Transcending Dreams

Chapter 32: Back to His Peak State

William yelped when the last needle sank into his chest, making the boy overseeing his treatment giggle like he found the pain funny.

“I said be careful, Ren Bo!” William said through clenched teeth. He knew the reminder would fall on deaf ears since this had happened continuously for the past three days.

It turned out that he was given free treatment partly due to the experimental nature of it. They weren’t trying any new types of therapy, but he was handed over to a novice, and mistakes were plentiful. However, he couldn’t deny that it was effective overall.

“Sorry,” Ren Bo certainly didn’t seem so with his smile, “I’m still new to this, Brother Wei.”

“I’d believe you if you hadn’t said that every time something like this happened,” William grumbled as he tried to relax on the bed, knowing he would have to stay in the position for hours.

Ren Bo shrugged shamelessly before handing William the book he had requested on the very first day of his treatment to pass his time. After gaining the Spirit Plant Addict trait, he wanted a clearer idea of what activated it and, more importantly, at what point it could worsen.

William expected the request to be declined since he was just a visitor of the Sect, but once they learned that Lan Yin escorted him to the Sect and that Huang Jingyi gave him a recommendation, he was treated exceptionally well. Other than being a test subject for Ren Bo, of course.

“I’ll return in a few hours, Brother Wei,” Ren Bo waved as he walked away.

[Name: Ren Bo | Level: 23]

William took his eyes off Ren Bo as the kid disappeared through the doorway. Even though Ren Bo looked slightly older than him physically, William suspected he had spent most of his time buried in books. The way Ren Bo acted was years younger than he actually was.

He opened the book to the bookmarked page and started where he left off. Trying to learn how to calculate the level of impurity in his body was ridiculously complicated. It was supposed to be purely theoretical until one could intimately understand the details of their own body, but for William, the system did that for him.

What required decades and sometimes centuries of hard work was basically handed to him on a silver platter.

Before he knew it, over an hour had passed, and he was at the end of the book. It wasn’t the first time he had finished it, but unlike before, he truly felt he understood everything he read. William had always been a decent student, especially when motivated to succeed like he was right now.

With what he understood, it should be easy but tedious to figure out the exact time needed to recover from overeating spirit plants. And even better, he should be able to tell precisely how much a pill and spirit plant he consumed would worsen the trait.

[Knowledge Acquired | The responsible consumption of pills and spirit plants]

[Cultivation Info Added | Impurity]

William gained a broad smile at the alert. He tried to pull up the newly added stat separately instead of the whole Cultivation submenu.

Impurity: Stage 2 (20%)

2 Weeks Remaining

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He didn’t pay much attention to the remaining time since Ren Bo was fixing that for him today. If he wasn’t getting treatment, that countdown told him how long it would take to reduce his impurity to stage one, which would also remove his Spirit Plant Addict Trait. Of course, that would only apply if he abstained from eating any more pills or spirit plants.

William was a little disappointed that he couldn’t see the number of pills and spirits he could consume without getting to stage three, but that was also understandable. He knew that every pill and spirit plant would contribute to different amounts of impurity increases, so there could be no general stat showing how much could be consumed.

“Brother Wei! It’s time for me to remove the needles!”

William winced and prepared himself for what was to come. It wasn’t painful, but the end result was frankly disgusting.

“Let’s get this over with,” William grumbled and held his breath.

Ren Bo might be a novice, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t highly skilled in William’s eyes. Within a few seconds, the hundreds of needles on his torso were removed without him feeling anything, but he wasn’t worried about that.

William stared at the tiny beads of black spots that sprouted where the needles were pierced. They rapidly grew larger under his eyes.

He kept holding his breath to avoid taking in any of the rancid smell that accompanied the black gunk. He noticed Ren Bo had retreated to the doorway with his fingers pinching his nose.

“I’ll leave you be, Brother Wei,” Ren Bo said nasally, “There are fresh clothes in there for you after washing yourself.”

William waved him off, not wanting to waste his precious air by speaking. The tiny black beads quickly grew enough to cover his entire torso in the disgusting stuff, creating a sticky, glue-like layer that would be a pain to clean off.

[Trait Removed | Spirit Plant Addict - XP Gain Decreased (10%)]

But that alert made it all worth it. He gingerly picked himself off the bed and walked carefully to the bathroom as if trying to keep the black gunk from falling to the floor. It wouldn’t have happened with how sticky it was, but he had no desire to smell that gunk after cleaning himself.

It would take well over thirty minutes of hard scrubbing until William’s body was clean enough for his own satisfaction. In the meantime, he went over his stats.

Name: Wei Liang (William Davis)

Age: 13

Level: 10

Experience: 1116/1250

Cultivation: Mortal

Health: 870/870

Strength: 20 (16)

Stamina: 10 (8)

Agility: 20 (16)

Luck: 12 (10)

Points: 10

Traits:

Soul Damage (Minor) - 20% Attribute Reduction

Main Quests (2):

1. Perfect your Soul! (Reach Level 100 to enable the system to upgrade your soul to the peak state)

2. Learn a Cultivation Technique

Side Quests (3):

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

Even though William had been fully healed yesterday, he didn’t get tired of seeing the massive amount of hit points he possessed. It had come a long way from the meager ten he possessed initially. And while it was petty of him to think so, he couldn’t wait until he bullied Wang Xiaoling as payback. Seeing the look on her face when she realized she couldn’t kick him around would be a sweet, sweet pleasure.

Other than the recovered health, the second change was almost as good.

Cultivation: Mortal

Max Level: 10

Max Attribute: 20

Impurity: Stage 1 (80%)

8 Days Remaining

Upgrade Requirements (2):

1. Learn a Cultivation Technique

2. Reach Level 11

While eighty percent seemed high, it gave William enough room to take a low-quality Vitality Restoration Pill without crossing into stage two of Impurity.

As for the massively shrunken time to reduce Impurity naturally, it was due to how the time required increases exponentially with every higher stage. If one recklessly consumed pills or spirit plants without regard to Impurity, even the most skilled doctor wouldn’t be able to help, bringing the path to immortality to a halt.

William dried himself off and put on the clothes Ren Bo provided before leaving the room for the first time in days. Ren Bo was waiting for him outside the door while reading some notes to pass the time. The kid followed him as he walked toward the exit.

“You look good, Brother Wei!” Ren Bo eyed him closely and nodded satisfactorily, “Not too bad for my first patient.”

William’s lips twitched at the reminder of the pain Ren Bo had put him through. Still, he was fully healed, so he supposed it was worth it.

“… Thank you, Ren Bo,” William said begrudgingly, “I’ll remember what you did for me.”

“Can you introduce me to Goddess Lan?” Ren Bo blurted out, making William stare at him in shock.

He tried to imagine how the cold-blooded Lan Yin would react to Ren Bo. It could go from simply laughing at the kid’s attempt with amusement to slicing him in half like she did Cao Rui. Besides, he was confident Lan Yin was over a hundred years old.

“We can talk about that later,” William deflected as he opened the doors to leave the clinic.

Thankfully, Ren Bo didn’t say anything stupid since he was struck silent at seeing Lan Yin waiting for them.

“Good, you look ready,” Lan Yin said with a small smile, making William glance at Ren Bo.

The kid was staring at Lan Yin like a lovestruck fool. William stepped in front of Ren Bo and replied, “Yes, Senior Lan. When should I take the test?”

“Now,” Lan Yin stated, “Follow me.”

William moved to trail after Lan Yin, but before he left, he hissed, “Watch where you’re looking, kid. Don’t you treasure your life?”

He ran to catch up with Lan Yin and saw Ren Bo staring after her despite his warning. William rolled his eyes and was thankful she didn’t notice.