waking up late in the morning and feeling refreshed. He got up and proceeded to clean himself with a washcloth, Jay then went outside the courtyard and saw Xue Yan tending the plants, walking towards her, he wasn't able to stop his mouth from speaking out loud.
"Beautiful." Jay murmured.
"hmm?" Xue Yan curiously looked at Jay.
"Ah- No, I mean the plants are beautiful."
"they are so." Xue Yan replied, turning back to the flowers she was tending.
It really was so, an ethereal beauty like Xue Yan... A fairy tending to a garden holding a watering pitcher, painted a serene and magnificent sight.
her hands gently caressing a lilac flower, and a gentle smile formed from her face. It was a sight to behold.
"I have a question master." Jay asked Xue Yan a question.
"speak." Xue Yan gave Jay permission to ask.
"is this how you grow spiritual herbs?"
"not quite."
"how so?"
"there are many ways to grow a spiritual herbs, moonlight, spiritual water, growing specific herbs with specific methods, some requires them to be grown in specific conditions." She explained the process of growing spiritual herbs.
"take these herbs for example, they are only mortal herbs. mortal plants often than not, wilt earlier before they become a spiritual herb. to become one, herbs and plants in general needs to absorb spiritual energy from the world, or be artificially infused with spiritual energy." Xue Yan continued.
"Ah. I nearly forgot master, Elder Hui says he'll come here tomorrow."
*growll*
the sudden sound that came from Jay's stomach embarrassed him silently, glancing at Xue Yan's amused face. made Jay's cheeks increasingly red.
Xue Yan gave Jay, a round brown (somewhat murky) pill. It was coarse and hard, Jay assumed it was made of ceramic, clay or something.
"take this pill."
"what's this?" Jay eyed the pill with suspicion.
"It's a low grade nourishment pill, It can feed you for a day."
Jay sniffed the pill, it does not smell bad at least.
he place the pill in his mouth, and the pill quickly melted in his mount and gave him the worst food experience in his life.
YUCK
The moment the nourishment pill touched his tongue, a wave of revulsion surged through him. It was as if he had bitten into a rotting, foul-smelling fruit that had been left out in the scorching sun for days.
the taste was a nauseating blend of bitterness, acridity, and a lingering metallic tang that seemed to cling to his palate, and nasal cavities like a curse.
He couldn't help but gag, and the sensation lingered, leaving an aftertaste that felt like swallowing ashes from a burning campfire.
It was a flavor that seemed to defy the very essence of culinary pleasure, a torment used to torture people while feeding them.
"this is not food.... this is poison!" Jay, exclaimed while still gagging.
"You can get used to it, higher quality nourishment taste much better and can feed you for much longer."
Jay gave Xue Yan the stink eye, although she was his master. she should probably be not that poor as she was still an elder of a sect.
noticing the gaze, Xue Yan only smiled and tilted her head in amusement.
'WOMAN! I shall engrave this humiliation in my heart!' Jay declared in his mind.
"master, what is my purpose and responsibility as your errand disciple." after he swore to his heart, Jay remembered he doesn't know yet of his responsibility as her personal errand disciple.
"I nearly forgot.. your tasks include managing and cleaning the lower floor of the residence, doing odd chores, and tending to the garden if I'm cultivating, away, or unavailable."
while they were both talking, Xue Yan received an urgent notification from her Sect emblem.
"you continue on tending to the garden, the presence of the elders are needed. the herbs here only needs to be watered by spiritual water." Xue Yan gave the spiritual pitcher she was holding unto Jay and left almost immediately.
turning around back to the garden, pitcher in hand. physically tired Jay out, the weight of the pitcher was heavier than he imagined.
'Oh boy,' Jay thought.
Steeling his weak muscles, Jay went straight to watering the plants.
'!?' Jay was surprised by the sheer difference of the size and weight of the pitcher, but the most surprising factor was the amount of spiritual water that came out from such tiny pitcher.
'so that's why its heavy' Jay thought. marveling about the unique technology of this world.
finishing his task, Jay went back to his room to continue where he left off.
'system pull 10.'
Ding* Congratulations Host you got!
[high grade spirit stone pouch]
[a pouch of high grade spirit stones ranging from 1 piece to 1000 pieces]
[Aether]
[a legendary sword, [Indestructible], supremely sharp, can kill immortals]
[Sword Formation]
[a formation made of swords, requires sword skill and formation skill to be at level 4]
[Sword Formation]
[a formation made of swords, requires sword skill and formation skill to be at level 4]
[Growth Puppet]
[a semi-autonomous puppet controlled by the system (a growth type puppet that has the cultivation 1 realm above the host(upgrades when host increases cultivation rank))]
[hearts of devotion]
[a pair of rings that symbolizes devotion, enables both wearers to locate each other regardless of distance within the same dimension]
[Mountain Splitter Strike]
[a strong strike that deals 7 x Li strength to enemies]
[Sword Formation]
[a formation made of swords, requires sword skill and formation skill to be at level 4]
[Domineering Finger Strike]
[earth grade finger strike]
'system what's the difference between a growth puppet and other puppet?'
all puppets will grow in strength depending on the host, but the limit of the specific puppets are determined by their designation, a Qi gathering puppet can only reach Qi gathering, the unique quality of the growth puppets is its function of always maintaining 1 realm above the host. the minimum of the puppets cultivation realm are Qi Gathering.
'I see... system activate the skills and technique.'
Ding! skills activated
skill received +Domineering Finger Strike Lv1, +Sword Formation Lv3, +Mountain Splitter Strike Lv1.
'activate the Foundation Realm puppet.'
Infront of Jay, was the 'Foundation Realm' puppet whose cultivation was in Qi Gathering because of Jay's current weak cultivation. the puppet eerily looking like a real human, its chest weaving back and forth, clearly breathing.
'system are they really puppets? they look too human to me...'
the puppets are biologically humans, without soul and will. they are automatically manipulated by the system, or the host can manually control them.
a scary thought came out from Jay's mind. but he shoved the obscene idea to the back of his head.
'do they all look like this?'
the host can specify the appearance of the puppet. but by default, the appearance of the puppets are random.
while Jay was observing the Foundation Realm Puppet, a sudden gust of wind enveloped Jay and separated him from it.
"WATCH OUT!" the sudden scream surprised Jay.
as a sword immediately Impaled the puppet, obscene amount of blood splattered.
"ARE YOU OKAY?" Xue Yan asked clearly worried about Jay's wellbeing.
"y-yeah." Jay stuttered, he was wondering why Xue Yan was clearly flustered.
noticing Xue Yan's company, Jay looked around and saw multiple people clad in robes. they're possibly the other elders of the sect.
"umm may I ask why are you guys here?" Jay asked.
"we have noticed unauthorized entry in the sect, the defensive array notified our sect of enemy infiltration. you're lucky to be alive." one of the elders behind Xue Yan stated.
the statement confused Jay.
