Death... and me

Roan pondered over the question for a bit before saying, "Well, the first thing we should definitely choose is Dragon Bones. I just don't know if it would improve our combat ability as much as the previous bone upgrade did."

[Don't worry, it's definitely worth it. It won't do much for your raw strength, just like in the past. However, it'll definitely increase your raw defense by a lot. Otherwise, it wouldn't be called Dragon Bones for nothing.] Sister Orb explained.

Rean and Roan were satisfied with that explanation as one of them said in response, "Our Dantians' defense is already a lot stronger after we absorbed the Universe Essence. Combining it with the Dragon Bones will definitely improve it even further."

Without wasting any more time, the twins sent their order to the Soul Gem System.

[Dragon Bones - 5000 Destiny Points]

[Confirm Purchase?]

Rean and Roan braced themselves for what was about to come. Every bone upgrade was followed by excruciating pain. Naturally, a bone upgrade called Dragon Bones shouldn't be any better than the previous ones.

"Yes!"

[Purchase confirmed.]

[Destiny Points: 14402]

[Initializing Upgrade...]

Sure enough, another wave of contortion on the ground appeared. Of course, Kentucky wasn't included in this upgrade, so he didn't feel anything. Besides, Kentucky's body became stronger the more Heaven-level metals he ate. His actual bones didn't lose out to the Dragon Bones at all.

After resisting the torture and Sister Orb's nagging for another hour, the pain finally subsided before disappearing completely. They also noticed that no new bone upgrade appeared this time. Noticing this, Rean asked, "Sister Orb, is this the last bone upgrade?"

[Who knows? Don't forget that I can't comment on future upgrades.] Sure enough, Sister Orb dodged the question.

In any case, Rean and Roan were pretty sure that something else would eventually appear again. With that, Roan told Rean, "Forget it. We only have 9402 Destiny Points remaining."

Rean couldn't help but ask, though. "Sister Orb, shouldn't we have more points because of the incoming war? It's happening because of us, after all."

[Nope. It's still included in the 30000 Destiny Point reward from taking Celis away. This is just a side effect of that. That being said, you won't get extra Destiny Points from it.] Sister Orb didn't stop there, though. [However! You can still gain Destiny Points depending on how you intervene in the war itself.]

Roan nodded, already expecting something like that to occur. "Makes sense. The war happened because we took Celis away, but its results are still up in the air. If we change its course in any way, it'll be considered a new intervention."

[Exactly.] Sister Orb confirmed Roan's words.

Kentucky didn't care much about that. "Leave the war aside for now. What will you buy with the remaining Destiny Points?"

Rean pondered over the question a little before saying, "We have two choices, more or less. We're close to 10000 Destiny Points, so we can keep it for the next Spiritual Energy Absorption Upgrade. It'll increase our absorption speed from 10% to 15%."

He then pointed at the second option as he continued, "Or we can upgrade the workshops. Any other option seems unrealistic at the moment."

Roan nodded, saying in response not long after, "True. Which one would you choose?"

Rean immediately answered, "I would go for the workshops. They're kind of cheap at the moment, and they'll help us out in our side occupations. It has been quite a long time since the last time we got something new from them."

Roan thought about the issue before he looked at his herb garden. Celis's saplings had grown quite a lot since they first appeared as they were working on the development of the garden itself. It looked like Celis's presence was great nourishment for the plants there as they were now brimming with life. Naturally, Roan wanted to make good use of them, and an upgrade to the Alchemist Workshop might help out. Of course, he didn't forget that there was also the possibility that he would get something that wouldn't help out much.

"Oh well, whatever." Roan then decided to leave it to fate as he said, "Let's go after the workshop upgrades." In the end, without paying for the upgrades, they would never know what they could get from it.

Rean didn't select the Electrical Formations Repository this time. After all, ever since Sunkan Planet was destroyed, he didn't have time to work on Circuitry Formations like he did in the past. With that said, he opted for the Blacksmith Workshop, which only gave him the Stacking Hammer so far.

[Soul Gem Blacksmith Workshop Upgrade Level 2 - 1000 Destiny Points]

[Soul Gem Alchemy Workshop Upgrade Level 3- 3000 Destiny Points]

[Confirm Purchase?]

"Yes!"

[Purchase confirmed.]

[Destiny Points: 9402]

[Initializing Upgrade...]

Rean and Roan saw how the two workshops were suddenly enveloped in a spatial barrier, which they couldn't see inside. The upgrade process lasted for two hours as the Soul Gem Realm absorbed Spiritual Energy from outside nonstop. Although the Soul Gem Realm now generated its own Spiritual Energy, it was far, far behind what Celis could provide. Eventually, the spatial barrier broke apart, showing the new workshops.

"As always, they don't look that different from the outside," Rean said as he looked at the two buildings.

Roan didn't bother what Rean thought as he said to him, "Forget it. Are you buying the Level 3 upgrade for the Blacksmith Workshop? We still have enough Destiny Points for it."

Rean nodded, responding, "Yes. That way, our side occupation workshops are at an even level."

[Soul Gem Blacksmith Workshop Upgrade Level 3 - 3000 Destiny Points]

[Confirm Purchase?]

"Yes!"

[Purchase confirmed.]

[Destiny Points: 5402]

[Initializing Upgrade...]

Sure enough, the Blacksmith Workshop was once again enveloped by a spatial barrier as the upgrade started.

Roan ignored that phenomenon as he told Rean, "Well, I'll go take a look at the Alchemist Workshop." Roan had obtained a pestle on the first level, which helped out with the medicinal extraction. He hoped that the mortar would appear this time. That pestle had the ability of not damaging the medicinal properties during that time. However, Roan always had to use it with common mortars, which failed to extract the herbs' properties fully.

Soon, Roan entered the workshop and noticed that the scene had changed a little. At the center was his Soul Gem Cauldron, which had the ability to control the temperature perfectly. There were simply no mistakes in temperature when using it.

The pestle was over the table as always. It was then that Roan's eyes glistened as he saw the thing by its side. "Oh! It's actually a mortar! Finally, this shit system gave me what I wanted."

[Who are you calling a shit system?] Naturally, Sister Orb didn't like Roan's words.

"Shut up! You always give us some bullshit when we need you the most, so what do you want me to think?" Roan didn't back down at all.

[Hmph! You guys really don't know how to appreciate your Sister Orb's help.]

Roan ignored Sister Orb and immediately took out some simple herbs to test his new mortar. He took both the pestle and mortar and began to crush the plants inside. Sure enough, Roan was right in his predictions. When the Soul Gem Pestle and Mortar were together, he could extract 100% of the medicinal liquids without damaging any of the medicinal properties. He still had to eliminate the impurities during the concoction process, but that wasn't much of a problem.

Roan couldn't help but nod in satisfaction from his experiments. "Great stuff. Perhaps I can get an alembic in the next upgrade. If I can place the medicinal properties inside it and separate the properties I need, everything will become much easier."

Roan then worked on a simple Energy Gathering Pill used by Energy Gathering cultivators. At his level, such a pill could be concocted in less than ten minutes. Eventually, a few black and white Energy Gathering Pills came out of the Soul Gem Cauldron. Although Roan only used some simple herbs, he still obtained ten pills in the process. Following that, Roan concocted ten more pills, finishing a total of twenty.

Roan then left the Dimensional Realm before passing the pills to Burio's group of adults. "There are twenty pills here. You guys don't have the same Aptitude Color as the kids you're taking care of, so you can't possibly match them in cultivation speed. However, these pills should give you a boost during cultivation as they clear and repair your meridians a little. It won't allow you to match the kids who are training properly, but it will help out a lot."

Burio couldn't help but feel excited after receiving these pills. Of course, not only him but the other adults as well. They were already living a life many times better than they could hope in the past. Their cultivation was slower than the kids, but they were improving steadily. Now, they even got those so-called alchemist pills that neither of them had ever seen before. How could they not be happy? "Thank you, Roan. I'll definitely find a way to pay this debt one day."

Roan didn't seem to care what they thought, though. "I don't expect anything from you. After all, our levels are too different. As long as you take care of the kids until they become adults and allow them to take care of themselves, that will be enough of a payment for me."

Burio and the others nodded, assuring Roan. "Don't worry. We'll do our best."

Malo, one of the five twelve-year-old kids that helped take care of the younger ones, couldn't help but ask with an excited expression after seeing Roan pass the adults some pills. "Can we get some pills as well?!"

*Pah!*

However, Roan slapped the back of his head, responding in a stern tone, "Stop your bullshit. These pills would be almost of no help for Purple Color Aptitudes like yours. Instead of wasting my time asking for pills, why don't you train more, huh?"

Malo rubbed the back of his head as he left, thinking to himself, 'I really don't like him.'

Well, except for Liza, none of the kids liked Roan anyway.