[Cultivate in Qi-rich environment for 10 hours: +20000 XP]

[Level Up! | 5 Stat Points Added] x5

William wanted to pump his fist in celebration and cackle like a lunatic, something he noticed he had a habit of doing after something good happened to him. Maybe because it was so rare that he wanted to take all the pleasure he could from it.

However, since it wasn’t a great idea to do anything that could encourage a greater chance of water in his lungs, William settled for fist-pumping vigorously.

He was glad there was nobody else watching. On the other hand, if someone was watching, it was likely that he would have more to worry about than looking like a lunatic.

Level: 29

Experience: 6064/3625

William blinked when he glanced at his main stats before pumping his fist even faster. It was needed to rid himself of the excitement before settling back down to make the breakthrough to the third level of Qi Gathering.

Upgrade Requirements (2):

. Spirit: 30

. Eligible for Level 30

It did make him wonder why he hadn’t already broken through. With how long the increased rate lasted this time, he had more than exceeded the experience points required for level thirty.

Previously, quest rewards had made him exceed the limit, and only when he cultivated was he able to break through. That shouldn’t have happened this time around since he was already cultivating.

As William sat back down on the lake floor, he wondered if a breakthrough had to be purposeful. Since he was cultivating purely for the experience points, it couldn’t do the other.

However, William immediately knew that made no sense. Especially since the last breakthrough happened when he had practically given up on figuring out how to do it. He had simply been cultivating when the success hit him by surprise.

He pushed the mystery out of his mind and quickly returned to the trance, focusing on getting to the next level of Qi Gathering. William might be thinking about it but really had no idea how to go about it.

It wasn’t like he knew how to add that extra luster that signified the increased quality of his pathways. That sort of just… happened while he was cultivating.

Nonetheless, William, having no clue what particular thing he did, just started to cultivate, hoping that it would just work out.

Unfortunately, it didn’t. Two hours had passed, and all he seemed to be accomplishing was earning experience points.

[Cultivate in Qi-dense environment for 2 hours: +20 XP]

William ignored the alert, uninterested in seeing the measly experience points he had gained from that session. Not after getting used to the ludicrous amount he was used to the past day.

Cultivating wasn’t working, and William wasn’t sure what to do to fix that.

He stared aimlessly at the peaceful surroundings, a stray thought of swimming deeper into the lake popping up in his mind. William instantly shut down that thought process since that was just asking for more punishment, but it didn’t make him connect the dots.

Since the insanely high concentration of Qi in the lake could actually hurt him physically, what was stopping it from preventing him from advancing to the next minor realm? That idea made even more sense when William considered how all the Qi-infused skills were rendered useless.

If it could suppress that, then why could it not do the same for advancement? In fact, that made William think of something else.

He might be benefiting greatly for not being able to ‘cultivate’ in the usual sense. Those quick 'pulses' he sensed during his cultivation were not supposed to happen. If a higher realm cultivator bothered to pay close attention to William as he cultivated, they would instantly conclude that his cultivation path was broken.

And they wouldn’t be wrong to do so. The whole point of cultivating was to gather more Qi into the body. What William did was gather Qi to a certain point before the system converted it into an experience point, resetting the amount of Qi in his body back to the original state.

It would seem like madness to any of the native cultivators.

That was beside the point. William was aware of that, but it just entered his mind of how much of a boon it might have been in this situation. To the external world, it was like he was making no progress with his cultivation. None of the usual phenomena came with his cultivation, and one of them was the barest hint of Qi released from the body as it adjusted to the additional spiritual energy.

The water would have stopped that Qi release.

And it would have been a death sentence.

A cultivator’s body would have been torn apart by their own Qi if the body couldn’t go through the adjustment phase. In fact, that phase was so subtly mentioned in any text since it wasn’t even a concern that cultivators usually had to consider.

William looked around the peaceful surroundings with different eyes. It was like this was made specifically for him. With new, uncertain feelings about this place, he started to head back to the shore, which didn’t take longer than a few minutes.

He moved several feet away from the lake and frowned at feeling the water filling his boots. It was likely in the same state the last time he got out of the lake, but a calm mind obviously paid more attention to mild discomforts like this, unlike when he was stressed before.

As he removed them and shook out the water inside, William wondered why the water didn’t upgrade the Impact Boots like it did the Lightning Berry. His two most sensible guesses were that either it only affected organic things or it needed to have upgrade potential.

While the Impact Boots impressed William, he doubted something meant for a cultivator in his realm would be upgradeable.

He slipped them back on and sat on the soft grass, smiling when he could go through his routine and take a deep breath without drowning himself. That was followed by William quickly falling into his cultivation state, his eyes closed, and his senses turned inward.

The following steps were familiar.

Circulate the Qi. Keep the rate steady, not too fast, and not too slow. Just the right speed that he instinctively knew was perfect.

Then it was to wait.

William didn’t bother to count the times his Qi reverted to its original state as he gained an experience point. It was too slow to matter, and that wasn’t what he was focusing on anyway.

He concentrated on the pathways themselves, wanting to see if he could sense any change.

After what must have been around an hour of cultivating, something finally happened. Like before, William’s pathways became… shinier, except this time, he could see it form a look that vaguely reminded him of a crystal.

[Cultivate in a Qi-dense environment for 42 minutes: +7 XP]

[Level up! | 5 Stat Points Added]

[Modified | Points: 33 —> 38]

[Cultivation upgraded | Qi Gathering (2nd Level) —> Qi Gathering (3rd Level)]

[Modified | Health Overall: 1100 —> 1200]

[Modified | Max Level: 29—> 39]

[Modified | Max Attribute: 45—> 55]

[New upgrade requirements available]

Upgrade Requirements (2):

. Spirit: 40

. Eligible for Level 40

William let out a sigh of relief as he read all the alerts. He was worried that the lake wasn’t the block and he would be stuck in the second level of Qi Gathering for an extended period of time. Thankfully that wasn’t the case.

He walked back to the water and took out a Blood Orange, eager to devour an enhanced version before going back underwater to go deeper into the lake. He didn’t know for sure if wandering into the depths would once again give him an even more ludicrous cultivation rate. Still, until he was proven wrong, that hope would stay.

Right before William dropped the Blood Orange into the water, he remembered something that certainly wouldn’t hurt if it was higher.

[+10 Luck]

[Max Luck Reached]

That was pretty much the only attribute that the unused points would be used for. All the others benefitted from abundant, low-level spirit fruits combined with the lake’s miraculous water to enhance them.

William dropped the Blood Orange into the lake and sighed again in relief. Being able to max his attributes this quickly and easily felt like heaven.