Saying 'goodbye' to the cheerful and oddly inquisitive Jason, Herman took the ladies for another bout of shopping and followed their advice about what should he bring for the troublesome Custodian and the scary Sect Master. One cannot be too careful when handling women.
When he got back to the sect, the two he bought gifts for were still in the Cultivation Room and had no plans to exit anytime soon. Therefore, he simply handed the intended presents to Wu Xinyan and left for the room he woke up in this morning.
Only when he reached the doorsteps, did he remember that he wanted to pass by the Mission Hall first and accept whatever tasks they have available for a newbie at the Qi Gathering Realm.
"There should be something available as usually there are at least between one and five tasks available per each cultivation realm."
With that in mind, he stumbled his way in the dark to the said building, after asking at least three times for directions. It was still day yet the darkness of his lack of knowledge made one believe that he was blind. The problems started only at that point when the old lady in charge of the mission assignment - that has been single and bitter for the biggest part of her life - began making things difficult for him.
"But madam..."
['Miss'! Not 'madam'!](?)
"Okay... 'miss'... the sect master already accepted me and we underwent the tea acceptance ceremony. I don't understand why is your esteemed self making things so difficult for me."
[I am most certainly not! There was no paperwork handed in and you do not wear the sect's insignia. How I'm I to know you are not a spy from another sect?](?)
"Because I am pretty sure that I am the only male cultivator accepted in this entire sect. That's why I don't get why you are making things so difficult when it's obvious that you must've heard rumors of me joining."
[Would you please stop with these baseless accusations!? Even if you joined as a man into our women-only sect, without the proper paperwork or someone's recommendation...](?)
[Enough of this, elder. Big brother Herman has my recommendation until Sect Master comes out of secluded cultivation.](Ling Ye)
[I understand, Chief Disciple Ling...](?)
"*Sigh* Thank you miss Ye."
[It's alright big brother. You cannot expect everyone to accept you with open arms, right?](Ling Ye)
"Did you follow me here expecting this?"
[Yes. I heard from one of my juniors that you were asking directions for the Mission Hall and I know the personality of the elder in charge today...](Ling Ye)
[...](?)
[You can mind the others and I will take care of big brother Herman.](Ling Ye)
[But... miss Ling...](?)
[It's 'Chief Disciple' Ling, elder! You should know that I hate repeating myself...](Ling Ye)
[...understood.](?)
Following the pretty lady under the obvious glare of the old witch, Herman felt helpless. He could only curse the Heavens himself for not being born a girl and incurring the ire of the older, single, and sexually unsatisfied ladies here. While keeping such petty thoughts to himself, he entered a small room where different books were placed on pedestals painted in different colors.
He remembered how there were more than a handful of them in higher ranked sects and was pleasantly surprised to see this Basic Rank one having six different ones. Six pedestals representing six different cultivation realms, meaning that even the Nihility realm cultivators could join this sect and receive missions from the System through it.
[Since big brother is only at the Qi Gathering Realm, I would advise choosing the 'Guard the Sect' mission. Nobody attacks our sect and your shift is only once per month. There will be someone to notify you in advance. The pay is acceptable as well with 5 Contribution Tokens and 5 Reputation Tokens daily. I'm afraid that you need to reach the Soul Wandering realm before being able to be paid with Spirit Stones.](Ling Ye)
"That is perfectly fine! I will listen to miss Ye's arrangements and accept this mission then. What do I need to do?"
[Just place your hand on the book and make your selection.](Ling Ye)
Without forgetting to act his part as a newbie, albeit a more 'gifted' one, Herman selected the mission and the System confirmed it.
Would you like to select the 'Guard the Sect' mission?
Be advised that abandoning the current mission would incur a month-long penalty before being able to re-select.
Do you want to proceed? Yes / No
Finishing his selection and chatting a bit more with the Chief Disciple, he left in defeat about half an hour later. There was no increase in Favor from any of the three ladies that went out with him today. It does seem that this will take a bit more effort than some gifts and pretty words.
After getting back in his room which had a heavily sweet scent, he undressed and showered. Luckily, the Primordial Qi diverted to the Immortal Search clothes set he wore, prevented any dirt of any kind on it, due to its self-cleaning function. The human body, unfortunately, didn't have such options and had to be manually cared for.
"Now that that's done, I guess I should sort out my Inventory first. System, open it for me."
Looking into the game-like window, he brought up the 30 slots Inventory and started sifting through it. The previously equipped Mortal Things set was gone, but luckily he still had one piece of equipment he recently gained: the Clouding: Thundering Sword. This was a Level 3 forged equipment that received the System blessing, which meant that its attributes would be in the higher end of the expected limit.
"For a newbie blacksmith, if he gets lucky when forging a piece of equipment with a maximum of 100 points for each attribute, he should get about 80 for each. The System has much better results though. System, display the equipment's attributes."
Clouding: Thundering Sword
Equipment level 3
Life Essence: +182 (Limit 187)
Dexterity: +186 (Limit 187)
"Cultivation in the Immortal World is truly heavily based on Spirit Jade. As a Qi Gathering newbie, getting your hands on this sword usually doubles your base attributes for Life Essence and Dexterity. Not everyone is an exception like myself or the Autharchs."
Equipping his newly acquired sword, Herman took a look at his Attribute panel and was pleased with what he saw. He needed to increase his cultivation realm faster so he can hire a blacksmith for himself. Only after he would forge a full set of at least Level 5 equipment would he be able to travel the infinite worlds, searching for resources with no worries of being wrongfully killed.
Personal Information
Attributes
Ultimate
Pill
Name: Herman Roy
Cultivation time: 0 Years (2 days)
Spiritual realm: Qi Gathering V
Body realm: Mortal Flesh I
Ascension number: N/A
Attributes
Life Essence: 466
Attack: 2330
Strength: 283
Defense: 1415
Vitality: 435
Health Points: 6525
Dexterity: 470
Evasion: 1410
Fortune: 27
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Critical Strike: 9
Perception: 350 Points (Locked until ascension to the Immortal World)
Efficiency: 175 Primordial Qi points / 1 hour
Absorption: 51.4 points
Superior Qi Absorption: 25.7 Spiritual Qi point / 1 hour
Character (Unlocked - please select to view)
Personality (Unlocked - please select to view)
With another thing of the way and some space cleared in his Inventory, he looked in wonder at the 21 out of a total of 30 slots already full. He smiled wrily and remembered how he started last time with barely a handful of Spirit Stones and the rest he had to work his ass for. Now, he was at a loss of what to do with these many things in his possession.
Taking a deep breath, he began classifying the resources and arranging them accordingly.
"First off, I have a total of 217.300 Spirit Stones. To think that I used up 20 SJ for a meager 2000 before and now I have over one hundred times that amount... Anyway, the girls dried me of my reserves today and I barely had 500 left, so everything else is from the redeem codes and the rewards from the System. Using this amount I can easily buy all the skills in the Sutras Hall at both the first and the second level."
The first level of the Sutras Hall had four skill series, one for each main attribute. There was the Pieces of Five Elements for Life Essence, the Enigmatic Thunder Pieces for Dexterity, the Yin Pieces for Vitality, and the Matrix Pieces for Strength. Each series had a total of 9 books and each book is granting 10 points to its respective attribute. Of course, you could use Spiritual Qi to increase their mastery level, but even in that case, they would only go up with an additional 2 points per respective attribute, for each level. Basically, each book of a series could increase the main attribute up to a total of 28 points only upon full mastery, irrelevant of your own cultivation realm. With nine pieces in a series, Herman could gain at max 252 in each of the big four.
"I will probably start buying them as soon as I am done with the Dwelling since I need to gather them all. The faster the better!"
The System would refresh the books available once per week and most of the time there would be duplicates of the ones you already bought. That's why Herman was planning to acquire them sooner rather than later and then focus on something more important. Yes, there will be events once you've ascended that put emphasis on your general attribute increase in a specific timeframe, and having such books to learn from would be excellent at that time, however, you are required to be alive to participate in them.
"With a pissed elder from the Altar of Heaven and Earth wanting to take revenge on me, I need to grow faster. These four series wouldn't be sufficient, but they might be enough to help me survive, albeit just barely."
The immortal skills available to be bought in series or otherwise consisted of pattern movements of Primordial and Spiritual Qi within one's circulation. By following the respective movements discovered by others, your body would - more or less - take a shortcut in discovering how to move Qi with more efficiency, improving your physical condition at the same time. These shortcuts are not that many in number, but they are quite welcomed and sought after by newbies who want to stay alive.
"Anyway, with that out of the way, I have 285.000 Wood Essence, 256.300 Iron Essence, and 138.000 Food Rations. Luckily, they are only taking three total slots in my Inventory, else I would've cried myself to sleep each day, was I to lose any. The first step is to upgrade my Qi gathering array so I can travel to my Dwelling. I can unpack and deposit all these resources there, unburdening my Inventory."
And to do that, he first had to upgrade his Qi gathering array to at least Level 10. In doing so, both his Spiritual Qi absorption as well as his storing capacity would increase greatly. Bringing up the Spiritual Roots interface, he found out that he indeed needed both Wood and Iron Essence to improve the array's capacity.
"System, calculate the resources needed to upgrade my Qi gathering array to Level 10."
Acknowledged!
For the requested upgrade, a total of 1004 Wood Essence and 2007 Iron Essence are required.
Would you like to proceed? Yes / No
"Go ahead with it!"
The new stats were quite interesting to observe. Just the array itself was giving Herman another point in Absorption, but now that it was upgraded to Level 10, it jumped up to a total of 11. Not only that but Herman had increased the total amount of Spiritual Qi he could store to 3455 points. It might not seem like a lot, given that he had hundreds of thousands back on Earth before casting his roots, but now we're talking about superior quality Spiritual Qi. The type that just one point is the equivalent of a hundred thousand back on his home planet.
He could go ahead with the upgrade all the way to the 50th level if he wanted to but was unsure if he should do that or not.
One way or another, the amount of Spiritual Qi required to upgrade just one root from their current 'damaged' status to the next 'poor' quality, would require over 5000 points. He didn't even have that much storage ability right now, so he couldn't even bother about it and instead focus on the new toy he had available.
"System, open up the portal to my Dwelling!"
[Waaaaait! Big brother Herman! I want to come as well! Take me alsoooooo!](Lan Yue)
"..."
Herman was secretly sweating when he realized that the little minx was hiding somewhere and observing him. Swallowing his saliva, he did a double-take on the things he said aloud and the girl probably saw noticed his nervousness and did her best to put on a ferocious face while declaring something unexpected.
[Don't worry big brother! I know from Sect Master that you angered an elder of a rival sect of ours, but you don't need to worry. I am also at the Nascent Soul realm and I can easily beat at least ten oldies like him. You don't need to hide in your Dwelling! I can protect you!](Lan Yue)
"..."
The words of the girl sent a buzzing noise through Herman's brain, leaving him at a complete loss of what to do or say. This little one believed that he purchased the Dwelling for 600 Spirit Jades only to hide from that shitty elder!? On second thought, it might not be such a bad idea to use that as justification... it was just that... there wouldn't be many that would believe it since there were better ways to spend that much SJ.
The good thing was that he didn't mention aloud the vast quantities of resources he had available, else the girl would've already asked him about it given her bubbly personality. With another bullet dodged, he found one more reason to get to his damned Dwelling already, before this whole 'talking-to-yourself' business lands him in deeper trouble than it would back on Earth.
"While I appreciate miss Yue's kind intentions, I can still handle an old decrepit cultivator such as himself. Come, let's go visit my new territory. Who knows, maybe in the future it will become your house too if you decide to follow me."
[Hehe! Big sis Qian said that you will try to coax me with sweet words. I want to follow big brother, but you need to convince the other four first.](Lan Yue)
"*Chuckle* Did she now? Don't worry! I won't leave anyone behind. Look, the System already opened the portal to the floating island. Let's go!"
[Okay!](Lan Yue)
The feeling of motion sickness was amplified at least about ten times and Herman fell to the ground as soon as the teleportation was completed. The lovely lass stood behind and patted him on the back while he was trying his best not to throw up. He needed to increase the level of the damned array for the return, else he might actually faint next time. In the presence of the opposite sex, that would be beyond embarrassing.
[Amaaaaazing! Look, big brother! We're in the sky!](Lan Yue)
After recovering a bit, he also took in the surroundings, making him almost think that the 600 SJ was a justified expense. The whole island was one a couple of square kilometers when it came to the actual land, but it appears much wider due to the distance between locations. Each building had its own space on a mini-island, connected with the rest through bridges. The Alchemy Furnance was ready to be used and he only needed to hire someone to start practicing. The Equipment Room had to wait until he reached the Gold Core realm, while the Study Room until Ensoulment. Passing by the Wine Cellar where he saw the movement of people, he was greeted by a crew of four-man and one lady cleaning and moving things around.
[[[Greetings, young master!]]](?)
"Hello! You must be the people in charge of the Wine Cellar that Jason mentioned, right?"
[Yes, young master! My name is Celia and I am in charge of our little group. Feel free to come and visit whenever you have something for us to do.](Celia)
"A pleasure meeting you and the rest Celia. My name is Herman Roy and this is one of my friends and fellow sect members Lan Yue. I will be sure to visit you when I have the chance."
[[[Take care, young master!]]]
Complaining to himself how we won't ever be able to get used to being called 'young master', the duo left behind the busy crew and headed for the Fate Pavilion. It was by far the biggest building on the island and it did look the part of the luxury promised by that Jason swindler.
The surprise he got when he entered to inspect the rooms was brought about by something else though. A beautiful woman in her late twenties was bowing in a curtsy as soon as he opened the door.
[Welcome home, young master Herman!](?)
[Woooooow! Big brother, this big sister is so beautiful! She's even prettier than big sis Xuan.](Lan Yue)
"..."
Leaving aside the ditzy girl he was starting to have doubts about ascending due to her loudmouth, the stunning woman before him surprised him to a great degree. But not in a good way or because he was captivated by her charms! This woman's cultivation was at least at the Half-Immortal realm. She is trying to hide it now, but when she curtsied and raised her dress, Herman didn't see her feets touching the ground. Moreover, he was certain that she had done that on purpose, to warn any moron like him not to screw around.
But it didn't make sense! Why would Jason send a Half-Immortal cultivator to help him with chores like dusting his apartment? If this woman would get angry at him for whatever reason, there wouldn't be any dust to clean after she would be done with him.
"A pleasure to meet you, miss. I am sorry but, did mister Jason sent you over?"
[No, young master. I am the Immortal Housekeeper hired through the System. I am here to help you manage your Dwelling. My name is Celeste.](Celeste)
"I see! Miss Celeste, once more, a pleasure meeting you. This beside me is one of my friends and fellow sect members Lan Yue. She and others might visit from time to time, so allow me to apologize in advance."
[It's an honor to make your acquaintance young miss.](Celeste)
[Woooow! Big sister Celeste, how did you become so pretty!? I'm sure that even Sect Master and big sis Xuan would be envious of you!](Lan Yue)
[Don't worry young miss. I am certain that you will become even prettier in the future. Should I prepare some tea young master? Or should I ready one of the rooms?](Celeste)
"*Cough**Cough* Tea! The tea is perfectly fine! For three, as I would love it if you could join us. I want to talk with you about your attributions if that is okay with you."
[Understood.](Celeste)
Seeing Herman pale and red in the face at the same time, Lan Yue found it amusing and kept poking fun at him, asking if he was sure that he didn't want to ask 'miss Celeste' to prepare a room for all three of them. He would usually laugh along or maybe even tease the young lady, but he couldn't bring himself to this time around. He wasn't stupid enough to make advances on a Half-Immortal cultivator or even joke about that. He was 100% certain now that the initial 'floating feet' display was to make the possible silk-pants young master aware of her real strength and keep him from doing something that might get himself killed.
[Do you think big sis Celeste was right? Will I become as beautiful as she is in the future?](Lan Yue)
"That depends on you."
[Eh!? You're supposed to say things like 'of course you will', not that it depends on me!!! Also, what do you mean?](Lan Yue)
"Miss Celeste is probably at least at the Half-Immortal realm. I shouldn't have to say anything more than that, do I?"
[WHAT!? For real!? Oh, my HEAVENS! That's amazing! No wonder she looks like a goddess!](Lan Yue)
[Miss Yue, slow down with the compliments else you might make this one blush. Ladies everywhere are lucky you weren't born as a man, else who knows how many hearts you would've broken already.](Celeste)
[*Giggle* But it's trueeeee! Big sis Celeste is both powerful and pretty!](Lan Yue)
Seeing the two chat while tea and snacks were placed on a table, Herman did his best to appear as if he couldn't tell that the previous line was directed at him, calling him a sweet-tongue philanderer. He only brought the ditz here because she asked to come along, okay! It's not like he could do anything even if he wanted to.
"Crap System and its shitty requirements need for the companion's Favor to be at least at 100 before attempting to have sex with them. I swear to god this is not a cultivation game but a dating one!"