My initial plan for my rise to power immediately crashes after a single day pass. I belatedly realized that I lack many things.
The nearby pond can't provide me with food. I don't know how to fish, and I don't have any fishing nets. Even if I catch one, I don't think I can process it or even cook it. I am unsure if it's safe to drink the water in the pond so drinking is also out of the question.
I need sustenance at this stage. I am at the phase where I keep expelling my cultivation. That means I have to eat, sleep, and do all of the stuff normal people do.
It's not just food. I need a proper place to sleep. Sleeping in that enclosed room hurts my back. Without a proper bed, my body will be sore sleeping on the floor. It's very cold too, and there is no source of light in the evening.
I have a solution to that. The Prestige Shop sells almost everything I can think of. In the Miscellaneous section of the Shop category, everything I will ever need has been listed there. Beds, clothing, food, drink, all of it for 1 point.
There is only one problem. It's hard to get prestige points!
I only got 1 prestige point yesterday by spending the whole day cultivating. I know the process will become shorter as I increase my roots, but it feels like a waste just using a point that I spend an entire day of earning with my hard work.
But what can I do? If I want to survive here, I need to have all of those necessities!
So even if I am reluctant to do it, I spend all six of my points to buy all of this necessary stuff. 100 gallons of water, 20 bundles of ready-to-eat lunch boxes, 1 solar powered mini-refrigerator, 1 solar powered oven, a cotton bed, and 50 bundles of plain chinese robes. All of these cost 1 point each.
I quickly put these stuff within the cultivation room. It's not like it will affect the qi gathering array in this room. I can decorate this room as much as I want.
After securing a proper bed and meal for me, I can finally focus on cultivating... not!
The original Xie Wen can sit in a single room and contemplate the nature of heaven and earth as much as he wants. As for me, a loser shut-in, sitting crosslegged in a quiet room while absorbing supernatural energies around the atmosphere quickly becomes dull. Despite trying to force my mind out of this distraction, my mind can't help but veer off to unrelated topics.
Thoughts of my favorite manga, animes that I haven't finished yet, or even games that I left in my backlog, along with thoughts of my parents in my past life made me distracted enough to fail at some of my cycling. It almost caused qi deviations in my cultivation.
I have been spoiled after I became a shut-in. I have to stop myself from getting distracted and focus on cultivation. If I don't become strong as soon as possible, trouble might come to me while I am still weak. I don't have the luxury of thinking about useless stuff like this!
I kept telling myself that as I resumed my cultivation. A week had passed since then. Nothing untoward happened during my closed-door cultivation.
I am still at the 1st Stage Foundation Establishment due to my constant resets. This is the fastest way for me to accumulate points, roots, and multipliers.
"... Ugh, I can't do this anymore!"
It's also at this point that I give up and take a moment to rest in my bed.
As a modern person, even if I know that I am doing this for my survival, not having anything to entertain myself is getting to my psyche. I don't have anyone to talk to, and there is nothing else for me to kill some time other than cultivating. I know time passes quickly for me when I focus on my cultivation, but seeing darkness and feeling unseen energies within my metaphysical nerves isn't that exciting when I have to do it for an entire week.
I miss my anime and games. I at least want to read something to pass the time. I plan to stay in this room for a very long time. I think I might die of boredom if there is nothing else for me to do.
What should I do now?
I think about it while staring at the ceiling.
"Thanks for the meal."
After a simple gratitude for my food with a clap of my hand, I split the cheap chopstick that is paired along with the lunch box and start eating the heated lunch. Today I am eating a box meal that contains a hefty amount of rice, omelet, karaage, and curry soup. This has been heated in my oven.
Most of my lunch box were stored in my mini-fridge. That's the purpose why I even buy this fridge with my points. It's a waste for a long term because I won't need food when I get to higher levels of cultivation, but right now I really need it to store the twenty bundles of lunch box I got from my purchase. The oven is also important, and then the bed and many things.
The robe I wore was a new set. I have already thrown my bloodied ones beyond the edge of the peaks. As for my other garbages like the empty lunch boxes, they've been piled up in the corner of this room.
The smell is fine with me. I am a shut-in, and my room is always messy most of the time. Something of this level doesn't bother me.
There is another problem I have to address that I notice during this week. I still don't have a proper waste disposal system. Specifically, I don't have anywhere I can piss or poop. I try doing it the natural way, doing it at the shade of the only tree within this peak. It smells horrible even when I return back to my room. I also don't have anything to wipe myself, so I reluctantly have to use my spare robes for it.
It is absolutely disgusting! Moreso than the pile of empty lunch boxes inside my room!
During this week, I acquire at least seven more points. The seventh one being a very recent one as yesterday, I got two points due to the speed of my cultivation and also staying all nighters for it. What usually takes me eight hours has been reduced to six hours before I become a 1st stage. I think it will become faster in the coming weeks.
So for now, I have to solve my dilemma by upgrading my current residence. In the Improve category, a new section has been revealed. It was called Ruined Pagoda. After staying here for a week, it seems like my cheat ability now considers this place as my possession.
Just in time. I am going to become crazy with the smell of my own shit. I quickly spent 1 point each on the bathroom and toilet. Now I can have a place to wash myself, and do my thing.
I don't know where the toilet is connected and how it functions without a sewer system, or how the bathroom has a tub and shower in it. I just chalk it up to the convenience of my cheat ability.
Now I have five points left. I think I want something that can help me cultivate passively.
"Is there a cultivation method here that can let me absorb and cycle qi passively?" I am just saying that unconsciously while looking browsing through the shop.
[Searching... complete!]
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
That sudden prompt almost made me jump out of my feet. What does it mean by that?
My question has been quickly answered after multiple things were shown listed in the shop panel. All of these were names of cultivation methods that would specifically help me with my problem.
The cost is a bit steep though. The cheapest one costs 10 points. I just spent 2 points total for the toilet/bathroom combo. I will need to breakthrough five times to the 1st stage and reset to get that amount of points.
I think it is worth it. I will truly die of boredom just focusing on cultivation. I need some entertainment!
And so, for the next three days, I dedicated most of my time with cultivation only.
"Fuu.... finally!"
After a mentally tiring cultivation session, I finally got five prestige points. Quickly I operate my Prestige Shop and then pick the cheapest method for automatic cycling.
[Would you like to purchase the Auto-Cultivation function?]
"Yes!"
[Congratulations, you have purchased the Auto-Cultivation function!]
[This function will passively absorb Qi around you and cycle it through your dantian. The amount of progress you will get through this function is only 50% of what you will get through manual cultivation.]
After reading the prompt, I can feel the warm rich presence of the abundant qi in my surroundings. It is half of what I can absorb when I cultivate by myself but that is fine. Now even if I am doing something or sleeping, I can still progress through my cultivation. With this function, I can focus on some of my personal dilemmas like finding ways to entertain myself.
I can easily get points, and I think it is safer in this part. There are no dangerous beasts lurking in this peak, and no mortals will ever dare set foot here. Xie Wen's memories also tell me that nothing will interest rogue cultivators here, so I think I am still safe for sometime.
That means I can waste at least 1 or 2 more points. It's for passing the time and taking care of my boredom. One point can give me a lot of things, so I think it is alright for me to indulge in my hobbies right?
There is nothing happening at all.
With that thought in mind, the next point I got from my newest reset was used to buy light novels. The decision alone felt stupid in my mind, but my heart wanted something to soothe the boredom with these anime light novels.
The prestige shop truly sells everything, even useless junks like this one. A single point gives me a hundred light novel titles of my own choosing, and it seems like the shop reads my mind because it quickly puts every book that I haven't finished or read yet, along with some that are my favorites.
With all of these in my hands, I think staying here for a long time will be more bearable.
Just as I expected, nothing truly happened to me. A month has passed since I started living here. I held myself back from spending any points as I needed them to actually improve my roots, and some of my talents and affinity.
The passive cultivation helped me a lot. Thanks to it, I have been able to pass the time reading my favorite light novels and then reset my cultivation in peace. With the increase of my cultivation roots and multipliers with each reset, my cultivation is getting faster. Now my passive cultivation can breakthrough to the 1st Stage within six hours. If I manually cultivate by myself, then it will take me three hours.
Of course, advancing to the 2nd Stage is still a long way. I underestimated the requirement for it. With my current roots and speed, advancing from 1st Stage to 2nd Stage will take me more than a week. That was very slow compared to advancing from mortal to Foundation Establishment.
The requirements to raise to higher cultivation level exponentially increases. It's not viable for me to attempt that. I have to save up more points and multipliers until I am sure I can cultivate to that level instantly.
So that is why I am sticking to resetting when I become a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
[STATUS]
Cultivation Stage: Mortal
Spiritual Root: 53
Root Quality: Lesser
Cultivation Speed: 1.58x
Prestige Points: 30
(Affinity)
Earth (F)
(Talent)
Sword (F-)
(Technique)
Iron Edge (Small - Success)
Xie Wen's knowledge tells me it is very fast, but personally for me it is still so slow. It's been a month now but the speed of my cultivation is unsatisfactory.
Fortunately I am planning to stay here for a long time. If a month is not enough, then I predict it will take a year before I can instantly raise my level from mortal to the 2nd Stage of Foundation Establishment Realm. I have light novels in my hand, and the shop will ensure that I can sustain myself with just a single point.
There are still no monsters approaching this spot, so I think I am safe. I can stay here all the time without showing myself while building up my power. After I become a Golden Core Realm expert, I think I will start moving my sights from beyond this mountain.
Six months have quickly passed. The weather at the top of this peak was extreme. Winter was extremely cold, and I was forced to improve my room and install an air regulator device. I also bought some stuff that improved my quality of life like a solar powered washing machine, a few hundreds of light novels, lunch boxes, cabinets for storing my robes, and a solar powered incinerator for my garbage.
I have also repaired the next room with the Prestige Shop, which costs 1 point because my room is becoming crowded with my stuff. I put my washing machine and incinerator there so I can have more space in my room.
Other than those irrelevant changes, the most important part was my cultivation. I expected it would take a year before I could reach 2nd Stage instantly. I didn't think it would take six months before that happened.
[STATUS]
Cultivation Stage: 2nd Stage Foundation Establishment
Spiritual Root: 373
Root Quality: Minor
Cultivation Speed: 3.78x
Prestige Points: 141
(Affinity)
Earth (F+)
(Talent)
Sword (F)
(Technique)
Iron Edge (Small - Success)
With the multipliers and roots I acquired from my resets, I can reach the 1st Stage Foundation Establishment within thirty seconds. Fifteen seconds if I manually cultivate. As for the second stage, I can reach that within sixteen hours through passive cultivation.
Upgrading affinity two times is the right choice. It decreases the amount of cycles I need to consolidate my foundation. With fifty successful consolidations, I can breakthrough to the 2nd Stage without any problem.
I have also increased the quality of my roots to Minor. That cost me a hundred Prestige Points. The next cost will be a thousand to turn my spiritual roots into Intermediate quality. I have to save up for that.
Advancing to the third stage is a lot harder. The original Xie Wen takes a year before he reaches the 3rd Stage. Even with my new improvements, I think it will take me a few months before I reach that. It's very inefficient.
After reaching the 2nd Stage, I decided to start resetting at this stage. I know it isn't that efficient. I can get more if I just spam reset on my 1st Stage. There is only one problem. It is very tiring to do so.
There is no auto-reset function in the Shop. I have to manually do that which takes at least a few seconds. With the speed of my auto-cultivation, I won't have time to do what I want. It's extremely bothersome.
So, I set my reset to the 2nd Stage. This is just right because 2nd Stage gives three times more multipliers and points than resetting on the 1st Stage. It is slow, but it's more convenient than doing it one-by-one.
[Reset detected, calculating... successful!]
[Spiritual Roots increased by 2!]
[Cultivation Speed multiplier increased by 0.03!]
[You gain a total of 3 Prestige Points!]
[STATUS]
Cultivation Stage: Mortal
Spiritual Root: 376
Root Quality: Minor
Cultivation Speed: 3.81x
Prestige Points: 144
(Affinity)
Earth (F+)
(Talent)
Sword (F)
(Technique)
Iron Edge (Small - Success)
After resetting my cultivation, my empty roots quickly fill up with a new batch of qi which my root sucks up like a baby and flow to my dantian where they are automatically being cycled.
After half a minute, that sense of expansion within my mind tells me that I breakthrough to the 1st Stage once more. I ignore that and take another book from my personal pile besides my large bed and then lie on my back.
I don't feel tired reading light novels. I am so close to finishing all of my backlogs of stories from my collection. I think I might have to find another hobby soon. Rereading some of them might be fine, but I am sure I am going to become tired of it when the time comes.
As for dangerous beasts outside? There is nothing to worry about, it is winter!
Most demon beasts hibernate at this season, and as for those who are active in winter, they won't even come up here because there is nothing here other than me. This is the peak of the mountain with no reliable footholds to climb up on. Demonic beasts will have a hard time climbing here even if they dare.
So I can relax and just leave the affairs of the outside world without any worries. My next goal will be reaching the 3rd Stage in a single day. After that the 4th Stage, then so on.
I have to persevere and hold myself back, even if I am feeling somewhat lonely being by myself here.
"Later..."
I mutter to myself, swearing with my heart that I will actually go outside and mingle when I feel my strength is adequate enough.
Even with my favorite books, loneliness truly sets in when everything is so quiet.
