As Logan spoke about how rare and potent Nexus's Cultivation Art was, Marcus made up his mind. He would cultivate it.
Even if he didn't follow every instruction in the letter, he would use art as the foundation of his path—a framework until he could forge one of his own.
But the moment that decision settled in his heart, reality followed. Creating a new Cultivation Art wasn't just about knowledge or willpower.
It required resources… a lot of resources.
Money!
Where can I get the funds to carry this out? The Government and Imperial Families are out of the equation. Knowing what I want to do, they would want to have a say in how it is used.
The thought of being forced to share his gains with the government irritated him so much that he swore to never consider the thought of it again.
He considered the idea of securing a patron, someone wealthy enough to bankroll his experiments. But that too required risk. He would need solid theories, maybe even a minor breakthrough, just to get anyone to listen—much less invest.
Which left only one option:
Do it myself.
But how?
His salary wasn't enough. Hell, it barely covered his sisters' living expenses, and that wasn't something he could compromise. The moment he'd taken responsibility for them, he had made a silent vow that they would never lack again.
So what could he do?
He had already resolved to use himself as his first test subject, especially for the early experiments—the controlled one, as long as he had blood, [Blood Bane] would heal him. That was the edge he had over anyone else attempting the same thing.
But even blood came at a price. Beasts' blood—especially rare ones—was expensive. And he needed more than just blood. He needed Blood Essence too. The potent kind, extracted from high-level beasts with unique traits.
Worse still, to open his Acupoints pathways without Wilder Force, he would have to rely on those Blood essences as the activation medium.
And such a commodity is many times more expensive than the normal blood of beasts.
Still turning the thoughts over in his mind, Marcus finally asked the question that had been building in his chest.
"What do you think is the fastest way to make money around here?"
The moment the words left his lips, Marcus caught something—just a flicker—on Logan's face.
A grin.
No, it was gone as fast as it came. Logan still wore the same tired expression, his posture loose and casual. But Marcus could see behind his half-lidded eyes… There was a gleam.
Greed.
"The best?" Logan repeated slowly and thoughtfully. "Hard to say. Not because it doesn't exist, but because it depends. Depends on your circumstances—what you're willing to sell, how much of it you can get, and if you can keep the supply going. If you've got a steady flow of anything useful, that becomes the best."
He waved his hand, and a handful of glowing talismans zipped toward him from the shelf.
"You can start by inscribing useful Runes and selling them off to those who want. With enough of this, you can be rich overnight." He paused and looked at Marcus.
Despite his fast growth, I don't think he'll be able to start selling Talismans. What does it matter? The boy wants to know how to make money.
And then he continued; "Then there's Weapons smithing. That is also lucrative, in fact, if I had to categorize, it'll be in the top three. And then there's also Alchemy pill making for Awakened and Cultivators.
Many of these pill makers are stuck-up old bastards. But their bank accounts are even more stocked up than their attitudes. And finally—beast hunting. Not cheap in terms of life expectancy, but low in startup costs. Kill a high-level beast, sell its blood, meat, bones, and organs—hell, even the hide has value. Especially if the Blood Essence can be extracted from the beast."
Logan stopped there.
Marcus listened and knew that there was nothing on that list that he could do, at least not in the near future.
Though he did consider the one that required him to kill beasts. He thought it would be convenient as he also needed Blood Essence and the beasts' blood. It was more like sourcing his needs on his own. However, he didn't think he was strong enough to start hunting down beasts that were above him by far.
Even though he had killed Level 14 Vorathis Minxs as a Level 0, those beasts were considered weak and would even be called domesticated by most people of the Second Ring. They didn't produce Blood Essence at such a stage.
The beasts that did were all in level 30s and above. Marcus didn't think for a second that he could take on a beast that high-level at this stage.
Wait, can I sell Acupoints positions?
Immediately the thought came to mind, and he posed the question to Logan.
Logan shook his head. "Yes, you can, both Minor and Major Acupoints positions could be sold. They are very expensive too. However, most people avoid doing that… I can see that you are thinking of doing the same. Captain has already sold about half of the acupoints mentioned in his Cultivation Art, covering a huge part of his debt. But he left a few hidden. Though I won't ask you not to sell it, I'll only advise you not to."
"I don't plan on selling the acupoints positions mentioned in his Cultivation Art… I have a few that I found by chance… I saw them when I was awakening."
"What?" Logan exclaimed. Surely it wasn't impossible for that to happen. The moment of awakening is a volatile moment where a lot of factors could make the experience different for the person in question.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"You do know that if you put this out there and it's an Acupoint that isn't common you will have to prove it. And after selling it once, it will likely be resold by the buyer. Also, you will lose autonomy over the knowledge of its position."
"There's no point in keeping it a secret for long if it can also be found by others. One day or another, if it hasn't been found yet, it will be."
Logan nodded his head.
"How about you let me know where it's located and I'll let you know if it's a mainstream acupoint." He added.
Marcus paused and looked at him as a new understanding dawned on him.
He seems to be a different person when money's involved.