"This is a pretty massive haul," I muttered, weighting my pouch in my hand.


    For convenience sake, I put all the cultivation resources in a single bag before adorning it with a small formation.


    This was the true efficiency I wanted when I first took an interest in the topic. Because right now, every smallest thing that I did, I would craft a formation to support my efforts.


    ''This side job is really proving useful,'' I thought, hiding the bag into my storage ring.


    My window of time to invest in my potential was closing. The mission would be over in an hour.


    ''I need to return,'' I decided, turning around on the spot.


    Over the course of the entire day and quite a few hours into the night, I managed to conquer six powerful beasts.


    In the rtively shallow area of the forest, they were pretty hard toe by.


    In theory, I could find more of them deep inside the forest...


    But for one, it was too far for me. I couldn''t take several hours that I would take to even reach the deeper hunting grounds.


    And most importantly, I could easily deal with a single monster at a time. But against a swarm?


    ''In the hunt for potential, I can''t let my greed take over,'' I told myself over and over, rushing on my way back to the rtive safety of the grounds I knew.


    I didn''t return to the camp. It was way too far.


    "Finally," I breathed out a sigh of relief when only thirty minutes remained.


    ''Form,'' I thought, pulling out my formation pouch and preparing the grounds for the most important half an hour in my current development.


    Eight different formations hurried out of my sack, spreading around the ce in four consecutive rings.


    All my wardens rushed into the positions where the formations would supplement them.


    ''Mage''s tower,'' I thought, finally ready to test myst ability.


    I managed to reach the sixth level of wardens right in the nick of time too. Even when rushing back, I continued to desperately exploit the shit out of them.


    And it was finally the time.


    I pulled the entirety of my haul.


    The formations around me rushed to contain the mana oozing from the monsters'' cores.


    "Let''s do this,"? I took a deep breath and pushed my hand into the core of the central formation.


    It served only a single purpose.


    The formation channeled the power from each stone directly to a single point.


    Straight to my hand.


    The concentrated wave of magic struck me differently this time.


    For a second, I appeared to perceive the world in a slowed-down state, as if in a dream.


    The feeling of omnipotence filled my senses as I looked down at the punny world below me.


    ''Fuck,'' I thought, breathing out.


    I knew it wouldn''t be easy. But I had no time to hesitate.


    And then, my ultimate started to form.


    Once enough mana filled the area, every creation of mine suddenly lit up.


    A beautiful blue aura appeared all over my formations and wardens.


    And then, all of their magic merged.


    A globe of influence appeared all around my body.


    Within the outermost reach of my formations, I became the ruler of the universe.


    I could feel this area as if it was my flesh. All the mana contained in my mage''s tower belonged directly to my will.


    ''What?'' I thought, noticing some bug in my ss window. But before I could take a closer look, several things happened.


    The shine surrounding my wardens turned deeper as they started to autonomously move around.


    The quality of magic around them changed too.


    ''A skill''s upgrade?'' I thought, unable to believe in the news.


    I finally managed to take a look at my status.


    ''What the...'' I looked at the ss window in shock.


    My wardens became sentinels.


    My bolt turned into a bunker.


    And my disturb turned into influence.


    Reading through the descriptions of the skills, my soul trembled.


    It was the most devious and overpowered stuff that I could imagine.


    The sentinels would passively protect me from any and all danger.


    My bolt ability would now create a powerful reactive shell around. Any and all magic it would absorb would turn back into the energy I could use.


    But it was my disturb ability that changed the most.


    My formations marked the area of influence of my mage''s tower. But my disturb ability allowed me to momentarily reach for any other ce.


    For but a second, I could fully control the magic in any given area, as if it was within my zone of absolute control.


    And to top it all off, my mage tower actively boosted the effectiveness of all the tools I incorporated into it.


    Then, I realized the unexpected downside of my ultimate.


    My stats did not increase.


    Sure, a flurry of magic constantly flooded my veins, putting massive stress on my body...


    But my stats didn''t increase.


    ''It''s sucking all this mana in?!'' I thought in shock. ''Fuck!'' I cursed.


    This wasn''t the time to y god with the limited mana I had! I had to use it to push my potential instead!


    I turned off my mage''s tower.


    In an instant, the show ended. Once again, I was surrounded by a set of normal, pretty crude formations. But the mana finally started to settle into my system properly.


    ''So that''s the downside,'' I thought, inspecting the damage.


    Thankfully, the formations I prepared were pretty solid. They served as a gauge that enforced a constant flow of the mana. Because of this, only a small portion of the mana went to waste.


    ''Let''s focus,'' I thought, preparing myself for what was toe.


    I started absorbing the mana once again.


    Just like before, it was pretty weird. As if my soul and mind continued to expand along with the mana pool.


    I continued to suck everyst drop from my cultivation resources for the next twenty minutes.


    There were only ten minutes left.


    I looked at my status window.


    And there it was.


    Adolescent Enlightement (23 785 644/30 000 000)


    {


    Enlightenment:7 826 791/10 000 000


    Potential:8 197 388/10 000 000


    Drive:7 761 465/10 000 000


    }


    ''I fucking did it,'' I thought, falling down on my knees.


    This was some pretty damn good result for such a sudden and mad rush!


    I took a deep breath.


    ''No, I need to get used to...'' I thought before something clicked.


    All my power suddenly disappeared. It was as if I woke up from a deep and colorful dream.


    ''Huh?'' I thought, looking down at my hands.


    All my tools were still around, doing fine. But the power that Imanded before was nowhere to be found!


    I nced over at my status window again.


    ''You gotta be kidding me,'' I thought.


    I slumped down to my knees and took a deep breath.


    My status reversed.


    What was my progress before...


    Now turned into the requirement!


    ***


    Adolescent Enlightenment (30/23 785 644)


    {


    Enlightenment: 10/7 826 791


    Potential: 10/8 197 388


    Drive: 10/7 761 465


    }


    ***


    I was shocked... But that was it.


    It all made sense now. My progress would decide my potential. It couldn''t be any simpler.


    But nothing else changed.


    I still had my mid-level abilities. Therefore, I could still quickly obtain this kind of cultivation resources again.


    I only needed some time.


    I took a deep breath.


    ''I guess I will need to cate the sect.''