Attribute Farming System
Chapter 119 - 119: 4th Layer Nascent Soul Realm, 1.6 Trillion Attribute Value

— Some time later —

Taking nothing with him from Clear Mind Temple, Knox descended the hundreds of stairs of the mountain-temple before walking forward. He just continually walked, not stopping for anything.

Time trudged right alongside him, and as Knox walked, his long raven-black hair gradually returned to him. Weeks turned into months, and months into… years.

3 years later.

Knox now stood atop the lip of a cliff that overlooked an unbelievably large steampunk city. Spiritual Energy of extremely high levels flowed throughout the city like the lifeforce of a giant, with the inhabitants far exceeding the average cultivation of those in the Elemental Nations.

"I'm among the weakest now," Knox said with a frigid voice, his face just as devoid of feeling. "But just like before, I'll rise to the top. I have to. Else what other reason was I reborn in this world with this cheat-like System…?"

"Big Brother," sounded the soft, mellowed voice of a devastatingly beautiful woman, her features possessing the poisonous allure of a cobra. "Will this be our new home?"

Taking what felt like the first good look at Lily in who knew how long, Knox revealed a complicated expression.

'That little mischievous girl from back then has really grown up. So mature… So different from how she once was…'

Where did the time go?

He was already nearing 40 years of age, and it made him look back on the past more and more often…

"Haiz…" Knox sighed, shaking his head before refocusing on the enormous city below. "Yes, this will be our new home for the meantime," he said while tightening his grip on Endria, or what was previously named the Sword of the End. "But that doesn't mean we can let our guards down. Remember what I told you, Lily?"

Lily nodded, her exquisite facial features glowing even brighter under the blazing rays of the sun hanging above. "Even if it seems like no one is out to get you, everyone is out to get you," she repeated as if she had heard it a million times. "This world is treacherous, with all out to do whatever it takes to ensure that they survive."

"This is the way of the world," both she and Knox said in sync.

He smiled, ruffling her luscious black hair. "Good girl," he praised like a gracious older brother. "Now, let us figure out what our next step is."

Lily pouted while watching Knox descend the cliff.

"He's always treating me like a kid," she mumbled, a slight blush forming. "What if I don't want to be treated like a kid…? Humurm…"

"You coming?" asked Knox.

Snapping out of it, Lily replied, "Y-Yes!" as she skipped over to him, her previous discontent nowhere to be seen.

"Hmm?" Knox raised a brow, and though he wasn't dense enough not to guess that something was going on with her, he still decided to keep quiet.

On the path of Immortal Cultivation, everyone went their own ways eventually. He couldn't afford to get caught up in her youthful feelings. Not to mention that he wasn't interested in her… in that way.

"Halt!"

A guard's shout came from atop a towering wall that separated the lush outside world from the forest of metal within the Moonlord Kingdom City dubbed Dawnshaw.

Unconsciously, Knox activated System Sight on this guard. A bit of surprise flashed through his expression while glossing through the illusory screen:

{[Fu Hao]}

[Cultivation: Early Nascent Soul]

[Age: 45]

[Profession: Guard]

'Even a regular guard is 45 years old and of the Nascent Soul Realm,' Knox thought. 'The higher-rank Kingdoms truly are of a different league than backwater places like the Elemental Nations.'

"State your business in Dawnshaw City!" The guard bellowed, a bit of annoyance present in his voice.

"We only wish to start a new life inside Dawnshaw City," Knox replied at a decibel level just high enough for the guard to hear. "If you could guide us toward someone who could make this possible, then we'd be indebted to you."

"Indebted to me, huh?" The guard parroted while eyeing the two figures standing below the gate-walls, particularly focusing on the voluptuous hooded woman hiding behind Knox. A ginger smirk formed on the guard's face as he said, "I believe we can work something out. You just… have to leave behind that woman for questioning, heh~"

As soon as Knox heard that, his face darkened. A terrifying pressure then erupted from his deathly gaze, causing the guard's knees to buckle.

"Why don't you just let us in?" Knox asked coldly. "I won't mind sparing your life if you do."

OOOM!

"!!!"

'W-What is this suffocating feeling!?' the guard internally screamed, now drenched in sweat from head to toe. 'This man is even scarier than the Soul Transformation Realm Guard Captain!!'

There were two things that reigned supreme in the Immortal World of Cultivation: Power and Status.

Even if one lacked the necessary Status to sway the emotions of others, Power was always the next best alternative. And at the moment, the guard had already submitted to a power far exceeding his own.

He dared not ogle at Lily any longer.

"P-Please spare my life, kind sir," he pleaded. "Yo-You can pass right through and enter Dawnshaw. I'll even tell you that to acquire temporary citizenship, you just have to head a few miles down District B-5078, and on the right, you'll see a huge government building called 'Internal and External Affairs.'"

*Fwooosh—*

The gates to Dawnshaw City opened up before Knox and Lily, clearly indicating that they could go through. And though Knox felt the urge to mercilessly kill the brazen guard, he stayed his hand, merely flashing a cold glare at him before walking through the gate-doors with Lily.

The guard breathed a sigh of relief after realizing that his head was still attached to his body. It was then that he resolved himself never to let his mouth or eyes do whatever they felt like doing again.

Meanwhile, Lily, who was accompanying Knox, secretly stared at his side-view with a giddy air about her. She remained in a pleasant mood all the way up to going into the Internal and External Affairs Building.

Her trance-like state only ended when she found herself inside a two-story house located at the outskirts of District B-5087. After asking Knox where they were, she learned that this was their new home, and though it was simple and expensive for its size, it was cozy. Much better than the rest of the overpopulated skyscrapers in the downtown parts of the district.

It almost made Lily feel like she and Knox were newlyweds, with this house being their first home. A thought which put her in an even more pleasant mood.

Knox sighed at this sight before sitting himself down on a cultivation mat in his new room. It was then that he pulled up a System Interface that he felt like he hadn't looked at in ages.

BLING!

{[Attribute Farming System]}

[Host: Knox Falazar]

[Cultivation: 4th Layer Nascent Soul]

[Attribute Value (Ordinary): 1.6 Trillion]

[Title: A Thousand Lifetimes, A Thousand Times a Virgin (EX), Shameless Young Master (EX)]

"My System Interface feels so empty without the presence of all my various Attributes," said Knox. "But since passing 1 Trillion cumulative Attribute Points, everything just coalesced into one, becoming Attribute Value."

This didn't mean that Attribute Orbs labeled Strength, Agility, SHF, and the like didn't still drop from slain or affected foes. It just meant that everything was a lot more compact now, with the difference between Attributes pretty meaningless at these higher stages.

"I'm still a ways away from reaching the Soul Formation Realm," Knox noted. "And unless I want to spend the next few dozen years working toward such a Realm with no resources, I'll need to figure out how to improve my Attributes. My Peak-Saint Rank Cultivation Talent also won't cut it for much longer. That is, assuming I want to become the strongest this land has to offer…"

With just a quick Divine Sense scan of the surrounding couple dozen Districts, Knox was able to make out the repressed auras of multiple existences above the Soul Transformation Realm. And if his guess was correct, then there were surely countless more waiting in hiding.

It was this understanding of the world around him that made Knox realize he had a very long journey ahead of him.

This was no longer the Elemental Nations…

"And yet, even with this sudden surge in powerhouses, I'm still within the bounds of the Azura Empire," said Knox, his mind failing to process the true scope of things. "An Empire so massive that I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of it…"

But at least he was slowly but surely ascending the endless ladder that was the World of Immortal Cultivation. And with his Divide Grade Lower Outer God Physique, it was inevitable that he'd one day glimpse above the net that the Azura Empire cast over them all.

Being reminded of Divine Grade things, Knox redirected his attention from his essentially stagnated Outer God Sky 1 Rank. His eyes fell on the 'Forgotten Library,' which was the third feature of the Relic Cube.