Invite Players to a Cultivation World

Rose Stem has been investigating the Player Sect.

Every member of the Stem Sect had been told to learn what they could about Rean Stone if the opportunity presents itself. They need to know if he will become a threat to the world, and what measures can be taken to stop him if he is.

That's why Rose was visiting Tia in the Petal Sect. She truly did want to meet with her friend, but the main reason was because it was believed that Rean might be getting in contact with the Petal Sect.

That assumption paid off, and now she gets to see everything about Rean Stone and what he's been doing first hand.

It's not an exaggeration to say this is one of the key duties of the Stem Sect. Information gathering, and preventing corruption or mismanagement if possible.

This is also why they are encouraged to make friends in other sects. It's not wrong to call them spies, but that doesn't take into account that they really do value their friendships, and are mainly motivated by no letting their friends fall down a dark path.

Regardless, the information Lily Calla told her before is enough to understand the situation has changed. Rean Stone having a contract with Fae means his intentions shouldn't be malicious, though that's not enough to stop Rose from paying attention to his actions.

The potential danger is his disciples, though they thankfully seem to be doing what they can to reduce that danger.

Except for not summoning more of them, but that's understandable all things considered. These 'Players' are the only way the world can become free of impurities.

At first she didn't believe the claim that they could do so, but upon arriving at the sect there was no room for doubt. What's even more significant is their ability to remove impurities from a person's soul.

There is now no doubt that the Player Sect will eventualy gain control over the world in one form or another, and there is nothing anyone can do to prevent this.

The most the Stem Sect can do is find a way to keep them in check, similar to what they do with the Petal Sect, but that arrangement was built on centuries of cooperation.

Perhaps it may be easier if the Player Sect and Petal Sect become closer. There were already plans to encourage Rean Stone to integrate with the Petal Sect, and they don't have to completely abandon those plans just because he founded his own sect.

Hiring the Players for missions through the Petal Sect has potential, and if it works would greatly help boost the economy and smooth some troubles with logistics.

Managing economies and logistics is where Rose's true passion lies, and PCliver's team is in need of some local help in this regard. It certainly won't be a problem if she helps arrange some things.

"What are you up to?" JadeBea interrupts Rose's thoughts.

"Just cultivating." Rose shows her emptied Spirit Stone. "Without any impurities, this is an ideal place to do so."

"I guess that is the case for you, but what is that you're holding?" JadeBea asks.

This is another peculiarity about the Players. They have a complete lack of knowledge about some of the most basic things.

"This is a Spirit Stone. It contains concentrated Qi which can be absorbed to help boost your cultivation." Rose explains.

"Okay... would you mind me asking how many Sect Points it would cost to buy one?" JadeBea asks.

"I don't believe you can trade your Sect Points with me, and I wouldn't have any use for them anyway." Rose says. "Besides, I just emptied this one, so it's next to useless. You can have it."

"Thanks." JadeBea accepts the empty Spirit Stone and places it in that Personal Storage thing Players have. "What do you normally do with them once they're emptied?"

"Sometimes they're ground up and turned into fertiliser or cattle feed, but many are used as a neutral ingredient in alchemy." Rose explains. "You can add empty spirit stones to any recipe to make it easier and increase the yield, but the potency suffers in exchange."

"I can certainly see that being helpful." JadeBea takes the Spirit Stone out of her storage, but now it seems less faded that it was previously. "They also seem much easier to enhance compared to the other things I've tried."

"That..." Rose is amazed once again. She'd been told about how Players can enhance things in exchange for not cultivating, but all previous examples she'd been shown were slow enough to not be a major issue. But now JadeBea has recharged the Spirit Stone, if only slightly. 

"What did I do." JadeBea seems worried.

"You recharged it slightly." Rose explains. "Would you be willing to continue doing so? I'm willing to give you ten empty Spirit Stones for a fully charged one."

"Perhaps later." JadeBea replies. "I was just testing it for now, and I'd rather not stop cultivating until I've reached the tenth stage, as that's apparently going to be a major bottleneck. Shouldn't be too long though since I'm still processing some of Tia's impurities."

Rose accepts this, but it still leaves her with some confusion. The tenth stage shouldn't be too difficult for them to overcome, but perhaps the nature of Players means it works differently?

They truly are a very strange group. The weaker Players can't even understand the common language, which is unheard of for any intelligent being.

She can't help but think there might be some secret they don't even realise they're hiding.

Fortunately there is a way for her to find out what it is.

While PCliver was cleansing Tia, she had picked up the Cleanse Other Technique book he had dropped.

Rean Stone had warned her against attempting to use it, but she had assured him she just wanted to check for any problems.

That was true at the time, but now she has a different reason for wanting to study the technique. She might be able to use it to peer into the memories of a Player once it is her time to be cleansed.

Rean Stone had updated the technique imparted in his disciples minds so such a thing could not happen again, but the technique book remains unchanged. If she can figure out how it works then she might be able to cause the opposite effect and peer into the soul of a Player, revealing everything they're keeping hidden, knowingly or not.