Patty saw the notification in the system and was immediately surprised. 500 Yi Power wasn't a small amount. What kind of thing did he do to earn that much?
He navigated through the system screen and accessed the Virtual World. When he saw his territory on the snowy mountain, he didn't see any sign of Achram. It was only then that he remembered that Achram went down the mountain back to his village.
He pinched the screen, zooming out of the mountain. He saw that the majority of the range was still covered in a fog, but there was one path that led down to the foot of the mountain that was devoid of any fog. It must have been the path that Achram took to go back down the mountain.
Knowing this, it was easy to track down where Achram went. He scrolled through the forests until he finally saw the fog stop at a specific place in the woods. He zoomed in again by pinching the screen and he finally saw Achram who was hugging other Thalls.
There were four children in total and one female Thall. Judging by the smiles and hugs around them, it was easy to guess that they were family.
Patty then noticed a bloody spear on the ground. There must have been a struggle around here. Did Achram have to fight off a few wild animals, Patty thought.
However, when he looked around, he saw dead Thalls lying around with holes in their chest. He finally figured out why Achram advanced so much in his cultivation. It turned out that he killed his fellow Thalls! How cold-blooded.
But he didn't hold it against Achram. He knew that this Virtual World was a little bit behind the times, especially since these Thalls looked exactly like Neanderthals of ancient times. There was no justice system in place to judge the crimes of a person.
When Patty looked at Achram's family, he saw burn marks around their wrists. He also saw dried tear marks on their cheeks as well as a little bit of bruising around their bodies. It was clear that they were the victims of something horrible.
Achram arrived just in time. It was a good decision for Patty to invest some Ether in Achram, or else he wouldn't have made it in time and saved his family from ruin. Of course, the Yi Power reward was nice too!
Patty was just about to take his eyes away from the Virtual World when he suddenly saw Achram move and take one high-quality Kore from the ground! His eyes immediately turned green when he saw that.
'Yes! Pick up more of that!' Patty thought.
And when once Achram's family saw that Kore, they also started to pick up more Kores lying around the ground. He couldn't believe that such treasures could just be found anywhere! They were treated as just useless stones in the Virtual World!
How unfortunate for them that they didn't know the real value of that. Fortunately for Patty, this meant that the money would keep rolling in his bank account! That was always welcome.
If Patty wasn't convinced about recruiting more citizens for his kingdom in the Virtual World, then this scene completely made him want to go down there and recruit more people! He was thankful to Achram that he added his family to the search for Kores!
"HAHAHAHA!" Patty couldn't help but laugh. Achram proved to be a very good citizen! He couldn't wait to also give his family some Ether and evolve them. Once he got their loyalty, they would also be willing to get more Kores for him.
Then, they would also try to spread this information to other people in the Virtual World! Then, they would also become citizens of his kingdom and give him all the Kores he wanted! It was the perfect positive feedback system!
"Uh…is something the matter?" Andres looked at Patty weirdly. He suddenly started to laugh out of nowhere, making Andres a little bit worried.
But, he remembered that most successful people were either weirdos or psychopaths. He was just glad that the person he put his loyalty to was a weirdo.
Patty looked at Andres. "Everything's good! Has the Space Ring come yet?"
Andres looked out the window of Patty's house. He still hasn't seen the drone that was supposed to deliver the Space Ring he bought from the internet. According to their app, it would arrive in a hot minute.
"Well, when you deliver the Kores to Leonard, make sure to tell him that there will be more high-quality Kores in stock soon!"
Andres nodded and took note of Patty's instruction. He must have received notification about a new vein of Kores from his supplier. Of course, this wasn't any of Andres' business, so he didn't ask any more questions.
"I understand. I will relay it as you said." Andres said. Then he looked at the carrots in his hand.
These ten carrots looked as normal as other carrots he saw in the grocery store. However, Patty said that these carrots were magical items that, if consumed, would make him stronger. Although he was doubtful, he still believed in Patty. He had shown that his powers broke the rules of reality and the world itself, so who's to say that he was lying?
Andres opened his mouth and took a large bit out of the carrot. He stopped for a moment, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. He continued to bite through the carrot, tearing out a chunk of its body.
The moment that this chunk separated from the carrot, a strange white light seeped out of the chunk that seemed to flow like water. It continued to melt in Andres' mouth and smoothly went down his body, nourishing it like he had never felt before.
Before he knew it, he already munched through the carrot like a hungry rabbit. Even the leaves weren't spared from his bout of hunger. His mind was overwhelmed with this ecstasy brought upon by the strength and pure energy that the carrot gave him.
The liquid energy circulated through his entire body, using his veins as its mode of transportation. It enveloped his bones, his organs, his muscles, his skin, everything was nourished by a small amount. Yet, that small amount made a ton of difference.
"This…have I advanced in my cultivation?"
Even though the Ruobber company was a piece of crap company, it still taught Andres about cultivation. According to his superiors, the first stage of cultivation was the Aspirant Realm, where Dreamers solidify their path to their dreams.
In the Aspirant Realm, you would learn to have the skills necessary to become competent enough to start your journey.
The way to advance through the Aspirant Realm was to improve your skills. That can be done in a lot of ways. The first one was to find other Dreamers and fight them with your Teqx powers.
If two people were aiming to become the best oil painter in the world, then they would fight using their artworks. The one who 'wins' would advance through their cultivation. With Dreamers in the Power Route, then a simple sparring session would also work. With the Money route, it could be as simple as who earned the most money in a limited duration.
The second way was through self-improvement. If you improved your skills naturally by studying, training, and others, then you would automatically improve your cultivation.
Each one of those who succeed in becoming better at their craft would feel their body become stronger, their Teqx powers would improve ever so slightly.
They would feel the same thing that Andres felt right now.
Except, Andres didn't have to fight anyone to feel this. He didn't have to learn new skills. He didn't have to spend hours upon hours practicing his Teqx powers.
The only thing he had to do was eat a single carrot!
How could that be?! Was cultivation really that easy? The reason why those people from the Ruobber company became so bitter and hateful was because they spent years upon years trying to get through the Aspirant Realm, with no success.
However, Andres felt like if he ate 100 carrots like this, then he could improve his Teqx powers and be able to summon two clones at once!
Andres hurriedly munched through the nine other carrots in his hand, and with each carrot, he felt his body getting stronger. He felt the cells in his body become more abundant, having enough cells to make his clone so much stronger.
After eating those ten carrots, he felt 10 times stronger than he was when he was just a mortal! This kind of ecstatic feeling was addicting! He wanted to eat more carrots and improve his cultivation at speeds even rivaling inheritors and geniuses alike!
He couldn't believe that a simple carrot could level the playing field against those inheritors with all the resources of their families with them. How amazing! This would completely revolutionize the world!
If the other students who were treated like slaves in other companies found out about this, then they would riot. They would go to Patty and swear allegiance to him!
"Sir Patty! How can I earn more of this magical carrot?" he asked.
Patty thought about it for a second. "Hmm…if you did well on your delivery job, then I will award you with another Coupon. With it, you can redeem another 10 carrots."