1 The Gold Farming God

Long Shen moved his Angelic star fleet into position cutting off the escaping Demonic fleet. Long Shen knew that in order to get the best payout the entire armada had to be destroyed. It was normally an impossible task to take a fleet of ten cruisers and destroy a much larger well-balanced fleet of Demonic ships but Long Shen had become a master of distributing his fleets in such a way that he minimized losses and maximized firepower. It was because of this that he earned his nickname of the Gold Farming God. He always used small fleets to get the extra bonus points from winning against a larger force and he always used the weakest ships he could afford to use to get the weak over the strong extra bonus. As his fleet finished the stage he watched his score skyrocket giving him enough gold to pay his rent for the month. Long Shen quickly moved his gold to the marketplace and set it for a quick sale before logging off. As he pulled his headgear off he saw that all of his coworkers but one had finished their quotas and logged off. The lone gold farmer was a man slightly older than Long Shen with no legs.

"Fucking demons!" The man angrily threw his headgear toward the wall at an incredible inhuman velocity.

Long Shen stared in awe at the shattered headgear and the hole it put in the solid concrete wall. Long Shen walked over and asked, "Hey, Goa Ge, are you alright?"

"I didn't manage to win a single match, I only made the basic quota. I won't get paid again. Fuck this job, why did they force me into a VRMMO job when they know my nervous system was slowed in the war." He broke down and started to cry.

Long Shen touched his expensive control ring that activated his contact lens popup interactive VR display. He moved his fingers over the display clicking on the link to his account, he transferred enough gold to Goa Ge's account for him to live for the month. Goa Ge looked up at Long Shen and said, "I wasn't asking you know..."

Long Shen nodded and then said, "I made enough just today for my entire month and I still have enough for next month. You got that injury protecting us from the Demons, it's only right that we help you while you are in need yourself."

Goa Ge slapped his hand on Long Shen's arm and said, "You are a true brother. I won't forget this, you really saved me." He thought for a minute and then asked, "Hey, would you like to learn a cultivation technique?"

Long Shen chuckled and then said, "Come on man, you know cultivation techniques are only allowed to be shared with your family."

Goa Ge looked straight into Long Shen's eyes and said in a serious tone, "God Shen, I am the last living member of my family and it's now impossible for me to have a child. My family's technique isn't the best, but it's a real technique and it will die with me if I don't pass it on and I just told you, you are a true brother. You are the only family I have in this world. Besides, it's not like learning the technique is going to make you a warrior, at best you might breakthrough to the first stage and get ripped so girls will think you are hot." He wiped his eyes and chuckled, "Come over to my place, I'll teach you. I'll even make dinner for us."

Long Shen wasn't sure, he felt like he would be helping his friend break his family tradition. Long Shen had no family himself, he had been raised in an orphanage so he thought of family as something that was as incredible as being incredibly wealthy. He then thought of his own real family, the parents that no one had any knowledge about. Who's to say they weren't part of Goa Ge's family? After thinking it over he rubbed his chin and said, "Ok, but in return, I'll teach you how to beat the game. Since we are true brothers it's important that I help you earn enough to live."

Goa Ge laughed and said, "Exactly!" He slapped Long Shen on the back happily and said, "Follow me, God Shen, you haven't lived until you tried my ma la tang."

As they walked Long Shen gave Goa Ge pointers on how to use the fleet system to easily make gold. Goa Ge stared at Long Shen like he was listening to a real Angelic General. Long Shen made doing impossible things in the game sound as easy as sitting comfortably at a casino table rolling loaded dice that never let you lose. As they made it inside Goa Ge's place he said, "God Shen, you make that sound easy, but I don't think I am smart enough to do what you advised. I could never react to the changes the way you do. It would be like me trying to win a game of chess against a grandmaster while using a trick from the virtual network."

"Hmm, maybe that's why my tutorial was given so many one-star reviews." Long Shen rubbed his chin and then said, "Wait, there is one thing I could teach you. Just make a small fleet of cruisers, like ten, then fight the fleet battle on medium difficulty. It doesn't pay as much as difficult, but you'll grind a few hundred in a day that way. As long as you play five days a week grinding that way you'll get ahead."

Goa Ge looked skeptical but nodded and said, "I'll try it tomorrow. I don't have anything to lose, I have been getting slaughtered in the Shooter MMO even being a trained soldier. The soup needs half an hour to cook, so let me show you how to cultivate. First, sit on the floor in the lotus position. Palms up." Goa Ge waited for Long Shen to get in position, "Yeah, just like that but palms up, yeah there you go. Ok, next step you need to start taking deep breaths. Big inhale, slow exhale. Just like that. Now you need to say the following line, my blood my bones my soul the dragon awakens."

Long Shen started to speak the line over and over as he kept his deep breathing going between repetitions, "My blood my bones my soul the dragon awakens."

Goa Ge rolled up closer to Long Shen and said in a steady voice, "Imagine yourself sitting next to a lake. What do you see?"

Long Shen's imagined a quiet mountain lake, the smell of red pine heavy in the air. The waters of the lake were lightly shimmering in the light of a full moon. In the middle of the lake, a giant red sheet of what looked like rock slowly rotated. As Long Shen watched it a powerful voice said, "Build your puny body. Earn respect on the battlefield. A dragon without respect is no dragon."

Goa Ge said, "Anyway, that's it. You just do that every day and if you are meant to be a cultivator you'll open your Dantian and feel Doa qi."

Long Shen opened his eyes and asked, "How do you know when you breakthrough?"

Goa Ge laughed and said, "You'll have a vision of your lake that is so real you'll feel like you are right there. Then you'll hear your martial soul speak to you and give you advice like, 'a bear needs to be strong. Lift weights' something like that."

Long Shen frowned and then asked, "Do you see things hovering over your lake?"

Goa Ge looked frightened, "Wait, did a voice speak to you? What did it say?"

Long Shen nodded replying, "Build your puny body. Earn respect on the battlefield. A dragon without respect is no dragon."

Goa Ge made a strange face, "Dragon? I have never heard of anyone having a dragon martial soul. Normally you get things like bears, chickens, goats, lions, tigers or oxen. One of my family got the monkey which was pretty rare. Rats are rare too. Your martial soul is what determines the martial arts you can practice. There are a few ancient dragon techniques but most people treat them as bullshit invented by posers without a real martial soul. Maybe you could grab a copy from the library and give it a try." He shrugged helplessly. "Soup is ready, let's eat."

They both ate like starving men making short work of their meal. Goa Ge shook his head chuckling. Long Shen looked at him curiously, "What's so funny?"

"God Shen, you eat just like a soldier. In the military, you only have minutes to eat and return to duty so all of us veterans eat like we are afraid the food will be gone if we pause." Goa Ge chuckled.

"Oh, well, I grew up in an orphanage. If we didn't finish our meal quickly it was liable to be stolen by an older child. I guess it's a habit I don't really think about. I live alone and don't often socialize." Long Shen shrugged.

Goa Ge nodded and then smiled, "You need to unplug and get out in the world some more. Maybe join a gym, lots of gorgeous girls you can meet there."

*****

The next day Long Shen finished his gold farming early and decided to get a gym membership. The voice told him to build his body, and his new brother Goa Ge described it as a great place to meet girls so it couldn't hurt to start. Long Shen was someone who had only ever done the very basic level of physical fitness in school. He had always been playing VR games in any free time he had. Which was why he decided to become a professional gold farmer after he finished school. He was fairly intimidated as he entered the gym, he was clearly the scrawniest person in the building. He walked up to the registration desk and asked, "Hello, I have never been to a gym before, what do I need to do in order to start?"

A large man turned around and looked him over and snorted a laugh, "Little bro, you need a trainer. You're gonna get killed in here if you try to do this yourself. Here, tell you what, we have a special this month. If you sign up for a six-month membership and pay it in advance, I'll personally show you around and spot you."

Long Shen rubbed his chin in thought and asked, "How much?"

He smirked, "Only five large little bro. In six months you'll look like a man though, so it'll be worth it."

Long Shen frowned at the cost, that was half a month's rent. He knew he had the money but what if he didn't use the full six months. He seriously contemplated leaving but something deep in his gut told him he needed this more than he needed the money. He sighed and then waved his hand over the pay terminal and watched as his balance dropped. He balled up his fist and then asked, "Where do we start?"

The big man walked around the corner and waved at him to follow. He thought to himself, 'Yeah little bro, after this session, you'll never be back again and I'll get another free commission.' The big man led him over to a weight bench and said, "Here's where we start little bro, this is a bench press. Just lay down here on the bench. I'll throw on some weight and then you just pick up that bar and raise it up and down over your chest." Long Shen laid down as the trainer smirked and started to put weight on the bar. Looking at Long Shen he figured that if he put one hundred pounds on the bar it would nearly break him so he put another fifty on for good measure.

Long Shen started to breathe the way Goa Ge told him and then recited the cultivation line internally. 'My blood my bones my soul the dragon awakens.' He raised the bar and started to pump the bar up and down over his chest. The Trainer stared at him with a look of disbelief.

The trainer almost forgot to count he was so dazed by seeing Long Shen able to lift the bar. He finally started to count out loud, "Forty-one, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four, forty-five. Don't quit you're almost there little bro! Fifty!" He took the bar from Long Shen and set in the rack. "Great job little bro, you're stronger than I thought you were. Let's go hit the next machine."

Long Shen followed behind the trainer and did every exercise that was recommended. He was starting to get a little hungry by the end of the circuit so he spoke up, "Thank you for showing me what to do here. I need to go now, but I'll be back tomorrow. Should I look for you, or just use the machines myself?"

The trainer stared at him like he was a freak of nature. He had never seen anyone do a full circuit of his over the top training they usually quit by the second machine. He mumbled, "Yeah little bro, just go through on your own. If you need my help just ask for me at the desk if I am available."

Long Shen was disappointed in the gym, he didn't realize it was so easy. He decided to push himself when he went the next day. After returning home, Long Shen once again sat in the lotus pose and cultivated the way Goa Ge had taught him. The voice still had no other advice for him so he just sat by the lake watching the giant red rock slowly turn. He lost track of time after a while but was feeling sticky so he got up to shower. He went to bed that night feeling like he hadn't even done any exercise.

*****

The next day an excited Goa Ge rolled up to him as he made his way to work for another day of gold farming. He blurted out, "God Shen, it worked, the strategy you gave me worked. I managed to make twice as much as you thought I would!"

Another coworker laughed and said, "Gold Farming God Shen's strategies are fucked up. He purposely tells people bad information to cut down on the competition. His tutorial is one star."

Another coworker spoke up, "Remember when he told little Xiang to use an unbalanced fleet and fight against bigger enemy fleets for the bonus? Little Xiang lost an entire week's income. Goa Ge, you should follow the company tutorial to grind. That's the way to make real money. Gold Farming God Shen is abnormal. His strategies need him to work."

Goa Ge flipped off the mouthy coworkers and said, "It worked just fine for me, maybe you guys just suck?"

Grumbling they slipped on their headgear and logged in. Long Shen chuckled and then asked, "Hey brother Ge, I forgot to ask you, what are the cultivation levels and how long should they take?"

Goa Ge rolled closer and then whispered, "You start in the foundation building stage. There are nine levels that start with connecting to your martial soul. That's what we did the other night. Next, you'll slowly cleanse your body of impurities. Do this through hard exercise. You want to add muscle and flexibility. When you hit the second level you'll have the strength of two men. When you hit the third level you'll have the strength of ten men. At the fourth level, you'll have the strength of fifty men. When you reach the fifth level you'll make a huge jump in strength and speed. This is when you'll reach the top of your strength and speed. Everyone is different but most people tend to be near the strength and speed of two to five hundred men. The sixth level you'll start to harden your body. The seventh level you'll start to feel your mind sharpen. The eighth level you'll start to heal quickly. At the ninth level, you'll open meridians that will allow you to reach the next stage, energy gathering. As for how long that takes, I have no idea. No one in my family ever made it to the fifth stage. I made it to the third stage by age twenty-five and then I was drafted by the Angelic to fight as a soldier. My father managed to reach the fourth level, but that was about eighty years. He died in the war. I have no idea how long it would have taken to reach the fifth level, maybe a hundred more years?"

Long Shen looked at Goa Ge Strangely and then asked, "Wait, how long do cultivators live?"

Goa Ge frowned and then said, "The rumors are that people above the energy gathering stage extend their lives for thousands of years. My father looked forty at eighty years old, as a fourth level foundation stage expert. Cultivators tend to die early though, because of the war. Not everyone is as lucky as me to be injured enough to be sent home. Most soldiers died in their first action. Long Shen, if I was you, I'd just cultivate and not worry about any of that. What happens, happens."