Collecting Rent From All Realms, Even Empresses Must Pay Tribute
Ch. 118 - The Mage

Seeing Lilith appear before him, Ye Chuan smiled and snapped his fingers. 

To her surprise, spirit essences appeared one after another, floating in the air.

"Where did you get these?" Lilith blinked her large, round eyes, truly puzzled. How did Ye Chuan get more spirit essence?

Although she had been mostly asleep these past few days, she would have sensed any significant soul energy fluctuations.

It was as if Ye Chuan had conjured these spirit essences out of thin air.

Seeing the arrogant loli's bewildered expression, Ye Chuan felt a sense of satisfaction. 

He presented the spirit essences to Lilith. "Here, use these to restore your soul power."

"..." Lilith was silent for a few seconds, then devoured the stronger spirit essences, refining them.

After replenishing her soul power, Ye Chuan noticed that Lilith seemed slightly taller, and her… assets… had also grown a little.

Just a little.

After absorbing all the spirit essences, Lilith looked at Ye Chuan. 

He still had that same nonchalant expression, seemingly not expecting anything in return. He had even said that he only wanted her trust.

"I won't treat you unfairly after I recover my strength," Lilith said, then turned into a stream of light and returned to the jade pendant. But before she disappeared, Ye Chuan thought he heard a soft "thank you."

And a strange purple core remained in her place.

Ye Chuan looked at the item Lilith had left him, picked it up curiously, and stored it in his backpack. He opened the item information.

[Item: Archmage's Source Power

After use, unlocks a Magic Core without any requirements (Can learn magic after obtaining a Magic Core).]

Oh?

It seemed like a good item. Did this mean he could learn magic now?

Ye Chuan didn't mind having more tricks up his sleeve. Seeing the gift from Lilith, he used it immediately.

Purple light surged into his body, merging with his spiritual energy and flowing through his meridians. 

The power coalesced, forming a core in his dantian.

It wasn't exactly a core, more like a small vortex of energy, constantly radiating power.

"Is this magic power?" Ye Chuan extended his hand, and purple light, mixed with the power of chaos, gathered in his palm, looking mysterious and profound.

The aura was similar to spiritual energy, just slightly different.

Suddenly, Ye Chuan snapped his fingers, as if struck by an idea.

He had a brilliant plan.

Ye Chuan summoned the Thunder Peachwood Sword and tried controlling it with magic power.

Although he wasn't proficient in using magic power yet, he quickly found that the sword floated under his control!

It worked!

Ye Chuan's eyes lit up. If he could use magic power like spiritual energy, wouldn't that effectively double his power?

Double the power meant double the combat strength!

"Awesome!" Ye Chuan, satisfied with Lilith's gift, took out his phone and checked the app, as he hadn't checked the rewards yet.

As expected, Lilith's favorability had increased.

[Daily Income: 9000 → 15000, high probability of obtaining magic-related items]

[Daily Points: 25 → 40]

As expected of an S-Rank tenant, Ye Chuan nodded in satisfaction.

He couldn't have imagined this before.

[Obtained a Lilith-related item. Added to backpack.]

Oh?

Another item drop?

Ye Chuan opened his backpack and found a strange candy.

[Item: Strange Candy

Increases cultivation realm by one level without any requirements (Usable at low levels).]

Increases cultivation by one level without any requirements?!

What a magical item!

Ye Chuan looked at the candy in his backpack and took it out. It was wrapped in blue packaging, a thumb-sized candy inside.

It looked and smelled like an ordinary candy, nothing special.

"Can I eat this?" Ye Chuan wondered.

Would it be more worthwhile to give it to Bai Qianshuang?

After all, she was already at the mid Golden Core realm, two major realms above him—but he quickly dismissed the idea, remembering that it was only usable at low levels.

He didn't know if Bai Qianshuang was considered "low level."

Was Golden Core considered a low-level cultivation realm? Ye Chuan wasn't sure.

If it didn't work, it would be a huge loss. Although he often received item drops, a realm-increasing item like this was probably rare.

Whatever, increasing his own strength was the priority.

Ye Chuan tossed the candy into his mouth.

Compared to those pills, this candy wasn't bad at all.

The candy melted in his mouth, a warm current spreading through his body, and he felt his strength increase!

[You have entered the Mid Foundation Establishment realm.]

Ye Chuan nodded in satisfaction. He was leveling up just by lying around.

He then checked the mission interface. 

Ever since he had missed a bunch of mission rewards, he had developed the habit of checking for unclaimed rewards after increasing a tenant's favorability.

As expected, scrolling down, he found an unclaimed mission reward.

[Mission: Become a Mage (Completed)]

It seemed that obtaining the Magic Core had triggered this mission.

Ye Chuan claimed the reward and found a card in his backpack.

[Item: Realm Synchronization Card (Magic)

Increases magic realm to match your highest cultivation realm. Usable up to Tier 3.]

Huh?

Did this mean…

Ye Chuan used the card and felt the magic power within him surge.

He looked inwards and saw that the Magic Core in his dantian had grown larger, and his magic power had increased by a level.

[You have entered Tier 2 Mage.]

Now that he was a mage, Ye Chuan opened the Point Shop and redeemed several magic spells from the Magic category.

[Fireball]

[Ice Blade]

[Magic Shield]

His favorite was the Magic Shield. He released his magic power, and a protective barrier enveloped him.

It was similar to the spiritual energy shield he used to deflect bullets, but this one provided 360-degree protection and required almost no mental effort to maintain.

Not only that, but after discovering that he could use magic power like spiritual energy, he also found that he could use spiritual energy to cast magic spells.

"A bit of a mixed bag, but very useful."