Continued Improvement

Jim awoke feeling refreshed, checking his arm showed it was in perfect condition. 'It's really like resting in an rpg...', He felt he had reached his limit of training his body, just having one point in a stat increase after multiple training routines was rare, the 5-20 boost in each stat from leveling up took precedence now.

Suddenly, Jim had an idea, 'What if...yes, this can work!' He began purchasing ingredients and cooking, after over 100 servings of soup were created he placed them in containers and stored them in the Inventory. 'Hm-hm-hm', His plan was to withdraw the containers nearby the underpass and quickly distribute the food then leaving. 'This should work for a while'.

A week passed, the points were rolling in quickly. His cooking had reached level 9 by now and each person served caused him to gain around 60 points each. It wasn't strange to see 200 people crowded around the underpass now, but this worried Jim, if more people gathered meant the more troubles that could occur.

Jim hadn't neglected training Copper Body Outer Technique, he could complete a full circulation somewhat easily now, and could do so ten times before resting, but still hadn't seen any effect, he sighed and started another circulation.

[Copper Body Outer Technique Level Up]

[Copper Body Outer Technique Has Reached Level 2]

[Congratulations Host On Cultivating Your First Outer Technique, Basic Cultivation Gift Pack x 1 Awarded]

[Error: Spirit Roots Not Found]

[Spirit Root Generation Initializing]

Jim didn't have a moment to celebrate before a terrible pain wracked his entire body, it felt like someone had cut him open and gouged out all his bones and organs, then stitched him back up and repeated the process. He couldn't even let out a scream as the breath was knocked out of him.

An unknown amount of time passed, the agony finally subsided, he felt like it had taken years, feebly crawling over to his bed he tried to fall asleep.

[Spirit Root Planted - Neutral Element - Celestial Grade]

[Pain Resistance Level Up]

[Pain Resistance Has Reached Level 7]

[Mental Corruption Resistance Level Up]

[Mental Corruption Resistance Level Max]

[Mental Corruption Resistance Derivation Skill - Intimidating Presense Obtained]

[Congratulations Host, Host Has Achieved Maximum Level In A Skill, Skill Max Gift Pack x 1 Awarded]

[Fear Resistance Level Up]

[Fear Resistance Has Reached Level 9]

[Qi Manipulation Skill Obtained]

[Qi Battery Skill Obtained]

Jim's consciousness drained away during the flood of messages, waking over a day later he jumped out of bed. His condition had recovered, but he wanted to see what had changed, "Status".

[Name: Jim Garrett]

[Species: Human]

[Level: 4]

[Experience: 42/275]

[Stats]

[Cultivation Realm: Lower Foundation]

[Qi: 25,760/25,760]

[Skills: Cooking Lv. 9, Appraisal Lv. 3, Focus Lv. Max, Reading Lv. Max, Fear Resistance Lv. 9, Willpower Lv. Max, Mental Corruption Resistance Lv. Max, Nausea Resistance Lv. Max, Distant Reading Lv. Max, Parallel Processing Lv. 3, Reiki Healing Technique Lv. 4, Copper Body Outer Technique Lv. 2, Jade Crane Inner Technique Lv. 1, Snow Treading Steps Lv. 1, Lower Dark Fist Technique Lv. 1, Iron Gut Lv. 1, Spearmanship Lv. 7, Surprise Attack Lv. 5, Pain Resistance Lv. 7, Physical Attack Resistance Lv. 1, Intimidating Presence Lv. 1, Qi Manipulation Lv. 1, Qi Battery Lv. 1]

[System Functions Unlocked: Log, Status, Shop, Skill Assist, Cooking Assist, Level Up, Improved Rest, Stat Allocation, Inventory Lv. 2]

[Strength:197]

[Dexterity:180]

[Vitality: 185]

[Agility: 199]

[Magic: 44]

[Spirit: 1520]

[Stat Points: 40]

"Whoa!" Jim's status had a remarkable improvement, before the roots grew his stats were:

[Strength:147]

[Dexterity:130]

[Vitality:135]

[Agility:149]

[Magic:44]

With a flat +50 increase to each stat except for magic, he was astounded, but was saddened that cultivation didn't increase his magic stat at all, it had been lagging behind from the start. The addition of a new stat was welcome too, but he wasn't entirely sure why it was so high. 'Could it be...? That's it! The Reiki and Copper Body training!' Training these techniques extensively had forcibly grown his Qi Capacity. 'It said Spirit Roots, right...?'

Jim immediately began circulating Copper Body Outer Technique, when the first circulation was complete his body let out a dull shine, looking down his skin seemed to have taken on a look similar to bronze. It was so easy his earlier difficulty felt like a lie. 'So I couldn't cultivate it because I didn't have roots! I suppose it's like trying to hang an ornament on empty air, even if you intricately craft the ornament it will just fall if there's nothing to latch on to.'

Jim began cultivating Jade Crane Internal Technique, the circulation route was like an oval spanning from his crotch to his neck. Jim had previously attempted all of the purchased techniques, but no effect could be felt no matter how much he trained.

[Jade Crane Internal Technique Level Up]

[Jade Crane Internal Technique Has Reached Level 2]

[Congratulations Host On Cultivating Your First Inner Technique, Basic Cultivation Gift Pack x 1 Awarded]

'Hm...?' He felt like something grew inside him, almost like a new organ formed, "Status."

[Name: Jim Garrett]

[Species: Human]

[Level: 4]

[Experience: 42/275]

[Stats]

[Cultivation Realm: Lower Foundation]

[Qi: 25,620/25,960]

[Skills: Cooking Lv. 9, Appraisal Lv. 3, Focus Lv. Max, Reading Lv. Max, Fear Resistance Lv. 9, Willpower Lv. Max, Mental Corruption Resistance Lv. Max, Nausea Resistance Lv. Max, Distant Reading Lv. Max, Parallel Processing Lv. 3, Reiki Healing Technique Lv. 4, Copper Body Outer Technique Lv. 2, Jade Crane Inner Technique Lv. 2, Snow Treading Steps Lv. 1, Lower Dark Fist Technique Lv. 1, Iron Gut Lv. 1, Spearmanship Lv. 7, Surprise Attack Lv. 5, Pain Resistance Lv. 7, Physical Attack Resistance Lv. 1, Intimidating Presence Lv. 1, Qi Manipulation Lv. 1, Qi Battery Lv. 1]

[System Functions Unlocked: Log, Status, Shop, Skill Assist, Cooking Assist, Level Up, Improved Rest, Stat Allocation, Inventory Lv. 2]

'So an Inner Technique is like adding a battery to store and draw qi from? Are there any other effects?' Try as he might, he couldn't find any, perhaps there are none or perhaps Jade Crane was just too simple to have a large effect, a boost of 200 in qi capacity was still welcome. Jim felt increasing his capacity would allow him to train the other techniques fast, so his focus shifted entirely to Jade Crane. 'Let's keep pushing forward!'