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To go from being a mere mortal to a first minor realm Qi Gathering cultivator had cost Benton a single Sect Point. And the effect had been … meh. There just wasn't much of a difference. Advancing from the peak of Qi Gathering to Foundation Establishment had given him the ability to manipulate qi externally, a major upgrade, and had cost two Sect Points. Raising from the peak of that realm to Golden Core had greatly increased his amount of available qi and, when pared with a Concept, also greatly increased the power of that qi. At the time, he'd thought that the four points spent had resulting in a truly monumental upgrade.

A mere eight points was all it took for him to advance to Nascent Soul. He was very interesting to see how much more powerful he'd become.

Choice accepted.

Host, prepare for transformation.

Whenever the System told him to get ready like that, he knew he was in for an experience, and it wasn't likely to be a good one. Even though he was already in the lotus position, he still braced himself for whatever was coming.

The first thing that happened was his body … dissolving. It disappeared. He went from being a being of flesh and blood to a formless entity floating over his empty robe.

Benton had experienced a number of weird things since transmigrating. Acquiring superpowers, fighting a freaking cyclops that looked like it came straight from the set of a movie, and going from the brink of death to fully healed by consuming a pill were just a few of the things that came to mind.

His current circumstances took the cake in that regard, though.

If not for his complete trust in the System, he would have freaked out a bit. Well, his faith plus his Mastery of knowledge of Nascent Soul Cultivation. That second part definitely helped a lot, too.

The transition from Golden Core to Nascent Soul consisted of three big changes—the merging of his existing soul, aspected qi, and a Concept into a new soul; the creation of an aura; and the formation of a new body. While the technique hadn't revealed the details of how his essence was transferred from one body to another, the fact that he knew it had to happen made the fact that he was removed from his old one a bit less surprising.

Multiple Concepts detected. Please select a Concept to form the basis of Host's new Soul and Aura.

Okay, that System message concerned him a bit. One of his greatest strengths was the versatility that the use of all his Concepts gave him. That he would be forced to choose one might imply that he wouldn't be able to use any of the others.

"System," he said internally as he didn't have lips to say it in any other manner, "will I still be able to use other Concepts?"

Yes. Host can still use all purchased Concepts to supercharge qi. Host may also purchase Auras to correspond to those Concepts.

The continuation of the ongoing points sink that was Concepts being continued with Auras was a bit of a concern, but he appreciated the flexibility. Gaining enough points was a problem for future Benton, though. First, he wanted to get his advancement settled, and for that, he could only choose a single one of his Concepts.

Benton mentally pulled up that part of his status and saw that he had Twenty-eight. He had twenty-eight Concepts. Yikes!

He hadn't realized that he'd bought that many. Even for a cheating cheater who cheats, that quantity seemed a little excessive.

Honestly, though, most of those could be tossed out as he definitely wanted to form the core of his new cultivation realm on as powerful a foundation as he could. A few edits left his with a shorter list.

Host Concepts (Golden Core):

Anti-Tribulation -

Mastery

Earth Mastery

Fire Mastery

Force - Mastery

Gluttony Mastery

Gravity - Mastery

Healing - Mastery

lee Mastery

Husion Mastery

Light Mastery

Lightning Mastery

Metal Mastery

Momentum - Mastery

Magnetism Mastery

Nature Mastery

Origin Qi - Mastery

Poison Mastery

Shadow Mastery

Smell Mastery

Soul - Mastery

Sound Mastery

Space - Mastery

Temperature Mastery

Time - Mastery

Tribulation Lightning -

Mastery

Void - Mastery

Water Mastery

Wood Mastery

Ten represented a much more reasonable quantity to choose from, and honestly, he felt he could easily cull that down a bit more. He'd left Anti-Tribulation as an option simply because it was powerful and something that no one else was likely to have access to. It wasn't something that could help him against other cultivators, though, and given how easily he'd dealt with a tribulation when it came for him, he just wasn't worried about another one.

Force was a cool Concept, one he'd only recently begun playing with. He really felt like he'd only scratched the surface of what it might be capable of. But compared to the others on the list? Nah.

After a moment's thought, he also discarded Momentum for the same reason. He liked it, but it just wasn't on the same level of uniqueness or power as some of the other options.

Origin Qi got the boot as well. While it was unique as all get out, he just didn't see it as supplying the necessary oomph he wanted.

Finally, Soul. Unlike the previous choice, it did provide him was an avenue of attacking rival cultivators. A strong avenue. But Benton ultimately felt that path was too dark for him. He wasn't ready to destroy anyone's soul no matter how much he felt like they deserved it at the time.

Cool. Just like that, he was down to five.

Gravity was both useful as an attack and for utility. It both hindered and aided movement, depending on his whims. Did he want to crush someone? Use Gravity. Did he want to disorient someone? Use Gravity. Did he want to disrupt a projectile's trajectory? Use Gravity. It was definitely a solid choice both for power and versatility.

Space was another interesting choice. Like Gravity, it offered a lot of versatility. By making distances shorter, he could increase speed or do the reverse to slow opponents. He hadn't really even thought much about using it for direct attacks, but there was no reason he couldn't. What would happen if he increased the distance between an opponent's head and their neck? Hmm.

Time was fast becoming one of his favorite qi elements. Napolean had said, "You can ask me for anything but time." That quote didn't apply to Benton, as he could slow it down or speed it up at will. If an Aura increased his control and power, would he be able to move through it as well as manipulate it. Could he create time? Destroy it? The possibilities were mind boggling.

Tribulation Lightning was something of a dark horse to Benton's way of thinking as it didn't offer much in the way of versatility. On the other hand, if you were mainly worried about fighting other cultivators, what could be more powerful that the ability to destroy their cultivation? What worried him, though, was that cultivators normally faced tribulation at different points in their careers. They were trained to face it and had almost certainly developed countermeasures.

Finally, there was Void. Like Tribulation Lightning, it didn't offer the flexibility of the other choices, but it had been his go to for a long time now. If Time was his shiny new toy, Void was the trusted tool that he'd been using for ages. Besides, its destructive potential was unmatched by any other element.

After a lot of thought, Benton eliminated … Tribulation Lightning.

Huh.

It had taken him little effort at all to go from twenty-eight down to five, but those last four were turning out to be a doozy.

In the end, there could be only one. He needed to make the hard choices. The first to go was Time. He didn't want to eliminate it, but he just couldn't justify it when he considered the lack of offense. It was great for letting him avoid blows and enhanced his other qi elements in attack, but he couldn't figure out a way to make it an offensive powerhouse in its own right.

He did have thoughts in that regard, but…

No. He needed to eliminate options, not find reasons to keep his favorites in play. Time out.

Heh.

Next was Void, and boy was that a difficult choice. He loved Void's destructive capabilities, but the lack of flexibility just didn't match what he wanted to be on the battlefield.

After those two painful decisions, he was left with Gravity and Space.

Eeny, meeny, miny…

No. That would be a very irresponsible way to make such an important decision. He had to use some kind of rationale.

Space felt like a more powerful ability, but he was unsure about its use on offense. Bodies tended to resist direct qi usage, so while separating an enemy's head from his neck sounded great in theory, it probably wouldn't work that well in practice against an opponent similar or greater in realm.

Gravity, on the other hand, was so versatile, having proved itself both offensively and defensively.

Fine.

"System, I choose my Concept of Gravity."

Choice accepted.

Host, prepare for Soul creation.

Even though he no longer had a body—or a Golden Core for that matter—his Golden Core began filling with qi. Gravity aspected qi. He could almost feel the metaphysical weight pull down his metaphysical form.

His core started filling, and he felt a tug at his very soul. Soon, some indefinable part of his was pulled into the spin.

Soul creation in process. Host has cultivated his Soul to Fulfillment Minor Realm Nine.

Customization of benefits available at this time.

Would Host like to customize the benefits of Soul

Cultivation?

That topic had been one that Benton had low key wondered about. His Spiritual and Mind Cultivation each allowed him to purchase techniques to utilize skills. Body Cultivation, in contrast, simply increased his physical characteristics with each level with him having no control over the process. He simply grew stronger, tougher, more agile, etc. with each advancement.

Soul appeared to be similar to Body Cultivation, only with a much less visible impact. He assumed that he gained some benefits for increasing his realm, but they weren't all that apparent to him.

"Yes, System. I'd like to customize the benefits."

A menu much like the Soul Cultivation Method Creation one popped up.

Please allocate 100 Soul Benefit Customization

Points in the following categories:

Inviolability

Attribute Enhancement:

Size

Strength

Tempering

Cool. Super cool. Benton had been able to decide the allocation of points for those categories for others but never for himself. He rubbed his metaphorical hands together.

From his memory, Inviolability protected him from attacks, Size would give him greater enjoyment of life, Strength made his soul more resistant to change, and Tempering would increase his qi pool and physical attributes. All were beneficial.

Considering that Su had almost been killed by a demonic cultivator, defending against them was high on Benton's list, making Inviolability a must. And obviously, he was all in on enjoying his life, making Size a good choice. Of course, as a transmigrator, the idea of making his soul resistant to change by increasing Strength was quite an important consideration. And finally, seeing as it was likely that his life would be filled with fights no matter what, increasing his qi pool and physical stats with Tempering seemed like a no-brainer.

To specialize in everything meant you were specializing in nothing, however. He needed to narrow down his choices once again. The first to go, surprisingly, was Size. He already enjoyed his life and didn't feel like he needed any assistance in that regard.

Regarding Tempering, his entire choice of Concept had come down to what most benefited fighting. Should his choice for Soul customization reinforce that priority or shore up a weakness? Benton decided on the latter, letting Tempering fall off his list.

That left him with Inviolability and Strength, two similar but different categories. Both essentially provided protection, one against demonic attacks and the other against change, rather imposed or natural. Both were important.

He had the System allocate fifty points to each.

The spinning mass that was comprised of his Golden Core, Gravity Concept laden qi, and his soul swirled faster and faster and faster until it erupted in light.