Chapter 50 - Planning for the Best
Benton fell immediately in love.
Not with the cultivator’s master—a dude—obviously, but with that guy’s sword.
It flew. It was a real flying sword, and Benton wanted one more than he’d wanted anything in either life.
Admittedly, he knew flying swords were a thing from Su’s memories, but that was kind of like knowing that superheroes were a thing because he’d watched all the Avengers movies. Seeing one actually being used in person was a whole different story, like you’re walking down the street and suddenly Iron Man flies down and lands in front of you. In real life.
To really utilize one of the devices like they should be used, one needed to reach Golden Core. Twenty-two points. Just twenty-two points. Spending them would be totally worth it to be able to fly.
Not that he could in good conscience justify such a thing.
Of course, a more immediate concern was the cultivator who was landing in front of him, the one who was definitely real and definitely angry. From the control he demonstrated over the flying sword, he was at least early Golden Core.
Maybe he’d start a fight. That would justify spending the twenty-two points.
By reflex, Benton almost scanned the newcomer, but he thought better of it. Through Foundation Establishment, it was highly unlikely that a cultivator would be able to sense the source of such a scan. If the flying man was actually a major realm above that level, things changed. Su’s memories put it at about a fifty fifty chance that the attempt would be detected.
Worse, the cultivator might be able to gain information from the power of Benton’s scan, and there was no way to know what conclusion that observation would lead the man to. For what was surely about to happen, it was far better to remain as complete a mystery as possible.
Benton slightly inclined his head toward the man as one would do for a cultivator who was of a similar level when one didn’t know which of the two held supremacy. Importantly, the same gesture could be used when a cultivator of a higher level wished to give face to one of a lower realm.
The man paused, obviously having expected a much different response. He came to a dead stop, staring at Benton intensely.