How to Cultivate a Game

[Name: Bi Yuan | Class: Paladin | Level 22 (2nd stage—Mind Enlightenment)]

[Name: Xiang Ya (Lady Luck) | Level 3]

[Name: Lu Gao (Hyper Blast Super General) | Level 3]

Xiang Ya and Lu Gao couldn't feel it yet, but they were getting stronger. It had been a couple of days, and the trio: Xiang Ya, Lu Gao, and Bi Yuan were making great strides to accomplish their quests.

They were making steady progress as Bi Yuan led them. From a distance, the human duo threw rocks as they blindly contributed to the fight, while Bi Yuan pinned down a random beast with her new spell, Spirit Shackles.

[Bi Yuan's Arts: Aura of Virtue, Divine Fortification, Sacred Ash, Spirit Shackles]

Being pelted by rocks to death was certainly not an enjoyable experience. Whoever was on the receiving end of the torturous volley of rocks stood witness and had experienced it themselves. The beasts the party of three's target of aggression couldn't help but succumb to their fate.

It was bad enough to be tortured by rocks, but it was more humiliating that a little bunny like Bi Yuan was the one who was doing most of the bullying. Not that the concept of 'shame' was available to beasts, but seeing the sight of Bi Yuan's party, everyone would feel pity for their enemies.

Unknowingly, dusk arrived, yet the quest hadn't been marked complete. It was a first for Bi Yuan to be unable to finish a quest in one go.

"Kyu… kyuu~" She beckoned to the other two, telling them that it was time to go home. Not that the two understood, they just blindly followed the rabbit.

That was when.

*ROOOOOOOOOAAR!!

A gigantic bear at the 2nd stage suddenly blocked their way. It looked angry and... was certainly feral. In the Butterberry forest, bears were the most common predator to be found.

With their imposing figure and fearsome claws, their survivability was among the best. Bi Yuan remembered her kin, it was irritating for her that wild chickens have better survivability than her kind.

Though she didn't sympathize with the rabbit species in general, it reminded her of her weakness when she still didn't have the [System].

2nd stage or the Mind Enlightenment realm was said to be the stage when a cultivator reached a certain level of awareness. For cultivator beasts, it meant stronger self-awareness and better cognition.

"Kyu~!" Bi Yuan flexed her Fork of Perforation to warn the hungry bear barring their way.

The bear must have come in these parts of the forest because the amount of prey was getting smaller in the whole Butterberry forest. This could be attributed to Bi Yuan's aggressive hunting recently. Not to mention the white ape hunting too. The bear while searching for food must have caught their party's movement that was poking around within the forest to hunt for prey and exp. This clued the bear.

On top of the baits Bi Yuan made, it would only be a matter of time before the ecological structure of the forest changed. The bear's appearance here was a part of that 'change' as a result of the little bunny's over-excessive hunting.

Since there was never a safe place in the forests, herbivores and prey alike have the tendency to frequently move from place to place; meaning, the prey in a predator's territory would not stay in one place for a long time. But they would undoubtedly return… for many different reasons.

Like eating, drinking, or socializing with their own kind.

The bear, with the lack of visitors it could prey, had no choice but to wander about. Now that it was facing two and a half meals, it couldn't help itself but salivate.

"Grrrr..." | 'Forget the rabbit, those two humans are enough,' These are the bear's inner thoughts as it lunged and crushed the woman's skull with its paw. The bear was swift as while at it, it took a big bite of the young boy's neck.

With the bear's sharp claws and weight to its advantage, Xiang Ya succumbed to a quick death.

With the bear's strong jaws and monstrous teeth, Lu Gao instantly lost his head, decapitation style.

Bi Yuan irately pounced at the bear in an act of vengeance for killing her ward, Sacred light gathered in her fork as she unleashed her might on the bear who never realized where the real threat was.

~~~

Cave abode.

For now... Increasing the number of my players was my top priority. I didn't know how much quintessence would it need for the next update. The costs were purely intuitive, simply by feel, so the only thing I could do was conserve and save quintessence.

Ping! Player Died. Player Died.

Oh fuck… Someone just died. I expected it to happen again, but that was too fast. Let's see…

It was Xiang Ya and Lu Gao. I should plan on making an automatic respawn point for future use.

[Name: Fu Shi

Quintessence: 3

Players: 2/10]

Luckily, I still have plenty enough to resurrect the two of them. This was thanks to the beasts that Bi Yuan hunted that I still had few quintessence to spare. I had been experimenting with Quintessence use, and it was driving me crazy. I wouldn't have enough quintessence if not for my little bunny!

Ping! -2 quintessence.

With a thought, I used the art of resurrection only unique to me.

The animation effect occurred, bubbles of light gathered, and their soul took shape as finally, they were resurrected. I must research more on the power of resurrection and life, but I have so many things to do. This kind of power was controversial and too greed-inducing. I should first increase my own strength! I might possess power over creation, but I would not be strong enough to confront true powerhouses with resources and abilities that far surpassed mine. I would be easily suppressed and owned!

In order for me to become stronger, I should increase my players! This way, my daily quintessence gain would increase.

First, I needed to see my newly resurrected players. Bi Yuan had experienced it once already, but I wondered what it would feel like for humans. 

I observed Xiang Ya who was dumbly looking at the ground. She seemed to be stuck in a state of retardation. This must be a side effect of resurrecting her... which was bad. If resurrection would decrease a person's intelligence then wouldn't it lead me to self-destruction? There was a saying that it was better to have a God-like enemy, than a pig-headed teammate after all.

I couldn't know what she was thinking, but she looked confused. Meanwhile, little Gao had that contemplating look. When I made my secondary observation on Lu Gao, I sensed this feeling of looking at an old man who was thinking about the meaning of life. Perhaps, I was just imagining the side effects.

Instead of a decrease in intelligence, I reckoned their reaction must be out of shock from being resurrected. It was certainly an unbelievable experience!

'They would do just fine,' I told myself. The side effects would fix themselves in due time. I feared for their mental health, but a bit of their sanity in exchange for resurrection sounded a good deal to me.

Sanity after all could be recovered with the right methods. Those methods though would need time for me to realize them. For now, my players need to brave the danger and get stronger.

"The two of you just died, get used to it. And get out, so shoo!" I casually told them as I motioned for them to go away. Sigh… I have become a grumpy old man, but meh… I haven't had dinner yet. Let me see what I have in my makeshift fridge.

~~~

Xiang Ya felt like she had just woken up from a nightmare. The village was annihilated, and a bear killed her with little Gao. It was a terrible nightmare, but was far from byproducts of imagination, all of that was real. It registered to her that she had been resurrected! When she looked over at Lu Gao, she realized that the little guy must have been similarly resurrected. 

Xiang Ya and Lu Gao walked out of the cave with blank eyes. They just couldn't believe it, but they clearly experienced it. Lu Gao was having an easier time compared to Xiang Ya, maybe thanks to him being a kid.

"Little Gao, did you think the Game Master could resurrect the dead?"

"Hmm… Yes? No? I was not sure."

"Why? We clearly returned to the living."

"I didn't know about cultivation and shit. And the power of resurrection was clearly way out of my league since I was just a kid from the boonies. But big sister, knowing that you asked, no matter what my answer was, would you believe it?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Yes, exactly. That was the same for me. I wouldn't know. I doubted as much as you are."

"…"

"So, instead of worrying about it, wasn't it better to just not think about it and focus on our own personal goal?"

A strange wisdom flew from Lu Gao's mouth. The Game Master and the system were certainly strange. But as a kid, Lu Gao lacked the power to understand them. Xiang Ya fidgeted.

Like what their Game Master said, ‘Get Used To It.’