"I'll pass on the foundation technique of our Sect, the 'Boundless Dao,' to you, senior apprentice-brother."
One sentence from Su Youyi made Liang Yi's heart surge with excitement — his spring had arrived!
"Shouldn't I mention this to the master? Such an important matter of transmitting techniques," Liang Yi asked uneasily. He was still somewhat hesitant; although his previous self was a disciple of the Taoist Sect, his current self felt no affection for Dao Mountain. To be precise, the only emotional attachment he had in this world was now with his junior apprentice-sister.
"Don't worry about it. If the master knew that you could cultivate now, he would probably be so happy that he'd drink a few more bottles of wine. What worried him the most was your cultivation issue," Su Youyi waved her hand at Liang Yi, she knew her master all too well.
"So it is." Liang Yi's worry was alleviated, but he was still a bit nervous. In his previous life, his main account was a lone wolf, never joining any Sect or force, and his cultivation technique was an orange skill obtained through a great cost from a serendipitous quest.
Su Youyi sensed that no one was prying around and casually set up a Barrier. She found two stools and placed them opposite each other in front of Liang Yi, sitting down herself and beckoning for Liang Yi to sit across from her.
"Since I didn't bring the jade tube for transmitting the technique, I can only recount it for you to listen carefully. If there is anything you don't understand, just ask me directly." Su Youyi was a bit reluctant to look directly at Liang Yi's face; she had known her senior apprentice-brother was handsome but had never really looked at him face to face.
Since her senior apprentice-brother's memory loss, her mindset had also changed somewhat. Things she had only dared to think about and not do before were now crossing her mind, causing her heart to race when she looked at him.
"No problem."
Upon hearing Liang Yi's response, Su Youyi calmed her emotions somewhat and narrated the content of the cultivation technique:
"The Great Dao is boundless, without deceit or peril. Breathing intertwined, embracing the median..."
"Ding! Su Youyi is passing on the Golden Skill 'Boundless Dao' to you. Would you like to learn it?"
"Yes." Liang Yi took a deep breath. Golden Skill! It's brilliant!
After Liang Yi chose to learn the skill, the skill column in his profile changed from "None" to the newly learned 'Boundless Dao.'
A stream of mysterious information appeared in the Sea of Consciousness, helping Liang Yi learn and comprehend the technique at an incredible speed. Liang Yi felt that even if he returned to Earth now, he could continue to cultivate based on the technique in his brain.
"What a completely different feeling from the game."
[Ding! Congratulations on mastering the Golden Skill 'Boundless Dao'!]
[You have mastered a cultivation technique, triggering NPC template attributes to be replenished!]
[Replenishment complete!]
"Oh-ho? This is a nice bonus??" Liang Yi was elated, the surprise clear in his expression.
He truly didn't know NPCs had such a function. The many reasons why common players were weaker than NPCs included that NPCs could start learning cultivation techniques from Level 0, whereas players could only start from Level 10.
The attribute points gained from leveling up with a cultivation technique from Level 0 to 10 wouldn't be retroactively given by the system.
Liang Yi was now incredibly happy, so much so that he wanted to hug and kiss his little junior apprentice-sister, but he calmed himself down first as another system notification popped up.
[Ding! Player forum is now open!]
[The countdown to the game's internal test opening: 179 days, 23 hours, 56 minutes]
"Senior apprentice-brother, what's wrong?" Su Youyi, sitting across from him, keenly noticed that his heartbeat had suddenly quickened.
"It's nothing, nothing. I seem to have gotten the hang of it very easily, just shocked by my own talent," Liang Yi quickly hid the astonishment in his eyes, giving a casual explanation.
"Player forum? Internal test!? Is this still a game? Impossible, if I were still in a game, what are all these comprehensions about the cultivation technique in my Sea of Consciousness? And what about the incredibly real feelings from junior apprentice-sister?" Liang Yi's mind was a mess. He had thought he was in another world, but the mention of the player forum and the internal test hit him hard.
"It can't be a game; if Earth had this technology, we would have already entered into the Cultivation era, it's impossible that I didn't hear any news about it before transmigrating," Liang Yi shook his head, stopping his wild speculations, and decided to check out the forum first.
```
Casually opening the player forum, I find it's still a blank page, with only the inner testing countdown ticking away.
"Sigh." Liang Yi doesn't quite know how to feel, just taking it one step at a time. He remembers being an inner tester himself back then; might as well go to the spot where the descent happens and see what unfolds.
No longer concerned about the forum and the inner test, Liang Yi turns his attention to the cultivation technique he just learned.
"I've never heard of this skill before, I remember in my past life other super forces took in players as ordinary disciples, but I never heard of anyone joining the Taoist Sect." Liang Yi recalls, but then he gives up on that thought and decides to level up first.
"Level up." Liang Yi mentally chants.
Name: Liang Yi
Gender: Male
Template: NPC
Race: Human Race
Level: 13
Cultivation Technique: [o layer]
Life Value: 1382/1500
Attributes: Strength 150, Agility 150, Endurance 150, Intelligence 150, Comprehension 10 (not upgradable), Charm 10 (not upgradable), Luck 10 (not upgradable)
Free Attribute Points: 25
Experience: 15000/30000 (not upgradable)
Skills: None
Equipment: An ordinary rolling pin
Liang Yi nods in satisfaction; as long as he crosses the first major watershed in cultivation, the trend of soaring attributes will become evident. After learning a Golden Skill, each level up increases all attributes by 10 points, an orange skill by 8 points, and so on down to 2 points for white skills.
So the sooner one learns a Golden Skill, the better. Although you can switch and cultivate something else later, the lost attribute points won't be regained unless you're determined to start over from level 10.
Before level ten, during the novice stage, you only get one free attribute point per level up, but after level ten, it's five points.
"Now, to players of the same level, I'm already quite the boss," Liang Yi thinks to himself.
"Senior brother! You've reached the Third Layer of the Dao Foundation Realm!?" A cry of surprise comes from in front of him, coming from his little disciple sister who has been observing him.
"Yeah, the third layer. Didn't I just say so? Seems like my talent is quite decent." Liang Yi knows that levels 11—20 on his panel correspond to the First Realm of the Dao Foundation Realm in this world's martial arts cultivation. From the first to the ninth layer of Dao Foundation, level 20 is the Great Perfection of the Dao Foundation Realm.
"Wow~" Su Youyi leaves her stool curiously, circling around her senior brother and expressing her amazement.
"What's going on? You look as if you're seeing a precious spirit beast or something." Liang Yi feels like he's going to be dizzy from being circled by his disciple sister, so he grabs her to stop the spinning.
"Just curious! I've never seen anyone break through three layers right after learning a cultivation technique. If master were here, he'd probably be overjoyed." Su Youyi speaks with a hint of regret, as the master truly tried everything possible to get the senior disciple to cultivate.
It's also her own miscalculation; had she known her senior brother's talent was so strong, she should have saved this surprise for the return to the mountain, to witness it together in front of the master.
While Su Youyi is thinking this, she suddenly hears a familiar voice.
"Ha ha ha, silly disciple, who said you can't see if I'm not around?"
```