Chương 37: Chapter 36

Elara wasn't about to brush off someone who had come over with a friendly smile. They chatted beside the spirit field while Edwin told her about the neighbors. To her right lived Mike Zhou, a man at late-stage Qi Refining. Uphill, in Courtyard B5, lived Roland Shen. He was fifty-eight and had already tried—and failed—to break through to Foundation Establishment. Of the three courtyards farther down the slope, C15 through C17, only C16 was occupied.

Another female outer disciple lived there: Sylvia Ling of House Ling, a Foundation Establishment clan based in Moonwatch City. Apparently, she was working hard to reach late-stage Qi Refining. Anyone farther away could wait. Elara had enough names to remember for now. She and Edwin agreed to arrange a gathering for the nearby disciples sometime in the next few days. Then she returned to her courtyard with Alistair. She sent Prim to watch over the spirit field.

Alistair gave her seeds for Glowmist Grass and Mindveil Grass, along with a few Wellspring Grass seeds. After seeing him off, she went inside to meditate and replenish her qi. At Tier 4 Qi Refining, casting a single Rank One mystic technique was enough to drain her reserves. But with the sect's abundant spiritual energy all around her, she recovered far faster than she ever had in Valehaven. By noon, her qi was fully restored. Most outer disciples would have kept cultivating, trying to make a little more progress.

Elara had other priorities. As soon as her reserves were full, she headed for the spirit field inside her courtyard. The plot covered roughly a hundred and sixty square yards, in a spot richly supplied by Azuremoon Peak's spiritual vein. Far more spiritual energy flowed through it than through the larger field behind the courtyard, and senior cultivators from the Hall of Spirit Gardening had already installed a basic Qi-Gathering Formation.

The narrow strip of soil measured about sixteen feet across and ninety feet long. Above it, sunlight shimmered through a veil of moisture, making the concentration of spiritual energy visible to the naked eye. The Spiritwell Flask has twelve drops of spirit liquid left. That should be enough to bring seventeen Glowmist Grass plants to maturity. Seventeen reward orbs. She considered the other seeds. But if I grow Mindveil Grass, or even Wellspring Grass…

She had little experience with Mindveil Grass and none at all with Wellspring Grass. Glowmist Grass first, then. She would collect the seventeen reward orbs. Some were bound to restore her qi, and afterward, she could plant the other two varieties. That was her safest option. Elara took out seventeen Glowmist Grass seeds, loosened the soil with a small trowel, and carefully planted each one. They took up less than twenty-four square yards.

For now, that was about as much ground as she could manage while reliably bringing an entire planting of low-grade Rank One spirit plants to maturity at once. She carefully distributed the spirit liquid over the planted seeds, then formed her hand seals. [You have successfully cast Soften Earth. Proficiency +1.] [12/100] Her Level 3 Soften Earth had reached twelve proficiency points. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Next came Raincall.

Mist laden with spiritual energy gathered over the patch and seeped into the soil. Combined with the spirit liquid, it spurred the seeds into growth. Before long, tender green shoots broke through the earth. [1/100] [2/100] … Maturity readings appeared over all seventeen stalks of Glowmist Grass as they grew. [You have successfully cast Raincall. Proficiency +1.] [6/100] Another point for her Level 3 Raincall. Then she noticed one plant lagging behind.

The other sixteen were growing steadily, but this one's maturity reading was less than seventy percent of theirs. A bad seed? Her stomach sank. No. Just a weaker one. She sighed. Spirit plant seeds varied in quality. Some simply grew faster than others. During Glowmist Grass's usual week-long growing cycle, a difference like this would barely matter. Most of its growth over those seven days depended on the qi supplied by a Spirit Gardener's arts.

Accelerating the process with spirit liquid made those differences much more pronounced. A weak seed couldn't keep up. If only I'd learned Earthreach. The advanced form of Soften Earth, Earthreach was a Rank One mystic technique that allowed the soil around a seed to draw spiritual energy from a wider area. It was particularly useful for helping weak seeds catch up. Unfortunately, Elara hadn't learned it yet. All she could do was feed the struggling plant more of her own qi.

At least her cultivation had improved over the past few days. She had just enough qi to bring all seventeen plants to maturity. [Glowmist Grass maturity +3.] [Glowmist Grass maturity +5.]... [100/100] [101/100] … As the maturity readings reached a hundred, reward orbs dropped across the small patch of soil. Only Elara could see them. And one of them was green. Delighted, she hurried forward to gather them. Notifications appeared in quick succession. [You have collected a White Random Reward Orb. Reward: One day of cultivation ×12.] [You have collected a White Random Reward Orb. Reward: Restore a small amount of qi ×4.] Sixteen white orbs. Twelve cultivation rewards and four qi restorations. Together, they refilled her qi reserves and added two experience points to her Tier 4 cultivation progress. She reached for the green orb. [You have collected a Green Random Reward Orb. Reward: One Talent Point.]"Huh?" The unfamiliar notification caught her by surprise. Then she realized what it meant.

Talent Points had been one of the game's biggest moneymakers. Players needed them to upgrade the talents they already possessed. In Seed of Ascension, players obtained talents through random draws, then improved them with Talent Points. Each cultivation realm also came with a set number of talent slots. Qi Refining players got two. Anyone who wanted a third had to pay. Foundation Establishment came with three slots, and Golden Core with four. Elara would gladly have paid to unlock a few more.

If only she could find a way to add funds to her account. She quickly opened the system interface. …

Personal Status Race: Human Cultivation: Qi Refining, Tier 4 (25/100) Fortune: 8 Talents (1): [Practice Makes Perfect (White)] (0/10) [Spirit-Touched Foundation (Green)] (8/100) Skills: Basic Arts: [Raincall] (Level 3: 6/100) [Soften Earth] (Level 3: 12/100) [Pest Ward] (Level 3: 1/100) [Grassweaving Art] (Level 2: 15/100) [Metal Gathering Art (Modified)] (Level 2: 61/100) Rank One Mystic Techniques: [Stormcalling] (Level 1: 25/100) Basic Talismans: [Soul-Calming Talisman] (Level 2: 7/100) Basic Cultivation Methods: [Minor Origin Breathing Art] (Level 2: 7/100) …

Sure enough, a "(1)" had appeared beside Talents. Both talents now showed their progress toward the next upgrade, along with the number of Talent Points required. To her delight, Spirit-Touched Foundation already had eight points of progress. The Dao Embryo Pill was still at work, gradually improving her green talent. Then she looked at the cost. Upgrading a white talent to green required ten Talent Points. Going from green to blue followed Seed of Ascension's usual pricing scheme: multiply by ten.

Taking a white talent all the way to blue would cost 110 Talent Points. Wouldn't that put the total cost of reaching red at 111, 110?

What is going on? Why are several people suddenly accusing me of posting an AI-generated story with absolutely no basis? Some are even deciding my work must be AI-generated just because my protagonist is named Elara?????? I know AI has come a long way, but isn't it still a long way from being able to write a readable, full-length novel with a coherent plot? What did I even do? Why all this hostility toward me? A bunch of people emailed me asking to swap reviews, and I didn't respond.

Is that why I suddenly got four one-star reviews in a single day, all claiming my novel was AI-generated????? Seriously, are there actually examples of AI successfully writing full-length novels? With AI's current capabilities, a lot of AI-generated stories can barely keep their plots together for ten chapters before everything completely falls apart. What the hell is going on?