[NR] No Bravery For You - Chapter 700

First, though, Jason would check on if he was lucky. Did he not have any extraordinary meridians unlocked? Or did he roll good in this life and have some of them ready to excavate? Even a single meridian would be excellent, matching his last life.

Jason settled down once again and scanned through his body. Not much has changed, except now that the meridians are flowing? More of the body’s mystical, non-physical components stand out.

Not that you couldn’t find them before. It was just like that trick where you put something clear into water that has the same refractive index. The object will seem to vanish. Now, though, the water, representing the body’s natural life force, has his cultivated power flowing through it.

Among the many things revealed by this, both known and unknown, Jason focuses on the eight extraordinary meridians. Of course, they aren’t quite where they were in his last life. Maybe because he was in a new body, possibly because humans in this world were different. Either way, his general knowledge seemed to still apply.

Jason began with the most metaphysical, in his opinion, the belt. It was around the body, instead of within. And also completely locked down. Which was a shame as it was an excellent meridian to channel defensive abilities through since it already surrounds you.

The Heel and the Linking channels also failed. The Heels represent one’s ability to stand up to and for yourself, which would have been nice, but Jason had been really hoping for at least one of the Linking meridians. The Yang regulates old habits and such, while the Yin is about the relationship between one’s past and future.

Which for Jason was particularly important. To regulate his habits from his last life? Or to delve more into the relationship between that life and this one? An interesting prospect.

Whatever the case, Jason finally gets lucky. The Governing meridian, a yang meridian that goes up the back, was unlocked. An important extraordinary meridian for a cultivator, as one of its aspects was the ability to break bonds and transform.

And a second hit right away as the Conception meridian was also unlocked. This not only represented things like creativity and bonding, important things to balance out the Governing meridian which can break bonds. It also forms one of the minor cycles within the extraordinary meridians, like with the Heel and Linking meridians.

Though connecting the Governing and Conception meridians forms a cycle with a more pretentious name, “The Small Heavenly Circuit” or sometimes the “Small Universe”. So yeah, you can tell this circuit is considered quite important. Unlike some of the other cycles, this one forms a literal circuit through which power can flow.

Though after that success, Jason ends with a final failure. The Penetrating meridian, so named because it literally goes right through you. All while representing your sense of self and connecting inter-generational things like genetics and trauma. Yeah, that’s a thing.

And while Jason is spending his time navel gazing, Rosha and Courtney are not having as easy of a time as they thought they would.

Rosha watches as her arrow pierces the heart of a cat-like monster, the last of a group which has decided the clearing was a fine place to challenge. “Why are there so many attacks?! This is more like what I expected and not at all what Jason was experiencing!”

Courtney shrugs as she is checking the various corpses from this attack, looking for any fakers. “Probably some other strange benefit from being an Energy user. Since the stuff is so rare, maybe most creatures avoid him.”

Rosha, “Bah, this is probably just because he finally got his garden growing and right away, handed it off to us.”

Courtney shrugs, “That could do it.”

The duo finish gathering the bodies and set about butchering them. By preference, they aren’t going to be keeping any of the meat. Just doesn’t feel right to eat a cat, even if it was a monster. That, however, does leave things like the hides, claws, and teeth.

Oh, and while they aren’t keeping the meat. That doesn’t mean they aren’t harvesting some of it. In particular, one of the feline foes had some sort of magic concentration in their heart, which thankfully will keep till the next day. The innate magic does wonders for keeping it fresh, especially when stored in a box with minor preservation effects because of the wood used.

Rosha grimaces at the box, “I bet that’s used in a potion with some sort of bravery effect. Heart of a ‘lion’? Seems a bit too thematic.”

Courtney chuckles, “Well, that wasn’t much of a lion.”

Rosha, “And it won’t be much of a potion. Still, if that turns out to be the case, remind me to never drink bravery potions.”

Courtney waves that off, “Would be pointless anyway. Bravery potions fall under that special category of effects that do nothing for players. It isn’t even an effect that the System compensates you by giving some other sort of buff.”

Rosha frowns, “Why is that?”

Courtney shrugs, “The community’s best guess is that bravery is an effect that we could in theory use, but because of the limitations of the capsule and laws, can’t. Like, a potion to remove our fears? Valuable, even outside of combat. Gives liquid courage a whole new meaning.

“On the other hand, there are certain effects that could totally affect us, but the System prevents us from using them. Things like the spells to permanently alter our forms. Not that there aren’t ways, you just can’t see a biosculptor mage for it. So in exchange, alterations spells, while temporary, will have more of an oomph if meant to be permanent.”

Rosha, “How does the spell having more oomph compensate for it not being permanent? You can’t even say it extends the duration, because the original duration was infinite.”

Courtney, “The spell can do more. Most people going for a complete makeover need multiple sessions over a period of days or even weeks, depending on how radical the change is. Players can basically get a complete makeover for the night that locals would need to plan a week or more ahead for. Players can even layer the spells instead of needing to wait for the change to settle.”