How to Cultivate a Game

[Ping! Used 1 quintessence. Acquired 1 player.]

"…"

"Kyu?"

WHAT!?

Invisible energy grew from the rabbit. I could not see it with my lack of cultivation, but through my intuition, I could feel the little rabbit was growing something within. It was robust, bright, and strong wisdom! I could see it in the rabbit's eyes, it was the light of wisdom.

B-but. But..but.but…

But WHAT?!

Did I use my only quintessence to recruit this rabbit as a player?

I wanted to use something like telekinesis, but this happened instead!

"Kyu? Kyuu-u?

"…"

Yes, I did.

FUCK!

I could not forgive myself for the stupidity I had committed. I just wasted my only quintessence! In fairness though, it wasn't a stupid mistake, but a helpless mistake. BUT STILL! 

The rabbit jumped towards me without any hesitation. It felt more amiable now, not just docile, compared to the idle curiosity it had shown when it entered my cave.

It stood by my side, acting cute and stuff... It stared at me with an imploring gaze.

Its cuteness was destructive.

So my desire for stabbing it was somewhat dampened. My gaze wandered to a chest where most of old Fu Shi's weapons were stashed. My sight landed on a spear slanted at the chest's flank, imagining what I could have done instead.

"I am very tempted to eat you." I only needed to stab the little thing, then she was food!

The rabbit flinched, aware of what I was saying. Hmmm... Did it suddenly gain intelligence after I gave it a quintessence?

The light of wisdom was there, so it was fairly conscious. If it possessed intelligence, then I feared for myself if I decided to eat it now. I realized a sense of disgust. It felt wrong to me to consume another intelligent lifeform. Ugh... Yuck.

"Get me food," I told the rabbit, not expecting much.

[Ping! Giving Quest... Food Gathering!]

Huh?

I watched the rabbit hop away.

Maybe, it was not so bad at all.

I thought of my situation more optimistically.

~~~

Thirty-two hours or more have passed, and the little rabbit had not yet returned. Hungry and without strength, I weakly lay on the cold hard pavement.

I should have stabbed that rabbit.

"Ugh, such bad luck! I have been searching for food in this mountain, but this place!?" This place was just too desolate! I would rather die in the forest than stay in this damnable mountain.

I stood and steeled my resolve to journey and leave the mountain. Though this place had formations that could protect me and were rich with vital qi, they had no use to me at all. 

In my past life, I had read a fair share of cultivation novels. Even now that I was in this cultivation world, I could not understand why master cultivators preferred to stay in seclusion in mountains like this.

In a sense, Cultivators were actually sophisticated cavemen. Most Neets and shut-ins were more respectable than these uncultured barbaric cultivators! I swear! Sheesh...

Well, aside from the rich vital qi, this place was just too boring! It was boring me to death!

My legs were already shaky after walking for less than a hundred steps. I was planning to create traps for rabbits in the forest just by the mountain's foot, but my frail physique was just too much!

I have developed grudges against rabbits now.

"Huff... Huff..."

I could hardly breathe. Exhaustion and hunger are claiming me.

*Tuk

I felt a weak impact on my foot. Looking down, what I saw was the little bunny with some berries in its paws.

"Kyuuu!" It greeted me with its unique chirping.

Look who we have here. It was a cute little bunny. Should I stab it?

Its eyes were dazzling. It was weird, but I could feel the emotion of this little bunny.

"Fine, I wouldn't kill you. Don't get me wrong, you were my reserve food."

I kneeled, took half of the berries from the rabbit then nibbled on them. Though I was very hungry now, I could not find it in myself to stab this little guy.

[Food Gathering! Accomplished!]

Sigh... I watched the little bunny joyously skip at the sound of the system notification. Perhaps, she could hear it too. Or maybe after becoming a player, she had something like a system of her own?

If so, then my 'system' didn't fail me at all. That was how I imagined it, and the system perfectly executed it. This was twisted of me, but I wanted to turn this world into a game--- this little bunny was just the first of my players and there will be more.

"The other half was yours," I told the little bunny shamelessly as if it was me all along who gathered those berries. "Take it, little bunny..." In any case, the little bunny needed to eat. From 'it' and 'rabbit', I began addressing the little creature before me as 'her' and 'bunny'.

"Kyu?" As if the little bunny understood my words, she shook her head. She raised her paws once more beckoning me to eat the berries.

I was hesitant, but the bunny was insistent.

"Kyu-kyu-kyu!" It demanded to me that I eat it since the little bunny had already eaten. What was this? Could I talk bunny now?

I felt this special connection with the bunny. It felt almost psychic. The little bunny expressed its emotions through this special connection.

"Eat! Eat! Get stronk!" She said... well, that was at least what I understood from the bunny's imploring eyes anyway.

What a good little rabbit!

"Ok, ok! If you insist."

So I ate all the berry offerings. The bunny opened her mouth, revealing more berries from its stuffed cheeks. 

Once again, the bunny raised its paws, beckoning me to eat more berries.

My heart was moved... though a bit doubtful...

You are a good bunny!

This bunny was very resourceful and smart! Only now did I check her gender. I had this stereotype of bunnies being feminine. That is why I decided to call the bunny her. Just to make sure, I inspected her nether regions. "Oh, you are definitely a she."

I tasted the berries. Though slimy, I persevered, not keen on wasting it.

In the end, I was able to eat all the berries, regaining my strength a little bit. I summoned my system interface, thinking of my future.

[Name: Fu Shi

Quintessence: 1

Players: 1/1]

After 24 hours, I gained one quintessence. I could not, in good conscience not do something for the little bunny. Because I already had prior experience on how to use quintessence, I knew what I had to do.

From quintessence, I derived the attributes of memory, life, and experience. I wanted the little bunny to have a 'power' that would allow it to ascend to the heavens. Yeah, the heavens were too much. I imagined surpassing its limits was more apt.

Thus, through my power, I imparted more of the 'system' to the little bunny. More specifically, I wanted to share it.

I sat in a lotus position and meditated on what the 'system' would look like for my players. Like a game, I wanted there to be a character progression for them. As for the little bunny, I wanted her to ascend to the heavens, or the very least, to break from the limitation of her species.

"Little bunny, thank you for the berries." I affectionately thank the bunny.

I wanted to stay to the theme, so I delved into old Fu Shi's memories to think of the name 'Bi Yuan'. I didn't really have a clue whether the name was good or not. Using myself as the server, my connection with Bi Yuan grew stronger.

"From now on, your name will be Bi Yuan. I would call you Yuan'er, is that all right with you?" I asked the little bunny, gently patting her head. Did she like the name? I hoped she liked it.

"Ku-kyuuu~"

It seemed that I didn't have to worry much as the bunny, Bi Yuan nuzzled in my arms.

I caressed the bunny in my embrace, excitement for the future was accumulating in my heart.

[Ping! Giving Quest... Food Gathering!]

I gave the little bunny a quest again, which the little one happily accepted. I then let go of the little bunny from my embrace.

"Good bunny." I softly whispered as Bi Yuan rushed downhill to accomplish her task.

I turned my back from whence the rabbit came and then returned to my cave.

I was still hungry and the hunger pangs were painful, but I persisted. A day quickly passed by, and then the rabbit returned with a bountiful of berries, safely contained with a makeshift pouch of leaves.

"Yuan'er is so smart, good girl."

This continued for a week. I praised the good bunny as I ate. The bunny was getting smarter every day. From her humble pouch, she could now set up traps for smaller animals.

I taught the little bunny with minimal effort how to set traps, and now, she could catch small animals at her leisure. I was amazed by Bi Yuan's growing ability! Days after day, she loyally took care of me. And finally one day, she showed me her recent catch. I marveled at Bi Yuan's catch. It was as if she had become a predator of her own right.

"There were some wild chickens, even a fox, but no bunnies huh?"