Chương 459: Songs of Survival (VI)

After fiddling with the system for about four hours now, I came to a mildly depressing realization: what I want isn't currently possible. While I can create a cloaking art by tacking on some restrictions, the issue is that I won't be able to use it. There is no restriction like 'Only Host can use it' or anything specifically for me, and none of the existing ones match any one of my 'unique' aspects. As such, while I can make a slightly better version of Long Tao's cloaking art, it won't be for me.

The good news is that applies to the Divine Sense aspect of it; the other one, the visual one, was possible, but I don't think it's actually worth it without the Divine Sense cloaking. At this level, I've come to realize nearly everyone had their Divine Sense spread out around them at every single hour of every single day. The only difference the light-cloaking art would make would be at a distance, where their Divine Sense can't reach me. For now, though, I shelved it.

Though disappointing, it was still just one aspect of the greater picture, with the next being my cultivation method. Now that I've decided on what 'kind' of a cultivator I want to be, it's probably best I also adjust the method of cultivation. Keeping Enduring Eternity in mind as I wanted to create an addendum, essentially, the most important aspect was Qi regeneration. If I wanted to whip out attacks relentlessly from far away, I'd need large Qi reserves as well as a speedy way to recover them.

As such, I didn't particularly care for things that the kids would--ability to rapidly condense Qi in a literal nanosecond to an attack, primarily--and focused more on all things Qi... and a bit of body. While I've long since overcome the body's aggressively bad start, I still feel limitations quite frequently. For instance, when I use my Shadow Steps more than four or five times in a row, ignoring whether I have enough Qi to use it again, I can feel my body beginning to break down.

Since Enduring Eternity, as a base, already provides stability, I simply reinforced that slightly, spending most all other points exclusively on Qi-adjacent boosts. It ended up kind of insane, honestly, considering I only spent 390 points on it. I at least did remember to name it. [Congratulations, Host, on creating the 'Enduring Weavemancer' Cultivation Method] [--note: In order to practice it, one must first cultivate using Enduring Eternity and reach Intermediate understanding] [...] [Enduring Weavemancer] [Type: Cultivation Method:] [Rank: mid-Myth tier] [Host Comprehension: Minor] [...] [Building on top of the base structure offered by its parent method, Enduring Weavemancer carves out a path unique to itself. At its core, it is created with the express purpose of Qi transfusion, using arts to recover Qi. It boosts great base Qi regeneration, an ability to offset body trauma due to excessive use of martial arts, and a rather unique Qi-leech property that sets it apart from most other methods focused on Qi recovery. The downside is that it dulls the cultivator's natural ability to amass Qi, and that its speed of cultivation falls quite short of those within the same tier. Nonetheless, so long as it is supplemented by either artifacts or other arts, it can transform a martial artist into an unending barrage of arts that can cover the world itself] The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. [...] [Creation Points Value: 390/400] [Comprehension Difficulty: Prodigious] [...] [List of permanent Special Effects] [+300% to natural Qi Recovery rate (halved in combat)] [-15% to Qi cost of all martial arts] [Using martial arts in quick succession further boosts Qi Recovery by 10% per art, up to an additional 500%] [Harmful martial arts have a chance to recover Qi spent on using them if they hit a target] [Naturally recover the abstract portion of harm done with each strike of a harmful martial art. This recovery is boosted by the Qi Recovery boost through subsequent martial arts usage] [Through diluting Qi as it leaves the body, it allows for longer and more pronounced usage of martial arts before the body begins to break down] [All martial arts become 20% less effective if Enduring Weavemancer is the primary cultivation method] [...] [Creation Bonus: A relevant historical fact] [...] [Realm was originally nothing more than a pocket dimension of an Emperor, left behind after they perished. Though it has since been stripped of all obvious treasures, many still remain. One of Host's Disciples has visited this place countless times before and had left behind many treasures, some of which still remain] Huh. That's the first time the system gave me a numerical rundown of effects rather than just a vague notion of, 'Hey, it recovers your Qi quickly. Good luck'. It was a bit better than expected, but, as usual, the real kick in the nards is in the after portion of it. So, Long Tao has been here before?

And many times at that? The more I learn about him, the more I keep having to push the timeline back. Just how fucking old was he when he died? When we first met, my original guess was a few thousand years. Then it jumped to a few tens of thousands of years. But I feel like even that is selling it short. Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Tens of millions? I don't know. Though the historical fact is 'fun', I suppose, and kind of relevant, it still rings hollow.

It doesn't point me toward where any of these still hidden treasures are, or even what they are. It's sort of like telling someone, 'So, thousands of ships still remain buried somewhere in the Atlantic. There's hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stuff on them!' Shelving the thought, I focused back on the method, doing a few cycles with it and immediately noticing a few differences: for starters, it was actually quite some ways faster than Enduring Eternity alone.

While the system did say it's slower than other methods of its rank, it's nearly twice as fast as the baseline one. Secondly, the recovery speed was insane. After using Shadow Steps once, originally, it'd take me about ten to fifteen minutes passively to recover that much Qi and about four to five minutes actively cultivating. Now? Closer to about thirty seconds... passively. I have a feeling that I'll have some questions to answer once I'm reunited with everyone...

Anyway, despite spending almost 1, 000 points, I was still in the mood for making something else. Too bad that the universe has finally had enough, apparently.

"Hah, I told you, Senior Sister! I told you that I sensed something here! See?"

"Great. You sensed some ugly old fart barely at the peak of the Spirit Manifestation Realm. Good job. Maybe I'll ask Sect Master to give you a Divine Artifact when we're back in the sect." I glanced over and saw a small entourage of twelve people appear. Well, twelve kids, to be precise. Even the oldest looked no older than sixteen, maybe seventeen at most. This is gonna be annoying. I just hope they won't chase me when I run away because I do fucking not want to kill literal children.

There has to be some line that I can never cross, no matter what. And I'll at least try to make it this... even if I probably already broke it at some point in Silvercrest City.