This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder
chapter-312-30041322

[Welcome to Cultivation Online.]

When Jinshu opened his eyes, he saw a vast expanse of plains as far as his eyes could see. In the distance, he saw the outlines of mountains and forests, but more predominant was the palace kilometers away.

With nowhere else to go, Jinshu flew toward the mountain. Or, at least he tried to.

To Jinshu's shock, he discovered that he had somehow lost the ability. Not only that, he couldn't even externalize his qi. In fact, he couldn't even detect qi. Meaning that he had transformed into an ordinary mortal

Just as he was beginning to panic, a warm voice entered his ears.

[Main Mission 1: Open your status.]

'Status? What does it mean by status? Does it mean my current state?'

[Helpful Hint: To open status, simply say, "status."]

"Status." Jinshu backstepped when a screen appeared in front of him out of nowhere.

[Ding! Main Mission 1 completed. You received 10 experience points.]

After ensuring nothing was wrong, Jinshu walked to the screen and read it. His brows furrowed even more when he saw what was written.

Name: Jinshu

Title: Beta Tester

Cultivation Level: None

Faction: None

Physique: None

Stats

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5

Constitution: 5

Agility: 5

Qi: 0

Unused Status Points: 0

Skills: None

Experience: 10/100

[Main Mission 2: Reach Beginner Palace.]

As soon as he heard those words, a sphere with a map of the surrounding appeared in the corner of his vision. After adjusting himself, Jinshu started to run toward the palace in his sight since the map told him to go that way.

While running, Jinshu analyzed the difference between the world of Cultivation Online and the Huang Realm. He discovered that despite losing all his cultivation base, his body didn't tire no matter how long he ran, and his thinking capability remained in the World Merging Realm.

Two hours later, he finally entered the Beginner Palace. Before he had time to inspect the insides, another announcement popped up in front of him.

[Ding! Main Mission 2 completed. You received 90 experience points.]

[You have leveled up.]

Jinshu opened his status, wondering what level up meant.

Name: Jinshu

Title: Beta Tester

Cultivation Level: None

Faction: None

Physique: None

Stats

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5

Constitution: 5

Agility: 5

Qi: 0

Unused Status Points: 0

Skills: None

Experience: 100/100

He frowned when he saw that nothing had changed except the full experience bar he saw at the bottom of his status.

[Main Mission 3: Embark on the path of cultivation.]

[Choose your cultivation path: Spiritual, Martial, or Soul. Would you like an in-depth explanation?]

"Yes," Jinshu said. He knew what the three main cultivation branches were, but he had a feeling that it was different in Cultivation Online.

[Spiritual Cultivation focuses on qi and soul, and inside Cultivation Online, it boosts the growth of your dexterity and qi. Martial Cultivation focuses on bodily strength and boosts the growth of your strength and constitution. Soul Cultivation is currently locked and cannot be chosen.]

Seeing that the unknown voice and window could answer his question, Jinshu tried asking a few more and, to his pleasant surprise, discovered that he could have his questions answered. After a few questions, he finally discovered what Cultivation Online was.

In essence, Cultivation Online was a simulation. The people inside, or Players as the system called them, would live a different life. They didn't need to absorb and refine qi to raise their realm, they only needed to get experience.

In other aspects, you still had to practice techniques and spells, and you cannot rely on the system to comprehend the worldly laws and concepts. However, Jinshu could see an advantage in this system. It allowed those in a weaker realm to experience the process of entering the next realm and aid them in reality.

But the most important aspect of Cultivation Online was how life was treated for the Player. No matter what happened, death wasn't permanent. All a Player would lose upon dying was some experience and maybe a decrease in their realm or minor stage.

"Can I experience Immortal Ascension?" Jinshu asked.

[Currently, it is not within Cultivation Online's capabilities, but it is planned for a future update.]

Jinshu nodded. "I want to embark on dual cultivation of both the spiritual and martial paths."

[Cultivation of both the spiritual and martial paths would double the experience required to rise in stages and realms. Do you still want to dual cultivate?]

Jinshu nodded.

[Ding! Main Mission 3 completed. You have received 200 experience points]

[Congratulations on embarking on dual cultivation.]

Name: Jinshu

Title: Beta Tester

Cultivation Level: Qi Gathering Realm Stage 1 (Dual)

Faction: None

Physique: None

Stats

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Constitution: 10

Agility: 10

Qi: 10

Unused Status Points: 0

Skills: None

Experience: 200/2000

[Main Mission 4: Accept and complete a mission from the Mission Stele.]

Jinshu followed the cursor marked on his minimap to the Mission Stele in the palace. A stone obelisk with glowing words on it. When he came, he read the words.

[Qi Gathering Mission: Slay 1 Slime.]

[Qi Gathering Mission: Slay 10 Slimes.]

[Qi Gathering Mission: Slay 5 Wolves.]

[Qi Gathering Mission: Slay 10 Tigers.]

[...]

[...]

[Qi Gathering Mission: Slay the Tiger King.]

Jinshu could only see qi gathering ranked missions. The colors of each mission were divided by colors: green, yellow, red, and black. After asking the system, he knew green meant easy, yellow meant normal, red meant challenging, and black meant impossible.

He chose a yellow-colored mission [Slay 10 Slimes.]

As soon as Jinshu selected the mission, he saw several red dots appear on his minimap. It was simple to conclude that those dots represented the monsters he had to slay after his previous experience.

Without hesitation, Jinshu left Beginner Palace and toward the slimes. Upon meeting one, he used the martial arts learned to fight it. Even though he couldn't unleash any of the techniques with his weak cultivation base, that didn't take away the forms and judgment he possessed.

After ten punches, the slime disappeared in a poof, and in its place was clear marble.

[Congratulations for slaying your first monster. You have received 100 experience points.]

[You have slain a Slime. You have received 10 experience points.]

Jinshu picked up the marble left behind by the slime. Although he didn't know what it did, he stored it in his clothes. Next, he started to search for more slimes and killed nine more.

[You have slain 10 slimes. Please return to the mission stele.]

He didn't go back, though. Instead, he looked at his status.

Name: Jinshu

Title: Beta Tester

Cultivation Level: Qi Gathering Realm Stage 1 (Dual)

Faction: None

Physique: None

Stats

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Constitution: 10

Agility: 10

Qi: 10

Unused Status Points: 0

Skills: None

Experience: 400/2000

One slime gave him ten experience points, and he needed to get sixteen hundred more experience points. While he still had the marker for the slimes, he should kill one hundred and sixty of them instead of returning.

Jinshu proceeded to do just that. Although it was tedious, compared to life and death battles, this was practically paradise.

His body was at the Qi Gathering Realm, but his mind was at the World Merging Realm. He easily stayed up several days and nights to accomplish his task and to kill one hundred and sixty slimes.

Name: Jinshu

Title: Beta Tester

Cultivation Level: Qi Gathering Realm Stage 2 (Dual)

Faction: None

Physique: None

Stats

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 20

Constitution: 20

Agility: 20

Qi: 20

Unused Status Points: 0

Skills: None

Experience: 0/4000

Satisfied, Jinshu ran back toward Beginner Palace and checked in on his completed mission.

[Mission Slay 10 Slimes has been completed. You have received 50 experience points.]

Upon reading the extra bonus from turning in the mission, Jinshu almost stumbled. He had thought he was saving time, but nope, he was just making things needlessly complicated for himself. To add insult to injury, the system announcement also appeared.

[Ding! Main Mission 4 Completed.]

[You have unlocked your Spatial Inventory.]

After fiddling with it, Jinshu discovered that the spatial inventory worked like a spatial ring, and all the slime pearls he had obtained could have been stored inside it. After killing his thirtieth slime, he could no longer store them in his clothes, so he abandoned them.

Jinshu forced himself to calm down. "Next time, just follow the system prompts and don't think myself smart."

[Main Mission 5: Obtain an artifact.]

[Go to the Artifact Stele and craft a weapon.]

Following the red dot, Jinshu arrived at the Artifact Stele in another room, which smelled of iron and oil. There he saw a list of craftable artifacts.

[Slime Gauntlets]

Rank: 1

Effect: Defense +1

Material Required: 50 Slime Pearls

[Slime Staff]

Rank: 1

Effect: Defense +1

Material Required: 50 Slime Pearls

[Slime Sword]

Rank: 1

Effect: Defense +1

Material Required: 50 Slime Pearls

[Slime Spear]

Rank: 1

Effect: Defense +1

Material Required: 50 Slime Pearls

[...]

Jinshu had to suppress the twitching of his eyebrows. He continued to read the other possible artifacts.

[Wolf Gauntlets]

Rank: 1

Effect: Defense +1, Attack +1

Material Required: 20 Wolf Fangs, 30 Wolf Pelts

[Tiger Gauntlets]

Rank: 1

Effect: Defense +1, Attack +3

Material Required: 15 Tiger Teeth, 30 Tiger Furs

[Tigerking Gauntlets]

Rank: 1

Effect: Defense +2, Attack +5

Material Required: 1 Tiger King Claw, 15 Tiger Teeth, 20 Tiger Furs

Jinshu considered aiming for the best weapon possible but thought against it. Instead, he accepted more slime-killing missions and finally gathered fifty Slime Pearls. He then returned to the Artifact Stele and chose to craft the Slime Gauntlet.

The stele asked if he wanted to do manual or automatic, and Jinshu chose manual. He was teleported into a separate refining room. There, the instructions on how to refine the Slime Gauntlets were taught to him, and Jinshu completed it perfectly.

Jinshu only specialized in battle, and he had not picked up any refining, alchemy, or formation skills. It was only through his World Merging Realm mind that he could complete it perfectly.

[Slime Gauntlet crafted successfully! Slime Gauntlet will be directly sent to your Spatial Inventory.]

[Ding! Main Mission 5 completed. You have received 500 experience points.]

Name: Jinshu

Title: Beta Tester

Cultivation Level: Qi Gathering Realm Stage 2 (Dual)

Faction: None

Physique: None

Stats

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 20

Constitution: 20

Agility: 20

Qi: 20

Unused Status Points: 0

Skills: None

Experience: 700/4000

[As your first crafted weapon, the effect of your Slime Gauntlet will be doubled.]

[Slime Gauntlets]

Rank: 1

Effect: Defense +2

Jinshu wanted to shout at the sky. If he knew the effect would be doubled, he would have crafted a better weapon. Something like the Wolf Gauntlets. At least that would have increased his attack power.

Filled with unwillingness, Jinshu went and killed over fifty tigers to get enough materials to craft the Tiger Gauntlet, but the system did not double the effect of the artifact. His intestines turned green with regret.

Name: Jinshu

Title: Beta Tester

Cultivation Level: Qi Gathering Realm Stage 2 (Dual)

Faction: None

Physique: None

Stats

Strength: 30

Dexterity: 30

Constitution: 30

Agility: 30

Qi: 30

Unused Status Points: 0

Skills: None

Experience: 950/6000

[Ding! Main Mission 6: Concoct a pill]

[Go to the Alchemy Stele and concoct a pill.]

Jinshu followed the mission and went to the Alchemy Stele inside another room. Unlike the Artifact Room, which smelled of molten metal and oil, the Pill Room gave off a medicinal fragrance.

He read the list of pills.

[Qi Gathering Exp Pill]

Rank: 1

Effect: Increase experience points by 100

Materials: 30 Qi Funneling Weeds

[Qi Gathering Doubling Pill]

Rank: 1

Effect: Increase experience points gained by Qi Gathering Players by two for a short period of time

Materials: 1 Cloudqi Flower Seed, 100 Qi Funneling Weeds

[...]

[Foundation Establishment Exp Pill]

Rank: 1

Effect: Increase experience points by 5000

Materials: 1 Spiritual Web Fern, 3 Mountain Heart Herbs, 40 Spiralbeak Weeds

Jinshu gathered the necessary materials for the Qi Gathering Doubling Pill. Unlike monsters, they appeared as blue dots on the minimap. Unlike when he crafted the Slime Gauntlets, he chose automatic when prompted if he wanted manual or automatic.

[Qi Gathering Doubling Pill concocted successfully! Qi Gathering Doubling Pill will be sent to your Spatial Inventory directly.]

[Ding! Main Mission 6 completed. You have received 1000 experience points.]

[As the first pill you concocted, the Qi Gathering Doubling Pill will be upgraded.]

[Qi Gathering Upgrade Pill]

Rank: 1

Effect: Instantly increases your cultivation stage by one.

Jinshu's eyes lit up. This one was worth it. Once he reached the eleventh stage of the Qi Gathering Realm, he could ingest it to reach rank twelve, the final stage before the Foundation Establishment Realm. In Cultivation Online, the Qi Gathering Realm only consisted of twelve stages, and it was impossible to open the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

From there, Mission 7 was to master a formation, which Jinshu also completed.

[Ding! Mission 7 completed. You have gained 2000 experience points.]

[You have completed all the tutorial missions, please work hard and improve your cultivation realm. Updates will come in the future.]