Chapter Forty-Two: Income and Expenditure

Lang Sheng, exhilarated, eagerly awaited the task reward after successfully submitting the quest item.

He had endured for so long, all for the sake of gaining strength. Did anyone really think he simply wanted to be a good person?

The system did not disappoint him. Soon, he felt a surge of pure, radiant warmth flooding his mind.

He was intimately familiar with this sensation—it was the spiritual energy he used to absorb after concocting a mental core with various formulas. But compared to this new result, those old concoctions were nothing but scraps.

The process had always been cumbersome and time-consuming. The auxiliary materials required were seldom self-produced, mostly imported, and prohibitively expensive—much of his gold had been spent on them.

Moreover, the purity of the spiritual energy extracted was worlds apart. With the old method, he had to absorb and digest it with utmost caution, lest impurities contaminate his own spirit.

Now, the warmth in his mind was so pure, he was confident a single cycle of meditation would suffice to digest it completely.

Yet, amid his delight, he quickly sobered. Sensing carefully with his mind, he realized the quantity was rather small—barely a tenth of what the old method produced.

For example, the mental core he had just submitted contained about forty units of spiritual energy. Using auxiliary materials and absorption, he could extract twenty to thirty units for cultivating his own spirit. The current warmth, however, brought only two to three units.

He forced himself to accept it—concentration was essence, after all. Less was better, he consoled himself. It was safe, worry-free, and spared him the trouble of buying auxiliary materials. All things considered, it wasn't a loss—the efficiency of absorption had greatly increased.

Lang Sheng finished weighing his options and decisively closed his eyes to meditate, employing the "Bronze Level Two Meditation Technique" he had sold to Fan Bei. Compared to Fan Bei, however, his cultivation was far deeper.

Within his sea of consciousness stood a small island. The island was cultivated, fields planted with lush green vegetation. A single glance brought serenity and clarity to the mind.

These plants stretched their emerald leaves, drawing spiritual essence from the waves and tides of the surrounding sea, nourishing themselves.

Among the greenery, a unique bronze-hued plant stood out—its stalk and leaves shimmered with a metallic bronze sheen.

Through meditation, Lang Sheng poured the warmth from his mind directly at the roots of this bronze plant.

This was his meditation process, fundamentally different from Fan Bei's.

Each meditation was an act of sowing and watering. He had to constantly absorb energy from external mental cores to let these crops flourish, expand fields, and sow new seeds.

Otherwise, relying solely on his own meditation, he couldn't sustain the growth.

The bronze plant was his main focus. The soil around it had begun to transform, taking on a metallic quality.

This was the direction of his island's advancement—not outward expansion, but qualitative evolution.

As the warmth was infused, he saw the half-meter tall bronze plant sprout two new bronze leaves, even flashing a hint of silver before it faded.

Excellent.

He withdrew from his sea of consciousness and took out a second gray-white core, larger than the first.

...

Meanwhile, Fan Bei, just finished with lunch, brought Da Bai back to the food storage area.

After cleaning up, the shelter was fully restored. He sighed—his current strength wasn't impressive, less effective than a cannon, but it had its own specificity, enabling feats predecessors could not achieve.

Like a mushroom, no matter how potent, it could never cure cancer.

He stroked Da Bai's powerful muscles, marveling, "Da Bai, as a level-five dog, you really are different."

"That's right, master. My strength is five, agility eight, intelligence two, charm nine. Xiao Bai says my strength is no less than yours now," Da Bai boasted.

"So, ordinary people average four fives?" Fan Bei asked suddenly.

"Yes, Xiao Bai explained it to me that way."

"That sounds about right." Fan Bei nodded.

In terms of charm, whenever he and Da Bai walked together, the eyes of pretty girls always gravitated to Da Bai...

Agility, too—he couldn't compete with Da Bai's nimbleness when it came to snatching food.

"Since you're so strong, you'll handle the last two monsters inside."

"Leave it to me."

With Da Bai's confidence, Fan Bei slowly opened the food storage door.

Having opened it once before, the smell wasn't so overwhelming this time.

Half an hour later, Da Bai strode out proudly, pinning a peanut under his paw.

The peanut was entirely silver—this was the last evil spirit's core.

The penultimate one had been a bronze potato.

Fan Bei picked up the peanut and stored it.

Da Bai hurried to report his merit, "Master, Xiao Bai said I could have killed them all last time if only I'd brought him. This time, I finally got them all. It was hard work."

"Yes, you worked hard. I'll tell the chef to prepare plenty of good food for you. He can now come in and select ingredients—the dishes will be richer from now on," Fan Bei said.

Da Bai immediately drooled.

Fan Bei looked up—the spacious storage area had hundreds, even thousands of compartments. Restoring full operations would be no easy task. It made him realize more hands were needed.

One man, one dog, and a rolling iron ball began their return journey.

Five minutes later, they arrived.

Fan Bei returned to his study and checked the uses of his new loot via "Father of Systems."

"Mutated Potato: Use to directly increase spiritual power by 400 units. If properly processed, can enhance the wisdom and constitution of normal lifeforms. Not edible as is; ordinary life cannot withstand it."

"Mutated Peanut: Use to directly increase spiritual power by 700 units. If properly processed, can enhance the wisdom and constitution of normal lifeforms. Not edible as is; ordinary life cannot withstand it."

He pondered—using them merely to increase spiritual power would waste these ingredients. Enhancing constitution was more valuable to him, since his own attributes couldn't be improved by leveling up.

Besides, there were plenty of ways to acquire spiritual power.

With that in mind, he opened the "Good Person" system page. Maintenance had been completed, nearly a day had passed, and there should be some pleasant surprises.

"System: Good Person."

"User: Lang Sheng."

"Current system status: Running."

"Current daily income: 23 units of spiritual power."

"Current daily expenditure: 5 units of spiritual power. As income exceeds expenditure, the host receives a share: (23-5)*0.95=17.1 units."

Seeing this, Fan Bei was gratified. With a few more powerful hosts like this, Da Bai's Heavenly Dog system—which consumed 100 units daily—would be sustainable, eliminating any concern over deficits.

He turned to the back cover.

"Current total spiritual power income: 21.35 units/day."

"Current total expenditure: 100 units/day."

He understood now—the financial workings of "Father of Systems." If subordinate systems could support themselves, they were independently accounted, and profits were handed over as per the sharing ratio.

For "prodigals" like Da Bai, unable to contribute and reliant on the parent company, unified accounting was necessary—making the burden much heavier.

However, truth be told, Da Bai could have supported himself long ago. He was simply too loyal; every loot dropped by defeated monsters was handed straight over, bypassing the system entirely.

Reflecting on this, Fan Bei felt a pang of guilt. He flipped back to the Good Person system page, where a series of logs appeared.

"Lang Sheng completed Task One, submitted one mental core, rewarded with 2 units of spiritual power, handed over 38 units."

"Lang Sheng completed a task, submitted one mental core, rewarded with 3 units of spiritual power, handed over 57 units."

...