Level Up to Cultivate

"So what's our game-plan?" Tiara asked, making herself comfortable on the bed. Now that she knew who the Prince actually was, her fear all flew away like the dust. Percy too was sitting leisurely right next to her, his legs straightened out and his head tilted towards the ceiling.

"Would you slap me if I said I just got us both into deep, deep trouble?"

Tiara frowned and slowly pressed down on the bed and sat up straight to see his face clearly, "What kind of trouble?"

Percy's eyes flitted to meet her dark pondering ones. He had to control himself from not completing what she tried to do to him earlier. "Trouble that might get us killed in a year?" he found himself slowly edging away from her as he saw the expression on her face change.

"Percy."

Percy blinked, "Tiara."

"Spill," she urged, leaning forward.

Percy closed his eyes and shook his head. And that frustrated her...a lot! Then she remembered what caught him off guard last time and determined, she leaned forward to kiss him.

But this time, Percy had wanted to do the same thing so he caught her movement. He tumbled away skillfully and Tiara fell forward, her face landing on the pillow with a low thump.

From the opposite end of the bed, Percy laughed at her weird position, "You deserve that."

Tiara sat up like a robot and twisted her head at him in annoyance.

Percy was on his toes, waiting for her to pounce on him. He had already thought out what he was going to do. He would catch her as they would fall tumbling onto the floor and...and her face would be so close to his. And then, Percy thought, he would kiss her.

And it would be amazing.

So he stared at her with wide eyes for her next move.

But what he got wasn't what he expected at all.

Tiara stuck her tongue out like a baby and wiggled her hands on both sides of her ears like a baby, "Back at you."

Percy gulped at this kiddish reaction of hers and mentally facepalmed himself. All his fantasies shattered into a million pieces inside his brain as he watched this girl. How was he ever going to reach the third stage of cultivation with a girl like her?

He cleared his throat and got up, shoving his pillows away and straightening his robe.

"I talked with Prince Hao's father, that is, the Emperor of Zirlock."

Tiara nodded, sensing that this was something serious.

"Skipping all the small talk, our mission right now is to find a good cultivation teacher and have me reach the third stage of cultivation before the end of this year."

Tiara sat up in her silken robes and clapped her hands, "So you do that and we'll be safe. Awesome! I knew you'd come up with something."

Percy raised an eyebrow at this sudden compliment, "Do you know what cultivation is?"

"Oh yeah," Tiara drawled and waved her hands in the air in weird motions, "You control the air around you and make things fly and shine. Maybe even summon a million swords to rain from the sky! With a teacher, I'm pretty sure you can get the skill easily."

Percy couldn't help but facepalm, "You're really clueless." He decided to keep that topic away for now, since she wasn't in the position to understand. The main thing on his mind right now was that option he had seen earlier...The Qi Test. He wanted them both to take it badly and see what it held in store for them.

While finding a teacher might be hard, maybe leveling up...not so much?

"What level are you in, Tiara?"

She purred and called out, "System. Show me my Level."

A silent translucent blue screen opened with white and black wording and Percy looked closer. "Level 2…" Percy looked up at his own profile and saw that he was in Level 2 too. He had gained a lot of XP for saving a Player's life.

"So here's our next step," Percy decided, "Complete Quests and get to Level 5. And on the way, find a Teacher from the Eternal Golden Phoenix Sect like the Doctor told us to."

Tiara complied, "Our first quest is…" she clicked on the option and the system spoke inside both of their heads simultaneously.

"You are required to complete 3 of the mandatory quests in order to gain Level 3. They are

1. Collect 50 Azure Lover Flowers

2. Kill a Dramon

3. Purchase food from The Market."

Percy shrugged, "Shouldn't be too hard. The Azure Lover Flowers grow in the West Mountains and the Inner Swamps of Distentope, from what I have briefly read." He cocked his head, stroking his chin unconsciously as Tiara stared at him work his head through their plan. He looked so confident.

"We'll go to the Swamps then. I don't think I want to climb a mountain," Tiara pouted as opposed to Percy's amassing look. He shook his index finger at her, "No, we can't do that!"

Silently he willed the system to open up maps of the Swamps and the Mountains side to side. He pointed to the map of the Swamps. Half of it was overlaid in red color with white exclamation marks at some places.

"Look, for the next five days, Inner Swamps are highlighted under the danger zone. But the mountains are looking safe. We can't wait any longer Tiara, we need to level up fast. Who knows if we will even find a teacher?"

Hesitant, Tiara took in a breath. She was the one who wanted to play this game again. It felt dangerous now. But seeing Percy's confident look, Tiara decided to trust him. He was her Yang pair after all.

"Can I ask you a question before we go, Percy?"

Percy called off the system screen and there was nothing blocking their view of each other. Tiara thought he looked different in his long hair. But then, he had changed his avatar a lot so the only hint that it was Percy was the way he acted toward her.

"Sure, go on," he said, looking the other side and pulling out the curtains from their rods. Once he got them all bundled up in his hands, he carefully used his strong arms to tear long strips of cloth.

"A-are you okay with being my Yang pair?" she asked, her voice almost inaudible.

Percy froze, the curtain still in his hands as his eyes steeled. Without looking at her, he answered.

"No. I'm most definitely not." He then continued whatever he was doing. The sounds of each rip echoing throughout the tense atmosphere in the room.

"Why? What am I lacking?" She leaned forward and placed her palms on the edge of the bed. Her sad curiosity was eating her out.

"I just...it just doesn't feel right. You're a kid."

She frowned, "I am 22!"

Percy turned to look at her with a blank expression, a ghost of a smile behind his lips, "You're 20, Tiara. See? Get what I mean? But let's adjust for now. You can be my helper until I slay the Elder of the evil sect. Then we'll part ways."

Tiara couldn't believe this, "But if we part ways, you can't stay in this game for longer than 15 minutes!"

Percy shook his head, smiling, "Don't you remember what Doctor Zha said? When I am master of cultivation, I can learn to survive in this game on your own, without a supporting pair. Exactly how the older existing members of The Eternal Golden Phoenix Sect are right now somewhere in this game."

By now, Percy had stripped two neat and thick strips. He took one strip and wrapped it around his face, covering his mouth and neck elegantly and only letting his sparkling eyes shine above the cloth. A disguise for the Crown Prince. He picked up the other strip and tossed it to Tiara who leapt up and caught it with both hands in surprise.

After a few seconds, she imitated what Percy had done and finished creating her disguise. As she stood up, the strip loosened on one end and they all came falling off from her face. She groaned in frustration and tried again.

Percy narrowed his eyes and pinched his eyebrows, 'This girl…' He sighed and strode forward, gathering the cloth in his arms before stretching it up straight and wringing it around her neck.

Tiara breathed in the closeness of him. One centimeter more and they would be touching. She stilled as she let him tie the disguise for her.

Like a baby.

"So that's your plan," Tiara confirmed.

"Yes. It's best that way."

Tiara stepped back as he had finished tying and watched him open the room window before taking the rest of the curtain and throwing it out of the window as rope. A royal sneak out.

Tiara didn't know why, but she felt deeply hurt by his words. It sounded like he would use her and abandon her. And she didn't like that at all!

Percy called her forward after he finished tying the rope to one end to secure it. He wanted Tiara to climb down the wall first. She obliged and stepped forward, gathering her silken robes around her feet before swinging one leg over the window sill into the dark night.

There were no guards in the immediate vicinity and plenty of moonlight graced the grounds, serving a clean getaway. As she slowly got down and stood on the floor and waited for Percy to come down too, her mind fell into thought fueled by Percy's words from before.

Learning and mastering cultivation could allow them to stay in Dimension Zero for longer than 15 minutes…Tiara broke from her trance as she heard the soft thud of Percy's boots against the bricks. His face was flushed from the excitement of it all and he smiled at Tiara, "Come on, let's go!"

Tiara always hated the male system and how domineering they were. She had thought there was something different about Percy...but he was the same. Most men she knew underestimated what a female gene could do. The power of Yin, if you want to put it that way, is often overlooked.

As she followed Percy submissively, every inch of her being revolted against it. It was the day they started their first quest in Dimension Zero. But it was also the day when Tiara made her first, real decision.

"I am going to master cultivation, too," she mumbled to herself. She loved this game, and no living being in the world was going to stop her from enjoying it fully.