A few minutes have passed since he made his way deeper into the forest. Sitting with his back against a tree he looks at the dead horn rabbit in his head, he dries his bloody hand against the green grass. As he paints the grass in a new color, he grasps the Horn rabbit horn slowly pulling it out of the rabbit with force.
Sweat builds up in his forehead again as the horn slowly separates itself from the rabbit skull, after a few minutes of pulling, the horn finally breaks free from its old master. Resting safely in the hands of the man, he smiles placing the useless corpse of the rabbit next to him. Such a small Mortal Rank 1 monster will not prove useful to him.
"Now…I now need to cultivate. I have read a lot of the lore of the cultivation techniques in the game. I wonder if I practice one now will come naturally. Since its VR, I am sure some things have changed around"
The man talks to himself, after such a long-time recording videos for the internet, a habit of talking to himself develops. The man slowly stood up, as countless techniques flashes through his mind. Normally in the game, the character will cultivate in the lotus position, but the way you meditate depends on your cultivation skill, as stated in the lore.
Soon the man focuses on his favorite technique, the one he always tries to get with every new playthrough. The man takes a fighting stance, the horn in his right hand. Almost holding it as a sword as he started to do soft but precise sword swings while breathing.
His eyes close, with every mistake he makes, he will start again. With every mistake, he improves, with every improvement he gets further, and the further he goes the more mistakes he makes.
The sword swings themselves were precise and clean, but any trained eye will notice that the strikes were floppy and that of an amateur. A noob trying to copy a master. But the man did not give up, he could feel the Qi slowly entering his body, his movements slowly becoming like what he imagen the movements in-game to be. Thinking he has what it takes now, he starts again.
He relaxes his body, moving his arms slightly upwards. The in-game lore flashes in his brain one last time as he takes the first step in this deadly dance. He twists his body around, doing a wide swing of the 'sword'. Countless imagery demons get cut to pieces.
He slightly bends his back, dodging a strong demonic punch. He then places his hands on the ground, his whole body bent, he slowly lifts his body out of the ground. Bending his arms, he launches himself into the air, spinning around as he flies above the head of multiple demons.
Landing gracefully on his feet, in a swift motion, he twists his whole body, doing a great forward slash with his 'sword'. Countless still daze demons die at the same time. But this is just the start of the dance, blood still needs to flow.
As the dance continues, more and more Qi enters the man's body. Now he is no longer a noob coping a master, he is the master itself now. As the man finishes the first part of the deadly dance, he opens his eyes. Now clearer and sharper than before. As an unknown warmth spreads around his body, giving him a boundless amount of energy.
[Sword Emperor Dance(Heaven) Rank 1 has been learned]
[For learning a Heaven Rank cultivation technique 20 fate points have been awarded]
[You have awakened as a cultivator! Your first step to immortality has been taken. 10 Fate points have been awarded]
[Name:
Cultivation: Mortal Rank 1
Stats:
Mind: 5
Body: 5
Soul: 5
Martials Art:
[Sword Emperor Dance(Heaven) Rank 1]
Talents:
Fate Points: 31]
Soon a large uncontrollable smile forms on the man's face. As he opens and closes his hands. He breaths in, feeling energetic with his first step into cultivation. While the Mortal stage has no imminent change to his body, it is one of the most important stages in a cultivator's life.
He also calls it the "Foundation Stage". The body will enter a period of accelerated growth when one goes from a non-cultivator to a cultivator. Allowing for the person to train their main stats faster than normal as well as consume Earth Stage treasures to forge a stronger body.
In the Cultivation Tower, there are a total of 16 stages with each having 10 Ranks inside of them. While this seems like a lot, which is. Ranking up within one own stage does not give that many benefits. What is important is what you do between Stages, as each stage focus on one aspect of your body. It is good to gain as much befit from that before breaking through to a new stage.
Going from weakest to strongest the stages are:
Mortal, Warrior, Commander, General, Marshal, Expert, Master, Elder, Noble, Duke, Monarch, Emperor, Overlord, Transcendence, Divine Soul, and Immortal.
Martial arts, artifacts, and treasures also had their stage. Each stage has a total of 10 tanks. Martial Arts can increase in rank as you used them, but not their Stage, the stage of the martial art depends on how complex and powerful it is. Artifacts and treasures are the same, having their stage fixed from the start, but they don't have a rank. From weakest to strongest is: Earth, Sky, Heaven, Divine, and Primordial
"The Mortal Stage allows for the rapid growth of stats, greater benefits from treasures and of course greater chances of a self reforming"
While most normal cultivation games only let you play as a human, very few let you choose stronger races. The Cultivation Tower was unique in the way that it let players play from a base of 3 sentient races. Humans, Goblins, and Spirits.
As the player cultivates there will be times when the pop-up "Self Reforming" will appear, letting the player know they can change their race to a higher form. While it is rare to get a self reforming as a Mortal Stage, it is even rarer the higher you go up.
But still, any change to increase once base race and earn new talents is not something you should ever pass on. But there is no point in worrying about that now, he just needs to get stronger. He thinks to himself as he looks at the transparent screen in front of him.
"What the hell Is Fate Points?"
He thinks to himself as the machine answers him
[Fate Points are rewarded to the user upon completing an event, killing, cultivation, or learning new martial arts. They can be used to buy things from the Fate Store, things in the Fate Store are made to help the user in their journey]
"ha.. Neat, so like a helper. Well, I do see why I would need it, since it is VR somethings will naturally be harder. How nice of them to change the game for me, but not let me die in peace….calm down. Forget about that"
As he thinks about the Fate Store, soon a new window appears in front of him
[Fate Store
Stats
Martial Arts
Talents
Events
Artifacts
Treasures]
"Wow…a bit to OP don't you think? Being able to buy stats and talents is so game-breaking. It messes up with the finely crafted balance the game developers spend years perfecting"
He thinks of opening the stats and talents tap.
[Stats: 1 point for any of the three stats costs 10 points if it's under 100. The cost of the stats will double for every 100 points in it. But the awarded amount will stay the same]
[ Talents Available for Humans.
Natural Breather: 1000
Strong Hands: 1500
Iron Lungs: 1200
.
.
.
.
.
.
Heaven's Child: 1,000,000]
"Never mind…perfectly balanced as all things should be"
The man said to himself as he spends the 30 points he just earns to increase all of his stats by one.
[Name:
Cultivation: Mortal Rank 1
Stats:
Mind: 6
Body: 6
Soul: 6
Martials Art:
[Sword Emperor Dance(Heaven) Rank 1]
Talents:
Fate Points: 1]
As his stats increased, he could feel stronger, faster, and more durable. His mind becomes clearer, being able to do calculations in his brain that he was not able to do before. While soul had no imminent effect, he knew it affect the strength of his martial arts and cultivation.
At the Mortal Stage, the max stats he can get is 50. More than enough to pull him through the early game before reaching the Commander Stage. In the game, he can gain body stat by working out and using all of his stamina.
Mind by practicing his martial arts. Soul by using said martial arts. The man nods to himself as he looks at his status window one last time. He can't just leave the name part blank, so he decided to give himself a name. If he is inside the game why not just roleplay? That is what he mostly did when playing, it gives the game that extra punch.
"Well…I am always bad with names. So, I will go with Mors Mundin. Haha why did I have such an obsession with Latin?"
He said to himself as he walks back to the tree, ready to start his "Foundation Arc"
--------
[Sword Emperor Dance]
[ A dance made by the Sword Emperor during a battle against demons. A beautiful but deadly sword dance in the right hand. Cultivating body, soul, and mind together in harmony.]
[The Sword Emperor Dance is a passive skill that applies when the character is wielding a "sword". It can be used while fighting, helping the cultivator cultivate even when fighting, but at a slower rate than outside of combat. When cultivating there is a change to increase all stats by 1.]