Setting Off

Ryan put the herbs William bought into a bag as he talked.

"Oh, the auction? Fletcher and I heard about an auction happening in a nearby city, which was supposedly selling a spirit stone, so we're selling some of our cultivation resources to save up money."

"What's a spirit stone?"

"It's basically a rock with a lot of spiritual force in it. It's very helpful towards your cultivation, and I heard it can even act as a currency to those high-class cultivators."

"A currency?"

"Yeah. It's worth roughly ten gold coins, but it is really rare, so the exchange rates are really skewed, and no one in their right mind would swap it for that little amount of money."

As William was processing this information, the system spoke in his head.

"A quest has been updated. Please check your quest panel for more information."

William was surprised, but he decided to wait until later to look, since there were still some more questions he had to ask.

"So where is this auction happening?"

"Woodmist city. Some big auction house told everyone they were selling them a week ago, so Fletcher and I have been selling our things for money ever since. "

"Why are you selling cultivation resources though? I don't think any of these resources would be completely useless to you. Couldn't you just hunt some wild beasts and sell their carcasses? It would be much more profitable."

"We could go hunt wild beasts, but I have just broken through and have yet to solidify our foundation. Plus, Fletcher only broke through a few days earlier than I did, and has barely solidified his as well. While we still have some battle prowess right now, a more serious injury might damage my foundation, so it isn't worth the risk."

William nodded. Indeed, it seemed like selling the cultivation resources was a better and safer option.

"But why are you so desperate as to sell your cultivation resources for a spirit stone?" William asked.

"The thing is, Fletcher and I are currently enrolled in a cultivation school, which is located in Whitewind city."

"Those schools that only enroll cultivators?"

"Yeah, one of those. Our school, like many others, has a ranking system amongst its students, which ranks students depending on their cultivation. This ranking is divided into years. Cultivation school would last four years, and each year has a separate ranking. Depending on your ranking, you would receive differing amounts of cultivation resources by the school to use, which is funded by the price to go to the entrance exam, one gold."

Ryan continued, "Another thing about the ranking is that the lowest 5% every year will be removed from the school. In fact, I'm currently in that lowest 5%, and the school year is ending in just a few weeks. Normal cultivating wouldn't change my ranking, so we had to use another method. Therefore, Fletcher decided to help me out, and we discovered this auction happening here. We knew the spirit stone might be my only chance, so we quickly gathered our money to come."

At this point, William suddenly remembered the quest from the system. Taking a moment to go outside to and get some fresh air, he ordered the system to show him the updated quest.

______________________________

[Aren't you embarrassed?]

[Desc: As the proud owner of a system, how could you lack money? Win the auction and replace that measly silver coin with a spirit stone!]

[Reward: +1 slot, 150 SP, level 3 system]

[Penalty for Failure: System resets to level 1, -2 slots, permanent loss of 5 to all attributes]

[Time limit: 1 month (19 days remaining)]

______________________________

When William saw the penalty for failing, he nearly coughed up blood. A permanent loss of five to all attributes?! Wouldn't that make him as weak as a toddler!? Plus, if he lost both of his slots, he doubted he would have to the SP to buy even one back!

If he failed this quest, he would be unable to use the system's functionalities until he got more SP!

William gritted his teeth. No matter what, he had to at least touch that spirit stone!

William took a deep breath to calm himself down

Then, turned around and walked towards the carriage.

...

Moments earlier...

"Creak!"

Ryan turned from the pile of herbs and noticed Fletcher coming in.

"Oh, hey Fletcher!"

"Hi Ryan." Fletcher looked around. "Where did that William guy go?"

"Him? He said wanted to get some fresh air," Ryan replied casually.

"And you let him go? What if he ran off to transfer information to our rivals!?"

"I don't think they would spend so much money just to get information from us," Ryan said, showing Fletcher the pile of silver coins in his hand.

Slightly convinced, Fletcher was about to say something else when someone knocked on the door.

"Can I come in?" A muffled voice came from outside the carriage.

"William?"

"Yeah, it's me."

Ryan opened the door and William walked inside, looking a bit nervous.

"What is it?"

William hesitated.

"Well... I was wondering if I could go to the auction with the two of you."

Fletcher responded suspiciously.

"Why?"

"I just want to see what a spirit stone looks like. I'll even help you win the auction for the spirit stone!" William opened the pouch in his hands and poured out a pile of three hundred silver coins.

Ryan looked at the pile of money, slack jawed. Meanwhile, Fletcher tried to look unsurprised.

"This amount of money won't be enough to buy a spirit stone." Fletcher said.

William nodded.

"I know, but I have more than that. If you take me to where the auction is happening and let me touch the spirit stone if we win it, I'll give you the remaining five hundred silver coins. With the amount of money I gave you earlier, you would have at least eight gold coins. Since you have the confidence to go the auction, you should have at least seven or eight more coins already, right?"

Of course, what they didn't know was that William didn't have five hundred more silver coins, but instead planned to collect them along the way to the auction.

After hearing what William suggested. Ryan nodded. Indeed, it wasn't a bad deal. All William wanted was to touch it, and they would get his support in winning the spirit stone.

Even Fletcher seemed excited. However, he quickly controlled himself.

"How do we know that you won't just run away with the spirit stone?"

"I guarantee that I won't run away," said William, "I can't escape from you two either. Even if I wanted to, there is no opportunity for me to steal it."

Thinking it was logical, Fletcher relented.

"Alright, but don't try anything funny!"

William reassured him.

"Don't worry, I won't."

Fletcher went outside to inform the villagers of their departure, saying they ran out of herbs, which was clearly a lie. William also brought the rooster along since he didn't feel safe leaving it in the village. After informing the village chief & getting some supplies from the village, the trio immediately departed, heading towards Woodmist City, where the auction was occurring.

On the way there, William talked with Ryan and Fletcher, discussing topics ranging from cultivation to world geography. However, this did help William, as during the week of travel, he had not only reached the second stage of the spirit foundation realm, but he had also learned a lot more about this world.

The region he was living in was called the Blue Sea region, since it was located on a peninsula. This region was known for its humidity, but his current location was in the middle of the region, so the area wasn't as humid as other places. The village he was living in before was under the jurisdiction of Woodmist City along with dozens of others. Woodmist city was a tier one city, meaning it was ruled by a cultivator with a cultivation of at least nascent soul realm, and had at least twenty core formation realm cultivators. However, there were still differences between tier one cities. For example, Woodmist city had only one nascent soul realm cultivator, and twenty-one core formation realm cultivators. In comparison, some tier one cities had up to five nascent soul realm cultivators and as many as one hundred core formation cultivators.

Besides that, William also learned the realms of cultivation, which went in this order: Spirit foundation realm, spirit condensation realm, core formation realm, nascent soul realm, earth spirit realm, heavenly spirit realm. Some have speculated about the realms above this, but even the most recent recording of earth spirit realm was thousands of years ago, and no one was even sure if the heavenly spirit realm existed yet.

...

Almost a week later, they were on the last leg of the Journey. The carriage stopped again, and William stepped out along with Fletcher and Ryan. They sat on the grass, discussing some random topics as they ate some bread contributed by the village.

Afterwards, William went into the forest, pretending he needed to do his business. In reality, he just went to collect some more silver coins from the inventory. He peeked inside the bag, noticing about six hundred silver coins inside. A bit more than what he said he would give them, but he didn't mind as long as it wasn't less than what he promised.

William walked back to the carriage and went inside. Ryan and Fletcher were already there, and they talked for a while before they continued their journey.

William felt the carriage start to shake and he knew the horses had started to move. While Fletcher sat on a seat and tried to get some rest, Ryan went ouside to drive the carriage. William went over to a cushion dedicated to the rooster and sat down, patting the head of its sleeping figure.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo..." ( ＿ ＿)

As he was patting its head, the rooster suddenly raised its wing and waved at him lazily.

"You're awake?!" Well, that was a given, but William was still surprised.

The rooster shook its body and slowly stood up. Then, it gestured towards its stomach and opened its mouth, pointing at it as well.

"You're hungry?"

The rooster nodded.

Feeling lucky that he packed a pouch full of the rooster's food when he left, he took it out and grabbed a handful of it, letting the rooster eat out of his hand. As he sat there, he had a sudden realization. When did the rooster become so smart? He remembered what the doctor had said about it evolving. Had its evolution boosted its intelligence? He looked at the rooster hesitantly.

"Before, you didn't have a name, since I couldn't be bothered to name a chicken who would forget its name the next day, but now... how about I give you a name?"

Rooster: ✪▿✪

William smiled.

"How about I call you..."