The days passed without much to worry about. Rean and Roan cultivated without many issues as well. However, Sister Orb called the two of them at some point.
[Hey, you two. You asked me to call you out when enough Destiny Points accumulated. I just received the last update of the system. At the moment, your total number of Destiny Points has reached 2089.]
Rean and Roan nodded.
"Good. Tonight, we will enter the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm and check what we want to buy."
Sure enough, they finished whatever they needed during the day and returned to their rooms. Right after, they went straight into the Dimensional Realm.
It's just that as soon as they entered...
*Chick! Chick!*
The chick left the Bathhouse and jumped directly into Rean's arms. However, it put a little bit too much strength into the dash...
*Bang!*
Rean was sent flying away while the chick clutched its wings around him. In the end, the two fell on the ground and rolled for quite a few meters.
Heavy! That was Rean's first thought when he was hit by the chick.
Somehow, the chick had grown several times taller, reaching half of Rean's height!
"What?! How did it become so big? I came inside just a few days ago, and it was still the same chick as before. Did it happen inside the Yin Yang bath?"
[As if! Do you think it simply stayed in the Bathhouse and never came out?]
Hearing Sister Orb's remark made Rean have a bad premonition. He looked at the place where he kept their Spirit Stones. Right after, a tear fell from his eyes... In fact, even Roan was taken aback by the scene. After all, he knew how many Spirit Stones were there. At the moment, just a few lonely ones remained there.
"My Spirit Stones... are gone."
Rean then looked at the chick just in time to see it...
*Burp~~*
Rean's mouth twitched. The chick looked very... satisfied.
"Aren't you a little too overpowered?! How did you eat all those Spirit Stones and not explode?!"
*Chick?*
The chick didn't understand anything as it looked with a puzzled expression.
Suddenly, Rean heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed. When he looked at the origin of the sound, he saw Roan walking in the chick's direction with his White Star in hand.
"I told you, didn't I? We should have fried this chick a long time ago. That's an excellent opportunity. Look at how fat it is. It will definitely have a lot of nourishing meat."
The chick didn't only eat the Spirit Stones on Rean's side of the Soul Gem Realm, but Roan's as well.
The chick saw Roan's dark face and trembled all over. It quickly ran away and hid behind Rean.
"Stop scaring the chick! It was just hungry. Besides, look! It has already advanced into Stage Two!"
Only then did Roan use his Spiritual Energy to check the chick's core. Sure enough, the power coming from inside showed that it was definitely a Stage Two Demon Beast.
"Still, don't you think it is a little too expensive? How many Rank Two Spirit Stones were there? Over five thousand at the very least! If it took this amount to send the chick to Stage Two, then how many will you need for it to evolve to Rank Three?"
"This... I just need to find a way to make more money, that's all. Don't worry, the next payment from the Jamaris Weapon Store is coming in three days. I will make sure to keep the Spirit Stones away from the chick, so we will have enough to cultivate."
Roan still had a dark expression but decided to let it go in the end. After all, the one who earned the Spirit Stones was Rean, not him. Besides, they always kept Spirit Stones in bags in the outside world, so they had enough to use until then.
"Fine! Let's get over with it and buy the things we need."
"Wait! Sister Orb, what happened with the chick during these past few days? It hadn't taken the Spirit Stones before, so why now?"
[It kept absorbing the Yin Yang energy of the Bathhouse all this time. At first, nothing different happened. But a few days ago, the black and white crown on its head began to shine. As soon as that happened, the chick dashed out of the Bathhouse and attacked the Spirit Stones. It was then that it began to get taller and fatter until it finally stopped at this size.]
"Once again, why didn't you warn me beforehand?"
[It was just some Rank Two Spirit Stones, was there a reason to call you out?]
Rean almost cried.
'What are you, the reincarnation of the goddess of wealth?'
In the end, he simply shook his head.
"From now on, I'm going to call you Jennifer."
[Jennifer? Who's Jennifer?]
"Bill Gates' eldest daughter."
[...]
"Oh, right! Now that the chick reached Stage Two, perhaps it can do something different."
Roan didn't care about any of that though.
"Stop wasting my time. If you want, you can check it later. Let's take a look at the reward list."
Rean pondered for a bit before nodding. It is not like Roan has to be there anyway.
The twins quickly touched Sister Orb and sent their Spiritual Energy and Sense inside.
[Tiger Bones - 500 Destiny Points]
[Spiritual Sense Absorption Upgrade Level 2 - 1000 Destiny Points] (10%)
[Soul Gem Dimensional Realm Upgrade 2 - 800 Destiny Points]
[Yin Yang Bathhouse - Reward from Destiny Strugglers' Title]
[Soul Connection Range Upgrade level 2 – 1500 Destiny Points] (300km)
[Soul Gem Blacksmith Workshop - 400 Destiny Points]
[Soul Gem Alchemy Workshop - 400 Destiny Points]
[Soul Gem Electrical Formations Repository - 400 Destiny Points] (New)
"Electrical Formations Repository? Was there such a thing before?"
[Of course not. When you first built the Lightning Element Gathering Formation, the Soul Gem System recognized your side occupation and added it. Not only that, since your affinity was with Electrical Formations, the Repository was also focused on it. It might be because you came from a world where Electronic Equipments were involved.]
Roan and Rean nodded. It was not like they didn't think about this possibility before. After all, it would be too much of a coincidence for them to simultaneously have an option to obtain an Alchemy and Blacksmith Workshop in the reward system.
"I was intending to get the Blacksmith Workshop. However, I won't be able to make Peak-Level equipment before reaching at least the late Stage of the Core Formation Realm. Maybe I should try and see what this Electrical Formation workshop is about..."
Roan agreed with Rean.
"There is a bigger chance that it will bring us Destiny Points faster than expected. After all, most of the Destiny Points are coming from it. Unless, of course, you decide to release the secret behind the Element Gathering Equipments. In that case, it might bring more Destiny Points in the short term."
Rean thought about it and made his decision.
"No, I'm not going to release the secret behind the Element Gathering Equipments yet. I will take the Electrical Formations Repository."
Roan didn't mind.
"Then, so be it."
The twins focused on Sister Orb and made their choice.
"We want the Electrical Formations Repository and the Alchemy Workshop."
The automatic voice of the Soul Gem System appeared on their mind right after.
[This will cost a total of 800 Destiny Points.]
[Do the hosts confirm the trade?]
"Yes!"
[The trade has been concluded. Hosts now have 1289 Destiny Points remaining.]
Right after, the Space close to where the Bathhouse began to distort. At the same time, Spiritual Energy gathered around the area as two new buildings appeared beside it. The process was relatively fast and uneventful.
[Alchemy Workshop Concluded.]
[Electrical Formations Repository Concluded.]
Finally, the emotionless Soul Gem System's voice went silent once more.
Rean and Roan immediately got up and went to check them.
Roan was the first one. He entered the Alchemy Workshop, wondering what would be different about it, however...
"Ahem... Sister Orb... Where is the workshop?"
[What are you talking about? It is right in front of you.]
Roan's expression went dark after hearing that. That's because...
"Are you fucking kidding me?! This shit is empty!"
[How can you say that? Can't you see the wall on the side?]
Roan looked at the direction Sister Orb talked about... and felt even worse.
There, he saw a tool... one of the most common ones when one is practicing alchemy... a pestle.
A pestle was basically used together with a mortar to smash the herbs. Roan used it hundreds of times already.
"That's all?"
[That's all.]
"Where is the rest?"
[What rest?]
Roan began to lose his patience.
"The fucking cauldron, alembic, mortar, the ores and woods used for fire, everything! How do expect me to practice alchemy with just this thing?"
[Oh! That's simple. You just need to upgrade the Alchemy Workshop.]
Roan almost vomited blood.
"I know I'm going to regret asking it, but I'll do it anyway. How much does the next upgrade cost?"
[The Alchemy Workshop Level 2 Upgrade costs 1000 Destiny Points.]
Sure enough, Roan regretted that.
"Go to hell!"
Meanwhile, Rean had just arrived at the Electrical Formations Repository. However, his situation didn't look much better. Shelves full of books, there wasn't a single shelf to start with. All he found there... was a note laying down on the table.
"For some reason, I'm not surprised..."
It seems like Rean already got used to being disappointed by Sister Orb.