With those Spiritual Stones, she could easily participate in the Awakening Ceremony, which only cost around a hundred Spiritual Stones. With this much, even after paying for the Awakening Ceremony, she would still have almost twice her father's fortune.
She sighed inwardly. Truly, with a wave of his hand, the prince had solved her problem without much trouble. She wondered if this was what it meant to possess the wealth and power of the prince of the most powerful family in the world.
But then she shook her head. At the same time, her eyes became firm as she looked at Xiao.
"This... I will never forget it. I will always remember the prince's kindness and will definitely repay it in the future."
Her expression and voice were serious, as though she would definitely do what she had said. Hearing this, Xiao secretly smiled.
'Well, with this her problem is solved. At the same time, my reputation in the Royal Family will be further boosted after this news spreads.'
He felt no shame in doing so. After all, Xiao was a veteran businessman by nature. He always worked for profit and benefits that involved himself or his loved ones in one way or another.
He always had a motto in his mind: if there were benefits, then he would take the biggest share of them, while he wouldn't mind giving others a small portion as long as they worked for it and helped him obtain it in one way or another.
'Ahh, I have to thank Grandmother for her teachings. She really taught me some of the most valuable wisdom and truths of the world. Anyway, as long as I can help her and gain some benefits in return, what's the problem?'
He thought shamelessly. In his mind, everything was good as long as everyone was happy. Though inwardly Xiao was thinking about all of those things, outwardly he was as calm and unmovable as a mountain.
Like a stoic person.
Looking at Wang Qing, who had a serious expression and a firm demeanor, he waved indifferently and replied.
"Fine. Do as you see fit."
Then, without saying anything further, he turned around and calmly walked toward the entrance of the next floor, calmly climbing the stairs as he slowly ascended.
Wang Qing was dazed as she watched the departing back of the prince. His silver white hair drifted smoothly behind him, and just like that, he soon disappeared from view as he climbed further up the stairs to reach the upper floors.
Wang Qing sighed. She felt that even though the prince was cold and somewhat indifferent, he had still decided to help her, and to her, that single action meant more than anything.
Even though she was really scared of him and felt that he had somewhat bullied her, in the end, the prince was not a bad person. Thinking this, she laughed lightly as she turned around to continue her job.
On the other hand, Xiao was climbing the stairs as he headed toward the higher floors. After reaching a certain point, he felt a barrier blocking his way. No matter what he did, it didn't budge, let alone move.
'A restriction formation.'
Xiao thought, as he already knew that each floor in the library was blocked by one. Only those who had the required access could enter.
Pulling out the library token, Xiao held it in front of the restriction formation. A strange aura was emitted from it as the token began to glow.
A few moments later, it stopped glowing, and its aura disappeared.
But Xiao was confused when he saw that the restriction formation was still there.
'Why the hell is this thing still here? Did something go wrong? No, it shouldn't be like that. Let me check.'
He reached out his hand toward the formation. But to his surprise, unlike before, when his hand couldn't pass through it no matter what he did, this time it was different.
His hand passed through the formation as though it were air.
Looking at the wonders of cultivation, Xiao sighed.
'Cultivation is truly a marvelous thing.'
Without wasting any more time, his entire body passed through it.
Reaching the second floor, he saw that there were still many people there, but not as many as on the ground floor.
He decided to climb even higher. After reaching the third floor, he saw that there were still people there, but not as many compared to the previous one.
Looking at this, he thought.
'Okay, it's decided. I will go to the highest floor where no one will disturb me. The library has six floors, and since the sixth is the highest, let's go there. Also, these people...?'
Looking at the people on this floor, Xiao noticed a difference.
'Their cultivation levels are much higher than those on the previous floors. Most of them might be in the Transcending Mortality Realm... Demigods.'
He squinted his eyes. A Demigod was very rare to find even in major cities and cultivation clans. But looking at these Demigods, who were as numerous as fish in the sea, already gathered inside this library, Xiao sighed inwardly.
'Ahh, and this is only the library of the Royal Family. There are many more who are in seclusion or out on missions. Truly, the foundation of a major faction in this world is simply terrifying.'
Ignoring the looks the Demigods were giving him and their friendly smiles, he continued climbing the stairs to reach a higher floor.
At the same time, Xiao's mind was thinking about something else.
It was related to the issues that had been brought to his attention by helping Wang Qing earlier.
'First it was this disease related issue, and the second is this resource related issue.'
To host an Awakening Ceremony, each faction had to spend a huge amount of resources. And it wasn't just that. Every single one of those resources was extremely costly and difficult to obtain.
Every faction had to spend a huge amount of time and effort to find or produce those resources.
In the end, the cost of hosting an Awakening Ceremony was so enormous that only the major forces of this world could afford to host one.
...
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