NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 347 – Lunch First
Jenny shrugs at Jason’s worry over uncontrolled powers showing up. “While I won’t claim to know everything, what I do know is that instances of the supernatural haven’t been on the rise for the last few hundred years.”
Jason shakes his head, “The natural level of supernatural events for this universe is zero. Having any at all is a bad sign. It is like saying the water from the tap tastes sweet. It’s water, it shouldn’t have a sweet taste. Sure, that might be sugar mixed in but it could also be lead.”
Jenny shrugs, “And what would releasing info on cultivation do about it?”
Jason sighs, “Part of the problem is there is too much power hanging around and not all of it is good. What I’ve done has already proven to chase away the bad and besides that it will also suck up the good as well. You want to cultivate, you’re going to need to absorb some form of supernatural energy.
“Though calling it supernatural isn’t exactly correct. It is natural, just not to our universe. And what even is natural, anyway? Humans are a part of nature and we let it all in. That could be seen as a natural function and so it would be natural.”
Jenny smacks him upside the head. “Cut it out with the philosophizing, especially as you already told me the answer to it when you were younger. Free will puts us above nature. This is a little more cut and dry in NeoRealm and the like, but at the very least humans have free will. Even if this is all a simulation, we can only go forward with that notion.
“Besides, the divide between natural and artificial is a crummy thing to worry about in the first place. If something has happened, it has happened and all you can do is deal with it. Now do you have anything else to add or am I free to go back to my own room and do a whole lot of research on this nonsense.”
Jason laughs, “For some reason I doubt most of the sources available on this kind of thing aren’t going to help much for my specific stuff. Not that I’m telling you to stop. I don’t believe you would in the first place. Besides that, though, I don’t really have anything else to say on the subject for the moment. After the test subjects get back to the maid, I’ll see what I can do for you.
“Though I am going to try to keep it all under the covers for at least a bit of time. Right now I’m in the rapid growth stage and I want to get a bit of growth under my belt. Once people start trying it en masse, the real freaks will show up and I don’t want to be left in the dust despite being the first person to start on it.”
Jenny laughs and shakes her head as she slowly sinks into the floor, leaving Jason’s instance. Jason just shakes his head as he checks the time. Their conversation hadn’t taken long at all and so he still had a couple hours to waste. Sure, he could just log into NeoRealm, but he figures the time is better spent practicing. Not that those hours progress him much, but every little bit counts. So with just a smidge more of his meridian excavated Jason once again enters his pod and logs into the game.
Back in NeoRealm he goes to pet Lily only to notice his hands are shaking. It takes him a moment but then it dawns on him. Today’s the day. While he has enjoyed his time in a city, the open road and high adventure onces again calls to him.
In a few more hours, that is. The time is still near on midnight and the city gates won’t be open at this hour. At this point, Jason also notices that Lily is still asleep and so pulls his hand and settles into bed. He felt he had already done enough cultivation for the moment and settled in to sleep the rest of the night away.
Next morning dawns bright and early as it is wont to do. Not that Jason pays it any mind as apparently he had been running himself a bit ragged. His body decided that since a trip was upcoming, it was going to have a nice long sleep right now.
What finally wakes Jason up is the smell of food cooking. Out in the den, Gregor is simmering a stew for lunch and when he spots Jason, invites him to join in. After Jason sits down on one of the beanbag chairs, Gregor smiles, “I was wondering when you would get around to waking up. I figured you might end up sleeping in a little today but half of said day is already gone.”
Jason laughs weakly, “I did sort of run around a good bit the last few days.”
Gregor raises an eyebrow, “More like all the bits, not just the good. Still, I feel better about sending you off after a good night’s sleep than not.”
Jason shrugs, “I needed to pick up a few things. I’m not like the other two. Courtney has in-depth training on whatever stuff they might need. Me? I just had a little under 50 gold to throw around.”
Gregor smiles, “And you have what, ten of it left now?”
Jason laughs, “Not like I can use it in the wilderness. I would have spent more if it didn’t have uses on the traveller side of things. Besides, it is more like 20 gold. Though if you want to get precise, I have 18 gold, 21 silver, and 120 coppers left. Nevermind most of what I bought was miscellaneous stuff like rations and rope.”
Gregor waves off Jason’s put down on what he bought. “An adventure isn’t an adventure unless someone brings some rope. Though I notice you’re sporting a pair of new pants there.”
Jason shrugs, “I got them really cheap for only ten gold. They have an effect that works great for me and the near total lack of stat buffs doesn’t matter because of my situation.”
