Free Web NovelChapter 9: Cultivation Room
Any was taken aback hearing his words; for a moment, she felt that she had entered a military camp that suppressed demons and not a so-called self-proclaimed pavilion.
Darius noticed her subtle change in expression through the movement of her veil and quickly explained, his tone calm, "You don’t think we will accept members who can’t complete quests and won’t be able to use our cultivation room, do you?"
Slapping her forehead lightly, realization dawned upon her."Hehe, I totally forgot about the quests part."
Darius ignored her ridiculing tone as she looked at the empty quest board behind him and awaited her response.
Puffing up her chest slightly, Any gave a quick reply,"Fire mage, first realm with dantian half-filled. As for age, it’s seventeen."
Darius suddenly had a knowing look the moment he heard "fire."
"No wonder you are so mad all the time," muttering under his breath, he quickly wrote down all the information before taking out a bronze badge in the shape of a bald eagle with a tiny drop of blood on top of it.
Hearing his words, Any’s face twitched in anger, but the moment she saw the bronze badge taken out by Darius from right under the desk, her eyes immediately lit up as she snatched it from his hands, her movements quick.
"Pretty. At least you have some taste in a thing or two."
Scoffing, she quickly regained her composure and headed towards the cultivation room.
"You have one hour before your duration runs out, never forget that," Darius reminded with a casual tone.
Tsk!
Hearing the woman clicking her tongue, Darius chuckled softly."Strange girl."
His face then turned serious as he focused his attention back on the system and checked the reply.
[ Host doesn’t expect the system to hand him everything on a silver plate, does he? If the host wants such a controlling system, then you will have to kill yourself and get a new body ]
Seeing that wording, he suddenly felt a bad premonition. He agreed with the system’s response, although forceful as usual, even suggesting killing himself, but he still understood what it meant.
If everything was given to him, then what would be the point of his existence? The system might as well create a puppet to handle the pavilion. As he thought of this, the next line confirmed his bad premonition, and a slight unease spread in his chest.
[ Quests are indeed issued by people who have problems that need solving. But, host, such a thing would never occur without reputation, and especially in a building in this place ]
[ Hence, to issue quests, the host will personally have to scout for such matters and deal with them himself. Note: with every three quests the host submits, the system will issue a quest that is appropriate to your highest cultivator member at the pavilion ]
Sigh...
Darius felt his chest constrict as he read through the messages of the system. To make matters worse, he felt greatly scammed by the novels he once read.
People would randomly come with plot armor and issue quests, and fame would rise in no time, yet in his situation, he had to be the one searching and submitting the quests himself.
’Maybe this is for the greater good. What’s the point if I just sit around and everything happens according to my dreams? It would be a tasteless adventure.’ Thinking this, a rare smile appeared on Darius’s face as he proceeded to check the rewards of the system.
Yet, the next scene shocked him as a message appeared in his vision.
[ What kind of Pavilion Master, who is meant to be feared and respected, neglects his duties in the middle of working hours and lazes around? The host should realize by now that his role must be taken far more seriously; your strength won’t improve with such shallow decision-making ] freewebnσvel.cѳm
Darius’s joy was instantly crushed by the system, and he felt somewhat dejected. However, after thinking it through, he had to admit...it made sense.
Taking out rewards at the end of business hours was far better than doing so now. Otherwise, he might lose focus, and if a customer suddenly arrived, he wouldn’t even be paying attention. Realizing his mistake, Darius chose to wait until later before opening the rewards. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Inside the cultivation room, Any sat cross-legged, her expression gradually turning serious.
Only now did she truly sense it; the cultivation room was... different.
She had been to many such places before, both on Earth and within the sanctuary’s high-end guild accommodations. Yet even among those, there had always been a clear distinction between ordinary rooms and truly effective ones.
And this one...
Something about it felt off, even from the ones that were quite effective.
Without being able to pinpoint the exact difference, Any slowly closed her eyes and began sensing the spiritual qi around her.
Within a few minutes, she started filtering the red particles that represented the fire element and guiding them toward her dantian.
At first, everything felt normal.
But then...
Her brows furrowed slightly.
The energy... was responding faster than usual.
It wasn’t richer or denser as though her talent grew, but more like her speed was faster than what she would usually experience.
Her control over the incoming qi felt smoother than usual, as if the usual resistance she experienced during circulation had quietly lessened.
Any steadied her breathing, focusing deeper as the flow of energy continued faster than what she was used to. At that moment, her heart skipped a beat.
’This speed...’
She didn’t dare get distracted and instead focused even more, guiding the fire-element qi through her meridians with precision.
Time passed silently.
The usual strain she felt while circulating energy began to fade, replaced by a strange sense of clarity that wasn’t overwhelming nor explosive.
Just... clear.
Then...
For a brief moment...
A faint thought surfaced in her mind as a vision appeared with a river right above a volcano existing on parallel sides.
Right then, a small realization about her control of spiritual qi... her circulation... something she had never thought of before flickered inside of her before it quickly vanished as though it never existed.
Right after, her eyes snapped open the next moment.
"...What was that just now?"
Her voice was low, almost uncertain as she remained still for a moment, her breathing slightly uneven, not quite understanding what had just happened.
Then, slowly...
She closed her eyes again to try to gauge that feeling again.
