A rich spiritual energy wafted towards Lin Mo, who closed his eyes and took a deep breath:
"The spiritual energy is 2 points higher than usual, and it smells so much better!"
After one breath, Lin Mo felt his mind, weary from staying up late, become much more alert.
His gaze swept across the spiritual cultivation room. Apart from a soft cushion that had been sat on so much the cotton had hardened, there was nothing else in this cultivation room.
Nevertheless, competing for a cultivation room was still the most important required course for Nanshan students, without exception.
Nanshan No. 4 Middle School, as a key provincial school, could rank in the top five of the entire Xichuan Province because it was built on a medium-sized level 1 green-grade spiritual vein.
On this spiritual vein, three hundred cultivation rooms of various sizes were opened, divided into upper, middle, and lower grades.
Even the lower-grade cultivation rooms could provide at least a 10% boost in spiritual energy.
Of course, most students could only enjoy the lower-grade cultivation rooms.
Only a small portion of the students favored by the school for their cultivation potential could enjoy the middle-grade cultivation rooms.
As for the few upper-grade cultivation rooms, those were for the school teachers to use.
Relying on this level 1 green-grade spiritual vein, Nanshan No. 4 Middle School had not only recruited many excellent teachers but also provided for the daily cultivation needs of the students.
Within the province, it was basically a key cultivation high school that most students would fight tooth and nail to enter.
Lin Mo sat cross-legged on the cushion but didn't immediately enter a meditative state. Instead, he looked at the time on the system panel, silently counting down:
3, 2, 1—
[Ding! Daily cultivation task has been refreshed. Do you want to accept the task (white): Meditate for one hour?]
[Reward: +1 Breathing Cycle]
Sure enough, it's still the useless white...
Lin Mo expressionlessly chuckled.
The daily cultivation task would refresh promptly at 8 o'clock every day, providing corresponding rewards based on quality.
However, most people's daily tasks were white, with occasional green tasks.
As for higher quality tasks, it depended on luck.
Lin Mo occasionally got one or two green tasks a month, but in his six years since entering the Qi Condensation stage, he had only gotten one blue quality daily task.
Before the merit wooden fish added experience, that was the most unforgettable experience for him.
That task rewarded him with a bottle of level 1 Qi Condensation Powder, which gave him a surge of 10 experience points when consumed.
Unfortunately, it only happened once.
This wasn't because his luck was too bad, but because most Qi Condensation stage students were in the same situation.
For example, Zhang Dahai had never gotten a blue task so far, and half of the classmates were the same as him.
Only Ye Chen, who had obtained the title of [Child of Fortune], had a higher probability of getting high-quality tasks than others.
This was also why he could catch up in a short time, reversing from the bottom of the class to the top five in the whole school.
"It's a pity that merit value isn't luck, otherwise I could reach late Qi Condensation stage just by taking pills every day!"
Lin Mo shook his head, shaking off the extra thoughts in his mind. After clicking to accept the task, he skillfully entered a meditative state, and the Qi Condensation technique in his body began to slowly operate:
[Ding! Starting meditation...]
Following a system prompt floating on the interface, there was a long series of ellipses, ellipses...
Still ellipses.
About an hour later, numbers finally appeared after countless ellipses—
[One breathing cycle, experience +0.02...]
[Daily task completed, reward: One breathing cycle, experience +0.02]
"???"
Seeing the unchanged numbers from usual, several question marks popped up in Lin Mo's mind:
"Wasn't I already at Qi Condensation 3rd layer? Why hasn't the experience growth rate changed at all?"
"Oh, the aptitude hasn't changed, never mind then..."
In fact, Lin Mo was already used to this situation.
This was the status quo of the Five Elements Mixed Spirit Root. The 108th set of Five Elements Qi Condensation Technique running in his body was like an old ox pulling a cart, moving at an excruciatingly slow pace.
If it were before, he might have been able to endure it.
But now...
[Ding! You invested 100 merit points into the Metal Spirit Root, the Metal Spirit Root has been slightly improved, purity ratio: 22.1% → 23.1%]
Not enough, again!
Lin Mo thought, and once again invested 100 merit points into it.
[Ding! Invested 100 merit points, the Metal Spirit Root has been slightly improved, purity ratio: 23.1% → 24.1%]
Good!
Lin Mo's eyes lit up. Compared to the initial Metal Spirit Root, the purity ratio had now increased by 2.1%.
Now, the cultivation speed should increase significantly, right?
He closed his eyes and immersed himself in meditation again. An hour later:
[One breathing cycle, experience +0.021...]
Wait, is that it?
Lin Mo opened his eyes, a flash of bewilderment and confusion in them:
"Why does it feel like it's not even as good as directly investing merit points into experience?"
But in the long run, investing merit points into the Spirit Root first was actually more cost-effective, and there was still a month before the immortal examination...
"Forget it, slower is slower then. I've already been impulsive once this morning, suffer first then enjoy, suffer first then enjoy..."
Lin Mo muttered to himself, hypnotizing himself.
Gradually, he closed his eyes again and entered a meditative state.
At the same time, the tapping of '1' in his hand didn't stop:
[Merit +1, Merit +1, Merit +1...]
The merit value on the data screen steadily accumulated.
In about an hour, 60 merit points had accumulated.
Converting to his current Spirit Root, that was equivalent to 12 experience points.
If you add 0.021 to that, it equals 12.021 experience points. Isn't that much more impressive when calculated this way?
Never had there been such a wonderful meditation experience!
Feeling the accumulation of merit value, Lin Mo felt both his body and mind were more comfortable.
Three hours later...
[Ding! Your cultivation room time has been exhausted. Please leave the cultivation room promptly.]
The cold prompt interrupted his meditation, and after a series of "beep beep beep" alert sounds, the door of the cultivation room slowly opened.
"Phew!"
Lin Mo let out a long breath, interrupting his meditative state.
Whether it was a psychological factor or not, he felt that this meditation was much smoother than usual.
Although the experience value on the panel hadn't actually changed much.
He was skillfully tapping '1' while preparing to stand up and make way.
"What are you dawdling for? Time is spiritual energy, how much time are you wasting for others?"
A female classmate walked in impatiently, not forgiving him despite his handsome face.
"Go ahead and use it."
Lin Mo continued tapping '1' while standing up to make way.
The girl was about to complain when she suddenly noticed his twitching finger, and her expression immediately became strange. The words that were about to come out of her mouth were swallowed back.
As Lin Mo walked out of the cultivation room expressionlessly, the girl looked at the cushion below her, sniffed the air, and her face turned red.
"Pah! Pervert!"
She cursed quietly at Lin Mo's retreating figure.
However, Lin Mo didn't notice her expression. He turned around and left gracefully, even gentlemanly closing the door.
Turn right, go upstairs.
The fifth to tenth floors were ordinary cultivation rooms without spiritual veins.
Compared to the spiritual energy cultivation rooms on the lower two floors, it was much more relaxed here. There were no long queues in the corridor, and vacant single rooms could be found easily.
Lin Mo casually found a cultivation room, pushed open the door and walked in. As soon as he entered, he saw the familiar decor.
It was no different from the spiritual energy cultivation room, still an empty room with a hard cushion.
The ordinary cultivation room, like the spiritual energy cultivation room, was also equipped with a fresh air system, and the room had soundproofing effects.
It wasn't a sound-isolating formation, but simply a room decorated with sound-insulating materials.
Compared to ancient cultivators, modern cultivators were much more economical in this aspect.
It was said that even the lowest-level sound-isolating formation required a lower-grade spirit stone, and its effect might not be much better than a soundproof room, and it wasn't lasting.
A pseudo spirit stone with impurities would cost at least 100,000 yuan each, and a high-purity lower-grade spirit stone would cost at least 200,000 to 300,000 yuan, enough to outfit many soundproof cultivation rooms.
Thank General Chen for inventing the first soundproof immortal ship!
Lin Mo silently gave him a thumbs up in his heart, then skillfully sat down and started running the technique:
[Ding! Starting meditation...]
[Merit +1, Merit +1, Merit +1...]
An hour later...
[One breathing cycle, experience +0.015...]
Lin Mo: "..."
The moment he saw the "+0.015" number float out, several "???" symbols immediately appeared in his mind, and he couldn't help but ask himself:
"Wait, why am I still meditating?"