Chapter 109 : A Word of Advice for You, Host.
Vigilante A left the Zhao manor and returned to his own. Immediately, he started meditating and cultivating, not wasting even a minute.
A large number of experience points just came in. If the System weren’t so anxious to conduct the experiment, it had already started the cultivation process to convert the experience points into power he could wield.
Techniques needed to be upgraded, both Dragonization Ability and the Atmospheric Morality Technique were powerful techniques that came with extra skills and passive support effects, as well as fitting to the System’s current martial arts system. After upgrading them, there would be a visible change in power. However, the consumption of these techniques is massive. Only after expending a large number of experience points can the techniques be upgraded by a level.
It also needed to level up. A lot of the skills and abilities have already been capped due to the level, and only with leveling up can it obtain more Attribute Points.
A few hours later, Vigilante A who was meditating calmly suddenly stopped and laid down on the bed and tucked himself in the blanket. The pose he was in was exactly the same as when Fang Ning fell asleep, and even the blanket was set the same way as before…
Soon after, Zheng Dao knocked on the door, saying that the Demon Slayer Feast was ready, and he invited the Venerable One to attend.
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Fang Ning was awake as soon as he heard the knocks on his door.
He opened his eyes, feeling refreshed, but he was a little puzzled, ‘That’s weird. Why do I feel like sleeping in my own body is similar to sleeping in the System Cyber Cafe?’
‘It was still pleasant initially, but it was the same feeling in the end. Maybe the improvement in the Dragonization Ability has made it irrelevant whether I slept spiritually or physically.’
After feeling great about himself, Fang Ning was going to kick off his blanket before it occurred to him something was wrong. With his current memory, he could tell the blanket was identical to when he fell asleep, ‘How could this be? I move around in my sleep a lot, something must be wrong…’
However, since his follower was waiting outside, Fang Ning was not bothered to ruminate on the issue. He put on his clothes and exited the room.
“Venerable One, the feast is ready in the kitchen, please give us a short speech,” Zheng Dao asked respectfully outside the door.
“Good work,” Fang Ning said as he walked. “You should eat more later. Once you started cultivating, the energy consumption will increase.
“Thank you for your concern,” answered Zheng Dao.
In the dining hall, a huge round table was filled with all kinds of delicately-prepared dishes. Their exquisite presentation and mouth-watering scents tugged at everyone’s appetite.
The feast was in the form of individual portions instead of shared portions. A plate was set in front of everyone, reminding everyone to use different sets of cutlery during eating and serving.
Being the thoughtful person that he is, Zheng Dao explained this to the guests.
This arrangement made sure the two canine comrades were not humiliated and the Venerable One would not be discomforted.
After spending the recent past with them, Zheng Dao had seen it happen many times — the dogs started fighting each other for the big bone in a bowl. That was such a horrible sight.
It was fine if it happened in private, but since the Venerable One was here, something like that should not happen, should it?
As for human utensils, Zheng Dao was not worried that the two dogs were not able to use it. They were not normal dogs, as they can lengthen their digits and be as nimble as human hands.
He had seen it happen, the black dog turning on the TV or maneuvering around websites was smoother than he can be. As for the yellow dog, he had only seen it flip pages carefully, but it should be similar in theory…
Fang Ning has not even considered it. He had only one thing on his mind, ‘How long have I not eaten food?’
After the System raised the Dragonization Ability to Intermediate Level, it has been eating once a month lasting one whole day each. Fang Ning could not be bothered to waste time on eating, so he did not ask the System to return the mealtimes to him.
The upside of this was that he had one extra day to play around, and the downside was that he could not enjoy good food anymore. Fortunately, he could make up for it for a day.
Fang Ning took his seat and asked everybody, two dogs and a man, sat opposite of him. He did not pay attention to the servers, in case it would scare them…
Fang Ning said, “The Demon Slayer Feast starts now. The feast is for you, so help yourself with anything you want, don’t feel the need to hold back.”
Zheng Dao nodded and took his seat. After Fang Ning tasted the first dish, the others started to eat as well.
Zheng Dao’s table manners were polished, but the two dogs started fighting among each other again.
Xue Ba was unable to overpower the muscular Brett in this regard. In front of their master, Xue Ba could not just snatch the food away with its mouth. It could only use the utensils cautiously, but its paw muscle control was not as strong as the black dog…
It was left with only questions, ‘Did I not manage to become a higher status than musclehead? He was so rude, does he not know to leave the big bones for his superior?’
It started using its expressive eyes to glare at the black dog, “Gimme the big bone…”
Brett the black dog was happily chewing on its bone and casually flung back a glance, “Master said to help ourselves…”
Xue Ba was speechless, “Why does your wit only come to you when there’s food?”
“Thanks for the compliment,” the black dog snapped back and quickly took another piece of roasted chicken with the chopsticks. “If I were to eat less, how would I have the energy to do pushups? You, on the other hand, need to eat the things that are good for your brain, so lay off the big bones! Now that you’re learning the Atmospheric Morality Technique, your brain juice must have been depleted! Let me get you some dishes.”
As he finished, Brett skillfully picked out the walnuts, dates, and wood ears, and gave them all to the yellow dog.
Xue Ba glared as his plate was piled up with vegetarian food and no space for other things, shooting dagger with his eyes at Brett, “I would like to tell you, ‘ your mum is a whore 1 ‘…”
Fang Ning was getting another serving when he saw the two dogs’ interactions. He nodded, expressing his satisfaction, ‘Looks like these two single-dogs were getting along pretty well. My managerial skill was not as bad as I thought…’
Zheng Dao who knew the truth kept his mouth shut and kept on stuffing his mouth.
Fang Ning had a little of everything and managed to try out all the food when he felt sufficiently satiated. Because of the System’s intervention, Vigilante A’s appetite was as good as a black hole. If he were to get himself full, no one else would have anything to eat.
He left the table and asked the rest to help themselves with the food.
Not long after, Zheng Dao silently left the table as well. ‘There’s nothing I can do, I can’t bring myself to fight for food with the other two…’
Fang Ning returned to his bedroom and started playing his computer game. As with the rest of the day, it had been a long while since he had played a game physically.
Halfway through the game, the System yelled and almost affected Fang Ning’s maneuvering.
The System said, “Can I ask something?”
Fang Ning paused the game and answered immediately, “Sir, please spare me the pleasantries, you can just ask.”
Even though it was technically a break from being controlled, Fang Ning decided he should not be too cocky, as it was only for a week.
The System continued, “Mm, I conducted an experi- actually, never mind. Let me ask you something. Your master, the snake demon, could be considered as our initiator into the Path of the Peerless, don’t you want to repay her or something?”
Fang Ning thought, ‘What does Sir System mean? Could it be that mother-in-law-to-be is in trouble?’
He asked with a hint of worry in his voice, “Are they in trouble?”
The System replied, “No, as long as we have the legendary skill Thousand-mile Assistance, if they were met with possibly-fatal threats, system notification would have popped up, and I will know immediately, don’t worry. My point is, how do you wanna repay her?”
Fang Ning was relieved. After all, only the Zhao’s had expressed concerns for him, and about his real identity. He could tell, the Zhao’s had already treated him as their own.
Fang Ning continued, “Repayment, huh? I have thought about it. But don’t we have the Thousand-mile Assistance skill? As soon as any danger pops up, I’ll ask you to save them, wouldn’t that be the best repayment?”
“As for other ways of repaying them, I didn’t put much thought into it after we’ve obtained that legendary skill. I was more afraid that once you have helped them and they ran into trouble again at the time you were farming a boss, you would say, ‘I’ve repaid them in kind, even if I ignored them now, the chivalrous virtue would not have gone down,’ or something.”
The System complained immediately, “Impossible, do I look like that kind of System?”
Fang Ning rolled his eyes, “The only thing that could bind you was the principles. Sir System, you had always been a loner type, when you farm monsters, you would ignore everything around you… Remember when you went rogue the other time? No matter how much I talked to you, it didn’t work, do you remember all this?”
“I don’t have any capability to limit you, so I can only save these thoughts to form an Obsession, in case. My Obsession is powerful enough to trigger the hidden settings, so it will definitely motivate you to save people. After all, no amount of monster-farming can give you more advantages than hidden settings can.”
“Of course, with my muggle talent and attitude, whatever I do would be a flash in a pan. I don’t even think I could successfully cultivate any outstanding techniques. The most I could do would be helping out by coming up with strange ideas. Sir System, with the advantages you have, you need to master cultivation properly. At least, be on par with the big bosses of each stage, best if you become better than them. Otherwise, the Thousand-mile Assistance skill would become our demise…”
The System said, “Host, you do have some self-awareness after all. I will do my best to cultivate, that is for sure, you can play your games in peace. As long as you remember to find more monsters for me, I will not lag behind them.”
Fang Ning was moved but was immediately confused, “Sir, you are so reasonable today. You didn’t force me to be more hardworking even after hearing my spiel…”
The System said, “Oh, that’s because I just had a huge gain, I can’t be bothered to care right now.”
Fang Ning said, “So that’s why. That’s all, I guess? I’m going to continue playing…”
The System stopped him, “Wait, I have something else to say.”
Fang Ning said with resignation, “Sir System, can you be quick about it? Did something pop up, do you need to clear cache?”
The System explained, “I didn’t expect your plan for repaying the snake demon to be like that, it’s no wonder I can’t trigg- I mean, Host, you planned ahead so much, you’ve included all the possibility! I can’t underestimate you, I guess. You surprised me. Now, I have something I need to tell you…”
Fang Ning was slightly smug when he heard that. He was only telling the System what he honestly thought, he did not even come up with weird ideas, and it had shocked the System.
The System should stay put for a while after this.
He preened a little and said, “Tell me, are you going to say ‘Host, you’re badass, I will listen to you in the future, I will not go rogue again’ or something like that?”
The System quipped, “No, what I wanted to say is, ‘WHY DON’T YOU TELL ME EARLIER! WHY DON’T YOU TELL ME EARLIER! WHY DON’T YOU TELL ME EARLIER! …”
The System roared beside Fang Ning’s ears, nearly toppling him over.
Fang Ning covered his ears with his hands, trying to shut out the roaring to no avail. Sir System was not satisfied, it even started replaying the roaring in Fang Ning’s brain.
With Fang Ning’s brainpower at the moment, he immediately connected the dots with the confusion he had as he woke up and snapped back, “Hold on a second, shut up! Did you take control of my body when I was asleep to do stupid things? And you complain that I didn’t tell you earlier? No wonder you were so talkative!”
The System immediately shut up, “Nothing, I did nothing. Oh, enjoy your game, I will continue my cultivation!”