3 Blazing the West

Tao Lin got to be a trail blazer in a lot of the areas. The Alchemist wanted him to explore to the east, but every time he tried to go there a distortion would show up and fling him away. It surprised Tao that the system was so obstinate. And, even worse, it hated being predictable. Hence, Tao had just run into a surprise.

The system knew some stuff about pop culture on earth, and a lot about lore. In fact, there had been a time when he ran into something that reminded him of Santa Clause with three arms. Or, even better, the time he ran into the three little bears, and a demonic Cinderella look alike.

"You have slain Mouse Mickey. Please collect your essence."

Tao had long gotten used to the cultivation leveling system. You had to destroy the creatures and some essence pills would be left where the bodies used to be. Then all you had to do was pop them and hope your energy level rose enough to get you to the next level. Tao was nearing the cap for the 3rd-Qi and would soon turn to level Qi-four. And, so, he swallowed the essence pill and digested it. The system sent him another message.

"Congratulations on making it to the 4th-Qi. One chest will spawn in your area. Good luck!"

The system kind of sounded like a girl who could belch out a beautiful song. Unfortunately, even though it sounded nice, it gave very hard missions. Because when he leveled up the last time, he had to climb up a tower full of monsters. And he almost got it before a surprise dropped and snatched it away.

Alas, it wasn't easy being a cultivator in Cosmic Order. If it was easy, perhaps there would be more then two people playing. Tao just wanted to get out and see who the girl was. But that meant he had to go to the next village. He still didn't know where the next village was.

The map showed a lot of black spaces, and there wasn't much Tao could do. The last distortion had taken him to this island far away from The Alchemist.

Tao didn't know at the time, but Foundation Stage players were kept far away from the Qi condensation avatars. It probably was to make it fair. He was on a new continent over 100,000 km away from The Alchemist. And even if he tried to fly here at his fastest speed. It would still take him a day. The system would probably throw him even farther away next time. So, they just learned to accept it.

"Your map has been updated with the treasures location."

Tao opened the hologram and clicked out his broken sword for the Tiger Crane Spear. He quite liked this spear because of its flexibility. It was able to coil around rocks, and you could inject energy into it. He could feel something in his side every time he did as well. And he really was beginning to believe there was a special organ in him. It was turning into a singularity, a dense point of infinite energy. Every level he increased it was getting closer to externalizing. That would mean he'd be at the Foundation Stage. But he still had to make it up to the 10th stage before it bloomed.

Tao Lin walked forward before a distortion appeared and dropped a lady in red down onto the ground. She surprisingly dropped right in front of him, and he got his first glance at her.

"Your mission is to protect this girl for five minutes. If you don't, you will not get the treasure, good luck"

A flock appeared to the right side. It was a low-level herd full of wolves, and cross-shots. The cross-shots had bows while the wolves had their teeth. The king of the flock was in the middle. It was a little bigger and plumper than the rest. And this was only the first wave.

"Stand behind me," Tao yelled.

Diana Hong got up and listened to him. She had just gone from one hell hold to another. The last thing she saw was The Alchemist fighting a wyvern, and then she was here.

"What's going on?"

"We just need to survive for three minutes. Come with me!" Tao grabbed her hand and jumped with her up into the cave. It was full of corpses, and bones. Because the mission started, the System had decided to decorate the surroundings. It really set the stage like they were going to die.

"Go and hide behind the rocks over there." Tao pointed.

It was time for Tao to see if he could now use more energy. When he was at the third level, he was only able to unleash three spells, and barely get his sword to levitate. Now, however, he was sure he could unleash at least ten spells. In a way, the system helped him do it. It had little demonstrations on the moves he was thinking about a click away. But the moves were very expensive and had to be bought by accomplishments. If he beat this wave, he would get quite a few.

"My name is Diana Hong. Thank you for saving me."

"Yeah, it's not problem. I kind of have to."

Tao held his hands together and released his first attack. A huge ball of fire slammed into the front of the flock, causing over -500 damage, and blowing up all the cross-shots. Unfortunately, the flock was very big, and it would take more than five of those to extirpate them. He fired three more off saving enough energy to use his sword. The king wolf howled and charged. The monsters he was fighting were kind of polite in a way. They were intelligent but never engaged in gorilla tactics. It was sort of like the olden days where two sides would line up on the battle field. However, it was only Tao and Diana now. And they weren't even in a group yet.

"A new object has appeared in your window. You can take out the rope to link with other avatars."

Tao Lin clicked on it and threw it over to Diana. Her name showed up in his window along with her stats.

Class: Dragon Bumpkin

Vim 105/105

Cultivation: Qi Condensation 1st Stage

Remarks: Barely worthy of air.

Traits in Group: Boosts Defense.

There was a new item on the window for Group Traits, as Tao Lin ran out into the field to test it. He ran straight for the biggest beast in the pack hoping to kill it to scare off the horde. If they arrived at the cave, Diana would be stew regardless of what he did. His spear was floating in front of him, and the beast was roaring with a set of aquiline teeth.

"A surprise is about to arrive. Remember to guard the girl..."

The system wouldn't give them a break.