00002. So, you wanna be a cultivator? (Patreon)

Hey everyone, another day another chapter. Also I finished the cover for the new story, it's basic but it works. I've already posted up the first page to RR, SH and WN.

Suddenly, a sealed box appeared next to Zhi on the bed. It looked plain and unassuming aside from the small bright pink bow on top. He studied it for a moment as he thought, ‘Apology gift?’

He lifted the box onto his lap before he removed the lid. A bright light shined out of the box, which forced Zhi to close his eyes. Once it started to dim down, Zhi opened his eyes again. The box had vanished and in its place were two small books resting upon a set of white and yellow monk robes with a red belt sash. The last two items next to him were laid out across the bed, one was a monk type staff and the other was a set of prayer beads.

Zhi laughed out loud before he thought, ‘You want me to be a monk or something? Is this a joke because I named you Buddha?’

[No, these items were prepared as an apology for reality displacement. Please, look them over Zhi.]

Zhi lifted up the two books, the covers were faded and worn out. But the titles were engraved which made them readable, “The Endless Dao Cultivation Technique and The Innumerable Body Technique.” Setting aside the books for now, his attention is drawn to the robes.

‘These are the softest things I have ever felt. They are even better than my old bed sheets.’ Zhi thought.

He placed the robes off to the side of the bed before he lifted up the prayer beads next. The black and white beads were perfectly smooth and alternated with each other. The last bead was mixed in color and over twice the size of the others. It was a half swirl of black and white that looked like a ying/yang symbol and acted as the tassel.

Zhi placed the prayer beads on top of robes and glanced over at the staff. The staff was black, almost like burnt wood, but was silky smooth to the touch. The bottom tip of the staff was made out of some type of metal, it looked like worn out silver and covered the tip of the staff. The top of the staff was made with eight half ovals connected together like the cardinal points on a compass. Connected to each oval are four small rings linked together, that hung down and chimed whenever the staff moved. The top stuck out over one inch from where the ovals connected together which elegantly transitioned into it and almost gave it the shape of an ostrich egg.

Zhi chuckled to himself as he thought, ‘Alright, you definitely want me to be a monk. Or some kinda holy man. You know, I like to drink and also enjoy the company of women from time to time.’

[You are not going to be a monk, unless you want to be. The outfit is just an outfit, now stop asking questions. Your first quest has been generated]

A blue box appeared in front of Zhi and read.

[Quest: So, you wanna be a cultivator?]

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Please open “The Endless Dao Cultivation Technique” to begin the quest.

Quest objective: Finish reading The Endless Dao Cultivation Technique

Reward: Unlock Xiantian 1st stage cultivation, 10 Artificer Points 100 experience

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Zhi read through the quest panel before he tossed a few more logs into the dying fire pit. Then he reached over and picked up the worn out book with its faded title barely legible, “The Endless Dao Cultivation Technique”. His fingers ran over the frayed edges, before he opened to the first page.

If you're reading this, then I must congratulate you for finding the coalescence of my life’s work. This cultivation technique is meant to take you from your current mortal self to the peak of the universe, how far you travel along this path is up to you. This is not a normal technique but a soul cultivation method. So before you begin to use this cultivation method, you must first understand your soul. Although some might think the soul is unique…

Time passed as Zhi was immersed in the book and before long the sun rose and was about to set. Only the occasional page of a book being turned could be heard inside the small hut. The fire pit was now quiet, the logs having long been used up during the day.

[You have completed: So you wanna be a cultivator? Would you like to turn in the quest now?]

The message popped up in front of Zhi's face and jolted him out of his daze. He looked around the room for a moment, as the light shined in from outside ignited the room in a sunset-like glow of color while his stomach growled. Zhi confirmed the quest completion as he stood up and stretched.

[Processing quest completion.]

Zhi walked towards the small pantry in the area of the house that was used as the kitchen. He found some stale bread that had mold on it and something that looked a lot like a potato. Zhi picked it up as he thought, ‘What the heck, this is a potato! Why are there potatoes here?’

[You will find that most food items are the same in most realities, it makes reincarnation and transmigration easier for most people. But not all realities have the same food creations. This one does not have tacos for example.]

Zhi froze in place as his brain stopped functioning. He couldn't comprehend an entire reality without tacos as he thought, ‘How has no one invented tacos? Do you have a note function? Add a reminder to invent tacos.’

[I am not a notepad, nor am I your secretary or some type of personal assistant. Do it yourself.]

Zhi glanced at the other things in the pantry as he thought, ‘A little defensive aren’t you? You need a hug or something?’

A new box popped up in front of him and read.

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Quest: So, you wanna be a cultivator?

Completion rate: 100%

Awarding: Xiantian 1st stage of cultivation

Awarding: 10 Artificer Points

Awarding: 100 experience

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[Bonus awarded for first time quest completion.]

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Awarding: Xiantian 2 stages of cultivation

Awarding: 5 Artificer Points

Awarding: 50 experience

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[New quest issued: What dao heck?]

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The way of the dao is endless and many struggle to unlock its secrets. You must begin this journey like so many have before you. But to start on this path, you must take the first step.

Quest objective: Begin to learn a dao, there are many, but only this one will be your first.

Rewards:

Improve Xiantian cultivation by 1 stage

10 Artificer Points

100 experience

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Zhi released a sigh as he thought, ‘How the hell am I going to understand a dao? In the stories I've read it takes years to even figure out the most basic concepts of what dao are.’

[Correct, the dao in this reality are mysterious and would be considered magic in your old reality. While magic didn’t exist there, people still believed in it and tried to learn it. However, the dao here are real and very powerful when mastered to the limit. Concepts and experience you have will help you understand the dao a lot easier than other people. Just think about your life and focus on certain things you learned throughout it.]

‘Magic? Like throwing fireballs and shooting lightning for my hands? That's possible if I learn a dao?’

[Yes and no, it would depend on the dao. Most dao’s increase your skill or improve what the dao is based on. For example, if you cooked two meals. One that used the dao of cooking and one without, the one infused with the dao would be twice as good.]

Zhi ripped off the moldy pieces from the stale bread and placed it in a small clay bowl with the potatoes he found. He then walked back over to his bed and set the bowl down on it before he frowned and thought, ‘I should have added more wood this morning.’

Zhi glanced at the small pile of wood left before he took a rusted fire poker and moved the ashes around looking for some embers. Luckily, he found some beneath a mostly burned out log. Zhi then grabbed one of the worn out shirts laid on top of the bed and ripped apart some of the fabric, fraying it. He then placed it over the lightly glowing embers before he quickly set some smaller kindling over it and started to blow gently.

[Zhi, please explain to me what you are currently doing.]

Zhi rolled his eyes at the thought of Buddha not understanding he was trying to restart the fire and thought, ‘I am getting the fire going again, so that I can cook this potato and not freeze tonight.’

[I understood that part, but I want you to tell me why you are currently blowing on the embers.]

Zhi let out a sigh as he thought, ‘It’s something I learned camping, if you have only embers in your campfire. Take some kindling and lay it partly over the embers. By blowing softly and steadily on the embers, you are greatly increasing the airflow reaction around the new kindling. Heat is generated, spreading the embers and increasing the available fuel to burn. If you do it properly the instant you stop blowing, normal oxygen rich air will rush back in. Causing all that new fuel and heat to burst into flames. Assuming they have oxygen in the air here and fire works the same.’

Zhi stopped blowing and leaned back as flames flickered up on the new kindling. Zhi smiled to himself before he grabbed a new log and added it into the flames. Once finished a light glowed around him and he froze in place as he tried to figure out what happened. As he looked around, he realized the source of the light was exuding from his own body.

[Congratulations, you have completed: What dao heck and comprehend the start of a dao. Would you like to turn in your quest now?]

The light gradually faded around him, but as he looked back at the fire, he could feel a slight connection to it, as if it was a part of him. He stretched his hand out and placed it over the small fire as he felt the inviting warmth of the flames. They tickled his hand as they flared up happily towards his open palm in greeting. The anticipated heat was not there and the expected burn from being this close to the fire also didn’t happen.

Zhi lowered his hand down into the fire and he was transfixed by the flames dancing around his fingers, almost wrapping around them like they were trying to hug them. Yet, his hand did not blister and only felt hotter than the rest of my body as he thought, ‘Did I really just understand the dao of fire that easily?’

[Yes, but only a tiny fraction of it. I would suggest not leaving your hand in the fire though. Understanding a small amount of the dao of fire does not make you immune to the effects of fire, it just takes longer for it to affect you.]

Zhi was about to pull his hand out of the flames, when he felt a familiar sting of pain. Like he grabbed a cookie sheet from the oven without mitts on. He glanced at his palm and fingers which were slightly red, but not bad enough to cause any blisters. He stayed still for a minute, thinking back to what just happened as he studied his hand and the fire. Afterwards he placed a new log into the fire, after it began to ignite, he added a couple more around it.

Zhi sat back on the bed and watched the fire slowly take over the logs as he thought, ‘Thanks for the warning. But wasn’t that a little too simple? Aren’t most kids taught something like that in school? I know this world is different, and the memories I have are from this impoverished kid in a farming village. But what about the wealthy or the cultivators? They should have this type of knowledge, or something close to it, right?

[While cultivators do have this knowledge, it normally isn’t shared directly, but in very round about ways. If a dao is explained to you in detail, then it will be extremely difficult to walk that path. But if you find that path yourself, it will be easier to start it. There are a lot of people in this world that walk a dao path and never realize it. Only once you can expound on part of the path, will you truly be on that path. That is why I said your past experience will be helpful to you.You are already on the path of a few daos, you only need to walk down that path.]

Zhi nodded along before he thought, ‘Okay, I get it. So if you told me that the reason lightning will strike the ground is because the bottom of storm clouds are negatively charged and the ground is positively charged. So once those opposite types of ions meet, they cause a lighting strike. That would make it impossible to start on the path of the lightning dao?’

Zhi finished his first thoughts, as a light started to shine around his body becoming even brighter as he thought, ‘What if I explain about chopping vegetables the right way, will that help in comprehending the dao of cooking? Or the proper way to cook a steak? Or that when chopping onions it is best to rinse them down first and use a very sharp knife so you don’t have to worry about forming tears from sulfuric acid irritating the nerves around your eyes. It isn’t one hundred percent effective but it helps a lot.’

Zhi smiled to himself as he felt another slight change and thought, ‘Was that the dao of lightning and the dao of cooking? Or maybe the dao of onions?’

[It’s not that you wouldn’t be able to walk the path, it’s just that you would find it a lot harder to start on the path. Also you just understood a tiny part of the dao of cooking. There is no dao of onions or food for that matter. But you can follow elemental dao’s, the dao of the sword, cooking, spear, alchemy, formations. Concepts like power, sharpness, fear, death, soul and many others also exist. Would you like to complete the quest now?]

‘Sure, go ahead and complete the quest.’

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Quest: What Dao heck?

Completion rate: 300%

Awarding: Improving Xiantian cultivation to stage 6

Awarding: 30 Artificer Points

Awarding: 100 experience

Bonus: For walking the path of three Dao’s, you are awarded 20 more AP and 2 levels of cultivation.

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[New quest issued: Prepare to leave this farming village!]

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Your talents are being wasted in the outskirts of this small farming village. You should figure out a way to make some quick money and then leave for the closest city.

Quest objective: Collect some money and then travel to the closest city. During your travels a new skill will be unlocked. Use it to divine people's hidden talents and help them move towards a new path in life. Don’t do it for free though, you need to eat and you’re currently poor.

Reward: Unlocked skill [Inspection] for quest journey. Skill will remain after the quest is completed.

Base Reward: Improve cultivation by 1 stage and will unlock the system store.

Bonus Reward: Based on the amount of people you can help along the way.

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Zhi frowned as he read the new quest box in front of him and thought, ‘First off, you are the one who made me poor. And second, you really want me to be some kind of traveling monk? First the clothes and now you want me to lead people on a proper path?’

[Again, I am just the system monitor, I did not pick your body. Also what is wrong with being a traveling monk? It will be a simple and easy way for you to make money. Stop complaining and be happy you were given an easy quest.]

Zhi was going to argue back, but decided to place one of the potatoes in the fire pit just outside of the flames. Once he was satisfied with the placement, he picked up bread and ripped a piece off. As he started to eat it, he looked around the room where he spotted a clay pot off in the corner and remembered it was full of fresh water. Bringing it over to the bed he took a drink from the pot after he finished his first bite of the tough bread.

Zhi took another bite from his piece of beard as he thought, ‘I should inform the village elder of my plans to leave, maybe I could sell him the land I own.

[That would be a good idea, you could possibly get money or a few supplies in trade for it. Having some food and a water skin will be good for the journey ahead.]

Zhi glanced at himself and remembered the boy used to be skinny with a very unhealthy appearance. Now he was completely healthy and his body was toned with muscles. They weren’t massive like some type of body builder, but tight and compact. Zhi glanced at the clothes laid out on the bed as he thought, ‘Alright let's go see the village elder, and see if we can get some supplies or money for the trip. But first I should layer up a bit to hide my new body, I’m pretty sure they might ask questions I can’t answer if I come looking like this.’

[Worry not, till you leave this valley, you will appear as you were before. There is currently a low level illusion cast over you so people don’t ask questions about your appearance.]

Zhi nodded as he moved the potato a little farther from the fire before he stood up and tossed on some clothes. He then walked to the door and opened it up as he looked at the hometown of the body he now inhabited that rested in the distance. The fading light of sunset actually painted the small village in a nice light, it made it look quite quaint. There were a few dozen small homes made out of stone, wood and clay. Most were covered with a thatched roof and a few more prominent buildings used clay tiles. Zhi noticed a few people walking back to the village from the farther fields, while a couple of kids were playing together near the edge of the village with a dog. Zhi breathed in deeply through his nose before he closed his door and set off towards the village.