“Enough with Sirs. Just call me Ravyn.”
Hearing the mysterious voice telling his name, Lu Zheng was delighted.
He believed that knowing his name, after the mysterious voice willingly revealed his name, conveyed the distance had grown closer.
Still, Lu Zheng has now trust issues, so he was still a bit wary of the mysterious voice.
“Copy that, Ravyn.”
Calling his name without an honorary title seemed a bit awkward and too casual made him feel uncomfortable.
However, Lu Zheng tried to disregard them as he knew he had to get used to it anyway.
“I can indeed see what you are seeing. That wall of text, I know them.”
Ravyn did not continue, and Lu Zheng was a bit patient to wait for him.
At the same time, Lu Zheng swept his vision to the remaining dark places and saw no treasures now.
He had come to this place due to the three treasures: the legacy sword, the Necklace of Inheritance, and the complete Azure Tide Sword Technique.
While he was waiting for Ravyn to explain what he was seeing, he searched the place.
Of course, the wall of text was annoying as it obstructed mostly his vision, but he did not have a choice but to let it be.
Lu Zheng decided to return to the shelf where it contained the techniques of the clan, as he believed it was where the Azure Tide Sword Technique could be found.
While Lu Zheng was walking towards the shelf, Ravyn’s voice finally echoed inside his head.
“If you want it to disappear, just think it will.”
Lu Zheng stopped in his tracks and listened to Ravyn’s suggestion.
He closed his eyes and thought about vanishing the wall of text when he felt something indeed happened for a brief moment.
When he opened his eyes, they were gone.
However, for some reason, he could remember all of them.
“You see it or not, you will know as it has been imprinted in your brains.”
Lu Zheng nodded.
“So, can I ask what it was?” Lu Zheng asked.
Lu Zheng continued to walk while Ravyn finally chatted with him.
“Hmm. How to explain this? I guess I will start with the Awakening Stone.”
Lu Zheng walked slowly, not wanting to be completely distracted by his action while he was trying to assimilate the following information Ravyn was about to impart.
“The Awakening Stone itself is a mystery. It was known it came from space.”
“Space?”
“The world outside of your world.”
The revelation made Lu Zheng stop walking as his eyes widened in shock.
“There was such a thing.”
“Yes, but it’s inhabitable.”
Lu Zheng dumbfoundedly nodded and continued walking while his mind drifted into another dimension.
“Listen to me.”
Lu Zheng snapped back to reality and replied, “I am.”
Ravyn said, “Awakening Stone chose its owner, and it will help them grow faster and obtain superpowers. It reduces the effort and time a person has to take to reach the peak.”
Lu Zheng’s eyes sparkled in marvel.
“How does that work?”
“Hmm…”
Ravyn went into deep contemplation while Lu Zheng finally arrived at the shelf.
When he turned to the corner, he saw the lifeless body of Jade Fang, and he was delighted.
He walked near him and kicked him lightly.
“Are you still alive?”
“...”
There was no response.
As Lu Zheng was about to kick him again, a startling, monotonous tone reverberated in his mind.
[Congratulations! You have successfully killed a Novice Rank Cultivator! You have obtained 1 point in agility.]
Suddenly, he felt a cooling sensation washing all over his body.
When it disappeared, he felt he became faster as his reflex increased.
He tried moving sideways and perceived he was more agile than before.
He was shocked.
He was about to ask Ravyn when the latter’s voice echoed inside his mind.
“This is how it helps you become stronger.”
Lu Zheng’s eyes widened, and his heart raced.
He now completely understood how precious the Awakening Stone was.
It turned out that by killing another cultivator, he could become stronger.
It would only be a matter of time before he would become the strongest in this region.
Whenever he thought he could become a Master, possibly be a Grandmaster, he trembled in delight.
“What about higher than that? Possible, right?” He mumbled in a daze.
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Ravyn replied, “It is. It is undeniable you will reach the peak. Of course, under the condition you won’t die. Also, I reached the peak, too, but then I died.”
Lu Zheng caught his tone, feeling melancholic.
At the same time, he wondered as well.
How could a powerful person like him die?
He could not help but ask, “How did you die?”
“Well, I was ambushed by ten people with the same strength.”
‘Ten people with the same strength as him?’ Lu Zheng thought in shock.
‘How could there be many people like him in their world? If I lived there, I would just be an ant.’
“You’re right,” Ravyn replied with an indifferent tone, as though he could read Lu Zheng’s thoughts. “That was the world of Awakeners. I don’t know about this world, but it might be you’re not the only one with the Awakening Stone. Who knows?”
Lu Zheng’s face turned serious as he accepted the probability.
He sighed.
“So, I just have to avoid being complacent, huh?”
Ravyn did not reply.
Lu Zheng gazed at Jade Fang’s corpse and walked away from it, searching for the cultivation techniques on the shelf.
Ravyn finally said, with the same indifferent tone, “Still, I’m amused by your system.”
“System?”
“That’s what the wall of text is called.”
“I see.
Why?”
“Well, normally, there would be a level below your name, but there was not. It made me wonder how you will obtain those extra points, but I recalled about the mission feature on the system.”
“Huh? It will provide a mission?”
“Yes, and not just extra points, it will be given as a reward, possibly techniques and even weapons, too.”
“How?”
“That’s a big wonder, as well.”
Lu Zheng was having a difficult time assimilating the shocking information.
This was the first time he heard of such an overpowering treasure before.
He could not believe he had it.
“Aside from that, you will have your inventory soon, so there’s no need to worry.”
“Inventory?”
Ravyn ignored his question as he continued, “I’m interested in that QI. Is that the other term for mana?”
“Mana?”
“...”
Ravyn went silent.
Lu Zheng was sensitive, assuming Ravyn was annoyed by his persistent question.
Furthermore, the way Lu Zheng questioned was indeed annoying.
If he was in Ravyn's shoes, he would be frustrated with him.
As a result, Lu Zheng did not bother asking Ravyn despite having so many questions inside his head, to the point he was completely distracted, banging his head on the shelf.
There was no response to Ravyn’s at all, as though he completely disappeared.
Lu Zheng did not mind his quiet response.
Since Ravyn could not completely provide him with information about the Awakening Stone, he eventually decided he would explore them by himself.
When he reached the shelf, he casually took out a book and read the cover.
Suddenly, the same startling, monotonous voice echoed inside his mind.
[Congratulations! You have discovered a Specialized Sword Technique, Ocean Uprising. Do you want to learn it?
Reminder: Each intelligence point contributed to the amount of techniques you can learn.]
Lu Zheng was taken aback.
He recalled he had three intelligent points, which meant he could learn three techniques.
However, since he had two techniques, which were the basic cultivation technique for internal technique and the incomplete Azure Tide Sword Technique, he only now had a single technique left to learn.
As much as he wanted to say ‘Yes’ he decided to decline, knowing that the sword technique only had three stances.
Furthermore, on those three stances, each only had two techniques.
It was meager compared to the complete version of the Azure Tide Sword Technique.
In addition, It was only a Specialized Sword Technique, only on the level of the Adept Rank.
It was nothing compared to the Azure Tide Sword Technique, a Legendary Sword Technique on the level of the Master Rank.
Lu Zheng was a bit dismayed, but not completely, knowing that he could instantly learn the complete version of the Azure Tide Sword Technique.
It was perfect timing for his situation, who had to escape from the city.
Furthermore, it appeared it would not be long before he would alarm the Scorching Blade Clan from the death of the two guards outside, so learning the complete version of the Azure Tide Sword Technique was a massive advantage to him.
Lu Zheng grabbed and read three techniques successively and returned them to the shelf after knowing they could not be compared to the complete version of the Azure Tide Sword Technique.
He was running out of time, so he could not waste any more of them by grabbing books and reading them, determining the amount of stances they could provide.
Lu Zheng saw the section of internal techniques on the shelf, and he was interested in learning them.
After all, the internal technique he has was only a basic one, as it could only help him reach the next rank of cultivation.
Furthermore, the lower the grade of the internal technique, the lower its efficiency, making him spend more time to reach the next rank of cultivation than others who cultivated higher grade internal technique.
Hence, he completely needed them.
The section on internal technique was divided by ranks.
In a single section above, there was a conspicuous text inscribed above it, and when he read it, Lu Zheng trembled in excitement.
Compared to other sections, the section Lu Zheng was staring at only had a single book.
“It’s a QI Fusion Technique!” He could not help but exclaim in delight.
Qi Fusion Technique is an internal technique that would aid the cultivator to become a Master.
Once a cultivator cultivated the QI Fusion Technique to the degree of reaching the rank of Master, they could merge their QI to the weapon, relating to the name, and acquire Advance Qi Healing.
Hence, it was an undeniable statement that a Master was almost a mortal.
Furthermore, with their QI merging with weapons, they could attack with condensed QI formed by merging with weapons.
For now, the Qi Fusion Technique was a rank of an internal technique, and its benefits depend on the affinity of the cultivator to that particular internal technique.
Lu Zheng jumped and grabbed the golden book.
He rubbed it and was astonished to discern no dust compared to other books he had in his hand earlier.
Furthermore, the cover appeared more solid and golden, making it appear to have been created by the skin of a strong beast.
Lu Zheng opened the book, and suddenly, the startling, monotonous voice echoed in his mind as he expected.
As he grew accustomed to it, he was not startled before.
[Congratulations! You have discovered a Qi Fusion Technique, Ocean’s Heart Qi Technique!
Do you want to learn the technique?
Announcement! It has been detected that you only have a single intelligence point left to learn another technique, as the Qi Fusion Technique needs to consume two intelligence points.
Announcement! It has been detected that one of the intelligence points has been consumed for the basic cultivation technique in the internal technique category.
Do you want to erase the basic cultivation technique in exchange for 1 intelligence point and learn the Ocean’s Heart Qi Technique?]
Lu Zheng was filled with delight when he could learn the technique, but when he read the almost unending announcement echoing inside his head, he felt a wave of headache coming.
He quickly sorted his thoughts and pondered.
If he could erase the basic cultivation technique and acquire the Ocean’s Heart Qi Technique, he would elatedly accept the system’s suggestion, but that would mean exhausting the remaining intelligence points he had.
If that occurred, how could he learn the complete version of the Azure Tide Sword Technique, since that technique was also on the same level as the Ocean’s Heart Qi Technique, which would mean he needed to have other intelligence points?
Now, he was in a dilemma whether to learn the Ocean’s Heart Qi Technique or the Azure Tide Sword Technique.
“I need the Azure Tide Sword Technique, but if I wanted to have a QI, I needed to learn the Ocean’s Heart Qi Technique. I can execute the Azure Tide Sword Technique more proficiently with the Ocean’s Heart Qi Technique due to its probability.”
Lu Zheng suddenly thought of an idea.
“Since the system can erase the technique in exchange for points, can I still do it in the future?”
He was thinking of erasing the Ocean’s Heart Qi Technique if he wanted to learn the complete version of the Azure Tide Sword Technique.
Although its proficiency might not be great without the support of the system, if he cultivated the Ocean’s Heart Qi Technique, he could still learn it later on as long as he had the book with him.
His eyes flashed with deceitful light as he chose to learn it.
[Congratulations! You have learned the Qi Fusion Technique, Ocean’s Heart Qi Technique!]