It's brown for god's sake!
Plop!
The beast core entered Ying's mouth like a rancid gummy bear, but instead of dissolving on his tongue like any other delectable candy would, it simply rolled off of it and streamed down his throat!
Ying choked.
To his dismay and discomfort, the thing turned out to be anything BUT candy! It wasn't even edible!
"Sweet mother of…cough cough….ah, Vincent you…cough… idiot. The thing was…cough… brown for god's sake, brown! You should…cough… know better than trusting things that are brown! …cough cough."
Ying reprimanded himself for putting his faith in such a… Brown object.
Luckily, he'd managed to spit the thing out in time, just before it could reach his windpipe and actually kill him...
After a few more seconds of dry coughing, Ying finally managed to relieve himself, and then he profusely cursed at the inanimate thing before returning to what he was previously doing.
'Cough! I wonder if this is what the system means by Qi mediums… It could be. After all, these things are usually known to be filled with energy from the dead victim.' Ying fiddled the marble like object, before coming to a decision…
…For the second time.
"Huuuu..." Taking a deep breath, Ying allowed the information of the
Fortunately, the Qi Absorption method didn't require him to be in a lotus position, all he had to do this time was breathe.
And that's precisely what he did.
Taking steady and simple but rhythmic breaths, Ying performed the technique. The method varied slightly from that of his other Qi Gathering skill, but they were essentially the same at their core.
Soon, he began to feel tingly but relaxing sensations run through his body. It was quite comfortable and extremely soothing. So much so that Ying could even feel the stinging pain of his broken nose slowly dissipate, alongside all the other bruises and injuries he sustained.
The experience was euphoric, but not really in the way one would expect.
It wasn't a profound, heaven-defying feeling like what it was depicted to be. It was soothing, that much was a given, but not in any way insightful or philosophical…
If he had to describe it, it was like sitting in a futuristic massage chair that seamlessly forced all of his senses into a deeply relaxing slumber.
Every once in a while, the clerk would raise the level by a factor of ten, arousing a number of mild goosebumps, before lowering it back to its previous index.
Ying reckoned the extra 'stimulation' to be the aftermath of the Qi flowing into his body as he would feel his Qi experience rise a little each time it occurred.
The young cultivator wanted to try and figure out what made this skill so much different and, overall, better than the other one, but he couldn't. His mind was too busy being melted after all.
The ordeal continued for about three more minutes, before coming to a sudden halt. Ying was momentarily startled.
"Huh? W-what happened?" He asked no one in particular, and unexpectedly, an answer did not come.
He allowed his gaze to venture towards the beast core, which remained in his palm as it supplied him with the Qi which he used to cultivate.
But soon, he discovered that the object had seemingly lost its vitality as it no longer glowed like an effervescent lightbulb. No, It had been reduced to merely a perfectly round piece of glassy brown stone.
'Did this happen because I absorbed all of its Qi?' Ying wondered.
Ding!
[You have achieved the requirements for a breakthrough!]
[Congratulations, player 'Ying!' you have broken through!]
[You have assimilated 500Qi!]
[Your power grows!]
Ying went wide-eyed at the messages before him. He noticed that the leading message had gone from 'Cultivated enough Qi' to 'Achieved the requirements', but such trifling detail was no match for his excitement. In a hurry, he pulled up his status window.
[
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A strange omen follows you.
You are a very unlucky mortal with the absolute unheard of worst talent for cultivation, you will later on become the victim of countless failures and most likely eventually quit after accepting his fate. My evaluation is to give up while you still can.
]
When Ying saw the new stat indexes as well as his Cultivation level and Base, he was immediately thrust into the throes of excitement.
'Yes... yes, Yes! HAHAHAHA!' Ying yelled within him as a broad smile appeared on his face. For him, it was as though each time he made some sort of accomplishment, he was proving the accursed system wrong once again.
Something he was always happy to do.
He also felt considerably stronger than his former self. His muscles, bones and even his outer skin felt tougher and stronger than before, he delighted in flexing his wrist every now and then.
'Hahaha! Just you wait world, I'll be on the big boards in no time!' Ying's grin broadened, and his enthusiasm reached an all-time high.
But as if to spite him, a massive 'DING!' suddenly erupted from the sky which was calm until now, and a World Announcement arrived… well, two actually.
[Congratulations! Player 'White' is the first to slay a Body Tempering stage—Fifth realm beast!]
[Congratulations! Player 'White' is the first to slay a Body Tempering stage—Sixth realm beast!]
"…"
Ying was speechless.
In such a short span of time, a player had already managed to defeat a monster at the fifth realm of body tempering, as well as a beast one rank higher in quick succession, whereas he'd almost gotten eviscerated by a friggin second realm beast?!
Was that even possible? Perhaps it was a bug, a glitch of some sort? In any case, the incidence still served as a rather sadistic wakeup call…
He opened his mouth, attempting to comment on the message which he'd just received, but no sound came from it, as though he had temporarily become a mute.
"…..''
Ying suddenly felt embarrassed at his own accomplishments and, in silence, rose from his perch, then picked up his not-so-ordinary sword.
He completely disregarded the euphoric feeling from earlier, not prying into it, and just decided to return to the city gates and sell his pathetic game, maybe get some measly pocket change from it.
Taking a few strides in the direction from whence he came, Ying was suddenly forced into a grinding halt by a loud scream coming from the west. Or in his case, the opposite direction.
"KYAAAA!!"
It was a girl's scream and a really terrified one at that...
Ying cast his gaze westward, specifically the point where the shriek came from. It was no longer a secret as the birds were already frantically rushing away from whatever was going on, but he didn't say anything.
"…!!"
For nearly a full minute, Ying quietly stared, all the while maintaining a blank expression, it seemed he was deeply contemplating his next course of action–
"Nope, none of my business, someone else will handle that."
Then, without so much as a second glance, he nonchalantly turned away and started walking back to the city.