Transcending Dreams
B2 - Chapter 69

“What’s the reason we’re running?” Kae asked calmly as he matched William’s sprint.

“Just want to be sure to return in time,” William replied with a mouthful of food. He was halfway through his first kebab.

“I see. I agree with this diligence,” Kae nodded thoughtfully.

[+10 Agility]

[+5 Spirit]

[Spiritual Energy Capacity | 1080 —> 1105]

“Sure, sure,” he dug into the second kebab. “I’m a huge fan of not losing money. Or sect points in this case.”

“Agreed,” Kae nodded, once again very thoughtfully.

It would take him some time to get used to Kae taking everything literally.

[+10 Agility]

[+5 Spirit]

[Spiritual Energy Capacity | 1105 —> 1130]

William finished the second kebab just as they reached the Mission Hall. It was well worth irritating Wang Xiaoling further by swiping them.

Since she was determined to be petty, he might as well give her a real reason to feel that way. Besides, William knew that she had a soft spot for him.

It wouldn’t be much of an issue. If he explained exactly why he needed to eat Fatty Xu’s cooking, there was no doubt Wang Xiaoling would let go of her pettiness.

He hadn’t already done so because he could afford to be patient and let her work through her frustrations however she wanted.

Eyes turned to them when they entered the Mission Hall, William leading the way with the lightly blue-tinted spirit beast egg in his hands. He approached a once-again snoring Elder Zhou with eagerness in his step.

It was of no surprise that he was looking forward to this.

“Elder Zhou,” William called when they were closer.

“Hm. Wha—Oh, it’s you two?” Elder Zhou stared at the egg in his hands. “It’s only been a few minutes.”

“I didn’t want to miss the time, so we rushed back,” William smiled, happy he had interrupted her nap. Small wins were key against cultivators he could do nothing against. Kae, nodding in agreement next to him, really sold it.

“Hold out your passes.” They did as asked, and Elder Zhou tapped the mission tablet on them. “There, now leave me to my sleep. Disciple Kae knows how to get there.”

Elder Zhou proceeded to ignore them and shifted in her plush chair to get comfortable before closing her eyes.

“Follow me, Wei Liang,” Kae led, heading to the exit. William followed closely behind.

“I apologize for not warning you about Kae, Little Brother,” a disciple whispered as he passed. “Think of it as a welcoming to the Inner Court. I’ll treat you when you return.”

William glanced at the disciple that spoke to him, catching a glimpse of a lanky frame with sharp features before the Mission Hall was left behind. That whisper wasn’t quiet enough for Kae to be ignorant of it.

“I’m assuming he’s one of your previous partners?” William asked directly.

“Yes. He lasted for all of one wave in the third level. I had to take care of the next wave myself, but we still failed the mission by the smallest of margins. Truly useless, that one.”

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“You took care of a beast wave by yourself?” He asked in shock. “Did you get some sort of support from him?”

“None,” Kae frowned, remembering the event. “It was a travesty. I had no choice but to use everything I had to survive, destroying too many spirit beasts. Instead of gaining ingredients, I lost sect points.”

William had to reevaluate how to go about things. Even though Elder Zhou said that Kae specialized in alchemy for physical transformations, but didn’t think much of it. He assumed that instead of Kae being of supplemental help, the boy would be more or less ‘useful’ in combat.

Still, William expected that he could easily dictate the split of the spoils. Looked that that was not the case.

If Kae could eliminate a beast wave by himself, failing the mission or not, discussing how to distribute the beast corpses beforehand would become necessary.

“Seniors, we are going to the Abyss.”

William blinked, noticing they were at the Teleportation Hall. He didn’t think he saw multiple doors inside the hall. The only door led to the Outer Court.

“You two are together?” After Kae’s nod, the guard said, “Hand me your passes.”

These passes were used for quite literally everything possible. As William handed the guard his pass, he idly wondered if there had ever been a robbery like a transfer of points. With everything focused and centralized around the pass, it was ripe for some sort of hack-like event.

“Level three,” the guard said in a monotone voice, returning the passes to them after pressing them to a blank slate behind him. “Return in one piece.”

He narrowed his eyes in concern as he stored his pass in the ring. That was an odd way to send them off.

Kae opened the door, and instead of revealing the interior of the Teleportation Hall, there was a staircase that headed straight now. Even though it was brightly lit, William couldn’t see the end of it at the bottom. Just more stairs.

Nonetheless, he followed Kae down, clutching the spirit beast egg to his body. The door shut behind him when he was barely one step in.

“Why stairs when there are teleportation doors everywhere,” William asked, breaking the monotony of their footsteps being the only sound heard.

“I don’t know,” Kae shrugged. “I think it has something to do with conflicting formations, but I doubt anyone but the Elders know the real reason.”

“I see.” William counted step number three hundred. He still couldn’t see the bottom. “I think we should discuss how we’re going to split the spirit beasts left to us.”

“What’s to discuss? We both get half.”

He wouldn’t have agreed to Kae’s before he learned the boy was able to take care of a beast wave by himself. Even now, that hadn’t changed too much. He decided to leave himself an opening.

“That’s fair, but let’s change that a little. We both get half unless we agree that one did far more work than the other.”

Kae glanced back with a frown. “That’s too vague. What if we can’t agree on what ‘far more work’ is? That would be annoying.”

“Not at all. If we disagree, it stays at the original split.”

“I see,” Kae nodded. “Very well.”

William only made such a vaguely worded deal because of Kae’s blunt honesty. He would agree that the split should be different if it genuinely was. Even if it wasn’t, it wasn’t a disaster. He would still get half. Speaking of half…

“How many spirit beasts are in a beast wave?” William counted step number five hundred. Still couldn’t see the bottom.

“A hundred, including the leader.”

“So we get to keep thirty beasts each.”

“Doubtful,” Kae denied instantly. “That would mean we were perfect in preserving the spirit beast bodies. There are bound to be moments where some get destroyed beyond use.”

“Let me have those destroyed bodies.” William was thinking of the egg. It would likely be happy to consume those just as well as fully intact bodies.

Kae glanced back at him with a raised eyebrow. “Why do you need the bodies? Usually, my partners would offer to sell them to me in return for elixirs.”

“This,” William raised the egg slightly. “It consumes spirit beast corpses to hatch. I wish I could be like your previous partners and ask for elixirs, but it needs to be fed.”

“Interesting,” Kae gave a long look at the egg. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a spirit beast egg needing to feed on corpses.”

“You’re not the only one.” He counted step number one thousand seven hundred. Finally, something was seen at the bottom. It looked like a door. “Are we going to be the only ones at level three?”

“There is a group that should have finished yesterday. There needs to be a day gap for the sect to constantly supply these beasts.”

“Six hundred spirit beasts can be replaced in a day?” William asked with surprise.

“I don’t know the details, but yes. There hasn’t been a mishap since the Abyss was opened to the disciples well over a millennia ago.”

There were multiple levels of the Abyss, so it was safe to assume that well over a thousand were replaced daily, and they were not weak spirit beasts. The sect must have a place where these beasts must reproduce on mass.

The reasoning for the existence of the Abyss was also suspect. Sure, a part of the reason must be the ingredients and the experience it would give disciples as they struggled to get them efficiently, but that couldn’t be it. Could it?

“Ready?” Kae asked with a hand on the door.

Three thousand steps to reach the bottom of the stairwell. And the steps themselves weren’t small.

“Anything else I need to know before we enter?” William asked, anticipation flowing into his body.

Kae tilted his head in thought. “No.”

With that, he opened the door.