Alex walked up to a relatively free spot and picked up a decent-sized stone.
BAM
A small noise came from right next to him as a stone rolled a few times before stopping. "Sh*t. I need to be careful of falling stones too, huh?" he thought. With everyone throwing rocks high up in the air, it felt like a rain of rock was falling on them.
Alex looked up at the fruit hanging high up the side of the cliff and threw his rock at a moderate force. He didn't know how strong he could throw the rocks, but given that he could punch dents into trees, it should be quick hard.
The stone flew off of his hands like a professional baseball throwing his perfect pitch. The speed was amazing, however, the accuracy was nowhere near enough to even hit the trees on the side of the fruit.
He missed the entire thing by at least a 3-meter margin. Alex cringed at himself, seeing the bad throw. He looked to his left and shouted, "Oi, dodge. The stone is falling." The man who was about to throw his rock took 3 steps back and Alex's rock fell exactly where he had been standing.
The man nodded to Alex and continued throwing his rock. Alex found it a little funny that he couldn't even reach 30 meters with his throw. 'How are they ever going to eat that food?" he wondered.
Alex tried his own a few more times and got the hang of it. Soon, he was passing by the side of the fruits by a couple of centimeters.
"Ohh, so close," he thought. He threw a few more times and hit the branch holding fruit, and the fruit came floating down. The leaves of the fruit made a sort of parachute for the fruit so that it didn't smash into pieces as it fell to the ground.
Alex caught the fruit and looked at it more carefully. Suddenly, a name popped into his head. [Butterfly Pears]
'It's an alchemy ingredient?' Alex was a little surprised. Still, he didn't bother thinking about it a lot. He rubbed it a bit with his cloth and dug into it.
Juices dripped down the side of his mouth as the sweet nectar slid down his throat. This was the first time he had bothered eating something that was not cooked in the game, and it truly showed just how much he was missing out on.
Before he even realized it, he had finished the entire pear. He could feel his body being revitalized from that single fruit and he couldn't help but be curious just how much better he would feel after eating more.
Suddenly, a notification appeared in front of him
<Sun God's Divine Yang Body disintegrates everything>
<The fruit's element aligns with your spiritual roots>
<You have gained 23,485 Qi>
Qi appeared in his as it passed through his body. He felt the wound on his chest quiver a little as if they were being healed.
That wasn't a lot of Qi. However, he wasn't expecting any, so that was quite a surprise. Suddenly, on his mortal body, he could finally feel where the Qi he acquired went.
The Qi traveled across his entire body until it came down to his naval area and suddenly grew dormant. It was so still that Alex had a hard time knowing whether it was even there or not.
Any other time he ate a Core or pills, or the new Qi he acquired would vanish into his body, never to be used towards his cultivation. They would only show up on the status page and nowhere else.
Alex had started to believe that the Qi that did not belong to his cultivation base were just random numbers that would produce extra Qi for him when he broke through.
But finally, he needed to be a mortal to figure out that the new Qi was actually going to his naval area and hiding.
"But why there?" he wondered. However, there was no answer.
Alex continued throwing a bunch of more rocks and got 3 more fruits. By now, the nearby disciples had already come to ask him for some of the fruits. However, Alex wasn't so naive as to hand over them his own food. Especially to these disciples who were being punished for some crimes they did in the sect.
He told them to get their own and left the place with his fruits. Some tried to follow him, seeing his 3 fruits, but after realized that they would be far away from the cliff, they returned back.
Alex ate the three remaining fruits and searched for the yang jades a little more. In the end, he never found any. So, reluctantly, he logged out.
It was time for lunch, so he went to get some food. Hannah was already there, so they ate together. After washing the dishes, they both went back to their rooms to get ready for their classes and left.
Once again, Sarah and Emily were waiting for them. The 4 of them got in Sarah's car and went to their classes.
"God, I need to learn how to drive a car too. It looks so handy," Hannah said.
"Why don't you? You should have enough money, right?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, but I don't have the time. I will try to make some soon," Hannah said. "I will need to talk to him about it," she said in a small voice.
"What?" Sarah asked, unable to hear what she was saying.
"Nothing," Hannah changed the subject.
Soon they reached the university and went to their own classes.
After the classes ended, Emily and Alex were once more left together, forced to go home. They didn't complain. They walked back home together, talking the entire way.
After getting back, Alex once more wanted to invite her in, but couldn't. He went back to his apartment, ate some snacks, and jumped back into the game. It was time to seriously hunt for some more Yang Jades.