He wasn't a fool though. His instructors and the books he had read had talked about cultivators so strong they could destroy stars with a punch, but they had said nothing about people moving worlds through the multiverse at a whim. They certainly also hadn't spoken of cultivators or artifacts capable of creating life as easily as the system could create Shadows, even if it was limited—and golems were nowhere that advanced. The Multiverse Alliance was onto something with their special energy and superior technology, and he would walk whichever path was most beneficial to him.
The Feng Clan hadn't kept the Third Seat of the Eternal Empire by being surpassed by more innovative clans and sects.
Yet, they had also not kept their power by wasting resources, and AP was a resource like any other. As far as he knew, cultivation would still let him save some AP for now. He would keep it going until he could make a more informed decision.
"Stat Store," he said.
Instead of the store, he got a new message.
That was very interesting. Shen had never heard the quoted sentence, but he knew mortals looked at some magic formations as if they were, well, magic. Even cultivators called them magic to easily differentiate them from combat or other types of formations, though the formal name was qi formation.
He wondered what the Multiverse Alliance’s magic would let him do.
"Guardian Store," Shen said.
There was a lot to take in. Shen went slowly through the list.
To begin with, he had gotten a lot of AP from helping kill a couple thousand bosses before it became too annoying, but the prices were still beyond him. Well, the weapon and equipment prices were alright, but the rest...
He had to admit instantly recovering all his health or stamina could save when he needed the most though. He would definitely buy one of each, no matter the price. Only a fool would save some AP when their lives—or, in this case, a bonus reward or the chance to remain at such an opportunity-ridden tutorial—were at stake.
Buying the potions now would be stupid though. The potions took time to do their magic, so if he needed them, he would also have the time to buy them from the Guardian Store. Just knowing they were there was good enough.
The pills weren't a surprise. When a cultivator reached the end of their potential, they spent as much as they could to reach just the next step, which would give them a greater status until death. Likewise, many mortals with no cultivation talent wanted nothing more than to receive special medicine that would make them as strong as an advanced Foundation Establishment cultivator.
He guessed some of those who reached this stage would sacrifice their future for immediate gains and a way out of the tutorial. Constant battles weren't for everyone. Many mortals could cultivate, for instance, but they would rather stay away from the world of martial arts and hardship that came with growing stronger.
The weapons and equipment were interesting. There would be no freebies anymore. Shen looked down to see his clothes had been fixed, but he would have to pay 10 AP if he damaged them again. If his spear broke, he would also need to pay for a new one, though he was just glad he wouldn't need to go unarmed.
It was also telling how the system didn’t offer equipment at a higher tier than G. It didn’t want them to get too comfortable or feel too protected.
Speaking of his clothes... "Inspect," he said while looking at them.
Simple Tutorial Ancient Martial Arts Robe (G)
Enchantment: Anti-Wear (G)
A simple ancient martial arts robe given in the 1st Stage of the Guardian Tutorial.
He hadn't thought about inspecting his equipment before. It was good to see it also had the Anti-Wear enchantment, though he found the "Ancient" bit in the name strange. Cultivator culture had around one to fifty thousand years of existence, depending on who you asked, and though few people were willing to change the very functional style of martial robes, it still had improved over time. Was the system considering only the robe's general style? He had no way to know.
The price of weapons at the F- and F tier was surprising. He would need to check on them if he ever got the surplus points.
The Magic Nanobots were impressive. The system's translation function let him know what nanobots were, and it was just incredible to think nano non-magic golems could enter one's body and be beneficial in such a way. It was very unfortunate he couldn't use them with qi, though he would be able to use qi outside his body, similar to mana, in the Core Development realm.
He would definitely look out for magic users and compare his future potential to theirs though. Giving up on his qi was looking more and more like a good idea.
Shen wondered if there was something more to it though. It was strange that something as simple as qi that even mortals could cultivate would stop the Multiverse Alliance's magitech.
On the other hand, it didn't matter if you were filling a cup with ice or lava, they would fill the cup either way, no matter which substance was the superior. The body was just like that, too, which explained the stats limitations. Moreover, if the body was the cup, filling it with both ice and lava would just end up with one destroying the other, the substances weren't compatible. Even if you kept both in the cup, you wouldn't have as much of each as you could have, and that would just make you weaker in each one of them. Maybe qi and mana were like that too.
Shen took that out of his mind for now, as he could do nothing about it. In the future, he would research the subject.
He reached the last item in the store, the Learning Ability Upgrade, which he really wanted to get his hands on. A faster learning ability had already helped him by leaps and bounds during the first stage. Learning even faster would be amazing.
And that was it. Not a specially incredible store, but not a terrible one either. He expected to see better things in later stages of the tutorial.
"Buy Minor Refreshing Crystal and Minor Healing Crystal," he said, and the two objects materialized in front of him, floating in space.
Purchased: Minor Refreshing Crystal | -500 AP
Purchased: Minor Healing Crystal | -1,000 AP
Remaining AP: 6,821
Each crystal was the size of a baby's fist and semitransparent. The refreshing one was white, the healing red. They sparkled beautifully, just like gemstones.
And he had no idea how to use them.
"Inspect," he thought, looking at the healing crystal.
Minor Healing Crystal (G)
Crush it to instantly recover 100 health points.
That was easy. It brought an issue though. The crystals looked fragile, so he needed a container to protect them, but didn't know what to buy. After thinking for a while, he had an idea.
"Buy recommended container for refreshing and healing crystals."
Purchased: Any Equipment (G) | -10 AP
Remaining AP: 6,811
What showed in front of him was a thick metal-laced leather belt with four small metallic containers for crystals, two on each side. He put it on and stored the crystals.
With almost seven thousand AP remaining, he had just enough to rank up and improve his stats.
"Buy F rank."
Purchased: Rank Up (F) | -1,000 AP
Remaining AP: 5,811
Warmth filled his body, quickly turning into a searing heat. Fortunately, the system removed any pain from it, but it was still uncomfortable. Minutes later, the heat went away.
His body felt lighter then. He moved his limbs, and though he wasn't faster, it felt easier to move. The world felt clearer too; he was confident he could see the details of the world below more easily. Those were the changes he noticed immediately.
"Buy F- strength," he said next.
Shen frowned. That was frustrating already, but he reckoned it was better than finding only goblins to fight and learning he had wasted AP to get stronger faster than he needed. It was even more important because the first realms of cultivation went by much faster than the latter one, so the beginning was the right place to save some AP. He decided to take the warning to heart and check his opponents' strength before investing on his. He still could die once before being expelled, anyway.
With almost six thousand points remaining, he could buy an F- weapon, but he decided against it. Just like with stat improvement, he would at least check his enemies first. If they were too weak, spending the money on the F- spear would be just sad when there was the Learning Ability Upgrade available to purchase.
He was done with his shopping, so he sat down in empty space and closed his eyes.
Time for the next step of the Foundation Establishment realm.