“Haah… I can finally rest easy.”
Looking at the holographic screen before her, Theresa let out a wide sigh of relief as she watched Arthur gradually acclimate to his newfound reality as a spirit nucleus. At first, she was somewhat doubtful that the young man would be able to adjust since many of the people she had sent to become part of the New Cosmos Project before Arthur all lost a part of their old selves one way or another.
However, not only did Arthur fit all of the criteria necessary for what was the strongest Fatebreaker Apparatus under her control, but the unusually calm demeanor he showed while talking with her carried over well into his reincarnation. Rather than panic or go insane after realizing that a long life of near solitude awaited him for a great portion of his journey, he kept his sense of self while continuing to do the task that was given to him.
Seeing that the young man was well on his way to making progress into the third quest she had built into the Fatebreaker Apparatus, Theresa stood up from her seat and closed the screen she conjured. With a relaxed smile on her face, she then headed out of her personal office space, humming a soft tune as she moved with a spring in her step.
Unsurprisingly, her happy-go-lucky attitude attracted the attention of many as she walked through one of the many wide white corridors of the First Blank Citadel. At some point, some of the passersby that knew Theresa asked her why she was so happy, to which she replied with glee that she had finally completed her quota of people for the New Cosmos Project.
Hearing those words, some of them would frown in response, being reminded that they had not fulfilled their own quotas as of late. But of course, there were also those that genuinely congratulated Theresa for achieving such a feat, her energetic gait already implying to them what she was planning to do.
File for a thousand year long paid leave.
…
“Thank you.”
With how long the corridors of the First Blank Citadel was, it did not take long for Theresa’s achievement of fulfilling her quota to reach almost all of the people in the building. In fact, by the time she arrived at the cafeteria, a great number of people congregated around her to give her well-wishes on her paid leave.
It was only after a couple of hours had passed did she finally extricate herself from them, with most of them asking her for tips and advice on where to find more people that would fit the criteria needed for the project. Of course, Theresa kept her mouth shut that there were a great number of possible candidates to choose from the Cosmic Void Zone, even though she had ultimately chosen one out of all of them.
To be honest, she hadn’t even expected the Cosmic Void Zone to hold so many great candidates in the first place, considering how it was the last area of the First Cosmos she decided to look into.
With her telling those that asked her for advice to look around the Lesser Cosmic Alleys for diamonds in the rough, she then proceeded to make her way to one of the many food stalls within the cafeteria, eventually finding one that piqued her appetite.
“There is truly nothing better than a large bowl of rice and well-seasoned barbecued meat.”
After grabbing her food, Theresa looked around the cafeteria for a vacant seat to enjoy her meal. Unsurprisingly, with the number of people that were in the First Blank Citadel, almost all of the seats within the cafeteria were taken, even though there were over a million cafeteria tables one could choose from.
“Hey, Theresa! Over here!” Fortunately, after walking around the cafeteria for a while, Theresa had found a familiar face that was calling for her. With a soft smile, she headed to where the one calling for her was, seating herself as she began to dig into her meal.
“I’m seriously going to miss this once I’m gone.” Taking a bite of the rice bowl she ordered, an explosion of various flavors occurred within the woman’s mouth, filling her with delight as she took yet another bite of her food.
“Huh. Who knew the rumors were true?” While she was in the midst of savoring her food, the one that called for her earlier looked at Theresa with a slight chuckle. “You really fulfilled your quota for the New Cosmos Project?”
“You know I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t done it yet, Marianne,” said Theresa in response. “We’ve already known each other for over 5,000 years at this point. You know how I work.”
Marianne could only let out a peal of laughter. “True. True. Almost forgot you’re the type of person to even forgo basic needs while at work.”
“But seriously, you should really take care of your body. In fact, make it a priority while you’re on vacation,” added Marianne, her expression turning into that of slight concern. “I know we can forgo many things since we’re at the Lesser Deity Realm, but that doesn’t mean you should do it as often as possible. Messes up a lot of things in here.”
Seeing her friend point multiple times at her temples, Theresa let out a bit of laughter as she continued digging into her food. “Alright, alright. I’ll give myself a lot of me time once I successfully file for my paid leave. Happy?”
“More than happy.” Marianna grinned as she nodded. “However, you do know that you’ll be given another quota once you return from your paid leave, right? The Director did mention in the general meeting last century that the number of people we’ve inducted into the New Cosmos Project is still a drop in an immensely massive bucket.”
Theresa nodded back, letting out a slightly exasperated sigh. “Of course I do. With how the training period drilled into our minds for years that we’ll be continuously adding people to the New Cosmos Project until it becomes stable, that’s the last thing I’m bound to forget.”
“Anyways, how’s progress on your quota? Found all of the candidates you need?”
“I could definitely use some help from you in that area.” Hearing her question, Marianne bitterly smiled. “So far, I’ve only been able to fill around a quarter of the quota with actual people from the First Cosmos. As for the remaining portion, I’ve been forced to create artificial souls for the meantime in order to keep the laws in the new cosmos in balance.”
“You’re still missing that much?” Theresa sucked in a breath of cold air, inwardly shuddering at how long her friend would possibly end up staying in the citadel before getting to relax.
With both of them having broken through to the Lesser Deity Realm, the two of them had gained the ability to create life from scratch, making use of the laws they’ve comprehended along the way to do it. However, as their laws still lacked the all-encompassing quality in comparison to the laws those in the higher realms had, the life they created had a lot of limitations even though they could be considered truly living.
Because of that, the ability was usually only given more thought once one had broken through a higher realm.
However, with the New Cosmos Project needing a massive influx of beings to fill the new cosmos, many of those at the Lesser Deity Realm were left with no choice but to create these incomplete life, being classified by those from the First Cosmos as artificial souls.
“It’s either I do that or I get demoted to a worse position,” replied Marianne. “And I would rather die than be forced to do any of those tasks.”
“How much of the laws can those artificial souls of yours comprehend, though?” asked Theresa, understanding the amount of stress her friend was going through. “You’re already at the peak of the Lesser Deity Realm so… Dao Fruit Realm, perhaps?”
Surprisingly, Marianne gave her a confident grin. “Even better. Peak of the Mortal Dao Realm.”
Theresa’s eyes widened at that. “You have more than enough time to look for suitable candidates if that’s the case. If you break through the next realm, then your artificial souls could possibly enter the World Dao Realm later down the line.”
“Speaking of artificial souls, I’ve made one as a companion for my best candidate,” she added not long after, her words piquing Marianne’s interest. “You’re going to be surprised when you find out where I found him.”
At those words, Marianne leaned closer, causing a grin to appear on Theresa’s face in response. However, just as she was about to spill the beans to her friend, a stern voice blared throughout the cafeteria at that moment.
“Calling Theresa Grayheart. Calling Theresa Grayheart.”
“Please see the Director immediately.”
----------------------------------------
“Today’s the day.”
Staring above the pedestal at the center of his internal world, Arthur watched a part of his qi gradually transform into a smattering of bluish dust after having activated [Qi Transmutation]. Feeling the connection between him and the cloud of the energy gradually disappear, the young man then willed the system to do its thing, prompting the pile of bluish dust in front of the pedestal to disappear.
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You have gained 5 Ascension Points.
“I finally have enough points to get this over with.” Reading the line of text contained within the screen that popped up before him, Arthur let out a bit of laughter as he smiled in relief. Briefly basking in the happiness his recent feat brought, he then willed the system to bring up his upgrade screen, its contents having gone through a lot of changes.
Upgrade Module Ascension Points: 65 Cultivation Upgrade Aptitude stat by 0.1 points 63 Ascension Points Upgrade Spirit Manual to Level 7 63 Ascension Points Upgrade Vessel Manual to Level 7 63 Ascension Points Upgrade cultivation realm limit for the Path of the Spirit to the 8th Stage of Qi Sensing 85 Ascension Points Upgrade cultivation realm limit for the Path of the Vessel to the 7th Stage of Body Tempering 63 Ascension Points Skills Upgrade [Qi Transmutation] to Level 7 63 Ascension Points
“To think that I’ve already made this much progress,” said the young man to himself, briefly recalling all of the time and effort he spent thus far.
After having ascended to the 1st Stage of the Qi Sensing Realm, Arthur swiftly received his rewards from the quest before opening up his upgrade screen. At the same time, he opened up his quest screen on the side to take a look at the objectives needed to complete his new quest.
Laying the Foundations
Congratulations on taking the first step on the path of cultivation. Whether you’ve chosen to step into the Path of the Spirit or the Path of the Vessel first, there is no doubt that a long journey awaits you.
Especially since you would need to traverse both paths to the end to truly reach the peak of cultivation.
As a spirit nucleus, you have all the time in the cosmos to reach this peak. However, there are some things that cannot take too much time, such as the fact that you need to transform into a spirit vein.
But in your current state, rushing things would only limit your possibilities. Instead, it’s better to lay down a solid foundation for the journey that awaits you.
Mission Objectives:
> Ascend to the 7th Stage of the Qi Sensing Realm (0/1)
> Ascend to the 7th Stage of the Body Tempering Realm (0/1)
> Upgrade both Spirit and Vessel Manuals to Level 5 (0/1)
> Upgrade [Qi Transmutation] to Level 5 (0/1)
Mission Rewards:
> 500 Ascension Points
> [Qi Sense] skill
> Opportunity to pull another Spirit and Vessel Manual
> Quest: The First Peaks
Using the objectives of his new quest as a basis, Arthur spent the 45 Ascension Points he received to upgrade three things: his cultivation realm limit in the Path of the Vessel, his Aptitude stat, and the [Qi Transmutation] skill. As for the opportunity the previous quest gave him to pull for another Spirit and Vessel Manual, he decided to save them for a later time.
Not long after the young man’s purchases, a deluge of information inundated the young man’s mind, giving him all of the knowledge he would need to enter the 1st Stage of the Body Tempering Realm. At the same time, he gained a few tidbits of information on what kind of improvements [Qi Transmutation] had undergone with the upgrade.
While Arthur was in the middle of organizing and processing all of the information he received, Sisa took the opportunity to give Arthur a rundown of the first three realms of the Path of the Vessel, which were the Body Tempering, Body Refinement, and Vein Opening Realm, respectively.
However, due to the young man being a spirit nucleus, Sisa did not go too in-depth into each realm, telling Arthur that her knowledge of the cultivation realms was more fitting for humans rather than inanimate objects like him. Yet, for some reason, that small tidbit caused something to awaken within Arthur, repeatedly asking Sisa to tell him all she knew about those realms.
With there being no harm in having Arthur learn the information, she eventually obliged.
After getting another rundown on the first three realms of the Path of the Vessel, this time more detailed, it was only then did Arthur attempt to enter the 1st Stage of the Body Tempering Realm, utilizing the instructions that were given to him by his current Vessel Manual.
With him being a spirit nucleus and not a human, the Vessel Manual did not give him any movements or stances he needed to follow, which would usually be the case when it came to tempering the body. Instead, he was given a set of instructions that all had something to do with qi.
Specifically, his own qi.
Going through the instructions he had been given with Sisa, Arthur soon felt that entering the 1st Stage of Body Tempering was far easier than entering the 1st Stage of Qi Sensing, especially since the things he needed to do seemed simple enough.
First, he would need to break off a part of his qi and gain control over it. After that, he would manipulate the qi in a way that was similar to what [Qi Transmutation] did, which was to condense it into a solidified form. However, unlike [Qi Transmutation], the manual instructed him to condense the qi into a ball of sorts, completing something that was called a small cycle.
Then, he would have to repeat the process eight more times, ending up with a ball of energy that was around as solid as the Spirit Slag he generated with his only skill. At that point, he would have completed small cycles in total, forming what was called a large cycle.
And that single large cycle was what he needed to achieve in order to ascend to the 1st Stage of Body Tempering.
More or less understanding what he needed to do, Arthur proceeded with his attempts, recalling the sensation his qi gave off after using [Qi Transmutation] a decent number of times already. Being more than familiar with his own qi at this point, the young man had successfully broken off a part of his qi, filling him with excitement.
However, just as he was about to begin his attempts at completing a small cycle, a wave of pain far greater than [Qi Transmutation] brought washed his mind the very moment he tried to compress his qi into a ball, dispelling all of the qi he had just broken off. Though he was dismayed that his first attempt became a failure before even getting to the main part, Arthur recalled all of the hardships he had gone through just to enter the 1st Stage of Qi Sensing.
With that, he moved onto his second attempt… only to find out that he had no qi left in reserve.
Asking Sisa as to where his qi went, the young man adorned a bitter smile on his face after hearing that he had only generated a single point of qi whilst he was in the state of deep focus that allowed him to enter the Qi Sensing Realm. Of course, that single point of qi was none other than the point of qi he had just used.
And so, Arthur was forced to wait a little bit over four days for his qi to be fully refilled, passing a considerable portion of that time by talking with Sisa over random topics. Aside from that, he also spent his time getting himself used to the silence his current predicament brought, tempering his patience and willpower to where something like a long cultivation session wouldn’t cause him to lose his temper.
With his qi now back at full capacity, the young man did not waste any time in his attempts at ascending to the 1st Stage of Body Tempering. Thanks to his decision to upgrade his Aptitude stat, each subsequent attempt allowed him to move further into the entire process than before, with his third attempt allowing him to successfully complete one small cycle.
Gradually getting used to the pain the process brought to him, Arthur was able to complete more and more small cycles, having reached seven small cycles by the time he was on his eighth attempt in total. In fact, it did not take much longer for him to take his first step into the Path of the Vessel, successfully forming a large cycle on what would have been his last attempt before having to wait for his qi to refill again.
With how entering the Qi Sensing Realm improved both his Qi Purity and Qi Regeneration Rate stat, entering the 1st Stage of Body Tempering Realm improved both his Qi and Qi Tenacity stat, boosting their respective base stat by 1 and 0.1 points.
After having successfully taken his first steps into both paths of cultivation, Arthur then began to slowly grind his way towards completing all of the objectives. Unsurprisingly, with all of the objectives ultimately needing him to amass a fortune of Ascension Points, he spent most of his time alternating between waiting for his qi to refill and allowing [Qi Transmutation] to do its thing.
Of course, with each upgrade he purchased, the less time he needed to wait in total. A good example of that was him upgrading [Qi Transmutation] to Level 2, where he not only increased the base yield of each transmutation by 5 grams, but he also reduced the base duration by 5 minutes. With how all his stats had undergone improvements thanks to either his effort in cultivation or the upgrade screen, the amount of time needed for him to obtain one Ascension Point continued to decrease over time, allowing him to purchase his next upgrades at ever increasing speeds.
While purchasing said upgrades, it was also around that time that he noticed that the prices of the upgrades didn’t go up by an arbitrary number. Instead, it seemed as if there was a formula of sorts that it was following, reminding him of the various idle games he would play in his downtime back in his previous life.
In the end, he spent over two months of effort to get to where he was today, causing a proud smile to adorn his face as a screen appeared before him.
Would you like to spend 63 Ascension Points to upgrade your cultivation realm limit for the Path of the Vessel to the 7th Stage of Body Tempering?
Looking at the prompt that had appeared in front of his vision, Arthur let out a faint chuckle.
“What else do you expect me to say?”
“Of course.”