“That’s quite a waste of those Dragonheart Plums.”

William’s eyes were darting around frantically as he tried to find the person talking to him. However, no matter where he looked, there was nobody to be seen.

“I understand that humans are known for their greed, but this is the first time I have seen one of you destroying everything without making use of it in some way.”

William kept searching for who was speaking but was alarmed enough to spare some of his focus to check inside the spatial stone. As the voice claimed, the Dragonheart Plums were indeed losing the steady, bright pulsing that signaled how effective they would be.

“Still not taking them out? They are still salvageable.”

He agreed with the voice, but it wasn’t like there was a plan to keep the Plums on this branch. They would fall to the floor and be even more ruined. The stem keeping them attached to the tree was ridiculously strong, but the fruit itself was beyond delicate.

“Senior, can I climb down?”

“Senior?” The voice sounded amused, “Where was this respect when you were stealing the Dragonheart Plums?”

Sweat dripped down William’s face as he wondered if he could somehow stall for ten minutes. That would be long enough to recover enough Spiritual Energy to activate his Impact Boots.

Of course, that was only a stray thought he did not intend to follow through with. If Qin Yu, who was in the late stages of Foundation Establishment, could easily deal with William while the boots were activated, trying it with whoever was speaking to him would be laughable.

“Little human, I gave you a pass with the stolen fruits, but don’t think I will let you take more to replace what you are wasting. Take them out now.”

William immediately emptied his spatial stone of all the Dragonheart Plums, courageously, or stupidly, grabbing two in his arms while watching the rest fall to the leaf floor with an aching heart. However, the expected impact of the falling fruits never came to be. His eyes widened in shock when they cleanly fell through the floor and disappeared.

“Hmm, it’s been a while since I tasted these. If only you didn’t store them in that low-quality stone.”

If William wasn’t sure what realm this… spirit beast? He wasn’t too sure, but the voice had been calling him ‘human,’ which a fellow human generally wouldn’t do. Anyway, the exact realm was still unknown, but with how casually his spatial stone was pretty much called trash, it was a good bet that Nascent Soul would be the floor.

“I apologize, Senior,” William said as he stayed put on the branch, doing a fantastic job of balancing himself while he felt certain doom in the near future. He was still trying to frantically think of a way to get out of this alive.

“Why are you still up there? Jump down. There is nothing else on the tree for you to steal.”

“If Senior doesn’t mind, I would like to stay here a little longer.” William didn’t have an intention of being eaten like the Dragonheart Plums he threw to the floor, thank you very much.

“I was not giving you a choice.”

He yelped when he felt the familiar feeling of his body being controlled by someone stronger than him. William made a quick decision in the desperation of the belief that he was about to die. What was the point of keeping his Impurity in stage one?

As he was pulled toward the leaf floor with surprising speed, William gobbled up the massive, head-sized Dragonheart Fruit with a quickness that wouldn’t have been possible if his life wasn’t at stake.

[+10 Strength]

[Max Strength Reached]

[+10 Stamina]

[Max Stamina Reached]

[+10 Agility]

[Max Agility Reached]

[Impurity Status Modified]

Impurity: Stage 2 (1%)

Hours Remaining

[Trait Added | Impurity Poisoning (Stage 1) - XP Gain Decreased (10%)]

William would marvel at the massive increases later, but first, he needed to try and get back control of his body, as unlikely as it was. The best way to do that was by surprise, and it only made sense to make his attempt with everything used up, including his unused stat points.

[+3 Luck]

His Impact Boots were still unusable since they couldn’t be activated, so all his hopes rested on his physical abilities.

“Oh? You’ve gotten a little stronger. I was under the impression it took humans hours to digest these.”

And those hopes immediately died in their infancy when William’s struggles did nothing to change his situation. He hadn’t expected it to, but when his feet started to sink into the formerly solid leaf floor with no resistance, he didn’t care much about logic.

William’s vision briefly went black before he found himself back in the familiar level he had left not long ago. Of course, he wasn’t bothered by the identical leaf floor and ceiling this time. Nor was he looking at the numerous pillar-like tree trunks spread evenly as far as the eye could see.

[Name: ? | Level: ?]

No, William was staring in shock at what might be the largest snake he would ever see in his life.

He flinched when a forked tongue flitted out to taste the air in front of him before disappearing.

“Interesting. You are not of my Master’s Sect. How did you come to this shard?”

William was still trying to comprehend how he missed seeing a snake that was hundreds of feet in length. Its body, with scales that were a mesmerizing shade of deep green, was intertwined between the trees, so even that might be an underestimation.

“I was brought here by a spatial storm, Senior. I did not try to seek entrance.”

“Hm, spatial storm? I see.”

William knew that relating human expression to a snake should be impossible. Still, he thought that it sounded a little worried. Speaking of which, he didn’t know how it was talking to him. It wasn’t like the mouth moved to form any words.

“Since you have given me tribute, and those Plums are generally worthless to my Master, I will forgive your transgression of trespassing into his personal garden. If you wish to visit again, bring me something of worth, and you might have another chance.”

[Side Quest Available | Find Tribute Satisfactory to the Serpent]

[Reward: Access the personal garden of this shard’s master]

[Penalty: ?]

[Accept: Y/N]

William’s heart, finally starting to calm from its previous panicked beating, started to pick up speed again.

“Thank you for your mercy, Senior!” William bowed without shame, happy that he hadn’t been instantly killed.

“Hm, it’s time for you to leave. Your presence pollutes the surroundings.”

William gasped when he was dropped through the leaf floor, his first thought being that the snake decided to kill him anyway. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. He only dropped a few meters before he landed safely on a wide branch. He looked up, staring at where the massive snake should be past the leaf ceiling above him, and shuddered at how lucky he had been.

Perhaps it should have been obvious that the only reason the spirit beasts from the forest floor didn’t dare to enter that level was that peak-tier predator calling that place home. However, William had been blinded by the idea of safety, and when he reached the personal garden, plain greed.

Speaking of what should be obvious, there was something William had to do before greed overtook him again.

[Side Quest Rejected]

That side quest had an unknown penalty, and that was without considering that he had to find something a snake at that high of a realm found satisfactory. No matter how William looked at it, he was more likely to find death in the process, and if he somehow survived, but whatever he found was trash in the snake’s eyes, death could still be the result.

However, the stupidity of wandering into a precious garden did come with great benefits, and he wasn’t thinking about the Dragonheart Plum clutched in his arms.

Spirit: 40 (35)

Strength: 40 (35)

Stamina: 40 (35)

Agility: 40 (35) + 10

Luck: 33 (29)

Points: 0

William had just entered the second level of Qi Gathering, and he had already maxed out most of his stats. After just two more level-ups, Luck would follow. In addition, reducing the effectiveness of the Dragonheart Plums by storing them in the spatial stone was a blessing in disguise.

Impurity: Stage 2 (1%)

Hours Remaining

The Impurity would have been much higher than that if the Plum he had eaten was at full strength. All he needed to do now was wait a little less than a day for the recently gained negative trait to disappear.

William intended to stay in this spot until it did. There was no reason to rush and lose out on potential experience points that could be gained.