Chapter 29- Stupid

"AGH FUCK! Why does this rock hurt more!"

After a few more tries, Long Ren sat down, leaning against the rock. He felt a bit frustrated. Not only does the pain hurt, but his pride was also hurt.

So far, his life had been smooth sailing. Other than being a loner, which he isn't particularly complaining about, everything had been going according to his expectations.

His master's expectations of one rank every year was easily achieved, his comprehension capabilities are at the top, and everything is all good for him, except the gacha part, but that's just how gacha works, it isn't something he can control…but this is.

Every time he warped and blinked using space step, he felt an inch closer to the goal, but in the end, he felt like he is doing something completely wrong.

What confuses him though, is why the technique didnt fizzle out. He had a feeling that he needs to figure this out first to succeed.

Long Ren got up and tried once more, but this time, doing it interchangeably with a flat terrain as the target, trying to understand what he needs to change to succeed.

After a couple of dozens of sets, Long Ren still haven't discovered what he needs to change. He tried a couple of things but none of them worked until finally, it clicked.

'No…Surely that's not it right?' Long Ren thought to himself, his theory is very idiotic and stupid that he'd rather it not be true.

'Well, might as well try it,' Long Ren readied his qi and space stepped to the rock with his enhanced barrier still up, only to see that the collision did not happen.

"..." Long Ren

"Are you serious! This is it?" Long Ren shouted, a bit frustrated that he did not think of this earlier. "Does Violet (The book writer) uses video game logic to make these skills!"

The only change that he made this time was the target position.

Usually, when he space stepped, there can be variances that led him to be a few centimeters off the target position, therefore Long Ren tried to mark the position as close to the elevated surface as possible so as to not fall down.

But now, he targeted the air above the elevated surface, high enough to fit his body.

If this skill follows the videogame logic of displacement, where if someone tries to teleport, but some parts of his/her body are inside the object, it will teleport them to the nearest location without intersecting with the object.

It explains why instead of fizzling, the used qi teleported him onto the rock forcibly, banging his head onto the rock in the process. Most of his body isn't "inside" of the object, making the skill activated.

Whenever he tried to [Space Step] into an object, most of his body is in it. It fizzles to prevent him from hurting himself, at least that's what Long Ren could infer.

Long Ren sighed. "...I feel so stupid right now for one, not figuring this earlier or two, using video game logic and it being the answer. Either one hurts my soul…"

To further confirm whether his theory is true or false, he tried it a couple more times and at different elevations. Yep, it works. It just works.

After accepting the fact that his video game logic worked, Long Ren immediately climbed the rocky terrain, taking a shortcut that would otherwise waste quite a bit of time.

His aim proved to be quite off though as he fell every now and then. It took him a while to adjust to this new "mechanic". But in the end, he got used to it quite easily.

He tried space stepping directly to the top as well but it just fizzled, and it used up a lot of qi. Upon further testing, he figured out his limits for [Space Step] are both 10 meters far and high.

Not quite overpowered yet, but still an amazing skill. Its limits has increased quite a lot as compared to when Long Ren had just started learning it.

Unfortunately, this revelation isn't enough for him to break the little bottleneck that he had with his skills. Though he did feel them loosening up quite a bit, so at least that's something.

As he reached the top of the rocky terrains, Long Ren was back in the forest areas of the mountain, but stronger. The trees now excrete a stronger aura, still lower than his, but some trees managed to match it.

Its fascinating for Long Ren that the trees could also grow in tandem with the magical beasts. At first he thought they would just be normal trees, but it seems like the plants could also naturally grow in power, like magical beasts and humans.

Long Ren wonders when he'll meet his first intelligent plant creatures. "But from my memory, plants generally have a higher power floor until they gain sentience…Who knows, maybe in this world it's different."

…

..

.

10 days later…

In a small shack made out of wood sits an old man tending to the small bonsai in his hands, cultivating it with great care. Soon, he was done with his work and a wide smile appeared on his face.

"Perfect!" he said. He then walked towards the open window, wanting to spread out the bonsai's glory to the world, only to be shocked at the appearance of a young man.

*ZIPS*

"OH GOD!!!" the old man shouted. He almost fell on his back, but held his ground to save the bonsai, though, his breath is still erratic due to the surprise.

He saw the young man wearing an apologetic smile, and sighed. "Young man, don't suddenly zip zap around the place!" He said, a bit angry while placing the bonsai on its designated place.

"Sorry." The young man, Long Ren said. He first saw the shack after climbing up the mountains for 10 days, and was immediately interested, so he space stepped there in habit.

"Whatever, just don't do that again, or at least do it far away from here!" The old man said. He got out of the shack and looked at Long Ren up and down.

"A rank four cultivator here, alone?" He asked.

"Yup." Long Ren said, then asked. "Why is there a shack here?"

"Did you not read the interesting spots section of the guide from the clan?"

"I was hoping to reach the pond first then read it. Its more fun discovering than searching." Long Ren answered while scratching the back of his head.

Seeing this, the old man nodded in understanding. It does feel more exciting exploring something new than following a detailed guide.

"This place is the pond's checkpoint, and I'm the pond's guard here." The old main said, and gestured Long Ren to follow him.

They walked for a while, away from the shack and lo and behold, there lies a big pond. As they approach the pond, the sounds of water splashing got clearer and louder. Dozens of unique-looking fishes swam in it.

The fish looks like a cod, strangely enough, from Long Ren's past memories, but with two horns protruding from its jaws. A bit intimidating, but in the end, it is still just a harmless small fish.

"Here's the mountain carp pond you've been aiming for. What do you think?" the old man asked

"Um…Normal? Other than the weird looking fish, theres nothing special about it." Long Ren answered. The pond is just a normal pond, no medicinal herbs growing near it or anything special like that.

"What did you expect? You're only at the second mountain. The grander ones are at the top."

Hearing this, Long Ren nodded, theres no way the clan would beautify a lower level pond, after all. He then walks towards the pond and quickly caught a few of the fish with his hands.

They were swimming very fast and their movements are unpredictable, at least for normal cultivators. Long Ren was able to catch ten fish in a matter of seconds, displaying his incredible achievements in speed. He left the rest of the fish alone, seeing as he had taken about 30% of it.

Seeing this, the old man whistles and then chuckled. "No wonder you're here alone. You're fast, not to mention that zip-zap thing you did. You have a teacher yet?"

Long Ren squashed their lives and stored the fishes he caught as he answered. "My Master is Xing Lao."

The old man's eyes gleamed in realization, "Space huh. Makes sense. About time we have another space cultivator here." He nodded, and continued. "You can take some more, consider it a gift from me to Old Xing."

Long Ren shrugged and took a few more. More free stuffs, why should he reject it.

After that, he got up and explored a bit more of the pond's surrounding area. Other than the shack the old man was living in, there was nothing of interest here.

Yun Ning was right, it was not worthed wasting 10 days just to catch some fish. Even if the fish was absolutely delicious, he's rather buy it from someone else.

He is pretty wealthy after all.

But, he did not regret this little adventure, he finished his mission, met someone nice, and learned vertical space stepping. Overall, it was quite a good haul. Now to waste 11 more days going back to the clan! Woo Hoo!

"Hey old man, theres nothing else to do here right?" Long Ren asked. He just wants to make sure.

The old man, who had gone and brought out another bonsai heard his question, answered, "Yeah, theres nothing interesting here, but if you go to the top, theres a rank-7 Chaos Tiger living there." He then put his hand on his chin, and continued,

"I think you can try going up there. Your space zip zap should help you escape if it chases you, but then again I'm here so you won't ever die regardless." he said as he continues trimming his bonsai.

'Chaos Tiger huh, I wonder what it looks like.'