"There has always been the price of danger and blood accompanying access to resources. That has always been the nature of the world. Just because he didn't know it before and because he has to fight for his resources in a sect now doesn't mean that it is a new thing or that Agate City is free from it."
She said in disdain, "What a spoiled brat. I can't even believe that he dared complain about gaining access to a sect. Does he know how many people die and fail to gain access to sects? He should know. Yet, he still dares to complain as if he were being maligned."
"What a wussy."
Lady Vena was full of disdain, and she spoke, but he could sense some bitterness in her tone when she said that.
He could understand why she didn't think highly of spoiled brats like Jason. After all, she was someone who risked her life to seduce a young master of the family and drugged him in order to get pregnant by him.
She didn't do all of that so that she could steal from Augustus. She went through so much trouble to get pregnant for him and bear him a child so that she could gain access to the resources of the family.
What's more, those resources didn't come free. She still had to pay for them in terms of money and merits.
If she had failed to get pregnant, she would have been killed by Augustus. That's how dangerous what she did was. So she couldn't stand the complaint of a boy who got everything he ever wanted delivered to him on a platter.
He decided to change the topic of the conversation from that painful topic by asking her a question. "What was it that you said to me that I didn't hear?"
She grumbled for a while about wussy pampered boys before she replied. "I asked you how your preparation for the regional sect examination was going."
That question made him excited because all he had was food news.
He said excitedly, "As you know, I have already acquired the force diagram, so I should reach the tenth transformation soon. I have also already acquired enough hunting points to acquire an extraordinary weapon. I am currently working towards getting enough hunting points to acquire an extraordinary armor to protect myself."
She said, "Is that so? It seems you didn't need the patriarch's gift."
He shrugged, "I didn't need it. But it is nice to have."
Then he touched the golden bow and said with some excitement, "Especially now that I have it. I realized just how much I needed it."
Lady Vena chuckled and said, "I guess it is a matter of not knowing what you need until you encounter it."
He nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Anyway, I still intend to get enough hunting points for an armor. The weapon will be for close-range combat while the bow will be for long-range attacks."
She said, "I've heard that members of the Dyson family also use their bows for close-range combat."
He couldn't believe it. "Really? How?"
She nodded. "Yes, they do. They use their bows to smash the head of anyone who comes close to them?"
Arthur's eyes widened in surprise. He turned to look at the bow with that surprise in his eyes.
The way he looked at the bow changed. He looked at it with pity.
Then he rubbed it gently and said, "Don't you worry. I am not a barbarian. I won't use something as precious and pretty as you as a club. You deserve better treatment than that."
Lady Vena rolled her eyes at him. "Don't take my words for it. Try it out sometime. The bow should be very sturdy."
He shook his head. "Never. I am a cultured man. She deserves so much better than that."
She insisted, "A weapon is a tool to kill. It doesn't matter what it deserves."
But he refused again. "Maybe it doesn't matter what it deserves, but what if it breaks because I used it to smash people?"
She assured him, "It won't break if you use it to smash people. I've heard that it can be used to smash people. It is a sturdy weapon after all."
He still shook his head. "I will have another weapon for smashing people. I don't need to use this one for smashing people."
She advised again, "Then you will need to carry more weapons, which means more weight and more burden, which will slow you down and make you tired easily. So it is more efficient to use one weapon for long-range and close-range combat."
She made a good point, but Arthur wasn't going to take it. The two of them went back and forth arguing for a long time.
Arthur didn't give in, and she didn't want to tell him that the bow was a third-rank weapon, so it wasn't in any danger of breaking if it was used to beat up cultivators at the second mortal coil. So Lady Vena could only give up.
She said, "Forget about it. Be that way if you want."
"Anyway, it seems you are almost done preparing and don't need anything. What about blood essence for blood burning? You didn't mention it."
He shook his head. "I don't need to burn my blood, so I don't need blood essence."
Burning blood is another thing that cultivators at the tenth transformation of the first mortal coil can use to gain power. But it is an act of desperation that is going to hurt the cultivator too.
Normally, those who want to transcend the first mortal coil can utilize the blood essence of a rank 2 beast to help them break through to the second mortal coil. It is a normal process that is slow and will take some time.
But if a cultivator at the tenth transformation is in danger, they can burn the blood essence to use to gain power at the second mortal coil quickly. This power is temporary, so it won't last long.