Transcending Dreams

Chapter 38: Picking Another Technique

When Lan Yin told William that this was reserved only for disciples on their Path, he imagined a rather cozy but luxurious room filled with manuals that he could browse in leisure.

“Take a look at them and decide which is best suited for you. Our Sect is a strong proponent of the disciple choosing their own fate. If you believe in yourself, pick a tablet based on your feelings.”

William nodded as he stared at the three jade tablets resting innocuously on a table in the center of the room. He should also say that other than the table and the tablets, the room had nothing in it. No chairs, rugs, or decorations. It was as if someone had forgotten to finish the room when decorating it.

“Wait, did you say disciples choose their own fate?” William asked in surprise, remembering Elder Yu practically forcing him to drop the idea of picking alchemy. With the resources the Sect was giving him, it turned out to be a good thing, but that wasn’t the point.

“Of course,” Lan Yin confirmed before adding, after a pause, “Well, this doesn’t apply to the Alchemy Path since that would be a disaster. It’s mainly for us. Luck is a strong factor, so try not to overthink your choice. Remember, if nothing feels right, you can opt to choose lesser manuals.”

“Oh,” William didn’t know if there could be a more unmistakable sign for him to dump his unused points into Luck. Still, his only hesitation was his extremely low Spirit attribute. But surely that could be compensated for in another way.

“Senior Sister, will switching to one of these techniques increase my spiritual energy? I know this might sound weird, but I can feel how much I have, and it’s really tiny.”

“I envy your sensitivity, Junior Brother,” Lan Yin sighed, “I suppose it’s not a surprise since you could feel the entrance gate’s healing effect. But no, raising your spiritual energy can be done with patient cultivation. Pills and spirit plants are also options, but it takes more effort to purify your spiritual energy, so that is something I don’t recommend.”

William felt like facepalming at his idiocy for forgetting about cultivation in a cultivation world. He didn’t like the idea of locking himself in a room to cultivate, but if it would free his unused points so he could assign them to Luck, then so be it.

[+18 Luck]

[Max Luck Reached]

Reinforced by his newly maxed-out Luck, William did as Lan Yin suggested and picked up the jade tablet in the middle, trusting his Luck to help him.

[Horizon’s Seeker | Accept: Y/N]

William frowned when the basic information of the cultivation manual entered his mind. He wasn’t sure how this would be better than ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Cultivation.’ Sure, it went more in-depth into breathing exercises and visualization, but was it worth it to make an effort to learn this?

“What’s wrong?”

William looked away from the jade tablet and saw Lan Yin standing beside him. “I think I picked something terrible.”

Lan Yin frowned and took the tablet from his hands, raising her brows in surprise at what it was. “This one is new. One of the Elders must have acquired it recently.”

“Acquired?” William repeated in confusion, “So these aren’t inheritances of the Sect?”

“No, none of them are,” Lan Yin chuckled, “This is an Alchemist Sect first and foremost, but that also comes with great wealth, not to mention the pills that only we can supply to the Empire and the Kingdoms surrounding it. If valuable enough, the Elders occasionally take cultivation manuals as payment.”

“Oh,” William’s excitement died quite a bit. If that was the case, he could see himself having to switch techniques again in the near future. He couldn’t imagine that anyone would be willing to give up a heaven-defying cultivation manual in a trade, so the chance of any of these being a protagonist-level technique would be nonexistent.

“Horizon’s Seeker is a peak-level, Human-tier cultivation manual. An accompanying manual is available in the Earth-tier after you have mastered this one. I can’t tell what it specializes in, so I’ll leave the decision to you.”

Besides knowing there was an Earth-tier manual after this, William wasn’t helped by Lan Yin’s advice. With nothing stopping him from checking the other two tablets, he picked both of them up at the same time.

[Illusionist’s Scripture | Accept: Y/N]

[Flesh and Steel Technique | Accept: Y/N]

Now these choices were more obvious to William. The Illusionist’s Scripture made him think of the beach paradise Daoist Chen conjured out of thin air when he was about to break down over the dead children’s bodies. It would be amazing to be capable of something like that in the future, but that was assuming this manual could take him to that degree of skill.

As for the Flesh and Steel Technique, out of the three manuals available, it was the one that was the clearest. It was a body cultivation manual, and it was also one that he was least interested in. However, with the way the system worked, it might be the most compatible.

“What about these, Senior Sister Yin?” William held out the two tablets to her.

“These seem to focus on the Illusion Dao and the Body Dao,” Lan Yin said after touching the tablets, “They also have Earth-tier manuals available after you master them.”

That wasn’t of much help either. William’s eyes twitched in irritation before slowly saying, “Thank you, Senior Sister.”

Lan Yin chuckled before saying, “My Senior helped just as much when I had to choose, but there isn’t much else I can tell you. I’ve never seen any of these cultivation manuals before. If you feel none are right, we can move to the repository to see if anything there fits you better.”

The thing was, William didn’t want to go elsewhere. Though the Flesh and Steel Technique might be the quickest way to gain power, and the Illusionist’s Scripture made him imagine having an ability similar to Daoist Chen, something drew his eyes to the first tablet he picked.

It was foolish to even think about picking something unknown as his foundation. Still, in his mind, he was justifying it by comforting himself that he could always change it if needed… at least, he thought so.

“Can I change my cultivation technique if it doesn’t fit me?”

“You can,” Lan Yin nodded, making William’s perk up, “But you will lose all your progress and have to start from the beginning. Years, perhaps decades, of effort will be wasted. Of course, once you pass a mortal’s lifespan, you will no longer have that choice.”

William, for some reason, had assumed that cultivation techniques were something to be replaced when wanting to ascend to a higher level. Apparently, he couldn’t be more wrong with what Lan Yin said.

His choice now would be the basis of his cultivation for the rest of his life.

So why the hell did he still want to pick Horizon’s Seeker?

Perhaps it was some sort of sunk cost fallacy coming into play. William had maxed out his Luck, believing that it would reward him with helping pick the correct cultivation manual. It was possible that it was still influencing his thoughts.

“I’ll choose this,” William said firmly, placing the other two tablets back on the table.

“Are you sure?” Lan Yin asked with a bit of surprise.

“Yes,” William nodded confidently, flinching when the jade tablet shattered in his hand as the information was imprinted into his mind.

[Horizon’s Seeker Accepted]

[Main Quest Added | Switch your cultivation technique to Horizon’s Seeker]

He hoped that his Luck hadn’t led him wrong, and if it did, he would have to make a switch before he advanced to the Foundation Establishment realm.

“Congratulations on picking your new cultivation technique, Junior Brother Liang,” Lan Yin said with a small smile, “Would you like to explore it now? A few rooms are available here with a concentrated amount of Qi.”

William looked around the bare room but couldn’t see what Lan Yin was talking about.

“Hold your pass to the wall there,” Lan Yin pointed to the wall opposite the entrance.

He did as she told and blinked when a part of the wall slid up with a rumble, but instead of a staircase this time, it revealed a hallway with two doors on either side.

“You can select either of the doors, as both rooms serve the same purpose. Once you’re finished, go to the Administrative Building and meet Wang Mei. She will be able to get me.”

William bowed to Lan Yin and said, “Thank you again, Senior Sister.”

“It’s only what I should do,” Lan Yin said with a wave of her hand, “Use the time inside wisely, Junior Brother Liang. I’ll see you soon."

He nodded before picking the door on the right.