“What do you mean nothing happened to it?” William asked incredulously, “Those tokens practically killed it!”
That was a bit of an exaggeration. The fetus was fine physically, but it was far less menacing. In fact, the whole place was far less menacing, mainly because the lantern in Princess Jin’s hand was far more effective in being the light source it was meant to be. The pulsing green light that traveled down the vines disappeared. And so had the red glow around the fetus itself.
All that was left was a strangely sad sight. It was still unsettling to see a charred fetus with vaguely humanoid features connected to an uncountable number of vines. However, it was brought up a feeling of pity rather than fear.
“… What do you mean?” After a long look at the fetus, Princess Jin said, “Nothing has changed.” She paused before shaking her head in frustration, “That’s not important! What’s it saying?”
The dots were slowly being connected in William’s mind, but he still wasn’t sure he was coming to the correct conclusion. “It’s saying nothing, princess. Ignore it for me and tell me something. Did you see any glowing lights before you threw the tokens? Was your lantern working as intended?”
Princess Jin pressed her lips together, clearly not happy with being told to ignore what she thought was a threat. Still, she answered his questions, but not before throwing the fetus a wary glance.
“There were no lights other than my lantern. Did you see any?” She asked, pausing a moment before continuing worriedly, “Maybe I was under an illusion?”
“No,” William said slowly, “I think you were fine. I was the one that was affected.”
He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but it certainly had a tangible effect, so it definitely was something.
Health: 119/1500
That dangerously low health was the best proof of how tangible it was.
“You didn’t see any pulsing lights. The ceiling for you was just that, a ceiling. Not a terrifying abyss. And you weren’t almost killed by having your life sucked out of you,” William met Princess Jin’s eyes, “I was. It’s safe to say you were never in harm’s way, princess.”
“… Why?”
His mind immediately went to Sofia, grumbling about how he raised his minor realm too much. The only thing that made sense was that Princess Jin was saved by her weakness. He had assumed he would still be safe since he was below the Foundation Establishment realm, but that wasn’t the case.
He had only advanced one minor realm since he met Sophia, but maybe that had been enough to kill him. At this point, it was all guesswork since there was no way to confirm where the cutoff was.
One thing was sure. Princess Jin was in the fourth level of the Qi Gathering realm, which let her be unscathed. It seemed like she had been far more helpful than simply being a compass for him. He was glad that she insisted on accompanying him instead of leaving.
“I’m not sure why,” William felt a burst of affection as she stared at him confusedly, “But thank you.”
“For wh-” A squeak escaped her mouth as she cut herself off, stiffening in surprise when he drew her into a tight hug.
“You saved us,” William released her, ignoring how she couldn’t decide if she should be infuriated or bashful. It ended up being an ineffective glare while her face was flushed pink.
He cleared his throat to break the silence and motioned at the now-unthreatening fetus. “So, now that our lives aren’t in danger, how should we get our treasures?”
At this point, it wasn’t the treasures he wanted, though it would be a nice side benefit. He mainly wanted to get his hands on the fragment realm stone.
Princess Jin’s head snapped to the fetus as greed appeared in her eyes, “I forgot about that.”
“I would be surprised if you didn’t,” William nodded slightly as he glanced at the pills in his palm. He needed to take them and worry about the impurity increase later. However, Princess Jin would see him take them.
She would know how unnatural his healing was unless he decided to act like he was struggling. Not something he was keen on doing since they were technically still in enemy territory. It would be a tragic embarrassment if he was killed because he was distracted by acting.
“I don’t see anything obvious,” Princess Jin murmured as she shuffled closer, though it was only a few feet. She hadn’t completely lost her mind from greed like he often did.
William popped a pill into his mouth while she was distracted.
[+550 HP]
[Health: 119 —> 669/1500]
[Impurity Increased]
[Stage 2 (52%) —> Stage 2 (67%)]
“Maybe we need to cut the vines?” Princess Jin wondered out loud before looking at him in question, “What do you think?”
William felt the pill's effects settle as he replied, “We could try that. But how about you take the lead?”
Was it shameful to send the weaker girl into possible danger just to distract her?
Yes, but he wanted to keep some secrets as actually secret. It was likely a lost cause to make Princess Jin keep her mouth shut, but he would like it if he wasn’t a complete open book.
“Okay,” Princess Jin took a deep breath before handing the lantern to him, “Take care of this.”
William wordlessly took the offered lantern.
[Equip detected]
[Calculating cost per use]
[Cost | 20 Spiritual Energy per hour]
The light emitted wasn’t interrupted as he immediately took over, supplying the lantern with spiritual energy.
“What’s that?” William asked dumbly when she pulled out a miniature bow. He knew what it was in the general sense, but he was questioning why she hadn’t done so before.
“My Qi Ling Bow,” she said reverently, “My maternal grandfather gifted this to me.”
[+550 HP]
[Health: 669 —> 1219/1500]
[Impurity Increased]
[Stage 2 (67%) —> Stage 2 (82%)]
He used the opportunity to swallow another pill, noting that he would conveniently stay under the limit that would take him into stage three of impurity. Not that he expected to remain under, of course.
William’s slight happiness at being able to stay in the same impurity stage was disturbed by a bright flash of light. It was so bright that he almost thought lightning was involved. They were in a place where natural lightning wasn't possible, so he thought it was an attack.
He was right about that. But the attack wasn’t against them. It came from Princess Jin’s bow.
A bolt shot toward the vines, disintegrating the first one it touched before jumping into the closest surrounding vine and doing the same thing to it. By the time the bolt disappeared, it had disconnected four vines and blackened another, likely because it didn’t have enough power left in the attack.
“W-What?” William looked between the disconnected vines and the princess’s proud face, “You were able to do that all this time?”
“Of course,” she preened, “I am the Princess Jin.”
“So you hid behind me all this time when you could have been helping?” William continued with a louder voice, anger rising when he thought about how he took on all the beasts that attacked them.
“Well, not exactly,” Princess Jin said sheepishly, “I was more helpful as the lantern holder. And even if I wasn’t, I couldn’t do this for long.”
He narrowed his eyes before saying, “Do it again.”
[-5 Spiritual Energy]
Spiritual Energy: 302/530
William used Observe, but only focused on how much spiritual energy she had. It was lower than he anticipated, but he guessed the cost of supplying the lantern took its toll.
Princess Jin aimed her bow at another area of the vines before drawing the string. This time, he watched closely to see how it worked. She didn’t use any physical weapon. Instead, it looked like her Qi formed one on the draw, and it was in the shape of a poorly made arrow.
[+281 HP]
[Health: 1219 —> 1500/1500]
[Impurity Increased]
[Stage 2 (82%) —> Stage 2 (97%)]
William didn't miss the opportunity to take the last pill needed before storing the remaining ones back into his spatial stone. As he restored his health, another bolt of Qi shot toward the vines.
[-5 Spiritual Energy]
Spiritual Energy: 202/530
He noted the high cost of using the bow and had to admit that the princess was right in choosing not to help him. If she had run out of Qi, losing the light the lantern provided would have been less than ideal.
The bolt cut five vines this time around before disappearing, making him raise an eyebrow at Princess Jin.
“Uh, I can’t really control the attack when it’s too far from me,” Princess Jin blushed, “It attacks whatever is close to it at that point.”
“Oh,” William blinked in surprise. Now, he was even more convinced that her helping him would have been a disaster. “Well, since this takes too much energy, what not try to use your Sprout Bane Tokens? These vines don’t seem that strong.”
It was finally Princess Jin’s turn to stare at him dumbly. “Oh.”
William smiled, “Yes, oh. Let’s give it a try.”