"What's this...?" Xu Tao asked out loud, curious about the chest.
The reason he was curious about it wasn't because it dropped after he killed the Sand Beetle Larvae, but rather—
"There's a trace of True Qi in this chest...!"
—what he discovered to be in the chest.
True Qi, although weaker than True Heavenly Qi or Transcendent Qi in comparison, was still a treasure for cultivators. By a simple calculation, a drop of True Qi was equivalent to a hundred drops of normal, refined Qi!
With a hint of excitement, Xu Tao approached the chest and touched it. But the moment he did—
Panpakapan~!
A fanfare echoed, nearly making him jump.
He took a step back just as a blue window appeared before his eyes, looking strangely familiar. It resembled the main menu panel from inside the VR pod!
He stared at the screen, at the string of words written on it, and frowned.
[Lost System Reboot Complete... Error, System is Damaged...]
[Detecting a New User.]
[Detecting a Monster Kill.]
[Giving Reward: 1 Small Loot Box]
[Opening Small Loot Box... You receive Water (1 bottle), 1x Bread, and 1x Waist Cloth]
"Lost System...?" Xu Tao raised a brow, confused.
He vaguely recalled hearing those same words just before his consciousness faded last time.
"So it's you who brought me into this world?" he asked cautiously.
[Affirmative. Host is the first user after 50,000 years of inactivity. As a first login bonus, you'll receive a drop of True Heavenly Qi...]
"What?!"
Although Xu Tao was furious about getting dragged into some unknown, dangerous world and having all his cultivation reset to nothing—hearing that made him forget all his grievances in an instant.
A drop of True Heavenly Qi. It was the only reason he'd tapped that weird "game" icon in the first place!
"Give it to me, now!"
If he could get his hands on it, he could skip straight past Body Refinement, Qi Gathering, Golden Core, and even the Nascent Soul Stage!
[...Error.]
[Current amount of System Transcendent Qi is insufficient. Cannot confer first login bonus. Calculating alternative... Evaluating User's current state...]
[Bonus Reward: Sunblock (1 bottle)]
"..."
The next moment, the chest ahead popped open, and a few items spilled out onto the sand.
One bottle of water, a loaf of bread, a dirty-white waist wrap, and a small yellow bottle of sunblock labeled SPF 50. He wasn't quite sure what the last one was, but he was very sure it wasn't worth the same as True Heavenly Qi.
"This is a scam!" he yelled.
But the System didn't reply. It went quiet once again.
After waiting a full minute with no response, Xu Tao gave up and gathered the items from the sand.
He shook off the sand from the waist cloth and tied it around his waist. At least now, he wasn't completely naked anymore.
Then, he picked up the water bottle and the bread. It wasn't much, but for a cultivator like him, it could last about a week—if he were careful.
Finally, he examined the sunscreen bottle. It had all kinds of fine print: manufacturer, expiration date, ingredients, application instructions...
"Oh, so it's something to protect myself from the sun?" he muttered, trying not to think too hard about what he'd lost in exchange for it.
With no better option, he popped the lid and squeezed a generous amount into his hand. Then, with utmost seriousness, he slathered it across his arms, legs, chest, back, scalp, and even his face. He didn't miss a single spot.
Not even his manhood.
Now, under the glaring sun, his whole body gleamed like an oiled-up statue. With his bronzed skin and muscular build, he looked like he was about to walk on stage at a bodybuilding competition.
Surprisingly, the sunscreen actually worked. He felt it right away—his stamina drain from the heat dropped drastically, at least by 98%. The desert heat barely fazed him now.
"...Well, I should get going."
Still, he couldn't help but feel bitter. If he had that drop of True Heavenly Qi, forget the sun—he wouldn't even bother with the monsters.
[Detecting a Monster Kill.]
[Calculating Level Difference... Error. User is currently without a level. Assigning Level: 1]
Then, like a delayed system update, the Lost System spoke again. A new window popped up before his eyes, displaying his own figure with some numbers beside it.
"You fucker! What's this now?!" Xu Tao grumbled, reading through the panel quickly.
[
Name: False Fisherman
Level: 1
Stats:
STR: 0
INT: 0
VIT: 0
AGI: 0
DEX: 0
Cultivation: 9
Bonus Points: 3
Currency:
Money: 0 Gold
System Points: 1 Point
]
And when he saw his name, he practically exploded.
"My name's Xu Tao, not False Fisherman, you fucker!!!"
But the system remained unresponsive. It was driving him crazy!
Xu Tao exhaled deeply, calming himself down. Then he looked at the panel again.
Most of it didn't make much sense to him—what the hell were STR, DEX, AGI?—but two things stood out:
Cultivation and Bonus Points.
"Does this mean..." he wondered, noticing the little plus signs beside each entry—including next to Cultivation.
Out of curiosity, he tapped the plus sign once.
Immediately, one Bonus Point disappeared, and the value of Cultivation increased by one. At the same time, he felt a real surge of Qi entering his three dantian—split equally.
"...!"
The sensation was sudden, but he reacted instantly. He circulated the Qi and refined it into his own, with full conversion efficiency.
It was real. It actually increased his cultivation level!
"...Then no holding back!"
He quickly dumped the remaining two points into Cultivation, then sat cross-legged on the sand to focus. With practiced ease, he circulated the fresh Qi, refining it and absorbing it fully.
In just a few seconds, he gained three drops of Qi. That was a 30% increase over what he'd cultivated manually in this thin, low-Qi desert environment!
Feeling stronger, Xu Tao almost—almost—forgave the Lost System.
Until—
[
New Quest Generated: Let's Roll the Gacha!
Quest Details:
Roll the Gacha 1 time(s)
Quest Rewards:
Free 10 consecutive rolls
Note: Every 10 rolls, you get 1 Rare Item guaranteed
]
"...Now what the fuck is a Gacha?" Xu Tao muttered, scratching his head.