38 Upgrade completed

"What did you just call me?" Elder Mark froze in his steps, and Jack's jaw dropped in shock.

"I said you can't go in there and disturb Ghost. He strictly ordered me not to let anyone inside," Gaya reiterated, her voice firm. She feared that if Ghost's breakthrough was interrupted, he might refuse to give her any more pills, so she stood before Elder Mark like a stone pillar, resolute in her determination to protect Ghost's cultivation.

"How am I going to hold this old man back?" She thought to herself, feeling the weight of the situation. If she had her cultivation, she could have easily sent Elder Mark flying with a single spell. However, she was currently crippled, and the little Arch energy in her body was thanks to the pills Ghost had given her.

Jack clenched his fist and roared at her, "How dare you disrespect my teacher?!"

Gaya lowered the volume of her tone and explained to Elder Mark, "Look, he's deep in cultivation and has already started to break through. If you stop him now, it might break his meridians and cripple him. You know that, right?"

Elder Mark sighed, realizing she was right. He decided not to pursue the matter of her calling him an old fart, choosing not to lower himself to argue with a mortal girl, given his status as an Elder.

"What's your name, girl? And how do you know Ghost?" Since he couldn't stop Ghost's cultivation, Elder Mark shifted his focus to the confident girl before him, hoping to learn more about Ghost through her.

"Pri..." She almost forgot her place and started to introduce herself as a princess, but she quickly swallowed those words and cleared her throat.

"I'm called Aelia. I assist Ghost in his cultivation by locating ruins and unexplored places," she explained. Her words caused Elder Mark to raise an eyebrow slightly, but then he recalled Ghost's earlier claim of exploring ruins and places, and her role seemed to make sense.

"When did you arrive here? I didn't see you at the competition," Elder Mark inquired.

"I was in Rivertown, preparing our belongings for the move here. Speaking of Rivertown, Ghost wanted Jack's assistance with something," she continued, shifting her gaze from Elder Mark to Jack. Elder Mark frowned and asked, "What is it?"

"He asked Jack to go to Rivertown and bring Raylene Agner here."

"Who is Raylene Agner?"

"She's one of the survivors we rescued from Rosewood Village."

*************************

(After two days)

[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for leveling up. Your current stage is Body Refining stage Level 2.]

[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for leveling up. Your current stage is Body Refining stage Level 3.]

[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for leveling up. Your current stage is Body Refining stage Level 4.]

[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for leveling up. Your current stage is Body Refining stage Level 5.]

Slowly, the interface appeared before Michael as the darkness that surrounded him since he started to upgrade faded away.

"Finally."

He heaved a sigh of relief looking at the interface as he ordered the system to bring up his status window.

Host: Michael.

Cultivation Level: Body Refining stage, level 5.

Experience Points: 0/300000

Badass Points: 15000.

Skills & Spells:

Wind Blast - LVL 2.

Responsive Shield - LVL 2.

Environment Scanning - LVL 1.

Ignitia - LVL 1.

Lightning Dash - LVL 1.

Energy Devouver - LVL 1.

Occupation: Disciple of Sunrise sect.

Status: Healthy.

Goals: Be the strongest Predator in the world.

Subordinates: Gaya (loyalty level 18%).

[DIng! Host 'Michael' has received a lucky draw. Does the Host wish to access the lucky draw?]

While he examined the refined status window, another notification tab in bright blue appeared before him.

"Lucky draw? What's that?"

[Every time the System goes offline for a while, it offers one Lucky draw as compensation for its absence!]

"Cool, I like free stuff. Open it."

As he said that, the bright blue tab transformed into a golden box, which then exploded with sparks, revealing three cards wrapped in red ribbons.

[The host can choose one item for free. 200,000 badass points will be charged for each additional card!]

"Holy shit! 200,000? Are you kidding me?!"

[No.]

"It was a rhetorical question, you bastard."

The number infuriated him, but he soon calmed down and inspected the first card. The red ribbon on the first card unwrapped itself, revealing a beating heart with descriptions about the card.

Spell name: Seducer.

Effect: Makes the target instantly fall in love with the host.

Upgradable: Yes.

Current Level: Can affect anyone under the Core Formation stage.

"Seriously?! I don't need this. Is the system playing games with me?!"

He was annoyed by the spell and would have expressed his frustration physically if the system had a tangible form.

[The spell could be useful if the host wishes to assemble a group of devoted companions!]

"Harem?! That's just a glorified word for cheating, and no, I don't want to go around collecting beauties. In every novel I've read, a harem only brings more troubles for the protagonist to deal with. So, no, I'm not building a harem."

Pushing the card away from his view, he opened the second one, hoping for something better than the previous one.

[100,000 Experience points.]

The second card lacked the fancy effects of beating hearts or sparkling pink letters like the previous card. It was simple, with the number one hundred thousand written on it.

"Hmm, tempting, certainly better than the Seducer. Let me see the last one."

The red ribbon wrapping the third and final card unwrapped itself as the card's description appeared.

Function name: Banker.

Function: Enables the System to convert gold coins into Badass Points.

Upgradable: Yes.

Current Level: Conversion Rate between Gold coins and Badass points = 1000:1.

He blinked in disbelief, his eyes widening as he looked at the card. Then, after a few seconds, his lips curved into an upward arc.

"This is it! The one I've been waiting for. With this, I can earn badass points more easily."

His joy at seeing the card made him ignore the outrageous conversion rate, and he knew that the system wouldn't change the rate just because he was complaining about it.

"System, I choose this one."

[Ding, The host has successfully acquired the level 1 Banker.]

"Awesome, System, how much to upgrade this function to the next level?"

[10,000 Badass points!]

"And the conversion rate will be?"

[1000:5]

"You're worse than those pawnshops, System, you know that, right?"

Even though he was aware of the System's habit of taking his badass points faster than it gave them to him, he couldn't help but curse the system when he saw the conversion rate for the Level 2 Banker, which would cost him 10,000 badass points to upgrade from Level 1.

"Put a lid on the upgrades; first, I should find a source of income. To do that, I might need badass points."

He closed the Lucky draw window and took a final glance at his status window.