“Hmm Yun, are there any dungeons slightly easier for the customers? They are practically newbies that do not know how to fight at all.” Jin was looking through the videos of his customers trying to get pass Normal Mode or Normal+ Mode. They were failing so badly that Jin spent more time sending his customers to the recovery bay than congratulating them.
“Most of the goblins kicked their asses so hard. It’s starting to not get funny. I might lose customers in the long run even though I have incentives placed for them.” Jin thought in his head while manning his store.
“But I heard some of them started to get the hang of it. There were a few cultivators that even managed to raise their rank to Grade 2 because of us.” Yun replied to Jin as she read a book in the recovery bay.
“Maybe I am not asking the question in the right way. How about a dungeon that allows them to collect spirit force much more easily so they can proceed to the next dungeon with more confidence? Getting them to fight the sneaky goblins without any situational awareness or decent response time is courting death.” Jin shook his head as he saw another cultivator lying flat at Station 2.
“Maybe a grade restriction to this new dungeon?” Jin tried to parley with Yun, hoping he would get something out of this vague discussion.
“All dungeons have their own grade restriction, and if you are too high of a level, your powers will be restricted. However, I get what you mean. You want something like an entry level dungeon so they are able to garner spirit force more than medals.”
“Yes, exactly! If they could increase their cultivation, they might be inclined to believe this shop is helping them and with the incentives placed, they will always return for more. I do not disagree on the difficulty of goblins but the cultivators in our current modern society are…just too useless.” Jin dragged the body up to the second floor for monitoring.
“You were useless if it was not for your granddad guiding you.” Yun thought for a moment and asked Jin to check his mission app.
********
Mission: Kill 200 different looking zombies
Secondary mission: Kill all 200 zombies with the Panda Yawning technique.
Reward: Great Wall of China Dungeon Instance.
********
“Kill, not capture? And wow zombies, they seem to be the perfect entry dungeon monsters.” Jin was surprised by the new conditions.
“Well the zombies were dead to begin with, the spirit force residing inside them is the only essence they contained or received through certain conditions. Conditions like necromancy or unnatural chi disaster. However, in the Zombie World, all who were killed or died due to natural conditions would become zombies. That is their law of the world. “
“Killing them releases the spirit force. The spirit force of a zombie is unique enough to have a certain spirit signature assigned. The phone automatically absorbs the spirit signature in order to ‘capture’ them. You can have fun killing them without any mercy.” Yun gently smiled at Jin’s hardworking demeanour despite his cultivation giving him a lazy look.
“Does that mean I could also just kill living ones and get their spirit signature?”
“I knew you would ask about that possibility. No, living beings have their spirit signature within their Dantian no matter which monster it is…well unless genetically modified but I digress.”
“The spirit signature of every being is the most obvious when it is weakened or near death because the Dantian which provides core of the chi is depleted, leaving the spirit signature to be exposed for the phone to capture.”
“That is also why you cannot really capture human souls because of the solidified dantian.”
“I will do this mission either tonight or tomorrow morning. Looks like I have new customers coming in.” Jin stopped his conversation with Yun to greet the new customers.
“Two high school kids…and their teacher?” He thought to himself when he saw the kids’ uniform and they were being too formal with the elderly male for him to be their relative.
“Ah, this is indeed the store of the infamous dungeon supplier. Such extravagant equipment. May I humbly ask for your name?” Pu Ting bowed his head while he took his fur felt hat off.
“Name’s Jin. What can I get for you guys?” Jin did not question much but Yun noticed a slight disturbance from the first floor and utilising the system’s powers, she turned her book into a screen of one of the CCTV.
“Get me the Zither Mistress dungeon instance, three of them.” Di Ku raised three fingers to reaffirm his choice towards Jin.
“Careful Jin, the elderly is not someone to be trifled with.” Yun quietly sent her thoughts to Jin.
“Sir, might I add that this dungeon instance has a restriction on your grade. You will be forced down in grade. Do you wish to continue?” Jin realised what Yun meant and said it out loud.
Pu Ting gave a slight smirk. “For you to figure it out so easily, I guess I really need to improve on hiding my cultivation. Either that or…never mind. I understood Boss, give us the three instance tickets. My student is treating me hahaha!” It was obvious Pu Ting was trying to deflect something but Jin did not care much and accepted their orders.
They did the transaction routine all new customers went and Jin directed them to Station 5. “Hmm…A proper instructor?” Jin thought as he judged Pu Ting. Although he never had proper formal training, most of his learning came from the books that were passed down from his late grandfather Ming.
Ming knew that by rote learning, Jin would just be another cultivator following the books and he would not grow to his fullest potential. Hence, Ming did not interfere with Jin as he wanted him to learn through trial and error. He still gave certain advices which allowed Jin to accelerate his training and even combat lessons to increase his combat awareness.
Those life skills could not be taught but only through experience he would learn. That was how Jin managed to stay quick witted during missions. In addition, watching how people fight in the store also became a part of Jin’s hobby too. He took notes with the help of the System and thought of ways trying to counter them or how he could win if he was in that situation. Therefore, Jin was naturally interested in the instructor’s teachings and how his disciples react to the Zither Mistress dungeon instance.
Di Ku, Pian Zi and Pu Ting were teleported into the grassland and the first thing that came into their mind was an illustrious yet smoothing medley from afar. There was a tinge of sorrow within the medley but all three of them recognised some well known music pieces within that medley too. Was it a coincidence? Di Ku would not know until he challenged the Zither Mistress.
Di Ku could not resist his urge any longer and took out a leather briefcase from his storage ring to retrieve his bamboo flute. “Pian Zi, thank you for bringing me here. I am starting to think, this is a meeting I have long been wanting.”
As Di Ku placed his lips on the bamboo flute, two weasel silhouettes appeared above him. “Willful Weasel Style, Di Ku is getting serious.” Pian Zi sweat a little as he knew how single minded Di Ku could be.
The two fire and ice wyrm ants also appeared from the ground and Pu Ting signalled to Pian Zi to take care of them. “I will aid you if you need help, till then fight as hard as you can.” Pu Ting smiled a little as he held his hands behind his back.
