Chapter 36. The Bug That Got Patched
When I was in the middle of investigating the source of that uneasy feeling previously.
The focus I left on Ren Qingquan could see Ren Qingchen suddenly spoke to him while wearing a smile that looked a bit forced.
"Cousin Qingquan, do you have anything you want to say to me? The others have already left some time ago."
Without realizing it, everyone in their group has left Ren Qingchen's house.
As Ren Qingquan seems to overclock his brain when deducting the possible source of his uneasiness. He answered Ren Qingchen's question in a daze.
"Hmm? Ah! I indeed have some questions. You are so familiar with the cultivation world, have you visited it before?"
Hearing the question that has been asked previously, Ren Qingchen repeated the same answer.
"I have never been here. I only knew about it while reading some records before."
Still in a daze, Ren Qingquan continued.
"But, you feel too familiar with this world. I would rather believe you regressed into the past rather than reading it on record."
This time, I could see Ren Qingchen's face changed. The change is incredibly quick and colorful.
One second he has a shocked face, and then an angry face, followed by killing intent, thoughtful look, before returning to his smile. All of those changes in expressions happened merely in 2 seconds. If not for my increased observation from [Calculate], I wouldn't even sense his change in expressions.
Looking at Ren Qingchen's face changing show. I couldn't help but think 'Holy shiet!' while internally screaming at Ren Qingquan.
Stupid Ren Qingquan, you shouldn't spill other's secrets like that!
Just when I saw Ren Qingchen was going to speak, the result of my experiment was out.
*BOOM*
Hearing a huge explosion sound accompanied by a blinding light, Ren Qingchen quickly went outside leaving Ren Qingquan who followed soon after.
***
Just before Ren Qingchen began asking questions to Ren Qingquan.
I proceed with my experiment by using [Anchor] to attach [Devour] into a tree one kilometer away from Ren Qingquan, which is the limit of my [Scan]'s radius.
Spending 11 energy to attach that tree with [Scan] and [Devour], I immediately activated the greatly weakened [Devour].
After activating [Devour] for three minutes and swallowing the dirt and ambient energies surrounding that tree, it actually netted me two energies! Although Ren Qingquan could gain slightly more than 2 energy/minutes from using [Devour] in the Martial Arts World's core area of Endless Mountain, one must remember the [Devour] I used on that tree has been greatly weakened until merely 3% of Ren Qingquan's [Devour].
That means if Ren Qingquan were to activate [Devour] in this world, he could generate 20 whole energies per minute (50% TAX that entered my pocket not included).
After another three minutes passed, the [Scan] I left on that tree detected that feeling. The feeling of being observed by an extremely huge existence.
*BOOM*
In four minutes, with a sudden glaring light and massive explosion sound I could hear from the sense shared by Ren Qingquan. The tree I had anchored lost contact with me.
In its 10 minutes of glorious life, that tree has devoured 7 points of energy which is a loss compared to the 11 energies I spent on anchoring it.
Returning my focus back to Ren Qingquan, I saw him running outside of the guest house Ren Qingchen stayed at toward the tree I experimented with.
In front of him, Ren Qingchen has already arrived quickly toward that place.
This is also the time when I saw the effect of that experiment myself.
The previously flat earth with bushes and trees combined to create a picturesque scene has been turned into a charred bowl shaped hole with some remnant electric sparking here and there.
From [Scan], I could detect many remnants electrified on that soil.
Standing near a big bowl shaped hole, through Ren Qingquan I could see Ren Qingchen squatting and observing the center of that hole from the edge while muttering about some thunder tribulation or thunder punishment.
Looking at that scene of the wreck, Ren Qingquan asked me.
'System, what is going on? Is it a thunder strike? '
Hearing Ren Qingquan's question, I am in a dilemma whether or not I should tell him about my [Anchor] skill.
After Ren Qingquan showed the power of his instinct several times, personally I feel he would've somehow connected this event with [Devour] once he decided to use it.
Afterall, it is highly probable that once Ren Qingquan activates [Devour], the same phenomenon of a thunder descending will also arrive which is dangerous.
Not only that, his occasional stroke of genius must also be acknowledged. Who knows, he might find a way to bypass the limitation on [Devour] easily.
As a good system that requires Ren Qingquan's help so as to not get stuck in the consciousness space with absolutely nothing, I must prioritize the trust he has toward me.
Of course, I will not tell everything about [Anchor]. For example, how once I collect 1.111.111 energies, he might not be my only main host.
I will also confuse the timeline of when I gained [Anchor] to make the excuse of 'doing an experiment on new system function' more believable.
Personally, I disliked doing this kind of lies and manipulation. But, I must do everything I can to survive.
With that decision, I started preparing the message for Ren Qingquan.
[Answering to the host, it is indeed a thunder strike. The thunder strike is caused by the system's experiment with a new system function called 'Sub System' that has been recently updated once the host arrived at the cultivation world. There is also another 'Transfer' function that has been updated. The system has also found out the possible reason for that uneasy feeling the host has.]
Once I sent that message, I could see Ren Qingquan reading the message
'System, what does the sub system mean?'
I guess my attainment in Ren Qingquan-logy has reached perfection. Because as I expected, Ren Qingquan focused on the sub system part first instead of the fact I found the source of his uneasiness.
Sending my prepared answer, a new screen appeared in front of Ren Qingquan.
[Ding! The sub system will allow the host to add some system function like 'Scan', 'Devour', 'Storage', etc. to a certain thing (people, animal, non living things). The system function granted to those things will be weakened.
The more system functions added to the same thing, the more points required. The more points spent, the more powerful the system function a certain sub system will have.
By upgrading the main system's function, the sub system's function will also be affected.]
After hearing my explanation, Ren Qingquan actually asked a random question instead.
'System, I always have a question. Why do you often start your notification with a 'Ding!' word. It's not like you have ever released any sound at all. You just literally wrote the word 'Ding!' at the start of your sentence.'
Ren Qingquan's sudden question shocked me and made me realize my attainment in Ren Qingquan-logy is merely an illusion.
Well, I always wrote those 'ding!' sound merely for formality. Those systems in novels usually do that right? If I don't do that, won't people think I am a fake system or something?
I actually want to add a bell-like sound to notify him. but after thinking about it, a written message should be enough. It's definitely not because I am unwilling to waste some points to make a sound.
Now that he talks about it, I feel embarrassed instead. And so, I attacked Ren Qingquan with sarcasm.
[Answering to the host. The system just wished to be like those familiar systems in novels you spent half your life reading. Anyway host, you are regressing from the topic! Shouldn't you ask more about the sub system or the source of your uneasy feeling instead?]
'Alright, alright. Then, please continue to explain about your sub system function. Also, what is that [Transfer] function you said about? '
[Ding! Transfer allows the host to send one thing to another place or teleport from one place to another.]
After giving a brief explanation about transfer, I started explaining about the 'Sub system' in detail.
[Sub systems are separated into six levels. Note 1: Every increase in levels allows the host to add one more skill.
Note 2: Every increase in level strengthens the effect of the sub system's function.
Price (require purchasing the previous level first) :
Lv 1: 1 point.
Lv 2: 10 points.
Lv 3: 100 points.
Lv 4: 1000 points.
Lv 5: 10,000 points.
Lv 6: 100,000 points.
Example: Giving something a lv4 sub system requires the host to spend 1.111 points to purchase Lv 1- Lv 4.
Available system function:
[Transfer]: used to transfer information(memory, knowledge, etc) or items from one place to another.
[Scan]: similar to the main system's [Scan] but weakened. The host may observe some things around the thing attached with the sub system through this function.
[Create]: used to create a shop which could create something by spending energy.
[Devour]: swallow things for points.
[Calculate]: calculate things, increase comprehension, learn and upgrade skills.
[Storage]: Store things in another space. Space granted to the sub system is not connected to other storage space and is taken from the main system's available storage space.
Example: currently hosts have 1000 cubic meters of space. Once you grant a sub system with 100 cubic meters space, your available space will decrease to 900 cubic meters. Once the sub system is destroyed, the storage space will return with items stored within that sub system's storage space destroyed.
Note 1: Through the main system, hosts may choose to block, weaken, or control a certain sub system's ability.
Note 2: The host may collect all, or a part of energies absorbed by the sub system.
Note 3: Host may upgrade the level of the sub system already attached to a certain thing without being nearby.
Note 4: the selected host for the sub system must be within the range of the main system's scan.
Note 5 : Please experiment with it more to find other hidden usages.]
Reading his thoughts through [Anchor]'s shared sense. I feel relieved because Ren Qingquan only thought of how to use the new system function to cause chaos after hearing I started an experiment on my own. Should I be grateful at how Ren Qingquan is someone that is carefree and light headed? If he is someone 'domineering' like those hosts from novels I read in previous life, he might've told me to stop doing things without his consent which is a pain in the ass.
After a minute's passes, Ren Qingquan stopped reading the system message as his focus got attracted to three blurry silhouettes that quickly arrived nearby the location where that thunder struck.
Upon reaching the hole, those silhouettes stopped and showed their true form which is actually three people flying at high speed.
Among those three people, one of them is the elder Fengyun. As for the other two, there is one beautiful woman that looks to be in her twenties and a middle aged man.
From my [Scan], those three people contain incredibly high energies. There is nothing to be said about the elder Fengyun which has been scanned previously.
Among the other two, that middle aged man has a slightly lower energy than elder Fengyun. Meanwhile, the energy that beautiful women give off is incredibly strong! She is almost several dozen times stronger compared to the elder Fengyun.
Not only that, her force of distortion affected [Scan] on a much serious degree. [Scan] could even barely touch the dress she wore and couldn't reach her body to collect data.
As I saw how the effect of [Scan] has been affected so badly. I pushed forward the importance of upgrading [Scan] to withstand that distortion force.
Of course, first I must find a way to collect more energy. Before finding a new way to collect energies, I must think several times before spending any energies and keep enough reserve in case of emergency.
While I was thinking, the elder Fengyun had finished greeting the other two people and arrived in front of Ren Qingquan and Ren Qingchen.
"Greetings once again to both of you."
Using the hand greeting he just learned today, Ren Qingquan returned the elder Fengyun's greeting.
"Greeting elder Fengyun."
After greeting, elder Fengyun started warning him about the danger of this place while pulling Ren Qingchen with invisible force using a wave of his hand.
"Both of you should leave this place. The area around this place is incredibly dangerous as there is a chance for another thunder to descend. With the cultivation both of you have, being struck by a residual force is enough to kill you."
Heeding his warning, Ren Qingquan and Ren Qingchen returned to their respective guest houses.