Chapter 3 – Mission Impossible

Eventually, Karlo awoke. He was in a daze for a few moments and had even forgotten that he was no longer on Earth, but soon he remembered what he had been doing. The clock was currently pointed at 12, am or pm he didn’t know, because the room had no windows.

As he got up from the floor, he began to feel like something was different. He was full of energy. He felt strong, powerful even, like he could wrestle a Gorilla. His eyes brightened, and he called out in his mind, ‘Panel!’

[Karlo Berrio

Cultivation: F

Qi: 10/10

Life: 60yrs

Affiliations: Yellow, Blue

Talents: (options)

Techniques: True Basic Qi Gathering (5/per hour)]

There had been 4 changes to his panel. First was his cultivation which, just like the other players, had gone from F- to F. It must’ve happened while he was unconscious.

Second was Qi. This was an entirely new addition to the panel. Although no explanation was given, the purpose seemed pretty intuitive to Karlo. He concluded it was simply the Qi at his disposal for any techniques that he performed.

Besides teaching him how to cultivate, the booklet also gave him some common knowledge about the functions of Qi and cultivation levels. Unfortunately, it was the de-gamified so he wasn’t sure exactly how they correlated to the letter system the panel gave. But he could guess.

The “realm” he was currently in, should be the Qi condensation realm, which was further split into 9 levels. Evidently, F-, the state of non-cultivation, should be the first level of that realm. And F, the state he was currently at, should be the second level. Which would make F+ the third level.

Extrapolating from here, assuming the letter system worked how he thought, the final level of Qi condensation should be D+. Something else he had been informed of, was that he’d have to make “breakthroughs” every third level, but he’d worry about that later.

The third change to the panel, and the one he was most interested in, was under talents. He wasn’t sure whether “options” was his talent or if he had a choice, so he simply said in his mind, ‘Options?’

Suddenly a new screen appeared before him:

[Choose Your Talent!

Truth Seeker (Rare): Allows you to see through to the deeper truth of a matter.

Endure (Rare): No matter how difficult or painful a situation, you will not give in.

For Real (Rare): Remove all game-like functions to: Gain all basic knowledge of the cultivation world; Double cultivation speed; Double speed of learning new techniques.]

The other players hadn’t mentioned anything like this. Karlo could only think that he had far exceeded what they had done, so much so that he had received a choice of talents. On top of that, every one was rare, at least a level above their talents.

Karlo couldn’t help grinning like a fool. All his efforts had paid off. That final struggle to pull in a single bit of Qi, even while blacking out, had been worth it!

Looking again at the talents, the last one seemed to be the obvious choice. While the other two had short, vague descriptions, “For Real” gave a hard double on his cultivating and learning speeds while providing invaluable knowledge.

On second thought, though, for all its advantages, there was a reason it was only rare just like the other talents. First, the removal of game functions meant that it would be his only talent from here on. In fact, Karlo felt that just this reason was enough to exclude it from being an option, but there were more. Sandra had mentioned something about a chat function. Not being able to use it could prove incredibly debilitating. Another con was that he wouldn’t be able to receive missions.

Thinking of these, Karlo quickly ruled it out.

Now he had to choose between “Truth Seeker” and “Endure”. Neither of which he was all that excited about.

‘Honestly, I have no clue how useful either of these will be, but they’re both rare so they shouldn't be too bad. Logically, it’s easier for me to control my ability to endure than to “see through to the deeper truth of a matter”. To survive in this world, being able to endure hardship is a basic requirement, one I already have to some extent. Oh well, I guess I’ve made my choice.’

‘I choose, Truth Seeker.’

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

[Do you choose Truth Seeker as your new talent?]

‘Yes.’

Karlo instantly felt the change. All around him, he could see the Qi floating in the air. He hadn’t been able to see Qi since last night, while he was in that trance-like state. But now, it was as clear as day.

He felt that there must be far more abilities to discover with this talent, but he’d leave it for later.

The final change to his panel was the addition of “5/per hour” beside his cultivation technique. To him, that sounded like the technique could gather 5 Qi every hour. He didn’t know if that was any good, but judging from the fact that he had max Qi, and he was feeling so energized, he concluded it must be operating automatically.

He had been concerned about this, that he might have to spend all his time cultivating manually, but it seemed that once he activated the technique, the game took over. Which, come to think of it, would’ve been another downside of taking that other talent.

Nevermind all that though, Karlo was finally ready to do some missions and get some food! Then again, there was the chat function... He’d worry about that later.

Going outside, he confirmed that it was midday. He had no clue where the others might be, but he wasn’t too concerned.

He decided that if this was like a game, the best way to find a mission was to look for someone who looked like they might give a mission. Walking around the village, he noticed that besides the main entrance and the paths to the rooms and café, hardly any part had white marble flooring. The rest was half sand and half snow

Another thing he noticed, was that the village was rather long, and not very wide. It seemed they had decided not to venture too far into either the desert or the tundra.

As Karlo watched the people, he saw that their clothes were suited for both types of weather. It shielded their skin from the sun while keeping them warm from the cold. Travelling between the climates seemed to be quite taxing though, as most generally stuck to one side if they could help it.

While he kept walking along the main street, which ran along the line between the desert and the tundra, he found himself in what could be called a residential area. He soon spotted an elderly man sitting outside a house on the tundra side. He wore nothing on his upper body besides a thin shirt and was shivering violently.

Immediately, Karlo approached and asked, “Do you need any help, sir?”

The old man, looked him up and down, “You’re one of those new folk, aren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

“You see me shivering here. Go get me a coat from that old tailor, Mrs. Dandy.”

[Accept Grade (F) Mission?]

As he was about to accept, he had an inkling that somehow he was being tricked. He quickly changed his answer, “Sorry sir, I don’t have any money.”

“Argh, kids these days. So stingy. Here, take this.”

The old man tossed him a shiny silver coin.

“You can keep whatever’s left over. Now hurry up and go before I keel over and die.”

[Accept Grade (F) Mission?]

Karlo replied aloud, “I’ll be back soon.” While internally he answered, ‘Accept.’

[Accepted Mission: Old Man Garber’s Coat (F)

Mission Objective: Purchase a coat from the tailor, Mrs. Dandy, and give it to Old Man Garber (0/1)

Reward: 1 Silver Coin (minus price of coat)]

Now the question was where to find the old tailor, Mrs. Dandy.

Once again walking along the main street, he asked an elderly woman who was passing by where he’d find the tailor.

“Oh sure, just go back to the fountain at the main entrance, and take the left most street. Eventually, you’ll see a sign for the tailor’s shop.”

So that is exactly what he did. He went down the left most street on the tundra side and sure enough, he couldn’t find it. Speaking to another passer-by, he was told, “No, no, no, he meant the left most street when exiting the village. So that’d be the right most when entering.”

‘What the hell?’ is what he said in his mind, but out loud he replied, “Thank you.”

Going back to the main entrance, he went down the right most street which was on the desert side, and soon he found a store with a small wooden swinging sign which read, “Tailor”.

When Karlo entered, the sound of a bell rang, and a little girl with blond hair tied in pigtails came running towards him.

“Hey, mister. You’re one of them new people, ain’t ya.”

Before he could reply, a short man with glasses walked out, “Ruby, don’t be rude to the customers, okay sweetie.”

Then he turned to look at Karlo, “So you’re one of them new people, eh. What can I do ya for?”

“Hi, is this Mrs. Dandy’s tailor shop?”

The short man rolled his eyes, “That old hag again. No, she doesn’t even have a shop, she works out of a bedroom. My wares are far better than hers. Just buy what you need here.”

“Sorry, I can’t do that. I was specifically told to buy from Mrs. Dandy. Thanks for the offer though,” Karlo said as he began to leave. This store was beginning to creep him out.

“Hey now, wait a second. I’ll tell you what, buy whatever you want for half price.”

“I really must be going.”

The man sighed, “To tell you the truth, that Mrs. Dandy has been stealing my business. I’ve barely been able to feed my kids,” he began sobbing, “soon, I’ll be forced to close down. If you could spare just a little bit of money, even 1 silver coin, I’d forever be in your debt.”

[Accept Grade (F) Mission?]

The man was kneeling on the ground, while the little girl hugged him and looked up at Karlo with pleading eyes.

Karlo stared at the man with cold eyes. Somehow, he just knew that he was lying. All he was trying to do was swindle him out of a silver coin, and the only reward would be a debt of gratitude.

“No, sorry,” he said sternly, and with that, he walked out.

In the shop, the man got up and dusted himself off, “Damn, cold bastard.”

The little girl laughed, “I knew this stupid ploy wouldn’t work twice.”

“Shut up, you brat. Wasn’t it your idea in the first place?”

“Hahaha.”

Karlo walked back towards the main entrance.

‘I think I’m starting to understand my new talent,’ he thought to himself, ‘First with Old Man Garber, I had a feeling there was more to the mission than what he was telling me. Then, just now, I knew that guy was lying. This talent might prove far more useful than I had anticipated.’

Besides that, it hadn’t been a total waste of time going to that store. He had learnt there were two tailors in this damned village. And the one he was looking for was probably in the residential area.

Finding another passer-by he asked specifically, “Do you know where the tailor, Mrs. Dandy is?”

“Sure, just go up the main street, take the third left, second right, right again, two more rights, clap your hands, jump twice, and you’ll be there.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Is it on the desert side or the tundra side?”

The man gave him a strange look, “How the hell would I know?” Then he walked off.

Karlo was left stunned. His hands went up to his head and he almost pulled his hair out.

“What the hell is going on in this town!”