How to Cultivate a Game

Lurker woke up under the familiar shade of the crags that enclose the creek. The emotions welling in him were too chaotic for him to understand. The last thing he recalled was a Character Panel asking him to create his character. He wanted it crocodile first, but he miserably failed as there was only a human template.

Next, he tried to edit a character that was similar to his prior shape, but he could not. There was a rule to reincarnation that he must not have the same name and appearance. His appearance alone should be 10% different from his prior incarnation which was making things more complicated. To be frank, it annoyed him greatly!

But the process of creating a character became fun nonetheless as he got used to the controls.

In the end, he named his reincarnation Lurker the Second. After hours of editing and sculpting his face, he finally finished his character creation. When he woke up, he was struck with disbelief at the thought of being able to live again to see another day. For the first time, he learned to value his life and no longer had his beastly inclinations making him this unsatiable urge of recklessness when poked the wrong way!

Of course, he was still easy to anger and would retaliate if the situation allowed him. 

Lurker looked at himself, and only now did he realize to his horror that he had lost all of his cultivation!

At one moment, he was at the peak of his life, the 5th stage. It was a stage that was impossible for cultivators of the Biron Kingdom to reach because of the thin qi.

Mirrored in the creek's water was his humanized self. His cultivation which was once at the 5th stage was now reduced to the lowest imaginable. He felt his navel where his Dantian had ceased to exist.

Lurker felt bitter. At the same time, grateful that he was shown mercy.

Ping! Receiving Quest… Game ID!

He was perplexed by the sudden development as he heard the unfamiliar ping. He didn't know what it meant and had to peruse the Tutorial boxes that appeared from his system interface. "Game IDs possessed mysterious powers and were related to reputation, world fame, and role-playing progression." He read out loud the last part of the Quest description feeling a surge of excitement at the prospect of mysterious powers.

His thoughts returned to the mysterious Game Master.

No matter what method the Game Master used, it was certainly abnormal. Lurker was not just on the brink of death, he was already dead. While suspended animation was not true death, it was still dead in the end.

That meant… the Game Master's understanding of the soul was immensely profound to the point that he was capable of the feat of resurrection... or in this case, reincarnation. The concept of reincarnation was not widespread in the current era, but there were records of it from the ancient recorded scrolls, and a few times even mentioned through Lurker's inherited memories from his parents.

"You were finally awake," Lurker looked where the voice was coming from. "We have a lot to talk about," Lurker saw an old man with extraordinary bearing. 'He must be the Game Master,' Lurker thought.

"Listen well, I wouldn't repeat myself." With these words from the Game Master, Lurker listened very attentively.

They talked for a long time. The System Providence Sect, the system itself, the little bunny, the members, and everything. It was as if the old man wanted him to be an integral part of his future plans.

Aside from this, the old man asked him questions about his knowledge of history.

'What was he thinking?' This was Lurker's personal curiosity. It was just happening all too fast for him.

"That was all," Too removed from his thoughts, the old man tapped Lurker's shoulder. "As I said, you were free to do anything you want to do… as long as it was within the sect rules. Don't follow your fellow players' reckless example. "

Lurker meekly nodded as he doubtfully observed his system interface, with already a Game ID in mind.

Ping! Game ID was set up to Lurker.

[Name: Lurker the Second (Lurker) | Level 0]

~~~

I left the creek and returned to my cave abode with plentiful gains. Gaining a one-time 5th-stage cultivator wasn't my biggest catch here. The test-driving of Mindless Monk's combat abilities was just a bonus. The real deal was the information I gained from Lurker. I knew about this world a lot, courtesy of the inherited memories of Fu Shi, but I would not know anything about the current era, and referring to old Fu Shi's memories so one-sidedly might get me into an accident in the future. After all, information had to be verified.

Hearing Lurker mention 'ancient text' and sharing his knowledge of current world affairs, I immediately knew that I had to get him on my side. Having a moral impetus only motivated me to try to recruit him.

As beasts, their methods of imparting history were different from humans. This ancient text that Lurker was speaking of could only be a Memory Glyph, a phantasmal text inherited through bloodline memory sharing. These texts could only be read by those who belong to the same bloodline.

Though old Fu Shi had memories of the past, it was too many and too disorganized. It would be nice if I had other sources of information. Moreover, having a reference in researching information was always crucial to ascertain the facts' veracity.

Since coming to this world, I have always found it odd why there was never a creation myth in this world. As a world filled with supernatural forces, the peculiarity had just gotten odder by itself. I didn't even find traces of Nuwa, Panggu, or what-so-ever! I was not proficient in oriental myths, but anything that was primitively full of supernatural elements should start somewhere!

The concept of the underworld didn't even exist here! No reincarnation of six paths! There were never any gods, deities, or familiar saints!

The closest that we could get to a creation myth was… how humans were known as the original races who guided and shaped our current world. This was pretty much a dead end.

Though Buddhism existed in this world, they didn't know any Buddha. In this world, Buddha was more of a concept than a figure. If it were my past life, I could easily accept that.

But with this world, in this current life of mine? Fuck that. This was a freaking xianxia land where xianxia bullshit transpire in a daily occurrence!

Worship in this world was deviant, almost to the point of depraved… resulting in the existence of many evil and demonic cults. Demons did exist in this world as proven by the many evils that have gone too out of hand in the different eras that transitioned.

Altered or not, the only thing I could gather information from in this world is its history. By referring to the known human history and the beasts' history, I have learned one scary piece of information.

I hoped it was just me being paranoid.

But.

~The world was being watched~

And this might be connected to the Heaven's Game.

I dreaded the thought of an invisible enemy. I could only hope for the best, and ready myself for the worst. If there was one thing I was certain of happening... Then that would be, no one in this world would have what it takes to stop me from turning this world into a game.