Receiving a notification from the system that his narrative quest was updated, Arthur went ahead and commanded the system to bring it up as a screen appeared in his mind soon after. After reading through it, his mood could not help but turn a bit sour as he murmured, “Well… this doesn’t seem good.”

Ding!

[Narrative Quest: The Fate Between Two Clans (2)]

The user has finally chosen how to tackle the great problem that they have unintentionally been involved in, deciding to opt out from helping one side. However, rather than interpret it as the cowardice of the user, the system has interpreted it as the user taking on the road less traveled, being someone who not only wanted one side to benefit from their help, but for both sides to benefit.

As the user is a being that wants to help all beings, which aligns with the concept of a true spirit vein, the system has given the user tasks that they must fulfill, aiding both sides in this gradually unfolding conspiracy.

Addendum: As the user was casually proceeding in their path to become a greater spirit vein, a group of five from the Xu clan appeared in the boundary of the user’s [Spirit Sense] out of nowhere, talking about how they were going to hamper the couple’s progress in awakening the woman’s father. Not only that, but they were also planning to take the user, which was a budding spirit vein, for themselves, turning the user into a resource that only the Xu clan could exploit.

With such information now being known to the user, the user can now opt to choose among two possible choices.

Choices: Allow the group from the Xu clan to plunder all of the Spirit Slag on the surface. This choice would go against the wishes of the couple. Make a move against the group from the Xu clan. This choice would go against the wishes of the clans. Note: Previous mission requirements still remain after making a choice.

“Well, I already had an idea as to what they were going to do after they mentioned budding spirit vein and Spirit Slag,” Arthur could not help but say to himself. “Then again, from the perspective of a clan, I’m more worth their time.”

“Leaving that thought aside, it seems like the Xu clan is being proactive, taking the initiative to nip the couple from making any short-term progress,” he muttered. “But of course, the Huang clan might be proactive in other areas, just like the Xu clan. There’s also the possibility that they’re actually working with Jian and Qin, aiming to awaken Qin’s father as soon as possible. Either way, I lack information.”

“What do you think I should go with, Sisa?” he asked Sisa not long after, to which Sisa replied, “Well, from how the choices are laid out, it wouldn’t matter either way. If you chose the first option, the group of five would be able to take the Spirit Slag on the surface back to the Xu clan and that would be the end of it. Since you can produce much more Spirit Slag in less time with [Qi Conversion] upgraded, it doesn’t really affect the couple in the long run.”

“On the other hand, making a move against the group might give you a surprise. After all, the system wouldn’t give you a choice like that if it meant you wouldn’t gain anything from it,” she concluded.

“I thought choosing one over the other didn’t matter either way? Why does it feel like you want me to choose the second one?” After listening to Sisa’s words, Arthur could not help but ponder over it for a bit. Nevertheless, it did not take long for him to make a decision as he said, “Whatever. It’s not like you’ve given me bad advice in the first place. Plus, I do feel closer to the couple than the clans, even though I only interact with them indirectly. In fact, it kind of makes me want to go back in time and choose to help out the couple, actually.”

Ding!

You have chosen ‘Make a move against the group from the Xu clan.’ Is this your final decision?

“Yep,” Arthur said in response to the prompt, his tone surprisingly determined. For some reason, he had a feeling that he wouldn’t regret choosing this one in the long run.

After a few seconds of silence, a sound of confirmation from the system resounded throughout his mind once more. Though, before he checked it out, he took a peek outside once more using [Spirit Sense], seeing that the group of five was indeed making their way to where he was.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said with a hint of sarcasm.

Eventually, the group of five stood in front of the pile of Spirit Slag above Arthur, their eyes completely fixated on it. For a while, silence covered the five as they knew the amount of high-grade Spirit Slag was worth a fortune nowadays. However, before any impulsive thoughts among the five to keep the Spirit Slag for themselves popped up, the leader among them said to the others in a stern tone, “Remember what the patriarch told us. Haul the Spirit Slag away and leave the premises as soon as possible.”

Hearing that, the other four could not help but inwardly let out sighs of disappointment. Though, as the leader continued to talk, this thought was quickly dispelled as he continued with a sly chuckle, “But of course, what the clan doesn’t know won’t kill ‘em.”

With that, the other four jumped for joy, only to stop as they remembered they were on a stealth mission. Soon after, the five went ahead and got to work, splitting the pile of Spirit Slag into five equal portions as they scooped it all up into the bags they brought

Seeing that it would take the group of five some time to scoop up all the Spirit Slag and leave, Arthur went ahead and checked the notifications he had received from the system, even going so far as to open the quest’s description again.

Ding!

You have selected the second choice.

The details of the narrative quest shall now be changed, giving the user the tasks they need to fulfill.

[Narrative Quest: The Fate Between Two Clans (2)]

As the user was casually proceeding in their path to become a greater spirit vein, a group of five from the Xu clan appeared in the boundary of the user’s [Spirit Sense] out of nowhere, talking about how they were going to hamper the couple’s progress in awakening the woman’s father. Not only that, but they were also planning to take the user, which was a budding spirit vein, for themselves, turning the user into a resource that only the Xu clan could exploit.

In response to that, the user has decided to take action against the group from the Xu clan. After all, the user’s safety is at stake due to their actions. Nevertheless, as the user still wants both sides to benefit from their help, the user would only leave them with a warning at most.

Mission Prerequisites:

[1] Opt out from siding with either the couple or the clans.

[2] Make a move against the group from the Xu clan.

Mission Requirements:

Aid Xu Zhoujian in breaking through to the 4th Realm (0/1)

Aid Huang Qingqin in breaking through to the 4th Realm (0/1)

Have another person from the Xu clan recognize you (1/1)

Have another person from the Huang clan recognize you (1/1)

Tell either the Xu or the Huang clan of the whereabouts of the couple (0/1)

Hamper the group from the Xu clan (0/1)

Mission Rewards: 250,000 System Points

“Huh.” Arthur uttered. After making a choice, he was pleasantly surprised to find out that the reward had more or less tripled. On the other hand, an objective was added to the list of objectives he had to complete. In fact, he already had an idea as to how he would do it. But just to make sure…

“Can a spirit vein even obtain offensive skills?” he asked Sisa, wanting to confirm his hypothesis. In response, Sisa told him, “Surprisingly, they can. However, since you’re still an Early Spirit Nucleus, you don’t have access to actual offensive skills yet.”

“I see,” Arthur said in response, only to turn silent as he noticed how Sisa worded her response. From the looks of it, she knew that he already had an idea as to how he would be able to do it. With that, he asked her once more, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“With you only having one skill that could possibly do something like that, how could I not?” said Sisa in response, prompting Arthur to let out a chuckle. From a certain perspective, such a skill definitely felt like it could only be used for good. But under the current circumstances…

“Who knew I’d be using the skill this way?” He chuckled once more.

“[Spirit Aura: Infusion]!”

Whoosh!

In an instant, 10 points of qi were consumed as he aimed the skill at one of the five. More specifically, he aimed it at the weakest among them all, a cultivator at the 3rd Stage of the Essence Condensing Realm.

“Hmm?” At first, the person Arthur targeted could not help but find it confusing to sense qi entering his body all of a sudden. Fortunately, it did not take him too long to realize that the budding spirit vein under them was doing spirit vein stuff. With that, he told the leader, “The spirit vein is giving me qi. Give me a moment to assimilate the qi and I’ll return to scooping up the Spirit Slag.”

“Alright, make it quick.” The leader nodded in response, allowing the man to sit cross-legged as he gave it his all to assimilate it into his cultivation as fast as possible. At first, he was able to keep up with the amount of qi entering his body, even feeling a bit of exhilaration from the swift progress. But as time passed, his body had eventually reached its limit on how much qi it could absorb… yet more qi was still entering it.

Noticing the state of panic gradually appearing on the man’s face, Arthur said all of a sudden, “If he was still at the Essence Gathering Realm, he could have probably absorbed it all and made a solid foundation before entering the Essence Condensing Realm. Perhaps, it would even be enough to break through the Essence Condensing Realm if he was at the Peak Stage. But since he’s already in the Essence Condensing Realm…”

He continued as he gave off the feeling of him shuddering in slight fear, “10 points of qi. An amount equivalent to the qi of 100 people at the Peak Stage of the Essence Gathering Realm. At a higher realm, such an amount would be trivial. But for someone like him…”

Bang!

“That could happen.”