The Programmer Cultivator

Chapter 103: Chapter 98: Complete

’Zhang Wu?’

’Who’s that?’

Feng Mingyou lowered his head. His mind raced, but he didn’t ask. He simply replied respectfully, ”I have taken your words to heart, senior.”

Zhang Deming nodded. ”Alright then. I’m busy here, so I won’t keep you with idle chatter. You may go.”

With that, Zhang Deming waved his hand and shoved Feng Mingyou back through.

The portal collapsed into a speck of light, which then flew back into the boundless clouds and vanished.

Just as Zhang Deming came to and opened his eyes, Feng Mingyou opened his eyes as well.

The moment he opened his eyes, he began to dry heave again.

”Er... the Alliance is great and all, but their transportation method is a real pain in the ass,” Zhang Deming commented, watching Feng Mingyou retch.

It wasn’t as severe for Feng Mingyou this time, perhaps because he was in his physical body, or perhaps because he no longer needed to stall for time.

Seeing him recover, Zhang Deming asked, ”Did you see Elder Huang?”

Feng Mingyou nodded silently. ”I did. I signed the Blood Contract, and then he tossed me right back out.”

Zhang Deming chuckled. ”That’s just how Elder Huang operates—decisive and to the point.

”Besides, at a place like Jieyin Island, if he wasn’t so efficient, he’d probably be completely overwhelmed.”

Feng Mingyou paused for a moment. ”So, what’s the deal with this Alliance?”

Zhang Deming shrugged and threw up his hands. ”Don’t ask me. I’m pretty much in the dark myself.

”Right now, I don’t know much more than you do. All I know is that the organization is divided into four levels: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow.

”Yellow is the initial level, and it’s further divided into five Star Levels.

”Of those, Yellow-Level One-Star is for Junior Members, Two-Star is for captains, Three-Star is for a Steward who manages a single sector, and Four-Star is for a Steward who manages several sectors.

”As for how to get promoted or earn Contribution Points and all that, I have no idea.

”Our area here is a new sector. Not long ago, a Three-Star Steward arrived and began setting things up.

”That Steward’s surname is also Zhang, and his name is Zhang Wu.

”I was recruited into the Alliance a short while ago.

”Because it was a new branch, I seized the opportunity to complete a few missions. As for the rewards... well, I imagine you’ve figured that part out, Steward Feng.

”After all, I’ve managed to learn several Techniques in just the last few months.

”But other than that Steward, Zhang Wu, I don’t know anyone else.”

Feng Mingyou gave a wry smile. ”That’s still better than my situation. I haven’t even met the person in charge.”

Hearing this, Zhang Deming said, ”Steward Zhang was supposed to be the one to recruit you, but something came up and he couldn’t get away.

”Plus, my identity was convenient for the task, so it fell to me.”

”So when will I get to meet this Steward?” Feng Mingyou asked.

Zhang Deming shook his head. ”I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait. The Alliance’s new sector was just formed, so all communication is one-way, from the top down.”

Feng Mingyou fell silent. Seeing this, Zhang Deming asked, ”Now that you’ve learned the Technique, the foundation for your Rune Core is in place.

”So, when do you plan to begin your Foundation Establishment, Steward Feng?”

Feng Mingyou replied, ”I have a little over two hundred Contribution Points. But because of my Talent, the main material I need costs at least one hundred Contribution Points to redeem.

”That means I clearly won’t have enough Contribution Points left to exchange for the other Auxiliary Materials.

”Therefore, I’ll need to spend Spirit Stones to try and find some of them myself. If I can’t, my only options are to head into the mountains to search, or to take on a ton of missions to earn more Contribution Points.

”I estimate I’ll begin the Core Foundation Establishment within half a year at the latest.”

Listening to Feng Mingyou, Zhang Deming felt a similar headache brewing.

His own finances were finally stable, and he had sorted out his core Technique. The next step, of course, was to consider the resources needed for his own advancement.

He had about a year at most before his Experience Points would max out. As for Contribution Points, his current total was barely better than a goose egg. Even with the six-point exchange quota from Spirit Stones, he only had eight points in total.

’This meant he needed to gather several hundred Contribution Points, or the equivalent materials, within a year. What a headache,’ he thought.

’So this is how the Contribution Point system gets you,’ he griped internally. ’It’s so shameless. Even having Spirit Stones isn’t enough.’

’To get resources from the Sect, you first have to create enough value for them. Fucking hell, every last one of them is a ruthless bastard, especially the Resources Department that came up with these rules. Scum, the lot of them.’

Fortunately, he had a main material, the Warm Sun Jade. While it wasn’t a primary material for the Summoning Category, it was still a main material and thus could be exchanged.

Most entry-level materials for the Summoning Category were interchangeable, so the one he needed was only slightly more expensive than his Warm Sun Jade.

But since they were both main materials, an exchange was possible; at most, he would just have to pay the difference.

If he didn’t have this main material, Zhang Deming’s Contribution Point deficit would be even larger.

”I heard the Alliance Steward mention that they’ve set up a shop in Celestial Spirit City now,” Zhang Deming said.

”When I get a chance, I could ask if it’s possible to contact the member running it and see if they can help us think of something.”

Hearing this, Feng Mingyou said, ”There’s already an Alliance shop in Celestial Spirit City? Didn’t you say Zhang Wu just arrived recently?

”It can’t be easy for a new shop like that to build a reputation.”

Zhang Deming shrugged. ”Who knows? It’s worth a shot. Besides, I also need to start preparing my own resources for advancement.”

Feng Mingyou glanced at Zhang Deming. He was already in the late stage of his current realm.

Normally, with Zhang Deming’s Spirit Root and Talent, it should take him at least another ten or twenty years, maybe even longer, to reach the peak stage.

But it was certainly not too early to start preparing the resources for his advancement.

The two chatted for a while longer before Zhang Deming took his leave.

He didn’t head straight back to Qingyou Pool; instead, he went to the street market.

He had been so busy since his return that he’d almost forgotten about his sudden jump in Cultivation being discovered.

Thankfully, he had hardly needed to use his skills in front of anyone since his return, and no one had inspected his cultivation, so few had noticed anything was amiss.