Limitless: New Dawn

Chapter 283: Recruitment

The next morning arrived quickly, the soft glow of early sunlight filtering through the transparent panels of the Spirit Tool Pavilion as the city gradually stirred back to life. Arthur was already awake long before the first wave of customers began arriving, seated behind the counter with a spirit stone held loosely between his fingers while a faint stream of spiritual energy flowed steadily into his body. His gaze, however, was not on the shop or the streets outside, his thoughts were already moving ahead, organizing the next steps he needed to take. The shop had stabilized far faster than he initially expected, and while managing it himself had worked during the early phase, it was no longer efficient for him to remain tied down to it. 

His time was better spent elsewhere now, especially with the Violet Heaven Secret Realm approaching and his research into formations still in its infancy. Without wasting any more time, he reached for the token Chen Yuze had given him and injected a thin thread of spiritual energy into it, activating the embedded array. Arthur simply leaned back slightly as he waited, his attention returning to the steady absorption of energy from the spirit stone in his hand.

Only a few minutes passed before he sensed a familiar presence approaching the shop. Fu Chengde arrived with the same serious demeanor as always, stopping just outside the entrance before Arthur called him inside. 

The man straightened instinctively and bowed lightly, “Master Liu, what can I do for you?” 

Arthur took him towards his office, he opened the door allowing him to enter before closing the door behind them, his tone was direct as he got to the point without unnecessary formalities. “Can you help me find a few people who could look after my shop? ” he said, resting one hand on the table as he spoke. 

Fu Chengde nodded immediately, his expression attentive. “Yes master Liu, how many people should I recruit?” 

Arthur paused briefly, thinking through the structure he needed rather than answering immediately. The shop had grown into something that required it to be well organized, so they should be at least competent. 

He thought for a moment about the jobs that needed to be done, ‘There should be a receptionist who could handle customers at the front, someone who can manage interactions and maintain order. An accountant to take care of finances, records, and transactions. And two to three individuals who understand artifacts well enough to demonstrate them and guide customers properly.’ 

He then lifted his gaze toward Fu Chengde, and said, “Four to five people should suffice, a receptionist, an accountant and two to three other people who have good knowledge about artifacts. ” 

Fu Chengde didn’t hesitate, bowing slightly as he responded, “Understood, I will arrange it within a few days.” 

Arthur gave a small nod, signaling that was all, and Fu Chengde took his leave without staying any longer, already moving to fulfill the request with the same dedication he always displayed.

The following days settled into a rhythm that would have appeared ordinary to anyone observing from the outside, but for Arthur, each moment was extremely important to him. During the day, he remained in the shop, overseeing operations, interacting with customers, and continuing to absorb spirit stones to increase his energy capacity. 

The Spirit Tool Pavilion had already secured a firm place in the minds of the city’s cultivators. Some came with intent to buy, others out of curiosity, and a few simply to observe and understand what made the artifacts here different. 

Arthur handled all of them with the same composed demeanor, answering questions patiently, demonstrating artifacts when necessary. He never rushed interactions nor did he attempt to push sales, and that alone made the environment of the shop feel different from the others. The artifacts spoke for themselves, and people trusted what they could experience directly.

But once the shop closed and the noise of the day faded away, the nights transformed into something entirely different. His room became a space for experimentation, the monotonous routine of the day was replaced by relentless trial and error at night. 

Formation plates lay scattered across the floor and on his bed, incomplete arrays flickered in and out of existence, and threads of energy formed intricate patterns in the air as Arthur pushed his understanding further with each attempt. 

On one such night, he sat cross-legged on his bed, his entire focus fixed on the construct floating before him. It was a basic spirit gathering formation, one of the simplest structures described in the tomes he had studied, yet what he had created was far from ordinary. 

Instead of using traditional nodes and anchors, he had replaced them entirely with runes, adapting their structure to operate on spiritual energy rather than mana or Aether. 

The formation was extremely similar to Void formations but had slight differences. At his current level of mastery he was unable to create Void formations but using his runes as a base he was able to create the array currently in front of him. 

The formation glowed faintly, its structure holding together under his control as energy circulated through it in a steady flow. Arthur’s gaze remained unwavering, his mind tracking every detail simultaneously, the stability of each node, the flow of energy between connections, the interaction between the runic logic and the formation framework. 

For a brief moment, everything seemed stable. Then, almost imperceptibly, a faint crack appeared along one of the connections. His eyes narrowed slightly as he adjusted the flow, attempting to compensate, but another crack followed, and then another. 

The structure began to destabilize faster than he could correct it, and within seconds, the entire formation collapsed with a low, contained burst of energy that dissipated into the air. 

Arthur exhaled slowly, leaning back slightly on the bed frame as the remnant energy vanished completely. “Again…” he muttered under his breath in frustration. This had been his hundredth failure that night to stabilize the formation. 

Even so, each attempt had brought him closer to understanding the underlying problem. He could easily adapt runes to operate on spiritual energy when he used them to create artifacts, but constructing a void formation purely through energy using those same principles was an entirely different challenge. 

Void formations themselves required an absurd level of mastery, something that would normally take decades for even the most talented cultivators to achieve. And here he was, attempting not only to replicate them, but to merge them with an entirely separate system. 

Arthur’s gaze shifted toward the formation plates scattered nearby. These were all level one formations, stable and refined to a high degree, with a few level two formations among them that had taken more effort but were still within his reach. 

Level three formations, however, remained beyond him for now. Still, even he was unaware that the quality of what he had already created would be considered exceptional by the standards of this world. His runic mastery alone already rivaled level four formations, with some constructs reaching into level five territory.

There were nine levels to formations at the immortal grade and each subsequent level of formations increases in difficulty to form. 

He closed his eyes briefly, replaying the structure of the failed formation in his mind, analyzing each point of instability, each imbalance in energy distribution, each flaw in the integration between rune and formation. 

“The problem isn’t the structure… it’s the synergy between runes and arrays,” he murmured quietly as realization deepened. Simply replacing nodes was not enough; the two systems needed to align at a deeper level. 

He opened his eyes again, determination returning as he lifted his hand and began forming another construct. The night stretched on as attempt followed attempt, each iteration slightly refined, each failure providing more insight than the last. Yet by the time dawn approached once again, he had not succeeded in creating a stable void formation.

…

On the morning of the fourth day. 

Arthur had barely finished freshening up when he sensed multiple presences approaching the shop. He stepped outside just as Fu Chengde arrived, accompanied by five individuals standing behind him. 

“Master Liu,” Fu Chengde greeted respectfully, “these are the candidates recommended by the Artifact Refiners Union.” 

Arthur’s gaze swept over them casually, assessing each one in a single glance. A composed woman stood slightly ahead of the others, her posture was straight and her eyes were sharp, clearly suited for handling accounts and responsibilities. 

Behind her were three younger cultivators, their expressions attentive but carrying a hint of nervousness, likely the ones assigned to assist with demonstrations. The final individual stood quietly to the side, observant and steady, suitable for managing the front of the shop.

Arthur nodded slightly before gesturing for them to enter. Once inside, he began explaining their responsibilities without delay. He handed the ledgers to the woman designated as the accountant, instructing her to maintain accurate records of every transaction, then guided the others through the layout of the shop, showing them the storage areas, display sections, and the system he had established. 

His instructions were clear and efficient, leaving no room for confusion, and by the time he finished, each of them had already begun settling into their roles naturally. Arthur stepped back slightly, observing them for a moment before turning away. He had already prepared more than enough stock over the past week, hundreds of artifacts and weapons carefully crafted and stored, so he had no immediate concern about supply.

For the first time since arriving in this world, he felt he had a bit of free time on his hand.

With the shop now capable of running on its own, Arthur stepped out of the city without drawing attention, his figure blending naturally into the crowd of travelers before gradually moving away from the main roads. 

His destination lay beyond the walls, in the nearby forest that many cultivators had mentioned in passing. He had heard that it contained a variety of herbs, some common, some rare, and some valuable enough to attract cultivators. 

But Arthur’s interest was not in their market value, what intrigued him was the difference in application. In Thyrandel, herbs were used to create potions, carefully structured mixtures that enhanced mana circulation, aided breakthroughs, or healed injuries. In this world, however, they were used to create pills, a fundamentally different approach that likely followed different principles despite serving similar purposes.

“I need to see the difference myself,” he muttered quietly as the city walls faded behind him and the forest came into view.

The moment he stepped beneath the canopy, the atmosphere shifted. The density of spiritual energy increased slightly, the air becoming cooler, and more natural compared to the environment of the city. Arthur slowed his pace unconsciously, his senses expanding outward as he observed everything around him. 

***

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