As the weeks flew past, I continued to take classes like the good little student I was. Even though I struggled with the spirit array class and didn't really do well in it, I did manage to somehow grasp the basics.
It was fine. I wasn't some overpowered genius protagonist with cheats who had to be the absolute best in everything, be it spirit arrays, medicine, alchemy, body tempering, forging of treasure weapons, cooking or whatever it was a web novelist could dream of. Sometimes, it was completely all right to not be the best. Ambition was fine and all, but obsession and over competitiveness would only backfire. Everyone wanted to win, for sure, but there was usually only one winner.
Actually, that wasn't true. People just needed to adjust their expectations and be more realistic, and be flexible with what they called victory. They had to realize the most important thing was to improve themselves, not beat other people. take one step forward and always progress. Too many people were overly concerned with "winning" and stepping over other peoples' heads that they lose sight of their journey, only obsessing with the destination. they only wanted to win at all costs, and by destroying their relations with other people and looking down on others, they fail to see the long-term consequences that isolation could leave.
Like those two idiots who attacked Ling Zhen. They thought they were the best and would proceed to the pinnacle of cultivation, but because they lost sight of the journey there, it never occurred to them that there were alternative routes to strength, such as spirit arrays. It wasn't always about accumulating as much qi as possible.
Okay, that was a longwinded way of basically saying that I wasn't too bothered with not acing the spirit arrays class. But I had to say this, in case the existences beyond the fourth wall started whining about how I was inferior to the unrealistic, wish fulfilment, self-insert protagonists from trashy cultivation web novels and manhuas simply because I wasn't the best at everything I did. They were probably used to reading stupid son-in-law stories where the son-in-law protagonist was perceived as trash by everyone, but even though his real identity was a super general or doctor or the son of a secret family, he was the best at everything, from doing business to martial arts to medicine to music to cooking to speaking every language on Earth. Seriously. And yet everyone called him trash because…I don't know, so that he had an excuse to slap their faces later in the story?
Too bad I wasn't a Mary Sue protagonist like those sons-in-law or cheat protagonists who simply spent points in their systems to upgrade every skill to the max, be it cooking, music, academics, martial arts, medicine (usually Traditional Chinese medicine), language and business. So don't expect that here and stop whining about it, okay? And to other readers, it is perfectly fine to not be the best, so don't be discouraged. I was aware of the toxic attitudes that cultivation web novels and manhuas promoted, from "ruthlessness" to "strong eat the weak." Don't be influenced by such toxic fiction and focus on improving yourselves. It was perfectly all right to not win all the time – self-progress is more important.
A few weeks later, I had accepted that fact but didn't give up – just because I wasn't the best at the subject didn't mean I should slack off – and continued studying about spirit arrays. It was fine even if I couldn't employ the advanced spirit arrays. I just needed to at least grasp the basics. While I did so, Ling Zhen gave me a new spirit array as an assignment.
"This is the Forest Flourishing spirit array," he explained, handing me a handout with the specific spirit runes on it. "I think this might suit you more. Just memorize the runes for it and you should be fine."
"What does the Forest Flourishing spirit array do?" I squinted at the details. Ling Zhen grinned.
"It nurtures the plants, trees and flowers within the area the spirit array is placed in. Increases the amount of spiritual qi in the region, purifies it and makes it more vibrant and refreshing. It can turn a dead place to one full of life, allowing plants to regrow in derelict land, restore nutrients to the soil and nourish whoever cultivates in it with natural qi."
"Thanks." I didn't know why Ling Zhen had singled me out for this specific spirit array, but there it was. He leaned in closer to whisper.
"You have some wood scent on you. That of wood type spirit beasts. I'm not sure if I'm guessing right, but the wood element qi around you feels like it belongs to a tree type spirit beast. Especially ones living in a forest. I think this spirit array will be good for them."
Now I understood why. I had spent the last week or so trying to grow a forest in my dungeon, but to no avail. Even though I had populated the region with Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants, nothing grew there. It was a "forest" area, but the system informed me that I had to restore the forest myself.
So no grass in their garden. Their garden actually looked like a dead wasteland, which kind of made sense because the Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants were also ghost type spirit beasts in addition to their wood type. I had tried to help them by sowing seeds and fertilizers, but there wasn't much I could do to encourage growth. I wasn't a gardener. Long Wang was also unable to help.
"I'm sorry, my lord. I'm a resident of the ocean, not the surface world. Such matters of the surface are beyond me."
"It's fine. I'll figure something out."
That was what I had told him, but I had yet to find a solution. Until today. Perhaps I had been in the proximity of my Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants for a long time recently, which was why Ling Zhen could sense their qi on me.
"Thank you, sir."
"For some reason, the qi reminds me of the pruned Tree Revenant we have in the university facility." Ling Zhen frowned. "Be careful. They are pretty dangerous. They can reach peak Mystic rank, and if evolved into an Earth ranked Elder Tree Revenant…well, let's say they might even be able to match a dragon in strength."
"Yeah, I will." I was surprised, but also excited. I didn't know a Tree Revenant could evolve further. This was great news. An Earth ranked Elder Tree Revenant guarding my dungeon…
"That said, this spirit array might be able to help them evolve, so employ it carefully. And make sure you have the strength to control your tamed spirit beasts before you evolve them."
"Understood, sir."
I flipped through the handout and one of the pages caught my eye. The runes were simple enough – as long as I referred to the material and drew them, I should technically be able to activate it. However, it appeared that this spirit array required esoteric materials.
"A World Tree Seed?"
"Oh, you've read that far?" Ling Zhen smiled, impressed. "That was fast."
"I speed read a lot," I explained. "It's the only way to complete my readings and assignments in time for classes."
"Fair enough." Ling Zhen nodded. "But yeah, simply speaking, that's the seed of the World Tree. I probably haven't covered in class yet, but the World Tree is one of the weird spiritual stuff that sprouted out in the aftermath of the manifestation of spirit beasts in our world from a higher dimension. That said, according to legends, it had always been present in our world, but it only grew, emerged and blossomed after benefiting from the sudden explosion of spiritual qi that flowed into our world from the other dimension."
"The World Tree, huh?"
"That's right, though it has different names throughout different parts of the world. You might even know it was Yggdrasil, which is the most common designation."
"Oh, the one from Norse mythology?"
"Yeah, except that it turns out that it wasn't a myth after all." Ling Zhen shrugged. "You should know that it appeared and grew in the middle of the Eurasian continent, the largest tree to exist on this planet. So vast that it pretty much became a kingdom of its own, and houses one on its top branches and leaves. It's also populated by spirit beasts and…people of other races."
Elves. He was talking about elves.
I wasn't surprised. Atlantis turned out to be real, so why would Yggdrasil be any different? The Atlanteans existed, so why wouldn't elves? I had never met one or even seen one, and despite the attempts of cultivators to capture them on video or photos, they had failed. But I certainly heard the rumors drifting around on the Internet.
"Ugh…but how am I supposed to get a seed of the World Tree? I don't think I can just fly all the way to Northwest Europe…"
"No one asked you to." Ling Zhen rolled his eyes. "The World Tree might have grown there, but it spreads its seeds throughout the world. You should be able to find traces of it even as far as here in Hua Xia. You just need to know where to look."
"Do you know where, Professor Ling?"
"Hmm…" Ling Zhen mused, a hand on his chin. Then he nodded. "I might. If you agree to take on a mission from me, then I'll tell you where you might be able to find a seed of the World Tree."
"Let me guess…the seed of the World Tree is located in the same place where you want me to carry out the mission."
"You catch on quick." Ling Zhen grinned. "You might not be the best student in spirit arrays, but you are still pretty sharp. That's right."
"What mission do you want me to do? Exterminate spirit beasts? Or bring back a certain herb or material from that place?"
"Yes, that." Ling Zhen nodded, and then cleared his throat. "I mean I want a specific material that can be found in that place. Have you heard of the Spectral Forest?"
"The one at the boundary of Ling Chuan City? It's rumored to be haunted."
"Yeah, but given that you seem to have tamed Tree Revenants, you should feel at home there. It's not just Tree Revenants, but they have other wood and ghost type spirit beasts living in there. And wood type spirit beasts and bug type spirit beasts as well. Oh, be careful of the dark type Carrion Crows. They are pretty hostile toward humans and will attack you in flocks."
"Understood. I will accept this mission. What material do you want?"
"I actually want the Dusk Spores. You just need to capture a Crescent Mushroom or its evolved form, a Lunar Mushroom. I'll then extract the Dusk Spores from it to concoct it into medicine."
"Huh? Are you an alchemist as well, Professor Ling?"
"No. I'm actually going to ask a friend who is an alchemist to do it." Ling Zhen laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "It's a favor from my friend, actually. He's paying a good sum of money for it, but unlike me, he doesn't have students. He's not a teacher in Divine Path University, and though he can hire cultivators for the job…let's just say he doesn't like coming out of his lab. So he hasn't issued a formal request. When I visited him the other day, he brought it up, and I offered to issue the request for him. But since you're going to take it, that makes stuff easier for me. I'll draw up the request and contract, send it to you to sign it, and then you can begin whenever."
"I'll get to it right away."
"Excellent." Ling Zhen beamed. "I'll be counting on you. I'll also email you the details on where you might be able to find the World Tree seed in Spectral Forest, but a note of caution. You might have to fight through a bunch of spirit beasts to get to it."
"Yes, sir. I should be able to handle it."
To be honest, it wasn't just because I wanted the World Tree seed for the Forest Flourishing spirit array for my dungeon's forest. The system had issued me a new mission.
-New quest issued: Search for the World Tree Seed. Locate the seed of the World Tree. Completion of this mission will grant the appropriate rewards. New sub-quest issued: Capture (but not forge a spirit contract with) a Crescent Mushroom or a Lunar Mushroom. Completion of this sub-mission will grant the appropriate rewards. –
The system was really on top of things, huh? I wondered what sort of rewards I might get. The sub-quest might issue me new spirit contracts, which I could use on the spirit beasts inhabiting the Spectral Forest, though I probably shouldn't spend them on the Crescent Mushroom or Lunar Mushroom (and I didn't have the spirit contracts needed to make them my summoned spirit beasts anyway). Maybe more Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants?
In any event, I suppose I will have to visit Spectral Forest in person to find out what sort of spirit beasts I could add to my dungeon.