Alex walked into his mother's single-roomed house and made his way towards the back of the room where he could see some brush, inks on a stone slab, and a talisman laid flat on a smooth metal plate.
"Were you making talismans before I came, mother?" Alex asked.
"Oh yes, I was practicing," Helen said as she walked up to the brushes to quickly clear away the place for him to stay in.
Old man Qin walked behind them, carefully watching Alex as he found a place for him to sit in.
"Quick, tell me! Where have you been all these years? Were you on a different continent? How did you get here?" Helen asked.
"I… I was in a different part of this continent before everything went wrong," Alex said. "It was only afterward that I came to this empire."
"You are from a different empire? There's a different empire in this continent?" the old man Qin showed a shocked face.
"Yes, there is one beyond the secret realm to the north. You have to go through the secret realm if you want to cross it," Alex explained.
"Is that really true?" Qin thought to himself.
Alex wanted to ask his mother some questions and give her some information of his own, but he didn't find it comfortable telling the old man next to him.
In fact, he was already annoyed that the old man knew his real name and the fact that he was a player.
"Sect master Qin, may I request some alone time with my mother?" Alex asked.
The old man nodded. "Just answer a few questions of mine and I will leave," the old man said.
Alex nodded, "go ahead, senior."
"When did you come to the empire?" he asked.
Alex thought for a moment and said, "about 5 and a half years ago."
"5 and a half years?" the old man seemed surprised. "And how long have you been cultivating?"
Alex didn't feel fine answering this, but since the old man already knew how long he had been playing the game, he sighed and gave him the answer.
"A bit more than 6 years ago I believe," Alex said.
"Hmm, 6 years to reach True Lord 2nd realm. It makes sense for your mother to be so slow, but you have cultivated for longer than her. Why are you not of higher cultivation base?" the old man asked.
'Is this kid not as talented as his mother perhaps?' the old man wondered.
"I spent most of my last 5 years training myself, so I have neglected increasing my cultivation base a little," Alex said.
"You trained, but you neglected your cultivation?" the old man looked confused.
"I trained not only in techniques but Alchemy too. Also in some parts formations," Alex said.
"Oh, you know alchemy and formations? Not bad," the old man said.
"Yes," Alex said.
"Oh, what's your…" the old man's voice trailed off as he noticed the badge hanging on Alex's neck.
"True Earth alchemist? Woah, you really do have your mother's talent," the old man said.
"And formation? What about formations?" the old man asked.
"I haven't had the chance to enter the formation guild yet. Now that I will likely settle in this city with my mother, I intend to join it not soon after," Alex said.
"Good, good. What about talisman?" the old man asked.
Alex paused for a second and said, "I haven't had the chance to learn anything about talismans, but I do plan on learning about the runes soon so I may as well learn talismans as well."
"Yes, yes," the old man nodded more aggressively. "Say, do you want to enter the sect?"
Alex didn't even have to think about this question. "I'm sorry, sect master Qin, but I don't plan on joining any sect at the moment," Alex said.
"Are you sure? You can learn from me as your mother does," he said.
"I am sure, senior," Alex said.
"Master really does know quite a lot Al. Why don't you learn from him?" Helen asked.
"I'm not opposed to being taught, mother. I'm opposed to joining a sect, any sect," Alex said. After the Hong Wu sect and the Tiger sect, his interests in sects had dwindled quite a lot.
"Are you sure?" Helen looked at him closely as she asked.
"Yes, I'm sure," Alex said.
"I think there's nothing more to say here, Master. If my son doesn't want to join, he won't have to," Helen said.
"Sigh, alright. What about joining the sect temporarily then? You can be a guest elder and stay here with your mother."
"Although you will have to do some things here. Can you make pills for the sect?" the old man Qin asked.
"I can definitely do that. Thank you for the opportunity, sect master Qin," Alex said.
"Good! I think I'm done with my questions for now. I will leave the two of you to your own," the old man said and left.
Alex chuckled a little when he felt the thin aura of spiritual sense still hanging in the air. He brought out a formation from his storage bag and placed it on the ground before pouring in some Qi into it.
Instantly, a barrier was put up around them that blocked all senses. Alex was glad he bought this formation a couple of days ago.
The moment the barrier was up, all the questions Alex was holding back came pouring out.
"Mother, why are you here? How are you here? Is dad here too? Did you play the game too? Are you okay?" Alex asked.
"Slow down," Helen said with a chuckle. "I will explain from the start."
* * * * * * *
6 years ago.
Helen was cooking some afternoon meal when a message rang on her phone. She wiped her hands on her apron and looked up the message.
-$20,000 has been credited to your account 1223#########57-
"Oh dear, he sent so much money again," Helen thought to herself with a proud look on her face.
"What are you smiling about?" Graham, Alex's father, asked as he walked through the door.
"Look," Helen said as she showed the message to Alex's father. Even almost 10 meters away, Graham showed a surprised look when he saw the message.
"Oh, he sent money again? Well, I was getting a little worried about what he would do now that he's given up on university, but I guess he's doing quite well," Graham said.
"Of course, he would. He's our son, you know? He's the best of us," Helen said with a proud smile still on her face. Then, a thought came to her mind.
"Say, should we play the game too?" Helen asked. "We don't have much to do around here, and Liz keeps pestering me to play as well."
"Do you really want to?" Graham asked. He seemed a little hesitant.
"Yes," Helen said.
"Sigh, alright. Let's go pick one of those game machines when I have to go deliver those vegetables then," Graham said.
"Yes!" Helen said excitedly.
That night, Helen bought 2 capsules. Graham told her they didn't need 2, but she insisted.
However, she didn't let Graham enter immediately, and neither did she enter.
She spent the entire night scouring the internet learning about the different parts of the game.
"Oh, it says if you die, your character gets ruined. Also, it seems you randomly start in one of the 4 different continents," Helen said excitedly, but graham was already asleep.
She spent a little longer learning about the game. She called Alex to learn a bit more, but he didn't pick up her call at all.
"Geez, he must already be in the game then," Helen thought. If that was the case, she would try tomorrow.
Tomorrow afternoon, Alex still didn't pick up. "What is this child doing?" Helen thought.
In the end, she decided to go into the game without asking him. That night, both she and Graham entered their capsules and jumped into the game.
When Helen opened her eyes, she found herself in a customization room where she could alter her appearance and name.
Helen chose to keep everything mostly the same and entered the game.
When the game finally started, she found herself standing on a slope next to a forest. When she looked down the slope, she found a massive city in the distance.
"Right, I need to get out of here and find out where I am," she thought as she walked toward human civilization.
"Right, Status!" she called out for her information to come up.
[Player Name: Helen
Cultivation: Mortal (1 Qi : 100%)
Body: Heaven Seeking Body
Talent: God
Spiritual Roots: 5 elements Yin-Yang roots
Cultivation Method: None
Qi: 0
]
Helen was quite satisfied with her information and checked her storage bag. She quickly went through the tutorial and opened her gift to reveal 4 different things.
She found a cultivation method, a minor talisman book, a bow, and finally a pill that improved cultivation speed.
She did what most people did and went to sell the pill. After all, she knew how simple it was to acquire Qi to start becoming a cultivator.
Once she got some money, she found herself a tavern and logged out. That was all she would do for today.
When she logged out, she found Graham already out of the capsule.
"How did it go?" she asked.
"It was okay," he said. "Did you find out where you are?"
"Ah yes," she said as she brought out her phone to check the name 'DawnSpring city.'
"According to this, " she spoke. "I'm in the Luminance Empire of the Western Continent."
