By the time Silkworm Baby finally hit an excellent score of 90 points, three hours had already gone by.
"Gurgle~"
The little fellow felt a great sense of accomplishment.
Su Hao nodded and praised it. "Not bad, you're already very proficient with the Easy level. You can go on to the Normal level soon."
"Gur- gurgle?"
"Aren't you delighted that there's another level of difficulty that you can challenge?"
The crystal ball was equipped with three difficulty levels — Easy, Normal, and Hard.
Achieving an excellent score of 90 points at the Hard level would indicate that a sprite's level of spiritual force control had reached a very outstanding point.
Even Coach Xiong's Little Wind Horse hadn't achieved a score of 90 points at the Hard level yet.
A path blueprint like that wasn't easy to set up. It involved a scientific understanding of how spiritual force functioned.
However…
The knowledge imparted by Spiritual Force-Enhancement Cultivation had given Su Hao several even more complex spiritual force path blueprints, so he was able to set up paths in the crystal ball himself.
Even Nightmare level and Hell level paths wouldn't be a problem to set up for Su Hao.
He was truly putting himself through so much for the sake of Silkworm Baby.
Silkworm Baby widened its eyes and looked at him.
Then, it lowered its head and looked at the crystal ball.
It had already been switched to Normal level.
The length of the path was twice that of the original, and also had an additional five turning corners. The level of complexity had also risen multiple times.
It laid limp on the ground powerlessly. It was already a dead worm.
Su Hao put the crystal ball away.
Life returned to Silkworm Baby's eyes.
Su Hao said, "We can train with the spiritual force crystal ball again tomorrow. I've prepared another surprise for you today."
A surprise?
Silkworm Baby cowered a little.
Su Hao took out some other things that he had just bought.
"This is the Heaven Breath Wood. This is the Heavenly Mountain Spring Water. This is the Wolfberry Root…"
A variety of ingredients were taken out and placed on the floor. Su Hao lugged out a large pot at the end.
Silkworm Baby, "???"
It suddenly had a bad feeling about this.
It wriggled and wriggled, trying to secretly sneak away by the side of the door.
Grabbing it in one motion, Su Hao picked it up and dangled it upside down.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"This is a path you must take in order to become stronger. It's only through pain and agony that you can… pssh, no, no, it won't hurt, be good."
Silkworm Baby struggled, yet it didn't dare to be too forceful.
It dangled left and right while hanging upside down.
In the end, it was placed into the pot nevertheless. Water was added, the heat turned up, and the ingredients added.
The aroma of medicinal herbs gradually wafted out.
A Silkworm Baby swam to and fro in the large pot. Opening its mouth, it swallowed a few wolfberries. They were actually pretty delicious.
Su Hao flicked his fingers at it. "Don't eat them."
"Gurgle, gurgle~~"
Silkworm Baby felt wholly miserable.
Couldn't it even have a full meal before being cooked?
The water in the pot was only heated up to 45 degrees Celsius. Any higher, and Silkworm Baby would start to feel extreme discomfort.
All the medicinal herbs inside were supplements.
Among them, the most expensive was the Heaven Breath Wood, a wooden material which Su Hao had completely never heard of prior to this.
It was surprising that Green Shade Supermarket actually had stock of it for sale. It absolutely deserved praise for that.
It would be even better if it could be slightly cheaper.
The true key of the external stimulation method was in the acupuncture.
By sticking needles into the appropriate spots, it stimulated the circulation of a sprite's spiritual force and constantly struck at the limits of the 'bucket' to expand it.
At the same time, the sprite would absorb the medicinal effects, thereby achieving the objective of a gentle modification.
This technique could even be used on a sprite's daily recovery.
However, the precondition was that the user needed a high level of proficiency in his skill.
Su Hao took out the needles and pinched them. He wasn't very used to doing this.
Information was directly transmitted into his mind. His theoretical knowledge was extremely rich—he knew things, such as where he should pierce the needles into and how deep the needles should go, like the back of his hand.
But in terms of practical skill… He didn't have any.
Grasping the needle, Su Hao slowly approached.
Sunlight streamed through the windows. The tip of the needle gleamed in the light.
In the pot, the temperature of the water was just right. Overly comfortable, the oblivious Silkworm Baby had already fallen asleep.
The tip of the needle gradually drew nearer and nearer, and stabbed into its body in a certain spot.
In that instant…
"Gurgle…"
"Gurgle, gurgle!!!"
Silkworm Baby's tragic screams echoed throughout the entire residential complex.
...
Half an hour later, with a dry and parched throat after much explaining, Su Hao finally saw the middle-aged lady from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Sprites out the door.
He wiped the perspiration off his forehead.
Who exactly was it that reported him for abusing his sprite! He, Su Hao, would remember this!
"It's a good thing that Dad and Mom are at work and not at home. I'd better not do all these at home the next time."
"Gurgle?"
Next time?
Silkworm Baby, with its lifeless eyes, laid on the floor with tears of humiliation streaming down its cheeks.
"Cough…" Su Hao also felt rather embarrassed. "See, didn't it hurt a bit less towards the end? This shows that you've gotten u… pssh, it shows that my skill has improved."
"You'll get used to it after a few more times."
"Gurgle!"
Silkworm Baby was mad. If it weren't for the fact that it had indeed sensed an improvement, it definitely wouldn't take a second round of it.
But for now… It did feel a little good.
…
After carrying the weak and drained Silkworm Baby back to its little nest and tucking it in, Su Hao wiped the sweat off his forehead as well. This was exhausting.
His bedroom was also rather dirty from the whole thing. He needed to clean everything up before his parents came home.
As he still needed to use the large pot several more times, Su Hao pushed it under his bed after washing it clean.
"External stimulus like this needs to be done approximately once a week… I should go to the school next time… No, I might as well go to Lake East Hill."
Carrying a large pot wasn't an issue. Thanks to the constant training since the start of school, Su Hao had gotten a lot stronger.
It was just the medicinal herbs…
"A round of medicinal bath alone costs about 1,000 yuan. The higher the limit to be broken, the more expensive the herbs needed would be…"
Su Hao's conclusion consisted of two words—"I'm broke".
He could only search on the Internet for ways to earn some money.
There was a huge variety of search results.
However, nine out of ten were scams, and the last one was something out of his capability.
After thinking about it, he added a few more keywords—Sprite Trainer Intern.
The search results became a lot more reliable.
"A Sprite Trainer intern, especially one who contracted a Wood-element sprite, actually really doesn't lack ways of earning money."
Su Hao saw a lot of hiring listings for short-term jobs.
They needed Wood-Element Sprites to boost the growth of crops, assist in seed-planting, help in taking care of plants, etc…
The pay was around 300 to 500 yuan a day.
"Doing the actual calculations, I can even get more than 10,000 yuan a month!
"But all of these are just short-term jobs. The employer may only be hiring for two to three days. It'll be very difficult to really earn more than 10,000 yuan a month. Besides…
"Where am I going to find the time! Wasting precious training time on earning paltry sums of money is too short-sighted!
"When Silkworm Baby reaches entry-level, and I've become an official Sprite Trainer, even just being somewhere in name can get me a good amount of money. And there's even the Union's remuneration."
The most lucrative jobs in this world were occupations related to sprites.
The most money-burning ones were also occupations related to sprites.
High-level jade powder, nutritional supplements, energy fruits, elixirs, elemental essence, etc… The exorbitant prices of these items were something that Su Hao found difficult to imagine before he had gotten an understanding of it.
"But other than Sprite Trainers, occupations related to sprites also include Sprite Cultivators, Sprite Doctors, Sprite Researchers, etc.
"Compared to an official Sprite Trainer, a Sprite Cultivator doesn't have absolute requirements such as needing an entry-level sprite."
A Sprite Cultivator specialized in the grooming and nurturing of sprites.
The mainstream method of nurturing sprites now was precisely a conclusive result of the effort of generations of Sprite Cultivators.
Children of wealthy families would look for Sprite Cultivators to customize a cultivation plan that was the most suitable for their sprites. Many Sprite Trainers would also approach Sprite Trainers to draw up the best evolution plan when their sprites were nearing evolution so that the sprites' potential could be fully maximized.
Su Hao made another conclusion—Sprite Cultivators were rich.