In these few days, Roy had learned almost all of the System's Features and also studied every single one of the Mortal-Grade Items available within, from something such as scrolls containing martial arts techniques, to even food recipes. So that he would be readier when facing against enemies, and of course increased his survivability.
He had reflected on his past actions that nearly got him killed because he was careless and had let his guard down while being too easily satisfied with himself.
He came to know that if his system points was insufficient, The System wouldn't be able to save him even if it wanted to.
Moreover, the system's Emergency Mode would be implemented only in a critical situation when his life was in danger with a below 10% chance of survival, plus a cooldown of 100 days which equals about 3 months. Meaning he could only use it once every 3 months and 10 days. These information was explained by the system directly.
Pupu~
The voice of a grumbling stomach resounded, breaking the serene atmosphere.
"Aaah.. it's time to eat, I guess." Roy muttered slowly, while light tapping his belly.
[Yes]
With a simple thought, a wooden scroll popped out of nowhere, and hovered in front of him. It was made from solid pine wood, and it featured an elongated rectangular silhouette.
It was a scroll that contains food recipe. Every single day he would stop for a little break to recharge his stamina with foods.
Without much thought, he opened the scroll, "..."
[According to the system's assessment through scanning the surroundings, currently, this recipe is the most suitable for the abundance of materials present]
...
Once Roy had his stomach full, he felt that his body was overflowing with energy. He was now more than ready to face any incoming hurdles.
Roy was satisfied with his own cooking, it was all thanks to the system that made all of these miraculous things possible.
"To think that even the recipe from the system would make the foods taste this good." a wide smile appeared on his handsome face, "I promise," he announced, "I shall not make fun of you ever again.."
[ .. ]
Roy suddenly felt sleepy.
"I wanna sleep for a while, I guess." With his stomach filled to the brim, it was impossible for him to continue his little journey, so he decided to sleep for a while.
Though all of his injuries from the previous fights had already been healed long ago, however, his mental fatigue still remained, so he really wanted to rest.
Roy hurriedly halted whatever he was doing, and took a nap at a nearby spot.
...
An unknown amount of time had passed.
Roy woke up to the sound of wolves howling. He quickly sat up, and discovered that the surroundings were still dark. It was because the centuries-old trees with sprawling limbs everywhere had guarded the darkness, resulting in them blotting out any sunlight. Despite that, he was not the least bit surprised.
Roy, he yawned and stretched his body before jumping to his feet. Then, he walked over to a large tree. He stomped forcefully with both legs, causing his figure to soar up before his hands grabbed firmly onto a branch, and then he relied on the strength of his arms to pull himself up and down.
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As he moved up and down, his figure took a strange posture. This sort of posture caused the muscles in his entire body to be exercised at once.
This was the Body Refinement Technique that he’d obtained from the system the other day, and it wasn’t anything too good, given it was only a mortal grade. Every single Outer Court Disciple in any sect had one.
The effect of this cultivation technique was the strengthening of the body, and when the tendons and bones within the body were trained to a certain level, a trace of Profound Spiritual Qi would be absorbed. With this spiritual qi, one would be able to enter a new realm, which then would proceed in becoming a true cultivator.
Even though only the lowest stage of the Cultivation Realms, the difference between a mortal and a Qi Refining Stage Cultivator(the lowest cultivation stage) was arguably vast.
In his free time from fighting random wild beasts along the way, he had utilized this Body Refinement Technique and cultivated it for a few days, yet as usual, he wasn’t able to form a single trace of Spiritual Qi. But, he didn't care, as he only intended to exercise his muscle's strength and endurance, and of course for the system points too.
Huff~ Huff~
After a short moment, extremely dense sounds of someone gasping for breath suddenly resounded amidst the silent atmosphere of the forest.
Sweat dripped into his eyes, and the irritation from this caused Roy to shut his eyes tightly, and he allowed the sweat on his forehead to rain down towards his face.
At this moment, Roy felt numbness and exhaustion throughout his body. Especially his arms, they even felt like lead and were extremely heavy. A normal person would choose to rest at this moment, yet he didn’t. He gritted his teeth and grabbed the branch tightly before rising up and down without end.
After a long time, Roy’s face had flushed red while sweat rained down from his forehead. The black-colored clothes he wore were already drenched with sweat, and the feeling of reaching his limit caused him to feel dizzy.
In the end, his grip loosened a bit, and his entire body fell heavily to the ground, along with the tree branch.
Bang!
Huff~ Huff~ Huff~
As Roy lay on the ground, he gasped for breath. At this moment, he didn’t even have the strength to move a finger.
A cool breeze blew by, and he took a deep breath greedily. Slowly, his figure sat up while his eyes opened wide, and his face was covered in confusion.
Strangely enough, he thought, from all the wild beasts that he killed on the way over here, only a few dropped some strange crystal-like stones.
Perhaps, he had only realized it by now due to his extreme fatigue.
He straightened up with a groan, reading the screen waiting for him.
-The core of a lesser-rank wild beast (crafting material, core).
-It contains Spiritual Qi.
-It can be absorbed by cultivator to improve one's cultivation
He pulled out the particular icon. What appeared in his hand was a small, crimson gem, in the shape of a teardrop.
"..." Roy tried to take a closer look, his eyes mused on the semi-transparent stone.
He sighed as he put the wild beast core back in the System's Storage.
'It's likely because the difference in each of the beast's strength.' he thought.
'If I asked this half-witted system, it most likely wouldn't give any answers, with the pretext of it still being an incomplete form.'
[ .. ]
The system was speechless. What happened to his promise earlier? It wasn't even a day, yet, Roy already went back on his word, and mocked the system again.
...
Roy continued his little adventure and had already reached the depths of the Dark Purple Forest.
Right now, he stood atop a towering tree and watched a small and mysterious cave in the distance. The sky above the cave was shrouded in a layer of fog and frost. A flock of wolf-like beasts was seen some distance away from the mouth of the cave, it seemed to be their nest.
Looking at the almost identical features they bore, he couldn't help but be reminded again of the strange dog a few days back.
'It was mentioning about some lord of his? Was there any relation to me?' He shrugged before looking at the cave entrance again.
Whenever a fierce wild beast passed by the cave, it showed an extremely cautious expression, and rushed past the cave at its top speed. When the beasts looked at the cave, they showed extremely fearful and respectful expressions.
"Huh? Seems like this cave is a dangerous one." he muttered upon seeing such a sight, then began to scurry back to a safe distance from the particular cave.
Before he could proceed further, the system's mechanical voice rang in his mind.
[DING!]
[Mission System]
[Obtain mysterious items in the cave]
⋆Rewards: 50 System Points
Difficulty: Easy
'What the fu-? The rewards is 50 system points? Are you kidding?'
'I've got only a little more than 70 points for the last few days by killing hundreds of those lesser wild beasts!'
'Now you would give away these 'free' system points for some cheap quest of picking up some random unknown objects?'
'I won't buy it!'
'Furthermore, what's with that suspicious red-colored word as an 'easy' term, does such a color usually represent the term as 'easy'?'
'What an unscrupulous system. Am I meant to accept this quest? My f*cking experience as a f*cking gamer told me not to!'
'This has to be a scam!'
...