique Strength.
Yet this recovery ability of Spirit Qi seemed to be a little weak. After all, he was still at a lower Refined Qi Level. As to how exactly weak his ability was, he hadn't tried it out yet.
No matter how slow the process of recovery was, however, Lu Fan would still accept it.
After all, with this ability, he no longer had to worry about using up his Spirit Qi and losing control over it.
Of course, Lu Fan's Soul Strength had recovered immediately, but he was still a little disappointed after he checked on the results.
Although he could recover it, the points of Soul Strength that he had already exchanged for Spirit Qi couldn't be reused. Lu Fan thought that was a shame.
Lu Fan opened his eyes.
The flows of Spirit Qi around him gradually settled.
At that moment, his consciousness was incredibly bright. He felt like a new person whose soul had been completely purified.
He hadn't quite experienced the sort of purge of meridians that fantasy novels often described. After that kind of process, the character in the novels often would be covered with some stinky dark stuff.
Still, Lu Fan did feel a sense of transformation.
This time, his Soul Strength wasn't the only thing that had improved; his Physique Strength had also grown.
Lu Fan still wouldn't stand a chance in a hand-to-hand fight with a Grandmaster like Ning Zhao. Maybe not even with a Second Tier practitioner like Yi Yue.
But, he had a chance if he faced someone like Ni Yu, right?
Well, it would at least be a head-to-head match.
Earning self-recovery ability wasn't all he'd received.
The level-up reward that surprised and thrilled Lu Fan the most was the Spirit Pressure Chessboard.
Curious, Lu Fan focused his consciousness.
Reality shook around him with a sonic boom as loud as thunder. The next thing he knew, an incredibly profound power started stirring up in front of him.
A void was torn open in Lu Fan's room, hanging in mid-air. A simple antique chessboard flew out of the opening and drifted over to float before him.
The opening of the void resealed, knitting reality back together. The chessboard stopped glowing and fell onto his bed. It became a plain, primitive-looking chessboard. Nothing special.
In addition to the chessboard, two boxes of chess pieces had appeared on his bed. One box had black pieces, and the other had white ones.
[Spirit Pressure Chessboard: Heaven Level Low-Grade Spirit Tool (able to level up). Every chess piece played costs one point of Soul Strength. Black pieces release targeted Spirit Pressure on enemies, adding five times the Spirit Pressure; white pieces can recover half of the target's original Spirit Qi.]
The system's explanation of the Spirit Pressure Chessboard left Lu Fan speechless for quite some time.
Lu Fan was no stranger to Spirit Pressure.
The Spirit Pressure he released using 50 wisps of Spirit Qi pinned Han Lianxiao, a Fifth Resonance Grandmaster, to the ground. It had rendered the man almost unable to move.
If fives times that much pressure had been used, Han Lianxiao would have crushed. Even if he didn't die right away, he would have suffered so much that he would have doubted the importance of surviving.
Plus, Lu Fan now had 100 wisps of Spirit Qi to use with his multiplier ability. He was confident that Han Lianxiao wouldn't have lasted for longer than a second under that much force.
"Spirit Tool, a precious item that can be used to transfer Spirit Qi…" Lu Fan murmured as he gently stroked the chessboard.
Originally, Lu Fan hadn't been very confident about using Spirit Pressure.
But with the Spirit Pressure Chessboard, his ability would become more powerful and unpredictable.
Lu Fan glanced at the wheelchair next to his bed. He thought it over and decided to have the mechanic make some changes the next day. He wanted a hidden slot inside each of the armrests to store his boxes of chess pieces.
As to the chessboard, Ni Yu could simply carry it for him.
From then on, the chessboard would be Lu Fan's weapon.
It was no doubt a unique and outstanding weapon, and it fit perfectly with his gentle and well-educated manner.
In addition to the Spirit Pressure Chessboard, he had been rewarded ten "Random Spirit Weed seeds," which, as the name suggested, meant weeds that could produce Spirit Qi.
He figured that the process would probably be similar to the way most plants produced oxygen using photosynthesis.
Lu Fan found it very intriguing.
Even though he could increase the Spirit Qi intensity in an area through Spirit Qi Deployment, the Spirit Qi created this way tended to be too dull and lacked smoothness.
Yet with the gentle and smooth Spirit Qi produced by the spirit weed to balance it out, the Spirit Qi would be more suitable for cultivation.
In a word, the existence of these seeds was of epochal significance.
Lu Fan took a look at the seed on his palm, which was still wrapped in its husk. It was a dark brown seed that the system had called Heaven Facing Spiritual Chrysanthemum.
Lu Fa raised one corner of his mouth slightly and put the seed of Heaven Facing Spiritual Chrysanthemum away.
He was more than happy.
The moonlight was bright and smooth like water, sifting through the carved wooden window and shining down on Lu Fan. He yawned and stretched.
...
The day after.
Lu Fan woke up, and the noise he made signaled Ning Zhao and the others who were waiting outside. They pushed the door open at Lu Fan's approval and entered the room.
Yi Yue was carrying a plate holding light porridge and side dishes.
Ni Yu, with her sleeves rolled up, was carrying a basin full of boiled water. Her little face was flushed red from the steam.
Ning Zhao strode up to him and started helping Lu Fan get dressed and freshen up with her smooth and delicate hands.
Lu Fan squinted his eyes. A beautiful day started with a luxurious morning.
"Young Master, this morning, the Master headed out to take the captured Grandmasters to the capital city. He told me to bring you this copy of the Transfusion Technique manual," Ning Zhao said. She then took out a piece of white silk.
The piece of silk was filled with delicate, beautiful handwriting.
Lu Changkong was a tall and robust Grandmaster, a powerful warrior in his own right, but his handwriting was as delicate and graceful as some young lady's. Definitely unexpected.
Lu Fan took a bite of the light porridge and raised his eyebrows.
He took the piece of white silk from Ning Zhao.