Ch. 5 - Absorption of Heaven and Earth

Knock, knock.

Two faint knocks greeted Fang Yuan in the morning. Since he always had his Divine Sense active, he knew it was his sister knocking at his door.

He used his Qi to create a string, infused it into her ear, and vibrated his throat to produce sounds.

"Come in."

Yu Rou almost jumped in her place, not expecting to hear her brother's voice so close yet so far away. She then proceeded to open the door, trying to act as normal as possible.

Once inside the large room, she closed the door in front of her and locked it, just to make sure nobody would interrupt her as she talked with her brother.

"Good morning, Yu Rou," she heard a voice directly behind her, making her turn around almost instantly and widen her eyes.

"B-Brother?" she asked, looking at the six-foot-tall man with thick, lush white hair that fell over his shoulders and down to his knees, along with an otherworldly aura that sent shivers down her spine, as if one wrong move would instantly end her life.

Fang Yuan merely chuckled at her reaction. "Yeah, sorry to scare you. I was practicing my cultivation technique and broke through to the 5th Level Spirit Warrior."

"Ah, so that's why your appearance changed? You look... cool!" she said excitedly, stars appearing in her eyes as she jumped around him to see him more closely.

She wasn't all that surprised at the fact he could walk or even sneak up behind her in such a short time. She had done her research last night and in the morning, and knew a few things about cultivators from people online.

"Mhm, I planned to enter the Lower Heaven soon, but you ended up coming over, so that plan can be delayed a bit," Fang Yuan replied, moving back over to his bed and sitting down, which Yu Rou soon followed, sitting beside him and facing him curiously.

"I heard a few players died yesterday, and they say the death penalty is too harsh. You might be right about your theory of a small piece of our soul being sent there," she said, only to receive a slight hum from Fang Yuan.

"Right, it's to be expected. Since their soul over there is probably fractured or even outright broken, the game needs another piece to function, so they take one from the main spirit, and thus it continues over and over again, weakening it as time passes," he finished, rubbing his chin with a contemplative expression.

This means more people might catch on, and they might come to know that cultivation in this world is real. What a troublesome thing.

He added inwardly. He wasn't all that fond of people cultivating in this world, as, for one, they would be obnoxious and definitely increase the crime rate, which would make people start to worry and fear others. The second thing is, they would definitely go out and search for cultivation resources, and thus he wouldn't have as many as he would want.

Of course, he now no longer needed to worry much about the cultivation resources, considering his cultivation technique. But he would still try and get as many as possible for his future allies.

"You should be careful, even though you might be very strong, there are always other people stronger," Yu Rou said, a worried expression crossing her visage.

Fang Yuan simply nodded and didn't go too much into it. "On another note, I'll need some scissors along with black hair dye. My hair color and its length will bring too much attention right now, so I plan to dye it and cut it back to its normal length."

"Un, I'll get the dye and scissors for you once I come back from school. Don't worry about anyone coming in, the servants know they shouldn't," she nodded as she got up, heading towards the door.

"Thank you," he said, watching her close the door and leave in a hurry.

Once she left, Fang Yuan didn't stay pondering for too long, as he grabbed his VR helmet and put it on, laying down on his huge bed before pressing the button that powered it on.

...

Inside the Lower Heaven, Fang Yuan's avatar instantly appeared with a flash of golden light. Instead of the previous otherworldly appearance along with the long white hair, his avatar retained its former look.

Fang Yuan didn't delay much, as he sat down and took this opportunity to become a Spirit Warrior, choosing the Chaos path. He then took a few deep breaths as the Qi around him started to flow into him.

No, this isn't fast enough. To access the tenfold increase in Qi, I must either reach better proficiency with the Order and Chaos Scripture or reach the peak of Spirit Apprentice and step into Spirit Warrior.

He soon came to this thought after a few seconds of cultivation. Then, he recalled the knowledge of the technique he was using, as numerous voices and murmurs filled his consciousness.

The murmurs grew more erratic, some of them sending jolts of pain through his soul. Yet, he kept on listening as the murmurs grew into a deep and resonant voice within him.

«Your comprehension of the Order and Chaos Scripture has greatly increased.»

«Order and Chaos Scripture Mastery Level has increased (1 → 2)»

Within the forest, the Qi surrounding it for miles on end instantly erupted into a frenzy, shivering and moving towards a singular spot where a young man was seated.

The Qi traversed into him, and within minutes his form gave out a low hum filled with incessant screeching and murmurings that drove anything around it insane and chaotic.

The screeching, though, was soon controlled after a few seconds, turning into a simple hum as Fang Yuan finally reached Spirit Warrior.

His once short hair grew longer, turning a deeper shade of black as if light itself couldn't reflect off it. His eyebrows became more distinctive, and his face became more symmetrical and handsome yet devilish.

His eyes opened to reveal obsidian black marbles that stared into the very void, and his once white robes changed color, turning black with shades of red in some parts.

Status.

He whispered, gazing at his new status.

Name: Gu Yue Fang Yuan 

Cultivation: First Level Spirit Warrior 

Legacy: ??? 

Bloodline: Immortal Monarch Bloodline, Immortal Chaotic Void Bloodline 

Physique: Heaven Refining Physique, Heavenly Divine Immortal Physique 

Physical Strength: 3,900 

Mental Strength: 4,500 

Soul Strength: 7,900 

Physical Defense: 3,900 

Mental Defense: ? 

Qi Experience: 4,090,000/38,460,000 

Great Dao: Chaos 

Minor Dao: Death

«Order and Chaos Scripture» 

«Rank: Primordial» 

«Mastery Level: 2» 

«Description: 10,000 Qi absorption. Increases attractiveness. Allows cultivation of Great Dao [Order] and [Chaos], along with other Minor Daos.»

So, the system really is simply a mental construct made by us [Players]. Though it has limits and certain rules that can't be overwritten, it basically allows one to view their information, and nothing more.

Fang Yuan contemplated, before swatting away the system screen. Grabbing his necklace, he proceeded to bite down on his thumb, having already built up some pain resistance.

Then, he smeared his blood across the necklace, watching it give a low hum as it shivered. Then, a bright flash of light appeared in front of him, and Xiao Hua emerged from it.

"Master!" she exclaimed, happy to see him, as she jumped onto him and latched on.

"Fuu~" Fang Yuan let out a pained breath as Xiao Hua held him with great force, making some of his ribs creak in pain.

"X-Xiao Hua, you're breaking me!" he managed to mutter out, as the grip around him lessened in power, and soon Xiao Hua stepped back.

"Sorry, Master!" she said with a bashful face, trying her best to hide it behind the red sleeves of her robes.

"No worries. Ah, and I accept you as my servant," he said, rubbing his stomach that had bruised up, only to regenerate almost instantly.

She instantly perked up at his words. "Really?! Really??!" she excitedly exclaimed, running over and hugging him with less force than before, as she smiled sweetly.

«You have accepted Xiao Hua as your Servant!»

«Congratulations! Player Gu Yue Fang Yuan has become the world's first player to obtain a Servant!»

«Congratulations! Player Gu Yue Fang Yuan has obtained the world's first Divine-grade Servant!»

Instantly, the sky above the Lower Heaven lit up as an announcement was made yet again. This time, the players simply sighed at their bad luck, while cursing the good luck of Gu Yue Fang Yuan.

"For now, I plan to stay in this forest for a little while, until maybe tomorrow. Since the Spirit Qi of this forest is very thick, I plan to cultivate. In the meantime, go back inside the necklace," Fang Yuan said, ignoring the lit-up sky that had two announcements.

Since Xiao Hua had become his servant, she had to abide by his wishes, so she didn't complain and simply went back into the necklace after a curt nod.

Despite this, she still had a happy expression, giggling about the situation. After all, she had now found someone who could help her.

Fang Yuan merely glanced at her figure disappearing before sitting down once more on the ground.

"Soon, soon enough I will encounter those two. At that time, I will copy their techniques and extract anything from them that may be useful," he thought with a lingering cold glint in his eyes, and then began cultivating again, this time increasing his absorption rate by ten times.

«4,190,000/38,460,000»

«4,290,000/38,460,000»

...

«You have reached Second Level Spirit Warrior»

«You have reached Third Level Spirit Warrior»

«You have reached Fourth Level Spirit Warrior»

«You have reached Fifth Level Spirit Warrior»

«You have reached Sixth Level Spirit Warrior»

«You have reached Seventh Level Spirit Warrior»

...

The amount of Qi instantly dwindled as the dark forest became less refreshing. This was expected; after all, the [Chaos] path simply allowed for a higher absorption rate, unlike the [Order] path, which used the Minor Dao of Life to invigorate and generate more Qi around the user of the Order and Chaos Scripture, along with allowing for increased absorption rate.

After reaching Eighth Level Spirit Warrior, Fang Yuan stopped for the day and logged out.

Back on Earth, with his sister's help, he cut his hair and dyed it back to black. While his changed appearance could be explained to most people in the mansion who hadn't seen him in a while, his long hair and its new color couldn't be easily explained, hence his decision to alter it.

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A little rushed and messy, I want things to go fast and take him to do a few things, along with showing his bloodline (ahem, ahem, "physique").