A few puffy white clouds drift in the deep blue sky overhead. The air has the scent of fresh water and a slight fishiness from the lake. Cool and gentle breezes blow over the waist-high purple grass in the plains, tussling Jackie's white and gold robes.

The old man is standing inside his fog array.

Jackie is holding his small palm-sized shovel and pondering if he can make it bigger before he invests in repairing its Integrity. The little shovel is inadequate for his massive frame to dig and practice his shovel cultivation properly.

He's been relying on his body's prowess to dig with the spade-sized shovel and using the little tricks that come from his various cultivation methods, but that simply means that he cannot channel his full might with the little Assault Spade.

His face pales as he imagines it getting damaged again, turning into 1/25 integrity and shrinking into an Assault Spoon. He banishes the thought lest it becomes reality.

The old man sighs and admires the sky above for a few moments. He then thinks that maybe the system has an answer to the problem.

Jackie summons the Shovel System interface and looks at it to see if it has any clues. The translucent display pops up instantly.

---------------------

[The Shovel System Level 0- Integrity 1/50]

[User Jackie Lewin]

[Shovel Points: 5698]

[Age 78]

[Exotic Contamination: 12]

[Body: Reforged, Shovel Vessel]

[>User Statistics]

[>Store]

[>Lottery - Locked]

[>Skill Tree]

[>Missions - NEW!]

[Special Abilities 3 /12]

-Dimensional Dig - [Locked]

-Basic Environmental Protection - Active, Consuming SP

-Shovel Senses

[Skills]

-Shovel Mastery - Novice

-Shovel Self Defense - Incompetent

-Cultivation Comprehension - Novice

-Array Comprehension - Incompentant

-Alchemy Comprehension - Incompentant

-Constellation Comprehension - Incompetant

[Cultivation Arts]

The Shovel Dao - S.E. Lvl 1 of 8

-Eternal Shovel Vessel Dao - S.E. Lvl 1 Peak

-Hundred Shovel Stomps - S.E. Lvl 1 Peak

-Shimmering Chromed Shovel Soul Dao - S.E. Lvl 1 Peak

-Hardworking Tyrant Excavator Body Forging - S.E. Lvl 1 Peak

-Five Shovels Spiritualism - S.E. Lvl 1 Peak

-Eighteen Void Maneuvers - S.E. Lvl 1 Novice

-Shovel Alchemy Dao - S.E. Lvl 1 Novice

-Entrenching Array Dao - S.E. Lvl 1 Peak

S.E. = Shovel Establishment*

----------------------

He instantly notices the new Mission button on display. His eyes brighten up, maybe it has something to help him out. Perhaps it will give him an excellent reward that will assist in converting Silent Wolf into his obedient follower.

Maybe the system will reward him with a bigger shovel. Oh man, he thinks, that would be fantastic!

Jackie rushes to concentrate on the button. The screens fade away, and then they are replaced by five panels.

These panels are Daily Mission, Spoon Mission, Spade Mission, Shovel Mission, and Escavator Mission.

Jackie smacks his thigh with a thundering boom. He then shouts, "Dear Lord, I knew it! I called that, woo. Better be careful in the future. I don't want to be stuck wielding a spoon!"

He looks at the offered mission types while stroking his fluffy white beard. The daily mission seems promising; the Spoon mission is probably something easy. Jackie then spots a small notification at the bottom of the panel.

[User may only accept one mission in addition to the daily task at any given time.]

Jackie gets brave and clicks on the Excavator mission to view its details.

[Escavate the mountain you first arrived on to sea-level using only The Shovel while auto-submission is on.

Reward: ???

Accept Y/N?]

Jackie snaps over to N and backs out of that mission instantly. Small beads of perspiration appear on his head as he recalls how long it took to burrow out from the ground. The old man had been using all sorts of tricks with his cultivation to dig his way out-demolishing his way forward with Shovel Stomps, engraving reinforcement arrays on the tunnels to prevent collapse while using his five shovels spiritualism to soften the earth ahead. He'd be a corpse down there if he didn't use everything he had to escape.

No way he could accept that mission. Only using his shovel to dig, he'd be a pile of old bones long before he could ever finish that!

That, and he doesn't begin to know where in the world he is. Gathering information is a must, but those villagers are closed-lipped with him. They must have had many unfortunate run-ins with rogue cultivators over the years after their local sect vacated.

Jackie takes a breather then looks at Daily Mission. He sincerely wishes that it isn't something that will crush him like the Excavator Mission. "Please, Dear Lord, let this be reasonable."

He shuts his eyes and wills the Daily Mission to be selected. The old man peeks at it and then sighs in relief. "That's not too bad. The reward is just what I need, too!"

[Daily Mission:

Excavate a fifteen cubic-meter pit with a depth of at least four meters.

Reward: +1 Shovel Integrity, 1,000 Shovel Points]

Jackie Lewin claps and smiles, "Finally, some good news." Now he can start on the long road for recovering the damaged Shovel System. He then frowns, bunching up the wrinkles on his old face.

"I still need a solution for handling that rascal. I've got a plan, but there is almost no guarantee that it would work."

The mission select screens hover in his view. Jackie takes a breath then paces around a few times muttering, "Please let this help, please let this help, please let this help."

The towering old man firms his resolve and then selects the Spade Mission. The other screens fade to the background while the Spade Mission expands to reveal its contents.

[Spade Mission:

The user is a Foundation Establishment cultivator yet has no spells.

Return to the bottom of the tunnel you excavated for escape and stay there for fourteen days. Once you arrive at the mission site, your Shovel Senses will be sealed for the duration of the Mission.

System Comment: Stare into the Void.

Reward: Buried Alive Five Shovels Spiritualism Spell, +3 Shovel Integrity, +10,000 Shovel Points.

Accept Y/N?]