Li Muyang was a little speechless, but no matter how you looked at it, an increase in affection was always a good thing.
As her affection rose to 20%, a new system message appeared in Li Muyang's field of vision.
[Little Wild Grass's affection has surpassed 20% for the first time. Her development progress has entered Stage Two (five stages total)] [Stage One development reward available] [Please choose your Stage One development reward (choose one of three)] [Cultivation +1 (Qi Refining Realm, Third Heaven → Qi Refining Realm, Fourth Heaven)] [Residual Cloud Movement Technique] [Common-grade flying sword x1]
Seeing the string of system rewards on the screen, Li Muyang's expression brightened with excitement.
Great! Fantastic!
After all that effort over the past few days, he'd finally gotten a clear-stage reward.
Li Muyang had thought he would have to defeat the assassin to get a clear-stage reward. He hadn't expected that simply raising the girl's affection would earn him one.
That made the objective of this game perfectly clear.
He had to max out Little Wild Grass's affection, all the way to 100%. In this game, affection was the only thing that mattered; everything else was nonsense.
And there were still rewards to claim for the next four stages.
If he could get Cultivation +1 every time he cleared a stage, then by the time Li Muyang finished the entire development game, his cultivation would shoot straight up to the Eighth Heaven of the Qi Refining Realm!
What was more, this time's reward was still a choice of three. Besides cultivation, he had other options.
Looking at it that way, one game could provide five rewards... This development game's rewards were pretty generous. No wonder the difficulty was so high.
After thinking it over, Li Muyang reluctantly gave up the Cultivation +1 reward and chose the Residual Cloud Movement Technique instead.
Getting something for nothing felt great, but he had the Bottomless Spirit Rice Jar now, so his cultivation would rise quickly. There was no need to rush his progress.
What Li Muyang lacked now were cultivation techniques and defensive spells.
The cultivation techniques available to outer disciples of the Demon Refining Sect were the lowest-grade, most common stuff. Most of the spells they could get their hands on were things like Lesser Cloud and Rain Art, meant for menial labor. There weren't many proper spells.
A common-grade flying sword was nice, too. It could quickly boost his combat strength.
But Li Muyang had already seen a reward of a low-grade spiritual artifact. He wasn't very interested in a common-grade flying sword—what if he got the chance to choose a spiritual artifact next time? Wouldn't the common-grade flying sword go to waste?
So after carefully weighing his options, Li Muyang chose the Residual Cloud Movement Technique.
Whether in real life or in a game, learning how to run away and stay alive was definitely the safest bet. As long as you were alive, you could figure everything else out.
As soon as Li Muyang chose the Residual Cloud Movement Technique, the contents of the manual surfaced in his mind.
[Residual Cloud Movement Technique: A demonic cultivation art from the mysterious Black Cloud Stronghold. It tempers the body with demonic blood for rapid results, instantly increasing movement and reaction speed when activated (the cost has been waived)] [Side effect: After using the Residual Cloud Movement Technique, the user will enter a bloodthirsty state and must replenish fresh blood in a timely manner]
Along with this description entering his mind came a strange movement technique that tempered the body with demonic blood to produce rapid results.
Li Muyang blinked in surprise, sensing the technique's overbearing power and the words "the cost has been waived."
Did that mean the cultivation techniques the game system gave him wouldn't have side effects?
Another new discovery!
Most demonic cultivation techniques could produce rapid results, but they often came with all kinds of side effects.
The fact that the Blood Demon Path cultivators turned into monsters in the tutorial must have been a side effect of their cultivation technique.
But the demonic arts granted to him by the cultivation system didn't have any side effects... That was insanely awesome!
The system really came through! Give me cheats! Let me cheat like crazy!
Cheating felt great for a while; cheating forever felt great forever!
In high spirits, Li Muyang browsed through the Residual Cloud Movement Technique manual now stored in his mind. He began studying this demonic art that tempered the body with demonic blood, planning to buy some demonic blood in the market at the foot of the mountain and use it to temper his body once he exited the game.
But in the dimly lit mountain forest, the little girl, who had been silent for a long time in the bamboo basket on his back, suddenly spoke.
"Um... big brother..."
The little girl, who had fallen silent after Li Muyang had said something dismissive to her, seemed to have made up her mind.
She hesitated, but spoke anyway.
"Maybe... we should go back to the stronghold. It's dangerous in these woods..."
The little girl had actually taken the initiative to tell Li Muyang to go back.
Li Muyang's thoughts were interrupted, and he was a little curious.
"Is there danger in the woods?"
He glanced at the gloomy forest before them and said, "Do you mean wild animals? Or monsters?"
But the little girl shook her head. "Not monsters in the woods. It's..."
The little girl hesitated again, as if struggling over whether she should tell Li Muyang something.
In the end, though, she bit her lip and said, "Big brother, actually, there's been a mysterious monster secretly hunting me these past few days."
"When the human trafficker was around, it was afraid of him and didn't dare come close. It could only appear in my dreams."
"But now the human trafficker is gone, and you've left the stronghold. Once we're in these woods, that monster could attack us at any moment."
As soon as the little girl finished speaking, three dialogue boxes suddenly popped up before Li Muyang.
[The monster that appeared in your dreams? Do you mean the Dream-Eating Demon?] [You lying little brat. Do you think I'll believe you again?] [...(Enter custom dialogue)]
Three dialogue boxes appeared before him. Li Muyang blinked.
Finally... it had triggered!
He'd tried so many times before to pry the crucial information out of the little girl, but he'd never managed it.
Now, entirely by chance, he'd raised the little girl's affection to 20%. Without Li Muyang even asking, the little girl had actually confessed on her own.
Looking at the two dialogue options, Li Muyang hesitated.
He had a feeling the system's options were too formulaic and had limited use. Before, he'd always followed the system's prompts and played through the story, only to get stuck every time. But when he'd let loose and done his own thing, he'd cleared Stage One in a flash.
Thinking of this, Li Muyang first saved his progress, then spoke.
"So you mean we won't be attacked by the monster if we go back to the stronghold?"
Li Muyang entered his own dialogue instead of using one of the system's replies.
The little girl hesitated again before answering.
"Maybe... That monster is very afraid of the human trafficker, and there must be people in the stronghold who are even stronger than him. We should be safer back there than out here."
As soon as the little girl finished speaking, she had barely any confidence in her words. Yet Li Muyang, carrying the bamboo basket, immediately turned around and sprinted in the direction they'd come from.
His abrupt action showed that he'd believed the little girl outright and was following her advice to return to the stronghold.
The sudden move left the little girl stunned.
"Huh? Big brother, you believe me just like that?"
He'd been tricked so many times before and had even seen through her lies. Now, though, he'd believed her so easily...
The little girl in the basket was baffled. What in the world was this big brother thinking?
Little Wild Grass realized once again that she really couldn't understand this strange big brother at all.
Before you continue