After eating breakfast, Allan and Tory headed to a cafe where he would meet with his friends. They were the first to arrive but soon everyone arrived.
"So Jasper, I wanna hear from you first, what information have you gathered?" Allan asked
"So it turns out this game is not about experience, but cultivation. But it's very hard to start cultivating. The world for mortals is very lame to be honest, only those who can cultivate can do something. In this world, the soldiers, the aristocracy and even the royalty are all cultivators."
"But becoming a cultivator is very difficult. I think we all have the same stats since the game said it was trying to be fair to the players. But NPCs believe that spiritual roots are set from the moment you're born. So for us there must be a step further we have to take in order to start cultivating. I'm just not sure yet how to use the spiritual roots."
"Besides that, did any of you start in a big city?" Jasper asked.
Everyone shook their heads.
"I think the villages of mortals are a safe place for us in that game since there aren't any arrogant cultivator or something like that. But I learned that there are sects that are where the cultivators gather. It's just that it's to difficult to get in since disciples are chosen from a very young age and must have a very strong spiritual root."
"Besides, I managed to get a map of my kingdom. Tell me the names of the villages you guys are at and let's plan to join up." Jasper finished.
"Anyone else has anything new to add." Allan asked.
"Yeah I battled monsters for two days and I couldn't get anything from them. It was very frustrating but at least we got lots of views in our stream." Said Keith, and Sasha nodded.
"Sheila, anything from you?" Allan asked. Sheila was very shy but she was even better than Jasper in collecting information. No wonder they ended up paired.
"Besides the map, I learned that merchants use a small army of mercenaries to travel around to protect themselves from monsters. There is going to be a merchant visiting my village in the next week. Which should be in three to four days in reality."
"Also the kingdom doesn't care much about the villages, they pretty much fend for themselves, but the sects keep them somewhat safe since good spiritual roots can be born in any village. It's like cattle in a sense, there they keep the livestock waiting for the best cow to be born."
"There are also evil sects roaming the land. It seems that they don't have a fixed place, or if they have, it's pretty hidden. They don't dare to show up publicly and are now operating with discretion. If any big move is detected by the righteous sects, they will end up dead."
"Very good!" Allan said. "Now it's my turn. I know for fact that there are treasures that can improve the spiritual root. But that is not all. Spiritual roots only affect your talent. You also have to have a cultivation technique. These treasures are with what we will make a living with. They'll be sold for a very high price. And the reason is because they'll allow players to cultivate."
"Now, I'll tell you a story. I was hunting normal animals to get some money, but one monster ended up trying to kill me. It was a fiery boar. It chased me until we fell into a hole in the ground. It landed on a stalagmite and was impaled to death. Down there I found a chamber that had some secrets. Turns out I have found the legacy of the Crazed Monster Hunter. That guy was a genius but he died before he could enjoy his legacy. He created a technique that allows us to refine monster flesh and turn it into spiritual roots. Not cultivation though."
"What, we can become stronger by hunting monsters, is that true?" Keith asked. Everyone was shocked but he was so hotheaded that he had to scream it.
"Yes. But it's not so simple. First of all, we all know that some other players might have gotten some similar, so we are at disadvantage. Perhaps they got a treasure instead of this refining technique which sets their cultivation speed higher than ours at the moment. But this technique is special and can last after death if it's used correctly. After all we can hunt monsters again from the beginning. And this will be the core of our strength."
"So I have two plans that must be executed if we want to stay at the top. First, Keith and Sasha, when streaming, avoid using this technique in front of the audience. This is our secret. The first plan is for you guys to learn some kind of mental cultivation technique. The NPCs call them meditation techniques. I have already learned one and I'm currently cultivating already."
"Second, combat skills are gonna be very important in this game. I mean martial arts, I'm pretty sure you guys already noticed that. So I suggest we start training in real life, what do you guys think?" Allan finished.
Everyone looked at him with awe and them they start to think about their futures.