Transcending Dreams

Chapter 85: Everything is Perfect

William watched as the thinly spread Qi in his Stomach Meridian slowly gathered in the center, compressing until a familiar dim speck appeared.

That was the last of the extra spiritual energy added to his pathways from binging on the spirit fruits. However, he still continued to cultivate, wanting to regain the precise control from a few minor realms ago.

William didn’t move from his spot by the lake, intending to sit cross-legged on the soft grass for hours upon hours until he would be satisfied with the command over his Qi.

… He honestly didn’t know what to do next.

While the most ‘obvious’ choice was to enter the trench and explore what it holds, William was aware that the system wasn’t perfect. He still trusted the information it gave him far too much, or in this case, the information it couldn’t get from the aquatic life in the top layer of the trench.

While that life didn’t have the basic identifying information the system would typically give him with sentient beings like humans and spirit beasts, it wasn’t foolproof. The only example of that was Fatty Xu, but that was enough.

It could happen once, so why couldn’t it happen again?

If William chose to forgo exploring the trench, only two other choices were left to him. It was to either relax in the oasis, hoping that his time in this dimension would expire, or leave this paradise and reenter the desert.

Since William liked the feeling of being alive, he would only choose the latter if he was forced to leave the oasis. Even if he was far stronger than he was a few days ago when wandering aimlessly through the desert, the only thing that extra strength would accomplish was to make him last longer in the brutal environment before wasting to death.

He shoved that morbid thought away when there was a slight hitch in the constant circulation of his energy.

William spent the rest of the time cultivating with a blank mind, lulling himself into a sort of muscle memory, but for guiding spiritual energy. After an undetermined amount of time, mostly because he lost track of it, William was satisfied with the quickness at which his Qi reacted to his commands.

It was a bit of a hassle to corral the exponential increase of spiritual energy with a similar quickness when he was much weaker. Still, making sure his foundations were solid would be well worth it.

That was always one of the most critical things repeatedly mentioned in the readings, in this life and the past. The more firm the foundation, the less headache a cultivator would face when stronger.

William opened his eyes, feeling more accomplished than when he gained that mind-boggling amount of experience points. Perhaps it was because he steadily worked on bettering his control over Qi instead of cultivating like a madman underwater.

That feeling of accomplishment only increased when he saw completely unexpected alerts.

[Modified | Martial Skill Compatibility]

[Thunderous Palm | 20% —> 40%]

[Thunderous Kick | 20% —> 40%]

[Earth-Shaking Stomp | 15% —> 30%]

[Cultivate in Qi-dense environment for 41 Hours: +410 XP]

Usually, William would be surprised that he was able to sit still for nearly two days without an issue, but it was the compatibility that had his attention. He was under the impression that it took countless repetitions to increase the compatibility, or so Qin Yu implied.

However, this strangely fit right in with all the other odd quirks the system allowed William to do. Repetition might have been necessary for a normal cultivator, but a shortcut was available for him.

With the order of the alerts, the compatibility increased before he finished cultivating, so it must have something to do with the meridians, or it could also be the sheer amount of spiritual energy he now possessed.

Speaking of the massively increased energy, the spirit fruits William had eaten had done their job. He pulled up the past logs of the alerts that appeared after he had gobbled down multiple enhanced fruits in quick succession.

[+15 Spirit]

[Max Spirit Reached]

[Modified | Traits: Soul Damage (Minor)]

[7% —> 4% Attribute Reduction]

[Modified | Spiritual Energy]

[Spiritual Energy Capacity | 300 —> 385]

[+20 Strength]

[Max Strength Reached]

[+15 Stamina]

[Max Strength Reached]

[+15 Agility]

[Max Agility Reached]

He let himself enjoy seeing the multiple alerts of the max attribute being reached. While it would happen again often enough due to the massive amount of unused stat points he had hoarded, it wouldn’t have the same impact. After all, he would be using a limited resource instead of a usually worthless spirit fruit enhanced by magic water.

William glanced at his base stats to get another look at the massive amount of points he had at his disposal when he saw something he had overlooked.

Level: 53

Experience: 5003/6625

Cultivation: Qi Gathering (5th Level)

Health: 1300/1400

Spiritual Energy: 385/385 (20% per Hour)

Spirit: 80 (77)

Strength: 80 (77)

Stamina: 80 (77)

Agility: 80 (77)

Luck: 60 (58)

Points: 138

Traits:

Soul Damage (Minor) - 4% Attribute Reduction

Luck was an attribute that was often forgotten by William until the very last second, mainly because the attribute had no direct effect on his day-to-day life. Mostly because the dreaded RNG was no longer looming above him, waiting to give him a death blow.

[+20 Luck]

[Max Luck Reached]

Still, William was more than willing to dump his points into it. As he mentioned multiple times before, luck was pretty much the basis of how far a cultivator could grow in these types of worlds.

He stood up and glanced at the lake before him, wondering again if entering the trench might be worth the risk. While he would love to say he had a sure answer, that was false.

William still had no idea what to do next, but he couldn’t lie and say that doing nothing wasn’t a sweet temptation. He felt he had already used up all of his good luck so far and didn’t want to try to stretch it any further.

He reluctantly ripped his eyes away from the lake, resisting the greed he felt that screamed at him to take the risk and explore the trench. While that might end up happening, there was nothing wrong with having patience as he tried to find other options.

And speaking of options, William was walking toward one of them.

The desert.

It would make for a change in the background as he practiced his martial skills. He wanted to determine how much power he would get from his Qi-infused attacks combined with significantly increased strength. Plus, it just so happened that most of the trees in the oasis were at the edge, close to the desert.

If William wanted to continue the tradition of using trees as target practice, then this was where he needed to be for that to be possible.

He didn’t dare step off the grass and let his feet touch the sand, afraid the oasis might disappear like the forest did. In fact, he always stayed a few feet away from the border of the oasis and the desert.

Eventually, he chose a random tree to lean on and looked out at the sandy landscape.

For the first time in days, William thought about Ren Bo and Princess Jin. If they were stuck in the desert like he had been, they… would likely be just fine.

Princess Jin was the least he was concerned about, not because William was callous, but because he still suspected that she knew exactly what this place was.

As for Ren Bo, that boy had an entire spirit boat in his storage pouch. There would surely be other things that would be equally expensive and helpful in any inhospitable environment.

Then again, William knew that the storage pouch Ren Bo possessed couldn’t even touch the stability and worth of his spatial stone. There was a real chance that the storage pouch had been destroyed by the spatial storm that had carried them to this dimension.

He shook his head and crossed his arms in annoyance. While that kid was annoying beyond belief, and William looked forward to teaching him how to act like a respectable human, he didn’t wish such a misfortune would happen.

William hoped it was just his overactive mind creating unlikely scenarios to fill his mind. Looking out at the desert was mind-numbing, so creating drama for himself seemed like a to pass some time.

He yawned loudly and rested his head on the smooth tree trunk before closing his eyes. Taking a short nap was probably better than worrying about the kid. After all, pests can’t die so easily.

William wasn’t sure when the last time he had taken a proper nap was, but it had likely been far too long to be reasonable. A short rest would fix everything.

It was too bad that the small voice in William’s mind screaming at him to move away from this place was only heard when it was too late. He had already gone to sleep.