Chapter 16: First Chain Quest

After the situation had calmed down a little bit, Blake told Eric to think about which path other than the path of the soul he wanted to cultivate. Since both of them had a high class aptitude, he would be successful in whichever one he chose.

'Don't feel pressured to make a decision quickly. If you choose the wrong path here, you will regret the decision for the rest of your life.' Blake said, as he sent Eric off to his room.

As Eric started to walk up the stairs, he heard his father's voice once again.

"By the way, don't reveal your aptitude to anyone, except for people like Darren and his children who you can trust. If this information reaches the ears of certain people, you will be in serious, serious trouble."

His eyes were fierce and the way he looked at his son showed how seriously he meant this.

Eric nodded his head and continued walking upstairs.

According to his parents, he just a young child who didn't understand the ways of the world yet. However, as a 24 year old adult, he clearly understood that his very life would be in danger if he made his talent known to the public.

Most people would admire and respect him, but there would always be those who would feel jealous and would do everything in their ability to get rid of him.

Eric didn't want to get assassinated at the tender age of 11, so he decided to keep this information to only himself and his parents, for the time being at least.

Once he was in his room, the thoughts he had suppressed in his mind started bursting back out.

'If the requirement to test your aptitudes for cultivating the three 'paths' is to already be a soul cultivator; how does it make sense to not cultivate all paths at the same time? Does nobody else see this as a problem? What if someone is not compatible with soul cultivation and has the lowest grade aptitude for it? For such people it will be almost impossible to even test their aptitudes for the other paths.

If the aptitude measuring process was supposed to be an aid in making the choice of which paths to cultivate; there should be a way to measure it before one starts cultivating. I can't even ask anyone about this because for people here, it is 'obvious' that not all paths are supposed to be practiced at the same time. People call the cultivation of soul, body and mind 'paths' as if you can only tread on one path exclusively.'

Eric pulled on his hair as he thought about it. The fact that he had high class aptitudes for all the paths; and that he had a desire to cultivate them all, made this situation even worse for him.

'It isn't like only one path can be cultivated. So many people cultivate two different paths at the same time and there aren't even any severe side effects. My dad is so strong yet he cultivates two paths at the same time. If it were some sort of a natural truth, then people would start dying as soon as they cultivated a second path due to it going against the natural order or some shit!

This seems more like a problem that has emerged from the incompetence of the people; instead of it being something just straight up impossible.

The reason why humans weren't able to fly in the 1600s wasn't because it was impossible; it was because of their lack of technological advancements. Similarly, this seems like a lack of technique. At some point in time, the people here must have lost the correct method to train all the paths of cultivation. What they think just doesn't make sense!'

Eric didn't know if he had actually caught on to something or if he was just over thinking stuff because of his hypothesis about the three paths of cultivation.

Right at this moment, when his mind was starting to go insane, there was a notification from the Scam System.

Hoping this was some sort of a hint, he checked it and opened the Scam System.

[New Quest: Discover the Secret of the Paths of Cultivation! (1)

Task: Figure out if it truly is impossible to cultivate the three paths of cultivation at the same time or not.

This is a chain quest and has multiple parts.

The task for the first part is to be willing to cultivate all paths at the same time.

Without taking the risk yourself, the amount of information you can find out through research alone will be minimal.

In order to achieve great results, one should be willing to take equally great risks.

Time Limit: None

Completion Reward: Basic Cultivation Method of any path the user chooses, Progression of the quest

Failure Penalty: None]

Reading this, Eric was filled with hope.

'Since there is a long chain quest about this, there is at least a chance that my hypothesis is correct, right? I wasn't insane after all!' he was relieved and instantly accepted the quest.

Sensing the determination he had to go against the norm and cultivate all three paths of cultivation simultaneously, the Scam System registered this quest as completed.

[Quest "Discover the Secret of the Paths of Cultivation! (1)" successfully completed!

Quest Reward: Basic Cultivation Method of any path the user chooses, Progression of the quest]

[Please choose your reward out of the Basic Soul Cultivation Method, Basic Body Cultivation Method and Basic Mind Cultivation Method.]

After a bit of thought, Eric had a plan in his mind as to how he would progress with this situation.

'Since my dad is a dual cultivator of the Soul and the Body, he can help me in learning both of those for the time being. Also, since my talent in the cultivation of the body is higher than that of the mind, it would only make sense to tell my parents that I choose Soul and Body.

Meanwhile, I will cultivate the path of the mind as well; but that will be a secret from everyone. This is the best course of action that I can choose right now.'

Steeling his mind, Eric chose his reward.

'I choose the Basic Mind Cultivation Method!'