Chapter 10: Apprentice Qi Pill

[Quest "Breakthrough to the Spirit Apprentice Realm" successfully completed.

Time remaining: 2 days 6 hours

Reward: Apprentice Qi Pill (1) added to Inventory]

Eric opened his inventory to check it and he saw a blue spherical ball titled 'Apprentice Qi Pill' added to it. He took it out and examined it closely.

[Apprentice Qi Pill

Tier: 1st Tier

Effect: Fills the user's Dantian with Qi but since this Qi is foreign and not directly absorbed by the user, it will be untamed and wild and if not properly absorbed and tamed, it may damage the user. This pill will be the most beneficial for Cultivators of the Spirit Apprentice Realm and will barely be of any use to those of a higher realm.]

The pill, just like the herbs, emitted a faint presence, along with it having a high concentration of Qi. The pill's color was a shade of blue which resembled the sea and it slightly glowed.

Its size was pretty small, comparable to that of a cherry and was perfectly spherical in shape. The texture of its surface was smooth and upon being touched it felt like a pearl.

'This is good. This deserves to be called a cultivation pill.' Eric was satisfied with the pill and he kept in back in his inventory.

He initially wanted to swallow it right after breaking through, but right after the breakthrough he felt that the Qi inside of him was imbalanced and unstable, which was something common to experience after breakthroughs. He could lose control of it easily if a large amount of Qi entered his dantian.

The smart decision was to stabilize the flow of Qi and regain control over it before taking the Qi Gathering Pill.

Eric sat down and started meditating when he noticed that the speed of the cultivation method had slightly increased. Due to the breakthrough, he was not only stronger, but could also cultivate faster.

An hour passed and the Qi in his dantian was stable and tranquil again. Eric now felt like he had way more control over himself and his strength.

Considering this change an indication that he had controlled the previously raging Qi and was ready to absorb the Qi Gathering Pill; he took it out of his inventory once again.

For a moment, Eric started having second thoughts and was unsure about his decision.

'Should I wait until dad is back home? Absorbing the energy of a pill could cause permanent damage or even death if not done properly. But then again, how would I tell him how I got the Pill?

If I tell him about the system and that he is actually an NPC he won't believe me and will think that I'm playing a prank on him. Well, guess I gotta do this myself without fucking it up…'

It would definitely be better to have someone watch over him while he absorbs the pill, but at the end of the day, doing it by himself will benefit him more. Moreover, a tier 1 pill won't be fatal and will only cause light injuries at most.

Eric steeled his mind and gulped the pill down in one go.

As the pill went down his body, once he felt it reach his dantian, the pill shattered and released a humongous amount of qi into his dantian. The qi surged wildly like the waves of the ocean and it had started to overtake his entire dantian's space.

Eric felt slight pain in his dantian as this monstrous amount of qi hit it endlessly, but the pain was not that intense and was only able to make him flinch a little bit, after which he gained composure and control over it almost instantly.

The foreign qi started to slow down and gradually became dormant and after about half an hour, it had regained the serene state that Eric's qi normally had.

Examining the state of his dantian, Eric noticed that once again, it was almost full. The pill had helped him reach the peak of the 1st Layer of the Spirit Apprentice Realm right after he advanced; it was no wonder why pills were coveted so much.

Normally it would have taken him about 3 to 4 days with the herbs and a whole week without the herbs to reach the second layer, but now he was almost sure that he could reach the second layer of the spirit apprentice realm before lunch.

Eric decided to make that a goal for himself and looked out to check how much time he had left when he heard another notification from the Scam System.

[New Quest: Get to the 2nd Layer before Lunch

Task: Achieve the 2nd Layer of the Spirit Apprentice Realm before today's lunch.

Time remaining: 2 hours 30 minutes

Completion Reward: +1 point in Intimidation

Failure Penalty: None]

As Eric read what the completion reward was, he suddenly remembered something and checked the Communication Skills menu.

[Communication Skills Menu

Persuasion: 3

Intimidation: 2

Charm: 1]

Sure enough, his intimidation stat had gone up by one point.

As he looked at the communication skills menu, he remembered that the introductory information he saw when initially opening it mentioned that there were more ways of upgrading his communication skills other than upgrading his cultivation level. Now he knew that one of them was through completing quests.

He also realized that quests could be triggered by anything; just like how his own determination to challenge himself gave him this quest.

Eric smiled and sat down on the bed and started cultivating using the Qi Gathering Herbs. Since this was a time limited quest, he didn't waste any time and got straight to cultivating.

***

Some time passed and Eric once again felt the sensation of his dantian being filled to the brim. He took a deep breath and in an instant, his dantian expanded once again.

His body filled up with energy and his dantian felt empty another time this day. He immediately meditated a bit and quickly stabilized the qi in his dantian.

'This feels like deja vu. I broke through twice in the same day!'

Eric erupted in laughter and checked the Scam System. He had finished the quest with 15 minutes left and had received two points in Intimidation; which had now become his most proficient communication skill, with 4 points.

Eric had been through an ordeal for the past roughly 4 hours and had reached the 2nd Layer of the Spirit Apprentice Realm less than a week after being thrown into this game world.

He lay on his bed and relaxed for a while, thinking about his new life. Before he knew it, Jane had come up to his room to inform him that the food was ready.

"Eric, the lunch is ready!" she said in her usual gentle tone.

Eric jumped up from his bed and was immediately standing in front of his mother. Jane was momentarily shocked; such speed was inhumane.

She looked at her son's face and saw a huge, bright smile form on his face. He knew what she was thinking and nodded, confirming her suspicions.

He looked her straight in the eyes and said in a calm yet serious voice.

"Mom, I'm now a cultivator!"