13 13 - End of Tutorial
At the end of the day, the trio can again be seen sitting around campfire enjoying their with gusto. Well... two out of the three at least. Unlike the girls, Fang Lin just continued staring off into space, food barely touched, and an air of melancholy could be felt oozing off of him as he let out another depressed sigh.
At that, Ning Er and Xiao Bai shared a questioning glance, as if asking if the other person knew what was up with Fang Lin. Wasn't he happily cultivating this morning? Didn't he say he wasn't going stop until he at least completed the 1st stage? So why now, does he look like he's contemplating the best way to end his life? Their curiosity finally got the best of them when Xiao Bai suddenly asked the question on both of their minds.
"Boss, what happened? Weren't you going cultivate until the end of the 1st stage? Don't tell me you already finished?" Hearing a question directed at him, Fang Lin trained his lifeless eyes that contained none of the usual mesmerising charm they contained on Xiao Bai who just spoke.
"Aah... Xiao Bai. Did you want more food portions? You may take mine then..." said Fang Lin with no real energy.
Ok, NOW they're starting to be nervous... did he messed up during cultivation and now his brain is fried? But... wasn't that only supposed to happen in the 4th stage according to what Fang Lin told them?
"Lin, what's wrong? Did something happen?" asked Ning Er worriedly. Actually hearing the question this time, Fang Lin let out another depressed sigh.
"Aah Ning Er... don't worry, nothing happened. Or rather, it's because **nothing** happened..." answered Fang Lin while putting the emphasis on the 'nothing' part. Seeing the confusion growing in the girls' eyes, he could only continue telling them more.
"Well you see.. the D.G.A art, as I've told you before, needs to use 'origin energy' in order to cultivate. You could use other type of energy as substitute as well however, that would only leave a shallow foundation and would definitely cause problems later in the 5h stage. What I found out after a whole of day of drawing in 'origin energy' is that... there's barely any in the atmosphere."
Right! The problem isn't something as silly as him not able to 'comprehend' the stage or anything like that. Because Fang Lin bought it through the system, the ins and outs of everything that covers the D.G.A was included in the manual. The problem Fang Lin faced is actually the lack of 'origin energy' in the air. In other words... he doesn't have enough 'resources' to cultivate properly!
"This art requires a lot of 'origin energy' Ning Er. Hm... to give you a clearer picture, imagine a huge, endless desert, and compare that to my body. That is my body in the 1st-4th stages and by the time I reached the 5th stage, it's supposed to become a big lake and eventually becoming a vast ocean as I keep cultivating. Throughout the whole day of me cultivating, I've barely gathered a bucket full of 'origin energy'. The 'origin energy' is simply just too thin! Aaah just thinking of the possibility that I wasted so much AP on something I couldn't train in is really depressing."
Fang Lin couldn't help but to once again to think hard of a solution for this problem. And so, he once again delved deep into the system to look for something that might help him.
Hearing what he said and imagining the situation he described, even they started to feel depressed and helpless. Alas, there really isn't anything they could help him in this situation. All they could do for now is just offer their support.
.
.
.
It was now their 5th day in the forest and Fang Lin still hadn't found a solution even after searching throughout the night. To fix this, he could only rely on the system again and the fictional worlds in his memories. There are bound to be at least one thing that could be a solution, and if not, something that could lead him to that solution. With that in mind, Fang Lin right away bought a memory related ability to help jog his brain a little.
"Hm... this one looks perfect... [D-rank: Perfect Memory - 1,000] Cheap as well but no surprise there, as even back on Earth, although rare, there are people out there that possess this or at least something really close.... BUY!"
*DING!*
[AP: 408,500 -> 407,500]
Right away, he felt mind rewiring itself. All of his memories being compartmentalized, sorted into different categories for easier access. Throughout all of this, Fang Lin's old memories resurfaced, one memories after the other, ones he thought long forgotten, all appeared as if he was watching a movie with himself as the main character. After a whole 10 minutes, the process was completed.
From this moment forth, as long as Fang Lin thought of a topic, he would be able to recall every single memories related to said topic... provided he had past knowledge regarding the topics of course. Knowledge can't come from nowhere after all. As a test, he tried thinking about Ning Er and soon many related knowledge came to the forefront of his mind.
"Hmm... it seems I don't know that much about the TDG world. It appears I stopped reading that novel a bit after Nie Li and the rest went to the 'Draconic Ruins Realm'. Eh, oh well. It's not like having any knowledge about that world be of any use to me..." If only he had known the truth... poor Fang Lin will be suffering quite a bit in the future due to his habit of dropping novels midway.
After combing through his memories of the many... (way too) many novels and anime he's ever read or watched, Fang Lin found three possible ways he could use to gain access to more 'origin energy'. One of them is through the usage of 'dragonballs' and wishing for it. The only problem with that though, there aren't any dragonball here in this world! As for the option of summoning a 'Namekian' that could create said magic beads... yeah no way. Fang Lin refuse to have any green skinned aliens in his 'Crystal Palace'.
The second way is to go to the 'Dimensional Gap' in the DxD universe. From the way the 'Dimensional Gap' is explained, how the 'nothingness' in that place destroys anything exposed to it is very... very similar to when people are exposed to 'Origin Energy'. There is also the fact that 'Ophis' was born there as well. The idea that anything can be borned from 'nothingness' is just plain ridiculous, even more so when that something is a 'Dragon God' of equally ridiculous amount of power. Although it's only Fang Lin's theory, it's definitely much more plausible if 'origin energy' is added to equation. Alas, Fang Lin had no way of going there even if his theory is correct.
The final way is by the easiest however, whether or not it would work is another story altogether. Fang Lin thought of this method when he going through his memories of the 'Fate' universe. What he ended up with was one of the 5 'true magic', the Kaleidoscope. Honestly... what a dumb name.
[S-rank: Kaleidoscope Magic - 2,500,000]
[Kaleidoscope Magic: Grants user ability to operate parallel realities and limited Time Traveling]
If this thing works, Fang Lin would be able to draw in endless supplies of 'origin energy' from an infinite of amount of existing realities. One of the thing that stops Fang Lin is due to that price tag... especially after he just went on a shopping spree too. The other possible problem stopping him is because... he wasn't sure if he could use this magic through his Phenex body alone since he doesn't have any 'Magic Circuit'.
It would be fine if it comes with the instruction manual of how to make said circuits, but Fang Lin does NOT want to bet over 2 million points on that possibility. "Sigh, back to square one it seems... in any case, I'll keep these 3 possibilities in mind for when I have more 'points' to spare. For the time being, I'll keep inventing more techniques with 'devil magic' before returning to the settlement."
Just like that, 2 more days passed and it's now the night of their 7th day out here. During that time, Fang Lin developed and recreated some of the techniques he's read about in the DxD novel. Fang Lin created many single target spells like a 'Fireball' and 'Fire Lance' to name a few. He also created a few auxiliary techniques such as 'Long Distance Observation' magic, 'Hypnotism', and 'Mind Reading' because... why not? You never know when something like that would be needed and it's better to have than not.
"Hm, in a just a little bit more, exactly one year would have passed since I've come to this world..." suddenly said Fang Lin as he swallowed the last piece of barbequed meat on his plate.
"Wao! You're right! I can't believe it's been that long already since I met you, Boss!" chimed in Xiao Bai. Then she suddenly had a glint in her eyes a huge grin formed. Uh? Why did I suddenly get a bad feeling from that grin...?
"Big sis! You see, when I saw him, I thought he was already dead! Just sleeping on the ground without a care. And when he woke up, he started to-" Fang Lin who was listening along on the side almost choked on his own spit. Pfft! Someone actually saw that!? How embarrassing!
"Aaah Xiao Bai, are you still hungry? Give me a sec and I'll make you another helpings" hastily interrupted Fang Lin. Yeah.. no. No one needs to know about my embarrassing displays. Ning Er is now getting curious but seeing as Fang Lin didn't want people to know, she let the subject dropped. Before Fang Lin could do as he promised, the system sound suddenly rang.
*DING!*
[The training period has ended]
[Unlocking 'Dungeon World' feature]
O.O
HUH!? You say wot? Before Fang Lin could ask anything however, the system heartlessly continued it's announcement.
[Time ratio setting - 1:100]
[Searching for possible 'Dungeon World' catalysts... search found]
[Zanpakuto - Bleach Dungeon World]
[Phenex Physique - Highschool DxD Dungeon World]
[Unit: Xiao Ning Er - Tales of Demons and Gods Dungeon World]
[Tales of Demons and Gods Dungeon World selected]
[Initiating transfer process...]
[Please select identity token: ]
[None] [Silver Token - 10,000 IP] [Gold Token - 100,000 IP]
Seeing this sudden and unexpected development, Fang Lin, Xiao Ning Er, and Xiao Bai were frozen in shock as they could also see the notifications. What the heck..? Training period? The hell, don't tell me I was in the tutorial this whole time? What kind of fucked up tutorial lasts for one whole year!?
Xiao Bai who didn't know what was going on just kept silent. Ning Er on the hand knew what the words 'Tales of Demons and Gods' meant as Fang Lin explained some of it to her. She now hopes this meant she can go to her home world for bit. Even if there aren't anyone there she's looking forward to meeting, it's still 'home' afterall.
After a bit of thinking, Fang Lin turned to Xiao Bai and said "Xiao Bai, stay in your cat form for the time being. I don't know what will happen during this 'transfer process', but searching for Ning Er is your #1 priority. As for me, I can communicate and find you through our bonds. If my guess is right however, we should transfer into 'Glory' city. If that is the case and we still do get separated, we'll meet up with each other at the entrance of the 'Institute'.
Both girls nodded in understanding as Xiao Bai immediately changed into being a white fluffy kitten. Then without hesitation, along with some excitement, Fang Lin chose the [Gold Token] since he's got plenty of IP left...
[Gold Identity Token selected]
[Generating identity... done]
[Resuming transfer process...]
All of a sudden, the trio were engulfed in a bright light.
[Transfer process completed]
And just like that, Fang Lin, Ning Er and Xiao Bai silently disappeared from planet 'Blue Haven'.
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stats update;
***************************Status***************************
Name: Fang Lin
Title: "Pig Slayer"
Lv: 71 (0%)
Tier: "Mortal"
---
Physical Level: 8 Stars Mortal
Soul Level: 8 Stars Mortal
---
Traits: "Serene Mind", "Pain Tolerance", "Fire Affinity", "Wind Affinity"
Skills: "D-Sword Mastery", "D-Cooking Mastery", "C-All Fiction (sealed-1year)", "EX-Dragon God Ascension"
Bloodlines: "A-Phenex", "None"
Equipments: "Black Dao (Rare)"
Items: "Basic Camping Set", "C-Spatial Ring (small)"
Summons: "Xiao Ning Er", "Xiao Bai"
AP: 407,500
EP: 459,200
IP: 351,000
UP: 50,000
***************************Status***************************
Name: Xiao Ning Er
Title: "Shinigami in Training"
Lv: 71 (0%)
Tier: "Mortal"
---
Physical Level: 7 Stars Mortal
Soul Level: 9 Stars Mortal
---
Traits: "Loyal", "Pain Tolerance", "Determined"
Skills: "D-Sword Mastery", "Inner World"
Bloodlines: "C-Shinigami", "None"
Equipments: "Zanpakuto (sealed) (Rare)", "Avalon (conceptualized)"
Items: "C-Spatial Ring (small)"
***************************Status***************************
Name: Xiao Bai
Title: "Sacred Beast Descendant"
Lv: 71 (0%)
Tier: "Mortal"
---
Physical Level: 9 Stars Mortal
Soul Level: 9 Stars Mortal
---
Traits: "Lightning Rod"
Skills: "Bone Hardening", "Lightning Manipulation", "Shape Shifting"
Bloodlines: "Thundercloud Warcat", "Celestial White Tiger(Sealed-70%)"
Equipments: "None"
Items: "C-Spatial Ring (small)", "Senzu Bean (2x)"
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