[Quest: So, you wanna be a cultivator?]

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Please open “The Endless Dao Cultivation Technique” to begin the quest.

Quest objective: Finish reading The Endless Dao Cultivation Technique

Reward: Unlock Xiantian* stage 3 cultivation, 10 Mystifying Diviner Points 100 experience

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Trying to change the subject? Really, Buddha? Fine whatever, I could make bugs edible. So I know I won't starve if anything.

[Discussion will be irrelevant once you figure out the Mystifying Diviner System. Now please begin your quest, Zhi]

Realizing there is no point in arguing with Buddha, He tosses two more logs into the dying fire pit. Then reaching over, he picks up the worn out book with its faded title barely legible, “The Endless Dao Cultivation Technique”. His finger ran over the frayed edges, before opening to the first page.

If you are reading this, then let me congratulate you for finding the coalescence of my life’s work. This cultivation technique is meant to take you from your current mortal self to the peak of the universe, how far you travel along this path is up to you. This is a soul cultivation method**. So before you begin to use this cultivation method, you must first understand your soul. Although some might think the soul is unique…

Time passes as the young man is immersed in the book, the sun rises and then begins to set. Only the occasional page of a book being turned can be heard inside the small building. The fire pit is now quiet, the logs having long been used up during the day.

[You have completed: So you wanna be a cultivator? Would you like to turn in the quest now?]

The message pops up in front of the boy's face, jolting him out of his daze and bringing him back to reality. Looking around the room, the light shining in from outside ignites the room in a sunset-like glow of color while his stomach growls, asking to be fed. He confirmed the quest completion while standing up and stretching. Then walked to the small pantry in the area of the house that is used as the kitchen. Some stale bread that has mold on it and something that looks a lot like a potato is all that he finds inside.

What the heck, this is a potato! Why are there potatoes here?

[You will find that most food items are the same in most realities, it makes reincarnation and transmigration easier for most people. But not all realities have the same food creations. This one does not have tacos for example.]

Oh that will not do at all. Do you have a note function? Add a reminder to invent tacos.

[I am not a personal note pad, nor am I your secretary. Do it yourself.]

A little defensive aren’t you? You want a hug or something?

A new box pops up in front of him.

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Quest: So, you wanna be a cultivator?

Completion rate: 100%

Awarding: Xiantian stage 3 cultivation

Awarding: 10 Mystifying Diviner Points

Awarding: 100 experience

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New quest issued: What Dao*** heck?

The way of the Dao is endless and many struggle to unlock its secrets. You must begin this journey like so many have before you. But to start on this path, you must take the first step.

Quest objective: Begin to learn a Dao, there will be many Dao. But only this one will be your first.

Reward: Improve Xiantian cultivation by 1 stage, 10 Mystifying Diviner Points, 100 experience

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Well this might take a while, I have a vague idea what the Dao are from my old life. But I doubt it’s the same here.

[Correct, the Dao in this reality is power and understanding.The Dao you will find is similar to what your old world considered magic. While magic didn’t actually exist in your world, people still believed in it and tried to learn it. However, the Dao is hard to understand for most people, but it is real and very powerful when mastered to the limit. Concepts and experience will help you understand the Dao a lot easier than normal people. Just think about your life, focus on certain things you did throughout it that you learned.]

Magic? Like throwing fireballs and shooting lightning for my hands? I can be Merlin or something?

[Exactly, but you will have to get your own pointy hat.]

Ripping the stale bread in half, taking only the part without mold and the potato he placed them in a small clay bowl. Walking back over to his bed area. He sets the bowl down on the bed and frowns while looking down at the long dead fire pit.

I should have added more wood this morning.

Taking the rusted fire poker, he moved the ashes around looking for some embers. Luckily, finding some beneath a mostly burned out log. Grabbing one of the old shirts on top of the bed, he ripped apart some of the fabric, fraying it. Making sure to set it over the lightly glowing embers, then set some smaller kindling over it and started to blow gently.

[Ming, please explain to me what you are currently doing.]

I am getting the fire going again, so that I can cook this potato. And so I don't freeze tonight.

[I understood that, but please tell me why you are currently blowing on the embers.]

It’s something I learned from camping as a kid, if you have only embers in your campfire. Take some kindling and lay it partly over the embers. By blowing softly and steadily on the embers, you are greatly increasing the airflow reaction around the new kindling. Heat is generated, spreading the embers and increasing the available fuel to burn. If you do it properly the instant you stop blowing, normal oxygen rich air will rush back in. Causing all that new fuel and heat to burst into flames. Assuming they have oxygen in the air here that is.

He stopped blowing and leaned back. Flames flicker on the new kindling, raising his arm to add a new log into the flames. A light shines around him, he freezes. “What the heck?” As he looks around, he realizes the source of the light is exuding from his body.

[You have completed: What Dao heck and comprehend the start of a Dao. Would you like to turn in your quest now?]

The light gradually fades around him, but when he looks at the fire, he can feel a slight connection to it, as if it is a part of him. He stretched his hand out and placed it over the small fire. The feeling of the inviting warmth of the flames tickle his hand as they flair up happily towards his open palm in greeting. The anticipated heat is not there and the expected burn from being this close to the fire doesn’t happen. Lowering his hand down into the fire he is transfixed by the flames dancing around his fingers, almost wrapping around them like they are trying to hug them. Yet, his hand is not blistering, only being hotter than the rest of my body.

Did I really just understand the Dao of fire that easily?

[Yes, but only a small tiny part of it. I would suggest not leaving your hand in the fire though. Understanding a small amount of the Dao of fire does not make you immune to the effects of fire, it just takes longer for it to affect you.]

He was already pulling his hand out of the flames, when he felt that familiar sting of pain. Like he had grabbed a cookie sheet that he didn't know was just removed from the oven. His palm and fingers are all slightly red, but not bad enough to cause blisters. He stays still for a minute, thinking back to what just happened. Afterwards he places a new log into the fire, after it begins to ignite, he adds a couple more around it.

Thanks for the warning. But really, it was that simple? Aren’t most kids taught this in school? I know this world is different, and the memories I have are from this impoverished kid. But what about the wealthy or the cultivators? They should have this type of knowledge, or something close to it, right?

[While cultivators do have this knowledge, but it isn’t shared directly. The reason why I asked you to explain it to me is if you are told of the path, then it will be extremely difficult to walk that path. But if you find that path yourself, it will be easier to start it. There are a lot of people in this world that walk a Dao path and never realize it. Only once you can expound on part of the path, will you truly be on the path. That is why I said your past experience will be helpful to you.You are already on the path of a few Daos, you only need to walk down that path now.]

Okay, I get it. So if you told me that the reason lightning strikes the ground is because the bottom of the clouds are negatively charged and the ground is positively charged. And when the ions meet in the middle it causes a lighting strike. I wouldn’t be able to walk the path of the lightning Dao?

Or, what remembering about chopping vegetables the right way will help comprehend the Dao? Or the proper way to cook a steak? Or that when chopping onions it is best to cool them down first and use a very sharp knife so you don’t have to worry about forming tears from sulfuric acid irritating the nerves around the eyes. It isn’t 100% effective but it helps a lot.

As he finishes his first thoughts, a light shines around his body becoming even brighter as he finishes his second thought. Afterwards it then slowly fades out. He feels different, something has changed again.

Was that the Dao of lightning and the Dao of cooking? Or maybe the Dao of onions?

[It’s not that you wouldn’t be able to walk the path, it’s just that you would find it a lot harder to start the path. You understand a tiny part of the Dao of cooking. There is no Dao of onions or food for that matter. But you can follow elemental Dao’s, Dao’s that are trained, like the Sword, cooking, the spear, alchemy, formations, or concepts like power, sharpness, fear, death, etc. Would you like to complete the quest now?]

Sure, go ahead and complete the quest.

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Quest: What Dao heck?

Completion rate: 300%

Awarding: Improving Xiantian cultivation to stage 6

Awarding: 30 Mystifying Diviner Points

Awarding: 100 experience

Bonus: For walking the path of three Dao’s, you are awarded 20 more MDP and 2 cultivation.

New quest issued: Travel to Sky Metal City!

Your talents are being wasted in the outskirts of this small farming village. Please travel to Sky Metal City and show this world that a Mystifying Diviner has appeared.

Quest objective: Travel to Sky Metal City 500 miles away to the southwest. During your travels, please use your new skill to divine peoples fates and help them move towards a new path in life.

Reward: Unlocked skill [See Fate] for quest journey. Skill will remain after the quest is completed.

Base Reward: Improve Xiantian cultivation by 1 stage and will unlock the system store.

Bonus Reward: Based on the amount of people you can help along the way.

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I knew it, you want me to be some traveling monk! What if I don't want to be some poor traveling monk?

[No one said anything about being poor. And you aren’t a monk, you are a Mystifying Diviner. Just be quiet and use the system for a while. It will adapt and change as you use it.]

Fine, hopefully by the time we get to this Sky Metal City, you will give me some better quests.

Placing the potato in the fire pit just outside of the flames of the few logs. He picks up the piece of bread ripping a piece off, he sets it in his mouth to soften up before he eats it. After looking around the room, he spotted a clay amphorae off in the corner and remembered it was full of water. Bringing it over to the bed he poured some water into the clay bowl setting the bread inside to soak. Then he took a drink from the amphorae.

So I guess we should leave in the morning since I spent the whole day learning The Endless Dao Cultivation Technique. Pretty sure I should at least let the village elder know I am leaving, and that they can use my house for someone else.

[That would be a good idea, you can also get a few supplies in trade for it. Having some food and a water skin will be good for the long journey ahead.]

Alright let's go see the village elder, and see if we can get some supplies. Actually, let's layer up a bit to hide my appearance, pretty sure they might ask questions I can’t answer if I come dressed in this.

[Worry not, till you leave this valley, you will appear as you were before. There is currently a low level illusion cast over you.]

Moving the potato a little more from the fire he stood up and walked to the door. Opening it up and stepping out, he looked at the hometown of the body he now inhabited. The fading light of sunset actually paints the small village in a nice light, it makes the village look quite quaint for what it is. A few dozen small homes made out of stone, wood and clay. Most have thatched roofs and a few more prominent buildings have clay tiles. There are a few people walking back to the village from the farther fields. A couple of smaller kids are playing together near the edge of the village with a dog.