The trip back to the river was just as uneventful as when we left it. To have all these tree monsters not attack because of her presence...Just how strong was this fairy? She said she was old, but just how old? How long had she been cultivating? Did her size matter?

If she could get so strong when she's so small, the prospect of seeing my future disciples' strength excited me. If the fairy was anything to go by, they'd be like Hulks!

The excitement burned away a bit of my hunger-induced weakness. Who cares if I hadn't eaten in ages? I was about to make something beautiful!

"Alright!" I said, setting the offering bowl on the large stone. "How do we do this?"

The fairy flew upwards to a dizzying height. My eyesight - even with my glasses - wasn't good enough to see what she was doing. But she flew back down moments later with a concerned look on her face.

<It's going to be very tight,> she told me. This place doesn't have the flattest of lands and the ground isn't the best place for laying down formations.>

"Is that going to be a problem?"

<Only if you're not careful. But with my guidance, you'll make this work...Hopefully.>

"Let's do this then!"

The fairy nodded and began speaking.

She first instructed me to take the large stone away from the river and the kiln. After about five feet of strenuous pushing, she was satisfied with its position. Then, she told me I had to make a large-ish half-circle, leading from one side of the rock and ending at the other.

I grabbed the offering bowl and tilted it forward. Nothing came out. With a huff, I grabbed a pinch of it and sprinkled it on the ground. The fairy's glare told me that wasn't nearly enough ash, so I grabbed a small handful and let it sift through my fingers. At the fairy's nod of approval, I repeated the sifting until I had gotten half of the way through. The ash in the bowl ran out, so we made an impromptu trip back to the forest and collected more ash.

The second bowl was enough to finish off the circle. The next step was to draw words of power. I recognized what the fairy wanted me to draw from the years of forced Mandarin lessons my father made me go through. Call, object, bound, realm.

Did this world speak Mandarin? No, the fairy spoke to me in English. Perhaps only when it came to making formations and the like.

Once I had drawn the words, the fairy instructed me to draw a line from the midpoint of the semicircle to the stone. Then, she had me place the offering bowl right on where the midpoint line began.

<Now,> she said when I put the offering bowl down, <here is where normal cultivators would infuse the formation with qi to make it work. But since you don't have any...>

She shrugged. <I have no idea.>

"Maybe the system will do it?" I suggested.

<I wouldn't get too comfortable with relying on the system. While it is your main source of power now, you will eventually have to pull your own weight.>

"Or what? Do I get sent back home if I can't?"

<...Let's just say the admins won't wait for the xianxia MC to take care of you.>

After a beat of silence, the fairy cleared her throat. <Well, let's not dwell on that any longer. Check your progress on the Cultivator Summoning Altar.>

⌈Cultivator Summoning Altar progress:

Resources: Large stone x1, Offering Bowl x1, Summoning Formation x1

Builders: Sect Core⌋

"Everything's green," I said.

<Hmm...So why isn't working...Oh! Your skill! [Summon Cultivator], right? Try that!>

"It needs a spirit herb to use," I murmured. "Where did I put that stone blossom?"

<You're going to have to get a new one,> the fairy said. <They lose their form and crack when exposed to sunlight for too long.>

Groaning, I went over to the patch of Stone Blossoms on the edge of the tree line. The fairy accompanied me to keep away the Stationary Ent and I harvested the flower with little difficulty.

Going back to the formation, I dropped the flower delicately into the bowl and then activated my skill.

"[Summon Cultivator]!"