NOVEL SIMPLE 20: Seventh Stage of Qi-Refining
It takes several hours of watching the disciples for Lily to fully understand how the sect functions, and it's certainly not like any sect she's seen before.
In that time she also answers various questions about the world, and basic common sense. Explaining how normal sects work, what the significant sects are, how not to make fools of themselves, and various other topics.
It amazes her how little knowledge the 'players' (as they often refer to themselves) have. The world they're from must be very different.
Another thing she notices is that the players are impressed by her intelligence, but in that they seemed to have expected her to be an idiot. She quickly made it clear that acting like that in front of others would not be tolerated, so they stopped.
Them stopping may also be largely because she discovered the Incentive Gem can also deduct 'SP' if she focuses on punishing for improper actions. Apparently it doesn't deduct much, but still acts as enough of a motivator.
There's a lot of experimenting she's done with the Incentive Gem. CoDestiny convinced her that they should look for a way of exploiting it for infinite SP. Rean would want to know about such an exploit sooner rather than later after all.
No such exploit could be found though, but they learnt a lot about what tasks are most worthwhile.
She was also asked about what the players could do with the CurveTusk Boar CoDestiny managed to kill, which she found impressive considering his cultivation at the time.
The answer she gave being that the tusks can be ground up into an alchemy ingredient, the hide is useful to make high quality clothes for the Qi-Refining realm, and the meat is very tasty.
Somehow mentioning this caused the players to realise they hadn't eaten anything since arriving to the Budding Plant World, which is strange as normally the need for food isn't overcome until the Golden Core realm.
Also the fact they didn't notice this for so long, that was also strange.
JadeBea has been spending most of her time helping out on the farm.
Everything has become much easier with Flora helping, as the Fae not only uses her powers, but also shares knowledge on how to tend to the plants and ensure their proper growth.
Now they have a much greater variety of plants, though most only have niche uses, and they can now extract what they need easily while leaving the plant healthy and ready to regrow their valuable materials.
It's actually possible for the other two disciples to harvest Sky Pearls, though it takes long enough to not be efficient.
"I don't mean to offend, but the truth is I'm not so interested in farming, so I won't be helping you for long." JadeBea admits. "I'm just the only disciple willing to harvest these resourses. I'd much rather do refining, and other processing jobs."
"That's fine. We can all do our part in our own ways." Flora replies. "None of these resourses would mean anything without someone to process them into something useful. It's still a pleasure to work with you for as long as it will be."
"Do you know any refining techniques then?" JadeBea asks. "The only one the sect has provided so far is getting dull and Lily says she doesn't have any I can use."
"I apologise." Flora says. "That's not something Nature Fae care for. We like to concern ourselves with plants, and very little else."
"What about the wildlife that exists in nature." JadeBea asks.
"Some of them do help the growth of plants, but other than that I don't see any reason to learn more about them." Flora replies.
"Oh." JadeBea realises that perhaps the term 'Nature' here doesn't line up with how she usually understands the term.
PCliver has prepared himself for the upcoming conversation for a while now, but he's still worried that it might fall through.
"Lily. Can I talk to you about something? It's kinda important." He says.
"I will hear you out for a bit." Lily sighs. Apparently the previous questions have worn her out a bit.
"I'm trying to set up a system to help manage my sect." PCliver explains. "Master Stone has decided it's something for us disciples to figure out, and we need to do so quickly as there's going to be a huge influx of players soon."
"What do you have planned so far?" She asks, suddenly more interested.
PCliver is glad. It seems she also realises the danger. "I'm trying to set myself up as a point of authority, that way people will follow the rules I set." He hands her a paper listing the current rules. "To that end I'll be giving out a starter pack to new players, so long as they agree to the rules."
"That is a good start." Lily admits. "But you'll also need something that represents the authority of these rules. Carving the rules into a stone monument is done by many sects, or you at least must have a building near the centre of the sect to show you have some legitimacy."
"I'll be working on that." PCliver nods. "Not much I can do with my current resources and skills."
"These rules also don't mention much about how players should interact with people outside the sect." Lily says. "You will certainly need to think it through carefully."
"I was hoping to get your help on that." He says. "What rules do you think would work best. I'm worried if I make them too restrictive then people will just ignore them."
"I'll have to ask a friend of mine to help you, as I am certainly no expert on the matter." Lily says. "What are you using to enforce these rules anyway."
"Right now it's just discounts for the spare vessels JadeBea sells." PCliver admits. "I have some plans for other businesses though, most importantly a trading hall."
"And you will be refusing to trade with people who break your rules." Lily nods. "That's certainly more effective than the threat of violence. Especially considering what I've learnt about you players."
"Would your sect be willing to do business with my trading hall once it's set up?" PCliver asks.
"If such a thing becomes feasible." Lily answers. "The location of your sect will make it very difficult, but we should be able to work something out eventually. It will be a trade though, we can only give you the equivalent value of what we receive."
"That is how trade works." He chuckles. "And this may be pushing too far, but could you make it so the locals will refuse business with criminals who broke these rules?"
"That is not entirely my decision to make, but I will put a good word in." Lily says. "It will have to wait until you have more clearly set rules regarding interactions with non sect members."
CoDestiny just broke through to the seventh stage, and he's very excited.
He hasn't gained enough SP for the Unassigned Vessel Refining Technique, but Master Stone has agreed to allow JadeBea to pay the bill, as it'll be shared anyway.
"Now I know some of you already have a good idea how this works, but there are some details I need to make clear." Master Stone speaks in English.
"When you refine an unassigned vessel you can sell it to the sect and receive 300 Sect Points if there's anyone with an account on the website who hasn't yet been accepted to the game. A VR headset will then be sent out to that person, who can then play the game using it.
If someone other than the account user tries the VR headset, it will not work. We have ways of keeping track.
The new player will go through the same things you did as they start the game.
The second unassigned vessel you make will not cause a new VR headset to be sent out. Instead it will be assigned to the one you used, allowing that headset to be used by the next person who wears it."
The disciples all nod in agreement, glad they kept their VR headset despite no longer needing it.
"Very well. Here is the technique." Master Stone hands it out and deducts the points.
Upon reading it, CoDestiny learns that it's very similar to the Spare Vessel Refining Technique.
Any material can be used to make it so long as it has strong enough Qi, but the minimum requirement is too high for a Sky Pearl to work.
This technique is also more complicated. It'll definitely take more than a few attempts.
"If you are wondering what material to use, don't worry. You happened to have provided it yourself." Master Stone takes out what looks similar to a Sky Pearl, but is bigger and a dull grey.
"Is that the Beast Core from the boar?" JadeBea asks.
"Exactly." Master Stone confirms.
CoDestiny accepts the Beast Core, starts the refining technique and...
Fails immediately.
Then fails again.
This repeats over and over.
Eventually JadeBea can't stand watching any more. "Let me try something!"
"But you don't know how-" CoDestiny is interrupted by the feeling of JadeBea's Qi enveloping his own, keeping it in a precise location.
"Now try again... slowly." JadeBea says, though based on her expression she's clearly struggling.
CoDestiny does try, and...
Failure.
But he got much further than last time.
They try this again a few times, getting closer each time until.
"We did it!" JadeBea collapses on the ground, completely exhausted.
"Well done." Master Stone says. "Please never try that again with a technique you haven't yet learnt. It's much too exhausting to do it blindly."
"This is something that's already been done before?" CoDestiny asks.
"There are a few people who can do it, but it requires a great amount of talent and determination." Master Stone explains. "And even they won't bother, since at that point you might as well just refine whatever it is yourself."
"But does this count as CoDe's first unassigned vessel or Jade's?" PCliver asks. "If CoDes, then Jade can use it to help others get their second unassigned vessel, and the benefits of that."
"I would have to say this is CoDe's." Master Stone looks at the unassigned vessel. "That will make it much easier for you to invite your friends."
Anna is a carpenter, specialising in wood.
She considers the aesthetic of wooden buildings much superior to more modern buildings, regardless of inefficiency.
Recently she's started following this Other World Cultivation craze. It shows off fantastical technology, and she even made an account.
But the main thing she's interested in is the types of wood within this game.
From what little she's seen so far, the wood has truly unique properties. A blend of sturdiness and flexibility that is unmatched by anything that exists in reality.
Yet the people playing are wasting it!
All this time and they haven't even started a real construction project, despite the task to create buildings being there for so long.
She can only imagine what it'd be like if she could play the game. With the increased strength from cultivation, she'd be able to make buildings so impressive it might even be talked about IRL.
That's when she notices she just received a message on her computer.
Your account has been chosen, and a VR headset will be sent to you shortly.
Regards, Sect Tech