Kyle once again returned to hitting the targets, but this time, he focused on unlocking his eighth Cluster.
Progress was even faster than before, and he barely needed 15 years to unlock his eighth Cluster.
Kyle felt the Cluster in his heart transform, and as soon as it happened, he felt like his body was bursting with power.
The effect of this Cluster seemed to be quite a bit stronger than the other ones.
'Guess that's why they're called Major Clusters while the other ones are Minor Clusters,' he thought as his entire body burst with power.
The Biological Energy inside Kyle's body washed all over his body, filling it with power.
'Bro, my physical power probably increased by an entire 50%! That's crazy!' he thought.
Kyle looked at one of the hard cubes of metal he had only been able to dent up to this point.
In an instant, he charged forward and hit it with his hammer.
BANG!
The huge cube received a significant dent and flew against the walls of his home gym.
When he saw that, his smile widened.
'That should give me a good boost! With that much power, I can probably behead a Level Eleven Primal Beast, and I might even be able to kill a Level Twelve Primal Beast as long as I target their Energy Pathways.'
After trying out his body for a bit more, Kyle looked at the time.
'22 years left,' he thought. 'There are probably still one or two more Planets that I have to deal with before I get sent to my new target.'
Kyle smirked. 'Based on how this organization defines talented Core Disciples, I might be able to leave almost immediately.'
'I mean, I get free shit from them, but I also don't really want to spend too much time there. I wanna focus on the Law of Mind soon, and I need free time for that.'
'If I could unlock the ninth Cluster, that would be even better.'
'I wonder…' he thought as he looked at the couple of treasures he had received from his three previous gigs.
'Why not? Let's try! If necessary, I can just buy new ones. As far as I can see, they're actually pretty cheap in the shop. The cheapest one was like 50 Contribution Points.'
Kyle summoned one of the Treasures and looked at it.
It was a bottle with one pill inside.
The next moment, Kyle looked at the ninth Cluster, which was between his Core Spark and his Center.
'My chest is getting crowded,' he thought.
He looked back at the pill.
He wasn't sure how long it would take to unlock the ninth Cluster. Would he have to refine the treasure over several years, or would the effect show within just a couple of seconds?
'If I get called to a Planet, this Treasure might be wasted.'
In the end, Kyle shrugged. 'I mean, I can also use Beast Cores. From what I've read, Seekers from ancient times used Beast Cores to unlock this Cluster. That was the original way.'
'I mean, half of these so-called treasures are just refined with a bunch of Beast Cores after adding some fruits and herbs from powerful plants.'
'Well, I have enough money. Even if I waste one, it won't be a big hit.'
Kyle unlocked the bottle and pulled out the pill.
The next moment, he put it into his mouth, and it was immediately transformed into Energy.
The Energy spread throughout his body, and Kyle felt his body heat up.
The Energy turned into Biological Energy, and some of it went to his ninth Cluster.
However, the majority spread around his body, essentially just doing random stuff.
When Kyle saw that, he frowned. 'What the fuck are you doing over there?! Get in here!'
Kyle moved his body in subtle ways, almost making it seem like he had some kind of spasm.
At the same time, his Biological Energy pushed the foreign Energy towards his ninth Cluster.
Of course, he was also using his perception to push the Energy towards his ninth Cluster.
In a bit more than an instant, over 95% of the treasure's Energy gathered around the ninth Cluster, and Kyle saw his Cluster shaking.
As it entered his ninth Cluster, Kyle's chest began to hurt, but he was used to this kind of pain.
'Huh, it's attacking the Cluster,' Kyle thought as he saw the Energy tearing chunks out of it.
Yet, when that happened, Kyle's eighth Cluster sent a ton of Biological Energy towards the ninth Cluster to repair it.
The destruction of the Cluster became faster and faster, and Kyle's Biological Energy started to drain.
This created a feeling of mortal danger, but this was nothing new to Kyle.
His Biological Energy dropped lower, but the foreign Energy was also reducing.
Eventually, Kyle's speed of regeneration overtook his consumption, and things continued for a while longer.
After about two minutes, all the foreign Energy vanished, and Kyle's body returned to normal.
When he saw his ninth Cluster, Kyle's brows rose in surprise.
'40% done already!' he thought. 'Considering that this is like one of the cheapest treasures, that's pretty good!'
'Also, that barely took a couple of minutes!'
Kyle scratched the back of his head.
'Is this really all about money? No training or hard work? Just ram money down your throat, and you're good to go?'
Eventually, Kyle just shrugged.
'Sure, why not? I guess we can have a bit of pay-to-win.'
The first treasure Kyle had taken had come from the Highman's Club, and it had been the cheapest one.
Kyle took out a second bottle of pills. He had received this one from the funny Constitution Sect.
Compared to the first bottle, this one had a bunch of pills, but each individual pill felt weaker than the one he had taken earlier.
'Ten pills in the bottle,' Kyle thought as he cross-referenced the two treasures with the shop.
'The first one was the cheapest one and would cost 50 Contribution Points. The density of Energy is average, but it's very aggressive and hard to control. That means most of the Energy gets wasted.'
'The ten pills in this bottle have a bit less Energy than the first one when added up, but they don't randomly swirl around the body as much. Surprisingly, this bottle costs over 90 Contribution Points.'
Kyle opened the bottle and put one pill into his mouth.
The next moment, the Energy of the pills spread through Kyle's body, but then, it directly went to his ninth Cluster.
Compared to the first treasure, this one didn't destroy his ninth Cluster but just bathed it in a nice and comfortable feeling.
Kyle barely had to do anything. The pill was doing everything by itself.
However, this one took quite a bit longer to be digested.
In fact, it took Kyle almost three hours to digest this one.
After eating the first, Kyle slowly ate the other nine.
When he was done, he looked at the result.
'70% done,' he thought in surprise. 'This thing costs almost twice as much but takes longer to refine and gives less Energy.'
'Well, I shouldn't complain. All the different Core Disciples of the Secondary Organizations probably desperately want those.'
'Anyway, let's keep going.'
Next, Kyle took out two bottles of pills.
He had received those from the Farmountain Guild.
The Highman's Club had tried to scam him, and they just wanted to pay the bare minimum to get rid of him. Additionally, the promises of the Core Elder had probably put a strain on their resources, which was why they had given him the cheapest.
The Constitution Sect also hadn't been the biggest fan of Kyle, but they were all about honor and stuff. Even more, Kyle had received the bottle of pills from the Sect Master personally. These factors probably contributed to the higher value of this treasure.
The Farmountain Guild was different. Kyle had left on an amicable note, and after convincing them, the other Disciples and Elders had also appreciated his presence and impact. He had been called to fix the mindset of the Core Disciples, and he had mostly succeeded.
Because of that, the Farmountain Guild hadn't just given him the bare minimum to get rid of him.
No, they had actually given him a proper reward.
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