⌈Error. Cultivator Summoning Altar not found.⌋

"What?" I breathed. "What the heck is a Cultivator Summoning Altar?"

⌈Sect Building

Name: Cultivator Summoning Altar

Category: Disciples

Level: Basic

Resources: Large stone x 1, Offering bowl x 1, Summoning Formation x 1

An altar that is used to summon cultivators.⌋

"What is any of this stuff? Where am I gonna get an offering bowl? Or a freaking summoning formation?"

⌈Sect Building

Name: Clay Kiln

Category: Item Production

Level: Basic

Resources: Stick x 10, clay paste, clay bricks x 60

A small kiln made of clay used for pottery.⌋

"This is impossible! Where am I gonna get any of this stuff?"

<Well, mortal,> the fairy said dryly, <we are standing next to a river.>

I blanched at those words. I would have to do all of this myself? With my hands? I didn't know anything about building things! I'm a city boy; I do city boy things, like watch anime and drink tea.

"Fairy," I started.

<Not a fairy,> she quipped.

I ignored the interruption. Granted, I did know what she actually was - some sort of demon, I think - but thinking of her as a powerful fairy was less mind breaking than interacting with a hellspawn, you know?

"If I'm supposed to make a powerful sect quickly, how am I going to waste time constructing buildings when I don't even know how?"

She opened her mouth, probably getting ready to tell me off but then she stopped and closed it. Ha. Got her there. The fairy put her hand on her chin and held her elbow with her other hand as if she was thinking really hard. Her little face scrunched up in intense thought as she pondered my words. Finally, she dropped her arms and nodded with a sigh.

<You're right,> she agreed. <You'd be wasting too much time doing this. However, I don't know how you could bypass the system's->

A muffled boom in the distance cut her off. I looked up, concerned. At first, I couldn't see anything. The clear blue sky was empty. And then I heard a high-pitched whistle coming from the east. Alarm bells rang in my head; the whistle was close! Without bothering to look for it, I dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the little sphere that slammed into the earth a second later. The resulting explosion tossed me even further away.

I couldn't stop my sideways momentum and nearly went tumbling into the river. The fairy darted over to me and grabbed my sleeve just as my legs touched the water; her immense strength kept me from falling all the way. With a yank, she pulled me on to dry land. Dropping my arm, she floated closer and started speaking.

I couldn't hear the fairy over the blood rushing through my ears. My heart raced inside my chest as I stood up, pumped up with adrenaline. I stared at the disturbed gash in the earth, leading to a small crater about three feet deep. The fairy flew in front of my face, waving her hands in a pay-attention-to-me! fashion. But I ignored her, walking toward the crater.

Standing just above the rim of upturned, I stared down at the thing that had almost killed me. It was a revert pearl.