Two hours had passed when Jin finally woke up and left the sleeping capsule. He felt refreshed, re-energised and vigilant. The battle with Ming in his head had allowed him to learn more about his skills. After all, some of the things mentioned in the cultivation manual could not be taught by reading and had to be experienced.
“Finally awake?” Zeru had been sitting around cross legged, waiting for Jin to come out of the sleeping capsule. Greeted by Zeru, who passed him a towel, Jin looked down on himself to realise that his clothes were drenched in the black sludge.
“Has the System removed the black sludge, while I was sleeping?” Jin queried. Zeru nodded and also took this opportunity to explain what the black sludge was capable of. He figured Jin should know the truth about the byproduct of his cultivation. Information which the System had withheld previously.
Surprisingly, Jin was rather open minded about the System keeping secrets. Had it been the him from just a few weeks ago, he would have surely complained. Instead he merely asked the System: “So how exactly does the quality of souls differ between the ones we buy from the market?”
“The Interworld Market only allows the trade of standard souls which have been carefully selected according to the regulations set by the Interworld Market Committee. According to those regulations the sale of High Quality souls is considered illegal. At one point in time before this regulation, the market had been swamped due to necromancers performing taboo rituals in order to sell them. This nearly lead to a market crash. Nowadays not even the black market offers them anymore. Those high quality souls can be used to resurrect a person back properly, provided the right conditions and materials.”
“Interworld Market? You mean there is an entity larger than you?” Jin asked with his brows furrowed.
“Negative, the Interworld Market is not an entity. They are governed by a group of Grand Arch Wizards. That market is unaware about the real existence of the System. Most mistake the System for a highly functioning AI used to hide the real identity for someone behind it. However the System consists of the collective will of various elders and generations of Panda Clan Members. Should the User die without managing to resurrect the Panda Clan, his Soul will also be absorbed into the collective as long as doing so will enhance the chances of achieving the goal.”
“So System, do you need more of this black sludge for your research?” Jin switched his topic to prevent even more confusion.
“The System has collected a large enough sample of the sludge. Before User reaches another Grade another sample is not necessarily required.” The System replied and Jin nodded in response.
“Then you will have to wait. I have plenty of other things to do.” Jin excused himself as he exercised his neck a little before heading to the bathroom in his Terrace House. The System had been nice enough to create a portal for him.
After he got naked, he noticed that his skin was glittering with specks of gold and black, but within seconds, the specks disappeared. “System, what are these specks of gold and black?”
“Those are the starting signs from a formation of a sentient astral form.” The System answered. Jin was once again astonished. He had read about it in the Nineteen Lazy Astral Pandas cultivation manual. He understood, that he could cultivate an astral form, but he thought it would take a long while for him to reach such a level. It was supposed to be a form from a supposed non-physical realm of existence in which the physical human body was said to have a counterpart. The requirement was for him to be in control of his subconscious, which Kraft had been emphasising in order to create that astral form.
“Hmm, if a sentient astral form has already started to come into existence, does that mean Kraft’s subconscious training is paying off?” Jin thought to himself as he soaked himself in a gigantic tub of hot spring water mixed with medicinal herbs, courtesy of the System.
“Mmhmm, though part of the credit also belongs to the usage of the high intensity mode.” Kraft’s voice suddenly sounded beside him. Without him noticing Kraft had immersed himself into the water while he continued to be fully naked.
“UWAAAA! CAN YOU NOT SCARE ME JUST LIKE THAT!?” Jin momentarily tried to cover his sacred treasures in embarrassment with his hands.
“Not bad, potentially above average size, hard to tell since it’s all shrivelled up. I have a trick to enlarge it further if you wish to learn it for your…bedtime activities.” Kraft laughed loudly, as he snapped his fingers. The next moment all his foxes went into the bath with Jin. For the first time, Jin saw Tsu, Kai, Ixa, Ixel, Itori and Evon in the bath quietly enjoying the hot spring medicinal bath. Some were swimming around in the water, others just soaked happily… and for some reason one of them seemed embarrassed and turned around not looking at the naked Jin.
“I refuse!” Jin crossed his hands, before he took out a small towel hanging by the side covering his secret treasure before he returned to the bath. For some odd reason he felt a cooling sensation pulsating around him despite him being in a hot bath tub.
“The System recommends User to use the high intensity mode more often, so that you can utilise the sleep capsule.” The System spoke in the bathroom which made Jin nervous, getting the feeling that he was not as alone as he had wished.
“Why do I have to use the high intensity mode before using the sleeping capsule? Can’t I just use the sleeping capsule any time I want? Would it be possible to remodel the hot spring mountain instance into something similar to the sleeping capsule? That way, the black sludge would not overflow and I would not need to worry that much.” Jin asked the System while patting Ixa, who had swam over.
“A certain level of tiredness must be achieved before the sleeping capsule can be utilised.” The System replied with a short answer.
“Otherwise the pure chi injection of the sleeping capsule will kill you. Unless your chi circuits are clotted up that capsule may as well be a torture chamber. When you are burdened with fatigue, your circuits are blocked with residual bad and broken chi, and that is one way to use the sleeping capsule.” Zeru was the next person who joined Jin in the bathroom. Jin was slightly jealous seeing how extremely toned Zeru’s muscles were. More so than Kraft’s. But in terms of battle scars, both of them were comparable.
“Its like oxygen. Too pure a substance and it will kill you because your blood cells cannot carry them away.” Kraft flaunted his knowledge of uncommon torture techniques. “So similar to chi circuits, the System’s artificially pure chi would overload your chi circuits if you just go inside without truly needing it. If it was 100% natural pure chi, that would be a different story since the human producing it could suit it for the body.”
“Well, what if I continue to use the hot spring instance?” Jin laid back to a more relaxed position.
“The effectiveness of the Emerald Mountain hot spring instance has been reduced due to your grade. While it is possible to buy more high quality herbs from the black market the cost-effect-ratio is suboptimal. User not recommended to use it for cultivation purposes.” The System replied as it automatically injected hot spring water into the tub to replace the current pool.
Jin made use of the quiet time and engaged in some small talk with Kraft and Zeru. Primarily they talked about how his progress was going, and what he should do to improve himself. After a bit of silence Zeru proposed more topics to entertain people which was later overshadowed by Kraft. Never did Jin realised that both the males were such a talkative duo given the right time and atmosphete.
“Won’t it be great if we have some plum wine?” Zeru suggested on the fly which the System immediately granted and they enjoyed a cup or two. Jin did not drink much since he knew he needed to work later.
During their deep conversation Jin realised that Zeru had a lotus flower at the side of his thigh. Zeru noticed Jin looking at it and he sighed.
“It’s a memory of a loved one. She tattooed it for me with traditional ink and blessed it with her eternal love. No matter the battle scars on my body, this lotus tattoo is my Achilles heel. I will never let anyone scar this area.” Zeru said solemnly. This confession caused Kraft to become somewhat sentimental.
He turned his back and showed Jin a battle scar that transversed along the entire spine. “At one point, probably not too far off, the System will undoubtedly ask your permission to resurrect some certain individuals as higher NPCs beings. The ones that can make decision on their own and will demand authority and respect no matter what. Even though I hate most of them, I need to admit, but they will certainly be useful. If you wish their help, I will somehow tolerate it. All I ask is that you do not re-summon this one particular person. Panda Lord Zhou Lin.” Kraft said in disgust, with a murderous look after spouting the name.
“This nice little reminder was given to me by him. He had already been resurrected once before. A Panda Clan Chosen had received it as a mission from the System. Well without going into too much detail, this turned out to be one if not the biggest mistake the Original System has ever made. The Panda Clan Chosen was later forcefully stripped of her status and the ownership of the System went to Zhou Lin as he fought against the Jade Emperor and his lackeys.” Kraft explained.
“The Three Kingdom Civil Wars in your books were all because of him. He started the precursor wars to weaken the nation as a whole so that he could swoop the entire nation for himself. He almost won in the shadows until I rebelled against him. Rebelled against my own master since I knew the loopholes against the original System.” Kraft laid back staring at the ceiling and sip his sake as one of the foxes came to console him.
“Nine other bellators rebelled against him… I am the only survivor of that coup d’etat. Even though me surviving was also a stroke of luck. As you might have guessed, their spirits are currently manifested within these little darlings before you. In short, you are technically commanding Zeru, Peppers, Milk, me and six other original bellators, though they are unable to remember too much of their past life. Most of them only retained their abilities” Kraft went on and before Jin could even ask about the other three, Kraft was already ahead of him.
“For my earlier work the System has promised to reward me one of the last three foxes that it had previously withheld. Since those three are classified as ‘troublemakers’ the System needs your permission to release them.” Kraft finished his story, when Jin suddenly realised something.
“OIII System! You not only owe Kraft something, but you also owe me A HECK OF A LOT of rewards! Time to pay up!” Jin stood up and shouted with anticipation.
