"Fear not the man who has practiced 10.000 techniques once, fear the man who has practiced one technique 10.000 times."

- How to win in a Fight (Luce Bree, TE 115)

°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°

*Bingbong*

Quest completed!

Congratulations host on completing the first line of cultivation quests. You have now reached the Inner Manipulation realm.

Rewards:

- Qi Condensing Pill 2x

- Qi Bolstering Pill 4x

- Qi Attracting Pill 8x

- Technique: Eye of the Vulture

Cultivating is nice and comforting. Inner peace feels...peaceful. No worries out here in the void.

Anyway, I need a little change of pace. I kind of want to try out this technique.. but how do I activate it?

Let's try some other quests until I figure this out.

"Quests"

*Bingbong*

Quests Cultivation Crafting Fighting Activate a technique Craft a weapon Defeat 1 baby Nightmare

Hmm, I received weapons from my first quest, but I never got anything to use as crafting ingredients to make my own. Maybe fighting quests give crafting ingredients?

So I would first have to cultivate to be strong enough to fight, in order to get resources to craft with? Is that how it is?

"Select quest"

Quest: Defeat 1 baby Nightmare

Using your own power, defeat a baby nightmare summoned from the void.

Possible rewards: baby Nightmare claws, baby Nightmare teeth, Nightmare essence, tiny Nightmare core, a technique

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I do feel bad about beating babies but with a name like Nightmare, I don't feel quite as bad.

"Accept Quest"

*Bop*

Oh God that is hideous. That is absolutely disgusting. I will be having nightmares about this - Oh, that's where the name comes from.

Aaand it's noticed me. Those claws do look very sharp actually...

Wait a second.

Which weapon should I use?

I didn't get any shields, maybe a sword? A Jian? Is that a sword?

AH, IT'S COMING!

The baby Nightmare starts sprinting towards me on all fours. It doesn't seem to have any actual legs. Its body morphs around, creating limbs as it goes. It slashes towards me with a freshly spawned set of claws, which I block just in time.

Or should I call that a parry?

*Cling*

That wasn't too bad actually, I guess babies aren't very strong.

Let's keep it simple and get this over with.

I block another one of its attacks and launch one of my own. One slash was enough to tear its entire body in half.

After that, it quickly started to dissipate.

*Bingbong*

Quest completed!

Congratulations host on beating your first monster!

Rewards:

- Baby Nightmare claws x5

- Tiny Nightmare core

- Technique: Tiger Slash

Alright! My second technique already! And this one is actually offensive, that'll come in handy.

Let's craft something with those claws first, maybe a spear? There is that single tree in front of my house, surely it wouldn't mind me taking a branch.

...

*Bingbong*

Quest completed!

Congratulations host on making your first ... "weapon". Welcome to the world of forging trash wondrous artifacts!

Or in your case, wooden sticks with claws on them.

Rewards:

- Your crafted weapon

- Technique: Eye of the Appraiser

*Bingbong*

*Upgrade possibility dectected*

*Merging Eye of the Appraiser with Eye of the Vulture*

*Technique gained: Eye of the Wise Vulture*

Don't disrespect my wooden stick with a claw... Whatever, I made it myself and I am still proud of it.

Now, how do I use this new technique.

"Eye of the wise vulture"

...

Nothing.

Do I just focus on it?

...

Hm what's this? Looks like a 3D map of a racetrack. Is that how I have to move my qi?

Nightmare Poker

A shabby spear, made out of oak wood and a baby Nightmare's claw.

- Instills fear in baby Nightmares

- Instills anger in adult Nightmares

Huh, I guess it is.

*Bingbong*

Quest completed!

Congratulations host on learning and activating your first technique! You are becoming a real cultivator!

Rewards:

- House upgrade: Wooden Hut -> Small 1-story Pagoda

Anger in adult Nightmares? Maybe I won't use this spear for my first fight against them then.

Let's see the next fighting quest. 3 baby Nightmares? From 1 to 3 opponents, sounds challenging.

Maybe I'll properly learn this Tiger Slash first. I could also train with some of the other weapons I received earlier.

Let's see, there's the jian I just used, my new spear, another spear, a club, a scythe, a set of tonfas and ... a meteor hammer? Huh, maybe I will.

*Crash* *Clang* *Doof*

Ok, maybe I won't.