Auroch was once again walking the dirt paths of the sect. Reprimanding himself for his impulsive spending. The only saving grace this time, so to speak, was that he had not spent any ‘real’ money. On the downside however, he had spent all of the meager funds he had started with.
‘At least this time I bought stuff I actually needed...mostly.’
Even in his thoughts he couldn’t lie to himself. He truly had bought things he needed and were of use. However, the key words here were ‘needed’ and ‘of use’.
Sure he would need a pick to mine the fire stones, but he probably didn’t need to buy one made of dark steel. Fire stones were a tier 1 material after all, so a simple iron pickaxe and sufficient strength would have sufficed.
Similarly the thick work gloves he bought for harvesting steel wool flowers, probably didn’t need to be made of Iron Boar hide. The same Iron Board hide he was supposed to collect for Elder Agung. At least he now knew why the Elder probably wanted it. According to the stall owner he bought it off of, the hide of an Iron Boar was, ‘as-tough-as-iron’, whilst being as flexible as regular leather.
Auroch sighed audibly to himself. What was done was done and although he had spent all his money and had bought tools of a higher quality than was actually necessary; he had listened to the disciples behind the counter in Mission Hall. Instead of purchasing a fancy pack of some sorts, he had gone to the sect’s garden sheds and picked up a well used, but sturdy, hemp sack.
At least he thought it was hemp. Then again he had also thought the work gloves were just made of high quality leather and that the head of the pickaxe was stained iron. Getting used to the variety of all the exotic materials used in this world was going to take some time.
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Upon leaving through the giant stone doors of the Evergreen Sect’s front gates, Auroch’s first thoughts were; ‘I can’t remember the last time I walked so much and not have my knees start aching.’
Followed shortly by; ‘I wonder if I can get out of breath here.’
His mind was so full of these trifling thoughts that he failed to notice the majesty and imposing aura of the gateway he had just passed through. Had any of the sect Elder’s known his thoughts, they might have wept. What was the point on spending so much and using such a large quantity of high tier materials, if people didn’t even appreciate them!?
“Okay. So I’m facing this way.” Auroch mumbled to himself as he rotated his newly acquired map in his hands. “Which means the mine is in front of me and off to the right a bit. The flower’s I need are all the way to the left...and I am going to stay away from the forest for now.”
Not only were these two places in opposite directions, there was also a fair bit of distance between them and his current location. The names of some of the places he had to pass through to get there sounded a little dubious as well. [Shredding Meadow], [Rockfall Pass] and [The Fields of Fire] hardly sounded like spa resorts. In fact, the names of the locations he was supposed to gather the materials at were almost suspiciously plain. Now that he knew the names of the places he had to pass through, Auroch suspected that; [Fire Spirit Mine] and [The Shimmering Sea] were probably not as innocuous as they first sounded.
“The fire spirit is going to end up being a bloody volcano and I bet the shimmering in the shimmering sea is probably from the scales of all the flesh eating fishes.” Auroch grumbled as he focused on each of the marked locations.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Sighing. Auroch put away the map and just started walking. He was a brand new player and figured that meant that any direction would be as good as an other. So long as he stayed near enough to the sect grounds he should be relatively safe...right?
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You have died!
The world around him faded to black, a stark contrast to the already eye-catching blue box that only seemed to make it look bigger and brighter.
Auroch couldn’t even understand what had just happened. One minute he was walking through a pleasant looking field; the next minute he was face down on the ground, winded and then a blue box appeared telling him he was dead.
Respawning player at last Safe Zone.
A short moment later, and Auroch was blinded by a flash of light. When the light faded and his surroundings came into focus, he found himself alive once more and standing in the middle of his player house.
“Well then…” Auroch looked down at himself and checked himself over. “I guess that dying isn’t that bad. Hahah…”
His laugh came out forced. He would be 64 this year and although this is considered as barely being old aged, he could not deny that it had a little too close to home. Modern medicine had improved by leaps and bounds over the last half a century. Sometimes the things that medicines could do these days bordered on miracles. They weren’t though, and nothing known to humankind could cure death.
Physically shaking himself off, Auroch tried to shake loose the grim thoughts that had snuck up on him.
“It’s just a game, it’s not real. Nothing to worry about, nothing to fear.” Saying the words out loud helped to calm the sudden onset of nerves; even if he didn’t believe his own words. “Just have to keep moving and keep busy. “You can’t wait for an adventure, and death won’t wait for you.”
Auroch was stood in the large central room of his player home. The decorative screens made up three of the rooms walls and the set of mahogany bookcases filled the entire back wall. The only other furniture in the room was a large armchair, that looked more like a giant beanbag than a chair, a small side table made of polished marble and a central fire pit.
Taking slow and deliberate steps, Auroch approached the bookcases, stretching himself as he went. The money he had spent on the bookcases also gave him a set of books to go with them, although they were not anywhere near full by any means.
His first death had shaken him, and although he refused to let it ruin his time in the Boundless Realm, he did not want to potentially go through the experience again so soon.
“So what have we got?” Still talking to himself out loud, Auroch picked each book off the shelves and read their titles. “Hmmm, [Sects of the Tai-Pan Continent], [Beginners Guide to Herbs], [Immortal Tales], [Legends of the Heavens], [Heroes of the Tai Empire].”
Many of the first books he picked up were what could be considered ‘world-building’ books. They contained lore, stories and references of places or things that players could potentially find. Some; like the guide on herbs, or the ones similarly for forging and pattern making, gave players hints at the things they could unlock or do with professions they took up.
To find these things required a played to actually read the books and just picking them up, or opening them, would not automatically provide a prompt notifying the players of such things.
Auroch had just been flicking through some of the books to distract himself whilst he settled his nerves; when he came across a book called [The Path of Cultivation]. It was one of only three books remaining on the shelves that he had yet to pick up. One of the things described within it, was the different realms of cultivation and the order they came in. They were: Ki Gathering Realm > Ki Refining Realm > Spirit Condensing Realm > Foundation Building Realm > Palace Forming Realm > Ascending Sky Realm > Transcending Heaven Realm > Immortal Realm > Celestial Realm.
There were sections in the book that described each of the nine realms, but Auroch didn’t read anything beyond the introductory summary. Something he had read had caught his eye. He flicked through the book until he found the small section that contained information on Spiritual Perception.
“
Auroch couldn’t help but feel that if he had known of this technique beforehand, then maybe he could have avoided being killed earlier. Or at the very least he might have noticed that something was going to ambush him.
The information in the book was only basic and didn’t explain how exactly he should go about trying to learn Spiritual Perception beyond what it said in the beginning. After all, The developers couldn’t allow something too game changing to be bought with real money. Even if most information could be found elsewhere online.
Knowing something could be done and knowing how to do it, are two separate issues. That being said; sometimes, just knowing that something is possible, can be immensely beneficial.