3 3: System (3)
"I'm sorry. Can you repeat all that?"
The system just smiled at Eva and repeated everything he had just said.
"I apologize again. I caught nothing from that." Her eyes seemed to glaze over and was about to ask her system to tell her about the introduction once more when her system spoke.
She winced.
Her system.
She had started calling it her system.
"Host seems to be distracted. Would you like to hear about the introduction another time?" Eva locked eyes with the beautiful floating man's face for a solid 10 seconds before she snapped out of it.
"Ah, what? Wait! No, no, no. Err.. " She gurgled her words.
What was she doing? Has she not seen a man before?
Eva covered her face with both hands as she brought her knees to her chest.
What was wrong with her?
"System detects cause of unrest from host is the appearance of the projected body. Would host like to change my appearance to a more comforting figure like an older ma-"
"NO!" Eva almost grabbed the man in panic.
The system tilted his head to the side in inquiry.
Eva brought her hands back to her, looking slightly apologetic.
"I mean, no, thank you. Your appearance is most..." Eva coughed uncomfortably as she felt a flush on her cheeks.
"Ahem. Most satisfactory." She looked away briefly at that last part.
The system smiled.
"Then would host like to receive the Introduction once more?"
He waited as Eva composed herself behind her fingers after seeing his smile.
"Continue."
"Eva S'ven. You are now in posession of a system designed to let you advance in your chosen field. I congratulate you in advance." The system took a long bow with his right hand on his chest.
Eva waited until the man had straightened himself before asking a question.
"What do you mean by 'fields?'"
"As you are aware, in this world, one is able to be at the peak of existence by cultivation. Each individual is born with a talent, a potential if you will, that pre-determines their future as a cultivator."
Eva nodded in confirmation. She knew of this even at a young age, when her parents were still alive.
Up to this day, one can witness multiple children, some as young as five, taken from their families every now and then.
The parents of the talents were awarded handsome subsidies and were praised for their contribution to the strength of the Kindom of S'alazar.
Yet, despite the high respect that a family with a cultivator gets, her parents had always felt really lucky that they had gotten to keep Eva. According to them, no amount of glory could overshadow love.
"Yes, but what does that mean for me, considering that I am talentless?"
The system shook his head slightly.
"Negative. Host's potential was detected by system during initial assessment. Would host like to hear her full body statistics?"
Eva could not mask the surprise in her face. She had not once considered the possibility of her being a cultivator.
Afterall, failure of the wizards of S'alazar in detecting potential cultivators from the general populace was a huge disgrace. Such methods were supposed to be the most basic of their abilities.
"Yes, please show me my statistics."
The system nodded and produced a glass screen at his left side with glowing numbers.
Eva S'ven
XP points: 0
Manna points: 0
Health: 50%
Potential: Very high
Cultivation status: -
Beside the numbers is a figure of what seemed to be a woman's body with channels flowing through them.
"The moving components in the image are your chi vessels. The size of the pathways determine your potential."
"Yes, I know this from the books I read as a child." Eva interrupted him, standing up to be more level with the man's gaze.
She turned to the screen and scrunched up her face, also biting down on her bottom lip. This was a habit she'd picked up from childhood when she was deep in thought.
"I just don't understand how this is possible. How had this information gone under the wizard's noses? Talents are few and far in between, and methods in detecting them are already nearly flawless. This is just not possible. I imagine the odds being low or even nonexistent."
In the heat of her argument, she had gotten too close the man. Concealing her embarrasmment, she immediately pulled away from his gaze, apologizing.
How was it possible that she's feeling hotter by the second? Didn't she literally just freeze to death moments ago?
"It is possible that potential can be masked by an external magic to counter the energy emitted by host. The wizard who examined you for your potential must be at a level lower than the person who cast the spell.
The probable scenario, now, was that the spell was broken when the host's chi pathways crashed upon dying. With nothing to counter, the spell dispersed.
This was deduced from the ease at which the system detected your potential."
The man paused and stared blankly into the air above her head, as if calculating something. He looked back at Eva after a short moment.
"System can perform a secondary scan to detect remnants of magic used on host. Is the system advised to proceed?"
Eva also did her thinking. The system was saying that magic was used on her? She snickered. Well, that's even more unlikely.
Magic was a commodity in this world that only the rich enjoyed. Who would waste such high class magic on a nobody like her?
She was neither a talent nor a threat.
There was also the matter of the concealment of potential being a huge crime against the government.
Eva was still slightly suspicious of this attractive system. She lifted her eyes to observe the floating man once more.
He's still looking straight at her, with his startling green eyes. It was unsettling how pure his gaze was. It was as if everything could be assessed at face value.
She also thought about his voice. It reminded her of the breeze at the mountain she used to trek with her father. So sure and calm.
She sighed.
Deciding that she had so far been going with whatever the man had been asking of her anyway, she agreed to the scan.
"Secondary scan activated. Approximately 15 minutes to complete. Does host wish to continue introduction in the meantime?"
"Yes please."
"As an answer to host's previous inquiry, the fields that the system can assist with is physical cultivation and magic cultivation, that is, what is most commonly called 'wizardry.' These are the two familiar cultivation techniques known to this era. But host will discover as she upgrades system data, that lost techniques will be made available.
Would host like to choose a field at this time?"
Eva fell silent.
"What are the benefits of each and why can't I be both?"
The glass screen emanated pulsating glows in certain parts of the figure's body. The man pointed to the ones at the top of the head.
"The two techniques are derived from different parts of the brain. The chi pathways are modified through training to make the energy from that specific part of the brain more accessible.
For wizards, this is the right brain. For those who practice physical cultivation, this is the left brain."
As if to emphasize the man's words, the screen gave off differently colored glows, showing the complexity of the channels when it tried to supply chi to the left and right brains.
"Wizards, as you know, are adept in magic. The more the right brain grows, the more control the person has over energy. Energy attracts the elements. Simply control the energy, and you control the elements.
The main con of choosing this technique is the weak body that accompanies it. Not much study has gone into this, but it is speculated that it is due to the right brain demanding too much chi that the left brain is somehow affected."
Eva's head was reeling with information. She asked the system to repeat it quite a few more times before she let him proceed.
"Those undergoing physical cultivation are also well-respected. The King of S'alazar himself uses this technique. Known to to grow in power at a slower rate, some do not opt for this path. But still, many choose to train this way due to the benefit of a long lifespan.
Apparently the ability to control one's body gives them the ability to freely control the cells, modifying them for maximum health at all times."
"And as for the reason why I cannot be both?" The system frowned ever so slightly, and pointed at the glass screen which showed differently collored chi vessels blinking on top of each other.
"Due to the difficulty in micromanaging the chi vessels, ensuring that the paths won't rupture one another, it is difficult to use two simultaneous techniques. It is however, not impossible. Insufficient information is available on simultaneous cultivation. Please upgrade the system and inquire once more."
Eva raised her eyebrow.
"How do I upgrade the system?"
"System upgrade costs 1000 XP, and 100 manna points."
The system answered almost immediately, making Eva feel like she's being swindled by her system.
"And how can I gain those points?"
"Like I said earlier, XP is gained by taking on quests. At the completion of each quest, XP will be immediately awarded, and loans to the system will automatically be paid by the host. Manna points are naturally occuring to the cultivator when milestones are accomplished."
Eva grumbled at the mention of the loan, as owing anyone never did sit well with her due to her pride.
"Right. I'm in debt because you saved me with that potion thing. Seems only fair."
The system paused for a while before responding. Eva noticed this and grew even more suspicious.
"Negative.
Potion only healed the fatal wounds caused by the frostbite. Host's revival was caused by an outside force too complex for the system to analyze." The man once again stared at the space above her head blankly, before moving his entire body to look at something else altogether. Eva followed the direction at which the man was looking.
"Scan complete.
Remnant magic detected in host is also detected in the flower."
