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Name: Ming Zhi

Gender: Male

Age: 15

Karma: Neutral

Status: Wandering Monk

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Cultivation: Xiantian 6/9

Constitution: None

Bloodline: None

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Cultivation Technique: None

Martial Arts: None

Movement Technique: None

Divine Art: None

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Dao comprehended:

(Fire 0.02%)

(Cooking 0.10%)

(Lightning 0.03%)

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Skills: See Fate 1

Inventory Size: 1 Meter Cubed

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System Level: 1

Experience: 200/500

Mystifying Diviner Points: 40

Please start cultivation to unlock more system functions, skills and levels.

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Quest Log, Please select to expand.

Quest: To Sky Metal City!

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Alright, so I get the first few and I assume karma is, I do good things, it goes good. If I do bad things, it goes bad?

[That is correct, although a very simple and basic way to describe what it actually is.]

Zhi turns away from the edge of the plateau and begins to walk down the dirt road, after a couple minutes pass in silence.

You don’t plan to elaborate on that do you?

[No, you will figure it out as the system grows.]

Aren’t you the system? If not, then what are you?

[I am the system monitor, not the system itself. While your system will help you grow and adjust to you over time. I am only here to monitor you, the system and collect data to help improve future versions.]

So will I have another system to talk to at some point?

[No, the basic system itself is without any real intelligence or AI assistance. Only responding to your commands, generating quests, rewards, and other things from a set list of parameters. It does not even come with a help function.]

If that is the case, then how do most people learn to use their system? Do other system monitors help them and if so, why do you seem so unhelpful sometimes?

[Do I really need to explain something that simple to you?] ... [Fine, it’s not hard to understand, complete quests, get stuff, use stuff to complete more quests and repeat. Most people realize this almost instantly when they get a system. As for your other question, depending on the system monitor, some people receive more help than others. I am proud to say I am one of the more helpful system monitors.]

I must be blessed to have such a “magnanimous” system monitor.

[Yes, yes you are. Now continue with your simple questions. Actually let me guess, you wanna know about cultivation, constitution, and bloodlines now?]

He stops walking and does a full ninety degree bow. “Yes that is correct, if you would be so compassionate, my benevolent benefactor. Ming Zhi would be so honored to hear your wisdom!”

[Cut out the sarcasm or you won’t get anything. Now first, cultivation is very simple, what do you think you know about it?]

Well the book you had me read made it pretty clear, you cultivate the qi of the world and use it to make yourself stronger, live longer and use it to empower things.

[Correct, but only in the simplest terms of what cultivation actually is.

Okay so then what is the non-simple answer for it?

[Easy, cultivation is to fight against the will of the heavens! They think you are weak and pathetic. You have to cultivate, showing them you are not. And if they still think you are weak, you punch them in the face!]

Okay, that was not what I was expecting. Sooo moving on. What are constitutions for or what do they do more accurately?

[People with a constitution will have something unique about them, some are good, others are bad. Take someone with a constitution of Yin for example. They will tend to have a lower body temperature, and more feminine features, regardless of gender.]

Okay good to know that one. I doubt you are gonna give me a complete list of constitutions, right?

[You would be correct. Next are bloodlines. While they can do some of the same things as constitutions, bloodlines actually come from heredity. While constitutions do not. Someone with a dragon, dog, fish, or grass bloodline means that someone in their family was one of those things at some point. The farther removed, the weaker the bloodline. Even though there are ways to improve it, and make it more potent if someone wished.]

Stopping his movement, he looks down at the slightly brown grass lining the edge of the road.

Wait, hold up. What do you mean grass bloodline? I mean I kinda get the dragon, fish and dog ones. Even if I don't approve of it myself. But how in the hell does that make any sense with grass? Do you use the seeds or something? I am really curious now, who was the first one to do that and why? Was it a fetish they had?

[Your imagination astounds me... When something practices cultivation it becomes more powerful. A dog that gains a spark, and begins to cultivate can after a point assume different forms. The same goes for a blade of grass. If they become strong enough, they can break their bonds and assume the form of a human if they wish. You can use your imagination from there.]

I, okay. Really, it’s that simple? You know what, I don't care that much to know more. So cultivation technique next. Why does it say none? I thought it was doing The Endless Dao Cultivation Technique?

[While you did read the book, you are currently not practicing the technique. The Xiantian stage of cultivation happens automatically. That is why the people in your village had levels in it when they have no cultivation technique. You can only use the technique from the qi distillation stage forward. But if you skip doing the full Xiantain stage to the end and just start with qi distillation, you will find your path forward cut off when you get to the later stages of cultivation.]

Okay good to know. Next is martial arts, so pretty much kung fu, boxing, sword fighting, stuff like that?

[Correct, but they can also be much more than that. Especially when you add in cultivation and a Dao. Take someone using a sword, who is in the middle of qi distillation stage. They should be able to fight someone of equal power and skill and be fine. But say they are fighting someone who has learned a single step on the Dao of the sword but is only at the first stage of qi distillation. Who do you think wins?]

The first person with the higher cultivation.

[You would be wrong. While he might have more qi and slightly more power in his attacks. That first step on the Dao of the sword will make up that difference and then some. Never underestimate someone who is on a Dao path, even if it might not seem like it is for combat.]

Alright, but how will I even know if someone is on a Dao path? Do people just go around proclaiming they are working on one?

[No, most people won’t realize they are on a Dao path till they are much stronger. Most people who have a breakthrough on a Dao path, but don’t actually know what happened. Just that they feel a stronger connection to whatever their Dao is. As for figuring out if someone is following a Dao, you just need to upgrade your system and skills.]

So do more quests, get more stuff. So movement technique is something that helps me run fast or something?

[Depending on the movement technique, any number of things can happen. Some are simple like teleporting, another can make your movement seem hard to determine with after images of where you might be. Others will make you faster, or slower.]

Those don’t sound that bad, hopefully I can unlock something good when I level up the system. Last thing I am wondering about is divine arts. I doubt it is the art of some god or something.

[You already have a divine art, it is The Innumerable Body Technique. Once you are in qi distillation you will be able to learn it.]

Alright, great explanation. Thanks.

[Always happy to help.]

Zhi lapses into silence with Buddha, just humming softly as he continues to walk down the dirt road. Taking breaks to eat or drink water and camping at night, two days pass quickly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Along a stretch of compacted dirt, with knee high grass boarding the edges. A man is walking along, under the mellow heat of the morning sun. With each of his barefoot steps, the hypnotic ringing of his staff pulses out. He is humming loudly to himself as he moves along the road. Pausing to pull out a stalk of grass, he sets it in his mouth and begins to sing as he continues his walk.

“Chewing on a piece of grass, walking down the rooooooooaad.

Tell me, how long you gonna staaaaaaaay here Buddha?”

[.....]

“Some people say, this town don't look good in snow.”

“You don't care, I know.”

“Ventura Highway, in the suuuuuuuuunshine. Where the days are longer, the nights are stronger thaaaaan moonshine.”

“You're gonna go, I knoooowooowooooowooooowoooooooooowww”

“Cause the free wind is blowin through your hair. And the days surround your daylight there.”

[You know your voice wasn’t meant for singing, correct?]

Well if someone would play some music, we wouldn’t have this issue. Now would we?

[I might have the ability to play music. But I will not demean myself to be your personal music player! I am the system monitor, I have a proper function and purpose. When the store function is unlocked, you can buy yourself a music player. Till then stop asking and stop singing. Just hum if you have to.]

Alright, I'll drop it. But I better get a discount on that music player.

Looking around at the endless grass savanna around him, the view is only broken up by lonely trees every so often. There is a mountain range he can see far in the distance to the west. Looking south, following the road he can barely make out hills rising up out of the grasslands. Since he started his journey, he has yet to meet another person.

Do you think we will reach a town today? It’s been two days since we left. We should have traveled at least forty miles by now.

[ 51.3 miles so far. If you stay at the same pace you should make 65.2 miles by sunset. I am unsure how long till the next town.]

Nice I thought you said you were not my personal GPS?

[I am not your GPS. It is just simple math, I know the length of your footsteps. If I multiply that by the number of steps, I can figure out the distance.]

I didn’t know you were that bored, we could always talk if you want. Also isn’t that pretty fast? Shouldn’t we be slower?

[I am not bored, I track many things about you all at once. How many steps, how many breaths, heartbeats, blood pressure, to name a few. With your cultivation, you are faster than a normal mortal. We would have traveled close to 90 miles already if you kept a normal pace and didn’t take so many breaks.]

WOW! Stalker much? I know you are part of me on some level, but knowing you do that is kinda creepy.

[I am not a stalker! All system monitors track many things from their host, to make a better system experience and fix any issues that might be found within the system. Wouldn’t want you to spontaneously explode now, would we?]

Zhi’s footsteps falter and he almost falls over, luckily he plants his staff in the ground to stabilize himself. He slowly stands up and adjusts his footing. “Can you clarify “spontaneously explode.”

[There have been 13,994 cases of SOE, but those were all before system levels and quests were adjusted to a set standard. Only one case has been reported since, and the issue has since been hot fixed.]

I almost don’t wanna know, but what does SOE stand for and why did it happen so much?

[Sudden Onset Explosion, it happens when a host body gains too much power at once. It has since been patched.]

The more you tell me about the system, the less I really wanna use it. What about the other person, the one after it was “fixed.”

[The log recorded him hoarding quests, then turning in thirty of them at once. Apparently he was trying to use it to show off to some girl. He definitely succeeded, that was one experience she never forgot for the rest of her life.]

[The quest log has since been fixed, only one quest turn is allowed at a time. With a slight cooldown in between to let the body adjust to the influx of power.]

Shaking his head, Zhi began to walk again. With how powerful you are, I am surprised you couldn’t stop that from happening.

[Oh it was tried a few times, but resulted in the true death of the host. After that, it was decided to not interfere when SOE or something similar happens.]

Zhi stumbles and stops again. I really don’t wanna know, but what do you mean by true death?

[It is when the soul is extinguished, only 3 cases have been recorded from hosts with a system installed. Normally a system can save a soul from being extinguished, but when trying to save a host during SOE it was found to cause the soul to explode instead of the body.]

Yup, I really don’t like when you tell me details like this about the system. He wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead and started walking again.

[You said I should talk.]

I did say that, but maybe about something else. Pick a topic for discussion if you want.

Spending the next few hours in silence, he reached the hills that he saw in the distance in the morning. There are a few more trees around this area. Once he crests the first hill he can actually see something different. In the distance he can see a tower, poking out from behind one of the hills. Excited to finally reach a town and eat something besides dry trail food. Zhi picked up his pace and got to the top of the hill blocking the tower.

Looking around to see that the hill is immense on the other side. It slowly descends more than a mile, before leveling out to a valley. From the east of the valley runs a wide river, leading to a big lake. The river leaves the lake near the south and travels behind another hill leaving his sight. On the northside of the lake, and running around to the east and west is a sprawling town. The tower he saw from before stands proudly on the west side of the city. From this distance it is hard to make out details but he can see a wall surrounding the west side of the city. The wall even cuts off the northern part of the city. Only the east side of town has no walls.

Maybe the rich people live on the west side of the city. I wonder how hard it is to get inside?

Making his way down the slope, while enjoying the scenic view before him. Upon getting closer he can make out ships on the water. Some of them can be seen, coming and going from the river mouths. Even at this distance he can make out the low din of a town full of people. It takes him 30 minutes to reach the outskirts of the city walking at a very brisk pace. Pausing to close his eyes, he enjoys the cacophony of the city, while taking a deep breath. The slightly musty smell of the lake assaults his nose. Opening his eyes and looking around to spot what seems like a main street, almost twice as wide compared to the others. Zhi smiles lightly and heads towards it.

Well it looks like there is no fee to enter or guards for that matter. I wonder what there is to eat.

Making his way towards the street he can see people bustling about their day in the afternoon sun. His entrance onto the street doesn't seem to draw any attention. But his nose is assaulted by the smell of a smorgasbord of different foods. Slowly walking down the street, he took in his surroundings. Paying close attention to people haggling and spending money.

I haven’t heard anyone mention bronze yet, only iron coins and bits. Man, this kid's knowledge of anything other than farming, is just sad. And if we go by how well his little farm was going, I think his knowledge of farming was not great either.

I have 2 Bronze Tal, but no idea how much they are worth. Maybe I should have asked. Best to save them for now, till I find out. I wonder if i can play this monk thing and make some spending money till then.

[You should have no issue reading someone's fate. It will just fall on how convincing you sound.]

Making his way down the street he noticed a few signs with words. What surprises him though, is that he can actually read them. I know the kid couldn’t read, and that is not English, Spanish or French. It almost looks like a mix of Korean and Chinese. Do I have some kinda translation ability?

[Standard for all system hosts is a universal translation package. It lets you read and speak any language as if it was your mother tongue. But you will find writing it will be difficult and will take practice.]

Good to know.

Following the street a while longer he came to another street, just as wide as his current street. Looking around at the people, most are wearing simple robes and a few are in scholar type clothing. Nothing too fancy, mostly in a variety of mellow earthy colors. A handful of people are dressed like the people from his former village in some simple hemp pants and shirts. But they look like laborers, mostly carrying items for some of the better dressed people walking around. Or unloading wagons of goods into some of the stores along the street.

Looking up to the sky and guessing he has almost seven hours of light left, he heads to the east side of the city following the main road. As he moves along, his observation of the surroundings begins to lessen slightly. He is on autopilot as he makes his way around the city streets. Just listening to people talk and seeing if there are any weird mannerisms he might need to follow. There are some honorifics, but mostly between people who know each other already. He spent almost two hours just walking around and listening to people talk. As he is finally heading to the west side of the city, he hears a loud voice proclaim, “Come one, come all, this humble monk will help divine your future!”

His curiosity gets the better of him and he follows the voice. To his surprise, it’s an older man with hawkish features on his face. A big black beard that is greying in the middle, rests on his face. Wearing a robe that might have been white at some point, but is now almost pale yellow from age.

Around him is a small group of different people, who are waiting for a turn to have their future divined for them. Walking closer Zhi can finally hear the monk talking to the first person. “For only 1 iron coin, I can help point you to your future. What do you say young master, it is surely nothing compared to what you will gain?”

The young man in question still looked uncertain, but another person behind him walked up to the old monk and handed him a coin. “Go ahead, divine my future old man. But don’t make me regret giving you my money.”

Nodding his head faintly, the old monk replied “ Of course, I am but a humble servant. Here to help those along their path of fate. Tell this humble monk a little about yourself that I might divine your future path easier.”

Zhi stopped paying attention as a system alert popped up into his vision.

[Limited quest is activated]

[Quest: Teach this old man a lesson in being a diviner.]

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An old man is trying to divine peoples fates for money and doing a poor job. Show this old man and the people around him what it means to be a true diviner of fate.

Quest objective: Divine the fate of five people around the old man. Bonus if you divine the old man's fate.

Reward: Improve Xiantian cultivation by 1 stage, 20 Mystifying Diviner Points, 100 experience

Bonus: 10 Mystifying Diviner Points, 100 experience and [See Fate] leveled up!

Failure: Lose 10 Mystifying Diviner Points.

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Man you are ruthless. What if I don't have enough points to take?

[You will go into the negativities. If you do not gain points within a month, you will lose more points. If you go too far into the negative, the system will stop working normally. It will only begin to work again after you have completed a very difficult mission issued before forced shut down of the system.]

Good to know I better not spend all my points and keep a stockpile. In case I fail a quest.

[Only Limited and Special quests will have a failure component, standard quests will not.]

Well that's good to know. Let's get this started.

Zhi walks over to the old man and the kid he is currently “divining” the fate of.