After stating my reason for seeking immortality, both Mom and the Sect Master stared at me with wide eyes.
I could tell from their reactions that neither of them had thought like that. The Sect Master was easy for me to understand as we had already gone over that, but Mom's reaction was more shocking.
I expected her reason for seeking immortality to be something with a life span similar to mine, given what she said earlier, but I was apparently overthinking things.
Since they were not saying or doing anything after hearing what I said, I quickly commented, "What? Since being immortal means that you have infinite time, then why should I not make my goals take just as long?"
My words seemed to cause the two of them even more shock as Mom hesitatingly responded, "So you actually have the chance to complete that goal, even if it's only by a small margin."
I nodded along with what she said, as parts of it were valid. However, I also disagreed with either part, so I retorted, "You would have a good point if it weren't for a couple of other things. The first is that I can have multiple long-term goals, some of which could be completed earlier.
"The second thing is that I can easily make it to where, even if I was no longer around for some reason, my goal would eventually complete itself. After all, the only thing I need to do for that is to teach the right person even a fraction of my current knowledge. Thus lighting the spark, which will turn into a raging flame that will eventually consume the universe.
"I don't need to be the person that lights the fire or blazes the trail myself, just the one who provides the spark and I will be happy knowing that. Anything else is simply a bonus.
"So I guess I will just have to win the outer sect competition so the sect can help upgrade my compound with new facilities, like a teaching hall and dormitory, among other things."
They only stood there after hearing what I said, looking at me, so I tilted my head to the side, showing my confusion without saying anything.
This prompted one of them to finally say something as Mom asked, "If your goal is that easy to reach, then what is the use in having it?"
I already had a simple answer to this, but I still paused to think about my answer before responding, "While my goal could be completed by others over time, I would prefer to be there to do it myself."
What I did not say was that I also had another reason for reaching immortality and beyond.
Regardless, neither Mom nor I had anything more to add to the conversation, and I was content with being quiet until the Sect Master asked a sudden question, "Why do you have that as your goal?"
This question caught me off guard, leaving my mind blank for a few seconds before I composed myself and started thinking about how to answer it. It was not that I never thought about this, but rather that I had spent too long thinking about it while doing my research and needed to compose a proper response.
While I was thinking, I heard Mom start scolding him, saying, "What are you doing?! Did you somehow forget that asking a cultivator the reasoning behind their motivation for seeking immortality is extremely rude?! Not to mention how-"
It was at this point that I interrupted Mom, saying, "The reason why I chose this goal goes all the way back to when I was choosing my wishes during reincarnation, even if I did not know it at that time.
"That is because I chose to have a survival game-based system for the main purpose of being able to feel the progression as I advance through technological ages. Going from learning how to make stone tools to foraging iron and steel and eventually putting together circuit boards to make CNC machines for fabrication.
"There is even the potential to go beyond all of that and make interstellar ships capable of colonizing new worlds, building megastructures, or even piercing the fabric of this reality and stepping into another.
"However, all of this requires a technological base to be built off of, and simply from hearing that all clothing needs to be tailor-made, I can tell that the technological level of this part of the world is not high enough."
My words once again caused the two of them to go silent as I got to see their reactions. Mom seemed to be thinking something along the lines of why I answered his question. On the other hand, the Sect Master looked to be pondering what I had said.
Eventually, the Sect Master broke the silence by asking, "How does that relate to you teaching others about all of this, and why do clothes needing to be tailor-made tell you that the world's technological level is too low for you to do what you want?"
Smiling at his questions, I think for a moment before responding, "To answer your first question, even though I have the system, it only allows me to "easily" obtain the technological knowledge of my world at its peak from when I left. That is also not necessarily easy, as every tech needs a point to unlock, and those points are no longer that common.
"Then make it to where every tech that does not originate from my world and is instead spawned by my own research and discovery costs even more points. This method of getting new technology becomes completely unsustainable, so I am going to use the alternative way to unlock new technology: research.
"That is why I need to train other people so that they can help me unlock and develop new tech.
"Now, to answer your second question, if all your clothing needs to be tailor-made, then that means you have some issues somewhere. The first issue could be that you are not able to produce the necessary materials to make cloth fast enough.
"The second issue could be that you are not able to turn those materials into cloth fast enough, or it could be the third issue where you don't have a method to mass produce clothes from the cloth you acquire.
"No matter which of those issues it is, any one of them would prove that you lack curtial technology in one area." I then paused for a second to gauge the Swect Master's reaction before continuing, "And from your reaction, I can gather that everything I said just now is accurate.
"Since that is the case, I should be able to fix it in time. Even more so if I am able to teach others how to innovate."
After I finished, I waited for a few minutes as the Sect Master still seemed to be trying to wrap his head around what I said before he asked, "How does making clothing equate to technological development? I mean, most of the reasons as to why mass-produced clothing isn't a thing is because of the reasons you already gave. But how does that become the baseline indicator of technological development?"
I nodded along with his questions and quickly answered when he finished, "It is a decent indicator because mass-produced clothing requires multiple separate industries to work together in tandem to function.
"You could also supplement what you're missing by bringing it in from the outside. However, that is mostly detrimental in the long run, so you want to make as much of it as you can. In our case, we have to do everything ourselves because no one else can make what we need in the quantity that we need.
"So going back to the first issue, farming. It is not only used for growing plants needed to make cloth or grow herbs but it can also be used to grow large quantities of food.
"Thus, if you have no good pieces of equipment left to take care of the cloth materials. Then, how underdeveloped is this part of the world?
"Next would be making the cloth in bulk as it would require highly sophisticated machinery; thus, you have already failed this part.
"Then you have the last part, which is the transportation of cloth to designated tailors or factories. I know that you might be wondering why making the clothes is not the last part, but I have already answered that as it is the same problem as when making clothes.
"Thus, swiftly getting the materials and finished products to their destinations is the key problem here. Without it, many other things would not be able to be made.
"Don't worry about the last part, though, as I already have a way to fix it. The only thing that would make you hesitate to use it is though, is the cost of the solution."
At my final words, the Sect Master's head dropped, and I could swear I saw a text box floating above his head saying, 'Please end this nightmare.'