Rise Of The Worm Sovereign
Lin Wu was a university student that died after having one too many energy drinks and then reincarnated into the body of a worm. He awakens to find out that he now has a system, but even it doesn't have a clear idea of where they are.
He comes out of the ground and discoverers that he's no longer in his previous world but rather in a cultivation world.
Witness Lin Wu's journey as he worms his way to the heavens from a tiny worm crawling in the ground.
Read Rise Of The Worm Sovereign Chapter 1 - Egg? online for free - AllNovelFull
Lin Wu was a normal university student that was majoring in biology. He lived his life as average as anyone could. His likes and dislikes were very similar to other people of his age. He liked video games, anime, comics, novels, dramas, and all such things. And of course, he was also a single dog just to add a cherry on top.
It was the day before his finals and he had been grinding hard and cramming all he could before the morning came.
"Oh damn, I should have at least started a week earlier. Why do I always torture myself like this?" Lin Wu said to himself.
One could see disposable cups of coffee and cans of energy drinks lying on his table and also around him. One would think that these were accumulated over a few days, but it was not so. Lin Wu had been binging on coffee and energy drinks to keep himself awake and his mind running.
He had already had a way too high a dose of caffeine and his hands were shaking with tremors, yet he did not stop and was still feeling sleepy and drowsy. Lin Wu glanced over to the bed that was opposite to his and saw his roommate sleeping soundly.
Unlike Lin Wu, his roommate was a model student who was free from the 'Influences that plagued the youths of today'. He did not play video games, and neither did he spend any time on hobbies. He was at the peak of what one could call a prodigal scholar.
"Bloody Normie. Leaving me alone to study." Lin Wu cursed.
Lin Wu's eyes then wandered over to the mini-fridge that was located on the other side of the bed. His eyes lit up with a greedy glint as he kept on staring at the mini-fridge.
"Hehehe, I'll just give you a little punishment for leaving me alone to study. If we are roommates, then we should suffer together, my pain is your pain." Lin Wu said with a slightly creepy tone.
Lin Wu then sneaked to his roommates' table and picked up a long ruler that was placed on his table. He used the ruler and slid it in the gap between his roommate's mattress and head board. Skillfully using the ruler without making any noise, Lin Wu pulled out a small key chain that was hidden by his roommate.
~Hehehe~
Lin Wu took the key in his hand and silently laughed.
"Now all the contents of your mini-fridge are mine." Lin Wu muttered.
He then used the key and unlocked the door of the mini-fridge. As soon as he opened the door of the mini-fridge, the shining cans of energy drinks illuminated his eyes.
"You've been hiding the Special Limited Edition 'Ultra boost energy Elixir series' from me all this time. But no more, I claim these as mine now." Lin Wu spoke to himself.
The 'Elixir series' was a brand of energy drink that was widely popular among people currently and was a favorite of Lin Wu. The can that he was holding in his hand was a special limited edition version that was recently released but was very hard to find. Lin Wu had stood in the line for hours but still could not buy it.
The energy drink that he had in his hand was claimed to be a thousand percent more powerful than any brand on the market and was said to the best to drink while studying and working.
Lin Wu popped open the can of 'Ultra boost energy Elixir series' and his mouth started drooling.
"Finally with this, I shall overcome the tribulation that is the 'Final Exam'." Lin Wu proclaimed.
And with this, he took his first sip. Intense joy spread across his body as his mind entered a state of euphoria.
"Delicious! I can feel the energy coursing through me." Lin Wu exclaimed.
He then chugged the entire can and sat down to study. He could feel his mind working faster and faster until when finally the words started to come out of his textbook.
"Ahhh, such is the power bestowed by the 'Ultra boost energy Elixir series'." Lin Wu uttered with jubilation.
Lin Wu could see the words forming images in front of him in the air, which would then enter his mind. But every time these entered his brain, he felt a throbbing pain in his body.
"This is but just the pain of success." Lin Wu affirmed to himself.
He kept on reading for an unknown amount of time until when finally; he started to feel incredibly cold.
"Why is it so cold all of a sudden, this is the middle of Summer?" Lin Wu wondered.
He was just about to stand up to close the window, when he discovered that he could not move at all. His body felt as if it was frozen.
'Wha-what's happening to me? Did I overdraw on my brain?' Lin Wu thought to himself.
He tried to speak but found that he was unable to do that either. Resigning himself to his fate, he let go.
"Ah, I've already studied enough to pass the test in the morning. I should just take a nap till then, I'll be fine in the morning." Lin Wu spoke to himself in his mind.
And with these as his last words that went completely unheard, Lin Wu entered his final slumber.
"Huh, did the power go out? Why is it so dark here?" Lin Wu thought.
Lin Wu looked around, but all he could see was darkness everywhere.
"But wait, even if the power went out it should not be this dark, it should be morning now." Lin Wu said to himself in a confused tone.
He then tried to move and discovered that he could barely move. In fact, he could not even feel his limbs, all he could feel was his torso.
"Did I sleep wrong and block the blood circulation to my limbs?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
He thought that waiting for a while should fix it, but even after five minutes he still could not feel his limbs. Getting desperate at this moment, he decided to call for help.
"HELP! I can't move. I can't feel my limbs." Lin Wu shouted, but no words came out.
Lin Wu then realised that all he had been speaking till now, was only in his mind. No words were actually coming out of his mouth.
~Ding~
Suddenly a ding sound was heard in Lin Wu's mind as if it was a notification from his smartphone.
"What's this?" Lin Wu thought to himself as a window suddenly appeared in front of him.
SYSTEM ACTIVATED:
ISSUING QUEST: Error! Quest directory not found.
ANALYZING: Please wait a few minutes
"Chickie nuggies! What the hell is this?" Lin Wu exclaimed.
~Ding~
NEW PARAMETERS IDENTIFIED: Formulating new quest directory
FIRST QUEST ISSUED: Break out of the egg.
"EGGGGG!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN EGG?"
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Lin Wu was in denial of his current situation. He could not believe the voice that he was hearing neither the floating screen that could be seen in front of him.
"NO,No,No,No… This is all a dream. I'm still dreaming, that's right. I'm just too tired and my brain is not working properly." Lin Wu spoke to himself.
Lin Wu kept on speaking to himself and felt that he was about to go crazy. He tried moving as much as he could but felt as if he was restricted. Unable to do anything at this point, he eventually calmed down.
"Okay. Even if this is just a dream, I should just play along, shouldn't I? This is… this is just extra entertainment, yeah. I'll just have some fun before the exam." Lin Wu said to himself, still in denial.
"Hmm, so this thing wants me to break out of an egg. But what egg is that? Wait… does this mean I'm in an egg?" Lin Wu thought.
Lin Wu tried moving around again, but this time tried to pay attention to the feeling he got from his surroundings. He felt as if there was a soft, smooth, and elastic surface containing him.
"If this is an egg, then why is it so soft and elastic?" Lin Wu thought.
He then suddenly had an epiphany, as he remembered what he had studied before. Lin Wu was a biology major, thus he knew a lot about animals and plants.
"The only animals whose eggs are soft like these are either reptiles, amphibians or fishes. This means that I'm one of those creatures right now." Lin Wu determined.
Lin Wu then tried to think of a method by which he could break out of the egg.
"The egg is still soft, then this means that it's not mature yet. Me not having limbs would also explain that my body has just not developed yet." Lin Wu concluded.
Having come to a result, Lin Wu now knew what to do.
"This is easy. I just have to wait till I'm mature enough and the egg hardens and becomes brittle. If I'm lucky, this dream will end before that too. That will be hitting two birds with one stone." Lin Wu decided.
Having decided his course of action, Lin Wu started to sing to himself to pass the time.
"Whatever you say boo_
Okie dokie boo_
Hit or miss_
They got a boy friend_
"
Lin Wu kept on singing random songs till he got bored and eventually fell asleep.
An unknown amount of time later, Lin Wu woke up and felt groggy. He could feel tremors in the surroundings. These tremors kept on getting intense with every moment and eventually felt like an earthquake.
"Wha-What is happening? Is this an earthquake? Oh no, I'm still in the dream somehow." Lin Wu spoke with shock.
A few seconds later the source of the tremors was right above him. Lin Wu could feel the throbbing waves passing through his body making it shake as well. The tremors had gotten so intense that Lin Wu felt pain due to them.
It was as if all of his internal organs were being massaged by a very bad masseuse, like one would find in a shady place. It was as if he refused to pay the masseuse a tip and now she was giving him a 'special service'.
"On no, I have to escape, or these tremors will kill me by shaking me to death." Lin Wu decided.
Lin Wu started struggling again and moved his body around. Fortunately, this time he felt as if the surface that was surrounding him had become harder and stiffer. This time he could actually push against it and would not be pushed back.
"Haaaah...… Haaaah...… Haaaah-" Lin Wu heaved and succeeded in poking a hole in the shell.
"YES! Now I just need to make it bigger and escape." Lin Wu exclaimed.
He kept on prodding the small hole with his body however he could and expanded it. In the entire process, Lin Wu had somehow forgotten that he still did not have any limbs, and he was breaking the egg. He had proved his previous conjecture wrong. It was not that he did not have limbs because his body was not mature; it was simply because his current body was not supposed to have any limbs at all.
"Annnd success, Yay!" Lin Wu shouted to himself.
He wiggled to orient his body and pushed it out through the hole he had made through the shell. In a surprise to him, he was able to move rather nimbly even without his limbs. It was as if it was an instinct and was intrinsically a part of him.
It was now that he heard a familiar sound.
~Ding~
FIRST QUEST COMPLETED: Breaking out of the egg.
REWARD OBTAINED: Freedom
ISSUING SECOND QUEST: Error! Quest directory not found.
RECALCULATING PARAMETERS: Please wait patiently.
"Chickie nuggie? WHAT DO YOU MEAN WAIT PATIENTLY? I'm about to die here." Lin Wu shouted.
"I'm leaving! You can't tell me what to do, you… you… you? Wait what are you again? Oh yeah, system." He spoke.
"I'm leaving, you stupid system." He reemphasized.
Lin Wu then started wiggling and moved through his surroundings, which felt like soft and moldable particles to him.
"What is all this? This feels like… dirt? I'm in the ground?"
Lin WU kept on wiggling and moving through the dirt that surrounded and moved away from the source of tremors. A few minutes later he had moved a sufficient distance away and could no longer feel those tremors.
"AH, finally! Now I'm safe and it doesn't feel like I'm getting my guts rearranged."
It was now that Lin Wu heard the notification sound again.
~Ding~
NEW PARAMETERS CALCULATED: Analysis completed.
ISSUING SECOND QUEST: Reach the surface
POTENTIAL REWARD: ???
Lin Wu was a little dumbfounded upon reading the notification window that had just popped up in front of him. Previously when he got the first notification, he had not paid much attention to it as he was too disoriented by his situation. But now that he had calmed down and had also gotten through an endeavor, he felt much more stable.
"I don't think the first notification mentioned a reward. Wait! Why are you even mentioning a reward if you're just gonna put question marks in front of it. You're really a stupid system, aren't you?" Lin Wu stated.
By now Lin Wu had understood a little about his situation. He grasped that the system was like a video game interface, or perhaps even a system from a 'System novel'.
"If it is as I think, then I'm pretty unlucky. I just got a dumb and stupid system."
Pulling his mind to the current situation Lin Wu thought about how to proceed.
'It says that I need to reach the surface. So that meant the surface should be the place the tremors were coming from, I just need to head towards there.' Lin Wu inferred.
"If I die due to this, I'll beat your butt, you stupid system." He cursed before continuing his journey.
A few minutes later, a blinding light filled his vision as he reached the surface.
"LAND! Oh, wait I was in the land already… SURFACE!" He exclaimed
It was at this moment that Lin Wu looked down and saw his body. An extreme level of shock filled his being as he realized and started to doubt his own existence.
"I'm… I'm… I'M A WORMMMMM!"
~DING~
SECOND QUEST COMPLETED: Reach the surface
REWARD OBTAINED: Analyzing, please wait a moment.
Lin Wu stayed there lying as still as a dead worm, wallowing in self-pity and shock.
~Ding~
ANALYSIS COMPLETE:
REWARD OBTAINED: Self-awareness
Lin Wu was still not over his shock and was still lying on the ground like a dead worm. Well, he was an actual worm now, so it was kinda true.
"I'm a worm. I'm a worm. I'm a worm...…" Lin Wu kept on repeating.
An hour passed by until when Lin Wu was finally able to gather his wits. He turned around and looked up at the sky before looking at the ground below. He also glanced at the giant blades of grass that were three times as tall as his entire body.
"I'm not just a worm, I'm a tiny worm. I won't even fill the stomach of a baby bird." Lin Wu said in self-pity.
~Ding~
NEW ENVIRONMENT DETECTED: Analyzing
NEW PARAMETERS IDENTIFIED: Expanding variables
HOST IDENTIFIED: Initiating integration process
ERROR INTEGRATING: Insufficient resources
ISSUING NEXT QUEST: Analyzing data
NEW QUEST: Gather viable energy resources
The new notification that just popped up made Lin Wu awaken from his spiral of self-pity.
"Huh, what's this now? What do you want, stupid system?" Lin Wu said as he looked at the window that was floating in front of him.
Lin Wu was able to understand the words that were present in front of him, but he was unable to understand what they meant in context here. He was a modern person who used computers daily, thus these terms were nothing new to him, yet it seemed as if they were incomplete and as such were unable to explain completely.
"So I have a new quest now, but it doesn't say what's the reward again. Hmm, is it related to the error that it's showing? What does it mean by viable energy resources?" Lin Wu wondered to himself.
It was now that he suddenly heard a loud screeching sound. It came from far and seemed to be approaching his location slowly.
"What's that sound? Wait, how can I even hear it, worms don't have ears." Lin Wu questioned himself.
He looked around for the source of sound but could not really spot it due to its stature. Lin Wu was very small, his length was about two centimeters and his thickness was of about two millimeters as well. In every aspect, he could only be described as tiny. His color was dark brown and his skin was smooth, yet was not slimy like an earthworm.
There were two tiny black spots at its front end, along with a circular mouth that was void of any kind of teeth. The two tiny spots were actually Lin Wu's eyes. For a normal person, Lin Wu's current eyes would look like black dots that had no function, yet still, they actually functioned as the normal human eye. This allowed him to have the same vision he had before, back when he was a human.
Lin Wu wiggled in resignation as he decided to just do the quest. He didn't have anything else to do here, anyway.
"By energy resource, the system should mean food, right? I mean, it did say viable and not just any energy resource." Lin Wu spoke to himself.
Unconsciously Lin Wu had already started to accept his current situation as a worm and also that this was not a dream. He was now trying to remember what did worms eat. He knew that worms could eat a lot of things, but that also depended on the kind of worm they were.
For example, an earthworm was a detritivore that ate the dead and decomposing matter in the soil, while there were other worms such as tape worms that were parasites and lived inside other animals. There were also worms such as the maggots that were the larvae of flies and lived in flesh and rotting plants.
Lin Wu looked at his body and could not determine what kind of worm he was. There were no specific features that matched a specific type, and all that he had were very common and vague features.
"Guess, I just gotta try eating everything." Lin Wu thought.
He then looked at the soil below him and wondered about it, but the idea of eating soil made him feel nauseous.
"I gotta try anyway, if I don't like it I'll just try something else." Lin Wu motivated himself.
He then took a deep breath through his body. Indeed, Lin Wu's body had no lungs, his worm physiology allowed him to breathe in the air using its skin. Though there was one thing that stumped him. He knew that worms did not have lungs and breathed through their skin, but the problem was that this only happened because their skin was moist and slimy. This slime allowed them to breathe and facilitated the exchange of gases.
Lin Wu could only attribute it to some unknown reason, as he had no idea what kind of worm he was. Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind, he put his mouth to the ground and swallowed a mouthful of dirt. He had no teeth, thus he did not chew and just swallowed it directly. In a surprise to him, the soil that he just ate did not taste of anything.
"Oh Wait! Now that I'm a worm, I should have different kinds of taste buds, so it shouldn't bother me as much." Lin Wu realized.
After understanding this, Lin Wu ate more soil and kept on eating till he felt full. After he became full, not even a minute later he felt as if he could eat again.
"Huh, I got hungry pretty fast. Perhaps worms are just always hungry like this." Lin Wu thought to himself.
Unknown to him, there were small brown pellets coming out of his other end. The more he ate, the more of them were produced. Only when he had eaten enough to make a small hole in the ground did he realize that there was a small mound behind him too.
"Wha-What? Where did this mound of dirt come from?" Lin Wu questioned himself as he looked at it with a shocked expression. Well, as surprised as a worm could appear.
A sudden bout of realization hit Lin Wu as he understood what the small mound behind him was.
"NOOOOOOOO! Don't tell me I'm gonna be pooping everywhere I go. As a former human, I can't accept that, my self-respect won't allow that." Lin Wu exclaimed.
A few more minutes went past and Lin Wu got bored as he did not get any new notification.
"I guess eating soil does not qualify as gathering viable resources." Lin Wu thought.
His gaze then wandered on to the grass that was surrounding him everywhere. It went from the horizon on his left side to the horizon on his right side. Everywhere he could see there was grass, and only in the very far could he see the trees. Perhaps the actual distance between Lin Wu and the trees was only a few meters, yet to his small size, it was already equivalent to a few miles.
"I'll just eat the grass. It should at least taste better than the soil." Lin Wu said to himself.
He then crawled towards a blade of grass and started eating it. Eating the grass was a little difficult than the soil as he did not have any teeth to actually cut into it, still, he was eventually able to eat some. The taste of the grass hit him a little different, or rather it was the same as when he was a human before.
Lin Wu almost spit it out due to how familiar of a taste it was, yet was able to keep it in through sheer willpower.
"Keep it in. You can do this." Lin Wu encouraged himself.
Finally, Lin Wu was able to successfully swallow the bit of grass. He waited for a minute before eating more. He then realized that the more he ate, the more it was easier for him to eat. It was as if the taste of the grass was finally becoming normal to him.
He also felt a little increase in his energy. He felt as if his stamina was restored and his fatigue that had accumulated due to digging and crawling had vanished.
'Hmm, seems like the grass provides me more energy. Guess, I'll just eat this.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
It was now that Lin Wu spotted something hanging over him. It was a small green ball that was hanging by a small green stalk.
"Is that a fruit? A grass fruit? What kind of grass has fruit?" Lin Wu spoke with a perplexed expression that was imaginary.
Wanting to try that fruit, Lin Wu started climbing on the blades of the grass. A few minutes later he was at the very top and was close to the fruit. The fruit was now hanging below him and the only way he could access it was by hanging upside down as well.
Thus he did it. He curled and hung half of his body on the blade of the grass and reached out for the fruit. But just when he was about to reach the fruit, darkness covered him. A large shadow was now standing above him. He looked up and then froze in fear.
"A b-b-bird! Ahh… it's gonna eat me!" Lin Wu shouted, though all that came out from his mouth were some inaudible sounds.
~chirp~
The bird chirped and tilted its head to take a close look at Lin Wu. After spotting him, the bird did its work and pecked. Lin Wu had already given up and had closed his eyes in acceptance. He was waiting to be eaten when suddenly the tremors started again and a sticky and warm liquid covered him.
Lin Wu was too scared to open his eyes and check, but it was now that he heard the notification again.
~Ding~
ENERGY RESOURCE DETECTED: Analyzing
VIABLE ENERGY RESOURCE IDENTIFIED: Absorbing resource
RE-INITIATING INTEGRATION PROCESS: Error! Insufficient resources
RECALCULATING PARAMETERS: Analyzing
SWITCHING TO ALTERNATE PROTOCOLS: Switched successfully
PARTIAL INTEGRATION INITIATED: Please wait patiently
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! : Abnormality detected, data corrupted.
This was the last thing Lin Wu saw before his consciousness faded.
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"Hnggggg…"
Lin Wu woke up after an unknown amount of time with a loud grunt. Though the grunt was perhaps only audible to him and even imaginary on a level. He opened his eyes and looked around finding himself lying in a small pit.
"Huh? What happened?" Lin Wu said to himself wondering the reason for his fainting.
He turned around and saw something that made him fall back on the ground.
~Ahhhhh~
"Wha-what is that?" He questioned.
There was a desiccated corpse of a bird lying in front of him. The corpse was half crushed and looked as if someone had forcefully stomped on it. Though no blood could be seen anywhere near it. The corpse was completely dry as if it had been drying out in the sun for days.
"Is this the same bird that attacked me? How is it dead now?" Lin Wu spoke.
He then moved closer to take a look and found out the reason. Just behind the corpse, he could see a deep hoof print. He climbed up on a grass blade and was able to spot a few more hoof prints a small distance away from the corpse of the bird.
'Seems like the bird was crushed to death by some animal's foot. But why is it dry and dessicated?' Lin Wu thought to himself.
Suddenly Lin Wu realized the possible reason for that.
"Don't tell me I've been lying unconscious for many days now." Lin Wu guessed.
To confirm his guess, he checked the grass around him and noticed that they were the same length as before and even the soil seemed to be the same. The place where he had eaten the grass was still wet and fresh.
"Huh, seems like my guess is wrong. If it had been days, then this part should have dried out." Lin Wu answered himself.
'But what exactly happened?' He tried to remember.
"The notification!" Lin Wu suddenly realized.
"There was some kind of warning that appeared before I fell unconscious." Lin Wu remembered.
'How do I see the notification window again?"
"Umm, help? Notification?" Lin Wu called out.
He tried a few words, but they didn't seem to work and he got frustrated.
"Ah, goddamn it, you stupid system!" He cursed.
~Ding~
NOTIFICATION: Would you like to view the previous logs?
The notification window suddenly popped up in front of his eyes.
"Oh? Is the word stupid or system?" Lin Wu tried calling out again.
"Oh, so it's just system. Still, I'll call you a stupid system like the one you are. Hehe." Lin Wu decided.
Lin Wu then checked the log that was stored in the system to get an idea of what had happened. Most of it was the same that he had seen before fainting, but there were a few new lines added to it.
'These must have come up when I was unconscious.' Lin Wu thought.
The new lines read-
ABNORMAL ENERGY SOURCE DETECTED: Recalibrating
ANALYZING ENERGY SOURCE: Unknown high-quality energy type found
PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS COMPLETE: Energy source found to be blood
PARTIAL INTEGRATION PROCESS: Link established, energy source viable
PROCEEDING:-
HOST VITALS: Analyzing
WARNING!: Non-human host detected
IDENTIFYING HOST: Unknown species detected
WARNING!: Energy resources low
PARTIAL INTEGRATION PROCESS: Halted
WARNING!: Please gather more energy resources
Lin Wu kept on reading the logs over and over again as he felt a little lost.
"So the energy source it found was blood?" Lin Wu guessed.
He then looked at the dessicated bird corpse and remembered the feeling of something warm and sticky covering him before he fell unconscious.
"Seems like the bird's blood was the energy source and was absorbed by the system after it got splattered on me." Lin Wu concluded.
'So if I need to complete the quest, I need to get more blood? Is it just the blood from a bird I need or any blood would work?' Lin Wu thought.
Lin Wu then looked around for any more blood that he could see, but due to his small stature, he couldn't look much farther.
"Dammit you stupid system, if you want blood at least tell me where to find it." Lin Wu cursed.
~Ding~
ENVIRONMENT ANALYZED: Preliminary coordinates obtained
MAP FUNCTION: Activated
ENERGY RADIATION DETECTED: Calculating co-ordinates
ENERGY RESOURCE LOCATED: Marking on map
Lin Wu was dumbfounded by this new revelation that he had just read.
"You have a maaap!? Why didn't you tell me before? Well, at least you are not completely stupid." Lin Wu said.
"Open map." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
A new screen then appeared in front of Lin Wu. It was the map screen. The map was rather simplistic, in the way that it only showed the position of Lin Wu and the location of the said energy resource. There was nothing else in the maps, except for these two dots.
Lin Wu checked the distance between the two points and found that they were diagonally at the very opposite sides of the map.
"How far is this, though? I can't really tell from just these two points. What's the distance between the two points?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
Error!: Command cannot be executed
Warning!: Energy resources low
~sign~
"So it won't be able to tell me unless I get it more resources, huh." Lin Wu said to himself.
Lin Wu then oriented himself according to the location of the energy source and started crawling towards it. At first, he was fine, he knew that because he was small, it would take him a while to reach the location. But when six hours passed by and the sun had gone down, Lin Wu could not take it anymore.
"Ah, I give up! How far is this energy source even? The markers have not even moved a little bit." Lin Wu said while looking at the map.
He had been keeping a watch on the map and was looking to see how much the distance was but found that there seemed to be no sign of the position markers moving at all. He thought that he would see at least a slight change, but to no avail. The distance was still too far from him.
"Is the map function broken? Is that why it's telling me that I'm at the same location?" Lin Wu thought with a little helpless expression.
~rumble~
A strange rumbling sound was coming from Lin Wu's stomach.
~Ding~
WARNING!: Host's personal energy levels at critical level, please consume nutrients.
"Wait, why am I suddenly so hungry? Why did it go from like 0 to 100 immediately, shouldn't it be a gradual increase?" Lin Wu wondered as he struggled from the wave of hunger.
Lin Wu looked at the nearest blade of grass and chomped down on it. A couple of hours later, he had eaten a small radius of grass area.
"This should be enough. If I get hungry I can eat any time later. I'm surrounded by grass, anyway." Lin Wu said to himself.
He then started his journey again and kept on going. He would sleep when he was tired and eat when he was hungry. Days went by and Lin Wu's mind had become blurred. He could not tell what day it was.
Finally, one day he saw the change in the map. The distance between the two dots had finally come close.
"YES! YESSSSSSS!" Lin Wu shouted.
"Finally, I should be close to the energy source now." Lin Wu said to himself.
Ten hours later, Lin Wu finally reached the energy source. But when he saw it, he was utterly shocked. There were two corpses in front of him. One was of an oversized boar, which had a sword stabbed in its back. While the other corpse was a man who was dressed in ancient styled robes, he had been gored in his stomach by the boar's tusks.
"What the hell? What happened here? Why is the boar so big and the man wearing clothes like this?" Lin Wu wondered.
It was now that he closely looked at the man's corpse and the gears in his mind started turning. He realized what may have happened and who that man could be.
"Let's not jump to conclusions. I'll first get the energy source first." Lin Wu decided.
He then followed the directions of the system and crawled up to the arm of the man. The map was pointing towards the exact place where the man was holding the sword in a stabbing position. It was covered with blood and one could not tell whose blood it was.
It took Lin Wu another hour to climb up to the point, but as soon as he did another notification sounded.
~Ding~
ENERGY SOURCE DETECTED: Absorbing
WARNING!: Extremely high-quality energy source obtained.
WARNING!: Host's vitals unstable.
RECALCULATING PARAMETERS: Analyzing
ERROR!: Energy source unstable
WARNING!: Tranquilizing host to stabilize energy source
"What do you mean? No! Don't you dare you stupid system." Lin Wu cursed.
And with this, he fell unconscious again.
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An unknown amount of time later, Lin Wu woke up and fell down. He could not control his body and felt as if he was in a new body again.
"Wha-What is this now?"
The first thing that Lin Wu spotted in front of him was the two desiccated corpses of the Boar and the Man that was dressed in ancient clothes. Though the shocking thing was, Lin Wu felt as if these corpses had gotten smaller instead.
He went closer to take a look and discovered that it was not the corpses that had gotten smaller but rather he himself that had gotten bigger.
"No wonder I can't seem to control my body well. I somehow grew bigger." Lin Wu said to himself.
Lin Wu's body was now the length of an arm and his thickness was about the same as that of a finger. The eyes that were once small black dots were now bigger black dots.
"Is this the work of the stupid system? What did it do this time?" Lin Wu questioned.
"System." He called out.
~Ding~
NOTIFICATION: Would you like to view previous logs?
"Yes."
HOST STATUS: Unconscious
REROUTING ENERGY: Beginning pending calculations
WARNING!: Excessive energy load
SELF-PRESERVATION PROTOCOLS: Activated
PENDING CALCULATION: Completed
ALERT!: Detected data nodes
ISSUING QUEST: Obtain Data nodes
QUEST COMPETED: Data nodes obtained
REWARD OBTAINED: Data nodes (quantity = 2)
ANALYZING DATA NODE: Unknown parameters found
WARNING!: Need additional computing power
PERMISSION TO ACTIVATE COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Rejected, host integration not found
REORIENTING SUB-ROUTINES: Host enhancement started
NOTIFICATION: Please wait for enhancement to complete
HOST ENHANCEMENT: Completed
HOST VITALS: Stable
PARTIAL INTEGRATION PROCESS: Complete
WARNING!: Host permission required for further tasks.
Lin Wu was finally able to understand what had happened all this while he was unconscious. The system seems to have been unable to handle the energy and thus had made him unconscious so that it could do it without harming him. The system even enhanced his body and made it grow to his current size.
"Huh, seems like the system needs me to be stronger in order to work as well. I guess its not that stupid." Li Wu said to himself.
'Though it doesn't help that I'm still a worm.' He thought with resignation.
Just as Lin Wu was about to think about what to do next the notification screen appeared in front of him again.
~Ding~
NOTIFICATION: Unanalyzed data nodes available, please give permission to proceed.
Lin Wu wondered if he should give the system the permission or not. According to him, the system seemed to be rather buggy and malfunctioning. He could not tell what it would do next, but in the end, he decided to go ahead with it.
'At least it hasn't caused me any harm yet. Well, except for the fainting.' Lin Wu thought.
"Permission granted." Lin Wu approved.
~Ding~
PERMISSION TO ACTIVATE COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Granted
ANALYZING DATA NODE 1: Please wait patiently
~sigh~
"Now how long do I need to wait?" Lin Wu muttered.
But just as he said this, another notification sounded.
~Ding~
ANALYZING DATA NODE 1: Completed
UPGRADING DATA BANKS: New data obtained
UPDATING HOST DATA: Please check the relevant window.
ANALYZING DATA NODE 2: Please wait patiently
Lin Wu felt a little surprised at the speed at which the system had finished the process. With the previous record, he was expecting it to last at least a few hours and not just a couple of seconds. He wondered if the next process would be completed at the same speed. He waited for a minute, but nothing happened.
"Huh, seems like this one will take more time. Now then, how do I check the new window that its saying." Lin Wu said to himself.
"Umm, Host data?" Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
A new window then appeared in front of Lin Wu. This one was completely different from the map and the notification window. This one had way more things written and seemed to be more organized. Lin Wu then started reading the data that was written in the new window.
——————————————————————————————————
HOST NAME: Lin Wu
AGE: 25 days
HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [juvenile]
????????
AWAITING ADDITIONAL DATA: Analysis underway
——————————————————————————————————
Lin Wu felt a little underwhelmed at the lack of information in the window. He had expected a more detailed explanation, but it seemed like this was all that was currently available.
"Well, it's better than nothing at least. I now know what I am and also for how long I've been in this world." Lin Wu said to himself.
'Seems like I need to wait for a little while more to get the data from the second data node. Wait, I understand that the energy source was blood, but where did these data nodes come from?' Lin Wu thought.
Just as Lin Mu was wondering this, another notification appeared.
~Ding~
DATA NODE 2: Analysis completed
DATA BANKS: Updated
HOST DATA: Updated
ALERT!: Please check the relevant window.
"Oh, that was not that long. Let's check what's new."
"Host data." He ordered.
~Ding~
The new notification window appeared in front of Lin Wu. But this time the window was much more large than before.
——————————————————————————————————
HOST NAME: Lin Wu
AGE: 25 days
LIFESPAN: 2 months
HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [juvenile]
HOST CULTIVATION: Third stage of the Body tempering Realm
QI STORAGE: Unavailable [Insufficient cultivation]
BLOODLINE: None
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None
QI SKILLS: None
INVENTORY: Empty
BEAST CORE: Not formed
—————————————————————————————————
Just as Lin Wu finished reading the window, another notification popped up.
~Ding~
QUEST COMPLETE: Gather Viable energy resource
REWARD OBTAINED: Body enhancement
ISSUING QUEST: Reach the Qi refining realm
REWARD: Increased lifespan
FAILURE: Death
Lin Wu was completely shocked by the new information that he just obtained. He now understood that he was in no common world, but was rather in a cultivation world.
'That explained the ancient styled clothes of the man. But what am I supposed to do now? Will I die in 2 months? If don't want to die, I need to complete the quest. But for cultivating won't I need a cultivation technique, what do I do?' Multiple questions appeared in Lin Wu's mind as he got dazed.
~Ding~
But just as he was about to lose hope, another notification appeared.
ENERGY SOURCE DETECTED: Marked on map
SCANNER FUNCTION: Available
QUEST ISSUED: Kill the approaching beast
"Beast? What beast? Tell me more, you stupid system!" Lin Wu cursed as he heard the rustling of bushes.
Report chapter
Lin Wu waited with bated breath, listening to the rustling bushes. He had already been warned by the stupid system, thus he was scared. He was wondering what kind of beast it was going to be. He had seen the boar and bird, thus knew that even a weak beast can kill him rather easily.
"Chickie Nuggies! This damned stupid system, couldn't it warm me earlier? How am I, a Worm supposed to even kill a beast?" Lin Wu cursed.
The rustling of bushes kept on intensifying until when finally it stopped. Lin Wu hid between the now desiccated corpses of the Boar and the man. He was waiting for whatever that was coming.
'The system didn't say anything about a failure penalty, so it should be fine if I just hide out here.' Lin Wu thought.
Lin Wu then suddenly realized something.
"Chickie Nuggies, that damned beast is here because of these corpses, isn't it? Crap, even my intelligence is affected because of this worm body." Lin Wu cursed again.
There was no place Lin Wu could escape to right now, thus he just kept on hiding. He was hoping that he would be lucky enough that the beast would not notice him. He hoped that the beast wouldn't have interest in a small worm like him when there were two whole corpses in front of it.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no." Lin Wu chattered with fear.
Soon a figure appeared in front of him. The figure seemed to have completely ignored the two large corpses and had instead chosen to target Lin Wu. He opened his eyes with dread to take a look at the beast. But when he finally saw the beast, he stumbled in a comical manner.
Lin Wu felt speechless at the beast that was currently standing in front of him. The beast was a tiny mouse that was smaller than Lin Wu's body. It was small enough to fit in a baby's palm and seemed to be looking around.
"Tha-That's it. This is the beast? It's a tiny mouse, the definition does not even come close to a beast." Lin Wu spoke to himself.
While Lin Wu was thinking this, the mouse was approaching him steadily. Because Lin Wu was stunned, the mouse did not detect any danger and came close to stand directly in front of him. The mouse then extended his nose and smelled Lin Wu for a bit.
After checking that Lin Wu seemed to be fine, the mouse withdrew a little bit before opening its mouth, revealing its sharp pair of incisors.
It was just about to bite Lin Wu when,
"Chickie nuggies, fudge that!" Lin Wu shouted as he dodged to the left.
"This… tiny mouse wants to challenge the prestige of a former human. NEVER!" Lin Wu exclaimed before moving forward quickly.
Upon seeing that his prey had moved, the tiny mouse reoriented itself and prepared to bite again. But Lin Wu was ready this time. He swerved to the right and turned his body at the very end. He then went low, touching the ground as he kept crawling, and then came under the head of the mouse.
"Hahaha, right where I want you. Take this!" Lin Wu said.
He then quickly pushed upwards with his body and flipped the tiny mouse onto its side.
~Squeek~
The tiny mouse squeaked in shock as it tried to get up, but it couldn't.
"Not so fast. I won't let you go now." Lin Wu spoke with an evil tone.
He then crawled up on the body of the mouse and started making turns around it. Due to Lin Wu's weight, the tiny mouse was not able to move and get up. Even though Lin Wu was currently very light, relatively speaking, he still weighed more than a tiny mouse.
He kept on curling and then started constricting. Lin Wu had coiled up the body of the tiny mouse and had wrapped it up.
"See how you like this!" Lin Wu exclaimed before he started tightening his grip.
~Screech~
The constricting force kept on getting stronger as the tiny mouse kept on screaming in pain and distress. Eventually, as Lin Wu maintained his grip, the cries of the tiny mouse got fainter and fainter.
~Crack~
A cracking sound was heard as Lin Wu finally crushed the ribs and some other bones of the tiny mouse, killing it in the process.
~Ding~
QUEST COMPLETE: Beast killed (Common grass mouse)
REWARD OBTAINED: Beast corpse
As soon as the tiny mouse was killed, the confirmatory ding of a notification sounded as the window appeared in front of Lin Wu's eyes.
"Finally." He said with relief.
Lin Wu then uncoiled himself from the tiny mouse's body and saw the aftermath. The area around its ribs was sunk in and blood could be seen dripping from the mouse's mouth.
Lin Wu had certainly not expected that he would be able to kill a beast so fast, although the said beast was nothing but a tiny mouse. He rested for a bit and restored his stamina, which had depleted when he coiled and cruised the mouse.
'Huh, now that I did this quest, what am I supposed to do with the corpse? Am I supposed to eat it?' Lin Wu thought.
"What do I do now, stupid system?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
DETECTED ENERGY RESOURCE: Recommended course of action- consumption
"Well, that was… rather obvious. But it's gross eating a mouse, even though I'm a worm now." Lin Wu said to himself.
But then Lin Wu remembered the previous quest that he had. He still needed to reach the qi refining realm within two months or he would die. Gritting his imaginary teeth, he decided to give it a go.
"Let's just get this over with." Lin Wu spoke.
He placed his mouth over the skin of the mouse and tried biting it. While Lin Wu still did not have any teeth in his mouth, the 'lips' that he had were instead hardened and could be used to bite and consume food. Lin Wu's circular mouth thus opened and gnawed on the skin of the tiny mouse.
At first, he had expected the taste to be gross, but in a surprise, to him, it was rather bland. When he finally gnawed out a small piece of flesh he could sense the taste for the first time. He did not chew it much and instead just swallowed it directly, not letting the taste linger in his mouth any longer.
The taste of the mouse's flesh was bland at first, but then a metallic sensation eventually replaced that. A familiar taste of blood reappeared in his mind as he suddenly felt grossed out.
"NO! You have to do this, Lin Wu. For your own life." Lin Wu motivated himself.
Lin Wu steeled his will and kept on eating. It took him over four hours to finish the entire body of the mouse, except for the bones. Another thing that happened was that he got used to the taste of the flesh, the same way he got used to the taste of the dirt and grass. Also, because of his worm physiology, his digestion was fast, thus he could keep on eating.
All the useful nutrients that were absorbed from his digestive tract were stored in the body, while the waste was continually expelled in the form of pellets from his tail end.
~Ding~
NOTIFICATION: Host Data updated, please check the relevant window
A notification sounded, surprising Lin Wu.
"Oh, another update? Let's see." Lin Wu muttered.
"Host Data" Lin Wu commanded.
~Ding~
—————————————————————————————————
HOST NAME: Lin Wu
AGE: 25 days
LIFESPAN: 2 months
HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [juvenile]
HOST CULTIVATION: Third stage of the Body tempering Realm
-Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/400] units
QI STORAGE: Unavailable [Insufficient cultivation]
BLOODLINE: None
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None
QI SKILLS: None
INVENTORY: Empty
BEAST CORE: Not formed
VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 5 units
SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 25 units
RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED: 1. Common Grass Mouse
—————————————————————————————————
FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE:-
1. Map
2. Scanner
—————————————————————————————————
Lin Wu glanced at the new data that was added to the window. There were four new lines that seemed to have been added to the old data, and an entirely new section was now available. This new section showed the functions that the system had activated.
Lin Wu already knew about the 'Map' function and had used it extensively before, but the second one that was added 'Scanner' was new to him. He then remembered seeing the notification along with the quest one before. But because of the fear and dismay, he had completely forgotten about it.
'There seem to be three types of energies apparently, huh? I wonder what's the difference between them? Also, what's this new 'scanner' function.' Lin Wu wondered.
He then decided to test out the new function that he had activated.
"Scanner." He commanded.
~Ding~
SELECT TARGET:
1. Bones
2. Boar corpse
3. Human corpse
4. Sword
Upon saying the command, four options popped up in front of him, making him curious.
Report chapter
Lin Wu was wondering what option he should choose first. While he could guess what the 'scanner' function could do, he still wanted the first time to be special. He didn't know if this function had some sort of cool down or not, thus he wanted to be cautious.
'I can't trust this stupid system. What if it tells me that the cool down of using the function is like a year or something? Or what if it requires special resources and I can only do it once? This stupid system is broken I don't wanna bear the stupidity.' Lin Wu thought.
After deliberating over the choice and considering his current condition, Lin Wu determined that he should choose the human's corpse. After all, the human's corpse was most likely to have the most information rather than the boar corpse or the sword. The bones were not even considered by him as he already knew, or rather guessed what the system was going to say. He had eaten the creature that those bones belonged to, so of course, he would not want to ask more about it.
"I choose the human's corpse." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
The familiar notification chime sounded as a new window appeared in front of Lin Wu. This window was the widest of all the windows he had seen before and took up nearly seventy percent of his entire field of vision. There were separate sections that were clearly demarcated, making it easy for him to distinguish and observe.
In one section there was the target of the 'Scanner' function itself. The corpse was clearly displayed in this square section, and Lin Wu could even see the small labels that were marking the items that were on the body of the man. This included the clothes that he was wearing, the jewelry, the thin armor that he was wearing under his clothes, and a unique plate of pale green crystal that was hanging off of the man's waist band.
In another section, there was information pertaining to the targeted item itself, like its description of what it was and its features.
In the last section, there was information that seemed to have been derived and analyzed by the system. This information was not directly obtained and was the result of careful analysis and extrapolation of already obtained data that was present in the data banks. This data was compared to the targeted items data and the computational A.I. did a deep analysis of the said item. The A.I. would then simulate multiple scenarios and objectives, reaching the most optimum result for that specific level of data.
Lin Wu was rather surprised by the level of detail that was shown in this window and felt that this was something completely out of the world. Well, technically this was 'out of the world' indeed, in fact, he himself was out of the world if one could say in this scenario.
Having glossed over the sections, Lin Wu finally started reading it with full focus. The first section he read was the basic description of the target.
—————————————————————————————————
TARGET: Human corpse
NAME: Feng Luo
AGE: 55 years
CULTIVATION BASE: Late stage of the Qi refining realm
SPIRIT SENSE: Nil (Target deceased)
AFFILIATION: Rogue cultivator
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: Mortal Qi refinement technique [Low-grade technique]
MARTIAL TECHNIQUES: 1. Basic sword arts [Non-ranked]
2. Peasant fist art [Non-ranked]
BLOODLINE: None
—————————————————————————————————
Lin Wu was a little surprised upon seeing that the corpse in front of him was actually a cultivator. Though he also thought that he should have expected this looking at the unique and peculiar attire of the said man and also the age that was mentioned in the section. While the age mentioned that the man was 55 years old, the appearance of the man said something otherwise. The man didn't look a day over 25 years of age.
'Damn, if this man died because of the boar, then how strong is the boar?'
'And what is this cultivation base? I can't understand it just by this, I need an explanation for the basics.'
'The cultivation technique seems fine, but does this mean I can use it or not? Also, what's up with the martial techniques, why do they sound so lame? Wait, oh yeah, this guy is a rogue cultivator, no wonder.' Lin Wu thought.
Lin Wu then looked at the section that was displaying the target itself. The section was a square box in which the image of the target was enlarged and was movable as if it was a 3D display. There were even special labels that marked the items that were on the target.
—————————————————————————————————
TARGET INVENTORY:
1. Common Cultivator Robes
2. Silver Jewelry [Bracelet and rings]
3. Inner Leather Armour
4. Communication Jade Slip (Data Node extracted)
(Select the specific item for more detailed information)
————————————————————————————————
Lin Wu read the labels and was only interested in one item that was the communication Jade slip. It was the only item that had an additional label along with it, and it was something that pulled his interest.
—————————————————————————————————
LABEL: Communication Jade Slip
INFO: A basic communication jade slip used by cultivators for transmission of messages and information. Has the most basic transmission formation engraved on it. It can also store a limited amount of data.
CURRENT STATUS: Data node extracted
—————————————————————————————————
'So this was where this stupid system extracted one of the data nodes from. But if this is the first, then where is the second one?' Lin Wu wondered upon reading this.
Lin Wu had read enough cultivation novels to know what communication jade slips were. They were rather common in the cultivation worlds and were widely used the same way as cell phones. Though the thing that was more interesting for him was the data storage feature.
"Seems like this was the first data node that the system extracted and analyzed, seeing the time that was required for it to complete it. But still what was the second data node?" Lin Wu wondered.
Having finished with the first two sections, Lin Wu's attention went to the third and final section, which gave the derived information of the target. But when Lin Wu saw the first line, he was incredibly shocked.
—————————————————————————————————
TARGET: Feng Luo (Data node extracted)
Report chapter
Lin Wu had never expected for the second data node to have been from the human corpse. He could not imagine how it became a data node, though. Like for the communication jade slip, he knew that it had a data storage function, but how would it work for a human.
"Wait, don't tell me this system can extract memories. If it really can, then it's terrifying." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
Lin Wu even did multiple takes to confirm that the data node was indeed the human corpse itself, and not some other item on its body. After being done with this and having steeled his mind, he started reading the rest of the data.
—————————————————————————————————
TARGET: Feng Luo (Data node extracted)
INFO: Feng Luo is a common rogue cultivator from Deer Wood city. He came to the Millennium Forest for hunting spirit beasts and died while hunting a Rock trampler Boar.
NOTIFICATION: Data node from the target has been assimilated in the data banks. The host can ask the system questions and receive the most optimum answerer possible for that time period.
—————————————————————————————————
'Huh? So now it allows me to ask questions? Did it take all the memories and information from this man's brain and use it to upgrade itself? That's rather impressive. So this stupid system can become a not so stupid system.' Lin Wu thought.
'Now then, how do I do this? Do I just ask it normally or is there a specific command?' Lin Wu wondered.
"System, what is the Deer Wood city?" Lin Wu questioned.
He was expecting to fail on his first try, but in another surprise to him the command he used seemed to be right.
~Ding~
—————————————————————————————————
ANSWER: Deer Wood city is located twenty kilometers to the south of the host's current location. It is one of the five main cities of the Ling Kingdom and comes under the authority of the Lu clan. It is a large city and has a population of six million people. It has three aristocratic clans living in it, of which the Lu clan holds the administrative authority. Approximately Thirty percent of its population is of cultivators while the rest are commoners.
—————————————————————————————————
Lin Wu read the answer provided by the system and only felt more questions arising in his head. He wanted to ask them, but before that, he wanted to know if there was a cost to using the functions of the system. He had read plenty of novels in his past life and knew of scheming and scummy systems that would hide the information from its users.
"System, is there a limit to using the functions?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
—————————————————————————————————
ANSWER: Every function has a different operational cost. The cost of using the 'Scanner' function is 5 units of system energy. Information obtained by the 'scanner' function is available forever after its use, for no extra cost after the initial cost. The Map function uses 20 units of energy upon every update.
—————————————————————————————————
~Sign~
Lin Wu sighed with relief after seeing the system's answer.
'At least it's not excessive, even though it has a one time cost. Though I'm still a little confused about the cost for the map function.' Lin Wu thought.
'Though if I wanna use them, I first gotta know how to get the energy.' Lin Wu thought.
"System, how do I recharge the energy storages?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
—————————————————————————————————
ANSWER: Host can obtain the different types of energies by cultivating, consuming resources, and killing creatures. Depending on the method used, the quantity of energy would vary.
—————————————————————————————————
"Okay, that was rather straightforward. I should have expected this." Lin Wu spoke to himself.
Lin Wu now wanted to know the most important thing on which his life was hanging. He wanted to ask how he could reach the Qi refining realm. He had seen the data in the window and knew that he needed Vital energy.
"System, how do I use vital energy to raise my cultivation?" Lin Wu asked.
~DING~
—————————————————————————————————
ANSWER: After the host consumes resources or kills creatures, the vital energy from that creature would be stored in the vital energy storage. This energy can then be added to the host's body to increase its strength. The host can also transfer this energy to the system energy storage, but if this is done the energy cannot be returned.
————————————————————————————————
'So, I need to hunt more beasts now, or perhaps even some humans. Though I doubt it will be easy considering my current strength. That tiny mouse was rather incomparable to the other beasts that I may face, I need to plan properly.' Lin Wu thought.
"System, what are the cultivation levels? I mean, which stage do I need to reach in order to become a Qi refining realm cultivator?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
—————————————————————————————————
ANSWER: The system currently has data on four cultivation realms, they are-
1. Body Tempering realm [13 stages]
2. Qi Refining Realm [4 stages]
3. Core Condensation Realm [4 stages]
4. Nascent Soul Realm [4 stages]
The detailed data on realms above the Qi Refining realm is currently not available. Please obtain more data nodes to expand data banks.
The Host needs to reach the eighth stage of the Body tempering realm at the very minimum in order to enter the Qi refining realm.
—————————————————————————————————
'Huh? So I don't need to reach the thirteenth stage to upgrade to the Qi refining realm, just the eighth stage is enough. But why is this so?' Lin Wu wondered.
"System, why is the requirement for entering the Qi refining realm as such. Shouldn't it need for one to reach the thirteenth stage of the Body Tempering Realm?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
ERROR: Insufficient data, please upgrade data banks.
"Damn it, you stupid system, just when I was thinking you were getting good." Lin Wu cursed.
~Sigh~
"Anyway, I have to make a plan on how to approach this. I'll should start by hunting small beasts and making traps. I'm a worm, so I should take advantage of it and dig some holes." Lin Wu decided.
"System, can you show nearby beasts on the map?" Lin Wu asked.
~Ding~
—--———————————————————————————————
NOTIFICATION: Marking all nearby beasts within a radius of ten kilometers.
MARKING COMPLETE: Beasts found= 258
—————————————————————————————————
"Chickie nuggies! That's way too many beasts!" Lin Wu exclaimed.
He had expected for there to be many beasts in this forest but had never expected that there would so many in such a short area.
'I gotta be really careful or I may accidentally get stepped on and it will not be the good kind of getting stepped on.' Lin Wu thought.
Lin Wu then started formulating possible plans that he could use. He knew that he was not fast or strong enough to kill beasts in a straightforward way, thus would have to set up a trap. Though here came the question about what kind of trap he could make, since he did not have hands to make any complex ones.
The most obvious trap he could think of was a hole, in which beasts could fall in. But the problem was that he didn't know what other beasts there existed in the forest. If they were too big, then they would just escape the trap and also damage it, wasting the effort that Lin Wu spent in making it.
Hence he decided to see which beasts would be suitable for him.
"System, do you have data on what beasts are there in the area? If so, then can you tell me what small beasts are there that I can kill?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
—————————————————————————————————
ANSWER: There is data available on eleven common beasts that are found in the area. Of these eleven beasts, two fall into the category that the host has asked for.
These beasts are-
1. Leaf Wind Sparrow
2. Common Grass mouse
—————————————————————————————————
"Huh, that's it? I've already seen the Common Grass mouse and there's no way I can kill a bird, it will just fly away. The system is back to being stupid. Do you not have more information?" Lin Wu said.
~Ding~
NOTIFICATION: Please use the scanner function and obtain more data.
'It's useless. It doesn't have any more information, I guess. I'll just need to wing it and figure it out on my own.' Lin Wu thought.
'Though if I want to use the scanner function, I need more energy. But I don't want to use too much on it either or I won't be able to increase my cultivation.' Lin Wu thought.
As Lin Wu was thinking this his gaze wandered over to the corpses that were still lying there.
"That's it I can just eat these first, they should be able to provide me some energy at least." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
But just as Lin Wu muttered this, another notification appeared.
~Ding~
NOTIFICATION: The two corpses have been drained of their free energies and have been used for powering the processes of the system. The host is recommended to consume the corpses to obtain their fixed energies.
"Chickie nuggies! Why are you only telling me now, you stupid system? I could have eaten them before." Lin Wu cursed.
Now knowing what he needed to do, Lin Wu started his task. He started with the boar as he felt a little disgusted and reluctant to eat the human corpse, as he was a former human. But still, he knew that he would have to change his mindset as he was no longer a human and was in a life-threatening situation.
Lin Wu wondered how long it would take him to eat them both as they were pretty massive. The corpse of the boar was thousands of times bigger than his, thus he knew that it was gonna be a tough task.
Lin Wu came close to the boar's leg and chomped on it. Its skin was tough and covered with thin fur, thus it was difficult for Lin Wu to eat it. It took him a minute to even be able to gnaw through the skin. After the first piece was finally cut off, he swallowed it.
Forcefully ignoring the taste that was spreading in his mouth, Lin Wu kept on eating. Though once he had gnawed through the skin, it was easier to eat the flesh itself. Having discovered this, Lin Wu exclusively started eating the flesh.
Even though his size had increased from centimeters to almost thirty centimeters, it still took Lin Wu about twenty hours to finish the leg. By now he was feeling a little tired of eating and also a little disgusted. His body was covered in traces of blood and flesh gunk.
He crawled out from the leg of the boar, which was basically just skin and bone now, and relaxed on the ground. He curled up his body in a half-circle and lounged against the corpse.
~Haah~
Lin Wu let out a breath of tiredness after lounging down. He had gotten used to this body much faster than he had expected and now did not feel any discomfort as he used to before. Even the absence of his limbs was not bothering him as much.
'Is this just me adapting or am I forgetting my human body's habits?' Lin Wu wondered.
After having thought of a few things, he decided to see his data. He wanted to see how much energy he had obtained from the beast until now.
"Host Data" Lin Wu commanded.
~Ding~
——————————————————————————————————
HOST NAME: Lin Wu
AGE: 26 days
LIFESPAN: 2 months
HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [juvenile]
HOST CULTIVATION: Third stage of the Body tempering Realm
-Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/400] units
QI STORAGE: Unavailable [Insufficient cultivation]
BLOODLINE: None
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None
QI SKILLS: None
INVENTORY: Empty
BEAST CORE: Not formed
VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 115 units
SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 20 units
RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED: 1. Common Grass Mouse
—————————————————————————————————
The first thing Lin Wu noticed was the change in the energy storages. The System energy had decreased by 5 units, while the Vital energy had increased by 110 units.
"Whoa! That's a lot. I didn't expect that I'll be getting so much from just one leg. Nice, at least now I can upgrade to the next stage quicker." Lin Wu spoke with surprise.
Lin Wu thought about the potential energy that was still in the beast's corpse. If there were 110 units in one leg, then there should be at least an average of 100 units in each of the legs. Just the legs would be enough for him to progress to the next stage of the body tempering realm, not to mention the entire body.
' I guess, I'll eat all of the legs first and then upgrade, before eating the rest of the body. Though just eating the one leg took me an entire day. This is going to be a little tough.' Lin Wu thought.
After a few more minutes of rest, Lin Wu went back to eating the flesh from the other leg of the boar. He used the same method as before. He gnawed a hole in the tough skin and then crawled in to just eat the flesh.
Three days passed in a flash and Lin Wu had finally finished eating that last leg. He crawled out of the skin and curled up again. The corpse of the boar looked deflated and had also started stinking. It had obviously started rotting and was letting out a foul stench.
Though surprisingly to Lin Wu, the flesh was not disgusting but rather delicious. Even the taste of the decomposing flesh tasted better to him. He was surprised at first but then attributed it to him being a worm now. Worms were detritivorous, so it was obvious that they would like to eat rotting stuff.
"Host Data" Lin Wu commanded.
He wanted to see how much energy he had obtained in this entire endeavor.
~Ding~
——————————————————————————————————
HOST NAME: Lin Wu
AGE: 29 days
LIFESPAN: 2 months
HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [juvenile]
HOST CULTIVATION: Third stage of the Body tempering Realm
-Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/400] units
QI STORAGE: Unavailable [Insufficient cultivation]
BLOODLINE: None
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None
QI SKILLS: None
INVENTORY: Empty
BEAST CORE: Not formed
VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 442 units
SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 20 units
RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED: 1. Common Grass Mouse
————————————————————————————————
Lin Wu felt happy at seeing the increased vital energy. He had obtained 327 units of vital energy from the remaining three limbs. Each limb had a different amount of every contained within it and it all accumulated to for the number in front of him.
'Finally, now I can upgrade to the next stage.' Lin Wu thought.
"System, use 400 units of vital energy to upgrade my cultivation to the next stage."
~DING~
COMMAND ACCEPTED: Upgrading Host's cultivation
NOTIFICATION: The host will experience pain during the upgrade process, would the host prefer to be tranquilized?
"What? You asking me this time. At least your behavior has improved." Lin Wu spoke.
"Yes, I give you permission to tranquilize me." Lin Wu replied.
~Ding~
PERMISSION GRANTED: Initiating upgrade process
The notification window flashed in front of Lin Wu's eyes for a moment before his consciousness started to fade and his vision turned to dark.
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Lin Wu woke up groggily and felt heavy upon waking up. It was as if there was extra weight placed on him.
"What is this? Why do I feel so heavy?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
He looked around and saw darkness everywhere. It seemed as if it was nighttime and the sun had gone down. Lin Wu laid on the ground for a few minutes, after which the heavy weight that he was feeling on his body finally went away. It was then that the sound of notification appeared.
~Ding~
NOTIFICATION: Upgrade process complete, please check the relevant window.
'What, the update was not complete when I woke up? Did it just complete? But it hasn't done this before, did the tranquilizing effect perhaps wore off earlier?' Lin Wu wondered.
Having thought of this Lin Wu called out to the system.
"Host Data." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
—————————————————————————————————
HOST NAME: Lin Wu
AGE: 30 days
LIFESPAN: 2 months
HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [Adult]
HOST CULTIVATION: Fourth stage of the Body tempering Realm
-Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/500] units
QI STORAGE: Unavailable [Insufficient cultivation]
BLOODLINE: None
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None
QI SKILLS: None
INVENTORY: Empty
BEAST CORE: Not formed
VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 42 units
SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 20 units
RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED: 1. Common Grass Mouse
—————————————————————————————————
There were a few changes that Lin Wu noticed right away. First of all, the Cultivation level of Lin Wu had risen to the Fourth stage of the Body tempering Realm, and the energy required to upgrade to the next stage had increased to 500 units from the previous 400 units. The second thing he noticed was the Vital energy storage that had decreased to 42 units.
Another thing that he noticed was the status of his species, it had changed from Juvenile to Adult.
"What's this? I'm an adult now? But I feel no difference." Lin Wu spoke to himself.
Just to make sure, he looked at his body and checked for any difference. But didn't find any changes, at least not any that were visibly apparent. Not knowing the exact reason, he decided to ask the system.
"System, why do I not have any changes now that I'm an adult?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
—————————————————————————————————
ANSWER: The host's body was previously enhanced, thus the host is already bigger than the matured adults of his species. The host's adult status means that the host can now procreate.
—————————————————————————————————
Lin Wu was a little dumbfounded upon hearing the system's answer. He knew what the mending of being an adult entailed, but was still a little taken aback. He also didn't expect that he was already bigger than others of his species.
"System, how much of a difference is there between me and others of my species?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
—————————————————————————————————
ANSWER: Due to the enhancement, the host is ten times as big as an average Common Mud Worm. The host is also able to cultivate unlike the others of his species.
—————————————————————————————————
This was another surprise to Lin Wu. He knew that he was big but had not expected the difference to be so great. Even the fact that his species could not cultivate normally was a surprise to him. He wanted to know more about his species as he didn't know if it was the system that made him able to cultivate or something else.
"System, tell me more about my species and why can't they cultivate but I can?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
—————————————--————--—————————————
ANSWER: The Common Mud Worm is a native species of worms that are common on the entire planet. They are a hermaphrodite species that is unranked in the beast categories. They belong to the lower level of the food chain and are the prey of higher class species.
The reason why the host can cultivate is due to two factors, one of them being the system itself and the other a natural mutation.
—————————————————————————————————
Lin Wu read the entire answer a couple of times before he went back to the part that told him that his species is hermaphrodite. That was the part that had stunned him as he collapsed back to the ground.
"I'm… I'm a Hermaphrodite? No, this can't be! I refuse! That's right, I just don't have to accept this. No one can force me, anyway." Lin Wu muttered to himself in a creepy tone.
Having given himself a little pep talk, Lin Wu returned to the answer and saw the second part. He had guessed that the system had allowed him to cultivate, but didn't know that there was something additional involved as well.
He knew about natural mutations and knew that they would happen every so often. Though more likely than not they would be useless or disadvantageous. It was a rare chance that an advantageous mutation would occur.
'Well, I guess I got lucky.' Lin Wu thought as he stroked his imaginary beard with his imaginary hands.
He turned to the boar corpse and guessed the amount that was left behind. Lin Wu had already eaten the four legs and estimated that the mass of the body should be a little more than the weight of the four limbs combined.
"Let's see how much energy I get from this. Hopefully, it should be enough to upgrade another level." Lin Wu spoke to himself.
He then made another hole in the boar's skin, this time in the torso, and crawled inside as he started eating. If it was a normal person and they were eating the boar, they would perhaps only eat the meat and leave the organs behind. But for Lin Wu, who was a worm, it didn't matter, he could just eat it all. It didn't taste bad to him, anyway.
Lin Wu experienced a difference in strength now. His speed had increased and he could eat even faster. Even his biting force had increased. Unlike before when it took him 80 hours to eat four legs, it only took him 30 hours to eat the entire corpse, leaving the bones behind.
If one were to look at the boar corpse now, they would find that it was literally 'skin and bones'. Lin Wu had devoured every single bit of flesh, leaving behind just the tough skin and hard bones. He crawled out and looked at the corpse.
'It feels a little wasteful to leave the skin, I'll eat it too.' Lin Wu thought for a moment before eating the tough skin.
It took him another ten hours to finish the skin. By now, a sizable mound of refuse had built up on one side. The product of Lin Wu's feast. He had been subconsciously been ignoring it, but its size had become too much for him now. Even though there was no unpleasant smell, it was still very uncomfortable for Lin Wu.
"Ugh, I need to move soon." Lin Wu muttered.
'Now then let's see the gains.' Lin Wu thought to himself with hope in his eyes.
"Host Data." He ordered.
~Ding~
——————————————————————————————————
HOST NAME: Lin Wu
AGE: 1 month, 2 days
LIFESPAN: 2 months
HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [Adult]
HOST CULTIVATION: Fourth stage of the Body tempering Realm
-Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/500] units
QI STORAGE: Unavailable [Insufficient cultivation]
BLOODLINE: None
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None
QI SKILLS: None
INVENTORY: Empty
BEAST CORE: Not formed
VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 602 units
SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 20 units
RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:
1. Common Grass Mouse
2. Rock Trampler Boar
——————--———--—————————————————————
Lin Wu felt satisfied upon seeing the increase in Vital energy storage. He also noticed the extra entry that was added to the bottom about the Rock Trampler Boar.
'Hmm, so every time I finish eating a complete beast, it's added to the list. But whats, the use for this?' Lin Wu wondered.
"System, what is the use for raw bloodline data?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
—————————————————————————————————
ANSWER: Raw bloodline data is obtained from the beasts that are completely consumed. This data can be used to modify and enhance host's characteristics. Such changes are only possible after sufficient data is obtained and analyzed. Certain types of bloodline data are incompatible with the host and thus won't be useful even if they are added.
The host does not have any bloodline, thus the system can allow them to create one for themselves.
————--———————————————————————————
Lin Wu was incredibly intrigued by the system's answer.
'Seems like this is an extra advantage I got because of my species being weak and low class. I wonder up to what level I can modify the bloodline.' Lin Wu thought.
"System, how can I modify my bloodline?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
—————————————————————————————————
ANSWER: For unlocking the bloodline creation function, the host needs to reach the Qi refining realm and also collect a sufficient amount of bloodline data. The host will also need a sufficient amount of system energy to actually carry out the process. The amount of energy required will vary depending on the level and complexity of the Bloodline.
—————————————————————————————————
"I guess, I can't do much until I reach the Qi refining realm. For now, I just need to upgrade." Lin Wu muttered.
"System, use 500 units of vital energy to upgrade my cultivation to the next stage."
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