Demoness - I was in a gang of thieves, and there I got resources. The gang was killed and I was taken for sale.

That girl was not very useful in terms of awareness about this kingdom. The life of any small gangs and thieves did not particularly interest him.

Sam was having fun with her, and then he just gave her the gold and sent her outside to take care of herself. Run away or not, he didn't care. Of course, he checked that he did not lose anything, she was a thief after all.

Sam rested and slept well. The next day, leaving the tavern, he saw a young master and three girls next to him. There was no lackeys around.

How unexpected, he thought that some problems would begin with this guy, but he really brought the girls to him instead?

Liam - Brother, I fulfilled your request, these girls are some of the best beauties in the clan.

Hmm, so he brought them from his clan? Sam looked at the girls, they were pretty cute in appearance, but he saw nothing special in them.

In addition, the boy did not seem to explain to them what was the matter at all and brought them in by deception, they were at a loss.

Sam - Never mind, it's okay. Let the girls go and let's go somewhere we can eat and have a nice chat.

The boy approached the girls and began to apologize to them, one of them even slapped him in the face, after which they left in anger.

They went into an obscure place and ordered food.

Sam - Tell me about your clan and what was the story with the girls.

Liam - Brother do not be offended, I am only one of many in the clan, and I myself have only a couple of cultivators in bodyguards. Where else could I get you girls? I had to figure out something. The only idea was to invite them out with some fake story. I am sorry for that one.

Sam nodded and let him continue.

Liam - Well, the clan is essentially the same small sect, only the emphasis is on strengthening the blood relatives. This often happens when there are too many offspring, different branches appear, and so on.

Sam - I see, what do you know about sects? Their cultivation methods and methods of recruiting students.

Liam - Usually in the sects there are no methods of cultivation above the Formation of the Core, the methods of further development are held in the hands of the Burh clan, if you heard about them, maybe someone else has it, but not for sure. Well, to get into a sect, you usually have to either pay a lot, or by acquaintance.

- At times, sects are of course openly recruited into their ranks, but rarely anyone other than the noble and wealthy can qualify.

Sam - What about talented mortals, for example? Can they somehow determine whether a child is talented or not?

Liam - Usually they cannot, therefore, in general, only those mortals are selected who, in one way or another, have already been able to advance to the boundaries of the Qi Condensation stage. Again, these are most often the offspring of the rich. Sects cannot afford to recruit all mortals in a row and spend resources on them, in the hope that their talent will be good. For such a number of mortals, no sect has enough resources. So you just have to choose from the best that is.

Sam was interested in this issue for a reason, after all, how many years it will take him to reach the next stage is unknown. Why put all your eggs in one basket?

The likelihood that he will find something for a breakthrough on the planet is low, the likelihood that he will steal something valuable enough from others is also low, and the likelihood that he will be able to raise his own geniuses who will be useful to him is, again, low.

But what if you add up all three ways? The probability of success will definitely increase, besides, Sam has millions of spiritual stones that have nowhere to go.

There is such an interesting thing as obsession, for sure many people have come across this in one way or another. Obsession can be different, you can be obsessed with a woman, playing, reading, work, art and many other things. This is something like love only slightly different.

For example, Sam was once obsessed with the game, so obsessed that he thought about it constantly, at work, while walking on the streets, even in his sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about it, and thanks to this, his progress in this game was rapid.

This obsession could surely lead a person to the grave, but it could also help him achieve great success in whatever it was. He didn't know if such an obsession would help cultivate and strive for strength, but it was worth a try.

He does not need to spend a lot of time and effort on this, it is enough to select some suitable candidates and give them the opportunity, then he will see the results.

Sam - I understand that sects mostly get rich at the expense of students, do they have other ways to earn money? Your clan turns out to be generally purely family, how do you earn money?

Liam - Sects can earn in different ways, but usually in all sects an internal currency is introduced, such as contribution points. Most of the information, technique, or guidance from elders and some resources can only be purchased with these contribution points.

- For example, the carcass of some beast or plant costs 10 spiritual stones in the city, but if you hand them over to the sect, you will receive only 1 point of contribution. The real value of this contribution point is lower than 10 spirit stones. Of course, they can, for example, sell the carcass of a beast in the city, and then buy contribution points from others for spiritual stones. But the sect in any case will remain to be a winner, because the contribution points must be earned anyway if you want to achieve something in the sect. And every point of contribution that the disciples of the sect have is the profit of the sect.

- Sects can be located in cities, or somewhere far beyond. But clans usually stay in cities and look for business opportunities. For example, I could greatly increase my status in the clan, not only through cultivation, I can, for example, run a successful business with a high income. Well, there are many business options ...

Well, it was too early to think about it anyway.

Sam - And how much does it cost to rent some kind of small mansion, well, how much do the pills cost or what they use to temper the body to prepare it for the stage of Qi Condensation?

Sam began to clarify the information he needed, the guy's name was Liam.

He even explained that you can buy a special communication tablet and leave spiritual print of cultivators on it to communicate with them at a distance. That was something like a simple artifact for a communication. But the distance it works is limited of course.

Sam did not skimp on this and added Liam as his contact.