The Lore

Few hours passed. Neither of us talked. Hell, we didn't even attempt once. Both of us were swimming in our own pool of thoughts… or that's what I like to believe. The guy's been staring at the gold dragon statue for the entire time that I kinda feel bad for him and I'm equally horrified by the tenacity of this guy. For him to just stare at a singular thing nonstop for hours… I can't fathom the level of concentration he has.

As for me, well, I was pondering over a few things as well. First of all, I was just thinking about how Zhang Wei is fairing on the outside. Maybe he's still battling the monsters. Or, he might've defeated them by now and he's actively trying to destroy the walls now. Anyhow, this experience will truly help him in the long run.

Another thing that I was pondering about was the offer that the guy beside me just gave. Look, I know people might think that I'm a straight up idiot. The guy just offered me a solution to fix my Qi center, the thing that I came here for. And I don't have to worry about him swindling me because the previous person who took upon this offer was the main character of the game. So, he had the hero trust as well. And the core he offered me will probably be a hero level item that's gonna help me in the long run. Everything's vastly advantageous to me, right?

But, think about it in my perspective though. I'm just about to snatch a hero level item/power from the main character, which could save him in the future. Not that I'm considering the well being of that person, I'm just thinking about the future. So, what happens if the DLC event happens and Zhangsun Shan heads to the Golden Mountain? I don't know if this is a one time thing. So, if it is, the guy will probably die because of me and the whole world will change.

Although, then like the MC of some novels that I read, I could probably jump in to save the world and stuff. But, do you think I wanna do that? There are a few things that's making me stay far away from such a thing.

First of all, I'm a random mob. And most importantly, I was supposed to die, if I'm supposed to believe the guy. And for me to receive such a core, would ultimately be useless. Like, I'm not the main character! I don't have the power to just increase my cultivation speed and refine my techniques in tenfold! And even if I could, wouldn't I just be the flipping main character of this world then? That's something that I'm absolutely trying to avoid.

Why, you ask? That would lead to my second reason to stay away. The World of Cultivation is not a happy place. It was a fricked up world. Just think about it. Did the world turn all sunny when Wang Lei was defeated? No. Instead, a civil war brewed which in turn turned Zhangsun Shan into a ruthless human that had to beat the entire martial world into submission and had to be all edgy about it. Like, his final words in the game were that for the peace to regain, I have to be ruthless and I intend to be one.

There you go! If I involve myself into this world's mess, my life would be chaotic once again. Look, my life was a mess before reincarnating into this world. Although, my final moments in the Earth could be considered blissful, however everything other than that was absolutely shite. So, I prioritize a normal life more than anything. I just don't wanna be thrown into another hell hole. Just a peaceful normal life would suffice. Damn, I'm sounding like the alien MC of that webnovel that I used to read. Ah, those were the times!

Anyhow, I just couldn't end up deciding anything. So, I just sat there staring at the gold statue just like the guy beside me did. However, once I learned that it wasn't a process that I could follow up on, I quickly gave up and started to stare at some other things. But, this eerie silence just threw me out of my comfort zone. And since the guy doesn't look like he's gonna open his mouth anytime soon, I decided to take initiative.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" I asked.

"Shoot." He nonchalantly replied, while still staring at the statue.

"Well, you see… I know that you know that I'm aware of the "monsters" outside being illusions. I just got a doubt though. Why didn't I have to fight one? You know what I mean, right? Zhang Wei had to and Qiu Si had to. If I didn't know that Zhangsun Shan had to fight too, then I would've thought that it was because of our Qi centers. However, that's not the case now, is it?" I asked.

"I'm aware of that. And if I'm to explain it to you, well, there's just one reason. Your lack of experience and opponents. The illusions show someone, a monster of the strength level similar to the strongest person that he/she had ever faced. And once they defeat them, the monster's strength would slowly grow as well. It's a good means of training, you know? However, in your case, you never had an opponent and you never had a fight. So, the system just couldn't grant you an opponent. You see, Hua Liu, the real one wasn't much of a fighter. She was just a lackey. And you as well, you weren't a big fighter or something on Earth. Well, Earth doesn't have cultivation techniques and stuff, so you never really had to physically fight. Hmm, if you thought about it, Hua is the perfect person for you to reincarnate into. Anyway, since neither of you had fights, neither of your memories could grow monsters out of it. Well, you could consider Qiu Si or Zhangsun Shan as your enemies, however neither of them hated you or even considered you as an opponent. So, you had no monsters, thankfully. If they had considered you as opponents, the monsters spawned would have just continuously defeated you." The man replied.

Well, it made sense. However, I did have a question though. "What about the villainess?" I asked.

"What about her? She just lies in the same category as those two, doesn't she? She doesn't really hate you, since you're kinda useful. Recently, you just became an eyesore, nothing more. So, that wouldn't cause a monster spawn as well." He explained.

"I see." Since one of my questions was answered, I thought that it would be high time to ask about the thing that's been sticking out ever since I arrived into this cave. "The gold dragon statue. Was this here when you got stuck in here? Or did you make it or something? And is this mountain named after it?" I asked.

"Hmm, glad that you showed interest in it. Do you know that through cultivating, one could evolve into a heavenly being? Ah, don't bother to answer. I just asked you to set up the lore. So, there was this one human who yearned to be a heavenly being that he cultivated throughout his life. And in the end, he actually attained immortality.But there was a catch though, he had to shed away his manhood. Instead, he had to become a mythical creature; a gold dragon. And since his vision was set at being a heavenly being who could step in the realm of Gods, he gladly became the gold dragon. And with that he became one step closer to Godhood. If he was to evolve any further, he would become a heavenly dragon and finally attain what he longed for. However, he had no knowledge about attaining that realm. So, in order to have a basic understanding, he challenged one of the gods to a duel, hoping that he might be able to learn God's secret. However, God refused to battle him. And in the end, he had to taunt God by stealing his favorite devotee away. This made him angry and he finally accepted the duel, which God easily won. However, he wasn't just satisfied with winning. He banned the dragon from ever entering their realm and sealed him into a mountain. Like, literally! He made him into a gold statue, not allowing him to move. And so that no one would actually let him out, he installed illusions that would just not let people in. So, in the end, due to a loophole that God didn't think existed, the dragon separated his soul from his body using almost a quarter of his power and this power loss led his soul to revert back into his human form rather than his dragon form." The man explained.

I sighed. I understood the meaning behind his lore, but I just had to confirm it by myself. "By any chance, are you the soul of the ancient dragon?" I asked.

He smiled. "Don't you know the answer already?"

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