I yawn loudly and stretch out my arms. That was a good, hopefully long, nap. I wonder if it las-

{*RIIIIIIIIIING*}

FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!! THAT’S SO FUCKING LOUD!! MY EARS, WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE TO MY EARS!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, TURN THAT SHIT OFF! STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!!

{Alarm has been silenced. Would you like to turn it off? Y/N?}

Yes, please, turn that shit off!

{Understood, alarm has been turned off.}

You are to never use an alarm that loud, never! Were you trying to kill me?

{No.}

Good, goddamn that was fucking loud… I can’t hear. My ears, they aren’t working! What are you going to do to fix this system?

{User’s ears are in perfect shape, you are obviously trying to get something from the system. The system has nothing to provide you except information.}

Oh. Well, I seem to have been seen through. My plot has been foiled! Curses, the system is too strong for me alone to defeat. But through the power of my poor, abused ears, I expect to hear an apology.

{The system apologizes for your temporary mental torment of your weak ears being unable to hear the ‘quiet’ alarm.}

You’re mocking me. You’re mocking me and I don’t like it. Oh, whatever, that was the alarm for my time up right?

{Correct.}

I don’t feel any different though?

{The user’s meridians were incapable of moving qi through them, otherwise your body would’ve broken apart and dispersed. Now that your body has stabilized, you can move qi throughout your meridians without having your body disperse. The reason you do not feel different is because no bodily function has noticeably changed. In a layman’s terms, you can now cultivate without turning into particles.}

Sweet! Finally, cultivation has begun! I jump up in joy and smile brightly. Why wouldn’t I be happy? I can finally trek along the path of the cultivator, reaching levels never before seen by the inhabitants of this world! There is but one problem. System, how do I cultivate?

{You use a cultivation method to move qi through your body and slowly absorb it, building a foundation and increasing your cultivation base. For someone to begin cultivating, one must first sense qi, only then would they be able to truly start cultivation.}

I see. And, um… I don’t exactly know a cultivation method. Maybe you could, uh… give me one?

{Cultivation methods are part of the system’s information archives. Would you like to explore the cultivation section of the system’s archives? Y/N?}

My luck has not abandoned me! I still have a chance to cultivate! Even though I may know nothing of how one cultivates, with this great treasure, I will be able to stand at the pinnacle of the world, and make a myriad of creatures bow before me! Onto the cultivation archives, yes!

{Don’t call me a great treasure, *blushes*} (Read in monotone)

T-that… please don’t do that again…

{No promises.}

Holy… Shit…

My consciousness was taken inside the archives of the system, where information can be displayed easier. As expected of a digital library, it is all one color. But I wasn’t expecting a golden library! Especially not one will multiple floors and never-ending shelves. What is this madness? This is absolute bullshit, I can’t read through all these.

{You can choose cultivation methods from up to the 18th floor, which contains all known methods that allows one to reach God Realm.}

The system’s voice resounds through the entire place, instead of my head. The 18th floor… There seem to be even more of these floor though, how many are there?

{The highest amount of floors any user of the system is allowed to access is up to the 31st floor, which contains cultivation methods that allows one to reach the Paragon God Realm.}

Wait, these floors. Are they arranged according to cultivation? Like is each floor equivalent to the level of cultivation that one can reach with the method on that floor?

{That assumption is correct.}

Then, if I use a floor 18 cultivation method, I’ll be able to reach the 18th level in cultivation, called God Realm?

{That assumption is correct.}

Then, what is the highest level in this world again, according to floor?

{The highest cultivation among the inhabitants of this world is Origin Realm, which equates to floor 8.}

I’m able to go more than double their cultivation! Amazing! I’m so awesome!

{However, Nephila is the last ranked planet in Primal, and there are multiple cultivators who are above God Realm.}

Tch. Let me wallow in superiority for a little longer, would you?

{Would you do the same for me?}

No and is that programmed?

{That assumption is correct.}

Anyway, take me to the 18th floor please!

{Affirmative.}

I begin to float up, slow at first, and then faster as I pass by each floor, each floor containing numerous books on cultivation methods. Honestly, the line of shelves are endless, I can’t even see where the floor circles back around. At least, I think it circles back, mainly because the floors seem to be curved. Soon, I arrive on the 18th floor. It’s massive, just like all the other floors. Curious, I move to the shelf closest to me. On there, I find books (Obviously) with weird titles. I guess that it’s supposed to be weird, considering that they’re cultivation methods and not real books that you read for entertainment.

A sudden thought hits me and I step out to look at the shelves that line the hallway. A bitter grin makes itself known on my face. There are too many shelves. Do you expect me to go through all these shelves?

{No.}

Like I could anyway! Going though this amount would cost me my natural lifespan! I can’t do that. I need a way to look at all of these quickly. Hmm… I have an idea. System, can you filter through all the books on the 18th floor and choose the ones that are most suited to me?

{Affirmative, sorting through all 472,364,281,283,286,190,370,027,126 books on the 18th floor… All books successfully sorted. Filtering all 472,364,281,283,286,190,370,027,126 books according to suitability for user… All books successfully filtered. Providing 13 books for the user to choose from.}

Huh? There are that many books in total?! On the 18th floor only?! The system has quite a collection here. Suddenly, my vision distorts and is replaced with 13 floating, golden books. Still golden, despite the drastic reduction in amount of books on this floor. Hmm, let’s see what they’re called.

Golden Dragon Cultivation Method

Yin Yang God Cultivation Method

Lightning God Cultivation Method

Veritable Death God Cultivation Method

False Demon God Cultivation Method

False Heaven God Cultivation Method

Upper Idyllic God Cultivation Method

World Shaper Cultivation Method

Ruling Paragon Cultivation Method

First Eternity Cultivation Method

God’s Truth Cultivation Method

Sky God Cultivation Method

God Emperor Cultivation Method

All of these sound rather cool, except for Sky God Cultivation Method. I don’t know why, it just doesn’t sound good. Do these have an introduction page or something similar?

{Yes.}

Nice. Well, time to get reading!

First Eternity and Upper Idyllic are both parts of another cultivation method, apparently meant to give to disciples who just joined a powerful sect. As for the rest, they are full cultivation techniques that end at God Realm. However, the God Emperor Cultivation Method was slightly different. It was a weaker version of a more powerful God Emperor Cultivation Method, which was on the 27th floor apparently. It’s a tough choice, deciding what to choose. I had the system help me out when understanding certain things about these methods, but it is still quite hard to choose.

From what I can tell, the Emperor, Eternity, Idyllic, False series, and Golden Dragon are the most powerful. The Golden Dragon would be the weakest of the six, but also the fastest. The False series lean in different directions, the False Demon leaning towards evil cultivation, where lots of people need to be killed, and False Heaven leans more towards gathering good karma. Both are very hard, but build a solid foundation. Eternity focuses the most on foundation, while Idyllic focuses on control and creation techniques. The Emperor is a jack of all trades, with good foundation, control and techniques.

Both of the False series are out, as those would be too hard and too annoying. The Golden Dragon neglects the foundation for quicker power, so it is more likely to suffer from qi deviation or develop an inner demon. First Eternity has a great foundation, with vitually no chance of inner demons or qi deviation, and can improve if given Second Eternity, but the cultivation speed is abysmal, a person who cultivates this technique will have their cultivation progress twice as slow as their peers; however, this does allow the cultivator to fight those at a level above them. Idyllic has great control over qi, which can allow for users to fight those at a Realm above them, but the amount of qi is shallow and not suited for long battles. God Emperor makes up for all the faults in the previous methods, but as a result, loses the strengths of all the previous methods as well.

What a hard choice…

Wait, could I do that? Possibly, it could work. I don’t knowledge of cultivation, but if I spend enough time looking through these books than maybe…

System, how does one go about creating a cultivation method?

{First, an expert often takes from existing techniques and analyzes the effects of each of them. Using the knowledge from those methods, he then goes about experimenting on the ways to move qi throughout the body. Eventually, he finds a way to move qi through the body in a way he likes. He then proceeds to fine-tune the method until his knowledge reaches a limit or it can be improved no more.}

Thank you, now can you help me out with a few things?

{The system’s only available function is to allow the user access to the archives.}

That’s great, that’s all I need for this to work, just give me advice and answer my questions as I do this, okay?

{The system will answer any and all questions as long as they do not breach regulations.}

That’s good enough for me!

Now, would that work, or would it crash there?

{It would crash, instead of moving it like that, you should move it more like…}

Wait that doesn’t make sense, how does that even work?

{First, qi reacts with the body in ways different than…}

Hey system, is time different in here than outside? Like is it slower in here than out in the real world?

{That assumption is correct. Time moves much slower in here than in the real world.}

Oh that’s good, otherwise I don’t think I’d be able to do all this without worrying about the real me.

Where's the bathroom?

{There is no bathroom.}

Oh. Good thing I don't need to pee then.

Finally, it’s done! My very own cultivation technique! This is the first one I’ve made, so I don’t know how it compares to others, but I think it’s stronger than all of the other God Realm cultivation methods I’ve seen so far, and I’ve look through lots of them. Now that I think about it, I don’t know what Realm this cultivation method will allow me to reach. I shouldn’t spoil the fun of finding out it’s true power, so I just need to know if it’s above the God Realm cultivation methods. System?

{Yes, your cultivation method is above God Realm cultivation methods and will allow you to reach-}

No! Don’t tell me, I wish to find out myself.

{Understood.}

Well, there is another question I should ask. Will this cultivation method be harmful in the future for me? Like, will it effect my cultivating speed unnaturally, give me inner demons, do something normal cultivation methods shouldn’t?

{No, your cultivation method can be deemed safe despite the lack of testing.}

Good, I thought I might actually have to make a choice between these cultivation methods to keep my future intact. I think that’ll be all for now. I choose, my newly created cultivation method as my future path! Let’s name it then. Hmm… For now, I’ll call it the Nameless Cultivation Method! I will now take my leave of the archive.

{Understood, bringing the user out of the archive…}

My vision swims and I start to feel light-headed. I feel myself return to my body, just like how it was when I first got my body. I feel uncomfortable, probably from being in the same position for too long. I know time was slowed in the archive, but it was a very long time that I was in there. I couldn’t count time there, and I couldn’t be bothered to ask the system, but it must’ve been at least a year. Well, now that I’m done choosing my cultivation method, how much time has passed in the real world?

{10 hours, 9 minutes and 54 seconds.}

Ten hours?! I was in there a hell of a lot longer than I thought! Well, it’s only ten hours, not ten days. It would be like I was unconscious, not active.

“Urgh...” I let out a groan, and begin to get up. Huh? I don’t remember the cave floor being this soft…

“Oh, you’re awake.” A female voice says.

I freeze. My eyes snap open and I turn towards the sound of the voice. It’s a girl. She’s wearing hunting clothes with her black hair tied up in a ponytail. Her clothes hide much of her figure, but I can still see her face. She’s got green eyes that have a gentle look and has a small smile forming on her face. I can assume she’s in her late teen’s or early twenty’s.

Who.. is she?

“Who-” I begin, but I break out in a fit of coughs, my throat scratchy from under use. Wait, how could that’ve happened so soon?

{The stream water you drank has a bad effect on mortal’s throats.}

THE WATER?! Why the water? That makes no sense! Water is supposed to be good for your throat! Wait, no, stop it. There are more important things here. The girl is looking at me, worried. I guess that cough sounded really bad.

After I’m done coughing, she asks me: “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just need some water please.” I reply

She nods and heads to the door, I’m pretty sure that she’s using a well or pump. She comes back in moments later, cup of water in hand. I give her a light smile and gratefully accept the cup. Without bothering to think if it’s poisoned, I down it in one go. I don’t have to worry about being poisoned with the trusty system here! Now system, was that drink poisoned?

{No.}

See what I mean? I let out a satisfied sigh and hand the cup back the girl, lets go with lady actually. The lady smiles again and sets it on the table in the middle of the room. She takes a chair from that same table and drags it to the bedside. I’ve sat up, so now we’re face-to-face. We stare it each other for a while, before she breaks the silence with a question.

“Who might you be?”