Transcending Dreams

Unsurprisingly, it was not exciting to hang onto the wall while doing nothing but waiting for his Impurity percentage to reduce.

Well, that wasn’t the complete truth. William did something while waiting, but it only took an hour or two before he had to pass the time by staring at the Pyralisk doing its best to act like a cow.

In all the excitement, the fact that Sophia had improved his spatial stone had slipped his mind. Since he hadn’t been in a mood to bother with the spatial stone other than to take out the Vitality Restoration Pills, he figured it was understandable he had missed the possible changes.

Before William used his Qi to investigate what Sophia had done, he had all sorts of fantastical ideas in mind. Since she had somehow created this separate dimension as a training ground, he almost expected a dumbed-down version to appear in his spatial stone.

After all, he couldn’t expect Sophia to be capable of more since she had only been present as an incarnation. Still, she was an incarnation of an immortal.

That was why William was sorely disappointed when the only thing that seemed to have changed was the holding capacity of the spatial stone. It increased from the size of the side room in the Jade Healing Clinic to larger than the entire Clinic itself.

Of course, he didn’t accept that to be the extent of the improvement. Still, after spending over an hour spreading his Qi inside the spatial stone, hoping to discover anything hidden, he accepted that there was nothing to find.

William consoled himself by thinking about how much more valuable the spatial stone was. If poor Nascent Soul Realm cultivators would have drooled over the stone before, it wasn’t a stretch that even well-off cultivators in that realm would desire it after the upgrade.

That didn’t really make his disappointment disappear altogether, so he also tried to distract himself by studying the Pyralisk.

After all, William had to decide if the best plan of action was to avoid the spirit beast or if it would be more beneficial to fight it.

And the best way to figure that out was to use Observe.

[-5 Spiritual Energy]

Name: Pyralisk

Level: 67

Cultivation: Immature Beast (Level 6)

Health: 1500/1500

Spiritual Energy: 455/455

Spirit: 91

Strength: 55

Stamina: 74

Agility: 36

Seeing the Pyralisk’s attributes made the decision extremely easy for William. It had to be the most mismatched numbers he had seen, especially the Agility. It filled him with confidence to the point where he believed it would be hard-pressed for him to take any damage whatsoever.

It was getting close to the time when his Impurity would get to the required percentage to get a move on. Which meant it was a perfect time to make a battle plan.

The Pyralisk was minding its own business, still being its best cow self and munching on all of the greenest grass it could find, not knowing that there was someone who was about to ruin its happy meal time.

Over the nearly five hours that William had been waiting, the Pyralisk had wandered a little ways from the rock wall, but it was still well within his attack range.

A stomp coming from the sky, directly to the head, should get William the experience points the Pyralisk had for him. Or if not that, it should be a few attacks away from getting him those precious points.

Just as the Pyralisk finished stripping a spot off its grass and was about to move a little further away, the stat William kept an eye on changed.

Impurity: Stage 1 (82%)

8 Days Remaining

He immediately took out a pill and threw it into his mouth.

[+570 HP]

[Health: 601 —> 1171/1400]

[Impurity Increased]

[Stage 1 (82%) —> Stage 1 (99%)]

He sighed in relief when the throbbing pain dulled into something far more manageable.

William knew this was cutting it close, and he wouldn’t be able to consume much of anything until the Impurity was drastically reduced. Still, he held out hope that he would find another miracle like the oasis water.

Surely, that giant’s golden blood created something similar here. After all, it literally created this paradise in about two hours.

He put that worry aside and tensed his muscles, readying himself to take down the Pyralisk before starting his exploration of the place.

William sank his fingers into the rock before pulling out his other hand which had been embedded into the wall. He winced when it made far too much noise, but luckily, his target paid it no mind.

Either it was far too engrossed in tasting the delicious grass, or it didn’t consider the sound of rocks crumbling something to be concerned about.

It may also be possible that it simply couldn’t hear it, but William didn’t believe that. The Pyralisk’s level was far too high for such dull senses.

William’s heart sped up in anticipation of what was about to happen. It seemed like it had been a lifetime since he fought something, and it actually got his blood pumping at getting another opportunity.

He glanced at the spot in the air he wanted to reach, figuring it would be a perfect place to cause the most damage when dropping from the sky.

William bent his knees slightly as he ground his feet to make a sort of makeshift platform into the rock wall. When he was satisfied that it wouldn’t crumble under the force of his jump, he did just that.

He grinned happily when he found himself almost floating in the sky right at the spot he was targeted, directly above the Pyralisk. It was tough to not marvel at his new perspective of this place, but he forced himself to keep a close eye on the beast to see if it would react to the crumbling rock because of his jump.

It didn’t.

The Pyralisk continued to chew on grass, oblivious to the death coming from above.

William directed his Qi to his feet, almost losing his concentration when, instead of thin wisps of Qi emanating from his feet, it was almost like a roaring fire. The change was either from his drastically increased Spiritual Energy or, more likely, the increase in compatibility of his martial skills.

He shot down at the Pyralisk like a silent missile, his Qi-covered feet leading the way.

William had been ready for the spirit beast to realize that its doom was moments away and suddenly react, but to his surprise, it never happened.

He grunted when his feet slammed into the top of the Pyralisk’s head, all the power in his body combined with the multiplier of his Qi crashing into it without anything blocking it.

William winced when the Pyralisk’s head popped like a balloon. The mineral-like characteristics of the Pyralisk meant that instead of a mess of blood and gore, it was more like he was pulverizing a combination of different colored rocks that likely substituted as its organs.

[+5797 XP]

[Level up! | 5 Stat Points Added]

He was barely able to stop the momentum after he was distracted by the surprising amount of experience points he gained. It was lucky that was the case when the Pyralisk tried to get revenge even after its death.

“Oh, fuck!” William cursed when the headless body started to glow a bright red. The magma flowing under its crystal body seemed out of control, and he was right in its path.

This all happened within a fraction of a second. While William was able to get himself a few feet away, he knew it was highly likely that he was still in the blast radius.

William quickly covered his face to try and protect his vitals, but when nothing happened for a few seconds, he realized that the Pyralisk’s body had stopped glowing.

There was also a system alert that made his face light up.

[The eliminated Pyralisk’s body has been preserved]

[Current odds of preservation is 38.5% based on Luck: 77]

It looked like his Luck attribute once again had a tangible real-world effect.