The Undying Immortal System

I wanted time alone. Time to brood? Maybe, but I thought of it more as time to reflect.

Alone time was difficult to get. Soon, I would be pulled out to be tested and then sent somewhere. I didn't know where. I hadn't run the loop with peak affinity, so there might be changes. I didn't want to deal with that. I just wanted time to myself, just for a little while.

"System, when I'm tested, I want them to think that I just have a high nine-star fire affinity. What's the cheapest you can do that for?

50 credits.

It was a fair price.

"Purchase it."

Purchase confirmed. 1,950 credits remaining.

I did my best to relax as I waited. I felt conflicted about what I was going to do. I only knew of one place where I would be able to spend as much time alone as I wanted. I would be able to work and improve myself in solitude. I wouldn't have to worry about rent, or food, or the cost of materials, or anything else.

I could cultivate, spend time tending to herbs, and practice alchemy in peace. I wasn't sure how many different ingredients I would be allowed to work with, but that would be ok. There were still things I needed to improve with even the most basic pills.

For time alone, for time to rest, I was going back to a place I hated.

I went through the test and was assigned to Rudy, who, of course, made sure I had the slave mantra.

Once in my room, I sat down.

Before he allowed me to do anything else, Rudy wanted to force me to cultivate to Martial Disciple 4 so that I would be unquestioningly loyal to him, but I didn't have to rely on his technique anymore.

But before I started cultivating, I had an important question to ask.

In my last life, I had used a technique given to me by the Twin Mountains Sect. I was told the mental component of the technique was designed to help an alchemist focus in some way, but I wanted to know more about the details. The sect was trustworthy, but I should still do due diligence.

"System, what is the price to learn the mental effects of the cultivation technique I got from the Twin Mountains Sect?"

Cost 5 credits.

"That's a lot cheaper than I thought…"

I had previously been told that the price of knowledge was connected to the effect it would have on karma and fate. If this knowledge only cost 5 credits, that meant that my knowing it would have very little effect on anything.

Even if it didn't change anything, I still wanted to know.

"Purchase it."

Purchase confirmed. 1,945 credits remaining.

Cultivating that technique makes one friendlier, increases the sense of camaraderie, reduces aggression, and increases naiveté. Cultivators will become more susceptible to any suggestions they hear.

That sounded like it might be problematic, but I could deal with the implications later. There might be potential for abuse, but it wasn't worth thinking about for the moment. Everything was good in the sect, so it wasn't a problem. It wasn't an ideal technique, but I felt it was much better than anything else I had seen.

"System, what is the cost of a Peak-Yellow version of the technique? Also, I want it changed so it doesn't affect naivete and susceptibility, also, maybe get rid of the part about a sense of camaraderie if possible. The friendliness and aggression parts are fine to leave in. Can that be done for a reasonable price?"

Cost 800 credits.

Note: This will give you knowledge of the technique, but you will not be a master of it. You will still need to practice it.

That price wasn't bad. Considering my funds and my plans for this life, it was very reasonable. Would getting an even better technique be possible?

"What if, instead, the effect was something like simply improving my focus? Make it so that once I started a project, I felt compelled to work on it until completion. Something that gave me the urge and ability to ignore distractions."

Cost 10,700 credits.

"So, adjusting what I know can be cheap, but learning something completely new is expensive. Alright, buy the first one, and add in a High-Yellow version with the same adjustments. That shouldn't increase the cost much."

Purchase confirmed. Cost 900 credits. 1,045 credits remaining.

Information flooded my mind. As it did, I compared the two High-Yellow techniques. They were not too dissimilar, but they had differences I couldn't understand. Yet another problem for later.

Cultivating with a High-Yellow filter was slow. Increasing purity by a percentage point caused an exponential increase in the time required for advancement.

In my current predicament, I needed to be fast. Rudy expected me to cultivate to Disciple 4 as quickly as possible with no filter. Of course, he also expected me to be completely clueless about cultivation, which should give me at least a little extra time before my delay would seem suspicious.

I tried to remember how long it took me the first time I cultivated here, but it was too long ago. I just had to take an educated guess. Spending a month to reach Disciple 4 seemed more than reasonable. I remembered my early lives where I died at that point after a month, so that's how long I gave myself.

To save time, I did not cultivate the Peak-Yellow technique. I focused on learning and cultivating the new High-Yellow version of the cultivation technique. The changes in it were difficult enough to master in the short window of time I had been given.

Reaching Martial Disciple 2 was no problem for me at this point, and even with needing to learn the new technique, I was able to hit it in only two weeks. As the one-month deadline approached, however, I had still not even hit level 3. That was fine though, I had my backup.

I pulled a Basic Qi Gathering Pill from my storage space. I didn't want to use anything more powerful because a pill that was too strong could introduce impurities into my cultivation base, but this pill had almost no toxins in it and its efficacy was higher than anything else I had ever made.

I was already at the edge of level 3, so the pill allowed me to break through that boundary with ease. After that, its effects lasted long enough to get me halfway to level 4, but not nearly long enough to allow me to complete the breakthrough. I could only do my best and hope that I was just seen as a slow learner.

Thinking about it, Rudy believing me to be untalented might not be all that bad.

It wasn't until the two-month mark that I broke through Martial Disciple 4. That was slower than I had wanted, but my foundation was firmer than it had ever been. Rudy didn't come to look for me even once during this time, so I had to believe that he didn't care overly much about how long I took to advance.

When I did emerge, he immediately sent me away again to learn how to tend to all his herbs. I wasn't sure why he bothered with this. Most of his herbs were only Rank 1. There were only three herbs that matter in Rank 1.

I couldn't help but chuckle at that thought. Rudy was wasting his time with so many worthless herbs.

Since I no longer needed to rush my cultivation, and as I already knew the information Rudy wanted me to memorize, I spent the next month studying the Peak-Yellow cultivation technique.

It was an order of magnitude more complex than the High-Yellow technique. The idea that a newly advanced cultivator could learn this without decades of practice seemed crazy to me. The control over qi to cultivate it properly would require a level of skill that was far beyond row 5 of the sect's qi skill index cards. How could anyone learn this without decades of practice?

The answer popped into my head as soon as I asked the question. Affinity. If someone's affinity were high enough, this technique would be a breeze. What made it hard was the level of qi control that was required to cultivate it properly. A high affinity would give you that control for free.

"System, how much would it cost to permanently raise my fire affinity to low eight-star?"

Permanent Low 8-star Fire Affinity. Cost 1,000 credits.

"A hundred times the price of a nine-star affinity? That seems like a bit much."

Note: The price of this affinity is no longer discounted.

I had forgotten that my discount only applied to affinities up to peak nine-star. That was disappointing, but there was nothing to be done about it.

A thousand credits was a bit too much for now. There were other things I wanted to try, so it wasn't the time to spend so much just yet.

I went back to practicing the cultivation technique. Even without relying on the benefits of a powerful affinity, I was slowly getting better. It would take time.

After a month had passed since last seeing him, I went to find Rudy again. He gave me the same test as in the past and instructed me to take care of his herbs. Then, he took me for the lesson on concocting Qi Gathering Powder.

His alchemy seemed… inept. He was only making powders, but his qi control looked very poor. I realized that Rudy was not, in fact, a very skilled alchemist. Before this, in my mind, he had still been an imposing figure. Now, his abilities seemed childish. Didn't he say he had an eight-star affinity? Why was his control so poor?

He left me with the task of creating ten Qi Gathering Powders for him. This was supposed to take me weeks to accomplish, so I didn't rush it. I was only given blue peonies to practice alchemy with, but that was what I wanted.

I came here because I wanted to spend a few years in isolation. However, I wouldn't waste that time. The first important thing I wanted to do was figure out why I had never been able to make a Perfect pill. I had already created a Basic pill where, as far as I could tell, I had expertly eradicated every bit of toxic energy while perfectly preserving the herb's medicinal energy, but the result was only a High-Purity pill with 99% efficacy.

I wanted to find out what I was missing. I wanted to figure it out myself, through my own efforts.

For me, the mission to create Qi Gathering Powder was a simple thing. It was something I didn't even need to think about. However, I still needed to waste time before turning in my finished products.

My memory of my first life here was not great. I had no idea how long I should waste before handing over my powders or how many flowers I should destroy in the process, but I doubted it would make much difference. As long I was not too fast.

After turning the first ten flowers into powders, I began creating Basic pill after Basic pill. As soon as they were created, I analyzed them and then crushed them to dust. All of them were High-Purity. I was able to consistently make 99% effective High-Purity pills, but I never breached 100% or Perfect purity.

I had one idea for how I might do so, but there was a problem with it. In my soul, a fire now burned. It was possible I could use the spirit fire I obtained with my life to create Perfect pills. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to use it. During this period of time, nothing I did worked. There had to be a trick to using the fire seed, but I didn't know what it could be.

I considered asking the System for information on how to use it, but I was here to learn on my own. I wanted to try to figure it out without simply relying on the System.

After two and a half months, I turned in my powders, Rudy left, and I entered true isolation.

This was what I had been waiting for. I now had all the time I needed to chase down Perfection. To be Perfect, I had to remove all of an herb's toxins. Fine. I had removed all the toxins I could see. The only possible conclusion was that there were toxins I couldn't see. That meant improving my qi vision, which meant improving my soul.

In the sect, I didn't get a soul cultivation technique. Even if I had one, I wouldn't dare risk using it. The potential for permanent harm was too great. Instead, I had been relying solely on exerting my soul over and over to build up its power. However, now that I had a few extra credits, I could start to look into my other options.

Based on my experience with regular cultivation techniques, I knew there was probably no getting around mental influences with soul cultivation techniques. Last time, the System suggested that if I had energy that surpassed the Heavenly Dao it would be possible to get a technique without side effects. Would I have to wait until then before cultivating my soul to not do permanent damage?

I had no basis for understanding the power of the Heavenly Dao, but I could damn well guess I wouldn't be surpassing it anytime soon. Waiting for something that may never come seemed like the worst option in this situation.

Unlike with the fire seed, I knew that this was not something I would be able to figure out on my own. I had to rely on the System for information. Even then, I knew it was probably a losing cause, but I decided to ask. Better to look a fool than to make an assumption here.

"System, is there a way I can buy a soul cultivation technique without any side effects for a reasonable price? I want something that will only increase the strength of my soul. I don't want it to do anything else to any other part of me. No messing with my mind."

Processing… The cost of such a technique is not possible to calculate at this time.

"Then is there anything I can buy to strengthen my soul without side effects?"

Cost 10 credits.

Having to pay… I didn't want to, but last time the information was worth it.

"Alright, go ahead and charge me."

Purchase confirmed. 1,035 credits remaining.

Request is to strengthen your soul without it having any other impact on you. This contradiction is equal to that of a spear that can pierce any defense and a shield that can defend against any attack.

It is impossible to strengthen your soul without fundamentally changing who you are. You recently absorbed a spirit flame seed. This strengthened and purified your soul. This changed you. It changed you in a way that nearly everyone in this world would desire, but it was still a change.

So far, you have mostly strengthened your soul through exercising it. This still changes who you are, but the changes are haphazard and unfocused. It is like a parent raising a child. They try to teach them, but in the end, the child becomes their own person. In the end, parents don't have any control over who they become.

Soul cultivation techniques focus the path of progression. It is like indoctrinating the child as it grows up. They forcibly control its direction of growth so the soul will grow in a regulated manner.

Either option may be considered beneficial based on the desired outcome. Soul cultivation is faster and has a predictable end-state. There are well-known paths that are easy to follow and will result in powerful souls.

Growth through exercise is slow, but it is unrestrained and can lead to new, unique situations. However, this comes with risks. In many cases, this path can lead to a soul significantly weaker than one that has been properly cultivated.

Credits expended, transaction complete.

I reframed the question. Did I want to choose a well-trodden path and walk down it knowingly, or did I want to recklessly blaze my own trail in the wilderness?

I chose to continue only using exercise.

My reasoning was clear. I needed to start strengthening my soul now, but I didn't know who or what I wanted to be. I felt that the exercise option would allow me to grow into who I needed to be in the future instead of forcing me to grow into something I chose to be in the present.

Once I had more solid information about soul cultivation and could make a truly informed decision, I would revisit this decision, but for now, this was the right choice for me. Being slower meant that even if I did make a mistake, it wouldn't be as catastrophic as it would be while following the faster path.

Exercise was slower, but I had nothing but time.