When he compared his current power to that of his past life, he said to himself, "If the humans on earth could only produce individual power between 0.1 and 1 units, then that final attack was 372 thousand times stronger than whatever any human could produce."
"And if I only compare the average power of 0.5 units to that power, then that final attack was nearly 745 thousand times greater than the average power that humans could produce."
After making these calculations, he said, "That power is impressive, but it also showed that I have come a long way from when I started cultivating. After all, that is the kind of power needed to kill me now. If that isn’t impressive, I don’t know what is."
Then he sighed and said, "That aside, the deceivers are also impressive. I was right to be wary of them. They are terrifying assassins compared to their three-eyed counterparts."
He already knew that deceivers were dangerous based on the Branch Metacs of their pathway that he had seen in the market of the heavenly city. But he still didn’t know everything that they were capable of because information about their Life Abilities wasn’t available for him to peruse.
He knew that deceivers could hide very well and deceive his eyes, but he didn’t know that they had something like the Mimic Life Ability that could turn a cultivator into a manifestation of another Life Ability.
If he knew that such a thing was possible, he would have checked the manifestation of the Life Ability when he came close to it to make sure that it was the real deal. But he didn’t know, so he was caught off guard.
What he knew was that the manifestation of a Life Ability is a phantom image projected by the host of the Life Ability. So, only a rank 5 cultivator with that Life Ability should be able to produce that manifestation.
This was why he didn’t suspect the manifestation until it was too late. And even when he suspected the manifestation, he didn’t suspect the trees that made up the forest around him.
The thought of that unfortunate turn of events made him chuckle and say, "Next time I go to the Heavenly Battlefield, I must avoid the deceivers. I should also forget about finding a rank 5 cultivator to work with. They are practically bait to lure us."
"What I should do is get my Level 5 Dao Status first. Once I have that, I might have a better chance with rank 5 cultivators."
He spent his time going upstream across the River of Time, thinking about what he should do and what he shouldn’t do in the next timeline. So when he awakened in the physical world, he was done making plans and was ready to execute them.
As soon as he arrived at the moment of awakening, Slav fell to his knees begging for his life. But Loki only glanced at him briefly before ignoring him.
He said to Muni, "Take me to Register."
Muni quickly bowed and said, "Right away, sir."
Muni immediately took him to the registration office in the sect grounds. He didn’t go to the market in the sect grounds this time around because he didn’t need to.
After registering, he went to the central market. His first stop there was a gambling house where he could borrow some money. He used the money he had loaned there to gamble.
From that gambling house, he went around the central market gambling and expanding his money. This way, he was able to quickly achieve over 100 million energy stones in his account.
With enough money on hand, he paid off his awakening debt and used his identity as an inner sect disciple to take the grade 5 merit mission. This mission is the same Heavenly Battlefield with the same deadline for reporting for duty, so he has nearly two months to report for duty.
Since he already knew that the things he needed wouldn’t be available in the market, he didn’t bother to go around the market searching for them. He also didn’t bother to order the things he needed from the public trading platform, even though he knows which ones are the reliable sellers and which ones are scammers now.
His plan is to go to the heavenly city to get the rank of Metacs that he needs. Not only will there be no delays or scamming, but the Metacs will also be up to 30% cheaper there.
He also doesn’t need to go to the Earthly Battlefield to meet Amelia, since he already has everything he needs from her. So his plan is to reach the heavens as soon as possible.
In the meantime, he will buy the rank 1, rank 2, rank 3, and rank 4 body forging Metacs that he can use to refine his body until he reaches the heavenly city. That way, he won’t waste the time it will take him to reach the heavenly city.
But before doing that, he went to the information broker. He went there with a belly full of anger and a bone to pick with them.
As soon as he sat down, the attendant said to him, "What can I do for you, honored guest?"
His face was cold and frosty as he said, "I want to know how to increase one’s talent beyond 90 units."
The androgynous voice said, "We have that information here. It will cost you only 10,000 energy stones to know it."
He said, "Let me purchase it."
So the attendant gave him the token, and he paid for the information. A few minutes after paying, he was given a parcel containing the information he wanted.
After he opened the parcel, he saw that the answer to his request was still the option to become a divine being or use the heart of a dragon.
This made him snort and say, "What about the option to participate in the Heavenly Battlefield and become the most useful soldier for the sect?"