I Can Upgrade My Talent Infinitely-Chapter 116: Ranking Settlement
"You haven’t planted any since the last Qi Nourishing Grass harvest... Junior Brother, you’re probably not aware of the current situation with the Spirit Plant List, are you?" Tian Ruifeng asked as he looked at Fang Yun.
"I’m not aware."
Since he had temporarily stopped planting, Fang Yun naturally hadn’t been paying attention to it.
"The Spirit Plant List is updated once a year in mid-December. Anyone on the list gets an extra reward, and you made it on this year."
Fang Yun nodded as he listened. He was already aware of the list’s update schedule, having first learned about it from Steward Song.
"You’ve only been in the Inner Sect for two years, and you’re already ranked eighty-ninth. It’s a shame you’ll be focusing on Alchemy in the future..." Tian Ruifeng shook his head as he trailed off.
In his eyes, it was a real shame for Fang Yun’s Spirit Plant potential. But considering Fang Yun’s Five Spirit Roots and his Alchemy Talent, the path of Alchemy was indeed his best option.
"You should go claim the extra reward from the list when you have a moment."
"Thanks for the reminder, Senior Brother," Fang Yun said gratefully.
If he remembered correctly, the extra reward for eighty-ninth place was ten Lower-Grade Spirit Stones.
"That reward probably doesn’t mean much to you anymore."
"Spirit Stones are Spirit Stones, no matter how few. Who would ever complain about having more?"
"Hahaha, you’re right about that."
"What was your rank this time, Senior Brother?" Fang Yun asked.
"Me? This time... I’m fourth!"
Tian Ruifeng was beaming with pride as he spoke of his rank. He had previously hovered between sixth and ninth place, but after becoming a Spirit Plant Master, he had advanced even further.
Hearing about Tian Ruifeng’s progress, Fang Yun offered his congratulations.
Fang Yun was headed to Dan Cloud Peak, while Tian Ruifeng was going to Cloud Summit. Their paths diverged from here, so Fang Yun soon bid Tian Ruifeng farewell.
After he finished refining the Qi Enhancement Pills, Fang Yun planned to head to the Spirit Field Institute to claim his extra reward of ten Lower-Grade Spirit Stones.
Just as he’d said, every little bit helps. And for him right now, ten Lower-Grade Spirit Stones was not an insignificant amount.
...
「Nightfall.」
Today was the last day of December.
As he always did, Fang Yun spent the first part of the evening refining and absorbing medicinal pills to aid his cultivation. He then used the rest of his time to read, absorbing the knowledge within his books.
’The old year is over.’
Closing his book, Fang Yun summoned the glowing screen.
---
...
Refining Lower-Grade Rejuvenation Pill x4, Talent Points +28.
Refining Middle-Grade Rejuvenation Pill x15, Talent Points +158.
Refining Upper-Grade Rejuvenation Pill x6, Talent Points +84.
Spirit Plant List 89th Place (Celestial Cloud Sect), Talent Points +142.
...
Talent Point Bonus: 183%
Settlement: Talent Points +8154.
---
He had accepted one Rejuvenation Pill refining mission in December; the rest had been for Qi Enhancement Pills. For Fang Yun, this frequency felt just right.
Elder Bai Heyan’s arrangements were excellent.
For the Rejuvenation Pill mission this time, all the Spirit Medicines he received were of superior quality. This allowed him to produce Upper-Grade Rejuvenation Pills after refining just seven batches.
Rejuvenation Pills were easier to refine than Qi Enhancement Pills, so they yielded fewer Talent Points upon settlement. A single Lower-Grade Qi Enhancement Pill granted eight Talent Points, whereas a Lower-Grade Rejuvenation Pill only gave seven.
’Spirit Plant List?’
As his eyes scanned the summary, Fang Yun paused, slightly stunned when he saw that line.
He hadn’t expected that a ranking on the Spirit Plant List could also grant him Talent Points.
What he didn’t quite understand was the point value. He expected a round number, but this wasn’t a multiple of ten.
He would have completely understood if his eighty-ninth place rank gave him one hundred Talent Points. After all, the actual sect rewards were standardized for certain ranking brackets—for example, everyone between fifty-first and one-hundredth place got the same thing. He’d expected the Talent Point settlement to be a standardized amount as well.
Fang Yun quickly stopped dwelling on the issue and turned his thoughts to more critical matters.
’I wonder if the Spirit Plant List will be included in next month’s settlement... The sect’s list is updated once a year, so logically, this system should only award points for it once a year, too...’
If it did award points again next month, that would mean he’d get them every month, which would be an incredible boon.
Fang Yun knew how this system worked, though. It never gave him any loopholes to exploit. His previous experiment involving Song Qiaoqiao had failed, yielding no Talent Points whatsoever.
Looking at the text in the parentheses, he was fairly certain it corresponded to the Celestial Cloud Sect’s annual update of the Spirit Plant List.
’The fact that the Spirit Plant List gives points means the Inner Sect Ranking probably does too... and so should my placement in the Inner Sect Grand Competition...’
Fang Yun extrapolated based on the information he had.
It seemed he had to perform even better in the upcoming Inner Sect Grand Competition.
In high spirits, Fang Yun pushed those thoughts aside. With a single intention, the Combat Talent interface appeared before him.
He now had a total of 8,692 Talent Points, enough to draw for a Combat Talent eight times.
Without hesitation, he went for an eight-pull.
Shield Talent Fragment x3
Sword Type Talent Fragment x3
Shoe Talent Fragment x2
The draw was fairly even.
With the addition of eight new fragments, the Combat Talent interface updated:
[Equipment] Shield Talent ★★ (15/24)
[Equipment] Sword Type Talent ★★ (13/24)
[Equipment] Shoe Talent ★★ (10/24)
His Shield Talent was now the closest to reaching three stars; he needed fewer than ten more fragments to upgrade it.
Barring any surprises, he should be able to upgrade one of his Combat Talents to three stars by the beginning of April.
Fang Yun gave the Combat Talent interface one last look before closing it to get some rest. He had to set out for Battle Peak around dawn.
The Inner Sect Grand Competition was held on Battle Peak.
The first day of the competition was mainly for gathering at Battle Peak to listen to an Elder’s address. Then, before dusk, the matchups for the first round would be announced.
After a refreshing rest.
Fang Yun woke before the sky had even begun to lighten.
Fang Yun and Song Qiaoqiao had already arranged to go to Battle Peak together on the first day of the Inner Sect Grand Competition.
After waking, Fang Yun boiled himself a few cobs of Purple Corn. Once he finished eating, he left and went to Room Six, where Song Qiaoqiao lived.
KNOCK KNOCK—
Fang Yun knocked gently on the door.
"Song... Senior Sister Bai."
It wasn’t Song Qiaoqiao who opened the door, but Bai Qinying.
"Junior Brother Fang, you’re the last one to arrive! The rest of us are already here."
Fang Yun recalled making plans with Song Qiaoqiao about half a month ago. At the time, she hadn’t mentioned inviting anyone else.
Fang Yun glanced inside the room.
Inside, besides Song Qiaoqiao, there was another female Inner Sect disciple he didn’t recognize. Her robes were heavily embellished.
Before Song Qiaoqiao could make an introduction, Yao Shuixiao spoke up.
"Junior Brother Fang, you’ve already helped me refine two Upper-Grade Magical Artifacts, but I just never had the chance to meet you."
Upon hearing this, Fang Yun immediately knew who she was.
He had never met her before, but he had refined two Upper-Grade Magical Artifacts for her. That could only be one person.
