Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

After cultivating for some time, the group left to find more stars.

Upon Ronron’s suggestion, they decided to visit a few green and yellow spots before they moved on to the red spots. Red spots took a lot longer than the others did, and Ronron’s greatest find yet had been from a yellow spot, so she was more than excited to go to another one.

The first one they arrived at was a green spot that was just a small formation on a wall. Anyone could walk up to it and place their star inside. On the side of it were simple instructions on what to do.

This is the East End Marker, the farthest point in the east of the Red Heaven Realm. Place your star here to earn one star. You may return every day to earn a star. If you are able to do so 300 days in a row, you will earn 500 extra stars.

”500 stars? For doing nothing but walking here and placing your star in it? That’s quite a lot, isn’t it?” Liz asked.

”Is it?” Helen asked as she looked at the text again. ”You would have to come here every day and get in line just to register your star. Doesn’t that make you waste quite a bit of time? Not to mention, you can’t miss a day, so you can’t even join any big challenges that might take more than a day.”

Alex nodded. ”It also means you can’t really go much farther away than the eastern region, since you’ll have to return here every single day.”

”Yeah. Poor folks can’t even take some time off to cultivate, can they?” Ronron asked.

Battlesage nodded along with the group. ”It sounds good for people who are struggling to get stars, though. If you are really weak, you can spend 300 days doing small stuff here and there and get 500 stars. Also, this might keep working even after the first year ends, so this might be a good place to get some stars if you run out.”

”Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that,” Alex said. ”I wonder if there are other markers in the other directions too.”

”If those ones give 500 stars too, then you could just spend your time going through the four directions and get 2000 stars in 300 days,” Ronron said.

Frankly, it wasn’t a bad idea for anyone who was struggling to get stars. But for the few of them, it was useless.

Ronron placed her star into the carved space on the formation, and a second later, a star appeared before her. She took it and walked back. The other four followed her, getting their stars as well.

Once they all received what they had come here for, they left, following their compass.

The next place they went to was another green spot.

This time, a large metal box lay on top of a small mound of packed dirt that people climbed onto one after another. The box was pristine white, with text upon it that changed each time someone walked up to it and placed a star through a hole on top.

A large green banner flew on the side of it, explaining the purpose of the box.

Unlock the box with your registered star and place one star into the box. When 200 people have placed stars into it, a random person will be chosen among all 200 people, and they shall receive the 200 stars.

”Oh? A lottery system,” Helen said the moment she read it.

”Yeah, sounds like a lottery. Of 200 people only,” Liz said.

The box showed the number 146 at the moment, rising by one each time someone walked onto the mound. They went up the dirt mound and placed a star into the box one after another. There were several people there, so by the time Battlesage was done with it, the number had reached 175.

Reaching 200 took no more than five more minutes.

The moment the 200th star was placed into the box, it glowed with a dull gray light for a moment before the light suddenly concentrated and shot out in the direction of someone close by.

An older woman, who had been sitting on some rocks alongside her friend, was surprised when the light landed on her. She brought out her refined star, which was slowly glowing with the same gray color.

Immediately, she got up in excitement.

”I won!”

She walked up to the lottery box, and the box gave her the winnings of 200 stars. Once the woman walked away, the box closed again, with the number on the front now changing to 0.

There was no waiting period. As soon as the number reached 0, people went back up to it once again.

A good chunk of the people who had gained nothing left the area to find other places where the chances were not as impossibly low as this one, leaving behind just enough space for new people to join in.

”One more time!” Ronron asked, so everyone complied.

They spent the next 10 minutes going through the entire thing again and waited for the box to announce the winner when it reached 200 stars.

The box answered, and it was someone else again.

Ronron looked at them with a slightly embarrassed expression. ”Once again?”

”I don’t think we’re gonna win much,” Alex said. ”But if you want to do it again, we can.”

”Thank you!” Ronron said. ”If we get nothing, we can leave.”

Helen and Liz were in no hurry to be anywhere else either, and Battlesage almost looked thankful that they had decided to stick around. The old man had possibly wanted to try this out a few more times, but was ready to move on if the others demanded that they do.

He happily went up the mound to place his star among the very first people.

And as always, the lottery didn’t land on them. Someone else got the 200 stars.

”I’m done with this now,” Ronron said with a disappointed look. ”We can leave.”