Invite Players to a Cultivation World

"Disciples!" I yell out. "I must announce, we now have a World Quest!"

I have to draw on a bit of the Void Fae's power to make it a 'System' message, but they don't mind in the slightest. I'd say they're even eager to encourage this quest.

Protecting Fae should always be one of the most important principals of this sect. I hate the fact that there are some suffering on this world, but it certainly gives a good long term goal for my disciples.

"You really are contracted to my Void Sisters." A tiny girl with green hair and wings appears in front of me.

I blink.

She's still there.

"She's so pretty." JadeBea says. The other disciples also look at the Fae in wonder.

Lily is tearing up, though clearly out of joy rather than anything else.

"You..." I snap myself out of my shock. "It's a pleasure to meet you. May I know what your name is, and how long you've been watching over us for?"

"My name's Flora, and only a few hours." Flora smiles. "I noticed your disciples reducing the impurities in the forest and decided to see if I could trust you. When I noticed you using the power of my Void Sisters, I knew this couldn't be a trick."

"I don't mean to be rude." PCliver speaks up. "But we still don't really understand what makes Fae special."

"I guess I do need to go over that. Flora, could you please correct me if I make any mistakes."

"Of course, happy to help." Flora nods.

"So, Fae are a very rare magical race." I explain. "Groups of them sometimes appear alongside the formation of a new world and they have an element of sorts that they represent. They have great power over things of that element, and use it to improve the world."

Flora smiles. "I've spent plenty of time enhancing plants so they better support the Qi cycle, making it stronger and generally improving people's lives."

"It's important to know that Fae are inherently benevolent." I explain. "While there are still individual differences between them, they always only act with good intentions."

"What about controversial topics, where morality is subjective?" CoDestiny asks. "Like a trolley problem."

"They would choose not to participate." I explain. "Fae cannot choose to harm someone, even if it means helping a larger number of people. Of course there are many cases of them being tricked into helping someone who uses that aid to do evil deeds, but such manipulations are taboo, and may make the Fae go into hiding."

"And a hiding Fae is impossible to find." Lily says as she has recovered. "When they hide, it's as if they disappear from the world. But they're only able to observe while like this."

"Which means they are likely to soon emerge once they notice someone in need." I say. "Because their benevolence gives them a very powerful desire to do good. This is actually the reason they almost never form contracts. Doing so means they can only offer help through their contracted partner, which can lead to various conflicts of interest. So they only ever make contracts when desperate."

That's why I was able to get a contract with the Void Fae. It was literally the only way they could do good, so it didn't matter that I'm not the type of person they would normally choose.

But apparently making contracts might also leave a vulnerability for the Fae, based on what happened to Lily's niece.

I must never allow such a thing to happen to me and the Void Fae.

"You should also know that Fae are immortal." Lily continues explaining. "That means the ones Knot captured are still alive, and no doubt suffering immensely."

Flora's expression turns gloomy for a moment, but then she turns to me and asks. "Can I help out on your farm? I've been watching it be developed for a while and really want to join in."

"We are happy to have you join us." I answer. "Please keep in mind that we need quantity rather than quality. It will also help if you can make the plants repeatedly harvestable and more difficult to be damaged."

"Large amount, replenishing, and resistant." Flora lists off. "I'll get to it right away!" She flies over to the farm and starts to do her magic.

Lily looks at me. "It would seem many of my worries are unfounded. If you have a contract with Fae then you cannot be planning anything malicious.

"I should make it clear that the contract is because I was the only choice." I reveal. "They incentivise me towards benevolence, so you're mostly right, but I would still appreciate having people who can point out when I might be going down a dark path. And I also can't guarantee that my future disciples will be as nice as the current ones."

My disciples nod in agreement, which makes Lily look very worried.

"That reminds me. Take this." I take out a gem I recently designed and hand it to Lily. "Point it as PCliver and focus on the idea of rewarding him for bringing you here."

She does so and...

"Thank you Lily Calla." PCliver bows.

Lily seems confused. "What did I just do?"

"That's an Incentive Gem." I explain. "I designed it as a way for the locals to encourage certain behaviour from my disciples. It allows you to either reward my disciples for past actions, or give them tasks which they will be rewarded for if they complete it. The amount rewarded is based on both the difficulty and positive impact of the action they take, as judged by the Void Fae."

"I... I greatly appreciate this." Lily says, looking over the gem's design. I know it will be impossible for her to replicate though.

"And I'd appreciate you staying here for a short while to answer more of my disciples questions." I say. "While doing so, you can use the Incentive Gem to request various things. For example, I'd like to talk to you alone for a bit, but instead of me just asking them to leave, you can give them a task to help Flora with the farm."

She appears to do so, and my disciples quickly leave, though PCliver shows some hesitance.

"What kind of reward are they getting anyway?" Lily asks.

"It's just some Sect Points we use as a currency." I explain. "So far its main use is buying techniques from our shop. Here's a list of them." I hand over a scroll listing out the techniques, including their effect, cost and requirements.

She looks though until she notices. "The Cleanse Other Technique... can it really..."

"It's never been used, but it should work." I admit. "I intend to have my disciples test it in case there are any negative effects, and it will only work on those of lower cultivation than the user."

"If you would be willing to teach me then I'd be happy to test it." Lily offers.

"It can only be done by people immune to impurities." I explain. "And all of these techniques should only be used by me and my disciples, as they were made with no consideration for soul defences."

Lily sigh in disappointment.

"The real reason I wanted to talk to you privately is to apologise." I say. "I can't help with killing Knot Weed, and for that I am sorry."

"But you're so strong!" Lily protests. "Surely you understand how important defeating him is."

"I understand, but I also have a contract with the Void Fae." I explain. "You said Knot has a method of severing such contracts. It probably won't work on me, but I'm not willing to take that risk."

"I understand, but I thought you had made an announcement to stop him." Lily argues.

"My disciples will be the ones to help you in that." I explain. "They will increase in strength rapidly, and their numbers will grow exponentially, so I believe they will eventually succeed in taking him down."