The more he thought about his issue, the more he couldn't help but say, "I think the solution is for me to start a limited liability company. That way I won't be completely responsible for the losses of the company."
He is only joking about it, though. He doesn't think it will work at all because of the glaring problem of a faulty business model.
Investing in a business or a person is an acceptable business practice in this world. But pitching people a business that has no way to make money and hoping that they will invest in it is hoping that they will be foolish.
Besides that, the business can't have limited liability if he promises to repay everyone with interest and even signs a contract to that effect.
Eventually, he decided to settle with finding a way to make money first. But of course, he can't do that now because he needs to cultivate.
Anyway, he believes that if he grows stronger, he will have more opportunities to earn money. So he stopped thinking about his problem of earning merit for now and focused on cultivating.
He closed his eyes and returned to cultivating. But after a while, he couldn't help grumbling.
He said, "If I were a golden core cultivator, I wouldn't need to go around begging people to invest in my foolish business. They would line up to give me gifts."
"I'll show them then. They will give me gifts, but I won't need them because I am already rich and powerful."
This was just one of the things that distracted him. Another thing that distracted him was the updated dossier of the information about the disciples in the S-grade.
There wasn't much new information. The most significant update was the addition of the people who had broken through to the second mortal coil.
He learned from the dossier that he was the first new disciple to reach the second mortal coil. He also learned that that was the reason why he was given a reward of 1,000 performance points by his supervisor.
It has been 191 days since the new disciples gained admission, so a lot of people have reached the second mortal coil. But he took 104 days to reach the second mortal coil, while the second-fastest person took 152 days.
Something he found interesting was that it was the personnel hall that made this information available to the public. He also found the ranking list that they drew up interesting.
The ranking list is important as it will affect the chances of disciples being promoted or demoted in grade. As an S-grade disciple, he doesn't have much to worry about being demoted, so he doesn't need to dwell on the list too much.
What concerned him the most was the yearly reward of performance points that will be given to the best 100 on the ranking list. He can't say no to more resources if they are being offered to him for simply doing his best to grow stronger.
All of these were temporary distractions to him, but it did make him more motivated because he discovered that he was number 1 on the ranking list for new members.
He wouldn't have minded if he wasn't number 1. But now that he was number 1, he didn't want to be overtaken by others, so he took his cultivation more seriously.
He wasn't the only one who did. Many S-grade students didn't take the ranking list because it wasn't their current goal. Their goal was to achieve their potential. As long as they do that, they won't have anything to worry about.
But there were many S-grade disciples who took the ranking seriously and didn't like that they weren't the first. This had a lot to do with the side effects of their cultivation technique.
The Longevity Blood Art, which is the derivative of the Everlasting Wood Art, is what most people in the sect use as their cultivation technique. Its side effect is that it makes people bloodthirsty.
People that cultivate the Longevity Blood Art consider themselves apex predators. Those apex predators don't like the feeling of having someone stronger than them.
It is not a matter of hatred or jealousy. It is a matter of being the best killer around. So many people were motivated to overtake him.
This motivation became extra worse for the lady with the innate blood physique. She had a blood mana affinity of 83%, so the impact of the side effect was worse on her.
She was practically foaming at the mouth to beat him. She refused to sleep or rest even though she was number 2 on the ranking list due to being the second fastest person to reach the second mortal coil. All she wanted to do was cultivate as fast as possible to overtake him.
The same could be said about the lady with a third eye. She too didn't like the feeling of not being the best either.
But this beast lady's reaction was more elegant than foaming at the mouth. She was too proud to behave like that. Then again, it was her pride that made her feel uncomfortable about being number 3 on the ranking list.
But regardless of their aim to overtake Arthur Red Mane, every disciple wanted to reach the second mortal coil in less than a year.
Many people wanted to do this because that's when the performance tests will open and people can gain the right to use the accommodation above the S-grade floor.
But even those who didn't care about getting a better cultivation environment or didn't think they could get it wanted to reach the second mortal coil as soon as possible, as it is tradition.
Anyone who hasn't reached the second mortal coil after one year of entering the sect is considered to be lagging behind.
Only those who are in the S grade don't have to worry about this. But for many people, lagging behind is usually the first step to being demoted or having their chances of promotion destroyed.