"What is cultivation?"
Quentin asked in confusion.
"It’s just a way to use spiritual energy."
Lu Yan waved his hand, giving a casual explanation to brush off the question.
In fact, Lu Luo had mentioned before when they were in the street district that the Universal Giant Corporation controlled the source of spiritual energy and taxed individuals based on their consumption.
Lu Yan initially thought this was an exaggeration; after all, a force that controls all extraordinary energy in the world sounds impossible. But it turned out to actually exist.
The sunlight tax, air tax, up to the Intelligent God, and even the source of spiritual energy—the more Lu Yan learned about the cyberpunk version, the more shocked he was at the terrors of this colossal entity, the Universal Giant Corporation.
Yet, such a terrifying force had no presence in the urban, xianxia, or apocalypse versions, which was something Lu Yan couldn’t understand.
Lu Yan instinctively felt that the cyberpunk version was different from the versions he had previously experienced.
However, the existing information was insufficient for Lu Yan to make a judgment. After a brief contemplation, he shifted his focus back to the spiritual energy in front of him.
No matter how this version was, improving his strength as much as possible was certainly right.
For a cultivator in Qi Cultivation, accumulating magical power is an extremely long process. Lu Yan had taken many elixirs to speed up his cultivation as much as possible.
But after all, the cultivation time was too brief; it hadn’t even been a year since he started cultivating. Advancing to the fifth layer of Qi Cultivation was already the result of various fortuitous opportunities.
The subsequent late stage and peak of Qi Cultivation have trapped countless loose cultivators. Even with enough resources, it would take Lu Yan at least two to three years to complete the accumulation.
However, the spiritual energy in front of him gave Lu Yan hope of ascending with a single step.
As he absorbed another strand of spiritual energy into his dantian, Lu Yan clearly felt the spiritual energy being so violent, attempting to recklessly escape the confines of his physical body.
But under the profound magical power of the fifth layer of Qi Cultivation, a mere strand of spiritual energy couldn’t stir up any trouble. With the operation of the cultivation technique of the Red Lotus Karma Fire Scripture, the spiritual energy was quickly assimilated by the magical power.
The magical power in Lu Yan’s dantian grew again at a visibly rapid pace.
Carefully sensing the magical power transformed from spiritual energy, since the spiritual energy was not consumed through elixirs, no impurities like elixir toxins were deposited in the magical power, making it much purer than the magical power obtained through elixir cultivation.
The sole disadvantage was that the spiritual energy was too violent, requiring some time to assimilate it into magical power.
Yet even accounting for the time needed to assimilate the magical power, this cultivation speed was akin to having a cheat.
As Lu Yan quietly absorbed the spiritual energy, a message suddenly popped up on Quentin’s personal terminal.
"Why is the industrial spiritual energy fee over budget today?"
Quentin was startled and hurriedly reached out to turn off the switch, quickly dispersing the gushing spiritual energy.
Lu Yan noticed that the spiritual energy, which should have dissipated into the air, disappeared quietly after the switch was turned off, as if entering another world, and even Lu Yan couldn’t find any trace of it.
"All the spiritual energy doesn’t remain in reality; instead, it actively enters another unknown place for storage, leading to the absence of spiritual energy in reality, and trying to obtain it can only be done through the Universal Giant Corporation."
Lu Yan began to vaguely understand.
Such methods could no longer be explained by technology alone, resembling more of a transformation at the rule level.
And the Universal Giant Corporation was the force that held onto that rule of spiritual energy.
Looking at Quentin, who seemed heartbroken staring at the overspending bill, Lu Yan pointed at the spiritual power switch and said:
"I’m quite interested in this."
Only then did Quentin set down his personal terminal and patiently explained to Lu Yan:
"This is a Spiritual Energy Transmission System. Inside it has a complex Spiritual Ability Code. Once activated, it can borrow spiritual energy from the Universal Giant Corporation.
This is the lowest-level industrial-grade spiritual energy. Due to its violent nature, the human body cannot absorb it normally, and it can only be used to drive large machines or assist in the repair of conventional machinery.
Above that, there are conventional-grade spiritual energy and medicinal-grade spiritual energy. Conventional-grade spiritual energy can power spiritual tattoos and energize precise instruments; the spiritual energy in spiritual energy batteries is conventional-grade.
While medicinal-grade spiritual energy is gentle and can enhance physical qualities, assisting in metamorphic modifications. The prices for different grades of spiritual energy vary by dozens of times.
Both industrial-grade and conventional-grade are charged based on usage for the spiritual energy tax, but medicinal-grade spiritual energy must be purchased directly through the Universal Giant Corporation, and there are even eligibility restrictions for purchase."
When he said this, Quentin looked helpless.
Lu Yan nodded thoughtfully.
Industrial-grade spiritual energy is too violent for others to absorb because the cyberpunk version’s Extraordinary System is more akin to modification than self-cultivation.
Lu Yan, possessing an Immortal Cultivation Technique, saw the so-called violent spiritual energy merely as a problem requiring time to solve. Comparatively, the abundant and satisfying industrial-grade spiritual energy was more suitable for him.
If there was a constant supply of industrial-grade spiritual energy, Lu Yan even thought his cultivation would rapidly improve.
"If I were to set up an industrial-grade Spiritual Energy Transmission System in my place, what conditions would I need to meet?"
Quentin shook his head and said: "No need for that much trouble. The underground pharmaceutical factory here has the largest industrial-grade Spiritual Energy Transmission System in the entire cave.
If you lease it, you can use it directly, only needing to pay the spiritual energy tax on time."
Hearing Quentin’s words, Lu Yan made a decisive decision.
"Then let’s first check out that underground pharmaceutical factory."
Quentin was naturally delighted. The underground pharmaceutical factory had been vacant for too long, and if he could conclude this leasing deal, he would earn a considerable commission.
So Quentin stepped out from behind the counter, closing the shop door, and actively led the way for Lu Yan.
Deep within the cave, several hundred meters underground, the area was only about as large as a small town, so the distance was not too far. Quentin and Lu Yan soon arrived at the underground pharmaceutical factory.
As for Lu Luo, after Quentin paid her a thousand credits as a guide fee, she quickly disappeared from sight, as her habits as an ordinary resident of the Lower City District led her to instinctively avoid getting involved in the affairs of the big players.
In a place surrounded by a pile of trash houses, Quentin pushed open a rust-stained door, and the underground pharmaceutical factory appeared before Lu Yan.
This was a gigantic mass of reinforced concrete, the upper part resembling an ancient castle.
As they walked into the castle, a massive underground processing plant came into view. Production lines, abandoned for who knows how many years, lay there, and in the corners, piles of processing materials were strewn about, most of which had long decayed and were covered in dust over time.
Pointing at the underground processing plant, Quentin began to speak:
"This was once a Jiulong Group’s underground factory, which had a complete basic enhancement drug production line."
Pausing briefly, knowing that the person before him seemed unaware of many of the basics, Quentin specifically added:
"The so-called basic enhancement drugs are concocted after the fashion of the Spiritual Energy Extraction Injection mixed with some basic pharmaceuticals. Due to using industrial-grade spiritual energy, the drug properties are violent and hard to control.
Many people, after injection, experience confusion, limb swelling, and intellectual decline. In rare cases, some users even develop protruding skulls.
Although inexpensive, many still dare to use basic enhancement drugs, attempting to fortify their bodies to adapt to transformations by a spiritual ability user."
"But when the underground factory came to the attention of the City Tax Bureau, high spiritual energy taxes eroded its price advantage. Moreover, exorbitant fines for dodging the spiritual energy tax led to the factory’s bankruptcy, with everything being seized.
Though this place has been sealed for a long time, most of the equipment could resume operation with just a little cleaning.
But most importantly, it still has the industrial-grade Spiritual Energy Transmission System."
As he spoke, Quentin flipped the switch.
Lu Yan could sense the spiritual ability code buried within the inspection starting to activate continually. The next moment, a flood of spiritual energy filled the entire plant, to the extent that, even without a deliberate effort to absorb, this spiritual energy would be incorporated into his body under the drawing of his dantian.
Feeling his rapidly increasing cultivation, Lu Yan contentedly said:
"I’ll take this factory!"