Who Said A Mosquito Can't Cultivate?

Ding!

'Blood Energy Transfer Lv. MAX -> Efficient Blood Transfer Lv. 1'

And with this being upgraded, the amount of points I have consumed so far after s.u.c.k.i.n.g 37 deer bone dry had now gone up to 11 thousand points. Well, to be more exact, I had already consumed 11 thousand and a half points, but for simplicity's sake, it's 11 thousand, leaving me with over 55 thousand more points to suck and consume.

Hmm...what should I upgrade next? I've upgraded my physique, my Second Blood Storage, my main blood storage, my blood s.u.c.k.i.n.g efficiency, and even the skill that I thought was useless, the Blood Energy Transfer skill.

Hmm...do I really have nothing else to upgrade? Do I have to go back and upgrade my physique again? If I did do that, I wouldn't probably go up by a lot of levels, seeing that each level would consume more and more points of blood as it goes. I don't know if it's exponential or a logarithmic increase, but what I do know for sure is that it involves math, and it's the big kind of math.

Well...now that I think about it, I did neglect a feature that I was eager to have a while ago. Of course, it's nothing else other than the feature I unlocked after awakening to my current bloodline, the Nihility Cherubim bloodline.

This feature allowed me to unlock my meridians and even allow me to experience the feeling of gathering and absorbing qi like in those web novels I've read in my previous life. The feature that allowed me to truly have a first glimpse of experience towards the ultimate path of cultivation...ah...who am I kidding. These words are complete and utter bullshit.

It's the Qi Gathering feature.

Ding!

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Qi Gathering

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Qi: 4/10

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Qi Gathering Technique

Technique: Qi Gathering for Simpletons (4 points to upgrade)

Grade: Grassroots (Level 1)

Proficiency: 90% (+8%)

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Meridians (expand/close)

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Of course, that was not the only feature that I still haven't tampered that much with yet. There was also the accompanying feature of the Qi Gathering feature, the Meridian feature. To be honest, this Meridian feature might just become a hell for me in the future.

Ding!

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Meridians

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Level 0:

Grand Head Meridian (0/1) - 4 points to upgrade

First Dantian (0/1) - 4 points to upgrade

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Level 1 (unlocked after maxing Level 0 Meridians)

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And with that, I have three things to upgrade. The qi gathering technique, the grand head meridian, and the first dantian. Wait a second...I was pretty sure that I needed 5 points to upgrade the qi gathering to the next level, but now it just needs 4 points.

Oh, that's right. That's the effect of the newly evolved Efficient Blood Transfer doing its work. Now I wonder, if I evolved it further, would it give me a greater cut to how much points I would need to use?

Well duh, that's a given.

...wait a f.u.c.k.i.n.g second.

Since the Efficient Blood Transfer skill reduces the amount of points needed to upgrade skills and other stuff by a certain amount, as long as it uses points of Impure Blood Energy, does that mean...

The amount of blood needed to upgrade my physique is reduced as well?

Ding!

I then opened up the Body Refinement feature without hesitation, looking with intense glee that the amount needed to upgrade a part was reduced by 100 points, only needing 400 points to upgrade it. Well...it is a significant decrease, but it's still a lot nonetheless.

I focused my sights back on the Meridian feature, consuming 8 points to upgrade the grand head meridian and the first dantian to its maximum level.

Ding!

'8 points of Impure Blood Energy have been consumed.'

'Grand Head Meridian (0/1) -> (MAX)'

'First Dantian (0/1) -> (MAX)'

'Due to maxing out the Level 0 Meridians, the Level 1 Meridians, the Brain and Head Meridians, are now unlocked.'

Whoosh! Whoosh!

At the very instant the notification from the system was finished alerting me of what I have done, a warm breeze enveloped my body, only to seep in through my pores as a gentle yet slightly cold energy. This then coursed through where the grand head meridian and first dantian were, seemingly giving me the feeling of these two holes in my body being expanded by a significant margin. I don't see parts of my body bloating up though, so did it really expand?

Well...the only way of knowing if that was the case would be to check how much qi I could store, right? Now that I think about it, that would only allow me to see if it had an effect on the first dantian, but how about the grand head meridian? Would I have to absorb qi?

Well...I don't mind doing one circulation.

Ding!

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Qi Gathering

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Qi: 4/20

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Qi Gathering Technique

Technique: Qi Gathering for Simpletons (5 points to upgrade)

Grade: Grassroots (Level 1)

Proficiency: 90% (+8%)

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Meridians (expand/close)

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First off, it worked. The amount of qi I could store has been increased by 10 points. And now, let me see what effects upgrading the grand head meridian has brought me.

Blank, tune, succ, move.

Whoosh!

'You have obtained 1 Qi.'

'Proficiency has been increased by 10%'

'You have reached the maximum proficiency.'

After absorbing that one strand of qi, I definitely felt an increase in speed when I was absorbing qi and moving it towards the dantian. Well, I guess it's either due to my incredibly high proficiency or the fact that the grand head meridian must have really done something to speed it up. Either way, the faster I could absorb qi, the better. To be honest, I don't know where I'm gonna use the qi. Am I really gonna have to wait for cultivation to unlock?

Oh, and also, after maxing both the first dantian and the grand head meridian, I unlocked the next set of meridians, which are the brain and head meridians. Am I going to unlock them right now? That would be a big no.

My reason? It's because the more meridians I unlock, the more meridians that the absorbed qi has to go through, making the qi gathering process multiple times harder. Well...that's how I think about it anyway. If that isn't the case, it's still a no for me...for now.

After that, I went back to the main screen for Qi Gathering, and then consumed 4 points to upgrade my qi gathering technique.

Ding!

'Qi Gathering Technique has been upgraded.'

'Grade: Grassroots Lv. 1 -> Lv. 2'

'Technique has been changed to 'Qi Gathering for Simpletons Volume 2'.'

'Proficiency has been halved.'

Huh? What? My proficiency was halved after upgrading my qi gathering technique? Well, thinking about it from a cultivation standpoint, it kind of makes sense.

Imagine it this way. Say you have a cultivation manual and it's the first volume. You eventually master it and use it naturally like your arms and legs. But then, one day, you come across the same cultivation manual, but at the same time not, as it is an extension of the first volume you had. Now, at first, you thought you could also control it naturally like your arms and legs, but you can't on the first attempt.

That is because it is only similar to the first volume you had. In other words, you have great experience in using the first volume, where only some of that experience is useful when using it on the extension of the first volume.

Oh well. If I lose proficiency, then so be it. I could just gather qi again and again to regain the lost proficiency.

And so...I upgraded the qi gathering technique by multiple levels.

Ding!

'Qi Gathering Technique has been upgraded.'

'Grade: Grassroots Lv. 2 -> Lv. MAX'

'Technique has been changed to 'Qi Gathering for Beginners Volume 5.'

'Proficiency has been halved.'

I instantly upgraded the qi gathering technique by 8 levels, allowing it to reach the maximum level for its grade as I consumed 140 points of Impure Blood Energy.

Not only that, my proficiency was now at a level that could be said where I have to start from scratch again. But then again, I had the power of the Space physique, allowing me to always have 8% proficiency. I only realized that this proficiency was permanent after I upgraded the qi gathering technique to level 2.

I'm pretty sure that I could gather 10 points of qi within one circulation now, but at the same time, I'm not sure. I could go and try it out right now, but my proficiency is pitifully low that it would probably take up a good chunk of time before knowing. I could be using that time to suck more blood...which was something I was currently doing, moving onto the 38th deer as I maxed out my storage capacity, using the blood to level up my Second Blood Storage.

Now, you might be wondering, I just recently evolved my Second Blood Storage to the first evolution tier, increasing my storage capacity by 200 points. Why would I be levelling my Second Blood Storage once again?

Well...my answer to that is...you can't have enough storage. At the storage's current level, I would barely have enough to upgrade 3 parts from my current physique level. If I did not mind s.u.c.k.i.n.g then consuming repeatedly like it was a monotonous cycle, then sure, I'd be fine with that.

But I do mind. I'm a living being, not a blood s.u.c.k.i.n.g robot. I hate going through that boring cycle. A better cycle would be to suck multiple times before consuming every point in one go. It's also better for me, who likes to savor the taste of blood.

And so, with that reason in mind, I proceeded to kill and suck the blood out of 100 deer after my decision was made firm, bringing my total succ count to 138 deer as I upgraded my Second Blood Storage to its maximum level.

Ding!

'Expanded Blood Storage Lv. 14 -> Lv. MAX'

Consuming around 100 deer gave me around 35 thousand points to consume, where all of that went to my second blood storage, expanding my storage capacity by a few thousand points. Do I regret using up 35 thousand points to expand my storage by a few thousand points? No, not at all.

If I were given the choice to use the 35 thousand points on something else or my second blood storage, I'd still pick the latter. Call me stupid or whatever, but I have my reasons behind doing this. I don't like feeling that I have a lot of power in my hands. I just want to wield a decent amount of power. Not too much, and not average either. Just a little bit above average. I'm not hellbent on becoming ultra powerful anyway, I just want to be an immortal mosquito, which just takes time.

Anyways, after s.u.c.k.i.n.g up 100 deer, the moon had finally gone down to the horizon as the sun started to gradually rise up, slowly bringing light to the surroundings as 138 corpses were scattered around the clearing, leaving 114 live deer for me to look at. Sooner or later, that'll only be left to 50.

Well...64 more deer to suck blood out of. What do I do with these remaining blood banks? I'm pretty sure I could still max out the storage and blood efficiency skills and not make that much of a dent on the remaining blood banks. So...what should I do?

Hmmm....

Now that I think about it, I could go ahead and do that thing.

What could that thing be?

Well...it's the fact that I could create another elemental physique!

That's a hole where even a ton of blood points couldn't even make a dent, right?

...right?