Transcending Dreams

“Five Dragonfruits!”

“Two Sunberries!”

“Kid, give me twenty Spirit Fruits!”

William was like a well-oiled machine. After learning the price of the goods Wang Xiaoling had for sale, he didn’t miss completing an order. He never thought that the fast food job at Burger Emperor would come in handy, but here he was.

However, one thing made this different from one of the lowest-paying jobs in his old world.

The food he was selling.

Working in the fast food industry made William swear off that garbage for life after seeing how it was made, but right now, all he wanted to do was take a bite out of every fruit he touched. They looked mouthwatering, and the scent they gave off was enough for William to start drooling. In fact, the only reason he hadn’t started salivating like a hungry animal was his single-minded concentration.

No matter how much William wanted to gobble up the fruits he was selling, the experience points were more important.

… And William was sure that Wang Xiaoling might snap his hand in anger at the lost coin if he sampled a fruit.

He wasn’t sure how much he would be paid for his help, but with her hesitance to pay for a room for the night, he knew it wouldn’t be much. Wang Xiaoling had the penny, or Copper in this world, pinching mindset that had made most businesspeople successful. With Willaim’s expected low pay and the price of the fruits, he didn’t think his wages would pay for more than a couple.

“Five copper!” William shoved five Dragonfruits into the offered basket. “One Silver!” Two Sunberries were placed into waiting hands. “Two Gold!” This order was more than usual, and Wang Xiaoling had specially made baskets for these.

William swiped the payments off the counter and dumped the coins into the bag beside him. He was already moving on to the next batch of customers yelling their orders. Wang Xiaoling wasn’t moving any slower than William. She had been serious about the permit expiring, so she wanted to sell as much of the goods she brought with her as possible.

An extra benefit came in handy with this type of work for William. He was able to quickly understand the way currency worked in the Tianxia Empire. William had been more than a little worried that it would be something ridiculous, like some odd-numbered denomination equaling one of another, but it was all surprisingly ordered.

Ten Copper equaled one Silver, and ten Silver equaled one Gold. As for anything higher, William obviously hadn’t encountered them, if they existed at all. From the short time he had been selling the in-demand fruits, one Gold was greatly desired with the way most people stared at said coin in greed.

Incidentally, it also let William know that Wang Xiaoling was quite the money-maker. If he wasn’t doing this work for the experience points, he might make more of a fuss for better pay.

“Get me forty Spirit Fruits!”

William’s eyes twitched as he grabbed two baskets and yelled, “Four Gold!”

He wondered what the profit margins were on these things. It was becoming increasingly apparent that Daoist Chen likely meant for him to meet Wang Xiaoling. How lucky would it be if he met someone like her by coincidence?

The next hour was a blur as the fruits available for sale slowly emptied. When only a couple of damaged Dragonfruits were left, Wang Xiaoling closed the stall.

“Wei Liang, you have a gift,” Wang Xiaoling praised with a gleam in her eyes, “Stick with me, and I promise you’ll go places.”

William stared at the miser suspiciously. It was likely she was thinking of making him some sort of permanent indentured servant. More worryingly, he hadn’t received his experience points despite completing the quest.

Perhaps there needed to be some sort of finishing action.

“So you’re saying I did a good job?” William asked leadingly.

“Of course!” Wang Xiaoling seemed too thrilled to notice anything, “The fruits I sell are always in demand, but I rarely sell everything because I don’t have decent help. You were great!”

“So I guess you’ll pay me well then. How much am I getting?” William asked with his hand out.

Wang Xiaoling froze, and her smile slowly became strained. “Well, you see, Wei Liang, it costs a lot to buy these. I didn’t make much this time. All I can pay you is two, uh, one Silver.”

She dropped a silver coin in William’s outstretched hands and looked away, looking for something to use as an excuse to get away. It was then that she remembered the bags filled with coins from her sales. There was no way to take them with her.

“Oh, that’s right!” Wang Xiaoling pretended to remember, “Wei Liang, I wanted to give the remaining Dragonfruits to you. They’re delicious and really good for your health!”

She offered the unsold fruits to William and became even more nervous when he didn’t look at them. “And I got you a room for the night! Aren’t I generous?”

William didn’t ignore Wang Xiaoling on purpose, and he wasn’t even aware that the compensation for the work he had done was slowly becoming greater the more he ignored her.

[COMPLETED | Help Wang Xiaoling sell her goods: +50 XP]

[HIDDEN BONUS | Sell 20 Gold worth of goods: +50 XP]

[Level Up! | 5 Stat points added]

William’s breath hitched in excitement. He hadn’t expected to get enough points to get to the next level, and the hidden bonus motivated him to be a try-hard in future quests with how generous it rewarded him.

Name: Wei Liang (William Davis)

Age: 13

Level: 2

Experience: 25/250

Cultivation: N/A

Health: 15/15

Strength: 1

Stamina: 1

Agility: 1

Luck: 1

Points: 5

Traits: 

Soul Damage (Major) - Will reduce all base stats to 1 randomly

Main Quest(s): 

Restore your Soul! (Reach Level 10 to enable the system to restore your soul back to its complete state)

Side Quests (3): 

1. Daoist Chen has challenged you to become a Nascent Soul cultivator in ten years for a reward

2. Return to Jade Healing Clinic and make Huang Jingyi kneel with your superior cultivation

3. Visit Jade Healing Clinic 2-3 times a week (Repeatable)

William didn’t like that he now needed two hundred and fifty experience points to reach the next level. That didn’t bode well for the points required for higher levels. Still, as long as the visits to Jade Healing Clinic rewarded him sufficiently, level ten was well within reach. More importantly, it was looking highly likely that William would have no risk whatsoever in the process.

That would do wonders for his precious stat points. The devastating side effect of having soul damage would never be an issue as long as William patiently grinded experience points in the city.

Speaking of stat points, he did wonder why he had received five points when there were only four attributes to spend it on. He wasn’t complaining about it, though. With how vital stat points generally were, the more, the better.

“Fine! You can have two Silver! If you want more, you can forget about working for me!”

William looked at his suddenly full palm in shock. He never expected Wang Xiaoling to be so generous. “Thank you, Wang Xiaoling. You didn’t try to cheat me like I expected.”

William expected her hand to fly toward his head and jumped back in time to get out of reach. His promise to himself to stay uninjured wouldn’t be broken so soon.

“I never cheat anyone!” Wang Xiaoling declared righteously before turning around with a red face. She grunted while picking up the heavy coin-filled bags and said, “Let’s go. I’ll drop you off at the lodge before heading to the bank.”

William followed behind her and pocketed the Silver before licking his lips while staring at the Dragonfruits. They were slightly damaged, which only made the delicious scent more apparent. The Dragonfruits were similar in looks to the ones in his old world, but they were far different from how he had seen people eating them.

William moved one of the fruits into his other hand and ran his finger over the spikes before biting into it like an apple. An embarrassingly loud moan left his lips as he devoured the delicious fruit like a man who hadn’t eaten for days. It was gone in less than a minute.

[+1 Strength]

William’s jaw dropped in shock at the alert. He stared at the remaining two fruits like they were the key to immortality. Disregarding his full stomach, he tore into another Dragonfruit greedily, eagerly anticipating the extra attribute point.

After William finished it, he was disappointed when he didn’t see the alert he expected. He figured it would have been too good to be true for such an easy way to gain points. Still, gaining a Strength point for eating the fruit was already good enough.

[Soul Damage Trait activated | All base stats reset to 1]

“What’s wrong with you, brat?” Wang Xiaoling asked with concern, “You look like you’re about to hurt yourself.”

William sighed and tried to look more excited. A hard thing to do when it felt like his emotions were played with. At least he hadn’t done anything foolish like spending his stat points and getting that wiped out too.