Strongest Among the Heavens

Keep running. Keep dodging. Keep gaining XP.

The arrows whizzed by as he effortlessly ducked and rolled. Three arrows, four arrows, it did not matter. To Dasha, the sequence was a puzzle he had solved days ago. A typical player would have done something different every time. A typical player would have done an incorrect step over or lose their nerve in the middle of a practiced movement. Not Dasha. He remembered. He repeated.

[ Congratulations! Gate 4 : Shadow Hall

Main Objective : Reach the end of the hall — Complete!

Receive:

2,000 XP

5,000 PP ]

[ Congratulations! Gate 4 : Shadow Hall

SPECIAL OBJECTIVE : Reach the end of the hall in 60 seconds — Complete!

Receive:

5,000 XP

6,000 PP ]

Back in the server, a screen entered his vision and dampened his mood.

[ Warning! You have reached the daily entrance limit of Gate 3! Come back in 47:59 hours! ]

'So there is a limit cap. Good to know.'

Ninety-nine attempts. That was how many times he went in and completed the Shadow Hall. Climbing up to level 27 and gaining a grand total of 2,749,000 PP, with well-placed breaks in between, he made excellent use of his time. It was efficiency at its finest.

[ > Samantha: ANSWER! ME!

> Samantha: REPLY! ]

In the meantime, Samantha was spamming him with messages.

'Blocked.'

Because yes, there was an option for that.

He decided to go to the Nebulous Bazaar and fill up on materials resources for alchemy. That meant going to the library to research.

***

Welcomed by the redhead in a sunny cloak and garbs, Dasha entered the House of Wisdom and got to researching. Alchemy was a complex subject, divided and informed by cultures and regions. Specific ingredients and resources were bound to specific ecosystems and gods.

He stood between tall shelves, reading. The lounging areas, besides their occupation, encouraged laziness in their arrangement. Standing upright served as a type of training.

For Dasha, there was no purpose in life other than to grow meaningfully. Every second should have value. Every moment should be used. It was how his OCD manifested.

"Here you go," said Brigid. "No poems from Li Bai. I reckon the Imperial Sovereign Sect took 'em."

"Thank you," Dasha replied. "And Ge Hong?"

"We have two works on him." Brigid handed the thin, mouldy books over.

"Should I be concerned with their condition?"

"Ah, no need for that. We've a spell cast upon each book, ye see. Not a one of them will alter their conditions unless Lady Athena decides it."

A nod and a quick skim through the pages: Ginseng and Lingzhi Mushrooms. Between the pages, he found a pattern. Interesting. It extended well beyond the book. There were particular resources that popped up regularly. Universal plants and materials that were inherently magical and compatible with the world.

Bridid raised a brow. "A-are you really readin' or are you just playing a trick?"

Dasha's response was, "I read fast," and closed the book. His eidetic memory, among his cold willingness and natural athleticism, ranked as his greatest strength. To be able to make full use of his eidetic memory, he used the method of loci and set-up a mind map. A library of stimuli that granted him complete control over his memories.

And because he was always listening, he never forgot a thing. Eyes, faces, voices, sounds, or a flip of the page. An automatic system that made every second of his life meaningful—that forced him to make it meaningful. It was a curse as much as it was a blessing.

"Ah, I see, I see. Just gotta tell ya though, the best stuff is kept by the Sects. They research and keep their books to themselves, leaving us desperate and wanting." Her thick Irish accent was followed by a click of the tongue. "Especially the Imperials. I wish they would share what they have for the rest. Oh well. I am sure one day, the Lord will guide them."

Brigid brought her hands together and did a small prayer. Dasha didn't mind. In fact, he admired her faith. She fully, truly believed in it. She wasn't half-in, half-out. She wanted the Imperial Sect to be better and held no grudge against them.

The second she was done, Dasha asked, "So how do you get what you have?"

"We have a method of extracting the inventory from players. Don't be askin' me how, mind you. I just know that's how it goes, so it does."

'The Head Librarian, Toth, must know, or perhaps Athena. She serves as the guardian. That title implies action and I haven't seen her at the library so far.'

He went back to his books. Theorizing on the nature of the Heavenly Games would come later. Until he could go into the Dark District with his head held high, he couldn't afford to slack off.

Strength. He needed strength. Strength to topple and execute his enemies and his plans.

Because seeing the depths of the Dark District, he knew what to do. He knew how to conquer the realm of the dark. He just needed time and power.

***

The greatest pill maker was said to be a man from the Orthodox Sect: the current leader of the guild, Master Li Xuanming. Born in the Ming dynasty, he was among the Jiajing Emperor's most trusted alchemists. A man with research, wealth, and backing, and who transferred that knowledge into the Heavenly Games.

His book specified a Liang of ginseng, half a Liang of reishi mushrooms, a quarter Liang of powdered pearl, and a branch of the Great Banyan Tree. With a precision scale, Dasha measured each to the last milligram. Equipped with the Amateur Alchemist Class, his skills were sharper than a double-edged sword.

The book listed a binding agent recipe with exact measurements and proportions, which Dasha followed meticulously. It included rare oils and crushed gemstones from ancient Mesopotamia, all combined in an intricate alchemical formula. He took care to mix the ingredients for precisely eight minutes, as instructed.

Using bits of Fire Finger in order to melt the powders together with the ginseng, mushrooms, and branch, he placed the mechanically jointed creation into the Meteorite Iron Athanor and waited.

Merchants when it came to resources and materials were of astonishing convenience. If one merchant didn't have something, the other would. Moreover, because of previous Heavenly Games, resources thought to be on the rarer side could be found from the correct individual.

He watched as the mixture changed colours, from pale green to shimmering gold, within a time frame of fifteen minutes. It was a mesmerizing transformation.

With the paste ready, Dasha carefully rolled it into small, uniformly-sized pellets, all precisely five millimetres in diameter. His hands moved with robotic precision, leaving no room for error. Then, it was time to heat it up into the pill furnace.

According to Master Li Xuanming, the pills needed to be exposed to the heat of the desert for exactly eight hours. The excess energy was believed to be a critical factor in the elixir's potency. The pill furnace's special feature granted it the ability to bestow particular types of energy into whatever was inside. Lunar energy, for example, that would require the pills to be heated while exposed to the full moon could instead be placed into the pill furnace and adjusted accordingly. The pill furnace replicated environments depending on its quality.

Dasha's furnace was A-ranked and he spent one million, five hundred and forty thousand on it. It wasn't the best but its utility couldn't be understated. It contained nearly twenty different environments.

In those eight hours, Dasha meditated. The ranks of cultivation were further divided into stages. Within Qi Condensation, there was Early, Middle, Late, and Peak. Specifically, they were the goals of understanding Qi. For Early Qi Condensation, it was the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. For the Middle, the Twelve Principal Meridians; for the Late stage, the widening of meridians; and lastly, the Peak, tapping into the Dao.

Currently, he was in the Middle and very close to breaking into the Late stage. To widen the meridians meant to increase the flow of Qi. To grow stronger. It wasn't a matter of talent, it was a matter of consistency and patience. Some bodies might adapt quicker but judging from the records it was not a vast amount. Chinese martial arts and the cultivation involved was very much dependent on hard work. Dasha liked that.

His focus broke when the notification rang.

[ Successfully crafted:

5x Desert Oasis Pill ]

He checked the pill furnace and saw the wonderfully spherical pastel yellow pills.

The total for this venture cost upwards of seven hundred thousand. Indeed, this was no beginner level cultivation pill. B-ranked, it would serve to solidify the foundation of his Qi.

[ Congratulations on understanding the world of alchemy and potions! Receive the 'Intermediate Alchemist' class! ]

[ Available Classes

Intermediate Alchemist: Alchemy Synergy, Elemental Manipulation, Advanced Potion Brewing ]

'Just as I thought. The conditions were fulfilled. It seems each class requires a specific and unique condition to fulfil in order to upgrade. For the basic Classes, I hear it's a level condition. For alchemy, however, it requires the completion of a difficult task. The creation of a B-ranked potion, pill, or transmutation.'

Of course it would be easy for Dasha. He was a bonafide scientist. A man involved in the highest level of research. By changing his perspective, it was a simple matter to transfer those skills into alchemy.

"Now then, a test." He tossed the pill into his mouth and swallowed. His lungs twisted and he started panting hard. He put a hand to his ribcage, which hammered so hard it seemed ready to burst.

He grit his teeth. "Ngh…!" His heart didn't stop beating. His lungs refused to stop ripping apart.

He anticipated the pain. He was aware of the consequences, yet—

He ran across his lab and slammed his hands to the sides of the cauldron, his head hanging over the pot as if ready to vomit. Instead, what came out was a black gas, puffing out from his nostrils and mouth like poison.

His eyes widened at the sight of the black gas and did everything in his power not to cough. His nostrils flushed as it continued pouring out the smelly gas. Tasting like absolute shit mixed with blood and acid, his bodily reaction was to pull away from it.

"Ha…ha…"

Eventually, the gas dissipated and he could breath normally.

"So those are impurities…"

The waste that came from the muck of the environment and the body's inefficiency. Defects that needed to be expelled to grow stronger.

Four pills remained. With proper meditation, he would be able to exfoliate as much waste as possible.

His legs collapsed and he ended up on the ground, clinging to the nasty cauldron and panting.