He was back. He was safe. He was a [Level 7] cultivator, and his family was, for the moment, safe.
The adrenaline from the one-finger kill, the white-hot rage, the terror, it all drained away, leaving behind the one, singular, cold fact that had driven him there in the first place.
His sister was an unprotected, [Level 3] talent. And he was 470 UP short of fixing it.
Wait.
He stood in the center of his warehouse, his mind replaying the numbers. The 12,800 UP payout. His 9,330 UP balance.
He'd been so focused on the cost of the upgrade, 10,000 UP, that he had done the math before the tiger incident.
His total UP, right now, was 22,130 UP.
He'd had enough. He had more than enough. He could have bought the upgrade before he'd even left.
The realization, the sheer stupidity of his panicked oversight, made him feel light-headed. He had been so obsessed with the next payout that he'd miscounted his current wealth.
"Idiot," he hissed at himself.
But it didn't matter. The rage was gone, replaced by a giddy, profound, triumphant relief.
"Finally," he breathed. "Okay. Okay, now."
He didn't wait. He didn't shower. He didn't move. He stood right there, in his filth and his robes, and opened the System interface, his hands trembling slightly with anticipation, not fear.
[$Upgrade Others$]
"Target: Lin Meng," he commanded, his voice a raw, grateful whisper.
[Target Acquired: Lin Meng (Family/Bloodline). Current Status: Panicked (Safe).]
His heart ached. Panicked (Safe). He would fix that. He would fix all of it.
The upgrade screen appeared. He saw her stats, and his chest swelled with that same, fierce pride.
[Talent: Level 3: Inferior Root]
He had been obsessing over the 10,000 UP cost he had glimpsed in his first, panicked check. He'd been so focused on that number, 10,000, that he'd run all his calculations on it. He'd been wrong. He'd been an idiot. In his panic, he'd seen the first, L1->L2 option and his brain had latched onto it.
He was calm now. He was a planner. He would read the real menu.
His eyes scanned the upgrade paths for her.
[Talent: L1 (Mortal) -> L2 (Waste)]? (Cost: 10,000 UP) [Status: LOCKED - Target is already Level 3]
[Talent: L2 (Waste) -> L3 (Inferior)]? (Cost: 25,000 UP) [Status: LOCKED - Target is already Level 3]
He saw the numbers, and his heart gave a single, hard thump. The 100x cost was brutal. The next step was 25k. His 22,130 UP... it wouldn't have been enough for that either.
He was right. His sister was a prodigy.
And then, his eyes, his terrified, hopeful, dreading eyes, fell on the final, available option.
[Talent: L3 (Inferior) -> L4 (Common)]?
He held his breath.
[Cost: 50,000 UP]
...
Lin Hao's mind, which had been full of triumph and relief, went... blank.
He just... stared.
Fifty. Thousand.
5-0-0-0-0.
He looked at his own balance. 22,130 UP.
He... he was still...
...he...
...he wasn't even halfway.
He had misread everything. His panic, his assumptions, his "plan"... it was all a joke. He was a child, saving his pocket money, only to find out the toy he wanted cost more than his house.
The goalposts hadn't just moved. They were in a different, higher-dimensional galaxy.
The despair was so sudden, so absolute, it was a physical blow. He felt his [Level 7]-enhanced knees weaken.
He was still too poor.
He was still failing.
He stood there in the dark for a full minute, the cold, impossible 50,000 UP glowing in his vision, a monument to his failure.
His rage, his frustration, his fear... it all came flooding back, but this time it was a cold, quiet, deadly poison.
He would never be fast enough.
Wait.
A new thought, a cold, ruthless, selfish thought, cut through the despair. "Why... why is my own upgrade... so cheap?"
His mind flashed back. His L2 -> L3 upgrade had been 1,000 UP. The next step...
He closed his sister's tab. The 50,000 UP vanished, but the scar of it was burned into his mind.
He opened his own tab. [$Self Upgrade$].
He had 22,130 UP. He was a [Level 6] cultivator with a [Level 3: Inferior Root]. He was still locked from upgrading his realm.
But his talent...
He looked at the path.
[Talent: Level 3: Inferior Root] -> [Upgrade: Level 4: Common Root]?
It was the exact same upgrade he wanted for his sister. L3 -> L4. For her, it cost 50,000. For him...
[Cost: 5,000 UP]
The... the unfairness. The sheer, brutal, cosmic irony. It was a pittance. It was nothing. It was a rounding error in the face of her cost.
He realized the truth. He couldn't be sentimental. The System didn't want him to be. The 100x cost was a wall, designed to stop him from helping others, to force him to do exactly what he was about to do.
He had to upgrade himself first.
He was the engine. He was the only source of UP in his entire world. A stronger, more efficient engine was the only path to the 50,000 UP he needed. It wasn't selfish. It was strategy.
He hated it. But it was the only move he had.
"Confirm," he snarled at the interface.
[Deducting 5,000 UP. 17,130 UP Remaining.]
The upgrade was instant. It wasn't a purge; his Level 6 cleansing had already scoured his body. This was a re-wiring.
It was a deep, profound, foundational shift. He felt his "pipes" widen again. His very soul, his connection to the new, Reiki-filled world, became clearer. His passive absorption, the baseline hum of his body, doubled.
He was now [Level 4: Common Root]. He was, finally, officially, Average.
He checked his new balance. 17,130 UP.
He was stronger.
And the 50,000 UP he needed for his sister felt further away than ever.