After some deliberation,
Xu Xi made his decision: options one, two, three, and five.
These included the realm of a Sanctuary Magus,
mastery of all magic, including forbidden spells,
an enhanced elemental perception talent,
and the first "Gray Rekindling" wand.
The first three were chosen to enhance his strength, while the wand was for commemoration and collection. As for why he didn't choose the power of faith, the reason was simple.
So-called faith,
at its core, is about harvesting the power of devotion, the piety of believers.
This is a time-consuming, tedious, and complex process, requiring Xu Xi to establish a church, spread its doctrines, and painstakingly maintain the purity of his followers' faith.
It's worth noting that the natural cooldown time of the simulator is only ten thousand days,
or just over 27 years.
With each simulation, Xu Xi's strength would grow significantly, whereas gathering faith in the real world for 27 years would likely yield little progress.
This is evident from the gods of the magical world.
To purify faith, the gods went to great lengths, creating invasions by foreign races and divine miracles. Yet, despite all their efforts, there was no noticeable improvement.
From this, it's clear that relying on faith to enhance strength is an extremely time-consuming endeavor.
"Actually, if I were to streamline my choices, I could exclude option two, the magic, since I have all the memories of my cultivation. It would just mean starting over."
"But since I can choose four rewards, saving some time is always a good thing."
[Ding, rewards selection complete. Beginning distribution—]
As Xu Xi confirmed his choices,
the simulator's interface began to flicker, and lines of text rapidly disappeared, replaced by the rewards materializing into reality.
The Sanctuary-level spiritual power from the simulated world directly descended into Xu Xi's real body.
Earth, wind, water, and fire surged around him.
Light, darkness, thunder, and air were summoned effortlessly.
One by one, elemental forces emerged from the void, falling under the control of Xu Xi's spiritual power.
In an instant, he broke through to the Sanctuary Magus realm!
"Indeed, with the help of the simulator, two entirely different supernatural systems not only avoid conflict but complement and assist each other."
"Cultivation allows me to ascend, while magic enables me to become a god."
"Quite interesting."
Xu Xi suddenly felt his body lighten, a sign of his evolution and a leap in his life's essence.
Freed from the limitations of mortal wisdom and the joint blockade of the gods, the extraordinary traits of a Sanctuary Magus gradually enhanced Xu Xi's body.
This also propelled his cultivation realm in the Golden Core Realm to break through.
With a whoosh, his dantian erupted with surging spiritual energy, and Xu Xi's body trembled slightly as he entered the Late Golden Core Stage.
Another whoosh, and his Golden Core reached its peak perfection.
Crack—
The Nascent Soul broke free from the Golden Core, and in a single breath, Xu Xi advanced to the Early Nascent Soul Stage.
Not only that, but a wealth of complex knowledge transformed into instinct, quickly solidified into muscle memory. With a casual gesture, Xu Xi summoned the magic from the simulated world.
"Unlike the cultivation system, where power is concentrated within oneself,"
"magic is essentially a process of communicating with and controlling the world, like solving a problem by using one's own formulas to manipulate the world's elements."
"This is also why there are so few mages in the real world."
"Because the magic obtained by the Supernatural United Bureau comes from parameters of another world. To use it in the real world, one must replace it with real-world parameters."
"Unexpectedly, the simulator directly skipped this process for me, allowing my magic to be used anytime, anywhere."
Gazing at the earth, wind, water, and fire floating in his hand,
Xu Xi was somewhat surprised.
But upon further reflection, it made perfect sense.
The supernatural practitioners of the real world could only rely on their own slow cultivation, lacking a solid foundation, which naturally made their strength superficial.
Xu Xi, however, was different.
He had diligently engaged in simulations, and with the simulator's help, he instantly became a Sanctuary Magus. The solidity of his foundation was evident!
"This is the difference."
Xu Xi retracted his vast and mighty spiritual power.
Then, with a thought, he dispersed the elements surrounding him.
"With the strength of a Sanctuary Magus, I can essentially walk unimpeded in the real world. Even if I encounter demigods or wandering immortals, the Eternal Tear Drop can protect me."
"Thinking about it, I... seem invincible?"
Xu Xi once again marveled at how delicious his sister's "soft rice" truly was.
He opened his palm, facing upward, and the final simulation reward appeared out of thin air—a charred, blackened wooden wand.
The wand felt rough in his hand, burnt beyond recognition.
But faintly,
he could still make out some resemblance to its former self.
"If Krisha were here, she would probably be delighted," Xu Xi murmured, staring at the wand in his hand. He reminisced about the days when he had taught the witch, and after a long while, he placed it on the bedside table.
Its position was near the sugar jar.
"Mentor..."
"Brother..."
For some reason,
Xu Xi suddenly felt a tremor in his heart, his entire body shivering. Faintly, as if hearing familiar voices echoing in his ears.
"Krisha? Mo Li?"
The sunlight outside was dazzling.
It streamed into the room, slanting across Xu Xi's face.
Strangely, on this scorching summer day, Xu Xi didn't feel the slightest bit of heat.
He was filled with doubt, first glancing at the carefully placed wand, then at the porcelain sugar jar. After confirming that neither showed any abnormalities, he slowly relaxed.
"Is this a side effect of the simulation?"
"Did I simulate for so long that I'm now hearing things in the real world?"
Xu Xi fell into deep thought.
With his current Sanctuary-level strength, gathering supernatural items to recharge the simulator for a new session would be much easier.
But this sudden incident made Xu Xi feel that taking a slightly longer break before the next simulation might be better.
"I really need to rest properly."
"Even as a Nascent Soul cultivator and Sanctuary Magus, if I don't rest well, my body can still play tricks on me."
Xu Xi reached out.
He adjusted the positions of the wand and the sugar jar slightly.
After ensuring that neither would fall or be directly exposed to the sun, he nodded in satisfaction and left the bedroom.
"At the rate of gaining one memento per simulation,"
"I need to prepare a larger display cabinet. Keeping these items by the bedside isn't ideal; they're prone to collecting dust."
"Additionally."
"I lack a suitable wand. As a Sanctuary Magus, I can cast spells without one, but a good wand could enhance my magic's potency by twenty to thirty percent."
"Perhaps, by combining artifact forging techniques with wand-making craftsmanship, I could create a weapon that merges the qualities of a flying sword and a wand?"
After tallying up the rewards from the simulation,
Xu Xi quickly left.
He intended to plan out his future combat system, seeking a more balanced approach that integrated both cultivation and magic.
Unbeknownst to him, after he departed, the distance between "Gray Rekindling" and the sugar jar subtly increased—just a tiny shift, but noticeable nonetheless.