Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 33 – Learning spells

Ye Zhou thought cultivation would be a simple matter. After he could sense the presence of his true qi, he should be able to make progress effortlessly and reach level 30 or 40 in no time.

However, for the next several days, he found himself in an endless loop of logging on, cultivating, logging off, eating lunch, sunbathing, getting a massage, napping, logging back on, and cultivating again.

His dream of roaming the game world and seeing the grand mountains and rivers had disappeared. Instead, he was shut in a tiny inn room for several days on end, cultivating and cultivating while he stared at Dugu Zhuo’s handsome face.

Er, he didn’t actually stare at Dugu Zhuo all day. Cultivation was at least good for his health, and after closing his eyes and circulating spiritual essence thirty-six times, his body felt better all over.

Even though Ye Zhou received the best of care, chronic illness still took a toll on him. His body constantly felt heavy and he lacked vitality, always looking pale and often listless.

After cultivating in the game, perhaps it had helped his psychological health. On top of that, being able to eat meals these past few days caused his complexion to improve greatly.

But like this, his rate of leveling was far too slow!

Cultivation did nothing to get him experience to level up. Well, he did get some. In a whole afternoon, cultivating for three hours and circulating his true qi thirty-six times, he could gain 200 experience points. Also, resting in this inn could gain you experience, 1,000 an hour, even when idling. Every day, he could get a maximum of 10,000 experience points, since he wouldn’t gain any more after idling for over ten hours.

He got 400 experience every day from cultivating, which didn’t even match up to what he got for free over those six hours.

As for why he didn’t idle for those remaining four hours? Mainly, he didn’t feel right letting his body remain in the game alone with Dugu Zhuo.

Even if he knew the game had a filter, and Dugu Zhuo was a strict gentleman who wouldn’t do anything to his body, Dugu Zhuo would still gaze at his character with his pair of deep and storied eyes, and even just imagining this scene, Ye Zhou felt like burning up.

Ten levels ago, 1,000 experience would’ve been a lot, but now, at level 20, 1,000 experience was a drop in the bucket.

It took 100,000 experience just to go from level 20 to level 21. By level 29, the experience needed to move to level 30 would be 200,000, a terrifying number.

Watching the indicator show +1,000, +1,000, +1,000, +200, every single day, Ye Zhou felt his head hurt. It had been seven days, a full seven days that the game had been in open registration, and a swarm of new players who dwarfed the old playerbase by a factor of ten had bought helmets and poured into the game. The company had also activated the currency exchange. Yet Ye Zhou, with his total of 6400 x 7 = 44,800 experience, hadn’t even gotten halfway to level 21.

He couldn’t resist asking Dugu Zhuo, “At this rate, won’t it take me two or three years to reach level 40?”

At the moment, Dugu Zhuo was sitting at the table laying out food for Ye Zhou. Over these few days, he had ordered the waiter to bring them food in their room, in order to let Ye Zhou sample gourmet dishes within the game.

Hearing Ye Zhou’s words, Dugu Zhuo said unhurriedly, “I went to Jiuchuan City and asked the owner of the spiritual wares shop, and he told me that level 40 is equivalent to the Core Formation stage. If you can go from the Foundation Establishment stage to the Core Formation stage in only two years, aren’t you already a remarkable genius?”

Dugu Zhuo’s expression was indifferent, as if he didn’t feel a hint of impatience, and taking two years to move from level 20 to level 40 in a game was perfectly normal.

Ye Zhou wanted to say, “I think I’ll just delete this account and make a new one”, but Dugu Zhuo was also a mythic, and this account had a blood bond and heart link with him. Since Dugu Zhuo showed no intention to delete his account and start over, and was determined to play a mythic character to the end, then if Ye Zhou made a new character, wouldn’t Dugu Zhuo end up playing alone?

“When did you go to Jiuchuan City?” Ye Zhou asked.

“After you leave, I’ll walk around the maps that are currently open and talk to every NPC,” Dugu Zhuo said. “I remember that you’ve said this game has a lot of hidden information and won’t lay bare everything for its players, so after walking around, I’ve found out that all of these secrets are held by the NPCs. By simply talking to them, one can obtain a lot of information.”

“Tell me about it,” Ye Zhou said with interest.

“There is no restriction when reaching level 30, but when going from level 39 to 40, one will be encountering the critical point for reaching the Core Formation stage. Not only will they have to pass the level 40 instance, but also overcome an inner demon trial and a heavenly tribulation. This was what a storyteller at the restaurant where the sect introductory NPC was located told me.”

“There’s so much to do? It’s almost like a movie. I want to start leveling up now!” Ye Zhou said, rubbing his hands together, once again thinking of going outside to grind levels.

“Do you know what the highest-level player is at now?” Dugu Zhuo asked.

“Must be at least 25 by now, right?” During all these days of meditation, Ye Zhou hadn’t looked at the leaderboard once. At Dugu Zhuo’s words, he immediately opened it and saw, at the top, a whole procession of level 20 players. “No one has leveled up?”

It couldn’t be, right? In a full week, no one had gained a single level. Even the spirit cultivators who progressed the fastest were stuck. Why would this be?

“You can ask our old teammates,” Dugu Zhuo said.

Ye Zhou had previously been a bit envious of everyone, for having sects and being able to train. He was worried he’d be left behind, so he hadn’t contacted his friends. After seeing the levels on the leaderboard, however, he just now realized that having sects didn’t seem to be making things much easier for them. He sent some messages to his friends, asking about their current situations.

It was five in the afternoon now, when the number of players online started to grow, so his teammates replied quickly.

Qingyue said, “The Pure Lady Sect is just so wonderful. It’s fulfilled my every expectation for this game. I do deep breathing exercises every day and practice refined posture while standing, sitting, walking, and lying down, as well as do makeup. After being taught for a week, I’ve started to put my teacher’s instructions into practice in real life, and I think my actual attractiveness value has also improved!”

After the message, she had also sent a recording of the game, which showed her reading a book. She looked quite a bit more refined than before.

She didn’t mention leveling up once, apparently engrossed in her beauty lessons and not caring about her level in the least.

Aotian said, “I’m currently under the Mystic Heavenly Sect’s mountain catching toads, and I’ve gotten lost once again and can’t find my way back. Toads, you are my mortal enemies!”

He seemed to be in quite a plight.

Pang Du Du the lingzhi said, “Spirits cultivate by bathing in sunlight or moonlight, or planting herbs and flowers, using their own spiritual energy to nurture the next generation of spirit cultivators. Look at the succulent I’ve grown, isn’t it cute?”

The attached image was a cactus whose limbs had grown fat from the lingzhi’s care. He seemed to have retired to become a gardener ahead of time.

Black Cat’s response was even more indecipherable. “Amitabha. Thus I have heard. At one time, Buddha was residing within Jeta’s Grove, in…”[1]

It must have been a sutra, but he didn’t know which.

While Ye Zhou was puzzling over this, Black Cat sent a second voice recording. “Dammit! Why did I have to choose the Boundless Temple? What’s wrong with being a proper yao? Every day, I have to recite sutra after sutra after sutra. After memorizing one section, I gain 100,000 experience. For copying one from memory in traditional characters, I get 100,000 experience. For copying one in Sanskrit, I get 500,000 experience. Right now, I haven’t memorized a single line! I never worked this hard in school!”

Ye Zhou: “…”

This game’s mentorship and leveling up system was too unique. Weren’t they scared their players would smash their helmets and quit playing?

“They wouldn’t do that,” Dugu Zhuo said. “Don’t just go by how they’re complaining to your face. Cultivation is difficult, but sect life comes with its own diversions.”

He brought out several jade messaging talismans, which were specifically used in the game to record and send scenes. They were capable of replaying simple images, and had to be bought with jade stones. There had been similar talismans in Dugu Zhuo’s original world, so he was familiar with their use.

After pouring his spiritual essence into the talisman, several miniature holographic projections appeared inside the room.

In the scenes, the leader of the Pure Lady Sect led Qingyue into a room, which was filled with all sorts of beautiful outfits. An alluring NPC told Qingyue that if she cultivated well and passed the sect’s evaluation, she could choose one of these outfits for free, and Qingyue’s eyes immediately started to sparkle.

Aotian was, under his shixiong’s lead, riding a red-crowned crane among the clouds. His shixiong told him that if he caught a thousand toads, he could ride the crane for five minutes. Aotian spent five minutes riding the crane and the whole rest of the day catching toads. He resembled someone working a nine-to-five job all day for a bite to eat.

Lingzhi, on the other hand, had been led by a silver dragon to the Penglai Immortal Island[2]. He swam in the ocean’s currents, enjoying the water’s nourishment.

As for Black Cat… Black Cat was being stroked by a group of monks. He had rolled over to reveal his belly, looking like a relaxed massage client.

Ye Zhou: “…”

Wow, the game company really understood players’ hearts. They always had some way to hook players and get them to willingly complete tasks. This was also something only possible in a VR game. In a PC game, which player would happily memorize sutras because their character on the screen was being massaged by some monks?

“What about me, then?” Ye Zhou said, looking toward Dugu Zhuo. “Sect Master Dugu, I’ve been cultivating for seven days, so haven’t I earned an award voucher?”

Dugu Zhuo had never heard the term “award voucher”, but he understood Ye Zhou’s meaning. He smiled and said, “I wasn’t having you cultivate in order to gain spiritual essence. Experience points in this game are roughly equivalent to spiritual essence, and there are plenty of ways to gain that. Naturally we won’t be leveling up in this way. I had you meditate in order to familiarize you with the circulation of spiritual essence, in order to teach you some spells.”

“Then, right now…” Ye Zhou pointed at himself.

“You’re about ready.” Dugu Zhuo glanced at the sky through the window. “But it’s already nearly time for you to leave. Let’s start tomorrow.”

“How long will it take to learn one spell?” Ye Zhou asked.

“With your aptitudes, a simple one shouldn’t take more than one or two shichen,” Dugu Zhuo replied.

“Then I can sneak online tonight,” Ye Zhou said, winking at Dugu Zhuo. “The last few days, my health has gotten way better. This morning, when I got my blood tested, every indicator was normal, and my doctor was actually shocked. He said that next month, if my blood test comes back just as good, I might be able to sit in the sun outdoors!”

Dugu Zhuo took Ye Zhou’s pulse every day, so of course he knew that after starting cultivation, his fragments of soul had started to solidify, though there was no way for his body to recover. Even if his soul was still incomplete, he would no longer suffer symptoms from it being unstable. He could stay up late one or two nights now and then.

“One shichen at most,” he allowed.

“Then I can get on at eight tonight, and off at ten. I won’t miss too much sleep.” Ye Zhou gave Dugu Zhuo an ok sign.

With Dugu Zhuo’s promise, Ye Zhou was restless all through dinner. At just 7:30, he claimed to be tired and went to bed. His housekeeper and nurse didn’t dare bother him, and carried him onto his bed, placed a pager at the head of his bed, and reminded him to call them if he felt discomfort anywhere.

Ye Zhou pretended to be asleep, but when they both left, he immediately reached for the helmet on his nightstand. Before 19:50, he appeared within the game.

When he put on his helmet, the thought, ‘this feels like we’re having a secret relationship’ flashed through Ye Zhou’s mind, but he immediately squashed it.

He was still sitting cross-legged on the bed. Upon logging on, he hopped off the bed and said excitedly to Dugu Zhuo, “Where are we going to practice? Surely not the inside of a guest room?”

He was tactfully implying that he really wanted to leave this room by now.

“I’ve found a good place,” Dugu Zhuo said, smiling. “It’s quiet, free from crowds, abundant in spiritual energy, and will allow us to gain a good amount of experience.”

Ye Zhou assumed Dugu Zhuo had found out from an NPC the location of a training room or a training map. Trusting him, he followed after.

Dugu Zhuo brought him to the boundary between the Eternal Day and Eternal Night Districts, knocked on the boulder for the Eternal Day District, and led him inside. He went to a location, exchanged a few lines with an NPC, and they were both transported to a new area.

At the same time, Ye Zhou heard a system notification. “You have now entered the Eternal Day District’s Sun-Worshipping Cult Instance.”

Ye Zhou: “…”

This “quiet, free from crowds, abundant in spiritual energy, and experience-rich” place, was the level 20 instance?