Ancestor Above - Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Special Buildings
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The Amulet Room was a building made especially for an amulet craftsman.
The surroundings did not matter as much to an amulet craftsman than to an alchemist or a forger. However, the success rate of an amulet craftsman would significantly increase if they had a good Amulet Room and quality ingredients.
Out of all of his side occupations, Lu Qing was the most adept at creating amulets. His technique in creating amulets was slightly better than his ability in forging equipment.
After all, the cost of learning how to create amulets was lower, which made his advancement relatively faster. Amulets provided decent support in battle if they were made beforehand and carried along by the cultivator. Several cultivators who had no motivation to research side occupations at least learned some techniques on amulet crafting.
There was once an Amulet Room in Yuyan Mountain. The Amulet Room was well looked after by Lu Qing and did not pale in comparison to the Amulet Room in the Qingfeng Sect. Based on his estimate, if he judged the Amulet Room he created many years ago on a conventional standard, his Amulet Room might have reached Level Four.
However, when the Zhao Clan attacked them many years ago, they had pillaged and destroyed Lu Qing’s Amulet Room during the battle.
The Zhao Clan could not have moved the large Amulet Room. All they could do was dismantle several valuable pieces of material and then burn down the room with a torch.
The clan faced several troubles after the war. They had to inject funds to rebuild many places. Thus, the Amulet Room became less of a priority.
It had not been rebuilt even today.
Lu Qing could exchange for a blueprint with the “Level One Amulet Room” option that he refreshed. He could build an Amulet Room based on the requirements stated on the blueprint.
The ability to build special buildings was also concentrated among a few clans, factions, or individuals. For example, building an Amulet Room was not as simple as constructing a building. They had to get people to set up the necessary arrays as well as look at the Feng shui. Not only did they have to prepare the materials, but also they had to pay others for their expertise.
Now that there was a blueprint, they could save on the labor fees. The members of the clan could build the Amulet Room themselves.
Lu Qing took a look at the materials needed for a Level One Amulet Room. He estimated that it would cost about 100 Spirit Stones. It was inexpensive. The cost would have easily been tripled if they hired someone from outside the clan to build the Amulet Room for them.
Furthermore, the items created by the system all had a premium quality. The effects of this Amulet Room would be at least 50% more efficient than the average Level One Amulet Room.
Comparatively, the price of 15 Karma was worth it.
The other option was “Level Two Cavern Abode.” It was also a blueprint, but this option was much more interesting.
[Build a Level Two Cavern Abode that would allow a cultivator to train inside. Training in the Cavern Abode will increase the speed of refining the spiritual energy released by the spirit vein. Material Cost: 500 Spirit Stones. Cost: 60 Karma.]
[Hint: The blueprint only allows the Cavern Abode to be built on Yuyan Mountain.]
It was a Cavern Abode that could increase the speed of cultivation! Why had Lu Qing never heard of something like that in the past?!
A common understanding in the cultivation world was that the better a spirit vein and the surroundings for cultivation was, the faster the speed of a cultivator’s training. However, no one had ever heard of setting up a different Cavern Abode on the same spirit vein to increase the speed of cultivation.
“Unfortunately, this can only be built on Yuyan Mountain… Otherwise, just with this technique alone, the clan would be able to earn a large number of Spirit Stones every year!” Lu Qing thought that way.
If the Lu Clan grasped the technique to set up a Level Two Cavern Abode on any spirit vein, they could set up a workforce and set up Cavern Abodes in all the other clans for massive profit. Just the material cost alone amounted to 500 Spirit Stones. It wouldn’t be too much to ask for 1,000 Spirit Stones for the human resources and skill, would it? As a skill that only they possessed in the Feiyun State, the value of the intellectual property could be doubled again! It would not be expensive to charge a clan 3,000 Spirit Stones to set up a Level Two Cavern Abode for them! 1
It was unfortunate.
However, Lu Qing gave it some thought and gained a rough understanding of how the Level Two Cavern Abode worked.
The system might have created the blueprint after analyzing the characteristics of Yuyan Mountain’s spirit vein. It could target the attributes of Yuyan Mountain’s spirit vein and optimize the effects of gathering spiritual energy.
As this was an optimization unique to the spirit vein on Yuyan Mountain, it would not be suitable to use it on other spirit veins.
Even so, Lu Qing still felt that the option was worth it.
In this world, the most expensive items were things that could aid cultivators in their training and advancement.
Comparatively, trading 60 Karma for a blueprint and the material cost of 500 Spirit Stones for a unique effect was extremely worth it.
There was not much to explain about the third option, “Cultivation Acceleration.”
[You can activate this effect on one member of the clan. Increase the member’s cultivation speed by 20% and reduce the chance of a bottleneck appearing by 15%. Lasts five years. Cost: 25 Karma.]
There was nothing much to explain. It would take effect the moment it was exchanged.
However, for whom to get this option was a question.
Lu Qing did not have to consider the Qi Refining cultivators. Out of the three Foundation Building siblings, Lu Qing first eliminated Lu Chaohe.
He was not playing favorites. There was no need to as they were all his flesh and blood.
At least Lu Qing would not.
Lu Qing approached the question logically. He wanted to see who could gain the most out of the Cultivation Acceleration.
Lu Qing finally decided to get the option for Lu Mingchao. He also thought that it was most suitable to give the first Level Two Cavern Abode they built to Mingchao. 10
Out of the three siblings, Lu Chaoxi had the greatest talent, followed by Mingchao, and then Chaohe.
Chaohe did not have much of a chance to advance to the Initial Enlightenment Stage. He knew that and thus spent more of his energy on managing the clan. Comparatively, Lu Chaoxi did not spend as much time on the matters of the clan than his Seventh Brother did.
On the other hand, what Chaoxi lacked now was not cultivation speed but life span.
He still had ten years to live. He would be able to reach the ninth tier of the Foundation Building Stage even if he did nothing. However, the accumulation and resources needed to advance to the Initial Enlightenment Stage were not something that could be solved with just some cultivation speed.
Compared to her two brothers, Mingchao had a brighter future. She was already a cultivator with Double Spiritual Roots. She was only 77 this year, yet she was already a fifth-tier Foundation Building cultivator. If she could stay in the Level Two Cavern Abode and be continuously supplied with increased cultivation speed, she might be able to reach the ninth tier of the Foundation Building Stage by the time she was 90. If she received ample resources, she should be able to advance to the Initial Enlightenment Stage by the time she was a hundred years old.
The Yin-essence Water Jade from the Water Ghost Lake was a treasure that aided the cultivation of cultivators with Water Spiritual Roots. If Lu Chaoxi were unsuccessful and could not exchange it for a treasure that assisted cultivators with Lightning Spiritual Roots in advancing to the Initial Enlightenment Stage, then he could still leave the Yin-essence Water Jade behind for Lu Mingchao.
With her intelligence, her Double Spiritual Roots, and the support of a treasure, there was a high possibility that she would advance to the Initial Enlightenment Stage.
Lu Qing’s choice was the one with the most guarantee.
Lu Qing completed the transaction without any hesitation!
This way, Lu Qing had spent another 100 Karma.
He decided to go all out and exchanged for two more items…
“Level One Resource Scouting” and “Level One Spiritual Root Enhancement.”
The former had once helped the clan find the herd of Water-Spirit Horses. However, this time, he did not find anything when he searched the area 200 miles north of Yuyan Mountain.
Lu Qing vomited.
“I wasted 15 Karma… As it turned out, this option does not guarantee success…”
The latter was even cheaper. It only cost 10 Karma, but its effects were much weaker.
A Level One Spiritual Root Enhancement could only improve four Spiritual Roots to three Spiritual Roots or optimize the Spiritual Roots of someone who had three Spiritual Roots. Moreover, it could only be used for children before the age of six.
Lu Qing found a child from the clan who looked intelligent and had four Spiritual Roots and gave him the enhancement.
After all, it was only 10 Karma. It was cheap!
People with four Spiritual Roots had no potential. They would have reached their limits at the ninth-tier of the Qi Refining Stage and had slim chances of reaching the Foundation Building Stage.
However, a person with three Spiritual Roots was akin to a normal cultivator and had the potential to reach the Foundation Building Stage.