Cultivation Techniques

Fortunately for Kyle, there was no light show this time. The kneeling Kali looked incredibly dazed and awed. Her eyes gained a glazed over look as she seemed to be adapting to the changes.

Kali however, had never felt better in her life. She felt stronger, healthier, smarter and faster then she had ever had felt before. It was almost like breaking through in her cultivation! But on further inspection it turned out that her cultivation was completely unchanged. It was like this magical elixir had simply done things outside of her comprehension!

"What was that Master?" Kali asked Kyle in awe.

Kyle did not really have an answer. He was being a bit impulsive before when he gave her the elixir. Perhaps in hindsight he should have waited for the both of them to get indoors, they were both still in an alleyway after all. He did wonder how much she had improved by now that she consumed the elixir, but he did not have the System Access Level he needed to check her stats. And he would be hard pressed to judge based on before as he had only just met her.

Kali was still kneeling with her head bowed even after a few minutes passed. It took Kyle longer than he would admit to realize he had not said anything.

"Get up Kali, my new follower!" Kyle said with some grandiose, it sounded fitting for the situation.

Kali got up from her position and looked around. She then followed Kyle from behind as he left the alleyway.

Kyle had found his first fortunate encounter in this new world! He gained a follower and even some system rewards. However, now it was time to continue his plans. He would ask Kali some questions as she would clearly know the area better then he would.

"Where can we find somewhere that sells cultivation manuals?" Kyle asked her.

Kali thought for a few moments before replying.

"We can either fight for them or go to one of the few vendors who may have them Master, but I severely doubt anything here would match your standards, this is only the dregs of society after all." She said, once again sad at her own status but dutifully telling her new master.

Kyle ignored her self-deprecating comment for now and let it slide. It was more important to address the current need.

Before he could ask for the location of the nearest store that sold a cultivation manual, a familiar sound played in his ears and he stopped walking, with Kali stopping just behind him.

[Hidden Quest Triggered: Trash to Treasure]

[Buy or acquire 5 different cultivation methods within 24 hours.]

[Reward: A random rare grade cultivation manual]

[Failure: -0.5 to intelligence]

[Note: The five cultivation methods acquired will be destroyed when you claim the reward]

So the system had given him a good option! Now all he had to do was use his money and smarts to get some of the crappy cultivation manuals and trade them in for a better one! This way he had a chance of completing his main quest without leaving the prison area!

"Let's go to the nearest place that you know about Kali, we will try a few different places and see what they have as our first mission!" Kyle ordered, looking back at Kali.

Kali's eyes went to the ground as she responded.

"Yes Master, I'll lead the way!" Kali went in front and led the way. Multiple groups of people passed them and seemed more than willing to go for Kali, but stopped when they saw Kyle and gave them plenty of room.

The place they visited was just as run down as all the other buildings, made purely of metal that was severely poor quality, not a sign of bricks or wood anywhere. There was no sign outside that described the building nor was there any sort of label or logo that would identify an organization.

Kali opened the large metal door and bowed Kyle through, acting like his personal maid. He gave her a nod of appreciation and stepped into the building.

Unlike the previous two places he had visited, this palace had to look like someone's living room rather than looking like a storefront. His observation was validated when Kali spoke.

"Mary! Customers!" Kali yelled to someone in the back.

A sound of crashing and swearing came from the back before an old woman came walking out, looking as if she had just been woken up during her nap. She looked at Kali annoyed for a few seconds before looking at Kyle before coming slightly more respectful and awake.

"What do you customers want from a dying old lady like me?" She bluntly asked the two.

Kyle took this as his queue to begin talking.

"We are looking for some cultivation techniques of any quality." Kyle requested politely, looking to get to the point as soon as possible as he was on the block. He certainly didn't want to lose 0.5 intelligence!

The old lady looked slightly surprised before she schooled her expression.

"I don't have many, I have three different ones that are all common grade."

She reached into a draw next to an old plastic looking sofa, a terrible mockery of furniture compared to what Kyle had experienced back on Earth.

"I have three different Data-Jade with cultivation techniques. The first technique is known as the Beginners Qi Scripture. It simply teaches you the basics of absorbing Qi, also known as Galactic Energy, into your body and thus your Dantian." Mary said, introducing the first technique.

That sounded a lot like what Kyle had figured out in his own back at the hotel! Perhaps it was slightly more efficient then what he was doing previously but was a technique all the same. Before he could think further, Mary continued explaining.

"The next method is the Coiled Red Serpent Cultivation Scripture. This scripture requires you to hunt any form or reptile animal and consume them, gaining their Galactic Energy for yourself and granting you some minor traits the more you train with it." She explained.

This one sounded much more interesting! He was unsure how rare reptiles were on this planet but there were sure to be other planets that had them! Even though it would be destroyed by the System, it was still an interesting cultivation technique to read through! Mary continued again.

"Lastly, the Ninety Nine Lotus Scripture, this one requires you to only cultivate in the presence of a lotus and increases your speed for doing so. It has a much greater affinity for pacifists or maidens."

This one was definitely not for him! He was neither of those! But still, it was interesting and brought up a lot of questions on how you make a cultivation technique.

"Obviously there is a lot more information than what I explained but these are the basic summaries. If you want to buy the first one it will be 100 credits, the second one will cost you 150 credits and the third technique will cost you 300 credits." The old lady explained patiently.

Kyle immediately took out the 550PC that he needed for the purchase and took the techniques. The lady looked unsurprised that he didn't try to haggle or complain about the techniques.

"Is that everything you needed?" She asked.

Kyle nodded his confirmation, causing the Lady to plop herself down into the terrible sofa and wave them out the door. Kali opened the door once again for Kyle to leave through and spoke again.

"Should we not have tried to get a better price?" Kali asked uncertainty.

Kyle thought about it for a second and replied .

"No need for now, let's just continue with our mission!" Kyle deflected, he had no experience in haggling and simply wanted to continue his mission as quickly as possible.

The unlikely duo spent the next six hours going from store to store and searching the alleyways and streets of the area. The places they went to either had no techniques, no one willing to sell or the asking price was so overinflated that even Kyle could not buy them with his credits.

They arrived back at the hotel hours later, the young lady at the front desk still exactly where she was previously and in the same clothes. She looked up at the duo and other than a small look of surprise she appeared to not care.

Kyle booked Kali into a separate room for the same price and they went their separate ways. The makeshift hotel did not have any form of double rooms, nor was Kyle comfortable sleeping in the same room as a woman he just met, even if she was his subordinate.

Kyle closed the door and chucked his bag of spare parts onto the floor. He would not bother reading the new cultivation techniques he got as they would be deleted anyway and were of terrible quality.

Kyle looked at all the spare parts and his precious pulse pistol.

"Alright First, time to get to work!"