Chương 6: Spirit Stone Augmentation (I)

It has been a sweet four days since I've transmigrated into this world... and the days have been some of the most uneventful of my life. After giving my 'disciple' the Heart-Stitching Art, the boy just remained sitting cross-legged in the clean corner, not even opening his eyes. Nobody else climbed up to this peak either, leaving me rather lonely and desolate. Unlike people of this world, I had what you could call a rather severe 'modern tech withdrawal'. Each time I'd wake up, I'd reach for my phone...

but it wasn't there. There were no TVs that I could turn on and blankly stare at for a few hours because I couldn't be with my thoughts for that long. Food? Eating unseasoned rice was all there was to it. No wonder cultivators trained so they no longer had to consume food and could sustain themselves entirely off of Qi. If I had to eat crap like that, I wouldn't want to eat either.

The lack of modern tech hurt even more as I tried to clean this pig's den; with no vacuum, I had to manually sweep and gather things that I pray to all the gods in existence were stray chocolate droppings, among the assortment. With no air purifier or humidifier, I had to leave every window and door open for a draft and just wait. With no washing machine, I had to personally labor away to clean the sheets.

Brooms were extremely primitive, harsh, and crude; there was only water to clean with and using Qi for thicker stains. I, literally, had to beat stains out. It was a rather depressing living, all things considered. Pursuit of immortality? What for?! Aii, I have already made a decision--I will hunt down the smartest people of this world and feed their heads with the ideas of modern tech and see if they can figure out how to at least make simulacrums, if not the exact products.

After four days, something changed at last--we had a visitor. It was a mortal servant who brought this month's supply of food and pills and Spirit Stones. Three bundles were tied up and presented with a bow; despite my reputation, I was still a cultivator, and mortals feared me all the same. It was proper, yet strange at the same time. From my memories, the original Lu Qi threw a couple of Spirit Stones as a form of gratitude, so I did the same, tossing six.

I wanted to toss more to appear more generous, but for heaven's sake, there were only twenty of them! Oi, twenty?! Aren't I an Elder?! Even if it's just in name, you can't even bother to pretend? Haah, it's fine if it was just me! But I have a Disciple now! If I don't feed that monster with enough Spirit Stones, won't he kill me? Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Plus, these were the lowest quality stones; trying to use them for cultivation was only possible at the Qi Condensation Realm. Any higher than that and the drawbacks would outweigh the benefits, as you'd expend more time and energy expelling the artificial poisons than doing anything else. Watching the young, twenty-something kid descend the mountain, I couldn't help but sigh. My life... it will be a struggle for a long while.

"Master? Is everything okay?" aii, don't creep up on me, dude! Indeed an old monster! Even with this body's Spirit Manifestation cultivation, he still evades my senses. Come on, at least pretend you aren't a reincarnated son of fortune...

"Khm, yes, yes," I quickly gathered myself, putting on airs.

"Merely monthly resources. Here," I tossed all the bundles over. I didn't have to eat more than once a month, nor did I want to. Spirit Stones of this quality were useless for me. The only potential resource I would want were pills, but I didn't dare withhold them.

"How goes your progress with the art?" I asked in part because I was curious and in part because I was hoping for a hint. Truth be told, I tried, really, really, really hard to understand the art on my own... but it would have been like me taking up, I don't know, a book on quantum mechanics back on Earth. It may as well have been a book of blank pages.

"Very well," he said, taking the bundle without any hesitation.

"I've managed to reach Intermediate comprehension." Hm. Hmmmmm. I barely stopped my eyebrows from twitching. Four days, huh. Four days, and you've already reached 'Intermediate' comprehension. Without the system force-feeding me information, I wouldn't have even reached Minor!

"Good," I nodded, praying to the gods that he wouldn't ask me for information. No, wait, it's better to quickly dispel the notion that I can teach him much.

"Very good! Your Master has barely managed to reach Minor Comprehension. It fills me with pride to have such a good Disciple!" Whereas I believed it would result in him looking at me like I'm pathetic, it was actually... the opposite. There was a glint of interest contained therein, as though what I said went against who he believed I was.

"Khm," I need to extract myself from this mess immediately!

"Are you ready to learn our cultivation method?"

"That's fine." I mean, I know you won't use it, but come on! At least bother pretending!

"I do have a question—is there a way to exchange for higher-grade Spirit Stones?"

"Hm?"

"The quality of these is at the bottom of the bottom," he said.

"I may as well be using poison."... ah, just end me.

"Khm, I, I will see what I can do..." I took the bundle of Spirit Stones with shaky fingers, wondering how hard I'd have to kiss some ass in order to get something better. But... it would be worth it! See, I have a plan. And that plan is very simple: be a nice little bootlicker for this reincarnated monster, and maybe when he ascends beyond this minor plane of existence, he leaves me part of his wealth!

If I have to kiss some old ass in the process, well, lips be damned, I'll kiss all kinds of ass that I have to kiss! --hey. I have a system. Right? No, no, I do have a system. I wonder... Hurrying to my 'bedroom', a singular thought circulated through my mind—was it possible? Could I just create a Special Art or something specifically for purifying Spirit Stones or combining them or doing anything at all to increase their quality? Surely... not?

And, even if it was possible, something like that will likely cost hundreds of Creation Points! Ah, but I had to try! Though I proclaimed I'd kiss ass rather boldly just now, I really, really, really don't want to kiss anyone's ass... not even if it's a pretty one...