(A/N: I am super duper sorry folks! Had my college exam in the last 10 days and couldn't publish a chapter. Here is a slightly longer chapter as compensation. Will provide steady releases twice a week from now on)
After some time, the trio left their hiding place and made their way to the town. Apparently, it was the outer part of the forest, so there was almost no chance of wild beasts appearing. While walking, Raiden silently communicated with the System.
‘Hey, you didn’t tell me in detail how the System works. Give me a quick rundown.’
[As the Host guessed earlier, the System shall help the Host to steal talents from others or obtain new talents by exchanging them with System points. System points can be obtained by completing quests or binding with protagonists. The world is full of many protagonists from low-level, mid-level to high-level.]
[Usually, The System can steal from any person as long as points are exchanged but if the Host binds with a protagonist, the Host automatically gets a fixed amount of the protagonist’s talents free of charge. For example, your current affinity with Cai Long is 40%. As long as it reaches 50%, the Host can bind with Cai Long, and automatically receive 50% of his talents.]
‘Hmm, that’s really convenient. Better not squander points in the beginning, that’s a rookie mistake. After all, I don’t know how hard it is to earn points and should spend them frugally for now. By the way, if I bind with them, won’t they realise it?’
[No, Host. After successful binding, the protagonists would only feel closer to the Host, and raising affinity further would be easier.]
While walking behind the two, Raiden almost started drooling, thinking of the talents he would get later. In his eyes, the two walking in front of him looked like two plump sheep, swaying their buttocks and enticing him. But that would be in the future. He decided to steadily win their trust first.
That’s when Raiden suddenly realised what he was forgetting all this time. That’s right. He couldn’t find the ring on his finger anymore. When he was starting to panic, the System chimed in.
[No need to be flustered. Humph, as expected of my idiot Host. The Chaos ring is a soul bound weapon and is currently in your soul-sea, also known as sea of consciousness, inner mind, or whatever. The Chaos ring is an odd treasure which nobody clearly knows how to use. After all, it doesn’t choose masters as frequently as the others and from what I know, it’s not particularly heaven-defying either.]
[It can only be used as a normal space ring but with one difference. That is, as long as its Master wants to learn something, no matter what it is, it would provide the relevant help. For example, if the Host wants to learn using swords, you only need to communicate your thoughts to the ring. Then it would give you a basic swordsmanship manual that only you can use and maybe provide a basic sword as well. But that’s all it would do. All further improvements would depend on the user. Due to its relatively lesser uses, it is not as popular as other Heavenly treasures. But you could also say that there hasn’t been anyone that has completely unravelled its secrets. After all, if that’s all it could do, it can’t be called a Heavenly treasure.]
Hearing this, Raiden fell into thought but abruptly shuddered. He had a sudden realisation and if his thoughts were true, that would mean he was truly double lucky. While suppressing his excitement, he asked, ‘System, you can surely read my thoughts. Can I use the ring in the way I thought just now?’
[Sighh…as expected of a person with the <Scheming (Advanced)> skill. That’s right, you can use the System on the things provided by the ring as well. By spending points, you can extract the knowledge provided by the ring.]
Raiden was extremely happy. It meant that as long as he had sufficient points, he could learn anything. And the wonderful thing was, because of the System, he could instantly learn whatever he wanted, and that would save a lot of time for cultivation.
Seeing that Raiden was lost in his thoughts and was smiling like a fool, Cai Long asked, “Hey buddy, are you alright?”
“Ah! Oh, sorry, I was lost in thoughts for a moment. By the way, you said you weren’t from here, right? May I ask what you are doing here?”
As a proud descendant of the transmigrators from Earth, Raiden knew that information is the key to survival in a foreign world. And judging by the usual plot, there should be a beginner event nearby since the protagonist is here.
It was Meng Xiaoling who replied, “Eh, you don’t know? All the five major powers are jointly organising the annual disciple recruitment test after a month. That’s why people from all over the place are flocking to our Meng city. Since Brother Raiden is also of our age, I thought you were here for the same reason.”
‘As I thought. Sighh…I hope there isn’t any drama this early in my journey. Then again, with my innate talent, I would have to be involved in all kinds of tricky situations, even if I do so indirectly. Anyway, Meng city, huh? Guess her family is quite influential around here.’
Raiden replied, “Actually, I don’t have anyone in this world and the uncle who was taking care of me, suddenly told me to go see the world after dumping me in this forest. And that’s when I met you guys.”
“Um, what can I say? Your uncle is really…uh, different, yeah. Well, it is fate that we met and we would like to be friends with you. Come stay with us. I will also request Mom to give you the basic cultivation method that everyone has and try to get you started on cultivation before the recruitment. Even if the 5 major powers don’t accept you, you can easily enter into the smaller sects,” Xiaoling replied.
Raiden had no objection and easily accepted the idea. After all, it was good to have free accommodation. As for entering a sect and cultivation, he obviously had his own plans.
While they were talking, they reached the city gates. Even though they didn’t look particularly imposing, they served the purpose and worked as a basic separation from the outside world. With the young miss of the Meng family by their side, nobody dared to stop them. Rather, everyone tried to remember the faces of the other two who seemed to have a good relationship with her, so that they wouldn't make an enemy of them by mistake.
While they were passing by a restaurant, Raiden got a whiff of a delicious smell and drooled. After his body transformation, he was starving and couldn’t wait to eat something. When the System told him that 50 spirit stones were enough to have a sumptuous meal for a month, he immediately said, “Hey, let’s eat here. My treat. After all, we just met a while back and yet, I am barging into your house. That doesn’t quite sound right to me. Although I am not rich, I can afford a dish or two. What do you say?”
Before the two could reply, he received several System notifications.
[Completed Hidden Quest: Tame a protagonist within 24 hours of arrival]
[Bonus applied: Buy 1, get 1 free. As the Host has tamed not one but two persons within 24 hours, the reward is multiplied.]
[Completed Hidden Quest: Get above 70% affinity within a day of meeting the protagonist.]
[Do you want to collect the rewards now?]
Raiden was taken aback by the notifications. So there were hidden quests, huh. And what’s the deal with these two? Are they that fond of eating? He appraised the two and was surprised, to say the least.
[Name: Cai Long]
[Current affinity: 73 (Brotherly feelings)]
[Name: Meng Xiaoling]
[Current affinity: 56 (Wanting more intimacy)]
[Host. I think you should be careful of this one.]
‘Yeah, I think so too,’ Raiden replied in a daze. ‘I am a man with principles, alright? What do you mean by intimacy, huh?’ Raiden wanted to strangle Meng Xiaoling and ask the question. ‘Is she not the female lead, was my assumption wrong?’
[Host. This isn’t necessarily bad for you. Actually, there is another way to get talents from the System.]
Raiden had a good guess of what it was going to be and gulped hard.
[Your guess is correct, Host. If you can make a girl (or boy) a slave of your ‘d’ then you can extract her (or his) talents.]
[Not just that. In this method, anything your slave has, is rewarded 100% to you. After all, once she (or he) has been branded by your ‘mark’, your slave would have unquestionable loyalty towards you.]
‘What do you mean by ’d’, huh? At least it should be a capital ‘D’, alright? Get it inside your crappy hardware. Although I am a virgin, I am proud of my assets, hmph.’
[Pfft. Whatever lets you sleep peacefully, Host]
Raiden ignored the System. ‘Anyway, here goes my plan of cultivating like a gentleman.’ Although Raiden thought that, he had an evil smirk on his face.
‘Sorry bro. It’s not that I am a fan of en-tee-rrrr, but you simply couldn’t make your girl happy. If she throws herself at me, I would accept her with open arms. Who said cultivation is tedious? Damn noobs, you just have to use the ‘resources’ properly. Seems like I will have a fulfilling time in the future.’
