Chương 42: Chapter 41

Ten days flew by. In the early hours of the morning, Elara stood inside the Dao Realm.

"Do you wish to challenge the fifth step of the Stairway of the Great Dao? Please note that your opponent will be selected entirely at random."

"As if I believe that," Elara muttered. In Seed of Ascension, the Dao Realm combined a ranked ladder with a series of dungeon challenges. The first four trials were practically gifts for new players. The first provided a means of entering the realm, while the next three introduced them to the game's combat. The fifth was where things got difficult. If players chose their own battlefield, the developers had a special "care package" waiting for them.

Pick an ocean battlefield, for instance, and there was a good chance of facing something like a Red-Eyed Tidewalker. The first trick to clearing the fifth trial was knowing how well your class suited the terrain. If you could handle its elemental conditions better than an enemy beast or cultivator, choosing your battlefield could give you an advantage. The second trick was to get better at PvP. Or spend money. For now, Elara would have to settle for grinding skill proficiency and improving her cultivation method.

"Random battlefield." An ordinary fighting platform appeared before her. She had barely begun to relax when her opponent materialized, dressed in robes patterned with swirling bands of red, yellow, blue, black, and green. She knew those robes. They were the standard uniform of the Fivefold Immortal Sect, one of the Immortal Realm's Seven Sects and Three Clans. Back in the game, most players who drew an opponent like this forfeited immediately to save their consumables. Elara had a more pressing concern.

She was broke. Spending talismans on this attempt was out of the question. She hadn't even reached Tier 5 Qi Refining yet. Fivefold Immortal Sect or not, he was just another opponent she couldn't beat. With that settled, she cast Stormcalling. Wind howled across the platform as she released every Spirit-Eater Beetle from her Swarmkeeper Ring. The swarm gathered into a small black cloud. She sent it rushing toward the Fivefold cultivator. The instant it came within about fifteen feet of him, his hand shot up.

There it is. His aggro radius. Elara braced herself. In the second, third, and fourth trials, opponents didn't react until an attack actually touched them. From the fifth onward, they had an aggro radius. Players could no longer count on landing that first hit unopposed. Dozens of steps farther up the stairway, opponents could react the moment a player began forming hand seals. Now she was getting a firsthand demonstration of the difference.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Flames burst outward around the Tier 5 Qi Refining cultivator. Most of the approaching Spirit-Eater Beetles caught fire. Sharp crackles filled the air as qi-fed flames tore through the swarm. Beetles rained onto the platform. A talisman unleashing a Rank One water technique would give them a much better chance of getting through. But that brought her back to the same problem. She was broke.

She was not spending a talisman on this attempt. And at Tier 4 Qi Refining, she had enough qi for only one or two castings of a Rank One mystic technique. She was here to improve Stormcalling and work out how she might eventually beat him. With most of the swarm brought down, the Fivefold cultivator turned his contemptuous gaze on her.

"You think you're fit to challenge the Fivefold Immortal Sect?"

"Oh, just you wait!" An NPC was mocking her. Elara nearly swore. Then she spotted a dozen or so Spirit-Eater Beetles slipping through the curtain of flame and landing on him. Her irritation vanished. Back when she played the game, Basic-grade artifacts had been so cheap they might as well have been free. She had breezed through the early Dao Realm trials. Now she had to learn her opponents' strengths and weaknesses one attempt at a time.

Seeing her beetles breach an immortal sect cultivator's wall of fire was progress. When defeat inevitably threw her out of the realm, she found herself staring through her window at the pitch-black sky, feeling surprisingly hopeful. This could work! Once she reached Tier 5, the Spirit-Eater Beetles and a selection of talismans would give her a real chance at clearing the fifth trial. She still needed to improve Stormcalling and the Verdant Moon Method, though. She opened her system interface. …

Personal Status Race: Human Cultivation: Qi Refining, Tier 4 (14/100) Fortune: 9 Talents (1): [Practice Makes Perfect (White)] (0/10) [Spirit-Touched Foundation (Green)] (8/100) Skills: [Raincall] (Level 3: 31/100) [Soften Earth] (Level 3: 64/100) [Pest Ward] (Level 3: 38/100) [Grassweaving Art] (Level 2: 78/100) [Metal Gathering Art (Modified)] (Level 2: 77/100) Rank One Mystic Techniques: [Stormcalling (Modified)] (Level 2: 99/100) Basic Talismans: [Soul-Calming Talisman] (Level 2: 24/100) Rank One Cultivation Methods: [Verdant Moon Method] (Level 2: 3/100) …

"Once Stormcalling reaches Level 3, I can take the Rank One Spirit Gardener examination." She curled her hands into fists, eager to get started. After a short rest, she stepped outside as the first light of dawn reached her courtyard's spirit field. The plot covered about a hundred and sixty square yards. Over the past ten days, she had given most of her spirit liquid to the tea sapling. A smaller portion had gone to Glowmist Grass for a few white reward orbs.

Today, fifty-six stalks of Glowmist Grass were nearing maturity, and all forty-four stalks of Mindveil Grass needed only a final push. Elara surveyed the hundred plants, hardly able to wait. Nearly half a month's work was about to pay off. Once she had a firm grasp of growing Mindveil Grass, she could devote more of her spirit liquid to the Mid Basic-grade plant. She hadn't drawn any of its rare rewards yet, either. There were still Talent Points and other prizes waiting in its reward pool.

She took the Spiritwell Flask from her Storage Ring and poured out the few drops of spirit liquid it had condensed from the Dao Realm's qi that day. Then she formed her hand seals. Qi spread across the fifty-three square yards of Mindveil Grass. A gentle breeze rose, carrying spiritual mist into the soil around the roots and feeding energy into the plants. Green light flashed through the patch as their growth accelerated.

Before long, the leaves unfurled in the breeze, their subtle luster marking them as fully mature. [You have successfully cast Stormcalling. Mindveil Grass maturity +5.] [You have successfully cast Stormcalling. Mindveil Grass maturity +6.] … (100/100) (101/100) … Readings of a hundred and higher filled Elara's vision. Glowing orbs spilled across the field. Of the forty-four, thirty-nine were white. Five were green.

"That seems like a lot. It's not as though I never grew Mindveil Grass in Valehaven…" Then she realized. She hadn't raised those plants from seed. She had chosen Mindveil Grass that was already close to maturity and supplied the final push. Was that why she had received fewer green orbs? An idea began to take shape. She stepped forward and touched a white orb. The reward settled it for her: raising the plants herself made a difference. [You have picked up a white random reward orb. Reward: three days of cultivation.] Three days of cultivation from a single white orb! In Valehaven, she had only cast the final spell needed to bring the plants to maturity. That had reduced both the quality of the orbs and the rewards they held. This was good news. Under normal conditions, Glowmist Grass matured in a week, and its white cultivation orbs granted one day of progress. Mindveil Grass took two weeks, but its white cultivation orbs granted three days. She did the math.

Over the same growing period, Mindveil Grass yielded fifty percent more cultivation.