Chapter 249

  Legends and Myths (VII)

  While everyone was resting inside the tent, I stayed outside.

  Partly for the fresh air and partly because I wanted to read the many windows in peace. I didn't immediately focus on them, though, focusing instead on... well, nothing, to be honest.

  If I think about it, we really go places and just... wreck 'em, even if we do help on occasion. Even if she was a Wraith, from all accounts, she made that city what it was. Its autonomy was respected exclusively because she was respected.

  With her dead--or, well, considered gone since nobody was going to connect that sludge of flesh with her--chances are that the City of Silver would slowly begin to wane and decay. Not immediately--it might even see a temporary boon as her coffers are raided and the fight for the new leader emerges, but before long, wolves will be at their doorsteps, and they will have no dragon to defend them.

  I don't begrudge Long Tao for killing her, far from it. He probably saved our lives, one way or another. It's just another stark reminder of just how... fragile certain parts of this reality are. Even with its magic, and its supernatural folk beating the ever-living-shit out of each other, some of the far-reaching, ancient power dynamics are as present here (if not more so) as they were back on Earth.

  And, as always, the little guys will suffer the most.

  The leadership of the city will probably get their pockets fat and then bolt, leaving it destitute, while those who have nowhere to go will bear the brunt of its decay.

  Haah.

  Has nothing to do with me, though. Not anymore, at least.

  Forget it. Everything will be sorted out eventually. Onto the windows.

  [Congratulations, Host. One of your Disciples has achieved a Regional Feat, invoking the sensation of Heavenly Path]

  [Special Rewards have been triggered]

  [...]

  [Feat: Disciple Long Tao has managed to kill a Shackled One that was at the cusps of becoming Unshackled. Even if not unprecedented, the feat is still remarkably rare across the vast expanse of history and worthy of an Ode]

  Huh. Okay.

  That's a bit different from how Long Tao and Lao Shun described it. Though, honestly, either version doesn't mean all that much to me since, well, none of the terms mean anything to me.

  [Reward 1: 500CP]

  [Reward 2: Fiery Plume (Legendary)]

  [Reward 3: Talent Imbuement (Heaven)]

  [Reward 4: Random Minor Trait]

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  [Reward 5: 1x Monthly Quest Ticket]

  [Reward 6: 1x Random Alchemy Recipe]

  [...]

  [Fiery Plume (Legendary) -- a plume of a fiery beast, imbued with the most primal form of Fire Qi. Its uses are as limitless as one's imagination, though perhaps those seeking the perfection of the Path of Fire may yet find it most useful]

  [...]

  [Talent Imbuement (Heaven) -- can only be used on a mortal being with no talent for cultivation, affording them Heavenly Roots. Note that they will still be artificial and not comparable to natural Heavenly Roots]

  [...]

  [Random Minor Trait: Molten Skin (Rare)]

  [Molten Skin (Rare) -- a Qi-suffused mutation of one's own skin, it creates an invisible sheen that protects against the heat and very low-level fire arts. Can endure direct plumes of heat while standing next to open magma]

  [...]

  [1x Monthly Quest Ticket -- use a ticket to accept any of the offered monthly quests without needing to pay Creation Points for them]

  [...]

  [1x Random Alchemy Recipe -- Thousand-Root Heart Pill (Ancient)]

  [Thousand-Root Heart Pill (Ancient) -- purges Heart of all Demons and implants a permanent shield that will, unequivocally, block one instance of future Heart Demon. The Pill was the most secret recipe of Divine Bodhisattva Temple, and how they survived the Amanul Invasion whereas most other contemporary powers succumbed. Though their inheritance, too, has been long lost to the annals of history, records of their remarkable mental fortitude are known by all. Despite boasting most impressive effects, the pill is relatively inexpensive to make. Requires: 1x Scale of a Shadow Dragon...]

  --oookay, I'm gonna stop you right there.

  There is no situation in which the words 'inexpensive' and 'dragon scale' should ever be used in the sentence. I mean, okay, it did say relative, but that's such a copout, isn't it? Technically, isn't everything relative? I could say that I'm having the worst of times compared to some Divine King feasting on heavenly cherries all day long while having endless orgies with the most gorgeous women ever. Sure, relative to him, I'm a peon.

  But compared to some lumberjack shmuck that's been bitten by wolves eighteen times in the past three years, aren't I doing really well?

  Okay, brain, come back down to Earth from wherever you suddenly went.

  I've noticed something kind of... nostalgic, almost, about the system. It's sort of like those roguelike games that I used as a healthy distraction, in that there were a few that weren't truly random. The game would throw random crap at you at the start, but once it sort of 'figured out' what you were going for, it'd gently nudge the choices in that direction.

  But then it would also throw some completely random off-the-cuff crap at you that had nothing to do with anything, just to remind you of the fact that underneath that curated selection runs a truly stupid algorithm that is random. Just a bunch of 1s and 0s having a blast.

  The system is sort of like that--for the most part, its rewards tend to be things that are either immediately useful or have a clear, concise use that I can keep in mind when making plans. But then, it also throws some random crap at me that I will not have any use for any time soon, if ever.

  Just to remind me it's not my friend and that it's simply a useful tool.

  Other rewards, though, were... kind of nuts?

  Very conditional, yes, but also feel like things I can very easily abuse in the future, within the right context.

  Everything except the quest ticket, of course, which prompted me to immediately look over the monthly quests yet again.

  They were all the same as the last time with the exception of one--what used to be the quest to save Madame Zhu's daughter now became something... different.

  [Sunless Garden]

  [Difficulty: Legendary]

  [Context: Sunless Forest was dubbed as such due to the thickness of its canopy, ensuring practically every inch of the forest was in perpetual darkness. Yet, within that darkness, flowers still blossomed. Fruits still bloomed. There was life, and it was thriving. Some suppose that, in its endless depths, there exist an Ancient Garden endowed with the most pure Life Qi that is feeding the entire forest, even in the absence of the sun. None, however, have ever been able to locate it. Uncover whether the Garden is truly there or merely a myth used to understand something otherwise inexplicable]

  [Cost: 2,500 CP]

  [Rewards]

  [Reward 1: 3,000 CP]

  [Reward 2: contents of the Garden, should it exist]

  [Reward 3: 3x 'Flawless Foundation Pill']

  [Hint: purchase the quest to receive the hint]

  End of Volume III — Silence of the Sages