One week later
Silas stood up from his bed, his body radiating aether as he tried to contain it within himself.
"Finally broke through to the Expert rank," he muttered through his breath, seeing the black liquid oozing from his body after he successfully cleansed all his meridians with aether.
He washed up in the bathroom and sat down on the bed again.
"This cultivation manual is truly heaven-defying."
Reaching Expert rank in a week, despite his long spar with Amelia every morning, was simply too fast.
"I wonder how fast those with Divine rank talent are."
Although the cultivation resources Max had bought increased his speed too, the manual had a huge role to play in his advancement.
But he sighed as he thought of its limitation. It could at most take him to the Expert rank due to his limited knowledge.
"Well, I can upload the manual to the World Server for a few merits."
"Rion, upload this manual to the Virtual Library," he said as he began to input all the information from the manual into his assistant.
Soon, he input everything, and a beep came from Rion.
[Public or Private Knowledge?]
The screen flashed in his face.
"Private," Silas replied.
[The World Server has assessed the value of the manual and has priced it at 10 credits.]
[You earn 70% of your monthly earnings.]
[You have gained 30 merits.]
The system flashed several messages in his sight.
Silas just smiled. "To think that a manual that can only work up to the Expert rank is priced so high."
Just then, as he continued with his thoughts, a knock rang on his door.
"Silas, dinner is ready," Amelia's voice rang from the door.
"I am coming," Silas replied, standing up from the bed as he headed outside.
Not like he had anything else he was doing previously, and moreover, he was famished.
As he stepped outside, Amelia looked surprised.
"Wait, did you advance to the Expert rank?" she asked, her eyes filled with confusion.
Silas just smiled. "You don't have to be stunned by my ability," he said, tapping Amelia's shoulders calmly. "You will get there someday."
As he said this, he moved backward to avoid Amelia's punch.
"Huh? You now have the boldness to dodge my punch?" she asked, her eyes dropping low. "What about the promise of never dodging my punch no matter how strong you got? Just one stage above me and you have broken the promise."
She burst into fake tears, her palm covering her face.
Seeing this, Silas could not help but sigh. Even though he knew she was only being petty with the tears, he still had to beg her.
Walking closer, he raised his hand to pat her head, but it was a mistake—Amelia's hand smacked his stomach.
She stuck her tongue out as she ran away.
Silas held his stomach from pain. "That cunning fox."
He recovered quickly and went to eat dinner with Max, Alfred, and Amelia.
As he reached the table and sat, both Alfred's and Max's eyes turned ashen. "Did you advance to the Expert Rank?" they asked in unison.
Silas nodded casually as he dug into his own plate. Having stayed with both of them for a week, he had become somewhat casual with them.
"I know, but isn't it too fast?" Alfred asked, dropping his spoon in shock.
"I remember it took me over six months to reach the Expert rank," Max added from the side.
"It is probably one of the effects of having an SSS-TIER talent," Silas said calmly.
Max wanted to disagree, but he had never seen anyone with a talent above C-tier, which was him.
"What is the average speed of breakthrough to the Expert rank for SSS-TIER talent?" he asked his assistant.
After a few seconds, a screen was displayed in his face.
Enabling the assistant so others could see its window, everyone saw it clearly.
[Two weeks. (This is based on pure absorption, but high-ranking cultivation manuals can increase the speed by up to 70%)]
Seeing this, everyone turned to look at Silas again.
"As far as I know, no such cultivation manual is available for free on the Virtual Server, and I haven't given any to you," Max said, furrowing his brows.
But seeing as Silas had no interest in answering them, they simply stopped pestering and continued with their food.
As they finished eating, Amelia and Silas walked back to their rooms, while Alfred walked to the office as usual, with a dejected look like someone being forced into it.
Max, on the other hand, called the chefs in again for another meal to be prepared.
All of them just looked at him, shaking their heads before heading to their destinations.
On the way, Amelia suddenly spoke. "Silas, I won't be able to spar with you for the next few days."
Silas only nodded in understanding.
They reached their rooms without any other words, said their goodbyes, and entered each other's rooms.
"Time to focus on upgrading my citizen rank," Silas said as he jumped onto his bed.
From cultivation power to research, everything that contributed to the human empire could grant merits based on significance.
"Rion, how many merits do I need to advance to rank 2 citizen?" he asked.
[A total of 100 merits are required to advance to rank 2, and you have earned a total of 45. You need 55 merits to advance.]
"That's easy. I hope with the new book I am deducing, I can earn enough."
He peeked into his mind at the new book on the altar: [Simple Rifle Creation]
It was something he thought of after extensive thinking about what could elevate him faster.
The answer was simple: a weapon that could easily be powered by anyone with aether.
Although there were countless types of this same weapon, this one was special because of its low aether cost and easy production method.
"Rion, connect me to the Virtual Server."