[Last Emperor] Chapter 14 - Rewards (Patreon)

Tao Zi rolled over. He could feel a rock dig in his back in the perfect position to be a nuisance, but he was in too good of a mood to allow something that important to bother him. Even if it provided a long lasting, sharp pain on his spine. 

He laughed. 

Tiger ran up to him. Climbing his chest and standing directly over him, staring directly at his face. Tilting its head as though it was questioning his current actions. Sometimes, Jim found Tiger’s reactions and expressions to be too human. Even its meowing and chirping. 

He petted the rascal, much to its displeasure, but he knew Tiger’s weakness. Tao Zi got to the back of its ear before it could escape him. He furiously scratched the area as the cat tried to escape, but only going limp instead. Pressing its head into Tao Zi’s hand. Every few seconds it made an attempt to abscond his clutches, only to fail. 

Involuntarily purring. 

Today had been the most productive day he had since he arrived. Only matched when he almost lost his head to Zarfu and escaped certain death. It was the first time he had focused and dedicated the entire day to just gaining experience points and rewards. 

Proving that he could do it to himself. Not that he would make this into a habit. Just enough to keep pushing himself. Consistency was more important than singular large boosts that would keep him out for a week or so. 

Being sore was a life threatening issue here. Especially if he needed to go out and grab more roots and food. 

Tao Zi did make another attempt to go out and capture anything else that was not more roots but to no avail. His traps were horrible. Digging anything worthwhile to turn into a pit took too long. There was no solid wood he could turn into spikes to drive into the earth. 

Yes, he could have used his reward spears in his ring, but those felt too important in the grand scheme of things to waste. They weren’t boosted by any Qi. Just mundane spears he used for practice and maybe if he needed them in the future. Use them for larger prey that would feed him for months instead of trying to capture a bunny with them. 

That was another issue he was facing. There was no big game that appeared or passed this area that he could find. The aggressive buck that had fought the chimps was the only thing he saw that could have been a large source of meat. 

He came to a pretty important realization. 

The chimps had to be hunting everything in the area or driving them out to different parts of the map. He had no other explanation why he couldn’t find a single large animal in a normal ecosystem. Even if it looked pretty dead and beaten. The HellHound had to be feasting on something, right?

Or was it just waiting for him? 

Good thoughts! Good thoughts! This is a productive day and I should celebrate!

He let go of Tiger. The cat jumped to its feet and bolted to its little bed. Hissing at him before disappearing somewhere in the cave. A hiding spot Tao Zi had yet to find. Probably nothing more than a hole Tiger discovered to hide from anything that tried to eat it. 

Tao Zi let his senses enter his ring. He pulled out the single source of a lot of joy and expectation. It had been saved for a day like this. One where he gained over 50 Qi Exp and 29 Body Tempering Exp. He stared at it, salivating already. 

The red wrapper looked heavenly. A chocolate bar. Full of chocolatey goodness and a ton of sugar. 

Swallowing his saliva did not help. 

“Just half. That’s it. I’ll save the other half for another day.” He said to himself. 

He opened the wrapper, letting the chocolate bar out for all to witness. He could have said he heard a choir start singing, but that would be insane. Instead, he took a massive bite. Savoring every single bite and goodness that it was. 

Followed by another bite. Then another. 

Tao Zi didn’t look up from relishing the experience until he found the wrapper in his hand, hanging loosely. Empty. He opened it all the way up as though it would miraculously provide him with another piece to munch on. Then he sent it to his ring and pulled it back out, hoping that it would be like the water bowl. 

It was not. Nothing but the used wrapper appeared in his hands. 

He sighed and laid back down. 

Everything felt sore currently. It was difficult to just sit straight. Maybe he was pushing himself too much, even the basic Spiritual Medicine Pills were having less of an effect with every usage. Was his body getting used to the miraculous drug?

Or was the damage and soreness he kept trying to cheat his way out of experiencing finally catching up?

Both were prospects he did not want to deal with. Hence a real break was due. Something more than just a couple hours until his next workout session. It would help him mentally to. Being in his best condition as he started working out again would be a huge surge in dopamine he hoped. Making everything much easier. 

Tao Zi knew he was probably overblowing the entire issue, but his burning desire to eat the chocolate bar as a reward for accomplishing something impressive had pushed him to do something he had not planned on. Now he was suffering the consequences. 

If only the bar had lasted for longer than the second it took to inhale it. 

Now, he was left with nothing but an empty wrapper, an overly sore body, and some hurt pride. 

He was thankful no one else was around. 

Tao Zi got up and moved towards his bed. Checking his status and all the new rewards he received. Much of which was useless to him or redundant. The pills were all good. He could save them until he needed their properties. The extra cat food that was stacking up in his ring was not. 

Neither was the second food bowl, the gym bag, the ripped sandals, and definitely not the tattered but well perfumed robe. That one especially. A certain HellHound had gone crazy attempting to break into the cave the moment he pulled the thing out of his ring. 

Roaring to the heavens at its failure. 

Which meant that Zarfu had most likely died to it. That thought was only becoming more prominent the longer the orc never approached the cave to search for him. Tao Zi had another plan brewing, but it hinged on the orc trying to break into the cave. He would not be leaving with such a suicidal attempt at killing the orc until he reached an equal rank of Journeyman.

There was the possibility that the muscle bound orc had escaped the HellHound, but Tao Zi doubted it. Retreating from a life and death battle didn’t seem to suit Zarfu’s personality. Screaming about honor and dignity and dying while getting his head chomped, taking a foot with him was more like him. 

That was the impression he got from the orc.

Especially after it had somehow gotten upset that Tao Zi would escape while it fought the HellHound. 

He sat down on the bed. Disappointed he hadn’t gotten a manual or technique scroll yet. He noticed that the system did tend to give him either things he needed or items he thought about a lot. The rank 2 Spiritual Medicine Pill had been the reason he was likely alive right now without CTE was just one example from a dozen he could remember. 

Yet, no matter how much he thought about the cultivation manuals, Dao, or blade aura, nothing happened. He only received more mundane items or cat based things. How Tiger kept getting rewards from his struggles and system was beyond him. 

More importantly, it was infuriating. 

Tiger didn’t need twelve gigantic bags of food, five beds of various kinds and shapes, two dozen toys, and three food bowls. Just one of each would have been more than enough. Yet here he was, with a quarter of his entire spacial ring wasted on items he would likely never use in the next couple of months. 

Good thoughts, Tao Zi. Only good thoughts around these parts!

He got off the bed and went to the ground. He started doing push ups to distract him from his thoughts. They were slow and shaky, but they counted for the system. Continuing in hopes to get another system notification simply due to how hard it was. 

Tao Zi did not get a notification until he could no longer finish a single pushup. Another basic reward.