Earth Flipping Technique!
Tilling two acres of Spirit Fields nearly drained Fang Yun dry.
After casting the final Earth Flipping Technique, he had almost no Spiritual Power left in his Qi Sea.
Next was to evenly sow the Clear Water Rice seeds across the two acres of Tier One, Lower Grade Spirit Fields.
Fang Yun actually enjoyed this work, since these actions would earn him Talent Points at the start of next month's settlement.
After selecting his three Life Talents, Fang Yun could only earn Talent Points from the Hundred Skills of Cultivation through Planting, Alchemy, and Artifact Refining.
If he took an interest in things like drawing talismans, he wouldn't receive a single Talent Point for it.
When he first chose his Life Talents, the Planting Talent was the first one he decided on. It was something he had access to, and the cost of acquiring Talent Points for it was low.
After confirming the Planting Talent, the Alchemy Talent was a must.
Among the Life Talents, the guide he'd created emphasized that Planting and Alchemy had the highest synergy.
The Spirit Medicine he grew could be used for Alchemy, and the dregs left over from Alchemy made for excellent fertilizer. The two were complementary, creating a self-sustaining cycle.
As for why he chose the Artifact Refining Talent?
Fang Yun was thinking purely about his Combat Talents.
If this were a game, someone in his situation would definitely not consider Combat Talents and just focus wholeheartedly on leveling up Life Talents. But this was reality, not a game.
In the real Cultivation World, upgrading Combat Talents was absolutely necessary.
Just like with Life Talents, he had to choose three out of numerous Combat Talents to upgrade.
Compared to Life Talents, the number of Combat Talents was terrifyingly vast. The Magic Talent, for example, was split into multiple branches, and it was the same for others.
If you wanted to be a master of all arms...
You had to pay to win.
Fang Yun had chosen the Sword, Shield, and Shoe Talents.
These three Talents covered attack, defense, and escape, and could also be used for pursuit.
These three types of Magical Artifacts would be his main output from Artifact Refining in the future. Coordinated with his Life Talents, this was the optimal solution for a commoner.
He definitely couldn't choose a Magic-type Combat Talent. For instance, choosing the Fire Attribute Magic Talent would grant a bonus when casting any Fire Attribute Magic, whether for attack, defense, pursuit, or trapping enemies. However, it wouldn't actually improve his ability to learn Magic.
Because it was a Combat Talent.
In the game, if you wanted to go down the path of a Magic-type Combat Talent, you first had to spend money to buy a character that could learn Magic quickly.
Therefore, a magic-user build required at least a small cash investment to get started.
"That's all for today. Time to go back and cultivate."
After planting Clear Water Rice in both acres of rented Tier One, Lower Grade Spirit Fields, his planting tasks for the day were complete.
Fang Yun was extremely diligent in his cultivation, dedicating any spare time he had to it.
His Five Spirit Roots aptitude was a simple fact. How could he possibly get by without putting in some extra effort?
In his past life, he had died young from pulling all-nighters to write game guides. Now that heaven had given him a second chance, he was determined to live as long as possible, no matter what.
A Qi Refining Stage Cultivator's Life Span was already longer than that of an ordinary mortal, and barring any accidents, those in the Foundation Establishment Stage above Qi Refining could live for at least two hundred years.
Fang Yun certainly didn't want to be someone who couldn't even break through the Qi Refining Stage.
...
「Half a month later.」
The day began just like any other.
Early in the morning, Fang Yun inspected the growth of the Clear Water Rice in his two acres of Spirit Fields, checking if they needed weeding, pest control, or anything else.
He was happy to do it.
To him, this all translated into Talent Points.
"The soil is a bit dry."
After his inspection, Fang Yun cast the Small Cloud Rain Technique.
The path of Magic was divided into four Realms: Initiate, Minor Achievement, Great Success, and Perfection. His Small Cloud Rain Technique was only at the Initiate level.
The Planting Talent couldn't increase the speed at which he broke through the Realms of planting-related Magic, just like the situation with his Combat Talents.
A Small Cloud Rain Technique at the Minor Achievement Realm could use less Spiritual Power to gather more Spiritual Qi and produce more rain.
In terms of Spiritual Power consumption alone, the Small Cloud Rain Technique he currently cast was superior to one at Minor Achievement, but in all other aspects, it was still at the Initiate level.
The cultivation of Clear Water Rice required a large amount of water, especially during its current seedling stage.
It took about five days for the seeds to grow into seedlings.
If there were three consecutive sunny days while the Clear Water Rice was in its seedling stage, he had to make it rain at least twice.
Now that Fang Yun was taking care of two acres of Spirit Fields, he would have to make it rain four times, which meant four Talent Points.
To earn Talent Points, the watering had to meet the Standard Rainfall. Fang Yun had tried using the Small Rain Technique on half an acre first, then using it again on the other half, but the result was that neither casting of the Small Rain Technique met the Standard Rainfall.
Furthermore, the rain had to fall on growing Spirit Medicine; simply finding an empty spot and casting a one-acre Small Rain Technique wouldn't work either.
There wasn't a single opportunity to cut corners.
After his fruitless attempts to find loopholes for gaining Talent Points, Fang Yun stopped wasting his thoughts on it and just focused on farming honestly.
"Fang Yun."
A stocky, middle-aged man appeared on the small path next to the rented Spirit Fields.
"Uncle Zhixing," Fang Yun called out, turning his head at the sound.
The middle-aged man's name was Bei Zhixing, a Qi Refining Third Layer Cultivator who made a living by renting Spirit Fields from the Celestial Cloud Sect. Most of the Cultivators living nearby did the same.
"I heard you rented two acres of Spirit Fields this time."
"That's right."
"You're only at the Qi Refining Second Layer. Can you really manage two acres of Spirit Fields?"
"I have a bit of a talent for growing Clear Water Rice, so I can just about manage," Fang Yun replied.
"Could you manage one more acre of Clear Water Rice?" Bei Zhixing continued to ask.
Hearing this, Fang Yun knew that Bei Zhixing probably needed a favor.
Over the past few days, he had gained a clearer understanding of his one-star Planting Talent. Taking care of one more acre of Clear Water Rice was indeed possible.
"It would be extremely difficult. Tending to three acres of Clear Water Rice would leave me with no time to cultivate, and I couldn't keep it up for long."
"Fang Yun, I'm surprised. You're more capable than you look." Bei Zhixing was a little taken aback by his answer. Even though Fang Yun said it would be extremely difficult, not just any Qi Refining Second Layer Cultivator could manage three acres of Clear Water Rice, even for a short period.
"I have to go away for some business. I need you to help me look after one acre of Clear Water Rice for just ten days. The payment is one jin of Clear Water Rice."
Upon hearing this, Fang Yun didn't hesitate for a moment, shaking his head in refusal.
One jin of Clear Water Rice for ten days of work on one acre was far too little.
Even based on his previous income of twenty-three jin and four liang of Clear Water Rice over three months, that was seven jin and eight liang a month. Ten days of work should be worth at least two jin and six liang.
Although helping with the Clear Water Rice would earn him more Talent Points, he absolutely could not let people think he was cheap, unless they were such close friends that he would help them for free.
But his relationship with Bei Zhixing was clearly far from that point.
"You're helping your uncle out, and you're getting a jin of Clear Water Rice as payment. Why aren't you happy with that?"
"Uncle Zhixing, you'd better ask someone else."
Fang Yun refused again without hesitation.
Seeing this, Bei Zhixing raised his offer.
"One and a half jin, then. That should be enough, right?"
"Three jin of Clear Water Rice, minimum." Fang Yun stated his price.
This was the lowest price he was willing to accept, and that was only because he would be getting Talent Points out of it. Otherwise, with his current talent, he would have asked for at least five jin.
With his one-star Planting Talent, Fang Yun was very confident he could harvest more than one hundred and twenty-five jin of Clear Water Rice per acre in a little over two months.
Without any mutations, the maximum yield for one acre of Clear Water Rice was one hundred and thirty jin. Most of the Cultivators who lived here and rented Spirit Fields to grow Clear Water Rice harvested between eighty and one hundred and ten jin per acre.
"Three jin, minimum... Are you crazy?"
Seeing Fang Yun's serious expression, Bei Zhixing had no intention of continuing the conversation.
He had wanted to hire Fang Yun to look after one acre of Clear Water Rice for ten days because he thought he could get him for one and a half jin at most. Hiring someone else would cost at least two jin.
This way, he could save a little, but Fang Yun had to go and ask for a ridiculous price.
'Three jin? The most anyone else would ask for is two and a half.'