Playing inventor in a cultivation world

Chapter 98: Worthy Investment

Seraph recognized the disciple instantly. It was that guy who had tried humiliating him when he had just enrolled into the sect, but couldn’t handle Seraph’s counterattack measures.

Even his relative who was an elder couldn’t escape punishment.

Now, seeing Seraph as a Core Disciple, he was completely terrified.

He feared that once Seraph saw him and remembered, then his life would become miserable.

However, Seraph merely glanced at him with recognition before turning away.

If it were on a normal day, he would have walked up to him and teased him a bit.

However, today wasn’t a normal day.

Carrying his tray in his hand, he walked towards the table he had directed Kael to, and sat opposite the innocent boy.

"Are you enjoying your meal?"

Seraph asked him with a smile, digging into his own food to eat.

The boy nodded, giggling as he ate the food ravenously.

"Great. That’s great. If you want to eat more, don’t hold back at all."

Seraph chuckled, realizing the boy might be similar to Sylvia in terms of eating capabilities.

’That reminds me. I still need to go see them.’

He had unfinished business with the two sisters who had kept Ariana’s disappearance a secret from him.

"Senior Brother, are you enjoying the food too?"

Kael asked, seeing the white-haired young man lost in thoughts.

Seraph looked at him for a few seconds, then shook his head.

"Not really. I miss my friends."

The boy was confused. "But Senior Brother doesn’t look like someone who actually has friends. Do you?"

Seraph blinked. "What do you mean? I have friends. Not just one, or two, or three, but more."

Kael’s mouth opened, and he looked absolutely shocked.

"You... you do?!"

Seraph looked at him weirdly, then nodded. Everyone had friends, as it was a common thing in the society.

Even when he had been Stephen Clark, he had a few friends in his different career occupation. Though, he eventually left them all.

Curious, he asked. "Don’t you have friends? Even before coming to the sect?"

Kael seemed to ponder the question for a while, then shook his head.

"Nope. I’ve only ever had acquaintances and age mates."

Hearing that, Seraph felt a bit of pity for the boy and patted his head.

"You’re in the sect now. You should make friends, okay? Having friends is really good."

Kael’s eyes lit up, and he nodded obediently. "Alright, Senior Brother! I’ll definitely make friends apart from you."

"Oh? We’re friends?" Seraph leaned back, smiling teasingly.

The young boy giggled, displaying his set of pearly white teeth.

"Of course! Senior Brother is a good person. If I can’t be friends with you, then I can’t be friends with others "

Seraph chuckled fondly and ate. "Sure. You’re my friend. So you can definitely make friends with others too."

The boy nodded obediently, and they both continued eating while chatting idly.

Kael asked him about his interesting adventures while being an inner court disciple, and Seraph answered smoothly. He mentioned his trip to the beast farm, and some other things he found interesting.

By the time they were done eating, it was already evening.

Seraph escorted Kael back to his room, then departed to Elder Song’s mansion.

Upon arriving, he was met with the sisters already waiting for him, accompanied by Elder Lan—the punishment enforcement elder.

Seraph gave her a glance, then bowed courteously.

"Greetings to Elder Lan."

The woman gestured for him to rise, and he did. Then, Seraph turned to look at Song and Sylvia—who was avoiding his gaze.

"You didn’t tell me that disciples had been kidnapped."

The woman smiled bitterly.

"I couldn’t tell you just yet. You just woke up from your coma and you had just dived into battle. Telling you right after that... didn’t seem right."

Seraph nodded, then turned to Sylvia. "Is there something on my face that you can’t look at?"

Elder Lan frowned, wondering if he was trying to have a dispute with the sisters.

"I... I’m sorry, Seraph. I couldn’t... I couldn’t protect them."

Hearing her reply, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He remained silent for a full minute, then opened his eyes and smiled.

"It’s alright. I know it’s no one’s fault. Besides, I already pleased myself by killing over three hundred of their disciples today."

Everyone’s eyes widened.

"What? That’s..."

Elder Lan gasped in shock. He killed three hundred? Sure, a powerful Master Stage Cultivator could kill three hundred or even more.

However, this was a sect war.

Losses were supposed to be similar or be of the same range.

Now however, with Seraph’s intervention, especially at the Winter Peak, the scales had tilted uncontrollably.

"You... sigh. It’s alright. The war is already worsening anyway."

Elder Song facepalmed and shook her head.

Seraph smiled lightly. "Have you prepared it?"

She looked at one of the maids nearby, and gestured for her to bring something over.

The maid brought a storage ring and handed it to Seraph. The instant his spiritual sense passed through, he was stunned.

"Hey... what the hell?"

Although he had expected much—even more than he had ever seen, he hadn’t expected this much.

Elder Song smiled proudly. "This is half of my net worth. I know it should definitely be able to bring you back to your former level."

This time, it was Elder Lan and Sylvia’s turn to be shocked.

"Eh...? You... Song, you must be joking, right?" Elder Lan asked cautiously, doubting if she had heard her friend correctly.

"I’m not. He deserves it."

Seraph looked at this woman who seemed to have regained her mysterious aura. Rubbing his thumb on the ring, he nodded and went upstairs.

Elder Lan frowned. "Song, are you absolutely sure? If you decide to share half of your cultivation resources with that boy, then you will not be able to break into the Emperor Stage for a long time. Are you satisfied with that?"

"Of course, I am. Look, Seraph is like an investment. You know that. As long as he has resources, he can definitely grow stronger... faster than we can ever hope to. Don’t you want to see it happen? Don’t you want to be a part of it?" Elder Song grinned faintly, explaining her opinion to the other woman.

"I can see what you’re doing, Song." Elder Lan shook her head and folded her arms. "I’m afraid I can’t join you in this mad gamble. I prefer to be strong on my own than rely on a man."

The woman understood and nodded. She smiled and said mysteriously. "I will look forward to seeing you change your mind."

As the two women chatted, Sylvia grew confused.

"Uh... why am I not understanding what you guys are saying? Is there something special about Seraph that I don’t know?"

The two elders turned to her, then glanced at each other.

"It’s nothing necessary for now, sweetie. Big Sister believes you will found out naturally."

Snorting, Sylvia turned away and sulked quietly.

Meanwhile, in the guest room upstairs, Seraph dismissed all the maids and locked the door to the room.

Sitting on the bed with a meditative stance, he took out fifty gold spirit crystals and laid them around himself.

Taking a deep breath, he decided to start cultivating immediately.

Before that, he wanted to ask about something.

’I’m sure you’ve seen the resources she gave me. So what level do you think it can bring me to?’

After almost a minute of annoying silence, Halo replied in a lazy voice.

["Why are you asking me? Not good with maths? Tsk. Tsk. All so arrogant, yet you run to me for help. Hmph! Fine, I’ll help your life and let you know. What was your question again?"]

Seraph quietly rolled his eyes and repeated his question.

["Oh, hm. From what I can see... you should be able to reach the Core King Stage if you keep cultivating for two to three months non-stop."]

Seraph nodded, then began cultivating. His pores opened, and spiritual energy flowed out of the spirit crystals, pouring into his meridians and nourishing his dantian.

It was a soothing process, and Seraph eventually lost track of time.

When he opened his eyes, he was surprised that it was still nighttime.

However, he could tell that days had passed already, as the spirit crystals had because dull and lost their glow.

’I used them up, hm?’

Smiling, he stood up and checked his own cultivation. He was still at the Core Master Stage, but he was closer to breaking through into the Peak level.

"Hm. I should check outside."

Standing for the bed, he went to take a bath first, changed his clothes, then walked out of the room.

As he opened the door and stepped outside, he was surprised to see no maid around. Instead, he only found Sylvia cleaning her sister’s mansion.

He walked up to her and asked with a puzzled expression.

"Your sister killed them all?"

Sylvia seemed startled by his voice, then immediately smiled.

"O-oh, it’s you. Um... actually, some things happened, and my sister decided to release them from their work."

This time, Seraph grew interested. "Oh? Tell me."