Chapter 98: Fake

Chapter 98: Fake

William trailed after Princess Jin and the whole thing was surprisingly peaceful so far.

His previous fear of the path to the tree at the center being filled with dangers had turned out to be false. It was instead a good stroll where he was able to take in the sights.

That was another thing that didn’t match William’s expectations. It was like an empty vase.

Everything looked pretty, but it was strangely dead. The greenery that they passed weren’t quite trees, but they certainly looked like they were.

And, again, they felt dead.

William had touched a few of the lower hanging branches and leaves on the faux trees, and while they moved like they were real, they also felt like rubbery plastic.

“Can you stop touching them?” Princess Jin sounded irritated.

“I can’t. They feel so odd.” William's curiosity spiked when he saw something that looked like a spirit fruit. He made a little jump and gasped in shock when he ended up hanging from it foolishly instead of plucking it off the tree.

“Happy?”

He looked down to see Princess Jin sneering at him.

“This is all failed growth. Whatever caused that tree to sprout on this soil didn’t leave anything to complete the process on the surroundings.”

William let go of the fake fruit, more disappointed that he wouldn’t get to have a taste of it later more than anything. He continued to keep pace with Princess Jin while mentally questioning her explanation about all this.

It sort of made sense when thinking about it briefly, but it didn’t make much sense after a closer look. Why would the outside of a fruit, the facade, grow on the tree before it was real? Shouldn’t that be the last to form based on common sense?

William shrugged slightly, figuring it didn’t matter. Perhaps it was true due to how the tree was formed. It could be something to do with the giant’s golden blood being the source of all this.The original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.

If it wasn’t, then it would be due to Princess Jin simply not having the correct information. He had almost forgotten that she was only fourteen years old. Still a child, really.

“How do you know all this anyway?” William asked curiously. When she didn’t say anything for a few seconds, he thought that it was something that she couldn’t answer. Just when he was ready to change the subject, Princess Jin replied.

“This Shard is a coming-of-age ceremony of sorts for the imperial branch line at Xuanjing City. I have had a tutor who informed me of the commonly encountered treasures and dangers. Of course, this treasure land isn’t commonly encountered, but the opportunity it gives is so precious that it was hard not to learn a little about it.”

“I see,” William nodded, feeling a little jealous of this imperial family. This did explain why she was so willing to let herself be sucked into the vortex that started the mess.

Even though it was just a branch line, they still had access to a secret realm like this. However, this gave him hope to ask something that he was still thinking about in the back of his mind.

“Since you learned about this realm, do you think that waterfall has the same properties as the water from the oasis?”

“Maybe,” Princess Jin shrugged, “But why waste time checking when it could be better spent? Some odd treasures always appear in the surroundings, but they vary each time.”

William hummed, wondering how to make an excuse to get away. However, that thought only lasted for a few seconds.

His foolproof, unstoppable plan, which was really neither of those things, of getting Princess Jin to think of him as an extremely close friend couldn’t happen if he didn’t spend a lot of time with her.

Agility: 45

Luck: 150

It felt good to William that he didn’t have to worry about using Detailed Observe anymore. There was a time when using that would cripple his ability to fight for most of a day, but now all it would take is around twenty minutes to recover the used spiritual energy.

That little tangent was to stop himself from having a little mental breakdown over the unfairness of the world. This must be what Sophia was talking about when she said limits only applied to him, not any others.

William was almost a hundred percent certain that the only thing that changed about Princess Jin’s attributes was her Spirit. It had gone up to a ridiculous level that exceeded his own Spirit attribute.

Spirit: 80 (77)

Of course, William outclassed her in everything else that wasn’t called Luck, but who would even consider that broken attribute?

He hadn’t used Detailed Observe on Princess Jin before since he hadn’t thought they would interact long enough for him to do so. Now that he had, it had suddenly put her at the same level as Li Xinyue.

At least in terms of Luck.

While William would usually fret over his limitations for a bit longer, something he was very aware would get legions of cultivators to hunt him down after seeing his broken system, he didn’t linger long on it this time.

After all, they were about to hunt for treasures under something that looked like a world tree. Having a girl with Luck equal to Li Xinyue was a blessing of the highest order.

William turned his attention away from Princess Jin’s stats when they were close to the beginning of the tree’s roots. The ones he could see directly above the ground were a little larger than him in height, before they grew to ridiculous proportions as one looked closer to the tree.

Speaking of the tree, it was significantly closer, yet somehow still far away, let him see the ridges between the bark looking large enough to fit a decently sized Outer Sect building. It was actually a little chilling somehow, especially knowing that this was grown from the death of a higher-level being.

It made William think that maybe the tree wasn’t just a tree. There was a reason it was here.

The only consolation was the green moss that covered vast swathes of the tree trunk. It was stunning to look at from the edge of this place, and it was even more so close by. If this tree was sentient, it wouldn’t allow the insult of something else growing on it, right?

“Wei Liang, what are you thinking about now?”

William was snapped out of his quickly spirally thoughts by Princess Jin, who was waving her hand in front of his face.

“Nothing,” William waved her question off, “I was just surprised by the size of it.”

“Hmm,” Princess Jin nodded in agreement before pointing at the large opening, “Then save your surprise when you enter. The treasure we’re seeking is directly in the center, and I heard that there is a view that should be admired by the lucky few to see it.”

“That’s not vague at all,” William muttered, though not as quietly as he assumed.

“I apologize for my relatives who never thought to document that for you,” Princess Jin huffed before walking to the entrance.

William quickly followed her as he explained, “I was just thinking out loud! I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Princess Jin still gave him a cold shoulder, but it wasn’t as tense as before.

William considered her to have a personality on the colder side, so he considered this a win.