Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 4 – Sharing EXP

Now that the system had assigned him as a master, Ye Zhou felt a strange sense of responsibility. He probably had a duty to help his disciple figure things out.

“Is this a passive ability or an active ability?” Ye Zhou asked.

Dugu Zhuo approximately understood what he was asking, and responded simply, “Passive.”

Ye Zhou’s expression was filled with worry. “Passive is going to be a hassle. If this were the PC edition, people would generally be at a really high level, and the game would be full of max level divine weapons and weapon upgrade stones. Everyone could just buy their own equipment, and there wouldn’t be any need to hunt down a random player. But now the VR edition has just entered open beta, and the highest level on the leaderboard is only 20. Level 10 or above weapons are already considered elite, and the real currency exchange is also not open yet. If you can upgrade people’s weapons, you’d basically be a walking treasure.”

His disciple was just level 3, and if everyone was always poking him with blades, how would he level up?

“Before you’re high level, you’ve got to try not to get into any fights with other players. Find somewhere without many players to grind for experience, and don’t let anyone find out about your passive ability.” Ye Zhou racked his brains and could only think of this solution.

Dugu Zhuo didn’t understand most of Ye Zhou’s words, but he memorized every word Ye Zhou had spoken in the course of this meeting. After some thought, he asked the question that he deemed to be safest and most likely to give him information. “What is the difference between the ‘PC edition’, and the ‘VR edition’? Can you explain some of the defining characteristics of the ‘PC edition’?”

“The differences are huge,” Ye Zhou said. “The sense of realism with the VR edition is just too strong! You have to sit at a computer to play a PC game. If you sit there for too long, you’ll make your back sore, and it’s also bad for your eyes. My parents banned me from playing the PC a long time ago, but with a VR helmet, you can play just by lying on your bed, so they allow me to play now. They limit my time every day, though.”

Sense of realism? The opposite of reality was illusion.

Game, illusion, helmet, lying on a bed…

Dugu Zhuo raised a hand, and let his fingertips glide through the ends of Ye Zhou’s hair. The unmistakably real sensation of the strands brushing his fingers made it difficult to believe that this could all be a lie.

“There were also a lot more changes, too many to list out. Whenever we run into one in the future, I’ll explain it to you,” Ye Zhou said, taking his responsibility seriously. “For example, an upgrade ability like yours couldn’t have possibly been a passive ability back in the PC edition. There wasn’t such a vivid feeling of blood flow and blood loss on a computer screen, so it would have been hard to implement this kind of passive ability. But with this full simulation, they must have upgraded the servers many times over, so now it can be implemented.”

After he finished speaking, Ye Zhou couldn’t help but give Dugu Zhuo’s long hair a poke. It was luxuriant and looked very silky. Ye Zhou sighed. “How come if you lower the pain sensitivity, it also lowers your tactile sensitivity? When I log off, I’m going to file a complaint on the website.”

“Right, back on a PC, you could switch programs, and idle in-game while browsing the forums. You can’t do that in VR; right now the helmets don’t have the ability to run other apps. You can’t access a web browser or play videos.”

Hearing this, Dugu Zhuo had gained a rough idea of the world he was now in. 

This wasn’t a real world, more like one of the Qingtian Sect’s illusory zones.

Sword cultivators weren’t like other cultivators. Weapons were indiscriminately dangerous, but early stage disciples were not yet at the point where they could hold back at will. If they sparred amongst each other, someone could easily be mortally wounded. Thus, the Qingtian Sect would set up an illusory zone every year, for the Core Formation and below disciples to train in.

The illusory zone was an immortal level array passed down in the Qingtian Sect. After entering it, the disciples’ bodies would fall into deep slumber, while their consciousnesses arrived at a space created by the array. The disciples could freely spar with one another inside, and could also battle with illusory monsters. Inside this space, you could feel the real pressure of a blade.

The biggest benefit of the illusory array was that, aside from getting tired mentally, the disciples wouldn’t sustain any real injuries and could practice the sword without holding back.

This place was far more complex than the illusory zone, and Ye Zhou’s true body should be in some distant place that Dugu Zhuo couldn’t reach.

In that case, what about him?

Trying to confirm his identity, Dugu Zhuo acted like he was making idle conversation as he said, “It truly is realistic. You even couldn’t tell whether I was a ‘player’ or ‘NPC’.”

“You have no idea how many times I’ve been tricked today.” Ye Zhou sighed with a shake of his head. “Also, with the way you talk all formal, if you didn’t admit yourself you were a chuuni, I really would have thought you were an NPC. That reminds me, you need to stop stealing kills, if you keep it up… well, wild monsters belong to whoever can slay them, but you’re very likely to get beaten up by someone if you act like this.”

Following along with Ye Zhou’s words, Dugu Zhuo said, “At the time, I also wasn’t certain that you were not an ‘NPC’.”

“With my modern speech, how could you confuse me for an NPC?” Ye Zhou said unhappily.

Dugu Zhuo now mostly understood what an NPC was. They were like the beasts in the illusory zone, part of the illusion with no actual existence, incapable of taking a real form and coming to the outside world.

And there was a possibility that he really was an NPC.

“The monsters are back!” Ye Zhou said. “I have less than half an hour left of my playtime today, so I’ve gotta get to level 10 quickly. Let’s form a team so we can share experience. You’re underleveled and don’t have good equipment, so you can stand by and watch. Your master will earn experience for you.”

Saying that, Ye Zhou hopped up onto a tree branch and prepared to attack one of the monsters.

Levels? On impulse, Dugu Zhuo checked the jade slip that held his personal information and saw that next to the “Level: 3”, there was a progress bar, as well as an option to advance in level.

With his mind, he indicated the “yes”, and with the 600 experience he had just gotten from the few beasts earlier, he was able to gain two levels at once, rising straight to level 5.

After leveling up, Dugu Zhuo felt there were minute changes within his body. There was a warm current flowing from his shattered dantian, and the pain in his meridians lessened slightly.

It seemed that increasing in level could let his body slowly recover.

This was good news. No matter what world he was in, power would be important.

Back then, Dugu Zhuo’s heart was dead and he didn’t care whether or not he survived. But now that he had found Ye Zhou, he’d managed to regain some fighting spirit.

Ye Zhou’s soul was incomplete, so he still needed to find the missing pieces. He had to increase his strength as quickly as possible.

At this time, Ye Zhou had already killed two monsters in the blink of an eye. As they hit the ground, Dugu Zhou heard a voice that said “Ding! For slaying a monster, you’ve received 100 EXP.”

For each monster Ye Zhou slew, Dugu Zhuo would receive 100 EXP. So this was “forming a team and sharing experience”. It seemed rather like a master leading his disciples to hunt beasts and monsters, taking the hard tasks on himself, while the disciples could claim the mission rewards when they got back.

He was still being taken care of by Ye Zhou, both in the previous life and this one.

Dugu Zhuo smiled, reminiscing, as he watched the progress bar in his jade slip grow.

He did not actually recognize these numerical symbols. Only when Ye Zhou had mentioned his level did he know that “3” meant “three”. As he leveled up, he also learned “4” and “5”. As Ye Zhou gave him +100 with every monster he killed, Dugu Zhuo soon learned all the numerals from 1-9, as well as 0, which incremented the place value.

After understanding the number system, he realized that with every increase of level, the required experience increased. It took 200 experience to rise from level 3 to level 4, 400 to get to level 5, and for level 6, it was already 1000. With this rate of growth, if they wanted to get to level 80 where they could use their linked ability, wouldn’t the experience required be a terrifying number?

The monsters in the Karmic Forest would probably not be enough, Dugu Zhuo thought as he looked at the corpses of the beasts with some worry.

After his weapon was upgraded, Ye Zhou’s efficiency had massively increased, and it took him not much time to clear two waves of beasts.

He descended before Dugu Zhuo and let out a sigh. “I’ve finally reached level 10 and unlocked an area attack, though now I’ll need 4000 EXP to level up. The monsters in here won’t be enough, so I’ll have to find a new map tomorrow. Hopefully there’ll be fewer players there. When I was taking tasks at the starting village, there were more players than tasks!”

There were other players? Many of them?

“The two of us are the only ‘players’ here,” Dugu Zhuo said.

“That’s because this place isn’t easy to find,” Ye Zhou said with some pride. “At the starting village, I took a quest to buy incense at Tanye[1] Temple, but after seeing players fighting over incense at the gates, I didn’t want to deal with the crowd, so I took a walk in the bamboo forest. I touched one stalk of black bamboo and was transported inside here. How did you get in?”

“The same way as you,” Dugu Zhuo said.

“I have to log off now,” Ye Zhou said. “My family is strict about my gaming time, so I can’t play for too long every day. Oh, why don’t you stay here and raise your level to 10, then find another map? I’ll look for you when I log on tomorrow.”

He was leaving? Dugu Zhuo looked toward Ye Zhou reluctantly. They had been with each other for such a short period of time.

His heart didn’t want Ye Zhou to go, but rationally, he knew that this world wasn’t real and that Ye Zhou had to return to the real world. Even at the Qingtian Sect, they couldn’t let the disciples stay in the illusory array for too long, as their bodies would wither away without consciousness.

There were a thousand protests inside him, but in the end, they were only expressed in a few short sentences. “Tomorrow, what time? How will I find you?”

“It seems the time in-game passes just as fast as real life,” Ye Zhou said. “I get on at around 9 in the morning and off at 12, then again in the afternoon from 3 to 6. In the evening, I can’t play.”

Seeing how Dugu Zhuo seemed confused by the game, Ye Zhou added, still anxious, “If you meet other players, don’t get into any disagreements with them. If things get out of control, just log off by force. No matter what, you can’t let your special ability be known, or the hardcore players will drain you dry. Just keep grinding for experience like this. Tomorrow, I’ll send you a paper crane when I get on.”

That was all he had to say, so Dugu Zhuo could only reply, “Alright. I’ll wait for you.”

Ye Zhou brought out a jade slip that acted as a controller and pressed the button to log off. Just before he left, he took a glance at Dugu Zhuo, standing in the forest, and finally worked up the courage to ask, “You… do you really look like this in real life? Even with your attractiveness at 80%, you’re still so… so…”

Dugu Zhuo subconsciously touched his own face. He knew he had very alluring features.

In their previous life, Ye Zhou had never complimented his looks, but Dugu Zhuo knew that Ye Zhou cared about them. Once in a sect-wide competition, he had gotten several cuts on his face in a duel with a fellow disciple and received internal injuries. After the match, Ye Zhou casually tossed him a few bottles of medicine for treating outer injuries, while Dugu Zhuo had to go to the administration hall himself to request internal medication.

Then Ye Zhou had passed, and after wandering for ten harsh years, Dugu Zhuo had long since stopped caring about his appearance. He had fallen a lot below how he had been at his peak.

“It’s a bit worse,” Dugu Zhuo said with a reminiscent smile.

Ye Zhou clutched at his chest as he logged off. He called these kinds of looks a bit worse? He couldn’t contact Dugu Zhuo right now, but he was mad! He was so jealous!

Seeing Ye Zhou vanish into thin air, Dugu Zhuo’s smile stiffened on his face. His good mood faded, leaving only loneliness and the feeling of being lost in an unknown world.

He stood in the Karmic Forest, staring into the air, as the monster corpses by his feet vanished and rustling sounds came again from the forest.

Ye Zhou would say that the monsters had “respawned”.

Grotesque beasts emerged from the forest, one after another, and after they were all killed, they would be replenished in short order. This was like the Karmic Forests which Dugu Zhuo was familiar with, where evil thoughts continually gave rise to beasts.

The beasts went after players instinctively, so Dugu Zhuo was quickly surrounded.

With the experience gained from Ye Zhou, he had already gotten to level 7. There was spiritual essence flowing through his body, so perhaps he could use some spells he had learned in the past.

Level 10 was equivalent to the Qi Refining stage, entry-level for a sect, so Dugu Zhuo’s current strength was less than that of an ordinary outer disciple. His spiritual essence was completely insufficient for casting a spell.

However, cultivators gained an understanding of the ways of heaven and could command the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, so one move of theirs could have a vastly multiplied effect.

He had once climbed the Pillar of Heaven as an existence close to a god, wielding the twin swords and channeling through them the power of the nine heavens to slice the Pillar apart. He knew better than anyone how to harmonize with heaven and earth.

And the place he was currently in was rich in natural spiritual energy.

Dugu Zhuo circulated the dregs of spiritual essence within his body into the motions of a sword technique. He drew the ambient spiritual energy in the Karmic Forest to him, where it condensed around in his body, ready for his command.

“Huh? There’s a teleportation array here. Hey, over there’s a group of monsters!” 

A short distance away, two players suddenly appeared inside the forest. It seemed they, like Ye Zhou, had discovered the secret of the bamboo forest around Tanye Temple.

After coming closer, the two discovered that there was someone standing within the crowd of beasts.

The fallen bamboo leaves stirred on their own, swirling around that man’s body. Holding his first two fingers together, he lightly tapped a leaf in front of him.

The flurry of leaves flew forth like knives, and instantly, the dozen beasts surrounding him were impaled and collapsed to the ground.

One leaf sliced across his hair tied back in a bun, letting the strands loose to blow free among the bamboo leaves filling the sky.

Standing amidst the corpses of fallen monsters, that man turned his body slightly and aimed a cold gaze toward the two players. His eyes were filled with a deathly aura.

The two players immediately turned around and fled, bringing out speed talismans. As they ran, they sent paper cranes to their party members. “Help! In the Tanye Temple forest, we ran into an unnaturally pretty level 50-plus boss!”