From his recent loot and the payout, Viktor was now left with 22 white spirit stones and 7 yellow spirit stones.

In an attempt to break through his spirit realm from initial stage to middle stage, he needed an upgrade of points of 8 spirit force.

For that, he was prepared to consume all of the spirit stones he had on him if he had to.

Spend all that he has and find more tomorrow. Carpe diem! No regret!

Viktor then sat on the bed following the lotus position he often saw in many kung fu movies. After making himself comfortable in that position, he decided to first begin with the white spirit stones.

It was said that the white ones would not affect him that much anymore, but he would rather see it with his own eyes.

One by one every minute, he started to eat the white spirit stones like candies. As he slowly absorbed the energy in the spirit stones, he could feel the spirit core in his inner plexus start to warm up.

Well, at least his little brother was not alone at the moment.

It was only after he consumed the 20th white spirit stone that Viktor finally received the notification he had been waiting for.

[Spirit force increased by one point.]

[Spirit Force - 42 (43)]

"All right, seven more to go!" Viktor said to encourage himself. The process was time-consuming and even a little tedious, after all.

Now that he had warmed up, it was time for him to brave himself with the yellow ones.

Unlike the white spirit stones, although the yellow ones were shaped similar to the white spirit stones, they shone like crystals.

Gulp.

When the yellow spirit stone entered his body, he noticed that it felt different compared to when he consumed the white ones. As the yellow spirit stone went down his throat, he could feel warmth immediately entering from his throat down to his chest. The feeling then continued down to his stomach before it dissipated and scattered into his nerves and blood veins, and after going through his entire body, the warmth then gathered into his inner plexus.

It was both an exhilarating and painful experience.

He felt only a small amount of pain and more comfort as the warmth went through his entire body, but the moment the warmth reached his inner plexus, burning pain pierced his spirit core.

It was only his spirit core, yet he felt as if his entire body was in a sea of flames.

His brows furrowed as sweat beads quickly formed on his forehead. Viktor really wanted to stop absorbing the energy, but he knew that if he wanted to break through, he needed to resist as much as he could.

After a few minutes of this excruciating pain, the notification finally appeared.

[Spirit force increased by one point.]

The notification filled him with a new wave of motivation. After a few minutes, the notification appeared again.

[Spirit force increased by one point.]

And another one after a few more minutes.

[Spirit force increased by one point.]

He braced himself for another round, but to his surprise, the burning pain quickly subsided.

Viktor exhaled a long breath. He was relieved that he could have a small break, but he could not help but feel a little disappointed that that was all.

10 minutes…

This surprised him. Of course, it was a pleasant surprise, but it felt much longer to him.

[Spirit Force - 43 (46)] 𝑏𝘦𝑑𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Viktor was amazed. In just 10 minutes, he gained an increase of three points of spirit force with just one yellow spirit stone!

There was no way he was going to stop there. Even if it was extremely painful, the return was worth it.

Still covered in sweat, Viktor consumed another yellow spirit stone. Just like the previous time, he received the same notification, but this time, it was only twice.

Even so, it was still enough to put a smile on his face. Finally, after another ten minutes of burning pain, the third yellow spirit stone gave him the breakthrough he was looking for.

[You have reached a breakthrough into a new realm.]

[Earth Realm - Middle stage]

[You have received 10 status points that can be freely distributed!]

Finally!

This was what he had been waiting for. When the notification appeared, he immediately felt refreshed, both mentally and physically.

The 10 extra status points were a surprise that he greatly welcomed, but what surprised him more was that that was not all. At this moment, another notification came with it.

[You have reached a breakthrough into a new realm.]

[You have received 1 magic point that can be freely distributed!]

"Magic point?"

When Viktor was still in confusion, a piece of information came to his mind. Just below his status points were added stats.

[Analyzing personal spirit talent…]

[Viktor Romanov]

[Spirit Energy - Metal - Stage 3]

[Spirit Force - 50]

[Spirit Power - C]

[Spirit Control - A]

[Spirit Pool - D]

"What the heck are these?" Viktor blurted out, baffled.

"Woof woof!"

The Djinn then gave him a brief tutorial about magic.

Spirit power was the maximum amount of power one could put into a spell. For a spell like [Fireball], more spirit power would mean that the fireball would be bigger, but for his current spell, [Metal-bending], this would give him the ability to lift heavier metals, move them faster, and control them from further away.

More spirit control would help him to bend metals more precisely while moving or when creating more complicated shapes like when he was making the snow sleigh.

As for spirit pool, more of it would allow him to cast more spells and have them last longer before he gets tired and runs out of spirit energy.

When his spirit force increases and his spirit realm advances, all those three would naturally advance as well, but magic points would allow him to specialize. For example, if he were to fight against a mid-realm magician who also had 50 points of spirit force, with a higher-rating pool, he would be able to cast longer and emerge victorious.

The amount increase was about 30% for every level. He would have 30% stronger spell power if he chose to upgrade his spirit power, 30% more refined control if he chose spirit control, and 30% longer casting duration if he chose to upgrade his spirit pool.

It was quite self-explanatory, really, but Viktor needed to think this through. His skill, [Metal-bending], currently did not have the ability to do much for his survivability, so he still had to depend mostly on his status points.

? As he was thinking about this matter, Viktor suddenly thought of his other special skill, [All Might].

"Djinn, will this upgrade affect the skill?" Viktor asked.

Even though he did not say which skill, the Djinn easily understood.

The Djinn was thorough enough to give him more detailed information on how the upgrade would affect his special skill.

[Spirit Power - increases bonus battle power by 30%.]

[Spirit Control - decreases drawback time by 30% - 1 hour.]

[Spirit Pool - increases skill duration by 30% - 1 minute.]

Viktor fell silent as he fell into deep thought.

This is quite the dilemma.