Artificer Candidate

After the battle, Brave sat down in front of the code and began looking over the spoils of his battle.

The resources he had gathered from the dead emperor had brought him 1000 gems, and 20 energy while he had leveled up to level six in the fight against the Maple Green Sect. Unfortunately, in order to unlock the demon beast stable and the monastery he would have to reach level 10.

Brave needed to get roughly 2000 experience in order to bridge the level 6 to 10 gap. Whomever reached level 10 first, would immediately have an advantage because of the speed boost from demon beast mounts.

Demon beast stables were exceptionally important in Immortal Kingdom, and would increase your speed by three times! They would allow you to interminably harass an opponent in their base before he reached level 10. However, there was only a few ways to get experience without taking major risks.

If Brave, for instance, tried to scout for another opponent's base, he could fall into traps, or even be attacked by rogue cultivators! Even though there was only ten emperors on this planet, there were countless randomly generated creatures, cultivators, and other obstacles that would destroy him before he even got the chance to blink!

However, these encounters would also allow him to gain experience, and find rare objects such as inheritance treasures. The easiest way to find these treasures was to venture into the wilderness behind his base. As for every other player, they were already exploring the vast wilderness to level up as quickly as possible.

Looking at the code for a few more minutes, he came to the conclusion the first thing he should do was secure his other sect. He sent five cultivators towards the abandoned West Inferno Sect, and ten of the forty miners he had acquired.

Unfortunately, he couldn't take a break for even a second, or rely on luck to keep saving him. Every base had a minimum off three separate sects surrounding it to make it a fair game. That meant that not only was the Maple Green Sect an immediate threat, but there was another sect out there probably lying in wait.

Tallying up his gems and energy, however, he looked at another tab in his mental window. There was something known as an insight module that allowed you to learn certain manifestations of the Dao such as one with the sword, and son of the stars.

In order to begin accessing these skills, he spent 2000 gems and 500 energy in order to build a contemplation tower right inside of his spiritual stone formation. It immediately allowed the likes of Ono Takuya to be more in contact with the spiritual energy of the world!

As for what his cultivators would learn, it would depend on their experience and luck. Since they were just starting out on the path as cultivators, these insights were extremely elusive, and mysterious. However, Since Takuya's men had already arrived at the second sect, he didn't need to worry about saving resources!

He put two of his cultivators at the sect recruitment stall in the other base and had his ten miners begin gathering materials in the gem dust factories. Seeing the stall operational, visitors began appearing from the local villages. Luckily, that bastard Shou didn't even bother to destroy his sect before he left.

Each building in Immortal Kingdom had a health bar just like its players. If Shou decided to light it on fire, Brave wouldn't be able to take advantage of his base. As for the Maple Green Sect, Brave had to consider all the schemes an experienced player might have.

Sending a few of his newly acquired servants to each village, Brave left them there to mingle and gather information. Since all the original sect house servants were exceptionally beautiful, sending them to each village allowed them to use their ears and eyes to acquire information.

Many men wouldn't talk no matter how much you paid them, however, seeing an eye dropping beauty would make them spill stories of the heavens. Brave had no choice but to tell his girls to mingle with important people, and offer them drinks by gifting them each 500 gems.

With 500 gems in the local villages, you would be considered a noble, and be able to purchase the finest wines. The girls would surely spin heads, and the information they would get would be priceless!

Brave finally felt satisfied and stopped analyzing the code, making his way out towards the spiritual stone formation. The wilderness was directly behind him, and he sent Ono Takuya, and four other cultivators to go search it for beasts, and treasures.

Even Brave, as the creator of the game, couldn't imagine what kind of fanciful creatures the algorithm had generated. As for the cultivators, they looked extremely frightened, not moving an inch until Brave talked.

"You've all already reached the second level of the Angel Light Body Cultivation Technique. As long as you don't see any monsters over three meters tall, you should be safe."

"Are you sure boss? My mother told me there were monsters who liked to eat more than me in the jungle. I… I eat so much emperor… Will we really be able to survive against the wild demon beasts?"

"I have complete faith in all of you Takuya. I made you body cultivators so even a level one demon beasts claws couldn't easily cut through your throat."

"If you happen to see a creature that is glowing white, and is over three meters tall, though, then you must run. Unfortunately, on the day before my presentation at the Gaming Center, I couldn't come up with any other beast differentiation then size and color…"

"What? What is a Gaming Center? Is it a place that you eat?" Ono Takuya was not one to think with his head, and survived almost purely on instinct.

Hearing this come back, Brave couldn't help patting him on the shoulder, liking him more and more as they talked. Without needing to say anything else, Takuya turned around and ran straight into the forest.

Seeing his map expanding, Brave took a deep breathe and tried to calm his mind. Sending them into various parts of the forest, he finally saw a red mark in his map and immediately had Ono Takuya engage it.

A level one demon beast known as a warlock hunter shot towards Takuya as he reacted on instinct. Sending out a dragon fist, he sent it flying towards the trees as Brave commanded his three other cultivators to surround it.

As for Ono Takuya, since he was a mid-grade cultivator, he would rely on his instincts when versing the terrifying beast. In just a few moments, Brave's cultivators had detached its head as he received twenty experience from the kill.

"Just do that one hundred more times Takuya…" Brave said, challenging his voice through one of his cultivators, "Keep following your instincts, and we may make it to tomorrow still in one piece."

"Yes, however Kato Jun, I don't think Brave would like it if he found you were bossing me around…"

"I am Brave… This is just one of the skills of the emperor known as distant voice projection!"

"Oh, master truly has no limits and boundaries. I will try my best to do as you said Jun." Brave pouted, wondering about his best cultivator's intelligence, before he pointed them deeper into the forest.

"If you can kill two hundred beasts by time night falls, I will create you a banquet bigger than you can imagine! Now… please! Gather the body and start killing more and more creatures."

"Really? Do you mean it Jun…" Ono Takuya still didn't believe Brave was truthfully channeling himself through Kato Jun, one of the new recruits, and instead just played along.

However, a second later, Brave sent Kato Jun running deeper and deeper into the forest. Not wanting to be beaten, Ono Takuya sprinted at his fastest speed killing everything he saw in site.

At the end of the night, he had killed 199 demon beasts, and even found a few rogue cultivators wandering in the forest!

As for his fist, wiping off the blood, he gruelingly went back to the sect, not happy with his performance. When he arrived, Lively and the rest of the sect had already gathered for a major feast.

Looking outward, his jaw dropped as he didn't understand what he had done.

"Good news." Brave said, looking into Takuya's eyes, "The artificer candidate will be arriving tomorrow!"