[Max Strength Reached]

William finished his second Blood Orange of the day as he debated on what to do. After he had completed the unbelievably favorable trade, he spent the next couple of days wandering around to try and find more Spirit Grass.

He had wanted to start munching on a Wind Cherry as soon as it was safe. However, having to wait a day for it to be safe since he had already consumed so much Spirit Grass might have saved him from doing something beyond stupid. With half of his Spirit Grass traded away, the amount he had left was enough for approximately fifteen Strength points. Before he risked eating anything that added points to his attributes, he needed to find more.

The sheer abundance that could be found together was the only thing that would make William feel less anxious about the idea of losing his twenty Strength points.

On a side note, he discovered that eating spirit plants that helped with Strength no longer activated the RNG. Being a mortal and all, he still needed to eat, and he finally had a safe way of filling his stomach without gambling his attribute points. With Blood Oranges reasonably easy to find if a few hours were spent searching, that had been his diet in recent days.

However, that also meant he had searched almost every bit of the area surrounding the little grove he had made as his temporary base. His only choice now was to either go to the camp the men had set up or leave his comfortable grove and head deeper for unexplored areas.

The choice was obvious.

William secured his handy, overfilled silk pouch over his shoulder and looked around the picturesque grove. He gave the tree that had provided him shade for the past few days a couple pats before leaving the place. It wasn’t the first time he thought of going deeper to explore, but he had always decided not to do so in the past.

With Lan Yin’s warning about being careful with his life, William was reluctant to leave an area confirmed to be safe. Still, if he wanted to make full use of this place, he needed to find more opportunities.

Besides, it was beyond typical for the rewards to be greater the deeper you ventured in a cultivation world. While greater rewards would generally be useless for a mortal like William since taking a bite out of spirit plants at a higher level would mean death, perhaps he would discover a way to gain experience points.

With this mindset, William set out, and that mindset was challenged within hours when he didn’t see any difference whatsoever. It was the same foliage, the same occasional spirit plants, and the same sense of safety. However, no Spirit Grass, probably due to his shitty luck.

William was accompanied by his soft steps on the grass with occasional crunches when a dead leaf was crushed under his feet. It had become so common for those sounds to be his companions that it was almost blocked out by his mind. That was why William’s ears perked up when he heard something different and froze on the spot.

He almost believed that it was a hallucination born out of the hope of something happening. That was until he heard it again.

William heard the faint flutter of wings, the first sign of something else being alive in this place that wasn’t a human.

He waited to hear it another time and snapped in the direction of the sound.

[Species: Fire Sparrow | Level: 6]

“… What the fuck,” William muttered as he stared at it. It was hard to believe something so small could be at that high of a level. Its size was no different from an average sparrow, only with bright red feathers that seemed to be giving off a hazy heat.

It was adorable, but William’s first thought was how many experience points he could get if he killed it. He was well aware that it was the sort of thinking he sneered at when reading characters kill their way to the top, but that sounded so reasonable at the moment.

Of course, William wasn’t eager to get attacked by something that was, without a doubt, faster than him. His max Strength would mean nothing if he couldn’t land a hit in the first place. He kept an eye on the Fire Sparrow and backed away slowly, intending to use a nearby tree as cover.

That turned out not to be necessary. It became apparent the bird didn’t think of him as important when it flew away.

William let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding. With the bird gone, he quickly scanned his surroundings to see what was different. What made this place different to have a bird flying around? And more importantly, what else was here?

He actively lightened his footsteps as he continued forward, hoping to find something that couldn’t fly and preferably closer to his own level.

An hour with no sightings should have annoyed William, but he noticed that the grass had started to thin out. The ground had become rockier, while the trees were becoming more and more massive, with the tops almost blocking all the sunlight. Even the bushes were more massive than where he had been staying for over a week.

As William walked closer, he heard rustling in the bushes, making him jump back cautiously until he saw a fluffy white thing hop out.

[Species: Sky Hare | Level: 6]

This one was even more adorable than the Fire Sparrow, looking like a cross between a cat and a rabbit, and shockingly still at level six. It turned its beady little eyes at him and twitched its nose before bending down to eat some stalks of grass.

Like the Fire Sparrow, the Sky Hare seemed utterly unconcerned by William’s presence. After it was finished chewing, it lazily licked its paw before lying down on the ground.

William didn’t even question if he was willing to kill it. There was no question that was exactly what he would try to do. Hell, it would be nice if there was a whole group of them so he could really put a boost to his experience points.

He inched closer to the fluffy rabbit, a grin unable to stay off his face with the next level within his grasp. He froze when the Sky Hare’s ears twitched when he was almost at arm’s length.

William was once again holding his breath to avoid giving the Sky Hare any reason to be startled. If he lunged from here, it was likely that he would be able to land a punch and end the poor thing’s life, but it wasn’t a hundred percent certain.

At a minimum, he had to assume that a rabbit-like creature at level six must have an Agility stat of seven. With William’s only half of that, he had to be doubly sure he could kill it.

When the Sky Hare returned to being still, William inched closer again before his eyes gleamed when he was in a perfect spot.

With no hesitation, William balled his hand into a fist and used all his power to launch it on the Sky Hare’s head.

[+430 XP]

[Level up! | 5 Stat Points Added]

“Fuck!” William spat as his face was hit with some of the splatters, and his fist was covered in the blood and guts of the formerly cute Sky Hare.

“And my clothes too?” William groaned when he saw the formerly dirty silk clothes now have a bloody decoration added to them.

That annoyance quickly gave way to disgust when he looked at the smashed remains of the Sky Hare. He quickly moved away from the dead body and roughly shook his hand to get the animal guts off.

Name: Wei Liang (William Davis)

Age: 13

Level: 5

Experience: 320/625

Cultivation: N/A

Health: 84/85

Strength: 20

Stamina: 3

Agility: 4

Luck: 1

Points: 16

If it ever existed, any regret for killing the Sky Hare disappeared when he saw the HUD. All he needed to do was ambush more of these stupid things, and he basically found himself a hack to get to level ten.

It seemed the good times would continue when William heard the bush start to rustle again. He chuckled and took a few steps toward the noise, unafraid of these experience point factories.

Until he saw a mass amount of blue text fill his vision.

Sky Hares.

So many Sky Hares that he could barely see them over the jumbled-up blue text trying to tell him their levels.

William stared at the army of Sky Hares, and he could swear that they were eyeing the fist that had just crushed one of their brethren. He quickly hid the gore-covered fist and started to back away slowly.

When they made a tiny hop in unison toward him, William darted away as fast as he could, his heart beating in his throat.