Chapter 93

Chapter 93: If It Misses, Please Upgrade

Fang Ning clicked the pop-up, and immediately another pop-up appeared with the Terms & Conditions attached. Fang Ning only needed to scan through it once to understand the contents of the document.

The most important part of the terms and conditions was how it stated that ‘all risk during cultivation is to be borne by the cultivator and the cultivator only. The game developers have no legal obligation to provide any form of compensation should anything occur.’

All other terms and conditions were the usual reminders for the player to follow the rule of law. Finally, below the clauses are two choices: Agree, or Disagree.

Fang Ning of course would click on ‘Agree’ without any hesitation. Then, a window for identity verification appeared, and Fang Ning calmly keyed in the ID and contact number of one of his Shadow ID 1 , the Venerable White Dragon. The verification process ended after he completed the steps on his phone.

There’s no point worrying about the vast number of Shadow IDs he had. Still, he would never confuse them, as Fang Ning now has a pretty developed brain. The Shadow ID of the Venerable White Dragon came to light when Zheng Dao went to register Harmony Powers Ltd. Fang Ning went to the Truth Department to find a way to shake the dirt off of Vigilante A, and also allocate him a valid identity to work with.

A notification popped up after the verification process was completed. [Your real age is 18 years old 1 month. Your age is below 50 and above 18, and you are thus allowed to enter the Cultivation Interface. Any loss suffered due to a false identity or a forged ID will be sustained entirely by yourself in accordance to the special agreement signed.]

Naturally, Fang Ning had no qualms when it comes to handling the potential losses. After he closed the notification away, he noticed that his screen has morphed to an entirely new display. That ancient, green book appeared in the Cultivation Interface, and on it glowed the words ‘Basic Cultivation of the Spirit’.

Fang Ning clicked on it, and the next thing that popped up in the middle of his display was a 3D person with his legs crossed, engrossed in cultivation. Beside him, lines of mantras gradually appeared, and beside them were elaborate explanations and even some illustrations.

As compared to the simple recital that Fang Ning had just now, this is the most recent version, packed with beautiful illustrations and detailed explanations. This version was the one that would actually allow ordinary people to cultivate. Fang Ning recalled his cultivation process just now to compare with this version he has now. He came to a conclusion – he really did master the skill already…

However, a new problem came up. How then would he let this game know that he has mastered it? This was not some Virtual Reality game where his mind was directly connected to the server. There was no way for the game to know what he did it just like that.

Before Fang Ning could fret over it, he soon found a ‘Cultivation Progress Checker’ button at the bottom right corner of his screen. Fang Ning clicked on it, and was shown another new interface.

“Please use the cultivated spiritual sense to recite the coded spell below…”

Fang Ning gave it some thought. Spiritual sense… Isn’t that the power within this White Dragon form of his? It took him some time to understand what the sentence meant. The game is asking him to speak a sentence in his White Dragon form, right? He had been speaking like this for too long that Fang Ning forgot how it was supposed to be mysterious and intriguing to other people.

Fang Ning was speechless. How did they manage to make it so overly dramatic?

It took him only a few moments to infer the underlying principles of the spell. After it was recited by someone’s spiritual sense, it will send out a signal on a unique frequency. It was probably connected to a certain place that would verify the signal. All in all, probably harmless.

Fang Ning immediately recited it after he understood everything. “Code XXFSAFA2332: Justice has long arms, and it never misses any of its targets. If it misses, please upgrade…”

What type of sh*tty spell is this? Fang Ning realized that he didn’t get any reply from the game after his first incantation. He recited two more times before he had gotten a notification from the game.

[Congratulations player Dragon Ascending The Heavens to be the first to successfully complete the Basic Cultivation of the Spirit. You are rewarded 10,000 Fame and 10,000 Wolf Coins. Your Intelligence has increased by 10 points. Do you want to make an all-server announcement?]

Fang Ning was surprised at how bountiful the rewards were. The characters in the game could only increase their attributes slowly through quests, and Intelligence does not grow with the level of the character. The 10 Intelligence Points he got would usually cost him hundreds of quests to obtain!

“Are you kidding me? Of course I want that announcement! You know what, make it a triple announcement!”

Fang Ning stabbed on the ‘Yes’ option almost too quick. He had no intentions to maintain a low profile here in the game; he was playing the game to feel good about himself, to show off! How could he dominate the world if he wasn’t well known? He would always have Sir System by his back anyways, so there’s no need for him to be afraid of anyone who would track him down and take revenge outside of the game! He would welcome anyone who dared to show up, really; he was still worrying about where to get monsters to farm!

[Welcome the new age for Battles of the Beasts! Player Dragon Ascending The Heavens is the first to complete the Basic Cultivation Of The Spirit! He is granted the title “Pioneer of Cultivators”!]

[Welcome the new age…]

[Welcome the new age…]

After the triple announcement, the feed was immediately flooded with user comments.

“What even is Basic Cultivation of the Body? Anyone?” This must be from a newbie noob.

“Someone actually managed to learn the Basic Cultivation of the Body? Hmm, seems like the promotional activities of the game is good! There’s really a hidden super function.” This must be from a person with some insights.

“How do I learn that? I’ll pay RMB10,000 for the walkthrough!” A random rich man was willing to spend his money like dirt.

Aside from public comments, even more people chose to private message Fang Ning in an attempt to grasp what had happened. Fang Ning, of course, ignored them all, acting distant and mysterious.

The advantages he had from his real life has given him the in-game benefit, allowing him to have a jumpstart. Fang Ning’s passion in the game only amplified after he saw the possibility of him dominating it. He’s all geared up for another all-nighter now.

Well, that was until Mother hen Sir System fretted about Fang Ning’s behavior. The Host seemed to have lost his sight on the goal yet again, and the System would never sit by to let that happen.

The System berated, “Enough now. Tomorrow, you’ll go to work as usual. Your break after the quest has ended. What even is the point of the game anyways? You can’t even feed yourself with it.”

Fang Ning grumbled, “Leave me alone…”

At the same time, Xue Ba the Yellow Dog was fast asleep and enjoying its dream. Groggily, it seemed to have sensed something as it sniffled, “Why do I feel like something is trying to hook the Venerable One’s spiritual sense away? Ah, forget it, the Venerable One hid himself well enough that the attempt has failed. I’m better off with my dreams… Ah, my bones and meat, my girls… Don’t go…”

Underneath the dining table was Brett the Black Dog, talking in its sleep as it sprawled on the chilly floor, “Hm? There seems to be something… Oh, it’s cold, is there any kind-hearted female doggies willing to warm my bed?”

Far away, in a random base of the Truth Department.

“The first book of the human version of the Cultivation of the Spirit is finally collected in the game. We’ve spent 7 years in editing and refining, and we’ve managed to get our first successful cultivator in under two hours. We’ve gotten the signal here in Nets Above Snares Below. There’s almost no doubt that this person is a cultivator, but there seems to be a problem at the end. Even though we received a clear response signal that confirms the identity of the cultivator, we failed to receive the cultivator’s actual coordinates. We did not manage to harvest the spiritual sense that we’re supposed to get.”

“It seems like the newest function of Nets Above Snares Below is bugged yet again.”

“D*mn it, inform to those coding f*ckers that can’t stop producing bugs! They’re going on overtime until the next morning…”

///

The next day, Zheng Dao sent an emergency QQ message to Vigilante A early in the morning. Zheng Dao knew that if he used QQ, he would be able to contact at least one of the Venerable Ones immediately. If he chose to personally seek them, he’ll waste more time instead.

“Venerable Ones, this is an emergency. I’ve just realized that the Truth Department is sending out Emergency Notices to all State Special Affairs Departments and all associates. The notice informs us of a High Emergency Level Phenomena (HELP) that is spreading in the mountains southwest. It reminds all State Special Affairs Department to go into Level One Armed Condition, and it seeks assistance from all associates.”

Fang Ning rubbed his weary eyes awake. He had enthusiastically gamed through the night, and exhausted himself mentally. Now, he’s feeling lethargic and lazy all over.

After he read the blinking message in his QQ, Fang Ning immediately jolted into full alertness.

A HELP! Would there be another nationwide disconnection again? That cannot happen! He just got himself a good start in Battle of the Beasts, he will not allow any of that to happen!

“Alright, share the information you have with me, quick.”

Before Fang Ning could finish typing, he already received a digital report from Zheng Dao. It did not take long for Fang Ning to identify what dangerous fellow they have on their hands. “Sh*t, it’s this thing!” Fang Ning proclaimed, “We should eliminate it as soon as possible. Sir System, you could finally farm as much as you want this time around.”

The System added, “According to what we’ve got from the information, I’ll need your help too.”

Fang Ning quickly agreed, “No problem, I’ve got your back.”

After their conversation ended, Fang Ning considered for a moment before sending a message to Zheng Dao. “Get Brett, the Black Dog… No, forget it, let them rest for three days. Let the Fang Restaurant deliver them their food throughout these three days, then. Let the chef make them himself. There’s no need for him to come over, then.”

Zheng Dao had a brief moment of surprise when he saw the message. This Venerable White Dragon really did care about his subordinates. Even dogs were treated the same!

At the roof, Vigilante A stood and leapt towards the air, transforming into a Fire Dragon as he flew southwest.

///

The Southwest Mountains are coiled with hills, with numerous villages scattered within.

Usually, the area would be filled with laughter while songs echoed in the mountains. Now, however, everything was painted in a coat of red, even the rivers, as they ran in streams of blood.

In one such village, numerous Yellowjackets the size of sparrows darted through the air, stinging every target they came across. Those who fell victim to their sting turned black, and in 3 steps, would collapse into a heap due to the sting. Still some special, stand-out Giant Yellowjackets would lay eggs on the supine corpses as well.

Those eggs appeared to hatch very quickly, too. They would become larvae in just a few hours, and they grew by consuming the corpses.

Personnel from the State Special Department had long stationed themselves in the area, organizing task forces to fight the Giant Yellowjackets, and to escort the villagers to safety. Even though they numbered many, they were still outnumbered by the Giant Yellowjackets, and could barely protect themselves. They had no power to fight back, nor to change the present situation.

The Giant Rats were numerous as well, but at least the rats had leaders. At least the Giant Rats knew how to temporarily lie low to amass their powers before striking back. At least they knew to not cause trouble when they were not ready for it.

From the information given, these Giant Yellowjackets did not have an intelligence high enough to behave outside of their instincts. To them, killing people and multiplying their numbers was imperative; their aim was to kill and lay as many eggs as possible.

No wonder Fang Ning became so anxious after he read the report. These things are flying poisonous insects with a high reproduction abilities. Their spread had the potential to be so terrifying that disconnecting the entire China was actually a possibility.