How to Cultivate a Game

"Wait," A gentle voice beckoned him. "Just wait." It said.

Just right before Lurker faded into the void, something held him tight, stopping his soul's decay. It was another soul, and between them was a robust bridge where their thoughts connected.

"I was angry at you for killing my subordinates, so I sent the monk to kill you."

"???"

"Now, you have two choices. Submit to me or die."

It was… a very cultivation-ish development, something that you would see in the cultivation world on a regular basis. But in Lurker's case, it had quite a twist.

Confused, Lurker asked. "I was already dead… Wasn't I?"

~~~

Was this Croc dumb or what? Time was of the essence. His soul would dissipate any time soon! The soul of the very croc that the Mindless Monk just slaughtered was bobbing up and down like a lonely buoy in the middle of the sea.

"If you couldn't still believe it, then it was your loss." I have no defense. It was kind of unfair considering this Croc didn't have any trouble with me. "You weren't dead yet! But you would be dead any time soon." I screamed at the proverbial soul visibly going in circles in the empty world at the border of the void.

We were talking through our thoughts, so our conversation was happening at the speed of thought. But souls as sensitive as they were would inevitably be still damaged if given enough time to stew on their own decaying energy.

No matter how good I was at resurrecting people, I wouldn't still be able to do the job if the one being rescued was not being cooperative.

"You stupid ignorant lizard! I bought Telapathy so that I could talk to you. Would you not make me waste my effort?" I cussed at the lizard, angry about being ignored. I had a temper, but I didn't mean any ill will to the poor guy.

This better worked! I was kind of strong-arming him, but this was better than not doing anything at all.

I spent a hefty amount of quintessence in gaining the power of Telepathy. It was the most expensive superpower I have as of late. It was worth almost 100 QUINTESSENCE!

After a month of tinkering and programming the Mindless Monk, I should have enough quintessence to splurge. But because of my greed, I was now left with dregs.

[Name: Fu Shi

Quintessence: 12

Players: 1/1]

Ugh… the sight of my poor balance was hurting my eyes, but I reaped what I sowed. My reckless spending aside, it was more disappointing to know that my telepathic powers were only limited to mental conversation.

Considering telepathy's overpowered applications, it was only fair that this happened. It was within my expectations for the telepathic ability to be nerfed.

It wasn't really that bad either, as with Telepathy, I was now able to communicate with the croc's stray soul. If I had the resources in the future, I could make an amplifying device to use my telekinesis to recruit players! Wouldn't that be dope?

In my Mind's Eye, I was seeing a ball of light which I assumed to be the croc's soul. There was a translucent shimmer of light that connected the croc's soul to mine. It was an interesting sight, that shimmer of light must be my telepathic power's work.

"You! YOU!" I sensed displeasure from the Croc, as his soul trembled in indignant fury. If he belonged to any righteous faction, they would be already storming at this point and shouting. The Croc would then say. 'I WAS THE VICTIM!' If he did, I'd be ashamed. Now that I thought of it, that just made me feel more guilty.

"It was your subordinates? What quarrel did I have with you!?" The Croc screamed at me, perhaps only noticing my presence now. People's souls when in the death state tended to have the effect of turning them muddle-headed. If the Croc could still complain like this, then he must have quite strong willpower.

"I apologize." Recently, I have been saying sorry repeatedly.

It was my players who were the aggressors. I was much aware of this.

I understood the Croc's point of view. To his eyes, I was just a big bully, but that's how the cultivation world worked. No matter how you romanticized it, it was a dog-eat-dog world. "I feared I had become something I feared... That was to become a bully, but it was necessary..."

I explained to the Croc the circumstances. "I had two choices: it was either I turned you into a Raid Boss Monster for my players to eventually slay down, or I extend to you my invitation to avoid the worst-case scenario."

"R-raid boss? What was that?" The Croc asked in confusion.

I reasoned in good nature. "Why? Did they have to slay you just because you were a monster? That was discriminatory. There had to be a righteous cause. A good quest could only start with a good story! I didn't even have any main storyline yet!"

I knew that he was barely keeping up with my unique terminologies, but I saw no other way to express such passionate feelings inside me.

"You were an innocent croc, so you wouldn't have to suffer like that!" I hypocritically... ahem... self-righteously exclaimed.

The Croc answered back with hate. "But your monk killed me!" His soul form was shaped into an orb, and it bobbed up and down indignantly. "Where was justice in that?"

"That was why I apologized. At least you were not reduced into Exp Points, and now had the opportunity to reincarnate!" Yep, this Croc was a lost cause. His Soul Decay was getting worse. I should be able to reincarnate him though. "You would understand in time what my words meant! Trust me, it would be more humiliating to be turned to Exp Points."

"But I was killed!"

"So what?" I coldly shut off the grieving croc. Sigh... I wished my players would play more responsibly. 

"…" The Croc stewed in his own silence.

Speechless, the Croc went very still. He must know it in his heart. Especially since he started as a beast, he was so much more aware of how strict the law of the jungle was… The survival of the fittest was a sacred and inviolable rule. The reply 'So what?' might sound heartless, but it was actually conforming with the natural flow of events.

"What did you want? For me to submit? I was already dead. What were you gonna do? Turn me into a ghost?" The Croc said with contempt.

"Not unless I decide to," I replied with smug honesty. "Life could be reshaped at my will!"

!!!

The confusion that was bogging the Croc's mind disappeared as the implications slowly sank into his mind.

"Reasonable," the Croc finally acquiesced to my words. "I accept."

With his acknowledgment, the power of the system finally took effect.

Ping! -10 quintessence. I didn't expect that. It seemed recruiting him was expensive huh? Still, it was worth it to have another capable fighter in my empire's ranks. The admission of players had some strict rules. One of them was 'not forcing' players to play.

It greatly worked in my favor that Lurker, the Croc, had agreed to become my player. I finally learned the Croc's name through the connection that was created from my system. "Excellent. Let me introduce myself, I am the Game Master."