The other Resistance Talents each followed suit with the upgrades, providing William simr effects that increased his ability to defend against their respective effect. The Sleep, Slow, and Charm Resistance Talents didn''t provide any X-Rank Bonus Effects, but their base resistance was more than enough for William.


    With insane speed and unbelievable resistance to a few debuffs, William was now almost untouchable on Efretta. He almost wanted to guess that he was powerful enough to take on any Cultivator in the Ascension Realm, but he had yet to meet one other than Marcus.


    Well... Marcus doesn''t really count. He hardly had a chance to consolidate his Realm. William thought. It wasn''t worthparing him to what William might see in the future.


    Seventy-five thousand Potential Pointster, William''s Attack Reflection Talent had also reached X-Rank.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ———


    Attack Reflection (Rare): (SSR --> X)


    Effects: Reflect physical attacksunched at you for up to 90% >> 100% of the original strength. Activates even if the attack is blocked by the Host.


    X-Rank Bonus Effect: Whenever a physical attack causes zero physical damage to the Host, reflected damage triples.


    Side Effect: Taking physical damage increases the Host''s hunger by a small amount.


    Next rank up: Max Rank


    ———


    Max Rank, huh? That''s the first time I''ve seen a Talent like this. So some of them have limits after all... William thought to himself.


    He looked through the rest of his System Panel, but surprisingly the number of Talents remaining to upgrade was quite fewpared to before. Other than the Magic Affinities, the Weapons Master Talent, and the obsolete Physical Talents like Physical Charm and Wrestling, William had only two avable upgrades.


    I could raise the Coteral Damage Talent to X-Rank, but that would cost more than six hundred thousand Points. I''ve already spent quite a few Points on Talents I don''t use much, so I''d rather spend it on something more useful. Find exclusive stories on empire


    Hm? William blinked a few times as he looked at the second Talent avable to upgrade.


    -Legendary:


    --Soul: C (1000PP to next rank)


    Oh right, I got a Soul Talent when I unlocked the Spirit Mode of my Vision Talent. What does it do, System?


    -The Soul Talent affects the strength of your soul, much like the Strength Talent affects the strength of your body. At C-Rank, your Soul Talent improves the impact of your Soul Strength by one hundred percent, meaning you have the capabilities of someone with over five hundred thousand Soul Strength at this current moment.


    Oh, that''s neat! How could I have passed up on such a good skill this entire time?


    -You were busy. Or maybe you''re blind. Who knows?


    ...If I upgrade the Soul Talent, will my Soul merge faster?


    -Yes.


    Damn, I better wait until I Ascend to upgrade it then. This will be very strongter though.


    William marked it on his to-do list to upgrade his Soul Talent the moment he Ascended. If C-Rank was already a one hundred percent increase, William could have the equivalent of millions of Soul Strength when he Ascended.


    So Coteral Damage and Soul are off the table, and I''m not ready to send more Companion Beasts across the Continent yet. In that case, I guess the Elements are next!


    System, upgrade my remaining Basic Elements to X-Rank.


    -432500 PP


    -Upgrading your Fire, Earth, Ice, Wind, Lightning, nt, and Water Affinities to X-Rank. This may take a while...


    The Fire Element was upgraded first amongst the group. With X-Rank Heat Resistance and having used the Fire Element the longest, the two consecutive upgrades passed by without a single issue. The Recovery Talent didn''t even have to get involved, all the damage offset by William''s body and the Life Element.


    Additionally, William found that the Mana Lord effect from his Mana Regeneration Talent allowed him to fight against the Fire Element itself, as if he was stealing some of its control. The Fire Element writhed and tried to burn him with intense mes, but the ambient Mana close to William partially recognized him as the true Master and refused to hurt him asionally.


    ———


    TALENT UPGRADED


    Fire Affinity: (SSR --> X)


    Effects:


    -Fire-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +640% >> +1280%


    X-Rank Bonus Effects:


    -Domain of Fire: Takeplete control over all Fire Mana within a radius of 50 kilometers >> 100 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Fire Domains of greater strength.''


    -Territory of Fire: An improved Domain, designed to change thendscape to that of a moltenke. The longer the Territory is maintained, the moreva that is created.


    -Primary Law of Fire (0.1%prehension): You don''t understand enough of this yet. Comprehend the Fire Element or visit ??? to learn more.


    -Fire Elemental: Be one with fire, turning your body into a being with immense resistance to me of any temperature. Most liquids will instantly evaporate whening in contact with your skin, while some solids will melt immediately. Enhances your metal refinement speed greatly.


    Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank''s requirements.


    ———


    -Detected you have reached X-Rank with the Fire Affinity. Details unlocked from the Heat Resistance Talent.


    -Heat Absorption: Cultivating in environments with intense heat will slowly increase yourprehension of the Primary Law of Fire. Comprehension gained is rtive to the ambient temperature of your environment.


    The Earth Element upgraded next, while its effects were mostly the same as the Fire Element''s. The main change was the Territory of Earth, which had apletely different effect, and the fact that the missing Shock Resistance Talent required for the Earth Elemental effect was renamed to Shockwave Resistance.


    -Territory of Earth: An improved Domain, designed to createndmasses or crush your opponents with overwhelming strength. The more Mana channeled into this Territory, the stronger the metals you can create as the base for thendmass.


    Upgrade after upgrade, the remaining Basic Elements were upgraded to X-Rank. Other than the Ice Element, no other Elemental forms were unlocked, but William was more than satisfied.


    -Territory of Ice: An improved Domain, designed to change thendscape to that of a frozenke. The longer the Territory is maintained, the greater area that the frozenke covers.


    -Ice Elemental: Be one with ice, turning your body into a being with immense resistance to ice of any temperature. Touching others in this form creates a point on their body that slowly spreads and reduces their speed over time, stacking until the ice ispletely removed.


    -Detected you have reached X-Rank with the Ice Affinity. Details unlocked from the Cold Resistance Talent.


    -Cold Absorption: Cultivating in environments with intense cold will slowly increase yourprehension of the Primary Law of Ice. Comprehension gained is rtive to the ambient temperature of your environment.


    -Territory of Wind: An improved Domain, designed to establish an unbreakable defense using Wind that revolves physical and most Magic attacks around the Territory in a circle. Expensive Mana Cost but can only be broken with power greatly exceeding the strength of your Wind Magic.


    -Territory of Lightning: An improved Domain, designed to destroyrge swaths ofnd with powerful but inurate lightning strikes akin to a Heavenly Tribtion. The longer the Territory is maintained, the shorter the interval between lightning strikes.


    -Territory of nts: An improved Domain, designed to change thendscape to that of a thick forest with carnivorous nts that attack all non-friendly beings within. Perfect for obfuscating one''s position during a battle.


    -Territory of Water: An improved Domain, designed to change thendscape to that of a vast ocean to drown your opponents. The longer the Territory is maintained, the more water that is flooded into the area.