(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 29: The first lesson

Welcome! If you want to jump in without any spoilers, feel free. Otherwise, here's a story primer, with a list of more specifics on what to expect from my work further below.Our story follows a fallen knight haunted by his past, in a world afflicted by war and supernatural wounds. Alken is the Headsman of Seydis, an executioner tasked by the divine powers of his homeland to hunt dark sorcerers, warlords, and traitors of all varieties, lest they drag the world into calamity.Once a paladin, this role ill suits him. Forced to cross lines that shake his beliefs, tempted by dark forces, and seen as an ill omen wherever he wanders, his path is often a bloody one. The longer he spends in the shadows of his world, the more he comes to realize just how many have been disenfranchised by the existent order. During his lonely battles through a land haunted by the restless dead and ancient magics, his journey becomes increasingly strange and personal.Enter a realm where the dead stir in every shadow and brooding demigods wage a millennia long war for a ruined heaven, where blessed knights wield gilded flames and sorcerers battle with weapons forged of their own souls. Enter a world of faustian alchemists, of saintly demons, and of time-weary elves.From Oathbreaker you can expect— A setting heavily inspired by Forgotten Realms, Planescape, Fromsoft games, and authors such as Michael Moorcock and Kentauro Miura. — A first person POV from an older protagonist who already knows a lot about his world’s history and cultures, who shares this information with the reader as it becomes relevant.— A mix of action adventure and quieter moments where the focus is on character development. Lore is shared piecemeal, usually only as it relates to a particular arc or character beat.— A heavy focus on mystery, both with the setting and the protagonist. The main character’s backstory isn’t shared up front, and a lot of the narrative involves learning about him a bit at a time, either from his own narration or other characters interacting with him.— A semi-soft magic system where many mages manifest unique powers tied to their own soul, or gain unique powers through eldritch pacts.— Romantic elements. These don’t crop up much until later in the story.— A variety of supernatural beings, such as elves, vampires, gargoyles, chimera, and trolls. Many are familiar, some are not, and most of the familiar ones have my own twists put on them.—Nobledark fantasy. This means that the world is often themed around tragedy and horror, but it’s not dedicated to being gritty. There are elements of high fantasy intermixed with the scarier stuff.—Episodic arcs. Each story arc usually has a specific locale and antagonist or set of antagonists, but certain overarching plots tie them together.— A long running narrative. I don’t have a specific projection of how long or how many arcs or books, but you should expect this to be equivalent to a long running serialized work.This is my first web serial! I hope everyone enjoys it. For trigger warnings, readers should beware that there are some heavy topics in here. When I think something might upset certain readers, I’ll put a warning in the author notes above a chapter. If I miss or overlook anything, feel free to let me know in the comments! I am currently publishing the same story on my wordpress, which is linked below and in my profile. I release three chapters a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Thanks for reading!(I originally had a link to a wordpress, but I'm in the process of overhauling that space. It's not a priority since my readership is all here, but just in case anyone noticed and was wondering)

In the final year of high school, Christian’s ordinary life takes a dramatic turn when he is struck by lightning, awakening the Idle System, a manifestation of his dream.What begins as a personal fantasy quickly transforms into a new reality for Christian, who revels in his newfound abilities while the world around him remains blissfully unaware.However, as Christian adjusts to his extraordinary circumstances, strange and unsettling events begin to unfold globally.Would the genre of the world also become Fantasy or would it stay exclusive to him?

Traveling through the Xianxia world, Chen Chen got the strongest tracking system and was able to track everything ever since.

Qin Huai crossed into the mysterious fantasy world where demons were rampant and heroes were rising. He had no background or cultivation qualifications until the day he became a medicine store apprentice and started to cultivate with his fellow apprentices.

He found that the experience orbs actually fell out of his master and brothers.

He learned to grind medicine with his brothers.

“Ding! ‘Medicine Art’ Experience+3!”

His Master and brothers practiced martial arts.

“Ding! You picked up an ‘Essence of Qi Cultivation (White)’, ‘Qi Cultivation’ experience +3!”

He killed the bandits in the mountains and picked up their cultivation.

“Ding! ‘Astringent Breath Technique’ experience +13!”

His master said that the technique was not good at attacking, had a cultivation limit, and could only prolong life.

But when Qin Huai picked up the experience until the Astringent Breath Technique was 50 times stronger, his body took a tremendous change. A gentle push of his hand was like a wave. He could now both attack and defend.

People said that when two kinds of cultivation methods clashed, continuing to cultivate would lead to the death of the cultivator.

However, when Qin Huai picked up experience and directly skipped the cultivation process, he found there were no side effects at all!

When Qin Huai practiced more and more cultivation methods, he suddenly found that those methods interacted with each other in his body and became stronger skills.

…

Qin Huai, who could pick up experience, began to wander among the major powers.

He saw flesh growing from white bones and the dead revived.

He saw demons cooking 10,000 people and exuding extremely evil energy.

He saw the Buddha statue chanting in the temple. Sanskrit sounded like a mantra.

Qin Huai silently picked up experience in order to settle down in the chaotic world.