There was only one thing in Han De's mind right now.
'FAST! TOO FAST OH GOD NO OH GOD!'
It took him about an hour walking to reach the ceremony venue from his abode, but now with the power of flight, it took less than 10 seconds to get back! If the previous Han De wasn't proficient at sword flight, the girl called Ning Bi would have already turned into a meat paste from the sudden acceleration to Mach 2 speed. Thankfully, she was completely safe!
After his first flight, not even minding the unconscious Ning Bi, Han De hugged the ground. After about a minute, he deeply regretted not trying out flying before, and made a mental note to try out all of his powers and abilities as soon as possible!
'Still, at least I have completed the quest, now I have a disciple, she is still 13 and naive, I'm sure I haven't met her before, so I can easily scam her into accepting me as her master. If I can solve some of her tragic MC background issues, even if I don't gain a support pillar, at least I can guarantee her not to develop a grudge on me.
Right, I should probably at least handle her with some care and let her rest, she needs clothes and food at minimum, I remember previous Han De had some servants…'
Being a cultivator, previous Han De contacted his servants through his spiritual sense. He was a cultivation maniac and a genius! Anything that caused a distraction for him would get punished or destroyed without exception. As such, servants lived in their own building, not daring to make a peep!
Thinking it was the right time, current Han De started searching through his memories for spiritual sense etiquette. If he just went to the servant building it would be too out of the norm for normal Han De. Even Han De the Office Worker could see that.
‘S#$%, this guy was just insufferable! He didn't have any etiquette at all, he just used his spiritual sense as he pleased without any limits! Consequences?! What are those? My father is the sect master…'
Thankfully Han De's memories still held some information about other people's behavior, so he was able to get a rough idea of what was and what wasn’t acceptable.
Surprisingly, it was pretty similar to how people behaved during phone conversations!
The way a person would talk on a phone would change depending on the status of the person they were talking to. Contents and manners would change whether they were talking to their coworker, or to their childhood friend. If a person’s spouse wasn’t answering their phone, calling them many times out of concern was acceptable. But calling one’s boss twenty times in half an hour was not.
Spiritual sense worked similarly. An extra addition was, of course, no peeping! Spiritual sense, after a certain threshold, could be used for seeing and inspecting entire areas. Although dense spiritual power and the presence of many powerful spiritual senses limited the range inside the sect, it was still possible to use it in unsavory ways. And if caught, would result in severe punishments!
The saving grace of previous Han De was that everyone knew he wouldn't bother peeping at others. He was a cultivation genius! Why would he waste his time with such ungentlemanly activities?! He could just easily choose any female disciple from the sect as he pleased anyway!
Han De quickly instructed his servants to bring clothes, and other necessary living supplies for Ning Bi to his abode, including Qi Condensation cultivation resources and a few sets of weapons of each type.
Han De didn't want to guide Ning Bi; she was already a genius in the truest sense of the word! He simply wanted to let her do as she pleased! Let her select her weapon! Han De was just there along for the ride!
'I haven't even used a sword yet, how could I determine what weapon she might find suitable? She is an MC, her bullshit powerup potential will manifest by itself!'
After listening to Han De's instructions though, his servants were puzzled.
Not expecting a response, Han De was puzzled back!
<… Fine, keep up the good work.>
The voice transmission line was closed, but the servants couldn’t believe what they just heard. They stared at each other in disbelief.
"..."
"..."
They have been working as a servant for Han De for the last 5 years, and they never had a conversation like this! Everyone in the servants’ quarters started sweating profusely. They looked at each other, but no one was able to find any comfort.
"H-he did ask to bring her things to his abode, right? Not the servants’ quarters, not to one of the side buildings… right?"
"Senior brother… 'Keep up the good work.' What did elder mean that?"
All servants flinched after hearing that phrase for the second time!
Hearing such a thing from any other elder would make their day, but as servants of Elder De, they knew better than anyone how he dealt with things. He wouldn't hesitate to kill a guy for blocking his way, he wouldn't hesitate to cripple someone and let them rot if they didn't give him enough respect!
Although no servant had suffered such a calamity so far, that was just so far! Everyone was adamant about not becoming the first example!
* * *
In less than half an hour everything was assembled. Ning Bi was assigned to a random room far away from his. If she wanted another one, she could move to that room herself, she was a disciple. Han De didn't care in the least; the house was just too huge. On earth an old-timey mansion would have 10 or so bedrooms, this guy's 'house' actually had more than 50.
'Why would anyone need this many rooms?! This goes past a mansion or even a castle at this point. There are even side houses and servant houses too. This guy cultivated all day, did he have huge harem ambitions or something? Hmm let me see his memories…
Zip. Nada. S#$%, just go be a hermit in a cave if you wanted to cultivate this much!
… Let's at least complete the quest and find out what profound points could be used for. Status!'
[Name: Han De]
[Race: Human (100%)]
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 26]
[Cultivation: Core Formation - Mid-Stage (3767/500000)]
[Constitution: None]
[Bloodline: None]
[Roots: Light (42%)]
[Fame: Cloudy Mountains: (+1)501]
[Sect: Starfall Mountain Sect (21st Core Elder)]
[Cultivation Methods]
-------------------------------------
[Starfall Scripture (Mortal)]
[Power: Extremely Weak]
[Comprehension: Intermediate (24/32)]
[Stage: Core Formation (Mid-Stage)]
[Martial Arts Methods]
-------------------------------------
[Heaven Defying Tyrannical Sword (Self-Made)]
[Power: Extremely Weak]
[Comprehension: Intermediate (2/10)]
[Stage: Core Formation (Mid-Stage)]
[Skills]
[None
[Fate]
[Calamity Attractor]
[Profound Points: 0]
[Evaluation: Extremely weak, destruction of the soul is inevitable]
[Privilege Level: 1]
[Inventory]
[Gift Box]
'Why do I still have 0 profound points? Quest Status!'
[Quest: First disciple]
[Difficulty Level: Rating Requirements Not Met]
[Status: In Progress]
[Summary: You are an elder in an extremely minor sect with extremely limited resources. As you are fated to attract calamities, with your weak cultivation and abysmal talent, your only hope is to foster strong disciples. Work hard.]
[Requirements: A disciple with over 30 potential points in total]
[Time Remaining: 4.8 days]
[Success: 50 Profound Points]
[Failure: Removal of the System. As the System is completely integrated into the host's soul, removal will result in said soul's dissipation]
'The sect should already consider her as my disciple, she also meets the requirements, so the only remaining explanation is that she doesn't consider me her master yet? Will the quest stay open if she just pays lip service and doesn't consider me her true master?...'
A long sigh escaped from Han De's lips.
'Last time I tried to bullshit them on the fly, but it wasn't as easy as I thought. I ended up quoting some old video game because my mind was drawing black on Xianxia quotes… I need to practice some lines and prepare them in advance! If I hadn't remembered that I could fly away, I definitely would've been busted, ugh...'
Remembering the 0 to Mach 2 flight of his, Han De's legs went soft. He needed to find a safe and out of sight place to practice flying… slowly… he needed to practice as slowly as possible!
'Right, there should be some empty mountains or valleys around here, this is a bona fide sect, there has to be like dozens of empty mountains! But first, the gift box.'
This wasn't a moment that Han De was looking forward to. So far, his luck was atrociously bad in this world. He was afraid the System might actually 'gift' him a bill for the goods and services that it provided so far! Making a decision, Han De kowtowed.
"Oh Almighty System, your humble servant humbly begs for you to open the gift box!"
[...]
[Opening Complimentary Gift Box]
[5]
[4]
[3]
[2]
[1]
[...]
[Congratulations!]
[You have received:]
[Spiritual Roots Upgrade Token] [x1]
[Martial Arts Method Upgrade Token [x2]
[Profound Points Token] [x5]
[Cultivation Method Fragment] [x200]
[Martial Arts Method Fragment] [x200]
[Spiritual Roots Upgrade Token]
[Upgrade host's spiritual roots to the next quality level. Host can extend 5 tokens to upgrade a disciple's roots.]
[Martial Arts Method Upgrade Token]
[Upgrades a martial arts to the next quality level. Can only upgrade martial arts known by the host. Can only upgrade methods that are completely comprehended by the host.]
[Profound Points Token]
[Bundle of 10 profound points.]
[Cultivation Method Fragments]
[Used for filling in the gaps in incomplete cultivation methods.]
[Martial Arts Method Fragments]
[Used for filling in the gaps in incomplete martial arts methods.]
'Oooookaaay. I get all of this stuff, but, there isn't anything that can directly increase my cultivation is there? Oh god I don't want to cultivate… I should've opened the gift box near Ning Bi, she has max luck, maybe being near her some luck would have rubbed off on me…'
Han De took a deep breath, stood up, and started to think about his options while pacing around his ridiculously large bedroom. He didn't know the size of an Olympic pool, but he was certain his bedroom could fit a few of them easily.
'Alright you gender swapped demonic GLaDOS. Activate all of the Profound Point Tokens!'
[Tokens Activated]
[Received 50 Profound Points]
[Threshold Reached]
[Profound Point Shop level 1 is now active]
'Show me the shop!'
[Spiritual Roots Upgrade Token] [500]
[Spiritual Roots Removal Token] [10000]
[Spiritual Roots Seed Token] [5000]
[Spiritual Roots Healing Token] [800]
[Bloodline Awakening Token] [100]
[Bloodline Purifying Token] [500]
[Bloodline Removal Token] [10000]
[Constitution Refinement Token] [500]
[Constitution Removal Token] [10000]
[Cultivation Method Upgrade Token] [200]
[Cultivation Method Fragment] [1]
[Martial Arts Method Upgrade Token] [200]
[Martial Arts Method Fragment] [1]
'Ugh, these... All look... Uuuh.. very nice. But isn't this all just supplementary?! Are there no cultivation methods for sale? No martial arts? No way to improve my cultivation?! What good are these Profound Points if this is all there is to it…’
[Profound Points]
[Primary purpose is for comprehension of cultivation and martial arts methods by spending points. Incomplete methods cannot be comprehended. Alternatively can be used in Profound Points Shop as a currency. Once activated, Profound Points Shop level is tied to the host's Privilege Level.]
After reading the detailed explanation, Han De just threw himself onto the bed and stubbornly closed his eyes, hoping he would wake up back on Earth and this was all just a bad dream!
* * *
Han De woke up the next day at noon. He didn't know how many hours he slept, but he knew he woke up at noon because of the System clock. He didn't want to think about cultivation methods, or life-threatening dangers, or calamities, none of that stuff. Right now, he just wanted to have some breakfast, so he headed for the nearest of the 6 kitchens!
'Huh, nice, a refrigerator in the form of a spiritual device. I was worried they would use storage bags to store all the food.'
While searching for the kitchen, Han De looked at memories related to kitchens and cooking. At first, he was surprised there were zero memories of these concepts, but then he figured out the reason.
'This guy never went inside a kitchen in his life. He didn't even cook while he was camping or something. Who the hell brings a chef to a spiritual beast hunt? This guy, that's who!'
While snickering at the incompetence of the cultivation idiot, he opened up the fridge to look at the ingredients. The inside of the fridge was the size of a room already. At that point, he realized this wasn't a spiritual device, but a room with a formation instead. The formation trapped the spiritual power of the different ingredients and prevented them from mixing with each other. Hundreds of different ingredients and their explanation popped up in his sight.
[Golden Spirit Rice]
[Spirit Rice imbued with earth element energy.]
[Safe for consumption.]
[Demonic Plains Horse Meat]
[Thighs of the Demonic Plains Horse. Monster Qi removed.]
[Safe for consumption.]
[251 Years Old Rainbow Spirit Wine]
[Contains 9 Colored Qi, made from 4 varieties of composite Spirit Rice.]
[Recommended dosage is less than 5ml per kg of body weight divided by cultivation level index.]
[Safe for consumption for late Foundation realm experts and up.]
[Sagacious Wood Salmon Fillet]
[Mutated spirit salmon that live on top of Soulsteel trees. Contains Wood Qi and Water Qi.]
[Minute amount of Metal Qi was lost during Monster Qi extraction process.]
[Safe for consumption.]
[...]
'I just wanted to make some pancakes, what's with the ridiculous Xianxia ingredients? Are there no normal ingredients? What's this?'
[Soy Sauce]
[Ordinary Soy Sauce. Produced by fermentation method.]
[Safe for consumption.]
'Not Spirit Soy Sauce? Are you saying soy sauce is good by itself and doesn't need improvements?'
Out of frustration, Han De started pinching his glabella.
'What do Chinese people eat for breakfast anyway? In Japanese animes, they always went crazy for miso soup. What's a miso? Is there a spirit miso? I can't make any baked food with rice. Wait, could there be gluten in spirit rice? Maybe that earth element energy can act sort of like gluten?'
He was an average white guy, so his breakfast was either a bowl of cereal or a baked product like a bagel, or maybe PB&J. If he went extravagant, he would get himself some pancakes. He had stopped eating bacon and eggs years ago to reduce his cholesterol intake.
'Core Formation cultivators can't get high cholesterol, right? Maybe that's what the cleansing pills do? Maybe they just remove the cholesterol along with all the other junk. Shame there is no spirit pig bacon or spirit chicken eggs in this fridge/pantry. I'm not going to touch those Virtuous White Spider Eggs, no way.'
Although he had ordered his servants to stash the kitchens full of food, he only realized now how deep the cultural gap was.
'This must be what dense Japanese MCs feel in those isekai novels. Now I get why they look for rice and soy sauce everywhere they go…'
Feeling frustrated, he searched his memories for what previous Han De ate regularly.
'F&$#!! This cultivation moron only ate pills! How could you not eat anything for years? Why is there 6 F&$#!&% kitchens in this house then?!?'
As he was lamenting previous Han De's life choices, his spiritual sense picked up movement from Ning Bi's door. His (soon to be) disciple finally had woken up!