Attribute Farming System

— 15 Years Later, In the Province of Dymon's Cradle —

"Senior Brother Knox, the Master is calling for you."

A quiet voice carried through the wide, open halls of a temple. Within that temple were several figures garbed in the clothes of a monk.

One of the figures was an exceptionally handsome young man with the bearing of a peerless sword expert. He turned his head up to look at the one speaking to him; a cold golden gleam emerged as he slowly rose to his feet.

"Very well," said Knox, his strides brisk and fleeting as he left through the large front doors of the temple. "If Master requests my presence, then I'll naturally go."

The one who spoke to him — also a monk — helplessly smiled. Even now, he wondered why it was that his Senior Brother was akin to an emotionless slab of ice. Never had he seen him do much more than frown.

"Senior Brother is so strong though…"

The monk, whose name was Kung Pao, found himself intently staring at Knox's departing back, finding the aura he passively emitted as fearsome and incomprehensible as ever.

Meanwhile, Knox, who bore the demeanor of a monk detached from worldly desires, sauntered away from the side temple he was just at. He approached a much larger and more grandiose temple, where within it resided an absolute expert of the highest caliber.

Entering through the jarred-open main temple doors, Knox was immediately greeted by the wizened voice of an old man praying at the temple's center:

"Knox, how are you coming along in the scriptures?"

Knox briefly paused, then took a step forward, reappearing less than a few meters away from the stilted temple altar. He then gave his reply. "It has been going well, Master. As of late, I feel as if the scars of my past have been healing faster than usual…"

For over a thousand lifetimes, Knox experienced excruciating solitude that nearly crippled his mind on top of his body and talent. But since arriving at the Clear Mind Temple some dozen years ago, things began to change for him.

His mentality was no longer as scattered or broken as it was before. He no longer felt like multiple people in the same body; he felt whole.

The old man praying at the main altar revealed a faint smile, and as he turned around to face Knox, an inexplicable sense of danger crept up Knox's spine. It was the same one he felt when he first met this Old Buddhist all those years ago. It was the same as every other time he met this benign-looking ancient monster.

"I'm glad that the scriptures have given you the help that you needed," said the Old Buddhist, which was what everyone familiar with him called him. "When you first arrived here, you were a wild young man with a sailor's mouth and a short temper, so it's good to see how far you've come."

"Thank you, Mast—"

"But we both know that you're not destined to live out the rest of your life in a temple," Old Buddhist cut him off. "The hunger inside you is still ever-growing?"

Knox made a complex expression, but nonetheless nodded.

"Then you must feed it, Knox," the Old Buddhist continued while walking past the conflicted young man. "If you let it grow any hungrier, it might just consume you instead. And by that point, what will all your progress in the scriptures have been for?"

"But Master, the scriptures state that violence shall not be indiscriminate," Knox said hastily. "If I… If I let my hunger out again, blood will be shed—"

"Who says it has to be indiscriminate?" Old Buddhist prompted. "Before you came here, did you slay indiscriminately?"

Distant images of a world engulfed in the flames of destruction passed through Knox's mind. His cowardly retreat still gnawed away at his spirit, filling him with immeasurable disappointment in himself.

Returning to reality, Knox shook his head. "I was not a good person…"

"Are you a good person now?" asked Old Buddhist, smiling wistfully.

Knox froze, his pupils dilating. "I… I don't know…"

Old Buddhist reached the doors to his main temple; it was there that he stopped, turned around, and spoke his truth. "To me, you're a good person. Why else have you been cultivating all this time while knowing that with me here, you're completely safe? It's all to safeguard that Lily girl, is it not?"

'Master knows about Lily?? But how!?' Knox's eyes grew round.

'I told you before you resolved yourself to change,' the World Serpent said from inside his head. 'That Old Buddhist is unfathomable. Even more so than my previous master, the Unorthodox Devilstar. The same goes for that unknown hooded figure who orchestrated the destruction of the Elemental Nations. What I'm trying to get at is that this Old Monster likely knows everything about you and us… It wouldn't be surprising if he figured out that Young Miss Lily was staying within this Secret Realm with us.'

Knox's brows drew together, and as he looked at Old Buddhist's System Interface, only to see strings of question marks, his brooding worsened.

"Knox," Old Buddhist said before fully disappearing. "You have unfinished business in the world outside this temple. Go and do what must be done. Just promise me that you'll keep close to your heart what you learnt at my Clear Mind Temple."

Knox hesitated.

However, with a sudden surge of determination, he matched his Master's flickering figure, saying, "I promise you, Master!"

Old Buddhist's smile widened, though Knox only caught a glimpse of it before the godlike old man vanished without a trace.

Standing up, Knox also left the main temple. Yet he didn't stop with just that, as he kept on walking, leaving dozens of solemn monks curiously staring at his receding back.

"Is Senior Brother Knox actually going to leave the temple grounds? Maybe he's going out for food or something? How abnormal for him…"

The monk who first spoke to Knox wondered what the special occasion was, totally unaware that this was likely the last he'd ever see of him…

Like that, time perpetually progressed forward. And though the monks of Clear Mind Temple wondered where their Senior Brother went, they eventually moved on.

And so did he…