The Programmer Cultivator

But even so, the Enhancement Skill still needed a massive amount of Qi Fortune, making Zhang Deming sigh. He had no idea what effect it would have after it was upgraded. Aside from the Enhancement Skill, his promotion had also slightly improved the Spirit Nurturing Summoning Skill in his Rune Core.

In fact, this method of improvement was the primary way ordinary Cultivators enhanced their Techniques.

After a moment of thought, Zhang Deming turned his attention to his inventory.

Merit: 5.02, Qi Fortune: 24.4, Karma: 1.0.

He had inexplicably gained a great deal of Merit recently, which made Zhang Deming very happy.

Since he had enough Merit, Zhang Deming opened a new plugin slot without hesitation.

”Do you wish to consume Golden Merit to add a script plugin slot?”

”Yes!”

As Zhang Deming confirmed, another plugin slot appeared in the Cultivation Technique Script.

Without delay, he mentally grabbed the Rune Ball for the Feather Fall Technique and slotted it in.

”Aside from the Cultivation Technique in the core slot, other plugins cannot be removed once installed. Please confirm.”

”Yes!”

Zhang Deming confirmed his choice again.

The Feather Fall Technique was slotted directly onto the ring. At the same time, Zhang Deming received some information about it—well, the Technique was no longer called Feather Fall Technique.

The Rune Ball, which had fused the Agility Technique, Swift Technique, and Feather Fall Technique, had now become: Flying Technique (Fragment).

After examining it for a moment, Zhang Deming spent another point of Merit to open a new plugin slot.

He then grabbed the light ball for Spiritual Shield and slotted it in as well.

Zhang Deming spent three light balls of Merit in a row to open new slots, installing Feather Fall Technique, Spiritual Shield, and Reconnaissance: Spiritual Eye.

Looking at the two golden Merit light balls he had left, Zhang Deming hesitated.

After checking the script’s information, Zhang Deming spent another Merit light ball to modify and improve the script.

When he was finished, only one Merit light ball was left in reserve. Zhang Deming then turned his attention to his Qi Fortune.

”Do you wish to spend ten points of Qi Fortune to upgrade Oratory Word Spirit?”

”Yes!”

Following his confirmation, the Runes on the Oratory light ball began to slowly grow more complex.

The upgrade was complete in moments.

...

Skill: Oratory Word Spirit Lv3 (0/50)

...

Zhang Deming felt the change in the Technique and checked his resources. Qi Fortune: 14.4.

”Do you wish to spend ten points of Qi Fortune to upgrade Hidden Breath Technique?”

”Yes!”

He spent another ten points of Qi Fortune to upgrade the Hidden Breath Technique.

Once everything settled, Zhang Deming looked at his script, which had changed significantly.

Cultivation Technique: Turtle Water Array Skill (Tier Five)

Cultivation: Tai Chi Lv2 (0/600,000)

Rune Core: Spirit Nurturing Summoning Skill Lv3 (5/50)

Branch Rune: Enhancement Skill Lv3 (50/500)

Skills: Jade Demon Blood-Sucking Vine Lv3 (0/50), Oratory Word Spirit Lv3 (0/50), Hidden Breath Technique Lv3 (0/50), Flying Technique Fragment Lv3 (0/50), Spiritual Shield Lv3 (0/50), Reconnaissance·Spiritual Eye Lv2 (0/10)

Spiritual Power Recovery: 100 Spiritual Power / 3 minutes

Experience Growth: 10 Experience / 3 minutes

Looking at his Technique panel alone, Zhang Deming’s setup was now quite impressive. It was even more comprehensive and powerful than that of many Duality Cultivators.

He closed the script panel and looked at the resources in his inventory.

Merit: 1.02, Qi Fortune: 4.4, Karma: 1.0.

’Resources... there’s never enough. It feels like it takes forever to save them up, but they’re gone in an instant.’

He was especially wary of the Karma; he didn’t even dare to test its effects.

Because...

’Right now, I have no backup, and I haven’t figured out where it came from. I can’t just use my one and only point to run a test, can I?’

He wasn’t that reckless. It was better to just keep saving it.

According to the script, his next breakthrough required 600,000 Experience Points. He currently had two and a half Spirit Crystals remaining. Since they allowed him to recover Spiritual Power faster than his normal limit of 100 points every three minutes, he had to save one as a recovery item for combat.

That meant he could only use one and a half, which would grant him about 160,000 Experience Points. With his Cave Mansion currently idling, he was gaining 2,500 Experience Points per day.

To get the remaining 400,000-plus Experience Points, it would take around 160 to 170 days for him to advance again.

If he didn’t use the Spirit Crystals, it would take about 250 days. If he also consumed some Spirit Stones along the way, he could advance again to Tai Chi Three Lives in just under half a year at most.

A smile crept onto Zhang Deming’s lips as he reviewed his Cultivation progress.

’Cultivators with Celestial or Immortal Spirit Roots are probably not much better than this!’

’As long as the external conditions and the Cultivation Technique are good enough, a mere 21-point Spirit Root is no issue at all with the script’s auto-idling!’

After all, as long as he lazed around in his Cave Mansion, he was essentially in a state of permanent closed-door seclusion combined with peak-efficiency cultivation.

Those two points alone were something no one else could compare to!

Zhang Deming composed himself, packed his things, and went to the room next to his Cultivation Room.

As a Three-Star Cave Mansion, it was already equipped with a fully functional Magic Cultivation Room.

Therefore, Zhang Deming entered the Magic Cultivation Room next door and began to experiment with his newly upgraded Techniques.

He paid special attention to the Oratory technique, which offered the most freedom. He needed to practice it until he could avoid situations in combat where it backfired and hurt him instead of the enemy.

He spent the better part of the day testing his skills.

...

「The next morning.」

After waking up and finishing his exercises, Zhang Deming didn’t continue idling to absorb more knowledge.

The task involving the Flower Demon Elf had been assigned several days ago, but since he had been on the verge of a breakthrough, Zhang Deming had spent the whole time idling and reviewing information.

Now that he had broken through, he didn’t need to push his idle cultivation to the limit for the time being. Although he still had a year, he needed to go check it out.

He had to see just how difficult this Flower Demon Elf’s Spirit Awakening would be.

After all, he had been a Spirit Nurturing Master for over a year, and if you didn’t count the Dragon Turtle incident, he had never once done his actual job of nurturing spiritual ’babies.’ Instead, he had sold them all off to people like they were damn Skill Books.