Months passed by, then a year, and he continued running his tavern, cultivating, and overall just living his life. It wasn’t particularly interesting, but that was what he wanted for now, he could always have an interesting life once he had become strong enough.
He had also managed to buy some Wind Stones and finally progressed sufficiently to start with Gale Form, which was lucky, because winters were fucking cold, and while he could not yet actively assist his body with it yet, it still passively increased his resistance to temperature and other outside influences to some degree.
Over time his tavern had also become more and more popular, his comparatively low prices because of lacking transportation costs for his beverages went a long way with that. He had even had to buy the neighboring house to accommodate all the customers, that had cost quite some coin, but almost doubled his income, so it had been worth it.
As his tavern had grown more popular there had been other problems cropping up though, namely people who did not like him impeding their business, but some hired guards took care of that, mostly. He also needed to grant some favors to an official or two to also make sure no legal troubles came up, but that was in the end still cheaper than having to deal with the actual troubles.
There was something else interesting, he had managed to get one exp point. He originally didn’t know for what, only that there was suddenly a notification telling him:
Congratulations! You have gained 1 Experience Point (EXP)
Which meant that he had now 1% of the Exp needed to get to level one. Not really useful, but that happened.
This had made him look further into the system though, to see if there was a settings menu, and luckily there was, even if it was not mentioned anywhere.
SETTINGS:
HUD Visibility: 30%
HUD Color: #333AFF
Subtitles: ON
Log: ON
Automatic Updates: OFF
Interface Control:
* Voice: OFF
* Touch: OFF
* Thought: ON
* Eye Tracking: OFF
Quests:
* Auto-Accept: OFF
* Quest-Log: ON
* Quest Types: ALL
Experience:
* EXP Alert Threshold: 1
* EXP Tracking Interval: OFF
* EXP Log: ON
* Exact Values: OFF
* EXP Source Display: ON
This was what the options looked like after he had played around with it some, originally he had tried setting the Alert Threshold to zero, but then he was constantly bombarded by notifications that he had gotten 3e-14 EXP. Luckily, the Exact Values option had been turned off, he didn’t even want to imagine how difficult it would have been then, to turn the option to one again.
There were some other options that he had changed, for one he had set the HUD Visibility from 50% to 30%, other changes were turning on the subtitles and different logs, and of course the EXP source display.
Rather than turning some options on, he had also turned some OFF, such as automatically accepting quests, and all control options but thought control, he could always turn on the other control options should he ever need them, but he would rather not choose something by accidentally looking at it the wrong way. The last thing he had turned OFF were Automatic Updates, he would rather not risk an update nerving him, if an update was useful he could still just accept it after all.
An interesting discovery he had made was that the general Log logged everything, even things that were said, which basically gave him a nearly perfect memory for conversations, something quite useful if you had to remember all the people and whatever they told you last week.
But that wasn’t the important discovery yet, no, that was reserved for the Quests tab.
Apparently he had quests, ones that had already been automatically accepted, luckily the punishments field was empty for all of them. But for those interested as to what quests he had:
Quests:
Main Quests:
* Join a Sect or similar organisation:
* * Reward: 100 EXP
* Failure Condition: Permanent Death
* Failure Punishment: None
* Status: Ongoing
* Reach Level 1:
* * Reward: Unlock Inventory; Unlock Shop; Unlock Help Feature
* Failure Condition: Permanent Death
* Failure Punishment: None
* Optional Objectives:
* * * Reach Level 1 within 1 days:
* * * * Status: [Failed]
* * * Reach Level 1 within 7 days:
* * * * Status: [Failed]
* * * Reach Level 1 within 30 days:
* * * * Status: [Failed]
* * * Reach Level 1 within 365 days:
* * * * Status: [Failed]
* * Status: Ongoing
Side Quests:
* Survive your first year:
* * Reward: 10 EXP
* Failure Condition: Death
* Failure Punishment: None
* Status: Complete
* Claim: [Yes/No]
* Reach the Elemental Attunement Realm:
* * Reward: 20 EXP
* Failure Condition: Permanent Death
* Failure Punishment: None
* Optional Objectives:
* * * Reach the Elemental Attunement Realm within 1 days:
* * * * Status: [Failed]
* * * Reach the Elemental Attunement Realm within 7 days:
* * * * Status: [Failed]
* * * Reach the Elemental Attunement Realm within 30 days:
* * * * Status: [Failed]
* * * Reach the Elemental Attunement Realm within 365 days:
* * * * Status: [Failed]
* Status: Ongoing
* Create your first Soul Elixier:
* * Reward: 100 EXP
* Failure Condition: Permanent Death
* Failure Punishment: None
* Status: Ongoing
* Create your first Artefact:
* * Reward: 100 EXP
* Failure Condition: Permanent Death
* Failure Punishment: None
* Status: Ongoing
That was a wall of text, but it seemed like one could also just call on one specific mission, so he wouldn’t have to deal with this all the time. He also immediately collected the 10 EXP quest, he did not see many reasons not to, and unnecessary speculations would do him no good.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
As such, he now had 11 EXP and would only need 89 EXP more to level up. If he didn’t complete any quests he would probably need another 90 or so years, assuming he kept constantly earning 1 EXP every year and a bit. Well, he would have hopefully reached the Elemental Attunement realm by then, so maybe he could reduce this to about seventy years.
He was then interrupted though by a group of customers ordering drinks.
Just as he was then about to go back to thinking, he was interrupted by another order, he should probably really get someone help, lodging, food and drink and a bit of coin should do as payment and would free him up more, maybe he could even finally get around selling Soul Elixiers, which were what could be considered the equivalent of qi-infused food, just that it wasn’t qi-infused and was probably more difficult to create than qi-infused food would be.
He had no clue how to create any himself, but what he did know was that it was somehow infused with an element or concept using internal energy.
They sold for what many considered ridiculous prices, with even the cheapest being a few Elemental Stones, the term referring to not only Wind Stones, but all stones that had similar properties, just were of a different element or concept.
But he had quite a bit money still, and if he traveled a bit, he could probably find some places where he could buy them relatively cheep and then sell them for a way higher price here.
But for that to be viable without annoyingly much effort, he would have to find someone to do at least the cleaning up.
As such, he put up a notice that he would be hiring, the payment he put on was ridiculously low, but there would always be people who were desperate enough, and since he added lodging he should also find someone who wouldn’t just wreck everything.
The applications he got over the following days were shit, one was a really hot mortal girl, which by itself already disqualified her, he didn’t want even more trouble, he had enough as it was.
Then there were some homeless people who just wanted somewhere to sleep, some of them had no clue how to even count beyond twenty without messing up, no surprise they were homeless. But one was actually somewhat decent, not good enough to take care of the tavern or anything, but he would clean up the messes left behind, he was also free to eat any food that hadn’t been eaten by customers.
Nylarthog had originally planned on rejecting him as well, but the guy was quite good at talking and knew basic hygiene, so he would possibly even be useful to get some more customers. After two months, Nylarthog also finally asked for the guy’s name, he had done quite a good hob so far, and Nylarthog was therefore considering letting him try and man the bar, instead of only cleaning up afterward.
That would mean he would have to pay Ignatius, the name of the guy, but finding someone willing to sell Soul Elixiers had turned out to be more difficult than expected.
Outside of sects or high-profile restaurants it was nearly impossible to find anyone capable of creating them, and those that could were either way too expensive or simply not interested.
So he mostly gave up, sure, it would have brought in profits beyond anything he was earning at the moment, but he was just too lazy to keep up the search, he still sometimes gave it a try when an opportunity presented itself, but he had no luck.
“Sir, there is a group of cultivators that wants to speak to the owner.”
“What do they want?” Nylarthog hoped they were only moving through, if they had anything to do in the city, then there would likely be quite a few dead people, the highest ranking cultivator of the city was, to his knowledge someone in the Elemental Attunement realm, which was quite low in Nylarthog’s opinion, he may have been lower, but this was a cultivation dimension, and the second major realm was nothing uncommon in a sect, outside it may have seemed high, but that was because most rogue cultivators joined a sect in that realm latest, because resources became more difficult to get.
Not that he knew much about that, he wasn’t even aware what the minor realms of the Elemental Attunement realm were called.
“Send them in.” At least they hadn’t just barged in as if they owned the place, that gave him hope.
As the cultivators entered the tavern, Nylarthog couldn't help but notice the sheer power radiating from them, more than anything he had come across before, not that that said anything, the strongest he had met so far had been a few rogue cultivators at the Tempest Soul realm.
"I am Feng Xiaolong, disciple of the White Lotus Sect, you may address me as Young Master Feng," the tallest cultivator said, stepping forward. "We have come to request your assistance in finding a certain item."
Nylarthog raised an eyebrow. Not because of the name though, you could believe him. It was because he had heard of the White Lotus Sect, one of the more prominent sects in the region. Their reputation for being ruthless and uncompromising preceded them.
"What is it that you're looking for?" Nylarthog asked, trying to keep his tone neutral.
"It's a Soul Elixir," Guan Yi said, his voice low and steady. "We have reason to believe that one of our disciples has stolen it and is planning to use it for personal gain. We cannot allow that to happen."
Nylarthog felt a twinge of unease in his gut. He had no idea who the thief could be, but he knew he couldn't risk getting involved in this, but he also couldn't just refuse the request outright.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure how I can help you," Nylarthog said carefully. "I don't deal in Soul Elixirs, and I don't know anyone who does."
Guan Yi's eyes narrowed. "We have reason to believe that the thief is in this city, and that they have been frequenting this establishment."
Nylarthog felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead. He had no idea how the White Lotus Sect could have come to that conclusion, but he knew that they weren't going to leave without answers. Which wouldn’t have been too much a problem, if they had truly been only after a simple Soul Elixier, but he was sure that it wasn’t just that, a simple Soul Elixier wouldn’t have warranted a search outside the sect, that would be like hiring a private detective to find a fifty dollar note one lost, simply not worth it.
But even if it were only a simple Soul Elixier, the fact that one sect thought something important enough to send someone meant that some other sect would likely think it worth the effort as well.
“If you were to show me a picture of the thief, maybe I could tell you if I have seen him. Feel free to also pin his picture somewhere on the notice board, I have one right next to the entrance.”
Feng Xiaolong nodded, pulling out a scroll from his robes and unrolling it to reveal a detailed portrait of the suspected thief. Nylarthog took a good look at it.
"I'll keep an eye out, but I can't guarantee anything. This is a big city, and there are plenty of places to hide."
"We understand," Guan Yi said, folding his arms across his chest. "But we won't give up until we find our missing Soul Elixir and bring the thief to justice."
Nylarthog nodded, watching as the cultivators made their way out of the tavern. He knew he had to be careful from now on, especially since the White Lotus Sect was involved. They were not known for their mercy, and if they suspected he was hiding something, he could be in serious trouble.
His tavern was running well, so he did not want to have to run away and start all over again.
Hours passed, and as the night grew darker, the crowd began to thin out. Nylarthog breathed a small sigh of relief as he started to close up for the night. But just as he was about to lock the door, a hooded figure walked in.
Nylarthog's heart skipped a beat as he recognized the thief from the portrait that had been shown to him earlier. He tried to keep his cool and walked over to the figure.
"Can I help you with something?" he asked, trying to sound casual.
The figure looked up at him, and Nylarthog could see the fear in their eyes. "Please, you have to help me," the thief said. "I didn't mean to steal the Soul Elixir, but I had no choice. My sister is sick, and I needed the elixir to save her."
Nylarthog was stumped, did that guy really just bring that excuse? And why the actual fuck would he ever come to him of all people? But not only that, the other party felt like a fucking mortal who had never even heard of cultivation, so he was either way stronger than him, and there was no way Nylarthog could help him, or he was truly a mortal which brought to question how he had even managed to steal the Soul Elixier.
Which meant that either the other party wasn’t a thief and the 'rightful’ owner of whatever the cultivators were actually looking for, or he wasn’t the thief.
But before he could wonder further, he was interrupted:
QUEST ALERT
You have been approached by a mysterious figure seeking your assistance. They require your help to leave the city.
* Help the unknown figure leave the city without being caught:
* * Reward: 5 EXP
* Failure Condition: The unknown figure gets caught or dies.
* Failure Punishment: None
* Status: Not Accepted
* Surrender unknown figure to Young Master Feng
* * Reward: 5 EXP
* Failure Condition: The unknown figure escapes the city.
* Failure Punishment: None
* Status: Not Accepted
Accept: [Y/N]