Chapter Fifty: Incarnation

"Extracting mission rewards..."
"Mission reward extraction complete."
"Through your tireless efforts, martial arts have gained significant fame. Next, you must teach those who sincerely aspire to martial arts. Yet, you still need to survive, and cannot be everywhere at once. The system will address this predicament."
"You may choose one of the following skills: Avatar or Parallel."
"Avatar: Instantly create an avatar identical to your true self, inheriting thirty-five percent of your full attributes and sustaining normal damage.
Only equipment and items produced by the system can be used, and their effects are fifty percent of the original when used by the avatar.
The avatar lasts five days, with a fifteen-day cooldown, and can operate within a five-hundred-kilometer radius.
Cost: Fifteen percent of maximum stamina.
Note: If the avatar dies during its duration, revival takes one hundred days and immediately deducts twenty percent of the host's current stamina."

"Parallel: Instantly create five phantoms identical to the original, each inheriting ten percent of your full attributes and sustaining double damage.
Only system-produced equipment and items can be used, and their effects are fifteen percent of the original when used by the phantoms.
Phantoms last two days, with a five-day cooldown, and can operate within a one-thousand-kilometer radius.
Cost: Ten percent of current stamina.
Note: If a phantom dies during its duration, revival takes twenty-five days, with no effect on the host."

"Please choose a skill quickly!"
"Countdown: 60, 59..."

At that moment, Ling Mo was so moved he wanted to cry. The damned system had finally shown some compassion! It had long been attached to him, constantly siphoning twenty percent of his body's energy, but now it finally granted him a powerful skill! He barely hesitated and immediately chose the first skill—Avatar.

He knew that the second skill outperformed the first in various statistics, was more convenient to use, and, in fact, the system hoped he would choose it, since it allowed more people to learn martial arts. However, the phantoms only inherited ten percent of his attributes—far too low.

A carefully handled avatar with thirty-five percent of his attributes could still display twenty percent of his true strength, but a phantom with ten percent would be fortunate to show five percent. When facing enemies that required his full effort, the phantoms could only harass from the sidelines, while the avatar could play a critical role.

"You have chosen skill one: Avatar."
"You have acquired the Avatar skill."
"Main quest 'Offer Martial Arts to a Beautiful World' phase one complete, logged in your quest journal."
"Main quest phase two begins."

"Objective One: The number of people sincerely aspiring to martial arts reaches 500,000."
"Objective Two: The number of martial arts apprentices reaches 1,000."
"Objective Three: The number of junior martial artists reaches 20."

This quest... Ling Mo frowned deeply. It seemed the system was serious; it truly intended to spread martial arts across the continent, with requirements at every level. The hardest to achieve was '1,000 martial arts apprentices.' Though Kathleen succeeded instantly, in reality, entry into martial arts was an extremely difficult threshold, with high risks if the foundation was poorly laid.

He pondered for a long time, unable to come up with a particularly good solution. When he returned to himself, he found the day had already broken. Yet the weather was far from good—judging by the sun's position, it was nearly eleven in the morning, but visibility was low and everything seemed shrouded in gray.

It was not yet a good time to travel; at least two or three more hours of rest were possible. Ling Mo had no intention of waking Kathleen. He stood up, about to test his new skill in the distance, when suddenly Kathleen's weak voice sounded behind him: "Master, I... I feel unwell..."

Ling Mo was startled, quickly turned back, and saw Kathleen's skin flushed oddly, her face waxen, lips cracked and peeling, with faint traces of blood near the corners of her mouth.

He hurried to her side and examined her carefully. Kathleen slowly rose from her sleeping bag, frowned, and clenched her fist. "I must have slept for quite a while, right? Why do I feel even more tired instead of refreshed?"

After a thorough examination, Ling Mo breathed a sigh of relief. He paused and said, "Sorry, I overlooked something. You're ill now, showing symptoms of dehydration."

"Dehydration? But I've eaten plenty these past days; I should've consumed enough fluids."

"Generally, that's true," Ling Mo chose his words carefully, "but due to your rapid advancement, your body has completely transformed. The essence of advancing is a series of chemical and biological reactions, which consume vast amounts of energy and, in fact, a great deal of water, leading to massive loss of tissue and extracellular fluids, thus causing dehydration symptoms."

He apologized again: "Sorry, I wasn't thorough enough. Your advancement was so rapid, with no precedent. I only predicted a lack of energy, nutrients, and trace elements, and took precautions for those, but I overlooked the most vital—water. Now you have a high fever, nausea, and cold limbs, all manifesting as weakness and mental confusion."

Kathleen smiled weakly: "It's all right, Master. I feel like I did when I caught the flu before—just need to rest and I'll be fine... probably."

"Rest will help, but it's too slow," Ling Mo shook his head. "Ordinary methods of replenishing water are too slow. We need a special 'water source,' which reminds me of an old friend. The place they're in has excellent water sources, and with today's weather, it's ideal for us to go find them."

"Old friend?" Kathleen repeated. "Master, you seem to have a lot of old friends. You never speak of the same one twice, do you?"

"Of course not. By the way, you're weak today. Will you still start the livestream?"

After thinking, Kathleen said, "I’ll turn it on. Recording the whole journey will help your cause to promote martial arts."

"Good." Ling Mo nodded. "Your physical condition isn't suitable for combat, so today let's focus on traveling. It’ll serve as a special feature, letting your viewers appreciate the scenery of the Beast Rainforest. You can start the stream now—the stream’s name... hmm, let's call it Crimson Sky."

"Crimson Sky? That name... I didn’t expect you to be so artistic, Master!"

"Artistic?" Ling Mo had no idea what Kathleen meant. He pointed to the increasingly dark sky. "What’s artistic about it? It’s a literal description. Soon, the sky will turn crimson."

Kathleen was stumped. She fell silent for a moment, pulled out her Magic Eye Sprite from the sleeping bag, started it up and sent it hovering in midair, patted her cheeks to wake herself, then zoomed in the lens and addressed it:

"Hi, dear viewers, your number one adorable Sister Kath is livestreaming again! As you can see, the streamer is sick—caught a cold and fever, estimated temperature at fifty degrees, because last night I kicked off the blanket while sleeping. Kids, be sure to learn from my mistake—don’t sleep so recklessly! Now, Master is taking me to seek medicine in the magical Beast Rainforest, and we're going to trek quite far. I'm sure there’ll be many amazing creatures and sights along the way, so don’t miss out—wait, damn this Magic Eye Sprite is crashing again!"

At this moment, the latest UN announcement about "Butcher Birds" had already been featured on major websites’ homepages, and national TV stations had pushed the news further, choosing to broadcast it during morning news hours. The popularity of "martial arts" and "limb regeneration" soared overnight.

Naturally, Kathleen’s livestream also saw a surge in viewers—by nine o'clock, tens of thousands were waiting in the darkened stream. SharkFight had moved Kathleen’s channel to the homepage early, looping highlights from the past two days with massive posters and eye-catching slogans. More and more people joined, so when Kathleen started her stream, her junky Magic Eye Sprite inevitably lagged again.

After a long while, lines of messages finally appeared in Kathleen’s left-eye display:

"First!"
"First!"
"Damn, I stayed up since yesterday's stream ended, refreshing nonstop, and still couldn't beat you guys!"
"Second place must regret it—missing out on first by a single punctuation mark!"
"Honestly, streamer, you really need to change that Magic Eye Sprite!"
"Sure, the streamer can afford a new one, but who’s going to deliver it?"
"Look at the streamer’s waxen face—she really does look sick!"
"Kicked the blanket and caught a cold? The speed of your nonsense is getting faster!"
"I actually believed you!"
"With a physique that can take on a Level Four beast, you still get sick?"
"Streamer seems pretty weak today."
"Anyone notice the new beast-hide outfit matches Teacher Ling’s? Like a couple’s outfit!"
"Crimson Sky? When did the streamer become an artsy girl? Wasn’t she always a tomboy?"
"The stream title scared me—I checked to make sure I hadn’t wandered into the singing (dating) zone!"
"All those pointless messages, get lost! Don’t distract us—this is a perfect opportunity to map the Beast Rainforest!"
"…"

This is the great appeal of livestreaming. As long as there aren’t too many trolls, bantering with these cheerful viewers always lifts the mood. Kathleen’s lips curled into a faint smile. "To the one mentioning couple’s outfits, don’t misunderstand! Master and I have a purely teacher-student relationship. I’m quite traditional—I’d never get involved in a teacher-student romance, that would ruin—cough, cough, cough!"

Just as she was joking with the viewers, a sudden gale swept across the ground without warning, flinging clouds of yellow dust and gravel right at them. Kathleen was caught off guard, sand getting into her mouth, and she started coughing violently!