Chapter 30
Vast-Body Art (I)
To be frank--mostly with myself--I'm not quite sure what was more depressing: that the kid had such a visceral reaction to or that my disguise was so legitimately putrid a barely-in-puberty boy saw right through it.
For the sake of my sanity, I will go with first.
My predecessor left saddled with so many debts (literal and taphorical) that it kind of feels like those shark loans back on Earth, except these people here aren't breaking my knees but my heart and my spirit, which, in a very non-literal sense, is kind of worse.
Haah, why couldn't the kid have at least pretended?
Ah, whatever. There go all those points, down the drain. At least I was smart enough to not go for full reconstruction; I would have probably fallen into comatose depression otherwise.
As I wasn't spirited enough for anything but sulking in the rain, I ignored the scattered stalls of the market and headed straight uphill toward my peak. There was nothing else for to do down here anymore. Maybe scouting Daoist Mu's disciples? But no, that old monster and I already made a deal to instead seek resources.
Besides, I have a tender feeling that both my disciples are eventually going to beco resource-sucking parasites. Though all those special physiques and talents and bloodlines are amazing, they do have to co at a price--and that price was usually, well, money.
Even if I had a pretty fat savings account right now, courtesy of Elder Qin, there was still that gut feeling, as it were, telling that shit won't last a week eventually. Alas, it was ti to start saving up.
[Quest 2 (Common) -- guide a person (any person) by inspecting them and correcting any noticed mistakes -- COMPLETED!]
[Reward: 50 CP]
[...]
[Creation Points: 100]
[...]
[Please wait 29 days for Quest Refresh]
... hmm? What do you an it's completed? Did that kid actually try? Yeah, it looks like it.
Jesus.
Just how desperate was he? There's no way in hell he would have done it if he didn't have a semi-literal sword hanging over his neck. But, apparently, I lucked out by 'guiding' the one kid that didn't care about my putrid reputation, not even fearing that my 'corrections' might lead him to death.
Oh well!
His gain, my gain—we both ca out richer!
100 points... the maximum I could use to create an Art at the mont. It was also like gasoline into the tanks of my legs, spurring onward until I was all but sprinting uphill.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from . Support the author by reading it there.
Why does it feel tenderly close to... gambling? Like, feeling wretched on all the days you lose, swearing you'll save and bottle, but as soon as you win... off you go to spend it all again.
No, seriously; just 30 seconds ago, I was thinking about keeping so Creation Points 'backed up' in case scenarios like that pop up, and now I was sprinting uphill and to my room so I can spend them.
Haah.
Am I adjusted enough to ponder upon the matter of human nature? I an, I was never much of a gambler or even an addict--if we exclude caffeine and nicotine in my early 20s and an occasional mood stabilizer... Look, I was a consur, not an addict. There's a difference!
Disregard all that.
I slowed down before reaching the top, 'gracefully' walking past the old monster and the young kid that was dusting the furniture. The boy ignored , the girl greeted , and I grunted absentmindedly, my brain already consud in what I wanted to create.
It was actually art for Dai Xiu.
Had it been before Elder Qin visited, I would have tried creating Cloaking Art for Long Tao. However, now that the die has been cast and the bet has been made, I need her to actually be able to win. And, unlike Long Tao, she didn't have a vast repository of arts and thods to lean back on once her poison was cured.
And I don't think any of the ones she could gain access to from the sect would be good enough.
After all, despite having condensed Qi already, she'd have to redo it once her poison was cleansed. That would take at least six to eight months, even with her talents, using the sect's thods.
Thus, she needed my golden finger. Wow. Never think that again.
As soon as I sat on the bed, I pulled up the interface; yikes--I'm probably never gonna get used to the sheer abundance of options.
Anyway, for the first ti, I didn't select 'Special Art' under the type, but rather 'Cultivation thod.' I have a rather vague idea of the art itself and a way to (hopefully) tear through the 100-point threshold and create sothing that's a bit more future-proof.
Under the 'thod Type', I quickly switched from 'Spirit' to 'Body'. Both had the baseline cost of 20 Creation Points, while the mix of both cost 35. Sothing (again, this little gut of mine) told those prices won't stay the sa in the future.
Anyway, within the 'Core Structure' part, I modified the number of 'layers', as it were; the Creator called them Forms/Chapters for the thod. For now, I settled on 4-6, costing an additional 25 Creation Points. Going further than that, at 7-9, added another 20 Creation Points, though that was where I hoped to land.
No--wait.
I have to strike so balance; though I want so futureproofing, I also want my disciple to actually be able to use it imdiately. Oh well. We'll see.
The secondary part of the 'Core Structure' modification was the so-called 'Internal Logic Cohesion'; there were four options present, with four more grayed out and inaccessible. Here, I decided to splurge a little bit, going for 'Elegant' for 30 points.
Just barely out of the second part, and it already costs 75 points... wow. It's really, really brutal.
For Energy Type Focus, I prayed there existed sothing I wanted uniquely for Dai Xiu; under the 'Refined Qi' dropdown nu, after 'Sword Qi' and 'Wood Qi' and 'Spirit Qi' and about a few dozen other accessible refinents, there it was... my miracle: 'Body Qi'.
Dai Xiu's special physique was all about using her body as a furnace; unlike everyone else who stored Qi in their dantian, she stored it body-wide.
Using 'Body Qi', at least as far as the description of it indicated, would allow her to 'nurture' the body further and further. Ordinarily, this would be an extrely slow process, as cultivators would do it in cycles as they practice the thod, but for her--as Qi would be present everywhere in her body--it would be as easy as, well, breathing... literally.
I skipped elents and affinities and landed on Specific Characteristics.
There were quite a few available to Cultivation thods, but as 'Body Qi' cost a whopping 50 points, and I was already 25 past my limit...
I eventually spent 40 points to get 'Slightly Above Average Cultivation Speed', 'Solid Foundation', and 'Minor Special Body Tampering'.
I was also just about to skip Modifiers & Unique Properties but paused at a very specific option, largely because it was by far the cheapest one: there were two currently available 'Low Resource Consumption' options, Slightly Efficient and Moderately Efficient. As I wasn't certain of the end cost, I chose the first one.
And now... we co to the mother lode, and the only way my idea might work: Flaws & Restrictions.
Please, please work... I'm begging you...
User Comments
0 comments from readers