“Th-Thank you, Chief,” Caleb spoke while wearing a shocked expression. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You already said it,” Elijah replied.
“What happened?” Catharine asked. A moment later a happy smile spread across her face. “Hmph, and you didn’t want to come. If I hadn’t dragged, you out of bed you would have missed out on a great opportunity.” Turning to Eli, Catharine gave him a bow before she continued speaking. “Thank you for giving my son this quest. He really doesn’t deserve your kindness.”
“Nonsense,” Elijah replied “I’m only giving your son what he deserves for the work he’s doing. You don’t have to thank me.”
“You don’t understand,” Catharine responded with a shake of her head. “Because of your quest my son now has the opportunity to continue the cultivation journey.” Tears appeared in Catharine’s eyes and her voice started to break.
“My mother’s right. I’ve already given up on taking another step forward in my cultivation. Now!” Caleb took a deep, shaky breath, looking both excited and dazed at the same time. Elijah could see that Caleb was extremely moved and considered the quest he gave him a great fortune, but at the same time, Caleb looked like he was struggling to believe such a fortune was possible.
Caleb was currently at level sixteen, the initial bone tempering stage. This was a low level when it was compared to the village warriors that were a lot younger than him. After asking Caleb and Catharine a few more questions, Elijah was able to understand why they were, so excited about obtaining the quest.
When he first entered the bone tempering stage, the process brought him a lot of pain. Pain far greater than what the average human experience when they temper their bones. Of course, for a young man with dreams of greatness, pain was nothing but a steppingstone on his path and Caleb was more than willing to endure it.
Sadly, the pain was only and indicator of a greater problem. Caleb had a unique body that made his bones more fragile than a normal person. Fortunately, Caleb had a father that was willing to pay any price to pave a path to greater future for his son.
Caleb’s father walked into the wilderness and risked his life to find a herb that could cure his body. Caleb and his mother didn’t know what price he paid, but Caleb’s father returned with only half a breath of life left in his body and the herb Caleb needed. Both mother and son wept as they witnessed the father take his last breath.
Unfortunately, they weren’t the only ones who witnessed this site. Soon a person higher up in the clan found out about the herb they obtained. That person realized that the herb Caleb’s father found could push an individual through the entire bone tempering stage without that individual feeling any pain. Such an item was perfect for their own child who was cultivating very slowly due to the fact that they were afraid of the pain they had to experience during the bone tempering stage.
Naturally, the person that was higher up in the clan forcefully took away the herb from the mother and sun. In the village there were plenty of people with stories similar to Catharine’s and Caleb’s. However, Elijah’s ability and willingness to give out quest would become a turning point for Caleb and many other people in the village.
The astral energy that Elijah’s quest rewarded was able to let an individual effortlessly increase their cultivation. The individual didn’t need to focus on controlling the astral energy, they didn’t experience any pain or discomfort during the tempering process and there was no risk of the astral energy damaging their body as long as it wasn’t disrupted.
Of course, all leaders were able to reward their followers with astral energy through quests. However, creating quests cost astral energy and Elijah never heard of a leader that had an unlimited amount of astral energy to sacrifice. Most leaders reserved the quests they could give out for their loyal followers and experts that would help them defend their territory.
Maybe this was why Catharine and Caleb were moved by one quest. They probably didn’t expect Elijah to easily give away a quest to people he didn’t have a strong connection with. Elijah actions were different from what they expected and made them extremely hopeful for the future.
After Catharine and Caleb calmed down, Elijah spoke to them for a little bit longer before they parted ways. Elijah was glad he was able to bring joy to two villagers and simultaneously get some help with creating badges, but now he needed to find another task to accomplish while he waited for Caleb. However, before he made any decisions, Elijah decided to address the notification that he recently received.
Congratulations! You have reached level 8 in the Chief job. +1% to all stats.
Congratulations! You have reached level 16 in the Ruler specialty. +1 to all stats, +1 to attack and +1 to defense.
Quests: One Hundred Quests
Description: As a Chief, issuing quest to your people is not simply an ability you have it is a responsibility. Prove that you are willing to bear the responsibility of a chief by issuing one hundred quests in the next twenty days.
Time Remaining: 19:23:59:57
Quests issued: 1/100
Rewards: Varies
Penalty: Loss of 10 Chief levels, loss of the quest giving system.
A smile appeared on Elijah’s face when he saw his first and second notifications. He gained experience in his chief job because he issued a quest to a villager and he gained experience in his ruler specialty because his actions had a positive influence on one of his followers. Elijah was pleased that he finally found a steady stream of experience for leveling up his specialty and job. Sadly, the happiness he felt was quickly whisked away when he looked at the new quest he obtained.
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Elijah was overcome with the feelings of frustration and helplessness after reading the One Hundred Quests quest. How could the game take away the quest giving system? This was a hefty and unreasonable penalty for failing one quest. Also, how could he lose ten levels when he only had eight?
Truthfully, the quest wasn’t that difficult. If he wanted to complete the quest quickly, he could sacrifice ten points of astral energy to issue multiple simple quest. However, Elijah knew this approach would result in him getting the lowest possible reward from the One Hundred Quests quest. If he wanted to get the greatest reward possible, he would have to sacrifice the maximum amount of astral energy for each quest.
Coming to this realization, Elijah’s only choice was to release a helpless sigh. Who asked him to be poor? Who asked him to become chief of an unawaken village, on the brink of being attacked by goblins and in need of badges to help bolster their limited strength? Elijah allowed himself to mentally complain about his situation for a few minutes before he pushed aside his negative emotions.
As long as Elijah dealt with the goblin threat, he would have plenty of time to complete the quest. Instead of focusing on his poverty, he decided to focus on what he could do to ensure that the village defeated the goblins. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Elijah realized there was nothing left for him to do.
The villagers didn’t need Elijah’s help with the task they were working on. Of course, there were other things that he could do. Elijah could practice his skill or he could attempt to improve the village’s cultivation technique. However, both of these things required Elijah to use his stamina and mental energy, and this went against his plan to store up energy for cultivation.
In the end, Elijah decided to return to the village core and log out of the game. He would relax in real life while he waited for his character to recover its energy. After all, when hundreds of goblins are about to attack your home, it was important to remain calm and relaxed.
Over an hour passed in real life before Elijah returned to the game. Once he returned, the first thing Elijah did was begin cultivating. He lost astral energy when he issued a quest to Caleb, so he wanted to recover what he lost and improve his cultivation. But Elijah didn’t plan to place all his focus on increasing his cultivation.
During his break, Elijah thought of a better way to use his stamina and mental energy. Since Elijah recovered his energy with every level up, he decided to mix-in sending astral energy into the village core with his normal cultivation. This increased the total amount of astral energy he was able to feed the village core every day.
Of course, Elijah wasn’t able to endlessly gain levels in his cultivation. One reason was that the current stage of his cultivation technique and his stats limited the number of cultivation sessions he could perform. Another reason was the limitations he imposed on himself.
Elijah didn’t want to rush his cultivation. He wanted to experience how it felt to cultivate each stage of the body tempering realm in preparation for cultivating in the real world. With this idea in mind, Elijah only planned to increase his cultivation by five levels at most each day.
You have finished a complete cultivation session with the Supreme Ruler cultivation technique with a one hundred percent proficiency. Your slaves have increased your absorption of astral energy by 10%. You have gained 290 points of astral energy.
…
Congratulations! You have reached level 26 (Initial Blood Tempering). +2 to all stats, +2 free stat points.
“Greetings Chief,” Catharine spoke after she bowed.
“Greetings Chief,” Caleb spoke after he bowed. “I’ve completed the quest you’ve given me and I’m sure you will be satisfied with the results.”
Once Elijah finished increasing his cultivation level and feeding the village core, he went to look for Catherine and Caleb. After they exchanged greeting, Caleb took out the badge Elijah asked him to make. One look and Elijah could tell the badge was exactly what he needed.
The badge was a circular disk that could easily sit in a person’s palm. The two faces of the disk were light brown and the round edge was covered in dark brown tree bark. At the center of the badge was a small, gray, spherical stone that could be viewed from both sides of the badge and emitted a faint trace of astral energy.
“Is this an astral stone?” Elijah excitedly asked.
According to his future self, astral stones were small stones that contained a large amount of astral energy. This energy was very pure and easy to absorb. It could be used to increase an individual’s cultivation speed, power items and most importantly, Elijah could sacrifice the astral energy contained within them in place of his own.
“Sadly, no.” Caleb replied. “If we really did have access to astral stones then everyone would have much higher cultivation levels. The stone I used is something we found that can absorb astral energy better than normal stones. I broke it apart and mixed it with a few plants that I grinded into powder. Using my mental energy, I gathered the surrounding astral energy to fuse everything together into the stone. The process…”
Elijah patiently listened to Caleb’s explanation about the process for creating the badge. He did so out of respect for Caleb’s hard work and because he was genuinely interested in the creation process. Plus, Elijah felt that learning about how Caleb manipulated energy would be beneficial for when he found time to practice manipulating astral energy. Little did Elijah know, his decision to listen to Caleb would help him in the near future.
“Everything sounds good,” Elijah responded to Caleb after he finished speaking. “Now, let’s look at the effect of all of your hard work.”
You are currently holding an item suitable for creating a badge. To turn this item into a badge you must sacrifice (1,000) (450) (300) 270 points of astral energy. Would you like to create a badge? Yes, or no?
A smile spread across Elijah’s face when he saw the significant decrease in the cost of creating a badge. The first decrease was because the materials for the badge were already collected, combined and shaped. The second decrease was because of the skill Caleb put into the creation of the badge. The final decrease came from Elijah’s understanding of how the badge was created. It was a small decrease, but Elijah was willing to accept whatever the system would give him.
Congratulations! You have created your first badge. This badge can be bound to yourself or bound to someone else.
The process for creating the badge was almost instantaneous. The moment Elijah agreed, the system forcefully extracted astral energy from Elijah’s body. For the next few seconds, Elijah did nothing as he watched the glowing badge absorb his energy.
After the process was completed, the badge lost the glow surrounding it. However, the badge now had a light sheen. Elijah was happy to see the successful completion of his first badge and he decided to bind it to himself. Curious about its information, Elijah used Identify.
Item: Badge
Tier: 0
Durability: 17/17
Description: An item connected to Eli capable of receiving other badges.
Requirements: Eli’s permission
You have an item capable of receiving the Goblin Killer Ⅰ Badge. To assign this badge you must sacrifice 100 points of astral energy. Do you want to assign the Goblin Killer Ⅰ Badge to this item? Yes, or no?
Elijah sighed. Gone was the excitement he felt over his first badge. The only thing that remained was a desire for more wealth.