Chương 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 me 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 me saddled with so many debts (literal and metaphorical) 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 me 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 become resource-sucking parasites.

Though all those special physiques and talents and bloodlines are amazing, they do have to come 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 me that shit won't last a week eventually. Alas, it was time 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 mean 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 came out richer!

100 points... the maximum I could use to create an Art at the moment. It was also like gasoline into the tanks of my legs, spurring me onward until I was all but sprinting uphill. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. 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 some 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 mean, 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 consumer, 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 me, the girl greeted me, and I grunted absentmindedly, my brain already consumed 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 methods 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 methods. 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 time, I didn't select 'Special Art' under the type, but rather 'Cultivation Method.' I have a rather vague idea of the art itself and a way to (hopefully) tear through the 100-point threshold and create something that's a bit more future-proof. Under the 'Method Type', I quickly switched from 'Spirit' to 'Body'.

Both had the baseline cost of 20 Creation Points, while the mix of both cost 35. Something (again, this little gut of mine) told me those prices won't stay the same 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 method. 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 some balance; though I want some futureproofing, I also want my disciple to actually be able to use it immediately. 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 something I wanted uniquely for Dai Xiu; under the 'Refined Qi' dropdown menu, after 'Sword Qi' and 'Wood Qi' and 'Spirit Qi' and about a few dozen other accessible refinements, 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 extremely slow process, as cultivators would do it in cycles as they practice the method, but for her--as Qi would be present everywhere in her body--it would be as easy as, well, breathing... literally. I skipped elements and affinities and landed on Specific Characteristics.

There were quite a few available to Cultivation Methods, 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 Tempering'.

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 come to the mother lode, and the only way my idea might work: Flaws & Restrictions. Please, please work... I'm begging you...