Two-Moon Lock Breaking Pill

As the two left, Minos couldn't help but remember Rendo. The first time he came back to Underwood City, he left with him, and the second time, he left with Rubella.

It almost felt like fate that he would find the people he needed in Underwood City, but Minos just laughed slightly at this coincidence and paid it no more mind.

As the two reached the cave Minos used as his base, he couldn't help but think he should probably buy some furnishing just to make the place more comfortable.

Of course he could just buy a house in Underwood City, but given the nature of his experiments and how he needed a bunch of animals to test things on, he decided outdoors was better.

This wasn't even including the fact that Minos preferred silence, which would be severely lacking in Underwood City.

So all things considered, he still preferred living here. The cave almost felt like home at this point as Minos walked in once more.

"Master, don't tell me we're staying here?" Rubella couldn't help but interject at this point.

"Why, what's wrong with it?" Minos asked, as he got comfortable on the earth floor.

"What do you mean what's wrong with it? I'm a beggar and yet the alleys I've stayed at are still better than this place."

"You're a beggar, so they're just alley's, but since I'm a king, this is obviously a palace." Minos said as he picked at his teeth with a sharp piece of wood he found laying around.

Rubella couldn't help but be stunned at Minos's shamelessness. She wanted to continue arguing, but seeing how little Minos cared, she could only let out an exasperated sigh and sit down on the dirt next to him.

"Comfortable, huh? See, the king only has a golden throne, yet our throne is the entire world, so logically, we're the kings of the world."

"..." Rubella couldn't even reply at this point, just cupping her ears in shame as Minos laughed loudly at his own theory.

"Alright, enough jokes, let's get to work." Minos said, causing Rubella to quickly look up in excitement.

She was wondering up until now whether she had been scammed or not, but fortunately it seemed Minos wasn't a trickster.

"Here." Minos gave Rubella a thick stack of papers and a brush. He then handed her another book filled with strange strokes.

"Your first lesson is simple. I want you to replicate the strokes from the book, they should be the exact same, no half-assing it. Keep going until you've run out of paper."

"So boring? But I thought cultivators flew around and shot fireballs and went on all sorts of magical adventures! When are we going to do that?" Rubella asked, much to Minos's amusement.

"How old are you?" Minos suddenly asked.

"Uhh, I'm not exactly sure, but I should be around 11 or 12…" Rubella answered a little confused.

"How long did it take you to become the best thief in Underwood City?"

"Hmm, maybe five years? But don't think that's long, if it was any normal person, they couldn't do it even in a lifetime" She replied smugly.

"And how did you train your skills?"

"Robbing of course! But I'd also fiddle with coins all the time to make my fingers more nimble, that way my skills became even better."

"Then consider this the same as fiddling with coins. This training will enhance your foundation, which is the critical stage that separates the good from the masterful. It may seem boring, but time will tell you how essential this dedication was." Minos responded.

"Okay…" Rubella finally answered, but she still seemed unsatisfied.

Minos wouldn't pay it any attention. One's foundation would oftentimes determine how far they reach on the path towards success.

There was never a lack of cultivators who decided to run through the realms, dedicating little time to each, and eventually hitting a wall when they inevitably realize that they're no longer stable enough to keep climbing.

While doing so was beneficial short-term, your future self will end up paying the ultimate price. While Minos doesn't expect Rubella to become any sort of unmatched expert, he at least expects her to walk the path solidly.

This will also be an exercise to teach her patience, such that she becomes less likely to be tempted by short-term gain in the future, instead prioritizing that will be beneficial in the long run.

As a future-core member, Minos's expectations of Rubella wasn't just a talisman maker, but also a competent leader who could do things on his own behalf.

While Rubella currently seemed a little naive and innocent, she had a ruthlessness deep inside her that Minos could feel. While that ruthlessness may be bad to some, it's essential on the path of cultivation.

…

Outside the cave, Minos went back to his training area, leaving behind Rubella to work on her talisman strokes.

He naturally wouldn't forget the two-moon Lock Breaking Pill he had bought earlier, and it was finally time to use it.

He couldn't help but think back to the Green Barrel Sect, where years of hard work only amounted to a single one-moon Lock Breaking Pill. Meanwhile, only a couple days of making talismans earned him something 10x the value.

It went to show that knowledge was the cornerstone of evolution, and without it, one would end up constantly running to someone else's pace.

Minos quickly emptied his thoughts once more. Going through the Twelve Beast Movement Tome once, he warmed up his body, and swallowed the pill in one go, while continuing his motions.

The pill wasn't immediately effective, instead Minos continued his training for a couple minutes before he felt some burning deep in his core.

Similar to the Blood Wine Honey, Minos could feel some strange power travel from the pill towards his life lock, hitting it with tremendous vigor.

However, unlike the pure Blood Wine Honey, that power also had some dirtiness in it, that was deposited in Minos's body as the power traveled around.

Of course that was a problem for the future, right now, Minos's mind was fully invested in the power as it constantly attacked Minos's Fourth Life Lock.

The attacks continued for a couple minutes, but even as it got weaker and weaker, the life lock was still standing strongly.

Minos had already predicted this result. His life lock's were abnormally strong, and the Blood Wine Honey that could usually break three or four life locks before losing effectiveness only broke two for Minos.

So of course, for the significantly worse two-moon Lock Breaking Pill, things would be even worse. Fortunately Minos had purchased more then one pill, so it was okay.

While the power was still alive, Minos swallowed another pill. As the pill was broken down by his stomach acids, the power was released and rejoined the initial power, giving it support.

The two fused into one, and with even stronger strength, they struck towards the Fourth Life Lock. This time, nothing unexpected happened, and after the power completely dissipated in a final blow, the life lock was shattered.

Minos's body flushed red as a tremendous strength flowed through him. The Fourth Life Lock was considered a big jump, and gave a full 600 pounds of strength, once again nearly doubling Minos's power.

750 pounds of strength quickly surged up to 1350. His arms slightly bulged as tremendous force traveled through them.

Minos couldn't help but find the nearest tree and fire a fully powered punch towards it. With the boost of the Shining Fist Through Planet, Minos's strength surged to 2700, not even including the 2x speed boost.

The fist smashed right in the center of the tree, causing it to explode from the middle. The top and bottom were quickly separated, with the top flying off into the distance.

Dust and dirt was raised as the upper half of the tree smacked back down on the earth. Minos nodded slightly in satisfaction, but that was just the strength component of his improvement.

He pulled back his fist and leaned down into a sprinting position before bursting forward with his feel speed.

The Twelve Beast Movement Tome had already helped to improve his explosive ability, but the change it had was currently incomparable to the improvement that came with breaking through.

Minos rocketed forwards through the forest. Mud flying up behind him as Minos stomped into the earth.

His speed had doubled, which went to further showcase the massive difference between the lower stages and middle stages of the Mortal Renewal Realm.

The first three life locks mainly improved strength and durability, but had little effect on speed and other things.

The middle three life locks were different, still raising strength and durability tremendously, but also tempering the muscle fibers, allowing them to become like springs, with tremendous explosive ability.

These enhanced muscle fibers could pull back and explode rapidly, allowing a cultivator to gain access to a new skill which most referred to as Burst Step, or Burst Run.

Similarly, the later three and last three life locks all offered their own unique benefits, which meant each three life locks were like a whole new realm.

The Twelve Beast Movement Tome naturally mentioned all of this, allowing Minos to already know what to expect when it came to the future.

As mentioned in the tome, the 4th to 6th life locks enhance muscle fibers, granting tremendous speed.

The 7th to 9th reinforce all the senses, giving one eyes like a hawk, nose like a dog, ears like a bat, tongue like a catfish, and reflexes like a star-nosed mole. As for the last three, things were a bit more complicated…