Unlocking the tech tree
Tianshu City.
Tianhang Residential District.
A simple two-story house.
Qingfeng groggily opened her bedroom door. Her baggy pink bunny pajamas looked a little too big on her.
"Mm~ This bed was so soft. I wasn't used to sleeping in it."
Still groggy, she washed her face and looked at herself in the mirror. It all felt a little like a dream.
Just the day before yesterday, she had been an ordinary little village girl. Now she had a room of her own, slept in a bed that was so, so soft, and wore clothes that were so comfortable and pretty.
The change felt so unreal.
"If this is a dream, I really hope I never wake up."
"Sis! Get up and eat! Big Brother's going to teach us how to cultivate today!"
Hearing Qingyu's carefree voice, she finally relaxed a little.
"Coming."
She knew Qingyu wasn't stupid. She was only stupid in front of their brother.
Emm... maybe she really was.
Downstairs, Qingyu was slurping noodles when she suddenly let out an enormous sneeze. A few strands even came out of her nose.
"Pfft!"
Qingyu immediately fixed her eyes on Wei Lin, who was covering his mouth.
Stare~
"Ahem, why are you looking at me? I wasn't laughing."
Stare~
"I really wasn't."
Tianshu Training Ground
It was located on the three hundredth floor of Tianshu Tower.
Tianshu Tower had a total of nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine floors.
The first three thousand three hundred floors were the business area.
The next three thousand three hundred floors were office space for various factions.
As for those factions... well, they hadn't appeared yet.
As for the last three thousand three hundred floors, Wei Lin planned to use them as his headquarters. No one except "his own people" could get in.
As for the remaining ninety-nine floors, they could serve as the exclusive office of Tianshu's "boss."
At that moment, Qingfeng and Qingyu stood rather solemnly in the center of Training Ground No. 300, dressed in silver-white combat suits.
They were rather puzzled, though. Why were there so few people here? Apart from a few over at Tianshu Square, they could barely spot one or two people around here.
Could it be... Brother booked the whole place for us?
Wei Lin had no idea what his little sisters were thinking.
"First, I'll teach you the basics of Soul Master cultivation."
Wei Lin tapped a few times on his hand, and a large blue screen appeared before him.
Although he had only unlocked the most basic level of his tech tree, it was the basics of the Honkai: Star Rail universe~~~
At the very least, it was more than enough for anyone below the level of a Limit Douluo.
"First lesson in cultivation: run."
"Mm-hmm... huh?"
A huge question mark appeared over Qingfeng and Qingyu's heads, and their eyes even looked a little vacant.
"You heard me right. Run. After all, only a genius who survives is a genius."
Qingfeng and Qingyu were baffled, puzzled, and bewildered...
Even Qingfeng now felt like she was about to grow a brain.
Fortunately, the lesson on running wasn't very long.
The idea Wei Lin drilled into them was simple: at all times, prioritize staying alive.
Keep the people and lose the land, and both people and land survive.
Keep the land and lose the people, and both people and land are lost.
Next came awareness.
"You might not understand yet, but you must remember this: arrogance is the greatest enemy that destroys a person."
The two girls didn't quite understand, but they still committed his words firmly to memory.
"Soul Master cultivation is divided into three parts: first, the physique; second, mental power; and third, Soul Power."
As he swiped his finger, diagram after diagram of meridian pathways appeared before them.
Qingfeng and Qingyu: "(O∆O)"
"Your physique determines the age limit of the Soul Rings you can absorb, and your mental power determines your Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring. From now on, you'll need to study theory for six hours every morning and cultivation techniques for six hours every afternoon."
With a sweep of Wei Lin's hand, two large screens displaying cultivation techniques appeared before them.
One was the Basic Body Tempering Art.
The other was the Basic Soul Refining Technique.
"Both techniques are attribute-free. They're enough to support your cultivation up to Soul Emperor. After that, you'll need to switch to techniques matching your respective attributes."
Wei Lin pushed up his black glasses.
He transmitted both techniques to their communication bracelets.
"The Basic Body Tempering Art has three stages. The first is opening the meridians. Put simply, it means expanding the meridians in your bodies so Soul Power can circulate a little 'faster'; the second is refining the body, which simply means tempering the bones, condensing the blood, and tempering the body; the third is merging with the Dao, combining the first two parts to achieve body tempering."
The pen in Qingfeng's hand was moving so fast it was almost leaving afterimages.
Qingyu's little eyes had already begun spinning in circles.
They had come from the same womb, so how was it that her little sister seemed underdeveloped?
"Body tempering produces three grades of physique: bronze, silver, and gold.
Bronze is for three thousand years and below, silver for five thousand years, and gold for eight thousand years. Of course, there are differences between physiques of the same grade, too. This stage is entirely about laying your foundation, and you can never have too much of that."
"Next is mental power. The Soul Training Technique isn't as complicated. You simply temper your soul over and over to increase your mental power."
"Mental power is divided into Spirit Origin (0-99), Spirit Connection (100-500), Spirit Sea (501-5000), Spirit Abyss (5001-20000), and Spirit Domain (20001-50000).
The Soul Refining Technique can support you up to the peak of the Spirit Sea Realm. Your bracelets can check your physical condition at any time, so you can look whenever you want."
Qingfeng and Qingyu curiously tapped their bracelets, and panels appeared before them.
Xu Qingfeng Age: 6 Soul Power: 10 Martial Soul: Past Shadow Status: Tianshu City resident Special faction: Divine Land Cultivation techniques: Basic Body Tempering Art (unfamiliar) / Soul Refining Technique (unfamiliar) Physique: Marrow cleansing (complete), blood refining (incomplete), body refining (incomplete) Mental power: 288 (Spirit Connection) Xu Qingyu Age: 6 Soul Power: 10 Martial Soul: Qian Jun Dragon Emperor Status: Tianshu City resident Special faction: Divine Land Cultivation techniques: Basic Body Tempering Art (unfamiliar) / Soul Refining Technique (unfamiliar) Physique: Marrow cleansing (complete), blood refining (half complete), body refining (half complete) Mental power: 126 (Spirit Connection)
"Wow! Sis, your Mental Attribute is so high!"
Looking at her sister's score, a whole hundred points higher than her own, Qingyu felt a little envious. She wasn't that stupid, was she...?
"Little Sister Xi, how's your mental power?"
"Huh?"
Wei Xi blinked. Her mental power? She glanced at her panel. Her mental power was 5,000, just a little short of the Spirit Abyss Realm.
"Um... I've just entered the Spirit Sea Realm."
"That's amazing."
Qingfeng didn't doubt Wei Xi's words at all. As far as she was concerned, it was perfectly normal for Wei Xi to have achieved that much. After all, she was their brother's sister.
The main reason was that they had no one to compare her with. If Wei Xi's mental power were shown in Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King, those monstrous prodigies would all have to call her a monster.
The day's basic theory lessons were soon over.
Qingfeng had listened in fascination. She really hadn't known there was so much to learn about Soul Masters. It had been a real eye-opener.
(Soul Masters outside: For some reason, our spines feel a little chilly. We keep feeling as though something has evolved and left us behind.)
"Oh, right. These are the books you'll be reading next."
Lan Yan and Xiangling each carried in a two-meter-high stack of books and set them down in front of Qingfeng and Qingyu.
"These are your upcoming courses: three years as a Soul Master, five years of assessments!"
As they spoke, Lan Yan and Xiangling gave Qingfeng and Qingyu sympathetic looks.
"You have to study all of them."
Qingfeng: "(☆^O^☆)"
Qingyu: "۹(ÒہÓ)۶"