[NR] Pondering In The Night - Chapter 537

The night was not peaceful. It was honestly to be expected. While the settlement had specially designed the repellent to target the snakes that came along with the giant beast. That didn’t mean others weren’t affected.

Many beasts and monsters had been driven away from their homes by the smell alone. Unlike the snakes, though, since the repellent wasn’t targeting them, the local creatures are now making their way home. Throughout the night, those returning monsters decided that Jason and the others would make a nice snack.

The group, of course, had their own opinion on the matter. Still, it meant a less than restful night. Jason tried to take as much of the watch as possible and avoided waking the others when possible. After all, he only needed half the rest. Not that he got that.

Though all things considered, Jason did a bang-up job of letting the others rest as long as the monster attacking wasn’t the type to burst into the camp. Those which took a more stealthy approach simply could not avoid Jason's alarm ritual. He had been studying the book for a while and with 70 Energy in the tank? He was more than able to support it.

So when an acid spitting lizard crawled towards the camp, he could silently drop onto it from above and choke it out. As the group of fist-sized ants attempted to attack, he pinched their heads right off. And when the local snake monster decides to make a play at them from the trees? Well, normally a knife hand strike is a fancy way to hurt yourself, but with a touch of Energy, Jason makes it work and chops the monster’s head off.

Still no skill for cladding himself in Energy though. You would think it would be one of the first skills anyone practicing Energy or Qi would earn. Except that is the problem. It seems the System considers cladding yourself in Energy or Qi is on the same level as a regular punch.

No one gets the “Punch” skill. Sure, you can get a skill for a special punch, but not the basic form. The System considers such abilities too basic. Instead, what you would get is a more general passive skill to represent martial ability instead of an active attack skill. So someone could get a skill for boxing.

The problem for Jason is that the only Energy user that he knows of, didn’t have a skill that would fit him. Though all things considered, Penny was closer than likely anyone else using Energy. She at least focused on improving a part of herself, her shell. From what little he could find, other Energy users tend to end up investing their Energy in a weapon.

Jason didn’t want that, though he could understand it. Weapons were the middle ground. Magic was a long range style and Qi focused on the body. So since Energy can do either, if not as well, the obvious middle ground is to focus on improving your weapon. It sounded like they could even manage the gimmick of storing your weapon “in your soul” that he knew of from his last life.

The biggest thing that made this viable was the fact that the physical weapon was almost secondary. Rather, the Energy users would set up a cycle that went through the weapon they are using and boosting what is there. The closest example Jason could think of to explain this is those story of sword cultivators who can use a stick or even a piece of grass as if it was a sword.

Of course, if you give them a good sword? Well, all the better! When the Energy cycle matches the weapon, the enhancement works even better. In the end, what held them back was the lack of weapons carved with quality rituals. A normal weapon will only get you so far and most enhanced weapons are either enchanted or enhanced with formations.

After considering it all, Jason can’t help but sigh, as he adds yet another thing to work on while they’re camping out here. If he was to be honest with himself, Jason was pushing off too many things. His foundation in the game wasn’t bad, but compared to where it could be? Shaky as all get out. To try and put everything on this little camping trip? Not the most wise situation.

Of course, Jason never claimed to be some sort of wise man or smarter than your average bear. Set him down? He can grind out his skills and cultivation like no one else. However, if you want him to develop something new? While most people upon hearing what he had done in NeoRealm would scoff at his self-characterization, Jason was mostly building off his previous life.

He didn’t even manage to get things right! Sure, so far his conception of himself as an empty void within the game was working out, but that was just a mistake he arrived at with the information he had. At the time, he didn’t realize this was a real place. That the System wasn’t actually being forced to run everything happening.

However, as the group searched for an appropriate clearing, Jason could feel that this was his chance to lock in things. Right now, he was likely in the top bracket of players at his level. Do things right, though? Jason could rise to the top. There would be rich young masters with talent and drive, both players and locals, that would have a deeper foundation.

Jason’s chance would come once he extracted himself from the System and improved his irl cultivation. Freedom stacked with improvements on his personal concepts? The only problem was that he could tell a window of opportunity was closing. He had put off dealing with his internal lines for too long.

The System wasn’t going to let him go for free. It would be a fight through and through. And if he let it go much more? It would wrench away the chance he currently has from him. Jason didn’t know how it would happen, but he could feel it within the very lines themselves.