Novel: I attained the Dao through Music, accompanied by Twin Sugar Mommies?
Chapter: 006 (Chose a Theme)
Staring at his draws, Dongfang Jing could not help but feel like the lottery was making a mockery of him. There seemed to be a "pick between poisoned meat, black-burned meat, and barely edible meat" pattern to the daily draws—was there really a choice?
'The last option… did the system forget what my gender is?' he wondered.
As for the second option, he decided to pretend it did not exist.
'Forget it. System, show me the details of the [All Directions Tower System].'
ALL DIRECTIONS TOWER SYSTEM
System Summary: You will be granted access to the 'ALL DIRECTIONS TOWER,' a legendary and mysterious nexus where all wishes, wants, and needs possible in this reality can potentially be realized.
Within this Tower, there is a dedicated Floor for nearly every cultivation aspect or direction, including but not limited to: Alchemy, Forging, Cultivation Seclusion, Cultivation Techniques, Spirit Gardening, Enlightenment, Talismans, Formations, and more.
To access these floors and utilize their exclusive services, you will be required to spend specialized All Directions Resources (Qi, Essence, Stones, Crystals, and Cores). These resources are exclusively earned by successfully completing missions issued by the Tower itself.
Advantages (Pros):
I – Life Insurance: Death incurred during a Tower mission is not the end. You will be immediately resurrected upon mission failure. However, the mission will be automatically deemed a failure, except under special circumstances determined by the Tower.
II – Guaranteed Growth: Every completed mission yields All Directions Resources, which can be exchanged for guaranteed growth in any aspect of your cultivation and skills, ensuring continuous accelerated progress.
III – Infinite Expertise: Irrespective of your natural talents, time limitations, and real-life resource scarcity, you can learn and master any skill with the tower if you utilize it properly.
IV – When One Ascends, Their Chickens and Dogs Benefit: You are allowed to take resources (cultivation manuals, pills, artifacts, etc.) obtained in the tower to the outside world, sharing them with others. Of course, this is limited to items and not the floors themselves. For instance, you cannot allow someone else to use an Enlightenment Floor or the Time-Dilution Floor as only you can enter the Tower.
Disadvantages (Cons):
I – Information Blackout: The information provided in the Mission Briefing is frequently insufficient or deliberately misleading. You will often have to think on your feet, adapt instantly, and rely heavily on personal intuition and experience to succeed.
II – No Refunds: After accepting a mission, you may quit only within the first nine minutes of its commencement. However, the specialized points paid as a "Mission Acceptance Fee" are non-refundable under any circumstance.
III – Time Guardians: Mission Locations span the entirety of time and space across all 123 Universes in this Reality. Missions that significantly impact the timeline of these Universes may attract the attention of powerful, chronologically-focused beings (Time Guardians), prompting them to actively hunt you down.
IV – Karmic Debt: Actions taken during missions have real consequences and affect one's Karma and Fate. Unbalanced Karmic Debt will manifest as disasters during cultivation breakthroughs, critical mission failures, or curses affecting those you care about.
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It took only a moment for him to pore through the text displayed on the purple window.
'This… This is perfect!' He concluded. 'The ancients are wise. You really can't judge a book by its cover; or in this case, a system by its name.'
[So… do you choose this theme?] the lurking system chimed in. [Remember, once selected, you will never be able to change your mind again. This system does not directly boost your cultivation or skills; it merely provides you with the resources and environment needed to do so yourself. There are other systems in the lottery pool that can automatically level you up once you meet certain conditions like hunting fierce beasts, gathering treasures, having children—]
'I'm certain!' He did not allow the system to continue to ramble. 'I choose the ALL DIRECTIONS TOWER SYSTEM theme!'
His angst was natural. Who knew whether what happened before, or something similar, would happen again?
[Very well…]
The white text on the purple window changed.
An hourglass appeared on the screen, with white sand particles trickling down to its second half.
Seeing how slowly the sand was trickling down, he prepared himself to wait for an hour or two for the installation to finish.
As it loaded, he asked the system a few questions that had popped up in his mind when he first read his chosen system theme's details.
'Are there really 123 Universes or is that just a random number?'
'Is every Universe the same?'
'It says 'this Reality' so that means there are other Realities, right? Will I ever be able to visit them?'
'Ah, right, will you lose your functionality in other Realities?'
'The missions take place across various times, then there is a chance I may meet my past self… I mean, Dongfang Jing of the past, right? What will happen then?'
'Do I have to keep my identity hidden during my visits to the past and future?'
'Can I bring things I pick up during missions with me?'
Sometime into his waiting and 101 Questions, the voice of a young lady snapped him out of his trance.
"Brother Jing…" Luo Yu called him. "Do you truly…"
'Right! She's still here! How could I ignore her existence?' He turned to look at her, mentally facepalming.
Her expression was calm and her voice naturally soft. Her tone was normal, but the sadness in her heart could not be completely concealed from Dongfang Jing. "Have you really forgotten me?"
"I…" he started reflexively as he felt uncomfortable hurting her like that.
Although what he knew about her from the predecessor's fragmented and blurry memories was incomplete, he knew that she was a kind and genuine person; at least to "Dongfang Jing."
'However—' He thought it through in a heartbeat and gritted his teeth mentally. 'A soccer match can't stop arbitrarily once the kick-off has been made.'
He changed the words that were about to come out of his mouth: "I… I am called Jing? You… you know me?"
He pointed at himself as he stood up and approached her with an eagerness about him. "Wait, you can speak? You're not an Immortal Puppet sent by that strange red-haired old man to keep an eye on me? Huh? Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my—"
"You… you are the Immortal Puppet! Your descendants will all be Immortal Puppets!" Luo Yu fumed, her cheeks turning pink as she punched his chest.
The force sent him staggering several steps back, slamming into the white wall of the cave. However, it did not really injure him.
It did hurt though. "Ah!" he clutched his chest as he stared at her warily and aggrievedly. 'Damn it, I need to learn how to mobilize this body's power properly. The predecessor made quite a number of breakthroughs before the eventual and unfortunate deviation after all… Right now, I reckon I should have more cultivation than her. By how many levels, I'm not sure.'
"Brother Jing, you…" Luo Yu was surprised. "Clan Leader Uncle secretly spared you from that punishment and sent you here with several resources to cultivate in peace and safely for all these millennia, but you have made such little progress?"
That punch of hers, although seemingly fierce, was actually a playful one from her.
Frowning, Dongfang Jing let go of his chest and asked, "I've been here for several millennia? …Why?"
"…" She sighed but did not answer immediately as she retrieved a communication talisman and perused a newly received message. Once done, she returned her attention to Dongfang Jing and said with indescribable emotions, "Clan Leader Uncle… Your father is on his way."