I Devour the Multiverses and Collect Worlds, Beauties, and Trophies

My First Skills and Journey to the Blood Moon Sect

The next month passed rather uneventfully. During the day, I performed various tasks such as cleaning, delivering meals and messages to guests, and changing and washing bedding after guests left. The inn featured a restaurant with a small bar area where I had my meals. One day, I witnessed a fight break out between two patrons, but their excessive alcohol intake caused them to pass out snoring on the ground halfway through. I couldn't even figure out what they were fighting about.

I observed that Tamara's primary role was to put a smile on people's faces as they walked through the door, and she jumps up giving them an enthusiastic greeting. While she may not have been particularly bright, she excelled at making people feel welcome.

At night, Kitty had me practicing the skill of breaking down objects into energy without consuming them. The concept was to inject the energy I already possessed into the object, dissolving it into its base energy and then reclaiming everything I expended, plus the newly acquired energy. It took me about three weeks to master the technique on small objects while keeping my palms undissolved and preventing them from appearing sunburnt.

This practice finally earned me my first active skill, "Devour." Kitty informed me that as I acquired more energy, I would be able to devour larger objects and at a faster rate.

Another issue I needed to address was that no one in this world could sense my energy to determine my level, as it was significantly different from the astral energy used by this world's practitioners. Kitty taught me how to mimic the astral energy cultivation, which granted me my first passive skill, "Astral Energy Cultivation Mimic." I could use it in this world and turn it off in the next if the power was different.

I learned that the currency in this world called "Astrals," consisted of silver coins embedded with a special circuit containing astral power to prevent counterfeiting. After I purified them, they contained some extra energy due to these circuits, though it wasn't a significant amount. Nevertheless, it was better than regular objects.

I discovered that it was more advantageous to trade my coins for astral crystals, which held significantly more energy than the coins. Apparently, some animals in this world produced crystals by absorbing astral energy, similar to humans. However, unlike humans, whose third step involved condensing the energy, animals achieved this on the first step, resulting in smaller crystals. Different animals produced crystals of varying grades, ranging from 1 to 5. When mortals used these crystals they were for forging and medicine, but the sects had many other uses for them that I would need to explore later.

I also learned that the butterfly that had been hanging around me was extremely rare and would have contained a rank 5 crystal, worth enough to feed a mortal family of three for ten years. Thinking about how much energy it contained, if Kitty ever took on human form, I'd be tempted to strangle her for not informing me of this valuable information.

On the day before the sects began recruiting new members, after I finished my work, I had saved up enough to purchase a grade 2 crystal. After absorbing it that night, I had accumulated 9.2 energy, which allowed me to mimic the middle stage of the Astral Refinement realm. Considering my age and the fact that even geniuses could only reach the Supreme Attainment realm, I expected that gaining entry into a sect should be relatively easy.

The following morning, I said my goodbyes to Lorrie and Tamara and set off toward the city gates. It appeared that I wasn't the only one heading in that direction, as there were more people than usual moving in the same direction.

Upon exiting the city gates, I saw several sects with stalls and banners advertising their names, as well as requirements and benefits for different stages. The atmosphere was tense, with disciples from different sects glaring menacingly at each other. Most sects wore robes of various colors to distinguish themselves from the other sects. Each disciple had an armband on their bicep, which likely signified their rank within the sect or cultivation level.