Chapter 6 - Learning More about the System

One of the Sect Residential Areas.

Holding the address given to him, Ace had been trying to find his new residence ever since he took off from the Martial Pavilion six hours ago.

Ace was already at the very back of the residential areas, and the houses were beginning to thin out.

Walking deeper, Ace finally arrived at the house at the very end. He looked around and smiled, "So I am in the very back of the residential area?"

The house in front of Ace was not small, but it was not big either. It was built from bricks and a tiled roof. It was at least 20 square meters.

It was almost perfect if not because behind his own home was a forest near two rundown houses that no one seemed to have been using for years.

"At least they placed me in a better house." Ace commented with a slight laugh.

Ace found a bed, a table, and a chair, entering the house. There was also a glowing Moon Stone by the table and nothing much otherwise. The interior design was very simplistic and did not have any color other than dark brown.

It was a simple and unadorned home for a low nameless disciple. Anyone could have a better abode in different districts, but such places need payment to be enjoyed.

Ace did not have a single dime with him coming from poverty, much less Essence Crystal.

Placing his things on the table and then sat on the bed.

Sitting on the bed, he soon found one of the reasons why it was a low-class residency. It was hard and offered little to no comfort. He lay down for a few seconds to calm his mind and catch his breath before going out and running out into the forest.

"Okay, let's start."

Ace focused his mind and without needing to manually circulate the essence inside his body, moved.

It was like his second nature; every necessary meridian was crossed, no margin for error was present, and a fire was born from nothing.

"Amazing," he mumbled underneath his breath.

The flames flickered on top of his palms, and with a thought, it moved. The little flame stretched and took the form of a red, ethereal snake.

The serpent's body was naturally made of red-colored flames, and its body grew until it was half the size of Ace's arm.

He tried feeding it more heavenly essence, but it proved fruitless. Nevertheless, Ace was beyond amazed.

"T—this is too overpowered, isn't it?" Ace was beyond surprised, and even if he sounded like he wasn't too happy about learning a Martial Technique in such a perverse manner, his smile spoke volumes.

The <> coiled around his right arm. Ace tried finding a target and saw a nearby tree.

"Ha!"

Ace punched out with a loud shout using his right arm, and the > flew in the air heading towards its designated target. The <> coiled around the tree, setting it ablaze.

"What power." Ace praised.

The fire slowly died down, and a charred lump of crumbling wood replaced what was once a beautiful and tall tree.

[<> Master + 5]

Ace jumped with joy seeing how powerful his technique was, followed by the appearance of a board saying his Mastery had increased.

What's more, only another 5 points were needed for him to reach the necessary limit.

"What will happen if the <> levels up? Will it become stronger and have its destructive capability rise?" Ace gave himself an important question, so to find the answer, Ace continued training.

"<> ..." Ace used the <> and transformed another tree to a less flattering state.

[<> Master + 5]

[Ding… <> raised to 2nd level.]

[Ding... Character experience +100.]

"Oh, Shit."

Ace was already surprised that he could level up his Martial Technique so easily, but it seems like his character or cultivation could also gain experience by leveling his Martial Techniques.

"It was said that cultivating a Martial Technique improves one's enlightenment. It appears that translates to character experience points."

Ace gained +100 experience, and he didn't even need to kill anything like before. After taking note of this fact, Ace created another > and threw it to another tree.

[<> Master + 2]

[<> Master + 2]

…

[Ding… <> raised to the next level.]

[Ding… <> raised to 3rd level.]

[Character experience + 100.]

Experience Points: (200/200)

[Ding… character leveled up.]

Ten pitiful sacrificial trees later, Ace's technique mastery increased a notch and gained another set of experience points with it.

Ace was tired after continuously using <> his breathing was disoriented, and his clothes were soaked with sweat. He plopped down on the ground on his bottom and checked the current update of the system.

Name: Ace (no surname)

Level: 2

Experience Points: (0/500)

Stored Experience: 0

Martial Skills: <> 3rd level (0/100)

<> 1st level (0/50)

Cultivation: Core Formation (To be unlocked: Minor Saint)

Extra Jobs: None

"I...I leveled up." Ace was in joy as his level became higher; he wanted to continue burning trees with his <> to raise its level, but he first took a quick break to catch his breath.

An hour later, Ace once again regained himself.

When he felt that his body had regained its strength, Ace immediately made another <> then fired it to the nearest tree he laid his eyes on.

+ 1

Only a single experience point was added to his <>. Ace had noticed this already, but the amount of experience he could obtain for using the > for burning down a tree decreased after his technique leveled up.

Ace can only use the method of burning trees to level up his Martial Skill one last time, and considering how much experience the <> needs to level up, Ace found that he would need to use the <> skill continuously until its experience reaches one hundred.

Ace's body shuddered at the thought of using <> one hundred times over. Ordinary people would be complaining about such arduous tasks as repeating a skill repeatedly, but Ace gritted his teeth and started using the <>.

He could feel his soul being ripped apart. He reused the technique so much to an unnatural degree that he was already nearing his mental and physical limit.

Creating <> one after another would kill him; thus, he decided to change his method.

"Instead of creating <> time and time again... I can just slowly redirect its target. Let it hop from one tree to the next." Ace said and immediately got to work.

At first, it took some time for the <> to move. However, as time went on, it became easier, although it was still taking a toll.

His system was a cheat, and Ace clearly knows this fact. With the system, becoming a peerless warrior even in the Immortal Demon Sect, but having a cheat skill doesn't mean he could slack off because he also needs to put in the effort, or nothing would change.

Deep into the night, Ace managed to burn down 38 trees. It was clear that he was far from done. Ace was panting, and his body was soaked in sweat; his right arm was already aching from the continuous usage of the <>, but he kept it up.

Most of the disciples were already resting and cultivating, and Ace was the only one still training.

Then, as he was doing this kind of practice, the dark sky was suddenly illuminated by a bright light as if the morning had come already, it happened very quickly like a passing shooting star, but Ace clearly saw it happen.

He didn't know what had just happened. Two figures appeared in his head.

"That must have been Greed."

Even without having anything to base his assumption on, Ace was convinced that the light he had just seen was from Greed. Seeing the flash of light, Ace went back to burning trees.

…

[Ding… <> raised to 4th level.]

[Character experience + 100]

Morning came, and Ace was still in the forest behind his house. The sun shone upon his dirty face, and he felt the exhaustion crash in his body come in one go; and almost immediately collapsed, sleeping on the ground.

After a few hours, Ace woke up only to find it was already noon. After waking up, he discovered that his body was already okay, and he was feeling fine; the fatigue that he accumulated from using the <> was already gone, and he could already move just fine.

While doing some light exercises, Ace finally saw the horror he brought upon the forest in the light.

"Will I get into trouble for this? No one is here, so no one will ever notice this kind of accident, right?" Ace knew he did something bad.

Ace felt bad about destroying the trees in the forest, but after thinking that it was for his cultivation, he felt lighter about what he did. He turned around and went back to his own house, leaving behind scorched grounds and ashes flying all over the place.

Entering his house, Ace took the leather bag and changed into a fresh set of clothes. After cleaning himself, Ace changed his clothes and sat on the bed to check its content, especially the white bottle he saw yesterday.

Ace took the white bottle out and opened it. He took what was inside and saw a medicinal pill that was the size of a bean.

[Ding… acquired Restoration Pill...]

[Restoration Pill Effects: Increases the circulation of heavenly essence, strengthens the body, and purifies the internal organs.]

[After Ingestion: experience points + 100]

"There's about 20 pills here, so that's two thousand experience points." Ace took one of the Restoration Pill and started ingesting them until he finished the whole bottle.

[Ding… stored experience + 2000.]

Ace ate all the pills like they were tasty candies, and all of the experience he obtained went to the stored experience that had been empty all this time.

Name: Ace (no surname)

Level: 2

Experience Points: (100/500)

[Stored Experience: 2000 (Can level up character level, can level up Martial Technique level) ]

Martial Techniques: <> 4th level (0/1000)

<> 1st level (0/50)

Cultivation: Core Formation (To be unlocked: Minor Saint)

Career: Cultivator Lv. 1

Extra Career:

'Stored Experience, huh... interesting.' noted Ace.

[Ding… Character level up]

In a manner of seconds, Ace was able to level up, and although it cost 400 experience points, he decided to raise his level once more.

[Ding… Character level up]

After the last one, Ace tried to level up but found that he couldn't, and not only that, he also found that he couldn't add what remaining experience points he had to his character level.

He couldn't level up his character, and he also couldn't do it with the <>, so he tried putting it on the <>.

[Ding… <> raised to the 2nd level.]

[Character experience + 200.]

"So it only works if I have enough to increase its level in one go."

Ace learned of this rule and placed everything he had on the <>.

[Ding…<> raised to 3rd level.]

[Character experience + 200.]

One and a half-day after joining the sect, Ace's character level was already level 4, and his martial techniques were enough to be considered to have reached another level of mastery.

However, he was still far from satisfied.

Ace, wanted more.

Ace, needed more!

"The Alchemist Association should be accepting new members... right?."

Ace thought as he headed out for the Alchemist Association.