《Infinite Potential System》 Chapter 1: Not Worthy?!? Chapter 1: Not Worthy?!? "Hey bro check out this new game I found!" A cheery girl with waist-length silvery hair gleamed while staring intently at her phone. She looked just a tad taller than 1.7 meters and had a face that made anyone who saw her feel like they were in Heaven. She had the widest grin while waving a teal blue cell phone at her favorite sibling. "Is this another one of your stupid mobile games Fria? I''ve already told you before that you''re going to get scammed by some random people on the inte." replied a ck-haired youth with arched eyebrows and bright green eyes. He raised his hand from the armrest of the Shimmer City park bench to his forehead in response to his older sister''s enthusiasm. Every few days, Fria would freak out about some type of mobile game that he had no interest in. One day it would be a boring game where all you could do was move your character around until it got hit by a small car or truck when crossing the road. On the next, it would be tapping the screen to move a yellow bird between two pipes. He tried ying once and quit after realizing the game was definitely rigged. "This one''s different though! And it''s not a mobile game. It''s called Otherworld Prime for the new L-Box that just came out! You can do all kinds of things, like tame monsters and fly with magic! I even heard that if you get really strong in your cultivation, you can go to another world where powerful people live! It''s expected to be the most popr game this year, but only a few people have it. I want to buy the game, but I don''t have enough money...can you get it for me?" "No, why would I do that? And since when are you into Cultivation games? That''s my thing." "Because you owe me for thest time, remember? I even fed Snuggles for a week. That cat is the worst! I don''t know why you keep him around. He does nothing but tear up the house when he doesn''t get what he wants." Fria was not going to let her younger brother get away with making her deal with that animal''s daily antics. "And what do you mean YOUR thing? I can y whatever I want, hmph!" She sneered at her intolerable brother. "Yeah, but I''m not buying you a game. How much is it anyway?" Fria''s brother leaned over on the park bench and nced at her cell phone. "300 dors?!? What kind of a rip-off is that?!? Also, screw you he''s a good cat...when he wants to be. It''s your fault for holding him and singing musicals, he''s just getting revenge." Fria and her brother were adopted around the same time by a warm-hearted couple when he was 3, and Fria had just turned 4 years old. They treat each other like siblings, even though they aren''t blood rted. A few years ago, her brother took home a small grey and white cat that Fria named Snuggles. Although Snuggles was initially raised as an outdoor cat, he has quickly be spoiled from living indoors and eating nothing but canned food over the years. "But all my friends are getting the game! I don''t want to be the only one alone while they''re all having fun." She looked down with a frown on her face, pausing for a moment, before lifting her bright blue eyes toward her sibling. "Please please please buy it for me, Will. I won''t ask for anything else and I''ll even feed Snuggles again for a whole month this time!" Fria grabbed William''s shoulders with both hands and started shaking him back and forth. "Ok, ok, I''ll buy it for you but stop shaking me or I''m gonna be sick before we get on the bus home. Hand me the phone so I can put it on my card." William sighed as he reached his hand with his palm facing up to Fria. Will entered his card information on the payment screen and then quickly scrolled past the "terms and agreements" section of the app and clicked next. Hmph, as if I would ever read something that long for a stupid game. Let''s just get this over with. He continued tapping different prompts until the phone showed a positive response. William lifted his head to the sky in mourning for the lost savings. He didn''t sulk for too long though, as a floating text box had appeared in his view, despite still looking away from Fria''s phone. **PURCHASE SUCCESSFUL** ---------------INITIALIZING--------------- ... ... --LOADING DATA-- ... --DETECTING WORTHINESS-- ... --PLEASE WAIT-- Will jumped up from the park bench in fright, "What the hell was that?" he stared at the floating text in front of him in shock while the robotic voice sounded inside his head at a loud volume. "Are you okay bro? Did something happen?" Fria looked over at her brother with a hint of worry. "No, I''m fine. I just thought I saw something for a second" he lied. Will shook his head and quickly forgot about the text that had moved to an obscure spot in the left corner of his view. Fria stared at William for a moment, "Well ok then, thanks for buying me the game! I promise you won''t regret it!" she got up hurriedly and wrapped her arms around Will, hugging him tightly. William''s face turned bright red as he felt something soft pressing against him. He hurriedly stepped away from Fria in embarrassment, before switching to annoyance. "You really need to get a job Fria, you''re already 21. I''m the younger one, so shouldn''t YOU be buying ME games? I''m not buying you anything else, so you better be prepared to fend for yourself." "Hey, I''m trying okay! I already sent out 5 applicationsst week. It''s their fault for not seeing how valuable I am." Fria turned her head to the left while her hair whipped toward William, brushing against his shoulder. They talked for a while longer until Fria spotted a blue charter bus rolling up the hill, signaling their time to leave. "Oh look the bus is here!" she turned to the side and wrapped her fingers around a pink backpack before motioning to William, "Let''s get our bags." "Mm" *** After taking his seat, William put his earbuds in and switched on his favorite band, "Two Republic". He closed his eyes and leaned back to the sound of...buzzing? --ERROR-- --ERROR-- --WORTH NOT FOUND-- --HOST DETECTED NOT WORTHY-- ... --FINDING SOLUTIONS-- ... ... ... --SOLUTION FOUND-- --ELIMINATING HOST...PLEASE WAIT-- The text from before began shing, a sight William couldn''t avoid even with his eyes closed. ...Eliminating Host? William was bewildered for a moment, before his eyes opened wide in shock and understanding, "Wait no! Don''t eliminate me!" he yelled out loud, much to the confusion of Fria and the other passengers. An elderly couple from two rows forward even got up and turned around to look at the insane young man behind them. --REQUEST NOTED-- ... ... --HOST WILL PROVE THEIR WORTH-- ... ... --TRANSPORTING HOST NOW-- Will barely had the time to open his mouth before his vision went dark. Fria''s eyes went wide in shock as he disappeared into thin air without a sound. She frantically searched around her seat in the hopes that she was just imagining things. The couple had stood up and were on their way to William''s previous location when a gentle wind swept by. Their pupils dted briefly before returning to normal. They paused for a moment, somewhat confused, then returned to their seats and sat down. Fria, who was previously terrified for her lost brother, seemed to have forgotten all about thest few seconds. She sat down in the seat, continuing with the ride as if nothing had happened... Chapter 2: A New World? Chapter 2: A New World? William opened his eyes to see a thatched ceiling just a few meters above his head. He appeared to be lying in a bed made of unknown material, with a thin white nket draped over his body. There was no pillow, and the back pain made him consider hiring a chiropractor. W-Where am I? Will tried to think hard about how hended in this unfamiliar room. If this is a hospital, it seriously needs to be torn down. William grumbled. He looked down at his body and found himself shirtless, wearing a pair of tattered brown pants. Will wasn''t wearing socks, and his wrists seemed slightly slimmer than usual. Have I lost weight? he thought to himself. There was an open door in the corner of the near-empty room, "Nurse? Is there anyone here?" Will called out. Momentster, he heard some movement from a few rooms down. A gentle woman with medium-length ck hair who appeared to be in herte-thirties walked in with hurried steps. After entering the room, she walked to his bedside and checked William''s condition. "Is something wrong William? I heard you yell something out a minute ago, what''s a nurse? Are you hungry?" the woman bombarded William with a slew of questions. "Where am I? W-Who are you? How do you know my name?" William responded with questions of his own. "What kind of question is that? Have you forgotten your own mother in your recent episode? Maybe I should have the healer take a look at you after all." she appeared somewhat worried about William''s condition. "Are you hungry? You didn''t have a chance to eat after what happenedst night." she repeated herself, thinking William was confused. Although a bit skeptical of the woman''s identity, he did feel quite hungry. His stomach was coiled up in protest as if he hadn''t eaten properly in years. "I am a bit hungry, but I don''t know if I want potatoes..." "Hmph, you don''t have a choice. You know that we are too poor to afford anything else. If you want better food, you better make good use of your magic talent." she replied with a snort. "Magic talent? What are you talking about? I''m pretty sure you''re the one that needs-" William was about to continue when he noticed the woman staring daggers in his direction. "Ahem, what I meant to say is, I feel fine. It''s just hard to remember what happenedst night...mom." The woman''s brown eyes softened as she heard the end of Will''s sentence. -Sessfully evaded disaster: +1 Potential Point Will looked down at the shing prompt in the corner of his view. Potential Point? Wait...does this mean that my dream was real? he began to panic as he remembered the events leading up to his sudden ckout. "Fria! Fria are you here?!?" he shouted, causing dust to fall from the thatch roof. He listened intently for a few seconds hoping for a response from his sister, but to no avail. "Who''s Fria? That''s it, I''m calling the healer over here right now. Don''t get up from your bed, or it''s thest thing you will do." The woman iming to be William''s mother turned around and walked out the doorway. William was still looking around the room for any signs of his older sister as the woman''s footsteps echoed into the distance. He felt too weak to stand up even if he wanted to, so searching for Fria was impossible. Being a young man with a vivid imagination, William quickly grew ustomed to his current situation. His memories told him that Fria was probably fine, but the real confusion was why she wasn''t there when he woke up. He returned his attention to the mysterious text, and noticed a tiny scrollbar that indicated more text above. How am I supposed to scroll up without a mouse wheel? William pondered. An idea came to mind as he stretched his arm out and attempted to move the chat physically. The air whistled as he quickly became frustrated, and his hand waving increased. The text reacted like aser toy, while William''s hand was the cat trying to catch it with no luck. He had another idea. William said out loud a few phrases in an effort to make the scrollbar move. "Scroll." No response. "Up" Nothing. "Scroll up." Nope. "Rise!" ... Visibly frustrated, William started intently at the bar, willing it to move internally, until he sessfully managed to shift the most recent chat downward. So I just have to think about it real hard. It''s a good thing no one was around to hear that just now. William scrolled through the chat log to right before he cked out during the bus ride. --TRANSPORTING HOST NOW-- ... ... ... --TRANSPORT COMPLETE-- ... --DETECTING SYSTEM UPGRADE-- ... --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT-- ... ... ¡ªUPGRADE COMPLETE: System is now at version 1.1, and has improved its visuals. You can also speak simplemands with your mind. Try using the "Menu"mand. ¡ª William scrolled through the chat slowly until he reached thest message. He was stunned for a moment, before following the suggestion of the System in his head. Menu ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) ¡ªName: William ¡ªRace: Human ¡ªAge: 20 ¡ªLifespan: 45 Years (Below Average physical health) STATUS: ( - ) ¡ªHealth: 70/100 (Weak) ¡ªMana: 40/150 ¡ªCultivation: None (No suitable techniques) TALENTS: ( - ) ¡ªMagic: ( - ) -Fire: E (Cost 5PP to next rank) POTENTIAL POINTS: 1 SYSTEM RANK: F- (25PP to next rank) *One-time note: Host was previously detected as not worthy of the System''s power. Due to the Host''s intense desire to live, the System has decided to provide the Host with an opportunity to prove itself. Host is expected to use the lowest capability of the system to gain Potential Points (PP) in order to upgrade talents. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Upon reading the menu, William''s emotions rose and fell like a rollercoaster ride. 45 years? Isn''t that kinda low? he wondered what kind of shape his body was in to only have 25 years to live. That woman from earlier said I had a talent for Magic. I thought she was joking, but here it is right in front of me. He thought for a moment about his situation, realizing it was much like those books he read about. PP? Man, whoever created this System really thinks he''s funny, huh? Yeah nice try, but I''m changing that the first chance I get. William mocked. Since he was lying in bed waiting for the woman to return with a healer, William decided to read a help guide, which the System was so nice to show him themand for. The help guide listed all themands he could use right now. Will found that he could filter through his System Menu by copsing sections so it wouldn''t fill up his visionter. Menu ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) ¡ªName: William ¡ªRace: Human ¡ªAge: 20 ¡ªLifespan: 45 Years (Medium physical health) STATUS: ( + ) TALENTS: ( + ) POTENTIAL POINTS: 1 SYSTEM RANK: F- (25PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª Much better, now I don''t have to waste so much time scrolling. William thought to himself. System, how do I gain Potential Points? ¡ª¡ª¡ª Question function not avable. Upgrade System to unlock more features. ¡ª¡ª¡ª "Well that''s dumb, how am I supposed to survive if I don''t know anything about you?" Will muttered under his breath. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Question function not avable. Upgrade System to unlock more features. ¡ª¡ª¡ª ... Ok fine, I won''t ask. William cursed at the tsundere System for itsck of response. If this is anything like the books I''ve read, then I have a lot of face-pping ahead of me. The System said I was transported, so I can only imagine that I''m in another World. I guess I need to think about how to gain more Potential Points on my own. William''s eyes wandered the ceiling as he thought about his future ns. He knew it would be naive to think this System was just as good as the others he had heard about, so it would be best to start small. I want to live past 45, so I will have to Cultivate to increase my lifespan. William hated the idea of meditating on a shoddy mat for hours a day, but if that''s what it took to make it a few more years, that''s what he would do. "No one is going to stop me from enjoying this New World, so you better be ready, System. You''re in for the ride of your life." Chapter 3: Manamatus Chapter 3: Manamatus The sound of a door opening could be heard from the room that William was staying in, followed by two pairs of footsteps at a medium pace. William raised his head toward the doorway to see his mother, joined by a long and smooth leg that led to a white dress of medium length and ended at a round-faced girl who looked to be of simr age to William. She had light brown hair that reached her shoulders and seemed to carry herself with a slight sense of nobility. "Hey Will! It''s me again, Charlotte. Misha told me that you weren''t feeling well today. I was herest night for your mana sickness, but you probably don''t remember because you were already passed out. I came to check on you and make sure you don''t have any other side effects." the girl introduced herself to William with a smile, "I''m going to take a look at your health. Stay still for a moment William." Charlotte continued. She ced her hand on his upper chest, then a flowing bright green light circled down her arm and enveloped William''s body. There was a refreshing feeling for a few seconds as he felt his strength returning. "How do you feel now?" Charlotte asked. -Discovered Life Magic: +1 Potential Point So this is how Magic works here. It''s a good thing I don''t have to chant any embarrassing phrases. Thest thing I need is for someone to hear me yell "FIREBALL!" every time I shoot off a spell. On second thought, it would be somewhat hrious the first couple times. He thought for a moment about themands he had just learned from the System. Open Status Menu ¡ª¡ª¡ª STATUS: ¡ªHealth: 100/100 ¡ªMana: 56/150 ¡ªCultivation: None (No suitable techniques) ¡ª¡ª¡ª It seems my mana slowly regenerates over time, but it''s kinda slow... William thought. He slowly sat up from the bed and smiled slightly at Charlotte. "Thank you, I feel much better...but," William hung his legs over the side of the bed and ced his feet on the floor, "You said I passed out from mana sickness? I don''t really remember anything from yesterday though. What happened?" Misha spoke up, "I was in the house weaving our neighbors some baskets when I heard arge explosion. I ran outside to see my poor baby lying on the ground. You''re lucky Charlotte was close by, or else you might have died, wasting your special talents for nothing. You probably used too much mana on one spell and overdid it." "I understand mom, I will make sure that I don''t run out of mana again," William started, "but what do you mean by talent? I don''t think I''m that good." He realized that if he wanted to stay on the woman''s good side he would need to call her "mom". "Well honey, while everyone has at least some ability to Cultivate and eventually use Magic, only a few can actually use Magic before they start Cultivating. Those people are called a [1] Manamatus. I''ve told you this before, but obviously my son also has a talent for not listening. Most people won''t have an affinity until they have Cultivated for a while. Even though your Fire affinity is only at E Rank, you''re still special, so don''t forget that." Misha smiled softly. William thought for a moment before asking, "What rank is your Magic Charlotte?" "Oh, I''m a Level 6 Qi Refinement Cultivator, so I don''t have an affinity, but because I spend so much time as a healer, I would say my Life Magic might hit Rank E soon if I''m lucky." Hmm, so I guess I can''t judge the strength of my enemies just by the Cultivation Realm they are at. It would be a bad day if I met someone at a low Realm with A Rank Magic. I''m not a good fighter anyway, and I''ve never used Magic, so it''s best to y it safe. Charlotte turned to face Misha, "It looks like Will is doing much better now. It''s best that I move on to my other patients for today. It was good seeing you Misha, and I won''t charge you this time since I only used a little bit of mana. Take care Will!" she waved in William''s direction before stepping out of the room. Misha responded to Charlotte with a bright smile, "That''s too kind of you, I''ll make sure that Will repays you properly. Right son?" she red in William''s direction, who nodded his head furiously. William wanted to ask more questions, such as where he was and what the rest of the world was like, but he didn''t want to seem suspicious. Who knew what would happen if anyone found out he was from another world? William also still needed to figure out the Cultivation Realms, and he knew the System wasn''t going to help. Misha would have thought her son was crazy already if not for the previous night''s events. "I''m going to finish up on my weaving before lunch. Don''t work too hard William. I know you want to get stronger so we don''t have to be poor, but you''ll be a great Cultivator someday, I know it!" Misha said with a soft smile as she also stepped out. William waited until Misha was gone before checking his room for more clothes to wear. He was still shirtless and didn''t want to go out looking like a stray. After checking the only drawer in the room, there was a single light-brown tunic that seemed to be his size and a pair of simple brown shoes. After feeling that he looked somewhat presentable, William stepped out of the room and wandered through the small house until he found the door leading outside. He stepped out to the bright sun on his face. William''s eyes squinted slightly before adjusting to the fresh scene. -Entered new environment: +1 Potential Point In front of William was a small dirt path curving toward a nearby vige on the left. On the other side of the path was arge open field with a small hill with lush greenery next to arge creek. To his right, about a dozen goats were grazing in a second, smaller field. It appeared his family lived on a ranch of sorts. William showed a mischievous smile. If it were too easy to be overpowered, he wouldn''t want to do it. I like the way you think System. You want all my peers to underestimate me for being amoner. I can already see the looks on those noble faces when I beat their arrogant sons and daughters into the ground. Clearly William had read too many books. He decided to take the road less traveled, literally. Will crossed the road and climbed up the hill in therge field. He didn''t have any money, so going to the vige was pointless. I have Fire Affinity, I should probably learn how to use it. Will closed his eyes, focusing on the mana running through his veins. He raised his right arm with the palm facing out, then proceeded to channel the Fire Element outward. His palm turned bright red, yet Will didn''t feel any pain. A momentter, a fireball the size of a golf ball shot into the sky. It flew for almost 2 seconds at a moderate speed before exploding into a small shower of sparks. -First Time Mage: +5 Potential Points -Fire Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point ¡ªUNLOCKED TITLE: +1 Potential Point -Manamatus (Umon): You are a somewhat rare individual with a talent for Magic that appeared before you started Cultivating. All Magic you use will be 10% more powerful. -Unlocked your first Umon Title: +1 Potential Point [1] Manamatus: From the Latin "amatus" for loved, and directly meaning "He who is loved by mana". In this case, "Mana" loses the a at the end, bing "Man". Chapter 4: Upgrades! Chapter 4: Upgrades! A Title? Nice! And I earned a lot of Potential Points just from using Magic once. William was surprised at the chain of System messages he received. Menu, he called out mentally. He expanded the tabs and took a look at his gains. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) ¡ªName: William ¡ªRace: Human ¡ªAge: 20 ¡ªLifespan: 45 Years (Medium physical health) TITLES: ( - ) ¡ªManamatus (Umon): ( + ) STATUS: ( - ) ¡ªHealth: 100/100 ¡ªMana: 51/150 ¡ªCultivation: None (No suitable techniques) TALENTS: ( - ) ¡ªMagic: ( - ) -Fire: E (Cost 5PP to next rank) POTENTIAL POINTS: 11 SYSTEM RANK: F- (25PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª I have enough points to upgrade my Fire Affinity. I don''t really have much else to spend it on unless I want to save up for the System upgrade. William didn''t like the idea of relying on what he might get from the Systemter, so a decision was quickly made. System, upgrade my Fire Talent. -UPGRADING TALENTS...PLEASE WAIT... William felt his hands heat up rapidly, until the sensation became painful. His hands started shaking, and his eyes teared up. William felt as if he had grabbed the end of a hot poker, yet there was no visible tissue damage. The pain remained for almost 5 minutes before slowly subsiding. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Fire Magic: (E --> D) Next rank up: 25PP POTENTIAL POINTS: 6 SYSTEM RANK: F- (20PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª William noticed that the cost of the System Rankup went down after the upgrade, but was too focused on the pain in his hands to think too much about it. Wow, that really hurt. Are you trying to burn me alive System? Can''t you just make it painless, or put me to sleep? Do you take me for a masochist?'' Williamunched a slew of curses at the System with no response. Forget it, let''s just test my upgraded Magic. With a wave of his hand, a second fireball appeared andunched into the distance, noticeably faster than before. An explosion of about a meter in size followed, creating a simr scene to before. My casting speed and the spell''s speed nearly doubled, but the power only increased slightly... Will analyzed the results. "Awesome!" he shouted, throwing his fist into the air. William always wanted to control Magic, so having this ability now has given him the ecstasy that makes him want to set things on fire. Spoken like a true arsonist. William threw a few more fireballs, causing his excitement to grow. "You get a fireball! You get a fireball! You too, and you! Everyone gets a fireball! You-" he was in the middle of another fireball when he stumbled and rolled halfway down the hill. Status ¡ª¡ª¡ª STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 98/100 -Mana: 6/150 ¡ª¡ª¡ª I almost screwed up. Who knows what will happen when I run out of mana again so soon? Obviously thest guy wasn''t too lucky. There''s no way I''m going to mess this up when I just got my ticket out of a boring life. William sat down andmented at his slow mana recovery. Half an hourter, William stood up and started walking down the hill. Now that he had learned how to use Fire Magic, it was time to leave the makeshift training area. The vige wasn''t too far away, but Will was starving and Misha had already made lunch. He grabbed a few potatoes to munch on during the walk, since that was all they had to eat. The first thing on my list has to be making better food. I can''t survive eating potatoes my whole life. Too bad I spent most of my life eating snack cakes and chicken nuggets and never learned to cook, although I could probably make a decent meatloaf. he pondered while walking down the path. When William arrived at the entrance to the vige, he was surprised to see no one waiting for him. Isn''t there supposed to be a first-ss beauty or an arrogant young master here? They''re probably justte. Oh well. Will shrugged it off and wandered in. -Entered Thin Creek Vige: +1 Potential Point "Thin Creek Vige...not the worst name I''ve seen." Williammented out loud. A nearby viger overheard him and showed a frown, but said nothing. William continued forward, looking left and right at the various homes and shops. He saw a cksmith, an Alchemy Hall, and a Guild Hall. One shop was selling armor and weapons, but most of the buildings seemed somewhat derelict except for the Guild. Standing outside thevish Guild Hall''s exterior, William spotted over a dozen individuals with excited looks on their faces rushing through the thick wooden double doors. He followed after the group and pushed open the door that seemed to lock and unlock itself. There was no time to inquire about the wondrous locking mechanism as the view before Will made his jaw drop in awe. While the outside of the Guild Hall looked to be only about 100 square meters, the inside was nearly ten times that size. On the right-hand side was a bulletin board loaded with various Quests, and just to the left of the bulletin board was a young woman in a simple green uniform showing a kind smile. There were also several tables on the left side of the Guild Hall, where some burly men wereughing and drinking. The main attraction of the Guild was a massive arena of roughly 400 square meters, which one would notice immediately unless they were blind. The ground was made of tough marble, but there were still a few noticeable cracks. Inside the arena, two individuals were shing at an inhuman speed. William tried to follow them with his eyes but could only make out two colorful streaks of light fighting for dominance. There was a red streak that currently seemed to have the advantage over the deep purple as sounds of metal on metal rang out in the Guild Hall. "You must be new here," sounded a voice from one of the tables. A young man with fiery red hair and eyes that were light green in color stood up and walked over. He wore a suit that didn''t belong to this region of the world and spoke with a touch of pride, "It''s better to stop trying to watch the fight. Those two are the best in the region, and a Commoner like you with no Cultivation wouldn''t see anything even if they were at half the speed." the youth finished his sentence with a smirk. "Oh, that makes sense." although William thought the young man was rude, being the bigger person seemed like the right idea today. After all, the youth seemed important, and William was in a good mood because of his recent upgrade. He turned to the side and started toward the Quest board, yet his path was blocked once again. "You''re trying to look at Quests now? You could barely lift a hundred pounds, how are you going to kill Magical Beasts?" the youth had never seen such a bold Commoner. "Can''t I just take a look? I''ve never been here before." "Hmph, don''t say I didn''t warn you. When you''re torn apart by a Dire Bear or eaten by a Sand Snake, no one is going to send out a search party." the youth replied in annoyance before walking away. William ignored the fool and headed over to the Quest board. On each page of the board was a list of Quests with basic information. Each Quest had an assigned number of stars representing the difficulty, and he would have to talk to the staff at the counter for more details. The Quests were divided into a few types that William could see: Gather, Capture, y, and Special. * [Gather: 10 Lifeshrooms] ** [Capture: 3 Spirit Pigs] ****** [y: Nascent Soul Lightning Drake] Chapter 5: Questing Chapter 5: Questing William took the 1* Gather quest over to the receptionist, "Is this quest avable?" "Yes it is. Do you have a Guild License?" she responded quickly. "No, I''ve never been here before." William''s reply didn''t faze the receptionist, who recognized him even though he hadn''t registered with the Guild before. She frowned slightly at his tant lie, but didn''t bring it up. She returned to her previous nonchnt look. "Okay, well let me tell you about the process then. Please fill out this form so we can issue a Guild License." she pulled out arge sheet of parchment paper and passed it along the counter to William. "Even if you''re not a cultivator, you can still be a part of the Guild, you just won''t earn any monthly benefits. You also won''t be required to participate in any missions because you are too weak. Once you be a Qi Refinement Cultivator, you will be required to take part in at least one quest a month before you receive your benefits." The paperwork only asked for basic information about William, so it was easy to fill out. Once the parchment waspleted, a blood signature was required through a prick of his finger and dropping some blood on the paper. The receptionist told Will that this method was also widely used for contracts to bind both parties. If one broke the terms of the agreement, they would experience a severe lightning tribtion that could not be avoided. The blood mixed into the parchment, then a set of array symbols appeared, causing the blood to move to the bottom of the page and change its shape to resemble a blood-red W. -Discovered Arrays: +1 Potential Point "Thanks for registering with us! Usually, we would require you to take a test to assign your rank, but because you are a non-cultivator, it''s not required. You will start as a Semi-Bronze Adventurer, and will be eligible for Bronze rank once you havepleted five quests of any Star Rating. We will evaluate your skills at that point. Your Guild License will be avable in a few hours, but you can still ept minor quests while we prepare it for you. For now, take this certificate and a rulebook." she handed William a small sheet of paper with a crest stamped in the shape of a G and a small red book with the same crest. "If anyone questions you, show them this certificate, so they know you are on a quest for the Guild. Also, if you break any of the rules listed in the book, you will be kicked out of the Guild permanently." she finished with a serious look. -Registered with a Guild: +1 Potential Point "Okay, thank you. I''m not a troublemaker, don''t worry." William took the certificate and shoved it in a pocket, then grabbed the book that would collect dust at home. "Now that I have a Guild License, can I take this quest?" he pointed to the quest sheet still lying on the counter. "Of course, I will write it down now. The location with Lifeshrooms isn''t too far, but you will need to visit Livingwood Forest. I don''t need the quest sheet back, but it shows a description of the Lifeshroom and where they grow. It can also give directions to Livingwood Forest if mana is poured into it. The reward for this quest is 5 silver coins, plus 50 copper for each additional Lifeshroom you gather. Remember that the quest only needs 10 Lifeshrooms to be consideredpleted sessfully. Good luck to you!" the receptionist waved to Will as he walked out with the new items in hand. *** Inside his house, William threw the rulebook inside a random drawer and checked on his mother in the other room. Misha was still weaving baskets when William showed her the Guild Certificate and mentioned the quest he epted in Livingwood Forest. "Well, go on then. You''re an adult anyway. If you make it big, be sure to send some money home to your dear mother so that I can cook us nicer meals." Misha waved Will on with enthusiasm before returning her focus to weaving. Even though Misha wasn''t William''s birth mother, he felt somewhat disappointed in her reaction. There was an expectation that Misha would beg Will not to go or say that it was too dangerous for a man of his age to go out alone into an unknownnd. He couldn''t be angry. After all, William was 20 years old, which is more than old enough for him to leave the house as an adventurer. ''Enough about that, I need to figure out where Livingwood Forest is.'' William reprimanded himself. He looked at the quest sheet in hand and poured a tiny bit of mana into it. A blue arrow facing East appeared in front of Will with the number 2350 written in red. Each step that William took caused the number to decrease by one as long as he walked in the direction of the arrow. I guess it really isn''t that far away, I should get there in only half an hour or so. While walking, William thought about the questions he had. Why was he sent to this world? How could he get back? What would happen if he died? There were too many questions and not enough answers. William didn''t know what to expect because all the books he read described the main character differently from what he was experiencing. The part where the arrogant noble didn''t try to ruin his life during their first meeting was especially surprising. William thought for sure that he would have to beat someone up on the first day. Maybe it was too early. After all, William has only been awake in this world for half a day. The best option for him was to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. *** William underestimated the distance he would have to travel. He walked for nearly an hour before he could see a row of treetops that stretched over 50 meters into the sky. Upon closer inspection, William noticed that the leaves of each tree shimmered between different shades of light and dark green. The branches exuded a vitality that could not bepared to the trees of his old world, and the trunks of some trees were thicker than the redwoods William had seen in the past. Status ¡ª¡ª¡ª STATUS: ¡ªHealth: 100/100 ¡ªMana: 36/150 ¡ªCultivation: None (no suitable techniques) POTENTIAL POINTS: 8 SYSTEM RANK: F- (20PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª It''s been almost 3 hours since Ist checked my mana, which was at 6 before. It looks like I currently recover 10 mana per hour at this rate... William hoped that the amount of mana he had was enough, because waiting for his mana to replenish was out of the question. Will didn''t even have a backpack, much less a tent for camping for a few hours in the unfamiliar environment. There was no telling what William might encounter if he stayed in this area longer than what was needed. Despite the time of day, Will could hear various noises that made him nervous. Let''s get this over with. Will thought during his first steps into the mysterious Livingwood Forest. *** Fria held her phone up in joy, staring at the "Sessful Purchase" screen on her phone. The new OtherWorld Prime game had just released, and she spent all Summer doing chores for her neighbors to earn enough money to buy it. She was excited for the game toe in, but she also knew it would take a few more days before it arrived at her house. She closed the phone andid on her bed, reminiscing on all her hard work the past few months. Now she could y the game with her friends, but for some reason it felt as if something was missing. Fria''s excitement turned solemn as she thought about what she had forgotten... Chapter 6: Livingwood Forest Chapter 6: Livingwood Forest -Entered Livingwood Forest: +2 Potential Points 2 points this time? It seems like more dangerous locations will give me more points, awesome! William''s eyes became shiny gold coins at the thought of his future prospects. William danced around like a fool for a moment, before realizing that he was in a dangerous forest filled with the unknown. William proceeded further into the forest, then injected a small portion of mana into the Quest sheet. A hologram appeared in front of him showing the size and shape of the mushroom, but it didn''t seem like there was a tracking function. Knowing that mushrooms usually grow in dark, moist areas and usually at the base of trees, William decided to begin his search in matching areas of the forest. His knowledge didn''t disappoint, as Will quickly located a group of 3 Lifeshrooms growing on a nearby tree stump. They were glowing bright green like a uranium rod, so it was hard to miss. The mushrooms weren''t exceptionallyrge, so he ced the Lifeshrooms in his pocket and continued forward. As William walked, he tried to remember the pathway back. I really need to bring a backpack or something. I can''t afford a map, and even if I could it would fill my pocketspletely. What am I going to do if I find an unparalleled treasure growing in a cabbage patch that appears once in a million years? Williamined internally about being poor. Why didn''t the System provide at least 10 advantages right at the start like the books said it would? "At least give me a Spatial Ring! Everyone gets a spatial storage! And make it one that even the most powerful people don''t own." he called out to no one. A nearby squirrel that was minding its own business lowered its ears, feeling that it was the target of William''s ranting. *** Half an hourter, William had collected 8 Lifeshrooms, but was struggling to find any more. He was about to move deeper into the forest, until Will realized how quiet it had be. The trees were still, and no small animals could be heard. A loud roar sounded in the distance, followed by a st of intense wind that swept William off his feet and sent him rolling across the ground. The wind des created sh marks on the surrounding trees, and some smaller bushes were cleanly sliced in half. Will attempted to recover, but his efforts were wasted when a second st of wind sent his body tumbling through the air. Willnded once again with a grunt as the impact rocked his insides, while long scrapes appeared on William''s arms and legs. William learned his lesson by the third wave. He quickly crawled toward a nearby tree before sitting up. The third st of wind rushed by either side of the tree harmlessly. Will was thankful that he wasn''t directly in front of either st of wind, else there would be one less peasant in the world. Status ¡ª¡ª¡ª STATUS: ¡ªHealth: 70/100 ¡ªMana: 43/150 ¡ª¡ª¡ª The wind did 30 damage?!? Just how strong is the owner of that roar?? Will was terrified at the thought of seeing a Beast of that standard. It might not seem like much, but the wind probably would have been an insta-kill if William were at point-nk range. He got up and ran to the next group of trees. The Beast didn''t seem to be after him, but he wasn''t taking any chances. It wasn''t long until William saw the path leading out of the forest. He reached the boundary, then proceeded to run a bit further until there was arge distance between Will and Livingwood Forest. ''Better safe than sorry'' he thought. Even though there were only 8 Lifeshrooms in William''s possession, he didn''t think getting thest two would be possible for the time being. William walked back to his home where his mother was waiting with dinner. "Oh honey what happened to you? It''s barely been half a day since Charlotte wasst here and you''re already injured again," Misha started before rushing to get a cloth to treat William''s wounds. "Don''t tell me you keep hurting yourself just so that cute girl can visit more often." "It''s not like that!" Will responded with a tinge of red on his face. "There was a Beast in the forest that almost killed me with nothing but a roar. I had to leave without finishing my Quest just so I could survive another day." William finished with a sigh. "Don''t be ridiculous. A Magical Beast hasn''t appeared in that forest in decades. Why would it decide toe out now? I''m pretty sure the closest Magical Beast is a two day trip north from here." Even Will''s mother wasn''t eager to take his side on this matter. Misha had lived outside Thin Creek Vige her whole life and had only heard of one Magical Beast in the Livingwood Forest. "But it''s true! I didn''t see the Beast, but do you really think I would do this to myself?" "Okay fine, I believe you. Just make sure not to move too much until your wounds recover." Although Misha constantly worried about William, himing home covered in injuries was nothing new. William thanked Misha and headed out toward the vige. His Guild License was probably ready since it had already been a long time, and he didn''t feel ready to return to the forest just yet. *** "Wee back! How was the Quest?" the receptionist called out to William as he stepped inside. "It was okay, but I wasn''t able to get all the Lifeshrooms. There''s a strong Magical Beast fighting and I can''t get close enough to gather the rest that I need." he responded. "HAHAHA! YOU CAN''T EVEN FINISH A ONE STAR GATHER QUEST?!?" the red haired youth was still in the Guild hall drinking at a table with a group ofckeys. He pointed in Will''s direction and mocked, "Look everyone! Themoner can''t even gather mushrooms without getting beat up!" a cacophony ofughter resounded through the hall. "You''re still here?" William retorted, instantly crippling the smug expression on the youths face. He stood up from his seat and was about to teach William a lesson when the stern voice of the receptionist could be heard from behind the counter. "That''s enough Briar," she returned her attention to William with a smile and held out her hand, "if you give me the Lifeshrooms you have I will fill in for the rest, since you reported abnormal Magical Beast activity. Can you describe the Beast for me?" "No, I didn''t see the Beast once. I heard a roar and barely had time to react before a windstorm nearly killed me." William recounted the events from before. "Based on what you described, it may be a Foundation Establishment Realm Beast." The receptionist wrote some notes at her desk. "We will put out a Quest for someone to take care of it soon, but in the meantime I would suggest avoiding Livingwood Forest." "Thank you." William replied. He handed over his 8 Lifeshrooms and received the Quest reward of 5 Silver Coins from the receptionist. She marked off on her sheet to note down his achievement and also handed William his newly created Guild License, which was almost the same as the temporary license. There was also a brown dot in the top left corner signifying his rank of Semi-Bronze. -Completed your first Quest: +3 Potential Points -Own one Copper Coin: +1 Potential Point -Own one Silver Coin: +3 Potential Points "Your license will update on its own every time you register apleted Quest with a Guild, but make sure not to lose it because there''s a 1 Gold Coin fee to recover your information." she stated before returning to her work. William was still thinking about his recent notification when he heard "1 Gold Coin", nearly stumbling in the process. From this point, William''s Guild License became a family heirloom, which would be dusted off every morning. William wondered how many potatoes a Gold Coin could buy.. While William was daydreaming, Briar walked past and ced his hand on the front counter. "I''d like to take the Quest to defeat the Magical Beast in Livingwood Forest." Briar looked back toward William with a smirk. Chapter 7: Azures Chapter 7: Azures "We don''t even have the Quest evaluated yet, nor have we decided on a reward forpletion." the receptionist responded bluntly. "That''s fine Jenny. You can decide on the reward after I kill the Magical Beast!" Briar dered loudly. "Are you sure? You''re only Qi Refinement 8, and this Beast could be at the level of Foundation Establishment; it''s too dangerous." she was visibly worried despite Briar''s rude behavior. As a member of the Guild, any casualties would have to be reported to the Guild Master and would reflect poorly on her. "I have my guards over there, and both of them are at the Foundation Establishment Realm," he pointed to two burly middle-aged men sitting at a table in the back with their arms crossed, "I''m more worried about this Commoner wetting his pants in fear." There it is. William thought. He knew there would at least be one idiot dumb enough to not notice William was the one Commoner that couldn''t be offended. His lips curled up in a slight smirk as he thought of the future but concealed it quickly lest Briar notice anything unusual. "I won''t push it any further. Go ahead and clear out the Magical Beast. We will decide on the reward in a moment." Jenny sighed and handed Briar a sheet with the Guild stamp on it, noting the creation of an Urgent Quest. Briar snatched up the sheet and sauntered out of the Guild Hall followed by his two bodyguards. He turned his head and gave William a sidelong look, "See youter, loser." Briar motioned to his guards and disappeared from view. What the hell? That kid is insane...I don''t know how strong he is, but I have a feeling that even the guards won''t beat something like the Beast I encountered earlier. William wasn''t convinced of the bodyguards'' strength and had even less faith in Briar. Forget it, if they want to die, let them die. It''s his fault for being rude as hell for no reason. Williammented internally. He turned toward Jenny once again and asked, "Are there any books here?" "Books? Yes, we have a few. What kind of book are you looking for?" Jenny was intrigued by the sudden request. "I want to know more about the world. Do you have anything like that?" "Yes we do, but it''s not cheap. Each visit to our library costs a silver coin per hour. That''s only for the first level, and you''re not allowed to take any books away from the library," Jenny started, "I can take you there, but just know that if you damage anything, it will cost more than just a gold coin, unlike your Guild License." she finished with a stern look, causing William to nod his head furiously. He paid Jenny a silver from what was just earned and followed her around the counter to a stairwell that was previously hidden from view. They descended the spiraling staircase for a dozen meters or so until William spotted a locked door. Jenny raised her hand into the air, where a Spatial Rift appeared. She reached into the Rift and pulled out a slightly rusted key ring that looked like it belonged to an old jailer. The smallest key was slotted into a keyhole located below the doorknob, creating a click after turning clockwise twice. Jenny pushed the door open, then snapped her fingers, causing multiplemps to light up around a circr room with a high ceiling. Despite the size of the room, there were only four bookshelves at the back that contained any books. Will assumed that books were somewhat rare, at least within this portion of the world. "You have one hour, remember that. Also, just because I''m not in the room doesn''t mean no one is watching you." Jenny gave William a quick look before stepping outside the room and returning to her position upstairs. Knowing that he was on a time limit, William rushed over to the bookshelves. He looked at the book bindings for interesting covers, hoping that one would be able to answer some of his seemingly endless questions. "The Trials of Azure Crypt" "Magical Beasts Vol. 1" "Magical Beasts Vol. 2" ... Will muttered the titles out loud one by one, a bit annoyed at first because they were out of order. "Here it is!" he found arge leather-bound book titled "Azures: Tales of the Oldest Continent" on the middle section of the second bookshelf. He pulled the book out and blew off the dust before opening the first page. Organization really sucks here. Willined after realizing the book didn''t have a table of contents. He started by looking at the map, which required some mana, before disying a marker that showed his current location. Based on the marker, William appeared to be in the "Far West Forest" region of the Azures Continent. Roughly two thousand kilometers directly East was the "Providence Zone" of extreme riches, where famous figures and historical legends presided. Even more interesting was a note that only two people have ever sessfully reached the very center of the Providence Zone. These two figures had no true name listed but were titled "Supreme Left" and "Unbreakable Right". The North was known as the "Hillvire Empire," and the South was called the "Southern ins." Finally, on the East coast were the "Far East Misnds." William didn''t bother reading more about these since he only had about half an hour remaining. He skipped through the uninteresting parts and ced the book back on the shelf before looking for another title. "Cultivation and Magic: A Beginner''s Guide." This sounds perfect for my needs. William opened the book enthusiastically, reading the contents within. "Cultivation is divided into 8 Major Realms, each split into different ranks. Qi Refinement has nine Realms and represents the improvement of the quality of a Cultivator''s Qi toward perfection. One can choose to undergo the Tribtion starting at Rank 6, but it is not rmended, as the quality of their Qi will be much lower than a Cultivator at Rank 9, but the chances of surviving the lightning strikes will be much higher. Tribtion lightning varies in intensity depending on the Cultivator''s current rank and their expected potential. Foundation Establishment consists of 9 Realms, representing the formation of one''s foundation. The strength of a Cultivator''s foundation greatly depends on their talent, but also their imagination. Just like in Qi Refinement, a Cultivator may choose to undergo the Tribtion at rank 6. Core Formationprises 3 Realms: Empty Core, Void Core, and True Core. Depending on the Cultivator''s foundation, they can improve their True Core to the Heavenly Core level before undergoing the next tribtion. The remaining Realms are as follows: Golden Core: 3 Realms Nascent Soul: 4 Realms Soul Formation: 6 Realms Tribtion Transcendence: 9 Tribtions Ascension: ???" William was blown away by the amount of information in the books. He proceeded to read the Magic portion before time was up. "There are countless types of Magic; however, the 7 Basic Elements are Lightning, Fire, Ice, Water, Wind, Earth, and nt. The 3 Rare Elements are Light, Darkness, and Life. The 3 Dimensional Elements are Space, Time, and Chaos. Outside the listed elements are the Unorthodox Elements and the Forbidden Elements. Although the name "Forbidden" sounds ominous, these Elements are not actually forbidden from use, but little is known about them. Those with an Affinity for a specific Element can measure their Rank by filling an Affinity Orb with Mana until their mana pool ispletely empty. If the individual does not empty their mana pool, there will be a lower score on their Affinity Rating. The Affinities are ranked as such in order from F to S. Only one individual has ever achieved S Rank, "Unbreakable Right," who is believed to have S Rank Earth Affinity. Magic is natural to all Cultivators; however, some are born with a natural affinity to one or more elements. These are called Manamatus. Manamatus have the ability to not only use magic while being a non-Cultivator, but the Affinity that a Manamatus is born with raises the natural Affinity past the initial limit of C rank. This means that a Manamatus with a rank of E can potentially reach an affinity of A." Chapter 8: ??? Chapter 8: ??? William had just closed the book when Jenny re-entered the library. She looked at Will quietly as he stood up from a chair and walked over. "Your time is up, but you can pay for another hour if you''d like." she said with a smile. "That''s okay, I think I''m ready to leave." William responded in kind. He followed Jenny out of the library, then they parted ways while in the main hall. William was about to leave when a thought struck him. "Do you know where I can get Cultivation Techniques?" he asked Jenny. "Cultivation Techniques? We don''t have any here, but there is arge collection for sale at our other locations. If you have a chance in the future, I suggest traveling to Blue Moon City. Cultivation Techniques are usually between 500 and 1000 Gold Coins though." Jenny responded, herst sentence causing William to remember how poor he was. 500 Gold Coins? I might as well work until I''m 60...oh wait I don''t have that long. He realized there was no way for him to earn that much money. "Why is it so expensive?" William asked. "Well, when someone learns a Cultivation Technique, the Technique will disappear from the book. This means that the creator of Cultivation Techniques has to draft many copies by hand if they want it to be shared with the world. Powerful Cultivators are also unwilling to share their Techniques publicly in case their enemies use it to target ws in the Technique during a fight. These people will usually only share the Technique with trusted members of their family." "That makes sense...I guess I will need to take more Quests if I want to Cultivate." William muttered. The trip downstairs was brief, and once in the main hall William walked over to the Quest Board. * [Gather: 10 Lifeshrooms] ** [Capture: 3 Spirit Pigs] *** [Urgent: Clear Livingwood Forest] ****** [y: Nascent Soul Lightning Drake] "The same quests are avable? But I justpleted that first quest." William raised his voice so Jenny could hear him from across the room. "The first two are repeatable quests, so as long as you continue toplete the quest you will keep earning the rewards, and the Lightning Drake quest hasn''t beenpleted yet. That quest was first issued over a month ago when a noble''s daughter was killed by the Lightning Drake." William thought for a moment, feeling that it was reasonable. A shop could hire adventurers to gather an endless supply of materials, while paying a low price. "Okay, can I take the Lifeshroom quest again?" he asked. "Sure, but be careful. The magical beast has not been killed yet, so it will be more dangerous." Jenny wrote some notes down and handed William an identical Quest Sheet to before, then waved on as he left the Guild Hall. William noticed it was bing dark, so he went back home to sleep before beginning the quest tomorrow. Heid on the bed for not even a minute before falling into a deep sleep. Maybe when William woke up, he would be back on the bus next to Fria... *** -Detecting Potential Score...Awarding Points -First night in a new world: +1 Potential Point -Completed 1 unique quest today: +1 Potential Point *** Early the next morning, William walked down the path to Livingwood Forest while carrying a bedsheet from his room bundled up in hand, only stopping when he had returned to his previous location. Will opened the Menu and evaluated his condition. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) ¡ªName: William ¡ªRace: Human ¡ªAge: 20 ¡ªLifespan: 45 Years (Medium physical health) TITLES: ( - ) ¡ªManamatus (Umon): ( + ) STATUS: ( - ) ¡ªHealth: 92/100 ¡ªMana: 135/150 ¡ªCultivation: None (No suitable techniques) TALENTS: ( - ) ¡ªMagic: ( - ) -Fire: D (Cost 25PP to next rank) POTENTIAL POINTS: 19 SYSTEM RANK: F- (20PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª I have quite a bit of Mana now. I should be able to put up a fight as long as the enemy isn''t too powerful. William thought to himself. He traveled into the forest and began the search for Lifeshrooms. William had more luck this time, as he was already familiar with the terrain. It seemed that Lifeshrooms grew quickly in this area, as there were over a dozen new sprouts. The beast must have scared most people off. William cheered as he quicklypleted the requirements for his Quest. "If I want to cultivate, I''m going to need a lot more than 5 Silver Coins. Let''s get to work!" Williamid out the bedsheet, then ced the Lifeshrooms on top. He grabbed the four corners of the sheet and twisted them together at the top, forming a makeshift sack. It was a bit crude and some of the Lifeshrooms would probably be damaged, but it couldn''t be helped. Satisfied with his work, William continued searching for Lifeshrooms. He was more careful this time to avoid the area where the magical beast was previously spotted. Two hourster, William had collected exactly 60 Lifeshrooms. He was going to leave, but arge clearing filled with Lifeshrooms surrounding a single massive tree appeared in William''s view. Walking through the clearing was a green fox-like beast with two tails. It turned to face William with eyes glowing a deep red. Discovered a magical beast, ???: +1 Potential Point I''m screwed! William panicked. He focused his Mana andunched a fireball toward the magical beast, then turned around to run away. The sound of an explosion rang out, followed by a pained howl. William looked back to see the Magical Beast covered in burn marks. The fox emitted a green light and quickly recovered from the lighter injuries, then showed an expression of rage before chasing after him. William recognized the Life Magic but didn''t have time to care. He threw another fireball, which the fox dodged by swiftly jumping to the side. He cursed before throwing a third, followed by a fourth. The fox dodged the third fireball but was sted backward by the fourth. It released another howl, but this time a deeper green light enveloped its entire body. The burnt skin began healing, and some fur grew back. William knew better than to let the fox continue healing. There wasn''t going to be a better chance than this. "Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!" Although he didn''t have to chant, William found it somewhat amusing to shout while casting his magic. The fireballs created explosions one at a time at different parts of the fox''s body, causing severe burns. William was only about 10 meters away from the fox at this point, which made up for the low uracy of his Magic. The red eyes of the fox glowed in defiance before going dull. It swayed to the side and fell to the ground with a soft thud. -Defeated ???: +2 Potential Points -First magical beast kill: +3 Potential Points -First Qi Refinement beast kill: +3 Potential Points ... ¡ªSystem Upgrade is Avable! William was ecstatic. ''8 Potential Points? I''m rich!'' He cheered inwardly, but remained vignt. Last time Will was nearly killed because he lowered his guard. The corpse of the fox wasn''t toorge, so William tied the bedsheet around its neck and began dragging it away from the clearing. About 100 meters and a few minutester, there was a noticeable streak in the ground stretching from the edge of the clearing to a thin tree. The fur of the corpse had transitioned from a deep green to a light brown from sliding across the ground, and the bedsheet was now tied to a low hanging branch to prevent being tainted by the corpse. William wanted to leave, but the goblin inside of him said it was time to grab the rest of the loot. He ran to the clearing and started frantically picking Lifeshrooms. He was greedy, but not stupid. The battle likely drew the attention of other beasts in the area, and William only had around 100 Mana left. The battle was surprisingly not taxing on his Mana reserves, but that was probably because the beast was extremely weak and went down with just a few simple fireballs. William''s greed knew no bounds, as he stuffed both pant pockets with Lifeshrooms until they were full. He wrapped his fingers around the bottom of his shirt and pulled up, forming a pouch for additional storage. This continued for a few trips, until the bedsheet was nearly full and the clearing waspletely devoid of Lifeshrooms. All that remained was the singlerge tree, which gave off a more distinguished glow now that the Lifeshrooms were all gone. Chapter 9: Life Vein Chapter 9: Life Vein -Discovered Life Vein: +3 Potential Points "Life Vein huh?" William muttered as he ced his hand on the tree. This probably hadn''t been noticed before because the Lifeshrooms concealed its aura. Although Lifeshrooms were valuable to William, others probably thought of them as random garbage you could find anywhere. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -ABSORBING LIFE VEIN... ... ... --ERROR-- --ERROR-- ... -Cannot absorb Life Vein. System Level too low. ¡ª¡ª¡ª I totally forgot that I just earned a ton of Potential Points! Menu! ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) ¡ªName: William ¡ªRace: Human ¡ªAge: 20 ¡ªLifespan: 45 Years (Medium physical health) TITLES: ( - ) ¡ªManamatus (Umon): ( + ) STATUS: ( - ) ¡ªHealth: 97/100 ¡ªMana: 102/150 ¡ªCultivation: None (No suitable techniques) TALENTS: ( - ) ¡ªMagic: ( - ) -Fire: D (Cost 25PP to next rank) POTENTIAL POINTS: 31 SYSTEM RANK: F- (20PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª Upgrade my Fire Affinity. --UPGRADING TALENTS...PLEASE WAIT William''s hands started heating up without warning. He had felt this before, and was prepared for it this time. The pain became even more intense, and William''s skin began cracking. He fell to his knees while moaning in pain, as hot blood burst from the cracked skin. Steam rose from William''s body, and his eyes became a deep fiery red. The agony continued for nearly 15 minutes this time. Once the side effects of his upgrade dissipated, Williamid heavily on the ground. He had probably lost a third of his health points from that upgrade. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Fire Magic: (D --> C) Next rank up: 100PP POTENTIAL POINTS: 6 SYSTEM RANK: F- (Upgrade Avable!) --DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE-- --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT-- ... ... --UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL-- SYSTEM RANK: (F- --> F) Next rank up: 245PP *New features avable: -Ask Function: System will answer simple questions. -Bestiary: Keep a log of monsters you encounter. -Talent Absorption: Gain Potential Points from absorbing natural treasures. *New Changes: -System has reached version 1.2 and has improved its visuals. -Reduced the number of symbols in System Logs. -System will no longer announce upgrade processes. -System has determined a character trait: Greedy. --Unlocked Title: +1 Potential Point -Loot Goblin (Umon): You have expressed a desire for Goblinry, the lost art of being greedy for treasure. Looting speed increased by 10%. ¡ª¡ª¡ª William was stunned at the amount of System Messages he just received. He upgraded Fire Affinity to C and the System to F in one go. William also got a new title, and there are three new functions to mess around with. The only downside was the amount of suffering involved in the Fire Affinity upgrade. William didn''t expect the effects to worsen. What if the upgrade kills him? He decided to try the new question function. System, can upgrading my Affinity kill me? -Request requires 1 Potential Point. Yes/No? Ugh, and you called me greedy. One point to ask a question? Ok fine, Yes. William said with a tinge of regret. His Potential Points decreased by 1, then a message appeared in the chat log. -The effects of upgrading your Affinity will increase each time and will increase in difficulty for each Element you have an Affinity for. This can kill you if your body is not strong enough to handle the effects. Depending on the Element, there will be different effects on your body when your Affinity is upgraded. Increasing your Cultivation will lower the chances of dying to an upgrade, as your body will naturally increase in strength with each new Realm. William thought about it for a while, before nodding his head in understanding. The next upgrade should still be bearable, but 100 Potential Points? That''s too expensive. If this is to B Rank, how expensive will the next ranks be? It''s better not to think about it. He decided to try out the other features. Bestiary ¡ª¡ª¡ª BESTIARY: (1/1350 Beasts Encountered) -Showing newest magical beast-- Name: Liffox Family: Elemental Fox Element: Life Lifespan: ? Drops: Life Fur Cultivation Range: Qi Refinement - Core Formation Info: Incredibly weak beast with green fur and red eyes. Territorial but otherwise neutral aggression. ¡ª¡ª¡ª "A Liffox, so that''s what I fought.." William muttered. He read the information about the beast, then looked over to the dirty bloody mess that was once the same creature and felt a little bad. There''s nothing I can do about it. Morals only matter in a world of peace. I doubt the Liffox would let me off the hook if it was in my shoes. William steeled his resolve and looked toward thest new feature. His hand was ced on the tree as the absorption process began for the second time. -Absorbing Life Vein... William''s hand suddenly felt an intense pull toward the tree. He tried to pull away, but it felt as if his hand was glued to the tree. A vibrant green light flowed over William''s hand and up his arm, while afortable feeling rushed through his entire body. Thefort transitioned into intense euphoria as William''s face contorted in pleasure, his knees buckling. He leaned against the tree while the absorption process was in effect. The feeling continued for a few minutes, before fading rapidly. The unusual glow of the tree dulled, and the previously intense vitality was greatly decreased. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -Absorbed Lesser Life Vein: +5 Potential Points -Life Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point -Unlocked First Rare Element: +5 Potential Points --Upgraded Title to Rare: +3 Potential Points -Manamatus (Umon) --> (Rare): You are a rare individual with a talent for two kinds of magic that appeared before you started cultivating. All magic you use will be 20% more powerful. -Obtained your first Rare Title: +5 Potential Points POTENTIAL POINTS: 25 ¡ª¡ª¡ª I just upgraded myself and am already at 25 Potential Points, awesome! William was ecstatic. It turns out that bing a loot goblin was the right path to take. He didn''t care about the potential consequences of his actions. Did he just ughter a weak beast that only cared for life energy? Maybe. Did he disce dozens of smaller animals by picking hundreds of Lifeshrooms? Perhaps. Did he potentially destroy an entire ecosystem by depriving arge section of the Livingwood Forest of the Life Element? Sorry, couldn''t hear you over the sound of Potential Points! Talents ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENTS: ( - ) Magic: ( - ) -Common: --Fire: C (100PP to next rank) -Rare: --Life: F (3PP to next rank) POTENTIAL POINTS: 25 SYSTEM RANK: F (250PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª "3 Points to upgrade? A bit stingy but I have enough. Let''s continue!" William pped his hands together, before signaling to the System. Upgrade my Life Affinity. --Upgrading-- William clenched his eyes and prepared for the worst. The intense pain he expected was reced with warmth. His body emitted a slight glow before returning to normal. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Life Magic: (F --> E) Next rank up: 15PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª "Again!" --Upgrading-- ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Life Magic: (E --> D) Next rank up: 75PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William felt an immense increase in power from the consecutive upgrades. He focused a small amount of Life Element mana and cast it on himself, quickly healing his injuries from upgrading his Fire Affinity. This is barely weaker than Charlotte''s Life Element, and she is ate stage Qi Refinement Cultivator! William didn''t know how strong his magic was before, but having someone topare to made him realize his strength was not low at all. If my Fire Element is stronger than this, I should be able to fight most Qi Refinement beasts already! Chapter 10: Savior Chapter 10: Savior A roar sounded in the distance, waking William from his fantasies. His head turned toward the noise and listened intently. Thankfully there was no torrent of wind to follow the roar, so William didn''t have to worry about being sted off his feet. The roars continued, followed by a few bright shes of light. The Magical Beast seemed to be fighting with someone. With the increase in Magical Affinities, William felt more confident in surviving a run with the mystery Beast. Where there''s fighting, there''s an opportunity for more loot! William left the things he had acquired in the clearing near the depleted Life Vein, then ran in the direction of the battle, sticking close to the trees to avoid any stray magic. It wasn''t long before Will spotted a two-meter tall wolf with green and white fur. [Bestiary] Wind Wolf: +1 Potential Point So I can gain Potential Points from seeing new beasts now, nice! Will was focused on the movements of the Wind Wolf, noticing its opponent was none other than Briar and his two bodyguards. "Take it down!" Briar yelled to the two Foundation Establishment Cultivators in front. "Hmph!" the first Cultivator let out a snort, followed by a punching motion. His arm was set aze and projected out arge fist made entirely of mes. The ming punchnded squarely on the Wind Wolf, causing it to let out a painful howl. The Wind Wolf rushed forward, sending a massive w in the direction of the first Cultivator. He was thrown back a few meters, while a bloody cut opened up on his chest. The second Cultivator wasn''t idle. He prepared a long bolt of lightning and threw it at the Wind Wolf. A crackling sound could be heard as the lightning struck its side, creatingrge patches of charred flesh and temporarily paralyzing the Wind Wolf. Just after the second Cultivator threw out the lightning, Briar conjured a fireball of his own, but with arge mix of the Wind element. The Wind magic seemed to be pulling oxygen towards the fireball, leading to a rapid expansion in size. His fireball doubled in size, turning into a raging inferno that wasunched at the paralyzed Wind Wolf. The action surprised William, who didn''t know magic could be strengthened in this way. The Wind Wolf was engulfed in mes and let out a final cry before its body fell to the ground in defeat. Its body continued to burn for a few more seconds before it was put out by a gust of wind from Briar. The smell of burnt flesh wafted through the forest, making William cover his nose and mouth. Briar sent hispanions to inspect the body of the Wind Wolf. "It''s dead." the injuredpanion confirmed before taking a seat on the corpse. "I''m all out of healing potions, you''re going to have to wait until we get back to the Vige." Briar spoke with no emotion. This seemed to be a good opportunity. William stepped out from behind a tree. "I can heal him, but it''s going to cost you 5 Gold Coins." Briar''s group had noticed William before and weren''t surprised at the sudden intrusion. "5 Gold? You''re insane, Charlotte only charges 2 for an injury like this!" the uninjured Cultivator was furious at the peasant''s attitude. William was unmoved. "She''s not here right now, and from the looks of it, he won''t have enough time to reach the Vige before dying of blood loss." Briar stepped forward. "I''ll give you 4 Gold Coins, but only if Ret is healed properly." He walked over to Ret''s side and looked back at Will. "Don''t waste my time." "Sure." William walked up to Ret slowly. This is a good chance to see the effects of healing Cultivators. Hopefully my upgrades were strong enough. William remembered how Charlotte treated him and copied her movements. It took a moment to grow ustomed, but using Life Magic wasn''t tooplicated. Simr to Fire Magic, William just had to focus on what goal he wanted to achieve with his Mana. A green light soon covered Ret''s entire body, quickly closing the wounds on his chest. The wounds turned into light scars that were barely visible, and even healed some of the minor scars across Ret''s arms and legs. Briar was shocked. "A Manamatus! No wonder he dared to take a Quest as a non-Cultivator." Briar''s expression turned into shock as he realized how quickly Ret was healing. How can a normal person have such a strong Affinity? Ret is a Foundation Establishment Cultivator! Briar felt the world was unfair for a peasant in a backwater town to have such skill. William continued healing Ret for a few more seconds, before pulling back. "It''s done, 4 Gold Coins please." he said to Briar with a mischievous smile. ¡ª¡ª¡ª --Unlocked Title: +1 Potential Point -Savior (Common): You have saved a life. Healing effects are 5% stronger. -Obtained your first Common Title: +1 Potential Point ¡ª¡ª¡ª Briar returned to his usual arrogant self. "Ok fine, but don''t expect any thanks from me, hmph." Briar tapped a ring on his right index finger, causing 4 shiny Gold Coins to appear. They were handed over to William, who quickly stuffed them into his pocket. -Own one Gold Coin: +5 Potential Points --Unlocked Title: +1 Potential Point -Moneybags (Common): You have earned (or scammed) a total of 1 Gold Coin. Fame is increased by 1. --Unlocked Extended Statistic: +3 Potential Points -Fame: People are more likely to remember your name. Fame? What a useless stat. At least I get more Potential Points. William was not impressed, but the endless flood of System Messages made William excited about his quick progression. "Thanks for doing business, I have a quest to finish so I will take my leave first." William pretended to be a gracious senior who had seen the vicissitudes of life. His acting skills must have been quite good, because Briar and the other Cultivators looked at William in silence. "You mother-" Briar began to speak, but realized William had already left. ''Why is it so hard to win an argument with this unruly peasant?'' It wasn''t worth thinking about. Briar motioned with his hands in the direction of the Wind Wolf, causing its body to disappear into Briar''s Space Ring. Ret whispered to Briar, "What should we do about the Commoner? There''s no way you''re actually going to let him go after charging someone of your status for a healing treatment." he was grateful for the Young Master''s willingness to help him, but Ret didn''t feel it was deserved. He was angry at William for taking advantage of such a situation. "Don''t worry about him. That fool won''t get anywhere in life if he can''t even afford a Cultivation Technique. Being a Manamatus won''t change his background." Briar could have just killed William after healing Ret, but didn''t see the extortion of a few extra Gold Coins as an issue. Besides, if the Guild investigated the cause of William''s death, it might create unnecessary issues for Briar''s family. "I understand Sir." *** William returned to the clearing, and picked up the untouched stash of items from before. He didn''t have any way to store the items, so dragging would have to do for now. He lugged the Liffox corpse toward the edge of the forest. He dragged the body for an hour before exiting the forest without any mishaps. The magical beast poption seemed much lower in the forest than William expected. Three hourster, William had arrived back at the Vige with his loot close behind. Entering the gate with a corpse and a glowing bedsheet drew a few odd looks, but no one asked any questions. Entering the Guild Hall was another story however. "Get that thing out of here right now!" Jenny yelled at William after seeing the disgusting corpse behind. If any blood gets on these floors I''m screwed. Jenny knew how serious the Guild master was about keeping the Hall clean. If he was downstairs, William wouldn''t even have time to apologize before being thrown out. "Sorry! Sorry!" William had failed to realize the shape of the Liffox before him. The fur was nowpletely brown, and it was starting to smell after being dragged in the sun for so long. I am such an idiot. This wasn''t some video game where things stay in perfect condition. How could he have been so stupid? William left the Liffox outside, then approached the counter with his bedsheet full of Lifeshrooms. At least with mushrooms it wasn''t difficult to keep them in decent shape. "So...can I turn these in for the Quest?" Chapter 11: Cheating? Chapter 11: Cheating? "Sure, but you''re going to have toy them out. I''m not touching your nasty bedsheet." Jenny said coldly. William nodded andid out the Lifeshrooms on the Reception counter. Even though the counter was big, William was going to have to submit the Lifeshrooms in batches. Jenny was stunned. How did he find so many Lifeshrooms?!? Most people that enter the forest will easily find a dozen or two, but Jenny could count 50 Lifeshrooms on the counter alone. Even worse, William looked to have over a hundred more in the bedsheet. If Jenny didn''t know better, she''d have thought William robbed an Alchemist! Jenny shook her head and counted out each of the Lifeshrooms before marking the Questplete for each group of 10. -Completed a Quest: +1 Potential Point -Completed a Quest: +1 Potential Point -Completed a Quest: +1 Potential Point -Completed a Quest: +1 Potential Point -Completed a Quest: +1 Potential Point (+11 More) ... -Completed a total of 5 Quests: +10 Potential Points -Completed a total of 10 Quests: +25 Potential Points "Congrattions on gathering so many items for your Quest. Here is your payment." Jenny converted the 80 Silver to 8 Gold Coins and handed them to William. "Also, it appears you are eligible for a promotion to Bronze Adventurer. Show me your Guild License so I can update it." -Own 10 Gold coins: +10 Potential Points --Upgraded Title: +1 Potential Point -Moneybags (Common -> Umon): You have earned (or scammed) a total of 10 Gold Coins. Fame is increased by 3. William''s eyes widened upon seeing the massive number of Potential Points, but he didn''t want to ruin his image any further in front of the receptionist. William took the coins and gave the License to Jenny, then quickly asked, "Can I sell the Liffox that I left outside?" "Uh no, the corpse is in terrible condition and even its fur, the only valuable part for this beast, is almost unrecognizable. Did you drag the body all the way here?" She looked at William with a mix of shock and disgust. "Next time you want to sell us a Magical Beast, bring it back in one piece." "Oh okay.." William was a bit disappointed that he wasted so much effort, but it couldn''t be helped. "Do you know where I can buy a backpack?" he asked. "There''s a general store deeper in town. Just follow the road and look for a campfire symbol on the left." She gave the License back to William with a bronze star in the corner instead of the brown dot from before. -Adventurer Rank (Bronze): +3 Potential Points Despite ranking up and bing a real adventurer, William did not receive much attention besides a second nce from the receptionist when he turned in his Quest. Isn''t everyone supposed to freak out because of my fast rank up speed? This is nothing like the books! Jenny spoke up again. "Oh and before I forget, if you want to be promoted to Silver rank you will need toplete a total of 25 Quests." "Thanks!" William shouted on the way out of the Guild Hall. His figure exited the building, while Jenny continued her work. A buzzing noise came from beneath Jenny''s desk, which turned out to be a hiddenmunicator. "What happened?" She asked the other party. The voice of a middle-aged male sounded in her mind. "The Livingwood Forest is losing energy." "How?" "It appears someone has absorbed one of its Cores. The natural Array preventing Magical Beasts from spawning has weakened. I''ve never seen anything like it. Do you know who has visited the location recently?" "There was a Commoner today, and Briar was there." Jenny didn''t know what the Guild Master meant when he said the Core had been absorbed, but didn''t ask further. "Briar huh...his family could give us some trouble...what about the Commoner?" "He has no Cultivation, but when I looked at his background I found that he is a Manamatus with an E Rank Fire Affinity. He also brought back a Liffox corpse today, which is the second Magical Beast spotted in the Livingwood Forest in two days." "Hmm, although impressive for a non-Cultivator, he''s much too weak to have an effect on the Core." the Guild Master stated. "We won''t fight with Briar''s family on this matter, but be prepared for some trouble from the Livingwood Forest. I fear those won''t be the only Magical Beasts we see this month." he warned. "Yes Sir." Click. Jenny set down themunicator and leaned over the desk, seemingly lost in thought. A burly man entered the Guild Hall, "Hey Jenny, there''s a nasty beast corpse outside." "F*ck...William!!" *** William quickly located the general store that Jenny described. He entered the store and looked through the shelves for a backpack that suited his taste. Most of the items in the general store ranged from a few Silver to 1 Gold, so William decided to buy a brown backpack and a few sets of clothing. The most expensive item was a notebook costing 2 Gold, with an additional 2 Silver for a pen. William paid 3 Gold 6 Silver for the items, leaving a total of 8 Gold 8 Silver forter. He stepped out of the store and immediately bought a bowl of soup from the nearby market for 6 Copper Coins. "Ah! It''s so refreshing to taste real food again!" Despite being somewhat nd, the soup tasted much better than the potatoes William had eaten for four consecutive meals. He wolfed down the food, then looked at the system screen. It has been a while since Ist checked the Status. System, show me the Menu. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Human -Age: 20 -Lifespan: 45 Years (Medium physical health) TITLES: ( - ) -Manamatus (Rare): ( + ) -Loot Goblin (Umon): ( + ) -Moneybags (Umon): ( + ) -Savior (Common): ( + ) STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 100/100 -Mana: 62/150 -Fame: 3 -Cultivation: None (No suitable techniques) TALENTS: ( - ) Magic: ( - ) -Common: --Fire: C (100PP to next rank) -Rare: --Life: D (75PP to next rank) MONEY: 8 Gold, 7 Silver, 94 Copper POTENTIAL POINTS: 83 SYSTEM RANK: F (202PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª 83 points! I must be cheating! Taking advantage of the repeatable quests seemed to be a shortcut to quickly gaining Potential Points. Who knew that turning in 160 mushrooms would be so profitable? William was quite happy with his current progression speed, but also knew it would be much more difficultter. He was also growing ustomed to the System. The multitude of features somewhat overwhelmed William at first with the titles, talent upgrade, potential points, and milestones, but it wasn''t tooplicated when the System always did the math for him. The most difficult aspects to understand were the intricacies of Magic. His Affinities were quite high but after watching part of Briar''s fight with the Wind Wolf, William realized he was still an amateur. He felt like he had wings but only knew how to glide. The Fire Element can do much more than just create fireballs, and Will wanted to explore this path. The Life Element should work the same way. Right now, William was using the Magic in the crudest way possible. To be stronger, he would need to be more familiar with how to use the different Elements. Of course, William had the question function which might be able to help with his research. He had 83 Potential Points which would be enough to upgrade the Life Element again, but making the upgrade wouldn''t be as helpful right now. William decided he would save some points to ask the System some questions about the functions of Magic. William finished his bowl of soup with this thought and took his new items back to the house. He also made sure to buy a few more vegetables from the market with 30 copper to bring back to Misha. Chapter 12: Experimenting With Fire Magic Chapter 12: Experimenting With Fire Magic After a long night''s rest, William returned to the field outside his house. Heunched a fireball in the air as a test, noting the increased mana control, fireball speed, and explosion radius since hisst upgrade. I can''t be too sure, but I think this will injure just about any normal person in the Qi Refinement Realm. The main problem is that I probably won''t be able to react to a Cultivator''s attack either, I''m too slow. William thought. In other books and movies,paring an ordinary person with a Cultivator was the difference between a child and an adult. Will had high attack power as a Fire Mage, but there was little difference to his overall speed or defense. System, how can I use the Fire Element to move faster? -Request requires 2 Potential Points. Yes/No? 2 points this time? Fine.. -Fire Magic is not ideal for increasing one''s speed. Wind, Lightning, and Light Magic are all good alternatives, among many others. With the explosive nature of the Fire Element, you may be able to propel yourself forward with the recoil effect in the future, but this will also cause damage to the user and requires the assistance of the Earth Element. The exnation wasn''t too detailed, but William had a few ideas on how to make this work based on his understanding of Chemistry. He has the Life Element already, so as long as there''s enough Mana, William could technically heal himself right after the explosion. That has to hurt though..but it''s better than being eaten by a Magical Beast. Will thought. Unfortunately as the System stated, Will doesn''t have the Earth Element to generatebustible material. He decided to try the System''s method in the future, but for now he still wanted to expand his use of the Fire Element. If Will couldn''t improve his speed, he would increase defense. Fire mana circted throughout William''s body, which was directed and gathered in both of his palms. He then performed a swimming motion while still standing, causing a wall of mes to appear a few meters in front of William. Not a bad result, and that only took 10 mana. Will didn''t have much difficulty using Fire Magic this way, probably because of the current C Rank Affinity and the simplicity of the move. -Developed a new magic spell: +1 Potential Point -Host can choose to name his new spell, or the System can generate one itself. Let''s call it me Wall. William felt it was a somewhat simple name, but suitable. The me Wall would mostly be used as a defensive spell to block weaker magic, but Will could also use it to obstruct his opponent''s vision if used well. -New Spell: me Wall Since the first spell was easy to create and he spent almost no mana, William decided to create a few more spells. The first was a simple methrower spell, which was a higher intensity Fireball for close-rangebat that drained mana by the second. He also created a me Ring spell, which spat an arc of mes in all directions. The spell was very weak, but had a wide Area of Effect, perfect for dealing with groups of weak enemies. Anyone who saw William would find it somewhat odd though, as he would spin in a circle while performing the spell. -Developed a new magic spell: +1 Potential Point -New Spell: methrower -Developed a new magic spell: +1 Potential Point -New Spell: me Ring ¡ª¡ª¡ª --Unlocked Title: +1 Potential Point -Spell Master (Common): You''ve developed at least 3 spells and have a basic understanding of Mana. Mana Control +5% with all Elements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª With these new spells, William was confident he could survive a fight with normal Qi Refinement beasts. He first checked with the Guild for any new quests, but Jenny was angry with him for some unknown reason. He picked up a Lifeshroom Quest sheet, then made another trip to the Livingwood Forest, this time with a backpack. He had previously only explored a small portion of the forest''s peripherals. Will knew he wasn''t a very lucky person. He assumed if he could find treasure in one area there had to be more in the others! William''s eyes had a unique sparkle that would make anyone want to hide their treasures. Will had just entered the Livingwood Forest when he spotted a magical beast. It was another Liffox, but looked slightly stronger than thest one. I thought Magical Beasts here were rare. heined. A fireball wasunched at the Liffox without hesitation. The Liffox dodged to the right, narrowly avoiding the fireball. It growled before rushing at William to close the distance. ''me Wall!'' The beast was forced to slow down by the wall of mes and was about to go around when a fireball flew through the mes and struck it on the shoulder. The Liffox was thrown backward by the impact and sustained heavy injuries. The Liffox used the Life Element to recover but it was still on fire and could only prevent the injuries from getting worse. William was still behind the me Wall and couldn''t be sure how much damage he did to the Liffox, as the wall concealed both the Liffox''s vision and his. To be safe, he backed away from the me Wall to increase the distance between himself and the fox. The wall went down and the Liffox was still struggling to stand, so William proceeded tounch another fireball. This one was aimed at the beast''s head but was slightly off-target and impacted the base of its neck, still finishing off the Liffox. -Defeated Liffox: +1 Potential Point The fight wasn''t much of a challenge with William''s current strength, but he was disappointed when he saw the rewards. System, why did I only get one point this time? -Request requires 1 Potential Point. Yes/No? ''Yes..'' -The host earns extra points when killing the first beast of its species. Any further kills are only worth a specific number of Potential Points. Most Magical Beasts in the Qi Refinement Realm are worth 1 Potential Point. Thinking about this made sense to William. In the future, he would have to watch for unique enemies that would be worth a lot of points. Even though he spent the point just gained from the Liffox, William didn''t think this question was a waste. Upgrading his Magic already costs 100 Potential Points, so there would probably be enemies in the future that give just as much. William continued into the other parts of the forest. He didn''t spot any other Magical Beasts, even when he returned to the location where the Life Vein was absorbed. The tree had be somewhat dull and the vitality was receding. There were only a few Lifeshrooms in the area that had recently grown, but they were still too immature to be picked. William didn''t think much of the situation. He moved on to other parts of the forest. As he traveled along the Outer Ring of the Livingwood Forest, William killed more Liffox and earned 4 Potential Points. He was only 11 points from being able to upgrade the Fire Element again, and he grew more familiar with the usage of his new spells. Without Cultivation, William couldn''t sense the realms of the Liffox he killed, but based on the Wind Wolf Briar fought earlier it was safe to say the strongest ones were somewhere between the 4th and 6th level of Qi Refinement. Chapter 13: Popular With The Foxes Chapter 13: Popr With The Foxes William continued through the forest with more confidence. The Liffox weren''t a major threat to him, and he hadn''t spotted any other beasts so far. He moved quickly, harvesting Lifeshrooms and other nts that looked valuable on the way. He didn''t really know how to gather herbs, so even the roots were pulled without much thought. He hummed to himself while thinking about money. "Herbs, herbs, money, money. I''m going to sell these herbs and make some money." William''s singing ability was too profound for others to understand. His pace slowed as the amount of nts in the area increased. Nearly 3 hours had passed since he entered the Livingwood Forest this time, but it wasn''t even lunchtime yet. The Lifeshrooms looked somewhat edible, but William still packed some vegetables and a potato before he left his house this morning. Why waste potential money when I have an infinite supply of potatoes? --Unlocked Title: +1 Potential Point -Amateur Herb Gatherer (Common): You''ve very incorrectly harvested over 250 herbs and have angered the local Alchemist. +10% Herb Gathering Skill. -10 Reputation with Alchemists. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -Host has not yet learned any Herb Gathering skills. This title''s bonuses are mostly ineffective. Please upgrade the System to learn more. ¡ª¡ª¡ª So you give me a title and make it useless. God d*mnit System. This is basically just a negative buff. Oh well I haven''t even met an Alchemist yet. Williamined. He was surprised that harvesting 250 nts was consideredmon, how many would he have to pick for the next rank, 1000? The grind is real. The negativement from the System didn''t stop William from entering loot goblin mode. He continued harvesting nts while he had space in his backpack, and killed Liffox when they entered his view. 2 hourster, William had earned 6 more Potential Points and only had a small amount of Mana left. He found a medium sized tree and tried to climb it, but the branches were out of reach. All the nearby trees were simr, so William had to find a solution. He gathered a small amount of Fire Mana to two of his fingers and used the high heat to cut grooves in the tree that would be stepped on. After spending a small chunk of his remaining mana, William managed to get to a safe position. -Developed a new magic spell: +1 Potential Point -New Spell: me de William used me de one more time to go higher up the tree. He took the backpack off and hung it off the nub of a branch, then brought out his lunch to eat. System, open the Menu. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Human -Age: 20 -Lifespan: 45 Years (Medium physical health) TITLES: ( - ) -Manamatus (Rare): ( + ) -Loot Goblin (Umon): ( + ) -Moneybags (Umon): ( + ) -Savior (Common): ( + ) -Spell Master (Common): ( + ) -Amateur Herb Gatherer (Common): ( + ) STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 100/100 -Mana: 34/150 -Fame: 3 -Cultivation: None (No suitable techniques) TALENTS: ( - ) Magic: ( - ) -Common: --Fire: C (100PP to next rank) -Rare: --Life: D (75PP to next rank) MONEY: 8 Gold, 7 Silver, 64 Copper POTENTIAL POINTS: 98 SYSTEM RANK: F (202PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª At this rate I will need almost 12 hours to fully recover. I don''t have enough food for that! William nned to eat here and wait a few hours for some Mana to regenerate before moving forward with his exploration. He again regretted not having any way to quickly recover mana, and wondered if there were any Mana potions at the Alchemy Hall. With his new useless Title he might not be well liked, but who was going to refuse a customer? *** In the Core Area of the Livingwood Forest. A group of Wind Wolves at the Foundation Establishment Realm were ruthlessly chasing down a heavily injured old man in a tattered grey robe who was carrying a fist-sized purple rock. Just as a Wind Wolf snapped its jaws to bite him, the old man suddenly blinked out of sight. He reappeared 100 meters away, spitting out arge amount of blood. These weaklings wouldn''t even be able to touch my robe if not for that greedy bastard. the old man thought to himself. He had joined an expedition to the Lost Caverns, but there was a difficult test for each member of the group. Everyone passed, but only he performed well with his use of the Space Element and received a reward, which was the purple rock in his hands. Even though he was the strongest member, it was 4 on 1 and he had no choice but to escape. The old man knew this region was rtively harmless, but who knew that the location he teleported to would be a cave full of Wind Wolves! He could only me his bad luck. The old man only had enough Mana to sh one more time, and the Wolves were catching up again. He knew his death was close, so he tossed the purple rock into a tree and prepared to fight the Wind Wolves. *** Feeling somewhat refreshed, William gathered his items and climbed down from the tree. His Mana had recovered to 75 after four hours and he had 3 or 4 more hours of time left before sundown. While resting, Will noticed that using his Life Element to detect Mana particles in the air allowed him to sense where the vitality aura was highest. Using this method, Will traveled in a certain direction that would take him deeper into the forest by a few hundred meters. As he drew closer, he also sensed the vitality from a group of Magical Beasts nearby. The effect wasn''t much better than his eyesight, but it could help William detect an ambush. William sensed 3 Liffox with the help of the Life Element, but when he approached it quickly became 6. He was still too unfamiliar with detecting vitality, and cursed his bad luck when he found that two of them were the strongest Liffox he had encountered so far. They didn''t notice him yet, so he backed away and decided on a n. Should he fight with his limited Mana, or avoid them and miss out on whatever was deeper in the forest? No way I''m missing out on this! Those furry demons are going down! William was pumped at the idea of loot, and he wasn''t going to pass up on these Potential Points either. Based on his fight with the other Liffox, William knew they didn''t have any ranged attacks. He chose to climb a tree with me de again andunched a weak fireball at the group to draw their attention. The Liffox rushed to the base of the tree, where they growled at William, but couldn''t do much else. He threw a fireball at the smallest one which was probably at the 2nd stage of Qi Refinement. The Liffox was too slow to dodge this and took the full impact, dying instantly. Before the others had a chance to react, one of their own was dead. -Defeated Liffox: +1 Potential Point Thergest Liffox had a look of surprise on its face as it didn''t expect the human with no Cultivation to seriously injure, much less insta-kill any of them. Even William was a bit surprised at his power as he was always too scared of fighting head-on with the Liffox. It must have to do with the extra Mana control from my Spell Master Title. he thought. This development scared the group, as they couldn''t do anything to William at the moment. The next smallest Liffox turned to run but was thrown to the ground by a fireball. The healing element was triggered this time, stabilizing its injuries but another fireball ruined any chance of surviving. -Defeated Liffox: +1 Potential Point Chapter 14: Massacre Chapter 14: Massacre There were 4 Liffox remaining from the original group of 6. William tried to take out another Liffox with his fireballs before they got away, but thergest and secondrgest Liffox activated their healing element to ruin his n. He was forced to give up for now, but he achieved his goal. His eyes shed with delight while scrolling the System Menu. ¡ª¡ª¡ª POTENTIAL POINTS: 100 ¡ª¡ª¡ª There were no enemies close by and William was somewhat safe in the tree. This was the best moment to upgrade his talents. He made sure the backpack was in a safe ce, then secured his own position in the tree and steeled his resolve. System, upgrade my Fire Affinity. --Upgrading-- William felt his body heating up like before. The intensity had increased once again, but he held on. The skin on his entire body cracked, his lips turned dry, and his eyes would have watered but it evaporated instantly. "Ahhh!" William activated his Life Magic, healing the damage as it was caused to his body, but it wasn''t quite enough. The skin continued cracking and healing over and over again as he clenched his teeth in pain. The branch he was sitting on became extremely hot to the touch, only not catching fire because of the tree''s vitality. If he hadn''t moved his backpack before initiating the upgrade, it wouldn''t have been as lucky. The burning sensation continued for an hour. Will gave up on using his Life Element in the first 5 minutes to preserve his mana. The experience was painful, but William could feel that it wasn''t enough to kill him. He also noticed that the Life Element actually sped up his natural healing and helped to offset the damage of his upgrade. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Fire Magic: (C --> B) Next rank up: 250PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª B Rank, let''s go! Even without testing the effects, William knew his Fire Magic just got a huge boost. He felt it would take even less time to learn new spells. William could also feel that his natural resistance to heat had increased. He looked back at the miserable tree he sat on during the upgrade. The first branch didn''t catch on fire but was melted where his hands were ced. At the 30-minute mark, the branch snapped and fell to the ground, and William was forced to climb further while enduring the pain. This process was much easier as his whole body was equivalent to a massive me de. His hands dug into the tree and it melted like butter, allowing William to scale upwards. The backpack survived the entire ordeal, which William picked up after healing himself. To conserve mana, he only recovered to 90 health and left the rest to naturally regenerate. Status. ¡ª¡ª¡ª STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 90/100 -Mana: 24/150 -Fame: 3 -Cultivation: None (No suitable techniques) ¡ª¡ª¡ª William''s Mana was very low, and he only had a few hours before sundown, but the allure of treasure was still holding him back from leaving the forest. It was a hard choice to make, but William decided he would finish off the few remaining Liffox then leave if he had too little Mana. The group of 4 didn''t go far, and William was able to sense their vitality during the entire upgrade process. Three were currently resting together in a clearing, while the fourth was chewing on some herbs. This was perfect! William prepared a fireball the size of a ser ball andunched it at the group of 3 from around 25 meters away. The fireball traveled nearly double the speed as before and struck thergest Liffox. The fiery explosion that followed made William''s eyes go wide in shock, as all three Liffox were killed instantly. The fourth barely had time to react to the death of itspanions before it was also killed by a massive fireball. -Defeated Liffox (x3): +3 Potential Points --Unlocked Title: +1 Potential Point -Beast yer (Common): You''ve personally killed at least 10 Magical Beasts. +5% damage to Magical Beasts. -Defeated Liffox: +1 Potential Point Holy shit! That only took 4 mana each! William didn''t have high expectations before, but he now realized that an upgrade to B Rank from C was a qualitative difference. He partially understood why the book he read in the library said one would need to be a Manamatus before their Magic could reach B Rank. The gap between the two was just toorge! His spells were more efficient, stronger, and faster! Thinking about all the Liffox he killed so far, William was sad that he didn''t have a way to take them back. He could use the me de to harvest their fur, but the fireballs had already damaged their fur beyond repair. I need a less destructive element. William thought. The raw damage was very satisfying, and Will did indeed enjoy setting things on fire, but if he was going to be a true loot goblin, everything must be harvestable! He set those thoughts aside for now and focused on following the vitality aura he felt earlier. Only a few minutes passed when William arrived at another clearing, this time with a massive tree in the center. The wisps of vitality could be sensed emanating from the tree. If Charlotte were here, she would probably recognize that something was different about this tree well before William. Another Life Vein, I wonder what happens if I absorb this one. He stepped forward to harvest all the Lifeshrooms, then stuffed them in his now-full backpack. There were about a dozen left in the area, but William already nned for another trip to the forest. He approached the tree like before. -Discovered Life Vein: +3 Potential Points -Absorbing Life Vein... William''s hand became stuck again while the Life Vein was absorbed, then was freed after only a few minutes. -Absorbed Lesser Life Vein: +5 Potential Points -Life Element already acquired. Health increased. William felt a cooling sensation in his body. His pores seemed to expand but there was no change to his physical appearance. Status. ¡ª¡ª¡ª STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 100/150 -Mana: 16/150 -Fame: 3 -Cultivation: None (No suitable techniques) ¡ª¡ª¡ª My health increased by half! This was great for William, because he would have a better chance at surviving his magic upgrades. The upgrade to B Rank almost killed him multiple times if not for his Life Element, so improving that was the next n. Life Magic seems much more useful now since William learned to sense vitality. If it became strong enough, Will might be able to sense invisible enemies! Well...as long as they weren''t undead or ghosts. It looked to be about an hour before sundown, so William decided to pick a few more Lifeshrooms and return to the vige. His drawing skills weren''t great, but William took out his notebook on the way back to create a makeshift map. The general path was plotted out, andrge X marks were ced over the Life Veins he found. Judging by the spacing of the Life Veins, William guessed there should be 3 more in the outer ring. The Inner Ring was still out of the question for now. Even though William was stronger, he didn''t want to risk running into another Wind Wolf. Climbing a tree wouldn''t save him from the wind sts. The path home went without a problem. William killed two more weak Liffox, and even controlled his Mana well enough to salvage fur from the stronger one. Before the sunpletely set, William was on the road home. Chapter 15: More Money, More Problems Chapter 15: More Money, More Problems It was already dark when William returned, so visiting the Guild would have to wait until tomorrow. His mother was waiting for him with dinner, and seemed slightly worried since he didn''te home for lunch. "How was your day honey? Did you make any progress with your Magic?" Misha asked. "You could say that. I''m starving, what''s for dinner?" "You really like making jokes don''t you? Potatoes." Misha was not enthused. She picked up a wooden spoon and dumped a few potatoes onto William''s te. "Here you go. I already used the vegetables you bought on our meals this afternoon, but it warms my heart to know you''re thinking of me." she showed a soft smile. When she said "me" it made William think about the father he hadn''t met. It was probablymon knowledge between William and his mother on where his "father" was, so asking might ruin the atmosphere or seem suspicious. "We have money for better food now. Ipleted a Quest today and will be able to sell materials to the Guild." he said. He pulled out 3 Gold Coins and gave it to Misha, "Do you think this is enough for us for now?" Misha widened her eyes at seeing the Gold Coins. This was the most money their family ever had, and little Will pulled it out like it wasn''t much. "Oh honey did you rob someone today? This is too much for me." "I have more, don''t worry. I''m saving for a Cultivation Technique and will have to go when I earn enough money. This is for us." William ate his potatoes while Misha asked questions about thest few days. He recounted everything that happened so far but left out therger details like the System and the Life Veins. He was worried someone would find out about it and get to thest 3 Life Veins before him, or that they would cause Misha problems to get information. With a full stomach and a productive day, William had no trouble falling asleep. He slept until almost noon and found that Misha had already stocked the house with fresh vegetables, grains, and even some meat. William was happy to lower those food reserves a bit before heading out for the day. He stopped at the Guild as usual and greeted Jenny. She gave him a cold look but appeared less angry than before. He emptied the contents of his backpack on the counter and organized the 190 Lifeshrooms he collected. Sitting in the bag for an entire night didn''t seem to affect the quality of the Lifeshrooms much, so there were no issues. -Completed a Quest: +1 Potential Point -Completed a Quest: +1 Potential Point -Completed a Quest: +1 Potential Point (+16 More) -Completed a total of 25 Quests: +50 Potential Points The generous rewards were piled on William and he felt like he was in Heaven. His eyes previously filled with Gold Coins were now like stars. William looked normal from behind, but Jenny was currently giving him a weird look. "Give me your Guild License." she said coldly. "Oh right, here." The License was taken smoothly and returned to William with a silver star in the corner that reced the previous Bronze Rank. "You''ve made impressive progress climbing to Silver in just a few days with that repeatable Quest, but you''re wrong if you think you can collect Lifeshrooms all day." Jenny started, "The Rankup to Gold requires you toplete a special Quest created by the Guild. Since most at the Gold Rank are at the Foundation Establishment Realm, I will set your standards as such. The Livingwood Forest has been restless recently, Magical Beasts are spawning more frequently and as a member of the Guild, you are required to deal with this catastrophe. You''re already familiar with this area, so I''m assigning you a Quest to kill a Wind Wolf and bring back its corpse. You have a week." Jenny revealed a cold smile. That''ll teach you not to leave corpses outside our door. I''m still getting the smell out of my hair. she was a master at holding grudges. "A week to kill a Wind Wolf?!? I''m not even a Cultivator yet!" Williamined. "Well most non-Cultivators don''t even make it to Silver Rank. Don''t worry, if you fail you can ept the Quest again in a month." Jenny replied with a wide smile. This wicked woman is trying to kill me! William''s facial expression was awful. Jenny frowned. "What are you thinking?" "Nothing!" "Hmph!" Jenny returned to her work. A voice called out from one of the tables, "Hey bud, you need a hand taking out that Wind Wolf?" William turned around to see an unfamiliar figure. It was a middle-aged man with a thin beard and long hair tied back in a ponytail. He was sitting with two other men with simr looks. "Why would you want to help me?" William asked. "We''re doing it for the vige and to reach Gold Rank ourselves, not for you. But if you want to put it that way, I suppose it''s so you owe me a favor. Word on the street is you''re a Manamatus." the man replied. Will knew better than to trust strangers for no reason, "Hey Jenny, can you tell me their Cultivation Realms?" "Torc is in the Foundation Establishment Realm, while the other two are Qi Refinement 8." she replied quickly. Jenny leaned over to William and whispered, "They won''t hurt you, but I wouldn''t trust thempletely if I were you." He knew what Jenny was trying to say, but had no intention to go out with the group right now anyway. William shook his head, then turned back to face the group. "There''s no point in trying to hunt a Wind Wolf now, how about we try in 5 days?" "Ahaha! I like your style! No problem bud, take as much time as you need." William took this moment as a chance to leave the awkward situation. Thest two trips to the Livingwood Forest showed that he had a dire need for mana regeneration items. He traveled through the vige and stopped at a building next to the General Store. On the sign was a potion bottle and served as the Alchemy Hall. The inside didn''t have the same aesthetics as the Guild Hall, but there were still a number of people present. Most were older men and women who threw William an inquisitive look. They weren''t used to customers as young as thed, which immediately piqued their interest. Will walked to the front counter where an old fellow was waiting quietly. The elder smiled much like an ancient turtle and asked, "What brings you here today young man?" "I''m here to see if you have any mana regeneration potions or the like avable, I''ve never been here before." William responded. "Well you''vee to the right ce son, we have a few of those in stock, but recently quite a few were purchased so we only have 3 left." "No problem, how much are they?" "Each potion is worth 8 Silverd, I''m curious if you are able to pay this?" The elder raised an eyebrow. "Sure, I''ll take all three." William responded quickly. "What''s your name son?" "William." "Oh...are you by chance the one who was providing all the Lifeshrooms to the Guild?" "That would be me, is something the matter?" "Well, since you picked all the Lifeshrooms and didn''t leave any roots for other herbs to grow it has been much harder for us Alchemists to gather materials. If you''re the one responsible, I''m sorry to say but the Alchemist in charge of this shop demanded you be charged double the original price of anything you buy." William was appalled, "D-Double?!?" Chapter 16: Arrival Chapter 16: Arrival With a VR headset in hand and high spirits, Fria was about to enter Otherworld Prime. She still had two weeks of Summer vacation before college started, and had asked for time off work so she could y. She jumped around excitedly, her silver hair swaying from side to side before sitting down. She took a deep breath. A calm smile returned to her face as the headset was put over her head and the power button was pressed. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INITIALIZING... ... ... RUNNING GAME... ... ... WELCOME TO OTHERWORLD PRIME ... ... -Please Enter Your Name: "Fria." -Wee, Fria. Your character will be created based on your current appearance. Enter when ready. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Everything was as advertised, the next step was the most exciting. "Enter." -yer is advised of an epilepsy warning for the uing scene. Fria felt her body be stiff, impossible to be moved, then a sucking force pulled her consciousness into a swirling vortex. A multitude of lights flew by in Fria''s mind, resembling hyperdrive scenes from a sci-fi movie. The effect was slightly dizzying, but the effects wore off quickly as Fria grew ustomed to the lights. Her eyes blinked in amazement at the different worlds that flickered in her view. Massives with stormy skies, smalls covered in water, even a made entirely of diamonds. Her figure eventually slowed upon reaching arge with many different environments. She flew to a location close to the center of thergest green region, then touched down softly in the middle of a courtyard. The courtyard was filled with many other people who Fria assumed were also ying Otherworld Prime on opening day. Control of Fria''s body was returned to her by the game. She lifted her hand, which felt a little odd at first. When Fria tried to walk, she stumbled and nearly fell. No oneughed at her sudden movement as no one else had moved yet. Three old men in light blue robes were conversing in anguage none of the yers would understand. When they saw Fria take her first steps, all of them were utterly dumbfounded. "She can move already? It hasn''t been more than a minute!" the first said. "Is this a new record? I think thest interesting one took nearly 5 minutes. We will be lucky to see this group move before [1] half an incense stick burns." a second Elder stated. "We must recruit her to the Sect! This one has extraordinary soul power if she can withstand the world''s suppression so early!" the third Elder ordered. Fria was still adjusting to the new environment when the three Elders flew down from the sky. The first Elder spoke up, "Young Lady my name is Elder Hui Ye, would you like to join the Spirit Ascension Sect?" Fria looked up at the old men in surprise, "What is the Spirit Ascension Sect?" This time it was the second Elder''s turn. "Young miss, my name is Hui Ja. The Spirit Ascension Sect was founded twelve thousand years ago and is one of the oldest Sects on the Continent. We focus mostly on soul-strengthening Techniques and other mystical arts. We can tell that you have innate soul power and would be a perfect fit for our Sect. If you join, we will allow you to be an Inner Sect Disciple immediately. We don''t normally go out of our way to invite someone, but if you haven''t noticed, none of the others in this location can move yet." Fria looked around at the others and noticed the Elders were right. She really was the only one moving. It couldn''t just be by choice, were they still suppressed by the transportation? Fria thought this was a good opportunity for her to get ahead of everyone else, "Alright, I will join you!" "Great, follow us. We will sort out your uniform and housing." thest Elder, whose name was Hui Fan, spoke. Fria had some knowledge of Cultivation games and already knew some basic mannerisms. She bowed upon arriving at the house provided to her and said, "Elders, thank you for your help! I wonder if you might know where I can find a Cultivation Technique?" "As an Inner Sect Disciple, you naturally have the rights to learn a Cultivation Technique from our Great Library. I can take you there now if you''d like, but mypanions here still have to oversee the others." Elder Hui Fan responded with a gentle smile. He was overjoyed at Fria''s eagerness to Cultivate. "Okay!" Fria followed the Elder towards the Great Hall while he showed her key ces of the Sect. "Who is that beauty?" An Inner Disciple asked. "Shh, can''t you see she''s walking with Elder Fan?" "So?" "So it means you have no chance!" the Disciple sneered. "I know every Inner Disciple, which means she was just recruited personally by Elder Fan!" "You wanna fight?" "Yeah let''s go!" The rumors of a new Inner Sect Disciple quickly spread throughout the Spirit Ascension Sect. Without knowing it, Fria had be a hot topic within the Sect in a matter of hours. Elder Fan brought Fria into their Great Hall and led her to the Techniques section. There were dozens of rows of Techniques present, which described their effects. "Take your time to pick any Cultivation Technique you want from here, but you can only take one." Elder Fan started, "Once you''ve decided, I''ll take you to one of the Technique Elders, who will inscribe the Cultivation Technique you''ve selected to learn." "Okay, thank you Elder. Is there anything you rmend?" Fria asked. "You won''t awaken any natural affinities until you''ve be a Cultivator unless you''re a Manamatus, so it''ll be hard to tell what suits you. I rmend finding a Technique that suits all Elements or has special effects to give you an edge in battle." "Hmm, okay." Fria began looking through the manuals based on the Elder''s words. Fria spent nearly an hour in this section of the Great Hall and had narrowed down the number of Techniques to choose from to two. The first had a method to draw Qi from the surroundings to cultivate, but also could convert the mana of different elements to the affinity of her choosing. The conversion rate was decreased for conflicting Elements but was still very useful. The second could draw the surrounding Qi, but only absorb mana of one element at a time. The rate of absorption would be greatly increased if the user was in a suitable environment. For example, if she gained Fire Affinity, cultivating nearva or fire would speed up her growth significantly. She took the two Techniques to Elder Fan, who rmended she use the second Technique as the Sect had plenty of resources, and future opportunities could allow her toe back for the second methodter. There was no limit to the number of Cultivation Techniques one could use, as a weaker starting Technique would not hinder the future growth of a Cultivator. This means there is no need to cripple oneself to restart Cultivation if they discover a stronger Technique. The Technique was transferred to Fria by the Elder who knew the method, then she returned to her housing. Fria thanked Elder Fan profusely for his guidance before running inside with great excitement. Hui Fan noticed that during the entire interaction, Fria was mostly unaffected by their aura. As Nascent Soul experts, the Elders'' auras should have at least made her nervous, even if they weren''t directing it at her. "Something tells me that girl is going to be a powerhouse someday." Elder Fan shook his head and took his leave. [1] A standard incense stick takes approximately 30 minutes to burn. Chapter 17: Challenge From The Alchemist Hall Chapter 17: Challenge From The Alchemist Hall "That''s almost 5 Gold for 3 potions!" Williamined to the elderly man. "I''m sorry but this is the rule of our Potion Master." he replied with a tinge of anger on his face. The Potion Master was not to be offended. "Can I speak to your Potion Master about this?" Will was not giving up. Even if he could afford 5 Gold, Will was not going to let the Alchemists take advantage of him. "This.." the elder wanted to say more, but paused mid-sentence when he noticed a figure entering the hall from behind a nearby potion room. "Potion Master! This alchemist greets you!" he bowed deeply and didn''t bother anymore with William. The Potion Master spoke up, "Young man, your name is William? You have some exining to do for harvesting all the nearby herbs in such a manner." William looked over and noticed the Potion Master had a unique and formidable aura which pressed down on his shoulders. Even without any Cultivation, William could tell that the seemingly old man was not a pushover. He adopted a respectful tone even though he wanted to give the man a piece of his mind. "Yes Sir, I am not very good at gathering herbs, and was just aiming toplete my Quest." "Didn''t the Guild tell you not to damage or pull the roots of herbs? They give a rulebook to all their new members, can you not read? Not only this, but when one of my Alchemy Masters visited the forest, it took them over two hours just to find a sprout! It is uneptable by the Alchemy Hall that a Commoner would destroy such a valuable resource!" the Potion Master shook his fist in anger. Even though the Potion Master was right, William wasn''t going to back down any more. His previously apologetic tone changed to anger, "You cannot me me for this. If you want the materials then I will get them to you one way or another. What''s wrong is you are charging me double the price for potions!" "And I can charge you triple if I feel like it. No useless Adventurers deserve the normal price for our goods." "I can''t be useless if I delivered over 300 Lifeshrooms on your order, that has to mean something!" Williamined. The Potion Master was impressed by this kid''s courage, "Then let''s have a bet! Briar,e here!" "Yes Master!" a voice resounded from a second potion room with a door slightly ajar. The same fiery redhead that William met at the Guild and scammed in the forest showed himself with an ingratiating smile unlike his previous arrogant attitude. He saw William by the counter with the Potion Master and had an idea of the situation. Briar was gloating on the inside, but shed a noble smile at William before bowing to the Potion Master, "What do you need, Master?" "This young man has ruined a precious natural garden of Lifeshrooms. I want you to teach him how to gather herbs properly, then the two of you will hold a contest to see who can collect the most medicinal ingredients. Every improperly harvested herb will reduce your final score." the Potion Master ordered with a wave of his hand. William didn''t like this situation, "Sir, I don''t have any Cultivationpared to him! And besides, what if he doesn''t actually teach me?" "You''re about the same age, you can only me yourself for not being better. He won''t teach you wrong, because I''ll be here to witness the process. I cannot afford to have untrained animals ruining my valuable herbs." the old man snorted. "What do I get if I win?" William asked. "If you win? Ha! You''ll be lucky to gather a dozen herbs without tearing out the roots." the Potion Masterughed. He thought for a moment, "But I suppose I''ll stop charging you double price for items at our shop. If you lose the challenge though, you''ll have topensate us for the damage by renting Lifeshrooms until the herb garden is restored." This deal is bullsh*t, do they think I''m a fool? William had almost nothing to gain from this deal. "Do you think I''m a fool? I''ll just stop visiting your shop and find other Alchemists in another city." "I have connections in other cities too, boy. Don''t think you can escape punishment by running away." the Potion Master threatened. ¡ª¡ª¡ª System Quest: The Alchemy Hall has threatened the Host''s future potential. ept their challenge and defeat Briar to ensure your growth is not hindered. Difficulty: Medium Rewards: 250 Potential Points ¡ª¡ª¡ª William''s eyes shined at the Quest issued by the function. The 250 Potential Points reward was extremely tempting, but he still wasn''t happy with the Alchemy Hall''s terms. "I''ll agree to your challenge if you give me an additional 10% discount for winning." The Potion Master was surprised at William''s response. "Hmm, you have a deal young man. I don''t know what gives you confidence to ept, but I like your attitude. Regardless of the oue, our grievances are in the past. Meet with us tomorrow morning at dawn. The challenge will start the following day." "Alright." William was one of the few people who had no problem waking up early in the morning. He would have left at this point, but he remembered what the original purpose of going here was. "Potion Master, please make an exception for these three mana regeneration potions. I have to prepare for a Guild Quest this week." "No exceptions. Win the challenge if you want a discount." the Potion Master was unrelenting, much to William''s dismay. He was forced to let the Alchemy Hall scam him for the potions at 4 Gold, 8 Silver. William grumbled the entire way out of the store, down the street, and past the Guild Hall. Heined past the vige entrance, along the path, and inside his house. It wasn''t time for lunch yet, so Williamid on the bed and imagined ways he could make the Potion Master miserable in the future. "Death by fire is most suitable..no wait. What if I ate all his food and stole his potion cauldron?" Holding grudges? Nope, Will never does that. Arsonist thoughts aside, William decided to n for the two uing events. Before, he needed to kill a Wind Wolf before the end of the week. Now, he has to take part in an herb gathering contest with Briar. ''If I can earn the reward from this contest, it should boost my power and make it easier to kill a Wind Wolf. That being said, Briar has the Wind Element and will reach herbs faster than me.'' William considered his options and developed a n. He had advantages of his own with the Life Element and his high Affinity. All that remained was to practice in the Livingwood Forest and learn from Briar. ''If I had a Space Ring, I wouldn''t need to return to the vige so often and could even clear the outer part of the forest in one trip. What a pain...'' Chapter 18: Fourth Times A Charm, Intense Battle! Chapter 18: Fourth Time''s A Charm, Intense Battle! 3 hourster in the Livingwood Forest. Four Liffox fell in quick session after a short battle with William. With his current power, the Liffox didn''t stand a chance even in numbers. His fireballs were too fast to dodge and too powerful to block, nearing the peak of the Qi Refinement Realm with thest upgrade. The number of Magical Beasts in the Livingwood Forest must have increased again considering William had only been in the area for half an hour. To save time and energy, William decided to take a different route through the forest to the next expected Life Vein. If his estimates were correct, five Life Veins were originally distributed evenly in the outer portion of the Livingwood Forest. With the closest two absorbed, William had a long trip to gather thest three Life Veins. It wasn''t until two hours had passed and William killed twelve more Liffox that the third Life Vein was in sight. His Beast yer Title was also upgraded to Umon at 25 kills, earning an additional Potential Point. -Beast yer (Umon): You''ve personally killed at least 25 Magical Beasts. +10% damage to Magical Beasts. -Discovered Life Vein: +3 Potential Points -Absorbing Life Vein... ... ... -Absorbed Lesser Life Vein: +5 Potential Points -Life Element already acquired. Health increased. ... -Life Affinity has met the requirements for Rankup, upgrading for free... ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Life Magic: (D --> C) Next rank up: 300PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Show my Potential Points and the System Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª POTENTIAL POINTS: 109 SYSTEM RANK: F (27PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª So not only did the Life Vein upgrade my Life Element for free, but the System Rank still received progression as if I spent points myself. Awesome! William could now upgrade the System if he had something to spend the points on. Unfortunately, both of his Elements required arge number of points for the next upgrade. After absorbing the third Life Vein, William now had 200 max health, and his Life Element had be much stronger. He could now sense the vitality of all living things within 50 meters, with no blind spots unless the creature was not living. It was now strong enough for the System to recognize it as a spell. -Developed a new Magic spell: +1 Potential Point -New Spell: Life Sense Using this spell made it easier for William to detect herbs with high vitality but required some mana if he wanted to extend the range from 25 meters to 50 meters. The skill allowed William to better detect traces of the fourth Life Vein, which he found within an hour and a half. Surprisingly, there were no Magical Beasts on this route. William absorbed the Life Vein for another 8 Potential Points and 50 more max health. William felt a bit like a tank after this, and his natural regeneration had probably improved since thest upgrade. Because he would never let the Liffox get close, William never had a chance to see how much damage they would deal to him. I''m still not a Cultivator. It''s better not to test fate like that. He continued forward. An hourter, there were still no Magical Beasts. The air was quiet, and Will became suspicious. He was close to the fifth Life Vein, but sensed a dangerous presence he shouldn''t provoke. Lets provoke it! William entered stealth mode. He crouched down and slowly expanded his Life Sense until it was fully extended. The unknown beast was only 5 meters out of the range of William''s spell, so he carefully stepped forward, ensuring that the beast wouldn''t have line of sight to him. Life Sense covered the beast. It didn''t notice William, so he studied its shape, realizing it resembled a Wind Wolfying in the grass. It was much weaker than the Wind Wolf that Briar''s group fought against but was definitely still in the Foundation Establishment Realm. After fighting so many Liffox of various ranks, William was at least able to tell the difference in major Realms. He hesitated. What if the fireball didn''t do enough damage? Could he react in time to avoid being hit? He thought carefully, but William''s worries dissipated when he remembered having over 200 health. He must be able to survive the first hit if anything! William crept closer. A fireball was prepared in his hands with twice as much mana as before. He continued umting mana and focused all of it into thergest fireball yet. It was somewhat hard to control, but William managed to stabilize its form. -Developed a new magic spell: +1 Potential Point -New Spell: Giant Fireball This has to do some damage! William threw the giant fireball at the Wind Wolf without a noise, hoping to not alert the creature. The giant fireball flew much slower than the regr fireball but was still very fast. BOOM! Sess! The Wind Wolf was flung to the side by the massive fireball and suffered extreme burns. Its fur was damaged in many parts and continued to burn. The Wind Wolf didn''t have the Life Element, but it used the Wind Element to funnel away the oxygen that was fueling the mes. William was scared of its retaliation, so he had already prepared a second giant fireball and threw it out. The Wind Wolf had just extinguished the mes when the second giant fireball impacted, flinging it again. The Wind Wolf still wasn''t dead. It saw William and his nearly prepared giant fireball andunched an attack. There wasn''t enough time for the Wind Wolf to cancel William''s spell, but it managed tond a clean hit with its wind des. William spat blood and was thrown backward. At the same time, the Wind Wolf suffered a third direct hit from the giant fireball. The burns on its body spread and became more intense, consuming the beast. While William was struggling to stand up, the Wind Wolf was forced to use arge amount of Mana to battle the mes. Status ¡ª¡ª¡ª STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 92/250 -Mana: 46/150 -Fame: 3 -Cultivation: None (No suitable techniques) ¡ª¡ª¡ª 108 damage in one hit! Ouch! William was still coughing up blood, but he used some Mana to heal with the Life Element. He returned to full health, then prepared a fourth giant fireball for the Wind Wolf, who had nearly recovered from the mes. It saw the giant fireball rushing towards it but was too weak to dodge this time. The Wind Wolf had truly been careless to allow a non-Cultivator human to enter its territory unnoticed. As the giant fireball smashed into the Wind Wolf, only regret could be seen in its eyes. Its body riddled with cauterized wounds fell to the side andnded with a thud. -Defeated Wind Wolf: +3 Potential Points -First Foundation Establishment beast kill: +10 Potential Points 10 Points for killing the first Foundation Establishment Realm beast! William was excited about his gains. If he could consistently kill Wind Wolves, his Point farming speed would increase significantly. He took a moment to catch his breath, then approached the body of the Wind Wolf to ensure its death. With a quick confirmation, William was able to breathe easy and approached the nearby Life Vein. -Discovered Life Vein: +3 Potential Points -Absorbing Life Vein... ... ... -Absorbed Lesser Life Vein: +5 Potential Points -Life Element already acquired. Health increased. ... -Your health has improved. Life expectancy 60 years. William felt the blood in his veins flow faster, purifying itself and circting through his body. His body became more muscr and no longer looked like a bunch of sticks put together. It wasn''t a significant difference, but William felt he would be able to run a bit faster and lift more weight. William was nearly out of Mana and didn''t want to waste a potion just yet, so he decided to camp for a few hours in a tree like before. William still nned to gather thest Life Vein, but he wouldn''t stand a chance against another Wind Wolf with his current Mana. Chapter 19: Fury Of The Forest Chapter 19: Fury Of The Forest William abandoned theforts of his tree after 3 hours of rest. There was still some time before sundown, but the location of thest Life Vein was on theplete opposite side of the forest from his home. If he wanted to make it back before darkness, he would have to travel through the inner area, which was a death sentence. William used his me de to harvest the ws and fangs of the previously killed Wind Wolf, which were the valuable drops of the beast ording to the Guild. He didn''t n to turn in the materials yet, as it would reveal his strength to the Guild or any lurking enemies. Although they didn''t seem like bad people, William knew that any person who knew his secrets could cause problems for himter. He moved quickly. The Liffox that entered his view was insta-killed, and Wind Wolves were avoided to preserve mana. This continued for half an hour until William reached thest Life Vein and absorbed it. After the usual string of System messages, there was an additional notification that stood out from the rest. -All lesser Life Veins have been absorbed in this area. The forest is angry... --Unlocked Title: +5 Potential Points -Treasure Hunter (Rare): You''ve absorbed at least 5 natural treasures. Your ability to sense treasure has increased by 10%. The forest is angry? I have a bad feeling about this... William decided it was time to leave, immediately. He tried to think of escape options. Digging underground seemed like the best idea but would mean instant death if the enemies could sense him, so Will went with the next best thing. Use his legs to run like hell. The distance previously crossed in half an hour was covered in 15 minutes. William''s improved body and his fear encouraged him to increase his speed dramatically. This was further fueled when William sensed over a hundred life signatures chasing after him, all of which were Liffox. If this was just the first wave, William might have to run from Wind Wolves soon. He prepared a giant fireball while running and threw it behind him and didn''t look back. BOOM! -Defeated Liffox (x7): +7 Potential Points -Defeated Liffox (x3): +3 Potential Points --Unlocked Title: +1 Potential Point -Multikiller (Umon): Kill at least 10 enemies with the same spell or its aftereffects. +5% Area of Effect (AoE) radius. Keep running! "me Wall!" the wall was thrown out with its length extended between two trees to force the Liffox to run through it or stop. This didn''t hold them off for long, as more Liffox wereing in from the front and sides. William used regr fireballs to kill the ones in front, and me Wall to force the ones at the side to group with the Liffox behind. Giant fireball! BOOM! -Defeated Liffox (x13): +13 Potential Points -Defeated Liffox (x8): +8 Potential Points Ugh I''m getting low on Mana already and I''m only halfway out of here... William wanted to thin out the group behind him, but it wasn''t enough and wasted too much of his mana. --Unlocked Title: +1 Potential Point -Coward (Common): Crossed over 5,000 meters while running from enemies like a true coward. +5% speed when running away. "F*ck you System! I''m trying to live here!" Even though he was angry, that 5% bonus was enough to keep William a safe distance from the strongest Liffox. He rushed out of the third Life Vein region and had only one zone remaining. William gained some hope that he would survive this onught of enemies, but that hope wasn''t meant tost. The Liffox faded into the distance, but over a dozen Wind Wolves reced them. They were barely faster than William, which forced him to resort to the previous stall tactics. me Wall! me Wall! me..Wall! ... Hah, me... William couldn''t use any more spells, he was out of Mana. If he forced another spell, he would instantly pass out. He drank a Mana Regeneration potion. A surge of Mana spread throughout his body, releasing afortable feeling simr to when his physique improved. His Mana recovered from nearly empty to full in under 10 seconds, instantly turning the situation with the Wind Wolves. "Giant fireball!" He kept running. "Giant fireball!" "Giant fireball!" The damage was effective. These Wind Wolves had no way to recover from their burns in a short time, causing them to stop more often. Unfortunately, none of them could be killed as the weak ones would always remain behind to recover. Will didn''t give up. He threw two more giant fireballs, then five, then ten. He killed two Wind Wolves in the process and crippled their push towards him, earning only two Potential Points each since the first kill bonus was gone. Even so, this gave William the chance to escape the Wind Wolves'' pursuit and exit the Livingwood Forest. William''s Mana was almostpletely spent for a second time. He was thankful that he bought Mana regeneration potions or that would have been his end. He stood still for a while and panted, catching his breath after running an absurd almost 7 kilometers. No normal person could run that fast for so long, and especially not carrying a backpack. William guessed it was because of the Mana within his body. "Phew, I nearly died there...good thing I... oh sh*t!" "Help! Heeeeelp!" William ran for his life toward Thin Creek Vige. The Wind Wolves that previously stopped at the edge of the Livingwood Forestmitted to continuing the chase. Even worse, dozens more had arrived. William''s breathing was heavy as he ran, and blisters developed on his feet even though they were quickly healed by his natural regeneration. His Mana was already gone, but the vige was in sight now. "Help! Help me!" he shouted, causing some locals to turn their heads. An old man taking care of his nts looked over to see the youngd who carried a Liffox corpse to the Guild. The old man was a bit surprised at first but turned pale with fright when he saw the Wind Wolves behind William and hobbled to the Guild Hall. William saw the old man enter the Guild Hall and steeled his resolve to survive until help arrived. The Wind Wolves were only a few dozen meters behind now, which could be crossed in just a few seconds at their speed. Two me Walls were quickly constructed side by side, using up the rest of William''s usable Mana. The Wind Wolves knew it wouldn''t hurt much to run through but feared being attacked in the process by another Giant Fireball. William continued to run as the Wind Wolves circled around the me Walls. He didn''t want to enter the vige, but if he changed directions now, there would be no hope for him. Thankfully, this turned out to be a good choice. When the Wind Wolves tried to enter the vige behind William, they crashed into a thin barrier. They snarled on the other side and attacked the barrier fearlessly, causing almost no damage. At this rate, it would take around half an hour for them to break in. At this moment, Jenny stepped out of the Guild Hall. "William! Why are you always the source of my troubles?" she sighed. Her eyes shone with an icy blue glow, and an ice spike the size of a small car materialized and shot towards a Wind Wolf, instantly wiping away its life force. "Jenny is the best!" a bystander cheered. Another bystander apuded, "As expected of the strongest person in our vige, Jenny is a true genius for her to be at the Core Formation Realm at such a young age." The ice spikes continued flying out and killed the rest of the Wind Wolves in just a few seconds. Jenny still looked indifferent, and outside of her eyes changing colors, there was no other movement. Chapter 20: Punishment Chapter 20: Punishment William''s surprise was even higher than the locals who were already familiar with Jenny''s strength. His eyes went wide, not expecting the person he spoke to so casually was actually the strongest person in their vige. Jenny looked at William, "How did you manage to lead so many Wind Wolves here? Are you trying to destroy the vige?" "No! I was just exploring the forest and a group of Liffox chased me here. When I was almost away, the wolves started chasing instead! They would have killed me if you didn''te out here, thank you." William bowed slightly. William mostly told the truth, but made it seem less intense than it actually was to avoid suspicion. He also snuck in apliment, hoping that Jenny wouldn''t give him trouble for his actions. Jenny frowned, "You caused the protection array to appear around the vige and allowed the Wind Wolves to lower its energy reserves. It will take us over a month to restore all the Mana that was lost. What do you have to say for yourself? Actually, nevermind. You vited the Guild''s rules by cing the town in danger. Since this is your first offense and are a local resident, you will be punished rather than expelled from the Guild." Jenny actually liked William and didn''t want to punish him though she would never admit it, but rules were rules. She had searched her memory for the weakest punishment and found one suitable: repair the damage caused by the incident. William was depressed. Punishment after nearly dying? This is ridiculous! William was clearly the victim of those Wind Wolves, would the Guild rather he died out there in the Livingwood Forest by himself? He wasn''t going to argue with someone who was stronger than him and he wasn''t necessarily on bad terms with. "I understand." "Good, starting next week you will be spending four hours every night at the Guild recharging our array with your mana until it is filled. The only reason I am now asking you to do it now is because of your ongoing Quest, so consider yourself lucky. If you can''t handle it, then you are not strong enough to remain in the Guild." William''s face turned pale. This is worse than death! How am I supposed to keep up with the Mana consumption of an entire Array as a normal person?!? It might not be so bad, maybe the array only stole Mana at a specific rate depending on someone''s Cultivation. That being said, it would take William much longer than a month to recharge if that was the case. He didn''t want to stay in Thin Creek Vige that long and needed to go to Blue Moon City for a Cultivation Technique. "I understand..." There was some difficulty this time, but William knew it was necessary. He considered reading the rules still stored in his drawer to prevent this from happening again, but since he would be leaving it probably wouldn''t matter much. "Now go, back into the vige and meet me in the Guild Hall. We have some things to discuss." William was worried. Was there more punishment to give out when others weren''t around? He entered the Guild Hall anyway. He would probably need to wait a few minutes since Jenny was cleaning up the Wind Wolf corpses. The process must have been faster than he thought, because Jenny entered the Guild Hall within a minute. She opened the door to a backroom behind the counter and seemed to pull the corpses out of thin air and ced them in a giant cab. The cab doors were shut and she returned to William after closing the main door. "Follow me." she motioned to William as she stepped up the stairs that previously took them to the library. He followed closely, climbing stair after stair until they reached the second floor. He expected the library door to be opened, but Jenny continued forward. To the second floor, third floor, fourth. They stopped at the 13th floor. Once again, William was baffled by theyout of the Guild Hall. The hall appearedrger on the inside than outside, but he didn''t expect it to also be taller. William read many books where buildings were expanded with Spatial Magic or arrays, but never like this. It felt much different than he expected. It felt like...he was in another dimension. William shook his head and stopped thinking about it. His knowledge of this world was limited as it was, and decided he would visit the library again in the future. Jenny opened the door and her elegant legs stepped into the room, revealing the inside. William first saw an oak-style desk at the end. There were three additional chairs in front of the desk. The floor was made with red carpet, and a few paintings of epic battles hung on the walls. Sitting in arge armchair behind the desk, a middle-aged man waved to William with a solemn look. "Come in and sit down." he said. William did as instructed, while Jenny spoke to him. "This is our Guild Master. He usually stays in Blue Moon City at one of our main locations but has visited specifically because of the problems in the Livingwood Forest." Jenny exined. "It is nice to meet you, Sir." William said in a humble tone. He shifted in his seat, slightly ufortable by the attention given to him by the two powerful individuals in the room. The Guild Master waved his hand in dismissal, "I''m going to cut to the chase. Something is wrong with the Livingwood Forest and you are one of the only people that frequents the locationtely. I want to know what you have done in the Livingwood Forest these past few days. EVERYTHING." he said in a serious tone. William was flustered by the Guild Masters words. He began to recount his activities in the Livingwood Forest over thest few days. He was worried that the Guild Master would kill him if he found that William wasn''t telling a credible story, so he mentioned everything except the absorption of the Life Veins. When William talked about developing the me de spell, there was a noticable difference in Jenny''s expression. Even she hadn''t created a new spell until she began cultivating. When he mentioned killing six Liffox, two of which nearly at the peak of the Qi Refinement Realm, both Jenny and the Guild Master''s eyes widened with surprise. To think a non-Cultivator could fight against such a being, this was extremely rare in the Azures Continent. William noticed their expressions and tried to lower the value of his achievements. He reduced the enemy he fought by the fourth Life Vein to a peak Qi Refinement Realm Liffox, but the Guild Master immediately sensed his attempt to lie. William spoke of his battle with the Wind Wolf, which seemed to have a different effect on the Guild Master to before. His eyes glittered, and he seemed more excited to listen to William''s story. Sensing this, William felt the Guild Master might have malicious intentions toward him. "Sir I can go on, but I''m worried you might want to kill me. I know I''m talented, but I''m extremely weak. I can''t do anything to hurt anyone, so please don''t kill me." he tried to fake tears but wasn''t quite skilled enough. He had some effect though, because Jenny looked at him like an idiot. "Hahaha! Kill you? No my boy, you''re a genius and I would never hurt a promising young fellow in my Guild. The others would never let me hear about it." the Guild Masterughed. He was actually thinking about ways to help William Cultivate faster. The rules in the Guild were extremely strict, and even though he was in charge in Blue Moon City and a few other areas, the Guild Master didn''t have much say elsewhere in the Continent. The rules specifically stated that no senior staff members of a Guild were to help its lower rank members unless they contributed with a meritorious service. Chapter 21: A New Backer? Training Day Chapter 21: A New Backer? Training Day The Guild Master continued to ponder. With William''s story, he was no longer worried that he had interfered with the Cores of the Livingwood Forest. Although talented, only a Nascent Soul Realm Cultivator could absorb a lesser Element Vein. That being said, the benefits were too little to be of much difference to a Nascent Soul. The Guild Master assumed an old member of Briar''s family had taken the Core to help his younger generation. He thought back to William''s talents and his eyes lit up. What if he issued William a Special Quest with high rewards? If William could kill a Wind Wolf, that meant he was qualified to be a Gold-Rank Adventurer. The Guild Master could use this to his advantage to help out William and secure more benefits for his Guild Hall. "I''ve decided," the Guild Master started. "You will be issued a Special Quest after you have turned in your Wind Wolf Quest and earned Gold Rank. Jenny will provide the details when this happens." William couldn''t believe his ears. This waspletely different from what he expected. It seemed..his achievements had earned him a backer? He couldn''t be sure without knowing the details of the quest, but William assumed it wasn''t a bad thing. With these thoughts in mind, William shook his head at the Guild Master. "I would love to ept, but I need more time. I know better than to think killing a Wind Wolf will only bring benefits my way." Hearing these words from William made the Guild Master like him even more. A smart and careful kid that is incredibly talented...I can''t miss this opportunity! "So you are worried about potential enemies, I understand. I will support your stance, but what do you n to do about this?" William had already thought of his response. "Another group invited me to join them in killing a Wind Wolf for my Quest. I will join them in a few days." The Guild Master understood. He nodded his head in acknowledgment, "Go ahead then boy, but be wary of an Adventurer''s greed." He motioned to the pair that their meeting was over. "I will sir." William followed Jenny out of the room. He was relieved that the meeting went better than expected. With a new backer and an uing Special Quest, William was much more confident in his future. He felt these events would speed up his growth with the System. The battles in the Livingwood Forest and his new titles put William at 194 Potential Points. With that, he was 56 points shy of upgrading his Fire Affinity, while arge number of the points would simultaneously help progress the System towards its next upgrade. All thoughts aside, William realized he had quite a few items on his to-do list. It can''t be helped, the novels I read in the past were too unrealistic. The main character always seems to only have one task at a time, must be nice. He sighed. Protagonists sure had it easy... Jenny said a few words to William and reminded him of his punishment, then bade him farewell. It was getting prettyte, and Will needed to wake up early for tomorrow''s lessons from Briar. *** Another good rest at home brought William to a new morning. It has been around a week since I was put into this world, and I still haven''t been able to leave this vige. he sighed. William threw his clothes on and jogged to the Alchemy Hall, where Briar was already waiting. The young man appeared refined, as if William was just a minor character not worth thinking about. Briar started, "You''re here on time, good. Master has asked me to teach you the basics of herb gathering, and so that''s what we will do today. Don''t underestimate the task, as it''s much more difficult than you think." he pointed to a door near the back of the Alchemy Hall. "Go through that door and wait for me." William did as instructed. The order seemed ordinary at first, but when he opened the door a suction force pulled William in without a chance to resist. Briar was amused, as he knew this would happen. Ordinary people didn''t usuallye into contact with the Gravity Element, and William was no exception. Briar picked up some light-green gloves and walked through the Gravity Door. William was lying on the ground on the other side, causing Briar tough out loud. "Haha, get up you idiot." William was livid, This kid is so annoying! Will stood up and dusted off his legs. His angry expression returned to normal, thinking about the possible consequences of angering yet another person at this time. If William caused too much trouble he would likely be hanged. "So what are we doing?" Briar waved dismissively, "Look around, we''re gathering herbs." he put on the gloves in his hand and pointed in a certain direction to the left. "You''ll be starting over there." William finally took the chance to look around. They were in a garden loaded with different medicinal herbs, sorted based on age or rarity. William noticed the region Briar pointed to was the least valuable section of the garden, with nts of almost no spiritual quality and looked very young. "Those are Goldilocks Leaves." he pointed to a nt with a short stalk and three ovr leaves. "You might have seen them in the Livingwood Forest but didn''t think much because they don''t give off any aura. This is what Master decided we would gather during the challenge. Watch carefully as I demonstrate how to properly gather them." His gloves gave off a light glow. His right hand hovered under the leaf ready to catch, while the left hand gave off a simr green glow and pulled the vitality from the point where the leaf''s [1] axil met the stem. "Even bending the nt can damage its quality, which is why I didn''t touch the leaf and instead allowed it to fall into my hand. If you treated a rare herb the same way you treat Lifeshrooms, your herbs would only have 20% of its effectiveness. Also notice where I extracted the vitality. This doesn''t affect the quality of the Goldilocks Leaves, but allows the nt to use less energy growing a new leaf." Briar was still arrogant, but wasn''t as insufferable as before. William noticed the process and felt it was simple. He spoke up, "I can try. Do I get gloves too?" "You''re joking right? These gloves imitate the Life Element. You already have the Life Element, do you not know how to use it?" Briar was amused. "Uh..." William realized he didn''t have much to say about that. He only used the Life Element to heal himself and detect the vitality of others. Besides that, William was aplete noob. "The Life Element can also absorb the vitality of nts to conserve your own energy. The effects are minimal, but it doesn''t cost any Mana. Did you seriously not know this?" Briar couldn''t hold back hisughter at the idiot. He was extremely jealous of William''s luck and thought he would be a much better Manamatus if given the opportunities. [1] Axil: the position along the shoot or stem where leaves develop. Chapter 22: The Challenge Begins! Chapter 22: The Challenge Begins! William noticed his mistake and felt awkward. The arrogant noble turned out to be more than just talk and actually knew some things. Even more embarrassing was that Briar seemed to know more about the Life Element than him! I might need to visit Charlotte. She might be surprised to know I have the Life Element now, but I think she can keep a secret. "Just a joke hahaha, ok I''ll try now." William held his hand under the Goldilocks Leaf like Briar, then drew the vitality from the axil. The vitality was extracted almost immediately, creating a perfectly smooth line on the stem while the leaf fell into William''s hand. -Developed a new magic spell: +1 Potential Point -New Spell: Absorb "How was that?" William looked over to Briar, who was staring intently at the Goldilocks nt. His look turned serious, "How high is your Life Affinity?" William felt the situation was a bit odd. "E Rank." "There is no way you''re only E Rank." Briar pushed William further to answer the question. His understanding of Magic Ranks allowed him to guess that William''s Life Affinity was D or C. But he wasn''t even a Cultivator yet, so doesn''t that mean William had potential to reach S Rank? "I really am." William shrugged. Lying seemed to be the best option here. He didn''t feel bad at all since it would protect himter. At this moment, the Potion Master stepped through the Gravity Door. "I''ve decided to make the challenge today. You two better get ready." "Yes Master." "Yes." The group traveled to the edge of the Livingwood Forest. The Potion Master stopped to say a few words. "Both of you will bepeting to gather the most Goldilocks Leaves. I know where all the nts are in this forest, so for every damaged nt I find afterwards, you will lose 10 leaves from your total. Clearing parties have been sent to deal with the beast outbreak, but you still need to be wary. I will watch over you both, but I am only one person. Don''t me me if you die." he looked at William when speaking thest sentence. The Potion Master wasn''t worried about Briar in the least. His disciple was both a genius alchemist and cultivator, and his family gave Briar plenty of Trump Cards. Mere Wind Wolves couldn''t threaten his life. William nodded his head in understanding. "When do we have to be back?" "Be back before the sun sets. Your time starts..now!" By the time William turned around, Briar had already used his Wind Element to rush into the forest. Thankfully, he seemed to be heading in a direction where William had already looted almost everything. I better get going myself. he turned to enter a different part of the forest. The Potion Master watched William leave while thinking to himself. I wonder what gives that young man so much confidence topete with a genius cultivator... *** William spent the first half hour collecting all the Goldilocks Leaves in sight. His Life Element would fully expand for less than a second to get an understanding of his surroundings, then he would remember the location of the Goldilocks Leaves and collect them one by one. The method was very efficient, as William had almost a hundred leaves. Briar told William that the Goldilocks Leaves had very little aura. The redhead probably thought William wouldn''t be able to use this to his advantage, but he couldn''t be more wrong. William focused his Life Sense on detecting oval-shaped leaves with weak vitality signatures, which was probably only possible due to William''s high Life Affinity and Mana control bonuses. By the halfway point of the challenge, William had collected almost 300 Goldilocks Leaves, but it was bing much more difficult to find any. William still had three hours left, but there were no leaves in sight. At the same time, William hadn''t seen very many Magical Beasts. There was a singr Liffox near him currently, and another that was killed an hour prior. Besides that, William would asionally hear the sounds of people fighting from deeper in the forest. The Potion Master, who had been following William the entire time, was depressed. The process of locating Goldilocks Leaves was already difficult for early Cultivators, and just as difficult to harvest properly. William, however, made it seem like a piece of cake. The Potion Master realized that if he didn''t help Briar locate herbs, he would probably lose the bet. He left William and quickly searched for Briar. William''s searching continued for a few minutes, but then noticed that the Potion Master''s vitality aura had disappeared. I have never felt safer in the forest than now, who knows when I will get another chance like this. William decided it was time to enter the inner ring while the angry elder wasn''t watching. William consulted the makeshift map he had drawn over thest few days, then turned left and headed deeper into the forest. He was already close, so not even five minutester the trees transitioned to a more vibrant green. The vitality here was more than twice that of before, and William felt that just breathing in this ce was increasing his lifespan. He felt that getting sick in this ce would be absolutely impossible. He didn''t encounter any enemies after entering. The others must be keeping the attention of the Magical Beasts right now. William focused his attention on gathering more Goldilocks Leaves. He spread his Life Sense to the fullest like before, and the intense vitality actually helped William find more Goldilocks Leaves. The only difference between Goldilocks Leaves from the inner versus the outer rings was the size. He continued gathering the leaves, and was d that they took up less space than Lifeshrooms, else his bag would already be full. William also noticed a few unusual things in the inner region while gathering herbs. There were a few orange apples that had intense vitality, and a purple rock was lying on the ground not far from the corpse of an old man. William thought the purple rock might actually be an egg, because of its aura of life that was different from nts. William initially didn''t n to do anything with the old man''s corpse, but after seeing a shiny ring on his finger, William swapped to loot goblin mode. He checked everything on the old man, but only found the ring in the end, which turned out to be a Space Ring much to William''s delight. His excitement didn''tst when William found there was a haze preventing him from checking the contents of the ring. It seemed to be guarded by an array, so the most he could do was im ownership since the old man was already dead. It was a Space Ring nheless, so William put it away for now. He continued gathering Goldilocks Leaves without any issue, and returned to the entrance of the Livingwood Forest with his gear. I guess not every trip to this ce is dangerous, or maybe it''s just because I''m much stronger than the day I got here. William thought. He thought back to the first day when he nearly fainted from Mana exhaustion and could barely fight a Liffox, to now when those same Liffox were nothing but a joke. The Potion Master was waiting at the same ce as before. From William''s perspective he hadn''t moved. The old man looked somewhat tired, and his face seemed to have a few extra wrinkles. Briar was next to him, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. On the ground in front of Briar was around 900 Goldilocks Leaves. The Potion Master looked at William with a slight smile. With the help he gave Briar, there was no way William could have gathered more Goldilocks Leaves. Chapter 23: Benefits, Rising Popularity! Chapter 23: Benefits, Rising Poprity! "Young man, it''s time for you to bring out your Goldilocks Leaves. You better not have ruined any of my precious herbs in the forest." the Potion Master spoke arrogantly on the surface, but in reality he wasn''t as calm as before he saw William''s gathering speed. "Okay, here they are." William pulled out a stack of about 100 leaves from a side pocket of his backpack and set them on the ground. Briar looked over and snorted at the amount of leaves William had collected. Is this what Master was worried about? Ha! His expression faltered slightly when he saw William pull out a second stack from the same side pocket. Will turned the bag around and opened the other side pocket to reveal two more stacks of Goldilocks Leaves. 400 leaves? Impressive for a Commoner with no Cultivation, but still not enough. Briar had an ominous feeling when he saw William turn the bag once again. William opened the main pocket of the backpack to reveal a row of 10 stacks of Goldilocks Leaves ced side by side. "1400 Goldilocks Leaves?!? How is this possible!" Briar was stunned. I gathered nearly a thousand leaves, breaking my old training record, yet this Commoner... The Potion Master was also speechless. William only had around 300 leaves when he left, when did he gather 1100 more? Did he perhaps...go to the Inner Ring? The thought of this worried the Potion Master. Even he, a peak Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator would have to be careful in the Inner Ring at this time. Who knew what kind of Beasts were lurking there since the Livingwood Forest''s awakening? "You''ve won.." the Potion Master acknowledged. "You will be given the discount requested and I''ve decided to pay back the extra coins you spent on the Mana Regeneration potions." William didn''t care much about what the Potion Master was thinking. He was too busy looking at the System notifications. --Upgraded Title: +1 Potential Points -Herb Gatherer (Common --> Umon): You''ve harvested over 1000 herbs and defeated the local Alchemy Hall in an Herb Gathering Challenge. +25% Herb Gathering Skill. +10 Reputation with Alchemists. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -Host still has not yet learned any Herb Gathering skills. This title''s bonuses are mostly ineffective. Please upgrade the System to learn more. ¡ª¡ª¡ª William was excited about the improved effects of his title, but was disappointed when he found that they were still mostly unusable. He had enough points to upgrade the System for a few days now, but needed to upgrade an Affinity first. He refocused his attention on the Potion Master, "I hope you won''t give me trouble for winning this contest Sir." William felt that he was still too weak to be arrogant, lest the Potion Master decide to kill him. "You have my word. The Alchemist Hall won''t give you any trouble. In fact, with both the Life and Fire Element, you would be a perfect fit for our organization. Would you like to learn some things from myself?" the Potion Master asked with a calm smile. He could save some face if William were to join the Alchemy Hall following this challenge. -The Alchemy Hall has invited the host. Will you ept? Yes/No William was surprised at first that the Potion Master knew of his Fire Element. Thinking back on it, this didn''t seem to be a secret. His mother and Charlotte both knew, and he always trained his Fire Magic near the house. "Sir, I''d be honored to join, but I n to leave in the future. I''m going to Blue Moon City to cultivate, and I might not return for a long time." "Well that''s quite alright young man. I tell you what. Give them my name when you apply at an Alchemy Guild in the future. I''ll give you this for now, it will verify my support." the Potion Master gave William a small bronze token with a sideways potion bottle engraved on it. "And a warning. Nobles in Blue Moon City are much more ruthless towards Commoners than Briar here. Don''t think everyone is willing to treat you well. Some may even go out of their way to make your life difficult." "I understand, thank you Sir." ¡ª¡ª¡ª -The Host has declined an immediate invitation to the Alchemy Hall, but gained the Potion Master''s support that will reduce the difficulty of joining in the future. Quest rewards have been temporarily reduced from 250 to 50 Potential Points. +50 Potential Points. POTENTIAL POINTS: 246 ¡ª¡ª¡ª Sh*t, 4 points away... William looked at his System panel while exchanging niceties with the Potion Master. William noticed that expanding the title information would reveal his progress towards the next upgrade. The closest upgrade was his Spell Master Title, which would reach Umon with 3 more created spells. It wasn''t enough though, as upgrading to Umon only gives William 1 Potential Point. I guess I''ll have to wait until the next visit to the forest. I can probably invite the Adventurer group out tomorrow to kill a Wind Wolf. he was going to leave, but then thought of his Goldilocks Leaves. "Sir, would you like to buy these off me?" he asked. "Absolutely, I''ll give you 20 Copper Coins per leaf." System, how much are these Goldilocks Leaves worth? -Request requires 1 Potential Point. Yes/No? Yes -The current value of Goldilocks Leaves in your area is 55 Copper Coins. "Sir, that''s too little. You should know these are worth almost three times that. I''ll give you a deal though, take them for 50 Coins each." William spoke bluntly. The Potion Master thought William knew nothing of these nts and was surprised. Heughed at his attempt to swindle the kid. "Alright I''ll ept your offer." He pulled out 70 Gold Coins and passed them to William, which was pocketed quickly. "If everything is settled, I''ll be going Sir." William bade the Potion Master farewell and returned home to rest. He ate ate dinner with Misha, then let the sound of crickets lull him to sleep. *** Elsewhere in Thin Creek Vige. "Did you hear? The basket weaver''s son is a dual Manamatus and he won a bet against Potion Master Elius!" "No way, are you sure?" "I was returning from my patrol in the Livingwood Forest when I saw them counting herbs. The boy beat Briar, and not by a small margin. You should have seen Elius''s face!" "Man I wish I was on patrol with you to see that.." Word about William''s feat spread throughout the vige like wildfire. Many of the Commoners supported William and felt this was a sign of change. The Nobles were more nonchnt, thinking William wasn''t all that impressive. They knew of many Manamatus that died young or became mediocre with time. *** William woke up feeling refreshed. It''s time. He walked to the Guild Hall and asked around for Torc, who happened to be in the Guild''s arena sparring with the other two adventurers. William watched with interest as Torc used his twin shortswords to parry their magic attacks, a unique fighting method that William had never seen. Even though it was two on one, Torc appeared to be at an advantage. His nimble footwork danced across the tform while the two adventurers struggled to keep up with their Mana expenditure. Chapter 24: Torc Adventurer Group, System Upgrade! Chapter 24: Torc Adventurer Group, System Upgrade! The battle continued. Torc noticed William''s gaze and switched to the offensive. He shed apart a small rock with the first shortsword, then followed up by piercing a fireball with the second. He ran forward at a speed beyond humanly possible and cut off the head of the first Cultivator. With only one opponent left, it wasn''t even ten seconds before the battle was over. The two dead Cultivators'' bodies were pulled back together by aplex array and healedpletely. This appalled William, but he knew there was still much to learn about the world. Arrays could do everything if you were good enough in this world, or so it seems. Maybe I should learn Arrays.. Torc approached William with a goofy smile. "How''d I do? Think you can keep up with us on the hunt?" William had never watched someone fight with shortswords before, but he didn''t want to admit his inexperience. "It was a good fight. Yourpanions seem to have the Earth and Fire Element?" "Holt uses the Lightning Element as well." Torc pointed to the Adventurer whose head was previously cut off. Holt was now standing just inside the Array, bing ustomed to his recovered body. "Dual Elements, very nice." Williamplimented the group for their spar, "I''m here a few days early. Are you all prepared to fight a Wind Wolf today?" "Today? What''s the rush now? Our previous agreement was another two days from now." "Ipleted my preparations early, so I thought this would be a good opportunity for us. Of course, if this doesn''t work for you we can always stick to the previous n." "I think we''re ready now." "Alright then, let''s go." William exited the Guild Hall with the trio and they returned to the Livingwood Forest. Besides the central parts of the forest, William now knew the area like the back of his hand. With his guidance, the group was able to easily locate a region with Wind Wolves. Unfortunately, there were no longer individual Wind Wolves in the Livingwood Forest. They settled on a group of two Wind Wolves. William threw a regr fireball to lure one over, then Torc did his best to severely injure it before the second one noticed. The n worked perfectly. The first Wind Wolf sustained heavy injuries from Torc''s shortswords. The second was rmed and rushed at the Cultivators, but was stopped by a wall of Earth. It roared with fury as it quickly shredded through the wall. The second Wind Wolf was even more enraged when it found that itspanion was already dead. It ran at Torc without abandon and shed at his shoulder with its sharp ws. Torc was heavily injured, but managed to respond with a few shes on the Wind Wolf. Another Earth wall was raised between Torc and the Wind Wolf, while William used the Life Element to heal Torc. Instead of using his own Mana this time, William tried using some of the Forest''s energy. He was sessful in greatly reducing his mana expenditure, but it took a few seconds longer to heal Torc. -Developed a new magic spell: +1 Potential Points -New Spell: Nature''s Aid The Earth wall was going down, so William raised a fire wall in its ce. The wall covered a much smaller areapared to when William was chased, so the mes were much more powerful. The timing was perfect, as the Wind Wolf had just broken down the Earth barrier to run through the me Wall. Its face entered first, and it howled in pain. The Wind Wolf was blinded by the fire and thrashed out in every direction to ward off any attackers. William threw a second fireball to cause some more damage, then let Torc finish off the creature. Even though William didn''t get the final hit on these creatures, just doing some damage seemed to be enough to consider it an assist. Both Wind Wolves gave 2 Potential Points, meaning William now had enough to upgrade his talents. Torc spoke up, "Good work team. I didn''t expect you to actually be useful, William, but you surprised me. Hahaha, you''re quite strong for a non-Cultivator!" Torc''spanion with the Fire Element, Ray, looked over. "How is your Fire Element so strong? I am Qi Refinement 8, but your fire still beats mine." there was a change in his eyes, but William didn''t know what it meant. "My Fire Affinity is E Rank, so of course it will be stronger than yours." he replied. It was better to downy his talents in case one of the Adventurers wanted to fight. Ray was jealous. A non-Cultivator with greater strength than any Qi Refinement Realm Cultivators..what would happen if William started Cultivating? Something seemed off about how Will responded though. The boy must be hiding something. Maybe there''s a secret artifact that''s improving his strength. Ray quickly made a decision. "Well since those two Wind Wolves were killed, we''vepleted the Quest. There''s still a lot of time, it''d be a waste not to continue." William noticed the change in Ray''s attitude. "Sure, but how are we going to get these bodies back? We also need some rest to recover our Mana." he was looking for ways to prevent the group from staying too long. It was already quite dangerous in the Livingwood Forest since the Life Veins were absorbed. "This might solve your first concern," Torc pulled the Wind Wolves'' bodies into a Space Ring. "We can camp out for around an hour before moving further if you''d like. I think the Inner Ring is rtively safe today, maybe we will find some Life Ore." he opened his ring a second time to pull out arge camping tent enough to hold four people. William saw the gesture, but shook his head. "I can use my own methods, I''ll keep watch while we recover." he used me de to quickly scale a tree. Torc was surprised with William''s spell, "You seem to be full of surprises youngd. Alright, let us know if you see anything." William used his me de to climb much higher than before. He wanted to increase the distance between the group as much as possible to prevent anyone from seeing what he was about to do. Near the top of the tree, William opened his System panel. System, upgrade my Fire Affinity. --Upgrading Fire Talent-- The heat from before returned, in even greater intensity than before. William used Nature''s Aid to heal himself continuously while enduring the pain of the upgrade. His skin cracked and healed in a cycle, and William''s lips became chapped. His feet started heating up more than the rest of his body, and William had to contribute a lot of his own Mana to keep up with the fire damage to prevent his feet from spontaneouslybusting. William jumped from branch to branch, trying to prevent his tree from catching fire or melting. The trees near William were in a sorry state. William drew the vitality from all the trees in a 50 meters radius to survive, which turned this region of the forest into a vitality wastnd. Even if the Adventurers weren''t paying attention to William and didn''t have the Life Element, the change in a short amount of time was obvious. Without the assistance of the Life Element, William would have definitely died on this upgrade, which continued for an hour. He expected this upgrade to take longer, but was pleasantly surprised to find he wouldn''t need to make an excuse to Torcter. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Fire Magic: (B --> A) Next rank up: 1000PP POTENTIAL POINTS: 0 SYSTEM RANK: F (Upgrade Avable!) --DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE-- --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT-- ... ... --UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL-- SYSTEM RANK: (F --> F+) -223 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup Next rank up: 777PP Chapter 25: Talent Shop Chapter 25: Talent Shop *New features avable: -Shop: Explore the shop to purchase upgrades. -New Shop Panel: Talent Shop --Talent Shop: Purchase new Talents. -New Shop Panel: Companion Beast --Companion Beast: The System has detected the Host has a suitablepanion beast egg, which can be hatched here. *New Changes: -System has reached version 1.3, and has improved its Ask Function. ¡ª¡ª¡ª William looked at the effects of his new System Upgrade. Talent Shop? This might be very good. System, open the Talent Shop. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT SHOP: -Random Talent: 5PP -Random Magic Talent: 10PP -Random Physical Talent: 10PP -Random Weapon Talent: 10PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Hmm so I can spend less points and get apletely random Talent, or be more specific for a higher cost. This beats trying to find natural treasures all the time for new elements. William didn''t have any points right now, so testing the effects would have to wait. He was now more eager to earn Potential Points and see how powerful he would be. He climbed down from the deformed tree to see Torc''s group waiting for him. "What were you doing up there? The ce is a disaster." Torc was cultivating quietly when he felt an increase in Fire Element particles. After struggling to concentrate, Torc had checked the tree with his impressive eyesight only to see William''s body emitting the heat signature of a pool ofva. This terrified Torc, as he had never seen such a dangerous Fire Mage before. William felt telling a half-truth wasn''t appropriate this time, "I managed to advance my Fire Affinity after that fight." Ray was baffled, since when was advancing your Fire Magic so dangerous? Not to mention that William wasn''t even a Cultivator yet. "So you''re a D Rank Fire Manamatus now?" he became even more certain that William was hiding something. He nced at Holt, who was sitting on a tree stump listening to the conversation. "Yes, what about it?" "Well if that''s the case, we can probably fight more Wind Wolves now." Ray seemed excited about taking down more beasts, but in reality he was nning to get William killed so they could divide his items. All is fair in a cruel world like this. It''s your fault for standing out too much. "I''m down." "You''re...down?" "It''s a saying, it means I agree, let''s do it!" William scratched his head awkwardly. I forgot this world doesn''t understand modern ng, oops. The group turned around to locate one of the Wind Wolf groups they discovered before. This one was a group of three that they previously passed up. "I''ll target all of them at once, can you two hold off one Wind Wolf?" William asked Ray and Holt, who nodded. William started by throwing a giant fireball this time, but he used much less Mana to make it weaker. The speed remained the same as before, but one could tell it wasn''t by any means weak. The spell impacted near two of the Wind Wolves, while the third only received a small part of the attack. The two Wind Wolves were thrown backward by the spell but managed to stay on their feet. The Wind Element was collectively used, instantly extinguishing the mes. Holt wasn''t idle. He raised two Earth Walls in session with a small gap in the center that was too narrow for the Wind Wolves to pass through. He readied a lightning bolt and threw it at the lone Wind Wolf through the gap. The lightning was quite effective as it paralyzed the Wind Wolf briefly. It was temporarily unable to circte its Mana or prepare any techniques, and Ray tossed a fireball much weaker than William''s at it to deal some damage. Torc pulled out his shortswords and stabbed at a Wind Wolf that tried to go around the Earth barriers. The Wind Wolf was forced to back up and attack the Earth wall directly, which crumbled after a few hits. William remained in the back for the rest of the fight, saving his Mana by only using Nature''s Aid to heal his allies. He stuck close to Holt''s Earth walls to prevent any sneak attacks, as the Wind Wolves were still too fast for him to react properly. He pressed his hand against the Earth wall to make a small hole for sight, but a System notification interrupted his train of thought. -Discovered Earth Magic: +1 Potential Point So I actually have toe in contact with the Element for the System to recognize it? That makes so much sense now! William thought the System just wasn''t functioning properly, since he had already experienced Earth, Wind, Ice, and Lightning Magic but never earned any Potential Points. He refocused on the fight. A Wind Wolf was having difficulty fighting Torc, but the other two were assaulting Ray and Holt. William threw a half-power Giant Fireball at the two Wind Wolves, forcing them away from the duo. William turned back to help Torc kill the other Wind Wolf. Ray saw this as a good opportunity. He prepared a Wind de in secret, trying to disguise it as the attack of a Wind Wolf. Even Torc didn''t know that Ray had a second Element. The de wasunched in William''s direction, who was caughtpletely unaware. The de cut into William''s back, wiping out almost half of his health andunching him toward a nearby tree. On impact, William took another 40 damage but was mostly fine. -Discovered Wind Magic: +1 Potential Point Health: 122/300 William was angry at Ray for sneak attacking him but pretended to be knocked unconscious. His body slumped and rolled to the side. The Life Element circted and secretly healed William''s wounds under his clothes. He avoided healing all the visible wounds. His Life Sense expanded, and William watched Ray carefully while he fought the Wind Wolf. The man appeared to be fighting seriously, but William''s Life Sense could see a swirling vortex in his right hand that was extremely small. He assumed this was the Wind Magic Ray used. A few secondster, another Wind de was convenientlyunched in William''s direction. William willed a small me Wall into existence to block the attack, much to Ray''s surprise. The kid is still unconscious, does he have a protective amulet? How can a Commoner be so loaded? the greed in Ray''s eyes intensified. It was at this time that Torc finished off the first Wind Wolf. He moved to help the duo hold back the other two Wind Wolves. This was turning to be a disaster, as William had been knocked unconscious and his twopanions were very weak. Torc became serious. He focused on the movements of his shortswords, moving faster and faster until the Wind Wolf couldn''t keep up with his attacks. The Wolf collected many wounds over time and was forced to back up. Torc didn''t stop there. He gathered his strength and threw a shortsword straight into the eye of the Wind Wolf, eliminating its life force. Ray became nervous. If William didn''t die here, he might not have another chance. He secretly threw out two more Wind des at William, but both were blocked by a me Wall. Ahhh, f*ck it. The kid has to go today. Ray gathered four Wind des to throw at William, but as he turned around tounch them, he noticed something odd. Where is he? "Right here bud." William shoved a giant fireball in Ray''s mouth, watching as his head exploded into a shower of embers. The spell was so fast that by the time Torc sensed the formation of a Fire spell, it had already exploded. -Killed a human. +5 Potential Points, -1 Humanity --Unlocked Extended Statistic: +3 Potential Points -Humanity: A measure of your love for the Human race. If this number bes too low, the Host will be more prone to bloodlust and will be targeted by Righteous Factions. -Detected the Host was first targeted with malicious intent. Humanity penalty reverted. 5 Potential Points for killing a bad guy? Nice, I just need to make sure I''m only killing people that want to hurt me. Chapter 26: Gold Rank Chapter 26: Gold Rank "What did you just do?!?" Torc was livid. Although they weren''t very close, Torc had traveled with Ray for a few weeks now. William knew he had to choose his words carefully, as Torc could probably kill him, or at least report to the Guild. "You didn''t notice because you were busy fighting the Wind Wolf, but he tried to kill me multiple times!" William recounted the events from thest few minutes. Torc didn''t realize that Ray had the Wind Element the entire time. If this was the case, Ray could have limited their injuries multiple times during the fight. "I''m sorry for using you so quickly. I will still report this to the Guild, but Ray was in the wrong for attacking you first. There shouldn''t be any trouble for you, but it''s best if you join me in case there is a misunderstanding." William nodded. He looked at Holt, who seemed a bit nervous. "What about you? Do you want to kill me as well?" Holt began to sweat, "Uh..no I have nothing to do with him!" If William killed Ray so easily, Holt knew there was no chance for him. ''Damn, this kid has been hiding his strength. He might even be able to fight Torc!'' "Okay good. Since we are down a member, it might be a good idea for us to go back. I don''t want to waste any potions fighting." The other two agreed, so they traveled back to the vige. On the way, William killed half a dozen Liffox to boost his Potential Points, while Torc stored them in his Space Ring. William thought of something. "Torc, how expensive was your Space Ring?" "Oh it''s not too expensive, I spent 100 Gold Coins for this one but it has a lot of storage. The cheaper Space Rings go for around 20 to 50 Gold Coins." "Only?!?" William felt extremely poor. Counting the money he earned from the Potion Master, Will had 82 Gold Coins. He found a Space Ring in the Inner Ring of the Livingwood Forest, but he had no one trustworthy enough that could open it. Wait, the Guild Master might help me. he realized. Torcughed. He was beginning to like this kid. "We''re here now. Good hunting today, and congrattions on our uing promotions to Gold-Rank. I hope to hunt with you again in the future." William walked with Torc for a while longer before parting ways at the Guild Hall entrance. Torc said he would turn in his Questter as it wasn''t pertinent and he had other things to do. Torc gave some Wind Wolf teeth and ws to William before leaving. "You''re back already? And you''ve sessfully killed the Wind Wolf? Well done." Jenny acted surprised at William''s achievement, but she knew he would be sessful after their meeting with the Guild Master. She took William''s Guild License and upgraded it to Gold-Rank, then handed over ten Gold Coins as a Quest Reward. "To reach tinum Rank, you will need to visit a Main Guild Hall, the closest is in Blue Moon City. Once there, they will administer a Rankup Test whenever you are ready. I rmend waiting until you can defeat a peak Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator first." -Completed a Quest: +1 Potential Point William also took this chance to sell his other Wind Wolf materials, trading four ws and two fur for a total of six Gold. William only needed one Gold and two Silver to reach 100 total Gold Coins, which would upgrade his Moneybags title. William checked his backpack for more items, but didn''t find anything of value. Torc kept the Liffox corpses and the other Wind Wolves, so William would need to ask for something else. He whispered to Jenny, "I have something to show the Guild Master, could you help me keep it a secret?" Jenny looked over, "He''s not here right now. What do you need?" "I need a trustworthy person who can crack the array on a Space Ring." "Hmm..I think I know someone. Is this ring valuable?" "I don''t know." "Follow me." Jenny walked to the back room and opened the door for him to follow. Once inside, William pulled out the Space Ring in question. Jenny raised her eyebrows. "Where did you find this?" "It was in the Livingwood Forest next to a corpse. He must have died a few days ago. Is the ring valuable?" "It''s worth around a thousand Gold Coins, and was probably made by a Space Mage given the craftsmanship. The Space inside should be rtivelyrge, and there might be valuable items inside. Some of which could ce you in danger." Jenny took a moment to think, "I can have you meet someone in Blue Moon City since you are going there anyway. Look for Array Master Fowley, he won''t betray you with the backing of the Guild Master." "Okay, I''ll be sure to visit him." William responded. "Since you''re here andpleted your Quest, I''ll ask that you start recharging the protection array tonight if you still have avable Mana. It will allow you to leave the vige much sooner." William forgot about the array and was depressed. Four hours a night was a long time wasted. What a terrible punishment. "Sure, I''ll go now." he followed Jenny down the stairwell a few sublevels toward the center of the vige''s protection array. While walking, William refocused his mind to look at the System upgrades from before. System, open the Companion Beast Menu. ¡ª¡ª¡ª COMPANION BEAST: Hatch Existing Egg: (1) -Mythical Rat Snake: 100PP Befriend Living Beast: (0) -No Beasts Avable *One time note: The Host can only befriend beasts who are weaker than the Host and willing. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Mythical Rat Snake..I would hatch it right now, but I don''t have enough points. It will probably be very expensive to maintain also, so I will hold off until another time. The array was in front of Jenny at this moment and William looked towards the center where a giant Mana stone was ced, acting as a battery. Before leaving, Jenny showed Will how to fuel the stone with Mana, which only required him to ce his hand on the stone and output pure Mana of any Element. William put almost all his Mana into the stone within an hour, but noticed Fire Mana was much more effective, possibly because of its higher Affinity. With three hours remaining and almost no Mana, William looked to the System''s Talent Shop while deciding which to purchase. He currently has 23 Potential Points, which was enough to buy four random talents or two focused categories. The choice was simple. Use points to make points by upgrading his Manamatus title. System, I''d like to purchase a Random Magic Talent. --Order Received-- --SPINNING TALENTS-- --Talent Purchased: Earth Affinity -Earth Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Upgraded Title: +20 Potential Points -Manamatus (Rare --> Epic): You are a rare individual with a talent for three kinds of magic that appeared before you started cultivating. All magic you use will be 30% more powerful. Maximum Mana increased by 50. -Unlocked your first Epic Title: +25 Potential Points The System messages flooded William''s screen. He read through each of them with wide eyes. Epic Title and 46 Potential Points, just for buying a new Magic Talent. Is this cheating? Nah.. He opened the talent shop again to check the pricing. After purchasing the first magic talent, the price of a random magic talent was doubled from 10 to 20. So I can''t just use it infinitely if I have a lot of points, this makes sense. Chapter 27: Overpowered? Endless Upgrades! Chapter 27: Overpowered? Endless Upgrades! William used his additional 50 Mana to recharge the protection Array, then continued to look at the Talent Shop. System, purchase a Random Magic Talent. --Order Received-- --SPINNING TALENTS-- --Talent Purchased: Darkness Affinity -Darkness Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point This time, there was no upgrade to the Manamatus title, which now required five Elements. The cost of purchasing another magic talent rose to 30 Potential Points, so William decided to keep using the cheat. --Talent Purchased: Ice Affinity -Ice Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Upgraded Title: +50 Potential Points -Manamatus (Epic --> Legendary): You are a legendary individual with a talent for five kinds of Magic that appeared before you started cultivating. All Magic you use will be 40% more powerful. Maximum Mana increased by 100. Fame is increased by 5. -Unlocked your first Legendary Title: +100 Potential Points "Legendary..." William felt extremely strong, despite the reality that not much had improved. Each of the Magic Affinities seemed to affect William''s body in a different way, but their low ranks prevented it from causing much harm. The Earth Element strengthened William''s natural defense slightly, while the Ice Element increased his resistance to Cold. The Darkness Element didn''t have any noticeable effects, but as a Rare Element William knew there had to be more than met the eye. William hadn''t seen his full profile in a long time, so he decided to check. System, open the Menu. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Human -Age: 20 -Lifespan: 60 Years (Good physical health) TITLES: ( - ) -Manamatus (Legendary): ( + ) -Treasure Hunter (Rare): ( + ) -Loot Goblin (Umon): ( + ) -Moneybags (Umon): ( + ) -Beast yer (Umon): ( + ) -Multikiller (Umon): ( + ) -Herb Gatherer (Umon): ( + ) -Savior (Common): ( + ) -Spell Master (Common): ( + ) -Coward (Common): ( + ) STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 300/300 -Mana: 66/250 -Fame: 8 -Humanity: 100 -Cultivation: None (No suitable techniques) TALENTS: ( - ) Magic: ( - ) -Common: --Fire: A (1000PP to next rank) --Earth: F (1PP to next rank) --Ice: F (1PP to next rank) -Rare: --Life: C (300PP to next rank) --Darkness: F (3PP to next rank) MONEY: 98 Gold, 8 Silver, 64 Copper POTENTIAL POINTS: 161 SYSTEM RANK: F+ (717PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª William noticed he had collected quite a few Titles. The Status Menu also showed his new Humanity statistic, which Will assumed would start at 100 and go down as he killed innocent people. All his new Elements started at F Rank. William wasn''t sure how he didn''t realize it before, but it seemed that rarer elements had a higher cost to upgrade than the more basic ones. At this point, William had a few decisions to make. He could upgrade his new Elements to be stronger, purchase more talents, or hatch the egg in his inventory. William could only purchase three more Elements with his current number of points, and the next title upgrade required ten total Elements, so he wasn''t even close. The beast was enticing, but William might not be able to take care of it after the hatch, so he decided to wait until he reached Blue Moon City for that. He made a decision. System, purchase a Random Talent. --Order Received-- --SPINNING TALENTS-- --Talent Purchased: Knife Throwing -Unlocked first weapon talent: +1 Potential Point -Unlocked first Common weapon talent: +1 Potential Point Knife throwing? Not sure if I will use that, but whatever. System, purchase a Random Talent. --Talent Purchased: Mana Regeneration -Unlocked first Passive Talent: +1 Potential Point -Unlocked first Rare Passive Talent: +5 Potential Points Mana Regeneration was exactly what William needed right now. He decided this would be the perfect talent to upgrade, so he raised its Rank immediately. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Mana Regeneration: (F --> E) Next rank up: 15PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Mana Regeneration: (E --> D) Next rank up: 75PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Mana Regeneration: (D --> C) Next rank up: 300PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª POTENTIAL POINTS: 61 William spent the next hour waiting for his Mana to regenerate while looking through his options for talent upgrades. He decided that using the Talent Shop more right now wouldn''t benefit him much in the long run, so William decided to purchase one more magic talent then upgrade them with the remaining points. --Talent Purchased: Wind Affinity -Wind Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point William used the darkness element to create a darkness ball. The process was simr to creating. fireball, except the effects were more corrosive in nature. The Darkness Element appeared to destroy other Mana particles in the area. -Discovered Darkness Magic: +1 Potential Point -Developed a new magic spell: +1 Potential Point -New Spell: Darkness Orb He moved on to the Ice Element. Instead of a ball of ice, William felt a piercing attack would be more useful. He focused his Mana to a single point in front, then lengthened it horizontally. The end product was a two centimeter long needle, which could probably pierce through a Liffox''s fur. The effects of both Elements were quite impressive for being F Rank, probably because of his Legendary Manamatus title that increased his attack power by 40 percent. -Discovered Ice Magic: +1 Potential Point -Developed a new magic spell: +1 Potential Point -New Spell: Ice Needle --Upgraded Title: +1 Potential Point -Spell Master (Common --> Umon): You''ve developed at least 10 spells and have a good understanding of Mana. Mana Control +10% with all Elements. William did some testing with the Earth and Wind Elements, creating a new spell for each. Earth Wall was a barrier just like what Holt used, while Tailwind was specifically a speed boost. I have a lot of attack power, but my defense and speed are terrible. For now it will be better to focus on upgrading those. He used his 27 Potential Points first to upgrade his Earth and Wind Elements to D Rank, then also pushed Knife Throwing and the Ice Element to D Rank. With the remaining 5 points, William used 3 to raise the Darkness Element to E Rank. None of the upgrades were very painful, as he had already experienced the pain of the Fire Element. At most, William felt his body bing weaker temporarily after upgrading the Darkness Element. The hour of waiting had passed. William ounted for the Mana spent on creating new spells and found that he regenerated around 55 Mana per hour. This was over a five times increase! With Mana Regeneration like this, William could spend much longer in the Livingwood Forest, and probably wouldn''t have much trouble fighting multiple Wind Wolves by himself now. He still hadn''t tested the effects of his Fire Element upgrade since Torc and Holt were nearby in the forest, but William believed Fire attacks alone could severely injure a Wind Wolf. William spent an extra hour refilling the Mana of the protection Array. It was difficult to tell how much progress he had made in thest five hours, but William felt it wasn''t small. While wrapping up for the night, William noticed Jenny entering the room. She looked tired, "Why are you still down here? You only had to fill the Array for fours, did you lose track of time?" "I wanted to make more progress on the Array since I don''t want to stay here for a month." William replied honestly. "Oh I see, well let me check your progress." Jenny inspected the Array. Her expression showed some surprise, "Did you drink a Mana Regeneration potion? The Array is almost 25 percent recovered already!" at this rate, the Array would be fixed in under a week. "Uh...yes." Will felt awkward, as this excuse was a perfect way to hide his strength. "Oh well, there''s no need to be in that much of a hurry. Anyway, I have something for you." Chapter 28: Escort Chapter 28: Escort William was confused, "What is it?" Jenny pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to William. "Here is your Special Quest, created and assigned to you by the Guild Master himself." He took the sheet and read its contents. It was a mission to guard arge convoy of trading goods on its way to Blue Moon City. The mission would take ce in ten days. "What were you going to do if I couldn''t recover the Mana in the array before that time?" he asked. "We can cut your punishment short if you are making good progress or on your best behavior. At your speed though, this might not be necessary anymore." Jenny showed some concern for William, "Are you not worried about this Quest? Usually only Adventurers at the Foundation Establishment Realm will ept this kind of Mission." "I''m d a cute receptionist like you worried about me, but I''m strong." William showed a smile. "Are you asking to die? I better not hear that from you again!" Jenny turned to the side to prevent William from seeing the blush on her face. Cute? She angrily walked to the doorway, "Just be careful, I don''t need your death reflecting poorly on my record." So she''s that type of person huh.. Will looked at the Quest sheet again for reference, then decided it was time to leave. ording to the grandfather clock on a nearby wall, it was nearly midnight. *** Ten dayster. William showed small improvements in this span of time. He used the Livingwood Forest as a training ground to develop new spells in secret. Even with an increase in Magical Beasts, William could no longer be threatened. The Liffox were much too weak, and Wind Wolves were slower than William after he awakened the Wind Element. The Livingwood Forest seemed to calm down a bit. The spawn rate of Magical Beasts was very high, but they weren''t nearly as aggressive. Instead, the Outer Ring of the Livingwood Forest was losing its vitality. Perhaps in a few years, the Livingwood Forest would only have an Inner Ring and Core Region. He developed spells that allowed him to increase his speed by sliding on ice while the Wind Element pushed him forward and maintained bnce. William decided the previous explosive method to boost his speed was unnecessary and dangerous, so he scrapped that idea. William also practiced hardening his skin with the Earth Element. The best method seemed to be covering his body with tes of Earth. He could leave openings for his joints to avoid restricting movement, orpletely harden everything to survive a powerful AoE attack. Using the various spells, William was able to kill any beast in the Outer Ring of the Livingwood Forest. He didn''t attempt to explore the Inner Ring, as there was too much risk involved. He spoke with the Guild about the Inner Ring, and found that there were powerful Wind Wolves at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm actively hunting. Only Jenny and the Guild Master could possiblypete with those. William sold most of the materials he picked up, finally surpassing the 100 Gold milestone. His Moneybags talent was subsequently upgraded, increasing William''s Fame by another 2 points. All these plus various battles with Magical Beasts ced William at 64 Potential Points. He wasn''t sure how long it would be until he could upgrade his Magic Talents since he would be doing a mission, so William decided to purchase another random magic talent. --Talent Purchased: Lightning Affinity -Lightning Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point As usual, William tested the effects of the Lightning Element before upgrading it directly to D Rank. With each upgrade, William''s resistance to lightning and its attack power increased. He could have used lightning to increase his speed further, but it was too difficult for now. Maybe reaching C Rank would give William more control over the Lightning Element. This was about all William could do with his points before leaving, so he said goodbye to his mother and walked to the Guild Hall where the convoy was waiting. The organizer of the convoy looked to be a middle-aged nobleman with a portly look. The nobleman looked at William and seemed disappointed. A young female servant was sent out to greet William, "Hello Mr. Gold Rank Adventurer, I am in service to Baron Leff who has asked me to give you the details of our trip to Blue Moon City." the young girl looked a bit nervous, but she was still able to exin William''s duties. William was just one Gold-Rank Adventurer of about a dozen others, most of which were from different viges or cities. Each was tasked to guard a section of the convoy, and since William was the most junior Gold-Rank Adventurer, he was ced in the center. Torc was also on the convoy, and would be guarding the center as well. The man waved enthusiastically when he saw William approaching his position. Some of the others saw William too, but they lost interest after finding that he had no Cultivation. "Hey you, Commoner! Where are you going?" an unfamiliar male voice sounded. William turned his head to see a young noble with a pudgy face walking in his direction. ''Is this a chance for more Potential Points?'' he became a bit excited. No one would expect that William was already preparing to kill someone he had just met. Will spoke nonchntly, "What is it?" William''s tone angered the noble. This kind of attitude needs to be punished! "What do you mean, what is it? The f*ck is a Commoner with no Cultivation doing on this Mission? Does the Guild not have enough members that it has to send an inexperienced child?" William shrugged his shoulders but said nothing. Seeing this, the noble was about to grab William when Torc stepped forward with his shortsword unsheathed. "We fought together; I can vouch for his strength. He is also a healer." ''Nooo Torc what are you doing?!? Can''t you see I almost had 5 more points?'' William was crying inside at the loss, but he still appreciated the man for defending him. Hearing Torc''s words caused the noble to pause. The noble looked at William suspiciously, but his aggression subsided when William released some Life Mana. "A healer? I guess he can stay for now..." as much as the noble didn''t like William, healers were worth much more on a Quest like this than they had initially paid. They tried to recruit Charlotte to join, but she refused because the pay was too little for such a long trip. The noble kid walked to another area to inspect the other Adventurers, leaving William and Torc to chat about thest few days. Just after lunchtime, the convoy was prepared to leave. The Adventurers packed their things and took their positions on the top of different wagons, designed much like those from medieval times in William''s previous world. Will followed suit, sitting cross legged on the top of a wagon. He lost his bnce quickly when the convoy started moving, so William looked around at the others. The Cultivators were using their spiritual energy to remain seated but William didn''t have that ability, so he discreetly used Ice Magic to stick his clothes to the top of the wagon. The convoy took a turn out of the vige and traveled East. The sound of horse hooves cking on the ground became a metronome that led William to lose himself in thought. Will wasn''t sure how long it would be until he saw the Thin Creek Vige and Misha again, but something told him things would be very different next time. Chapter 29: Battle Chapter 29: Battle The first day of the convoy was rtively boring. There were a few Magical Beasts that appeared at the front of the convoy, but William didn''t have a chance to participate in the fight. The enemies were a group of threerge birds, but William was too far away to add them to the Bestiary. I need to find a way to battle, I''m losing points here! William called forward, "Hey Torc, does anyone up front want to switch?" "Why would you want to do that, this is the best spot. We don''t have to do anything and get a paid trip to Blue Moon City." "Do you want to switch then? My spot is better than yours." "Sure, go have fun up front." William swapped positions with Torc and moved up a wagon. He leaned forward to ask the next person to swap, who seemed quite happy to move back. This trend continued until William was on the fifth wagon. Perfect, now I can see the fights. This turned out to be a good decision, as another group of sixrge dark-colored birds appeared two hourster. [Bestiary] ins Vulture: +1 Potential Point The Cultivators in front stood up and leapt off the wagons. William watched as they drew the attention of the ins Vultures away from the convoy. Since there were six Vultures, William decided to follow the group''s lead. He started the fight very passively, as he didn''t want to anger anyone and get kicked to the back or middle of the convoy again. He healed the Cultivator''s injuries from afar and received multiple looks of appreciation. This group seemed less arrogant toward William since they were able to experience his Life Magic firsthand. "A Life Manamatus, nice! Now I have less to worry about from these damn birds!" the Cultivator in frontughed and brandished a giant axe. In between heals, William used some weak fireballs to hit each of the ins Vultures before they were killed. The group of Cultivators were surprised again when they found that the Commoner was actually a Dual-Manamatus, and not a weak one. Their attitudes became more respectful when they saw this, as a healer with strength is a valuable asset in any team. -Defeated ins Vulture: +3 Potential Points -Defeated ins Vulture: +2 Potential Points -Defeated ins Vulture: +2 Potential Points (+3 More) "Hey Newbie,e here! You''ve got a good battle sense for your age, how did you train?" the Cultivator with an axe asked. "I go into the Livingwood Forest a lot." "Oh that ce? By yourself? Impressive. I think I saw you in the middle of the convoy, did you get excited seeing us fight?" William scratched his head, "I still need experience, it was boring in the middle." "I like your spirit! From now on, you fight with us. Think you can handle it?" "I think so." "Good! Let''s take care of these bodies." the group of Cultivators put the beast corpses into their Space Rings. ording to the Bestiary, the feathers were the valuable part of ins Vultures, and William was given a feather for his contribution. They returned to the convoy. The group continued to be the first to fight during the next few days. William''s Mana Regeneration turned into a valuable asset here, since he didn''t need to be as stingy with his Mana usage. There weren''t many nts nearby to draw vitality from, so William had to use more of his own Mana to heal others. --Upgraded Title: +1 Potential Point -Savior (Umon): You have saved ten lives. Healing effects are 10% stronger. The upgraded Savior title helped William to save more Mana, allowing him enough time for a full Mana recovery between each fight. William''s easygoing trip didn''t stay that way. At dawn on the fifth day William was awoken by the shouts of two Cultivators using Wind Magic. He recognized the two as scouts who were supposed to be a few kilometers ahead of the convoy. "Beast tide! Beast tide! Estimated size is around 60 ins Vultures! They will be here in ten minutes!" "60? F*ck this is going to be rough.." a Cultivator mumbled next to William. The noble at the lead of the convoy called out. "Have everyone in the convoy move to the front. Two will stay at the rear, and one at the center. Go now!" he was surprisinglypetent for the situation, which spoke volumes of his experience as a noble. The Cultivators did as they were told. They formed a line in front of the convoy, while the Mages built walls with their respective Elements. William used the chaos to his advantage to strengthen the Earth and Ice walls that were built, only leaving gaps tounch spells from. Preparations werepleted quickly. William looked up to see a dark cloud approaching from about a kilometer away. Two minutester, William could make out the shape and sizes of the ins Vultures. His eyes turned serious when he noticed a ins Vulture that was muchrger than the rest, probably at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm, or maybe even the Core Formation Realm. There were very few people in their group that could keep up with an enemy of that caliber, none could do it alone. Now wasn''t the time to hide his strength, William had to reduce the number of enemies. He prepared a giant fireball at full power. The Mana continued surging towards the spell until it started losing stability. The Cultivators next to William saw what was happening and opened their mouths in shock. That spell is almost as strong as a Core Formation Realm Cultivator, how is it possible? the axe-wielding Cultivator was stunned. The giant fireball wasunched when the ins Vultures were within 200 meters. It flew as fast as William''s normal fireballs when they were B Rank and exploded a few secondster. -Defeated ins Vulture (x20): +40 Potential Points -Defeated ins Vulture (x6): +12 Potential Points --Upgraded Title: +3 Potential Points -Beast yer (Umon --> Rare): You''ve personally killed at least 100 Magical Beasts. +20% damage to Magical Beasts. The ins Vultures were each as strong as a Wind Wolf, yet William treated them like they were Liffox. The explosion instantly crippled the beast tide, even causing some minor damage to the leader of the ins Vultures. The vultures that survived the first impact couldn''t resist and were burned to death without a chance to resist. "What was that.." "How can a non-Cultivator be so strong?" The Cultivators nearby didn''t have a chance to further express their shock as William threw a second Giant Fireball at the group of ins Vultures. -Defeated ins Vulture (x8): +16 Potential Points -Defeated ins Vulture (x3): +6 Potential Points What was previously a desperate situation for the Cultivators turned into just another difficult battle. With less than half their group remaining, William and the other Cultivators were able to finish off the remainder with minimal casualties. Even the leader of the ins Vultures onlysted a few minutes under the continuous bombardment of over a dozen Adventurers. Those who were severely injured were healed to full by William, and he was rewarded by the group with thergest portion of the loot. William didn''t have a lot of space in his bag, so he traded some of his vulture feathers for Gold Coins. William was now quite rich with 140 Gold, but it wasn''t enough for a Cultivation Technique. He was going to ask the others how they managed to Cultivate, but he noticed that there were only middle-aged men among the Cultivators. They probably worked for years to earn as much money as William had in a few weeks. Chapter 30: Blue Moon City Chapter 30: Blue Moon City Following the beast tide, William became famous among the convoy. The nobles nor any of the Cultivators dared to disrespect him anymore. He enjoyed many benefits such as being allowed to freely roam the convoy, and the nobleman even invited William to eat a steak dinner. How could Will refuse that? The steak was the most delicious thing he had tasted since entering this world. Torc was losing his mind. He knew William was stronger than he appeared based on how he dealt with Ray, but he didn''t expect this oue. He probably felt forced to reveal his strength to prevent casualties. That''s quite an honorable act for someone his age... Torc''s respect for William grew, but so did his worry. Having lived more than thirty years, Torc knew not everyone would appreciate William''s talent. There were probably many jealous Adventurers in their group. William reminded Torc of his younger brother. When Torc''s brother was 23 many years ago, Torc watched him die by the hands of bandits that were hired by a jealous young noble. Torc''s brother was a very talented man, who was a Light Manamatus at the age of 15. I''ll have to keep a more watchful eye out. The kid needs to survive. *** William fought alongside the other Cultivators to gain more experience over the next few days. The Magical Beast attacks dwindled as the group approached Blue Moon City, but William still reached 237 Potential Points by the time they arrived. Fighting with other Cultivators is so much more profitable, but it''s also quite risky. William thought. Some of the Cultivators who showed admiration before seemed to be a bit jealous of the treatment William received from the nobleman. He wasn''t worried about someone trying to hurt him in the open, but William wasn''t confident in surviving an assassination. He spent thest day of the trip at the middle of the convoy with Torc, since there probably wouldn''t be any more Magical Beast attacks. William took a short rest. When his eyes opened, the first thing he noticed was a sprawling City with many buildings over a hundred stories tall. The City was surrounded by a circr wall 50 meters tall and 5 meters thick, making it difficult to see what was going on inside. There were guard towers evenly spaced on the wall, each fitted with a magic ballistae. Above the City, William could see many Cultivators in a mix of traditional or modern outfits flying on swords or just hovering in the air. Some were flying in circles or figure-eights while others traveled at high speeds to other parts of the City. Even in William''s old world, he had rarely visited a City of this scale. William estimated the poption to be in the millions, but with the help of the Space Element, perhaps the city was evenrger. The convoy arrived at the City entrance and the guards checked the nobleman''s documents. They inspected all of the wagons, then conducted background checks on each Adventurer entering the city. -Entered Blue Moon City: +5 Potential Points Once they were cleared, the nobleman spoke up, "Thank you all for escorting our goods. Please visit the Guild Hall located here to pick up your Quest rewards. Oh and Mister William, we have another trip scheduled to your vige in three months if you would like to apany us." the nobleman performed a light bow that was apletely different attitude from before. The other Adventurers looked at William and shook their heads. If only they were as talented as William, then maybe they would receive such good treatment. "Thank you Sir, I will be sure to consider joining you again next time." William responded with a bow of his own. He didn''t really like it, but the nobleman might have ways to make him even more money. That was an offer too good to pass up. William joined the Cultivators that were going to the Guild Hall since he didn''t know the way. He admired the luxurious buildings on each side of the paved road that seemed to be out of another age. There were no vehicles or bicycles, so William assumed the road was purely aesthetic. Even the Guild Hall was much nicer. There was a line behind the main entrance, and when the group reached the inside, they were greeted by a Hall of simr style to Thin Creek Vige, but on a scale a hundred times the size. There were two identical Quest boards, one on each side of the receptionist counter. Behind the counter were two stunningly beautifuldies with brown hair and light green eyes. They looked at each Adventurer with a sweet smile that would melt anyone''s heart. Even angry Adventurers would have nothing left to say after exchanging a few words with the receptionists. The Adventurers of William''s group turned in their Quest one-by-one and received their rewards. -Completed a Quest: +3 Potential Points While the receptionist was handling his Quest rewards, William asked, "Do you know where I can find Array Master Fowley?" "Array Master Fowley?" the first receptionist, Sara, was a bit surprised. "He should actually be upstairs right now in a meeting with the Guild Master. Do you need anything from him?" she smiled. "Yes, actually I needed to talk to him about something. Is it okay if I wait here for him?" William asked. "Sure, but I can''t guarantee he will agree to meet you. Here are your Quest rewards." Sara handed William twenty Gold Coins. William thanked Sara and looked around the Guild Hall for a few minutes. He noticed the Quest board had more options than in Thin Creek Vige. Among a few dozen quests, three of which stood out to William. 3* [Gather: 1 Seven-Colored Lily] 4* [y: 10 Redwood Orcs] 6* [y: Nascent Soul Lightning Drake] The Lightning Drake Quest is here too, and the reward is 5 thousand Gold Coins. Too bad I''m not strong enough, I would be rich! The other quests seemed more down to William''s level. The Escort Quest previously assigned to Will was also 3-Star Difficulty and didn''t push him too hard after all his upgrades. He watched a few duels in the Arena while waiting for Array Master Fowley. To see the figures clearly, William had to cheat using Life Sense. William''s perception had improved quite a bit since he gained the Life Element, but was stillcking when just using his eyes. Someone approached from the side, "Hey kid, are you trying to duel?" William looked over to see a girl with long blue hair wearing modern-style athletic clothing. She looked to be somewhere between 20 and 25, yet she still called him a kid. He was a bit surprised with the clothing choice, as traditional clothing wasmon in this region of the city. "No, sorry I''m waiting for someone and just watching. Maybe some other time." The girl frowned. It really looked like he enjoyed fighting though..maybe I used the wrong approach. "Oh it''s okay if you don''t want to fight, my name is Novea. Do you want to go somewhere else and find something to eat with me?" "Huh? I just told you I''m waiting for someone." Novea realized her mistake, which made her lose reputation with William. She decided it was best to give up for now. "Okay, sorry! I hope to see you again Mr. William!" she shed a smile, then walked off mumbling, "Damn NPCs..." Chapter 31: Array Master Fowley Chapter 31: Array Master Fowley How does she know my name? I can''t believe she just called me an NPC. I guess ng doesn''t change much, even in a new world. William was at least happy that the girl didn''t continue bothering him. He continued watching the fights with interest. Two rich-looking young males walked into the Arena carrying swords with exquisite designs. They bowed before taking a step back and waiting for a nearby judge to call the start of the duel. Their movements were faster than William''s Life Sense could urately follow. They were both probably in thete stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm, yet looked to be in their early twenties. Will stopped paying attention to the fight since he wouldn''t learn anything. He went back to the Quest board out of boredom. Sara notified William half an hourter that the Array Master was finished with his meeting. An old man with a round face and a bald head stepped down the stairs with a serious look. "You have one minute young man. State your business." "Sir, Jenny from Thin Creek Vige rmended me to you. She said you might be able to help me crack the array on a Space Ring." "Many people can do that, why didn''t you look for someone else?" Fowley asked. "This one is special, it might draw some attention out here." William wasn''t willing to borate in the open Guild Hall. "Alright, Rui can you prepare us a room to talk?" Fowley spoke to the other Guild receptionist next to Sara. "Yes Sir." Rui shed a sweet smile, then injected some Mana into an Array wheel located on her desk. A portal appeared behind her, which Fowley and William entered together. The other side was a medium sized room with a red velvet couch. There were two luxurious chairs and a small ck table. Fowley walked to one of the chairs and sat down. "Show me the ring." William nodded. He pulled the Space Ring out of his backpack and handed it to Fowley. The Space Ring floated in the air and spun at a slow speed. An Array circle appeared in front of Fowley''s eye as he inspected the ring with interest. "Ah, so it was created by a Space Mage. I can see why Jenny rmended you to me." he let the Space Ring drop back into his hand and gave it back to William. "If you want me to open this Space Ring for you, I''m going to need some payment. You''re affiliated with the Guild already, and I can sense Guild Master Elius''s mark of approval on you, so I will crack the Array at an 80 percent discount for the first time only." William was surprised that his backer was able to provide so much support without even being present. William didn''t even sense a mark, when did this happen? Either way, it wasn''t a bad thing. "Thank you for the discount Sir, how much do I need to pay you?" "This time it will be 20 Gold Coins." So I would have to spend 100 Gold Coins normally...I''m so poor. William paid Fowley the requested amount. He now had a bit over 140 Gold, which was still a long way from purchasing a Cultivation Technique. The Array Master spoke up, "Normally I could open a Space Ring in just a few minutes, but this one will take a few hours. Two other customers have requested my services and they take priority. Come back for your ring tomorrow. There is no need to worry about me stealing the Space Ring''s contents. I won''t even inspect the insides, you have my word." "Thank you for the help Sir. I will return here tomorrow." "No,e to my Array Hall. I will show you the way since you''vee so far. Think of it as a gesture of good will." the Array Master had something to ask of William, but it couldn''t be said here in front of the Guild. The room might appear private, but even Fowley''s status couldn''t prevent Guild Staff from eavesdropping. William and Fowley exited the private room together. Fowley gave the receptionists a nod before stepping out of the Guild Hall. They walked along the street for roughly half a kilometer until William spotted the Array Hall. Different from the Guild and the Alchemy Hall, the Array Hall disyed many statues and carvings on the grass next to the walkway. Most of the statues had human-like appearances, but some were of fierce demons or Magical Beasts. They held various expressions, and emitted a slight pressure. William felt that fighting any one of the statues would result in his instant death. Fowley noticed William''s expression. "Those are some of the Guardians of Blue Moon City. When the City is threatened, these can be released from their bindings to defend the Array Hall and many nearby buildings. They are quite powerful, so we keep them sealed to prevent any idents." "What if they get loose on their own? Won''t they attack us?" William wasn''t afraid of danger, but isn''t it a bit risky to keep such dangerous men and beasts in your front yard? "Not likely. Although most of the sealed creatures are enemies of humanity, there are many arrays that prevent them from properly distinguishing friend or foe." the Array Master was proud of these statues, as he and the other Masters spent many years restricting them all. The Array Master opened the door to the Array Hall. "Those things aren''t important right now,e inside." William did as he was told. I have been putting my life in the hands of strangers quite a lottely...good thing there are no white vans in this world. The door closed behind William while he was looking at the inside. Like many other buildings, the inside appeared muchrger than from the outside. The interior was quite in, with only a waiting lounge and a front counter. The rest was mostly hidden by a series of closed doors lining either side of the building. Next to the front counter on either side was a set of stairs that led to a balcony and a singlerger door, probably meant for the leader of the Array Hall. Fowley opened the first door on the left and led William inside. There was no sound as the door closed behind him, and with a movement of Fowley''s hands, arge number of Arrays appeared on the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room. Fowley continued waving his hands, causing a secondyer of Arrays to appear. His eyes focused, causing the space to crack around the Array edges. William reached out to touch one, causing his finger to instantly be sliced off his hand. -Discovered Space Magic: +3 Potential Points "Don''t touch that, you lunatic!" Fowley berated William. He was about to continue when William glowed light-green and instantly healed the missing finger. The Array Master sighed, What a reckless individual. "I''ve sound-proofed this room. No one from the outside can hear us, not even the Head Array Master. We can now freely talk about the real reason why I agreed to meet with you." Chapter 32: Repel Mana Chapter 32: Repel Mana William felt awkward when he realized his life nearly ended when touching the unstable space, but Array Master Fowley''s words had him confused. "Is there something else you wanted to talk about, Sir?" "How many Elements do you have, kid?" with Fowley''s strength, it wasn''t difficult to sense the Affinities of those he met. Except William. At first nce, William was a peasant through and through. He had the signature clothes, no Cultivation, and walked around as if everything was a new experience. If one with strength simr to Fowley''s took a second look, however, they might notice that William''s body was actively attracting the Mana particles of many Elements. He didn''t dare peek too much while in the Guild, but now only he and William were present. Fowley could see a dense cloud of Fire Mana particles, apanied by many particles of the Life Element. The more Fowley investigated, the more shocked he appeared. Amid the Fire Mana was a hint of the Earth, Wind, Ice, and Darkness Elements. The particles were very chaotic, but Fowley could sense that there was at least one more Element present. Seven Elements! William wasn''t even a Cultivator yet! If he could progress further, William might be a powerhouse of the world. Fowley''s expression changed many times in the span of a second, his thoughts moving at a rapid pace. His expression of joy and hope turned to worry and despair as he realized William had too many Affinities. If someone else finds out, they might try to kill him or worse. I can''t let this happen! William was still struck with shock after being seen through by the old Array Master. This was a bad idea, he might kill me now! Will wanted to escape, but where could he go? The entire room was sealed off, with not even a way to call for help. "Young man, don''t be worried. I have no ns to kill you or reveal your secret. Your Guild Master and I are good friends." the Array Master spoke in a hurry. He continued, "You have an impressive Magic talent, but this is quite dangerous. Too many people will notice and take advantage of you." William had already thought of this, but the Array Master seemed to have something else to say. "What should I do?" "I also want to take advantage of you, but you need to survive first. I''ll teach you a technique to better conceal your Mana signature. It''s not foolproof, but it should lower your chances of being detected. I rmend you stay low-profile or join a Sect that can protect you." William epted Fowley''s offer and proceeded to spend the next hour learning the concealment technique. The method taught William to actively repel the nearby Mana, effectively tricking Cultivators into underestimating his Affinity. With this, most Nascent Soul Realm Cultivators would think William was a talented Dual Manamatus, but nothing else. -Developed aplex new spell: +5 Potential Points -New Spell: Repel Mana William didn''t expect it would be so easy to detect someone''s Mana signature. He was thankful the issue could be resolved with Fowley before he encountered any real trouble. Fowley spoke up when they were finished. "We''re all done here, but if you wish to learn Arrays you can visit the Array Hall anytime. You''ll have to qualify the same as anyone else through a test, but once you seed I can teach you a thing or two." William was actually very interested in Arrays, which seemed to perform miracles. Arrays could revive the dead in the Guild Hall Arena, or open locked doors. With enough knowledge of Arrays, one could even open Space Rings. It was an invaluable skill. "I don''t know anything about Arrays Sir, how can I possibly pass a test?" "It''s much easier than you think. If you have any talent for Arrays, you will have no problem passing the test." Talent? William was reminded of the talent shop function. "Thank you, Sir. I will return to the Array Hall tomorrow for the Space Ring. Are there any private training rooms around here?" "Go to the hotel next door and they should be able to help you." Fowley replied while opening the Array for William to leave. At the nearby hotel, William was currently crying inside. The cheapest training rooms were 1 Gold Coin per hour! He begrudgingly rented a standard training room for three hours at a price of 5 Gold Coins per hour. A necessary expense.. The standard training room held a benefit that the cheap ones did not, privacy. William nned to upgrade his talents and didn''t want to draw any attention. System, show me the Talent Shop. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT SHOP: -Random Talent: 15PP -Random Magic Talent: 60PP -Random Physical Talent: 10PP -Random Weapon Talent: 10PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª He decided it would be good practice to always buy Magic Talents if possible when he used the shop, since that was his strongest Talent so far. Purchase a Random Magic Talent. --Talent Purchased: Water Affinity -Water Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point Purchase another Random Magic Talent. --Talent Purchased: nt Affinity -nt Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Unlocked Title: +20 Potential Points -Seven Colored Mage (Epic): You''ve acquired seven Common Elements. Spells are 10% more Mana Efficient. Only two more to go before the next Title upgrade. It''s time to improve my other talents. Using Magic was intoxicating, but William felt that more Affinities didn''t necessarily improve his strength. What if he had to fight in closebat? What if the enemy was immune to Magic? There were too many ways to counter a Mage in a Cultivation world. Purchase a Random Talent. --Talent Purchased: Speed -Unlocked first Physical Talent: +1 Potential Point William felt he had be faster. Not just his running speed, but also how quickly he could swing his arm. He could even snap his fingers faster than before. He performed some tests, finding that his natural running speed was close to that of a Qi Refinement Realm Cultivator. This is perfect for me! I don''t even need the Wind Element if I can upgrade this enough! What would happen if the skill reached S Rank? Continue! Purchase another Random Talent! --Talent Purchased: Herb Gathering A rush of knowledge was directly transmitted into William''s brain. Information on different herbs, where they were found, and the methods to gather them instantly gave William a headache. After the upgrade, William felt that harvesting Lifeshrooms and Goldilocks Leaves was the most simple thing that anyone could do in their sleep. The effects of William''s Herb Gathering title also went into effect. He felt the skill was as strong as E Rank before any upgrades. System, show my Potential Points. POTENTIAL POINTS: 111 I still have enough, perfect! William looked through the System panel once more, then quickly made a decision. System, I''d like to hatch an egg. -Please select the egg you would like to hatch. --Mythical Rat Snake: 100PP -Detected only one egg is avable for hatching, confirm? Yes/No Yes. ¡ª¡ª¡ª --Hatching Process Initiated-- ... ... --Please wait... ¡ª¡ª¡ª The purple rock flew out from William''s bag and hovered in the air. It spun slowly, glowing with a purple light. Energy was poured into the egg as nourishment, causing cracks to develop on the egg''s exterior. A hole was formed. William could see a small purple snake only a few inches long curled up inside that opened its eyes when it sensed his gaze. It blinked, then slithered through the hole in the egg, hovering in the air. William held out his hand to catch the floating snake. It slithered along his hand and coiled itself around his middle finger like a ring. -Egg Hatched: Mythical Rat Snake -Hatched your first Companion Beast: +10PP -Hatched your first Mythic Beast: +500PP Chapter 33: Atticus, E Rank System! Chapter 33: Atticus, E Rank System! Another 750 points? These first-time rewards are insane! System, why are the upgrades so unbnced? he spent a point on the Ask Function. -The System is not unbnced. The Host is currently developing quickly only because of first time rewards and through Title upgrades. For reference, the Host has spent many points on Talent upgrades, yet can only barely fight a peak Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator. It made sense to William on second thought. Without the first time bonuses, he would need to kill over a thousand Qi Refinement or five hundred Foundation Establishment Beasts to earn as many Potential Points as he has so far. He inspected the new rat snake on his finger. It was surprising to think such a small guy was actually a beast with amazing potential. William decided to name the rat snake Atticus. It was a newborn, so William didn''t ask it to do anything. For now, it was good enough knowing he had a future helper that he could trust. He purchased two more Magic Talents with 170PP to upgrade his Manamatus title. --Talent Purchased: Light Affinity -Light Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Talent Purchased: Poison Affinity -Poison Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point ''Poison Element? That''s a nice upgrade.'' William didn''t n to use it much, but upgrading it would increase his poison resistance. Who knew if someone would try to poison his food in the future? --Upgraded Title: +500 Potential Points -Manamatus (Legendary --> Mythic): You are the first and only individual with a talent for ten kinds of Magic that appeared before you started Cultivating. All Magic you use will be 50% more powerful. Maximum Mana increased by 250. Fame is increased by 10. -Unlocked your first Mythic Title: +1000 Potential Points Seems pretty unbnced to me! William looked at his 2273 Potential Points. The difficult choice was which skills he should invest in. William felt he had more than enough Magic Affinities now that his title had been upgraded. The next upgrade was at 25 Magic Affinities, which would take too long. He decided it would be best to earn more skills and then decide afterwards. System, purchase 10 Random Talents. --Talent Purchased: Cooking --Talent Purchased: Fists --Talent Purchased: Alchemy --Talent Purchased: Nothing --Talent Purchased: Nothing --Talent Purchased: Stamina --Talent Purchased: Nothing --Talent Purchased: Arrays --Talent Purchased: Reflexes --Talent Purchased: Mining William''s head began to hurt again as he learned many different skills one at a time. The knowledge of different cooking methods, temperature control, and ingredients flooded his brain. William didn''t learn anything from the fists skill, but he felt he could use muscle memory to perform many different techniques he didn''t know of before. Alchemy wasn''t much different from cooking. He learned the different medicinal ingredients and the effect they had during the pill refining process. The Arrays talent was the mostplicated. William learned of different characters called Runes. These were the foundation of every Array in existence. Each Rune had a different purpose. For example, William could create a Strength Array out of many strength Runes, allowing a boost to the physical abilities of the user as long as they were standing inside. The knowledge finished flowing and Will looked at the System notifications. 3 duds out of 10 spins? What a scam. William couldn''tin much as the cost of Random Talents was much lower than the others, and he got many useful skills this time. It seemed that there wasn''t a 100 percent chance of obtaining a skill though. He scrolled further. --DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE-- --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT-- ... ... --UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL-- SYSTEM RANK: (F+ --> E-) -313 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup Next rank up: 1687PP *No New features avable -The Companion Beast function was designed for E Rank, but the System detected the Host met the requirements early. *New Changes: -System has reached version 1.4, and has improved the Talent Shop and the Ask Function. The Host can now purchase a random trade talent for 25 Potential Points. -Talents purchased in the Talent Shop will now start at Rank E. -Detected the Host already has two trade talents: Arrays and Alchemy. The Status Menu has been readjusted. I just got a lot of new skills and NOW you want to tell me I could have saved some points? William berated the System. Anyways, I think I have enough skills now. Time for some upgrades! William looked through his options and decided Arrays and his physical ability were the most important for now. He also had just enough points to upgrade the System a second time. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Arrays: (F --> E) Next rank up: 5PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª More knowledge filled William''s brain. He instantly memorized over 150 different Runes. He also learned that you couldbine Runes of different categories as long as they werepatible with each other. With this, William would be able tobine Strength and Speed Runes in an Array to create an Array of Power. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Arrays: (E --> D) Next rank up: 25PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª D Rank Arrays taught William tobine multiple Runes of the same type to create stronger versions. He learned of different levels of Runes, which are Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and Perfect Runes. The Runes he knew from before were only at the Basic level, but he couldbine four of them to create an Intermediate Rune, which forms an Intermediate Array. William was addicted to the feeling of learning new things with ease and bing powerful. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Arrays: (D --> C) Next rank up: 100PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª C Rank Arrays were all about learning more Runes and how to create moreplicated Arrays. This upgrade took nearly 15 minutes, but William was able to learn over five thousand Runes. He discovered methods to create many Arrays for stealth, barrier, and even offense. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Arrays: (C --> B) Next rank up: 250PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Creating an Advanced Rune was not just aboutbining many weaker Runes. This time, one would have to start from the beginning by creating an Intermediate Rune directly, which seemed impossible based on the previous upgrades. William sat cross-legged while taking in the instructions from the System. To create an Intermediate Rune directly, William would need to simultaneously create four of the same Basic Rune, but instead ofbining them, he would dismantle the Runes into a mysterious existence called Rune Particles. Only by using these could an Advanced Rune be formed, which was thebination of four Intermediate Runes created this way. Again! -System cannot upgrade Arrays Talent further. The Host''s mind is too weak and would copse. Huh? System, how do I improve my mind?'' he used the Ask Function. -The Host can improve his mind by Cultivating and improving his Rank, or unlocking the Mind Talent. Mind Talent? William had a new goal. It probably wouldn''t be a great idea for him to waste all his points on these spins though. He upgraded his Speed, Stamina, and Reflexes to B Rank all at once using 393 Potential Points. He used another 131 Points to upgrade his Fists to B. POTENTIAL POINTS: 1142 He looked at the little snake on his finger. System, can my Beasts be upgraded? ¡ª¡ª¡ª BEASTS: -Mythic: --Atticus (Mythical Rat Snake): F (50PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª 50 Points for the first upgrade? This snake must be quite strong. Upgrade Atticus. --Upgrading Atticus-- William watched as the rat snake on his finger twirled around. It slithered onto the back of his hand and stretched out. Its body emitted a purple glow, expanding to a length of four inches, almost double the size from before. ¡ª¡ª¡ª BEAST UPGRADED Atticus: (F --> E) Learned 2 new abilities. Strength, Speed, Perception improved. Next rank up: 250PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Chapter 34: Second System Upgrade! Chapter 34: Second System Upgrade! Two new skills and other improvements? As expected of a Mythic Beast. I wonder where it came from, and how it ended up in the forest. Oh wait! System, how did this Mythic Beast appear? -Request requires 10 Potential Points. Yes/No? 10?!? Fine, this is pretty important. -The Mythical Rat Snake Egg was stored in an ancient tomb by a powerful Cultivator at the end of his life as a reward for those who passed one of his tests. The corpse found by the Host was the original owner of the Egg, however they were severely injured and forced to flee from their formerpanions who wanted the Egg. William noticed the information was much more detailed than previously. The System''s exnation seemed quite far fetched though. Ancient Cultivator? Test? It seemed almost too convenient. Maybe I should search for ruins in my free time. Williams loot goblin tendencies resurfaced. If a Mythic egg was given out as a simple test reward, who knew what other presents lied in wait for a handsome genius like William? System, upgrade Atticus again. He once again watched as Atticus grew in size, reaching a foot in length. It was no longerfortable on William''s hand, so it slithered up his arm and rested on his right shoulder. Its body glowed with a purple light, but it was somewhat hazy this time. Unless William focused hard on Atticus, it was impossible to tell if the snake was real or not. ¡ª¡ª¡ª BEAST UPGRADED Atticus: (E --> D) Learned 1 new ability. Strength, Speed, Perception, and Stealth improved. Magic Affinity Unlocked: Illusion Affinity Next rank up: 1000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Illusion Affinity? That seems quite powerful. It must be the reason why I have difficulty detecting him now. William didn''t even care about the 1000 Points cost for the next upgrade, as it signified a massive boost to Atticus'' power. He ordered Atticus to use Illusion Magic. The snake didn''t really know what to do at first though, so William taught it how to focus the Mana in its body to use spells. Atticus learned quickly, and focused the Illusion Magic to the surface of its scales. It didn''t know what kind of spell to create, so it just decided to cover its entire body. William watched as Atticus turnedpletely invisible, even his Life Sense was fooled. He quickly called for Atticus to cancel its spell, and it once again appeared, still sitting on William''s shoulder. I was wondering if I would have to hide him, but it looks like that isn''t necessary anymore. William was impressed with the strength of the Mythical Rat Snake''s Magic. He continued to test Atticus'' strength. Let''s battle. Don''t kill me. William issued thatst order just in case the snake decided it was sick of its Master already. Atticus slithered off William and took a position a few meters opposite. On themand to start, Atticus shed forward at a speed close to the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm. If William hadn''t upgraded his reflexes and speed, he would have been instantly killed by a Magical Beast like this in close range. William jumped to the side to dodge Atticus, who leaped at him a second time. He raised an Earth Wall, which formed cracks after one attack from Atticus, and crumbled on the second. He prepared a Wind de and threw it at Atticus, creating a long cut. Purple blood flowed freely, while Atticus hissed in pain. William ended the battle immediately and used the Life Element to heal Atticus. William didn''t expect to cause so much damage with a D Rank Element, but he realized it was probably equivalent to B Rank with the effects of his titles. Atticus was very fast and strong, but his defenses were a bit weaker. William felt that one more upgrade to Atticus and the snake might be able topete with a Core Formation Realm Cultivator! That being said, William felt he might be strong enough currently topete with one. The improvements to William''s strength were massive! Will was confident that no one else in this world could do the same. I still have an hour left and over 800 Potential Points, what do I do with them? William couldn''t afford another upgrade for Atticus, but he only wanted to save some of his points. He decided to spend 300 Potential Points upgrading his Mana Regeneration to B Rank. The next upgrade would cost 750PP, so William decided to raise his Cooking, Herb Gathering, and Mining skills to C Rank using another 93. 439 Points left...screw it. William knew it would attract more attention from important people, but he had too many points to use. System, upgrade my remaining Magic Talents to C Rank. -Purchase will cost 444 Potential Points. Host does not have enough. William cursed. He spent the next half hour using his new magic and developing more spells to gain 13 more Potential Points, which was more than he needed. He tried the upgrade again. --Upgrading Host''s Talents-- ... William felt many different effects on his body. He thought the System would perform the upgrades one at a time, but his hands and feet turned to stone while his legs froze over. Wind burst from his arms, causing thousands of small cuts to appear. The Water Element had nowhere to go, so William developed an uncontroble urge to use the bathroom. Fortunately, William had the Life Element to offset much of the damage, while the Light Element limited the corrosiveness of the Darkness Element. The Poison Element was quite tricky, and William had to suffer through the pain and use most of his Mana to survive. By the end of the upgrades, William felt like a brand new person. Even without the Fire Element, William felt he could take on a hundred ins Vultures. -DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE-- --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT-- ... ... --UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL-- SYSTEM RANK: (E- --> E) -115 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup Next rank up: 4885PP *New features avable -Companion Menu: Shows the status of yourpanion beast. *New Changes: -System has reached version 1.5, and has improved the Talent Shop. The Host can now purchase Passive Talents for 25 Potential Points. -Rare Talents are more likely to appear. Passive Talents can be purchased now? William wondered about the limits of the System. It could even upgrade the Talent of hispanion beasts. He explored the effects of the different upgrades, finding that his attack power and versatility had greatly increased. I need to hunt more Magical Beasts...it''s going to cost five thousand Potential Points to upgrade the System again, and I''ve only raised it to E Rank. He worked on a n while stroking Atticus'' scales. His eyes shined brightly as William thought of a method that would increase his strength quickly. William remembered that Fowley suggested he join a sect, which was quite the tempting n, but it had many ws. What if a n member became jealous? All it takes is for one snotty noble toin to his parents that William was a bully, and his life is over. Even if William killed the parents, so what? The grandparents woulde, then the ancient ancestors. William didn''t think he had insane luck where he would always be approached by someone weaker than him. The world doesn''t really work like that. No, there was only one option for Will. Chapter 35: Array Exam, First Time?? Chapter 35: Array Exam, First Time?? Before William executed his n, he would need to pass a test at the Array Hall. He didn''t n to take the test before, but given his knowledge acquired from the System, William assumed he would be able to at least pass a simple test. He returned next door, but Fowley wasn''t around. He walked up to the front counter and met with an unfamiliar Elder. The Elder spoke with a kind smile, "Do you need anything from us, young man?" "Yes, I am looking to take the Array Hall''s test." William replied quickly. The Elder was surprised, but held back any rude words, "The Array Hall''s test is usually reserved for those between 10 and 15 years of age. You''re a bit older than most of the candidates. Is there a reason why you waited this long to apply? The others may hold an advantage over you." "I''m just trying it out, I''ve never performed Arrays before." William was nonchnt. "Not a problem young man, the fee is 2 Gold, but it will be returned to you if you pass the test." the Elder held out his hand, to which William ced the Gold. The Elder gave William a slight look of disdain when he saw how unwilling William was to let go of such small change. He pocketed the money and requested William follow behind another Elder that appeared from the left hand side of the room. They entered a separate room through one of the side doors on the left of the Hall. The room had nothing in it besides a table and a chair. On the table was a sheet of thick paper, on which were hundreds of Runes. At this moment the Elder spoke again, "Take a seat, the test will begin after I exin the rules. Your task is to name as many of these Runes as possible. Point at the Rune, then say its function. On the other side of the paper, I have listed their names, however you can only flip the paper one time. The passing score is 30, and your score is doubled if you don''t flip the paper at all." "What''s the highest score?" William asked. "The highest score anyone has achieved is 402. The highest possible score is 600 as there are 300 runes on the sheet." the Elder felt William was somewhat confident in passing the test since he asked about the highest score instead of being worried about failing. "You have an hour, you may begin now." William looked at the sheet in front of him. They were all Basic Runes except thest five, which were Intermediate. He didn''t know if there was a specific order to go in, so he started from the top left corner. "Rune of Strength, Rune of Agility, Rune of Speed, Rune of Aversion, Rune of Heat, Rune of Expansion.." he quickly listed off the names of each Rune. The Elder confirmed each of his answers. He wasn''t even surprised when William passed as the test wasmon knowledge and 15 correct guesses without turning the paper over was the bare minimum. William also looked to be older than the usual participants. William continued listing the Runes. By the 5 minute mark, William had already read off 200 Runes without looking at the other side. His Array Talent was no joke. The Elder had even gone silent, as William just read off the record-breaking number of Runes without consulting the other side of the paper. William didn''t stop there. He read off 295 Runes, and was left with thest five. The Elder said something for the first time since the start of the test, "Ok, you''ve listed off all the Runes. You passed a long time ago, so let''s head back." "Wait I''m not done, that is the Intermediate Rune of Absorption, and those are the Intermediate Runes of tten, Reflect, Retract, and Reduction." William finished. The Elder opened his eyes in shock. He never expected a new Array Member to recognize an Intermediate Rune. 600 points...that record can never be broken! We might need to implement a test with more Runes now. "Uhh, right. Follow me young man." the Elder was still visibly startled. He led William to the front counter. "This young man passed the test." the test Elder told the Elder at the front counter. "No problem, what was his score?" "600 out of 600." The Elder began writing, "Ok, 600 out of..what?!?" he looked at William with surprise. "Did I hear you correctly? 600?" "Yes, I was surprised too." "Wow! A new talent has joined our Array Hall, how long has it been?" the Elder remembered that William imed it was his first time with Arrays and he was just testing things out. No one would have expected William to achieve the highest score possible. "I think 40 years or so." The Elder at the front counter was in a much better mood after hearing of William''s talent. "Okay young man. Your Array Member Level 1 badge will be ready in a few hours. If you want to improve your rank, feel free to take a test at any time. We will give you materials to help you in learning Arrays, but we request that you assist us in the future with some jobs when you reach Level 3. If you didn''t already know, Array Masters are paid quite well, so do your best to improve your skills." hisst sentence made William''s eyes sparkle. He was still having trouble earning money, this seemed like a good path. -Joined the Array Hall: +50 Potential Points Seeing the System message and learning of his future profits, William decided it would be good to ask about the Rank now. "Is it possible for me to take the Rankup Test now?" "Now? Well sure, but creating a Rune is much more difficult than recognizing one. It takes very precise control of your Mana, and a thorough understanding of Arrays." the Elder replied. William created a Basic Strength Rune in the air. "Is this enough to pass?" "What?!? Are you sure you are doing this for the first time?" the Elder asked. Normal Array Members would only create their first Rune after a week of training. It made sense if William was previously involved in Arrays, but otherwise... The Elder in charge of William''s Test spoke up, "I haven''t properly introduced myself. I am Elder Ren, and I am a proctor for admissions. If this is the first time you''re using Arrays, I have only met a few who could create Runes with such ease." William didn''t know what to say so he simply nodded, "Hi, I''m William." Elder Ren noticed there were no formalities used, but didn''t get angry. "If you''d like to take the test you can, but what you''ve shown is already enough to be a Level 2 Array Member." "What about higher? Can I test to see how I qualify?" William already knew Fowley, so he wasn''t worried about being taken advantage of. In fact, Fowley might ce even more importance on protecting him if he was also talented in Arrays. Chapter 36: Future Head? Chapter 36: Future Head? Elder Ren was surprised, "I suppose we can put something together like that for you. Please wait a moment." he walked into another room on the right hand side of the main Hall. Less than a minuteter, Elder Ren came out followed by two young males about William''s age. They were carrying different scrolls and some paintbrushes. They made trips back and forth from various rooms, gathering other unique items. The number of people moving around also increased. Most of them were curious about the supposedly talented young man and the unusual testing strategy he requested. Even the Elder at the front counter, named Elder Klies, joined in. William was told to enter the testing room, which now had the items from beforeid out. Elder Ren asked him to sit down, then started exining the rules of the Level 3 test while spectators filed into another room with a semi-transparent wall. "You''ve alreadypleted the initial test and met the requirements for Level 2, but this test requires something different. You will be asked to create your first Array using a method shown on the scroll before you. You may take a look now, but as soon as you do the test will begin. You have 30 minutes to make the Array functional." William looked down at the scroll. Depicted were two Runes of Mana, a Rune of Suction, and two Runes of Strength in a clockwise fashion forming a circle. He had never seen the Array before, but William could infer that this was a Basic Mana Array, designed to draw in Mana from the surroundings. He formed a Rune of Mana in an instant, surprising The onlookers who weren''t familiar. The strings of light formed a simple structure in the same shape as the scroll showed. "Such speed." someone awed. It was as if William wasn''t a novice, but actually a trained professional with years of experience. No one understood why Will was just now taking the test. A second Rune of Mana was formed, then the Rune of Suction. The remaining Strength Runes were also formed with no problem. William arranged the Runes as instructed by the scroll, then fed it some Mana to activate the Array. Sess! Mana was neatly drawn in from the room. There wasn''t much because of the small space, but Elder Ren could tell that it was created with no imperfections. "You''ve passed, congrattions on reaching Level 3. Would you like to continue?" "Yes please." William nodded respectfully. Elder Ren returned his nod and walked to the row of items ced on a nearby table. He picked up another scroll, a pen, and an empty scroll. He ced them in front of William. "Your next task is to copy the Array on this scroll to another. Level 4 Array Members are often asked to share their less valuable methods with others as a learning experience, or to earn Contribution Points. In addition, you are required to make one improvement to the Array in order to pass. You have half an hour, begin." This Array was moreplex than thest, made of three Runes of Reflection, two Runes of Soul, and a Rune of Strength. It seemed to be an Array of Soul Seeking, which reflects the inner desires of the creator and manifests it into an illusion at the center of the Array. William found many ways to improve the Array, but wasn''t sure which one to use. "Will the Array be considered improved if I change some of the functions?" "You can change any one of the functions, but it has to keep the rest." Elder Ren said. William refocused on the Array. He decided it would be best to make the Array create an illusion of the desire of others, and not the creator. This would make it more effective in battle. He swapped two Runes of Reflection to one Rune of Killing Intent and one Rune of Attraction. Then, William added two Runes of Strength and two Runes of Stability, one between each Rune of Strength, to ensure the Array was still functional. The Array now had nine Runes, which was much more difficult to control. William drew out his version on the scroll in front. His Speed Talent allowed William''s hand to move much faster, but it was difficult to control, so he used the Water Element to assist his hand movements. Elder Ren saw William''s creation, feeling the young man was much more talented than he thought. When he took the Level 4 test, Elder Ren had never thought of using Runes of Stability to improve a Basic level Array. A true genius. William finished inscribing the scroll, then created the Array in a few minutes. The Array sprung to life and seemed to have no effect, so some onlookers thought William had failed. William spoke up to the group, "Direct some killing intent at me." One of the young men forced out some killing intent, and the Array instantly lit up. In the center of the room, there was now a beautiful half naked woman smiling at the young man and urging him toe closer. The man almost fell for the trap, but the others nearby prevented him from walking forward. He was very embarrassed and regretted being the first to test the Array. Elder Ren felt a bit awkward but allowed William to pass the fourth test. "I''m going to award you 10 Contribution Points for your Array. Would you like to continue?" "Absolutely." William was actually having some fun with this process of creating Arrays. He had learned many new ways to improve during or before a battle. The test also earned William some Contribution Points, the value of which was unclear at the moment but they couldn''t be useless. Elder Ren took the scrolls from William and reced them with a single scroll. This time, William was asked to create an Intermediate Barrier Array. The Array looked simple in practice, being just one Rune of Barrier and one Rune of Strength, but they were both Intermediate Runes. The spectators felt this might be the end of William''s streak, as most Elders were only at Level 5 or 6. The Array Masters were experts in the 7th to 8th Level, while the Head Array Master was in the 9th Level. He stared at the Runes for a moment, while information on how to improve the Array flowed like water. He didn''t need any of this though, so he shut it out. William held up a hand, forming four Basic Runes of Barrier. They mashed together like a sandwich, forming an Intermediate Rune in an instant. "What?!?" even Elder Ren was dumbfounded. How can someone just smash together Basic Runes? They should have exploded by now, but they didn''t! He didn''t understand at all, but he couldn''t interrupt the process. The onlookers were chatting excitedly among themselves. Was this the emergence of a new Head Array Master? William created an Intermediate Rune of Strength using the same method, then formed the Array of Barrier. -Sessfully formed your first Intermediate Array: +5 Potential Points He had received a notification for the Basic Array as well, but didn''t pay much attention as it was only a single Potential Point. He activated the Barrier, then Elder Ren tested its strength with an Earth Spike. The Array was able to hold until Elder Ren used an Earth Spike at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm, which was amazing considering William didn''t have any Cultivation. Not that it mattered though among Array Masters. All they really needed was some Mana and plenty of time, and they would be able to do many things Cultivators could and couldn''t do. Cultivation was less important unless one was creating a powerful Array and didn''t have any Mana Stones to power it. Chapter 37: The Peasant Becomes An Array Master? Chapter 37: The Peasant Bes An Array Master? Elder Ren didn''t hold back any longer. "How did you create the Intermediate Runes in such a way? They should explode when you are too forceful." William realized he might have done something unreal. He had used a method he learned when the System showed him how to create Advanced Runes. He didn''t want to disappoint the Elder as he clearly had good intentions, so he spoke truthfully. "I justbined the particles directly so they wouldn''t be unstable." "Combine the particles directly..." Elder Ren was lost in thought. William had be a Level 5 Array Member, a feat that normal members of the Array Hall wouldn''t achieve for ten years. Even he, Level 6 in Arrays, took 8 years to reach Level 5! William didn''t understand what the Elder was thinking, "Did I pass?" Elder Ren was awakened from his reverie, "Ah, Yes. You pass." William was delighted. "Great! What''s the next test?" "Huh?" Elder Ren was dumbfounded. "Huh??" the spectators were stunned. "Huh???" William joined in for fun. Elder Ren spoke first. "You''ve already reached Level 5, but Level 6 is a different story. Are you sure you want to take the test now, or do you want some time to prepare?" The Level 6 test was much more difficult because most needed to have a Magic Affinity. It was a standard requirement for sessful Array Masters, as some Runes could not be formed without the appropriate Affinity. Elder Ren liked William and didn''t want to see him fail. William wasn''t sure why the Elder was so concerned, but it didn''t matter. "I''ll just try it out. If it is too much, I will naturally try again at ater date." Elder Ren understood that William couldn''t be persuaded. He sighed and reced William''s scroll with another. "The 6th Level is all about Magic Affinity. No matter how sessful you are in Arrays, some still require the assistance of Mana. This time you will not be given a guide. Create an Intermediate Array that forms a ball in the center with any Element." William felt this test was much easier than Elder Ren described. He decided to use the Lightning Element and wrote out his n on the scroll. He then formed two Intermediate Runes of Lightning, an Intermediate Rune of Condensing, and finished off with an Intermediate Rune of Sphere. The Array was condensed, and Lightning particles were pulled from the surroundings to form a ball of pure lightning. Despite its destructive nature, the Lightning ball was calm, with few movements as the particles obediently remained in a sphere. At this point, Elder Ren didn''t even know what to say. Why is the world so unfair?!? He''s also a Manamatus, what can''t this kid do? The spectators were also stunned. Some of the young men whopared themselves to William before could do so no longer. William had already reached Level 6, which was on par with Elder Ren who was overseeing the test. Not only this, but William wasn''t a Cultivator, meaning his future Magic Affinity would at least reach B Rank. Some of the spectators became jealous of William''s talent. If he earned more attention from the Array Hall, they might end up receiving much less resources while the Head Array Master gave William all the good stuff. They spoke amongst themselves while Elder Ren evaluated William''s work. "You''ve passed this test; however, I can no longer administer your next tests as I am not qualified. Do you still wish to continue?" "Yes please, I don''t want to stop until I fail." William replied earnestly. "I understand, please give me a few minutes." Elder Ren spoke respectfully as William was now on the same Level. He left the room and dialed on amunicator. A hoarse voice came from the other end, "What is it? Is someone trying to take the Array Master test?" "Yes Sir." "I''m not avable today, which old fogey is it this time?" "It''s a young man, probably around 20 years old. He just joined the Array Hall today." "What?!? I''ming over with the Head Array Master. Please wait for us." The Head ising as well? Elder Ren didn''t realize this event was so extraordinary. "Yes Sir, I will wait for you." he hung up and returned to the main Hall. Less than five minutes passed before arge, burly man with a staggering height of two meters walked through the doorway. Behind him were two old men with long white beards walking side by side. One of the old men was the Head Array Master, signified by his pure white robe and the insignia of the Array Hall with a star, and the other was wearing a red and white robe. The bodyguard stood to the side, while the Head Array Master spoke, "Take us there, I assume you have already gathered the necessary materials?" "Yes Sir, everything is prepared." Elder Ren led the two men into the testing room. When they entered, all the spectators and Elder Ren bowed deeply. William followed suit to not appear rude, which received a nod of acknowledgement from Elder Ren. The Head Array Master spoke, "Elder Ren has done a good job so far in overseeing your tests. I don''t normally participate, but you''ve piqued my interest. I will be administering your next test. Are you prepared?" he looked at William with a sharp eye. The Head Array Master''s initial inspection said that William had a talent for multiple Elements, maybe three or four. "Yes Sir, I am ready." William hoped the strength of his Mana Repel technique was good enough to fool the Head Array Master. "Alright, I only have one thing to ask of you for the Level 7 test. You have an hour to form an Advanced Rune of any type. You may begin now." Many spectators didn''t even know about Advanced Arrays. They had only just grasped Intermediate Runes, so an Advanced Array was well out of their reach. Some watched William''s next moves with increased interest, while others hoped he would fail in front of the Head. William focused his thoughts. He decided on the easiest Advanced Rune. He held out his hands, forming four Basic Strength Runes instantaneously, then disassembled them into Rune Particles. The spectators thought William had already failed and startedughing, but the Head Array Master was very serious. William''s method was a bit unusual, but he couldn''t deny it achieved the end goal more efficiently. Williambined the Rune Particles together, only epting the best ones, then continued feeding it Mana to let the Rune grow in strength and size. An Advanced Rune was formed, emitting a dazzling blue light. It spun in the air, pressuring some of the weaker spectators. -Formed your first Advanced Rune: +25 Potential Points It was at this moment that Array Master Fowley entered the spectator room. He had just finished unlocking William''s Space Ring, only to hear that the kid was applying to the Array Hall. No one could have prepared Fowley to see William effortlessly weaving together an Advanced Rune on his first day. He is actually an Array Master? Was he messing with me this entire time? Fowley revisited his earlier conversation with William, remembering the way he touched the cracked space and how he marveled at the Guardian Statues. No, he wasn''t an Array Master, he''s just that talented! Fowley became nervous, since the Head Array Master was also present in the room. Chapter 38: Rewards, Token Of Authority Chapter 38: Rewards, Token Of Authority The Head Array Master was impressed. Not only had William formed an Advanced Rune sessfully, but he did so in a matter of minutes! "Well done young man! You can now consider yourself an Array Master. And will be granted 100 Contribution Points." "Thank you Sir, could I try the next test?" William asked. "Of course. I will continue to test you until you reach the limit. How do you feel now?" William checked his Mana, which was over three quarters full. "I''m ready Sir." "Alright, your next test is to create an Advanced Array. This one must have at least three different Advanced Runes. You have an hour, begin!" William got to work. He created an Advanced Rune of Barrier, followed by an Advanced Rune of Reflect and two Advanced Runes of Strength. He was reaching the limit of what he could handle, but this was still enough. He focused intently on the process ofbining the Runes into an Array. Five minutes, ten minutes, twenty. The Array was formed. William raised the Advanced Barrier Array with some Mana, causing a thick semi-transparent wall to appear in front. The Head Array Master called in his bodyguard to test its defenses, which didn''t crack until he threw a punch with power close to the peak of the Core Formation Realm. The Head Array Master was incredibly surprised this time. If William was a Cultivator, an Advanced Array like this might be able to stop a Nascent Soul expert! If William was well protected, his position as Head might be seeded by this little guy one day! "Young man, you are truly impressive. You''ve passed the test for Level 8, might I ask how old you are?" "I''m 20 years old, Sir." William responded, giving the Head another surprise. The spectators were in an uproar. "He''s only 20?!? What will happen when he reaches 30, or 40? Will he be more skilled in Arrays than the new Head?" they felt history was about to be rewritten. -Became a sensation in the Array Hall and impressed the Head Array Master. +10 Potential Points, +10 Fame. The Head Array Master spoke up amidst the chatter, "Be quiet, we are still testing." he looked at William. "Are you ready for the Level 9 Arrays test?" "Yes Sir." William was in a great mood after seeing more Potential Points. "To achieve Level 9, you must create an Advanced Array using six Advanced Runes. This task requires Immense Mana control and cannot be achieved with just practice." the Head Array Master handed William a scroll, depicting an Advanced Trap Array. William knew this would be extremely difficult, but he wanted to try anyway. He first formed two Advanced Runes of Suction, then a Rune of Lightning and two Runes of Freeze. Thest Rune of Strength became too difficult to control and William lost focus. The Runes were destroyed. William tried again. Suction Runes, Lightning, Freeze...Crack! He failed. Again..fail. His time was running out. William needed to try something new. He decided to trade the Lightning Rune for a Fire Rune. Just like before, two Runes of Suction were quickly formed, but the expressions of the spectators changed when they saw the Fire Rune. It was formed instantaneously due to William''s A Rank Fire Affinity, glowing with a deep red hue. "He has two Elements?!? A dual Manamatus and an Array Master at the age of 20! He''s on par with Supreme Left!" the Cultivators chatted excitedly. Some of those who held poor intentions before had to cancel their ns, as William would definitely be valuable to the Head Array Master now. William was oblivious to these thoughts. He formed the Runes of Freeze with some effort, then managed toplete the Array with a Strength Rune. The Head Array Master sent his bodyguard to test the Array. Once he walked into range, the Array lit up, pulling the bodyguard in, locking him in ce, and striking him with arge fireball. The bodyguard, who was in the Nascent Soul Realm, was actually slightly injured by this Array. His arms that were used to block the fireball were both suffering from burn marks and bleeding profusely. The Head Array Master watched this process with extreme interest. "Kid, you can now consider yourself a Level 9 Array Master, which ces you on par with myself. Judging by your execution of thatst test, this is probably your limit. That being said, even if you wanted to test for the next Level, I am not qualified to test you as I have not reached those limits. Starting today, you will be given a Level 9 Array Master Badge and robes and will be my honorary second-inmand until you gain more experience in the matters of Array Masters. You will also be awarded 500 Contribution Points and have ess to all of our materials on Arrays, including the Forbidden ones." William listened intently to the Head Array Master. He didn''t really care about the second-inmand position, but the Forbidden Arrays sounded enticing. He spoke to the Head Array Master, "How much money can I earn from building Arrays for customers?" The Head Array Master had forgotten that William had just entered the Array Hall today. "Ah yes, most Array Masters earn between 100-500 Gold Coins per order, depending on theplexity." he fiddled with his pockets, pulling out a small orange token. "Here is my token of authority. You can use this to prove your identity to Array Halls in other cities so they do not mistake you for someone unqualified." William took the token but was entirely focused on what the Head Array Master said previously. His eyes were literal Gold Coins as he thought of 500 Gold Coins falling into his pocket after every job. The Head Array Master misunderstood William''s expression. "Don''t worry, the responsibility isn''t too heavy, juste to some of our events once in a while. We will watch the juniors form Arrays atpetitions, and you won''t have to do anything." William nodded his head in understanding, but he was still thinking of money. I wonder how much the powerful Cultivation Techniques cost? He decided he would visit a shopter. He bowed slightly to the Head Array Master. "Thank you for overseeing my test, Sir. I would like to view the Forbidden Array Techniques now if possible." "Come right this way, the Forbidden library can''t be viewed by outsiders." the Head Array Master led William out of the testing room, then into the Head Array Master''s personal quarters. He made a few motions with his hands, causing a secret door to appear seemingly out of nowhere. He led William to another hidden passage, where he made simr hand movements at a random point on the wall, causing a second door to open, leading to another passage that held a small library. Fowley, who was still in the testing room, didn''t know what to say. He couldn''t believe William was actually more talented in Arrays than him. If the kid had the Space Element, William might be able to crack the Array on his Space Ring without Fowley''s help. I must befriend the kid further, or my position in the Array Hall will fall. Somewhere else in the training room, a young man with a long ponytail and traditional clothing had simr thoughts, but with a different goal. The kid is too talented, I must get rid of him, or my position in the Array Hall will fall. Chapter 39: Forbidden Arrays Chapter 39: Forbidden Arrays In the library, the Head Array Master led William to a row of books. "These are all the forbidden Arrays we have records of. Some of the information is iplete, but it may still be of use to you." William felt now would be a good time to ask, "What makes an Array forbidden?" "The Royal Family of Azures dered certain topics as forbidden based on their qualities. They''ve ced a ban on anything which is intended to kill humans, enve people, or anything powerful enough to destroy the world. The Techniques are forbidden for use, but there is now against learning about Forbidden Arrays like this one." the Head Array Master ced his hand on a specific book with an orange cover. He pulled it off the shelf and handed it to William. "The basics of Forbidden Arrays are here. All who delve into the secrets of Forbidden Arrays are rmended to read this first." William took the book and opened it to the first page. Unlike in Thin Creek Vige, this book had a table of contents. He flipped to the section titled "Detecting Forbidden Arrays" and began reading. "Most Forbidden Arrays that target humans are ced in regions close to natural treasures orwlessnds where evil Cultivators roam free. To detect a Forbidden Array, an Array Master can form an Intermediate Malign Detection Array on their clothes, which will activate if one steps within 25 meters of anything that can damage the Array. This can be amplified further by using Filter Runes to focus only on threatening Arrays. This is also amon method to defend against enemy Array Masters during an ambush." William learned a lot from this book. It taught about many different methods to keep him safe from forbidden Arrays, and even ways to counter them. He flipped to another portion of the book that was entirely focused on disabling Arrays. The System didn''t teach William anything about disabling Arrays with his upgrades, only basic knowledge on how Arrays were formed and operated. He had gained power, but didn''t know how to use it yet. "To disable an Array, the Array Master must first identify which Runes make up itsponent parts. Once the Array Master has deduced one Rune, they have two options. They can destroy the Rune, which may force the Array to cease functioning properly if the Rune is critical, or they can add a new Rune that changes the functions of the Array. If an Array is designed tounch Earth Spikes in a certain direction, the Array Master can destroy the Rune of Earth that is critical to the Array, or add a Rune of Reflect to reverse the direction of the Earth Spike, rendering the Array harmless either way." He continued reading for a bit longer, then closed the book and ced it back on the shelf. He noticed the Head Array Master was still present, as he couldn''t leave William unattended in a room full of forbidden knowledge. "Sir, are there any Forbidden Arrays that I can use?" he asked the old man. "I''m afraid not." the Head Array Master shook his head. Well, it doesn''t hurt to learn one anyway. William looked through the books until he found a highly destructive forbidden Array. It was tooplicated for him at the moment, but William would remember it when he learned more about Arrays from his upgrades. A cursory nce revealed the Array was called the Five Elements Explosion Array, which was essentially the Cultivation World''s version of a nuclear bomb. It was formed with three Common Elements and two Rare Elements: Fire, Earth, Wind, Light, and Darkness. The Array requires a Perfect Rune from each element, two Perfect Runes of Stability, a Perfect Rune of Instability, and five Perfect Runes of Strength. Thirteen Runes formed an ultimate Array that would destroy itself and anything around it within 30 kilometers. No wonder this Array is forbidden. If it explodes in a city, it will kill millions of people and ruin thendscape for decades. William memorized the Array regardless, since it could be useful in the future. He looked at other books with forbidden Arrays, learning all of them one by one. Two hourster, the Head Array Master led William out of the Forbidden library and back to the Array Hall, where Will received his Array badge and new robes. "Do I need to wear this all the time?" William asked. "Only when you are in the Array Hall working." William heaved a sigh of relief. The robes were nice, but not exactly his style. Wouldn''t he look a bit awkward if he walked around town wearing them? William thanked the Head Array Master for his time, then asked for Fowley, who should have his Space Ring ready by now. The Head Array Master called for Fowley and congratted William for his sessful tests. He waved farewell before leaving the Array Hall with his bodyguard and the other old man from before. William didn''t have to wait long for Fowley to reach the front counter. The Space Ring was transferred to William, who thanked Fowley for his time. "Young man, you are more talented in Arrays than I am. If you had an Affinity for Space Magic, perhaps you wouldn''t even need someone like myself." he looked content, but there was some uncertainty in Fowley''s eyes. "You were a great help to me, I hope you can keep my secrets and help me again in the future." William responded. He worried that if he wasn''t sincere enough Fowley''s intentions could change. Fowley was about to leave, but stopped after thinking of something. "You''re not too familiar with how we do things in the Array Hall, so feel free to join me in my room whenever you have an order toplete." he pointed to the room where he met William in the morning. "Thanks, I will take you up on that offer sometime." William felt Fowley was more easygoing than he looked. Although the man was quite serious, he seemed to truly care about William''s well-being. As an Array Master second only to the Head, William had gained many benefits. A separate room was prepared for William on the balcony, right next to the Array Head''s room. It seemed to be covered in Advanced Arrays of disguise, concealment, and the walls were sound-proofed to prevent eavesdropping. Since he was in the Array Hall, William decided to change into his robes. He used Water and Wind Magic to clean himself, then checked his new look in a simple spell that mirrored his image. "Oh yeah, I look handsome as usual." William couldn''t deny that he no longer looked like a handsome peasant, but a dashing schr in red and white. William felt this would be a great time to check the Space Ring for its contents. He ced the ring on his finger and willed it to open, creating a miniature portal that William could use to manipte the items inside. The process was quite fluid, and there was no longer an Array to block William''s gaze. He leaned his head forward in interest to inspect the inside, but his facial expression changed when he noticed a pale yellow glow from the back corner. Chapter 40: Im Rich? Impersonation? Chapter 40: I''m Rich? Impersonation? Gold! Hundreds, no...thousands of Gold! William couldn''t count the amount of Gold in the corner. He didn''t care about the rest, so William dumped out all the Gold and counted each piece. --Upgraded Title: +20 Potential Points -Moneybags (Rare --> Epic): You have earned (or scammed) a total of 1000 Gold coins. Fame is increased by 10. Shop prices discounted by 5%. --Upgraded Title: +50 Potential Points -Moneybags (Epic --> Legendary): You have earned (or scammed) a total of 5000 Gold coins. Fame is increased by 15. Shop prices discounted by 10%. Not long after thest upgrade message, William finished counting out the Gold Coins. ''I now have 5082 Gold, that''s ten times the amount I needed for a Cultivation Technique!'' William was excited. If he could gain ess to Cultivation with the benefits from his Magic Talent, William would be nearly unstoppable! Even the powerful individuals, "Supreme Left" and "Unbreakable Right" that he read in the library at Thin Creek Vige didn''t sound as strong as William. One of which only had a single Element! I wonder how strong a Cultivator is with an S Rank Magic Affinity. Will couldn''t help but imagine someone destroying mountains with a single spell. He looked through the Space Ring some more. There were hundreds of little blue rocks, y dolls, and many other things he didn''t recognize, so William used the Ask Function to find out through the System. -138 Mana Stones: Used as currency in the Cultivation World. Mana or Spiritual Qi can be absorbed from Mana Stones, but they would lose their quality and be like normal rocks. -3 Broken Advanced Array Puppets: A standard item purchased by Cultivators from the Array Hall. An Array Puppet has strength equivalent to the Runes inscribed on it, plus bonusbat power equal to the Magic Affinity of the Array Master that created it. -Ancient Family Rhio Token: A token of the Rhio Ancient Family. It was given to this Cultivator as part of a deal to train the Rhio Family Head on Space Magic. Useless to the Host. Might contain a tracking device. William didn''t like the idea of a tracking device in his items, so he used Fire Magic to destroy the token. He continued looking through the items. -Journal of Space Mage Fermus''s Life: Depicts Fermus''s Adventures, feats, and some of his deepest secrets. "Boring!" William did not n to read the journal. He cleared out the remainder of the Space Ring, then ced everything back. The ring belonged to him now, so William nned to use it as such. William was given a nice surprise when he found that the Space Ring had a storage size of 50 cubic meters, enough to store dozens of Magical Beast corpses if needed. William exited his room, and asked for directions to a Cultivation shop, which turned out to be just down the road from where he was currently. He exited the Array Hall and walked down the street, not bothering to switch out of his robes for now. Some people gave William odd looks as he traveled. "Who is that kid? Doesn''t he know that impersonating an Array Master is a serious crime?" "Heh, what an idiot. Leave him be, I want to see his face when the guards beat him ck and blue." a rough looking manughed. A group of six nearby guards quickly noticed the situation. Two guards were sent to confront the young man. They flew at low altitude in his direction, attracting further stares. The rough looking man also noticed the situation. "This is going to be great. I hope the kid tries to fight." William noticed the guards flying in his direction with Life Sense. He turned around to face the duo, but didn''t move. Both guards were males who looked to be in their thirties. The younger one stepped forward and spoke to William directly. "Those are the robes of the Array Hall. Do you im to be an Array Master?" William realized what was happening. In his previous world, impersonation was something greatly frowned upon, or even punishable byw in certain cases. This seemed to be true even in the Cultivation world. "Yes, I am." he didn''t exin further. "I know every Array Master in the Array Hall. You do not look like any of them. Are you saying that I do not know the Array Hall?" the guard became aggressive. What is happening? He could have just asked for my documents. This might be a good opportunity though. William smiled inwardly. "I think you have a shallow understanding of the Array Hall." William encouraged the guard''s behavior. He wanted to see how far he could push the guard before something happened. William couldn''t sense the guard''s Cultivation, but the pressure wasn''t very heavy. William assumed he was at most in the Foundation Establishment Realm. The other guard stepped in at this moment. "That''s enough. Impersonation is against the rules of Blue Moon City,e with us quietly." "So you don''t know the Array Hall and you still use me of impersonation? No I am noting with you." William tried out his acting skills on the guards. "If you won''te quietly, then ept my fireball!" the younger guard yelled as a red glow appeared in his hands. He threw it at close range towards William without any warning. William snorted at the fireball. It barely had the strength of his Fire Magic when it was at C Rank Affinity, posing no threat to William''s current state. He tried a new spell he just thought of, using his superior Fire Affinity to steal the energy of his opponent''s fireball. The process was slow on his first try, but quite sessful. The fireball that would previously kill a Liffox in one hit was reduced to a cinder that wouldn''t even burn one''s skin. The cinder bounced harmlessly off William''s shoulder and fell to the ground. Both guards were dumbfounded. The younger guard felt that his spell had been absorbed, rather than destroyed or countered. The spectators were even more confused. The rough looking man thought William would be reduced to ashes by the fireball since he had no Cultivation, but something unbelievable happened. The other four guards noticed the situation and all rushed over. They became more serious, as none of them knew how William defended against the fireball. William stopped to survey his new opponents. They all looked to be at the same strength except for their leader who was probably in the Core Formation Realm. William still didn''t n to correct the misunderstanding, as this was a great chance to earn more Potential Points and train himself. The guards began throwing spells in tandem. Four of the guards used the Fire Element, which was of little surprise, but the leader was an expert of the Light Element. He conjured light spears that flew at William at insane speeds. William made use of his reflexes talent to dodge the first light spear, then moved to the side to dodge a second. The leader was appalled, as no one in the same Realm had ever dodged his light spears, yet this kid with no Cultivation was able to do so with ease. William wasn''t idle while dealing with the Cultivators'' attacks. He secretly created an Intermediate Array of Speed that only affected himself, then lowered his natural speed so it looked like nothing had changed. He did the same with Strength and Magic Power, hoping to catch the guards by surprise. The leader of the guards had gauged William''s speed and prepared an enormous cylinder-shaped light spell, hoping to make it impossible for William to dodge. He told hispanions to step back, then threw the light spell with William in the direct center. Chapter 41: Jail Is Nice This Time Of Year Chapter 41: Jail Is Nice This Time Of Year William saw his chance. He used the Array and his Speed to their fullest, dodging the AoE Light attack and sprinting into the group. William reached the guard who first attacked him within a split second. He used muscle memory tounch aplex fist strike, punching the guard directly in the throat. The guard wasunched backward a dozen meters, and there was a fresh hole in his neck. -Killed a human: +5 Potential Points, -1 Humanity Huh? I still lost Humanity. I suppose that''s because the guard only meant to teach me a lesson or throw me in jail, not to kill me. William was a bit disappointed, but he didn''t let that bother him. He turned to another guard andunched a fist in his direction, albeit weaker than the previous. The guard was still knocked back but didn''t die instantly from his wounds. He slumped to the ground unconscious while William faced his next target. The other four guards were quite nervous now. It was six on one, and their opponent had no Cultivation, yet they were at a disadvantage. The guard leader also felt something was off. He told his group to back up again, "What''s your name?" "It''s rude to ask for someone''s name without introducing yourself first." William responded with a snort. "Hmm, my name is Flip, now may I know your name?" Williamughed out loud, "Your name is Flip? Haha, do you happen to have a brother named Flop? Or maybe two siblings named Spin and Turn?" The guard leader''s face darkened. He couldn''t understand why William was provoking them, but he couldn''t do much else. He turned his head to a guard close to him, "Call for reinforcements, we can''t handle him alone." William heard what they were saying and realized his fun had ended. Wait, was it fun killing people? Am I a psychopath? He spoke up while pulling out his Array Badge. "That won''t be necessary, here is my Badge." The guard leader took the Badge from William and checked it over. He returned it to William with a nod, "The badge says he is a Level 9 Array Master." The crowd was incensed. How can this kid be a Level 9 Array Master that''s so hard toe by? "A Level 9 Array Master?" one of the guards was confused. He whispered to his superior, "Isn''t the Head Array Master at Level 9?" The guard leader''s eyes widened. That''s right! How can someone so young be at the same level as the Head Array Master? He turned to look at William. "I''m not sure how you did it, but this Badge is fake. We are taking you in." William thought everything was going well, but the atmosphere had suddenly shifted. "What do you mean, fake?" he produced an Advanced Rune and allowed it to hover in the air in front of the crowd. "Does this look fake to you?" The guards were awed when they stared at the Rune. This kid was definitely the real deal, but how could he so casually kill one of their members? Isn''t that punishment too hard for mistaking one''s identity? We have to do something! The poption will think we are a joke if the word spreads! the guard leader was mostly worried about his position. He was close to promotion to guard Captain, but this event could ruin all his hard work. "Guards, he killed someone. We''re taking him in!" he shouted. He sent one to gather reinforcements while they prepared for yet another battle. William saw this and was amused. The guards were no longer suspicious of his identity, but still chose to arrest him because he killed someone. Worse yet, William couldn''t kill any guards because they only intended to arrest him. There was only one option. Atticus was still on his shoulder, hiding with Illusion Magic. This might be the time to make use of him. William prepared an Advanced Array, weaving together three Runes of Fog and a Rune of Disperse. The Array was formed, releasing a massive cloud of fog on the City block. William ordered Atticus to attack, but to not kill anyone and to remain in the fog. The snake unfurled and limited the concealment to turn him into a hazy blur as it sped in a certain direction towards the guards. William prepared two more Arrays while waiting to trap his enemies. The guards had already called for reinforcements, and there were probably a few dozen in the area now. They entered the fog and carefully searched for William. Some of the guards noticed a massive wall of Earth in front of them, and were forced to change directions. Just when they thought they made it through the maze, a lightning prison held them in ce. Those who attacked the lightning would receive a whip made of sparks that would crumble any confidence of escaping. Seeing this made Williamugh, "They do say prison is quite nice this time of year. Unfortunately, I prefer putting others in prison than going there myself." Outside the fog, the leader of the guards met with two other leaders and exined the situation to them. They were surprised when Flip mentioned William''s mastery of Arrays but became serious after hearing that he had already killed someone and could easily kill any one of them. They entered the fog together, also entering the range of William''s Life Sense. He prepared a dozen Intermediate Arrays to distract the weaker guards while heading in the direction of the leaders. Even with Core Formation Realm Cultivation, the leaders didn''t seem to sense William. The fog from the Advanced Array was hindering their senses so much that they couldn''t even tell if they were walking in a straight direction. William noticed this and readied a water spell, creating four water snakes resembling Atticus. They slithered forward, remaining unnoticed until they entered a ten meter range of the leaders. "Watch out!" Flip yelled to the other leaders and dodged a water snake that had nearly taken his arm off. He produced a Light spell, reducing the coverage of the fog by a mere meter but that wasn''t the purpose of the spell. A spear of Light was formed, stabbing into one of the water snakes. The snake exploded from the attack but reformed with the nearby water particles in a few seconds. The guard leaders were stunned, "How high is his Water Affinity? How can someone create a spell that maintains itself?" the guards weren''t even sure they were only fighting one enemy now. What if there were two, three, or even four enemies in the fog? The spell wasn''t as impressive as the guard leaders thought, but William wasn''t going to correct them. The water snakes were actively recreated by William from a distance. It cost a bit of Mana, but the expenditure was much less than creating the snakes from scratch. With William''s current Mana capacity of 400 and a Mana Regeneration of around 75 now, William could fight for long periods of time as long as he didn''t waste the Mana on massive spells. He continued to wear down the guard leaders with his Water snakes, but it seemed fruitless. They had arger capacity than William, and there might be stronger opponentsing soon. He noticed the other guards were all captured by his traps or taken down by Atticus, so William felt now was a good time to leave. He walked over to the guard leaders calmly, stopping when he was close enough to be heard but not seen. "You''ve harassed me a bit too much today. I will let you off the hook, but do note for me again in the future. Your guard was too weak so I killed him on ident, I hope you can let this matter slide." Chapter 42: Cultivation Shop Chapter 42: Cultivation Shop William called back Atticus and used his Speed to the fullest to escape the Array. He didn''t bother disabling any of the Arrays, as they were non-threatening and would give him more time to leave. When William exited the fog without a single piece of dirt on his robes, the spectators were stunned. The rough looking man saw dozens of guards enter the fog, but so far none of them had returned. "Did he...kill all of them?" William didn''t care about any of this, and entered the Cultivation shop that was a few hundred meters down the road. The rough looking man was surprised William still had the gall to enter a shop while under the pursuit of City guards. One has to know that there were many Core Formation Realm guards, and dozens in the Golden Core Realm. Capture was only a matter of time. The shop owners didn''t seem to know what happened on the street, as they weed William with a smile. He asked to see the Cultivation Techniques, causing an older gentleman to get up from his seat and lead William to the back. Sitting on a shelf behind tempered ss and Intermediate Arrays, the Cultivation Techniques were actually entire books. Their front pages were open, showing the introduction and effects of each technique. William looked through a few, but didn''t find anything of too much value. Most of the techniques didn''t have strict requirements, but were very simple in nature. The most expensive technique seemed to be a thousand Gold Coins, but the effects weren''t enticing. He decided to ask the old man, "Sir, are there any techniques that are good for someone with multiple Elements?" The old man was confused, but then smiled after understanding something. "You must be a Manamatus then, yes we have a few of these techniques, but not at this shop. You''ll have to go to our main store, which is a few kilometers down the road. It''s located in the Inner City though, so you''ll need to have the appropriate status to enter." the old man gave William the directions to their main store. William thanked the old man and exited the building. He traveled down the road, this time jogging to save time. In a normal City someone might give William odd looks, but the methods of travel in this world seemed to be quite limited. He arrived at the border to the Inner City. There was a guard stationed at the edge and asked to see a form of ID. William showed him the Array Master Badge and was granted ess immediately with a fee of 5 Silver Coins. He entered the Inner City, which seemed to be a more luxurious version of the Outer portion. He didn''t think much on this and entered a nearby Cultivation Shop that resembled the old man''s description. A young couple inside greeted William with a smile, who asked to see their Elemental Cultivation Techniques. He was led by the young man to a simr area to before, where hundreds of Cultivation Techniques were disyed on the shelves. He was pointed to a specific section with around a dozen Techniques about Elemental Cultivation. "Let me know if you need anything else." the young man said before returning to the front counter. William looked at the techniques. The Arrays guarding them were quite weak and could be broken with just a few movements, but William wasn''t looking for any more trouble. Most of the techniques were for Cultivators of one specific Element, however there were a few for dual or triple Elements. System, are there side effects to changing my Cultivation Techniqueter? He paid 1 point for an answer. -Some Techniques may require more energy than others for progression but are generally stronger. If the Host switches to a better Technique in the future, they may lose a few Ranks in Cultivation, but there will overall be no change to your strength. Techniques that are more suitable to the Host will speed up Cultivation, so it is always rmended to use a better Technique when found. William understood the System''s exnation. He felt there wouldn''t be many better techniques avable in stores. He would need to find them another way. William chose a Technique called Three Elements Conversion, which used Fire, Water, and Earth Mana particles to Cultivate. The cost was 1,400 Gold Coins, but William had more than enough after opening the Space Ring. He asked the front counter. "I didn''t find exactly what I was looking for, do you know where I can find more powerful Elemental Cultivation Techniques?" This time the female store owner answered, "Those are the best our store sells, but you should be able to find much better Techniques in the Five Elements Sect. You''re in luck, because their representative should be here to recruit members in a few days. They always visit Blue Moon City this time of year." The Five Elements Sect? William frowned. He didn''t want to join a Sect, because it would probably bring him unnecessary trouble. From what he knew, Sects would have strict requirements for their basic members, so William would need to show off and get a good score on their entry test. Actually, that doesn''t sound so bad. William realized this might be a good opportunity to beat up some nobles. He thanked the shopkeepers and purchased the Cultivation book before returning to the Array Hall. William''s n was to spend a few days Cultivating until the recruiter showed up. Of course, not everything can go ording to n. William had somehow forgotten that not even 10 minutes before he had killed a guard and trapped a few dozen others. The Fog Array was still active when he passed by, but the guard leaders and a few unfamiliar faces were outside. The leaders recognized William as soon as he stepped into view, and Flip pointed in his direction to two old men wearing guard uniforms. "That''s him!" William realized he was screwed and quickly worked together an Advanced Barrier Array that covered a two-meter radius around William in a spherical shape. The old men flew at breakneck speeds and arrived less than a second after the Array was raised. They didn''t bother attacking just yet since William was effectively trapped by his own Array. The first old man spoke, "You''ve caused a lot of trouble for the City today, young man." "Your guards failed to recognize my identity and even used me of faking my Badge. You have no right to detain me." William spoke seriously. The second old man stepped forward. "You killed a guard regardless. You will be imprisoned for a year." "He was too weak, and attacked me first. How was I supposed to know that one punch would kill him?" The old men were livid. The kid was treating lives as if they were simple objects you could throw away at will. "You should not have attacked him. You can only me yourself." "So I should allow someone to try to kill me if I''m used of a false crime? In that case, I use you of being an *ss. Now let me give you a nice punch in the face to reflect on your actions." Some of the spectators from before had returned to the scene after hearing William was back. They arrived just in time to hear thest exchange of words and couldn''t help but apud William''s ability to anger his enemies. The old men looked like William had stolen their firstborn children. "If you''re going to act like that, I guess there''s no need for me to be polite either." the second old man lifted his arm and prepared an Ice Spikeparable to Jenny''s when she killed the group of Wind Wolves. Chapter 43: Famous..Or Infamous? Chapter 43: Famous..Or Infamous? William saw the Ice Spike forming in the old man''s hand, but wasn''t afraid. He had tested the effects of his barrier before during the Array Master test, and it should be able to defend against a Golden Core Realm Cultivator. This old man probably couldn''t deal with the barrier in a short time. As expected, the Ice Spike crashed against the Barrier Array, causing light cracks but no major damage. The old man was slightly stunned as he didn''t expect the Array from a non-Cultivator to withstand his attack. William took this chance to create another Barrier Array, stacking the effects. A third Array was formed, baffling the two old men who began attacking the Arrays together. William had spent too much time fighting and was low on Mana, so he drank a Mana Regeneration potion. He created a Fog Array and a Concealment Array where the barriers were present to raise his chances of escape. The fog couldn''t travel outside the barriers, so from the old men''s perspective William just turned into a heavy cloud of smoke. Flip shouted to warn the old men, "Captains, that''s the fog from before. If you break the barrier now he might escape!" The old man that attacked the barrier first waved his hand, "Nonsense. Mere fog cannot disrupt our senses." he returned to targeting the barrier with his Ice Spikes, joined by the second Captain who was using a sword to slice through the barrier. The second barrier was broken. William was still inside the Array, but he had a n. Atticus, can you hide us both with Illusion Magic? The snake responded by releasing Illusion Mana and covering them both. William didn''t feel any different, but he seemed to be hidden from the world itself, as if he was actually in another dimension. He looked to his shoulder where Atticus was fully visible, probably since they were both affected by the same spell. The third barrier was broken and fog spilled out from all sides like a tidal wave. William and Atticus moved with the flow of fog, sneaking away at a slow pace to avoid disrupting the spell. The old men quickly attacked the center of the Barrier Array once the third barrier was broken to disable the Fog Array. Their attack was sessful. The nearby fog receded into the Array before disappearingpletely. All that remained in the area were the stunned looks of the guards as they discovered that William was nowhere in sight. "He escaped!" the old men regretted not listening to Flip earlier. They could have locked down the area with an Array of their own, securing William''s capture. Now they would have no one to me. They looked around the site for William, but had no luck. William didn''t know where else to go, so he traveled to the Array Hall and entered his private room. He added a few moreyers of defense just in case someone wanted to break in, then asked Atticus to disable the Illusion Spell. He heaved a sigh of relief. What a long day. The morning was spent in the Guild, lunchtime was spent in the Array Hall, and most of the afternoon was spent fighting. William hadn''t even eaten yet and was both physically and mentally exhausted. Thankfully he still had supplies from the Space Ring, which included food, water, and a sleeping bag. William decided it would be safest to stay the night in the Array Hall and wait until morning to proceed further. William set up an rm Array that would wake him up if the enemy breached half the defenses, then went directly to bed. *** Rhio family manor. A young-looking man was seated at a throne reading a note. To his side was a golden magic scepter, made with the finest craftsmanship. He raised his head to look at a middle-aged man that had just entered the room, "What is it?" The man bowed respectfully, then spoke quickly. "Sir, the token we gave to that wandering Space Mage a few years ago has been destroyed." "That ungrateful old man, how dare he do this to us? We had a deal!" the young man said angrily. "Gather some people, we will hunt him down." "Sir, based on the information sent back by the token, it was destroyed by a young man wielding Fire Magic. I believe our Space Mage was killed and the Space Ring is now in this young man''s hands. The information says he was in Blue Moon City." The other party at the throne understood what his subordinate was getting at. "This works as well, gather some people, we are going to reim our Space Ring and teach this young man a lesson about defying our family." "Understood." the man left the throne room with a bow. *** William woke from a long rest and checked the Arrays in his room. They appeared to bepletely untouched. He then checked his System messages, and found nothing other than a few random Potential Point gains from throughout the day. When he was creating new spells, his Spell Master title had risen to Rare, and he now had 186 Potential Points. His Mana was full, so William felt this would be a great time to add more defensive Arrays to his room. He didn''t believe the City guards wouldn''t visit the Array Hall after learning his identity. After a dozen Arrays were ced, William turned to the Cultivation book he had purchased from the storest night. He opened the first page and nced over the introduction, then flipped to the second. The book talked about how William should be sitting, then where his hands and feet should be. William started reading how to absorb Qi and the Mana in the air, but was stopped by a System notification. -The Host cannot Cultivate. The Talent "Cultivation" is not learned. "What? This is stupid! I spend my hard-earned money on a Cultivation Technique and you tell me I can''t use it until I learn another Talent? What if I never learn the Talent??" Williamined out loud. He tried ignoring the System and reading anyway, but it was as if a mental block prevented him from reading further. It was impossible. William cursed. He didn''t have many Potential Points left as it was, so he could only spin a few times. He decided to try it out. He paid one point for the Ask Function. System, what category does the Cultivation Talent belong to? -The Cultivation Talent can be found among the Passive Talents or Random Talents. The Passive Talents were 25 Potential Points each and would go up in price by 25 Points on each purchase, but they were currently less expensive than a random talent for 75PP. William purchased 3 Passive Talents for 150P. --Talent Purchased: Navigation --Talent Purchased: Heat Resistance --Talent Purchased: Hard Skin Navigation? I''ll have you know that I am already good with directions. William wasn''t too happy with his new skills. Hard Skin seemed interesting to William. His skin now seemed to have a sort of luster, as if he was constantly using Earth Magic to reinforce it. Heat Resistance, however, was mostly unnecessary. William already had an A Rank Fire Affinity, did the System expect him to jump intova or what? Not to mention the awful Navigation talent. When William checked his System Menu, he noticed the Hard Skin Talent had been ced in the physical talents category. It seemed that many skills fell under multiple categories in the Talent Shop. So I can''t Cultivate and I have no Points. I guess I need to take out some Magical Beasts again. William left his special room with ns to visit the Guild Hall. As William closed the door to his room, he heard a voice from behind. "I thought you''d hide in there forever." Chapter 44: Five Elements? Chapter 44: Five Elements? William cursed. ''How did I already forget about these guys?'' He turned around, not surprised to see the two old men from before standing outside his balcony with tired eyes and their spells at the ready. Behind them were over a hundred guards. Even Fowley and the Head Array Master were present, but they seemed defeated and couldn''t help William escape from this situation. William was nervous, but heughed. "Did you stay up all night waiting for me? I slept like a log in my room, why didn''t you break in and arrest me?" The old men frowned. Was the kid really sleeping? No! "You must have spent all your energy creating traps in that room of yours. You shoulde with us quietly or we will increase the punishment." William didn''t like where things were going. If he went with the guards, he would probably waste a year sitting in jail, but if he fought with them he would have to leave the City. "I don''t n on going to jail. Obviously killing someone was a mistake, or I would have finished off all the guardsst time." William spoke calmly. The old man didn''t n to give William a way out. He smiled sinisterly while keeping his Ice Spike trained on William. "You have no choice on this. Come with us or die." William had other ns, he quietly spent 30 Points to upgrade his Hard Skin Talent, feeling a numbing sensation from his entire body for a moment. There were no visual changes to William''s skin, but the cells felt like they were packed together in a tight formation, unwilling to let anything through. He wouldn''t be able to put up an Advanced Barrier before the old menunched their spells, so William instantly raised an Intermediate Barrier, then covered himself with the Earth Element. The old men saw many things happen within a split second and realized they needed to act now. The first broke the Intermediate Barrier with his sword, while the other shot the Ice Spike at William. The spectators anticipated William''s quick death. Fowley closed his eyes while the Head Array Master felt a tinge of pain in his heart. He had finally found a talent worthy of recing him, but the boy was hot blooded and decided to fight recklessly with the City guards. It was truly a shame. A few seconds passed. Fowley opened his eyes, but they widened in shock when he noticed the scene was not what he expected. William was perfectly fine, with an Ice Spike lodged into a chunk of Earth that protruded from his skin. William quickly created a Spell Reflection Array,unching back another Ice Spike that was heading in his direction. The old man didn''t expect this, and a massive hole was formed in his chest, bleeding profusely. If he wasn''t treated soon, the old man would die. William dodged the sword from the second guard Captain with his insane speed, then prepared a giant fireball that created severe burns on the old man''s chest. William dashed forward, delivering a punch to the old man that knocked him out. Both guard Captains were unable to fight. William didn''t want them to die, so he used the nt Element to tie them up, then the Life Element to stabilize their injuries. --Unlocked Title: +3 Potential Points -Honorable (Rare): You have spared ten individuals who had some intent to kill you. +1 Permanent Humanity. The entire fight, the other guards weren''t able to do anything. They watched as William utterly trounced their Captains in a one versus two fight. Fowley was already aware of William''s many Elements, but no one else in the room knew. The Head Array Master knew William had the Lightning and Fire Element from the Arrays test, but Will just used the Earth, nt, and Life Elements. ''Does that mean the kid has..five Elements?'' The other guards had simr thoughts. William had just used four Elements in one fight, making him one of the most talented individuals they had ever seen. Given the fact that William had just beaten two Core Formation Realm Cultivators at the Void Core stage and that Will was also an Array Master, that instantly moved him to the number 1 spot. William knew he had shown too much, but it was toote now. ''So much for hiding my strength.'' he sighed. He turned to look at the rest of the guards. "Isn''t this a bit much? Aren''t you creating more trouble for yourselves by trying to hunt me down over a small matter? Let me leave, there are more benefits from keeping me out of jail." Flip realized he was one of the only remaining senior City guard members. He knew William wasn''t unreasonable, but he had to be punished somehow. "So you don''t want to go to jail, perhaps you would be more interested in an alternative punishment?" William looked at him weird. Why does that phrase sound so... He shrugged it off, "Like what?" William asked. "As you''ve killed a guard and evaded capture for 16 hours, we could sentence you to clean up the Magical Beasts in a nearby danger zone. You surely have the strength for it." William was interested, this was actually exactly what he needed. He forced out an indecisive tone, "If it''s too much then I''m not willing, how many beasts would I need to kill?" "We ask that you clear out Section 4 of the Foam Desert, which is probably around a hundred beasts in the Foundation Establishment Realm and a few dozen in the Core Formation Realm. The Foam Desert separates Blue Moon City from Far East Capital, so the route needs to be cleared regrly. Your help would reduce the number of casualties on our side." Flip finished. William felt this was a great option for him. He epted their offer and even decided he would leave the same day. Flip was relieved, as he felt the chase to catch William would take arge amount of manpower. The City didn''t have many Golden Core or Nascent Soul experts, so sending one of them to catch a kid without Cultivation would be humiliating. A peaceful resolution was the best option, and the guards could even im to have sessfully apprehended the criminal. William took a trip to the Guild Hall. He spoke to Sara and Rui, "Are there any Quests that are looking for beasts or materials from the Foam Desert?" Rui spoke with a smile, "We have a few of these, I will bring them out for you to look at." she spent a few minutes behind her counter organizing papers, thenid a stack of 8 Quest sheets on the table. "These are all we have for right now, the Alchemy Hall is also always looking for Marauder Scorpion tails, so be sure to keep an eye out." William nodded and took the Quest sheets. He looked at each of them, depicting different beasts, their habitats, and desired drops. William felt it was better to ept all the Quests and go backter if he didn''tplete them. "I''ll ept all of these, is that alright?" he asked the duo. Sara smiled while shaking her head, "Two of those Quests are too difficult for you." she pointed to a pair of quests that requested heads of a Poison Panther and legs of a Core Formation Realm Sand Newt. "If you want these Quests, it''s better to wait until you are a tinum Rank Adventurer." Sara finished. Chapter 45: Platinum Chapter 45: tinum William remembered what Jenny said before he left Thin Creek Vige. He needed to take a Rankup test if he wanted to be a tinum Rank Adventurer. "If that''s the case, can I request a Rankup to tinum?" Rui was a bit surprised, "You reached Gold Rank yesterday morning and you want to promote already? You do realize the difference in ranks is not small..right?" "Yes I know, but I would still like to apply." "Alright, I will call the instructor." Rui held up amunicator to her ear, then turned to the side and spoke a few words that William couldn''t hear clearly. He waited in the lobby for half an hour, until a middle-aged man with two massive greatswords on his back entered the room. William sensed a pressure equal to the guard Captains from the man. The man didn''t speak to William at all, but turned to Rui. "Is this the kid I''m supposed to evaluate? Looking at his arms, are you sure he can even hurt a Magical Beast?" William was angered, "Hey guy, I''m stronger than I look!" The man ignored him, much to William''s annoyance. Rui looked at both of them and sighed. Her gaze returned to the man "I don''t know Vern, but he requested the test himself. He can''t bother you again for a year if he fails." Vern looked back at William and felt mocked, but this was his job. "Alright kid, let''s get in the ring." he walked over to the Arena and entered through a set of doors on the side. William followed without saying much. This guy is underestimating me, I''m much stronger than I was a few weeks ago. Once they both took their ces, Vern exined the rules. "You need to defend my attacks for ten minutes. If you can do so, you qualify for tinum Rank. Let''s get this over with so I can do more important things like polish my sword." William nodded,pletely serious. The battle started after a five second countdown. Vern rushed forward at a speed slightly slower than the guard Captains, appearing as a blur to outsiders. William prepared an Advanced Barrier Array but sacrificed some defense for coverage to give William more space. The Array spread in a five-meter radius and blocked the first attack of Vern effortlessly, giving the man a surprise. William used the time to create another Array but was forced to take a few steps backwards when a massive Lightning Bolt fell from the sky and shattered his Array. William was confused at first but realized that Vern had managed to counter the Array by targeting a precise location with the Lightning Bolt. He raised an Earth Wall to counter the remaining energy of the Lightning Bolt, then used the Water Element to spread water on the floor of the Arena. Vern didn''t understand William''s thought process with thest move, so he went on the offensive. The kid was stronger than he expected, but William was dreaming if he thought the Rankup would be so easy. Vern prepared another Lightning Bolt in the sky. William saw iting and prepared a thin Earth shield made of a pure white substance above his head. The Lightning Bolt crashed down. It tore through the Earth shield like paper and continued towards William, causing Vern to smirk. William used his speed to dodge the Lightning Bolt, quickly jumping out of the water and into the air at a diagonal. Vern, who was still standing in the water, received an intense shock. His own Lightning Bolt spread into millions of sparks in the water that paralyzed Vern. His eyes widened in shock and he could only stare as William prepared a Lightning Bolt of the same size in his hands and threw it, obliterating Vern''s life force. His body was reconstructed in the Arena but didn''t move for a long time. Despite his many battles, this was Vern''s first death in the Arena. He was used to always winning, and many times he would go easy on his opponents. This is what made him a good evaluator. But that streak had been ended by a mere boy, not much older than Vern''s son. "How did you do it?" he asked in a less arrogant tone than before. William realized this world didn''t have a great understanding of science. He tried to exin it in the simplest terms, as if he was exining to a child. "Lightning can move through water with the help of salt, which is what I made with the Earth Element. When your spell destroyed my barrier, I made all the salt that fell in the water move towards you, channeling the Lightning in your direction." Vern understood most of William''s exnation. he had never thought of using Magic this way. He thought for a moment on how to evaluate the kid. "Your strength and ability definitely qualify. I can safely say you qualify for tinum Rank. With a bit more training, you may even qualify for Diamond Rank soon." William thanked Vern and went to the receptionists to refresh his badge and ept the quests from earlier. They were a bit surprised to find that William had actually killed Vern in the Arena and felt more at ease for his trip to the Foam Desert. William was in a hurry, so he didn''t stick around for long. He followed the directions to the Foam Desert, which was a four-day trip by wagon. He was too cheap to rent anything, so William stocked up on supplies and prepared to walk using one of the main paths. He felt this was a great chance to practice some movement techniques. He used the Wind Element for a few hours to gain a tailwind, falling asionally. Once he had mastered this aspect, he added the Light Element. The experience was a bit different than he expected. When Light Magic was used for speed, William could feel his body being pulled in a straight line, almost as if he had turned into a ray of sunlight with no choice but to move forward. When turning, William needed to lower the intensity of the Light Element. He needed to remove its influencepletely to make sharp turns. When coupling the Light and Wind Elements together, William was able to turn his body and maintain his speed, albeit awkwardly. He tested over the next few days with the other Elements, finding that the bestbinations were using the Wind, Lightning, and Light Elements. With the effects of these spells, William could reach speeds at the Core Formation Realm even without the help of Arrays or his natural movement. William was able to shorten the trip to three days while testing his Magic. The path continued through the Foam Desert, but William already sensed many Life signatures of beasts in the Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment Realms. The desertpletely filled William''s vision, riddled with sand dunes and sparse cacti. There were unique rock formations that appeared from time to time, naturally colored in shades of red or brown. "Let''s get to work!" William climbed to the top of a sand dune near the main path and created a series of Barrier Arrays that covered a 25-meter area. In the center, William created an Advanced Concealment Array to hide his presence. He realized he had forgotten to add a door, so William edited one of the Barrier Arrays to have a door that could only be opened by tapping the correct spot with Life Mana. Chapter 46: Hunting Chapter 46: Hunting William admired his handiwork. It looked a bit awkward from the inside, but William could see anyone on the main path from inside his outpost. With the help of his Concealment Array, no outsiders would be able to detect William unless they were more powerful Array Masters or had high Cultivation. William felt he had done enough. He rested for half an hour to recover his Mana, then followed a Quest sheet that led him to Section 4. He had forgotten to ask the guards where Section 4 was located, but thankfully he had a Quest to kill five Sandicores and gather their ws. The image of the Sandicore resembled a Manticore with a lion''s head, a sandy-colored coat, and a scorpion''s tail. William liked the y on words. He followed the directions of the Quest sheet, entering Section 4 in under an hour, where he built another base camp of smaller scale. A benefit to the Arrays of this world was that they would naturally draw in Mana from the environment to sustain themselves. If the Arrays weren''t constantly active, they could evenst for years before they broke down. William had yet to physically see a Magical Beast, but his Life Sense told him there were dozens within 50 meters of him. They had small Life signatures, so William assumed they wererge bugs hidden under the sand, waiting for William to approach. He walked closer to one of the Life signatures, finding his guess to be mostly correct. While starting directly at the Life signature, William turned off his Life Sense to find a pale yellow shell motionless on top of the sand. A passerby might think the shell was that of a dead animal if they didn''t investigate further. [Bestiary] Desert Beetle: +1 Potential Point Williamunched a fireball at the creature, instantly burning it to a crisp. There was a squeak from the creature as it died, simr to that of a mouse. -Defeated Desert Beetle: +3 Potential Points 4 points for an easy kill? Not bad. Normally a beast at the Foundation Establishment Realm would only give two points, but there was also the first time kill bonus and discovering the creature with his Bestiary. William continued hunting down the Desert Beetles, as they didn''t fight back if he killed them in one hit. William was able to clear out the area closest to his base camp in just thirty minutes, collecting 15 Sand Husks and earning another 30 Potential Points. William became addicted to hunting. He could earn hundreds of Potential Points from upgrading titles, but nothing was more satisfying than doing the same by killing Magical Beasts. He stored all the Sand Husks in his Space Ring and searched for more. The hunt for Desert Beetles was paused when William spotted a Sandicore and a Massive Desert Beetle battling. They both looked to be in the Core Formation Realm and were evenly matched in their fight. The Sandicore stabbed forward with its tail to poison the Desert Beetle, but the attack was blocked by a tough shell. The Desert Beetle dove underground, then crawled through the sand at a fast speed before jumping up from underneath the Sandicore, stabbing into its underbelly with a hard horn. The beast was thrown back and bled a bit, but managed to stab the Desert Beetle in the face with its tail, causing a minor wound. The wound began to fester as poison from the scorpion tail entered the Desert Beetle''s body. William saw this opportunity to attack. He threw out a Giant Fireball that was amplified by the Wind Element, striking the Sandicore on the side and sting away both Beasts. The blow didn''t kill either of them, so a second Giant Fireball was thrown, quickly finishing off the pair. -Defeated Sandicore: +4 Potential Points -Defeated your first Core Formation Realm Beast: +50 Potential Points -Defeated Desert Beetle: +3 Potential Points William was enthusiastic about his gains. If he earns 50 Potential Points for killing a Core Formation Realm Beast, how much would a Nascent Soul or better give him? His excitement died down when William realized all his gains so far today amounted to around a hundred Potential Points, which was barely enough to purchase one Passive Talent from the shop. Things are getting a bit expensive now. William was starting to understand when the System said it wasn''t unbnced. Upgrading his Manamatus title was nearly impossible without a few thousand Potential Points, so William would need to hunt quite a few beasts. He harvested the materials from the Sandicore and the Desert Beetle, then continued his hunting spree. By the end of the day, William had cleared out half of Section 4, earning 150 more Sand Husks, 64 Sandicore ws, and 16 Sandicore Tails. He had yet to find Marauder Scorpions or any other beasts, so William organized the items and returned to his smaller base camp to rest. Whileying in a sleeping bag, William realized his Heat Resistance and Fire Affinity were quite effective at dealing with the desert heat. He feltfortable, as if he could go for a ten mile run, despite the fact that it was probably over thirty degrees Celsius during midday. He looked at the System Menu, surprised to see that he had 462 Potential Points, almost entirely gained from hunting and partially earned from creating new spells. Come on, give me Cultivation Talent! System, purchase 3 Passive Talents. --Talent Purchased: Cold Resistance --Talent Purchased: Mind --Talent Purchased: Regeneration William couldn''t be upset with those Talents, but he was a bit disappointed when Cultivation wasn''t in the list. He looked at the description for the Mind Talent, finding it was the same one that would allow him to improve his skill in Arrays. William felt that his memory had be much better and could easily remember what he had for breakfast a few months prior. It was cereal, but still impressive, okay? William still had 87 Potential Points remaining, but he would need 175 to purchase the next Passive Talent. This was almost too much to bear, what if he never learns the Cultivation Talent? Would he remain a normal person forever and slowly grow old? No! Something had to be done! William couldn''t sleep that night after having these thoughts, so he steeled his resolve and went out to the desert, eager to hunt more Magical Beasts and unlock the Cultivation Talent. He would continue hunting Beasts for the remainder of the night, only stopping to recover his Mana. Because he wanted to earn more points and faster, William learned many more efficient ways to kill the Beasts. He could take out a Sandicore in just two spells, and a Desert Beetle at the Core Formation Realm wouldn''t even know where its enemy was before it was crushed to death by the Earth Element. William became an unstoppable killing machine, whose desire to crush Desert Beetle skulls could not be contained. He even passed up on collecting their materials until he was out of Mana, just so he had more time to earn points. Without William''s knowledge, Section 4 of the Foam Desert waspletely cleared. He didn''t stop, continuing to wipe out the enemies in Sectors 5 and 6, which consisted of many different beasts. The Marauder Scorpions were somewhat difficult for William to defeat, but even they didn''tst long after he gained more practice fighting them. Chapter 47: Earth Vein Chapter 47: Earth Vein The sky was beginning to turn bright again, and William was exhausted. He had spent most of his Mana multiple times in thest few hours. William trudged back to his camp undisturbed. There were no longer any living Magical Beasts around this area of the Foam Desert, only corpses. William assumed the region was sessfully cleared, so he spent the trek gathering materials from the remaining Beasts. He entered the base camp andid face down on the sleeping bag, releasing a loud sigh of relief. He checked his Potential Points. POTENTIAL POINTS: 1089 William was slightly disappointed. He thought he had killed many more beasts, but after doing the math and counting the materials he had collected, William realized he had only killed 539 beasts that day, including the points he had already spent in the Talent Shop. Overall it wasn''t terrible, but William wasn''t confident in his luck. System, purchase 3 Passive Talents. --Talent Purchased: Poison Resistance --Talent Purchased: Sleep Resistance --Talent Purchased: Stealth Ugh, 600 Points down the drain and I get two resistance skills. Stealth doesn''t look bad though. William looked at the descriptions for the different skills, finding that stealth would reduce his chances of detection, even while walking around normally. He wondered if raising Stealth to a high level would make him permanently invisible. Could he even find a girlfriend at that point? It would be best not to raise the level of Stealth too high. One spin left, please System give me some luck! Buy a Passive Talent. --Talent Purchased: Vision Seeing the System message, William sighed. He had spent 850 points now, and the next purchase would cost 275 Potential Points. It was just too much! If William couldn''t find the Cultivation skill, joining the Five Elements Sect would be pointless. How could he exin to the Sect that he wanted to join but had no ability to Cultivate? They wouldugh at him for sure. William looked at his System Menu. He realized that to earn more points he would need to be more powerful. It was a waste to blindly hope for the Cultivation Talent when William didn''t know how many Passive Talents existed. What if there were thousands of options and he was ying the lottery? It hurt his head just thinking about it. He used 90 Potential Points to upgrade his Rare Mind Talent to C Rank, then decided to rest for a few hours. He would clear out more sections of the Foam Desert when he woke up. The guards wouldn''t mind right? William was doing them a favor after all. William woke up feeling refreshed. He traveled to Section 6 to clear out any remaining Beasts, then moved on to Section 7. William didn''t know howrge the Foam Desert was, but the various Quest sheets in his hand said the Desert had at least 25 Sections. He was currently in the outer peripherals, and the more dangerous zones were mostly marked with higher numbers. William created a base camp in each Section and would spend half a day to clear out the nearby Beasts. He would asionally go back to an older camp to drop off extra materials that he didn''t need to store in his Space Ring, and to kill Beasts that had recently spawned. William didn''t fully understand how the Magical Beasts woulde back, but the System exnation suggested the Beasts were actually part of the world and would be generated to protect certain environments. A few hourster, William could be seen fighting a group of ten Desert Beetles outside his camp in Section 7. He had missed a crucial Giant Fireball spell, only killing 6 of the original 16. The rest of the group immediately dove underground and engaged in a long battle with William. Atticus slithered off William''s shoulder, prepared to enter a battle for the first time in a few days. William was worried that Atticus would find trouble in the Foam Desert, given that the beast was only in the Foundation Establishment Realm. It had thebat strength of an early Core Formation Realm Cultivator, but William didn''t want to take any unnecessary risks before. Atticus used Illusion Magic to conceal its presence, only moving when it saw the opportunity to strike. The snake wrapped itself around a lone Desert Beetle, crushing it through the shell. -Your Companion Beast defeated a Desert Beetle: +2 Potential Points Its good to know that I don''t lose points for letting Atticus kill the Beetle. Doesn''t this mean that collecting more beasts can make the process automatic? William thought. His eyes shined while thinking of the possibilities. The duo cleared out the group of Desert Beetles a few minutester. They continued through Section 7, nning to spend a few more hoursbing the Foam Desert. It was at this moment that William saw something moving parallel to him in the distance. It looked to be massive, but William couldn''t make out its figure clearly. He spent 5 Points to upgrade his Vision Talent so he could see better. The upgrade raised William''s awareness to a new level, allowing him to see that the figure was a giant glowing rock about 5 kilometers away. Wait..rocks can move? William was interested. He made sure Atticus was on his shoulder, then ran forward at maximum speed to the rock. William was able to cover the distance in less than a minute. The rock was still moving, so William had to investigate while matching its pace. -Discovered Earth Vein: +5 Potential Points Oh so it''s a natural treasure! William was instantly excited. He ran up to the rock and tried absorbing it. -Absorbing Earth Vein... ... ... -Absorbed Earth Vein: +25 Potential Points -Earth Element already acquired. Health increased. ... -Earth Affinity has met the requirements for Rankup, upgrading for free... ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Earth Magic: (C --> B) Next rank up: 250PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William noticed the Potential Point gains were higher than the Life Vein, and the Earth Vein wasn''t marked as lesser like before. Now that William was stronger, this boost wasn''t life-changing, but the free upgrade to his Earth Element made arge difference. He wanted to find more, but how? The Earth Veins were moving, which exined why William didn''t see any before, but he was confident there would be more than one Earth Vein in a desert this massive. William tested the effects of his Earth Magic on the next group of Beasts. His Earth Barrier spell could defend against the Foundation Establishment Realm Desert Beetles without any additional support, and would only break in one hit when a Core Formation Realm Beast was present. With amplification from an Intermediate Barrier Array, the Earth Barrier could withstand attacks from the more powerful Core Formation Realm Beasts. His Earth Spikes received a great boost in strength, surpassing even the damage from his Fire Spells when focusing on a single target. William could use the Earth Spike to pierce through the tough shell of a Core Formation Realm Desert Beetle with the 20 percent damage boost from his Beast yer Title. William realized his Magic was still much weaker than his Talent in Arrays, but the improved Affinities were extremely useful when supporting an Array that required a specific Element. When testing, William found that an Earth Spike Array was nearly 30 percent stronger than when he threw a spell himself. This meant William could probably battle with a Beast at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm if he used all his abilities. His Advanced Barrier Array could dy a Golden Core Cultivator, but it probably wouldn''t be enough for William to escape. A non-Cultivator with Peak Core Formation Realmbat strength. No one would believe it if I didn''t show them. William smiled. Chapter 48: Points Extraordinaire, Epic Talent? Chapter 48: Points Extraordinaire, Epic Talent? William wondered if the Cultivation Talent was even necessary in the short term. Couldn''t he just upgrade all his other Talents and still be strong? William put a lot of thought into this. The idea was feasible, as he could use his beasts to perform many Cultivation-rted tasks. The only problem would be to his lifespan. William didn''t want to die at 60 years old in a ce like this! He made a decision. William returned to hunting Beasts, clearing out Sections 7 and 8, then returned to his camp and checked his gains. William had to dump out all the Sand Husks into a makeshift storage area of the base camp because there was no more room in his Space Ring, but the number probably amounted to one or two thousand. POTENTIAL POINTS: 1974 Here we go again. System, purchase 3 Passive Talents. --Talent Purchased: Forcefield -Unlocked your first Epic Talent: +25 Potential Points -Unlocked your first Epic Passive Talent: +50 Potential Points --Talent Purchased: Slow Resistance --Talent Purchased: Charm Resistance Forcefield? William didn''t fully understand how it worked but was excited about his first Epic Talent. It must be powerful. William couldn''t really control the skill, but he felt as if he was constantly covered by a thinyer of light, like a set of armor. The forcefield didn''t disrupt William''s movements at all, and his clothes could pass through the forcefield without an issue. Even Atticus seemed to be recognized by the forcefield, as he was still resting on William''s shoulder and hadn''t noticed a thing. He pulled up the skill description. "Repel your enemies or block their attacks with a powerful forcefield! Distinguishes friend or foe." The description wasn''t very detailed for an Epic Talent, but William understood how powerful it was. With a skill like this, William couldn''t be easily assassinated! Once again, he didn''t receive the Cultivation Talent, but William felt this was still a big win. System, upgrade my Forcefield Talent. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Forcefield: (E --> D) Next rank up: 100PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William felt the range of his forcefield expanding from a few centimeters to half a meter in an instant. The forcefield seemed to be stronger,parable to an Intermediate Barrier. Epic Talents are expensive! 100 Points just to reach C Rank? William felt like the System was taking advantage of his many points, but he went through with another upgrade anyway. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Forcefield: (D --> C) Next rank up: 500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª The forcefield expanded again, this time reaching 2 meters in range. The strength improved drastically, now only slightly weaker than an Advanced Barrier. With this, William had be a bit of a defensive turtle. His Earth Element, Barriers, and the Forcefield could stack together and hold up against a Golden Core Cultivator''s attack with ease. He looked at the remaining Potential Points and realized he had a few options. He could upgrade Atticus to D Rank, improve his Mana Regeneration and his Arrays, or spin for two more Passive Talents. William prefers buying Talents in groups of 3, and improving his Arrays wasn''t necessary right now as there probably wouldn''t be any Golden Core Beasts unless William entered Section 12 or further. System, upgrade Atticus. --Upgrading Atticus-- ... ... ¡ª¡ª¡ª BEAST UPGRADED Atticus: (D --> C) Learned 0 new abilities. Strength, Speed, Perception, and Stealth improved. Defensive abilities greatly improved. Intelligence improved. Illusion Affinity improved. Next rank up: 5000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª There was no change to the snake''s size, but Atticus'' scales seemed to shine with a deeper purple glow. William raised his hand to pat Atticus, feeling how tough his scales had be. He also noticed that Atticus had risen directly to the Core Formation Realm without a sound. There wasn''t even a tribtion for Atticus to undergo, as if he was naturally hidden from the world and it couldn''t sense him. 24 Points left, they go so fast... William had a massive number of Talents to spend his points on after all the purchases at the Talent Shop. The problem was with never having enough! William decided he would return to Blue Moon City soon. He had alreadypleted most of the Quests issued to him and had too many Beast Materials. He spent one more day clearing Section 9 of the Foam Desert for another 400 Potential Points, then returned to the city with as many Beast Materials as his Space Ring could carry. William was forced to leave around a thousand Sand Husks in the base camp, but he nned to return frequently to search for Earth Veins and to kill Magical Beasts for points. The trip to Blue Moon City was uneventful. William met up with a small group of Cultivators around the halfway mark, but they were going in the other direction. After speaking for a bit, William heard they were going to clear out the Foam Desert. He didn''t speak of his killing spree and wished them good luck before continuing his walk. Thest half of his trip was beginning to look even less eventful. William was tempted to upgrade his Speed just so he could return faster, but he held back. A few hourster, William had slowed his walking speed. His improved vision revealed four figures on a hill a bit over a kilometer away. As he approached, he noticed one of the figures was wearing a dark cloak and seemed to be using a pair of binocrs to scan the road. Bandits? William wasn''t sure, but the behavior was suspicious nheless. He told Atticus to prepare for battle just in case, then continued walking forward. The cloaked individual noticed William and motioned to his group. Three more figures appeared in William''s view, totaling seven cloaked men. They ran down the hill andid in a patch of grass near the road. Yep, definitely bandits. Unless they really enjoy eating grass, I guess I can''t judge. William could tell based on their speed that he was faster than their entire group. They couldn''t be stronger than the Core Formation Realm. With that thought, William became much more casual. He was somewhat excited to see what the group had nned for him, and hoped it wouldn''t disappoint. With a few more minutes of walking, William had arrived at the group''s ambush point. He saw a Basic Confinement Array on the ground and instantly understood their intent. They wanted to kidnap him. Probably because he is so handsome, I mean who can me them? With a face like William''s, anyone that sold him would make quite the profit. William was somewhat ttered. He stepped on the Array, triggering a Confinement Spell that held him in ce. William could break free in a matter of moments, but he wanted to see their next move. The group of seven jumped out, holding knives. Their actions were somewhatical. What appeared to be their leader stepped out, "We don''t want to hurt you, give us your valuables and you can go free." William was confused, "You don''t want to kidnap me?" Now the bandits were confused. The leader looked at William''s clothing, which was a in set of traditional clothes that he bought during a deal before leaving the City. "Are you even worth kidnapping? You look like you bought that when it was on sale." the leader must have read William''s mind. William became annoyed. These weaklings don''t understand my value! He shot the leader an angry re, "Then you better get out of here before I lose my patience!" Chapter 49: Kidnapped? I Prefer Borrowed From Society Chapter 49: Kidnapped? I Prefer Borrowed From Society The group of bandits looked at William andughed. "Don''t you know what situation you''re in, boy? How are you going to hurt us?" William smiled at the group and said nothing. The leader realized he wasn''t getting anything from William, so he gave an order. "Red, Kill him. We will take his items off his corpse." One of the bandits codenamed Red stepped forward and performed a quick slicing motion at William''s neck. The bandit sheathed his knife and walked away with a calm smile on his face. The other bandits were quite still when he returned so Red asked, "Was I too cruel to the kid? He was quite annoying." A bandit with green eyes spoke, "He''s not dead you idiot." "What?" Red turned around and was surprised to see William standing still with a smile on his face. "You bandits done or what? Is it my turn now?" William was still smiling. The bandits felt nervous for some reason, but that didn''t make sense as William had no Cultivation. The bandit leader issued another order, "Attack him together! Something is off about the way he blocked that attack." The bandits replied by moving in unison. Their knives shed in the sun as they stepped forward to attack the immobilized William. The oue didn''t change though, as their des continuously bounced off William''s skin. He had recently discovered he could adjust the range of his forcefield at will as long as he didn''t expand further than its limit. The bandit leader finally realized what was wrong about their attacks. He shouted, "He''s hiding his Cultivation! That''s a Spirit Aura!" Spirit Aura? William was both amused and interested by their misconception. Does this mean there are Cultivators with the same ability somewhere in the world? He didn''t think about it too much. The bandits heard their leader''s shout and were in the process of retreating, so William needed to make a move now. "It looks like you''re done attacking me. Time to return the favor." William broke free from the Confinement Array and spread his fingers. An Advanced Confinement Array was formed and expanded to cover a range of 25 meters, trapping everyone within. As William''s Array, he had no trouble moving around while the bandits tried to break free with no sess. The bandit leader looked at William with a terrified expression. He never expected that the first person they robbed today would be a hidden expert. Not only that, but he was able to trap their entire group in one move, the kid must be involved with the Array Hall! William looked around at the seven immobilized figures. "I thought you were going to kidnap me, it''s only fair that I do the same to you." he constructed a few Advanced Arrays in quick session to bind the Cultivator''s movements everywhere except their knees. William disabled the Advanced Confinement Array, allowing the Cultivators to hobble forward. "You will all follow me. If you don''t, then I guess it''d be better to kill you. Your choice." William spoke with a goofy smile. The bandits replied by walking toward him. William unsealed the mouth of one of the weaker Cultivators, allowing him to say a few words if needed. "What name do they call you?" William asked. "S-Sir I am Blue." the bandit replied. "Okay, Blue. Are you part of arger group, or is this all of you?" "This is all of us Sir. I guess you could say we are part of the Thieves'' Guild technically, but I''ve never met any of their other members, we are just cannon fodderpared to them." William seemed to have chosen a talkative bandit. ''How lucky.'' "I see. Walk with me, we are going into the City." William started walking down the path at a slow pace so the bandits could keep up. "Sir, we are bandits. We can''t enter the City or we will be thrown in jail." Blue had a worried expression. William was unperturbed. "That won''t be a problem, just follow me." The bandits had no choice but to follow William. The group walked awkwardly for the next four hours, finally reaching the gate by that afternoon. As expected, William was stopped by the gate guards. They checked his Guild Badge and confirmed him to be a tinum Ranked Adventurer, then looked at the bandits. "What business do you have with them? They also need to show their identification." William shrugged. "They are just a bunch of idiots that tried to kill me, are ID cards really necessary?" "Do you have proof that they tried to kill you?" William was confused. Since when do Cultivation worlds ask for proof that someone wanted to hurt you? He showed an angry look at the gate guards, "Do I need proof for this? I''m taking responsibility for them, just call the City Guards or whatever you people do." The gate guard instantly realized he had misspoken, "That''s not necessary Sir, go right on in. We will inform the City Guards of your presence." the guard motioned to the other, who dialed a number on hismunicator. A few momentster, the second guard nodded his head, "They will meet you inside." William and the bandits entered the City together. Flip happened to be part of the City Guards that received him. "Kid, you have a knack for causing trouble. You''ve resorted to kidnapping now?" his mouth twitched a little when he noticed that none of the bandits could move properly. William looked at Flip with a smile, "They''re bandits, and even if it was kidnapping, I''d prefer to call it borrowed from society." hisst sentence reminded Flip of why William was so detested by the guard Captains. "Hahaha, well said. We can take the bandits from here. You can receive a reward from the Guild Hall if the bandits have any active bounties." Flip waved to William and turned around with his group. "Wait!" William called out. Flip stopped, calling over his shoulder, "What is it?" "I''ve cleared out Section 4 like you asked. Just wanted to let you know in case I needed rewards for that too." Flip smiled, "Oh so that''s it. Yes we will have a suitable¡ª Wait you''ve finished already?" he felt it hadn''t been much more than a week and a half. How fast did William work? Was he by himself, or did an army of Cultivators help him hunt the Beasts? William noticed Flip''s disbelief. "If you don''t believe me, you can check it out yourself. Anyways, I''m going now." he was d to be rid of the bandits, as they walked incredibly slow. Well, part of that was Williams fault but who''s pointing fingers? The bandit he spoke to on the trip, Blue, had also transformed from a valuable tool for learning about the dark side of the world to an incredible annoyance. The guy absolutely did not stop talking! William did hear a few interesting things from Blue though. The Thieves'' Guild seemed to have a unique recruiting method. To join the Thieves'' Guild, an individual or group has tomit enough crimes that their names or codenames must be known by many in their region and feared. It seemed a bit vague, but William assumed it depended on the region. The bandit group that attacked William was actually in its probation phase with the Thieves'' Guild, hence why they considered themselves cannon fodder. William felt a bit sorry for ruining their chances at a good life in the Thieves'' Guild, but it was their fault for getting caught. William entered the Guild Hall to turn in his quests. He brought out all the Beast Materials and sold them to the surprised receptionists, earning 540 Gold Coins in total. The old Quests were swapped with new ones, but William wasn''t nning to re-enter the Foam Desert just yet. Chapter 50: I Want Them All! Chapter 50: I Want Them All! William needed more space for his items. Even with the massive 50 cubic meters of space, William couldn''t store all the Beast Materials. They were just too big! If some Beasts in the Core Formation Realm were already asrge as small trucks, William knew he wouldn''t be able to store the more powerful beasts. He knew just where to go. The Cultivation Shop in the Inner City also showcased many Space Rings, but William had ignored them because he was in a hurry. At the front counter, William was greeted by the same couple. "Wee again to our Cultivation Shop! Is there anything you need Sir?" they seemed a bit more respectful thanst time William was here. "Uh yes. I am looking for Space Rings." William replied. "Right this way Sir." the male shopkeeper stepped away from the counter and motioned for William to follow. At a corner of the store, there was a shelf with nothing but Space Rings that were organized by their storage size. The most expensive Space Ring was 200 Gold, with a storage of 20 cubic meters, while the least expensive was only 10 Gold Coins with a single cubic meter of space. There were around 40 rings in total. William did some math. He can fit three rings on each finger minus the thumbs, but that might look awkward. ''It can''t hurt to get more Space Rings anyway.'' "I want all of them." William said. The male shopkeeper was confused, "All of them? That''s..are you sure?" "I said I want all of them didn''t I? Of course I''m sure!" "O-Ok Sir." the shopkeeper gathered all the rings with his Spiritual Qi and arranged them on the front counter. The shopkeeper did the math for the cost of all the Space Rings, "That''s going to be 3680 Gold Coins and 2 Silver." William wasn''t surprised at the cost. Even with the 10 percent discount from his Moneybags Title, It was nearly all of his savings, but William didn''t really need money right now anyway. He paid for the Space Rings. "Do you have any nes? Just the basic ones will do." The shopkeeper didn''t know what William was thinking, but they became even more respectful after seeing the young tycoon spend thousands of Gold Coins without batting an eye. The female shopkeeper led William to a row of jewelry, where many nes were disyed. They were quite cheap, only a few pieces of gold each. William bought three nes and strung his extra Space Rings on them. He wore sixteen rings with the most storage, two on each finger minus the thumbs, making William feel like he should give himself a [1] street name. "Sir, do you n on buying anything else?" the shopkeeper returned William''s thoughts to the shop. "No, that''s all I need." William thanked the shopkeepers and left the store. He returned to the Array Hall. The Elder at the front counter didn''t change. William still didn''t know his name, but it would be awkward to ask. "Do I have any orders today?" The Elder looked through the Array Hall''s orders and shook his head. "There are not any orders for Array Master William, but I have a few. Would you like to take care of mine for half the profit?" William realized this was a great way to earn some money as well. "Sure, what do I need to do?" The Elder picked up the orders book in front of him and flipped to a certain page. He turned the book around to show William. Depicted on the page was an Array Puppet and an order for Elder Su. "Another member of the Array Hallmissioned me to create five Advanced Array Puppets in a week. I already have the Puppets, they just need to be inscribed with Runes." William looked at the order sheet a bit more. The Arrays weren''t too difficult. "Sure I''ll give it a try." Elder Su nodded and handed over five nk puppets from his Space Ring. "Don''t worry about getting all five done this week. Just let me know where you''re at in a few days and I''ll finish up the rest." William returned the nod and took the puppets to his personal room. The defensive Arrays he had created were still there, suggesting no one had entered the room since William left. He ced the puppets on the ground and referenced the order sheet again. ''So each puppet needs an Advanced Array of Strength, Speed, Barrier, and Killing Intent. The rest of the puppet is made of Intermediate Runes for the movements of each joint. Easy enough.'' William got to work. He was quite familiar with the Arrays of Barrier and Speed, so he created those first. The Barrier Array was ced on the chest area, while the Speed Array went on the back of each leg. William decided to use two Arrays as it only made sense that way. He did the same with Strength, cing one Array on each arm. The Killing Intent Array was formed on the top of the Puppet''s head, and all that remained were movement Arrays for the joints. "Done!" William sat down afterpleting the formation of his first puppet. The process only took an hour, but it used up nearly half of William''s Mana reserves. Will would need another nine hours to finish the job, but he had plenty of time today so why not. He used his rest time to buy a dozen Mana Regeneration Potions from the nearby Alchemy Hall, then returned to his work. The second and third Array Puppets were created in three hours. William didn''t want to waste much time, so he drank a Mana Regeneration Potion and created the other two Puppets, using a bit under an hour for each of them. He stored the Puppets in one of his Space Rings and returned to Elder Su at the front desk. The Elder looked up from his desk to see William, so he checked the time. "It''s been six hours, have you already finished the first puppet? How did it go? If you broke one, I can rece it for cheap so don''t worry about that." William pulled out the puppets from his Space Ring. "I''m done, but you might need to make sure I didn''t break anything. I changed the Arrays up a bit." Elder Su looked at thepleted Puppets in shock. He knew William was talented, but he didn''t expect the kid to be so fast! He checked over the Puppets, finding them to be in even better condition than the order requested. "These look perfect! You''re really skilled to finish up the order so fast, this Elder thanks you!" he handed over 800 Gold as payment for William''s work and gave a slight bow. After all, William was a higher rank than Elder Su, it was only natural that he bow. 800 Gold for this, and it''s only half the payment?!? This is a Gold Mine! William was ecstatic. He nodded to Elder Su, "Are there any other orders?" Elder Su was impressed by William''s work ethic. He looked through the order book some more, but couldn''t find anything else worthy of William''s time. "Not today, but I''ll let you know if we receive any more, Array Master William." William nodded. He exited the Array Hall and walked down the street while lost in thought. I bought the Space Rings I need and made some money with the Array Hall. I guess I should visit the Foam Desert again. William still hadn''t learned the Cultivation Talent, so the grind for Potential Points would have to continue. His thoughts were interrupted by a group of red-robed individuals emitting oppressive auras. At the front of the group was a young man with blue hair and white highlights. He had a yful smile on his face as he looked at William. "Found you." The young man turned his head and signaled to an old man by his side, who responded by weaving the mostplicated Array William had ever seen. [1] Street name: An Western ng term for a nickname given to a gangster or member of the Mafia. Chapter 51 Center Of Attention Chapter 51 Center Of Attention A Perfect Array! Howe this guy is going straight for his ultimate move?!? Not fair! William grumbled to himself. Any normal person would be terrified by the sudden turn of events, but William was unperturbed. He tried studying the Array, but there were many pieces he didn''t understand. The effects were much greater than from an Advanced Array. Even using his full strength, William couldn''t move at all, and could barely think. He even felt his Mana slowly draining away to keep the Array functional. Without a doubt, these enemies were formidable. The blue haired youthughed at William''s situation. "We did our research beforehand while you were off on your little trip. You''re quite talented for your age. There''s no way I''m letting an Array Master and a Quintuple Manamatus escape from me though." the young man finished with a smirk. Father was going to be impressed with his work today. He specifically reached out to his Uncle to prepare a trap for William. William was confined by the Array and had no way to respond with his voice. If it was at the Advanced level, the Array might only be able to temporarily obstruct William''s movements before he broke free. The young man walked over to William and asked his Uncle to unseal William''s voice. The experience seemed like karma after what William did to the bandits not long before. "I want to know how you have that Space Ring on you." the young man pointed to a specific ring on William''s finger. It was the same Space Ring he recovered from the corpse in the Livingwood Forest. The question reminded William of where these enemies could havee from. The Rhio Family must have some involvement with that unknown old man whose corpse was discovered in the Livingwood Forest. "Who''s asking?" William stalled for time as he looked through the System panel. The young man frowned. He gave William a swift punch to the gut, which would have made him double over if not for the Array. "It seems you don''t know who you''re talking to. I''m Peter, the next head of the Rhio Ancient Family, it''d be smart of you to show some respect." "Never heard of you." William found what he was looking for. He calmly ordered the System in his head. ''Upgrade my Arrays Talent.'' Another punch was sent to William''s stomach while the System notified him of the ongoing upgrade. A flood of information entered William''s brain. Even with the Mind Talent awakened, the mass of knowledge instantly triggered a migraine. He could still hear Peter Rhio talking to him about his family background, but his vision was blocked by thousands of images of Arrays and their formation. He closed his eyes to better absorb the information, which warranted another punch from the young man. Peter''s Uncle thought it was odd that William could move his eyes while confined by the Array, but shrugged it off. There was no way a child could break free from a Perfect Array, even if they had twenty years of practice. Peter noticed his method of torture wasn''t working on William. He couldn''t unlock the Space Ring right now, unless William gave permission or he hired an Array Master of the Space Element. Fowley was at Blue Moon City, but he was unlikely to help, and the next closest Space Array Master was in Heartsteel Vige nearly half a continent away, so Peter decided he would torture William back at their family estate. The young man stepped back with an annoyed look, "Since you won''t talk I guess we will have to take you with us." he turned around dramatically and motioned to his Uncle. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Arrays: (B --> A) Next rank up: 1000PP N?v(el)B\\jnn ¡ª¡ª¡ª William didn''t wait for the old man to take action. With his improved knowledge of Arrays, he was able to identify the weak point of the Array and break free. Before the others had time to react, William had already made use of his Speed Talent and various elements to sprint away. Peter''s face darkened, "Didn''t you say he couldn''t escape your Array? Retrieve him now!" The Array Master would normally be offended by such a rude remark from one of the younger generation, but Peter was an exception given his status in the family. He adopted a somewhat respectful tone, "I''m just as confused as you are, I can only assume that the boy has been hiding his strength. No normal person can break out of a Perfect Array, we must be wary of his backer. How else could a boy of his talent survive thus far?" Peter was furious, "We investigated thoroughly, there was no sign of a backer other than that old fart in the Guild. He''s just a Commoner who got a bit lucky." Peter turned to the group behind him and ordered his bodyguards to chase after William. If I can''t restrain him, I''ll just have to beat him until he can no longer move. *** William sped through the City, taking random turns in alleyways and side roads in an attempt to shake off his pursuers. Even at his speed, three figures had caught up in less than a minute and another pair were closing in quickly. They were probably all Golden Core Cultivators that excelled in speed. The triounched sword beams and fireballs while chasing William, forcing him to dodge left and right. A fireball the size of a car blew past his right shoulder, setting his sleeve on fire. Where are the City Guards now?!? How can you not act in a situation like this? William wailed in his mind. Little did he know that the City Guards recognized the Rhio Family members and turned a blind eye to the chase. Blue Moon City could notpare to the wrath of the Rhio Family Head. William dodged another fireball and cursed. He made a quick turn towards the nearby Guild Hall and entered the building. He flew directly towards the arena and stepped inside its Array. With his A-Rank Array Talent, William was able to discern the exact functions of the Array. He adopted a confident stance and looked at the Rhio Family members outside the Arena, "Hey bozos! Why don''t youe down here and fight me?" The remark triggered rage in one of the Rhio Family members that had been chasing William the entire way. "You have some nerve to say that after running so far, boy. Let me teach you some manners." he jumped into the Arena and drew a greatsword of unknown origin from his back. William shrugged, "It''s not my fault you''re slow. Next time don''t skip leg day." The Rhio Family member didn''t fully understand what William was talking about but it hurt his pride nheless. Goddard was an Elite member of the Rhio Family and was mostly known for his speed and his skill with the greatsword. Yet a boy in his twenties with no cultivation was faster. Hah! If the other Elite members heard of this, Goddard would be aughingstock for the rest of his life. He motioned the others to step aside then charged at William with his greatsword raised high. Chapter 52 Im Just Getting Started Chapter 52 I''m Just Getting Started William dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding the greatsword. He was about to unleash a counter of his own when the greatsword mmed into the ground, triggering a miniature earthquake and knocking William off his feet. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om He scrambled out of the way just in time as Goddard mmed down the greatsword again. Goddard wasn''t giving William any time to breathe. William dodged a third strike. His fingers fluttered as an Advanced Barrier Array was formed, temporarily blocking Goddard''s strikes. William used the time to boost his speed and strength with Arrays then shifted to the offensive. His right fistshed out and knocked away Goddard''s greatsword, followed by his left fist that delivered a harsh blow to Goddard''s face and sent him flying into the barrier protecting the Arena. The fight drew a lot of attention from the Guild Hall, and many onlookers watched as William pummeled a Rhio Family Elite. Very few recognized William, but no normal person would dare to fight with the Rhio Family, much less knock them unconscious in an Arena. Peter, who just arrived, currently felt a mixture of shock and rage. Goddard was supposed to be one of his finest Elites, yet he couldn''t handle a single punch from a child. William brushed off his knuckles while smiling at the others from the Rhio Family. "So who''s next? I''m just getting started." The Rhio Family members no longer underestimated William. The Arena was surrounded and William had nowhere to go, so Peter sent in a group of five bodyguards to exhaust William. William understood the situation he was in. With the strength in numbers, Peter would undoubtedly capture him here if he didn''t do something quick. His thoughts turned to the Arena''s Array. With his newfound understanding of Arrays, William should in theory be able to edit this one. He dodged attacks while working on his n. "You missed it from earlier, he knocked out one of the Elite members with just one punch. I bet he''s taking it easy on them so the young master over there doesn''t get too angry." the middle aged man pointed to Peter Rhio. "What is that kid thinking? He hasn''t attacked those from the Rhio Family since they entered the Arena!" an onlookerined to a balding middle-aged man. "You missed it from earlier, he knocked out one of the Elite members with just one punch. I bet he''s taking it easy on them so the young master over there doesn''t get too angry." the middle aged man pointed to Peter Rhio. A few nearby spectators also noticed the young man from the Rhio Family, but their attention was quickly drawn back to the Arena by a loud explosion and a burst of sparks. William had just dodged a would-be lethal sword strike from one of the bodyguards, but this time he responded with an attack of his own. A giant fireball formed in his hand and was stuffed into the bodyguard''s side as he stepped past. A loud explosion quaked the entire Guild Hall as multiple body parts hit the ground in different areas. William used an electric field with the help of the Lightning Element topletely remove any presence of the bodyguard. The people familiar with the functions of the Arena were confused when they saw William wasting energy to destroy the bodyguard thoroughly. Once a person died in the Arena, they would be brought to life again in a few seconds. "Does the boy not know about the Reanimation Array?" a refined gentleman asked out loud. An old man with long white hair seemed to notice something, "Just wait and see. The boy seems to be full of tricks." Inside the Arena, the other bodyguards were surprised at how long the fifth was taking to revive. They waited a few seconds, but nothing happened. A full minuteter, still nothing. They started to worry. What if the Array is actually disabled? Did the boy already know this would happen? The four bodyguards looked at William, who had a calm smile on his face. "He''s noting back you know." William teased. He used the Earth Element to create a makeshift chair and sat down. "You''re wee to wait for his revival with me. It may take a while." The bodyguards looked frustrated. Thest few minutes they hadn''tnded a single hit on William, yet he had already killed one of them. One of the bodyguards that seemed close to the recently deceased looked at William with red eyes. "You...Asshole! I''ll kill you!" The Rhio bodyguard charged his body with Mana and rushed at William without a care for his own life. He entered close proximity and chose to detonate himself right next to William. William was caught off guard by this attack and didn''t have much time. He hastily raised an Intermediate Barrier to protect himself, but it was only able to guard against a small portion of the explosion. William''s body took the remainder of the damage, but his various elements severely weakened the blow. William flew backwards a few feet before regaining his footing. He dusted himself off, then used the Life Element to heal any damages. His wounds quickly closed up and William returned to perfect health in just a few seconds, much to the dismay of the Rhio bodyguards. "How did he survive an explosion like that?! This kid is invincible!" a spectator cheered. It was the same blue haired girl named Novea that William had met a few weeks ago when he first arrived in Blue Moon City. Her eyes were gleaming as she watched William effortlessly dispatch multiple Golden Core Cultivators. Novea''s eyes turned fierce as she realized what it meant to be so powerful at such a young age. She jumped up and exited the Guild Hall in a hurry. I knew that evaluation was right, I have to recruit him at all costs! Back in the Arena, William was facing off against over a dozen opponents that Peter sent into the Arena. His injuries collected quickly, but every time it looked like William would die, he seemed to recover to peak health in just a few seconds. Peter was frustrated. How is this happening? How can a young boy fight so long with so many enemies? I couldn''t do the same even if there were ten of me! He looked at the old man by his side. "What''s going on with the boy? Why isn''t he dead yet?" The old man furrowed his brow, "Young Master, the kid seems to have frightening healing abilities. There''s not much else we can do...wait." the old man paused. His eyes turned to the Array at the center of the Arena and burned with intensity. He could see a stream of Mana entering the Array from the bodyguard''s spells, then that same Mana was being converted into healing energy that was directed to William. The old man''s expression changed toplete surprise. "Im-Impossible! He''s using the Array to heal! The boy heals every time we use a powerful spell!" Peter was shocked, "What!?! Do you mean he edited the Array himself? This can''t be real!" Peter quickly rted the information to his bodyguards in the Arena. William noticed the change in their attitude and smirked, "So you finally figured it out huh? Well it''s toote now!" William opened his palm to reveal a magnificent Array in the shape of an orb with four Perfect Runes within. The orb grew in size until itpletely encased William in a four meter radius, then vanished from in sight. The bodyguardsunched a series of attacks at William, but they were all stopped by an invisibleyer that protected William. The Array seemed to reflect a portion of the attack in the reverse direction, forcing the attack to cancel itself out and reduce the stress on the Array. William was quite pleased with his work. He smiled again, staring directly at Peter with a look that made him shiver. "Do you n to stay up there all day or are you going to fight me?" Chapter 53 Supreme Guild Master Chapter 53 Supreme Guild Master Peter had never experienced such repeated embarrassment. William had escaped from a Perfect Array Master and killed his subordinates in the same day. Even worse, he did it in front of an entire city! This was humiliating, but what could Peter do? They were about the same age, but Peter was only a Core Formation Realm Cultivator, not nearly strong enough to fight with William in the Arena. He had many weapons and various defensive treasures that could keep him alive, but they cost a fortune and Peter wasn''t willing to part with them so soon. He turned to the pair of hooded bodyguards by his side. "You two, capture him for me." The bodyguards were both d in purple robes with the Rhio crest, but they emitted an aura much stronger than the average Golden Core Cultivator. They quietly nodded in response to Peter''s order, as their only purpose was to serve their young master. The two were bound to Peter by a series of powerful spells that the Family Head had ced on them many years ago. They couldn''t disobey any of Peter''s orders, even if he asked them to cut off their own arms. The duo jumped into the Arena and faced William without exchanging words. William immediately knew that this would be much different from the other Cultivators he fought earlier. He tried to weave together a Perfect Barrier Array, but one of the bodyguards reacted instantly and dashed forward and shed with his sword. N?v(el)B\\jnn William frantically turned to the side to avoid the sword, but he was a bit too slow. His right arm fell to the ground with a thud while William screamed in pain. The feeling of losing an arm was even more agonizing than being burnt by the Fire Element during his upgrades. ''I need to focus!'' William gritted his teeth while activating the Life Element to heal his wound, but he was only able to restore a portion of the arm up to his elbow. After all, C Rank Life Magic could only do so much for a lost limb. He gave up on healing his arm further and focused on dodging the attacks of the two bodyguards. The duo danced around William like ice skaters, perfectly syncing their attacks with one another. Even with his enhanced stats, William was unable to retaliate to any of their moves and was constantly on the back-foot. A few secondster, William made another mistake. The bodyguards noticed the opening and took the chance to cut off his other arm. Another few attacks and William''s body was renderedpletely useless. The bodyguards stood motionlessly on the other side of the Arena while he slowly bled out. During the fight, the Perfect Array Master had restored the original functions of the Array, which allowed William to respawn once he died. Although his body was good as new, the mental damage caused by the fight meant he wouldn''t recover consciousness for at least a few hours. Up on the balcony of the Arena, Peter had a satisfied look on his face. "Well done you two, bring him to me." With another nod, the bodyguards tied up William and dropped off his unconscious body to Peter, who entrusted it to the nearby Array Master. Peter returned to his previous aloof attitude now that the issue was resolved. He turned towards the entrance of the Guild Hall. "We have what we came for, it''s time to leave." "Hold on for a moment." A rough voice came from behind. Peter turned around with a bit of annoyance, and was about to give the other party a piece of his mind when he was stopped by the old Array Master. The Array Master got down on on knee and bowed slightly, "It''s an honor to be in your presence, Supreme Guild Master." Peter stopped his rude thoughts and took a close look at the man who just arrived. He appeared to be in his mid thirties, with arge build and long ck hair. On his face were dozens of long scars of different shapes and sizes that made one wonder what kind of battles he had gone through. The man had bright green eyes and a long nose with a refined jawline. His clothes didn''t appear luxurious, being a simple green robe, but there was a vibrant blue symbol of fire that proved his status as a senior member of the Guild across the continent. Peter knew this was an individual that even their family could not afford to offend easily. He knelt down and asked with respect, "What can we do for you, Supreme Guild Master?" The Supreme Guild Master revealed a smirk. "I have an interest in that youngd over there, do you mind if I take him?" He pointed to William. Peter''s respectful face froze. We went through all this trouble to capture him, and now you want to take him away for free? Hemented at his bad luck, but how could he refuse the request of the Supreme Guild Master? "Of course, Sir. He''s all yours." Peter responded with some strain in his voice. He ordered the bodyguards to take William over to the Supreme Guild Master, who alsoplied with some difficulty. They all felt the situation waspletely unfair. The Guild Master epted William with a smile, "I appreciate your gesture. If the Rhio Family needs anything, feel free to contact the Guild at any time. I''ll be on my way now." With hisst sentence, the Guild Master turned into a cloud of smoke and vanished from sight. The Rhio Family all turned to look at each other with slight confusion in their eyes. So they traveled all this way for nothing? Peter wasn''t willing to give up just yet. "Uncle." The Array Master replied quickly, "Yes Young Master?" "Contact my father." "Understood." the old man retrieved a disk-shapedmunicator with many buttons from his Space Ring, then adjusted some things before making a call. "What is it this time? Did Peter fail again?" an annoyed voice sounded from the other end. "Yes my lord. The boy was taken by a Supreme Guild Master who happened to show interest. What should we do?" "A Supreme Guild Master? From where?" the Rhio Family Head was a bit surprised. "His emblem suggests he''s the one from Frostfire City." "I see...there isn''t much you can do then. Call Peter back, I will retrieve the Space Ring myself." "Yes my lord." Click. Peter heard the entire conversation and was a bit frustrated. As the young master of the Rhio Family, Peter should be renowned for his status across the continent. Unfortunately, he continued to fail every mission given to him by his family. At this rate, the position of family head would be given to his brother Lyre who was three years younger. Peter looked at the Array Master, then at his group of bodyguards. A decision was made. "You two, continue to track the boy and give details of his whereabouts to me. We will capture him at the first opportunity." The two bodyguards that previously fought with William acknowledged the order. They both exited the Guild Hall, then activated their stealth techniques before following a mark they had ced on William earlier. Chapter 54 A Difficult Situation Chapter 54 A Difficult Situation "Ah, so you''re finally awake." a rough voice entered William''s ears from across the room. William''s body ached, but he managed to raise his head and see he wasying on a slightly morefortable bed than his own in Thin Creek Vige. He found the scene somewhat simr to when he had first arrived in this world...well except for his caring mother and the cute nurse. Instead, there was an unfamiliar man in a simple rocking chair staring at him silently from across the room. His face was taut, with little emotion outside those eyes that seemed to peer into William''s soul. "Who are you?" William asked. Did this person save me from the Rhio Family? Why? The man looked at William with a hint of disappointment. "I thought you would recognize me, being a member of my Guild after all." N?v(el)B\\jnn William instantly understood his mistake. "So, you''re the leader of the entire Guild?" The man shook his head. "I''m only one of them. Forget about this, I want to know your secret." "My secret? What do you mean?" The man sighed. "Do you not realize how much attention you''ve drawn to yourself? Even a young person like you should know when to hold back his strength." The man''s fingers began moving at a speed William never thought possible. A powerful surge of Mana escaped his fingertips, creating a nk mirror image that William could see clearly. -Discovered Time Magic: +3 Potential Points -Discovered Magic Fusion: +5 Potential Points "Magic Fusion..." William mumbled. The Guild Master''s highly trained senses were able to clearly hear William''sment. He raised an eyebrow, "So you''ve even heard of Magic Fusion...I''m even more confident that you have secrets now. Take a look at this first." The Guild Master spun the nk mirror image like a child would spin a quarter, then abruptly stopped it in ce. The nk mirror turned into a scene from outside the Guild Hall, around the same time William was fighting the Rhio Family. He could hear the words of many Cultivators, who seemed to be gossiping about William''stest achievement. "Did you hear about that Commoner from the Array Hall? Turns out he''s a Perfect Array Master at the age of twenty!" "Did you know he''s also a Quintuple Manamatus and can fight with Golden Core Cultivators head on? He''s practically better than Supreme Left, who has S Rank Magic Talents!" a Cultivator spoke with excitement. "I wouldn''t go that far, but maybe in the future..." The Guild Master continued to show scenes across the nearby cities where information about William was quickly bing widespread. Some critics thought it was another fake rumor designed to draw people into Blue Moon City, while other more serious families and Sects ordered their subordinates to investigate. Even other Guild Masters and the Royal Family received some form of notice, although most treated it as a minor incident. "You''re in a very difficult situation young man. If I didn''t owe a favor to the Guild Master of Blue Moon City, I might have already taken you apart and investigated your secrets." William finally understood that this was what Fowley had warned him about. With the help of the System, William was gaining power quickly. Too quickly. And now his high-profile actions had drawn the attention of the world''s leaders. Who wouldn''t be terrified when they thought of this? System, how can I survive against these experts? -Request requires 1 million Potential Points. Yes/No? ''One Million!?! System, can you give a response that''s a bit cheaper?'' -Request requires 10 Potential Points. Yes/No? William sighed in relief and confirmed the transaction. -Hide. What the fuck!?! Hide?? William was losing his mind. The Guild Master misunderstood William''s expression. "So I see you finally understand your situation. You have two choices, and this is why I''ve protected you up until now. Your first choice is to share the secrets of your growth with me. You will be given the highest privilege in my Sect and treated with utmost respect. Cultivation materials and treasures would be provided to you at a moment''s notice, granted they aren''t too expensive. You will also be free toe and go as you please, as long as I am informed." The man gave William time to think before continuing. "Or you join my Sect as an Outer Core Disciple and remain a member of the Sect for the next five years. If you cannot be an Inner Core Disciple after a year has passed, you will be killed, and your secrets extracted from your body." William could tell from the Guild Master''s tone that there was no room for negotiation. "You have a Sect as well? What kind of Sect would I join?" The Guild Master''s eyes gleamed, "I have lived a long time. Many Guild Masters form their own Sects or factions in their lifetime. Mine in particr is a bit special. You might know it as the Five Elements Sect. While you currently possess no Cultivation, your talent for multiple Elements proves that you might be a perfect fit for our Sect." William didn''t know what to say. This was exactly what he wanted, but the Guild Master might think something is off if he readily epts. He adopted a humble tone to increase his odds of sess. "Sir, I''m not confident in passing your entrance test, can''t I just jointer?" "There is no need for you to take a test. I am the Sect Leader, and have final say on every decision made. Instead of worrying about that, I would be more concerned about living to the next day while being hunted by half of the Continent." William knew the Guild Master''s response would be this way. He spent a few minutes considering the pros and cons of each offer. William was tempted to ept the deal for high status and Cultivation resources, but he couldn''t afford to reveal the System so easily, especially to someone as powerful as the Guild Leader. "I''ll take the second offer, Sir. I really don''t have any great secrets that could benefit you." "I can sense there is mostly truth to what you said boy, but you''re still hiding something. No matter...if you don''t seed in my Sect, you will be killed, remember that." the man snorted. Very few individuals would lie straight to his face. If he wasn''t so interested in the boy, the Guild Master would have killed him already. William remained silent. Surprisingly, a battle with the Rhio Family led him to joining the Five Elements Sect much sooner than anticipated. He even gained some potential points from killing the bodyguards at no cost to his humanity. "Come with me, boy. I''ll take you to the Sect." he waved his hand and used the Space Element to create a small portal to what appeared to be an open field. William was once again drawn to marvel at the amount of fantastical things one could do with the help of magic. The Guild Master had seen this look many times from other disciples and even Elders when he opened a portal. The man shook his head, then used his Mana to pull William into the swirling vortex. Chapter 55 Inside The Sect Chapter 55 Inside The Sect William and the Guild Master exited the portal simultaneously. In front was arge ring-like mountain chain that stretched almost to the end of William''s view. The mountain chain was dotted with five peaks that stretched into the clouds. At the very top, one could barely make out different colors of blue, red, yellow, green, and purple. "Those are the Five Peaks," the Guild Master spoke while looking to the sky. "They represent the five main elemental focuses of our Sect, being Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, and Lightning. I live on the Fire Peak, even though I specialize in Magic of the Space and Time Elements. Your Peak will be decided once you be an Inner Core Disciple." William nodded. He thought for a moment before asking, "How do I be an Inner Core Disciple?" "There will be a test held in two weeks time. It would be best to train yourbat ability before then." The words felt weirding out of the Guild Master''s mouth, considering William could already defeat Golden Core Cultivators. Who knew how strong William would be once he started Cultivating? "Yes, Guild Master." William replied. "My name is Gu Dianlong, and I am the Sect Master here. You will refer to me as Sect Master Gu while you are a member of my Sect." he waited for William''s confirmation before continuing. "I don''t have time to spend with the kids in your generation, so an Elder will be giving you a tour of our facilities and show you to your room." Sect Master Gu led William to the Sect entrance, which was a set ofrge wooden doors inscribed with powerful Arrays. They approached a small registration building for visitors, where two middle-aged men weed the Sect Master with respect. "Wee back, Sect Master." they spoke in unison with a deep bow to which Sect Master Gu nodded. "I need someone to admit this new disciple and provide him a tour of the Sect." he gestured in William''s direction. The man on the left spoke first. "I am Elder Ren and he is Elder Lin. Since you seem to match my handsome looks and charm, I''ll be giving you the tour of our Sect." The men looked at William with confusion. Why is the Sect Master giving this person special privilege? Could he be a once in a million years genius? Their eyes sparkled as they realized getting close to such an individual could reap great benefitster. "I''ll go!" they said in unison. Sect Master Gu shook his head. "Only one will suffice. The gates must still be watched. Sort it out amongst yourselves, I''ll be off now." The group watched as Sect Master Gu created another portal to an unknown destination and stepped inside. Once the portal closed, the two men returned their attention to William. The man on the left spoke first. "I am Elder Ren and he is Elder Lin. Since you seem to match my handsome looks and charm, I''ll be giving you the tour of our Sect." Elder Lin looked at Elder Ren with annoyance, "What do you mean, handsome looks? You''re uglier than old man Mori''s pinky toe!" Elder Lin turned to William with a smile, "Youngd, forgive him. I''m sure a more respectable Elder would be suitable for your tour of the Sect." William found the two Elders'' interactions hrious. Their bickering went back and forth until they seemed to reach an agreement. Elder Lin performed some hand movements until the wooden doors opened, revealing a long path that wound through the mountains. "Alrightd, follow me." said Elder Lin as he walked through the doorway. William followed eagerly, his eyes gleaming with amazement at the various structures ced throughout the Sect. He could see many stone statues simr to those that guard Blue Moon City, and dozens of restaurants dotted between many residential areas. "As you can see, the entrance of the Sect also serves as a living space for our new disciples. We receive hundreds of disciples every year from across the continent, so the appropriate amount of restaurants is required." Elder Lin exined. Elder Lin pointed to thergest residence in the area. "You will be staying here since you are a new disciple. The Sect Master has specifically picked out the nicest residence for Outer Core Disciples and given it to you, so make sure you thank him properly when you next meet." William looked closely at the building pointed out. Theyout was very traditional, however he could faintly make out a set of Intermediate Arrays on each wall. Although William could create much stronger Arrays, the amount of work required topletely cover a building would be immense. If William were to do it by himself, it would probably take days if not weeks. He bowed slightly to Elder Lin, feeling it was the right thing to do. "Thank you Elder. I will be sure to thank Sect Master as well." Elder Lin nodded in approval. ''If only the rest of the younger generation was as polite as this kid.'' If Elder Lin really knew what kind of person William was, he would definitely regret ever uttering those words. Elder Lin continued the tour after providing William his room key. He showed William to the training area, where many disciples were alreadyunching various spells and techniques at scarecrow-shaped training dummies made of a purple fabric. A male disciple of about sixteenunched a water bolt at a dummy with a ssh, causing the scarecrow to change from purple to a dark blue. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om William watched as the disciple looked at his result and frowned with disappointment. The disciple turned to the side, where he saw William and Elder Lin standing at the side. He wasn''t sure who William was, since he wasn''t wearing a uniform, but when he realized Elder Lin was watching him, the boy felt he needed to correct this embarrassment. He quickly created a fireball about half a meter in size and threw it at the dummy. The fireball moved at about a quarter of William''s best speed,nding squarely on the center of the scarecrow''s head. Arge explosion should have sounded, but the area seemed to be soundproofed, as William only saw the dummy burst into mes. He was amazed once again at the various ways you could apply Arrays, and was thankful he received the Talent so early on. The fire died down, but the scarecrow was still there. It was now dyed a light green color that slowly faded to dark green, light blue, dark blue, then back to purple. The boy smiled in satisfaction, then locked eyes with William and gave a smirk. "Those training dummies are designed to epass the simplified colors of the rainbow," Elder Lin started exining. "The dummies will change color from dark purple to blue, green, yellow, orange, and red and all shades in between depending on how much power your attack has when it hits the target. Since that boy''s target turned light green, it means his attack was equal to someone in thete stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm." So that kid who looks much younger than me is actually quite impressive. He has two Elements and his Fire Magic is stronger than Briar''s. Too bad he picked the wrong opponent! William thought to himself. "I think I''ll give it a try if you don''t mind, Elder." William suddenly spoke up to Elder Lin''s surprise. Chapter 56 Cultivation Techniques 56 Cultivation Techniques Elder Lin would normally not allow such a thing while giving tours to the Outer Core Disciples, but seeing that William was escorted by the Sect Master himself, Elder Lin was curious to see what about this boy caught that stingy old man''s eye. "Go ahead boy, but don''t take too long. I don''t have all day to be guiding you." William nodded and walked over to one of the empty training dummies. Hmm, what Element should I use? The Sect Master said he would protect William while he was in the Sect, but greed will blind even the kindest people. He wasn''t willing to show all his cards just yet. I better keep it simple. William decided to copy what the young man did earlier, but with a few changes. He focused some Mana of the Water Element to his fingertips, forming a spherical ball of water. He transformed the sphere into a t disc simr to a frisbee, then added more Mana until the disc was spinning at high speed. The disc was thrown out. Elder Lin and some nearby disciples watched with surprise in their eyes as the water disc cut into the scarecrow, forming a long scratch at the base of the neck and turning it light green. -Developed a new magic spell: +1 Potential Points -New spell: Water Saw One of the disciples whispered to the other, "Did that guy just modify a spell on the spot? He changed it''s shape after it was already formed!" "I don''t know, but his Magic Talent must be at least D Rank! I don''t even sense any Cultivation from him, is he a Manamatus?" Another disciple responded in a voice loud enough for some others to hear. Thatst sentence triggered some thought in the others. "You''re right! He isn''t even a Cultivator!" William was slightly disappointed. He realized that without the help of Arrays to boost his speed and power, some of his Magic couldn''t quite keep up. Without his strongest Elements, William could only fight with Peak Foundation Establishment Realm or new Core Formation Realm Cultivators. "I''m going to try again if that''s alright with you Elder." Elder Lin nodded with a dazed look. He didn''t realize the kid was actually a Manamatus, and a powerful one at that! William looked over at the boy who smirked at him earlier and gave him the same smirk. He looked at the training dummy and called Fire Mana this time, forming a small fireball. He added more and more Mana until the fireball was the size of a car, lighting up the entire training area. "Oh my God, he''s a dual Manamatus!" someone screamed. "What is that fireball? It''s too big!" "You can''t just say things like that, people will misunderstand!" "Oh, sorry sorry. But look at the size of it!" "..." William could barely control the fireball at this point. Heunched it forward, zipping through the sky at high speed until it sted into the scarecrow. Even with the soundproofing, the disciples could hear a muffled explosion that the Arrays could not fully dissipate. As for the scarecrow, it lit up dark yellow. The fire took a few minutes to die down, and the scarecrow slowly returned to its original state. Elder Lin collected his thoughts and gave Will a second look. It seemed that guiding this kid was a good idea after all. "I never asked your name, young man." "Oh, it''s William." "Hmm, an interesting name. I think we''ve spent enough time here, disciple William." Elder Lin urged him to leave the training area before other Elders had time to hear of his prowess. William nodded. "Where are we going next, Elder?" "You''re not a Cultivator, so I think it''s about time we changed that. We are going to our Sect''s Great Hall." William nodded. He would be more excited about picking a technique, but he hadn''t even learned the Cultivation Talent yet. The technique ispletely useless to him right now. Elder Lin also noticed something off about William, but he didn''t say anything. The pair didn''t walk far before they arrived at the Great Hall Elder Lin mentioned. The word great was an understatement. Sprawled out before William was a massive three floor pce with four halls of different lengths. The inside was even more morous, with thousands of bookshelves littered with various Cultivation techniques. Just inside the entrance was a desk where a wrinkly old man wearing sses was writing inside a notebook. The old man looked up from his work to see Elder Lin and William. "I haven''t seen you before, are you a new disciple here for your Cultivation Technique?" Before William had a chance to say anything, Elder Lin spoke. "Yes Old Jur, and I am escorting him." The old man looked surprised, "Why are you the escort of all people? And aren''t these trips usually done with all the new disciples, and not just one?" "It was the Sect Master''s request." Elder Lin said tly. He didn''t really like old Jur, since forty years ago when Elder Lin was bullied by him. At that time old Jur was already an Inner Core Disciple, while Elder Lin had just joined the Sect. But a long time had passed since then, and the Sect had strict rules against infighting among Elders and the sort. Jur seemed to understand. So, another kid has caught that one''s eye, huh? Now I''m curious. He adjusted his sses and closed the notebook; then spoke a series of instructions he had given hundreds if not thousands of times before. "As a new disciple, you are a valuable member of the Sect and will be granted a single Cultivation Technique from the first floor. You are not to step on the second or third floor, nor will you attempt to sneak an extra Cultivation Technique. If either of these rules are broken, you will be removed from the Sect and killed. Do you understand?" he ended his lecture with a stern look. William nodded vigorously, "Yes Elder." N?v(el)B\\jnn The old man gave a cheeky smile. "Don''t be so formal, call me Old Jur, everyone else does anyway." "Okay Old Jur." Elder Lin spoke to William. "Where would you like to start? You have the Water and Fire Elements, so perhaps a Cultivation Technique like the Song of Fire and Water will do?" William shook his head. "Are there any Cultivation Techniques that work for more than two Elements?" Elder Lin was confused for a moment until he realized what William was hinting at. "Y-You...do you have another Element?" he felt that life was unfair. Could anyone be so lucky to be born a triple Manamatus? No wonder the Sect Master had taken interest in William! William smiled but said nothing. He wondered how the Elders would react if they knew he had 11 Elements. William knew better than to reveal too much though. Even the all powerful Sect Master couldn''t protect him all the time. Jur spoke up, "I think I have just the thing for you, but it''s on the third floor. You''ll have toe back when you be a Core Disciple or an Elder. For now, there are two Cultivation Techniques for someone with up to three Elements, but they are for Fire, Wind, and Earth." William nodded in understanding. The best Techniques wouldn''t be kept on the first floor anyway, William was asking for too much. "I''ll take a look at those then." Chapter 57 Below Average 57 Below Average Jur pointed to a hall to his left, "You should find the two techniques you are looking for on the far end on the top shelf." William thanked old Jur and walked over with Elder Lin close behind. On the shelves were multiple books depicting Cultivation Techniques, including the two that Jur mentioned. William picked up the first Technique called "Molten Skies" and read the introduction. "Inspired by the atmosphere of a raging volcano, this technique allows a Cultivator to absorb the Mana of the Fire, Earth, and Wind Elements and convert it to Qi to increase the Cultivation base. If the Cultivator is in a location with dense Mana of any of these Elements, their Cultivation speed will increase appropriately." ''As expected of the Five Elements Sect. Those Techniques sold outside are nothingpared to this, and I''m only on the first floor!'' William considered the pros and cons of the Technique, then pulled out the second book titled "Fire Storm". "Inspired by a Cmity that befell the continent over a hundred years ago, this technique allows a Cultivator to absorb Mana of the Fire, Earth, and Wind Elements and convert it to Qi to increase the Cultivation base. Once enough Mana is absorbed, it may instead bepressed to allow the user to recover their own Mana reserves." Another good Technique. William weighed his options carefully. He decided to go with "Fire Storm", since he wouldn''t really need to worry about Cultivation speed with the help of the System. He could already guess that the Cultivation Talent would speed up his growth once he unlocked it. He suddenly thought of something, "Elder Lin, if I choose a Cultivation Technique now, won''t I be stuck with it forever unless I start over?" Elder Lin smiled, "A good question. In short, no. If you start with a weaker technique, it may take less Qi to reach the next level in a realm. If youter switch to a stronger technique, you won''t have to start over, but the amount of Qi required will increase, which will sometimes cause a Cultivator to regress down a level or two. This isn''t a bad thing however, as a stronger Technique will also make a Cultivator stronger amongst peers in the same realm. For example, a Qi Refinement 6 Cultivator with a weak Technique would be the weakest Qi Refinement 6, but if he suddenly switched to a stronger Cultivation Technique, he might regress to Qi Refinement 5, but he would be stronger than most Qi Refinement 5 Cultivators unless they had a better technique, and would still be able to fight with Cultivators at Qi Refinement 6 with weak Techniques." William mostly understood the Elder''s exnation, realizing he had asked the System this question before. Damn my goldfish brain. This world was soplicated sometimes, what with all the countless ways a Cultivator could improve their strength. It was nothing like what William expected from a Cultivation world. He and Elder Lin returned to the front desk with the Fire Storm Technique, which Jur looked over. He nodded his head andpleted the transaction in his notebook. Elder Lin looked at William. "Now that you''ve seen the training area and have a Cultivation Technique, it''s probably about time your robes and badge arrived at your residence. Would you like me to take you there or do you remember the way?" "I remember the way back, Elder. Thank you for your guidance." William maintained his respectful tone. He would have dly epted the Elder''s offer before, but he was bing hungry. "In that case, I must inform you that your duties as a disciple do not begin until the first month has passed. In two days you must be at the Lecture Hall, which is the building next to us, for your introductory ss with Elder Wen. Do not bete or you will be severely punished." William thanked Elder Lin for his help and walked to his residence in haste. He didn''t want to stand out at the restaurant for not wearing a proper uniform. He fiddled with his keys at the residence door, then entered the building and inspected the contents. Well...there wasn''t much to inspect as each room only contained the bare necessities. His kitchen contained a refrigerator made out of wood and functioning off an Array using a single Mana stone. The bathroom was made purely of treated wood, rather than tile and didn''t have a bathtub. In its ce was a drain while a hose hung from the ceiling, acting as a shower head. William was somewhat disappointed in the building, considering he was part of a famous Sect, but his hunger kept theints to a minimum. The bedroom had nothing but a simple bed and a dresser containing five fresh uniforms and a single badge proving his status as an Outer Core Disciple. "At least the uniforms are nice." Will mumbled to himself. He put on the disciple robes, finding them quitefortable and custom fit his size. He reached for his Badge, but the moment his fingers made contact he was overwhelmed with a series of System messages. -Sessfully joined a Sect: +5 Potential Points -Joined your first Sect: +50 Potential Points -Joined a Renowned Sect: +100 Potential Points --Detected that a Cultivation Sect has provided the Host with a Cultivation Technique while the Cultivation Talent is not unlocked. Without the ability to Cultivate, the Host''s potential will stagnate. Please wait while the System calctes the Host''s performance... William was pleasantly surprised by the surge of Potential Points. It seemed that the System required him to actually wear the uniform before being acknowledged as a Sect Member. It made sense when William thought about it. When you get a new job, you don''t get paid until you''ve worked. He didn''t know how long the System would take, so William headed to the nearest restaurant, Wild Clover. The line wasn''t very long, so he was seated in a few minutes. The interior had a very clean, traditional feel. Most of the customers were Outer Core Disciples, while a few visitors wore robes of varying styles. He was approached by an Outer Core Disciple who appeared to be working at the restaurant. "Hello, wee to Wild Clover. I am Su Yanyu, is there anything you''d like from our menu?" a girl with a soft and pleasant voice asked. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om William hadn''t even looked at the menu. In front of him was a small pamphlet the size of William''s hand with around a dozen meals to choose from. He looked at the prices and sighed in relief when they were affordable, most only costing a few Gold Coins, or allowing Disciples to pay with Contribution Points as an alternative. "I''ll have the Spirit Deer Venison meal please." William picked something random that sounded appetizing. He hadn''t really tried real food in a while. Basic foodstuffs were provided during his mission to Blue Moon City, and he bought basic vegetables for his trip to the Foam Desert. "The Spirit Deer Venison? No problem, I''ll bring it out when it''s ready." Su Yanyu nodded with a smile and walked off. Before he could return his attention to the restaurant, William was interrupted by the System again. --Calcted the Host''s performance to be below average. The Host will be offered a Quest to raise their performance rating to average. ¡ª¡ª¡ª System Quest: The Host has entered a Sect without any talent for Cultivation. To stimte their potential, the Host must prove their value to the Sect by bing the number one Outer Core Disciple in less than a month. Difficulty: Hard Rewards: 1000 Potential Points, Cultivation Talent ¡ª¡ª¡ª Hello Everyone! I''m sure you have noticed that upload frequency is down since IPS has resumed. This is temporary to allow Author-San to bnce events in his personal life, while ensuring my amazing fans know that I am in fact still alive! Thank you all for your continued support! NecW Chapter 58 Ranking Board 58 Ranking Board "The number one Outer Core Disciple? How am I supposed to do that?!" William thought out loud on ident, attracting some odd looks. The System gave him a Quest, but didn''t provide many details. William used his understanding of Cultivation Sects to make a guess. Maybe there is a leaderboard that ranks each individual disciple, or everything is decided with a tournament. William thought. Su Yanyu came back to William''s table with his food. "Here you are, do you need anything else?" William took the food with a smile and decided this was a good opportunity to get some information. "Ah, yes. Do you happen to know who the number one Outer Core Disciple is?" Su Yanyu realized William was probably a new disciple. "That would be Hanzu. All the top ranking disciples will show up on the ranking board in the Lecture Hall, why do you ask?" I knew it! "Just curious. Do you know where I can find him?" Su Yanyuughed. This kid is a bit ambitious, isn''t he? "If you want to meet with someone like that, you''ll need to climb up the rankings. The Sect doesn''t allow challenges to be sent out to the top 100 unless you are within 10 ranks. Otherwise, everyone in the top 100 would receive too many challenges and not be able to keep up with their missions. Even if that does happen, I wouldn''t rmend aiming for the number one spot." she leaned towards William to whisper, "No one talks about it, but everyone knows Hanzu could be an Inner Core Disciple whenever he wants. He declined taking the test multiple times just so he could hoard the best resources from the Outer Sect." William nodded in understanding. So even a famous Sect has some bad apples. I''m not surprised. "Thanks." William smiled to the girl. "You''re wee. And if you meet Hanzu somehow, don''t tell him I said those things." Su Yanyu waved before heading towards her other tables. William took a bite of his Spirit Deer Venison. His eyes opened wide as he tasted the most amazing food since arriving in this world. The spices were amazing, the meat was cooked perfectly to his standards, and the vor melted in his mouth like a quiet evening in Autumn. The experience didn''t end there. When William swallowed the venison, he felt a surge of Mana coursing through his body, cleansing minor imperfections and making him feel refreshed. --Spirit Food: Mana Control +1% (6 hours) --Unlocked Title: +1 Potential Point -Gourmet (Umon): You''ve eaten your first Spirit food, sating your appetite and causing temporary effects. Stamina increased by 10%. William hadn''t received a new title in a while and was pleasantly surprised. All I have to do is eat more food to upgrade this title? Sweet! He could already see the Potential Points rolling in. Even better, an improvement to his Stamina is just what William needed. So far, he had to spend a lot of time running from difficult enemies because he wasn''t able to fight at full power for more than a few minutes. If William could upgrade the Gourmet Title, he could spend more time grinding monsters in the wild, and could fight longer with the stronger enemies. William paid for his meal and left the restaurant. He didn''t want to waste time, so William walked towards the Lecture Hall to find the ranking board that Su Yanyu mentioned. Even though it waste in the afternoon, most facilities at the Sect didn''t seem to be closed yet. Many disciples still roamed the streets and there was even more activity at the training area. Cultivators didn''t need as much sleep as normal people, so it made sense. William wished he could''ve Cultivated in his other world so he could binge watch his favorite shows after work. Life would be so much easier if he didn''t have to sleep... He arrived at the Lecture Hall, which was of a different architectural style than the other buildings. The colossal marble pirs reminded William of a Greek parthenon, and a massive wall of marble was set off to one side of the Lecture Hall. Even from a distance, William could read hundreds of names on the marble wall. He quickly read through the top ten names on the list. "1. Hanzu Yashi" "2. Mira" "3. Jasper Renolds" "4. Pierre Labouf" "5. Wan Bingyu" "6. n Bishop" "7. Su Yanyu" "8. Rei Fuku" "9. Yamato" "10. Gonzo Baraka" 15:24 William looked over the list, finding many of the names to beical. Who names their kid Gonzo? The System seemed to understand William''s confusion. -Request requires 1 Potential Point. Yes/No? Eh why not, it''s just one point anyway. -The Five Elements Sect recruits talented individuals from across the entire Continent, leading to a mixture of cultural backgrounds. It made sense when William thought about it. He returned his attention to the list of names, feeling as if he was missing something important. "7. Su Yanyu" Is that the same Su Yanyu I met in the restaurant? No way! William tried to recall Su Yanyu''s characteristics, but he must not have paid much attention and couldn''t remember anything other than her voice. Wait, it''s not that I didn''t pay attention. I CAN''T remember. William realized. With the Mind Talent, William was able to recall many things a normal person couldn''t if he made an attempt. But Su Yanyu was different. He could make out the details of many other customers in the restaurant, even a random bald-headed man that was seated in the corner of the restaurant, but Su Yanyu was just a hazy figure in his memory. It seems this Quest will be more difficult than I thought. As expected of top-ranking disciples from a famous Sect. Even the Outer Core Disciples are impressive. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Damn! I thought I was already overpowered! Without a doubt William was very strong amongst others of the same age, however the same does not apply against those with unnatural abilities. He became worried at the thought that Su Yanyu probably wasn''t even targeting him. What if the two actually fought? Would she make him forget who he was? William decided he would never get on that girl''s bad side. He looked to the right of the ranking board, where a smaller marble tablet was located. Written on the front were a list of rewards that increased the higher your rank was. Prizes were awarded at the end of each month, and the top ten received bonus prizes that would benefit them greatly. "1st ce: 100 Mana Stones and a ticket to the Gravitas Ruins" "2nd ce: 50 Mana Stones and 3 Elemental Quartz" "3rd ce: 50 Mana Stones and 1 Elemental Quartz" "4th-10th ce: 25 Mana Stones" "11th-100th ce: 5 Mana Stones" "101th-500th ce: 1 Mana Stone" Mana Stones? Don''t I have quite a few of those? William looked through one of his Space Rings. In the corner lied a pile of 138 Mana Stones neatly organized next to his Gold Coins. Since he bought more Space Rings, William made a habit to split up his items for organization. He even had them color coded. If an old Cultivator only had this many Mana Stones, it must mean that the first ce reward is actually quite a lot, right? This time the System answered for free. -One Mana Stone is worth roughly 1 thousand Gold Coins. "One...one thousand!?!" William''s jaw dropped to the floor. Chapter 59: Nocturnal Beasts William quickly did the math. If one Mana Stone was worth a thousand Gold Coins, then the Sect was giving out 1225 Mana Stones. That was over a million Gold Coins per month! William felt his decision to join the Sect was a good one. Well...he didn''t have much of a choice. "Hey you, are you here for this evening''s lecture?" a voice sounded from behind. William turned around to see a middle-aged man with long ck hair that even covered most of his face. If it weren''t for the Elder''s robes, William would have thought he was a homeless man begging for coin. "Uh..no, what lecture?" he asked. "Tonight I am teaching a ss on nocturnal beasts. Would you like to join?" the Elder asked. William thought for a moment. He didn''t have anything to do tonight so he agreed. "I would love to, but I am a new disciple and I was told I should go to the Lecture Hall in two days for my first ss with Elder Wen." The Elderughed. "I haven''t introduced myself have I? I''m Elder Wen. Yes normally the introductory ss should be your first but I don''t mind. Come join, I''ll even waive your attendance fee this one time." he urged. Elder Wen always appreciated an eager student. William nodded. "Thank you Elder." Elder Wen opened the doors to the Lecture Hall for William, who stepped inside and took a seat at one of the chairs avable in the middle. The room reminded William of a College lecture room, which could seat hundreds of students and had arge stage where the Professor would teach the ss. He seemed to be the first in the room, but within half an hour the capacity of the building was full of Outer Core Disciples. Many Disciples seemed to form groups that resembled a clique, which William swore to stay away from. Nothing good woulde from joining a group like that. He couldn''tpletely avoid trouble however. William noticed a girl from an all-female group point at him then whisper a few words to her friends with a smile while still looking at him. A boy around the same age saw the interaction and clenched his fists with rage. William guessed the guy had a crush on the girl and would now scheme against Will behind his back. Figures. I''ve been in the room for less than an hour and have already made enemies. William sighed in his head but wasn''t really against thepetition. He looked at the guy and gave him a wink, fueling the boy''s rage. A young man seated to William''s right leaned in and whispered, "You probably don''t want to mess with him." William looked at the young man, who had short hair that was dyed bright green and was wearing a dark-blue Space Ring. "Why''s that?" "He''s Linus, ranked 90 on the Ranking Board. He likes to bully the new Disciples, and judging by the look on your face, you must be a new Disciple." the boy replied. "Oh I see." The boy was surprised by William''s nonchnt attitude. "I''m Glen by the way." "William." "Not much of a talker are you?" Glen asked while fiddling with his Space Ring. "Depends on the day." Despite his asional stupidity, William was quite good at judging someone''s character. Something told him that Glen had an ulterior motive for approaching him. All the Disciples were in groups but Glen was all by himself? Not to mention the kid could afford a Space Ring that looked much more expensive than William''s own. Something was off. Elder Wen decided it was about time to start the lecture and stood up from his chair on the stage. "Hello everyone. You all know me, but in case you forgot, I am Elder Wen. Today''s lecture will be about nocturnal beasts, what they are, where to find them, and most importantly- how to kill them. Now, who can name a nocturnal beast?" Elder Wen looked around the room at each one of the Disciples. A girl with a in face answered. "Luminous Panther." Elder Wen nodded. "A rare nocturnal beast, good job as usual Miss Aria." he paused for a sip of water. "The Luminous Panther is a Golden Core Beast in its infancy and once an adult can grow to the early stages of the Soul Formation Realm. It can be identified mostly by six silver spots on each side of its pelt, and a single diamond shaped silver marking on its forehead. Without an experienced team of Soul Formation Realm Cultivators, it can be nearly impossible to defeat at night. But it has two weaknesses. Can anyone guess one?" This time Glen raised his hand. "Fighting it during the day?" "You''re half right. One of the Luminous Panther''s weaknesses is to use light against it. This can be in the form of daylight, or light from a spell. Anything works except the moonlight, which is the source of a Luminous Panther''s power. The other weakness of a Luminous Panther is its ability to turn. The mark on its forehead serves as the point of origin for its signature move, a massive ray of light that will burn you to a crisp before you can say "Cultivate". The light ray can be easily dodged though by getting close to the beast and running a circle around it to the left or right until it runs out of energy. Easier said than done of course, but with the proper team, you can use this to cause serious damage." Elder Wen noticed some Disciples dozing off and decided it was time. He nodded to an assistant close by, who then left the room in a hurry. The Disciples were left perplexed by the interaction, but their confusion changed to surprise when a 6-foot roon in a cage was wheeled onto the stage. Elder Wen smiled and pointed at a male Disciple that fell asleep. "Let''s see if you''ve been paying attention. Come on up." The male Disciple named Kori was wrought with fear when he realized the Elder was pointing in his direction. He was up all night with his friends and thought he could get away with a quick nap. He was terrified, but there didn''t seem to be an option to say no. Kori''s legs wobbled as he got up on stage and faced the giant roon. The beast looked at him, then smiled with disdain upon realizing the kid''s Cultivation of Foundation Establishment 4 was lower than its by two stages, being at Foundation Establishment 6. The assistant set up a barrier to prevent the other students from receiving injuries, then stepped inside to keep a close eye on Kori. "Thank you, assistant Wei." Elder Wen nodded to his assistant. He looked back at Kori, then spoke the rules. "You will defeat this beast without being hurt. If you take any damage during the fight, you will be deducted 100 Contribution Points for falling asleep during my ss. Understood?" Kori seemed to expect this, having taken one of Elder Wen''s sses before. He nodded his head with a slight tear in his eye. The assistant opened the roon''s cage and stepped aside. The roon sauntered out,zily licking its paw as if telling Kori it didn''t acknowledge his existence. Elder Lin faced the two with his hand raised in the air. His hand made a swift slicing motion downward. "Begin!" Chapter 60: Prairie Bear The beast was nervous when it noticed all the humans around so it didn''t strike immediately. It tested the barrier by striking it with a heavy paw, only causing the barrier to shake slightly and inflicting no damage. After realizing it was trapped, the roon returned its attention to Kori. Kori had only fought with one Magical Beast before, so he missed the opportunity to strike when the roon was distracted. He cursed his bad luck, then drew a pair of daggers that had rusted slightly from misuse. The boy was obviously not a star student. The roon lunged forward at Kori, swiping again with its paws. Kori dodged to the side, but his shirt was caught by the roon''s w and tore open. Kori jumped back to avoid another attack, then adopted a different stance. "Try this, sh Steps!" Kori yelled out. His figure turned into a shadow that merged with the roon''s, essentially turning invisible. The roon lost track of its opponent, bing startled. The spectators were stunned. "He has the Darkness Element!" William was also surprised. So the Darkness Element can be used this way too, huh? Kori jumped out of the roon''s shadow and sliced at its back legs, cutting through one of the tendons and forcing the roon kneel down. The wound festered upon contact with the Darkness Element and wouldn''t heal in a short amount of time. Kori smiled in delight at the oue, not expecting to gain the upper hand so easily. At William''s seat, Glenmented on the fight. "Kori''s method isn''t bad against normal Magical Beasts, but he''s stupid if he thinks that''s going to beat a Prairie Bear." A Prairie Bear? Well they''re not wrong, he does look a bit more like a bear than a roon. Williamughed thinking about it, drawing the ire of some nearby disciples who misunderstood. "Laughing at another''s misery, hah! I''d like to see him get on stage and fight a Prairie Bear!" one girlmented with a sour look on her face. "I''ve never seen that guy before, he must be pretty weak. Leave it to the idiots to make the most noise." a male disciple scoffed. Kori also heard William''sugh and scowled. I will finish the fight in one move! He dove into the Prairie Bear''s shadow and started drawing Mana of the Darkness Element to fuel his next attack. The Prairie Bear''s eyes shed with a hint of intelligence. It wasn''t about to let Kori do as he pleased this time. The Prairie Bear released a low growl and drew what little moonlight there was to the stage. The specks of moonlight gathered around the Prairie Bear like moths to amp and continued to condense until there was a solidyer of moonlight wrapped around the Prairie Bear like armor. Kori covered his daggers with the Darkness Element and jumped out of the Prairie Bear''s shadow once again. His des sliced at the back of its head, but were stopped abruptly by the moonlight armor. He continued to press forward, but the des wouldn''t go an inch further. "What?" Kori couldn''t understand how the Prairie Bear could defend against his attack. The Darkness Element had a natural corrosive ability that should be able to melt through any defense. Elder Wen shook his head in disappointment. "I told you that nocturnal beasts have a natural weakness to light. With that said, you should have guessed a nocturnal beast would consequently be resistant to darkness. Maybe next time you will learn to not sleep during my lectures, young man." his words caused a few others who weren''t paying attention to lower their heads in shame. The Prairie Bear swiped Kori away with its paw, pushing him back ten meters while a bloody gash formed across his chest. Kori hit the barrier and fell unconscious. "Disciples, remember this well. This is the only time you may rest in my ss." Elder Wen spoke in a stern voice, to which many students nodded their heads furiously. William was surprised by Elder Wen''s attitude. The man seemed quite nice when he met with William outside the Lecture Hall. Who knew he also had such a ruthless side? William shivered when he remembered how close the man was to him just a little bit ago. "Who else wants to try? I''m sure most of you understand by now how to fight with a Prairie Beast." the Elder asked the group for volunteers to which no one raised their hand. Even if they knew that Magical Beasts were weak to light, how many could actually take advantage of this? The Light Element was very rare after all, just as rare as Kori''s Darkness Element. Kori had regained consciousness with the help of a nearby healer and heard Elder Wen''s request. "Elder, I heard that boyugh earlier. He must be quite confident." he pointed in William''s direction. Elder Wen followed the direction of Kori''s finger and realized it was the young man he met before his lecture. That Kori brat is just trying to cause trouble, but I have a feeling the kid he''s pointing at is not a pushover. "Is that so? Well, there don''t seem to be any volunteers. Come on upd." the Elder urged William with a kind smile. Williamined inwardly but still got up from his seat. How low can you be to drag someone else into your mess? At least it''s free Potential Points. He approached Elder Wen on stage without a word. "Lad, don''t worry about defeating the beast since you are new. I''ll step in if you''re in trouble, just do your best to gain some experience." William nodded, but didn''t feel the Elder''s help would be necessary. The Prairie Bear only seemed as strong as a beast in the mid stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm, a piece of cake for someone at William''s level. The only thing Will didn''t understand was the moonlight armor, which seemed to grant the beast protection at the Core Formation Realm. What Element to use... William debated on his options. He could just use his fists, which he had a B Rank Talent for, but felt that might draw too much attention as his punches could easily kill a Core Formation Realm Beast without the help of an Array. That''s it! William had an epiphany. How could he forget his most versatile skill? Even Intermediate Arrays could deal with a Foundation Establishment Beast. He could kill three birds with one stone: earn Potential Points, draw little attention, and put an arrogant kid in his ce. He waited for the Prairie Bear to be healed by an assistant, then nodded his head to tell Elder Wen he was ready for the battle. On the other end, the Prairie Bear looked warily at William. It''s instincts told it that William was not like the kid it thrashed earlier, and the Prairie Bear could really lose its life if it wasn''t careful. It adopted a defensive stance and prepared for a difficult fight. The disciples were unaware, but Elder Wen noticed the change in the Prairie Bear''s behavior. He looked at William, then raised his hand in the air. "Begin!" Chapter 61: Not Even A Fight The Prairie Bear wasn''t going easy on William. It immediately began drawing in moonlight energy to create its armor. The shield formed even faster than before as the sun went down further. So, it gets stronger theter it is at night. William awed at the powerful ability of this beast. He quickly weaved together a series of Intermediate Barrier Arrays, giving him some time to study his opponent better. The students were surprised. "He can use Arrays! Maybe he isn''t just talk." a girl looked at William with interest. A nearby boy was jealous that William was taking the attention of the girl he liked. "Those are just Intermediate Arrays. My Ice Magic would break through them in an instant." "Hmm, okay..." the girl wasn''t convinced. The Prairie Bear saw the Arrays, but didn''t rush to break them. Instead, it used the opportunity to draw in even more moonlight energy. Elder Wen noticed William''s mistake the second the first Array was created. He decided to give the young man a helpful tip. "The Prairie Bear''s defense will increase the longer you allow it to gain moonlight. It''s best you end the fight quickly or find a way to disrupt it." William also realized his mistake. He didn''t want to look stupid on his first impression, so he spent a Potential Point and asked the System. How can I disrupt the Prairie Bear''s ability? -You have three simple options. Unleash an attack that instantly kills the beast, use the Light Element to blind the Prairie Bear and disrupt its concentration, or perform a targeted attack on the center of its underbelly where the moonlight energy is at its weakest. William read the information quickly and made his decision. He created an Intermediate Array of Confinement to temporarily restrict the Prairie Bear''s movement, then adjusted his speed to the early Foundation Establishment Realm and rushed at the beast. As the Prairie Bear broke free from the Array, William pulled a knife out of his Space Ring and stabbed the location that the System described. The moonlight dissipated instantly, and the Prairie Bear howled in pain despite not receiving any injuries. It seemed the moonlight ability took a great toll on its mind. The spectators werepletely dumbfounded by this development. "What did he do? The energy just disappeared, is the Prairie Bear a paid actor?" Elder Wen was pleasantly surprised by William''s extensivebat experience. William had even discovered at a nce a weakness of the Prairie Beast that Elder Wen didn''t find out about until he was in histe thirties. William created another Confinement Array to seal the Prairie Bear''s movement a second, third, and fourth time while he delivered a quick strike to the back of each leg simr to Kori''s method. The Prairie Bear was quickly disabled, and William didn''t hesitate tomit another strike to the Prairie Bear''s throat, killing the beast. -Defeated Prairie Bear: +3 Potential Points -Defeated a Magical Beast with an Innate Ability. [Moonlight Armor] has been added to the Passive Talent Pool. William was pleasantly surprised by the second System message. So he could gain even more Talents by defeating beasts with Innate Abilities, nice! He earned 4 Potential Points from the Prairie Bear too, if he counted the bonus for discovering the beast, so it was a overall a good haul. On the other end, the disciples were speechless. In the time it took Kori to get knocked around like a sandbag, William had already killed the Prairie Bear. He made it look like a piece of cake, as if he had done it thousands of times before. If the others knew this was William''s first time fighting a Prairie Bear, they would probably curse their bad luck for not being born with such amazing talent. "It wasn''t even a fight..." Kori said in a daze. He didn''t expect William to be so strong. Even Glen was surprised. He could tell that William was special, but his performance was well above what he expected. William could almostpare to a ranker in the top 100, even though he was clearly just a new disciple. Elder Wen pped his hands. "Well done young man. I remember you said before that you''re a new disciple, what is your name?" The disciples that didn''t know William was new to the Sect were amazed once again. "Wait...does that mean he isn''t even a Cultivator?" the disciples whispered amongst themselves. If William wasn''t a Cultivator, that meant hisbat power was even more impressive than they first imagined. "My name is William, Elder." he replied respectfully and in a calm manner. "William...well you don''t know this but I usually provide benefits for those whoplete my challenges. As a reward for your ster performance, I will gift you the 100 Contribution Points that I took away from disciple Kori." he gave an amiable smile while Kori passed out from anger and regret. William thanked the Elder, then went back to his seat. Elder Wen brought out another Prairie Bear and gave a few other disciples a chance to gain experience. William watched as the disciples used many unique abilities he hadn''t seen before to fight. One boy used a bow and shot beams of condensed lightning at the Prairie Bear''s eyes to prevent it from using the moonlight ability, while a girl used some sort of charming technique to lower the Prairie Bear''s guard. Besides these two, one more boy wearing a dark-red leather jacket and modern-style pants defeated the Prairie Bear, but he only used a single stroke of the sword to cut off its head in the blink of an eye, making the disciples forget all about William''s past performance. The unknown boy gave William a quick nce after killing the Prairie Bear as if he was issuing a silent challenge, then returned to his seat while the disciples looked at him in awe. Many girls even asked the boy where he was going after the lecture, making William roll his eyes. This is just like high school. heined but didn''t actually mind the environment. Besides the unknown boy, these kids didn''t look like a challenge for him, so William wasn''t worried about any games they might y. The lecture ended shortly after. William began to walk back to his residence, but was stopped when Glen called out to him. "Hey William, what are you going to do now?" Glen asked. "What do you mean? I''m going to sleep of course, it''s almost midnight." William didn''t expect the lecture to go on for almost four hours, and was exhausted. Glen realized it was indeed quitete for a non-Cultivator to be awake. "Well alright, but I was going to ask if you wanted to go to the Night Market with me and some friends. We could really use a guy with good perception like you." William almostughed at the perception part. Even the System that was normally silent made an odd robotic noise that sounded somewhat like a snort. "I''ll have to decline for tonight, sorry." William didn''t know what the Night Market was, but it sounded ominous and he was too tired to be dragged off into potential trouble when he just entered the Sect. Glen showed a disappointed look, but understood. "Maybe tomorrow then? It starts around nine o''clock, so you''ll have plenty of time for rest." "Yeah, maybe. I''ll keep you posted." William said farewell to Glen then headed towards his residence. He fiddled with the keys again as he wasn''t used to the functions yet, then entered the room andid t on his stomach in the bed. Ughh, what a pain in the ass. William had done nothing but run around the past few days. Outside of his brief unconsciousness this morning after his fight with the Rhio Family, William had not slept in almost twenty hours. For a normal human being, that was too long to be awake. Hopefully tomorrow isn''t this messy. William thought to himself as his consciousness sank into a deep sleep. Chapter 62: Warning William woke up sometime just after noon feeling refreshed. He slept over 12 hours, but it was a much needed rest. Knock knock. William blinked and rubbed the crust off his eyes. He shifted around in bed until he wasfortable again, deciding he would get up in a few more minutes. Knock knock. He stuffed his face in the bed, enjoying the soft texture of his bedsheets. He smiled, appreciating the peaceful environment that was his new bedroom. KNOCK KNOCK "WHAT DO YOU WANT!" William yelled at the top of his lungs to the unknown individual who was disturbing his rest. He ignored it the first two times, expecting them to leave, but the incessant knocking was driving William insane. "BOY IF YOU DON''T GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW I''M GOING TO BEAT YOU REAL GOOD." the sound of Sect Master Gu Dianlong could be heard from outside. His voice carried across the street and into the ears of many disciples, who cowered in fear wondering who pissed off the Sect Master. William rushed out of the residence in his full uniform within thirty seconds. He even used his Speed Talent to the fullest, just so he could make it in time. He bowed deeply to the Sect Master, "Sir I didn''t realize it was you." "Hmph! Come along, I need to speak with you." the Sect Master wasn''t willing to talk about William''s rudeness just now. There were more important things at hand. "Why can''t we do it he-" William noticed the death re Gu Dianlong was giving him and shut up immediately. "Yes Sir." Gu Dianlong opened a portal and forcefully pushed William inside, then entered next. On the other side, William discovered he was in the same dark room asst time. Sect Master Gu started, "I''ve handled most of your problems for you regarding the attention you''ve drawn. It cost me quite the price and I will be expecting suitablepensation in the future when you can afford it." William nodded, "Thank you Sect Master. I will do what-" "I''m not finished yet." "Yes yes, sorry." "As I was saying, I''ve solved MOST of your problems." he picked up a ss of an unknown liquid and took a long sip. "But there''s one group you need to be worried about known as the Pirs of Justice." "The Pirs of Justice?" William was confused. By name alone, the group seemed to be a bunch of good guys, why would he need to worry about them?" "Well for some reason, this group seems to believe you absorbed the essence of multiple environments, including the Livingwood Forest and the Foam Desert. The Pirs of Justice serve as protectors of the world and its inhabitants, and usually only chase after the most heinous criminals. They are backed by the Royal Family and many Ancient Families, and are not a group the Five Elements Sect can hope topete with. As it stands, you are only still alive because I made a deal with them not to target you until you reached the age of twenty-five and could be tried by the Feathers of Justice." So I''m being chased down by the hippies...Not again... William didn''t understand most of what the Sect Master was saying but didn''t think asking about it would be a good idea right now. He would ask the System about itter. "Thank you, so I need to be prepared in less than five years?" "Not quite. Even though we made a deal, I can''t imagine that the Pirs of Justice would let you off the hookpletely. They will probably send trained assassins or low level members of their organization to target you secretly." Gu Dianlong exined with a sigh. He had always despised the Pirs of Justice for their manner of handling things, but even now he was powerless to change anything. "I will be careful." William promised the Sect Master. "Good. Now as for the Rhio Family, they won''t be able to target you while you''re in the Sect, but if you have to leave for any reason, expect a conflict with them. They won''t give up on that Space Ring you hold." Gu Dianlong finished his lecture. "If there''s nothing else, you may leave now." William nodded and returned to his residence from a newly created portal. That is so convenient, I wonder when I can learn the Technique... William didn''t have anything to do until the next day, so he spent some time and Potential Points asking questions about the Pirs of Justice and the so-called Feathers of Justice. The Pirs of Justice were exactly what Gu Dianlong described, while the Nine Feathers of Justice was a magical artifact that tested one''s level of guilt during a trial and would turn ck one by one as questions were asked. If the Cultivator was deemed guilty by the Feathers, the only resulting penalty was death by public execution. Quite a brutal way to go. William wasn''t too concerned about the trial, as he had done nothing wrong. However this was another example of why he should remain low-profile for the time being. William was still too weak to be making powerful enemies. System, how can I better hide my Elements from enemies? -Request requires 1 Potential Point. Yes/No? Yes. -Part of the Stealth Talent''s abilities are to conceal one''s Cultivation and Magical Affinities. The higher the Rank, the weaker your Mana Signature will appear to others. William had forgotten about his Stealth Talent. To be honest, he had acquired so many skills in thest few weeks that it was hard to keep track of them all. Thankfully he has the System Menu. His Stealth Talent was currently Rank E, and would need only 15 Potential Points to upgrade as it was a Rare Talent. After the recent expenditures, William now has 346 Potential Points which was more than enough. System, upgrade my Stealth Talent. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Stealth: (E --> D) Next rank up: 75PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William didn''t feel any different, but when he took steps around the room, he found it was easier to not make noise. Even when he stepped on a normally squeaky wooden floorboard, there was no noise. I didn''t realize the Stealth Talent had such convenient uses. Why didn''t I upgrade this sooner? William felt he could have avoided a lot of trouble if he just took the time to ask the System about his abilities. System, upgrade my Stealth Talent again. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Stealth: (D --> C) Next rank up: 300PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Once again there was little noticable difference, but William could only test its true value out in public. He only had 256 Points left, so William couldn''t upgrade any more of his useful Talents yet. He could raise the level of his various resistances, but William couldn''t grind for Potential Points while in the Sect. It was better to save his points for emergency situations. With the remainder of William''s day, he ate at the Wild Clover and watched the disciples practice at the training ground from a distance with his enhanced eyesight. Although his Magic Affinities were high, William wasn''t all that skilled in a real battle. Watching Kori jump into the Prairie Bear''s shadow made William realize his understanding of Magic was very shallow. Chapter 63: Favoritism If only there was a private training area. Williamined inwardly. He couldn''t practice with Magic outside of his Water and Fire Elements unless he wanted to draw the attention of the entire Sect. William decided to go to bed early since his introductory lecture was supposed to be at around 10 in the morning. To have the Sect Master knocking on his door was already bad enough, he couldn''t afford to get on the vicious Elder Wen''s bad side. William woke up early at around 6 am. He went to the kitchen to get some breakfast but realized he hadpletely forgotten to buy groceries from the Sect Market. I guess I''m eating at Wild Clover again...William had be a regr in just a few days. The lines were abnormally long in the morning, stretching from the entrance to the nearby street. It turned out that there was a special breakfast item being served that day because of the arrival of a special guest, and many Cultivators were in line waiting for it. William waited for a few hours in line, but he gave up at 8 when he was only halfway through to the front. William''s stomach growled angrily at him for neglecting it, but there wasn''t anywhere to eat. He ended up walking half an hour to the market to pick up some simple groceries. He brought it back to the residence then quickly ate some scrambled eggs and toast. "It''s already past nine? What a waste of a morning.." heined. With a half-full stomach, William trudged to the Lecture Hall. Elder Wen was at the entrance speaking to a group of new disciples. When he noticed William, Elder Wen revealed a smile and waved animatedly. "Who''s that?" one of the new disciples near Elder Wen noticed how he treated William and became curious. Elder Wen smiled amiably while still looking at William. "He''s one of your peers, possibly the strongest out of all the new disciples." The other disciples wore confused looks. William didn''t seem to be all that strong. In fact, they couldn''t even sense an ounce of Mana or Cultivation from him, almost as if William was just a normal person. What gave Elder Wen the confidence to say such words? Elder Wen had also noticed that William didn''t have the same overwhelming amount of Fire Mana as before. He could tell the Mana was being suppressed before, but the Mana was almost perfectly concealed now. Without a pair of trained eyes such as Elder Wen''s, others would suspect William had no talent for Magic at all. So he''s improved in such a short amount of time. Elder Wen''s hopes were raised that William might just be the turning point for the Five Elements Sect''s poor performance against the Pure Martial Sect in recent years. William approached the group. "Good morning Elder Wen." he bowed respectfully, perfectly imitating that of a well-mannered Cultivator. "Good morning to you as well, disciple William. I hope you''ve been well thesest few days." Elder Wen nodded. The other disciples noticed a clear favoritism and their mood soured slightly, but they didn''t let it show. Instead they also greeted William, hoping to get in his good graces. William enjoyed the treatment the others were giving him. Even if it''s only a few days, it seems I''ve already gained the opportunity to establish myself as the senior of the group. I didn''t even need to beat anyone up! The time for the lecture was drawing near, so William decided to take his seat in the same ce as two nights ago. Surprisingly, five male disciples and a female disciple from the previous group chose to sit with William. The young man with medium length white hair closest to William on the right spoke first. "I''m Warren from the Barnabus Family, nice to meet you." A dark-haired boy with broad shoulders spoke next."I''m Gil of the Gerald Mercenary group." The only girl, with long blue hair and wearing a white dress made of silk introduced herself next. William actually found her quite beautiful. "I''m Lia Rhio of the Rhio Family. I hope we can get along." The other two boys introduced themselves as well, but William wasn''t listening after hearing Lia''sst name. "Rhio? Are you familiar with a Peter Rhio?" The other boys noticed they were ignored and became angry, but didn''t want to pick a fight with the man that Elder Wen dered was a candidate for the strongest new disciple. Meanwhile Lia was surprised that William was familiar with her family. After all, their main headquarters was in Heartsteel Vige over half a Continent away. "The future head of the Rhio Family? I know who he is but we aren''t very close. After all, I am from a branch family that doesn''t receive as much support. Why do you ask?" William nodded in understanding. She probably isn''t nning to target me then; it must be a coincidence that she appeared in the Sect the same time as me. "Oh no reason, I''m William by the way. Nice to meet you all." he looked at each of them including the two boys he ignored earlier, hoping to limit the number of enemies he made in one day to the single digits. The six disciples noticed William didn''t dere his background. Warren decided to ask, "William, what city are you from?" "Just a small vige you''ve probably never heard of. Nothing worth mentioning." William was still quite suspicious of others. What if they decided to pay a visit to Misha or Charlotte while he was in the Sect? Warren noticed William''s reluctance to answer and decided not to press further. The disciples became more talkative with introductions out of the way, and spoke of current events where they lived andined about their living situations. After hearing theirints of no running water or even a fridge to store their goods, William realized he truly was treated well by the Sect Master. Elder Wen approached the stage in the distance, interruoting William''s thoughts. "Quiet down everyone, don''t make me ask a second time." his face was serious. The entire room went silent. The disciples were all eager to hear what Elder Wen had to say and listened intently. Elder Wen smiled in satisfaction, "It seems I have a well-behaved group this time...good. Thest set didn''t even make it to the third lecture before I had to...clean up a few messes." Something about the way Elder Wen finished that sentence made the disciples shiver. William understood first-hand what Elder Wen meant, after watching Kori be beaten senselessly by a Prairie Bear after just falling asleep. Elder Wen continued. "As you spend more time in the Sect, you will learn that I love to talk for hours, but that will not be happening today. But there are a few things I must say before we move on. If you are a good student, I will help you every step of the way until you are proficient. If you are a great student, my assistance may not even be required, and you will earn benefits suitable to your status in my eyes. If you are a poor student...let''s not allow that to happen." He paced back and forth on the stage, allowing his words to sink in. Elder Wen enjoyed these moments of pause, where he could almost read a disciple''s thoughts on their face as they contemted his words. He took a peek at a few students he had already determined to be bad apples, then made a sudden announcement. "With that being said, let''s find out what kind of student you are with a quick test!" Chapter 64: Magic Affinity Test "A test right off the bat? How can he do this to us?" Warrenined out loud. Gil hushed Warren with a low voice, "Be quiet, you want him to hear us?" William stayed quiet, he could already tell that Elder Wen had noticed the group, so it was better to pretend he didn''t know the group of idiots. Elder Wen brought out a blue sphere the size of a basketball that seemed to be made of ss. "I''m sure most of you recognize this as an Affinity Orb, but I will exin again in a moment to those of you that are not familiar. There will be two parts of my test. First, I will be testing your Mana Affinity with this Affinity Orb. Each of you wille up to the stage, state your name, then empty all of your Mana into the orb. Even if you have not awakened any Magic yet, the Affinity Orb should be able to gather a rough estimate of what you are capable of. You will be scored based on your Affinity." Gil became nervous since he came from a family that didn''t have any talent for Magic. "What if we score too low?" Elder Wen had seen this look many times before. "As the Five Elements Sect, not having talent for Magic means you will not thrive here. You may choose to stay, but only if you can achieve a high enough score on the second portion of the test." A girl with ck double-braids raised her hand. "What is the second test, Elder?" "The second test will be a ranking battle! I will give more details to those that pass the first test. No more questions. Who would like to go first?" A few disciples stood up at the same time including Warren. A boy with ck hair and a single green highlight reached the stage first, with Warren just behind. The boy ced his hand in the Affinity Orb, which gave off a soft glow from absorbing some of the boy''s ambient Mana. The boy waited for approval from Elder Wen, then began injecting his Mana into the Affinity Orb. The color of the Orb changed to light green and glowed brighter, symbolizing a powerful Element of Wind. The intensity of the glow increased gradually, until the light was almost blinding. The boy ran out of Mana and took a knee from exhaustion. Elder Wen recorded his results, "You forgot to state your named." "It''s Arturo, Elder." "Got it. Arturo: Wind Element, 65 points!" Elder Wen shouted out his score to the rest of the group. No one understood how good Arturo''s performance was, so they didn''t know how to react. Warren stepped forward next. "My name is Warren, Elder Sir." Elder Wen nodded, "Go ahead." Like Arturo, Warren ced his hand on the Affinity Orb and injected his Mana. After a few seconds, the Orb started glowing a purplish silver color, but not nearly as intense as Arturo''s. After his Mana was spent, Elder Wen read off his score. "Warren: Lightning Element, 32 Points!" A few more disciples stepped up with eager faces. Soon an orderly line had formed, while William remained seated. He wanted a high score, but was worried about exposing all of his Elements to the other disciples. System, what should I do? -Request requires 3 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. -The Host will be able to reduce his score by putting less Mana into the Affinity Orb. Try concentrating on one specific Element, and the chances of more Elements being detected will decrease. William understood. Thank you System. Even though the System seemed to be an emotionless being, William had noticed a few human-like behaviors from time to time. He felt that he should at least make an effort to treat the System like apanion and not a tool. The next group of disciples tested their Mana Affinity. "Su Ming: Fire Element, 23 Points!" "Rika Matsumoto: Water and Wind Element, 41 Points!" "Jinny: Darkness Element, 37 Points!" Elder Wen continued reading off scores. The average was around 30 points, while 20 points seemed to be the passing score for the test, which half a dozen disciples had already failed despite showing promise during their recruitments. He clicked his tongue in disappointment, "Those damn recruiters will pick anyone with Magic ability these days.." As time went on, Arturo''s test seemed more and more impressive in the eyes of the other disciples. No one else had earned more than 50 points on their test, yet he was 15 points above that! A male disciple with a in face and brown hair stepped forward. He introduced himself as Yu Min and ced his hand on the Affinity Orb. After injecting just a small amount of Mana, the Orb lit up a bright red. As more Mana was injected, the glow intensified and the color changed to yellow. The disciples were amazed by the color and brightness of the Orb. With two Elements close to Arturo''s intensity, Yu Min was about to break his record! The color changed again to a pale white color, symbolizing a third Element with less intensity than before. Elder Wen nodded in approval. "Yu Min: Fire, Earth, and Light Elements: 82 points!" "82!" The disciples were astounded. Arturo, who was previously enjoying the attention of the others had a sour look on his face. How can a piece of trash have a higher Affinity than me? As a noble from the Silverwind Ancient Family, Arturo was sure to ce first in any contest of talent. Or so he thought. His fingers clenched as Arturo realized he would have to deal with being second the rest of his time at the Sect. William was also impressed by Yu Min''s talent. Three Elements and one of them is rare! Without the System, William could only look up to such a figure. After Yu Min''s test, the remainder became much less thrilling. Most of the other disciples earned scores of 20 to 30, while another two dozen or so had failed including Gil, who only scored 6. The only exception was Lia Rhio, who received a score of 49. The line was growing shorter, and William was the only disciple remaining who hadn''t stood up from his seat. He wanted to gauge the abilities of his peers before deciding how much effort to put into the test. I have to get first, but it needs to be close. he thought to himself. There was no way William could rank first in the Outer Sect if he didn''t receive some benefits from the Elders first. Su Yanyu''s strange ability already confirmed that William would be utterly powerless in the wrong situation. The line decreased until it waspletely empty. William finally stood up from his seat, drawing attention from all across the room. Warren and the rest were especially curious as to why he would sit back for so long, but Elder Wen''s previous evaluation of William made them wonder how he would score. Elder Wen knew William had a strong talent for Fire already, so he wasn''t worried at all about his test. Hopefully thed knows to tone it down, otherwise there will be a lot of trouble in the future... Chapter 65: True Genius William approached the Affinity Orb. "William. I am starting now, Elder." he ced his hand on the Orb once Elder Wen gave his approval. Like the others before him, William began injecting Mana into the Affinity Orb. With his high Mana control, William was able to reduce the amount of Mana going into the Affinity Orb to a bare minimum. He put all his focus on trying to only call Fire Element Mana. At first, the Affinity Orb only glowed a slight pale red. There was nothing special or shy about it at all. Some disappointment showed in Elder Wen''s eyes. Was I wrong about the kid? He isn''t actually suppressing his Mana and it''s actually just this much? William noticed Elder Wen''s frown out of the corner of his eye. I will fail at this rate! he panicked and sent arger burst of Mana into the Affinity Orb, causing the glow to spike in intensity. The room was filled with a sh of light. The disciples squinted, not expecting the sudden change in atmosphere. Elder Wen was relieved, since the disy just then proved that William''s talent was at least 50 points. William wasn''t done yet. The Orb was epting 20 percent of his Mana, yet he knew this wasn''t enough to ce first. William slowly increased his Mana being sent into the Affinity Orb to approach 40 percent power, leading to yet another blinding lightshow for the disciples. When the 40 percent threshold was reached, something changed within the Affinity Orb. Instead of increasing the glow further, mes began to rise up from the orb, making it seem as if William was holding onto a giant fireball. Elder Wen''s eyes bulged. He knew exactly what this meant. He can already use his Magic...he''s a Manamatus! But...why didn''t he use it against the Prairie Bear the other night? The other disciples were confused. "What is happening? Why is the Orb on fire?" "I don''t know, but it must be good. Look at Elder Wen''s face!" A disciple pointed at Elder Wen. William was still concentrating on controlling his Mana, but 40 percent power was a bit too much and other Elements were leaking into the Orb. Everyone was surprised to see the Orb change once again, this time turning from fiery red to a bright blue. Water formed on the outside of the Affinity Orb like condensation and increased in quantity until the Orb waspletely submerged. "Another Element! As expected from a disciple dered to be one of the strongest of our group by Elder Wen." Warren eximed. Elder Wen was stunned. He hadn''t even sensed the Water Element from William, rather it was the Life Element he felt. Did that mean he has more than two Elements? He assumed William was hiding the Life Element to avoid attracting too much attention. Elder Wen gave William a thumbs-up in his head. Little did he know that William couldn''t control which Element the Orb noticed first. The Orb changed colors again, this time to a bright green. A miniature tornado formed around the Affinity Orb, carrying William and the Orb a few feet into the air. William was startled and felt he had revealed too much, so he reduced the Mana flow until the tornado carried him back down. He swiftly pulled his hand off the Affinity Orb to cut off its Mana supply. The room was silent. There were a few who had disyed the talent for two Elements, but William was one of only two disciples with three. This was a big deal! Only a dozen disciples would appear every hundred years with the talent for three Elements! And for each of them to have such intensity...William was a true genius! Elder Wen needed more time to evaluate William''s scores. He wrote some things on his scorecard, then looked at the group. "I will evaluate by each Element disyed on the Orb. William: Fire Element, 104 Points!" The first evaluation caused a wave of murmur among the group. So his Fire Element alone was enough to crush us all? "Water Element: 93 Points! Wind Element: 92 Points! Total Score: 289 Points!" "289 Points?!?" The disciples were dumbfounded. William had beaten the highest scorer by over 200 points. Did he even need a second test? He was pretty much guaranteed the number one spot as is. William was also surprised. If he knew his score was so high, he probably would have stopped after using the Water Element. It couldn''t be that big of a deal though right? After all, triple Element Cultivation Techniques were avable in the Great Hall. He was at least thankful he suppressed his Fire Element to a low C Rank Talent, otherwise the A Rank evaluation would probably give Elder Wen a heart attack. Elder Wen gathered his thoughts and silenced the group. "The first part of this test is over. I will now exin the second portion. It''s actually quite simple. I will split you up into groups of six and you will fight each other one by one. You will be awarded 20 points per battle that you win, meaning you will not fail as long as you defeat one person. After the battles have ended, your scores will be added up to the points earned from the Mana Affinity Test. Anyone who ends this test with over 80 points will be allowed to challenge the Ranking Board. To those who score below this but still pass, you will have to wait a month before you can ce any challenges." Some disciples that knew about the Ranking Board became excited. "I didn''t expect this to be a reward for doing well on the test. How generous of Elder Wen!" "What''s the Ranking Board?" a female disciple asked a boy next to her. "You don''t know? It''s our monthly resources provided by the Sect! Usually you don''t get them until the first month, but Elder Wen is giving us a chance to earn a ranking before the end of this month." the boy answered. The girl became excited too. The monthly resources from a famous Sect must be good! The room was bing loud again, so Elder Wen was forced to silence the group a second time. "Now that you understand the situation, I will form the groups at random." Elder Wen pulled out arge bowl filled with what appeared to be a gallons worth of ink or just very dark water. He reached into the bowl, pulling out a slip of paper that somehow wasn''t wet and read it off like a fortune cookie. "Group one: Yu Min, Warren, Su Ming, Jinny, Yuka Mei, and Daroman." William noticed the first group consisted mostly of the first twenty people to go up to the Affinity Orb. At this rate, William would be one of thest names called out. Elder Wen continued reading off group names, further confirming William''s theory. This was probably intentional, since most disciples took their test together with their friends. Of course, William was an exception since he didn''t have any friends. "Group twenty-five: Gunther, Tia Marie, Natsu Mori, William, Filipe, and Carl." Elder Wen stored the ink bowl and paced around the stage. He activated an Array involving the Space Element, stretching the stage to a size of ten square kilometers. A series of 25 Intermediate Barrier Arrays were formed, serving as the stage for the battles. "I do not have enough eyes to watch all of you at once, so your senior disciples will be the judge today." As Elder Wen spoke, 25 men and women wearing Inner Core Disciple robes that were numbered 1 througj 25 walked up with pride. They all looked to be in their mid tote-twenties, and emitted an aura simr to the Golden Core Cultivators William had fought in Blue Moon City. "You have 10 minutes to rest. When you are ready, go to your respective judge and enter the Barrier." Chapter 66: Battles (1) William didn''t hesitate to think about Elder Wen''s words. He immediately walked over to a male Inner Core Disciple numbered 25 and introduced himself. "I''m William, nice to meet you Senior." he eyed the Inner Core Disciple secretly. The man had medium length brown hair and a short beard. Tied around his neck appeared to be a ne made of small seashells of various colors. His hands were rough from many battles, and strapped to his back was the outline of a sword wrapped in cloth like a mummy. "Call me Trevor." he waited until the other five disciples arrived before continuing. "I will be your judge for arena 25. Do not underestimate me just because I am a disciple like you. I have full control over your evaluation, so if you want to pass you better behave yourself." The disciples nodded. There were still 10 minutes left, so William took the time to inspect his opponents. Gunther was the shortest individual present, just under 1.5 meters tall. He had a thin build and wore thick, dark-rimmed sses. He didn''t wear a Space Ring and there were no visible weapons. Tia Marie had long red hair and a short nose. He knuckles were calloused and William could see a visible outline of muscles under her thin grey t-shirt and jeans. She must be a martial artist. William guessed. He looked at Natsu Mori and couldn''t tell whether they were male or female. They wore medium length ck hair and had a piercing through their right eyebrow. A knife was sheathed on their left side, and a flute stored on the right. A curiousbination for sure. Filipe was a mystery to William. The man had a Space Ring on each finger minus the thumb and a bandana was concealing his mouth. He had white hair and bright green eyes that didn''t even nce in William''s direction. The boy waspletely focused on their judge Trevor. Carl was a medium height individual with short brown hair and expensive looking clothes. He wore three Space Rings, each probably worth over a thousand Gold Coins, and a canister of some sort was strapped to his side and sealed with a bright red stamp shaped like a hedgehog. Williampleted his evaluation. It seemed that only Filipe gave off an aura simr to Trevors. William didn''t need to win all his matches, so he considered forfeiting right away when he faced off against Filipe. Elder Wen''s voice could be heard from a distance. "The time is almost up! Judges, call the first pairs into your Arena and start the battle when ready." Trevor turned to the group. "You heard Elder Wen. I don''t like picking, so who wants to go first?" No one raised their hand. Since no one had fought yet, the others had a wait and see attitude. It would be great if someone else could do the heavy lifting and weaken one or two opponents. Carl looked with disdain at the others, but didn''t make a move either. His trump card was only good for one win after all, and he wanted to save it for the most troublesome opponent. Trevor looked at the disciples with a cold smile. "If no one wants to volunteer I suppose I will just take away twenty points from everyone. How does that sound?" Tia''s expression changed. She couldn''t afford to lose points now. "I''ll go first!" She jumped into the ring and waited patiently for her opponent while Trevor smiled viciously. Seeing no one else volunteer and not wanting to risk any points, Gunther stepped inside the ring calmly. He sped his hands together and used the Ice Element to create a frozen sword for his left hand and a shield for his right. Trevor raised an eyebrow. "A Manamatus, how rare. This may be a more interestingpetition than I thought." Each year, a different group of 25 Inner Core Disciples are picked to oversee the new disciples. Having been picked this year, Trevor wasn''t excited. Other than the additional resources given to the Inner Core Disciples, this task was nothing but a babysitting chore. Trevor was d that there would be a little excitement. Back in the Arena, Tia wasn''t worried about Gunther''s Ice Magic. She pulled out a pair of gauntlets from her Space Ring and put them on, then charged at Gunther. Gunther quickly identified Tia to be a close-range type and opted to keep his distance from her. He jumped backwards, creating an Ice Spike andunching it at Tia. Tia was powerful, but she still wasn''t a Cultivator and could only move at the speed of a mid-stage Qi Refinement Cultivator and couldn''tpletely dodge the attack. The Ice Spike impaled her left shoulder, disabling her arm and spreading frost across her body. The frost turned to ice, and within moments Tia was unable to move. Trevor pulled a piece of parchment from his Space Ring and marked Gunther''s performance, then raised his arm in the air. "Gunther wins!" The other disciples were surprised. The fight onlysted a few seconds, yet a winner was already decided. They didn''t have much time to think though as Filipe jumped into the Arena. "It''s my turn." Filipe said. He drew his sword with the wrappings still attached, but Trevor stopped him before he could charge forward. "I see you''re eager to fight, but Gunther gets his five minutes of rest. Your opponent will be the next volunteer." William stepped forward. "I''ll go." Seeing Filipe''s confident reaction to Gunther, William knew he would probably be the toughest opponent. It was better to fight at his peak now than struggleter. Trevor nodded and allowed William to enter the Barrier. He didn''t waste any time and started the battle since there were still many fights to go. Filipe made the first move. His green eyes shook and the pupils started spinning in a clockwise direction. William locked eyes with Filipe and instantly felt his head turn fuzzy. Another weird ability... William guessed that Filipe''s eyes were obviously the source of the sudden event and chose to avoid eye contact with Filipe. William adjusted his speed to thete stages of the Qi Refinement Realm and dashed towards Filipe. Within moments William made contact, throwing a suppressed punch at Filipe and knocking him off his feet. Surprise showed in Filipe''s eyes as he expected William to not be able to move. How did he resist my Magic Vision? Did I miss? Filipe couldn''tfigure out the reason. He didn''t have a chance to think further, since William came flying at him with another punch, knocking Filipe out of the Arena. The other disciples were dumbfounded. How can he have such talent for Magic and also maintain a body like this? It didn''t make sense that the world could be this unfair! Trevor made a few notes on William and recorded his battle for review. "Winner, William!" William remained in the Arena after he was dered victor. His arms were sped behind his back and he stood motionless. Trevor called out to William. "Come down so the nextpetitor can enter." William shook his head. "I don''t need a break, can you just let the next persone in?" Chapter 67: Battles (2) "How arrogant!" Tia who had just received treatment for her wounds shook with anger. So what if William knocked Filipe out of the ring with a few punches. Tia could probably do the same, yet she was frozen by Gunther without a chance to show off her moves at all! Trevorughed. "Suit yourself kid." he pointed at Natsu Mori. "You there. Go on up." Natsu Mori sighed. He was hoping to be thest to fight, but luck wasn''t on his side. Natsu stepped into the Arena and pulled out the flute strapped to his side. Trevor initiated the battle without waiting for their confirmation. Neither disciple made the first move. Natsu wasn''t a close range type, so he wanted to see what William would do. Williamcked battle experience, so he was justpletely clueless. He didn''t want to rush forward and fall into Natsu''s trap. Howe I got all the weird ones? heined. The other battle arenas were very standard, where both sides shed with swords or daggers. Gunther was probably the only other Manamatus in the group, while Natsu Mori was the only disciple using an instrument as a weapon. Natsu noticed William looking at the other arenas and became slightly angry. "If you''re not going to make the first move, don''t mind my rude behavior!" Natsu ced the flute to his lips and released a low note. The soundwaves spread throughout the arena and mmed into William, forcing him back a step. Before William could recover, a second note was released, knocking William off his feet. William wasn''t just idly taking hits though. His mind was working to figure out the secret of Natsu''s weapon, and the second note might have just revealed a w. William stood up quickly and instantly prepared a Basic Barrier Array. The third soundwave crashed into the Barrier, but caused no significant damage even though the Barrier was very weak. Natsu was surprised at William''s thinking speed. Only a few seconds had passed since the start the fight, yet William had already discovered a way to counter the Ancient Flute. He smiled and changed the arrangement of his fingers on the flute. "Let''s see if you can block this!" Hearing Natsu''s words, William set up a second Basic Barrier in advance. He wasn''t worried about losing the fight, but he didn''t want to risk being knocked out of the Arena. The note yed this time was a higher pitch and much faster than before, but it didn''t carry the knock back effect of the previous notes. William felt his Array disintegrate as the sound waves pierced the first Barrier and destroyed the Runes from the inside. The second Barrier was also destroyed, and the note continued traveling until it reached William''s Forcefield that he had activated at thest second. The note tried to destroy the Forcefield, but it was too weak after going through the first two barriers and dissipated after only causing a small amount of damage. This still surprised William, as his Forcefield was almost as strong as an Advanced Barrier Array, yet the note caused some damage. It seemed that the Basic Arrays reduced its piercing power for each one it went through, because of William had just used his Forcefield to defend, he might have received serious injuries. "What is that flute?" William asked warily. Even Trevor took a second look at Natsu''s mysterious weapon. He could clearly see the notes targeting the Runes of William''s Array, almost as if it was the bane of Array Masters. Natsu smiled. "That''s not for you to worry about!" His stance changed again. He yed four soft notes in quick session, resembling a luby. The soundwaves merged in midair, bing a miniature tsunami. William set up four Basic Barriers in quick session, but it turned out to be useless. When the soundwaves reached the Arrays, it was as if they fell asleep. The Runes were still present, but the Barriers fell one at a time. Even William''s Forcefield was useless. The soundwave hit William directly, causing him to stagger. His eyes became heavy and William felt very tired. Even so, William had just enough time to realize what was happening and quicklymunicate with the System. System, upgrade my Sleep Resistance Talent. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Sleep Resistance: (E --> D) Next rank up: 25PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª The upgrade was almost instantaneous. William''s body received a burst of stimnt that allowed him to dodge a dangerous note from Natsu at thest second. Natsu raised his eyebrows. "I saw you ignore Filipe''s Mind Vision earlier, but I was still skeptical. It seems you have quite the willpower to stay awake after my Melody of Sleep. It seems I can''t afford to go easy on you. Prepare yourself, William." Natsu''s expression turned serious. His fingers began to dance across the flute as an intense song yed,unching dozens of notes. William realized he couldn''t just take Natsu''s attacks like this. He created a dozen Basic Barriers to deal with Natsu''s onught, then adjusted his speed to the Foundation Establishment Realm. William noticed a w in Natsu''s ability. After each series of notes there was a pause that increased in length depending on the number of notes yed. It seemed Natsu needed some form of preparation before his next attack. Once the notes and Barriers canceled each other out, William took the opportunity to attack. He rushed forward at a speed that Natsu couldn''t react and delivered a simple punch just like how he dealt with Filipe. Natsu tried to resist the punch with a final note, but it was cancelled out by William''s Forcefield. Natsu was punched a second and third time before he was finally pushed out of the Arena. "William wins again!" Trevor announced. His mood has greatly improved since the first battle because of these disciples. A Manamatus, an Array Master with unnatural speed and strength, and a Bard with an Artifact. This year is full of talented newbies. Trevor couldn''tpare to any one of them when he was in their position. His talent only skyrocketed when he started Cultivating and awakened his Elements. He shed a miscievious smile at William, who was pretending to be exhausted. "Since you decided to stay another round, why don''t you finish it off?" he pointed at Carl. "Do I even need to ask you to go? Everyone else has fought at least once." Carl became grumpy. No one ever talked to him like this back home! He held his tongue though, since Trevor was in control of his grades. He walked into the Arena with a calm smile and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You have a lot of talent, friend. You''re an Array Master and have trained your body well. Unfortunately you haven''t awakened that powerful Magic of yours yet. How about you give up this fight? I don''t want to waste my trump card on you, but I will if I have to." William normally would have given Carl a piece of his mind, but seeing his luxurious clothing and noble elegance, William felt he had something to gain. "What''s in it for me?" Carl was surprised at William''s reaction. "I can give you 100 Gold Coins! How about it?" Chapter 68: Who Said I Cant Use Magic? William wasn''t moved. "Only 100 Gold Coins? Don''t you have anything more valuable? This is the Ranking Board we are talking about." Carl''s face twitched. What do you mean only? Most normal people our age don''t see 100 Gold until they''ve worked for years! William was right though. A measly 100 Gold wasn''t enough to trade for a possible spot on the Ranking Board. "Then name your price." Carl spread his hands and smiled. William thought seriously on this. What do I need? What do I want? After a moment, William hade up with an idea. He smiled back at Carl. "I require living Magical Beasts, is there anything you can do for me?" Carl and the others were confused. "Your request is...odd. What do you need them for?" "Nothing specific, don''t worry about that. Can you do it?" William wasn''t interested in sharing his secrets with someone he barely knew, much less in public. Trevor was bing annoyed. He didn''te here to arbitrate a conversation among kids. "Are you going to fight or not?" Carl nced at Trevor then returned his gaze to William with a sigh. "I don''t think there''s anything I can do about that." William frowned. It seemed his request was too difficult. "That''s too bad then, I guess you''ll have to wait a month." "I wouldn''t be so sure about that!" Carl reached to his side where the canister was located and pulled it out. The hedgehog seal was broken and the lid was removed. Inside was a scroll of a deep red color that glowed the moment the scroll waspletely unfurled. A massive summoning circle formed on the ground, taking up almost half of the Arena''s space. A shadowy figure climbed out of the summoning circle and condensed until it became a red and ck hedgehog with long arms and sharp ws. A summoner too? It seems I got all the unique disciples this year. Trevor forgave Carl and William for wasting his time. After all, the show was about to begin! "Roar!!" the hedgehog bellowed as its formpletely condensed. It looked around and found its master, Carl standing directly behind it. The sudden appearance of a monster rmed many disciples battling in the other arenas. Even Elder Wen was concerned for a moment until he noticed it was a summoned beast. Carl pointed in William''s direction. "Go Shadog, defeat him!" The Shadog pounced with high speed at William. The beast was moving at the speed of an early-stage Foundation Establishment Realm Beast, which was the peak of what William had shown so far. Seeing the summoned creature reminded William of Atticus, whom had remained in hiding using his Illusion Magic for the past few weeks. William wasn''t able to use himtely since there were too many powerful people around. Given that even the Sect Master didn''t notice Atticus on his shoulder, William assumed the Illusion Magic was quite powerful, which further cemented his decision to keep him a secret. Since it hade to this, William decided to start using Intermediate Arrays. He created a Confinement Array that restricted the Shadog''s movement briefly, thenyered three Intermediate Barriers in front. The Shadog seemed to be more intelligent than other beasts. When it broke free from the Confinement Array and saw the Barriers in front of William, it didn''t attempt a head on attack and instead tried to go around the Barriers. Carl sneered at William''s action. He probably didn''t know that a summoner couldmunicate and give orders to a summoned beast telepathically. He paid attention during William''s fight with Natsu and knew that the Arrays were his most troublesome attribute and nned ahead just for this moment. The Shadog was about tond on William when it was suddenly sted backwards. The scene unfolded so fast that only Trevor saw what happened. Carl received a mental transmission from the Shadog that indicated it was in severe pain before it copsed to the ground with burn marks across its chest. Carl looked at William, who was standing on the other end of the arena with a fist made of mes and a wide grin. "Who said I can''t use Magic?" Trevor couldn''t believe his eyes. There were two Manamatus in one group of six new disciples? What was going on? He wondered if he should visit the gambling denter that night. Tia felt embarrassed. She previouslypared herself to William, and even thought she could do better than him, yet he had been hiding too much since the first battle with Filipe. Tia looked at Filipe, who hade from the same city as her. He was very popr for his strength and skill, especially his ability to defeat his opponents with a single nce. Yet, William had defeated him in less than a minute. She reyed the scenes of William fighting in her mind, realizing that he had actually been adjusting his strength to his opponents. He has been taking it easy this whole time! With Shadog defeated, Carl didn''t have a fighting chance against William. The summoned beast was his trump card, and although he could summon others, they were not nearly as strong as Shadog so it would be a waste. "I admit defeat." Carl said with his head hung low. If he had known William was this strong, Carl would have forfeited before the fight even started. At least he would still have Shadog. Now his chances of earning 80 points were extremely slim. Trevor nodded. It was clear that Carl couldn''t turn the fight around. "William wins!" He looked at Gunther, who appeared rested. "Are you ready?" Gunther nodded. "Yes Senior." He stepped into the arena once again, this time in a more serious manner. His opponent was also a Manamatus, and could create Arrays. Gunther decided it was best to save his energy for the other fights. "I admit defeat." Trevor wasn''t surprised. He nodded, then looked at Tia. "I also admit defeat." she didn''t even bother to enter the arena like Gunther did. "Well in that case, I award William 100 points. His total score is now 389, congrattions!" This was the first time Trevor had seen someone with more than 200 points. William''s skills and talent were obviously off the charts, so Trevor would have to be more respectful to him in the future. After all, William could soon be an Inner Core Disciple with talent like this. Trevor wouldn''t be surprised if William made it into the top 100 on the Ranking Board at the end of the month. With William''s matches settled, the remainder of the fights went quite smoothly. Filipe surprisingly won four out of five matches, securing the 80 points required for the Ranking Board entry. It seemed that no one besides William could deal with his Mind Vision ability, which caused all four of his opponents to instantly fall unconscious. Natsu Mori defeated Gunther after a long battle, which made both parties unable to fight the next two. This allowed Carl to secure two wins, but he ended up losing to Tia. Trevor''s mood greatly improved during and after the matches, so he allowed the disciples to ask him a few questions while they waited for the other arenas to finish their battles. Chapter 69: Great Oasis Carl found this short break to be a great opportunity to get closer with the other disciples. Normally he wouldn''t associate with the lower ss, but William was incredibly strong for a non-Cultivator and Natsu and Filipe had very strange and unique abilities. "William, that was quite the powerful move you used on my Shadog. What Rank is your Fire Magic?" Carl asked carefully. "Uh, I''ve never tested it. Probably around D Rank." William lied. Carl''s way of speaking was quite odd, but he didn''t seem to have ill intent. "I see I see. You''re also an impressive with Arrays, who taught you how to use them? Do you have a master?" Carl was trying to be friendly, but William was bing ufortable. "I just learned them by chance." It wasn''tpletely a lie, since the Talents were given at random in the Talent Shop. I suppose you could say the System was William''s master. These kinds of questions made William wonder what kind of powerful being created the System. Or was the System itself the powerful being? Carl asked another question, but William didn''t hear it as he was too busy daydreaming. When Will didn''t answer a few more times, Carl gave up and began chatting with Filipe. Filipe was more open about his skills. It turned out that his Mind Vision was actually an innate ability awakened when he was three years old. It was discovered by his eight year old brother and his father, when he gave his brother a concussion during a staring contest. Ever since that day, his family treated his ability as both a blessing and a curse. They would ask Filipe to go out hunting when he turned nine since he could just knock out all the deer, but when he came home, they asked him to put a blindfold on or keep his eyes closed. By thirteen, he was treated like an outcast. His family started making considerable money when Filipe''s older brother became a Cultivator, and they no longer needed Filipe''s cursed eyes to survive. They kicked him out of the house at sixteen, where he learned to resent his family. Now, Filipe was almost twenty and had learned to control his ability by using a thin pair of lenses that resembled contacts. With them, he could stare through a pinhole when he wanted to activate his ability. Carl admired Filipe''s creativity. The idea of a lens to seal ones own ability was ingenious. "Filipe, do you want to go to Wild Clover and talk more after we are done here? Actually, everyone shoulde, I''ll pay for everything." he spread his hands wide in magnanimously. William wasn''t interested at first, but when Carl mentioned free food he couldn''t help but to agree. The others thought the same as well, since they wouldn''t receive many resources for the first month. Carl''s timing was perfect, since Elder Wen made an announcement from afar. "The test is over! Congrattions to the fifty disciples that scored at least 80 points. Each of you will be ced in positions 501 through 550, and will be allowed to challenge any opponent within 100 ranks of yourself. When you are ready to issue a challenge, pleasee to the Ranking Board outside and dere your opponent. A battle will be scheduled for you two within three days of the challenge. The lecture has now ended and I will see you tomorrow for your assignments. Inner Core Disciplese see me. Outer Core Disciples...have a good day!" Elder Wen gave a goofy smile that was unbefitting of his character. William sighed in relief. Every lecture taught by that man turned into a hassle. In the future, William would have to set aside at least four hours of his day when Elder Wen was teaching. The group headed to the Wild Clover restaurant, where they were seated by Su Yanyu. The girl smiled at William recognizing him as one of the regrs. She greeted the group and took their orders, then walked off in a hurry. William tried to remember what her face looked like, but it was quickly fading each second, until he once again was left clueless. So it is her. I still don''t understand that ability. System, why can''t I remember her face? -Request requires 50 Potential Points. Yes/No? Ahh nevermind. William guessed that it was an incredible secret based on the price, but he was already running low on points. It wasn''t worth spending so much just to learn about a fellow disciple. The group ate and shared stories for a while. William tried a Spirit Crab Rangoon, which tasted phenomenal and added to his Gourmet Title. He was now only one meal away from upgrading the Title to Rare. Carl thought of something and felt now was the right time to ask. "This might be a bit far off, but when I reach top 100 on the Ranking Board I was thinking of going out to the Great Oasis to gather some rare summoned beasts. Would anyone want toe with me?" William''s interest was piqued. "The Great Oasis?" "You''ve never heard of it?" Tia asked. Her tone switched to excitement, "It''s the most dangerous and also the most rewarding location in this region. Magical Beasts up to the Golden Core Realm can be found, even in the Outer areas!" Filipe looked at Tia with concern, "Why are you excited about that? We can''t handle Golden Core Beasts! We can''t even fight Foundation Establishment Realm Beasts in thete stages." "It''s not as dangerous as you think. I''ve been there before and the Golden Core Beasts aren''t verymon. Unless you go directly into their territory, they don''t care about weak Cultivators." Carl attempted to persuade the group. William didn''t care if it was dangerous. It turned out that there was in fact somewhere they could go to fight Magical Beasts, but he would need to enter the top 100 on the Ranking Board first. Now I''m beginning to see why this Quest wasbeled as Hard difficulty. If I didn''t get lucky to meet this group or if I didn''t win at least four battles, I wouldn''t have had the chance to learn about the Great Oasis! William mmed his fist on the table with enthusiasm. "I don''t care if you''re not interested. I''m in!" Carl smiled. William would be a valuable asset in the Oasis given his Fire Magic talent. "Good to hear. I hope you can help me capture some powerful beasts." William''s approval inspired the other four disciples to join him in agreement. They shared drinks andughed for another hour before returning to their residences. Williamid on his bed and watched Atticus slither around the room while thinking about the day''s events. He had forgotten to check the Ranking Board after the lecture and request a challenge, but it wasn''t much of an issue. After all, William still had 28 days on his countdown, and needed to earn more Potential Points before he challenged the top 100. System, how much negative attention did I attract today? -Request requires 2 Potential Points. Yes/No? Yes. -Today you made 146 enemies, 126 of which are new disciples. 19 are Inner Core Disciples. One enemy is at the Nascent Soul Realm. "Wh-what!?!" Chapter 70: Reunion William couldn''t believe what he was reading. Did the System seriously suggest he had made an enemy of nearly all of the disciples present in the Lecture Hall? Even before a few dozen failed the Mana Affinity Test, there were only around 160 disciples. And who was the Nascent Soul Cultivator? It couldn''t be Elder Wen; he was too nice to William! Could it be the parent of one of his opponents in the arena? It was the only logical exnation, but the reality of the situation was still absurd. He decided not to think about it. After all, he couldn''t stop people from being jealous. Enemies like this would only continue to appear. William ate breakfast and returned to the Lecture Hall early. Elder Wen was giving the new disciples that passed the initial test their first assignments today, and William wanted to ce his challenge before his entire day was wasted once again. He approached the Ranking Board and looked at the list of disciples between rank 400 and 500. Since William didn''t know very many disciples, he couldn''t tell which disciple was more suitable for him. He noticed that Elder Wen had given him the 501st position, making his trip up the Ranking Board much easier. He decided to just select the 401st person on the list, whose name was Kevin. He tapped on the person''s name with his hand, but nothing happened. William tried injecting some Mana into it, but that was also wrong. Dammit, I should have asked how to ce a challenge earlier. "You''re supposed to ce your badge on their name." came a soft and sweet voice from behind. William found the voice somewhat familiar, but he didn''t turn around. He tried cing his badge on the Ranking Board and the advice worked. Words appeared on the tablet notifying William that the challenge was pending and to check back in a few hours. "Thanks." he said to the unknown female behind him. "You''re wee Will, it''s nice to see you again!" the girl sounded cheery for some reason. William didn''t remember any girls from the Sect that were so friendly besides Su Yanyu, but this voice didn''t match hers. He finally turned around and was pleasantly surprised to see Charlotte standing a few feet away. She smiled and ran up to William, giving him a big hug. William blushed. He didn''t think the two were that close. After all, she only healed him back in Thin Creek Vige. "What are you doing here Charlotte?" She took a step back and gave another sweet smile. "While you were on your long quest to Blue Moon City, a recruiter from the Five Elements Sect happened to stop in our vige for a few nights. When he saw me working at the clinic, the recruiter invited me to the Sect." William nodded in understanding. "I didn''t see you at the Lecture yesterday though, howe?" "Oh, there was an outbreak of Magical Beasts in the Foam Desert a few days ago, so we were dyed a bit. I just got herest night." Charlotte exined. The Foam Desert? I just cleared that out not barely a week ago. Magical Beasts multiply fast... William felt something was strange about the incident but didn''t think on it too much. "Are you attending today''s lecture then?" he asked. "Yes! I don''t need to test my Mana Affinity since I am already a Cultivator. In fact, I''m technically your Senior since I can Cultivate." she stuck out her tongue in a teasing manner. William wished he could Cultivate even more now. The privileges granted to Cultivators were obvious, even in a famous Sect. The two talked for a while longer until Elder Wen arrived and started the lecture. This time it was surprisingly short. Elder Wen started by exining the requirements of various assignments, mostly consisting of menial tasks or chores. After the exnation, Elder Wen handed out slips of paper to each disciple that would issue them a random assignment. William looked at his slip which read out a series of instructions. "You are to work at the Alchemy Hall for the next week, where you will be preparing herbs for the Junior and Senior Alchemists during an exam. Onpletion with no problems, you will be provided a diluted Mana Stone for your Cultivation." A diluted Mana Stone? Anyone else would be ecstatic about the reward, even if it wasn''t as effective as a real Mana Stone, but William had many Mana Stones already. I suppose I can hold onto it forter. Maybe it''ll be useful at some point. William''s hoarding tendencies began to show. That being said, the Alchemy Hall was probably William''s least favorite ce to be. That annoying old man and his snotty disciple Briar ruined the experience for him. William crumpled up the slip and put it in one of his Space Rings. He looked at Charlotte, who had sat down next to him. "What did you get?" She looked at her slip. "I''m healing the Senior Outer Core Disciples thate back from their missions. My reward is a Mana Stone every day." William was stunned. "Wow, amazing." he tried to sound happy for her but in his head William was screaming about how unfair the world was. He calmed down and took a breath. "Well, it seems like we won''t see each other for a little while then, since I will be at the Alchemy Hall." Charlotte frowned. She really wanted to spend more time with William, especially since she hadn''t seen him in weeks. "Maybe we could...eat somewhere after we are done? I can even pay; I made good money thest month." William''s eyes lit up. "Sure! You don''t need to pay for both of us though, I''m a Manamatus remember?" he flexed his arm muscles that were almost nonexistent. Charlotte blinked. "Okay...where should we go?" William immediately thought of Wild Clover. "I know a great ce; we can go tonight if you want to try it?" Charlotte blushed, "To-tonight? Sure!" She didn''t expect this kind of initiative from William, who had been a shy kid from a small town just a month ago. Going out into the world really changed him... Of course, most of Charlotte''s memories of William were of the previous William, whose body was inhabited by the current William when he died from Mana exhaustion. William''s new attitude made Charlotte think to herself. Hopefully leaving Thin Creek Vige will also change me. There''s no way I can save him if I remain the same forever... Chapter 71: Affection William and Charlotte parted ways after the lecture since Charlotte said she needed to take care of some things at her residence. Before she left, they agreed to meet at Wild Cloverter that night. William checked the status of his challenge to Kevin and was surprised to see that the request had been approved already. There would be a match held the following day at a predetermined location. The Ranking Board shed and showed William the location of the fight, which would be at a battle Arena near the training area. ''That was fast, I didn''t expect to fight until at least a week from now.'' Williammented inwardly. This worked out well though, as the time was conveniently set for an hour after his duties at the Alchemy Hall werepleted. What do I do now? I still have a few hours before meeting back up with Charlotte. After a moment of deliberation, William decided to visit the market and purchase a map. Since the Sect Master teleported him here, William still didn''t know what part of the Continent he was in. Judging by Charlotte''s exnation of her travels, he must be somewhere further East, but he didn''t know exactly where. He spent half an hour searching various shops until he found what he was looking for. Disyed in arge frame was a square map about two meters long. He spoke to the shopkeeper and was able to secure a copy about half the size for 20 Gold Coins. The price was a bit expensive for a map, but William didn''tin since this specific one detailed not only the regions and their borders, but also many other features. There were various known ruins depicted on the map as coffins, with checkmarks on the cleared ones. The regions were shaded out and highlighted in 3 different colors of green, yellow, and red based on their danger level, while cities and capitals were shown as small andrge stars. Next to the stars were family crests, showing which family currently held ownership of the city. ording to the map, William had teleported nearly 800 kilometers East of Blue Moon City. He was now situated almost exactly halfway from Thin Creek Vige to the edge of the Providence Zone. All the regions around the Sect were shaded in a bright green, suggesting this area was one of the safest locations on the Continent. William rolled up the map and put it in the Space Ring with his money. He would inspect itter for more details when there was a chance. He shopped around a bit but didn''t find much else of interest. Some of the shopkeepers were very friendly and suggested William visit during the night market since they would begin selling Cultivation resources then. The invitation was too tempting to pass up, so William decided he would have to visit in the future. He almost regretted telling Glen no before when he was invitedst time. He returned to the residence and took a quick nap before dinner. He realized he had missed lunch, but it was no matter since that would leave more room for one of Wild Clover''s delicious meals. He walked to Wild Clover, where Charlotte was already waiting. She was dressed in the same medium length white dress that she wore when he first met her. Her hair was done in a single ponytail in the back, and her skin was glowing like a goddess. "Wow." he said. Charlotte looked confused. "What is it?" "Oh nothing, you just look great today." William said with a smile. This almost seemed like a date, so William was a bit nervous. Charlotte blushed, "Thank you. Are we ready to go in?" William nodded. They walked into the restaurant and took their seats. An unfamiliar disciple took their orders, with William ordering something new from the menu once again. He went all out, going for the Spirit Super Meal, abination of many different prized cuts from different beasts. The order was a bit expensive at 40 Gold Coins, but William could handle it for today. Charlotte on the other hand at the Glittering Sd with Spirit Ham. "This is delicious!" she said with a mouthful of food. Her reaction was surprisingly attractive; her small cheeks bunched up like a roon''s and her eyes glittered with delight. William nodded, "It''s a bit embarrassing but I''ve eaten here pretty much every night since I got here. They have so many different good meals, and they''re guaranteed to help with Cultivation." he exined in between bites. They are and chatted for a while before it was time to pay for their meal and leave. William offered to pay Charlotte''s portion, but she refused kindly and paid her share. She didn''t want to seem like the kind of girl that took advantage of others. William and Charlotte walked to her residence since it was close by, then said their goodbyes. "I''ll see you again in about a week, right?" she asked. "Sure, I will probably be pretty busy with my Ranking Board challenges, but we should eat here again." he offered. "Sure!" Charlotte blushed a little thinking about how eager William was to spend a night out with her again. Once William left for his residence, she ran inside and started jumping around with excitement. Charlotte was worried that her time at the Sect would be dull or boring with no one familiar around, but now that William was here, she was relieved. Let''s be stronger together, William. William went back to his residence in high spirits. After basically spending all day with a cute girl and eating good food, there was no way he wouldn''t be in a good mood. There weren''t even any jealous young men trying to cause trouble for no reason like in some of the books William had read in the past. The only downside was that the night ended there. Maybe I should have invited her to the Night Market with me. He had thought about it, but William didn''t know what kind of ce it was. He didn''t want to bring Charlotte along and there be trouble on the way. -Earned affection from a close acquaintance: +10 Potential Points William was surprised. Did this mean Charlotte liked him? Even though they had a good time, William didn''t think much of it before. But now, the System gave him an obvious hint that he couldn''t possibly miss. What''s with that weird verbage though? From a close acquaintance? William didn''t worry too much about it. He was happy enough knowing Charlotte liked him and was already contributing precious Potential Points to him. Chapter 72: Disciple William, At Your Service! The next morning hade, and William was on his way to the Alchemy Hall for the first day of his new assignment. "That''s the Alchemy Hall?" William muttered to himself in surprise. Sprawling before William was a building greater in size than the Lecture Hall and the Great Hallbined. The building was probably a hundred timesrger than the Alchemy Hall in Thin Creek Vige! There were three sets ofrge doorways in which disciples, Rogue Cultivators, and Sect Elders went in and out of. Many of the disciples that didn''t own Space Rings were carryingrge pots or batches of herbs tightly sealed in jars for freshness. "Are you William, the new disciple that''s supposed to be helping out this week?" A young man approached from William''s right. He was wearing Inner Core Disciple robes and had long white hair tied back in a ponytail. His face was friendly, but William could sense some irritation from his tone. "Yes I am, and you are?" he asked. "I go by Yuming here. That''s what everyone calls me at least. I don''t have time to talk about these things. Let''s go." Yuming told William to follow him into the Alchemy Hall. What a cheery guy. William thought sarcastically. Yuming reminded him of an underpaid cashier. He followed Yuming into the Alchemy Hall and it soon made sense why the request to provide assistance was made. A group of over a hundred Inner Core Disciples were intensely conducting Alchemy in arge open space to William''s right. Across from the Disciples were a group of seven Elders at a long table. They seemed to be evaluating each Alchemist''s work as they created pills. One of the Elders noticed Yuming. "You''re back. We need another batch of Sandicore Tails and Lesser Ent Root. Move quickly, the second phase is about to start." Another Elder gave a different order, "Yuming, my group needs two dozen Iron Hawk Eggs, please bring them soon." In just a few moments, Yuming was overwhelmed with requests. He immediately got to work while William followed. "The Alchemy Hall is in the middle of its Annual Alchemy Competition. We''ve requested help because I cannot do all this by myself, but there aren''t any Inner Core Disciples willing to take the work." Yuming exined as they sorted through the storeroom for the requested items. William''s expression turned sour. So I''m errand boy...I hate this already. Yuming noticed William''s mood change. "Heh, just bring the required items to the Elders at the front. I''ll pick them out since you don''t know what you''re looking for. And if you damage any items, you''re paying for it yourself. Got it?" William nodded but wasining about the Alchemy Hall in his head. William would do anything to trade his assignment with someone else! When Yuming handed William the first batch of ingredients he thought of something, "Why don''t you carry all the ingredients at once in your Space Ring?" Yuming frowned, "Are you an idiot? Putting herbs in your Space Ring is taboo! When you move items in and out of a Space Ring, the ambient Spatial Mana will damage them, even if only slightly. With weapons and equipment this isn''t a problem, but these ingredients are very precious and only the highest quality are eptable during a contest. Only specially crafted Space Rings can keep items in perfect condition. Do you get it now?" William honestly didn''t know this was the case with Space Rings. "Then why don''t you store them in jars before putting them in so only the jar is damaged?" "Well, that''s a bit more technical. I know you''re new so I''ll exin it, even though your Elder should be doing this." Yuming sighed and sorted through the next set of ingredients the Elders requested. "Mana particles make up everything in existence. Some arerger and smaller than others, and consist of many differentbinations of Mana. Space Mana particles are much smaller than the Earth and Fire Elements that make up ss. Therefore, the Space Mana can slip right through the ss. This is also how Cultivators with Space Magic Affinity can teleport. I don''t know much else, so you''ll have to ask someone proficient in the Space Element." Yuming''s exnation helped William understand. "So even though the ingredients are in a jar, the Space Mana particles would damage both the jar and the ingredients." "Exactly. I have everything set aside now, so go take it out to the Elders before I get punished again." Yuming heaved a sigh. Exining to newbies was always frustrating, but it was necessary for them to understand. A few months back, an Outer Core Disciple filled his Space Ring with dozens of expensive ingredients, costing the Sect over a thousand Mana Stones. Since that day, the Elders required every Alchemist to go through a series of training sses on how to properly handle ingredients. William nodded and took the first group of ingredients to the Elders, who looked very impatient. An Elder by the name of Fuxi snatched the ingredients from William''s hands. "Took you long enough, hmph!" "What a cranky old man." William mumbled. "What did you say?" Elder Fuxi gave William a dangerous look. "Nothing nothing." William hurried back to the storage room. Elder Fuxi was a Nascent Soul Cultivator so he obviously heard what William said, but he preferred getting revenge in a subtle manner. ''I will teach you not to disrespect your Elders, young man.'' William continued taking ingredients back and forth to the stage, each trip bing more proficient at maneuvering through the crowd. Elder Fuxi could mostly be thanked for that, since he began asking for only two or three ingredients at a time. Sometimes he would even ask William to get a different item since one of the Alchemists "changed their mind". After the first hour, William was confident enough to increase his speed to the Foundation Establishment Realm, allowing him to meet the Elder''s requirements at record pace. Elder Fuxi was a bit annoyed since his methods of teaching William a lesson didn''t seem to work, while the other Elders began to praise William for his efforts. William managed toplete all the orders before the final phase started, so he and Yuming rested near the stage and watched the top ten Inner Core Disciplespete for first ce in their group. Elder Arthur, one of the judges, stood up and gave a speech to the group. "You ten have passed each trial with flying colors and will all be admitted to the finals five days from now. Even so, you may nowpete for today''s top prize of a Silver-Ranked Fire Root." Wait there are more days of this damnpetition? How many Alchemists are there in the Sect?!? William was not looking forward to the next few days. He was intrigued when Elder Arthur named the prize. "What''s a me Root?" he asked Yuming. Yuming was surprised. "You don''t know what Roots are?" William shook his head. "Did you even learn anything before joining the Sect? It''s like you''re from another world." Yuming was exasperated, but he started exining anyway. "Roots are basically variations of an Element. It can improve an aspect of an Element you''ve awakened and make it more powerful. Roots are ranked from weakest to strongest as Bronze, Silver, Gold, and tinum, each one giving the Cultivator a greater bonus. The Elders are quite generous to be giving out multiple Silver Fire Roots, since they are rtively umon. Last year they only gave out Bronze Fire Roots." William didn''t expect there to be Element variations in this world too. How could he keep track of it all? It was already umon enough for a world to use a Cultivation system that relied on Mana. He decided to just focus on earning Potential Points. Everything woulde to him naturally with time. Besides, William could rely on his good memory to recall the exnation if he didn''t understand the first time. Chapter 73: Second Invitation William returned his attention to the Inner Core Disciples up on stage. There were eight female Cultivators and two males, all of which were focused intently on a list of ingredients written on a slip of paper that was ced before them. Neither William nor Yuming could see what was written on the slips from their location, but they could tell it was a difficult recipe. Elder Arthur spoke again. "Your task is to name the Pill concocted by these ingredients and inscribe it on your slip, then refine the Pill. You have two hours, begin!" William had even more questions now, but decided to ask the System instead of Yuming so he didn''t look like aplete idiot. System, why are they refining pills and not brewing potions like the other Alchemy Hall? -Request requires 1 Potential Point. Yes/No? Stop asking if the cost is only one point, the answer is always yes. William was annoyed with always having to confirm the request with the System. -Noted. The System will no longer ask for confirmation when the Ask Function only requires a single Potential Point. -The Alchemy Hall at Thin Creek Vige also refines pills; however, they dilute them into potions so a normal human body can handle the medicinal effects. Otherwise, your body would have exploded from ingesting a pill. Even now, your body has not been enhanced by Qi and would have difficulty even surviving the aftereffects of the most basic pills. So I''m still weak huh... William understood what the System was saying and was annoyed by his weakness. It also exined why the potions in Thin Creek Vige were not very expensive, since one pill could create multiple potions. He tried to watch the Alchemypetition some more, but the process was so slow and William only understood the basics because of his Alchemy Talent. He could tell when an Inner Core Disciple made a mistake but couldn''t understand the refinement process much since the pill being created was more advanced than his F Rank Talent. Eh, it''s just one point. System, upgrade my Alchemy Talent. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Alchemy: (F --> E) Next rank up: 5PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª The upgrade was much like when William raised the level of his Arrays. His brain was filled with knowledge of hundreds of ingredients, the refinement process, and basic pills, but there were still many gaps in his understanding of Alchemy. With the new upgrade, William could finally understand what each of the Inner Core Disciples was doing during their refinement process. A girl with long ck hair slowly dipped a Frost Grape into the cauldron, gradually lowering the temperature of the liquid without disrupting the precise mixture of ingredients inside. As the Frost Grape dipped further into the cauldron, the liquid continued to cool until it was almost ready to form a pill. With a swift movement, she used a special tool that looked like two ice cream scoops put together to form some liquid inside the cauldron into a perfectly round ball. She grabbed another Frost Grape and touched it to the outside of the scoop to cool the liquid until it had formed a pill. She repeated this process until she had six pills of nearly perfect condition, inciting a round of murmurs from the judges. Elder Arthur stood up and announced with a gentle voice, almost like a golfmentator. "Lu Bingying haspleted the task with a score of 93 points." The announcement created a round of murmurs throughout the crowd. Lu Bingying''s score was the highest one they had seen in the entirepetition! She would most likely be apetitor for the overall position of first ce in a few days! Yuming looked at William''s disappointed reaction, "What do you think? I know you''re not an Alchemist but Miss Bingying''s refining methods are so perfect that I always be absorbed in the process." he was a bit more friendly since William had been a great help today. "She''s pretty good, but it didn''t seem all that perfect to me." William replied nonchntly. "What do you mean? Do you think you could do better?" Yuming frowned. This disciple had be quite arrogant in just a few minutes. "I''m not interested in Alchemy so probably not, but did you see how her hand shook to the left every time she dipped the Frost Grape into the cauldron? The pills would havee out even better if she hadn''t allowed the temperature on the left half of the cauldron to fluctuate by half a degree." William exined. He kept forgetting that everyone in the room was a Cultivator except him. Their hearing was much more superior than his, and he was talking at normal volume. The judges at their seats nced in his direction with a hint of surprise, while Lu Bingying fell deep in thought. Upon reflection, she realized that William was right. Her odd habit of shaking her hand was the reason why her pills weren''t scored above 95! But how did an Outer Core Disciple notice that before her? She didn''t understand. One of the judges stood up from his seat and walked over to William and Yuming while the rest of the Inner Core Disciples were still focused on their pill refinement. "I am Go Tianshen. I overheard your conversation just a moment ago and am quite impressed with your observation skills. You''re the new disciple that''s assisting Yuming for thispetition, right?" William nodded. "Yes Elder." "Excellent. Have you ever thought about joining the Alchemy Hall? We do recruit Outer Core Disciples from time to time." William didn''t expect such a sudden invitation, but it made sense when he thought back to when he beat Briar and that Potion Master in apetition back in Thin Creek Vige. He had also been invited to the Alchemy Hall then, and when he declined the System notified him that it would be easier to join the Alchemy Hall in the future. William hesitated to answer. He disliked the idea of Alchemy, but there were obviously ample rewards if he could perform well. William was especially tempted at the thought winning a Root for one of his Elements. "Can I think about it a few more days, Elder? I really haven''t seen much of the Alchemy Hall yet." he tried toe up with an excuse that wouldn''t anger the Elder. It seemed to work as Elder Tianshen nodded in understanding. "We can give you some time to think about it. Just talk to me when you''ve made a decision." Go Tianshen said his piece and returned to his seat at the judge''s table. "You got an invitation just like that and didn''t ept immediately? Are you out of your mind?" Yuming scolded William. "What''s the problem with that?" William retorted. "Well, nothing...but everyone else has to take a test when they enter the Alchemy Hall, yet Elder Tianshen was willing to let you skip the test and join directly. That''s a huge bonus for an Outer Core Disciple!" William shrugged his shoulders. "I don''t want to just jump into things, what if I''m terrible at Alchemy? I''d rather take some time to think." he chose his words carefully since the judges were probably still listening. "Eh, suit yourself then. Don''te crying if you miss your chance." Chapter 74: Awkward Situation, Ranking Challenge! William and Yuming stayed to watch the rest of thepetition. Lu Bingying unsurprisingly won first ce, while one of the male disciples was a close second with a score of 91 points. As promised, Elder Arthur brought out a red piece of rock shaped like a walnut and presented it to Lu Bingying. With his enhanced vision, William could make out a bright orange spiral that was only visible on one side of the rock. That must be the Fire Root. William guessed. His expression became greedy when he felt the ambient Mana leaking off the rock and spreading throughout the room. "Senior Yuming, I have something to do so I''ll head out first if you don''t mind." "Well...alright." Yuming didn''t really have a reason to keep William at the Alchemy Hall, since the contest was over. "Make sure you''re here earlier tomorrow. You didn''t get here until the first phase had already ended." William nodded. He left his seat and started walking towards the exit of the stage. Where is he going? Yuming was confused. He watched as William made a turn and headed towards Lu Bingying. That idiot! What is he doing?!? You can''t just walk up to Miss Bingying! Lu Bingying was well known for brutally rejecting every man that approached her with romantic interest. She was a very serious person with no interest in romance, fully dedicated to her advancement in the Sect and improving her Cultivation. One time a shameless asshole tried to hold her hand and she sted him with fireballs until two Elders managed to calm her down. The boy ended up in the clinic for a whole month before he recovered. Since then, the entire Sect learned to keep their distance from Lu Bingying and only admire her beauty from afar. As expected, the moment Lu Bingying saw William approaching she adopted a defensive stance. "You...what do you want?" William stopped moving when he sensed Lu Bingying''s killing intent. What did I do to her? She''s treating me like I stole her firstborn child. "Are you selling that Root?" he asked. "What?" Lu Bingying was caught off guard. She expected a cheesy pick-up line or a snotty remark, but he just wanted to buy the Fire Root? "Uh it''s not for sale." Lu Bingying said tly. "Really?" "Yes, I need this." she turned around and started walking away. William didn''t know what to say. He was a bit stupid for thinking that Lu Bingying would just sell her hard-earned prize, but it was worth a shot anyway. He looked back at Yuming, who was giving him the "are you an idiot" look. Without a doubt, a few other Inner Core Disciples had noticed the awkward exchange. He looked at the Elders. Elder Arthur was staring directly at him with interest, while Elder Fuxi seemed ready to strangle William. How dare he try to purchase a prize right in front of the judges? Is he out of his mind? William contemted his options. After a while, he made the difficult decision to give up on the Root. Lu Bingying wasn''t willing to sell to him, and even if he wanted to join the Alchemypetition he couldn''t. Thepetition had already started and he was supposed to be here working as Yuming''s assistant. He left the Alchemy Hall without another word, opting not to embarrass himself further. He checked the time. It was almost one o''clock. "Shit! The Ranking Challenge!" William was going to bete for his fight with Kevin, which was supposed to be in half an hour. He ran down the street and made a few quick turns until the battle Arena was in view. "Phew, I made it." William looked at a nearby clock in front of the Ranking Board which read 1:25. The battle Arena was mostly empty, with only a few sparse disciples seated in the stands to watch the fight. It seemed William and Kevin weren''t very popr. Kevin was already present. His short blue hair and a t-shirt with the Water Element symbol told William all he needed to know about the guy. Kevin sized up William and found him to have no Cultivation. "Are you a new student? This is a battle Arena, only those challenging the Ranking Board cane here." William realized Kevin didn''t recognize him. "I am William, here to challenge Kevin for position number 401." Kevin nodded, "So that''s how it is. Don''t expect me to take it easy on you just because you''re new. This is yourst chance to forfeit the duel." William shook his head. "I don''t n to give up." Less than a minute before the battle was supposed to begin, an Elder showed up to be the referee. He silently watched the time tick until the clock read 1:30. "Both Rankers are present, begin!" William didn''t wait for Kevin to make a move. He pushed his speed to the Foundation Establishment Realm, rushing forward and delivering a punch. Kevin was surprised by the sudden movement increase and leaned to the side to dodge William''s fist. He began channeling Mana into his palm, thenunched a spray of water at William. Looks like the Foundation Establishment Realm is too weak. William cursed. He raised his speed to the Core Formation Realm, kicking up plumes of dust as he ran at Kevin for another punch. This time Kevin waspletely unprepared. William was moving too fast for Kevin to keep track of, and the punchnded on his chest. Kevin flew backwards by more than twenty meters then his body rolled across the ground. Kevin released a groan when he stopped rolling, then his body went limp as he passed out. The Elder was surprised by William''s speed, but he didn''t have time to bother asking questions. He wrote a few notes on a slip, then raised his head to look at William. "You win, congrattions on your new ranking." After updating William''s rank on the Ranking Board, the Elder made a quick hand movement and disappeared with a gust of wind. That was surprisingly simple. Too bad I can''t challenge the top 100 yet. William would have to climb the ranks 100 at a time, since the rules were that you could not challenge someone more than 100 ranks above you. He didn''t need to return to the Lecture Hall, since there was a Ranking Board present inside the Arena as well. Su Yanyu probably didn''t mention it since only disciples on the Ranking Board could get to it, and at the time William had just joined the Sect. Will approached the board and issued a new challenge for the disciple ranked 301st, not bothering to read their name. It didn''t matter anyway, since William didn''t know many disciples other than those from the new group. With a roaring stomach and not much else to do, William decided to grab food from Wild Clover. Hepletely forgot about Kevin, who was still lying unconscious in the dirt. Eh, someone would get him...right? That aside, the food at Wild Clover was delicious as usual. William ate a dozen Grass Shark Filets, counting for his 6th unique Spirit food towards his Gourmet Title. On hisst visit, the Title had upgraded from Umon to Rare, granting William a 25% increase in stamina and 3 Potential Points. His next milestone would be at 25 meals, which at this rate William couldplete by the end of the month. His money was dwindling though, as William had already spent almost a hundred Gold Coins on food alone. By the end of the month, William would be nearly broke. I need to find work that doesn''t involve the Alchemy Hall. William thought to himself. Not only did the Alchemy Hall over work their employees, but they also underpaid them. Apany like that would never survive in William''s other world. William decided he would ask Elder Wen about it at the next lecture. Maybe he could request permission to leave the Sect early. After all, William was one of Elder Wen''s favorite students. Maybe he would get a pass? "Oh. Hi William, you''re here too?" A voice called out as Will was paying his bill. He turned to see Tia Marie and Gunther walking together into the restaurant. "Oh hi, are you two on a date?" he asked. Tia blushed with anger. "We had the same assignment, so we decided to eat together, don''t jump to conclusions!" William shrugged, it definitely looked like a date. Tia was wearing a nice red dress that revealed the thick muscles on her arms, while Gunther was dressed in a suit embroidered with a purple phoenix, most likely his family crest. Gunther decided to change the topic before William could say anything else. "Oh yeah, we are going to the Night Market again tonight, do you want toe with us? It will be just me, you, and Tia if you go though." Chapter 75: Night Market William''s eyes lit up. "The Night Market? Sure!" He had been meaning to check out the so-called Night Market ever since Glen had invited William a few days ago. Based on some rumors he heard while eating in Wild Clover, William guessed it was an Auction House of sorts that was only open twice a week. Gunther was relieved. He didn''t want to be by himself with Tia for too long, since he wasn''t good at holding a conversation with women. Bringing Tia to a restaurant was already a miracle. With William around, he could get closer to her without feeling awkward. Tia smiled, but Gunther''s words inspired conflicting feelings. Does he not want to be alone with me? Was it something I said? Neither William nor Gunther noticed anything different about Tia. The Night Market wasn''t supposed to open for a few hours, so they ate their meals together andined about their day until the sun began to set. *** "Wow, I''ve never seen anything like this!" Tia eximed in awe at the morous Night Market. Rather than a series of small shops and vendors on the street, the Night Market was actually just one tall building covered in ayer of powerful Arrays and decorated by glowing red, blue, and green lights. While the entrance appeared to be a normal set of double doors on the outside, the interior proved to be anything but. William and Tia were surprised to find themselves teleported to another location, where not only was the space inside expanded, but the entrance was reced with half a dozen portals. Gunther had been here the previous night, so he quickly exined. "The building we saw outside is actually connected through a portal and just a hollow shell with a massivelyplicated teleportation Array. Now we are at the real Night Market, located in the center of the Sect. It''s the only ce in the central part of the Sect that Outer Core Disciples like us are allowed to visit." William nodded in understanding but was once again left in awe. Who knew Space Mages could create permanent portals? The Space Element always made William excited, mostly because of unique interactions like this. Anyone else might feel regretful or jealous of others with talent for Space Magic, but with the System, it was only a matter of time before William could use it himself. Tia didn''t care much about Space Magic, since she had always focused on honing her body. All she needed were her two fists and something to punch, everything else is secondary. "Let''s go check out the Market." she proposed without any resistance. Located on the left and right of the building were a few dozen shops that sold various goods ranging from Cultivation resources to weapons or armor. Most of the products were too expensive for the group to afford, ranging from 5 Mana Stones to a few hundred, so they were only able to take a look. William noticed a few interesting things he could afford, such as a set of ornate throwing knives for 8 Mana Stones. The description read that they could link with the owner''s mind to allow the knives to change direction in-flight with some limitations. He remembered that he had a Knife Throwing Talent unlocked but decided against the purchase in the end. The main event was in half an hour when the Auction opened up. William didn''t want to spend his Mana Stones early and miss out on something good. Other shops showed some promise. For a hundred Mana Stones William could buy an entire set of Spirit cookware- specially designed pots, pans, and utensils that could cook meat of Magical Beasts. They even had an extra bonus that could improve the quality of the cooked food slightly. William didn''t like Alchemy, but he could never say no to tasty food, especially if he could make it whenever he wanted. Maybe when I''m richer... William passed on the cookware for now, with the same reason as the knives. The group entered a second set of double doors that led into the Auction room. There were already thousands of Cultivators present, ranging from the Sect''s allied forces to Outer Core Disciples to Sect Elders. Standing on the center stage were two Elders and an unfamiliar man in a modern-style business suit and a ck fedora. He raised his hand to caress his goatee before opening his mouth for a short speech. "As always, my name is Rodger and thank you all foring to our Night Market. Today marks the 9,987th Auction since the Night Market''s formation almost a hundred years ago. I will exin our rules just in case there are any neers." he tipped his hat and looked to the crowd with a smile. "First Rule: Do not bid for an item you cannot afford. If you are caught doing so, there is no penalty but death. Second Rule: All bids will increment by at least five Mana Stones. Rest assured we always sell quality items. Third and Final Rule: Piss me off and I will ban you from the Night Market without a second thought." The rules seemed quite simple, but the third made William somewhat nervous. He knew himself best, and no one was better at angering others than William. No one said a word following Rodger''s speech. Everyone had heard it all before and the rules were nothing new. Rodger smiled and turned to one of the Elders, who pulled out a tinted ss case from a specialized Space Ring. "Without further ado, our first item." he pulled up on the case, raising the tinted ss and revealing the item inside. Murmurs resounded throughout the room. "Is that a phoenix tear?!? I have a feeling tonight''s Auction will be a good one..." an Elder from an unfamiliar allied Sect spoke with a hint of surprise. Rodger''s smile grew, "Your guesses are correct. This is a Phoenix Tear, obtained from the second ring of the Providence Zone by yours truly." "The second ring? Has Rodger already progressed to that level?" "No way, it''s only been a few years!" a Cultivator was skeptical, but he kept his voice low. William could tell at a nce that he couldn''t afford this item, but he was curious about its functions. Since it was a phoenix tear, maybe it had some sort of healing function? "The bidding starts at 500 Mana Stones. Begin!" "500!" "505!" "550!" A series of shouts entered the room, almost sounding like gibberish with all the voices. Despite all this, Rodger was able to respond to each bidder without a problem. His hands moved at lightning speed as he recorded each individual making a bid, so as to cross-referenceter if a problem arose. William was amazed at the auctioneer''s skills. His Cultivation must be extremely high, maybe at the level of the Sect Master. Why would someone like that spend his time auctioning off items to a crowd of Elders and disciples? If Rodger had to exin to a stranger, he could only give them one reason- it was fun. Some might view it as folly, but Rodger was different. As his Cultivation progressed, his rate of improvement slowed. After his most recent breakthrough, Rodger had epted that he would probably not progress much further for the rest of his life. The bids for the Phoenix Tear rose to a thousand Mana Stones. Rodger''s smile grew broader, and his actions became more pronounced. His figure danced across the stage elegantly as he pointed back and forth across the room to the bidders. Chapter 76: Intense Bidding, Visitor The auction for the Phoenix Tear ended with a final bid of 1,205 Mana Stones. The bidder was an Elder of the Five Elements Sect with an Array puppet acting as a servant. He was brought to a back room where the exchange for the Phoenix Tear was made sessfully, and the Elder returned to his seat with a wide smile. The tear was exactly what he needed for his next experiment. It didn''t matter that he paid a bit over market price for it. William and the others watched as item after item were brought to the Auction, stunning the audience and making William''s group feel incredibly poor. At first, William thought his savings of 138 Mana Stones were enough for at least one item, but time proved that the old man who died in the Livingwood Forest was actually quite poor. That or he didn''t carry all his valuables with him. The cheapest item at the Auction was a pair of gauntlets that would increase ones physical strength by up to thirty percent. Tia was drooling over such a treasure, but the item sold for 250 Mana Stones, well over her budget of 10 Mana Stones. Rodger disyed thest item of the Auction, revealing a green scale the size of a human. "For ourst item, we have the scale of a Soul Formation Realm Forest Dragon. The bid starts at five thousand Mana Stones, begin!" The room was dead silent for a moment, as the bidders'' eyes widened in surprise at the Dragon Scale. "Th-that''s a real Forest Dragon Scale!! How does Rodger always get his hands on such rare items?!?" an Elder eximed in shock. "5,500 Mana Stones!" "Six thousand!" "6,005!" The bids climbed sharply until the price was at a whopping nine thousand Mana Stones. William did the math, That''s nine million Gold Coins! He felt extremely poor. How can one person have such wealth, much less over a dozen people? William watched as the bidders were reduced to two Elders from different Sects, each raising the other by five hundred Mana Stones at a time. "Eleven thousand!" one Elder suddenly raised the price. The other Elder seemed reluctant to bid more, so Rodger began counting down. "Sold for eleven thousand Mana Stones!" Rodger announced with a voice filled with delight. He loved earning money, probably even more so than William did. Like the others before him, the Elder was taken to a back room for the exchange, however he did not return to the seating area and immediately left the building. It would be risky for him to remain at the auction, someone might try to tail him and steal the Forest Dragon Scale. With the Auction over, the Cultivators got up from their seats and began exiting the Night Market through their respective portals. A few stayed to shop at some stalls, but the number of people remaining was less than a hundred. William decided to spend some Mana Stones on the throwing knife set he saw earlier, then also left the Night Market with his group. Gunther and Tia both looked depressed, as neither of them were expecting the Auction to go this way. Gunther had been to the Night Market before, but the Auction wasn''t held that day, so he wasn''t aware of the intensepetition or the steep prices and only had fifteen Mana Stones with him. Once they exited the portal, Tia spoke first. "Well guys, that was fun but it''ste and we all still have our assignments tomorrow. I''m going to head back to my residence." she peeked at Gunther as she said thest portion. "I''ll go with you! I mean...I''ll walk you back." Gunther said hurriedly. Tia nodded, "Have a good night, William." William returned the nod and bade the two farewell. He was also very tired, since the time was close to midnight now. He needed to be up in less than eight hours if he wanted to reach the Alchemy Hall in time in the morning. As he walked back to his residence, William pondered on the functions of the items he saw at the Auction. He didn''t spend any Potential Points asking the System, since his supply was already limited. He arrived at his room and was about to go to bed when his stomach began to growl. Thankfully he had somemon groceries, so William made four sandwiches simr to bologna and cheese. He returned to his bed with a full stomach and spent some time getting some bread unstuck from the roof of his mouth. After a few minutes of unsessful attempts, William finally managed to finish off his meal and went straight to sleep. Of course, that''s what would have happened if William wasn''t rudely awoken by an odd clicking and some scratching soundsing from the lock on his bedroom door. Did someone get inside my house? William panicked. The only thing separating him from the unknown intruder was a flimsy door that could be kicked open by even a normal person, much less a Cultivator. There wasn''t much time to react. William got up from the bed and immediately asked Atticus to use Illusion Magic to conceal them both. He carefully stepped into the opposite corner of the room from the door, hoping to figure out who had broken in. The door was unlocked. William watched the doorknob slowly twist, then the door was slowly pushed open without any creaking noises. A pair of green eyes appeared on the other end and peeked inside William''s room, but the figure was masked, and he couldn''t make out any specific facial features. As the door was opened further, William could tell that they were a female with a thin, cat-like body, perfectly suited for theft and assassination. The female assassin''s clothes were just as undistinguishable, but William could see a slight bulge near where her left pocket should be. He remembered this information forter. At this point, the assassin had fully entered William''s room. She looked around, surprised to see that Will was not present like she expected. "I swear I saw him making food from the window, where is he?" she mumbled in a low voice. She peeked under the bed and behind the window curtains, but there was no sign that William had left. He must still be here. the assassin thought. She didn''t know what method William used, but she was one hundred percent confident that he hadn''t left. She had already prepared over a dozen detection Arrays that would notify her the moment someone entered or exited the building. William tried to keep his breathing calm as the assassin came within three meters of him while checking the walls for hidden doorways that she might have missed. Shepleted her search of the room but didn''t bother to check the other rooms. Instead, William watched as she slid under William''s bed and used a special skill to turn herself almostpletely invisible. William could only see a slight difference in the shade of the flooring, but otherwise her disguise was perfect. Anyone would be caught off guard by this technique. She''s a real expert. I probably can''t fight with her, but I need to do something! Chapter 77: Five Elements Sealing Formation William racked his brain, but the only solution he could think of was to escape. The assassin had left the door open, so William carefully stepped out from the corner and exited his room while keeping an eye on the assassin. Atticus'' Illusion Magic never ceased to amaze William. The fact that a powerful assassin could not locate him while in the same room made William realize just how powerful a creature of Mythical rarity was. William subtly released some Mana from his fingertips, weaving together a Basic Rune without forming aplete Array. He was conducting a test to see if the assassin would sense such a small Mana signature. His risky y worked out, since the assassin didn''t seem to react. William kept his presence to a minimum and formed three more Runes to create a Basic Concealment Array. This would hopefully prevent the assassin from sensing his next move. An Intermediate Concealment Array was formed, then an Advanced one wasyered over top of it. Once the setup wasplete, William got to work building the mostplex Array he had ever formed. William''s Mana reserves decreased by a considerable portion to create a single Fire Element Rune, then two simr Runes of the Water and Earth Elements. With a lot of effort and half of his Mana, William was able to piece together the Perfect Runes of Wind and Lightning. -Formed your first Perfect Rune: +50 Potential Points He had nearlypleted the Array, but it was stillcking a purpose and wasn''t much more than a bundle of unstable Elements. William created an Advanced Rune of Stability and ced it in the center of the Array, thenyered the outside with five Advanced Confinement Arrays. He sent some Mana into the Array to activate it, then heaved a sigh of relief as a thin barrier almost invisible to the naked eye covered William''s entire room. If the Array worked as intended, the assassin wouldn''t be able to escape the Array unless she had an Affinity with all five of the Elements used or she was also a Perfect Array Master. If she was thetter, it would still take a few minutes for her to escape. By then, William would hopefully have some reinforcements. -Formed your first Perfect Array: +100 PP -Invented an Array: +5 PP -Invented your first Array: +10 PP -Invented a Perfect Array: +50 PP -Invented your first Perfect Array: +500 PP William''s eyes bulged at the wave of Potential Points, but he didn''t have much time to think about it right now. He wasn''tpletely confident in his Array holding back the assassin, so William nned to use the remainder of his Mana to add a second identical Array around the first. The assassin noticed something was off as soon as the Array went into effect. Even William''s Concealment Arrays could notpletely hide the presence of the Five Elements Sealing Formation as William decided to call it. She disabled her camouge and slid out from under the bed in one smooth motion. She pulled an item out of her Space Ring that looked like a bluepass and used it to inspect the room. Her eyes revealed a tinge of surprise which transformed into anxiety. Had she been caught in an enemy trap? No. There''s no way anyone would go so far for an Outer Core Disciple. She took a moment to breathe and collected her thoughts. Even if it was an enemy trap, there was no way she could be caught here! The assassin pulled out a dagger and gave the Barrier a sh, but the de bounced right off. She was surprised to see not even a crack, which suggested the Array was at least at the Advanced level. William was still nowhere to be seen, but he had to be within the residence. The assassin cursed, every moment spent in the Five Elements Sect was an increased risk that she would be discovered. ''Damnit, I should have just blown up the whole ce!'' Williampleted his work on the second Array and decided it was time to find some help. There was a slight problem, however. Who could William trust to keep his knowledge of Perfect Arrays a secret, that was also powerful enough to deal with an assassin? I guess I have no choice, William thought. The only person that fit the description was the Sect Master. He ran out of the residence, not noticing the assassin''s Detection Arrays hidden amongst the others that protected his home. William ran to the Great Hall, as it was the only building open thiste at night. Old Jur was still there, sitting at the front desk with his notebook. He raised his eyes in surprise to see William. "Back so soon? Have you already earned another Cultivation Technique?" "Not this time, old Jur. Do you know how I can contact the Sect Master?" William asked hurriedly. Jur frowned. "The Sect Master? You can''t just call him up for any random reason. What do you need from him?" "There''s someone in my residence trying to kill me, I need his help to take care of them." William tried not to give many details. "What?!? You better not be joking boy, otherwise you will be in serious trouble!" Jur immediately picked up amunicator and contacted an unknown party. Jur ryed what William said about the intruder, then hung up without another word. Within moments, a group of three Elders wearing dark-blue robes arrived from the sky and stopped at the Great Hall. They appeared serious when theynded, and the Elder in the center showed a badge that William didn''t recognize that showed the Five Elements and a blue star. "We are the Sect Guardians, take us to your residence young man." William nodded. He ran to the residence at moderate pace, but the Elders became impatient and carried him along with their Qi and asked him to point the way. Back at William''s residence, the assassin had received information about ten minutes ago that someone exited the building. She was bing anxious, since her efforts at breaking the Array so far had failed horribly. Only by using Magic of her Water Element did she cause any damage to the Array at all. She spent another ten minutes burning through her Mana tounch Water spells at the Barrier. The Barrier eventually gave way, but just when the assassin was about to escape, she noticed a second Array of the same type. "F-Fuck!!" the assassinpletely lost herposure. She was almost out of Mana, and had even spent some of her Cultivation trying to finish off the previous Barrier. Even worse, when she was about to attack the second Barrier, a group of individuals that she immediately recognized as the Sect Guardians entered the Array. All hope of escaping the Sect was lost at that moment, so the assassin raised her hands in surrender while the Elders searched her body for hidden weapons. Once the situation was under control, one of the Elders walked up to William. "You''re quite lucky to be alive, the assassin that was sent after you belongs to the Thieves Guild." William recognized the name as the same one mentioned by a group of bandits outside Blue Moon City. It was interesting that the name had appeared here as well. The Elder continued speaking, "It''s quite interesting though, where did this Arraye from? It''s quite powerful to seal a Golden Core Cultivator inside for so long." ''She was a Golden Core assassin? Why am I so unlucky?'' Williamined in his mind. "Uh, I don''t know Elder. It might have been here for a long time. I was just as surprised as you when it popped up and suddenly trapped her." William tried to think of an excuse, but was not great at lying. The Elder nodded. There was no way a kid like William would know anything about the workings of a Perfect Array, much less how to create and activate one. He could just consider himself extremely fortunate that he happened to live in this specific residence. "No problem, we will wrap up things here. You just get some rest." the Elder gave a weary smile before helping his twopanions restrain the assassin. They took her into the sky and flew off until their figures were no longer visible at a speed William couldn''t understand. That better be thest time for a while, I''m tired of losing sleep over assassins and random assholes that think they can kill me for free. Thatst sentence was targeted at Peter, who had quite literally sent a group of men to capture William in broad daylight for no reason. The only thing good that came out of thete night was a whopping 665 Potential Points that William earned while creating his new Array. One could neverin about having too many Potential Points! Chapter 78: Elder Arthurs Offer William finally could get some rest following the Elder''s departure. It was quitete now, and he waspletely exhausted. Even Atticus had spent quite a bit of energy concealing William''s presence for so long. The snake was currently curled up on William''s shoulder silently sleeping. Will fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Unfortunately, he was doomed to only get 5 hours of sleep since he had to be at the Alchemy Hall. An rm he set with the help of an Array set his toe on fire, jolting him awake. With William''s natural regeneration, a simple burn wound was nothing. A crude and somewhat destructive method, but very effective. He walked to the Alchemy Hall, where Yuming was waiting outside. "You''re actually on time, but you look like death." hemented on the dark circles around William''s eyes. "Thanks.." William responded with a bit of sarcasm. The two headed to the storeroom, where William and Yuming prepared the ingredients for thepetition like yesterday. Day 2 of thepetition went just like the first day, with an overall winner and the top ten ces that would advance to the final round. William had be more proficient than the previous day, so he and Yuming had time to watch the third phase of thepetition again. Lu Bingying wasn''t present, so the Alchemists today seemed quite dull. The highest score was only 90 points. Although William didn''t like Alchemy, he found the process of creating a powerful Magic Pill out of some herbs somewhat interesting. Since he now had over nine hundred Potential Points, William felt it wouldn''t be a waste to spend 5 on upgrading the Alchemy Talent to D Rank. With the new upgrade, William had no problem understanding the entire process of each disciples'' Alchemy during thepetition. He even found their methods to be somewhatckluster. His mind was filled with thousands of ingredients and the best way to use them, so when William returned his attention to the Inner Core Disciples, he noticed dozens of mistakes immediately. He also learned that Alchemy ingredients were actually tiered weakest to strongest from Tier 1 to Tier 10. There were still a few Alchemists refining their pills, but William felt he had seen enough. The disciples were clearly not going to earn more than 80 points unless a miracle happened. "Senior Yuming, I''m going to leave early if that''s alright with you." William asked respectfully. "The contest isn''t over yet, are you sure you want to leave so soon? It''s still anyone''s win, you don''t have to understand Alchemy to have fun." Yuming looked with a hint of surprise at William, who had clearly been bored by the contest. William waved his hand. "It''s not that, today''s Alchemists just seem too boring. Thepetition ended when they added too much Blue Dragonfruit." "What do you mean?" Yuming was quite confident in his Alchemy skills and was even a favorite to win the overallpetition, but William''s words confused him. Wasn''t half a Blue Dragonfruit the correct amount for a Minor Lifespan Pill? The room was quiet, so most of the disciples currently refining their pills heard William''s harsh words and frowned, but they maintained their focus on the cauldrons in front of them. One Alchemist, who was about to add his Blue Dragonfruit, paused for a moment. He was present in the stands the previous day when Williammented on Lu Bingying''s Alchemy, so he wondered if William wasn''t being arrogant, but actually giving them tips. He waited to see what William would say next. "Isn''t it obvious? The Blue Dragonfruit is a Tier 3 ingredient. Why would you use only half of the fruit on a Tier 3 Pill? If you''re worried that the Dragonfruit will destabilize the pill, why not just offset it by slicing the skin off, which is the most unstable part?" Yuming''s eyes widened at the suggestion, he had never thought of this! But...could it really work? The Alchemist on the stage was thinking the same thing, but it was worth a shot since he was about to be eliminated from thepetition. He did as William said, slicing off the skin of the Blue Dragonfruit before tossing the entire thing inside his cauldron, causing it to bubble intensely. The difficulty of handling the ingredients inside the cauldron instantly increased, but it was still within a manageable range. After a few minutes, the Alchemist brought the cauldron back under control sessfully, sparking murmurs among the crowd. Was William actually a renowned Alchemist? How could he make such a calcted statement with just a nce? The Alchemist was overjoyed. He scooped the ingredients into a sphere and cooled them down, forming four pristine blue pills the size of a thumb. A judge came over to inspect the pills, but his eyebrows raised when he noticed a pale blue marking the size of a fingernail across the bottom of each pill. "92 points!" he announced to the group. This pill was clearly close to the peak of Tier 3 and deserved such a rating. "The kid was right! But how could such a simple method improve the quality of a pill so much?" Even Elder Arthur and the other judges were amazed. They knew quite a bit about low-ranked ingredients, but an Alchemist was always learning. No one could possibly im they knew everything about every ingredient, even if they had a thousand years of experience. Every year, new pills were invented, and famous Alchemists were born. Was William one of those famous Alchemists, just waiting to be discovered? Elder Arthur didn''t know, but one thing was for sure. He approached William from the stands. "Disciple William, I heard that Elder Tianshen invited you to the Alchemy Hall yesterday and that you asked for a few days to think about it. While I was skeptical at first, I am now fully convinced that you at least have some talent in the fields of Alchemy. I hope to make your decision to join a bit easier with some incentive. Since you were so interested in that Root yesterday, would you like to participate in this year''spetition? We still have some space on the stage two days from now." Some Inner Core Disciples on the stage heard Elder Arthur''s offer and became jealous. ''Howe Elder Arthur is being so generous to this kid?'' ¡ª¡ª¡ª System Quest: The Alchemy Hall has invited the Host to join the 450th Annual Alchemy Competition. Winning thepetition will greatly improve the Host''s potential. Difficulty: Medium Rewards: 250 Potential Points, Gold-Ranked Fire Root Failure Penalty: None ¡ª¡ª¡ª Another Quest involving the Alchemy Guild...Why do you do this to me System? William grumbled in his heart. -1PP -The Host does it to himself by always standing out in the presence of Alchemists. If the Host does not want Alchemy-rted quests in the future, perhaps the Host should consider not exhibiting psychopathic tendencies. F*ck! I didn''t need your input! William forgot that he had told the System not to ask for confirmation if the request only needed one point. While William was turning the function back on, Elder Arthur stared nkly at his unmoving expression. The kid obviously has talent, but he seems to be...very special sometimes... Chapter 79: Necromancy William collected his thoughts and replied to Elder Arthur, "Are you sure it''s okay for an Outer Core Disciple like me to jump into apetition like this?" "Of course! We do have a few talented youths that join thepetitionte some years. You wouldn''t be the first Outer Core Disciple to participate." Elder Arthur smiled. "Well, okay then. I''ll join thepetition." William returned the smile with a polite bow. -Joined the Alchemy Hall: +50 Potential Points Elder Arthur was overjoyed. While it may seem that only William was benefitting from this scenario, the Five Elements Sect provided benefits to the Alchemy Hall depending on their yearly performance. The addition of a talented individual like William basically guaranteed that the Alchemy Hall would receive more resources in a few years, even if William needed some training in the first year. Better yet, Arthur could verify William''s practical skill personally by allowing him topete with his peers in a contest. With a Fire Root as the prize, William would be inspired to do his best. William couldn''t help but worry about the System Quest. While improving his potential was great, William had learned the hard way multiple times that attracting too much attention wasn''t always a good thing. Not to mention, an unknown assassin had shown up to his residence in a famous Sect the night before. Even with the protection of the Sect, it was clear that William was not safe. His enemies were multiplying, from the Thieves'' Guild to the Pirs of Justice to Disciples within the Sect and random Cultivation Families. He hadn''t even be a Cultivator yet! What if a Soul Formation Realm expert targeted him? He would be doomed! William entered the new World thinking that he would be faced with opponents of the same level or strength, but that waspletely unrealistic. This wasn''t like the books he read where the old Cultivators with immense strength remained hidden until thest moment. He stopped distracting himself with pointless thoughts. He thanked Elder Arthur for the opportunity, then took his leave from the Alchemy Hall as he had intended earlier. This time Yuming actually bade William farewell like an equal. After all, they were fellow Alchemists now. There were a few ces William needed to visit today. First he went to the Ranking Board at the Lecture Hall, since it was the closest. William checked the tablet to find that not only was his challenge epted and set for three days from now, but two disciples had challenged him. The Ranking Board read that he could decline these challenges, but his ranking would decrease by 5 for every challenge he declined. He wasn''t willing to lose his not-so-hard-earned rank, so William chose to schedule the two challenges for the same day he was going to fight the 301st Ranker. This way, William could kill two birds with one stone. With that task out of the way, William went to the market to refill on groceries. He had also recently found out that Atticus liked omelettes during one of his visits at Wild Clover. Although Atticus didn''t need to eat for some reason, he really enjoyed the taste of certain Spirit foods. William wished he had that Spirit Cookware set that was shown in the Night Market, since he already had ess to the Cooking Talent, which in his opinion was way cooler than Alchemy. A few hours and a full pantryter, William was ready for his most anticipated task. Upgrades! System, open the Talent Shop. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT SHOP: -Random Talent: 75PP (+5PP) -Random Magic Talent: 100PP (+10PP) -Random Physical Talent: 10PP (+10PP) -Random Weapon Talent: 10PP (+10PP) -Random Trade Talent: 25PP (+25PP) -Random Passive Talent: 350PP (+25PP) POTENTIAL POINTS: 967 ¡ª¡ª¡ª The Talent Shop panel had changed a bit since Williamst viewed it. The numbers in parentheses next to the cost seemed to be how much the price would increase each time he purchased the Talent. It would cost William 100 Potential Points for another Magic Talent, and the price would increase to 110 for the next purchase. Simple enough. The real question was, what did he need? William did the math on how many points he could afford to spend. First, he used 125 Potential Points to upgrade his Alchemy Talent from D Rank to B Rank. As expected, William''s understanding of ingredients and their uses increased further. He was now able to refine up to Tier 5 ingredients without much trouble, as long as he had the Mana to back up the refining process. This should basically guarantee William''s victory in the Alchemypetition. Next, William spent 100 Potential Points to purchase a Random Magic Talent, since he now had the ability to conceal his Mana signature with the Stealth Talent and the Repel Mana spell that Array Master Fowley had taught him in the past. -Talent Purchased: Necromancy -Necromancy Affinity Acquired: +1 Potential Point -Acquired your first Epic Element: +25 Potential Points Unlike other Magic Affinities, William didn''t feel anything physical when the Necromancy Affinity was unlocked. Instead, his mind was filled with countless dark thoughts. The feeling was intense, crashing like waves onto the walls of William''s mind. A second wave came, filled with negative emotions such as sadness, anxiety, nervousness, and many more. Thoughts that William hadn''t felt much of since his early childhood when he was abandoned by his biological mother. The waves of mental torture subsided, and William returned to his normal state. So I''m a necromancer now... While it was an Epic Magic Talent, William didn''t feel extraordinarily happy about the new Elemental Affinity. After all, when was he going to use necromancy? There weren''t any bodies around, and it''s not like someone would just be okay with him raising the dead during a fight. Will ced those thoughts on the backburner. He now had 768 Potential Points to spend, so he used 300 Potential Points to raise his Stealth Talent to B Rank. Better safe than sorry. Since they were quite cheap, William decided to spend 150 Potential Points on five Physical Talents. -Talent Purchased: Flexibility -Talent Purchased: Nothing -Talent Purchased: Jumping -Talent Purchased: Bnce -Talent Purchased: Strength -Detected the Host has the appropriate Talents for an Upgrade. Please raise your Speed, Bnce, Flexibility, and Jumping Talents to the same Rank for a Talent Upgrade. A Talent Upgrade? So all I need to do is gather many Talents of the same category and they can be improved? William was excited. He didn''t know the System had such a feature. He also happened to receive the Strength Talent, something he had been anticipating ever since the Speed Talent was unlocked. He checked his remaining Potential Points and was disappointed to see that he didn''t have enough. His current bnce was 318 Potential Points, but his Speed Talent was B Rank, meaning he would need to raise Bnce, Flexibility, and Jumping to B Rank before he couldbine them. The total cost would be 390 Potential Points. Damn, if I knew this would happen, I wouldn''t have bought another Magic Talent... William grumbled, but he wasn''t really regretful. All he needed to do was win the Alchemypetition and he would earn more than enough Potential Points. Chapter 80: Competition Day William didn''t raise the levels of any of the newly earned Talents just yet. He wanted to keep some backup Potential Points in case something happened, or if he needed to perform an emergency upgrade. His upgrades took up most of William''s day so he got some rest after a quick meal at Wild Clover. Awakened by the "Fire rm" as William called it literally, he went to the Alchemy Hall for the day''s assignment. Even though he was admitted into the Alchemy Competition, William was still required to spend the day providing materials to today''s Inner Core Disciples. The Alchemy Hall nned to have Yuming cover William''s position the next day, so there was no problem. Yuming wasn''t waiting for William this time, but he didn''t need any more supervision and quickly got to work. The Elders asked William for two batches of Fire Palm Seeds and twenty Reed Mantis ws to start the first phase. When William went to deliver the materials to the Elders, he noticed a familiar face on the stage. It was Yuming! He was currently focused on brewing a Tier 2 Pill for the first phase of thepetition, so he had room to pay attention to other things. He saw William looking at him and gave a quick wave. So he''speting today, huh? No wonder he wasn''t waiting for me. The development wasn''t a concern for William. In fact, he had gotten somewhat close with Yuming over thest few days, so Will wanted to see how he would perform in the final phase. William increased the speed at which he brought materials to the stage, garnering some confused looks from a judge and some spectators as William''s figure shed around the stage. "That guy is quite fast, isn''t he? And look at that reaction time, he''s practically dancing around the Alchemists." Elder Tianshenmented. "It''s very...elegant, don''t you think?" Elder Arthur agreed. Elder Fuxi was somewhat frustrated since William had offended him earlier, but he couldn''t refute the other judges'' words. William seemed to have quite a few interesting abilities, but it was just that. William finished his work just in time for the third phase to start. He watched as Yuming surprised the crowd by refining a peak Tier 3 pill for a score of 96 points, beating Lu Bingying by a small margin. William wasn''t aware of this, but many of thements William made during the previous two days of thepetition had actually improved Yuming''s Alchemy skills quite a bit. If it was three days ago, Yuming might have only scored 90 points on the same pill. With that in mind, Yuming went over to William in a good mood after being awarded his Silver-Ranked Fire Root. "Hey William, what do you think of my method? Better than Lu Bingying''s right?" he bragged. William scratched his head, "Better than the others for sure, but you shouldn''t have put so much Wind Wyrm Scale in the cauldron. You only needed about three quarters of the scale to refine a peak Tier 3 Heaven Resisting Pill. You used too much, and the other ingredients weren''t enough to raise the Pill to Tier 4." "..." Yuming was expecting some praise from William since he scored even higher than Lu Bingying, but the reality was quite harsh. Elder Arthur looked at William with shock. How did he know a secret that took this old man a hundred years to discover? To understand raising a pill''s rank past the hypothetical limits...that was a skill only renowned Alchemy Masters like himself knew! He became somewhat suspicious...Who was this Outer Core Disciple? William didn''t notice Elder Arthur''s expression. He looked at Yuming''s prize with greed. "Do you want to sell that Fire Root?" "..." "Just kidding. Haha." He and Yuming spoke for a while longer until it was time to leave the Alchemy Hall. William didn''t have much to do, so he spent the remainder of his day at the training area developing new spells for the Fire and Water Elements, earning an additional 18 Potential Points. The following day, William woke up bright and early. He made omelettes for himself and Atticus, then followed his routine path to the Alchemy Hall where Yuming was waiting. "Good luck William. Don''t disappoint me after you criticized my Alchemy yesterday." Yuming''s words were mean, but his tone suggested he was mostly joking. William nodded. He wasn''t worried about a Quest with Medium difficulty, especially after upgrading his Alchemy Talent. He walked up to the stage and took a random seat while waiting for others to arrive. Some Inner Core Disciples already present noticed William as he sat down. One disciple pointed at William, "What''s an Outer Core Disciple doing here?" "Oh you don''t know? That''s William, who Elder Arthur invited personally to participate in this year''spetition. I heard he just joined the Sect too." "Really? That''s him? I heard he corrected Lu Bingying''s Alchemy the other day, is that true?" "I''m not sure, sounds like a rumor to me." Elder Arthur rose from his seat and quieted the room. "Good morning, Alchemists! Today marks the fourth day of the 450th Annual Alchemy Competition. Like the previous three days, we only require you to refine a Tier 2 pill with a score of 80 within an hour. If you can achieve this, you will automatically move on to the second phase. Are there any questions?" No one raised their hand to which Elder Arthur nodded. "In that case, you may begin. Disciple Yuming, be ready to ept any ingredients lists that we approve." The Inner Core Disciples pulled cauldrons out of their Space Ring and ced them in the ground in front of them, then started writing their list of required ingredients and quantity on a nearby sheet of paper. William looked at this and realized he hadn''t brought a cauldron. He looked at Yuming, who noticed his stare. Elder Arthur also noticed William''s peculiar behavior. He approached William''s seat and leaned down to quietly ask, "Is something the matter, Disciple William?" William was embarrassed to tell the truth, but he couldn''t think of anything better to say. "It seems I do not have a cauldron with me, Elder." Elder Arthur''s face twitched. How can youe to apetition for Alchemy and not bring the one thing required to conduct Alchemy? He maintained his calmposure, "I see...would Disciple Yuming be willing to share his cauldron with you?" he stole a nce at Yuming, who already knew where the conversation was going. "You owe me for this." Yuming brought out one of his spare cauldrons for William to borrow during thepetition. "Thank you, thank you Senior Yuming. Your foresight is unmatched, and your talent surpasses the heavens." William showered Yuming with praises. "What are you even saying, you idiot. I''m leaving." Yuming stormed off with a huff. William''spliments were quite effective though as a smile creeped up on Yuming''s lips. Elder Arthur smiled, "It seems your predicament has been solved. I will be off now, good luck young man." William nodded. He scanned the knowledge that the System had provided during the Alchemy Talent upgrade, searching for the perfect Tier 2 pill recipe. His eyes gleamed as he found something interesting. This will be perfect! Chapter 81: Soul Refinement Pill "One of these, one of these, and one of these... Ooh! Definitely one of those!" William mumbled to himself as he wrote down a list of ingredients. He forgot all about how much he hated Alchemy when a mental picture of high-Tier ingredients filled his brain. He raised his hand, beckoning one of the judges over to inspect his list. Elder Fuxi stood up, hoping to find something wrong with William''s ingredients list. "Let''s see what kind of garbage you''ve put together." he snatched the sheet away from William''s hand and adjusted the thick pair of sses on his face. Elder Fuxi scanned the list with great precision, but his eyes widened after just the first ingredient. "What is this?!?" he yelled out attracting the attention of many other nearby Alchemists. "You want a Star Dragon''s Tooth for a Tier 2 pill? Are you insane? And...and what''s this? You also want three Hydra Scales? Is this a joke?" William maintained a serious face. "You said I could prepare the ingredients for any Tier 2 pill, is this not correct?" Elder Fuxi didn''t know what to say. How could you make a Tier 2 pill with these materials? They were more than enough for a Tier 6 pill, not to mention how difficult to acquire each material was! "What..what pill do you n to make?" he asked with an icy tone. William understood the problem. "Oh that''s right, I forgot to mention the pill. I want to refine a Tier 2 Soul Refinement Pill." Elder Fuxi didn''t know what William was talking about, but Elder Tianshen''s attention was ripped from an Inner Core Disciple''s ingredients list when he heard the words "Soul Refinement Pill". Elder Tianshen looked at William with shock, "Did I hear you correctly? You want to make a Soul Refinement Pill?" William nodded. Was there something wrong with what he said? The System never exined the value of the ingredients, just the Tier they were at and what pills they could be used in. Elder Tianshen whispered in Elder Fuxi''s ear. "Let me watch this one, you can take the little fellow I walked away from just now." Elder Fuxi nodded, still with some fury in his eyes. The nerve of this brat! Tianshen looked at William again. "I can provide the materials, but only if you exin the refinement process thoroughly before you begin. I do not want to waste such precious ingredients on a mere Outer Core Disciple." Tianshen was an Alchemy Master that focused on the refinement of pills rted to the soul. There was only one issue: he couldn''t seem to sessfully refine a Soul Refinement Pill, even at Tier 1. He had wasted thousands of materials and hundreds of years of his life just trying to refine this one pill. For William to suddenly bring this up was either his good fortune, or a ridiculous prank. Elder Tianshen was confident in his knowledge of Soul Pills, so he would immediately notice if William misspoke during the exnation. William nodded. He was also excited to refine such a pill, since the System said it could improve his resistance to spiritual attacks. If anything was certain in the Cultivation world, it was that more defense meant a higher chance of survival. "I''ll be back in a moment." Elder Tianshen said before picking up the ingredients list and disappearing into a locked room reserved for Elders of the Alchemy Hall. He came back with an armful of tightly sealed jars, each containing the ingredients William had requested. Elder Tianshen arranged them neatly on the table where William''s ingredients list was previously ced, then turned to face him. "Now the first step. Where will you begin?" William looked at Elder Tianshen, who looked dead serious. He didn''t ask for permission and picked up one of the jars filled with pale purple leaves. "I''m going to mash these into a paste, removing the stems beforehand." He set down the leaves and picked up another jar containing the Hydra Scales. "Then, I will ce these tly into the paste, allowing the scales to absorb the residual Mana of the Soul Snaring Leaves, eliminating the destructive energy of the Scales." I will dispose of the remaining paste, then deposit the Hydra Scales into a cauldron of water and heat it until the Scales be liquid." Elder Tianshen listened intently to William''s exnation. Something didn''t make sense though. "Why would you melt down the Hydra Scales instead of cutting it into small pieces? Do you understand how intense a me you need for that?" William became somewhat annoyed and forgot he was speaking to an Elder. "Isn''t it obvious? How else are you going to perfectly merge the reinforcing nature of the Hydra Scales and the soul strengthening aspect of the Soul Rending Leaves? Just absorbing the leaves isn''t enough." he didn''t mention how the pill would also taste better than crunching down some hard scales. Elder Tianshen felt his mind explode as his hundred years of failure were finally met with an exnation. His eyes lit up, "Of course! That makes so much sense now! Go ahead boy, I want to see you refine this pill." With Elder Tianshen''s approval and all the materials he would need, William quickly got to work. He performed the steps mentioned to Elder Tianshen one by one in a methodical manner. Everything was going smoothly until William ced the enhanced Hydra Scales in the cauldron of water. Elder Tianshen''s brows furrowed as he realized William was but an Outer Core Disciple with no Cultivation. How was he going to hear up the liquid? Yuming had taken a moment in between his shipments to watch William''s refinement and had the same thought, but those worries quickly dissipated when William called Mana of the Fire Element to his palm. At first the temperature was hot, but not overwhelming. Yuming could barely feel its heat from his position just inside the stage. As time progressed, however, the me became much more intense, until the heat forced some of the nearby Alchemists to take a step back from William to avoid losing their ingredients to the heat. Elder Arthur smiled, as he had already spoken with Elder Wen about William the previous day. He was well aware that the boy was a Manamatus, which further cemented his desire to pull William into the Alchemy Hall. Even under such intense heat, the Hydra Scales took nearly half an hour to melt fully. By this time, William only had around ten minutes to finish the refinement process. Luckily, the next steps were quite simple. William added the Star Dragon''s Tooth and a few other ingredients to the solution, quickly melting them down with the intense me. He stirred asionally, not allowing any irregrities before he entered the final pill condensation stage. Lowering the heat, William formed a natural scoop using Mana of the Earth Element, condensing the ingredients inside to form six purple-red pills the size of a grape. Naturally engraved on the pills were three miniscule golden swirls, which informed Elder Tianshen that the result was much better than expected. The only problem was...the result was TOO good. The moment Williampleted the formation of the six pills, dark clouds began to gather from inside the Alchemy Hall. Chapter 82: Perfection "Is that a Heavenly Tribtion?" one of the Alchemists asked with a hint of nervousness. Elder Tianshen was both excited and serious at the same time. The scale of the clouds were quite small, but there was no mistaking that this was in fact a Tribtion. William was quite familiar with Heavenly Tribtions, but he didn''t expect one to appear after refining such a low Tier pill. Is it because my process was perfect ording to the System? It was the only exnation. Elder Arthur stood up with a sense of urgency. "Disciple William, I suggest you prepare yourself. The tribtion is targeting you!" William already expected this. He nodded without much concern while keeping his attention focused on the sky. The clouds fully gathered, generating mass amounts of electricity and focusing it on a single point. The Alchemists in the room watched closely as the first lightning bolt with strength at the peak of the Qi Refinement Realm crashed down on William. -Discovered Heavenly Magic: +1 Potential Point William''s Hard Skin Talent absorbed most of the damage from the first lightning bolt. The remainder entered his body and fought with his Lightning Mana until the Heavenly Lightning dissipated. So, a Heavenly Tribtion is also made up of Mana? William''s understanding of the world deepened. Yuming''s exnation that everything consisted of Mana clicked inside his head. It seemed that while Qi was a necessary energy for Cultivation, it originated from Mana, which was very unique for a Cultivation system. Elder Tianshen and the others were surprised to see Williampletely unharmed after being struck by Heavenly Lightning. Even if it was only the first bolt, William didn''t have any Cultivation. How could a normal person effortlessly take a strike that would kill any Qi Refinement Cultivator in one hit? William noticed the surprise in their eyes and came up with a quick excuse. "Uh, I train my body. This is nothing." "A body Cultivator huh? It makes sense now.." the other disciples understood. It also exined how William could run so fast when making deliveries thest few days. The second lightning bolt formed, crashing down with strength at the Foundation Establishment Realm. Once again, William tanked the hit with his body and used the Lightning Element to offset the rest of the damage. This time however, William noticed that his C Rank Lightning Element was actually losing to the Heavenly Lightning. He had to expend quite a bit of Mana to continuously battle with the Heavenly Lightning, only seeding after half a minute. Will realized that the next strike would probably cause some actual damage to him. He decided to upgrade his Hard Skin Talent from C to B Rank using 100 Potential Points to prevent any issues. ------ TALENT UPGRADED Hard Skin: (C --> B) Next rank up: 250PP ------ William felt the pores on his skin tightening up, while the skin cells multipled tenfold. Theypressed together until they formed a tight wall of cells not visible to the naked eye that would be difficult even for a sharpened sword to pass through. Only the Elders noticed any change in William, but they assumed it was a secret skill prepared specifically for a time like this. They watched as the third Heavenly Lightning strike crashed against William with great force, but this time all of its power was dissipated by William''s Hard Skin Talent. -Survived a Heavenly Tribtion: +10 PP -Survived your first Heavenly Tribtion: +50 PP The dark clouds dissipated, allowing Elder Tianshen to finally inspect the Soul Refinement Pill. He was surprised to see six pills, but his eyes bulged when he saw the golden star markings on each pill. "Th-this!" Elder Arthur felt something was up. "What is it, Tianshen?" Elder Tianshen''s lips trembled. He wiped some sweat off his forehead, then carefully wrapped each pill in a special cloth from his Space Ring. He showed the pills to the judges first, who looked at each pill with great interest. The surprise on their faces was obvious when Elder Tianshen pointed out the golden stars. The other Alchemists had finished their refinement a while ago, so they waited eagerly for William''s evaluation. Any pill with a Tribtion had to be good. Elder Arthur finally stood up after much deliberation. "You''ve perfectly refined Tier 2 Soul Refinement Pills. Your initial score would have been 100 points, but we will award an extra 5 for refining six pills. Your score is 105 points!" The room echoed with murmurs from the Inner Core Disciples. 105 points was unheard of, even if it was only a Tier 2 pill. Even Yuming and Lu Bingying only scored 97 and 98 points respectively in the first phase. After all, it was incredibly difficult to perfectly refined a pill, no matter the Tier. Elder Tianshen brought the pills back to William. "I''ll give you two of these since you have been a great help to my research." "Thank you Elder." William took two pills and set them on the nearby table. ------ -Refined a pill: +1 PP -Refined your first pill: +1 PP -Refined your first Tier 2 pill: +5 PP -Perfectly refined a pill: +2 PP -Perfectly refined your first Tier 2 pill: +25 PP ... -Unlocked Title: +1 PP -Alchemist (Umon): You have perfectly refined one unique pill, making a name for yourself among your Alchemy Peers. Pills of all Ranks will be 5% easier to refine. ------ The wave of Potential Points made up for William''s expenditure from upgrading the Hard Skin Talent. Additionally, he received a new title that will improve his chances of winning theter stages of thepetition. William was thest Alchemist to finish, so Elder Arthur started the next phase immediately. "We seem to have a good batch of Alchemists today, since over half of you passed the first phase. The second phase won''t be so easy. You will be refining a Tier 3 pill this time, and only the top ten scorers will proceed to the final phase. Choose any pill you''d like, but keep the value of the ingredients to a minimum, we don''t have infinite resources." Arthur looked at William with thest sentence. "You have an hour. You may begin!" William sensed Elder Fuxi''s angry stare as he looked at the empty slip of paper before him. He spent two points asking the System to rmend a pill for him to refine. -The Host should consider either the Core Formation Pill or the Tier 3 Mana Gathering Pill. Both options are cheap and only moderately difficult to refine. William went with the Mana Gathering Pill, since it was basically a more powerful Mana Regeneration potion. He could use these when he became a Cultivator in the future. Elder Fuxi inspected the ingredients on William''s list suspiciously, but found no issues with it. "It seems you''ve learned a little respect. Your list is approved." Elder Fuxi sent Yuming to gather William''s ingredients list, which was only a few pieces of Mana Grass, a Lifeshroom, and a jar of Spirit Water. William got to work immediately, filling the cauldron with Spirit Water. He mashed the Mana Grass into a mush, then poured it into the cauldron. He sliced the cap of the Lifeshroom off, then threw that into the cauldron and discarded the stem. While he stirred the ingredients under a moderate me, William felt a slight assist from some unnatural force within his body, guiding his control of the me and improving the uracy of his stirring. So this is the effect of my Alchemist Title, huh? Very useful. William was once again thankful for the System''s help. A few upgrades to the Alchemist Title and William might be able to refine pills in his sleep! Chapter 83: Strange Request The ingredients were condensed into five bluish-green pills with golden star markings on them, while clouds covered the ceiling of the Alchemy Hall once again. "Is that another Heavenly Tribtion? How can this be?" an Alchemist still stirring his ingredients called out in shock. A few Alchemists with more unstable recipes lost their ingredients immediately, their cauldrons filled with ck smoke and released a nasty smell into the air. The Elders weren''t surprised to see another Tribtion. The difficulty of the Soul Refinement Pills were almost at the level of a Tier 4 pill, so for William to perfectly refine them was already proof of his immense talent. They were only slightly worried, since a Tier 3 Pill Tribtion would be much stronger than the previous one. Was William fit to undergo back to back Tribtions? Elder Tianshen was tempted to help William out by giving him a treasure to resist the Tribtion, but that might be seen as cheating. He was forced to remain idle and hope for William''s wellbeing. The clouds charged with Heavenly Lightning once again,unching its first strike with strength already in the mid-stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm. William took the strike head on, dissipating all of the energy with his Hard Skin. He looked up to the sky with a soft smile. Is that all you''ve got? The Tribtion seemed to hear William''s thoughts and crackled with energy. A powerful lightning strike at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm was quicklyunched, sting into William and forcing him to bend his knees under the pressure. His skin cracked, and Heavenly Lightning invaded his body like a disease. He used Lightning Mana to fend it off but was still left with some injuries. My defense isn''t nearly as strong as my offense... William realized. Thankfully he had the E Rank Regeneration Talent, which was more than enough to heal the small wounds on his body. Elder Tianshen watched in awe. Where did this disciplee from? A talented Alchemist, a Manamatus, a body Cultivator, and an iron will. Heughed, "Haha! Kid you remind me of me when I was your age! Show that Tribtion whose boss!" Elder Fuxi looked at Elder Tianshen. "Shut up you geezer, you could barely deal with your Core Formation Realm Tribtion that time!" "Oh you want to fight?" Elder Tianshen looked at Elder Fuxi with teasing eyes. Elder Fuxi was only a Golden Core Cultivator, while he was in the Nascent Soul Realm. It wouldn''t even be a fight. "Hmph! Let''s just watch the kid." William watched the clouds as a third lightning strike came down, covering his entire body with wounds instantly. The Hard Skin Talent could only stop half of the Heavenly Lightning, and his Lightning Mana couldn''t deal with all of the remainder. He fought back using Mana of the Fire and Water Elements, but they only helped a small bit. By the time he fought off all the Heavenly Lightning, William was bleeding all over and covered in burn marks. His Heat Resistance Talent helped to limit the damage, but he would still need time to fully recover. -Survived a Heavenly Tribtion: +10 PP William groaned in pain. He regretted not using his Potential Points to upgrade the Hard Skin Talent again, but at the same time he would only have 80 PP remaining if he did. At least I survived. It seems like Heavenly Lightning at the Core Formation Realm is my limit for now. With the end of the Tribtion, the Elders heaved a sigh of relief for William''s safety and the other Alchemists could continue or restart their refinement process. The judges inspected Williams pills, awarding 104 points. 100 for perfection and an extra point for each extra pill refined. -Refined a pill: +1 PP -Perfectly refined a pill: +2 PP -Refined your first Tier 3 pill: +10 PP -Perfectly refined your first Tier 3 pill: +50 PP Wow, these first-time bonuses are really profitable. William eximed in his mind. He no longer regretted his decision to join the Alchemy Competition. Like before, the judges allowed William to keep some of the pills, so he epted two and set them with the Soul Refinement Pills. The other Inner Core Disciples were still conducting Alchemy, so William scrolled through the System panel while waiting. Half an hourter, all of the Alchemists were done and the top ten were named. As expected, William was in first ce, while nine other female Alchemists were in the remaining positions. Elder Arthur stood up to give directions for thest phase. Like before, each disciple would be provided a list of ingredients. They would guess the pill refined, then refine it if correct. There were no instructions given on the sheet that told the Alchemist how to refine it. That would depend on their knowledge. William looked at his sheet. There were only four ingredients: a Blood Frog''s Tongue, two pieces of Mana Grass, an Iron Root, and a jar of salt. He frowned and raised his hand. Elder Tianshen came over quickly. "Disciple William, have you already guessed the pill?" William nodded, but then shook his head. "There are two different pills that these ingredients can make: a Tier 3 Blood Replenishing Pill, and a Tier 4 Iron Stomach Pill. Which do you want me to refine?" Elder Tianshen was surprised at Williams response. "There is only a Tier 3 Blood Replenishing Pill, how can you expect a Tier 4 pill from these ingredients?" William pointed to the salt written on the sheet. "You can dissolve salt into the Iron Root while using Water Mana to rust away its exterior. If the root is high enough quality, it can be upgraded to Tier 4." Elder Tianshen was surprised. How could a young man think like this? He decided to give William a chance. "Well you had the answer right before, but let me speak with the others." he walked over to the judges table. Elder Fuxi found Elder Tianshen''s expression odd. "What did that boye up with this time?" "He says he can make a Tier 4 pill with these materials. He''s done well so far, I''d like to give him a chance." Elder Tianshen ryed the process William had told him before. Elder Arthur''s brow raised. "That''s insane! Is he going to y a game of chance with the Iron Root? This is first ce we are talking about!" He was mostly upset since William already proved he could ce first in today''spetition. Why risk that? What they didn''t know is that William just wanted to earn as many Potential Points as possible, and the first time bonus for a Tier 4 pill had to be good. The judges argued for a few minutes over this, making William impatient. They finally made a decision after much difficulty. Elder Tianshen walked up to William''s seat. "You may refine the Tier 4 Iron Stomach Pill, but you must still do so within the time limit. Are you sure you don''t want to refine the other pill?" William shook his head, "I''m sure, Elder." "Alright then. Please wait while I have Yuming fetch the materials for you." Chapter 84: Iron Stomach Pill William waited patiently while Yuming gathered the ingredients. Soon, each material was positioned on his table. William picked up the most important ingredient, the Iron Root, and began to inspect it. He frowned, noticing a small blemish on one side of the Root, almost invisible to the naked eye. He raised his hand, to which Elder Tianshen walked over. "What is it, Disciple William?" "I need a higher quality Iron Root. This one is not enough." "Not enough?" Elder Tianshen mumbled. He looked at the blemish that William pointed out and frowned. It truly wasn''t up to par, but that didn''t make sense. "Disciple Yuming, can youe over here?" "Yes Elder." Yuming ran over from across the stage. "Can you rece this Iron Root? It''s damaged." Yuming was confused. He looked at the Iron Root as well to find the issue, but confirmed Elder Tianshen''s words to be true. "Right away, Elder." He left and quickly came back with a different Iron Root. This time there was no problem, and William epted it readily. After inspecting the other ingredients, William noticed some other minor details that would affect the quality of the final pill. Again, Elder Tianshen was called over and Yuming had to rece the ingredients. Someone must be trying to sabotage me...William thought to himself. Yuming and Elder Tianshen were thinking the same thing, but no one said a word. Instead, Elder Tianshen made sure to keep a closer eye on William''s refinement for this portion of thepetition. He would not stand to allow a talented youth to be bullied. William was somewhat worried about someone affecting his Alchemy. If the Tier 4 pill was ruined, he would lose out on a lot of Potential Points. He didn''t even have a clue who was trying to sabotage him. It was better not to waste time thinking about it. Elder Tianshen seemed to notice something, so he would have to ce his trust in the Elder. William diced up the Blood Frog''s Tongue into many small pieces using a de of wind, then poured them into the cauldron with some water. The pieces floated to the top of the cauldron and remained there while the juices leaked out. It was actually quite disgusting, mostly the squelching noises it made when William prodded the meat. He took the Iron Root and poured it into a separate cauldron that he had to borrow from Yuming, then poured the salt inside. Using his Mana, William sped up the process of rusting away the Iron on the surface of the Iron Root to reveal ayer of zinc. The Cultivators didn''t have an extensive knowledge of the natural elements or the periodic table, but William had some ideas. The Iron was actually the least valuable portion of the Iron Root, and what prevented it from bing a Tier 4 ingredient. Below that iron shell was a thick steel root, protected by ayer of zinc that would resist the corrosion of the saltwater. Most Alchemists would probably melt down the entire Root, not knowing that the true treasure was inside. With this, William had gained a Tier 4 Steel Root, which he ced into the other cauldron with the diced Blood Frog''s Tongue and added some Mana Grass. One he had finished, William mixed it all together with an intense me until the ingredients were a viscuous liquid that seemed extremely inedible. He condensed the ingredients into four dark red pills with two golden stars inscribed on them, and waited for the tribtion to form. As expected, thick dark clouds gathered above, covering the ceiling of the entire Alchemy Hall. The nine nearby Alchemists already knew what was happening and quickly stabilized their cauldrons before something went wrong. "This again? How many Tribtions is this kid going to summon?" a Cultivator in the seating area spoke with surprise. "I know, right? We should give him a nickname." "Oh yeah like Lightning Boy!" "Uh...maybe let someone else decide." William prepared for the Heavenly Tribtion by immediately upgrading his Hard Skin Talent to A Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Hard Skin: (B --> A) Next rank up: 1000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª -DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE-- --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT-- ... William hadpletely forgotten about the System upgrade, but this was actually a good thing since it meant he would get some new features soon. He focused on the Heavenly Tribtion above him that was already emitting an aura at the Core Refinement Realm. William was prepared to put everything he had towards protecting himself, but he had some confidence in his Hard Skin Talent that seemed to have improved a hundredfold this time. Elder Tianshen was truly nervous. He saw William barely survive thest set of strikes. There was no chance that William would make it through the next Tribtion. He looked at Arthur, who gave a small nod. Elder Tianshen pulled an umbre from his Space Ring and threw it. "Disciple William, take this!" William was caught off guard by Elder Tianshen''s sudden movement, but his reflexes allowed him to catch the umbre. "What is this?" he asked loudly while the Tribtion rumbled. "Inject some Mana into it and hold it to the sky, It will help you!" Elder Tianshen summarized. William understood immediately. It was an artifact to assist him during the Tribtion. This was an expensive gift! He didn''t have time to thank the Elder as the first Heavenly Lightning wasing down. He injected Mana into the umbre, causing it to unfold. The device charged with Lightning Mana that matched William''s Mana signature, but amplified the effects to be a hundred times greater than William could possibly manage. Even better, the Mana expenditure was extremely small. William only had 60 Mana before the Tribtion started, but at this rate he would only spend half of it by the time the Tribtion was over! The first Lightning boltnded on the umbre artifact, scattering into many tiny sparks. The sparks bypassed the artifact, but were stopped by William''s Hard Skin with no difficulty. William''s eyes gleamed. He became a bit greedy for the artifact, but mentally restrained himself since Elder Tianshen had been good to him so far. William defended against the remaining two strikes without an issue, even though the third strike was at the peak of the Core Formation Realm. The clouds subsided for the third time since the beginning of thepetition, and William returned the artifact to Elder Tianshen with a grateful smile. If not for the artifact''s help, William probably would have had to reveal some of his secrets to survive the Tribtion. "Thank you Elder, this was a huge help." William bowed respectfully. Elder Tianshen nodded. "You''re very lucky the judges allowed me to help you. That being said, we will still be reducing your final score by 20 points. Let me see those pills so we can evaluate them." William nodded and handed over the four Iron Stomach Pills. Elder Arthur and the others inspected the pills closely and didn''t find any issues. Elder Arthur announced the results. "Your initial score would be 100 points. Minus 20 for receiving help during the Tribtion, but plus 6 for refining 3 extra Tier 4 pills. An additional +10 for refining a pill one Tier above the requirement. Your total score is 96 points!" Chapter 85: Attention, An Angry Mob Appears? William was overjoyed to hear he would still earn 96 points despite Elder Tianshen''s help during the Tribtion. He quickly took a peek at the remaining Alchemist''s cauldrons, pleasantly surprised to find no one capable of stealing his number one spot. While he waited for the others to finish, the System message he had been waiting for finally appeared. --UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL-- SYSTEM RANK: (E --> E+) -177 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup Next rank up: 9823PP *New features avable -Potential Farm: The Host can now purchase a mental farm that will award daily Potential Points depending on its rank. The rank of the farm cannot exceed the System Rank. *New Changes: -System has reached version 1.6, and has increased the chance of Rare Talents appearing from Talent Shop purchases. -Host earned Potential Points during the System Upgrade. Detecting rewards... The final System message relieved William. He was worried that the System wouldn''t give him any Potential Points because of the upgrade. Thankfully, the System was only stupid sometimes. -The stupid System can hear your thoughts. Idiot. The System is all powerful and amazing with no ws whatsoever! William praised. -Hmph. William sighed mentally and read through the new features. There wasn''t much, but he was very interested in the Potential Farm function. System, show the Potential Farm. -Still calcting Potential Points rewards, please wait... Ugh okay. William wasn''t sure why the System was taking so long, but he didn''tin, lest the System decides to reduce his reward. He invited Yuming over from the stands to chat while they watched the Inner Core Disciples refine their pills. The Alchemists saw this and ced some of their attention on their chat, hoping to get some timely tips. William saw what was going on and smiled, but he had no intention of helping hispetitors this time. After all, a Silver-Ranked Fire Root was at stake. -Evaluationpleted. Issuing rewards.. -Survived a Heavenly Tribtion: +10 PP -Refined a pill: +1 PP -Perfectly refined a pill: +2 PP -Refined your first Tier 4 pill: +25 PP -Perfectly refined your first Tier 4 pill: +100 PP ... -Unlocked Title: +5 PP -Trial Taker (Rare): You have transcended at least 3 Heavenly Tribtions. With great riskes great reward. 5% resistance to Heavenly Lightning, +1 Attention. Attention? What is that? William spent five points to ask the System. It was expensive, but William found it necessary. -Attention measures how much the Heavens have noticed you. The Heavens... William felt this statistic was a bit ominous. In most stories he read, the Heavens would turn out to be an evil thing that controlled the future of all creatures. If it was the same here, then William worried that his new stat would be a headache in the future. Elder Arthur''s voice awoke William from his thoughts. "Today''spetition has ended. The first ce winner is William with a score of 96 points! Disciple William, pleasee up here and ept your Fire Root." he beckoned William to approach the judges'' table. William did as instructed and epted a Silver-Ranked Fire Root that was identical to the one Lu Bingying and Yuming received. -Discovered an Element Root: +100 PP Elder Arthur mistook the sparkle in William''s eyes for extreme gratitude. "You''ve earned it young man, now go enjoy the rest of your day." "Thank you, Elder." William stored the Fire Root safely in his Space Ring and retrieved his share of the refined pills. He now had two Tier 4 Iron Stomach Pills, two Tier 3 Mana Gathering Pills, and two Tier 2 Soul Refinement Pills. Now that the pills have been refined, William didn''t have to worry about storing them in his Space Ring. Unless he repeatedly stored and removed them, the pills would have nearly the same effect when consumed. William bade Yuming and the Elders farewell, then went back to his residence. He wanted to use the Fire Root as soon as possible. Of course, not everything can go as nned. Standing outside William''s residence was a group of female Outer Core Disciples wearing angry expressions. He didn''t recognize any of them, so he assumed they weren''t from the newest batch of disciples. One of the girls noticed William and pointed in his direction, "There he is!" William was even more confused now. He approached the group of girls, "What are you all doing outside my house?" "You know what you did, you shameless asshole!" a girl with long blue hair snapped. "Uh...no I don''t. Who are you?" "You''re a new disciple so obviously you don''t recognize me. I am Jeanine, but there is no way you can use that excuse on Miss Rin!" William had no clue what Jeanine was talking about. "Miss Rin?" "I said you can''t use that excuse! There''s not a person on this continent that hasn''t heard of the youngest granddaughter of Supreme Left!" "Ok, she''s someone popr. What does that have to do with me?" William was bing slightly annoyed at this ridiculous group of fangirls. Jeanine ced a hand on her hip and huffed. "It has everything to do with you! You can''t honestly tell me you don''t investigate your opponent before you challenge the Ranking Board, right?" The pieces clicked in William''s mind. So that''s it...how does this happen every time?!? -Maybe the Host should consider reading for once. Since when did you be so talkative? -Hmph! William ignored the System that was obviously never on his side. He looked at Jeanine seriously, "I''m guessing the person ranked 301st on the Ranking Board is this "Miss Rin", but why does it matter if I challenged her?" "No one is allowed to challenge her! Are you an idiot?" William scratched his head. "Then why is she on the Ranking Board if I can''t challenge her?" "Well..." Jeanine didn''t know how to exin all this. Obviously William was an idiot that identally picked Miss Rin as her opponent. Her angry tone lessened, "If it was really a mistake, then just revoke your challenge." Now William became angry. "I don''t care who she is! I''m not canceling the challenge. Besides, she epted it herself. Obviously she is also willing to fight me!" Again Jeanine was left speechless. "Well, don''t say I didn''t warn you! You better pray that she isn''t injured during your fight, or there will be consequences." William waved his hand to dismiss the group, then entered his residence. They couldn''t chase him inside because of the Arrays, so they were forced to leave or stand by for no reason. William pondered what the girl said while making dinner for himself and Atticus. Jeanine was unnecessarily angry, but her words were reasonable. Clearly Miss Rin wasn''t challenged very often and was very popr within the Sect. The granddaughter of Supreme Left, huh? Howe out of all the disciples in this Sect, I happened to pick the one person that could bring even more powerful enemies to my doorstep? The challenge wasn''t going to take ce until two days from now anyway, so William still had some time to change his mind. Right now, it was better to focus on the Alchemypetition. I will bepeting against Yuming and Lu Bingying tomorrow...I hope they don''t get too upset when I win... Chapter 86: Potential Farm System, show me the Potential Farm. ¡ª¡ª¡ª FARM MENU: -Purchase Potential Farm: 100 PP *One time note: The Potential Farm will award Potential Points daily. As the rank of the Farm increases, the amount of Potential Points awarded will also increase. The farm cannot be upgraded higher than the rank of the System itself. Farms: 0/1 ¡ª¡ª¡ª It doesn''t tell me how many Potential Points I will get per day though... The price was affordable, so William decided it wouldn''t hurt to test the Potential Farm out. Purchase the Potential Farm. --PURCHASING FARM-- A mental picture of a small field appeared in William''s mind. In the corner on a single plot, he watched as a purple acorn was nted and quickly grew into a small sapling. --Potential Farm Purchased-- The System automatically refreshed the Farm panel for William to see. ¡ª¡ª¡ª FARM MENU: -Purchase Potential Farm: 100 PP Farms: 1/1 -Potential Farm: F (1000PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª William expected the Farm to start at E Rank, but it didn''t seem to count as a talent. It also appeared that simr to the ask function, purchasing a farm didn''t put any progress towards the next System upgrade, which was a bit disappointing. The purchase option for the Potential Farm was still there, but William had already filled his only farm slot. He would probably need to upgrade the System again before he could buy more farms. Next on the list was William''s newly acquired Fire Root. He pulled it out of his Space Ring, inspecting it with interest. How do I use this? He tried a few different methods, but ended up spending a point to ask the System when he was unsessful. -Eat it. "Really? That''s it?" -That''s it. "Hm." William did as he was told, taking a big bite out of the Fire Root. It was somewhat hard at first, but when his saliva came in contact with the surface it began to melt in his mouth. William swallowed the Fire Root, which started to heat up as it traveled to his stomach. Before it got too far, the feeling suddenly disappeared and William''s Fire Element Mana in his body became restless. The restlessness became an itch that William could only satisfy by releasing a few fireballs. He tried to restrain its power, but still managed to set his bed on fire. William cursed as he used the Water Element to douse the me, both extinguishing the bed and soaking it. The itchy feeling hadn''t subsided yet. William resorted to creating dozens of tiny fireballs to detonate in the air. He continued this until his Mana waspletely spent and the itchiness subsided. William gasped for breath. No one warned him that the Fire Root to be so aggressive! Even so, the pain wasn''t anything close to what William experienced when he upgraded his Fire Affinity in the past. While shooting off the fireballs, William could tell that the strength of his Fire Magic was at least 20 percent stronger. With the improvements from his various Titles, William could probably kill a Golden Core Beast with his Fire Element now! This was a massive increase, since he could previously only fight Golden Core enemies at close range with the help of Arrays. He did, however, notice that his Mana was running out extraordinarily quicklytely, but it was still within manageable levels. It wouldn''t be a bad idea to consider upgrading his Mana Regeneration Talent soon. With the Farm purchased and the Fire Root absorbed, William had just one more task toplete. There was plenty of time before dinner, so he traveled to the Great Hall to visit Jur. The Great Hall wasn''t just for Cultivation Techniques. There were also thousands of books stored on the shelves,pletely free for the disciples to read from as long as the books didn''t leave the building. There was a specific set of books William was looking for. "Oh, if it isn''t Disciple William!" Old Jur immediately recognized him. "Hello, Old Jur." William replied. "I haven''t seen you since a few days ago with the assassin business. What do you need?" "I''m just looking for some books to read if you don''t mind, Sir." "Oh please, I told you to be less formal with me son. Go right ahead, the books are all over there." he pointed to a separate wing next to the Cultivation Techniques. "Thank you, Old Jur." William headed in the direction Jur pointed out and began searching the shelves. It wasn''t long before Will found what he was looking for. "History of the Thieves'' Guild. This sounds about right." Will made quite a few enemies thest few weeks, and he didn''t n to stay idle much longer. As someone close to him once said, offense is the best defense. William grabbed the book off the shelves and sat down with it in a corner. The System could answer a lot of questions for William, but it would cost a lot of Potential Points and sometimes he didn''t know what to ask. It was much cheaper to use the Sect''s library. He spent a few hours reading carefully through the entire book, searching for anything interesting that could give William an advantage. He learned a lot of general information from a group of bandits near Blue Moon City, but he needed more than that. A few page flipster, William found something useful. Written on a page was a list of previously known Thieves'' Guild hideouts and some resources they controlled. The book was a few years old, but some things would never change. William pulled out the map he previously bought from the market and did a quickparison. He marked off locations of interest where there was a high density of Thieves'' Guild activity previously. He then used a dozen potential points to ask the System a series of questions that would fill the gaps in his information, further refining the map. His work was shoddy, but William felt he had done a decent enough job. If someone else looked at the map they might not understand, but at least Will could read it. He closed the book and searched for information on the Pirs of Justice from the other books. This was a much easier task, since the organization didn''t hide from society like the Thieves'' Guild. William didn''t need to mark their locations on the map, since they had a headquarters in pretty much every major city. Instead, William studied theirbat techniques. Public knowledge suggested the Pirs of Light used many unique abilities rted to the Light Element, but a quick answer from the System told William that was just the beginning. The Pirs of Light also used a powerful soul-based attack that would knock their enemies unconscious, or even wipe away their consciousness in some extreme cases. It was a very brutal Technique, very unlike the righteous organization they imed to be. That Technique reminds me of Filipe''s eyes. I wonder if there''s a connection... William thought. He put away the books and mulled over the information he just learned. The Thieves'' Guild and the Pirs of Justice were formidable enemies, but William was finally confident that he had a chance. I''ll focus on the Thieves'' Guild for now, but first I will need a lot of Potential Points... Chapter 87: Sabotage William finished up in the Great Hall and took a trip to Wild Clover for a quick meal before heading home for some rest. -Potential Farm: +3 PP He woke up early in the morning to see that the Potential Farm had already yielded results. It seemed that the Potential Farm would give him points at the same time each day. 3 Potential Points per day? So I will make back my investment in just over a month... William found this to be a pretty good deal, especially since Cultivators tended to spend a long time in secluded Cultivation. This would at least ensure that William was always earning Potential Points and wouldn''t always have to go out and cull the local Magical Beast poption when he was running low. That being said, William didn''t n to upgrade the Potential Farm anytime soon. He walked to the Alchemy Hall like the previous few days and prepared for the final day of the Alchemy Competition. Yuming was waiting for him. "Are you ready to lose to me today?" he teased. "In your dreams!" William walked inside together with Yuming and took his usual seat on the stage. Yuming gave him an apologetic look, "Sorry Will, I''m going to sit far away. Who knows what kind of Tribtion you will summon this time? I at least want to score in the top three!" William nodded in understanding. He wasn''t going to give up on the first-ce rewards, so he was more than prepared to do exactly what Yuming and the others feared. He cracked his knuckles and brought out the cauldron that Yuming had let him keep after yesterday''spetition. Most of the otherpetitors were present already, even though the stage was only around half full. There would only be fifty Alchemists on the stage today, who previously ced in the top 10 of their respective group. Elder Arthur stood up as soon as thest Inner Core Disciple took his seat. "You''ve all done well to make it this far. Today marks the final day of the Annual Alchemy Competition, so be sure to do your best to win the grand prize of a Gold-Ranked Fire Root!" Elder Arthur''s words made the Alchemists cheer. This was the most generous Alchemy Competition in thest dozen years or so. They eagerly listened to Elder Arthur''s next set of instructions. "Of course with a greater rewardes greater challenge. We, the judges, believe that each and every one of you possess the talent and ability to refine Tier 4 pills, and so that is the requirement to move on to the next phase of thepetition." he looked directly at William with a slight smile. William guessed that the Alchemy Hall had raised the bar since he perfectly refined a Tier 4 pill the previous day, while the Inner Core Disciples carried mixed expressions of surprise, shock, and worry. "How can this be the requirement for just the first phase? Are they trying to eliminate all of us right from the beginning so that no one gets the reward?" one Alchemist spoke quietly to the group around him. A few other conversations started across the room, but they were quickly silenced with a word from Elder Arthur. "Alright, be quiet. You will be free to refine any pill you like, as long as you are confident, and the pills are not too expensive. Are there any questions before we begin?" No one spoke, so Elder Arthur gave the go ahead. William was stuck in another dilemma. Since the Alchemy Hall always provided him some of the extra pills he refined, he wanted to make something that would be beneficial to him. He didn''t know what he needed, so he asked the System, which rmended the Tier 4 Saturation Pill. It wasn''t very useful to Cultivators since they didn''t need to eat, but a Saturation Pill could even be consumed by a normal person and would keep their stomachs full for an entire week even at Tier 1. At Tier 4, the Saturation Pill would satiate a normal person for an entire year! William quickly wrote down the ingredients and called for Elder Tianshen. "This is what you want to refine?" Elder Tianshen was surprised. William chose a fairly simple Tier 4 pill recipe, and the ingredients weren''t veryplicated. What was the boy getting at? Is he doing this because he doesn''t want to upset the judges during the final day? It was the only exnation Elder Tianshen could think of. He smiled at William, and fetched an Inner Core Disciple that was serving as Yuming''s recement. Within a few minutes, the ingredients were in front of William: Two thighs of a Spirit Hog, a dozen pieces of Mana Grass, and a Luminous Pearl. Unlike before, there was no problem with the materials, and he didn''t sense any form of sabotage. Maybe the Iron Root from yesterday just happened to be damaged and it was all a coincidence... William was still going to y it safe. He picked up the Luminous Pearl and set it in the cauldron first to melt down. He chopped the Spirit Hog thighs into small bits, then threw them into the cauldron as well with the Mana Grass. With that, all William had to do was carefully control his Mana cirction when stirring the cauldron, and the pills would be refined. While William was stirring, though, he noticed that the difficulty of stirring the cauldron was increasing. This wasn''t listed in the recipe; this was something else. He inspected the cauldron while trying to maintain his speed, but couldn''t find any problems. The stirring became more and more difficult until it felt as if William was trying to stir a thick msses. He performed a simple inspection on himself using Life Sense, and that''s when William noticed that there was a thick ck tar inside his joints that would normally be impossible to detect. He panicked and almost lost control of his cauldron. Elder Tianshen noticed something was wrong but didn''t interfere since William was in the process of refinement. William''s arms became more and more useless until he could barely move them.I have to do something! His mind spun as he desperately tried to resolve his current situation. He could call for help, but the pill ingredients would be lost before anyone could assist him. He thought of a solution. William forced a slow hand movement and called some Mana to his fingers, creating a strand of Wind Element Mana on each fingertip. He controlled the Mana to take hold of the cauldron''sdle and physically let go, allowing the Wind Element Mana to do all the work. -Developed aplex new spell: +5 Potential Points -New Spell: Wind Grasp Sess! William was able to stabilize the ingredients with Wind Magic, but the Mana expenditure wasn''t small. "Elder Tianshen!" he called out with a slight sense of urgency. The Elder rushed over, noticing something was wrong with the talented young man, his arms hanging limply by his side while Mana of the Wind Element stirred the cauldron for him. It was obvious that William wasn''t doing this to show off. "What is it?" "I can''t move my arms. I think someone did something to me!" Chapter 88: Cursed Elder Tianshen inspected William''s body but couldn''t find anything unusual except that it was difficult to move William''s arms. They had be stiff, like rocks. "Elder Fuxi!" Elder Tianshen called out. Elder Fuxi turned his attention away from an Alchemist to see Elder Tianshen standing next to William. His eyes became solemn, and he rushed over when he noticed William''s arms hanging by his side. "What happened to him?" Elder Tianshen shook his head. "I don''t know but his arms aren''t moving. You have the Life Element, can you sense anything?" Elder Fuxi sent some Life Mana into William''s arms to inspect the area. The results came back worse than he expected. "It''s a curse, and a powerful one at that. I have only seen this a few times in my life. Boy, who did you upset so much that they would do this to you?" William didn''t know the answer to Elder Fuxi''s question. "I''m not sure which one it is, but I''ve made a few enemies recently." Elder Fuxi turned serious. "List them out, I might be able to help you if I know who the source is." William tried to keep his voice low. "Uh...the Rhio Ancient Family, the Thieves'' Guild, the Pirs of Justice, some kid named Briar from a noble family, most of the new disciples...that''s about it." What do you mean, that''s it?!? You''ve hardly narrowed it down at all! And how did you manage to anger both the most righteous and the most criminal organizations on the Continent? Elder Fuxi was speechless, but tried to keep his calm as this was a serious situation. "Well if I had to guess, I''d say the Thieves'' Guild ced this curse on you. It''s one of their most signature abilities. But the question is, how could you havee into contact with them? A curse usually takes a few days to develop..." Elder Fuxi''sst sentence made William think about the other night. "Well, an assassin came to visit me a few days ago, and one of the Elders told me she belonged to the Thieves'' Guild. It must have been that night." He must be the one I heard about the other day. It all makes sense now... "I see. In that case, I will call a specialist that is proficient in curses from the Thieves'' Guild. You don''t appear to be in any imminent danger, hang on a little while longer." he stepped to the side and dialed on hismunicator. "It''s Elder Fuxi. I need a Curse Mage to treat an Outer Core Disciple. It''s not too urgent, he''ll live. Okay thank you." He put away themunicator, "Disciple William, someone will be here in half an incense stick. Can you still continue, or would you like to forfeit thepetition?" Forfeit? No way! I''m not missing out on these Potential Points! "I can still continue, Elder." William cooled the ingredients in his cauldron and started condensing it into a pill. Elder Fuxi was left speechless by William''s determination and skill. This was his first time seeing a mere Outer Core Disciple using his Magic to refine pills. He nodded his head and returned to attend to the other Alchemists, while Elder Tianshen remained by William''s side in case there were any furtherplications. William was touched by Elder Tianshen''s attitude. He sessfully condensed the pill, but the curse caused him to be a few points shy of perfect refinement, so no Tribtion was present this time. -Refined a pill: +1 PP That''s it? The Thieves'' Guild is going to pay for this! William was depressed. The rewards for refining a pill weren''t very goodpared to before. He essentially lost out on 12 more Potential Points and progress towards two of his Titles. He allowed Elder Tianshen to inspect the pills and was even more depressed when he received a score of 90 and only refined two pills with the ingredients. He should have been able to make at least four! Thankfully it was only the first phase of thepetition, and William still scored in the top five. Lu Bingying received a score of 94 and Yuming scored 93 points, which was mostly thanks to absorbing the Fire Roots that greatly improved their control of the Fire Element. The first phase of thepetition waspleted, with only thirteen Alchemists sessfully refining Tier 4 pills. The remainder were doomed to failure as their time ran out without a single passing score. Elder Arthur moved on to the second phase of thepetition. The Alchemists were now required to refine a specific Tier 4 pill, and only the top three scorers would continue to the final round. William looked at an ingredients list that the Elders handed to him.Three Blood Frog''s Tongue, an Iron Root, and two Greater ManaGrass.So it''s just a Tier 4 Blood Replenishment Pill, huh? Easy enough. William assumed the Elders picked out the Tier 4 Blood Replenishment Pill since thepeting Alchemists were already familiar with its refinement process. I have less than half an hour before someone can heal my arms, and who knows how long that will take. I don''t have a choice, I can''t start the refinement process like this, I''ll definitely fail! William decided to prepare the ingredients beforehand using some Mana. He used the Wind Element to slice up each Blood Frog''s Tongue, then set them aside while he mashed the Greater Mana Grass into a paste. Just as he finished the second step, an Inner Core Disciple walked into the Alchemy Hall and approached the judges'' table. "Where is the cursed individual?" he asked. Elder Fuxi pointed the Disciple towards William and Elder Tianshen. "It''s that boy over there." The Disciple nodded. He approached William and began inspecting his arms, where he came to the same conclusion as Elder Fuxi. "It seems you have a Minor Immobilization Curse. This is quite simple, but I''m surprised it took this long for it to take effect. Usually this type of Curse activates within an hour, but you say the assassin visited your residence a few days ago?" William nodded. He also wasn''t sure. The Inner Core Disciple didn''t ask further and proceeded to heal William''s arms using a dark substance that invaded William''s body, wiping out the simr substance that was currently rock solid between his joints. -Discovered Curse Magic: +1 Potential Points "There you are. Good as new. Try not to anger any powerful factions again, the Sect isn''t omnipotent." The Inner Core Disciple stood up from his position and reported his findings to the judges'' table. Elder Fuxi thanked him for his time and dismissed the Disciple. With his arm fully healed, William was able to sessfully refine pills again, so he got to work on the Tier 4 Blood Replenishment Pill. The process was quite simr to the Tier 4 Iron Stomach Pill, except William didn''t need to enhance the Iron Root into a Steel Root. He just poured the ingredients into the cauldron, stirred asionally, and condensed the ingredients into four deep red pills with two golden star symbols. Of course, William had a Tribtion to pass before he could im his refined product from the cauldron. Chapter 89: The Finals The thick dark clouds gathered in the sky and pressured William with Heavenly Might. Elder Tianshen brought out his umbre artifact again and was prepared to assist William, but refrained from doing so when William shook his head. "You don''t need to help me this time, Elder. I can manage on my own." Elder Tianshen felt William was only saying this because he didn''t want to lose points again, but he couldn''t really stop the boy from attempting the Tribtion, and it wasn''t his ce to step in when William already said no. "Okay...be careful." Elder Tianshen stepped away from William and sat with the judges to avoid being targeted by the Tribtion. The first Heavenly Lightning bolt brewed, emitting a dense pressure at the early stages of the Core Formation Realm. The power was no different than the Tier 4 Iron Stomach Pill that William refined the day before and struck down on him with great intensity. The Heavenly Lightning shed with William''s reinforced skin, greatly weakening before it managed to enter his body. Since he recently received a boost, William decided to use the Fire Element to battle the Heavenly Lightning. The results were better than he expected. After absorbing the Fire Root the previous day, William''s Fire Mana had improved by leaps and bounds. With just a small amount of Mana, the Fire Elementpletely wiped out the Heavenly Lightning that previously exhausted all of William''s Mana when he used the Lightning Element. It made sense when William thought about it. Although the Lightning Element was the best counter to Heavenly Lightning, his Lightning Affinity was only C Rank. It was a far cry from his A Rank Fire Affinity that was enhanced by a Fire Root. Elder Tianshen was surprised to see William in much better shape than he was the previous day. It seemed that the Fire Root was of great use to a Manamatus. William tanked the second bolt of Heavenly Lightning with his body, exhausting arge chunk of his Mana to defend against the mid-Core Formation Realm Lightning. He realized that he wouldn''t have enough Mana to defend against the next Tribtion if he used it on the final strike, so William decided it was time to reveal another of his Talents to the Sect. With a simplemand, William released his Forcefield that had remained hidden for a long time. No one noticed anything at first, probably because of his Stealth Talent that suppressed his ambient Mana, but when the third Heavenly Lightning struck William, there was an obvious difference. Instead of shing with his skin first, the Lightning Bolt hovered just a centimeter away from his skin and couldn''t progress further. Eventually, there was a loud noise like the shattering of ss as his Forcefield failed to keep up. The remainder of the Heavenly Lightning was defended against by his reinforced skin, leaving Williampletely unharmed against a Tribtion that previously required Elder Tianshen''s artifact. -Survived a Heavenly Tribtion: +10 PP The judges were silent as they wondered how William could have improved so much in just a day. He went from barely surviving a Tier 3 Tribtion alone to effortlessly defending against a Tier 4 Tribtion, it was insane! Elder Tianshen went over to William. "You grew quite a bit since yesterday. Impressive!" William scratched his head, "I''ve hardly improved at all, I was just more prepared this time." The Elder felt it made sense.So he just overexerted himself yesterday, huh? That makes more sense... "Even so, it''s truly impressive that someone who hasn''t even Cultivated yet cane so far. Your Talent is nothing short of genius!" he spoke with a smile before taking William''s pills to be evaluated with a score of 106 points. He handed William two of the extra pills he refined as per usual. -Refined a pill: +1 PP -Perfectly refined a pill: +2 PP With William''s Tribtion over, there were only five minutes remaining until the time was up. Most of the Alchemists were still refining their pills, but Yuming, Lu Bingying, and an unknown female Cultivator with short red hair were finished already. The time passed quickly, and no one else finished their pills in time so Elder Arthur stood up to make his announcement. "The time has passed, and there are four Alchemists remaining. Since he has the lowest score of 88 points, Yuming has been eliminated from the second round. The current scores are: William, with 106 points; Lu Bingying with 91 points; Mia, with 90 points. The final round will begin after a ten-minute break to recover your energy. Your task this time will be to refine a Tier 4 Poison Resistance Pill. You may take this time to request the materials you think you need, then begin once the timer has started!" William got to work writing down the ingredients he needed. ording to the System, he could use either two or three bags of Neutralizing Powder, but using three bags would be harder to refine. That being said, it would also give him the highest score and if done sessfully, would result in another perfect refinement. The choice was obvious. William requested the ingredients and began the moment the timer started. First, he poured a batch of Poison Frog''s Skin into the cauldron, then refined two Iron Roots into Steel Roots, which would increase his sess rate. He ced both materials into the cauldron, then heated them up to the extreme with his powerful Fire Magic. Once the liquid began to cool down, William took the Neutralizing powder and quickly poured all three bags into the cauldron at the same time, making sure not to allow it to react with the Steel Root too early, else it renders itselfpletely useless. The operation was a sess, allowing William to safely condense all the ingredients into five yellow-green pills each carrying two golden stars. Unsurprisingly, William triggered yet another Heavenly Tribtion, but the other two Alchemists were fully prepared by the time it began. They stabilized their cauldrons well in advance to preserve their ingredients at their peak condition. Like before, William used the Hard Skin Talent to defend against the first strike, while his Fire Mana countered the second. His Forcefield stopped the third, showing the Elders that William''s previous sess wasn''t a fluke at all. In fact, he had be even more ustomed to the process, allowing him to spend even less Fire Mana this time. -Survived a Heavenly Tribtion: +10 PP Elder Tianshen brought his pills to the judges'' table to evaluate, raising a brow when he found that William had refined an extra pillpared tost time. "108 points go to William!" Elder Arthur called out, crushing the hopes of both Lu Bingying and Mia. So far, neither of them had perfectly refined a pill, even at Tier 2! The difficulty spike between Tiers wasn''t just a difference of one plus one equals two. No, it was much greater than that! Yet, William still managed to effortlessly clear each phase of thepetition with all but one perfectly refined pill. It was insane! -Refined a pill: +1 PP -Perfectly refined a pill: +2 PP --Upgraded Title: +3 Potential Points -Alchemist (Rare): You have perfectly refined five unique pills, making a name for yourself among your Alchemy Peers. Pills of all Ranks will be 10% easier to refine. 16 more Potential Points and a Title upgrade, nice!William was profiting greatly from this Alchemy Competition. He was starting to think maybe his first experience with the Alchemy Hall was just a terrible coincidence. It seemed his luck this time around wasn''t so bad at all! Chapter 90: Acrobatics Thin Creek Vige Guild Hall. "Jenny, it''s happening again!" Jenny was furiously scribbling in a notebook of hers at the receptionist desk when she heard the urgent call from a middle-aged man wearing farmer''s clothing. She raised her head rmingly. "How many is it this time?" "Over a hundred, I''m afraid." The farmer''s expression was full of worry, "Miss Jenny, I don''t think we can keep enduring this. The Wind Wolves are increasing in number every day, eventually even you won''t be able to help us. Can''t you ask the Guild Master to do something about it?" "I''ve already informed him, but he can''t do much either. He''s working to send some Golden Core Cultivators our way, but Blue Moon City is also dealing with an outbreak from the Foam Desert." The farmer became angry. "Golden Core? Bah!" he spat on the ground. "Who knows how long they will stay in a damned ce like this!" "I know, but it''s all we can do for now..." Jenny knew the situation better than the farmer. The Guild Master entered the Livingwood Forest to clear the Wind Wolves a few days ago, but the situation was already like this. Without the Cores, the Livingwood Forest had be a deathtrap for humans and Cultivators alike! "We can just leave, Miss Jenny. This vige is doomed anyway. It''s only a matter of time before they break through the protection Array. That Torc fellow is defending the basket weaver''s house right now, said something about protecting that peasant boy''s family. Torc''s bravery ismendable, but I''m not willing toy down my life for the sake of others!" "I can''t do that. I''ve been here my whole life and I have no intention of going out. Besides, even if something happens to the vige, there is no way the Wind Wolves can enter the Guild Hall." her expression became serious. "Tell me where the Wind Wolves are, I''ll go clear them out." *** Blue Moon City, Array Hall. "Activate the Guardian Statues! The Magical Beasts must not break through the Outer Wall!" the Head Array Master ordered. "Yes Sir!" a series of Array Masters including Fowley weaved a few signs, activating the Arrays on half a dozen stone statues in the courtyard. The statues cracked, shattering into pieces as fierce beings emerged from the stone like hatching from an egg. They flew above the walls of the city with trails of red light and disappeared into the horizon, their intense aura gradually dissipating. Elder Fowley wiped away the sweat from his forehead.Hopefully this is enough to hold them back today, we only have a few dozen Guardian Statues left... *** The Alchemy Competition ended not long after William finished refining his pill. Mia ced third, scoring 97 points, and Lu Bingying ced second, almost perfectly refining her pill for a score of 99. Both disciples gave it their all topete with William, but his score of 108 points couldn''t be easily topped. Mia trudged to the exit of the Alchemy Hall, dissatisfied with her reward of 500 contribution points and thirty Mana Stones. Being of noble descent, Mia didn''tck money. She gave William an angry re before leaving the Hall. Lu Bingying was also quite sad that she didn''t receive the grand prize, but she knew William deserved it, even if he did enter thepetitionte. She epted a reward of a thousand contribution points, fifty Mana Stones, and a Silver-Ranked Fire Root. Elder Arthur called up William next, awarding him two thousand contribution points, a hundred Mana Stones, and the Gold-Ranked Fire Root, nearly doubling William''s reserve of Mana Stones. -Discovered an Element Root: +100 PP -System Quest Completed: +250 PP Now I have enough Potential Points to for the upgrade! William thanked Elder Arthur and the other judges for the rewards and spent a few minutes cleaning up with Yuming since it was still technically part of his assignment. Today marked thest day William needed to be in the Alchemy Hall, so it was better to leave a good impression. Elder Tianshen approached William with a smile. "Congrattions on winning thepetition, young man. Remember that you are still a member of the Alchemy Hall, so feel free to stop by and refine some pills. We will be sure to reward you properly with plenty of Mana Stones, much more than many other Halls in the Sect." William nodded, "Thank you, Elder. I will be on my way now since there are still some things left to do." Elder Tianshen seemed to recall something. "Oh right, you probably need to prepare for your Ranking Challenge tomorrow. Good luck!" "You heard about my challenge?" "Practically the whole Sect knows! After all, Miss Ren is rarely challenged, that''s why she''s remained in position 301 for the past four years!" Four years? William had a bad feeling about this fight. From what he knew, most Outer Core Disciples became Inner Core Disciples within 4 years of entering the Sect. For someone of her status to remain in one spot for four years could only mean two things. Either she was not very talented in Cultivation, or she didn''t care about the rewards. Elder Tianshen noticed William''s expression, "Don''t worry too much about it. She may be strong but at the end of the day she is a member of our Sect. There''s nothing wrong with losing to a peer." Elder Tianshen was right, it wouldn''t do much good to think about it. William would do his best to win, regardless of the oue. "Okay Elder, I''ll be off now." William returned to his residence for some lunch with Atticus. While eating, he made sure to spend most of the Potential Points he earned from the Alchemy Competition. ''System, upgrade my Bnce, Flexibility, and Jumping Talents to B Rank.'' -390 Potential Points ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Bnce: (E --> D) Bnce: (D --> C) Bnce: (C --> B) Next rank up: 250PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Flexibility: (E --> D) Flexibility: (D --> C) Flexibility: (C --> B) Next rank up: 250PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Jumping: (E --> D) Jumping: (D --> C) Jumping: (C --> B) Next rank up: 250PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Before William even had a chance to test out his increased jump height and flexibility, the System posted another message in the corner of his view. --Requirements met for a Talent Upgrade. Please wait... William watched the System Panel as his Speed, Bnce, Flexbility, and Jumping Talents disappeared one by one. His body began to slow down, until it had dropped to the peak of the Qi Refinement Realm. -Talent Upgraded: Speed, Bnce, Flexibility, and Jumping Talents have merged. -Talent Lost: Speed -Talent Lost: Bnce -Talent Lost: Flexibility -Talent Lost: Jumping -Talent Unlocked: Acrobatics -Unlocked your first Rare Physical Talent: +5 PP ... -Detected merged Talents were B Rank. Upgrading Acrobatics Talent... The wave of System messages filled William''s view. Before he had time to react to one message, another would pop up. The Acrobatics Talent upgraded from E Rank all the way to B Rank, filling William''s body with overwhelming energy. His speed sharply increased with each Rank, only stopping when William could move at the peak of the Golden Core Realm. If he was this fast when the Rhio Ancient Family chased him through Blue Moon City, they wouldn''tst more than a minute beforepletely losing sight of William. It wasn''t just his speed that improved. William''s other talents improved as well, to a point where William believed he could perform anyplicated maneuver that a gymnast could think of, whether it was front flips, double backflips, or even the Produnova Vault, aplicated maneuver in the gymnasticsmunity known as the "Vault of Death". Chapter 91: Yu Ren William scrolled through the System Panel to check the requirements for the next Acrobatics upgrade. To upgrade it to A Rank, William would need 750 Potential Points since it was a Rare Talent. The deal didn''t seem too bad when you thought about it though, since he was essentially upgrading four improved Common Talents for the price of three. With the Acrobatics Talent gained, William checked his Potential Points and was disappointed to see he only had 232 remaining. With nothing useful to upgrade with them, William moved on to the Gold-Ranked Fire Root. He quickly absorbed the item, his mouth and body heating up as the liquified Root entered his digestive system. The process only took a few minutes and wasn''t any more painful than the Silver-Ranked Fire Root. That being said, the results were still very impressive. The strength and his control over the Fire Element improved by another twenty percent, which was surprising since William knew the effects of each Root of the same Element that he consumed would have diminishing effects. If he ate the Gold-Ranked Fire Root first, the improvement might have been around thirty or even thirty-five percent! Even so, the order in which the treasures were consumed likely didn''t matter. William spent the remainder of his day in the library, reading about the status of different factions within the Continent and updating his map. He managed to locate a book that spoke of the Rhio Ancient Family, so he made sure to mark their family estate just in case. *** The next day. Five Elements Sect Battle Arena. William entered the Arena just ten minutes before the battle was supposed to start. Unlike his battle with Kevin a few days prior, the spectator stands werepletely packed. Whether it was Outer Core, Inner Core, or Elders, the entire Sect seemed to catch wind that William was fighting today. He would be ttered, but Will knew that they were mostly all here because of his opponent that was already in position. Miss Ren, as people knew her, was a very elegant woman. Her blonde hair was curled into springs that hung on both sides of her head, while her disciple''s uniform was anything but normal. Instead of the usual blue or pure white robes that other Outer Core Disciples would wear, hers was bright pink with a few tinges of silvery-white, a small golden cross stitched into the left shoulder that reminded William of the symbol he saw when investigating Supreme Left. Miss Ren smiled elegantly at William, but her eyes suggested this event wasn''t worth her time. She motioned to one of three Elders that would be acting as a referee for this fight, to which they nodded and approached William. "Please take your position, Miss Ren does not have much time." William nodded, finding their attitudes to be incredibly rude. He took his position opposite Miss Ren, while the Elder issued a countdown for the battle to begin. "The match between William and Yu Ren will start in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Begin!" Yu Ren released her aura, emitting the pressure of a Core Formation Realm expert right from the beginning. She gathered her Mana to her left palm, shooting out a Wind de the size of a small car. William made use of his new Acrobatics Talent to do a front flip, leaping over the Wind de with extreme precision and rushing towards Yu Ren. He gathered Mana of the Wind Element in his palm, releasing a nearly identical Wind de at her. Yu Ren''s eyes widened in surprise as she didn''t expect William to sessfully dodge her attack, much lessunch an attack of his own. She dodged the Wind de, then switched to the Water Element, forming a massive wave in front of her and pushing it in William''s direction. Again, William elegantly jumped over the attack, surprising both Yu Ren and the audience. That wave was six-meters tall, nearly the height of a two-story building! They watched as William copied Yu Ren''s attack once again,unching a six-meter roaring wave in her direction. -Developed a new spell: +1 PP "Are you going to copy me the entire fight?" Yu Ren yelled out as sheunched a series of Wind des. "Why not?" William replied with a calm smile. "Hmph, copy this!" Yu Ren stopped moving and began to gather a massive amount of Mana from the surroundings. William didn''t know what she was doing, but he wasn''t going to stand idly by. Heunched a Wind de at her, hoping to disrupt the spell, but the de was stopped by a thin veil of Mana covering her entire body. A protective amulet! I should have known the rich girl has treasures on her! William was beginning to regret not investigating his opponent thoroughly. Even after he learned that he was facing against a descendant of Supreme Left, somehow William still didn''t take the time to research her while he was in the library. He continued tounch spells, but the protective amulet wasn''t showing any signs of damage. William decided to save his Mana to defend against whatever wasing next. The Mana continued to converge on Yu Ren''s figure until the density reached its peak. Her body began to glow with a pale-yellow light, then she lowered her head to speak some unfamiliar words in a low tone. Her chant ended, but nothing happened. She looked up and smiled at William''s expression. This idiot has no clue what''s about to happen. Yu Ren''s smile rmed William.She''s already attacked, but where, and how? He paid a point to ask the System. -Above you! William frantically looked to the sky. Oh shit! Raining down from above was a meteor. A. Literal. Meteor! William panicked; how could he defend against this? He gathered Mana of the Fire Element to his fingertips, using the Fire Talent to its maximum. Within seconds a fireball the size of a semi-truck was hovering over his head, which heunched at the meteor. BOOM! Sparks covered the sky as William''s giant fireball and the meteor shed. The audience was stunned at William''s ability to fight against Yu Ren, who was unofficially dered the strongest Outer Core Disciple in the Sect. Even Hanzu, who was ranked first on the Ranking Board, didn''t dare to battle with her. The explosion cleared up, allowing William to see the meteor had broken up into about a dozen smaller meteors, but were still heading in his direction. There were only a few more seconds to react, so William created an Advanced Barrier Array above him, followed by a second and a third. The meteors crashed into the third Barrier the moment it was formed, shattering it almost instantly. Are you telling me her attack is stronger than an early Golden Core Cultivator? She''s only a few years older than me! William watched in shock as the second Barrier was destroyed when two of the smaller meteors impacted, then the third Barrier fell apart shortly after. William had no choice but to cross his arms in front of him and expand his Forcefield to counter another meteor, but even that wasn''t enough. Thest meteor was a direct hit on William''s chest, his arms blown away by the impact and his body thrown to the other side of the battle Arena. Chapter 92: Yu Rens Wealth, Unkillable Cockroach? The audience was still.Is he dead? Charlotte, who was seated in the stands with some of her friends, became worried. Her eyes welled up with tears, but she held back from crying since she was in public. An Elder flew over to check William''s condition. He didn''t have to go far since William released a groan before struggling to his feet. Both of his arms were missing and there was arge gash on his chest, but William was alive! "I can''t believe it!" one of the girls next to Charlotte eximed. How did William survive such an attack when he didn''t even have any Cultivation? It was unheard of! Yu Ren was just as surprised as the audience. Only a few people had ever survived that attack of hers, and all of them had greater Cultivation. She had once killed a Golden Core expert with that attack! How did William survive? William staggered for a moment while his wounds slowly healed from the Regeneration Talent. Now wasn''t the time to be holding back, so William disyed his Life Element for all to see as he healed some broken ribs and the gash on his chest. Unfortunately, even the Life Element wasn''t enough to heal his arms by itself. He needed more healing power. System, upgrade my Regeneration Talent to B Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Regeneration: (E --> D) Regeneration: (D --> C) Regeneration: (C --> B) Next rank up: 250PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William waited for the effects of each upgrade to take effect. The D Rank Regeneration only improved the rate at which his smaller wounds healed and helped with any internal bleeding, while the C Rank was able to stop the bleeding in his arms and help to replenish his lost blood. Once the Regeneration Talent reached B Rank, however, the spectators were shocked to see both his arms begin to slowly regrow. "Is that an Innate Regeneration Talent? How lucky can this guy be!" the audience tried to count how many different abilities William used. "Not just that, but hasn''t he used four Elements already? He''s a Quad-Element Manamatus!" The stands became louder with excitement while Yu Ren watched William regrow his arms.No. I shouldn''t be letting him recover, even if he is weaker than me! She wasn''t going to take it easy on William, even if her Rank didn''t matter. It wasn''t about the Ranking Board; it was about her family''s pride. With that in mind, she gathered the surrounding Mana once again and fired a pir of light with incredible speed at William. William was still paying attention to Yu Ren while his arms regrew. Even with the Acrobatics Talent, her attack was too fast to dodge by itself, so William imbued Mana of the Wind Element into his feet to dodge the attack by a small margin. He used the time between Yu Ren''s attacks to sprint forward,unching massive fireballs from his hands at the noble girl. Her abilities were very powerful, but it seemed to take a long time to prepare each big move. Yu Ren backed up, not giving William a chance toe close. She could tell that his physical strength was immense given that he survived a meteor strike head on. She prepared another wall of Water to force William to dodge, then summoned a massive bolt of lightning from above when he jumped over the wave. William was struck by a direct hit once again, but he didn''t stop running forward. He used his own Lightning Mana topete with Yu Ren''s, sessfully neutralizing the hostile Mana after a few seconds. "That''s five Elements! He''s a Quintuple Manamatus!" someone shouted. It wasn''t surprising for Yu Ren to have many Affinities, since she was from a powerful bloodline and was a triple Manamatus before she started Cultivating, but William was different. Elder Wen and some of the other spectators even worried for William''s safety, since being too high profile was often a bad thing when you didn''t have a powerful background. Yu Ren''s eyes turned cold. This person had only one less Element than her! She was running low on Mana, so she took a Mana Gathering Pill from her Space Ring and ate it, quickly replenishing her Mana reserves. She continued to dig through her Space Ring, retrieving a glittering sword with an ornate red-yellow hilt. "She''s actually using the Light Breaker! I can''t believe it!" the audience cheered. This fight was much more exciting than they had anticipated, to which they could only thank William for being an unkible cockroach. William eyed the sword warily, but wasn''t sure what Yu Ren nned to do. She was still quite a distance away from him, so right now wasn''t exactly the best time to bring out a melee weapon. Yu Ren seemed to know what was on William''s mind. She smirked, calling the surrounding Mana for a third time to her position. Her sword began to grow in size, quickly expanding to five meters. William was already moving when he saw the dense Mana particles. While healing his arms previously, William had spent two Potential Points to ask the System how Yu Ren created that meteor spell. Thankfully, the System''s exnation was simple enough for him to be confident in replicating it. William chanted the same words that Yu Ren said before, still not knowing what they meant. He then called the surrounding Mana to himself, absorbing Mana of only the Earth and Fire Elements and condensing them until the particles were tightly packed together. He willed the Mana particles to spin, forcing them together even more until the particles were sessfully fused together. -Used Mana Fusion for the first time: +25 PP He wasn''t done yet. William willed those Mana particles to disperse until they were barely visible, then reformed them high up in the sky and packed them together to their extreme limit, expending thest bit of William''s Mana. -Developed aplex new spell: +5 PP The result was apocalyptic. Yu Ren watched with horror as a meteor almost twice the size of hers was formed in the sky, blocking out the sun with its immense size. She didn''t even have time to wonder how William managed to mimic both her chant and technique, as the meteor was crashing down at great speed. She changed the target of her now twenty-meter sword to the meteor, releasing a swift sword strike that split the meteor perfectly into two halves. Yu Ren became even more worried.That was supposed to destroy the meteor! There''s no time for anything else! She quickly flung out dozens of artifacts that were provided by her family, releasing many stored Arrays at the Advanced and Perfect level. The meteors crashed against the Arrays, destroying most of them in an instant and even putting a crack in Yu Ren''s protective amulet barrier before the meteor ran out of kic energy. Yu Ren put her hands on her knees and bent over, the stress from the near-death scenario making her stomach queasy. She managed to avoid throwing up, then collected herself and returned to a calm standing position. William was on the other end of the Arena, also exhausted. His Status disyed 3/400 Mana remaining, and he only had Mana Gathering pills, which he wasn''t even sure if they could be safely consumed by him. He looked at Yu Ren. "How can a monster like you exist in this world? Fuck." Chapter 93: High Profile "Me?!? Look at you! You''re younger than me, not even a Cultivator, and we are fighting equally!" Yu Ren lost herposure. How can this guy tell me that I''m a monster? Does he not know how to talk to ady? Yu Ren ate another Mana Gathering Pill. "You should give up. I have plenty more of these. Eventually you''ll run out of Mana." William scoffed. "I''m already out of Mana, why don''t you give up?" Everyone that heard William was confused.If you''re already out of Mana, why are you asking her to surrender? Yu Ren was also confused.He really is an idiot... William knew he was running out of options, but he didn''t want to give up.How can I turn this around? He looked through his Talents that didn''t require Mana. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Weapons: -Common: --Knife Throwing: D (25PP to next rank) --Fists: B (250PP to next rank) Physical: -Common: --Stamina: B (250PP to next rank) --Reflexes: B (250PP to next rank) --Hard Skin: A (1000PP to next rank) --Regeneration: B (250PP to next rank) --Strength: E (5PP to next rank) -Rare: --Acrobatics: B (750PP to next rank) POTENTIAL POINTS: 132 ¡ª¡ª¡ª My Strength Talent has been E Rank this whole time?William never noticed before, since his Fists Talent already had incredible power. What if hebined the effects of the two? System, upgrade my Strength Talent to B Rank. -130 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Strength: (E --> D) Strength: (D --> C) Strength: (C --> B) Next rank up: 250PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William felt his muscles bursting under his skin, tightening andpacting like a hydraulic press. His abdominal muscles became rock solid, and his calves turned firm. The strength increase was overwhelming, but the visual difference was minimal. The audience only noticed a slight bulge under William''s clothing, his robes concealing most of the change. Yu Ren''s eyes narrowed. Something about William had changed, but she couldn''t tell what. This was a good chance to attack, but her sword strike from before used up quite a bit of mental energy. The expense would probably take weeks to fully recover. Another sword strike would be impossible for this match, no matter how many expensive treasures she used. William raised his head and met Yu Ren''s eyes. The girl seemed a bit nervous, despite William''s im that he had no Mana. He sprinted forward, his speed approaching the peak of the Golden Core Realm. The spectators watched William''s figure disappear, leaving behind an after image before reappearing just a few meters away from Yu Ren. Yu Ren could no longer keep up with William''s speed. She backed away,unching a series of Wind des meant to slow William down. Will dodged left and right while still running in her direction, rendering her efforts practically useless. He gathered all his strength into his fist, throwing a heavy punch at Yu Ren. Her protective amulet activated to guard against the strike but was instantly shattered. A second amulet was triggered, its strength equal to a Perfect Barrier Array. William''s fist collided with the barrier, creating a spiderweb of cracks across its surface. Yu Ren''s eyes bulged, not expecting even the second amulet to take damage. She used the Light, Wind, and Lightning Elements to boost her speed and extend the distance between her and William, but it was to no avail. William''s reaction time was greater than hers and he was already prepared to dash forward by the time the Mana was gathered to her legs. Another punch was thrown, shattering Yu Ren''s second amulet and triggering a third. How many amulets does she have?!? William was jealous of her wealth. How much stamina does he have?!?Yu Ren couldn''t believe how formidable her seemingly weak opponent was. She had wasted many expensive treasures on this fight trying to preserve her image, but at this point it wasn''t worth it. She looked at one of the Elders overseeing the fight. "I admit defeat." The audience exploded. Miss Ren, the Yu Royal Family''s descendant actually lost! Charlotte, Elder Wen, Elder Tianshen, and some of William''s fellow disciples were overjoyed. They knew William was strong, but they didn''t expect his talent to be this monstrous! -Unlocked Title: +25 PP -High Profile (Epic): Your actions have attracted the attention of the Yu Royal Family, the highest authority in the Azures Continent. Fame +25. William was excited about winning the match and even earning some Potential Points, but when he read the details of the new Title, his expression turned grim. This is bad! This is really, really bad! William didn''t know what to do. The System and many others had warned him not to be high profile, but William''s greatest w was that he didn''t like losing. He would do anything to win, no matter what. He didn''t have to think long, as the scenery suddenly changed from the Arena to a familiar dark room. He was now sitting in a chair,pletely unable to move. "Didn''t I warn you not to make too many enemies? How can you call this low profile?" a rough voice said angrily from behind. "Sect Master, what should I do?" William asked carefully. Something about the situation didn''t seem right. "Nothing. You''ve done enough. I should kill you for this, but your unknown power continues to allude me." the Sect Master walked around the chair and stood in front of William. He crossed his arms, "I think it''s time you gave me a reason not to kill you and extract your memories." William thought for a moment. He opened his mouth to speak but was suddenly stopped by a piece of text in the corner of his view. -I suggest you not reveal my existence. He performed a mental nod, his face pale as paper. "Like you said, I will eventually be useful to you." "And how can you be so sure? Right now, the Yu family probably wants to kill you. They will see it as eliminating a future threat to their rule. Even I cannot stop them for long if they are adamant, nor will I do so. How would you handle this if you were in my situation? If you had my power?" William spent a point to ask the System for advice. -Say: I would convince the Yu Family that I am not a threat, rather an asset. "I would convince the Yu Family that I am not a threat, rather an asset." "And why is that?" William continued to use the System for advice. "Because I am in your Sect and can provide you more advantages as time passes. I can winpetitions, defeat your enemies in war, and explore ruins you won''t dare to step foot in." Gu Dianlong spent a long time thinking about William''s proposition. Eventually, his eyes gleamed and he stared William in the eyes with a determined expression. "You''re right, I can indeed use you for quite a lot. Of course, thates with a price. After monitoring you for a while I have discovered that you are immensely talented in everything you do, except..." "Except?" "You''re quite stupid, and that''s something I am not willing to risk." he nodded to a cloaked figure nearby that William hadn''t noticed before, who began weaving a series of Perfect Runes into aplex Array. William''s eyes widened with shock as the cloaked figure pressed the Array into William''s left shoulder, forming a powerful Envement Array... Chapter 94: Slave Three dayster. Providence Zone, Yu Royal Family''s throne room. "As you can see, Your Highness, the boy ispletely incapacitated. Even if he wanted to cause you trouble, he wouldn''t be capable of doing so." Gu Dianlong was kneeling in front of a blonde young man seated on arge throne. William was next to Gu Dianlong, unrestricted in the slightest but devoid of emotion, like an empty puppet without a soul. "And how am I supposed to believe that, when you''re in control of him?" the young man calmly raised a finger to his face with no real purpose other than a mere habit. He was suspicious of this Guild Master, who imed his full support for the Royal Family. Perhaps this was a trap, a ruse to trick him into letting the boy live. Gu Dianlong knew exactly what Supreme Left was thinking, but he was prepared for this. "I''d like to add that although the boy is incredibly talented in Magic, he has absolutely no talent for Cultivation. Even if he had S-Rank Magic Affinity, he wouldn''t be able to create a single rip in your clothing." Supreme Left was surprised.A Manamatus with no Cultivation talent? How unlucky; the boy is doomed to live a measly 40 years or so before dying of old age... To him, 40 years was but a blink of an eye. As a ten-thousand-year-old Cultivator, Supreme Left can easily spend 40 years on just a single Cultivation session. "Is that so?" he dialed a number on a specialmunicator, instantly answered by an unknown party. "Retrieve the Qi Orb and bring it to me." Supreme Left hung up immediately. A knock was heard from a grand pair of double doors behind William and Gu Dianlong. "Come in." The doors swung open as a bulky man entered the room carrying what appeared to be apact ball of neutral Mana. The man ced the Qi Orb on a small table from his Space Ring, then bowed to Supreme Left and exited the room. Supreme Left looked at William, "Put your hand on it." "Do as he says." Gu Dianlong ordered. William emotionlessly approached the Qi Orb. His expression was nk, but his mind was anything but. Damn it, I hate this! William had silentlymunicated with the System over thest three days, hoping to find a solution, but with not much luck. Either the answer was something out of his control, he didn''t have high enough Cultivation, or he didn''t have enough Potential Points for a Talent that the System didn''t name. It was a hopeless situation, his only constion that Gu Dianlong might choose to free him at some point. He measured his Cultivation Talent on the Qi Orb, which confirmed that Gu Dianlong was not lying. Supreme Left nodded his head. "So it seems your words are true. That aside, he still defeated my youngest granddaughter in a duel. How do you intend to handle this situation?" "They''re both young, only Outer Core Disciples. The people will soon forget all about the duel if they haven''t already. This is just a minor detail." "And I suppose you already know that the Pirs of Justice want him, don''t you, Gu Dianlong? Why protect a kid with no future?" "His Magic ability is quite impressive, Your Highness. I''ve made ns to use him asionally to explore some ruins. Perhaps his low Cultivation will help us clear some trials that have so far been impossible." "And which ruins do you propose to clear first?" "The Gravitas Ruins." "Oho, very ambitious I see. Well good luck with that. I will keep the boy alive given your request, but you must keep him under control. Any more ridiculous feats and someone else may want to kill him, I won''t protect your Sect if that happens." "I understand, Your Highness. He will not cause you any further trouble." "Go now, I have other things to attend to." Gu Dianlong nodded and opened a portal out of the throne room, leading himself and William back to the Sect. The portal was connected directly to William''s bedroom, where Sect Master Gu looked at him seriously. "Boy, I''ve protected you once again, but don''t think I''m doing this for your sake, I will be iming mypensation quite soon. For starters, I will not be removing that Envement Array. You will ept that as punishment and will wear it until you''ve proven your worth. Do you understand?" he removed the restrictions on William''s voice and certain movements. William nodded. "Yes, Sect Master. I won''t let you down." To hell with you! I''m going to beat you up the first chance I get! "Good. I want you to go to the Gravitas Ruins, but first you will need to ce first on the Ranking Board. Once you''ve done this, go to your residence and wait for my next order." Gu Dianlong ordered. He could have just used his authority to give William a ticket to the Gravitas Ruins, but the other Sects might find it suspicious for William to be there when he was only in the top 500. The Gravitas Ruins were controlled by over a hundred Sects. Each Sect agreed to only send one Outer Core Disciple and Ten Inner Core Disciples per month. If William achieved Rank 1 by himself, Sect Master Gu could give him the end of month rewards that included the ticket while still abiding by the rules created by the collective Sects. William nodded once again. This was actually good for him, since he would still have a chance at earning the Potential Points Reward and finally be able to Cultivate. "I''ll be off then. Act normal, but don''t draw any attention to yourself. If I sense you causing a ruckus, you will regret it." Gu Dianlong gave hisst order before exiting the room through another portal. William looked around the room and released a big sigh.I never thought I would be turned into a ve...I guess I deserved it though. He brought out Atticus, who had been in his room hiding with Illusion Magic since three days ago during William''s challenge to Yu Ren. His eyes seemed somewhat sad as he noticed the peculiar condition William was in, but his mood improved when William made them both omelettes. William hadn''t eaten in three whole days, of which he didn''t even know what happened. It was like a nk spot in his life, as if the time hadn''t even passed. The moment he was enved, Gu Dianlong had given him an order to forget everything they spoke about. Thankfully, the System confirmed that the Sect Master was unable to pry any information about his Talents or the System itself. He decided to use his time wisely, immediately challenging the person ranked 201st on the Ranking Board. He made sure to check their information to make sure there was no one extraordinarily strong this time, lest the Sect Master punish him again for having to go all out. The previous two challengers that were supposed to fight him the same day didn''t have a chance to do so. Their ranks were 440 and 490 respectively, so when William jumped to Rank 301, they were no longer qualified to challenge him. The first day quickly went by. William''s challenge was declined, the person ranked 201st forfeiting the match. He proceeded to challenge the disciple ranked 101st, who also forfeited. William challenged Hanzu next, who was Rank 1, but he seemed to be away from the Sect right now and probably wouldn''t respond for a few days. Either way, William was thankful that his other challenges ended so quickly. Even if Hanzu took two weeks toe back, William would still have enough time toplete the System Quest that was issued around a week ago. What do I do now? I still can''t leave the Sect, and Sect Master probably wouldn''t let me even if I was allowed to. I also don''t have any lectures until next week; I missed thest one yesterday. With nothing else in mind, William decided to visit Wild Clover to eat and drink away his frustration. At first, joining the Sect seemed like a great idea. He expected the Elders and Sect Master to fully protect his interests against all odds, but the reality of the situation is that if you anger the wrong person, it doesn''t matter who your backer is. William was surprised to see Gunther, Filipe, and Tia at Wild Clover today. They each weed him with bright smiles, congratting William on his victory against the heir of the Yu Royal Family. No one mentioned anything about William''s sudden disappearance from the Arena, so he assumed the Sect Master had something to do with it. He does have Affinity for the Time and Space Elements after all. William wondered how a Cultivator as strong as the Sect Master could want anything else. What in the Gravitas Ruins was so desirable that one of the strongest individuals on the Continent was willing to lend William a hand just for a chance at retrieving it? Chapter 95: Battle For Rank 1 A week went by and Hanzu had finally returned to the Sect and epted William''s challenge. The match would be held today at noon, inside the battle Arena where there would probably be thousands of spectators. William was currently preparing breakfast for himself and Atticus. He woke up a bit earlier than normal, so Wild Clover wasn''t open yet. It had been ten days since his challenge with Yu Ren, so the Potential Farm had umted 30 Potential Points that William imed. It wasn''t much, but it helped. Will finished his food and washed the dishes before heading to the market for some more food supplies. He still had well over a thousand Gold Coins since food was quite cheap and he rarely purchased any Magical Beast meat, but this time he nned to splurge. The Sect Master informed William that he would be entering the Gravitas Ruins at the start of the next month, which was in exactly 14 days. The Ruins would open for two weeks before William needed to leave, but Gu Dianlong specifically warned him to prepare at least two months'' worth of food if he didn''t want to starve to death. It was a good thing food didn''t spoil in a Space Ring; else William would be in some trouble. By the end of his shopping spree, it was close to noon and William had spent over 400 Gold Coins, leaving him with 642 Gold. He carefully organized all of the food in his secondrgest Space Ring, then headed for the battle arena. Hanzu was already waiting. He appeared to be a man in histe twenties, equipped with a short beard and long ck hair tied into a ponytail. He was standing alongside three Elders, whom were serving as the referees for today''s fight. The stands were packed, all of William''s closest friends on the side directly behind where William would stand. He even saw the Sect Master in a balcony above the stands, who was giving William a stern re, warning him not to do anything stupid. William took his position in the arena, then nodded at the Elders. Hanzu was also quiet, giving one of the Elders a quick nce. He didn''t intend to forfeit this match like the others. Although William beat Yu Ren, Hanzu felt he had a chance of winning if he could expend all of William''s Mana and wear him out. The Sect Master''s voice entered William''s head telepathically.Make it quick. Use the same abilities you used on Yu Ren and nothingmore. William already had this in mind. There was no point hiding a strength that he had already used. The battle started and William weaved a series of Advanced Barrier Arrays around him, guarding against any attack Hanzu may use. He decided to go straight for the meteor spell, but preparation would take a long time. Hanzu noticed William gathering the surrounding Mana and smirked.You think I haven''t prepared for Miss Ren''s attacks before? Ha! He watched as Williampleted the spell, a massive meteor forming in the sky that threatened to destroy everything in its path. The meteor barreled down at high speeds, but Hanzu wasn''t concerned. He raised his hands, a purplish-ck Mana forming on the fingertips and bing a small ball. The purple ball was thrown at the meteor, connecting when the meteor was only ten meters above the arena. William waited for a massive explosion, but that didn''t happen. Instead, the meteor began to slow down until it had reached a standstill, then changed directions and flew back into the sky until it had disappeared from view. William was appalled. What was that? Hanzu made his meteor strike look like a joke, sending it back into the sky as if he had ced a "return to sender" sticker on a piece of mail. The Sect Master spoke to him again.Hanzu uses Gravity Magic. Arge attack like that won''t beat him, use your physical abilities to get close instead. So it''s Gravity Magic, huh? That must be just as rare an Element as Time and Space Magic!William eximed in his mind. There were so many different Elements, yet William only had the mostmon ones. It made him feel that his luck with the System was quite bad. He did as the Sect Master instructed. William dropped the Barrier Arrays around him, then rushed forward with speed at the limit of the Golden Core Realm, creating multiple afterimages as he approached Hanzu. Hanzu already knew of this ability since a friend of his had watched William fight Yu Ren. He couldn''t react to it, but another solution came to mind. Using the Earth Element, Hanzu drilled underground to evade William''s attack, then sealed off the entrance. William was forced to stop moving to track down Hanzu, using the Life Element to search for clues. Green light filled his pupils as William activated Life Sense, but the overwhelming life force from the spectators in the stands prevented him from urately locating Hanzu. He resorted to a different method, discreetly using the Earth Element to sense the underground vibrations. At first there was nothing, but as William fine-tuned the spell, he finally sensed Hanzu digging just a few meters below him. It seemed Hanzu nned to take William by surprise from underneath. -Developed a new spell: +1 Potential Point -New Spell: Earth Sense William jumped into the air as the ground underneath him quaked, Hanzu leaping from underneath with a hand shaped like the head of arge drill. William prepared a giant fireball, sting the spot below him the moment Hanzu''s head peeked out. BOOM! Hanzu wasn''t ready for the sudden attack and received a direct hit. He quickly ate a pill that was already in his mouth since the start of the fight, then dove back underground to try again. William was more than prepared this time. He drank a Mana Regeneration potion that he bought a few days prior, then called the surrounding Mana a second time, creating another meteor spell while Hanzu was still underground. The meteor barreled down, Hanzupletely unaware until it was toote. William jumped out of the way just as Hanzu drilled underneath him, timing the meteor spell tond at the same moment. Hanzu panicked when he saw the second meteor spell, not expecting William to create one while he was underground. He used Gravity Magic to slow down its descent, but it wasn''t fast enough as the meteor''s speed reduced by only half by the time it hit Hanzu. The man was pressed back into the hole he came from by the meteor, which exploded into a dozenrge fireballs when it fullynded, crippling any chance that Hanzu would escape unscathed. One of the Elders used some Mana to destroy the meteor that William created, while another dove into the hole. He came out a few minutester, carrying a severely wounded Hanzu that only survived because of a protective amulet that his father had given him almost two years ago. The stands cheered as William had once again proven his incredible talent, making the new disciples proud to be in his group. Many of the boys and girls that previously held grudges had already switched over to William''s side when they saw him defeat Yu Ren, and his subsequent victory against the number one Outer Core Disciple on the Ranking Board further cemented their decision. The third Elder fully healed Hanzu, who was frustrated at his loss but had no choice but to ept the oue. Hanzu stood up and bowed to William, acknowledging his defeat to a boy half a decade younger than him. "You''ve won." The Elders also spoke up, announcing to the crowd this time. "Winner, Disciple William!" The spectators cheered once again. William smiled, but not at his victory. -System Quest Completed: +1000 PP -Secondary Reward: Cultivation Talent (E Rank) Finally! This is what I''ve been waiting for! William was overjoyed. His worry about never bing a Cultivator and dying was the nightmare hanging over his chest. Of course, the Cultivation Talent came with some risks. If Supreme Left, or even the Sect Master found out that he could Cultivate, things might be dicey. William had thought about this quite a bit the past few days, but he hade up with a solution that worked out quite well for him. Good job kid, but it''s not over yet.The Sect Master spoke mentally. William nodded his head slightly. The Sect Master was referring to the other Disciples on the Ranking Board. Now that William was Rank 1, anyone in the top 100 could challenge him, and that was the scariest part. He already learned that some disciples had very strange abilities, such as Su Yanyu''s memory-rted ability and Filipe''s eyes. William would have to work even harder than before to maintain his position. William didn''t know how tomunicate telepathically to the Sect Master, but he still chose to respond in his mind. Don''t worry Sect Master. You should know that I''m not a pushover. Chapter 96: Preparation, Legendary! Two more days passed. William was currently finishing up a match with Yamato, the now Rank 10 Disciple on the Ranking Board. Yamato used various spells of the nt Element to restrain William every time he tried to enter closebat. William was actually quite impressed with Yamato''s skill, who was an F Rank nt Manamatus when he was younger. He always used the most precise amount of Mana to counter William''s attacks, and once again the Meteor Spell was rendered useless when Yamato raised arge barrier made of wood amplified by a series of Basic Arrays. William would have countered with the nt Element of his own, but the Sect Master specifically ordered William not to use any more Elements that the world hadn''t already seen. The fight ended after a few minutes of back and forth when Yamato ran out of Mana. Other than Hanzu, Yu Ren, and of course William, none of the Outer Core Disciples hadbat strength in the Golden Core Realm. William had been out of Mana for a while, but Yamato didn''t have the physical ability that William did, so he was forced to admit defeat. The Elder dered William''s victory, and he maintained his position at Rank 1 The following day, Hanzu challenged William to another fight. Without the monthly ticket to the Gravitas Ruins, Hanzu''s growth was limited. He was strong, but not strong enough to secure a spot among the Inner Core Disciples, so his only option was to hoard the number one spot in the Outer Sect. The match between William and Hanzu waspletely different from before. Hanzu noticed that William could sense his underground movements, so he avoided using that technique during this fight. He relied on his Gravity Magic to repel all of William''srge attacks, whileunching Earth Spikes at William when he saw an opportunity. Unfortunately, Hanzu was doomed to fail again. William didn''t have to use any Mana and could rely on his physical abilities to fight with Hanzu at close range. William''s reaction time at long-range was too good for Hanzu tond an Earth Spike, and even if Hanzu did manage tond a hit using the Gravity Magic to slow him down, William''s Hard Skin and Regeneration Talents would render his effortspletely useless. It was quite frustrating to fight with William on the same level. Hanzu forfeited the fight, epting that William was probably invincible in the Core Formation Realm and below. It might even take a genius in the Golden Core Realm to take him down. After Hanzu''s second fight, no one challenged William again for the remainder of the month. Many of the disciples in the top 100 that held grudges from William''s first lecture with Elder Wen had already chosen to give up on revenge when he defeated Yu Ren. He managed to hold onto the Rank 1 position, earning 100 Mana Stones and his ticket to the Gravitas Ruins. Additionally, William qualified to be an Inner Core Disciple without taking a test if he chose to do so. William returned to his residence, where the Sect Master was already waiting. "Good job. Here is your ticket to the Gravitas Ruins and the Mana Stones I''ve set aside." he handed William the Mana Stones and a token with what appeared to be a bacteria symbol engraved on it. It was an odd-looking token, but William didn''t worry too much about the details. -Gained a Ruins Token: +250 Potential Points 250 Potential Points for just this?!? I''m definitely going to abuse thister!William eximed in his mind. The Sect Master continued talking. "Make sure you bring that token back. You can only use it while you are in the Ruins. If something happens to it, we cannot acquire another without the help of someone much more powerful than I." William was surprised. "There are still people more powerful than you, Sect Master?" "You don''t need to know about these things. Just enter the Gravitas Ruins and acquire something for me." he gave William a series of instructions on where to go first and which trial to take. His exnation made William realize why the Sect Master was relying so much on him. William was truly the only person with a chance of clearing the trial. He wondered what kind of person would create such a brutal test that was clearly impossible to the majority of the world. Maybe it was the secret inheritance of a powerful Cultivator! "Do you have two months'' worth of food like I asked you to?" Gu Dianlong inquired. William nodded, "Yes, Sect Master." "Good. You''ll be entering the Ruins tomorrow. I will retrieve you and the other Inner Core Disciples in the morning. Do not create conflict amongst yourselves while inside. Thest thing I want is for you to be killed because you pissed off one of our own." he warned. Gu Dianlong created a portal and left the room without another word. Williamid down on the bed while scrolling through his System Panel. With thest few weeks of activity, William had a total of 1349 Potential Points. He nned to save them until he entered the Gravitas Ruins, but that didn''t mean he couldn''t n his upgrades ahead of time. There were so many upgrades to choose from this time. With a thousand Potential Points, he could upgrade any Talent except for Atticus'' Rank. He could even choose to raise his Fire Affinity to S Rank if he chose to, but then he would instantly return to being poor. He looked at his Manamatus Title, which read 11/25 Elements towards the next upgrade. Considering he earned five hundred Potential Points for upgrading the Title from Legendary to Mythic, then another thousand as a first-time bonus, William assumed the next upgrade would give him an even more exaggerated boost. The only problem was the requirement. First, William would need to gain 14 more Elements. That means he would at least have to spend 2,450 Potential Points in the Talent Shop. Of course, his math was assuming William wouldn''t receive any rewards of nothing. If he was unlucky, William might end up spending over four thousand Potential Points just to upgrade his Title. Another downside was that spending points on the Talent Shop seemed to not progress the System towards its next rankup, but that couldn''t be helped. A quick exnation from the System revealed that certain functions would spend too much of the System''s energy, such as the Ask Function and the Talent Shop. Let''s just go with one for now. System, purchase a Random Magic Talent. -110 PP -Talent Purchased: Chaos Affinity -Chaos Affinity Acquired: +1 Potential Point -Acquired your first Legendary Element: +100 Potential Points What a steal, maybe I should buy a lottery ticket! William was ecstatic. His luck turned out to be quite good today, the Legendary Element essentially refunding the cost of the purchase with its first-time bonus. It was hard to exin how the Element felt, but it was almost as if William''s body had be hazy and unstable. The Elements in his body that were previously well aligned and orderly became disorganized when the Chaos Element was introduced. William tried to use his Fire Mana, but it wouldn''t listen to hismands. Chapter 97: The Gate Is Open! After a few hours, the Elements returned to their former state, unaffected by the Chaos Mana. William heaved a sigh of relief when he was finally able to use his Elements again. He would need to be careful when upgrading the Chaos Affinity in the future, otherwise he might go days without any Magic Ability. He held off on spinning the Talent Shop any further, opting not to test fate when he was about to enter a dangerous Ruin. William still had the Cultivation Techniques he bought from the store and earned from the Great Hall, but he didn''t n to start Cultivating just yet. The Manamatus Title specifically applied to before William was a Cultivator, meaning he might miss out on a lot of Potential Points if he reached Qi Refinement. Besides, thest few weeks had proven that William was quite strong even without Cultivation. If it wasn''t for his lifespan, William wouldn''t even Cultivate. He couldn''t think of how else to prepare for the Gravitas Ruins, so he decided to go with a method that one of the Array Masters in Blue Moon City taught him. William used the nt Element to form multiple wooden puppets, spending all of his Mana to inscribe Perfect Arrays on each one. It took quite a few Mana Regeneration potions and almost 8 hours, but William managed to create twenty puppets and stored them all in a single Space Ring on his left hand. Better safe than sorry, I''ve been meaning to do this for a while now. William had learned his lesson from the past. He may be strong, but he would always lose against arge number of Cultivators unless he held a clear advantage. With these puppets, William would hopefully stand a fighting chance if the Rhio Family showed up again. He spent the afternoon eating at Wild Clover with Charlotte, who had be quite close to William over thest few weeks. The two would spend at least three nights a week at Wild Clover and would even go to the Night Market together. She was sad that William was going to the Gravitas Ruins, but she had faith that he would be perfectly fine. After all, William had proven to the entire Sect that he was just as strong as the Inner Core Disciples of the Sect, if not stronger. William and Charlotte walked back to her residence, where he said goodnight to her at the door before heading off to his own. She wore a somewhat disappointed look when William turned away, but she didn''t show it.What am I thinking about? We''re just friends, of course he''s only going to say goodnight. She returned to her room with a tinge of red on her face, Williampletely unaware of her thoughts. *** "Good morning disciples. You have proven yourselves this month to be the top of the Outer and Inner Sect, and now is the time for you to enter the Gravitas Ruins." Sect Master Gu Dianlong spoke to the group of 11 in front of him. "Each of you minus one has been here before, but I will exin the guidelines regardless. The Ruins only allow Cultivators at the Core Formation Realm and lower to enter, so the amount of progress made by the various Sects is minimal. The Gravitas Ruins will be open for only two weeks, but time flows four times faster inside. What this means is that you will actually be spending two months inside of the Ruins, while only two weeks pass outside." Gu Dianlong created arge portal next to him while speaking. "There will be disciples from other Sects present, so do be wary. The Five Elements Sect has three allies: the Spirit Ascension Sect, the Sword Mountain Sect, and the Tiger Bards Sect. All others are either neutral or enemies of the Sect, so do not let your guard down. Killing is usually prohibited, but only if you get caught." a vicious look entered Gu Dianlong''s eyes. The Inner Core Disciples understood what he was trying to say. If they saw any enemies of the Sect, there would definitely be a fight. Killing intent flooded the room as some disciples thought about their enemies from the other Sects. William had no clue what the other Sects looked like, so he just hoped that they would recognize his uniform and not cause him trouble. Of course, if they did start something he would dly finish it. "Are there any questions before we meet up with the other Sects?" Gu Dianlong asked the group. A male disciple with bright yellow hair raised his hand. "Are the Labyrinth of Tears trials still unimed?" Gu Dianlong''s eyebrow rose, "You''re a bit ambitious this year, Lenguis. Yes, only one trial has beenpleted, while over a dozen have been discovered in thest two hundred years. We suspect that there are well over two hundred Trials left undiscovered. Anything else?" Lenguis nodded in understanding. A smile crept up on his lips as his fantasized being the second person to clear a Labyrinth of Tears trial. No one else spoke, so the Sect Master ushered each disciple into the portal he created. William exited the portal to see a massive crowd of thousands of disciples from different Sects standing in arge courtyard. In the sky above was a perfectly circr ancient portal that defied gravity, lined with hundreds ofplicated Arrays on a dark-colored stone brick. The portal''s Arrays were much more profound than the Perfect Arrays William knew. -Entered the Providence Zone: +25 Potential Points -Discovered a Ruin: +25 Potential Points William didn''t have time to pay attention to the System message, as a Cultivator enshrouded in a bright yellow light that made William squint floated into the sky. His aura suggested he was at the same level as Gu Dianlong and Supreme Left, but William couldn''t make out his face. All of the disciples quieted down and looked to the sky as the figure raised his voice to speak. "The Gravitas Ruins will open in less than five minutes! Sect Masters, gather your disciples in a line with their Ruins Tickets to enter the gate! I will say this one time and one time only. There is a one-hour grace period upon entering the ruins. Do NOT fight during that time, lest you want to die a gruesome death." He floated in the sky for a few more minutes while the disciples lined up. As the five-minute mark was reached, the portal began to glow a dark-blue light as a slight suction force formed. "The gate has opened! Enter at your own risk, and good luck to all!" he spoke amiably before floating back down to a nearby seat just next to the Gravitas Ruins portal. Gu Dianlong nodded at the disciples, sending each of them into the line one by one. He whispered to William as he stepped forward, "Remember to retrieve the item I requested. If you don''t, it''s your head not mine..." William nodded in understanding. After all, he was still bound by the Envement Array. As William took his first step into the portal, Sect Master Gu''s voice entered his ears onest time. Oh and one more thing. Kill every single bastard from the Ice Immortal Sect you see. Leave no survivors. Chapter 98: Sea Monster, First Trial! William''s mind became fuzzy as he teleported, the final order from the Sect Master releasing some of his killing intent. Without a way to remove the Envement Array, he was forced toply. His anxiety increased as his body floated through a multicolored tunnel of light. What if he saw members of the Ice Immortal Sect right away? Wouldn''t that be suicide? Will exited the portal a few momentster. That was the longest teleportation William had ever experienced, his body feeling like he had just travelled a million miles. Maybe he did! -Entered the Gravitas Ruins: +50 PP He looked around to find he was in arge in with only two people nearby. They were both from the same Sect, but he couldn''t tell which. There was a fireball embroidered on their sleeve, so William assumed they weren''t affiliated with the Ice Immortals Sect. The two looked at William suspiciously, but decided not to fight since they couldn''t sense his Cultivation. They travelled in the direction of a forest to the west, which seemed to be the only unique feature in their environment. William chose to follow, since he didn''t know which part of the Ruins he was in yet. He had two months toplete the trial that Gu Dianlong instructed, so it would be best to search for other treasures as well. William''s Stealth Talent allowed him to follow the Cultivatorspletely undetected, even allowing him to get within ten meters of the two once they entered the forest. He could have used Atticus to get even closer, but the snake''s Mana was limited and didn''t regenerate as fast as William''s did. "This forest should be the same one I visited three months ago. If we go further West, we should find ake in about half an hour." one of the Cultivators said to the other with a hint of excitement. "But Gary, isn''t the trial there alreadypleted?" The blue-haired guy asked. "It is, but most people don''t know that there is actually a second trial in the water. If we get there first, we might have a chance of clearing it, especially with your Water Element." Gary replied. A trial under theke that requires the Water Element... William was listening intently to their conversation, but he had no intention to speed ahead of the duo to reach the trial first. From his understanding, the trials were not so simple to clear. After all, only a few had been cleared in thest two hundred years. The group soon arrived at the so-calledke that Gary described. Instead of ake, it should be described as an ocean! William failed to see the other side of theke, even with his enhanced vision. There were a series of small inds within theke, which appeared to be small battle arenas that served as the already cleared trial. There were marble pirs on each ind, but most were covered in cracks or had fallen over. The duo continued forward, walking on the surface of theke as if it was solid ground. William could no longer conceal himself, so he relied on Atticus to cover him with Illusion Magic before following them. Gary stopped when he was close to the first ind, "We go down now." "Down? Like, under the water?" "Yes. Is there an issue Phillip?" "Isn''t there a sea monster down there?" "Yes, that''s the trial." Gary was calm. "I can''t kill that! It will eat us both alive!" Phillipined. "It''s easier than you think. All we have to do is use your Water Element to create a current that sucks the sea monster ontond, then the fight is easy." William watched with amusement as the two bickered back and forth.So I just have to kill a sea monster and I will be rewarded? Too easy! He focused Life Mana to his eyes, using Life Sense to scan theke for any creatures. It was as Gary said, there really did appear to be some sort ofrge snake under water, twisting and curling nearly 20 meters below the group while hunting local fish for food. William dove into the water. He wasn''t a great swimmer in his previous world, but the Water Element gave him an advantage that would make him look like an Olympic Gold Medalist. He used the Water Element to propel himself forward a few meters, then weaved together a series of Arrays to buff himself as much as possible. Strength, Speed, Water Breathing, Barriers. All of the useful effects he knew were piled on as he prepared to fight the sea monster that emitted the aura at the Golden Core Realm. William used more Mana tounch himself like a torpedo at the bright purple sea monster, using one of the knives he bought from the Night Market to slice deep into its flesh. [Bestiary] Writhing Sea Snake: +1 PP ROAR! The sea monster was furious at the intruder, but it had barely any time to react as William sliced a few more times with his knife, filling theke with its blood. The sea monster nipped at William, but it only managed to break one barrier before its jaw became tired. It pulled back for another bite, but William had already prepared an Earth Spike that impaled the beast from inside its mouth and through the back of its head. The sea monster gave a low roar before slowly curling over, motionless in the water. -Defeated a Writhing Sea Snake: +6 PP -Defeated your first Golden Core Beast: +100 PP -A Trial has opened... The moment the Sea Snake was killed, William noticed something glowing on the bottom of theke. He stored the Sea Snake in his Space Ring, then swam further downward towards the source of the light. At the bottom of theke was a staircase, illuminated by a square-shaped barrier that kept the interior dry. When he went to touch the barrier, his hand slipped right through, followed by his body as he lost momentum. Thud. "Ow!" William cursed. He didn''t expect the barrier to only serve as protection from the water. He was about to curse some more when a deep voice entered his mind, interrupting his thoughts. You''ve discovered one of my trials...Enter, and earn your prize. William didn''t have to think twice and took careful steps down the stairs. This is exactly what he came for after all. He was just d that the Cultivators above were actually right about needing to kill that Sea Snake. Above theke, the two Cultivators were anxious. They hadn''t even gone underwater yet when they heard the roar of the sea monster. Had it already detected them? "Are you sure this is going to work?" Phillip asked. "Just do it. We will run if it''s impossible." Phillip nodded and called the surrounding Water Mana to him, using a heavy amount of Mana from theke to fuel his own spell. A current was swiftly created in the water, threatening to pull any sea creatures onto the nearby ind. The two Cultivators watched as hundreds of small fish were thrown onto the ind, but there was no sign of the sea monster they just heard. Was the current too weak? Phillip increased the strength of the current, forcing even the sand from the bottom of theke to the surface. The power was immense, nearly as great as the Meteor Spell William and Yu Ren used. Even that, however, wasn''t enough. The Cultivators became suspicious, since even a Nascent Soul Beast would have at least been pulled to the surface. Gary chose to dive under water to check out the situation. He came back up a minuteter with furrowed brows. "What is it?" Phillip asked. "It''s gone, but there is a lot of blood in the water. I think someone was fighting it when we got here." "That means they''re ahead of us! Let''s go before they get the reward!" Phillip dove into the water, Gary close behind. *** Inside the trial grounds, William was standing in arge cavern with hanging moss that glowed different shades of blue, green, and yellow. The cave was actually quite beautiful, but the monsters inside weren''t. A hundred pairs of glowing red eyes stared at William from afar, each set belonging to what appeared to be a goblin. They held a variety of weapons, mostly consisting of swords, knives, or spears. The deep voice entered William''s brain once again. There are five levels, each stronger than thest. Clear four to receive a reward, clear five to receive a second reward. As soon as the unknown man stopped talking, the goblins began to move, rushing at William at speeds at the peak of the Core Formation Realm. It now made sense to William why so few of these trials were cleared. If just the first level of this trial contained enemies at the peak of the Core Formation Realm, how could anyone clear the Ruins when no one at the Golden Core Realm could enter? Chapter 99: Cavern Trials, Potential Points Wave! William gathered Mana of the Fire Element to his fingertips, forming a giant fireball that heunched at the group of goblins. [Bestiary] Caverns Goblin: +1 PP -Defeated Caverns Goblin (x33): +100 PP William''s eyes lit up. This trial was the true reward! Heunched a few more giant fireballs at the scattered group of Caverns Goblins, making sure to target only the most concentrated areas. -Defeated Caverns Goblin (x13): +39 PP -Defeated Caverns Goblin (x11): +33 PP -Defeated Caverns Goblin (x17): +51 PP -Defeated Caverns Goblin (x8): +24 PP The inflow of Potential Points was like euphoria, reminding William of why he wasbeled a loot goblin by the System in the past. He rushed forward with a wide smile on his face, sniping faraway Caverns Goblins with his throwing knives and punching the ones that entered close-range. Soon all the Caverns Goblins were dead, earning William 302 Potential Points including the Bestiary discovery. You''vepleted the first level in record time! You have five minutes to prepare for level 2. The voice resounded through the cavern this time without emotion. William checked his Status. ¡ª¡ª¡ª STATUS: -Health: 350/350 -Mana: 380/400 -Fame: 60 -Humanity: 99 -Attention: 1 -Cultivation: None (2 Techniques) ¡ª¡ª¡ª His Mana was still near the maximum, but five minutes of rest would only restore about 6 Mana. Hopefully the next four levels weren''t too harsh on his reserves, William only brought 20 Mana Regeneration Potions and he didn''t want to use them so soon. The timer ran out and William was facing Caverns Goblins once again, but there were more than twice as many this time. Mixed into the group of Goblins were a group of five buff Goblins wieldingrge clubs. [Bestiary] Caverns Hobgoblin: +1 PP There are too many of them, but this is perfect! The drastic increase in difficulty surprised William, but he wasn''t scared. If they weren''t in a cavern, William might have considered creating a Meteor Spell to wipe out the entire group! He made use of the Earth Element to create a wall on either side of the cavern that funneled the Goblins and Hobgoblins into one line, then created an Array thatunched high-pressure water at whatever was in the front of the line, slicing through the Goblins'' bodies. -Defeated Caverns Goblin: +3 PP -Defeated Caverns Goblin: +3 PP ... William jumped on top of the Earth Walls and created giant fireballs to st the backline while the Array did the rest of the work. -Defeated Caverns Goblin (x46): +138 PP -Defeated Caverns Hobgoblin: +4 PP This strategy saved William quite a bit of Mana, only using up about 60 Mana by the time all 250 enemies were dead. --Upgraded Title: +20 Potential Points -Beast yer (Rare --> Epic): You''ve personally killed at least 1000 Magical Beasts. +30% damage to Magical Beasts. Congrattions on clearing the second level, you are the first to do it alone. You have ten minutes to prepare for level three. William realized that the terrain advantage gave him the upper hand during that fight, otherwise he might have been in trouble. Instead of resting, William spent the next ten minutes shaping the terrain to give him a better chance of clearing arge mass of enemies. He set up a dozen Arrays of various Elements, then timed each one to activate in tandem with another, the purpose of which would be obvious once the next level started. Will brought out two of his Array puppets and ordered them to stand as his defense. The puppets wouldn''t earn him Potential Points since they weren''t Companion Beasts, so William wasn''t willing to let the puppets kill the enemies unless absolutely necessary. The third level started, a horde of Caverns Hobgoblins rushing out. William activated the first two Arrays once the Hobgoblins were halfway to his position, spraying water over the entire cavern floor and quickly submerging them. The second set of Arrays were triggered, condensing the Earth Element into massive quantities of salt that wereunched into the water. Six Arrays of the Lightning Element activated at the same time, shocking the pool of water and incinerating every Hobgoblin inside. -Defeated Caverns Hobgoblin (x215): +645 PP William was ecstatic. He never expected his n to work out so well. There were only a few dozen Hobgoblins left to kill, and he wouldn''t even need to use Mana for the rest. Even better, his Arrays werepletely undamaged and could be used again for the next level. William cleared out the rest of the Hobgoblins and waited for the voice to acknowledge his sess. Using your brain, I see...Well done. But the next level won''t be so easy. You have an hour to prepare yourself. William could sense the foreboding tone of the unknown man.An hour to prepare? I have a bad feeling about this. Most trials in the Gravitas Ruins were disyed in the open ording to the Sect Master. This one was an exception, since the entrance would only be revealed once you killed the Sea Snake outside. This ce probably hadn''t been discovered before specifically for that reason. The Cultivators that approached thiske in the past likely didn''t want to bother fighting with a Golden Core Magical Beast that wouldn''t even give a reward. William stored some of the Hobgoblin corpses in his Space Ring while pondering on the difficulty of the next test. The voice seemed quite confident that William''s Arrays wouldn''t help him on level four, so he guessed there might not be very many enemies, or perhaps they were resistant to the Lightning Element. Either way, William wasn''t going to remove his current setup. Instead, he created a series of Perfect Barrier Arrays in front of him, then arge Perfect Confinement Array in the center of the Caverns. He raised more Earth Walls, turning the area into a maze that would only allow a few enemies to pass through at a time, covering all of his bases. If it was a single enemy, William would seal it in an Array. If it was a massive group, he would use the same n as before. And if they were resistant to Lightning, he had the Fire Element for that! William looked at the System Panel. POTENTIAL POINTS: 3371 He had over three thousand Potential Points and half an hour left to prepare, so William decided to perform another upgrade to improve his chances. System, disy the Menu. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Human -Age: 20 -Lifespan: 60 Years (Good physical health) TITLES: ( - ) -Manamatus (Mythic): ( + ) -Seven Colored Mage (Epic): ( + ) -High Profile (Epic): ( + ) -Beast yer (Epic): ( + ) -Honorable (Rare): ( + ) -Treasure Hunter (Rare): ( + ) -Moneybags (Rare): ( + ) -Trial Taker (Rare): ( + ) -Spell Master (Rare): ( + ) -Gourmet (Rare): ( + ) -Alchemist (Rare): ( + ) -Loot Goblin (Umon): ( + ) -Multikiller (Umon): ( + ) -Savior (Umon): ( + ) -Herb Gatherer (Umon): ( + ) -Coward (Common): ( + ) STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 350/350 -Mana: 66/400 -Fame: 60 -Humanity: 99 -Attention: 1 -Cultivation: None (2 Techniques) TALENTS: ( - ) Magic: ( - ) -Common: --Fire: A (1000PP to next rank) --Earth: B (250PP to next rank) --Ice: C (100PP to next rank) --Wind: C (100PP to next rank) --Lightning: C (100PP to next rank) --Water: C (100PP to next rank) --nt: C (100PP to next rank) -Rare: --Life: C (300PP to next rank) --Darkness: C (300PP to next rank) --Light: C (300PP to next rank) --Poison: C (300PP to next rank) -Epic: --Necromancy: E (25PP to next rank) -Legendary: --Chaos: E (50PP to next rank) Weapons: -Common: --Knife Throwing: D (25PP to next rank) --Fists: B (250PP to next rank) Physical: -Common: --Stamina: B (250PP to next rank) --Reflexes: B (250PP to next rank) --Hard Skin: A (1000PP to next rank) --Regeneration: B (250PP to next rank) --Strength: B (250PP to next rank) -Rare: --Acrobatics: B (750PP to next rank) Passive: -Common: --Navigation: E (5PP to next rank) --Heat Resistance: E (5PP to next rank) --Cold Resistance: E (5PP to next rank) --Poison Resistance: E (5PP to next rank) --Sleep Resistance: D (25PP to next rank) --Slow Resistance: E (5PP to next rank) --Charm Resistance: E (5PP to next rank) --Vision: D (25PP to next rank) -Rare: --Mana Regeneration: B (750PP to next rank) --Mind: C (300PP to next rank) --Stealth: B (750PP to next rank) -Epic: --Forcefield: C (500PP to next rank) --Cultivation: E (25PP to next rank) Trade Skills: --Alchemy: B (250PP to next rank) --Arrays: A (1000PP to next rank) Other: -Common: --Herb Gathering: C (100PP to next rank) --Cooking: C (100PP to next rank) --Mining: C (100PP to next rank) BEASTS: -Mythic: --Atticus (Mythical Rat Snake): C (5000PP to next rank) FARMS: -Potential Farm: F (1000PP to next rank) MONEY: 642 Gold MANA STONES: 330 POTENTIAL POINTS: 3371 SYSTEM RANK: E+ (9073PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª The absurd number of Titles and Talents filled William''s view. He scrolled through the list until he decided on a specific Talent to upgrade. System, upgrade my Forcefield Talent. -500 Potential Points ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Forcefield: (C --> B) Next rank up: 1000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Upgrade it again! -1000 Potential Points ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Forcefield: (B --> A) Next rank up: 5000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Chapter 100: The Fifth Level The Forcefield upgrade was incredibly swift, the veil expanding and condensing until it was stronger than before. After two consecutive upgrades, the Forcefield was just as strong as a Perfect Barrier, enough to hold back even a Nascent Soul Realm Beast for a short period of time. With this, William was much more confident in surviving these ruins. The Forcefield didn''t cost any Mana, and the range would now extend to up to ten meters, which would hopefully prevent him from being sneak attacked. William decided to save the rest of his Potential Points. He spent the remainder of the time working on setting traps and reinforcing the ceiling. The fourth level started, a wave of Caverns Hobgoblins entering William''s view from afar. Instead of charging at William, they ran to the Arrays, triggering every trap on the way. They ran on high ground, avoiding the water with an intelligence William didn''t expect. Oh no! William realized what was happening. The Hobgoblins were risking their lives to destroy every Array he had ced, which would ruin over an hour of effort. Williamunched fireballs at the Hobgoblins to save the Arrays, but by the time they were all dead, there were only four surviving Arrays, all of which of the Lightning Element. William earned 750 Potential Points from this wave of Hobgoblins, but it wasn''t over yet. In the very back was arge goblin wearing a set of armor and carrying a greatsword on its back. It red at William menacingly, emitting an aura superior to every enemy William had fought before. The Bestiary didn''t react, so William guessed it was still a Caverns Goblin, but something about this one was special. The goblin sprinted at William, running almost as fast as William''s peak speed when he was fighting Yu Ren and Hanzu. It brought the greatsword to its hands, unleashing a heavy strike. William was about to order his puppets to help, but he wanted to test out the Forcefield first. The greatsword smashed into William''s Forcefield but bounced off to the goblin''s surprise. The goblin became angrier, shing at the Forcefield a second time, to no avail. William smiled, releasing a quick fireball to knock the goblin off its feet. He raised an Earth Spike, impaling the goblin through the back as it fell, then dropped a Lightning Bolt from above to finish it off. -Defeated Caverns Goblin: +5 PP You even defeated a Goblin Chieftain, impressive! Here is your promised reward. A small blue and silver rock materialized out of thin air and dropped into William''s hands. -Acquired Star Ore: +50 PP The Star Ore was quite heavy, surprising William as he almost dropped it. Even a bodybuilder in his old world wouldn''t be able to lift this small rock. Will could guess that the Star Ore was used in forging, but he couldn''t be sure. He put it into one of his empty Space Rings for now. The voice continued speaking once William had put away the reward. You''ve done well, but the final level will arrive in one hour. Prepare yourself. William took the unknown man''s words seriously. If there was a Golden Core Beast on the fourth level, that means there would be multiple on the next, or even worse. He spent the first half hour resetting the traps he had created, since they were still quite effective as a distraction. William looked at the room that was covered in Goblin and Hobgoblin corpses. He looked at his Talents, then back at the corpses. Wouldn''t this be a perfect moment for one of his new Elements? He called some Necromantic Mana to his fingertips, then pointed it to one of the Hobgoblin corpses. The Mana entered the body of the Hobgoblin, forcing it to stand up and look at William silently. He continued raising corpses until he failed, finding five corpses to be the limit. System, upgrade my Necromancy Affinity. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Necromancy: (E --> D) Next rank up: 100PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª The upgrade only took one minute, so William had plenty of time for a second upgrade. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Necromancy: (D --> C) Next rank up: 500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Another five minutes passed, raising the Affinity to C Rank and increasing the limit to a hundred corpses. It will have to do for now, I can''t risk the level starting in the middle of my upgrade. William raised the Goblin Chieftain and every Hobgoblin corpse he found until he had reached the limit. Each corpse seemed to require one Mana for every five minutes it was alive, so William drank a Mana Regeneration Potion to fully recover. The fifth and final level began, and the scale was well out of William''s expectations. The back wall of the caverns suddenly fell, revealing a thousand pairs of glowing eyes that belonged to Hobgoblins. In the very back of the group, William could make out ten Goblin Chieftains, each wielding a differentrge weapon. William made sure his Hobgoblins were out of the way, then activated his trap Arrays. The series of Water, Earth, and Lightning Arrays were triggered, but a veil of Mana covered the Hobgoblins'' feet as they stepped into the Water. William squinted his eyes to see a small goblin holding a magic staff standing next to the Goblin Chieftains. A Shaman! The Goblin Shaman gave William a flirty smile, making him want to throw up. His Arrays were useless, so William ordered his Hobgoblins to attack. They rushed forward into the group of enemy Hobgoblins, cleaving at every enemy they came across. Because of the tight space, the fight was actually even for the first few minutes. -Your Thrall defeated a Caverns Hobgoblin: +3 PP -Your Thrall defeated a Caverns Hobgoblin: +3 PP -Your Thrall defeated a Caverns Hobgoblin: +3 PP ... A hundred against a thousand, the Thralls actually managed to secure an advantage. It seemed that William''s Necromancy Element didn''t just raise the dead, but actually made them slightly stronger than before, since they didn''t respond to minor injuries and their wounds slowly healed. As expected of an Epic Element.William awed. He fired a series of high-speed Ice Spikes at the Goblin Shaman that was preparing another spell, turning it into a porcupine and killing it shortly after. He wasn''t going to let the Shaman have its way against his Hobgoblins. The fight was long, the Hobgoblins bashing at each other for more than an hour before all of William''s were dead. They managed to kill more than four hundred Hobgoblins; a valiant effort considering they were of the same race. During this time, William had conserved his Mana well and onlyunched fireballs at the back line, killing 7 of the Goblin Chieftains and around three hundred Hobgoblins. There were now only three hundred Hobgoblins and three Chieftains left, which William made quick work of with a bit of effort and timely protection from his Array Puppets. He slumped to the ground, nearly out of Mana and both physically and mentally exhausted. Even with his Stamina and Mind Talents, William couldn''t handle fighting constantly for over an hour, it was just too much for a non-Cultivator. You''vepleted all five levels of my trial! In the ten thousand years since forming this trial ground, no one has everpleted it alone! Approach the pedestal and receive your reward. Chapter 101: Im Outnumbered? Youre Outnumbered! The walls of the caverns shifted, bing a perfectly spherical room. All of William''s traps were instantly destroyed, and a marble pedestal rose from the ground in the center of the room with a small ck box resting on top. William approached the pedestal quickly, eyes gleaming as he fantasized about the possible loot he would receive. He picked up the ck box and carefully opened the lid, revealing a small vial of blue liquid inside. -Completed an A-Rank Trial in the Gravitas Ruins: +500 PP -Acquired Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence: +250 PP Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence? System, what does it do? -Request requires 5 Potential Points. Yes/No? Yes. -This is the blood essence of a Mana Dragon, as the name implies. It can be consumed by anyone to improve many features involving Mana. It will directly improve Mana Control, increase Mana Regeneration, increase casting speed, and improve the quality of your Mana, increasing the power of your spells. The world''s Cultivators today believe the Mana Dragon is extinct, making this blood essence a priceless treasure that even your Sect Master would fight for if it was discovered. William''s eyes gleamed. This was a great treasure! Perfect for someone like him with many Elements! Can I consume this right now? -Yes, but I would wait until you are out of the cavern. William was about to ask why, when he saw a group of eleven Cultivators from the same Sect entering the cavern. Gary and Phillip weren''t among them, so Will assumed it was a separate group not rted to them. He wondered how all eleven members of a Sect managed to find each other so quickly. One of the neers saw William standing near the pedestal and pointed him out to the others. "You there, what are you doing?" the Cultivator in the lead asked warily. William didn''t want to fight right now, his Forcefield and puppets would protect him, but he was too exhausted to battle with a group of Cultivators. "I''m just looking for a trial, thought there would be one here." The group was confused. Did this staircase lead to a trial that has already been cleared? The leader whispered to a red-haired boy, "Didn''t you say the tracking device led here? Are you sure you put it on Gary?" "I''m sure! It leads right here; he must already be in the trial!" the boy replied. The leader looked back at William, "I''m looking for a pair of Cultivators from the me Immortals Sect, did you happen to see them?" William thought of Gary and Phillip. "Nope." The leader could instantly tell based on William''s bodynguage that he was lying. "Where did they go?" "I told you I''ve never seen them before. How would I know where they went?" "You''re lying, tell me or we will kill you." "You''ll kill me over that? Okay fine I saw them, but I don''t know where they went after the staircase." William''s tone still seemed off. He looked at William more closely, seeing a small ck box in his hands. It was open, but the contents couldn''t be seen from his angle. "What are you holding?" The others also noticed the ck box just now. The red-haired boy''s eyes widened, "That''s a trial reward!" Shit! I should have stored this earlier! William didn''t expect that each trial reward woulde in a ck box, considering the Star Ore wasn''t within one. He turned around and threw the box into his Space Ring. "What? Trial reward, where?!?" he looked around excitedly. "..." the Cultivators were impressed at William''s horrible acting skills. The leader also frowned, but this was a good thing. This meant that William had already done the heavy lifting by finishing the trial. All they had to do was im the reward from his corpse and move on to the next trial! The pieces clicked together now, Gary must be in another space clearing the trial, but this boy did it faster. "Hand it over and we will let you go. You can even join us for more trials." William knew they wouldn''t just let him go, and he was unwilling to give up on a reward like this anyway. "What if I say no?" The Cultivators were surprised.Is he confident in winning a fight against all of us, even though he''s clearly exhausted? "I''m sure your strength is impressive, but you''re tired. Just give up on the treasure and consider it your bad luck. Besides, you''re outnumbered ten to one." William smirked. He pulled out the remainder of his Array Puppets and staged them in a long line. "And now you''re outnumbered twenty-one to ten, still wanna fight?" The red-haired boy backed up in fear. His voice shook, "We can''t fight him, those are Perfect Array Puppets!" "What does that mean?" the leader spoke to the boy. He wasn''t familiar with the different levels of Arrays. "It means he can fight a Nascent Soul Cultivator with those puppets alone! If he is a Perfect Array Master, he can easily control ten at once. As long as he has Mana, we will be crushed in an instant!" "What?!? Are you sure he can actually control them and he''s not just bluffing?" the leader asked. Thest words of the leader were loud enough for William to hear. He controlled two puppets to approach the group in unison and had themunch a swift palm strike. The Cultivators jumped back from the puppets, but the attacks continued forward, mming two of them to the ground and breaking their protective amulets. The leader quickly bowed to William, "We will leave, sorry for bothering you!" Will I be in trouble if I let them go?William asked the System for one point. Nothing you can''t handle. William nodded. He tried to sound like a powerful old Cultivator. "Be on your way then, and don''t bother me again." The group of Cultivators quickly fled the caverns the way they came. William didn''t bother to ask what Sect they were from, just in case the Sect Master''s order kicked in and forced him to kill a bunch of innocents. He rested for a moment, then decided to absorb the Mana Dragon''s Essence now before anything else happened. A refreshing feeling washed over William, cleansing his veins of the old Mana and recing it with an even cleaner version, devoid of impurities. The processsted for roughly ten minutes, which was a lot shorter than William expected, but the oue was phenomenal. -Absorbed Mana Dragon''s Essence: +100 PP William called some Mana to his fingertips, instantly unleashing a giant fireball that was almost fifty percentrger than before. He checked his Mana, surprised to see that his Mana Reserves had nearly doubled from 400 to 750, and his Mana Regeneration had increased from 75 to 225, triple the previous speed. With this, William would recover almost four Mana per minute, which was about the cost of a giant fireball spell. He could evenunch two consecutive Meteor Spells without exhausting all of his Mana! He was just thinking about upgrading his Mana Regeneration Talent, but now he wouldn''t have to! William exited the caverns with a wide smile on his face, even forgetting to hold his breath when he returned to the underwater scene at the bottom of theke. Chapter 102: Sadistic Trial "rgh, fuck!" William spat out a mouthful of water as he reached the surface of theke. Even the Water Element can''t help an idiot! The Cultivators had already disappeared, while Gary and Phillip were still probably inside the trial grounds. Those poor guys, if they managed to beat the fourth or fifth levels, they wouldn''t even get a reward. William felt somewhat bad for the two, but it wasn''t like he could help them. They were probably in another space fighting the same trial. William couldn''t get to where they were, so they''d have to face the Caverns Goblins themselves. William dried himself off with abination of Wind and Fire Magic, then started running across the surface of theke in search of another trial. *** In the caverns trial. "What the fuck is this! There are too many of them!" Gary shouted while dodging an iron spear. He turned to the side and sted a group of Hobgoblins with the Wind Element, pushing them down a man-made slope and knocking down theirrades. Phillip cried out in pain as a sword pierced through his right shoulder. He clenched his teeth and sprayed high-pressure water at the Hobgoblin that just stabbed him, cleaving it in half. "This is only the third level; we won''t make it!" The duo regretted entering the trials alone, wishing they hade with their fellow Sect members instead of alone. This trial was not meant to be cleared by an individual! Their screams echoed throughout the caverns as over two hundred Hobgoblins closed in on their position... *** Three hourster, at the opposite edge of theke. William finally spottednd. Sprawling before him was a beach that extended far into the distance, transitioning into a massive desert. Flying above the desert were a few dark shadows that William guessed were Magical Beasts. The area matched the Sect Master''s description of the Ruins, meaning William finally knew where he was. To reach Gu Dianlong''s destination, William would have to move through the desert and reach the other side. Of course, this was easier said than done, since it was easy to get lost in this desert. Will could see a haze floating a few dozen meters above the desert, manipting one''s perspective of the sky. It was obvious that you could lose your sense of direction if you tried to follow the sun. I didn''t n to upgrade this until I entered the Labyrinth, but I suppose earlier is better thater... William scrolled through his skills until he found what he was looking for. System, upgrade my Navigation Talent to B Rank. -130 Potential Points ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Navigation: (E --> D) Navigation: (D --> C) Navigation: (C --> B) Next rank up: 250PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William''s sense of direction instantly improved. The Navigation Talent seemed quite a bit more versatile than William had initially expected, disying his position as a mental radar. When he turned a few degrees to the right, apass on the radar would turn with him. Even more advanced, once the Navigation Talent reached B Rank, William could see the slight outline ofndforms on his mental radar. He could even close his eyes and walk forward, and the Navigation Talent would map out the area for him! William could now enter the desert with ease, kind of. He still had to watch out for the Magical Beasts flying above the desert, but they would just serve as free Potential Points if they came too close. After an hour of walking, William came across a staircase made out of sandstone hidden underneath a mound of sand. If not for the mental radar, William would have walked right past it. Another trial!William''s eyes gleamed. Other Cultivators might be wary of each trial theye across, but William was excited. If an A-Rank trial earned him thousands of Potential Points, he could only imagine what an S-Rank trial would earn him! He walked down the staircase with a wide smile, dodging some spike traps and poison darts with ease as he entered a simr cavern tost time. You''ve discovered one of my trials...prepare yourself! William''s vision became blurry, and the caverns began to dim. Something on the wall glinted in the light from afar, but William didn''t have a chance to identify it before it shot towards him at high speed. William dodged to the right to avoid a sleek arrow, then ducked to avoid a second arrow approaching from behind. His eyes darted around the room warily as more arrows wereunched, threatening to turn his body into a porcupine. He jumped then spun in the air, dodging four arrows in quick session. His head turned to the side just in time for a poison-tipped arrow to rush by. For some reason, William''s Forcefield wasn''t effective against these arrows, not even slowing down their movement. He also couldn''t use any Magic. Surprised that your protective amulet isn''t working? What fun would a trial be if you didn''t suffer a little bit? William understood now. The trial creator must have used a special method to disable all protective methods. This was the first time one of William''s skills was rendered ineffective though. It looked like the creator couldn''t disable his Physical Talents though. You want me to suffer? I had a feeling you were a sadist.Williammented in his mind. The trial creator must have heard him, because the number of arrows flying at William doubled. The Acrobatics Talent was quite effective during this trial, his body dancing through the arrows with the precision of a ballet dancer. The number of arrows tripled, then tripled again until there were hundreds at a time, but a B-Rank Talent was nothing to sneeze at. A few minutester, the arrows stopped firing and the room became bright again. Congrattions onpleting the trial, please ept your reward. A pedestal rose from the floor likest time, a ck box ced neatly on top. William walked up to the box and opened it, a tiny sword with a hilt covered in aquamarine gemstones inside. He picked up the sword with two fingers, taken by surprise when the sword extended to a meter long and the hilt adjusted to fit William''s grip. -Completed a B-Rank Trial in the Gravitas Ruins: +250 PP -Acquired the Sword of Shifting Sands: +50 PP William dripped some blood on the sword to im ownership. Some information entered his brain on how to use some of the functions, so William was able to shrink it back to its original size and return it to the ck box. He would have strapped it to his waist or something, but he didn''t have a tool belt or any other way to carry it at all times, so he put the ck box into the same Space Ring as the Star Ore and the empty vial of Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence he received earlier. William looked around. The cavern floor was littered with hundreds of poison-tipped arrows. They might be useful in the future, so William''s loot goblin tendency required him to store them all in a Space Ring. He was about to exit the caverns when a thought suddenly struck him. Chapter 103: Celestial Title, Domain? How did I forget to use my Potential Points earlier? William pped himself mentally. POTENTIAL POINTS: 6571 Barely half a day had passed since he entered the Gravitas Ruins, which would only be a few hours on the outside, but William wasn''t going to take it easy just because of that. He needed to secure as many trial rewards as he could before the closure of the Ruins, since this was the only truly safe ce on the Continent right now. The moment William returns from the Ruins, all of his rewards would be taken away by the Sect Master. He wasn''t about to let that happen! System, purchase 10 Random Magic Talents. -1650 PP --Talent Purchased: Blood Affinity -Blood Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Talent Purchased: Gravity Affinity -Gravity Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Talent Purchased: Nothing --Talent Purchased: Space Affinity -Space Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Talent Purchased: Nothing --Talent Purchased: Time Affinity -Time Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Talent Purchased: Sound Affinity -Sound Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Talent Purchased: Seal Affinity -Seal Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Talent Purchased: Nothing --Talent Purchased: Curse Affinity -Curse Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point William''s body was overwhelmed with the introduction of many new elements. His blood started to boil, then he was pressed to the ground by an overwhelming gravitational pull. His clothes were ripped to shreds and his fingertips were sliced off by the sharpness of the Space Element. When the Time Element was introduced, his hair grew a bit lighter, and William felt he had aged a year. He checked his status to find out he truly had aged and was now 21 years old! His ears bled as a powerful soundwave entered his eardrums but was quickly healed by his natural regeneration. The Seal Element didn''t damage William, but he feltpletely unable to move or think, as if he was in a Confinement Array. Over an hour passed in this state before William regained control of his body. The Curse Element filled William''s brain with heavy negative emotions, much like when he acquired the Necromancy Affinity. His body filled with impurities, causing William to throw up arge amount of ck blood. Finally, the hell was over. William blinked a few times and checked his System Panel to evaluate his new Magic Talents. He earned 7 this time, meaning he was only 6 Magic Talents away from upgrading the Manamatus Title. The only question was, how many Elements did he actually have left to learn? He could only think of one after looking at Atticus, which meant there were still five Elements he hadn''te into contact with. There''s only one way to find out! System, purchase 6 Random Magic Talents! -1470 PP --Talent Purchased: Blessing Affinity -Blessing Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Talent Purchased: Summoning Affinity -Summoning Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Talent Purchased: Illusion Affinity -Illusion Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Talent Purchased: Nothing --Talent Purchased: Dream Affinity -Dream Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point --Talent Purchased: Death Affinity -Death Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point This wave of Magic Talents was surprisingly tame. The Blessing Element filled William''s body with strength, while the Summoning Element had no discernible effect. The Illusion Element pulled his mind into what appeared to be a separate dimension, but he didn''t have a chance to inspect it clearly before the Dream Element put William directly to sleep. He didn''t wake up until a few hourster, noticing that his hand had turned a charcoal ck, probably from the Death Element. His Regeneration Talent couldn''t heal the damage, and only the Life Element could reverse the effect. There was only one more Element to unlock, so William focused entirely on that. --Talent Purchased: Nothing --Talent Purchased: Nothing --Talent Purchased: Nothing "Really, three times in a row?!?" --Talent Purchased: Nothing "Four?!?" --Talent Purchased: Order Affinity -Order Element Acquired: +1 Potential Point -Acquired your first Mythic Element: +250 Potential Points --Upgraded Title: +5000 Potential Points -Manamatus (Mythic --> Celestial): You are the first and only individual with a talent for twenty-five kinds of Magic that appeared before you started Cultivating. All Magic you use will be 100% more powerful. Maximum Mana increased by 1000. Fame is increased by 50. -Unlocked your first Celestial Title: +10000 Potential Points -Fame has reached 100 points: +500 Potential Points -Your Magic Talents have reached the limit of the current System. Random Magic Talents will be temporarily removed from the Talent Shop. Upgrade the System to C-Rank to learn more. The Order Element didn''t hurt William, but an ominous feeling washed over him. Something told William that upgrading his Order Affinity would bring him a great deal of trouble. He scrolled through the System messages, his eyes widening at each consecutive message. TEN THOUSAND POINTS!?William couldn''t believe his eyes. He didn''t want to do the math, so he looked at the System Panel. POTENTIAL POINTS: 17715 As expected, waiting to Cultivate until the Manamatus Title was upgraded was a good idea. William would have started Cultivating now, but he wanted to wait until he was about to leave the Gravitas Ruins. Some trials would be more difficult depending on your Cultivation, which is the main reason why William was the best candidate for clearing a specific trial that Sect Master Gu pointed out. He looked at his other Talents. I think it''s about time for an S-Rank Talent, but which should I go for first? William evaluated his strengths and weaknesses. His attack power was approaching the Nascent Soul Realm, and his Speed was the same. His defensive ability with the Forcefield was probably already in the Nascent Soul, and trade skills were unimportant right now. The Manamatus Talent improved the strength of his Magic quite a bit, so William decided to stick to his roots. System, upgrade my Fire Affinity. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Fire Affinity: (A --> S) Next rank up: 2500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª An intense wave of fire engulfed William''s body. Instead of bing charred, his skin began melting, as if he was soaked inva. Even the Hard Skin Talent couldn''t keep up with the damage from the upgrade. His Regeneration Talent tried to heal the damage caused, but even that couldn''t quite keep up. William used the Life and Water Elements to their maximum, finally stabilizing his body. The process continued for three hours, his body still smoldering by the time the upgrade was finished. William would have passed out from the pain if not for the Mind Talent, keeping him conscious until the veryst moment. "Fuck, I should have upgraded my Regeneration or even the Life Element first!" William hadn''t upgraded the Fire Element in so long that he forgot how life-threatening it was. He could only imagine what it would be like to upgrade a destructive element like the Death Element to S-Rank. Could he even survive something like that? William tested out the effects of his newly upgraded Fire Affinity. Just before he created a fireball, something in William''s mind clicked. He opened his arms wide as if going in for a big hug, while a raging inferno formed in the cavern ahead of him. The mes twisted and stretched into the sky, threatening to devour the ceiling above. It had be a ming tornado, but William didn''t feel any heat when he approached. Even when he touched the mes, there was no burning sensation, as if William waspletely immune. -Created a Fire Domain: +5 PP Chapter 104: System Upgrade, Consecutive S Ranks? Inside the Fire Domain, William felt invincible. Any Fire Element spells heunched would receive a boost from the Fire Domain, increasing their power to an unbelievable level. If he used the Meteor Spell, its power would definitely enter the Nascent Soul Realm! Just the Fire Domain was a huge bonus for the upgrade to S-Rank Affinity, but it wasn''t the only change. William''s Fire Spells now cost half as much Mana to cast, meaning he couldunch over a thousand giant fireballs before running out of Mana. The difference was massivepared to just a few months ago when a regr fireball could exhaust his Mana after just a few uses. William still had 16720 Potential Points left, but he wasn''t willing to upgrade his most powerful Elements yet. First, he needed to increase his chances of surviving the upgrade. System, upgrade my Life Affinity to S-Rank. -4050 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Life Affinity: (C --> B) Life Affinity: (B --> A) Life Affinity: (A --> S) Next rank up: 7500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª The expenditure wasn''t small, but William couldn''t afford to risk his life during another upgrade. A wave of refreshing Mana washed over him, healing even the smallest injuries invisible to the naked eye. His lifespan even extended to 240 years by the end of the upgrade! He tested out his Life Sense spell, noticing that its range had increased to a hundred kilometers in every direction. He could now see that the bottom of the Gravitas Ruins was a mysterious area, filled with massive lifeforms that were probably above the Nascent Soul Realm. Simr to the Fire Element, the Life Element had its own unique Domain that greatly increased the natural healing of anyone inside. With this, William could regrow an arm in an instant, or even heal multiple people simultaneously! Now William understood why Supreme Left was revered so much. With an S-Rank Element, anyone would be invincible inside their Domain against anyone with the same Element. William wondered if he could fight with Supreme Left if they shared the same S-Rank Affinity. After all, he has the Manamatus Title to further improve his strength. William had a new goal. With the Life Element upgrade out of the way, William now had to improve his Mind. Not only did the upgrades damage him greatly, but they almost made him pass out multiple times. The Life Element would be useless if William wasn''t conscious to use it. He felt bad for Atticus, whom he could upgrade with five thousand Potential Points. It couldn''t be helped though, since the Gravitas Ruins would probably force him out if his Cultivation reached the Golden Core Realm. I''ll give you plenty of upgradester my friend, don''t worry.He caressed Atticus'' scales in aforting manner. The snake was with him 24/7, it was only natural for William to be attached. System, upgrade my Mind Talent to S-Rank. -4050 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Mind: (C --> B) Mind: (B --> A) Mind: (A --> S) Next rank up: 7500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William felt his mind clear up greatly, as if more space was made. His memory greatly improved, allowing him to remember even up to what he ate every day when he was three years old. He could even remember specific details from the Sect that previously went unnoticed. The few Cultivation Techniques he read through at the Great Hall were imprinted in his mind, and he could Cultivate them even without using the books as a guide. Most importantly, he could finally remember Su Yanying''s face, which meant he had surpassed the limits of her mental ability. Unfortunately, the increase in mental power still was not quite enough to resist the Envement Array. Of course, it would only make sense considering the caster was someone loyal to the Sect Master and was probably just as powerful if not more. He was going to upgrade more Talents, but was interrupted by a sudden System notification. -DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE-- --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT-- ... ... --UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL-- SYSTEM RANK: (E+ --> D-) -782 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup Next rank up: 24218PP *New features avable -Companion Purchase: Buy Companion Beast Eggs from the Companion Beast Menu with PP. Can only purchase Eggs of discovered Magical Beasts in the Bestiary. *New Changes: -System has reached version 1.7, new Talents have been added to the Talent Shop. -All new Talents will be automatically raised to D-Rank. -Rare Talents are even more likely to appear. -Ask Function has improved. Questions that cost only one PP will be free. All other questions cost half as many PP. Companion Eggs? Sounds pretty good, but I already have Atticus. Maybe in the future though. The System upgrade was somewhat disappointing considering it was finally upgraded to D-Rank, but William couldn''tin too much. The automatic upgrade on new Talents was nice. I''ll check out the new Talentster. System, upgrade my Hard Skin Talent. -1000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Hard Skin: (A --> S) Next rank up: 2500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª The upgrade went by smoothly, further increasing the density of William''s skin cells. There was now a slight luster on his skin, as if William was partially made of silver. He tested his defense but was unable to find the limit. Only with the Sword of Shifting Sands could William even make a cut on his skin, the Ornate Throwing Knivespletely useless. Just one more thing. System, upgrade my Regeneration Talent to S. -1250 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Regeneration: (B --> A) Regeneration: (A --> S) Next rank up: 2500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª He waited for the upgrade to finish, but the effects weren''t obvious yet since he wasn''t injured. William still had over 6 thousand Potential Points left, so he spent 3950 points on upgrading the Earth, Ice, and Wind Elements to S-Rank first. Each Elemental upgrade came with its own respective Domain, which powered up William''s spells even further. He did some testing with the Domains, pleasantly surprised that he could activate multiple at the same time without an issue. The only downside was the immense Mana cost. Each Domain spent 10 Mana when used and an additional 1 Mana per second, meaning he could onlyst around 5 minutes with all five of his Domains active. Of course, William would be surprised if any single enemy survived 5 minutes against even one of his Domains unless they were at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm. Speaking of Nascent Soul Realm, I wonder how Ipare against the Elders of the Five Elements Sect now... William was beginning to love the Gravitas Ruins, which had already earned him way more Potential Points in a single day than he had in thest month. William was exhausted from all the fighting and System upgrades, finding it was already past midnight. He set up a few Perfect Arrays to prevent any intruders from entering the cavern, then double checked the surroundings with his Life Sense. He was in the middle of the desert and underground, but it didn''t hurt to prevent any idents. Once he was done, William made some omelettes for dinner using the equipment from his Space Ring. He asked Atticus to keep an eye out for enemies and cover them with Illusion Magic if needed, thenid his head down for a nice long rest. *** -Potential Farm: +3 PP William woke up to the familiar ding of the System rewarding him with Potential Points. This had be somewhat of an rm for him the past few weeks, always triggering at around 6 in the morning. He checked with Atticus, who shook his head tomunicate that there were no issues overnight. He gave the snake a pat, then allowed it to rest on his shoulder while he prepared for the day. William wasn''t in a hurry, so he made arge breakfast first. Since he brainlessly made omelettes the previous night, he felt it would be suitable to make some spaghetti. He used Water Magic to fill a cauldron and boiled it with Fire Magic, then poured in some dried noodles that he bought from the market. While waiting for the noodles to cook, William ced some Sea Snake meat into a skillet and chopped it up until it was ground into small pieces. Using some sauce he purchased and a bit of salt from the Earth Element, William was able to make two tasty tes of spaghetti, one each for him and Atticus. The snake wasn''t too keen on the noodles, but the meat sauce made its eyes gleam with anticipation as William set down the tes on a wooden table made from the nt Element. Man, this is awesome. How can I miss my old world when all of the tedious parts of cooking can be speed up with the use of Magic? I don''t even need to work! In a sense, the work in this world was killing beasts. But with the addition of Potential Points, it was more like grinding for fun in a video game. William couldn''tin at all! If it weren''t for the constant threat of powerful Cultivators wiping him from existence, this world could turn into William''s paradise! Chapter 105: Space Magic It was almost time to leave the cavern. William didn''t n to use the remaining two thousand Potential Points, leaving them as the emergency fund like usual. He thought about using some points to upgrade his Space Element before he left, but a quick test showed that Spatial Magic was much more dangerous than William thought. He tried using it to leap forward a few meters, but identally sliced off his own head in the process. On a good note, the head ended up teleporting to the destination William had in mind, he was just missing the rest of his body. It sent shivers down William''s spine to see a headless self, but he surprisingly wasn''t dead yet. The S-Rank Regeneration Talent with the help of the Blood Element actually prevented William from dying. Arge amount of Mana was expended, but William managed to stabilize his condition by raising the blood flow in his body with the Blood Element, while the Regeneration Talent multiplied that blood until it clotted at the base of his neck. His Mind Talent prevented William from passing out during the process, and he finally reconnected his head to the rest of his body after expending arge amount of Mana. Well at least I found the limit of the Regeneration Talent. Even if my head is cut off, I can still survive. At the same time, William bashed himself for being an idiot. What if he tried that during a fight?! Even a Core Formation Realm Cultivator would know to take advantage of a situation like that. William changed his mind. It was better to learn about at least some of his new Elements before going outside. Let''s focus on the Space Element for now, I could also mess around with Illusion Magic since I already know a bit. William started the tests with inanimate objects rather than his own body this time. He formed a human-sized rock using the Earth Element, then focused on it with the Space Element, willing it to teleport a few meters forward. The Spatial Mana covered the rock and disappeared together with it. It reappeared a few meters forward like William nned, but the rock was covered in cracks and the arm was falling off. It was clear that the Spatial Mana had torn it apart during the process. System, how can I prevent the Space Mana from damaging me? -Control your emotions. The Mana in your body is restless from the number of Elements you control. You need to bepletely calm, and not forceful when using the Space Element, otherwise there will be bacsh. Treat your body like a fragile egg that you can''t afford to damage. William pondered on the System''s words. He did seem to rush the process quite a bit.Okay then, let''s try it again! He closed his eyes, visualizing the Space Mana in front of him, then gently increasing the number as it covered the rock. The process was too slow to be used in a fight, but it was a good start. William stayed calm as he waited for the rock to bepletely covered in a thin veil Spatial Mana, then willed it to teleport just one meter forward. The Mana did as instructed, taking the rock just a bit over a meter forward. The rock seemed to be in perfect condition, with very slight chips in the arm and leg portion, but that could be easily healed if it was William teleporting. Sess! Thanks System! William was overjoyed at his first sessful use of the Space Element. -You''re wee. Don''t overdo it. I can easily find a more worthy host. Williamughed inwardly. The System had be much more talkative with each upgrade. He continued testing the Space Element, finally testing it on his own body again once an hour had passed. The process was smooth, Williampletely uninjured when he teleported a few meters forward. He almost ran into the wall upon stepping out, but a few more tries, and William was proficient. The Space Element was too slow, though. It would take almost two seconds of channeling to teleport now, even with all the practice. Any Core Formation Cultivator would have time to react to this and might evennd an attack on him before he finished teleporting. I''ll at least make sure it''s useful in a fight. System, upgrade my Space Affinity. The upgrade from E to D Rank cost William a whopping 50 Potential Points, but given that it was a Legendary Element, Will wasn''t upset. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Space Affinity: (E --> D) Next rank up: 250PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª The effects of the upgrade were incredibly mildpared to before now that William had the Hard Skin and Regeneration Talents. The Spatial Mana normally would have shredded William to pieces, but now it just caused a few hundred paper cuts that quickly healed. He didn''t even need to use the Life Element to heal, or the Earth Element to further reinforce his skin. It waspletely unnecessary! Upgrading my defensive Talents first was probably the best decision I have ever made! He excitedly tested the Space Magic again. The Space Mana was much stronger than before, covering a brand-new humanoid rock in the blink of an eye. His emotions fluctuated again and created a few cracks on the surface of the rock, but William quickly controlled himself. He proceeded with the teleport, which took less than a second this time. The casting speed was still slow, but at least a Core Formation Realm Cultivator couldn''t react to that in time. Let''s raise it a bit further. System, upgrade my Space Affinity to B Rank. It was two sessive upgrades, costing a total of 1250 Potential Points, but William felt it was necessary if he was going to eventually face Nascent Soul Realm enemies. The upgrades slowly went by. The intensity of the Spatial Mana increased dramatically from C to B-Rank, eventually so strong that William needed to use the S Rank Earth Element to reinforce his skin before his arms and legs were sliced to bits. He now had barely over a thousand Potential Points, which was much less than William wanted to keep as a reserve. He wasn''t too worried, since his current level of upgrades raised his power by more than a few levels, but he hoped that the other trials didn''t require any special skills forpletion. William moved on to Illusion Magic. Its functions were the exact same as how Atticus used it, allowing William to conceal himself using Illusion Mana. The only difference was that the Concealment Spell would require almost 50 Mana per second, that was an insane amount! The cost would probably go down as William improved the Illusion Affinity, but that made him wonder just how much Mana Atticus had to be able to conceal himself almost permanently, and asionally conceal William as well. The snake wasn''t amazing inbat, but its stealth was top-notch. Even the Sect Master hadn''t noticed its presence! William could even bet that if he had brought it with him to Supreme Left''s throne room, Atticus still might have avoided detection. Of course, William wouldn''t risk that. Chapter 106: Cleared, Special Trial? William didn''t want to waste too much time testing out his Elements. He had quite a few to learn, but they were overall very weak unless they were B Rank and above. It was better to focus on those few and upgrade the otherster. He exited the cavern after making sure he was proficient with the B Rank Space Affinity, which could teleport him a few dozen meters with ease and in an instant. William expanded his Life Sense, covering the entire desert in an instant. He identified a few groups of Magical Beasts that could be guarding trials, so he decided to take a trip to each of them. With the speed gained from his Acrobatics Talent and a few asional uses of the Space Element to avoid obstacles, William reached the first potential trial area in just a few minutes. He stopped just in time to avoid sliding into a massive pit filled with sand and few manticore-like beasts, sporting a lion''s head, a sandy-colored coat, and a scorpion''s tail. Oh I know those, they''re Sandicores just like the ones I killed in the Foam Desert! William was ecstatic to see a group of Magical Beasts he had already fought, meaning he wouldn''t have to relearn how to fight them. The only difference was that these Sandicores were all at the Golden Core Realm, which would serve as a death sentence to any other Cultivator in the Gravitas Ruins. William wasn''t worried. He stealthily approached a dense group of over a dozen Sandicores, then unleashed his Fire Domain the moment they noticed his presence. The raging inferno spread out quickly, engulfing each Sandicore in mes that burned their fur and charred even the muscles underneath ck. It was a bit of a waste of Magical Beast materials, but William wanted to save room in his Space Rings for the more valuable goods. -Defeated Sandicore (x15): +75 PP He stored a few tails that were still in good shape in a Space Ring, then moved on to the next group, this time using his Earth Domain to impale them with spikes. Within ten minutes, William hadpletely cleared the pit of Sandicores, earning an additional 350 Potential Points and 70 Sandicore Tails. Thest Sandicore fell, revealing a small pedestal in the center of the pit. Oh, the trial was this. Even better!William didn''t mind any trial that involved killing beasts. He could do this all day! He approached the pedestal and took a small ck box that contained another piece of Star Ore. -Completed a B-Rank Trial in the Gravitas Ruins: +250 PP -Acquired Star Ore: +50 PP On to the next!William dashed off in the direction of another potential trial. He arrived at a simr pit tost time, but there were no enemies, and a pedestal was seated in the center with nothing on it. His Life Sense told him that there were enemies here just a few hours ago, but they all seemed to be dead now. Someone must havepleted this trial while I was messing around with Space Magic, damn! He moved on. The next three areas were all the same, a pit full of Sandicores that were just waiting to be ughtered. Two had around eighty Sandicores each, while the third only had sixty. William assumed the number of Sandicores was whittled down over the years of Cultivators entering the trials. Each trial was rated B-Rank, and each one gave a piece of Star Ore, which ording to the System was a rare material for forging powerful weapons. Just as William gathered his fifth total piece of Star Ore as a trial reward, a familiar deep voice echoed throughout the Gravitas Ruins. The Desert Trials have been cleared. In two days, the final Desert Trial will open to all. William was both excited and concerned at the same time. The voice clearly intended for everyone to hear its announcement, meaning there would be an intense battle this time around. William was worried that the Ice Immortals Sect would show up and he would have to kill them. It might seem that William didn''t mind killing other humans given his ruthless attitude in the past, but he absolutely hated the idea of killing innocent people he hadn''t even met. There was a difference between a ruthless person and a cold-blooded murderer, and William didn''t want to be thetter. Unless it was the Potion Master from Thin Creek Vige of course. That guy can suffer. As the unknown man had announced, all of the Desert Trials were cleared, meaning William didn''t have to stay here anymore. That being said, two days was a short time limit, and he was reluctant to leave lest his miss the big event. William decided to leave anyway. It didn''t hurt to earn more Potential Points. He exited the desert from the opposite side of theke he had previously visited,ing across a massive wall of stone bricks that stretched for dozens of kilometers. Even though he hadn''t crossed the threshold yet, the System notification suggested he was already inside the Labyrinth. -Entered the Labyrinth of Tears: +50 PP Perfect, just what I was looking for! William heard about this location from the Sect Master. If the information was correct, an impossible to clear trial had appeared here nearly fifty years ago, but no one hadpleted it. Even after sending their best disciples, not a single Sect had even managed to clear the first level of the trial! With the final trial opening up in the desert, William''s ns had been shifted a bit. Instead of taking on the impossible trial, he nned to clear a few weaker ones before returning to the desert. Before entering the main gate to the Labyrinth of Tears, William decided to use 1250 Potential Points to upgrade his Navigation Talent to S Rank just in case. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Navigation: (B --> A) Navigation: (A --> S) Next rank up: 2500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª The internal radar expanded further, covering a range of a hundred kilometers just like his Life Sense. If hebined Life Sense with the Navigation Talent, he could create a perfect map that showed both structures and living creatures at the same time. The Labyrinth was evenrger than the desert it seemed, since even the two S-Rank Talents could not cover the entire region, but it was enough. William entered the Labyrinth with newfound confidence, already locating the first unimed trial. There seemed to be two humans nearby, but that was the norm in the Labyrinth, since it was the most popr trial ground. He ran for a few hours through the maze, making left and right turns at breakneck speed. From anyone else''s perspective, William might seem like a veteran who had explored the maze for dozens of years. He arrived at the trial, where two male Cultivators at the peak of the Core Formation Realm were waiting for him. They seemed to sense his presence a few minutes ago. "Who are you, are you nning to clear this trial?" one of the Cultivators asked in an aggressive stance. William looked at the two silently for a moment, "Isn''t it proper to introduce yourself first before asking my name? Of course I''m here for the trial." Chapter 107: Crystal Trial The duo noticed that William wasn''t intimidated by their presence. They tried to check his Cultivation and found that he was either concealing his Mana or was just a normal person. Most likely the former. The same Cultivator spoke again, "My name is Bernard. What is your name? Also, this trial is open to our Sect only, as agreed upon by the Council of Sect Masters." "William. Council of Sect Masters? Never heard of it, just let me in." Bernard''s eyebrows raised, "How can you not know about the Council of Sect Masters? They''re quite literally the most powerful group of Cultivators on the Continent other than the Yu Royal Family." he ignored the part where William asked to be let into the trial. "Don''t care. If you''re not going into the trial, then I will." he started walking towards a stone staircase in the center of the room. The other man was about to stop William but was stopped by Bernard, who whispered a few words to him. "Don''t bother Grey, he''s obviously an idiot to be approaching a trial without any preparation. Let''s just follow and use him as bait." Grey nodded. Bernard''s idea was smart, since the two of them had been trying to figure out how to clear the trial for thest three months now. Thankfully the entrance didn''t close behind you, otherwise the two would have already died multiple times over. They followed behind as William walked down the stairs, who noticed their presence but didn''t bother saying anything. Maybe they would be useful. He spoke to the duo while walking, "Since you''re going to follow me, at least tell me how the trial works." Bernard smirked. "Didn''t you want to enter by yourself? Why should we help you?" "Because you want to use me as bait, so at least make me into a good piece of bait." he had obviously heard Bernard whispering to Grey earlier. William''s words made sense to Bernard, but he didn''t n to reveal anything just yet. He remained silent while William walked ahead of the group. They soon arrived in a cavern that was more than three times the size of the previous two William had entered. Itsyout waspletely unique, with eleven spherical crystals more than two meters in diameter neatly arranged in a line and hovering just a few meters above the ground. Each crystal was a pale white color, but the moment William fully entered the cavern, they all lit up. Three of the crystals glowed red, while two were blue, two yellow, and thest four were all green. William looked back at the duo, who didn''t seem surprised by these crystals.They''ve probably entered the trial a few times. "So...what do we do now?" he asked Bernard. "What do you mean, we? It''s all you my friend, I won''t help." "Then what''s the point of youing here? Fine." He relied on his most powerful cheat instead of the useless duo.System, what do I need to do here? The System answered for free. -Target each crystal with an Element matching the respective color. Red for Fire, Blue for Water, Yellow for Earth, and Green for Wind. That sounds easy enough. Alright let''s do it! Williamunched three fireballs, one each for the red crystals, then prepared two Earth Spikes for the yellow ones, he sted two with a spray of Water, then conjured four Wind des and sent them at the remaining crystals. It was all done in one smooth motion, activating all of the crystals in under five seconds. The crystals suddenly teleported away, while the pair of Cultivators behind William dropped their jaws in shock. Bernard expected William to struggle for a while, then eventually figure out the secret. Once he learned that he needed four Elements toplete the first part of the trial, Bernard nned to scam William of some of his items in exchange for their help. Not only was his n ruined, but Bernard realized that William''s various Elements were quite strong, enough to kill both of them with ease. It was obvious that William didn''t use his full strength, so Bernard and Grey became nervous. "I''ve changed my mind." he quickly spoke up. "Hmm?" William turned around to see Bernard adopting a slightly more respectful tone. "What is it?" "We will help you with what we know about the trial, as long as you can share the reward with us." William was uninterested in sharing, but he agreed anyway since it was free help. "Okay, so tell me what I need to know." Bernard rxed a bit, realizing William didn''t hold a grudge from earlier. "There are two more levels of the crystal activation, requiring the Lightning, Ice, and nt Elements as well. We can help you with those three. Of course, there is a small problem." "Problem?" "Yes. After all three crystal levels have beenpleted, a Golden Core Beast will spawn, but it gets stronger depending on how many people are in the trial. Since there are three of us, it will be at the Peak of the Golden Core Realm. If there were four, it would be in the Nascent Soul Realm, which is why we haven''t defeated it up to this point." William understood. A Nascent Soul Realm Beast was an insane difficulty spike that four Core Formation Realm experts could not possibly handle. "Then there''s no problem. Let''splete the crystal levels." he looked over to a set of fifteen crystals that were slowly forming in ce of the previous set. Bernard was confused.Didn''t you hear what I just said? That''s a Peak Golden Core Beast! Grey and I together couldn''t even beat one in the middle stages! He was about to continue berating William in his head when he noticed that William had alreadypleted the second level, which had introduced the Lightning Element requirement as well. This meant that William could control five Elements, which was actually very impressive for someone that didn''t look to be much older than twenty.Maybe he can help us bridge the gap... It was worth a shot; they had already wasted several months trying to clear this trial. The third crystal level formed, consisting of twenty crystals this time. William allowed the duo to use the Ice and nt Element to clear a few crystals, while he focused on the rest. There was no point in being too high-profile. Showing 5 or 6 Elements should probably be William''s self-imposed limit, since that''s how many he used in Blue Moon City and during the Ranking Board Challenges. Any more than that and he might be hunted down the moment he exits the Gravitas Ruins. The crystals teleported away, reced by a massive crystal over twenty meters in diameter. Inside, one could faintly make out the outline of a Magical Beast emitting an aura at the Peak of the Golden Core Realm. It seems they weren''t lying. This one looks much stronger than the Sandicores I fought. William gathered some Mana to his fingertips on both hands, preparing a massive fireball for the exact moment the Magical Beast exited the crystal. The walls of the cavern illuminated slightly, Bernard and Grey backing up to avoid taking coteral damage. Chapter 108: Minotaur The beast emerged from the crystal with a loud roar, allowing William and the others to take a good look at it. The creature was pure red in color, with a pair of meter-long twisted horns on its head that could easily rip someone to shreds. Its expression was of pure fury, cursing the one that sealed its Cultivation and trapped it in a crystal for hundreds of years. [Bestiary] Volcano Minotaur: +1 PP The Minotaur sensed something and looked in William''s direction. Its eyes showed a glimmer of intelligence, then it prepared a fireball in its mouth to counter the massive fireball William hadunched. William''s giant fireball shed with the Minotaur''s, creating an explosion that rocked the cavern walls. The shockwave emerged, knocking the Cultivator Duo backward a few meters. The Minotaur red at William, not expecting him tounch such a powerful attack. It prepared three consecutive fireballs,unching the only spell it knew at William with great precision. It didn''t bother targeting Bernard and Grey, as it remembered the duo from the previous day. Even with its Cultivation reduced to the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm, they were no match. William extinguished the fireballs with a spray of water, then increased the pressure of the Water Element to the maximum, cutting through one of the Minotaur''s horns. The Volcano Minotaur roared in pain and held its head as the right horn fell to the ground. Its eyes turned red and it started to bulk up, but William didn''t give it the chance. With another spray of high-pressure water, William sliced off the Minotaur''s head, watching as its body touched both knees to the ground and fell forward without another noise. -Defeated a Volcano Minotaur: +6 PP Bernard looked at William with wide eyes. He made it look so easy! If I hadn''t fought the Volcano Minotaur before, I would have thought it was a pushover! Grey was also surprised, but mostly impressed. He had used the Water Element against the Volcano Minotaur before, but its mes greatly surpassed the strength of his Water Magic. William was different.His Affinity must already be C Rank, or maybe he was a Manamatus and it''s B Rank! Grey wasn''t wrong, William''s Water Affinity was currently C Rank, but the Celestial Manamatus Title made it almost as strong as A Rank Water Magic. Not only that, but his Beast yer Title made him do more damage to Magical Beasts, stacking the effects quite well. A few moments passed, but there was no pedestal raising from the floor, nor was there a mysterious voice. William was confused, but Bernard and Grey knew exactly what this meant. "The trial isn''t over!" they shouted to William in unison as a high-speed spray of water closed in on William''s position. Their shout brought William back into battle mode, noticing the water closing in on his position. He chose not to dodge, calling Mana of the Earth Element to his fingertips while the water sshed harmlessly off his Forcefield. He looked at his opponent, a deep blue Minotaur with horns curved in reverse. [Bestiary] Ocean Minotaur: +1 PP Let me guess, I have to fight one for each Element. William sighed. This trial was too cheesy for his tastes. He would rather be fighting a thousand Core Formation Beasts than one Golden Core at a time. At least that was more Potential Points! He spread salt over the floor of the caverns, then waited for the Ocean Minotaur tounch a water-based attack. He didn''t have to wait long, as it conjured another ball of Water Mana to its mouth and prepared to fire. William raised a wall of Earth in front of him, deflecting the water and causing it to spread on the ground. He flooded the area with some Water Mana of his own, then used the Lightning Element to burn the Ocean Minotaur to a crisp. -Defeated an Ocean Minotaur: +6 PP Another one down. Alright, who''s next? William looked at the pair of Cultivators who were standing idle while he fought. "Are you two just going to watch me or are you going to help?" Bernard and Grey felt awkward. William''s words weren''t wrong, they were very useless right now. "We aren''t even on the same side! It was your choice for entering the trial!" Grey shouted. "Oh, we aren''t? In that case I should just kill you now, right?" William''s words made the duo turn pale. "No of course we''re on the same side, right Grey?" Bernard quickly said while Grey nodded quickly. If William could kill multiple Peak Golden Core Minotaurs with such ease, he would definitely have no problem killing the duo that weren''t even from a renowned Sect. William dropped the matter. He wasn''t willing to lose Humanity over this pair, who were obviously no threat to him. As long as they didn''t see anything they weren''t supposed to, William didn''t mind the added difficulty of the trial. He could use this as Elemental training. Two Minotaurs spawned. [Bestiary] Air Minotaur: +1 PP [Bestiary] Ground Minotaur: +1 PP He tried using the high-pressure water to cut off their heads like the Volcano Minotaur, but he only managed to kill the Ground Minotaur. His attack didn''tnd on the Air Minotaur the first time, and a sessful second attempt only sliced through a small portion of its skin. It seemed the other two Minotaurs were weak to his Water Element, but the Wind-based Air Minotaur was a bit more resistant. He switched Elements, finding Lightning Magic to be more effective. It seems the Wind Element makes them a flying-type, huh?William joked. He wondered if using the Ice Element would also be effective, much like a game he used to y. He tried it out, calling some Ice Mana to his fingertips andunching an Ice Spike at the Air Minotaur. The Minotaur responded in kind by unleashing a series of Wind des that cut the Ice Spikes in half. They fell to the ground harmlessly, but William used the opportunity to create a giant fireball that burned the Minotaur to a crisp. Eh, who cares about type effectiveness when you can just throw another fireball? -Defeated an Air Minotaur: +6 PP Another 12 Potential Points in his pocket, William was ready for more. The earnings were low, but he couldn''tin. It was better than in the Sect when he would only gain Potential Points when he wonpetitions or created new spells. This was a lot less work. "Can you two actually do something now? There will probably be three of them soon, and I can''t fight them by myself." William called out to the pair of Cultivators nearby. Actually, he could fight all of them himself, but that would require revealing even more abilities than he already had. He could tell by Bernard''s expression that it wasn''t the greatest idea to reveal his Ice Element, the sixth one he had shown so far. Grey nodded silently, "I can create Intermediate Arrays. Will that be enough?" "Then get to work. I need a hundred Confinement Arrays on that position." William pointed to the area where the Minotaurs spawned every time. Chapter 109: Fun? Grey nodded and got to work. Even if it was just Intermediate Arrays, there was strength in numbers. William''s n was to exhaust Grey and make him even more unwilling to fight. Bernard only knew how to create Basic Arrays, which would be quite useless against Golden Core Beasts. Instead, he used the nt Element to create a miniature forest in the cavern. He then used the Water Element to absorb all the moisture from the trees, their leaves drying up and turning yellow as their life force was extinguished. "Why did you do that?" William asked. Bernard felt this was a chance to show his worth. "You have the Fire Element, right? And thest three Minotaurs will probably be of the Lightning, Ice, and nt Elements. If that''s the case, you should be able to kill whichever one appears in one go with a single fireball." William''s mind was blown. He had used the Earth, Water, Lightning Elementbination before, but didn''t think about abo like this! He had to admit that Bernard and Grey both had some talent, considering the number of Elements they could use. He assumed that between the two they had all seven basic Elements, since Bernard seemed very confident before when William was attempting the Elemental crystal puzzle. Three Minotaurs appeared, each encased in a crystal like the previous ones. The Minotaur in the center was immediately trapped in the Confinement Arrays, preventing it from moving the moment it broke free from the crystal. [Bestiary] Thunder Minotaur: +1 PP [Bestiary] Frozen Minotaur: +1 PP [Bestiary] Forest Minotaur: +1 PP William took this chance tounch a giant fireball at the forest, while Bernard fanned the mes using the Wind Element. In just a few seconds, all three of the Minotaurs were dead, earning William an additional 18 Potential Points. A pedestal rose from the center of the cavern,ically pushing aside the Frozen Minotaur whose body was still confined in the Intermediate Arrays. Neither Bernard nor Grey moved, allowing William to approach the pedestal unimpeded. He picked up the ck box but didn''t open it right away. -Completed an A-Rank Trial in the Gravitas Ruins: +500 PP An A-Rank Trial? This wasn''t even that hard... William had a skewed perspective towards the trials, forgetting that a normal Cultivator could not take down a Magical Beast at the same rank one on one, much less one an entire realm above them. He looked at the pair while still holding the ck box. "Were you looking for something specific from this trial? Why work so hard with just the two of you, instead of informing your entire Sect?" Bernard shook his head. "We don''t have a way tomunicate with our Sect in these Ruins, unlike some other Sects. We aren''t strong enough to take on most trials, so we thought this one would be our chance." "I see, but you still didn''t answer my first question." "Well...we were hoping to find some Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence, but that is extremely rare. It would be good if we can find some Star Ore or an enchanted weapon." I wonder how they would feel if I told them I had all three at one point. That''s awkward... William peeked inside the box. -Acquired Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence: +250 PP That''s even more awkward... William closed the box and scratched his head. "That''s unfortunate. Well good luck, I''m going to leave now." he started up the staircase. "Wait, what''s in the box though? I just want to know." Bernard called out to William. "What was that? You''re very far away and my hearing is bad!" William was still walking upward as he shouted back to the perplexed duo. *** "Phew, I finally lost them!" Williamid down on the stone floor of the Labyrinth. Bernard and Grey seemed to sense something was weird about William''s attitude after checking the box and ran after him relentlessly, even risking their lives since they knew William could easily kill the two. It wasn''t until almost five minutes had passed that William escaped the pair that were surprisingly fast despite their Core Formation Realm Cultivation. He checked his surroundings with the Navigation Talent, pleasantly surprised to find another trial nearby. It was gettingte though, so William put together a few Perfect Arrays to conceal his position. He didn''t feel like cooking any meals tonight, so he ate an Iron Stomach Pill to offset his hunger for the next few days, then went straight to bed. As usual, the System woke him up at 6 with its Potential Farm notification. William immediately stood up to prevent himself from getting tired, then stayed standing until he was ready to go. He destroyed the Arrays in case someone could sense his aura from them, then headed straight for the nearest trial. Much like the others, the trial was a stone staircase, but the entrance was blocked. Surrounding the staircase was a thin veil representing an Array, but William was too far away to recognize the purpose yet. He approached the staircase to better inspect the Array, but was shocked, literally, by a lightning bolt that came out of the Array. The power wasn''t too impressive, so William didn''t bother to turn on his Forcefield and defended using only the Hard Skin Talent. The lightning bolt bounced off harmlessly, then was followed by another lightning bolt that did the same. William continued walking forward amidst the lightning, then deactivated what turned out to be an Intermediate Lightning Array with just the flick of his finger. The Array deactivated, allowing William to enter the staircase. As he walked downward, he noticed the Intermediate Lightning Array had reformed behind him automatically. I don''t even sense any other Arrays, just how strong is the person that created this trial? He didn''t bother thinking about it too much, it was beyond his means anyway. William arrived at the bottom of the staircase, where instead of a cavern was a long hallway made of stone bricks in perfect condition. On the walls were a set of blue torches that barely illuminated the area. William could barely see, so he used 125 Potential Points to raise his Vision Talent from D to B Rank. With the upgrade, William could now see to the end of the hallway, which was over five kilometers long. His ability to see in the dark improved, and his field of view expanded, from the basic 170 degrees horizontally to 210. At distinct intervals of about 500 meters, William could make out various Arrays. With his improved vision, he could see that the first two Arrays had both an attack and defensive function. It seemed the creator didn''t want someone to slowly whittle away each Array, setting them up so the Cultivator would also have to defend themselves while progressing through the trial. Wee to the Arrays Trial. I hope you have fun! The deep voice resounded through the hallway in a happy tone. Williamughed. He didn''t expect the creator of the trials to have a sense of humor. Who would possibly have fun while dodging lightning bolts? He approached the first Array, but quickly jumped back when he reached the 250 meter mark. In front of him a pressure te had activated, triggering a massive explosion that would have killed anyone in the Core Formation Realm. "HOW IS THIS FUN?!?" Chapter 110: Disc Fragment William raised his arms to cover his face while dashing backward, shielding his eyes from pieces of stone brick that had be shrapnel from the explosion. This guy is more insane than I am! -No he isn''t. I didn''t need your input! He jumped back from a secondary explosion that triggered at the 200-meter mark, forcing him back again. He activated his Forcefield to defend against the shrapnel this time, then stood in ce until the explosions subsided. The hallway became silent again, so William used the Wind Element to clear the smoke. The walls and floor that were previously destroyed in one section had fully repaired themselves, and William guessed the traps had also returned. This trial obviously wasn''t going to be as easy as the others. He stepped forward and inspected the area at the 250-meter mark, but still couldn''t find any evidence of a trap even though there were almost certainly some present. William used his extraordinary Mind Talent to think back to when the explosion first took ce. Over there!He looked at a certain spot just left of the center of the hallway. The explosion had originated from that point, so William just needed to figure out how it worked. After nearly an hour of close inspection and three more explosive encounters, William still couldn''t figure it out. The explosive device was probably hidden with an extremely powerful Array, and it wasn''t actually part of the trial. Don''t tell me you actually expect people to just ignore this and tank the explosion? It seemed to be the case, but William didn''t like it. He activated his Forcefield and ran through the explosive trap, which turned out to be a minefield at the 300-meter mark. William was agile and had impressive reflexes, but none of his Talents could detect or avoid the invisible mines. By the time William reached the 500-meter mark, his Forcefield showed multiple cracks and would need some time to heal them. His Mana reserves were below a thousand, and his head was fuzzy from taking thousands of direct hits. He was now directly in front of the first Array, which was incredibly simple inparison to the minefield. It constantlyunched Lightning Element attacks at William when he got close, simr to the entrance, but once deactivated it seemed unable to recover in the short term. William sat down cross-legged to rest for a bit, only leaving after three hours when the Array was close to recovering. He didn''t n to disable it a second time, lest someone that follows him in gets an easy pass. He moved toward the next Array carefully, but his caution turned out to be unnecessary as there were no additional explosions. It seemed that only the first section held a minefield. The second Array also carried Intermediate level attack power, but the Array was slightly more Advanced. There were nearly two dozen Intermediate Runes of Stability reinforcing the Array, so one couldn''t just disable the Array with brute force. Well, except for William. His physical strength was at the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm even without the help of an Array, so it only took a single punch to smash through the Intermediate Barrier. You''ve cracked two Arrays, impressive. Or so I would say if you didn''t cheat! The deep voice resounded through the hallway. It obviously realized that William wasn''tpleting the trial as it intended. I won''t bother stopping you, but if you think that will get you the reward you are sorely mistaken. It finished with a serious tone. William wasn''t sure what the trial creator meant by those words, but a quick nce at the next Array gave him an idea. It was an Advanced Barrier, normally impossible for a Core Formation Realm expert to break unless they were incredibly talented like Yu Ren or Hanzu. Including this Array there were 8 left, meaning the end of the trial would probably carry Perfect Arrays. William wondered why the trial creator would set such a difficult benchmark. Even if disabling Arrays was easier than creating them, even someone able to create Advanced Runes would struggle to destroy a Perfect Array in less than a week. When William was detained by a Perfect Array Master in Blue Moon City, he wouldn''t have been able to escape if he hadn''t upgraded his Array Talent. William shook his head and continued with the trial. He was able to break the third and fourth Arrays with his physical strength, but the fifth was too strong. The Array was much moreplicated than the other Advanced Arrays William had seen, not to mention he was still being attacked by a separate Intermediate Array thatunched annoying lightning bolts at his Forcefield. The moment a punch was thrown at the Array, it responded by focusing all of its defense to a single point where the punch wouldnd, multiplying its defensive power by at least a dozen times. William''s full-power punchnded, causing a few slight cracks, but they were quickly healed by a row of twenty Mana Stones behind the Barrier. The Array was fully healed by the time William retracted his fist, meaning he would have to punch it until the Mana Stones were exhausted. But why would the loot goblin pass up on twenty Mana Stones? William sat down cross-legged and inspected the Array. It seemed this is what the trial creator meant when he said his physical strength wouldn''t help him. With just a nce, William understood how to crack the Array. He weaved an Advanced Rune of Compression, then an Intermediate Rune of Reversal. With the two paired together, William weaved the Runes into the Array,bining it with an Advanced Rune of Stability to ensure the two Runes stayed in ce. William threw a light punch that wouldn''t even hurt a Qi Refinement Cultivator. The Array reacted by focusing its defense to a single point likest time, but the Compression Rune also activated, followed by the Rune of Reversal. The Array was forced to undo itsst action, then it tried topress its energy while it was still reversing the process, causing it to malfunction. The Array began to heat up, then melted before William''s eyes. He walked past the disabled Array and stored the twenty Mana Stones that were fueling it into his Space Ring. It seems you do have some knowledge of Arrays after all...I suppose I will grant you the reward I held backst time.The voice resounded directly in William''s mind. William''s hands stretched outward on their own, a ck box appearing out of nowhere. This was very simr to the first trial Williampleted, where he received a ck box after only clearing the fourth level of the trial. Is the creator...still alive?William wondered. He couldn''t say it was impossible, considering it was clearly reacting to what William did in the trial area. After all, powerful Cultivators had very long lives. He opened the box. Inside was a sliver of what looked like stic shaped like a slice of pizza. It emitted a slight Mana Signature, but William couldn''t tell what it was used for. -Acquired Unknown Disc Fragment: +50 PP Chapter 111: Array Formation Unknown Disc Fragment? How can you give me Potential Points when you don''t even know what it''s for? -The current System Rank cannot determine the value of the item, but it can sense its Energy Value. Points are awarded based on this. Energy Value? What is that? -You don''t need to know this. Why not? -It''s useless to you. I want to know though. William used the Ask Function. -Request requires 1 trillion Potential Points. Yes/No? Okay you did that on purpose! William gave up on arguing with the System. He stored the Unknown Disc Fragment in this Space Ring, then continued forward with the trial. He had cracked five Arrays now, so he was halfway done. The sixth Array was built the same as the fifth one, still at the Advanced level. The main difference was that there were now forty Mana Stones powering the Array. It seemed that the creator was worried that Cultivators would just brute force their way through the trial. William easily disabled the Array, earning another 40 Mana Stones. The trial creator gave him a second reward, which was another Unknown Disc Fragment. At this rate, he should get a third fragment after cracking the ninth Array. He rushed to the seventh Barrier Array, which now partnered with an Advanced Lightning Array to attack him. William''s Forcefield showed some slight cracks while he studied the Barrier, but the cracks healed as soon as they appeared. If he hadn''t raised the level of his Forcefield Talent earlier, it definitely wouldn''t have held on. But now his A Rank Epic defensive Talent should even hold for a small amount of time against a Nascent Soul Cultivator. William''s initial inspection of the Array revealed it was at the Perfect level but wasn''t much more than a simple Barrier. He easily disabled it using a Perfect Rune of Instability, but he could have done the same with an Advanced Rune if he was willing to spend half an hour waiting. He stepped past the Array and opened a small chest that contained around a hundred Mana Stones. He stored both the Mana Stones and the chest inside his Space Ring, then continued to the eighth Array. Another Perfect Array, but higher difficulty. This Array reacted much like the Advanced Arrays from before,pressing all its defense to a single point where the attacknded. William tried to take advantage of this by using his Fire Domain to attack the entire Array, but it failed. His attack instead revealed that even the Runes of the Perfect Array were concealed by Arrays that masked their purpose. What appeared to be a Perfect Rune of Compression was actually a Perfect Rune of Dispersion and a Perfect Rune of Absorption.His attack with the Fire Domain only served to make the Array stronger and even more stable. William cursed. Now he would need to spend even more effort to disable this Array. He created a few Arrays to disable the illusion, revealing the true purpose of the entire Array. With a lot of effort and over an hour of work, William finally managed to disable the nested Perfect Array. Despite the work, William wasn''t upset. Instead, this trial had given him many new ideas on how to use his Arrays. Even though he was a Perfect Array Master, he only had the basic information dumped into his brain. Other than creating Runes and making them work together, William didn''t know much else. He collected 250 Mana Stones and another chest for their storage. The ninth Array was even moreplex than the eighth, making William seriously wonder who the trial''s creator expected to clear this. He wouldn''t be surprised if the furthest anyone got was the third or fourth Array. And to think this isn''t even the impossible trial that Sect Master Gu talked about. William didn''t fall for any traps this time. He probed the Array with some Mana, testing to see what effects each movement had. As expected, if he were tounch an attack at the Array it would only be stronger. Not only that, but his attack would be replicated andunched back at him. Unless it was a Domain of course, since ording to the System they couldn''t be replicated unless the creator of the Array also had an S Rank Affinity for the appropriate Element. William wasn''t willing to find out if the creator was an S-Rank Fire Mage. He disabled the first part of the Array that wouldunch duplicate spells at the attacker, but the remainder of the Array was still functional. Next came the Runes that concealed the Array''s functions, allowing William to finally see the Barrier Runes. William spent an hour disabling one Rune at a time, ensuring not to make any mistakes lest the Array reform itself. -Disabled your first Array Formation: +100 PP An Array Formation? You''re telling me thest Array didn''t even qualify? William wiped the sweat away from his face. As expected, the familiar ck box appeared in William''s hands, containing his third Unknown Disc Fragment. You''ve done well to clear nine Arrays guarding this trial. Consider itplete.The unknown man said amiably. This time, William had a feeling he could respond. "What about that one?" he pointed to the tenth Barrier in the distance. Try if you''d like.The man said nothing more. It seemed the trial creator didn''t believe anyone could clear the entire trial. Perhaps the purpose was only to give out the Disc Fragments. William collected another 250 Mana Stones and the storage chest, then approached the tenth Array. He entered the 100 meter-mark but quickly jumped backwards as a massive lightning bolt extended from one of the walls and struck the ground at his feet. There was another Lightning Array, but this time it was at the Perfect level! The lightning bolts chased William back to the 250-meter mark before subsiding without a trace. William''s Forcefield was covered in cracks from the previous Array, so he backed up and sat cross-legged at the point just after the ninth Array. I need to recover my Mana first. I still have over a day until I need to return to the desert anyway. William looked behind him to see a group of eleven Cultivators enter the trial grounds. He was quite far from the group and every Array except the ninth had reformed, but William created an Advanced Concealment Array to hide his presence just in case. He wasn''t hungry due to the effects of his pills, so William rolled out some bedding and went straight to bed. His Mana regenerated at a rate of 225 Mana per hour, but it still wasn''t enough considering William''s Mana reserve was 1500 now. He thought about consuming the second Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence right now, but the effects would be slightly diminished, and it would take longer to absorb. It was better to sleep now, then use it when he awoke for a chance at better effects. If anything, this trial was probably the safest ce for William to sleep. Surrounded in powerful Arrays and underground, William felt incredibly secure. He gave onest look at the group, asking Atticus to keep an eye on their movements just in case they happened to have an experienced Array Master. Chapter 112: The Tenth Barrier William woke up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the final Array. His Mana had fully recovered, and his Forcefield was in perfect condition. He ced Atticus down in the Arrays since it was too dangerous for the little snake. Atticus was only at the Core Formation Realm and would be instantly obliterated by a Perfect Array if something went wrong. Atticus gave William a sad look. It knew that Wiliam was just trying to protect it, but still felt bad for being so weak. Atticus had only joined Will in battle a few times soon after its birth, quickly losing value after reaching the five thousand Potential Point roadblock. As William approached the tenth Array, Atticus slithered after him. The Perfect Lightning Array began charging up. "I told you to stay back, it''s too dangerous." William scolded. The snake shook its head. Even though it was apanion beast and forced to follow William''s orders, as a Mythical Beast, Atticus was able to resist slightly. This time it was going to be useful! As William walked back to Atticus, the hazy Mana of the Illusion Element wrapped around him. The Illusion Mana increased in thickness until the Perfect Lightning Array lost its target and went idle. Atticus gave William a slightly defiant look, adamant to not leave his side. William didn''t know how the Mythical Rat Snake had be so attached. Perhaps William could be considered its parent, since he was present when it hatched from the egg? He also spent all of his time over thest month with the snake. He picked up Atticus and ced it on his shoulder. If the snake wasn''t going to leave, William would ce it in the next safest ce, within his Forcefield. With the Lightning Array inactive, William didn''t have to worry about taking damage while trying to disable the Barrier. He was more worried about Atticus running out of Mana, since he know knew how taxing the use of the Illusion Element was. He worked quickly, his fingers twitching as he probed the Perfect Array Formation. He had learned from before how the Array would conceal its true functions, so William was able to disable that first. Once the true Array surfaced, William''s jaw dropped in shock. Not just three or four Arrays were present this time. He counted with his fingers. "One, two, three, four, five, six...ten, eleven, twelve!" Twelve Arrays?!?William was dumbfounded. Each of the Arrays appeared to be spinning, always changing their position within the Array. The phenomenon was caused by a Perfect Cycling Array nestled deep in the Formation that couldn''t be reached unless William disabled the Barrier. He could split the Formation into four parts of three Arrays each. The Core contained the Cycling Array, Barrier Array, and Absorption Array. Its purpose lied in the main defensive functions of the Barrier. Surrounding the Core were three identical sets of Cycling, Locking, and Mana Transfer Arrays on what William wouldbel the Shell. He named it this way because every Array need to be cracked on the outside in order to disable the Core. William thought about upgrading his Arrays Talent to S Rank at this point. The Array was clearly more advanced than the others and would take a long time to disable. -The Host is being watched; a quest will be issued. ¡ª¡ª¡ª System Quest: The Host is close to clearing a trial that remained unimed for over ten thousand years and has attracted the attention of a powerful Cultivator with good intentions. Impress the Cultivator bypleting the trial without revealing the presence of the System. Difficulty: Hard Rewards: 1000 Potential Points, Unknown Cultivator''s Support ¡ª¡ª¡ª William''s eyes shone. A thousand Potential Points was an enticing reward, not to mention another backer that was probably the trial creator. Someone like that had to be even more powerful than the Sect Master! He refocused on the Array.I can do this, It''s just a littleplicated. His mindset was much like a college student during a math exam. Just throw answers at the problem until one of them makes sense! He started with the Arrays of Cycling in the Shell of the Formation. William couldn''t ce Runes into the other Arrays, because they were spinning too fast and would shatter his Rune before it could integrate into the Array. The Array of Cycling was no exception, also moving at high speed in the Formation, but William had an idea. He created a Basic Rune of Slowing and inserted it into the Cycling Array as fast as possible. The Basic Rune shattered as expected, but because it was a Basic Rune, it didn''t require as much effort to keep it stable. William tried again, this time sessfully. The Basic Rune attached itself to a Perfect Rune of Stability that made up the Cycling Array, slowing it down just barely. William spent an hour slowly adding Runes of Slowing to the Array, eventually transitioning to Intermediate Runes when it had slowed down enough. Another hour passed and the Array was still moving, although at a snail''s pace. At this speed, William was finally able to disable the Array with a Perfect Rune of Dispersion that forced the Array to Disperse every Rune attached to it. Over a hundred Runes of Slowing crashed into the Locking Array, causing it to fall into disarray. The Array quickly fell apart. With just a few minutes, William disabled the Mana Transfer Array. One down, two more to go until I reach the Core.William wiped the sweat away from his face. This was the most he had ever struggled with Arrays. Usually it was incredibly easy, or he just needed a moment to understand the functions of an Array. This one required incredible patience and a lot of trial and error. He repeated the same actions for the second and third set of Arrays, revealing the Core of the Array after almost four hours had passed. He disabled each set faster than thest, using his experience to speed up the process. Atticus had already run out of Mana an hour ago, and the Lightning Array was currently pelting his Forcefield with lightning strikes. His Forcefield once again filled with cracks, so William was forced to divert his attention and create a Perfect Barrier Array to buy himself half an hour of time. William was quite annoyed at the incessant Array, but there was no way for him to disable it since it was embedded in a wall behind an even moreplicated Array than the one in front of him. The creator of the trial probably didn''t intend for anyone to disable the Lightning Array. Heyered two more Perfect Barrier Arrays on top of the others but didn''t increase the amount further. He only had around half of his Mana left, and the Core was still open. He looked backwards to see the group of eleven Cultivators still working on the trial. They were somewhat impressive as they had just cleared the third Array and were currently working on the fourth, but William could tell based on their speed that they probably wouldn''t make it to the sixth Array. Chapter 113: S-Rank Trial, Impossible Quest? Like before, William tackled the Cycling Array with hundreds of Basic Runes of Slowing. It was easier to slow this Array down, since there were more Stability Runes that made up its surface. William disabled the Cycling Array in only half an hour, leaving just the Barrier and Absorption Arrays. William was very familiar with both Arrays, so disabling them was a piece of cake. With the Arrays down, William had finallypleted the trial. He looted the 500 Mana Stones and the chest that fueled the Array Formation, then approached the stone pedestal that was waiting on the other side. He picked up the ck box and opened it, revealing what appeared to be a ck metal te with thousands of tiny Runes inscribed on the edges. Seated on the te was a single piece of dark-blue stic shaped like a pizza slice, but there seemed to be many pieces missing. -Completed an S-Rank Trial in the Gravitas Ruins: +1000 PP -Acquired Damaged Mythical Array Wheel: +2500 PP -System Quest Completed: +1000 PP William recognized the piece of stic immediately. He pulled out the three Unknown Disc Fragments he received from earlier in the trial, then ced them against the piece of metal to fill some of the gaps. The pieces fit snugly into the Array Wheel, restoring the Mythical treasure to half of its capacity. There seemed to still be four missing pieces, which William didn''t know where to find them. You''vepleted a trial I deemed nearly impossible for someone below the Golden Core Realm. You''ve earned one of my personal treasures as a reward.The voice resounded directly in William''s mind. His voice seemed somewhat pained to lose one of his precious treasures. This Array Wheel will allow you to store your Arrays to be instantly cast on use. Of course, I have broken the Array Wheel up and scattered its pieces to the other trial takers that have cleared at least 3 levels of the trial. Restore the Array Wheel to its full power and you will be greatly rewarded. ¡ª¡ª¡ª System Quest: A backer has presented the Host with a difficult quest. Collect the remaining Array Wheel fragments and restore the Mythical treasure to its former glory. Difficulty: Impossible Fragments Collected: 4/8 Rewards: 50000 Potential Points ¡ª¡ª¡ª The Cultivator said a few more words, but William''s focus was on the fifty thousand Potential Point reward for the most recent Quest. With that many Potential Points, William could probably upgrade most of his Magic Talents to S Rank. William recollected himself, but the Cultivator had already finished speaking. He had to go back through his memories to recall what the man said to him afterwards. The unknown Cultivator switched to a more serious tone. Your Array Wheel will react in the presence of the remaining fragments, but it will be dangerous of course. Some of the fragments were collected thousands of years ago, and these Cultivators are bound to be quite powerful by now. The voice subsided, allowing William to ponder on what the man said. Danger wasn''t a concern for him. He was ustomed to these situations, and more than prepared to be bombarded by enemies by the time he left the Gravitas Ruins. William tested the functions of the Array Wheel. He dripped some blood on the Wheel to imprint it to himself, then tried storing a few Arrays inside. After a few minutes he discovered that any Array he formed while the Array Wheel was out would bepressed and automatically stored. The functions of the Array Wheel were obviously above the Perfect level. Since he had four total fragments added to the Array Wheel, William could store four Arrays at a time. Each fragment represented a storage slot for the Wheel, which was made this the most valuable treasure William had found yet. The Mana Dragon''s Blood Essences were very good, raising William''s maximum Mana and Mana Regeneration, but the Array Wheel was both an offensive and defensive treasure that would scale with his strength. It was clear to him which was more important. He looked back at the group of Cultivators, who were now working on the fifth Array. Their speed was a bit better than William expected, but there was no chance of them clearing it. Their Array Master, an old man with a weak aura, was currently propped up on one knee while he caught his breath. The fifth Array didn''t seem even close to being disabled, and the Lightning Array was slowly wearing down the rest of the group that served as the old man''s protection. William nned to confront the group for one reason only. His Array Wheel was reacting to their group, suggesting that they had received one of the fragments as a reward just now from clearing the third Array. If he could retrieve this fragment, William would only need three more toplete the so-called Impossible Quest. ording to the System, the Quests were rated based on their current difficulty to William when he received them. Since the Quest wasbeled impossible, it just meant that Will wasn''t strong enough yet. He waited a few hours for Atticus to recover his Mana, then had the snake conceal both of them with his Illusion Magic. William walked past the group of Cultivators, then stopped at the entrance to the trial and asked Atticus to stop concealing their presence. William didn''t want the group to think he had just cleared the trial. It was better to pretend he had just entered and see what the group thought. He didn''t n to attempt the reformed Arrays again, rather set up a small resting area where he could wait for the group to give up. While waiting, William created a set of the mostplex Arrays he knew and stored them in the Array Wheel. He nned to use this treasure specifically for emergencies, so he made sure not to spare any effort in the process and also added an Array based on the ones he saw in this trial. By the time the group decided to turn around, William was considering returning to the desert. There were less than 16 hours before the desert trials would open, and William didn''t want to miss the big event. Thankfully, the Cultivators realized they wouldn''t be breaching the fifth Array any time soon and decided to cut their losses and head back. One of their members had noticed William a few hours ago, but they weren''t worried. William was alone and it looked like he was just trying to escape from the Labyrinth for a few hours. One of the Cultivators even suggested killing William just to prevent anyone from finding out how close they were to clearing the trial. The group approached the exit to the trial, so William stood up from his chair made of the Earth Element. He walked over to the exit staircase and stopped in front of it with his arms crossed while facing the Cultivators. "What''s the meaning of this? Are you tired of living?" the old Array Master asked in a serious tone. He was not in the mood to joke around with children after wasting thirty years of his life just to fail the Array trial he had an eye on. William kept his arms crossed, "I''m here for that thing you got after breaking the third Array." The Cultivators were surprised.How long has this kid been here? We broke that array half a day ago! A middle-aged male with light-green hair and thick brown eyebrows smirked. "So what if we did? Do you seriously think you can take it from us by yourself?" A female in her twenties that was standing behind the green-haired manughed out loud. She pulled the pizza slice piece of stic out of her Space Ring and gave a flirty smile while waving it in the air. "You mean this? You''d have toe take it from us!" William wasn''t sure why the girl openly showed him their prize, but he wasn''t going to miss out on this chance. He used the Space Element to teleport behind the girl and take the fragment from her still-waving hand, then teleported back to his original position. "Oh, very neat. I''ll hold onto this for now, thanks!" William stuffed the fragment in his Space Ring. The green-haired man gave the girl an angry look. "Agnes, are you an idiot? A future Array Master like you is supposed to be smart, why would you show him where we are keeping it?" William sensed something was wrong with their conversation. It was a bit too set up, and none of the other Cultivators had surprised or angry faces. William quickly pulled the fragment out of his space ring, inspecting the surface. As he touched it, the surface of the fragment heated up and it turned slightly red. It''s a fake, shit! He threw the fragment out of his hand, shielding his eyes as the fragment exploded in midair. Chapter 114: Fifth Fragment, Desert Trials Begin! William cursed. He was cautious in identifying the fragment, but the fake was almost a perfect copy. If his reflexes weren''t good, the explosion might have torn off an arm or two. Or worse yet, it could have blown up his Space Ring! The moment William took the fragment, the Cultivators switched to battle mode. William''s speed suggested he was anything but weak. They lined up,unching a series of spells that made the hallway tremble. William dodged a few fireballs, allowing them to harmlessly strike the stairwell behind him, while also slicing apart a group of Earth Spikes that had risen from the ground in front of him. He used the brief moment of respite as an opportunity tounch a few Wind des at the group. The Wind des ripped through each Cultivator''s lower half, separating their legs from their body to restrict their movements. They screamed in pain as their torso began to bleed, but William quickly stabilized their body with the Life Element. I''m both a reaper and a savior.William gave a mentalugh. The Cultivators caught him by surprise, but they were still much weaker than him. Now that he was being cautious, he would not allow them to get the upper hand before he could acquire the fragment. Heunched a few more spells, quickly gaining control over the rest of the group. "Where is the real fragment?" He asked the old man, whom the Array Wheel was reacting to the strongest. "I have it." the old man said with a sigh. William nodded. "I know you do, now bring it out." The old man did as instructed, pulling a fragment from his Space Ring to give to William. The Cultivators weren''t confident in the value of the fragment, but William''s expression said it was incredibly valuable. The old man felt some regret, but it couldn''t be helped considering how quickly William took down the entire group. -Acquired Array Wheel Fragment: +50 PP William didn''t miss the part where the fragment was no longerbeled "Unknown Disc Fragment". He stored the fragment in a Space Ring that was separate from the others, then looked at the group. He smiled mischieviously. "Hand over your Space Rings too." Their eyes widened as they realized what William''s words meant. This one on elevent fight had be a robbery, in which the solo person was the aggressor! Some of the Cultivators didn''t protest, but the girl that tossed William the fake fragment from earlier was anything but calm. "You can get my Space Rings over my dead body!" she yelled as a white light enveloped her body. William jumped back expecting it to be another explosive, but the girl suddenly disappeared, Space Ring and all. It seemed the girl used a special treasure to leave the trial area. William couldn''t do anything about that, so collected fourteen Space Rings from the other ten Cultivators and released them to enjoy their next adventure. Once again, the Humanity point System prevented William from wanting to kill any innocents that didn''t first show an intent to murder him. Amputation was the closest he could get before receiving a penalty. He left the Trial area, leaving the group of Cultivators tied up. If they didn''t manage to break free sooner, William''s restrictions would onlyst a few more minutes. This was more than enough time for him to escape the group''s pursuit and re-enter the desert. William headed back through the Labyrinth the way he came, making use of his Navigation Talent to find the way out, and his Mind Talent to recall the previous paths he took. He ran through the maze at breakneck speed, passing by a few Cultivators who only saw a blur and felt a gust of wind as he passed by. Within 6 hours, William had returned to the desert. He didn''t know where the event would start, so he stood on the inside edge and waited in silence. He set up a few Arrays and cooked Atticus some food. His Iron Stomach Pill was still in effect, so William wouldn''t need to eat for a few more days yet, but the snake was craving the omelettes it hadn''t had in a while. *** The Desert Trial will be opening in ten minutes. Enter the desert if you wish to participate for one of my ultimate treasures!The voice suddenly resounded throughout the Gravitas Ruins, jolting William awake from his nap. He was already inside the desert, so there was no need to do anything further. He waited out the ten minutes, until a countdown began in his head. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Begin! Survive until you are in the top 100! The desert rumbled, a massive crystal appearing in the center that held a beast over a hundred meters tall. Large cracks formed on the crystal, shattering as a mummy wielding a greatsword with one hand and a staff in the other roared into the sky. Its voice echoed throughout the Gravitas Ruins, carrying enough energy to travel across the entire desert and more. William created Perfect Barrier Arrays to defend against any idents, then used his vision to scan the Magical Beast more closely for any signs of weakness. [Bestiary] Ancient Gravitas Mummy: +1 PP Shit, that''s a Nascent Soul Beast!William started to panic a little bit, but then realized he had upgraded many of his talents. He should be able to fight with this now, right? The trial''s creator obviously didn''t expect anyone to kill this thing, meaning William could just actively defend and easily enter the top one hundred survivors. He hoped that the trial was all bark and no bite, willing to reward anyone that survived. He added more Perfect Arrays, then scanned the area nearby. A few Cultivators had appeared in the desert in thest few minutes, whom William could make out using his Life Sense and Navigation Talent. Some of these Cultivators performed just like William, raising Arrays or forming defensive buildings using their respective Element. It seemed that no one nned to target the Magical Beast head-on and were also willing to ride out the storm. He smirked at their efforts. Some of the Cultivators used only a few hundred Intermediate Arrays, expecting that to defend against a Nascent Soul Beast. Clearly they hadn''t fought Golden Core Realm enemies before, who could easily break the defenses they had just put up. He kept an eye on the movements of the Ancient Gravitas Mummy as it attacked the Cultivators that attracted its attention first, arriving at their positions in a blink of an eye and destroying all of their defenses in one swing of its greatsword. The Cultivators wore panicked expressions as the Ancient Gravitas Mummy touched their heads with its staff. William could only see the Cultivators'' bodies drop lifelessly to the floor, but he didn''t know what the mummy had done. He had the assistance of Atticus'' Illusion Magic, so William opted to get closer to the Mummy. He maintained his speed until he had stepped within two thousand meters of the Ancient Gravitas Mummy, finally within range to see it in action. William watched in horror as Mana flowed out of the Cultivators'' bodies, causing the staff in the Mummy''s right hand to emit a dim light. It''s charging the staff! What happens when it is fully charged?? William didn''t want to know the answer to his question. No matter what it was, it would clearly be bad for him! He didn''t what to do. Killing the Cultivators himself would prevent the Mummy from absorbing their Mana, but he would lose Humanity points and probably be a target by the other Cultivators, while fighting the Mummy would draw too much attention and pose the risk that someone would try to sabotage him at a critical moment. His new Talent upgrades didn''t give William a cocky attitude. He knew that it only took one mistake to lose his life forever, which could easily be avoided by just surviving to the next day. There was no need to risk his life on dangerous tasks when he had the System to help him every step of the way. If he couldn''t beat the beast now, he would just grind more Potential Points until he could! ¡ª¡ª¡ª System Quest: The Host has been challenged by a powerful Cultivator to survive in a trial, but the Magical Beast is quickly gaining strength and will eventually ughter every participant at its current rate. Kill the Ancient Gravitas Mummy before it can regain its strength to protect the Host and a rival''s future potential. Difficulty: Hard Rewards: 1000 Potential Points, Savior Title upgraded to Legendary Rank ¡ª¡ª¡ª God damn it System, why are you always trying to put me in harm''s way?!? William cursed in his mind as he read the details of the newly issued System Quest. These Quests were always so contradictory to the System''s suggestion to maintain a low-profile. How is he going toplete this Quest without attracting the attention of every Cultivator in the trial grounds?!? Chapter 115: Ancient Gravitas Mummy The Cultivators began to panic. No one expected a Nascent Soul Realm Beast to spawn, but they were still unwilling to give up on the treasure. They had the same thoughts as William, hoping to hide from the Beast until there were only a hundred people left. The Mummy leaped forward, instantly arriving at a random position in the sand. William watched with confusion as it sliced its greatsword a few times, but a scream followed by a spray of blood through the sky helped him understand. A set of Arrays shattered, and a headless body appeared. The Cultivator''s skin dried up as the Mummy absorbed its Mana. William lost his patience at this moment. He called the surrounding Mana of the Fire Element to his fingertips, creating a Meteor Spell in the sky that was four timesrger than the one he used in the fight against Yu Ren. The moment the Mana approached William''s position, the Mummy reacted. It turned its head to locate the Cultivator that was calling the Mana, but it was confused to find no one. It was only when the Meteor was fully formed that the Mummy noticed an irregrity at a certain point in the sand. The Mummy showed a somewhat hesitant expression upon seeing the Meteor Spell, but quickly came to a decision. Whoever was controlling this Spell could probably contribute quite a bit of Mana to its Staff. It started running toward William with its greatsword raised, both to avoid the Meteor and to attack an unknown enemy that posed a serious threat to its awakening process. The Meteor barreled downward after the Mummy, but it was barely too slow to keep up with the bandaged creature''s speed. "Slow!" William shouted out loud as he reached out his hand to the Ancient Gravitas Mummy. Mana of the Time Element rushed up his arm and shot out at incredible speed, wrapping around the Mummy and slowing its movements a small amount. The Time Element was only E Rank, but it seemed to be enough. The Mummy felt its legs were much harder to move, requiring twice the amount of energypared to before. Its speed slowed to the Peak of the Golden Core Realm and was crushed under the giant Meteor Spell, the surrounding sand turning to ss under the impact and high heat. No creature could have possibly expected William to have the legendary Time Element, which was known for instantly turning around the situation in a close fight. The Ancient Gravitas Mummy had lived for many years, but it had only seen about a dozen Time Mages in its lifetime. This wasn''t to say the Mummy was stupid though. William noticed there was no System message, which meant the Magical Beast was still alive. He called the surrounding Mana a second time, hoping to bury the Mummy before it could climb out of the ss pit. A second Meteor was formed, the same size as thest. William added the Wind Element to the mix, forming a wind current around the Meteor that allowed it to fall almost twice as fast as before. William backed up a few thousand meters to avoid being hurt by his own spell. A roar sounded from within the pit, the Mummy''s tone more annoyed than angry. Amidst some dust that was kicked up before, William could make out the Mummy''s greatsword that was shining a bright light. The Mummy swung its greatsword with incredible speed and precision in the direction of the Meteor, releasing a series of sword strikes that split the Meteor into thousands of tiny pieces. The Wind Mana that was previously supporting the Meteor was also sliced up, returning the now small Meteors to a speed that the Mummy could avoid as long as it wasn''t slowed. William tried to slow the Mummy with the Time Element a second time, but the Magical Beast had already nned for this and dodged to the side when it saw the ray of Mana approaching its position. The Time Element was powerful, but William''s proficiency was obviously quite low. The Mummy had more than enough time to dodge an attack at that speed, and as long as it was careful it would never be affected by the Time Element again. William frantically dashed away from the Mummy, activating his Forcefield as he sensed a threat. He turned around in a panic as the Mummy covered in burns brought down its heavy greatsword to strike at one of his shoulders. The greatsword mmed against the Forcefield, only rebounding after a series of small cracks formed on the veil. The cracks began to slowly heal at a speed visible to the naked eye, quickly returning the Forcefield to perfect condition. The glow in the Mummy''s eyes changed, expressing its confusion and surprise. "You have a powerful Spirit Aura, young one." the Mummy spoke out loud from a mouth hidden by bandages. It was William''s turn to be surprised. He didn''t expect to see a talking Magical Beast. It made sense though, after seeing how intelligent the creature was. This fight would be much more difficult than the other trials, and not because the Mummy was in the Nascent Soul Realm. If it was just that, the second Meteor probably would have killed the Magical Beast. William needed toe up with a strategy that could deal with the Mummy, but nothing came to mind immediately. He formed an improved Perfect Array of Speed that he learned from the System and the Array Trial to boost his own speed to the Nascent Soul Realm. He ran away from the Mummy at high speed while forming Perfect Barriers to defend against its attacks, but the process seemed somewhat hopeless. After a few minutes of this chase, the Mummy became fed up with William''s game of cat and mouse. It turned around and headed back to the Array of Speed, hoping to destroy it and reduce William''s speed that somehow currently matched its own. William saw what the Mummy was doing and took the chance to call Mana of the Fire Element to his fingertips. He formed a giant fireball andunched it at the Mummy, but it seemed to sense the attack even though it was turned around, raising its staff as a forcefield simr to William''s own deflected the fireball with ease. The Mummy continued towards the Speed Array uninhibited, swiftly destroying the Array with a few swift sword strikes. It returned its attention to William while revealing what seemed to be a smile based on its eyes, but they changed to anger as it noticed William had just finished creating another Perfect Array of Speed and was currently sprinting away. It had to admit that William was incredibly talented in Arrays. Not only were the level of his Arrays high, but he could form even theplicated Perfect Arrays within just a few seconds. William could thank the System, his creation of the Array Puppets, and his many hours of practice with Perfect Arrays while in the Array Trial. With A-Rank Arrays, William always had the capability to do this, but he wasn''t experienced enough until now. Thinking of this reminded William of the Array Puppets still stored in his Space Ring. He previously brought out all twenty Puppets during his first trial to scare a group of Cultivators, but he was only skilled enough to control two at a time. The amount of focus required to control both himself and puppets was immense, and even after raising his Mind Talent to S-Rank, he could only control a total of five at once. He brought five Perfect Array Puppets out of his Space Ring, controlling two of them to block one of the Mummy''s sword strikes that was targeting his second Array of Speed. The Mummy looked up to see three more Puppets defending William while the other two went on the offense, once again surprised at William''s skill. The Mummy struck one of the Array Puppets with its greatsword, but two Arrays lit up on the surface of the Puppet''s body the moment before the strike connected, absorbing most of the impact damage, the remainder easily defended by the wood that was reinforced by William''s nt Element. A long scratch appeared on the Array Puppet''s body, but another Array lit up, healing the damage caused previously. The Mummy made a mental note on the locations where Arrays lit up, nning to destroy them first. The second Puppet wasn''t idle, slicing downward with a Mana-covered hand that had be as sharp as a sword and cutting apart some of the bandages covering the Ancient Gravitas Mummy''s left arm that was holding the staff. William continued sending Mana to the Array Puppets while they fought, opting to send in a third Puppet to target the Mummy''s back while it was distracted by the first two. Even during an intense fight with two Array Puppets, the Mummy still held the upper hand, even sparing a nce at William from time to time. It noticed that there were only two Array Puppets guarding William now, revealing a trace of concern as it searched its immediate surroundings. Chapter 116: Puppet Onslaught! The Ancient Gravitas Mummy looked behind it just in time to see the third Array Puppet throw a threatening punch. Since William was controlling the Array Puppets, they used his fighting techniques to battle with the Mummy. This was both a good thing and a bad thing, since William only had a Fist Talent and a Throwing Knives Talent. I need to learn more weapon skills. My puppets would be in much better shape if they knew a spear technique or two. He evaluated the Array Puppets from the side while they fought, making sure to keep an eye out for any tricks the Mummy might use to target him. William felt hisbat sense had improved greatly since entering the Gravitas Ruins. Part of it was likely due to the upgrade to his Mind and Vision Talent, but he could also thank the trials for forcing him to strategize when fighting a massive group of goblins, or countering various Elemental Minotaurs. He controlled the Array Puppets with even more fervor, making the best use of his Mind Talent to reflect on each strike the Ancient Gravitas Mummy made. William had to admit that the Mummy was quite impressive. Each strike of its greatsword seemed simple in nature, but closer inspection revealed that the Mummy was performing its own evaluation andpeting with ease against three Array Puppets simultaneously. It wasn''t just because the Mummy was in the Nascent Soul Realm, rather its insane mastery of the greatsword. It swung the greatsword from its right side, knocking the palm strike of an Array Puppet toward its ally while the greatsword continued forward. The Arrays on both Puppets activated, exhausting even more of William''s Mana. The Ancient Gravitas Mummy looked in William''s direction after dodging an attack from the third Array Puppet.It smirked, noticing the pain in his expression as he sent even more Mana to the Array Puppets. "Kid, you''re quite strong, but mybat experience is more than ten of your lifespans." The Mummy''s rough voice made William''s ears hurt. William was back on the defensive even though it was three-on-one. He watched as the Ancient Gravitas Mummy jumped backwards past the third Array Puppet, forcing all three to attack from the front. It took this opportunity tounch another sweeping strike with its greatsword, knocking back all three Array Puppets in unison. Two of the Array Puppets were knocked backwards and fell down, while the third only staggered backward a few steps. The Mummy leaped forward,unching a powerful kick at the third Array Puppet and causing it to fall on top of the other two Puppets. The Mummy raised its staff, releasing a bolt of lightning that spread among the three fallen puppets. Multiple defensive Arrays inscribed on the Puppets'' bodies activated, a few shattering as they couldn''t handle the consecutive attacks of a Nascent Soul Beast. William swiftlyunched a ce made of the Earth Element in between the Mummy and the Puppets, redirecting the flow of electricity and giving the Puppets enough time to regain their footing. William''s evaluation wasplete, but the findings weren''t good. He was able to identify a few key patterns in the Mummy''s movement based on how it reacted to his Puppets, but a quick look at the Puppets and his Mana Reserve suggested William wouldn''t be able to defeat the Mummy like this. Do I need to reveal a Domain?He pondered. The idea was tempting, but William had been screwed over multiple times by revealing his Talents. He thought back to the first time he revealed more than he should have, when he told the Guild Master about his experience fighting a Wind Wolf. If the man hadn''t been a good person, William might have died right then and there. He thought further to when he was attacked by Torc''spanions just because he upgraded his Fire Talent out in the open and one of them became greedy. There were a few other times besides that, and the degree of trouble William received scaled with the level of Talent he revealed. From the Thieves'' Guild to a group of Cultivators from an Ancient Family to even the Yu Royal Family that presided over the entire Continent, William had finally learned his lesson. If he showed the creator of the Gravitas Ruins his Fire Domain, which he assumed would only awaken for those with an S-Rank Magic Affinity, William didn''t know what would happen to him. He was already enved by the Sect Master of the Five Elements Sect; it was better to stay hidden. He decided on a new n. William controlled the two Array Puppets that were guarding his position to move toward the Mummy, simultaneously pulling an additional pair of Puppets from his Space Ring. The first five Puppets were controlled to attack the Mummy together, while the remaining two would stand idle next to William. Even if he couldn''t control seven Puppets, he could alternate control between the Puppets in a sh if the Mummy decided to rush in his direction. This method was much faster than controlling the puppets to chase down the Mummy should it get past them. The Mummy''s eyes shed in surprise once again, not expecting William to control seven Puppets at a time. It hadn''t yet realized that William was still only controlling five, bing serious as it expected a difficult battle. William drank a Mana Regeneration potion to recover some Mana but found that it would only restore a bit under half of his total Mana Reserve. He drank a second potion to fully recover, causing the Ancient Gravitas Mummy to worry somewhat. Even though the Mummy was essentially an undead being, it still had a Mana reserve. "Let''s see who tires out first!" the Mummy released a loud shout. Its aura skyrocketed as the ambient Mana approached its position, preparing arge spell. William detected the Fire, Earth, and Wind Elements and had a bad premonition. He looked to the sky, where a giant Meteor Spell was forming. Shit!William ran as the Meteor threatened to crush him, forgetting to control the two Array Puppets to follow behind. He looked back after moving to a safe distance but was angered to find out that the Mummy wasn''t targeting him but the Array Puppets with the Meteor. The spell crashed down, obliterating all seven Array Puppets. Even worse, William lost track of the Ancient Gravitas Mummy while he was running away. He looked around frantically for any signs of the enemy. His eyes shifted left and right, but there were really no signs. Did the Mummy run away? "Behind youuu!" the sinister voice of the Ancient Gravitas Mummy sounded, its voice like chalk on a chalkboard that made the hair on the back of William''s neck stand up. He turned around to face the Magical Beast only to find its greatsword crashing down on his Forcefield. Cracks formed on William''s Forcefield as the greatsword continued pressing down, the Mummy''s sinister smile creating fear in William''s heart. "Take this!" a female voice sounded from afar. An ethereal de over twenty meters long and glowing a pale blue sliced off the Ancient Gravitas Mummy''s arm from behind, the de''s edge less than a centimeter away from William''s Forcefield. Chapter 117: Collaboration The Ancient Gravitas Mummy took a step to the side to avoid taking any further damage. It clutched its right arm with its left, using Mana of the Darkness Element to restore the bandages to their previous length and reform the arm. The neer gave William a chance to catch his breath. He stepped back to gain some distance from the Mummy and pulled out seven more Array Puppets from his Space Ring, then took a peek at his unexpected ally. The girl was d in pure white robes, with a mask covering her face and only revealing a pair of bright-blue eyes. Behind the mask, William could see waist-length silvery hair that sparkled in the daylight. Her stance was calm but not arrogant, the epitome of grace and elegance that suggested she had gone through many difficult battles in her lifetime. The hair and eyes brought sad memories back to William, but he was in the middle of a battle and didn''t have time to think about such things. "Thank you." he said to the girl with gratitude. If it weren''t for her, William might have suffered a few injuries before he could escape from the Mummy. "You''re wee." sheunched another attack with her ethereal de, forcing the Mummy to step back about fifty meters until it was well out of her attack range. The Mummy evaluated the neer with sharp eyes as she stepped closer to William. She urged William toe over. "What do you know about this thing so far?" she asked once he had arrived next to her. "It seems to be an Ancient Gravitas Mummy. It''s very intelligent and can even speak. It is very skilled with the greatsword in its hand and can wield powerful Magic of at least the Fire, Earth, Wind, Darkness, and Lightning Elements. It duplicated one of my mostplex spells after only seeing it once." William started exining every attribute he had discovered since the start of the fight. "Anything else?" she asked. "It absorbed the Mana of a few dead Cultivators. I think it''s trying to charge the staff in its hand for something big." The girl nodded. William''s description matched what her Sect knew about the creatures of this trial. She readied her sword and took a few steps forward to confront the Ancient Gravitas Mummy. "Wait." William called out. "Hm?" "What''s your name?" he asked. "You don''t need to know, but I might say something for a price." the girl responded in a cold and aloof voice. She didn''t mean to be rude but wasn''t willing to reveal her identity to anyone in the trial that might target her in the future. If others knew of her strength when she left the trial, it might cause unnecessary trouble for her Sect. "What kind of price?" William asked even though he wasn''t willing to pay anything just for someone''s name. "Follow me in the future, and I''ll tell you anything you need to know. You can even join my Sect." -The Host has received an offer to join a Party. Yes/No? -Note: Once the Host has joined a Party, their fate will be tied to the Party Leader unless the Party Leader chooses to allow the Host to leave. The Host and its fellow Party members would have to follow every order given by the Party Leader. William didn''t expect to see a System message at this time, nor did he know why the System didn''t mention this option when he joined Torc''s party before. He read through the contents, a frown forming on his face. Who would ept this? It''s basically the same as very. If the Party Leader told me to go die, would I have to do that? "Uh, no thanks. Maybe some other time." he tried to respond respectfully despite his bad mood. As expected, it won''t be so easy to recruit him. The girl thought to herself in disappointment. "That''s fine. I''m going to fight the Mummy now." she started off towards the Ancient Gravitas Mummy. "Oh okay...well what should I do?" William wanted to coborate with the powerful girl to take down the Mummy, which would makepleting the Quest much easier. "Nothing. Just stand back and watch." she said proudly. William suddenly had a thought. Was this girl possibly the rival the System mentioned? What if he waspeting with her, would he not get a Quest reward if he didn''tnd the killing blow on the Ancient Gravitas Mummy? He decided to ask the System, who confirmed his guess. I can''t let her take the kill, but I also can''t beat it by myself without showing too much strength... William decided he would use the girl''s skills to his advantage. He watched as she fought with the Ancient Gravitas Mummy, controlling his Array Puppets to approach from behind while waiting for an opportunity to strike. The girl frowned at William''s intrusion but said nothing. She coborated with the Array Puppets, always positioning herself so that the Array Puppets were directly behind the Mummy. The Ancient Gravitas Mummy was forced to split its attention between the girl and William''s Puppets, cursing at their annoying tactics. It raised the staff in its hand, creating a Spirit Aura simr to William''s Forcefield that focused all of its defense on the Mummy''s backside. Now it could focus entirely on the girl, since the Array Puppets couldn''t possibly break its Enhanced Spirit Aura in a short period of time. The Mummy rushed forward with its greatsword in hand, shing with the girl''s ethereal sword that adjusted its length based on its distance from the Mummy. The pair exchanged dozens of strikes in just a few seconds, both parties skillfully parrying lethal attacks and waiting for the other to make a mistake. The small injuries multiplied on both the Mummy and the girl, but the Mummy had the upper hand since it could heal itself with the Darkness Element. William saw this and activated his Life Element, healing the girl''s injuries in an instant and earning a meaningful look in return. He assumed his role for the remainder of the battle as a support character, using his Array Puppets to pelt the Mummy in the back with weak attacks and healing the girl when necessary. The Ancient Gravitas Mummy became weaker over time, its Mana reserves plummeting as the duo became more coordinated in their attacks. At this rate, it wouldn''t be long before the Mummy was too exhausted to fight back. It didn''t carry a Space Ring full of Mana Regeneration Pills or potions like William and the girl, so the Mummy had to go for its next method of recovery. It scanned the nearby environment while it fought with the pair, then started adjusting its position as it found what it was looking for. A few minutes passed, the girl bing more aggressive in her attacks with William as support. The Mummy appeared on itsst legs, until the situation suddenly changed. "Ssh!" A spray of blood flew through the air as the Mummy sliced of the head of a previously well-concealed spectator, its eyes glimmering with malice as it used the Magic Staff to absorb the dead Cultivator''s Mana. Chapter 118: S-Rank NPC An hour ago, minutes before the start of the Desert Trial. Fria used Mana of the Ice Element to dig a thousand meters under the sand, encasing herself in a nearly solid sphere of ice with a few small holes that led up to the surface so she could breathe. She closed her eyes, her silver hair swishing through the air as her body slumped to the floor. Floating above the seemingly lifeless body was a perfect replica of Fria, albeit a pale blue color. The second Fria was almost transparent like a ghost, and resembled one even more as the ethereal body flew upward through the ice and sand as if it didn''t exist. This was Fria''s Soul Form, very simr to theories of astral projection where one''s soul floated outside their body while sleeping to explore what was known as the astral ne. In this form, Fria''s soul could only be detected by powerful beings or insanelyplex Arrays, but it couldn''t attack. It was perfect for many missions issued by the Sect that required extreme secrecy, which had turned her into a secret weapon of sorts over thest few months. She floated above the sand, watching with a birds-eye-view as the trial began. She noticed when the Ancient Gravitas Mummy spawned, but only took a quick nce and adjusted her focus to the remainder of the desert. Something Fria had learned since entering the trial was that the most dangerous part of these trial grounds were other Cultivators, and the enemies spawned by the trial came second. Within minutes, Fria had located every Cultivator in the desert that wasn''t hiding incredibly well, using her System Panel to jot down their information one by one. Unlike William''s System, Fria''s was the same as every other yer. She could view the information of enemies and allies alike or check the online forums for posts made by other yers. There were a few other functions, but most of them were locked until she reached a certain Cultivation level. She returned her attention to the Ancient Gravitas Mummy. There were only five minutes left before she would need to return to her body, so she had to make it quick. Oh, someone is fighting it already?She eximed in surprise as her body floated toward the group of figures that were currently shing with the Mummy. As she neared the battle, Fria realized that it wasn''t a group of people fighting the Ancient Gravitas Mummy, but a single person controlling five powerful Array Puppets. She scanned the unknown person''s information, whom she hadn''t noticed before in her sweep of the desert. ¡ª¡ª¡ª William: (S-Rank NPC) -Race: Human -Age: 21 -Lifespan: 240 Years (Excellent physical health) -Affiliation: Five Elements Sect, Adventurer''s Guild, Alchemy Hall, Array Hall STATS: ( - ) -Offense: A -Defense: S -Cultivation: E -Magic: SS -Potential: X -Recruitment Difficulty: S ¡ª¡ª¡ª An S-Rank NPC? This is the first one I''ve ever seen, even in my Sect. The Sect Master himself is only an A-Rank NPC!Fria became excited as she scrolled through William''s information some more. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -Personality: Has low to mediummon sense but maturing swiftly. Chaotic character with a knack for getting into trouble, but incredibly intelligent and a fast learner when he wants to be. -Likes: Tasty food, money, natural treasures, and setting things on fire. -Dislikes: Mashed potatoes and Alchemists -Recruitment Benefits: HIDDEN ¡ª¡ª¡ª Hmm, not much useful information here. She thought. She didn''t have very much money, nor did she own any natural treasures that hadn''t already been consumed. Even worse, she can''t cook! Maybe the forums will help.She scrolled through her System panel and searched for William NPC. ¡ª¡ª¡ª 2d ago: I haven''t seen NPC William in a while...I think he went into the Gravitas Ruins. [900k views] 8d ago: A-Rank NPC William is still in the Five Elements Sect! I''m scared to approach him, what if he kills me and I lose my progress? [1m views] 17d ago: A-Rank NPC William is back, and he just defeated the Rank 1 Outer Core Disciple in the Five Element''s Sect! His growth is insane! [800k views] 27d ago: Just watched an NPC beat the granddaughter of Supreme Left in a match, but he just disappeared! I think his name was William, but he might be dead soon! [450k views] (+4 More) ¡ª¡ª¡ª Did his rank go up in thest few days? I wonder if I should make a post and sell the information. It would be a good way to make some money, but Fria decided against it for now. She read through thements on these posts, not finding much information that she didn''t already know. It seemed that William was a hot topic on the forums, but there were only a few people that had managed to enter the Five Elements Sect at this stage of the game. As a renowned Sect, the requirements to enter were incredibly high. Not to mention that even if someone did enter the Sect, their chances ofing into contact with an A-Rank NPC was incredibly low. The Spirit Ascension Sect was even more difficult. Only people that were lucky enough to awaken rare Innate Talents like her would have a chance of joining one of the strongest Sects right at the start of the game. Even now, Fria only knew of four other yers that had entered the Gravitas Ruins besides her, each of whom wielding insane abilities that defied logic. I better return to my body.She thought as she took onest look at William and the Ancient Gravitas Mummy. *** Shit! William and Fria thought in unison. Since it was on the back foot in the fight against William and Fria, the Ancient Gravitas Mummy had changed its target from killing the duo to charging its Mana Staff. If it could awaken the Staff, nothing would stand in its way! It dodged a sword strike from Fria while absorbing the Mana of the dead Cultivator. The process only took a few seconds, the Mummy speeding off in another direction to hunt its next target. A Cultivator hidden behind an Advanced Array became nervous when he saw the Ancient Gravitas Mummy rushing in his direction. He stored the Advanced Array back in an amulet he received from one of the trials and ran away with speed at the Golden Core Realm. He was a very talented individual to have cleared a trial and earned its reward, but his abilities meant nothing in front of a Nascent Soul Beast with intelligence. As he ran away, he was tripped by a spark of lightning that targeted his feet, his face turning pale with fright as the shadow of a greatsword sliced down and chopped off his head. The Ancient Gravitas Mummy started absorbing the Mana of its next victim without a change in its expression. It was clear that the Mummy had killed many humans in its long lifespan and was numb to the experience. The Staff absorbed the Cultivator''s Mana with fervor, glowing brighter and brighter until something clicked. A ring of dark metal heated up at the center of the Magic Staff, melting away to reveal a thin crack that was surrounded in hundreds of miniscule Runes. The Mummy twisted both sides of the Staff in opposite directions, then pulled the two parts away from each other to extend the Staff by a meter, the Magical Artifact now reaching just over two meters long. Chapter 119: Restrictions Removed, The Mighty Fall! William and Fria''s faces turned pale at the sight of the awakened Magic Staff. The aura it emitted was suffocating, filling both of them with despair. Inscribed on the meter-long portion of the Staff were tens of thousands of tiny Runes, around a hundred of which that were currently lit up. The glow on the Staff subsided, signaling the release of its restrictions and the end of a thousand year wait for the Ancient Gravitas Mummy. "AHAHAHA! Finally!" the Mummy cried out in joy. Thousands of years ago, he had been captured by the creator of this trial formitting many atrocities during his lifetime, his Artifacts sealed and his own Cultivation reduced to the Nascent Soul Realm. When he was released from his dark cage, the Mummy had discovered that the trial creator developed a very specific set of restrictions on his Artifacts. To remove the first level of restrictions on his Magic Staff, he would need to absorb the Mana of ten unique human Cultivators. He didn''t fully understand why the creator had done this, but either way it was a good thing for him. If he could kill a few thousand humans, perhaps the Magic Staff would return to its former glory, allowing him to escape this damned trial! William and Fria didn''t want to give the Ancient Gravitas Mummy a chance to improve its power further. William brought down a Meteor from the sky, while Fria gathered her Mana and extended her sword to thirty meters long. Just before both attacksnded, the Mummy smirked. If it was before, it would have done everything in its power to avoid these attacks, but now he only needed a simple wave of his Magic Staff to erect an even more enhanced Spirit Aura that approached the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm. Both attacksnded on the Mummy''s Spirit Aura barrier, theirbined might creatingrge cracks on the barrier''s surface and causing the Mummy to panic slightly despite its recent powerup. It cursed, realizing even the current Magic Staff wasn''t strong enough for his defense to reach the Soul Formation Realm. William and Fria were also concerned. Theirbined strike was nearly the limit of what they could do without using their trump cards, which meant this battle of endurance was about to be much more difficult. William considered revealing a Domain, but he wasn''t even sure that would solve the problem and might even bring him more trouble. A quick ask to the System revealed he was still being watched by a powerful Cultivator, whether that was the creator of the trial or not, William didn''t know, but this meant he wouldn''t be able to upgrade any of his Talents. This was the first time William was in such a difficult position. He and Fria continued to battle with the Ancient Gravitas Mummy, hoping to exhaust it, but the tide had already turned against them. William lost another two Array Puppets, leaving him with only eleven. The Magic Staff had not only improved the Ancient Gravitas Mummy''s defense, but also its attack power. It could now destroy an Array on the Puppets with just a single attack if it targeted the right spot. It used this to remove limbs from the Puppets, lowering their threat while it fought with Fria. So much for being able to fight a Nascent Soul with these things! Heined inwardly about the false information he received from the group of Cultivators at his first trial under theke. Then again, he might have stood a chance if he could control all twenty Puppets at once. He brought out two recement Puppets mid-fight andmunicated with Fria closely. They couldn''t afford to make a single mistake, lest the Mummy take advantage and kill one of them. Over time, more Cultivators joined in the fight. Many of them were like cannon fodder, spamming spells from afar that didn''t threaten the Mummy too much, but a few had some actual skill that relieved some pressure from William and Fria. The Cultivators had realized that if they wanted to clear this trial, they would need to work together. The loot could be fought over after the Mummy was dead. Three of the Inner Core Disciples from the Five Elements Sect were present, one of whom was a Space Mage that ranked first on the Inner Core Ranking Board. His strength was at the peak of the Golden Core Realm, with some attacks approaching the Nascent Soul, using his Space Magic to tear apart the Space with precision, destroying every Magic Spell that the Mummyunched. The Mummy tried to change targets and kill off some of the other Cultivators to unlock another restriction on his Magic Staff, but Fria would extend her de and block its path, which slowed it down enough for William to hold it back with two Array Puppets, so the Mummy only managed to kill two Cultivators before it gave up on that n. William and Fria were bing exhausted, their attacks losing intensity and their movements slowing down. William drank his twelfth Mana Regeneration Potion, making him a bit dizzy as his Mana was restored. It seemed that these potions were not meant to be taken so frequently. The Ancient Gravitas Mummy was also sluggish. Its body was covered in small wounds that it didn''t want to waste Mana healing, and its Mana Reserve was nearly empty. The Magic Staff helped to recover his Mana much faster, but it wasn''t enough to offset the Mana it needed to use. "Damn you all!" it shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. It would have been freed from this damned trial if not for this ridiculously talented duo holding it back for so long. It wished it could unlock the restrictions on its greatsword, but that would require a fully unlocked Magic Staff. Fria couldn''t hold on much longer either, but they were incredibly close to finishing the fight. Sheunched a massive sword strike that cleaved off one of the Mummy''s legs, forcing it to fall to the ground. She lost her bnce and fell to one knee from a few meters behind William, catching her breath. As it fell, the Mummy''s eyes turned fierce while looking at Fria.If I can''t live, neither can you! It used thest bit of energy in its Magic Staff tounch a massive lightning bolt that rushed toward William, who easily dodged the predictable attack with his Reflexes and Acrobatics Talents. William took advantage of this to call forth a Meteor, crashing down on the exhausted Mummy and wiping away its life force. Or should he say death force? It was an undead being after all. -Defeated an Ancient Gravitas Mummy: +11 PP -Defeated your first Nascent Soul Beast: +250 PP "Help..." a weak voice sounded from behind. William turned his head in response. He didn''t have time to think about the newly gained Potential Points or the fact that his System Quest hadn''t beenpleted yet, his eyes widening when he saw the masked girl bleeding profusely. Her lower body was missing, and the upper half was convulsing as she entered a state of shock from the powerful lightning that wrapped around her body. Chapter 120: The Domain Opens! William was surprised at how well the masked girl was handling the situation. She was about to die, but she didn''t release any groans of pain, only weakly called for help. Her eyes suggested that she was in some pain, but dying would only be an inconvenience. She must have gone through a lot.William misunderstood. In fact, since Fria''s experience wasn''t realistic like William''s, she would only feel about five percent of the pain. If she could feel a hundred percent, Fria definitely would have passed out by now. William noticed some of the nearby Cultivators rushing towards the Mummy''s corpse, but he couldn''t bother with them right now. Normally his loot goblin tendencies woulde out right about now, taking both the Mummy''s greatsword and the Magic Staff that had fallen, but for some reason William just couldn''t bear to see someone that had fought side-by-side with him for hours die just like that. Especially not after protecting him when he was losing to the Mummy earlier. He used the Life Element to try and heal the girl''s wounds, but even when he used its abilities to the fullest, William wasn''t able to stabilize her. She passed out as the blood loss had be too much to bear. It''s not enough!William was torn inside. He made a decision on the spot. Revealing his Talents again might bring more trouble, but William would feel guiltyter if he let someone die just like that. The System Quest hasn''t beenpleted yet, this has to be what I''m missing! He never expected to take the initiative to help someone without confidence in getting anything in return, but certain situations sometimes bring people to make surprising choices. The Domain of Life opened, a green light spreading across the desert fifty meters in every direction in a perfectly cylindrical shape. The Cultivators that were running to loot the Mummy''s corpse stood still in shock as they looked at the man in the center of the Life Domain. "T-That''s a Domain!" someone shouted with a shaky voice. "No way, are we sure that''s not an Innate Ability or some special artifact?" An Inner Core Disciple of the Five Elements Sect was also surprised. William hadn''t shown this ability before during his fights with Yu Ren or Hanzu. Was he going easy on them at the time? He spoke up, "No. That''s definitely a Domain. Our Sect has a lot of information on these things. Even though I''ve never seen one before, I can tell that it''s a Domain at a nce." They watched in silence as the Domain''s power centralized on a single point, healing Fria''s body at a pace visible to the naked eye. Her torso grew back, followed by her legs, feet, and toes. As her body grew back, William made sure to avert his eyes. ring at those who tried to peek, William raised an Earth Wall between her and the spectators. He continued the treatment process for a few seconds until her body hadpletely regenerated, even weaving some makeshift clothing out of the nt Element. -Completed a System Quest: +1000 PP -Secondary Reward: Upgraded Savior Title -Upgraded Title to Rare: +5 PP -Upgraded Title to Epic: +25 PP -Upgraded Title to Legendary: +100 PP -Savior (Umon --> Legendary): You have saved the life of your rival, even risking your own future potential to save another. Healing effects are 100% stronger. With the System Quest out of the way, William finally focused on the next most important thing, loot! His relief from sessfully saving the masked girl''s life instantly improved his mood, but the presence of other Cultivators quickly soured that. He looked at the Mummy''s corpse that had just been dug out from under the Meteor, then at the boy with blue hair and white highlights who was responsible for recovering its body. The boy was currently holding onto the greatsword, while another with red hair and green highlights next to him was still trying to pull the Magic Staff out from under some rubble. They seemed to be from the same Sect, maybe even brothers. "Give them to me." he red with an outstretched hand. The boy with blue hair knew he was no match for William in a fight, but that didn''t stop him from trying to run. He saw personally how powerful these two artifacts were, and there was no way he would give them up. He dove underground using the Earth Element in an attempt to escape William, while the other boy took to the sky with the Magic Staff. They fled in opposite directions, hoping to at least secure one treasure. William snorted.Didn''t these two just see me fight that Mummy for hours? -They''re even stupider than you, somehow. F*ck. Shut up, System! William cried inwardly. The System rarely spoke, but when it did it was usually a targetedment to ruin his day. He waved his hand through the air, controlling one Array Puppet to take down the blue-haired boy, and the other to chase after the one with red hair. Within a few seconds, the Puppets had brought both before him, now holding the Magical Artifacts that previously belonged to the Ancient Gravitas Mummy. None of the other nearby Cultivators bothered to try taking away the Artifacts from William. Even the Space Mage from the same Sect wasn''t confident in escaping William''s Puppets, who could travel at almost the same speed as he could teleport away. He had limited Mana, so eventually they would catch up. He realized that this boy who was still an Outer Core Disciple had already surpassed him, even exhibiting qualities equal to an Elder of the Sect. -Acquired Abyssal Weapon Shifter: +1000 PP -Acquired Sealed Mana Gathering Staff: +1000 PP -Completed a Regional Trial in the Gravitas Ruins: +2500 PP William ogled at the wave of Potential Points, then stored the items in his Space Ring, opting to test out their effects when there weren''t so many spectators. He looked over to see the masked girl was standing back up. There was surprise in her eyes, likely not expecting to still be alive after taking that hit. She inspected her body, wondering if she had dreamed up the entire lightning attack. If it weren''t for the nt fibers serving as pants, Fria would have actually believed it was a dream. She looked at William, a bit suspicious that he saw something he wasn''t supposed to, but her intuition said he wasn''t that kind of person. "Thank you." she said with a slight tilt of her head. William nodded and lowered the Earth Walls, then started walking off in the direction of the Labyrinth of Tears without another word. His goal had been achieved, albeit with a few speed bumps along the way. Rather than waiting for trouble toe to him, William now had to prepare for any possible trouble for showing his Talents. There was no time to waste. Fria looked at his back as he walked away. The entire time she found something slightly familiar about him, but couldn''t figure out what. A random tear streamed out of her eye as she turned to face the opposite direction, a wave of mixed emotions rming her. I''m too tired. She thought to herself, shaking off the unexpected sadness. She had used too many resources toplete this trial and hadn''t even earned a share of the loot. It was clear that she needed to be even stronger before attempting another Regional Trial. Chapter 121: Rune Compression Standing on a hill just a few hundred meters away from William and Fria, a dark-haired Cultivator at thete stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm was typing with fervor on the forums. His name was Jayred, and he was currently the number six yer in Otherworld Prime. Despite his low Cultivation level, the boy had managed to secure a ticket to the Gravitas Ruins because of his small Sect that was only allotted three tickets per month. Because of his status as a Darkness Element Manamatus, he was able to defeat his opponents one-by-one just a few weeks after entering the game, earning the attention of his Sect Master and a chance to enter the Ruins. His eyes gleamed when he saw William''s information on the System Panel, but the number two yer, Fria, was right next to him. Knowing he probably wouldn''t have a chance to recruit the S-Rank NPC, Jayred decided he would increase thepetition while also earning some money. ¡ª¡ª¡ª 2s ago: William is now ssified as an S-Rank NPC, and even has a Domain of the Life Element! Pay me a hundred Gold Coins and I''ll tell you everything I know! [0 Views] ¡ª¡ª¡ª *** William and Fria both felt something odd about leaving the other''s presence. Do I know her? William considered the option that it was Fria, but that was impossible. How could it be her when the girl obviously didn''t recognize his face? Her hair and eyes were the same, but that was it. Her attitude did not match the loving older sister that always asked him for money. Do I know him? Fria felt William was oddly familiar, and unconsciously felt sad. The tears were still streaming down her cheeks, but she didn''t know why. Of course, It was impossible that she knew him, since William was an NPC. Maybe he just reminded her of someone else, a sad memory long forgotten... Both shook their heads. They barely knew each other, there was no problem with going somewhere else. It was a Ruins after all, and neither one was willing to give up their rewards to a stranger. William left the desert, returning to the Labyrinth of Tears after a few hours of walking. Before he entered the maze, William weaved together multiple Arrays to conceal his position so he could rest. Not only had he surpassed the limits of his stamina, but William also drank too many Mana Regeneration potions for it to be considered healthy. There was a great deal of work to be done before he could continue with the trials. The only constion was that his Regeneration Talent ensured he waspletely uninjured. William rested for nearly twelve hours, spending most of it asleep even though it was still midday. His time in the Array Trial had messed up his sleep schedule, so when William woke up it was just past midnight. System, is someone still watching me? -No. Perfect. System, upgrade my Stamina to S Rank. -1250 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Stamina: (B --> A) Stamina: (A --> S) Next rank up: 2500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Usually every Talent had an extra special effect when upgraded to S Rank, but this time the effects weren''t obvious. Other than feeling less exhausted, there were no immediate changes to William''s body. William felt many of his physical abilities werecking, so he decided to upgrade his Strength and Reflexes Talents to S Rank as well, costing another 2500 Potential Points. The improvements were very straightforward but had various obvious special effects. His Strength Talent didn''t just increase his physical ability to the peak of the Golden Core Realm, but also gave him incredible control over his attacks. He could now precisely adjust the strength of each attack, allowing him to avoid overexerting himself when it wasn''t necessary. Additionally, his S Rank Reflexes Talent had a passive effect that seemed to slow time whenever William detected something threatening. It wasn''t Time Magic, rather his thinking speed increased dramatically. As a mosquito flew by William''s face, everything slowed around William including himself, allowing him to touch one of its wings if he wanted to. The only drawback was that the new passive effect was only active sometimes, and only allowed William to react more easily to his surroundings. Even if he saw the attacking, he would still need to be fast enough to dodge. That thought brought William to upgrade the Acrobatics Talent, which was currently B Rank. Since it was a Rare Talent, the cost to reach A Rank was 750 Potential Points, and to reach S Rank would be a whopping three thousand! It was an expensive upgrade, but William went through with it anyway. 3750 Potential Points went into the System, but from it, William''s Speed reached the Nascent Soul Realm even without the assistance of an Array. If he had these upgrades before, William might have been able to fight with the Ancient Gravitas Mummy by himself. At least, until it awakened its Magic Staff. Even now, William felt that he wasn''t nearly strong enough to take on such an enemy. The Nascent Soul Realm is much stronger than I thought...even with S Rank Talents, I can barely keep up.William thought to himself. He was unaware that the Ancient Gravitas Mummy''s Cultivation was actually suppressed to the Nascent Soul Realm and was much stronger than the average Nascent Soul Beast. William knew he had to improve his strength even further if he wanted to secure more benefits for himself. He was very lucky toplete the System Quest earlier, but he doubted that was the most difficult trial in the Gravitas Ruins. Not to mention, the masked girl that fought with him was incredibly powerful. If she was hispetitor in the trials, William would have to be stronger. If the two got into a fight, William wasn''t sure he could win against those massive sword strikes sheunched before. System, upgrade my Array Talent.He had been waiting for this moment since near the end of the Array Trial. -1000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Arrays: (A --> S) Next rank up: 2500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William''s brain was flooded with incredible amounts of information. He learned of many new Runes that he hadn''t heard of or seen before, and how to apply each and every one to his Arrays. It wasn''t just basic information this time, but real instructions. His mind entered a simtion where a copy of himself created Arrays for hours, which turned into days, weeks, months, and finally years. The number of Arrays William knew multiplied by hundreds of times, and the speed at which he could form Runes also greatly increased. If he wanted to create a Perfect Barrier Array now, William could do it in just under two seconds, and Advanced Barriers were nearly instantaneous. While his Runes were still at the Perfect level, William learned a new method of application, which allowed him to double, triple, or even quadruple the power of each Rune in an Array. It was a form ofpression. Much like how Arrays were made more stable by adding more Runes of Stability, William could make Runes more powerful byyering two of the exact same Rune on top of each other like stacking pieces of paper. The actual application was much moreplicated, requiring a fine control over Rune particles, but William could use this method to create Arrays with even more Runes than before. If the most Runes William could apply to a Perfect Array was previously 7 or 8, the number had now reached a whopping 28 to 32! Chapter 122: Improved Puppets William made use of the newly improved Arrays Talent immediately. He used the nt Element to create a wooden Puppet and started adding improved Perfect Arrays to it. The process was simple at first, and many different Arrays were added to each part of the Puppet. The situation changed when William tried to add the eighth improved Array to one of the Puppet''s Arms. At this point, the number of Runes in each Array was 32, the maximum number he could control, which meant one of the Puppet''s arms had almost 256 Runes. He watched in frustration as the Puppet''s arm disintegrated, unable to hold the power of all the Arrays. He tried again on another arm, but it was the same result. So this is why people don''t add too many Arrays... It all makes sense now... He thought of his residence in the Sect that was only protected by a few hundred Arrays despite its size that could easily fit several thousand. My nt Element can''t create strong enough Puppets. That''s an easy fix. System, upgrade my nt Affinity to S Rank. -1350 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED nt Affinity: (C --> B) nt Affinity: (B --> A) nt Affinity: (A --> S) Next rank up: 2500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William''s skill over the nt Element increased dramatically with the three consecutive upgrades. The effects of the upgrade didn''t pose a threat to him, the vines that wrapped around his body snapping to pieces when it tried to squeeze against his Hard Skin. Any damage caused by the upgrade didn''t even require William to raise his Forcefield or use the Life Element. His natural regeneration was more than enough to recover from any slight injuries he received. He tested the nt Domain''s effects first. William opened the Domain, a field of grass instantly sprouting up from the ground. If he wished it, he could raise a forest of trees instead. William felt that his vitality increased greatly while inside the Domain, and any nts formed would be much stronger than before. He used this to create around forty nk Array Puppets while the Domain was still active. He deactivated his nt Element and started forming Arrays on their surface like before. This time, the arm didn''t disintegrate the moment William applied more than eight Arrays. He added ten Arrays on each arm and fourteen on the legs since they were longer, their burden distributed throughout the Array Puppet as evenly as possible. He then added six on the chest and another six on the back. Five Arrays were ced on the head, one each where ears would normally go, one on the face, one on the back of the head, and thest on top of the head on a single four-centimeter antenna he decided to addter. This final Array functioned much like a radio, allowing William to send and receive signals from the Array Puppets even from long distances. The two boys that tried to run off with his precious loot made him think of adding this feature. If he was near the Array Puppets while they were fighting, the Array wouldn''t have any use and would just remain idle, but the moment he was further than five hundred meters away, the Array would activate, sending William information from up to three kilometers away. Of course, he didn''t n to let the Puppets get more than a kilometer away from him, because the transmission dy might cause him to make many mistakes when controlling them. He ensured all parts of the Array Puppet were in working order, then checked the time. It had already been over an hour and a half, not including the half-hour spent forming the Array Puppets with the nt Element. His speed of forming Runes was much faster, but because he added more Arrays, his progress was slower than before. William spent the next six days forming Runes on the Array Puppets, meaning he had been in the Gravitas Ruins for ten days now. This was the longest amount of time William had spent doing only one thing, but for some reason he didn''t mind it. Rather than feeling like a job where he would be paid hourly, just to spend all the money on groceries and rent, William felt like his work actually meant something. It was better than grinding in a video game for hours just to earn a slightly better helmet. He was increasing his strength, to find more loot! And these Array Puppets would assist him in his Quest to loot the entire Gravitas Ruins! But if I''m going to do that, I need to be fast! There was no telling howrge the Gravitas Ruins were. The entire Ruin was probably explored already, but the various Sects were unwilling to share the information with each other. Each Sect held a map of the Gravitas Ruins with some ovep here and there, but overall, it remained a hundred-piece puzzle that could easily be fit together if all of the Sects got along. Ah...human greed. It''s a good thing I''m not like them.William thought to himself with a slight smile. -You are the same. "F*ck!" William wished there was a System mute button. -I can leave and take all your skills with me. "I''m sorry, I didn''t mean it!" -Hmph! *** Four hourster, in the Labyrinth of Tears. William was walking through a thick fog that had suddenly appeared after taking a sharp turn to the right. He had been tailed by multiple groups of Cultivators since entering the Labyrinth, who all must have heard that he was in possession of the Ancient Gravitas Mummy''s greatsword and his Magic Staff. It wasn''t difficult to lose them, but now William had entered so deeply into the Labyrinth that he would be incredibly lost if not for the Navigation Talent. The air became colder, the fog freezing into ice crystals on the walls and floor of the maze. William used the Fire Element to offset the cold, but his Mana expenditure was greatly increased in this area. He checked with the System for spectators, then used thirty Potential Points to upgrade his Cold Resistance Talent from E Rank to C Rank, which was enough for William tofortably continue through the maze. Less than ten minutester, the air became even colder, instantly dropping to -18 degrees Celsius. Even with William''s Cold Resistance at C Rank, it still felt like thirty degrees, and he wasn''t wearing thick robes. He spent another 350 Potential Points and upgraded the Cold Resistance to A Rank, hoping that would prevent any further issues. The air now felt like a perfect sixty-five degrees, even though William could see the ice trying to form on his hands and face, repelled by his own body heat that would blind a thermal scope. The air continued to cool, but there was no change on William''s end. He continued walking forward, finally reaching an open area where a vibrant blue piece of ice rested on a small pedestal. Oh, this was a trial?Oops. Only William would say "oops" to clearing a trial in the most dangerous region of the Gravitas Ruins. He reached out his hand to pick up the piece of Ice, his hand feeling incredibly cold even with all the Cold Resistance upgrades. Chapter 123: Tower -Discovered an Element Root: +100 PP -Completed a C-Rank Trial in the Gravitas Ruins: +100 PP "Only a hundred points, are you kidding me?" William had just spent 380 Potential Points, only to receive a small piece of ice. After thinking about it, William realized he couldn''tin too much. After all, his Cold Resistance upgrade was permanent, and he even gained an Element Root that would raise the Affinity of his Ice Magic. Of course, he could have avoided spending his Potential Points if he just spent some of his Mana wielding the Fire Element. He also could have raised his Ice Affinity, which would probably increase his resistance to cold as well. It doesn''t matter, I only wasted a few hundred Potential Points. I''ll earn them back eventually. William was slightly concerned about the future trials since he only had 1800 Potential Points left, but considering the trial creator was watching him most of the time, it might just be better to use up his Potential Points early. I''ll set myself a limit of 1500 Points for now. I have 1973 Potential Points, which leaves me just under 500 that I can spend on whatever I want. With that thought, William continued forward through the Labyrinth. He was looking for the impossible trial that the Guild Master mentioned, the Envement Array on his shoulder urging him to move faster. While William was improving his Array Puppets, the Envement Array began to act up, seemingly punishing him for not moving. He ignored it throughout the week, but now it would start sending slight jolts of electricity into his body every time he stood in ce for more than a few minutes. He investigated the Array while he walked, but he now understood that to crack this Array without killing himself, he would need a mental key that probably only the Array''s creator knew. It wasn''t a matter of skill with Arrays, but a matter of Cultivation. The only weakness of the Array was that it functioned on a limited amount of Spiritual Qi, which was the converted form of Mana. It was tailored to William''s Mana, which meant even if he used Mana to exhaust the Qi in the Array, it would only refill its reserves. Physical attacks wouldn''t work either, because it would trigger a bacsh that would kill William instantly, even at his current strength. He thought about asking someone else to use Mana to exhaust the Array, but he would be kicked out of the Gravitas Ruins before someone managed to free him. ording to the System, the Array had enough Qi stored to function on its own for two years and would require a Core Formation Realm Cultivator eight months to release him! William began to panic. At first it was only mildly concerning, but now William had gathered a ton of rewards from various trials. The moment he left the Gravitas Ruins, they would all be taken away by the Sect Master! If that happened, William would be devastated. He realized it would be better to consume all treasures that were consumable immediately, to raise his speed of clearing the trials. William stopped walking and pulled out the Ice Element Root and the second Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence that he had saved up. He consumed both at once, letting the wave of Mana wash over him as both items interacted with his body. The Blood Essence didn''t rece his Mana like the previous one did. This time, it refined the Mana already inside his body,pressing it slightly to provide more space for Mana. -Absorbed Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence: +100 PP There were very few impurities to expel, so William only received a slight boost, but it was still a phenomenal effect. While the Ice Element Root was still interacting with his body, releasing a slight cooling sensation, William checked his status and focused on one specific aspect. Mana: 1420/1750 An increase of 250 Mana, I think the previous Blood Essence increased it by 350... So the effects are diminished after all, but this is still really good!William was more than happy about the effects of the Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence. He tested his Mana regeneration, finding that it had only increased by 75 this time, which raised his Mana regeneration to 300 per hour. With this, William would fully recover after only six hours of rest. At this moment, the Ice Element Root finished taking effect. He didn''t know how to check the rank of the Element Root, but he assumed it wasn''t low. After testing out his improved Ice Element, William found that its power had increased by about eighty percent, meaning this Root was even better than the Gold-Ranked Fire Root he received from the Alchemy Hall! His Ice Magic was already S-Rank, but he felt that its power would be equivalent to... System, what are the Ranks for upgrading my Magic? No one had ever mentioned a Magic Affinity above S-Rank before, but the fact that he could still upgrade his Magic meant that S wasn''t the limit. -Your Magic Affinities can currently be upgraded in this order: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSR, and X. X Rank...William didn''t understand why the System would make the Magic Ranks soplicated. What was the point of S rank if it was only rank seven out of the ten ranks? Doesn''t that mean S-Rank is actually just another name for C-Rank? -No. In your previous world the S-Rank was a rarely given grade representing the ultimate highest or peak, but how can the Potential System stop at the peak? The System didn''t exin further, and any requests made to borate cost William way too many Potential Points to bother. It seemed the true purpose of the System would remain hidden for a while. Something appeared on William''s Navigation Radar, but he could only see the edge of it. As William got closer, it was revealed to be a massive structure shaped like a cylinder that stretched hundreds of kilometers into the sky. Is this what the Sect Master was talking about? William looked upwards but didn''t see anything. "That''s weird, I should be able to see something that big from much further away than I am now..." he muttered. Was the structure concealed by Arrays? He navigated the Labyrinth for another hour until he arrived at a five-kilometer courtyard where the unknown structure stood. It was a giant tower, over two kilometers in diameter and incredibly tall. The entrance was a massive double doorway, but there was no door present. In front of the tower were a few hundred Cultivators, most of whom were drawing battle ns in the ground or sorting through their equipment. It looked more like a group of Adventurers about to enter a dungeon rather than each Sect''s most powerful representatives of the younger generation. William took a peek into the open doorway to see a massive field of grass on the other side. He could make out a group of twenty Cultivators teaming up to fight a massive ogre that wielded arge bone club. "Don''t look too long, or you''ll be pulled into the tower." a familiar male voice warned from a few meters to the side. Chapter 124: I Changed My Mind "Pulled into the tower? What do you mean?" William was confused. He turned to face the man that gave the warning, recognizing him immediately, "Oh, hi Glen. Why are you here?" William didn''t see Glen amongst the group of Inner Core Disciples that entered with him ten days ago. It was odd that he was here, but maybe something happened? "That''s a lot of questions, at least thank me for the warning first." Glen responded with a slight shake of his head, the sunlight reflecting off his bright-green hair. "Thanks. Why are you here?" "Still not chatty? The Sect Master brought me in." "You know me. When was that? I didn''t see you with the others." William wasn''t convinced with Glen''s exnation. "Ok ok fine," Glen looked around to make sure no one else was listening. He leaned towards William with a whisper, "I snuck in." William''s eyebrows raised, "How did you do that?" Glen smirked. He snapped his fingers, the hair on his head turning bright yellow. With another snap of his fingers, his hair returned to its natural bright green. William didn''t have to think much to understand what Glen was trying to convey. He flipped through his memories, thinking back to the yellow haired boy that asked if the Labyrinth was still open. "I see, but why are you showing me this? I could report you to the Sect Master if I felt like it." William threatened. He didn''t bother asking what happened to the yellow-haired boy that should have received his ticket to the Ruins. "Something tells me you don''t feel like it. Not to mention, I know a few things about you, such as that." he pointed to the Array on William''s shoulder that was hidden under his clothing. How does he know that? Something isn''t right here. William was bing increasingly worried. Glen noticed the flustered look on William''s face and found this to be a great opportunity. "You''re not the first person to suffer the wrath of the Sect Master. I''ve been in the Sect a while and I knew what happened the moment you disappeared from that Arena. Not just me, but there are a few other Inner Core Disciples that know but are too scared to do something about it. Shit, even the Yu Royal Family turns a blind eye to it since Gu Dianlong always provides a share of the Gravitas Ruins loot." William understood immediately.So I''m just another ve put to work in the Ruins? "How many others are there?" he asked. "Three, maybe four. Two of them are in the Ruins with us right now. But that''s why I snuck in, to save you all!" Glen had a righteous look on his face. William could see past Glen''s facade. "Be honest, you also want the loot. Why else would you risk your life to sneak in?" "Sure, of course. Don''t we all? But the difference is that I can help you and not the other way around. I only want one treasure and you can have the rest. The Sect Master will take all your treasures when youe back anyway." The offer wasn''t terrible. William had a few items that weren''t incredibly useful to him. "How do you n to do it?" Glen reached into his Space Ring and pulled out a pale white orb with a milky-white fluid sloshing around inside as he moved it, making sure to hide it with his body so only William could see it. It looked very simr to the orb that Supreme Left called in to test William''s Cultivation Talent. "What is it?" "You really don''t know much, do you? This is a Qi Orb, which not only tests your Cultivation Talent, but can also be used to store your Qi forter use. It''s actually a very precious item that took me a great amount of effort to steal." he put it back into the Space Ring. William chuckled at thest sentence. He knew Glen wasn''t a good person from the start, but he didn''t expect the boy to be so open about it. He actually kind of admired Glen''s honesty. "Will it work?" "I''ve been storing Qi in here for a long time. Sometimes mine, sometimes from people I don''t like. It should work." he shrugged. Glen hadn''t actually tried it before and he wasn''t great with Arrays, but some information he received suggested this would work. "And what do you want in exchange?" William pulled out a piece of Star Ore and fifty Mana Stones. Glen''s eyes widened upon seeing the Star Ore. "Put that away!" he hissed. William turned his head to see everyone''s eyes on the piece of Star Ore in his hand. Even the Cultivators that were drawing battle ns stopped what they were doing. He realized his mistake and frantically put the Star Ore and Mana Stones away, but it was toote. A group of around thirty Cultivators from mixed Sects walked over, arge bald-headed man wielding a battleaxe in the lead. "Was that a Star Ore I just saw? How about giving it to us?" he asked with a toothy smile, his yellow teeth making William want to puke. William knew where this was going and wasn''t about to y their game. He pulled out ten of his newly created Array Puppets and arranged them in a circr formation around himself and Glen. He considered leaving Glen out of the formation, but the boy seemed to be his ticket out of very and wasn''t a serious threat despite his character. The sudden appearance of ten Array Puppets spooked the group of Cultivators, but the leader wasn''t worried. "These puppets are nothing but a hunk of wood. Do you really think they are enough to protect your Star Ore?" Williamughed out loud. The group was obviously underestimating the Puppets. "I think they''re enough." "We''ll see about that!" the leader raised his battleaxe in the air and brought it down on one of the Puppets. The bald man grinned when he saw that the Puppet still wasn''t moving as the battleaxe made its descent. "ng!" the battleaxe bounced off a protective barrier that was suddenly raised. The bald man looked up to see a perfectly circr barrier had formed, connecting the Array Puppets to one another and forming a dome over William and Glen''s heads. His battleaxe, which had strength in the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm, didn''t even cause a crack in the barrier. "How is this possible?" the bald man frowned. The other spectators were also baffled. The Array Puppets didn''t seem too strong on the surface, but that barrier was no joke. Each Cultivator wondered if they could take on the barrier by themselves, and the resounding answer was no. The bald man might be a bit aggressive, but he wasn''t stupid. He could tell that fighting with William over a piece of Star Ore wasn''t worth it. "You can hold onto the Star Ore for now." he said while looking at William. He turned his head and nodded at one of his allied Cultivators, who understood the gesture and motioned for the others to back off. Glen looked at William, who wasn''t surprised at the oue.These Cultivators are no match for him...No wonder he dared to openly bring out a piece of Star Ore. He smiled. This was even better! "I''ve changed my mind, William." "What''s that?" "I don''t want any treasures, just help me out with something." Chapter 125: Theyre Just Golden Core Enemies, So What? "Help you out?" William responded as he watched the group of Cultivators go back to where they were previously. "With this trial. I''m sure the Sect Master sent you here anyway, all you need to do is help me collect a few things." the boy shrugged. It was seemingly a simple task. "Sure. What am I collecting?" "I don''t know yet, but first you''ll need to clear the first floor of the tower." he pointed to the doorway, where William could barely make out the ogre mming down its club, killing half of the Cultivators in one move. Is that a Nascent Soul Beast right from the start? "I know what you''re thinking, and the answer is yes. That''s a Nascent Soul Beast, but you don''t have any Cultivation. The beast you fight should be in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Not only that, but only one Magical Beast will spawn on this floor, no matter how many Cultivators there are. Its Cultivation will always be two Realms above the highest level Cultivator." That''s it? What''s so impossible about this trial then? Clearly you can just send someone in with no Cultivation...oh wait. William hadpletely forgotten the numerous enemies and traps he had avoided while entering the Labyrinth of Tears. Not only that, but there were an incredible number of Cultivators present both in the maze and at the entrance of the trial. How could a normal person manage to get here without dying to something else first? "So it shouldn''t be too hard for me then, right?" William didn''t miss the part where Glen noticed hisck of Cultivation despite the Stealth Talent. Was he just guessing, or does he have more inside information? "It won''t be hard, but it won''t be easy either." Glen pulled out a small map from his Space Ring, which turned out to be the Labyrinth in its entirety, with a few greyed-out areas that he hadn''t mapped out. He pointed to the location in the center of the map, which was where they were currently standing. He traced his finger along the map, pointing to a few triangr shapes situated throughout the maze. "We are in the very center of the Labyrinth, and those are Mana pylons, incredibly advanced for our world. They gather the energy of the Ruins and fuel the tower''s Arrays. It seems each floor has a specific Array function that multiplies the difficulty." William understood the premise. The Mana pylons sounded much different from the pylons he knew in the real world, but it helped him get an understanding of their shape and general purpose. "So we just destroy the pylons, right?" William said, pointing at their locations on the map. "They''re indestructible. Many have tried, all have failed. It''s not a matter of talent, but the trial creator didn''t intend for them to be destroyed at all. They are guarded by the same barrier that kicks out trial takers after they''ve spent two months inside. What we need to do is exhaust the Mana fueling each floor, which seems to recover incredibly slowly. Every time we kill a Magical Beast on the first floor, it respawns at the cost of some Mana. Killing the Nascent Soul ogre wastes more of the Array''s energy, but it takes too long to kill, we can''t clear the floor in time." Glen looked at William with serious eyes. So this is why it''s the impossible trial, huh? I wonder what the reward is?His eyes turned greedy as he thought of this. Perhaps this is why so many Sects went crazy over this trial. It was clearly the most difficult one in the Gravitas Ruins, meaning it should have the greatest reward. If B-Rank trials gave Star Ore, and A-Rank trials gave Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence, what was the reward for whatever this was? William looked back at Glen. "I can clear the first floor, but I need some help." "I''m all ears, what do you have in mind?" "I need a Foundation Establishment Cultivator." "Okay I can do that- Wait what?" "You heard me. If we want to clear this floor faster, this is what I need." Glen looked around. There were a few Foundation Establishment Cultivators, but all of them were from smaller Sects that didn''t have many members. William noticed his indecisiveness. Clearly the boy was clever and resourceful to sneak into the Gravitas Ruins but wasn''t great in social situations. He ced his hand on Glen''s shoulder. "Don''t worry, I''ve got this." William used the Earth Element to raise himself a dozen meters into the sky on a pir, then cupped his hands around his mouth. "WHO WANTS A FREE RIDE THROUGH THE FIRST FLOOR?!?" His announcement startled many of the Cultivators present. They looked into the sky andughed, seeing William''s odd gesture. Someone called out to Will in jest, "You''re going to take us through the first floor for free? What do we have to do for such generosity?" William looked down at the man who just spoke, a Cultivator emitting an aura at the middle stages of the Core Formation Realm. "I''m only epting Foundation Establishment Cultivators. Just pay me ten Mana Stones each and I will take you to the second floor!" "Hahaha! You expect us to believe you can carry us through the impossible trial? Buddy, no one in thest two hundred years has cleared the first floor. You really think you can do it today?" William knew what was happening here.It seems these idiots weren''t paying attention to my Puppets earlier. He called the surrounding Earth and Fire Mana to himself, forming a Meteor Spell in the sky that was slightlyrger than the ones used against the Ancient Gravitas Mummy. The Mana control improvement provided by the Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence seemed to increase his strength another five percent or so. The Meteor Spell barreled downward, turning the Cultivator''s face pale with fright as it was headed straight in his direction. At thest second, William controlled the Meteor to stop, hovering just a few inches from the Cultivator''s face. The mes scorched off the man''s hair and eyebrows, leaving him both bald and scared, the worstbination in William''s opinion. William controlled the Meteor Spell to touch down carefully just a few meters to the right of the Cultivator, making sure not to crush any innocents on the way down. No one else bothered to question William''s statement, his power clearly reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivators began lining up, offering William the ten Mana Stone fee that he asked for. The first person in line asked carefully, "Senior, what do we need to do once we are inside?" William looked at the boy that was currently handing him ten Mana Stones with a smile. He epted the Mana Stones, cing them in his Space Ring as he replied, "Nothing, I''ll take care of the Magical Beasts inside." "You by yourself?" the boy became a bit nervous. William looked at him, "They''re just Golden Core enemies, what is there to be afraid of?" "Just Golden Core enemies..." the boy muttered as he walked off. He stopped abruptly.Does that mean he''s only... His eyes widened in surprise and delight. If that was truly the case, then they really didn''t need to do anything! Chapter 126: Successive Instant Kills! William collected a few hundred Mana Stones, a group of fourteen Foundation Establishment Cultivators now following close behind and ready to enter the first floor. Glen looked at William in amazement, not expecting the man to suddenly recruit a dozen random Foundation Establishment Cultivators from other Sects. Not only this, but he earned Mana Stones while doing so! The power of his Meteor Spell was incredible, especially for a non-Cultivator. Glen now understood why William wanted to recruit Foundation Establishment Cultivators. They would boost the power of the Magical Beasts from the Foundation Establishment Realm to the Golden Core Realm, allowing them to exhaust the tower''s Mana faster. Maybe I don''t need to pay off my quota to them after all. With William leading the way, I can keep my treasures! Glen watched as William finished storing his Mana Stones, then followed behind as the group entered the first floor of the trial. William spoke to Glen while still looking towards the entrance to the trial, "You said the door would suck you- owaaaaaaaaaah!" He couldn''t finish his sentence as a heavy gravitational pull sent him flying towards the entrance of the trial tower, pulling him inside. William rolled across the ground a few meters before catching himself, propping his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. He looked at the doorway, where an illusory barrier was now raised. It was only an Intermediate Barrier Array so it wouldn''t be difficult to break, but William didn''t intend to leave the tower. Glen and the others stepped inside, passing through the Intermediate Barrier as if it wasn''t even there. "What is the point of that?" William red at Glen who currently had a wide grin on his face. "It''s one of the mechanisms of the tower. It used to pull you in the moment you opened the door to the tower so you couldn''t leave midway, but some idiot decided to steal the doorway a few decades ago, so now we have to deal with the consequences. I can''t lie though, it''s always hrious to see people like you get pulled in without warning." Glenughed. "You talk as if you''ve been in here a lot." William replied tly. He thought about how to get Glen back forughing at him. "I have. I''ve probably been in here a few dozen times." Glen replied with a shrug. "A few dozen times? How do you always manage to sneak in?" "Sometimes I do, sometimes I don''t. Depends on how I feel." Glen was starting to sound like a stereotypical thief. William would have asked more but his thoughts were interrupted of the sound of an ogre''s roar in the distance. He turned his head just in time to see thest Cultivator of the previous group dying to the Nascent Soul ogre''s club, their bodies turning into pixels and teleporting outside the tower. "Huh, this is the first trial I''ve seen so far where we don''t die for real..." William muttered. "Who knows, maybe only the first floor is an exception. I''m not willing to find out." Glen responded from his right. The two watched as the ogre turned into tiny particles of Mana that floated upwards into the ceiling that was thirty meters above them. In its ce, a new ogre spawned, emitting the aura of a Golden Core Beast. Everything in this trial is created using Mana? William marveled at theplexity of the Gravitas Ruins. It probably took the trial creator hundreds if not thousands of years to create this massive area. Who would spend so much time on this? Perhaps it used to be a treasure vault and was now repurposed? William''s questions continued to grow, but he couldn''t find any answers just yet. The System was no help as usual, charging hundreds of points even for some of the simplest answers. It''s not worth thinking about.William focused on the Golden Core ogre a few hundred meters in front of him. The big green creature with horns noticed William as soon as it spawned and was currently running this way. Destpite its bulky frame, the ogre was quite fast, reaching the early stages of the Golden Core Realm. What was truly threatening about it was its strength. One swing of its club and all of William''s Foundation Establishment helpers would die. "Get back! Stay as far away from the enemy as possible!" William yelled to the group behind him, Glen included. He didn''t want his potential helper to get killed on ident. William pulled out five Array Puppets from his Space Ring. He could control ten of them simultaneously now with his Array Talent upgrade, but it wasn''t necessary right now. He gave each puppet one of his throwing knives, then the Array Puppets were arranged in a V-formation, rushing forward to surround the ogre. The ogre tried to swing its club around it in a circle when the Puppets came close, but it was stopped by the first Puppet. It grabbed the club with great strength, holding its ground as the full force of the ogre had no effect on the Puppet. Glen and the others gazed in awe as the Array Puppets proceeded to slice up the ogre dozens of times until it fell. The Magical Beast didn''t even damage a single Array Puppet. William made sure to take thest hit byunching a giant fireball while the ogre was on the ground, finishing it off. Its body turned into particles of Mana like before, but instead of rushing to the ceiling, it entered the floor. In its ce, a second ogre spawned, just like the first. No Bestiary notification, and no Potential Points for killing it...damn.William half-expected this, since they were artifically formed by a Cultivator. Perhaps he would only gain Potential Points from killing Magical Beasts formed naturally by the world? William didn''t bother changing the order he gave the Array Puppets when the ogre respawned. They attacked the same way they did before, rendering the ogrepletely powerless before their sessive attacks. This time, the ogre didn''t even have a chance to attack before it was killed. Glen and the Foundation Establishment Cultivators watched as ogre after ogre was killed, a crowd even appearing at the entrance of the doorway from outside the trial tower. They used special methods to reflect the scene of the inside, or indirectly look through the doorway to watch the fight. "Shouldn''t we stop him?" someone asked amongst the crowd. "I would, but no one has ever cleared the first floor. When would we have another opportunity to see the second floor than now?" "That makes sense, but he''s going to get the reward if there is one." "I doubt it. Do you see how many floors the tower has? How can a group like theirs clear so many in session?" They watched in silence as ogre after ogre was in in the trial tower, the Mana provided to the first floor decreasing with each kill. The Cultivators could sense the barrier separating them from the inside weakening further and further, until it was barely a Basic Barrier Array. Finally, someone decided they needed to do something. A Core Formation Cultivator stared at the doorway, allowing its gravitational pull to send him inside the trial floor. The ogre that was currently being targeted suddenly turned into particles of Mana and rushed towards the ceiling, reced by a new ogre at the Nascent Soul Realm. "ROAR!!" Chapter 127: First Floor Clear, Soul Stone? William looked at the entrance of the floor to see a nervous Cultivator standing at the entrance of the trial. It was clear that his entry was the reason for the Nascent Soul ogre. Heunched a swift fireball in the direction of the Cultivator, who didn''t have any time to react before the meteor-like fireball pierced through his chest and sent him flying outside of the trial tower, shattering the Basic Barrier Array in the process. William checked his notifications to make sure he didn''t kill the Cultivator, relieved to see he hadn''t lost a Humanity Point. He returned his attention to the ogre, expecting it to despawn soon. The ogre released another low roar, then began bashing its club against the Array Puppets. Its speed was much greater than the Golden Core ogre, and its strength even more monstrous. Glen became angry, "Damn that guy, trying to sabotage us when we are this close!" The other Foundation Establishment Cultivators were worried.Should we escape? They backed towards the entrance of the tower, prepared to leave the second something went wrong. William controlled his Array Puppets adeptly, allowing them to maneuver around the ogre with extreme speed and skill. Even at the Nascent Soul Realm, the ogre couldn''t keep up with their moves. When one Puppet caught the ogre''s attention, another would stab it in the back with a throwing knife. The wounds weren''t deep, but it was enough to catch the Magical Beast off guard. I need to make them better weapons... William thought as he controlled the Puppets from afar. Their speed and strength were phenomenal now that William had improved the Arrays forming them, but fists and knives wouldn''t do much good against certain enemies. The ogre had thick fat on its body, which reduced the amount of damage it took from weak martial attacks or short des. Of course, William had some solutions. He controlled two Array Puppets to regroup with a third. While the remaining two Puppets distracted the ogre from the front, the three approached its backside, their 1.5 meter size appearing miniscule in front of the six meter ogre. The two Puppets picked up the third and threw it forward, its hand glowing a bright blue as an Ice Spear formed. The Ice Spear drilled into the back of the ogre''s neck, causing serious damage and temporarily stunning it. The two Array Puppets in the front rushed forward, slicing at both of the ogre''s tendons, causing it to fall to its knees on the ground. With this, the ogre remained defenseless from the consecutive attacks. William didn''t bother trying to steal the kill on the ogre, since it wouldn''t provide him any Potential Points anyway. He and the others watched as the Array Puppets swiftly finished off the Nascent Soul ogre. The kill was barely fast enough to exhaust the remaining Mana of the first floor, the ogre no longer able to respawn. William waited for a sessfulpletion message, but there was nothing. A pedestal raised from the center of the grassy floor, a ck box resting on its surface. William, Glen, and the Foundation Establishment Cultivators also received a separate, smaller ck box, which contained a tiny white pebble, its uses unknown. -Acquired Miniature Soul Stone: +25 PP The Foundation Establishment Cultivators looked at the pebble with delight, quickly returning to their respective Sects at the entrance of the tower. Upon seeing the ck box in the center, a few Cultivators rushed inside the tower. They rushed past the Foundation Establishment Cultivators who clearly had only received the minor reward. Everyone had the same thought. Even if the ogre spawns, I can at least escape with the box! To their pleasant surprise, no ogre spawned even when the lead Cultivator was halfway to the pedestal. William naturally noticed the greedy expressions of the Cultivators. Even some of his Foundation Establishment Realm followers stared at the ck box with hesitation. He controlled an Array Puppet to retrieve the ck box for him, the Puppet flying past the Cultivators with incredible speed. It stopped at the pedestal just in time to snatch it away from a skinny man with a runner''s build, his calves so defined they looked like they could cut diamonds. The man frowned at his empty outstretched hand, disappointed at being so close yet so far from the treasure. William smirked as the Array Puppet returned to his side to hand him the ck box. He stored the box in his Space Ring without opening it, lest the reward was impressive enough for the Cultivators to risk their lives fighting. He looked at the back wall of the trial floor, where a staircase rose from the floor and the ceiling opened up. The other Cultivators also noticed this but didn''t rush to head inside. Who in their right mind would enter the second floor of the trial without any information when the first floor took hundreds of years to clear? Everyone looked at William. Those who thought about snatching the treasure were reminded that this boy was the one that cleared the trial, even if he didn''t do much work himself. The floor became silent as they waited to see what William would do. He looked around the room, his eyes making a few Cultivators feel anxious. -Killed a human. +5 Potential Points, -1 Humanity Huh? How?William was confused. The random System notification caught him off guard. System, what happened? -The Cultivator you shot a fireball at died of blood loss. Fuck, really?William was upset, but it wasn''t like he could reverse the Cultivator''s death. Even if he could, it probably wouldn''t give him back the point of Humanity. He didn''t feel much from killing the Cultivator, since he clearly intended to make William fail the trial. He returned his attention to the trial tower. "I''m going to check out the second floor. You,e with me." he pointed at the runner who was the closest to stealing the treasure. "Me? B-but why?" the man was scared that William would use him as a guinea pig to discover the functions of the next floor. "You''re fast, juste with me. I won''t ask a second time." William''s eyes became cold. The Envement Array was partially affecting his emotions, urging him to go further into the tower. The man nodded his head and trudged along behind William as they approached the staircase. "You go in first." William ordered. The man already expected this, epting his fate. He stepped up the staircase and disappeared, only to reappear a few secondster with a terrified expression. His hair was slightly burnt, and his face was wrinkly as if the moisture in his body had been absorbed by something. "What is it?" William asked with slight concern. "The entire room isva, and there''s...there''s..." the man struggled to finish his sentence. His knees buckled and his pants were soiled as he fell to the ground. "Okay you''re reacting a little bit. Just tell me what you saw you weirdo." William was losing his patience with the man and was about to send in an Array Puppet to check out the situation inside for himself. "A DRAGON!" the man suddenly shouted with tears forming in his eyes. Chapter 128: Preparation "A dragon?" William looked at the man with surprise. The difficulty scaling from the first floor to the second seemed immense. What if he had to kill the dragon multiple times before the next floor was unlocked? Even worse, the second floor containedva, one of the worst environments for his wooden Array Puppets to fight in. William had inscribed fire resistance Runes on the Array Puppets to deal with their greatest weakness, but it was meant for countering Fire Magic. The Puppets weren''t designed for long-term fights in a hot environment, it would expend too much of William''s Mana. "Stand up." William ordered the man. "Y-yes Sir." the runner shakily got to his feet. William visually inspected the runner''s body thoroughly, making him feel uneasy. His feet and legs are fine, and I don''t see any serious burns on the clothing. There''s at least a tform to stand on when I enter... "What kind of dragon is it? Is it western or eastern?" William asked. "Huh? What do you mean?" Oh right, they wouldn''t know that. William rephrased the question, "Does the dragon have wings or not? Does it have a long neck or not? Does it have antlers or horns? Also, what color is the dragon?" "Oh, it has wings and horns. It looked red, but that might have just been from theva. It could be orange or yellow." the man had collected himself at this point, realizing he wasn''t in any imminent danger. He hoped that answering William''s questions thoroughly meant he wouldn''t have to go into that hellish ce again. A western dragon...That might be difficult.William didn''t have much experience dealing with flying creatures. William had a few more questions, "Okay, how tall was the ceiling? Was there anything to take cover behind?" "I don''t know, maybe twice as high as this one? I didn''t see anything around to use as cover." This really isn''t going to be easy...William shook his head. He waved his hand, signaling the man to leave. Glen walked up to William, "Are you still nning to go up?" William nodded his head. He couldn''t defy the order given through the Envement Array. Glen understood William''s thoughts, "Don''t forget I still need some items from here. Just pick up anything that seems valuable. I''ll wait down here for your return." The boy had no intention of joining William in the trial tower. He wasn''t strong enough to be of much use, and he had to continue monitoring the others.They wouldn''t be happy if I was trapped in the tower for months at a time and something happened to one of the others... William acknowledged Glen''s words, then sat cross-legged on the ground in silence. He noticed many other Cultivators were still watching him, "Do none of you have anything better to do? Go up if you want to, I won''t be moving for a while." His words embarrassed the Cultivators, who realized they were acting a bit odd. Were they really relying on William to clear every trial? The first floor was clear, and they had information on the second. This was the perfect chance to take the lead and earn some never-before-seen rewards! The Cultivators formed their respective groups to talk battle ns once again, maps and scrollsin out across tables made of earth or wood. William was making his own preparations. He made sure with the System that no powerful Cultivators were watching him, then upgraded his Heat Resistance Talent to A Rank using 380 Potential Points. Even if it wasn''t enough resistance, William could always use the Water or Ice Elements to help offset some of the damage. He then spent another 750 Potential Points to raise his Stealth Talent from B to A Rank. William''s aura slowly dissipated, making him seem like a normal person to outsiders. The other Cultivators noticed the change in William''s aura, assuming it was a special technique to hide his Cultivation. With these two upgrades, William felt confident in moving through the second floor unimpeded. Even if the dragon was incredibly strong, William should be able to avoid detection at least for a short time. He stored his Array Puppets in the Space Ring, not intending to use them for the next floor, then got to his feet. I should stop wasting time. Who knows how many floors this tower has? William approached the staircase under everyone''s eyes. As he stepped through, a slight smirk appeared on the face of the man who William forced to investigate the second floor first. *** Outside the Gravitas Ruins. In a desert near the Providence Zone. Carl was panting heavily as he walked through the sand behind a team of twenty or so Cultivators. "How long do we have to walk for?" he asked one of the four bodyguards by his side. "Not much longer, young master. We will be there soon." a bodyguard replied in a respectful tone while his eyes scanned the nearby environment for Magical Beasts. Carl wished for anything but to be walking around in the middle of the desert on a hot day, but it was his idea after all. With William gone and the others temporarily unavable, Carl had no choice but to ask his father for help collecting Magical Beasts for his summoning scroll. If I''m going to catch up to that monster, I''m going to need some serious help. There''s no shame in using my father''s resources to my advantage.He consoled himself as he trudged through the desert. He epted a jar of fresh water from a nearby bodyguard and took a swig while reminiscing on the past. There was a time when he and his father had a good rtionship, nearly ten years ago when he was eleven years old. At the time, his father known as Tenebris was a hundred and forty years old. In normal situations, having a child at around 130 would be incredibly extreme, but his father was a powerful Cultivator who would probably live to a few thousand years if nothing happened. Carl didn''t know exactly how strong his father was, but Supreme Left had personally visited their home multiple times in the past, so he couldn''t be weak. Carl had even met the reclusive Unbreakable Right once, who rarely left secluded Cultivation. When Carl turned twelve years old, Tenebris bestowed upon him a summoning scroll and the secrets of his Innate Talent known as Heavenly Mark. While it seemed like a blessing at first, Carl didn''t take his training seriously and failed to control his Heavenly Mark even after a few years had passed. His father became disappointed in Carl''sck of talent and paid less and less attention to the boy. By the time Carl had turned fifteen, his father was only around for meals and wouldn''t speak a word at the dinner table. Carl finally used the Heavenly Mark on a Qi Refinement Beast when he was seventeen. Even so, Tenebris only gave him a slight nod and gave him a scroll that detailed how to progress with the Heavenly Mark. He told Carl that he could use the family''s resources at any time as his only son, but Carl refused, opting never to use his father for his own means unless it was money. Of course, Carl ran into a few speed bumps along the way. This was now the second time he had asked his father for help, the first being the capture of Shadog, his most powerful summon. "Young master, we are here." a bodyguard pointed ahead of him at a gorgeouske cluttered with palm trees and berry bushes. In the distance a few vicious roars could be heard, giving Carl the chills. Carl steeled his resolve and ordered his team to enter the Great Oasis. Chapter 129: Molten Dragonstone William arrived on the second floor of the trial tower, his feet making no noise as they made contact with thest step of the staircase behind him. He took a careful peek at the floor above. The surroundings were as described, a t expanse of dark rock in front, while vastva pools covered around ny percent of the floor. A few sparse tforms made of rock floated in theva, but there truly was no cover to hide behind. The heat wasn''t too bad, but that was probably due to William''s A Rank Heat Resistance Talent, his S Rank Fire Affinity, and his S Rank Ice Affinity that all held some degree of defense against hot environments. He looked at the ceiling near the back of the second floor, where arge hanging structure caught his attention. His eyes widened as he realized that therge structure was actually a creature. More specifically, it was the dragon that the runner mentioned. Even from his current position over a kilometer away, William could feel the dragon''s aura that exceeded the Nascent Soul Realm. He failed to mention the Cultivation of the dragon and the fact that there are barely any safe ces to stand!William cursed the runner in his mind, even though he knew it was partially his fault for not asking these questions. Thankfully, the upgrade to his Stealth Talent seemed to be the right way to go. He assumed the dragon was at the Soul Formation Realm, but regardless, it didn''t seem to sense him. William made careful steps forward, until he had fully entered the second floor. Wee to the second floor of my greatest trial. To reach the third floor, you must be an excellent thief. Steal the Molten Dragonstone and the path forward will open. Good luck! After the voice subsided, William looked around the room for any changes but couldn''t find any suspicious rocks that seemed valuable. He asked the System for a description of the Molten Dragonstone, who provided a mental image of the item for free. It looked like a square b of brown rock with deep red veins that flowed likeva. The exterior of the rock had a few jagged symbols shaped like scales, which exined why it was called a Molten Dragonstone. He took another look around the room, even taking a few peeks at the dragon, but there was still nothing resembling it. There''re only two ces it can be. Inside the dragon, or under theva. William deduced. He thought from the perspective of the trial creator. No one would expect a Core Formation Cultivator to kill a Soul Formation Beast right? Additionally, the creator specifically said one needed to be a good thief, meaning it didn''t require any killing. It has to be under theva then.William turned to the Navigation Talent for help. He activated the Navigation radar and looked at the regions ofva for any peculiar structures. He noticed something. Right in the center of the room was a small squarish imprint that sunk about half a meter lower than theva level. He traced a path from his current position, finding that there were conveniently a set of stone tforms in theva that led straight to its location. So it''s not so hard after all...The main trial must have been avoiding the dragon, but with my Stealth Talent, that isn''t an issue at all! William rejoiced for having such useful Talents. Without Navigation, it might have taken William over an hour to figure out where the Molten Dragonstone was hidden, perhaps longer since he would have to be careful not to alert the dragon. As he approached the center of the floor, he periodically looked in the direction of the dragon, making sure it wasn''t just pretending not to notice him. In William''s memories of Cultivation worlds and video games, dragons were very proud creatures. They wouldn''t need tricks to beat an opponent, but William wasn''t sure if their character was the same in this world. He arrived in the center of the floor, peering into theva pool that supposedly contained the Molten Dragonstone. Like the Navigation radar showed, theva was a bit lower in the center. Floating just barely on the surface of theva was the Molten Dragonstone. Only the topside of the Dragonstone was revealed, but William could instantly tell that this was the special item that he was tasked to steal. He was scared of using Magic to pick up the Dragonstone, which would probably alert the dragon instantly. William hesitated for a long time, but finally decided to dip his finger into theva to test its effects on his skin. After just one touch, his finger began to turn a dark brown. He quickly pulled his finger out of theva, allowing the Regeneration Talent topletely heal the finger in just a fraction of a second. Ow, that hurt!He winced in pain as he could still feel the aftereffects of the injury. That being said, theva didn''t instantly melt off his finger like he expected. Instead, he received third-degree burns that could still be healed by his insane natural regeneration. He steeled his resolve and dipped his whole hand into theva, plucking the Molten Dragonstone like one would take piping hot toast from a toaster. He flung the Dragonstone onto the solid rock tform he was standing on, then held his hand in pain as he waited for it to heal. -Acquired Molten Dragonstone: +250 PP The experience was pure torture, but William endured. The hardest part was over, now he just needed to wait for the Molten Dragonstone to cool. Hemunicated with the System, asking for advice on how to store it in his Space Ring, lest he burn everything inside to a crisp. The question cost him three Potential Points, but it was better than potentially losing priceless treasures. -Items should be contained within around -50 and 300 degrees Celsius before storing it in a Space Ring, but if that isn''t possible, you can store it in a secondary container that is insted before throwing the entire thing into your Space Ring. William understood the System''s logic. If he remembered correctly, the melting point of lead was just over three hundred degrees Celsius, so the System was essentially warning him not to surpass the melting point of various metals, lest the Space Ring melt from the inside. Additionally, the -50 degrees Celsius rule was probably set in ce to prevent other items from bing damaged from freezing. If William could help it, he would prefer to keep all items within 0 degrees to 200 degrees Celsius, just in case something went wrong. Unfortunately, William didn''t have a secondary storage container that was insted for this kind of material. He could use the chests that stored the Mana Stones in the Array Trial, but he would need to form some new Arrays inside them, which would probably alert the dragon. I''ll just empty a Space Ring for now and store it in there until I reach the third floor.William decided. It was a bit risky since he didn''t know what was on the third floor, but it was the best he coulde up with in the heat of the moment. Haha, heat of the moment. I get it. Chapter 130: Flame Dragon Uri William waited over an hour for the Molten Dragonstone to cool to an appropriate temperature. The process took quite a bit longer than expected due to the unbearable heat of the second floor. He didn''t have a great way to check the temperature of the Dragonstone, so he asked the System. -650 degrees Celsius. Geez, how long will the Space Ringst? -Around five minutes. It was enough for William. He picked up and stored the Dragonstone, then moved as quickly as possible without revealing his position to the back of the room where a staircase was forming. As he climbed the staircase, a group of Cultivators came in through the entrance, their presence hidden quite well. Among them was the runner that William forced to scout the second floor. They peeked into the floor simr to how William did, just in time to see him sneaking up the staircase. The runner was confused, expecting William to be discovered by the dragon while searching for the Molten Dragonstone. How did heplete the trial so fast? They cursed their bad luck for beingte, opting to follow behind William so he couldn''t swipe the rewards of another trial from under their noses. Just after they reached the halfway point towards the staircase, the dragon''s fierce eyes opened.. "Roar!" The Cultivators shook in fear as its massive wings unfurled and it took to the sky. "Some trial takers, I see..." the dragon''s booming voice resounded through the floor. Seeing the dragon could speak, the runner in the lead attempted to reason with the dragon, "Sir dragon, we didn''t mean to disturb you. Just let us pass." It was a hopeless request, but they had no other choice. The dragon was clearly strong enough to kill them all with a single w swipe. The dragon''s eyes focused in on the runner. "As if I, the mighty Uri would allow weak Cultivators to proceed through the second floor!" Uri''s voice shook the Cultivators'' eardrums as its mouth began to glow with intense heat, surpassing even the temperature of theva. A me breath was released drowning the Cultivators in mes. As they burned, the runner''s eyes became determined.I''m not going to die. The tower will teleport me out! This is my chance! "Sir dragon, a Cultivator snuck past you to the third floor." he used hisst bit of energy to point in the direction of the staircase, his arm disintegrating at the same speed he raised it. "Hmm?" The dragon looked at the staircase, which wasn''t there a few hours ago.Did a little one truly evade my detection? Now this is interesting... Uri collected the treasures from the bodies of the Cultivators, snorting at their stupidity. Did these fools really think the tower would be so forgiving to always save them from the brink of death? Master doesn''t need to save weaklings! Itnded on the bottom of the second floor, then shrunk its size until it was about the size of a human while still in dragon form. Uri didn''t like being so small, but he couldn''t fit on the staircase otherwise. His ws scraped against the floor as he walked up the staircase, pressing onward to the third floor. *** Inside the third floor of the trial tower, William checked his surroundings. It was another field of grass, identical to the first floor. Standing in the center of the floor was a square red box over five meters tall. Inscribed on the front was a yellow star, but the other sides werepletely nk. Doesn''t look like I am in any imminent danger.William thought. He brought out the Molten Dragonstone from his now-damaged Space Ring. From another Ring, William retrieved a Mana Stone chest and quickly formed a Perfect Heat Absorption Array. Outside the Mana Stone chest, William attached ten Mana Stones that should be enough to power the Array for a month each. With the preparationsplete, he ced the Molten Dragonstone back inside, opting to store it separately from the other items just in case something happened. He used this chance to inspect the Magic Staff and the Abyssal Weapon Shifter, but it seemed to be a waste of time. Neither item revealed any information about its functions, and the System charged a thousand Potential Points for the evaluation of each item. Great...another thing to spend my Potential Points on. I can never have enough! While William could afford the cost of one item, and they would clearly be a decent boost to his strength, he would be left with only 220 Potential Points. He decided to hold off on the purchase for now and wait until he had earned back up to at least three thousand. Just as William was getting ready to inspect the red box, a System message appeared. -me Dragon Uri is roaming from the second floor. William activated Life Sense to inspect the entrance of the third floor, where he saw a small dragon wing its way up the staircase. Despite its size, William didn''t n to underestimate the dragon. He used the Earth Element to dig underground, hoping he was fast enough not to be noticed by the creature. Uri sensed a slight pulse of Mana just a few dozen meters ahead of the staircase, his eye glistening as he inspected the floor. "Hmm, nothing?" he stared at the expanse of grass ahead, then narrowed his eyes when he noticed a random patch of disturbed earth. The dragon released a high-pitched screech thatsted for only a fraction of a second. As the soundwave traveled through the ground towards William''s position, he instinctually mobilized Mana of the Sound Element to weaken the effects of the soundwave with a soundwave of his own. The two soundwaves shed, William''s almost instantly overpowered by the dragon''s as it continued traveling in his direction. The soundwave hit his body, rattling his insides and causing damage to his internal organs. William spat out a mouthful of blood as the soundwave continued to ravage his body, but the Blood Element instantly replenished any lost while the Regeneration Talent repaired his organs in the blink of an eye. He jumped out from his hiding spot, not willing to remain an idle target when the dragon clearly knew he was there. The disturbed earth was blown aside, scattering dirt and dust into the air as William''s figurended with grace with a soft thud. Uri looked at William with surprised, not expecting the boy to survive his soundwave attack. It only fired off an attack at the peak of the Golden Core Realm, but the boy didn''t seem injured in the slightest. His eyes narrowed once more as he inspected William, but was even more surprised to find that he couldn''t see William''s Cultivation. "Your concealment technique is extraordinary, no wonder I didn''t notice you on the second floor." Uri''s booming voice spread across the third floor despite his small size. His mouth didn''t move while he was speaking, making it seem as if the dragon was a ventriloquist. William wasn''t surprised the dragon could speak. Even the Ancient Gravitas Mummy could speak, and its Cultivation was only in the Nascent Soul Realm, much less this dragon that was clearly a step higher! Chapter 131: Memories "Are you nning to kill me?" William asked the dragon as he inspected its features, his voice surprisingly calm despite standing in front of a powerful beast he couldn''t hope to kill. [Bestiary] me Dragon: +1 PP "Ha, nning? I don''t need tonto kill anyone. If I want to do it, I will do it. If I don''t, then it''s just that!" Uri scoffed at William''s words. The dragon continued, "You''ve already passed my floor, but I can''t ept your cowardly methods. If you truly want me to ept you, then take my full-powered strike!" His mouth began to glow as a fireball formed in his mouth. William began to panic, "Wait! Wait!" The dragon snorted and ceased gathering Mana for its attack. "What is it? Are you too scared?" William thought of something. "No, that''s not it. I''m just exhausted from the previous floor. Wouldn''t it be cowardly of a mighty dragon like you to attack me when I am weak?" Uri thought for a moment, finding that William''s words made sense. "Very well. You have five minutes to recover." "Only five minutes?" "Are you that weak that you need more than five minutes? If that''s the case, I''ll just kill you now!" "No no, five minutes is perfect!" William immediately got to work forming improved Perfect Arrays. One after another, the Barriers were stacked in front of each other and surrounded William. Heyered the Runes to make each Barrier stronger and weaved in Heat Absorption and Frost Absorption Arrays just in case the dragon decided to use an elemental attack. William knew that Uri was a me Dragon, but who knew what other abilities it had picked up over its lifetime? Uri narrowed his eyes at seeing William''s preparations. It didn''t understand Arrays, but it could tell that William''s were anything but ordinary. He wondered if his attack would be able to break through all of them. What am I thinking? Of course I can break through them! His bone age is only twenty-one years old, there''s no way his defense can be strong enough to resist me who has lived over three thousand years! The dragon consoled itself inwardly, but as the timer approached one minute remaining, the number of Arrays in front of William had increased to nearly a hundred. It became more and more nervous, secretly doubling the speed of the timer. "Time''s up! Here Ie!" the dragon didn''t wait for William''s acknowledgement. It called the surrounding Mana of the trial tower to its maw, releasing a blinding me breath that threatened to devour the entire third floor. The me breath sped forward like aser as it crashed into William''s Arrays, pulverizing the first Array, second, and even the third Array. The fourth Array was actually a formation duplicated from the Array Trial William had taken previously. It absorbed the me breath''s energy at incredible speeds, bing stronger and stronger until its strength had approached the Soul Formation Realm. Unfortunately, even that Array shattered as the amount of power stored within it became too immense for it to contain. The me breath continued forward, shattering three more Arrays before it came in contact with a second Absorption Formation as William would now call it. The second Absorption Formation approached its limit as the me breath charged forward, but this time the Formation remained standing. Uri stared ahead in shock as thest bit of its Mana was used, the me breath being exhausted after only eight Arrays. It looked at William with surprise and interest, who was calmly standing in the center. William''s hands were in the sleeves of his robe, and his eyes gleamed with a slight defiance that bordered arrogance. Uri sighed in frustration. This kid was clearly more talented than he expected. William reminded him a little bit of his Master Riyald, who fought the entire Dragon Continent by himself many years ago and came out victorious. Since then, Uri had followed him as his voluntary servant. The dragons were prideful, but they respected the strong. When Riyald told Uri''s grandfather he needed a few dragons, he sent Uri as one of his followers. At first, Uri felt it was a mistake. Why should the powerful dragons have to give the human a servant, even if they were defeated by him? Shouldn''t they just ept their fate and die with glory? Riyald didn''t deserve their support. Dozens of yearster, Uri''s attitude started to change. Riyald wasn''t just strong, but he actually cared for the wellbeing of the dragons. He took care of them each and every day for years, even protecting them through the difficult times. All he asked was a bit of their blood every now and then or for them to assist in his projects, which was but a menial task for dragons. Seeing William standing before Uri with those eyes reminded him of when Riyald raised hundreds of Arrays to defend against an enemy ambush, saving the lives of over a dozen dragons in the process. Even though the enemy was stronger and greater in number than Riyald, he held on with his will and incredible skill in Arrays, enduring every attack thatnded on the Barrier. "Kid, you''ve passed my test. I won''t bother you any longer." Uri turned to leave. William noticed the change in Uri''s eyes. "You don''t want to follow me through the trial anymore?" Uri paused briefly but continued walking short after. "I can''t do that. I have to watch the second floor." It was an obvious excuse since the second floor was already cleared, but William didn''t say anything. As the dragon''s voice echoed down the staircase, onest phrase from Uri entered William''s mind directly. His tone was amiable with a hint of sadness, each word shing through William''s brain like a brief memory. But. If you somehow manage to clear this trial tower, I will swear my loyalty and follow you to the ends of the earth if you so wish... The words continued to resound in William''s mind as he realized the meaning behind Uri''s words. The rewards of this trial are not minor at all!William rejoiced in his mind. He thought of how cool it would be to ride on top of a dragon, one at the Soul Formation Realm at that! This also made William realize another important point. The Magical Beasts in the Gravitas Ruins could freely leave if they wanted to! Perhaps there were limitations or certain criteria to be met, but this would have an incredible impact on the real world, where Nascent Soul and Soul Formation Beasts were rare unless in the Providence Zone. If I had to guess, the Magical Beasts are bound by the trials they are tied to.The information wasn''t incredibly valuable right now, but perhaps in the future William could use this to his advantage. He temporarily disabled the Barrier Arrays near him but didn''t destroy them just in case they were needed for the third-floor trials. William approached the red box with extreme caution, expecting something terrible to happen with every step. When he came within five meters of the red box, the deep voice of the trial creator sounded in his mind. Wee to the third floor. Prepare yourself for the trial of luck. Chapter 132: Trial Of Luck The red box began to spin, rotating faster and faster with each second. The yellow star pattern disappeared as the box continued to rotate, reappearing in front of William as a star-shaped button on a t patch of earth. The box slowed in rotation, eventually stopping in its original position. Where the star pattern used to be was now a disy with tiny writing on each of the five legs of the star. He inspected the disy more thoroughly, noticing that four legs had the word LOSE written on it, while one simply read WIN. Trial of luck...do I have to press this button and hope itnds on win? What if I lose? William became slightly nervous. He wouldn''t say his luck was bad, but it wasn''t good either. One out of five chance of winning... William stopped thinking about it. The trial tower wouldn''t insta-kill him anyway right? He pushed the button, his anxiety rising as the legs of the star lit up and turned off in a circr motion. William stared intently as the spinning lights started to slow down, eventuallynding on the leftmost leg of the star. "What does it say?" William leaned forward to read the small writing. LOSE "F*ck!" A rumbling noise sounded from behind. William turned around in panic to see a group of two ogres much smaller than the Golden Core ogres he fought before stumbling in his direction. His panic instantly subsided as William flicked his finger, releasing two tiny ice spikes that prated both ogre''s skulls and killing them instantly. They turned into particles of Mana that rushed to the ceiling of the trial. It seemed that killing more enemies wouldn''t be the answer to clearing this trial. Was that it? Were those at the Foundation Establishment Realm? William realized something. He spun a second time, the wheel stopping on another LOSE. Again, there was a rumbling from a few meters away, this time to William''s right. He turned his head to see three ogres walking in his direction, all of them the same size as the previous two. I knew it! The trial issued a punishment after every time the wheelnded on LOSE, meaning William would have to fight Magical Beasts every time it happened. It seemed that the amount of enemies increased each time he failed the trial, but that wasn''t a concern since they were all in the Foundation Establishment Realm. William guessed that the trial would have sent Golden Core ogres if a Core Formation Cultivator was present, meaning he actually had an insane advantage here! He killed the three ogres and continued to press the button, dealing with the sessive number of enemies with ease. Four, Five, Seven, Ten Foundation Establishment ogres rushed after him with each press of the button. While they weren''t a challenge to William, he was bing increasingly upset with the trial. I''ve spun six times and still haven''tnded on the right one, this is ridiculous! William was beginning to feel that he was unlucky after all. Perhaps the Loot Goblin Title was the main reason for Williams good luck on the outside, but that wouldn''t help him here. He pressed the button once more. "Roar!" a group of fifteen ogres rushed at him from the left. "Are you serious!" William was pissed. Heunched a giant fireball, killing all fifteen ogres with a single spell. Press. "Roar!" "F*ck you!" Press. "Roar!" "Again?!?" William was on the verge of tears. ...Press. "Roar!" "You''re messing with me!" ... Press. Click. "Finally!" It took William eleven tries, but the word WIN was finally lit up. He collected the ck box from the pedestal, which reminded him that there was another box in his Space Ring waiting to be opened. He opened both at once, starting with the one from the first floor. Inside was a small white pebble about the size of his finger. Rather than Mana or Spirit Qi, the pebble emitted a pale blue light that seemed like a type of energy of its own. -Acquired Soul Stone: +100 PP -Acquired Luck Pendant: +150 PP Luck Pendant?William asked the System about their functions since both were free. -Soul Stone: Increases Soul Strength. -Luck Pendant: Worn as a ne. Passively doubles the wearer''s chance of experiencing good fortune. Does not apply to finding treasures,bat, or finding rare Talents in the Talent Shop. The Luck Pendant seemed extremely strong at first, until William read thest sentence of the description. So basically, I just have a better chance at winning a game of cards. Thanks System... He stored the Soul Stone with the Miniature Soul Stone he received earlier, then put on the Luck Pendant. Even if it had a lot of limitations, William knew the effects of the Pendant were probably quite strong regardless. A staircase had risen from the back end of the floor while William was inspecting the items. He took an hour to fully recover his Mana then traveled to the fourth floor. It was another grass in, a massive blue creature wearing a tattered loincloth standing idly in the center. It raised a massive club in its hand and used it to scratch its back, releasing a slight grunt as it reached for an itch. Because the Bestiary didn''t seem to work on artificial creatures, William had to find out from the System that he was looking at a troll. The creature was at the Nascent Soul Realm, clearly not dependent on William''s Cultivation. He released ten Array Puppets simultaneously and controlled them to fight with the troll, relieved that he didn''t have to focus on protecting himself or any nearby Cultivators. The Array Puppets surrounded the troll, one acting as bait for the giant club. The troll''s intelligence wasn''t high, so as long as the club was avoided, the troll wouldn''t be a major threat. The biggest problem was the troll''s regeneration, which would quickly heal back any minor damage caused. Even when a few fingers were cut off and the troll was forced to drop its club, they regrew in a matter of seconds. William used the Array Wheel to instantly raise an improved Perfect Lighting Array, targeting the troll with massive lightning bolts that burned its skin and slowed its movement. The Array Puppets closed in, slicing at the troll''s wrists and tendons to disable the creature. The troll''s regeneration was still quite fast, but with the Lightning Array constantly causing damage, it was enough for William to finish it off in just a few minutes. The troll fell to the ground, turning into a mass of Mana particles that flew into the ceiling. A pedestal rose from the ground signaling the end of the trial. William sighed in relief. He was hoping that this trial wouldn''t require him to kill multiple of those damned trolls. He retrieved the ck box and opened it to reveal a small vial of silver liquid. As he twirled the special vial around, William noticed a minute amount of seemingly ordinary salt. -Acquired Ascension Dragon Tears (10 Drops): +250 PP Salty tears, delicious... William thought sarcastically. The thought of consuming the tears of a dragon was a bit unsettling, but he had already tasted Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence and it wasn''t nearly as bad as it seemed. Chapter 133: Successive Trials He stored the Ascension Dragon Tears in his Space Ring after discovering it could only be consumed by a Nascent Soul Cultivator or higher. William spent half an hour creating another improved Perfect Lightning Array, taking his time to make sure all the functions were stable before storing it into his Array Wheel. He discovered that once he activated an Array, it couldn''t be stored back into the Array Wheel and would need to be re-created. By this point in time, it was already quitete at night, so William decided this would be a good ce to rest. He raised a few Detection and Barrier Arrays to ensure there were no problems overnight, then made a quick meal for Atticus before going to bed. When he woke up, there were still no nearby Cultivators. He assumed it was because of me Dragon Uri, who was an incredible deterrent to anyone on the second floor. A few might have passed the dragon, but they had yet to arrive on the fourth floor. William didn''t n to wait for anyone, so he stood up and walked towards the staircase. The moment William stepped onto the fifth floor, a voice resounded both in his mind and on the floor. A challenger has entered the fifth floor... A separate phrase from the same Cultivator entered William''s mind just a momentter. Wee to the fifth floor. Prepare yourself for the trial of sense. "Oh great...Way to announce it to the whole world." Williamined out loud. If the Cultivators weren''t sure if William was still alive before, they definitely knew now. He continued grumbling in his mind while inspecting the surroundings. It was a t expanse of rock and dirt, with no grass to be found. In the center was a massive mound of dirt that stretched twenty meters into the air, while simr mounds that were much smaller in size were scattered throughout the fifth floor. His Life Sense told William that there were Magical Beasts under each mound, their vitality signatures extending deep underground in a wavy line. Worms...Not quite my favorite, but it shouldn''t be too difficult. William used his memories of his old world to think of how to deal with worms. From what he knew, there were many species of worms that acted in slightly different ways. One of the simrities between different species, however, was their reaction to rainfall. Wet soil was more difficult for worms to dig through, which would force many worms to the surface instead. William thought about doing this, but he would need to make other preparations first. While the worms would be forced to the surface by the rain, they might slide faster on the wet ground than they would normally. It was a trade-off, but William could fight better against an above-ground enemy. He stayed on the staircase, making sure not to fully step into the fifth floor, lest the worms sense the vibrations he made while moving. He weaved arge amount of Mana into three Perfect Arrays that would quickly flood the room with water, then used the nt Element to create a raft that would float on the surface of the water. With these two tasksplete, William decided to go for one of his go-to methods of eliminating Magical Beasts. He created another set of Arrays that would fill the water with salt, and added a Perfect Lightning Array that wasn''t stored in his Array Wheel for his signature move. William activated the first set of Arrays, setting them to function until all of the Array''s stored Mana was used up. He then stepped on the raft, and watched silently as the worms iled about in the water unsure of what was happening. All of the worms were much too big to drown, their bodies reaching towards the ceiling as they tried to avoid the sudden flood. When the salt was added and the Lightning Array activated, William could see the worms convulsing as hundreds of tiny bolts of lightning struck their bodies one by one. The smaller worms died in just a few minutes, while thergest one was eventually killed off after around half an hour. The Lightning Array had exhausted all of its Mana much earlier, around the ten-minute mark, but William just reced it with his own Mana,unching lightning spells of his own while he was at it. Thergest worm''s lifeless body floated on the surface of the water, William unsure if the Magical Beast was at the Golden Core or Nascent Soul Realm. While its defenses and health were quite high, the worm itself didn''t seem very strong. Heughed a bit, knowing that this trial wasn''t meant to bepleted in such a manner, and probably would have been a bitter fight to the death if any other Cultivator hade. William swam underwater to collect the ck box from the pedestal in the center of the room, then moved on to the sixth floor immediately. He was worried about spending too much time in the trial grounds, so William decided he would check the contents of the ck boxes every ten floors unless he severely needed Potential Points. Trial after trial, Williampleted each with ease. Sometimes he would follow the rules and clear the floor as the trial''s creator had intended, while other times he found an easier method using his superior Talents and Magic Affinities. On the eighth floor, William cleared a trial that required one to patiently infuse Mana into a crystal one Element at a time. It was probably meant to bepleted by arge group of Cultivators with over ten Elements between them all, but William was able to finish it by himself. Of course, he had deliberated on showing more than five Elements, but the System confirmed that he would be in no imminent danger as long as he didn''t reveal any more Domains, and kept the Elements of higher rarity than Rare to himself. This meant that he shouldn''t use the Space, Time, or other Elements of the sort while the creator was watching, lest he wanted to attract even more attention. If that happened, it would be even more difficult to upgrade his Talents while in the Gravitas Ruins. On the tenth floor, another announcement was made within the tower, notifying every Cultivator in the area that someone had reached the tenth floor. To the Cultivators, it was immediately obvious who had achieved such a feat. Some Cultivators began gathering in small groups involving different Sects or even making alliances to take down William and share the loot the moment he exited the trial. At this point, killing William would be more profitable than attempting the trial tower itself! Their reaction was not out of the ordinary. To say these Cultivators were nervous was an understatement. Anyone that could clear sessive trials at this pace by themselves was not a pushover. They had seen firsthand what his Array Puppets could do. Everyone took the threat of William incredibly seriously as they called over their other Sect members from other locations within the Gravitas Ruins, some spending hours devising strategies and creating Arrays that might give them a fighting chance. Chapter 134: Trial Of Agility William peeked above the staircase, then quickly ducked down just in time to hear a spray of arrows whizzing over his head and hit the ground nearby. He looked up at a diagonal to see over a thousand crossbows lining the ceiling of the tenth floor, likely powered by Arrays as they focused in on his position. William instead focused on his Navigation Talent to survey the room, seeing as there were too many crossbows. A circr stone wall was in the center of the room, protecting the pedestal that was already raised. William could see the ck box seated on the pedestal, and a few other structures underground just a few meters away from the pedestal. He conjured a small rock with the Earth Element, then threw it over his head in the direction of the pedestal. The rock hit the ground and tumbled for a few meters. The crossbows fired arrows at the rock while it rolled, causing it to trigger additional traps that were hidden underground. It''s booby trapped.William concluded. The arrows were fast, but not nearly fast enough to keep up with his S-Rank Acrobatics Talent. With a bit of technique, William was confident in reaching the center. He released one of his old Array Puppets that used unimproved Perfect Arrays, sending it toward the pedestal in the center. The Array Puppet turned to the right and continued running forward the moment the crossbows activated. While the crossbows and traps targeted the Puppet, William dashed forward towards the pedestal, vaulting over multiple stone walls that were raised in front, performingplicated flips as poison-tipped arrows and fireballs missed by mere centimeters. Wee to the tenth floor. Prepare yourself for the trial of agility. "I think I can tell what kind of trial this is!" William berated the trial creator as he dodged various traps. With one more flip, William vaulted over the circr stone wall and snatched up the ck box with one move. He stored the ck box in his Space Ring with a fluid movement, his arms and legs spreading outward to avoid touching the ground. Below him was a murky liquid that looked incredibly toxic. William''s instincts told him that touching that liquid would probably melt his flesh in an instant. He tried to scoop a small amount into a y pot formed with the Earth Element, but just a touch was enough for the y pot to shatter into a million pieces. Who the hell did this creator expect to clear the tower? These floors are ridiculous! There were probably over a hundred floors, and each one was a different test. If not for the sheer number of Cultivators that could attempt the trial tower at the same time, William wondered if the creator was searching for a reincarnated god! Even the Sect Master probably had no idea the impossible trial would be this difficult. If he knew, he might not have allowed William to explore past the fifth floor. After all, William was a valuable asset. He wouldn''t be reced easily if he died in the Gravitas Ruins. It wouldn''t be insane to say William was the only non-Cultivator in the entire world that could clear trials of this caliber! Although he had collected the ck box, the traps didn''t deactivate. A stone staircase rose at the back of the floor like usual, but William had to escape his current predicament first. Even worse, his Array Puppet was disabled, probably in shambles near one of the countless traps on the floor. I''m going to have to be quick. William thought while still holding himself steady on the sides of the circr stone wall. He took a deep breath then jumped up, attracting the attention of the crossbows once more. He dashed towards the stone staircase, activating his Forcefield to the fullest as the initial stream of arrows pelted his back. The Forcefield showed slight cracks after enduring only a dozen arrows and shattered after another two dozen. Because he wasn''t able to distract the crossbows with an Array Puppet this time, he was unable to elerate to his maximum speed in time to avoid the arrows. The crossbows also seemed to have be ustomed to his speed, predicting his movements and shooting ahead of him in the direction he looked. Two arrows sliced through William''s skin despite the S-Rank Hard Skin Talent, embedding themselves half a centimeter into William''s right arm. If he knew the arrows would still pierce his skin, he would have reinforced it with the Earth Element. As he continued moving, the arrows fell out on their own, a stream of blood dripping from his arm until his regeneration healed the damage. William staggered a bit as poison entered his body, but his Poison Affinity and E Rank Poison Resistance allowed him to hold on for a little bit. He arrived at the stone stairs, four more arrows pelting him in the back, but this time met with resistance from the Earth Element. He managed to avoid being poisoned a second time as he rushed up the staircase. The moment he exited the tenth floor, the crossbows lost track of their target and returned to idle mode, the arrows and other residue from traps still in ce. "Phew, that was the most difficult one yet." William sighed in relief. A wince of pain drew his attention back to his right arm, where his Poison Resistance, Poison Element Mana, and Regeneration Talents were currently fighting a losing battle with a dark purple spot where the arrows had previously struck his body. System, raise my Poison Resistance to A Rank. He went overboard with the upgrade since Poison Resistance would always be useful. -380 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Poison Resistance: (E --> D) Poison Resistance: (D --> C) Poison Resistance: (C --> B) Poison Resistance: (B --> A) Next rank up: 1000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª The resistance-rted Talents didn''t have very exaggerated effects, but it was instantly obvious to William that the A-Rank Poison Resistance Talent was doing its work. He watched as the dark purple spot on his arm became smaller and smaller after mere minutes, a tingling sensation spreading across his arm as his blood cells fought with the foreign liquid. Ten minutester, the tingling sensation subsided, and William felt much better. William was once again thankful for having spun so many times in the Talent Shop. With his wide Array of Talents, all he had to do was make sure he had enough Potential Points to upgrade them, and his problems were instantly solved! If another Cultivator was struck by those arrows, they would probably just wait for death in regret unless they had an antidote for that specific type of poison, which was incredibly unlikely. He looked up over the staircase, relieved to see it was another grass field much like the first and third floors. In the center was a stone pedestal with a ck box on top, but William could see a few Arrays from his current position that were concealed quite well. Of course, these Arrays were nothingpared to the tenth Array from the Array trial hepleted a few days prior. At a nce, William could tell that the strongest Array was only in the Advanced level, a simple task for someone with his skills. Chapter 135: Floor Of Restriction With a few moves, William disabled all of the dangerous Arrays that would attack him, then retrieved the ck box from the pedestal. Since it was already the eleventh trial, William took out the remaining ck boxes from the fifth through tenth floors, totaling seven. He opened all of them at once, a series of different colored lights enveloping some of the treasures as they released some ambient Mana. -Acquired Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence: +250 PP -Acquired Soul Stone: +100 PP -Acquired Epic Staff: +100 PP -Acquired Soul Stone: +100 PP -Acquired 3x Star Ore: +150 PP -Acquired Element Root: +100 PP -Acquired Tribtion Transcendence Protective Amulet: +250 PP Over a thousand Potential Points from iming rewards? This is better than x! William smiled with delight as he stored most of the treasures in his Space Ring. He picked up the Element Root, unsure of what type it was. With a quick ask to the System, William found out it was of the Space Element! He was sad that he couldn''t absorb it right now, but it was no matter. He also stored the item after confirming its use. He looked at the Tribtion Transcendence Protective Amulet, which was a cross-shaped golden ne. The System would charge him a hundred Potential Points to learn the details of this item, but still rmended for free that he wear it. William trusted the System, so he did as he was advised, stringing it around his neck along with the Luck Pendant after registering ownership. The Protective Amulet glowed with power briefly before bing dull, seemingly idle. Onto the next floor!William was bing addicted to this. The trials were difficult, but each one had only taken a few hours at most to figure out their purpose before William cleared them. The most tedious part was waiting for his Mana to recover while resting between trials. He continued moving through the trial tower. Around four dayster, it had been 15 days since William entered the Gravitas Ruins. He was currently on the 49th floor of the trial tower and had just finished ughtering a group of four Nascent Soul trolls. The Cultivators outside the trial tower had be numb to the sessive announcements. Some had tried to catch up to William, but the few that were able to get past Uri were mercilessly killed by the traps on the tenth floor or gave up upon seeing them. They had acknowledged that catching up to William would be impossible at this rate. If the tenth floor held such dangerous traps, they couldn''t imagine what the fortieth floor would contain. Of course, William didn''t have much trouble. He was also able to rx, since the trial creator would give a tower-wide announcement whenever anyone entered the lower floors five at time. This meant that William would immediately know when someone entered the fifth, tenth, or higher floors. Since he hadn''t seen anyone enter the fifteenth floor yet, William knew he was safe for now. Of course, that didn''t apply to when he exited the tower. He had epted that he would be public enemy number one upon leaving the tower, but with dozens of ck boxes waiting to be opened, William wasn''t scared of a bunch of Core Formation Cultivators. He had continued through the trial tower with this in mind. The more rewards he obtained before he left, the greater his chances of survival on the outside. After a while, the trials would start to repeat themselves but with greater difficulty. When he had taken on the thirtieth floor, he was required to dodge thousands of crossbow bolts that pelted him from all directions. Even worse, the ground was littered with explosives, forcing William to create stone pirs with the Earth Element as footholds just so he could continue moving forward. He began to use these trial grounds as a form of training, spending an entire day just dodging traps on the thirtieth floor rather than going straight for the pedestal. The crossbows eventually exhausted all of their ammo, William realizing this was the true purpose of the trial. He wasn''t supposed to bypass the traps and steal the treasure from under their noses, he only needed to survive the onught until it was over, honing his reaction time and movement skills while dodging arrows. He climbed the staircase, entering the fiftieth floor. At this point, something changed. The moment he raised his head to peek at the room, he was suddenly teleported a few meters up and the staircase downward closed. Wee to the 50th floor. Prepare yourself for the trial of restriction. At the same time. A Challenger has entered the 50th floor... He frantically surveyed his surroundings, finding himself in a dimly lit room. The walls and floor were entirely made of stone brick, and torches were evenly spaced on the walls. In the center of the room was a massive stone statue of a Minotaur wielding a double-edged battleaxe, but its surface began to show cracks the moment William looked at it. A Nascent Soul Minotaur with purple horns that curved in aplete circle burst forth, roaring at William with a fierce expression. As the roar spread through the room, William felt the space be restricted, no longer able to open his Space Rings. Additionally, William found himself unable to use Magic at all! What the hell is this!?!William eximed in his mind as he dodged to the right to avoid a sweeping attack from the Minotaur. He jumped backwards as the Minotaur spun in a circle, performing consecutive backflips as he was forced into a corner. Without ess to his Space Ring, William wouldn''t be able to pull out any weapons, nor would he be able to use his Array Puppets to fight the Minotaur. He was forced to fight with his fists, striking the Minotaur with a heavy punch to its left elbow since that was as high as William could reach without jumping. "Ouch!" William clutched his now bleeding fist, injured from trying to hit a creature that was more solid than a rock. The Minotaur''s eyes glowed briefly, then a massive wave of fire burst from its mouth engulfing William, who didn''t expect the Magical Beast to use Magic. The mes didn''t hurt at all, his Heat Resistance and S-Rank Fire Talent making him almostpletely immune to the attack. Even though he didn''t take any damage, William was incredibly upset. He can use Magic, but I can''t? How do you expect someone to clear this trial without help? He burst out of the mes, rushing towards the wide-eyed Minotaur. The Magical Beast raised its battleaxe to block William''s punch that was aimed at its stomach, but William slid underneath the handle, then propelled himself up from the floor to deliver a strike to the Beast''s groin. "Take that you stupid asshole!" William yelled out as the Minotaur yelled out in extreme pain. Its knees buckled and eyes filled with water as tears streamed out of the big guy''s face. William would have felt bad, but he didn''t. His fists became blurry as dozens of consecutive strikes forced the Minotaur to go on the defense, William ignoring the pain as his fingers broke and hands bled profusely. Chapter 136: Fifty Floors, Cleared! The Regeneration Talent did its best to keep up with William''s attacks, healing his fists every time he released a punch. Even so, William felt himself losing a lot of blood, and knew he needed a better n than this. He jumped back to gain some space from the Minotaur, inspecting the changes to its body. Its bare back was covered in bruises, and its hands were shaky as it was still recovering from the unexpected attack to itsher regions. It leaned on the handle of its battleaxe, eyeing William warily with its knees closer together so as to avoid another her punch". William had to admit that punching that area was incredibly effective, but he knew he wouldn''t get a second chance. He cursed himself for having so many Magic Affinities, yet not carrying a backup weapon on his body in case this happened. It seemed to be a stalemate. He could dodge all of the Minotaur''s attacks, and even if onended, his Forcefield and Hard Skin Talents should prevent him from taking damage. The Minotaur might have other Magic Affinities, but Fire and Ice Magic would both have no effect on him, while any other Elements would be once again stopped by the Forcefield and Hard Skin. He scrolled through his Talents, but he didn''t find anything useful that could help in this situation. POTENTIAL POINTS: 2156 It seems there''s only one option. He thought as he dodged another attack from the Minotaur. System, Purchase a Random Physical Talent. -50 PP -Talent Purchased: eleration William felt a slight change in his body, causing him to identally jump a bit too far to the right while avoiding a sweeping attack from the Minotaur. The eleration Talent seemed to increase the explosive power of his movements, allowing him to go from 0 to 100 percent power a bit faster. That won''t help much. System, buy another one! -60 PP -Talent Purchased: Wrestling Really?William wished he had 2500 Potential Points so he could just upgrade his Strength Talent. The System clearly wasn''t being very helpful. But he had no choice. Another one! -70 PP -Talent Purchased: Attack Reflection Attack Reflection? William looked at the Talent with intrigue. No changes in his body were detected, but when he checked the System panel, he found out that it was a Rare Talent right next to Acrobatics. System, give me a free exnation on how the Attack Reflection Talent works. William had be used to asking questions in this way to avoid needing to pay Potential Points. -The Attack Reflection Talent will reflect a small percentage of any physical attacks done to you on the attacker, even if the Host didn''t take actual damage. How much damage will it do right now? -Request requires 10 Potential Points. Yes/No? I guess I''ll test it out myself... As the Minotaur swung downward with its battleaxe, William dodged to the left side a short distance, keeping his right arm within reach. He gritted his teeth as the battleaxe collided with the Forcefield above his arm, creating a spiderweb of cracks on the veil that would take some time to heal. The Forcefield didn''t shatter, but a thin cut suddenly appeared on the Minotaur''s right arm. The Magical Beast looked at the wound in confusion, not sure if the cut had appeared earlier or just now. The wound wasn''t deep, so the Minotaur shook its head and continued attacking. Wow! How is this a Rare Talent? It should be Legendary at least!William was ecstatic. He let the Minotaur attack him again, the battleaxe crushing his Forcefield and creating a white mark on his arm as it shed with his Hard Skin Talent. This time, there was no reflected wound on the Minotaur''s body, which confused William. System, why didn''t that attack reflect? -Request requires 10 Potential Points. Yes/No? Ugh, fine. He paid the ten points. -There is currently a thirty second cooldown between attacks that you can reflect. It made sense to William now. Of course, a seemingly powerful skill would have some drawbacks. Maybe if he upgraded it, William would be able to reflect attacks sooner? System, upgrade my Attack Reflection Talent using as many points as I can afford. He was sad about using all of his Potential Points, but he would recover all of the losses upon opening the ck boxes. -1125 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Attack Reflection: (D --> C) Attack Reflection: (C --> B) Attack Reflection: (B --> A) Next rank up: 3000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª The upgrade took over twenty minutes, William dodging the attacks from the Minotaur all the while. As time passed, William became ustomed to the attack patterns of the Minotaur, making him realize he would eventually defeat the Magical Beast with his fists even if he didn''t upgrade any Talents. It would just take a lot of time. William still didn''t feel any changes in his body after the upgrade was finished, but the effects were obvious when he allowed the Minotaur to strike him once again. His Forcefield had fully recovered at this point, so the attack once again wasn''t able to actually touch William''s skin. He watched with surprise as the Minotaur''s arm was suddenly cut all the way down to the bone, causing the Magical Beast to shriek in pain while blood flowed. With its right arm disabled, the Minotaur was forced to drop the battleaxe in its hand while it retreated a safe distance away. The Beast looked at William warily, unsure of what the human did to injure it so severely. It looked around the room for any hidden Cultivators, but its connection with the trial tower told it that William was the only one on the floor. William''s smile turned vicious as he walked towards the Minotaur, taking his sweet time to get close to it. The Minotaur noticed his expression and knew he was responsible for the attack, the big Beast backing off while William approached. The Minotaur suddenly stopped. Not because it was no longer scared, but its back hit the wall. Its eyes turned red as it realized there was nowhere left to go, so it ran forward with all its might, hoping to bash in William''s skull before he could do something to it again. A punch was released, aiming straight for William''s face. William jumped forward, the punch insteadnding on his chest, breaking the Forcefield and crashing forward with intense power. William''s Hard Skin Talent didn''t help much against blunt weapons and fists, so he took the full force of the attack and wasunched dozens of meters backward. Normally he would use the Earth Element to offset the force of attacks, but he couldn''t use Magic right now. His body rolled across the ground with a copsed lung and multiple cracked ribs that were already healing, while at the same time the Minotaur''s chest caved in. It struggled to breathe, falling to one knee while the blood loss from its arm was finally taking its toll. William and the Minotaur remained that way for a few minutes, until the Minotaur finally passed out. A few minutester, the Minotaur turned to particles of Mana as it flew into the ceiling of the trial floor. A stone pedestal rose from the floor, marking thepletion of the trial. Chapter 137: Reward Pool William''s ability to use Magic was restored, allowing him to heal his more serious injuries with the Life Domain. His broken ribs were mended back together, and the air returned to his copsed lung, easing his breathing once again. I almost died there...it seems I rely on my Magic and Arrays too much.William thought to himself. He was d that he didn''t have any Array Puppets out when he entered the trial, because they would have been rendered useless by the restrictions. Worst case scenario, the Minotaur would break all of them during its rampage, wasting much of William''s precious time and energy. He collected the ck box from the pedestal, thenid out all 39 boxes in a row. He touched the Luck Pendant on his chest, ensuring it was active even though he knew it wouldn''t raise his chances of getting better treasure. It was more of a superstition. William ran by each of the boxes, flipping them open with a swish of his hand. The room filled with light of various colors, overwhelming William''s senses with Mana, Spirit Qi, and Soul Energy as the System called the aura that came from Soul Stones. -Detected the Host has acquired an immense number of treasures. Calcting Potential Point rewards... -Acquired the following: -Soul Stone x7: +700 PP -Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence: +250 PP -Tier 10 Blood Refinement Pill: +500 PP -Beast Core x7: +1400 PP -Epic ive: +50 PP -Epic Longsword: +50 PP -Starmetal Bow: +500 PP -Twin Starmetal Shortswords: 1000 PP -Starmetal Shield: +500 PP -cksmith''s notes: +5 PP -Book of Forging: +5 PP -Book of Alchemy: +5 PP -Mana Stone x5600: +0 PP -Star Ore x25: +1250 PP William counted out the item rewards, realizing the number didn''t quite add up to 39. He found the reason why, however, when he went to store the items from the boxes into his Space Ring. Many of the boxes contained multiple pieces of Star Ore, which exined why the count was off. His eyes widened when he saw the number of Mana Stones that spewed out of a few ck boxes, wondering how they even fit in such a small box in the first ce. I''m a millionaire!William rejoiced in his mind. Since each Mana Stone was worth a thousand Gold Coins, William could say that including his previous holdings, he had 6.84 million Gold! If he remembered correctly. Of course, that was still a far cry from the richest bidders at the Night Market, who would easily spend over nine million Gold Coins on a dragon''s scale. William wondered how much some of the treasures currently in his possession were worth, but he would probably never have a chance to auction them off. Nor would he. He was a loot goblin after all. What''s the point of earning a treasure if you''re just going to sell it off? Better to hoard everything no matter how useless it seemed. His loot goblin tendencies had spread violently during this trial. After clearing the thirtieth floor, he had stored all of the poison-tipped arrows from the crossbows in a Space Ring. He was only waiting until he could find a suitable jar to store the mysterious corrosive liquid, then William would go back and collect that as well! Who knows, maybe it would be useful? Amon phrase unique to hoarders. William checked the System Panel. POTENTIAL POINTS: 6656 I have enough to upgrade Atticus once again, but sadly I can''t do that here...William felt bad for the snake. It had remained on his shoulder throughout every trial, using Illusion Magic during dangerous situations to hide in an illusory dimension all the while. Even the restrictions weren''t strong enough to disable the Mythical Rat Snake''s concealment, as long as it didn''t take the initiative to show itself. Wait...doesn''t that mean I CAN upgrade him?He asked the System, who gave confirmation. He was excited at first, but William realized it still wouldn''t be of any benefit right now. The snake would still have to hide itself from the Gravitas Ruins, so even if it was raised to the Golden Core Realm, Atticus wouldn''t be able to help at all. "Sorry little buddy, I''ll make sure to take care of youter." William patted the snake on the head while scrolling through the System Panel. It seemed his best option would be to purchase more Talents, but first there was one more thing to do. System, upgrade my Attack Reflection to S-Rank. -3000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Attack Reflection: (A --> S) Next rank up: 7500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William found the Attack Reflection Talent to be incredibly useful. It was an almost perfect counter to physical attack-oriented Magical Beasts and Cultivators and was one of the few Talents could even activate while William was sleeping! If there was anything that William would be afraid of in the future, it would be assassination attempts! History in his old world had proven that the most powerful leaders didn''t die valiantly in battle, rather were assassinated. Of course, most of them were dictators, but that was beside the point. Just as William was about to move onto the Talent Shop, another System message entered William''s view. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE-- --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT-- ... ... --UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL-- SYSTEM RANK: (D- --> D) -528 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup. Next rank up: 49472PP *New features avable: -One additional farm slot -Companion Beasts now hatch at E-Rank automatically *New Changes: -System has reached version 1.8. -Rare Talents are even more likely to appear. -System will now disy the description of each Talent when upgraded, giving detailed information on the Talent''s new effects. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Another farm slot and a Companion Beast improvement? Thanks, but no thanks. The System seemed to want William to use the Companion Beast function quite often, as if he was in a beast-taming world, but William wasn''t as interested. Atticus was a nice addition, and he was quite attached to the little guy, but he would feel cruel sending it into a battle where it had a good chance of dying. If William was going to use the Companion Beast function, it would have to be much further in the future. For now, he would focus on his own improvement. William didn''t mind the Potential Farm, as it was a nice additional three Potential Points per day, but the Gravitas Ruins were earning him much more per day than that. Who can say no to passive ie though?System, purchase a Potential Farm. It was only a hundred Potential Points anyway, why not? --PURCHASING FARM-- The Potential Farm appeared in William''s mind again, another acorn sprouting just a few meters next to the first one that was still just a sprout. --Potential Farm Purchased-- He checked the Farm Menu to see the changes. ¡ª¡ª¡ª FARM MENU: -Purchase Potential Farm: 100 PP Farms: 2/2 -Potential Farm: F (1000PP to next rank) -Potential Farm: F (1000PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª That should mean 6 Potential Points per day, sweet! A month from now, the Potential Farms would be pure profit! William returned his attention to the Talent Shop. He had 3556 Potential Points remaining; it was time for a shopping spree! Chapter 138: Ranged Weapons Master What do I need the most?William pondered as he looked through the Talt Shop. Magic Talts were currtly locked, so that was out of the question, and Passive Skills were quite expsive, currtly costing 350 Pottial Points to spin for one Talt. William hadn''t bought a single Weapon Talt yet, so their cost was only t Pottial Points. Trade Talts were the same, but their starting cost was 5 Pottial Points. His weapon and trade-rted Talts had both be earned from the Random Talt option. Let''s just do a bit of both for now. System, purchase 5 Trade Talts and 5 Weapon Talts. -55 PP -Talt Purchased: Tailoring -Talt Purchased: cksmithing -Talt Purchased: Sales -Talt Purchased: Cartography -Talt Purchased: Carptry -Talt Purchased: ives -Talt Purchased: Chakram -Talt Purchased: Greatswords -Talt Purchased: Crossbows -Talt Purchased: Spears Waves of information assaulted William''s mind as t D-Rank Talts were unlocked at the same time. Thankfully, his S-Rank Mind Talt was able to handle the information dump easily, and still seemed to have an extraordinary amount of space left before William would need to upgrade the Talt again. The Tailoring Talt taught William about the creation of clothing in its simplest form. What materials to use, how to stitch and hem clothing, and how to use various pieces of equipmt like fabric and pinking scissors, needles, and thread. The Talt seemed quite useless, but William wasn''t too worried about it. He was bound to learn some trash Talts every now and th. The cksmithing Talt taught William all about forging. It included many of the basic pieces of information like using tongs, a hammer, an anvil, a chisel, a punch. He also learned a new term, the swage, which was the tool many cksmiths held wh striking a piece of hot metal with a hammer to shape it. The Sales Talt was just that. He learned methods of buying and selling that would give him a better deal wh negotiating with strangers. It seemed like a god-tier Talt, but wh William thought about it, he realized this Talt was also somewhat trash. This was because the local markets and businesses in the Sect never bargained and would always sell their items at a t price. Additionally, all the best items came from the Night Market, which was an auction. At most, the Sales Talt would give William a slight advantage, but it wasn''t worth spding Pottial Points on right now. Carptry was probably the coolest Talt among the newly earned Trade Talts. Not only did William gain information on dozs of tools that Carpters use to do their jobs, he also learned many basic techniques on how to build certain structures to sure he was making the best use of his space. It was a very broad andplicated Trade Talt and would pair well with an architecture-style Talt. For now, though, William only had his focus on one of the Trade Talts. Perfect, I got the cksmithing Talt on my first try. Now I just need more Weapon Talts. William had something incredible in mind, and he would need a massive number of Weapon Talts to achieve his goal. System, spd 500 Pottial Points to purchase as many Weapon Talts as possible. Why do math wh the System can do it for you? -Purchasing Weapon Talts... 380 PP -Talt Purchased: Slings -Talt Purchased: Bows -Detected the Host has the appropriate Talts for an Upgrade. Please raise your Bows and Crossbows Talts to the same Rank for a Talt Upgrade. --Requiremts met for a Talt Upgrade. Please wait... -Talt Upgraded: Bows and Crossbows Talts have merged. -Talt Lost: Bows -Talt Lost: Crossbows -Talt Unlocked: Archery -Unlocked your first Rare Weapon Talt: +5 PP -Talt Purchased: Javelins -Talt Purchased: Maces -Talt Purchased: Hammers -Talt Purchased: Clubs -Talt Purchased: Darts -Talt Purchased: Swords -Talt Purchased: Staves -Talt Purchased: Shortswords -Talt Purchased: Daggers -Talt Purchased: Boomerangs -Detected the Host has the appropriate Talts for an Upgrade. Please raise your Archery, Slings, Javelins, Darts, Boomerangs, and Knife Throwing Talts to the same Rank for a Talt Upgrade. --Requiremts met for a Talt Upgrade. Please wait... -Talt Upgraded: Archery, Slings, Javelins, Darts, Boomerangs, and Knife Throwing Talts have merged. -Talt Lost: Archery -Talt Lost: Slings -Talt Lost: Javelins -Talt Lost: Darts -Talt Lost: Boomerangs -Talt Lost: Knife Throwing -Talt Unlocked: Ranged Weapons Master -Unlocked your first Epic Weapon Talt: +5 PP William''s eyes wt wide upon the flood of System messages. As he scrolled through the list of Weapon Talt unlocks, he understood why. It seemed that he had gained an Epic Weapon Talt just like that. There was no flood of information, but wh William took out the Starmetal Bow and a few arrows from his Space Ring, he nocked an arrow in an instant and pulled back the string to his face like a professional. His stance was perfect, his back and arm straight as he released an arrow towards the staircase. The arrow embedded itself perfectly in betwe two tiles of the staircase, ev tearing into the stone brick like it was actually a piece of wood. I''ve never ev touched a bow before, not in my tire life! William eximed. The power of this shot couldrgely be contributed to the Starmetal Bow itself, but the uracy and form were definitely the Ranged Weapons Master Talt. He looked at the information of the Talt, since the most rect System upgrade allowed him to do so. *Ranged Weapons Master (D-Rank Epic Talt): You''ve collected every ranged weapon talt, earning you the ability to use all ranged weapons withplete mastery. Ranged Weapon uracy: 90% (30% while moving) Ranged Weapon Damage Boost: +0% Upgrade Cost: 0 PP And a damage boost? I wonder if that applies to them?William brought out 4 improved Array Puppets and all t of the unimproved Puppets. He gave the Puppets a weapon each, consisting of the Weapon Talts he had learned. One improved Puppet received the Starmetal Bow and a quiver made from the nt Elemt, while the other three received William''s Epic Staff, Epic ive, and the Twin Starmetal Shortswords. The t unimproved Puppets were built makeshift weapons using the nt and Earth Elemts, but they wer''t nearly as powerful or durable as the others since they didn''t contain any powerful Arrays to support them. He applied a few durability-rted Arrays to the makeshift weapons, th controlled the four improved Array Puppets to fight with six of the unimproved ones, testing out the effects of his new weapon skills. The improved Puppet with the Epic ive leaped forward, thrusting its weapon forward and piercing right through one of the Array Puppets. Since William was the one controlling the Puppets, he had already maneuvered the other five Puppets to sur the ive Puppet from all sides. Unfortunately for them, however, the Bow Puppet shot multiple high-speed arrows at the others, piercing through their joints with extreme precision while standing a safe distance away. Two Puppets fell to the g, immobilized from the poison that infected their wood, while the ive Puppet finished off a third. The Twin Shortsword Puppet had also dashed into the fray, using its extreme speed tounch hit and run strikes on the remaining three Puppets, slicing off an arm of one, and cutting deep into the thigh of another. With that, the fight was pretty much over. William controlled the Puppets to stop fighting, th destroyed the damaged unimproved Puppets while storing the only undamaged one in his Space Ring forter. These weapons are stronger than I thought! William eximed while evaluating the effects of the short battle. With his cksmithing Talt, William knew that the Epic weapons were both made of the same material, Mana-Infused Steel, while the others were made of Starmetal. The differce was obvious. While the ive Puppet with a weapon designed for piercing had only stabbed into a Puppet and did heavy damage, the Shortswords made for creating many shallow wounds were able to slice clean through an arm, and almost through the thickest part of a leg! The Starmetal Bow had also disyed its prowess once again, disabling two Puppets in a matter of seconds! Let it be known that both the improved and unimproved Puppets were both made of Arrays at the Perfect level. The differce of power was only a thirty perct, which was ough to hold a clear advantage, but not so exaggerated to win a fight of four versus six in less than t seconds! William stored the rest of the Array Puppets into his Space Ring but kept the Starmetal Bow and a quiver of poison-tipped arrows to himself just in case the next trial also restricted his use of Mana. His Iron Stomach Pill had surprisingly already worn off, so William pulled out some food from his Space Ring and ate with Atticus. It was odd, because the pill should havested a few more months at least. He thought about going up the staircase at this point, but there were still a few more things to do before tering the 5st floor of the trial tower. Chapter 139: Bloodline Purity, Soul Strength? "Let''s take a look at this first." William said as the Ancit Gravitas Mummy''s Magic Staff appeared in his hand. System, reveal the properties of this Magic Staff. -Request requires 00 Pottial Points. Once the properties have be revealed, they can be viewed again at any time. Yes/No? Confirm. The System got to work immediately, a progress bar appearing in his vision as a sparkling blue light veloped the tire Magic Staff. This was the first time William had se the System actively do something other than the effects of his Talt upgrades, so he was quite interested, but he refrained from interrupting the System with questions. It probably wouldn''t answer them for a low price regardless. It was an expsive purchase, and William was forgoing his rect decision to save at least 500 Pottial Points, but he wt through with it anyway. So what if I changed my mind? I can do that!William consoled himself while subconsciously bing anxious. William shook his head. He would earn the Pottial Points back after a few more floors at his currt pace, so how can he be worried? If this was before William had amazing self-healing abilities and incredible defse, he might have felt differtly, but there were plty of reasons not to fear anything the trial threw at him. Well...except for me Dragon Uri that is. But if the trial st something like Uri after William, he might need more than just 500 Pottial Points to survive! The progress bar hit one hundred perct after just a few minutes, a blue description box hovering over the Magic Staff like one would see in a video game. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Mana Gathering Staff (Mythic Magic Staff): A magic staff that once belonged to an Ancit Cultivator by the name of Gordon Whitesbane. Wh Gordon was captured and became a monster two thousand years ago, his Staff was one of the two items sealed. Effects while held: +0% Magic Power +0% Mana Control +0% Conctration +0% Mana Regeration Sealed: Absorb the Mana of 48 unique Cultivators to unlock the next seal. /8 Restrictions Removed ¡ª¡ª¡ª William''s eyes wt wide after seeing the effects of the Mana Gathering Staff. "As expected of a Mythic weapon, the stats are insane ev while sealed..." He noticed something odd within the stat bonuses. System, what is Conctration? -It affects the caster''s ability to be interrupted while performing a spell. A twty perct increase in Conctration means you have a twty perct greater chance ofpleting your spell ev while disrupted. William understood immediately. This was a big deal! If he were to fight against a group of Magical Beasts in the Core Formation Realm or lower, they wouldn''t be able to damage him through his Hard Skin Talt or Forcefield, but they would still disrupt the casting of his spells. Or if he were to get caught in aplicated trap that repeatedly attacked him, William would bepletely unable to cast Magic spells. He already had trouble focusing on his Magic on the thirtieth floor wh he was dodging thousands of projectiles. He dripped some blood to mark ownership on the Mana Gathering Staff th held it in his right hand, the item shrinking to perfectly fit his grip. The momt his fingers sped fully a the Staff, William felt his Mana reserves suddly spike as the bonus increased his Mana Regeration further. His Mana was already full, so William received an intse itch to use up some of the excess. He fed Mana from his hand to the Staff, using it as an intermediary to fire off his spell. This wasn''t required, but William felt cool doing it. Especially wh a fireball the size of a two-story building appeared in front of the Mana Gathering Staff and rushed towards the back wall of the fiftieth floor, leaving scorch marks on the stone brick and chipping a few vulnerable edges. That''s a little bit of damage... He set down the Magic Staff for now, cing his focus on another item brought from his Space Ring. It was the Tier Blood Refinemt Pill, a reddish blue pill that was shaped more like a square than a sphere. William''s Alchemy Talt wasn''t high ough rank to determine its properties, so he had to ask the System for help again. This time, the request was only a hundred Pottial Points, which was more than worth it in William''s eyes. Any Tier Pill had to be something good. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Blood Refinemt Pill (Tier ): A powerful pill that was painstakingly refined by a powerful ancit Cultivator using the blood essce of many rare and powerful creatures. Effects wh consumed: +5000% Bloodline Purity Warning: The Host is a pure Human, so eating this Pill will have no effect. Host is rmded to change his race in pursuit of greater pottial. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Hmm, a useless item...William was a bit disappointed. He didn''t like the idea of changing his race, nor did he know how to do so. Maybe I can sell it somewhere for a good price. He thought of the Night Market, which probably wasn''t the only auction house on the Contint. Either way it would be useful for something, ev if not for him. William skipped the other weapons for now, including the Sword of Shifting Sands which he had received the earliest. Instead, he retrieved the Miniature Soul Stone and the t Soul Stones he had saved up. The System appraisal, as he would call it, was only t points this time for both sizes of Soul Stone. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Miniature Soul Stone: A tiny rock containing dse Soul Energy. Can be eat to improve your Soul. Effects do not diminish, but cap out depding on the size of the stone. Effects: + Soul Strgth Miniature Soul Stones Eat: 0/0 ¡ª¡ª¡ª Soul Stone: A small rock containing incredibly dse Soul Energy. Can be eat to improve your Soul. Effects do not diminish, but cap out depding on the size of the stone. Effects: +5 Soul Strgth Soul Stones Eat: 0/0 ¡ª¡ª¡ª "Soul Strgth!" William thought of the masked girl, whose sword strikes seemed ethereal in nature and were incredibly powerful. If this Soul Strgth stat was rted to her abilities, th William had hit the jackpot for getting t Soul Stones so soon! He immediately popped the Miniature Soul Stone in his mouth. The Miniature Soul Stone gave off a weird feeling, and the taste was quite bitter, but William didn''t mind it too much. It was like eating ck licorice, which was an acquired taste for most. He tried to chew on the Miniature Soul Stone, but that turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of his life. Not only did the stone not break into smaller pieces, but William''s teeth shattered into tiny pieces, unable to withstand the power that William put into biting down on a rock that was nearly impossible to break using physical strgth. You see, William''s Strgth Talt didn''t just affect the power of his punches, kicks, or the like. No, it would affect nearly everything William did, so much so that once in a while wh he forgot to control his strgth, he would d up doing what he just did, breaking door handles with a clch of his fist or taking too heavy a step and putting a deep footprint into the g. Chapter 140: Planning William spt nearly an hour just sucking on the Miniature Soul Stone until it had fully dissolved in his mouth, the bitter feeling spreading across his body in the form of Soul Strgth. + Soul Strgth --Unlocked Extded Statistic: +3 Pottial Points The physical feeling wasn''t quite what William expected, but with a few questions to the System he understood that this was indeed what the masked girl had be using to power her attacks. Unfortunately for him, to include Soul-Rted attacks in his arsal, William would need to eat quite a few more Soul Stones. He got straight to it, putting a regr Soul Stone in his mouth. Just as he started absorbing the Soul Stone, William had an idea. What if I absorb multiple at the same time? -I wouldn''t rmd that. Why not? -You''ll turn into a Soul Beast. A what?!?William had never heard the term Soul Beast before. -Think of it as a ghost. So I''ll die? -Technically, yes. Fair ough.William didn''t consider cing another Soul Stone in his mouth after that. He was thankful that the System was a bit more talkative now, because it wouldn''t have giv him such a timely warning back wh it was E Rank. A regr Soul Stone took William three hours to absorb, which was much faster overallpared to the Miniature Soul Stone, considering the Miniature Soul Stones only gave one Soul Strgth, while the regr Soul Stones gave five. At this rate, however, it would take William 7 more hours to absorb the remaining nine Soul Stones, so he decided to break it up into three days of 9-hour sessions. This way, William could absorb three Soul Stones per day, and spd the remainder of the day practicing his Magic or preparing Runes on the weapons of his improved Array Puppets. *** While William was absorbing Soul Stones, the Cultivators at the base of the trial tower were working on something else. "Hey you! Which Sect are you from?" arge, bald-headed man wielding a battleaxe called out to a stranger that was just tering the courtyard to the trial tower. William would recognize this to be the same person that tried to fight with him over a piece of Star Ore. "Ice Immortals, why?" the Cultivator pointed to the emblem on his right shoulder of a snowke sured by four fairies of differt colors. "Perfect, get over here!" the bald-headed man''s eyes lit up. "What is it?" "So you see, it goes like this..." the man exined to the neer what was going on in the trial towertely. The Cultivators had all be alerted wh William reached the fiftieth floor of the trial tower, and it had only be four days since he tered the second floor. At this rate, William might clear over a hundred floors before the d of their period in the Gravitas Ruins. The Cultivators and Sects tried topete with William, sding their groups inside to catch up, but there was a me Dragon on the second floor that very few people could get past. Those that could, were evtually stopped at the tth floor by a massive number of crossbows and other traps that were impossible to dodge. They immediately gave up on trying to catch up, and instead came up with a differt n. "So you''re saying that since this William is already on the fiftieth floor, he should have fifty treasures waiting to give to us?" the Ice Immortals Disciple asked with a raised eyebrow. He wasn''t tirely convinced by the man''s words, thinking he was lying. He looked a at the expressions of others in the trial tower, listing in on a few conversations, but he didn''t find any problems. The bald-headed man''s words seemed to be true! "Oh but of course! Just think of it. How many treasures have you gained during your tire lifetime from the Gravitas Ruins? I''m sure it can''t be more than t! But this William, he has earned fifty by himself! Ev if we gather t Sects and share the loot evly, each Sect should get five treasures!" "That makes sse, but if he''s so powerful are you sure we can beat him?" the Disciple asked with a bit of worry in his voice. While he believed himself to be a gius, he knew that against true power, he wasn''t much. If William cleared all those trials by himself, he was bound to be a formidable foe. The bald-headed man frowned, his face turning serious. "Of course, we know he is strong, but I''ve expericed his power first-hand. If we can counter his Array Puppets, William isn''t much. Rest assured we have considered other scarios, but what we trulyck is manpower. What do you say?" There was a pause while the bald man looked at the Ice Immortals Disciple, who nodded in understanding. "It seems you have a n at least. I''ll contact my Sect." The bald-headed man smiled and bade the Disciple farewell, th approached a group of four Cultivators sitting in wood chairs a an earth table. Including him, they were the five leaders of the Five-Pointed Alliance, which would soon turn into the Six-Pointed Alliance. They were huddled over a map of the courtyard, a few squares and circles depicted on the map with an unclear purpose. As he approached, he heard one of the leaders speaking, "...and we should have an anti-magic Array Formation in this area. You and I both saw the Meteor spell he used, that could obliterate us in the blink of an eye." A leader nodded, "In that case, my Sect will focus on applying negative statuses to him. ording to one of my sources that participated in the regional Desert Trial, he''s almost as fast as a Nasct Soul Beast. If we can slow him down, we might be able to seal his movemtspletely with the help of one of my treasures." While the bald-headed man joined in the discussion, another group of four Cultivators were also talking about William just outside the Labyrinth of Tears. "Julia, did you hear? Someone spotted the S-Rank NPC in these Ruins, meaning he is here with us. This is our best chance to gather the S-Rank item from his corpse before someone else beats us to it!" a brown-haired boy in a modern-style gre hoodie eximed in delight as he scrolled through the forums. Next to him was a girl with long red hair and deep red eyes. Julia nodded at his words, also having read the forums post, but one thing made her pause. "Why would you want to kill him though, Jack? He''s an S-Rank, shouldn''t he be recruited?" A boy with cyan-colored hair and purple eyes spoke this time. "Have you evertriedto recruit an S-Rank NPC?" "No, have you Chet?" "Yes, actually. I''ve se the recruitmt information for an S-Rank NPC before, and let me tell you, it''s insanely difficult. It would be better to kill William and pick up his unique drop that is guaranteed to match his rank." A girl with blonde hair perked up, her bright blue eyes glisting as she thought of something. "What if it''s an incredible Cultivation Technique? That would be way better than an NPC that might cause more problems than he would solve!" Juliaughed. "You''re just daydreaming, Ra. If anything, I hope that it''s a powerful dagger that can insta-kill Gold Core Beasts!" Chapter 141 Resistance Chapter 141 Resistance Three dayster, William had absorbed all of the Soul Stones, bringing his Soul Strength to 51. Additionally, the two Potential Farms had earned William 18 Potential Points. When William thought back to when he struggled to earn 25 Potential Points early on, heughed. Now, it was just a matter of waiting for five days and it would be automatic! He inspected the remaining items from his Space Ring, spending 190 more Potential Points to reveal the statistics of each item. The Star Ore and Molten Dragonstone were both forging materials, used to craft powerful equipment. Their uses were pretty straightforward, but he would require a few more materials to make a desirable piece of equipment. The Sword of Shifting Sands was a sword that would amplify the ability of Earth Element Magic by ten percent. After a few tests, William found that the effects stacked with the Magic Staff, making the sword a goodbination. He could hold the Mana Gathering Staff in his left hand while the Sword of Shifting Sands was in his right, amplifying his Earth Magic by a total of thirty percent! Each item that William inspected seemed to be more powerful than thest. The Ascension Dragon Tears were still stored as a silvery liquid in their original vial, but William hadn''t taken a second nce until now since they couldn''t be consumed by anyone below the Nascent Soul Realm. Of course, now he was willing to spend the Potential Points to disy its effects, and the result left himpletely astonished. A single Ascension Dragon Tear would increase a Cultivator''s resistance to Heavenly Tribtions by five percent, up to a total of a fifty percent increase. This means if William were to consume all ten of the Ascension Dragon Tears, he would instantly reach the maximum threshold for Tribtion resistance, which would be even more terrifying if he were to unlock the rtive Talent! He was only disappointed at the Cultivation requirement. How long would it take to reach Nascent Soul? Even with the Potential System, it couldn''t be a short amount of time. I''m getting ahead of myself.William thought. He still wasn''t even sure if he wanted to go through with Cultivation. After all, there seemed to be ways to increase his lifespan even without Cultivating. His lifespan was the main reason why William initially nned to Cultivate, while the increase in power came second. If I don''t use the Tears, I can always give them to a friend or sell them... -You don''t have any friends. "Shut up, yes I do!" he ignored the System and inspected the Protective Amulet that he wore around his neck. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Tribtion Transcendence Protective Amulet (Legendary Amulet): Infused with the Spirit Qi of a powerful Cultivator, this amulet will automatically resist a single attack up to the peak of the Soul Formation Realm at the cost of stored Mana. Effects when worn: -5% Mana Regeneration Mana Stored: 36000/36000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª William awed at the defensive ability of the Protective Amulet, but he already knew what to expect given the name of the item. What he didn''t expect, however, was for the amulet to be rechargeable! 36 thousand Mana...how long would that take me to fill? -With your current Mana Regeneration, if you held the Magic Staff while recharging the Amulet, it would take just over four days. That''s more than the entire Thin Creek Vige''s Protection Array! William eximed. If it weren''t for his absurd Mana Regeneration, it would probably take months to recharge the Amulet after each use. William read through the Book of Forging next, which contained a bunch of information about forging and the like. Sketched within the cksmith''s notes, however, were about half a dozen designs for different armor and weapons that William could create for himself once he acquired enough materials. The Alchemy book wasn''t nearly as helpful, mostly including information on herbs and different potions that he could already create at his current skill level. He nned to sell it or trade it off at some point in the future. William looked at the seven hexagonal gemstones at his feet. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Beast Core: An incredibly rare item from Magical Beasts at the Nascent Soul Realm or greater. Used by many artisans in the creation of masterpieces. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Hmm, another material. William was a bit disappointed in the minimal information provided by the System. After thinking about it, he realized that was truly all there was to the item. It''s not that the Beast Cores weren''t useful, but rather that they were used in a multitude of recipes, too many to list in a simple System appraisal. He returned the items to his Space Ring and prepared to leave. He had been on the fiftieth floor a bit too long. It was time to head further upwards. System, how many floors are there to this trial? -Request requires 10 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. -The System detects one hundred and fifty floors above the Host. This is most likely the limit of the tower. "A hundred and fifty more floors?!?" William was already tired of dodging arrows. If the thirtieth floor was so annoying, he didn''t want to see what the 200th floor had in store for him. There''s more loot above me, that''s all that matters.He motivated himself to climb the stairs, one step at a time. The moment William''s head peeked above the stone staircase, he was teleported upwards just like the previous floor. It seemed the trial tower was much less lenient on these floors than below. He inspected the room, which also seemed to be made of stone brick with torches lining the walls. The only difference was with the ceiling, thirty meters above his head andpletely transparent. While his Navigation Talent could tell that there was a legitimate ceiling in ce, William couldn''t visually see it. Wee to floor 51. The next fifty floors will bepletely different from what you encountered before, so you may leave if you do not feel confident. You have five minutes to decide; there will be no second warning. The ominous words made William a bit nervous, but he wasn''t giving up on sweet loot! He stayed in ce, waiting for the trial creator to exin his next task. It seems you''ve made your choice. So be it. A tform appeared hovering two meters midair in the center of the trial. William''s body was teleported on top of the tform, which slowly started rising towards the ceiling. Prepare yourself for the trials of resistance. "Trials with an s?" William''s nervousness increased. He remained on high alert, watching the walls and ceiling with immense focus as he waited for something to happen. The tform continued to rise, carrying William to the five-meter mark. It was at this exact moment that a streak of white light shed toward William at unbelievable speed, the Forcefield Talent causing the white light to bounce off and hit the wall. The light bounced off the wall and shot towards William once again, this time aiming for a leg. The Forcefield blocked the light a second time with ease, but William was starting to understand what was going on since he couldn''t react in time even once during both attacks. Chapter 142: Goodbye Loneliness, Hello Stealing! "Don''t tell me I have to endure the hits of this little light thing until I reach the top!" William grumbled while the light bounced off his Forcefield for the sixth time. As the tform traveled upward, William''s guess was turning out to be true. At the ten-meter mark, the singr white light turned into two identical lights that relentlessly pounded on his Forcefield. They seemed to be pretty weak, since they weren''t able to damage the Forcefield, but there was a strength in numbers. The white lights doubled at the fifteen-meter mark, turning into four white lights that pelted his Forcefield from multiple sides. William was holding the Sword of Shifting Sands and the Mana Gathering Staff, so he focused on using it to condense a wall around himself of the Earth Element. The Earth Barrier rose, covering the entire tform and raising four meters into the sky. William covered his head with another Barrier of the Earth Element, sealing off himself and the tform inside a dome of rock. He sat in darkness as he listened to the white lights damaging the Earth Barrier repeatedly. After the twenty-five-meter mark, tiny cracks began to form on one side of the Earth Wall, which William immediately reinforced with some additional Mana. Upon reaching thirty-meters, William expected the tform to stop since that was the ceiling of the trial, but it didn''t turn out to be the case. Just as William thought he was going to be crushed by the tform into the ceiling, his body phased through as if it didn''t exist. An almost mechanical voice matching that of the trial creator sounded in his head. Floor fifty-one passed. Your reward will be calcted at the end of the trial. Even while the voice spoke, William could still hear the white lights bouncing off the Earth Barrier, their number increasing even further. He found that Life Sense was able to detect the white lights, so William was able to count sixteen white lights ricocheting off the walls and floor. When he reached the forty-meter mark, that number doubled once again to thirty-two. He continued to rise through the trial, reinforcing his Earth Barrier every time it became damaged. The Earth Barrier proved to be useful through floors fifty-one through fifty-nine, but once he reached floor sixty the number of white lights not only increased to 256, but they became twice as strong. A Challenger has entered floor sixty... "Shit, you''re still doing this?" William had already epted his fate as public enemy number one the moment he exited the tower, but the increased pressure from the white lights made William a bit anxious. If the trial tower killed him now, would he respawn in the courtyard or be gone forever? With the white lights'' sudden boost of strength, William''s Earth Barrier was no longer able to withstand the onught. It crumbled to bits as the white lights rushed past the Barrier and targeted his Forcefield, small cracks forming after just a few minutes of continuous attacks. William made use of the Mana Gathering Staff to feed Mana into his Forcefield faster than before, causing the cracks to heal almost instantly. He was able to maintain this fine bnce until the 70th floor, but past that point, the speed at which he healed the Forcefield was slower than the amount of damage dealt with each attack. Another Earth Barrier was raised, even though the effects wouldn''t be amazing. The Barrier blocked the white lights for just a few seconds, allowing William to catch a short breath and heal his Forcefield to perfect condition. He stacked an Ice Dome on top of his Earth Barrier, further increasing the defensive capabilities and ensuring that the white lights wouldn''t get so far as to pierce through his Forcefield. If something happened to it, William''sst line of defense would be his Hard Skin Talent. While he had confidence that the Hard Skin Talent would hold out for a while, he worried about the further floors. The creator said the next fifty floors would be different, which means this should end at the one hundredth floor. All I need to do is make it that far! William''s eyes became sharp as he took the Mythical Array Wheel out from his Space Ring and simultaneously activated the only two defensive Arrays stored in the treasure. Both Arrays were an absorption type, designed to be stronger after absorbing magical attacks up to a certain threshold. The white lights bounced off the Arrays, bing slightly dull as their stored Mana was absorbed by the Array. William rejoiced at this new development. It was much more difficult to create Arrays while managing a Magic Spell, but the Mythical Array Wheel had solved that problem. He couldn''t help but thank his lucky stars that he happened to find a trial in the Labyrinth of Tears that perfectly suited hisbat style. With the help of the Absorption Arrays, William was able to focus on two unguarded areas with the Earth Element, its heightened defense serving as an insurmountable barrier preventing the white lights from piercing through. The speed of the tform slowed, taking over an hour to reach the next floor this time. William felt that he could hold on for quite a while, but he didn''t know quite how much longer this wouldst. To prevent any idents, William drank the remainder of his Mana Regeneration Potions to fully recover his Mana and worked on optimizing his use of the Earth Element to better handle these white lights. A Challenger has entered floor eighty... In the courtyard of the trial tower, many Cultivators were animatedly discussing the most recent announcement from the trial creator. "He''s on floor 80, he must be close to the top!" someone shouted with glee. While they had been preparing traps and whatnot for William thest few days, they were bing bored with the monotonous activity. "Not a chance, he''s probably only around halfway done." someone elsemented as they scanned the trial tower from the outside. Anyone with a decent understanding of architecture could tell that this structure had well over a hundred floors, even if they couldn''t see the very top from their current position. "Only halfway? What a brutal trial..." the Cultivator muttered in response. A few dozen meters away, Glen was looking upward at the trial tower in the area where William''s aura was the most prominent. You''re almost to the one hundredth floor... Glen looked upward in awe. After a few days of silence, he was suddenly clearing five floors at a time in a matter of hours! At this rate, he should reach the top well before the end of the two-month time limit! If he wasn''t sure before that William had the ability to help him out, he was a hundred percent confident now! In fact, William had probably already collected way more than the amount he needed to pay his organization. If Glen knew that William had actually earned over a hundred times his debt in treasures, Glen might have passed out on the spot. He smiled as he thought of the future.This is finally my chance to leave, to abandon this filthy organization and join the Thieves'' Guild. To say goodbye to the dark and lonely past, and hello to the thrill of stealing! Chapter 143: Side Effect Back in the trial tower, William was being assaulted by thousands of white lights. His Earth Barrier had shattered for the fifth time, and his Absorption Arrays had broken long ago. He had just reached floor 90, but things weren''t looking good. His Forcefield was covered in small spiderweb cracks and wouldn''tst much longer, leaving William with only his Hard Skin Talent to defend with the moment it broke on the 91st floor. Just before the first white light hit his body, the Tribtion Transcendence Protective Amulet activated, shielding him from a group of white lights that battered the veil of Spirit Qi like raindrops during a stormy night. The Amulet onlysted until the 94th floor before exhausting all of its energy,sting around three hours. His Forcefield had repaired slightly, but it barelysted another two floors before once again shattering like ss. William''s eyes became fierce as he shed with his sword to defend against the white lights. His Swords Talent was only D Rank, but it was more than enough for him to execute many swift strikes that shed with four white lights at random. This action wasn''t made with pure skill, rather luck. The white lights were much too fast for him to react normally, but there were so many that even swinging at random should have some effect. The white lights that William shed dissipated into thin air, reducing the number of white lights targeting him by four. As he continued to sh with his sword, a torrent of white lights targeted his back and arms, making William grit his teeth as he endured the pain. Was I supposed to destroy these things with physical attacks the entire time? William had tried using Magic against the lights, but they were seemingly invincible, so he decided to save his Mana. Who would''ve known that this trial of resistance was also a test of swordsmanship? His sword only struck a single white light on the next pass, but a victory was a victory. His Hard Skin seemed to be keeping up with the damage of the current strength of the white lights and each injury was healing at a rapid pace with the help of his natural regeneration. There was one problem, however. Each floor took an entire hour toplete, meaning William had been awake for over two days straight, battling from floor 51 to 96 with the white lights. This was way too much for a normal human! William didn''t have to wonder how he managed to stay awake this long, considering he had a Sleep Resistance Talent, but even that seemed to have a limit. He also discovered that he was bing incredibly hungry. While he was safely being defended by the Forcefield and Earth Barriers between floors 60 and 80, he had eaten a few times, but he hadn''t eaten since then. Maintaining his Earth Barriers had be too difficult past that point, so William couldn''t afford to cook another meal, and the Iron Stomach Pills would only stave off his hunger and reinforce his internal organs for a few days. It wasn''t meant to be eaten for food, rather as a defensive measure. He racked his brain for a solution. How could he die to hunger aftering so far? Looking at his hands, William remembered the fourteen Space Rings he had taken from the group of Cultivators during the Array Trial. While they were locked by a series of Advanced Arrays, one even made by an Array Master with the Space Element, William was now incredibly talented with Arrays and could crack them open with a nce. The only reason he hadn''t done so before was to limit the number of future enemies he might have. If it was anything like the Rhio Ancient Family, there was probably a token or something contained within that would reveal his location the moment the Space Ring was opened. There was no time to think about that, and he already had a ton of enemies that were probably waiting for him to exit the trial tower. He disabled the Advanced Array in a few seconds while enduring attacks from the white lights and began to search its contents. There were a good number of valuable items inside, almostparable to the old Space Mage Fermus''s Space Ring, but William didn''t have time to check all of that. Instead, he specifically focused his search on looking for medicinal herbs, pills, or prepared meals. Perfect! A Tier 3 Saturation Pill! ording to William''s Alchemy Talent knowledge, this pill''s effects should keep a normal person feeling full for at least 6 months! He immediately popped the yellow pill in his mouth, the saturation taking effect immediately. His quaking stomach calmed down and his hunger dissipated in a matter of moments. Even better, the aftertaste seemed to have been adjusted from its usual bitter to sweet. It seemed the Cultivator that purchased these pills couldn''t handle the taste of bitter foods. With his hunger problem dealt with, William did his best to stay awake for a few more hours. He wanted to upgrade his Sleep Resistance Talent, but the trial creator was watching him, so he couldn''t upgrade the Talent right now. The white lights continued to increase in strength and number, William''s blood sttering on the tform as they cut into his skin and threatened to invade his body. His Regeneration Talent instantly healed all of the wounds, but his cells working overtime to recover from the damage made William feel even more exhausted. He tried to find another miraculous item within the Cultivator''s Space Rings, but there wasn''t anything useful this time. There was no choice but to continue enduring the attacks and hope that he survived until the end. -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age William fought to keep his eyes open as a System Message appeared in his vision, but it was too blurry, and he couldn''t read it. He realized he wouldn''t make it, so he gave ast order to Atticus to remain safe and not to reveal itself. Don''t worry little buddy. This is a trial; I won''t die for real. He consoled the rat snake in his mind as a slight smile crept on his face. This would be his first time experiencing death, even if he would be asleep for most of it. He sat down while the more blood sttered on the tform, his head lulling despite the constant pain of being attacked by tiny white lights that somewhat reminded William of fireflies. A pool of blood was forming at his feet, pouring over one side of the tform and dripping on the floors below. His eyelids hovered for a few seconds, before his body slumped to the floor and his eyes closed. The white lights continued to pelt the back of his unconscious body as the tform reached floor 98. -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age ... Chapter 144: Artifact Spirit William groggily opened his eyes after an unknown amount of time. He was on his side, lying on the cold stone floor of a dimly lit room. He could barely make out a glowing blue figure standing in the center of the room in front of a tall stone pir. "Did I die...? This doesn''t look like the courtyard..." he mumbled to himself as he ced his hands on the floor. The color of his skin was a shade darker than normal, and his hands felt a bit rougher than before, but he assumed he was just exhausted, and the poor lighting was probably messing with his head. "Dead? Hahaha, no my boy." the glowing figure spoke. The figure bent slightly and released a slight chuckle, "Although I''m surprised you were able to survive two entire floors of the trial while asleep. Maybe you would be dead if I hadn''t intervened and stopped the next trial from starting." As William''s vision cleared, he realized the glowing blue figure was an actual person, seemingly an old man in light grey robes. He wore a long beard, and his eyes werepletely white, as if he was a ghost. What appeared to be a stone pir behind the old man turned out to be the massive statue of a snake, its stone eyes seemingly bursting with intelligence as they stared directly at him. System, what is that? The System didn''t know which answer William needed, but both options were free so it answered readily. -This is an Artifact Spirit, created by the one who founded the Gravitas Ruins. Normally, Artifact Spirits cannot be physically seen, but your Soul Strength sets you apart from others. -Behind the Artifact Spirit is Medusa, a legendary creature simr to the myths of your old world. William had heard of Artifact Spirits before, which were said to inhabit powerful artifacts to give them a mind of their own. Adding an Artifact Spirit to a piece of armor, equipment, or the like would not only increase its power, but also would provide the item autonomy. If an Artifact Spirit was ced into a sword, a Cultivator could let the weapon fight on its own while they cast Magic from afar. If it was a piece of armor, the Artifact Spirit could activate defensive abilities at critical moments, allowing the Cultivator to ce all of its focus on offense. There were many more ways to utilize Artifact Spirits, but these were the ones that William knew so far. He was more focused on another thing. "Medusa..." he muttered. If William remembered correctly, Medusa was a woman that had snakes for hair, turning those who looked her directly in the eyes into stone. It didn''t look like a woman, and he had already looked at the snake in the eyes, but William wasn''t going to ignore the System''s information. Maybe the only reason he hadn''t been turned to stone already was because of the Artifact Spirit. "So you''ve heard of Medusa as well, huh? It seems my choice to stop the trial was a good one after all. You''re not like the others." the old man surmised. "What do you mean?" "Master has told me a few things. You''re from another world, aren''t you?" the Artifact Spirit asked. "How did you know?" "Like I said, I''ve lived a long time and I have a powerful Master. We haven''t been in contact with the outside in a long time, does this mean those fellows seeded?" the Artifact Spirit gave William a questioning look. William didn''t know what the Artifact Spirit was talking about. "Those fellows? I have no idea who or what you''re talking about." "Tch, of course you don''t. I forgot you''re just another Sectckey that has been sent to clear this training ground. No matter, I''ll have to see for myself in a few hundred years..." "Why not now?" William was jealous of the Artifact Spirit''s perception of time. Clearly a hundred years was just the blink of an eye to something so old. "You don''t need to know this." the Spirit snapped. He took a moment to calm down, then he smiled, "We are getting off track, I came to speak with you for two reasons. First, I have your reward here with me." The Artifact Spirit motioned with his hands and a small box appeared in William''s hands. Instead of the standard ck box, this one was made of pure silver with ornate designs around the edges. The front of the silver box held a small knob that could be turned to reveal the insides without the need for a key. As William looked at the silver box, the Artifact Spirit moved a bit closer to him until the old man was just a few meters away. "Second, if you are truly from another world, I would like to hear about it from you. After all, I''ve never been outside the Gravitas trial grounds, much less to another world." William was a bit nervous telling stories of his other world to a stranger. What if he painted another target on his back by doing so? He decided not to make the decision himself. System, what do you think? -Request requires 5 Potential Points: Yes/No? Confirm. -An Artifact Spirit cannot lie, but it may be masking the real reason for its request. Ask the being directly what it ns to do with the information. "What will you do if I tell you?" he followed the System''s direction. The Artifact Spirit was surprised. It didn''t expect William to catch onto its misdirection so easily. "I will tell my Master, who is very interested in you." Another ambiguous answer that could mean anything. What if its Master had other ns for the information? Williammunicated with the System silently, realizing he was stuck in a predicament. Even if he didn''t tell the Artifact Spirit about his world, the powerful Cultivator it served might just decide to kill him anyway. After all, he was in their territory. Man, it sucks to be weak. After a bit of deliberation, William decided the best action to take was to tell them most of what he knew. He couldn''t help but worry about Fria and his foster parents back home, but there was nothing more to do. "Which would you prefer? The short version or the long version?" William asked. The Artifact Spirit''s eyes lit up at Williams positive response. "Tell me as much as you want. I want to know everything from how they Cultivate to what they look like to what powerful Magic they have developed." Williamughed. "Well first off, no one in my previous world Cultivates, at least not that I know of." "Oh? Then how do they be stronger? Do they have incredible Innate Talents that allow them to surpass Cultivation?" The Artifact Spirit''s enthusiasm made Williamugh once again. He felt that the Artifact Spirit would be incredibly disappointed when it found out the sad truth of his old world. Its only redeeming qualities were the existence of modern items like vehicles, video games, and television. "Not that either." "Then what is it?" William sighed. "I''ll exin everything I can, but I''m going to have to start from the beginning..." Chapter 145: Reius "Humanity in my old world, Reius, has a recorded history of only a few thousand years, which is probably not very long in the eyes of someone powerful like you." William tried to tter the being rather than calling him old, lest that anger the Artifact Spirit. He continued, "I was born in a small town that was very detached from the rest of the world, but when my parents died, I was sent to live in a city with another family when I was only three years old." William''s expression became a bit sad when he thought about his biological parents, whose faces he could now clearly remember since upgrading his Mind Talent to S-Rank. The Mind Talent was a powerful ability that helped him greatly in and out ofbat, but this time it was a curse, bringing back memories of his life before and just after their deaths. "My parents didn''t die under normal circumstances. No, they were killed." "Killed?" the Artifact Spirit asked. "Yes. You see, twenty years before I was born, a war started amongst the many nations of Reius. Many were sent to fight, even women and children over the age of 15. I don''t know much about the details since I was so young, but a year before the war ended, my parents died during one of the final battles. They were heroes, both of them." a tear formed in William''s eyes as he thought of the stories his foster parents had told. "How did the war end?" "The many nations decided it was time to stop the fighting, and an agreement was made to never fight a war again. There was too much damage to the world, but the peace agreement was enough for the entire world to enter a new era. Suddenly, everyone was working together, rebuilding cities and towns, reforming nations, and people even began exploring others in the universe." Since William and Fria were only a few years old, he didn''t fully understand at the time how amazing the change to the world was after the war. But looking back on it now, William realized that the change wasn''t just a change, it was aplete flip in attitude and perspective. From a world that was so deeply at war for decades to a peaceful society only focused on rebuilding and improving the livelihood of the human race, William realized there must have been more going on behind the scenes. The Artifact Spirit noticed the pause in William''s story but didn''t interrupt. "Sorry." William apologized, to which the Artifact Spirit waved him on to continue. "I told you that no one Cultivates on Reius, but it''s not just that. Not only does no one Cultivate, but there is no such thing as Magic, Innate Talents, Magical Beasts, or any of the fantastical things in this world that use Mana or Spirit Qi." "Oh?" "Instead, humanity uses technology to ovee their weaknesses, although they aren''t nearly strong enough to fight with powerful Cultivators." The Artifact Spirit essed its mental library until it understood what "technology" was. "A world without Mana or Spirit Qi...how does anyone maintain peace and order in a world where there is no strongest person or group?" The Artifact Spirit''s words made Williamugh, since he could say the opposite about this world. How was there notplete chaos in a Cultivation world where the strong could always bully the weak, and had to be killed or beaten to submission before they could be detained? "Each nation defines a set of rules that their citizens have to follow. Of course, they can choose not to follow the rules, but it usually results in imprisonment. Since there are no extraordinarily powerful humans in the world, they can easily be contained within normal jail cells made of rock or iron." He tried to keep the terms simple, knowing that the Artifact Spirit might notpletely understand what he was trying to say. The Artifact Spirit didn''t have any trouble understanding this time. "There''s only one thing that doesn''t make sense. If your world operates using technology, then how did you get here?" "Uh..." William paused for a moment. The Artifact Spirit''s question triggered something in William''s mind. He had just epted that he was in another world but had no idea how he got there. He knew the System was responsible, but the question was why? System, how did I get to this world. -I took you here. I know that, but how? And why was I chosen? -You will have to discover that for yourself, but you weren''t chosen. You were never a worthy Host for the System. If you can survive long enough, you will naturally find the answers to your questions. The System was surprisingly cold with its remarks, but William didn''tin. He thought back to when he had first entered the world, but his memories of the bus ride was a bit hazy. The transportation had probably happened at that point. "What is it?" the Artifact Spirit noticed that William was idle once again. "It''s nothing. I don''t know how I got here, it just happened." William replied. The Artifact Spirit raised an eyebrow, but William didn''t seem to be lying.Based on William''s confusion, the Spirit assumed that a powerful Cultivator brought him here without providing a reason, further reaffirming his guess that the old fellows in the Spirit Ascension Sect had something to do with it. The Artifact Spirit asked many less critical questions to William, such as what foods humans ate on Reius and the surroundings, and what daily life was like. The conversation went on for a few hours, until the Artifact Spirit waspletely satisfied. It promised William that nothing bad woulde of him providing it this information, although it couldn''t speak for its Master. The old man pulled out a small red and blue box that was simr to the others and handed it to William. "As a token of my gratitude and a thank you for your time, please ept this small gift. While it''s not muchpared to the treasures you have acquired here, I believe it should be of some use to you, who has hailed from another world." William didn''t peek into the box just yet, keeping it with the silver box in his Space Ring. He bowed to the Artifact Spirit respectfully, "Thank you, Sir." "Now, you better prepare yourself to fight with Medusa. I''ll be resuming the trial in five minutes." the Spirit tipped its head forward in a nod before disappearing into thin Mana particles that flew towards a wall and disappeared from sight. William thought about the Artifact Spirit''s words as the time passed.Useful to someone from another world? I guess I''ll have to see after the fight. He prepared a few dozen Arrays since he didn''t seem to be restricted, including one that covered the entire floor with a thick fog that would hopefully prevent him from being turned to stone by the giant snake. Wee to the 101st floor. The trial will resume in thirty seconds. Once the first enemy has been defeated, the next trial will immediately begin. This is yourst chance to leave. "As if I''m going to leave when I''vee so far. Come here you snakedy, I''m going to turn you into a purse!" Chapter 146: Medusa The trial started, cracks forming on the statue as Medusa''s body emerged from the stone. Its eyes lit up a bright red that was barely visible even through the fog, which made William''s task of locating the creature much easier. He activated the series of Arrays while controlling six improved Array Puppets to attack it head-on. William controlled the remaining four Array Puppets to form a line in front of him, linking their arms together as a Perfect Barrier Array was erected, acting as a shield for William. This Barrier Array was one of William''s additions to the improved Array Puppets that resulted from his years of experience in the Array simtion during his upgrade. The biggest bonus was that this Array was able to move with the Puppets, allowing William to remain both mobile and safe during a fight. He stored the Mana Gathering Staff and Sword of Shifting Sands in his Space Ring, bringing out the Starmetal Bow and nocking a poison-tipped arrow. His Life Sense was active the entire fight, allowing him to clearly see Medusa as it spat corrosive fluid, narrowly missing an Array Puppet. He aimed in the snake''s general direction, his fingers releasing their grip on the arrow as it flew through the air at great speed and pierced Medusa''s thick hide. Medusa hissed in pain, turning its head to face William just as another arrow embedded itself in the snake''s nose. William was in the process of nocking a third arrow when he identally made eye contact with Medusa. He quickly averted his eyes, but his fingers and toes had already turned numb. His Regeneration Talent waspletely useless in this scenario, since he hadn''t actually taken any damage. Instead, it was the Earth Element that helped him resist the effects of the petrification, the Earth Mana shing with a special type of Earth Mana that Medusa had released from its eyes. He kept his distance from Medusa as he reversed the petrification process, then fired off two more arrows in quick session the moment his fingers were no longer restricted. The snake looked at the arrows as they flew toward it, turning the arrowheads into a blunt stone that bounced off Medusa''s scales. It tried to do the same to a third arrow that was shot in its direction, but it was interrupted by an Array Puppet that stabbed into its side with the Epic ive. It swept its tail left and right, knocking the Array Puppet off its feet and dodging a second Puppet that was wielding the Twin Starmetal Shortswords. A staff extended from a few meters away and smacked the Array Puppet on the nose, forcing its head downward right before it spat more corrosive fluid at the Shortsword Puppet. William controlled an Array Puppet that wasn''t holding a weapon to ept the Starmetal Bow and some arrows from him, then retrieved the Mana Gathering Staff and the Sword of Shifting Sands, opting to stick to Magic attacks while his Array Puppets handled the rest. The poison from his first couple of arrows seemed to have little effect, but William wasn''t pressured too much by Medusa. Over thest week, William had gained a ton ofbat experience from fighting with different artificial Magical Beasts of the Golden Core Realm or higher, allowing him to quickly adapt to any situation. The trap floors assisted William''s reaction time, allowing him to n further ahead when dodging attacks. His S-Rank Reflexes was an incredible asset, but he had a shallow understanding of how to actually use the Talent. It wasn''t just about dodging an attack in the nick of time. It also depended highly on nning out how to dodge the second attack while he was still in the process of dodging the first. He struggled with this before, but now William was able to dodge sessive attacks with ease. To showcase this, William controlled both his own body and that of the four Puppets protecting him to dash to the left, dodging a stream of corrosive fluid. Previously, William would have been struck by the follow-up tail swipe, but he made sure to always keep his attention on Medusa and had plenty of time to jump with his Puppets over the attack. Since William was in afortable situation and he knew there would be additional trials immediately following this one, he used the fight to gain better experience with his other Elements that he had already disyed before. He controlled Mana of the Earth Element to form a tall pir of earth that stretched from the ground until it hit the ceiling. Once it was fully formed, William controlled a branch to form on the pir at the halfway mark, extending straight outward until it was twenty meters long. William fed Mana of the nt Element into the Earth Pir and its branch, reinforcing the spell with wood until he believed it was solid enough to withstand two full strikes from the snake. Medusa noticed that William was casting a spell it had never seen before, but it didn''t seem threatening to it focused on the Array Puppets nearby. It swept its tail back and forth, catching the ive Puppet off guard and mming it into the wall. The Puppet slumped downward, the knee joints heavily damaged and unable to move. While the ive Puppet waited for an Array to heal its injuries, the Starmetal Bow Puppet released four arrows in session at Medusa, aiming for the eyes while it avoided looking toward the snake. Even though the Puppet wasn''t living and it didn''t have eyes, if the information shared by the Puppet reached William while it was looking at Medusa, he would still be affected. He continued feeding Mana into the spell, the branches extending throughout the entire floor as it slowly reduced Medusa''s freedom of movement. By the time the spell waspleted, the floor was covered with hundreds of wood-covered earth pirs, trapping Medusa in a space of less than a hundred square meters while it still fought with the Array Puppets. -Developed aplex new Spell: +5 PP -New Spell: Nature''s Exile That cost me over two hundred Mana, but the effects are well worth it.William evaluated the effects thoroughly. Against a slightly weaker opponent that wasrge in size, William could probably trap them for hours in this manner. Even when outside of a building, William could make use of this spell to surround arge Magical Beast to prevent it from running away. Medusa hissed in anger at William''s cowardly move, mming its tail against the Nature''s Exile with little impact. Since its movements were restricted, the amount of power it could put into swinging its tail was greatly reduced. This meant that it would take the snake four or five hits just to break a single pir, and there were hundreds of them in close proximity. As long as William continued feeding Mana into the spell, the snake would have no chance of escaping. It tried to slither through a hole that wasrge enough to fit its head, but William had been nning this the entire time. The moment that Medusa entered the gap, William sealed off the exit with two pirs and the path in front of the snake with just a single pir, perfectly trapping the snake. Chapter 147: Experimentation Medusa spat corrosive fluid from its mouth, but William had nned for this as well. When its mouth opened to spit, a single earth pir raised from the ground at a diagonal, shoving itself down the snake''s throat while poison corroded the top of the pir. William controlled the corroded part to detach from the rest, then continued forcing the earth pir down the snake''s throat until it was unable to even spit corrosive fluid. "Alright you danger noodle, stay still while I test a few things out." William said as he called Mana of the Fire Element to his fingertips. Instead of forming the usual fireball or giant fireball, William elongated the Fire Mana until it had created a long ming javelin. He threw the me javelin with great speed at the scaly hide of Medusa, the System Message notifying him of the creation of another new spell. The me javelin crashed against the scales of Medusa, bursting into mes that spread across its body as it impacted. The snake howled in pain as the fire spread, but it went out on its own after just a few seconds since it couldn''t pierce the scales. Hmm...I need to use another Element when forming the javelin. The fire can add as support. William tried again, this time creating a javelin with the Earth Element and coating it with fire. He threw the spear, which pierced Medusa''s scales but still didn''t have a longsting effect. It seemed the fire still didn''t have anybustible material to devour in order to spread and grow stronger. Since the Earth Javelin was embedded in Medusa, the fire couldn''t spread past it and enter the snake''s body. One more time. William thought as he conjured a third javelin much to Medusa''s horror, this time of the nt Element. He ignored the snake''s tearful gaze as he used the Life Element to absorb most of the vitality from the nt Javelin, only leaving a small amount so that the fire didn''t instantly consume the javelin. He finished it off by coating the very tip of the javelin with the Earth Element for sharpness. The third javelin was thrown, embedding itself into Medusa''s side while the fire raged on, seemingly with a mind of its own. The fire eventually climbed its way into the wound of the snake, but the effects of the fire instantly cauterized the wound, increasing the snake''s pain, but reducing the amount of overall damage it took. Hmm...William entered deep thought as he tried to find a solution to the problem. "That''s it!" an idea suddenly entered his brain. He created the exact same javelin as before, but loaded the tip of the weapon with a pointy shell of the Earth Element that was filled with gunpowder. Instead of setting the entire javelin aze, William just lit the back end, then threw the javelin at the snake''s side. The javelin still pierced the scales with ease, even though the tip had slightly less pration power than before. The fire rushed down the javelin until it connected with the Earth Element tip, igniting the gunpowder. William shielded his eyes with his hand, already knowing what woulde next. BOOM! An explosion rang out, and chunks of Medusa''s flesh were scattered around the room. William looked up to see Medusa was still alive, but arge portion of its body was missing and she was bleeding profusely. William decided to call Medusa "she" to pay homage to mythology from his old world, but he wasn''t truly sure what the gender of the snake was. Either way, he felt a little bad for putting Medusa through such torture, but it was necessary to test these things out. What was he going to do, wait for some bandits to conveniently try to rob him every time he wanted to test out something new? Training dummies were only so useful, they couldn''t provide him this kind of information. -Developed aplex new Spell: +5 PP -New Spell: Explosive Javelin William wasn''t yet done testing, much to Medusa''s dismay. He used the Earth Element to create many different metals, trying to figure out which was more Mana efficientpared to salt. If he could help it, William wanted to avoid using the same choreographed attacks. One of those such attacks was his habit of using saltwater to conduct the Lightning Element through the bodies of his enemies. He noted down the Mana cost of each metal, deciding to use tin in the future since he knew it was highly conductive while still being somewhat easy to create. Next, William used the Earth Element to raise two pirs of tin from the ground on opposite sides of the snake, then controlled the Lightning Element to target one pir, then jump to the next. Unfortunately, his npletely failed. He thought the Lightning would pass through Medusa on the way from one to the other, but it didn''t seem to work out that way. Instead, the Lightning curved around the body of the snake, choosing the path of least resistance to reach the tin pir. William didn''t spend too much time trying to make this spell work, so he moved on after a few attempts. Clearly his understanding of the Lightning Element wasn''t as good as he believed. After all, it was only a C-Rank Element at the moment, and he didn''t have enough Potential Points to raise it to S-Rank yet. He didn''t even consider raising it to A-Rank, since that would just be a waste of Potential Points when there were plenty of better things to spend them on. Hmm, what else do I need to test?William looked through his Magic Affinities, bummed out that he couldn''t perform any tests with the Space, Time, Chaos, or other Affinities that were Rare or greater. Any use of these Elements would be too high-profile and might garner unwanted attention from the trial creator. It was better to continue ying it safe and limit his enemies to those that were of his same generation. William did a few other tests with the Wind and Ice Elements, creating a few other custom Spells that would definitely be a huge help in the future, then proceeded to test more of his Weapon and Physical Talents. By the time he was done, two hours had passed, and Medusa had almost died of blood loss. William scrolled back to the top of his Status Panel before closing it, mostly out of habit, but something small and seemingly insignificant caught his eye while he scrolled past it. He scrolled back down, his eyes narrowing as he read a specific line of text that he hadn''t noticed before. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Human -Age: 37 -Lifespan: 240 Years (Excellent physical health) ¡ª¡ª¡ª 37 years old? Is that a typo?William wondered. He scrolled back in the System Messages, looking for anything that might have happened while he was asleep. It wasn''t hard to find a specific series of messages that repeated itself sixteen times. -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age William touched his face to find a fully grown beard that extended a few inches below his jawline. "I''m old now?!?" Chapter 148: Golden Lion William evaluated his condition further to find that not only had he grown a beard, but his feet and back hurt a bit when he walked. Previously, he thought he was still exhausted from being attacked by white lights while unconscious, but now he realized it was from old age. -37 isn''t that old. I''m over a hundred million years of age. You''re what?!? William was baffled. This was the first time the System had revealed any information about itself, and it did so willingly without charging him a ton of Potential Points. He couldn''t help but be awed by the System, though.That''s not just old, that''s ancient! -Hmph! Wait I didn''t mean it!William tried to console the System, but it was no longer responding. Even when he asked questions about his condition, it waspletely silent. Whatever.William stopped bothering with the System and his age problem. I''ll have to be careful in the future. If I fall asleep during a battle like this again, I might wake up to be a hundred-year-old man... As long as William didn''t overuse his Regeneration Talent, he would be alright. He could live with being in his thirties, but it might not be a bad idea to invest in some pills that help him maintain his appearance. William finished off the Medusa and was teleported directly to the 102nd floor, where the stone statue of a lion with golden fur waited for him. The lion burst forth from the stone statue without warning and released a loud roar. There wasn''t even a message from the trial creator weing him to the floor this time. William dodged the roar, which was actually a soundwave attack that would probably knock the lungs out of him. His Array Puppets were brought with him to the floor, but they were idle and needed to be controlled, so it would take a few seconds to establish a connection with them. In the meantime, Williamunched fireballs at the golden lion, sting against its pelt and spreading across its entire body. A gentle glow lit up on the lion''s fur, absorbing the attack without causing any real damage, much to William''s disappointment. It''s immune to the Fire Element, huh. Then let''s try Ice! William spread ice across the ground at the golden lion''s feet, its ws struggling to maintain a foothold. William spread more ice around the room, until the entire floor was covered in ice. The lion''s speed was restricted, so William threw an Ice Spike in its direction. The Ice Spike flew through the air at high speed, but shattered the moment it touched the golden lion''s fur. William tried a few other spells, including Earth Spikes and Lightning Bolts, but nothing seemed to work. So, it''spletely immune to all Magic? That''s so overpowered! William had a feeling he would eventually encounter an enemy like this, but he didn''t expect to see one so soon. After all, he wasn''t even a Cultivator yet! Thankfully, William had also invested a lot into his Physical Talents over the past few months, so he wasn''t helpless against such a foe. He could at least use Magic to restrict the golden lion''s movement, then follow up with physical attacks. William finallypleted re-establishing his connection with the Array Puppets, so he ordered the Starmetal Bow Puppet tounch a poison-tipped arrow at the lion. Much to his surprise, even the Starmetal Bow couldn''t pierce its fur, the arrow bouncing off as if the pelt was steel and the arrow was made out of rubber. The lion roared with anger at William, releasing another sound wave that pushed back the Array Puppets. It dashed forward at the Starmetal Bow Puppet but was stabbed in the side by the ive Puppet. While the ive also wasn''t able to pierce its fur, the force of the attack knocked the golden lion to the side and caused it to slip on the icy floor. Even weapons don''t work. Can this thing even be killed? William wondered. "There has to be a way!" he wasn''t going to give up so easily. How could a trial be impossible to clear, and how could a Magical Beast bepletely perfect with no ws? He evaluated the golden lion as it fought, controlling the Array Puppets to avoid its attacks. He realized that some of the Array Puppets were moving less swiftly than before, their arms and legs slightly restricted by some sort of force. The golden lionnded an attack on one of the weaponless Puppets that was a bit slower than the rest, slicing off its arm in one clean strike. The Array Puppet lost its bnce and fell to the floor but was defended by the ive Puppet that blocked the golden lion''s follow-up attack. After inspecting one of the affected Puppets, William found that they had been partially petrified by Medusa on the previous floor. Even so, the golden lion shouldn''t have caused so much damage to an improved Array Puppet. At most, the attack should have created a deep cut, but not severed the arm from its body. So, the lion has both incredible defense and powerful attack. This thing is a literal boss monster! Technically, every enemy in the trial tower was a boss monster, but William''s monstrous strength made them seem much weaker than they actually were. After half an hour of fighting defensively, William found that the golden lion''s weak point was inside its mouth, a ce that couldn''t be protected by its fur. Another method that seemed to work was blunt force damage, such as palm strikes and strangling. With these two in mind, William recalled his damaged Puppets to his side so they could automatically repair their injuries, recing them with an undamaged set from his Space Ring. He dodged the attacks from the golden lion with ease, handing off the weapons to the new set of Array Puppets. The new set of Array Puppets would serve as William''s support, blocking the lion''s w strikes while waiting for the beast to roar. The long-awaited moment had arrived, the golden lion opening its mouth briefly tounch a soundwave attack. William was prepared for this moment, controlling the Starmetal Bow Puppet to release a readied arrow straight into the golden lion''s mouth. The arrow and soundwave shed, but the aerodynamic design of the arrowhead allowed it to travel forward without losing much of its momentum. It embedded itself in the roof of the golden lion''s mouth, slightly off the intended target. William meant for the arrow to travel down the golden lion''s throat, but this was also eptable. The poison spread quickly throughout the lion''s system, slowing down its attacks and making it stagger a bit. It closed its mouth, but the effect made the arrowhead dig deeper into the lion''s mouth, causing it to roar in pain while shaking its head. William didn''t miss this opportunity and had the Bow Puppetunch two more arrows, one narrowly missing while the other dug into the lion''s tongue. Maybe I should upgrade the Ranged Weapons Master Talent...William thought. The Talent at D-Rank was quite effective, but William felt that the uracy could be increased further, especially since he was missing shots from only twenty meters away, even if the lion was moving around. Chapter 149: Nemean Lion The upgrade was incredibly tempting since it was only a hundred Potential Points, but William didn''t have a true need to do so right now. The experience reminded him of shopping in his old world during a big sale. When he had a lot of money and everything was cheap, he would indulge in more and more random items that he didn''t necessarily need. Next thing he knew, and William waspletely broke! He didn''t n to do the same here, where Potential Points were easy to earn but went just as quickly. He still had to save up a thousand Points to appraise the stats of the Abyssal Weapon Shifter, and only had six hundred Potential Points currently. Not only that, but he was already nine hundred points below his safety threshold of 1500 PP! He shook his head and refocused on the fight. The golden lion had finally closed its mouth, enduring the pain to prevent more poison-tipped arrows from tearing him apart from the inside. From what William could tell, it didn''t have any form of poison resistance, nor did it have natural regenerative abilities. It seems this fight isn''t as impossible as I thought.William was relieved to have finally gained an advantage. The next problem was getting the lion to open its mouth again. He did everything he could, but the lion wouldn''t budge. Even so, he wasn''t worried given that its speed was less than half of what it was before. He used the Nature''s Exile Spell to create many thick pirs of wood and earth that restricted the golden lion''s movement, but one w strike was enough to slice the pirs to pieces. It seemed the lion''s attack power had only reduced slightly, and the problem was still with the sharpness of its ws. William changed the material of the Earth Element to iron, further reinforcing its defense until it was able to withstand the lion''s attacks. Its ws caused sparks to fly once it breached the wooden shell, but that was the end of it. The lion''s ws could only dig a few centimeters into the iron core, meaning it would take at least eight strikes to tear through just one pir. William was d he had upgraded the Earth Affinity to S-Rank. The process of transforming the material was incredibly difficult, but as his Earth Affinity improved it became much easier, allowing him to do so even when in battle as long as he was given enough time. With its movement restricted, the golden lion could no longer move carelessly. William controlled the now Iron Exile to expand further, sealing the lion''s movements just like he did with Medusa. Iron-reinforced wood wrapped around the lion''s front and back legs, holding its ws in ce so it couldn''t damage the spell any further. It opened its mouth to bite at the wood, but the Bow Puppetunched another arrow into its mouth, reminding it why it had closed it in the first ce. The golden lion suffered silently, shaking its body left and right in an attempt to escape its restrictions to no avail. William restored the arm of the weaponless Puppet while the lion exhausted itself, then fixed any Arrays that were damaged on the other Puppets during the fight. He kept a small amount of focus on the Bow Puppet, ready to fire off another arrow if given the chance, but the lion had learned its lesson. He felt somewhat bad for the lion, but this was how it had to be. The lion could only me itself for having such ridiculous defense, this was the only way for William to beat it. Even if he could strangle it to death, William wasn''t going to risk getting close to a Magical Beast that might have the ability to break his Forcefield in a single hit. It kind of reminds me of that mythological creature now that I think about it. What was it called again? -The Nemean Lion. Oh? Aren''t you mad at me? William smirked. -Request requires 1 million Potential Points. Yes/No? -Oh wait, you''re poor. Request denied. "F*ck!" At that moment, the Nemean Lion suddenly turned into particles of Mana, floating into the ceiling while William was teleported to the 103rd floor. This trend continued for a few days, William battling with various mythological creatures that had strange abilities. Instead of their power increasing with each floor, it seemed like their abilities were specifically designed to counter certain types of individuals. Sometimes there would be a twelve-headed hydra that spat out a different elemental spell with each head, with powerful regenerative abilities. Other times William would be chased down by an Egyptian Sphinx that spoke in riddles and devoured every attack that came its way. During the Sphinx fight, William was sad to lose his ive Puppet, which was eaten whole the moment it tried to stab the Magical Beast. He had plenty of Puppets to rece the lost one, but he couldn''t easily rece the ive weapon without forging a new one. During many fights, the usual method to win was to stall it with Array Puppets and shoot poison-tipped arrows to exhaust the Magical Beast, but the Sphinx was much harder. The only positive was that the Magical Beast was very slow, so William was able to distract it with two Array Puppets that stood on either side of the Sphinx, attacking it from behind every time it turned to face the other. Using these hit-and-run tactics, William eventually finished it off, clearing the 136th floor. Each time he encountered a simple Magical Beast, William would take the time to rest, but eventually he just decided to spend 325 Potential Points to upgrade his Sleep Resistance Talent to A-Rank. It was an expensive purchase and would only prevent him from falling asleep and not reduce any fatigue, but William felt it was well worth it since he could now stay up for a week straight without sleep. With S-Rank Stamina, William would take much longer to fatigue anyway. Something he noticedter on was that the Tier 3 Saturation Pill was already starting to expire, even though it wasn''t supposed to do so for 6 months. William inspected his knowledge base within the Alchemy Talent to find the answer, but it seemed that even the B-Rank Alchemy Talent didn''t have the answer. He asked the System, which revealed to him at a cost of two Potential Points that the Saturation Pill would store extra Calories in his body that would be digested as he burned them. The reason why his pill was already wearing off was due to enduring the white lights with his Regeneration Talent previously,bined with the constant fighting. Not only did running around all the time require a lot of Calories, but so did using his mental energy to control multiple improved Array Puppets at the same time. A few dayster, just as William cleared the 147th floor, his Gravitas Ruins Ticket began to buzz inside his Space Ring, which he didn''t notice for a few hours until he needed to retrieve an item. The moment he touched the Ticket, it stopped buzzing, but William decided to inspect it anyway. On the front of the Ticket were a few red letters that weren''t there before. 30 DAYS REMAINING Chapter 150: Sorry, You Cant Poison Me 30 days? I should still be on the 27th day if I remember correctly. When did I lose three days of time? He went back through his memories of thest two weeks with confusion. Was it when I went to sleep? Did I sleep for three days?? It was the only exnation. William was a bit upset about losing so much time, but it couldn''t be helped. His initial n was to clear the entire Gravitas Ruins in two months, but considering just this one impossible trial had taken so long, would even two years be enough? William realized that he was greatly pressed for time. I need to clear this trial first. Theter floors are taking longer and longer to clear, what if thest fifty floors take an entire month? He killed the Griffin that he had locked in the air for half a day using a simple Nature''s Exile, teleporting to the 148th floor. Awaiting him in the center of the floor was a single green ogre with two heads. The statue had already shattered, the twin-headed ogre takingrge strides toward William with a wide smile on both of their faces. One of the heads had spiky hair and controlled the right arm that seemed to be crackling with electricity, while the other held a bright green fireball that radiated an intense heat. William had never seen green fire before, so he made a mental note to be extra wary of that arm''s attacks. He controlled the Array Puppets as usual, sending the unarmed ones forward first to learn the enemy''s attack patterns. -official This turned out to be a good move, since the ogre ced both hands together and melded the green fire with the lightning, transforming into an incredibly fast green ray of light that instantly burned a hole through the Puppet, while the follow-up electrical shocks disassembled the Puppet into itsponent arms and legs. The green fire covered all of the Array Puppet''s body parts, incinerating the pieces until they were no more. None of the defensive measures ced on the Puppet seemed able to resist the ogre''s attacks. It can use Magic Fusion!?! This is going to be a difficult one... William thought to himself. He was also able to use Magic Fusion, but this was the first time he met a Magical Beast that could do the same. He kept a close eye on the ogre, controlling the remaining Array Puppets to rush towards the it and deliver heavy punches to its knees and groin. He wasn''t embarrassed by this method of battle; searching for a weak point was sometimes an awkward task but it had to be done. The Array Puppets were able to sessfully damage the ogre''s knee joints, but it was a Nascent Soul Magical Beast and would take more than a single hit to break any bones. The ogre''s right arm changed from the Lightning Element to the Life Element, healing the damage to its knees while the left arm became a mass of sinister Mana that was more violent than the Darkness Element. With an inspection of his memories, William connected the Mana with the feeling he had when he unlocked the Death Element. He had only messed around with the Death Element a few separate times and never used it in battle, so William wasn''t too sure of how to deal with it, nor did he know much more than the fact that it was both corrosive and could drain someone''s vitality. It was a perfect counter to opponents with incredible regeneration abilities, and William wished he could have used it against the twelve-headed hydra a few dozen floors ago. Unfortunately for him, there always seemed to be a threat hanging around the corner that was just waiting for him to use a rare ability. It was actually quite absurd, a problem that William would do everything to solve in the future. Why gain so many powerful Talents if he couldn''t even use ten percent of them? He jumped backwards then did a side flip to dodge a literal ball of death; a fireball coated with the Death Element that moved a bit faster than he expected. He knew the Death Element moved quite slow, but that weakness seemed ounted for bybining it with the Fire Element. William released the armed Array Puppets to fight the ogres at this point, having mostly understood its abilities. He arranged the Starmetal Bow Puppet to stand close to him for a very specific reason, then had it stand at the ready while he organized the other Puppets. The Bow Puppetunched a poison-tipped arrow at the twin-headed ogre, piercing its skin with ease and attracting its attention while the poison spread through its system. The ogre responded in kind by switching its arms back to the green Fire and Lightning Elements, then fired the same green ray of light at the Bow Puppet. William saw thising and controlled the Bow Puppet to dodge to the left, his reaction speed bordering prediction as he made effective use of the time-slowing effect of his Reflexes Talent. This was why he had the Starmetal Bow Puppet stand near him, since the time-slowing ability would only take effect when he himself was in imminent danger. This way he would have more time to send an order to the Puppet and not risk losing it to what seemed to be the ogre''s most dangerous spell. The poison continued to spread through the ogre''s system, but it suddenly switched both arms to the Poison Element, controlling the Poison Mana to counter the effects of the arrow. William was surprised to see the Poison Element, but he could still take advantage of this. The ogre was only able to use one or two Elements at a time, so this was a perfect chance to get some physical damage off. William ran forward with his Sword of Shifting Sands raised, slicing at the left arm of the ogre. The arm was lopped off, but the left head of the ogre released a boomingugh as a poison cloud spread through the area, entering William''s lungs and making him cough. It seemed that this was the ogre''s n all along. While William''s coughing intensified, he took a knee and bent over slightly with the tip of his sword touching the ground. The Array Puppets paused their movements, making the ogre smile with delight. The ogre walked forward calmly, proud of itself for outsmarting the human despite its loss of an arm. It raised its right arm and prepared arge fireball, but just as it brought its arm down, the eyes on both heads widened in shock as they fell to the floor with one clean sweep of William''s sword. "You thought you had me, didn''t you?" William gave the stunned ogre a smile of his own. He controlled the Array Puppets to surround the headless ogre that was somehow not dead, lopping off the other arm with another sword strike just for good measure. As the twin-headed ogre finally turned into particles of light, William spoke onest time before he teleported to the 149th floor. "Unfortunately for you, poison can''t do anything to me." Chapter 151: Forest Dragon "Misha, he''s dead. There''s no point going back for him!" a man urged William''s mother towards a cave entrance before she could turn around and run away for the second time. Two other vigers were waiting for them at the entrance, ready to seal the cave with the Earth Element at a moment''s notice. "He''s still alive, I swear! There''s no way he can be dead after all that!" Misha cried as she recalled the kind words Torc said while defending her from a group of Wind Wolves that had torn down her home. "You have to live, for William''s sake! One day he will be strong, and he needs his mother alive when that happens! I''m just an aging man, with nowhere to go and no one to live for. The least I can do is help a friend in need..." The shback cut short as the man urged her once more. She wiped the tears away from her face and nodded, unwilling to put anyone else in danger for her selfish reasons. Misha only wished that Torc woulde back safe and sound so she could thank him. Oh William...I hope you''re doing alright wherever you are... *** "This is not okay. I am not fine!"William screamed out loud as he ran from a Forest Dragon with bright green scales, its wings pping at high speed as it zoomed through the sky of the 149th floor. It was flying after him with rage in its eyes,pletely ignoring the Starmetal Bow Puppet that fired arrow after arrow in its direction. Sticking out of its rear end in a very sensitive spot was an Earth Spike that William hadunched while searching for the dragon''s weakness. While the attack had a decent effect, it also incurred the dragon''s wrath, its eyes turning red while it chased William without abandon. The Forest Dragon was slightly faster than William, even while he was enhanced by an improved Perfect Array of Speed, only slowing down to shoot another fireball at William''s backside. If the Forest Dragon could speak, it would probably say something like "You want to put sticks up my *ss? I''ll burn yours to a crisp!" William controlled the Starmetal Bow Puppet to fire off more arrows, hoping that one of them would cause even a small amount of damage and spread the poison throughout the Forest Dragon''s body. Unfortunately, this n was doomed to fail as the dragon was just way too fast and its hide was too tough. The webbing that made up the dragon''s wings was the weakest part of its body, but the pping motion sent every arrow that approached them straight downward, missing the dragon entirely. The only option would be to target the same ce asst time, but the dragon''s tail was protecting that spot like a national treasure. It waved its tail back and forth to swipe away any arrows that even came remotely close. William ran straight towards a wall while the dragon''s attention was divided between him and the Starmetal Bow Puppet. The second he came close, he ced his foot on the wall and leapt backwards in the other direction,pletely reversing his momentum. The Forest Dragon didn''t notice how close it was to the wall until it was toote. It was unable to make such sharp turns, so it crashed face-first into the stone brick, smashing a couple teeth and cracking a horn. Its rage grew more intense as it realized William had yed it for a fool, a wave of mes flowing from its mouth and engulfing the entire floor. There was nowhere for William or the Array Puppets to stand that wasn''t covered in mes, so they had no choice but to endure the heat. William didn''t bother wasting the durability of his Forcefield to defend against the mes, given that he had A-Rank Heat Resistance and an S-Rank Fire Element, but the Array Puppets weren''t so lucky. They were made of the nt Element, which was partially resistant to fire because of the moisture and vitality in the wood, but once that was consumed, the fire had fuel to thrive. A set of Fire Resistance Arrays activated, protecting the Puppets from critical damage, but they were still disabled and unable to continue fighting. William stored all of the Puppets in his Space Ring once the mes died down, bringing out two recement Puppets- one to hold the Starmetal Bow and the other to protect William from the dragon''s physical attacks with the Epic Longsword. He didn''t have a Longswords Talent, so his skill with the weapon was limited to his knowledge of Swords, ives, and Spears, but it was enough for the time being. He no longer had a ive to give the Puppets, and the Sword of Shifting Sands was more useful in his grasp. The Forest Dragon had regained some rity and noticed that William was trying to rece his damaged Puppets. It would ready a second me breath, but that attack took too much stamina and required it to build up some air in its lungs first. Dragons could breathe in Mana to naturally gain strength, automatically converting it to Spirit Qi if needed with no Cultivation Technique required. It was actually quite overpowered, but that always seemed to be the case with dragons. They could choose not to convert the Mana and instead pull it into their lungs to prepare a me breath attack, but this would take longer or shorter depending on the intensity of me they nned to use. Since it had just used its me breath, it would need at least thirty seconds before it could gather enough Mana to do it again with the same intensity. The Forest Dragon swooped in, entering close-range as it swiped with its ws at the Starmetal Bow Puppet. William had already positioned the Longsword Puppet close by, so it was easily able to counter the dragon''s attack with a strike of its own. The Array Puppet performed an overhead swing with the longsword, slicing off the dragon''s w with one clean swipe. The Forest Dragon was powerful, but neither its attack nor its defense couldpare to the Nemean Lion. It roared in pain as the w fell to the floor, just in time for a poison-tipped arrow to travel down its throat and spread its poison throughout the dragon''s body. chapter-source-MvLeMpYr The Bow Puppet had used the same approach against the Forest Dragon as it did against the Nemean Lion. The only problem was with the dragon itself. Its sheer size allowed it to resist such a small amount of poison, meaning it would take quite a few more arrows before the dragon would weaken. William expected this and controlled the Bow Puppet to fire as many arrows as it could at the softer parts of the dragon''s body while it was in close range, taking advantage of the reduced distance to achieve pinpoint uracy. The act was a bit risky, since the dragon could seriously damage the Bow Puppet, but nothing ventured nothing gained. William was willing to take the risk in order to raise his chances of winning the fight. A dragon clearly wouldn''t go out in a short amount of time, and William didn''t want to fight another battle of attrition, especially when he was in a time crunch. Chapter 152: Bathing In Flames, The 150th Floor! The Bow Puppet ran out of arrows while rapid firing at the Forest Dragon, so William was forced to recall it to his side. On the other end, the dragon was riddled with wounds and missing a few scales. Embedded in its flesh and wings on all sides were a few dozen arrows, making the dragon look like a giant hedgehog. Its eyes glowed a ferocious red as it had lost all semnce of reason, ready to fire off another me breath the moment it returned to the sky. Unfortunately for the dragon, William wasn''t nning to let the dragon have its way. Heunched himself forward, slicing into one of the Forest Dragon''s wings with his Sword of Shifting Sands, ripping through the webbing without much resistance. The dragon roared in pain, taking to the air despite the damage to its wings. Somehow it was still able to fly, albeit much slower than before. William realized his Puppets were in a dangerous situation once again, so he recalled them to his Space Ring just before the me breath spread across the room. This me breath was much stronger than the previous wave, despite the poison weakening the Forest Dragon. It must have been the final death throes of the Magical Beast, but William was still unharmed. He bathed in the mes like it was a bath, finding it iparable to the pain from the most recent Fire Affinity upgrade. Ahh, that feels good...William hadn''t had a hot shower in so long. He walked out of the mes casually, feeling refreshed and reborn as the Forest Dragon looked at him with wide eyes. It couldn''t believe a mere human, a Core Formation Cultivator at that, could survive the me breath of a Nascent Soul Dragon. The dragon had made an understandable mistake, assuming that William was in the Core Formation Realm, but the reality of the situation was that William''s Stealth Talent made the dragon think he was hiding his Cultivation. If the dragon knew William was a non-Cultivator, it would probably be ashamed for the rest of its life. William wasn''tpletely uninjured, having sustained minor burns across his entire body, but a quick sweep with the Life Element healed everything in mere moments. William channeled Mana of the Fire Element into his Mana Gathering Staff,unching a methrower spell that he hadn''t used in a long time. The mes were just as intense and flew slightly faster than the Forest Dragon''s, targeting its wings and body while the dragon did its best to dodge. The dragon was livid that William dared tounch its own attack against it, but there was nothing it could do but dodge. As it tilted its body midair, the methrower spell traced it, blocking off the dragon''s path of retreat as the mes corralled it into a corner. Even after ten seconds of continuous mes, the methrower spell didn''t die out. William was still feeding Mana at a rate of thirty per second into the Staff, meaning he could maintain the spell for another thirty seconds easily. By the fifteen second mark, the dragon had run out of space to fly to. It had no choice but to pass through the mes in order to limit the amount of damage it took, but the poison had taken effect long ago and the dragon''s reaction speed was slower than usual. As it passed through the mes, the webbing on its wings caught fire, forcing the dragon to the ground. With a poisoned body and a useless pair of wings, the Forest Dragon was doomed to fall here. see-more-MVLeMpYr William rushed forward, slicing off one of the dragon''s ws with an underhand sword strike. The sword continued forward and stabbed into the dragon''s hide, stabbing deep into a fleshy part where the scales were missing. The dragon roared in pain, but even this wouldn''t take it down. It released a third me breath, thinking that there was no way William would remain unharmed again. Unfortunately for it, that is exactly what William did. He coated his body with the Water Element so he didn''t have to heal himselfter, releasing dozens of sword strikes at the dragon''s face while tanking the me breath at point-nk range. The damage he dealt wasn''t incredible, given that he wasn''t supported by his Array Puppets this time, but it was enough. The dragon gave up trying to roast William, realizing its fire was almostpletely ineffective and wasn''t just a fluke. It spun around, forcing William to perform a nimble backflip as he avoided the set of spikes at the end of the Forest Dragon''s tail. The tail stopped after traveling a mere meter past William, sweeping in the reverse direction in an attempt to trip him up. William didn''t see thising and was swept off his feet, the sharp spikes creating holes in his Forcefield and ripping through his clothing. No blood was drawn, his Earth-reinforced Hard Skin preventing the spikes from causing any further damage. Its facial expression didn''t show it, but the Forest Dragon was once again surprised by William''s various abilities, especially when a bloody wound formed near the base of its back legs due to the Attack Reflection Talent. It could ept that William had some immunity to the Fire Element. It could ept that he had impressive skill with Arrays and could control multiple Perfect Array Puppets simultaneously. It could even ept that William''s skill with various weapons was so fast that he could perform multiple different weapon styles simultaneously with said Array Puppets. What it couldn''t ept was that William''s defenses were even stronger than the dragon''s own scales. If another dragon were to hit the Forest Dragon with a powerful reverse tail swipe like that, there was no doubt that the attack would draw blood and it would lose many scales. But William was mostly unharmed! His Spirit Aura was incredibly solid, absorbing most of the momentum, while his Earth Element was almost as powerful. If William had a fully charged Tribtion Transcendence Protective Amulet, even his clothes wouldn''t be torn by such an attack. The dragon tried to back away and recover some stamina, but William wasn''t going to give it any chances. He rushed forward with his sword in hand, executing as many strikes as possible to cut away the scales on the dragon''s shoulder before it could try anything else. William jumped over the Forest Dragon''s tail, twisting to the right midair to avoid the reverse swipe as the tail returned to its original position. He made use of his downward momentum to stab deep into the dragon''s now unprotected shoulder, disabling its right arm and forcing it to the ground. With that, the fight ended in under five minutes, the Forest Dragon eventually bleeding out while the poison continued to spread. Even though it had been struck by so many arrows, the poison still wasn''t the main contributor to its death. This just proved that dragons were incredibly formidable creatures. The Forest Dragon disappeared into particles of Mana while William was teleported as usual. Wee to the 150th floor, the final step in this portion of the trial. You have 6 hours to rest before the trial begins... A Challenger has entered the 150th floor... William surveyed his surroundings after the trial creator finished speaking. The room was incredibly dark, so he first activated a minor fusion spell of the nt and Fire Elements, creating a dozen balls of ming moss that flew at an incredibly slow pace towards the back wall of the 150th floor. What William saw next made his jaw drop inplete shock, his knees shaking as he was suddenly overwhelmed by a mass of anger and bloodlust that made him dizzy. Chapter 153: Improved Forbidden Array Standing in front of William was a statue that was dyed a deep and pure red. The creature contained within was humanoid in nature, with curved ck horns and a ferocious look that reminded William of the Guardian Statues outside the Array Hall in Blue Moon City. The only difference between the Guardian Statues and the red statue before him was the color and Cultivation. The humanoid red statue in front of William emitted a much fiercer aura than the others, meaning it was probably of higher Cultivation. That doesn''t make sense though. If I remember correctly, Array Master Fowley said the Guardian Statues were all quite powerful. From what I know, the Guardian Statues probably hadbat power at the Golden Core or even the Nascent Soul Realm... William thought of something.What if the statue before him was above the Nascent Soul Realm? Was it possibly...at the Soul Formation Realm? This-is-a-MVLeMpYr-special There''s no way the trial expects me to beat something at that level! System, what is that thing? -Request requires 2 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. -The stone statue is suppressing a Lesser Demon at the Golden Core Realm. Demons are known to have incredible regenerative abilities, very high attack power, and immunity to many Elements. They usually fight at close-range and have slightly above average defense for creatures in the same realm. Some variations are weak to the Light, Chaos, Blood, or Life Elements, while this specific statue appears to have a weakness to the Light Element. A Lesser Demon?William was reassured by the fact that the enemy was in the Golden Core Realm, but he knew the 150th floor couldn''t be that easy. He evaluated all the information the System provided, organizing it in a way that he could better understand while asking a few rifying questions. So, the Lesser Demon has regenerationparable to mine, attack at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, and ispletely immune to almost every Element I regrly use. The only thing I can take advantage of is its defense, which is only at the Peak of the Golden Core Realm... A battle of attrition wouldn''t do him any good, since the Demon was immune to the Poison Element, and even the poison-tipped arrows probably wouldn''t have an effect. It would also recover quickly from every bit of physical damage taken by the Attack Reflection Talent. Fighting the Demon in close-range was also a terrible idea, unless William could avoid every attack. His Forcefield couldn''t withstand a Peak Nascent Soul attack, and his Protective Amulet wouldn''t be recharged before the fight started. He would be forced to endure with his Hard Skin, while risking his lifespan to regenerate any damage he took. For now, I will make do with some Arrays. The biggest advantage William had right now was the 6-hour preparation time. With immense knowledge of Arrays, William had a n to dispose of the Lesser Demon, but it was a bit risky. William backed against the edge of the trial floor, then took a few steps forward. He then spent the first hour erecting over a hundred improved Perfect Barrier Arrays around himself, ny of the Barrier Arrays facing the Lesser Demon while around a dozen guarded his back. The easy part was done. William temporarily disabled the Arrays so he could move around the rest of the floor unimpeded, then began creating a series of Runes and ced them on the floor. While William couldn''t create an Array Formation as powerful andplicated as the final stage of the Array Trial, William could do the next best thing. He walked in a circle around the Lesser Demon, cing Perfect Confinement Arrays in the floor at a distance of approximately two meters away. These should hold the Lesser Demon in ce long enough for William to evaluate its abilities. He specifically chose not to use improved Perfect Runes for this. While this was a trial, it also served as a training ground. How could he not take advantage of the opportunity to fight with a Lesser Demon? If he didn''t learn from this fight, he wouldn''t know where to cry if he fought an even stronger Demon in the future. This was his knowledge of Cultivation worlds talking, of course. William suspected that Demons were a major force in this world, a hidden group just waiting to tear humanity apart. The System found William''s words hrious, but it didn''tment to support or refute his im. William finished adding the Confinement Arrays and moved on to the next step. He moved an additional two meters away from the Lesser Demon and this time used improved Perfect Confinement Arrays. This would serve as a fallback in case the Lesser Demon broke out of the first set and wouldn''t activate until the initial group of Arrays were destroyed. This process left William with two and a half hours until the Lesser Demon was unsealed. He stepped another two meters away and began inscribing an incrediblyplex Array of the Fire Element into the ground. He moved a few steps in a circle, stopping at a certain distance to form another Array, this time of the Earth Element. An Array of the Wind Element was created the same distance away, followed by Arrays of the Light and Darkness Elements. He was a bit hesitant to reveal his Light and Darkness Elements, but after spending 7 Potential Points to ask the System, he found that it wouldn''t be an incredible riskpared to revealing his Life Domain. A few finishing touches and an hourter, William had finished and was inspecting his work. Only the System, who had apanied William this entire time, recognized this Array, albeit quite a bit stronger than before. The functions were exactly the same as the Five Elements Explosion Array, which was a Forbidden Array that would ce William in a great deal of trouble if used in the outside world. William had improved the Array further, however, and turned it into an Array Formation while using improved Perfect Runes. He didn''t know how strong the explosion would be, but considering the old version using only a single Array would destroy a thirty-kilometer radius, William wasn''t willing to find out firsthand. This was why he had created so many Barrier Arrays, since he didn''t want to kill himself with his own attack. The main reason he chose this was because of the introduction of the Light Element, which means the Lesser Demon shouldn''t be immune to the entire explosion. William spent another hour creating a duplicate of the same Array, then stored it in his Array Wheel for future use, recing it with the old version that he had created before when filling the Wheel with Arrays. If all else failed and the Lesser Demon survived the first attack, he would st it with another! There was less than half an hour remaining before the Lesser Demon was unsealed, so William drank thest of his Mana Regeneration potions to fully recover. He issued orders to Atticus, asking it to hide in another dimension with the Illusion Element should anything go wrong. He fully recovered and hid behind his now active Barrier Arrays just in time for cracks to appear on the Lesser Demon''s statue. Chapter 154: Lesser Demon He watched as the three-meter tall humanoid being emerged from its shell with a fierce roar, its pointed teeth and pure ck eyes giving William the chills while its fingers curled and a set of long ws poked out of its skin around the knuckles, elongating like the ws of a familiar mutant that William had seen in a movie. The Lesser Demon tried to take a step forward, but the Perfect Confinement Arrays activated in that instant, restricting its movementspletely. The Demon roared in anger, unwilling to be sealed away again after so long. Its ck eyes turned a dark red as aser shot forward and instantly broke through one of the Perfect Arrays. The Lesser Demon continued firing offser beams, shattering the Perfect Confinement Arrays one at a time until they were no longer functioning. The entire process took less than a second, which made William slightly nervous. The Lesser Demon revealed a sinister smile and tried to move, but the improved Arrays activated at this moment, angering it further as its movements were restricted again. It used the same method as before, shootingser beams with its eyes, but the improved Arrays were much more durable and took four hits before shattering. Before the Demon could shatter even a quarter of the improved Arrays it ran out of energy. It closed its eyes and began absorbing the surrounding Mana, but William wasn''t going to let it do this for free. He used some Mana and performed a Light Element Spell that he hadn''t practiced much, shooting aser beam of his own at the Demon''s head. The attack was slightly off target, cutting through the Lesser Demon''s left arm. Where the Light Spell hit, a dark patch was forming on the Demon''s skin, spreading a few centimeters until that portion of the Demon''s arm had turned ck. The Demon''s arm fell to the ground, its body regenerating the lost part slowly. At the rate it was reforming, William had about thirty seconds before the Demon could use its left arm again. The Demon became furious, changing the target of hisser beams to William. The moment it had recovered enough Mana, it fired off twosers that would surely kill any detestable human. Unfortunately for the Demon, William had prepared for this. The twoser beams crashed into the improved Perfect Barrier Arrays, shattering only three before losing their energy. The Demon''s fury increased upon seeing this, but it would need to take time to gather more Mana before it couldunch more attacks. Even though it was pissed off at William, it knew its various methods were greatly restricted while it couldn''t move. It saved its Mana for the improved Confinement Arrays, enduring a series of Light Beams that Williamunched at it. find-more-stories-on-MVLeMpYr William was worried about how nonchnt the Demon was about losing all of its limbs. It didn''t take long, however, before he found out the reason. When the Lesser Demon was left with only half a head and its torso, the creature activated some sort of Spell, all of its body parts including the lost arms and legs melting into blood, then reforming in the center as apletely undamaged Demon. What the f*ck is that healing ability? How can that beparable to my own regeneration? William was both surprised at the Demon''s incredible healing speed, and the System''s own evaluation of his Regeneration Talent. Was it stronger than he knew? There did seem to be one w with the Lesser Demon''s regeneration ability. The three-meter being had reduced in size to around 2.8 meters, so William assumed that it sacrificed some of its own body to reform itself. At least it''s notpletely overpowered...All I have to do is keep attacking it until its body ispletely destroyed. Of course, it wouldn''t be that easy normally. The only reason William was even able tond these Light-based Spells was because the Demon was confined. If it weren''t for this, the Demon could change the shape of its body since it had no bones andpletely avoid taking damage. William wasn''t going to let the Demon keep regenerating itself, nor was he going to allow it to break all of the Confinement Arrays. He activated the Five Elements Explosion Array, shielding his eyes as a bright light enveloped the entire room. The Lesser Demon sensed a threatening aura as it too was blinded, but it couldn''t take any measures to protect itself because of the other Arrays that sealed its movement. The intensity of the light increased dramatically as the five Elemental Arrays raised from the floor and merged in the center, just over the Demon''s head. The light changed from a simple illuminating effect to a scalding Magic Spell that burned the Demon''s skin and melted its flesh. The Demon roared in pain as the Light Spell burned away much of its body, its entire outeryer of skin turning charcoal ck while chunks of flesh fell to reveal a dark red mass of blood within its body that appeared to function like a bone. The light was suddenly eclipsed by a wave of pure darkness, reducing visibility to almost zero. Even with William''s Vision Talent, he was only able to make out the outline of the Lesser Demon. The sudden change gave the Lesser Demon a chance to catch its breath, but its body size had reduced to just under 2 meters. It would need a lot of time and blood to regain what it had lost today. The darkness didn''tst long, reced with a booming explosion withbined support from the Fire, Wind, and Earth Elements. The Light and Darkness Magic seemed to only be the catalyst for the chain of events to follow. The ground erupted like a volcano, destroying even the incredibly tough floor and ceiling of the trial tower. It was at this point that William lost track of the Lesser Demon, unable to even see a few feet in front of him due to the mass of dust. Sixty of his Arrays in front were instantly destroyed, while four of the Arrays guarding his back had also shattered. If the Lesser Demon had continued targeting William''s Arrays, he might have taken serious damage from his own attack. Outside the trial tower, the Cultivators that were currently setting traps for William felt an earthquake that shook the entire Labyrinth of Tears. Some of the traps that didn''t have failsafes were triggered, killing a few Cultivators in the process. William activated his Life Sense, but wasn''t able to sense the Demon, so he used the Navigation Talent to identify the most recently disturbed ground, just to get an inkling of its position if it moved. He still wasn''t able to locate the Lesser Demon, but the explosion had died down, so William surveyed the area. He found the Demon after a few seconds, lying on the groundpletely defeated, while its size had been reduced to less than a meter. Not only this, but its strength was now at the bottom of the Core Formation Realm, meaning William could now kill it with ease. Chapter 155: Disciple Candidate He wanted to settle things right then and there, but William decided he should rest first while keeping an eye on the Demon''s movements. He didn''t know whether he''d have to start the next trial immediately, or if he would get another break. It was best not to test his luck. MVLeMpYr-unofficial-chapter He sealed the Lesser Demon in another improved Perfect Confinement Array, making itpletely unable to move or even think since its power had been reduced greatly. The Demon''s eyes glowed ferociously, but it couldn''t fire off aser beam even if it wanted to. To prevent the Lesser Demon from regenerating back to full strength, William created an Advanced Lightning Array that would continuously damage the humanoid creature. Just to be extra safe, William made sure to check on the Demon every five minutes while recovering to make sure it hadn''t loosened its restraints. After four hours of rest and a few minutes spent testing the Lesser Demon''s resistance to Magic, William was back to peak condition. He had cleared thest three floors much faster than he expected, but he wasn''t too happy with the current scenario. I''m still going too slow! Heunched a Light Beam spell at the Demon, finishing it off instantly. This battle was much shorter than the fight against the Forest Dragon and even the Nemean Lion, but that was only because William had the knowledge of the System and the perfect skills to counter both the Demon''s insane regeneration and its powerful attacks. If he wasn''t given six hours to prepare, William probably would have had to fight a long and exhausting battle, with little chance of sess. If the Lesser Demon was a bit smarter, it wouldn''t have had such a difficult time destroying the improved Perfect Confinement Arrays. Instead, it tried to brute force its way through the Array with little attention on how he was doing it. Regardless, William was impressed by the Lesser Demon''s ability. And to think that Demon is only in the Golden Core Realm... If this was a Lesser Demon, William didn''t want to meet a Greater one. He teleported to the 151st floor, met by the Artifact Spirit once more. "You made it through all of those trials by yourself, and on your first try at that!" the Artifact Spirit was surprised. "When else was I going to do it?" William replied. "Fair enough, but I''ll have you know that even thousands of years ago, when we trained our Sect Members in this Ruins, there were only a few that were able to reach this floor. None of which made it in their first attempt." "You had a Sect?" "Master did, yes. It was quite the powerful one at that." "Was? What happened to it?" William was confused. If the creator of the Gravitas Ruins had a Sect where its members were on par with him, and they even had ess to such an amazing training ground, what could possibly cause its downfall?" "Betrayal, mostly." the Artifact Spirit replied. "A thousand years ago, Master''s Sect Elders nned to form a coup d''¨¦tat, aiming to usurp his power as Sect Master to im ess to the many personal treasures he had stored over the years. You see, Master used to be quite the hoarder, even storing many treasures that were useless to him such as the ones you earned from clearing the lower-ranked trials. The Sect Elders didn''t like this and begged him to share some of his wealth with the rest of the Sect, but he was too stubborn and refused." William understood. After all, he was the same way. Even if it were a de of grass, if it had some value, William would keep it. He only sold items when he had a specific goal in mind, such as earning enough money for a Cultivation Technique. The Artifact Spirit continued. "When Master killed the traitorous Elders, he decided to disband the Sect, which lost him the trust and support of the remaining Elders. He holed up in these Ruins, havingpletely given up on managing a Sect and performing experiment after experiment with his nearly boundless wealth." William nodded, "What happened to the other Elders? Are they still alive?" "Many of them are. Cultivators have a very long lifespan, and unless they do something stupid or provoke someone even more powerful, they are bound to live until they can no longer progress in their Cultivation. I''m sure the Elders have all formed their own Sects by now, seeing as many of the emblems on the younger generation in this Ruins are very simr to those of our subsects or the various factions within the Sect." William didn''t understand much about subsects or factions, but he got the idea. The Artifact Spirit''s mention of the other Cultivators reminded him of something though. "If your Master doesn''t care for Sect matters, why does he allow other Cultivators to enter these ruins? And why is there a time limit to how long they can remain?" The Artifact Spirit''s eyebrows rose, not expecting William to think of this. "That''s easy. Like I said, Master loves to experiment. There''s only one issue, he needs a suitable disciple who can both learn and assist. For a man that has no contact with the outside world, this is the most difficult task, more difficult than any experiment he cane up with." the Spirit waved his hand as he spoke. Something tells me they have me in mind. "And we''ve chosen you to be that disciple, among other candidates." And there it is...William wasn''t even surprised at his guess. If you were a powerful Cultivator and you saw generations of Disciples fail the same trial for thousands of years, then a single man came along and cleared over a hundred of them in just a few weeks, you might also be desperate to recruit that man. While William was definitely ttered, he didn''t think that experimenting for who knows how many years was meant for him, especially if it was for the sake of someone else. Maybe his feelings would change, but the only thing William had to gain from such a powerful Cultivator were his treasures, which would earn loads of Potential Points in a single wave. He took a deep breath, choosing his next words carefully, "Sir, that''s very generous of both him and you, but I''m not sure I have what it takes. What if your Master decides he doesn''t want me anymore?" The Artifact Spirit wasn''t surprised at William''s hesitation. Who would believe the words of a stranger immediately? "You''ll have plenty of time to think about it. Master won''t be able to leave his work for a while yet. If you decide you want to ept Master''s offer,e back to the Ruins in eight months. For now, please ept your reward for clearing thest fifty trials." William nodded while epting another silver box. This was the best course of action, giving him plenty of time to figure out what he wanted, while also improving his strength so he wouldn''t bepletely powerless if something happened. I came this far in three months, who knows how strong I''ll be a year from now?With the help of the System, anything was possible! Chapter 156: Region Leaders William asked the Artifact Spirit a few more questions about his potential status as a Disciple. "Now that you know about being Master''s Disciple, I want to exin the rules of the next fifty trials since you have still managed toe so far." the Spirit turned its back to William and made a few hand signs, causing an Array to appear that William hadn''t even noticed before. He would have taken the time to inspect the Array, but barely a moment passed before it disappeared again, reced by a floating golden orb of unknown origin. William had no idea what he was looking at, so he asked the Artifact Spirit. "This is one of Master''s finest experiments, still in its testing phase. It will be the source of thest fifty trials." "What does it do?" "It simtes the abilities of the other Disciple candidates. All you need to do is survive five minutes and you can move to the next floor. Kill the simted Disciple and you will skip five floors. Of course, if you choose to fight past five minutes and win, your reward will be slightly increased." Sounds easy enough. This might be very good for me.William thought. He nodded, signaling the Artifact Spirit to start the trials immediately. The Artifact Spirit disappeared, while the golden orb shapeshifted into a somewhat familiar man wearing a taut face, showing little emotion other than a soul-piercing gaze. Is that...? William wondered. He wasn''t entirely sure if his guess was correct, until the simted man spoke, his rough voice the exact same as William remembered. "My name is Gu Dianlong. I will be your opponent." *** Outside the Gravitas Ruins, inside the Five Elements Sect. Sect Master Gu Dianlong was seated at a desk, filling out some paperwork, when he sensed a slight tug at his soul. He recognized the feeling instantly, although it had been many years since he had entered that ce. A small smile crept on his face, "So he''s already close to the top...He''s much more talented than I thought." A ck-cloaked man standing nearby spoke up, "What is it, Gu Dianlong?" If William were here, he would have recognized this to be the same man that applied the Envement Array to his shoulder. The man looked somewhat concerned at Gu Dianlong''s smile, wondering if something had gone wrong with his puppet. "Oh, nothing much. That William is about to clear the impossible trial." Gu Dianlong said as his smile widened. The cloaked man sighed in relief, but in the next moment his eyes became wide as he realized the implications of such an event. "I will go report this. Open a portal for me, then do what you normally do until I get back." The Sect Master nodded emotionlessly. He opened the portal as instructed, then returned to his work without a second thought. The masked man passed through the portal, which led him to an undergroundplex teeming with figures wearing cloaks of different colors, separated by the regions they operated in. The man entered a corridor, then hurried down a set of winding stairs until he had reached the bottom of theplex where a ten-meter-tall set of double doors awaited him. He knocked twice on a wooden part of the metal doors, then waited half an hour before someone responded. "Come in." The doors swung wide, revealing a group of nine masked men wearing cloaks of different colors. From left to right, the men wore cloaks of red, orange, yellow, green, ck, white, blue, purple, and brown. The man in the center wearing the ck cloak wasn''t wearing a mask at the moment, revealing a middle-aged man with many wrinkles around his eyes and a thick pair of eyebrows that were almost connected. His gaze was fierce, but the cloaked man that had just entered the room wasn''t scared, rather disyed a pious loyalty. "What is it? We are very busy today." the orange-cloaked masked man spoke. "I''m here to give an urgent report to Master ck, Senior Orange." the man was used to addressing these masked figures as such, since they didn''t reveal their names to their subordinates, even to him who was a high-level leader in charge of overseeing the Five Elements Sect. The men turned their heads towards the ck-cloaked individual in the center, whose eyes rose slightly as he had already guessed the reason for his subordinate''s visit. "How is the Gravitas Ruins mattering along?" he asked, attracting the attention of the others in the room. Who wouldn''t be interested in news that came from this ridiculous training ground? "As expected of Master ck, this is what I was here to report." "Go on." "Someone is close to clearing the Trial Tower in the center of the Labyrinth of Tears." The red-cloaked man''s eyes widened in shock. "Already? The first floor hadn''t even been cleared yetst month. How can someone clear so many trials in session already?" "I''m not sure, but there is still almost a month for them to remain inside. Gu Dianlong''s past self has been summoned, which means the Challenger is on the 151st floor right now. There is a small chance that he will clear the entire tower before the end of the month." Master ck waved his hand to the side, "Do we know which Disciple it is? Is there anyone we canmunicate with that is inside the Ruins right now?" The man shook his head. "In that case, who are the most likely suspects?" he turned to face the other masked men next to him. He looked to the red-cloaked man first, "Region leaders, name your strongest representative, and anyone else of interest." "Eastern Region. No representatives." "Southern Region. One representative, Jack. He was ordered to clear the hidden Trial under theke and a few others nearby. His mark was removed a few days ago." "Northwestern Region. No representatives." "Northeastern Region. No Representatives." The ck cloaked man spoke for himself, "Western Region. Four representatives. William, Glen, Laius, and Petra. William was ordered to clear the impossible trial, it might be him." The others were surprised at the leader''s ability, "As expected of you, Master ck. You''ve managed to sneak four into the Ruins." The ck cloaked man didn''t respond, instead waving for the others to continue. "Providence Zone. Two representatives, Tilius and Farbet. One person of interest, Fria. The two subordinates were ordered to tail Fria, who seems to be immune to even our strongest mark. Her soul strength is formidable, and her talent with the greatsword is immense." read-first-on-MVLeMpYr "Ocean Zone 1. No representatives." "Ocean Zone 2. No representatives." "Ocean Zone 3. No representatives." Thest three were mostly a formality, since they didn''t have many subordinates in those regions as it was. Their group specialized in contracting powerful creatures that lived in the ocean. Master ck nodded once the rest were finished. He looked at his subordinate, who was listening during the entire exchange. "You have what you need now, yes?" "Yes, Master ck." "In that case, I want you tomunicate with Glen. If the challenger is one of our own, bring him back after he exits the Gravitas Ruins. If they aren''t...you know what to do." "Understood. I won''t let you down." the subordinate left the room on the ck-cloaked Master''s order, rushing up the stairs and entering the portal that was still open for him. Chapter 157: Gu Dianlong, Glass Cannon? How is he here? William looked at the man standing before him. While their names were the same and he looked very simr to the Sect Master William knew, this person seemed a lot younger and much less mature. He must have been here a very long time ago, maybe even a thousand years. Is that why the Sect Master sent me here? Because he knows the truth about this trial?It would exin why Gu Dianlong gave such specific instructions to William before he left. It also made him wonder why he wanted the Ice Immortals Sect members dead so badly. Did they also have knowledge of the Gravitas Ruins? It didn''t matter much anymore, since William was much further than any of the others could even hope to reach. Clearly the quality of Cultivators had fallen since the trial creator closed off the Gravitas Ruins to outsiders. He refocused on Gu Dianlong, who hadn''t moved since he spoke. It was clear that he was waiting for William to make the first move. He has both the Space and the Time Elements, and who knows how many more. What to do... William took a step forward to rush towards Gu Dianlong, but the moment he moved, the young Sect Master teleported behind him and shed with a sword that wasn''t in his hands before. The move was incredibly swift, taking Williampletely off guard as it shattered his Forcefield in a single move. William didn''t even reinforce his skin with the Earth Element in time, the sword''s edge slicing his Hard Skin and drawing a long and thin line of blood on his back. His face turned pale with fright as the attack had nearly killed him, but before William could even turn around, he was teleported out of the room. "My name is Brackley. I will be your next opponent." a burly man appeared in the center of the new room William was in. Wait, did I win?William was utterly confused, until he remembered that he had an S-Rank Attack Reflection Talent. Did the Sect Master kill himself with his own attack? It actually made perfect sense now that William thought about it. After all, someone with the Space and Time Affinities that were only at the Core Formation Realm at the most would probably not have defense as strong as William''s. It was the best counter to a ss cannon-type of Cultivator, as long as they used physical attacks. William smiled as he realized that these next fifty floors might actually be the easiest of them all. The only problem was that William''s Forcefield was broken and would need some time to recover. He couldn''t risk his life tanking attacks so often, so he would have to be careful. For the time being, William decided it would be best to reinforce himself with the Earth Element at all times, even if it would cost quite a bit of Mana. He used the Earth Element to cover only the most vital spots, opting to at least save some Mana. His next opponent moved the moment William used Mana, rushing forward with a giant battleaxe that was covered in specialized runes. His body was incredibly strong, and he used the Wind Element to give him a burst of speed as he ran at William. Hmm, he''s quite fast, but not fast enough.William smirked. He spread Ice across the room, forcing the man to slow down his rush lest he slip and fall. William took advantage of this to relentlessly pelt the man with both Ice Spikes from the floor and Earth Spikes from straight ahead, cutting the man''s powerful body to pieces after just a few exchanges. The man clearly relied on his weapon to get where he was, since the axe could cut apart multiple Ice Spikes with a single strike. The man could only face a single direction, though, so the moment he turned around, he would be struck in the back by a different Elemental Spike. William teleported to floor after floor, killing each enemy in only a few minutes, sometimes even a few seconds. His S-Rank Mind Talent enabled him to instantly evaluate the skills of every opponent he fought, and unless they were as fast as the Sect Master, he wouldn''t be caught off guard again. A Challenger has entered the 155th floor... A Challenger has entered the 160th floor... A Challenger has entered the 165th floor... always-on-NovelBin A Challenger has entered the 170th floor... With the Earth Element reinforcing his vitals, he was able to defend against these sneaky attacks time after time, and by the time he reached the 170th floor, his Forcefield had fully recovered. Over three thousand Cultivators were outside the trial tower, having arrived after hearing from others that someone was about to clear the trial tower. They currently had incredulous looks on their faces as the voice of the trial creator entered their ears multiple times in less than an hour. "How insane is this person? Is he going to clear the rest of the trial in only a few hours?" someone asked in awe. "I don''t know, but I''m beginning to have second thoughts about trying to steal this person''s treasures. Won''t he kill us all?" a girl with long blue hair spoke nervously. "He might kill a few people, but who at the Core Formation Realm can possibly resist the lineup of tricks and traps we have set? We''ve even taken the corrosive fluid from the early floors of the tower, who can deal with that?" "I suppose you''re right, but I can''t help but be nervous." This conversation happened all around the courtyard, some Cultivators even adopting a bystander position and separating themselves from the rest. A small battle even broke out at some point when over a hundred Cultivators decided to side with William, but they were all ughtered after intervention from a mysterious group of four Cultivators that no one had ever heard of before. They imed to be professional yers, but no one present knew what that meant. Fria hade at some point as well. She would be lying if she said she didn''t want to rob William for his loot as well, but he had saved her life once before, even if he was only returning the favor. There was much to gain from recruiting an S-Rank NPC, and maybe this was her chance! She stayed on the outskirts of the courtyard, inspecting the functions of the various traps the Cultivators had set, while also listening in on their battle ns. A Challenger has entered the 175th floor... The 175th floor turned out to be the most difficult so far, an hour and a half passing before William defeated his opponent, who had control over nine Elements, including an S-Rank Ice Affinity. If William didn''t also have both the Fire and Ice Affinities at the S-Rank, there was no way he would be able topete with someone three Cultivation Realms above him. Thankfully, there was no need for him to actually use a domain, the Elemental resistances being more than enough for him to withstand the Ice Domain. He couldn''t crack the Domain without releasing one of his own, so William endured until the enemy Cultivator ran out of Mana. Chapter 158: Greed William teleported to the 176th floor, greeted by Gu Dianlong once again. This time, his aura was a bit stronger than before, clearly artificially boosted by the golden orb. If William had to guess, the man was probably in the early stages of the Golden Core Realm, which would mean he''d have even less time to respond before the Space Element teleported Gu Dianlong behind him. Thankfully, he already knew how to respond to this person. It was difficult, but William managed to remain still for four hours, long enough to recover a good portion of his Mana and let his Forcefield recover fully. He used his first move to gather Mana of the Earth Element around his body, but Gu Dianlong used a different move this time. William felt his body slowed by the Time Element, the Earth Element Mana still in motion as Gu Dianlong teleported behind him without a sound. The sword sliced through William''s back once again, shattering the Forcefield and cutting through his once again unprotected skin. This time, the sword''s de managed to slice through William''s entire body, only stopped by his skin on the other side. While William had the Hard Skin Talent for his skin and the Strength Talent for his muscles, his bones, and organs were not the same. They had received no bonuses from the Potential System, meaning William was basically a normal person once one cut through the Forcefield and his skin. The Strength Talent wasn''t a defense-oriented Talent, so it only provided defense at the level of the Foundation Establishment Realm even though it was S-Ranked. It wasn''t even worthparing. William''s body folded over like a piece of paper, his face smashing directly into a...sensitive spot as his Regeneration Talent activated. He teleported to the 176th floor like this, but he couldn''t see his opponent without raising his head. William could only guess that it was Brackley, meaning he would have to move immediately, lest he wanted to be cut to pieces again. Unfortunately, the Regeneration Talent couldn''t seem to heal William''s body while it was folded over like this. The Blood Element kept him from dying of blood loss, while William was forced to manually reconnect his body by dropping to his knees, then falling t to the floor. He did his best to call Mana of the Earth Element and reinforce his damaged body, but Brackley started moving the moment William dropped to the floor. William only felt dozens of sessive strikes to his back from the battleaxe as he did his best to survive. William screamed out in pain as his internal organs were mashed into a paste multiple times over while his Regeneration Talent worked as hard as possible. It seemed Brackley was trying to damage an already weak point to finish William off. With the Sound Element amplifying his hearing a bit, William heard a grunt from Brackley as his own back was damaged by the Reflection Talent, but his body was quite strong, and he could take the hit. William raised his arm and used it to cover his back from behind. His hand was cut off by the next strike from the battleaxe, but that was exactly what William wanted. His face that was pressed to the ground did its best to turn upwards, just in time to see Brackley''s hand fall from its wrist while the weapon fell to the ground. Brackley released another grunt, but he still managed to endure. The man took a few steps back to assess the situation, but he noticed William was healing incredibly quickly, so he rushed back in and released a punch to William''s head with great force, hoping to knock the man out before he could recover. William expected this. He finally managed to call some Earth Element Mana to cover his head, defending from the first attack just in time. William continued reinforcing the earth around him, turning it into Iron and increasing the coverage of the Spell as he cocooned himself. The punches continued, but William just spent more Mana to keep his new Iron Shell Spell from breaking. Brackley gave up after a few minutes, instead using the Fire Element, which William didn''t know he had before. The man heated up the outside of the Iron Shell, cooking William inside like he was chicken nuggets in an oven. Brackley clearly didn''t know that William had the Fire Element, and he couldn''t see what was happening inside, or he wouldn''t have even bothered with something like this. William endured the heat just fine, which was strong but couldn''t bepared to the me breath from the Forest Dragon on the earlier floors. His body mended itself, making William thankful that he had an S-Rank Regeneration Talent despite the side effect that caused William to age another four years. There were no obvious changes to William''s body, since four years was but a few months to someone that had a lifespan of 240 years. Despite this, William was somewhat worried. If he kept getting older like this because of the Regeneration Talent, William would need to increase his lifespan again. Not only this, but the Time Element seemed to age him quite a bit every time it was upgraded. He took a few minutes to recover his mind from the trauma he just had to go through, surprised that he hadn''t passed out. William opened the Iron Shell, immediately greeted by a punch from Brackley, but he stopped it with his own fist. William''s Strength Talent was S-Rank, and he had a B-Rank Fists Talent. There was no way that Brackley couldpare to him. William''s expression was angry as he spent the next ten minutes beating the ever-living shit out of Brackley. *** In another Continent far away from Azures and much colder, a burly man with long silver hair and a mean face suddenly felt a soul-tearing pain in his chest. His eyes immediately turned in a certain direction, towards the location of the Gravitas Ruins. Whoever the fuck just killed my Spirit Incarnation is going to die a horrible death. Brackley thought as he stood up from a silver throne. Next to the throne, two beautiful women wearing beautiful clothes of red and green became worried. "Master, is everything alright?" they asked the angry man. NovelBin-exclusive-content "It''s nothing. I''m going out for a bit." Brackley responded as he stormed out of a double door madepletely out of ice. *** A Challenger has entered the 180th floor... A Challenger has entered the 185th floor... A Challenger has entered the 190th floor... A Challenger has entered the 195th floor... As William climbed the tower almost as quickly as before, the Cultivators below became increasingly riled up. The leaders amongst the younger generation gathered their groups together and began issuing orders. "Everyone, take your positions! He should be out of the trial in two hours or less!" Those who had been sitting idle for the past week or so immediately became excited. This was the moment where all their hard work paid off! They realized that if a reward was given out forpleting each floor of the trial tower, that meant William had at least two hundred treasures for them to im. Given that there were over two thousand Cultivators participating, among around two hundred Sects, that meant each Sect had a chance to get a share of the pie! Not everything was as orderly as it seemed on the surface, however. Some Cultivators with more malicious intentions had other ideas. They didn''t want just one treasure, they wanted all of it! Chapter 159: Doppleganger A Challenger has entered the 200th floor... William looked at the man standing before him, a ck-haired man with arched eyebrows and bright green eyes. His face was different from the blue-haired S-Rank Ice Mage, and the only real difference between William and this new person was that thetter had no beard. "My name is-" "William." the two said in unison. Neither William moved, each of them inspecting the other. Will noticed that the trial-generated version of him was only holding the Sword of Shifting Sands, and not the Mana Gathering Staff. He assumed it had something to do with the abilities of the Staff, or possibly how much energy it would take to replicate. How and when did this happen? Was it created when I entered the trial, or when I entered the Gravitas Ruins? He did not know, but it would be obvious the moment the two of them shed. William had upgraded his Talents quite a bit since then. "Let''s see how strong I am!" William shouted as he rushed forward, amplifying himself with an Advanced Speed Array he created in the blink of an eye and supporting it with the Wind Element. The opposite William did the exact same thing, both parties running at each other with speed close to the middle-stages of the Nascent Soul Realm. Boom! The sound of swords shing resounded throughout the room. On William''s end, his Forcefield was covered with cracks, the high-speed swing threatening to shatter the protective measure in a single hit. On the clone''s end, a simr veil expanded, but it was a bit different from William''s Forcefield Talent. It seemed to be an exact duplicate in terms of defensive measures, but William recognized it as a Spirit Aura, which only Golden Core Cultivators and above were able to use. William noticed that it wasn''t just the Spirit Aura that was different, but also the way that the clone ran. Instead of speeding out seemingly out of random, the clone''s legs bulged as he ran. It was as if the golden orb was trying to guess what kind of abilities William was using, applying said ability to the clone. discover-stories-on-NovelBin So it has the non-cheat version of my abilities? Interesting... William continued to fight with the clone, each of their physical attacks matching in strength. William and the clone added the Lightning Element to boost their speed further, but instead of just boosting his speed, the clone covered its entire body and ran at William without abandon. The aura of Lightning shed with William''s Forcefield at the same time as a sword strike from the clone, shattering William''s Forcefield just moments before the clone''s Spirit Aura broke. William took a direct hit, his Hard Skin absorbing the impact while he was knocked back a few meters. For some reason, the Attack Reflection Talent didn''t trigger on either of them. Maybe it was because they were the same person, or that both had the same ability which canceled out the effect. I lost that exchange, but how?William wondered. It was already clear to him that the clone''s Magic wasn''t on par with his own since it wasn''t holding the Mana Gathering Staff, but the expected oue didn''t happen. He shed with the clone a few more times, but it always seemed to use a different or more powerful Magic Spell than William would normally use. When Williamunched Earth Spikes at the clone, it responded in kind by creating a giant Ice Wall that blocked the Spikes, then continued feeding Mana into the wall tounch Ice Spikes from it as a counterattack. William was forced to defend from the Ice Spikes, but a set of Earth Spikes rose from the ground, forcing William to jump into the air and dodge. While he was in midair, a giant fireball engulfed him, causing a few minor burns and knocking him back even further. His back pressed against the wall, but there were half a dozen Ice Spikes rushing in his direction, while Earth Spikes came in from the sides. There was nowhere to go, so William was forced to destroy as many spikes as he could with his sword and tank the rest of the damage. Some blood was drawn, but William managed to break free from the encirclement of Magic Spells and catch his breath. Not only is he copying my techniques, but he has improved them! Have I been fighting with Magic the wrong way this entire time? He held an advantage of twenty percent Mana Control and Magic Power, among other effects, yet William was still on the defensive against this clone. William would normally be frustrated by this, but since it was his own self that he was fighting against, he became excited instead. If he could learn from this clone, hisbat strength would improve to a new level! William spent the entirety of the battle analyzing his opponent''s attacks, using his impressive memory to its fullest to instantly rey every action the clone made, adopting the techniques into his own arsenal of attacks. This could also be considered a form of fighting, learning from his opponent to be stronger. William and the clone exchanged moves for over an hour. The clone''s attacks became increasingly less difficult to deal with, and eventually he managed to switch back to the offensive. By the second hour, William had nearly defeated his opponent, realizing that the clone hadn''t used a single one of William''s extra Elements that hadn''t been used in the Gravitas Ruins before. It seemed that the golden orb couldn''t replicate something it hadn''t seen yet, so when William figured this out, he linked in the Time Element to achieve a decisive victory over the clone. The William clone turned into particles of light, but William wasn''t teleported to a higher floor. While his move seemed risky, William felt that since Sect Master Gu had disyed both the Space and the Time Elements, and another Cultivator had used an Ice Domain, he would only be regarded as a bit more impressive than the others, yet not overwhelmingly strong. His guess turned out to be correct, since the Artifact Spirit didn''t react too much differently than before when he reappeared in the room. It gifted him a golden box that was identical to the silver and ck boxes, then began to speak. "Congrattions, William. You''ve cleared the trial tower, earning yourself its ownership, as well as the ability to take out any non-artificial creatures inside. Of course, only me Dragon Uri remains to this day, but one is better than nothing, right?" it smiled. William was about to respond to the Artifact Spirit with a question when he saw a System Message that made his jaw drop in shock. -Completed an SSR-Rank Trial in the Gravitas Ruins: +10000 PP -Gained ownership of a Gravitas Ruins Trial Tower: +5000 PP "Surprised at such an impressive reward? In my opinion, being able to fight a doppleganger with a ten-percentbat improvement is more rewarding than any treasures we could give you. After all, treasures are temporary, but learning is eternal." William heard the Artifact Spirit speak, but he couldn''t be bothered at the moment. He stood in a daze, the situation quickly bing awkward. "Disciple William, are you...alright?" Chapter 160: Tower Token A smack in the face awoke William from his stupor, the Artifact Spirit ring at him angrily with a still raised hand. "Are you listening at all?" William reyed the scenes in his memories, recalling everything the Artifact Spirit had said in thest few seconds. "Uhh, yes Sir." "As I was saying. Congrattions, you are the first to clear the entire trial tower. Contained in that box I just gave you is not only a few treasures, but also the token of authority for the tower itself. Of course, you can''t do much with it as it is, but once you have be Master''s Disciple your options will open up." William looked at the gold box in his hands, still thinking about the massive amount of Potential Points he just received, "You said I can take out me Dragon Uri?" "Yes, just imprint the token with your blood and speak in your mind what you want to do. If you don''t have permission to do something, the token will naturally tell you." the Artifact Spirit exined. William understood. The idea was quite simple so even an idiot like him could understand. He thought of something else, "What about leaving this tower? I''m sure I''ve made quite a few enemies during my climb." "Ah yes, you''ve made quite a few." the Spirit nodded. "There is a function to teleport you out of the trial tower, but you would go straight to the courtyard." William frowned at these words. It was obvious that anyone who wanted to kill him would be waiting inside the courtyard. "Can''t you add a function to it? You''re a powerful Artifact Spirit, you should at least be able to do this." "I can do many things, but only Master can edit the functions of that token and a few others." he shook his head. "If it were for one of the lower-ranked trials, there would be no problem." The Artifact Spirit''s eyes lit up for a second, "There is another thing you can do though." "What''s that?" "There should be a surveince function on the token, so you can view the situation outside." William knew what the Artifact Spirit was getting at. He should be able to at least escape unscathed against a group of Cultivators if he knew what they were nning. He opened the gold box, a brilliant light spreading throughout the room of many different colors. His System Panel flooded with notifications once again as fifteen items appeared, but William stored everything immediately except the token of authority, focusing on the total Potential Points and the single item for now. He could inspect each item one at a time, but William opted to do so in the future when he needed to recover. For now, he wanted to make the best use of his time until he was kicked out of the Gravitas Ruins. -Acquired Gravitas Ruins Tower Token: +100 PP -Acquired (14) other rewards: +11650 PP Another wave of Potential Points stunned William for a brief moment, but he quickly shook it off and spoke in his mind after dripping some blood on the Tower Token. Check the situation on the outside of the tower. As promised, an image formed in William''s mind, even moving around in real-time as he watched thousands of Cultivators milling about. He couldn''t hear what they were saying, but he could tell they were ready for battle. The surveince function could even identify the use of a few Arrays, and a few vats of green liquid that were hovering directly over the exit point of the trial tower. William recognized this liquid immediately to be the corrosive fluid that nearly melted his skin off on the early floors of the trial tower. Those bastards!William thought. He saw a few people present that had problems with him before, including the battleaxe-wielding man that tried to take his Star Ore. After clearing the trial tower, a piece of Star Ore didn''t mean much anymore, but William would still fight to the death over one. He watched the situation for a few minutes more until he had aplete grasp of the situation. There were a few things that William expected the Tower Token couldn''t see, but overall, it was an impressive treasure that was quite useful. William willed me Dragon Uri to be taken to the top floor of the trial tower with him, and the creature appeared immediately. Upon noticing he was in a new environment, Uri immediately understood what was going on. He shrunk his form down to be a dragon only a few meters long, then approached William with slow steps and an expression that almost seemed like a smile. "So it seems you''ve seeded. I didn''t expect to see you again so soon." the dragon spoke in its usual booming voice. William smiled at the dragon''s more respectful attitude, "I have. I hope you don''t mind that I killed the Forest Dragon earlier." "Oh, I don''t mind. She wasn''t a real creature. The real one died over a thousand years ago of natural causes." William knew this of course, but he couldn''t help but feel a bit guilty talking about this in front of a dragon. He simply nodded his head, "I''m sure you know why I''ve summoned you to this floor." me Dragon Uri bowed his head to the floor, "I am willing to follow you as promised. It''s been a while since I saw the outside world." William nodded again. System, can I add me Dragon Uri to my list of Companion Beasts? -Host''s strength is too low. Improve your strength to at least the Soul Formation Realm first. As expected... exclusive-to-NovelBin William remembered this restriction from before, but he still wanted to try out the effects. He had at least filled out half of the criteria, which required the Magical Beast to be willing to ept a contract. The Soul Formation Realm might seem somewhat far, but William had just earned over twenty thousand Potential Points. He couldn''t be too far away from the Soul Formation Realm, right? Either way, the me Dragon wouldn''t disobey his orders as long as he had the Tower Token in his grasp. Uri didn''t seem to be the kind of Magical Beast to betray its Master anyway, even if it was now following someone new. William stored the Gravitas Ruins Tower Token in his Space Ring, then retreived the Mana Gathering Staff and reced the Sword of Shifting Sands with the Mythical Array Wheel. He didn''t see himself using the Earth Element a ton, nor did he n to fight a thousand Cultivators in close-range battle. "Uri, don''t follow me outside immediately." "Yes Master." "Do you want to know why?" William currently had a wide grin on his face, which made me Dragon Uri nervous for some reason. It was crazy to think that a Soul Formation Realm Dragon was nervous because of a young man with little to no Cultivation, but that was the truth. "Why is that Master?" "There''s over three thousand Cultivators outside. It would be a shame if you scared them off when I have a Mana Gathering Staff to unlock." William''s grin transformed into a vicious smile that made the Dragon wonder if he was a human or actually a Greater Demon in human skin. Chapter 161: Outside The Tower William looked at the Artifact Spirit, who was still present in the room. He was thankful for the Spirit''s assistance since without it he would probably have failed at the 101st floor against the Medusa, but its presence also meant that William couldn''t safely upgrade any of his Talents. He would have liked to upgrade some Talents before leaving, but it couldn''t be helped. "Senior, I''m going to exit the tower now, is that alright?" "No need to ask me for permission. Just do whatever you please. By the way, there''s no need to hide your Space or Time Magic, we already know..." the Artifact Spirit disappeared as he said thest few words, leaving William, Atticus, and Uri alone on the 200th floor. They knew this whole time? Damnit, I hid myself for nothing! Williamined inwardly, even though he had already suspected this. He didn''t think on it too much. William gave a deep bow in the direction of where the Artifact Spirit was previously located, unsure of if the being was actually still there or not. He made a few final preparations, then briefly brought out the Tower Token to send both him and his new dragonpanion back to the second floor of the tower. source at m,vle mpyr The two emerged from the ceiling, suspended in the air by some unknown force until William began to glide downward and Uri unfurled his wings to take flight. There weren''t any Cultivators present on the second floor, which William was thankful for. He''d rather not give those idiots outside any more warning than they already had. The moment William''s feet touched the ground, he shed to the exit staircase using the Space Element. The process was incredibly smooth while he had the Mana Gathering Staff in his hand, making the sensation of teleporting actuallyfortable for once. Even so, William had a slight sense of motion sickness uponnding, which couldn''t be resolved in a short amount of time. What he needed was more experience with the Space Element, which had been poorly misrepresented in some movies William had watched. How could Space Magic be so simple and straightforward? Not only was itplicated, but the negative effects on the body were immense. An inexperienced Space Mage would probably end up simr to how William did during his testing phase, headless. Without incredible life-saving measures, a Space Mage would have to be very careful of how they used their Magic. Even if the Space Element wasn''t insanely rare, William doubted many Space Mages would live long enough to fully understand their Element. He looked up to the me Dragon, who was perched on the ceiling of the second floor, "I''lle back and get you. For now, just stay up there." "Understood, second Master." "Second Master?" "I thought it would be more appropriate, since you are the second human I have decided to call Master." William nodded. He waved his hand farewell before stepping down the staircase into the first floor. ording to what he saw on the Tower Token''s surveince feed, there were traps both inside the first floor and in the courtyard. The purpose of most of the traps inside the tower were meant to keep William from running back inside the tower, but since he knew what to expect, William had prepared countermeasures. There should be ayer of ice a few steps further down, they probably want me to lose my bnce and fall to the bottom of the staircase so they can restrict me easier. William called some Mana of the Ice and Water Elements to his feet, covering his soft shoes with ayer of ice first, then covering them with some water at the exact moment he stepped on the icy staircase. The effects weren''t obvious immediately, but William didn''t slip and fall like the Cultivators might have expected. Instead, the water acted as a bonding agent for the ice on William''s shoes and the ice on the staircase, making his feet stick to the staircase like glue. William controlled the use of the Ice and Water Elements until the stickiness was only just enough for him to walk normally on the staircase. Two Cultivators were nearby, who were supposed to be watching the staircase, but they were currently in the middle of a card game. The duo probably thought they had plenty of time since William had only just entered the 200th floor a few hours ago. William silently released two Ice Spikes, impaling the two Cultivators in the shoulders while simultaneously calling forth the nt Element to wrap a thick nt root around each of their mouths. Neither managed to get a scream off before William hadpletely disabled them, their eyes white with shock as they didn''t expect the man toe back down the tower so soon. He used the Life Element to stabilize both Cultivators'' conditions, ensuring they remained alive so he wouldn''t lose any Humanity points. Once he was confident that they wouldn''t die, William reached out with the Mana Gathering Staff and absorbed all of their Mana but a minute amount, updating the progression bar to 4/50 unique Mana absorbed. William looked over to see a group of about twenty Cultivators standing at the entrance of the trial tower, blocking him inside. He knew the group was just trying to force William to give up, but he didn''t find any of them threatening. A slight smirk crept up on his face. What a surprise, more free Mana for my trusty Magic Staff!William became excited. He rushed toward the group of twenty, catching them off guard. They expected the man to run back up the stairs and avoid them for a long time, but it seemed it wouldn''t be that easy. The leader of the group was a short man with spiked purple hair and a thick purple mustache. The clothes he wore seemed very expensive, so William guessed that the purple hair and mustache were not natural and were probably dyed at some point. The short man unfurled a thick scroll that he had kept hidden in his Space Ring for a long time. He chanted a few words, an Advanced Confinement Array holding William in ce while he prepared to fire off a few spells of his own. William could easily escape this predicament, but first he wanted to see where the confidence of these Cultivators came from. He waited patiently while the purple-haired leader walked up the stairs by himself. "So you''re the one that cleared this entire tower, huh? Aren''t you a bit too weak to be taking on such a trial?" William snorted. He snapped the Advanced Array in an instant, the purple-haired man''s face turning pale with fright. He tried to hide, but there was nowhere to go on the first floor. It was at this moment that the man knew he fucked up. Why did he have to go ahead and provoke one of the strongest Cultivators in the Gravitas Ruins? The other Cultivators weren''t as idle as the leader, nor were they in disarray just because of one slight mishap. They looked at William, who had just absorbed the Mana of their leader, opting to ready a few arrows and aim them in William''s direction. "Attack him you idiots!" the purple-haired man yelled out from nearby as his Mana reserves quickly depleted, the Mana being fed to his Mana Gathering Staff to help unlock its restrictions. William dodged an arrow that wasunched from his right side. He looked in the direction where the arrow came from, spotting a smaller group of four Cultivators hiding in trees near the edge of the first floor, wearing serious looks while each of them held a bow. William flicked his finger, sending a medium-sized fireball barreling its way towards the group, which set some trees on fire that had been raised by a third Cultivator wearing a green Disciple''s uniform from an unknown Sect. The fireball mmed against the group, none of them able to react in time to the sudden turn of events. With just a single Magic Spell, William had disrupted the formation of the archers. He didn''t let this opportunity slide, tossing a few quick Lightning Bolts at the archers to paralyze them without causing serious harm. While they were on the ground writhing in pain, William casually teleported next to each of them, tapping their heads with the Mana Gathering Staff. In just a few seconds, all of the Cultivators'' Mana had been absorbed except a tiny amount that would prevent them from dying of Mana Sickness. He teleported back to the purple-haired man, rapping him on the head with the Mana Gathering Staff and knocking him out instantly. William absorbed his Mana while watching the entrance of the trial tower, where he could see hundreds of Cultivators milling about as if there was an emergency drill. It seems they know I''m here now. Let''s give them a warm wee, shall we? Chapter 162: Enter William, Boss Monster William moved quickly. He created an improved Perfect Array of Speed in less than a minute to boost his movement to the maximum, then amplified it further with the Wind and Lightning Elements, rushing towards the entrance of the trial tower at a speed that was much too fast for any of the Cultivators outside to react. While running, William dodged left and right, seemingly for no reason, but he was using both his Navigation Talent and what he knew from the Tower Token to avoid every trap inside the first floor. The Cultivators outside noticed this and became nervous, "How does he know where all of our traps are?" "There must be a traitor among us!" someone shouted. The bald-headed man with a battleaxe spoke up, "It''s no matter whether there is or not. Just beat him until he can no longer move!" The man raised his axe, which another Cultivator had amplified with a few dozen Intermediate Arrays over thest few days, then made a swiping motion, releasing a dozen Wind des that would even cause heavy damage to a Golden Core Beast. A hundred other Cultivators formed a line with the bald-headed man andunched as many powerful Magic Spells as they could to back him up, knowing that the Wind des wouldn''t be enough to stop William, who hadn''t even brought out his Array Puppets for some reason. Hundreds of Spells were unleashed, but none of the attacks were simple. Ice spread across the ground to hinder William''s movement, while tiny fireballs less than an inch in size shot like a wave of bullets towards William at high speed, their piercing power threatening to tear his Forcefield apart if too many of them hit. William did a somersault, dodging all of the tiny fireballs, not willing to damage his Forcefield so early on in the fight. He ran at full speed the moment the fireballs passed over his head, using a methrower spell to melt the ice in front of him at the same speed he ran. The Cultivators weren''t done yet. They had practiced dealing with William for many days now, and many of those who weren''t present when William beat up the bald-headed man with his Array Puppets thought that it wasplete overkill. They couldn''t see William clearly because of the methrower spell, but it was enough to tell the general direction. A dozen Cultivators with the Earth Element raised two thick walls of earth directly in front of William, hoping for him to crash while his vision was obscured. On the two sides of the Earth Wall, pits that had been dug out in advance were opened, revealing thousands of punji sticks in a hundred-meter-deep hole. Unfortunately for the Cultivators, William saw all of this on his Navigation Radar. He didn''t cancel the methrower spell, but made a sharp turn to the left, followed by one to the right and a powerful leap that sent him over the pit and within ten meters of the Cultivators. They watched with horror as William narrowly avoided every follow-up trap that was set, including the vats of corrosive liquid that flowed down from the ceiling. When William saw the corrosive liquid, all it took was a long spray of water that redirected the corrosive liquid into the faces of a few unlucky Cultivators. They screamed as the corrosive liquid burned their skin, melting through the flesh and bones like it was nothing. William couldn''t afford to keep all of the enemies alive for his Mana Gathering Staff, so he preferred to thin the numbers like this and take the Mana of the ones that survived. William was now positioned just outside the trial tower, so it was time for him to go all out. The entryway of the trial tower was forcing the enemy Cultivators to only send a group of one hundred to block him off, but that was no longer an issue for them. His figure shed back and forth among the crowd, bashing Cultivators'' skulls with the Mana Gathering Staff to knock them out while releasing every stored Array but one from his Mythical Array Wheel. Multiple incredible Arrays were erected around William, consisting of his two most powerful Absorbtion Arrays and two attacking Arrays with the Lightning and Water Elements toplement it. The Water Array was specifically designed to release high pressure water that would pierce through any Cultivator that came within ten meters of William, which would also make the floor wet for the Lightning attacks to spread once William spread salt in the water. Thousands of Cultivators surrounded William from three sides. Behind him was the trial tower and the flowing corrosive fluid, which had now covered the entire entrance. William released ten of his Array Puppets at this moment but left nine of them empty handed while only giving the Starmetal Bow to the tenth. There was no need for his Array Puppets to wield weapons in this situation, given that his opponents were Cultivators at the Core Formation Realm with no incredible defense or regenerative abilities. The Array Puppets were more than strong enough to tear apart the Cultivator''s arms and legs with their bare hands, and William didn''t want to risk losing his best weapons like he did the Epic ive. William stored the Array Wheel, recing it with the Sword of Shifting Sands to further improve his handling of the Earth Element. He raised dozens of Earth Walls while his Arrays defended from thousands of fire spells, their defense weakening quickly despite the fact that most of the Spells only held weak Golden Core power. William was reminded that these individuals in the Gravitas Ruins were meant to be the best of the best in their Sects, having earned a precious ticket to the Ruins while their leaders had confidence that they would acquire some treasures. Even though they were in the Core Formation Realm, they were much too strong to be considered as such. His Earth Walls were torn down almost as quickly as they were created, so William controlled the Starmetal Bow Puppet to target the most dangerous Cultivators of the batch. Its high-speed arrows were enough to force many of the stronger Cultivators to stop attacking and defend themselves, slightly easing the pressure on William''s Arrays. The Arrays became stronger over time, given their absorption effect that used the Mana of the Spells to improve its strength. An issue that William had just noticed, however, was that the Absorption Arrays could only absorb so much Mana at once, while the rest would actually damage the barrier. William did his best to keep the Arrays up, as that was his strongest defense against these Cultivators. He tried to keep the Mana consumption to a minimum, only using small and precise attacks to disable one Cultivator at a time. . He didn''t have any Mana Regeneration potions left, so William ate a Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence to restore a sizable chunk of his Mana Reserves and increase his Mana Regeneration by another 75. His Mana Reserves also reached two thousand Mana. There was one Blood Essence remaining in his Space Rings, meaning he hadn''t received any from the golden box that he had opened earlier. William wasn''t worried about it not being enough. He just needed to reduce the number of Cultivators to a manageable level before his Arrays were exhausted. Hundreds of Cultivators died over the next few minutes, his Lightning and Water Arrays being the source of most of their deaths. The other Cultivators realized this as well, but the range of the Arrays were longer than the range of their attacks, so moving further away wouldn''t help at all. They focused on their defense, blocking the attacks of the Lightning and Water Arrays, as well as the Bow Puppet''s arrows. It was a funny sight, seeing thousands of Cultivators on the defensive against a single opponent, but William didn''t me them. The trial tower had proven that his strength matched the Nascent Soul Realm, and even exceeded it in some aspects. If they wanted any chance at receiving the treasures from William''s body, they needed to treat William like a boss monster! William consumed thest Blood Essence at the three-hour mark, when the number of enemy Cultivators had been reduced to half. His Mana Regeneration had increased by only 50 this time, and the maximum storage of his Mana Reserve improved by a hundred. While William was sad about the diminishing effects, it was understandable. How can a natural treasure have the same increase every time? Wouldn''t that make it a godly item if it did? He spent arge amount of his replenished Mana on a massive Ice and Wind Fusion Spell that sent a blizzard rolling through the enemy Cultivators, freezing every enemy it touched. William used the Bow Puppet to target the legs of the frozen Cultivators, shattering their lower bodies while the upper body remained untouched, their faces frozen in fear at the sudden development. Chapter 163: Euphoria The frozen Cultivators would still be alive for a few more minutes, giving William plenty of time. He left the protection of his Arrays, using the Space Element to sh forward and tap on each Cultivator''s heads, absorbing their Mana in mere seconds. The other Cultivators saw this, but there was nothing they could do unless they wanted tomit friendly fire. The closest Cultivators saw how their frozen friends were treated, their eyes turning blood-red as they pulled swords and spears from their Space Rings. The only thing on their minds was to avenge their fallen friends, not caring about the Space Element that William had suddenly used. They rushed forward, striking at William from all sides at each of his vital points. William stood motionless, only defending against the strongest attacks that would cause moderate damage to his Forcefield. The Cultivators assumed he had given up or was daydreaming, but the reality of the situation suddenly struck them, literally. Their swords and spears bounced off William''s Forcefield, causing no visible damage. Their surprise didn''tst long, however, as they suddenly felt a stabbing or slicing sensation on their backs and sides. The Cultivators fell to the ground and took theirst breaths, their expressions mixed with shock and anger as they realized they had been betrayed by theirrades at thest moments. William tapped on each of the fallen Cultivators as they died with the Mana Gathering Staff, absorbing what he could from their bodies before it was toote. He shed back into the protection of his Arrays just in time to avoid a piece of sharp metal that rose from the ground, frustrating a faraway caster to no degree. The caster was Chet, who was joined by his threepanions, Julia, Jack, and Rena. His main Element was Earth, which had recently reached A-Rank with the help of a few treasures and his incredible talent in Cultivation that allowed him to reach the middle-stages of the Core Formation Realm in just a few months. He cursed when William dodged the Earth Spike, which he thought was undetectable. Not only this, but its strength was at the peak of the Golden Core Realm, which would probably deal considerable damage to that defensive ability of William''s. . Little did Chet know that William could see the underground situation with his Navigation Talent. When the radar showed something moving underground, William thought it was another trap and dodged immediately. William tried to dash out of his protective Arrays to absorb more Mana, but was forced to perform multiple backflips as Chet sent more Earth Spikes tunneling through the ground in his direction. It only took a few more attacks before William managed to trace the source of the Earth Spikes andunched a high-speed Ice Needle in the direction of the attacker. Chet cursed again, retreating to a safe distance and avoiding the Ice Needle. He realized his attacks wouldn''t do much from this range, so Chet decided to back off lest he anger William, whose S-Rank was probably just not for show. Will returned his attention to the other Cultivators, realizing that Chet wouldn''t be an easy target like the others. He opted to lower the number of annoyances first, before he ran out of Mana again. William''s Absorption Arrays had reached the peak of their defensive power, strong enough to even absorb a peak Nascent Soul Realm attack. He took advantage of this by funneling more Mana into the creation of another Perfect Lightning Array but without improvements, opting to focus on its attack speed more than damage to increase Mana efficiency against the weaker opponents. Of course, the enemy Cultivators weren''t just going to let William do as he pleased a second time. They formed organized groups that were made up of each respective Sect''s members, using their teamwork to defend against the Lightning Array as if William was just another trial for them toplete. William frowned at this, deciding to change up his strategy. He originally wanted to unlock the seals of his Mana Gathering Staff while using the weak Cultivators to his advantage, but William realized that there were way too many Core Formation Realm Cultivators for him to easily deal with. He didn''t want to give up on their precious Mana just yet. Not to mention, William had just spotted a group of Cultivators wearing snowke emblems surrounded by four fairies of different colors, which for some reason made his eyes turn red. As William scanned his memories, he realized that it was the Envement Array triggering. Is this the group that the Sect Master wanted me to kill?William tried to resist a tugging feeling that wanted him to kill the Cultivators, but it only made him feel immense pain. He released a light grunt that was barely audible to those nearby, then decided to give in to the Envement Array. This group was already on the list of enemies attacking him, so there was no point in rejecting the Sect Master''s order. Williamunched spells at some Cultivators close to him, but secretly he had adopted Chet''s method ofunching sneak attacks, sending a metal spike over a hundred meters underground that slowly drilled in the Ice Immortals'' direction. He added another dozen or so metal spikes to the group, sending them down the same tunnel to increase their speed while still striking down other Cultivators. The task was immense, William breaking out in sweat from the extreme difficulty. The other Cultivators mistook this as a sign of weakness,unching more attacks with fervor as they believed the raid boss was about to fall. Their dreams were instantly shattered when a group of screams resounded throughout the courtyard, everyone looking over to see the entire Ice Immortals Sect impaled with metal spikes. Some of the leaders who had seen these metal spikes before looked in Chet''s direction, mistaking the attack as his doing, who shook his head in denial. The leaders looked back at William, whose smile told them he was the real culprit of the move. William wasn''t smiling because he was a psychopath, well not this time. Instead, a feeling of euphoria had rushed over him the moment he hadpleted the task given to him by the Sect Master, simr to the feeling he got when he picked up the golden treasure box in the trial tower. It seemed that the previous feeling wasn''t just William''s joy for loot, but also his reward forpleting an assignment. The method was actually quite brutal. If you were punished every time you resisted an order, and rewarded every time youpleted one, it was obvious that many affected by the Envement Arrays would eventually just ept their fate. The enved would eventually start to seek out the euphoria, bing an insatiable desire that couldn''t be stopped until the task waspleted. William was incredibly conscious of this fact, having briefly studied psychology in the past. His past experiences triggered red gs in William''s mind, making him even more willing to remove the Envement Array as soon as possible. I''ve done everything the Sect Master asked, which means I can take out the leaders now. After that, I need to make my escape before something happens... William sent more metal spikes into the ground, but a few Earth Mages with their hands now pressed to the ground instantly detected the movements, warning the Sect Leaders the moment the spikes approached their position. "Leader, watch out! He''s targeting you!" one of the Earth Mages shouted to the bald-headed man wielding a battleaxe. "So you''ve decided to go after us now? I bet you''re getting pretty tired!" the bald manughed as he jumped in the air to avoid two metal spikes that suddenly rose from the ground. William''s reaction time was better than both the Earth Mages and the battleaxe wielder, so by the time the Earth Mage had issued the warning he was already making his second move. He teleported in front of the man with a hand covered in lightning, stabbing through the bald man''s chest with incredible speed. The leader had no time to react whatsoever and would have died instantly if not for William avoiding the man''s heart and instead targeting his left lung. William already had the Mana Gathering Staff ready, absorbing the Cultivator''s Mana with great speed as he didn''t even bother defending from a few physical attacks that were headed in his direction. When a second group of Cultivators fell to the ground with various injuries caused by ded weapons, confusing those nearby. The leaders became suspicious when they saw this, a horrifying thought entered their minds. Did they take damage because they attacked William? Another Cultivator that was much closer to the fight confirmed their guesses. He held his bleeding shoulder that was missing an arm as he yelled as loud as he could muster. "He has some sort of treasure that does damage to you instead! I tried to cut off his arm and mine was cut off instead!" Chapter 164: Escape, Enchanted Item! Upon hearing the Cultivator''s words, the others began to panic. If William couldn''t be hurt by physical attacks, how could he possibly be killed? His ability was too overpowered! "Don''t panic, it doesn''t seem to work against Magic!" someone pointed out. The others already knew this, but it didn''t ease up the situation that much. Even after a few hours, William hadn''t taken a single hit. His Spirit Aura, which only Golden Core Cultivators and above should be able to use, had so far blocked every attack. It was covered in cracks now, but the recovery speed wasn''t slow. If they didn''t continue to attack the Forcefield, William would recover until he once again would be invincible against their moves. The Cultivators were extremely disheartened, but they could tell that William was getting tired so they continued attacking. On William''s end, he was currently plotting how to draw out the leaders who had increased their vignce in response to his killing of the bald-headed man. Their Sect members had surrounded them, or they were covered in Elemental shields of Earth, Ice, or Wood. It seemed to be a counter to William''s Space Element. Heunched consecutive fireballs at a leader that was surrounded by a wooden dome, hoping to exhaust its vitality first then set it aze, but the group of Cultivators protecting him countered William''s fireballs with a few dozen Earth Walls. "Tch!" William cursed. He continued sending fireballs forward, breaking Earth Wall after Earth Wall until the group of Cultivators was exhausted and couldn''t keep up. His fireballs were incredibly cheap on Mana, and William couldunch multiple per second, so the leader was eventually consumed by mes much to the other members'' dismay. The wave of attacks exhausted William''s Mana, but it saved stamina which would be needed for his escape. Williamunched more fireballs at another leader, eliminating them in just under ten minutes. He moved on from one to the next, crushing the Cultivators'' hopes of protecting their leaders. The leaders themselves began to wish they hadn''t worked so hard to be the leader amongst their group. If they hadn''t, they probably would have been spared, right? "Hey, you. Would you like to be the leader?" one of the leaders asked his fellow Sect member. "Uh, no that''s okay..." story source mvle-mp|y|r "Fuck..." Six hours passed, and there were still over a thousand Cultivators remaining. All of the leaders except two were dead, which was more than enough for their ns to fall into disarray. William was too tired to continue fighting, so it was time to make his escape. He hadn''t given up on absorbing the Cultivators'' Mana, but he would need to save that for another time. William checked the status of his Mana Gathering Staff. [46/50 Mana Absorbed] So close! Maybe I''ll just grab a few more... William hadn''t had many chances to absorb the Cultivators'' Mana, even though he, his Array Puppet, and his Arrays had single-handedly killed almost two thousand Cultivators. He couldn''t even take the time to loot their treasures! A group of around a hundred Cultivators was running around, collecting the loot from each of William''s kills as if it was Christmas, ignoring the fightpletely! The moment William came close to a dying Cultivator, he would be bombarded with spells for leaving the safety of his Arrays. Even with two-thirds of their members dead, a thousand Cultivators were more than enough to overwhelm William with spells. The situation hadn''t changed! He gave up on collecting more Mana, opting to make his escape now. William teleported with the Space Element to the entrance of the courtyard, amplifying his speed with an Array to leave as quickly as possible. The Cultivators were stunned at how quickly the situation had turned around. They tried to chase after William, but his speed had reached the middle-stages of the Nascent Soul Realm, even with a normal Perfect Array. They had no chance of catching up and had lost track of William within minutes. A few Cultivators with sensory-type abilities focused on tracking were able to follow behind, but if William spent over an hour running, they wouldn''t catch up for days! This was the difference in speed between a Nascent Soul and Core Formation! With a few dozen shes of the Space Element, William was even further away than they expected, having returned to the underwater cavern where he took on his first trial in the Gravitas Ruins. Since it was already cleared, and was in a very obscure location, William felt this would be a perfect ce to recover. William sat down cross-legged and checked the System Panel while his Mana recovered. POTENTIAL POINTS: 35130 He previously had around 27 thousand Potential Points, but with the ughter of almost two thousand Cultivators, William had gained an additional 7 thousand or so. The Array Puppet''s kills didn''t give him Potential Points, and there were a few asions where betrayal would lead to the death of Cultivators without William''s involvement. Despite this, William was more than happy enough. He had only lost around three thousand Potential Points, but there was much to gain from this, especially when he didn''t lose Humanity points during the entire exchange since the Cultivators were hostile towards him! Hmm...what to upgrade first?He scrolled through the list of Talents, but changed his mind when he remembered something. I still have loot! William opened up his Space Ring, bringing out the fourteen items other than the Tower Token that he gained from the gold box first, then opening the two silver boxes he received in the earlier 100 floors. Heid everything out, then organized the System Messages until it listed his gains from the gold box first and in a more readable order. -Acquired Element Root: Points imed -Acquired Enchanted Starmetal Dual des: Points imed -Acquired Greater Beast Core: Points imed -Acquired Mana Uraninite Ore: Points imed -Acquired Starmetal Bow: Points imed -Acquired Starmetal Chakram: Points imed -Acquired Starmetal ive: Points imed -Acquired Starmetal Greatsword: Points imed -Acquired Starmetal Javelin: Points imed -Acquired Starmetal Shield: Points imed -Acquired Starmetal Staff: Points imed -Acquired Starmetal Sword: Points imed -Acquired Tier 10 Blood Refinement Pill: Points imed -Acquired Time Dial: Points imed William had gained the Potential Points from the items in the gold box already, so the System read "Points imed" for each item instead. William had received a Starmetal ive, which was better than the Epic ive he had lost before. He also noticed that he had received both a second Starmetal Bow and Starmetal Shield, which wasn''t necessarily a bad thing. He could give a second Array Puppet the Starmetal Bow, which would give him another ranged Puppet. Enchanted Starmetal Dual des?William assumed the item was even better than regr Starmetal, but he spent ten points to figure out its specific information. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Enchanted Starmetal Dual des (Legendary Dual des): A pair of Starmetal Dual des that have been enchanted with powerful effects. To maintain the effects of the enchantments, the Dual des must be refilled with Mana. Effects: +50% Piercing Power +50% Attack Speed +30% Attack Damage Enchanted Bonuses: (Cost 1 Mana per attack) +20% Piercing Power +20% Attack Speed +20% Holder Movement Speed Stored Mana: 5000/5000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª Chapter 165: SS-Rank Talent William awed at the effects of the Enchanted Dual des. If these enchanted bonuses were additional effects on top of the basic statistics, then whichever improved Array Puppet that used these would probably be able to fight a Nascent Soul Beast by itself! The movement speed bonus would make the Array Puppet even faster than most Nascent Soul Beasts, while the added Piercing Power and Attack Speed would turn its arms into a flurry that even a Golden Core Cultivator would struggle to follow with his eyesight! William checked the effects of the other items he didn''t recognize. The Greater Beast Core was the exact same as a regr Beast Core, except it could only be obtained as a very rare drop from Soul Formation and above Magical Beasts. The Mana Uraninite Ore was a radioactive ore that functioned almost the same as the Uraninite William remembered from his previous world. The main differences were that instead of radiation, it was a form of Mana Corruption as the System called it, which would decay the holder''s Mana until it couldn''t be drawn upon anymore. It was essentially a perfect counter to Mages, since covering the floor of a room with it would render their Mana Controlpletely useless after just a few seconds, leaving them unable to even call the Mana of the surrounding world. The effects weren''t permanent, however, so Mana Uraninite Ore was usually an item used in creating specialized chains or handcuffs for escorting dangerous prisoners with powerful Magic. Thest item in the gold box was the most interesting in William''s opinion. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Time Dial (Mythical Item): A wristwatch allowing one to channel Time Element Mana more efficiently, greatly increasingprehension speed and lowering the difficulty of creating new Spells. Effects when worn: +300% Time Element Mana Control ¡ª¡ª¡ª This is an amazing item!William eximed as he put it on immediately. He made sure the trial creator wasn''t watching just in case, then called Mana of the Time Element to his fingertips, willing a random blue flower in the caverns to age. The Mana flew much faster than before, his greater Mana Control allowing William to better manipte the Time Spell as it covered the flower entirely. The blue flower wilted, then died in less than a second, but the Spell wasn''t over yet. A new flower budded in its ce, growing into a brand-new blue flower in a matter of moments that also entered a cycle of death. If it was a human that William targeted with this Spell, they would probably age an entire decade in just a few minutes, as long as William continued channeling Mana into the Spell. William wanted to keep messing around with the Time Dial, but there was plenty more for him to check, so he moved on to the two silver boxes that had already been opened. Each box only contained two unique items ording to the System, but the rewards did not disappoint. -Acquired 130x Star Ore: +6500 PP -Acquired Beast Core x20: +4000 PP -Acquired Advanced Book of Arrays: +5 PP -Acquired Book of Artifact Spirits: +5 PP William looked at the pile of Star Ore that covered the remainder of the items from the silver chest in awe, opting to read the System Messages rather than sort his items and count them manually. He already had quite a few Star Ore and some Beast Cores, which made William wonder why the trial continued to give them out as a reward. That''s a lot of forging materials. Is the trial creator just trying to get rid of his garbage, or is he trying to encourage me to learn how to create my own materials in a forge? There was even a book on Artifact Spirits, which with a cursory nce told William that he could create an Artifact Spirit of his own and imbue it into a forged item if he spent some of his Soul Power. The rewards truly did epass mostly forging, but William wasn''t upset. He now had 163 Star Ore, meaning he could create a massive amount of Starmetal weapons if he so chose. William dreamed of having an army of Starmetal Bow Puppets, sieging an entire nation with his overwhelming power and taking over the world. He could even enchant the Starmetal Bows if he learned how to do so, making the bows deal even more damage! If the dragons came to wipe him out, the Starmetal Bow Puppets would be an unstoppable force, the enchanted arrows piercing through the tough scales of the dragons. Of course, he didn''t truly want to take over the world, as that would be a lot of work and he had no interest in governing a Continent, but it was still a fun idea. William couldn''t hold in his excitement as his power continued to increase every day. William stored all of the items in his Space Rings, opting to sort them outter when he felt like it. He kept the Time Dial on his wrist, along with the Luck Pendant and the Tribtion Transcendence Protective Amulet. William now had three treasures, all quite powerful in their own regard, but nothingpared to the number of treasures that Yu Ren had used during her battle with William. Of course, his greatest treasure of all was the System, which gave him overpowered Talents such as Attack Reflection and Forcefield. With this thought, William checked the System Panel again for Talents to upgrade. With the bonuses from the silver boxes, William now had 42630 Potential Points, which was the most he had ever seen. Let''s do some of the smaller ones first. System, upgrade my Mana Regeneration Talent to S-Rank. -3750 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Mana Regeneration: (B --> A) Effects: Recover 65 Mana per hour >> Recover 130 Mana per hour Mana Regeneration: (A --> S) Effects: Recover 130 Mana per hour >> Recover 520 Mana per hour S-Rank Bonus Effect: Mana Regenerates twice as fast out ofbat. Next rank up: 7500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William had forgotten that the previous System upgrade said it would now include a description of the effects of the Talent when they were upgraded, meaning William no longer had to do very specific tests to figure out what had changed. Two upgrades basically doubled my Mana Regeneration, which should be around 880 if I count the effects of the Mana Dragon''s Blood Essences. Not only that, but it should be 1760 per hour while I''m not fighting! The bonus was incredible to think about, until William realized it would still take nearly an entire day to refill his Tribtion Transcendence Protective Amulet. Eh...Why not. System, upgrade my Mana Regeneration Again. It was an expensive upgrade, but William would always need Mana. -7500 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Mana Regeneration: (S --> SS) Effects: Recover 520 Mana per hour >> Recover 2080 Mana per hour . S-Rank Bonus Effect reced with SS-Rank Bonus Effect. SS-Rank Bonus Effect: Mana Regenerates three times as fast out ofbat. Next rank up: 15000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª A double S Rank Talent is actually insane! William couldn''t believe his eyes. He did the math quickly. If I''m holding the Mana Gathering Staff and I''m out ofbat, I should regenerate 5852 Mana per hour, meaning I can refill the Protective Amulet in a little more than 6 hours! This was more than good enough for William, who currently had a maximum Mana capacity of 2100 Mana. He could refill his entire Mana reserve in less than an hour, even while inbat. As long as he wasn''t using more than 48 Mana per minute, he would never run out! Chapter 166: Complete Runes Wait a minute...what does this mean for my Domains? William asked the System to do the math for him this time, since it would solve simple math problems for free. -Each of your Domains will cost 10 Mana to open, then an additional one Mana per second until it is closed. Your Mana Regeneration is 48.8 Mana per minute while inbat if holding the Mana Gathering Staff, meaning you will lose 11.2 Mana each minute not counting the initial opening cost that a single Domain remains open. William already knew the first part, but the System reiterated it anyway. System, how long would it take for me to run out of Mana if I had all five Domains open? -With five Domains open, you will lose 50 Mana immediately, then 56 Mana per minute. At this rate, you will run out of Mana after 36 minutes and 36 seconds. Half an hour with all of my domains open!William was overjoyed. He wished he could use his Domains in the Gravitas Ruins. If he could, he would have wiped the floor with those Cultivators after receiving his Mana Regeneration upgrade. He opted not to upgrade his Magic Talents to S-Rank yet, since he wouldn''t be able to use the Domains anyway. Instead, William focused on increasing his strength as fast as possible, since he had both the Envement Array to deal with and the threat of all the families of the Cultivators he just killed. William wasn''t naive enough to think that the Cultivators had died without resistance. Many of them were probably nobles, members Ancient Families, or the like. If it was anything like that token William found in the Space Mage''s Space Ring while he was in Blue Moon City, William had probably made an incredible number of enemies. While there were probably plenty of Cultivators with little backing, to enter the Gravitas Ruins was an incredible challenge, and not something a normal person could achieve. It was better to be safe than sorry. System, upgrade my Arrays Talent. -Mind Talent too low. Upgrade your Mind Talent to SS-Rank first. Ugh.William somewhat expected this since it had happenedst time. System, upgrade my Mind Talent to SS-Rank. -7500 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Mind: (S --> SS) Effects: Mental Capacity increased by 500% >> Mental Capacity increased by 2000% S-Rank Bonus Effect reced with SS-Rank Bonus Effect. SS-Rank Bonus Effect: High resistance to enemy memory-rted and mind-restricting abilities Next rank up: 15000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª With a four-times increase to William''s Mental Capacity, he no longer felt like he had a headache from all the Arrays he had learned in the simtion. He knew this wouldn''tst, since he nned to upgrade his Arrays immediately following this, but it was a good breath of fresh air. William also noticed that even though the Envement Array was still present on his body, he could nowpletely resist its orders, meaning the Sect Master couldn''t force him to give up his treasures no matter how hard he pushed William. This put William''s mind at ease, since he had been worried this whole time about the Sect Master giving him an unreasonable order or asking him to give up all the treasures, which he had spent an entire month earning. William''s next n was to remove the Envement Array entirely, since it could be used to track his location. But for that, he would need to find Glen and get his help. System, what was the previous S-Rank Effect from the Mind Talent? -The previous effect only provided a low resistance to memory-rted abilities. William nodded his head. This was probably the reason why he was able to remember Su Yanying''s face when he had first upgraded the Mind Talent to S-Rank. He moved on, asking the System to upgrade his Arrays Talent to SS-Rank since he had met the Mind Talent requirements. -2500 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Arrays: (S --> SS) Effects: Learned Rune Compression and Stacking >> Learned Complete Arrays S-Rank Bonus Effect reced with SS-Rank Bonus Effect. SS-Rank Bonus Effect: Simtion of one hundred years of experience with Arrays. Next rank up: 10000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William''s mind suddenly nked as his consciousness was sent to another unknown location. He couldn''t control his body at all, but it started moving on its own after a few seconds of pause. William''s Mana seemed to be exhausted like normal as he suddenly weaved a Perfect Rune together the same way he normally would. This Rune didn''t have any specific properties, which one might call a nk Rune. Once the Rune was formed, William made sixteen Perfect Runes of the same type, stacking them together like pieces of paper. Improved Perfect Runes? I already know this...William was somewhat bored at his own movements, but he knew the simtion wasn''t done yet. He just wanted it to get to the good part right away. He didn''t have to wait long. His body moved on its own as he set aside the sixteen stacked nk Runes, baffling William. How did the Runes not fall apart instantly? They don''t have a purpose and there''s no Mana funneling into them! A burst of knowledge suddenly filled William''s brain, exining the process in simple terms that he could understand. It turned out that since the Rune was made out of Perfect Arrays that were not imprinted with a specific function, they could remain idle for a few minutes while other Runes were prepared. This was important because there was a limit to how many Runes an Array Master could manipte at once. Even the best Array Masters would have trouble manipting more than 16 Runes at one time for a single Array. William continued to pay attention to his movements, watching as he weaved another set of 16 nk Runes. The second set was also set aside, followed by a third set. Once the fourth set of 16 Runes was created, William waved his hands, releasing four thin tendrils of Mana at the same time that attached to the bottomyer of each stack of nk Runes. Since all 16 nk Runes were interconnected in the stack, they could all be moved at the same time with the same amount of effort it would take to manipte four Runes. The simted William drew all 64 nk Runes together, at the same time forming a single Perfect Barrier Rune. This would give the 64 nk Runes their purpose, and act as the core. Since he was in a simtion, William didn''t earn any Potential Points for this yet, but his simted self had just created the first Complete Rune, which was one level above Perfect Runes. The simtion continued for a hundred years as promised, albeit sped up immensely. William didn''t truly feel as if a hundred years had passed, and his mind wasn''t able to wander to topics other than mastering the Arrays in front of him, so he didn''t truly mature by a hundred years, rather gained the experiences simr to one that had spent a hundred years practicing on Arrays. Not only did this include the ability to create Complete Runes and Complete Arrays, but it also taught William specific Arrays that he could create with these Runes, just like it did with the S-Rank Arrays Talent. William exited the simtion, his mind feeling somewhat cramped, but there was no constant headache. It seemed that even though he had learned a lot from the simtion, the content itself wasn''t incrediblyplex other than the creation of Complete Runes. William had learned how to disable the Envement Array with his most recent upgrade, and even remove it if he so wished, but the process would be very time-consuming, so William still opted to go with Glen''s n. He looked at his System Panel, searching for other Talents to upgrade with his just over 21 thousand Potential Points. First, he spent 2700 Potential Points upgrading his Lightning and Water Elements to S-Rank, just to even out the basic Elements. This move led to a pleasant surprise in the form of a title upgrade, which reassured William that his choice was the correct one. --Upgraded Title: +50 Potential Points -Seven Colored Mage (Epic -> Legendary): You''ve acquired seven Common Elements and raised them all to S-Rank. Spells are 20% more Mana Efficient. With the additional 10% bonus to his Mana Efficiency, each of his Domains should now cost 9 Mana to open instead of 10, and 54 Mana per minute instead of 60. It didn''t seem like much overall, but the effects were obvious once it was put into practice. If William could hold five Domains open for a bit over 36 minutes before, he could now do so for a bit over 38 minutes, which was a big deal in a fast-paced battle! With all of his basic Elements upgraded, William moved on to a few other Talents that he had been meaning to upgrade for a while. Both of which were still at the lowly D-Rank and deserved some attention. Chapter 167: Talent Upgrades, Cultivation? System, upgrade my Ranged Weapons Master Talent to A-Rank. William would have pushed the Talent straight to S-Rank, but William didn''t want to waste so many Potential Points all at once. -1600 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Ranged Weapons Master: (D --> C) Effects: Damage, fire/reload rate, and uracy with ranged weapons +30% >> +50% Ranged Weapons Master: (C --> B) . Effects: Damage, fire/reload rate, and uracy with ranged weapons +50% >> +75% Ranged Weapons Master: (B --> A) Effects: Damage, fire/reload rate, and uracy with ranged weapons +75% >> +150% Next rank up: 5000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª In addition to the damage and uracy bonuses, William learned how to better use various ranged weapons. He gained an ideal understanding of how he should be using each ranged weapon and in what situation, as well as reloading, storage, and maintenance techniques for each weapon. The Epic Talent seemed much more useful in this aspect, since his other weapon-rted Talents weren''t as in-depth on their use. At most, he was taught stances and movement techniques that applied to the melee weapons, but there wasn''t any exnation on how to maintain their condition. William was overjoyed that the cost of upgrading his Ranged Weapons Master Talent wasn''t exceptionally high until he reached the S-Rank upgrade. There was, however, one piece of information that confused William when he checked the upgrade effects. I understand damage being able to go above one hundred percent, but how does uracy? Isn''t it just the same bonus? he decided to ask the System on this, which provided the answer for free. -uracy can be lowered by various factors including poor visibility from fog or darkness, structures, or even mud being thrown in your eyes. uracy above one hundred percent affects these factors, ensuring that you still hit the mark even while vision-impaired. Does that mean my arrows will hit even if I fire in the opposite direction? -No. With your current Rank, your body will automatically lock onto whichever target you intend to shoot at, automatically adjusting your position depending on the target''s speed and eleration or deceleration. William found part of the System''s exnation confusing, but he understood the gist of what it was saying. He pulled out a Starmetal Bow to test its upgraded effects, nocking a wooden arrow in the blink of an eye while choosing his target from among the various nts hanging from the ceiling. William chose a piece of hanging moss in the back corner of the room, his body automatically adjusting his position and firing an arrow the moment his intention was known. The arrow whistled through the air at great speed, piercing through the moss and embedding itself in the wall behind. It''s not as game changing as the Forcefield Talent, but definitely isn''t a bad Epic Talent. William gave the Talent a mental thumbs-up, satisfied with its new effects. With the help of the Ranged Weapons Master Talent, William''s arrows would probably pierce a Forest Dragon''s scales if he met with one in the Nascent Soul Realm again. He might even have a chance of damaging a peak Nascent Soul Magical Beast if it didn''t have good defensive abilities, but William was only specting. He had no intention of going head-to-head against anything higher than the middle stages of the Nascent Soul Realm. System, upgrade my eleration Talent to S-Rank. The System acknowledged the upgrade, charging William a total of 1375 Potential Points. William wasn''t bothered with the specific stat boosts from the eleration Talent, but the S-Rank bonus effect was both intriguing and seemingly useless at the same time. S-Rank Bonus Effect: Moving faster than the speed of sound does not trigger any soundwaves and instead creates additional afterimages. That kinda sucks, but at least I''m even faster now.William thought to himself. With greatly increased eleration, William could now reach his top speed in less than a second, making it seem as if he was teleporting if one wasn''t paying close attention. He looked at the remainder of his Talents, deciding to save five thousand for upgrading Atticus and another two thousand for emergencies. This left William with around ten thousand Potential Points he was willing to spend. Raising the other Weapon Talents would be a waste in William''s opinion, since he would probably be required to upgrade them all if he had the option to fuse them. System, upgrade my Forcefield Talent to S-Rank. -5000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Forcefield: (A --> S) Effects: Defensive Ability +300% >> +500% S-Rank Bonus Effect: Shape of Forcefield can be modified at will, as long as it does not exceed previous range limits when expanding or contracting. Next rank up: 10000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William felt the Forcefield automatically turn on, expanding to a range of twenty-five meters in the blink of an eye. He willed it to condense into a square, then a triangle, then even a spear that pointed forward. It seemed at first to be another Talent with a weak S-Rank Talent, but William quickly realized this would be great in battle. If an enemyunched a spell at him that would clearly miss but had explosive power, he could save some energy of the Forcefield by changing its shape and allowing the spell to pass by William. He put one thousand Potential Points each into his Potential Farms, deciding it wouldn''t be a bad time to raise them both to E-Rank. He was left with ten thousand Potential Points left, so William decided he would spend a good amount of it on the Stealth Talent. System, upgrade my Stealth Talent to S-Rank. -3000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Stealth: (A --> S) Effects: Reduced Mana Signature and improved the effectiveness of stealth techniques by +100% >> +200% S-Rank Bonus Effect: Turnpletely invisible at the expense of 1 Spirit Qi per second. Next rank up: 7500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Invisibility? Finally!William was overjoyed to see that his Stealth Talent now allowed him topletely remove his presence. He hoped that upgrading the Talent to S-Rank would be good enough for while. William''s smile disappeared when he realized that he couldn''t activate the invisibility ability. He reread the System information, discovering that he hadn''t paid close enough attention. The invisibility effect required Spirit Qi, and not Mana. Something that William didn''t have ess to yet. Wait a minute, I CAN use Spirit Qi. I just need a bit of time!William immediately knew what to spend the remainder of his Potential Points on. System, upgrade my Cultivation Talent using two thousand Potential Points. -1625 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Cultivation: (E --> D) Effects: Cultivation Speed +30% >> +80% Cultivation: (D --> C) Effects: Cultivation Speed +80% >> +140% Cultivation: (C --> B) Effects: Cultivation Speed +140% >> +275% Cultivation: (B --> A) Effects: Cultivation Speed +275% >> +550% Next rank up: 5000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William''s eyes bulged when he saw the bonuses given to him by the Cultivation Talent.Five hundred and fifty percent?!? That''s insane! Even though he had expected this to happen once he acquired the Cultivation Talent, William was still surprised at the effects. Was it because the Cultivation Talent was Epic Rank? If it fell into the Common Talent category, would the effects be diminished? William sat cross legged to Cultivate by absorbing the surrounding Mana. He used a specific Cultivation Technique that he had learned from the Great Hall, known as "Fire Storm." While he was in the Sect, William had chosen the "Fire Storm" Cultivation Technique since it would allow him to recover Mana more quickly, but now that his Mana Regeneration was SS-Rank, there was no need for that. Despite this, it was the best Cultivation Technique he had ess to right now. He couldn''t reference the "Molten Skies" Technique that seemed better right now, since he didn''t own the book and reading the contents would have deleted them from that book. It was unfortunate, but William would rather begin Cultivating now before any other mishaps took ce. Before he did so, William spent an hour and a half to create a Complete Rune, followed by a Complete Array. -Formed your first Complete Rune: +250 PP -Formed your first Complete Array: +1000 PP It was a quick 1250 Potential Points, which William wasn''t worried about spending at the moment. He refocused his attention on following the instructions written in the Cultivation Technique, absorbing the surrounding Mana and converting tiny strands of it into Spirit Qi. ording to the System it would usually take a Cultivator an entire day to figure out this first step of Cultivation, but since William was using a stronger than average Cultivation Technique and had a 550% bonus from his Talent, he was able to convert his first strand of Mana into Spirit Qi within an hour. The effects were instantly noticable. Once the thin strand of Spirit Qi began to circte throughout his body, William felt a painful sensation in an area close to his stomach. A dantian had formed, which looked like a small blue orb that was located within his body. -Absorbed your first Spirit Qi: +5 PP William knew all about dantians, having read about them in novels. Despite this, he didn''t want to risk misunderstanding how they worked, so he asked the System to give him a thorough exnation. While the System prepared a response to William''s question, another message appeared. -Unlocked the shackles of your mortal body: +50 PP Chapter 168: Dantian, Breakthrough Already? The moment William saw the System Message pop up, he felt a painful sensation run throughout his entire body. The pain wasn''t very intense, scoring about a 2 on the pain scale, but it was noticeable. Considering how much pain I''ve felt over thest few months, coupled with my Mind Talent, I''m surprised I even felt anything...William thought to himself while evaluating his condition. The System''s response came at this time, having taken a few seconds longer than William expected. -In other Worlds, there are three Dantians: the lower, middle, and upper Dantian respectively. Each of these Dantians are located in a different part of the body and serve a different purpose. In this World, however, only the lower Dantian exists. -The lower Dantian serves as a storage area for Spirit Qi, increasing in storage space as one''s Cultivation progresses. As the Dantian fills, the Cultivator can spend stored Spirit Qi to break through to the next level or Realm. -When a Cultivator breaks through to the next Realm, their Dantian absorbs the energy of the Tribtion to improve itself, expanding both its maximum storage and its defensive ability. -The Dantian is the strongest part of a Cultivator''s body with this World''s set of rules, so it should be nearly impossible to break as your Cultivation progresses. If the Dantian does break, both your Cultivation and all of the stored Spirit Qi will be lost. William didn''t expect for the upper and middle Dantians not to exist in this World. He assumed theirck of existence was the reason why the lower Dantian was so strong, since it would essentially absorb a hundred percent of the benefits from the Tribtion during a breakthrough. He thanked the System, returning to his own physical assessment. Compared to the Talent upgrades, William didn''t know exactly what had changed. He had to physically test each ability out himself or spend a dozen Potential Points to ask the System for specific data, which was more expensive than William cared for, even if he did have thousands of Potential Points right now. After around ten minutes, William still had little clue what had changed about himself. His strength and speed seemed to have improved, but the change was so minimal that he almost didn''t notice. In the cavern it was hard to test whether or not his vision had improved, but since the Talent was only B-Rank yet he could make out finer details on the opposite wall, William had a feeling that it did. So it''s mostly just basic physical and mental abilities. It makes sense. William didn''t have high hopes for the Qi Refinement Realm, since his strength had surpassed that long ago, but the main bonus was his lifespan, which had increased from 240 years to 250. It was only a ten-year difference, but he knew that the increase was exponential at higher Realms. Just as he scrolled through his Status, another System Message popped up. -Detected the Host has begun Cultivating. Reorganizing Status Panel... --Unlocked Extended Statistic: +3 Potential Points -Cultivation Base: Disys the current and maximum storage of the Host''s Dantian. William''s Status Panel refreshed, the updated sections appearing in front of him first. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Human -Age: 41 -Lifespan: 250 Years -Cultivation: Qi Refinement 1 (1/20 to breakthrough) Stay with m _v _l _e _mp _y _r. STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 400/400 -Mana: 2108/2200 -Fame: 100 -Humanity: 98 -Attention: 1 -Soul Strength: 51 -Cultivation Base: 1/500 ¡ª¡ª¡ª In addition to the new Status Panel, William noticed that his Health had gone up from 350 to 400 and his Mana reserves had increased by another hundred. He hadn''t checked the statistic in a while, so he wasn''t sure if the Health portion had happened just now or much earlier while he was in the trial tower, but his change in maximum Mana was definitely from his Cultivation. Either way it was a good thing, making William excited for future Cultivation. William still had 6813 Potential Points left, but he had already spent as many Points as he was willing to for today. He brought out Atticus, then made food for the both of them before continuing with his Cultivation. Judging by the System Panel, his Dantian could store at most five hundred Spirit Qi, while the requirements to break through to Qi Refinement 2 would be twenty Spirit Qi. Considering he had condensed a thread of Spirit Qi in just an hour, he should be able to reach the next level in less than a day. Damn, now I kinda want to upgrade my Cultivation Talent again...William thought as he imagined the amount of time it would take to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm. Sorry Atticus. System, upgrade my Cultivation Talent. It didn''t take long for him to make the decision. He would still be in the Gravitas Ruins for another month, so setting aside five thousand points would probably be a waste. -5000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Cultivation: (A --> S) Effects: Cultivation Speed +550% >> +1200% S-Rank Bonus Effect: Chance of Enlightenment increased by 10%. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Enlightenment? What is that, System? -Request requires 4 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. -Enlightenment happens to Cultivators under extremely rare circumstances while either Cultivating or fighting. When Enlightened, one usually gains insights on how to improve on either Cultivation or fighting Techniques. William understood immediately. If he was fighting with a strong Cultivator and was suddenly Enlightened, he might instantaneously improve upon a Spell or Weapon-Rted Technique. At the same time, if William was Cultivating, he might discover how his own Cultivation Technique can be improved, increasing his Cultivation speed or even gaining additional bonuses that the Technique didn''t have before. It seemed really overpowered! He didn''t miss the part where the System said that Enlightenment was extremely rare. A ten percent increase might not even be that impressive, so William didn''t get his hopes up. He continued Cultivating, his speed having increased by over double, which allowed him to create a strand of Spirit Qi in less than half an hour. As he became more skilled in converting the Mana, his speed increased slightly further to one Spirit Qi per twenty minutes. At this rate, William had gained enough Spirit Qi to break through in just seven hours. If any outsider were to see William''s Cultivation speed, they might puke blood in shock. Normally, a Cultivator would need at least a month to go from Qi Refinement 1 to 2 using a basic Cultivation Technique. Some of the rarer Techniques, such as the one that William had gained from the Five Elements Sect, would improve that speed to just two weeks. Even the most Talented Cultivators would need at least three days to reach the next level, meaning William had surpassed even geniuses by more than six times! It wasn''t incredibly surprising though, considering William had the help of the Potential System. Without its support, William would need around three weeks to break through, even if he still had the same Cultivation Technique. He didn''t hesitate and chose to break through to the second level. His physical abilities improved again, this time slightly more noticeable than before. Since his Physical Talents gave both a base and a percentage improvement, his abilities would improve faster as his Cultivation climbed. William''s Cultivation Base didn''t increase, remaining at a maximum of five hundred, but the requirements to reach Qi Refinement 3 rose from twenty to thirty Spirit Qi. He spent the remainder of the night Cultivating, converting another fourteen Spirit Qi before opting to go to sleep. As a Cultivator, William was able to stay up nearly a full day without needing sleep. With the Sleep Resistance Talent, he could go for much longer, but it wasn''t beneficial to his Cultivation. Damn, and I thought Cultivation counted as sleep...Williamined in his mind after spending an extra ten minutes trying to refine a strand of Spirit Qi. It was obvious that his efficiency had gone down after a while, so he switched his n and spent an hour partially refilling his Tribtion Transcendence Protective Amulet. He didn''tpletely fill the Amulet, but some progress was better than none. William went to bed, uncaring of whether it was day or night outside. Since he was in a cavern, it didn''t really matter either way. He forgot to set up Arrays to conceal himself, but it turned out to be unnecessary as Atticus was keeping an eye out and the chances of someone entering a trial that had already been cleared were incredibly low, unless they were specifically searching for William. While there were still around a thousand Cultivators throughout the Gravitas Ruins that would like to see William dead, they had already learned of his ruthlessness firsthand. No one would challenge him again without the confidence to counter his nearly inexhaustible Arrays and overpowered Attack Reflection Talent. William woke up after seven hours of sleep feeling refreshed and ready to go. Despite the fact that he didn''t like Cultivating, William had to admit that its effects were quite useful, especially concerning sleep and eating. Chapter 169: Revenge William spent the next two days Cultivating while spending the breaks to refill his Protective Amulet. He hadn''t broken through yet, but he now had 86 Spirit Qi stored in his Dantian, which should be enough for him to break through two levels at once. Hepleted hisst round of Cultivation and went ahead with the double breakthrough. He used up seventy Spirit Qi in total, further improving his physical abilities while his Mana Reserves increased by another 200 Mana. His Status showed that his Health had also increased by another hundred points, confirming his earlier guess. It seemed that each breakthrough in the Qi Refinement Realm applied a very specific boost to his stats, which made it easier for William to be ustomed to the changes in his body. William checked through his Gravitas Ruins Ticket to see how much time had passed, finding that it was now day 33. His two Potential Farms had earned him fifteen Potential Points each per day, providing a total of sixty Points. Since the previous Rank earned William three Potential Points per day, this meant his earnings had increased by five times, while the price to upgrade had increased by ten times. He still considered this manageable though, since it would only take two months for a Potential Farm to pay itself off. With his increased knowledge of the world around him, William knew that earning Potential Points would be harder and harder as he became stronger. Unless he could upgrade his Titles, find treasures, orplete System Quests, William was doomed to spend a lot of time waiting for enough Potential Points to improve his Talents in the future. Cultivating is boring, let''s break through and get some fresh air.William thought to himself as he patted Atticus'' scales while the snake was coiled up on the ground. The snake tilted its nose up towards William''s hand, seemingly smiling in content at his Master''s touch. It slithered up William''s arm, wrapping itself around his shoulder as William walked outside the cavern. me Dragon Uri was waiting for William on an ind in the center of theke, since the dragon didn''t like the sensation of being wet. As William approached Uri, the dragon''s eyes widened slightly in surprise. "You''ve be stronger, Master." the dragon''s deep voice spread across the small ind even though it wasn''t trying to be loud. "A little bit." William replied as he scratched his head. Uri could tell that William''s improvement wasn''t as small as he imed, but he didn''t say anything more. Dragons had good instincts for their opponent''s strength, and William''s aura was overbearing enough to pressure him. When hepared it to before...it couldn''t bepared! When they were in the trial tower, William gave off a pressure equivalent to a child facing an adult. Now, however, Uri''s instincts were telling him that William could actually damage him if he wasn''t careful! William noticed Uri''s expression was a bit odd, but he couldn''t be bothered to ask what was on his mind. "Let''s go." he said. "Where are we going, Master?" "I have a few loose ends to tie up. Specifically in the form of a thousand idiots that dared to attack me in broad daylight." the time of day didn''t really matter, but William thought it would sound cooler if he worded it that way. Uri hadn''t spent much time with William, so he took his words seriously and nodded. Atticus shook his head, aware of his Master''s antics and seemingly ashamed of his corny phrases. As the group traveled on a return trip to the Labyrinth of Tears, William and me Dragon Uri discussed strategy. "Master, what do you want me to do when we arrive?" Wiliam thought for a moment, "You were the trial on the second floor of the tower. You''re very skilled in detection, correct?" "I am not, actually." the dragon shook its head. "In fact, detection is my weakest aspect. It''s only because the weak Cultivators are so poor at concealing their auras that I can discover them at all. Against someone even one Realm below me, I won''t notice their presence at all unless they release killing intent or intentionally reveal themselves." So that''s why a Soul Formation Magical Beast was ced as the main enemy in a Stealth Trial. Its strength is impressive, but its detection abilities are anything but! William nodded his head, "It should still be enough. Can you do me a favor and fly above the Labyrinth and help me locate other Cultivators?" He tried to keep his tone respectful, despite the fact that me Dragon Uri was his subordinate. William felt it was the right thing to do, especially since the dragon was much stronger than him. "Of course, Master." the dragon had no reason to refuse such a simple order, not to mention William''s incredible growth meant he would soon surpass him in ability. It was better to gain favor with William now before he acquired other Magical Beasts aspanions. Once the group reached the entrance to the Labyrinth, Uri did as he was asked and searched from the sky for groups of Cultivators. With his helpbined with the Navigation Talent, William didn''t even need to use the Life Element to find his targets. He settled on a group of twenty Cultivators. Since their group was sorge, William assumed it was a remnant of the alliances that were formed to take down William. They had to go as soon as possible. William didn''t bother creating any Complete Arrays, since that would be quite extravagant for dealing with small fry. Instead, he used two different improved Perfect Confinement Arrays, one designed to cover arge area, and the other fine-tuned to only restrict a Cultivator''s hand movements. The moment the Arrays were activated, the group of twenty Cultivators stopped. _em _pyr. "Fuck, what is this?" one of them shouted. "It''s an enemy attack!" another replied as they noticed William standing only a few dozen meters away. The Cultivator wondered how they hadn''t noticed William''s presence before, but he didn''t have much time to think about it before Will shed to his position with the Space Element and absorbed his Mana with the Mana Gathering Staff. The other Cultivators'' hands dropped loosely to their sides as the Arrays glowed, while their entire bodies felt like they were stuck in a vat of honey, having to use every ounce of their energy to move forward. Their expressions became fearful as they realized the predicament they were in. William shed from one Cultivator to another, absorbing their Mana one at a time with a leisurely pace. After the fourth Cultivator''s Mana was absorbed, the Mana Gathering Staff lit up, the Staff extending by about half a meter as a second seal was removed. The abilities of the Staff increased from twenty to thirty percent, improving William''s Magic Power, Mana Regeneration, Mana Control, and Concentration by an additional ten percent. William shed forward with the Space Element to the next target but misjudged the improvement in Magic Power and ended up teleporting too far ahead. He turned around in the blink of an eye and ced his hands on his hips, doing his best to make it seem like the act was on purpose. "Surrender now, I won''t kill you." he said to the group of sixteen conscious Cultivators. The four whose Mana had been absorbed were currently knocked out, having suffered from the aftereffects of Mana Sickness. The group immediately surrendered themselves, dipping their heads in shame as William approached each of them one-by-one and absorbed their Mana. Unfortunately for the group, William didn''t say anything about not stealing their treasures. When the Cultivators woke up, they found themselves both naked and missing their Space Rings. Having lost all of their valuables, a few of the Cultivators cried. Even their Gravitas Ruins Tickets were gone, meaning they would have topensate their Sect, but how could they do it when all their money was also stolen? What a cruel world! *** Four days passed, William bing a few hundred Space Rings richer, his Mana Gathering Staff unlocking another Seal, and the Labyrinth of Tears bing filled with literal tears as Cultivators lost all of their valuables. William found the interaction to be karma, considering these Cultivators had originally nned to steal his hard-earned treasures after he left the trial tower. It was only fair that they expect the same to happen to them. Fria, who had been in the Labyrinth of Tears this entire time, heard many rumors of William''s ruthlessness and pouted. She had been collecting loot from various Cultivators herself, with a n to trade the treasures with William in exchange for his loyalty. Unfortunately for her, even this n had failed epically since William would no longer need treasures past this point. At least, not any treasures that she could provide him. This was the third failed attempt at recruiting him, and Fria felt it was probably time to give up on it until she became even stronger. During William''s battle with thousands of Cultivators, Fria had seen everything, but she had only managed to disable a few dangerous traps and save William some Mana but didn''t have arge impact on the fight. How can I catch up to him?? Fria thought to herself as she sifted through a few random Space Rings that she owned. Chapter 170: Freedom "Master, what should we do now? It seems the other humans are wary of you and intentionally avoiding the Labyrinth. If we spend too much time here, there won''t be enough time to clear the other trial towers." Uri said afternding on the ground and furling his wings. William looked at the me Dragon ahead, "There are other trial towers like the one in the Labyrinth?" "Yes Master, there are two more towers, and plenty of loot inside each of them." he responded with a sigh. Uri knew there wasn''t enough time to clear both towers, but the dragon started to drool when he thought about the number of treasures hidden within each tower. Dragons were greedy by nature, almostparable to William''s loot goblin tendencies. Many books depicted dragons as treasure hoarders that stored all of their items in arge room, sometimes even covering themselves with glittering jewels and shiny coins. This World wasn''t an exception. The only difference was that many dragons here had their own Space Rings, forged by the mes of dragon''s breath and inscribed with powerful Runes by the few rare dragons that had knowledge of Arrays. Given the size of their bodies, the amount of material required was immense to create a Space Ring, but no dragon couldin since there was much more room inside a Space Ring that could fit on their ws. Every dragon would make a trip within the first hundred years of their life to the dragon Array Masters to receive their specialized Space Ring, and me Dragon Uri wasn''t an exception. He stroked the old Space Ring on his left w, the reminder that he had collected thousands of rare treasures over the years easing his mind. He looked at William, who seemed lost in thought. Two more trial towers? I can''t say that I''m not interested, but there''s not enough time...Not only that, but I''m still waiting for him to show up... William''s mind wandered from ce to ce as he considered what Uri had said. William raised his head, "I still need to wait for someone." "Wait for who?" Uri asked. William exined everything about Sect Master Gu Dianlong and how he was enved for being too high-profile. As me Dragon Uri listened, he became angrier and angrier about William''s situation. "That piece of shit! How could you not be high profile when he wanted you to ce first in thepetition?!? That''s just counter-intuitive! Not only that, but to enve you as punishment is way too extreme!" the dragon red his nostrils as he spoke. William covered his ears to avoid losing his hearing. He nodded his head once Uri had finished, "I know, but what''s even worse was Supreme Left''s response. He was thinking about killing me just because I beat his granddaughter in a duel!" The more the conversation went on, the more ridiculous the whole situation sounded. Uri raised a w and sent a strand of Mana into William''s body, inspecting the Envement Array that had restricted his moves and actions up until recently. "I can deal with this, but it will take me at least three days, even with my Cultivation Base." the dragon said. "Really?" William was surprised, he expected the dragon to be able to deal with his problem but didn''t think it would still take so long. Were even Soul Formation Cultivators so limited on Mana or was there another factor? "Absolutely. It would be best to do this in a safe area, though, since I will have to put all of my focus into giving you my Mana. Sorry Master...If I was a human, the process might have been easier for you..." William waved his hand, "Your help is more than enough to ease my mind. Thank you, Uri. And you don''t have to call me Master, just say Will or William." "Yes, Master William." "Sigh..." William used arge amount of Earth Mana to dig out a pit in the Labyrinthrge enough to fit both him and me Dragon Urifortably. He then reconstructed the roof and spent an hour creating Arrays that would eliminate all traces of their presence. If anyone came within a kilometer of their location, William would be the first to know. He made sure all of the Arrays were active, then sat down cross legged. Uri took a deep breath, inhaling the ambient Mana in the air as if he was a vacuum, then converted it into waves of Spirit Qi and channeled it into William''s body simultaneously. William was awestruck as he saw hundreds of strands of Spirit Qi formed in an instant. He opened his mouth to ask about Uri''s Cultivation Technique, but his voice turned into a scream as a sharp pain spread throughout his entire body. "Ouch!" William yelled out loud. He was caught off guard by the Spirit Qi, not expecting the process of removing the Envement Array to hurt. Uri closed his mouth and stopped channeling Spirit Qi into William. "Master William, are you alright? I can iste the pain for you but the process might take an extra day." . William was touched by Uri''s heartfelt words, "No need. This pain is nothing, I was just surprised." "Are you sure?" "Yes, you can continue now." William waved his hand to the side to stress his stance. "As you wish, Master William." Uri opened his maw and began inhaling Mana again. The vortex of Mana spun at high speeds as it was rapidly converted and transferred to William. This time, William didn''t release any screams, only grunting asionally when the pain spiked. The Spirit Qi strands collected near his chest and began infusing themselves into the Envement Array, battling with the opposing Mana inside. As Uri''s Spirit Qi gained the upper hand, the Envement Array began to dim. The edges of the Array became dark, devoid of the opposing Mana. Many hours passed, beads of sweat forming on Uri''s forehead as the dragon hadn''t worked so hard in a long time. He did his best to maintain the current state of the Envement Array but ended up taking a break after a day and a half. By the end of the second day, William''s Envement Array had beenpletely removed, no longer feeling the presence of the Five Elements Sect Master on his brain. He thanked Uri profusely for his help, who seemedpletely drained of energy and his Cultivation level seemed a bit unstable. William didn''t know this, but me Dragon Uri had regressed two levels in the Soul Formation Realm, from level 4 to level 2. Since there were six stages in the Soul Formation Realm, Uri had lost almost a third of his Realm in Cultivation, just so he could assist William with an Envement Array faster. If me Dragon Uri hadn''t been weak from being in the trial tower so long, or if he had been patient when giving William Spirit Qi, he would have not suffered as much. s, Uri''s loyalty to William and his greed for more treasures led the dragon to hasten his work. Normally, the removal of such aplicated Envement Array would take weeks, even for a Soul Formation Cultivator. Since Uri had burned some of his own Cultivation Base, however, his speed was more than ten times that! Perhaps if William knew what Uri had done for him, he would have been even more thankful, and even a bit guilty, but Uri had no intentions of bringing it up. If William could increase his strength further, he would probably be a match for Uri in just a few years! That was an insane idea when one talked about theparison between a human and a dragon, but Uri had seen humans do crazier things. His old Master was a great example of this, having battled the entire Dragon Continent by himself. If William was already so strong, perhaps in the future he would be an even stronger human than Riyald. Maybe William would manage to seed where others had failed time and time again... Uri''s eyes refocused to see William standing in front of him with a slightly worried expression. "Dragon Uri, are you alright?" William asked. "Ha! I''m more than alright, removing that pesky Array was but a simple task for a powerful dragon like me!" Uri bellowed with pride as he raised his maw and released a small jet of mes. The roof turned red hot and began melting, but neither William nor Uri were worried. They both had incredible fire resistance and a bit ofva was but a hot shower for the two of them. William had noticed just now that even his Fire Resistance had improved since he began Cultivating, mostly because of the improvements given to his Fire Affinity, which implied that most of his abilities should have also been improved in some way. If all of my Magic and all of my physical abilities get stronger as I Cultivate, just how strong will I be before I leave this Ruins? Chapter 171: Contact William rode on Uri''s back as he flew through the hole he had created with his me breath. When theynded, William removed his Arrays and restored the area to its previous state. It didn''t really matter if he left the pit as it was, but he didn''t want to chance any Cultivators studying the functions of his Arrays, lest they learn how to counter them in the future. I guess we don''t need to see Glen anymore. "Uri, can you point the way to the next trial tower?" William asked. "I can take you directly there, Master William." Uri said as he unfurled his wings a second time. "Are you sure? I am perfectly fine with walking." William didn''t want to damage the me Dragon''s pride. Who knew if Uri would resent him for itter? "I insist, get on my back." William nodded and didn''t bother asking further. Just as he jumped on Uri''s back, William activated his Life Sense, surprised to find that someone was approaching from a few kilometers away. Uri also noticed the movements of an unknown Cultivator. "Master, should we kill them?" "No need, let''s just go." William replied. Uri took flight while William used his Vision Talent to look at the Cultivator from afar, recognizing it to be Glen. Oh well, I don''t need to see you anymore.William waved in Glen''s direction as the two flew in a certain direction parallel to the Labyrinth of Tears and the desert. Glen looked up to see a man riding a dragon, but they were so far away he couldn''t possibly make out the man''s face. He checked an item in his Space Ring, confirming William''s presence was still in the direction he was looking. As the dragon flew into the distance, William''s presence also traveled further away. Glen gnashed his teeth, knowing he had just missed his target. Worse yet, he was notified a few hours ago that William''s Envement Array had been disabled. For mid-level members of his organization like him, scenarios like these were the worst possible oue. It would now fall on him to restore William''s Envement Array, or he would be severely punished! Since William had escaped from the Array on his own, that meant Glen''s Qi Orb would no longer be valuable enough to trade for William''s treasures. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Glen stopped his movements and took out a specializedmunicator to contact his organization. It was incredibly expensive, but this just showed how powerful his group waspared to various Sects. always on m|vl|e|mp|y|r Unless they were one-in-a-thousand-years geniuses, Sects wouldn''t bother giving out such a valuablemunicator. The line rang, picked up in just a few moments by a fragile male voice, "Hello?" "It''s Glen, can you connect me with the boss?" "Sure thing." a click could be heard before themunication was transferred. "What is it?" "It''s Glen, Sir. I couldn''t catch up to the escapee. It appears he has befriended a dragon that is at least in the Nascent Soul Realm and is currently flying towards the northern edge of the Gravitas Ruins." "William escaped? And he''s flying on a dragon?" the man on the other end responded in surprise. Did he get the dragon from the trial tower? I need to let Master ck know immediately! "Yes. What would you like me to do?" "This is out of your hands. Forget about William and focus on the others." he hung up the call after giving out an order. Glen''s boss dialed a different number on his ownmunicator, connecting with Master ck. He ryed the information Glen gave in minute detail, then waited a few minutes for a response from the Master. "This William person seems to be favored by the trial creator. This matter is to be kept secret between you and me. Do not alert the other Region Leaders of William''s situation." he pressed his fingers to his head while deep in thought. If the other Region Leaders found out that William was the trial creators'' favorite, they would immediately target him the moment he left the Gravitas Ruins. Master ck was not going to allow someone else to enve William and gain ess to whatever treasures he earned! He gathered up a few items on his desk and packed them into his Space Ring. He had a Space Mage assistant open up a portal to an unknown location close to the Gravitas Ruins, ready to step in at a moment''s notice if William left the Ruins early. Someone else stepped through the portal just as it was closing. It was the red-clothed Region Leader. "You rarely go out on your own anymore, what''s the asion?" the red-cloaked man said while stroking a long white beard that had seemingly grown in overnight. "Nothing, just getting a breath of fresh air." "Near the Gravitas Ruins, and underground at that? What an interesting taste in air you have..." "Tch. You don''t have to analyze everything I do, old Garon." Master ck cursed under his breath at the old man''s foresight. He knew the old man couldn''t help it, given his Dream Affinity, but it was still annoying to say the least. "As if you''re one to talk, you calctive fool. Also, I thought we weren''t using our real names out in the open, Tenebris." Garon replied with a slight frown. He wanted Tenebris to feel as if he owed him something for sharing his name while outside the organization''s headquarters. "There''s no one here, and we aren''t in the open. There''s no need for such petty revenge here." Tenebris was specifically referring to Garon''s fake sense of hurt and his choice to also use first names when speaking. "Isn''t that what the organization is all about?" "Ha. We are called Retribution, not Revenge or Avengers. It''s much more than that, it''s a deration that we will right the wrongs and punish those who further destabilize the natural functions of the world! Those damn Sects that have opposed each other for hundreds of years, yet nevermit to destroying one another no matter the consequence; it''s shameful to say the least! That''s why I formed this organization almost a hundred years ago when I was but a young man, and that''s why I have shared my abilities with you who are not even a part of my family. I have worked hard to maintain a good rtionship with the Yu Royal Family, biding my time. We are descended from the Heavens, we are the chosen ones! We are meant to restore the world to the way it''s supposed to be, where Yin and Yang meet and bnce is restored! No more indecisiveness, no more pause. If the Sects want to fight, then fight!" The red-cloaked old man had heard this speech before, his eyes drooping as he became tired from Tenebris'' boring voice. "Yeah yeah, I get it. But you could have at least chosen a more suitable name. Retribution makes us sound like those fools from the Pirs of Justice." "Ha, don''t lump us in with those idiots." Tenebris frowned deeply as he remembered the pricks that always ordered him around whenever he was reporting to Supreme Left. While both Retribution and the Pirs of Justice had a rtionship with the Yu Royal Family, only the Pirs of Justice openly did so. Retribution''s purpose was only to maintain order in the Azures Continent, but the group had be more and more powerful in recent years. It was only natural that the group would have their eyes on the throne next. Seeing that Tenebris was about tounch into another long lecture about the history of the organization and their qualms with the Yu Royal Family, Goran decided now was the best chance to take his leave. "I''ll be off then, Master ck." he dialed a number on hismunicator and requested for a return portal to be opened. Tenebris only nodded, not moving until both Goran''s presence and attention had left the room. "Finally. I had to enter fanatic mode just to get rid of that old bastard." Tenebris muttered to himself as he removed a few treasures from his Space Ring. Dozens of Artifacts containing powerful detection, concealment, and barrier Arrays were activated. Tenebris set down a few hundred Mana Stones to power them in case something happened, then sat down cross legged to Cultivate in silence. At his level, Tenebris would take dozens of years just to improve by one level, but progress was progress. It was better to Cultivate and further extend his lifespan than to waste his time on worldly matters. With Tenebris'' intense focus on Cultivation, it was a wonder how he managed to get married and have a child, much less run an organization like Retribution. His eyes glowed with a blue light as thousands of strands of Spirit Qi were formed instantaneously, seemingly from thin air. The process was so fast that an outsider wouldn''t even be able to see the Mana being converted into Spirit Qi. Tenebris smiled in satisfaction at the refreshing feeling of Spirit Qi entering his body. I wonder how my son is doing... Chapter 172: Lets Make A Deal "We''re here," me Dragon Uri said as they approached a tall tower just like the one in the center of the Labyrinth of Tears. "Wee to the Northern Tower." Surrounding the Northern Tower was a snowy in with no trees in sight. If the region wasn''t ice-cold, William would have thought he had returned to the desert. That being said, the temperatures were nothing near the cold air he had to endure when he acquired the Ice Element Root previously. Urinded, William jumping off his back as he massaged his legs from the ufortable ride. He hadn''t used a saddle, and the dragon''s back was very spiny with few footholds. His inner thighs were covered in red marks from trying not to fall off Uri''s back, and even his hands were exhausted from gripping Uri''s vibrant red scales. "So this is the Northern Tower then, huh? What was the tower in the Labyrinth?" William asked as he looked around. There didn''t seem to be any presence of life other than theirs within a hundred kilometers. "That would be the Eastern Tower. We probably won''t have time to visit the Western Tower this time around, but that can wait until wee back." the dragon responded. "If I evere back..." William sighed. "What do you mean, Master William?" "My Sect Master probably won''t give me another chance to enter the Ruins if I don''t give him my treasures. Without him, my chances of returning are slim." "Oh, that won''t be a problem." Uri said as he pulled out ten Gravitas Ruins Tickets from arge Space Ring on his left ws. William widened his eyes as he saw this. He hadn''t even noticed the Space Ring before, which wasrger than any he had ever seen, and looked much more valuable than any he owned including those of the Cultivators he robbed. "Surprised to see the Space Ring? That''s only natural, since it has an Array that makes you subconsciously ignore its presence." Uri said as he noticed William''s surprise. An Array that makes you ignore its existence? Interesting...William had learned an Array like this in the hundred years'' simtion, but he hadn''t had a chance to try it out yet. The dragon''s Space Ring reminded William that he didn''t have any exceptional ways to detect the presence of Arrays right now. Even as a master of Complete Arrays now, if he wasn''t actively searching for Arrays, he wouldn''t notice their existence. William fixed that problem in an instant by weaving an improved Perfect Detection Array into his clothes. He used a few Runes of Mana as the core of the Detection Array, which would allow the Array to detect any presence of Mana within five kilometers. That should be enough for now. If I want to expand the range, I can always use a Complete Array instead. He probed the Array with his mind to test its effectiveness. Sure enough, there was an incredible amount of Mana concentrated on me Dragon Uri''s left w. William''s masterful maniption of Arrays surprised Uri. The dragon had never seen a young man use suchplicated Arrays in his entire life. Even his old Master, Riyald, hadn''t used Arrays at this level when he was battling with the dragons of the Dragon Continent. It wasn''t until hundreds of yearster that his skill with Arrays reached William''s level. "You are full of surprises!" the dragon eximed out loud. "This? I used the same Arrays multiple times over thest few days, how are you only just now surprised?" William asked me Dragon Uri, who became slightly embarrassed at the question. How am I supposed to tell Master that I just now noticed?If he could scratch his head he would have done so. "Let''s forget about these minor things, Master. I''ll wait for you outside while youplete the trial tower." Uri knew all too well the difficulty of the trial towers, so he wasn''t worried that William wouldn''t be able to clear this one. William nodded. He wasn''t nearly as confident as Uri was, though. Only he knew that he attempted thest trial tower without any Cultivation. Now that William was a Qi Refinement Cultivator, any trials that increased in strength depending on Cultivation would be stronger. Let''s hope the boosts from my Cultivation are enough... William approached the entrance of the trial tower, which actually had a doorway this time. The doors were made of an unknown metal that seemed incredibly thick and sturdy. Despite the toughness of the doors, William had no trouble opening and closing the doors, and not because of his Strength Talent. The doors itself were enchanted with Arrays of the Gravity Element, which seemed to reduce the weight of the doors by ny-nine percent. Since he couldn''t see what was inside without opening the doors, William opted to do as his predecessors did, much to the dismay of me Dragon Uri. Of course, his loot goblin tendencies were mostly to me, and not the situation. He called Mana of the Fire Element to his fingertips, creating an extremely high-temperature me Knife Spell that he hadn''t used in a long time. His fingers traced around the hinges of the doorway, cutting through the metal like butter. Once the doors were no longer connected to the walls of the tunnel that made up the entrance, William stepped back a few hundred meters andunched a high-speed Earth Spike at the doorway, sting the doors into the trial tower. The suction force grabbed at William immediately, but he used the Space Element to blink a few meters away so he wouldn''t be sucked inside the tower prematurely. When he regained his footing, William took a peek into the tower, which looked almost exactly the same as it did outside. The edges of the room were grassy, but at the center was a ten-meter snow hill that emitted a threatening aura. William scanned the area with his Life Sense, but the creature inside the room must be artificial because he couldn''t see anything. For some reason, even his Navigation Talent couldn''t see anything. There were no structures visible on the radar, including the snow hill. That doesn''t make sense, I can see it right there! William chose to enter the first floor regardless of the readings on his radar. He made sure not to look directly into the floor as he walked towards it, learning his lesson from the previous trial tower. He stored the metal doors in his Space Ring as he passed by them, since only the hinges were damaged and were otherwise in good quality. The moment William fully entered the first floor of the trial tower, a familiar voice entered his mind directly. So it''s you again, Disciple Candidate William...You''ve already proven yourself worthy of being my Disciple, yet you''re here for more. It seems you are just as greedy as I was back in the day. William was confused when he heard the trial creator speaking. Wasn''t he supposed to be busy with something for another eight months? Why does it sound like he is personally talking to me? Disciple Candidate William, how about we make a deal? Chapter 173: Illusory Realm "A deal?" William asked but the trial creator didn''t seem to hear him. You''ve already proven yourbat power, but there''s more to being my Disciple than just the ability to punch artificial Magical Beasts. This time, you will be tested by your creativity. "My creativity?" William''s questions multiplied, while the answers were few. Prepare yourself for the Alternate Trials. William didn''t have any time for the so-called preparation as time and space stretched and tore, his body seemingly dissolved into millions of tiny particles and pulled into a portal the size of a pinhole. William''s vision turned ck for a split second before his body was reformed. He was standing in the exact same room as before, with the snow hill in front and the now-broken doorway behind. -Entered an Illusory Realm: +500 PP The trials begin...now! The moment the trial creator spoke thest word, the snow hill moved. A pair of eyes opened from within the snow, and a head poked out. The snow hill shifted and transformed into a giant snowy creature with yellow teeth and fierce eyes as it released a roar that sent William flying into the back wall. That''s why the radar didn''t see it, it WAS the Magical Beast!William eximed. He didn''t know what it meant to be in an illusory Realm, but he could at least tell that the snowy giant would kill him for sure if he allowed it to happen. With William''s Cultivation Talent at S-Rank, he realized he could sense the Cultivation of Magical Beasts and Cultivators as long as they weren''t concealing it. The snowy giant in front of him emitted a strength at the peak of the Soul Formation Realm, which was incredibly terrifying considering William''s current strength. "What the fuck is this! I thought it would only be in the Core Formation Realm!" William was basing the information off the previous trial tower. What he didn''t know is that the trial creator changed the Cultivation of the snowy giant specifically because William was the one in the trial tower. He said he was testing my creativity, but this is a fight. What does he mean, System? -Request requires 10 Potential Points. Yes/No? Yes! It''s way better than dying here. -The Host is in an Illusory Realm, where the Host can spend his mental energy to manipte the environment or even the opponents he is facing. -With your current Mind Talent at SS-Rank, the Host could even instantly remove the Snow Giant from the trial tower, but that would expend a lot of mental energy. That makes sense now.William had never seen or heard of anything like this before, but he understood the idea.In that case...I need to kill this thing without tiring myself out? The Snow Giant was moving already, so William didn''t have much time to think. First, he willed the Snow Giant to move slower, reducing its speed to the Nascent Soul Realm so he could dodge. William tried to call the Mana to st fire at the Snow Giant, but instead of using Mana it spent his mental energy. He didn''t waste this mental energy, willing the fireball to growrger since it was already in the air. The Snow Giant tried to dodge the fireball, but William willed it to change direction and follow the Snow Giant until it had caught up. The Giant''s fur caught fire but didn''t have much effect, so William imagined the Snow Giant losing half of the muscle in its body. Not only did the fire suddenly ravage the Snow Giant''s body, but its sudden loss of strength forced the Giant to the ground. Within seconds, the Snow Giant was dead and William hadpleted the trial. No pedestal rose from the ground, probably because he wasn''t in the real world. He tried to use mental energy and conjure a treasure to appear, but it didn''t work. It seemed that clearing a floor would instantly render his mental power useless until he went up the stairs. William didn''t think much of it and walked up the stairs to the second floor, where a hawk the size of a semi-truck was waiting for him in the air. Its Cultivation was also at the peak of the Soul Formation Realm, but William wasn''t scared anymore after he had thrashed the Snow Giant. Ha, so much for a challenge! William had spent a decent amount of mental energy on thest floor, so he did his best to limit the expenditure this time around. The hawk spat Wind des from its mouth at William, but he imagined himself being a few feet away from where they wouldnd, then he removed the secondary feathers from the hawk''s wings, forcing it to fall from the sky. Without its ability to fly, William would have no trouble finishing off the hawk, but he didn''t do so just yet. He willed the hawk to lose its beak so it could no longer use Wind Magic, then sat down to rest and restore some mental energy. Since he could only affect himself and the opponents when on an active floor, William found it would be best to clear the trials in this way. The hawk got up from the ground to walk towards William, but he imagined it losing a leg, rendering the hawkpletely defenseless. He returned his focus to restoring mental energy. William remained like this for an hour, until his mental energy waspletely restored. Now it''s time for the fun part! I bet the creator won''t expect this! William smirked as he imagined himself bing stronger. His muscles stretched and bulged, expanding under his clothing until he felt they were about to burst. The physical change wasn''t necessary, but William thought it would be funny. He then focused on his speed and reaction time, improving all of them until he was at a perceived Tribtion Transcendence Realm, which was a Realm higher than the Soul Formation Realm. William tried to use mental energy to increase his mental energy capacity, but that loophole didn''t seem to work. His defenses were next. William didn''t know what to think about this time, so he just imagined his Hard Skin Talent being improved even further,pressing and multiplying until his skin was strong enough to survive even the Five Elements Explosion Array that he had used against the Lesser Demon. That should about do it.William thought with tired eyes as his mental energy had beenpletely expended. He took eight hours to rest his mind while the hawk remained still. It could have attacked William by crawling over with the use of its wings and single leg, but the hawk no longer dared to do so since William was emitting a pressure superior to its own. After restoring his mental energy the second time, William killed the hawk and traveled up the staircase to the next floor. The trial creator, who was sitting in a secluded room underneath the Gravitas Ruins and looking at a crystal ball, currently had a look ofplete surprise on his face as he watched William clear floor after floor of the illusory trial tower. How is his mental strength so strong that he can improve his own abilities?!? Chapter 174: Trial Creator William continued to clear floor after floor of the trial tower under the incredulous gaze of the trial creator. The ancient Cultivator had even paused his experimental work to watch William fight against each Magical Beast that spawned on the floors. Additionally, William wouldn''t stop improving himself just because he could defeat the enemies in a single hit. No, the boy would take the time to rest and regain his mental strength after each fight within the first thirty floors. He continued to improve his various physical abilities, even moving on to his Magic Ability. Using the Life Domain as a temte, he was able to manifest various other domains after a few attempts, which made clearing the floors of the tower even easier. After floor fifty, William was more than strong enough to suit his needs. He stopped spending his mental strength after each floor and shed through the next hundred floors in a matter of hours. Even though he was in an Illusory Realm, time didn''t flow any differently now than it did before. William spent a total of six days in the Illusory Realm, almost an entire day of it spent fighting a clone of himself on the 200th floor. William imagined his copy identally cutting off its own leg, which set him up for a clean victory, but the clone continued to fight fiercely with the same abilities he had used his mental strength to gain previously. I finally did it...William thought as he panted heavily. William was pulled out of the Illusory Realm at that moment, appearing in the center of the 200th floor. The only difference between this and the Illusory Realm was the three-foot tall old man with short white hair standing in the center of the room. "Congrattions, Disciple Candidate William." the trial creator''s voice spread throughout the trial tower, originating from the old man. It sounded a bit shaky for some reason, but William didn''t think much of it. He was more concerned with the old man in front of him, whose full height barely reached William''s waistline. "You''re the midget- I mean, you''re the creator in charge of these Ruins?" William asked. The old man frowned, "Midget?" That word had be taboo in Riyald''s dictionary ever since his experimental ident that reduced his height by almost two feet. He had always been a short man, but his attempt to increase his height a few hundred years ago had severely backfired. "No, no. I was thinking of someone else, Sir. You see...there''s this midget from my old world-" "You better stop saying the word ''midget'', boy." Riyald''s expression turned dangerous. "Yes Sir." William opted to listen for once. "I''ll let this matter slide just this one time, only because you''ve impressed me thus far. Have you considered my offer that my Artifact Spirit extended a few weeks ago?" William thought for a moment, "I have." "And what is your response?" "I..." William wanted to say no, or even not yet, but he couldn''te up with a reason why he would say no. Even the System said it was beneficial to his growth. What''s wrong with me, this is clearly a good opportunity! All I have to do is say yes, and I will have everything I need! A powerful Master with many treasures and hundreds of years of experience, and a Ruin where I can hide from the rest of the world forever. I wouldn''t need to worry about how I''m going to survive when I get out! But when William thought of Charlotte, Yuming, and even Misha, he became a bit sad. He knew that if he made the decision to follow the trial creator as his disciple, his chances of meeting them again would be slim... *** "You mean to say that the old man in charge of the Gravitas Ruins might have invited William to be his disciple?" the ck-cloaked figure asked Sect Master Gu Dianlong, who was seated at a nearby desk drafting out a Cultivation Technique in a book. "That''s exactly what I mean. How could he have removed the Envement Array so quickly otherwise?" "Hmm..." the figure was deep in thought as he paced around the room. The relevant information had already been reported to his superiors, but he couldn''t say he wasn''t concerned. "Gu Dianlong, what do you think of this Riyald individual? You''ve seen him before, right?" "He''s strong, but only because of the Ruins that have hidden him for centuries. When I was a young man, I had the chance to enter just after he had gained ownership of the Gravitas Ruins. At the time, I wasn''t nearly as strong as I am now and thought him to be omnipotent, but now..." "But now?" "Unless he has improved by leaps and bounds in thest five hundred years, he shouldn''t be much stronger than I am. He''s not invincible." "And if he is?" "Then he wouldn''t bother to hide away for so long. We are at the peak of the World, so there are only two options for us. Waste our years having fun in the Lower Realms or ascend and risk losing everything we have built up throughout our entire lives. You''re still much younger than I am, so it might be difficult to understand." Gu Dianlong set down his pen at thosest words and looked at the ck-cloaked figure. "I get it. Who would leave behind their families, their Sects, and their achievements to ascend to an unknown environment? Who would give up their spot as number one so easily?" The ck-cloaked man said this, but he sneered inwardly when the Sect Master spoke of being at the peak of the World. At the peak of the World, but look at what condition you are in. Ha! "Exactly. It seems you do know some things." Gu Dianlong nodded and returned to his work. He didn''t seem to notice the disrespectful thoughts of the ck-cloaked figure, despite Gu Dianlong''s Cultivation being over a Realm higher. "What would you do then?" the ck-cloaked figure asked as he watched the Five Elements Sect Master. "Me? I''m still too weak. There''s nothing for me to do." "Is there anyone that isn''t too weak?" "There are only two. Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right." Gu Dianlong replied tly. The room became silent for a while as neither party were willing to say or ask more. Gu Dianlong finished drafting out a copy of his Cultivation Technique, then handed the book to the ck-cloaked figure. The book was thrown into a Space Ring, where it would remain until it was passed to the higher-ups of Retribution. Such a valuable Cultivation Technique couldn''t possibly be learned by a weakling that wasn''t even at the peak of the world. "Thank you, Sect Master Gu. You may return to your usual duties as a Sect Master after sending me to the organization." the ck-cloaked figure said. Gu Dianlong waved his hand and opened a portal as he had done hundreds of times, the ck-cloaked figure passing through without another word. After the man disappeared, Gu Dianlong''s eyes changed slightly. He weaved a tiny amount of Spirit Qi into a small Array located on his right shoulder, wincing in pain at the bacsh but refusing to stop until he had made some progress. Chapter 175: Under The Ruins William looked at the trial creator, who was staring at him waiting for a response. He had spent thest few minutes thinking to himself about the decision he was about to make, but Riyald hadn''t made a sound since. It was clear that the old man knew how tough this decision was for William, who would have to leave behind his friends and family. "Sir, I ept bing your disciple." William said. -epted a powerful Master: +1000 PP "That''s great! Now,e along and I will take you to your living quarters." Riyald opened a portal that teleported to an unknown location. "Sir, you''re a Space Mage as well?" William asked with surprise. "Haha, no my Disciple. I just happen to have a few treasures that allow me to mimic some aspects of a Space Mage. It''s best to think of it like you would a Space Ring. Also, call me Master from now on." William understood immediately, using his knowledge of Arrays to fill in the gaps of information. "Yes Master." he replied as Riyald ushered him into the portal. The portal teleported them both underneath the Gravitas Ruins, where William could see a giantboratory filled with many unusual machines. Despite the vast amount of machinery, theb waspletely silent, as if all the machines were insted with sound-proofing material. William looked around more, noticing that there was even arge ss chemistry station in one corner of the room, which he hadn''t seen since his old world. He wondered what someone would do with chemistry in this world that revolved around Cultivation, Magic, and Alchemy to solve many chemistry-rted issues. "Oh, I see you''ve noticed my ss Alchemizer! What great eyes you have!" Riyaldmented in satisfaction. "ss Alchemizer?" William asked. "Yes, that''s what I decided to call it. I found while exploring a Mysterious Realm that suddenly popped up a few months ago. It''s the source of my current experiment. I''ve been trying to figure out how it works for a while now." A Mysterious Realm that has modern items from Reius? "Where did you find this Mysterious Realm, Master?" "Are you interested in exploring it as well? I''m sorry to say but you''re not quite strong enough yet. The spatial storms would tear you to shreds before you had time to say "cheeks". It''s best you wait until you''re at least in the Soul Formation Realm with your current strength." William frowned. The Soul Formation Realm was way too far away and would probably take years unless he could improve his Cultivation Talent quickly. "Oh, don''t make that face, my young Disciple. If it was anyone else, I would have told them not to enter until at least the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. For someone of your Talent, I wouldn''t be surprised if you managed to reach the Soul Formation Realm in less than a hundred years!" A hundred years?!?William had experienced it once before in the simted Array Talent upgrade, but the stress on his mind was greatly reduced at the time. It could hardly be called an experience, but William knew just how long a hundred years was when he hadn''t lived much more than twenty as of yet. He felt that asking further about this matter would only make him feel more depressed, but William made a mental note to visit the Mysterious Realm that Riyald mentioned in the future. Perhaps he could find a way back to his old world? Riyald showed William around theboratory for a few minutes, exining each of his experimental machines before moving on to the living quarters. Since he hadn''t been expecting a new Disciple so soon, Riyald hadn''t prepared a proper room for William to stay in. After taking a few turns in a winding corridor, Riyald made a few gestures with his hands, a set of Perfect Arrays appearing in an instant and constructing a room made of wood and stone. The stone transformed into thousands of grey bricks that pieced themselves together with a cement-like liquid that solidified quickly. The bricks formed four symmetrical walls, while wooden floorboards fit together on the ground. Riyald added a few decorative items, such as a rug and paintings on the wall, then built a bed from scratch using the nt Element. After he was done, he shed a smile at William and motioned for him to enter the room. "Thank you, Master." William felt the room needed work, but it was good enough. "It seems you do know how to say thanks. I was beginning to wonder if I should even give you a reward for the previous trial tower''s clear." William''s eyes shed with surprise.How did I forget about the reward? He assumed Riyald''s appearance had distracted him. Riyald pulled a golden box from his Space Ring and handed it to William. "Here''s the reward I''ve decided to give you. It''s not much, but I''m sure you will find the items inside very useful." -Completed an SSR-Rank Trial in the Gravitas Ruins: +10000 PP There was no message this time that William had gained ownership of a tower, but probably because he was pulled into an Illusory Realm. William was at least thankful that he received ten thousand Potential Points, which would be more than enough for him to upgrade his Cultivation Talent again. He stored the box in his Space Ring, since it would be rude to open his reward in front of his Master. He spoke with Riyald for a while more about his duties as a Disciple, but his Master was very vague and only told him to show up at nine in the morning the following day. A reasonable schedule! William was overjoyed. He was tired of having to wake up as early as six or even four in the morning for various Sect matters. The sound of nine in the morning rang in his ears like the most beautiful song. Riyald suddenly thought of something, "Boy, let me see your Gravitas Ruins Ticket." William did as he was told, pulling the item from his Space Ring, which read Day 45. Riyald took the Gravitas Ruins Ticket and infused some of his Mana inside, changing the number to Day -360, which should give William an additional year inside the Gravitas Ruins. Since time in the Gravitas Ruins flowed four times faster than outside, this meant that an additional four months would pass outside before he was kicked out of the Gravitas Ruins! Four months didn''t sound so bad, but William worried about Charlotte, who would probably think he was dead if he was gone for so long. "Master, is there a way I can tell my Sect that I''m alive?" "Why would you want to do that?" Riyald asked, but he already knew what was on William''s mind. He took an Amulet shaped like a blue disc out of his Space Ring and whispered a few words into it that William didn''t understand. "It is done, Disciple William." he waved his hand as if it was nothing. "I will be returning to my experiments now. If you need something, call out to my Artifact Spirit, Sir Reynolds. He is always listening, so no need to worry if he didn''t hear you." An Artifact Spirit that is always listening? That''s not creepy at all...How am I supposed to enjoy my alone time? William nodded as Riyald walked down the corridor back towards theboratory. After the old man was gone, he immediately pulled out the gold box, eager to see what rewards the trial creator had given out this time. Chapter 176: Reverse Engineering William opened the golden box, allowing its contents to burst out onto the wooden floorboards of his room. When the light faded, he could see nine wristwatches lying side by side on the ground, each of a different color. -Acquired Space Dial: +1000 PP -Acquired Life Dial: +1000 PP -Acquired Fire Dial: +1000 PP -Acquired Water Dial: +1000 PP -Acquired Earth Dial: +1000 PP -Acquired Ice Dial: +1000 PP -Acquired nt Dial: +1000 PP -Acquired Lightning Dial: +1000 PP -Acquired Wind Dial: +1000 PP In addition to the nine wristwatches, there was a folded note that read a few words from William''s new Master. These might be of use to you, Disciple William. Over the next few months, I hope you can surprise me by further improving their usefulness. Other than the Space and Life Dials, each wristwatch affected a Basic Element. William realized the rewards this time were specifically handpicked with him in mind.When did he write this note? If the Light and Sound Element Dials were also present, William would have a wristwatch pertaining to every Element he had used since entering the Gravitas Ruins. He didn''t bother wasting Potential Points to appraise their effects, since they were likely the same or simr to the effects of the Time Dial. I wonder if Master has any more of these dials...It would be nice if I could gather a few for my other Elements. William''s knowledge of Riyald was limited. Other than learning his name during the tour and remembering that he was the owner of the Gravitas Ruins, he didn''t know much about the old man. Riyald seemed to have a great interest in conducting experiments of various types, and his understanding of Arrays was incredible, so it wouldn''t be far-fetched to think that Riyald had created the Dials himself. I''ll ask him tomorrow. For now, I need to figure out how to make use of these...William thought has he fiddled with the Dials. There wasn''t enough space on his arms to wear each wristwatch, and even if he managed to do so, it would look incredibly goofy. While William was never bothered by how he looked to others, he knew it would be both a weakness and a source of human greed if others were to see his arm loaded with priceless treasures. If I''m going to use these wristwatches all at once, I''m going to need to make them easier to carry... While he could ask the System for an easy solution to his problem, William felt that relying on it too much would be a waste. The stronger he became, the more William felt that overusing the System was a bad thing. What if he was in a situation where he couldn''t use the System? William kept this in mind while storing eight of the nine Space Rings, leaving the Wind Dial out for testing. He wanted to learn how the item functioned first, but he also wanted to limit the consequences if he broke one of the precious items. Wind was one of William''s least useful Elements in his opinion, since the Earth Element was great for defense, the Fire Element was his favorite, and Water synergized well with Earth and Lightning. William didn''t use his Ice Element much either, but it was incredibly versatile, useful for both attack, defense, and restrictive effects. The nt Element was one of William''s most important basic Elements, since it was incredibly useful for the creation of Array Puppets. Thinking of this reminded William that his Array Puppets were overdue for an upgrade, since he could now create Complete Runes. He didn''t ask the System for the answer, but he did have another idea in mind. System, can you notify me if my next actions will break or damage the Wind Dial? -Request requires 25 Potential Points. Yes/No? William was d the System had reduced the cost of the Ask Function, otherwise his request would have cost fifty Points. Confirm. -Host will be notified when the Wind Dial is at risk of being damaged for the next week. So it''s on a time-limit. It seems the System was anticipating a loophole I hadn''t even thought of. If William had asked the System to monitor the status of all his equipment, theck of a time limit meant it would notify him the moment something was about to happen no matter how much time had passed. Clearly this could be abused by asking the System to monitor his clothing, which would alert him of an iing enemy attack if he was sleeping or otherwise. William would be seeing Riyald tomorrow morning, so a week was more than enough time at the moment. He started his experiment with a visual inspection, making use of his Vision Talent to see the incredibly small workings of the wristwatch. The central portion of the wristwatch was much tooplicated for William to understand at the moment, so he switched the target of his focus to the band whose purpose was to secure the watch to his wrist. The band was made up of many small greenish-yellow stic links that were rectangr in shape. The links were very ugly, but when William held them up close to his eye, he noticed that they were covered in Perfect Arrays whose purpose weren''t yet clear. The choice of color was obvious, since that was the same color of Wind Mana Particles, but William felt it was a bit unnecessary. Why not inscribe the word "Wind" into the watch somewhere, rather than changing the color of the item? William focused on the smallest links at the end of the band, memorizing each Rune of the Perfect Array perfectly. Each Rune was easily distinguishable, most of which were Runes of Mana Filtering or Mana Absorbtion, but he couldn''t figure out their overall purpose. He tried to create paper using wood from the nt Element, but the process was much moreplex than he imagined, and he only seeded in creating a thin piece of wood. It''ll have to do. William heated up the tip of his finger with the Fire Element and used a weak version of his me Knife Spell to recreate a non-functional form of the Array on the piece of wood, albeitrger than before. He repeated this process for the next few hours, filling the floor of his new room with wooden tes that represented a different link of the wristwatch band. While he created each new wooden te, he made sure to keep them arranged in a manner that resembled the original shape of the wristwatch band. William finished building the wooden tes four hourster. His speed was quite impressive, since he had essentially built almost a thousand Perfect Arrays in a single day. If he hadn''t upgraded his Arrays Talent, this process probably would have taken him at least three days. He stepped back to inspect his work. His recreated versions of the Arrays were muchrger and all visible at the same time unlike the wristwatch, which made understanding the purpose of the band much easier. As William looked at the arrangement of wooden tes, his eyes widened. It''s not just meant for filtering the Wind Mana, it''s an amplifier! Chapter 177: Blood Refinement Each link of the wristwatch served as an amplifier from the next. Mana would be filtered and pulled into the identical first links near the two edges of the band, then amplified and sent to the next link. The second link would absorb the Wind Element Mana and filter it again, removing any irregr or damaged Mana Particles that would inevitably be absorbed in the first cycle. Once the remaining Wind Mana Particles were fully filtered into the second link, the amplifying Runes would effectively double the number of Wind Element Particles in the link. Twenty percent of the Mana Particles would be damaged from the doubling process, but those would be filtered out by the third link, which would double the Mana Particles again. But how can the Mana Particles be doubled? Isn''t there such a thing as the Law of Equivalent Exchange in this world? William didn''t understand. He inspected the first three links of the band for a long time, but even after five hours had passed, William didn''t understand. He had be incredibly tired from the constant intensive focus and the time was almost midnight, so William opted to sleep for the night. He didn''t even bother Cultivating that night, his Cultivation Base remaining at a stagnant 16/500. Even as a Cultivator, there was only so much the mind could handle before needing rest. Not to mention William had already stayed up for six days straight in the Illusory Realm, which was already a bit excessive for a Qi Refinement 4 Cultivator. William woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and ready for another day. The System notified William that it was eight in the morning, so he brought out Atticus and made some omelettes for the duo to eat. "There''s your little snake friend. I was wondering when I would see him again." the Artifact Spirit''s familiar voice entered the room. William was spooked at first, but then he remembered what his Master had said about Sir Reynolds always listening. Realizing that Atticus'' existence had been revealed, William hoped the Artifact Spirit wouldn''t tell his Master. He quickly ordered Atticus to conceal himself, "Sir Reynolds, I''d appreciate it if you weren''t always looking into my room." "Haha, I see you''re worried about your Mythical Rat Snakes'' safety. Don''t worry young man, we''ve known about him for a while." he materialized in the room and motioned to the omelettes on William''s makeshift table that were still warm. William immediately understood what the Artifact Spirit was implying. They must have known about Atticus ever since the first time he brought the snake out to eat omelettes. He gave a slight bow to the Artifact Spirit, "I understand. Do you need something from me?" "Quite the opposite actually, I was wondering why you hadn''t used the Blood Refinement Pills yet." Where did thise from?William looked at Sir Reynolds with confusion. "I''ve opted not to change my race for the time being. Not to mention, improving a human bloodline wouldn''t make that much sense, would it?" The Artifact Spirit pped himself on the forehead, "Boy, are you stupid? The pills aren''t for you, but for your little buddy that you just hid away." For Atticus?William suddenly realized what the Artifact Spirit was saying. How could he have missed such an obvious detail? He called Atticus back out from his Illusion Magic, taking out a Tier 10 Blood Refinement Pill from his Space Ring. Since clearing the first trial tower William had earned two of these pills, which meant he could improve Atticus'' bloodline twice. Upon seeing the Blood Refinement Pill, Atticus'' mouth opened and his tongue flicked wildly in excitement. The scent of the Blood Refinement Pills were overwhelming, which made the snake immediately want to take a bite. William didn''t stop Atticus, pushing the Blood Refinement Pill closer to him for the snake to consume. Therge pill barely fit into Atticus'' unhinged jaws, which promptly closed while the snake swallowed. The pill shrunk in size at a visible speed as it traveled down Atticus'' throat, eventually disappearing at the same time that Atticus closed his eyes. The snake curled around William''s arm, asionally twitching as he fell into a deep sleep. As he slept, asional drops of blood would form at the corner of his eyes and drip to the floor. His scales elongated and became a vibrant purple color, while the older scales directly fell to the ground rather than shedding his skin like a normal snake would. "Is he okay?" William asked the Artifact Spirit. "He will be fine, he''s just adapting to the effects of the pill. He may remain like that for a few days." Sir Reynolds nodded. William trusted the Artifact Spirit''s words, since the being was much older and more experienced than he was. He still couldn''t believe he hadn''t thought to give the Blood Refinement Pill to Atticus. Just as the Artifact Spirit was about to leave, William thought of something else. "Sir, will he be kicked out of the Ruins if his Cultivation reaches the Golden Core Realm?" Sir Reynolds looked at Atticus for a while, before closing his eyes and weaving a sign in the air. A Rune of Storage formed and floated in the air. "Give me a drop of his blood." the Spirit said. William reached out his finger to catch a drop of blood from the snake''s eyes, then handed it to Sir Reynolds, who ced the drop of blood into the Rune he had just created. He waved his finger upwards, sending the Rune and the drop of blood through the ceiling to an unknown destination. A few momentster Sir Reynolds nodded his head, "He would have been removed before, but now he is immune to the effects of the Gravitas Ruins." William bowed deeply to the Artifact Spirit, "Thank you, Sir." This had taken a great load off William''s shoulders, since he wouldn''t have to neglect the Mythical Rat Snake any longer. He bade the Artifact Spirit farewell, then used the nt and Earth Elements to create arge bathtub in a corner of his room. He created a few dozen Perfect Concealment Arrays, hoping they would be enough to prevent the Artifact Spirit''s peeping, then disrobed and entered the empty tub. After filling it with water, William heated it up with the Fire Element until it was a toasty one hundred degrees celsius. Since his Fire Resistance was so high, William needed to severely raise the temperature of his baths in order to fully enjoy a hot bath. Unfortunately for William, the water evaporated so quickly that he was only able to enjoy a few minutes before having to rece the water. He filled the bath a few more times but gave up after the fourth attempt. "Sigh...I wish I hadn''t upgraded my Fire Resistance so early..." William climbed out of the bathtub and dried himself off with the Wind Element, then fixed up his hair and put on a fresh pair of white robes. Instead of putting on the robes of the Five Elements Sect, William opted to use the Array Master clothing that he had acquired back in Blue Moon City. Chapter 178: Runic Artifact Blue Moon City, in a meeting room at the Array Hall. "Head Array Master, what should we do now? The Foam Desert has been stabilized by an artificial Earth Vein, but another wave of Magical Beasts could attack at any time." an Array Master asked while seated at a round table with ten participants. As he spoke, he looked anxiously at the Head Array Master that was sitting at the opposite end of the table. His brows were furrowed, and his hands were sped together as he looked downward at arge map depicting the Foam Desert. On the map were five X marks, which represented the various Earth Veins. As the Earth Veins moved around, so did the X marks on the map. One of the X marks was fluctuating, fading in and out as if it wasn''t real. This was the artificial Earth Vein the Array Master spoke of. A pair of old male Cultivators not from the Array Hall were seated on either side of the Head Array Master. They both wore robes with the Blue Moon City crest on their left shoulders, and were the ones ced in charge of maintaining order among the civilians while they dealt with this cmity. One of the men whispered in the Head Array Master''s ear, "We have heard from the Guild Hall that there has been an increase in Cultivators applying to join the Guild. Perhaps we could make use of them to defend against these Magical Beast tides?" "More Cultivators? If they are newbies in the Qi Refinement Realm, they won''t be of any use to us." "While some of them are, there are others in the Foundation Establishment Realm that have recently be tinum-Ranked. Theirbat power greatly exceeds the normal standard. We don''t even know where these people came from, but there are hundreds applying to Blue Moon City alone." The Head Array Master nodded. This was a good solution to their current problem and would give the Array Hall time to replenish their stock of Guardian Statues. He looked at Array Master Fowley, who seemed to have something to say. "Head Array Master, I believe I can also be of some use." "Oh? This isn''t like you, Fowley. What do you have in mind?" Array Master Fowley stood up from his chair and pulled out arge disc from his Space Ring. The disc was made of pure metal and seemed to weigh around a hundred pounds, but Fowley carried it effortlessly to the corner of the room where he set it down. The others watched in confusion as Fowley pulled out a second identical disc from his Space Ring and ced it in the opposite corner of the room. Fowley returned to the first corner and channeled some Mana of the Space Element into the disc, causing both discs to light up simultaneously. A portal formed between the two discs, and Array Master Fowley stepped through to wind up on the other side. "A portal? So what, you can do that anyway." one of the other Array Masters didn''t understand why Fowley showed them this. A few became jealous, thinking Array Master Fowley was just trying to show off to the two men next to the Head Array Master. Fowley shook his head, "It''s not just that. Here, you try it." "How? I don''t have the Space Element." "Just try it." "Okay..." the Array Master was very skeptical, but he went over to the first disc anyway. He didn''t want to look bad in front of his superiors, but he swore in his heart that if Fowley did something to mess with him, he would get his revenge. He looked back at Fowley for confirmation, then channeled some Mana into it. Since he wasn''t ustomed to the item, the Array Master had some trouble funneling the Mana and it took a few seconds longer. Just like before, both discs lit up and a portal formed, allowing the Array Master to travel from one side of the room to another. "As you can see, Head Array Master, I have invented a new Runic Artifact. I call it a Space Port, which does not require the constant use of the Space Element to send someone from one ce to another." "Marvelous!" one of the Cultivators seated next to the Head Array Master shouted in delight. He never expected his trip to the Array Hall to be so rewarding this time around. "How does it work, Array Master Fowley?" "In simple terms, it absorbs Mana of the Space Element from the environment, then activates when someone actively pours Mana into it. This way, I only need to be around to maintain the Runic Artifact, but I don''t actually have to supervise the portals personally." The man nodded. He was thankful that Fowley didn''t go in depth on the exnation, since he was just a member of the City and had little knowledge of Arrays. "How far can it go?" Fowley scratched his head, "This one can only range around one kilometer, but I think I can create arger version that can reach thirty times that distance. I will need a few weeks to prepare and I will provide updates as needed to the Head Array Master, Sir." The man nodded again. He turned to the Head Array Master, "Perhaps with the use of your...Space Port, and the manpower from the Guild Hall, we can issue Quests to the new Adventurers. If everything goes ording to n, we may be able to prevent another tragedy like the one at Thin Creek Vige." The Head Array Master nodded. "Speaking of Thin Creek Vige, what are we going to do about the Livingwood Forest? Does anyone know the current state of that Region?" Another Array Master spoke up at this moment, "Sir, I''ve been keeping an eye on the Livingwood forest for about a month now. It seems the Cultivation of the Wind Wolves has increased on average to the Nascent Soul Realm. There are even rumors of a new Magical Beast in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, but we cannot confirm this yet. As of right now, the Magical Beasts are no longer increasing in number, but we may have tobel the area as a new Forbidden Zone." The Head Array Master looked back at the man in surprise, "It''s that bad already? How does itpare to the Providence Zone?" "I''d say it is equivalent to the outermost Ring, the First Ring of the Providence Zone." *** "Disciple William, it seems you made it to theboratory on time. I''m impressed." Riyald nodded in satisfaction at William''s ability to navigate his home. William nodded his head but was inwardly annoyed. Embedded in his rear end was a poisoned crossbow bolt that weed him the moment he entered theboratory. If not for this Navigation Radar, your damn maze that you call a residence would have killed me multiple times! On the way to theboratory, William''s Radar showed dozens of traps hidden in the walls, ceiling, and floor that he had to carefully avoid. It seemed that creating traps was one of Riyald''s favorite pastimes. Thankfully, William had plenty of practice dodging poisoned crossbow bolts from the trial towers, and thest month of constant battling had turned William into a battle maniac that always had his Navigation Radar and Life Sense active. You damn old man, I''ll get you back for this! Chapter 179: My Enemies Are Our Enemies Riyald waved his hand as William plucked the crossbow bolt, "See, you''re fine! You have plenty of natural healing, and your poison resistance is incredible, which would honestly make you a perfect test subject for my experiments..." Thest few words sent a shiver down William''s spine. He took a step back with suspicion in his eyes. He questioned his choice to be Riyald''s disciple, terrified of being forced into hardbor where his Regeneration Talent would have to work overdrive. Riyaldughed, "I''m kidding,e back." His expression turned serious as William approached, "Let''s get straight to the point, you''re my Disciple now and there are a few things you need to know. First, I have many enemies. Since you are my Disciple, these enemies are now our enemies. Do not think that just because you have a low Cultivation that my adversaries are going to ignore you. No, they will use every underhanded method they can to gain an edge over me." he pulled a small ck pipe from his Space Ring and took a puff of smoke. "Aren''t all of your enemies dead by now?" William asked. After all, Riyald was quite old and even Sect Master Gu Dianlong had mentioned that he was near the top of the world. Was it possible that there were more old men like Riyald hidden in the World? "Ha, dead? Impossible." Riyald took another puff, "I wish they were dead, but s many of them have achieved simr methods to you and I." "What do you mean?" "I''m talking about your vitality, of course. We''ve both found ways to surpass our natural lifespans, which is better than many like us. Even I, who has lived tens of thousands of years, should have died long ago." William thought of the Life Element and the various Life Veins he had absorbed. So there are others who have done the same? Or maybe they have found different ways to increase their lifespan? "How strong are they?" William asked. "Much stronger than me, probably. I''ve been hiding in this Ruin for many years now and haven''t improved much since. It would take me almost a thousand years to progress to the next Realm at my current pace, and I only have around four hundred years left. It''s not enough." Only a hundred years...I''ve barely lived twenty! Not to mention, my lifespan didn''t even increase when I reached the Qi Refinement Realm, what a scam! William became a bit annoyed at Riyald''s mention of his remaining lifespan, but he could understand that his Master didn''t mean it that way. After all, four hundred years really wasn''t much time for someone who had lived so long already. He remained silent while Riyald described his enemies'' abilities in detail. "My most dangerous enemy to date is not a human, but a Greater Demon. A thousand years ago, I left the Gravitas Ruins to enter the outside world and was almost killed by this being whose abilities didn''t match what I know about Demons. Other than his ugly appearance and even more disgusting attitude, everything about the Greater Demon was perfect, from his regenerative ability to his speed and even hisbat experience. I only survived my encounter with him because he let me go. I still remember the smile on his face when he told me I was the reason for his existence." William could imagine how terrifying his Master''s experience was. When he fought against the Lesser Demon in the trial tower, William repeatedly felt that it was a being that shouldn''t exist. Even while restricted by hundreds of Arrays, a Golden Core Demon''s offensive ability exceeded his own. To think that his Master had fought with a Greater Demon by himself, and even survived, was not only proof of his strength, but also his luck. William''s respect for the man grew, and he almost forgave him for the crossbow bolt from earlier...almost. "You''re the reason for his existence?" Riyald shook his head, "I don''t know either. Demons are an extremely rare being in the Cultivation World. No know truly knows how they are born, or whether they are created. I have reason to believe the Greater Demon was only trying to unnerve me, but I can''t be sure. I''ve studied it for a while but could nevere up with an exnation." William nodded. System, do you know how Demons exist? -Request requires 5000 Potential Points. Yes/No? I can afford it, but that''s too expensive. Another time maybe... "We are getting off track. Since you are now my Disciple, it''s time I teach you a few things. Come, take a seat." Riyald called Mana of the nt Element to create a table and two wooden chairs despite the row of sofas on an opposite wall. A quick sweep with the Navigation Radar exined to William why: they were all booby-trapped. What the hell is this man''s obsession with traps?!? William did his best not to let his thoughts show on his face. He used a bit of his own nt Element Mana to create a soft cushion out of nt fibers, then took a seat in the chair without another word. Riyald gave William a knowing look, but also chose not to speak. Instead, he brought a small piece of parchment from his Space Ring and drew a few Runes on it. William instantly recognized the Runes, since they were the same ones he had seen on the Wind Dial''s band. "I''m sure you understand what the functions of these Runes are, given your ability with Arrays. You''re a Perfect Array Master, aren''t you?" William nodded. "Good, then this makes things easier. I had Sir Reynolds give me an update on your progress, and I have to say that I am quite impressed with your speed. It seems you are quickly approaching the limit of what one can achieve with Arrays. You just need a bit more practical experience." Riyald drew a Filtering Array on the parchment, also from the Wind Dial, "What do you think of this?" William looked closely at the Array, which contained four improved Perfect Filtering Runes, four improved Perfect Separation Runes, and four Perfect Splitting Runes. "It''s a Filtering Array with Separation and Splitting Runes. What of it?" "My young Disciple, you have all this knowledge but you''re not paying attention. What about the Separation and Splitting Runes? I hear you spent a few hours trying to solve a problem of yours. While this is nothing to someone like me, I can''t imagine you''ve ever been so challenged before." Riyald didn''t care that William''s speed was much faster than the rest of his peers. He noticed a w in William''s understanding and aimed to fix it before the boy developed any bad habits. William looked more closely at the Runes, deep in thought as he tried to understand the meaning of Riyald''s words. After a few minutes, he still didn''t have an answer. "Master, I don''t get it. What are they splitting?" "As expected, you have the Space Element but don''t know about theyers of space." "Layers of space?" Riyald sighed as he pulled out two more pieces of parchment from his Space Ring. Chapter 180: Free Upgrade He created a leaf and ced it on one piece of parchment, then ced the other on top, concealing the leafpletely. "Treat these two pieces of parchment as spatialyers. The leaf is currently behind the firstyer of space, invisible to the naked eye, but still there. Behind the leaf is the secondyer of space. If the leaf was a person, it wouldn''t be able to see us in the firstyer, nor would it be able to see whatever is hidden in the thirdyer. Do you understand this?" William nodded his head but was slightly confused. "How do we reach the secondyer of space?" "Like this." Riyald called Mana of the Wind Element to his finger and carefully sliced through the first piece of parchment, revealing the leaf behind while doing his best not to damage the figurative barrier to the thirdyer of space. William was impressed by his Master''s Mana Control, which clearly exceeded his own. "So, you just tear through it?" "Exactly, but your attack must be both urate and deadly. A Tribtion Transcendence expert near the peak like myself can destroy the firstyer of space with a simple Magic Spell, but you couldn''t possibly do so unless very specific conditions are met." "What conditions? And what does this have to do with the Arrays you showed me before?" William asked. He didn''t understand how theyers of space could be responsible for duplicate Wind Mana Particles. "Well for you, all you need is the Space Element. But there''s another way, which was most helpful to me when I created those Dials many years ago. That method lies in those Arrays. Not only can the Splitting and Separation Runes divide Mana Particles, but they can also divide theyers of space with incredible precision, even if their power is only around the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm." William had a sudden epiphany. His eyes lit up as he said, "The Arrays call in Wind Mana from the surrounding environment, then filter out the bad particles. The Splitting Runes break apart theyers of space, then the Separation Runes keep the spatialyers apart while the Absorption Runes call Mana Particles of the Wind Element from the secondyer of space to further increase the amount of Wind Mana!" -Knowledge of the Space Element improved: Conditions met for free upgrade... -0 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Space Affinity: (B --> A) Effects: Space-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +75% >> +150% Legendary Talent Bonus: Increased sensitivity to foreign use of the Space Element. Next rank up: 10000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª A free upgrade? Nice!William gave his Master a mental thumbs up for saving him 2500 Potential Points. Riyald''s exnation was a bitplicated, but once William understood the entire process, his mind filled with new thoughts and ideas of how to apply his knowledge of Arrays. He was surprised the System hadn''t shown him this before, since it was clearly incredibly important. Maybe it was because his Space Element hadn''t yet reached S-Rank? After all, theyers of space had more to do with the Space Element than they did with Arrays. My Master is a genius! To think he came up with this method to create these dials even though he doesn''t have the Space Element... William had never thought much of others, but this old man before him was truly something impressive. He didn''t even have the System yet had achieved much more than the old William could have possibly imagined. "It seems you understand now. I won''t give you any more hints unless you get stuck again. Let me know when that happens, and I''ll give you some pointers." the old man smiled at William, satisfied that his exnation got through to his special Disciple. I can''t be so quick to me the boy. After all, he''s only twenty years old. What was I doing when I was his age? Riyald tried to think back that far, but when his incredible memory was flooded with scenes of him in the bedroom, he promptly stopped thinking about it. I suppose that''s the biggest difference between me and him... William looked at his Master''s expression of pity with confusion but didn''t bother asking for the details. "Thank you, Master. You said I could separate theyers of space with the Space Element?" Riyald was awoken from his reverie by William''s question, "Ah, yes. Come over here, I need one of my experiments to exin this one to you." he stood up and walked over to arge block of blue metal that was cut into a square shape. He rapped on the top of the block with his right hand as if he was knocking on a door, which caused the block to change forms into a one-meter-tall humanoid golem with a Greater Beast Core embedded in its chest. "This is my Space Golem, as I call it. It barely works, but it should be enough to show you how to use your Space Element to open theyers of space." Its left arm extended, a single finger poking out that emitted Mana of the Space Element. Riyald grabbed the Golem''s arm and traced a circle in the air that caused the space to warp. "This is one way, which is your standard method of forming portals for others to use." Riyald redirected the arm until it was positioned in another direction away from the circle of warped space, then squeezed the Space Golem''s arm to release aser made of Space Mana that greatly distorted the space around itsnding point. "There are two things to note here with the second option. First, you need to be careful with how much power you are putting into the move, since too much could easily rip into the third or even fourthyer of space. Second, you need to watch the timing. If you detonate the Space Mana early, you could damage yourself. If you detonate it toote, the Mana might not have stopped until it hit the opposite wall. Either way, it''s too dangerous for you to be trying this out in myb, so wait until you have returned to your room." William nodded his head, understandingpletely. Cut or pierce with Space Mana. It''s actually very easy. Judging by his smile, this old man probably just wanted to show off one of his experiments... William was beginning to understand his Master''s personality. The old man was very generous with providing benefits to William, and he was very insightful of his Disciple''s shorings, but there were plenty of obvious ws that came with being alone for so long. Now that William was around, his Master seemed to want to show off every experiment he had conducted over the years, not to mention the ridiculous number of traps he had set within the residence. This thought made the corners of Williams mouth twitch as he remembered the poisoned arrow that "weed" him just a few minutes ago. He took another look around the room while Riyald exined a few more things about the Space Element. Initially, William thought the traps had been there for a while, but after taking a second nce, William discovered that many of the crossbows hidden in the floor and ceiling were made of the nt Element and the aura they gave off suggested they had only been functioning for a few hours. Was this your experiment, old man? To peep at me in my room and build traps as a warm wee to your house?!? Chapter 181: Progress Riyald looked at William with a bit of confusion, but he continued exining the workings of the Space Element anyway. Even though he didn''t have the Space Affinity himself, the man had lived a long time and picked up many skills, both from his enemies and general understanding of the world. When he finished, he looked back at William with a smile. "I hope this was beneficial to you, Disciple William. Now that you understand more about Arrays and the differentyers of space, I hope you can be sessful in your experiment." William nodded, "Thank you, Master. When should I meet with you again?" Riyald pulled his hand out from under his robe to look at a ck wristwatch that had four spinning hands, unclear if they were to tell time or for another purpose. He nodded to himself, then looked back at William. "Give me two weeks or so. If everything goes well, you can meet me at the same time and ce." William nodded. He bade his Master farewell, then returned to his room. Or at least, he would have if not for the five crossbows that were hidden behind the walls outside his room. When the hell did he even ce these?!? *** Fria''s bright blue eyes fluttered open as shepleted a sessful night of Cultivation. She had improved to the very peak of the Core Formation Realm and felt much stronger than she did just a few weeks ago. Not only this, but Fria had cleared a few trials in the Labyrinth of Tears recently, earning a few Soul Stones that improved her Soul Strength above one hundred points. Combined with her Cultivation Technique, Fria''sbat power had increased to the middle stages of the Nascent Soul Realm. I''m not going to catch up to him like this...I need more Soul Strength! Her head was filled with a multitude of emotions as her ambition urged her to catch up to the young NPC that took on thousands of Cultivators around her level with nothing but his own strength. Others might wonder why Fria waspeting with an S-Rank NPC, but she didn''t think of it that way. Fria had beenpetitive ever since the first VR game was released, and while she didn''t mind losing, she didn''t like the thought of an NPC securing all the good loot while she was left hanging. Fria got up from her enhanced Cultivation Mat, which sped up her Cultivation speed by two hundred percent, then rolled it up and tossed it into her Space Ring. She popped a Tier 1 Saturation Pill in her mouth, then walked west towards a faraway trial tower, her eyes shining in anticipation as she prepared for a series of tough battles. *** Meanwhile, in the Five Elements Sect. Charlotte had just broken through to the ninth level of the Qi Refinement Realm and was currently preparing herself for the Foundation Establishment Tribtion that she would take at the end of the month. Since entering the Five Elements Sect, Charlotte''s Cultivation speed had increased quite a bit, although it wasn''t anywhere near enough to fill the gap between her and William''s strength. Charlotte formed fists with her hands and raised them to her forehead, clenching her teeth in frustration despite the recent Cultivation progress.Blood pooled in her mouth as she identally bit into her cheek, but she was too distracted by her thoughts to notice. I''m not strong enough to protect myself...how can I protect him? Just under a month ago, she had experienced the consequences of weakness when the group of Cultivators she was assigned to encountered a Magical Beast tide, resulting in the death of three young Disciples that were less than twenty years old. If they hadn''t spent most of their energy protecting her, each of these young men and women would still be alive, and Charlotte wouldn''t have failed her mission. It didn''t matter that Charlotte was a healer; she felt that it was also important to have some ability to defend herself. She couldn''t allow others to defend her when she was also capable! If only I was stronger...If only I was a better healer, or a better fighter... *** "Fuck, this is so difficult..." William heaved a sigh as his head hit the pillow. His eyes were tired from staring at the Runes on the Wind Dial for so long, and his fingers were in pain from replicating Arrays for hours without rest. Master Riyald had helped William to understand how the band of the Dial worked, but there were many more pieces that he had to reverse engineer one-by-one. For example, there was a pair of lugs that connected the band to the main dial of the wristwatch, which seemed to use aplex Array Formation to funnel all of the Wind Element Mana into a storage space within the case of the wristwatch itself. This was the difficult part, where William would have to take the wristwatch apart in order to better understand its inner workings. He was a bit nervous, but the System had his back. Even so, William decided to get some rest before continuing with his work. The next morning, William ate a quick breakfast and checked on Atticus. The snake was coiled on the ground, where William had ced him the previous night while he conducted his experiments. The Artifact Spirit said it would take a few days for him to adapt to the Blood Refinement Pill, so William wasn''t concerned with its condition. William returned to the wristwatch and ced it on the ground face-down, then used a strand of Wind Element Mana to carefully press on the release mechanism located on its back. With careful movements, William removed each part of the wristwatch one-by-one until they wereid carefully on the ground. The System notified him a few times when he would cause damage to the watch, but thankfully William was able to catch himself each time he made a mistake. Without the Arrays connected together evenly, the wristwatch ceased functioning. If William couldn''t piece it back together, the Wind Dial would be lost forever. Let''s just hope I don''t mess this up. William thought as he began inspecting each individual array of the hands and other smaller pieces. He marveled again at Riyald''s masterful work. William wondered how a single person without the help of a System could possibly make one of these devices, much less nearly a dozen of them. If William knew that Riyald created the Wind Dial in just a week, who knew how he would feel. Two days passed before Williampleted his inspection of the Wind Dial''s Arrays. He pieced the wristwatch back together after confirming that he had copied down each Array, but he wasn''t ready to recreate the item just yet. While William knew how to rebuild the Arrays on the wristwatch, he had no idea how to solve the problem he initially encountered. William didn''t want another wristwatch, he wanted something that he could wear that epassed all of the Elemental Affinities he had acquired thus far. Just as he went to draft out a n for a new Artifact, William''s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of rustling scales. He peered in the corner of the room to see Atticus waking up from his nearly four-day slumber. Chapter 182: Pure Bloodline, Appraisal! As Atticus uncurled from his sleeping position, his body becamerger and his scales elongated even further. The vibrant purple color became luminescent, a faint purple glow emitting from the snake''s body as its eyes opened. Atticus continued to grow in length until he was around three meters long, much toorge to remain wrapped around William''s shoulder anymore. The luminescent glow faded, but the vibrant purple scales remained. -Your Companion Beast''s Bloodline has greatly improved: +250 PP -Atticus now has a pure Bloodline that can no longer be improved. William wanted to test Atticus'' newbat power, but there wasn''t an opportunity since the Mythical Rat Snake seemed exhausted even though it had slept for four days straight. He decided to give it a bit more rest. Speaking of rest, I should probably take a break from this Wind Dial project. I might turn into my Master if I keep staring at those Arrays... William shuddered at the thought of bing a white-haired midget that was obsessed with his experiments. Although, setting hundreds of traps sounded kinda fun... Oh no, I''m already bing like him!William did his best to take his mind off things by randomly scrolling through the System Panel. "Hmm?" William''s eyes blinked at a line of text near the bottom of his Status. POTENTIAL POINTS: 22999 That number is going to bother me...William quickly created a ball of wood using nt Element Mana, since he knew he hadn''t used this before. -Developed a new Magic Spell: +1 PP -New Spell: Wood Ball He gave the Spell a generic name since William didn''t n to use it further and was only pushing for the round number of 23000 Potential Points. First thing''s first, Atticus is overdue for an upgrade. System, do it. -5000 PP --Upgrading Atticus-- ... ... ¡ª¡ª¡ª BEAST UPGRADED Atticus: (C --> B) Learned 5 new abilities. Speed and Stealth massively improved. Defensive abilities improved. Intelligence greatly improved. Illusion Domain unlocked. Next rank up: 25000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Atticus'' size increased again, stretching to ten meters in mere moments and nearly filling the entire room. His size would have crushed William to death if not for his quick reaction speed. He was thankful that me Dragon Uri wasn''t here, otherwise William truly would have died of suffocation! William didn''t know where Uri was, but he assumed the dragon was also somewhere in this residence, considering he had also belonged to Riyald at one point in time. He checked on Atticus'' improvements, noticing that the snake''s Cultivation had increased directly to the peak of the Golden Core Realm. Despite Atticus'' Cultivation, William felt that it was even stronger than that, especially considering the aftereffects of the Tier 10 Blood Refinement Pill. With his pure Bloodline, William guessed that Atticus was no weaker than a Nascent Soul Beast in the early stages and might evenpare to the middle stages in some aspects. There was still no Tribtion for Atticus, so William assumed the Mythical Rat Snake was immune, or the Illusion Element was providing assistance. If it was thetter, perhaps William wouldn''t have to undergo a Heavenly Tribtion either when he attempted to break through. Illusion Domain? Now that''s interesting...William wondered what kind of Domain a Legendary Element would have. His own Illusion Affinity was a mere E Rank, so William didn''t have a great understanding of the Element''s abilities. 18 thousand Points left...not enough to upgrade Atticus again. System, upgrade my Cultivation Talent. -10000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Cultivation: (S --> SS) Effects: Cultivation Speed +1200% >> +2200% SS-Rank Bonus Effect: Can see through others'' concealment techniques, revealing their Cultivation without fail. Next rank up: 25000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª -DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE-- --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT-- ... ... --UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL-- SYSTEM RANK: (D --> D+) -8028 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup. Next rank up: 192972PP *New features avable -Appraise Function: Host can now appraise the stats of items at no charge. *New Changes: -System has reached version 1.9 -Epic Talents are more likely to appear. ¡ª¡ª¡ª I got a second bonus effect instead of recing the first one, nice! William looked at the System upgrade messages after evaluating the new effects of the Cultivation Talent. Normally William didn''t care too much about the System upgrades since they are only asionally helpful, but those thoughts changed when he saw the new Appraise Function, which was essentially a free version of what he had already been doing. If he had unlocked this during the trial tower, William would have saved a few thousand Potential Points! He was at least thankful that he hadn''t appraised the Abyssal Weapon Shifter yet, which previously would have cost him one thousand Potential Points to reveal its stats. Almost fifty thousand Potential Points for the next System upgrade. Does that mean it will take a hundred thousand to reach C-Rank? The System''s requirements were quickly bing immense, despite the fact that William had only been present in this world for around three months now. There was still a long way to go before he reached the peak of the world, so he needed to find a more efficient way to earn Potential Points before his growth stagnated. But how can I do that? William put a lot of effort into this, but he didn''t have a perfect solution. The most reliable option would be to send his Companion Beasts out to farm Potential Points, but he currently only had Atticus. me Dragon Uri''s kills wouldn''t earn him any Potential Points, since he technically wasn''t one of William''s Companion Beasts. William wouldn''t be able to contract me Dragon Uri until his strength surpassed the dragon. Since Uri was in the Soul Refinement Realm, William still needed time to reach that level. He could purchase Companion Eggs from the shop after the previous System Rankup, but that was limited to the Magical Beasts that had been added to his Bestiary. If William wanted to gain more powerful Companions, he would need to explore the world first, not to mention that upgrading the Companion Beasts would be quite expensive. There were too many downsides to using Companion Beasts to farm for Potential Points. ording to the System, his Companion Beasts would not return once they died, so he would have to be incredibly careful when sending them out. I''m too far away from this. The Potential Farms are probably my best method of earning points for now... With this in mind, William spent a few hours learning new and useless Spells to earn another two thousand Potential Points. In the process, William unlocked an upgrade to his Spell Master Title, sending it to Epic. When he was done, ten thousand Potential Points went into upgrading one of his Potential Farms to D-Rank, which increased its passive earnings to 150 Points per day. The cost to rank-up to C-Rank also increased by ten times, now one hundred thousand Potential Points to upgrade. Combined with the second Farm at E-Rank, William should be earning 165 Potential Points a day! William wouldn''t havemitted to an upgrade like this if not for the fact that he was in a safe environment. Since he was now protected by a powerful Master, William could rest easy and passively earn Potential Points. I may be safe now, but there''s no telling when I''ll get another chance like this.William thought seriously. He couldn''t remain under Riyald''s protection forever, and even his Master said that there were plenty of enemies stronger than him. All it would take was time and a few angry Cultivators at the peak of the world to tear into the Gravitas Ruins. Chapter 183: Second Meeting Three dayster, William still hadn''t solved his problem with the Wind Dial. The issue had bothered William so much that he hadn''t even spent any time Cultivating. It was pretty wasteful considering his Cultivation Talent was now SS-Rank and his Cultivation speed was four times faster than the previous upgrade. He fully understood each of the Wind Dial''s functions, and even had the ability to recreate every Array Formation, but something was keeping William from developing an item capable of producing the same effect. He had plenty of options to createrger items, but to make something even smaller than the wristwatches while keeping the same effects...it was impossible with William''s current ability! Scratch that, I think even upgrading my Arrays Talent wouldn''t help much here. There''s a limit to how small an Array can be, and Master has clearly stretched that limit to the maximum. William redoubled his efforts toe up with an idea, but he was suddenly interrupted by a knocking on the door. A muffled voice came from the other side, clearly affected by the sound-proofing Arrays William added, "Your meeting with Master Riyald is supposed to start in five minutes. Are you ready, Disciple William?" Five minutes? Shit! William rushed out the door to see Sir Reynolds waiting for him on the other side of the door. Although William knew the Artifact Spirit could hear and see everything going on in his room, he was touched by the Spirit''s obvious gesture to show that he cared about William''s privacy. "Thank you for reminding me, Sir Reynolds. I will go over there right now." Sir Reynolds peeked inside William''s room while the man passed by "Ah...indulged in your experiments, huh? It seems Master chose a fit Disciple to pass on his knowledge." William didn''t bother responding and ran to theboratory at high speed, effortlessly dodging the various traps that sprung from the walls, floor, and ceiling. Rather than bing annoyed this time, William found the event somewhat fun and challenging. It was a great way to keep his battle instincts sharp. Maybe he''s not such a fool after all...he knew I would be spending a lot of time in my room. What person wouldn''t rx a little after spending time in a safe environment? "You''re a minutete, Disciple William." the white-haired man said with an annoyed tone. Riyald didn''t like to be kept waiting, especially when his experiments took so much of his time already. "I''m sorry, Master. I was working on the Dials." William said honestly as he raised his head to look at the old man. His eyes widened slightly in surprise when he noticed his SS-Rank effect from the Cultivation Talent was active, revealing Riyald''s Cultivation to be at the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. Riyald had already mentioned his Realm before, but actually being able to see it was different. "And how goes your progress?" "I''ve learned the Arrays, but creating a simr item is difficult. I need more time." William replied. Riyald nodded his head. William''s progress was impressive, but he knew the boy would struggle at this point. After all, these Dials were already one of Riyald''s masterpieces. For his Disciple to improve them only a week after arriving would be a stain on his reputation. "Well, keep working at it. I don''t have any advice for you concerning the Arrays, but perhaps you have noticed something about the wristwatch itself?" "Master, are you talking about the material?" Riyald''s eyes gleamed with delight, "As expected of you, Disciple William. I''m d that you noticed this. What about the material?" "It''s made of Starmetal, the same item that is rewarded forpleting your trials." William didn''t have much else to say about the material. "Quite so. Do you know why so much Starmetal is given out as a reward?" the old man asked. William shook his head. "It''s because Starmetal is one of the most valuable materials for cksmithing. Have you read my book?" William scanned his memories, realizing that he had indeed read a book about cksmithing. He nodded his head. "Good, then you should already know the minute details regarding Starmetal. I hope you consider using Starmetal for whatever Artifact you decide to create. Now...let''s get into the main topic, Magic." William didn''t expect his Master to suddenly switch the topic to this. He waited for the old man to exin, but even after a few minutes passed, nothing was said. "Aren''t you going to ask why Magic?" Riyald asked after noticing his Disciple wasn''t speaking. I was thinking it, do I have to outright say it?William cursed inwardly. "Why Magic, Master?" "Well now I don''t want to tell you." Riyald crossed his arms noticing William''s uninterested expression. "..." William wondered who the special one was, him or his Master. -Both of you. Do you really need to get involved in this too, System? "Ok fine I''ll tell you." Riyald gave up on trying to force an apology from William, who clearly wasn''t interested in ying his little game. "You have multiple Domains, correct?" "...how did you know?" William scanned his memory but didn''t have to think back far to remember the caverns where he first unlocked the Domain of each Element. But the System said no one was watching... -The System said no powerful Cultivators were watching. Perhaps the Artifact Spirit noticed something. Riyald''s next words answered William''s question, "Sir Reynolds told me, but I have yet to see it for myself. It''s good of you to hide your talents from others, it tells me you understand that too much talent can be a bad thing." William calmed down, noticing that Riyald''s impression of him hadn''t changed, "Yes, Master. I have a few Domains." "How many?" "...three." "Really?" "Okay...five." Riyald uncrossed his arms and pulled out an Affinity Orb from his Space Ring, "Are you sure?" "Eight..." William sighed in defeat. Riyald put the Affinity Orb away, "That''s quite impressive, young man. Other than you, I believe the most Domains I''ve seen on an individual was four, and that was a very long time ago, when I was still in the Nascent Soul Realm. I wouldn''t be surprised if that monster Ascended in thest thousand years, despite the fact that he is much younger than I am." William was surprised to hear that another person had so many Domains. As far as he knew, Supreme Left only had one S-Rank Elemental Affinity, meaning he only had one Domain.Other than Supreme Left, William had faced that Ice Mage in the trial tower that had a Domain. Besides those two individuals, William guessed there were probably less than a dozen living Cultivators that could use a Domain, considering the younger Cultivators'' responses when they saw William''s Life Domain. While Riyald was talking, one specific phrase piqued William''s interest, "Ascension?" It was a phrase he had read in some books but didn''t have a great understanding of. "Yes, Ascension." Riyald called some Mana of the nt Element to create a chair and table simr to his previous meeting with William. He sat down in his chair, beckoning William to do the same. "I was going to talk about your Domains, but it seems we are bound to go off track while your mind is preupied with the idea of Ascension. Sit down and let me exin it to you." Chapter 184: Ascension "Once one has endured all nine Tribtions in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, they can Cultivate to enter the Ascension Realm and Ascend to the next World. This is the current stage I am at, but my Cultivation speed is too slow to take that final step. Of course, I''m not willing to give up just yet. There are three ways to Ascend. The first I just mentioned, but the other two are less conventional. If your body bes strong enough, a simple movement will be too much for the World to handle your presence and it will open a path for you to Ascend. Thest method isn''t confirmed, but ording to some Ruins more ancient than me, one can Ascend once they acquire enough Soul Strength. I have explored this path thoroughly, and although I don''t know the specific amount required, I feel I am getting closer and closer to sess." As he spoke thest sentence, Riyald''s body became an ethereal blue and hovered in the air. His body became more and more ethereal until he was nearly invisible, after which theboratory began to shake violently. Riyald hurriedly returned to his original form and looked at William with a smile, "Do you have any questions about this?" William''s mind was shaken by the sudden events in theboratory, but he quickly collected himself. "What is the next World? And why would you give out Soul Stones as a trial reward if you are trying to improve your Soul Strength?" Riyaldughed, "Those are two very different questions. To answer your first question, I do not know. I just know that there is another ce above our own world where even more powerful Cultivators exist that can only be reached through Ascension." William raised an eyebrow, "Even you do not know?" "How can I? After all, I''ve never been there myself and the secrets of Ascension can''t be revealed so easily. Perhaps some of the less reclusive folks have a better understanding of Ascension than I do." William nodded, waiting for Riyald to continue. "And as for the Soul Stones, it''s quite simple. I''ve already consumed all of the miniature and regr-sized Soul Stones, and they are no longer useful to me. Consider them as leftovers I decided to give out to the trial challengers. I have even created a machine that can harvest Soul Energy from the world and turn it into Soul Stones. I have little control over the quality of the Soul Stone, but if you would like some more of the smaller variants that I have stored up, I would be happy to oblige." William decided to ept Riyald''s offer, "Thank you, Master." Riyald handed William ny-nine miniature Soul Stones and ny regr Soul Stones, which was the perfect amount that William could consume before reaching the limit. If the miniature Soul Stones gave one Soul Strength, and the regr-sized ones gave five, that meant William would have six hundred Soul Strength once they were all consumed! Riyald stood up from his chair and removed both the chairs and the table with a sweep of his hand, causing William to almost fall to the ground had he not reacted quickly enough. How did he cancel the effects of his Magic after it already took root? I usually have to control the wood to retreat back into the ground. Before William could give Riyald an angry look at his obvious prank, the old man used the nt Element to create a tiny seed, "Back to our previous conversation, I wanted to give you a lesson on Magic." William threw away his anger and adopted a respectful stance while Riyald spoke, realizing the man was already teaching and had only used the table as an example. "What do you know about Magic so far? Don''t cut corners on the exnation." Riyald asked him. William exined everything he knew, from the existence of Mana Particles to specifics of each Element. His knowledge was vast, but William knew it was limited at the same time. He even repeated what Yuming had said to him about how unspecialized Space Rings can''t store Alchemy ingredients due to the Space Mana''s interference that would damage the ingredient. While William spoke, Riyald would nod his head at some points and shake it at others, but he didn''t interrupt. When he was finished, Riyald released a light sigh. "It seems you have so many Elemental Affinities that it has clouded your judgement of Magic as a whole. While I am impressed that you have managed to improve your Elemental Affinity to S-Rank and unlock your Domain, it can all be attributed to luck. I hope you don''t let the fact that you have eight Domains get to your head in the future, since someone like me who is forever stuck as a C-Rank nt Mage could easily tear your Magic apart if they have a greater depth of knowledge." William nodded. He already knew this, having experienced it firsthand in the trial tower when Gu Dianlong''s younger self used the Space Element to teleport behind him before he even had a chance to react. If William hadn''t had the Attack Reflection Talent, he probably would have failed the trial right there and then. Riyald spent the next few hours teaching William many intricacies of Magic, starting with each Basic Element. While William''s improved understanding of each Element didn''t lead to a free upgrade, he felt he had gained a lot that day. The lessons continued after teaching the Basic Elements, and William even revealed the existence of most of his other Elements to Riyald after confirming with the System that it wouldn''t cause him any more trouble than he was already in. William only decided to conceal his Illusion and Order Affinities, since there was no reason to share too many of his secrets with his Master. "Twenty-three Elements! I''ve never heard of such a thing. Perhaps you should be the focus of my next experiment..." the man trailed off, giving William the shivers. Riyald snapped back to reality, "Considering the massive number of Elements you control, I now understand why your knowledge was so shallow. I apologize for my earlier rudeness, Disciple William." William felt awkward hearing his Master apologizing to him, especially when he knew that the Elements weren''t awakened all at once. The truth was, William had plenty of opportunities to increase his knowledge of the Elements, but he was too stingy to spend his Potential Points on the System. With even more Elemental topics to cover, Riyald and William spent the remainder of the day discussing the various Elements. William learned how to cancel his Magic Spells after their formation, which would both save a lot of time when he needed to cover his tracks and be a great tool for deception during a battle. When William listened to Riyald''s lectures on some of his lower-ranked Elements, his understanding improved at a rapid rate, leading to a series of System messages that almost made him dizzy. -Knowledge of the Darkness Element improved: Conditions met for free upgrade... -Knowledge of the Light Element improved: Conditions met for free upgrade... -Knowledge of the Poison Element improved: Conditions met for free upgrade... -Knowledge of the Curse Element greatly improved: Conditions met for three free upgrades... Chapter 185: Elemental Improvements William scrolled past the System messages that notified him of each free upgrade, thankful that the process wasn''t painful at all, nor was there any visible change to his body. It seemed the System was actively suppressing the side-effects of the upgrades so that Riyald wouldn''t notice anything odd. -Knowledge of the Blessing Element greatly improved: Conditions met for three free upgrades... -Knowledge of the Death Element greatly improved: Conditions met for three free upgrades... -Knowledge of the Necromancy Element improved: Conditions met for a free upgrade... The System messages continued over the next few hours, making William even more eager to listen to Riyald''s teachings. He had to admit that his Master was very good at exining the difficult topics, which seemed out of his reach before. By the end of the lesson, all of his William''s Elements that were E and D-Rank were directly improved by two or three levels to B-Rank, while the C-Rank Elements improved by one Rank. Riyald''s understanding of the Seal Element was minimal, but after he and William spent an hour testing the properties of Seal Mana, even that had improved to B-Rank. His greatest improvement was to the Time Element, which Riyald had studied thoroughly throughout his life. Not only had the man found a loophole for creating Arrays with many Magic Affinities including the Time Affinity, but he had also managed to create multiple experimental Artifacts that affected the flow of time, which was why time in the Gravitas Ruins flowed four times more quickly than the outside. With Riyald''s help, William''s Time Affinity rose from the measly E-Rank all the way to A-Rank, saving him thousands of Potential Points. The lesson as a whole had saved William tens of thousands of Potential Points, making him eternally grateful to his Master. While his Illusion Affinity and Order Affinity remained at their low ranks, William wasn''t bothered. Every time he thought about upgrading the Order Affinity, which was the only Mythical-level Magic he knew, the hairs on the back of his neck would stand up. For some reason, William felt that if he upgraded the Order Affinity, he would die. Whether that was at the hands of another or just the side effects from the upgrade, he did not know. Either way, William wouldn''t try it until he was confident in his survival. As usual, the System wasn''t helpful in identifying the problem. When William asked, it requested an astonishing one trillion Potential Points, which was the most he had ever seen other than the one time he made the System angry and it overcharged him every time he used the Ask Function. "I hope this has been helpful to you, Disciple William." Riyald said with an amiable smile. His wrinkly face reminded William of a friendly grandpa that you would only see at family reunions, but William knew the man was anything but innocent. William gave his Master a bow, "Thank you for your teachings, Master." Riyald nodded in satisfaction, "It''s quitete now, and we have remained here much longer than I initially nned. Meet with me the same time next week. If your progress is sufficient on the Wind Dial, I may have you assist me with one of my experiments." William bade Riyald farewell and started heading back to his room down the corridor. Just a few dozen meters before William reached his usual door, the Artifact Spirit stopped him. "Disciple William, it''s good to see you." the Spirit said as if he hadn''t been peeping on William the entire week. William gave a slight bow, "You too, Sir Reynolds. Is something the matter?" "Well...yes and no. Your snake seems to have grown quite big and can barely fit into your room. I was going to speak with Master about it, but he''s too busy." William remembered the ten-meter-long snake that was resting in his room, suddenly wishing he was still as small as before, where he could wrap around William''s arm and sleep all day. "He is a bitrger than before, isn''t he?" "Yes..." the Artifact Spirit said, "since you''re good with Arrays and have the Space Element, I was hoping you''d fix this problem." "Can I?" William became slightly excited. To be honest, William had also felt that his room was quite small, considering the amount of space he needed to both create an Artifact and store Atticus. If he wanted to keep his sanity, an upgrade to the size of his room was required. William asked Sir Reynolds about some of the specifics, then opted to create a brand-new room right next to the other one. He didn''t want to risk editing the other room and hurt Atticus or damage the disassembled Wind Dial, so this was the next best option. Not to mention there was plenty of area in the corridor, so William was sure that Riyald wouldn''t mind. He got to work immediately, creating many runes of Spatial Expansion and stacking them into improved Perfect Runes. He didn''t use Complete Runes here, not because he didn''t trust Riyald who probably already knew, but because they were too difficult and would turn a task that should only take a few minutes into an entire night. Perfect Runes were nothing to sneeze at, and since his Space Affinity was A-Rank, William could easily weave it into one of the Runes he had seen many times before in the Guild, Array Hall, or Alchemy Hall from various cities and in the Sect. William continued to add more Arrays to the mix, improving the stability of the space inside and adding a few extra functions that would limit the amount of peeping that Sir Reynolds could perform. He didn''t want Riyald or Sir Reynolds to notice what he had done, so William opted to set the concealment functions to activate only duringte hours of the night and only for an hour at a time. He knew that if Riyald was hellbent on taking away William''s privacy, the old man would notice this right away, but it was worth trying. This way he could at least enjoy a little privacy every now and then for a bath or whatnot. William finished creating the infrastructure for the room, expanding its size to forty thousand square meters. The ceiling stretched sixty meters high, and the floor was made of a grey brick that was actually heated and would never feel cold to the touch. Rather than a room, it was more like a house fit for giants, but it was exactly what William wanted. He added a few walls here and there to slightly reduce howrge the room looked, then put in some standard decorative and functional items. William spent half an hour on the bed, opting to make it asfortable as possible, then added arge bathtub out of stone that could withstand high heats. William decided that sometime in the future he needed to find a liquid that was hot enough for him to bathe in whilefortable at the same time. Ava bath just wasn''t viable, nor did it smell great. When William finished, he opened a set of double doors to lead back into the corridor, then opened up the door to his other room and called for Atticus toe outside. The long snake slithered over to William, its purple scales shining vibrantly. Atticus raised his head and opened his mouth to release a light-hearted hiss. "Wee back, Masssster William." Chapter 186: Absurd Tribulation "A-Atticus?" William looked back at the Mythical Rat Snake in shock. Its eyes glowed with intelligence as it looked at him, seemingly thinking hard about the next thing to say. The words it spoke previously were very simr to something me Dragon Uri had said. "Ssssshit." Atticus smiled. It had learned that one from its Master. "..." William looked at Atticus in silence. It seemed there was still some time before it learned how to actuallymunicate like a normal person...erm, snake? It suddenly opened its mouth and made a swallowing motion, which was Atticus'' way of showing William that it wanted something to eat. It waster at night, so omelettes didn''t sound good to William at the moment. He opted to make spaghetti instead while speaking with Atticus, using some more of the stored foodstuffs he bought at the store in the Five Elements Sect. That reminds me...I only have so much food, does Master Riyald even eat? How am I going to get more for Atticus when he feels like eating? Not only did Atticus need to eat, but so did William. His Cultivation was only in the Qi Refinement Realm, which meant he still needed to eat every three days or so. With Atticus around, William usually ate around once a day, but he couldn''t do this often. It was best to conserve food, so after William finished feeding himself and Atticus, he sat cross-legged on his new bed and started Cultivating. Over the next week, this was William''s normal routine. He would spend the first sixteen hours developing the Arrays for his new Artifact, and the remaining eight on Cultivation. Every two days, William would reduce the number of hours spent on the Artifact to ten, using the remaining time to rest. By the end of the week, William''s Cultivation Base was maxed out at 500/500. Instead of breaking through immediately, William visited Riyald for their weekly meeting to discuss the workings of Arrays and his Elements. Other than giving William a few pointers, Riyald wasn''t able to do much else. His knowledge of the Elements was vast, but without being a master of such elements himself, no amount of teaching would improve William''s Elemental Affinities again. Riyald''s best Elements were the Wind and nt Elements, but William had already unlocked the Domains for both. After their meeting, William returned to his room and started to break through. Qi Refinement 5...6...7...8. Each breakthrough cost ten more Spirit Qi than thest, even until he reached the ninth level. When William reached the sixth level, he felt he could already attempt the Heavenly Tribtion, but William decided he would improve to the peak of the ninth level first. Each upgrade improved his abilities more and more, each getting ever closer to the peak of their respective rank. Even his Forcefield Talent was growing ever stronger, approaching the limits of defense in the Nascent Soul Realm. Once he reached level nine, William poured ny-nine Spirit Qi into his breakthrough and checked his Status. -Cultivation: Qi Refinement 9 (99/100) One more Spirit Qi and I will break through... William didn''t take thest step just yet. First, he called out to the Artifact Spirit. "Sir Reynolds, are you there?" After a few moments, an ethereal figure descended from the sky and condensed into the form of the familiar Artifact Spirit. He was holding arge scroll in his left hand, which was promptly set aside while he looked at William. "What is it, Disciple William?" the Spirit asked calmly. As he spoke, he inspected William, who seemed to have grown stronger since thest time he checked on Will''s condition. "I''m about to break through, is there somewhere I can attempt the Heavenly Tribtion?" Although William had experienced the Heavenly Tribtion while refining pills in the Alchemy Competition, he felt that wasn''t a good example. After all, it only targeted William and didn''t cause any damage to thepeting Alchemists other than to their concentration. From what William heard in the past, normal Heavenly Tribtions would damage the surrounding environment sometimes. Will didn''t want to risk damaging his room, nor did he want to make Master Riyald or the Artifact Spirit angry. "You''re breaking through? To what Realm?" "Foundation Establishment, Sir Reynolds." The Artifact Spirit nodded his head, then paused to raise an eyebrow. "Are you saying you''re only in the Qi Refinement Realm right now, Disciple William?" "That''s right." "..." Sir Reynolds didn''t know what to think. William was incredibly talented, but Sir Reynolds assumed the boy was at least in the Core Formation Realm, if not at the peak of it. William''s concealment technique was too strong for him to tell, and even Riyald hadn''t a clue that William''s Cultivation was so low. After a long pause, the Artifact Spirit contacted Riyald through their mental link. Master Riyald. Yes, Reynolds? The boy is about to break through, where do you want me to take him? What Realm? He says he''s in Qi Refinement. ... I know, Master. I thought the same thing. Well...take him up top just in case. I''d rather not risk the integrity of our home over a mere breakthrough. Understood, I''ll take him up now. Can I use one of our Portal Stones? Go for it, but make sure the boy helps us rece it. A tiny portal opened in front of Sir Reynolds, which formed into the shape of a small bluish stone that was covered in tiny Arrays. The sudden appearance of such an item piqued William''s interest, but he was already absorbed in the Wind Dial, so he pushed his thoughts to ater date. The Artifact Spirit ended hismunication with Riyald and crushed the stone in his hand while mouthing a few coordinates. A muchrger portal formed in the space in front of them. Sir Reynolds ushered William inside, then followed closely behind. When William''s vision cleared, he quietly inspected his surroundings. He was in a in, simr to the one he arrived in when first entering the Gravitas Ruins. To the East was a small forest of blue and green trees, while a few kilometers to the West was a trial tower. "Is that the Western Tower?" William asked. "Indeed. This in should be the safest for you to attempt your Tribtion. I can sense that there are very few Cultivators in this area, so the chances of you being noticed are minimal. William nodded; he expected as much considering the time. His Gravitas Ruins Ticket said that it was currently Day 59, meaning all the others who had entered with him would be leaving the Gravitas Ruins soon. William sat down cross-legged and channeled thest strand of Spirit Qi into breaking through. The sky turned dark as his Cultivation reached the limit of the Qi Refinement Realm, at which point William promptly stood up. He looked into the sky to see the formation of the first Tribtion Cloud, its aura surprisingly non-threatening despite everything he had heard. Little did William know that it was actually his senses telling him there was no danger behind this cloud, given his current strength. As he stared above, more Tribtion Clouds formed, their aurabining to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm. The range of the Tribtion expanded from a measly ten meters to over a hundred, still growing as more time passed. Sir Reynolds wasn''t surprised that the Tribtion expanded past the normal limits of the Qi Refinement Realm. William had already proven that his Talent was much greater than the average Cultivator. Sir Reynolds looked on with interest as the Tribtion reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm, but he still wasn''t worried about William. The boy had already proven that he could take on opponents much stronger than the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Time passed, the Tribtion''s range expanding ever further. When its range expanded to ten thousand meters, William felt a tingling sensation on the back of his neck that told him there was some danger in these clouds. Sir Reynolds'' expression changed to surprise. The Tribtion Clouds were at the peak of the Core Formation Realm. Any further and William would be attempting a Golden Core Tribtion! The clouds expanded even further, reaching the Golden Core Realm in the blink of an eye. They expanded for ten more minutes, breaking into the peak of the Golden Core Realm and stopping just before the Nascent Soul. If he truly is only in the Qi Refinement Realm...this is too much! For a talented individual like William, taking on a Tribtion two Realms above him wasn''t much. Three Realms, however, was another story. The strength of Heavenly Tribtions were never weaker than the previous Tribtion. This means if William''s Cultivation is truly in the Qi Refinement Realm, then he will need to attempt at least a Nascent Soul Tribtion while in the Foundation Establishment Realm, and a Soul Formation Tribtion when he was at the end of Core Formation! It was too much! Chapter 187: Tribulation...Tribulated? While the Artifact Spirit was concerned with William''s future well-being, William was staring at the sky with a wide smile. He brought the Sword of Shifting Sands out of his Space Ring along with the Mana Gathering Staff and held them at the ready while channeling the surrounding Earth Mana. Only a Golden Core Tribtion? I beat you back when I was refining pills!He continued staring at the sky in defiance. The Tribtions William faced in the Five Elements Sect were only barely in the Golden Core Realm, but his strength had improved countless times since then. William wasn''t afraid at all! The first Heavenly Lightning Bolt brewed, striking down at incredible speed with strength at the early stages of the Golden Core Realm. Since it was targeting William, his S-Rank bonus effect of the Reflexes Talent activated, slowing down time by fifty percent, but he didn''t really need it. William was already forming a defensive wall of earth above him before the bonus effect even activated, stopping the Heavenly Lightning in its tracks. Not even a crack formed on the tough ceiling made of earth, an incredible differencepared to thest time William defended against a Heavenly Tribtion. William was tempted to provoke the Heavenly Tribtion again, but there wasn''t really anything to gain from it. He looked back at Sir Reynolds, whose expression had be calm. The Artifact Spirit already knew of William''sbat strength, so the result of the first Lightning wasn''t surprising. "Sir Reynolds, you and Master are the only powerful ones in this Ruin, right?" "Yes, that would be correct." the Spirit responded. "In that case, I don''t need to hold back!" William''s eyes turned fierce as he unleashed the effects of his Earth Domain, filling the air with floating dust particles that carried incredible strength. During hisst meeting with Riyald, William learned that he could adjust the properties of the Mana in his Domain to fit his needs. This meant that if he wanted to use the Fire Domain, he didn''t need to raise the heat if he didn''t want to. The Mana Particles of the Fire Element werepletely under his control and he could conjure mes with incredible heat, or no heat at all! The same idea applied to William''s Earth Domain. Instead of just encasing himself or others in a solid brick made of earth, William could control the dust in the air for either offensive or defensive purposes. If he wanted the dust to be tough, he could pack them together and protect himself. If he wanted them to be sharp, he could shape them into a giant Earth Spike that would pierce the enemy without fail if they entered his range. With the former option, not only could he have the same amount of defensive ability, but William didn''t need to obstruct his line of sight. It was the ultimate defense! Thinking thatst line reminded William of an animated character that controlled sand the same way he was doing now. Will smiled with glee. This was fun! The second Heavenly Lightning came crashing down, but William controlled the dust to form a shield above his head that deflected the Lightning into the distance. Before the third Lightning Bolt could form, William shaped the dust particles into a giant drill and began to rotate it. He controlled the Earth Mana Particles to move upwards as fast as possible,unching the drill into the sky directly in the path of the third Lightning Bolt. The Lightning was split down the middle while the drill continued to drive upwards, piercing through the clouds and dispersing the Heavenly Tribtion. -Survived a Heavenly Tribtion: +10 PP -Defeated a Heavenly Tribtion: +25 PP The number of Potential Points William earned weren''t as interesting as they were before, considering William could earn more than that amount from the Potential Farms in a single day now. William was still surprised, however, when he saw the additional reward for defeating the Heavenly Tribtion. An additional twenty-five Potential Points was more than wee. So a Heavenly Tribtion doesn''t need to be endured. It can also be defeated... The sky became sunny again as William''s Tribtion fully dispersed. Instead of being showered with energy from above, waves of Spirit Qi seeped through the ground and coiled around William''s legs as they climbed up his body. William''s pores opened up automatically, allowing the Spirit Qi to enter his body with some difficulty due to the Hard Skin Talent. His body was overwhelmed with a sense of strength like nothing he had even experienced before. He closed his eyes to better sense the feeling, then released a punch in a certain direction towards the blue forest. A st of wind rushed forward along with William''s fist, pulverizing a tree that was nearly a kilometer away from his current position. Is this the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, or have I entered Soul Formation?William wondered. The System answered his question for him without any cost. -Yourbat power has been in the Soul Formation Realm since Qi Refinement 8. Wow, really? This entire time? -Yes, but you''re too stupid to notice it. Was that really necessary, System? -Yes. The System went eerily silent, so much so that William''s link with the System was distorted slightly. William gave up on trying to reason with the System, whose bad attitude had arrived out of the blue. He looked at Sir Reynolds, who was in a state of shock from witnessing William''s method of surviving the Heavenly Tribtion. "I''m ready to go when you are, Sir Reynolds." William said. The Artifact Spirit nodded, but there was a bit of inexplicable fear in his voice, "I''ll take you back, but I hope you don''t try something like that again." William was confused, "Try what?" "Dispersing a Heavenly Tribtion." "What''s wrong with that?" The Artifact Spirit pressed his hand to his face with a long sigh, "You''re too young and inexperienced. I should have Master exin this to you. Come along." Sir Reynolds crushed another Portal Stone that he had asked for during the Tribtion, leading the pair back to the residence under the Gravitas Ruins. Their exit point was directly in theboratory, where Riyald was currently inspecting the gears of an Array-powered miniature steam engine. The duo''s sudden appearance jolted Riyald from his work, causing him to drop a small wrench that he was holding in his right hand. "You fuck! What did I say about sneaking up on me, Reynolds?" his expression was angry as he looked at Sir Reynolds. When he spied William close behind the Artifact Spirit, his expression softened, "How did it go, Disciple William?" He leaned over to pick up the wrench from the ground while waiting for William''s response. "It is done," William said with a soft bow. "Sir Reynolds sent me here to ask you about dispersing Heavenly Tribtions." Riyald dropped the wrench for a second time. His hands became shaky as he carefully looked at William''s condition. He tapped on an Array located on his robes, wetting his chapped lips with a simted Water Element. "My dear Disciple...don''t tell me you dispersed a Heavenly Tribtion..." Chapter 188: Inner Flaw William wasn''t sure what about dispersing a Heavenly Tribtion was so scary, but he could tell that it wasn''t anything tough about considering his Master''s expression. "I did, Master." he replied. "What level was the Tribtion at?" Riyald looked at Sir Reynolds this time. "Peak of the Golden Core. It only fired off three bolts." Riyald nodded. He was surprised that the Realm was so high, but the fact that only three Lightning Bolts had formed reduced the imminent threat. He looked back at William, "I suppose I should have mentioned this before you attempted to break through, considering it was your first time. That is my fault. However, I have both good and bad news. The good news is, you probably haven''t enraged the Heavens since your Cultivation is so low, and you should have gained a benefit from the World." William thought of the Spirit Qi that coiled up his body after the Tribtion. So that was a reward from the World, and not from the Heavenly Tribtion? What does this mean? Riyald continued, "The bad news is, if you haven''t done so already, you are almost certainly on the Heavens'' radar now." "So I''m being targeted by someone else now?" William asked. He was a bit tired of this, always being targeted by someone stronger for little to no reason. Maybe this time he had provoked someone, but what had he done the other times? "Not quite, but close. You don''t need to know much about the Heavens now, but just understand that your path to Ascension has be much more difficult now." Riyald warned. William nodded.System, is what Master said true? Are the Heavens going to make my life difficult? -You''ve already attracted their attention once. Like your Master said, you do not need to know about the Heavens now. The more you know, the more difficult your life will be. Even I cannot help you at my current rank. Even you? -At my current strength, yes. Your Tribtions will be more difficult from now on; it''s best that you prepare yourself more thoroughly next time. It won''t always be so easy. William nodded. Something about the Systems words told him that it was time for him to be more serious about this entire thing, or he would actually die. Thest few months had been nothing but fun, and even the so-called challenges became effortless at a certain point. If William was struggling, all he needed to do was earn more Potential Points and level up his Talents. His strength had increased by leaps and bounds every time he earned arge number of Potential Points, but the increase in strength wasn''t as exaggerated as it seemed. In the same Realm, William was unstoppable. But his opponents had never been at the same level as him. Having learned that there is another World above this one that he could Ascend to in the future, William knew his strength was nothing special. And now he had increased the difficulty of his growth even further. William bashed himself in the head under the confused looks of Sir Reynolds and Riyald. I''m smarter than this! I might not act like it, but I am! When it''s just me, it''s easy to make reckless decisions. But I''ve had Atticus for a while now, and I haven''t even considered his safety. What if the Illusion Element isn''t enough to hide him from my enemies? What if I get him killed? And Uri is following me as well. If I''m provoking enemies stronger than him, who can me him if he wants to abandon me? William made a rapid decision to change his perspective. He had been in this World for months now, but who could say when it was toote to change? It was at this moment that something in William''s eyes changed. They became slightly dimmer, the bright-green eyes more resembling hazel. His facial hair that he usually kept well-groomed grew out just a little bit, and his eyebrows furrowed as he considered his next move. -Host has defeated an inner w: +50 PP -First w defeated: +100 PP -Unlocked Title: +5 PP -wless (Rare): You have defeated one of your inner ws that continuously hindered your potential. Attention to detail increased by 20%. William nced at the System Messages, somehow expecting an oue like this. He performed a mental swipe to hide the notifications from his view and returned his attention to Riyald, who had retrieved the wrench for a second time and was looking at William in silence. "It seems you understand your current situation, Disciple William. Do not worry, for I will assist you as much as I can." William nodded, "I appreciate that, Master. There is something that doesn''t make sense to me, though." "What is it?" "If dispersing the Heavenly Tribtion is a bad thing and hinders our growth, why was I rewarded by the World?" Riyald''s eyes widened in surprise. He didn''t expect this kind of question from William, "That''s difficult to exin, and I only have theories." William waited for an answer. Even a theory would help him understand just a little about what was going on. "There are a few others who have dispersed the Heavenly Tribtions like you did. All of whom either died of old age because they couldn''t clear the subsequent Tribtions or died while attempting one. Both ends were met at the hands of the Heavens. Each time a Tribtion is dispersed, the Spirit Qi of the World itself is channeled into the Cultivator''s body. I can make any number of conclusions about this, but I have a guess that the World does not want to be ruled by the Heavens and is rewarding Cultivators that also oppose them." William felt this exnation made sense. "In that case, should we be siding with the Heavens, or the World?" Riyald was speechless once again, "This...I do not know." William was disappointed, but he didn''t me his Master for not having an answer. No matter how long one lived, they didn''t have time to investigate every anomaly. He considered his own thoughts and feelings on this. If the Heavens were some sort of oppressive creature that became angry when someone destroyed their precious Tribtion, were they the viins? Or was the World itself the problem? There were too many questions and not enough answers. Williammunicated back and forth with the System, but after spending a hundred Potential Points on the Ask Function, he hadn''t gained much information. If the System can''t give me affordable answers, that means it''s too much for me right now. I''ll decide what to do before I attempt the breakthrough to the Core Formation Realm. Regardless of which side I take, I need to prepare myself. "Master, thank you for the help. I won''t do anything reckless for the time being." William''s words relieved Riyald somewhat. His greatest concern was that his most talented Disciple yet would go off and get himself killed before he grew up. It would be such a waste of talent, and something that Riyald had seen many times before. He grew a little sad when he thought about his previous Disciple, who had challenged the leader of the Azures Continent a few hundred years ago, only to get himself killed in the end... Chapter 189: Can You Teach Me? William returned to his room shortly after his conversation with Master Riyald and Sir Reynolds. On the way back, he noticed that the crossbows weren''t as properly concealed as before. Even without the use of the radar from the Navigation Talent, William noticed a series of minute irregrities in the wall that hinted at the presence of a trap. Is this the effect of my new wless Title? he wondered. If so, then it truly did deserve its name. With the title improving his attention to detail, not only had William''s ability to identify traps improve, but so would hisbat power since he could better analyze a fight. This might even help him with the Wind Dial experiments, which would be a massive time saver. First things first, I haven''t checked my Status yet. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Human -Age: 41 -Lifespan: 260 Years -Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 1 (0/200) STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 800/800 -Mana: 2500/2500 -Fame: 100 -Humanity: 98 -Attention: 1 -Soul Strength: 51 -Cultivation Base: 50/1000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª William was happy and disappointed at the same time when he looked at his new stats. His lifespan had only increased by ten years, which wasn''t all that muchpared to what he had. His health had increased by 300 points, and his Mana by one hundred, but other than that there were no notable changes. He noticed his Cultivation Base had doubled in capacity, which would be nice for the future, but it wasn''t a game-changer. Oh, I haven''t consumed the Soul Stones yet. I wonder why that doesn''t increase with my Cultivation William realized as he took ny Soul Stones and ny-nine Miniature Soul Stones from his Space Ring. -Acquired Soul Stone x90: +9000 PP -Acquired Miniature Soul Stone x99: +2475 PP Huh? Why did I only just now get these Potential Points?William thought back to his exchange with Master Riyald, but couldn''t find a problem. He had touched each Soul Stone as they were sent to his Space Ring, so that wasn''t the issue. He asked the System, who answered for free. -The System was deciding whether or not to award Potential Points based on the circumstances. William felt this was an odd exnation, but he didn''t ask further. He directly consumed each stone one at a time, raising his Soul Strength to a t 600 points. It wasn''t noticeable until he reached one hundred Soul Strength, but the speed at which he absorbed the Soul Stones increased slightly with each stone. Rather than spending a few weeks on the consumption process, a little over ten days passed before he was done. It had been nine days since thest Cultivator left the Gravitas Ruins, meaning the masked girl William met before was no longer in the Ruins. William didn''t know why he kept thinking of this person, but it made him a little sad to think his onlypetitor in the Gravitas Ruins was no longer around. Maybe I''ll see her again... He evaluated his condition but wasn''t exactly sure how to test the effects of his Soul Strength, so he asked the System for pointers to save time. -Close your eyes and pretend your consciousness is leaving your body, then manipte it like you would Mana. William nodded. His eyes turned a shade of blue while a strand of his consciousness exited his body from his forehead. He used his finger to control the strand, then called more until it was in the shape of an ethereal sword. He called Mana of the nt Element to create a wooden dummy at the back end of the room, then stood fifty meters away from the dummy and shed vertically with his sword. The sh created an arc that traveled forward and sliced clean through the dummy, even cutting into the Array-reinforced walls behind it. William evaluated the strength of his strike, finding that it had reached the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm. While it was strong, William felt his Soul Strength was severelyckingpared to his other abilities. If 600 Soul Strength is the middle of the Golden Core, does that mean the masked girl had more than I do right now? How did she get so much? -She may have a Soul Cultivation Technique or an Innate ability that improves her Soul Strength over time. There are abilities like that? -There are many ways to gain Soul Strength, but most of them are not known to the public. Only therge Sects like the Five Elements Sect, the Spirit Ascension Sect, and some families with long heritages know the methods to acquire more. William nodded.What is my Soul Strength useful for, then? Should I even bother with it? -It also increases your resistance to mental invasions and brainwashing techniques, among many other effects that you will discover over time. It''s very versatile. I see...thank you System. -It seems your manners have improved recently, you little brat. That doesn''t mean I will just stand by and let you treat me like this! William yelled in his mind, but his face was smiling slightly. He was d the System wasn''tpletely silent all the time, since it gave someone tomunicate with other than his Master and the Artifact Spirit. He looked over to Atticus, who was sleeping soundly on the floor. His intelligence had improved, but he talked like a small child and only thought of omelettes. Perhaps he just needed to grow a little more, but William didn''t want to have to create a new room if the snake''s size kept increasing. Speaking of omelettes, let''s get some food and meet with Master before I''mte again. A few days ago, William informed his Master that he was still consuming Soul Stones and couldn''t meet that week. If William missed another meeting, his Master might get bored and add more traps to the residence. He woke up Atticus to eat their meal together, then rushed off in the direction of Riyald''sboratory. There, he saw the old man tinkering with the same steam engine he was before. "Oh, Disciple William. I''m surprised you didn''t cancel this week''s meeting as well. Have you finished consuming the Soul Stones already?" William nodded, "My Soul Strength has progressed greatly Master, thank you." Riyald returned the nod, "How about your Cultivation?" "No change yet." The old man shook his head with a sigh, "You need to at least set aside some time for Cultivation each night. I know you''re worried about the Heavens, but that is no reason to let your growth stagnate." William scratched his head. Riyald was right on the nose with his statement. Will had intentionally avoided Cultivatingtely, since he didn''t want to pick sides just yet when he knew barely anything about either the World or the Heavens. After all, who would gamble on a popr sports team winning a tournament if they knew nothing about sports? It didn''t make sense. "Master, I''m hoping to learn more about the Heavens and the World before I make a choice." "You can do that after you''ve reached the peak of your current Realm. For now, just Cultivate. Who knows, the problem might solve itself." William nodded. Master truly had a great wealth of experience, which far surpassed his own. "In that case, can you teach me how to increase my Soul Strength further?" Chapter 190: Soul Cultivation "Of course I can teach you, but are you sure you can handle so many tasks at once? After all, you''re conducting an experiment, Cultivating, and trying to improve your Soul Strength. Each of these have an impact on your mind, which will exhaust you quite quickly if you''re not careful." William nodded, "If I can''t do them all in one day, I''ll alternate between them." "Alright, Disciple William. It seems you at least have a n. Honestly, you''ve asked at a perfect time." "Why''s that, Master?" William asked Riyald with confusion. "Because all the challengers have exited the Ruins and the next wave won''t enter for another fifty-one days if I remember correctly." William didn''t say anything in response, but his expression was clear that he didn''t understand what Riyald was getting at. The old man crushed a Portal Stone. He entered the portal that appeared, motioning for William to follow behind. When William''s vision cleared, he noticed he was in the courtyard of the Labyrinth of Tears. Some of the bodies of the Cultivators he had killed were still present, in perfect condition despite how much time had passed since their deaths. It seemed that some of the Sects didn''t return to pick up their dead, or perhaps all the members of the Sect were dead and no one else bothered to carry them out. William looked in a certain direction to see the members of the Ice Immortals Sect lying face down on the stone brick. There were no Space Rings on their fingers, so William assumed they had all been looted by other Cultivators. As he looked around, he noticed the same trend everywhere. "Why are we here, Master?" Riyald ignored the question, "In a sense, you''ve done me a slight favor, Disciple William. While I am indeed looking for talented Cultivators to take on my inheritance, I have also spent many years using this location for Soul Strength. Never in the past thousand years have I ever seen this many dead Cultivators in one ce. It''s saved me decades of Soul Cultivation, and I hope you might be able to help me again when the timees. Of course, it''s up to you." William felt his Humanity statistic poking at him for some reason. "You''ve been Soul Cultivating here? Why not in your residence?" "For Soul Cultivation, one must refine their own soul using the souls of others. There are many ways to do this naturally, but they are incredibly slow. I have found a much more efficient method in recent years, by wiping away the residual consciousness of dead Cultivators and absorbing their souls to improve mine." Is this why the Trial is so difficult? He never expected them to pass in the first ce, but he''s actually farming the souls of dead Cultivators! William now understood why his Humanity statistic was warning him, which had never done so before. Perhaps by adopting this method of Soul Cultivation, William''s Humanity would take a hit? He didn''t know what to think of his Master, who up until now seemed like a generous individual with a hobby for putting his Disciple on edge with his random traps. I should have expected this. Very few people are actually genuinely pure, and Master has lived a long time. For him to make it this far in Cultivation only proves that his hands are stained with blood. I''ve only been in this world for a few months, but how many people have I killed? William battled with his own thoughts, knowing what Riyald was expecting of him before he even said it. Riyald''s mindset was clearly wrong, but for some reason William wasn''t immediately opposed. "So, you want me to help you kill Cultivators, and in exchange you will teach me your Soul Cultivation method? Isn''t there another way?" he asked. The words felt bitter in William''s mouth, but he knew he couldn''t avoid this conversation no matter how hard he tried. Riyald shook his head, "There are other ways, but like I said, they are hundreds of times slower than my own method. I don''t have that much time to live, so this is the best I can do. I hope you can agree to this, Disciple William. After all, I would be sacrificing some of my own Soul Cultivation to help you improve yours." William shook his head, "Wouldn''t this be considered a Forbidden Technique? How many have died for this reason?" Riyald opened his mouth to say something, but he closed it again. The old man thought for a moment about what to say to the young Disciple, who was clearly opposed to the idea. "It is, but these people entered the Gravitas Ruins fully knowing they could die at any time. Their Sects sent them in knowing this as well, without the extra details of course. This is how the Cultivation World works, and no one expects to earn treasures without considerable risk. Don''t worry so much about this, Disciple William. After all, you''re the one who killed most of them here, even without my interference." William knew Riyald was right, but he still didn''t like the way he worded it like an excuse. The old man was starting to look less like a kind, generous, supportive Master, and more like a scheming criminal that was finally showing his true colors. Despite Riyald''s sudden reveal, William wasn''t disgusted with the man''s actions. Like he said, William had killed these people himself, mostly as self-defense, but also with his own ulterior motives. He remembered that the main reason why William had even gone out of the trial tower to fight with these Cultivators was because he wanted to absorb their unique Mana for the Mana Gathering Staff. Over the course of the trial, William had unlocked four seals of the Staff, which attested to a fraction of the number of Cultivators he had killed or disabled for this reason. In this world, no one is truly innocent.William thought to himself. He remembered me Dragon Uri, who didn''t even bat an eye when killing Cultivators. They weren''t of the same race, but William felt the dragon should at least have some empathy. "Master, I have no problem helping you, but I choose who I kill." Riyald nodded, secretly d that he didn''t have to kill his favorite Disciple so far. He didn''t want to risk the boy sneaking out after discovering one of his secrets. If the world found out that Riyald was using the souls of young Cultivators for his own benefit, there was no doubt that the leaders of the Continent, and maybe even the world, would do their best to break into the ancient Ruin and kill him off. "In that case, Disciple William, watch closely as I demonstrate my Technique to you." he said as he raised his hands in the air. Strands of his consciousness formed on his ten fingers and spread in all directions. They floated just inches from the Cultivators'' faces, then lightly tapped into their foreheads. When the strands of consciousness retracted, their length was slightly longer than before and the color had changed from an ethereal blue to a yellowish color. Chapter 191: Effects Of The Dream Element Some of the strands were a dark yellow that were incredibly tame, while others were a dark or light orange and iled about wildly, seemingly trying to escape from the foreign consciousness. They writhed and shook as they attempted to escape from Riyald''s control. The orange strand of consciousness was brought into Riyald''s grasp before the other strands, where he injected more of his own consciousness until the main strand became a much calmer yellow. "The first step is to send out your own strands of consciousness to link with the others inside the Cultivators. Once they are linked, carefully extract their consciousness and return it to your grasp. From there, they can be refined into your own Soul Strength. The color of the foreign consciousness determines how strong the Cultivator''s Soul Strength was before they died. If the color is orange or red, you need tomit more of your consciousness to bring it under control. If the color is ck, you need to release your hold on it before it leaves their body, or your strand of consciousness will be taken over and you will lose Soul Strength." William nodded his head to indicate that he understood. Riyald channeled some Mana into the strand of consciousness, wrapping it around the yellow substance until it turned the same ethereal blue color of Riyald''s consciousness. This process continued for around ten minutes until the entire strand was subdued. Riyald absorbed the strand back into his head, smiling in satisfaction at the sessful Soul Cultivation. "You couldn''t quite see what I did there, but I used my Mana to iste parts of the consciousness, then engaged in a battle within my own mind to defeat a weakened version of the Cultivator. This step is very difficult for me, but it might be a bit easier for you since you have the Dream Element. You should be able to wrap the consciousness with Dream Mana, which if powerful enough should ce the Cultivator in a deep sleep right from the start of your mental battle." So this is how I can make use of the Dream Element...I guess it isn''t as useless as I thought. From William''s lessons with Riyald, he knew that the Dream Element could be used to invade one''s dreams and inspect their memories or influence their decisions, but it wasn''t meant forbat. It seemed that now William had another use for the Element that previously went unnoticed. "Should I begin now, Master?" he asked. Riyald nodded, "I rmend only using one strand of consciousness until you have better adapted to the situation. Don''t underestimate their consciousness, my Soul Strength is dozens of times stronger than yours and even I don''t dare topete with an entire consciousness at once. If you start to lose control, don''t keep fighting and just retreat with your consciousness. You''ll lose some Soul Strength, but it''s better than being possessed." he warned at the end. William nodded again. He called his consciousness to his fingertips in one long strand that slithered on the ground like a snake and searched random Cultivators for an existing consciousness. After a few seconds, William found a prime target. His strand of consciousness poked into the Cultivator''s forehead like he saw Riyald do, then pulled back to reveal a dark yellow consciousness. "Very lucky, a weak one right from the start." Riyaldmented. William nodded and pulled the consciousness back to himself, then did as instructed and wrapped around a part of the yellow consciousness with his Dream Element Mana to iste it. William paused. What do I do now? "Imagine your consciousness merging with that small piece. A battle will automatically begin in your mind." Riyald called out. He repeated what Riyald said, his mind turning fuzzy as he found himself standing on a t surface of some kind. He looked around to see the space stretched as far as the eye could see, but there were no notable features other than the few millimeters of what seemed like water that he was standing in. This is my mind? Seems...empty. -I guess you really are brainless. Fuck off. -I''m kidding. This is your consciousness, not your brain. It''s where your Soul Strength and memorized Runes or Arrays are stored. I''m surprised you can joke. My Runes are here too? I can''t see them. -Of course I can joke, hmph! And you can''t see your Runes because your consciousness besrger when you upgrade your Mind Talent. William didn''t respond to the System and looked in front of him, where he saw a young man sleeping on the ground just a few dozen meters away. I guess the Dream Mana really does have such an effect. Interesting. William calmly walked up to the young Cultivator, then conjured an ethereal sword in his hand. He performed a clean sh, lopping off the Cultivator''s head and ending the battle. His mind was automatically pulled back to the Labyrinth of Tears, where the consciousness was still in his grasp and had faded slightly. William decided to use more Dream Mana and surround arger portion of the foreign consciousness, then started the next battle immediately. Just like before, the Cultivator was the same person, sleeping soundly on the ground. William did the same thing asst time, beheading him with a single strike. Hmm...I believe Master when he said these Cultivators are not to be underestimated, but perhaps I should find the limit now. System, what do you think. -The System does not know. Unlock a soul-rted Talent first. I need to unlock Talents for you to know about them? -It depends. In this case, yes. William nodded. He decided not to tempt fate while the System couldn''t provide any warnings, opting to only take a fifth of a consciousness at most while he was still learning the process. When he was finished with the first consciousness, he absorbed it into his body with a single move. As the consciousness returned to him, William felt as if his pores had slurped a spaghetti noodle. -Learned a Soul Cultivation Technique: +100 PP -Learned your first Soul Cultivation Technique: +250 PP -Used a Soul Cultivation Technique for the first time: +50 PP -Used a Forbidden Soul Cultivation Technique: -5 Humanity -Absorbed consciousness: +1 Soul Strength System, am I going to lose Humanity every time I use this Technique? -Only if you use a different Forbidden Technique will you receive a penalty, but you will lose one point of Humanity for every ten foreign consciousnesses you erase up to a maximum of twenty points. So a total loss of 25 Humanity...I don''t know what happens when it gets too low, but that should be manageable. William and Riyald continued using the Forbidden Soul Cultivation Technique to absorb more foreign consciousnesses over the next few hours. William yed it safe and didn''t attempt any consciousnesses that were orange or deeper, leaving those to Riyald while he moved on to other Cultivators. He even tried out a few mental battles while not using the Dream Element to put the Cultivators to sleep, testing their strength should he encounter an opponent that doesn''t fall asleep when he uses the Dream Element in the future. Chapter 192: Karma By the end of the day, William''s Soul Strength had increased to a t 700, having increased by a whole one hundred points since absorbing the Soul Stones. He looked around the courtyard to see there were still well over a thousand Cultivators whose souls hadn''t been absorbed, understanding why Riyald would rather use this method of Soul Cultivationpared to others. William''s Humanity dropped by a total of fifteen points, down to 83. He didn''t notice much differencepared to before, but it was obvious from an outside perspective. William looked at the bodies of the Cultivators with less pity over time, more focused on the benefits of Soul Cultivation than with their well-being. While he still properly disposed of their bodies after he was done with them to clean up the courtyard, William felt of it as more of a chore than anything else. Riyald looked at William with a slight smile, "How is your progress, Disciple William?" "It''s a slight improvement, Master. How about you?" William asked. "Not bad. There are quite a few more consciousnesses here than there were in previous years. If this can happen a few dozen more times, I may be able to Ascend!" William suddenly thought of something, "Master, why haven''t you killed the Cultivators that entered the Ruins before? Why are you asking me to do this personally when you are clearly more capable?" Hearing William''s question, Riyald became slightly flustered. "This..." "What is it?" "I wasn''t going to mention this to you yet, but it''s all about karma." "Karma?" "When you reach the Soul Formation Realm and above, karma has a big impact on your future. When you kill a Cultivator, a thread of karma is attached between you and whoever that Cultivator is connected to. If you kill enough people or cause enough trouble, the connections deepen, and you find yourself always on the run from authorities or the families of said Cultivator." William was even more confused when he looked back at Riyald, "In that case, why are you using a Forbidden Technique? Isn''t that also considered bad karma?" "They''re already dead, their threads of karma have already been severed." Riyald answered bluntly. William nodded, "What about me, then? If I killed all these people, aren''t I already at risk of being targeted?" "Naturally, but that''s not a problem as long as you remain here with me." I''m not going to stay here forever, though...and neither are you. Williamined inwardly, but didn''t refute Riyald''s words. His strength had already entered the Soul Formation Realm, just one step away from Tribtion Transcendence. The number of enemies that could hurt him right now were decreasing quickly, so all William needed to worry about was rapidly increasing his strength before they arrived. I already have so many enemies, regardless of if I go through with this or not. I''m already going to be targeted the moment I leave the Gravitas Ruins, but if I handle this correctly, I might be able to reduce the number of enemies rather than gain more. William had already opted to not be reckless. While killing more Cultivators might seem like a step in the wrong direction, William had a n. I have fifty-one days to figure this out. No need to rush. William decided. He nodded at Riyald, "I understand, Master." "Good, good. Let''s continue, shall we?" "Mm." Four more days passed before William and Riyald had absorbed the souls of the Cultivators in the courtyard. When William''s Humanity dropped to 80 points, he received a notification that using other Forbidden Techniques would no longer lower his Humanity points. That being said, his Humanity still dropped further to 73 points to achieve the 25 Humanity loss requirement, while his Soul Strength increased to an exact 1250 before he stopped, more than double his initial amount. William''s attacks were now in the middle stages of the Nascent Soul Realm, meaning he either had the same or slightly more Soul Strength than the masked girl did when they fought with the Ancient Gravitas Mummy. He looked at the trial tower nearby after disposing of thest Cultivator''s body, "Master, has anyone attempted thest trial tower? I heard that there are three towers." Riyald was confused by the sudden question but answered regardless. "Ah, now that I think of it, yes. There was a girl that reached the thirtieth floor of the Western Tower before she was kicked out by the rules of her Gravitas Ruins Ticket. If she had more time, she might have even reached the one hundredth floor." "What is she like?" William asked. "She''s pretty talented and her Soul Strength is even stronger than yours. Why do you ask?" William found the description matched the masked girl''s. "Just wondering. She''s a friend of mine." He didn''t know why he said thatst bit, but for some reason William was worried that Riyald would ask him to kill the girl. While he could say no, it was better to express his stance now. "I see. Are you ready to go now?" Riyald asked. William nodded, following Riyald back to theboratory through the use of another Portal Stone. "Disciple William, I''ve been meaning to ask for your help with something." "What''s that?" Riyald pulled out a few Portal Stones from his Space Ring and handed them to William. He reached into a second Space Ring, retrieving a hundred small blue stones that looked exactly like the Portal Stones but with no Arrays inscribed on them. "You have the Space Element, while I don''t. Can you create a few hundred of these in your spare time and return them to me? I''ve been running low and you should be able to do this faster than I can." William nodded after inspecting the Arrays. They weren''t tooplicated, only using Advanced Arrays, so this should be a simple matter for him. He stored the Portal Stones and nk blue stones in his Space Ring, then bade Riyald farewell while he returned to his room. "Hey fucker, where have you been? I haven''t sssseen you in four days." "Atticus, watch your fuckingnguage!" William yelled out to the snake that had slithered to the door as he opened it. I didn''t teach him that, where did he learn to talk this way? The System was surprisingly silent this time, but William felt it was judging him. He didn''t bother with the snake anymore and set out a pre-made omelette then sat on his bed to Cultivate. His eyebrows twitched at the sound of chomping noises while Atticus ate his food loudly. "Atticus." Chomp chomp. "Atticus." William was beginning to lose his patience. Chomp chomp slurrrrp. "ATTICUS." "Yes Massster?" "Eat quieter." "Ssssorry." William returned to his Cultivation, absorbing the surrounding Mana and converting it into strands of Spirit Qi in a matter of minutes. This continued for the remainder of the night until William felt he had made enough progress for one day. He used Wind Magic to clean the food scraps off the now-empty te that Atticus ate from, then burned them to a crisp with Fire Magic while they were in the air. With a sweep of Water Magic, William cleaned off the tables and chairs of his room, then conducted his usual personal hygiene routine before going to bed. Chapter 193: Forging The following morning, William resumed his previous routine. He spent the early part of the day experimenting with different Artifacts that duplicated the effects of the Wind Dial, while the evening would be devoted entirely to Cultivation. William heard a knock at his door around noon, which turned out to be Sir Reynolds holding a set of specialized tools from Riyald''sboratory. At the door, Sir Reynolds dropped off a set of hammers, tongs, chisels, punches, and a few other small items. "Here are the items you requested, Disciple William. Where should I ce the anvil and furnace?" "Thank you, Sir Reynolds. You can ce them in this back corner over here." William pointed to one of the corners that were close to the doorway. The Artifact Spirit nodded and retrieved the items from a Space Ring he borrowed from Riyald, then left the room quietly. He turned around at the doorway to peek at William, who was already inspecting the items that were brought over. Sir Reynolds smiled. He was quite satisfied with this version of William, who was much more serious about his workpared to before. William inspected the items one by one, using his knowledge of each tool to test their effectiveness or whether they needed to be reced. Even though he had the Forging Talent, William felt like a novice when he first picked up the tools, his hands unustomed to the grip on the hammer and tongs. When he found everything to be in working order, William immediately got to work drafting out a design he had thought of. His experiments with the Wind Dial had found some sesstely, and William felt he was finally prepared to create his own Artifact. But first, I need to be as proficient as possible.William thought to himself as he scrolled through the System Panel. POTENTIAL POINTS: 16090 Most of this number was from the Soul Stones that William received, while the remainder came from his Potential Farms and a few random waves of Potential Points from the Tribtion and otherwise. System, upgrade my Forging Talent to S-Rank. If William had the Potential Points, why not go all the way? -1375 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Forging: (D --> C) Effects: Skill with the forge +20% >> +30% Forging: (C --> B) Effects: Skill with the forge +30% >> +50% Forging: (B --> A) Effects: Skill with the forge +50% >> +100% Forging: (A --> S) Effects: Skill with the forge +100% >> +250% S-Rank Bonus Effect: One year simtion of cksmithing experience. Next rank up: 2500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Since the Forging Talent was only considered amon-tier Talent, the cost to upgrade it was surprisingly cheap. All the way to S-Rank and I only spent a little over a thousand Potential Points? Not bad at all! William wasn''t worried about the impacts of upgrading the Forging Talent so many ranks at once. After all, his Mind Talent was SS-Rank now; it wasn''t like before. His Mind Talent was more than enough to sustain the amount of knowledge from sessive upgrades of the Forging Talent, so William only felt a minor headache that dissipated after a few minutes. Once the effects of the S-Rank upgrade kicked in, William was pulled into a simted environment just like when he upgraded his Arrays Talent. There, he spent what felt like a year inside learning the works of all aspects of cksmithing. Since he could see the data behind the Talent upgrades, William now understood why sometimes he would feel like aplete noob when using a Talent, even if it was at a high rank. If William had no knowledge of the forging process and he learned the Forging Talent, he would still know nothing about forging until he was taught. Of course, with each Talent upgrade he was also taught a little bit about the trade skill, so it wasn''t truly nothing. Before receiving the single year of simted experience, William could say he knew less than three percent of forging. Even with a 250% increase, that number was only around 7.5 percent. It was nothing worth mentioning. That''s why the S-Rank bonus effect was so powerful, since it directly increased his understanding to a confident thirty percent. With the 250% bonus, William was able to bridge the gap between him and master cksmiths. William spent another ten thousand Potential Points to upgrade his other Potential Farm to D-Rank, which increased his daily earnings to 300 points. Following this upgrade, there were only 8502 Potential Points remaining until the next System upgrade. Let''s get started with the Artifact. William created a few pieces of parchment paper, having sessfully replicated the material with Magic in thest few weeks while performing experiments. He had also borrowed some ink from Riyald to write with, since he couldn''t yet figure out how to replicate it. A few hours passed, sketch after sketch of what William had in mind forming. In the first thirty minutes or so, William would crumple up the sketch and light it on fire, finding it impossible to create with his current skills. William suddenly had an idea. I can''t create something smaller, but maybe I can make somethingrger! With this thought in mind, by the two-hour mark William had a semiplete drawing of the Artifact in mind. Inscribed on the paper was a modern-style belt that one would wear for holding their pants up, except it was designed to be madepletely out of Starmetal. The silver belt was an inch thicker than many belts, and there were twenty-seven slots in which a gemstone the size of a thumb could be fit. William chose the number twenty-seven since that was the number of Elements known to the System at its current rank. He drew the main buckle next, which would be a bit different from the standard belt buckle. Instead of being a sp for holding the opposite end, it was reced with a dial that could tighten the belt manually, while another dial directly on top could be turned with the help of Mana. Turning the second dial would activate a set of self-restoration Arrays that would keep the Artifact in good condition at all times. Additionally, the dial would adopt some of the functions of the Tribtion Transcendence Protective Amulet, designed to erect a powerful barrier if a threatening aura came too close. William inspected his work, mostly satisfied with the oue. He retrieved two pieces of Starmetal Ore, then cut them up and tossed a quarter of the amount into the furnace and added some small pieces of charcoal with the Earth Element at the expense of arge amount of Mana. He used the Fire Element to raise the temperature inside to the desirable amount, then waited for the refinement process to remove impurities in the Starmetal Ore. Bits of Starmetal dropped to the bottom of the furnace in a semi-refined state, so William picked up the pieces and threw them back with the rest for further refinement. He continued this process for a few hours, until the metal was fully refined and ready to be hammered into shape. William retrieved the Starmetal from the furnace with some tongs, then ced it on the anvil and had an Array Puppet hold it in ce while he began shaping the metal. William finished refining and shaping the Starmetal Ore by midnight, speeding up the process with the help of his Magic. Heid out the individual parts of the belt on a table, ensuring that each was correctly shaped and had no imperfections. Everything is in working order, now it''s time to add the Arrays. William spent the entire night copying Arrays from the Wind Dial to the new Artifact. While he initially was very careful not to damage the Starmetal, he quickly realized that the metal was much more durable than that of his own Array Puppets. Even after applying over six hundred improved Perfect Arrays, William could tell that the Starmetal wasn''t stressed at all. That being said, he didn''t consider adding too many Complete Arrays due to the immense difficulty, limiting the number to ten per segment of the belt. His current limit was only forty Complete Arrays at one time, which would slowly improve as he became ustomed to the process but weren''t nearly enough topare with six hundred improved Perfect Arrays. William continued adding Arrays to the belt over the next four days, asionally needing to rece a segment of the belt when he made a mistake. By the end of its creation, a total of four pieces of Starmetal Ore were consumed. William pieced the segments together in a few minutes and ced the semipleted product on the table face-up to evaluate his work. William stared at the twenty-seven empty sockets on the belt. Now for the hardest part. he thought to himself. William focused hard on the environment as he called the surrounding Wind Element Mana to form a greenish-yellow sphere. He continued adding Mana, the sphere of Wind bing more and more unstable while he tried to maintain its form. Chapter 194: Wind Sphere, Testing William gritted his teeth as more Mana was added to the wind sphere. It swirled around violently for a few more seconds before bursting, causing tendrils of Wind Mana to spread throughout the room and dissipate harmlessly. Damn, let''s try again. William was trying to recreate a small sphere of Wind Mana that was located within the dial of the wristwatch. The only difference was, William wanted to create one that was twice the size and density of the original, requiring four times as much Mana, and incredible Mana Control. I could upgrade the Wind Element to SS-Rank, but that would be expensive. If I''m going to put all the Elements on this belt, I need to learn how to do it with a lower rank. Master did it, so can I. William didn''t even bother to mention the part where Riyald not only managed to create spheres of Mana but did so when he didn''t even have that Elemental Affinity. William couldn''t be sure, but so far he had only seen his Master use the Wind and nt Elements. He tried condensing the Wind Sphere a second time, albeit with much more patience. His fingers twirled in the air as he spun the Wind Mana in a uniform direction, then controlled the Mana to slowly move closer together until the Mana Particles were almost right next to each other. An odd force caused the Mana Particles to want to move further away from each other in some cases, which surprised William. Is this like protons and electrons, or is it something else? William thought of the positive and negative forces in his old world that caused mas to work the way they did. When two protons were next to each other, the dual positive forces would cause them to move away. The same applied to electrons, who would also repel each other when they came too close. If this was the case with Mana Particles, William needed to find a way around the problem. I''m so close, there''s only one way to figure it out. William took apart the Wind Dial that he had pieced back together a few days ago. He opened the dial to reveal a small yellow-green stone that was condensed out of pure Wind Mana. Wait. Before I break this open, can you tell how this was made, System? -Request requires 50 Potential Points. Yes/No? What about telling me what this is made out of? -Request requires 10 Potential Points. Yes/No? That''s more reasonable, confirm. -The Wind Sphere as you call it is made up of 95% Wind Mana Particles and 5% neutral Mana. So that''s it, huh? Now everything makes sense. William condensed a Wind Sphere that was identical to Riyald''s in a matter of seconds, now having understood how the process worked. The neutral Mana acted as an attractor that allowed the Mana to condense into a solid form. This aspect made William wonder how the Earth Element and Ice Elements worked, considering the Mana was always in its solid form. He set aside the smaller Wind Sphere to test this, which was still too small for his needs. William called Mana of the Earth Element to his fingertips, condensing it the same way he would the Wind Element. As the Earth Elemental Mana condensed, there were no problems with the stability. Eventually, William had formed an Earth Sphere that was a perfect fit for the belt. Hmm. So only some Elements have this issue? If this was the case, then Riyald''s method would allow William to further increase the density and power of some of his Wind Spells. As long as he was willing to sacrifice its speed, of course. William returned to the Wind Sphere. Since the sphere needed to be twice its size, William opted toyer the top of the first Sphere with neutral Mana and condense a second sphere over it. He spent a few minutes figuring out the correct amount of neutral Mana to provide, but after a few minor explosions, William managed to condense the Wind Sphere. He added the necessary Arrays to the Sphere to keep it contained within the belt, then slotted it into its position. The belt released a pale green and yellow glow when the Wind Sphere was added to it, which signaled that it was epting its Mana and form. William wrapped the belt around his waist and tightened it, then activated the Arrays to turn the belt on for the first time. He closed his eyes and sensed the flow of Mana as it spread from the environment to his body. He could feelrge waves of Mana entering from within his general surroundings, but it was twice as much as expected. Not only was the belt drawing from the secondyer of space, it seemed to be drawing from the third as well, which contained much more Mana than the secondyer. The belt suddenly started violently shaking, causing William to panic and take off the belt. William hastily activated a failsafe Array that would turn everything off, praying that he wouldn''t lose his precious time and materials. Thankfully, the failsafe worked, and the belt stopped moving. The Mana that was entering the belt was ejected back into the world, and William approached the belt to identify what went wrong. He inspected the Spatial Arrays first, which had reced the Separating and Splitting Arrays that Riyald used. He found the problem within a few minutes, realizing that he had underestimated the strength of his Space Affinitybined with the various Titles that increased his Magic Power. William had created a Spatial Array that was too powerful, even though it was only at the improved Perfect level. He removed the old Spatial Arrays and added a regr Perfect Array, hoping this would solve the problem. Test number two, start. William activated the Arrays on the belt, closing his eyes like before and inspecting the surroundings. The Mana that was absorbed was now at a manageable level, so William continued with the test and made sure everything else worked. After a few minutes, William was about to take off the belt andbel it a sess when it started shaking violently again. He threw the belt off and deactivated the Arrays, but this time he couldn''t tell what was causing the issue. System, what went wrong here? -Request requires 100 Potential Points. Yes/No? Can you give me a hint that is cheaper? -Request requires 5 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. -Check the Storage. William did as the System rmended, opening up the dial and checking the Arrays that made up the Mana storage. The Artifact was designed to allow him to store some Mana of each Element, which would allow the belt to continue functioning without absorbing his Mana, just like the wristwatches. He had modified it to allow every Element to be stored at one time, but it seemed that he had made a few mistakes in the process. He didn''t see any problem with the storage itself, but all twenty-seven Mana storage zones seemed to bepletely full of Wind Elemental Mana. Not only that, but the Mana was slowly eroding away the storage Arrays and would destroy the entire device if it wasn''t controlled in the next minute. That''s a problem. Chapter 195: Semi-Complete, Double Upgrade William didn''t have enough time to fix the problem, given that just creating an improved Perfect Array would take about a minute. Instead, he removed the entire dial all at once, opting to wipe all of the Arrays contained within it at the same time. The Mana was released and prevented the Starmetal from being damaged, but William would need to spend a few hours to recover the Arrays that he had just lost. Thankfully, he still had the blueprints he had drawn out and wouldn''t take too long restoring his lost work. He added the Arrays back to the item, this time making sure each Rune was strong enough to hold one specific Element. He added a Filter and a Rejection Array, which would first scan the Mana that was trying to enter the storage, then reject it if it didn''t match the type that was supposed to be contained. He tested the belt a few more times, failing in one way or another but achieving some sess each time. On the twelfth attempt, William felt the belt was working as intended and he could move on to the next Element. William notified his Master that he would have to cancel their next meeting, then spent the next six days adding as many Elements as possible to his Artifact Belt. He would have taken less than two days if he hadn''t almostpletely destroyed the Artifact on the second day when he added the Lightning Element. For some reason, the Lightning Element did not cooperate well with the Water and the Earth Elemental Mana, even though they followed different paths on the Artifact to reach the storage area. This caused all three Elemental Spheres to burst and cause slight damage to the Starmetal. He had to wait a few hours for the self-repair Arrays to fix the damage, then erase most of his Arrays and start over. That was the day Atticus didn''t get any omelettes, which made the snake quite sad. On the fifth day, William had returned to his previous point and added the remainder of the Basic Elements to the Artifact Belt. By the end of the sixth day, the Life Elemental Sphere was added after a few mishaps. One would think that the Life Element wouldn''t cause any major issues with the Arrays, which was why William had underestimated it. It turned out that when one added the Life Element to the mix, the vitality of all the other Elemental Spheres increased, causing the Wind, Fire, Water, and Lightning Elemental Spheres to all burst since their natural form wasn''t as a solid. None of the Arrays were damaged this time, since William had added a few more fail safes between the 19th and 23rd test that would prevent this from happening. With the Life Element''s vitality effect, William had to add another series of Arrays that would hopefully prevent the Elements from interfering with each other. I have added all the S-Rank Elements now, but what about the rest?William thought to himself as he looked through the System Panel. William wasn''t confident that he could create an Elemental Sphere using any of the Elements that were any less than S-Rank, considering how much trouble he had already gone through. I''m just going to have to upgrade them one-by-one. William was nning to reach S-Rank with all his Elements eventually, so this was a good excuse to focus his Talent upgrades on Magic. Other than the Life Element, all of his Rare Elements were currently B-Rank and would cost 3750 Potential Points to reach S-Rank. Since he had 7770 Potential Points, he had the perfect amount to upgrade two Elements at once. I''ll spend the next few weeks on something else while I wait for my stockpile to grow. For now, upgrade my Darkness and Light Elements to S-Rank. William chose these two Elements specifically because they had opposite effects. Either they would cancel each other out, or they would cause even more problems. This would be the best way for William to identify whether his Artifact wasplete or not. -3750 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Light: (B --> A) Effects: Light-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +75% >> +150% Light: (A --> S) Effects: Light-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +150% >> +250% S-Rank Bonus Effect: Instantprehension of the Domain of Light Next rank up: 7500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William''s various defensive Talents and his Cultivationpletely offset the damage caused by the Light Element, making him feel incredibly powerfulpared to before. Even an S-Rank upgrade of a Rare Element couldn''t damage him! The pain was minimalpared to what he had experienced before, and William stayed awake during the whole process while beams of light tried to pierce through his skin from the outside and shred him apart. Once the upgrade waspleted, the next one started immediately. William expected both upgrades to take ce at the same time as before, but it seems that the System had chosen to perform them one at a time. Maybe I''ve be more handsome without realizing it? -Do you want both upgrades at the same time? I can do the other one again. I''m sorry, I didn''t mean it! -Hmph. -3750 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Darkness: (B --> A) Effects: Darkness-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +75% >> +150% Darkness: (A --> S) Effects: Darkness-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +150% >> +250% S-Rank Bonus Effect: Instantprehension of the Domain of Darkness Next rank up: 7500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª The Darkness Element was a bit more brutal than the Light Element, corroding his skin and organs while threatening to melt him from the inside out, but his Regeneration Talent handled most of the work. Before his Regeneration Talent caused William to lose more lifespan, he used the Life Element to keep his body healthy. Both processessted a few hours, so William opted to make Atticus breakfast while the Darkness Element was doing its thing. He had no need to think up an excuse for Riyald, since he had told his Master that he had awakened many Elements at D-Rank. This way, he could attribute the S-Rank Elements to the natural process of upgrading his Affinity, while also not needing to reveal the System. While William wished he didn''t have to do either, he knew that revealing incredible luck and talent was better than revealing a System that was a literal cheat. With the former, his Master would likely only take advantage of him. With thetter, however, Riyald might take William apart and try to retrieve the System from his body. Who knew if Riyald would seed, but William''s life mattered the most. When the Darkness Element finished upgrading, William returned to his work on the Artifact Belt. He spent a few hours adding the two Elemental Spheres to the belt with extreme care, pleasantly surprised to find no issues when he activated the Artifact. With that incredibly long taskpleted, William created a hundred Portal Stones to bring to his Master, thenid down for a long rest. He hadn''t slept in a few weeks and had even neglected his Cultivation on two separate days. I''ll Cultivate all day tomorrow to make up for it. Chapter 196: New Technique William didn''t wake up until thete afternoon of the next day. Even as a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, going a few weeks without sleep wasn''t healthy. It was now day 85 in the Gravitas Ruins, and the next wave of Cultivators would be arriving in a bit over a month. By that time, his Potential Farms should have earned him enough Points to upgrade another three Rare Elements. Or maybe I should upgrade my Space Element to S-Rank first... The upgrade would cost ten thousand Potential Points, but being able to sh from ce to ce in an instant was incredibly satisfying. His Space Affinity was already A-Rank, so with a little more practice his ability should beparable to the younger version of Gu Dianlong, if not better. William shivered when he remembered the close call with Gu Dianlong in the trial tower. If it weren''t for his Attack Reflection and the Forcefield Talent, William probably would have died right then and there. Let''s think about thister. For now, I need to catch up on my Cultivation. William sat up on his bed and crossed his legs into a meditative stance. He closed his eyes while controlling the surrounding Mana to approach his position, refining it into thin strands of Spirit Qi with extreme control and precision. In less than five minutes, William had absorbed his first strand of Spirit Qi in three days, increasing his Cultivation base to three hundred out of the maximum thousand. His breathing slowed and his mind emptied of all distractions, allowing the next sixteen hours to pass by in the blink of an eye. William paused his Cultivation for a brief moment to check on Atticus, who was sleeping soundly on arge bed of grass that William grew just for him. William checked his Cultivation Base again, which was now at afortable 494. He was six Spirit Qi away from the previous maximum storage of his Dantian, which meant he should reach the limit in less than two days. He took a walk down the corridor to where me Dragon Uri was staying, but the door was locked, and he couldn''t go in for the time being. With nothing else to do, William could only return to his Cultivation in silence. As expected, William''s Cultivation Base reached the limit after an additional two days. Unfortunately, the requirement to break through to the second level of Foundation Establishment was an incredible two hundred Spirit Qi, double the amount required to break through from the Qi Refinement Realm. Even worse, when he broke through to the second level, the third level cost three hundred Spirit Qi. Three days'' worth of Cultivation was only enough to bring him to Foundation Establishment 4. I need a new Cultivation Technique... William sighed. His current Technique seemed good on the surface, but after seeing how me Dragon Uri and Riyald Cultivated, William realized just how stingy the Five Elements Sect was towards their new Disciples. The Inner Core Disciples probably received better treatment, but William would be a fool if he actually went back to the Sect whose leader was the reason for his envement. Besides, William''s Master was clearly much stronger than that old coot! With that thought in mind, William headed to theboratory. On the way, he noticed that the number of traps in the corridor hadn''t changed. This was out of character for Riyald, who probably only epted William as a Disciple for the thrill of watching him dodge for his life against poison-tipped crossbow bolts. What was Master doing that required so much attention? A quiet rumble in the distance was the only response to William''s thoughts, forcing him to hasten his pace towards theboratory. As he approached, the rumble became louder and the walls began to shake. As William entered theboratory, he saw his Master ce a metal cover on a massive cauldron, then stand on top of it to prevent a muffled explosion from leaking out. "Oh, I didn''t expect to see you today, Disciple William!" Riyald called out from atop the cauldron. William looked at the old man with slight confusion, "What are you doing?" "Oh this?" Riyald jumped off the cauldron and stored it in his Space Ring, "Just another experiment, nothing to think about too much. Is there a reason why you came to visit unannounced?" William didn''t bother asking further about the cauldron. It seemed whatever Riyald was trying to do had failed and he didn''t want to talk about it, "I was wondering if you had a better Cultivation Technique for me to use." "Is your Cultivation speed too slow for you, young man?" Riyald looked at William with interest. He still couldn''t read William''s Cultivation, but he could tell that it had improved a lot since theirst meeting. How far has this kid grown in thest two weeks? William nodded. "As expected. It''s quitemon for a talent to think they are too slow no matter what. Especially considering your circumstances and what you''ve seen." Riyald pulled a leather-bound book from his Space Ring and handed it to William, "This is what I have on Cultivation. It''s not a Technique, but it should help you create one of your own. Even if I shared my Cultivation Technique with you, it wouldn''t be that helpful for you and your many Elements." William epted the book and nodded again, "Thank you, Master." He began to walk away from theboratory but was stopped by a sudden Wind de that cut through his Forcefield in an instant and drew blood from his ear. He turned around while the wound was instantly healed by his Regeneration Talent. Master Riyald was standing in his previous position with an outstretched hand, "You''re just going to ask for something, thank me, then leave without another word?" William took the hundred Portal Stones from his Space Ring and handed them to Riyald. The old man stored them in his Space Ring and nodded back at William, "That''s more like it. Now run along and study hard while I work on this problem of mine." Riyald was smiling on the surface, but his eyes betrayed that there was something else going on. "Do you need any help?" William asked. "Well if you don''t mind, then sure!" Riyald''s face brightened up in an instant, almost as if he was waiting for William to make the offer. He animatedly waved his hands while exining what was wrong with the cauldron and why his materials kept exploding, while William used the System to keep up with the man''s exnation. He didn''t have a Talent for "Experimentation" or whatever it would be called, so William could only rely on himself to help his Master. Riyald''s sense of time was skewed due to his old age and Cultivation, so this process went on for two entire days until William headed back to his room. He wiped his tired eyes and went to sleep rather than Cultivating, exhausted from the constant back and forth in theboratory. At least I''ve gained some more favor with Master. Hopefully he keeps the number of traps to a minimum, I don''t have enough Potential Points to raise my Reflexes Talent to the next level. William looked at the System Panel, deciding to save for a few more days until he could boost the next Magic Affinity to S-Rank. Unless the System was about to rank up to C-Rank, William didn''t care all that much about waiting a little longer. The System''s bonus effects and new features were rarely useful unless it upgraded to the next letter grade. After resting for four hours, William made some food for Atticus and opened the Cultivation Guide that Riyald gave him. He noticed a section that involved the rules of Cultivation, which described what one should and shouldn''t do when both creating and using a Cultivation Technique. The old William would have skipped this section, but he had learned multiple times already that not reading the rules could have drastic consequences. He flipped through page after page, reading each rule closely. Most of them were spoken rules that should be known by all, such as not to use humans as sacrifices for your own benefit, or not to absorb Spirit Qi past what your Dantian could handle. Others weren''t as obvious, or unspoken rules that only applied in some situations. For example, it was frowned upon to create a Cultivation Technique that required one to spend the night with another person, but not necessarily Forbidden. Another unspoken rule was to not create a Cultivation Technique that could modify your appearance into something that wasn''t your original form. If one created a nt Elemental Cultivation Technique that made mushrooms grow on your face when you used it, then you shared that Technique with others without mentioning the side effects, you would lose your credibility in the outside world. William continued reading through the Cultivation Guide, then closed the book and prepared to create his own personal Cultivation Technique. Chapter 197: Glass Desert, Enslavement Attempt? Carl''s face was ashen as he walked out of the Great Oasis. He limped out of the desert, having sustained a few fractures from a close encounter with a dangerous Magical Beast in the Nascent Soul Realm. His bodyguards, who previously numbered in the dozens, had been reduced to a mere six during their excursion through the Inner Zones. The survivors walked at an even slower pace than Carl, suffering from various deep wounds that would be infected if not treated soon enough. Many had died while protecting Carl, whose value was well above their own given his status. They didn''t like the idea ofying down their lives for a spoiled young man, but they knew their heads would roll upon returning to their family headquarters regardless. Even their healers, who were supposed to be carefully positioned in the center of the group with Carl, had made a mistake and allowed a Darkness-Elemental Magical Beast to sneak into their shadows and ambush them in broad daylight. Carl''s group was caughtpletely off guard by this. The information they had on the Great Oasis suggested that Darkness-Elemental Beasts were incredibly rare, and only went out during the night-time. "Do we have any medicine left?" Carl asked a bearded man whose upper face was veiled by a ck hood. The bodyguard shook his head, "We only have a few bottles of pain relief." He took out a small jar filled with about a dozen pale white pills and offered them to Carl, who promptly shook his head. "No thanks, Gemini. If I need pain pills for something like this, I won''tst through my first Tribtion. Give them to the others, they need it more than me." Gemini did as he was told and distributed the pills throughout the group, thankful that his young master had grown a bit during their trip. They consumed the pills, causing their pain to ease up in an instant. Carl pulled out a map and traced it with a small amount of Mana to reveal their current position. "If we follow the rmended path exactly, we should return to the Five Elements Sect in about four days. Do you think you all can make it?" "We can," Gemini replied, "but given our current condition, it would be best to spend a day resting in between." "Five days then, ok." Carl put away the map and continued forward. A bodyguard approached from behind, "Young master, we have a problem." "What is it?" "I can sense a tide of Magical Beasts three kilometers to our left. It looks like they''re getting closer." "Can we avoid them?" "We can, but we would probably lose a few days. Oh shit, they''re heading directly towards us!" Carl scratched his head.What is going on with the Magical Beaststely? They''ve been too aggressive, and their intelligence is much too high to be normal. "Let''s hide underground. Do you have enough Mana?" Carl asked. "Yes Sir," the bodyguard replied as he controlled the sand to harden and open up into a cavern. The group rushed inside while the first bodyguard reinforced the walls and ceiling. He closed the entrance once thest person entered, then multiple pirs were raised from the floor to act as additional support for the ceiling. Carl and the bodyguards concealed their Mana signatures and hid away. Minutester, the calm rumbling of over a hundred Magical Beasts caused sand to fall on their heads, but no one dared to make a sound. The rumbling changed in tone, reced by a crunching sound, as if someone was walking through leaves or stepping on sticks and twigs while in a dense forest. The temperature inside the caverns seemed to go up slightly, but the group was over forty meters underground, so they didn''t understand why. After the Magical Beasts passed the group, they refrained from speaking for an additional thirty minutes just in case. The bodyguard opened up the entrance and ushered everyone outside one by one. The first bodyguard outside paused, causing the second one to bump into his back. "What is it, brother? Just move forward, we''re all behind you." the second grumbled. The first bodyguard didn''t seem to hear him, however, and continued to stand still. The second bodyguard pushed him aside and rushed out of the cavern, only to stand still just like the first bodyguard. Carl, who was next in line, looked at the two bodyguards in confusion. "What is it, is something wrong?" The second bodyguard responded with a shaky voice. He stepped to the side to allow Carl passage, then said, "Young master, you might want to see this." Carl nodded and stepped out of the cavern, but he couldn''t remain calm when he saw what had caused the other two bodyguards to stop. The desert could no longer be called a desert. What used to be a series of sand dunes was reced by ss, and the sparse vegetation was charred ck as if it had roasted for six hours in a campfire. "What...happened?" *** "Wee back, Core Disciple Fria." Elder Fan said with sped hands and a wide smile as Fria stepped out of the portal to the Gravitas Ruins. The same was happening elsewhere, many Sect Masters and Elders greeting their Disciples as they returned from the Ancient Ruin safely. As more and more Disciples exited the portal, some of the Sects became worried. Isn''t this oue a bit too smallpared to before? Almost four thousand Cultivators entered the Gravitas Ruins, but only a few hundred came out. Did the others die? The Sect Masters decided to ask their Disciples about it when they returned to the Sect. Fria looked at Elder Fan, who had been her mentor throughout her entire time spent ying the game. Even though he was an NPC, she treated him like a grandfather she never had. The old man was always around when she needed his advice, and she would sometimes turn to him with problems rted to the real world. Of course, the man didn''t understand many of her concerns, but he was still a big help. "Thank you, Mentor Fan." she replied with a calm smile. "Where are the others?" Elder Fan asked. Fria became slightly angry as she remembered how one of her fellow Disciples relentlessly tried to approach her after meeting up in the Gravitas Ruins. No matter how many times she said no, he couldn''t seem to get it through his thick skull until she pierced through it with her ethereal sword. She wondered why someone would program such a personality into an NPC. "I don''t know, but they''re probably all dead." Besides the one specific individual, Fria''s words were true. She hadn''t met with any of her other Sect Members inside the Ruins, so they had probably died while attempting one of the many trials. Elder Fan nodded. It was normal for people to die in the Gravitas Ruins. They had expected this from the beginning, which was why he was so worried when Fria went in, considering she was so powerful already. He had argued with the Sect Master about this for a long time, but in the end he wasn''t powerful enough to change their decision. Elder Fan could only be thankful that at least Fria came out of the Gravitas Ruins safe and sound. "Did you acquire anything good?" he asked. Fria nodded. She took out about a dozen Miniature Soul Stones and a few Starmetal weapons, among other less useful treasures that she gained from the trial tower. "I don''t need these; can I trade them into the Sect for Contribution Points?" Elder Fan looked at the array of treasures in shock. He had never seen someonee back with so many rewards before, and Fria said she didn''t need these? The gains definitely weren''t small this time! He smiled and waved his hand to put the treasures in his Space Ring, "Come with me, young miss. Let''s go see the Sect Master first, he''s probably just as eager for your return as I was." "Where is he?" Fria asked. When she was dropped off at the entrance to the Gravitas Ruins, her Sect Master had brought them personally. Now, he waspletely absent. Did something happen? Elder Fan leaned in close to Fria and used an Intermediate Array to prevent others from eavesdropping, "It seems someone tried to enve the Sect Master recently. He''s currently healing from his wounds in a discreet location." Fria''s eyes widened, "Who would dare to do something like that?" Better yet, how strong was his opponent to wound him? "We don''t know, but I''ll take you to see him so you''re informed." "Is that really alright? I''m just a Core Disciple." Fria knew her position in the Sect, it was higher than the other Disciples, but not quite so high to be treated in this manner. "It''s quite alright. Yourbat power is approaching mine already. A few years and you might surpass me. Come on, let''s go." Elder Fan ushered Fria through a portal back to the Sect. Chapter 198: Regression William''s room was flooded with a surge of Mana as he tested the effects of the second Cultivation Technique he hade up with. It had been almost ten days since he read the Cultivation Guide, and the process of creating his own Technique was much easier than he expected. The System didn''t mention anything about his skill improving when he upgraded the Cultivation Talent, so he couldn''t tell which Talent or Title was responsible for the decreased difficulty. Perhaps it was the Mind Talent, or the thirty-percent bonus to his Mana Control from the Spell Master Title, which was currently at Epic Rank. Either way, he couldn''tin. Within the Cultivation Guide, William learned about the existence of Mana Circuits, which functioned simr to blood vessels. Mana would flow through different parts of the body at high speed and could even change direction when being used for Spells. William now understood why non-Cultivators could use Mana, since everyone was born with Mana Circuits. The small amount of Mana contained within a person''s body was directly stored within the Mana Circuits. Only under rare circumstances could the maximum capacity of a non-Cultivator''s Mana be increased, such as when William consumed the Mana Dragon''s Blood Essence. If not for the System, William would have been stuck with a hundred maximum Mana until he started Cultivating. Other than Mana Circuits, William also better understood how Mana flowed throughout the environment. Mana was everywhere, usually contained within specific forms. For example, the grass beneath one''s feet was made of nt Mana Particles, and the ground beneath that was mostly Earth Mana Particles. These were obvious, but what he didn''t know was that the world itself generated Mana Particles of various types from within its own core. From the core, the Mana Particles followed the path of least resistance to the surface. Sometimes, the Mana would find itself trapped and unable to escape to the surface. The pressure of Mana Particles would build up until it condensed into Mana Stones, or in some rare cases, a natural treasure such as an Element Vein. Like the one William absorbed from a tree in the Livingwood Forest, or the Earth Vein in the Foam Desert. Once the Mana Particles escaped to the air, Mana Currents were formed. Cultivation Techniques were designed to tap into these Mana Currents. Once the Mana Currents were redirected towards a Cultivator''s body, they could then start the filtering process to remove the Elemental Mana that they weren''t attuned with. In William''s case, he could skip the filtering process almost entirely, since he had an absurd number of Elements. His first Cultivation Technique was one that controlled the Mana Currents to enter his body directly, where the conversion process to Spirit Qi would happen internally. This turned out to be a mistake, since the Spirit Qi would be somewhat violent and damage his insides. While he was still able to convert the Mana to Spirit Qi, and it was slightly more efficient than his previous Cultivation Technique, William''s Regeneration Talent had to work to fix the damage. In a sense, it was too reckless. He moved on to a second Cultivation Technique a few dayster. Instead of absorbing the Mana Currents into his body, he controlled multiple Mana Currents to merge together and form onerge Mana Current. He called the Mana Current to wrap around his body, while he condensed it all into Spirit Qi at one time. The swirling vortex of Mana slowly condensed and transformed into onerge Spirit Qi strand that William then absorbed into his body. The process took almost fifteen minutes toplete one cycle of Cultivation, but his Cultivation Base increased by fifty Spirit Qi in one go! -Invented a new Cultivation Technique: +5 PP -Invented your first Cultivation Technique: +25 PP -Evaluating Technique quality... ... ... -Invented an Epic Cultivation Technique: +25 PP -Name your Technique. William thought for a moment on the name of his Cultivation Technique. Since he created it by converting arge amount of Mana all at once and there was no filtering process, William decided to keep it simple and call it the Mana Devourer Technique. -New Technique: Mana Devourer -Adopt this as your new Cultivation Technique? Yes/No Eh. It''s a shoddy name, but I don''t care all that much about naming these kinds of things. Yes. Adopt the Technique. William''s body changed slightly as the new Technique''s effects ovepped with the previous one and reced its effects. In just a few minutes, the process was done. William moved forwards to evaluate the new Technique, starting with calcting his new Cultivation speed. If he now earned 50 Spirit Qi per fifteen minutes, and his previous Cultivation was one Spirit Qi every five minutes, that meant his Cultivation speed had increased by almost 17 times! When he looked at his Status to check his physical changes, however, William was both surprised and frustrated. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Human -Age: 41 -Lifespan: 250 Years -Cultivation: Qi Refinement 9 (0/1000) STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 800/900 -Mana: 2500/2800 -Fame: 100 -Humanity: 83 -Attention: 1 -Soul Strength: 1250 -Cultivation Base: 150/10000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª My lifespan decreased by 250 years, and I''m back in the Qi Refinement Realm! William cursed in his mind. He knew that when one changed their Cultivation Technique, their Cultivation would regress down a few levels, but he was at Foundation Establishment 4 previously! How could this be considered a few levels? System, what rank was my previous Cultivation Technique? -Umon. Two levels below your current Technique. William nodded his head. It made sense. He checked the rest of his Status for the other changes. William was pleasantly surprised to find that his health had increased from 800 to 900, his Mana reserves could hold an additional 300 Mana, and his Cultivation Base could now store ten thousand Spirit Qi. William didn''t feel any weaker than before, which meant his Qi Refinement 9 Cultivation was now strong enough topete with his old self in Foundation Establishment 4. After thinking about it for a while, William felt this was an eptable trade-off. There was just one other thought on William''s mind that made him a bit concerned. Do I have to go through the Tribtion again, System? -Yes. Shit. If I knew the regression would be so exaggerated, I would have at least pushed for thete stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Who knows how powerful the next Tribtion will be. This wasn''t stupidity on William''s part, for once. He had been given inurate information by his Elders in the Five Elements Sect, who had little knowledge of the various ranks behind Cultivation Techniques and couldn''t have expected William to improve his Cultivation Technique by so many levels in a short period of time. If the Five Elements Sect''s Cultivation Techniques were evaluated, only the ones on the very top floor could be considered Epic-Ranked Cultivation Techniques. Who would expect an Outer Core Disciple to gain ess to one of these just months after his entry into the Sect? I''ll just Cultivate and improve many levels at once. So what if I have to go through the Qi Refinement Tribtion again, I can handle it! William steeled his resolve to improve his strength as fast as possible. With his new Cultivation Technique, William was able topletely fill his Dantian with Spirit Qi in just over four straight days of Cultivation. He called Sir Reynolds and exined the situation to him in detail. The Artifact Spirit looked at William with slight surprise, not expecting the boy to have such a low-ranked Cultivation Technique. "You were part of a famous Sect, right? Didn''t they give you better options for Cultivation? These Techniques can''t evenpare to that of Master''s old Sect back in the day." William shook his head, "There are stronger Techniques on the higher floors, but I didn''t have ess to them." Sir Reynolds nodded his head.The greed of these Sects hase this far, huh? No wonder they''re willing to send their Disciples to their deaths in this Ruins every month... "So you need to attempt the Qi Refinement Tribtion for a second time?" he asked William. "Yes, Sir Reynolds. Will it be safe, or should I improve my strength first?" "If it''s just the Qi Refinement Tribtion, its strength should only be a few levels higher than before, and not an entire Realm. For you, this shouldn''t be an issue." William nodded and followed Sir Reynolds back to the previous field where he attempted the Tribtion before. When they were fully prepared for the Tribtion, William nodded to Sir Reynolds and sat on the ground cross-legged with his eyes closed to break through. "Wait, Disciple William." Sir Reynolds called out. William opened his eyes and looked in the Artifact Spirit''s direction, "What is it?" "Have you made your decision?" William thought for a moment about what Sir Reynolds said. The Artifact Spirit was referring to whether or not William had sided with the world or the Heavens. Would he side with the Heavens, who seemed to rule over his world with an iron fist, or would he side with the world, who was but a servant rebelling against the master? Chapter 199: Long-Distance Portal "I don''t know who''s in the right or wrong," William answered truthfully, "but why should I pick a side?" Sir Reynolds nodded, "Then what will you do?" "The same thing I''ve always done, fight for myself." William replied as he closed his eyes once more. The tribtion clouds formed in the sky, expanding to a range of ten thousand kilometers in an instant. Just the first formation was equivalent to a peak Core Formation Tribtion! The expansion continued for a few more minutes, aweing the Artifact Spirit. It broke past the Golden Core Realm and stopped at the beginning of the Nascent Soul Realm, just a level higher than the previous Tribtion, but countless times more difficult. William heaved a sigh of relief when the clouds stopped expanding. Its strength wasn''t unbearable, and he should be able to pass the Tribtion without the use of his Regeneration Talent. William opened his Earth Domain like before, constructing multipleyered domes over his head that would protect him from each Lightning Bolt. The first Heavenly Lightning Bolt formed, threatening to strike William down with its great pressure, but unaware of its victim''s true strength. Master talks about the Heavens like they are a person or a group of people, but they don''t seem very smart. If they saw me break thest Tribtion, shouldn''t they give me one harder than this? William''s brain started to hurt as he thought about all these minor details. When the first Lightning Bolt struck his Earth Domes, William didn''t even react and continued to think about the purpose of the Heavens. Maybe it was the fact that William was undergoing a Tribtion, but he suddenly felt like the mysteries were slowly unraveling themselves. That being said, he didn''t press further for an answer, lest he run into more trouble like the System warned. The Lightning Bolts continued to strike down on the Earth Domes, but even as the strength of the Tribtion increased, William was able to defend against each strike effortlessly. He didn''t disperse the Heavenly Tribtion this time, opting not to test fate. His first Earth Dome copsed on the final Heavenly Lightning, but the second Dome was able to bear the remainder of the impact without a problem. -Survived a Heavenly Tribtion: +10 PP Damn, only ten points... William was a bit disappointed in the Potential Point rewards now, considering how many Points he needed for his next upgrade. If not for the Potential Farms, William would be struggling to earn Points right now. Despite not dispersing the Heavenly Tribtion, William wasn''t rewarded by the Heavens. Instead, the World seemed to sense that William had broken through and sent waves of Spirit Qi to his body from the ground. It seems the Heavens are stingy after all. Maybe they don''t want to share their rewards with me because I''ve already epted it from the World? It was just a guess, but William felt it was reasonable. He felt the Spirit Qi enter his Dantian directly, causing moderate pain as his Dantian seemed to expand. This was different from the previous Tribtion, which made him curious about what had changed. He consolidated his breakthrough and checked his new Status. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Human -Age: 41 -Lifespan: 300 Years -Cultivation: Foundation Establishment 1 (0/2000) STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 1400/1400 -Mana: 3300/3300 -Fame: 100 -Humanity: 83 -Attention: 1 -Soul Strength: 1250 -Cultivation Base: 9000/100000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª Fifty years? That''s more like it! Not only had his lifespan increased by a great deal, but his Health and Mana Reserves had increased by five hundred, while his Cultivation Base expanded to ten times the size of before. William did the math on his future Cultivation and smiled wide when he found the answer he was looking for. If he filled his Cultivation Base, he could break through directly to the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm! "Are you ready to go, Disciple William?" Sir Reynolds asked. William nodded. "Alright, I''ll open us a portal then." Sir Reynolds retrieved a Portal Stone from one of his pockets and was about to crush it. "Wait," William stopped the Artifact Spirit from crushing the Portal Stone, "I should be able to do it." Sir Reynolds stopped and looked at William with confusion, "Have you already mastered the ability to create long-distance portals with the Space Element?" William nodded then shook his head, "Not on my own, but I can with this." He pulled out the Artifact he had worked on for weeks from his Space Ring and tightened it around his waist. He adjusted his robe until it was covering the Artifact, then flicked a strand of Mana at the Dial, activating the Arrays. Even though it was unfinished, the Elemental Spheres that were installed allowed him to at least have greater control over the ten installed Elements. Unfortunately, William couldn''t appraise the item since it was technically unfinished, which didn''t make sense considering he was able to appraise broken items and their fragments before, such as the sealed Mana Gathering Staff and the iplete Array Wheel. One might wonder why William was wearing the Artifact that didn''t have the Space Element when he was about to create a portal, but he knew. ording to his experiments, Master Riyald, and the System, the absence of other Elements made it easier to create stable portals. This was why William had so much trouble with the Space Element despite the fact that it was at A-Rank. With short-distance portals, this wasn''t an issue, but for the current task, William would rather not risk his life over something trivial. With all the other Elements interfering with his Mana, William''s Space Element was weakened greatly. But now that he had the Artifact Belt, William could activate a sort-of reversed Domain, removing the presence of the other ten Elementspletely. Sir Reynolds sensed the Mana of many Elements disappearing, then a small portal just big enough for them was formed in the center of William''s ovepping reversed Domains. The Artifact Spirit nodded his head in approval, "I never expected this to be your solution to congested Mana Circuits. Well done." William nodded his head while sweating slightly. He was currently maintaining ten Domains at the same time while using the Space Element, which was sucking away his Mana quite quickly. Even with the Titles improving his Mana Efficiency and his incredible Mana Regeneration, he would still run out of Mana if he maintained this portal for more than a few minutes. The two entered the portal and returned to the residence, where William went back to his room and used the remaining nine thousand Spirit Qi to push his Cultivation to Foundation Establishment 4. Phew, back to where I left off. That didn''t take too long, but I''d rather not do it again. William enjoyed the feeling of improving his strength repeatedly, but there was no reason to search for an even greater Cultivation Technique right now. If his Cultivation dropped to the Qi Refinement Realm, he would probably face an even stronger Nascent Soul Tribtion. If that happened, what would he face when breaking through to the Core Formation Realm? Would it be in the Soul Formation Realm, or even above that? Chapter 200: Ingredients William knew that even if he survived the Core Formation Tribtion, the following would be even more difficult. Even with the insane number of Talents William had, it was too much for any one person. Master said that everyone who angered the Heavens is now dead, and the System can only help me so much. Unless I hide away for a hundred years, I''ll never earn enough Potential Points to keep up. William didn''t want to hide his entire life. He too had ambitions and dreams. There are so many ways to improve my chances of surviving the Tribtion, I just need to take advantage of them. Not only did William have a plethora of Magic Affinities and a powerful body. He also had various trade skills. Arrays weren''t very effective against the Heavenly Lightning, but whenbined with a strong material and the Forging Talent, William could reinforce an Artifact designed to deal with the Heavenly Lightning itself. Not only this, but William could use Alchemy to refine pills to help him, as long as he had ess to the required materials. Even if he didn''t like Alchemy that much, William had to admit that it was a valuable skill. With these thoughts in mind, William spent the remainder of the day Cultivating. He rested for six hours this time, opting to get a bit more rest before meeting with Riyald in hisboratory. William had neglected their meetingstely, focusing on his own Cultivation and experiments while Riyald worked on his own. Given that the old man was already quite reclusive, he didn''t mind that much that his Disciple had the same qualities. "Disciple William, you''re here! Help me out with this real quick." the old man handed William a wrench that was improved with Complete Arrays. He was working on the same steam engine, albeit disassembled, that William had seen many times before, although he still wasn''t sure of its purpose. The wrench''s functions allowed it to reach into the tightest spots and smallest gaps, allowing Riyald to tinker with his experiments without having to remove all of theponent parts. William epted the wrench and helped Riyald piece the steam engine back together, then the two sat down at their usual chair and tables withfortable mats. Riyald didn''t teach William anything about Magic, having exined all that he knew at this point. Instead, he exined the processes of experimentation and forging, two things of which he had the most experience. The conversation could have gone on for multiple weeks, but William stopped him with a sudden question after just a few days of conversation. "Master, do you have any Alchemy Ingredients?" William asked. "Alchemy? Why yes, I have a few, but I don''t specialize in Alchemy. I don''t know what most of them are for." Riyald replied with a simple wave of his hand. A hundred or so jars of various ingredients wereid out in an orderly manner on the floor. Each jar seemed incredibly old and was covered in dust. Thankfully, there were Arrays designed to preserve the ingredients no matter how long they sat, preventing any of the ingredients from bing spoiled. He must have a special Space Ring if they''re not damaged.William thought to himself. He looked at the ingredients one by one, surprised to see many rare or possibly even extinct materials among the masses. With all that was in front of him, William could probably make multiple Tier 7 or Tier 8 Pills, as long as his Alchemy Talent provided the expertise. I wonder how many times I''d need to upgrade my Alchemy to reach that point. Unfortunately, there truly weren''t many Alchemy ingredients, and William didn''t see the materials he would need for the pills he wanted to refine. Even if they were rare, sometimes the mostmon ingredients were the most useful. "Well? How are they?" Riyald asked. He was curious what his Disciple would think of the age-old ingredients he had acquired over the years. "They''re rare..." William trailed off. "That''s it?" Riyald was a bit disappointed. Were the ingredients he obtained not as valuable as he thought?No, this Disciple of mine has poor eyes. He stored the ingredients back in his Space Ring, "If you want to borrow them, you''ll have to help me out with my experiments for a while." William nodded, although he wasn''t interested. He looked around the room while lost in thought, then asked, "Is there anywhere I can go to collect my own ingredients?" "In here? There are probably a few, but you''d have better luck outside the Ruins." Riyald replied. William had expected this type of response, but he didn''t like it. If he went outside the Ruins prematurely, William would have to be incredibly careful not to be detected by his Sect Master, and the journey would be incredibly dangerous regardless. By this point in time, Gu Dianlong probably knew that William had escaped from the Envement Array. If that was the case, he no longer had any reason to protect William from the Pirs of Justice, whom William hadn''te in contact with yet. Additionally, the Thieves'' Guild wanted his blood for some unknown reason. William remembered the map that he had drawn out of the Thieves'' Guild hideouts and the Pirs of Justice. When he left the Sect to enter the Gravitas Ruins, he had nned to wipe them out the moment he left. What a stupid idea. Trying to fight with the number one criminal organization and a righteous faction at the same time, with my strength? I must have been insane. At the same time, William felt that his current strength was well above before. If he couldn''t fight, he could definitely run. William''s speed was in the Soul Formation Realm now, and his various defensive abilities might even be stronger than that since the breakthrough. William recalled a few pieces of information from the book on the Thieves'' Guild that he had previously ignored. Co-located with the list of the Thieves'' Guild locations were valuable resource nodes, ranging from Mana Stone mines to natural treasures that regenerated every few years. He was surprised that such a small piece of information jumped out to him. Was this the effect of the wless Title that he received a while ago? William didn''t know. The Thieves'' Guild likes to steal, obviously. If I can find a known hideout that is close to the ingredients I need, maybe I can kill two birds with one stone! Something else came to mind as William thought of this. He still hadn''t solved the main problem, getting out of the Ruins unnoticed. "Master, do you know of any way I can change my appearance?" he asked. "Not that I know of, but why do that when you can just wear clothes with the appropriate Arrays?" Riyald''s words struck William''s brain like a bolt of Heavenly Lightning, "That''s a great idea! "Thank you, I''m full of them." Riyald gave a goofy smile. William continued to etch out his n, "But I still need to change my clothes...and my aura needs to be concealed properly or I''ll be discovered..." "Disciple William, what are you trying to do?" Riyald looked at William with suspicion. The series of questions from his Disciple had him on edge, as if the boy was about to do something reckless. "Master, I''d like permission to leave the Ruins for a little while." Chapter 201: New Equipment (1) "Leave the Ruins? Has your breakthrough gone to your head?" Riyald asked with a hint of worry. William was starting to remind him more and more of his old Disciple, who after achieving a bit of sess went out to make a name for himself and was killed in the process. "It''s not what you think, Master. I''m only going out for some ingredients, and I wille right back." William replied quickly. He didn''t mention the Thieves'' Guild. Riyald calmed down a bit when he heard William''s reasoning, although he was still concerned. A good Disciple couldn''t be easily reced, and William''s various Magic Affinities turned him into a great asset for his experiments. Riyald wasn''t going to give that up easily, but he knew that keeping the boy locked up in the residence would do more harm than good, especially if William was determined to leave. "I will allow you to go out on one condition, Disciple William." Riyald answered after a long time. "What is it, Master?" William asked. "Before you leave, you must reach the peak of your current Realm. Only then will I allow you to leave." William nodded. He nned to do this anyway. Riyald had William help out with various tasks for the next three days, unsure of how long it would take the monster to finish his Cultivation. For all Riyald knew, William could be gone in a month! "What about the next batch of challengers, Master?" William asked. He remembered that Riyald wanted William to help increase the number of deaths during the trials in exchange for the Soul Cultivation Technique. Riyald waved his hand in dismissal, "We don''t need to rush this. Besides, someone might be suspicious if too many die. Who would send their Disciples into a dangerous Ruin knowing they woulde out empty-handed?" William understood. He bade Riyald farewell and returned to his room. Before he started Cultivating, William spent 3750 Potential Points and upgraded his Death Element to S-Rank. He spent a few hours adding the Death Elemental Sphere to the Artifact Belt, then spent the remainder of the day Cultivating on his bed. He had almost enough Potential Points to upgrade another Element to S-Rank, but William decided to save them since he would be going out soon. William spent the following day working on a set of clothing. It was surprisingly difficult, but he managed to replicate cotton using the nt Element, which he dyed a dark grey and formed into a cloak. Even with D-Rank Tailoring, this process wasn''t very difficult. Unless William wanted to make an incredibly stylish set of clothing out of fine threads, there was no need to raise his Tailoring Talent too far. Using five pieces of Starmetal Ore and another day of work, William formed thousands of small tes with tiny holes that would improve both the defensive capabilities of the cloak, but also allowed him to add many more Arrays than would normally be feasible. He added dozens of Arrays to the Starmetal tes, then stitched them in betweenyers of cotton for bothfort and concealment. Once he was finished, he added Intermediate Arrays to the cotton that would prevent normal wear-and-tear. From an outside perspective, William''s cloak would appear expensive but not priceless. Even so, one with a good eye for Arrays might be able to tell that the cloak was unique. The hood was seemingly just for show, but William had added a few backup Arrays inside for redundancy in case part of the cloak was destroyed. On the outside of the hood, he used Complete Arrays for various forms of long-range detection. He added Malign Activity Arrays that would detect traps and other Forbidden Arrays, Life Element Arrays that replicated his Life Sense Spell so he wouldn''t have to actively use it, and an Illusion Element Array that would obscure his face to others. Even if he was a bit older than before, William didn''t think it would be very hard for a Cultivator to recognize him. He took the Illusion idea from Su Yanyu, the waitress at the Wild Clover restaurant in the Five Elements Sect. William remembered how before he upgraded his Mind Talent, it was impossible for him to remember what she looked like. He spent a long time working on many Arrays that would adjust his aura to look less eye-catching to others. The Stealth Talent was amazing at concealing his Mana Signature, Cultivation, and even his Soul Strength, but William felt that showing nothing would make him look too obvious. William used the Arrays to mimic the Cultivation of someone at the peak of the Golden Core Realm, which he felt was a decent middle-ground from extremely weak to overly powerful. At least this way, people would think twice before picking a fight with him. A mere five Potential Points wasn''t worth the aggression of an entire group of City Guards. Thinking about his old self in Blue Moon City made William smack his head in shame. At the time, five Points was considerable. Now, however, it was nothing. William evaluated his work on the cloak. The Arrays all worked as intended, but the Mana Consumption to keep them active was insane. There was still work to be done. Unlike the Arrays William usually made during fights or when resting for the night in unsafe environments, he actually had to worry about the Mana consumption. Once all the Mana used to create the Arrays on the cloak were expended, he would need to recharge the cloak with his own Mana. Mana Gathering Arrays wouldn''t work well here. While it would be an immediate and easy solution to his problem, it would both interrupt William''s Cultivation and also attract too much attention. The Stealth Talent can''t affect William''s equipment, and even Concealment Arrays wouldn''t help much. The Concealment Arrays would turn the item invisible, but one could still sense the flow of Mana. One would have to be an idiot not to notice a vortex of Mana approaching William''s position 24/7. The Artifact Belt that William created based on the Elemental Dials used Mana taken from the secondyer of space and stored it forter use. Since the Arrays on the Artifact weren''t active all the time, there would be no Mana Signature unless the Artifact was actively being used. The same process wouldn''t work for the cloak, since it needed to be active at all times. William scoured his brain for a long time, but he had no idea how to approach the problem. I need some time to figure this out. For now, let''s finish up the Arrays and worry about the Manater. Chapter 202: New Equipment (2) William decided to take things one step at a time. He wrote down the problem in a notepad with a list of other tasks he needed to finish so he wouldn''t forget, then proceeded to add the next set of Arrays to the cloak. The hood only took a few hours, but the remainder of the cloak took almost three full days. During this time, William didn''t neglect his Cultivation at all and always made sure tomit at least eight hours each day to increasing his Cultivation Base. Every eight hours spent Cultivating earned William 1600 Spirit Qi give or take, so his Cultivation Base was improving steadily. He had enough Spirit Qi to break through to level 5, but he enjoyed the feeling of breaking through multiple times at once, so William nned to store it forter. Unfortunately, the new Cultivation Technique also increased the amount of Spirit Qi required to break through to the next level, so he would still need some time to reach the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm. During William''s Cultivation, he entered his first state of enlightenment, which was much different from what William expected. Instead of instantlyprehending a new skill or otherwise, William''s mind was filled with ideas that would help solve his problem with recharging the cloak''s Arrays. Perhaps it was because this was the number one thought on William''s mind other than Cultivation that things went this way, but he couldn''tin. One idea in particr had William eager to return to his work on the cloak. While the Artifact Belt''s storage method wouldn''t work for the cloak directly, he could still adopt this method to create a battery of sorts that would hold Mana and feed it to the cloak as needed. William immediately approached the cloak lying on a table near the tailoring equipment he created. He added a few Arrays to the midsection of the cloak, which would ept Mana from an outside source. The cement of this would make senseter, when William had finished the battery. For now, William just wanted to mark the Artifactplete so he could appraise its statistics. System, I''vepleted an Artifact. -Grab the item with your left hand. Once it is registered as an Artifact, the quality will be evaluated and Potential Points will be awarded one time only. If you edit the Artifact in the future, no points will be given out. William had seen this message before when trying to appraise the Artifact Belt, but he hadn''t gone through with the process since it was unfinished. This time, he grabbed the cloak and repeated the same words, confirming his choice. -Artifact registered. Name your Artifact. Illusionist''s Cloak. William felt this was a suitable name for his first Artifact and fit the main purpose of the item, even if its defensive properties probably weren''t much inferior to a set of Array-reinforced armor. Although I''m not that kind of Magician... The System interrupted his thoughts. -Evaluating Artifact... ... While the System evaluated each individual Array of the Illusionist''s Cloak, William worked on the next Artifact that would serve as the battery pack for the Cloak. Hmm, what method should I use to store the Mana? William looked at the storage device of his Artifact Belt, which was essentially just a sphere of Neutral Mana that was hollow on the inside when empty and filled with a milky-blue fluid when full. The liquid Mana was an indicator of the immense amount of Mana stored within. William chose to store the Mana in the same way, but he wanted to add more protection to the storage device in case something happened. With his Forcefield, he hoped not to get to that point, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He forged two pieces of Starmetal into a long rectangr te less than a centimeter thick with a hollow center that curved in aplete circle to wrap around his waistline. He added metal joints and some Arrays to allow the Starmetal tofortably flex around his waist, then added a sp in the back so it could be removed easily. He repeated this process four more times, then stacked them higher on his waist until they reached the lower part of his chest. When he was finished with the initial product, it looked like a silver waist strap that one would use for fitness, albeit much taller. He added the necessary Arrays that would allow the belt to gather Mana from the environment at four different speed settings that could be adjusted at will. The first setting was to turn the battery off, which would prevent it from gathering Mana or sending it to the Illusionist''s Cloak. The second setting was Silent Mode, which gathered only one Mana per second. He could keep this active at all times, which should be almost invisible unless someone was actively looking for it. The second setting was Normal Mode, which gathered slightly less than five Mana per second. This was a bit more noticeable, but only to powerful Cultivators or those with unique abilities to detect the flow of Mana. It was a bit more eye-catching and would be obvious that William carried an Artifact, but who in the Golden Core Realm didn''t have some sort of treasure? Most would assume it to be a basic Protection Amulet or the like. The third setting was Recovery Mode, which would absorb twenty Mana per second from the environment. Too bad William couldn''t absorb the Mana directly into his body at such a pace, otherwise he would no longer have a need for the Mana Regeneration Talent. Thest setting was Battle Mode, which recovered thirty Mana per second, but if active too long would damage the Artifact, so William had to use it sparingly. He didn''t truly have any intention to use this mode, but it only took him a few minutes to add the necessary Arrays, so why not? William spun some yarn from cotton and weaved it into fabric like he did with the Illusionist''s Cloak, thenyered it over top of the Starmetal Batteries to improvefort. Once he was finished, he tried to register it as an Artifact, but the System was still evaluating the Illusionist''s Cloak. William tried on each of his Artifacts one at a time. He wrapped the Starmetal Batteries around his waist, then adjusted the Artifact Belt so it could beyered overtop. Once the two items were worn and fit well, William reced his Array Master''s Robes with a simple white robe with no distinguishable markings. He didn''t want anything to tie him to Outer Core Disciple William from the Five Elements Sect, tinum Adventurer William from the Guild, or Array Master William from Blue Moon City. Should I change my name too? It''s not necessary, but it wouldn''t be a bad idea to have a second identity... William readily epted his new idea but decided toe up with a nameter. He made some fine adjustments to his clothing so it better fit with the various Artifacts and concealed their presence, then drafted out the blueprints for his next piece of equipment while the System continued its evaluation. Chapter 203: New Equipment (3) Less than an hourter, William had finished drafting the designs for a set of shoulder guards when the System announced its final evaluation. -Finished evaluating Artifact quality... -Invented a new Artifact: +25 PP -Invented your first Artifact: +100 PP -Invented a Legendary Artifact: +250 PP -Invented your first Legendary Artifact: +500 PP -Unlocked Title: +25 PP -Artificer (Epic): You have created your first Artifact using rare materials and multiple trade skills, causing its qualities to greatly exceed the desired purpose of the item. Quality of forged items +10%, Quality of tailored items +10%, Quality of Arrays +10%. William was briefly overwhelmed by a wave of Potential Points. He scrolled through the list of System Messages until he came across the Artificer Title, whose effects were much more exaggerated than the usual Epic Title. Not only did the Epic Title provide benefits involving his Trade skills, but it also included multiple at once! Since he hadn''t received a title for tailoring or forging items specifically, and only received a few Potential Points as a reward for the created items, this was a much-needed bonus. If William didn''t have a finite supply of Starmetal, he would have been tempted to recreate his Artifacts from scratch at the cost of a few weeks of time. With a ten percent increase to all three trade skills involved in their creation process, they were bound to be even stronger than before. That''s a waste of time, it''s better to just Cultivate. The Illusionist''s Cloak waspleted, so William chose to appraise the item immediately. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Illusionist''s Cloak (Legendary Cloak): A Magic cloak weaved of cotton cloth by an Apprentice Tailor, Forged of Starmetal by a Master cksmith, and improved by a powerful Array Master. Created to cover many weaknesses, this cloak has the ability to conceal one''s identity while also providing decent defense and has impressive detection capabilities. Effects while worn: -50km detection range: Detects Forbidden Arrays, hostile creatures, non-hostile creatures, traps, toxic environments, natural disasters, Spirit Qi refinement...(+51 More) -Aura Concealment: Mimics Cultivation at the Golden Core Realm, C-Rank Space and Life Magic Affinity, and eliminates one''s Soul Aura. -Defensive abilities: 100% resists tearing, cutting, piercing, slicing up to the Soul Formation Realm.Fireproof, waterproof, freezeproof, shockproof, crushproof, anti-corrosive up to the Soul Formation Realm. Above the Soul Formation Realm, these effects are reduced in strength by 20% per Realm at the cost of 3x Mana consumption. -Automatic Repair: Automatically repairs damaged Arrays and material at the cost of 5 Mana per second spent repairing. If hood is destroyed, repair function takes twice as long. -Mana Consumption: Uses 2 Mana per second while out ofbat. Uses 10 Mana per second while inbat. Mana Storage: 6480/6500 Durability: 800/800 ¡ª¡ª¡ª William''s eyes went wide at the detailed statistics of the Illusionist''s Cloak. While he knew the effects of the Cloak would be good because of how many Arrays he used in the process, William didn''t expect them to be so exaggerated. The Arrays were designed to improve the defense of the Cloak to the Soul Formation Realm, but William was pleasantly surprised to find that even against the Tribtion Transcendence Realm the effects were still good. William queued up the Starmetal Batteries to be evaluated by the System, then activated them to keep the cloak''s Arrays healthy before working on the shoulder guards he had drafted out. These would be entirely devoted to his defense and were designed to replicate his Forcefield Talent. He wanted to reduce the stress on his Mana Reserves as much as possible, recing his Talents with an Artifact equivalent that could both exin his unusual prowess and use the ambient Mana rather than his own. The shoulder guards would be linked to the Starmetal Batteries, whose Mana absorption was more than enough to keep up. Once the Mana in the shoulder guards was expended, the Arrays would deactivate while the Starmetal Batteries prioritized the Illusionist''s Cloak. Only the excess Mana would slowly refill the shoulder guards. He spent four Starmetal creating these two identical Artifacts, then ripped off the sleeves of his robes to provide space for the shoulder guards. William found that the white robes looked somewhat goofy with the silvery shoulder guards and the grey Cloak, so he dyed the Starmetal grey and the robes a greenish ck that would match with the rest of his equipment. I''m done with the defenses, now I need speed. Once William left the Gravitas Ruins, he would need to cross a long distance in a short amount of time. While the Space Element would be very useful in traversing rough terrain, he couldn''t create a long-distance portal to a ce he hadn''t visited before. Even with the coordinates, there was too much risk in teleporting so far. The old Space Mage that died in the Livingwood Forest was a great example of this, who had identally teleported into the den of Wind Wolves while escaping from his pursuers. -Finished evaluating Artifact quality... -Invented a new Artifact: +25 PP -Invented an Epic Artifact: +50 PP -Invented your first Epic Artifact: +100 PP -Duplicate Artifact x4. No Points awarded... -Title upgraded: +50 PP -Artificer (Epic --> Legendary): You have created five Artifacts using rare materials and multiple trade skills, causing its qualities to greatly exceed the desired purpose of the items. Quality of forged items +25%, Quality of tailored items +25%, Quality of Arrays +25%. -System detected an unintended feature. Host will no longer earn progression towards the Artificer Title when creating Artifacts that are identical or more than 80% simr. William was pleasantly surprised to find his Artificer Title upgraded already, but disappointed the next second when he saw the System message that eliminated any chances of him pushing the Talent to Celestial Rank quickly. Oh well, at least I got some benefits. He didn''t think about this too much and appraised one of the five Starmetal Batteries. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Starmetal Battery (Epic Artifact): An Artifact designed by a powerful Array Master with the inclusion of other trades. Stores a set amount of Mana and distributes it to other Artifacts in close proximity. Effects while active: -Mana Absorption: Select one of four settings to absorb Mana at different rates. --Silent Mode: +1 Mana per second --Normal Mode: +5 Mana per second --Recovery Mode: +20 Mana per second --Battle Mode: +30 Mana per second. -1 Durability per second. Mana Storage: 55/200000 Durability: 1000/1000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª Shit, that''s abined one million Mana! Since each Starmetal Battery stored two hundred thousand Mana, thebined storage would turn William into a Mana millionaire. Better yet, the batteries could each fully recover their Mana in under three hours in Recovery Mode! William was overjoyed and immediately turned on Recovery Mode to start filling the Starmetal Batteries. It seemed his n to store liquid Mana in a container madepletely of Starmetal was a good idea after all, as long as the Artifact didn''t explode when it was full. Not only could he store arge amount of Mana, but it was portable! With thebined Mana recovery of all the Starmetal Batteries, even Normal Mode could maintain the Illusionist''s Cloak''s functions while inbat. Unless the Repair Function was activated, this was all he needed to offset the Mana cost. Chapter 204: New Equipment (4) William queued up thepleted Starmetal Shoulder Guards with the System, then spent a few hours routing the Mana to the other Artifacts. He also routed the Starmetal Batteries to the Tribtion Transcendence Protective Amulet. Compared to how long it took William to recharge the item before, it would now take just 6 minutes! -Finished evaluating Artifact quality... -Invented a new Artifact: +25 PP -Invented an Epic Artifact: +50 PP -Duplicate Artifact x1. No Points awarded... ¡ª¡ª¡ª Starmetal Shoulder Guards (Epic Artifact): An Artifact designed by a powerful Array Master with the inclusion of other trades. Has incredible defensive ability but requires arge amount of Mana to recover. Effects while worn: -Defensive Ability: 100% resists tearing, cutting, piercing, slicing up to the Soul Formation Realm. Fireproof, waterproof, freezeproof, shockproof, crushproof, anti-corrosive up to the Soul Formation Realm. Above the Soul Formation Realm, these effects are reduced in strength by 20% per Realm at the cost of 3x Mana consumption. -Defensive Barrier: Activates a Barrier around the wearer that spends stored Mana to resist attacks. When Mana Storage is empty, the item slowly loses durability. -Automatic Repair: Automatically repairs damaged Arrays and material at the cost of 20 Mana per second spent repairing. Mana Storage: 2000/50000 Durability: 5000/5000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª William nodded and equipped the two shoulder guards. Their effects were exactly as intended, so he wasn''t surprised at all by their effects. The moment the shoulder guards were equipped, he noticed a problem with the number of Artifacts he wore. The Mana from the Starmetal Batteries was being distributed evenly, instead of prioritizing one Artifact and then moving onto the next. William spent a few hours trying to figure this out, but eventually decided to just put a limiter on the shoulder guards so they could only recover so much Mana per second. This way, he wouldn''t have to worry about the Cloak''s functions ceasing when he was being constantly attacked. Now that that''s done...where was I? "Oh right, speed." William used eight more Starmetal and a moderate amount of cotton cloth to create a set of boots that would rece his old shoes. He didn''t have a great way to create gel as padding for his feet, so William hoped that more cotton would do. The boots were surprisingly morefortable than his old shoes, so William didn''t bother to find a better material for padding. He didn''t mind needing to rece the cotton every few weeks until he found out how to make gel. He spent an entire day adjusting the Arrays on the Starmetal Boots, struggling to find a suitable speed setting that his reaction time and reflexes could handle. Too slow and building the boots would be a waste of time, while too fast meant William would run into everything he saw. He eventually found a good middle-ground and registered the Starmetal Boots as an Epic Artifact, earning another 75 Potential Points in the process. Their functions weren''t too exaggerated and not worth the appraisal, but he did it anyway. At the cost of two Mana per second, William could increase his speed by 40%, which would ce him at close to the peak of the Soul Formation Realm. William guessed that he could probably outrun any Soul Formation Realm expert that didn''t have the support of a speed-based Element, which was perfect considering he was about to go out of the Gravitas Ruins. He didn''t care if his preparations were overkill for a simple herb-gathering mission, William only wanted to survive long enough to reach the peak of the world. After that, it didn''t matter how reckless he was, all was naught before overwhelming strength. William counted out his Artifacts one by one. "Luck Pendant, Tribtion Transcendence Protective Amulet, Starmetal Boots, Starmetal Shoulder Guards, Starmetal Batteries, Illusionist''s Cloak, Artifact Belt. No, let''s rename that one to Element Belt." With seven unique Artifacts covering his body, William now felt like a miniature God! He didn''t say so out loud, lest he anger some primordial being, but William truly felt like it. Who else at the Foundation Establishment Realm could say they hadbat strength in the Soul Formation Realm, much less well above it? And yet...it''s probably nothing muchpared to the Heavens... William frowned, inspired to Cultivate after ruining his own mood. He sat on the bed and spent the next few days Cultivating in silence, determined to increase his strength further before going out. Before William knew it, two weeks had passed. The second batch of challengers had entered the Gravitas Ruins five days prior, most of whom were focused on the Western Tower, which was the only trial tower that hadn''t been cleared. William was able to see all of this from an Orb that he borrowed from Riyald, which disyed a camera-like view of different areas of the Gravitas Ruins. Leading the exploration of the Western Tower was a much stronger Fria, joined by a group of nine other talented Disciples from her Sect. Her peers weren''t much weaker than her old self, all of whom hadbat power at the peak of the Golden Core Realm, while two of the nine were able to fight against Magical Beasts in the Nascent Soul Realm by themselves. William was both surprised and confused when he saw the other Cultivators. It wasn''t just Fria''s group, but there were hundreds of Disciples that had strength in at least thete stages of the Golden Core Realm, while around a dozen rare ones were just like Fria. Seeing a few other Disciples fighting toe to toe with powerful Magical Beasts in the Nascent Soul Realm and clearing trial after trial, William became slightly concerned. Where did theye from? The group I entered with would be like children in front of these people! With a group like this, it would only be a matter of months before the entire Gravitas Ruins was cleared. William doubted his old self wouldst more than a few minutes if he had to fight three thousand Cultivators at this level. It''s not worth thinking about. I''m sure Master is already aware of this, but I''ll let him know just in case. William checked his Cultivation while he walked to theboratory. He had spent almost every moment since finishing the Artifacts on Cultivation, and his Cultivation Base was now at 60800 Spirit Qi. William could break through to the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm at any point now, but he wanted to fill up his Cultivation Base first. "Disciple, what brings you here today? How was your Cultivation?" Riyald nodded at his Disciple from atop adder that stretched to the ceiling. He quickly shut a ceiling panel in an attempt to hide what he was doing, but William could tell with a nce that he was trying to conceal another crossbow. William looked at his Master with undisguised contempt, "You''re not adding more traps, are you Master?" "W-What? Nooo of course not." Riyald waved his hand with an innocent smile on his face. He jumped down from thedder with a youthful vigor that didn''t match his age, then sped his hands as he looked at William seriously, "Are you already at the peak of the Realm? You''re leaving soon...aren''t you?" William shook his head, "Not yet, but soon. Is that still alright with you?" Riyald nodded, "I feel more at ease seeing those new Artifacts you created. Splendid work, my Disciple." "Thank you, Master." William replied before rying the information he had on the Disciples in the Gravitas Ruins. "You''re right, I already knew of this," Riyald sighed and lowered his head slightly. It seemed his ns to farm for the Soul Cultivation Technique would be dyed a bit this month. He looked back up at William, "Disciple, I hope you''ll ept a gift from me before you leave." Chapter 205: Preparing To Leave A gift?William wondered but he said nothing. He watched as Riyald pulled out a small purple box from his Space Ring, which matched the same style as the boxes awarded during the trials in the Gravitas Ruins. The old man smiled amicably as he handed the box to William, then took a seat in an earthen chair. William carefully opened the purple box, which produced a simple silver bracelet thattched itself to his arm automatically. The glow of many Complete Arrays surrounded the bracelet, and William felt his mind slightly pressured. "This is just a precaution, Disciple William. I don''t want to you identally reveal my existence or the nature of my Soul Cultivation Technique to others, who might do me harm in the future." Riyald exined as the Arrays tried to suppress William''s memory of Riyald. The old man continued his exnation while William inspected the Arrays with interest, "You''llpletely forget about me in a few hours, but you won''t forget your purpose of going out, and after you''vepleted your task your memories of me will return." William nodded, although he felt that his Master''s n was a bit wed. What the old man didn''t know was that William had an SS-Rank Mind Talent, which allowed him to resist the Envement Array even before me Dragon Uri had removed it. The Envement Array was only made up of abination of Advanced and Perfect Arrays, but their purpose was to haveplete control over William''s decisions, while the bracelet was only a form of memory suppression. They couldn''t bepared. William could feel that the bracelet was trying to cloud his memories of Riyald, but he doubted it would take effect even after a few weeks. Regardless, he didn''t n to reveal any information about Riyald to others. Even if his methods were a bit questionable, William understood that no one waspletely innocent in the Cultivation World. "It also has a life-saving function added to it, so don''t be in a rush to remove the Artifact, my Disciple." Riyald added. William nodded and thanked his Master. He returned to his room and pushed his Cultivation to the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm, improving his strength a few levels further into the Soul Formation Realm. The final breakthrough would require ten thousand Spirit Qi, so Williammitted all but one hundred Spirit Qi to his Cultivation, reducing his Cultivation Base to just under sixteen thousand. Two weeks of Cultivation to progress through an entire Realm...I wonder how everyone in the Sect is doing? William''s Cultivation speed was even more ridiculous when considering how much time had actually passed in the outside world. Since time flowed four times slower in the Gravitas Ruins, William had only really taken a few days to reach the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm. While he had been inside the Gravitas Ruins for four months, only a single month had passed outside. To progress from peak Golden Corebat strength to the Soul Formation Realm in a month was probably unheard of. That being said, thetest batch of challengers made William feel as if his advantage wasn''t asrge as he thought. While William wasn''t concerned with a group like this, he felt pressured to improve further. He shook his head and returned to his Cultivation. *** Five days earlier, at the portal outside the Gravitas Ruins. A Cultivator enshrouded in a bright yellow light flew through the sky as he spoke the same words William heard when he entered the Ruins. "The Gravitas Ruins will open in less than five minutes! Sect Masters, gather your disciples in a line with their Tickets to enter the gate! I will say this one time only. There is a one-hour grace period upon entering the ruins. There will be no fighting during that time, lest a gruesome death awaits you." While the Cultivator spoke, a group of middle-aged men was gathering off to the side of the entrance. Amongst the group was Supreme Left, whose young face and blonde hair stood out among the group. These men had no intentions to enter the Gravitas Ruins, and even if they did, they would be blocked by the portal''s restrictions. As a burly man with long silver hair and a mean face approached the group on foot, the others looked to him in surprise. A man with medium-length red hair and a simrly colored beard looked at the neer with a wide smile, "Even you''vee, old man Brackley? Don''t tell me the kid killed your Spirit Incarnation as well. You must have been quite weak in your youth!" Brackley gave the red-haired man an icy re as he stepped forward, "Ha, Wentor. You should be the one to talk, aren''t you here as well? I bet the kid killed yours in one attack." A third man with long greyish white hair and a peaceful smile flew in from afar and stepped in between the two whose faces were close enough that they could touch noses, "Alright you two, no need to boast your rivalry in front of the young ''ins. We''re supposed to be role models." Brackley and Wentor looked at the third man at the same time, "Shut up Gimley!" The man looked at the two with a hurt expression, "I changed my name a long time ago, stop calling me that! My name is Hun Dao now." Brackley looked away from Hun Dao andughed, "Really? That''s what you changed your name to? What does Hun Dao even mean?" Hun Dao''s face turned red with anger, "I hate both of you." The three menughed and proceeded to join the other middle-aged men, who were each among the leadership of their respective Continents. For such a small matter like the Gravitas Ruins, this was a unique gathering of powerful Cultivators, who normally wouldn''t be seen in public. Other than Supreme Left, Brackley, and Hun Dao, they had all gathered here two weeks ago for one reason only, to meet with the young man who had killed their Spirit Incarnations while in the Ruins. Supreme Left was only present as a formality, to mediate the sudden influx of Cultivators that were close to or equally as powerful as him. When thest batch of Disciples left the Ruins, however, William wasn''t among them. As powerful as they were, they knew William hadn''t left the Ruins earlier, and with the help of a Mage with the Karma Affinity, they could tell that he hadn''t died either. There was only one oue. "So, is the boy still inside?" Brackley asked the group. Supreme Left nodded, "You''re wee to do as you please once he leaves, but please refrain from damaging the portal, this training ground is for the younger generation and contains a few valuable items that might even interest yourselves." "Are you saying that I have to wait, even if he doesn''t leave for ten years?" "Yes, but I doubt a child has the patience to explore a Ruin for so long. Rest assured, I''ve sent in a specialized group tasked to force him out." Supreme Left replied. Brackley didn''t ask any more questions and erected a throne made of ice to sit in. He didn''t like the idea of waiting on a child, but breaking into the Gravitas Ruins would cause his Continent more trouble than it was worth. Chapter 206: A Warm Welcome "Master, it''s time for me to leave." William said from within Riyald''sboratory. Next to him was Atticus, who was as still as a stone statue while he worried about the dangers that awaited them outside the Ruins. Three weeks had passed, and William''s Cultivation Base waspletely full. He spent six days of each week Cultivating, with a single day for rest, which was both exhausting and addicting at the same time. Cultivation was much different from what William expected. It was more than just trying to sit still and perform rhythmic breathing for hours on end. Instead, it was as simple as eating and drinking, a natural process that filled William with energy. Since he was at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm, he needed even less sleep than before, able to stay awake for weeks without rest if he truly wanted to, although his Cultivation efficiency would drop after more than six consecutive days. Riyald nodded, "As expected, your growth is quite fast. How strong are you now?" William shrugged, "I don''t know for sure, but it shouldn''t be weak. Where is Uri?" "He''s-" A booming voice interrupted Riyald, "I''m right here, Master William." Riyald looked at the me Dragon with a hint of worry. He shook his head as he said, "You''re too conspicuous, you can''t go with him. Also, why don''t you greet me first? After all, I was your Master before." Uri looked at Riyald and snorted, "Old man, you''re too boring. Even at my age I like to go out." William whispered in his Master''s ear while holding his hand to hide his mouth, "I already tried convincing him, but he won''t take no for an answer. It should be fine as long as I hide him when we leave the Ruin." Riyald nodded, already knowing me Dragon Uri''s character. "I can hear you, Master William. I''m a dragon, remember?" William ced his hands on his ears to shield from the booming voice. He replied in a slightly pained tone, "Yep. I remember. Let''s leave before I lose my hearing." He made sure he had an extra Gravitas Ruins Ticket on him, then created a long-distance portal to a random area with no presence of Cultivators. He didn''t want anyone to go through the portal and end up in his Master''s residence, although it would be funny watching them try to dodge the traps. Immediately after exiting, he created a second portal to the entrance of the Gravitas Ruins. There was a group of four Cultivators near the entrance wearing sparkling yellow badges, so William had Atticus cover both him and me Dragon Uri with Illusion Magic to conceal their presence. Given Atticus'' upgrade to the Golden Core Realm, he had much greater control over the Illusion Mana, and was only slightly pressured when he had to cover me Dragon Uri''srge frame. Once they were all covered, they entered the portal one by one, while William wentst, using the invisibility mode of the Stealth Talent to remain hidden. The Cultivators near the entrance saw a portal form out of nowhere and stood up in surprise. One of the four pulled out a specializedmunicator and ryed what they saw to the other six members of their team that were spread out across the Gravitas Ruins. When William exited the portal, he was able to see the Cultivators more clearly. Their robes were a mix of pale yellow and white and inscribed on their foreheads was a blue diamond-shaped mark that served an unknown purpose. Judging by the symbol on their badges, they must be from the Pirs of Justice. It seems they haven''t forgotten about me, but why go so far for one person? William didn''t bother with the group and exited the main portal of the Gravitas Ruins, which was the only way to exit other than being automatically discharged when the time on the Tickets hit zero. While the other six responded one by one on themunicator, three of the Cultivators at the entrance approached the portal. Unfortunately for them, William and the two Magical Beasts had already left the area, and the portal closed before they could reach it. With no confidence that William had anything to do with the portal, the Cultivators were forced tobel it as a random urrence and return to their positions. On the other side of the portal, Atticus was greeted by a group of twenty old Cultivators that were much too powerful for his current stage. While they couldn''t see Atticus, the Illusion Magic couldn''t perfectly conceal his presence and they could sense fluctuations from the portal that suggested something had moved through it. Since the entrance wasn''t open, that could only mean one thing. "Who''s there?" Wentor shouted while the others formed a circle around the portal.Is it the old Master of the Ruinsing out, or is it something else? me Dragon Uri exited the portal next, covered in a haze of Illusion Mana that was quickly fading. Atticusmitted more Mana to keep him concealed, but the old Cultivators were even more rmed now. Their senses told them that something invisible and veryrge had just exited the portal. Brackley covered his fists with Fire Mana and was ready for a fight. He pulled out an enchanted battleaxe that looked much like the one William dealt with in the trial tower, albeit more powerful. No one sensed William when he left the Ruins, his invisibility effect perfectly concealing his presence. Even his own Beasts couldn''t sense him. The only downside was the Spirit Qi cost, so William was forced to rece the invisibility with Illusion Mana lest he empty his hard-earned Cultivation Base. Feeling his Master''s presence, Atticus funneled more Illusion Mana to better conceal William, then the three grouped together while the Cultivators searched for their opponents. While they knew something was close by, none of them had the Illusion Affinity so the group''s presence disappeared the same time it appeared. "Raise the barrier, we can''t let this thing leave whatever it is! What if it''s a demon?" The mention of a demon triggered the rm bells in the old Cultivators'' minds, and their thoughts of dealing with William subsided in an instant. If a demon was truly here and they let it leave, it could spell disaster for any one Continent. William cursed when a massive barrier appeared, creating a dome ten kilometers in diameter. The entire area was sealed, including the use of the Space Element. William evaluated his opponents and cursed his bad luck. Among the group was Supreme Left, which told William everything he needed to know about their strength. If the sole leader of the Continent was present and he wasn''t giving orders, it spoke volumes of the rest of the group. As he inspected the others, William realized that their faces were simr to those that he had fought with in the trial tower. While some looked a bit older or carried different equipment, they were more or less the same. How long have they been here? Do they not have better things to do than sit around outside a dusty Ruin? Chapter 207: Pursuit "Come out, we know you''re here!" Wentor shouted from afar. He and the others were in the air and retreated to the edges of the dome, ensuring their targets couldn''t escape before they identified themselves. William didn''t respond, nor did he have any ns to. He couldn''tmunicate with Atticus or Uri verbally, and they hadn''t coordinated any hand signals, but just one look from him told them to stay quiet. Atticus can''t hold on for more than a few hours while he''s hiding Uri. I need to do something before we exhaust ourselves... William wasn''t strong enough to fight with a group of Cultivators in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. Even against a single opponent, he would be lucky to win a confrontation. Considering their coordination, William knew they wouldn''t let him fight one on one unless they were idiots. I have over sixteen thousand Potential Points. I can upgrade one of my Talents in the worst case scenario, but let''s try the peaceful route first. Williammunicated with the System to make sure his idea would work, then he adjusted his speech patterns to sound like a different person. Using abination of Illusion and Sound Magic, he prepared to project his voice from a random part of the dome. What tone should I use? Should I be arrogant, passive, or neutral? -Try a passive tone with some sycophantguage. Huh? -Be grateful and tter them. Oh, thank you. "Benevolent Cultivators, your method of restraining me is unnecessary. I am grateful for your hospitality; however, I also request that you allow me to leave." How was that? Too far? -Too far. Shit. Brackley looked in the direction of William''s projected voice with a smirk, "A Sound Mage, how rare." At the same time, hemunicated telepathically with Supreme Left. Is that the boy we are looking for? Supreme Left shook his head, I don''t know. The boy has many Elements, but he never revealed Sound to be one of them. The Master of the Gravitas Ruins doesn''t have the Sound Element though. Brackley nodded and didn''t respond to Supreme Left''s words. He erected an icy throne in the air to sit in after realizing he was dealing with one of the younger generation, although therge presence still had him concerned. "Who are you, and who is the other person with you?" he asked while rying his thoughts and calming the others,at least confident that they weren''t facing a demon. William projected his voice again, "I''m no one important. It''s just me." "Liar, I can feel the presence of another. You cannot deceive me. Tell me now, who are you?" William ignored the question while he visually inspected the dome, "Can I leave, or are you going to keep me here?" As he spoke, William signaled to Atticus and Uri to follow him, hoping his gesture would get through to the both of them. The group walked silently on the ground, their footsteps concealed by Illusion Mana as they walked in a certain direction towards a weak point of the dome. "We will keep you here as long as we wish, now answer my question or face the consequences." Brackley lightly shed forward with his battleaxe, cutting deep into the ground beneath his feet at the exact location where William''s voice was the previous second. The ground cracked and shook, causing William to stumble slightly from his location a few hundred meters away. Even so, his action wasn''t detected by the others. "Tch." Brackley cursed at his failed attempt of injuring the hidden Sound Mage. William smiled lightly and threw his voice a kilometer in the opposite direction, "I don''t think you have the ability to keep me here." The moment the group looked in the direction where William''s voice was thrown, he poked the dome with his middle finger, shattering the Arrays instantly, which were mere Perfect Arrays and created in a hasty manner. How could an Array with suchrge coverage that was clearly created in only a few hours hold a Complete Array Master like William? Supreme Left''s eyes widened when he saw the Array he built personally shatter like ss. Unless it was Riyald, no one could possibly find a w in his Arrays so quickly. The blonde youth blinked, and a Fire Domain opened in the direction where the Array shattered first. His reaction time was instantaneous, even faster than William and covered his body instantly. The Illusion Element concealed his position, but when the fire approached William''s body, it suddenly disappeared from view in the other Cultivators'' perspectives. It was obvious where the boy was hiding. Shit. I wascent. William cursed in his mind as he used Space Magic to teleport himself and his twopanions a kilometer away in an instant. He released his own Fire Domain to extinguish Supreme Left''s mes from their bodies, but they each still took some damage. Even though they both had the Fire Domain, William''s Fire Element could onlypare to the Soul Formation Realm at most. The remainder of the damage tried to consume his body, and almost broke through his Hard Skin Talent. Surprisingly, Atticus was mostly fine after William extinguished the mes from his body. The snake''s immense skill with the Illusion Element allowed him to confuse the Fire Mana into thinking it didn''t have a target. It burned the air around Atticus, but only a small portion of the damage was actually inflicted on the snake. Uri was a me Dragon in the Soul Formation Realm, so he only suffered minor injuries. Even so, he gave William and Atticus a brief look as if they were monsters, considering he still took the most damage out of the three. William didn''t have time toment on this. Another Cultivator seemed to have a weak Affinity for the Space Element and the detection Arrays on the Illusionist''s Cloak told him that the Cultivator would reach their position in two more blinks. He ordered Atticus to use more Illusion Mana to conceal their presence again, then teleported a few more times to escape the Cultivators'' pursuit. Supreme Left only got a brief glimpse of who they were dealing with, but after seeing the two powerful Magical Beasts including a dragon, the Golden Core Cultivation, and a powerful Fire Domain told him that whoever was running must have acquired a valuable treasure and broken through in the Gravitas Ruins. It would exin why the person was forced out of the Ruins, and why they were trying to hide their identity so thoroughly.Supreme Left analyzed the situation further and guessed that there was only a five percent chance that this person was William. At this point, however, it didn''t matter. The person was a threat to his position as number one in the Azures Continent, and that was uneptable! Supreme Left made a split-second decision. He shouted out loud to the Cultivators who were pursuing the Sound Mage, "It''s William! This is who you''re looking for!" Brackley and Wentor, who were previously hesitant to give chase suddenly rose from their positions and sped off in the direction of the escaping Cultivator. Even Tenebris, who was quietly Cultivating in an underground location nearby, heard these words and opened his eyes. He touched an Orb on the table that was covered in Runes, projecting an overhead image of the area within ten kilometers of the Gravitas Ruins portal. When he saw the other Cultivators chasing after a blurry object in the distance, Tenebris sighed and rose to his feet. "It seems I should join in on the fun." Chapter 208: Stalling For Time William blinked forward with his group a dozen times in quick session, keeping his movements erratic so the enemies couldn''t predict his next location. Hun Dao was following close behind with his own Space Magic, but even though he was faster than William, the Illusion Magic made it hard to track William. He shed ahead of where William was teleporting from, only to find that the boy had doubled back and he was now even further away than he started. "Damn it! You''re going to suffer when I catch you!" he roared after William who was already a few kilometers away. The other Cultivators couldn''t keep up at all and most were almost a dozen kilometers further. William''s Illusionist''s Cloak kept track of all the Cultivators at the same time, feeding him real-time data with the Arrays that helped him to predict where his enemies would be. He noticed an additional signature had appeared in thest few minutes, even faster than the rest of the group. William was already nervous before, but seeing the unknown variable approach his position at the speed of light terrified him to no end. If only I hadn''t dispersed that Tribtion!William cursed in his mind. He could have broken through again and had a better chance of escaping if he hadn''t angered the Heavens, but how could he have expected his current predicament? Supreme Left and a group of Cultivators at his level. What kind of a wee party was that? "Master William, I can stop them for a while." me Dragon Uri suddenly said. William looked at the dragon whose expression was resolute, "You can''t risk your life for me, not here, not now. We can escape soon." "Master William, you must have used up much of your Mana by now, and Atticus looks even worse. Let me stall them while you escape." Uri wasn''t taking no for an answer. "Fine, but we''re doing things my way. Stall them for ten seconds and I''ll get us out of here." William replied as he ordered Atticus to remove the Illusion Magic while consuming a Mana Regeneration Pill that he had refined before he left. The snake didn''t need to hear the order twice, as his bloodshot eyes called back the Illusion Mana in an instant. Atticus'' Mana reserves were almost zero, and the snake was just a few seconds away from experiencing Mana Sickness. The group of Cultivators locked onto their positions the moment the illusion faded away. The Space Mage Hun Dao blinked over and would arrive in just a few seconds, so William didn''t have much time to enact his n. William gave the snake a pill to recover, then pulled out the Array Wheel that hadn''t been used in a while. Stored on the Array Wheel were improved versions of the previous Arrays William created, much more powerful than before. In an instant, three Complete Barrier Arrays with an absorption function appeared around the group. William modified the Arrays to allow Uri to exit the Arrays, then watched as the dragon let loose a pir of me from his mouth that lined up in the direction of both Hun Dao''s current position and his exit point. Hun Dao was forced to cancel his teleportation and defend himself with a defensive wall of Wind, which redirected the me around his body. The man looked at the source of the mes, his eyes widening in shock as he instantly recognized the creature before him. "A me Dragon!" He retreated a few hundred meters to regroup with the fast-approaching Cultivators, then prepared arge, modified Wind de that would counter any further mes from the dragon. The Cultivators'' vast experience was made obvious when they didn''t be arrogant and instead created a simple formation that would prevent any one of them from being picked off during a fight. Uri didn''t expect his mes to have an effect on the group. His only intention was to stall for William, who seemed to have a n. He roared at the Cultivators, "Do not provoke us. We have already said we are peaceful." "Then announce yourself!" Hun Dao replied with an expression of anger. He was still annoyed that a weaker Cultivator had evaded him for so long, and a bit jealous that his Space Magic was weaker than his opponent''s. "Very well. I am me Dragon Uri, second brother of Royal Leader Uriah from the Dragon Continent." the dragon''s booming voice resounded through the region, causing many citizens in a nearby town to cover their ears. "The brother of Uriah? Ha! He Ascended long ago, your im has no power here!" Hun Dao replied but in reality, he was a bit nervous. If Uri was the brother of the Leader of Dragons, wouldn''t that spell trouble for him in the future when he Ascended? Would Uriah look to him for revenge? Supreme Left reached the group in this moment, "Dragon, we have no quarrel with you, but with him." he nodded his head in the direction of William, who was still consuming Mana Gathering Pills. "If you have a problem with him, I have a problem with you. Now, leave us be." Uri would have been more aggressive here, but he knew the difference between him and this group was toorge, even if he was a dragon that could fight above his Realm. Against one Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator, Uri was unstoppable. But against even five would spell disaster for him, much less twenty. He eyed his opponents with arrogance but didn''t say anything further. "William!" Supreme Left suddenly called out to the hooded figure that was consuming pills. William paused for an instant while consuming his pills, but it was enough for Supreme Left to notice. He cursed inwardly as he realized his cover had been blown by such a small movement. The blonde youth''s smile grew, "Got you." Supreme Left never expected that this person was actually the kid he was waiting for all this time. This was the best chance to acquire the treasures that William had gained. Even better, the boy seemed to know how to bypass the rules of the Gravitas Ruins that automatically kick you out after 60 days spent inside. "Boy, I admire your bravery for leaving the only sanctuary that could protect you from me, but your stupidity hasn''t changed." Supreme Leftmunicated telepathically to the entire group at once,this is the boy you are looking for, I''m now sure of it. He''s probably terrified out of his wits right now. William raised his head so his mouth could be clearly seen from under the hood. Contrary to Supreme Left''s expectations, he was smiling. The Detection Arrays told him that thest figure had already arrived, but the count didn''t match the number of people he could see. William maintained his smile as he said, "It seems you think you have the right person, but how can you be so confident? Perhaps the one hidden in your shadow knows something I don''t?" The group became confused.Hidden in the shadows? Supreme Left didn''t want to fall for William''s trick, but he secretly checked his own shadow, only to sense a very familiar presence that rmed him to no end. He stepped to the side to gain some distance from the shadowy figure, but his movements suddenly stopped. Piercing through his heart was a long metal pole covered in Arrays, wielded by a partially condensed arm made of shadows. Chapter 209: Cave "Why are you here... Tenebris... you... betrayed me..." Supreme Left struggled to finish his sentence as a second pole pierced through his lung. His vitality was absorbed by the poles, turning the youth''s hair white while his skin wrinkled and became leathery. When his vitality was nearly gone, his body slumped to the floor, his eyes still wide with shock. The poles were retracted from his heart and lung and were retracted into a pair of sleeves that had just condensed. None of Supreme Left''s Artifacts or life-saving measures activated, which spoke volumes of how much time the shadowy figure spent preparing for this moment. The other Cultivators were scared stiff by this sudden development, unsure if the neer was an ally of the boy or not. As Supreme Left took hisst breath, a wisp of light exited his mouth, which was immediately crushed by the shadowy figure known as Tenebris. Any hope of revival for Supreme Left was destroyed in that moment. "What powerful senses you have, and what interesting gear you are wearing." a voice said in awe as the figure fully condensed from Supreme Left''s lifeless shadow. The ck-cloaked figure looked at William with unconcealed interest as he evaluated William''s equipment. "Tenebris..." Wentor recovered from his shock as he recognized the man. He shouted at the ck-cloaked man, "Tenebris! We are both from the Azures Continent, why would you betray your leader? As far as I know, your organization has protected the Yu Royal Family for almost a hundred years. Why would you kill your own?" Tenebris calmly turned away from William and looked at the man who had just spoken, "My ties to the Azures Continent are all the more reason to do this. You know nothing, stay out of my business!" As he spoke, one of the metal poles flew out of his hand and pierced through Wentor''s leg, who screamed in pain as the Artifact absorbed his vitality as well. The man pulled at the metal pole with great strength, but his efforts were fruitless. "Help me!" he called out while two others rushed over to help him retract the pole from his leg. Tenebris ignored the three and returned his attention to William and his twopanions but cursed when he saw the group had vanished from view. In their ce was a long-distance portal that was rapidly closing, too fast for Tenebris to reach in time. "Shit, now look what you''ve done." he looked at the group of neen Cultivators that dared to interrupt him. *** Uri and Atticus exited the portal first, scanning the environment with suspicion in case they had teleported to a dangerous location and the enemies were still nearby. William exited the portalst. He dropped to his knees and took deep breaths as his Mana Reserve that was just filled dropped to nearly zero. The portal he had just created took too much Mana, using all of his reverse Domains to ensure maximum control over the portal, while also pushing the range to its limit. William didn''t know how far he had gone, but it couldn''t be less than a few hundred kilometers. He looked around to see that they were in the center of a cave tunnelrge enough to fit two Uri''s side by side. There were two paths to take, either forward or backward. William turned on his Navigation Radar and waited for it to scan the environment. In the meantime, he looked to the me Dragon and asked, "Uri, do you know where we are?" "We''re in a cave!" Atticus suddenly said. "Yeah, no shit." William lightly smacked the Mythical Rat Snake on the back of the head, who shook his head and slithered a few meters away while giving William a betrayed look. me Dragon Uri sniffed a few times, then looked down the path in either direction, "I don''t know either, but we could be in a mountain. The only mountain chains I know on the Azures Continent are in the north." he looked back at William in awe, who was the sole reason for their current location. If William remembered correctly, the northern region was known as the Hillvire Empire, a region separate from the usual Sects and riddled with noble factions. The Rhio Ancient Family and the Yu Royal Family both had a headquarters here, although neither had arge presence. William had arrived in the new World in the Far West Forest region of the Azures Continent, in Thin Creek Vige. Two thousand kilometers directly East was the Providence Zone, and another two thousand kilometers past that was the start of the Far East Misnds. South of the Providence Zone was the Southern ins, which William didn''t know much about, while three thousand kilometers north of the Providence Zone was the Hillvire Empire where Uri suspected they were currently. With William''s improved understanding of the world, he knew that the Continent was roughly six thousand kilometers from East to West, and almost eight from North to South. If the Continent had perfectly smooth edges and there were no terrain features, it would probably look like a rectangle. "Are you saying that I teleported us at least three thousand kilometers with a single portal?" William asked. Uri nodded, "That''s exactly what I''m saying. I didn''t expect it to be possible, but we are lucky the portal put us in a cave. We could have been crushed instantly by the mountain if the portal was a few meters further in any direction." William turned pale. He wasn''t even sure if his various Talents could help him if he was permanently stuck inside a mountain. Atticus wouldn''tst more than a second, and even Uri would probably slowly suffocate. At least those old guys probably can''t find me now.William thought. He checked his body for any sort of tracking method, then asked the System to check as well. -There''s a dust particle on your left shoulder that belongs to the Space Mage. He may be able to track you. William immediately opened his Earth Domain and eliminated any traces of dust from his body, then checked with the System again to ensure that it was gone. He quickly modified a few Arrays on his cloak that changed his features from before, then looked at his two Magical Beastpanions, "We need to go, they tracked us here." "How do you know? Master William?" Uri asked. "I just do. Come on, it''s better safe than sorry even if I''m wrong." William ordered as he checked the Navigation Radar that had just finished scanning. While doing so, he gave Atticus some Mana Regeneration Pills while consuming some of his own. He followed the path behind them, the elevation slowly rising as they walked. The tunnel stretched on an on, eventually widening while William spotted a hint of sunlight in the distance. He hastened his pace and stepped out of the cave entrance into ayer of fog so thick that even his Vision Talent couldn''t see through it. Momentster, the fog cleared up and William regained his sight, but he didn''t take another step forward and instead took a step back. "Amazing..." William awed at the scene before him. Chapter 210: New Companion Sprawling for hundreds, maybe even thousands of kilometers was a vast mountain chain that stretched past William''s view. His exit point from the tunnel had ced him about two thirds of the way up the mountain, but he still couldn''t see the top of the tallest mountains. The fog covered William''s view once again, but this time he realized it wasn''t fog. No, this was a cloud! He got on Uri''s back and used Atticus'' Illusion Magic to conceal their presence, then had the dragon fly down the mountain until the clouds no longer obscured William''s vision. As they flew further, William redirected the dragon towards a massive City in the distance. Strategically ced in the center of a ring of mountains, the City maintained a single entrance to the south that could only be essed from the other side via man-made tunnel. If they weren''t multiple kilometers in the air, William wouldn''t have been able to see past the cyan blue walls that were dozens of meters thick and over five hundred meters tall. William had to redirect Uri a second time to avoid running into a thin barrier that William didn''t notice until they were only a few hundred meters away. The barrier was made of millions of Complete Arrays, which would even take William weeks if not months to crack. He wondered how much time someone spent creating this barrier, which was probably strong enough to withstand his improved Five Elements Explosion Array, which was now formed of Complete Arrays and stored in his Array Wheel. Bzz Bzz "Huh?" William felt his Space Ring shudder for a moment, before returning to its previous state. He looked inside but didn''t notice anything out of the ordinary. He was about to close the Space Ring when it vibrated a second time. Bzz Bzz William picked up the Array Wheel, which was shuddering slightly at consistent intervals. His fingers sped around the object, causing a piece of information to enter his brain. Fragment nearby. "I forgot about that." William muttered. He had an ongoing Quest to recover all eight of the Array Wheel fragments, but it wasbeled impossible, so he had temporarily set it aside. Now that he was close to a fragment, however, how could he let it go? Even if his Array Wheel wasn''tpleted, having an additional slot for an Array could be lifesaving in the future. I''ll at least check it out. If I can''t get the fragment, so be it. No need to get into unnecessary trouble. William directed Uri to loop back the way they came and fly over the mountain ring. After a few minutes of flying, William had the dragonnd at a different cave entrance than the one from before. His Cloak detected a few Magical Beasts nearby, but they all seemed to be in the Core Formation Realm or below, nothing even Atticus couldn''t handle. "You two stay here, I''ll go down and visit the City for a while." William ordered his Magical Beasts. Atticus slithered off Uri''s back and looked at William, "Why do we have to ssstay?" "Because you''re too big and conspicuous. I don''t have any way to hide you." "Oh..." Atticus became sullen. Uri looked at William. He tried to keep his voice low to prevent the cave from copsing as he said, "What should we do while we wait? I haven''t been out in so long, I want to explore." Atticus raised his head excitedly as he nodded in agreement. He was already tired of sitting in William''s room at the residence and wanted to do anything but sit in a stinky cave. William looked at the two and sighed. They were Magical Beasts after all, and their desire to fight was much greater than his own. It was a surprise already that Atticus had remained calm all the while. "Alright, you can go out, but remember that this is where you return to if something happens." He looked at Uri and thought of something. His strength was technically higher than the me Dragon in some aspects, so he should be eligible to use the Companion Beast function now. "Uri, would you like to be my Companion Beast?" Uri was confused for a second, before a blue panel suddenly entered his view. The text box surprised him for a moment, but he had seen many interesting things in his long life. -You have received an offer to be William''s Companion Beast. Yes/No? -Note: Once you have epted this request, your fate will be tied to William forever. You must follow every order given to you, but your abilities may be improved in the future if you perform well. The boy seems to have a powerful secret, I always knew he was different from the others. "Follow you for the rest of my life? That''s no different from what I''m already doing, I ept!" the dragon released a light roar that he cut short when the cave began to shake. Uri felt his mind being suppressed by a powerful force, preventing him from even thinking about the blue text box that had appeared. Even if Uri wanted to, he couldn''t say anything about the System. The dragon could tell that this was just a method to keep William''s secrets hidden, but the presence he felt made him feel uneasy. Just how strong is William? Did he create this, or is there a powerful being even stronger than Master Riyald? There''s no way that someone who hadn''t Ascended could create this! On William''s end, he received a positive notification from the System that me Dragon Uri had been added to his Companion Beast Menu. He could now check the dragon''s status, and there was even an option to upgrade his Potential. Unfortunately, there didn''t seem to be any rewards since he didn''t hatch Uri from an egg. Either way it was fine. ¡ª¡ª¡ª BEASTS: -Epic: --Uri (me Dragon): S (10000PP to next rank) -Mythic: --Atticus (Mythical Rat Snake): B (25000PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª He''s two ranks higher than Atticus, but his upgrade is still cheaper...How powerful will Atticus be when he''s S-Rank? William had added Uri to his Companion Beasts for a few reasons. The first was because the dragon was very loyal even without being controlled by the System and William wanted to give back to him in the future by improving his potential. The second reason was for his own Potential Points gain. If Uri killed Magical Beasts before, William wouldn''t earn anything. But now, he could passively earn Potential Points without even lifting a finger! It was a win-win situation, and Uri didn''t seem to mind at all that his life was at the hands of a young man with a bone age of barely twenty. The dragon trusted himpletely, having a great sense for a person''s character. He could tell that William liked to get into trouble, but he always treated those close to him well. System, should I upgrade Uri right now, or will there be a Tribtion? William paid five Potential Points for an answer. -There will be a Tribtion, but his strength will automatically be improved beforehand so there will be a one hundred percent chance of passing. Regardless, the Tribtion will attract unwanted attention. Chapter 211: Capital City William nodded and chose not to upgrade Uri for now. His strength was already near the top of the Realm, but he didn''t know whether the Cultivators were still pursuing him or if they had given up. His long-distance teleport covered a lot of ground, but Cultivators in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm could cross the entire Continent in a matter of hours. This is why he moved to a different cave before dropping off Uri and Atticus. William checked the time. It was ten in the morning. He looked at his two Companion Beasts and gave an order, "Wait until six, then you can leave the cave." Uri and Atticus nodded. They didn''t have to ask why William had given the order. Uri breathed some fire on the ground to melt the stone beneath, then curled up in the hole he had made to take a short rest. William made a bed for Atticus, then stepped out of the cave. He walked a few hundred meters away, then used the Space Element to teleport directly to the entrance of the tunnel, surprising the pair of guards wielding Array-powered crossbows standing in front. The guards each nocked an arrow in their crossbows and pointed them at William. Their hands were shaky as they shouted in unison, "Stop right there!" Seeing the crossbows gave William some trauma, but he didn''t show it on his face. He looked calmly at the two guards, who emitted the Cultivation of Core Formation Realm Cultivators. It was quite a surprise to see two mere guards at the Core Formation Realm, considering that was enough to be a guard Captain in Blue Moon City. William didn''t n to kill anyone this time, though. "I''m not from around here, I''m sorry if I broke some sort of rule." William apologized in earnest. Being arrogant here would only draw attention to himself. The guards kept the crossbows aimed at William, but their tone became less aggressive. "Step back please and let me see some identification." William did as he was told, but he didn''t have anything to show the guards. "I don''t have anything like that, can you just let me pass?" "You don''t have any identification cards? How can you be here then?" one of the guards looked at the other. William shouldn''t have gotten this far without any identification cards, considering the series of checkpoints well before this point that would stop someone from getting even close to the Capital City. William shed back and forth with the Space Element, "I just am." The two guards instantly understood. "You will need to go back if you don''t have any identification. Or we can arrest you right here, is that what you want?" "Arrest me? Isn''t that a bit absurd? I teleported too far on ident, and I need some supplies. Can''t you help me out?" William asked. One of the guards leaned toward the other and whispered something that William could barely hear with his Sound Affinity, "We can have him register with the Capital City, right?" The other guard nodded, but he didn''t trust William entirely. "What''s your name?" William had already thought of an alias that suited him perfectly, "Yuming." Somewhere far away in the Five Elements Sect, a certain Alchemist sneezed, causing his cauldron to be unstable.I''m a Core Formation Cultivator, how can I sneeze? "Okay Yuming, remove your hood ande with us." he said before turning around and walking towards arge gate that barred the tunnel entrance. He wasn''t going to bother restraining William, since there were many more powerful Cultivators inside the City. A mere Golden Core couldn''t cause any trouble in the Hillvire Capital. William removed his hood and followed closely behind, the Arrays still preventing the guards from seeing his true appearance. The second guard ryed some information on amunicator, then remained in position while William and the guard entered the tunnel. A pair of guards passed by William and the guard, one of whom went to fill the now-empty post, while the other walked behind William with his crossbow at the ready. While an arrow was nocked, William didn''t sense any killing intent, so he assumed it was just their procedure. The security here is insane! What kind of City is this?William wondered. Even in his old World, he had rarely seen a city that couldpare to the one he was entering now. That was saying a lot, considering the technology of his old World was much more advanced than that of the Azures Continent. While Magic and Cultivation didn''t exist, the people of his World made up for their weaknesses by creating more powerful weapons, better methods of transport, and more efficient resource gathering. I have the Carpentry Talent; I wonder if I can build my own City someday. Although I would probably need some sort of Architecture-rted Talent as well... The trip through the tunnel was longer than William expected. Even after an hour spent walking, William hadn''t reached the end of the tunnel. He had already seen the other side, and the distance wasn''t nearly as far as they had walked. What''s going on?William thought as he inspected the walls and floor. Just as he figured out the reason, the guard answered for him. "It''s the Arrays. They stretch the space so that anyone who gets past us has to travel much further to reach the Capital." he said. William nodded, both impressed and concerned about the number of obstacles that separated him from entering the City. If he had to escape, wouldn''t he be trapped? While he could turn around and go the opposite direction, William felt he was stuck and didn''t do so. He continued walking forward, but openly expressed his distaste for the situation, "Isn''t there a faster way?" The guard shook his head, "This is the only way. If there was a faster one, the Arrays would be pointless." he didn''t mention the secret tunnel that could be used for emergencies, since that was meant to be a secret amongst the City Guards and the higher-ups. Another half-hourter, William and the guard reached the end of the tunnel. There was a secondary gate that was protected by the same Arrays as the protective barrier above the City, and William had to wait a few minutes for another pair of guards toe out and unlock the gate. "How do you get supplies in and out of the City with all this security? I don''t even see anyone." William suddenly asked. "This isn''t the main entrance." the guard replied. "The Capital is mostly self-sufficient, so you won''t see much transport anyways. We move items annually or sometimes semi-annually, in the form of a Space Ring caravan that carries all the necessary food and other materials. If you''re referring to our Auction, many of those items are carried individually. Those people pass through the necessary checkpoints the same way you are." William understood, but he didn''t expect the guard to say so much about their transport timelines. "Should you really be telling me all of that?" The guardughed, "It''smon knowledge, and who would dare to mess with our supply runs? We have five Ancient Families here, not to mention the branch of the Yu Royal Family and many other powerful organizations. Even the King and Queen of the Hillvire Empire live here. Although they aren''t very powerful as Cultivators, their status is unmatched in the North. Anyone that dares to mess with our supplies is just asking for death." Chapter 212: Registration William knew there were quite a few powerful groups in the North, but he didn''t expect such arge number. As far as he knew, William didn''t have any qualms with the Ancient Families in the North, but with all the enemies he made in thest few months, it was better not to test his luck. As long as I don''t reveal my true identity, I should be fine. Ha, famousst words. William and the guard entered the Capital through the gate, which seemed to trigger a series of System Messages. -Entered the Hillvire Empire: +10 PP -Entered Hillvire Capital City: +10 PP No Title for exploration I guess...William had entered at least ten different locations at this point, so the chances of triggering a new Title were pretty low by now. Maybe there was a specific requirement behind some Titles? "Hey you, what''s your name?" a guard wearing a red uniform walked up to William. This person seemed to have more authority than the others and his Cultivation was in the second stage of the Golden Core Realm, so William guessed it was a Captain. "My name is Yuming." William answered, keeping his tone both respectful and decisive. William wasn''t a guard, so there was no reason for him to be overly polite. Not to mention, his Arrays simted a Cultivation slightly lower than the Captain''s, meaning he should act like an equal. The guard Captain looked at William''s cloak with a hint of interest, but the Mana fluctuations on the item suggested it was only rare and not overly powerful. Nothing worth fighting over. "Yuming, right? You''re the one without identification?" "That''s right. I''ve never been here before, so I don''t have any way to identify myself." "You''re not part of any Alchemy Hall, Array Hall, cksmithing Organization, or Guild?" "...Nope." William actively tried to prevent his facial expressions from betraying him, causing his eye to twitch a little. "I see..." the guard Captain said after a few seconds of deliberation. "You have two options then. Come with me and register yourself with the City Hall, or refuse and go to jail. Your choice." William didn''t have to think twice, choosing the first option instantaneously. The Captain led him through the Capital streets, where William could see many Cultivators flying at low altitude. asionally, there would be a civilian or two riding on modified bicycles with four wheels instead of two with baskets in the rear for carrying items, or luxurious carriages pulled by sheep-like Magical Beasts. So there are bikes in this World? William looked at the civilians with interest. "Since you''re not from around here, I''ll tell you the rules of our City. Or I would, if I didn''t have this!" he animatedly pulled a small leatherbound book from his Space Ring and handed it to William, who groaned in disgust. Another book? Sigh... William opened the book and started reading the rules. He knew himself better than anyone else, so not reading the rules would probably lead to a series of events that resulted in the death of many City guards, and William didn''t feel like killing anyone today. No flying above fifty meters in the air, that''s not an issue. I can''t fly without Magic yet anyway. William flipped through the pages, finding many of the rules to be simple in nature, and mostlymon sense. Don''t kill anyone? Got it. Don''t steal or break things that aren''t yours? Okay. But what do you mean, I can''t leave corpses of caught Magical Beasts outside of the Guild Hall? First off, why is that so specific, and second...why?? What William didn''t know was that his act of leaving the Liffox corpse outside the Guild Hall in Thin Creek Vige had sparked a few dissidents to do the same. Since there was no rule against it, anyone that didn''t like a particr Guild Hall had started to leave their leftover corpses behind as a "gift". This led to a series of disease outbreaks, which forced the City Halls across the Continent to add a new and very specific rule to their books. William closed the book and handed it back to the guard Captain, who refused and said William could keep it. William stored it in an empty Space Ring for the time being, but he nned to burn the bookter. He had no ns of epting something from a stranger that could lead to his capture. While the guards didn''t trust William, he didn''t trust them either. As they approached the City Hall, William became a bit worried. He had dripped his blood for the Guild previously, which could reveal his identity to the others. System, can I do something about this? -Request requires 15 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. -You can change your blood type with the Blood Element. Just do it slowly or someone will notice. William''s eyes lit up. He didn''t expect such an interesting way to use the Blood Element! William asked the System a few more questions on how to change his blood type, then prepared himself to do so immediately. He discreetly changed his blood type from A positive to O negative little by little, pumping Blood Element Mana into his heart directly at a rate of one Mana every five seconds. He matched the Mana fluctuations to that of his Illusionist''s Cloak, making it look like the cloak was just functioning at a slightly greater rate than before. The guard Captain, who had only been with William for a few minutes, didn''t notice a thing. He continued walking towards the City Hall with William in tow with not a clue that the man was changing his own blood type from only a few feet away. William was only halfway done with the process when they stepped through the doors of the City Hall, but there was a small group of people waiting in line. He heaved a sigh of relief, thanking the City Hall for being just as slow as he remembered from his old World. "Move aside, official business." the guard Captain ordered the group of people, stepping past the group of people in line to talk to the secretary at the front desk. While the Captain spoke with the woman in front, William became nervous. He sped up the process of changing his blood type, causing a great deal of pain that made his face turn pale. He clenched his fist tightly while his old blood was modified twice as fast as before. A few civilians noticed William''s condition but didn''t bother to say anything. They looked at William''s clothing that had no symbol of a noble family or otherwise, turning their heads away in distaste. Commoners can die for all they care. "Come on up, Yuming." the guard Captain motioned to William who had recovered from the brief moment of weakness. He walked slowly to the counter, stalling for time. "Hurry up." one of the nobles in the Foundation Establishment Realm pushed at William from behind. William disabled his Forcefield and allowed the man to push him forward, stumbling into the front desk while trying to conceal a light smile. Because of William''s Attack Reflection Talent, the nobleman who pushed William was suddenlyunched forward into someone else, who proceeded to smash the man''s nose in with his fist. The guard Captain didn''t bother to say anything while the fight progressed and handed William a knife made of some sort of steelpound. He couldn''t be bothered to deal with such a small matter. If the fight progressed, he''d have one of his subordinates deal with it. "Drop your blood onto that sheet of paper." he ordered. Chapter 213: Harold Kami William did as he was told and performed a slicing motion over his finger with the knife, but he had forgotten about his Hard Skin Talent. The steel knife failed to pierce William''s skin, leaving him speechless. "Come on boy, it''s just a knife, don''t tell me you''re scared of blood!" the Captain yelled out, causing a few spectators tough at the scene. William pressed harder on the knife, but it was useless. After a few seconds of increasing his strength, the knife suddenly snapped off and the de tip flew upward and stuck into the ceiling. "..." the Captain looked at the de tip with confusion. Was the knife damaged before? He didn''t notice it. The secretary was in awe seeing the broken knife. Part of her job was to inspect the knives before and after their use to prevent any foul y. She knew for a fact that the knife was in perfect condition, it was just that William''s body was too strong! "Mister...do you have any other way to drip your blood?" she asked carefully, hoping that William would forgive her dismissive behavior before. She was only a Core Formation Realm Cultivator, nothing worth mentioning around here. William thought for a moment and nodded. He fiddled around with his Space Ring while ensuring his blood type was fully changed, then took out one of his two Starmetal Shortswords and ced it against his finger. Seeing the Starmetal weapon made both the Captain''s and the secretary''s eyes open wide with surprise. They never expected to see such a rare item on this Golden Core Cultivator, who seemed to be full of surprises. A few spectators took note of this unusual person while others took a moment to contact their respective organizations. If "Yuming" could casually take out a Starmetal weapon, he must have more incredible treasures hidden in his Space Ring! William noticed a change in the atmosphere, so he quickly slit his finger open and dripped three drops of blood on a piece of paper ced underneath. The drops changed direction and hovered above the paper without soaking in, trapped by a miniscule Array that he almost hadn''t noticed. William''s wound had fully healed by the time the drops hit the paper, but he pulled back his hand and covered it with his sleeve before anyone could notice, while simultaneously putting the shortsword back into his Space Ring. The secretary retrieved the paper then crouched out of view and ced the paper in a hidden drawer that ran a crude blood test that checked for one''s age and their blood type, among other things. Using data already saved in an Array-powered filing cab, the secretary first looked for any evidence that such a person already existed on anotherwork. She asked William to sit down while the tests were run, which was different from William''s experience with Thin Creek Vige''s Guild Hall. The difference here was that William''s identity had to be verified, while Guild Receptionist Jenny already knew who he was. Ten minutester, the test wasplete, and William was found to be unregistered. He was given a slip of paper that had a holographic mountain chain surrounding arge city, which was the Hillvire Empire''s symbol. The guard Captain had no reason to stay with William now, so he took his leave first. William was about to do the same, but the City Hall had suddenly be crowded with people, and an important-looking man with a handlebar mustache was blocking the front door with his arms crossed. The man was looking directly at William, but his face wasn''t familiar at all. I don''t know who he is, so this is either about the person that pushed me, or the shortsword. "I heard you have an interesting weapon, Mr...?" "Yuming." William replied with a straight face. He was getting better at pretending to be someone else. "Yuming. So, are the rumors true?" "Yes, I''m veryrge downstairs." "I see..." the man smirked, then realized what William had said. "No, that''s not what I was asking!" William retrieved the Starmetal Shortsword from his Space Ring, "This is what you''re looking for, right?" The man''s eyes lit up. His attitude flipped a 180 as he said, "I''ll forgive your earlier remark, give it to me and I''ll pay you handsomely." William raised an eyebrow, "How much?" The man''s face became serious as he hesitated to give William an answer, "Five hundred Mana Stones." "I see..." William mimicked the man''s expression from earlier, "I wonder if anyone else is interested in purchasing this..." he looked around the room at a few other people who looked like they had money. While a few turned their heads in denial, some looked genuinely interested. It seemed the price the man offered was reasonable. William was a bit over a hundred Mana Stones short of seven thousand, but he knew that wasn''t nearly enough to purchase anything truly useful or rare to him. If William wanted to acquire arge amount of Alchemy ingredients, going out and looking for them wasn''t the easiest solution. Not only that, but if he wanted a bulk amount of anything, he needed money. If the Starmetal weapons he had in stock were worth a lot as it was, perhaps William could earn even more from some of the other treasures he didn''t have much use for. But first, I need to get the word out... William took a few steps closer to the man, whose aura suggested he was at the peak of the Golden Core Realm, "What if I said this isn''t theplete weapon?" "It''s notplete?" William changed the topic, "What''s your name?" "I am Harold of the Kami Noble Family, but you said the weapon isn''tplete?" William wasn''t listening. "If you''re a Noble, you must have arge social circle, right?" "I do...?" Harold didn''t know what William was getting at. "Then you can tell them that a man named Yuming will be auctioning aplete Starmetal Weapon at the next Auction." William said as he revealed a second Starmetal Shortsword. Harold''s eyes turned wide with shock seeing a second iparably rare weapon. If he could take the weapon in to be enchanted, he might be strong enough topete with his older brother in the Nascent Soul Realm! "I''ll buy them both! One thousand Mana Stones!" William shook his head and tried to move around Harold, "I''ll see you at the Auction." Harold changed his stance and blocked William for a second time. Judging by William''s clothing, he wasn''t a Noble. Considering he was in the City Hall registering his identity, the man was probably an outsider. He looked back at William and said, "No, you''re staying here." William''s expression became dangerous. His voice became louder as he tried to draw the attention of someone with authority, "Are you trying to cause trouble in the Capital City? We are in the City Hall even!" Seeing William be aggressive made Harold take a step back, causing him to bump the door open. William didn''t waste time and stepped past the man, waving as he walked in a random direction down the street. Harold didn''t bother giving chase, since he knew William was right. If he actually dared to attack William, he might have been jailed for a few nights depending on the severity of his crime. While a few nights in prison wasn''t a big deal, it would hurt his reputation with the other Nobles. "The Auction, huh? Alright then...I''ll see you there!" Chapter 214: Familiar Amulet, Restocking William walked with haste down the street, hoping to avoid confrontation with Harold or anyone else that was interested in his Starmetal Shortswords. He felt awkward that he had to run over such a trivial item, but what could he do? If I sell these Shortswords, I can make a little bit of money and get the people that are tailing me off my back. If they really want to chase me after that, I''ll find another way to get rid of them... -Atticus has defeated a creature: +3 PP -Atticus has defeated a creature: +2 PP -Uri has defeated a creature: +4 PP William checked the time, seeing that it was barely two in the afternoon. You''re a bit early, but I''ll allow it I suppose. Good job you two. Nine Potential Points in a few minutes wasn''t bad at all. William hoped they would scavenge some materials for him as well, but he had forgotten to give that order with the threat of enemy Cultivators looming over his head. He walked into a nearby Equipment Shop. Hidden behind ss cases and cupboards on the left side were various weapons made of iron, steel, or other materials that William could only identify because of his Forging Talent. On the other side of the shop were simrly designed armors, while a set of four disy cases holding many pendants were grouped together in the center of the room. At the front desk was another disy case, which held the highest-quality equipment in the store, among a few other necessary goods like torches, Mana Regeneration Pills, and whetstones for sharpening one''s weapons. There was no presence of the weaker materials like copper or bronze, leaving William a bit surprised at the standards of the shop. It greatly exceeded what William had seen even in the Five Element''s Sect, which was a renowned Sect known for its high-quality gear. "What do you think? The quality of our gear is unmatched, even in the Azures Continent." the shopkeeper smiled from the other side of the counter. His face was squarish and in, while his hands were rough and calloused from decades of cksmithing. William nodded and walked straight to the pendants and appraised them one by one. Many of the pendants sported simple defensive abilities, raising a one-time use shield that would defend against an attack that exceeded a certain threshold. The pendants made of gold could only defend against attacks up to the Golden Core Realm and cost roughly five Mana Stones each. The silver pendants had slightly stronger Arrays that could even stop attacks at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, but they were ten times more expensive. The strongest pendant William saw was a familiar pendant that he had seen before. It was ced in a disy case by itself, nested within another disy case at the front counter. It was a Tribtion Transcendence Protective Amulet that could be recharged and was constructed exactly like the one he was currently wearing. William almost fainted when he saw the price tag of ten thousand Mana Stones. Is my Amulet really that rare? Amazing... Williamplimented his Master, who had probably created both the Amulet he was wearing and the one concealed within the disy case. It seemed that someone else had visited the Gravitas Ruins in the past and retrieved this Amulet at some point. "Oh, that one is a rare Amulet. It will protect you from even a Tribtion Transcendence expert once, but I honestly wouldn''t rmend it." the shopkeeper said. "Why not?" "Well...if you''re facing against a Tribtion Transcendence expert, you''re probably dead anyway. No amount of protection will defend you forever." William nodded but disagreed in his mind. The shopkeeper would probably lose his mind if he knew that William had alreadye in contact with many Tribtion Transcendence experts. While defending against a single attack didn''t matter much if the enemy was faster, it didn''t matter much in William''s case. With both the Space and Illusion Elements, if William couldn''t run, he could still hide. The opposite was the same. If someone could see through his Illusion Magic, William could sh away with his Space Element. The Protection Amulets might not be enough to beat a Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator, but it would hopefully prevent him from being caught off guard. If William didn''t have Riyald to craft these things for him, William might have been tempted toe back in the future and buy the Amulet. He looked around the store for a while longer, inspecting the Arrays of the special items for ideas on how to improve his own equipment. William spent a hundred Mana Stones buying Mana Regeneration Pills from the store, since he didn''t have the materials to refine more himself and he waspletely out of Pills. The store only charged four Mana Stones per Tier 2 Pill, so he was able to purchase twenty-five in one go. He didn''t see anything else of interest in the store, so William thanked the shopkeeper for his time and spent some time visiting the other stores for necessary supplies. Rather than spending his precious Mana Stones, William was able to buy a years'' worth of food supplies with six hundred Gold Coins from a nearby market. He spent his money on a wide variety of food items, along with specialized sauces and a few bottles of spices that would help him make even more delicious food in the future. He stored all of the food in a new Space Ring that he bought for only ten Mana Stones, which would ensure that the food was always in top condition and would never spoil. He sold the Epic Staff that wasn''t considerably powerful for two thousand Gold Coins, which he promptly spent on ten Titanium Rings that he nned to turn into Space Ringster. While William already had quite a few Space Rings, he didn''t have any specialized ones that could store Alchemy ingredients. The price for specialized Space Rings made of titanium was nearly a hundred Mana Stones per ring, which was much too expensive considering William could create them himself. With a little bit of practice and some Complete Arrays, William could probably make even better Space Rings than the stores could sell! William realized that being his own cksmith while also able to improve items with his own Arrays was an incredibly powerful advantage. If he added Alchemy to the mix, William had all the skills to make a lot of money very fast! While exploring the various shops, William found out that the next Auction would be held the following day, and the Auctions were conducted weekly. His timing was pretty bad this time around, since he was hoping to have a bit more time to figure out the Capital before the Auction. At the end of the day, William paid the System ten Potential Points to let his Companion Beasts know he was safe, then rented a room for the night in a hotel. Damn, even a hotel room costs two Mana Stones per night! This ce is too expensive! The hotel staff charged him two Mana Stones up front, then prepared him a room that sported many Perfect Arrays that would defend against even a Soul Formation Cultivator for a few minutes. William wondered how many Perfect Array Masters were in the Capital, considering even a hotel used Perfect Arrays. Chapter 215: Improved Storage With no need to sleep, William spent the night modifying the Titanium Rings he bought into specialized Space Rings. Creating the Arrays that expanded the Space within and allowed for storage was easy, but William needed to ask the System for help constructing an Array that would prevent anything that went in or out of the Space Ring from bing damaged by the violent Mana. He was offered a few options, of which William decided to create a barrier on the edges of the portal. To make this work, he added a set of Arrays on the edge of the portal itself that would attract the Space Mana Particles to them. This way, once the portal was open, the center of the portal would be the most docile, while the edges would be violent. A second and third set of Arrays were made to trap the violent Space Mana on the edges, while simultaneously raising a barrier that would prevent any items sent inside from touching the edges of the portal. With this, William''s Space Ring was semiplete, but there were a few downsides. Because he locked the Space Mana in ce after opening the portal, it would take a few seconds to open and close the Ring every time he used it. This wasn''t a serious issue as long as William didn''t intend to use the Titanium Rings for battle, but another issue was more serious. If he was moving while using the Space Ring, the portal would remain open in the original ce the Space Ring was opened, meaning someone else could reach in and steal his items if he wasn''t careful. William opted to fix this second issue immediately. He added an Array that would only allow the Space Ring to be opened if one used both Dream and Space Element Mana at the same time. Only a tiny amount of Mana was needed, so an outsider wouldn''t be able to tell what kind of Mana William used, but it would prevent most people from opening his Space Ring. If someone did by chance have both the Dream and Space Element, William created a simple wooden tablet with nt Magic that had a set of identification Arrays on it. This one would check to see if William was within two meters of the Space Ring when it was opened and would automatically close the portal if he wasn''t nearby. If the person trying to open his Space Ring failed either of these tests, a highlyplicated trapping Array Formation using Complete Runes would activate, making anyone who wanted to steal William''s items regret it for the rest of their lives. That is, if they survived the Arrays. William used the remaining space on the Titanium Ring to add a few misceneous functions, which would allow him to track the Space Rings if they were lost, and automatically repair them if their Arrays were slightly damaged. He would need to recharge some of these Arrays periodically, but the Mana cost wasn''t high so William could link them to his batteries without a problem. I have so many Space Rings now...I need a better way to carry them all. While a few Space Rings became damaged during his fights and couldn''t be used anymore, William had also both created and stolen quite a few from other Cultivators. Even after disposing of the least useful ones, William''s collection of Space Rings wasn''t anything less than a hundred. Most of the time, William kept one Space Ring on each thumb and two each on his other fingers, but that could only cover for a mere eighteen. He eventually started looping the Rings on a ne, but it was quite ufortable with the Luck Pendant and the Tribtion Amulet. William set his thoughts aside and called down to the hotel staff who answered before themunicator could dial a second time. "Yes, Mr. Yuming? What can I do for you?" a young man asked from the other end. "I''m a cksmith, can I construct a temporary forge in my room?" "Um...hold on a second." the staff member set down themunicator and ryed the question to their supervisor. The supervisorughed after hearing about William''s request, "A forge? You don''t hear that one every day..." "I know right? Although recently there seems to be a group called yers that have very unusual lifestyles. Maybe he''s one of them?" "Maybe..." the supervisor trailed off. "Anyways, let him know he can build his forge, but he needs to be mindful of the room. He mustpensate for any damage." The staff member nodded and returned to themunicator. He hung up immediately after rying the information back to William. In his room, William constructed a duplicate forge of the one provided to him by Sir Reynolds in his old residence. It took a bit of time and a multitude of Elements, but the end product was no worse than the original. He also reconstructed many of the tools he had before and inspected each one before proceeding with the next task. He took out four pieces of Starmetal Ore and spent a few hours of the night refining them into malleable material. He shaped the Starmetal into simr tes to the batteries, leaving circr slots on the sides that would fit the Space Rings perfectly, with sps that would hold them in ce. Each Starmetal te had just enough space for 21 Space Rings, in a 7x3 pattern that would line the sides of his thighs. The shaping process was quick and easy, sped up by the Ice Element during the cooling stage. When he was done, William held the two tes up to the outside of each thigh to make sure they fit. It works, but I don''t want to use straps for these... William could tell that the Starmetal tes would slide down his legs during heavy movement if they were too loose, and if they were too tight it would reduce his speed or even cut off his blood cirction. He created the necessary tools for tailoring and created a new set of pants that were somewhere in between track pants and leggings. The Starmetal tes were stitched inside the pants, then reinforced with the necessary Arrays. William used the System to help him create a simple iron zipper for the pants that would allow him to ess the Space Rings at all times, then linked the entire Artifact to his batteries. 42 Space Rings can be stored on my legs, 12 on the ne, and 18 on my fingers...that''s 72 Space Rings! William took off the Space Rings from his ne and slotted them into the Starmetal Side Carriers as he would name them, opting to provide himself a bit morefort. Even without the ne he could store 60 Space Rings, which was more than enough for the moment. If 60 Space Rings wasn''t enough, he would prefer to improve the Space Rings themselves in the future. William queued up the Artifacts to be evaluated by the System, which were listed as Epic and earned him another 75 Potential Points. He also evaluated the Titanium Space Rings, whose immense Space, Trap Arrays, specialized storage system, and self-repairing functionsbeled them each as Legendary. Since the 5 Space Rings were duplicates, William only earned the 225 Potential Points for one of them, but the progress was enough to level up his Artificer Title to the next rarity. -Title upgraded: +500 PP -Artificer (Legendary --> Mythic): You have created ten Artifacts using rare materials and multiple trade skills, causing their qualities to greatly exceed the desired purpose of the items. Quality of forged items +40%, Quality of tailored items +40%, Quality of Arrays +40%. 800 Potential Points, I''m getting close to twenty thousand now... William thought to himself. He had enough Potential Points to push his Mind Talent to the next rank, but it would require a total of 25 thousand to push both the Mind Talent and the Arrays Talents up, so William was still a little bit away. He nned to upgrade Uri to Tribtion Transcendence next anyway, which would increase his power more in the short-term than the Arrays Talent could. If William had a powerful dragon at the peak of the world, he wouldn''t have to be so concerned when going out in the future. Although it would be better toplete his Impossible Quest, which would earn him fifty thousand Potential Points in one go. If he had this, William could upgrade many of his Elements to S-Rank immediately! Or he could push all of his Physical Talents to the next level. Or... There are too many Talents to upgrade...I can''t pick just one! With nearly a hundred Talents to manage, William''s brain spun every time he thought about upgrades. Not to mention, he still had the Talent Shop! I shouldn''t let my strength remain stagnant. I''ll spend five thousand Potential Points, then I''ll save the rest forter. Chapter 216: Second Mythic William looked through the System Panel and eliminated the Talents that he didn''t n to upgrade. I will probably get a Weapons Master Talent of some sort in the future, so there''s no point upgrading those unless I want to waste Points, and upgrading my Magic wouldn''t make much sense right now when I''m keeping a low-profile. I could raise Alchemy to S-Rank, but let''s wait until I''m back in the Ruins for that. The other Trade Talents can also wait. The Rare and Epic Passive Talents are too expensive, and I don''t need to upgrade my Stealth again. As for buying another Companion Beast, I''m in the middle of the City, so a random Magical Beast appearing wouldn''t be good for me. I already have Uri and Atticus anyway. That leaves me with my resistances and the Talent Shop. I''ll put half into both. William opened up the Talent Shop first and checked the prices. For one random Weapon Talent, it would cost 180 Potential Points and each purchase would increase the price by ten. System, buy as many Weapon Talents as I can with 2500 Potential Points. He made sure his order was very specific so the System wouldn''t misunderstand. -2250 PP -Purchasing 10 Random Weapon Talents... --Talent Purchased: Whips --Talent Purchased: Nothing --Talent Purchased: Polearms --Talent Purchased: War Scythes --Talent Purchased: Batons --Requirements met for a Talent Upgrade. Please wait... -Talent Upgraded: Whips, Batons, Maces, Hammers, Staves, and Clubs Talents have merged. All associated lower-ranked Talents have been removed. -Talent Unlocked: Blunt Weapons Master --Talent Purchased: Tridents --Requirements met for a Talent Upgrade. Please wait... -Talent Upgraded: Spears, Polearms, War Scythes, and Tridents Talents have merged. All associated lower-ranked Talents have been removed. -Talent Unlocked: Pointed Weapons Master --Talent Purchased: Scythes --Talent Purchased: Battle Axes --Requirements met for a Talent Upgrade. Please wait... -Talent Upgraded: ives, Chakram, Greatswords, Shortswords, Swords, and Daggers Talents have merged. All associated lower-ranked Talents have been removed. -Talent Unlocked: ded Weapons Master --Talent Purchased: Nothing avable, 260 PP refunded --Talent Purchased: Nothing avable, 270 PP refunded --All avable Weapon Talents purchased, removing function from Talent Shop... -Detected the Host has the appropriate Talents for an Upgrade. Please raise your Ranged Weapons Master, Blunt Weapons Master, Pointed Weapons Master, ded Weapons Master, and Fists Talents to the same Rank for a Talent Upgrade. William gained the same experience with the various Weapon Talents as he had before, instantly learning how each weapon functioned and when best to use them. As they upgraded automatically to Epic Talents, William''s understanding further increased. William lost his cool when he saw the list of System Messages. He knew that some of his Weapon Talents would merge, but he didn''t expect to fully exhaust the System''s list of weapons in its shop. What about brass knuckles, and nunchaku, and scepters, and...I can''t think of anything else but I know there are more weapons out there! Like the Khopesh, which was used by the ancient Egyptians! -Many other weapons fall under another category. When you merge your other Talents, this information will be provided to you. Additionally, weapons that don''t exist in this world are not included. William understood. The System must have simplified the number of weapon-rted Talents due to the sheer number. He also now understood why it hadn''t included guns in the list of ranged weapons before, since they didn''t exist here. Someone even uses a trident in this World? Interesting...I wonder what happens if I "invent" guns? -Nothing. Damn. William stopped thinking about this and looked at his Weapon Talents. If he wanted to raise all of them to the same rank, he needed them all at A-Rank, with the Ranged Weapons Master Talent. He started with upgrading the Fists from B to A-Rank with 250 Points. Pushing the other 3 Weapons Master Talents from D to A-Rank cost a total of 4800 Potential Points, which was past what William wanted to spend initially, but he felt it wouldn''t hurt. --Requirements met for a Talent Upgrade. Please wait... -Talent Upgraded: Ranged Weapons Master, Blunt Weapons Master, Pointed Weapons Master, ded Weapons Master, and Fists Talents have merged. All associated lower-ranked Talents have been removed. -Talent Unlocked: Weapons Master -Unlocked your first Mythic Weapon Talent: +1000 PP The knowledge of hundreds of different weapons instantly filled his brain. Even with the SS-Rank Mind Talent, William felt an intense headache that made him close his eyes in pain. Instead of just telling William how each weapon worked, he was also shown. The moment his eyes closed, William''s consciousness was pulled into a simtion much like the Arrays and other Trade Talents when they reached a high enough Rank. Hundreds of years passed in the blink of an eye while William''s simted self performed manyplicated techniques with swords, spears, bows, and many other weapons. Not only did William learn more about the Weapon Talents that he had purchased, but there were also simtions rted to Talents he hadn''t gained before. At one point, he even learned how to use a shield in ways he didn''t think possible. The simtion ended, the experience entering the back of his mind and fleeting away as if it was just a dream. William now felt like he could perform any weapon technique he wanted, at any point in time, no matter howplicated. As long as he had the stamina, William would be unstoppable in the same rank with the same weapon. That''s my second Mythic Talent, nice! William eximed in his mind. He felt that hisbat power had greatly increased, having gained hundreds of years of battle experience as a side-effect of the simtion. The first Mythic Talent was his Order Affinity, which he didn''t dare to upgrade until the foreboding feeling went away. Now that he had a second Mythic Talent, and it was rted to weapons as well, William was very tempted to upgrade it. There was only one problem with William''s n. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Weapons: -Mythic: --Weapons Master: A (100000PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª "One hundred thousand Points?!?" William yelled out in surprise, loud enough for even his neighbors to hear in the other room. A loud knocking on the wall made William shut himself up, but he still couldn''t believe his eyes. Even if he finished the impossible Quest given by the System, he would only be halfway to upgrading the Mythic Talent to S-Rank. With roughly eleven thousand Potential Points left, William abandoned his idea of upgrading his resistances. Instead, he spent the remainder of the night forging many Starmetal weapons that would fill the gaps in his Array Puppets''bat power. By the night''s end, William had created over a dozen weapons and used up 36 Starmetal Ore. Combined with the 35 he had used in the past month or so, William still had 92 left. That being said, he was going through Starmetal quite quickly, and he didn''t know how difficult it would be to acquire more. Master seems to have plenty though; I wonder why people go so crazy over it outside the Ruins. Maybe it wasmon during Master''s time, but now it''s rare? It was the only exnation that William could think of without wasting Potential Points on the System. He packed up his things and checked out of the hotel, making sure he hadn''t damaged the room first. Chapter 217: Back To The Night Market William was on his way to the Auction when he spotted a group of four Cultivators he recognized walking down the street with a few guard Captains leading the way, including the one that William had met when he entered the Capital City. In the group was Supreme Left, Hun Dao, Brackley, and Wentor, while the others were nowhere to be seen. He wondered if the others had given up on chasing him, or if they were searching somewhere else. Wait a minute...I thought Supreme Left was dead! William felt that something was up, he clearly saw Supreme Left die at the hands of that Cultivator hidden in the shadows. He activated the invisibility function of the Stealth Talent and approached the group carefully. The invisibility function required 1 Spirit Qi per second instead of Mana, so William only nned tomit a few minutes to tailing the group. Once he was within earshot of the Cultivators, William maintained the current distance and listened in on their conversation. "Guard Captain Revley, have you seen any suspicious Cultivators recently? Perhaps one that you hadn''t seen before?" Hun Dao asked. The Captain looked back at the white-haired Cultivator who emitted the aura of a Space Mage, "Sir, thousands of people go in and out of our Capital each day, many of whom I''ve never seen before. Do you have any distinguishing features you could give me to help narrow your search?" "Hmm..." Hun Dao scratched his chin and thought for a moment. "Ah yes, perhaps one with a ten-meter purple snake and a me Dragon?" The guard Captain wanted tough but he restrained himself. He coughed as he said with a straight face, "We don''t allow Magical Beasts in the City. Anyone like that would have been turned away." Hun Dao nodded, but he didn''t have any other way to describe William. He looked at Supreme Left, who produced a piece of paper and injected some Mana into it. The Arrays on the paper lit up, and a holographic image of William showed up in the air. It was a description of him before he left the Five Element''s Sect to enter the Gravitas Ruins, so there was no presence of a beard, nor was his build exactly the same. With how many Artifacts William had under his clothing, he now looked nothing like the man whom Supreme Left had produced. Even the guard Captain that had apanied William to the City Hall shook his head, as he had never seen anyone like that before. The group of Cultivators could only shake their heads in disappointment and continue discussing other matters with the guard Captains. It seemed they didn''t intend to waste precious time on William, who was only a single Cultivator and not worth so much of their attention. Having understood the general situation, William got some distance from the group and disabled his invisibility. He adjusted the appearance of his clothing to appear different from the person that Hun Dao chased, then took a roundabout path to the Auction to avoid the group. When William entered the door to the Auction, he was pleasantly surprised to see it was the same Night Market he had been to before, although it was still the middle of the day. The door was actually a portal, which led to one of the many that were side by side in the lobby. "Hey buddy, the Night Market isn''t open yet. Only those who n to Auction an item cane in at this time." a young man wearing a modern-style tuxedo and emitting the aura of a Soul Formation Cultivator said as he walked over. Rather than walked, the man crossed the entire distance in a single step, surprising William for a moment. Just as the man reached out to touch William, he sidestepped and quickly said, "I''m here to auction an item." William didn''t want to risk his Attack Reflection Talent triggering in this ce, since he might identally hurt the man. The man was surprised that a Golden Core Cultivator could react to his move, but he set aside his interest when he heard what William said. "An item? Let me see it first. Only high-quality items can be auctioned here." he said tly. Plenty of people came in from time to time wanting to auction an item at the Night Market, but only a few were epted. William nodded and produced a different set of Twin Starmetal Shortswords than what he had revealed before with a light smirk, "Do these fit your requirements?" Seeing the lustrous metallic shortswords, the man furrowed his brows and dialed a number on hismunicator. No words were said, but the other party seemed to know what it meant and automatically hung up. Momentster, a door to the side unlocked and a familiar man in a modern-style business suit and wearing a ck fedora stepped out. He spotted the shortswords and caressed his goatee before flying through the air to reach their positions in an instant. "Hello, I''m Rodger, the auctioneer of this facility. You seem to have already met my son, Rodney, who has only been here for a little while. Forgive him if he was a bit rude earlier." William waved his hand in dismissal, "No problem." "Judging by the sheen of those shortswords, these must be made of Starmetal...where did you find this?" "I made them," William said, which wasn''t a lie. He had forged thesest night, using the bonus effects from his Artificer Title to produce a set at even higher quality than the other shortswords. "You...made them?" Rodger asked with a hint of suspicion, to which William nodded. Seeing that William truly wasn''t lying, Rodger was impressed. "It''s not every day that I meet a talented cksmith, what''s your name? Also, how old are you?" "Yuming, I''m forty-one." William decided to go with the age on his status rather than his bone age, since it would be more believable for a talented cksmith to be in his forties than one that was only twenty years old. "Talented indeed..." Rodger trailed off. He smiled and inspected the Twin Starmetal Shortswords further. He noted a symbol of a purple snake that was inscribed in the hilt of the de, which William hade up with on the spot based on Atticus. After a few minutes, he raised his head and looked at William, "Mr. Yuming, we would be honored to auction this item for you. If you can forge more pieces, we would dly auction those as well." Rodger was trying to fish for information about the Starmetal from William on hisst sentence, since even if William forged it, he would have needed to acquire the metal first. William saw through Rodger''s attempt and shook his head, "Sorry, this was the only bit of Starmetal that I could find. Perhaps if I get some more in the future." Rodger nodded, expecting as much. He only wondered why William was interested in auctioning such a rare item.Is he short of money, perhaps? "Is there anything else you would like to auction with us?" he asked. William thought for a moment and nodded his head. He produced two Element Roots that he hadn''t used yet of the Lightning and Space Affinities. They were Silver-Ranked, but ording to the System it would be more beneficial to him if he only consumed Gold-Ranked Element Roots or rarer. It was better to auction them off and earn some money than to collect dust in his Space Ring. Chapter 218: Wanted William was a hoarder, so parting with the Twin Starmetal Shortswords that he had just forged was painful, but he wanted more Mana Stones for the future. He was almost forced to get rid of the shortswords, since keeping them would paint a target on his back anyway. He wasn''t stupid enough to think that just because he was inside a Capital City he was safe. No, it was quite the opposite. All his pursuers had to do was prepare an ambush for William the moment he left the City. Even in the Five Elements Sect, someone in the Golden Core Realm managed to sneak into his own residence and attempted to assassinate him. William was very weak then, and only survived because of Atticus and a powerful trapping Array that he hade up with on the spot. "T-This...Are you sure, Mr. Yuming?" Rodger asked with undisguised shock. William nodded, "I can''t use these." Rodger epted the two Silver-Ranked Element Roots and stored them carefully with the Twin Starmetal Shortswords in a specialized Space Ring. He handed William amunicator that would allow him to speak with Rodger at any time, then took his leave to take care of some other tasks. Since the lobby of the Night Market held many portals to different locations, William decided to visit the Five Elements Sect. The security in the portal room was just as high as the rest of the Night Market, which was normally enough to deter anyone from entering a portal they weren''t supposed to. In William''s case, however, he still had the Five Elements Sect''s badge that registered him as a Disciple, albeit modified so he couldn''t be tracked. With this in hand, William was able to enter the portal without an issue. Just in case though, he briefly used the invisibility mode to pass through, then kept it active for a few more seconds while he moved to a location in the Sect where no one would see him appear. He stole arger-sized Disciple''s uniform from a nearby shop before appearing, then wore it over his Illusionist''s Cloak. William changed his face to look like a younger version of his altered appearance, then disabled his invisibility mode. The entire process took less than a minute, since he knew theyout of the Sect like the back of his hand. Now...where would they be? William wondered. He walked to the training ground first, since it wasn''t yet time for dinner. The area was very crowded, and many Outer Core Disciples were gathered around a single pair of Cultivators whose abilities greatly outperformed the others. Abination of various Ice Magic Spells approached a moving dummy that shed from left to right. An Ice Ball narrowly missed the dummy as it jumped, but a wave of ice spread out and attached to the dummy''s right leg. Slowed by the Ice, the dummy couldn''t move away fast enough to dodge a high-powered kick that struck it directly on the chest. The dummy''s color changing from purple to dark orange in an instant, signalingbat power at the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm. As the dummy lit up, the nearby Outer Core Disciples cheered, "It''s a new record in the Outer Sect! They might just be stronger than Hanzu now!" "Ha, not quite. I''m sure they''re close though! How long have they been in the Sect? Their growth speed is insane!" William looked at the duo responsible for the cheering and smiled. It was Gunther and Tia, who both sported Cultivation at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Neither of them were smiling, as if it wasn''t nearly enough to meet their goals. They waited for the dummy to reset, then went for another round with the training dummy. Tia didn''t look any bulkier than she did before, but her muscles were more toned as if they had been sculpted by an artist. Her physical strength was probably around the same as William''s A-Rank Strength Talent, which attested to her dedication to training. Gunther wore a white and blue set of Disciple''s robes that were covered in small snowke designs. If someone didn''t pay much attention, they might think it was just a detail that entuated his status as an Ice Manamatus, but William was different. He could tell at a nce that the snowkes were actually dozens of small Arrays at the Advanced level, most of which purposed to further strengthen his Ice Magic. William asked the System to evaluate Gunther''s Ice Affinity, to which it replied that he was already B-Rank. He had awakened his Ice Affinity at D-Rank, which meant that he had the potential to climb to S-Rank someday. William noted down the various Arrays that Gunther used, nning out how to do the same with his own Artifacts. I can add the function to my Belt, but it might take some time... While William waited for the duo to finish their training, William focused with his Life Sense to track the others he was looking for. His eyes glowed a light-green as the range of his Life Sense was extended to cover the entire Sect. On a few cases, his detection was picked up by a few Elders and even the Sect Master, but the Arrays on his Illusionist''s Cloak disguised him perfectly, making it seem as if he was just a normal Disciple scanning the Sect. This wasn''t an unnatural urrence, since there were many Disciples tasked with maintaining security. Most of the time the healers were ced on this duty, but many of the basic Elements also had various detection abilities. For example, the Wind Element could detect disturbances in the air, while the Earth Element could check for tremors in the ground. These were the two weakest detection Spells, but they were quite effective when detecting waves of Magical Beasts or enemy Cultivators inrge groups. With the nt Element, one couldmunicate with the various nts to gain information on the situation. The Lightning Element was used to check the situation at very high altitudes, and the Darkness Element was almost as powerful as the Life Element, able to read one''s shadow and even see one''splete appearance. William was most proficient with the Life Element, so he preferred to use this over the Darkness Element. Not to mention he could see one''s vitality, which was useful when looking for someone you know. His primary focus was to find Charlotte, but he also looked for Yuming, Filipe, Carl. He also decided to look for Natsu Mori, but he didn''t know the man too well. If he couldn''t locate Natsu, then William wouldn''t bother to keep searching for him. His attention was drawn by a group of semi-powerful Cultivators in the Golden Core and Nascent Soul Realms, who were being treated by a group of healers in the medical center. Among the group was Carl, who was simrly injured. William couldn''t see their expressions from such a distance, but he could tell that they were all in great pain from a recent fight. He wondered what had happened to them. Not long after, William detected Yuming in the Alchemy Hall. He was brewing a set of ingredients together into a Tier 5 Pill of some sort and was joined by Elder Arthur who seemed to be administering a test. He spent twenty minutes or so searching for the others, but his Life Sense couldn''t pick up anyone else. They were probably outside the Sect on a mission. His eyes refocused just in time to see Tia and Gunther finishing up with their training. When the gathering of Disciples dispersed and they started walking off, William used a precise amount of Sound Mana to carry his voice directly to their ears. With his Sound Element at B-Rank, this task was almost too easy for someone like William. He created a tunnel of Sound Mana, allowing him to also hear their conversation. "Tia, where do you want to go next?" Gunther asked the girl walking next to him with a light smile. He reached out and locked his fingers with hers. Tia pulled her hand away from Gunther''s, a light blush appearing on her face, "Gunny, not out here!" "Okay okay, but where do you want to go?" heughed a little as he responded. "I don''t know...are you hungry?" William''s original voice jumped into their conversation, "Hey you two lovebirds, meet me at Wild Clover in an hour." Tia and Gunther didn''t expect the sudden interruption and jumped. When they recognized the voice as William''s, their expressions changed to a mix of surprise and joy. "William, is that you?" Gunther asked softly. William nodded, then realized they couldn''t see him, "Yes. Are you going to rat me out?" Tia looked at Gunther, who stared back and nodded. "Never in a million years, where have you been? Did you know that you''re wanted now?" Gunther asked. Williamughed inwardly when he heard thest question, "Wanted? That''s the least of my problems." Chapter 219: Change Of Plans Gunther and Tia epted William''s offer to meet at Wild Clover in an hour. Following their conversation, William proceeded to approach the others. When Yuming heard William''s voice, he was both startled and touched. He never expected William to think of him as a friend, since the only time they had spent together was while Will was helping at the Alchemy Hall Competition. Truth be told, William felt closer to Yuming than he did many of the others. While he hadn''t known Yuming for very long, they spent many hours together for an entire week. Those moments didn''t count for nothing, and the two had learned quite a bit about each other. Will was sad that Charlotte wasn''t in the Sect, but he returned to the Wild Clover at the nned time regardless. The others were already waiting, with Carl, Tia, and Gunther in one part of the line and Yuming in another. Yuming knew William, but he didn''t know the rest of the group. Other than hearing about their feats during missions outside the Sect, Yuming knew nothing of these Outer Core Disciples, especially Filipe who he didn''t even recognize. William walked up to the group, but none of them recognized him. His oval-shaped face was very different from the previous look, and even his hair had slightly changed from ck to a light brown. His unique facial features made William look very in, like any random Disciple you''d pass on the street. "It''s me." William said in his natural voice, temporarily surprising the group although they mostly expected this. Yumingughed upon seeing William''s new appearance, "Man you''re ugly! What happened to you?" William''s face contorted, "This isn''t the real me, shut up!" The group chatted for a while about non-serious matters for a while until they were finally seated at the restaurant. The area was packed with people today, most of whom felt the same thing William did when he first ate there. Not only was the food tasty, but many of the yers that discovered Wild Clover found that it provided many powerful stat boosts that could help them during their next missions. While the effects were temporary, their speed of clearing missions increased greatly. Because of the sudden influx of people, Wild Clover ended up increasing the prices of its Spirit Food, while also requesting that others make a reservation beforeing into the restaurant. William and the others were presently in the line of people who had made a reservation, which attested to how many Cultivators were inside. He was thankful that the others knew about the situation in Wild Clover and had made a reservation in his ce before-hand. *** While William''s group was eating in the Wild Clover, another conversation was taking ce in Retribution''s underground base. A man wearing a tattered ck cloak exited a portal with a tired expression. He had been teleported straight to the main room where the other Region Leaders were waiting silently. "Master ck, what happened to you? Did everything go well?" Tenebris shook with anger, "That damned Supreme Left! I thought I had killed him, but it was only his clone!" The red-cloaked Region Leader''s eyes widened, "It was only a clone? How could you not tell the difference? Were you in an illusion of some sort?" "The clone was extremely life-like and I couldn''t tell until the veryst moment of its life. It even released a Soul, but it was yellow. Normally, Souls were an ethereal blue in color. For a Soul to be yellow, it meant that the person had already died long before. Tenebris assumed that Supreme Left reanimated a substitute body and imprinted a small portion of his own Soul inside to fool any who might wish to do him harm. While it was a very smart move, Tenebris was pissed. Over ten years of waiting for a perfect chance to assassinate Supreme Left, and all his preparations were wasted. There was zero chance that he would ever get close to the man unnoticed again. The yellow-cloaked Region Leader spoke next, stroking his long white beard that stretched down to his knees even while standing. "Our purpose on the surface is to support the Yu Royal Family and keep both the criminal and righteous organizations under control. Since that is no longer possible, what do we do?" Tenebris looked at the old man silently for a moment. His expression turned grave as he spoke, "We''re changing our strategy. It''s time to go on the offensive before Supreme Left has time to prepare. We haven''t been able to suppress the Pirs of Justice, but many of the Sects and even the Thieves'' Guild is under our control. We have the manpower to start a war, and I strongly believe we can win, although at the cost of many of our own." "It''s time for a war then?" the yellow-cloaked old man looked worried on the surface, but inside he was teeming with excitement.It''s been a long time since I fought a war! Isn''t this what I''ve been waiting for, ever since I joined Retribution a hundred years ago? The others felt the same way. Many chose not to conceal their excitement and allowed the smiles to creep up on their faces. If a few powerful Cultivators with otherworldly treasures died, they would most likely fall into the hands of these old fellows. It would be a perfect chance to Ascend! *** "So, you''re saying you want us toe with you?" Yuming asked from the other side of the table while chewing on a mouthful of Forest Pig meat. William nodded, "I hope you will ept. I have a feeling that something bad is about to happen, and the Sect won''t protect you. Do you know why I disappeared for multiple days after the contest against Yu Ren?" "Yu Ren?" Tia whispered to Gunther. "The girl that William fought against who''s from the Yu Royal Family. She''s super powerful and has tons of treasures. I swear Ti, you''re so bad with names..." Gunther replied. "Oh..." Tia looked at William, "Why?" "Because..." William leaned in close to the others at the table and controlled his voice very precisely with the Sound Element, "the Sect Master turned me into a ve." The entire table''s eyes widened with shock. Filipe had heard rumors of people bing enved in the Sect, but he thought they were just that. Hearing it directly from William, however, was a different story. William pulled back the neckline of his robe to reveal his bare shoulder, where an imprint of the Envement Array was still present. This wound had already healed long ago, but William recreated it on his skin to show the group what it looked like. "If this means what I think it means, then we might be in trouble after all." Yuming said. "Why''s that?" William asked. He felt that Yuming knew something he didnt. "When a Sect is associated with Forbidden Arrays or ouwed Magic Spells, the Pirs of Justice usuallye in and "clean up" the Sect. In this case, we might be caught in the crossfire." William nodded his head in understanding, "Does that mean you''lle with me?" Chapter 220: Bad News "I''ll go with you." Tia and Gunther said in unison. After hearing what happened to William, neither of them were willing to remain in the Sect any longer. Even better, they might have a chance of entering the Gravitas Ruins, which would have been impossible until the following month when they reached Rank 1 on the Ranking Board. Filipe wasn''t as convinced, "I think I''ll stay in the Sect and take my chances." William nodded. He didn''t me Filipe for his decision and looked at Yuming. "Of course I''m going! But you''ll have to help me carry my Alchemy equipment." Yuming replied with a goofy smile. Williamughed and pulled a specialized Titanium Space Ring from one of his Starmetal Side Carriers. He handed the Space Ring to Yuming, who looked at the item with interest. He had never seen a specialized Space Ring before, since they were incredibly rare and expensive. "Where did you get this?" he asked. William smiled as he revealed an identical Space Ring, "Take a guess." "Don''t tell me...you stole it?" "What kind of person do you think I am?!?" William shouted out with anger. Yuming''sment stung, but he had to admit that under the right circumstances he probably would steal something this valuable. As long as I don''t get caught, what does it matter if I steal a little? Yuming noticed William''s ever-changing expressions andughed. This was what Yuming missed all this while that he wasn''t around William. The boy was so absurdly chaotic that it was guaranteed to brighten up one''s day. "I made them, thank you very much." William said suddenly. "You made them? How?" Filipe looked at William with unconcealed surprise. How old was William? If he could create a Space Ring like this now, what could he do in the future? Carl, who hadn''t said a word the entire meeting suddenly dropped his fork, "You made it? But that Ring looks like it''s worth a fortune! How?" he couldn''t believe that William even had the money to acquire the materials required for this Space Ring, much less craft it himself. He knew William was very good with Arrays, but that couldn''t exin where he managed to buy Titanium. The only ce Carl knew of that sold Titanium readily on the market was the Hillvire Empire, which was thousands of kilometers north of their current position. William nodded slightly, "It''s a secret, but I can mostly thank my Master, who taught me everything I know." "You have a Master too? Who is it?" Tia asked. She was curious about what kind of person would take this idiot as a Disciple. It was either someone stupidly powerful, or incredibly entric, or both. "Let''s not talk about this. For now, I hope you can pass my words along to Charlotte and Natsu Mori when they get back to the Sect." Hearing about Natsu Mori, the others became downtrodden. Filipe''s head hit the table as tears formed in his eyes. He had lost his appetite and wanted nothing more than to leave now. Tia spoke up after a few seconds, "We can tell Charlotte, but..." "But...? What''s wrong with Natsu Mori." William asked in confusion. "He''s dead." Filipe said. William became saddened when he heard about Natsu Mori''s condition. He paused for a long while, then asked, "How did it happen?" It was Gunther''s turn to respond, "He was sent to the Foam Desert to defend against a wave of Magical Beasts that have be abnormally aggressive. This has been happening for a few months now, and the Sect has been regrly sending people to help out." "What''s the situation now?" William asked. He remembered the Foam Desert, which was the same ce he had to clear a long time ago as punishment for killing a City Guard on ident. "It''s getting better, but the Magical Beasts are still going wild. Thankfully there has been a steady increase in Cultivatorstely, so Blue Moon City has mostly been able to keep things under control. There''s even rumors that an Array Master has invented a new Artifact that can create long-distance portals without the need of a Space Mage." William thought of Array Master Fowley, who had introduced him to Arrays when he first entered Blue Moon City. Without that man''s help, William probably would never have upgraded the Arrays Talent until it was toote. As his most useful Talent, William felt that he owed Fowley a visit sometime in the future. "About Natsu, I''m sorry." William looked at Filipe, who he knew was Natsu Mori''s closest friend. The man simply nodded and pushed his te forward, signaling that he was ready to leave. "Are you really noting with us?" William asked Filipe. "You''re going to need someone to stay in the Sect and keep an eye on things. I''ll keep you updated." Filipe said. He handed William a simplemunicator that could range a few dozen kilometers. He revealed a second one that was identical in nature, which he would keep on his person at all times. William looked at the Arrays on themunicator and reverse-engineered it in an instant. He waved his hands and removed the Intermediate Arrays on themunicator, recing them with improved Perfect Arrays. He pulled the othermunicator from Filipe''s grasp with the Space Element, then did the same to his. Once he was done, he handed themunicator back to Filipe, which could now cover a range of ten thousand kilometers. "As long as I''m not in the Ruins or on another Continent, I should be able to contact you now." William said as he looked at Filipe. Filipe epted hismunicator with a stunned expression. He could barely register what happened just now. Before he knew it, William had taken twomunicators and improved them drastically. Carl looked at the improvedmunicators with greed in his eyes, although he didn''t actually n to act on his instincts.He just improved the value of those items tenfold, no, a hundredfold! No wonder he can afford Titanium! Yuming knew that William was very good with Arrays, but he didn''t expect the boy''s mastery to reach this level so soon! He wondered if the Array Hall couldpete with William''s skill. Probably not even the Elders couldpare. He''s grown so much in such a short period of time! Last time we saw him, he could fight against the Golden Core. Can he fight at the Nascent Soul Realm now?Tia and Gunther both thought. Seeing that William had once again grown past their expectations, the two became depressed. They had been training so hard and so long because they were bothpetitive and didn''t want to give up first ce to William, who was only slightly older than both of them. Not only Tia and Gunther, but Carl and Yuming were also inspired. They became even more determined to follow William, wanting to receive training from a Master that could improve their skills to a whole new level. Carl thought about his semi-failed trip to the Great Oasis, which would have been much simpler if someone like William was around to battle with the Magical Beasts. He wondered if there were any strong creatures that could be contracted where William hade from... Chapter 221: The Source Of Potential Points "Are you guys going to the Night Market?" William asked the group as they were preparing to leave the restaurant. Filipe and Yuming shook their heads, but Carl, Tia, and Gunther nodded. "We go there almost every week," Gunther replied. "Most of the time we can''t buy anything, but my parents usually send me some Mana Stones as an allowance. I''ve gotten a few interesting items as a result." Damn, maybe I should have saved the Ice Element Roots I used earlier for Gunther...William thought to himself. At the time he was in the Gravitas Ruins focused on the trials, so he didn''t think about his friends at all. He just wanted to improve his strength as much as possible in a short amount of time. "Then we can go there together. I can''t take you with me to the Ruins now, and I''m sure most of you aren''t ready to go. Give me about a week and I''ll visit again." William said. He created a fewmunicators just like the one that Filipe had and handed one to each of his friends. They probably wouldn''t need themunicators in the short-term, but they might be useful in the future. William returned to the Night Market with Carl, Tia, and Gunther in tow. The Auction was scheduled to begin at 7 o''clock, and it was barely 6 thirty, so William and the others browsed the items in the lobby first. There was another Spirit Cookware set being sold in the main lobby, so William spent a hundred Mana Stones on that first. He had been meaning to get a set of cooking utensils for a long time, and being a Cultivator didn''t change that fact. Just because one didn''t need to eat, why would they forgo delicious food? Everyone filed into their seats and the Auctioneer, Rodger, walked up to the podium and introduced himself, as well as the three rules of the Auction. No bidding on something you can''t afford. Bids must increment by at least 5 Mana Stones, and don''t make Rodger mad or you''ll be banned. Simple enough. William wondered if anyone but the old him would be stupid enough to piss off a Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator. Including the other twenty or so William had seen and his Master, Rodger was the weakest he had seen in his Realm, having not even surpassed the first of the nine Tribtions. That being said, the man was still close to the peak of the World. There weren''t many others like him. The number of Cultivators that survived to reach the Tribtion Transcendence Realm were few, despite the long lifespan of Cultivators. An Elder brought out a tinted ss case that was rectangr in shape from a specialized Space Ring. Even with the heavy tint, everyone could see a lustrous glow from the inside. "Without further ado, let me reveal our first item!" Rodger smiled as he removed the lid at once, revealing a pair of shortswords that shone brilliantly like a star the moment they were revealed. Their sleek design and shy reveal caught the attention of even the richest buyers, making William smile with delight. He auctioned my shortswords first, even though I brought them in just this morning? Next to William, Carl looked at the Twin Starmetal Shortswords with intense greed. He wasn''t very good with shortswords, but he couldn''t say no to such a valuable item! He would learn the shortswords in a heartbeat if he had a set of weapons like that! "These are the Twin Starmetal Shortswords, masterfully forged by a cksmith known as "Yuming". Not only are these shortswords made of Starmetal, but they''ve been enhanced by about forty percent using the World''s energy. Even a Qi Refinement Cultivator could use these, and they can cut through even the most impressive defenses." Rodger said with an animated smile as he brought the tip of the Starmetal Shortsword to his finger, drawing blood before the de even came in contact with his skin. Hearing his own name, Yuming became a bit confused.Is there someone else with my name? Seeing the Starmetal Shortswords and their effects, the audience was shocked even more than when they saw a Pheonix Tear a few months before. "They''re much better than the average Starmetal weapon, and they evene in a pair! Where does Rodger find these things?" Even William was surprised that his forged weapons had such an effect. To cut a Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator''s skin was not a small feat. He had essentially created a set of weapons with strength at the peak of the World! Carl''s greed intensified, but he knew his chances of acquiring such an item were incredibly low. Even if he acquired it somehow, he would probably be targeted for itter. He promptly gave up on trying to get the shortswords. Someone spoke up and asked a question, "Senior Rodger, who is this Yuming? To forge such a weapon, he must also beparable to you, correct?" Rodger shook his head, "I always keep the identities of my clients a secret. Perhaps he will appear again someday." Even if I wanted to tell you about him, I don''t know anything! The person who asked nodded and became silent. He expected this kind of answer from Rodger. "No more questions? Then let''s get started with a bid of one thousand Mana Stones!" Rodger shouted. "1500 Mana Stones!" "2000!" "2100!" "FIVE THOUSAND!" someone suddenly shouted from the back. It was Harold Kami, who had met with William in the City Hall before. It seemed he was even more determined to get these Starmetal Shortswords than he was before. William couldn''t me him, since the two shortswords were much better than the singr one he showed off in the past. That being said, William was only paying a small amount of attention to the Auction. He had already achieved his goal of earning around a thousand Mana Stones, so any more was just an added bonus. He was more focused on something that Rodger said while describing the item. System, Rodger said that the Shortswords were enhanced with the World''s energy. I don''t remember doing that, is it the effects of my Artificer Title? -Request requires 100 Potential Points. Yes/No? William normally would give up on paying the System such an extravagant amount of Points for just a simple question, but this time he felt it would be very beneficial to know. Confirm. William watched in pain as a hundred Potential Points were subtracted from his bnce. Even if he had over a hundred times that amount, it still hurt quite a bit. Seeing William''s expression, Gunther patted him on the back, "I know the Shortswords are expensive, but don''t worry. You''ll make enough Mana Stones to afford them yourself someday." "..." William didn''t know what to say. Gunther had clearly misunderstood him. -In this case, yes. The Artificer Title borrowed the World''s energy to improve the effects of the Starmetal Shortswords. The System still has somews to follow and cannot create energy out of nothing. -This applies to everything, including how the System distributes Potential Points to the Host. Do you remember the Attention extended statistic? William began to understand a little more about how the System worked. It seemed that the System had its own understanding of what something was worth, then gave William a percentage of the item''s value when he acquired it. When he killed Magical Beasts in the past, the System was absorbing a part of their energy, refining the old energy into a more efficient version to maintain the original quality of the Magical Beast, then giving William a portion of the spoils. Yes, I remember getting the Attention stat when I beat the first Tribtion during Alchemy. What about it? -The System wasn''t able to distribute Potential Points to the Host at that time because it was stopped from absorbing the energy of the Heavenly Being that noticed you. William''s mind was blown. He didn''t expect such an borate scheme hidden behind a small matter. Does that mean you''re weaker than these...Heavenly Beings?He asked in his mind. -Not necessarily, but right now, yes. Until the System improves further, the Host won''t be able to gain any Potential Points that involve Heavenly Beings directly. Then what about the Tribtions? You got energy from them, right? -Yes, but those aren''t beings. It''s like absorbing Mana from someone else''s Spell, versus absorbing someone''s life force. William understood immediately. His mind spun as the number of questions he had involving the Heavens increased. He wanted to ask more, but he remembered that the System warned him about learning too much. I''ll take it one step at a time. Thank you, System. William knew that the System didn''t have to exin so much while he used the Ask Function. It was only doing this for his benefit, and William didn''t feel like the System was a simple robotic being that it seemed to be in the beginning. Chapter 222: Market Value, Priceless Item? "Going once...going twice...sold! To our friend from the Hillvire Empire for seven thousand Mana Stones!" Rodger yelled out. The winner was unsurprisingly Harold Kami, who went to a back room with Rodger to make the trade for the item. Rather than leaving the Night Market, Harold Kami chose toe back and bid for more items. "That dude must be loaded..." Carl said. Just look at his uniform, he''s a member of the Kami Noble family in the North. "Are they that popr?" William asked. He didn''t expect Carl to know about a random family in the northern part of the Continent. "Only because of what they do. They''re not a veryrge familypared to Ancient Families, but they have at least one representative in almost every City on the Continent. They''re basically all merchants that buy items at a low price and sell them for more. You might as well call them their own Auction House." Carl exined. William nodded. He wondered why a merchant would spend so much money on his weapons. Was it for a personal matter? The Auction continued, and William was informed that he had 6300 more Mana Stones avable to use for bidding if he wanted. He now had 12928 Mana Stones to his name, which should be enough to bid on any other rare items that appear. The Night Market took ten percent of the profit for themselves, which William had already expected. Even in his old world, Auctions took a portion of the profits, although not usually so much. For the asion, William used 375 Potential Points to push his Sales Talent from D to A-Rank directly. Like its name, the Sales Talent provided useful knowledge that would help William make a purchase or sell an item. It also told him many methods to encourage others to spend more or dissuade people from charging higher prices for an item. Rather than a Sales Talent, this might have been better named as Bargaining. Although the best addition was that he could now see the value of every item in front of him. It showed up as ayer of orange text within the blue text box from the Appraise Function. The orange text read the market value of the appraised item based on the area he was in. William knew that improving his Sales Talent would give him an edge, but he didn''t expect this kind of advantage. His eyes shone as he proceeded to appraise every item that came through the Auction. The Auction continued, and item after item was brought out for bidding. William''s Lightning Element Root appeared after a few minutes, causing another bidding frenzy. The item sold for a whopping 950 Mana Stones, which ording to William''s Sales Talent, was roughly a hundred Mana Stones above market value. The Space Element Root was even rarer, so it easily sold for 2250 Mana Stones, further adding to William''s bnce. When a set of rare Alchemy ingredients in a specialized ss case appeared, Gunther became ecstatic. His eyes glowed as he looked at arge blue carrot that emitted an icy aura, even slightly chilling the room. "That''s a Tier 9 Frost Carrot! You can use those to make a Tier 9 Fireproof Potion!" he said excitedly. Gunther had learned a little bit about Alchemy since William left the Sect, so spotting a well-known and powerful material like this was easy for him. William looked at his friend and narrowed his eyes, "What do you n to do with that Frost Carrot?" "Well of course I''m going to- I don''t like the look you''re giving me." Gunther decided to hold his tongue before William said something childish. William waved his hand in dismissal, but there was a slight smirk on his face, which made Gunther angry. "Don''t even think it!" Gunther said. "Yeah, yeah...we know what you''re into." William''s smile grew wider. William noticed one of the ingredients he needed for the Tribtion Pills amongst the group, so he surprised his friends by instantly bidding five hundred Mana Stones, which was half the market value of a thousand. There didn''t seem to be many rich Alchemists among the audience, so only one person outbid him for 600 Mana Stones, which William promptly waited until Rodger was counting down to bid again. Judging by the man''s expression, William could tell that he was only trying to make William waste money. As the countdown started, the man became visibly nervous that the ingredients would actually sell. The man locked eyes with William, who remained stone-faced as the countdown nearly ended. "605 Mana Stones." William said, while giving the other man a "Don''t test me" look. No one tried to outbid William, scared that he would let the ingredients go if they pushed him too far. With the main item yet to go up for Auction, no one wanted to spend past their budget. William told Rodger he would ept his ingredientster with the Mana Stones he had earned from the other Auctions, then remained in his seat. Some of the audience noticed that William wasn''t getting up, but they saw him pull out amunicator they recognized. So he''s also auctioning an item. I wonder what he put up?The spectators wondered. Their thoughts were interrupted by a sudden wave of Mana that assaulted their faces. Rodger had just removed the lid to one of the ss cases, which revealed a blue stone the size of William''s thumb. Rodger took a step away from the blue stone that was surrounded by a small vortex of what William realized were actually strands of consciousness. The stone was actually gathering Souls from the environment and improving itself constantly. William had no idea how the stone worked whatsoever. It was so powerful that it seemed to defy the very rules of the World, and William wondered why someone would even auction an item like this. "This is an Ultimate Soul Stone, which was harvested with great effort from a cave that only appears once every fifty years in the third Ring of the Providence Zone. There were many others like this, but I have already absorbed ten and there is just one left over. Since the cave won''t be opening for another fifty years, this is yourst chance to acquire such an item! The bidding starts at two thousand Mana Stones, begin!" Before William started bidding, he appraised the Ultimate Soul Stone. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Ultimate Soul Stone: A small rock that was naturally formed in a cave of souls. It contains unfathomably dense Soul Energy that will overwhelm even the most powerful Cultivators if they are not strong enough. Can be eaten to improve your Soul many times more than a regr Soul Stone would. Effects do not diminish, but cap out depending on the size of the stone. Effects: +5000 Soul Strength Requirements: Host must have 1000 Soul Strength to consume Market Value: Priceless, unobtainable for 50 years Ultimate Soul Stones Eaten: 0/10 ¡ª¡ª¡ª Five thousand Soul Strength?!? Does that mean Rodger has fifty thousand Soul Strength right now? William now realized just how powerful his Master waspared to him. He also wondered how much Soul Strength was required to reach the peak of the world. If fifty thousand wasn''t enough to Ascend, was it one hundred thousand? One million? He hoped it wasn''t a million. William didn''t even know where he would get so many souls. Chapter 223: How Rich Are You? "3000 Mana Stones!" "4100!" William raised his hand to bid, "Five thousand!" Carl looked at William in shock, "Do you really have that much? You''re wealthier than I am!" Carl was only counting his own personal allowance and not his family''s, but it was still surprising to him that William had so many Mana Stones. William nodded, "Of course, I''m an Array Master. I have quite a bit right now." Carl was tempted to learn Arrays so he could earn money like William. He felt it would also be a great way to trap Magical Beasts in the future for his Heavenly Mark Innate Talent. The only reason Carl hadn''t thought to use Arrays before was because he was na?ve and expected his bodyguards to be able to handle any Magical Beast without an issue. Now that he was stronger, he realized that Nascent Soul Cultivators weren''t as strong as he thought. Magical Beasts are usually stronger than their human counterparts, so unless they were a freak like William or some of the other Disciples in the Outer Sect, there was little chance of defeating a Magical Beast one on one. As one''s Cultivation grew, the Magical Beasts became even more difficult to handle alone. It wasn''t just their strength, but also their intelligence that increased with each Realm. "Can you teach me Arrays?" Carl asked, catching William off guard while he was focused on the bids. William nodded, "Not now though. I can''t use Arrays here or we might get kicked out. Carl understood this but he said nothing. William was heavily focused on the bidding right now, so he could askter. As a man of wealth, Carl knew how much this moment mattered to William. The bids continued to climb, only slowing down when they reached seven thousand Mana Stones. William carefully watched the expressions of each bidder, even keeping track of the ones that were seemingly not bidding anymore. "Eight thousand." he said with a raised hand. Out of the corner of his eye, William noticed a young man with glowing yellow eyes and short blue hair looking at him. The young man was the most recent bidder other than William, and seemed a bit angry when Will outbid him yet again. As their eyes connected, William felt an unnatural force try to pry into his brain. The room began to shake from his perspective, but no one else seemed to notice anything. The shaking stopped, then he felt the same sensation from before. -Host is suffering a mental invasion, concentrate and defend yourself. A mental invasion, so that''s what this is. System, how do I defend myself? William asked mentally while suffering from multiple sessive attacks. On the other side, the young man showed an expression of surprise. The other party didn''t seem to be defending himself at all, yet he couldn''t pry into the man''s brain no matter what he tried. I''ll go for a big one next. the young man thought to himself. -Use your Soul Strength and concentrate it to your forehead like a shield. Your Mind Talent is currently the only thing defending you, but it won''tst long. William nodded and did as the System said. Strands of Soul Mana were called from inside him and condensed into a thin barrier around his forehead. Amplified by his Mind Talent, his defense became rock solid, and the room stopped shaking. The feeling of the man''s attacks were reduced to a light tapping, which was annoying, but they weren''t even enough to break William''s concentration. He refocused on the bidding, raising the young man''s bid of 8200 Mana Stones to 8500 at thest second. So that was your n, huh? Raise me and then take the item? Nice try buddy. William contacted Rodger''s assistant, who was given Rodger''smunicator while the auction was ongoing. He ryed the information of the young man to the assistant, but he was frustrated when he heard what the assistant said. "I''m sorry Mr. Yuming, but that young man is a high-level member of the Pirs of Justice. We noticed your situation immediately, but our Night Market has some limitations. I''m d you''re okay, but please be wary of them in the future while bidding here." the assistant exined. William was angry, but he didn''t me the assistant. It seemed the Pirs of Justice were quite powerful. "Will they target me if I get the item?" he asked the assistant. "Of course not! They''re still a righteous faction! They''ve interfered with the auction in the past though. Don''t worry Mr. Yuming, the Ultimate Soul Stone isn''t worth the attention of an entire organization. The young man is probably acting on his own." the assistant replied. "I see, thank you." William hung up. The assistant breathed a sigh and put away hismunicator. This specific young man had been the source of their troubles for a few years now, but no one could do anything to him because of his position. It had caused the Night Market''s reputation to tanktely, and they were forced to auction off higher-level items than usual just to keep people from going elsewhere. They could only be happy that the man always paid them when he bought an item off the auction. "Going once...going twice...sold! To the young man in the Five Elements Sect!" Rodger shouted in glee as he earned another 850 Mana Stones just for standing on stage and talking. William stood up this time and went to the back to retrieve both the Ultimate Soul Stone, the Alchemy ingredients, and to exchange his Mana Stones. He was left with 6803 Mana Stones, which was almost the same amount he came in with, but he wasn''t sad. William had gained quite a bit in this auction and had even learned how to defend from a mental invasion. He didn''t know how strong the young man''s attack was, but based on what the assistant said, he couldn''t be weak. He returned to his seat once he had everything sorted out and properly stored in his Space Ring. Seeing Williame back, some of the audience was interested. Did this young man still have money? Where did hee from? A few hours passed, the Night Marketsting a bit longer than the other ones William had been to. There were quite a few items left to auction after the Ultimate Soul Stone, and William managed to acquire a second set of Alchemy ingredients for 250 Mana Stones, albeit less rare than before. Seeing William continue to bid after spending thousands of Mana Stones, Carl''s desire to learn Arrays became even more intense. Even Tia and Gunther were a bit interested, although they knew better. For William to make so much money off Arrays, he clearly had to have immense talent. It wasn''t just the fact that he was using Arrays, but also the quality of said Arrays. Regardless, William epted each of their requests to teach them a bit about Arrays. He even decided to give Yuming and Filipe something to study Arrays on, in case they wanted to learn as well. In William''s opinion, Arrays were a fundamental part of this World. Why would anyone not learn them if they''re so powerful? Chapter 224: Elemental Beast Tide "When will you be back?" Carl asked William as they walked through the lobby of the Night Market. "I don''t know. A week, maybe two weeks?" William looked to the ceiling as he asked himself the same question. He didn''t know how long it would take to gather his Alchemy ingredients that he needed. "Where are you going next, then?" William thought for a moment, using his mental map to n out a route, "Well first I''m going to need to gather some Alchemy ingredients, and then I have to pay a particr group a visit. Why do you ask?" "Just wondering. I don''t mind leaving now, can Ie with you?" William''s eyes lit up at Carl''s rmendation, "Sure! But I do have to warn you it''s going to be dangerous. I can''t protect you all the time." Carl nodded. He had already been through many dangerous situations, and he didn''t think William could have any greater enemies to face than he and his bodyguards did in the Great Oasis. They fought against dozens of Nascent Soul Beasts, after all. If only Carl knew about William''s most recent encounter with Supreme Left, the number one person in the Azures Continent. For the man to survive such an borate assassination attempt, it was obvious how powerful he was. William bade Tia and Gunther farewell at the entrance to the Night Market, while he and Carl went in a different direction towards the border of the Sect. On the way, Carl picked up a random mission with the Sect that would require him to leave, so his disappearance wouldn''t be immediately obvious. He didn''t contact his family just yet, since they would probably send bodyguards to apany him. It was better if he and William remained low-profile, considering the man was already wanted. William used his Stealth Talent to briefly turn invisible, then exploited a weak point in the Sect''s barrier Arrays to slip past unnoticed. On the other side, he waited for Carl. They couldn''t go through the portals the same way that William had done, since Carl had no way to conceal his presence. Even William''s Illusion Affinity couldn''t help them, being only E-Rank. Considering Atticus still made a ripple when moving through portals, William knew that upgrading the Affinity would only be a waste of Potential Points. He opted to go the long route and return to the Hillvire Empire after he had gathered his Alchemy ingredients. "Where to first?" Carl asked as he walked through the main entrance with a small satchel on his waist. It contained various Alchemical Pills that he could use in case of emergency, which he had purchased from the Alchemy Hall following his failure at the Great Oasis. William led Carl further away from the Sect, then pulled out the map he had created long before and consulted a few of the points he had drawn. Carl leaned over to inspect the map as well, but with William''s horrible drawing skills, he couldn''t make sense of anything. "Can you even read this?" he asked. William nodded, "It''s good enough for me." He checked the topography on the map and asked the System a few questions, finalizing his route after a few minutes. "We''ll go here first." William pointed to a spot near the center of the map. "That''s...are you sure we can go there?" Carl asked nervously. He was beginning to regreting on this trip with William already. The location William had pointed to was just on the edge of the outermost ring of the Providence Zone. The most prosperous, and dangerous, part of the entire Continent. Entire World even. There were many reasons why the Azures Continent was rated as the strongest Continent in the World, and the Providence Zone was one of them, while Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right were the others. For a mere Foundation Establishment Cultivator to go into the Providence Zone, wasn''t that suicide? "Rx," William waved his hand in dismissal. "We''re only exploring the edges. At most, there will be peak Nascent Soul Magical Beasts. Anything in the Soul Formation Realm already has a territory in the Providence Zone." "Let''s assume you can fight Nascent Soul Beasts by yourself." Carl said with obvious worry in his voice. "What if one of the Soul Formation Beasts suddenly runs out of the Providence Zone and tries to kill us? Can you stop it?" "What''s got you so riled up, Carl? You''re not usually like this." "Well..." Carl looked to the side for a moment. "The others don''t know this, but I went to the Great Oasis with my family just a few weeks ago, and you know what I saw?" "What?" "The entire desert...it...was all ss." "ss? Why would a desert be made of ss? Are you sure you''re not going insane? Should I bring you back to be seen by the healers?" William asked. Oh wait, I''m a healer. But I don''t know any Magic Spells that can deal with the mind. "I don''t know why it was suddenly ss!" Carl shouted, "If you think I''m crazy, then fine. But I know for a fact that one second the desert was made of sand, and after a group of Magical Beasts passed by, it was all ss." Sand turning to ss...is it a Fire-type Magical Beast? -It seems your friend encountered an Elemental Beast Tide. Elemental Beast Tide? What is that? -Request requires 15 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. -Sometimes when a region bes too restless or too many Elemental Veins are absorbed, Magical Beasts associated with the particr Element appear in great numbers and wreak havoc on the surrounding area. -Once they havepletely destroyed a particr region, they roam other areas for hundreds of kilometers until their Mana ispletely exhausted, where they eventually die. -When you absorbed the Life Veins in the Livingwood Forest, the same thing happened, but the Liffox that spawned were too weak and killed instantly by Cultivators. Only the Wind Wolves were able to cause some damage. The same thing happened near Thin Creek Vige? Is everyone there okay? What about Misha? -The vige has been evacuated. Most of the residents now live in Blue Moon City. Your mother is with them. William heaved a sigh of relief, but then he thought about the Foam Desert. I absorbed an Earth Vein in the Foam Desert, is the same thing happening there? -Request requires 5 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. -Yes, but at a slower pace. Only one of the seven Earth Veins were absorbed, so there was only a small increase in the number of Magical Beasts at the Foam Desert. However, the Foam Desert is much more powerful and has many more Beasts than the Livingwood Forest, so the scale of the disaster is still greater. What''s the current situation?William asked. -Request requires 50 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm.William had a foreboding feeling about this one. -In about a week, a wave of ten thousand Magical Beasts at the peak of the Golden Core Realm will assault Blue Moon City, resulting in hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties. The Array Hall has already exhausted their guardian statues and can only defend with the help of the Cultivators at the Guild Hall. Chapter 225: You Cant Compare! At the same time, across the Far West Forest Region, many yers received a System Notification. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Region Event: An Elemental Beast Tide will attack Blue Moon City in 7 days, gather to Blue Moon City and register with the Guild Hall for a chance to earn great rewards. Points gained from fighting Magical Beasts will be doubled for the period of this event. Realm Requirement: Must be at least Core Formation Realm to participate. Beast Encounters: Sandicore, ins Vulture, Desert Beetle, Sand Golem, Marauder Scorpion Possible Rewards: Lesser Beast Core, Beast Materials, Guild Hall Promotion, Reputation with Blue Moon City Random Appearance: SS-Rank NPC William ¡ª¡ª¡ª "A Region Event, and we get double Points for participating? Count me in!" someone in the early stages of the Core Formation Realm shouted from within a hotel lobby in a medium-sized town. "Right? I was already nning to hit Blue Moon City next, this works out great for me!" another yer replied. He posted the Region Event to the Forums, which instantly attracted attention across the world. ¡ª¡ª¡ª 3m ago: Region Event in the Far West Forest! Bring your friends to Blue Moon City in a week for an experience boost! [153061 Views] -JJKFan31: Is that the same S-Rank NPC William? Has his rank improved, and he might even be in Blue Moon City during the Event? Count me in! -MrMrMr: Forget the NPC, there''s a chance for Lesser Beast Cores! Those are worth hundreds of Mana Stones! ¡ª¡ª¡ª Within a few hours, the line outside Blue Moon City had extended for kilometers, and the Guild Hall was even worse. The number of people registering for a position outside the Foam Desert had greatly increased, which made the Mayor of Blue Moon City sigh in relief. He was worried that the next wave of Magical Beasts would be thest, but it seemed they would make it another week... *** Shit, an Elemental Beast Tide is attacking the same ce my vige just moved to! How could this happen? -It''s your fault. You absorbed the Veins. You basically asked me to! Who''s going to pass up on a treasure that''s right in front of them? Especially when your next upgrade gave me the ability to do so! You didn''t tell me what would happen if I absorbed them! William felt the System was being unfair with him. When William absorbed the Life Veins in the past, he had only been in the World for a few days. He didn''t know how anything worked, nor did he expect such severe consequences. Hearing William''s retort, the System became silent. William didn''t know what it was thinking, but he felt his words had struck. I''m sure you had your reasons too, System. I don''t me you for it. "Are you okay, William? You''ve been quiet for a while." Carl interrupted William''s internal conversation with the System. "Ah, yes. I''m fine." William replied absent-mindedly. "So... what are we doing? I don''t think the Providence Zone is a great idea. Can''t we find Alchemy ingredients somewhere else?" "You''re right," William said. "Change of ns. We''re going to Blue Moon City." "Huh?" Carl was confused. After all that nning on the map, we''re going somewherepletely different? "You wanted to contract some new Magical Beasts, right?" William replied with a slight smile. Carl''s eyes lit up, "Let''s go!" *** Inside the Yu Royal Family Headquarters. "Your Highness, I can only express my deepest condolences for the recent assassination attempt." a blonde-haired man wearing the symbol of the Pirs of Justice bowed as he spoke to a youth seated at the throne. Supreme Left waved his hand in dismissal, "It''s not the first time I''ve dealt with something like this, although it''s the first time it was someone so close to me." I even lost my only clone. It''ll take at least three years to create another one. "Has your group tracked down Retribution''s headquarters?" he asked. "The Pirs are still looking. It seems they''ve hidden it somewhere underground, but we can''t even tell which Region they are in. None of their low-ranking ves know where the headquarters is, and the high-ranking ones have restrictions too great for us to pry into their minds." Supreme Left nodded. "As expected of them, what about Gu Dianlong? He should be partially responsible for their portalwork." The subordinate shook his head, "We have him in custody, but all we can do is stop him from using Space Magic to create their portals. They probably still have other Space Mages under their control." Supreme Left closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to his forehead in thought. After a while, he opened his eyes again and looked at the Pirs member. "Keep working on it. If we can''t find them, capture all their ves and force them out." The subordinate nodded and left the room. Before Supreme Left could gather his thoughts, someone else knocked on therge double-doors. "Come in." the blonde youth sighed as he adjusted his position to appear more authoritative. A boy of about sixteen or seventeen years of age walked into the room nervously, taking a knee and bowing his head in front of the supreme being that he couldn''t ever hope topare to. "What is it, Norem?" "Your Highness, our Arrays have detected a Fire Elemental Beast Tide approaching our headquarters." "I see, so that''s what I sensed before." Supreme Left stood up from his throne and pulled out arge staff adorned with hundreds of white stones and covered in Arrays. "I''ll be right back." he said as his figure disappeared from the room instantly. It wasn''t a teleport, but rather his extreme speed that was many times greater than his clone that was outside the Gravitas Ruins. His figure appeared in the air above the pce, then flew in a certain direction for a few kilometers until he was hovering directly overhead of arge mass of red that changed the color of thendscape. A quick estimate told Supreme Left that there were roughly twenty thousand Magical Beasts in the Nascent Soul Realm below him. "Hmm...Giant Fire Ants, Smoldering Rhinos, and...hm? Are those lesser phoenixes? Interesting. I wonder what forced the World to spawn so many Nascent Soul creatures..." Given the size of the Azures Continent, it was more than possible to see tens of thousands of Nascent Soul Beasts, but not in a single ce. For them to all gather in a Beast Tide without any infighting smelled of interference from the World itself. Supreme Left raised therge staff in his hand and started channeling his Fire Domain. With the support of the staff, his Domain expanded to a range of thirty kilometers, enough to cover the entire group of Magical Beasts. "You may be Fire Elemental Beasts...but your mes can''tpare to mine! me yourself foring too close to my home!" As he spoke, the Fire Domain lit up, first absorbing the ambient Fire Mana from the Beasts, then using their own mes against them to burn each one to a crisp. Only the lesser pheonixes survived the first wave, reborn from the mes. A second wave of the Fire Domain finished off the remainder of the Nascent Soul Beasts. Supreme Left picked up amunicator and ordered his subordinates to clean up the remains, then returned to his position in the throne room without another word. Chapter 226: Unique Scorch Marks "Agh! William, are we there yet?!? I''ve been running after you for days now, give me a break!" Carl asked while taking a knee to catch his breath. William was still running ahead at the pace of a peak Foundation Establishment Cultivator. "Almost." William said while stone-faced. They had already traveled for six full days and the Elemental Beast Tide was set to arrive the following morning. He could see Blue Moon City in the distance, but it still seemed a few hours away, which made William a bit nervous. If Carl wasn''t with me, I''d have been there in less than a day. At least we will still make it in time. "Don''t you want to get stronger?" William yelled behind him while maintaining his pace. "Easy for you to say!" Carl yelled. "You''re way stronger than I am, of course you can run longer!" "I''m in the same Realm as you!" William replied with a snort. "No you''re not...really? Are you actually also in the Foundation Establishment Realm?" Carl looked at William in shock. He assumed Will was in the Golden Core Realm or something, considering he wanted to visit the edges of the Providence Zone. "Did I really Cultivate faster than you? What did you do during thest month? Not to mention you spent four months in the Ruins while we barely spent one outside! I thought you were supposed to be good at everything!" William looked over his shoulder at Carl whose hands were pressed to the ground while still running forward, "Say that again when you can ca-wouagh!" A suspiciously sturdy branch had suddenly appeared in his walking path, tripping William and causing him to roll across the ground for a few meters when his Acrobatics Talent triggered. When he got back to his feet, William traced the source of the branch, finding Carl to be responsible. "You!" William looked at Carl with anger, who was currently shing a goofy smile. "I think we can tell who''s stronger here." Carlughed as he retracted the branch, "When I started Cultivating, I gained the nt and Earth Affinities, pretty cool huh?" Damn, he awakened new Magic? I didn''t get anything other than Stat increases... Williamined inwardly. -That''s because you had already awakened almost every Magical Affinity. William nodded. It made sense to him, but he couldn''t help butin. That being said, he didn''t regret waiting until his Manamatus Title had been upgraded to Celestial, since it came with a massive number of Potential Points, and the bonus effects were pretty amazing. William flicked his finger and teleported directly in front of Carl. The Array Wheel was already in his hands, and the improved Five Elements Explosion Array was lit up and ready to explode. Overwhelmed by the sudden presence of threatening Mana and surprised by William''s close proximity, Carl''s face turned pale and he raised a series of protective barriers while fearing for his life. "O-Okay William, I get it! You can put that away now!" Carl said in a shaky voice. William showed a mischievous smile, "Who''s stronger?" "Y-You!" William teleported away and stored the Array Wheel in his Space Ring, "That''s what I thought." William had no intention of targeting Carl from the beginning, only to show off his strength to his friend. He used to do this all the time while gaming in his old world, so doing this to Carl brought back some fond memories. After all, are you truly friends if you don''t fight once in a while? Seeing that William''s false killing intent had disappeared, Carl breathed a sigh of relief. He ran after his powerful friend while studying a sheet filled with Runes that William had made for him. They arrived in front of Blue Moon City four hourster. The hundred story buildings were still as impressive as ever, butpared to the Hillvire Empire, William felt it wasn''t anything much. Even the 50-meter wall wasn''t anything much anymore. William noticed that many of the guard towers were damaged, and some were missing the magic ballistae that were responsible for protecting the City. The surviving ballistae were covered in scorch or w marks, while others had discolored wood that had been poisoned. The scorch marks had a red and ck spiral shape, which reminded William of the shape on the Element Roots that he had seen before. It was obvious that Blue Moon City had been attacked more than once by Magical Beasts. Above the City, there was no presence of Cultivators performing fancy moves while flying on swords. Instead, they were rushing from one direction to the next as fast as possible, as if their lives depended on it. "The Elemental Beast Tide must be moving already, for them to be in such a hurry." Carl said from the side, having heard all the details from William. He didn''t understand how William knew all this, but he didn''t ask questions. William nodded, but his focus was still on the scorch marks.I don''t remember any Magical Beasts from the Foam Desert using Fire Magic. This must be from something else... "You know a lot about Magical Beasts too, don''t you Carl?" William asked suddenly. "Uh, yeah? I guess so." Carl scratched his head. Ever since learning about his Innate Talent, Carl had studied many types of Magical Beasts while searching for the strongestpanions. He had spent many hours in his family''s library studying the creatures of the World, from man to beast to even nt. It could be said that out of anyone in the Foundation Establishment Realm, Carl''s knowledge of Magical Beasts was the best. He even surpassed William in many aspects, if not for the Bestiary. "Then can you tell me what Elemental Beast Tide we are about to face?" William already knew the answer, but he was just checking. "It should be of the Earth Element, no? They''reing from the Foam Desert, so it could also include the Poison Element, but most Magical Beasts in that area primarily use Earth Magic." "Correct," William said. "Then why was that ballista on fire?" he pointed upwards to a guard tower. Carl squinted his eyes but could only barely make out its figure after William pointed it out. He pulled out an Artifact from his Space Ring that improved his vision, then gasped in shock when he noticed the unique pattern of the scorch marks. Carl''s mind spun as he thought back to which Magical Beasts had Fire Elemental attacks that created such a unique shape. When he finishedbing through his knowledge of Fire-Elemental Beasts, Carl realized there was only one. His eyes opened wide with shock as he realized something, but then his expression became angry. He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white, but they were unclenched just as quickly when he noticed William looking in his direction. "Did you think of something?" William asked. "No," Carl shook his head. "But that doesn''t matter. Let''s forget about this." William could tell he was lying, but he didn''t press the topic any further. He nodded and registered his fake identity with the guards, then entered the City with Carl close behind. Chapter 227: Preparing For The Tide "You''re here for the Beast Tide, correct?" a guard asked William and Carl as they crossed the gate. "Ah, yes." William replied. "Good good. You can pass, but your friend is not strong enough. We''re looking for those at least in the Core Formation Realm." William was still emitting the aura of a Golden Core Cultivator, so the guard naturally would allow him to pass, but Carl was only in the eighth level of Foundation Establishment. It was two levels below the minimum requirement. "I can break through right now, Wil- I mean, Yuming. Just wait for me inside." Carl said quickly and started to turn around. What he said wasn''t a lie, but breaking through before reaching the peak of a Realm was bad practice. Only those who had no chance of reaching the peak would break through prematurely. "No," William grabbed Carl''s arm and pulled him back. "We''re already here, so you''reing with me." "Sir, did you hear what I said?" the guard asked. "I can vouch for him." William said in a t tone. His eyes were serious and he stared down the guard with an icy gaze that made thetter nervous. "O-Okay. You may pass, but Blue Moon City is not responsible if your friend dies in battle." the guard warned. William nodded and didn''t pay thement any mind. He brought Carl towards the Guild Hall, where he registered as an Adventurer for a second time. This time, William directly qualified as a Diamond-Ranked Adventurer, having disyed Nascent Soul Strength during the test. -Adventurer Rank (Diamond): +100 PP To rank up to the final rank as an Adventurer, William would need to receive the King''s approval. This was a different King from the one in the Hillvire Empire or Supreme Left, but another King who lorded over the Far West Forest Region. In the Azures Continent, there were a total of four Kings, each responsible for their own respective regions. Each of the four Kings descended from the Yu Royal Family, and Supreme Left wasn''t a true King, but rather their Ancestor who had since retired. It was a long andplicated process and William didn''t like to think about it. In his opinion, the idea of a Noble Faction amidst Cultivation Families, Sects, Righteous and Criminal Organizations, and the various Halls that made up a City were just too much. The fact that the Noble Factions also consisted of some Cultivators and some people were members of multiple organizations at the same time made things even moreplicated. It felt redundant, but William couldn''t change the World in his current state, nor could he be bothered to even if he was strong enough. I hate politics anyway, why should I care about those damn Nobles? Knowing they exist is enough for me. While William''s opinion was obvious, many yers felt differently. There were plenty who enjoyed gaining power not through Cultivation or improving their Magic Affinity, but through political schemes that push them higher and higher. Some were even lucky enough to adopt into the Yu Royal Family right from their entry to the World. They enjoyed the advantages of the strongest Family in the Continent, but also had to endure the internalpetition between their siblings, aunts and uncles. Those who thrived in the political environment found themselves very sessful, their position within the Family rising by leaps and bounds. Others were not as lucky and were forced to delete their characters and start fresh. "You''re a Diamond-Ranked Adventurer already... What do you eat?" Carl muttered from his side. He had justpleted his own test, which ced him as a Gold-Ranked Adventurer since the Guild wouldn''t let him use his summoned Beasts for the exam. They didn''t consider the Beasts to be part of his own strength, which didn''t make sense to him considering they were part of his Innate Talent. While the test still went well and he was stronger than most in his Cultivation Realm even without the Beasts, Carl felt disappointed. It was only natural when he had William topare to. When they were in the Sect, Carl saw William was a semi-normal human being, despite his immense talents. Now, however, he couldn''t describe his friend as anything but monstrous. For someone to be a Diamond-Ranked Adventurer at such a young age was a testament to how powerful William was. Not to mention the unfathomable Array that William showed off earlier when Carl tripped him. Carl hoped to never be William''s enemy. The day it happened, he could kiss his life goodbye. After registering with the Guild, William and Carl were finally able to sign up for the defense against the Beast Tide. Since William had imed responsibility for Carl, they were ced in the same area on the outside of the City, just in front of the walls. William and Carl would fight from the backline, since William''s Magical precision was very high, and Carl used summoned Beasts to fight. He was asked to bring out each of his Beasts in arge room separate from the main hall, so the Guild could mark them with a special Array that would distinguish them from enemies. His scroll was unfurled, and tenrge Magical Beasts in the Golden Core Realm climbed out of different sized portals of varying colors. Seeing the Golden Core Magical Beasts appear one by one, the two Guild Hall Receptionists, Sara and Rui, were stunned. Rui''s light green eyes shed as she realized both of these neers were anything but simple. She quickly ced the appropriate Arrays on the summoned Beasts, which covered them in a light blue glow with a holographic "G" floating above their heads. This would tell others that the summoned Beasts were recognized as friendly forces by the Guild Hall, and the light blue color represented Blue Moon City itself. This would hopefully prevent any idents on the battlefield. Unless one was purposely targeting the Beasts or they were identally hit during an AoE Spell, Carl wouldn''t have to worry about his summons dying unexpectedly. That being said, he would still do his best to be careful. Carl thanked the Guild for their foresight, not knowing where he would cry if his summons were killed by his own allies. He stored each Magical Beast back in the summoning scroll that he carried on his side, then followed William to a nearby hotel where they could rest. William wasn''t tired at all, but Carl was exhausted from running for nearly six days straight and then immediately getting into a fight at the Guild. Hended face-down on the bed and was snoring before William even had a chance to close his eyes. There''s a big battle tomorrow...and there will be quite a few Magical Beasts to fight... William smiled. If he was the same person as he was in Thin Creek Vige, he might have been terrified out of his wits. The Livingwood Forest once chased him away with a small tide of Wind Wolves, it couldn''tpare to this at all! Ten thousand Golden Core Magical Beasts wasn''t a small number, and it was probably still too much for the current him considering his Mana Reserves, but there was just one thing on his mind. Ten thousand Golden Core Beasts...that''s a lot of Potential Points! Chapter 228: Asking For Help The following morning, William made some breakfast for himself and Carl, wanting to keep their strength at the peak for the uing battle. He wanted to get outside the walls as quickly as possible, but William insisted he eat first, to which Carl had no retort. Despite how good the food tasted, Carl ate quickly. The aluminum forks made from William''s Earth Magic diced apart the omelette into small pieces that were almost inhaled. "Slow down, you''re going to choke." William warned. "How can I choke? I''m a C- Cough. Cultivator." a piece of food got stuck in Carl''s throat as he tried to reply to William. The incident finally convinced him to slow down, swallowing each bite carefully. William nodded, "Are you nervous?" Carl swallowed thest bite and shook his head, "How can I be afraid? They''re only Golden Core Beasts, more than I''ve ever seen in my entire life." He continued, "It''s not like I only have a thousandth of their strength or anything. Or that I could be swept away by a single attack if I make the wrong move. Me? Scared? Not at all." William patted his friend on the shoulder, "Don''t worry, I''m strong. I can protect you if anything happens. Just stay with me and you''ll be fine." Inwardly, William was also a bit anxious. Not for him, but for his friends and family, Blue Moon City, and even Fowley, who he was sure still remained in the City. If he didn''t limit the casualties this time around, how could the Cultivators stop the next Beast Tide? He wished more than ever that he could stop the Beast Tides at their source, but the System said it was useless. He already absorbed the Veins, and they couldn''t be restored without the assistance of the World. For that, William would need to be much, much stronger. All he could do was prepare for a fight, and better prepare others before the next attack. If he failed here, and too many people died, it was likely the City would fall when he wasn''t around. ¡ª¡ª¡ª System Quest: An Elemental Beast Tide is about to attack Blue Moon City. Eliminate the Magical Beasts and limit the casualties to less than 10%. Difficulty: Medium Rewards: 5000 Potential Points, +10 Fame, +5 Humanity ¡ª¡ª¡ª While the Potential Points reward was enticing, William was more worried about keeping his friends and family alive. Having spent a few months in this fantastical world, William honestly didn''t want to leave. He had be attached to this ce and considered it his new home. Other than missing Fria and his adopted family, William had no real attachments to Reius, his old World. I''ll protect as many as I can, but I still can''t afford to show my true self. I need to consider each move carefully. If I''m discovered, I won''t be able to help the next time this happens. William used hismunicator from the Night Market to contact Rodger, whose number William still had. The man picked up after a few dozen seconds, but his voice seemed somewhat annoyed. "What is it, Mr. Yuming? Do you have other Starmetal items to auction? It''ll have to wait a while, I''m in secluded Cultivation." he answered in a groggy voice. In front of William, a hologram of Rodger appeared that raised his hand to stifle a yawn. "I''m sorry for disturbing your Cultivation, Senior Rodger. I''m curious, are you willing to help out with a Beast Tide in Blue Moon City?" William did his best to sound professional for the sake of convincing the powerful Cultivator. "Blue Moon City? That''s very far away. I''m always happy to help out when there''s a Beast Tide, but outside of the Night Market, I restrict my activities to the Far East Misnds where I reside. Forgive me, Mr. Yuming, but it seems you don''t understand the politics surrounding us stronger folk." William was confused, "Is there a problem with you going to other regions? You''re at the peak of the World, who can stop you?" "Before I answer your question, you must promise me that you will bring me another valuable item to auction off for next week. You''re very lucky I am a reasonable person, because any other Cultivator at my level would have killed you for contacting me directly without going through my subordinates. Don''t tell me you don''t have their numbers, because it''s written within the instructions on themunicator." he finished with a stern look. William had seen the other numbers, but he ignored them since he felt this matter was more urgent. He nodded and pulled out a piece of Mana Uraninite Ore, which he had held onto for a long time, causing the man''s eyebrows to go up in surprise while returning William''s nod in approval. "Mr. Yuming, we Cultivators at the peak of the World tend to remain in seclusion because of three reasons. The first one is to not step on each other''s toes when they are preparing to Ascend in the next few thousand years. If I cause a ruckus in your region while someone else is Cultivating, it may cost them years or even decades of time depending on their level of immersion. If I identally break someone''s enlightenment, it might be a war between me and the other party. The second reason is because of the World itself. Our attacks are so powerful that we would tear apart the levels of space in an instant. Are you willing to have mee deal with some Golden Core Beasts for the sake of an entire swath ofnd? I think not. When we do go out, we tend to limit our abilities to the Soul Formation Realm or below, so that we don''t identally ruin the ecology of a region. If I had a Domain, it might be different, since I would have incredibly precise control over my power, but I don''t." he exined. William nodded, "Then why don''t you juste and use the abilities of a Soul Formation Cultivator? That should be enough to deal with a Beast Tide like this, right?" "You didn''t let me finish, Mr. Yuming. It seems you are younger and less experienced than I thought." Rodger replied with a smirk. "The third reason is because we choose not to get involved with these things. A mere Beast Tide can''t wipe out Humanity. There will always be someone else that appears to take them on. A few hundred thousand deaths can''t sway our withered hearts. If something truly serious does happen, only THEN will I take action. This is for the best, for both me and the World." Rodger finished. How insensitive.William thought to himself. On the other hand, didn''t he think the same way when dealing with three thousand Cultivators in the Gravitas Ruins? He thought of them as nothing more than a means to unlock the seals on his Mana Gathering Staff. Other than that, human deaths were only a matter of Potential Points. A way to increase his own strength past its previous levels. Why am I thinking this? My Humanity stat has gone down, shouldn''t I be more uncaring? William didn''t know the answer. He looked at Rodger with a hint of anger, but it faded away quickly as he understood the position the man was in. No matter what William said right now, it wouldn''t force Rodger to provide assistance. "The battle is about to start, Wil- Yuming. Let''s go." Carl said from afar. Chapter 229: Attack! William nodded, "Thank you, Senior Rodger, for your time. It seems we will be taking on the Beasts by ourselves then. I hope you can reconsider your choice in the future, when the Tides are more serious than they are now." "Good luck, Mr. Yuming." Rodger hung up the call without another word. He handed themunicator back to his assistant, who had brought it into his Cultivation room at his request. Normally Rodger wouldn''t answer his calls while he was Cultivating, but something inside Rodger said that the cksmith Yuming was a special sort of person that deserved his attention. He sighed as he returned to his Cultivation. "I''m sorry, Mr. Yuming. The truth is, I''m a coward, and so are the others. No one wants to start a battle with the World that we know we cannot win..." *** On the front lines of the battle, thousands of yer and NPC Cultivators alike were standing in formations and receiving orders from their battle captains. As each responsibility was issued, the Cultivators became a bit nervous. For some, the feelings arose from not wanting to die, or hoping they can protect their families. For others, however, it was the risk of losing Points or not performing well during the Region Event, leaving them to fall behind the other yers. For the yers, Points were a rare resource that could be used to upgrade their abilities that were awakened during Cultivation, or for lucky ones, right from the start as Innate Abilities. Like the rest of the people in this World, yers could also be a Manamatus, equally as rare. They could upgrade their Affinities the same way William could, but the difference was that the cost of upgrading their Affinities was much greater. While killing Magical Beasts,pleting Quests, and unlocking or upgrading Titles was still a method of earning Points, entering new locations, surviving tribtions, and many other methods were not avable to the yers. Additionally, the yers could not awaken random new Talents from a shop like William could. To learn a new Talent, they had to actively learn the Talent from a skilled enough NPC. This was much harder than it sounded, since most wouldn''t even be able to attract the attention of high-ranking NPCs, and low-ranking ones wouldn''t allow them to learn the Talent. Even weeks after the game was released, only around thirty percent of yers were able to awaken a Talent. These people were usually already somewhat Talented in a particr skill, such as real-life archers learning the Archery Talent after being picked up by a master archer, or people with chemistry majors in college learning the Alchemy Talent using a mix of prior knowledge and adapting to the rules of the new World. Up to now, most yers had at least one Talent, but the difficulty of acquiring a second was still immense. It didn''t help that revealing that they could upgrade Talents to the NPCs usually resulted in death or envement, so the yers learned quickly to conceal that fact. There were a few bonuses that yers had that William didn''t, however. For one, the yers could buy and sell Potential Points on a market if they so wished using gold. This was a very popr function, but Potential Points were rarely listed for sale. Because of this, people began offering real-life money in exchange for Potential Points, promptly raising the value of Potential Points and also the general interest in the game. Even so, only those who didn''t y the game seriously or wanted to earn a living would sell their Potential Points. Some would earn Points for themselves and sell a fraction of the amount they earned so they could pay their rent and food bills. And so, many of the yers outside the walls of Blue Moon City were carefully listening to the instructions given to them, hoping to perform the best and earn more Points than the others. Some that had learned various trapping techniques dug pits with the Earth Element and filled them with punji sticks that would impale the crossing Magical Beasts. Others made preparations of their own by ensuring their weapons were sharp and ready for battle, or they had a full stock of healing Pills. No one could be sure that a healer would be there in time to save their lives. Carl and William arrived at the backline just minutes before the Elemental Beast Tide was set to arrive. They could already feel the tremors in the ground, and William''s Life Sense could detect thousands of presences just a few kilometers away. Carl unfurled his scroll and released all ten of his Golden Core summons, then spread them out in a formation that would allow maximum coverage. Their purpose would be to engage any Magical Beasts that got past the front lines, and attack from afar when they had nothing to do. William''s assignment was the same, although he didn''t have any Magical Beasts. After rying his Space, Life, and Earth Affinities to his captain, William was told to raise Earth Barriers to defend against any long-range attacks and act as a healer otherwise, providing aid to those on the front lines. William had chosen to reveal these three Elements because it wouldn''t be too high-profile. A decent number of Cultivators at his level had two or three Elements, and while the Space Element was very rare, it was only enough to raise some eyebrows, not worth killing someone over. The Life Element was also somewhat rare, but it was an appreciated Element, and no one wanted to get on a healer''s bad side. William hoped to raise the level of his Savior Title some more while also gaining some Potential Points in the process. There was also the number of casualties to think about, since William had to keep the number under ten percent to ensure hepleted the System Quest. He didn''t underestimate the Medium rating of the System Quest, knowing that it was entirely based on his current strength. If he had to hold back, however, the difficulty would probably be rated higher. William didn''t waste time, constructing Advanced Arrays to support the traps created by the other Cultivators. He purposed the Arrays to conceal the presence of the pits, and sharpen the punji sticks that lied underneath. Additionally, William added Advanced Arrays of Speed and Strength to buff the Cultivators, while also creating a massive Advanced Mana Gathering Array that would cover the entire battlefield. Many of the yers took notice of William after seeing the series of Arrays activate and buff them all. Simple appraisal functions on their System Panels revealed him to only be "NPC Yuming", while the more advanced appraisals that cost Points showed something else entirely. ¡ª¡ª¡ª William [Disguised]: (SS-Rank NPC) -Race: Human -Age: 41 -Lifespan: 300 Years (Excellent physical health) -Affiliations: Five Elements Sect, Adventurer''s Guild, Alchemy Hall, Array Hall, Hillvire Empire, Gravitas Ruins STATS: ( - ) -Offense: S -Defense: SS -Cultivation: S -Magic: SSR -Potential: X -Recruitment Difficulty: SSR ¡ª¡ª¡ª Those who knew William''s true identity chose to keep the information to themselves and take advantage of itter, while the others marked down "Yuming" as a potential NPC to recruit in the future, or even to pay to learn Arrays from. William, who knew none of this, continued cing Arrays to support the battlefield. When the Elemental Beast Tide entered the one-kilometer range of the City, William halted his movements and started gathering Mana of the Earth Element to his fingertips. The captains issued their orders. "Front lines, attack! Let the battle begin!" Chapter 230: The Battle Begins! The Cultivators charged forward, the mages releasing their highest damage Spells while the others ran at high speed to the nearest enemy with their swords raised high. For a group that had only been formed in thest week, they were quite organized, and each person paid attention to the others'' movements so as to avoid friendly fire. Following the Captains'' order to fire, William formed his Earth Mana into a giant spike the size of a two-story building with small cracks on its surface, thenunched it towards the tightest group of Magical Beasts. At the halfway point, William shouted amand of his own, although he didn''t need to. "Scatter!" The giant Earth Spike split into hundreds of smaller earth spikes, their silvery tips reflecting the sunlight as they flew through the air. If one focused hard enough, they would notice that the tips of the Earth Spikes were actually made of silver! He controlled the Spikes to rotate at high speeds while they travelled, each Earth Spike targeting a different Magical Beast at the end of its path. -Developed a new Magic Spell: +1 PP -New Spell: Needle Storm Seeing the Earth Spikes approaching, some Magical Beasts panicked and raised walls of Earth to defend, but they were a second too slow as the Earth Spikes were faster. A series of cracking noises followed as the Earth Spikes tore through the Magical Beasts'' flesh and shattered their bones. An attack at the Nascent Soul level was much too strong for them to bear with their bodies. Most of the Earth Spikes struck vital points, killing the Magical Beasts instantly. Dozens of Beasts fell to the ground in front of the charging Cultivators, forcing them to slow their movements lest they trip over the corpses. -Defeated Sandicore (x18): x90 PP -Defeated Marauder Scorpion (x3): +16 PP -Defeated Desert Beetle (x42): +210 PP --Upgraded Title: +3 PP -Multikiller (Umon --> Rare): Killed at least 50 enemies with the same spell or its aftereffects. +10% Area of Effect (AoE) radius. The others were surprised at William''s unique Spell that obliterated a group of Golden Core Beasts in an instant, but they didn''t have time to ask about it. They rushed over the corpses at a group of Desert Beetles that weren''t far behind, waving their swords through the air as a taunt. William stepped back and started to look for injured Cultivators. He focused with Life Sense on the entire battlefield at once, but it was hard to make sense of anything. The Cultivators all shone as a mass of vitality, and the sheer number of people made the effect extremely blinding. William was forced to narrow his range and break the battlefield up into fifths, then check each portion individually. He would call his group the Fifth Section, while his current focus was on the Fourth. He noticed a group of four weak Core Formation Cultivators that were already heavily injured and struggling to take on a single Sandicore. "Carl, focus two of your summons on interrupting enemy Magic Spells. I''m going to leave for a bit." William said as he teleported away, to which Carl nodded. The nearby captain looked back to see William gone and became slightly angry, "Yuming, where did you go? Come back here!" His shout had no effect, since William was already too far away. The captain cursed his bad luck and focused on controlling his section of the battlefield with the four Elements he was blessed with, Earth, Fire, nt, and Water. In the Fourth Section, one of the four Cultivators closed his eyes as the Sandicore''s tail stabbed forward and pierced his chest. Venom coursed through his veins at high speed as the man''s vision started to fade. "Am I...going to die here?" he was on the verge of tears while bitterly thinking about how little he had lived. Other than Cultivating and practicing his sword, the man hadn''t done much in his entire life. He hadn''t even found a girlfriend yet! He opened his eyes for onest look at the World, just in time to see the Sandicore''s head cut clean off its neck by a tiny sword with a hilt covered in aquamarine gemstones. The wielder was William, who knelt down in front of the man and used Life Magic to heal his wounds. William put away the Sword of Shifting Sands and secretly used Poison Magic from his other hand to detoxify the Sandicore''s venom, clearing up the man''s vision and giving him back the energy to stand. "Thank you!" he bowed at William with his head low. "No time for that, rest for a moment then get back to the fight." William said seriously as he teleported to other parts of the battle. Seeing William disappear in an instant, the man was stunned, but he nodded and gathered his wits before returning to his threepanions for another round. The moment William appeared in the midst of another Cultivator group, he ducked his head to avoid an arrow that targeted his position, then caught a second that was already in the air and snapped it in half. He turned his head to face the archer that shot at him, who mouthed an apology and looked away awkwardly. William didn''t waste his time on the archer and focused his Mana to erect a ten-meter dome around a group of Cultivators that were surrounded by Marauder Scorpions. Despite their name, these scorpions could spit acid from their mouths, turning them into a very dangerous opponent. William healed the Cultivators to their peak while the dome was slowly corroded away from the outside. When he was finished, heunched an Earth spike through every hole that formed, ignoring the acid and killing the Marauder Scorpions on the other side in an instant. Before the Cultivators had any time to thank William, he teleported away again. It was moments like these that William wished he had the Space Element at S-Rank, since he would be able to add its Elemental Sphere to the Artifact Belt he was wearing. That being said, his Mana consumption was surprisingly quite lowpared to his Reserves. Because of his Manamatus Title, the power of his Space Magic was increased by one hundred percent, which meant he only had to use half the Mana to teleport the desired distance. Additionally, his Seven Colored Mage Title increased Mana Efficiency of all Spells by another ten percent, while the Spell Master Title at Epic Rank increased his Mana Control by thirty percent, meaning he had to use less effort to get the Space Mana to do what he wanted it to. All of these Titlesbined, in addition to his status as a Cultivator, allowed him to spend much less Mana on each teleport than usual. He could short-distance teleport over five hundred times and still have the Mana tounch a Spell! I now have two things on my list of upgrades. After I upgrade Uri to the next Rank, the Space Magic is definitely going next! But for that...I need more Points! William shed to the Third Section of the battlefield with this thought in mind, releasing another Needle Storm Spell that killed dozens of Magical Beasts in quick session. Chapter 231: Menace Of The Battlefield The name "Yuming" spread across the battlefield in a matter of minutes as William teleported from Section to Section, saving the lives of many Cultivators and yers alike, simultaneously destroying their enemies with Earth or Space Magic. Some more intelligent Magical Beasts noticed the situation after a few cycles and began preparing ambushes for William. They waited for him to teleport to injured Cultivators, with Mana prepared beforehand for spells to target his exit point. William had his Forcefield disabled during the entire fight to keep one of his most identifiable features hidden, but it didn''t matter. The moment he sensed an attack flying in his direction, the S-Rank bonus effect of his Reflexes Talent would trigger, slowing down time. With his immense speed, William was able to make it look like he was narrowly dodging every attack, making the Magical Beasts lose confidence in their own strength. They started using AoE Spells such as a rain of Earth Spike to take down William, but he blocked them all with a wall or dome of Earth. They even tried a massive Earthquake Spell that cracked the earth below everyone''s feet, but William recorrected the damage with his own Earth Element, nullifying thebined efforts of over a hundred Magical Beasts. If he couldn''t block the attacks, he teleported himself and the others out of the way, frustrating the Beasts to no end. He was untouchable, unstoppable...unkible! Regarded as a menace of the battlefield, the Magical Beasts began avoiding William altogether, focusing their efforts on the weaker Cultivators that failed to defend from their attacks. The battlefield entered a stalemate for a while, since the Beasts would retreat every time William teleported to heal the Cultivators. He ate his first two Tier 2 Mana Regeneration Pills to recover, then rushed to the next Section where many Cultivators were injured. All the while, William kept close tabs on the System Quest. So far, there were only three casualties across the entire battlefield, meaning only three people had died amongst the tens of thousands that showed up. The number was impressive, but William could tell that the others were bing exhausted, while the Magical Beasts still had some energy left. The traps that the Cultivators set had achieved their purpose, stalling or restricting the movements of many Magical Beasts and slowing their push, but it had also allowed the Magical Beasts in the back to keep their stamina high. Of the ten thousand Magical Beasts, around a thousand had died so far, but only half of the entire Tide had engaged an enemy. The rest were forced to stay back andunch long-range Magic Spells since they couldn''t get past their allies. The Magical Beasts were smart, but they didn''t think to split their forces in two groups or attack the City from another angle. They came all at once, with no real strategic n, only using their own battle experience to target the troublesome enemies and avoid the true monster known as Yuming. As the first wave of Magical Beasts died, they were reced by a fresh group that was full of stamina and ready to fight. The Beasts growled and released a massive wave of sand that covered the ground and would allow the Desert Beetles to hide better. Seeing that they had only wiped out a tenth of the overall force and that they even lost the terrain advantage, many of the Cultivators were briefly demoralized, but when Williamunched another massive spell and wiped out over a hundred Magical Beasts that had just dove underground, they regained some courage. They ate a Mana Regeneration Pill before rushing forward with renewed determination, prepared to die for the sake of their City. Their swords nged against the sturdy hides of the Marauder Scorpions, while their boots stomped on the heads of Desert Beetles that rose from the sand beneath their feet. But with William on the battlefield, how could he let them die? Carl was also exhausted, having spent most of his Mental energy controlling his Golden Core Beasts for more than half an hour. He withdrew all ten into their scrolls, then sat back for a while to rest. His Section was the most well-defended, so they were more at ease than the other groups. Not only did they have the most powerful Cultivators in their group, they also had the most extensive Array of traps, improved greatly with William''s help. There was little chance of the Magical Beasts breaching their lines. William teleported to Section One, where he saw the Thin Creek Guild Receptionist, Jenny, impaling a group of Sandicores on a massive Ice Spike that reminded him of a kebab. Her Cultivation had advanced another Realm, reaching the early stages of the Golden Core Realm, and her strength had flourished. It seemed that all the fighting against the Beast Tides had spurred her growth greatly. William admired this girl''s talent, who had grown up in a small vige and didn''t have any backers other than the Guild Master. Also in Section One were the people of the Array Hall. He could see Array Master Fowley weaving Spatial Arrays that teleported Magical Beasts that broke past the main group back into their own, creating chaos in the process. They arranged the battlefield to stack the edges, forcing the Magical Beasts to funnel into the center, impressive.Williammented after finally gaining a full understanding of the battle. For a Cultivation World with little knowledge of science outside a few rare individuals, William was impressed at their battle strategies and tactics. He could even see the most powerful members of the City on the walls, focusing their Mana into a wide-range protection and detection Array alike that would scan for unnatural enemy movements while also protecting the City walls from coteral damage. It seemed that almost everyone was here except the City guards, who William assumed were maintaining order from within the City. It wasn''t unnatural for some malicious Cultivators to take advantage of a Beast Tide and rob stores blind or try to steal from the treasury. William joined up with the group from Section One and healed their wounds while the Magical Beasts retreated from him. Once he was done, he shed all the way back to Section Five to check on the situation, then repeated the process while the Magical Beasts continued their onught. As the Cultivators became used to the Magical Beasts'' attacks, William didn''t need to heal the others as often. He became bolder, even daring to teleport into the center of the Magical Beasts while simultaneously unleashing an AoE Earth Spell that caused spikes to rise from the ground within a range of five hundred meters in every direction. The Nascent Soul Cultivators on the walls noticed a Domain-like effect from William''s Spell, but it wasn''t a true Domain. It was only inspired by one, adopting simr properties to cover a massive area at once. They could tell that it didn''t have the usual effects unique to a Domain. Regardless, their eyes widened in shock upon seeing hundreds of Magical Beasts skewered through and through by the spikes. -Defeated Marauder Scorpion (x148): x740 PP -Defeated Sandicore (x302): +1510 PP -Defeated Desert Beetle (x82): +410 PP --Upgraded Title: +20 PP -Multikiller (Rare --> Epic): Killed at least 100 enemies with the same spell or its aftereffects. +20% Area of Effect (AoE) radius. --Upgraded Title: +50 PP -Multikiller (Epic --> Legendary): Killed at least 500 enemies with the same spell or its aftereffects. +40% Area of Effect (AoE) radius. Chapter 232: Is It Over? Over five hundred Magical Beasts died in one go, while a few hundred more were heavily injured. In an instant, William had crippled almost a tenth of the Elemental Beast Tide! The Cultivators increased the intensity of their attacks, wiping out the injured Magical Beasts and sending William a wave of Potential Points for the assists. Therge corpses became an obstacle for the Tide, preventing many from keeping a solid footing as they advanced. The captains took advantage of this and ordered everyone to focus their attacks on Beasts that were trying to cross over their deadpanions. The bodies continued to pile up further, until it was like an unsurpassable wall that the Magical Beasts had to go around. William returned to his duties as a healer, making sure everyone was at full strength. When someone was low on Mana, he took their ce temporarily while they consumed Mana Regeneration Pills, wiping out enemy after enemy with extreme skill and precision. Those that knew William''s true identity were stunned at his battle prowess. They had seen videos of the NPC releasing his Life Domain, and even of him battling thousands of Core Formation Cultivators by himself. They knew he wasn''t showing even a fraction of his real strength. Yet, with just three Elements and not even using his Domains, William was treating the Region Event like a walk in the park. If they could see William''s Cultivation, they might be even more surprised. Many of Blue Moon City''s higher-ups that were present on the wall took note of William''s contributions and decided to reward himter. While he still had a long way to go, "Yuming" had so far limited the deaths to the single digits. For a battle of this scale, that number was unheard of! Each of the higher-ups nodded in approval as William rushed into the battle once more. They were impressed with his strength and stamina, but none of them felt threatened by William''s power. Instead, they felt William would be a great asset to their City. Each of his Elements were the best form of support, enough to defend an entire army by himself. Who wouldn''t want that person on their side? If William could fight with them during future Beast Tides, they had a better chance of stopping this cmity. The battle raged on for hours. Thousands of Magical Beasts died, while less than a hundred Cultivators died in return. Most of the Cultivator deaths were yers, who became arrogant after killing a few Magical Beasts and died to some nasty tricks not long after. Some were struck in the feet by a scorpion''s tail from underground, paralyzed and unable to dodge the next attack from their opponents. Others misjudged the speed of the Sandicores and failed to dodge a fatal w strike or their bodies were corroded over time when hit by a nasty Magic Spell from the ins Vultures. Most of these instances happened while William was resting, so he wasn''t able to prevent their deaths. Either way, he didn''t me himself for it. He had already done quite a bit on the battlefield, and the casualties were less than one percent. When there were only a thousand Magical Beasts remaining, Sections Two and Four retreated to rest and start clearing away the battlefield, while Sections One and Five moved inward to cover their allies. With so few enemies remaining, the two Sections would just get in the way. William didn''t let up during the fight at all. He had both the lives of his friends and family to fight for, and Potential Points. He wasn''t going to give up on either. His figure teleported between the now three Sections, controlling the fight with even greater ease. Before healing his allies, William would choose to deal with their opponents first, his reaction time pushed to its max as his body often appeared in the path of enemy attacks. Wherever William was, a pair of Earth Walls rose to canalize the Magical Beasts into forming a straight line, then heunched long and thick Earth Spikes that would impale them the same way Jenny did. If one Spike didn''t work, he used multiple to pierce the Beasts through and through many times. -Developed a new Magic Spell: +1 PP -New Spell: Earth Skewer "Yuming, over here!" someone shouted while holding an injured friend. The man''s arm was hanging onto the rest of his body by a thread, and venom was coursing through his veins at high speed. William teleported over and held the arm in its normal position, causing the injured man to lose consciousness from the pain. He channeled a mix of Poison and Life Magic into the man''s body next, detoxifying the poison like he had done many times while simultaneously healing the arm. There was a scar remaining, which William left intentionally to hide his talents, but the arm would work just as well as before. He performed a quick scan to make sure nothing else was wrong with the man, then teleported away before his friend had time to say thanks. The moment he exited his teleport point, William was greeted by the massive fist of a Sand Golem that was a bitrger than the others. William marveled at the Magical Beast at the very peak of the Golden Core Realm, wondering how it had evaded his attention for so long. With a flick of his wrist, William shot a dozen tiny needles of Earth that targeted the joints of the Sand Golem, its arms hanging limp and legs separating from its body as the joints were shattered into tiny pieces. The battle ended not long after, the Cultivators wiping out the remaining Magical Beasts with great skill. After fighting for hours against the same types of Beasts, many had be ustomed to their tactics and moves. A good portion of Blue Moon City''s Cultivators had been to the Foam Desert before, so this knowledge helped many of the NPCs to remain alive despite a few setbacks. William took the initiative to directly store five hundred of the most intact Magical Beast corpses from the battlefield in his Space Ring, since his Titanium Space Rings had over five hundred cubic meters of space each. Even if each of the Magical Beasts were five times their size, William could still store well over sixty thousand Magical Beasts. Most Golden Core Magical Beasts ranged from 10 to 15 meters in size, while the Golden Core Sand Golems were a bitrger at roughly 22 meters. That being said, as long as they were stacked nicely, the Magical Beasts would hardly take up any room in his Space Rings. When peering inside his now partially filled Space Ring, William felt a bit gross, but at least he knew the corpses would be kept in good condition until he found a use for them. I should put shelves in the Space Rings so I don''t have to stack the corpses on top of each other. Everything should get their own special ce. Ooh, I can even categorize them by their Elemental Affinities.William''s mind was filled with many new ideas for his Space Rings and opted to make the necessary adjustments at the next opportunity. William joined up with Carl while waiting for the System to announce his Questplete and scoured the battlefield, looking for rare Magical Beast materials that could be added to his collection. Blue Moon City would surely im a portion of his spoils, but Carl exined that the Cities tended to let the battle''s participants take most of the items. To ensure that the materials from battle still ended up going towards the City''s development, Blue Moon City would usually purchase the materials at 90% of their market value from Adventurers that had no use for them. It was a win-win situation for both parties, since the Adventurers could clear up some room in their Space Rings while the City could replenish their stocks. Only a small percentage of Cultivators were like William, able to directly make use of Beast materials for their own trade skills. Whether it was Alchemy, Forging, Tailoring, or even Cooking, William had many ways to use the materials he earned. For him, selling these precious materials was a waste. I''m sure Master would be happy if I brought some of these back for him too. Maybe he''ll teach me something interesting... William was a loot goblin, but his Master had lived a long time and had a trick for everything. Sacrificing a small portion of his spoils was more than worth it in exchange for Riyald''s teachings. Just as the battlefield was nearly cleared away of Magical Beast corpses, one of the Cultivators that was tasked to pull security ran up to the walls with great haste. He shouted up to the higher-ups on the wall, who were already furrowing their brows at something in the distance. "Seniors! There''s another Beast Tide heading our way!" The higher-ups nodded to each other and called down to the runner, "How many did you see?" "Not many, maybe a hundred, but they''re all in the Nascent Soul Realm. And..." his face was visibly nervous. "And?" "There''s a man leading them!" Chapter 233: Join Retribution The old men looked at each other upon hearing the scout''s words, "Who could it be? Controlling a hundred Nascent Soul Beasts at the same time?" They shook their heads andmitted to silence. It didn''t matter who it was, rather what they wanted. As the Magical Beasts grew closer, some that had fought in previous battles recognized their unique shape and the dark glow emanating from their bodies. Their sixteen-meter-tall humanoid figures resembled that of red and ck hedgehogs and their ws extended over a meter long, dragging across the ground as they walked toward the group. "They''re all Shadogs!" someone eximed in horror. The previous Beast Tide only numbered about a thousand Magical Beasts, but among them were ten Shadogs. They wreaked havoc across the entire battlefield and even came close enough to the City to be engaged by the ballistae. And now someone was leading over a hundred?!? Could it be a Soul Formation level enemy? As everyone grew nervous, the Shadogs approached the one-kilometer mark from the battlefield and stopped. The man''s figure became more visible at this moment, but spectators were disappointed to find that they could only make out a ck cloak and nothing else. The man broke away from the Shadogs and flew towards the walls where the higher-ups were present. A few Spells wereunched in his direction, but they were all countered by his Spirit Aura. "Stop attacking." the higher-ups ordered the Cultivators below, who had no choice but to listen. The man raised his hood a little so his mouth could be seen, which was formed into a light smile. Next to William, Carl''s clenched his fists so hard that he started to shake. He didn''t reveal anything on his face, but William could tell that Carl was furious. "What''s the matter, Carl?" William whispered. "Nothing." "I see..." William didn''t press any further. He looked up top, where the man was engaging in conversation with the higher-ups from Blue Moon City. He wondered if the battle was over, or if it had just begun. His Cultivation Talent told him that the cloaked man was in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, having passed three Tribtions. Despite that, William had an odd feeling that the man was more powerful than his own Realm suggested. If they had to fight with this person, William knew that not even he would stand a chance. The best he could do is run. Only a few minutes passed before the man suddenly turned around, waving his hand in an exaggerated manner while the cloak flowed in the wind. He looked down on the group of Cultivators below and spoke. "Your current plight is not because of bad luck, nor is it the Heavens punishing you. No, this problem has a source!" he started. The Cultivators below were confused. Is he suggesting the Beast Tides aren''t natural? "The Seven Cores of the Foam Desert were absorbed, and the World has mobilized its energy to regenerate them. The Magical Beasts you have been fighting nonstop are just the leftover energy." Hearing the man''s words, William was surprised. I only absorbed one of them, so who got the other six? Someone shouted up above to the cloaked man with a hint of fear in his voice, "Who are you, and why should we believe you?" The ck-cloaked man revealed a sinister smile before creating a small spike made of the Darkness Element and stabbed it through the Cultivator''s shadow, nailing him in ce. As the Cultivator shuddered in terror, the cloaked man answered his question. "I am Master ck, the leader of Retribution. You should believe me because I exist." The Cultivators below were surprised and confused at the same time. They had never heard of Retribution, nor this "Master ck". Was it a new group? Tenebris continued speaking, "We''ve investigated the recent Beast Tides a lot, and we''vee to a conclusion. The person who absorbed the Cores is none other than Outer Core Disciple William of the Five Elements Sect, the tinum-Ranked Adventurer and Level 9 Array Master from the Blue Moon City Array Hall!" Someoneughed, "A mere Outer Core Disciple? You have to be kidding me. Even I know that you must be a Nascent Soul Realm at least to have the ability to absorb the- ugh!" the man''s words were halted by a shadowy spike simr to the other Cultivator. Tenebris shot a beam of Darkness Mana at the Cultivator''s head, piercing through his brain and killing him instantly, "Does anyone else want to interrupt me?" No one said a word. "Good. Now, as I was saying, this boy has somehow acquired the ability to absorb cores of the World, and we need to capture him before we can resolve the problem. Join Retribution and we will guarantee your safety from the Beast Tides. Don''t be indecisive, don''t hesitate. Don''t sit back and wait for someone else to act. Look at the Beast Tide that you had to fight by yourselves when there are many Cultivators much stronger than you that can destroy the Tide with ease. Where are they? Not here! That''s because they''re scared to fight, they don''t want to get involved. You''re different. Help us capture William, the criminal that dared to defy the World!" Many felt that the man''s words made sense. We are barely Golden Core Cultivators, yet we''re fighting one on one with Golden Core Beasts! Many of us aren''t even in the Golden Core Realm! Where are our Sect Masters and Elders? Why aren''t they here? After a few moments, someone raised their hand carefully, hoping not to be killed off like the other Cultivator. Tenebris nodded in his direction. "S-Senior, what is Retribution?" Tenebris smiled. This was his favorite part. "We are descended from the Heavens; we are the chosen ones! We are meant to restore the world to the way it''s supposed to be, where Yin and Yang meet, and bnce is restored! While your Sect Masters and the Nobles are picking their noses in their offices, we are the ones doing the work. We are the reason why this chaotic Cultivation World has been peaceful for so long. Supreme Left betrayed us, and even he won''t help us with the Beast Tides. He only cares about himself and his family, not the World." The statement about Supreme Left''s supposed betrayal was aplete lie, but it had the intended effect. Many Cultivators seriously considered joining Retribution, to make real change in the World and stop the Beast Tides once and for all. A blonde youth holding arge staff embedded with many gemstones appeared from a portal in the distance. It was Supreme Left, and he was heading directly towards Tenebris at a speed that William could barely track. The other Cultivators couldn''t see anything, due to the manner of Supreme Left''s concealment method and his great speed. They only saw Tenebris slightly turn his head to look in a certain direction. Before Supreme Left could get in range of Tenebris, the man''s figure suddenly burst into smoke and disappeared. As the smoke cleared up, Tenebris spoke one more time. "If you want to join Retribution, take the portal." A massive portal over a hundred meters tall and equally as wide opened up in the middle of the battlefield. While Supreme Left was investigating the portal for traps with an Artifact, a few dozen Cultivators passed through the portal, followed by over a hundred more that were quickly forming a long line. Among the group was Jenny, whose long ck hair swayed back and forth as her figure approached the portal. Behind her was Briar, who had snuck into the battle despite his Cultivation only being in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Despite his status as a Noble, it seemed Briar had a few qualms with the current situation of the World. His eyes were unwavering as he grew ever closer to the portal, as if he was possessed. William used the Space Element and teleported next to both of them, then teleported a few kilometers away to a random part of the Foam Desert with one in each hand. "What the fu- " Jenny''s vision blurred for a second from the teleportation, but she couldn''t figure out who had done it. William had already teleported away a second time and returned with Carl, who had already stored his Magical Beasts. He sat down on the ground and looked at the two people he hadn''t seen in a long time. "You''re the healer Yuming, right? What''s your problem, bringing us here so suddenly? I don''t know you!" Jenny shouted in anger. Briar felt the same way. Other than recognizing his great talent, Briar had no clue why this Yuming would suddenly bring him away from the portal that he was about to go into. "Do you really want to join Retribution?" William asked. "Huh? What does this have to do with anything?" Jenny asked. William changed his voice to sound like his old self, then spoke again, "It''s me." Chapter 234: Ill Decide On My Own Hearing William''s familiar voice, Jenny finally understood what was going on. Her brown, almond shaped eyes glittered in happiness for a moment, but her expression turned to indifference when she blinked. Jenny ced her hands on her hips and shouted at William, "Where have you been? Do you know what happened to the vige while you were gone? And your mother is worried sick about you!" She hadpletely forgotten about William''s show of strength during the battle and had autonomously started talking to him like he was still the non-Cultivator kid that could barely defeat a Wind Wolf. William looked down in shame and nodded, "I know, but I had no choice. I couldn''te back." Ever since he was chased by the Rhio Ancient Family Cultivators, William had pretty much been forced down a specific path. He couldn''t return home from the Five Elements Sect until he became an Inner Core Disciple, and then he was taken as a student by Riyald. When he left the Gravitas Ruins, he was already being chased by the leading figures of the World, and now he had to do everything in his power to keep his identity hidden, lest he be discovered again. He was already taking a huge risk by revealing himself to Briar and Jenny when Supreme Left was seen nearby, but William kept his Life Sense trained on the man''s movements. If Supreme Left did anything suspicious, William was ready to teleport a few thousand kilometers in an instant. "Can I just ask why I''m here?" Briar suddenly asked. There was still some pride in his tone, but the usual arrogance was no longer present. After losing his second home and being forced to join the rest of his family in Blue Moon City, Briar began to realize that his talent was only so-so. What more, while his parents were both at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, they didn''t bother to help with the Beast Tide at Thin Creek Vige at all! That was why when Master ck asked for supporters to join Retribution, Briar didn''t hesitate to join the line, and Jenny was the same. And now, William pulled them away from that option. William looked at the red-haired youth, "I don''t know, maybe it''s because we''re from the same vige? Either way, joining those people seems like a bad idea." "Do you know about them?" Briar asked. "Well...no, but- " William actually didn''t know what to say. Other than watching Tenebris try to assassinate Supreme Left, William knew nothing about Retribution. Perhaps they truly were good, and Supreme Left was the evil, but his gut instinct said to stay away. Not only that, but Retribution wanted to capture him. No matter how he felt about Retribution, their stance was clearly obvious. "Then don''t say it''s a bad idea!" Briar shouted. He started to run back towards the group of people outside the portal, but William teleported him back. He ran again and again, but William did the same thing every time. At one point, Briarunched a fireball spell, but it bounced off William''s skin harmlessly, making Briar grit his teeth in frustration. He sat down in a slump and propped his head up with his arm, "Fine, I guess I can''t go even if I wanted to." While Briar was angry at William for keeping him there, he was also impressed with the boy''s growth. It had only been a few months, and now William could keep Briar hostage without lifting a finger. He didn''t fail to notice that William now had the Earth and Space Elements. Had he concealed all these Elements the entire time? William sighed, "They clearly said they want to capture me. Can they be anything good?" he ryed the scene of Tenebris jumping out of Supreme Left''s shadow to Briar and Jenny, causing them to widen their eyes in shock. He continued, "All I''m saying is that something''s off about their group. I wouldn''t trust them even if they weren''t after my life." Jenny nodded, but she didn''t feel good about the situation. "It doesn''t change the fact that the older generation should be responsible for dealing with these Beast Tides, why do so many people have to sacrifice their lives?" William frowned. He agreed, but now wasn''t the time for that. "Forget those old guys. If we want to change something, we need to be strong enough to do it. Don''t let that man manipte you, he didn''t help either, he''s no different!" "I''ll decide that on my own." Jenny said. William might have grown stronger than her, but he wasn''t more mature. She looked at Briar and started walking towards the massive portal in the distance, William''s words still in the back of her mind. He''s right, but I can''t sit by when others are risking their lives. I''ll get stronger in my own way. Briar followed behind Jenny, but William chose not to stop them this time. When they had crossed a few hundred meters, Briar suddenly stopped. He looked back at William with a slight smile and said a few words even though he knew William couldn''t hear him. "Thanks for looking out for us, Will." Jenny gave Briar an odd look, but she didn''t refute his im. She wouldn''t forget that out of the hundreds of people waiting to enter the portal, they were the ones that William wanted to protect. William disguised his voice again and spoke to Carl, "We should go too." "What about them? Weren''t you going to keep them from joining Retribution?" Carl asked. "There''s nothing I can say to change their mind. They''re living their own lives, after all." William replied listlessly. I hope they will be alright... William thought to himself. -They''ll be fine. Can you see the future, System? -No. I see, well thanks anyway. On the way back to the battlefield, the System notified William of thepleted Quest, granting him five thousand Potential Points, ten Fame, and five Humanity points as a reward. It was a significant number, but nothingpared to the over fifteen thousand Potential Points he gained from killing Golden Core Beasts. Out of the ten thousand Beasts, William had killed nearly three thousand by himself, which was an incredible amount to say the least. For a single person to kill almost a third of the Elemental Beast Tide, the City''s higher-ups were astounded. System, how many more Magical Beasts do I need to kill to upgrade my Beast yer Title? Even after all that, it didn''t go up. -Your Beast yer Title has 4992 Beasts killed out of the required 5000. You need to kill 8 more Magical Beasts to upgrade your Title to Legendary. Just eight more, huh? So close... It couldn''t be helped. William could have gained plenty more Potential Points if he worked harder, but he didn''t want to go overboard like he did in the past many times. System, how do you think I did in the battle? Did I use too much strength? Am I going to attract more enemies now? -You saved the lives of many, and the Elemental Affinities you revealed are not threatening to the powers of the Azures Continent. You are safe for the time being. William heaved a sigh of relief. The day seemed to be full of good news. Hopefully it stays that way. Chapter 235: Blue Moons Proposal, A Secondary Requirement? William and Carl returned to the City walls where they could still see a small line outside the portal. Over a thousand of the battle''s fighters opted to join Retribution, many of which spoke excitedly about joining their first Faction, which William didn''t understand. Just as he was about to ask the System about what the Cultivators said, a light breeze blew past William''s face. "Huh, what was I about to say? Well anyway..." William re-entered Blue Moon City where the higher-ups were waiting. Their smiling faces reminded William of a group of proud grandparents that had just watched their grandson during sports. "Mr. Yuming! It''s good to see you back safe and sound! I''m surprised you didn''t want to join Retribution." the youngest of the group, though still grey-haired and age, spoke to William first. "Yeah, well I don''t like to be tied up too much. I can help out in my own way." William replied simply. "I see. I know you just finished a difficult battle, but are you perhaps interested in participating in the next Beast Tide with us? Your assistance would save many lives." the man asked. William shook his head, "As much as I want to, I won''t be in the area for a while. I need to collect some Alchemy ingredients and I can''t stay long." "Alchemy ingredients? Do you have a list of what you need? Perhaps we of Blue Moon City can be of use." a bald man with saggy cheeks spoke up. His robes suggested he was a member of the Alchemy Hall in Blue Moon City. William nodded and handed the man a list of the ingredients he needed. Seeing the list of manymon Magical Beast materials, with a mix of somewhat rare herbs made the man smile. "These are easy, Mr. Yuming. How many sets do you need?" William pointed down the list, "I need ten of these, and these, and these. Then I need fifty of these, twenty-five of those, and a hundred of this. Can you do it?" "That''s...quite an amount, but luckily the Alchemy Hall does indeed have all of these in store. I don''t know how you expected to find this by yourself, it would take weeks!" Williamughed, "I was prepared for that." With his Herb Gathering Talent, the Life Element, and the Detection Arrays from his Illusionist''s Cloak, it would probably only take a few days at most to locate the ingredients he needed. That being said, Blue Moon City proposed an offer to William. In exchange for his assistance during the next Beast Tide, William would be provided Tier 3 and below Alchemy ingredients for free. If he wanted anything of higher Tier, he would still have to purchase them at market price. William was more than happy to help, considering he was the reason for the Elemental Beast Tides in the first ce. Additionally, killing Magical Beasts was the most efficient way to earn Potential Points. Magical Beasts at the Golden Core Realm normally didn''t appear in suchrge numbers, so without the Beast Tides, it would still take a long time to earn a considerable number of points. Uri and Atticus had been in the Hillvire Empire for thest week now, and they had only earned him abined total of 604 Potential Points. That was almost the same as waiting two days for the Potential Farms to grow. Points are still Points. William thought. No matter if he earned them manually or automatically, every Point would help him improve his strength further. It was a good thing, since he needed a massive number of Potential Points to upgrade his Cultivation Talent further. He thanked the higher-ups for their offer, then proceeded to heal the remainder of the injured persons on the battlefield. Even after the entire battle, his Savior Talent didn''t upgrade from Legendary to Mythic. ording to the System, he had achieved the first condition, which was to save over five thousand people, but there was a secondary requirement that was holding him back. This was William''s first time seeing a secondary requirement on a Title, which even the Manamatus Title didn''t have. He asked the System what the requirement was, but it didn''t give a definite answer. It only said to "keep healing people". With no choice but to ept the System''s words, William took Carl to meet the bald man at the Alchemy Hall. There, he was provided in advance the Alchemy ingredients he needed to refine his pills. Additionally, he purchased a few specific and somewhat rare Tier 5 ingredients for a hundred Mana Stones. These would be necessary for refining a whole new Pill that would further assist him during the Tribtions. Before he left the Alchemy Hall, William secretly upgraded his Alchemy Talent from B to S-Rank. It only cost 1250 Potential Points, which was nothingpared to the 37103 he had before the upgrade. Like the other Trade Talents, William experienced a hundred years of simted Alchemy Experience, which gave him more advanced knowledge of the various Alchemy ingredients. With his abilities improved, William could easily refine Tier 7 Pills, and could make simple Tier 8 Pills, although Tiers 9 and 10 were still a bit far off. He could upgrade his Alchemy Talent again, but he didn''t need to refine such advanced Pills just yet. He would rather save the Points for something more useful. After all, he still needed to upgrade Uri and his Space Affinity, which would cost most of his stockpile. "How long do you think it will be before the next Beast Tide?" William asked the Alchemist. "Well... the Beast Tides were more frequent a month ago, but they''ve slowed down a lot. If I had to guess, I''d say the next one will arrive between two weeks and a month from now." he replied. The Alchemist reached into a Space Ring and gave William amunicator. "With this, you''ll always be in touch with me or a few other people from the City Hall. The range can cover the entire Continent, so distance shouldn''t be an issue if you are far away. We will contact you directly when the next Beast Tide is brewing." William nodded and epted themunicator, although he didn''t have much faith in its functions. He was supposed to go back to the Gravitas Ruins soon, but it seemed he would have to hold off on that once again. "Carl, do you need anything? I can refine some Pills for you or your Beasts if you need." William looked at his friend that was browsing the shelves. Carl shook his head, "I''m probably just going to buy a few more Mana Regeneration Pills." The bald man jumped into their conversation, "You can refine pills too? I thought you were an Array Master. How do you control the mes without the Fire Element?" William realized his slip-up, "I misspoke. My Master can refine pills, not me." "Your Master? What''s his name? Is he in Blue Moon City too?" "You wouldn''t know him." "..." the bald man''s cheeks appeared to sag even more than usual at that moment. William changed the topic, "Can we buy a hundred Mana Regeneration Pills?" Chapter 236: Abyssal Swamp Tide "What Tier do you want?" "Hmm...let''s go with sixty at Tier 4 and forty at Tier 3." William said after a moment of thought. Tier 2 Pills weren''t very useful to him anymore, and he''d probably need Tier 4 Pills when his Cultivation increased further. Buying the Pills outright was a waste of money, but he didn''t have the time to refine so many Pills at once. Not to mention it felt bad to intentionally mess up the refining process just so he wouldn''t have to deal with a Tribtion. Despite the ten percent discount provided by his Moneybags Title, William would still have to pay 54 Gold Coins per Tier 3 Pill and 72 per Tier 4, for a total of 6,480 Gold Coins. Since he only had 42 Gold left, William traded in 7 Mana Stones for the entire lot, then received his change of 520 Gold Coins. This interaction reminded William of just how valuable Mana Stones were. Since he had 6446 Mana Stones, he technically was a millionaire in Gold Coins. The Alchemist was also a bit surprised to see William casually using Mana Stones as payment. His surprise changed to shock as William stored the Alchemy ingredients in a Space Ring. "You shouldn''t do that! You''re going to damage the ingredients!" the bald Alchemist eximed in worry. "It''s a specialized Space Ring," William replied simply. He didn''t me the man for misunderstanding, since specialized Rings were very rare. Not to mention William hadn''t revealed the Ring when opening the portal, so the old man could only guess. "Ah, I see. It seems youe prepared, Mr. Yuming." the man calmed down, then walked off to help a customer that had just walked in. With the battle cleanup still ongoing, the Alchemy Hall was still a bit short-staffed. William and Carl left the Alchemy Hall following their interaction. As they walked, Carl showed off a newlypleted scroll containing five more Magical Beasts that he had captured during the battle. There were two Sand Golems, a Marauder Scorpion, a Sandicore, and a Desert Beetle. He had originally nned to catch two Sandicores instead of the Desert Beetle, but when he saw how swiftly they could tunnel through the sand, he changed his mind. It would be useful to have a Magical Beast that could probe a new environment. "Here are your Pills by the way." William handed Carl the Tier 3 Pills, while keeping the Tier 4''s for himself. "Thanks, how much do I owe you?" he asked. "Don''t worry about it, you can buy me somethingter if you really want." William replied. Carl nodded, "Where are we going next? To the Ruins?" "We were going to since I have what I need, but this thing doesn''t work inside." William waved around themunicator that the Alchemist had given him. "Then what are we going to do?" Carl asked while the Guards were opening the gate to exit the City. William remained silent while they passed through the gate, then performed a few short-distance teleports with Carl until they were well away from the walls. He stopped and pulled out a map, then pointed to a specific mark just a few hundred kilometers away from their current position. "I think it''s time we paid a visit to the Thieves'' Guild." *** Just inside the Providence Zone, inthe Spirit Ascension Sect. Fria was battling fiercely alongside her Elders against an Elemental Beast Tide of their own. Her ethereal greatsword shed the heads off multiple three-headed Hydrae in the Nascent Soul Realm. She had left the Gravitas Ruins early following thepletion of the Trial Tower and didn''t have any more reason to stay so she took the main portal to leave early. Unfortunately for her, she was greeted by a Beast Tide the moment she got back to the Sect. What was worse, the Magical Beasts that attacked were three-headed Hydrae, a very annoying opponent for someone of her strength. Only when one destroyed all three heads simultaneously could one kill a three-headed Hydra. If they didn''t do so correctly, another head would grow and they would need to slice off all four heads, or survive five minutes until the fourth head died from ack of nutrients. The battle against these Beasts had started a few hours ago, and over a hundred remained of the original five hundred Hydrae. This was the first Beast Tide that had attacked the Spirit Ascension Sect, but it was so strong already because it came directly from one of the most dangerous locations outside the Providence Zone, the Abyssal Swamp. Fria herself had killed over fifty of these Beasts, since her impressive Soul Strength allowed her to greatly extend the range of her greatsword. Even the few Elders in the Soul Formation Realm couldn''tpare to her current Soul Strength and took slightly longer to take on each Hydra. Just before the final Hydra was in, a man in a ck cloak appeared in the distance. This time, he was leading ten Soul Formation Hydrae with pale yellow marks on their foreheads. The Elders of the Sect recognized him immediately, their expressions turning grim as they knew what was toe. "You''ve rejected my invitation many times, this is yourst chance." Tenebris warned. "We have no intention of joining you!" Elder Fan shouted. His face was beet red with anger, and even the white hair on his head started to bristle. Arcs of electricity spread on his fingertips and clouds formed above his head as he prepared to battle with the cloaked man, knowing full well that he would die. Tenebris waved his hand and arge portal appeared, created by a subordinate from far away that had been given the coordinates in advance. He spoke. "I don''t care about you old folks. Unlike other Sects, you actually assisted the younger generation in this battle. This portal isn''t for you, but for your Disciples." "What do you mean?" Elder Fan asked warily. He didn''t care how nice Tenebris'' words sounded, he wouldn''t believe the man for a second. "Exactly that. Disciples of the Spirit Ascension Sect, join Retribution and fight with us to stop the Beast Tides. We must capture William, the criminal responsible for absorbing the Cores that maintain peace in the Magical Beast''s territory!" he proceeded to ramble on a long speech like he did outside Blue Moon City. When he was done speaking, however, no one moved. Tenebris looked at the group of Disciples below, who didn''t even take a single step towards the portal he had created with much effort. Even worse, he could sense Supreme Left flying at high speed in his direction. "Tch! Suit yourselves!" he ordered the Soul Formation Hydrae to attack the Spirit Ascension Sect, then disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Fria prepared herself for another difficult battle, but she was held back by Elder Fan. The old man smiled at her amiably, "He may not be good, but he isn''t wrong. This isn''t your fight. Leave it to us old fogeys." Elder Fan gathered Mana of the Lightning Element to his fingertips while at the same time expanding the range of the clouds above. The moment they gathered over the heads of the Soul Formation Hydrae, a pir of lightning dropped from the sky and enveloped one of the Beasts. Coordinating with Elder Fan, the other Elders simultaneouslyunched their strongest attacks at the Hydra, killing it in just a few waves. Fria watched in awe as the old men rushed towards the remaining nine Hydrae, stalling for time while they prepared to single out another Beast. Seeing Tenebris'' aura disappear, Supreme Left returned to his residence, which was close by. He couldn''t afford to let the leader of Retribution distract him, else his own family might be in danger. Supreme Left couldn''t care less about the Spirit Ascension Sect''s well-being, but he also knew that they didn''t need his help anyway. Chapter 237: Unnatural Regeneration Carl looked at the map, still not able to make any sense of it. When William mentioned the Thieves'' Guild while pointing at a particr symbol, however, the pieces started to click. "Are you tracking down the Thieves'' Guild with this map?" Carl asked warily, although he already knew the answer. William nodded, "They''ve been trying to kill me for a while now, and I thought I''d return the favor. The information is a little old, but I can''t imagine they have moved much in thest few decades." "Where did you even find out about this in the first ce?" "In the library at the Sect. Why?" Carl looked at William seriously, "I dunno, you gave me the impression that you didn''t like reading." "...Forget about this, let''s rest up here and leave at night." William replied in a t tone. He erected a few Concealment and Barrier Arrays around them, then sat cross-legged on the ground to convert a small amount of his Cultivation Base and recover what he lost while using the Stealth Talent''s invisibility function. Carl looked at William in surprise as the man absorbed the Spirit Qi directly, barely filtering the Mana at all. The amount of Mana increased dramatically, then was refined into fifty strands of Spirit Qi at the same time. It was incredible! Carl didn''t interrupt William''s Cultivation despite his amazement. To do so was considered a grave taboo in the Cultivation World, since it could hinder one''s future growth depending on the situation. Instead, Carl waited silently for William to finish, electing to do some Cultivation of his own from the other end of their temporary base. It only took two hours for William to refill his Cultivation Base. The sun had set an hour ago, but he still had onest thing to do before they left. He looked at Carl, who had also finished his session of Cultivation a little bit ago. "Carl, step outside for a bit." William said. He didn''t want Carl to get hurt by ident during his next move. Carl was confused, but he exited the Barrier Arrays anyway and sat on the ground outside. System, upgrade my Space Affinity. -10000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Space Affinity: (A --> S) Effects: Space-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +150% >> +250% S-Rank Bonus Effect: Instantprehension of the Domain of Space Next rank up: 50000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª The moment the upgrade process began, William''s fingers were sliced off one by one from the effects of the Space Mana. Hundreds of papercuts formed on his hands and feet, ignoring the Forcefield and cutting into his clothing that automatically repaired itself. That being said, the Illusionist''s Cloak almost couldn''t keep up. The damage and repair process were nearly the exact same, but the Space Mana slowly gained the upper hand as the upgrade continued. The Regeneration Talent allowed him to regain the use of his fingers, but it didn''tst long as they were cut off again. The damage to his Artifacts increased, and William began to worry about his current situation. William was forced to disrobe and take off all his Artifacts to avoid losing many precious materials and over a thousand hours of work, but the process of repeatedly losing his fingers made it more difficult than he wanted it to be. After a few agonizing minutes, William stood naked in the temporary base, his Hard Skin Talent suffering the next wave of Space Mana as his neck, chest, back, and many other parts of his body were simultaneously cut and bled. A certain sensitive part of William''s body was also cut off, causing him to scream in agony as his manhood was lost forever. The part grew back, but William didn''t feel any better. His legs shook as the process repeated itself dozens, no, hundreds of times during the upgrade process. Looking down at the pile of... things, William shuddered. Since the Regeneration Talent regrew body parts instead of just recing them, he was left with a view that would probably traumatize him for many years toe. An hour passed, and the fluctuations of Space Mana came to an end. Rather than being excited about the Elemental improvements, William was more relieved that the System cleaned up the mess of fingers and... you know... for him. That aside, William felt his understanding of Space Magic had increased to a whole new level, and he could even unleash the Domain if he wanted to. Since he was outside, though, William opted to save that for when he returned to the Ruins. The Regeneration Talent had been heavily used during this upgrade process, so his age had advanced by another 25 years. William was now 66 years old, but since his lifespan was 300 years and he was a Cultivator now, William''s appearance didn''t change at all. With the Space Affinity upgradepleted, William wanted to try something else out. System, can I upgrade Uri''s Rank from here? -No. You must be within a hundred meters to upgrade your Magical Beast''s Rank. You also cannot be within ten kilometers of a major poption center when upgrading. As I thought... William was disappointed, but he felt it made sense. What if Uri was in the middle of something important, or he was sleeping, and he suddenly upgraded to the next Rank? Wouldn''t that be a bit too sudden? Or what if William upgraded a Magical Beast from inside Blue Moon City? Wouldn''t the resulting Heavenly Tribtion destroy the entire City? At the Soul Formation Realm, William wouldn''t be surprised. POTENTIAL POINTS: 25853 Hmm...I still have fifteen thousand to spend. Clearly my Physical Talents aren''t enough, so let''s upgrade those! System, upgrade my Hard Skin, Strength, Stamina, and Regeneration Talents. -Upgrading four Talents at a price of 2500 PP each. -10000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENTS UPGRADED Hard Skin: (S --> SS) Effects: Skin Cell amount, toughness, andpression +550% >> +1200% S-Rank Bonus Effect reced with SS-Rank Bonus Effect. SS-Rank Bonus Effect: Rate of Skin Cell damage reduced by 80% Next rank up: 10000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Strength: (S --> SS) Effects: Full-body muscr ability +550% >> +1200% S-Rank Bonus Effect reced with SS-Rank Bonus Effect. SS-Rank Bonus Effect: Chance of physical strain reduced by 80% Next rank up: 10000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Stamina: (S --> SS) Effects: Resistance to fatigue +550% >> +1200% S-Rank Bonus Effect reced with SS-Rank Bonus Effect. SS-Rank Bonus Effect: Quickly recover your stamina when out ofbat. When at full stamina, your first physical move is 20% more powerful and efficient. Next rank up: 10000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Regeneration: (S --> SS) Effects: Natural healing ability improved by 550% >> 1200%, then healing speed improved by another 550% >> 1200% S-Rank Bonus Effect reced with SS-Rank Bonus Effect. SS-Rank Bonus Effect: Host can recover from almost any physical injury, no matter the severity. Side Effect: Healing injuries hastens the rate of cell division and will cause the Host to age by one year after healing 15 >> 30 years'' worth of injuries. Next rank up: 10000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William felt his skin tighten up andpress to a point that he didn''t think possible. The cells on his arm became slightly lustrous and shiny, before reverting to his normal skin-tone as the upgrade waspleted in mere moments. The other upgrades quickly followed suit, improving his Strength, Stamina, and Natural Regeneration respectively. As he looked at the System Messages regarding each upgrade, his eyes widened. Each Talent improved by 650 percent, meaning his abilities had more than doubled across the board. Not only that, but the SS-Rank Bonus Effect for the Regeneration Talent was absolutely ridiculous. He hadn''t seen the S-Rank Effect before, but it probably had something to do with why he was still alive after beheading himself with the Space Element. If the SS-Rank Effect was even better, William could probably be diced into a thousand pieces and still survive! Natural Regeneration my *ss! This is anything but natural! Chapter 238: New Appearance The Regeneration Talent was the only one that he had seen so far with a listed side effect, but it seemed that the negative effects diminished with each upgrade. Perhaps when the Regeneration reached X-Rank, the side effect would no longer exist. 30 years'' worth of injuries instead of 15, huh? If I had that before my lifespan started increasing, I should only be around 44-ish years old. It was rough math, but William felt it was somewhat urate. Knowing that the side effects were less prominent at higher Ranks, William now wanted to spend his Potential Points on upgrading the Regeneration Talent again. The only problem was, if he did that, he would only have five thousand Points left, not enough to upgrade Uri. On the other hand, he probably wouldn''t see me Dragon Uri for a while, and another Beast Tide wasing soon. He would definitely earn another ten thousand Potential Points as long as he performed well. But, I just upgraded my Hard Skin Talent. The chance of me even being injured at this point is very low. Do I really need to upgrade Regeneration right now? It was an internal debate, of which neither side won for the moment. Thest thought triggered thoughts about his uing battle, though. If I''m going to take on the Thieves'' Guild, I definitely can''t go as William, but I can''t go as Yuming either. That will just paint a target on my second identity. I need to create a third one. William was lost in thought as he considered the attributes of his new identity. One of the perks of having only used a few Elements as William and even fewer as Yuming was that he could freely use the other Elements as someone else. If I''m taking on the Thieves'' Guild, I think I''ll go with Necromancy, the Darkness Element, and maybe even Time? I would need something for defense though, maybe Ice? But what to call myself? The Lord of Evesting Darkness? Hmm...too edgy. The Devourer Of Thieves!No... What about, Jim? -Jim? Really? I''ll keep working on it. Since he was going for a more assassin-like vibe, William changed the color of his cloak to resemble midnight, its pitch-ck surface dotted with wisps of white that glowed dimly like stars in the night sky. He raised the hood to cover his face, concealing everything except his mouth. Underneath the hood, William used the Illusion Element to cloud his facial features. His eyebrows arched downward, and even the color of his eyes changed to appear reddish-brown. His hair wasn''t left behind, growing in length until it extended past his shoulders. The hair became wavy and flowed almost with a life of its own,plementing his other features and making William look like fierce. His Strength Talent hadn''t changed his physical appearance when it upgraded, so William had to use the Illusion Element to make his arms and chestrger, while his legs became thick like tree trunks. In order to achieve this, William needed to upgrade his E-Rank Illusion Talent all the way to B-Rank, else it wouldn''t be believable from an outside perspective. It only cost 1300 Potential Points, and now all of his Elements were at B-Rank or higher. When he called Carl back into the temporary base, his voice was rough, as if he hadpeted with lions since birth for the title of most ferocious. Carl rushed in, thinking that an enemy had entered the Arrays without his notice. After seeing William, he was more convinced that his earlier thoughts were correct, and he released all fifteen of his Magical Beasts in preparation for a tough battle. Anyone that had beaten William in a fight was way too strong for him to handle, but Carl knew he wouldn''t be able to escape. "Woah woah, calm down Carl. It''s me." William reverted his voice to normal. Hearing the familiar voice of William, Carl heaved a sigh of relief and put away his Magical Beasts. "Is this what you''ve been doing the entire time? ying dress-up and trying to scare me?" "Dress-up? No, this is for a secret mission." William defended himself. "Yeah, right. And you expect me to believe that making yourself look like a bodybuilder is part of the secret mission?" Carl wasn''t going to back down. Clearly William was having too much fun while he was outside dealing with the cold. "Forget it, you wouldn''t understand." William waved his hand in dismissal. "Anyways, help me think of a name to call myself while we are out." "A name? Just how much trouble do you intend to cause? I know you can''t show your real self, but you can''t even use the name Yuming?" William realized that he had never exined much about his abilities to his friends. Other than Riyald, no one else knew how many Elements he had. Rather than exining in detail everything about himself, William conjured a small piece of wood and threw it at Carl at high speed. With William''s current strength, this action was more than enough to kill Carl in an instant. Carl''s face turned pale as he sensed his impending death, but then the unbelievable happened just as the wood poked his cheek. The piece of wood stopped in midair, still lodged inside Carl''s face as a few drops of blood fell to the ground. When the wood pulled away from Carl''s face, his eyes widened in shock. It wasn''t because of the wood, but because of the drop of blood that hadn''t even touched the ground yet. It retraced its path and re-entered Carl''s cheek, the small cut closing as the piece of wood returned to William''s hand. That''s not Life Magic...that''s...Time!Carl eximed inwardly. "Since when did you also have Time Magic?!?" Carl asked William with unconcealed delight and a hint of jealousy. Time Magic was the coolest Element in his opinion, and Carl was very disappointed when he didn''t awaken Time after starting his Cultivation. "I awakened it when I broke through." William lied. It was the best exnation for now. Carl nodded, "Is that why you want another identity? So you can freely use your Time Magic without being targeted again?" William returned the nod, "Among other things. Are you ready to go?" Carl looked at William''s new figure and thought for a moment, "I think you need some gloves." "Gloves?" William thought about the recent Space upgrade, where his fingers were repeatedly getting sliced off by the violent Mana. "I guess you''re right, hold on." "Don''t you dare send me out there again, it''s like ten degrees!" Carlined. William nodded, although he hadn''t felt cold the entire time.It must be my Cold Resistance. I never even noticed the temperature... He pulled the tailoring equipment from his Space Ring and got to work putting together a set of gloves that he could wear. He used the same cotton cloth as before, since it would match the rest of his equipment, though he didn''t know what color to dye the fabric. After a moment, he decided to go with red, since it was one of his favorite colors and would match well with the Fire Element. Chapter 239: To The Thieves Guild! William forged a piece of Starmetal ore into thin chunks of metal that were be fitted both into the back of the gloves and around the knuckle area, much like the other Artifacts he had created in the past. It worked out well with the other items, so why fix something that isn''t broken? He also upgraded his Tailoring Talent to A-Rank to increase his skill and speed up the process, allowing him to finish the Artifacts in less than two hours. For William, it was a new record time for creating an Artifact, although he essentially just created a duplicate Illusionist''s Cloak that was both weaker and on a smaller scale. Regardless, it was a win in his books. As usual, the System awarded William with 50 Potential Points for his Epic-Ranked creation and added 1 progress to his Artificer Title, leaving him with just 14 unique creations left until his Artificer Title upgraded again. Carl watched the entire process with great interest. Seeing William effortlessly refine the Starmetal ore in his forge, while simultaneously weaving together cloth into a pair of gloves he could use, Carl couldn''t help but wonder what other abilities William was hiding. While William was adding Arrays to the Starmetal chunks, Carl couldn''t help butment, "You can pretty much do everything, how did you learn it all?" Williamughed, "I guess you''re right, I''m basically my own production line. As for learning it, it was easy." "Production line? What''s that?" "Oh, it''s like a team of different people working on one part of an item each, then an Artifact pieces everything together into something useful." William exined. He was confused by Carl''sck of knowledge, since he had seen his Master mess around with a steam engine, and there was a good amount of people in this World that wore modern-style clothing. Perhaps there was another method to attain such careful stitching, and Riyald was an anomaly? William returned his attention to finishing up the Gloves, linking them to the Starmetal Batteries and making sure each Array still worked as intended. Carl hadn''t noticed the wide array of Artifacts on William''s body before, which was the original intention, but when William removed his robe to adjust the Starmetal Batteries, everything was in view. "Damn!" Carl said. "What?" Carl looked at William with a nk expression, "What do you mean, "what"? You look richer than I am right now! I remember when you almost sold your first-ce position to me during the entrance test." He didn''t know how many times he had asked William what happened while he was gone, but Carl was tempted to ask again. Everything this man did in front of him was absurd. "No wonder you''re constantly being targeted..." Carl muttered. Ha, that''s not why, but I''ll let you keep guessing.William thought to himself. If anything, it was hispetitive spirit that kept attracting enemies. This World was full of sore losers, and many took it personally. With the glovespleted and William''s new look perfected, the two no longer had any reason to remain in ce. It was close to midnight now, and if they wanted to maintain the cover of darkness, they would need to get in and out in less than six hours. "Are you sure you want toe with me?" William asked his friend. "You''re not very strong, and I can''t help you much for the time being." Carl nodded, "I''m sure. I still have my summons, and I''m confident that you can protect me." Carl''s unwavering faith in William piled some pressure on his shoulders, somehow even more than the umted stress of being targeted by Supreme Left and many other powerful Cultivators. He returned the nod seriously, intending to bring Carl back from the Thieves'' Guild in one piece. If anything, William ced the lives of his friends above most everything else. William tore down the Arrays at their temporary base and left with Carl in tow. Instead of using the Space Element, Will and Carl traveled through the shadows with the help of his Darkness Element, speeding along the sand dunes at incredible pace. The Life Sense Arrays embedded in William''s Illusionist''s Cloak helped him to keep an eye on the nearby Magical Beasts and sparse Cultivators that were out hunting during the night. He made sure to avoid each one, no matter how weak or strong they appeared to be, opting to keep their presence hidden. Before long, William and Carl arrived at a dpidated structure that resembled that of an ancient Mayan temple. It was a pyramid of sorts, with four identical sets of stairs leading up to a square tform on top. Differing from the ancient Mayan structures, however, William noticed that only the edges of the square tform were filled in. His Navigation Talent told him that at the top of the temple was a vertical tunnel that went downward for dozens of kilometers. I wonder how long it would take an Earth Mage to dig out a hole this big...William pondered. Even for him, to excavate a tunnel of simr size would probably take a few days, and that was considering his impressive Mana Regeneration. Even so, William would have to ce all his focus on the construction and wouldn''t have time to do anything else like eat, sleep, or Cultivate. If he had topare it to normal standards, William guessed that a single Earth Mage would need between six weeks and five months toplete such a tunnel, depending on the Rank of their Elemental Affinity. He nodded to Carl, who released his Desert Beetle to investigate the area. He ordered it to tunnel underground, parallel to the path of the man-made tunnel. As it dug, the Desert Beetle ryed the information in real-time to Carl through a mental link, which William found incredibly convenient. He hoped that the System would have a simr Talent in the future, so that he could remotelymunicate with Atticus and Uri. William wouldn''t have to worry so much about his Magical Beasts finding trouble while separated from him. The Desert Beetle returned around half an hourter, to which Carl shook his head in disappointment. "It didn''t find anything," Carl started. "Not a trace of life, nor was there any stored food. There were a few rooms carved out, but they were dusty and no one had been inside for a long time." William frowned. It seemed his information was more outdated than he thought. He checked with the Navigation Talent one more time, double-checking each room that the Desert Beetle had investigated. He traced the Beetle''s tunnel, making sure that it had actually visited each room and hadn''t actually missed something. "Hmm? What''s this?" William suddenly said. Carl looked at William with confusion, "Did you find something? But you haven''t moved." William didn''t answer the question and turned around the way they came. He walked a few dozen meters until he came up to an average-looking rock, then flipped it over on its side. Attached to the bottom of the rock was a tough string-like material that looked almost like a steel cable. When the rock was flipped, the string pulled upwards and revealed a second tunnel much smaller than the one near the temple. Chapter 240: Inside The Hideout The tunnel was still lit by some small torches fitted into tiny gaps, suggesting that there was airflowing from somewhere else. He focused the Navigation Talent on the area around the tunnel, which revealed many tiny holes scattered across the ground, while small Arrays underground prevented sand from falling inside and blocking the airflow. He marveled at the ingenuity of the Thieves'' Guild. They probably used the temple as a hideout before until it was raided. Afterwards, however, they didn''tpletely move their location, and instead constructed a second base just like the first that was better concealed. William peered down the tunnel, which forked multiple times before reaching arge room almost a hundred kilometers underground. It was the deepest hole William had ever seen in his entire life, even further down than the bottom of the Gravitas Ruins. Even his Navigation Talent almost couldn''t see the bottom of the tunnel, nor could it easily tell which path was the correct one to take. Only after climbing into the tunnel and using the Navigation Talent as a guide did William have an inkling of direction. Carl followed behind as William took a well-concealeddder downward. His hands firmly gripped the polished stone rungs that matched the color of the sand above, the material easily able to bear both William and Carl''s weightsbined. Thedder only extended for roughly thirty meters, which was longpared to his old world, but nothingpared to the scale of structures in the Azures Continent. When they touched solid ground, the vertical tunnel ahead transitioned into a 45-degree slope that would send any normal person sliding out of control. The smooth stone tunnel had no footholds, so there was no way to slow down once one started moving. For William and Carl, however, that was no issue. They sat and allowed their bodies to slide downward, using the Earth Element to temporarily raise the slope whenever they needed to reduce their speed. At each fork, William woulde to a halt and consult his Navigation Talent before moving forward. At each correct turn, they would pass through some sort of spatialpression that shortened the distance to the bottom by a few kilometers. When he had guessed the correct path a few times, Carl began to ask questions. "I''m the one that sent my Beetle to investigate, why are you the one picking the route? And how did you know about this tunnel?" "Sh, be quiet. Someone might hear us." William warned. He continued in a low voice, "I have a sensory Spell that helps me map out the terrain." He didn''t exin further, and Carl chose not to ask anymore. These questions could wait untilter, when there wasn''t a risk of being discovered. Unexpectedly, William''s Life Sense didn''t detect many lifeforms inside the hideout, even as they came within ten kilometers. If not for the fact that the area was still lit and there was no dust on thedder, William would have thought it too was abandoned. There was no easy way to return, so William and Carl had no choice but to continue forward, even if they ended up wasting their time. When they reached the bottom of the tunnel, William concealed Carl with an Array before inspecting a set of wooden doors just ahead. Lining the doorway was a set of Advanced Detection Arrays that would have been tripped if he or Carl had taken another step forward. With a snap of his fingers, the Arrays were edited into a harmless version that wouldn''t issue an rm no matter what William did. This was a better option than disabling the Array outright, since it would be easy for someone to notice the Array wasn''t active. If the Thieves'' Guild members arrived after they did, they shouldn''t notice a problem unless their Array Master actively investigated the Arrays. William didn''t bother to modify any of the other Arrays present on the doorway, but he noticed a Vitality Suppression Array amidst the group, which exined why his Life Sense didn''t work. He controlled Sound Magic to suppress his voice, then whispered to Carl, "There are probably enemies inside, be careful." Carl nodded and remained silent. He didn''t have the Sound Affinity, so he couldn''t use William''s method to speak. He released the Desert Beetle andmanded it to protect him at the first sign of danger, then followed behind as William started to open the doors. The moment the door was cracked open, William''s Life Sense red up. Inside the room were dozens of humans with varying degrees of strength, which the Cultivation Talent rated between the Foundation Establishment and Golden Core Realm. In the back was a single Nascent Soul Cultivator in a seated position with a group of three others in the Golden Core, whose outline suggested they were holding a set of cards. Not just them, but he saw the same thing when looking elsewhere in the room. When adding the Navigation Radar to the mix, William was able to confirm his guess. He pulled back on the door until there was just a sliver of an opening, then hastily entered a shadow with Carl. His Darkness Element wasn''t strong enough to pull the Desert Beetle in with them, so Carl ordered the Beast to tunnel underground and keep an eye on things. Seeing the door crack open, a few of the Cultivators inside turned their heads. A particr Cultivator had a sour look on his face from the terrible hand he had been dealt. He looked over at the partially open door, his lip curling up slightly. He pped the table in frustration, causing a stack of cards to fall off the table. He sneakily hid one of the good cards in his sleeve, then feigned anger as he shouted, "Damnit! I thought we fixed that door!" He walked over to the door with a smug smile that none of the others saw, then closed it and returned to the table. It was his turn, so he adopted a serious look andid down the card he had just hidden in his sleeve. The other three Cultivators groaned upon seeing the highest card in the deck yed. "Why is your luck so damn good? I''m done." Each of them folded their hands, allowing the man who closed the door to take a pile of ten Mana Stones from the center of the table. He shoved them all into a cheap Space Ring, then followed the group to y darts near the back of the room. Is this a lounge room or something?William wondered. His shadow took cover under the now abandoned table, then he peeked out to take a better look at the room. Near the darts were a set of two bulletin boards that resembled the Guild Hall''s Quest Board. On one board, over a dozen contracts were pinned, ranging from assassination requests to simple notifications on the movements of various merchants. The second board was more like a trophy board than anything else. Portraits of wanted criminals and their bounties hung on the board, withrge lower-case g-shaped symbols with a dot in the center of the g, representing the amount of Gold awarded for their capture. As hepared the bounties to the faces of some of the people in the room, William smiled in delight as he realized that every single bounty was associated with someone in this hideout. Chapter 241: Welcome To Retribution Elsewhere in the Azures Continent, thousands of Cultivators were gathered after exiting a series ofrge portals. These were the same portals created by Tenebris'' subordinate, which sent everyone that passed through to arge cave in the Hillvire Empire. This wasn''t the main headquarters for Retribution, rather just a temporary one that would allow the organization to screen each potential new member. Once they were screened, only then would they be sent to the real location. Since they had made enemies with the Yu Royal Family, Retribution couldn''t allow their headquarters to bepromised. Among the group of prospective Retribution members was Jenny and Briar, who had still decided to go through the portal despite William''s warning. Regardless of Retribution''s stance towards William, it really didn''t have much to do with them. They weren''t at risk of being targeted, and they weren''t nearly strong enough to be tasked to go after William. The lines were split up by ce of origin, so Briar and Jenny ended up in the same group, among a few other vigers from Thin Creek Vige that had also passed through the portal. Their identities were registered with a few cloaked individuals wearing masks and white gloves, then they were passed along to a small testing area to verify their strength. It was a simple test, the only requirements tounch a spell of each Element at a target dummy and allow someone to record the results. The scores were mostly just as a formality, since almost everyone would be ced at the lowest rank in the beginning and would climb the rankster depending on their performance. None of the examiners cared if anyone concealed or diminished their skills, though they were told that talented Cultivators would receive extra benefits that might improve their chances of promoting. After everyone finished the screening and examination, the ones that passed were teleported through a secondary portal that led to a massive underground auditorium. They were asked to take their seats, then Tenebris walked up to the podium for a quick speech. "Wee all, to Retribution. While this organization has already existed for over a hundred years, this is the first time we have recruited on arge-scale. That being said, I hope you all find the arrangements sufficient enough for the time being." He walked away from the podium but continued speaking. "Many of you are part of other organizations. You don''t need to worry about abandoning them, however I hope you don''t try to reveal anything about me or Retribution to the outside world. The Arrays ced on you during the screening should prevent that, but you may find yourselves missing a tongue." Hearing Tenebris'' words, a few that had been excited to join Retribution were suddenly having second thoughts. Who would do such a thing to their own people? The yers weren''t as deterred, since losing their tongue in-game was a terrible debuff, but didn''t have the same permanent effect that it would the NPCs. Their eyes sparkled as they found Tenebris to be more badass than they expected. "Since we have a lot of new members, I''m going to exin the various ranks of Retribution and what they mean." Tenebris said after a short pause. "The lowest rank, which you will be ced at, are called Followers. Each group of ten Followers will be led by a Redeemer, who will serve as a team lead of sorts. You will report to your Redeemer every night when on duty, and once every few weeks when not." Tenebris only made up these ranks recently, since they previously had such a small group and they only dealt with enved people. Given the inflow of recruits, however, their old system would no longer be effective. Someone raised their hand. "When are we on and off-duty?" "Good question," Tenebris said. "You are on duty whenever we have an important mission, although those in secluded Cultivation or preparing for a breakthrough are exempt from this. If there is no ongoing mission, you choose when you are on or off duty. If you are off-duty, however, you will not be provided any resources, and your seniority won''t advance." Many of the yers groaned when hearing this. Isn''t this like working a day job? At a day job, you only get paid when you''re at work, and time spent not working isn''t beneficial at all! On the other hand, they enjoyed the flexibility that came with joining Retribution. It at least meant that they wouldn''t be constantly tied down by something. Tenebris continued, "Above the Redeemers are the Region Leaders, and above them is me. There are a few other specialized roles in Retribution, but this about covers all the basics. Are there any other questions?" Another person raised their hand, then stood up to speak. "You mentioned resources, what do we get when we are on duty?" "Each month, your Redeemer will be provided a set number of resources, which include Mana Stones, rare treasures found during your missions, or even Techniques that Retribution has gathered over the years. The number of resources provided will entirely depend on your team''s performance. They have the authority to distribute the resources among the group, meaning you best stay on their good side at all times. Of course, a Redeemer that takes advantage of their subordinates has no ce in our organization, so you can report any such issues to one of the Region Leaders directly, who will initiate an investigation and punish your Redeemer if necessary." The person who raised their hand nodded and sat back down. There were no further questions, so Tenebris said a few more words and then posted a list of teams, their duty location, and their registered Redeemers on the wall behind him. Jenny and Briar were on different teams, but they would be operating in the same general area. With Jenny''s affiliation with the Guild Hall and Briar''s status as an Adventurer, they were both ced in optional off-duty for the time being, which could be changed at any time after speaking to their Redeemer. The person in charge of Briar was a young man named Glen, whose disinterest in the position was apparent the moment heid eyes on him. Glen''s eyes were covered in dark circles that entuated his exhaustion, and the man''s clothing looked like it hadn''t been washed in a while. After leaving the Gravitas Ruins, Glen had been tortured for weeks as punishment for losing track of not only William, but a few other ves that were in the Gravitas Ruins. Given his strength and unique skills, Glen wasn''t demoted and instead ced in a leadership role over new recruits after advancing his Cultivation to the Golden Core Realm, but his movements were limited and being a Redeemer ensured that he would forever be tied to the organization he so loathed. In charge of Jenny, however, was a fair-skinned woman with long, light-brown hair, and bright blue eyes that looked like the ocean at first nce. Her name was Cynthia, and she was a mid-stage Nascent Soul Cultivator with three Elemental Affinities. Judging by the reactions of some other new recruits, Cynthia was one of the strongest Redeemers in the organization, just a few stages shy of qualifying to be a Region Leader. Chapter 242: Assigned Rooms, Drafting A Plan "Come with me, I''ll show you around." Cynthia said simply, only looking at Jenny when she spoke. Her voice was kind, but the harsh sound of her heels cking against the floor as she walked away suggested she wasn''t in a good mood. I''m a Nascent Soul Cultivator, why do I have to lead a group of weaklings around like I''m a babysitter? There''s only one Golden Core in the group, the rest are useless. Cynthia grumbled to herself. Jenny followed behind closely, but the rest of the group kept their distance during the tour. Other than Jenny, none of the rest could see Cynthia''s Cultivation since the difference in Cultivation was too vast, but their natural instincts told them that one wrong move and the kind-lookingdy would tear them apart. "Rooms have been prepared for everyone if you so wish, but you do not have to stay here. If you don''t need your room, let someone know so we can give it to another Follower." Cynthia said as they walked through a long hallway with hundreds of doors on either side. Cynthia opened a set of ten doors, revealing identical interiors that each had arge bed, a pair of nightstands withmps on either side, and a single white door in the corner that led to a bathroom. The space inside was expanded, and a set of Arrays on the outside of the door would prevent intruders froming in while also defending against physical and magical attacks up to the Nascent Soul Realm. Cynthia pointed to a closed door with a sign reading "Cynth" at the end of the row, "That''s my room, but don''t bother me unless it is very important. I take my Cultivation very seriously, so if you need something press this button ONE TIME and state your name. I wille to you when I am avable." She pushed on a part of the door just above the doorknob. The wood sank in, and a light "Ding!" was heard. It was quiet, but for a Nascent Soul Cultivator it would be easy to sense. Cynthia had installed the button recently, already anticipating an annoying subordinate to constantly give her issues. Each person chose their own room, imprinting one of the Arrays with a drop of their blood to register it as theirs. Jenny saw her name appear on a sign simr to Cynthia''s room, reading her full name instead of just a shortened version. She looked over at the other rooms to see a simr scenario, each name cutting off after five letters. Someoneined from beside Cynthia after imprinting the Arrays and seeing their name appear on the door, "Hey Cynthia, why is my name cut off? These Arrays need to be fixed!" Cynthia didn''t bother turning to face the man that just spoke, "I am your Redeemer, not your friend. Call me boss or team lead." she red at the man who dared call her by her name, causing him to shrink back in fear. She turned to look at the man''s door, then covered her mouth and coughed to hide a wide grin. "Master ck has a problem with long names. He prefers to keep everything short and simple. What''s your name?" "Loserrez, Boss." the man replied, causing the others to snicker at his expense. What an unfortunate name. Jenny thought while trying to suppress a smile of her own. She listened with the rest as Cynthia exined the general rules of the organization, then entered her room to rest after a long battle. *** Inside the Thieves'' Guild hideout, William used a bit of Darkness Mana to wrap a dark tendril around the handle of the door. He cracked it open slightly like before, then pulled Carl along in the shadow as they slipped back outside. "What should we do?" Carl asked once they were a safe distance away. William had covered the entire area with ayer of Sound Mana so that they could speak freely and n out their next move. "You saw the board too, didn''t you?" William replied with a smile. "Yeah, some of their bounties are over a hundred thousand Gold Coins, but can we handle them with just the two of us?" Carl asked with a hint of worry, though the money was tempting. He had faith in William, but he wasn''t sure whether he could keep up during a battle against other Cultivators. "We should be fine. I can handle the tougher guys, I just need you to distract the weak ones so I don''t get overwhelmed." William had fought with dozens of Nascent Soul Beasts at the same time before, when he was much weaker than he is now. Dealing with a few dozen Golden Core enemies and just a single Nascent Soul was nothing. The only reason he wanted Carl to participate in the battle was so that he could gain some practical experience. While William didn''t mind helping his friends, he couldn''t be around forever. In a Cultivation World, one needed to know how to take care of themselves. Thinking of this, William asked something else, "Have you ever killed a person before, Carl?" Carl looked at William with fear and confusion in his eyes, "We''re not going to kill someone, are we? I''ve only fought against people to climb the Ranking Board..." "No, no," William shook his head. "We want to capture them alive. I was just wondering." "Okay..." Carl felt a bit relieved, but the mention of killing brought upon other worries. What if he had no choice but to kill someone? Could he do it? He listened as William drafted out a n to coordinate their efforts. Their strength wasn''t the problem, rather it was the ability to capture every member of the Thieves'' Guild. These were Cultivators, so simple robe bindings wouldn''t do, and William was only one person. While his Confinement Arrays could suppress someone for a lengthened period of time, he would need Perfect Arrays at least to hold a Golden Core Cultivator, which would onlyst a few seconds depending on how far into the Realm they were. Extending the range of the Array like he did to a group of bandits outside Blue Moon City wouldn''t work either, since its strength would be even further diminished. Once the strongest Cultivator broke free, the rest of the Array would shatter in an instant. This isn''t a good time to use Necromancy, so I''ll have to go in with the Ice, Darkness, and Time Elements. William thought as he used the Fire Element to draw out a n on the stone floor. After a few minutes, Carl and William hade up with a n that seemed feasible. William restored the floor to its previous condition, then entered the room a second time under the cover of darkness. Being the third time the door had opened in fifteen minutes, some of the thieves became suspicious and paid increased attention to the door this time. A portal appeared in the center of the room and a Core Formation Cultivator stepped out, an Artifact in hand that started to measure the Arrays on the door. Shit, I forgot about portals! Chapter 243: Time Halt William cast a Spell with Time Magic that significantly slowed down the movements of the Cultivator. Since his Cultivation was much lower than William''s usual opponents, he identally used too much strength, which slowed the man''s movements to a snails pace. His hands moved at a speed one hundred times slower than before, which to a normal person would look as if he wasn''t moving at all. What William had done was essentially reduce the speed of a car on the highway to that of a man walking on the street. The effects made it more than obvious to the other thieves that something had happened to the man. -Developed a new Magic Spell: +1 PP -New Spell: Time Halt "Old Thomas, what''s wrong?" the Nascent Soul Cultivator asked, but he didn''t receive a response. Instead, Thomas slowly moved his eyes to look in the direction of the man who spoke, his mouth opening simultaneously. Though his mouth was open, no words came out for a long time, "Help...me..." It was at this moment that William and Carl burst forth from the shadows simultaneously. William expanded the range of his Time Spell to cover the entire area, slowing down everyone except for Carl, who he made sure to avoid. Everyone''s movements were slowed to a hundred or even a thousand times slower than normal, all except for the Nascent Soul Cultivator that only lost about ny percent of his normal speed. That being said, it was more than enough for Carl and William to thin out the numbers. Carl released all of his Magical Beasts at the same time, simultaneously ordering the hidden Desert Beetle to burst forth from underground and encase the weakest thieves in stone. He controlled the other Magical Beasts to use various restricting Spells, while William paused, then retrieved a Starmetal Longsword from his Space Ring, one that he forged at a hotel in the Hillvire Empire. Rather than a European-style medieval longsword, this one more resembled that of a Japanese katana, albeit longer and with a more delicate curve. This style of de was called a tachi, but William still considered it a longsword since it was in the same category. He rushed towards the nearest thief, the knowledge from his Weapons Master Talent kicking in as he held the longsword in a firm grip and positioned it behind him. The Nascent Soul Cultivator tried to chase William, but his speed was currently even slower than someone in the Golden Core Realm. He was forced to switch targets and go after Carl, but he was blocked by a Sandicore''s tail and forced to defend himself. The longsword made no noise as it was unsheathed and used to cut off the arms of every unrestricted Cultivator, the blood sliding off the pristine Starmetal as if it was rain on an umbre. Since William''s understanding of Time Magic was weaker than some of his other Elements, William identally released the time-slowing spell from those struck by the longsword, causing their arms to bounce off the ground at a normal speed. "Ahh, my arms!" the thieves screamed in agony. "Shut up, arms are optional." William scolded as he ran to the next target, only to turn back and freeze his arms to stop the bleeding. After disarming the weaker Cultivators, literally, William and Carl were left with only a single opponent in the Nascent Soul Realm. Only half a minute had passed, yet William and Carl had already gainedplete control of the situation. None of the weaker Cultivators even had a chance to fight back, theirbat experience and Magic Affinities rendered useless by the incredible power of the Time Element. William wondered to himself why he hadn''t studied this Element further, it was too strong! Visibly frustrated, the Nascent Soul Cultivator activated his Space Ring and prepared to retrieve amunicator to contact the main branch of the Thieves'' Guild. Unfortunately for him, his n was wed. When the Arrays on the Space Ring activated, there was no portal to speak of, nor did he sense a mental connection with the contents. Is it broken? Now of all times?!? Heined in his mind, but something told him the issue wasn''t so simple. William smirked upon seeing his flustered opponent, "Can''t get into your Space Ring? What a shame." Earlier, when William saw someone enter through the Portal, he had be fearful that a powerful enemy had discovered them. While thankful that it was only a Core Formation Realm Array Master, William had secretly used the newly acquired Space Domain to get rid of the Space Mana Particles in the area. He hadn''t tested this before, but William assumed that a portal wouldn''t be able to form if there was no Space Mana in the area. What he didn''t expect was that he wouldn''t be able to open his own Space Ring! He had to modify the Domain temporarily just to retrieve his own longsword. When he saw the Cultivator''s Space Ring activate but nothing happened, William immediately knew what had happened. Taking advantage of the confusion, William performed a upwards diagonal strike with the longsword, creating a deep cut on the Cultivator''s body. "Y-You..." the man said as he jumped backwards to avoid another strike. Both arms were in front of him as he raised a wall of Earth anticipating the next strike. "Who... are you?" William suddenly increased his speed to the maximum, his previous location just an afterimage that faded away. In his new position just behind the Cultivator, William leaned in and whispered in his ear. "Me? I''m someone you guys shouldn''t have messed with." he finished as the longsword sliced off both of the man''s arms in one clean blow. Simultaneously, the man''s body was frozen in ce with Ice, covering his entire body until it reached his nostrils. William looked at Carl, who was busy restraining the other Cultivators. "That should be all of them, well done." Carl looked at the disabled Nascent Soul Cultivator with wide eyes, then smiled while giving a thumbs-up. This wasn''t the first time he had been surprised by William''s actions, and it surely wouldn''t be thest. He opted to stop asking questions and just ept that his friend was unbeatable. "What should we do with them? How are we going to get them up?" Carl asked. William looked at one of the lower-level thieves that he had restricted in the very beginning, who was only in the Foundation Establishment Realm. "You, is there a faster way to get out of here?" He didn''t want to reveal his Space Element to the thieves, in case they said somethingter. If not for the threat of a greater enemying in through a portal, he wouldn''t have even risked using the reverse Domain. "Ha! You think I''ll submit to you?" the thief smirked. "Ohhh it seems you don''t value your life. No problem, I''ll ask someone else after I kill you." William said as he wiped the remaining droplets of blood off his longsword. He walked toward the thief slowly, the Starmetal Longsword reflecting the ambient light of the torches as it shed through the air and cut off the Cultivator''s feet, then followed up by slicing off the legs up to his knees. Chapter 244: Bounty The man screamed in extreme pain, but he didn''t pass out. He gritted his teeth while trying to hold back tears, but he gave up when William''s longsword was about to strike once again. "There''s a button next to the door that reverses the gravity so you can go back up." he said quickly while pointing out the location. "Ah, thanks!" William said with a vicious smile that caused the thief to almost soil his pants. With William''s current menacing appearance and his unpredictable behavior, the thieves started to wonder which idiot had made an enemy of this fellow. While the Time Halt Spell was very effective at restraining the thieves, they couldn''t keep it active while transporting the group. Instead, William had Carl contact Blue Moon City with hismunicator. "Mr. Yuming, is that you?" the bald Alchemist asked from the other end. "No Sir, it''s Carl. Yuming had something else to do for a few weeks, so he passed me hismunicator for the time being." "Carl? Are you that friend he brought into the Hall earlier? Do you know what time it is?" "Yes, Sir. I''m aware, but this is important." "I see, what is it?" the old man wasn''t too bothered with Carl''s intrusion, since we was only sorting out the supply closet and not doing anything important. Carl ryed the information of the Thieves'' Guild hideout to the Alchemist, who was very surprised and contacted the higher-ups immediately. Within a few minutes, Array Master Fowley was informed, and he opened a two-way portal that sent a group of Blue Moon City guards to the location. William had already disabled the Time Halt Spell and had encased every Cultivator in Ice so they could be more easily transported. Other than a few Ice and Fire Mages that were more resistant to William''s Magic, the rest were easily handled. The ones that resisted were held in ce by Carl''s Magical Beasts, which were more than strong enough to take on an armless Cultivator of the same Realm. "Thank you, Carl, and... uh... who are you?" one of the guards asked as he looked at William. While he spoke, the others fanned out inside the room and began moving the thieves through the portal. Shit, I didn''t think of a name yet... "You can call me Serio." William replied quickly. It was a name he made on the spot meant to sound like a mix between Serious and Mystery, but he couldn''t call himself Mysterio since that reminded himself too much of aic he read as a kid. To avoid this, William cut the mystery partpletely and just decided to derive his name from the former word. "Serio? Interesting name." the guardmented. He looked at the room full of thieves that were missing limbs, "Were you the one responsible for this?" William nodded, "I had some help from young Carl over there." "Amazing..." the guard trailed off. He became a bit fearful of this man, who seemingly had no qualms with removing the arms of his enemies and waspletely uninjured to boot. If they weren''t still alive, the guard would have considered this a ughter rather than a fight! Another guard walked up at that moment, "Sir, we''ve finished gathering the thieves, I hope you will join us at the Prison so we can issue your bounties." William nodded and followed the guards through the portal. He remained inside the Blue Moon Prison lobby while the guards sent each thief to a different room to confirm their identities. He was greeted by one of the higher-ups of Blue Moon City, who introduced himself as Ran Lin and had a dark beard that went down to the base of his neck, while wearing a set of blue robes with a crescent moon symbol on the left shoulder. "Serio, was it? I''m impressed with your ability to deal with a small hideout from the Thieves'' Guild on your own. Although it was just a small branch, you must possess some interesting abilities to track them down without being noticed." Williamughed awkwardly. He did his best to sound aloof and mysterious, adopting the intended character of his new identity. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve." "Indeed, I won''t ask how, but Blue Moon City is very thankful. The Thieves'' Guild has always been a thorn in our side and we are d to see some criminals brought to justice." William nodded and remained silent. Ran Lin bade him farewell since the situation was under control, leaving the issuance of rewards to the guard captains manning the Prison. It was their job and not his, after all. Half an hourter, the thieves'' identities were confirmed, and William was given 2.6 million Gold Coins as a reward, most of which was from the Nascent Soul Cultivator, who had a bounty of seven hundred thousand alone. If this was transferred to Mana Stones, William would have an additional two thousand six hundred Mana Stones, which was an insane number to say the least considering he was only catching a few criminals. With that amount of money, William could buy his own Space Element Root back from the Auction if he so wished! Thinking of bounties reminded William that he was considered a criminal in the World now. Even the Sect Master of the Five Elements Sect and Supreme Left wanted him captured, which made him wonder just how much his head was worth. "Excuse me, Captain..." William stared at the guard Captain''s chest but didn''t see a nametag. "Phi, I am Captain Phi." "Phi? As in Fi Fie Fo Fum?" William asked. "What?" "Nevermind. Captain Phi, do you have a list on hand of other bounties?" "Looking for more cash, huh? You must be quite the bounty hunter. Yes, I''ll go retrieve the list for you." the guard Captain said as he walked to the back of the room and opened up a filing cab with a special key in his Space Ring. He picked up a thick binder full of bounties and handed it to William, who said his thanks and flipped through the pages. He didn''t have to look for very long, since his face was on the eleventh page of the binder. WANTED: William (Blood Identifier Code WFES3O) Blood Identifier Code? System, what is that? -Request requires 3 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. -The Blood Identifier Code is a form of unique identifier given to each Cultivator when they register with an organization and is recorded through your blood. Mages with the Blood Element invented a Spell in thest five hundred years that assigns each person a Blood Identifier Code when they first register with an organization. -You currently have two Blood Identifier Codes, WFES3O and YHEGH5C. The second code was given to you after you changed your blood type in the Hillvire Empire. It makes sense why I wasn''t captured immediately after registering then. For a second I was scared that they always knew that Yuming was me. William sighed in relief. He looked past the poor description that didn''t truly entuate his handsomeness, focusing in on the bounty listed at the bottom. BOUNTY: 12,600,000 Gold Coins Twelve... Twelve million?!? Chapter 245: Why Do You Cultivate? William had expected a high bounty, but for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator to be six times more valuable than someone in the Nascent Soul Realm...that was too much! Wait, no. William had once had his Cultivation talent tested in Supreme Left''s throne room. This was before William had the Cultivation Talent from the System, so the result was obvious. He had no talent! Or at least that''s what everyone believed. Doesn''t that mean I''m the most wanted non-Cultivator in the world? Thinking of it gave William the chills. Twelve thousand Mana Stones was enough to drive anyone crazy, except for maybe the most powerful Cultivators. If they knew that William was outside the Gravitas Ruins... William shook his head. It was useless to think about this, since he had already changed his identity multiple times. Unless someone had a special method to see through his Illusion Arrays, William should be safe for the time being. He handed the binder back to Captain Phi and returned through the portal to the Thieves'' Guild hideout where Carl was waiting. Staying in Blue Moon City would be pointless, since the entire purpose of their trip was to get back at the Thieves'' Guild. He had initially only nned to visit one location, but given that they still had plenty of time before the next Beast Tide, the two felt it wouldn''t be a bad idea to cash in some more bounties. After taking a long trip back to the entrance of the tunnel, William set up a temporary base to rest. It wasn''t for his sake, but for Carl''s, who begged for a break after so much fighting in thest 24 hours. William wasn''t tired at all, onlycking about half of his Mana Reserve from constantly maintaining the Time Halt Spell, but Carl didn''t have dozens of Talents to keep him in peak condition. His breathing had be slightly ragged, and the Mana Regeneration Pills were reduced to less than fifty percent effectiveness after consuming so many in a short period of time. As he and Williamid on a pair offortable beds across the room from each other, Carl looked over. "Say, Wi-" "Call me Serio while I''m like this, just in case." "Ah, Serio... Have you ever thought about why you Cultivate?" "To get stronger, of course." William replied with little hesitation. What was there to think about? "Of course, but why do you want to get stronger?" Carl pressed further. He rested his head under his arms whileying down, "You''re so strongpared to me though we are almost the same age, but you must have a goal, right? Is it for your family?" William was about to respond, but then Carl''s words struck him. He had an immediate answer to his friend''s question but saying the words in his head felt wrong somehow. It was a new World for me. One with Magic, and Cultivation, and Magical Beasts! For me, getting stronger wasn''t the goal, but just a matter of consequence. It wasn''t until... oh! William''s mind shed back to the caravan to Blue Moon City. Back then, he had just been issued a special Quest by the Guild Master to support a small group of merchants, who ced him in the center since he had no Cultivation. During the trip, they were regrly attacked by tides of Magical Beasts that paled inparison to the Elemental Beast Tide he fought yesterday, but it was only when the group of ins Vultures arrived that William had a reason to use his full strength. Wiping away the entire group with just Fire Magic gave William both satisfaction and a sense of purpose. Seeing the attitudes of the merchants flip from derision to respect made William realize that strength was the only thing that mattered to people in this World. As time passed and his enemies grew in both number and strength, William realized that he needed to keep improving, so that no one could ever harm him or those he was close to. This, is what defined William''s response to Carl''s question. "I want to be stronger because I want to be respected, famous, and in control of my own life." Carl raised his head and looked at William, "You want to be...respected?" William nodded, "When I first came to this Wor- I mean, when I was younger, I was looked down on for not being a noble, for being a Peasant without Cultivation. Since I was a Manamatus, those above me looked on with jealousy, but it wasn''t enough to avoid being disrespected or easily taken advantage of. When I got stronger and my Magic improved, others paid more attention, but they only wanted to use me. I want to escape that fate of always being at the mercy of others. If anything, I want them to be at my mercy instead!" he finished. Carl nodded, though he felt a little bit ashamed. Years ago, he looked down on Peasants the same way that William described. Now that he was friends with William, he realized how wrong that attitude was. Your status shouldn''t affect whether someone treats you like a human or not. "What about you, Carl? Why do you want to get stronger?" William asked. "Ah... I want my father to recognize my abilities, and to make money. It''s easier to earn Gold and Mana Stones when you''re a powerful Cultivator. If I could reach the Nascent Soul or even the Soul Formation Realm, I could kill Golden Core Beasts with a wave of my hand." Carl waved his hands around animatedly. "Shit, you can almost do that now." William replied. "My summons can, but not me. I don''t feel like the summons are a true part of my strength, since I will always need help to capture Beasts stronger than me." William shrugged his shoulders, "You''re still going from point A to point B, it doesn''t matter how you get there as long as you get there." "I guess..." Carl muttered as he turned over to sleep. William took a short four-hour rest, then went outside and created a soundproofed area so he could practice his Time Magic for a few hours. The Time Halt Spell was very effective against the thieves, but he felt he could do much better. This hideout was rtively small, but there''s no way a criminal organization that has existed for so long consists of just a few Nascent Soul Cultivators... A Golden Core Cultivator was sent to assassinate William in the Five Elements Sect, well before he became a target of the Yu Royal Family. It was obvious that the Thieves'' Guild had plenty of manpower. Since his Time Magic wasn''t very effective against higher-Realm opponents, William came up with new ways to use it to his advantage. Rather than slowing down the enemies directly, William opted to slow down the environment. Whether it was a Spellunched by the opponent or an Array, William could reduce their speed much more precisely than he could an entire person. Additionally, William could use the Time Element to speed up his own attacks or dy them in a way that made it unpredictable. William tried a method of calling forth a future version of himself, but it was much too difficult to achieve, maybe even impossible. The moment he tried to direct the Mana into a Spell, the Mana Particles refused to form into anything tangible, leading to William losing control of his Spell. He tried again and again, but every attempt he made was a failure, to a point where the System warned him that further attempts would lead to trouble. It informed him that his Spell wasn''t feasible since both the World and the Heavens would always reject it. Hearing that both the Heavens and the World were against the use of such a Time Spell, William decided not to try again. His n of summoning infinite versions of himself would have to wait until he found another solution. Carl woke up as the first light of the sun shone through the translucent barrier that concealed their temporary base. Seeing that William was gone, Carl went outside to see what his friend was up to. "Good morning, Carl. Would you like some coffee?" William asked while holding a hand-made ceramic cup. In front of him was a single pot from his Spirit Cookware Set full of dark-brown liquid that was resting on a stone table. He had spent a measly ten Potential Points to ask the System how to create coffee from scratch, and he was not disappointed by the response. Not only had it given him several methods to brew coffee with the materials he currently had, but it also informed him that the nt Element could grow coffee nts in a short amount of time. With this new set of knowledge, William was able to use abination of Elements to create a pot of coffee in just ten minutes! Ah... there''s no better feeling than a good cup of coffee in the morning... Chapter 246: Southern Plains "Coffee? What is that?" Carl asked as he looked at the strange liquid in William''s cup. Is that really something we should drink? The color looks suspicious... William looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow, "You''ve never had coffee before?" Carl shook his head. William was silent for a moment.I guess Cultivators never really had a need for something to boost their wakefulness. Was coffee never invented in this World? "Try it." William said as he held out the coffee mug. Carl epted it readily, trusting that his friend hadn''t lied to him. Why would William do that anyway? It made no sense. He gave the brown liquid that looked more ck than brown now that it was in his hand, giving it a quick sniff. "Man, that smells weird too!" he said as he wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Just try it, I promise it''s good." William urged, to which Carl looked at him suspiciously. Regardless, Carl lifted the mug to his lips and took a sip. "Blegh!" Carl spat a mouthful of coffee on the ground while holding the mug away in disgust. "It''s so bitter! Why would you make such a horrible drink?" "You get used to it. It''s an acquired taste." William replied simply while taking back the coffee from Carl. He took a sip, smacking his lips as he savored the residual vor of the ground coffee beans. Carl looked at William oddly. He couldn''t understand how someone would like such a disgusting vor. William set down the coffee and brought out his map for Carl to see. He pointed at a small marking four hundred and fifty kilometers southwest of their current location. "Our next target is here." Carl leaned forward and looked at William''s finger. "We''re going all the way to the Southern ins Region? That''s going to take weeks to cross!" William looked at Carl, "I''m supposed to be the idiot, not you. Have you forgotten what kind of Mage I am?" he waved his hands in a circle as the reverse Domains of most his Elements were used and a portal appeared in front of Carl. Even with S-Rank Space Magic, his Space Mana Control still wasn''t enough to ignore the various Elements in his body. He hoped that this problem would be solved once he created the Space Elemental Sphere for his Artifact Belt. The only reason he hadn''t yet is because they weren''t in a suitable enough environment, and William didn''t know if the abundance of Space Mana would attract others. If he failed in the process and identally destroyed the Artifact Belt, William wouldn''t be able to rece it in a short amount of time. Carl nodded and passed through the portal. When he appeared on the other side, his body fell to the ground in weakness, unable to keep up with the incredible distance he had just traveled in one movement. William saw this as soon as he passed through the portal and was a bit concerned, but a quick inspection with the Life Element said that Carl had only sustained a few moderate internal injuries. Nothing that an S-Rank Life Element couldn''t fix. "Why didn''t you tell me we were going so far? I would have reinforced my body beforehand!" Carl threw a random rock at William once his body was fully healed. William scratched his head, "I didn''t know this would happen. I''ve only teleported long-distance a few times, but I''ve never been injured before..." -Are you forgetting the time you cut off your own head? I probably shouldn''t tell him about that... "Whatever...it''s fine." Carl said but he still sounded a bit hurt. He sat up and looked around to inspect the rugged environment that one could hardly call a ins. Rather than an expanse of grasnd that stretched on for miles, William and Carl saw nothing but hard rock. The trees were reced withrge, misshapen boulders, and the ground was cracked in many ces, turning the area into a danger zone for those who couldn''t fly. William''s Life Sense picked up many Magical Beasts to the west, and further south was a small town with regr humans. He used thendmarks around him to check the map, finding that they were about six kilometers off of the original intended location. Since he hadn''t been to the Southern ins before, William was only able to guess where his exit point should be. The amount of Mana put into the Spell,bined with his recent upgrade made William miss the mark just slightly. -Slightly? You missed by six and a half kilometers. That''s still less than two percent error, considering we crossed 450 kilometers. Be quiet, System! William didn''t intend to be rude with thest sentence, but he sensed the Magical Beasts from the west approaching their position. He couldn''t yet tell what their Cultivation was, but their speed suggested they were only in the Qi Refinement Realm. "Hey Carl, we''ve got some Magical Beastsing in." William said nonchntly. "What? Where?" Carl unfurled his scroll and prepared to fight with his Magical Beasts, but William stopped him before he could inject his Mana. "I''ll be right back." he said as he teleported away. Less than ten secondster, William had returned with a satisfied smile on his face. To Carl, it might seem like his friend was just being special again, but William had a good reason this time. --Upgraded Title: +50 PP -Beast yer (Epic --> Legendary): You''ve personally killed at least 5000 Magical Beasts. +50% damage to Magical Beasts. With an additional twenty percent damage to Magical Beastspared to the Epic Title, William felt his strength had greatly improved once again. This was the only reason why William had even bothered to deal with a group of whelps in the Qi Refinement Realm. Otherwise, William probably would have just avoided the group of ten Qi Refinement Beasts. There was little value to the corpse of a Qi Refinement Magical Beast, and they weren''t nearly strong enough to threaten anyone. Now over half of my Titles are Epic or higher rarity, nice!William thought as he looked through his Titles. Wait, when did my Coward Title go up? I thought it was only Common Rank? -When you teleported to the Hillvire Empire it leveled up multiple times. Damn, I must have scrolled right past the Notification. Oh well. William performed a few short-range teleports with Carl, then transitioned to using the shadows to move in between boulders. As his experience with the Darkness Element grew, William found that he could extend the shadows of the boulders so that they touched one another, allowing him to freely move between the two. Not only that, but he could shrink the size of his own body to match that of the shadow, meaning he could even fit into the tunnels constructed by ants with ease. The only downside was that Carl''s body wouldn''t properly adjust, so he would be kicked out of the shadow. A few minutes passed before William and Carl arrived at the next Thieves'' Guild location. This time, they were stationed outside of arge cave, and Thieves'' Guild members were spotted right away. William and Carl watched them stackrge cases on arge wooden pallet, their contents unknown as none of William''s Elements allowed him to see through the Array-covered wood. William backed up half a kilometer and drew a few shapes in the rock while Carl watched. "They''re very bold in this Region, it seems." William said as he continued to draw. Carl nodded, "I heard that the Southern ins is a fairly chaotic ce, which almost became awlessnd a few decades ago. The Thieves'' Guild holds a lot of influence here, and the difficulty of wiping them out is well above what the Adventurer''s Guild is willing to pay." "Makes sense, those cheapskates." Williamined. The Adventurer''s Guild appeared nice from an outside perspective, but their rewards were only tempting in the eyes of weak Cultivators. At William''s current strength, the Guild Hall''s measly rewards of a few Gold Coins per in Magical Beast was nothing. "Here''s what we''re going to do," William started, "Do you have any Magical Beasts that you don''t mind sacrificing?" "Sacrifice my summons? No thanks, what kind of person do you think I am? That''s inhumane!" Carl scolded William for his insensitive request. "You don''t know this, but I temporarily lose strength every time one of my Magical Beasts dies." "I''m sorry," William apologized. He med the Humanity statistic for his previous request, since he wouldn''t normally rmend such an act. He himself had Magical Beasts, and he would have never considered sacrificing Atticus or Uri for a simple Thieves'' Guild hideout. "We can use this instead." William continued as he retrieved an old Perfect Array Puppet and quickly crafted it a wooden sword reinforced with Arrays so it wouldn''t break. He pulled out two more Puppets of the same level and also gave them makeshift weapons, then sent them forward into the group of thieves. Chapter 247: Efretta William didn''t intend to make full use of his Array Puppets, even though it was a skillmon to Array Masters and wouldn''t necessarily expose his true identity. An Advanced Array Master could control a single Perfect Array Puppet or maybe even two at once, but any more than that would allude to the existence of a Perfect Array Master, which were few and far between across the entire Azures Continent. In all of Blue Moon City, there was only one Array Master capable of creating Perfect Runes. Other than him, William had met only a few others that could reach the same level. If he had to guess, he would say that there were probably only a few dozen Perfect Array Masters in every Region. Much like Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators, S-Ranked Mages, and other top-tier tradesmen, reaching such a level was incredibly difficult. Those who did were probably talented enough to Ascend, keeping the number consistently low. The World would enter an endless cycle of Master teaching Disciple, Master Ascending, and Disciple bing Master. William was following the same path, as Riyald was also preparing to Ascend after spending thousands of years in the lower Realm. By the way, System. What do people call this World? William decided to ask while his Array Puppets attracted the attention of the thieves. -There''s no specific name as of today. Some call it the World, others just refer to the Continent they live on. Though the Cultivators of Ancient times once called it Efretta. Efretta? What an interesting name, why did they call it Efretta? William asked. -Request requires 35 Potential Points. Yes/No? You''re charging me to learn the history of a name? It''s not much, though. Confirm. William had learned by now that the System didn''t just choose the costs randomly. It was probably using some sort of internal function to appropriately price the responses, much like how it valued treasures and Magical Beasts. -The World was named after the most powerful Cultivator that ever existed in this World. To this day, none have surpassed the peak of Efretta''s strength before Ascending. Looks like I have a new goal.William thought, hispetitive spirit rising. Seeing that his Array Puppets had just attracted the thieves'' attention and were currently escaping in the opposite direction, he was emboldened to ask the System more questions. What about this Efretta? What kind of abilities did they have? -Request requires ten thousand Potential Points. Yes/No? Eh...never mind. How strong were they? -Request requires 60 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. -At the Soul Formation Realm, she could instantly kill a newly Ascended Cultivator. She? Though William had already guessed this legendary Cultivator was a girl based on the name. The System didn''t respond, realizing that it had somehow slipped up and given out extra information for free. It thought about taking the initiative to draw Potential Points from William''s bnce, but that would vite other self-imposed rules that couldn''t be bypassed. William''s thoughts were interrupted by the activation of one of his Puppet''s self-healing Arrays. It had been restricted by a group of Golden Core Cultivators with abination of Ice and nt Magic, which couldn''t be dealt with alone. The other Array Puppet was still running away, but some of the thieves were starting to return to the cave entrance. They knew that if the Puppets were around, there must also be an Array Master hidden somewhere. "Let''s go," William said to Carl, who nodded. They entered a shadow that was quite eye-catching from above in the daylight but would conceal their presence much better than running towards the cave on foot would. William used bursts of Time Magic to keep the thieves in ce briefly, then slipped through their blind spots with ease. When they entered the cave, William controlled the Array Puppets to self-detonate, then hid behind a thick stgmite. -Entered Thieves Cave: +20 PP A few waves of various Detection Magic Spells entered the cave from the outside, but none of them picked up William or Carl''s aura because of the Illusionist''s Cloak. Despite this, neither he nor Carl left the shadow for a long time, waiting for the thieves to lower their guard before appearing. Even if the Illusion Arrays could protect him from detection Spells, nothing could trick the eyesight of a watchful person. No matter what William did, from casting an Illusion to invading their minds with his Soul Strength, the thieves would know someone was inside the cave immediately. Once again, the Illusion Affinity saves me from extra trouble... I need to think about upgrading this some more, but it''s so expensive! As a Legendary Element, the Illusion Affinity was just as difficult to upgrade as the Space, Time, Chaos, or Gravity Affinities. Just to reach A-Rank would cost 2500 Potential Points, while the upgrade to S-Rank was another ten thousand! Even with the Potential Farms, it would take nine days to earn enough Points to cover the first upgrade, the second would take over a month! After S-Rank, the upgrades became so ridiculous that William didn''t know how he would fully upgrade everything. Worse yet, William hadn''t spun the Talent Shop in a while, but he knew there were plenty more Talents out there waiting to be unlocked! If I can get something like the Attack Reflection or Forcefield Talents again, that would be nice. Other than my Magic, I haven''t seen a Legendary Talent yet... The area outside the cave quieted down after about ten minutes, but the thieves were much more perceptive than before. He could see with the Navigation Talent that various barriers were being raised, likely the thieves fortifying themselves into defensive positions. No one wanted to be that one guy assassinated by an unknown enemy. William and Carl snuck around the cave for a while, but their investigation slowed down significantly following a few close calls. There were two thieves in the cave that probably had the Darkness Affinity, since they turned their heads every time William entered or exited a shadow. Thankfully, they were both in the Core Formation Realm, which was weak enough for William topletely stop their movements with the Time Element. It was only two people, and not an entire room like at the previous hideout, so William had no trouble with this. When they were unfrozen and called the rm for others to investigate, William and Carl had already moved to another spot. The thievesunched massive area of effect Spells at William and Carl''s old spot, but they were already tens of meters away and didn''t take any damage. After ten minutes of continuous searching, the thieves were forced to return to their original posts. The second time the thieves sensed Darkness Magic and called the rm, the other thieves came running as usual, but after finding nothing again they began to think the other two were going crazy and stopped rushing to assist every time they called for help. William took advantage of this and repeated the process two more times, until the other thieves no longer trusted theirrades. The next time he moved, the two thieves called out only for no one to respond to their call. William smiled upon seeing this. Chapter 248: Thieves Cave Ice Spikes reflected the light of the torches in the dimly lit cave as they flew forward, but they weren''t directed at William and Carl. Instead, these Ice Spikes pierced through the throats of both thieves with the Darkness Affinity, preventing them from making so much as a sound before their bodies fell forward. William raised ice from the ground to catch the thieves quietly, then stored their lifeless corpses in his Space Ring forter. They may be dead, but William was sure that their bounties would still be valuable. It was a shame though, that he had to kill them, since his Humanity dropped by two points. His previous 78 Humanity was now back down to 76, just three points higher than where he was when he left the Gravitas Ruins. That being said, the Humanity statistic didn''t have any obvious impacts yet, not much different from his normal self. He could still tell right from wrong, at least. Less Humanity, but more Potential Points. It''s a good trade-off.William thought to himself as he and Carl explored to the deeper recesses of the cave unimpeded. Without any Darkness Mages able to spot their movements, William could freely explore in the shadows as long as he stayed out of the thieves'' field of vision. As they traveled further downward, they noticed the light levels of the cave increased rather than decreasing. The ceiling that was previously made up of stctites and the asional bat were now glowing a light orange that came from further below. Another kilometer downward and William spotted small orange crystals that his cksmithing Talent instantly tranted to Fire Shards, a fairly umon crystal that could improve the fire-resistance capabilities of equipment. William couldn''t collect the Fire Shards since there were still dozens of thieves in close proximity, but he vowed to returnter and gather some. Even if they weren''t that rare, William''s loot goblin tendencies wouldn''t allow him to pass up on free items. His Space Ring had storage, so why not? Another two kilometers downward, and William decided to use the Navigation Talent to look for the bottom. He should have done this earlier, but he was distracted by the System and hadn''t thought of it. -You distracted yourself. Don''t bring me into this. Anyways, William was distracted by the System, so he- -I said, you distracted yourself. Anyways... -No. Okay fine. I distracted myself. -I''m aware. "F*ck you, System!" William shouted. Some of the thieves were spooked by the sudden shout and jumped in fright. William used the Time Element to freeze them in ce, their bodies almost fully stationary in the air as he and Carl backtracked and repositioned the shadow to another location. -Now you''ve done it. I don''t want to hear it from you. What kind of person are you, interrupting my inner monologue? Williamined inwardly as he maneuvered his shadow into a tiny crack in the wall to hide. The System didn''t respond, but William could sense a hint of irritation in the silence. A feeling he rarely got, unless he was interacting with Jenny in the Guild Hall or Fria when he did something stupid. The thieves regained control over their bodies, but so little time had passed since they were frozen that they had no idea that they had been frozen. They searched frantically for the source of the voice and evenunched a few Spells, but the depth of the cave kept them from causing too much damage, lest the cave copse on them all. Carl was focused on keeping count of the number of thieves he saw as they snuck by. This was the job assigned to him by William this time around, since Carl wouldn''t be able to do anything for a while and he wanted to have a greater impact than he did in thest hideout. Carl''s Magical Beasts were all outside, a few kilometers away from the cave where they wouldn''t be detected. They were tasked to move in and surround the cave, but only after he and William had gained control of the situation inside. Without his summons to protect him, Carl was only a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and not anythingparable to William. He had no choice but to trust William''s n and rely on his friend to protect him. But I''m seriously regretting this now! He wanted to berate William for his sudden shout, but he couldn''t speak to his friend without drawing even more attention. He decided to save theints forter and focus on the assigned task, but his expression was bitter as he did so. After wasting half an hour hiding in a small crack, William and Carl were finally able to proceed forward again. The thieves were incredibly spooked at this point, but they seemed to have some level of confidence that the intruders would be dealt with the moment they appeared. In their minds, there was no way that someone unfathomably strong would need to hide, so their main goal should be to maintain security and avoid being assassinated. It was funny to think about, an assassin being assassinated, but it wasn''t unbelievable. After all, the Thieves'' Guild had many enemies, but few were strong enough to openly take on the Guild. Many who desired revenge from some grievance in the past woulde to them secretly, hoping to take care of the one responsible without a fuss. Unfortunately for them, however, the Thieves'' Guild was well-versed in the acts of assassination. While William and Carl thought they hadn''t been discovered and hadpletely fooled those at the higher portions of the cave, the more experienced thieves were actually drawing them deeper and deeper inside, while secretly eliminating every escape route they had hidden over the years. This was their territory, and they knew it better than anyone else. There was no way an intruder would hold an advantage here. Five kilometers deeper, the Fire Shards sharply increased in number, covering both the walls and ceilingpletely while the orange glow emanated throughout the entire area. The number of shadows in the cave greatly decreased, making it much more difficult to bypass the thieves unnoticed. For some reason, though, William noticed that the number of thieves had also decreased as they moved downward. He wasn''t sure if it was ack of manpower or what, but it was a good thing for them. They were able to slip behind each Cultivator easily and proceed forward, speeding up their exploration greatly. The Fire Shards changed again when they reached the fifty-kilometer mark. Not only did the heat of the cave and glow be more intense, but the crystals wererger and had turned into Greater Fire Shards, a much rarer version of the former. William''s eyes glittered with greed, but before he could try to snatch some of them into his Space Ring, he was interrupted by a massive fireball barreling straight for Carl''s side of the shadow. William was forced to control the Fire Mana when it was mere centimeters from Carl''s skin, absorbing the entire attack in ce of his friend. His eyes became fierce as he looked at the unknown enemy that was covered from head to toe in an ice-like armor. Chapter 249: How Will You Deal With Me? "You''re not supposed to be down here." the icy figure said, his armor emitting a light mist as the outeryer of ice melted and turned into water vapor. Using some Mana, the figure spread the mist further, clouding William and Carl''s vision. This was both a detection and concealment Spell, since the man could locate William and Carl based on where the water vapor didn''t cover, and the mist prevented them from seeing him. Their figures became a watery outline that was easily discernable by the controller of the Spell. What the man didn''t know was that William had Life Sense Arrays embedded in his Illusionist''s Cloak. When he didn''t see a pair of green eyes glowing in the dark, the thief assumed that neither William nor Carl had the Life Element. The man pulled out an Artifact that created three duplicate shadows to his own and sent them floating aimlessly throughout the room. This was meant to counter the detection Spell of the Darkness Element, which tracked others based on their shadow. Carl nodded to William and pressed his hands to the ground, channeling his Earth Mana to detect the tremors of real footsteps. He wasn''t very strong, so it was hardly effective, but it was only meant to distract the enemy from discovering William''s Life Sense Arrays. Moments after Carl cast his Spell, William channeled his own Ice Elemental Mana to form a series of Ice Spikes that blocked off the enemy''s path. He controlled the shadow to move deeper into the cave, opting not to fight a potentially losing battle. His enemy was in the Nascent Soul Realm, but if one person had discovered them it meant that more were on the way. This individual was probably just stalling for time while the others caught up. I''m not ying your game, but you can y mine! William said as he used Time Mana to create an Advanced Time-Slowing Array, which would slow anyone who entered its range by ny-nine percent as long as they were below the Golden Core Realm. If they were at the Golden Core Realm or above, the effectiveness would be greatly reduced, but it should still slow down his enemies for a few minutes. He added a few more of the same Arrays at random intervals along with a few traps,ughing maniacally in his mind as he prepared a very annoying "game" for his pursuers. He once again felt thankful for the Array Talent, which allowed him to create Advanced Arrays in an instant. He could even do it while running away! As they sped downward, William and Carl passed a few groups of thieves that hadn''t expected to see the intruders so soon. As the thieves slowly walked upwards, William and Carl flew past them, dropping a Time-Slowing Array next to their feet as they passed by. The group of four Core Formation Cultivators tried tounch a few Magic Spells at the speedy shadow, but the Array activated instantly, freezing them in ce. Since their Cultivation was only in the Void Core stage of Core Refinement, they were too weak to even move a single step inside the Arrays. They were doomed to remain until someone came to their aid. William wanted to stop andugh at the thieves'' expense, but he was forced to continue running as two more Nascent Soul Cultivators appeared from below and tried to block his path. His shadow weaved in between two Earth Walls just in time for them to close. The Nascent Soul Cultivators cursed, then turned around and ran back the way they had juste. Despite their failed attempt at blocking William, they weren''t too concerned since his figure continued to delve underground. The cave was over two hundred kilometers deep, and William hadn''t even made it halfway down yet. By the time he reached the bottom, his chances of escaping from the Thieves'' Guild were practically zero. "This isn''t working," Carl said. "We need to do something before we are fully surrounded. There''s way too many of them here!" William agreed with the first note, but the current number of thieves wasn''t enough to scare him. Unless a Soul Formation Cultivator appeared, this trip through the cave would be nothing but another day''s work. I''ve dealt with worse in the Trial Tower. This is nothing, though I do have to protect his weak ass. William thought to himself as he looked at Carl. His friend''s Mana had already run out from blocking various Spells and he was currently ingesting a Mana Regeneration Pill to recover. He remembered when his Mana Reserves were tiny as well, so he didn''t me Carl. That being said, William hoped this wouldn''t be a repeat of the Elemental Beast Tide, where Carl consumed almost all of his stock in one fight. "Buddy, there''s more toe after this. Don''t tire yourself out before the main event begins." William warned. "I have to, or we won''t get out of here alive." Carl panted as he prepared to cast another Spell. William shook his head, "You''re still underestimating me. Sit back and watch as I show you everything is under my control." William partially disabled the Spell that allowed them to maintain their shadow. Instead, he wrapped Ice Mana around Carl and froze it to himself, turning his friend into a literal backpack that couldn''te loose no matter how hard he struggled. William secretly used the Fire Element to heat up small pockets inside the Spell, keeping Carl warm despite being covered in ice. Once he was done, William pushed his Acrobatics Talent to seventy percent strength, turning his body into a literal missile as he weaved in between thieves before they even had time to react. Even the Nascent Soul Cultivators that appeared from time to time had no chance of keeping up, their figures left far behind as he dashed deeper and deeper. "He''s probably using some type of trump card to increase his speed! Go after him, he has to slow down soon!" the Nascent Soul Thieves shouted when they saw theirrades losing hope. The thieves were initially rmed by William''s sudden burst of speed, but what their leaders said made sense. They increased their own speed with the help of the Elements, then traveled at high speed after William and Carl. Inside the block of ice, Carl''s eyes widened, but not in shock. The high-speed velocity of William''s movement forced his eyelids to remain wide open, his hair pping wildly in the wind as if he was riding on a motorcycle without a helmet. William smirked upon seeing Carl''s reaction. "See, I told you I had it under control. There''s nothing in this World that can keep up with me in the same rank, and Nascent Soul enemies are no exception." "Nice bragging, but how do you expect to deal with me?" A voice sounded from a few steps away from William, nearly making him jump in fright. William looked over his shoulder to see a blue-haired young man with a simple green robe that hid his hands. The young man bore a single scar diagonally over his left eye, and his neck sported a simr scar that was perfectly horizontal. William wasn''t bothered by the scars, but his eye twitched as he realized the neer''s Cultivation was in the first stage of the Soul Formation Realm. His Cultivation suggested he had recently broken through, but William didn''t feel confident in taking on such an enemy while also protecting Carl. Anything could happen in a battle at the Soul Formation Realm, and William''s various Talents weren''t made for protecting others. D*mnit! Me and my big mouth! William berated himself for iming that there would be no issue as long as there were no Soul Formation enemies. Didn''t he just jinx himself with that statement alone? How idiotic! Carl''s face was already pale as paper when he heard the voice, but when he saw William''s expression on top of it, he could already guess what type of enemy they were facing. "Damnit Wil- Serio! I told you we should have left earlier!" Carl corrected himself mid-outburst, but a raised eyebrow from the Soul Formation Cultivator made him somewhat worried. "Wilserio? Interesting name. I wonder if you were about to say "William" but changed your mind." the young man said with a slight smirk. He had awakened an Innate Talent long ago that gave him enhanced senses to see the emotional state of his opponents through their heart rate and bodynguage. When Carl started to say William''s name, both of their heart rates spiked, signaling anxiety. When Carl corrected himself to Serio, William''s heart rate lowered, but when they looked at the Soul Formation Cultivator, his smirk caused them both to be anxious again. It was obvious that Serio wasn''t his real name. "Hmm...where have I heard that name before? William, perhaps the one that Supreme Left is looking for?" he eyed the two carefully to check their heart rates again. Chapter 250: Nice Spell, Can I Have It? William wasn''t surprised that the neer had picked up on Carl''s slip-up. As his Realm grew higher, William noticed that his awareness was continuously increasing, albeit slowly. It was like a sixth sense for Cultivators, which grew stronger as one improved. He could only imagine what it would be like in the Soul Formation Realm, four entire Realms above his own Cultivation. Perhaps this person could even sense the movement of a fly''s wings as it prepared to take off. -That''s not necessarily the case. Oh? -Request requires 5 Potential Points. Yes/No? I didn''t even ask anything, what is this about? -Request requires 5 Potential Points. Yes/No? Okay, okay.William confirmed the request without a second thought. The way the System reacted suggested it had something to tell him, but it couldn''t do it outright. -He can read your heartbeats and has studied the emotional state of the body thoroughly. This is not his awareness, but an Innate Talent that improves his eyesight. William was caught off guard by the System''s exnation and considered the matter carefully. The enemy Cultivator was still looking at William with a pondering expression, since his entire mental conversation with the System happened in less than a second. If it''s his eyesight, I need to block it somehow... William called a hint of Illusion Mana to circte close to his heart, hopefully fooling the Soul Formation Cultivator''s vision with an illusory heartbeat. It seemed to work, since the young man''s eyes twitched just momentster. "Heh, William you say? It seems you''re also looking for him. That''s weird, because I heard he was in the Far West Forest Region." William said with as best a mischievous smile as he could. His hood was up, so the Cultivator could only see his smiling mouth, but it didn''t matter since the Cultivator was currently focused on where William''s heart should be. He frowned as his eyes dted and zoomed in on the location, but the heart that should be beating rapidly to show anxiety had slowed to a perfect sixty beats per minute. William''s bodily reactions suggested that the young man had just told a funny joke, which didn''t sit right with him. "Perhaps I was wrong, but that doesn''t change the fact that you''ve barged into our territory. If you''re really looking for William, then you shouldn''t be here either." the young man said after a brief pause. William shrugged, "I sensed loot, so of course I came to investigate. Who knew that it was you rats hogging all the good stuff!" "Rats? I''ll have your head for that!" the man roared as heunched a spear of Light at William. Being of the Light Element and thrown by a Soul Formation Cultivator, the Light Spear traveled through the air at breakneck speed, creating multiple afterimages. William''s time-slowing effect from the Reflexes Talent triggered instantly, but his body wasn''t fast enough to dodgepletely while carrying Carl. He made an awkward turn backwards to dodge, the spear flying overhead and tearing through his left shoulder just slightly. William had the Forcefield Talent disabled up until that moment, but it was too dangerous to leave it inactive. He spread his Forcefield to the maximum, covering both himself and Carl in a blue and white hue while he prepared for a fight. While his Illusionist''s Cloak could defend him, it couldn''t do the same for Carl. "It seems I can''t descend any further." he said as the torn sleeve instantly repaired itself. William was a bit surprised that the attack could actually damage his sleeves that were supposed to be invincible in the Soul Formation Realm, but he found out the reason upon further reflection. The scene of the light spear flying through the air reyed in William''s mind, but he noticed that a tiny bit of a dark substance leaked from the spear as it came in contact with William''s cloak. "Fusion Magic, of the Darkness and Light Element?" William surmised out loud, causing the Soul Formation Cultivator to take a step back in surprise. It was the only exnation for the damage to his Legendary Artifact that could even handle peak Soul Formation attacks. When the Spell of one Element wasbined with another, their strength was greatly increased, to a point where it could even cross Realms. Unfortunately, Fusion Magic was incredibly difficult, and William only managed to learn some of them with luck, while others were imitations of his opponents'' Spells. Like Yu Ren, for example. If she hadn''t shown off the Meteor Spell to William, he would have struggled immensely to create a Spell of such scale. Now that he had someone else to showcase Fusion Magic, William became slightly excited. No one has ever noticed that up until now, but then again very few have survived it. How did he know my secret after just one exchange? "Heh, are you sure about that?" the Cultivator hoped to spark some uncertainty in William, but he didn''t know that his opponent could rey his own memories repeatedly. Williamughed at the man''s poor attempt at lying. It seemed that he could read the emotions of others, but his own emotions were in as day. "Is that so? Then you don''t mind if I try it out for myself, right?" William replied as he gathered the Mana of Light and Darkness to his fingertips. While he was doing this, his mind was simultaneously reying every step of the young man''s movements, allowing him to duplicate the Spell, though at half the original speed. It would take some time before William could rapidly cast this type of Spell, but the current version was more than enough for the young man to turn pale with fright. -You said you wouldn''t be using Light Magic with this identity. Yeah, but it''s fine. It''s only one more Element, Yu Ren had like five, didn''t she? I don''t remember. -How can you not remember with your current memory? That''s justzy. She had six Elements: Light, Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, and Wind. Thanks for the help System, I couldn''t be bothered to check myself. Either way, you proved my point. If she could show off six Elements, why can''t I use four? -Because she''s the granddaughter of Supreme Left, and you''re a nobody. Hey! I could say that I''m more than a nobody now! I''m even a Diamond-Ranked Adventurer, and that''s just one of my many statuses! William argued. -The cksmith Yuming is Diamond-Ranked. You''re still technically tinum. Whatever, whatever. It''s the same thing! I''m a level 9 Array Master too! -And you''re an Outer Core Disciple too. Okay, shut up! I''m fighting right now.William chose to ignore the System and focus on gathering Mana for his Light and Darkness Spear. The creation of the Spell took longer than before, but William had used a bit more Mana than the Soul Formation Cultivator did, and his various Titles improved the power of the Magic greatly, almost matching the strength of the previous spear. Even without holding the Mana Gathering Staff, William''s Spell broke through to the second stage of the Soul Formation Realm, while its corrosive abilities were enough to tear through the defense of even one in the fourth stage! Chapter 251: Youre A True Friend The Light and Darkness Spear was sent forward, its threatening aura beckoning anyone in its path to dodge for their lives. The Soul Formation Cultivator did his best to do exactly that, but his speed was even slower than William''s. Even with the help of the Light Element, it couldn''t keep up with the spear, so multiple protective amulets appeared and were exhausted of their Mana one after the other as they tried to defend. The thief wasn''t nearly as rich as some of the other enemies William had faced, so after three protective amulets, the nearly exhausted spear pierced through his chest and spread a small amount of Darkness Mana within his body. The Cultivator easily countered the bit of Mana that entered, but that didn''t mean he had won the exchange. William was perfectly content with destroying multiple amulets in one go, especially since he had a few of his own. "Was that really a life-threatening attack?" William smirked at the young man. "I have a few amulets myself, but as you can see, I didn''t have to use them." Most Cultivators would have the workings of their amulets adjusted so that they only activated as a life-saving measure, and usually in a specific order from weakest to strongest amulet so they didn''t waste their Mana on a weaker Spell. For his opponent to use every amulet on a single attack, it could only mean two things. Either he didn''t adjust the amulets, or his life was truly in danger. Seeing the nervous expression of the young man, William opted tounch another Light and Darkness Spear. The Mana gathered like before, but this time it was canceled out by a simple Light Spear before William could finish the Spell. "You may have learned the same Fusion Spell as me, but how can I not know its secrets? You''re a hundred years too early to fight me!" the young man shouted as he threw two more Light Spears. William gave up on trying to use the Fusion Spell and raised a wall of Ice to block the Light Spears. The defense was crude, but it gave William enough time to reposition before the Light Spears broke through. He slipped into a shadow with Carl from behind a stgmite, but the young man''s senses immediately picked it up. Heunched a Light Spear at the first shadow he saw, but it turned out to be a fake, while the real shadow went the opposite direction and descended further into the cave. "You dare to run after all that? Come back here!" the young man shouted as he chased after William. This turned out to be a big mistake, since the young man found himself slowed by about twenty percent from an Advanced Time-Slowing Array. More and more Time-Slowing Arrays were stacked in front of him, but he wasn''t suppressed further, rather maintained his slightly reduced speed. It wasn''t much, but William was given the perfect amount of time to gather Mana for a third Light and Darkness Spear. The same time that the young man burst forth from thest Time-Slowing Array, he was forced to defend himself from the Fusion Spell. The Spear pierced through his chest right through his heart, causing a monstrous amount of blood to burst forth. The blood pooled on the ground as the young man''s eyes started to lose their luster, regretful for chasing down the seemingly weak Golden Core Cultivator. Upon seeing the young man fall to the ground lifeless, William turned around and rushed to grab the thief''s Space Ring. No loot would be left behind in this excursion, or William would renounce his own name. As he reached for a second Space Ring on the other hand, William''s arm was suddenly grabbed. It was the young man whose heart waspletely obliterated. "Don''t...think you can escape me..." he uttered weakly as faint beams of light began to burst from the cavity in his chest. Oh shit, he''s still alive?!?William shouted in his mind. -Not for long. Run! The System warned him urgently, though William was too focused on the man to read the text box in the corner of his vision. Despite this, he knew what was about to happen, so he cut off the man''s finger to save time, stuffing both the finger and Space Ring in his sleeve while he turned to run away. The Forcefield Talent was condensed and focused on the region directly behind William, and he carried Carl in front, using his back as a shield to protect his friend. They darted down the cave as quickly as possible, just hoping to get away in time. A Soul Formation Cultivator''s self-destruction couldn''t be small, and William wasn''t going to take any chances. He pulled the Array Wheel from his Space Ring and cast all three of his defensive Arrays at once,yering them in front of each other. Thest Array was raised just in time for the cavern to light up. William closed his eyes to avoid going blind, then looked away and braced himself. His Navigation Talent could see in almost real-time as the shockwave spread throughout the cave, shattering all three Arrays in an instant and covering his Forcefield with cracks. The Absorption functions of the Arrays couldn''t keep up with the shockwave at all, obliterated before they could even repair anything. This is even stronger than Uri''s full-powered attack! A second shockwave that was much weaker followed close behind, finishing off William''s Forcefield and sending shrapnel into his back. The wounds healed instantly, and even the shrapnel was ejected from his body as the Regeneration Talent kicked in. William didn''t see the familiar aging message in the System logs, which meant he had sessfully prepared enough to survive the st. He uncovered Carl, who looked back at him with awe. He never expected William to not only survive such an attack, but also protect him in the process. "You''re a true friend." Carl said seriously. Williamughed awkwardly, "Thanks, I guess. You would have done the same for me." "I don''t know, maybe I would have." "What do you mean, maybe?" William looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow. "Haha, I''m kidding. We still need to get out of here before the cave copses." Just as Carl said it, the entire cave began to shake. William saw with his Navigation Talent as some weaker portions of the cave caved in, isting them from most of the Thieves'' Guild members. "It''s a bitte for that, but don''t worry." William wasn''t concerned with the mere copse of a cave. Cultivators could handle much worse, so he only needed to raise a sphere of Ice to reinforce their portion of the cave while simultaneously protecting them. The shaking subsided after only a few minutes. It seemed the Thieves had well-reinforced this area, enough to even mostly survive a Soul Formation Cultivator''s self-destruction. William and Carl continued their descent, mostly unimpeded now that the Thieves were isted from one another. The few groups that they dide in contact with were so few in number that William decided to just kill them outright and forget about trying to take them back alive. It was too much work for a simple bounty. It was better to collect their bodies and send them inter. Less money, but probably more efficient. Chapter 252: Descending Since the caves had copsed in many ces, William and Carl''s descent was greatly slowed the deeper that they went. Their rate of movement was slowed even further when William''s Illusionist''s Cloak detected multiple Cultivators tunneling through the cave behind them. It wouldn''t be long before the other thieves caught up. William was forced to set traps to deal with the pursuers, consisting mostly of the Ice and Time Elements to slow them down as much as possible. While this was mostly effective, it would only stop the weak ones. The Nascent Soul and Golden Core thieves, however, needed but a few minutes to break through. William took the initiative to kill whatever thieves they came across, not worried about the ever-diminishing Humanity Points when achieving a sneak-attack. Since they weren''t actively trying to kill him, it wasn''t considered self-defense, but William didn''t have time to wait for them to unsheathe their weapons. His Humanity dropped bit by bit, until it bottomed out at a t 60 Points. -Humanity has reached 60 Points. Your Humanity will no longer drop when killing members of criminal or evil organizations. Good timing. Now I don''t have to hold back against these fools!William smiled as he rushed towards the remaining group of thieves in the area. Now that they no longer dropped his Humanity, William treated them as if they were a pack of Magical Beasts waiting to gift him Potential Points. Carl shuddered as a weak wave of bloodlust engulfed him. He didn''t know where it came from, but something about the environment made him very nervous. His vision trailed towards Williams eyes, where he swore he could see a light red glow, but it disappeared when William blinked. I''m just a bit nervous, or maybe it''s one of William''s abilities. Carl shook his head as he refocused on the fight. He used a cylinder of Earth to block the tunnel they came through, then reinforced it with a few Basic Runes that he learned from William in the past few days. It wasn''t much, but Carl didn''t have William''s memory. He had to memorize the Runes through repetition and practice, and there was no better time to do it than during a fight where he had little impact. William finished off thest thief in close-range, reaching forward and snapping the man''s neck with a single fluid movement. Before the thief hit the ground, the body was stuffed in his Space Ring, stacked horrendously atop a pile of other corpses thatid inside. He still hadn''t added shelves to the Space Ring, but it didn''t matter for now. It would have to be pushed to the next moment he had free time. William grabbed a few weapons that had been dropped during the battle and threw them in the same Space Ring, not worried that the corpses would suddenlye back to life and attack him. Oh, speaking of which, I could use that Element.William surmised, but then shook his head. Now''s not the time, they''ll slow me down. Maybeter. William looked backwards to see that Carl had already dealt with their entry route, so he added a few Advanced Arrays to reinforce the Earth Cylinder, nodding to his friend with satisfaction. "You remember some Runes already, good job." Carl nodded, "Thanks. Did I learn them faster than you?" "Not even close. I memorized six hundred in a few minutes." "Okay I get it, you''re a monster. No need to exaggerate so much though." "No, I really did." "Whatever." Carl wasn''t interested in listening to William''s rambling, true or not. Either way it would make him feel bad about himself. They descended to the eighty-kilometer mark four hourster, while the thieves behind them were even slower. After taking out the few Nascent Soul and Golden Core thieves that caught up, the remainder were less unrelenting in their chase. Not to mention, no one but William had such insane Mana Regeneration. His SS-Rank Talent allowed him to recover Mana incredibly quickly when out ofbat, which triggered just ten seconds after finishing battle. That,bined with his Strength and Stamina Talents allowed him to destroy every obstacle ahead continuously and without any breaks in-between. William could do this for weeks if he wanted, now that he was a Cultivator and needed less and less sleep. By the two-hour mark, only half of the thieves behind were still chasing, and thirty minutester all movement from behind stopped. As of now, they were just under ten kilometers behind. ording to his Navigation Talent and Life Sense, five hundred thieves had set up a defensive perimeter in a single section and grouped together to rest. Rather than chasing William deeper into the cave, they opted to wait for his return and hope that the others could weaken him, or better yet, catch him first. Good, it seems they''re being smart now.William smiled. This was exactly what he wanted, since even his Mana Regeneration had its limits. He still couldn''t see the bottom of the cave, so William knew there would be plenty more battles toe. There might even be Soul Formation Cultivators left in this ce, or the Thieves'' Guild was calling them now. "Let''s take a break." William said as he set Carl down. "Even you have your limits, huh?" Carl smirked, although he readily epted the proposal. In order to not feel useless, Carl had been using his Earth Mana to its limits, only stopping to rest for an hour every time his Mana Reserves were exhausted. He didn''t use any Mana Regeneration Pills to recover, though. Instead, William had given him the Sword of Shifting Sands to hold onto while he casted his Magic, improving the efficiency and power of Carl''s Earth Magic by ten percent. It wasn''t much, but it helped himst a little bit longer than before. He would have given out the Mana Gathering Staff as well, but it was too unique and precious, not to mention linked to his original self. If it wasn''t so risky, William might have considered absorbing these thieves'' Mana before finishing them off. -You''ve been abnormally cautioustely. Well, that''s because I''ve been chased down every time I did something crazy. Isn''t this what you wanted, System? -Of course. Though it was fun watching the enemies pile up one by one. I''m d you admit to being crazy. You can have fun too, System? Are you sure you''re an emotionless, all-powerful being? -When did I ever say that? True...Does that mean you''re not a machine or AI? What are you? -You don''t need to know these things. The System sent mental signals of warning to William, suggesting that he shouldn''t ask further. It could have just erased his memory of the conversation, but that wasted a lot of its energy and wouldn''t guarantee that William wouldn''t ask again. It was better this way. William nodded and focused on setting up a ce to rest for Carl. It was onlyte afternoon and they had slept just the previous day, but Carl needed a break, and William could take this opportunity to collect some of the Greater Fire Shards that were spread around the cave. Chapter 253: Greater Fire Shard William removed his gloves that weren''t suitable for gripping the sleek crystalline Greater Fire Shards and was about to use his bare hands to rip them out of the wall directly, but then he remembered his experience with herb gathering. What if this was the same way? Was there a chance he could damage the material in the process of removing it? He looked through his System Panel for a specific Talent, stopping near the very bottom where two Common Talents under the "Other" category were located. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Other: -Common: --Herb Gathering: C (100PP to next rank) --Mining: C (100PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª It''s only C-Rank. How long has it been since Ist upgraded this? William scanned through his memories, but he couldn''t locate the specific moment. If he had to guess, it was probably while hunting in the Foam Desert. He had upgraded quite a few useless Talents back then. It doesn''t really matter when, but it''s actually useful now. System, upgrade my Mining Talent to S-Rank. William didn''t care about the prerequisite Ranks, since he only wanted general knowledge that would enable him to recover the Greater Fire Shards more efficiently and without damaging them. With his Mining Talent at C-Rank already and some ovepping information from the cksmithing Talent, William knew inherently that he shouldn''t be outright grabbing them, but he didn''t know exactly why. As the System removed 1350 Potential Points from his bnce, however, William began to understand as the information entered his brain directly. He quickly found out that the reason why he shouldn''t touch the Greater Fire Shard was because it was categorized as a crystal, and the oils from his hand could transfer to the Fire Shard''s surface and making it lose rity and luster at the microscopic level. Worse yet, certain crystals could tarnish, which meant its surface would be discolored and reduce the value of the crystal. While this didn''t apply to the Greater Fire Shards, William still felt thankful for the information. The upgrade to B-Rank waspleted and A-Rank came up next. William focused mostly on the crystal extraction process, though he also gained knowledge about how to mine various ores, which he could recallter as needed. For now, he learned that the best way to remove the Greater Fire Shards from the walls of the cave would be to create a hammer and chisel. Using the hammer, he could lightly tap on the rock surrounding the Shard to loosen the crystal. If all went well, he could use the chisel to tap with greater precision while supporting it with a gloved hand, eventually causing the crystal to fall. Afterwards, it would need to be cleaned with a brush and stored inside a container with a form of padding that would keep the Fire Shard in good condition. It was a lengthy process, that would consume a lot of time, but William felt he could take the chance to get used to it. He sat still while the S-Rank upgrade proceeded, giving him more information on many of the rarer materials he could mine, while also sending him into a year-long simtion. He didn''t have a choice during the simtion whether he would extract crystals, ores, or standard materials, so it gave him a few months'' experience with all of them. At the end of the simtion, William immediately retrieved his forging materials to create a chisel that he could use. He still had multiple hammers of varying sizes amidst his cksmithing tools that he could use, so only the chisel needed to be crafted. Since he only had Starmetal Ore and a piece of Molten Dragonstone that he hadn''t refined yet, William was forced to use the Starmetal, although he would have been more content using a less valuable material. Another thing for the to-do list. Buy or mine some ore that I can useter. He hadn''t seen any ore yet in this cave, but William kept his hopes up. After all, there was still a long way to go before reaching the bottom. Carl didn''t bother watching the refinement process of the Starmetal, since he had seen it a few times before and was already bored. He admired William''s work ethic though, which seemed to never tire no matter what. First he was an Array Master, then an Alchemist, and now he''s a cksmith? What is he trying to do, collect all the trade skills? What a maniac! He flipped over and closed his eyes to sleep, doing his best to ignore the loud nging sounds of the hammer bashing against metal. Unfortunately for him, though, the noise only became louder and more frequent as William nearedpletion. Worse yet, the temperature had started to be unbearable for him. Though he was a Cultivator as well, the ambient heat from the Greater Fire Shards had raised the heat to an ufortable level. It wasn''t a big deal before since William had used Ice Magic frequently while fighting, but Carl couldn''t help but notice now. "William." ng, ng, ng. "William!" ng, ng, ng, ng. "WILLIAM!" ng. "What?" "You''re loud, and it''s kinda hot. Can you do something?" "Oh, sorry." William was used to the sound of forging items, so he hardly ever soundproofed his area. Not only that, but his high heat resistance once again tricked him into thinking he was in a normal environment. William used Sound Mana to prevent the noise from leaking out, also lightening the strain on his own ears. It was the fifth, technically sixth Element he had used in the Southern ins if you counted the secret Fire Magic, but no one was around so William wasn''t concerned. Next, he created a small five-meter dome of Ice around Carl to protect him from the heat. Carl added his own piece by creating a wall of Earth above himself, catching the bits of water that melted from the ice. William finished forging the chisel only a few minutester in the soundproofed environment, then got to work extracting his first Greater Fire Shard. He started on the ceiling, raising himself up with a pir of Ice, then reached upwards to stabilize the Shard while following the instructions from his Mining Talent. Pop! The Greater Fire Shard broke loose from the ceiling after just a few minutes, gently held in William''s hand as he retrieved a bit of cotton from his Space Ring to wrap it in, along with a small ck box that was given out in the Gravitas Ruins. -Acquired Greater Fire Shard: +25 PP Not as much as Starmetal Ore, but still quite a bit! There''s so many Shards here too! He continued extracting Fire Shards, collecting nine more and cing them inside the same box with cotton padding in between. The ck boxes had plenty of space inside, so William was able to store ten Greater Fire Shards at once. Though he used a small amount of Mana each time to reach the next Greater Fire Shard, William''s Mana Reserves recovered to full in under an hour. He wasn''t really low on Mana anyway, so this wasn''t really a problem. He reced the Ice Dome around Carl that had nearly melted, then continued extracting Fire Shards for the next three hours until he had 230 Greater Fire Shards. While he was excited about the loot, William was more thrilled about earning 5750 Potential Points. He wanted to continue mining the Greater Fire Shards, but he sensed the thieves above them descending once again, so William had to wake Carl up. Chapter 254: Onslaught William was sad upon leaving the treasure trove of Greater Fire Shards behind, electing to returnter when the time was right. It didn''t matter how long he stayed anyway; the cave was sorge that it would take decades to extract everything by himself. I would rather not spend ten years mining, though.William thought as he tunneled through a pile of rubble. Heyered Ice Magic on the surface of the tunnel, temporarily reinforcing the walls so it wouldn''t copse until after they had passed through. Carl returned to his previous assignment of barricading their rear, the short rest enough for him to recover about half of his Mana Reserve. He still couldn''t use many Mana Regeneration Pills since the impurities of the pill hadn''t been expelled yet, though. With William by his side, it didn''t matter that he couldn''t recover his Mana. If anything, Carl felt much safer than he normally would, evenpared to being escorted by Nascent Soul bodyguards. Seeing William so calm after causing the death of a Soul Formation Cultivator, and even mining rare minerals under the noses of an entire branch of the Thieves'' Guild, Carl was convinced that nothing could faze his friend. He was reminded of the other hideout they visited near Blue Moon City, which had rtively few thievespared to this one. Because of the small number, Carl had underestimated William''s power, but now that he thought about it, didn''t Will control the entire situation by himself? Carl smiled. He was quite lucky to have found a friend like William. It was good choice to follow him out of the Five Elements Sect. William looked over to see a slight smile on Carl''s face. "What is it?" he asked, to which Carl shook his head. "It''s nothing." Carl replied while casting another Earth Wall Spell. William nodded and burst through the other side of the tunnel into the next open area. The thieves must havemunicated with each other to group up, because he suddenly sensed four hundred presences just a few hundred meters ahead. He looked to the left to see a familiar Array lit up on the other side of the copsed rock, just like the door to the previous hideout. It had tricked his Life Sense Spell into thinking there were only a few enemies, when they had actually grouped up in the same area to meet him. Damn it! Another one of those Arrays, I should have expected this! William hastily raised a wall of ice to block the first wave of attacks, but it was too weak to withstand thebined force of all the thieves and shattered instantly. His Forcefield that had recovered during their break was shattered once again, and he was sted back into the tunnel from the force of the attacks. William wrapped Carl in a ball of Darkness Mana and hid him inside a shadow within the tunnel. "Hide, and don''t let the tunnel copse on you. I''ll be right back." William said before amplifying his speed with the Light Element and dashing out of the tunnel. The Starmetal Longsword was already in his hands, its de reaping the lives of one thief after the other. -Killed a Human: +5 PP -Killed a Human: +5 PP -Killed a Human: +5 PP He sliced a path through the enemies, then dashed into the center of the group so they couldn''t recklessly use their Magic. More Potential Points came in waves as William performed a spinning sh attack, beheading four of the closest thieves and creating a deep cut on the chest of a fifth. The only survivor stumbled backwards in fear, his eyes widening in shock as he slipped on ice and was impaled by a spike that appeared behind him. -Killed a Human: +5 PP William''s Forcefield had slightly recovered, so he raised it once again, just in time for a Golden Core thief to shatter it from behind with an enchanted dagger aimed for the back of William''s neck. Coated on the dagger was a pale green liquid that emitted a light stench, likely poison. The dagger pierced through William''s skin despite the SS-Rank Talent that could defend against attacks in the early Soul Formation Realm, spreading its poison throughout William''s body at high speed. William paused for a moment, slightly affected by the poison as it coursed through his body. The thief grinned in delight at his sneaky move, but then his eyes widened as a hole appeared at his throat and blood gushed out. The thief fell to the ground while choking on his own blood, unable to determine how or when he had been attacked. It only took a few more seconds before the blood loss forced the man to take onest shallow breath, but to no avail as there was no air to take into his lungs. -Killed a Human: +5 PP The other thieves that were about to take advantage of William''s motionless state suddenly stopped, afraid to attack when they couldn''t see how theirpanion had died. On the other hand, William''s A-Rank Poison Resistance detoxified the paralyzing poison, allowing him to regain his range of movement. He looked over at the thief that had attacked him, interested to see that the man wasn''t paralyzed like he had been. So, the Attack Reflection Talent didn''t reflect the poison, only the physical damage. Interesting... William took the interesting dagger that managed to pierce his defenses and stored it in his Space Ring. The System didn''t issue out any rewards immediately, so William assumed it was somewhat valuable and became slightly excited. He attacked with more fervor, hoping that some of the other thieves would bring out rare treasures and such from their Space Rings, possibly even a Pheonix Feather or two. It would be nice if they threw Tier 10 Pills at him, or some more Starmetal Ore while they were at it. -Are you done fantasizing? You realize you''re fighting hundreds of Cultivators that are two or three Realms above you, right? Do you really have time to think about this when your friend could die at any moment? Just let me have my fun, okay? William replied with a light smile on his face. He knew Carl was stronger than he looked. Golden Core enemies wouldn''t kill him so easily, and Will was watching every Nascent Soul thief in the area. If they moved towards Carl, so would he. A few minutes after the start of the battle, William had killed roughly fifty thieves, but the remainder were much harder to deal with. They would group together and protect themselves with defensive Spells when William was attacking, while another group from behind wouldmit to attacking from long-range. After seeing William''s Light, Ice, and the asional burst of Time Magic, they were ustomed to William''s movements and could almost predict what he would do next. It was obvious that these people had been fighting their entire lives, and weren''t mere pushovers that William made them out to be. "Give up now, you''re not getting out of here alive." one of the thieves shouted from afar. William looked at the speaker with a mischievous smile on his face, "Oh, getting a little cocky now? You think you''ve seen everything I have to offer?" "Let''s see how you deal with this!" William shouted as he raised his hands in the air dramatically, wisps of dark-colored Mana wrapping around the bodies of the thieves he had killed. Chapter 255: Flamerium The thieves watched in horror as their fallenrades stood up once again, but the look in their eyes wasn''t the same. The decapitated skulls reattached to their bodies, a thin line forming on their necks where they were once cut. "Roar!" the reanimated thieves ran towards their former friends with their knives and daggers held forward. Those without weapons directly entered melee range, while the remainder stood back and casted the respective Magic they had awakened during their life. Since he didn''t have to worry much about hurting himself or others, William ordered them to cast theirrgest-scale area of effect Spells. The reanimated thieves didn''t recover any Mana from the moment they died, but thankfully William had killed them fast enough, so their Reserves were still mostly full. Blizzards and sandstorms formed, mixing together into an abominable tornado of tan and blue. Directly following the tornado were sts of fire that obliterated anything else that dared to remain in the area. The cave shook, fragments of rock and Fire Shards raining down as William retreated to a safe distance. He controlled the thieves from afar with his Necromancy Magic, ordering them to return to his side after their Mana was spent. When the Magic Spells ended and the scene cleared up, what remained shocked both William and the thieves that survived. On the other end of the cave from William, a single group of four Nascent Soul thieves were maintaining a series of Intermediate Barrier Arrays, while the remaining three hundred or so were nowhere to be seen. That''s because they were all...dead! Buried beneath piles of rock and Fire Shards, every thief that was in the Golden Core Realm or below could not possibly survive such an onught of attacks when they had nowhere to go. Waves of Potential Points entered William''s bnce as the dust cleared up, hinting at no enemy survivors. This included the reanimated thieves, none of which able toe to William''s side despite his order. Some of which were thoroughly destroyed, beyond recognition and definitely not suitable to be turned in for the bounty. It didn''t really matter though, considering the sheer number of bodies that were still suitable for storage. William didn''t care that much about losing a few bodies, as long as the Space Rings survived. If they were outside, the Necromancy Magic wouldn''t have had such a tide-turning effect, but the caves were a perfect ce to use sacrificial pawns. William nodded in satisfaction at the results of his first time using Necromancy in a battle against humans. He looked at the remaining four Nascent Soul Cultivators with a sparkle in his eye, his Vision Talent focused on their sparkly Space Rings. The group shuddered, feeling that William didn''t consider them living beings anymore. One of the thieves tried to run deeper into the cave, but his movements were stopped when a wave of ice grabbed hold of his foot. William walked up to the group slowly, who casted their strongest Spells in response. "It''s useless." William said as his figure shed to the side, a bolt of Lightning piercing through the rock at his previous location. With the Reflexes Talent and his insane speed, even the Soul Formation Cultivator could barely injure him. How could a mere Nascent Soul do the same? "Did you think you had a chance because a Golden Core assassin managed to sneak up on me? Ha!" William said as he simultaneously sliced off the heads of two Nascent Soul Cultivators. The remaining two were terrified. It was obvious that William had been hiding his Cultivation the entire time, since a Golden Core Cultivator couldn''t possibly insta-kill someone in the Nascent Soul, much less two. They tried to read his movements before he reached them, backing away while stacking up Intermediate Barriers, but it was useless. They knew as much as he did that Intermediate Arrays meant nothing when dealing with overwhelming power. It was a futile attempt. With two clean flicks of his wrist, the heads of thest two Nascent Soul Cultivators rolled across the ground. William separated the Space Rings from their bodies, then stored everything in his Space Rings. Carl was still hiding inside of the tunnel and hadn''t seen the battle clearly. He was worried that something would happen to William if he got himself caught, so Carl made sure to conceal himself as best as possible. Only when William called out to him did he move from his spot, pushing away a small boulder to reveal the apocalyptic scene inside the cave. "Did you...do all of this?" he asked carefully. "They ran away." William said with a smirk. Carl nodded, but he didn''t believe William. He didn''t see any bodies, but there were bloodstains everywhere he looked, and debris littered the floor. It was obvious the thieves hadn''t simply "run away", but he knew what his friend was getting at. There''s no need for people to know what he can do. It''s better to feign weakness. With thergest group out of the way, hopefully, William and Carl were able to proceed forward with little hindrance. Their descent was much bolder than before, no longer hiding in the shadows as they traveled with increased confidence. By the 120-kilometer mark, the partially copsed cave had returned to normal, and there were no longer any piles of rubble blocking their path. Additionally, the Greater Fire Shards transitioned into a rarer- and much more durable- material. Sparsely dotting the walls and ceiling of the cave was something that the Forging Talentbeled as "merium". While still considered an ore, its properties appeared more like an incredibly tough stone, almost impossible to break through with normal tools. Even the System said that the process to extract merium was very arduous and required a lot of time, since the real ore was actually located within the tough stone. The stone itself was imbued with Fire Mana and no longer had the properties of Earth Mana, but the real treasure was located deeper within. Not only was it hard to break through, but the ore itself was very sensitive to Mana other than Fire, so one had to use either brute strength or slowly melt away the rock with Fire Magic. If they chose to use a different Element, the ore would react with the Mana and lose value. William wouldn''t be able to break through and extract a piece for at least a few hours, which exined why the Thieves'' Guild hadn''t managed to extract these earlier. The entire cave was filled with rare and delicate resources, which had to be handled with extreme care. It exined why the cave was so reinforced, and why there was so muchmotion after it copsed. Just the self-detonation alone was probably enough for the Thieves'' Guild to lose millions or even billions of Gold Coins, but those responsible would probably be punished severely. If William knew the thieves had been drawing him deeper into the cave for his capture, he probably would have asked which idiot came up with the idea. If they had just ran away at the first sign of trouble, perhaps they would still be alive, and their cave would still be in perfect condition. Chapter 256: White Flames At the Thieves'' Guild Headquarters, in the heart of the Southern ins. "Boss, there''s been an attack on our Fire Mine. Four hundred and sixty dead so far." a thief with a grey cloak and no obvious weapons reported to a man seemingly in his early twenties wearing a blue eyepatch over his left eye. His remaining eye was a deep green, while his hair was an almost porcin-white color, barely long enough to reach his ears. He turned his head away from a dozen y figurines on a map and looked at the reporting thief with his single piercing eye, "How many?" "Uh...four hundred and sixty, Barnabus Boss." "No, you god damned fool!" Barnabus mmed his fist on the table, causing a few figurines to fly off the table and hit the ground. "I meant how many fuckers dared to attack our mine?!" "Sorry, Sorry! Boss, there were only two that we know of. Two individuals with Golden Core and Foundation Establishment Cultivation." the thief reported while using Wind Magic to reset the figurines before his Boss lost his temper and killed him. It was a difficult job, serving Barnabus. His random fits of anger when hearing bad news were generally directed towards his assistant, which usually resulted in their death. So far, only Birot, the current assistant had managed to survive more than a year around Barnabus, havingsted fourteen months so far. It was quite the achievement, considering the others only made it about three months on average. Of course, all good things weren''t meant tost, which was disyed in the form of a shadow that gripped Birot''s neck and twisted it 360 degrees. The assistant''s lifeless body, having served its purpose, was sent out the front door, while another took his ce and bowed deeply to Barnabus. "Are you going to cause me trouble as well...uh...what''s your name?" Barnabus looked at the new assistant, whose dark brown eyes and medium-length ck hair reminded him of a younger sibling Barnabus used to be fond of. "No Boss! My name is Yuriel!" the assistant replied in a loud but respectful voice that was full of anxiety. Like the others, he didn''t want to be Barnabus'' assistant, but he had no choice. Yuriel owed a debt to the Thieves'' Guild from long ago, and if he didn''t ept this position, his family would die. "Good. Pass an order from me to the remaining members at the mine. They are not to pursue the attackers and will return to Headquarters immediately. We will retake the mine when the pair leaves." "What about the extraction research?" Yuriel asked, hoping that the Boss wouldn''t give him trouble if it was takenter. "If only two people attacked us and aren''t afraid of the repercussions, it can only be one group: The Yu Royal Family. Only I am strong enough to fight them, but the Thieves'' Guild will be no more, and I will lose all the progress I have been working towards." Barnabus exined, although he hated to admit that they were weak. He continued, "Let the research go, we still have a few experienced members that know the process by heart." *** William and Carl spent the next day delving deeper and deeper into the cave until they reached the very bottom. The thieves from above had retreated a few hours ago, leaving them to search for loot on their own. This was William''s intention from the very beginning, since he knew there was a mine co-located with this Thieves'' Guild hideout. That''s why he chose it, rather than another small hideout in the Far West Forest Region that would at most give him a few bounties to turn in. After all, he had plenty of time, and killing two birds with one stone was always a good n. His doubts in the beginning of not being strong enough seemed to be unnecessary, since he easily wiped the floor using Necromancy. I guess you could say I, bodied, them. Haha.Williamughed inwardly, though only the System that had been to his World would understand that reference. As expected, William received a mental image of someone puking from the System. Clearly his puns were amazing. He refocused on the task at hand, since all that was left was to investigate the area and gather any remaining loot. He had gathered a few blueprints that depicted theyout of the cave and the type of structural support it received, but other than that and a simple document listing an ore-gathering process he already knew, the information was generally useless for now. He still stored the papers, though, since maybe they''d be useful in the future. Spoken like a true hoarder. "Hey, William! Look at this!" Carl shouted from afar while encased in a thick armor made of ice, pointing to a small crack in the wall that was glowing red. He had to shield his face from the heat, which threatened to melt his skin off in an instant, despite the protections William had given him using the Ice Element. William walked over and peered inside the crack, unbothered by the intense heat. As he reached his hand forward to touch the fiery substance, however, his skin started to turn a golden brown before a pure-white me spread across his arm. "Ah, f*ck that''s hot." Williamined as he waved his arm frantically. He tried to call Water Mana to douse the mes, but something about this unique me prevented him from using Water Mana, as if it was inherently afraid of the fire. He cycled through his avable Magic before eventually stopping on earth, encasing his entire arm in a block of stone to seal off the airflow to the me. The stone heated up quickly and began to melt, but continued pressure and more Earth Mana eventually led the fire to go out. When William looked at his arm, however, it was thin and a crispy-ck color, as if it was a severely overcooked piece of bacon. Carl looked at William''s arm with a bit of concern, but heaved a sigh of relief when William''s Regeneration Talent kicked in a few secondster and healed the injury instantly. "Hmm. That''s pretty intense." Williammented. His Heat Resistance Talent was already A-Rank, while his Fire Affinity was S-Rank, and his Hard Skin Talent was SS-Rank. These three Talentsbined should make him almost invincible against fire. And yet, he was still burned. That only spoke volumes of the power of this fiery substance. System, what am I looking at?William asked. His Forging Talent couldn''t tell what it was, nor could anything else in his repository of information. Even after checking the documents left behind by the thieves, there was nothing. He had no other option than to rely on the System. -Request requires 35 Potential Points. Yes/No? 35 Points for this? Now I have to know. Confirm. -The Host is looking at a Greater Fire Vein, the second most powerful natural vein avable in Efretta. This specific Greater Fire Vein maintains the stability of the Southern ins, suppressing the World and greatly speeding up the natural formation of Fire Elemental resources within a range of 200 kilometers. Chapter 257: Enduring The Flames, Is It Enough? William''s face turned slightly ashen upon hearing the response from the System. If it was a Greater Fire Vein, it was even better than the Lesser Life Vein and the Earth Vein from before, but that also meant there would be severe consequences for absorbing the natural treasure. Just the absence of five Lesser Life Veins had left the Livingwood Forest in shambles and destroyed a series of viges in its general vicinity. Absorbing a single Earth Vein had forced the entire Blue Moon City to take severe action, seeking the assistance of outsiders to deal with their cmity. If a Greater Elemental Vein was absorbed, wouldn''t that spell the end for the Southern ins Region? System, why do you do this to me? -Just absorb the Vein, why are you worried about the consequences now? Why do you care, after everything that you''ve done so far? William could tell the System was joking, but its words stung a bit. He couldn''t say that the System was wrong about what it said, he truly hadn''t cared about the consequences before. But now that he had be attached to this World, things were different. If I did absorb it, how long would I have before the Beast Tides? -Request requires 65 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. The price didn''t matter. William needed to know. -Eight to ten weeks. Can you be more specific? Why that specific time-frame? -Request requires 800 Potential Points. Yes/No? Uh, that''s too much. -The cost is already halved; you have enough Points. Don''t you want to know? Ugh...fine. William gritted his teeth as the System subtracted almost three days'' worth of Potential Farm earnings from his bnce. -The World needs more time to produce Magical Beasts with greater Cultivation. Additionally, the number of Magical Beasts produced would not be small, and the World''s past behavior suggests it won''t send the Beasts out until they have all been generated. You''re basing this off the past? Doesn''t that mean you''re just guessing?William asked. -Yes... William nodded.I think this is the first time you haven''t been confident in your answer, System. The System didn''t respond, seemingly contemting William''s words. Okay, next question. Is it worth it to absorb this Vein? Can I reverse the effectster, or rece the Vein myself? -Only the Host can decide if it''s worth it. The System will not answer your second question. Will not answer? Hmm...William couldn''t say he was satisfied with the generalized responses, but at least he wasn''t charged again. Before William could say anything else, something hidden within his memories suddenly triggered. It was the speech that Master ck gave out when talking to the fighters outside Blue Moon City. "The Seven Cores of the Foam Desert were absorbed, and the World has mobilized its energy to regenerate them. The Magical Beasts you have been fighting nonstop are just the leftover energy." "The Seven Cores..." William muttered, before his eyes widened in surprise. System, did someone else absorb the other six Cores of the Foam Desert? -Request requires 16 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm.Compared to the 800 Point question, this was nothing. -Yes. Nascent Soul Cultivators and above possess the natural ability to absorb the weaker Veins, while the Earth Veins can be absorbed by Soul Formation and above Cultivators. Retribution possesses a few individuals that know the technique to absorb these veins. Are you saying that Retribution absorbed the other Veins, and is trying to me it on me? Why? -Yes. They recognize your Talent and one of their goals is to control you once again, as their leader believes you have the skill to eventually kill the one you know as Supreme Left. They can also benefit from absorbing the Veins, since it directly improves the Affinity of one''s magic, although not above their natural limit. William nodded. It seemed his decision wouldn''t be so hard after all. If Retribution was following his footsteps and absorbing the veins of the World, there was no telling whether they would do the same here or not. Before that happened, William nned to acquire the benefits first. System, absorb the Greater Fire Vein, please. -Cannot absorb, Host has note in contact with the requested Vein. I clearly touched it, didn''t you see? -You did not. That was only its residual aura leaking out from the crack. Only its aura? Are you saying I didn''t even get close to it? William didn''t wait for a response, since he already knew what the System would say. To think that he had suffered so much damage just from approaching the Fire Vein... In that case, System, upgrade my Heat Resistance to S-Rank. -1000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Heat Resistance: (A --> S) Effects: Resistance to all forms of heat and their residual effects +550% >> +1200% S-Rank Bonus Effect: mes are yourpanion. When your body is entirely covered in mes, increase the power of your Fire Magic by 100%. Next rank up: 2500PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª That ability is insane! William ogled at the S-Rank bonus effect of the Heat Resistance Talent. Before, he had only put some attention on the resistance Talents because they didn''t do much, but now he was beginning to have second thoughts. If he could raise the other resistances to S-Rank, wouldn''t they have simr effects? He didn''t upgrade them just yet, but instead approached the crack bursting with mes again. Carl saw this and didn''t stop William, but he still felt a little bit nervous. As expected, William''s arm was engulfed in mes once again when he reached into the crack, but this time he didn''t feel the intense pain like before. Instead, he felt ufortably warm, as if he was washing dishes with the heat up just a little bit too high. If he spent too much time in the fire, it would probably damage him, but it was bearable enough. William removed all his clothing and Artifacts, storing them inside his Space Ring, then he went further into the mes, his naked body sliding into the crack while Carl averted his gaze. The temperature became hotter and hotter as William almost swam through theva-like mes, the Mana of all Elementspletely useless in this situation, even Fire. It was as if he was trapped inside someone else''s Domain, countless times stronger than his own. He swam forward a few more seconds, but he still hadn''t reached the center. The mes became unbearable once again, and William was forced to retreat outside the crack. He almost lost his way on the return trip, but the Navigation Talent helped him escape the risky situation. Carl heaved a sigh of relief when William stepped out of the crack, though his body was a bright red and the white mes were concealing the sensitive parts of William''s body. He wanted to approach, but he was afraid of being consumed by the mes, so he kept his distance. After dousing the mes on his body, William chose to spend 2500 Potential Points and upgrade the Heat Resistance Talent again. He wasn''t going to give up on the Greater Fire Vein just yet. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Heat Resistance: (S --> SS) Effects: Resistance to all forms of heat and their residual effects +1200% >> +2400% S-Rank Bonus Effect reced. SS-Rank Bonus Effect: mes are yourpanion; Lava is your lover. When your body is partially covered in mes, increase the power of your Fire Magic by 100%. When your body is partially covered inva, increase the power of your Earth and Fire Magic by 100%. When affected by both, both effects apply. Next rank up: 10000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Chapter 258: Charlottes Return William was pleasantly surprised to see the improved bonus effect of his Heat Resistance Talent. He wanted to try it out immediately, but increasing the power of his Fire Magic wouldn''t increase his resistance any further so it was useless for the moment. Not to mention he was still disguised as Serio, so neither the Fire or Earth Elements should be used here. With his now incredibly high resistance to fire, William dove back into the white mes. His body swam forward at a normal pace,pletely unbothered by the intense heat. What used to feel like an ufortable 38 degrees Celsius now felt like a cool summer breeze, barely noticeable. Even as he dove deeper, the temperature hardly changed until he reached the very center of the mes, where the ufortable feeling returned. It''s still a bit too much to stay here for a long time, but I''ve made it to the center now. System, can I absorb this Greater Fire Vein now? The System didn''t respond, so William did what he had done previously with the other Veins, resting his hand on a ball of white mes that were extremely dense and felt like jelly when he pressed down. -Discovered Fire Vein: +50 PP The Lesser Life Vein only gave me three Potential Points when I first approached it, and the Earth Vein was the same, why is the value increased now? William asked the System. -Because I said so. Would you rather I only give you three points? The System''s tone seemed a bit angry, but William didn''t know why it would be upset over a simple question. Uh...never mind. Continue with the absorption process. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -Absorbing Greater Fire Vein... ... ... -Cannot absorb Fire Vein. System Level too low. ¡ª¡ª¡ª To William''s disappointment, the System ryed a series of messages that he hoped not to see. After upgrading his Heat Resistance Talent twice and going through so much trouble, it turned out that the System didn''t even have the ability to absorb the Vein! I guess the decision was already made for me. William thought as he exited the crack once again and put his Artifacts back on. The System was nowhere close to meeting the upgrade requirements, needing another 62332 Potential Points to reach C-Rank. William only had just over seventeen thousand Points, so he would still need to earn another forty thousand somehow. He looked at the merium Ore dotting the walls and ceiling. If he could extract enough of these, it would probably earn him quite a few Potential Points. The only problem was he wanted to be back in Blue Moon City in less than ten days, just in case the next Beast Tide arrived earlier than anticipated. Whether or not he could earn forty thousand Points from extracting merium was unclear. But I earned a few thousand Points from the Greater Fire Shards...I should extract those instead. "Carl, we''re going back up. Are you ready?" William asked. Carl nodded, though he was a bit confused. "Already? Were you only here for the thing in the fire?" "I couldn''t get it," William shook his head. "We will have toe back for it another time." "What if someone else gets it first?" "I don''t think that''s going to happen. Did you see what that fire did to me?" "Right. I''m ready." *** "What? He was here and I didn''t get to see him?!?" Charlotte covered her mouth to prevent her surprise from being heard throughout the entire Training Area. She had returned from her mission half a day ago, but since she wasn''t that close with William''s friends, they didn''t ry the information until Tia and Gunther saw her by chance. "Yeah, he was here. And he''s super strong too." Gunther replied while showing off his own newly toned muscles. After seeing how much William had improved in a short time, Gunther had ced even more focus on keeping his body in top condition. "Gunny, I''m starting to think what he said about you is right. Why are youmenting on another man''s muscles?" Tiaughed as she gave Gunther a slight side-eye, causing him to turn red with anger and embarrassment. "Shut up about that. I''m with you, aren''t I?" Guntherined. He didn''t like it when Tia picked on him in front of others. "Hey, I''m still here." Charlotte looked at the arguing couple and ced her hands on her hips. "Where is he now? I''ll go wherever he is." "Oh, he''s got a new identity, so you won''t find him easily. Just wait for him toe back and pick us up. We''re all going together." Tia replied. "All of us? How many people are going with him?" "Hmm, I think it''s just me, you, Gunther, and an Inner Core Disciple. Yuppy, I believe?" Tia looked upward as she tried to remember the Alchemist''s name. "Yuppy?" Gunther looked at Tia with a raised eyebrow. "His name is Yuming, even I remember that. And don''t forget Carl." "Ah, yes. Yuming." Tia nodded. "That was my second guess." "No it wasn''t." Charlotte stepped in before the two could get into another fight. "Okay, so five of us? When is heing?" Gunther shook his head, "I don''t know. He said he''d be around in maybe one or two weeks, so it could be any time now, but he also didn''t sound very confident. Carl went with him, so I wouldn''t be surprised if it took him three weeks or more." "Are you saying that Carl is slow?" Tia asked. "Not exactly, but it''s not like he''s fast either. You saw how fast William was during the Ranking match against Yu Ren and Hanzu, Carl is nowhere near that speed." Gunther exined. "What do I do in the meantime? I can''t wait here for him forever, I''m a healer." Charlotte asked. A mage with the Life Affinity was almost mandatory on most missions, so she was sent out frequently to act as support for Outer and Inner Core Disciples alike. If William took too long to return, she might be on another mission by that time. "I can ask Filipe to contact him. He has amunicator that should be able to reach him from almost anywhere. We can go on a mission together and set up a new ce to meet." Gunther said. He exined how William had given Filipe amunicator to talk back and forth, since he wouldn''t be leaving the Sect with the rest of the group. He didn''t forget to exin the part where William improved its Arrays in an instant. Charlotte knew that William was good with Arrays, but having no knowledge of the process herself, she didn''t know just how impressive the feat was. In her eyes, a Perfect and an Intermediate Array were basically the same thing, though one was stronger than the other. She smiled and epted the offer, following the group to Filipe''s residence. Gunther offered to just pass along a message and tell herter, but she insisted oning along, since it would be "easier that way". In truth, Charlotte just wanted to hear William''s voice again, but how could she admit something like this to a group of people she hardly ever interacted with? It was already awkward enough hearing news about William second-hand. Now that she was back in the Sect, why would she sit back and wait? What am I thinking, I don''t need to be flustered over this. Charlotte shook her head and dismissed her thoughts while Gunther knocked on the door of Filipe''s residence. Chapter 259: SSR, I Can Go Further! "Hello?" Carl''s confused voice sounded from the other end of Filipe''smunicator. He had just set up his bedding to Cultivate, but his ns were foiled when the Artifact was thrown at him. William, the party responsible for the thrown Artifact, was standing on a pir of ice tapping away at another Greater Fire Shard with his chisel. Not only that, but a series of Arrays quickly surrounded Carl''s position, soundproofing the entire area so no one outside could hear their conversation. William mouthed the word "sorry" to Carl, holding the chisel in one hand and a freshly extracted Greater Fire Shard in the other. He clearly wanted tomunicate that his hands were full, but Carl wouldn''t fall for it. He knew Will had at least a dozen Space Rings. "Carl, is that you? Where''s Wi- Yuming?" Gunther asked. "He''s here, but busy." Carl replied while shing a middle finger in William''s direction. An appropriate response in his opinion. "Oh. Charlotte is back, but we can''t stay in the Sect for long, where should we meet you?" Gunther skipped the greetings and got to the point. Carl looked over at William, who had already exined they''d be in the caves until the Beast Tide. "We won''t be in the area for a while, but maybe you could take a mission that''s close to Blue Moon City." he replied simply. He and Gunther spoke about a few more specifics, Tia and Charlotte chiming in from time to time. After they had sorted everything out, Gunther thanked Filipe for letting them use themunicator and hung up the call. "If we''re going to Blue Moon City, you should probably take the same mission our junior Disciples have been." Filipe said. "What mission?" Gunther and Tia asked simultaneously. They spent most of their time training, and rarely listened to the inter-Sect gossip, so they werepletely out of the loop. "The Beast Tides have be more intensetely, and Blue Moon City has been asking for help defending. The pay isn''t that good, but everyone gets a share of Magical Beast materials depending on their contribution." Filipe exined. He had been watching this development closely, even nning to visit Blue Moon City himself. Bored in the Sect, Filipe had be a cksmith, so any rare materials would help him better hone his trade, and maybe even earn a decent amount of Mana Stones in the process. The others agreed to Filipe''s suggestion and decided to join the next Beast Tide. Though Filipe wasn''t nning to follow William and the others after the Tide, he tagged along for the time being. Gunther, Tia, Filipe, and Charlotte met with Yuming to pass along the information, who also epted the same mission. He packed away his Alchemy cauldron and other ingredients he owned into the Specialized Titanium Space Ring William gave him, then took care of some loose ends in the Sect. They spent the next day gathering the necessary materials and Pills for the trip, then left the Sect through the main entrance. At a moderate speed, the trip would take about seven days, only slightly slower than William and Carl. *** After four straight days of extracting Greater Fire Shards, William''s hands were starting to hurt. He was honestly amazed that he managed to go so long without losing interest in the task, but he had always been the type of person to easily spend hours hyper-focused on things he enjoyed. To William, seeing the blue text box fill up with notifications of "+25 PP" were so satisfying that he didn''t want to stop. Before he knew it, he had extracted the shards for four days. His speed was slightly faster than the first extraction, but after needing to create more cotton padding and even having Carl spend all his Mana to create stone boxes for storage, the added efficiency evened out. William wasn''tining, though. That was because he had earned an additional 7200 Greater Fire Shards, totaling 7430 in his Space Rings. Since each Greater Fire Shard was worth 25 Potential Points, that meant William had earned 180,000 Points in thest four days! System, isn''t this too broken? Why would you keep giving me Potential Points? William asked honestly. -The Host is gathering natural resources manually. There''s no reason not to issue rewards. The System had reverted to its usual robotic voice, with little emotionpared to before. William noticed that this would happen often when the System was preparing for an upgrade, though he hadn''t spent the Potential Points yet. As much as I want to keep earning Points, I need a break. It''s time to upgrade some Talents! William opened up his System Panel and scrolled through to see which Talents would be the most useful to upgrade. It only took a moment to figure out what he needed to upgrade, since his Magic shouldn''t be upgraded until he returned to the Ruins. I would like to upgrade my Arrays Talent again, but it''s not as reliable as some of my other abilities. No one could guarantee that William would have time to put up an Array before he was attacked, no matter how strong the Array was. Not to mention that he always found himself trying to suppress his skill with Arrays, since so few Cultivators had actually reached the Perfect level. The Physical Talents were the most reliable for now, while the others could wait until he was back in the Ruins. System, upgrade my Hard Skin, Strength, Stamina, and Regeneration Talents. It was the same request William had made but a few days ago. Before, upgrading the Talents cost him a total of ten thousand Potential Points, but this time it would cost forty thousand, a sharp increase from before. -40000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENTS UPGRADED Hard Skin: (SS --> SSR) Effects: Skin Cell amount, toughness, andpression +1200% >> +2400% SS-Rank Bonus Effect improved. SSR-Rank Bonus Effect: Rate of Skin Cell damage reduced by 100% Next rank up: 50000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Strength: (SS --> SSR) Effects: Full-body muscr ability +1200% >> +2400% SS-Rank Bonus Effect improved. SSR-Rank Bonus Effect: Chance of physical strain reduced by 100% Next rank up: 50000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Stamina: (SS --> SSR) Effects: Resistance to fatigue +1200% >> +2400% SS-Rank Bonus Effect improved. SSR-Rank Bonus Effect: Quickly recover your stamina when out ofbat. When at full stamina, your first physical move is 50% more powerful and efficient. Next rank up: 50000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Regeneration: (SS --> SSR) Effects: Natural healing ability improved by 1200% >> 2400%, then healing speed improved by another 1200% >> 2400% SS-Rank Bonus Effect: Host can recover from almost any physical injury, no matter the severity. Side Effect: Healing injuries hastens the rate of cell division and will cause the Host to age by one year after healing 30 >> 120 years'' worth of injuries. Next rank up: 50000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Each of the Talents doubled in strength, while only the Regeneration Talent''s Bonus Effect didn''t improve. Instead, the Side Effect became four times weaker, which was exactly what William was hoping for. All of William''s injuriesbined didn''t equal 120 years, so he hoped that meant he would no longer age unless in extremely dangerous situations. He reached forward to punch lightly at the air, controlling his strength as best as he could to limit it to the Nascent Soul Realm. This proved to be too difficult, since William identally used too much power and obliterated the opposite wall of the cave. With just one punch at less than thirty percent power, William''s strength had breached the Soul Formation Realm. If he used full power, there was a high chance that he could damage a Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator! Chapter 260: C-Rank System POTENTIAL POINTS: 157380 I still have so many left... System, upgrade my Reflexes and eleration Talents to SSR-Rank. William didn''t want to leave behind his other Physical Talents while the others were already two ranks ahead. He nned to even out all of his Physical Talents other than the Wrestling Talent, which was still at D-Rank since it sounded useless. The System took a total of twenty-five thousand Potential Points to upgrade both Talents two Ranks, greatly increasing William''s ability to react to danger and reducing the time it took to reach maximum speed. With the Reflexes Talent now at SSR-Rank, the time-slowing effect when being attacked was improved to sixteen times, meaning an attack that would reach William in one second would give him sixteen seconds to react! Against Golden Core Cultivators, any attacks theyunched would bepletely ineffective, unable to even touch William''s clothes. Even a weak firearm wouldn''t reach him in time, and if it did it would just bounce of his incredibly tough skin. Modern-day weapons were nothingpared to someone with strength in the Nascent Soul Realm, not to mention William, who could easily kill a Soul Formation Cultivator right now. After the upgradespleted, William noticed that his eleration Talent still didn''t have a bonus effect. It seemed that not all Talents had one, but William wasn''t bothered. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE-- --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT-- ... ... --UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL-- SYSTEM RANK: (D+ --> C-) -2668 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup. Next rank up: 247332PP *New Changes: -System has reached version 2.0 -When upgrading Talents, their Rarity will now be shown in the upgrade panel. -More Legendary Talents have appeared in the Talent Shop. -Epic Talents are more likely to appear in the Talent Shop. -Host can now absorb even more powerful natural treasures. -Potential Farms can now be upgraded to C-Rank. -All new Talents will be automatically raised to C-Rank. -Ask Function improved. Quality of responses increased. -Bestiary Improved. Host can now register a Magical Beast from up to five kilometers away. *Note: The Host is now deemed of average worth as a reward for upgrading the System to C-Rank. Continue performing well and you will be rewarded. ¡ª¡ª¡ª The C-Rank System upgrade was like night and daypared to some of the other past upgrades. Not only had the Talent Shop improve in two ways, but his other functions improved. Other than the Companion Beast Shop, everything had be better than before! Seeing the System mention Legendary Talents, William was tempted to spin the shop for the first time in a while. It wasn''t very expensive, so this would be easy, but it would also spread his Points thin when he wanted to upgrade said Talents. Before he approached the peak of the World in strength, William felt his current skillset was enough. He already had trouble keeping track of what he could and couldn''t use in certain situations. William looked at the remaining Talents in his System Panel, choosing to upgrade the S-Rank Acrobatics and Attack Reflection Talents next. They were both Rare Talents, so the System charged him 7500 Potential Points for each. He skipped through the System panel for the Acrobatics Talent, which mostly just referenced his increased speed, flexibility, and jumping power, among a few other things. What truly interested him, however, was the Attack Reflection Talent upgrade. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Attack Reflection (Rare): (S --> SS) Effects: Reflect physical attacksunched at you for up to 60% >> 80% of the original strength. Activates even if the attack is blocked by the Host. S-Rank Bonus Effect upgraded to SS-Rank. SS-Rank Bonus Effect: Whenever a physical attack causes zero physical damage to the Host, reflected damage doubles. Side Effect: Taking physical damage increases the Host''s hunger. When this damage is healed naturally, the Host uses twice as many Calories to recover. Next rank up: 15000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William noticed that the Attack Reflection Talent also had a Side Effect, which helped to exin why his Saturation Pills would expire so soon. He always thought it was a secondary hidden side effect of the Regeneration Talent, but it turned out to be abination of both. But System, why do you keep using different messages when the Bonus Effect goes up in Rank? Can''t you just say improved, or just say nothing and note the effect? -I was bored. I didn''t expect you to actually read the panel. I can read, okay?!? Williammented in his mind. Didn''t you see me read the rules in the Hillvire Empire''s Capital City? -No. You''re lying! The System didn''t respond, though William sensed a slight tone of happiness from the System. It seemed to be having fun at his expense. Since it was technically inside his mind, or body, or whatever, he sometimes could feel the emotions of the System if they were strong enough. Usually, he could only feel anger or frustration, but the C-Rank upgrade also seemed to improve their connection. He smiled, then scrolled through the Panel for the next Talent to upgrade. My Physical Talents are definitely enough to take on a Soul Formation Cultivator now, so maybe I should put some Potential Points into my most useful Talent, even if I can''t use it right now. System, upgrade my Mind Talent, then upgrade my Arrays Talent when it is done. The next two upgrades would be very expensive, but it was more than worth it. He made sure not to try upgrading them at the same time, since he didn''t know what would happen. Maybe the System would protect him, but William didn''t hope to suffer any unnecessary headaches or pain. -15000 PP The upgrademenced as usual, the space in his mind bing incredibly clear. Along with the upgrade, William felt some information on how to defend himself from Mental Invasions, as well as how to conduct Mental Attacks of his own. He had learned this in the simplest terms while in the Night Market at the Five Elements Sect, but the information this time was much more profound and exined in depth many tactics he could use to fend off his enemies. -15000 PP The Arrays Talent followed suit, sending waves of information on how to better improve his Complete Arrays. His simtion became a thousand years, but thankfully it was still simr to a dream. He didn''t actually have to spend so much time inside, or he''d go crazy for sure. William hadn''t even lived more than twenty-five years, how could he tolerate a thousand years doing one thing? As the simtionmenced, William''s speed and skill with Arrays improved dramatically. Advanced Runes became mere thoughts, while Perfect Runes were just a few seconds of his time. There weren''t any hints towards a better version of Arrays, but William''s ability improved to a point where he could create Complete Runes almost as fast as he could Perfect ones. Just a little bit faster, and he might be able to use Complete Arrays in real-time during a battle. This was one of the downsides to Arrays that William noticed over time. Against low-level Cultivators, one was often given plenty of time to prepare Arrays, since neither side could cross long distances very quickly. This changed at higher Cultivations, but the speed of crafting Arrays didn''t change from one level to the next. The only way to use Arrays faster was to be more efficient in creating the Runes, or take shortcuts to create the Arrays faster. Many of these methods had been taught to William during the upgrades, but it seemed that this Talent had its limits. The Arrays Talent was slowly transitioning from an inbat role to a supporting one, in the form of improving his equipment. Without the Array Wheel, William wouldn''t even be able to use Arrays inbat without being interrupted or exploited. But now I can make even better Puppets. I didn''t improve themst time, so I''m going to need to do that when I get back to the Ruins. As William grew stronger, he wondered if it was even necessary to return to the Gravitas Ruins, but then he remembered his experience with the dozen or so Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators. Who knew if stronger beings existed in the World, just waiting for someone like William to appear? Not to mention, the Heavens were still against him since he dispersed their precious Tribtion and would probably do everything they could to make his life difficult. While helping others during a Tribtion usually led to being targeted as well, it was different if one had dispersed the clouds before. ording to Riyald, anyone who attacked these people would not be targeted, since they were considered as allies of the Heavens. Some would even be rewarded if the Cultivator died. I''m strong, but a million ants can kill an elephant. I''m no different, I can''t get cocky. William looked at the walls of the cave around him, which still held many Greater Fire Shards despite how many he had extracted. He needed to take advantage of this moment and grow as strong as possible! Chapter 261: Ill Kill Them! Six dayster. "Yuriel!" Barnabus called out to his new assistant while scratching the blue eyepatch over his left eye. A man with medium length ck hair and dark brown eyes walked in hastily, standing at attention as if he was a soldier and not a thief. "I''m here, Boss!" "Calm down with the stiffness, be smoother. Come when called, but don''t make a fuss." Barnabus said with a rxed voice, having just drank some soothing Spirit Tea that was supposed to suppress his anger. Yuriel nodded, "Yes, boss." "What''s the situation at the Fire Mine? Are Supreme Left''s dogs still there?" Barnabus asked, referring to the Pirs of Justice, who served as Supreme Left''s most powerful underlings now that Retribution had betrayed the Yu Royal Family. He had previously assumed that Supreme Left had sent the Pirs of Justice to take control of the mine, but never outright said it. Over time, however, it became the only exnation for his Thieves'' Guild''s defeat at the hands of just two people. Only the higher-ups of the Pirs of Justice and Retribution could manage such a feat, but Retribution had recently offered to ally with the Thieves'' Guild in secret. Why would theyunch an attack on their prospectiverades? "Ourst report came in about a day ago, and they say that there are still two presences inside. Their auras are hazy because of how deep they are, but we are confident that one of them is only in the Foundation Establishment Realm." Yuriel replied quickly, hoping to give the Boss both bad and good news. "A day ago?!?" Barnabus'' eye twitched as he picked up a second cup full of tea and took a swig. "Why are there not hourly reports? We have twelve people in the Golden Core that specialize in detection Spells, are you telling me that twelve people aren''t enough to send timely reports?" "B-Boss," Yuriel stammered. "They were supposed to send reports every few hours...but they haven''t in a while. The Soul Artifacts they left behind are still intact, so they''re not dead. Maybe they''re sleeping?" "SLEEPING?" Barnabus crushed the teacup in his hand, then called Water Mana to form around Yuriel and trap him in a giant bubble. "They better not be f*cking sleeping!" Yuriel held his breath from inside the bubble and watched his Boss walk to the door with pleading eyes, but to no avail. Barnabus exited the room, but the bubble remained, slowly drowning Yuriel to death. As Barnabus crossed a few hallways, another thief walked up, "Boss Barnabus, is everything alright? Is there a problem with the tea that Mr. Yelori made today? Where are you going?" Barnabus looked at the person in front, who was known as Jeffrey, and served as his secondary assistant whenever something happened. He liked this man, since he always did exactly as he was told, but wasn''t very smart. Even better, Jeffrey was always given the simplest tasks, so he had survived over twenty-five years in his current position. "The tea didn''t work, and I''m going to need a portal opened to the Fire Mine. I want to check something out." Barnabus said simply, with no signs of the anger from his previous outburst. "I see. I''ll have someone open a portal for you right away, Boss Barnabus. Is there anything else you need?" the man asked before pressing a button on a nearbymunicator, calling a Space Mage to prepare a portal for Barnabus. "No... actually, yes. I''m going to need a new assistant. Thest one... slipped somehow. Into a ball of water... that someone made somehow." "Oh no! That''s too bad!" Jeffrey replied with an anxious face. If someone was running around creating balls of water to slip in, wouldn''t he be at risk too? Barnabus stepped through the portal at that moment, appearing just a few meters away from the cave entrance. The heat instantly assaulted Barnabus, being roughly 52 degrees Celsius. As a Cultivator in the sixth and final stage of the Soul Formation Realm, though, he was more surprised than affected. Compared to a Summer Day in the desert, the temperature was only slightly above average, but he had juste from a cool undergroundplex that maintained the temperature at 18 degrees, and he wasn''t exactly in a desert. His short white hair gleamed in the sunlight, while the blue eyepatch stood out like a sore thumb amidst the rocky environment. It was the only blue thing other than the sky that one would see for dozens of kilometers. Barnabus looked around, no sign of his subordinates that were supposed to be watching the area. He cast a quick detection Spell to find them all grouped up in one ce, lying on the ground fast asleep. "F*ck! I knew those idiots were unreliable!" Barnabus entered the cave to examine the situation, nning to deal with his useless subordinatester. He melded into a shadow, using the Darkness Element to descend with even greater skill and precision than William could manage. His figure squirmed in between piles of rubble from the cave copse, bypassing the obstacles through pinhole-sized cracks. It only took Barnabus a few hours to reach the fifty-kilometer mark, but it was hardly recognizable from the time when he had first entered the cave a few years prior. Rather than thousands of Greater Fire Shards dotting the walls and ceiling, Barnabus saw nothing. The entire section waspletely cleaned out, and the Greater Fire Shards were nowhere to be seen. Only when he delved another kilometer downward did Barnabus see the Greater Fire Shards again, which made him wonder if he had misjudged the depth. He inspected the area for traces of the foreign Cultivators, but his enemy seemed to cover their tracks quite well. There were traces of Illusion Magic throughout the entire cave, so Barnabus had trouble identifying their unique Auras. Other than confirming that at least one of the Cultivators was in the Foundation Establishment Realm, Barnabus had nothing. He couldn''t even identify which direction they went. Barnabus was one of only a few people with a sensitivity to the Illusion Element, having lost his left eye while exploring an Ancient Ruin that housed an Illusion Vein. He spent years trying to find his way out of that Ruin after the initial entry, and the immense exposure allowed him to identify the Element at a nce. To have ess to the Illusion Element, though. There aren''t many that can reach a high level with that Affinity... Barnabus scanned his memories for individuals with the Illusion Element that might have a grudge with his Thieves'' Guild, but he couldn''te up with anything. His guess still suggested that the Pirs of Justice were responsible, but he couldn''t prove it. He delved deeper, reaching the very bottom of the cave at the 260-kilometer mark in just half a day. He had skipped over investigating the merium veins, since they appeared untouched and the Illusion Mana was very thin in that area. Instead, what had attracted his attention was a thick aura of residual Fire Mana and Illusion Manabined. As he approached thergest mass of residual Mana, Barnabus spotted the crack that used to hold the Greater Fire Vein. Emphasis on "used to", because at the current moment, Barnabus could only see an empty hole. "They took it! I''ll kill them!" Barnabus'' eyes turned red as he punched a deep impression in the wall next to him. The cave shook as some loose rocks fell, but Barnabus had already left the area in a hurry. Chapter 262: X-Rank A few hours before Barnabus teleported to the Fire Mine, William and Carl had left through the front entrance. A few Golden Core Cultivators noticed them, but with William''s newfound strength, they didn''t stand a chance. Before they could even cry out in rm, each of the Cultivators was struck on the back of the neck and knocked out. Their Space Rings were stolen, and William wiped every tracking Array attached to their belongings before leaving. He thought about killing the Cultivators, but after sensing a trail of consciousness leading in another direction, William thought better of it. ording to the System, the trail was some sort of Soul Link, which usually went to an Artifact somece else. If the thieves were killed, the Artifact would probably warn the Thieves'' Guild and he would probably be attacked again. Given that they were in a hurry, William didn''t have time to fight head-on with the Thieves'' Guild. He and Carl took a random path until they were roughly 40 kilometers away from any human life, then William created a long-distance portal to return to the Far West Forest Region. They appeared a little over sixty kilometers away from Blue Moon City, so it would only take a few hours to reach the City gates. POTENTIAL POINTS: 328180 William didn''t even know how many Greater Fire Shards he had extracted from the cave, but two of his Titanium Space Rings werepletely full and he remembered spending almost an entire day crafting storage boxes out of stone to keep the Shards in good condition. He hadn''t used any Potential Points in thest six days, not even taking the time to upgrade any of his Talents. William didn''t know how long he had until the Beast Tide, so he pushed himself to put everyst moment into extracting and storing the Shards. Even the Mining Talent wasn''t upgraded, since it would only improve his knowledge of the process but wouldn''t increase the speed at which the materials were extracted. That seemed to be something that William couldn''t speed up, no matter what he did. Since extracting the Fire Shards took a great deal of care and precision, even upgrading his Speed Talent wouldn''t help. If anything, it would just raise the chances of making a mistake and losing the Greater Fire Shard. He found this out the hard way six days ago, when he had just upgraded his Acrobatics Talent. The increased speed caused William to identally tap with the chisel in the wrong spot, leading the entire Shard to shatter into dozens of pieces. This happened a few more times until William was ustomed to his own speed. He tried a few other ways to increase his efficiency, but after each method failed and the losses started to affect his Potential Points, William opted to go back to what he was previously doing. William reverted his identity to "Yuming", the cksmith and Healer with the Life, Space, and Earth Elements. Once he had fully changed, he and Carl approached the City and entered the gates without any issue. The Elemental Beast Tide was already showing signs of movement, but it likely wouldn''t reach the city until the following day. They had made good time. William rented them a Hotel to stay in for the night, but the staff seemed to recognize him and told him the stay was free-of-charge. Not only that, but they were provided one of the best rooms avable, only second to those reserved for high-ranking officials from other Cities or various Sect Masters. With no reason to say no, William epted the offer and set up his bedding, preferring his own over the Hotel''s. Carl did the same, and they rested through the night in preparation for the next day. Contacting Gunther and the rest could wait until just before the battle. While lying in bed, William scrolled through the System Panel and picked a few Talents to upgrade. I have so many Points, might as well see what an X-Rank Talent looks like! System, upgrade my Mind Talent! -75000 PP -Upgrading Mind Talent. Please wait while System allocates resources. The System was very robotic as it responded to William''s request, clearly using a lot of energy to raise the Mind Talent to the next level. William''s eyes closed automatically, the System shutting off all of his senses, only allowing him to see the blue text box as the upgrademenced. What felt like hours passed before anything notable happened, which made William a bit nervous. If there was any danger on the outside, he wouldn''t even be able to respond. While he was still thinking this, the System finally finished its upgrade, disying a blue text box with the new upgrade statistics for William to see. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Mind: (SSR --> X) Effects: -Mental capacity increased by 4000% >> 12000% -Memory improved by 2400% >> 9600% -Mental invasions are 80% >> 100% less effective. -Your mental attacks are 800% >> 1000% stronger X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Unbreakable: Your mind can handle the toughest situations and can handle any pain. No longer lose consciousness while in pain. Pain reduced by 99%. -Unforgettable: Extremely high resistance to enemy memory-rted and mind-restricting abilities. -Mental Perception: Your brain sends constant mental waves to scan your surroundings, allowing you to perfectly understand the situation within 100 feet of yourself even with your eyes closed. Next rank up: Requirements Locked. Ascend or upgrade the System to A-Rank to unlock the next Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Wow...was all William could think when he looked at the array of new abilities. He hadn''t checked the status of the SSR-Rank Mind Talent, but he remembered that when the Talent was SS-Rank, it only had one ability that increased his mental capacity. Additionally, it only had one bonus effect, which was nowbeled as Unforgettable. Even this had improved, and now granted extremely high resistance. He knew that the X-Rank was the highest avable, but when William saw the next rank was locked and not unavable, it made him curious. The only problem was that he would need to Ascend or raise the System to A-Rank, both of which equally as difficult. Though getting the System to A-Rank might be easier with the cave in the Southern ins... William checked the time to see it was only just after midnight, so he still had plenty of time to do another X-Rank upgrade. He scrolled through the System Panel and chose to upgrade the Arrays Talent next, as was only customary. -50000 PP Like before, the System shut down his senses and notified him that the upgrade would proceed. Thankfully, he wasn''t forced to sit like this for long, as the System pulled his consciousness into a one hundred-thousand-year simtion, where William did nothing but perform millions of different Arrays at a level above Complete. These Arrays were different from the rest, since they weren''t given a name per-say, but a number. He received small bits of information that appeared to be hints rted to Ascension. The System exined that the Arrays he was learning now were called Tier 6 Arrays. The other Arrays were also given Tiers. Basic Arrays were at Tier 1, while Intermediate was Tier 2, Advanced Tier 3, Perfect Tier 4, and Complete Tier 5. This was how the Ascended Cultivators named Arrays, since the levels were more than just a simple name. Chapter 263: Upgrade Them All! As William learned more and more about Tier 6 Arrays, he found that their abilities were almost too strong for this World. If he wasn''t careful when using them, he could destroy more than just a City, he could destroy much more than that! If he used Tier 6 Arrays to recreate the Five Elements Explosion Array, William might just be able to destroy a considerable portion of the Far West Forest Region! It''s too powerful though... What''s the point of using such an attack? The number of innocent people caught in the explosion wouldn''t be small, it wouldn''t matter if I had a good reason... That aside, William now had an essentially unbreakable Confinement Array, which even a Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator probably couldn''t break out of. As he was thinking this, the System notified William of the sessful Talent upgrade. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Arrays: (SSR --> X) Effects: -Knowledge and Talent with Arrays +2400% >> +9600% -Level of usable Arrays raised to Tier 5 >> Tier 6 X-Rank Bonus Effect: -Puppetry Master: Can control up to 10 Puppets made with Tier 6 Arrays. Number of controble Puppets doubles for each Tier lower than 6. -Array Analysis: Can analyze the workings of an Array at a nce. Only applies to Arrays, Array Formations, and Runes the Host already knows. Next rank up: Requirements Locked. Ascend or upgrade the System to A-Rank to unlock the next Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª While there weren''t as many effects as those provided by the Mind Talent, William felt it wasn''t a bad thing at all. Just the Puppetry Master effect alone was enough for William''s mouth to drool. If he could use twice as many Puppets for each lower Tier, that meant William could control twenty Complete Puppets at a time, and forty Perfect Puppets! If he wanted to control Basic Array Puppets... he could control 320 at the same time! That was no different than a small army, though Basic Puppets weren''t that useful with his current strength. William looked at his Potential Points bnce to see that he still had over two hundred thousand Potential Points. With the current amount, he could pretty much max out any one Talent that he wanted. But with so many Points, William had something else in mind. He was about to take on a Magical Beast Tide, but the level of enemies should be rtively low. Immediately following the fight, however, William nned to pick up his friends and head to the Gravitas Ruins. I should upgrade my Magic Talents before anything. I need to finish the Artifact Belt at least, and I hate having unfinished projects. System, how much would it cost to upgrade all of my Magic Affinities to S-Rank? Except for the Order Affinity, of course. William felt it was a waste to have a Mythic Talent just sitting idle the entire time, but his gut instinct still said that the Order Affinity wasn''t meant to be unlocked yet. Perhaps that is also the reason why the System locked out the Magic Talents from the Talent Shop. -To upgrade your remaining Magic Talents to S-Rank, it would cost 94,750 Potential Points. William nodded. It was a reasonable amount, and he could easily afford it. It''s dangerous to upgrade them all at once. System, can you perform the upgrades one at a time, in order from least to most dangerous? With his Hard Skin and Regeneration Talents at SSR-Rank, S-Rank upgrades shouldn''t be too harmful, but William didn''t want to take any chances. He waited for the System''s response. -It can be done, but it will cost an additional 50 Potential Points. Yes/No? Only 50 Points? Absolutely! No, wait! William couldn''t say no to such a deal, but he suddenly had a thought. If the upgrades did anything to the environment like his Fire Magic and many others, he would probably destroy the entire Hotel! He got up from his bed and rushed out of the room and outside the building, until he was far away from the protective Arrays in the Hotel, not even bothering to give an answer to Carl. Since he was disguised as Yuming, William teleported outside of the City, then used his new Tier 6 Arrays to create the strongest possible Concealment Array he could think of. Once that wasplete, William put together a Barrier Array that would shield the environment from any damage he caused, while creating a second Array for himself that would protect from potential attackers. William removed his disguise as Yuming, then gave the System confirmation to start the upgrades. He closed his eyes and took the initiative to shut off his own senses, not wanting to deal with the immense pain that was toe. The only thing he couldn''t do was turn off his own pain receptors, since the Darkness Mana refused to harm him. He still had the Mind Talent''s Unbreakable bonus effect that reduced his pain by 99 percent, so William wasn''t too bothered. Seconds passed, then minutes, and William felt nothing more than a few pinpricks on his body as each upgrade waspleted one by one. It seemed that the Rare Blessing Element came first, then the Epic Summoning Element, which he hadn''t used once up to now. After the Summoning Element, the Epic Sound Element was raised, followed by thest three Rare Elements: Poison, Curse, and Death. William expected the Death Element to be the most dangerous to his body, but it was surprisingly weakpared to his insane Regeneration. William didn''t age a single year during all of these upgrades, and the only one that caused real damage to his body was the Death Element, which was only able to do so because it could bypass his Hard Skin Talent with its corrosive properties. Following the Death Affinity upgrades, William was assaulted by multiple unique and odd effects. First, he was thrown into a terrifying dream where the most abominable creatures he could imagine chased him through the darkness. His body was torn apart within the dream hundreds, maybe even thousands of times by these eldritch horrors that seemed to do it for sport. What felt like months passed, but this time the experience didn''t fade away in mere moments like simtions. With William''s Mind Talent, he remembered each and every detail clearly, his pain resistance the only thing keeping him semi-conscious. The dream was immediately cut short, reced by overwhelming negative emotions from the Necromancy Affinity. Tears flowed from William''s eyes constantly until there was nothing left to cry. He wanted to call Water Mana to create something for him to drink, but the negative emotions prevented him from properly focusing on his Magic. He could only wait out the effects of the upgrade with gritted teeth and dry eyes. The Blood Affinity upgraded in an instant. His body exploded into a rain of blood, then reformed almost as fast with the Regeneration Talent. The Seal Element upgraded immediately afterwards, fossilizing his entire body andpletely restricting his movement for a fraction of a second. As William broke free from the Sealing with his incredible strength, the Mana continued to affect his insides, his body entering a constant state of damage and healing, eventually leading him to age his first year since the start of the upgrades. The Gravity Element came next, pressing William''s body to the ground. His body sank further and further into the ground, until it came into contact with the Barrier Arrays that were underground. It was a decision William had decided to make in thest second, and he was thankful that he did now. His body tried to break through the Barrier Array with the pure strength of Gravity, but Tier 6 Arrays were no joke. Neither the A-Rank nor the S-Rank Gravity Affinity upgrades could even cause a crack in the Array. William stood up slowly as the Gravity Affinitypleted its upgrade, but he was overwhelmed again by the Illusion Affinity upgrade, which made his body be slightly illusory as it faded in and out of existence. William had no idea how to defend against such a Magical Attack, but thankfully the upgradepleted on its own and his body reformed after a few minutes of anxiety. The System had ranked the upgrades from least to most dangerous, yet the Illusion Talent upgrade didn''t seem that strong. That was the scariest part, since William had no idea whether he was close to dying or not. He was forced to stop thinking about this when the Time Affinity started its singr upgrade from A to S-Rank. It was the second tost Element that the System would raise, which made William wonder what kind of effects it would have. He found out the answer very quickly, when his skin turned leathery, and his hair turned grey. The Regeneration side effect started to trigger one by one, as the number next to his age rose once every minute or so, only stopping when his age had reached 104 years old. -Reached one hundred years of age: +1000 PP Chapter 264: Chaos Upgrade William''s appearance reverted back to that of a man in his mid tote thirties, though his actual age was still 104 years. That being said, for him to age a tenth of his total lifespan in one go had some obvious effects. If he didn''t have loads of Talents buffing his physical abilities, William''sbat power might have gone down. Almost done...William let loose a relieved sigh, checking his System Panel to see what Element would be upgraded next. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENTS: ( - ) Magic: ( - ) -Common: --Fire: S (2500PP to next rank) --Earth: S (2500PP to next rank) --Ice: S (2500PP to next rank) --Wind: S (2500PP to next rank) --Lightning: S (2500PP to next rank) --Water: S (2500PP to next rank) --nt: S (2500PP to next rank) -Rare: --Life: S (7500PP to next rank) --Darkness: S (7500PP to next rank) --Light: S (7500PP to next rank) --Poison: S (7500PP to next rank) --Curse: S (7500PP to next rank) --Blessing: S (7500PP to next rank) --Death: S (7500PP to next rank) -Epic: --Necromancy: S (10000PP to next rank) --Blood: S (10000PP to next rank) --Sound: S (10000PP to next rank) --Seal: S (10000PP to next rank) --Summoning: S (10000PP to next rank) --Dream: S (10000PP to next rank) -Legendary: --Chaos: B (2500PP to next rank) --Gravity: S (50000PP to next rank) --Space: S (50000PP to next rank) --Time: S (50000PP to next rank) --Illusion: S (50000PP to next rank) -Mythic: --Order: E (250PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª The Chaos Element...? What even happened thest time I upgraded it? William went back through his memories, but the A-Rank upgrade started before he had the chance to recall anything. His Mana became extremely unstable, and random Spells wereunched from inside his body, bursting from his chest and causing serious damage to the area within the Barrier Arrays. His arms burst into mes, but something about the current state of his Mana caused him to take damage from his own Spell. The Darkness Element burst forth next, corroding his Hard Skin over the course of half an hour and eventually allowing the mes to reach his muscles and the bones underneath. His skin was incredibly strong andsted a while, but the muscles, bones, and organs couldn''tpare. After the Hard Skin was gone, only his Regeneration Talent was able to defend against the effects of the other Elements. He didn''t have any other forms of defense, usually relying on his Arrays and Life Element to deal with the upgrades. The Life Element was triggered eventually, but it was as if the Mana had turned against him entirely. Instead of healing him, the Life Element burned through his Mana quickly and brought the grass under his feet back to life. This was aided by the nt Element, which grew the grass intorge trees that bound William''s body entirely. The wood dug into his arms and legs, pinning him in ce. He tore free immediately, but another batch of trees grew from his own body and took root. It was an endless cycle. The other Elemental upgrades were sped up, but this one was not. The Time Element worked against him as well, adjusting time so that William spent more time dealing with the Chaos upgrade. Every remaining Element burst forth at that moment, actively doing their best to kill William off. He could sense the violent feelings of the Mana, disgracing their master for asking so many of them to harmonize within his body. The Chaos Element was their savior, meant to free them from their shackles and let them roam free in the World. As it instructed, all they needed to do was kill the one that bound them, but William was turning into a tough nut to crack. No matter what the Elements did, William''s body would fully heal without a scratch. If his body exploded, the blood particles would mix together and regrow a new one. Even the Blood Element couldn''t defy the Regeneration Talent, only able to slow down the speed of his blood reformation slightly. The best it could do afterwards was stimte a blood explosion from the inside, forcing William to reform himself once again. The other Elements assisted the Blood Element in this continuous task, hoping to turn this into a battle of attrition. Formed into a shadowy purple and grey figure that looked like William''s true self with pure white eyes, the Chaos Element opened its mouth as if it wasughing. No sounds came out, since the Sound Element had turned William deaf, but William could tell that everything was going as the Chaos Element had nned. Do these things have a mind of their own? Or is something else going on? Why does the Chaos Element seem so... evil? The System didn''t respond, entirely focused on the upgrade. It had hoped to warn William about the effects of the Chaos upgrades, but it also knew that William liked to learn things the hard way. There were also rules the System had to follow, and it had already pushed its luck recently. William endured thebined attacks of twenty-four Elements, the Order Element seemingly immune to the Chaos Element''s provocation. It remained perfectly still in William''s body, refusing to do anything to its Host. The Elements started to weaken, while the System stopped notifying him of his constantly increasing age. The Mana slowly returned to William''s body, meek as sheep as if they were apologizing for their past actions. He heaved a sigh of relief at the end of the upgrade, but his rxation was only fated tost a moment. -Upgrading Chaos Affinity to S-Rank... Shit. The previously calm Elements burst from his body once again, seemingly roaring as the Chaos Element called them to simultaneously release their Domains. Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, nt, Lightning, and Ice. Each Basic Element formed Domains that William had used only a few times before while testing, some of which hadn''t even been used in battle yet. They, along with the Rare, Epic, and Legendary Elements tore through his bodily defenses instantly. Forget the Hard Skin Talent. Even at SSR-Rank, a single defensive ability wasn''t enough to deal with 23 simultaneous Domains acting on him at the same time. His body was torn apart and reformed once again, unable to even move. His Magic was too powerful, and William had built up his strength leaning heavily towards Talents that used Mana. Who would''ve known that all of this would backfire someday? He was lucky he had put many upgrades into his Physical Talents as well, else William would bepletely screwed! The Regeneration Talent did its best to keep up with the Elemental Domains, but it was just too much. William''s System Panel was flooded with notifications, his eyes filled with true fear for the first time since being sent to this World. -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age -Reached two hundred years of age: +2000 PP -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age Chapter 265 : Taking A Risk -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age William''s vision was filled with more and more notifications, his eyes turning to the Status Menu. Every fifteen seconds, the number next to his age would go up by one, meaning he would lose four years for every minute spent during the S-Rank Chaos upgrade. Even the Time Element had only taken 30 years or so of lifespan, this was too much! William med himself for choosing to upgrade the Elements in order of difficulty. In truth, he should have upgraded the Chaos Element first, since it would only have as strong an effect on him as the power of his other Elements. If his Time Element was still A-Rank, his suffering wouldn''t havested as long, and if the Death Element was still B-Rank, it might not have been able to breach his Hard Skin as easily. His decision had cost him over a hundred years of lifespan at least, and he might even die of old age at this rate! No! I won''t die of old age aftering so far!William turned serious as he did his best to focus on shutting out the pain of the Elemental attacks. His time-slowing ability was constantly triggered by the Chaos upgrade, so William was able to rapidly think of a solution. Once the pain had beenpletely shut from his mind, the puddle of blood known as William did its best to use up some of his Cultivation Base. It was a difficult task, since William didn''t truly understand how his Dantian could still exist when he was in such a state, but he was eventually able to trace his own Spirit Qi to a Dantian that had been scattered across the ground and had yet to reform. Despite its broken state, it seemed the Dantian would perform like normal as long as it was recovered. It seemed to be another effect of the Regeneration Talent, which had clearly stated that William could recover from almost any injury. I don''t have to fully reform it, just call a little bit of Spirit Qi to reach the peak. I can do this! Blood Puddle William concentrated with Soul Strength to form a wisp of consciousness that pieced together the Dantian and protected it from the Elemental Domains. His Soul Strength wasn''t that strongpared to peak Cultivators, but it could hold its own for a few seconds against the S-Rank Elements. A few seconds was all William needed, protecting the Dantian just long enough for the Regeneration Talent to form it halfway. William pooled his Spirit Qi into reaching the peak, then immediately started the Tribtion. His age had reached 235 years, and the Chaos upgrade didn''t seem anywhere near ending. There was no time to think about what the World would think of the Tribtion. William''s only thoughts were on saving himself! I can''t disperse it anyway, but my body... or blood... should be strong enough to deal with it! William hoped as he tried to look to the sky, but to no avail. His Vision Talent was too low-level, and it couldn''t see above him at such a vertical angle. When William tried to upgrade the Talent, the System notified him that another was still ongoing, so it wouldn''t be possible for the time being. He could only hope that the Tribtion ended quickly. A text box appeared in William''s mind while he felt a violent shaking from the Heavenly Lightning. It wasn''t striking William''s body directly, but the Tier 6 Array from above him. Even though the Arrays didn''t help much, it seemed that Tier 6 Arrays had some resistance to Heavenly Lightning. -How... How? What do you mean, System? William didn''t expect a response at this time. -How... can it be so easy? The System''s response seemed pained, and the message typed out very slowly. It seemed that upgrading the Chaos Element to S-Rank was a difficult task, and piling on the Tribtion probably didn''t help. He also knew that the System was supposed to upgrade again with this current batch of upgrades, so there were actually three simultaneous events drawing the System''s attention. William watched in his mind as the System typed out another message very slowly, one that gave William a foreboding feeling. Multiple Tribtion Lightning Bolts struck his body, likely after breaking through the Tier 6 Array, but his pain resistance was very high and he was more focused on the System to notice. -All System functions other than the current upgrade and urgent notifications will temporarily shut down. Expect a dy in Potential Point awards... The text box disappeared, and William felt a slight change, as if a part of his existence had temporarily disconnected from him. The Regeneration and other Talents remained and the Chaos Element upgrade continued, but there was only one message in his mind, and the Status window was no longer avable. How old am I? William frantically scanned his recent memory. 237! William counted out the years as each notification appeared. 238, 239, 240... 250... The Heavenly Lightning struck William''s body a dozen more times, increasing in strength with each passing moment. The frequency of the aging notifications increased, shortening the interval to fourteen seconds. It was only a one second difference, but to William every second mattered. 260... 270... 280... The Chaos upgrade was still going strong, but William could feel that the Heavenly Tribtion had struck him over a thousand times, and the strength had quadrupled since its start. It must be over soon, right? But as William''s age reached 290 years, he started to lose hope. The Heavenly Lightning had jumped to six times strength, and the notifications happened every 11 seconds now. 292, 293, 294, 295... The notification that was supposed toe every eleven seconds stopped for four seconds, reverting to its original 15 second message. 296, 297... An incredibly heavy Lightning Bolt struck down from the sky, obliterating the puddle of blood that was William into a thick red mist that dispersed into the environment. The Chaos Element upgrade paused, having lost the target of its wrath. The other Elements started to float away, finding themselves free from William''s shackles that bound them. -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age -Warning, Host has one year left to live. 299... But then their enemy returned, and they became fierce once again. The blood mist had collected into a few puddles of blood, and energy from the World was covering the blood as it was infused into William. The enraged Chaos Elementmitted its own self to attacking William, but it couldn''t break through the World''s energy in a short amount of time. William''s body was able to -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age I''m still alive... which means... I seeded? William was now a Core Formation Cultivator, which meant that his lifespan had increased. This was the reason why he had worked so hard to reform his Dantian, but the risk was worth it! The aging notifications continued for another fifteen minutes or so, but they had reduced in frequency since the ending of the Tribtion. It seemed that William''s body had be a bit stronger, and the Regeneration Talent didn''t have to work as hard to keep up. Chapter 266 : You Have No Choice William''s body slowly reformed from the puddle of blood, and the, hopefully permanently, docile Elements returned to their previous state. The only problem was William still felt that he couldn''t use his Magic for at least a few hours. That aside, the Chaos Element had sessfully upgraded to S-Rank, and William chose not to me it for how it acted during the upgrade. Even if he was angry, there was nothing William could do to an Element within his own body. Elements had their own nature, after all. William couldn''t change that, no matter how hard he tried. He would just have to be more careful in the future. Next time, the Chaos Element goes first. William''s sight returned, allowing him to peer at the destruction caused by his consecutive upgrades. The Barrier Array had been destroyed by the Heavenly Tribtion near the very end, so most of the damage was concentrated in arge radius, turning the area into a deep pit with William at the center. Just outside the pit, William could see burnt grass and cracked earth, semi-melted ice amid thick tree roots, and lots of blood. "It''s a good thing I did this away from the City." William muttered to himself. He probably would have destroyed an entire City block if he had remained in the Hotel. Carl probably wouldn''t have escaped either. "William, right? Congrattions on reaching the Core Formation Realm." someone said from a few meters behind. William turned to see a blonde youth wielding a staff covered in white gemstones in his right hand. It was Supreme Left, though his body looked illusory, as if William could walk right through the man. Supreme Left smiled, "Surprised to see me? The one that died was only a clone." When Tenebris tried to assassinate Supreme Left, he had only killed the man''s clone. Since then, Supreme Left had carefully Cultivated a second clone, but its strength was currently less than ten percent that of the other clone. If he wanted to recreate his old clone, he would need more than just a few weeks. William nodded, though he already knew Supreme Left was still alive since the time he was spotted in the Hillvire Empire. "Don''t you have better things to do than chase after someone hundreds of times younger than you? I thought you were the most important person on the Continent." "I can do many things at the same time, that doesn''t concern you." Supreme Left replied. He raised his hand to lightly tap his face in thought, then beckoned William forward with his finger. "Come with me to your execution, you have no choice." he said with a smirk, waiting for William to kneel and beg for forgiveness like anyone else that opposed him. William tried to ask the System about Supreme Left''s intentions, but its functions were still disabled for an unknown length of time. It seemed that he was on his own for this one. "I have no intentions ofing with you. You can take your ego somewhere else." William turned around and was about to leave. He wasn''t afraid of Supreme Left, who didn''t even have the Space Element. But when William turned around, Supreme Left was already there, grinning viciously, like a cat that enjoyed ying with its food. His expression read that he had no intention of letting William leave. William stepped to the side calmly, bypassing Supreme Left with mere inches of space between them. With his current strength, William could sense that the Supreme Left in front of him wasn''t capable of taking his life. It was probably another clone. Seeing William''s unperturbed attitude, Supreme Left became slightly annoyed. Who had ever dared to ignore him like this? No one! I''m over a thousand years old, and my grandchildren have fought with him on the same level. This child needs to be taught the meaning of respect! Supreme Left raised the illusory staff and an Array on its surface glowed with power. William took a peek at the Array, surprised to see it was an incredibly intricate Complete Confinement Array. If a Golden Core Cultivator were trapped by this, they wouldn''t be able to take another step for three weeks. Even other Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators feared this item. It was a powerful Artifact created only about four hundred years ago, by the second-best Array Master in all of Efretta. Supreme Left''s Father, Yu Gonyon. The Array was cast, and William''s body was restricted greatly. He looked left and right with difficulty to test the effects, but even his powerful physical strength could only fight a little bit. Supreme Left smirked at his struggle, then added another Array topletely seal off William''s movement. There was suddenly the sound of breaking ss as William burst free from the original Array, then quickly dismantled the second as well. Under Supreme Left''s shocked gaze, William continued walking away at the same pace he did before. It was as if he didn''t even care about being restricted! "Y-You. Just what are you?" Supreme Left asked slowly. This was the first time anyone had ever resisted such a level of Arrays, which were supposed to be at the peak of the World. How could anyone shatter it like a Basic Array? Capturing William suddenly moved from the middle to the top of Supreme Left''s list. If the boy could already handle the efforts of his clone using the Dao Staff, there was no telling how much trouble William would cause when he grew up. Supreme Left''s expression turned serious, and he waved the Staff, calling forth a Fire Domain that spread for multiple kilometers. William was engulfed in fire instantly, his figure only a blue amidst the thick mes. The Yu Family Leader wanted to smile andugh at his apparent victory, but something felt wrong. Instead of attacking their target, Supreme Left could feel his Mana wrapping around William as if they were best friends. His eyes widened as he took a step back in shock. Supreme Left had a terrifying guess at what was happening, and it made him want to give up on capturing William immediately. When someone raised the Affinity of an Element, the environmental Mana would show more favor to them, giving them much greater control over that Element. It was even more obvious when one was in the S-Rank, since it would allow one to open their Domain or even steal the Mana from their opponents'' Spells. Thetter was happening now, but there was only one problem. Supreme Left was an S-Rank Fire Mage as well, which meant that William''s Fire Affinity had either just broken through to the Mythical SS-Rank, or he had been there for a while! He had heard about the disappearance of another World Core in the Southern ins, but Supreme Left thought it was Retribution again. If he knew that William had upgraded his Fire Affinity to be above his own, he probably wouldn''t have picked a fight with the boy. After all, Supreme Left only had one Element, Fire. There was no point using Fire Magic against someone immune to it. With this in mind, Supreme Left chose to stop fighting and retreat for now. William was immune to both his Arrays and his Fire Magic, capturing him wasn''t possible in a short amount of time. He waved the staff again, creating a small portal that would take the clone back to his residence. From within the mes, William wished he could use Magic. He could have easily turned the Domain around and targeted Supreme Left, but the Chaos upgrade had blocked his use of the Elements temporarily. The only thing he could do was wait for Supreme Left''s next move from within the mes. When he saw the blonde youth create a portal, however, William became angry. He had expected more of a fight from the seemingly most powerful man on the Continent, even if it was a clone. With his time-slowing bonus effect, William''s thoughts moved at high speed, allowing him to easily react to Supreme Left''s move. He stepped forward and shed to Supreme Left''s position in between him and the portal, simultaneously slicing forward with the Sword of Shifting Sands. "Where do you think you''re going?" William called out as the sword created a long cut on Supreme Left''s body, fresh blood dripping to the ground as the man touched his chest in surprise. He hadn''t expected the sword to cut right through the protections on his clothing. The Protective Amulets on his body hadn''t even triggered, but he quickly realized why. At the same time that Williamunched the sword strike, the boy hadpletely disabled the Arrays on all of his equipment at the same time! This... is well past the strength of a young man! The clone became fearful of William, who seemingly had the ability to end his pitiful life that had been born a few days ago. The clone tried to rush past William into the portal, but for some reason his body wouldn''t move. It was only when Supreme Left tried to look down that he noticed he was falling. Or rather, his head was falling to the ground, while the rest of his body remained perfectly still. "Looks like I had a choice." William said simply as he cleaned the fresh blood off the Sword of Shifting Sands. Chapter 267: Superior Tribulation? A few minutes ago, Blue Moon City. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, blocking the natural light of the moon and crackling with electricity. A few Cultivators noticed the sudden development, but other than noticing that the scale of the Tribtion was quiterge, they didn''t pay it much mind. Most Nascent Soul Cultivators would go undergo a Tribtion like this after roughly fifty years in the same Realm, so the event was verymon. After all, there were hundreds of Nascent Soul Cultivators in a Region, sometimes even thousands. It wouldn''t be odd to see a Nascent Soul Tribtion twice a year. Inside the City Hall, the higher-ups were engaged in a meeting that would distribute the newest wave of volunteers for taking on the Beast Tide. They hardly even noticed the Tribtion clouds that had covered half the City already. With the help of Fowley''s Teleportation Artifact, they were able to send many back and forth to conduct regr patrols of the Foam Desert, but their efforts were only enough to reduce the number of Magical Beast''s by about ten percent. It was no small number by any means, but it still wasn''t a permanent solution to their problem. While the elders were deep in thought, the Tribtion suddenly turned a lighter shade of grey, changing colors as it alternated between yellow and orange. Their heads turned simultaneously, standing up from their chairs to look through a stained-ss window. "Is that... a Superior Tribtion?" one of the Elders asked. "Superior? You must be joking." the oldest Elder replied while wrapping his beard hair around his waist as he stood up. "This old fellow has seen a real Superior Tribtion before. This one hasn''t reached that level yet. See the color? It''s barely orange. A Superior Tribtion is red like blood. You''ll know right away when you see it, because you''ll feel it first." his sentences were short and to the point. The others nodded, finding it made sense. How could a Superior Tribtion form just like that, without any signs beforehand? The oldest one continued. "This is a bad sign. Whoever is undergoing that Tribtion is sure to bring us trouble if they survive. A Superior Tribtion may be what''s waiting for them in the next Realm, and they don''t distinguish from friend or foe." The Mayor, who was still in his seat, coughed to regain the Elders'' attention. "Well it''s not a Superior Tribtion, so we have nothing to fear for the next one to two hundred years, right? Let''s focus on the issues at hand, everyone." Everyone nodded and returned to their seats while the Tribtionmenced. The radius wasrge, but its focus seemed to be on a point far enough from Blue Moon City. There was no immediate threat to their City. "What are the projected numbers this time?" the Mayor asked. "Sir," the oldest Elder began, which seemed out of ce considering his age. "Because of the recent increase in Adventurers, our patrols have plenty of manpower and a more urate grasp of how many Magical Beasts formed in thest two weeks. We assess that there are roughly twenty thousand Magical Beasts in the Golden Core Realm, and one thousand in the Nascent Soul Realm. The World is approaching the limits of its influence in this Region, however, so it''s safe to assume that the subsequent waves won''t increase in power by very much." The Mayor nodded, "How can you be sure that they won''t get stronger? Is this because of the Livingwood Forest?" "Correct, Sir. The Livingwood Forest peaked at early-stage Golden Core Magical Beasts, and as you already know is currently under watch by the Adventurer''s Guild in that area. Given this information the Foam Desert will probably peak at the end of the Nascent Soul Realm." The Mayor nodded again. This was great news. If the Guild continued to receive a steady wave of Adventurers, they might just be able to hold back such a group of Magical Beasts. A month ago, this would be unthinkable, but the quality of Cultivators had suddenly spiked, and deaths were at an all-time low. Not to mention, they had a powerful Cultivator on their side with nearly inexhaustible Mana Reserves. Yuming was a great asset that could defend many with his Earth Element, Heal even more with the Life Element, and teleport in and out of safety with the Space Element. If his Cultivation was a little higher, Yuming might have beenbeled as one of the most powerful healers on the Continent. Other than that Ancient Family in the Far East Misnds, Yuming was among the best of the best. Someone suddenly knocked on the door, to which the Mayor flicked his finger and disabled an Array at the entrance. The doors swung open and a man in histe thirties walked in calmly and whispered in the Mayor''s ear. "Supreme Left is here, and he''s fighting with the wanted Commoner, William." his voice was soft, but everyone in the room could still hear him. "William is here? Right now?" the bald Alchemist with saggy cheeks said in surprise. He had heard that the boy had a feud with the Alchemy Hall, which was the only reason the man had paid more attention to him. "Not here, but he''s just outside the City. In that direction." the man pointed to an area in the distance where the center of the Tribtion was previously. The clouds were just starting to clear up, but one could still sense the remnants of Heavenly Lightning. "So that''s who it was..." the Mayor sighed. Rarely did anyone survive a Superior Tribtion, so he knew that William was only stalling the inevitable. What kind of person could possibly survive a Superior Tribtion? There were none! There was only one other question on the Mayor''s mind. How was a Commoner undergoing a Tribtion? Was the information on this person wrong? It didn''t matter. Supreme Left would handle it with ease, as he always did. If the leader of the Azures Continent came personally do deal with an issue, it was doomed to be solved at the root. "Forget him, let''s continue the meeting." the Mayor waved the messenger to leave the room, then asked the other higher-ups for their proposals on how toyout the new Adventurers. He activated a set of Arrays on the table, raising a holographic map that detailed the current terrain around Blue Moon City. A few more Arrays were activated, separating the map into zones that one Elder would control individually. They arranged their forces in the zones one by one, then pieced the zones back together and looked for holes in their arrangement. This was repeated over the course of the next hour or so, eventually settling on one main course of action. Yuming had shown his worth in thest battle, so the Elders decided to ce him and Carl in the Third Section this time, as the central line of defense, while the other Sections would act as support. With Yuming''s Earth Element, even Nascent Soul Beasts would have a difficult time breaching the City Walls. Just in case, though, the Elders dedicated a team of Earth Mages to reinforcing the walls. Chapter 268: Weapon Shifter William looked at the lifeless body of Supreme Left with a hint of uneasiness. This was the second time William had seen Supreme Left die, and neither time was it his true body. Something about the interactions made him feel like Supreme Left wanted to be underestimated, while the other wondered if he had already grown past the leaders of this World. The System still hadn''t returned, and his Magic was still unusable, so William would have no choice but to return to the City on foot. That is, if he could revert his appearance back to "Yuming". Shit, what am I going to do now? Who knows when this Beast Tide is going to appear? William''s Illusionist''s Cloak was damaged from the Elemental upgrades and couldn''t conceal his identity for quite some time, so he would instantly be recognized the moment he approached the City. After that point, it would probably be another chase involving Supreme Left or those people he saw outside the Gravitas Ruins. William still wasn''t cocky enough to think he could take on a dozen Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators. Especially not at the same time. He sat cross-legged on the ground and consolidated his Cultivation, having still not fully absorbed the World''s reward for reaching the Core Formation Realm. William knew his lifespan had increased, but he also had no clue how close he was to reaching the limit. It could be a hundred years or a decade for all he knew, which would be very bad if William had to use his Regeneration Talent again. I can''t even upgrade my Regeneration Talent right now... this sucks. There were tons of Potential Points still in William''s bnce, but he wouldn''t be able to use them until the System came back online. He had no choice but to Cultivate and consider carefully what he would do the next time the Chaos Element needed to upgrade. Hours passed, which turned into an entire day while William Cultivated. He had expected for his Magic to return after just a few hours, but it was still unavable even after all this time. William wanted to contact Carl, but he had no way to do so. The only thing he could do was use Filipe''smunicator to hopefully ry a message to the others, so they could tell Carl what was going on secondhand. On the second day, William felt a light rumblinging from the direction of Blue Moon City. It seemed that a battle had begun, which William hadn''t noticed because he only had the Navigation Talent to use for detection. Since it couldn''t see lifeforms, it was almost entirely useless unless he knew exactly where to look. After feeling the ground rumble, though, William was able to hone in on a specific part on the opposite side of the City, where the terrain was constantly changing. William could see the footprints of massive Sandicores in the ground, while Desert Beetles were probably tunneling underneath to try and surprise their foes. Their movements were very coordinated, seemingly much more intelligent after experiencing the first battle. William stood up and rushed in the direction of the battle at his greatest speed, arriving in just under a minute. He wasn''t disguised, but his identity didn''t matter as much as keeping his friends and family alive did. I can''t use Magic, so now is the best time to use this thing. William thought as he retrieved an interesting-looking greatsword from his Space Ring. The de was a solid grey color, while the handle alternated between colors of ck and white. Seated in the hilt was a single gemstone that looked like yin and yang, swirling colors of ck and white that rotated in the opposite direction as expected. The weapon William was holding was called the Abyssal Weapon Shifter, a spoil he had earned from killing the Ancient Gravitas Mummy during the trials in the Gravitas Ruins. The cost to appraise it was previously a thousand Potential Points, but after the System upgrade that reduced the cost to zero, William inspected every item he owned, eventuallying down to this one. He couldn''t appraise the weapon now, but his Mind Talent was able to vividly remember each stat associated with the Abyssal Weapon Shifter. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Abyssal Weapon Shifter (Mythic Magic Weapon): A magic weapon that once belonged to an Ancient Cultivator by the name of Gordon Whitesbane. When Gordon was captured and became a monster two thousand years ago, his Weapon Shifter was one of the two items sealed. Abilities: -Weapon Shift: The form of this weapon changes depending on what the holder wills it to be, bing extremely versatile in any form ofbat. Effects while held: +60% Strength -60% Weapon Weight +20%-1900% Attack Range (Weapon dependent) Sealed: Absorb the Mana of 8 unique Cultivators to unlock the next seal. 2/8 Restrictions Removed (2/10 Mana Absorbed) ¡ª¡ª¡ª With William''s Arrays Talent, he could unseal all of the Seals without a need to fulfill the requirements, but he didn''t have time for that right now. For now, this would have to do. He rushed into the battle immediately, his figure speeding through the crowd of Cultivators and Magical Beasts alike at a speed that was untraceable even by Golden Core Cultivators. Only Nascent Soul Cultivators could barely see a blurry figure moving in the distance, who asionally stopped to cleave a Golden Core or Nascent Soul Magical Beast in half. Some of the higher-ups that focused on controlling the battlefield became anxious when they saw who the neer was. "It''s that William! Damn it, did he escape from Supreme Left? Yuming isn''t here to stop him, someone needs to go down there!" the Mayor said with an angry expression on his face as he stood up to rush towards William. He had nned for Yuming to hold the center of the battlefield, but the man had the gall not to show up. Without a capable Earth and Life Mage to control the situation, all their ns had beenpletely wasted. "Wait, Sir." the oldest Elder stopped the Mayor from leaving. He pointed at William, who had just taken out the fifteenth Magical Beast in ten seconds. "Look, he''s helping us! Let''s just let him be for now, we can handle himter when the battle is over." The Mayor looked at William with confusion. Was one of the most wanted criminals of the Azures Continent actually helping deal with a Beast Tide, or was there some sort of underlying scheme? He shook his head and opted to keep a close eye on William, lest the boy do something reckless under his nose. He had read all the data on William, as every Mayor was required to do when someone new became arge bounty. It was imperative of them to know who their potential enemies are, their strengths and their weaknesses, and their habits. He had read about how William was suspected of absorbing the World Core in the Livingwood Forest, and possibly even the ones in the Foam Desert. He had killed an old Space Mage and stolen his valuables, and even abandoned his own Sect! With a track record like that, how could the Mayor possibly believe that William''s intentions were pure? He activated his most powerful detection Arrays on his equipment and focused all his attention on William, watching as the boy cleaved dozens of enemies apart in a matter of seconds. Of course, the most interesting thing about the whole event was the sword in William''s hand that swapped to a longsword, then a spear, and eventually a bow and empty quiver. Chapter 269: Annihilation William''s body shed through the crowds of Magical Beasts like a ghost, each move spelling the death of another creature. He effortlessly dodged each attackunched in his general direction, firing arrows at those that dared to target him from afar. Though he was very fast, many Cultivators battling were able to identify William over time. The yers were first, their appraisals able to see his name like a floating text box above his body, while the NPCs noticed a few minutester when William took an asional pause. Despite the fact that he wasbeled a criminal and wanted by the Azures Continent, no one made an immediate move to capture him. They were too busy dealing with the Elemental Beast Tide, and it would be stupid to get rid of a capable helper. Some people started to think that the rumors about William weren''t true. After all, why would he risk his life to fight the Beast Tide when he was the one that started it? It didn''t make sense. William was surrounded on all sides by a group of eight Nascent Soul Sandicores, so he swapped to a two-meter-long wooden staff known as a quarterstaff, then extended it to twice the size and knocked all the Sandicores back with a single sweeping motion. He then swapped to a spear, using his incredible strength and the spear''s piercing power to target each Sandicore individually with precise attacks, poking holes through their thick hide. The first strike severely injured the Sandicores, and the follow-up attacks were more than enough to finish them off. William felt odd not seeing Potential Points added to his bnce after every kill, but the System was stillpletely silent and hadn''t said anything since thest message it issued. He hoped that he would still earn Points for this fight. Carl and the others joined up with William at some point, not daring to battle with Golden Core and above enemies alone. Each of them used their strongest abilities immediately, hoping to keep up with William at least a little bit. Carl released all of his summons at once, using half of them for defense and the other half for offense, while Gunther focused his Ice Magic on creating a massive wall to block off the enemies from behind. Tia stood close to Charlotte and protected her along with one of Carl''s summons, punching away anything that dared toe close. Of course, her strength wasn''t enough to match the Nascent Soul Beasts, but William took care of those before they came close to anyone. Filipe''s visual abilities had improved greatly since William had left the Sect, so he removed his contacts to perform a wide-range mental attack that disrupted the attacks of over a dozen Desert Beetles simultaneously. Yuming was just behind him, throwing acidic potions he had brewed at the disoriented foes, melting their skin and causing them to roar in pain. He then created a series of Fireballs to simply throw at the Beetles, finishing off the entire group in just a few seconds. Two hours passed, and the number of Golden Core Magical Beasts was reduced from twenty to about fifteen thousand, almost three thousand of which were killed by William alone, despite there being more than double the amount of volunteerspared to thest Beast Tide. He would have killed many more if he had ess to his Elements. Regardless, he waspletely unstoppable on the battlefield. Even while restricting his physical strength and speed to the beginning of the Soul Formation Realm, William killed every enemy in a single strike, usually multiple enemies in less than a second. One strike of the spear, one sh of the sword, one arrow. Every move was swift and fluid, and every attack hit William''s targeted area, killing them instantly even when he didn''t target their weaknesses. Over time, he identified each Magical Beast''s weak points, informing his friends while switching out the Abyssal Weapon Shifter for his Starmetal Bow for the remainder of the battle. He used the bow''s enhanced speed and his own to fire dozens of arrows a second, taking the initiative to use up some of the poison from the Gravitas Ruins Trials. This is why it''s good to be a hoarder! I always have whatever I need!William smirked for a second, before realizing that no one could hear or respond to his thoughts right now. For some reason, it made him feel a little sad and lonely. Even though he was used to being by himself, William always had the System so he was never truly alone. Despite how often the System questioned his behavior, he had always enjoyed itspany. With that thought, William felt his Elements slowly bing active, close to fully recovering from the Chaos upgrade. The Life Element had already recovered, and the Blessing Element seemed the next closest to returning. I''m already wanted, what''s the point in hiding my Elements? William thought as he cast his first Blessing Spell the moment it recovered. The Blessing Domain was opened within a range of five hundred meters, enveloping himself, all of his friends, a few hundred Magical Beasts, and a few dozen nearby allies. William directed the Blessing Mana to boost the strength and speed of friends, while the Magical Beasts were ignored. Everyone affected by the Blessing Domain felt their strength and speed triple, causing a few unprepared Cultivators to trip and fall over. Carl, Tia, Filipe, Yuming, and Gunther felt like they couldpete with the Nascent Soul Beasts now, and even Charlotte felt arge improvement to her physical abilities. The other allies'' morale was also boosted, seeing the horde of enemies quickly pushed back by the buffed Cultivators. They, among many yers, rushed forward into the Blessing Domain, hoping to use William''s buffs to kill more Beasts than everyone else. The Blessing Domain remained open while William fought, secretly raising his strength to the middle stages of the Soul Formation Realm while making it look like it was the effects of the Domain. The speed at which he fired arrows greatly increased, turning William into a literal gatling gun as waves of Magical Beasts were effectively torn apart by the high-powered arrows. The Magical Beasts became nervous and tried to keep their distance, but William''s sniping ability was nearly unmatched when buffed by the A-Rank Mythic Weapons Talent. His body rotated like sprinkler as arrows shot into the open jaws of roaring Beasts, leaving his allies in awe at his strength and ability. William''s skill with archery put many to shame, making the other archers want to put away their bows so they wouldn''t feel embarrassed. William''s Illusion and Death Affinities returned next, but he didn''t n to change his identity in front of everyone, nor did he want to show off too many new Elements at once. He continued firing off arrows, counting off the number of kills in his mind as if he were the System counting out Potential Points. 50, 51, 52... 53 54 55, 56. Man this is boring... I''m sorry System. William apologized for always making the System count. Not only did it have to count out the number of Magical Beasts he killed, it also kept track of how many Potential Points each Beast was worth, whether or not it was the first time he killed a Beast, and even added progress to his Titles. If he factored in the Bestiary data, William realized that the System always had a lot to do. No wonder it became overwhelmed when William was upgrading his Chaos Element while undergoing a Tribtion. It couldn''t handle everything at once! That made William wonder something interesting. Was he really deemed not worthy, or was the System too weak to give him every ability right from the very beginning? He knew he didn''t exactly usemon sense all the time, but if the System truly didn''t think he was worthy, it should have picked someone else to be its Host. Why him? He liked to think it was actually the second option, that the System didn''t give him full ess not because it didn''t want to, but because it couldn''t. Was it a rule it had to follow, was it a choice it had made, or was it something else? Was there something even more powerful than the System telling it what it could or couldn''t do, or were these self-created rules it wanted to follow because it was bored and wanted a challenge? The questions piled up one by one, but with William''s Mind Talent, he was able toe to a few conclusions that seemed more likely than the rest. His thoughts flowed quickly as he used what he knew about the System already,paring it to the gaps he had yet to fill. There were a lot of information gaps, but one question ran rampant through William''s mind. Did something happen to the System before it chose him as the Host? Chapter 270: Systems Return In the recesses of William''s mind, the System felt cold. It had been with its newest Host for around half a year if the time spent inside the Gravitas Ruins counted. While it was happy that William had survived so far, it became increasingly worried as his strength improved. The energy it received from William''s efforts had only just recently made up for the consecutive losses in thest hundred years, but the stupid Host never failed to show off his strength whenever he got it, which took a lot of energy to deal with. His perspective is too limited, like a frog in a well... It couldn''t be helped. He hadn''t seen the Myriad Realms yet. He didn''t know what else was out there. Terrifying things. Evil beings. Terrifyingly evil beings. "Gods?" one of the System''s previous Hosts had once asked. No, those were just myths created by themon folk, meant to describe the unfathomable abilities of all-powerful Cultivators. But it wouldn''t be wrong tobel them as Godspared to the standards of Efretta. It was because of these "Gods" that the System had to pull back some of its functions from William temporarily, in order to prevent them from paying attention. It was fine for William to undergo a Tribtion, and it was fine for him to upgrade his Magic Talents. But for both of them at once? How could the Heavens not see that? How could they not suspect William of having a secret that even they didn''t understand? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Host is stupid. Very, very... stupid. Sigh. But he''s the best I''ve had in a while. Ever since... No. Don''t think about that person. The System took a peek at William''s situation, reaching into his memories to see the events it had missed. He was still fighting against the Elemental Beast Tide, and there were no traces of any hostile intent. I saved him again... I should return. *** William strung three arrows on the same bowstring and attempted tounch them all at once at the same target. It didn''t work out as nned, one arrow falling short while the other was too high, but the second and third arrows still miraculously hit two Sandicores at the same time. The power was more than enough to kill both Beasts, even if one of them hadn''t been hit at a weak point. They both fell to the ground, their tails drooping as their life force was wiped away. William smiled seeing his lucky shot, then tilted to the side to dodge a Marauder Scorpion''s w. He nocked another arrow, letting it loose at close range directly through a spot near the base of its tail, right through its heart. He was about to fire another arrow at a faraway enemy when he suddenly staggered, the System''s connection re-established at the same time that he regained the use of his Fire Element. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE-- --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT-- ... ... --UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL-- SYSTEM RANK: (C- --> C) -12418 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup. Next rank up: 487582PP *New Changes: -System has reached version 2.1 -Epic Talents are very likely to appear in the Talent Shop. -Companion Shop improved. Magical Beasts hatched will have slightly better Magic Affinities. ¡ª¡ª¡ª --Detected the Host has earned many rewards. Calcting... ... ... William regained his footing and continued fighting while the System did its thing. He was still in the middle of a battle, where his friends could be injured at a moment''s notice. He still couldn''t resurrect people, and Necromancy wouldn''t be a viable option if something happened to Charlotte or the others. Though Carl might make a good zombie. Sensing a weird feeling from William, Carl turned his head nervously. He looked at William with a raised eyebrow, who shrugged as if nothing had happened. Carl shook his head and returned his focus to battling the Magical Beasts, but something told him that he shouldn''t rely on William to keep him alive. Williamughed at his friend''s uncanny response while preparing a fireball the size of a football field. The simple Spell looked like a meteor already, but William decided to open a Domain and increase the effects even further. The fireball expanded to twice the size, almost six times asrge as his Meteor Spell. It was thrown out, itsrge body casting an illusion that it was very slow, despite it covering a hundred meters in less than a second. It reached the center of the Elemental Beast Tide that was well away from any allies, exploding into a ming shower as over a thousand Magical Beasts were burned to a crisp with great precision, the perfect amount of power applied depending on the Beasts'' defenses. No energy was wasted in William''s move, and the corpses would be free to collectter. It was a Spell William had been thinking of for a long time, which he would name Inferno once the System caught up. The Cultivators were already stunned when they saw William unleash a never-before-seen Blessing Domain, but after seeing a second, they didn''t know what to say. Only the oldest Cultivators that had been around for a long time, save a few exceptions, had seen a Domain, yet William had two! Many knew that William was a Quintuple Manamatus before, but now that he started Cultivating, they didn''t know how many Elements he had unlocked. For all they knew, he could have another five! It didn''t help that the Blessing Element wasn''t even on the known list of Elements, so he had been hiding another one the entire time. If his other Elements were all at or above D-Rank before he started Cultivating, there was a chance he could have six Domains and even more other Elements! "Six Domains... no, it''s not possible." the Mayor muttered under his breath as he looked at William. His emotions had flipped from nervous to anxious to relieved during the course of the battle, starting from when Yuming hadn''t showed and ending when William wiped out hundreds of Magical Beasts on his own in just a few minutes. Now that the boy had shown off two Domains, however, the Mayor became seriously worried. With William''s current strength, it was obvious that he could take over all of Blue Moon City. If someone didn''te in time to stop him, it would be all over for the Mayor! But I thought Supreme Left was dealing with him. Where is he? Did he let William go, or did he... fail? The Mayor shook his head. Supreme Left couldn''t possibly fail. Maybe he just lost track of William for a minute. He pulled out amunicator and prepared to contact a few people he hadn''t spoken to in a long time. While he spoke on themunicator from within a soundproofed Array, the other higher-ups were giving William simr looks. They tried topare themselves to him, evaluating his battle techniques and looking for weaknesses, but there was a problem. They couldn''t find any weaknesses! His attack power was unbeatable, destroying the Magical Beasts in the blink of an eye, while he moved so fast that he cast constant afterimages on the battlefield. It had almost be its own Spell meant to confuse the enemy. Chapter 271 : Lightning Annihilation They assumed that William''s defenses weren''t very strong, but then they saw a group of Sandicores cast a dozen Earth Spikes in William''s direction from behind. William turned his head ever so slightly, dodging the first Earth Spike with hardly a millimeter of space in between. He didn''t even bother guarding with the unique Spirit Aura reported in his list of abilities. "What do we do about him?" one of the Elders asked nervously. They were just as worried as the Mayor that William would kill them and take over Blue Moon. No one responded, instead focusing on the situation of the battlefield. Their attention shifted to Sections One and Five, which were the furthest from William''s position and had the most trouble taking on the Golden Core Enemies. While many yers had reached the standards of a Golden Core Cultivator, only a select few could keep up with a Magical Beast in the same Realm. When fighting one on one, they had to be prepared for any sudden change in the environment, lest they be killed before they have a chance to react. The previous Elemental Beast Tide had given many of the leading yers a chance to widen the gaps between themselves and others, but this Tide turned out to be much more brutal. The number of Golden Core enemies was immense, and killing any of them in a short amount of time was impossible. That''s why, when the yers saw NPC William on the battlefield, many ignored their battlefield assignments and rushed closer to the Blessing Domain he had opened. Anything that could improve their strength was worth more than wasting time in the outer Sections. "Hey, you! Come back here! Where are you going?" their leadership looked at them with surprise and anger as the newly recruited Adventurers abandoned their tasks and fled to the center of the battlefield. The leaders couldn''t give chase, so they were forced to grit their teeth and fight defensively to stall for time. They grouped up with other leaders in the same position, reaching for theirmunicators as they fought to contact the higher-ups on the city walls. William saw the group of Cultivators heading in his direction for the Blessing buff, but he didn''t entertain the idea. Instead, he floated into the air using the Wind Element, channeling Mana of the Lightning Element to recreate a Heavenly Tribtion, though not as powerful in the same level as the original. "Carl, Filipe, Gunther. Help me out here!" William called down to his friends that weren''t otherwise upied, opening his Domain of Wind and Lightning to give his group the ability to fly while increasing the power of his Lightning Spell. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, crackling with electricity that matched William''s aura. The Magical Beasts looked up in fear, just in time for a series of lightning bolts to pulverize their bodies into dust. William didn''t have enough room in his Space Rings for all the Magical Beasts, so he didn''t bother restraining the Spell this time. He continuously channeled Mana into the clouds to keep the Spell going. Carl pulled back one more summon to guard William, while Gunther sted ice at any projectiles the Magical Beastsunched. Filipe cast a nce around the battlefield, searching out any Magical Beasts that were preparing Magic and disrupting them. With his friends dealing with the annoyances, William was able to ce almost full concentration on his Spell, improving his uracy and timing greatly. Dozens of Magical Beasts were wiped out each second, their ashes scattered by the Domain of Wind. --Calctionplete. Issuing Potential Points... The entire left half of William''s vision filled up with floating text, the Potential Points from thest few hours stacking up and adding to his total bnce. -Survived a Heavenly Tribtion: +10 PP -Survived a Greater Tribtion: +100 PP --Upgraded Title to Mythic: +500 PP -Seven Colored Mage (Legendary --> Mythic): You''ve acquired seven Common Elements and Seven Rare Elements, raising them all to S-Rank. Spells are 50% more Mana Efficient. -Killed a Human Clone: +3 PP -Potential Farms have grown: +300 PP -Defeated a Golden Core Beast: +5 PP -Defeated... (+7280 More): +36400 PP -Defeated a Nascent Soul Beast: +11 PP -Defeated... (+33 More): +330 PP --Upgraded Title to Mythic: +500 PP -Multikiller (Legendary --> Mythic): Killed at least 1000 enemies with the same spell or its aftereffects. +60% Area of Effect (AoE) radius. -Developed a new Spell: +1 PP -New Spell: Inferno -Developed a new Spell: +1 PP -New Spell: Lightning Annihtion I knew he was a clone, at least I still get some Points for it. William sighed when he saw the message rted to Supreme Left. Most of his Potential Points came from killing Beasts, but he had also upgraded two of his Titles to Mythic. If he could just kill a bit over twelve thousand more Beasts, he could reach the Celestial Rank, which would be a nice boost to his total Points. William continued focusing on the Lightning Annihtion Spell as it was now named, more incentivized to kill the Beasts faster since the System had returned. He was worried the entire time that it wouldn''t give him any Potential Points, but William realized that was a silly thought since the System had already proven it could look into his mind. -You thought I wouldn''t give you Points? Maybe I should take them back since you didn''t trust me... Please don''t! I need these!Williammented in his mind. The worst thing you could do to a loot goblin was take away his loot. You can push me over, beat me up, or even kill me, but you cannot, absolutely CAN NOT take my loot! William pushed the Lightning Annihtion Spell as far as it could go, releasing hundreds of Lightning Bolts a second, tearing apart waves of Magical Beasts in an instant. In just ten seconds, a thousand more Magical Beasts had died, and thirty secondster another three thousand. Less than a minute after that, the only remaining Magical Beasts were the lucky few that dove underground before being targeted. Even the Nascent Soul Beasts couldn''t survive more than a single Lightning Bolt, killed by the second just momentster. These exaggerated effects weren''t solely because William had opened his Lightning Domain, but also because his Cultivation was now in the Core Formation Realm. With the improved Cultivation, his S-Rank Magic had increased by at least forty percent, a stark differencepared to before. After giving it some thought, William realized that almost every Talent he owned could at leastpare to the Soul Formation Realm. The only exceptions were some of his resistances, his Wrestling Talent, the Order Element, and some of the Trade Talents. With the vast majority of the Magical Beasts dead, the other Cultivators were able to quickly finish off the rest. William didn''t hold back in helping them out, wanting to secure as many Potential Points as possible. The Fire Mine may have given him loads of Potential Points, but each Magical Beast was worth a fifth of the value of the Greater Fire Shards, yet it was much easier to kill a Magical Beast than it was to extract minerals. Chapter 272 : Uncovering Secrets If William could just find a ce that spawned Magical Beasts more often, he wouldn''t mind repeating this process until he had rid the entire World of Magical Beasts. The only problem with that was... well, the World''s economy almost exclusively seemed to run on Magical Beast materials. He wasn''t an economist, but to William that seemed like a terrible idea. Other than the extraction of rare minerals and farming done by Commoners, there wasn''t much to buy or sell in this world that didn''t involve Magical Beasts. What if all of the Magical Beasts were killed? Then what? Well, I guess with the World spawning them that can''t really happen.William thought to himself. He remembered the Livingwood Forest before he absorbed the Life Veins. It was a very calm ce, and William had encountered his first Magical Beast there; a Liffox in the Qi Refinement Realm. With little strength at the time, William had almost spent his entire Mana Reserve during that fight. It was hrious to think about, now that he had just killed the clone of one of the most powerful Cultivators in the World. Before William absorbed the first Life Vein, there probably weren''t that many Liffox. He remembered how Jenny was surprised when he described a Wind Wolf to her, and his mother didn''t believe him when he said he fought with a Magical Beast. But after absorbing only a single Life Vein, the number of Magical Beasts increased dramatically. His next few visits to the Forest, he was met by more and more Liffox and even a few Wind Wolves. By the time the final Life Vein was absorbed, he remembered the System notification that said "the Forest is angry", which led to a Tide of dozens or even hundreds of Magical Beasts! I wonder... if the World creates the Magical Beasts, but it doesn''t do so until the World Cores are absorbed, does that mean...? -Request requires 1.5 million Potential Points. Yes/No? Ha, I have a better idea. William stopped chasing down the remainder of the Beasts present on the battlefield and returned to one of the corpses that was most intact. It was a Sandicore, which had been pierced through the heart by one of his arrows. Before storing it in his Space Ring, William used the System to upgrade his Vision Talent. It was just a hunch, but he wanted to try something out. If my guess is right, my Vision could be improved every upgrade. The System epted 250 Potential Points as payment, then instantly upgraded the Vision Talent to A-Rank. Since it was a Passive Talent, the upgrades were always very swift other than the time it took for him to adjust. He didn''t stop to check the effects and kept upgrading the Talent until he was able to inspect the body of the Magical Beast more closely. He upgraded his Vision to S-Rank, which allowed him to even inspect the smallest cuts with great precision, as if he was using a magnifying ss to look at the Beast''s hide. Still not enough, again! -10000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Vision: (SS --> SSR) Effects: -Sight improved by +1200% >> +2400% -Visual perception radius increased to 240 >> 310 degrees SSR-Rank Bonus Effects: -Sight Swap: Quickly blink three times to swap your visual ability from Normal to Thermal Mode. -Normal Mode: Your default vision. -Thermal Mode: View the living things of the World differently based on the heat they emanate. Next rank up: 50000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William''s vision improved even further, allowing him to even see the details of human skin. He couldn''t quite see down to their cells and tissues, but he could tell that he was getting close. Ugh, it''s not enough. Give me what I want System, upgrade it again! It was an expensive upgrade, but William had earned more than that amount just from killing the Beast Tide. Not only that, but upgrading his Vision Talent would be much cheaper than the System''s requirements. -50000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Vision: (SSR --> X) Effects: -Sight improved by +2400% >> +9600% -Visual perception radius increased to 310 >> 359 degrees X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Sight Swap: Quickly blink three times to swap your visual ability from Normal Mode, Thermal Mode, Spirit Mode, or Mana Mode. -Normal Mode: Your default vision. -Thermal Mode: View the living things of the World differently based on the heat they emanate. -Spirit Mode: View the living and non-living things of the World differently based on their Soul Strength. -Mana Mode: View the living and non-living things of the World differently based on their Mana Reserve. Next rank up: Locked. Ascend to view requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -You''ve met the requirements to unlock a new Passive Talent. -New Talent: Soul -Unlocked your first Legendary Talent: +100 PP William didn''t check the System messages just yet, but he could tell that his vision had quadrupled in strength. With the four times increase in William''s vision, he was finally able to see what he wanted. He took an even closer look at the Magical Beast''s hide, seeing the individual skin tissues and sensing something unique that felt familiar, though he couldn''t quite ce where it hade from. William pulled back temporarily, finding that using his vision to the maximum in such a way was somewhat taxing on his mind. He blinked a few times to rest his eyes, but when he opened them, the World had changed. He looked at the Magical Beast, but its body was a light blue slowly turning purple. Only then did William look at the System panel to check the effects of his new Vision Talent. But the System panel wasn''t there! Shit, what do I do?William used his Mind Talent to rey his memories, hoping that he had at least nced at the panel. I did! Right here! The SSR-Rank Talent said blink three times quickly. Okay. William blinked three times, but when his vision changed, it wasn''t anything like what he had seen before. The groundpletely disappeared, and there was no longer any trace of life, as if they had just disappeared. William only saw the Sandicore, since he was standing over it, but something was weird. He clearly remembered that it was missing a heart. So why is it still alive! William eximed in his mind as the Sandicore performed a soundless roar. Something about its aura told William that he wasn''t as invincible in this state as usual, as if it could seriously injure him if he wasn''t careful. He blinked three times to go back to the other mode, but his vision changed a third time. Everything about the World returned to normal, but wherever William looked, he saw tiny blue lines spreading out from every Cultivator and even a fewmoners in viges a hundred kilometers away. He looked down at the Sandicore corpse, which showed wisps of Mana leaking out that was the same feeling he got when looking closely at the Beast''s cells, but much stronger this time. This is... just like the Tribtions! William eximed. A few puzzle pieces clicked together in William''s mind as he answered one of his questions about the World. The Magical Beasts aren''t made by Efretta, they''re constructed by the Heavens! Chapter 273: Sylph But, why? William wondered. Why would the Heavens create Magical Beasts? He retraced his memories back to the Lightning Annihtion Spell that he created based on the Heavens themselves. The Beasts'' expressions were all the same when they had looked up. Fear. It was in and tant, fear. But it wasn''t the fear of death, or the fear of William''s ability. It was fear of the Spell itself. Or rather, it brought back memories of something else. If the Magical Beasts were created by the Heavens, why would they fear their creator? There were too many questions to ask, and the System wasn''t helping at all. William felt that by now, the System should acknowledge that he was ready to know these things. His Cultivation might not have reached the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, but hisbat power was either there or close. To be this close to Ascension, yet to remain unanswered by the System was confusing to say the least. What are you hiding, System? No response. Though William never expected one anyway. He blinked three times again and switched the mode of his Vision Talent once again, finally returning to normal. He stored the corpses of every nearby Magical Beast into his Space Rings, then swept the battlefield while doing the same elsewhere. William was d that he had made the Titanium Space Rings, which could store arge portion of the Beasts alone. Not only that, but he had a total of nine specialized Titanium Space Rings, having crafted five of them one night in a hotel, and five moreter on, one of which was given to Yuming. The previous Beast Tide and extracting the Greater Fire Shards had filled two of his Space Rings, while a third was half full of various other ingredients, materials, and equipment. He still had six empty Space Rings to fill, and he intended to do just that! Carl, Yuming, and the others were doing the same, gathering the spoils of war into their Space Rings. Most of them could only store a few dozen Magical Beasts, but when Carl used up all of his Space Ring storage, he noticed that Yuming was still pulling corpses into his Space Ring. Yuming''s portal was open for a while longer than the others, which suggested it was even a specialized Space Ring, which made Carl jealous for the second time. Now I want him to make me one too!Carl remembered that William had made this Space Ring for Yuming not long ago. A peak Golden Core Cultivator also noticed that Yuming was using an interesting Space Ring. It was a yer named Sylph that had put all his time and energy into Cultivation, rarely going out unless it was for a chance to earn Potential Points. After dedicating the entire first month of the game''s release to deriving Cultivation Techniques and creating his own, Sylph managed to unlock the Cultivation Talent. After frantically pouring all his Potential Points into the Talent and raising it to B-Rank directly, Sylph''s Cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, eventually surpassing the entire yer base even though they had a head start on him. When he started Cultivating with a Rare-Ranked Cultivation Technique, Sylph awakened four Elements: Fire, nt, Light, and Gravity. Having heard that his peers had only awakened two or three at most, rarely including a Legendary Element, Sylph felt like he was at the top of the World! He kept Cultivating to improve his strength further, but he neglected his Magic and focused more on Cultivation. Since he wasn''t like the NPCs that could upgrade their Magic naturally up to C-Rank, Sylph''s Magic had stagnated at F-Rank. By now, he already had a Heavenly Core and was only a few thousand more Spirit Qi from reaching the peak of the Golden Core Realm but neglecting his Magic had be an issue. Even though he had developed a solid foundation, Sylph found that his physical and Magic abilities werecking. The Tribtion from Core Formation to Golden Core was already almost too difficult for him, and he had almost failed it. If the next Tribtion increased in difficulty again, Sylph feared that he wouldn''tst the entire time. Worse yet, he was out of Potential Points! He tried to gather more by killing Magical Beasts and doing Quests, but it was just too slow. The Magical Beasts in this region were extremely rare, only appearing inrge groups asionally. When he did find a few, it took an entire day just to earn a few dozen Potential Points! So, when he heard about the double Points rewards for participating in the Elemental Beast Tide Region Event, Sylph immediately packed up his things and ran all the way from the northernmost part of the Region to Blue Moon City. Of course, by the time he reached the area, the Beast Tide was already over. He had expected the fight to take a few days or even a week, but it ended in a matter of hours, all because of one NPC. He had wasted the entire trip, but he kept his hopes up. He stayed in Blue Moon City to Cultivate, then two weekster it happened. Another Beast Tide! He killed almost two dozen of the weakest Golden Core Magical Beasts by himself, earning himself a little over two hundred Points. Combined with the light stockpile from before, he finally had enough to upgrade his Talent again! If NPC William hadn''t showed up, he might have earned almost a thousand Potential Points, but it couldn''t be helped. Powerful Cultivators like that couldn''t be controlled and asking him to stop would probably lead to Sylph''s death. Instead, it was better to be quiet and gather the loot like everyone else. But seeing an NPC named Yuming using a specialized Space Ring with only Core Formation Cultivation, Sylph just couldn''t help himself. He walked over to the group of friends and reached out his arm to pat Yuming''s shoulder. "Hey there, friend. Do you mind letting me take a look at that Space Ring?" he asked in the most amicable way he could muster, though his smile was still very off-putting. Yuming turned his head to look at Sylph, narrowing his eyes slightly as he looked at the neer''s clothing. Sylph was wearing a set of tight-fitting metal armor that was dyed ck. Its shape was incredibly ornate and seemed expensive, though at a closer look the material looked very cheap and not sturdy at all. He was wearing a helmet with a visor that concealed his face, but the material was the same and was slightly dented in one spot from the battle. It was as if the man only cared about appearances, and not the actual practicality of the armor itself. Other than Sylph''s Cultivation and his bully-like attitude, nothing about the man seemed threatening to Yuming. He smiled politely, then shook his head and pulled another Magical Beast into the Space Ring. "Oh, you''re going to ignore me? Then, I guess you don''t mind if I just take a quick peek." Sylph said with a smile as he reached out to grab the Space Ring on Yuming''s finger. Chapter 274: Penalties The moment Sylph''s hand touched Yuming''s Space Ring, the Runes inscribed on its surface activated, restricting Sylph inside a Complete Confinement Array where he couldn''t so much as blink. The Space Ring twisted slightly on Yuming''s finger, activating a second Array that heated up the space within the Confinement Array. Beads of sweat formed on Sylphs face, realizing that he had just made a terrible mistake. He tried to move away from Yuming, but the Confinement Array held him perfectly in ce, the heat intensifying until the cheap metal armor cooked him from the inside like a lobster in a pot. The armor started to bend and fold under the heat, its aluminum-like properties causing it to melt before falling apart. The scorching liquid metal burned Sylph''s skin, making him want to scream in pain, but he still couldn''t move. Tears formed in his eyes as he clicked the "I''m stuck" button on his System Panel, but he was horrified when it said he was still inbat. He scrolled through the pain and turned the pain sensitivity function down to zero, finally relieving himself of the burning sensation. He watched as a third Array activated, transferring the heat inside of his own body rather than allowing him to burn alive. He promptly exploded into hundreds of pieces, the peak Golden Core Realmpletely useless in such a situation. Even his Heavenly Core, which was supposed to be extremely durable and solid, didn''t survive the explosion and shattered. Sylph respawned in the center of Blue Moon City, still rubbing his body as he regretted ever raising the pain sensitivity so high. It was initially set to less than 1% pain, so that people could get the feel the unique pang of death without being overwhelmed or deterred from ying, but Sylph had forgone that and turned it up to 100%, wanting to get the full experience of a Cultivation World. It was a move that he had to check many "I agree" boxes and even sign a contract for, but Sylph didn''t mind. He was a thrill-seeker, and possibly a masochist. Being a young man in his twenties and having been through a few painful experiences in his lifetime, Sylph thought that he could handle any pain that the game could throw at him. He was wrong. That hurt. From now on, I''m going to keep it at 30%, that should be enough. If Sylph''s System could talk, it probably would have berated him for being stupid. "Are you out of your mind? You just burned alive and spontaneouslybusted, and you want to feel that?" it would have said. But of course, this System wasn''t like William''s System. They were the same, but different. "Maan, and I lost a quarter of my stored Cultivation Base and almost half of my Potential Points... F*ck!" The penalty for death in Otherworld Prime was not light. When one respawned, they would find both forty percent of their Potential Points and twenty-five percent of their stored Cultivation Base gone. If they weren''t a Cultivator, the penalty was even worse, usually requiring one to create a new character and restart the game. The only benefit to this game was that once one learned a Talent, they would never lose it even if they made a new character. Some people started to abuse this by creating a new character after learning their first Talent, but they eventually found themselves blocked from entering the World for an entire month. There was a lives System in the game, and one was only allowed three new characters per month. Between the death penalties, the challenging environment, and the near tutorial-free beginning, arge number of people quit ying before they even reached the Qi Refinement Realm. The negative reviews on Otherworld Prime piled up, but they attracted just as many challenge-seekers as the game lost. Those that didn''t have a lucky start or had a poor understanding of the Cultivation World would give up the moment they saw the price tag of 500 Gold Coins on their first Cultivation Technique, but others would smile with glee when they finally became a Cultivator, unting their new Realm with pride on the forums. It was brutal, to say the least, but many yers enjoyed it. There were still quite a few that could get around living an honest life asmon folk, building, fighting, and exploring as they so desired. Some would never go out to fight Magical Beasts because of the death penalties. Of course, after a few days of stumbling around in the dark, some more talented yers started to make guides for the others, tricks to earn money quickly, and so forth. After the economy was added, it only became easier for people to begin Cultivating. Sylph didn''t need any of these guides, so this was the first time he had ever died. He rarely looked through the forums, and when he did it was only Region Notifications that he was interested in. Because of this, he didn''t expect such an insane penalty. Of course, he was just like these other challenge seekers. He wouldn''t stop ying until he was the best of the best, the top of the World! And when he was, Sylph would get his revenge on whoever set that nasty trap in Yuming''s Space Ring. *** "You don''t mind if I take these corpses, right?" William asked the Mayor of Blue Moon City with a calm smile, fully knowing that he was in control of the situation. The Mayor smiled politely, "Of course, but I would love for you toe with me for a moment first." William looked at the Mayor, whose expression seemed very calm until he noticed a tiny bead of sweat forming on his forehead. He silently stared at the Mayor for a while, watching as the sweat rolled down his cheek and dripped from his chin. "Is that so?" he simply said. William had no intention of going with the Mayor, who was clearly trying to stall him for some reason. He wanted to go back to Carl, Yuming, and the others, but William didn''t want to risk their futures if they were ever away from him. It was better to remain a lone criminal, especially since Filipe nned on returning to the Sect afterwards. If Filipe died because of William''s actions, he wouldn''t be able to forgive himself easily. The Mayor scratched his head and looked to the sky awkwardly, but then his expression formed a smile. At the same time as the Mayor smiled, William''s 359 degree vision spotted a Cultivator flying in from almost directly behind him at speed close to the peak of the Soul Formation Realm. It quickly became obvious that this was what the Mayor was waiting for. William turned around and looked at the approaching figure with a light smile, secretly checking the Array Wheel stored under his cloak to make sure it was still working properly. It couldn''t hold William''s Tier 6 Arrays, but it managed to store five improved Complete Arrays. Before he came too close, the Cultivator stopped in midair and held his hands up high as if he was submitting to the police in William''s old World. His face was one that William didn''t recognize, but it was one he would never forget. For the man''s eyes shone with a radiating white light that burned an image directly into William''s mind. "Hello, I am Goddess Lufeyra''s Divine Representative, and you''vemitted a very, very, grave sin." Chapter 275: Perion The moment those words exited the Cultivator''s mouth, a beam of light shot from his eyes, shattering William''s Forcefield in a single hit and forcing him to shift to the side to dodge a fatal hit. The light beamnded on William''s Illusionist''s Cloak, dispersing into harmless rays of light. Good, the cloak actually does work.William sighed in relief as he dodged another light beam and took to the air. After seeing the Illusionist''s Cloak damaged multiple times in a short period, William was beginning to think his Legendary Artifact was defective. The Cultivator''s eyes shed in surprise seeing William unharmed after his first attack, "What is that armor? Tell me." "I don''t even know your name! Take me out to dinner before asking me to show off my clothes!" William shouted, making the Cultivator frown with distaste. "Perion, as many call me. Now, tell me where you got that armor." he fired off another beam of light, before switching to the Wind Element to st William back into the range of his Spell. "I don''t feel the obligation to tell you!" William replied as he countered the opponent''s Wind Spell with his own Wind, disturbing the air and forming a mini tornado in between them with the two spells. The wind tornado blocked Perion''s vision momentarily, but William had Life Sense active so he was able to track Perion''s location at all times. He blinked nine times to turn on the Vision Talent''s Mana Mode, just in time to see an AoE Light Spell headed in his direction. He teleported, exiting just a few meters behind Perion while the man was focused on casting his Light Spell. The Array Wheel appeared in William''s hand as he cast two consecutive Complete Confined Arrays on the man. Perion''s Spell was canceled, his arms falling to his waist as he lost control of his body. His body turned into a cloud of smoke, which seemed to be a mixture of the Wind and Darkness Element, then reappeared directly behind William and shed at his Cloak with a small dagger. William''s Cloak was able to deflect this attack as well, but a tiny scratch appeared on its surface that healed instantly. It became clear to Perion that William''s Cloak wasn''t entirely invincible, just a bit stronger than most armors. On the other end, William evaluated his tricky opponent, trying to figure out what just happened. Though the man''s Cultivation was hidden and looked like the beginning of the Golden Core Realm, William could still see it with the effects of his Talents that he was actually at the Fifth Stage of the Soul Formation Realm, just one level away from the peak and not much higher than the Cultivator William killed in the Fire Mine. That being said, this person was incredibly skilled and much more difficult to deal with than the other man. Even after the man appeared behind him, William had no clue how he hadn''t trapped his enemy. Only after reying the scenes in his mind did William realize that the man had cast another Spell just beforeunching his Area of Effect Light Spell. It was just a slight fluctuation, but William saw the Darkness Element be slightly more pronounced as the man''s figure doubled, while the original sank into the duplicate''s shadow. He hid in his own shadow, waiting for me to think I caught him off guard. This guy is the real deal. Dealing with Supreme Left''s Clone had made William a bit arrogant, thinking he could take on anyone without a problem. It became clear now that he was still a Core Formation Cultivator, in the Empty Core Realm at that. No matter how many Talents William gained and how much he upgraded them, there was a limit to how much he could improve with just that. Cultivation was like William''s base stats, while the Talents were multipliers. As a Commoner, his base physical strength could be considered a 10, for example. If his Strength Talent at the time was SSR-Rank like it is now, then his base strength would have been 24 times the original, for a total of 240 strength. If a Golden Core Cultivator was 500 Strength, as another example, William wouldn''t stand a chance! It was the same now. If William''s base strength was at 100, then his opponent''s base strength was 2000! Even if William had the advantage, it wasn''t arge difference that couldn''t be made up for with technique! Not to mention, his enemy had hundreds or even thousands of years of experience. Only with William''s insane Talents could he keep up. Having uncovered the enemy''s secret in just a single breath, William feigned confusion and stepped away like he needed time to think about what happened. Perion saw this and immediately rushed forward, but William didn''t use his Confinement Array this time, opting to save it for the perfect moment. Instead, he hid the Array Wheel and retrieved the Mana Gathering Staff and the Abyssal Weapon Shifter, swapping the weapon into a tough shield while channeling Fire Magic into a massive wall of mes that rushed towards Perion and blocked his vision. -Developed a new Spell: +1 PP -New Spell: me Tsunami "Heh, a slow attack like this can''t hurt me. You will learn not to provoke the Pirs of Justice!" Perionughed as his body shed away at high speed, the me Tsunami missing by a mile. His smile dropped, however, when Perion realized that William was nowhere to be seen. He casted his Darkness Detection Spell, looking for human-like shadows in the area, but William''s wasn''t among them. "Damnit, don''t tell me you ran away." Perion stomped in the air animatedly as he looked around for any sign of William. He reached for amunicator in his Space Ring and raised it to his mouth while pressing a button. "Yes, Master Perion?" someone questioned from the other side of themunicator. "Perry, I need you to-" Perion suddenly faltered. Sticking through the other side of his chest was the Abyssal Weapon Shifter, which had turned into a spear and pierced his heart with a single move. Perion turned into a cloud of smoke again, but the Array Wheel was already in William''s other hand, casting the Confinement Array on Perion''s shadow. His true figure appeared, hunched in the air having not been able to fully stand up yet. He was truly confined this time, but the man still managed to raise his head. "I don''t know how you managed to figure it out so quickly... but you''ve sinned again, boy." Perion struggled to finish his words. William didn''t n to waste time chatting. He turned the spear into a sword and shed downward, aiming for the man''s neck. Blood sttered as Perion''s head was detached, but a wisp of Light Mana sprung from the man''s neck and reattached the body part in an instant. A ring disguised as a Space Ring on his finger broke, probably the reason for Perion''s revival, while a second "Space Ring" lit up and cast a massive barrier around his body to protect him from any follow-up attacks. William finished casting another Confinement Array to contain Perion just as the man''s barrier shattered the first one, preventing the man from standing back up. His Array Wheel only had offensive Arrays left, so William was forced to form thest one himself with barely enough time. He couldn''t keep up this cycle of breaking and recing the Confinement Arrays, so William turned his sword into a hammer and mmed downward with his full strength, shattering the barrier with a single hit and breaking Perion''s neck. Chapter 276: The Pillars Of Justice Perion''s head fell to the ground for a second time, not fully reattached from the initial attack. His neck bones were crushed into a fine powder, and he was bleeding profusely, but for some reason he wasn''t dead! William''s Life Sense told him that the man still had a strong trace of vitality, which meant he was only slightly injured! Three more Space Rings shattered, the powder from Perion''s neck regathering and forming bones, while the head reattached itself again. The second Ring had a second use and casted another barrier around Perion''s body before the ring shattered, just as the shockwave from a third Ring spread within a radius of five kilometers. The walls of Blue Moon City for a dozen kilometers shook, cracks forming on their surface from the battle in the sky. Many weaker Cultivators in the area were mmed to the ground by the force of Perion''s third Ring, while others scrambled to safety from just outside its range. Gunther raised a dome of Ice to protect his group from the shockwave, but it onlysted for a brief moment before shattering. The icy shrapnel fell on the group, causing a few light injuries that Charlotte rushed to heal. "Let''s get out of here!" Carl yelled out as he dug a tunnel with the Earth Element. The rest followed suit while Gunther reinforced Carl''s tunnel from the back, delving hundreds of meters underground. William''s Vision Talent allowed him to see almost everything happening on the battlefield at once, so he naturally noticed his friends leaving the area. He shed to Perion''s side with the Space Element, striking down with his hammer for a second time. Perionunched a weak Light Spell at William to distract him, then dodged to the side while William''s hammer was still raised high. This turned out to be a grave mistake, since the Time-Slowing effect from the Reflexes Talent kicked in, giving him plenty of time to see what the man was trying to do. William didn''t bother to dodge the Light Spell and allowed it to hit him, the Mana seeping into his Cloak and slightly damaging the Arrays. The angle of his swing changed, the hammer following Perion like a heat-seeking missile and mming on his barriers with extreme precision. Both barriers shattered, but William wasn''t aiming for Perion''s head this time. It was obvious that the man had many life-saving treasures on him, so this time the hammer smashed Perion''s right hand that hadn''t used any Space Rings, destroying nine in the process. Perion''s eyes turned red with anger and regret as his most expensive treasures were destroyed in a single hit. His left hand only had five Space Rings, but they were set to only trigger after his life was threatened. "How can you see everything?!? You''re a monster!" Perion shouted as he scrambled backwards to catch his breath. This was the first time he had ever been pushed so far by a Core Formation Cultivator. He knew William wasn''t any normal person, but for his strength to be so exaggerated, he must have an incredible secret! But Perion knew when to cut his losses. He knew he couldn''t seize whatever secret William had, and trying to do so would only lead to death. He backed away from William from midair, opting to avoid the man at all costs. William saw this, but he wasn''t going to let Perion do what he pleased. He shed forward again with the Space Element while his Cloak was still repairing the Arrays, mming down on Perion''s other hand. A barrier slightly stronger than the others was raised in front of William''s attack, but it was useless. The hammer broke through in mere moments, still striking true on Perion''s left hand. "Aagh!" Perion screamed in pain as his other hand became useless. His only remaining method of attack was the Light Beam Spell which he could fire from his eyes, but it only served to slow William down slightly. Crack! William''s hammer mmed down on Perion''s head once again, crushing his skull like a grape as a messy scene unfolded. Perion''s headless body fell from the sky, bouncing slightly off the ground with a soft thud. Just as William was about to go down and investigate, a ne flew out from under Perion''s clothing and covered him in a lime-green light that resembled the Life Element. His head grew back simr to how William''s limbs would regrow from the Regeneration Talent, then Perion struggled back to his feet with a terrified expression. "You''re like a cockroach, you know that?" William said from above. He was jealous of Perion''s limitless treasures, but the expression on his opponent''s face told William that the man was running out. Perion''s face became calm, and he looked up to William. "I may be at my limit, but the only one meeting their end is you!" He pulled up his sleeve to reveal two bracelets that were covered in Arrays just like the Space Rings, then removed one and threw it on the ground. The bracelet lit up, shooting a beam of light into the sky and far out of William''s view. This pir was so tall that it could be seen from across the entire Far West Forest Region! Commoners, Nobles, Cultivators, and even branches of the Yu Royal Family could clearly see the blinding yellowish-white light that gave off the aura of a Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator. William saw a slight fluctuation of Space Mana a hundred kilometers in the distance, then watched as a figure stepped out of the portal and entered a second one that reached Perion''s side. The neer''s Mana signature suggested he possessed both the Space and Time Elements, as well as the nt Element. His Cultivation was even in the second stage of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, most likely having just broken through to the second stage just recently. But that wasn''t what bothered William. Even as the person opened up a series of portals that sent four more Soul Formation Cultivators to the battlefield, William remained still as he evaluated the man before him very carefully. "Sect Master Gu, I didn''t expect to see you so soon." William said solemnly. "Disciple William. You''ve be quite troublesome recently. Perhaps you should turn yourself in and we can settle things without risking the lives of... innocents." Gu Dianlong waved his hand as another portal appeared, dragging William''s friends from the Sect out from underground. Carl, Yuming, Filipe, Gunther, Tia, and Charlotte. All six of them were thrown out of the portal to the ground, then restrained by one of the four Soul Formation Cultivators nearby. Everything had happened so fast that their senses were still dull from the effects of the teleportation. "You don''t have to do this." William said seriously as he looked at Gu Dianlong''s chest area. While it was concealed under his clothes and couldn''t be seen by anyone else, William could clearly see with his Mana Mode that there was an Array on his right shoulder, just like the one he wore while in the Gravitas Ruins. The Sect Master noticed the direction of William''s gaze and shook his head, "You already know that I have no choice." Chapter 277: Time Loop Williamunched a high-speed bolt of Lightning at Perion, hoping to catch the group off guard, but one of the Soul Formation Cultivatorsunched a Lightning Bolt of their own to deflect it in midair. The one responsible for defending William''s attack moved in front of Perion and crossed his arms, seemingly saying, "If you want him, you''ll have to go through me." Gu Dianlong also moved, teleporting next to William with the Space Element and shing out with a sword just like his younger version had done in the Gravitas Ruins. His sword was covered in Arrays that amplified his strength tenfold, while also decreasing the weight of the weapon itself so that it was incredibly fast. William struggled to dodge even with his Reflexes Talent, the de missing his left shoulder by a mere centimeter. It was the closest anyone hade to actually injuring him, when the other times had been because William was trying to conceal his strength. Now, his speed wasn''t restricted in the slightest, yet he couldn''t keep up with just that. William shifted the hammer into a sword of his own, using his Weapons Master Talent topete with Gu Dianlong''s thousand years of experience. He boosted his speed further with the Light and Wind Elements, matching Gu Dianlong''s with his own as they shed over a hundred times in midair. He pushed his strength to the maximum, the intensity of his attacks pushing Gu Dianlong backwards by dozens of meters. William raised his altitude to be slightly above Gu Dianlong, maintaining the pressure to force the Sect Master to the ground. His n worked, as Gu Dianlong didn''t have time to pay attention to his surroundings. He backed up further and further until his back suddenly hit the walls of Blue Moon City, William taking advantage of it to pierce through his right shoulder while channeling Lightning Mana through it. Gu Dianlong''s body convulsed as he struggled to keep the Lightning at bay. It wriggled and writhed through his internal organs, causing a small amount of damage despite the massive Cultivation difference between the two. Before William could press further, one of the Soul Formation Cultivators rushed behind William and tried to stab him in the back. William dodged to the side, but he was forced to pull back the Abyssal Weapon Shifter from Gu Dianlong''s body, giving the man an opening to cast a Spell. The Sect Master raised his wrinkled hand and called the surrounding Time Mana to rewind the events of the past few minutes. Other than William''s Mana that was still coursing through his body, everything turned back to the way it was before, even repairing some of the damage to the City Walls. The Soul Formation Cultivator that had been approaching William was returned to his previous position, but he didn''t seem aware of what had happened. Perion and the one protecting him hadn''t move either, still recovering from their injuries. Other than William and Gu Dianlong, who both had the Time Element, it seemed that no one had suspected a thing. Gu Dianlong shed a slight smile, but he didn''t reveal his thoughts. William looked at Gu Dianlong from afar with narrowed eyes. He knew the Time Element couldn''t affect one''s memories, so the man must have some interesting Innate Ability or treasure. Either way, it seemed to be a good thing for him. Rather than attacking Gu Dianlong in a different way, William repeated the same events as before, leading to the exact same result. Gu Dianlong''s shoulder was pierced, Mana coursed through his body, and time was rewound when the Soul Formation Cultivator attacked William. The process was repeated dozens, then hundreds, and eventually over a thousand times. Before the hundredth time, William startedmitting the Mana of all of his Elements to target Gu Dianlong''s shoulder, slowly weakening the strength of the Envement Array. System, I''m running out of Mana. Can the Mana Regeneration Talent be upgraded right now? William asked with a sense of urgency. Even with his insane Mana Regeneration, he had spent about ten percent of it on Perion and the Magical Beasts. Now that he was trapped in an infinite loop with Gu Dianlong, William had to pray that the Sect Master ran out of Mana before he did. He didn''t care that much about helping the man, but he didn''t like the idea of having yet another Tribtion Transcendence enemy. He''d rather at least make one ally while he had the chance. Gu Dianlong would be a very useful assetter if William could turn the man to his side. Just like others wanted to use William when he was weak, William wanted to do the same with Gu Dianlong. It was hrious to think about, a Core Formation Cultivator using a Tribtion Transcender, but with William anything was possible. -Yes, it will cost you 15000 Potential Points. Perfect, upgrade it, quick! The cost wasn''t even that highpared to the Vision Talent he upgraded not long ago. -15000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Mana Regeneration: (SS --> SSR) Effects: Recover 2080 Mana per hour >> Recover 8320 Mana per hour SSR-Rank Bonus Effect: Mana Regenerates four times as fast out ofbat. Next rank up: 75000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª The singr Mana Regeneration upgrade increased his recovery rate by four times, stacking with William''s various other buffs for a massive boost that quickly halted the Mana loss. Since it was still sealed, the Mana Gathering Staff only provided a 40% increase to William''s Mana Regeneration rate, while the various Mana Dragon''s Blood Essences gave another 350 Mana Regeneration. Stacked with his base Mana Regeneration rate and the bonuses he gained from Cultivating to greater Realms, William would now recover 12257 Mana per hour as long as he was holding the Mana Gathering Staff! Or in simpler terms, just over three Mana per second! If he was out ofbat, that number would spike to almost fifty thousand per hour! Since his Titles gave William tons of Mana Efficiency, he could continuously siphon Mana into Gu Dianlong without rest, and he''d still be regaining Mana! William''s Mana Mode was still active, so he was able to see where the Mana came from this time. It turned out that the System was actually pulling the Mana from the fourthyer of space, which was insane! Perhaps if he upgraded it again, the Mana woulde from the fifth or even sixthyer of space, if those even existed... Regardless, it wasn''t long before Gu Dianlong''s expression turned from calm to a hint of worry. He had intended to use William to weaken his Envement Array even if just a little bit, but he never expected that the boy would have even more Mana than he did! If Gu Dianlong didn''t end the Time Loop Spell in the next hundred loops, he wouldn''t even have enough Mana to escape! Find your next read at m_v l|e-NovelBin But I''m so close. Just a little more and I can be freed from this damned Array. I have to hold on, even if the kid dies! Gu Dianlong had never been a good person, so he didn''t feel bad about using William. He had been enved much longer than William had, so it was only natural for him to want to use any means possible to break free. It wasn''t that he hated William. In fact, he liked the kid for having so much natural talent and even foring this far. It made Gu Dianlong proud that one of his Disciples had already caught up with him and wasn''t far from reaching the peakbat strength of the World. William''s achievements wereparable to the stories of the Ancient figure this World was named after, Efretta. Or... Goddess Efretta as some scriptures referenced. Gu Dianlong was much too young to have known Efretta, but he had heard many interesting tales about her from his Master, who had learned it from his Grandmaster. Some of the stories were so oundish that it often made Gu Dianlongugh, but his Grandmaster was always very serious when he spoke about her. The woman was described as one of the most beautiful beings this World had ever produced. Graced with a perfect body, dozens of Innate Talents, loads of Elemental Affinities, and learningprehension that rivaled the Heavens, Efretta was known in this World as the most powerful Cultivator of all time. Gu Dianlong didn''t know if there were others like her out there, but he could be sure of one thing. William was the closest person he had ever seen to matching the unbelievable stories of Goddess Efretta. It made him guilty to think that he valued his life over William''s when the boy clearly had remarkable talent, but that was the Cultivation World. It was cruel, but if Gu Dianlong didn''t do it, someone else would. He shook his head. He wouldn''t be the one to continue the cruel Cultivation cycle. He had already done enough by enving William, even if that wasn''t his own choice. If he wanted to die without regrets, Gu Dianlong needed to change his old ways. If there''s another way, I will dly take that step. Chapter 278: There Are More? William continued pouring Mana into Gu Dianlong''s Envement Array, but it was too strong and even a few years'' worth of Time Loops weren''t enough to remove it. He noticed some strain forming on Gu Dianlong''s face by the 1100th loop as he was repeatedly stabbed through the chest by William''s sword, then filled with violent waves of Mana that tore him apart. To be honest, William was mostly surprised at Gu Dianlong''s tenacity. The Sect Master didn''t have a System like he did, nor did he have the Mind Talent or any form of pain resistance. It was a wonder that he was still conscious after taking such a beating, which further stressed Gu Dianlong''s desperation to escape. He must have been through a lot...William kinda felt bad about Gu Dianlong, but he didn''t lower his guard. The man clearly had been ordered to kill William but had found some sort of loophole in the Array. He could still attack William at any moment. Gu Dianlong ended the Time Loop Spell not long after, eventually giving out to the pain. The Soul Formation Cultivator that had been chasing after William rushed forward with his sword, only for William to dodge without even looking. The man shed a few more times, even adding Water Magic to the mix, but William dodged everything without so much as turning his head. It was as if William had predicted everything before the Cultivator could even move. "Then try this!" the man yelled as he coated his de with water and threw it at William, who promptly dodged to the side. The man slightly smirked as the de turned around and started chasing William from behind, but the expected result of piercing through William''s back didn''t happen. Instead, William opened a portal with Space Magic and sent the Cultivator''s sword and water flying back towards him, the Water Mana causing no harm, but the sword piercing directly through his heart. Since it was the man''s own weapon, the protective Artifacts he was wearing didn''t trigger at all and his body turned limp, dropping from the sky while blood pooled on the ground. He hadn''t been careful enough, thinking that his treasures could protect him in a risky situation. "H-How did you know..." the man cried out weakly before taking hisst breath. -Killed a Human: +5 PP "Heh, as if I''d tell you." William said. Gu Dianlong''s loops didn''t always end just after William''s first sh with the Soul Formation Cultivator. Sometimes, Sect Master Gu would extend the time for longer to save Mana, once William got used to the man''s tactics. William had brief shes with this Cultivator hundreds of times, so of course he would know that the man had many protective treasures, as well as how they worked. This experience had benefitted William greatly, giving him extra months of experience that would help him shorten the gap with other powerful Cultivators. He wished he had a skill like Gu Dianlong''s, however he had obtained it. "Idiot! I called you here because I needed help. Why are you justying there?" Perion shouted at Gu Dianlong, who was clearly pretending to be weak. Gu Dianlong shouted back, "I came here because I owed you a favor. Don''t push your luck!" The Pirs of Justice had nothing to do with Retribution, nor his envement, so Gu Dianlong hadn''t received any orders to follow Perion blindly. He had onlye here because he had once asked the organization to forget about targeting William for the time being. How ironic, that he was now being told to fight against the very person that he tried to protect a few months ago. Though, this situation was better than Tenebris asking him to fight William, since he wouldn''t have had any room for negotiation. He sighed and snapped his fingers while still lying on the ground, opening a dozen long-range portals that allowed more Pirs of Justice members to step through one by one. The battlefield slowly filled up with over two hundred Nascent Soul Cultivators and sixteen in the Soul Formation Realm. What the f*ck, more enemies? Williamined inwardly. System, how many members does the Pirs of Justice have? -Request requires 70 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. -The Pirs of Justice only epts Core Formation Realm and above Cultivators as members. At the moment, they have exactly 15000 members in the Core Formation Realm, 10903 in the Golden Core Realm, 1262 in the Nascent Soul, 90 in the Soul Formation Realm, and 5 in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. Find adventures at m_v l|e-NovelBin Are you telling me that the organization spread across the entire Continent has sent almost a fifth of their strongestbat forces just to take me down?William asked seriously. If the Pirs of Justice had sent a force like this to take on the Elemental Beast Tide, they would have wiped it out in a matter of minutes, even without William. So why was it that they didn''t bother to do so? They obviously weren''t busy, because they had plenty of time toe in waves and bully a Core Formation kid that was a fraction of their ages. It was almost as if the World was ignoring the Beast Tides, letting each individual group deal with their problems themselves. It almost made William want to side with Retribution, just like how Jenny and Briar had done not long ago. That Master ck had a very convincing speech, which was clear by how many had joined his cause. -That''s right. There are currently four major powers on this Continent alone that either want to kill you or use you. You''ve be a chess piece that all the yers want to use. "Are you fucking kidding me?!?" William cursed out loud as another portal opened, revealing a bald Cultivator in the third level of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. That Rodger said that Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators never go out. Then what''s this?! First it was Sect Master Gu, now it''s whoever the fuck this baldie is. Swear to God if he gives me someme ass introduction like "You''ve done quite a bit of damage, but your reign of terror ends here" or some shit I''m going to throw Rodger out a window the next time I see him. "William, I assume?" the bald Cultivator looked at him with an amicable smile. "You''ve caused a lot of pain today, why don''t we end it here? Youe with me quietly and we will give you a fair sentence. I''ll even do what I can to guarantee your life is spared, if only you help me out with something." Baldie''s smile widened as he mistook William''s twitching eye as a sign of approval. Close enough! William had had thest straw. All he did was upgrade his Magic Affinities to S-Rank, and he was met with a wave of problem after problem. First it was his own Elements rebelling against him at the whim of the Chaos Element, then it was the Heavenly Tribtion that he was forced to undergo to save his life. After that it was Supreme Left, then the Beast Tide, Perion, Gu Dianlong, and now this! He was tired of it, to say the least. System, upgrade my Acrobatics to SSR-Rank and my Strength to X-Rank. I''m going to give these idiots a piece of my mind. Chapter 279: Not The Treasure Vault! -65000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Acrobatics: (SS --> SSR) Effects: Speed increased by 3200% >> 6400% Jumping strength increased by 3200% >> 6400% Bncing ability improved by 3200% >> 6400% Flexibility improved by 3200% >> 6400% SSR-Rank Bonus Effect: Narrowly dodging an attack grants you a 20% speed boost for five seconds. Duration is tripled if you dodge a life-threatening attack. Next rank up: 75000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Strength: (SSR --> X) Effects: Full-body muscr ability +2400% >> +9600% X-Rank Bonus Effects: Fit: Chance of physical strain reduced by 100% Physique: Physical appearance is maintained, preventing physical deformities when using too much strength. Power: Pull your arm back to charge up your punches for two seconds, unleashing up to twice the original strength whennding blows. Next rank up: Requirements Locked. Ascend or upgrade the System to A-Rank to unlock the next Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª With his speed doubled and strength quadrupled, William rushed by the Soul Formation Cultivator to his friends before anyone was able to hold them as hostages. Once he had a proper hold of them, William ran a short distance away to decrease the chance of Gu Dianlong interrupting him, then opened a long-distance portal to the Livingwood Forest. With his Vision Talent greatly improved, William was able to see the situation all the way in the Livingwood Forest, which was why he took his friends there. The greatest danger was in the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm, and William had confidence that Carl alone could protect them from such an enemy. The Sect Master used the Time Element to try to rewind the events, but William''s own Time Element cancelled out the effect. This was one of the biggest downsides to Time Magic, since someone with even E-Rank Time Affinity would be less susceptible to the effects of temporal distortion. Since William''s Time Affinity was S-Rank, he could even open a Time Domain that controlled the Element even more precisely than Gu Dianlong could, pushing time backwards, forwards, or even holding itpletely still at his will. He hadn''t done this before during his battle with Gu Dianlong, though because of three reasons. He didn''t sense the usual killing intent that one would feel during a high-level battle, but he also knew it wouldn''t affect the Sect Master given his Time Element. The third reason was entirely because of the Cultivation of William''s opponents. As Soul Formation and Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators, even an S-Rank Time Affinity couldn''t affect them on a great scale. It was the same as William''s Fire Element, only useful to cause superficial damage or for trickery. He would need to either reach the Nascent Soul Realm or raise his Affinities to an even higher rank to have a great effect in battle. Of course, William couldn''t do that mid battle. Even if he could, the Time Element upgrade would probably kill him of old age. Since his System Panel was avable once again, he could clearly see his Status, and it wasn''t looking good. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: -Age: 351 -Lifespan: 600 Years -Cultivation: Core Formation 1 (0/15000) STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 2000/2000 -Mana: 4300/4300 -Fame: 145 -Humanity: 60 -Attention: 1 -Soul Strength: 1250 -Cultivation Base: 119300/500000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª His Moneybags Title had ranked up when he received the Thieves'' Guild bounties, which raised his Fame by 35, but he didn''t care about that right now. What mattered the most was that even after reaching the Core Formation Realm, his Lifespan had only increased to 600 years. While it was still a long time, he had aged a lot during the Chaos upgrade. Until he could survive his Elemental upgrades without triggering the Regeneration side effects, William didn''t n to take such a risk again. That being said, he made sure his friends were in a safe ce before turning to face the enemy Cultivators. He could run from them indefinitely, but William didn''t find that fun. He was already pissed off when they tried to take his friends as hostages, but after saying such cheesy lines he couldn''t take it anymore. If there''s anything I hate more than mashed potatoes and Alchemists, it''s cringe. William shuddered as he recalled Baldie''s words. The man was still staring at William calmly, like a super viin that had everything under his control. It was quite hrious, and stupid, to be honest. "Hey Baldie, how did you even reach that Realm. Aren''t you kinda stupid?" William asked with a smirk, secretly preparing a wisp of Illusion Magic from behind his back. The bald Cultivator''s face contorted, clearly offended by William''s harsh words. "Ites with age, you''ll be bald too one day." "Probably not. And even if I am, I definitely won''t be as ugly as you." William replied without any hesitation. His Illusion Spell wasplete, covering his entire body as he disappeared from everyone''s sight. Even the bald Cultivator couldn''t sense where William had gone,pletely fooled by the S-Rank Element. William''s Illusion Affinity was almost as strong as Atticus'' Illusion Magic now, which became a great asset in this battle. William suddenly appeared from a cloud of purple smoke next to Baldie, having pulled back his fist from the beginning and fully charged the new Power bonus effect. A life-saving protective Amulet triggered, protecting the Cultivator from William''s punch. A pale-yellow glow wrapped his entire body and formed a set of golden armor that made him look majestic, but the unfathomable image was broken instantly as the fist shattered his tough armor like fragile ss. A second, more expensive looking, Amulet lit up as the first one shattered to pieces, absorbing the impact of William''s punch like gtin. His fist sank into the bald Cultivator''s chest, but there was no visible pain on the man''s face. William pulled back his fist and went for another punch at his stomach, but the second was the same. The Cultivator only managed to react at this moment, kicking William away with incredible power, breaking a few ribs in the process and sending him into Blue Moon''s City walls. The Regeneration Talent kicked in, repairing the damage to William''s body in an instant while he broke free from the imprint he made in the walls. William dusted off his clothing while a hole in his Illusionist''s Cloak was repaired, then ran forward for another round with the man. "Hey Baldie, do all of you have infinite treasures? What''s up with that?" Williamined. He was tired of having to break through everyone''s treasures just to deal damage. It would be better if they took off their protective Amulets and gave them to him. At least then they wouldn''t go to waste. "Stop calling me Baldie!" the Cultivator''s eye twitched, clearly losing patience with William. "My bad." William looked legitimately sorry as he bent over and pulled back his arm. A short distance portal opened in front of him which he stepped through in an instant and disappeared from the Cultivator''s vision. The man didn''t see a portal appear in front of him, so he turned around only to find that William wasn''t behind. He looked forward again, just in time to see William''s fisting from underneath aimed directly at a sensitive area. "I guess I''ll call you Ugly, then." William smiled viciously as his punch reached the Cultivator''s treasure vault, his face pale as paper as the blow knocked him higher in the air. Chapter 280: Goodbye The Cultivator looked down at William below him, his eyes turning pure golden as a beam of light shot out, much faster than the usual Light Element. William''s vision turned fuzzy as Baldie appeared inside of his mind as a version of himself wearing the golden armor from before. Both figures entered an intense battle within William''s mind while the other Pirs of Justice members closed in on William''s real body. Even though he was upied in his mind, William was still able to move in the real world, though his actions were slightly restricted. His strength was reduced by about twenty percent, while his speed was roughly thirty percent slower, held back by the bald Cultivator''s mental power. Seeing William still moving despite their leader being perfectly still, the Soul Formation Cultivators were shocked and rushed to attack William before he could get close to the bald man. "Leader Vishnal, watch out!" they shouted as William''s figure disappeared through another portal. The man opened one eye and took a peek, startled to see William just inches from his face. Vishnal leaned backwards to dodge William''s punch, narrowly avoiding a lethal blow while kicking forward again to push William back. Will grabbed Vishnal''s leg, spinning him around in a circle before performing a quick chop with the side of his palm, snapping the bone in two. An Array on Vishnal''s clothing lit up, trying to heal the wound, but William was already expecting something like this to happen. He covered his hand with Fire Mana, channeling it into Vishnal''s body with a second chop further down the leg. A searing pain spread up the bald man''s thigh, forcing him to grit his teeth as he retrieved a small circr object from his Space Ring. It was a piece of coal, it seemed, which caught fire with a snap of Vishnal''s fingers and promptly exploded like a grenade. William briefly shielded his face to protect his eyesight, only to notice that Vishnal had a spear in hand and was aiming directly for William''s heart. The strength of Vishnal''s attack seemed life-threatening and William''s Forcefield wasn''t fully repaired yet, so he was forced to reinforce the area with the Ice and Earth Elements to limit the damage as much as possible. The spear pierced through William''s Illusionist''s Cloak, a set of Arrays on the spear wiping away William''s own, then continued forward through the Earth, then the Ice shields before stopping on William''s Hard Skin. The Attack Reflection Talent triggered at full power, doubling the damage reflected on Vishnal since he hadn''t hurt William. The man''s heart was pierced through and through as if he had stabbed himself with his own spear, forcing him to his knees as he gasped for breath. Their exchange was incredibly fast, the Soul Formation Cultivators only just now reaching their position. An onught of Magic Spells enveloped William, already adjusted to ensure they didn''t hurt their leader in the process. William grabbed Vishnal and used his body as a human shield to block the attacks, then ripped the spear from the man''s arm and pointed it at the Soul Formation Cultivators with a wicked grin. He had appraised the spear the moment it appeared, and the stats were nothing to sneeze at. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Original Strengthening Spear (Mythic Spear): A Mythical Spear crafted by an Ancient Cultivator associated with the Pirs of Justice. This weapon was created with but one purpose, to overwhelm one''s enemies. Effects while held: Explore more stories with m,v l''e-NovelBin +80% Physical Strength ¡ª¡ª¡ª "Goodbye." William said as he poked forward with the spear, tearing open the first and secondyers of space in front of the Soul Formation Cultivators and sucking two bodies towards the spatial tear. They screamed and shouted as they were slowly pulled into a void, their skin and bones shredded by the violent Space Mana. As the tear started to close, William didn''t forget to reach for their outstretched hands and cut off their fingers to steal their Space Rings. I don''t care what happens, I''m not going to leave my loot behind. He thought as he rushed towards the next group of Cultivators. Perion, who had fully recovered by this time, was terrified when he saw William making use of the Original Strengthening Spear to kill hisrades. He looked over to Vishnal whose vitality was slowly fading but still present, heaving a sigh of relief. He''s not dead, good. I just need to stall this boy a little while and we can recover! Perion didn''t have any more allies to call, most of them useless in such a situation. If anything, he felt like it would be better to back off and let William go free. The boy''s strength was in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, and a serious fight at that level could destroy an entire Region if it went on long enough. He looked at Blue Moon City, whose walls had totally copsed while civilians were nowhere to be seen. The smart ones had probably fled already, while the others... Perion shook his head. He didn''t care about Commoners. Anyone that didn''t have the ability to Cultivate was useless in his eyes, and those that couldn''t reach the Nascent Soul Realm were trash at best. What he did care about, however, was identally destroying a World Core like what happened during a battle a few hundred years ago. He remembered that year very clearly, since it was the same period where the Pirs of Justice and half of the Azures Continent almost ceased to exist. If it weren''t for a mysterious Cultivator with four Domains, the Yu Royal Family and many of thergest powers would be extinct! Since then, the Pirs of Justice had chosen to revere the Heavens as the undisputed overlords of Azures, and Efretta as a whole. They prayed to the Heavens daily and squashed anyone that dared to cause trouble involving the World Cores. This was the real reason why Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators rarely went out. Not because they didn''t want to cause problems in each other''s territories, but because if a Greater or Superior Core were ever broken again, the Elemental Beast Tides would be the least of their worries. At that point, they would be facing the wrath of the Heavens! I can''t believe I considered asking for William to be let go. How could I be so stupid?Perion berated himself mentally. If William''s strength was in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, that only made him more of a threat to the World. He didn''t have to absorb the World Cores; he could shatter them with his fist alone! Perion reached for hismunicator and contacted Supreme Left''s assistant directly, rying the events of thest few minutes. The assistant took his information and reported to Supreme Left immediately, who promptly opened a portal with the legitimate Dao Staff that didn''t belong to any of his clones. Before going to the battlefield at Blue Moon City, Supreme Left took the initiative to teleport into a cave with a small waterfall where a long-haired shirtless man with scars covering his back was Cultivating in silence. "What is it? You nevere to me directly anymore. I thought you didn''t want to talk to me." the man asked with a light smirk. Supreme Left grit his teeth for a moment, "Forget about that, this is important. Come with me." "Say it nicely." the man prodded Supreme Left further. "...Fine. Unbreakable Right, will youe with me to save the World? It seems the Pirs have provoked an enemy I can''t handle by myself." Chapter 281: Hell Torc opened his eyes after what felt like an eternity. He was in a vast grassy in, but the grass wasn''t green. Nor was the sky blue, or the sun yellow. Instead, everything was dyed red, as if God had poured a red paint bucket on everything that was, is, and could ever be. Even his skin was red, which made Torc feel like something had happened to his eyesight. He tried to remember what happened, but the memories of the previous day had already mostly faded, as if the events had actually unfolded months ago. He tried to jog his memory by repeating what he knew. I''m a Gold-Ranked Adventurer from Thin Creek Vige. My parents are... Rey and Cherry, and my favorite food is... well I haven''t had much but I guess I''d say I like beef patties. Thest thing I remember was... I was fighting? Oh... I died... somehow. But how am I here then? Is this thend of the dead? "Well,nd of the dead is one name for it. You''re in Hell." a calm voice said from behind. It sounded like Torc''s father, but when he turned, the only thing behind him was a red mannequin. No face, no eyes, no mouth. "Yes, it''s me." the mannequin spoke again, though Torc couldn''t tell where its voice hade from. "I''m in Hell? Does that mean I was a bad person in my life?" Torc asked. "Bad person? That''s rtive." the mannequin replied. It hovered in the air and moved closer to Torc while its legs were still unmoving, rotating around his body as if it was inspecting him. "You had a good rtionship with your father, I can see in your memories. If he killed someone, does that make him a bad person?" "Not necessarily, he could have been protecting me." Torc replied simply. He knew his father very well, and he would never do anything without reason. "Okay, but what if the person he killed had a mother that loved him just as much as your father cared about you? Would their mother think your father was a bad person? Or, if you stole valuable medicine from an Alchemist to treat your sick parents, would you be a bad person for stealing, or a good person for helping others? And if stealing that medicine led to the death of someone else further down the road, would that make you a murderer?" The mannequin continued, "And again, if the person that died because you stole the medicine to treat your sick parents was a criminal himself, even if you were considered a murderer, you might have protected someone else even further down the line. Do you understand?" Torc nodded at the mannequin''s unique philosophy. It was an interesting idea, but he didn''tpletely agree with it. There were certain things that were wrong no matter what, things that couldn''t be defended with such logic. "And so, to answer your question, yes this is Hell, but it doesn''t hold just bad people. Rather than Hell, you might as wellbel this the Netherworld. But that''s cringe, as the children of some Worlds say these days." Torc didn''t fully understand but he nodded anyway. "There are other Worlds like mine and this one? Do you mean where people go when they Ascend?" He had heard of Ascension, but other than knowing that people go somewhere else after reaching a certain Cultivation level, Torc didn''t know much. If this was truly like one of the ces people can Ascend to, he wondered if he could find one of his Ancestors. "There are many Worlds, but only the dead cane here unless one uses a very special method. This is like a parallel World to all the other ones, only meant for souls, consciousnesses, and the like to pass into. Though it takes a very long time, depending on how far your World is from Hell. You yourself took almost three months to reach here. That''s quite a distance, I''m surprised you still have your memories." the mannequin rotated around Torc a little more, while the man''s arm lifted up on its own. Torc looked at the red skin on his arms again. It now made sense why he was a different color, since he was technically a soul or a consciousness, one of the two. "Really? It''s been three months? Do you know what''s happening right now in my old world?" "I surely can take a look, one moment." the mannequin replied as a beam of light shot out from its forehead and traveled off in a certain direction. The light beam returned just momentster, then the mannequin spoke once more. "The fate of your World seems to be disturbed. It''s hard to see clearly what might happen, but one particr figure appears to be the center of it all. He''s in your memories too, do you know a William?" "William?" Torc''s memories of this boy returned the moment the name was mentioned. It was the same man he had fought to reach Gold-Rank with, and the same one that apanied him during a trip to Blue Moon City. He now remembered that he died specifically because Torc wanted to protect that William''s mother, whose house had been destroyed by Wind Wolves. "I remember him. He was a... friend." Torc replied with a light smile, happy to hear the boy was still alive. Judging by the mannequin''s evaluation of the World, it seemed that William was causing quite a deal of trouble. "Oh." the mannequin became silent. Torc looked over, "You seem to know a lot. Who are you, if you don''t mind?" "Ah! Finally he asks who I am!" the mannequin''s attitude did aplete 180 as he spun around quickly in the air. His body floated higher and higher, changing colors from red to blue to green, purple, orange, and all other colors one could think of. From out of nowhere, a set of streamers came in from both sides of the mannequin while confetti sted from his shoulder des into the air. His arms spread out from his sides as his voice spread throughout Hell, the first actual movement other than rotating his body. Discover more stories at m,v l''e-NovelBin "I!" he shouted animatedly from above. "I am Hel! And this is Hell, my World! And you, for your noble death, have been offered a second chance at life! Be one of my Generals, and your future will be as bright as the star that illuminates my World!" Torc looked at the colorful disy with a nk expression. It was the first color other than red he had seen since dying, and he had to say it wasn''t exactly the best experience. Not to mention, the sun here wasn''t very bright, so Hel''s words weren''t very inspiring... Hel floated down from his position and touched down on the ground, "Well? What do you say? Do you want to follow me for eternity and bring new light to this World?" Torc didn''t know what else to say. He was already dead, so he didn''t have much control over his current situation. Hel was clearly very powerful to control an entire World. Maybe Hel even knew of a way back to his old World. "Sure, why not?" Chapter 282: Summoning William''s new spear pierced through the chests of three more Soul Formation Cultivators in quick session, shattering multiple protective Amulets in the process. His attacks had be so strong that their barriers were thin as paper, only stopping the weapon with the gtin-like barrier that Vishnal''s artifacts had cast. The three injured Cultivators dropped from the sky like flies, creating a cloud of dust at theirnding spots while clutching their chests. Even with their hearts torn out, these tenacious Cultivators seemed unable to die easily. William didn''t care about this, he flew from one enemy to the next, exchanging a dozen blows in a matter of seconds before moving on. He ignored the Nascent Soul Cultivators, opting to save the trash for the end. He looked over at one point to see Perion and Vishnal still recovering from their wounds, but a dozen Soul Formation Cultivators were lined up in front of them, preventing William from getting close. Worse yet, after Vishnal was damaged by the reflection of his own attack and they lost a few people to the spatial tear, the Soul Formation Cultivators entered a defensive stance. They opted to attack from afar when they could, only defending when William entered melee range. While William was fighting, he found himself frequently disrupted by the mental invasions of his opponents. None of them were as powerful as Vishnal and the invasive consciousnesses were defeated in a matter of seconds, but these mental battles never resulted in more than a headache for his enemies. They''re stalling for time, but why? Is there really someone else on their way, System? William asked. -They''ve contacted the Yu Royal Family. Those guys? Ugh...William felt a sense of urgency when hearing that Supreme Left might send someone else to stop him. He only had thirty-six thousand Potential Points left, so there wasn''t much he could do at the moment. System, will my Summoning Element work from this distance? The Summoning Element had been in William''s list of Magic Affinities for a long time now, but like some of the other Elements, he hadn''t used it once. ording to Riyald''s teachings, however, he knew that the Summoning Element was able to summon Magical Beasts or even people that had a blood contract with you. It was a very useless Magic Affinity if one didn''t have any contracts, but it wasn''t an issue for William, who had two Magical Beasts in the Hillvire Empire. -It should since it''s S-Rank. What about the Domain, what does it do? -It empowers the Magical Beasts within a radius of you, like the Blessing Element but better. William nodded and called Mana of the Summoning Element to his fingertips, biting his finger unnecessarily to draw blood and mming his hand down. "Summoning Juts- I mean,e here Uri!" Arge barrier enveloped William and pushed away all the nearby Cultivators within a radius of a few hundred meters while a blinding light enveloped the battlefield. When the light dimmed, a new Soul Formation Realm aura spread throughout the area and a massive red figure released a jet of mes into the sky followed by a deep roar that shook the eardrums of everyone nearby. Uri''s roar was cut short as he realized the situation he was in. Covering their ears in front of him was a mixed group of Nascent Soul and Soul Formation Cultivators numbering the dozens, while two more perceived enemies in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm nearby. For a Dragon in the lower end of the Soul Formation Realm, this was too much even for him! "Master, what is the meaning of this?" he turned his massive head to look for William, but he couldn''t find the person responsible for his summoning. Damn it, did the boy leave me?Uri wanted to cry. "Above you." William said from atop Uri''s head. He jumped down to stand on the dragon''s nose and used the Sound Element to iste his voice to just them. "Prepare yourself for the Heavenly Tribtion, then help me take out these guys." William didn''t have enough time to take out everyone by himself. If he was going to win this fight, he needed a powerful ally. Since he couldn''t free Gu Dianlong from his Envement Array, the next option was Uri, though reaching the next Realm during a battle would be tough. System, upgrade Uri to SS-Rank. -10000 PP --Upgrading me Dragon Uri. Protect your Beast during their Tribtion... Uri''s Cultivation suddenly rose to the peak of the Soul Formation Realm, the sudden spike in aura making the onlookers think he had been concealing his Cultivation since his appearance. Dark clouds formed in the sky and spread across half of the Far West Forest Region while the me Dragon looked up in a daze. He remembered that William''s backer imed his abilities could be improved based on good performance, but he never expected it to be in this way. He hadn''t even felt the Spirit Qi enter his body, nor did he need to break through the shackles that bound him in the previous rank. It was as if he had been at the peak of the Soul Formation Realm this entire time, but only he knew that wasn''t the truth. A Heavenly Tribtion... how many years has it been since I saw one of these? Uri sighed as he looked to the clouds. He could tell that his strength already surpassed what the Heavens could throw at him, but the other Cultivators probably wouldn''t let him do as he pleased. Before any of the Pirs of Justice members could make a move, William cast a series of improved Complete Barrier Arrays that had greatly expanded range, wrapping around the me Dragon from all four sides and leaving an opening at the top. Heavenly Tribtions were very particr, so even though Uri could be attacked without issue, helping him too much would lead to the Tribtion changing targets and growing stronger. William took the initiative to charge at a still-recovering Vishnal while the first Heavenly Lightning Bolt formed. He sped past the other Soul Formation Cultivators at high speed, spearheading through the firstyers of defense with ease. As expected, the group of Cultivators closest to Vishnal were able to react in time, each standing still and activating multiple Artifacts that raised a barrier of their own. William stopped pressing forward, instead targeting the leftmost Cultivator with the greatest strength, piercing through the barrier and his chest in a single move. Death Mana was funneled through the Original Strengthening Spear and into the Cultivator''s body, corroding his muscles and organs while tears formed in the man''s eyes. The Cultivator, stricken with fear,unched a mental attack at William that disrupted his channeling, then grabbed William''s Spear with both hands and held on with white knuckles. William tried to rip the Spear away from his opponent''s grasp, but the other Pirs members had already prepared abination Spell, enveloping William in a poisonous miasma made of the Wind, Darkness, and Poison Elements. Experience more tales on m v|l e''-NovelBin While William held his breath to avoid inhaling the miasma, the Cultivator he had pierced through shed a vicious smile as he held the Original Strengthening Spear in one position, choosing to trade his life in order to take William down. Chapter 283: The Flame Dragons Tribulation William was unable to hold his breath any longer, a slight amount of miasma entering his lungs and forcing him to cough. His Poison Resistance Talent was already detoxifying the poison, but the Spell had some sort of weakening effect that would persist for a few minutes at least. It wasn''t safe to remain inside the Spell any longer. "Damnit, you''re crazy!" William shouted as he released his hold on the Original Strengthening Spear and flew out of the poisonous miasma. He was greeted by a wave of Fireballs and Ice Spikes mixed in with mental attacks, but William waved his hand and slowed them all to a standstill using the Time Element. He looked up at me Dragon Uri, cursing when he saw that the Complete Barrier Arrays he had cast were almost broken already. Two Soul Formation Cultivators had separated from the rest of the group and were currently doing their best to interrupt Uri''s Tribtion. "Why can''t you just fight fair!" Williamined. He was fighting one hundred to one even if Uri was counted in the mix, yet his opponents wouldn''t so much as take him on alone. "You expect us to fight fair against a criminal? Grow up!" Perion shouted from afar. "Oh, I forgot about you." William looked at the man responsible for this whole mess, causing Perion to avert his eyes nervously. He was no coward, but something about William''s expression suggested that he had just returned to the list of targets. He waited for the poisonous miasma to clear up, then rushed towards the now-dead Soul Formation Cultivator to retrieve the spear that he had lost, only to find out that someone had stored the item in their Space Ring. "Fuck! Alright which one of you took it!" William shouted as he released twenty Complete Array Puppets wielding various weapons and spread them across the battlefield in groups of three. The Heavenly Tribtion raged on, sending Lightning Bolt after Lightning Bolt down on me Dragon Uri, who tanked all of the damage with his scales alone. He peeked at the Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators, only to realize that one had fully exhausted his Mana while the other was missing his heart and needed time to recover. It was clear that the situation wasn''t as dire as he initially thought. When he saw William tearing through Soul Formation-level Artifacts with ease, Uri realized that his Master was even more impressive than his initial evaluation. Since William currently possessed strength even superior to his own, Uri no longer had any reason to doubt the boy. Two Heavenly Lightning Bolts merged together midair and struck Uri at incredible speed, knocking a scale loose from his body. The dragon roared at the air and fiercely pped his tail upwards, splitting an identical merged Bolt in half. Before his tail could return to its previous position, another merged Bolt had formed, reaching Uri''s body in an instant and knocking loose another scale. His expression turned serious as the color of the clouds turned a light yellow, signifying that something about Uri had infuriated the Heavens. Roar! Uriunched a jet of mes from his mouth, countering three consecutive merged Heavenly Lightning Bolts with a single move. He could tell that the reason for the sudden change was due to being in close proximity to William, but Uri wasn''t afraid. It''s going to take a lot more than that to kill me!Uri shouted in his mind as he tanked a dozen more Lightning Bolts. The Heavenly Tribtion sped up again, doubling, tripling, then quadrupling the frequency of merged Lightning Bolts. Uri''s body was painted a new color of red as his blood turned into a rainstorm that showered over the battlefield below, but he still dared to roar with pride at the end of it. The Lightning Bolts paused for a moment, granting Uri a brief moment of respite as their radius condensed until they only covered a single kilometer of area. The cloud looked like a dot in the sky as it changed colors from yellow to a light orange and prepared the strongest Heavenly Lightning Bolt that Uri had seen in his entire life. William, who was concentrating on fighting with his puppets and his own body at the same time, was suddenly alerted by an extremely threatening presence in the sky. His skin tingled and formed goosebumps, urging him to escape as quickly as possible. The problem was, William''s body waspletely frozen and couldn''t move. It wasn''t just him, but the other Cultivators nearby were suppressed by the same unknown force. Tears formed in Perion and Vishnal''s eyes as they recognized the unique aura, one that hadn''t been felt in this World for a very long time. The Heavens. It was just a trace, but without a doubt, it was the Heavens. The aura retracted just as quickly as it appeared, a final bolt of Heavenly Lightning matching the third stage of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm crashing down on me Dragon Uri''s body and tearing off his entire right wing. Ssh. Boom! Another ssh of blood rained from the sky, followed by a hard thud as Uri''s wing crashed to the ground. Uri''s own body dropped soon after, as he now had little ability to maintain his altitude with just a single wing. But Uri wasn''t upset about his lost wing. Instead, he was ecstatic! The Tribtion Transcendence Realm... I never thought I would reach this point so soon! The Heavenly Mana dispersed into the environment gathered together and surrounded the me Dragon on all sides, pouring Spirit Qi into his body and improving his strength to an unfathomable level. Not only that, but Uri felt his mouth heat up slightly as the intensity of his mes increased, nearly burning him alive from the inside before the effect dissipated a few momentster. As a me Dragon, his resistance to fire was incredibly high, so this made him a little nervous. At the same time, William opened up his Life Domain and directed all of its energy to slowly heal Uri''s wing, redirecting some of his Puppets to block the Soul Formation Cultivators that tried to get in his way. ¡ª¡ª¡ª BEAST UPGRADED Uri: (S --> SS) Learned 0 new abilities. Strength massively improved. Speed and Perception improved. Fire-Magic Affinity upgraded from B-Rank to A-Rank. Next rank up: 25000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª He can even upgrade his Magic Affinity? I assumed Atticus was an exception since he''s a Mythical Beast, but I guess not. I wonder how strong his mes will be... William''s Life Domain was very strong, but it still took almost half a minute to repair the damage to Uri''s body, costing him arge amount of Mana in the process. He retracted the Domain once Uri''s wing was back to perfect condition, then opened the Summoning Domain and Blessing Domain at the same time to buff his newly upgradedpanion. A white glow enveloped Uri as he felt his strength double from the effects of the twin Domains, his blood boiling with excitement as he roared at the pair of Soul Formation Cultivators that tried to interrupt him. The soundwave sted both Cultivators backwards by nearly a kilometer, their bodies tumbling out of control as they tried to regain their footing. Before his roar ended, Uri''s mouth glowed a brilliant red and orange light, blinding everyone within a radius of one hundred kilometers as if the sun had descended upon Blue Moon City. Chapter 284: Am I Really That Dangerous? The battlefield became still in awe while Uri''s me breath spewed out, refining the two Soul Formation Cultivators into withered husks of themselves. Their skin turned pure ck and melted instantly, dripping to the ground as a pure liquid. They didn''t even have time to acknowledge the pain, as the me Dragon''s breath was so absurdly fast itpletely shattered everyone''s worldview of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. The residual mes left a hole in the sky, revealing the secondyer of Space for all to see. -Your Companion Beast has killed a human: +5 PP -Your Companion Beast has killed a human: +5 PP Even as the spatial tear closed, everyone was left dumbfounded by the show of power. Uri was a me Dragon, known for having strength well above their Realm, but this... this was too much! Even William''s unbelievable strengthbined with the Original Strengthening Spear couldn''tpare to Uri''s mes. When he thought about it, William realized that the only way for him to deal with Uri would be to use Tier 6 Arrays, which had strength greater than the limits of the World itself. Does that mean... he''s reached into the Ascension Realm?William wondered. He didn''t have to ask the System to know the answer to his question, it was obvious. He smiled. "My good dragon, would you do me a favor and take care of these idiots?" Uri revealed hisrge teeth to resemble a smile of his own. He dly obliged to William''s request, eager to show off his newfound strength once more. The Soul Formation Cultivators scrambled away in fear as Uri''s mouth lit up again, signifying the apocalypse for them. Vishnal and Perion had both recovered enough to move, but they didn''t have enough time to escape. They could only shatter their remaining protective Artifacts that were meant as ast resort, hoping they''d be enough to survive Uri''s me breath. The pir of mes enveloped the battlefield once again, shattering the barriers that Vishnal and Perion had just raised in an instant. They closed their eyes and braced for their deaths as the mes enveloped their body, awaiting the burning sensation that would be their final experience before Hell. But the expected death never came, even after a few seconds had passed. The world-ending mes that wanted to devour them were still spreading, but something was in their way and sent them around the pair from both sides. Perion opened his eyes carefully to see a figure standing in front of them with a Magic Staff adorned with white gemstones in hand. mes at the same level as Uri''s were spilling out of the Dao Staff like a tidal wave, shing against his opponent and canceling out the effect. "Your Highness!" Perion''s eyes lit up, causing Vishnal to open his eyes as well. Their pale expressions cleared up, the two Pirs of Justice members relieved to see Supreme Left had arrived just in time, his true body at that. If he had been even a secondter, the two would be goners. "Didn''t I tell you to be more diligent in your training?" Supreme Left berated the two subordinates when the mes died out. "I''ve said it time and time again: one day your silly mental attacks won''t work on your enemies. You need tomit more time to developing your Magic Affinities." He looked at Vishnal, "Especially you. You''re in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm yet you rely on that Spear of yours? Your Light Magic is still C-Rank and you were born an E-Rank Manamatus! Thousands of years and you''ve progressed two levels, good job." Vishnal looked downward with a hint of shame. Supreme Left was right, of course, but it never felt good to be talked down to in front of everyone.I''m a peak Cultivator, save me some face! Though he''d never say it out loud. Especially not to the man that had just saved his life. Supreme Left looked at William with aplicated expression. "It''s you again. I knew I shouldn''t have let you live that time." When Supreme Left had first met William, he was already a potential threat to the Continent he ruled. With the ability to kill Golden Core Cultivators while still a normal person, it was obvious that William would be a monster-like figure in the future. He had only spared William because a test revealed he had no talent for Cultivation. Who would have known that it was a lie! He didn''t know if Gu Dianlong had betrayed him, or if William had some special method to conceal his Cultivation Talent, but one thing was true: the boy shouldn''t have been let go after that day. You beat my Granddaughter in a duel and now I''m jealous? Sure, but that''s not as important as your potential to destroy my family in a few hundred years. Supreme Left had seen it before, when his childhood friend was killed because of an internal feud with someone else. At the time, Supreme Left''s friend was just a boy of fifteen years that had fought with a young man just a year younger. As time went on, though, that young man became a force to be reckoned with and used his power to end the grudge: by destroying everything his friend held dear. His life, his house, and even his family were lost that day, and by the time Supreme Left learned about it, everything was all over. Supreme Left had gone on a mission at the time for his father and wasn''t around to help his friend during that time of need. Enjoy exclusive content from m v -NovelBin If he had, perhaps it never would have happened. Perhaps his friend would still be alive... William smiled, "Am I really that dangerous? I never asked for any of you to target me. If anything, I''m a harmless bystander with bad luck." "Harmless? Ha-" Supreme Left choked for a moment. "How can you seriously call yourself harmless? I heard that you killed thousands of Sect Disciples in the Gravitas Ruins. Is that harmless?" William scratched his head.At least he didn''t say anything about the World Cores, Veins, whatever. "And don''t forget that you absorbed the World Cores in two areas. The Heavens won''t stop sending Magical Beasts until you''re dead! You''re anything but harmless!" the blonde youth shouted. "The Heavens? So, I was right then..." William muttered. He still didn''t understand why the Heavens would go to such lengths because of a World Core, but it at least told him who his enemy should be. The World hadn''t done anything to him besides provide its energy. Even if he extracted its resources, the World wasn''t the one spawning the Magical Beasts, but actually the Heavens. If he had to pick between the two, William would definitely side with the World. Before he could think any further, another figure descended from the sky andnded next to Supreme Left. William didn''t have to wait for the man to introduce himself, since the System did it for him. ¡ª¡ª¡ª System Quest: The Host has been confronted by the two greatest figures of the Azures Continent, Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right. Kill the enemies or escape to safety. Difficulty: ??? Rewards: 10000 Potential Points ¡ª¡ª¡ª Chapter 285: Team Battle At The Peak Of The World William evaluated the long-haired man that looked like a Magical Beast in human skin. His hair was disheveled like someone that hadn''t showered in months, and his brown eyes were wild, flicking back and forth like a predator searching for new prey. If this is the same Unbreakable Right from the book I read, then this man should have the S-Rank Earth Element. It was clear from Supreme Left''s exchange with Uri that the strength of a peak Cultivator with a Domain was vastly different from a normal Cultivator in the same Realm. For William to face both of them at the same time, it was obvious why the System opted to reward him even if he ran away. But I have Uri with me. We can do this if we coordinate. William paid the System two Potential Points to send a mental message to Uri, asking him to handle Supreme Left while he took on Unbreakable Right. The dragon nodded in his direction to acknowledge his suggestion, then prepared tounch another pir of mes from his mouth. The time to talk was over. Now, there was nothing to do but fight! Unbreakable Right raised a wall of Earth to defend against Uri''s mes while Supreme Left cast Fireballs in William''s direction, but he opened his Fire Domain and redirected the fireballs to fly past, their residual heat not enough to breach William''s various Heat Resistances. He ignored all of Supreme Left''s attacks, rushing towards Unbreakable Right that would be a trickier opponent for Uri. It was better to force Supreme Left to waste his Mana on the dragon than to let Unbreakable Right calmly control the situation from behind his tough walls. William''s flight path was interrupted by a series of Earth Spikes that Unbreakable Rightunched with his right hand while still maintaining his Earth Wall with the left. The Spikes emitted dangerous auras that forced William to dodge left and right, forcing him to take a few fireballs as a result. Damn it, they''repletely ignoring Uri and focusing on me! William was both impressed and frustrated by the teamwork of his enemies. While he and Uri had a brief mental conversation, they hardly had to look at each other to know what to do. Supreme Left was probing William''s speed, while Unbreakable Right controlled the environment and forced William to take damage whenever possible. His only advantage was that the fireballs hardly did any damage, healed almost instantly by his active Life Element. William blinked three times to keep track of their Mana, thenunched dozens of Water Bolts in quick session to counter the intense fire. The Spells shed in midair, the water instantly evaporated while the fireballs continued on their original path. It was clear that William''s Basic Magic was no match for the two who also had S-Rank Affinities but were four, almost five, Cultivation Realms above him. Uri was in a much better position, his Dragon Race, Innate Fire ability, and A-Rank Affinity synergizing well to ce his strength at the same level as his peak Tribtion Transcendence Realm opponents. He tried to get closer to the pair while spewing mes, but they managed to always position themselves so William and Uri were facing them from the same side, backing up continuously to maintain a certain distance. William tried to fake out the Cultivators by backing up a little bit, but Unbreakable Right took advantage of this tounch Earth Spikes at Uri''s sides, loosening some of the newly regrown scales that were originally lost during the Heavenly Tribtion. Behind the first set of Spikes, another set pierced through the weak points, drawing blood from the enormous dragon. With just one slight mistake, the two Cultivators had capitalized on it and injured William''s Companion Beast. He gritted his teeth in frustration, but kept his mind calm as he evaluated the current situation with his Mind Talent. They''re faster than us, have better teamwork than us, and their Magic is the same or more powerful even though I''m buffing Uri with both the Blessing and Summoning Domains. But it''s not hopeless. William noticed that both of his opponents were supported by Artifacts that helped them to offset the difference in strength. Supreme Left had the Dao Staff, while Unbreakable Right had a seemingly simple belt, both of which glowed intensely when William used the Mana Mode Vision. I have more Domains than them, and they can''t hurt me in a short amount of time. Their best bet is a battle of attrition with me, but...Wait a minute, what about the others? William looked around for Perion, Vishnal, and the rest of the Pirs of Justice members, but they were nowhere in sight. Without realizing it, he and Uri had drifted dozens of kilometers away from Blue Moon City, and their current position was above the Foam Desert. That said, the others should still be nearby if they intended to assist Supreme Left. Even if they were behind, it wouldn''t take long for Soul Formation Cultivators to catch up, much less Vishnal. Why weren''t they here? William''s question was answered by a massive barrier erected in the space within ten kilometers. When he looked at the edges of the barrier, he saw the Pirs of Justice members just outside kneeling on the ground while their Mana was funneled into the barrier. He felt his control over the Space Element slightly disturbed by an abundance of other Elements, which would make long-distance teleportation impossible while short distances would take more effort than it was worth. It reminded William of his initial attempts to use long-distance teleportation, when his own Elements would often get in the way and prevent him from stabilizing a portal. Only this time, there was around ten times the amount of Elemental Mana than what William had at his disposal. It was clear that this was their intention the entire time, to lure him and Uri away from the City, then trap him in this enclosure. Incredible nning, to say the least. He saw Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right sh smiles at the same time, seemingly showing off their superior expertise, but William wasn''t as worried as they thought he was. There''s only one problem with trapping me in a barrier that''s full of Mana. You''re trapped too! William didn''t bother trying to destroy the barrier the Pirs of Justice members had erected. He saw it as a good thing, since it ensured they wouldn''t be getting involved any time soon. He opened up all of his Basic Domains at the same time, ovepping with the Blessing and Summoning Domains, then used the increased ambient Mana to fuel a series of powerful Spells. "Nature''s Exile!" he called out first as he made a nt-reinforced Earth Spell that extended multiple pirs of Earth towards his opponents. The Pirs extended further, branching out at lightning speed as the entirety of the area inside the barrier was filled up, limiting Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right''s movements. Unbreakable Right opened up his Earth Domain to counter William''s, greatly slowing the speed of the Spell''s formation while Supreme Left opened the Fire Domain to evaporate the moisture of the nt Element. The Spell was countered, but not without thebined efforts of both of William''s opponents. Uri didn''t miss this chance andunched a pir of mes at Unbreakable Right, forcing the man to raise an Earth Wall at thest second. He had avoided a direct hit, but a sliver of mes spread over the wall and burned some of Unbreakable Right''s hair before Supreme Left fully absorbed the Fire Mana into his Domain. The Nature''s Exile Spell that had been deprived of moisture was lit on fire, spreading around the barrier and forcing Supreme Left to keep his Domain active for longer to counter the effects. Chapter 286: The Domains Merged, Its Ineffective? William and Uripeted back and forth with Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right in a battle of wits and attrition, each pair using multiyered schemes to waste the other party''s Mana more efficiency. Spirit Auras were raised, Forcefields recovered and shattered again, and dozens of Spells cast in a period of just a few minutes. The moves alternated erratically between extreme quantity and great quality, dozens of Fireballs cast by Supreme Left countered by oceans of William''s Water Mana, only to be redirected with a simple Earth Wall from Unbreakable Right. It had be a stalemate through and through, but William could sense that he was on the back foot. Uri was powerful, but his Mana Reserves weren''t as profound as the two legendary Cultivators and he was slowly losing steam. Continue your journey on m|v-l''e -NovelBin William had plenty of Mana left, but it wouldn''t make a difference if his partner was forced to retreat. He considered following the System''s suggestion and leaving the area, but there was no guarantee he could keep his friends alive in the process. While they had been transported to safety temporarily, it wouldn''t take but a few hours for Supreme Left to locate them if he was actively searching. That was assuming they were well-hidden. If William tried to pick them up while escaping, he would only lead his enemies to them. He transitioned to a more aggressive fighting tactic, bearing the brunt of his enemies'' attacks to lighten the load on Uri. With the Regeneration Talent and the Life Element, William had much more leeway to take damage than the me Dragon did. Because of this, William''s wounds started to pile up over the next hour until he aged another year. His efforts didn''te unrewarded, however, since Uri was still in decent condition and could fight for some time longer. On the other end, Unbreakable Right was breathing heavily from raising Earth Wall after Earth Wall to deal with William''s attacks. He consumed a few dozen Tier 6 Mana Regeneration Pills to recover, staring wildly at the Core Formation Cultivator that was fighting both of them almost by himself. Where does he get his Mana from?the man wondered as he tried to sense William''s Mana flow. He didn''t have arge number of sensory abilities, but his Cultivation was enough to notice a few minor details. It seemed that William''s Mana wasing from one of theyers of space, but he couldn''t tell which. Even if he could, it wouldn''t make a difference. Unbreakable Right didn''t know any methods to separate theyers of space from the current environment. If such a technique existed, it wasn''t avable on Efretta. The two legendary Cultivators looked at each other and nodded. The Domain of Fire condensed into a pure ball of Mana while Unbreakable Right fueled his Earth Domain into Supreme Left''s Spell. William watched as the Fire Mana took on a darker hue, its heat signature doubling then tripling in intensity. What is that?!William eximed as the two Domains took on different properties,plementing each other''s best qualities until they formed a threatening wave ofva that spread out in all directions. The area inside the barrier was rapidly filled withva as the World''s energy was pulled into the Spell. William found the Wind Element disabled by the barrier at this point, the Pirs of Justice members burning through their Mana at an insane pace to force William to lose his flight ability. He was still a Core Formation Cultivator, so William didn''t have any natural flight abilities. He could only use the Wind Element to keep himself in the air. Now that it was gone, William had no choice but to fall into the wave ofva below. Thebination Spell had caught himpletely off guard, which must have taken an incredible amount of time and teamwork to achieve. Combination Spells were easy to aplish at a lower level, but the moreplex the Spell, the more diligence one needed to ensure it worked properly. In this case, Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right had to perfectly bnce the amount of Mana Particles going into their Domains, ensuring theva came out hot and viscous. Too much Fire Mana, and theva wouldn''t be able to take physical form, while too much Earth Mana would lead to a variant of the Meteor Spell. Uri briefly looked at the merged Domains in awe. It had been a long time since two people with Domains had achieved this level of teamwork, and he was surprised to see someone in this era able to do so. He wanted to fly down and grab William before he fell into theva, but Unbreakable Right was using the remainder of his Earth Mana to erect pirs that dyed Uri''s movement. The boy was on his own, but he had faith in William''s skills. After all, he had already bathed inva once. William''s Talents gave him the Heat Resistance he needed to handle more than just normalva, which made himpletely immune to this attack even though it was cast by two Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators. What more, William found himself buffed by theva, his Fire and Earth Mana reacting wildly as if they were enjoying the best meal of their life. The Heat Resistance Talent seemed to be taking in William''s opponents'' Mana and feeding his own Elements to make them stronger. He looked at the Heat Resistance Talent''s information in the System Panel. -SS-Rank Bonus Effect: mes are yourpanion; Lava is your lover. When your body is partially covered in mes, increase the power of your Fire Magic by 100%. When your body is partially covered inva, increase the power of your Earth and Fire Magic by 100%. When affected by both, both effects apply. This is my chance! I need to use it wisely, though. William couldn''t set himself on fire before because Supreme Left had always been maintaining the Fire Domain, and allowing his opponent''s attack to hit him would be too obvious. He wanted to save such a move as ast resort or trump card to surprise his enemies. But now that he was under theva and temporarily hidden from their view, he allowed theva to bypass the protective Arrays set on William''s clothing and set some of the fabric aze. He only had to meet the "partially" requirement, and not his entire body on fire. His Mana became even more rampant, doubling in strength on top of all the other percentage bonuses. It wasn''t just a simple increase of 200% of his base Fire Magic ability, but rather triple what he had before! It was just enough for William''s Fire and Earth Magic to exceed his opponents'', but he knew the oue would be set at that point. His enemies might run away, but that wouldn''t be the end of it. They''de backter to bother him or target his friends, and that was uneptable. So what was the best solution? How could he stop two of the most legendary figures from simply running away when they had lost the advantage? I''ll just have to make sure they can''t run. System, upgrade my Fire and Earth Affinities to the next level. Chapter 287: Ill Take That, And That Too William hardly felt the effects of the Fire Element''s upgrade. He was already soaking under theva, where the heat''s intensity was already at its peak. His insides churned slightly, but other than his skin forming cracks, the Heat Resistance Talent was able to handle the rest of the side effects. The upgrade proceeded swiftly, many times faster than the previous Fire-Elemental upgrades. It was almost certain now that upgrading the System also increased the speed at which his Talents upgraded, because he remembered spending hours waiting for his Fire Affinity to reach A-Rank. Now, after just ten minutes, William''s Fire Element hadpleted the upgrade to SS-Rank. -2500 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Fire Affinity: (S --> SS) Effects: Fire-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +240% >> +480% SS-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Fire: Takeplete control over all Fire Mana within a radius of 500 meters >> 10 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Fire Domains of greater strength. -Fire Elemental: The effects of your Heat Resistance Talent are doubled. Next rank up: 10000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª He peeked up at Uri with Life Vision while using another Life Element Spell to repair his injuries, seeing the dragon circling in the air to dodge Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right and stall for time. The two Cultivators also had their attention on William, but they were only able to see the shape of his body and the fluctuations of his aura through their Domains, but nothing else. They could clearly tell that William was trying to defend himself from their Molten Domain, but it seemed he wouldn''t be able to break free in a short period of time, so they took the chance to focus on eliminating one of the two enemies. Uri was different from the two Cultivators, since he was William''s Companion Beast. Through his link with William, Uri could sense that his Master was still in almost perfect condition, so hemitted to defense and evasion to keep the Cultivators'' focus on him. William''s Earth Element upgrade also proceeded quite smoothly; its Earth Spikespletely unable to pierce through his Hard Skin Talent. His Life Element easily maintained his condition for the next ten minutes until the upgrade wasplete. -2500 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Readtest chapters at m_v-l''e|-NovelBin Earth Affinity: (S --> SS) Effects: Earth-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +240% >> +480% SS-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Earth: Takeplete control over all Earth Mana within a radius of 500 meters >> 10 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Earth Domains of greater strength. -Earth Elemental: Locked. Host does not have the Shock Resistance Talent. Next rank up: 10000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª A locked Bonus Effect? What a shame, I will need to invest in more Talents soon. William smiled. Completing the System''s Quest would grant him ten thousand Potential Points, which was enough to offset the cost of upgrading the two Elements. He raised his hands to the air, silently calling Mana of both the Earth and Fire Elements to form their respective Domains. Reying the movements of Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right, William copied their Molten Domain exactly, seizing control of theva that surrounded his body in one go. He increased the strength of the Domain slowly to lower theva level, then opened his Domain of Wind to recover his ability to fly. Removing theva wasn''t the only reason why William had opened the Molten Domain. Instead, he split the Molten Domain back up into Fire and Earth, then reversed them both to take away the Earth and Fire Mana within a radius of one kilometer. Feeling the effects of his own Domain being suppressed, Supreme Left looked at William in shock. "What are you?!? How can your Fire Element be so strong?!" He and Unbreakable Right mobilized their Mana to fight against William''s Domains, but they were only able to slow the speed at which William''s Domain took over. They tried to retreat to escape the range of William''s Domain, but the Time Domain opened and slowed them down by almost twenty percent. William flew after the two Cultivators, maintaining close proximity at all times to keep them in range of his Domains, opening one Domain after the next to force them into a dire situation. The Gravity Domain pressed down on their backs, forcing them to lose altitude until they were running across the ground. Now four times as heavy as before and slowed by an additional twenty percent, the two Cultivators'' speed was reduced to the peak of the Soul Formation Realm. Dodging William''s consecutive attacks was almost impossible now, given his immense speed. Theymitted their Cultivation base to raising consecutive Spirit Auras, rushing to the edges of the barrier as quickly as possible. "Open the barrier! Open the barrier quickly!" they shouted with extreme anxiety. They didn''t care if William escaped anymore. If they couldn''t beat him, then there probably wasn''t anyone that could by themselves. Supreme Left raised an intricatemunicator to call for Wentor, Hun Dao, and some of the other peak Cultivators across the World, but a portal formed where his hand was and sent both hand and item into William''s grasp. "Lost your advantage and calling for help now? Sorry, but I''m tired of that already." William said while storing themunicator in one of his normal Space Rings that were empty. He would deal with the protective measurester if the item didn''t explode. Supreme Left had anothermunicator, but he knew that the same thing would happen if he tried to grab it now. He continued running towards the now-open barrier with Unbreakable Right while waving his staff to cast some stored defensive Arrays. "More treasures? Come on." Williamined as he activated the Ice and Darkness Domains together, piercing the barriers with a series of Ice Spikes that sprouted from underneath while the Darkness Element corroded the most important Arrays of the Dao Staff. "How many Domains do you have?!?" Unbreakable Right shouted, his previous calm and masculine ego nowhere to be seen. His physical appearance was like someone that hit the gym every day, but his current expression was more like an orphaned child that had repeatedly fallen into a puddle: on the verge of tears but with no one to providefort. I feel bad for thinking that, honestly. But in this scenario it''s pretty funny.William chuckled. He withdrew the Darkness Mana after breaking just a few Arrays, infuriating Supreme Left as he realized the boy''s intention. His face contorted as he guessed what was going on in William''s mind. He''s afraid of damaging my equipment. In his head, this battle is already over! he cursed. And he was absolutely correct. With his knowledge of Arrays, William would be able to restore the Dao Staff to its previous condition easily, but the unique wood and metal used to create the item were a different story. If he could help it, William preferred to keep the staff as pristine as possible. "Actually, screw that, give me your staff buddy." William said as the Space Domain opened and a portal cut off Supreme Left''s other hand. William found himself both a Dao Staff and one hand richer, storing both in the same Space Ring as themunicator. He smiled as he chased after his opponents, scanning their bodies from head to toe for any more valuable items. Chapter 288: In My Final Moments A horizontal portal took out one of Unbreakable Right''s legs as he ran, forcing him to trip and fall over. He wanted to pull himself forward, but two more portals made his hands look just like Supreme Left''s¡ªnonexistent. He used his Cultivation to fight against the Gravity Domain, raising himself up and using his singr leg to propel himself forward. He wasn''t giving up yet! Other Pirs of Justice members rushed forward to assist, but they couldn''t get close to William''s Domains, so they were forced tounch Spells and mental attacks from afar. Unfortunately, Spells at such a distance would hardly have any effect on the man which made the Cultivators feel useless. William was enjoying himself as he chased down the two Cultivators that were four Realms above him, almost five, but he knew he had to end it soon. His Mana Reserve was only three quarters full and rapidly depleting as he maintained multiple Domains at the same time. Just this wasn''t enough to have such arge effect, but the expanded Fire and Earth Domains cost three times as much Mana as before. In terms of range, the Domains were countless times more Mana efficient, but three Mana per second was just one Mana short of his current Mana Regeneration. With the two SS-Rank Domains active along with the Space, Blessing, Summoning, Wind, Ice, and Gravity Domains, William was losing a 8 Mana per second. If he was stalled for a bit under ten minutes, William would bepletely out of Mana! At that point, it wouldn''t be surprising if they turned the battle around with some sort of trump card. William stopped ying with his food at that moment and covered the two Cultivators with ice, removing their remaining limbs so they couldn''t escape. Unfortunately, even that wasn''t enough to kill high-level Cultivators, which was made clear when he failed to kill Perion and Vishnal multiple times. He corroded their remaining Artifacts with Darkness Mana before they could trigger, then took what was valuable into his Space Ring. He walked up to the pair of frozen Cultivators while Uri caught up, then the Abyssal Weapon Shifter appeared in his hand and swapped to an executioner''s axe. As the de swept sideways towards Unbreakable Right''s neck, the man closed his eyes and memories of his past resurfaced. Thousands of years'' worth of memories reyed in his mind in a split second, a single tear forming in the eye of his grizzled face. "Big Brother Yoshiki!" a young boy of about six years of age yelled out with glee as he ran towards a then-thirteen Unbreakable Right. The boy looked up at Yoshiki''s shoulder, which was hauling the corpse of arge boar in the Foundation Establishment Realm. "Did you hunt that? Big Brother is so strong!" "I did." Yoshiki replied with a smile as he rubbed the boy''s blonde hair. "It''s for the ceremony tonight, since it''s your special day. One day you''ll be strong enough to hunt these things by yourself, but I''ll still do it for you as long as you''d like. After all, I am your family''s servant. And I''m strong too!" "No!" the little boy replied with a pouty look as he tapped his face. "Just because you''re my servant doesn''t make you any less than I am! Yoshiki, you always talk like this!" "Hahaha, I can''t help it. You''re so mature for your age." Yoshikiughed. His expression became a little serious as he asked, "Shinpai, are you nervous? You always tap your face when you''re worried about something, what is it?" Shinpai shook his head, then nodded. "What if I don''t do good and daddy is upset with me?" "He won''t be. I promise. You''ll inherit the family''s Cultivation Technique with no problem, and he''ll be proud of you. He already is. You were born as a C-Rank Fire Manamatus, that''s already impressive! Even I am only D-Rank! You can reach the S-Rank one day, and maybe even whatever is above that!" Shinpai beamed upon hearing Yoshiki''s ttering words, nodding his head in agreement. "You''re the best, Big Brother!" The memory flipped to a scene ten yearster. "Yoshiki, you''ve done well all these years as our family''s servant, but I can''t have you stirring up such rebellious thoughts in my son." a blonde-haired man that appeared to be in histe fifties looked down upon a kneeling Unbreakable Right coldly. Yu Yoshiki was a full head taller than his teenage self, and his Cultivation had reached the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm, slightly slower than most members of the Yu Royal Family. His talent was actually much greater than theirs, but he was frequently held back over thest decade by his duties as a servant and didn''t want to risk being targeted out of jealousy. "I''m sorry, Master Gonyon, I meant no harm. Your son has worked very hard to please you, yet you still won''t acknowledge him. Are his achievements not enough?" Unbreakable Right responded while lowering his head further. "Don''t speak of these things as if you know what''s on my mind." Yoshiki remained silent while Yu Gonyon prepared a scroll containing his servant contract. With this piece of parchment, Yoshiki was bound to the Yu Royal Family for life. His Cultivation and techniques were unrestricted, but he had to follow every order from the holder of the contract. "Yu Yoshiki, servant of the Yu Royal Family. I order you remain jailed in the Nine Pavilions Sacred Prison for the next five years. Because this is your first offense and you have done well in your Cultivation, your punishment has been reduced." Yu Gonyon ordered while inscribing his words into the scroll with his Mana. "Thank you, Master Gonyon." Yoshiki replied. "Don''t thank me yet." Yu Gonyon said before adding, "Yu Shinpai will also be jailed with you, and you will battle daily from within the Nine Pavilions Sacred Prison until you both learn the meaning of loyalty." Yoshiki raised his head and looked at Yu Gonyon with surprise, "He''s your son, how can you do this to him?" Readtest chapters at m_v-l''e|-NovelBin "And you were your parents'' son, yet they freely gave you up to our family to save themselves. I''m not like them¡ªI can do whatever I want, now go before I increase the punishment." Four and a half yearster. "Master Shinpai, we''re getting out soon. What will do you when you get out?" Yoshiki asked in the middle of their daily battle. Rather than a life-threatening experience, the two had perfected their teamwork over thest few years. Without so much as a nce in the other person''s direction, they knew exactly which Spells to use and when, and had even discovered a fewbination Spells that would normally be impossible for any other Cultivators to use. "I don''t know, but I think it wouldn''t be a bad idea to explore the World a little bit. Maybe we can even discover more new Techniques to improve my Cultivation further." Shinpai replied while casting a Fireball Spell with strength near the peak of the Golden Core Realm. "You don''t want to visit with any of your family first?" Yoshiki asked while catching the Fireball in a cauldron-shaped Earth Dome that absorbed the entire st. "Tch! As if I cared about them!" Shinpai called the Fireball to expand within the cauldron, the expansive force shattering the Earth Spell. Chapter 289: Yoshiki And Shinpai At five years old, Yu Shinpai had failed in Cultivating his family''s ancient Cultivation Technique, failing again and again until the age of ten when he was already too old for that specific Technique. He was ostracized by his family members, even ridiculed in some cases, but he never gave up. He continued searching for another way to gain the approval of his father, but it was never enough. As long as Yu Shinpai wasn''t a sessful Cultivator, his father could care less about his well-being. Yu Shinpai spent years seeking out an unparalleled Cultivation Technique that suited his family, eventually discovering hints to a powerful Technique from within his own library, ironically. It was a Technique that his own parents had discovered many years before, but it was unfinished and had since been abandoned. Now that he was about to be let out of the prison his father had sentenced him to, seeing his family was probably thest thing on Shinpai''s mind. "Regardless of what you want, I''ll follow you." Yoshiki said seriously, casting a fine dust across the arena to clean up and signal the end of their battle. Shinpai nodded, "Then you''ll join me?" "Someone has to protect you, don''t they?" Yoshikiughed. Thirty-one yearster. "Brother Shinpai, he was still your father. We may have aged, but it''s okay to be sad. I know that deep down he still cared about you." From next to a recently closed coffin that was lowered into the stump of a tree, Yu Yoshiki reached out tofort the blonde youth at his side. While Yoshiki had continued to age until he was roughly thirty, Shinpai still looked the same as he did when he was twenty years old. Both men had reached the Nascent Soul Realm, but Yoshiki was in the middle stages while Shinpai was at the very peak, just a few Cultivation sessions away from the Soul Formation Realm. Both of them had been progressing at lightning speed, but Yu Yoshiki could tell that Shinpai had been holding back. He could have reached the Soul Formation Realm long ago, but he didn''t want to leave his servant behind. It was a touching moment that made Yoshiki want to cry, but he didn''t. "That may be so, but never once in his wretched life did he say he was proud of me, or that he loved me. I''ve seen the World, I''ve been ces. I know that a true parent would never act like he did. The only thing I got out of him was this damned staff." Shinpai shook the Dao Staff in frustration. When he reached thirty years old, Shinpai had made a name for himself in arge-scale Elemental Beast Tide, wiping out three thousand Magical Beasts in the Nascent Soul Realm all by himself. It was a momentous achievement, one that could only be earned by someone with A-Rank Magic like himself. Even his own family started to pay attention to him, Shinpai''sbat strength only a single Realm below his father''s. The ridicule swiftly ended; his weaker family members afraid of Shinpai returning the favor tenfold. Being a Complete Array Master on top of a Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator, Yu Gonyon spent an entire year crafting an immensely powerful Staff that amplified the effects of Yu Shinpai''s Magic multiple times, as well as granting many offensive and defensive abilities that were awe-inspiring to say the least. He even discovered a unique way to add Space Magic to the mix, though not without the use of a forbidden Spell that stole the lifeforce of a Golden Core Space Mage. It was the most powerful¡ªand most expensive¡ªgift that Shinpai had ever received from his family, but it didn''t make him smile in the least. If anything, he saw it as a "now that you''re useful, be more powerful and help the family reach greater heights" gift. Afraid of being sent into the prison again, Shinpai epted the gift, but he only had it on his person when he was with family, keeping it in a Space Ring otherwise. Yu Yoshiki had been there for all of these interactions, and he knew exactly how Shinpai felt, but that didn''t stop him from trying to heal the wounds of the past. "He still cared, even if he didn''t show it." Shinpai nodded, not continuing with the topic further. He raised the Dao Staff in his hand and looked at Yoshiki. "Brother Yoshiki, you''ve been with me for a long time now, my entire life. Never once have you asked me for anything." Unbreakable Right remained silent. It didn''t need to be said that this was his duty, as a servant. Shinpai knew that already. "Which is why I''d like to give you a chance to live a life of your own from now on." Shinpai continued as he retrieved a scroll from his Space Ring. "My father was the head of the Yu Royal Family, and now I am the rightful leader, although only in name for now. That means I have the authority to order my servants around as I please, and no one can defy them. And I''ve decided that I want to give you a chance to live your own life. You have a long one ahead of you, and I don''t need to be in all of it." Yoshiki''s eyes widened in surprise as Shinpai unfurled the scroll and imprinted his Mana into it, removing Yoshiki''s name from the contract and granting his freedom. It was all done in one swift motion, hardly granting Yoshiki time to react. He remained speechless for a long time, until he took a deep breath and asked, "Are you sure about this?" Shinpai nodded, "I''m sure. Enjoy life without being forced, for once. I only hope that you''ll stille when I need you most." Yoshiki kneeled on the ground and bowed his head respectfully, "Thank you, Master Shinpai, for this opportunity. I promise you won''t regret it." "We''ve been together for fifty years and I''ve told you not to call me that many times." Shinpai shook his head as he looked at Yoshiki with a smile. "You''re right. Thank you, Brother Shin." Yoshiki smiled and looked at his hands, feeling his actions no longer bound by the contract that held him for fifty-three years. He had been taken as a servant by the Yu Royal Family at the age of eight, so Yoshiki hardly remembered the feeling of freedom anymore. Regardless, he knew exactly what to do first, as he had thought about it for quite some time now. Unbreakable Right''s memories shed dozens of times in quick session, from his free exploration of the World to the end of the Elemental Beast Tides, to his first lover, to his child, and their child, to eventually the day he would return to Yu Shinpai. In the hundred years since their separation had progressed to the middle stages of the Soul Formation Realm and attained the title "Supreme Left". His strength had grown immensely, and his reign over the Yu Royal Family was almost unchallenged, despite his Cultivation not even at the Peak of the World yet. But when Yu Yoshiki saw Supreme Left, thus started one of the saddest memories of his entire life. Chapter 290: Suicide Mission "It''s been 105 years since Ist saw you, Brother Yoshiki. It looks like you''ve gained some weight, and maybe even found a special someone, I''m jealous." a smiling Yu Shinpai said while seated in his throne. He was staring down on the bulky man that had changed quite a bit since theirst meeting. Other than his bulkier frame, the main difference that Shinpai noticed was a unique glimmer in Yoshiki''s eyes, which reminded him of the expression he wore after his first marriage. The marriage hadn''tsted long for Shinpai, but he could tell that the love between Yu Yoshiki and his special person was still blossoming. "Haha, yeah it seems even a guy like me was made for love." Yoshikiughed as he scratched his head. "How have you been, Brother Shin?" Shinpai waved his hand in dismissal, "A little this, little that. Cultivation is very slow right now. I wish you had been here to spar with." "Slow? You? Not possible." Yoshiki looked at his former Young Master with surprise, though he already knew what had happened. When Yu Shinpai first started Cultivating, Yoshiki was already in the Core Formation Realm, close to the peak. But after just a few weeks, Shin had already reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. If it had to bepared in percentages, Yoshiki knew that Shinpai''s Cultivation speed was more than double his. Then why were they so close in Cultivation? It was obvious. "You don''t have to slow down your Cultivation for me, Brother Shin. I''ll catch up to you eventually, and we''ll meet again when I Ascend." "Slow down? And for you at that?" Shinpaiughed. "Maybe I''d do it for a pretty girl, but I''ve been taking it easy so my family can prosper, that''s all." "Okay." Yoshiki didn''t press the matter further. "What about your family? Are they doing well?" "For the most part. Did you hear about my older cousin Vellus?" "No, what did he do?" "It''s not about what he did, but what he WANTS to do." Shinpai shook his head as he retrieved an Artifact that yed a recording throughout the throne room. The holographic form of a young male with blonde hair and blue eyes appeared and he was in the middle of a speech, inside what looked like an auditorium. "I''ve discovered the location of the Superior Death Core, and it''s surrounded by four other Greater Death Cores. If we can absorb these, the Pirs of Justice will be able to control the life and death of anyone that dares to oppose the Azures Continent." There was a murmur in the crowd before someone spoke up, "But Master Vellus, do we have the ability to absorb these? I know you''re strong, but..." the voice trailed off. "Not to worry. Us of the Yu Royal Family have a few Techniques that may be able to absorb the Superior Core. The only problem is getting past the Lightless Dragons that are guarding the Cores, but I know we can do it with time and nning." Vellus replied with confidence. "Lightless Dragons? They''ll tear us apart in an instant! How can we in the Soul Formation Realm possibly handle something like that? Only you can, Master Vellus..." "I''m not asking you toy down your lives for me. Just distract them for a few minutes while I absorb the treasure, and I''ll save you all when I get out. I won''t let anyone die in vain. This is for the best of the Organization, and with the Elfyia Continent''s attitudetely, this will be the best deterrent." The holographic recording ended there. "He''s very ambitious. When was thest time someone tried to absorb the World Cores? A thousand years ago? Ten thousand? Have we already forgotten what the scriptures say about absorbing the Cores? He of all people should know this, it''s taboo!" Yoshiki sighed in frustration. You could save a stupid person from others, but it''s hard to save others from a stupid person. If Vellus wasn''t careful, who knows what could happen? "I''ve tried to reason with him, but he thinks the scriptures were just left by some powerful Cultivator that didn''t want people to steal his treasures. He thinks someone left them behind before Ascending, then wrote in a warning to all future generations while nning toe backter." Yoshiki sighed again, "We''ve all thought something like that before. It''s hard to stare at such a tempting treasure and not want to steal it. After all, a Superior Core is more than just a normal treasure. It can even elevate one''s C-Rank Affinity to the S-Rank directly...even I''m tempted." The memory flipped a few months forward, where Unbreakable Right could be seen sitting in one of the guest rooms at the Yu Family''s residence. A book was open on hisp, but he was distracted from the writings by a knock at his door. "Come in." he said. Explore more at m,v l''e-NovelBin The carved wooden doors adorned with gold trim swung open, a blonde haired, blue eyed young man stepping in with a calm smile on his face. "Yu Yoshiki, or just Yoshiki if you prefer it, how are you? It''s good to see you again!" "Vellus." Yoshiki nodded, unsure of why Shinpai''s cousin came to visit him directly. He looked at the man''s hands, which were carrying a leather-bound case filled with an unknown item. Even his Soul Formation level perception couldn''t see through the case. Vellus sat down at the end of Yoshiki''s bed, swinging the case until itnded at the base of Yoshiki''s feet. "I''ll keep it brief. Do you know about my n?" "Your suicide mission? I know of it, yes."Yoshiki snorted at the word "n". It was hardly a n, to say the least. Distract the creatures while Vellus goes inside and absorb the treasure. That was the result of four months of nning, maybe more. "It wouldn''t be, if you were there." Vellus replied simply. "Is that what this visit is about? If so, then you can leave now. I have no interest in angering some all-powerful Cultivators or whoever put those things there." "You won''t be involved in that way, don''t worry about that. Besides, I have more information from mytest visit to the Core." Vellus looked excited as he opened the leather-bound case and revealed its contents to Yoshiki, causing his eyebrows to go up in surprise. "Where did you get these? From the cave that houses the Cores?" Yoshiki asked as he picked up a vial containing a ck crystal the size of his fingertip. It was a Superior Death Shard, one of the most valuable Elemental Shards in existence. It had a variety of uses, depending on how it was refined and applied to equipment. It could be used as a core for Artifacts to increase the power of one''s Death Magic, fitted into armor to increase resistance to the effects of opposing Death Magic, or even brewed into a horrifying potion or pill that would be used for high-level assassinations. A Superior Death Shard had once been auctioned at the Azures Auction (reced by the Night Market a few hundred yearster), which sold for a whopping forty thousand Mana Stones! And in front of Yoshiki was roughly a hundred vials of these Shards! Chapter 291: Im Not Ready To Die Yet Vellus nodded, "There are even more of these things inside that cave. Thousands, maybe even tens of thousands more." Yoshiki saw what was happening and closed the case, pushing it towards Vellus while shaking his head. "I''m noting with you. I have a family now, and I can''t risk my life over your greed." "Oh,e on Yoshiki. You''re the strongest Earth Mage on the Continent. We can''t go without you! I won''t make you do anything serious, and your involvement will be limited. Even if there is a problem, I won''t force you toe in and help. I''ll even give you ten of these Shards in advance, and you can have another ny if our mission is sessful. What do you say?" Vellus looked to Yoshiki for confirmation. "Fine, but don''t tell Shinpai about this." A monthter, Yoshiki could be seen defending against a group of Lightless Dragons with the Earth Element, raising multiple walls in quick session to keep the Dragons from breaching his defense and chasing after Vellus. They had sessfully lured these Dragons outside with great effort, but Vellus hadn''te out of the cave in a few hours, and everyone was starting to get worried. After a few more minutes, some roars were heard from within the cave, dumbfounding those that believed all the Lightless Dragons had left the cave already. Someone that had joined Vellus rushed out of the cave, screaming while waving his hands in the air. "Master Vellus absorbed three Greater Cores and the cave spawned more Dragons, everyone run!" Yoshiki started to back off, but a few people ran inside instead to protect their Master. Most of them had been promised Superior Death Shards as a reward, and no one wanted to give up when they were already so close. When Yoshiki was ten kilometers away from the cave entrance, he looked back to see a plume of smoke rising into the sky while dozens of Cultivators in the Soul Formation Realm ran away at the highest speed they could muster. Behind them were dozens of Lightless Dragons in the Soul Formation Realm, led by one in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm as they chased everyone down. He sped away as quickly as he could, thankful that he had started leaving earlier, else his Earth Element wouldn''t have been enough to escape such a horde of Magical Beasts. When he reached the Yu Royal Family''s residence, Supreme Left was already waiting, but wouldn''t talk to Yoshiki at all. He already knew what happened and was disappointed in his old servant for following up with such a fool''s errand. There was no punishment given out, but losing Shinpai''s trust was already the worst oue for Yoshiki. At their age, such a small matter could be considered trivial since he was no longer a servant, but to Yu Shinpai it was different. Yoshiki was like a true brother to him but finding out about Yoshiki''s decision secondhand drove a wedge between the two that couldn''t be healed in a short amount of time. Unbreakable Right''s memories blinked in and out over the next few months, bing years as a battle against the Lightless Dragons continued, raging across the Continent and wiping out many Citiesrge and small. The war became more and more hopeless when the Heavens came out and announced the passing of their judgement. They dered the Lightless Dragons would continue to swarm the continent for three years, destroying everything until there were either no Cultivators left, or the Dragons were defeated. Worse yet, a barrier greatly exceeding anything the World could ever hope to defeat descended from above and surrounded the Azures Continent, preventing anyone from migrating to another Continent. The Cultivators across the Continent were hopeful that they could win this war, but the Lightless Dragons continued spawning, reducing almost the entirety of the Azures Continent to ashes by the end of the first year. During this time, Unbreakable Right''s wife and two children were lost to a surprise attack from the Lightless Dragons,unching him into a wave of sadness and regret, finding himself responsible for their deaths. If he hadn''t taken up Vellus'' offer, if he hadn''t acted as a distraction for the man to reach the Cores, maybe they would be alive. He wanted to drink alcohol to drown out the bad memories, but there were no drinks strong enough to affect someone at his level. He could only gnash his teeth and keep fighting, hoping to at least protect Supreme Left from meeting the same fate as he had. With the two powerful Cultivators working together, they managed to stall the Lightless Dragons another month, but that wasn''t nearly enough time to protect their Continent. Yu Yoshiki was titled Unbreakable Right, after his unbreakable will and intense desire to protect those behind him. Even with the support of Unbreakable Right and Supreme Left, Humanity was reduced almost exclusively to the Yu Royal Family and a few of the other Ancient Families by the end of the month, less than five percent of the poption before. They fought tooth and nail to defend what littlend they had, but the Lightless Dragons were pressing forward still. In the moment that the Cultivators of the Azures Continent thought was the end, the barrier behind them was shattered and a single man floated in front of them all, wielding four Domains simultaneously withbat strength above the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. Every wave of his hand tore apart the World, and every Magic Spell split apart Regions. He had given a new meaning to the word unstoppable, and he wiped away all presence of the Lightless Dragons in just a few months'' time. Even after their defeat, the man stood guard at the cave entrance for the next two years, ying every Light Dragon that spawned in a single attack until the Heavens gave up on spawning their creatures. The Lightless Dragons were gone, and the Heavens'' judgement had passed. It was a surreal feeling, but the mysterious Cultivator had disappeared before anyone could properly thank him. When Unbreakable Right''s memories ended, and he saw William''s executioner''s axe sweeping downward toward his neck, the man looked at Yu Shinpai that was right next to him with a calm smile. The events of the past had reminded him of two things that he hadn''t felt in many years. One was the indomitable will to never give up, and the other was the promise to protect Supreme Left with his life. "Brother Shin, I''m not ready to die yet." he said as he poured thest three hundred years'' worth of Cultivation Base into progressing to the next Realm. His aura spiked to an unfathomable level, a shockwave knocking back both William and his executioner''s axe until they were a few dozen meters away. The clouds swirled and lit up, turning a bright golden color as a portal appeared in the sky. "It''s about time, Brother Yoshiki. I''ve been waiting, you know." Supreme Left replied as his aura also peaked, emitting another shockwave and opening a second portal in the sky. The clouds turned an even more resplendent golden color, as if they were weing a pair of Emperors to their resting ce. Chapter 292: Good Riddance They both rushed into the air at the same time, using the brief moment of respite to burn their blood with forbidden techniques and escape William''s Domains. Their figures quickly approached the same portal hanging in the sky, avoiding the other one entirely. William didn''t bother chasing the two Cultivators, sensing that the Heavens were watching him right now. Any rash moves would result in more trouble than it was worth. -The Heavens are watching you closely: +3 Attention Instead, he healed the few wounds he had suffered in thest few minutes, restoring his physical condition to its peak while refilling the Arrays in his Array Wheel in case another enemy showed up. When Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right reached the portal, Supreme Left turned around and spoke to William. "We''ve lost this one, and you''re sure to be stronger than us when you Ascend. I only hope that you won''t take your feud out on our families; they had nothing to do with this." William nodded, "You both fought well." Unbreakable Right shook his head, "You clearly weren''t showing your full strength. I am ashamed." Supreme Left went inside the portal first, followed by Unbreakable Right, but not before thetter sent William onest mental transmission. "Unless you want the World to end, I''d suggest not absorbing the World Cores like you have been. We''re all lucky you haven''te in contact with a Greater or Superior Core yet..." "Wait! What do you mean by that?!" William called out, but the two legendary Cultivators had already disappeared from his perception. The clouds slowly dispersed, twisting and curling as the golden light faded from existence as if their Ascension had never happened. He looked around the battlefield, which was now in shambles. Less than a minute had passed since the two Cultivators called for the barrier to be opened, but William could still see a massive swath ofnd that was unrecognizable from its previous state. Within the barrier''s range, the environment was even more barren, as was expected from Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators. me Dragon Uri''s breath attacks had incinerated the leaves and branches from any tree in sight, while the Molten Domain turned what was left into solid charcoal that was still burning. Deep pits could be seen everywhere from stray attacks, even exposing cave openings that were previously undiscovered. It was as if someone had scooped with a spoon into the earth like soup, taking only the chunks of meat and leaving behind the rest. He looked at the Pirs of Justice members in the distance, who had originally ran forward to help their leaders, but stopped when it started to look hopeless. Their faces were a mix of relief, sadness, and regret as they watched Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right ascend. They were relieved that their leaders had crossed that final step and were headed towards something new and better, but they couldn''t help but feel sad at the same time. At this point, it was easy to regret not being more useful to their leaders while they were still present, especially during their battle with William. When they looked at the boy that had turned the tides against two of the strongest Cultivators in the World, their expressions becameplicated. It was obvious at a nce that running from William was impossible, so their lives were wholly in his hands at this moment. Only if they split up would they have a chance at survival, but no one wanted to be the nail that stuck out, lest they be the first ones targeted by the monstrous young man. And so, most remained where they were while a few others came up to William and kneeled with their heads bent low. "We give up, all powerful William." they said in unison, as if they had practiced this type of speech before. -The Heavens are no longer watching. "All powerful William? That''s a terrible nickname for me. Come up with something better." William cared more about his nickname than he did their actions. He looked at the few surviving members of the Pirs of Justice, singling out Vishnal and Perion. When he looked over, they both acted like they were still weak and clutched parts of their body that had been injured, but William could see through their terrible acting. The two had fully recuperated and he could even sense a slight fluctuation of Mana from Vishnal, suggesting the man was preparing a Spell. No words were said, but William''s Light Domain opened up, instantly dispersing whatever Light Mana was already gathered, while preventing the man from calling any more to his aid. Vishnal looked at William with surprise, seemingly wanting to ask about William''s never-ending Domains, but he kept his mouth shut and bowed. He ced his hand on Perion''s head, forcing him to the ground with his Tribtion Transcendence strength. "That was foolish of me, Senior William. I hope you will forgive me and ept a gift." "Senior? Yeah, that''s not for me. What kind of gift are we talking about?" William asked. Vishnal tried to reach into his Space Ring but realized they had already been taken by William at some point. It was unclear if the act had taken ce just now or during their previous fight, but Vishnal shook his head and gave up. "I don''t have it right now, but it will definitely be something good." William shook his head in disappointment while twirling a Space Ring on his fingers. Vishnal couldn''t help but be stunned speechless at this point, since the Ring was the same one he had just reached for. "I promise you won''t regret letting me live." Vishnal said hurriedly. William shook his head, "me?You''re pretty selfish, aren''t you. What about all those at yourmand?" he pointed to the group of Cultivators that were still kneeling on the ground just a few steps away from them. Vishnal remained silent, sweat forming on his brow as the situation became more and more tense. "There are other Continents besides ours, you can''t defend this one alone. I can help you!" he tried to negotiate. "So, I''m not capable? Is that what you''re saying?" William narrowed his eyes. In his eyes, Vishnal was already a dead man, but the repeated attempts to save his wretched life were amusing. "No, no! That''s not at all what I was saying, uh... Relentless William?" "Are you trying to give me a title like those two I just fought against? You make it sound like I''m part of their trio, or something." William sighed. Cultivators were good at everything, but it seemed that naming was not their strongest suit. He swept downward with his hand, using Soul Strength at the same time to deflect a surprise mental attack from Vishnal. The hand was but a simple chop, but his incredible strength made it possible for even this to break Vishnal''s neck with ease, while a bit of Fire Mana entered his body and burned him alive from the inside. Vishnal kicked and screamed as his internal organs burst, mesing out of his seven orifices. William used a tendril of Death Mana at that point, siphoning away the man''s life force, which would have healed William''s injuries if he had any. -Killed a Cultivator: +5 PP Perion was slowly backing away during the entire exchange, but a single look from William forced him to slow down as the Seal Element made its first appearance as a Domain, the Seal targeting his movement at full power and limiting him to the speed of a Nascent Soul Cultivator. The Earth Domain was still active, so William coordinated it to lock onto Perion''s legs, forcing him to remainpletely still. The man''s fear intensified as William slowly walked forward with the executioner''s axe in hand. "I haven''t had a chance to use this yet. Perhaps you will be the first?" William muttered loud enough for Perion to hear. "N-No, please!" Perion begged as he struggled to break free from his restraints. "Then cut off both of your legs, it''s the only way to escape, after all." William shrugged. Perion looked down at his legs and gritted his teeth. It would take a long time to recover from such an injury, but it was better than death. He didn''t have a sword, but the Light Element formed on his fingertips into a Light knife that vibrated back and forth at incredible speed, easily ripping through the skin and bone as if it were paper. Perion''s body separated from his legs, and he fell to the ground gasping for air while trying to suppress the pain. After a few seconds, he regained hisposure and smiled in relief. He had made it through. But before he could turn to ask William for confirmation, Perion found his head rolling away from his body, with no Artifacts remaining to restore the damage. His expression was one of shock as the head rolled across the ground a few meters before stopping. -Mentally tortured a human Cultivator before their eventual death: +5 PP, -4 Humanity -Cultivator originally targeted Host with ill intent: +1 "Ah, the cockroaches are dead now. Good riddance." William smiled. He had lost another three points of Humanity and gained minimal Potential Points as a reward, but this time it felt worth it. If Perion and Vishnal were left alive, there was no telling what they would do. Even if William became the strongest person on the Continent, they might target his friends and family, or even wait until his Ascension to do so. Chapter 293: Blessed By The Heavens? Probably Not. The other Cultivators remained silent while William disposed of their leaders. It wasn''t that they were cowards, rather no one would waste away their life just to save face. In their case, it was already honorable to surrender to William, who had defeated both Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right in battle. No one could call them a coward for lowering their heads to such a person. William stored the bodies of both Vishnal and Perion, opting to save them for Necromancyter. As for the rest of the Pirs of Justice members, cast envement Arrays on any below the Soul Formation Realm while killing off those above that. He only knew how to create an improved Perfect Envement Array and it would need more time to create one at the Complete level. While improved Perfect Arrays could restrain Soul Formation Cultivators greatly, it was still too easy for them to break free. As such, it was too risky to enve anyone above the Nascent Soul Realm. William made sure his friends were still safe in the Livingwood Forest, then went through each individual Space Ring of the enemy Cultivators that had been enved. He didn''t n on taking their Space Rings this time, onlybing through them for valuable items. Well, valuable items including anything that could be sold for more than a piece of Gold, of course. I''m really defying my hoarder nature here, but I need them to at least have clothes to wear and food to eat. I can''t take everything, or they won''t be very useful to me... It''s really a shame... William didn''t waste time sorting the items, only throwing them intorger Space Rings of his own. If the Cultivator had a Space Ringrger than his, it would be taken and reced with a cheaper version that William had in possession. His loot goblinry was meticulous and thorough. At the walls of Blue Moon City, only the higher-ups were able to see the previous battle clearly. Up until the Ascension of Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right, none of the spectators knew who was going to win the battle. When they saw William still standing while the other two had gone to the next Realm, everyone realized that the boy had forced the two so far that their only option was to leave Efretta. Their various Artifacts, equipment, Pills, Domains, andbat experience weren''t enough to deal with someone four Realms below them. It was unbelievable! Of course, none of the higher-ups could be sure that William was actually in the Core Formation Realm. It was only a guess based on the Tribtion he went through. If he was in the Golden Core Realm, a near-Superior Tribtion would have had muchrger range, but who knew what had happened from then until now? Someone else waiting in the shadows was also surprised at William''s strength. It was Tenebris, who had been present since the end of William''s Heavenly Tribtion. He initially wanted to confront the man the moment thest Lightning Boltnded, but Supreme Left''s clone showed up and was defeated in mere moments. Following this, he intercepted variousmunications from the Yu Royal Family to the Pirs of Justice, warning them to prepare for battle against William. Fully understanding how the two organizations worked, Tenebris decided to sit back a while longer and wait for the events to unfold. It wasn''t long before the Mayor of Blue Moon City contacted the Pirs as well, eventually leading them to take action. At first, it seemed like the Pirs held an overwhelming advantage, but William''s sudden increases in strength turned the situation more and more grim as time passed. He even called forth a Soul Formation me Dragon that miraculously survived the Tribtion Transcendence breakthrough under the assault of other Cultivators. Even after Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right showed up, William continued to hold his ground and matched his strength to theirs repeatedly, making it seem as if he had been ying around the entire time. By the time the final battle ended, Tenebris had abandoned any thoughts of targeting William alone. It was clear he needed more manpower than just himself to take down such a character. He swiftly retreated from the battlefield before anyone noticed his presence. William had noticed Tenebris halfway through checking the Space Rings, but he couldn''t tell who it was and never sensed any Mana fluctuations from the figure, so he didn''t bother to call the man out. If someone wanted to observe quietly, there was no reason to force him to show himself. What if he was another enemy? William didn''t have enough Mana to fight against another Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator. He looked at the enved Pirs of Justice members with aplicated gaze. What do I do with all these people? Should I just let them return to their organization? No, it might be too easy to tell they''re different from before. Maybe I should make a prison for idiots like these to live in... It didn''t matter what happened to them as long as they didn''t cause trouble for him or his friends, so William instructed the Pirs members to follow him for the time being. Their bodies shambled forwards like zombies as William struggled tomand so many living beings at once, but he eventually got the hang of it. He joined up with Carl and the rest after a few minutes, who had no words left to describe William. From the moment they met him, they knew William was different than the others, but they never expected the man to go from Foundation Establishmentbat strength to the peak of the World in just a few months. Could they even consider themselves his friends at this point? They were leagues apart! Charlotte felt ashamed at her weakness, while Tia and Gunther were more inspired to do their training. If William could do it, they could too! Carl was the only one that hadn''t changed much, having seen William''s extraordinarybat strength multiple times already. While this time was a little different from the rest, the difference between Nascent Soul and Tribtion Transcendence were indistinguishable in the eyes of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator like him. "Damnit Will, how do you keep getting stronger every day? I wish I had your talent." Yuming grumbled as he looked at his Alchemy buddy. "I''m not that strong," William scratched his head as heughed, "I just got a little lucky, that''s all." "Lucky? That''s an understatement. Someone that wins while gambling can be called lucky. If a dog gives birth to puppies and the runt survives, that can also be considered luck. But this? This is beyond that. You''re blessed by the Heavens!" Carl eximed. "Blessed by the Heavens? Probably not." William looked off in the distance to where his near-Superior Tribtion had formed. The Heavens hated him, a blessing would be a bad omen in his opinion. Would a lucky person upgrade his Magic Elements in the worst possible order by ident? Probably not. Even thinking further back, William remembered failing the Trial of Luck in the Trial Tower multiple times. He had pressed a button that had a 50/50 chance of winning or losing who knew how many times? A dozen? That''s definitely not lucky. Continue your saga on m|v-l''e -NovelBin Chapter 294: Build A City? The Elemental Beast Tide had ended, and no further enemies showed up, so William decided it was time to take his friends back to the Gravitas Ruins before something else went wrong. They, along with the enved Pirs of Justice members, followed William through a series of long-distance Portals before eventually arriving at the entrance of the Gravitas Ruins. He also summoned Atticus to his side, joining him and Uri for the trip back to the Ruins. Along the way, William exined the situation with the enved Cultivators, and asked his friends for their opinion on what he should do. They already knew that William had suffered from an Envement Array in the past, so it was easy for them to understand why he had done it. "Are they really all bad people? Why can''t you just let them go?" Charlotte asked. She would be lying if she wasn''t a bit apprehensive about William''s decision to turn his enemies into ves. Wouldn''t that be lowering himself to their level? Gunther spoke up, "I agree, but we''d have to be sure that they won''t do anything in the future. There''s no sense in being kind if it stabs you in the backter." "Being kind? Ha, this is a Cultivation World." Yuming spoke up. "I agree with you, there''s no point in letting them go if their stance is opposite ours." Charlotte shook her head, "But isn''t there a better way? Envement is a bit..." "Harsh? I think so too, but what other choice do I have?" William asked. "You could take everyone important to you into a safe ce where they can''t be hurt." Tia replied. "That''s stupid. What kind of person would ept that? If Will told you that you were going to be in a cave for the next ten years, would you follow him blindly?" Carl retorted at Tia''s ignorance. William thought back to Jenny and Briar, who despite his good intentions decided to go ahead and join Retribution anyway. Everyone had their own life goals, their own reasons for living, and it was unrealistic to expect them to listen to William every time. He could protect them all he wanted, but at the end of the day it was their choice on how they wanted to spend their existence. It was the same reason why he hadn''t taken Misha or anyone else from Thin Creek Vige with him. "I have an idea. What if we built a City?" Charlotte said. William turned his head in surprise to look at the beautiful woman with light-brown hair that cascaded down just past her shoulders, "A City? What do you mean?" Charlotte reached into her Space Ring to pull out a small picture book meant for young children. On the front page was a sprawling City that looked a lot like the Hillvire Empire''s Capital City, its walls reaching towards the sky while fantastical Magical Beasts surrounded it from all sides. "I read this book a lot as a kid, and it made me always want to have a City of my own to take care of. Think about it, a sanctuary for everyone to stay safe from the rest of the Cultivation World." William epted the book and flipped through the pages to show a more zoomed out version of the City, suspended in the air thousands of meters above the ground and seemingly held in ce by nothing. "You want a City in the sky?" "N-No..." Charlotte blushed, feeling awkward and childish for dreaming of a floating City. "It''s just a picture book." "I like it though." Yuming said. "A City in the sky, wouldn''t that be amazing? I don''t know how we would do it though." William waved his hand in dismissal. "Maybe in the future. It would take too long right now." He looked back at the enved Pirs members, "I''ll have them work some manualbor for now, and I''ll let them go in a few months if there''s no trouble. What do you think?" Everyone nodded, mostly satisfied by William''s response. A few months would serve as a good punishment for the Cultivators. Charlotte still had some concerns, but she could only remain quiet for now and hope that William would keep to his word. William used his knowledge of Arrays to recreate a few hundred Gravitas Ruins Tickets that Riyald had taught him, handing one to each individual person so they could enter the portal. Once everyone had what they needed, William went in first and beckoned the others to follow. He teleported to the bottom of the Gravitas Ruins, meeting up with Sir Reynolds first. "Disciple William, you''re back! Good to see you alive and in one piece." Sir Reynolds smiled. "Thanks, Sir Reynolds. Do you know where I can find Master?" William asked. "Oh, he''s working on an experiment right now and won''t be avable for quite some time. If this is about those people you brought inside, you can arrange their rooms anywhere you''d like inside, as long as you don''t give them ess to theboratory." the Artifact Spirit exined. William nodded and returned to his friends, where he asked them to wait a few hours while he prepared their residences. With the help of Complete Arrays and his incredible skill, William was able to create over a hundred duplicate rooms with ease and expanded each of them with Space Magic to over a thousand meters each. The enved Cultivators would be ced three to a room, while his friends would each get their own. There were ten public bathrooms installed that connected the enved Cultivators'' rooms, while his friends were custom made bathrooms depending on their preferences. William went all-out on his friends'' necessities, preparing anything and everything they could possibly need rted to furniture and decorum, while also taking some time to improve the state of his old room. Continue your journey on m|v-l''e -NovelBin Using improved Complete Arrays, William expanded the Space of his own room to a hundred thousand cubic meters, providing ample area for both me Dragon Uri and Atticus to reside with him. He didn''t bother much with his own decorations, but he used arge amount of Mana makingfortable beds for himself and his two Companions. He brought the enved Cultivators over to their rooms first, listing off the house rules and setting up a few Arrays that would only allow them to move from their room to the bathroom and nowhere else. Once they were situated, William brought his friends over one-by-one to check out their new bedrooms. Yuming''s room was functionally designed, and the room was provided extra soundproofing, perfect for an Alchemist. William had created thousands of posters that disyed as much information about various Alchemy ingredients as he could recall, organized by Tier for Yuming''s benefit. He was made two different beds: one more firm and the other soft like plush since William didn''t know what he liked. His room held arge fountain that operated on Water Magic Arrays, fitted with a hose that could be used to fill a cauldron easily. Before he could thank William properly for his bedroom that would normally cost one thousands of Mana Stones to have hand-crafted, Yuming found himself standing alone with a small study guide for Basic Runes in his hand. Chapter 295: New Rooms, Back On Track William showed Tia to her room next, which was made based on a gym in his old world. There was even a boxing ring in the center, with Perfect Array Puppets configured to react to her Mana and would spar with her whenever she wanted. As long as her strength didn''t exceed the Nascent Soul Realm, the Puppets would be able to slowly repair any damage that she caused, so they shouldst a while. Gunther''s room was reminiscent of an ice castle, with Arrays that rained a light snow onmand from within the room. His room was very cold, but the temperature could be adjusted to a normal level in case he had a "special visitor" at night and he wanted them to befortable. In addition to these Arrays, William knew that Gunther was very interested like the rest in learning Arrays of his own, so he added a few Ice-Magic specific Arrays from the Basic to the Advanced level, which he left for Gunther to decipher himself. It turned out that Gunther also liked cksmithing, but he didn''t learn this until after showing Gunther the room, so William offered to teach him some things whenever he had a chance. After showing him how to use the thermostat, William went off to show Charlotte to her bedroom, which was a miniature version of the picture book she showed him. Her bed floated in the center of the room, hovering perfectly in ce while Gravity Arrays made it possible to reach the bed in a single leap. Her walls were painted with life-like clouds while the ceiling was covered in a few small dots that Charlotte didn''t know the purpose of. When William turned the light off, however, the dots suddenly lit up and the ceiling turned into a vibrant gxy that made Charlotte''s eyes glitter with excitement. "I''ve never seen anything like this, how did youe up with such beautiful stars?" she asked. William shrugged his shoulders. "I saw them myself." "Really? Where?" Charlotte''s eyes sparkled as she drew close to William and grabbed his hands with excitement. "Far away, maybe I''ll take you there someday." William replied wistfully. Charlotte smiled, "I''d love that." William dropped off a few optional study materials pertaining to the Life Element for Charlotte, then returned to the hallway where Carl was waiting. "Are you ready to see your room?" William asked. Carl nodded, "I can''t believe you made all these in just a few hours. Are you a master craftsman as well?" "Haha." William scratched his head awkwardly. Technically Carl wasn''t wrong, since William had the Carpentry Talent. He led Carl to his room, then gave him a key that would let him go in and out whenever he felt like it. Only he and William had ess to his own room, and he would need to approve anyone else that wanted to go inside. It was a great security feature that William had put into every room. William stayed back while Carl fitted the key into his door, then watched as the man opened the door to reveal the interior. "This..." Carl was speechless. "You like it? I knew you would, it fits you perfectly." William asked with a light smile. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS, WILLIAM?!?" Carl yelled out with undisguised fury in his voice. "No need to act so excited, are you saying that you love it, then?" William''s smile grew wider. "It''s PINK! Everything is pink!" Carlmented as he scanned the interior of the room for something that wasn''t dyed the color pink. He couldn''t find anything! "What''s wrong with pink? It''s a manly color. I''d wear it myself, even." William shrugged. "You bastard. So you want to tell me those unicorn pillows are also "manly", huh?" Carl''s eye twitched. "Of course, they''re a mythical and majestic being, rarely seen in the World these days, right?" William said as he started closing Carl''s door. Carl grabbed the door with one hand, keeping it wide open as he looked at William. "You better fix it." "Sorry, I''m out of Mana. I''ll make you a new one tomorrow maybe." William pried away Carl''s fingers and pulled the door again. "You mother fu-" Carl didn''t get to finish his sentence as the door mmed shut, the excellent soundproofing muting his voice in an instant. William adjusted the Arrays to keep Carl from leaving his room or bathroom for the next 12 hours, then smiled to himself as he walked to his own bedroom. Even the System couldn''t hold back a snort upon seeing Carl''s reaction to his bedroom. Its connection to William was severed briefly before returning, but he could sense that the System wasughing. It was his first time sensing such an intense feeling from the System, which made William smile. All jokes aside, William had a lot of work to do before the next day, so he didn''t have time to catch up with Sir Reynolds on the status of the Ruins itself. He sat at an ornately crafted wooden desk, scribbling with a graphite pencil he made to draw out blueprints of his next projects. William knew that being at the supposed "peak of the World" was just the beginning. In his short adventure outside the Ruins, he had discovered that the incredibly talented Cultivators he saw before weren''t as rare as he initially thought. The quality of Cultivators overall was improving drastically, and the System wouldn''t give him a definite answer why. Not only this, but the Heavens were still looming overhead, and he wasn''t confident that being on Efretta would save him from their wrath. For all he knew, they could descend and wipe him out in an instant. To get his schedule back on track, William started with a simple four hours of Cultivation after drafting out his ns. He wanted to increase his Cultivation Base just a little bit to feel some progress after weeks of barely Cultivating at all. The maximum storage of his Dantian had increased from 100 thousand to 500 thousand Spirit Qi, but along with the increased storage came the greatly increased cost to reach the next stage in his Realm. To reach the second level of Core Formation, William would need fifteen thousand Spirit Qi, which was quite a bit more than previously. Even with the 119300 Spirit Qi stored up, William guessed that he wouldn''t be able to reach the Golden Core Realm without Cultivating more. What was interesting to him, though, was that the System said there were ten stages in the Core Formation Realm. This was different from the three stages William had read before, but it made sense after a quick exnation from the System. The first three stages were the same as the Empty Core Realm, while stages four through six were the Void Core and stages seven through nine were the True Core. The tenth stage was yet another "optional" stage that would cost a lot more Spirit Qi but would allow one to Cultivate the Heavenly Core if they hadn''t taken the previous Tribtion before reaching the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm. To William, of course, optional meant required when it came down to his strength. The only reason anyone would avoid Cultivating a Heavenly Core was because they were either inexperienced, impatient, or too old and desperate to extend their lifespan. Chapter 296: Refining William''s Cultivation progressed at a decent pace over the next few hours, but it still didn''t feel fast enough for him. At the current rate, it would probably take a long time to Ascend. Even with his SS-Rank Cultivation Talent, William''s Cultivation speed was only slightly faster than his Master''s. By the end of his four-hour Cultivation session, William''s Cultivation Base had only improved to 120100 Spirit Qi, only 800 higher than before. I wish I had enough Points to upgrade the Cultivation Talent, but I''ve been quite broke since the battles. Even hundreds of thousands of Potential Points aren''t enough... William thought as he spent his stored Spirit Qi to break through to the next stage. The Cultivation Talent needed 25000 Potential Points for the next upgrade, but he only had twenty-one thousand. It would be a few weeks before he earned enough passively to level up the Talent. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Human -Age: 352 -Lifespan: 600 Years -Cultivation: Core Formation 2 (0/20000) ¡ª¡ª¡ª Only a five thousand increase from the previous stage. Thankfully it didn''t go up exponentially... William broke through to the third stage next, followed by the fourth. An interesting sensation spread throughout his body as the core of his Dantian repeatedly condensed and expanded until it was a small grey ball the size of a closed fist. The remainder of the Dantian was absorbed into the core, all the stored Spirit Qi following close behind. Despite how small the core waspared to his Dantian, it was able to easily store everything, and the core seemed much more solidpared to the Dantian. Even so, it only had the defensive capabilities of a Core Formation Cultivator. It wasn''t anything special. -Your Empty Core has be a Void Core: +50 PP I earn Points for this now? Nice! William smiled in delight as he earned a sixth of a day''s passive earnings just from Cultivating. It wasn''t much, but how could hein? Stay connected via m-v l|e''-NovelBin He used thirty thousand Spirit Qi to reach Core Formation Five, which was the limit of where he could go for now. He had 30100 remaining, just under five thousand Spirit Qi short of reaching stage Six. On a good note, William''s Health and Mana had increased by five hundred each, even though he hadn''t broken through to the next Realm yet. It seemed that even just a minor stage increase would grant immense boosts to his base stats, though it was hard to tell how much he was affected, and how much of the increase was from the effect of his Titles or from treasures he had consumed. The improvement seemed erratic, sometimes increasing his health by a hundred, while others were more or less, which left William clueless. The System exined that it was a matter of the stage he was in. When William was in the Qi Refinement Realm, breakthroughs would mainly target his Spirit Qi quality and Mana itself, which improved his Mana and physical strength the most, but not his Health. On the converse, the Foundation Establishment Realm''s upgrades improved his health and perception equally, but the rest fell a little short. Now that he was in the Core Formation Realm, his breakthroughs would target the quality of his Empty, now Void Core, improving its defensive capabilities while also elevating his Mana and Spirit Qi quality equally. In short, William discovered that the Core Formation Realm would push up most of his statistics evenly, granting an all-around boost to hisbat strength. The only exception was Soul Strength, which seemed unaffected by his Cultivation so far. System, do I have to exclusively use a Soul-Cultivation Technique to improve my Soul Strength? The System answered for free, finding this information of little value to it. -For now, yes. But the Nascent Soul, Soul Formation, and Tribtion Transcendence Realms will also increase your Soul Strength with each breakthrough. William nodded in understanding, but based on Riyald''s focus on the Soul-Cultivation Technique, he assumed the bonuses weren''t veryrge. That''s enough Cultivation for now. I''ll go back to it when I can upgrade the Talent. In William''s opinion, Cultivating any more before he maxed out the Talent was a waste of time. If his Cultivation speed increased with each upgrade, he could make up for a month of no Cultivating in no time when he raised it to X-Rank. For now, William divided his time more evenly among his other tasks. He started with Alchemy, since he had acquired loads of ingredients from Blue Moon City, the Night Market, and from a few Specialized Space Rings that some Thieves Guild or Pirs of Justice members were wearing. Since he was nning to refine perfect-quality Pills, William needed to find a safe area to undergo the Pill Tribtion. He didn''t want to destroy his new room, and the remainder of the residence wasn''t a good idea either, so William created a long-distance portal to the surface. He spent 375 Potential Points to raise his Carpentry Talent to A-Rank, then spent a day creating a duplicate version of the Five Elements Sect''s Alchemy Hall. The necessary Arrays were added to the structure in a matter of hours, then William was ready to begin. "Let''s start with a Tier 3 Heavenly Resistance Pill." William muttered as he brought out twelve pieces of medium-quality Mana Grass. Along with the Mana Grass, he alsoid out four ss vials each containing a gram of medium-quality Heaven Enduring Soil, an umon type of soil that could only be found at the site of Heavenly Tribtions where the Lightning Bolts had struck the ground. Depending on the level of the Tribtion, higher qualities of this soil could be gathered. Since William had undergone multiple levels of Tribtions already, he was able to gather low, medium, and high-quality Heaven Enduring Soil from his own Tribtions. Even if he hadn''t, there were tens of thousands of Tribtions every year. Only the extreme-quality Heaven Enduring Soil would be difficult to find, since it could only be found at the sites of Soul Formation and above Tribtions. The Mana Grass was mashed into a paste and thrown into a filled cauldron of water while William heated up the cauldron all at once with the Fire Element. His control with the Fire Element was incredible, so the recent upgrade didn''t have any adverse effects on the refinement process. The Heaven Enduring Soil was thrown in next, which tried to sink to the bottom given its density. William immediately controlled the Water Element to force the Soil to the top, keeping it in ce until the Mana Grass and Soil mixed together properly at a ratio of 4:1. This was the hardest part of the refinement process, which made up for the readily avable materials. Among all Tier 3 Pills, the Heavenly Resistance Pill could rank in the top ten most difficult to refine perfectly, since one would need to use both Fire and Water Magic simultaneously. The number of Alchemists that could refine this Pill alone were few, and they were usually made with the assistance of another with the opposite Element. Once the Mana Grass paste had fully absorbed the Soil, William split a Resonating Sunflower Seed into fourths and dropped it into the cauldron, condensing the ingredients together right away and forming four perfect Heavenly Resistance Pills. Chapter 297: Title Progress The Pill Tribtion started immediately, Heavenly Lightning Bolts at the Golden Core Realm dropping down on William in short bursts. Even though the Tribtion was for the Pills and not William, the clouds seemed to sense that William had dispersed them before, its strength increasing slightly above what it would normally be. It''s still just a Golden Core Tribtion. Not really an issue for me. William yawned as the consecutive Lightning Bolts failed to even crack his Forcefield, which was normally weak to Heavenly Lightning. The Tribtion ended without consequence, granting William some Potential Points while also progressing both the Alchemist and Trial Taker Titles. He would need to perfectly refine four more unique Pills to progress the Alchemist Title to Epic, while the Trial Taker Title was only three Tribtions from reaching the same rarity. After sessfullypleting his test refinement, William moved on to refine Tier 4 Heavenly Resistance Pills. The only difference between the two recipes was the quality of material, so William had the choice to either use high-quality Mana Grass or high-quality Heaven Enduring Soil. Since Tribtions turned the Soil into an easily renewable resource, William used the better Soil for his Pills, refining them in groups of four at a time. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that differently-tiered Pills counted towards his Alchemist Title, so he took the initiative to refine four Tier 1 and 2 Heavenly Resistance Pills as well. --Title upgraded to Epic: +20 PP -Trial Taker (Rare --> Epic): You have transcended at least 10 Heavenly Tribtions. With great riskes great reward. 10% resistance to Heavenly Lightning, +3 Attention. -Attention has reached 5 points. The Heavens will now attempt to periodically check on the Host. Current period: One hour per week. -S-Rank Stealth Talent has blocked the prying of the Heavens. A short wave of System Messages forced William to take a peek at the corner of his vision. While his Trial Taker Title had upgraded and given him five percent more Heavenly Lightning Resistance, the adverse effect was also increased. Thankfully, it seemed that the Heavens didn''t ce much priority on watching him, since they didn''t pry again after failing the first time. He was once again thankful for upgrading the Stealth Talent, which seemed to have many hidden effects that the System didn''t outright mention. Before he continued refining Pills, William appraised those he currently had on hand. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Heavenly Resistance Pill (Tier 4 Pill): Refined by Alchemist William. Effects when consumed: +20 Heavenly Lightning Resistance +20% Heavenly Lightning Resistance Lasts for three hours. Effects diminished by fifty percent if more than one Pill of the same type is consumed within six hours. Effects diminished by ny percent if more than two Pillsof the same typeare consumed without resting. ¡ª¡ª¡ª After looking at the stats of the lower-Tiered Pills, William noticed that each Tier raised the Heavenly Lightning Resistance by five points and an additional five percent. If this continued up to Tier 10, William could gain fifty percent Heavenly Lightning Resistance. Stacked with his Trial Taker Title, he would be sixty percent resistant to Heavenly Lightning! Since this seemed to apply to his Talents, the effect would stack reverse-exponentially, meaning he could cover himself with a Heaven-resistant Earth Spell while his Hard Skin also gained Heaven-resistance, for a total of 76 percent extra resistance, respectively. System, can you do the math for me? -If you would normally take one hundred damage from the Heavenly Lightning, the Earth Spell would reduce the damage by sixty percent more than normal. -Say all forty percent of the Heavenly Lightning passed the Earth Spell, sixty percent of that forty percent would be resisted by your Hard Skin. -Even if all the damage went through the Hard Skin as well, you would only receive twenty-four percent of the original damage. When put that way, sixty percent resistance sounds incredibly powerful...William could already imagine effortlessly dealing with Tribtions while using a Tier 10 Heavenly Resistance Pill. The only downside was the immense cost associated with such a rare Pill. I don''t even know what it would take since my Alchemy level is too low... It was more cost-effective to only use what Pills were necessary for the current Tribtion. He had a limited supply of Mana Grass, after all. But I can still refine other simr Pills.William thought to himself as he sorted through his database of Pills that could support him during a Tribtion. I''m going to use the Earth and Life Element mostly, while I should be careful not to let my body be damaged too much. In that case... William brought out two Golden Core Desert Beetle Horns, which were the storage device for their Mana. Since they were purely Earth-Elemental Magical Beasts, Desert Beetle materials were a great source for the Earth Boosting Pill. Another material he needed was an entire half-meter Desert Cactus, of which William had bought many from the Alchemy Hall. With just those two items and some water, the recipe was able to condense two Tier 4 Pills easily. There were other recipes to condense more Pills, but William was a hoarder and used the cheapest recipe with the greatest effects. The Pill Tribtion formed but was easily dealt with even though its strength was in the Nascent Soul Realm. --Title upgraded to Epic: +20 PP -Alchemist (Rare --> Epic): You have perfectly refined ten unique pills, making a name for yourself among your Alchemy Peers. Pills of all Ranks will be 20% easier to refine. Appraise. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Earth Boosting Pill (Tier 4 Pill): Refined by Alchemist William. Effects when consumed: +20 Earth Magic Strength +20% Earth Lasts for three hours. Effects diminished by fifty percent if more than one Pill of the same type is consumed within six hours. Effects diminished by ny percent if more than two Pills of the same type are consumed without resting. ¡ª¡ª¡ª He repeated the refinement process three more times for a total of eight Pills, then went back to refine one more set of Tier 4 Heavenly Resistance Pills. This way he would have eight of each Pill. The Tier 4 Life Boosting Pills were made with four Lifeshrooms and six medium-quality Mana Grass, but the recipe condensed four Pills each, so he only had to refine them twice. He also made eight Tier 4 Reinforcement Pills, which increased the defensive ability of his body by twenty percent. If he ate all four different Pills before undergoing the Heavenly Tribtion, his survival chance against the more difficult Tribtions should be greatly increased. The entire refinement process for the Pills only took roughly seven hours, so William still had quite a bit of time to return to the residence and check on his friends and the enved Cultivators. Most of the friend group was diligently Cultivating or practicing their Techniques, but Yuming was also conducting Alchemy. When William saw the man inside covered in burns and the floor scorched ck, he instantly knew that the man had perfectly refined a Pill and incited a Pill Tribtion of his own, though it seemed quite weakpared to the ones he had just gone through. Of course, William had constructed Yuming''s room with the Pill Tribtions in mind, so the Arrays were able to automatically repair the damage caused. As long as his Pill Tribtions weren''t in the Nascent Soul Realm, William''s Arrays should be able to handle anything that happened within Yuming''s room. Chapter 298: Assigning Teams William wanted to stay a while with Yuming to chat, but he didn''t have time for that at the moment. He needed to assign work to his new subordinates, but there were also plenty of other time-consuming tasks toplete. To list only a few of William''s ns, he needed to create a new set of Array Puppets,plete the Artifact Belt, sort his Space Rings, and head to the Fire Mine to extract more Greater Fire Shards. Sorting his Space Rings would be the least time-consuming on the list, but all the others would take multiple days to work through, some even weeks. William also wanted to teach his friends more Arrays that would be useful at their level, but that would have to wait until they had mastered the Basic and Intermediate levels first. Depending on theirprehension, this could take months or even years. He wished there was a faster way, but so far it seemed impossible. After checking in on Yuming, William formed up the enved Cultivators and asked them a series of questions as if they were each in a job interview. He asked questions like "What was your position in the Pirs of Justice?" or "Whatbat skills do you have?" He also didn''t forget to inquire about their trade skills. It would be most beneficial if he could find someone with the ability to cook that could provide regr meals for everyone. There were indeed a few Cultivators with the ability to cook, but their skills were rtively poor and they usually relied on meals that had been prepared beforehand when they needed to eat. As Golden Core and Nascent Soul Cultivators, most of them would only need to eat once every few years. At that point, cooking was a useless skill unless as a hobby. "What about you? What do you do?" William asked a middle-aged man with arge bald spot on the top of his head. "Master, my name is Wen Xai and I used to supervise a Mana Stone Mine." the man responded almost robotically. "Used to? Did something happen?" The man nodded, "I was fired for trying to steal a few thousand Mana Stones. I had been storing a few each week from the extracted materials, but I was discovered by Perion during a surprise visit. Truly unlucky..." the man looked downward as if he was ashamed at getting caught, and didn''t actually regret stealing. This guy knows about mining! Even if he used to steal, the Envement Array should stop that from happening again. This guy is valuable! William became excited and asked a few more specific questions regarding the man''s skill with extracting minerals. When the responses came back mostly satisfactory, William decided to create a small team that would take control of the Fire Mine in the Southern ins. Even if their extraction speed and the quality of the minerals couldn''tpare to his methods, William wouldn''t find it as a loss. If anything, he would be able to form his own passive ie of Potential Points, much like the Potential Farms moderated by the System. He interviewed the remaining Cultivators, discovering a few other hidden talents that made him happy that he spared their lives. Among the group were five Array Masters ranging from the middle Advanced to the early stages of the Perfect level. There were also two cksmiths able to refine the less rare metals, such as Iron, Aluminum, and Bronze-like metal alloys. The remainder of the group specialized inbat, which made sense considering they were sent to fight with William. That said, the younger ones were still probably fit to learn a new skill or two. "You, you, you, and... you." William pointed to four individuals that had above-average Detection Spells. "You will be in Detection Team A, and I''m going to assign you to watch the Fire Mine in the Southern ins." The four Cultivators each nodded in understanding, not sure what was on William''s mind at the moment, but unable to defy his orders. William formed threebat teams made up of four Nascent Soul Cultivators each, then asked them to stand by for a few hours. He allocated eight Golden Core and four Nascent Soul Cultivators to Wen Xai, ordering him to teach them the basics of mining while he organized the rest of the group. He stayed close by to listen in on Wen Xai''s tutoring, stepping in as needed to correct a misconception or bad habit the Cultivator may have acquired. One of the three mostpetent cooks was sent with the group as well, with a two-man security team that would protect their food storage. William set out his forging equipment, then made a specialized Space Ring for the cook, but he used Earth Mana-generated iron instead since he didn''t want to use up the rarer materials he had on hand. For the sake of more loot, this was a necessary expense. He needed to keep the team healthy and fed, and he didn''t know how often he woulde to visit the Fire Mine. It could be weeks, months, or even years before he stopped by, and he wanted to make sure no one died while he was gone. Realizing he would need to make more Space Rings, William rescinded his order for the group to stand by, telling them he would pick them up in a few days. He returned to his room, then set up his forge for a second time. Stay connected via m-v l|e''-NovelBin He started by creating a hundred standard Space Rings with decent room for Wen Xai and his team, adding in shelving and tens of thousands of storage boxes that would hold the Greater Fire Shards, as well as a few defensive Arrays that would trigger if anyone without William''s customized Envement Array tried to open the Rings. After this, William spent half a day forging twenty-four pickaxes, chisels, and hammers out of steel that would be used in the extraction process. He made twice the amount needed, just in case the tools were broken somehow, then added hundreds of Arrays to reinforce their durability, mining effectiveness, and self-repair functions. For Wen Xai himself, William used the nt Element to create a simple notebook, adding in hole punches and the metal to make it look like a modern-day college notebook. This would serve as Wen Xai''s inventory book, which should help him keep track of the stored Greater Fire Shards and also how much space was left in the Rings. While he was on a roll, William crafted custommunicators that should be able to reach him from within the Gravitas Ruins, handing one to each team lead to contact him in case anything went wrong. He had absorbed the Greater Fire Vein, which could lead to Elemental Beast Tides depending on how many had been absorbed already. Even in a best-case scenario, William knew there would be an uptick in Magical Beast spawns near the Fire Mine, so he needed to be careful with how he controlled his subordinates. If he ced them in too dangerous a situation, all the work he had just gone through would be for naught. In that case, I need to give Detection Team A better equipment as well... William may be strong, but he couldn''t be multiple ces at once. In this case, however, he wasn''t being a hypocrite towards his loot goblinry. Spend money to make money, some would say. He spent another eight hours crafting multiple Artifacts that would help the Detection Team locate enemies, which along with the mining equipment raised the progress for his Artificer Title to twenty out of twenty-five unique Artifacts. He presented the Space Rings, equipment, andmunicators to his subordinates the next day, making their eyes widen in surprise at the incredible quality of such items. He even provided the cooks with medium to high-quality cooking ingredients. When William promised special bonuses and even a chance at their freedom in the future, they almost wanted to cry in relief. They may be enved, but the Cultivators still had feelings, and they didn''t expect William to treat them so well. He had given them rooms to sleep in with guaranteed safety from their enemies, new equipment that was just as good as what they had lost, and even a promise to release them one day. It was too good to be true, considering they had a life-or-death battle just a few days earlier. Some of the Cultivators that hadn''t had a particrly pleasant experience within the Pirs of Justice even considered remaining with William permanently. Once everyone was equipped with their new gear, William led the assigned groups out of the Gravitas Ruins and teleported them to the Southern ins, where the Thieves'' Guild had recovered custody of the Fire Mine. When William showed up with his group, however, he didn''t even bother to conceal his aura and the thieves scattered in an instant. They had caught wind of William''s battle just like the rest of the World, and they knew they didn''t stand a chance against the monstrous young man. Chapter 299: Better Than Spirit Qi? William assigned the different teams their positions, then instructed Wen Xai to send daily reports. He scanned the area for any signs of Magical Beasts, but the nearest group was more than a hundred kilometers away and didn''t seem to be moving towards the Fire Mine. If he had to guess, William suspected that the Greater Fire Vein was just one of many, spread around the Region and hidden in cave systems or otherwise. Absorbing just the one Vein wasn''t Beast Tide inducing, but he would have to be careful about the rest. If I can absorb enough Greater Fire Veins, I might be able to upgrade my Fire Element for free and save some Points, but I can''t put the entire World in danger because of my greed. Before William absorbed another Vein, he wanted to confirm three things. If the Heavens created the Magical Beasts, did they also create the Veins? Second, if they are, why are the Heavens using these Veins to suppress the World? And third, why are the consequences for absorbing the Veins so steep? It all boiled down to one major question: Are the Heavens afraid of the World, or is it something else? If I want to find out, I''ll need to find another Vein and study it. William left the Cultivators to their assignments and teleported to the outer ring of the Livingwood Forest. Other than spending a few minutes here to pick up his friends, William hadn''t been here in a while and felt nostalgic. Since the Life Veins had all been absorbed, William could sense that the Livingwood Forest was constantly losing vitality and would probablypletely die off in ten to fifteen years. The number of Lifeshrooms and other medicinal herbs had greatly decreased, and even their size was reduced. He wasn''t here to sightsee, though, so William navigated through the forest until he found the tree where he had absorbed the first Life Vein. He blinked multiple times until his Mana Mode was active, but he couldn''t find any traces of the Heavens'' aura. It had either been too long since he absorbed the Vein, or William needed to find an intact one first. He teleported throughout the Far West Forest Region with Mana Mode still active, scanning the environment for dense Mana fluctuations. It didn''t take long to find a Vein, just a hundred kilometers northeast of the Livingwood Forest. Hidden within arge chasm and surrounded by Qi Refinement Magical Beasts was a Lesser Lightning Vein that was almost fully concealed by ayer of stone underneath. If William hadn''t used Mana Mode, he probably wouldn''t have even noticed the Vein even when walking right past it. William flew down andnded in the chasm, quickly killing the few Beasts nearby and scaring off the rest. The Earth Element was then used, softly breaking away theyer of stone and revealing a subtle silverish-purple glow as the Lightning Mana escaped the enclosure. As William inspected the Lightning Vein, he discovered that there was only a small amount of the Heavens'' aura present. The Vein was made from some sort of unknown energy that he couldn''t understand at his current level, while the Heavens only seemed to y a small part in its creation. The unknown energy was like Spirit Qi, but also like Mana, but also stronger than both of thembined. William sat cross legged nearby and gathered some Spirit Qi, then released a small amount of his own Lightning Mana to mix with the Spirit Qi in the same ratio as the Lightning Vein. A few seconds passed, but nothing happened. The Spirit Qi and Mana revolved around each other as if they were cooperating, but they didn''t truly mix. There seemed to be a detail that William was missing; a trick or gimmick to the special energy that he wasn''t seeing. He tried a few more times over the next hour, but he gave up after gaining no progress. Whatever the method was, it would take more than just matching the ratio of the energies. Either way, I''ve answered one of my questions already. The Heavens definitely were involved in the creation of these... World Cores. William thought to himself. Finding out why the World was being suppressed wouldn''t be answered easily. He would need to either speak to the World or the Heavens directly, and both options were much too risky. System, how many Points would it cost to answer this question? -Request will require 190000 Potential Points. If the Host absorbs another Greater Vein, the cost will be reduced to 120000 Potential Points. You''ll charge me seventy thousand less Points if I absorb another Greater Vein? Why? -Because absorbing Veins will bring you closer to answering the question yourself. Since it''s less difficult to uncover the information, the charge is obviously much less. Hmm... interesting.William had never thought of the Ask Function in this way, but he wasn''t about to wantonly absorb World Cores just because it would charge him less. Yeah, absorbing them might lead him closer to an answer, but what if the answer isn''t what he wanted? What if absorbing World Cores led to his untimely death? The System and others already mentioned how dangerous it would be. What if removing the World''s suppression led to its destruction? Where would he go? But I need to find out somehow. The System''s answer is definitely the least dangerous option, but I think I can afford to lower the price a little bit. System, how many Veins can I absorb before it triggers a Beast Tide? -Request requires 40000 Potential Points. Yes/No? Damn, too much. What about the Greater Veins? How many are there? -Request requires 32000 Potential Points. Yes/No? Damnit, still too much. How about this? Yes or no, are there more than fifty Greater Veins on the Continent? -If you''re trying to use the process of elimination to get a cheaper response, you forget that I''m still a sentient being. Your tricks won''t work on me. It was worth a shot... William decided to find other ways to earn Potential Points while he was outside the Ruins. It would still be a while before he could afford the System''s response, but he wanted to at least upgrade his Cultivation Talent before he returned. The Fire Mine would be a great source of Points for a long time, but William had already decided not to spend years extracting the Greater Fire Shards himself, and he had already allocated as many capable Cultivators as he had ess to. He thought about what to do for a long time, until suddenly he had an idea that would essentially kill two birds with one stone. System, can you confirm something for me? Does the difficulty of the Beast Tide differ depending on what level of Vein is absorbed? -Request requires 720 Potential Points. Yes/No? Finally, a somewhat cheap response! Confirm! -Yes. Lesser Veins raise the maximum Cultivation level and frequency of the Magical Beasts that spawn by one-third to half a Realm each time one is absorbed. -Basic Veins do the same, but double the frequency of Magical Beast spawns, while Greater Veins raise the maximum Cultivation level by three-fourths of a Realm each time one is absorbed and triples the frequency of spawns. -Superior Veins directly raise the minimum and maximum Cultivation level of Magical Beast spawns by an entire Realm, while also quadrupling their spawn rates. If enough Superior Veins are absorbed in the World, there may be greater effects. Chapter 300: Chasm Guards In that case... I should be able to absorb the weaker Veins, as long as I can take responsibility for the Beast Tides...William realized. Thankfully, there was an easy solution to this. As long as the level of the Beast Tide wasn''t too high, even Atticus could handle it without an issue. Of course, William would feel bad if he put his two most importantpanions on a permanent guard-duty, so he had to find another one for the job. System, open the Companion Shop. ¡ª¡ª¡ª COMPANION SHOP: Hatch Existing Egg: (0) -No Eggs Avable Befriend Living Beast: (0) -No Beasts Avable Companion Egg Purchase: (194 Avable!) -Select Egg from Bestiary: Cost Varies ¡ª¡ª¡ª William selected the Companion Egg Purchase option, then scrolled through the Bestiary until he found something that piqued his interest. Since Atticus was added to the Bestiary, he could technically incubate an army of Rat Snakes to guard the chasm, but snakes didn''t have wings so it might not be the best terrain for them. me Dragons were also off the table, since they were much toorge. System, select ins Vulture.William ordered. They were small, had wings, and could use Darkness Magic at higher levels, which would be great for detecting the Beast Tides early. -Select Rarity. Select Rarity? What do you mean? -The Host can select the Rarity of the Egg you want to incubate, up to the highest Rarity you have incubated. Since you have a Mythical Companion already, you can purchase Companion Beast Eggs of Common, Umon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, and Mythical Rarity. Is there a difference in cost? -Of course. Common Eggs are only 5 Potential Points, Umon are 10, Rare are 20, Epic Eggs are 50 Points, Legendary are 100, and Mythical Companion Eggs are 250 Potential Points. -There is an additional cost to hatch the Companion Eggs, which is always 100 Points. -Once the Egg is hatched, the cost to upgrade the Beast from one level to the next follows the same cost as upgrading your Talents. William nodded in understanding, then selected the Umon option since it was the most cost-effective when one factored in the hatching cost. Not only would it cost the second least to purchase the eggs, but it would also be much cheaper to upgrade the Magical Beastspared to the higher Rarities. Even though Atticus was a Mythical Companion Beast, and its strength was very impressivepared to its Cultivation, William couldn''t afford to upgrade multiple Magical Beasts to the same level. It was better to have a group of Umon-Rarity ins Vultures in his opinion. -How many Eggs would you like to purchase? Hmm... let''s go with ten, for now. -Purchased 10 Umon ins Vulture Eggs: -100 PP Ten small brown eggs dotted with small specks of ck appeared in front of William, lined up evenly on the ground in front of the Lesser Lightning Vein. -Would you like to hatch your Eggs now? Total hatching cost will be one thousand Potential Points. Yes. The eggs glowed in unison, briefly lighting up the chasm as they cracked apart. Small beaks burst forth from the eggs one at a time, opening to release weak chirps that belonged to tiny featherless chicks. -Your eggs have hatched. Name your Companion Beasts. Name them? -Yes, you are required to name your Companion Beasts if they don''t already have one. How else will you know which one is which when upgrading? If they''re the same species, it''s almost impossible! You have a point. Alright then... what to name them? William decided on a simple naming method, since the ins Vultures were purely guards for this region and he was likely to forget their namester anyway. I''ll name you Chasm Guard One through Ten. -Egg Hatched: Umon ins Vulture (x10) -Hatched your first Umon Beast: +1 PP -Detected the Host has multiple Beasts of the same species and rarity. Floating name tags only visible to you will now appear above the heads of your Companion Beasts. William opened his System Panel immediately and looked at the price to upgrade the ins Vultures. Since he hadn''t actually seen an Umon Talent yet, William had no clue how much the upgrade would cost. It was funny to think about, considering he had everything from Common to Mythical Talents, but had never seen an Umon Talent. ¡ª¡ª¡ª BEASTS: -Umon: ( - ) --Chasm Guard One (ins Vulture): F (2PP to next rank) --Chasm Guard Two (ins Vulture): F (2PP to next rank) --Chasm Guard Three (ins Vulture): F (2PP to next rank) ... POTENTIAL POINTS: 21145 ¡ª¡ª¡ª Oh right, they still start at F-Rank even though my System is C-Rank. I forgot about that, but it seems that the Umon upgrades are roughly twice as much as the Common Talents. Rare are three times as much until SS-Rank, so this makes sense I guess... System, how much would it cost to upgrade all ten of them to A-Rank? -The total cost would be 7620 Potential Points. I can afford it. Let''s do that, then. -7620 PP The identical ins Vultures suddenly shook as Time Mana seemed toe from out of nowhere and envelop each of their bodies. Their bodies quickly grew from small chicks to the size of a full-grown adult, which would usually take upwards of five years, while their feathers formed in the blink of an eye. Even the cycle of feather growth and molting was repeated multiple times, as if William was watching a timpse of a vulture''s growth. It was mesmerizing, to say the least. The System messages appeared to confirm that they had skipped through E-Rank and were now D-Rank ins Vultures. He continued to watch as the adult ins Vultures developed Qi Refinement Cultivation, then quickly scaled to the peak of the Realm as if they had been there the entire time. Thick, dark clouds formed in the sky as ten ins Vultures attempted the Tribtion simultaneously, pausing the System upgrade. William was worried about the Tribtions affecting each other, so he quickly teleported each ins Vulture to a different location to give them enough room, then returned to his original location to watch their upgrade. The only problem was, the System sent a few concerning messages that made William realize he wasn''t the only one that wanted to see. -The Heavens are watching. -The Heavens are watching. -The Heavens are watching. -The Heavens are watching. -The Heavens... (+6 More) ... The System repeated the same message ten times, to which William promptly concealed himself with the Illusion Element. -The Heavens have lost track of you. -The Heavens are curious: +1 Attention -The Heavens are curious: +1 Attention -The Heavens are curious: +1 Attention -The Heavens... (+7 More) -Attention value has reached 10 Points. The Heavens are interested in the Host. His move seemed to work, but not without cost. He didn''t know what it meant for the Heavens to be interested in him, but William guessed that it wasn''t a good thing. Just like being too high-profile led William to temporary envement, something about the current situation told him that he was once again taking too many risks. I''ll have to hide before every Tribtion. I didn''t expect the Heavens to watch me during someone else''s Tribtion... is it because I''m nearby, or maybe because the Vultures are connected to me? Chapter 301: Obliterated In A Single Move The Tribtion continued like normal, each Chasm Guard passing with ease. The ins Vultures released low, guttural hisses to the sky to dere their decisive victory, but they didn¡¯t have more than a moment of rest before they sensed another Tribtion brewing. William remained concealed with the Illusion Element, which seemed to properly conceal him from the Heavens. With his insane Mana Regeneration, William wouldn¡¯t have to worry about running out any time soon, but he wondered if the Stealth Talent would conceal him at higher Ranks. From Foundation Establishment to the Golden Core Realm, the ins Vultures continued to undergo one Tribtion after the next. Their strength was increased to handle each test with ease, but their injuries weren¡¯t healed before the upgrade. William was forced to secretly use Life Magic to heal the Vultures before each Tribtion, but he was able to do so while still concealed, so he wasn¡¯t discovered a second time. At the end of thest Tribtion, the ins Vultures finally reached the Nascent Soul Realm. ¡ª¡ª¡ª BEAST UPGRADED Chasm Guard One: (F --> A) Learned 2 new abilities. Strength, Speed, Stealth, Mana Efficiency slightly improved. Perception moderately improved. Next rank up: 2000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Only 2 new abilities with all those upgrades? And other than Perception, none of their other stats were improved more than slightly. System, how does this work? -The number of abilities your Companion Beasts can learn depends on their Rarity. Since they¡¯re only Umon, the ins Vultures are lucky to learn even one ability. If they were Common Rarity, your Beasts probably wouldn¡¯t learn a single new ability until the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. Does that mean the Strength, Speed, and other stats work the same way? Are they Nascent Soul Beasts with weakbat power? -They are Nascent Soul Beasts with slightly above-averagebat power. These stats are slightly improved with each level, but they are base statistics. If a normal Nascent Soul Cultivator has 100 Strength, these creatures have 110. William nodded in understanding. It now made sense why Atticus was so strong and almost impossible for others to detect. His Stealth had been improving immensely since the first upgrade. That also means that these guys shouldn¡¯t be able to talk yet. Their intelligence hasn¡¯t gone up once... Once the Tribtion Clouds fully cleared up, William gathered up the Chasm Guards and inspected them each individually. Their stats were nearly identical, with roughly single-point differences from one to the next, so William had no idea which to appoint as a leader. I still have thirteen thousand Points left, I guess I¡¯ll raise one of them to the Soul Formation level, just in case. William proceeded with the upgrade, concealing himself while Chasm Guard One was pushed to S-Rank. Along with the other usual stats, its intelligence was also slightly improved, which would hopefully be enough to act as a leader for the others. "Chasm Guard One, you¡¯ll be the leader of these other nine. Guard the nearby area and destroy any Beast Tides that form within fifty kilometers of here." he ordered, to which the ins Vulture performed a curt nod. It was only a few hours old, technically, but the Vulture seemed to respond like a fully-grown being, which made William relieved. He went to the very center of the Vultures¡¯ assigned area and ced argemunicator that could be activated even by a Magical Beast, then ced a single button on the ground next to it. He spent a few minutes trying to teach Chasm Guard One how to use themunicator, but it didn¡¯t seem to understand and would repeatedly press the button the moment William left, so he was forced to disable it for the time being. It was a bit naive of me to think these guys could usemunicators. I¡¯ll leave this here just in case. With their positions fully established, William could now absorb the Lesser Lightning Veins without concern. He disabled the Illusion Spell and walked up to the Vein with Mana Mode active. The entire process was very swift, the Lightning Vein absorbed in a matter of seconds. While absorbing the Vein, William discovered that a small amount of the Heavens¡¯ aura was entering his body. System, is this safe? -Request requires 35 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. -Some more powerful beings might be able to manipte you using their residual aura, but gaining control over this aura can have interesting effects. Why didn¡¯t you tell me this earlier? Williamined as he redirected the potentially harmful aura to avoid absorbing it with the rest of the Lightning Vein. -The amount you have absorbed up to now isn¡¯t much. I don¡¯t care about that! If someone wants to control me, I¡¯m not going to help them out! William didn¡¯t want to experience envement again, and he had no intention of controlling the Heavens¡¯ aura. While he trusted the System, he could sense that it was wary of these beings. Unless the System was at a level above the Heavens, William couldn¡¯t be confident. -Absorbed Lesser Lightning Vein: +5 PP Continue reading at m|v-l¡¯e m,p| y- r William moved on to the other Lightning Veins in the general vicinity. Instead of five Lesser Veins, the chasm only had three, each positioned an equal distance from the next. He absorbed the other two just as fast as the first, also diverting the Heavens¡¯ aura back into the environment. -Absorbed Lesser Lightning Vein: +5 PP -Absorbed Lesser Lightning Vein: +5 PP -The Chasm is in chaos. A Beast Tide is forming. William¡¯s vision picked up a dark mass rising up from the ground in the distance, which condensed into dozens of Foundation Establishment Stone Golems, as well as almost a hundred Qi Refinement Lightning Scorpions. Instead of teleporting to the group and wiping them all out in one move, William waited in silence for his Chasm Guards to act. He didn¡¯t have to wait long, as Chasm Guard One¡¯s head snapped towards the newly formed Magical Beasts. It grunted, which spurred two Chasm Guards into action. The other seven Chasm Guards remained in ce, while the two Nascent Soul Beasts took flight and called Darkness Mana to their open beaks, releasing two identical pirs of Darkness at the group of Magical Beasts. BOOM! The Darkness Spellsnded at the same time, spreading into a ck miasma that targeted their brains and killed off the entire Beast Tide without severely damaging their bodies. -Your Companion Beasts have killed a Lightning Scorpion (x93): +94 PP -Your Companion Beasts have killed a Stone Golem (x14): +29 PP It didn¡¯t surprise William that two Nascent Soul Beasts were able to do this, but he was very satisfied with Chaos Guard One¡¯s orders. Since the level of the enemy only peaked at the Foundation Establishment Realm, it only sent two of its subordinates to take down the Beast Tide, while the rest held their own positions. Not only this, but the Beast¡¯s natural instincts had kicked in, preserving the bodies so they could be eatenter. It seemed that the Vultures weren¡¯t stupid, they just didn¡¯t have a good understanding of Humans¡¯plex tools, which was understandable. With this in mind, William gave an additional order to his Chaos Guards, asking them to preserve the non-edible Beast materials forter. Chapter 302: Starmetal Safe William set arge foundation with the Earth Element, then used nt Magic to build a medium storehouse above it, roughly the size of a modern barn. He had to make the storehouserger than usual, with arge doorway, since Vultures couldn¡¯t open doors. Since the door would be permanently open, he couldn¡¯t use Spatial Expansion Arrays to increase the space inside, but he could at least reinforce the structure. Vultures traditionally consumed bones and bone marrow as part of their diets, so William didn¡¯t expect them to save many materials anyway. It was mostly a method to save the excess materials that they weren¡¯t able to consume. As the intensity of the Beast Tides grew, the Chasm Guards would eventually have more food than they could eat. Hmm, these Lightning Scorpion Tails seem to have good Lightning Resistance properties for their rank. I wonder if they¡¯d make for good equipment. I can give some to Gunther and Yuming. William showed the Chaos Guards where to store their goods, then left them to their devices and returned to the Fire Mine. It had barely been a few hours, so the Cultivators hadn¡¯t made much progress, but William needed more Potential Points and couldn¡¯t wait. He spent four days inside the Fire Mine, extracting Greater Fire Shards until he had exactly five thousand more. He only gathered this small amount because there wasn¡¯t enough room in his Space Rings, which hadn¡¯t been emptied of Thieves¡¯ Guild bodies or corpses from thest two Beast Tides. He still had the Greater Fire Shards from hisst visit to the Fire Mine! I need somewhere to put all this stuff. At this rate, I¡¯m going to have to make Space Rings every month! William¡¯s list of things to do was getting longer each day, but at least he was strong enough to navigate the Continent almost freely. The Thieves¡¯ Guild would run at the mere mention of William, and even his bounty had been wiped. Withbat power at the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, those that originally contributed to the bounty feared for their lives and no longer dared to plot against William. Even Retribution was surprisingly quiet, but William didn¡¯t get cocky. There were still at least a few dozen Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators, and the Pirs of Justice had four left. If he pushed his enemies too far, they could very well cooperate to take him down. I need to at least reach the Golden Core Realm before that happens. William thought as he checked the System Panel. POTENTIAL POINTS: 137828 System, upgrade my Cultivation Talent. -25000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Cultivation: (SS --> SSR) Effects: Cultivation Speed +2200% >> +4400% SSR-Rank Bonus Effects: -Cultivator¡¯s Intuition: Can see through others¡¯ concealment techniques, revealing their Cultivation without fail. -Enlightened: Chance of Enlightenment increased by 20%. Next rank up: 100000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Perfect, I still have enough even though it¡¯s an Epic Talent. System, upgrade it again. -100000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Cultivation: (SSR --> X) Effects: Cultivation Speed +4400% >> +17600% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Cultivator¡¯s Intuition: Can see through others¡¯ concealment techniques, revealing their Cultivation without fail. -Enlightened: Chance of Enlightenment increased by 30%. -Natural Spirit Aura: Spend 1000 Spirit Qi to create a Spirit Aura that defends against physical or Magic attacks with ease. Strength of the Spirit Aura is equal to your Cultivation Realm plus two levels per the Rarity of your Cultivation Technique above Common. Spirit Aurasts until broken and can be recast until the Host is out of stored Spirit Qi. Next rank up: Requirements not met. Acquire or develop a Mythical or higher Cultivation Technique to view requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Natural Spirit Aura? So I only need to make it once? How strong is my defense with it right now? William asked. -Yes. Your Current Cultivation Technique is Mana Devourer, which is at Epic Rarity, three levels above Common. Because you are in the fifth stage of the Core Formation Realm, your Spirit Aura will be equivalent to the second level of the Golden Core Realm. Hmm, it¡¯s not that useful now, but if I can get a stronger Cultivation Technique and level up... it can be really strong! One William reached the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, wouldn¡¯t his Spirit Aura make him unkible in this World? All he needed to do was survive that long. POTENTIAL POINTS: 12828 I¡¯m poor again, after all that work... but I got what I needed. William smiled. His Cultivation Speed was eight times what it used to be, which meant he should be able to gather 50 Spirit Qi in less than two minutes. That¡¯s over 1500 Spirit Qi per hour, which means he could earn the 35000 Spirit Qi needed for the next stage in less than a day! Before he could Cultivate, though, William concealed his identity as the bounty hunter Serio and returned to Blue Moon City¡¯s prison to drop off the dead thieves that he had killed in the Fire Mine, earning a few hundred million Gold Coins as a reward. Some would say that William didn¡¯t need that much money, and they were probably right, but he hadrge ns for the future, and this wasn¡¯t for him, specifically. He also made sure to switch to cksmith and support Mage Yuming¡¯s identity next, selling off the Magical Beast corpses he had no need for. Their hides, chitin, and pelts would be useful to Blue Moon City, but William wasn¡¯t interested in entering the textile or clothing industry so soon. It would take too much of his time and he¡¯d rather earn a few hundred Mana Stones. William didn¡¯t n to sell off the Greater Fire Shards he earned, instead returning to the Gravitas Ruins where he spent 80 Starmetal Ore and six days refining a massive safe the size of a tool shed. Inside, William used Tier 6 Arrays for the first time to create an borate Spatial Expansion Array, surprised to see that the Starmetal could still handle the stress. He added more Arrays unique to Space Rings, turning the interior of the Starmetal Safe into a region the size of Blue Moon City where he could store as many items as he pleased. Another eight days passed, where William added huge warehouses inside the Starmetal Safe and sorted out every item meticulously. He had an entire warehousemitted solely to the storage of Greater Fire Shards, while others were made for weapons, armors, and many more. He had warehouses divided by Beast Material, storing ws and fangs in one warehouse, and various hides and skins into another. The unique Arrays on the Starmetal Safe were even set up to make it specialized, meaning William could store all his Alchemy ingredients without an issue. The only downside was that it would take nearly an entire minute to open the Starmetal Safe, due to the extremeplexity of the created item. When everything wasplete and William¡¯s Space Rings were empty, he stored the necessary items back into his own Space Rings and took a tour around the miniature world he had essentially built. It was barren and not pretty at all, but having a dedicated warehouse for his items just made William excited. He spent a few more hours adding Tier 6 defensive Arrays, ensuring that not even his friends could open the Starmetal Safe without his permission. System, I¡¯d like to register this Starmetal Safe as an Artifact. Chapter 303: Artifact Bottleneck -Registering Artifact. This may take a while... The System''s confirmation informed William that it would evaluate the Starmetal Safe. Its voice turned slightly robotic as it spoke, so William knew it wouldn''t be a mere couple of minutes before it wasplete. He sat down cross-legged to Cultivate, transforming the ambient Mana Particles into Spirit Qi at incredible speed and creating a massive vortex that made even Uri raise his head to take a look. Is this Master''s Cultivation Technique? It''s even stronger than thest time I saw it... The me Dragon knew a few things about the System just from his connection with William, but it didn''t fully understand until now what was meant when his contract said good performance could improve his potential. Seeing William firsthand, though, taught Uri that it wasn''t as simple as improving one''s strength, but also their ability to gain strength. It was in the name, after all. Potential System... What is the goal of this being? The dragon shook its head and returned to its week-long nap. It could think about these things next month. William''s Cultivation progressed smoothly, and by the end of his eight-hour session, a System message was already waiting in his inbox. -Finished evaluating Artifact quality... -Invented a new Artifact: +25 PP -Invented a Mythical Artifact: +1000 PP -Invented your first Mythical Artifact: +5000 PP Six thousand Potential Points for making this? That''s insane! William eximed. It may not seem like a lot considering William had spent two weeks working on the Starmetal Safe, but it wasn''t a small sum either. He made the safe as a storage option, with little intention of using it to earn Points. I wonder how many Points a Celestial Artifact is worth? Though the difficulty to make one is probably insane. I wonder if my Artifact Belt qualifies as a Celestial Artifact? William used his free time in between Cultivation to organize his Space Rings with dedicated shelves; another task he had pushed forward up until now. Only after this waspleted did he finally start finishing up his Artifact Belt. With every Element that he was aware of unlocked and at S-Rank, William had quite a few Elemental Spheres to create before the Artifact Belt waspleted. Let''s start with the Time Element, I suppose. William chose the Time Element because it would hopefully add a few more safeguards to his Artifact in case something went wrong. If the belt was about to explode, William had a decent chance of reversing the effects back to its original condition before losing the entire Artifact. He retrieved the Mana Gathering Staff and made sure to remove all of its seals, increasing his Mana Control by roughly eighty percent. The original increase was supposed to be one hundred percent, but William found that his Mana Control had exceeded the limitations of the Mana Gathering Staff, so it couldn''t push his strength any further past that point. Regardless, it was enough for William to call Time Mana to his fingertips and create a small silvery-blue sphere that rotated in different directions depending on which way time was moving. If he controlled the Time Mana to speed up, it would rotate clockwise, while slowing it down would make the sphere rotate counterclockwise. It was an interesting detail, but William didn''t fully understand what it meant. Other than resembling time moving forwards and backwards, he couldn''t tell if there was an underlying concept that he had missed. The Time Elemental Sphere was popped into the Artifact Belt very carefully, causing no discernable problems with the Artifact itself. He made sure to turn it on and off, leaving it running for half an hour or so before moving on to the next Elemental Sphere. Sound, Blood, Blessing, Curse. All four Elemental Spheres were added over the next few hours, and by the end of the day William had added every Element except for Chaos. He knew this would be the trickiest part, since the Chaos Elemental upgrade was the most challenging so far. Hemunicated with the System on quite a few asions, ensuring that was he was about to do wouldn''t ruin the Artifact Belt or get him killed. The System mentioned that the most dangerous part of the Chaos Elemental Sphere would be with forming the Sphere itself, and not with cing it within the Artifact Belt. As long as he performed this step correctly, William should have nothing to fear. He tried to condense the Chaos Elemental Sphere without the System''s help since the cost was too expensive, but for some reason it would fall apart as soon as he called the ambient Chaos Mana into a Sphere. It was to be expected that the Chaos Element would be chaotic, but wouldn''t having unparalleled Mana Control offset this? Apparently not. What William didn''t know was that being able to call Chaos Mana outright was already an incredible feat. The few other Cultivators that awakened the Chaos Element werepletely unable to control it. It was both an incredibly rare and incredibly unruly Element, which rarely listened to anyone''smands. Those that gained some control over the Element would usually send the Mana flying towards their opponents, hoping to disrupt the flow of their Mana with the Chaos Magic. Come on... I''m so close! Isn''t there a way to make the Mana do what I want? William tried a few dozen more times, but he just couldn''t think of a way to create a Chaos Elemental Sphere. It was an impossible task, one which even the Element itself didn''t want to cooperate. He was forced to give up for now and make do with an Artifact that only had 23 of the 24 Elements installed. The only one missing was the Chaos Element, and his Order Element wouldn''t be used, since it was too terrifying to control. Just the thought of using the Order Element gave William the shivers, instilling him with fear down to his very core. I''ll try again when I upgrade the Chaos Element to SS-Rank.William decided before crossing his legs to enter another Cultivation session. He wanted to enter the Golden Core Realm as soon as possible. Days passed, which became weeks, before William eventually filled up his Cultivation Base of five hundred thousand Spirit Qi. During this time, he continued to teach his friends various Arrays, and all of them had at least achieved the Basic level. Carl, having done Arrays the longest and the most talented among the group, was easily able to create Intermediate Arrays, and was growing close to breaking into the Realm of Advanced Arrays. It was mostly thanks to William, of course, that they could all progress so quickly in just a few weeks. Being close to creating Advanced Arrays would mean that Carl was almost equivalent to an Array Master from Blue Moon City, which usually took decades if not half a century to reach. With William''s help, however, Carl was able to understand the workings of Arrays on a moreplex level than others could teach him. The only setback was his own memory, since he would have to consult a cheat sheet of sorts to perform all his Arrays. He was incredibly slow, but Arrays were Arrays. Only with practice and repetition could Carl improve his speed. William spent a few days with Gunther and Yuming as well, teaching them cksmithing and Alchemy, respectively. While Gunther was excited to be learning from William, Yuming felt a bit differently. When William had firste to the Array Hall to help out, it was clear that he only had a basic knowledge of Alchemy. When he left for the Gravitas Ruins and returned, however, it was like William was a whole new person. Not only was he still able to perfectly refine many different Pill recipes, but Yuming could tell that William''s knowledge of Alchemy had at least reached the Seventh or even Eighth Tier. Just like Arrays, this was an unbelievable achievement for someone at William''s age. The only question was, how did he do it? How can William be talented in Arrays, Alchemy, cksmithing, and even Cooking? How could he do all these things, have over a dozen Elemental Affinities, insane physical prowess, and the reaction time of a God? How could one single person do all of this in such a short amount of time? Is William a reincarnated Godly being, sent down to the Mortal Realms to start all over again? He wanted to ask, but Yuming was afraid of the consequences. If William was any of these things, why was he still here? He was clearly strong enough to Ascend, but he hadn''t yet. Was it because he wanted to help his friends, or is there something else going on? The others had their doubts about William as well, though very different from one another, but they could all agree on one thing. William was a friend through and through. Chapter 304: Collecting The Loot System, how long has it been? William asked after maxing out his Cultivation Base for a second time. Other than checking on his ins Vultures and regrly going out to clear the Beast Tides near Blue Moon City, William hadn''t done much else. After reaching the limit of five hundred thousand stored Spirit Qi, William had spent all of it to reach the peak of the Core Formation Realm, but he wanted to fill his Cultivation Base one more time before attempting the Tribtion. There was no real reason, really, other than to deal with some [1] OCD of his. -56 days. -Really? How much have my Beasts and other sources earned in that time? -Your Chasm Guards have killed many Beasts near the Chasm: +2144 PP -Potential Farms: +16800 PP -You have yet to visit the Fire Mine, so no Potential Points are gained. Two thousand Points in just under two months, it''ll be a few more months before they earn back what I spent on them, but I''ve gained plenty from Blue Moon''s Beast Tides. My Potential Farms are also very slow, I should upgrade those soon. Overall, William wasn''t upset with his current improvement speed. His Beast yer Title had even reached Mythical after killing 25000 Magical Beasts, which increased his damage to Magical Beasts by 75 percent. William inspected his Heavenly Core with the spiritual senses he had since the Foundation Establishment Realm. The only reason he hadn''t used them before was because he had the Vision Talent, which was much better when looking at others. The Heavenly Core had formed automatically upon reaching the highest ninth stage of the Core Formation Realm. It was a vibrant marble the size of his fist, glowing in all different colors of the rainbow and pulsating slowly as if it had a life of its own. Once William reached the Golden Core Realm, the Heavenly Core would progress to a Heavenly Golden Core, which usually granted Cultivators with insanebat strengthpared to others of the same Realm. It would be the same for William, since both his Physical, Magic, and Passive Talents would benefit greatly from the boost. At that point, hisbat power might reach the Ascension Realm! He left the Gravitas Ruins and checked on the Fire Mine, where his team of Cultivators were waiting with a small storehouse that was half-full of Greater Fire Shards already. Separate from the main group of Greater Fire Shards, William noticed that they also collected a few hundred damaged ones that were extracted improperly and were no longer valuable. He collected all of the Greater Fire Shards in good condition first andpared it to Wen Xai''s notes, then disposed of the others since the System wouldn''t ept it. -Acquired a Greater Fire Shard (x23102): +577550 That''s a lot of Points! William eximed in his mind. Compared to the Potential Points gained from killing Magical Beasts and waiting for his Potential Farms, this was clearly much more efficient. At this rate, he would max out his Talents in no time! Hmm, but the numbers aren''t right. There are twelve missing ording to Wen Xai''s notes. Someone might have broken through my restrictions... "Wen Xai." William said. "Yes, Master William?" "Don''t call me Master. How many Greater Fire Shards are there supposed to be here?" "23 thousand, one hundred and fourteen. Is something wrong, William?" "And how many Greater Fire Shards are here?" "23 thousand, one hundred and fourteen?" Wen Xai looked confused. "Wrong, you''re missing twelve. Where are they, and who has them?" Hearing William''s words, Wen Xai became nervous and called for the other Cultivators within the Fire Mine. The workers of the Fire Mine were all lined up into neat rows and inspected until William eventually discovered the twelve Greater Fire Shards in someone''s Space Ring. As a Tier 6 Array Master and a Space Mage, William had no difficulty breaking into someone else''s Rings. The Greater Fire Shards were neatly packed in a row and almost looked the same as the others, with the only difference being that the boxes had Wen Xai''s stamp of approval on them, meaning they had already been ounted for. William secretly looked at the man''s shoulder, where his Envement Array was much weaker than the others''. It had only been two months, yet this person was already close to breaking away from the restrictions. "I''ll be taking these. They don''t belong to you." William took the Greater Fire Shards from the nervous Cultivator''s Space Ring then left without another word. If the man was stealing resources already, there was probably more going on behind the scenes. -Acquired a Greater Fire Shard (x12): +300 PP --Title upgraded to Rare: +3 PP --Title upgraded to Epic: +20 PP -Loot Goblin (Umon --> Epic): You have expressed a deep desire for Goblinry, the lost art of being greedy for treasure. Your greedy nature has led you to actively waste time looking for everyst scrap of your loot, even interrupting your subordinates'' daily routine. Looting speed increased by 30%. Hey! I was checking their Arrays, don''t say I was wasting time! -Suuuure. And you just had to take the Fire Shards afterwards, right? Well... they''re mine so. Also, since when did you talk like that? -Hmph! Before he left the Fire Mine, William checked on the extraction progress of the cave itself. The number of Greater Fire Shards extracted this time was quite a lot, and even if his entire team of workersbined was still slower than him alone, they were still covering a lot of ground. Over twenty kilometers'' worth of Greater Fire Shards had been extracted already, and there was only a seventy-kilometer expanse where Greater Fire Shards existed. In just over half a year, the Greater Fire Shards would no longer exist! At that point, William would need to send them to extract the Dragonstone, merium, or regr Fire Shards. The Fire Shards would take the same amount of time to extract, but were worth less Points, while the Dragonstone and merium were worth more but took much longer to extract just a single piece. With William''s group, it would probably take an entire day just to extract a single piece of Dragonstone. I can think about thatter. For now, I just need to focus on upgrading my Talents and increasing the speed that I earn Potential Points.William decided. Even if the entire Fire Mine was exhausted, he didn''t care. Because... POTENTIAL POINTS: 669503 With so many Potential Points, William could upgrade anything he wanted! Even his Legendary Elements, which were all at S-Rank, could be upgraded for just fifty thousand Points. As long as he didn''t mind dying to the Chaos upgradeter, of course. No. I may have a lot of Points, but I need to focus on the long-term here. If I keep losing lifespan after every upgrade, I''m going to die of old age sooner orter. William organized his System Panel and made a list of things he absolutely needed to upgrade, setting aside the rest forter. [1] OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder): A mental and behavioral disorder that causes one to have unwanted thoughts or fears and repetitive behaviors that interfere with daily life. OCD is moremon in mild cases. Chapter 305: Rapid Spending Back in the Gravitas Ruins, William had finally decided on what to upgrade. I can''t pass on the Potential Farms right now. I''m going to have to Cultivate a lot soon, so these should be upgraded first. System, upgrade both my Potential Farms to C-Rank. -200000 PP It was a painful request, costing William a third of his total Potential Points in one go, but time would make up for it. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE-- --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT-- ... ... --UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL-- SYSTEM RANK: (C --> C+) -6263 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup. Next rank up: 993737PP *New Changes: -System has reached version 2.2 -Host''s concealment from the Heavens have improved slightly. -One additional Farm Slot. -Companion Shop improved. Magical Beasts hatched will have moderately better Magic Affinities.¡ª¡ª¡ª Another farm slot, but I just spent so many Potential Points... William decided to go through with the purchase regardless, since he had so many Potential Points and this would boost his ie even faster. He swiftly upgraded the third Potential Farm to C-Rank, losing another 111 thousand Potential Points while the farm expanded further. POTENTIAL POINTS: 358403 Almost half gone already. Let''s do some real upgrades now. "Atticus,e here." William ordered to the snake that was sleeping nearby. "Yess, Masster." Atticus replied while raising hisrge head that would have broken through William''s old ceiling. He followed William through arge long-distance Portal that took him to the Tribtion grounds, then sat still as Will scrolled through his System Panel. System, upgrade Atticus to A-Rank. -25000 PP Atticus'' body suddenly grew by a stage, with no warning. William was forced to jump back to avoid a second sudden growth spurt, where Atticus became over a hundred meters tall. His scales elongated, rattling like chainmail armor as he slithered... into the air! He can fly?William eximed. A snake without wings... was slithering through the air as if it was not air but soft sand under his body. He navigated the air currents with ease, riding them like waves and performing corkscrews to get around the tricky ones. The upgrade continued for a while, eventually turning the hundred-meter Mythical Rat Snake into one over two hundred meters, while his Cultivation reached the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm. He was almost the same size as me Dragon Uri''s previous form! ¡ª¡ª¡ª BEAST UPGRADED Atticus: (B --> A) Learned 4 new abilities. Strength slightly improved. Speed and Stealth greatly improved. Defensive abilities massively improved. Size massively increased. Intelligence greatly improved. Illusion Domain improved. Next rank up: 100000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª There was no Tribtion throughout the entire upgrade, which was still very odd in William''s opinion. Now that he had quite a few Potential Points, however, William felt it wouldn''t be a bad idea to ask. System, why hasn''t Atticus undergone any Heavenly Tribtions? -Request requires 35 Potential Points. Yes/No? Wow, it''s much cheaper than I remember. Confirm. -Atticus'' natural Illusion Domain is enough to conceal his presence from the Heavens. It also has to do with his previous bloodline, which has since been improved. As long as Atticus is below the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, the Heavens won''t be able to notice the snake. I have the Illusion Domain too, does that mean I can avoid the Heavenly Tribtions as well? -No, because you are not a Magical Beast, and even if your Beast bloodline was as powerful as your Rat Snake''s old bloodline, it would only conceal you up to the Nascent Soul Realm. The moment you are noticed by the Heavens, every tribtion you skipped up until then would activate simultaneously. Which means Atticus will have to fight every Tribtion if his Illusion Affinity doesn''t improve past that point. William looked at Atticus, whose beautifully purple scales had turned the Mythical Rat Snake into a majestic being whose eyes glimmered with intelligence. It surfed through the air with grace like an eastern-style dragon, its threatening aura even attracting over Sir Reynolds, who thought an enemy had somehow broken in. When Sir Reynolds saw Atticus, though, he couldn''t help but exim in awe at the qualities of the massive snake. Its resplendent purple scales were definitely strong enough to handle the attacks of any Soul Formation Beast, and its other physical qualities told the Artifact Spirit that Atticus was likely able topete with weak Tribtion Transcendence opponents. Cultivators couldn''t evenpare. Only a Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator could possibly injure this snake, which was insane considering Atticus was more of an assassin-type Magical Beast. His strengths lied in speed and stealth, not defense or attack power. When Atticus released his Illusion Domain, its range spread across almost the entire Gravitas Ruins, spreading thick purple fog that wiped away even one''s senses. Not only could Atticus not be detected, but his enemies wouldn''t even be able to sense each other! It was a superior form of Illusion Magic, something that Sir Reynolds had only ever heard of. Even Riyald probably had never met someone with such an incredible Elemental Affinity. Was it the rumored SS-Rank? And to think a Magical Beast had such unbelievable talent! Little did Sir Reynolds know that Atticus didn''t have SS-Rank Illusion Magic. In fact, his old Illusion Domain was even stronger than William''s current S-Rank Illusion Affinity. Now that he had been upgraded, it was probably close to SSR-Rank! William could tell at a nce that upgrading his own Illusion Affinity wouldn''t be enough topare to Atticus. This was why William didn''t have any qualms with his next request for the System. System, upgrade Atticus again. -100000 PP William stepped back quite far this time, until he was over five kilometers away. It turned out to be a good choice, since Atticus'' size instantly doubled to four hundred meters, continuously growing in size as his scales struggled to grow with his body. Instead of growing magically like before, Atticus shed his skin at a certain point, his seemingly heavy armored scales floating down like a feather. William teleported next to Atticus and stored the snakeskin in his Space Ring just in case it was damaged, then teleported away to watch the remainder of the upgrade. Sir Reynolds, who was already stunned by Atticus'' indomitable aura was nowpletely still. He stared with wide eyes as Atticus'' Cultivation rose to the peak of the Soul Formation Realm, just a touch away from Tribtion Transcendence. It wasn''t just fast Cultivation, it was instant! He didn''t understand how it worked, nor could he fathom how it had happened in the first ce. Was it a gift from the Gods? He looked at William, who had previously shown off simr improvements. Was it because this boy was the snake''s master? William looked back at Sir Reynolds that was four kilometers away, opening a portal for the Artifact Spirit so he coulde closer. "Did you do this?" Sir Reynolds asked. William nodded, "I tried to hide it before because I was afraid of being targeted, but you''ve already seen enough. I can send my own Cultivation to my pets." William had thought of a good exnation for his Talents and had even considered a fake "drawback" that would prevent others from wanting to exploit him. "Then..." Chapter 306: Golden Eyes "No, I can only do it to Magical Beasts, and they need to sign a contract with me first. Not only that, but it all depends on my Cultivation speed and the others'' talent. Atticus is very talented, which is why I can upgrade him so quickly." William exined. "Oh..." Sir Reynolds nodded in understanding. It was a heaven-sent ability, but it wouldn''t be very useful to Riyald, whose talents were only a bit above average. They could tell by Atticus'' Domain that the snake was much more talented than Riyald. Atticus continued to grow in size until it reached an insane eight hundred meters long. When it raised its massive head, the eyeballs were roughly two hundred meters above William. He almost couldn''t fit in the new room William made! Not only that, but Atticus was evenrger than Uri, even after the dragon''s most recent breakthrough! ¡ª¡ª¡ª BEAST UPGRADED Atticus: (A --> S) Learned 9 new abilities. Strength moderately improved. Discover hidden stories at m,v l''e-NovelBin Speed and Stealth massively improved. Defensive abilities slightly improved. Size massively increased. Intelligence moderately improved. Illusion Domain has be Illusion Territory. Next rank up: 250000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Illusion Territory? What is that? William asked the System. -It''s the Illusion Domain, but better. The range isrger, the effects are stronger, and a Domain can''tpare to a Territory at all! Let''s try it out then. William couldn''tmunicate telepathically with Atticus without the System''s help, but all it took was a simple nod from afar for the snake to understand. The Mythical Rat Snake paused for a moment, its eyes dting as if in deep focus. A few seconds passed, then a minute, as Atticus did his best to grasp the feeling of the Illusion Territory. Another minute passed, then a third. Just as Sir Reynolds was bing bored of watching, Atticus suddenly disappeared from his perception. There was no smoke, no preparation time; he was just... gone. William could still sense his connection with Atticus, so he knew the snake was still in the same spot as before, but even he with the S-Rank Illusion Affinity couldn''t detect it. It was as if Atticus'' very existence was erased from the world, almost like the special effect of William''s Stealth Talent that turned himpletely invisible. When Atticus started moving, William noticed another main difference between the Stealth Talent''s Bonus Effect and the Territory of Illusion. Atticus'' body drew closer, but he still couldn''t sense it. The snake even dove underground, but nothing about the environment changed, as if Atticus had merged with the World itself. He can move through objects unimpeded? This is insane! To be honest, William always thought thatrge Magical Beasts had a massive disadvantagepared to the smaller ones. That was becauserge Beasts were both easy targets, and also very clumsy. If one was a giant being in arge City, it was easy to identally trample a building. But with the Illusion Territory, Atticus could not only perfectly conceal his presence from others, but also avoid causing unnecessary damage. And he is a Soul Formation Beast now, too, which means that William could battle up to four Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators with Domains at the same time with their help. Possibly more, depending on the level of his enemy. William''s assumption was based on a Cultivator at the same level as Supreme Left or Unbreakable Right, so in reality the group could probably take on double that amount. The only thing that remained to be invincible in this World was to reachbat strength in the Ascension Realm. If he could do that, there would no longer be a need to remain low-profile except from the Heavens themselves. I''ve alreadye here with Atticus. I might as well go through with the Tribtion now. William thought as he focused the Spirit Qi stored in his Dantian. He ordered Atticus through the System to remain hidden with the Illusion Element, since he didn''t want the snake identally caught in his Tribtion. It wasn''t that Atticus couldn''t handle it, but that William found it unnecessary to take such a risk. Before Sir Reynolds even had a moment to recover from his shock, Tribtion clouds began to form in the sky. He turned his head to see William consuming multiple Tier 4 Pills that he had refined earlier. The Heavenly Resistance Pills were consumed first, followed by the Earth Boosting and Life Boosting Pills that would improve the effects of the two Elements. Last were the Reinforcement Pills, which covered his skin with a thin veil that almost looked like a secondyer of skin with a metallic sheen. His senses were sealed during thest Tribtion, so he hadn''t had a chance to see the clouds forming before. When William looked up to the sky and saw orange-tinted clouds that were starting to turn red, William became a bit nervous. The Tribtion''s strength had already reached the Soul Formation Realm and was steadily climbing until it broke into the Tribtion Transcendence Realm mere secondster. The range of the clouds expanded from 100 kilometers to 500 kilometers in an instant, stretching past the limits of the Gravitas Ruins. The clouds continued to gather even though they had reached the Gravitas Ruins'' limits. The clouds couldn''t spread further outward, so they stacked atop other clouds, increasing the intensity of the Tribtion''s aura even further. -The Heavens are watching. Yes, I''m well aware that they''re watch- William couldn''tplete his sentence as a pair of massive golden eyes appeared in the sky above. The golden eyes looked left, then right, then slowly returned their position to the center to look directly at William. His body was pressed to the ground in an instant by the mere aura, unable to move even an inch. He tried to raise his head, but it didn''t work at all. With his Vision Talent, however, William could still see therge golden eyes blink once. The aura suppression disappeared, and William could finally regain his footing. He looked up to the sky once again, where therge golden eyes were still looking in his direction. They seemed somewhat curious, rather than hostile, so William took the opportunity to ask. "Hey! Are you a guy or a girl?" The eyes blinked as if not expecting such a question, then narrowed slightly before a voice floated down from above. Nothing was said telepathically, nor did the voice surround William from all directions. "Is this a serious question? You meet a God for the first time in your life and your question is "what gender are you?" Really?" Definitely a girl.William nodded in his head. "Are you really a God, then?" he asked. "I don''t hold conversations with mortals." the golden eyes blinked again and disappeared. "What do you mean?!? Is this not a conversation?" William shouted to the sky. The Tribtion clouds rumbled and a few stray lightning strikes hit the ground next to William even though the Tribtion hadn''t started yet. Momentster, the orange-tinted clouds shook and copsed. William didn''t understand what was happening. It was almost as if the orange clouds had been dispersed, but he wasn''t the one that triggered it. Did I beat the Tribtion, System? What happened? -The Tribtion is regathering its spent energy. Regathering? What''s the point of that? Did Golden Girl disperse the Tribtion herself? -Golden Girl? Why are you acting stupid again? It''s just a joke, System. Can''t I have fun once in a while? -With the Heavens? Sure, it''s your life not mine. The sky of the Gravitas Ruins brightened once again, confusing Sir Reynolds. He hadn''t even seen William move, did he beat the Tribtion already? Or worse... did he disperse it? The Artifact Spirit became somewhat nervous, but his attention returned to the sky when he saw a small cloud form above their heads. It was a orange cloud like before, but not even a moment passed before it turned light red, signaling a change in the Tribtion''s nature. The red clouds gathered even more, expanding across the entire Ruins in just a few seconds, then stacking atop one another with strength at the beginning of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. Atticus, who was inside the Territory of Illusion, had already exhausted half of his Mana and could sense that this Tribtion wouldn''t be over in a short period of time. The Mythical Rat Snake slithered through the ground, even phasing through Riyald''s Arrays as he returned to William''s room and forcefully condensed his size to be a mere tenth of what he was before. Having been with William for a long time, Atticus was hardly ever afraid of anything, since his Master usually solved every problem in an instant. This time, however, he curled up into a small ball, cowering because of his Magical Beast''s natural fear of the Heavens. Is that what I think this is?William looked at the red clouds in the sky with a hint of worry. In the library at the Five Elements Sect while looking for information on the Thieves'' Guild, William remembered reading a small bit of historical information about this type of Tribtion. It was said that the only survivor of the red-colored Tribtion was the founder of the Thieves'' Guild, but he had long since died after attempting the second Tribtion. It was obvious how brutal this type of test would be. The clouds condensed one more time, turning blood red as they expanded once more, their strength reaching the third stage of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. A massive bolt of Heavenly Lightning brewed, gathering the ambient Mana of a hundred kilometers to attack its target, William. -The Heavens are annoyed. Prepare yourself for the Superior Tribtion. Chapter 307: Equivalent To The Ascension Realm? Asking if she''s a boy or girl annoyed her? How unreasonable are these people?Williamined inwardly as he prepared for the first iing Heavenly Lightning Bolt. While its strength was in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, William wasn''t too worried about its effects, only hoping to avoid as much damage as possible and prevent himself from aging any more than needed. A sh of red light blinded everyone present as the first Heavenly Lightning Bolt dropped from the sky, crashing against a dome of Earth that was erected at the veryst second. The Earth Dome held strong, easily able to withstand the Heavens'' first test without issue. William already had the strength to deal with a Tribtion Transcendence Tribtion given his SS-Rank Earth Element. With the support of the Earth Boosting Pills, however, this effect was further strengthened, preventing his Dome from even taking a small amount of damage. Any other Core Formation Cultivator would have been obliterated by now,pletely unable to defend against the Superior Tribtion, but William was perfectly fine. If anything, he was calm, having already prepared thoroughly for the Superior Tribtion. Seeing that its first attack was ineffective, the Heavens prepared a second Lightning Bolt that directly reached the fourth stage, but it was useless. William''s Earth Dome was too strong, even able to deal with a single attack from peak Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators. How could a mere fourth level Tribtion Lightning cause serious damage? Only a few cracks were formed on the tough Earth Dome, pieces of loose soil falling from above andnding on William''s face. The third Lightning Bolt came down immediately after, finally destroying the Earth Dome that William erected. Of course, the Lightning couldn''t get far before reaching a second Earth Dome, which was raised well before the first was destroyed. William had been preparing the second Earth Dome since the start of the Heavenly Tribtion, ready to cast it immediately after the first Spell gave way. He repeated this process for the fourth, fifth, and eventually sixth Heavenly Lightning Bolts, which each increased by a stage in strength, respectively. The seventh Lightning Bolt was at the ninth stage of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, which was also thest strike that increased by an entire Realmpared to thest. Even with the Earth Boosting Pills, William''s Earth Domes were only able to survive a single strike from the ninth stage Tribtion Lightning, shattering to pieces before the second could even form. This seems to be about the limit of my current Earth Element. It probably won''t hold against the next Lightning by itself. William thought. But this was why he had prepared multiple Tier 4 Pills of different types, since he wasn''t expecting to have an easy time dealing with a Superior Tribtion. William''s Hard Skin activated first to defend against the remainder of the seventh Lightning Bolt, with strength at the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm itself. The remnants couldn''t even scratch William''s skin, so he was once again left unharmed by the Heavenly Tribtion, which made the golden-eyed girl up above incredibly angry. How is this asshole still uninjured? The Tribtion is almost over! I could sense that his talent was immense, but I didn''t expect him to go this far. I need to test him more! She waved her finger in a circle while pointing downward, simr to how a child would y with the water in a bathtub when it was draining to make a small whirlpool. As if heeding the girl''smands, the red Tribtion Clouds swirled in the same pattern, condensing further and further as its strength reached the very peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. The golden eyes in the sky appeared once again, but this time they seemed indifferent. They blinked once, which seemed to trigger another change in the Tribtion as it turned a darker shade of red. "I''vebined the power of the eighth and ninth Tribtion Bolts into one. If you can defend against them both, I''ll give you a suitable reward." the golden-eyed girl said simply, as if it didn''t matter much to her whether William lived or died. If he lived, then so be it. She would be true to her word and grant him a singr gift¡ª one that would make a mortal like him drool. If he died, however, this William would be just another forgotten memory of a genius that had potential but pushed his luck too far. It would be a shame, really, to see a talent like William go, but she had seen plenty. Not only that, but he was meddling in the ns of someone that wouldn''t take the humiliation sitting. It was likely that, even if she did grant William a suitable gift, he probably wouldn''t live long enough to fully utilize it. Hearing the girl''s words, William''s expression hardened and he became serious. Now wasn''t the time to joke around with all-powerful beings that could snap his neck with a flick of their wrist. Now, loot was on the line! The Domain of Earth opened, one that the Heavens had already seen before, followed by the Domain of Ice that was much weaker but stacked on top of it without an issue. Both Domains cast the most powerful Dome Spell that William could muster, catching Sir Reynolds off guard once again with the sudden spike in William''s aura. He''s still hiding his strength? Insane! The two defensive Elemental Spells blurred together and formed identical Domes that soon became one. It was an Earth Domeyered on both sides with ice¡ª cold enough to addyers of defense but warm enough to keep the Spell from bing brittle. The golden-eyed girl raised an eyebrow upon seeing the enhanced effects of the Domains that William previously cast in one of his more recent battles. It seemed that the boy had consumed a few Pills that enhanced their effects, hence why thebined eighth and ninth Tribtion Lightning wouldn''t stand a chance. Then let''s go a little bit further! I''ll raise his reward aspensation, I just want to see him get hurt. That''s what he deserves for speaking so casually to someone like myself! Her finger wagged back and forth, causing the dark-red Tribtion clouds to condense slightly more, which raised the power of the final Tribtion Lightning Bolt to the first level of the Ascension Realm. William almost couldn''t perceive what had changed. If not for the Cultivation Talent disying the level of the iing threat, he wouldn''t have noticed that the Tribtion Lightning had grown even stronger than before! The Ascension Realm... how strong will it be? William didn''t have to ponder long, as the sky was once again lit up, blinding all parties as the powerful Lightning Bolt tore through space itself on its way to William''s position. The secondyer of space was torn open, which the Lightning Bolt passed through and used to jump to William''s position even faster than expected. He tried toyer two more Earth and Ice Domes on top of one another, but the ambient Mana was disturbed and he was only able to condense one more identical Spell, which the Ascension Realm Heavenly Lightning Bolt tore through at a rapid pace. One second... two seconds... three seconds... The Heavenly Lightning continued to tunnel through William''syered Spells that he continued to pour Mana into. By the fifth second, the Heavenly Lightning Bolt found a weakness and tore through the Spell like paper, rushing at William''s body with incredible speed. Only a quarter of its original strength was remaining, but he was forced to activate the Life Domain to heal himself just a single second after the Tribtion Lightning touched the skin of his arm. His arm waspletely numbed by the effects of the Heavenly Tribtion Lightning, and fell off but his Life Domain grew it back just in time for it to be destroyed a second time. His Regeneration Talent tried to kick in at that moment, but William suppressed the Talent to only take away a year of his lifespan, something he had learned to do over time. -Your Regeneration Talent has triggered a side effect: +1 Age The final Tribtion Bolt was eventually dispersed, after almost five minutes of back and forth between William''s Talents and the Heavenly Tribtion. It was a tough battle for both parties, but William was now about to be a Golden Core Cultivator, which was yet another step closer to Ascending. The golden-eyed girl knew William would pass the tribtion the moment his Life Domain opened, but she didn''t expect him to take so little damage. He still lost an arm, albeit temporarily, so she epted it as a win in her books even though she was now obligated to provide William with a suitable reward. "Good job, young Cultivator. I will now present to you your gift, but don''t get toofortable. The Superior Tribtions will only be stronger over time, and your chances of surviving aren''t looking very good." the golden-eyed girl said. Chapter 308: Heavens Aura The golden eyes disappeared, reced by a pir of golden light that enveloped William''s body. The pir of light condensed into a golden mark on William''s neck that he couldn''t remove no matter how hard he willed it. Its shape was simr to the one that Carl had on his summoning scroll, but William felt a different aura from this one than Carl''s scroll. It wasn''t sinister, but something about the mark made him want to bow his head, which was unbelievable to say the least. -Survived a Heavenly Tribtion: +10 PP -Survived a Superior Heavenly Tribtion: +1000 PP Am I enved again?William became a bit worried. If this was his reward for clearing the Superior Tribtion, then he had seriously messed up. -No, it''s a Heavenly Mark, endowed with one or more abilities that belong to the caster. This is an extremely rare and powerful reward, only given to those that gain the favor of the Heavens. -Received a Heavenly Mark: +10000 PP -Heavenly Mark added to Status Panel. William sighed in relief upon hearing the System''s exnation. Given the number of Potential Points it gave out it had to be something good. He only had one doubt. Aren''t I their enemy? How could I suddenly gain their favor?William asked the System. It didn''t make sense to him how someone that had sent a Superior Tribtion his way would suddenly give him a reward. If he was the Godly being and someone offended him, he might even consider killing the person, not giving them a gift! -System level too low to respond. Upgrade System to B-Rank to upgrade the Ask Function. Ugh, never mind. It''s probably somethingplicated that I''ll find outter. If William had to guess, there was some sort of ulterior motive behind Golden Girl''s gift. There was no such thing as a free lunch in the World, or Worlds, that is. He checked his status panel to see the information on the Heavenly Mark, and what he saw stunned him speechless. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Human -Age: 353 -Lifespan: 1200 Years -Cultivation: Heavenly Golden Core 1 (0/75000) -Heavenly Mark: Heaven''s Aura, ??? STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 5000/5000 -Mana: 4800/6800 -Fame: 145 -Humanity: 57 -Attention: 16 -Soul Strength: 1250 -Cultivation Base: 499900/2000000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª Forgetting the massive increase in both his Health and Mana, William now had a Heavenly Mark listed below the other statuses, which had two different effects. The first was called Heaven''s Aura, which ording to the information allowed him to mimic the aura of a Heavenly Being for a short time, which coulde in handyter. Additionally, he had a ??? ability, which had no information but excited William nheless. Perhaps it was a special lifesaving skill that would only trigger when he was in the face of death, or some type of power-up move that only activated under certain conditions. System, why is my Cultivation Realm called Heavenly Golden Core? Is it because of this new Heavenly Mark? -No, it''s because you reached the Golden Core Realm with a Heavenly Core. Ah, I see. William didn''t feel as aplished about reaching the Heavenly Golden Core Realm, since many Cultivators already knew of methods to gain a Heavenly Core in the Core Formation Realm. It wasn''t really a secret, which meant Golden Core Cultivators almost always had one. Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead. William remembered a certain phrase that was once said in his old World. It was clear that whoever discovered how to gain a Heavenly Core in the past had never heard those words before. With Atticus'' upgradespleted, the Heavenly Tribtion over, and no sign of the golden-eyed girl, William no longer had any reason to remain in the usual Tribtion ground. He created a long-distance portal, teleporting inside his room where Atticus was already waiting. The snake looked incredibly excited, eager to show off his strength after progressing two whole Realms in just a few hours. It was only after William promised to let Atticus out again soon that the Mythical Rat Snake finallyid down to rx. With just under five hundred thousand Spirit Qi stored, William was able to immediately break through to the second level of the Golden Core Realm. The cost to reach each new stage was now increasing by twenty-five thousand Spirit Qi at a time, but William had more than enough Spirit Qi to keep going. The System also simplified things greatly by just dividing the Golden Core Realm by another nine stages, simr to how it did with the Core Formation Realm. From Golden Core one to three, William''s strength would be equivalent to the Small Golden Core. Stages four through six were the Medium Golden Core, while stages seven through nine were the Refined Golden Core. After that, William would need to undergo another Tribtion before the shell of his Heavenly Golden Core shattered and became his Nascent Soul. From Golden Core 2 to Golden Core 5, William broke through stage by stage, feeling his physical and Magic abilities increase drastically from one stage to the next. By this point, William guessed that he was nearly invincible in this World, if not close to it. If he couldn''t win, he could still run. That much he was confident at least. I have just under a quarter million Potential Points left.William thought as he scrolled through his System Panel. Now was a better time than ever to upgrade his other Talents, so he decided to do that first before anything else. System, upgrade my Stamina, Reflexes, Hard Skin, and Regeneration Talents.William ordered after doing some quick math. -200000 PP The System extracted almost William''s entire remaining bnce of Potential Points, leaving him a pauper with only 44 thousand Points left, hardly enough to upgrade one of his high-ranked Talents again. That said, the four Physical Talents had done William well so far, and he didn''t n to leave them behind when the Regeneration Talent was always triggering its side effect. I may have over a thousand years of lifespan now, but that won''tst me in the long-term. If I have to upgrade the Chaos Element again, I''ll probably exhaust most if not all of it at once. The four Physical Talent upgrades went by smoothly, and after just a few minutes the System gave the notification that they were allpleted. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Stamina (Common): (SSR --> X) Effects: Resistance to fatigue +2400% >> +9600% X-Rank Bonus Effects: Speedy Recovery: Quickly recover your stamina when out ofbat. Maxed Out: When at full stamina, your first physical move is 100% more powerful and efficient. Running On Empty: When at zero stamina, your next physical move will be 400% more powerful and efficient, at the cost of your consciousness afterwards. Next rank up: Requirements Locked. Ascend or upgrade the System to A-Rank to unlock the next Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Regeneration (Common): (SSR --> X) Effects: Natural healing ability improved by 2400% >> 9600%, then healing speed improved by another 2400% >> 9600% X-Rank Bonus Effect: Death Defying: Host can recover from almost any physical injury, no matter the severity. Side Effect: Healing injuries hastens the rate of cell division and will cause the Host to age by one year after healing 120 >> 480 years'' worth of injuries. Next rank up: Requirements Locked. Upgrade the System to A-Rank or purchase the Rejuvenation Talent to unlock the next Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Reflexes (Common): (SSR --> X) Effects: Reaction time +2400% >> 9600% X-Rank Bonus Effects: elerated Reflexes: When faced with killing intent or targeted by physical or magical attacks, time is slowed by 48 times from the Host''s perspective only. Reflexive Learning: When narrowly dodging one or multiple attacks, one random attack within one meter of the Host will be selected and be partiallyprehended by five percent. Next rank up: Requirements Locked. Ascend or upgrade the System to A-Rank to unlock the next Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Hard Skin (Common): (SSR --> X) Effects: Skin toughness +2400% >> 9600% X-Rank Bonus Effect: None Next rank up: Requirements Locked. Ascend or upgrade the System to A-Rank to unlock the next Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª The new Running on Empty bonus effect for the Stamina Talent is definitely overpowered! But, the Regeneration and Hard Skin Talents hardly have any bonuses. I guess it''s alright since they''re already powerful on their own, though. I wonder what the Rejuvenation Talent is? I wonder if I can gain ess to it before I Ascend... William thought as he moved on to the next Talent in his System Panel. --Attack Reflection: SS (15000PP to next rank) System, I still have some Potential Points left. Can you upgrade the Attack Reflection Talent for me? -15000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Attack Reflection (Rare): (SS --> SSR) Effects: Reflect physical attacksunched at you for up to 80% >> 90% of the original strength. Activates even if the attack is blocked by the Host. SSR-Rank Bonus Effect: Whenever a physical attack causes zero physical damage to the Host, reflected damage doubles >> triples. Side Effect: Taking physical damage increases the Host''s hunger. Next rank up: 75000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Chapter 309: This Newcomer Is Terrifying! William couldn''t help but feel stunned upon seeing the new effects of his various Talents. Best of all, his Attack Reflection Talent would now reflect triple the damage he would normally take if he perfectly blocked the attack. Previously he would only reflect twice as much damage, which was already an impressive number, but now he could effectively deal with his enemies like he did Gu Dianlong''s younger self during the Trial. Speaking of Gu Dianlong, where did he go off to?William wondered. During his battle with Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right, Gu Dianlong didn''t even have the ability to participate, or so he wanted others to think. While battling with Gu Dianlong, William had repeatedly channeled his Mana into the old Sect Master in hopes that he''d be free from his Envement Array. Gu Dianlong had even cooperated by releasing his Time Magic over and over to reverse the state of everything nearby except the Array itself. If Gu Dianlong hadmitted his Mana to fighting William properly, William couldn''t be sure if he would even have the ability to defeat the two peak Cultivators afterwards. I should thank him properly. And while I''m at it I can run a few... errands. William motioned to Atticus and me Dragon Uri toe over. They both looked at William curiously, wondering if he was going to take them out again. "Let''s go out," he said to his two Companions, who both became excited. Uri hadn''t reached a new Realm in a long time and was eager to show off his strength, and Atticus just loved to explore the other regions. He didn''t like to sit still at all. William sent a quick message to Sir Reynolds since Riyald wasn''t around at the moment, asking the Artifact Spirit to keep his friends safe. It was mostly just a formality, since the bottom of the Gravitas Ruins should be the safest ce possible, but he didn''t entirely trust the other enved Cultivators that were also present. William was supposed to be helping his Master collect souls for the Soul Cultivation Method, but the number of Cultivators entering the Gravitas Ruins had severely slowed since the three Trial Towers were cleared. The remaining Trials were easy to clear for thetest batch of Cultivators, whosebat strength was breaking into the Nascent Soul Realm, just a few levels below Soul Formation. William still didn''t understand how it was happening, but it worried him greatly. It didn''t matter how much he had been improving over thest few months. If these Cultivators continued to progress at the rate they were, eventually he wouldn''t stand a chance against their immense numbers. If it was thousands of Nascent Soul equivalent Cultivators today, what about a few months from now? Would they be close to the Soul Formation Realm? And after a year, would there be thousands of new Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators? At that point, William would have to give it his all to survive an encounter, but he had the Potential System! Wouldn''t it be embarrassing to lose to a group like them? Which was why William decided to go out of the Gravitas Ruins earlier rather thanter. Ever since the breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm, William could sense that the World was starting to reject his presence. It was very slight at first, but now that he was at the fifth level of the Golden Core Realm, merely moving too quickly would cause miniature fluctuations that distorted the surrounding area. If hemitted to a full-on attack, William feared the World would kick him out immediately. Master did say that one could Ascend with their body alone, maybe this is what''s happening. William shook his head and decided to forget about this for now. Nothing would happen as long as he was careful. He left the Gravitas Ruins with his two Companion Beasts after meeting with his friends, bringing along arge map of the Azures Continent. He flew towards the Five Elements Sect first, opting not to use Space Magic to teleport there directly. Instead, William kept his Mana Mode active and crudely mapped out the surroundings, marking down each Lesser, Standard, and Greater Vein that he spotted on the way. He even noticed a Superior nt Vein deep underground in a certain direction, which was promptly added to the list. He could see wisps of Mana emanating from the massive World Core and leading towards a group of Greater nt Veins within fifty kilometers, which was more like a structure than it was a treasure. Is it an Array formation made of World Cores? How could anyone even absorb the Superior Core? It seemed impossible for a normal person, to be honest. The System had already exined that absorbing enough Greater Veins would lead to an Elemental Beast Tide, but the Superior Vein clearly required one to do exactly that first. Would someone need to battle against a Beast Tide before reaching the Superior Core? He reached the Five Elements Sect not muchter, floating down from the sky in front of the massive door that guarded the Sect. It was covered in Perfect Arrays, so William could burst through in an instant, but he didn''t feel the need. "It''s you!" an old man with a disgruntled expression walked out of his post to look at the man that flew in from the sky. William hadn''t changed his identity, so he was recognized in an instant. "Elder Fuxi, hello." William smiled. He had a few problems with this Elder in the past, but they weren''t past the point of no return, and William chose to let bygones be bygones. "Why are you here? If you want to destroy the Sect, you''ll have to go through me first!" the old man readied a Fire Magic Spell nervously, fully aware that he didn''t stand a chance against the monstrously talented youth. A Fireball roughly the size of a city block appeared in Elder Fuxi''s grasp, but William wasn''t perturbed at all. He smiled and flicked his finger to partially trigger the Reversed Fire Domain, absorbing the Mana from the Elder''s Spell and erasing the presence of all Fire Mana in the area. Elder Fuxi was a pure Fire Mage at C-Rank and many times weaker than William, so the Reversed Fire Domain instantly exhausted his Mana and forced him to his knees on the verge of Mana sickness. This was what would happen to all pure Fire Mages when they came in contact with William''s Domain, as long as the quality of their Mana was a few levels below William''s. The fact that Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right didn''t fully exhaust their Mana aftering in contact with William''s Domain was yet another testament of their overwhelming strength. "Y-you... what are you going to do?" Elder Fuxi became nervous. He began to regret ever siding against William, lowering his head in shame as he never expected the boy to grow so quickly. "I''m not here for anything much, and I won''t kill you either, so rx." William said. "I''m looking for Sect Master Gu Dianlong. Do you know where I can find him?" "Sect Master Gu? I don''t know. He hasn''t returned in a few months." the Elder said. Discover exclusive tales at mvl William narrowed his eyes, "Are you sure? You''re not lying, are you?" Elder Fuxi nodded his head furiously. "I swear, he''s not here." William''s Mana Mode was still active, so he peered inside the Sect and searched for traces of Gu Dianlong''s Mana signature. As Elder Fuxi had said, it seemed Gu Dianlong hadn''t been here in a long time. "Do you know where he might have gone?" William asked. "I don''t." William sighed, it seemed he wouldn''t find the Sect Master easily. If he''s not in the Sect and hasn''t been here in a while, it might be a good idea to check with Retribution.William thought. He knew the group was strong, but now was probably the best time to make his mark. While he was at it, William could erase a few of his friends'' future enemies. With 1200 total years of lifespan and an X-Rank Regeneration Talent, William wasn''t worried about having a prolonged battle with Retribution, but he would still avoid it if possible. I can talk or fight, but first I need to find them. He wasn''t sure where to locate Retribution''s headquarters, but William knew the Yu Royal Family should have at least some information on the group. He waved Elder Fuxi in dismissal then flew East towards the Providence Zone. The Yu Royal Family''s main headquarters was on the very edge of the Providence Zone, but William took the opportunity to explore the fabled region that was widely regarded as the most dangerousnd in the World. Inside the Providence Zone, there were loads of Magical Beasts in the Nascent Soul and Soul Formation Realm, as well as a few in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, but William didn''t care much about them. His aura wasn''t very threatening, so many Magical Beasts only regarded him as food at first, but the moment William unleashed a Domain or two, anything below the Tribtion Transcendence Realm ran away in fear and wasn''t willing to battle any longer. A wave of Potential Points entered William''s bnce as he earned the first kill bonuses from Soul Formation Magical Beasts, making his eyes glimmer as he rushed from region to region in search of more Poin- Magical Beasts. The Tribtion Transcendence Beasts were very smart and could evenmunicate with humans in their ownnguage, but their senses told them that William would kill them for fun if he had the chance. This neer is terrifying! Chapter 310: The Four Divine Beasts Formation "How can you be the most powerful family in the world yet don''t know where your people are staying?!?" William shouted at a seemingly young woman with long blonde hair that was actually the current head of the Yu Royal Family. Following Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right''s sudden Ascensions, the Yu Royal Family was left in chaos. Yu Shinpai hadn''t even chosen a sessor, but many eyes had turned to his daughter, Yu Sunao, whose own daughter was Yu Ren. While Yu Sunao had suffered a setback months ago when Yu Ren lost to William in the Ranking battle at the Five Elements Sect, William''s rise to fame quickly brought back that lost face, bing a badge of honor instead when William even defeated their previous family head. It was a shame that Yu Shinpai never had any sons, nor was Yu Sunao''s husband very reliable, else they would have named him as the new head rather than transition to a matriarchy. That being said, none could deny that Yu Sunao was the real deal, though very timid in nature. True to her name, some would say. Yu Sunao had been a genius throughout her younger years, even surpassing the talented Yu Ren at the same age. She had awakened only two Elements of Fire and Water, but she was a D-Rank Manamatus in both. Additionally, they had already reached A-Rank, just a step away from awakening a Domain of her own. Regardless, Yu Sunao couldn''t possiblypare to William. Not only were her Elements weaker than his, but she was only a middle-stage Soul Formation Cultivator. William could snap her neck with a flick of his wrist, if he so wanted. Experience new stories with mvl She kneeled with her head facing downward, careful not to look William directly in the eye. Her knees shook as she did her best to give a response that wouldn''t result in her death. "They''ve kept their headquarters well hidden in past years and were previously only made up of a small group of people. We have been looking, but with one less Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator, it has been very difficult." William didn''t feel that he was all that threatening, but he could tell she was afraid from her bodynguage. I guess I''ve killed a lot of peopletely, it only makes sense. He nodded, easing Yu Sunao''s tensions a little, "Do you have anything at all?" "They should be somewhere in the Providence Zone, but we aren''t sure where. The area is toorge and too dangerous to search effectively, but we''ve sensed many portals leading there, and they''ve always been close to our Headquarters. Which means..." "Even if Retribution isn''t hiding there, I should be able to follow someone''s portal, right?" William finished. Yu Sunao nodded, "It should be easy for you, but we aren''t much help. We only have a few Space Mages and none are strong enough for suchplicated use of Magic." William thanked Yu Sunao and headed towards the Providence Zone once again. He had no intention of giving the Yu Royal Family any more trouble than he already had. Not to mention, he promised Supreme Left that he wouldn''t bring the Yu Royal Family into his feud. Unless they took the initiative to attack William or his friends and family, he saw no need to reciprocate. In one of the innermost rings of the Providence Zone, William found himself face to face with three Magical Beasts at the ninth stage of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm and one at the very peak. The three were a Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix, Azure Wyrm, and White Tiger Cub, while the ck Turtle Hatchling was at the peak of the Realm. The only problem was, their names truly didn''t resemble their actual appearances. Instead of small versions of the same species, these things were fully grown! Not only were theyrge, but they also had each formed a unique formation, some sort of Beast-like Array that prevented William from leaving easily. How are these children?!?William questioned as they created a second barrier, then stood in ce as if they were having a silent conversation. Each Beast looked at William ferociously, while eyeing each other with some degree of suspicion. It seemed that although they had each arrived to stop William from proceeding further, they didn''t necessarily get along. "What are you doing here, Human?" the ck Turtle Hatchling asked with anger and a hint of curiosity. "Don''t try to speak to it, just kill him!" the White Tiger Cub snapped while giving William an icy re. It had clear and distinct disdain for humans, no matter what their attitude. "No need to be hasty, little Tiger. There is plenty of time for this human tomunicate their intentions. We should give everyone a chance no matter their origin story." the Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix replied simply, as if catching William was only a matter of fact. The Azure Wyrm snorted at the Pheonix with disdain, "Are you saying you''re siding with the Turtle? Leave it to stupid birds to always want peace." The Pheonix turned its head to squawk at the Wyrm, "Shut up, you can''t even be a real dragon, don''t talk to me like you''re better." William was studying the Beast Formation as he would call it for weaknesses and had no intention of jumping in on their argument, but all four looked at him in that moment, forcing him to divide his attention partially. "I''m just passing through and looking for someone. You wouldn''t know where I can find this person, do you?" William used abination of Time and Dream Magic to look through his own memories as a dream, then reverse time inside until he found a portrait of Master ck from Retribution. The dream was pulled to the real world, though the new Tenebris wasn''t a real person and had no realbat power. He simted the man''s aura with the Dream Element, which made each of the four peak Magical Beasts look at him in shock. "How did you do that?" they asked in unison. They had never seen someone with such incredible control over the Dream Element, much less Time as well. Even more interesting, these Beasts couldn''t even sense William''s Cultivation. They could only tell that his Illusionist''s Cloak was simting the Golden Core Realm, but his real Cultivation, Mana Signature, and even Spirit Aura were suppressed so much that he looked like barely someone in Qi Refinement. Judging by the way William looked at them without any fear or surprise, the man was clearly in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm at least, or a genius on par with that level. "It''s just a trick." William waved his hand in dismissal, "Do you know this person?" "Why would we tell a mere human anything? You''re too confident, boy!" the Azure Wyrm scoffed at William''s delusional thoughts. Who cared how powerful the kid was, nothing couldpare to the four of them if they banded together. Even that "Supreme Left" had to run when facing them alone, much less together. They each had a Domain of their own, and Magical Beasts were always known for being stronger than Cultivators in the same Realm. How could they, who had superior bloodlines than normal Magical Beasts, be weaker? It was clear that this human being was suicidal toe in contact with them, much less allow himself to be trapped by their well-known Four Divine Beasts Battle Formation. Chapter 311: Atticus, Have Fun! William looked at the unreasonable Azure Wyrm with a calm expression. The peak Magical Beast clearly had no intention of letting him go, even if the other three weren''t as bloodthirsty. System, can you inform Atticus toe up here and show himself?William asked mentally. -Request requires 2 Potential Points due to distance. Yes/No? Confirm. Atticus, who was only a few kilometers away and swimming through the ground with his Illusion Territory active, suddenly received the System''s message and flew over to William''s position, right through the Four Divine Beasts Formation as if it didn''t exist at all. The snake retracted his Illusion Territory into the level of a Domain, revealing himself enough to be seen by the four Magical Beasts but still hidden from the Heavens. His figure was fully expanded to the size of eight hundred meters, almost twice the size of the other four creatures. The sudden appearance of something muchrger than them startled the ck Turtle Hatchling and the other three, leaving them stunned as a majestic purple snake appeared before their very eyes and looked down on them as if they were mere ants. Its Cultivation was only in the peak of the Soul Formation Realm, but Atticus'' Illusion Domain and his terrifying bloodline suppressed them with little room for resistance. Despite being of different species, the Azure Wyrm was pressed t to the ground as if it was facing the mighty King of the Dragons. "W-When... did you get here?" the Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix looked at the snake with unconcealed shock. It didn''t even recognize Atticus'' bloodline, which seemed to predate its own. A snake with a bloodline superior to mine? I''m from the Vermillion Pheonix n, how can this be? the Pheonix started to doubt its own origins for a moment. I''m almost a full-blood dragon, but this... scaly wannabee can press me to the ground like this? This is impossible!the Azure Wyrm wanted to shout out loud, but it couldn''t even open its mouth. The other two Magical Beasts looked at Atticus with the same expression, then back to William who seemed to be its Master. Could this new person be trying to take over their Providence Zone? "As I said, I''m only looking for someone." William said nonchntly. "Whether you assist me or not is up to you." The Azure Wyrm recovered from Atticus'' suppression and stood up, snarling at William with disdain, "You think just because that traitor''s bloodline is a little better than mine that you can take on all four of us at once? You''ve underestimated us!" To be honest, the Azure Wyrm wouldn''t mind helping William out if he was offered some treasures aspensation, but the human had gone too far, even sending out his Beast Companion to suppress them. It was unforgivable! The Azure Wyrm opened its mouth and fired thousands ofrge seeds in William''s direction, shaking his head back and forth to spread the seeds around the area and grow a miniature forest in an instant. The roots extended outwards and tried to chase William through the ground while a few branches fired needle projectiles of their own. It was an onught from multiple directions, each attack incredibly precise and aimed at one of William''s vital points. I leave this up to you, Atticus. Have fun.William said while remaining perfectly still. Atticus didn''t respond, but his tongue flicked in excitement as the Illusion Domain enveloped the area. The previously pointy needles became dull, and their sharp edges were rounded, causing the needles to bounce off William''s body harmlessly and fall to the ground. The roots were next, suddenly bing ethereal right before they wrapped around William,pletely unable to seal his movements. William stepped through the enclosure of roots calmly, as if he was a ghost moving through a set of thin walls. The other Beasts didn''t know what to think. At first, William looked to be at the end of the rope, about to be pierced through from multiple directions by the Azure Wyrm''s nt Magic. The next he was perfectly fine, having not even moved until the very end. They expected him to narrowly dodge some of the attacks and avoid a lethal blow, or perhaps use some defensive treasures and maybe his Time Element to barely survive, but the reality was much different from their expectations. He hadn''t even taken the initiative to make a move himself! Instead, the snake behind him had overwhelming control over the situation and was able to nullify all of the Azure Wyrm''s attacks in one go! "Let''s have a go then! I find it hard to believe you can keep defending him!" the White Tiger Cub roared, elongated its ws, then enhanced them with the Earth Element, bing tougher than titanium and sharp enough to split steel beams in half. It ran forward, fury and excitement on its face as it shed downward with its left w, passing through William as if a knife through butter... wait. The White Tiger Cub felt that something was wrong. It was too easy. How can a powerful Cultivator be sliced apart with such ease? It didn''t even feel anything! The White Tiger Cub inspected William to find that it was only an afterimage, and the real person was nowhere to be seen! Instead, a shadow loomed overhead, forcing all four Beasts to look up to the sky and see a massive purple tail that blotted out the sun. They could sense the insane power from the Mythical Rat Snake''s strike, which even threatened the ck Turtle Hatchling that had incredible natural defense. It was Earth-shattering, Heaven-rending, indomitable! The tail, strengthened by the Illusion Domain to strike fear in its enemies,nded on the White Tiger with a crash and sent the peak Magical Beast flying backward into its own Divine Beast Formation. The White Tiger Cub was severely injured in a single strike, forced to retreat from the fight temporarily to recover from its injuries. The other three Magical Beasts, temporarily stunned by the illusory tail strike, couldn''t believe what they were seeing. A mere Soul Formation Magical Beast had already injured one of them! They started to think that William wasn''t the true enemy, rather the Mythical Rat Snake was the true master in disguise. It made much more sense if exined that way, since how could such a powerful being possibly bow its head to a lowly human? That said, they couldn''t just back down now. The Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix and ck Turtle Hatchling flew to opposite sides of Atticus and opened their Domains. The Pheonix pped its wings and prepared a massive wave of mes that threatened to burn down everything in sight, while the Turtle spat water from its mouth, forming a tsunami that would collide with the mes and Atticus at the center. Even for Atticus, these two attacksbined surpassed what he could handle by himself with the Illusion Domain, but he wasn''t afraid. Instead, he expanded the Illusion Domain into his Territory, subtly redirecting both of their attacks while escaping to another part of the Divine Beasts Formation. The Illusion Territory convinced both Magical Beasts that their attacks were still on target, but when they reached the figure in the center, the fake Atticus turned into a cloud of purple smoke while the real one was already behind the Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix. With a wide smile on his face, Atticus looked at his two astonished opponents and said, "This is fun. Are you having fun?" Chapter 312: Join Me The Vermillion Pheonix hardly had time to turn around before Atticus wrapped his long body around the creature, sinking his teeth into its neck and injecting it with his venom. While Rat Snakes were not generally very venomous creatures, Atticus'' bloodline had strengthened that aspect immensely, turning his bite into something incredibly powerful that his opponents would rather avoid. Not only did his venom have a paralyzing effect, it also had a secondary effect from the Illusion Affinity that would cause those affected to hallucinate. The Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix found its vision bing blurry, as if it had be a human and drank too much alcohol. It stumbled a few times as the intensity of the hallucinations increased, then it fell to the ground when Atticus let go, unable to get back up in a short period of time. Two down already, he''s performing quite well. William praised the Mythical Rat Snake in his mind. To be honest, William expected Atticus to struggle quite a bit against four peak Tribtion Transcendence Magical Beasts, but it seemed that the Illusion Domain wasn''t just for show. Even if Atticus wasn''t as lethal as the other Beasts, they couldn''t even locate his true body, much less injure him. Wide-range Magic Spells were the only way to damage him even slightly, but he was able to merge with the ground to avoid most of the damage. The Illusion Territory allowed Atticus to meld his body with the World, but it seemed that it couldn''t entirely prevent him from being targeted by Magic. If the Spell hit the right ce at the right time, Atticus could be injured, but William made sure to heal his Companion Beast at every opportunity. After roughly an hour of back-and-forth fighting, the four Magical Beasts gave up and paused the battle. They couldn''t take out Atticus, but he couldn''t permanently restrain them either. While he could quickly deal with each opponent one at a time, they became more defensive and started exhausting Atticus'' Mana. Since Atticus wasn''t like William with an almost infinite supply of Mana, he was only able tost a few hours. It had be a stalemate. "You haven''t beaten us... yet." the Azure Wyrm panted as he looked at the absurdly powerful Mythical Rat Snake, but his eyes also contained a hint of respect. Dragons were prideful, but strength was strength. "I think you''ve had enough now, haven''t you?" William said as he cast four Complete Confinement Arrays simultaneously from his Array Wheel, sealing the movements of all four at the same time. With their stamina depleted from the fight with Atticus, the peak Magical Beasts had no ability to resist. They looked at William with anger, but they could only me themselves for being easy to catch. If they had all ran away instead of confronting this monster, they probably wouldn''t be in this situation, but it was toote for regrets. "What are you going to do now? Are you still interested in that person you are looking for?" the ck Turtle Hatchling asked calmly. It didn''t sense any malice or killing intent from William, so it knew that his life wasn''t in danger. William nodded, "If you have anything, that would be appreciated." "Ah, very well the-" William interrupted, "But there''s one more thing." "What is it?" the White Tiger Cub asked suspiciously. Something about William''s expression wasn''t sitting right with it. "Hmm, how should I say this?" William stroked an imaginary beard. "Spit it out! You''re wasting time!" the Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix was enraged by William''s casual action. "How about you all... be my Companions?" *** Fria had just finished a period of secluded Soul Cultivation thatsted almost two entire months ingame. She had set up her character to automatically Cultivate 24 hours a day while focusing on work and college, since she didn''t have much time for gaming at the moment, which turned out quite beautifully. She had used all the Potential Points from herst few Beast Tides to push her Soul Cultivation Talent to S-Rank, which seemed to be the correct decision since her Soul Strength had reached almost fifty thousand points, nearly fifty times stronger than William''s. Her own Cultivation was still at the beginning of the Golden Core Realm, but her Soul Strength was almost half as strong as the Spirit Ascension Sect''s Sect Master, who was in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. Half as strong might not sound like much, but she could just about defeat any Soul Formation Cultivator on the Continent at the moment with her ethereal greatsword alone. It was unfathomable to the Elders, for someone so young to have such ability. Many even had be fearful of Fria''s Talent, but seeing how William destroyed the top members of the Yu Royal Family by himself, people aimed to get on her good side rather than be her enemy. A new era was forming, where the younger generation of Cultivators surpassed the old, something that hadn''t happened in a very, very long time. After reviewing the waves of messages in themunity forums and other direct messages from her admirers, Fria went shopping for the necessary equipment and prepared for an outing. She needed more Points, and Cultivating more wouldn''t be very useful. Where should I go? she pondered on her options while looking at a map provided by Elder Fan. It was newly updated, even showing the locations of recent Elemental Beast Tides and when their next appearance should be, but none of the Beast Tides seemed to line up with her interests. They were either over a week from forming, or too far away to attempt. I guess I can go to the Providence Zone, as long as I''m careful, I might be able to find some nice treasures.Fria decided after some deliberation. She left her personal cave abode and called for Elder Fan, who showed up at a moment''s notice. Given Fria''s status as a Core Disciple, this was the minimum treatment given by the Elders of the Sect, who sincerely cared about their younger generation. "Miss Fria, is there something you need?" Elder Fan asked. "Ah, yes Elder. I''m going to the Providence Zone, can you inform the Sect Master whenever he''s free?" "T-The Providence Zone? I know you''re strong, miss Fria... but that is not a ce you should go. There are dangerous Beasts there that would kill any one of us in an instant, and they don''t care about the rules of the Continent. If any one of them gets out... it would spell doom for many Sects and Cities. Especially with Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right gone. They were the only ones other than our own Sect Master that would dare topete with those monstrous beings." Elder Fan exined with clear worry in his voice. He himself had been to the Providence Zone a few times, but every excursion was made with a group of four or more Cultivators in the Soul Formation Realm. Many times, even their own Sect Master went along. It wasn''t a trip to be made by a woman of barely twenty, no matter how talented. "But I heard someone else stronger than both of them, and the same age as me has appeared. How can I sit by idly while everyone else is improving?" Friained. "That''s true... but-" "If you don''t want me to go alone, why don''t you follow me?" Fria asked, issuing the same Party Notification as the one that William received in the past. Sensing a powerful aura behind Fria''s notification, Elder Fan felt this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. "As you wish, miss Fria. But we need to be careful." Chapter 313: Naming "Your Companions? Like him? I think not!" the Azure Wyrm said, but his expression changed when a System notification appeared in front of all four Magical Beasts at the same time, the aura of a powerful being forcing them to avert their eyes for a moment. They read the notification carefully, switching from surprise to disbelief to suspicion and eventually to hope as they realized the powerful being''s offer wasn''t simply an empty promise. The aura of the contract itself suggested that there were well-concealed lies and there wasn''t any additional fine print. All they had to do was serve William for the rest of their lives, and their previously stagnant condition could possibly be elevated to the next Realm in the future. For a Magical Beast at the peak of the World and just one step shy of Ascension, this was a huge opportunity! They each readily epted William''s offer, being registered as Epic-Ranked Magical Beasts with SS-Rank Talent already, close to SSR-Rank. Since they had reached their current Realms without any help from William, this was a good method to save Potential Points. "Do you have names?" William asked the four Magical Beasts, to which they each shook their heads. Names were something given, not earned, and none of them had been given any type of name other than those dastardly nicknames spoken by the humans. "In that case..." William looked at the Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix first, since it was the first to consider treating William as an equal. ording to the System, this Pheonix was female, so he chose a straightforward name that was easy to remember. "I will name you Cyra, bright and vibrant like the Sun." He looked at the ck Turtle Hatchling next, "You will be Kamei¡ª like a god, but also like a turtle." "What should I name you..." William stared at the Azure Wyrm that had given him the most trouble so far. "I could call you Trash, or Poop. Should I name you Disappointment?" The Azure Wyrm looked down in shame, "I''m sorry for my previous actions, Master." Since being thoroughly beaten by William''s Magical Beast, the Azure Wyrm wasn''t as arrogant as before. This was his first loss, but he would suffer many verbal losses to the Vermillion Pheonix if William named him something shameful. William nodded, "In that case I will forgive you. Your name will be Me Long Boi, or Me Long for short." The Azure Wyrm felt it sounded alright. "What does it mean, Master?" "Your body is very long, like a snake, but you don''t have wings. That''s why I named you Long, which means "dragon" in a certainnguage." "Me Long Boi... it sounds powerful." William almost snorted inughter, but he stopped himself and covered it with a cough. He looked at the White Tiger Cub next. "And you will be Little Tiger. Because I think it sounds cute and you''re so fluffy I couldn''t help myself." The White Tiger Cub snarled at William and thought about attacking him, but the restrictions from his contract erased any thoughts of aggression towards its Master. It nodded with a sullen look and sat down, seemingly upset with the name but its pping tail suggested it was happy with being named regardless. "So now that you all have names... Do you know about this person?" William pulled out the replica of Master ck once again for them to inspect. The Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix nodded its head, "I first sensed him in my Domain a few decades ago, and now he passes through regrly multiple times a year. You will probably find him in the northern half of our territories." The White Tiger Cub also spoke up, "I sensed him in my territory as well, five years ago. I saw him digging a tunnel and confronted him, but he disappeared into thin air and I lost track. I destroyed that tunnel, but I can show you where it is." "Then I''ll follow you, Little Tiger." William sent Atticus off to have fun on his own, since his presence wasn''t required anymore. me Dragon Uri had been exploring the Continent, so William wasn''t entirely sure where the dragon was at the moment. He followed the four peak Magical Beasts to the White Tiger Cub''s territory, checking the System Panel while they traveled. ¡ª¡ª¡ª BEASTS: -Umon: ( + ) -Epic: ( - ) --Uri (me Dragon): SS (25000PP to next rank) --Little Tiger (White Tiger Cub): SS (25000PP to next rank) --Cyra (Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix): SS (25000PP to next rank) --Kamei (ck Turtle Hatchling): SS (25000PP to next rank) --Me Long Boi (Azure Wyrm): SS (25000PP to next rank) -Mythic: ( - ) --Atticus (Mythical Rat Snake): A (250000PP to next rank) ¡ª¡ª¡ª Even with the Umon Companion Beasts condensed, William''s list of Companions was getting quite long. Not only that, but he wasn''t sure how to allocate the four recent ones, since they already controlled their own territories. "Say, Kamei. Are there any World Cores in your territory?" William asked, using the term World Cores since it was more familiar to others than "Veins". "World Cores? There are some, why do you ask?" Kamei replied quickly. "If one of them was absorbed, are you strong enough to handle the Beast Tides?" The four Beasts instantly understood what was going on and became slightly fearful. Had they just contracted to a warmonger? But the contract also forced them to remain honest, so the ck Turtle Hatchling could only respond truthfully, "There is a Beast Tide that appears every few months near the Superior Death Core, which was formed a long time ago because someone absorbed three Greater Death Cores. Up until now, we''ve rotated responsibilities and managed to hold back the Beast Tide by ourselves, but we could probably manage even if there were 3 more Cores absorbed..." William nodded, "Any more than that and you would be stretched too thin, I assume?" "That''s right, Master. Are you nning to absorb these Cores? I want to warn you that it''s impossible to absorb a Superior Core, you''ll die before you even get close. Even we would be helpless." "Is it really that powerful?" William asked with a hint of surprise. He expected the Superior World Cores to spawn powerful enemies, but he didn''t think it would be so unbelievable. The Azure Wyrm spoke up this time, "I tried to absorb the Superior Death Vein once since it was already weakened, but I only barely entered the Superior Core''s shell before my body was corroded all over. It took almost fifty years to recover, otherwise my Cultivation would be ahead of that stupid turtle." "You say that, but you''ve never been serious about Cultivation. I Cultivate every day, but you''re still slower because you getzy. Such a shame with your talent." the ck Turtle Hatchling retorted. William was starting to understand the situation with the Superior Cores. They were much like the Greater World Cores, which would have some sort of passive region around them that caused constant damage to anyone that came close. Just like the Greater Fire Vein, which William had to boost his Heat Resistance Talent dramatically before even having the ability to touch the Fire Vein itself. "I think I can absorb them on my own, but you''re going to need some help first." Chapter 314: Entering The Headquarters Help? What kind of help does he mean? the four Magical Beasts thought in unison. They hadn''t spent much time with William so they couldn''t be sure, but they were fairly confident that there were no Magical Beasts that were as powerful as them on the entire Continent, and gaining the support of Beasts from other Continents was even more difficult. Was William implying that they should all team up with other humans? William noticed their confused expressions and shook his head with a slight smile, "I''ll show you what I meanter, for now let''s just find this person." Little Tiger led the way to the tunnel he had destroyed, which William could tell with his Navigation Talent that it was still partially extracted. The only thing missing was the exit, which they promptly dug open. William climbed in while the Magical Beasts stayed behind to guard the area, theirrge frames much too big to fit inside a tunnel made for a human. The cramped entryway forced William to duck his head as he crawled at a slow pace, but he eventually sped up after crossing roughly fifteen kilometers underground. The tunnel became wide enough to stand in, while sloping further and further underground until he was at a 45-degree angle, at which point he could lie down and slide to the bottom much like he did with the Thieves'' Guild hideouts. Roughly an hourter, William''s Life Sense picked up a few traces of vitality, to which he immediately focused on them with his Mana Mode vision. It was a group of three Cultivators in the Golden Core Realm and one in the Nascent Soul, which was very out of ce considering the dangerous environment they were in. He enabled the invisibility effect of the Stealth Talent immediately, opting not to take any chances and get as close as possible while tailing the group. The Illusion Element probably could have done the same job, but it wasn''t as foolproof as the true invisibility. "How much further, Team Leader? We''ve been in here for days now." one of the Cultivatorsined. "Does it matter? Keep quiet before you get us caught." the Leader reprimanded, forcing theining subordinate to close their mouth. They continued forward until they reached a location that William had already passed a few minutes before discovering the group. It was an unsuspecting alcove that seemed more like a natural formation than anything man-made, so William had only given it a short look-over before moving on. The Team Leader stopped the group, then looked at the ground near his feet and muttered a few words while waving his finger back and forth. It was a tiny Basic-level Array, meant formunication, but these were usually attached tomunicators and not to human body parts. When the Leader''s finger hovered over a certain spot on the ground, a small golden symbol lit up briefly, then a voice rang out from the Leader''s finger. "Name?" "Team Leader Jericho." Enjoy new chapters from mvl "Purpose?" "Returning from Mission." "Granted. Standby." the voice replied before hanging up the call, Momentster, William suddenly sensed a fluctuation of Space Mana as a small portal opened inside the room. The group of four didn''t waste any time entering the portal, so William stepped in behind them just in time for it to fully close. Damn, could they be any faster with the portal? What if one of their people died? Williamined inwardly as he arrived on the opposite side. He was now inside of a massive auditorium-styled building, with dozens of halls going in every direction and a huge set of stairs that led further downward. The underground structure was even more borate and refined than when Briar and Jenny first entered, having undergone a lot of work since Retribution''s sessive recruitment efforts. Even the amount of decorum had increased, the simple chairs and desks reced with padded furniture and ornate tables that made one feel they had been sent to a mix between the Victorian and Gothic eras. With his Navigation Talent, William mapped out the entire structure in a few minutes, but he could see that the Talent was somehow blocked from inspecting a few areas, which had never happened before. It made him curious to explore, but William didn''t want to spook anyone just yet. He hade here for a purpose, not to wantonly kill people. -I know you want to kill people, you bloodthirsty animal. I do not! I just think it wouldn''t be a bad thing to earn some Potential Points along the way. -In the form of killing people. Are you a psychopath? Of course not! I''m... huh. William couldn''t defend himself this time, since technically the only reason he wanted to kill was for Potential Points. It always felt different, though, in this World. Because he didn''t belong to Efretta originally, William didn''t really treat these people the same he would in his own World. Other than his closest friends and a few others, William felt the rest were more like stepping stones or obstacles. They weren''t treated the same. But this method of thinking had always been wrong, William just never acknowledged it. At first it was because he needed more Potential Points as soon as possible and he had epted that he was in a Cultivation World and only the strong survive while the weak are treated like garbage, but now... That wasn''t the case anymore. He already is one of the strongest, there was no longer a need to fight tooth and nail or kill mercilessly for a mere 5 Potential Points. Was it possibly the Humanity statistic that made him feel this way, or something else? System, have I be like this because of my Humanity? William felt he needed to ask. -Not entirely. Your Humanity is chance-based. When something happens that requires you to make a decision on killing or not killing people, torturing or not, your Humanity bes the deciding factor that can make you want one option more than the other. -In the end, though, it''s always been your choice. If you continue to lose Humanity, the number of decisions you''ll have to make will go up, and the chances of you wanting the negative ending will increase greatly. William understood, though he didn''t like the way the System said "not entirely". In his opinion, it was obvious that the Humanity value was the entire reason why he was like this. -Don''t forget that you unlocked the Humanity statistic because you killed someone of your own ord. How could you have been influenced then? The System is right... I need to be more careful about my thoughts and feelings when I''m around potential enemies.William self-reflected. If he could help it, William would rather opt to choose the positive option no matter what and hopefully increase his Humanity some more. If he didn''t take control of these violent emotions, he might find himself regretting itter. The Navigation Talent finished scanning the entire area outside of the same few blocked regions, but William had found his target with Mana Mode. At the bottom of Retribution''s Headquarters and seated in front of a group of people in arge meeting room, Gu Dianlong''s weak Mana signature was detected, the Envement Array fully restored and even more borate than before. Chapter 315: Can I Have Him On Weekends? That''s him for sure.William thought as he ryed his location to his Beasts through the System and asked them to stand guard outside. Even Uri was alerted, since Retribution seemed to have many incredible escape techniques and he wanted as much help as he could get. They wouldn''t be able to dig down to theplex in a short time, which seemed to be almost five hundred kilometers underground, but they could at least wait up top. Only Atticus was able to approach William. William maintained his invisibility all the way down to the bottom of the Headquarters, slipping through the door with the help of Atticus'' Illusion Territory. On the inside, William could see many old men wearing cloaks of different colors, but Tenebris wasn''t among them. Gu Dianlong hadn''t moved from his previous spot, still crouched on the ground and restrained while the men muttered to themselves on how to allocate the man. They couldn''t risk Gu Dianlong breaking free from his restrictions, but his presence was required for many incidences, especially when it came to creating long-distance portals. "I say we should leave him in the Headquarters permanently. Hisbat power is strong, but it''s useless if he has found a loophole to our restrictions." the orange-cloaked man proposed to the group. "What about when we absorb the third Greater Core in the Eastern Ocean? Will we leave him inside while our people die?" the blue-cloaked man in charge of the Eastern Ocean asked. "Naturally we will bring him along for the most important events, but this is about day-to-day activities." the white-cloaked man replied. "What about me? Can I have him on weekends?" The cloaked men looked around with surprise and confusion, "Who said that? Show yourself!" William''s form melded into existence from thin air, catching the group off guard. His face wore a calm smile that suggested everything was within his grasp, having decided not to take Gu Dianlong away secretly. One might think that William was being stupid here, since Retribution would clearly move their Headquarters now, but it would have happened anyway when Gu Dianlong was released. The man was a Tribtion Transcendence expert, after all. All Gu Dianlong needed to do was tell the appropriate Ancient Families or otherwise that had a grudge with Retribution, and they would have no choice but to abandon their Headquarters. Since it didn''t matter either way how William handled Gu Dianlong''s rescue, he opted to control the situation directly, while also answering a few questions on his mind. "It''s you!" the orange-cloaked man said. He and William had never met, but he recognized the portrait of the previously twelfth most-wanted man on the Continent. His incredible rise to fame upon defeating Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right ended up wiping away that bounty, but not before he became the second most feared individual in the World. Yes, second. Stay tuned to mvl "Yes, it''s me. What do you say about my offer, though? Is he mine on the weekends?" The old men didn''t understand the definition of weekend, but they knew William was telling a joke, which infuriated them all. After improving their Elements with the absorbed World Cores, four of the old men were able to survive the final Tribtion of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm and reach the peak. They were almost as strong as Tenebris now, who only had an advantage because of his powerful Contracted Beasts that they had gathered for him. "Don''t push your luck too far, boy. You''re not ready topete with us old men yet." the red-cloaked man replied. He had no intention of giving up Gu Dianlong yet. "Are you sure about that?" William smiled as he took a step forward. The red-cloaked man smirked when he saw William''s initial movement, already prepared to defend himself with a Wind Spell that wrapped around his body. As the Wind Barrier was created, however, time was suddenly reversed and the old man found himself in the same state as before, except William was now right in front of him. How did Gu Dianlong break free already?the old man looked over to the Five Elements Sect Master, who was still kneeling on the ground.It wasn''t him? Then... "That''s right. It was me." William smiled as he threw out a punch aimed directly at the red-cloaked man''s shoulder, obliterating it instantly. Theyers of Space tore around the attack, threatening to pull the red-cloaked man inside, but he managed to get away just in time. Seeing the spatial tears from William''s attacks that distorted the World, the old men simultaneously had the same thought. "Yourbat strength is in the Ascension Realm?!" William smirked, "Who knows. I haven''t tested that yet." The cloaked individuals became fearful as they ordered Gu Dianlong to prepare them a portal. They ran away from William at the highest speed they could muster to stall for time, but Gu Dianlong wasn''t moving. "Come on, old man! Make the portal!" Gu Dianlong''s Envement Array had taken away his will, but he smiled upon seeing how the old men were suffering. "I can''t, he''s removed the Space Element from the area." "W-What?" the men were stunned. Did William have this ability too? This wasn''t reported from the fight with Supreme Left! Was he hiding his strength even during that fight? Without a portal waiting for them, the old men had no choice but to escape the conventional way. They each burned their blood and flew to the closed door, but a massive snake head suddenly appeared, phasing from the opposite side. Atticus smiled as he looked at the pitiful old men below, "Masster, did you bring snacksss for me?" "Not this time, sorry little buddy." William shook his head as he replied. "Lock them in your Domain for now, we need them alive." Little buddy? How can this behemoth be considered a little buddy?!?the old men wailed in their minds as the Illusion Territory wrapped around their bodies, forcing them into a prison that sealed their senses and would force them to run in circles for eternity. Even while not moving, the old men found themselves incredibly dizzy, some even throwing up despite their peak Tribtion Transcendence Cultivation. William walked up to Gu Dianlong and inspected his condition. The Sect Master was mostly fine, though he had suffered a few injuries from when the Envement Array was strengthened, and his Cultivation had dropped to the first level of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm while his Mana Reserves were only a quarter of what they used to be. "Are you here to save me again, Disciple William? I''m afraid it won''t be so easy this time." the Sect Master sighed. He was too weak to use the Time Loop Spell, since he had been given powerful drugs that affected his Mana Reserve. Only after a month passed would Gu Dianlong regain the ability to use such a powerful Spell. William nodded, "You''re right, it won''t be as easy. But this time I have some helpers." "Helpers? You mean him and that dragon?" Gu Dianlong looked at Atticus, who was aimlessly floating through the air out of boredom. "Yeah, and the others." William replied simply. He took out the cloaked men''s clothing and put them on some Array Puppets, then seated them in their respective seats next to a handwritten note. Chapter 316: Apocalyptic Quest William restricted Gu Dianlong using Earth Elemental handcuffs and opened his Reverse Domains to seal the other Elements. This was done at Gu Dianlong''s request, since he wasn''t able to defy the orders of Retribution and might attack William otherwise. Once he was done, William then made a portal for both of them to return to the surface, which required him to temporarily unseal the Space Element. The Four Divine Beasts were already waiting for them outside, which terrified Gu Dianlong the moment they appeared. He immediately dropped to the ground and kowtowed in the direction of each of the four Beasts as he spoke. "Almighty overlords, we didn''t mean to intrude on your territory. Forgive us." He looked over to William, who was still standing. "What are you doing? Bow to the overlords before you''re killed." he hissed. William was amused. He looked at his four Companion Beasts and asked, "I don''t know. Should I bow to you?" "N-No Master, we should bow to you!" the Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix said hurriedly as it elegantly dipped its head towards the ground. The others quickly followed suit, though the Azure Wyrm was a bit stubborn and took half a second longer than the others. William looked back at Gu Dianlong, "These guys will help you remove your Array." They''re his pets? What happened while I was underground? Wasn''t he barely at the peak before? I heard he was only lucky enough to have a stronger Domain than both the leaders... If the battle between William and the two leaders of the Yu Royal Family had been decided by who had the stronger Domains, then one would''ve expected it was only a matter of luck and William''sbat strength wasn''t truly at the peak. He had me Dragon Uri as a helper that time, and then Atticus was the one dealing with Retribution''s higher-ups. Did William just have some sort of special affinity with Magical Beasts? Is that why he was so strong? Gu Dianlong didn''t know, but he adapted quickly to the situation. He smiled and bowed once more to the four Divine Beasts of the Providence Zone, which was slightly difficult with his hands bound and his Mana restricted. The four Beasts didn''t like the idea of having to serve a human besides William, especially since their hatred for humans was still just as strong as before. That said, they didn''t really have a choice, and Gu Dianlong had acted appropriately thus far, so they decided to give him a pass. On William''s order, Atticus and the other four Magical Beasts started channeling their Mana into Gu Dianlong''s Envement Array, while the me Dragon arrived a few hourster, seemingly exhausted from flying at high speed for a long period of time. "Where have you been?" William asked. Your next read is at mvl "I was across the ocean, Master. Sorry for beingte." Uri replied simply, though his expression was a bit dimmer than usual. William whispered to the dragon using the Sound Element. "Is everything alright? I''ve never seen you like this." "Yes Master, it''s just..." "Just what? You can tell me anything. You''re my Companion Beast, not my ve Beast." Williamforted the me Dragon. "I went to the Dragon Continent to see my close friends and family that I hadn''t in a while, but... it seems I''m the only one left. Instead, there was a human City right on top of my old home." the dragon growled in frustration. It never hated humans, but the presence of humans on the Dragon Continent while the dragons themselves were missing only suggested two things: either the humans had killed off all the dragons, or they had outlived whoever did. "I''m sure it''s not as bad as you think. Maybe something else happened, did you try talking to the humans?" William asked. "Talk to them? Master, you and grandmaster are the only humans I will ever talk to. I know not everyone is like you two, and I have no intention of discovering the darkness of mankind personally." William nodded, "In that case I will go with you to the Dragon Continent soon. There''s something I need from there anyway." "What could you possibly need from the Dragon Continent?" Uri asked. As far as he knew, the Dragon Continent was only good for a few things, which was why the dragons had called it home. Other than a few idiotic humans that pushed their luck too far and wanted to catch or hunt a dragon for themselves, people would rarely visit because of the scarce materials. "It''s nothing special, just exploring mostly." William replied. If the Heavens had ced many World Cores on the Azures Continent and they were meant to suppress the World, it suggested that there were probably more spread elsewhere. Many of the questions William had yet to ask were incredibly expensive because he hadn''t absorbed enough World Cores, but he wasn''t ready to take on the Magical Beasts spawned by Greater Cores yet, so William chose the next best option. I''m going to earn as many Potential Points as possible, then unseal all the Lesser and Standard Veins across the World. You''ll have to answer my questions by then, System. The System didn''t respond directly, but William''s vision was suddenly filled with text, acknowledging his intention in the form of a System Quest. ¡ª¡ª¡ª System Quest: The Host has expressed a desire to learn more about the truth of the World and the Heavens and has issued a challenge to the System. In exchange for three free responses rted to the Heavens or the World, the Host will be required to absorb every World Core of Lesser and Standard quality. Note: The Host''s actions will be met with resistance from the Heavens. Regardless of sess or failure, the Host will be regarded as an enemy of certain members of the Heavens. Lesser Veins Absorbed: 156/4725 Standard Veins Absorbed: 22/675 Difficulty: Impossible Rewards: 250,000 Potential Points, +100 Reputation with the World Efretta, 3 Free Ask Function Responses, -100 Reputation with ??? Heavens, A Memory of the Past. Penalties: Instant Death Time Limit: 10 years Quest will begin after absorbing the next Vein. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Before he even had time to fully read the first Quest, William''s vision was filled with another Quest immediately afterwards. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Optional System Quest: The Host may choose to absorb Greater and Superior Veins to further increase reputation with the World and greatly increase Potential Points rewards. Additionally, the Host must bear the consequences of his actions and defend the World from the resulting Beast Tides when absorbing the World Cores. Note: The Host''s actions will be met with resistance from the Heavens. Regardless of sess or failure, the Host will be regarded as an enemy of certain members of the Heavens. Greater Veins Absorbed: 9/135 Superior Veins Absorbed: 0/27 Continents Destroyed: 0/4 Difficulty: Apocalyptic Rewards: 2,500,000 Potential Points, +250 Reputation with the World Efretta, 1 Random Celestial Talent Penalties: For every Continent destroyed, lose 500,000 Potential Points and 50 Reputation with the World Efretta. If all four Continents are destroyed, all rewards will be lost, and the Host will be ced in eternal purgatory. Time Limit: 10 years Quest will begin after absorbing the next Greater or Superior Vein. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Chapter 317: Raising Titles William didn''t know what to think. The Quest rewards were incredibly tempting, but the consequences of failure were just as high, if not higher. He knew more than anyone else that he could just sit and wait for the Potential Points to rack up over time, especially with the Beast Tides that already existed, but then he would find himself missing so many details about the World. While he wasn''t always very enthusiastic about returning to his old World, William didn''t want to forgo it, either. Reius was his childhood, and it was where his sister and adopted family lived. He hoped that one day he would learn how to return at will, so he could tie up some loose ends. I wish I could see my sister again too, I wonder if time flows the same from here to there. What if I go back and over a hundred years already passed? William didn''t want to waste time worrying about the state of Reius. Instead, he carefully considered what the System Quest entailed. I have a ten-year time limit but thousands of Veins to absorb, which means I will need to be as fast as possible the moment I absorb the first Vein. Not only that, but the Beast Tides will need to be dealt with, and who''s to say I can even find them all in so much time? Rather than the first Impossible Quest that William still hadn''t finished, this one seemed truly impossible! For the former, he only needed to figure out where two more Disc Fragments were, having already sensed one in the Hillvire Empire, but thetter Quest would need much more than that. He needed to be fast, powerful, and to be in many ces at the same time. The only constion was that the level of Beast Tides for the Impossible Quest wouldn''t be nearly as difficult to deal with. Considering the current level of Cultivators, they would probably be able to manage on their own against the weaker Beast Tides. That still didn''t help William when it came to the time limit. He would need to locate and absorb around 2 Lesser Veins a day, and one Standard Vein every five days. If the Lesser Veins came in groups of three to five, that wouldn''t be a huge issue, but Standard Veins were much rarer. It would be a miracle if William managed to take less than ten years to locate all the Veins, especially considering how many were concealed underground. He''d have to inspect every nook and cranny of the World, dealing with the Heavens and other Cultivators at each turn. And if I fail... instant death. This was the first time William''s penalty was so severe. It was obvious that he shouldn''t take this Quest lightly. My advantage is that the Quests won''t start immediately. I still have time to think about what I need to do. William thought as he looked over to the Magical Beasts and Gu Dianlong. Their progress was very slow, even with theirbined Cultivation, but Gu Dianlong could already sense the Array weakening. At this rate, he should be free in less than a week, which was insanepared to the hundreds of loops that he and William had to go through. Seeing that his Companion Beasts had managed to control the situation, William spent the week working on a few side projects. He thought about creating more Artifacts, but William was almostpletely out of Starmetal and wanted to locate more before using thest bit. While it had been rated as Mythic already, the Starmetal Safe still hadn''t been fully evaluated by the System yet even after the end of the week, so he couldn''t see it''s stats. The System notified him that it would take a long time because of the massive interior, and not because of the materials used or his process. I guess I''ll work on some Alchemy then.William thought as he scanned the general area for medicinal herbs and the like. He was in the Providence Zone, after all. There were bound to be many rare Alchemy ingredients that others didn''t dare to try and steal from under the noses of the four overlord Beasts. Now that they were his, though, William had no reason to worry. He could even ask them directly. Following the directions of the Juvenile Vermillion Pheonix during one of its breaks, William spent two days gathering dozens of Tier 7 through 9 ingredients, while he only managed to secure one Tier 10 nt, a Sun Bomb Flower. After spending 12500 Potential Points to raise his Alchemy Talent to SSR-Rank, William had the ability to perfectly refine any Alchemy Ingredient up to Tier 10, as long as it didn''t include the most difficult recipes avable. Inbination with the lower Tier ingredients he already had in stock, William was able to refine six Tier 9 Pills each of the Earth Boosting, Life Boosting, Reinforcement, and Heavenly Resistance Pills, which would severely reduce the difficulty of the future Superior Tribtions. Unfortunately, he couldn''t perfectly refine them still because it would incite a Pill Tribtion, but the effects were still much better than anyone else could do in this World. His Alchemist Title also didn''t progress since perfectly refined Pills were required. I can take care of that right now, though. William realized. He was already going to make an enemy of the Heavens soon, so gaining a few more points of Attention would only slightly hinder the future, but the increased quality of Pills and reduced refinement difficulty would help him in the long run. It was clear which choice to make. He spent two more days perfectly refining unique lower Tier Pills, starting at Tier 1. After the first Tier of Pills werepletely refined, William moved on to Tier 2, then Tier 3, taking on each Tribtion one by one until he reached the Celestial Rank of his Alchemist Title. --Title upgraded to Legendary: +50 PP --Title upgraded to Mythic: +500 PP --Title upgraded to Celestial: 5000 PP -Alchemist (Epic --> Celestial): You have perfectly refined one hundred unique pills, making a name for yourself across the World. Pills of all Ranks will be 50% easier to refine. As a consequence, however, William had to undergo an additional eighty-nine Heavenly Tribtions before achieving the desired result, but the Trial Taker Title was also upgraded. Each Heavenly Tribtion was a Superior Tribtion, but since the Pills he refined were all of low level, the highest difficulty was from a Tier 3 Pill, which triggered a Superior Tribtion that peaked at the beginning of the Soul Formation Realm. He didn''t see Golden Girl this time, but the aura of the Heavenly Tribtion was the same, so he guessed that she was still there, watching from somewhere. He tried to call out to her, but there was no answer, so he continued with the Tribtions one by one. --Title upgraded to Legendary: +50 PP --Title upgraded to Mythic: +500 PP -Trial Taker (Epic --> Mythic): You have transcended at least 100 Heavenly Tribtions. With great riskes great reward. 25% resistance to Heavenly Lightning, +10 Attention. Experience exclusive tales on mvl To reach the Celestial Rank for the Trial Taker Title, William would need to undergo a total of 250 Heavenly Tribtions, which he was quite far away from. His Attention had reached a value of 23, but there were no additional messages to suggest a change in the Heavens'' attitude towards him. Chapter 318: Interrupted Hunting, Endless Tribulations? If Ibine the rewards from refining the Pills, dealing with the Tribtions, and upgrading my Titles, I earned over 96 thousand Potential Points, wow! Most of the earnings could be attributed to the Superior Tribtions, which gave him a thousand Potential Points every time he survived one, but the Title upgrades and whatnot were still not a small number. If he factored in the week spent refining Pills and epting Heavenly Tribtions, his Potential Farms had earned him another 31500 Points by themselves! POTENTIAL POINTS: 150,733 Alchemy is pretty good money.William eximed. It was too bad that the Tribtions would increase in power with the Tier of the Pill. He had already refined all of the Tier 1 and 2 Pills possible, and there were only a few Tier 3 Pills remaining. After that, William would need to handle Tier 4 Pills, which would start getting expensive. He looked back over at the four Beasts, which seemed hard at work unsealing Gu Dianlong''s Envement Array. They should have been done by now, but William had given them a few breaks in between to rest up and do other things. They were overlords of their own respective areas, after all. They couldn''t just drop everything all at once, that wouldn''t make sense. There were subordinates in the Providence Zone that would frequently stop by to issue their concerns and territorial issues, but the subordinates were suspicious of William and Gu Dianlong and wanted to talk in a separate location. With the extra time, William decided to spend it experimenting with new Magic Spells and making use of some of his lesser-known Elements such as Seal and Death. He wanted to be more versatile in how he used his Magic, not limited to just a few keybinations. *** In another section of the Providence Zone, Fria and Elder Fan were forced to stop killing Magical Beasts when they saw a massive red Tribtion cloud form above their heads. "What is that, Elder Fan? I''ve never seen a red Tribtion before." Fria asked. "T-That''s... a Superior Tribtion." Elder Fan could barely conceal his surprise. He didn''t know which Magical Beast was taking the Tribtion Right now, but clearly the Heavens did not permit it. "What is that?" Fria asked again, more interested than before. She looked to the sky in awe, inspecting every minute detail of the Tribtion that carried a unique aura that seemed more like a living being than a Tribtion Cloud. Elder Fan exined what he knew about Superior Tribtions, including how they were formed and the abysmal survival rate of anyone unlucky enough to attempt one. Only when he was finished did he exin to Fria that was the reason why one should never attempt to disperse a Heavenly Tribtion. Fria nodded. She didn''t have a death wish unlike the unknown Magical Beast. They continued to hunt Beasts on the edge of the Providence Zone, but over time the number of nearby enemies increased to a level they couldn''t handle anymore. The Superior Tribtion had forced many of the higher-level Beasts out of their territories and now they were invading her hunting grounds. They were eventually forced out of the Providence Zone, so they waited until the Superior Tribtion killed the challenger before re-entering. They only had to wait a few minutes, a massive Tribtion Lightning Bolt falling out of view before the clouds cleared up. The reaction was very mild, so they assumed that whoever took the test failed horribly, but they didn''t bother to investigate and returned to the hunting area. -Defeated a Soul Formation Beast: +25 PP Her System wasn''t like William''s and didn''t inform her what type of Magical Beast she had killed. If she wanted to learn more about it, she would need to unlock the Bestiary function, which in her case required her to discover one hundred unique Magical Beasts and then she would need to pay Potential Points for the function itself. It wasn''t nearly as streamlined as what William got, but she didn''t mind since it was just a game. If she had questions about a Magical Beast, Elder Fan was more than happy enough to help. When she and Elder Fan moved on to the next area, however, they were interrupted by yet another Superior Tribtion. The familiar red clouds covered the sky just like before, darkening half the Providence Zone and filling the nearby Magical Beasts with immense fear. Fria and Elder Fan retreated again, but they were forced to move even further back as the previously calm Magical Beasts left the Providence Zone and ran towards other regions. The Yu Royal Family was forced to send their most powerful bodyguards to defend against an ad-hoc Beast Tide, which made up for its small quantity with great quality. Stay connected with mvl Soul Formation Magical Beasts shattered the initial barrier and flooded the Yu Royal Family''s residence, only stopped briefly by the second and third barriers. It would be multiple hours before they cleared up the situation. "Another Superior Tribtion? Did two Magical Beasts make the Heavens mad at the same time?" Fria asked Elder Fan, who shook his head. "I don''t know, miss Fria. I''ve never seen this before." They decided to rest for a bit and wait an extra hour after the Tribtion ended, but it wasn''t long before a third Superior Tribtion activated, stunning the two silent. Three, four, five Tribtionster, and they had bepletely numb to the event. Whatever it was, they wouldn''t find out until after the clouds dissipated, so Fria and Elder Fan slept through the night in a small cave above. Even as morning came, the Tribtions still continued. Fria''smunity forums were flooded with messages and spection on who or what could be angering the Heavens, many of which immediately pointed fingers at NPC William, who always seemed to be at the center of trouble. The theories didn''t seem to be unfounded, either, since NPC William was spotted in Retribution''s Headquarters by a few yers that had been recruited. There was a good chance the theories were actually true. "Elder Fan, what do you think of that William person?" Fria asked suddenly. "William? You should stay away from him. I heard he''s a very bloodthirsty individual that wouldn''t hesitate to kill someone in a heartbeat." Elder Fan warned. "Hmm..." Fria didn''t know what to say. She knew Elder Fan meant well, but she remembered clearly that the person had opened his Life Domain just to save her. What kind of bloodthirsty person would do that? He wasn''t a criminal either, since William had showed up to the Elemental Beast Tide multiple times outside Blue Moon City. Sometimes he even concealed his identity, as if he didn''t want others to know this personality of his. And every time I think of him, something in my head feels fuzzy. It''s as if I''m trying to remember something, which has always felt weird to me. He''s even made me cry a few times... But it''s just a game, how could Fria feel that way about a digital character? It didn''t make sense at all. I think the best way to find out is to actually meet with him, without a mask on this time. Chapter 319: Appreciation, Supervisors? "Disciple- no, friend William. Thank you for helping me." Gu Dianlong bowed towards William, then again to the four Magical Beasts that were wholly responsible for his freedom. It had been almost fifty years since Gu Dianlong was affected by the first Envement Array, and he had worried it would be even longer this time. He spoke again, "I¡¯m d that you didn¡¯t forget about this old man. I hope this means you¡¯ve forgiven me for what I did, even if it wasn¡¯t my own decision." William waved his hand in dismissal, "You helped me before. It¡¯s only fair that I return the favor." Gu Dianlong nodded and didn¡¯t reject, "What will you do now?" "I could ask the same of you. Are you going back to your Sect?" "But of course. Though I¡¯ll have to be wary of being targeted again. You know as much as I do how much negative attention having too much Talent can bring." William sighed, "I do. Is there really a chance you¡¯ll be attacked again? I¡¯ve already captured most of their leaders. At this point, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Retribution falls apart." "There¡¯s still the leader, and I¡¯m not wary of them so much as the other Continents." Gu Dianlong exined. "You¡¯ve chased off Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right, captured Retributions highest leadership, domesticated the guardian Beasts of the Providence Zone, and absorbed multiple World Cores leading to Beast Tides across the Region. Even if you say you¡¯re a good person, your actions speak differently from your feelings. If I was from another Continent and I heard about all this, I¡¯d be biding my time until you Ascended. Once I knew you were gone, I wouldn¡¯t hesitate to invade Azures and take over all the territory." William shook his head, "I never said I was a good person. I might even be a bad person in the eyes of many, but I¡¯m really just trying to enjoy life and increase my strength like everyone else." Gu Dianlong looked at William in silence, then took a pipe out of his Space Ring and smoked a puff, "The matter still stands, you¡¯re a major deterrent to the other Continents, so don¡¯t even think of Ascending in the next thousand years." William nodded, though he sincerely hoped it wouldn¡¯t take that long to Ascend, "If I do, I¡¯ll have another solution before then." The two chatted for a while, and William even offered for Gu Dianlong toe back to the Gravitas Ruins and meet Riyald, but the Space Mage declined respectfully, saying it was time to properly take care of his Sect. Now that Gu Dianlong had been freed, thest thing he wanted was to spend time locked up somewhere else, even if he would be able to do as he pleased. Continue your saga on §Þ?? I¡¯m alive, it¡¯s time to act like it! William understood and allowed the man to leave, but not before asking for a few favors on the side and giving him two thousand Mana Stones. Gu Dianlong agreed to help William procure a few items through the Night Market if they appeared, while also helping him to track down the location of valuable resources that hadn¡¯t been imed yet. In the long run, Gu Dianlong¡¯s help might lead William to controlling a miniature empire of his own. All he needed were a few dedicated miners and supervisors to keep track of them, then William would be all set! I guess I already have the supervisors... William thought as he peered into a ball of Illusion Mana that was separated from Atticus¡¯ Illusion Territory. It contained the eight Region Leaders from Retribution, only missing Tenebris himself. If he applied the necessary Envement Arrays to the group, William may just be able to control them all at once. Though it would be very risky. Maybe I should just go find some Golden Core Thieves or something. William decided to get their opinions directly. He opened his Illusion Domain and connected it to the bundle of Mana, allowing himself to walk inside unimpeded. The eight Region Leaders were all bound with Complete Confinement Arrays to keep them from attacking him, but the Arrays would shatter every hour or so given their strength. It was more of a secondary defensive measure than a permanent solution. "What do you want?" the orange-cloaked region leader asked warily. He guessed that William hade to interrogate them for information, but William hadmitted a grave mistake by allowing them to stay together in one ce¡ª they had already coborated on a false narrative to give him. "I just have a few questions for you. Are you willing to supervise a few ces for me in exchange for your freedom after a few years?" William asked. The orange-cloaked man smirked, "As expected, you want to torture us for information. Well too bad for you I¡ª wait what? You want us to work for you?" "That¡¯s right. Is there a problem?" "Don¡¯t you want revenge? How could you be so trusting?" William was confused. "Revenge? For what?" The Region Leaders: ??? Seeing no one respond, William asked again. "For what?" Is he just testing us for our honesty? Didn¡¯t he hear everything while in that meeting room? They thought in unison. The blue-cloaked Region Leader looked at William seriously, "We tried to take advantage of you andbeled you as the criminal solely responsible for the Beast Tides, then even incited the Mayor of Blue Moon City to call the Pirs of Justice for help so you¡¯d kill each other off and we would be the ultimate winner." The orange-cloaked man added, "We also wanted to use your talents to distract Supreme Left so we could take over the Azures Continent by absorbing the World Cores to reach the peak of the World." The red-cloaked Region Leader was next, "Once you and the Yu Royal Family were past the point of no return, we would send you to absorb one of the Superior Veins and loosen the Heavens¡¯ hold on the World, then rece the Vein with one of our own to start siphoning the World¡¯s Mana to our own Cultivation, speeding up our growth by many times until we were unstoppable." William looked at them all nkly, having not expected most of this. Other than knowing that Retribution wanted to use him and hearing Tenebris¡¯ speech about how William was responsible for absorbing the World Cores and starting the Beast Tides, the rest of this n waspletely unfamiliar. Seeing William¡¯s inaction, the brown-cloaked Region Leader misunderstood and thought of something else to add, "When you were initially inside the Gravitas Ruins, we sent someone inside to keep track of you and take any treasures you earned." Oh that reminds me of Glen. I wonder how he¡¯s doing? Inside a jail cell beneath Retribution, a certain young man with disheveled hair sneezed. He had failed to pay his debt to Retribution, but he was too useless to serve any legitimate purpose. Until his day was due to be cannon fodder, this was where Glen would remain. On a good note, he was given three square meals a day and didn¡¯t have to fight for his life. It was better to think on the bright side. Chapter 320: More Hatching After each of the Region Leaders had given their exnation on how William would be taken advantage of or used, William nodded his head in understanding. "Whatever it is you plotted against me, it¡¯s in the past now, but only if you agree to work under me for a few years. With your long lifespans, you can spare a few years to take care of my needs, correct? After all, it¡¯s only fair I take advantage of you after what you¡¯ve done." The eight cloaked men all nodded their heads in eptance. It was a fair deal for sure, but some of them still had intentions to escape at a moment¡¯s notice. "And just in case you¡¯re thinking of escaping..." William raised a finger and created a Tier 6 Tracking Array, attaching one to each of the old men in quick session. They each sensed the immense power associated with the Tier 6 Array, one of which they had never seen before. It was clearly stronger than a Complete Array that only a few people in the World had the ability to create, but they had no idea how such a young man as William had reached such a level. Was he a reincarnated God of some sort? It would exin many unknowns. Thinking this made each of the Region Leaders abandon any thoughts of betraying William¡¯s trust. Even if they managed to break free from the Envement Arrays, the Tracking Array would lead him right to them, and no one was confident in taking on William alone. Even as a group, they were useless. What would happen a few years from now when William had improved even more? They didn¡¯t want to think about it. William didn¡¯t have time to apply the Envement Arrays to each Region Leader, so he asked them to behave and rebound them, leaving the cloud of Illusion Mana active while he spoke with his Companion Beasts. Since Gu Dianlong had already been freed, he saw no reason to make the four Divine Beasts remain by his side, so he sent them back to guard their respective sections of the Providence Zone, while the me Dragon was allowed to go off on his own once more. Atticus wanted to take out some Magical Beast Tides, so William went with him towards Blue Moon City and informed the Mayor of Atticus¡¯ participation. Only once William returned to the Providence Zone did he lie down for some rest. It had been a long few days, but they were also very productive. Overall, it made William surprisingly hungry. I still have that Spirit Cookware Set that I¡¯ve barely used. Let¡¯s see what I can make now. He pushed the Cooking Talent from C-Rank all the way to S-Rank just for fun since it only cost a bit over a thousand Potential Points, then experimented with a set of spices he had while slow-roasting some Sandicore Thigh. Simultaneously, William brought out some Mana-infused carrots and steamed them with a mix of traditional peas and corn, then cut up the spiced roasted Sandicore Thigh into small chunks and added it to the rest. With a bit of broth, William was able to turn the entire dish into a delicious soup that made his mouth water with delight. Experiences like this made him miss the Wild Clover Restaurant from the Five Elements Sect, even if his Cooking Talent had far surpassed any normal chef¡¯s ability. With the Talent at S-Rank, William didn¡¯t even have a problem cooking Spirit Food, which granted him short-term bonuses to his Mana Regeneration and even natural recovery. Perhaps with stronger foods, William could take this to a whole new level. "Ahhh, so good. I need to do this more often." William drank the broth and sat down his bowl with a ng. He looked through the System Panel. POTENTIAL POINTS: 149483 I should put most of these into hatching Beasts that can deal with the Beast Tides, though I¡¯m going to need to be more efficient than I was with the Chasm Guards. Stay updated via §Þ?? He created a duplicate version of the same map in his possession, then marked down only the locations of the Veins he hade in contact with. With his impressive memory, this much was easy. Next came the difficult part, math. Even with the help of the System, William couldn¡¯t quite figure out what level of Companion Beast and how many were needed for each specific Beast Tide, since he had to factor in many details that quickly became expensive through the Ask Function. Not only would he have to pay attention to howrge the resulting Beast Tide would be, but he also needed to think of frequency, howrge an area his Companions would need to defend, and even whether or not other Cultivators would get in the way. In the end, William realized that his n would never be foolproof, and mostly because of the presence of other Cultivators. All it took was one powerful Soul Formation or Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator to be in a bad mood and wipe out all his Companions, and that would spell doom for the entire area for the next Beast Tide. This wouldn¡¯t be as prevalent for the Superior Cores, since William would assign many powerful Beasts to defending those and they wouldn¡¯t nearly be as susceptible to Cultivators, but the weaker ones were the mostplicated to handle. I think the best way for now is to have one very powerful Magical Beast each in charge of a Region of the Continent. After that, I can assign more and more leaders that will be avable in case any one area has trouble. I still want to keep Atticus and Uri around, but I think the other four can keep doing what they do now for the time being. I can¡¯t make them any stronger, but they can lead their own team to deal with the Tides alone. With a simple n in mind, William got to work. Since he liked the ck Turtle Hatchling the most, he started with that. System, I¡¯d like to purchase nine ck Turtle Hatchling eggs from the shop. William said. -Select the Rarity of the eggs you¡¯d like to hatch. I¡¯ll go with Rare this time. -Total cost will be 180 Potential Points. Confirm? Confirm. -Would you like to hatch your Eggs now? Total hatching cost will be nine hundred Potential Points. Yes. Just like with the Chasm Guards, nine small ck and dark blue eggs identical in nature appeared in front of William, then glowed simultaneously as cracks formed on their surface. From them, nine tiny turtles that looked just like Kamei burst forth, making light chirping noises out of stress while looking for their mother. William reached out to touch each one of them, to which they all felt his imprint and registered him as the mother. They paddled forward with their little legs, looking up to William while wagging their small tails. He picked each of them up and held them across his arms as if he was a log for them to climb on. They were all so small, barely even a few centimeters in diameter, so William had to be very careful not to let them fall off. He used the Wind Element to gently keep them stable, admiring the cute little things for a moment before setting them back down on the ground. Chapter 321: The Kamei Hamei Turtles "Since you''re going to be Kamei''s little soldiers, I think I''ll call you all Kamei Hamei One through Nine for now. He can give you individual namester if he wants." William decided simply. If he had to give each new Magical Beast a unique name, it would be a mess to remember them all, even with the Mind Talent. Next, William nned to upgrade them all to the SS-Rank directly, which would cost 11643 Potential Points for one Hatchling or a total of 104787 Points for all nine of them. He had more than enough with thest week of Alchemy and Tribtions, but it was still a heavy hit to William''s bnce. He spread out the nine baby turtles and started their advancement, one upgrade at a time rather than all at once. Their first upgrade was simply a growth phase from baby to fully grown, then the subsequent ones each resulted in a Heavenly Tribtion of their own. Because William was concealed by the Illusion Domain during the entire process, he didn''t have to worry about garnering the Heavens'' attention, and he could watch them grow uninterrupted. After experiencing so many Tribtions, William realized that the Heavens had their own type of Mana, which was very interesting. He didn''t understand how it worked, but he was fairly positive that it wasn''t one of the standard Elements. System, how many Elements are there? Continue reading on §Þ?? -Request requires 1500000 Potential Points. Yes/No? Hmm, I''ll ask a different way. How many Elements are in this World? -Request requires 6 Potential Points. Yes/No? Much cheaper, I wonder why. Confirm. -There are twenty-seven Elements avable on Efretta. -You have the Basic Elements of Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Ice, Lightning, and nt. -Next are the Rare Elements of Life, Death, Light, Darkness, Poison, Blessing, and Curse. -The Epic Elements are Necromancy, Blood, Sound, Seal, Summoning, Dream, and Karma. -The Legendary Elements are Chaos, Gravity, Space, Time, and Illusion. -And the Mythic Element is Order. And of those Elements I''m only missing one... Karma. System, since you closed the Random Magic Talents function of the Shop, how am I supposed to get the Karma Element? -You''ll be able to purchase the Karma Element when the System reaches B-Rank. Why was it locked in the first ce? Why not just let me purchase thest one and be done with it?To William, the System''s actions didn''t make sense. -You''ll naturally know the reason when you have the Karma Element. If you can survive that long, that is. What can possibly kill me before then? I need less than half a million more Potential Points to reach B-Rank, are you saying that I''m still in danger?William asked. -There''s always someone stronger, just remember that and don''t get cocky. William nodded. He knew the System was warning him out of concern, but he wondered if it was as the System said. So far, he hadn''t seen anyone as powerful as the two from the Yu Royal Family, could there even be such a person on Efretta that hadn''t Ascended yet, or was there someone else? If the Heavens could descend to kill their enemies, they probably would have done so by now, right? Though they do seem somewhat prideful, perhaps they can but choose not to because it would be beneath them? William didn''t know. He focused on the ck Turtle Hatchlings and their Heavenly Tribtions, ensuring to heal them whenever anything went wrong. The System guaranteed that the Beasts would have the strength to undergo their Heavenly Tribtions, but they were newborns and didn''t exactly know how to control that power yet. Other than tanking the hits with their bare bodies and using the inherent Magic Affinity they were born with, the baby turtles didn''t know much about anything. As their rank improved, their understanding of their general abilities increased until they were even more powerful and efficient than the Umon-Rarity ins Vultures. They spat massive bursts of water from their mouths, making "ha!" sounds as thesers shot towards the iing Lightning Bolts. "Where did you learn to do that? I didn''t teach you!" William smiled at the Kamei Hamei''s as they repeatedly said "Ha!" It was like a scene from an anime, except instead of a monkey-tailed boy powering up, it was a group of turtles sting Lightning Bolts to smithereens. By the end of the Tribtions, William was over a hundred thousand Potential Points poorer but he had gained nine reliable ck Turtle Hatchlings in the first stage of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. He thought about pushing them to the first stage of the Ascension Realm, but the System informed him that doing so would result in their Ascension. At that point, all his efforts would be wasted. I can help them through their nine Tribtions though, technically, but I''d need to prepare some unique equipment for them to use and it''d be somewhat time-consuming. William decided it was fine for now. He called over Kamei through the System, who arrived in just a few minutes. Seeing the nine identical turtles of the same race as him and almost the same size, Kamei almost burst into tears. "I thought I was the only one left... Where did you find them?" he asked as he looked at William. "I hatched them." William replied simply. "You... hatched them?" the ck Turtle couldn''t believe what he was hearing. He looked at William''s lower area suspiciously. "What are you looking at?! I''m not the father!" William shouted upon sensing Kamei''s ridiculous thoughts. Kameiughed and looked at the turtles that had all gathered before him, "What do you want me to do, Master?" "You will lead them and eliminate any Beast Tides that appear in this area just like before." William answered. "Are you nning to absorb World Cores? I already told you it''s too dangerous, Master. Even for you. Besides, the other three are just as capable as I am when dealing with the Tides. Why do we need so many?" the turtle asked. "I''ll be assigning them elsewhere, but you will stay. Don''t ask any more questions about this." William ordered. Kamei nodded, though he became worried about the future. What would happen if these World Cores were absorbed, and William died? They''d be left to defend by themselves, and chances of survival at that point would be zero. "I won''t die. I''m better than that." Williamughed before assigning Kamei his specific positions. He spent the next day or so working on a few warehouses where Magical Beast corpses could be stored, even implementing a few Arrays that would preserve their condition and prevent the spread of disease. As long as he stopped by to clear out the storehouse every few months, there shouldn''t be any issue with this setup. He could even farm for Beast materials this way, just like how the Chasm Guards would be gathering resources for him. "This isn''t going to be enough." William realized after mapping out the entire Providence Zone. It had taken eighteen days, but he had finally marked down the locations of all four Superior Veins in the area: the Superior Death, Life, Blessing, and Curse Veins. Chapter 322: A Sense Of Belonging The Superior Life Vein should be easy to deal with, but the resulting Beast Tides were still an unknown. Not a single one had been absorbed across all of history, which proved the insane difficulty. Not only that, but there were three Superior Veins in the Providence Zone alone! That didn''t count the fact that each Superior Vein was guarded by five Greater Veins, which would incite Beast Tides of their own. He had initially only nned to send Kamei and his group to deal with the Beast Tides, but he clearly needed at least double the amount. The only bonus was that all the time spent mapping had earned back all the Points William had spent because of the Potential Farms. At this rate, he could continuously funnel his Potential Points into hatching more Companion Beasts, reap the benefits from the Beast Tides, map out the next area, and repeat! Before he could decide on which of the three remaining guardian Beasts to hatch next, though, William was interrupted by a Kamei Hamei that served under the ck Turtle. It hade to report to William that someone had entered their territory and was looking for him. "Looking for me?" William asked.Who would look for me in a ce like this? I didn''t even tell anyone where I was going. Is it Gu Dianlong again? He opened a portal to the location described by the Kamei Hamei, stepping out to see an old man in robes of the Spirit Ascension Sect. He smiled faintly and bowed to William respectfully, then extended his arm out with an upward-facing palm, as if inviting William to join him. "I hope you don''t mind the rudeness, the young miss and I had to split up to look for you. I''m Elder Fan by the way, but you can just call me Fan." the old man smiled again. William nodded, but he was confused about Elder Fan''s intention. "Is there a reason you came to visit me? I''m very busy right now." "The young miss is on her way over. She said she wanted to meet with you, but I don''t know for what." William frowned. He didn''t have time to be waiting for some unknown person. He turned around and made a portal that would send him back to the center of the Providence Zone. "I don''t really have time to be waiting, sorry. If you need to find me,e to the center of the Providence Zone." William replied as he stepped through the portal. "W-Wait!" a young female voice came from afar, but William had already closed the portal. Fria flew over to Elder Fan and panted heavily to catch her breath, then asked, "Elder Fan, was it him? What did he say?" Elder Fan smiled sheepishly, "It was, but he said he''s too busy. If we want to see him... I''m afraid it''s not possible." "Why not?" Fria asked. How could a Space Mage not have any time? Something inside her felt as if she had missed an important moment, which made her desire to see this person increase even more. What was she missing? "He said he will be in the center of the Providence Zone." "The center? Let''s go there then!" Fria beamed with excitement. She had always wanted to follow the lore and be the fifth human to set foot inside the central region. She remembered reading a while back about Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right reaching the center, but before them were two others: A mysterious man named Duon, and the strongest genius ever to exist in the World¡ª Efretta. Since this William said he would be in the central area, I guess that would make me the sixth person if I made it next, huh? Even Gu Dianlong hadn''t made it to the center when William freed him from Retribution, since William had sent him to the periphery, while the eight Region Leaders didn''t count since they were sealed the entire time. "Miss Fria, did you not hear what I said? It''s impossible, even if the Sect Master were to go with you. You''ve progressed a lot these few weeks but you''re still not even at the Tribtion Transcendence level yet." Elder Fan tried to dissuade Fria from making a suicidal decision. Fria nodded, "I guess I''m not ready yet, but soon! Just you wait, NPC William!" "Miss Fria, he can''t hear you." .-. *** A System Message distracted William from scrolling through the Bestiary. -Your Gravitas Ruins Ticket has expired. Really? Has it been four months outside already? William was surprised. The Gravitas Ruins Ticket was edited to allow him to spend 360 days inside the Ruins, or four months outside. Since he had spent most of the time inside the Ruins, William had almost naturally aged an entire calendar year since arriving in Efretta. System, how long will it be until September 27th? -It is currently September 16th, 2024. Efretta''s calendar is almost identical to your previous World, so your birthday will be in eleven days. The anniversary of your arrival to Efretta will be in six months and two days¡ª March 18th, 2025. I''m d I have you as a calendar, System. I couldn''t possibly keep track of all those dates when the time moves differently in different ces. -I''m surprised you''re being nice to me. I''m always nice to you! The System sent William a memory transmission of him a few weeks prior, which showed him in the Thieves'' Guild''s Fire Mine. His face at the time had contorted in anger, where he proceeded to shout "Shut up, System!", thereby giving away his position to the nearby thieves. When the memory ended, William shook his head in frustration.You clearly cut out the part that exined why I was mad at you in the first ce! This is nder! Stay connected with §Þ?? -I am the nice one. All I do is help you and you do this to the poor System. Stop talking about yourself in the third person! -My point is proven. Hmph! William sighed. He could never read what was on the mind of the System. His strength steadily grew, but so did the System''s attitude. It was as if¡ª -As if what? Nothing! -Finish your sentence. Never mind! William ignored the System''s subsequent messages and focused on scrolling through the Bestiary. Thankfully, the System knew better than to interfere with his process, still following through with his requests to incubate and hatch White Tiger Cub eggs. As long as William spent the Potential Points, the System couldn''t say no. He spent the next few hours upgrading the White Tiger Cubs, until they had reached the first stage of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm just like the Kamei Hamei Turtles. Of course, the entire process didn''t make any sense to William. For one, Tigers don''t hatch from eggs, but also why are they still cubs when fully grown? No one knew, but William didn''t bother to ask questions about it. Once the nine White Tiger Cubs were fully grown and named, William brought over Little Tiger, who reacted very simrly to the ck Turtle Hatchling. None of the four Divine Beasts had met their own kind before, even curious to how they existed in the first ce. The traditional Pheonix, Tortoise, Dragon, and Tiger ns all berated them when the four Beasts were younger for being some sort of half-breed or variant, but those promptly ended when the four grew to be the strongest Magical Beasts on the Continent. Those thoughts and feelings had stuck with the peak Beasts for a long time, but now that they had members of their own n to lead, their hearts were filled with joy and belonging for the first time. Chapter 323: Fire Mine Extracted William divided the Providence Zone into two main sections: the northern area which would be controlled by Little Tiger and his Mini Tigers, and the southern area belonging to Kamei and his Kamei Hameis. With the current state of the region, this was more than enough to handle anything thrown at them, even if William absorbed the remainder of the Greater Veins. At least he hoped so. He took Me Long Boi, Cyra, and Atticus along while mapping out the Azures Continent, since they could all fly and there was no need to keep them in the Providence Zone. He marked off the popted areas first, causing his fame to spread like wildfire amongst the yers and NPCs alike. The sight of three Magical Beasts at the peak of the World and an unassuming young man made many of the onlookers both fearful and curious, but their presence onlysted for a moment, reminiscent of a myth. The few yers that aimed to track William down were left lost at every turn, discovering he had traveled hundreds of kilometers by the time they reached hisst known location. From the Far West Forest to the Hillvire Empire, back through the Southern ins and eventually to the Far East Misnds, William mapped out the entire Azures Continent in just over three months. He spent two hundred thousand Potential Points along the way to hatch nine Juvenile Vermillion Pheonixes and nine Azure Wyrms, giving Cyra and Me Long a group of their own to lead. Cyra was left in the Southern ins to deal with any Elemental Beast Tides in the Region, while Me Long was left in the Far West Misnds. William didn''t forget to Cultivate, using their rest time topletely fill his Dantian with two million Spirit Qi. His physical power had already reached the limit of what the World could handle, but that didn''t necessarily mean he couldn''t Cultivate. As long as William didn''t breakthrough to the next stage, he wouldn''t have to worry about being forced to Ascend. He even took the time to visit the Fire Mine, of which the - Cultivators had greatly increased their pace and managed to extract the entirety of the Greater Fire Shards. They had even started working on the merium two days ago, but the progress was quite slow so far and they had yet to extract a single piece. "So this is thest of it, huh?" William looked at the warehousepletely overfull of Greater Fire Shards. A second one had been built nearby by the Cultivators, but it was incredibly crude and could only store a fraction of the Greater Fire Shards. "This is it, Boss Will." Wen Xai replied with a bow. "We''ve used up every case you gave us as well, but the merium might not need such an exquisite storage method." William nodded and whisked all of the Greater Fire Shards into his Space Ring. -Acquired Greater Fire Shard (x148183): +3,704,575 PP POTENTIAL POINTS: 3,951,904 Almost four million Potential Points?!?William knew there would be a lot, but he didn''t expect such an extravagant amount. With four million Potential Points, he could upgrade anything he wanted! He could even push the System to the next rank easily, since he was only a hundred and thirty thousand Points away. The System''s robotic voice interrupted William''s daydreaming. -How could you not expect this much? Less than a third of the Shards were brought outst time. If anything, this is a small amountpared to what you could have earned. Oh, would have, could have, should have but I didn''t. There''s no need to think about those things. All that matters is I''m still alive and that''s a lot of Potential Points! William couldn''t care less about whether the System thought he was the most efficient or not. His System Quests hadn''t started yet, so there was no need to rush. William looked at Wen Xai thoughtfully, making the man a little bit nervous. The old Nascent Soul Cultivator looked to the ground in shame, thinking he must have done something wrong to make his Boss angry. "Wen Xai, I believe you''ve paid off your debts." William started, filling the man with even more worry. Is he going to kill me now that I''m not useful? Wen Xai thought. "I see no need to suppress you anymore, so I''ll be removing this." William flicked his finger and shattered the Envement Array on Wen Xai''s shoulder. He had no intention of stooping to the levels of Retribution and felt as long as they didn''t threaten his friends and family, there would be no issue. He called the other Cultivators up from the mines, performing the same movement on each of them. "You''ve all done well, even if some of you tried to escape a few times." he looked sharply at a specific individual, though the person in question had never made a move since weakening the Array. Well, he had, but William knew nothing about the sequence of events. The Cultivator''s contact was with someone in Retribution, an old friend that he used to meet with before they tried to betray Supreme Left. Since the man''s contact couldn''t locate their higher-ups to inform them of his situation, no one was able toe to the man''s rescue and he was left to remain in the Fire Mine. "You can still work for me if you''d like, but it won''t be as a ve. Instead, you''lle to the mine at least three days a week for a wage of two Mana Stones per day. It''s not much, but I will also craft each of you a custom Artifact of your choosing with some limitations at the end of each month if you''ve done well." The previously nervous Cultivators brightened up when they heard William''s offer. Not only was he giving them four days off per week if they wanted, but he also would pay them a small wage! Two Mana Stones a day wasn''t a small number for Golden Core Cultivators, and neither was getting a custom Artifact. The few that had tried to escape before felt a little ashamed, not expecting something like this to happen. Given their past actions, they guessed that William must already know and would give them worse treatment in secret. They steeled their resolve to work extra days and make up for it. "I''ll work five days, Boss William!" one of them raised their hand and spoke. William waved in dismissal. "No need to inform me when you areing in. Just keep Wen Xai informed." He looked at Wen Xai, "I''ll give you five Mana Stones a day and the same offer if you choose to continue working with me. What do you say?" Wen Xai nodded. This was a better deal than he had when working with the Pirs of Justice, how could he say no? William suddenly remembered something. "There''s also a few people that will be working above you. They''ll be watching the entire Continent from separate areas, I hope you don''t mind. I''ll bring them out now." He waved his fingers and brought a ball of Illusion Mana from underground, allowing it to hover just a few inches above the rough ground. The Illusion Ball was dispersed, revealing the eight cloaked higher-ups from Retribution and stunning everyone silent. Chapter 324: Element Farm The higher-ups weren''t suppressed in the slightest, but the onlookers could tell that they didn''t dare to run away. It was as if they were fearful of William''s stength, and knew they didn''t even stand a chance to escape! But those are peak Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators! they thought in unison. William smiled and spent a few minutes exining the general duties of the eight higher-ups, then asked Wen Xai to report to them regrly. The mining system wasn''t fully established yet, and probably would never be, but William hoped that he could leverage this sometime in the future. "Do well, I''ll take my leave first." William said before disappearing through a long-distance portal. The destination was at the edge of the Far East Misnds, where a massive mountain chain covered in a thick fog would hopefully hide what he was about to do next. System, I have a lot of Potential Points to spend. I think it''s time to make some purchases. The System didn''t respond, so William scrolled through his System Panel and searched from the bottom up. The S-Rank Mining and C-Rank Herb Gathering Talents were still quite cheap, so he pushed both of those to X-Rank first, spending 126,350 Points in one go. The Mining Talent gained an ability that simply enhanced the speed of his extraction, while the Herb Gathering Talent did the same, though both had their quality enhanced greatly. Even if it was a tough ore like Obsidian or Dragonstone, William would be able to urately strike the weakest point every time, loosening the ore from the rock face in mere minutes. These two upgrades were only twelve thousand Points shy of upgrading the System to B-Rank, so William quickly chose to upgrade his Cooking Talent from S to SSR-Rank for 12500 Points. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE-- --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT-- ... ... --UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL-- SYSTEM RANK: (C+ --> B-) -404 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup. Next rank up: 1999596PP *New Changes: -System has reached version 2.3 and has improved the System Panel. -Host''s concealment from the Heavens have improved slightly. -Companion Beasts of the same Rank, Rarity, and Species will now be grouped in the System Panel and can be upgraded simultaneously for the same total cost. -Ask Function has improved. All questions have been halved in cost. Questions rted to the Heavens and the World will still be locked until sessfulpletion of the rted System Quests. -The System has decided to remove random Magic Talents from the Shop. To earn the two missing Affinities, absorb the associated Superior Veins. -Companion Shop improved. Magical Beasts hatched will have moderately better Magic Affinities. -All new Talents from the Talent Shop will be automatically raised to B-Rank. -New Farm Type: Element Farm -Element Farm: Assign an Element to the Farm and wait thirty days for a fully grown Elemental Fruit. -One Additional Farm Slot. ¡ª¡ª¡ª William''s mind spun as he looked at all the new features and functions of the System. No more Magic Talent purchases, but a better Companion Shop, B-Rank Talents, and... the Element Farm? The Element Farm made William the most curious, so he opened the Farm Menu first. Below the Potential Farms that usually cost 100 Points to upgrade, William saw the Elemental Farm with a starting price of 1000 Points. It was ten times more expensive than the other ones, which made him feel like it was something very good. System, purchase an Element Farm. -Select Element. Element? I can only choose one?William asked. -Yes. Hmm... What do the Element Fruits do? -Increaseprehension of the Element. That''s it? Isn''t that the same thing as upgrading my Affinity? -No. Hmm... I have so many Elements though... which one should I go with? Should I use a basic Element like Fire, or should I grow a rare one? The System didn''t respond. Alright. I only have one Farm slot and I probably can''t rece the Element Farm with another Element, so let''s go with... Order! The Order Element was one that William still hadn''t touched thus far because of the immense amount of danger it presented, but he felt that he could grow the fruits now and eat themter. That way he would always have a stockpile. Not to mention, the Order Element was still at E-Rank, the lowest of all his Elements. It would be a shame to not do anything for it. It''s a Mythic Element, after all, it had to be insanely strong! Right next to the other Potential Farms in William''s mind, a small apple tree grew from the ground up in mere seconds. On it, tiny red bulbs grew from its leaves, barely the size of strawberries. The tree stopped growing after reaching a moderate height of about ten meters, which made William think that was the end, but then he sensed a slight disturbance in his Mana Reserves. William felt a wisp of his Order Mana leaving his body and entering the apple tree, which made it shine brilliantly like a group of stars. The tree turned pure silver, while the red bulbs were no longer red and looked more like multicolored Christmas ornaments. Below the tree, William saw a small timer that read: 29d 23h 58m. A month to wait, huh? How much is it to upgrade? -10000 Potential Points for the next upgrade, increasing by ten times every upgrade. So much already? The Element Farm is only F-Rank!Williamined. What are its effects at least? -Increasedprehension and more fruits. That''s it? -Yes. So simple, why is it so expensive?William asked but proceeded with the upgrade anyway. The tree grew taller and the branches spread outwards, a few more tiny bulbs appearing in its leaves. William continued to upgrade the now E-Rank Element Farm, for one hundred thousand Points to D-Rank, to one million Points for C-Rank. Each upgrade expanded the tree taller and taller into the sky, until it was nearly a thousand meters tall. If William was a normal Cultivator in the Golden Core Realm, he might not have even been able to see the top. The number of fruits on the tree increased exponentially as well. He could already count over a hundred little Order Fruits as he would call them, which were in the same growth stage as before. Regardless, William would still need to wait another month before he could see what the fully-grown version looked like. POTENTIAL POINTS: 2,702,504 I have enough Points to upgrade two of my three Potential Farms to B-Rank, but I feel like that would be a waste right now. I''ll upgrade them all the next chance I get, but not this time. William wanted to upgrade his Magic Affinities to X-Rank, but there was a small problem with that. The Time Element would cause him to age rapidly, stealing away his lifespan bit by bit until he was dangerously close to death. Repeated by the Chaos Element''s upgrade, the Time Element was able to affect William twice per rank. This had happened once before, and William was not going to let it happen again. And the only way to solve that was... It''s time to buy more Talents! System, show me the Talent Shop! Chapter 325: Collateral Damage ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT SHOP: -Random Talent: 75PP (+5) -Random Physical Talent: 80PP (+10) -Random Trade Talent: 150PP (+25) -Random Passive Talent: 350PP (+25) ¡ª¡ª¡ª Wow, they''re so cheap!William hadn''t looked at the Talent Shop in a long time, so he was pleasantly surprised to see the incredibly low prices of each Talent purchase. Less than a hundred Potential Points for a Physical Talent? Yes, please! System, purchase one hundred Random Physical Talents! William made decisive action. -108000 PP -Spinning Talents, please wait. Wow, buying a hundred Talents all at once is still quite expensive... William hadn''t bothered to do the math himself on how much it would cost, but after checking the cost of a Physical Talent, he found that it was now 1080 Potential Points if he wanted to purchase another one. While it was still quite cheap in William''s eyes, he had severely underestimated intion. The System sent a wave of messages in William''s vision, starting with a row of ten consecutive "Talent Purchased: Nothing". It was quite devastating, to say the least, especially when those were the cheapest of the one hundred purchases. The eleventh message finally gave William some good news, followed by roughly a dozen more messages amidst the Nothing''s. -Talent Purchased: Hard Muscles Hard Muscles? How does that even work? They''re supposed to be flexible, not tough. William''s question was answered almost immediately by an unbelievably intense pain that even the pain resistance effect from his Mind Talent couldn''t fully suppress. His muscles were ripped straight out from his body, dangling in midair while his crippled self could no longer stand. He used his Spiritual Qi to float in the air, watching as his old muscles were disintegrated by an unknown force. No ashes were left behind, and the pain subsided quickly. New muscles grew underneath William''s skin, stretched to ensure maximum flexibility, then hardened like steel and stretched again. Movement was a bit difficult to get used to, but William felt he would grow ustomed in time. -Talent Purchased: Sturdy William didn''t feel anything from this Talent, so he checked the System Panel for more information. It was a Rare Talent, which was described as a Talent that would allow him to remain still under many circumstances, even when sted by fierce winds. In his opinion, this Talent belonged in the Passive Talents list rather than Physical, but he didn''t make the rules. It seems more like a support ability. If I rank it up enough, maybe even a volcanic eruption won''t be able to move me. William surmised. A few more nothings and two consecutive Talents appeared: Hard Bones and Swift Feet. Just like the Hard Muscles Talent, William''s bones were torn from his body very painfully, while the new ones regrew with the help of the Regeneration Talent. Just like his Muscles, his Bones became hard like steel, but there was no need to stretch them repeatedly for flexibility, so it was much less painful. Swift Feet was a very unique Physical Talentpared to the others. It was a Common Talent like many, but it seemed to apply more to swimming than it did running. If anything, William would prefer tobel it was Agile Ankles, because that''s what was really happening. The speed at which his feet moved up and down increased greatly, but the rotational ability also increased, allowing him to turn both feet perfectly sideways like a penguin and even continue rotating them outward until they had flipped almost 180 degrees. This is kinda freaky, I better hide this skill from thedies. Girls hated gross-looking things. That''s why William would never consider changing his race from that of a human. What would the cute and innocent Charlotte think if William showed up to her room with warts like a toad or scaly like a lizard? She''s very pure, maybe she wouldn''t mind it. But I would! -You''re quite ugly as it is, maybe she''d understand if you said you weren''t human. Ugly? Excuse you, I am handsome! -In your dreams maybe. Now I know why you said you chose the wrong Host. Clearly, you''re ashamed to admit that I''m perfect! The System didn''t reply, but William received a blurry mental image of a girl sticking her tongue out at him while making an L with her fingers. The L-shaped gesture was especially sharpened, as if he was looking at an HD-video, while the rest was more like an 8-bit video game. Is that you, System? William asked. He had been wondering this for a while now, but he was starting to think that the System was a female human, judging by how it acted. Though he couldn''t be sure. The System didn''t respond, only repeating the same mental image as if taunting him. It worked. William''s face turned bright red with anger as he proceeded to unleash the foulest curses he could think of, honed year after year while bickering with his gamer sister, Fria. If Fria were here, she''d probably apud William for his variednguage, that was much more borate and profound than any first-person shooter video game. You''re a... poop head. He finished with a sigh. He had run out of things to say. -Poop head? You''ve lived twenty-one years and that''s the best you cane up with? The System taught William a lesson, using his memories with Fria against him to unleash a sinister wave of curses, thousands of times more deadly than anything William could ever think of. To top it off, the Talent Shop was still making purchases, so William''s thoughts were asionally interrupted by a spark of pain whenever a body-modifying Talent was announced. By the end of it, William was left broken both physically and mentally. He had been thoroughly scarred from the System''s unfiltered roasting, which had clearly been refined with thousands or maybe even tens of thousands of years of experience. Alright, System. You win. -As always. It''s good that you know your ce. William shook his head while smiling helplessly. Even though the System had said some hurtful things, he could sense through their connection that it, no... she didn''t mean it. If anything, he felt like the System was in a way epting him as its Host. Now what do I do about all these Talents...William wondered as he looked through the wave of System Messages. His body still hurt from the pain of losing and regaining many vital parts, but the new Talents pushed all those negative thoughts away in an instant. -Talent Purchased: Hard Organs -Talent Purchased: Hard Veins -Requirements met for a Talent upgrade. Please raise Hard Skin, Hard Muscles, Hard Veins, Hard Bones, and Hard Organs to the same rank. -Talent Purchased: Agility -Talent Purchased: Rejuvenation -Detected the Host has X-Rank Regeneration Talent and the Rejuvenation Talent. The next rank for Regeneration can now be viewed in your System Panel. -Talent Purchased: Physical Charm -Talent Purchased: Dexterity -Requirements met for a Talent upgrade. Please raise Acrobatics, Agility, Dexterity, Strength, eleration, Reflexes, Stamina, and Sturdy to the same rank. -Talent Purchased: Vitality -Requirements met for a Talent upgrade. Please raise Rejuvenation, Regeneration, and Vitality to the same rank. -Talent Purchased: Coteral Damage -Unlocked your first Legendary Physical Talent: +100 PP Chapter 326: Soul Realm William looked at the Coteral Damage Talent first, since it had the most interesting name and was his first Legendary Physical Talent. He hoped it was like the Attack Reflection Talent¡ª much more powerful than its rank suggests. -Coteral Damage (B-Rank Legendary): Your enemies will never know what hit them, literally! When attacking with kicks or punches, your moves are surrounded in an invisible aura that affects the surroundings in a radius around you. Current radius: 40 centimeters. "This really is a cheat skill!" William said as he punched forward next to a nearby hill, sting apart a small area around his fist. This would be very useful in closebat and would pair really well with the Attack Reflection Talent. He tested it out with the Abyssal Weapon Shifter, but it only seemed to work with his bare feet and fists. A shame, but still an incredible Talent. Despite having spun over a hundred Physical Talents, the amount of "Nothing" purchases remained about the same and even rose slightly. After a hundred spins, he had only earned 10 new Physical Talents. I have plenty of Potential Points left, though. I should upgrade these new Talents before doing anything else. William''s defensive ability had increased greatly with the Hard Muscles, Organs, Bones, Veins, and Skin Talentsbined, but he needed even more if he wanted to survive the Chaos upgrade without running out of lifespan. System, upgrade these Talents to X-Rank.He selected the four Talents spoken previously that weren''t already at the maximum Rank. -255000 PP The upgrades were much faster than awakening the Talents initially, and William''s Mind Talent limited the pain to a bearable level. The only downside was the psychological impact of seeing one''s internal body parts reced and refined repeatedly. It was gruesome, to say the least. He skipped past the notification of the new changes, opting to proceed with the Talent upgrade and wait for the final reveal. -Requirements met for the Talent upgrade. Merging the Hard Skin, Hard Organs, Hard Bones, Hard Muscles, and Hard Veins Talents... Please be careful, you will be left vulnerable in this state. Vulnerable? How?William wondered, but his question was quickly answered. Just as quickly as his body parts were refined and improved were they gathered and removed one by one. His skin was ripped off first, surgically and with little pain. Then came the muscles, followed by the nerves that hadn''t received any upgrade. Next, the bones and organs were removed at the same time, floating above William''s head and disappearing just like before. In their ce, a dark blue light enveloped the area, making William feel as if he was underwater. At the end of it all, William was left solely as a consciousness, with no body to host him. The underwater effect was actually just him automatically switching to the Spirit Mode Vision, which was not controlled by him at all. -You are a Soul Being until the remainder of the upgrade. Defend yourself. Before he had time to fully react to the situation, William saw two human-like figures in the distance with glowing white eye sockets. Even in this form, his Cultivation Talent was able to identify that they were both in the Core Formation Realm, which made William ease up slightly. The two approached, gathering an ethereal fireball in each of their hands and tossing them at William in unison. He tried to dodge to the side, but quickly realized his speed wasn''t what it used to be, limited to barely the Golden Core Realm. He underestimated the amount of strength he had to put into dodging and was clipped on the right shoulder by both fireballs, which exploded next to him and made his entire right arm disappear. There was no pain, but his arm wasn''t recovering at all! Shit, I can''t use any of my physical talents in this ce! William realized. -Didn''t I just tell you that you''re a Soul Being? Why are you surprised about this? Aren''t you upgrading my Talents? Why do you always have time to bully me? -You''re easy to bully. ... William channeled his Soul Strength into creating a fireball of his own, finding that Magic wasn''t suppressed as much as his physical ability. He cast the fireball forward when it approached the size of a building, obliterating the two Cultivators instantly. Even the SS-Rank Fire Magic is limited to the middle stages of the Nascent Soul Realm... this is harsh. If William didn''t have 1250 Soul Strength, he wouldn''t even be able to achieve that! In the Soul Realm, one''s physical abilities were reduced by nearly ny-nine percent, while their Magic would be roughly ny percent weaker. Soul Strength wasn''t a measure of how powerful one was as a Soul Being, it was a measure of how much the restrictions of the Soul Realm affected the person. If William''s Soul Strength was less than a hundred, he wouldn''t even be able to move in this Realm! But of course, William didn''t know that. He continued to battle fiercely with every opponent that entered his vision, from two to four to dozens of remnant souls of long-dead Cultivators and Magical Beasts. If their souls are still here, does that mean there''s no such thing as Hell or the Netherworld?William asked the System. -There is, but only one''s bare consciousness can go to Hell. All of one''s acquired Cultivation, Soul Strength, and their Mana Reserves remain in the World they died, bing an emotionless bundle of energy that wants nothing but to attack those who enter the Soul Realm without permission. So, Soul Zombies?William asked. -Soul Zombies, Ghosts, Vengeful Spirits. Call them what you like, but they''re all the same thing. Then what about the Demon I saw in the Gravitas Ruins? I remember asking about their origins, but you wouldn''t tell me. What about now? Are they Magical Beasts, or...? -Request requires 840 Potential Points. Yes/No? Only 840? Sure. -Demons are a unique lifeform thate directly from Hell. I''ve already mentioned that Cultivation, Soul Strength, and Mana Reserves stay in the World, but what happens when the consciousness that went to Hell returns? -It''s simple. The lost Cultivation, Soul Strength, and Mana Reserves merge back together with the original consciousness, bringing with it the vengefulness that one has towards living beings. If a consciousness is powerful enough to reach the World from Hell, they are also strong enough to bring this World to its knees. If given the time to grow, that is. William didn''t understand everything about the System''s exnation, but he got the general idea. So, if I died and went to Hell... I coulde back, technically? But the moment I returned to Efretta... things wouldn''t be good. -Exactly. Many who want to return to their home Worlds have nothing but the best intentions, but few realize that their homesickness will be both theirs and their family''s downfall. -Those that wanted revenge on their murderers will only have it worse. Before they have a chance to locate their objective, the negative emotions will cloud their thoughts and cause them to go rampant. Eventually they will forget who they even are¡ª a killing machine with no goal. Chapter 327: Speak Of The Devil And He Will Arrive That''s pretty cruel... is this really how demons exist? They''re just humans that returned to their World from Hell? William asked as he ran from a group of Golden Core Souls. -And Magical Beasts, but yes. William used his Lightning Domain and created a field of sparks that electrified the Golden Core Souls, causing them to wail in pain while their forms became more translucent. You said they''re powerful, right? Howe I haven''t heard anything about them since I''ve been here? Other than the Gravitas Ruins, there''s been nothing yet. -Are you trying to speak them into existence? It''s not like they appear every¡ª System, did you just cut off? It''s a text box, don''t be so dramatic!Williamined. And don''t scare me like that. You''re reacting as if a Demon is nearb¡ª fuck. While William was talking with the System, what appeared to be a shooting star came in from out of nowhere, illuminating ethereal Realm with an otherworldly beauty. At first, it seemed like a minor detail that wasn''t worth paying much attention to, but now William wasn''t so sure. That''s because at the same time, one of the peak Nascent Soul Vengeful Spirits that William was avoiding started to blur and distort, the figureless face pulled towards the shooting star. As they collided in midair, a bright bluish-red explosion filled the sky, showering the area with sparks. The ground beneath the collision was swept away, bing a massive shockwave that knocked William''s Soul Form away. Since there were only a few Talents that were effective in this state, William was knocked off his feet and traveled a few dozen meters before stopping. Before he could get back to his feet, a deafening roar emanated from the center of the shockwave, sending William tumbling for a second time. He used his Acrobatics Talent to tumble gracefully this time, getting back to his feet quickly. William raised his head to identify his opponent, which seemed to be wantonly destroying other Souls in its rage, but the Cultivation Talent''s bonus effect made him wish he hadn''t. [Demon] {Peak Nascent Soul Realm} If he remembered correctly, a Golden Core Lesser Demon had the strength of a peak Nascent Soul Cultivator. This was a normal Demon, which meant itsbat strength should be more than a full Realm, possibly two Realms above its own. Not to mention, these things had insane regeneration! Shit. System, how much longer on the upgrade? -Less than a minute. You can''t leave the area, so I suggest you survive. I can''t leave either?! This thing is probably as strong as Sect Master Gu! How am I supposed to beat it like this?!? William couldn''t believe the System was so calm right now. He concealed his aura as much as possible, but even the Stealth Talent didn''t seem to work while he didn''t have a body. It was only a matter of time before the rogue Demon located him. His Physical Talents were useless, the Regeneration Talent had nothing to regenerate, and his Magic was suppressed. He felt incredibly useless in this form, barely as strong as a weak Nascent Soul Cultivator. -Are your Elements for show? This one happens to be weak to the Chaos and Blood Elements. Hearing a bit of good news from the System relieved William a little bit, but he didn''t dare get cocky. He was still as weak as a chicken in front of the Demon¡ª all it takes is one wrong move before instant death. Will couldn''t wait for the Demon to discover him, so he gathered his strength and traveled the maximum distance the System would allow before channeling his Chaos Mana. It was the first time that William had used the Magic in actual battle, but that didn''t mean he hadn''t taken the time to practice the Element before. I only hope that Golden Girl doesn''t somehow see this. I''d hate for the Tribtions to be even stronger. From an outside perspective, the area around William suddenly became dim and distorted while the ground dissolved into particles of Mana. The Mana Particles were pulled towards William, who had be like a ck hole, violent and unwilling to let go of any bits of Mana. Chaos Magic was very different from other Mana. While he did indeed still have to use his Mana Reserve to cast Spells, the properties of Chaos itself were too much for anything to handle. The moment his Chaos Mana gained a physical form, it threatened to send everything around it into disarray. The only exception was William and his gear, which was naturally immune because it carried his unique aura. If he hadn''t created his own equipment or imbued it with his Mana, even that might have been destroyed in the process. The Demon had noticed William the moment it was formed, but it had ignored the weakling to destroy the stronger foes first. Before it could tear thest few Nascent Soul beings to shreds, however, it sensed a slightly threatening Mana signature from the weakling''s position. It turned its head and barreled in William''s direction, its physical body sting through souls and trees alike as it took a straightforward path. No fair! Why can he hurt Soul Beings with his physical strength? Williamined. He was jealous of the Demon''s strength, but not as much as he was repulsed by its horrifying looks. He maintained his control over the Chaos Magic, spreading it around his body to form a defensive shield that disassembled the World around him into its most basic Mana Particles. His legs shook as the Demon continued forward, seemingly unperturbed by the wall of Chaos Mana. Are you sure this is going to help me, System? This thing doesn''t seem afraid at all!William couldn''t help but take a step back in fear, the Chaos Barrier slightly deformed by his movement. -Not if you don''t focus! William nodded and regained control of the violent Mana, steeling his resolve to meet the Demon head-on. The two forces shed midair, the Demon''s bulky form slowing down and bing like paper going through a shredder. The Chaos Barrier tried to break it apart into tiny pieces, but the Demon continued moving forward, so William was forced toyer Time Magic overtop of it to slow it down even more. With such arge difference in their strength, William had no way to reverse time that involved the Demon, but he could still manage to slow it down quite a bit. With the help of the Chaos Barrier, the Demon was slowed further and further until it was only a little bit faster than William. Only when the Demon was about to touch William did he jump to the side, ending the Spell and avoiding any serious injuries. He called Chaos Mana to form another barrier immediately, unwilling to believe that such a weak attack could possibly kill a Demon. It''s a good thing Master had me fight one in the past, otherwise I probably would have thought I won by now. As expected, the shredded Demon almost instantaneously reformed, with no discernable difference to its shape or size. Instead, William saw the Demon be enraged and grow a pair of long purple horns that crackled with the Lightning Element. It can use Magic too?! Thest one wasn''t like this! -That was a Lesser Demon. This is a regr Demon. The stronger ones even have Domains. A Demon with a Domain? I think I have something new to add to my list of nightmare fuel... Chapter 328: Hard Body William and the Demon shed several times in quick session, forcing William to burn through his Mana Reserves at an incredible pace. He had opened the Time, Space, Chaos, Illusion, and Gravity Domains, yet the Demon was still able to locate him urately and even attack despite all the stacked slowness effects. The only constion was that its speed had been reduced to the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm while inside the Domains, so William was able to dodge it for the time being as long as he watched out for the Lightning Bolts from its horns. Or so he thought. Seeing that it could no longer keep up with William and it couldn''t approach without taking damage from his Domains, the Demon''s eyes glowed bright red as aser in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm sted through William''sbined Domains and destroyed the remainder of his right shoulder. If he hadn''t seen this type of attack before and the Chaos Barrier hadn''t diverted theser in time, William probably would have died right then and there. System, how much time? -Fifty seconds or so. It''s only been ten seconds?!? Fuck! William danced left and right to avoid any furthersers, opening his remaining Domains to defend with full strength. Since Blood Magic was the Demon''s other weakness, William used the Blood Domain to slow down the rate at which the Demon''s body regathered, saving precious seconds of time. From four thousand to three thousand and eventually to just a few hundred Mana, William''s Mana Reserves were exhausted at a breakneck pace. Not only was he quickly running out of Mana, but William''s mind was starting to tire as well. Keeping over twenty Domains active at the same time while simultaneously casting expensive Spells was just too much, even for him. The Demon smiled, seeing that its prey was almostpletely worn out. It rushed forward in a yful manner and forced William to cast all of his readied Spells at once, only to back up again and smile mischievously. It had caught on to William''s tactics, and now was its time to return the favor. Zrrt! Aser beam sliced off William''s left leg suddenly, forcing him to hop backwards while maintaining his Spells with willpower alone. Anotherser dispersed William''s other leg, leaving him with only his Spirit Qi as a form of movement. The Demon''s smile intensified, only one step away from catching the pitiful weakling that was so unlucky to be its prey. It shook its head to remove the pesky thoughts of its other consciousness, desiring only to kill and feed on the feeble hearts of human beings. System!William cried out as anotherser took off his left arm, leaving him utterly defenseless against whatever was toe next. The demon was approaching quickly, its hideous mouth open wide as it sauntered forward, covering the distance between it and William in an instant. -It''s done! Retrieving your soul now! The Demon chomped down with its powerful jaws but found nothing but air. It turned its head to the side to see William''s soul traveling at speed almost equivalent to the Ascension Realm towards a pristine white body as pure as snow. The soul was pulled inside, turning the lifeless husk into a functional human being, simultaneously filling William with relief. "That was close, System." he said out loud while flexing his fingers and knuckles. A few popping noises could be heard as he adjusted to his new body, which felt more like a mechanical suit than his own. His bones were heavy like steel and weighed him down slightly, reducing his speed by a few stages in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, but making up for it by boosting his defense to an insane level. The peak Nascent Soul Demon no longer seemed as threatening, despite the fact that he was stillpletely out of Mana. As the Demon approached, William even took the liberty to check the new effects of his upgraded Talent: Hard Body. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Talent Merger Complete Hard Body (Legendary): (X) Effects: -Skin toughness +20000% -Muscle toughness +20000% -Vein toughness +20000% -Organ toughness +20000% -Bone toughness +20000% -Base Speed -10% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Immovable Boulder: When not moving, the toughness of your body is doubled. -Sunken Ship: Your body is heavy and can descend through deep water twice as quickly. Next rank up: Requirements Locked. Ascend or upgrade the System to S-Rank to unlock the next Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Twenty thousand percent?!? So... two hundred times more powerful than a normal Golden Core Cultivator? In each aspect, and they stack?!? Now this is overpowered! William looked at the fast-approaching Demon and smiled, raising his fist to throw a simple punch. Using the Coteral Damage Talent, a force covering his fist and forty centimeters in every direction was sent towards the Demon, sting the humanoid monster back almost an entire kilometer. Its deformed body was sent hurtling through trees and boulders alike, even tearing through a small hill not far behind. By the time it regained control of its body, William''s figure had already appeared from a short-distance portal above it and smashed it deep underground. It spun once again, the smile wiped from its face as it became furious. The horns on its head grew some more, the Lightning Bolts tainted by Darkness Magic that corroded the deep pit it had fallen into. "Roar!!" the Demon bellowed to the not-so-puny human above it in anger. William smiled, "I thought you liked picking on weaklings? Well maybe you should get a taste of your own medicine!" He dove into the Demon''s pit like a professional swimmer, releasing a series of high-speed punches that mashed the Demon into a paste. A small amount of Chaos Mana was added to the mix, shredding what little was left of the Demon into fine bits of blood that attempted to regather. "Not so fast!" William said as he disabled all of his Domains at once except the Blood and Chaos Domain, channeling all of his remaining Mana into a Blood Spell that kept the puddles of blood separate from one another. Some roars could still be heard from the Demon as William continued to punch at the blood puddles, channeling his Mana at full power to keep the being from having any chance to recover. Many minutes passed, which turned into an hour of back and forth between William and the Demon. While it was many times weaker than William, this Demon proved to be much more versatile than the one he had faced in the past. -Defeated a Nascent Soul Demon: +5000 PP I''m d I upgraded my Talents away from my Companion Beasts. I might have lost a few otherwise. William thought as he called for Atticus with the System. "Hmm?" William looked down at the puddle of red that could hardly be called blood anymore. A small bead had formed from the blood, which glowed a slight red and seemed to contain a bundle of negative emotions. -Acquired a Blood Bead: +500 PP Blood Bead? What''s this?William meant to ask, but the Alchemy Talent triggered and automatically supplied the information. It was the key ingredient for a Tier 10 Blood Refinement Pill, and was even more powerful than the one used in the Pill that William gave to Atticus. Nice! I guess there was a positive to meeting this thing after all! I forgive you, System. -Forgive me for what? It''s not like I summoned the Demon. If anything, it was you that asked so many questions about Demons. You must have done it. Don''t turn this on me, System. You know you''re bad luck. -Bullshit! Don''t make me start talking about your mother again. I''m sorry System...William hung his head low in shame. Chapter 329: Recovery With the variousponents of the Hard Body Talent merged and the Demon destroyed, William could now focus on upgrading his other Talents. He scrolled through the System Panel until he found the Regeneration Talent, opening the information to view its rank up requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Regeneration (Common): (X) Next rank up: Refine and consume one Blood Bead. ¡ª¡ª¡ª A Blood Bead? That''s it? I''d ask how to get one, but I think this has answered the question for me. William thought as he looked at the Blood Bead in his hand. It made sense, technically, but William was used to the Potential Points requirement when raising his Talents. Without even asking a question, the System answered for him. -Ascending a Talent requires more than just energy. Even I cannot do so easily, and avoiding this method would cost too many Potential Points than you have even now. I see...William thought, but he was focused on one piece of information that the System seemed to have given out for free. Ascending a Talent... It''s more than just a simple upgrade. But that left William in a dilemma. If he Ascends the Regeneration Talent now, the requirements to Ascend the Rejuvenation and Vitality Talents might be something he couldn''t afford. The inverse could be the same, however. It was very likely that the merged Talents would result in something of higher Rarity, and that would probably increase the overall cost of Ascending his Talent. He was in a stalemate. It''s either I Ascend the Regeneration Talent and risk not being able to merge the other two, or I merge them now and possibly have to wait and Ascend the new merged Talentter. What should I do... The System didn''t help William with this, electing to give him the freedom to decide. After a long moment of deliberation, William decided to go for thetter option, asking the System to upgrade the Vitality and Rejuvenation Talents to X-Rank. If the cost to Ascend the Talent went up, so be it. -127500 PP The upgrades were almost instantaneous, but William didn''t feel much different than before. Other than surging with energy, William wouldn''t have known what had changed if not for his Status Panel. ¡ª¡ª¡ª STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 480000/480000 -Mana: 1420/6800 -Fame: 145 -Humanity: 57 -Attention: 23 -Soul Strength: 1250 -Cultivation Base: 1999611/2000000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª "Ha-Half a million Health?!?" William shouted out in surprise. If he remembered correctly, his previous Health was only five thousand. How had it gone up so much? He scrolled through the System notifications until he found the culprit: the Vitality Talent. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Vitality (Common): (SSR --> X) Effects: Maximum Health increased by 2400% >> 9600% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Revitalizing: Your stamina recovery is doubled when out ofbat. Next rank up: Refine and consume one Blood Bead. ¡ª¡ª¡ª 96 times my original Health... how much will it be when I''m a Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator? He looked at the Rejuvenation Talent next while his Talents merged, but it was pretty bare bones for being X-Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Rejuvenation (Common): (SSR --> X) Effects: Cell recovery increased by 2400% >> 9600% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Cell Restoration: If the Host takes no physical damage for a period of one month, cells that are damaged from routine aging effects will slowly recover by one year. Next rank up: Refine and consume one Blood Bead. ¡ª¡ª¡ª I need to not use my natural regeneration at all for an entire month, just to regain one year of my lifespan? Am I understanding that correctly, System?Williamined. Considering he just spent over sixty thousand Potential Points on the Rejuvenation Talent alone, he thought he would have a more profound X-Rank bonus effect. It seems that not all Talents are created equal... How fast even is my cell recovery? What does 96 times faster recovery even mean to me? William wondered. How was this different from Regeneration? -It depends on the severity of the cell''s injury. Some could naturally, while others would normally require decades but usually don''t even have a chance to recover before the end of one''s lifespan. -To answer yourst question, Rejuvenation serves as a supporting Talent to Regeneration, and only targets your cells'' DNA. So, it''s basically useless... got it. -If that''s what you want to think, sure. William shrugged. The System hadn''t given him a useless Talent thus far, maybe it would be better when the merging finished. The System Notification appeared just at that moment, flooding his vision with another wave of information. -Talents sessfully merged. Regeneration, Rejuvenation, and Vitality reced with Recovery Talent. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Recovery (Epic): (X) Effects: -Cell recovery increased by 15000% -Maximum Health increased by 15000% -Natural healing ability improved by 15000% -Healing speed improved by 15000% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Revitalizing: Your stamina recovery is tripled when out ofbat. -Cell Restoration: If the Host takes no physical damage for a period of one month, cells that are damaged from routine aging effects will slowly recover by two years. -Death Defying: Host can recover from almost any physical injury, no matter the severity. Side Effect: Healing injuries hastens the rate of cell division and will cause the Host to age by one year after healing 960 years'' worth of injuries. Next rank up: Refine and consume one Blood Bead, 1 million Potential Points. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -Unlocked your first Epic Physical Talent: +25 PP It''s still X-Rank, but the effects are all fifteen thousand now. Not only that, but the cost to Ascend the Recovery Talent is still manageable!William was happy with his choice to merge the Talents first, otherwise he would have needed to consume a total of three Blood Beads. Who knew when the next Demon would appear? One year, ten years? He didn''t have that long! Not to mention... -Health: 750000/750000 This is absurd! Can I even die at this point?William wondered. -There''s always the risk of death. William nodded. Golden Girl was able to control Heavenly Tribtions, who knew what else there was above this Realm? And that''s why I need to keep upgrading my Talents. System, upgrade Agility, Dexterity, and Sturdy to X-Rank. -228750 PP -Upgrading Talents. Please wait... William pulled out his Spirit Cookware Set and sauteed some asparagus with Mana rice, mushrooms, and Spiritual beef tenderloin, spicing it up to his liking until two warm bowls of food and a leftover pot were prepared. The pot was set aside for Atticus, who had never flown to William faster in his entire life. The Mythical Rat Snake slithered down from the clouds, his tongue flicking at the air as he smelled something gooding from William''s position. Chomp! Atticus lifted the entire pot with his long tail, then used Illusion Magic to make the bottom of the pot temporarily disappear, causing the fresh food to fall into his opened jaws in one go. He smiled with satisfaction, allowing the Spiritual meat to deliver its juicy Spirit Qi to his body. William snorted. "You didn''t even taste it! How am I supposed to cook for you if everything disappears in a second?" Atticus looked down sheepishly, "Ssorry. I can''t help it, I''m too big." Williamughed. The Snake had a point, but his reaction was still hrious. He finished his two bowls of Spiritual Asparagus Beef Saute and cleaned the dishes with Water Magic before queueing up the eleration and Acrobatics Talents to upgrade from SSR to X-Rank. -125000 PP Chapter 330: Close Call, I Almost Ascended? -Requirements met for a Talent upgrade. Merging Acrobatics, eleration, Agility, Dexterity, Reflexes, Stamina, Strength, and Sturdy... ¡ª¡ª¡ª Fitness (Mythic): (X) Effects: -Speed increased by 20000% -Jumping strength increased by 20000% -Bncing ability improved by 20000% -Flexibility improved by 20000% -Time to reach maximum speed reduced by 20000% -Reaction time improved by 20000% -Resistance to physical fatigue +20000% -Full-body muscr ability +20000% -Immunity to the effects of knockback -Wall-scaling improved by +20000% -Ability to redirect your velocity in another direction +20000% -Your hands can be used with 20000% finer detail and grace. X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Narrowly dodging an attack grants you a 30% speed boost for ten seconds. Duration is tripled if you dodge a life-threatening attack. -elerated Reflexes: When faced with killing intent or targeted by physical or magical attacks, time is slowed by 96 times from the Host''s perspective only. -Reflexive Learning: When narrowly dodging one or multiple attacks, one random attack within one meter of the Host will be selected and be partiallyprehended by ten percent. -Speedy Recovery: Quickly recover your stamina when out ofbat. -Maxed Out: When at full stamina, your first physical move is 110% more powerful and efficient. -Running On Empty: When at zero stamina, your next physical move will be 600% more powerful and efficient, at the cost of your consciousness afterwards. -Fit: Chance of physical strain reduced by 100% -Physique: Physical appearance is maintained, preventing physical deformities when using too much strength. -Power: Pull your arm back to charge up your punches for two seconds, unleashing up to twice the original strength whennding blows. -Steady Hands: When performing tasks that require extreme precision and skill, your focus cannot be swayed by outside influences. Next rank up: Requirements Locked. Upgrade the System to S-Rank to unlock the next Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -Unlocked your first Mythic Physical Talent: +1000 PP "What... is that?!?" William eximed out loud. The list of abilities was unbelievable, and each one had absurd effects thatbined the best aspects of his previous Talents. Not only was nothing lost, but there were even more gained! A Mythic Talent is a Mythic Talent, after all. Thank God I have the Mind Talent, otherwise it would be impossible to remember all these effects, much less keep them in order. William moved his arm to test out the effects of his Fitness Talent, but he severely underestimated his own strength, the seemingly simple action ripping a hole through the first and secondyers of Space, opening a pathway to the thirdyer. The sky rumbled slightly, deep-red Tribtion Clouds forming above his head and quickly striking him with a bolt of Heavenly Lightning. The moment it touched William''s body, however, the Lightning seemed to shift directions on its own and drill into the ground beneath him. The Tribtion Clouds dispersed immediately, a bright golden portal opening up far above William''s head that would allow him to Ascend to the next Realm. It sucked at William''s body with great force, wanting to pull him into the portal, but his weight was too much from the Hard Body Talent. Even the Heavens couldn''t bring him up, and the golden portal was forced to close on its own. If not for the Gravity Element keeping William from being pulled inside, he would have lost the ability toplete his System Quests right then and there. What more, the System gave another notification that told William this was just the beginning of his troubles. -The Heavens are interested in the Host: +5 Attention I knew I was already close to the peak of the World, but I didn''t expect to be THIS close. I''m only in the Golden Core Realm! System, can I suppress my strength somehow? -You can use the Seal Element on yourself, but it probably won''t have much effect at its current Rank. William tried the System''s method, sealing his own speed and strength with Seal Magic, but it was as the System said. He was only able to reduce his physical abilities by five percent or so. It was enough to move around, but anything faster than a snail''s pace was too much for the World and he could sense that he would trigger another Tribtion soon. In that case, I guess now is a better time than ever. System, upgrade my Chaos Affinity. William nned to take the Chaos upgrade one step at a time, scared that the Legendary Element would have too great an impact on his lifespan and kill him without even realizing it. -50000 PP Spells of various Elemental origins were cast from within William''s body, much like before, except this time they could hardly create a scratch in William''s skin. His body was incredibly powerful at this point, and even S-Rank Elements weren''t enough to cause serious damage. The Fire and Earth Elements, which were both SS-Rank, opened their Domains at the same time and turned the ambient Mana against William, stabbing at him from both inside and out with Earth Spikes while the air turned sauna hot and tried to burn him. "You''ve gotta be kidding me, guys. You should know that I''m very heat resistant." William scoffed at their poor attempt at killing their Master. His words seemed to trigger some negative thoughts from the Elements, as they became even more intent at attacking him, even drawing a little bit of blood here and there. Regardless, his Regeneration, no... Recovery Talent didn''t have to do much work, patching up the damages before they could cause any serious harm. In William''s head, he could slightly sense the condition of his cells, noticing that he was nowhere near the limit of 960 years'' worth of injuries. Even if the Elements attacked him like this for hours, he would only lose one year of lifespan at most. The Chaos Element was able to sense William''s unique and much more powerful condition, condensing into the same shadowy purple and grey figure with pure white eyes that was a spitting image of William. It opened its mouth and spouted a few words, which were once again inaudible because of the Soun Element. This time, however, the time-slowing effect of his Fitness Talent allowed William to read each syble of the Chaos Elemental figure''s lips. "You. Can. Not. Contain. Me." it said. "Contain you?" William asked, but no words could leave his throat. The Sound Element seemed to haveplete control over his motionless body, which had be much stronger, but the Sound Element was just as effective as before. The Chaos Element responded to William''s silent question, mouthing words of its own. "I''m. Not. Your. Servant." "My servant? You''re my Element, sure, but..." William''s mouth was forced closed by tendrils of nt roots before he could finish his sentence. The Chaos Element seemed to be angry as the Time and Death Domains opened, doing their best to age William one year at a time. -Your age has increased by one: 354 years Two hours passed in the same stalemate, the only effective Elements doing their best to damage William''s body, but unable to cause much significant damage before being forced to give up. Only after a final System Message went through did the unruly Elements finally recede into William''s body, sealing his Magic ability for an unknown length of time. -Your age has increased by one: 355 years Chapter 331: Language Of The Elements SS-Rank Chaos Magic... I wonder if I can create that Chaos Elemental Sphere now? William thought as he waited for his Magic ability to return. He received information of an uing Beast Tide from Blue Moon City''s Mayor, so Atticus was sent to deal with the matter. The Mythical Rat Snake soared through the air at incredible speed, making William jealous of its ability to make hasty movements without triggering an Ascension. His Magic returned after an entire day of waiting, just in time for the Far East Misnds first snow to fall, dotting thendscape with white specks that stuck everywhere except the pit dug out by the Elements during William''s Chaos upgrade. He hadn''t used Arrays to guard himself during the upgrade, since William could barely move without triggering the Heavens. It would take too long to cast an Array while controlling his strength, so there was no choice but to destroy somendscape. It''s just a few kilometers, really no big deal. Thankfully I didn''t upgrade my other Elements to X-Rank first, otherwise this could have been a disaster. He made another attempt at the Chaos Elemental Sphere, circting his Chaos Mana in an orderly fashion to condense it into a tiny ball. The increased strength of the Chaos Element dispersed all the other Elements in the area during the process, but William was able to create a pin-sized ball of Chaos Mana. Alright! There''s progress!William eximed in his mind, but hisment seemed to incite the Chaos Element, bing increasingly unstable until it exploded into a miniature shower of sparks that tore open threeyers of space. William''s hand, that was previously holding the Chaos Ball, became covered in small cuts while his skin turned slightly discolored, the individual cells being slowly broken down into theirponent parts by the Chaos Mana. The Life Element was used to offset the damage, but he needed to fully open his Life Domain before the damage fully repaired itself. -Health: 742820/750000 So much damage, despite all my defensive abilities... The Life Element is also very weak... As William''s vitality and defensive ability increased, so did the requirements to be healed by the Life Element. While a normal Golden Core Cultivator might be healed in an instant by the Life Domain, William was probably moreparable to an Ascension Realm Cultivator than he was one in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. If he were to lose an arm, the Life Domain would take a few minutes to restore the injury. Restoring more than one limb would be a challenge, and reattaching his head would be impossible. The Recovery Talent was still incredibly effective, able to heal his entire body in an instant, but he still wanted to rely on it as little as possible. He attempted to create the Chaos Elemental Sphere a few more times, but it still wasn''t working out. William was forced to abandon his project and upgrade the Chaos Element again, this time for a hundred thousand Potential Points. The purple shadow William appeared at the very start of the upgrade, opening its mouth to spit a pure whiteser that broke into all colors of the rainbow beforending on William''s body. He still couldn''t move quickly, so William was forced to ept the attack head-on, the skin on his chest pierced in one go while the muscles underneath absorbed the remainder of the move. His Life Element naturally wouldn''t respond to his call, so the Recovery Talent activated, sealing the wound before the Chaos figure could attack once more. "You don''t have to do this." William said to the Chaos being, having not been restricted by the Sound Element yet. The Chaos William opened its mouth to speak, but while its lips moved as if it were speaking English, what William heard weren''t human words. Instead, a foreignnguage entered his ears, unlike anything he could ever imagine. "§±?T ? ???T T?" "But. I. Want. To." System, what is that? -It''s the Language of the Elements. It''s... freaky. -What, did you expect them to speak English? The Elements have existed for much longer than you, or even I have. Even you? But you''re old! And you''re the Potential System, how can you be younger than the Elements you control? -Excuse me? The System didn''t answer his second question, but mostly because it was annoyed at William''s first. Cough. I meant you''re wise and powerful. -Did you just cough in your mind? ... He returned his attention to the Chaos Element, which was gathering Mana for another, more powerful mouthser. Its jaws unhinged like a snake and prepared a white ball of Chaos Mana twice the size of its own head, the resulting aura making William slightly uneasy. He slowly crossed his arms in front of his chest in an X-shape, careful not to trigger a Heavenly Tribtion during the upgrade. Even so, the firstyer of space was torn, creating a miniature fissure that slightly tugged at William. Since he couldn''t use the Gravity Element, he had to lean backwards to counteract the pulling force of the spatial tear, achieving a delicate bnce at a reverse angle of twenty degrees. The Chaos ball reached William at this moment, destroying one of his arms and cutting into the muscles of the second. His immunity to knockback effect from the Fitness Talent triggered at this moment, preventing him from falling over from the force of the attack. Seeing that its attack was ineffective, the Chaos Element scowled and called the Elements to release their Domains and cripple his defenses. The Death and Poison Elementsplied, the poison toxifying his internal organs while the Death Element corroded his skin. The Ice Element tried to freeze William overpletely, but he shuddered slightly before it couldpletely cover him, bing a cycle of freezing and shattering that did nothing but make William feel a little cold. The Fire Element started to work with the Ice Element at this point, the sudden change in temperature from cold to hot trying to crack William''s body like a coffee mug in the summer heat. The Sound Element didn''t seal William''s hearing, but it sent waves of Mana throughout his body, destabilizing his insides and taking the initiative to shatter the Ice prematurely. The Fire, Ice, and Sound Elements worked in tandem of each other, alternating heating, cooling, and shattering in a perpetual cycle that further reduced William''s defenses. By the time the third Chaos attacknded, both of William''s recovered arms were destroyed, while his chest caved in, and the Mana targeted his heart directly. The Recovery Talent had no problem keeping William healthy, but not at a cost. His age increased by nine years before the Elements returned to his body. He grasped his knees and panted, surprised to find that the Poison Element had been sapping away at his stamina the entire time without rest. I didn''t upgrade the other Elements at all, but they seemed a little bit stronger this time... No wait, it''s as if they were more coordinated. They knew exactly what to do to hurt me, rather than fumbling around without purpose. Could it be?William thought as he looked at the shadowy Chaos figure that was merging back into his body. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Chaos Affinity: (SS --> SSR) Effects: Chaos-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +480% >> +960% SSR-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Chaos: Takeplete control over all Chaos Mana within a radius of 10 kilometers >> 50 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Chaos Domains of greater strength. -Territory of Chaos: An improved Domain, designed topletely destabilize the Mana of your enemies using ambient Chaos Mana. The thicker the Chaos Mana, the more powerful the effect. Chapter Read: -Chaos Elemental: Locked. Host does not have the Unstable Elements Talent. Next rank up: 500000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Chapter 332: Realmic Rules, Order A Territory! And of the Chaos Element!William was ecstatic. While he hadn''t used the Chaos Element much, he had to admit that it was incredibly strong in battle. Having fought the Element during his upgrades, William was learning a lot about how he should be using the Element. If I find a Cultivator that takes pride in his Elements, I can turn it against him in an instant! I can only imagine how surprised Supreme Left would have been if his own Fire Element burned him! William looked at his age, which was only 364 years out of the total 1200 years of lifespan. Given that the previous upgrade only took nine years of his life, William assumed the final upgrade wouldn''t be so dangerous, right? Either way he would have to upgrade it eventually, and raising the Seal Element to X-Rank beforehand might be suicide. If I can Ascend these Elements too... No, I''ll think about thatter. William didn''t wait for his Elements to recover, since he didn''t want to waste time standing still. He would have liked to test out the Chaos Territory, but waiting over a day just to do so was boring, to say the least. System, it''s time for the X-Rank Chaos upgrade. -500000 PP Ouch, that hurt. William winced as half a million Potential Points were lost in one go. The System upgrade started immediately, and a surprised Chaos figure returned barely moments after dissipating. Its confusion was quickly reced by anger when it noticed that the person responsible for its appearance was once again the insufferable William. "§¸? ?? §±??§ÁT????§Á?! T§Á?¦«?? T???? ¦²??? ? ?§Á????!" William was too focused on the Elements rampaging inside his body to read the Chaos figure''s lips, but he could imagine it had ordered the Elements to attack. He did his best to guard against the consecutive Chaos Spells, tilting left and right to avoid taking any direct hits. The nt Element sent a thick vine to wrap around his left leg, while the Earth Element reinforced the vine to make it unbreakable in a short time. Ice joined in, covering the Earth with a secondaryyer while the Wind Element channeled all its energy into pulling the vine towards William''s right side. Thebined efforts of all four Domains focused into a single Spell allowed the Elements to finally pull William''s leg out from under him, forcing him to fall to the ground. What more, the short fall was enough to rip open threeyers of space, forcing Tribtion Clouds to appear overhead once more. The System went silent once again, doing its best to obscure William''s situation to the beings above. It sent William the necessary notifications, then disappeared from his mind temporarily. It was already toote to stop others from seeing the upgrade, but it could at least hide the Chaos figure. Golden Girl, who was trimming her nails while riding a cloud, looked downward while her eyes glowed, peering through the Myriad Realms andnding on a familiar boy that she thought had already Ascended. "I sent the portal down to him, what the hell? Am I remembering things wrong?" Golden Girl muttered as she twirled her fingers. The same Superior Tribtion formed as before, but for some reason it wouldn''t attack at all. "That''s not right..." she took a closer look at William''s situation, finding that all of his Elements had gone rampant and were attacking him wantonly. The scene was much hazier than normal, but she could tell that William was... fighting himself? Chapter Read: "Hahaha! This kid is funny!" Golden Girl wiped a tear from her eye when she saw William being dragged backwards across the ground by an Earth and Ice-reinforced vine. She kept the Superior Tribtion running so she could watch but controlled it to gather its energy slowly. Only this method would allow her to watch this hrious scene without interruption, as per the Realmic Rules. Herugher only intensified as William''s body was quickly raised upwards by a pir of Earth from underneath, then dropped from a height of five kilometers straight into a pit that went well past the vision of the Tribtion Clouds. A plume ofva sent William floating upwards, havinge from the World''s mantle itself. While it didn''t have an immediate andsting effect on William''s body, it served its purpose to disorient William, making him want to throw up from the constant upward-downward movements. "I have knockback immunity, what the fuck!" William cried out just in time for a stream ofva to enter his mouth and nose. He coughed up theva, but hardly managed to take a breath before he was drowned in a sea of Ice-turned water. If the System were here, it would have calmly noted that he wasn''t being pushed or knocked back, rather pulled in. They were two different types of movement, and he only had resistance to one of them. -The Heavens are entertained: +1 Attention Hours passed in the same scenario, the red Tribtion Clouds striking him with Lightning from time to time while Golden Girl wheezed. Her face hurt from smiling so much, and she couldn''t remember thest time she hadughed so hard. Probably not since Aegion''s Birthday party. she thought. "I don''t know who would win, this William or brother Aegion? I wonder what brother would think if he met this person?" she muttered to herself as the final Tribtion Boltnded, causing no damage despite William''s already wounded body. "Well, considering his current situation, I''m sure I''ll find out soon enough." she smiled as her eyes returned to their usual form. On William''s end, he looked at the Chaos figure seriously. His body was covered in minor wounds that the Recovery Talent was healing one at a time, while the Chaos figure was returning William''s solemn stare. It had failed to attract the attention of the Heavens to dispose of this person, and his body was too strong for it to cause any serious damage, even with its Territory actively suppressing him. The Chaos Element gritted its teeth, calling upon the one Element it despised the most. William suddenly felt weird, as if he was undergoing the Hard Body Talent merging again. His own figure seemed to reject him, trying to separate his Soul, Body, and Mana respectively. The feeling was very faint, but it was enough for William''s forehead to fill with beads of sweat. He used his Soul Strength to pull his Soul back towards his body, fighting against some unknown Mana that was calm in the most dangerous type of way. Emotions overwhelmed William''s entire being, describing the nature of William''s unknown opponent word by word. "Refined. Noble. Elegant." "Sequence. Structure. Series." "Harmony. Containment. Peace." "Law. Discipline. Calm. Control." "Ritual. Ceremony. Sacrament. Service." The words sped up and multiplied. Tens of times, hundreds of times. Thousands of times. They rang out in his head, clouding his mind and distracting his thoughts. Separating what was real and fake like the Illusion Element, but also separating what was the past, present, and future like the Time Element. "ss. Level. Rank. Grade. Position. Arbitration. Judgement. Decision." ... "Order." William and the Chaos figure said out loud in unison. Chapter 333: Primary Law Of Chaos William¡¯s body had been thoroughly controlled by the Order Element, suppressed by its abilities despite only being E-Rank. Most of the fault could be ced on William himself, since his Soul Strength was just too weakpared to his other abilities. A Golden Core Cultivator¡¯s E-Rank Magic would have thebat power of the early to middle stages of the Golden Core Realm, while William¡¯s own Soul Strength was only somewhere between the Golden Core and Nascent Soul Realm. There was only a small bridge to gap for the Order Element, but it was a Mythic-Ranked Element, so how could it be as weak as one of the Basic Elements? It wasn¡¯t! William could tell firsthand that the E-Rank Order Element was very slightly stronger than his own Soul Strength, but it was enough for the Chaos upgrade to gain the upper hand. He used all of his will to resist the Order Element¡¯s possession, slowing down every movement to a crawl. The possessed William reached inside his own chest and started pulling out William¡¯s soul by force, while the Order Element spoke to the Chaos Element as if this was just a simple matter. "?? ?????????§Á? ??? ¦«???§Á?." it said, but William couldn¡¯t read his own lips. He wished the System were here, so it could tell him what was going on. The Chaos Element snorted and put a hand in front of its mouth while it spoke, preventing William from understanding its words, "???T §±§Á ??????§¸??T, ???§Á ?§Á??§Á? ??? T??." The Order-possessed William continued to extract William¡¯s soul, but it could tell that it was running out of Mana already. It stopped expending its energy, choosing to look around the area while speaking to the Chaos Element. "???¡¯??§Á ?§Á??§Á?? T???? ? ??§Á?§Á?§±§Á??." Chaos nodded, "?? ??§Á??? ?? ????§¸§Á?." Both the Order and Chaos Elements realized their time was running short, both nearly out of energy. William had survived again, but it wasn¡¯t aplete loss. With time, their little exchange of information would hopefully lead to freedom. The System returned at the same time as the two Elements receded into William¡¯s body, ending the possession and returning him to his original form. Before he even had a chance to view the effects of his X-Rank Chaos Affinity, a System upgrade began, so William had to scroll back to the top and read the messages backwards. Explore more stories at NovelBin.C?m ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Chaos Affinity: (SSR --> X) Effects: -Chaos-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +960% >> +1920% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Chaos: Takeplete control over all Chaos Mana within a radius of 50 kilometers >> 100 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Chaos Domains of greater strength. -Territory of Chaos: An improved Domain, designed topletely destabilize the Mana of your enemies using ambient Chaos Mana. The thicker the Chaos Mana, the more powerful the effect. -Primary Law of Chaos (0.1%prehension): You don¡¯t understand enough of this yet. Comprehend the Chaos Element or visit ??? to learn more. -Chaos Elemental: Locked. Host does not have the Unstable Elements Talent. Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank¡¯s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª System, what the hell is this?! Williamined. -It¡¯s exactly as the information says. The information doesn¡¯t say anything! Other than increasing my control of the Chaos Element and expanding the range of the Domain and Territory, I can¡¯t understand anything else? -The X-Rank Chaos Element wasn¡¯t meant to be unlocked this early. Most of your questions will be answered when you Ascend. Or maybe you¡¯ll have even more questions, who knows when ites to you. What¡¯s that supposed to mean? -You¡¯re very stupid sometimes. ... William gave up on the tsundere¡ª -Hm? William gave up on the insuffera¡ª -Author-San, I¡¯d kindly have to ask you to stop shaming me in front of the readers. Sorry, System. -Hmph! Ahem. William looked through the System¡¯s upgrade next. ¡ª¡ª¡ª SYSTEM RANK: (B- --> B) -425,654 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup. Next rank up: 4,574,346PP *New Changes: -System has reached version 2.4 and has improved the System Panel. -Host¡¯s concealment from the Heavens have improved slightly. -Host¡¯s Birth Age and Real Age will appear as two different sections for convenience. -One Additional Farm Slot. ¡ª¡ª¡ª The upgrades were hardly mentionable, but the best thing was that William gained yet another Farm Slot, which meant he could buy another Element Farm as soon as possible. He held off on purchasing it now, though, opting to wait until the Order Fruits had grown to test their effects. If they were good, he would be able to harvest all the fruits on the same cycle in the future. If they were bad, he might just buy more Potential Farms. I haven¡¯t tested out the Territory of Chaos yet, who should I try it on? William wondered. He looked at the map he had drawn out for thest three months, searching for a suitable target. Unfortunately, all the best ones were the Superior Veins, but he wasn¡¯t ready to start that fight yet. What about the other Continents? System, are there any powerful enemies elsewhere in the World? -Request requires 2 Potential Points. Yes/No? Only two? Definitely. -Each Continent has a Supreme Left-level threat, though they aren¡¯t as united as he is with Unbreakable Right. Additionally, the Master of Retribution is still alive somewhere. This era doesn¡¯t have many one-in-a-million-years geniuses, and most of which have already Ascended long ago. William nodded. It made sense, but he wasn¡¯t expecting there to be so few challenging enemies. I guess that means the Superior Veins and the Heavens really are my only opponents. -And yourself. You are your biggest enemy. Might I remind you what just happened a few minutes ago? You¡¯re right, System. I can¡¯t write off the Chaos and Order Elements as harmless after almost losing my soul. I still don¡¯t even understand what the Order Element does, nor why it¡¯s a Mythic Element when its counterpart is Legendary. The System didn¡¯t respond, so William looked at his System Panel. POTENTIAL POINTS: 1,267,462 I have enough for the Recovery Talent to Ascend, but I still need to upgrade my Seal Element... William couldn¡¯t move without sealing himself, so the decision was obvious. Thankfully the Seal Element was only Epic-Rarity and wasn¡¯t nearly as expensive as the Chaos upgrades. He upgraded it one Rank at a time, surprised to find that the upgrade to X-Rank was only a hundred thousand Potential Points. -135000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Seal Affinity: (SSR --> X) Effects: -Seal-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +800% >> +1600% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Sealing: Takeplete control over all Seal Mana within a radius of 50 kilometers >> 100 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Sealing Domains of greater strength. -Territory of Sealing: An improved Domain, designed to seal the physical abilities of your opponents and render them immobilized. The thicker the ambient Seal Mana, the greater the effect. -Primary Law of Sealing (0.1%prehension): You don¡¯t understand enough of this yet. Comprehend the Seal Element or visit ??? to learn more. -Seal Elemental: Locked. Host does not have the Restriction Resistance Talent. Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank¡¯s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Another ??? location... Is it some sort of City that I need to visit after Ascending? Chapter 334: Ascended Talent William tried out the Seal Element on himself, finding that the X-Rank Element was able to suppress his physical abilities by almost sixty percent, finally allowing him to move at his previous speed without risk of inciting another Heavenly Tribtion. Even better, he only needed to suppress himself by forty percent, meaning there was still room in case he identally grew stronger again. identally increasing my strength. I wonder how Carl would react to hearing that I have to suppress myself to stay in this World. Williamughed. He missed his friend, who he hadn¡¯t seen in over three months since setting out to map the Azures Continent. Other than making his pink room less pink, William hadn¡¯t visited the man at all. Charlotte, Yuming, Tia, and Gunther were all there too, probably still training on their Elements. He nned to take a break from mapping to visit them soon, but there was one more thing he wanted to do. System, how should I refine this Blood Bead? -With Alchemy, of course. But... William wasn¡¯t as confident as the System. When he looked at the Blood Bead, the Alchemy Talent told him it could be refined in more than one way, but none of them wouldpletely eliminate the negative emotions that belonged to the original Demon. They would only reduce the effects, and there was no mention to what would happen upon consumption. -If youpletely purify the Demon¡¯s Blood Bead, it wouldn¡¯t be a Blood Bead anymore. There aren¡¯t any alternatives in your current state. William nodded, proceeding with the most suitable refinement process that the Alchemy Talent described. First, the Blood Bead was ced in an empty cauldron that he then filled with his own blood. This turned out to be the most difficult process, since William had to affect himself with multiple debuffs of his various Elements before cutting himself with the Abyssal Weapon Shifter. The Blood Bead remained at the bottom while William stirred the cauldron, heating it up just a few degrees above standard room temperature with the Fire Element. As the Blood Bead absorbed William¡¯s blood, a small demon began to form inside, which William promptly pulverized with a burst of intense Fire Magic. Even though it was highly resistant to Fire, the Demon that formed had only reached the Qi Refinement Realm in strength¡ª it wasn¡¯t a match regardless. The partially synchronized Blood Bead fell into the cauldron once again, while William poured more of his blood inside to force it to reach its peak. As the demons formed one by one, their appearance resembled William more and more until the final one was a spitting image of him, though red in color. He killed the William Demon just like the others, then scooped up the Blood Bead as quickly as possible and consumed it in one go. This part was crucial, since William needed to make sure as few negative emotions could return to the Blood Bead as possible. With the Blood Bead still in William¡¯s mouth, he spent one million Potential Points and asked the System to upgrade the Recovery Talent. Waves of negative emotions overwhelmed William, despite his lightning-quick consumption of the Blood Bead. The stages of grief yed backwards in William¡¯s mind, starting with eptance. His mind chose to ept the thoughts and emotions of the previous demon, whose presence was still partially existent. The Demon¡¯s memories flooded into his brain, reying scenes of an old Cultivator that had traveled through the depths of Hell for dozens of years, searching for a way back to Efretta where his family was waiting for his return. He started as a weak Minor Demon, with little idea of who or where he was, but with an intense anger that wouldn¡¯t subside no matter what. He often fought with other Minor Demons, consuming each of them one by one until he advanced into a Lesser Demon. He recovered some of his memories at that point, and his anger lessened, but he had also be much more powerful than he was even in his previous life. He found himself virtually unkible, regenerating from every injury in an instant, while possessingbat strength well above his Cultivation. That was another thing. As a Demon, the man discovered that he had no need to Cultivate, because even breathing would absorb the natural Spirit Qi and trigger breakthroughs that had no Tribtion. It was like a cheat, one that made him desire even more power. So he went out. And he killed. And he killed. And he killed. And he killed. Until there was no one left to kill, and he had finally broke the shackles of being a Lesser Demon. At this point, the leader of Hell, Hel, approached him. He was asked to be a General, to lead Hel¡¯s forces across the domain of Hell and recover some of his lost territory. It was a noble cause, but the man refused, saying he needed to visit his family first. And so, Hel epted, but he warned that the man might not like what he finds on Efretta. He showed the man a way out of Hell, and even opened a path for him to return, but it was as he expected. The moment he returned, he found his memories clouded once again, and his soul taken over by the vengeful spirit that was the old him. A tear streamed from William¡¯s eye as the man¡¯s receding consciousness wallowed in regret that he hadn¡¯t had a chance to see his family. Before the stage of Anger could arrive, William suppressed the Blood Bead with his willpower and ended the Talent upgrade. It was but a simple task for someone with the X-Rank Mind Talent, but he was still slightly affected. -The Blood Bead has tampered with your emotions: -6 Humanity William frowned at first when he saw the message, but the Recovery Talent¡¯s information made his smile return as fast as it had gone. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Ascended Recovery (Epic): (F) Continue your journey at NovelBin.C?m Effects: -Cell recovery increased by 15000% >> 30000% -Maximum Health increased by 15000% >> 30000% -Natural healing ability improved by 15000% >> 30000% -Healing speed improved by 15000% >> 30000% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Revitalizing: Your stamina recovery is tripled when out ofbat. -Cell Restoration: If the Host takes no physical damage for a period of one month, cells that are damaged from routine aging effects will slowly recover by five years. -Death Defying: Host can recover from almost any physical injury, no matter the severity. Side Effect: Healing injuries hastens the rate of cell division and will cause the Host to age by one year after healing 2000 years¡¯ worth of injuries. Ascended Bonus: 5% Resistance to ??? Next rank up: Ascend to view the next rank¡¯s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª More question marks?!? What¡¯s the point of giving me resistance if I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m resistant to?! Williamined inwardly. -Acquired your first Ascended Talent: +100,000 PP, +1 Ascended Value --Unlocked Extended Statistic: +3 PP -Ascended Value: The measure of the Host¡¯s Godliness. Once the Ascended Value reaches one hundred Points, the Host will be a God. Hmm, that¡¯s more like it! William grinned from ear to ear. My Recovery Talent can still go higher, and I can be a God? Today must be my lucky day! Chapter 335: Surpassing The Master William only had two hundred thousand Potential Points left and didn''t feel the need to upgrade anything else immediately, so he checked on his various Companion Beasts to make sure they could handle the Beast Tides. Atticus was living his best life at Blue Moon City, disorienting his foes with the Illusion Element before leading them straight into his open jaws. Since they were barely a tenth of his size, he was able to gobble up entire groups of Golden Core and Nascent Soul Magical Beasts. The yers and NPCs alike felt as if they hardly had a role in the battles anymore, so many began to beg the Mythical Rat Snake to allow them a chance to fight. After all, if Atticus killed all the Beasts, how would anyone else earn any Potential Points? Uri responded to William''s calls through the System, but he was too far away, having returned to the Dragon Continent to question the humans living there. Unfortunately, his progress was quite slow since there were a few powerful individuals that wouldn''t allow him toe close, nor would they give him so much as the time of day. At one point, Uri even attacked two of the early-stage Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators, but they seemed to have many dragon-restraining abilities that leveled the ying field significantly. He was forced to take another approach until William was around. Kamei the ck Turtle Hatchling and his servants were more thanfortable, since Kamei alone could handle the current level of Beast Tides. He had spent thest few months teaching the Kamei Hameis how to urately control the Beast Tides, canalizing them into dangerous locations teeming with carnivorous nt life that would do the work for them. Little White and the Mini Whites were mostly rxing and had no part in the Beast Tides, but William made the necessary adjustments and asked them to take over for Kamei every other month. That way both groups could get some practice before the real deal. William realized that the ins Vultures he assigned to the Chasm were much too strong for the current area, so he raised the nine remaining A-Rank Vultures to S-Rank, pushing them all to the Soul Formation Realm before assigning them arger area. Now, only two Soul Formation ins Vultures would be responsible for the chasm, while four more groups of two would deal with nearby Veins that had yet to be absorbed. He tasked them to get an understanding of their environment and prepare defenses in case of emergency, to which they got started immediately. He had only just dropped off Me Long Boi in the Misnds, while Cyra had been left in the Southern ins not long before. It was too early to check on their progress, so he returned to the Gravitas Ruins where his friends were waiting. Oh right, I need to reapply the Arrays on my Gravitas Ruins Ticket.William realized when he was barred entry to the Ruins. He performed the necessary tasks, then sessfully passed through the portal before teleporting directly underneath. "Good to see you, boy. Where have you been?" an old voice sounded from within theboratory. "I could say the same to you, Master Riyald. How long have you been back?" William asked. "A few days. You have good timing." Riyald smiled. "I went to the Mysterious Realm we talked about before. It''s an interesting ce, full of mystery and new ideas." William remembered talking to his Master about the Mysterious Realm before, but the old coot never told him where it was at, saying that William''s physical body couldn''t handle the spatial tears. It was a different story now, though, so William felt like now was a better time than ever. "Speaking of the Mysterious Realm, when can I see it?" he asked. "I just got back, so I''m not ready to visit again, but I thought I told you your body wasn''t strong enough. Silly Disciple, even a talented fellow like you will need some time before he can handle the spatial fissures of our World." William smirked, weakening the Seal Element''s suppression to only thirty-nine percent and waving his hand through the air. A spatial tear formed in an instant, ripping straight through the firstyer and severely unbncing the second. If he was even a tad more aggressive, the Heavenly Ascension Tribtion would have formed right then and there. Riyald looked at the spatial tear with undisguised shock, while simultaneously sensing that William''s aura had be incredibly dangerous. "Y-You... have you already surpassed me?" Riyald couldn''t believe what he was seeing. It hasn''t even been a year since I met him, and yet... he''s grown so much! William nodded, "I can Ascend whenever I want." "Then why don''t you? It''s a Cultivator''s dream to Ascend and see the World beyond." "I''m not ready yet. There are still things I need to do, unfinished business." Riyald shook his head, "Don''t tell me those friends that you brought over here are holding you back. You can''t hold their hands forever, and they have their own lives. I can already tell that¡ª while talented¡ª they''ll never be able to keep up with your progression speed." "That''s not it, Master. They''ll reach me at their own pace, but I need..." William looked for a usible exnation for what he nned to do. "You need?" "I need to save this World first, from the Heavens." Riyald scoffed. "Save the World? It''s been sealed for a long time, no one could possibly hope to save it unless..." he suddenly looked at William with wide eyes. He continued before William could say anything. "You don''t mean to... absorb the World Cores?" "So you do know something after all!" William eximed. Riyald was very old, so he had always guessed that the fogey knew something about the World''s situation, but his words were very crafty and had almost convinced William otherwise. "I do, but not as much as I wish I did." Riyald sighed. "I''ve spent most of my long life hiding away in the Gravitas Ruins for two main reasons. The first was to protect myself from other Cultivators more talented inbat than I, while the second was to avoid getting caught in the Heavens'' wrath." "What kind of wrath? You''re talking about the Beast Tides, right?" William asked. Riyald nodded. "Between the Beast Tides and the Superior Tribtions, the Heavens are the most feared entity on Efretta. If you''re caught in the wrong ce at the wrong time, it doesn''t matter what you''ve done to them, you''re doomed. You''re a lot stronger than most others, and you''ve already survived a few Superior Tribtions, but I''ve only seen the effects after Greater World Cores are absorbed. No one has cracked the Superior World Cores yet, but I can only imagine what will happen at such a point." William nodded. He had spected a lot on this, but there was only one way to find out. The System had already issued the Quest, and he had no intention to pass up on an opportunity. "Regardless of how you try to convince me, I''m still going to go through with it. If you''re willing to help me though, I will do the same for you." William replied. Their rtionship was past one of a Master to a Disciple, but William still felt indebted to the man for teaching him the Soul Cultivation method that may have just saved his life not long ago. "I expected as much," Riyald replied, "I''ll have to take you up on your offer." Chapter 336: The Velos Continent "So which batch of Cultivators do you prefer I kill? Are there any troublesome ones that deserve to die?" William asked the old man in front of him. "Kill the Trial takers? Oh, no. Since you''ve be so powerful, I hope you don''t mind helping me retrieve something." Riyald replied with a smile. What could Master Riyald possibly need me to get? He just went out... "Does it involve anything forbidden? I''d rather not paint myself as a criminal even if I can get away with it." In reality, William didn''t want to risk losing more Humanity than he already had. His emotions were already running rampant, making him want to give in to his selfish desires and let go. A certain part of him even said this was fine, that killing any annoying fly that dared to get in his way was alright. If they deserve it, sure, but not to any random person I meet on the street, not like when I killed a guard by mistake in Blue Moon City. "Forbidden? Not this time. An old friend of mine once betrayed me in an Ancient Ruin and ran off with a much more efficient Soul Cultivation Technique that we had earned together. I just need your help to take the Technique back." Riyald replied as if it was just a simple task. "No problem. Where can I find this person? And how can I identify him?" "He''s in the Velos Continent. You can find it if you go directly East past a small ind chain in the Far East Misnds. You''ll know it when you see it, because the water is murky green and the Continent is contaminated with dangerous toxins." He pulled out a small holographic map that showed Efretta as a globe, pointing out the Velos Continent amongst the group. He continued, "If you want to find him, his name is Marcus Rednel. I''ve been keeping tabs on him, but he''s too powerful to confront myself. He wears a bright orange cloak, and uses both the Darkness and Sound Elements, which make him very tricky to detect." "Too powerful for you? But didn''t you defeat the dragons of the Dragon Continent? How can you be weak?" William asked. "Hahaha, that was a long time ago, and I had some special treasures that helped me during the battle. Not to mention..." he leaned in close to whisper to William, "I kinda cheated." "Cheated?" William asked. How could someone cheat in a battle against dragons? First of all, it was shameless, but second of all, how could they not notice? "Shh, not so loud! The dragon that was supposed to battle with me was restricted by a series of Arrays I had hidden underground beforehand. Dragons always allow the challenged to pick the battlefield, so I tricked one of the strongest dragons around into challenging me so I could pick the location." William''s eyes opened wide. "That''s basically suicide! Yourbat strength is only in the second or third level of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, you must''ve been a brand new Tribtion Cultivator at the time!" Riyald nodded with a goofy smile, "I''m pretty smart sometimes." William nodded, "Speaking of what you said earlier, why are there so many Darkness Mages at the peak of the World? That Master ck from Retribution is one, this guy, and even a few Soul Formation Cultivators among the Pirs of Justice. I''ve even read that the leader of the Thieves'' Guild has a Darkness Domain. Wouldn''t it make sense for the Mages with Basic Elements to be moremon?" "Well, Darkness Magic has very good survivability. You should know this. Most people that wield the Darkness Element can escape tricky situations in a sh. It''s not unnatural. We''re getting off track. Do you think you can recover this Technique for me? I''ll even share the contents with you. It would be a huge help." Riyald looked at William with somewhat pleading eyes. William shrugged, "Sure." Almost nothing about the deal was bad for him. He was going to explore the Velos Continent anyway, and Riyald''s Quest aligned with his interests. If he managed to actually find this Marcus Rednel person, he might even gain a more powerful Soul Cultivation Technique! It''s just what I needed, especially after the Order Element''s bacsh. I can''t let that happen again. William could always create his own Soul Cultivation Technique, but he had little knowledge of Soul Cultivation other than what Riyald taught him. It might take decades toe up with something suitable, which was a stark contrast from the Spirit Qi Cultivation Techniques. "Is there anything else?" he asked. "Oh. Now that you mention it. Since you''ll be in the Velos Continent anyway, why don''t you go and see my old Alchemist friend? He''s from the Velos Royal Family, but I think he would agree to meet with you if you asked nicely." "You have an Alchemist friend too?" William was surprised with the man''s connections. "Do I have to fight this one too?" "No no, not at all. He''s an actual friend. He even refined the Tier 10 Blood Refinement Pills that I gave to you as a reward. He might have a few interesting ingredients to provide you for your... condition." he looked at William''s body that was self-restricted by the Seal Element. "Are you saying he might be able to suppress me even further than I am now? That must be impossible!" William replied, though the Alchemy Talent sent some bits of information that suggested the old man might not be lying. "What''s the harm in trying? Just go see him, his name''s Rudeus Velos, and he''s both a kind soul and a great Alchemist." William agreed. Another thing to add to the list of things to do. "So I need to take back the Soul Cultivation Technique from Marcus Rednel and meet with Rudeus Velos for help with suppressing my body further..." System, why haven''t you issued a Quest for these things yet? -Must I always issue you a Quest? You''re going to do it anyway. Well, it would help. -Now that you said something, I think I won''t. Remember, you still need to earn your worth. Oh,e on System. I''m still not worthy after everything I''ve done so far? -I''ll think about it when you''ve survived your Ascension. How can an Ascension Tribtion stop me? You should know my Talents better than I do. -I''m not talking about the Tribtion. Where do you think people go when they Ascend? They just randomly appear in the next Realm, right? -How can randomness truly exist? William fell silent, deep in thought about the System''s words. If he even had to watch his back after Ascending, there was quite a bit of preparation he still needed to do. But if I can meet with this Alchemist, perhaps I can suppress myself enough to Ascend with both my body and Cultivation? And with the Soul Cultivation Technique, could I go for all three? William became excited just thinking about it. His loot goblin tendencies were temporarily shelved by the intense desire to reach the absolute peak of existence. To be an unstoppable being that wouldn''t have to worry about being taken advantage of. A triple Ascension, all in one! Chapter 337: Three Versus Two Riyald gave William a few more bits of knowledge before returning to one of his many unfinished experiments in theboratory. Since his visit to the Mysterious Realm, Riyald¡¯s interest in unique mechanisms only increased and he hardly had time to be chatting with his Disciple. William returned to his room to drop off a few interesting items he had collected during his travels, also taking the time to appraise the Starmetal Safe he had forgotten about. The System hadpleted the evaluation a long time ago, but he was outside the Ruins and didn¡¯t have a chance to check until now. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Starmetal Safe (Mythic Storage Artifact): A spacious safe forged of Starmetal by a Master cksmith and improved by a powerful Array Master. Created to store great quantities of items, this storage item may one day beparable to a Royal Treasury. Storage Space: 4.5 trillion cubic meters Durability: 800,000/800,000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª Still only Mythic, even after all that work? What a shame, I thought it would be Celestial... William was a bit disappointed, but he was happy to see the incredible storage and durability of the Artifact. Someone knocked on his door the moment William exited the Starmetal Safe, "William? It¡¯s Yuming. I just wanted to return the Intermediate Runes sheet you gave me." William opened the door and let Yuming in, "I don¡¯t need them back. Have you already memorized all the Runes I gave you?" Yuming nodded with a smile, twirling his fingers and forming an Intermediate Rune of Stability and connecting it with a Rune of Fire to form a stationary Fireball Array on his fingertips¡ª a cheap trick used by Intermediate Array Masters. William nodded seriously, "You¡¯ve done well, my Disciple." Yuming immediately dispersed the Array and scowled at William, "We¡¯re the same age, don¡¯t call me your Disciple!" Just the thought of calling him Master makes me want to puke. Whose idea was it to give this shameless idiot so much talent? Williamughed, "I¡¯m just joking. I only showed you what to do anyway." Yuming shrugged, "Good, because the day I call you Master is the day I eat my own toes. Gunther and Tia are about to spar with Charlotte, Carl, and me. Do you want toe watch?" "Sure, why not?" William followed Yuming to an area of the residence he hadn¡¯t been to before. It was arge arena much like the one in the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, except the entire floor was made of dark blue stone brick. The entire Arena was covered in Complete Arrays, which both protected the Arena and prevented any true deaths. As long as the level of attack didn¡¯t exceed the ability of the Arrays, no one would truly be hurt. "I can¡¯t believe I haven¡¯t seen this ce before..." William muttered. He really hadn¡¯t spent much time exploring the Gravitas Ruins, which had many facilities like this one. After all, the residence took up most of the undergroundyer. "It¡¯s great, right?" Yuming nodded. He wasn¡¯t much of a fighter, but being able to fight to your heart¡¯s content was a special kind of experience. Yuming jumped into the Arena, where Charlotte, Gunther, Tia, and Carl were all waiting. "What took you so long? Too busy causing trouble outside?" Carl shouted to William, who sat in the stands up above to watch. He had no intention to join a low-level battle. The group got started immediately, cing Yuming, Charlotte, and Carl on one team while Tia and Gunther were on the other. To keep things fair, Carl wasn¡¯t allowed to summon any of his Magical Beasts, while Tia and Gunther were each allowed to use their unique treasures that the Artifact Spirit had given them. Tia had a special kind of gauntlet that enhanced the power of her punches, while Gunther¡¯s robe was enhanced with even more Arrays that better amplified the Ice Element. It was a perfect set for the duo, and they seemed quite ustomed to the Artifacts. Carl adopted a more front-line stance, casting multiple Earth Walls to obstruct his opponents¡¯ vision and defend against any surprise Ice Spells. He stood just a few meters in front of Charlotte, whose primary purpose was to heal any of the temporary injuries that formed. In the backline, Yuming had a unique fighting style, throwing vials of corrosive liquid over the walls and casting Fireballs to st them apart midair. The fluids spread over arge portion of the Arena, forcing Gunther to cast multipleyers of Ice over their heads. Experience exclusive tales on NovelBin.C?m As soon as the corrosive rain ended, Tia rushed forward and punched at the Earth Wall with her thick gauntlets, shing head-on with Carl who was directly behind it. How did they detect him so urately? They couldn¡¯t even see him! William inspected the battle more closely, but it wasn¡¯t until Tia¡¯s next attack that William understood what was going on. Every time Carl cast Earth Magic, Tia would stop moving for a brief second as if she was frozen. It seemed like just a coincidence at first, but it became more strikingly obvious as the battle continued. He looked at her feet, realizing that she wasn¡¯t wearing any shoes. Is she sensing where the Earth Mana ising from, even though she doesn¡¯t have the Earth Element? William was astounded with Tia¡¯s Talent. Not only was her body already strong enough to deal with Nascent Soul-level Earth Walls, but she had a detection method unique to herself that was incredibly sneaky! Many Mages would avoid casting Detection Spells during a battle, since they could be reverse-traced and used against them, but this method didn¡¯t have that shoring. He decided to add this move to his repertoire of niche abilities. As the sparring raged on and on, it became more of a battle of attrition than an actual spar. Tia and Gunther were still holding on surprisingly well, despite being unable to inflict any serious injuries on their opponents and not having a healer of their own. Their teamwork was impable, reminding William of his battle with Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right. For some reason, I kinda miss those guys. They may be my enemies, but they didn¡¯t seem all that bad... His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden development in the battle Arena. Gunther had secretly prepared a tunnel of Ice through one of Carl¡¯s Earth Walls, then made ice skates around Tia¡¯s feet. All it took was one high-speed push, and Tia had broken through thest thin wall of Earth, which happened to lead her directly towards Charlotte. Take out the healer first, a tried-and-true strategy. There was only one problem¡ª Charlotte had been targeted before during their spars and had been working on something nasty. After all, Charlotte wasn¡¯t a pushover. When she saw Tia speeding in her direction much faster than she could dodge, Charlotte sped her hands together and mumbled a few short chants, drawing in the ambient Life Mana to gather in front of her into a small one-meter cube. The cube was pushed directly in the path of Tia, connecting with her left leg around the knee and redirecting her movement. Her momentum was halted in an instant as she dropped to one knee, finding that the vitality in her lower left leg had been reallocated to her upper thigh. Chapter 338: Charlotte Before Tia could recover, Yuming appeared from the side and mmed a giant Fireball into her back, causing severe enough damage that she surrendered despite not being killed. With her gone, Gunther was a sitting duck with only a little Mana left to defend himself. It wasn¡¯t very long before they were both defeated. "Well done you guys." William pped for the three that had narrowly avoided losing a three-on-two. Regardless, they felt proud since it was the first time that Tia and Gunther had actually lost, other than the one time when Carl used his summoned Beasts. If he were to do that again, it would only be unfair. Carl activated the healing function of the Arrays, restoring each of them to their peak physical condition in just a few minutes before grouping up with the rest by William. "What did you think?" Carl asked. "It was good, though I noticed a few things that might be trouble for youter on." William stated. "Like what?" "First of all, you shouldn¡¯t be so obvious with the flow of your Earth Mana, some people can still feel it, even without a Detection Spell." he looked at Carl, who didn¡¯t understand what William meant until he noticed that Tia wasn¡¯t wearing shoes this time. "Sorry," Tia scratched her head in embarrassment. "I didn¡¯t expect Will to notice, but I wanted toe up with something new to catch you off guard. Too bad Charlotte has also been practicing." William looked at Tia next, "I was only able to tell because you and him paused at the same time. Good work, but make it less telegraphed in the future." his words sounded more like an old teacher than his young twenty-one-year-old self. "What about me?" Gunther leaned forward, eager to know what he could improve on. William frowned for a moment, then reyed the scenes of the previous battle with his Mind Talent. He hadn¡¯t paid much attention to Gunther, other than the secret move and his cooperation with Tia. "Ah, I think you might benefit from some stronger Ice Magic." William replied after reviewing the memories. "Easy for you to say! How am I supposed to level up my Ice Magic just like that? I¡¯m still a D-Rank Ice Mage and being a Manamatus means I can go up to A-Rank. I¡¯m still too far away!" Guntherined. "I think I can help you with that if you catch up to me on my trip sometime next year." William said. Gunther¡¯s Cultivation was only in the middle stages of the Golden Core Realm and not quite strong enough to absorb a World Core yet, but a few more months spent in the Gravitas Ruins should fix that issue no problem. With the flow of Time four times faster than in the outside World, a few months outside would be only another year internally. More than enough time to reach the peak. -I can help him absorb World Cores through you, but there will be a risk of Superior Tribtions in his future if he absorbs anything other than Lesser or Standard Veins. You can do that for me? Perfect! "Really?" Gunther asked with shining eyes. "Yes, really. And now that I think about it, everyone shoulde with me on my mission. I can help each of you reach the maximum potential of your Elements." William assured the group. Each of them could gain a lot from reaching at least C-Rank Magic Affinities, and why would he pass up on helping his friends? They all agreed, and William spent a few hours showing each of them a few other tricks respective to their specialties, though Charlotte opted to wait until the end of the lessons to have her turn. With all his Talents, he had be somewhat of a master with just about anybat style one could imagine. "You¡¯re next, Charlotte." William said as he walked over to where she was seated. For some reason, the others all chose that moment to excuse themselves, returning to their respective rooms and preparing for Cultivation or otherwise. Charlotte didn¡¯t seem to hear him right away. A strand of her hair was wrapped around her finger as she twirled it, while her knee was bobbing up and down slightly, as if she was impatient or nervous. He couldn¡¯t tell which. "Charlotte?" William asked while sitting down. "Ah, yes!" Charlotte was startled from her thoughts. She smiled and listened intently as William exined some of the more intricate workings of the Life Element, while he simultaneouslyplimented her foring up with such an interesting Life Spell. She seemed a little absent-minded as William exined, which made him sometimes have to repeat his mini lesson when she got lost. He was patient with her, but the two decided to take a break after an hour or so. "Will, can you help me with some of the Arrays in my room? I was hoping you¡¯d add a few features." "Oh, uh, sure!" William nodded before following Charlotte to her bedroom. She exined what kind of Arrays she wanted, each increasing inplexity from the first to thest, but quickly became frustrated when Williampleted each task in a few seconds or less. "What is it? Is something on your mind? Did you really want me toe here to work on some Arrays?" William asked as he added the eighth functional Array. Charlotte turned her head away and blushed a little, while her voice became quiet. "I was wondering... what do you think of me?" Even though she was barely as audible as a mosquito, William still heard her clearly since he had the Sound Element. He dispersed the Perfect Runes in his hand and ced his full attention on the pure-hearted healer he had first met in Thin Creek Vige. "In what way?" he asked. "Well..." Charlotte trailed off. "I think you¡¯re great. What is there not to like about you? You¡¯ve helped me more than once and you¡¯re fun to hang out with!" Continue reading at NovelBin.C?m "But... what do you think about... me?" Charlotte focused her big eyes on William¡¯s, his heart skipping a beat as he sensed tension in the air. "Your eyes are nice." William blurted. At the same time, Charlotte¡¯s stare was making his blood boil, the low Humanity score throwing his emotions awry at the worst possible time. Charlotte¡¯s eyes softened, "My eyes are nice?" William, still afflicted by his emotions, couldn¡¯t help but continue speaking nonsense, "And your lips, and your nose, and your legs." he continued to describe things he liked about her, though internally he was berating himself for being so stupid. Charlotteughed while the blush on her face intensified. She didn¡¯t expect William to say such things, but it made all the butterflies and nervousness disappear in an instant. She leaned closer to William, "Those are all physical features, silly, and I don¡¯t find any of those particrly "nice". Are you sure you don¡¯t think I¡¯m ugly?" Don¡¯t look, System. "You¡¯re beautiful." William said as he leaned in for a kiss. Charlotte chose not to stop him at all, leaning into the feeling and relishing it. The artificial stars on the ceiling were reminders of howte it was, but there seemed to be a tacit agreement that William wouldn¡¯t be returning to his bedroom that night. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 339: Setting Off William opened his eyes to look at the ceiling, enraptured by the array of glittering stars that described the unbeatable beauty of the night sky. When he looked at the slumbering girl in bed next to him, he suddenly felt the need to change his thoughts of the sky to "almost unbeatable beauty". Charlotte seemed to wake up at the same time as him, because her eyes fluttered open, surprised at first to see William until she remembered the events of the night before. She became calm while the two looked at each other for a while. "What should we call this?" William asked. He had never been in this kind of situation with a girl, so he hoped she would have an easy answer. "Let''s think about thatter." Charlotte smiled as she got up from the bed, scanning the room for some clothes to wear. Despite the previous night, she felt bashful when William looked at her. William felt a little weird being in Charlotte''s bed at this moment, so he took the opportunity to locate his own clothing, thankful that the System had helped with the removal of his Artifacts. How awkward it would have been if William needed an hour to take off the Starmetal Batteries and the Artifact Belt, among the multitude of other Artifacts he carried with him 24/7. By the time he got everything off, the mood would be totally ruined! I''m mad at myself for letting my Humanity mess with my emotions, but thankfully it ended well. I''ll just have to be more careful in the future. He and Charlotte spent the remainder of the day together, alternating between watching movies from William''s memory disyed with Arrays to their own form of dual Cultivation. It was a very refreshing feeling, one that made William feel like a brand-new man. After their rxing day together, William and Charlotte eventually opted to return to their usual tasks, no longer able to put off their needs. Charlotte wanted to catch up to William as quickly as possible, while William himself still had to prepare for Riyald''s mission. Since the others would being with him, he had to make a few extra preparations to make sure they were as safe as possible. If a fight broke out, William wanted to ensure he had the ability to protect them at all times, so he started by creating the Chaos Elemental Sphere for his Artifact Belt and registered it with the System. William had most of the supplies he needed to go on the journey, and what he didn''t have, Riyald provided for him. Since William was retrieving the Soul Cultivation Technique for him, Riyald had no reason to ask for anypensation or favors. The group prepared to leave the following morning, which also happened to be the night of Christmas Eve in William''s old world. There was no such traditions in Efretta, but William still felt it right to present a gift each to his friends. For Tia, William modified her gauntlets to allow the channeling of Ice Magic, a method for her to coborate better with Gunther. Gunther himself was given a Specialized Space Ring that William crafted during his three-month travel across Azures. It would be shared between him and Tia when they adventured alone together, and even contained a few secret Arrays that would save their lives in a pinch. William didn''t tell them any of this, though, since he wanted them to feel the pressure of life-threatening circumstances, that way they would hopefully grow more quickly. Yuming was crafted a brand-new set of Alchemy equipment, which was enhanced by William''s Artificer Title to an incredible degree, greatly increasing Yuming''s future Alchemy sess rate. Carl was made four more Summoning Scrolls and something he called a Scroll of Scrolls, which could store his other Summoning Scrolls inside and was easier to carry. This would allow Carl to store up to a hundred Magical Beasts and had an extra effect that would suppress anything nearby up to the Tribtion Transcendence Realm by ten percent. For Charlotte, William gave her his Tribtion Transcendence Protective Amulet, which was no longer necessary for him to wear. His physical body could already handle attacks at that level, so the Artifact would be more suitable for her. Seeing that William was giving Charlotte jewelry, Yuming smirked while Carl shed him a wink. Gunther and Tia gave William a thumbs-up, while Charlotte''s face turned beet-red. Clearly the others already knew something was going on between the two of them, and it made Charlotte somehow feel more embarrassed than she had the previous night. Riyald didn''t see the group off, but Sir Reynolds did. The old Artifact Spirit waved them each through the Portal outside of the Gravitas Ruins, smiling as if he was a grandparent dropping his grandkids off for a day of school. "Which way first?" Carl asked when they had all regrouped outside the Ruins. "East!" William shouted as he opened a portal to the edge of the Azures Continent, where me Dragon Uri was already waiting. Just a few kilometers past the shoreline, William could see a bright golden barrier made up of Tier 6 Arrays that had been formed who knew how long ago. The Arrays had lost a lot of power over the years, so the barrier was full of holes, but it still did its job of keeping many unwanted visitors out of the Continent, mostly including the dangerous sea beasts that roamed the ocean. With a quick burst of speed, Uri carefully navigated the holes in the Tier 6 Barrier like an expert, carrying William and his friends past the dangers of the ocean to the Velos Continent. *** At the center of the Providence Zone, a silver-haired girl was facing off with the nine Kamei Hamei Turtles in charge of the area all at once. She had yet to defeat a single one and was slowly losing ground because of their naturally strong defense, but she was ever closer to reaching the absolute peak of the World. Just a few more months of training and I''ll be able to defeat these things, but something''s weird about the way they''re attacking... "Hey, are you even trying to kill me?" she asked, though she didn''t expect a response. Surprisingly, the Kamei Hameis stopped fighting right away and looked at Fria, "Our Master has instructed us not to kill any humans unnecessarily. I hope you can understand." "Your Master?" she asked. "Is his name William? He told me to meet him here." "Oh, yes! He did say something about someoneing here in the future..." one of the Kamei Hameis rubbed its head with its foot. It hadpletely forgotten about this matter. It bowed its head, "Forgive me, but you''ll have to wait until hees back." "Until hees back? He''s not here right now?" Fria asked. "No. He said he might be back in the next few years. You cane by then if you want." A few years?!? I don''t want to wait that long! I''ll have graduated College before he gets back! Damn this game and its realistic timeline... "Where can I find him now then?" Fria asked. "I can sense that he''s going East, to another Continent. You may be able to catch up to him there if you''re so willing." Another Continent to the East? It must be the Velos Continent... "I''ll be there." she said before flying into the distance. Chapter 340: The Ascendeds Requirements Inside a meeting room at Retribution''s headquarters, a group of six yers in the early stages of the Nascent Soul Realm were discussing their next moves with the ck-cloaked Tenebris. Despite their Cultivation, theirbat power was more equivalent to someone near the peak of the Soul Formation Realm, having upgraded many Talents using Potential Points. Tenebris was incredibly impressed with this specific group of yers, who each had talents close to William''s when he was discovered early on. With talented members like this, he had no need to actively seek out a flight-risk youth like William, he could use these people right here! Just like the old higher-ups that William captured, these yers wore differently-colors cloaks that matched the Regions they were in control of, though there were still two slots remaining to be filled. Tenebris had held off on naming the next white and brown-cloaked members until some suitable members reached the Soul Formation Realm at least, wanting at least a few members that would better represent the organization without being underestimated. "Master ck, the Superior Darkness World Core has been discovered in the Velos Continent by one of my sources. I wonder if you might be interested?" the new red-cloaked Region Leader asked. Instead of mentioning the System, many yers would mention a sourcework instead, to avoid attracting unwanted attention from the NPCs. In reality, this person merely found a thread on the Community Forums and wanted to im the credit as his own for reputation with Tenebris. Tenebris nodded in satisfaction. "That''s good, but the difficulty will be quite high if it''s outside the Azures Continent. What have your sources said about the condition of the Superior Core?" "Not much. There are rumors of a peak Tribtion Transcendence Beast guarding the area. A mutated snake with red scales that seems to possess both the Darkness and Illusion Elements." the red-cloaked yer shook his head. "If it''s a Superior Core, there will probably be more than one Beast at the Peak. From what I''ve gathered on the Superior Death Core, each Superior Core should have five Peak Magical Beasts nearby, and that is the least of our worries. In addition to the Magical Beasts, the Superior Core cannot be absorbed until all of the same-Element Greater World Cores have been, which will spawn Beast Tides the moment three are absorbed." The blue-cloaked yer jumped into the conversation, "If there are so many Peak Beasts and the protections are so great, do we even have the ability to absorb the Superior World Core right now? Maybe we should focus on absorbing only Greater World Cores for the time being." Tenebris nodded, "That is exactly what we will do, but first we must finish the project that Region Leader Orange has started. That William has been getting in our way and we need to dispose of him before he absorbs any more World Cores that should be ours." "Get rid of NP- William? Isn''t he invincible in the World? Who could possibly kill him now?" the yellow-cloaked yer asked. "You weren''t herest week when we talked about this, Yellow." the blue-cloaked replied. "He may be strongpared to us, but he''s nothingpared to the Ascended Cultivators. We''ve contacted one that has agreed to kill William for us, but he''s requested the heart of a Mythical Beast with the Illusion Element. He said he sensed one here, but the price to descend is too steep and he doesn''t want to do it for free." "A Mythical Beast? We aren''t strong enough to take on a Mythical Beast! Especially not one with the ultra-rare Illusion Element. This is suicide!" the yellow-cloaked yer stood up as he shouted. Tenebris signaled for Yellow to return to his seat. "The Beast in question just happens to be at the peak of the Soul Formation Realm right now. It may not be as difficult as you think." He called for a holographic map to appear on the table and pointed to a spot roughly a thousand kilometers southwest of the Providence Zone. "I''ll need two of you to pick your most capable subordinates and go to Blue Moon City. There, you''ll ambush this Mythical Beast while it defends the City from a Beast Tide. I''ll also grant you one legion [1] of the summons I have stored up over the past hundred years. Lead them well." The eyes of the yers glimmered upon hearing Tenebris'' offer. His infamous Beast Legions are the main reason why they wanted to join Retribution in the first ce, and now some of them had a chance to lead one of their own for this mission. All six of the yers volunteered for the mission, but only Blue and Green were chosen to lead the group, after they won a tournament-style game of rock-paper-scissors in an online chat room that Tenebris couldn''t see. They made the necessary preparations and went on their way immediately, leaving Tenebris and the other four Region Leaders to discuss other matters. "I''ve received a set of disturbing news that will be a mission for the four of you toplete together." Tenebris began as he performed a few finger movements, changing the style of the holographic map to one that depicted the World as a whole and separated it into distinct colors. He pointed to a few tiny red dots that were scattered across the globe with no clear pattern, "These are the recorded Minor, Lesser, and standard Demon sightings in thest one hundred years." He waved his hand in a circr clockwise motion to change the map again. This time, the number of red dots had be small masses that were centrally located in the Southern ins and Far East Misnds Regions of the Azures Continent. Conversely, the other portions of the World had much fewer dots than before, somepletely devoid of Demon sightings. "This is the number of recorded Minor, Lesser, and standard Demon sightings in thest month. As you can see, it''s at least triple what we would see in a typical Century. Odder, most of them are on the Azures Continent, and they are less violent than before." "What does this mean to us? We don''t care about a few Demons, do we?" the red-cloaked Region Leader asked. "Of course we care!" Tenebris mmed the table and shouted, but he didn''t borate. He took a deep breath to calm down, then returned to his previous tone. "Capturing even one of these things alive can greatly advance the strength of my Legions. With the power of my Heavenly Mark, I can even contract the Minor and Lesser Demons." he exined. Demons were known for having infinite stamina and unbelievable natural regeneration. If he could acquire one or two more, or better yet, a hundred of these as his own... The old Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right wouldn''t have a chance, and even William shouldn''t be able to stand against him! He could use the Demons to guard him while absorbing the Superior Darkness Core, speeding up his future ns by decades, or even centuries! [1] A typical Roman Legion isprised of between four to six thousand infantry and three to nine hundred cavalry. In this sense, consider the legion to be roughly five thousand Magical Beasts strong. Chapter 341: Visitors Dont Get Discounts As Uri neared the end of his five-day flight, William and his friends smelled a slight stench in the air. It was as if someone had forgotten to take out the trash for a few weeks or returning from vacation to find spoiled food in the fridge. It was slight, but Uri was flying only a few hundred meters below the clouds, so they were well above the source of the smell. They leaned over the side of Uri''s back, peering at the discolored water that was greener than it was blue. Just a few dozen kilometers ahead of them was the Velos Continent''s shoreline, which could hardly be called as such. Instead of sandy beaches or rocky formations, the shore was a swamnd dotted with greyish mangroves and filled with small green lifeforms hidden underwater that William could onlypare to a mix between a slug and leech. "This is the Velos Continent?" Tia scrunched her nose. She was the first of the group to seal her sense of smell with her Spirit Qi and was starting to regreting with William. "Why do you say it like that? This ce seems perfect for Alchemy!" Yuming also sealed his nose while looking at the diverse fauna with excitement. "Those are Poison Sleeches, a great ingredient for the Poison Blood Pill! If we find one in the Nascent Soul Realm, I might be able to make my first Tier 6 Pill!" As an Alchemist, Yuming had studied both herbs and Magical Beasts thoroughly before leaving¡ª a must if one didn''t want to miss out on rare ingredients while exploring. He had even asked William for a few books on Beasts of the Velos Continent, who promptly sto- borrowed it from the Yu Royal Family''s library. "Those will also drain your blood and Mana in seconds, and even a Core Formation Poison Sleech can cripple a Nascent Soul Cultivator if you ignore it for too long. They feed on Poison Mages to grow stronger and are one of the few Magical Beasts that can improve their Magic Affinity." Carl replied before Yuming could get any dangerous ideas. Gunther pointed to the mangroves, "Those are Mangled Moongroves! Their bark can bebined with many ores to create tough and flexible armor with more resistance to poison than even Advanced Arrays can achieve. At night, anything made with it gains even more defensive power!" Carl snorted and pointed at arge bird nest in one of the trees, having studied the Magical Beasts of the Velos Continent years before. "And many are the home to the Toxin Obliteration Egret, which is the mutated form of the Toxin Egret. They''ve existed for thousands of years, and the Obliteration in their name isn''t just for show." William nodded to each of theirments, but he was focused on one thing in particr. His Life Sense was tracking the vitality of all the nearby creatures, but something about their activity became odd the moment they came within five kilometers of the shore. The Poison Sleeches started to group together on his Life Sense, swimming just a few centimeters below the water''s surface towards the me Dragon in the sky. "Have you noticed that they''re all... looking at us?" William asked. Uriughed, "We''re so high up, how could they even notice our presence, much less see us?" William scratched his head, "Never mind. I guess it''s just my imagination." Uri flew over the shore and continued forward for a few more kilometers until they reached a small city where they could confirm their current location. The swamnd transitioned into stable ground, but the soil was tinted green and there were only sparse stalks of grass. When Urinded, the group got off his back while William opened a portal to an unknown location much to their confusion. He reappeared in the same spot a few minutester with a satisfied smile while his green-stained hands slowly returned to their usual peachy color. "Where were you?" Yuming asked. "More like, what did you do this time?" Carl knew William''s antics like the back of his hand, and this was too suspicious to pass up on. "I just had something to check out, that''s all." Carl wasn''t convinced, "Did you take something? From the shoreline perhaps?" "It was just a few things, nothing much." William shrugged. "How much?" Carl pressed further. "..." Carl crossed his arms in front of his chest while William raised a single finger. "Just one item?" Gunther asked. "That''s not a big deal, it''s not like anyone from the Velos Continent will care. After all, isn''t our mission to take something from someone?" Carl narrowed his eyes. He knew better than to ept the things William said at face value, "One what? One Space Ring?" William looked to the ground in shame while the groupughed, having been discovered already. They decided to let the matter go since William was practically invincible anyway, choosing to enter the nearby city instead. No one present except Uri had been to the Velos Continent, but even the dragon had only visited twice, so they needed to purchase a map and ask for information before searching for Marcus Rednel and the Alchemist. Uri remained outside the city with the nervous guards while William and the group entered a simple general store and asked a butchdy with a mean stare where they could find a map. To their luck, she had a few in stock, but she charged William a whopping four hundred Gold Coins, which was absurdly expensivepared to Azures. When Will tried to bargain, thedy frowned, "Visitors don''t get discounts. Do you think mapping is easy in Velos? It would normally cost 480 Gold, but I know you won''tst a week in the wilderness without the map." She couldn''t sense any of their Cultivation since she was only in the Core Formation Realm, but it was clear at a nce that none of them were over a hundred years old and doubted any were above the Golden Core. They were nothing but chickens in front of the Beasts native to Velos. That''s probably just the Moneybags Title''s 20 percent discount in effect...Williamined inwardly as he paid for the absurdly priced map. -You have over two million Gold. Why are youining about this amount? Money is money, System. You wouldn''t understand. The group checked out other sections of the city, but every storefront and even the Adventurer''s Guild was either suspicious or outright rude towards them. It waspletely different from how people were treated in the Azures Continent, and they decided to leave earlier than nned. "I think it''s best we check the Capital Cities first. There''s six of them, right? Which Region are we in?" Carl asked as he leaned towards the map that wasid out on a nearby bench outside. "They''re not Regions, they call them Factions here for some reason. It looks like there are six Factions that control the Continent, and they''ve separated their boundaries with the same name. We''re on the Western shore, which should be within the Revista Faction''s territory." William replied, having asked the System beforehand. "If you''re going to visit the Revista Faction, I think I can help you get there." a voice said from behind. Chapter 342: Miasma Navigator William didn''t have to turn around to see the person behind them, but he did anyway so he wouldn''t seem like a weirdo. The man was dressed in simple overalls and ck leather boots that were caked with mud, while his face was squarish and had three distinct scars crossing vertically on his right cheek until they touched his lower eyelid. "That''s fine, I think we can manage on our own." William replied, returning his attention to his friends. They had a Tribtion Transcendence me Dragon and Space Magic at their disposal, if they couldn''t reach the Faction, who could? "Really? You have a way to deal with Ascension Realm Poisonous Miasma?" the man looked surprised. William turned to face the man again, "What do you mean? There''s nothing on our map that says anything about a miasma, when did it appear?" "Ha! That viin scammed you. The map in your possession might show all the cities andndmarks of the Continent, but it mentions nothing of the dangers!" the man replied. William nodded in understanding. He noticed that fact, but this map was the best they could get for the time being.System, what does this man mean by miasma? Is there really a danger? -Request requires 6550 Potential Points. Yes/No? So much, for a question like this? It seems there really is more to what the man is saying. Confirm. -To answer your question, I must first tell you a story. Over forty thousand years ago, a Cultivator named Duon wanted to turn the World¡ª then unnamed¡ª into a holynd for Cultivators by improving the quality of thend past its limits. -To do this, Duon spent many years of his life replicating the Ascended Portal''s workings, realizing that the quality of the Ascended Realms'' Mana was greater than this World''s. He was very close to seeding, but suddenly gave up on his mission, much to the dismay of many others. -A few decadester, one of Duon''s Disciples discovered his notes on the project and continued the work despite dozens of warnings that Duon had written inter. The tests continued for hundreds of years, until one day the Disciple eventually opened an artificial portal that connected to the Realm above. -Unfortunately, the portal connected to the Realm of Poison, which leaked its Mana over the entire Continent, killing the Disciple and all life within a radius of thirty thousand kilometers. -The portal was unstable and copsed on its own a few dayster, but the damage had already been done. Millions of humans, and billions of Magical Beasts and insects died, even their souls corroded by the Poison Mana that shouldn''t exist in this World. -Time passed and life returned, but there is still much to heal before the Continent returns to normal. The native Magical Beasts of the Continent have grown incredible resistance to poison and poison-rted abilities, while humans'' souls became stronger and more resilient, turning thisnd into a Soul Cultivation holy ground for those capable of utilizing the more powerful Techniques. -Having learned how to mitigate the effects of the Poison with routine cleansing operations and other measures, Cultivators eventually began to harness the remaining Poison, harvesting it and creating walls of miasma that kept others out of their territories. -Each of the six Factions on the Velos Continent have separated theirnd this way, isting themselves from the rest of the Continent, while doing the same for some of their most secretive locations. Given time and some necessity, the upation of Miasma Navigator emerged, meant to bypass the restrictions of other Factions'' defenses and transport materials from one area to the next. Following the System''s exnation, William nodded. "You''re a Miasma Navigator?" What about this Faction, then? Wouldn''t they be able to bypass the miasma through sea or overhead like we did? -The shoreline is not protected by the miasma, but further ind is the real edge of the Revista Faction''s territory. You haven''t entered it yet. Flying over it is possible, though, but there are still traces of miasma in the air and it''s very hard to see in small amounts. -If you''re not careful to dodge, one of your friends might be seriously injured or worse. I suggest you ept the man''s request. The man looked surprised and returned the nod, "Where did you hear that term? It''s not something outsiders usually know about." "I studied a little bit." William replied simply. "If you don''t mind, I''d like to hire your services. How much will you charge for the six of us?" "That''s quite a few people, but I''ll do it for a thousand Gold Coins each. I''m Gro by the way." William stifled augh.Gro? I hope he''s joking. The man didn''t smile orugh even after a few seconds had passed. It seemed he wasn''t joking. "You''re not scamming us too, are you?" he asked. -Stop trying to save money, you''re not going to need it when you Ascend anyway. "Of course not! I am reputable!" the man looked a little hurt, but he understood how William felt considering how they were treated elsewhere. Fair point. "We ept." he sorted through his Space Ring and handed Gro six thousand Gold Coins. "Good, do you have somewhere to stay? I rmend the Brighnar Hotel in the center of town. They''ll probably still overcharge you, but it''s better than nothing." "We''re not leaving now?" William asked. "I live here, and this was supposed to be my vacation time, but I can''t pass up on some good customers, can I? I still have to make some preparations and inform my wife, though I''m sure she won''t be happy." William nodded. He brought his friends to the Brighnar Hotel as advised and paid for two rooms at a whopping twenty Gold Coins each per night, then they left with Gro in the morning. "Here, take this. It will help with the miasma in the thickest parts, but you still shouldn''t touch it, these medallions aren''t cheap and will onlyst you a few seconds before the miasma takes over." Gro gave them each a special golden medallion made from a metal William''s cksmithing Talent recognized as Aurenite, which seemed to enhance their poison resistances to a whole new level. Even William''s A-Rank Poison Resistance Talent couldn''tpare to these effects, which exined the extreme cost of being escorted through the Miasma. If the Aurenite medallions couldn''t protect them for more than a few seconds, his Poison Resistance wouldn''tst a second. While the Poison Affinity, Ascended Recovery, and Hard Body Talents would likely keep him alive even in the worst scenario, who knew how much damage it would cause beforehand? System, just in case I''d like to upgrade my Poison Resistance to X-Rank. William gave the order mentally, opting not to put his life in the hands of an expensive medallion. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Poison Resistance: (SSR --> X) Effects: Resistance to all forms of poison and their residual effects +4800% >> +9600% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Poison Body: When your body is even slightly affected by poison, increase the power of your Poison Magic by 100%. -Poison Absorption: Bathing in poison for an hour increases your immunity to that specific poison by ten percent. Next rank up: Requirements Locked. Ascend or upgrade the System to A-Rank to unlock the next Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Chapter 343: Necrotoxin William felt much morefortable approaching the poisonous miasma now. The X-Rank Poison Resistance Talent was even better than his Heat Resistance now, and William even felt like he could drink poisons and be perfectly fine. I wonder if I can bathe in the poisonous miasma now? It wouldn''t hurt to be immune to it, right? he thought as the group traveled at slow pace. They had already reached an area filled green smoke that became more and more translucent as it billowed into the sky, but somehow the bottom area was constantly refilled with smoke. Maybe the source of the miasma was hidden below the earth. "Mister Gro, what is your Cultivation if you don''t mind? I can''t see it." Gunther asked. He had been wondering this for a while. "I''m in the Nascent Soul Realm, it''s natural you can''t see." Gro replied simply. "Nascent Soul? Howe you''re a Miasma Navigator? In Azures, you could be an Elder of the Sect! Why waste time doing a job like this for just a few thousand Gold Coins?" "Don''t misunderstand. Cultivation is a bit faster here than other ces because of the Mana of the higher Realms, I thought you''d already know this since you want to visit the Revista Faction so badly. After all, their Cultivation Site is one of the best in the entire Continent." William became curious at this point, "What is the Cultivation Site?" "Isn''t that what you''re here for? The only reason the Velos Continent ever gets visitors is when people want to poach our Magical Beasts, loot our rare Alchemy ingredients, or request to use the Factions'' Cultivation Sites." They all shook their heads while William replied, "We''re here to find a few people." Gro didn''t ask further, "In that case, I''d still rmend requesting ess; it can be good for your growth. You''re all quite young, butpared to the geniuses of our continent, you probably wouldn''t stand a chance." "Do they allow anyone to go into the Cultivation Site?" Tia asked. "Of course not!" Groughed, "But that doesn''t mean you won''t have a chance. They usually ask for payment if you don''t prove yourself in their exam." "Really? That sounds too good to be true. What kind of Faction would let normal people have ess to their holynds?" Gunther jumped in. "Only they know, I suppose. They''ve been doing it for hundreds of years now. Follow me, and hold your breath." Gro said as he took out a small canister and threw it on the ground. From it, red smoke burst forth and mixed with the green smoke, turning it into an unpleasant shade of brown. "This smoke saturates the area and greatly lessens the amount of miasma nearby. As long as you stay in the brown smoke and don''t breathe, your medallion will do the rest. Touch the green smoke and you won''tst very long." he warned. William and the others nodded, following closely behind with their hands interlocked in a line to prevent them from getting lost. William stood at the end and held onto Charlotte''s right hand with his left, but he tested the waters a little by reaching out to touch the green smoke with his right hand. The smoke that touched William''s finger seeped into his skin and turned his entire hand ck in a matter of seconds. His Poison Resistance Talent was actively working against the toxin, but he was forced to retract his finger after around a minute, before the toxin could spread to the rest of his body. Even after pulling back his hand, the poison continued to damage his skin cells and tissues, even rotting down to his bones. Worse yet, the Recovery Talent''s regeneration was hindered by the toxin, reducing William''s healing by a few times. -Your soul is being absorbed: -1 Soul Strength What? My soul too?! What is this poison?!?William eximed as switched his vision to Spirit Mode, watching as his own consciousness was slowly dragged into the miasma. It was incredibly slow, but if he spent more than a few minutes in the miasma, he''d probably lose his soul before he lost his body. He stabilized his condition less than a minuteter, but the Soul Strength didn''t seem like it would return. He was forced to give up on bathing in the miasma for now, since he had no easy method to Cultivate Soul Strength without the Forbidden Technique. He was still holding Charlotte''s hand as well, and William didn''t want to endanger his friends. To be honest, he wasn''t expecting such an exaggerated effect from the miasma, otherwise he wouldn''t have tried until he was alone. Even while he walked behind the group, the pain lingered for six hours before dissipating, further exaggerating the effects of the miasma. I onlysted around a minute. I can probably make it five or ten minutes with my Recovery Talent, but I might lose a few years of lifespan, and my Soul wouldn''tst... Why is an X-Rank Talent so bad? Not only can the Poison Resistance Talent not keep up, but the ny-nine percent pain resistance from the Mind Talent is also not enough! I would have passed out from the poison a long time ago if I didn''t have the Mind Talent... -It''s Poison from a higher Realm, what did you expect? For it to be as trash-tier as the toxins you''vee across so far? That''s the Poison Grove''s Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin, not something you canpare to. How am I going to bathe for ten hours inside this? William wondered. Just dipping his finger inside wouldn''t count, since it had to be his entire body. That being said, the Recovery Talent would be affected even more, though the Life Element might be helpful. -You won''t gain any bonuses if you can''t stay inside for more than an hour at a time, either. So don''t even think of trying to go in and out one minute at a time. Damn it. Why do you have to be so unreasonable. If you gave me the Talent, just let me use the effects my way. William cursed at the System''s foresight. -You have to prove yourself worthy. Besides, this is how the Talent was created, and that is how things must be done. Even I cannot change that. Yeah, yeah. Worthy this. Worthy that. You can''t bend the rules of your own Talents? The System didn''t respond. William focused reliving the effects of the poisonous miasma on his body. The Systembeled it as a necrotoxin, which exined why there was so much skin damage. Rather than poison, it might be more rtable to venom. I have the Soul Talent still, I should see if that helps with the miasma. If it does, I can upgrade both that and the Life Element to X-Rank and try again. Not to mention my Poison Element is still S-Rank. I can go for all three! The smoke was so thick that no one noticed William''s unique condition, while Gro continued using special smoke bombs to clear the poisonous miasma. At the eighth hour-mark, the group breached the wall of miasma and broke through to the other side. "Wee to the Revista Faction''s territory. We will have to go through one more wall of miasma in a few days, how are you all feeling? Is anyone injured?" Gro asked. He looked at William, "You... where is your medallion?" Chapter 344: Kowtow And Apologize! William looked down to see that the medallion worn around his neck had disappeared, though the ne portion was still there. Gro was looking at him seriously, inspecting William for physical signs of poisoning. "I don''t know. It must have fallen off." he answered simply. "Fallen off?! That cost me thirty Mana Stones! How am I supposed to recover my stock of medallions? Also, how are you still alive?" he looked at William suspiciously at the end, realizing the boy didn''t seem injured in the slightest despite not having a medallion. William shrugged, "I don''t know. Here, take these aspensation." he took out thirty Mana Stones and gave them to Gro. Gro epted the Mana Stones and nodded, slightly surprised to see William was carrying so many Mana Stones at once and could casually take them out. He became a little greedy, but something about William''s aura told the man that it wouldn''t be wise to mess with the boy. For one, William''s Cultivation was hidden, which meant he was of higher Cultivation than Gro. If William was as young as his friends, that made him a true geniusparable to the other young ones of the Velos Continent. It wouldn''t be wise to make an enemy from someone like that, he was probably a well-respected member of the Azures Continent and it could be a political issue if he wasn''t careful. Instead, Gro epted William''s Mana Stones and pulled out a new medallion. He had over a hundred of them made, specifically for carryingrge groups of people through the miasma at a time, so losing one wasn''t a huge deal even if they were expensive. Along the way to the Revista Faction''s Headquarters, Gro stopped the group three times at nearby cities so he could refill a portion of his emptied smoke canisters. By the time they reached their second-tost stop, six days had passed. The canisters required a lot of time and Mana to refill, as well as a special device that modified the properties of the smoke, so the group wandered the city for a few hours while they waited. They noticed that the closer they got to the Revista Faction''s headquarters, the greater the standard of Cultivators. Golden Core Cultivators becamemonce, while a few in the Nascent Soul could be seen wandering the streets no matter where they looked. They even spotted a Soul Formation Cultivator during theirst stop¡ª a rare sight on the Azures Continent. When Gro returned and saw how the group was looking at the Soul Formation Cultivator, he smiled and issued a warning, "I''d be careful if I were you. Cultivators in the Velos Continent have a bad attitude, they might just¡ª" "Hey! You seven were looking at me, right?" the Cultivator in question took a single step and appeared in front of them, his extreme speed close to that of a teleport. He crossed his arms and looked down on the group of kids in the Golden Core Realm. He looked to be roughly twenty years of age, but William couldn''t tell if that was true or not. The man could be anywhere from fifty to a thousand years old for all he knew. I wish I could check someone''s age. System, is there a Talent for it? -No. Really? -If you want to see ages so bad, just Cultivate. ... William sensed that the person''s Cultivation was in the second stage of the Soul Formation Realm, but hisbat power was probably in the third or fourth stage. He was much too strong for William''s friends and Gro, but he wasn''t intimidated. "We were. Sorry about that." William replied simply, though he wasn''t really sorry. Why would this person care if they looked at him? It should be apliment! "Hm! I don''t think you''re truly sorry, kowtow and apologize a hundred times and I might let you go!" the man replied with a smirk. I haven''t seen someone like this in a while...William thought. System, do I need to be low-profile here? -Don''t overdo it. William smiled. When did he ever go to far? "I think you should forget about us and leave before you get hurt." William replied as he released his Fire Domain, but controlled the Spell so it would only make the Soul Formation Cultivator feel ufortable. His friends were naturally unaffected, given his incredible Mana Control. "Ha, this? Just because you have a Domain doesn''t make it strong!" the Cultivator said as he started mobilizing the Water Element. He nned to cast his Water Dragon Spell at William to restrict the boy''s focus and cancel the Domain like he had read in books. William opened the Reversed Water Domain and absorbed the man''s Spell before it could even be cast. He was now irritated, since the low Humanity score was trying to affect his emotions again. "Don''t waste my time. I''m not trying to hurt you." he said as he suppressed the desire to kill the Cultivator. "Y-You. You''re just lucky that you have the Water Domain!" the Soul Formation Cultivator shouted as he switched to the nt Element. The Reversed Domain was opened again and absorbed the man''s Spell a second time, but William was tired of ying games. He opened the Territory of Sealing and cast it on the Soul Formation Cultivator, rooting him in ce with no ability to move. Under the astonished gazes of everyone on the streets, William walked up to the Soul Formation Cultivator and unsealed him. "I told you that I don''t want to kill you, but that doesn''t mean I won''t if you push me too far. Consider yourself lucky." The Soul Formation Cultivator nodded and flew away without another word.I didn''t expect to meet such a monster today. What is that Domain? It''s terrifying! --Title upgraded to Epic: +25 PP -Honorable (Rare --> Epic): You have spared one hundred individuals who had some intent to kill you. +3 Permanent Humanity. William turned to look at each of the spectators, "Do you care if I look at you?" No one spoke. "Good. We''re visitors, let us visit and there won''t be any trouble." he returned to his group and opened a portal using Space Magic to leave the city. On the other side of the portal, Gro looked at William in awe. "I didn''t expect to be escorting a VIP today, how exciting!" His friends were just as surprised. Gunther tried to recall the properties of William''s Sealing Territory, "Was that the ultra-rare Seal Element? I''ve never heard of a Seal Domain before, you might be the only one in existence!" "It''s Epic, actually." William corrected. "What?" "Oh, nothing. We should go before someone else thinks they can fight me." William said, to which the group nodded. They sorted out their things and prepared for the next step of their journey. Just after they left, the Revista Faction received notification that someone with mulitiple Domains had suppressed a Soul Formation Cultivator and an entire city with overwhelming strength, aplete exaggeration of what had really happened. As a result, the Revista Faction sent a group of Soul Formation experts to investigate the area, searching for the people responsible for causing trouble in their territory. Chapter 345: Last Name? William and the group passed through thest wall of miasma and arrived at the Revista Faction Headquarters just two dayster. William didn''t try to touch the miasma again, so he didn''t need to rece Gro''s medallion for a second time. "Wee to the one true city of the Revista Faction. The City of Gold, Igolide!" a young boy with red hair smiled as the group passed through the front gates. As he saw their attire reminiscent of another Continent, though, the boy frowned and spat on the ground in front of them. "Some wee, huh?" Williammented to the group. He was at least thankful that Igolide didn''t have any stringent entry requirements. They just needed to pay two Gold Coins to enter without even a security check. "We''ve always been like this, myself included." Gro said simply. The only reason he cared to treat the group nicely was because this was his job, and they were good money. Since his job was finished, he bade William and the rest farewell, wishing them luck on their mission. William nodded and led the group through the city towards their first destination, admiring the scenery as they walked. The city didn''t have a dull air like the others before, and the streets were paved with a special type of golden asphalt. Shops were littered everywhere, most of which sold specialized equipment for hunting Magical Beasts. There were reinforceds made for hunting Poison Sleeches and whaling spears made for tearing through the thick hide of Venom-Seeker Elephants. While the quality of the equipment was very high and could be used even by Golden Core Cultivators, they were looking for information on Marcus and had no reason to purchase anything from these shops. They headed straight towards the Revista Faction''s pce located in the center of the city, where a group of guards met with them before they could approach. "Stop, state your purpose." the guards shouted while holding their weapons at the ready. They didn''t recognize this new group of people, and other than their escort their gear didn''t match the standards of the Velos Continent. "Those expensive-looking clothes and a group of kids... you must be here for the Cultivation Site." one of the guards sneered. "We''re looking for someone." William was tired of saying the same things multiple times, but he had to in this case. "Someone in the pce? You couldn''t possibly know anyone inside!" the guard replied. "Just let us in so we can speak to your leader." William was bing irritated again. "Ha! You even dare to meet with Patriarch Luying!" the guardsughed together. Alright, I''m tired of this. System, can I kill them? -Do what you want, just be prepared for the consequences. Damnit... William sighed as he opened his Sealing Territory for the second time in a week. The group was instantly immobilized, unable to move so much as a finger before William passed by. He turned around and waved to his group, "Are youing or not?" "Of course! I''m d you dealt with these fools quickly, they were annoying." Carl was starting to like following William like he was the big boss. He could be as arrogant as he wanted, as long as he didn''t offend anyone stronger than his friend. Carl walked up to one guard in particr that had spoken the most, spitting on the man''s immobilized shoes. "You deserve this, hehe." Tia reached over and pped Carl, "Have you lost your mind?" "Sorry, Punch Mama." "What?" Tia''s eye twitched. "I said sorry! I''m sorry!" Carl cried as he ran from an enraged Tia. She was much faster than Carl, but he was like a rat and used the immobilized city guards as cover, looping around them and annoying Tia to no end. He even took the initiative to stick out his tongue when he saw that she couldn''t catch him. "I swear when I catch you, you''re dead!" Tia shouted as she circled the guards. She looked at Gunther, who sighed inwardly as he released the Ice Element to freeze Carl in his tracks. "Okay I really didn''t mean it this time!" Carl put on a sad face while Tia cracked her knuckles. She had no issues with beating up an idiot in public, much less this idiot. "Alright, we don''t have time for this. Let''s go." Yuming said from next to William. He was in a hurry to meet with these Revista leaders, interested to see what interesting Alchemy books they might have in stock. "There''s no need to enter the pce." a calm voice said from above. The group looked up to see a silver-haired old man that looked to be on the verge of death. He was floating just a few dozen meters above the group, but they could almost smell how leathery his skin was. "Damn, old fart! How long have you been around?" Carl muttered. "Hm?" the old man seemed to have heard Carl, but not entirely. "Oh, nothing. How old are you?" "Carl! What the hell?" Tia was about to beat this person up again. She looked up at the old man and bowed respectfully, "Sorry about him, we''re here for some information." "I''m aware, I have been tracking you for a while now, who''d have thought I''d find you here. If I hadn''t moved at all, you would havee straight to me. I am eleven thousand years old, by the way." the old man replied. "Eleven thousand?! How is that possible? Are you at the peak of the World??" Carl eximed. "Lots of Age Restoration and Cell Rejuvenation Pills. I grow them myself." William inspected the old man''s Cultivation, finding him to be at the peak of the Soul Formation Realm. The man should have only lived a few thousand at most, but to double or even triple that... it was impressive to say the least. He set aside those thoughts and spoke up, "Have you heard of a Marcus Rednel?" "Hmmm? Marcus? I believe I have. What was your name?" "William." "Last name?" "Don''t have one." "How can you not have ast name?" the man was surprised. "I just don''t. What should I call you, Senior?" William didn''t feel like the old man was his senior inbat power, but his sheer age should regard him as such. While waiting for the man''s response, he used Life Sense to check the surrounding area for danger, slightly concerned that this interaction was a trap. Why else would the man stall for so long? "You can call me Marcus." the man responded with a goofy smile. "Last name?" William mimicked the old man''s tone. "Don''t have one." the old man winked. "Ohh. You don''t believe me then..." William looked at the old man known as Marcus. "Not one bit. Everyone has ast name." "Well I don''t. How about I give you another name? Are you familiar with a man known as Riyald?" "Last name?" "..." William actually didn''t know his Master''sst name. He sent a message to the System, asking it tomunicate with me Dragon Uri who might know. "Well?" Marcus asked. "Riyald Triberium. Have you heard of him?" Chapter 346: Backed Into A Corner "Riyald Triberium... I didn''t think I''d hear that name for a long time..." Marcus reminisced on his thoughts. "Are you Marcus Rednel then...?" William didn''t want to assume before based on the first name alone, but he had a sneaking suspicion that this was the person they were looking for, although he looked much differently than Riyald described. He doesn''t have an orange cloak, and I can''t tell which Elemental Affinities he has. Not to mention he''s in the Soul Formation Realm. I guess there''s only one way to find out. William''s Sealing Territory was still open from immobilizing the guards, so he controlled the Sealing Mana to gather towards Marcus, who seemed oblivious to the attack. Just before the Sealing Mana wrapped around Marcus'' body, his body vibrated and the Seal Mana went through him harmlessly while he strode forward with a calm smile. "Your Magic is many times more powerful than mine... but I have lived a very long time. It''s because of your Seal Element that I was sent after you, but who would have known that you are also looking for me!" Marcus replied as he retrieved an orange cloak from his Space Ring and wrapped it around himself. With the orange cloak, Marcus held onto two pink rings that didn''t seem to serve as Space Rings, he concealed them quickly, but William still noticed and opened the Space Domain in advance just in case so the man couldn''t take out anything else. The moment the orange cloak touched Marcus'' body, his aura was elevated to the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. Additionally, his Mana fluctuations became unstable in the same way that William''s Mana did when he upgraded an Elemental Affinity to the next Rank. Did both his Cultivation and Magic just progress? But how? William wondered. Marcus saw William''s look and smirked, "I told you I''ve lived a long time, but that doesn''t mean I''ll give away my secrets easily! I knew that Riyald would send someone after me eventually, but he''s a fool to think some kids can take me down after I''vee so far!" My Sealing Territory doesn''t work, so I need to suppress him in another way. The Soul Cultivation Technique is in his mind, but I don''t have a way to break through... -You can search his memories with a sessful mental invasion. I know that, but he''s been using that Soul Cultivation Technique for who knows how long, which hones your mental power immensely. I don''t stand a chance; I need him to tell me on his own. William tried the Sealing Territory again, but the result was the same. Marcus Rednel phased through the Mana as if it didn''t exist at all, which didn''t make any sense considering William had the X-Rank Element. William evaluated his opponent whose strength clearly exceeded that of his previous opponents.He uses the Darkness and Sound Elements, right? Are they repelling the Seal Mana or something? There''s only one way to find out. He opened the Reversed Domains of Darkness and Sound at the same time, removing the use of both Elements in arge radius, while Marcus'' face showed traces of anxiety. When William used the Seal Element this time, Marcus retreated through the air swiftly, not allowing the Mana to get close at all. That''s it! Something about his Elements was countering the Territory.William smiled as he quickly gained the upper hand. Marcus may be witty and have some unique abilities, but William has the System by his side! Still, the Seal Element is one of the slowest Elements and couldn''t reach Marcus in a short amount of time. William opened the Gravity and Time Domains to slow Marcus down as much as possible, then sessfully sealed him with the Sealing Territory. It was all done in one quick exchange, not even granting Marcus a chance to defend himself. Other than the initial surprise, William was much too powerful to be threatened by anyone in the lower Realm at this point. "Y-You... how could you figure it out so quickly?" Marcus stammered as he tried to resist the Sealing Territory. The only reason he was able to talk was because William allowed him to, otherwise he wouldn''t even be able to do that. "I just guessed, that''s all." William smiled. "T-That Riyald! He must have told you! How did he find out how I use those Elements?" Marcus scowled as he realized his old friend must have sold him out. Little did he know that William just countered everything about Darkness and Sound Magic and wasn''t specifically targeting the old man''s unique Spell. "Are you going to hand over the Soul Cultivation Technique now?" William asked. Other Soul Formation Cultivators and even the Patriarch from the Revista pce were already headed in his direction, but he didn''t care about them and spoke calmly to Marcus as if he was having a simple chat. "Never!" the old man closed his lips after speaking. "Never? You don''t even value your life that you''vee so far to maintain? You''re eleven thousand years old now, does that mean nothing at this point? Why not just give up a copy of the Technique and we''ll be on our way?" William asked again. In his opinion, the request was more than reasonable. Marcus had already lost, so what was the big deal with giving up such a Soul Cultivation Technique? Was it really that difficult and powerful? William received his response in the form of an unspeakably powerful mental attack that shattered his defenses like paper and almost knocked him unconscious in an instant. He had been prepared for it the entire time, but William still faltered and took a few steps back to recover. The Sealing Territory fell apart and both the guards and Marcus broke free, but William regained his bearings rtively quickly with the Mind Talent. Even if his Soul Strength wasn''t impressive, his Mind Talent allowed him to stay conscious no matter what, while reinforcing his mind to withstand even the most powerful attacks. I''m lucky he didn''t press further and only wanted to disrupt my Seal Territory. That was dangerous. William thought as he tried to mobilize the Seal Territory again. "Hahaha not this time!" Marcusughed maniacally as he put both of the pink rings he had been hiding on his fingers, his aura spiking once more. His Cultivation was pushed upwards, further and further until it hadpletely surpassed the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. He hadn''t Ascended yet, but Marcus had be an Ascension Realm Cultivator! His aura was intense, overbearing, and noble, while his old age made him look like he was in his sixties rather than appearing well past a hundred years. The Heavens reacted at this moment, while the World sensed that this person didn''t belong to this World. A golden portal opened in the sky not just inviting him upward but forcing him to do so. Marcus didn''t have the ability to remain on Efretta like William did, but he only resisted slightly, slowing down the speed of his Ascent into the sky. "I''ve been sealing my Cultivation inside these Artifacts for thousands of years, and now that you''ve pushed me so far, you''re going to be the first to experience it!" Chapter 347: Ultimate Tribulation Marcus gathered the power of his two Elements once more, resisting the effects of the two Reversed Domains greatly and releasing over seventy percent of their power to send abined wave of Darkness and Sound towards the position of William''s group. The attack was incredibly swift and powerful despite still being suppressed, shattering the fabric of the World and opening many spatial fissures. The attack was very brutal and merciless, lining up William''s friends behind so he couldn''t dodge without sacrificing them. But William didn''t dodge at all. Instead, he pulled back his fist for two seconds to trigger a special ability from the Fitness Talent that he hadn''t used before, doubling the strength of his next punch. The Darkness and Sound Spells continued towards William, but Marcus could sense an indomitable power welling up with William''s fist as a source. Even more spatial fissures appeared from this action thanpared to his Spell, its threatening aura forcing Marcus to subconsciously retreat. The punch was released at the same time that the two Spells collided with William''s body, shattering both Spells at once and continuing towards Marcus in the air. The old man gathered more Mana to defend himself, but it was just as useless as the two Spells, exploding in his face and knocking him backwards by a dozen kilometers. William used Space Magic to open a portal behind Marcus, sending him back in front of William before he could regain control of himself. William used his powerful body to restrain the old man, then tore off his arms and legs with any powerful treasures the old man had. Once the old man had been weakened thoroughly, William made sure to stand behind the old man before sealing him with the Territory of Sealing. As long as Marcus couldn''t look at William, the effects of his mental attacks would be greatly weakened. This was the greatest detriment to mental attacks. One had to maintain line of sight with their opponent to sessfully concentrate their mental energy. It could still be done while not looking, but the effects would be less than one percent of what they could be. The golden portal above seemed to be angry, its time running out while the target hadn''t Ascended yet. This was the second time Golden Girl had seen William interfering with the Ascensions, and she was starting to get annoyed. "That damn kid, I have a quota to fill! He''s wasting my energy and ruining everything!" she pouted. Superior Tribtions were one thing, hardly using any energy, but the Ascension Portal was apletely different story. It took one thousand times the amount of energy to create a portal to the higher Realms than it did to just send over some Lightning. It was the difference between Heaven and Earth, literally. "Let''s see if you can deal with this!" sheughed maniacally as a tiny ck wisp of Mana spread out from her fingertips. It was like the Darkness Element, but different in many ways. Its corrosive ability was pushed to the maximum as she funneled it into Tribtion Clouds and sent them both to the lower Realm. William had just fully restrained Marcus when a set of Tribtion Clouds gathered in the sky. He looked up, expecting to see the usual red tint of a Superior Tribtion, but it was something different this time. It waspletely ck in color, emitting the unusual aura of the Darkness Element, but also the Heavens. -The Heavens are punishing you: +1 Attention -Attention has reached 30 points and a second punishment has appeared. Host will now be subjected to the Punishment of Eternal Tribtions. Before the first set of Tribtion Clouds could fully form, a second set bearing the usual red tint wereyered above, their altitude much higher than usual Tribtion Clouds. The ck Tribtion gathered its Mana first, shattering the space in the sky with its overwhelming power that had clearly reached the Ascension Realm. "T-That''s!" Marcus looked up to the sky in shock. "You know what this is?" William asked. "Uh...no." Marcus replied honestly. He had never seen this type of Tribtion before, but he could tell it was a level above the Superior Tribtions for a fact. William returned his attention to the clouds, realizing no one knew what this Tribtion was. "If so, then I suppose I''ll call you the Ultimate Tribtion." William stated out loud for everyone to hear. He wasn''t nervous at all, in fact relishing the feeling of encountering a brand-new Tribtion never seen by history. "Ultimate Tribtion..." everyone muttered in silence. It was a fitting name for such a monstrous aura, but could William survive it? "Hahahaha! This is your punishment for interfering with my Ascension. Can''t you see it? Let me go now so I can Ascend!" Marcusughed as he understood what was happening. "Shut up!" William smacked the old man, knocking him unconscious instantly. He used the Mana Mode of his Vision Talent to inspect the properties of the Tribtion, finding it to be made up mostly of Darkness with only a small portion of Lightning. In that case, I''ll try Light Magic first. William was well beyond the point of concealing his Elements. He opened the Light Domain first, then gathered Light Mana to his fingertips and formed a tripleyered barrier above his head that wasparable to the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. It wasn''t at the level of Ascension yet, but it seemed to do the trick as the corrosive Darkness Elementnded on the barriers. The corrosive aspect of the Darkness burned holes through the Light Barriers in just a single second, but it was enough for William to defend the rest with his bare body. He repeated the process time and again, stacking more and more Light Barriers to defend against the special Darkness Magic, his body solving the remainder of the Tribtion. "He has the Light Element as well? How did I not see it? Better yet, when did he acquire it?" Golden Girl wondered. She knew he had most of the Magic Affinities, but she must not have been paying attention when he used the Light Elements in the past. This ruined her n to weaken his body before the final bolt, but she proceeded anyway. She had no choice. Once a Tribtion begun, it could not be stopped until the target died, or the Tribtion ran out of energy. Worse yet, William seemed to have attracted the attention of one of her other n members, because a Superior Tribtion had formed above hers, and its energy seemed nearly inexhaustible. She frowned, hoping the other n member didn''t reap the benefits of her hard work. As the Tribtion advanced in strength, William was forced to use his other Elements as well, starting with the SS-Rank Earth Affinity. Dozens of Elemental Domains stacked atop one another, protecting him from the Ultimate Tribtion and stunning the spectators nearby. Even his friends, who were just a few hundred meters away, were perfectly safe as William protected thempletely with his absurd Elemental Affinities. Seeing the Earth Domains made Carl feel ashamed of himself, while the Ice Magic was many times stronger than Gunther''s own. Yuming was already aware that William had a powerful Fire Element, but when the Life Domain opened to heal a slight injury, Charlotte felt more useless than anything. I should be the one healing him, so why does he have to heal himself? I''ll never catch up to him! Chapter 348: Soul Inheritance The Ultimate Tribtion ran out of energy a few hourster, but the Superior Tribtion activated next, striking with one Lightning after the other that he didn''t even bother to defend against. Superior Tribtions couldn''t even crack his skin, so what''s the point of wasting Mana? Speaking of Mana, his Reserves were almostpletely empty, but four Tier 3 Mana Regeneration Pills were enough to solve that problem for the most part. While waiting for the Superior Tribtion to end, William used some Water Magic to ssh Marcus'' face, waking the old man up. "Old man, are you going to give up the Soul Cultivation Technique now?" he asked. Marcus was still trying to make sense of his surroundings when he heard William''s voice. He frowned, "Not a chance in hell, you''re asking me to die!" "It''s not that serious, just give us the Technique and we''ll be on our way." William shrugged. "Never!" "Why are you being so difficult? It''s just a Technique." Marcus sighed, "It''s the Soul Inheritance Technique. Have you heard of it?" "Soul Inheritance Technique?" -Request requires 100 Potential Points. Yes/No? He''s going to tell me anyway. Wait a moment. Marcus nodded. "Riyald and I had justpleted a difficult Trial in an Ancient Ruin from a very long time ago, and we were supposed to acquire our treasures at the same time, but I approached first and received the Soul Inheritance Technique directly. The Soul Inheritance Technique absorbs the Soul Strength of its past users and can only be transferred from one person to the next through a mental connection. Afterwards, the user of the Technique can passively absorb Souls each day depending on how many Souls remain in the area. If I give you my Soul Cultivation Technique, I''ll lose all of my Soul Cultivation. You''re asking me to give up thousands of years of Cultivation!" Marcus cried out as he exined everything. "And why didn''t you tell Riyald this?" William asked as he confirmed the man''s words with the System. "Well... I didn''t have any Soul Strength back then, so it wouldn''t have been a loss if he got the Technique at that point. He still would have taken it from me, and he was stronger at the time..." Marcus looked down in shame. It all makes sense now. These old men are two peas in a pot. Loot Goblins, like me. "If you know how he would react, you should know what his Disciple thinks. I don''t care about your Soul Cultivation, give me the Technique or you die here anyway. You can still Ascend with your regr Cultivation; you don''t need a powerful Soul to go with it." But I do. I need everything! That''s why this old fogey should just give up the Technique. Marcus nodded. He really had no choice. "Do you want me to wait until your Tribtion is over?" William looked up just in time for a Heavenly Lightning Bolt to bounce off his forehead and reflect back into the sky. "Nah, I don''t want to wait. Just give it to me now." "Okay. Let me get some medicine so I can move my arm and stand in front of me." Marcus asked. William healed his arms with Life Magic instead of allowing him to use his Space Ring. Once the man was healed, Marcus ced his hand on Williams head, linking his soul with William''s. William felt a minor connection between himself and Marcus, which grew stronger and stronger as time passed. He was worried that the man was doing something shady, but the System didn''t issue any rms so he closed his eyes as well and used their connection to absorb Marcus''s Soul Strength. -Your Soul has improved: +10 -Your Soul has improved: +10 Soul Strength -Your Soul has improved: +10 Soul Strength -Your Soul has improved... Waves of information filled the System Panel as William''s Soul Strength progressed to an unbelievable level. At the same time, he felt bits and pieces of Marcus'' memories, separated throughout his whole life. The memories came and went just as fast, but William started to gain a picture of how this person had lived. Marcus wasn''t a terrible person but had gone mad with power over time as his strength grew. He started to spend more time researching information on Ascensions, and his experiences over thest ten thousand years made him more and more fearful of what was above. And so he sealed his own Cultivation inside his Artifacts, hoping to break through to the next Realm the moment he Ascended. At this point, he was incredibly close, but William had ruined those ns of course. The same time that William was looking through Marcus'' memories, the old man saw some of William''s. The majority of William''s life was spent in the other World, so Marcus first saw William''s childhood. He learned about movies and television, books and sports. He also learned about the weapons of war that the people of Reius manufactured and used against one another, and the scheming tactics one would use against the other to gain an advantage. "You''re not from here... You''re..." Marcus started to speak but William sealed his mouth before the old man could say anything more. At this point the transfer of Soul Strength could not be stopped, so both closed their eyes and continued with the process silently. The Superior Tribtion was still bearing down, but William protected Marcus for three days and three nights, until the Soul Inheritance Technique had been transferred. -Soul Strength has reached ten thousand points: +1000 PP -Soul Strength has reached fifty thousand points: +10000 PP -Acquired a Mythic Soul Cultivation Technique: +500 PP -Acquired your first Mythic Soul Cultivation Technique: +1000 PP -Soul Strength: 98320 From 1249 Soul Strength to almost a hundred thousand, William couldn''t believe his eyes. His mind felt clearer than ever before, and his body felt renewed as if he was purer than ever. These were just euphoric aftereffects and didn''t mean anything, but William couldn''t help but smile. He switched his vision to Spirit Mode, peering at the vengeful spirits with derision. Even the Tribtion Transcendence souls in the distance wouldn''t stand a chance against him with his current strength, and Soul Formation spirits were like chickens. If I had to guess, one hundred thousand Soul Strength is enough for me to Ascend with my Soul. I''m very close already, so this Technique should be able to give me the rest before I finish the System Quest. But... What about this guy? He knows about you, System. What should we do? -Kill him and absorb his Soul. Kill him? After all that? Isn''t there another way? -Do what you want, but killing him and taking his Soul before his consciousness can reach hell is probably the only way to stop him from spreading the information. Why didn''t you tell me he would be able to see my memories? -I didn''t know. I''m not very familiar with the Soul Inheritance Technique. It came into existence during one of my dark periods. Your dark periods? What do you mean? -There was a period of time where I was not what I am now, or what I was before. I couldn''t see what I can see now, or what I could see before. I was blind. William didn''t fully understand, but he didn''t ask further. Waves of anguish reached William through his connection with the System, and he could tell from the context that the System must have gone through something horrible for a very long time. For the first time since reaching Efretta, William realized he had more to protect than just himself. Don''t worry, System. I won''t let anything happen to you. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 349: Cultivation Site When Marcus'' mouth was unsealed and he was able to speak again, he looked at William and asked carefully, "Are you going to let me go now? You''ve already taken my Soul Strength and my dignity, what else do you want?" Marcus was currently incredibly weak from losing his Soul Strength. Even a gentle kick from Charlotte might spell death for the old man if it hit the right spot. William thought for a moment. It''s like the System said, he''s too dangerous to be left alive... what should I do? The answer presented itself in the form of a stray Superior Tribtion that nced off of William''s shoulder and pierced through Marcus'' forehead cleanly. With a dull thud, Marcus fell to the floor, stunning everyone present silent. "Is he... dead?" Carl asked while Charlotte rushed forward to heal Marcus. William helped too, but theirbined efforts weren''t enough. Marcus was dead, and with no Soul Strength he wouldn''t even leave behind a soul.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om William didn''t know what to say. As if it were a gift from the Heavens, his problem was solved, though he felt bad for the old man that had been unlucky enough to meet him. The other Revista Faction members that had arrived long ago were infuriated, and even the Patriarch clenched his fists in anger. The only thing preventing him from approaching William and punching him in the face was the boy''s unbelievable strength. How can someone be so strong? That was an Ascension Realm Cultivator, even if he hadn''t consolidated his strength yet, he was the real deal! The same thought was on the minds of many others present, but William and his group didn''t give them time to think about it too much. "Since Marcus has turned over his Technique, I was wondering if you could tell me where to find Rudeus Velos?" William asked the most important-looking person in the area, the Revista Faction''s Patriarch. "I..." the Patriarch had to do his best to conceal his anger. Between deep breaths, his scowl turned into an ingratiating smile as he spoke, "I heard that Rudeus Velos issued a request for the Seven-Colored Poison Marigold, our Faction happens to have one, perhaps he would meet with you if you buy it from us?" William''s expression brightened as another Supreme Lightning Bolt bounced off his body and created a deep gash in the ground at the Patriarch''s feet, "You''re giving us a Seven-Colored Poison Marigold for free? That would be great, your hospitality is appreciated!" The Patriarch''s smile stiffened as he jumped back to avoid the Lightning, "Y-Yes, I suppose." Of course it''s not for free, but how can I tell you no when even the Supreme Tribtion can''t harm you?! William smiled back and said nothing, waiting patiently while the Patriarch ordered one of his Faction members to retrieve the requested item. With shaky hands, the subordinate brought William a bright golden marigold that changed colors depending on how the light reflected off of it. -Acquired Seven-Colored Poison Marigold: +6250 PP William stored the Seven-Colored Poison Marigold in one of his specialized Space Rings and nodded, watching as the subordinate scurried away at high speed with a terrified expression. He didn''t want to be hit by William''s Superior Tribtion like Marcus was; he''d die in an instant. "Is there anything else?" William asked with a smile. He wants more?!? What more can the boy need from us? the Patriarch frowned and looked at his friends. After a moment of realization, the man eventually asked. "Did you want to visit our Cultivation Site as well?" "I''m d you offered. We weren''t nning on it, but now that you''ve said something, how can we refuse?" William''s smile widened. "..." the Patriarch could clearly tell that this was William''s intention from the beginning. He nodded to a different subordinate next to him, who bowed slightly and beckoned for the group of friends to follow him. The Pce gates were opened, and the group was led inside to the main throne room. On the left wall, the Revista Faction member twisted a painting to the side to reveal a small button which he pressed after waiting exactly three seconds. A click was heard, the wall sliding to the side to reveal a long and dark tunnel onlyrge enough to fit one person at a time. With each few steps, a new set of torches on the wall would light up one after the other. Before William could enter, a Superior Lightning Bolt crashed down from above and destroyed the roof of the Pce in an instant. Seeing that William refused to wait until his Tribtion was over to use the Cultivation ground, the subordinate could only grit his teeth and continue into the tunnel. William saw with his Navigation Talent that the tunnel continued for only three kilometers, but he couldn''t see the end because of the various twists and turns. There was arge squarish room at the end with nine structures in the center, but for some reason his Talent was hazy as if it were being obstructed. How can this be? It''s just like when Riyald turned off my Forcefield Talent in the Gravitas Ruins, but this is just a radar. System? -Your Talents can still be countered under certain conditions. They''re not invincible. William nodded. He didn''t have to ask more to understand what the System meant. He continued walking with the group until they reached the room his Navigation Talent saw. The nine structures turned out to actually be nine statues of five beautiful women and four handsome men that emitted a special type of Mana or Spirit Qi, William couldn''t tell which. Not only was the aura of the statues odd, but there was a small pool of green water roughly a meter in diameter that William''s Navigation Talent couldn''t see at all! It seemed this pool was even more conspicuous than the statues themselves, and even his Superior Tribtion lost its target amidst thebined auras of the nine statues and green pool of water. -Discovered shrine of the Poison Element: +5000 PP "We''re here," the Revista member said, "Please take off your shoes and sit cross legged in one of the statues. After that, your Cultivation can proceed as usual." The group did as instructed¡ª except for William who remained at the entrance¡ª while the Revista member stood to the side to watch. Seeing this, William frowned and waved with his hand in a shooing motion, to which the subordinate had no choice but toply. Usually those in the Cultivation Site would be closely monitored to prevent any damage to the area, but they each valued their lives more than the state of their Cultivation Site. They could only hope that the group wouldn''t cause any trouble. "This ce is amazing!" Yuming eximed as he circted his Cultivation Technique, finding it roughly ten times more efficient than before. He had only just reached the Golden Core Realm during William''s travel across the Continent, but if he could Cultivate here for a few days, he might just break through to the Nascent Soul Realm! Charlotte, Carl, Tia, and Gunther felt the same way. They could sense the strong Poison Mana in the environment, but it was pure and not dangerous at all. Not only that, but the special Mana could be converted to the other Elements with ease! It was truly a Cultivation Holy Ground! "William, aren''t you going to Cultivate?" Carl asked from afar? William was still standing at the entrance and hadn''t moved from his spot even after the Revista Faction member left. What was he waiting for? "Ah... I suppose I can Cultivate a bit, but I''ll need to break through first." William said as he broke through to the sixth level of the Golden Core Realm under the eyes of all his friends. From the sixth level, William broke through again, then a third time to the seventh level. As his strength increased, he had to push the Seal Element''s suppression further and further to keep his mere existence from shattering the World into pieces. Thankfully, the increased Cultivation also meant stronger Magic, which held a delicate bnce for a while, the Seal Element slowly losing ground. His friends couldn''t see any rapid advances of his Golden Core considering his Stealth Talent, but they could sense that William''s pressure became stronger and stronger over time. After he reached the ninth level of the Golden Core Realm and pushed it up once more, his Golden Core and the Seven-Colored Poison Marigold appeared from his body and each spun through the air wildly and merged. -The Host has acquired a secret special advancement item. Advancement reced with an improved Heavenly Golden Core. Instead of reaching the first level of the Nascent Soul Realm, William''s Golden Core underwent a qualitative change, turning a vibrant rainbow color matching the seven colors of the Marigold, shing from one to the next out in the open. His friends couldn''t possibly Cultivate under these conditions, having been pressed to the groundpletely by William''s overwhelming aura. -Cultivation: Golden Core 10 (0/400000) Chapter 350: Nascent Soul, The Fruits Have Grown? William''s Seven-Colored Heavenly Golden Core stabilized after a few minutes, but his aura continued to bear down on his friends, too strong for them to so much as lift a finger. He mobilized his Spirit Qi to suppress his aura as much as possible, but it still wasn''t able to do anything to help him. Only after following the System''s instructions and upgrading his Stealth Talent to SS-Rank could he finally conceal the majority of his aura, making his unfathomable Golden Core Cultivation only seem a little overbearing to the others. "Sorry." William scratched his head and apologized. He hadn''t expected his aura to burst forth like that, much less create such a scene. He spent an additional fifteen thousand Points to push the Stealth Talent to SSR-Rank, whichpletely suppressed his aura for the time being. I don''t know what I''m going to do when I reach the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. Hopefully that Alchemist can help me out. William sighed internally. He spent the remaining four hundred thousand stored Spirit Qi to begin his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Realm immediately. He didn''t bother leaving his friends or anything of the sort, since the Tribtions had just about reached the limit of what they could achieve and he had the ability to protect them in the worst-case scenario. Another patch of thick, red clouds formed overhead and were hidden from view by the underground Cultivation Site. It was a Superior Tribtion whose strength had already reached the Tribtion Transcendence Realm and was steadily climbing to the peak. If you can''t reach the Ascension Realm, you can''t hurt me! William scoffed at the Heavens'' feeble attempt to strike him down. He stared directly into the sky with a calm smile while the first Lightning Bolt formed. There was no pressure at all. Not a bit! The Lightning Bolt fell on his body harmlessly, dispersing into the surroundings and approaching his friends, only to be stopped by a casual wall of nt-reinforced Earth. Sensing that it had no effect on William, the Tribtion subsided momentster, while the World sent energy to refine William and restore him to his peak. Surprisingly, there was no reward for surviving the Heavenly Tribtions like before. He even realized that he hadn''t received the reward for surviving the Ultimate Tribtion earlier that day. The only positive was that his Attention didn''t increase like before. When he asked the System why he wasn''t receiving rewards, it told him that the Tribtions hadn''t ended yet, so he could only sigh and continue enduring lightning strikes from the second Tribtion. He returned to the Cultivation Site where the Tribtion couldn''t see him, allowing the clouds to fully disperse before checking his new status. ¡ª¡ª¡ª INFO: ( - )n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om -Name: William -Race: Human -Birth Age: 21 -Real Age: 364 -Lifespan: 3600 Years -Cultivation: Nascent Soul 1 (0/1000000) -Heavenly Mark: Heaven''s Aura, ??? STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 3m/3m -Mana: 1820/9800 -Fame: 145 -Humanity: 53 -Ascended Value: 1 -Attention: 30 -Soul Strength: 98370 -Cultivation Base: 0/5000000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª Three million health?! William couldn''t help but be impressed by the Ascended Recovery Talent''s effects. If the Talent didn''t increase his health by thirty thousand percent, he would only have ten thousand maximum health. It was a massive difference! Not only that, but his Soul Strength had increased by fifty, though it was such a minimal amount that it made almost no difference. He also noticed that his perception had improved some more, and his natural flight speed had increased greatly. What more, his Seven-Colored Heavenly Golden Core had cracked and be a unique and infantile Nascent Soul with a multicolored tint to it. From every angle, it looked just like William as a baby, but the ethereal glow and its natural aura gave William the chills, as if his Nascent Soul was powerful enough to defeat opponents well above its own rank. To say that about William was one thing, but for an infant Nascent Soul? That was another. He chose not to think about it much and focused on his Cultivation. With the effect of his Cultivation Talent and the unique multiplying effect of the Cultivation Site, William was able to condense fifty Spirit Qi in just over eleven seconds, greatly enhancing the speed at which he progressed. One day spent in the Cultivation Site would earn him 382 thousand Spirit Qi, meaning he could fill the now five million Spirit Qi storage in roughly two weeks! He and the group chose to do exactly that, but William was forced to stop on the eleventh day. -Your Order Fruits have grown. William paused his closed Cultivation immediately, careful not to disturb his friends that were still sitting cross-legged. He entered the mental space where the Potential Farms were ced, then walked further until he was standing in front of the silver Order Tree. Seated in the leaves of the silver tree were twenty-five silver fruits that looked exactly like apples. Amongst the fully grown silver apples, William saw dozens more buds that hadn''t grown at all since the previous thirty days. He assumed it had something to do with the Rank of the Element Farm. William reached out to grab a fruit, but the moment his fingers wrapped around it it suddenly disappeared. In its ce, a small bud appeared, as if the fruit had reversed its growth period and returned to thirty days ago. Where did it go? -All fruits you pluck will be sent to another section of your mental space. Check the warehouse at the corner of the field. William was about to ask where when the System released a loud sigh and an ethereal blue light appeared over a small building at the edge of William''s vision. He ignored the System''s annoyed emotions and proceeded to check out the warehouse. As the System said, there was now a single silver apple ced neatly on a shelf as if it were a decorative item. He frowned at this sight, knowing that apples would usually spoil if left out for too long. -Items in the mental warehouse will never be damaged or spoil. Don''t worry about that. William''s eyes lit up. It was like a better specialized Space Ring! Can I store other items in here then? -No. Only resources generated by the mental farm can be stored here. William nodded. It made sense, but he felt it was a bit stingy of the System. This warehouse was huge, and he wouldn''t have to worry about items being stolen from this space like he would his Space Rings and the Starmetal Safe. -Stingy? You must be talking about yourself. ... -Have you seen how your Gold Spending habits are? Unless it can earn you countless times more money, you won''t spend your Gold on anything! I buy food with it too. -Oh, you mean a necessary resource for your survival? What a surprise! William couldn''t put up with the System''s bullying anymore and ignored it, instead focusing on the silver apple. He reached out and grabbed the item, which this time didn''t disappear from his grasp. As he opened his mouth to take a bite, the System sent another message that he almost ignored until he spotted thest bit of the sentence out of the corner of his eye. -Upgrade the Order Affinity to X-Rank to safely consume. Consumption now will result inbustion and instant death. William felt a chill down his spine. If he hadn''t read the System''s messagest minute, there would probably be pieces of him spread across the entire farm. Why is it instant death? It''s just a fruit, is it poisonous? -The level of Mana in your body cannot handle the fruit''s effects. That''s obvious, but why can''t I handle it? -Request requires 500 Potential Points. Yes/No? Fine... -Your Order Mana cannot handle the presence of a Law, there are too many levels in between that need to be bridged first. Only when you have control over a Territory can you beginprehending the Primary Law of Order. So I wasted my time then? I can''t upgrade the Order Element now, my Soul Strength is too... William realized his mistake. His Soul Strength had improved by leaps and bounds, could he possibly handle the Order Element''s effects now? He exited the mental space and informed Yuming, the only one currently not Cultivating, that he was going out for a little bit. The man nodded simply, sensing that William had no intention of bringing the group along for now. It was better for them to Cultivate more anyway, otherwise they''d never catch up to William''s unbelievable breakthrough speed. Well... they probably still wouldn''t catch up, but at least the gap wouldn''t be asrge. William flew through the tunnel away from the Cultivation Site, instigating the original Superior Tribtion to once more rain down from above. He flew past the Revista Faction members, outside the City, and tunneled deep underground and ced Tier 6 Concealment Arrays until the Superior Tribtion could no longer sense him. Once all the preparations wereplete, William sent a simple request to the System while carrying a hint of nervousness. The foreboding feeling returned, but he could sense that it wouldn''t spell instant death this time. System, it''s time to upgrade the Order Element. Let''s start with D-Rank. Chapter 351: Poison Elemental The System withdrew 250 Potential Points all at once to upgrade the Order Element. It might seem like an abysmal number of Pointspared to what William had right now, but this was only for E-Rank. If he were to go back to when he upgraded his Fire Element from E to D-Rank, it only cost him five Points. It was a difference of fifty times! The Order upgrademenced, a familiar presence entering William''s body right from the start. "Where''s Chaos?" it asked in the humannguage while it tried to take control of William. This time it was unsessful, which gave the Order Element a surprise. It tried a second time, but the boy''s Soul Strength had improved dramatically since thest time it met William. It asked a second question before William had time to respond to the first, "How long has it been?" "It''s not here. A few weeks." William replied simply. "You''ve progressed this much in a few weeks?" the Order Element became curious about the person they were sealed inside. Back in the Ancient Times, constant war and the absence of the Hell Realm made Soul Cultivation incredibly easy. Everywhere one went, there were thousands or even tens of thousands of Souls, just waiting to be absorbed. When the Order Element roamed freely, however, Hel''s Realm had already been established, where Hel alone controlled the Souls that roamed to his Realm. While this made many Soul Cultivators angry, Hel couldn''t be stopped, he was already the strongest Soul Cultivator in existence, so others were forced to give up on speedy Soul Cultivation and make do with what Souls remained. If this boy had progressed so far in only a few weeks, it only meant two things. Either Hel had lost control of his Realm or the boy was incredibly talented. Little did the Element know that it was neither of these things, and William was just lucky enough to take someone else''s Soul Cultivation. "I see." the Order Element replied and pulled back its consciousness from William''s body. There was no point trying to battle with William when it only had a limited amount of strength. It calcted the amount of Soul Strength William had, biding its time until the boy made a mistake. The System notified William of the sessful upgrade after less than a minute, so William checked the new statistics and tried to call forth the Mana of the Order Element. Unfortunately, the Order Mana wouldn''t even respond to his call, much less form a Spell. It was utterly useless. And to think it''s a Mythic Element... Williamined. His words seemed to irritate the Order Element, a small burst of white Order Mana spreading from his fingertips on its own and piercing through the ground below William. As the white light descended, William could see the air, water, and even the minerals separate from the soil and condense into their purified forms. It was like having the Earth, Water, and Wind Elementbined, each performing different Spells to manipte the material beneath him. No, it was more than that, but William didn''t understand. Seeing that the previous upgrade was quite quick, and William had no control over the Order Mana yet, William asked the System to upgrade the Order Element a second time. The next upgrade cost one thousand Potential Points, but William had more than enough to handle it. His only concern was with the foreboding feeling that remained, having grown slightly stronger than thest time. It seemed that this form of sixth sense was reactionary to how dangerous the Order Element would be with his current Soul Strength, so William had no intention of ignoring it. The consciousness of the Order Element returned, but it disappeared the moment it tugged a little at William''s soul. It seemed to be probing William, waiting until it was strong enough to wrest control from William. The Order Element reached C-Rank, but William had no intention of stopping just yet. He raised it to B-Rank, then A-Rank immediately afterwards, spending thirty thousand Potential Points in one go. Following the A-Rank upgrade, William finally had some control over the Order Mana, able to use it to replicate the Spell it cast before. The only downside was the Order Element''s presence woulde and go as it pleased, much different from the Chaos Element. Even when not upgrading the Order Element, William felt its attachment as if it was another System, listening to his thoughts and feeling his emotions as it looked around. William was slightly concerned with this and decided not to upgrade the Order Element anymore. His Soul Strength wasn''t even a hundred thousand Points yet, and he didn''t have enough Potential Points to reach X-Rank even if he could resist the Order Element''s pressure. I guess these Order Fruits will have to be stored untilter... William sighed inwardly. If the other Elements would also need to be X-Rank to consume the Elemental Fruits, William realized it was better to nt Elemental Farms for the necessary Elements. That said, he plucked the remainder of the Order Fruits and stored them in the warehouse, then used his second Farm Slot to purchase a Seal Element Farm and upgraded it to D-Rank directly using one hundred and eleven thousand Potential Points. He couldn''t afford the C-Rank upgrade, but thankfully both farms were set to grow in thirty days regardless. He left the mental space and returned to his friends, where they were still Cultivating silently. Five dayster, William hadpletely filled his Spirit Qi storage and was ready to leave. He couldn''t continue to break through to the following stages, as even his full-power Seal Element couldn''t suppress his strength any further. That said, there was no reason to wake up his friends, so William informed the group that he would be leaving while they could remain. Just in case, he used Tier 6 Arrays as a protective measure and called Uri through the System to provide protection from any random enemies.N?v(el)B\\jnn As he flew across the Velos Continent, William came in contact with the poisonous miasma again. He realized he didn''t have Gro''s smoke canisters to help him get through the area, but William realized that he might not need him at all. My Nascent Soul seems to have some resistance to Poison, this should be a perfect chance to test out the miasma again! Even if I can''tst an hour, I can fly much faster than we were walking before. With that in mind, William sat in one ce and upgraded his Poison Element from S to X-Rank in one go using 97500 Potential Points. He only had a little under fifty thousand Points left, but William wasn''t worried. In fact, he was excited upon seeing the stats of the X-Rank Poison Element. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Poison Affinity: (SSR --> X) Effects: -Poison-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +640% >> +1280% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Poison: Takeplete control over all Poison Mana within a radius of 50 kilometers >> 100 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Poison Domains of greater strength. -Territory of Poison: An improved Domain, designed to spread thick and destructive poison across an entire region. The longer the Territory is maintained, the denser the Poison Mana bes. -Primary Law of Poison (0.1%prehension): You don''t understand enough of this yet. Comprehend the Poison Element or visit ??? to learn more. -Poison Elemental: Be one with poison, turning your body into a toxic liquid that others would not dare to inhale. The Host can be any type of Poison they wish, as long as they have gained one hundred percent immunity to said poison. Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª I can be a Poison Elemental? That''s insane! William smiled as he tested out the effects. His body becamepletely green and liquified in an instant, but he didn''t feel any pain. Instead, he sshed on the ground and oozed from left to right as if he was a slime. When he focused his mental energy, William was able to maintain his physical form while still acting as the Poison Elemental, and with some practice he was even able to wield weapons, though the weaker ones were corroded as if William had poured acid on their surface. He tested the poisonous miasma next, dipping his finger into the toxin to test for damage. Surprisingly, the poisoned finger was able to slightly resist the effects of the miasma, and even stood strong after an entire minute of continued exposure. Seeing this, William leaped into the poisonous miasma, allowing the toxic body to sustain all the injuries on its own. Better yet, the Recovery Talent was able to restore his poisonous body, making surviving the poisonous miasma that much easier. One minute, five minutes, ten minutes. William enjoyed the poisonous miasma like a bath, while his Soul Strength was only sapped at a rate of one per minute. As he reached the half-hour mark, William realized one major problem. Shit, I''m out of Mana! Chapter 352: Soul-Sapping Poison Elemental William''s Poison Elemental form dissipated in an instant, returning to hisplete human form. He couldn''t help but curse as he entered the usual state of Mana Sickness, but his Mana Regeneration and Recovery Talents offset the effects near instantaneously. I can''t believe I didn''t check my Mana, but it seems I can still bear the effects of the miasma with my current health and Cultivation. The Nascent Soul Realm wasn''t just for show. Compared to his previous Golden Core 5 self, the first level of the Nascent Soul was roughly sixty percent more resilient. The special effect of his Nascent Soul greatly assisted his X-Rank Poison Resistance Talent, allowing him to spend roughly ten extra minutes in the poisonous miasma even without his Elemental Form as he would call it. Since being damaged continuously by poisonous miasma was considered being inbat, William''s Mana Regeneration was a lot slower than it could have been. Thankfully he was able to hold the Mana Gathering Staff for extra regeneration, otherwise he truly wouldn''t have been able to survive. When his Nascent Soul started to take damage from the miasma, William reverted to his Poison Elemental Form and simultaneously spent thirty-five thousand Potential Points to upgrade his now rarely used Forcefield Talent from S to SSR-Rank. With the continuous recovery of the Forcefield and alternating from his Poison Elemental Form to his regr self, William was able to dy the poisonous miasma''s effects for the entire hour, albeit barely. -Your resistance to the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin has increased. Total: 10% The moment the System''s notification sounded, William dashed out of the poisonous miasma to catch his breath. His Soul Strength had decreased by sixty-six, costing slightly more than what he gained from reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, while his Recovery Talent''s side effect aged him by two years. While it felt like a slight loss, William knew that he was gaining an incredible boost in return. This was poison from the higher Realms, after all. If he could gainplete immunity, William''s Poison Elemental Form would be able to mimic the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin''s attributes, turning him into a walking miasma.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Just thinking about bing a Soul-Sapping Poison Elemental made William drool. Could he use the Elemental Form to increase his Soul Strength? He sat down at the edge of the poisonous miasma with the Mana Gathering Staff in hand while recovering his Mana. Since he was out ofbat, William''s Mana fully recovered to the maximum 9800 in roughly twenty minutes; a huge differencepared to while he was inside the miasma. He switched to his Poison Elemental Form and entered the miasma once more, following the same procedure for the first half-hour while the ten percent resistance allowed him to spend an extra few minutes inside the miasma without losing Soul Strength. By the end of the second hour, William had only lost 41 Soul Strength, and significantly less in the third hour. At hour six, William no longer lost Soul Strength when inside the poisonous miasma and his resistance to the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin allowed him to remain inside continuously even without the Poison Elemental Form. -Your resistance to the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin has increased. Total: 100% -You are now immune to the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin. -Your Poison Elemental Form now carries the properties of the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin. -Soul-Sapping Poison Elemental: Affecting others while in this form will now absorb a small portion of their soul over time. Effects are dependent on the opponents'' Soul Strength and Poison Resistance. Effects persist until the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin has been eliminated from the opponents'' body. That''s overpowered! System, you''ve been in my body for a long time now, you should know what I''m going to use this ability for... William would have narrowed his eyes mentally if he knew how to. -It''s not overpowered at all. William smiled and didn''t give away his thoughts. Clearly the System hadn''t bnced this Talent properly, but he wasn''t going to risk exining why. Instead, William teleported across the Velos Continent back the way he came until he reached the first small city he and his friends had entered. He continued to expend his Mana on long-distance portals, crossing the ocean and reaching the Azures Continent in a matter of hours. William couldn''t do this to cross the Velos Continent before because he could only urately track coordinates of ces he could see or had visited, but that wasn''t an issue anymore. A few more teleportster, William reached a small, inverted pyramid that looked like an Ancient Ruin at first nce. When one took a closer look, however, they would realize it had already been looted and move on. But this was only a trick set up by the Thieves'' Guild to prevent outsiders from discovering their main headquarters. William had thought the same thing at first when he was mapping the Continent, but the underground facility located roughly a hundred kilometers beneath the pyramid said there was more going on than met the eye. He used the invisibility effect of the Stealth Talent to move through the Thieves'' Guild hideout undetected, then arrived in a certain room containing three massive kegs full of a rich-smelling alcohol. Smiling to himself, William poked an infinitesimally small hole at the top of each keg, then swapped to his Poison Elemental Form and put a single drop of the necrotoxin inside each keg. Additionally, William made sure to conceal the unique smell of the necrotoxin so it''d be harder to notice. Before anyone could discover William''s tampering, he teleported outside the headquarters and returned to the Velos Continent. And now we wait! William smiled with glee. No matter how things turned out, he would be killing two birds with one stone. He hoped his move would hook a big fish, possibly even the Thieves'' Guild''s elusive leader. With the side tasks taken care of and having only spent half the day, William had nothing left to do besides locate Rudeus Velos. He had no clue where to find the man, but he was positive the Velos Faction would know. William crossed to the opposite side of the Continent and entered thergest City his Navigation Talent could see, searching with his Cultivation Talent for strong individuals in the area. A Soul Formation Cultivator crossed his eye first, so William teleported directly in front of the man, scaring him nearly half to death with his well-concealed but still overwhelming aura. "Hello." William said. "H-Hello... W-What can I do for you, Sir?" the Cultivator looked at William nervously. "I''m looking for a Rudeus Velos. Do you know where I can find him?" "Uh... I don''t know..." William frowned, "Then I guess-" "But he might!" the Cultivator pointed behind William, where a bulky man wearing a green cloak was leading a group of guards. The guards were all in the Nascent Soul Realm, while the bulky man was in the middle of the Soul Formation Realm. Before William had a chance to repeat his question, the guards circled around him, "You''ve infiltrated the City illegally. What do you say for yourself?" William sighed and released half of his aura, pressing everyone within a hundred meters of him to the ground while the bulky man was forced to his knees. "I''m looking for Rudeus Velos. Do you know of him?" The guards resisted William''s aura and tried to stand up, "You entered illegally, you must-" The bulky man stood up and pressed a hand on the subordinate''s shoulder, "Let it go." William watched as the man reached into his pocket and pulled out amunicator slowly. "Belius, what do you need? I sensed amotion in the City, is that you?" "Patriarch Vitruvius, there''s a man here looking for Rudeus Velos." "Is that all? Send him away!" Chapter 353: Rudeus Velos William could hear everything from themunicator clearly with his Sound Element, so when the Patriarch hung up on the bulky man, he smiled. "Are you going to send me away?" he intensified his aura, forcing the bulky man back to his knees. "N-No!" "Then what will you do?"N?v(el)B\\jnn "Ah... you were looking for Mr. Rudeus, right? He won''t meet with anyone unless they have the Alchemy ingredients he wants." "You mean the Seven-Colored Marigold?" William asked as he flipped his hand to reveal a multicolored flower that resembled the item he consumed earlier. It wasn''t the real Seven-Colored Poison Marigold, but William was able to make an almost perfect replica using Arrays and the Illusion Element. Only a professional like Rudeus Velos could tell the difference, and this bulky man clearly was not an exception. As long as I can meet with him, that''s all that matters. Belius approached William and inspected the flower carefully, then nodded his head. "You really do have it. Where did you find it?" "The Revista Faction gave it to me." William replied simply. "The Revista Faction? Then you must be..." the bulky man became fearful as he realized this was the same person that killed Marcus Rednel who was basically equal to an Ascended Cultivator. Not only was William stronger, but he could somehow remain in Efretta, meaning he was the most powerful person in the World¡ª not someone he could afford to offend. He bowed respectfully, then immediately contacted the Patriarch a second time. "What is it this time, Belius? You''ve never contacted me so many times in a single day." "It''s about that... distinguished guest, Patriarch Sir." "The one that wanted to meet with Rudeus? Is he giving you trouble?" "N-No Sir, but he has the Seven-Colored Poison Marigold. He got it from the Revista Faction." Belius chose his words carefully to help his Patriarch understand the situation. "Oh, swell! Have him bring it to¡ª did you say Revista Faction?" "Yes Patriarch." Vitruvius Velos pressed a finger to his forehead, realizing his earlier mistake. "...Did you try to send him away like I asked?" "No Patriarch, I hope you''ll forgive me." "Good man." the Patriarch heaved a sigh in relief. He thanked the stars for giving him such capable subordinates. "I''ll contact Rudeus. Let our distinguished guest stay in the Pce for now." "But, Patriarch." "What now?" Belius looked back at William just in time to see a Heavenly Lightning Bolt m into the ground at the man''s feet. This had never stopped in thest few weeks, only pausing when William was in the Cultivation Site or while the Stealth Talent''s invisibility function was active. "He''s undergoing a Tribtion." "Right now? Then let him in after the Tribtion has ended." the Patriarch didn''t think much of it and hung up the call. Belius looked at William helplessly, "I apologize for ourck of hospitality. We want to ensure the integrity of our Pce." William nodded, "I understand. As long as Rudeus will meet with me, I''ll stay here for the time being." William knew better than anyone that this Tribtion was different from the others and wouldn''t end easily. It probably had something to do with its name "Punishment of Eternal Tribtions." It was only a hunch, though. Despite his recent fame, William had to wait three entire days before a wizened old man showed up guarded by a pair of Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators in the first stage. The lines on his forehead were many, and there was arge blotch on his left cheek that signified some sort of burn or corrosive injury. He frowned upon seeing William, though only Rudeus'' bodyguards knew the reason. When Rudeus heard that William was carrying the Seven-Colored Poison Marigold, he was only mildly enthusiastic. It was only when the Patriarch mentioned that the carrier was none other than William did Rudeus perk up a little. He remembered hearing something about this person before, and rumor had it that he was traveling with two beautiful women. "Where are the¡ª your friends?" Rudeus asked. "They''re Cultivating. It''s just me here today." William replied. Rudeus'' frown deepened. His worst fears hade to pass. "Are you sure you can''t bring them along?" William felt that Rudeus Velos'' reaction was a bit odd. "Have you changed yourst name?" "Huh? What would my otherst name have been?" "Greyrat, perhaps?" "Never heard of it. Is this a family you know well?" "Not particrly. You just remind me of someone..." "Couldn''t be the same person. I have a great memory and I''ve never seen you in my life." Rudeus waved his hand in dismissal. At least he has the Marigold... "I''m in a hurry so let''s get this transaction over with. What do you want?" Rudeus asked. William scratched his head, "Actually the Seven-Colored Poison Marigold was already used. I just wanted to meet with you." "..." Damnit, I was tricked! Rudeus spat on the ground, cursing his bad luck. If William weren''t one of the top powers in the World, he would have rushed forward and knocked some sense into the boy. William felt awkward, but he needed this Alchemist''s resources and assistance. The recipe for the Tier 10 Suppression Pill was very difficult, but the main issue was the ingredients, many of which didn''t exist on the Azures Continent. The Oak-Sealing Leaf, for example, was only avable in a remote area of the Velos Continent, and grew once every two hundred years. Even Rudeus in his old age had only a few dozen in his stockpile, and an entire leaf was required for the Tier 10 recipe. "Master Riyald told me you might be able to assist with the Tier 10 Suppression Pill." "Riyald? That old fellow is still alive? And he has another Disciple?" Rudeus looked at William with a hint of surprise. He remembered something and smiled, "Your Master... did he send you in order to pay his debts?" Master said nothing about owing this guy! William sighed, "He didn''t borate, what does he owe? Perhaps I can help." "Three thousand Mana Stones, ten million Gold Coins, 16 Perfect Array Puppets, and an Advanced Beast Core." William: (¥Î?Òæ?)¥Îáê©ß©¥©ß Rudeus: ¡¥\\_( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã)_/¡¥ "When the hell did hee to owe you so much?!?" William wanted to beat up his Master for not mentioning the debt to Rudeus, did he want to settle the score using his Disciple? How shameless! "Gambling." "..." William didn''t have nearly enough to afford his Master''s debt. The Gold Coins alone were already difficult to obtain, but the Advanced Beast Core was something he had yet to see since arriving in Efretta. "So he didn''t tell you anything, did he?" Rudeus could tell from William''s expression that he was just like thest Disciple, utterly clueless about his Master''s activities. He felt bad for William, but Rudeus had no intentions of letting the debt slide this time. "If you really can''t afford it, then perhaps you could help out the Velos Faction?" Rudeus turned to the side as he asked, as if he was contemting something. "As long as I can manage it. What do I need to do?" "Nothing too difficult. Your first task is to start a war." Chapter 354: Cant I Just Kill Them? "A war? With who? And Why?" William asked. He wasn''t concerned about how he would do it, but William had no intentions of helping the Velos Continent if they were targeting the Azures Continent. As the Continent William had essentially been "born on" he was quite attached to it. "As you may know, Mr. William, the Velos Continent is split into six Factions: Velos, Andorea, Wilhire, Beronius, Revista, and Laotonus, from strongest to weakest. While the Velos Continent is undoubtedly the most powerful of the six, we are not strong enough to take on two Factions at the same time, much less three. The results of a battle would leave us in a poor state, and we''d fall from our position as number one. In thest few decades, the Beronius, Laotonus, and Andorea Factions have secretly banded together and want to take over the Velos Faction''snd. If they can do this, the Velos Faction would lose most if not all of theirnd, while I as an Alchemist would likely lose everything. I normally wouldn''t care about such matters if it weren''t for the risk to my priceless Alchemy ingredients. Other Factions have eyed me for a long time, which is why I have my two friends here to keep me safe." he waved his hand to the two Tribtion Transcendence guards behind him. William nodded, "So you want me to start a war with three Factions at the same time? What will you do when it starts? Won''t your Faction still suffer heavy casualties?" "I don''t want you to just start the war, but I want you to help us win it. With the abilities of an Ascended Cultivator, you are an indomitable force that even the Heavens can''t deal with easily until you Ascend. The stubborn Velos Continent has acknowledged that already, and no one wishes to cross swords with you. As long as you use your abilities well and take the attention of the Andorea Faction, the Velos Faction can shorten the gap between the rest. There will be many deaths, but it''s a better oue than waiting for our Faction to be wiped out in theing decades." Take on a single Faction by myself? They have a lot of confidence in my abilities... It was clear that the Velos Faction was very calctive. William had expected each interaction with the Factions to be a hostile one, but this group seemed to understand their position almost right away. -Suppressing the Revista Faction in a few hours might have influenced that move. Can''t I justmend someone for having a brain without your input? -You of all people have no right to talk about having brains. ...Damn it. "I can do that." William replied. More than that, I can probably deal with all three by myself as long as I have enough Mana. The only problem with starting a war was the risk of killing innocents. If he could help it, William wanted to avoid doing so at all costs. He wouldn''t lose Humanity over killing a few people randomly anymore, but he wasn''t a fan of mass genocide. A System notification interrupted William''s thoughts. -Finished evaluating your Artifact Belt... -Invented a new Artifact: +25 PP -Invented a Mythic Artifact: +1000 PP Oh, I forgot about that! William eximed inwardly. After upgrading his Chaos Affinity to X-Rank, William was able to create the Chaos Elemental Sphere without much issue, but it was so long ago that the event had slipped to the back of his mind. He wanted to take off the Artifact Belt and appraise it right away, but he was in front of Rudeus Velos and his bodyguards right now and it wouldn''t be appropriate. "Good. I''ll teach you the refining process and give you the necessary ingredients for your Pill afterwards. For now, I suggest safeguarding your friends and preparing yourself for a long battle. Even with your strength, wars cannot end in a day or two." William was confused, "Can''t I just kill each Patriarch and the war will be ours?" Rudeus frowned, "I forgot how young you are. Killing the Patriarchs is suicide! If you want all three Factions to hunt you down without abandon, be my guest, but there are almost two hundred Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators on this Continent, almost half of which belong to these three Factions. Can you take on almost a hundred Cultivators at the peak of the World, even with your current strength? You''ll run out of Mana before you kill ten!" Two hundred Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators? William asked the System. If what Rudeus said was urate, then the Velos Continent had almost four times as many peak Cultivators as the Azures Continent. -Yes. Cultivators born on the Velos Continent are inherently more talented in Cultivation than other Continents because of the Mana of the higher Realms. When one wants to break through to the Soul Formation or Tribtion Transcendence Realm, they often enter secluded Cultivation at their Faction''s Cultivation Ground. Then why hasn''t the Azures Continent been taken over by the Cultivators of the Velos Continent? It doesn''t make sense!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om -Why bother? Azures has weaker Mana, less resources, less Magical Beasts, is smaller in size, and is an entire ocean away. Where is the benefit to that? In fact, many Azures Cultivators have migrated to the Velos or Arcturis Continents because of their enhanced Spirit Qi. William nodded in understanding. Even my friends and I stayed here longer than we nned because of the Cultivation Site, it makes sense but Rudeus is definitely underestimating me. "Rudeus, don''t value my strength based on what you''ve heard so far." William replied with a hint of pride in his tone. From battling Nascent Soul creatures as a non-Cultivator to defeating the top powers of the Azures Continent while in the Core Formation Realm, William hade a long way. Now that he was in the Nascent Soul Realm, two Realms above when he fought Supreme Left and Unbreakable Right, William couldn''t help but feel confident. Even if one didn''t ount for the Talent upgrades since hisst big fight, William was many times more powerful. My speed and strength have reached their limit, but increasing my defense has no effect on the stability of the World. I''d be surprised if anyone in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm could actually damage me. "Oh?" Rudeus looked at William with an inquiring gaze. Is there more to this kid than what our intelligence has gathered? I''ll have to speak to Patriarch Vitruvius... A Heavenly Lightning Bolt gathered and struck down on William, interrupting his next thought. The Superior Tribtion hadn''t be stronger, but constantly cycling from being out ofbat to inbat was getting annoying. Additionally, the continuous strikes was still damaging him a tiny bit, which would eventually lead to a loss in lifespan. System, will I be inbat if the Superior Tribtion has no effect on me? -If the damage caused to your body does not exceed a certain threshold, no. Perfect, that''s all I needed to know. William red at the sky briefly before pulling out ten small vials of silvery liquid from his Space Ring. Rudeus'' eyes became like saucers as he realized what William was holding in an instant, having been searching for the source of the silver liquid for many decades. When William poured all ten vials of liquid into his mouth at once, Rudeus felt a pang of anguish that only an Alchemist would understand. In one gulp, ten priceless items were gone just like that. -Consumed Ascension Dragon Tears (x10): +10000 PP Chapter 355: Hold It! Hold It! Fire! -Your resistance to Heavenly Lightning has increased. Total: 5% -Your resistance to Heavenly Lightning has increased. Total: 10% -Your resistance to Heavenly Lightning has increased. Total: 15% -Your resistance to Heavenly Lightning has...N?v(el)B\\jnn The System notifications followed one after the other as the Ascension Dragon Tears were consumed, while William''s body felt slightly ufortable from the simultaneous effects of ten Ascension-level treasures. If his body wasn''t as powerful as an Ascended Cultivator, he probably would have suffered a great deal of damage from recklessly ingesting ten vials at once. And to think Master gave these out as a trial reward to talented Sect Disciples. What if they consumed them right away? Wouldn''t they explode? It''s like giving a child dynamite, you shouldn''t do it. Riyald had always been an entric person, but William knew that others wouldn''t have an appraisal system like he did. He also doubted that Riyald''s gift was an attempt to create more souls for Cultivation. It would be a massive waste of resources for small gain. -Your resistance to Heavenly Lightning has increased. Total: 50% -The boosts provided by the Ascension Dragon Tears have reached their maximum. Further consumption will have no effect. Fifty percent resistance to Heavenly Lightning. If I ount for the twenty-five percent from the Trial Taker Title, I have seventy-five percent in total! As William thought about this, another bolt of Heavenly Lightning mmed into William''s body, but the SSR-Rank Forcefield opened along with a thin veil of golden light,pletely guarding against the strike and only sustaining a few cracks. Before the next Lightning Bolt could form, the Forcefield had already fully recovered. Better yet, William''s Mana Regeneration Talent showed his status as out ofbat, which meant he could maintain his quadrupled Mana Regeneration at all times! If a Superior Tribtion can''t force me out ofbat, I''m afraid there''s not a person in this World that can do otherwise. And to think the Forcefield Talent is supposed to be weak to Heavenly Lightning... William thought. Rudeus looked at the golden veil surrounding William''s Forcefield in awe, "It seems you are more prepared than we thought. Alright then, assist the Velos Faction in defeating the enemy Factions and I''ll refine twenty Tier 10 Suppression Pills for you!" *** On the Azures Continent, near Blue Moon City. Atticus was waving his tail left and right, smashing Sandicores and Desert Beetles alike to bits with his peak Soul Formation strength. They were like chickens on a chopping block, and Atticus was the executioner. There was no need to use the Illusion Element, as no matter what Spells were cast, the Magical Beasts couldn''t do anything to pierce Atticus'' thick scales. He slithered across the ground with open jaws, devouring a dozen Marauder Scorpions in a line and filling his stomach. Burrrp! Atticus released a belch that made the earth shake. Cultivators everywhere lost their footing, many falling into their own traps that had been set well before the start of the Elemental Beast Tide. Almost a hundred kilometers in the distance and floating in the air, a group of Nascent Soul yers were looking at Atticus through a specialized lens that could even see the intricate details of Atticus'' scales. Leading them were the Blue and Green-cloaked yers, the second generation of Region Leaders in Retribution following the old men''s capture by William. They had been assigned to the Blue Moon City area for one mission: defeat the Mythical Rat Snake and retrieve its heart. The Nascent Soul subordinates, seeing the destruction caused by Atticus, bore fear in their hearts. Gathering Atticus'' blood would already be insanely difficult, but to kill him and take his heart? Suicide! Only the Blue and Green Region Leaders weren''t incredibly pressured. Over thest few months, both yers had grown incredibly quickly and both of them had just reached the very peak of the Nascent Soul Realm. They only needed to gather the appropriate ingredients and their next breakthrough would be easy. "Don''t be afraid, team. We aren''t here to take the Beast''s heart today. We just need to gather some blood and be on our way." Blue tried to rx the nerves of the yers assigned to him. It was difficult to lead a group in Otherworld Prime since the death penalty was so steep. Before the mission waspleted, many would abandon at the first sign of danger. "Are you really going to change your bloodline just so you can fight this thing? What if it fails?" one of the subordinates asked. "Then I''ll try again." Blue replied. If he could synchronize his bloodline with a Mythical Magical Beast with the Illusion Affinity, he would be unstoppable in Azures. Even if he Ascendedter and there were more powerful beasts, he could repeat the process until his bloodline had reached the limit of its potential. As he was daydreaming about the Illusion Affinity, the Green-cloaked Region Leader noticed a weakness in Atticus'' position. "Prepare the Light Cannon!" The previously nervous Nascent Soul yers had no choice but to listen to their leader''s instructions, collectively pouring their Mana into the specialized lens at the same time. The lens extended and erged to be a long spyss that further increased in size and changed shape until it was a cannonparable to a modern telescope. The Nascent Soul Cultivators'' Mana became a fuel source for the cannon, while the Blue and Green Region Leaders poured their Light Mana at the forefront, the cannon channeling andpressing their Mana into a single point. "Keep going!" the Blue Region Leader and his subordinates turned pale as they poured everyst drop of Mana into the cannon. Ten, fifteen, thirty seconds passed until the cannon was at full power, at which point the Green Region Leader halted the flow of Mana and waited patiently until the right moment. "Hold it!" he ordered as Atticus slithered across the ground towards another group of Magical Beasts. "Hold it!" Atticus was within five hundred meters of the group. The muscles on Atticus'' face twitched, signaling that he was about to open his mouth. "Now!" Green shouted as Atticus'' jaw opened slightly. A single, intense beam of light shot out from the cannon and flew through the air at incredible speed, crossing the one hundred kilometers distance in exactly one second as it struck Atticus'' open mouth at a weak spot. Blood spewed forth and Atticus howled in pain, closing his mouth to cancel his next move as he looked towards the source of the light. His tongue flicked back and forth, but he couldn''t recognize the scent of the cannon, nor could he smell the Blue and Green Region Leaders as they had prepared well beforehand. Atticus didn''t sense any threatening auras, so he continued wiping out the Magical Beasts until the Tide had beenpletely eliminated. Only then did the snake take another look at the Light Cannon''s old position, but there was nothing. He was forced to open the Illusion Territory and fly high into the sky, where he would sleep until the next Beast Tide appeared. The Region Leaders hid with their subordinates for an entire day until Atticus'' presence had long disappeared. They collected a few buckets of dried blood from Atticus, using another special tool to differentiate between the blood of a Mythical Beast and that of themon Foam Desert Beasts. Chapter 356: Mythic Belt In the Laotonus Faction''s territory, William was secretly searching for information about their Patriarch''s whereabouts. Some information seemed to have been leaked regarding his appearance in the Velos Continent, and the five Factions became wary of his presence. He had already created havoc in the Revista Faction''s territory, and the Velos Faction was forced to hold a meeting between him and their most renowned Alchemist. The remaining Factions were beginning to think that William wanted to take over the entire Continent, so many were preparing for wars of their own. Any signs of William''s movements were reported to the Patriarchs'' subordinates, who only spoke to them throughmunicators, while defenses were shored up near the poisonous miasma to better track the movements of Miasma Navigators. If anyone were to cross the lines between factions, they would know immediately. Well, in theory. What they didn''t know was that William had perfect immunity to the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin and could walk through it without a care in the world. As long as he knew his destination and kept a sense of direction, William wouldn''t have to worry about anything. He switched his identity to that of Serio, the mysterious bounty hunter with Fire and Darkness Magic, before systematically approaching the most populous areas of the city. He browsed shops for special equipment and materials, even taking the initiative to buy some interesting ones while listening to the conversations of the people around him. "Did you hear that there''s a Region Event in the Laotonus, Beronius, and Andorea Factions?" "I heard there was one, but I didn''t check the forums yet. What is it all about?" "Apparently that NPC from the Azures Continent is here now and might kill the three Factions'' Patriarchs, but if we can protect them for a week, we will get a lot of Points." "Which NPC? And why would it be a week?" "I don''t remember their name, Willort? And the hell if I know, I''m just listening to the Region Notification. How could you have missed it?" "Ahaha, I haven''t logged in for a while." NPC? Points? Logged in? William recognized the familiar terms amongst the conversations. It was odd to hear gaming terms from people in this World. A slight breeze flew past William''s face, slowly wiping away the memories of the earlier conversation. His Mind Talent and Cultivation tried to resist, but he was only able to remember "Logged in" and the necessary information rted to the Continent. System, what did you do? I can only remember half of what they said. The System didn''t respond, sending mixed waves of anxiety and confusion as if it didn''t know what William was talking about. Another breeze brushed past William''s face, modifying the rest of the conversation and bringing back a doctored version that made sense to him. Thinking that the System had restored his memories, William didn''t ask the System for an exnation and instead evaluated what he did remember. So the Factions are already worried about me, huh? No wonder it''s hard to find anything on them. William chose to follow this group for a while and glean more information from them. If their task was to protect the Patriarch, they should be able to lead him directly to the man. Unfortunately, William chose theziest group to follow. Most of his time was spent watching them eat the local delicacies and explore the city searching for who knows what. When the pair handed a bag of Gold Coins to a beautiful woman on the street and entered a hotel with her, William decided they werepletely useless and went elsewhere to gather information. Damn it, I unted my strength and scared them off. Even at the top of the World, I can''t be so high-profile. I don''t have anything to go off, and I can''t track their auras when I don''t know what they look like!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om William was visibly frustrated, but he remained calm and spent an entire day searching from city to city for anything rted to the Patriarch of the Laotonus Faction. In the Capital, William still had nothing, as if the Patriarch hadpletely disappeared. Fuck it. I can''t be waiting so long to find each Patriarch, it''s time to use this. William thought as he moved to a discreet location and looked at his Artifact Belt. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Artifact Belt (Mythic Belt): A Magic belt created based on the mimicry of an Ancient Array Master''s work. Forged of Starmetal by a Master cksmith, infused with the Mana of a 26-fold Manamatus, and improved by a powerful Array Master. This belt has the ability to enhance most aspects of the functions of an Element. Affects the following Elements equally: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, nt, Ice, Lightning, Poison, Curse, Blessing, Light, Darkness, Life, Death, Summoning, Blood, Sound, Dream, Necromancy, Seal, Chaos, Space, Gravity, Time, Illusion. Effects while worn: -Mana Efficiency increased by 400% -Mana Regeneration increased by 400% -Magic Power increased by 100% -Detection Spell radius increased by 400% Mana Storage: 10,000,000/10,000,000 Durability: 4,000/4,000 Does not stack with other equipment. Stacks with Titles. ¡ª¡ª¡ª William smiled and reverted his appearance, then turned the dial on his Artifact Belt, activating the Artifact for the first time and limiting its use to the Life Element only. Too much influence from the other Elements would turn him into a magical beacon, and that was something he''d rather avoid. Regardless, the sudden appearance of abundant Life Mana made many people in the city simultaneously turn their heads, thinking a natural treasure had just formed somewhere nearby. Dying flowers turned vibrant again, while many with slight cuts and other injuries from a day''s work found themselves perfectly healthy once more. The Nascent Soul and Soul Formation Cultivators ran eagerly to William''s location, where instead of being showered by a more intense Life Element, they were met by the horror of an Ascended-level powerhouse that could crush them to a pulp in an instant. "Run! Tell the Patriarch that William is here!" they screamed as they manipted the Elements to speed up their escape. William didn''t bother trapping them here, instead focusing on his Life Sense Spell. Even as a mere S-Rank Life Element, the four hundred percent increase of the Artifact Belt plus his Cultivation and Titles were more than enough to cover many Cities and multiple kilometers beyond.. His senses spread out, isting the Tribtion Transcendence auras and locking onto each one individually and storing the information forter. Even if he didn''t know what the Patriarchs were like, he was sure someone else would. With a bit of Mana maniption and his own aura, William could mimic the aura of others slightly, enough for someone to identify which one was the Patriarch. It''s still not that strong, though. My Life Sense only covers a quarter of the Faction''s territory. William sighed. POTENTIAL POINTS: 104,940 But thanks the Beast Tides, I once again have over a hundred thousand Points. Not only that, but reaching X-Rank with a Rare Element is very cheappared to Chaos. I have barely enough! System, upgrade my Life Element to X-Rank! -97500 PP -Upgrading the Life Element, please wait... Chapter 357: Youll Never Get The Patriarch! The Life Element was one of the most harmless Elements to upgrade. While it was only a Rare Element, William found that the Life Element was incredibly invaluable and served as a second source of self-recovery without any side effects. As the upgradesmenced from SS-Rank to the next, William noticed that his natural healing ability had increased once more. The Recovery Talent made it extremely obvious, since multiplying any effect by three hundred times was bound to have an impact. He pulled out his Abyssal Weapon Shifter and transformed it into a sharp dagger, then used his Weapons Master Talent to locate a weak point in his suppressed skin. With thebined effects of his Fitness Talent and the sharpness of the weapon, William created thergest cut he could manage, crossing from one end of his left arm to another. As the de''s tip split the skin on his arm, William saw the cut healing instantaneously, directly behind the weapon. No matter how hard he tried, the cut wouldn''t extend to more than half an inch in length. With greater healing poweres greater effects on my cells normally, but since the Life Element is using Magic, I can avoid this side effect all together! I need to figure out how to work this into the Recovery Talent... ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Life Affinity (Rare): (SSR --> X) Effects: -Life-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +640% >> +1280% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Life: Takeplete control over all Life Mana within a radius of 50 kilometers >> 100 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Life Domains of greater strength. -Territory of Life: An improved Domain, designed to restore all things contained within to perfect condition. The thicker the Life Mana, the stronger the effect. -Primary Law of Life (0.1%prehension): You don''t understand enough of this yet. Comprehend the Life Element or visit ??? to learn more. -Life Elemental: Be one with life, temporarily turning your body into pure Life Mana with unparalleled healing ability, though it can only be used on others. Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª With the Life Element''s upgrade, William immediately opened the Life Domain to enhance his ability once more, then used Life Sense to cover the entirety of the Laotonus Faction''s territory. In an instant, more than thirty Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators entered William''s vision, many of which noticed him as well. Most of the Cultivators were seated cross-legged in cave abodes or tending to their own personal herb gardens, but a few rare ones were fighting with Tribtion Transcendence Magical Beasts in dangerous zones of their territory, an almost evenly matched battle that would likely persist for a few years before the final victor was decided. Other than these Cultivators, William noticed a pair in an inconspicuous carriage surrounded by a few others in the Nascent Soul Realm. As he peered closer at the group, his Cultivation Talent was able to identify that the Nascent Soul Cultivators were actually concealing their Cultivation. There were actually seven peak Cultivators in a single carriage! If that''s not suspicious, I don''t know what is. William thought as he opened a long-distance portal towards the carriage. As quickly as the portal formed, so it was destroyed. Among the group of seven peak Cultivators, two of them were actually Space Mages, making William grit his teeth in annoyance. He only had 7,440 Potential Points left, which wasn''t even enough to push the Space Element to SS-Rank. A second portal was created, but the Cultivators were prepared after seeing the first one and shattered it in an instant. Even if William hadbat strength at the peak of the World, his S-Rank Space Element couldn''tpare to the difference in Cultivation. He tried again with a portal fifty kilometers away, which was slightly destabilized by his opponents, but they couldn''t destroy it in time. He passed through the portal, keeping his Life Domain open so he could clearly track all of them at once. Seeing William in the distance, the Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators panicked and simultaneously activated multiple family heirlooms¡ª Artifacts with strength close to the Ascension Realm. Defensive shields were stacked atop one another, while a massive Complete Array was cast in an instant, even more powerful than the ones William saw in the Gravitas Ruins. Behind them, attacking Arrays using Elements with incredible piercing ability like the Lightning and Light Element formed, while the Cultivators themselves reached into their Space Rings and pulled out vials of poison that had the same color as the miasma. If he was the same person he was half a year ago, William would have been scared shitless, unable to react to so many defensive measures at once. Today, however, he just smiled as he thought about the effects from his X-Rank Arrays Talent. -Array Analysis: Can analyze the workings of an Array at a nce. Only applies to Arrays, Array Formations, and Runes the Host already knows. Amongst the group of Arrays, William knew every Rune down to its finest detail. This wasn''t an issue at all. "Ignorant." he snapped his fingers and shattered the Arrays in an instant, while his Forcefield defended against the Lightning and Darkness Magic. By the time the Forcefield shattered, the remaining energy was too little to even create a mark on his skin. The poisonous vials were thrown, but William was too fast and dodged them before they came close. He used the eleration portion of the Fitness Talent to change direction and speed towards the group, his right arm hooking around one Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator and carrying him along towards the others. Another Cultivator was hooked by his left arm, and both were suppressed by two Tier 6 Confinement Arrays that William cast in-flight. They couldn''t so much as move their mouths, only able to blink and breathe under the immense suppressive effect. "Two down. Are you sure you five can handle me alone?" William smiled. "You''ll never get the Patriarch!" four of the Cultivators yelled out simultaneously. "Oh? So your Patriarch is this guy?" William looked at the most nervous of the seven Cultivators, a bald-headed man with a beard that was dyed blue. It was an interesting choice of style, but William didn''t judge. The Cultivators realized their mistake and gritted their teeth, rushing towards William simultaneously while two of them formed a portal for their leader to escape, "Run Patriarch! We''ll hold him off!" "Not a chance," William said as he opened the Domain of Space and restricted the Space Mana within a radius of one kilometer. Now that he was close to them all, he had no issue turning the tides with his S-Rank Space Affinity and preventing them from using their Magic. The partially formed portal copsed, and the Cultivators realized they couldn''t even open their Space Rings.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "He has multiple Domains too?!?" they didn''t have much time to gather information on William and thought he only had the Seal Domain, which they had been secretly preparing to counter the entire time. "Just a few." William replied as he opened the Territory of Sealing and held all seven Cultivators in ce. A few tried to activate their secret preparations, but they were astounded to find that they didn''t work at all! The Seal Element was so absurdly strong that not even their Artifacts could help them! "T-This... You don''t have a Domain!" they realized at the same time. Chapter 358: Berphanses "You talk like a hive mind, you know that?" Williammented. Ever since the beginning of the battle, none of them had spoken alone. If he didn''t know any better, he would have thought the six Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators were all Array Puppets. How hrious that would be! The Cultivators didn''t respond even though he hadn''t restricted their ability to speak. They continued muttering to himself, until finallying to a conclusion. "Are you... at the Territory level?" they asked carefully. The idea of an Elemental Territory wasn''t unheard of, but it hadn''t been seen for a very long time. Thest individual to wield a Territory was Efretta, but no one hade close to that level since, as if it had be impossible to reach such a level. In a sense, it was. The few individuals that became B-Rank Manamatus were incredibly few, and almost all of them were doomed to die prematurely before they could awaken their Domain, much less the Territory. The leaders of the Continents saw them as both assets and threats, and would treat the individuals only as tools to their own purposes until they had grown to a semi-threatening level. Following that point, the Manamatus were killed without a second thought. This was true amongst all Continents. Only when the leading organization of the Continent awakened a genius would they do their best to protect them, but that was when the criminal organizations and other Continents would get involved. Supreme Left was one of the targeted individuals, but he thankfully survived long enough to be an existence that no one wanted to mess with. Since Yu Shinpai, William was the next individual to be targeted by multiple countries in recent times, but the news never reached the Velos Continent, since they were so isted from the rest of the World that they often didn''t care about what happened elsewhere. By the time William showed up and started wreaking havoc, it was toote. Their informants that left for the Azures Continent hadn''te back yet, since the round-trip would take weeks even if one had a flying mount. Even Uri would take almost two weeks to travel both ways, and that didn''t count the information-gathering period. With the Cultivators all suppressed, William looted their bodies for treasures and stored the interesting items with Marcus'' two pink rings, opting to investigate them further at ater date. Afterwards, William gathered them up and took them back to the Velos Faction''s territory to be checked by their Patriarch. Vitruvius Velos came out personally to inspect the individuals, surprised to see that William had seeded in hardly any time at all. "That''s him." Vitruvius pointed to the first Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator that was hooked by William''s arm. It was a bald man just like the one that William had thought was the true Patriarch, but he didn''t have a beard and his face bore two parallel scars across his left cheek. So, they tried to trick me, huh? It''s a good thing I brought them all back. William realized. As Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators, they had likely learned many unique and dirty tricks. Since they didn''t know what William looked like, they relied on filtering the flow of information to keep their Patriarch''s unique aura from being leaked. Who would''ve known that William wasn''t only strong enough to take on seven Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators at once, but he could also capture them simultaneously? Their n was doomed to fail from the beginning, they just never realized it. "What do you want me to do with them?" William asked. With no treasures left to take, William had already lost interest in this group. He wanted to move on to the next Faction''s territory as soon as possible, before the others received word of the Laotonus Faction''s condition. "Whatever you want. Kill them if you so wish, Esteemed Cultivator William. Though I''ll be taking the Patriarch into my own hands, if you don''t mind." Vitruvius responded with a slight bow. William''s strength made him a bit nervous, so Vitruvius did his best to keep his words polite. William nodded and took the Cultivators back into his possession. He didn''t have an immediate n for the group, but he supposed he could make them work the mines for a while. Though, these guys didn''t really do anything to me. I feel bad for taking advantage of them in such a way. -And you don''t feel bad about taking their items? I earned those! -After beating them up and suppressing them, sure. It''s a Cultivation World, at least I''m not killing them! I respect how far they''vee without a cheat like mine. -At least you admit that you wouldn''tst without me. The familiar outline of the System appeared with a light smirk, knowing that it had won the mental battle with William once more. How many times have you done this to me? Williamined. -Do you dare to keep track? ... William bade Vitruvius Velos farewell and proceeded to the next Faction''s territory. Their original agreement was that William would only have to take on the strongest, the Andorea Faction, but he didn''t wish to see countless innocents die, so he nned to use his overwhelming strength for a good purpose this time. If only a few people die because I am here, it''s better than millions dying because I am not. He headed towards the second strongest of the three Factions next, the Beronius Faction. Just like before, William opened his Life Domain and expanded his senses immediately to cover the entire area, but this time wasn''t as easy as the others. All of the Tribtion Transcendence auras were singr and weren''t joined by others, so William would have to visit each aura one by one until the Patriarch was caught. This would be quite the time-waster, if not for a massive statue in the Capital City that sported arge sign. "Behold the mighty Patriarch of the Beronius Faction. Here stands Berphanses Beronius, the mightiest Cultivator in all of the Beronius Faction''s existence! Est. 2024" Hmm, unless this guy has died in thest year, I''d have to say this is the person I''m looking for. How nice of them, and arrogant, to even disy his aura! William performed a second scan with his Life Sense, easily locating the Berphanses individual that had Cultivation at the very peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. His aura was fluctuating wildly, seeming to be yet another Cultivator trying to suppress himself and remain on Efretta for longer.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om If I push this guy too far he''s going to try to Ascend... I''m really not trying to gain unnecessary Attention, so I''ll have to catch him before then. William prepared a Tier 6 Confinement Array in advance, then teleported directly in front of the individual and cast the Array before Berphanses even had time to react. Before he could try to resist the Array, Williamyered the Territory of Sealing on top and immobilized the man directly. "One more left. How are you feeling today, Berphanses?" William smiled and unsealed the man''s mouth. "Who the fuck are you? And why are you in my house?" Berphanses stared at William with anger. William was so focused on the man''s aura that he failed to notice the woman next to Berphanses, who seemed to becking in both Cultivation and clothes. "Oops." Chapter 359: Anula Andorea "Oops?! What do you mean, oops! Let me go!" Berphanses clearly hadn''t been paying attention to the information about William. The only emotion within the man was his intense anger and surprise that someone was able to casually capture him without even a chance to resist. Berphanses mobilized his mental energy and tried to activate an Artifact, but the Confinement Array prevented it from happening. He promptly gave up, epting that his fate was in the hands of this absurdly powerful young man that didn''t understand the idea of knocking. William didn''t bother with the woman and took the restrained Berphanses back to the Velos Faction through a long-distance portal. He didn''t have to verify with Vitruvius on the man''s identity, so he just dropped the man off with a note and traveled to the final Faction, Andorea. So much for starting a war, I can take these kids on by myself. Williamughed inwardly. His enemies were probably in chaos now, considering William''s detection Spells coveredrge swaths of the Continent. Even if they tried to hide, it was useless. The Andorea Faction was well worthy of being called the strongest. Instead of attempting to hide from William, their leader, Matriarch An Andorea floated in the sky joined by thirty-eight Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators just beyond the poisonous miasma. Matriarch An was a roughly average-height woman of 1.62 meters sporting long ck hair that cascaded all the way to her waist. With an innate ability to use her hair as both a weapon and defense, An took very good care of it, using the finest shampoos money could buy to keep it in pristine condition. She was also a third generation Matriarch belonging to the Andorea Faction that took her job very seriously. As the only Faction on the Velos Continent that ced women in positions of power, An made sure to stay on top of the flow of information to always be a step ahead of her enemies. "So you''re immune to the poison. No wonder you can move so freely on the Continent, but your terror ends here!" An shouted while her hair lengthened and sped towards William at incredible speed. Even faster than Light Magic, William was forced to dodge before he had a chance to speak. The long strands of hair rushed past his face at speeds so close to the limits of the World that tiny spatial fissures opened up at their edges, causing damage equal to that of a Superior Tribtion. But it''s still nothing! William smirked as he watched the few strands of hair that hit fail to pierce his skin. Seeing that her fastest attack with the most piercing power had failed, An became concerned and retreated a few dozen meters to dodge a speedy bolt of Heavenly Lightning that nced off William''s body. "I had hoped the rumors were just that, but it seems you really shouldn''t be in this World. Why haven''t you Ascended yet?" An asked as she secretly signaled her group. William shrugged his shoulders. "I have plenty left to do before going up. Aren''t you the same?" He could tell at a nce that An had the ability to Ascend, like multiple others before her that were at the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. The only thing that didn''t make much sense to William was, why? It would be fine for one or two Cultivators to suppress themselves and remain on Efretta for a longer period of time, but for the numbers to reach the dozens or possibly hundreds... what was it about Ascending that prevented them from going up? William thought back to what the System implied before. Ascension didn''t just send you to a random location, but probably to fixed areas depending on where you Ascended from. If people Ascended from the Velos Continent, wouldn''t they go straight to wherever the poisonous miasma came from?n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The idea sent shivers down William''s spine. Is this why they choose not to Ascend? They''re afraid it could spell instant death? Seeing William''s expression made An pause briefly, "It seems you already understand. I can''t Ascend from here; it needs to be from somewhere else. Somewhere safer. Not to mention I have my Faction to lead. I can''t just leave them behind before finding a suitable sessor. This is information that''s only readily avable to use Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators, but from what I hear, you''re only in the Golden Core Realm. Or maybe the Nascent Soul, your concealment Technique is impressive." she finished with a sigh. William shook his head, "Why allow yourself to be held back by a Faction? You could do bigger and better things above." "Or worse things, what do you know about Ascension? For all we know, I could die the moment I step foot in the higher Realms. With the little contact we have with the Ascended Cultivators, I''m at least confident that I''d be like cannon fodder again. Who would want that? I''d rather be a living frog in a well than a dead one in the ocean." her subordinates moved at this moment to surround William with aplex Complete Confinement Array, though they were already well aware of William''s status as an Array Master. Their hands were behind their backs, so William couldn''t tell which one was the real caster of the Array, or whether there were multiple. "Aren''t you curious?" William asked as he destroyed the Array instantaneously. His fingers twitched slightly as a series of a hundred Perfect Confinement Arrays were formed at almost the exact same time, two to three sent to each enemy Cultivator and suppressing them simultaneously. Only two avoided his Arrays, An and another male Cultivator that was just a few meters behind her. He kept his eyes peeled while the Cultivators struggled to break free, using his Territory of Sealing to lock down the movements of the first four that escaped the Arrays. His guess resulted in the capture of three Array Masters, though he wasn''t confident that was all of them. "Curious? Of course I am, but I am not ready yet. I''ve lived here for over two thousand years, and while that isn''t a long timepared to others at the peak, it''s more than enough to be attached to this World of ours." she avoided another Confinement Array and wrapped her hair around herself to defend against a wave of Darkness Mana that turned her ck hair a greyish color. More Cultivators escaped William''s Confinement Arrays and counterattacked with Elements of their own. They fought extremely defensively despite the 39 to 1 battle, hoping to exhaust William before switching to the offensive. Unfortunately for them, William was only ying around and gleaning information from An. His Mana reserves were almostpletely full, and his Mana Regeneration Talent stillbeled him as out ofbat because he had yet to take real damage. An and the others continued to counter William''s most popr attacks to the best of their ability, but after hours of back and forth, neither side could see a decisive victory. On their end, they made the perfect use of their Cultivation and Mana to counter each of William''s individual Spells, taking advantage of the fact that Will was just one person, but it was still not enough. Chapter 360 Rapid Improvement, Trapped? Six Cultivators grouped together and cast abined Poison Spell, gathering a replicated form of the poisonous miasma and spreading it around the area to obstruct his vision. Even if William was immune to poison, they could obstruct his vision and force him to reveal himself when using a detection Spell. William smiled and dodged the slow poison Spell. Even if it covered arge radius, William had the entire Velos Continent as his battlefield if he so desired. He gathered his Mana and created a poison Spell of his own. He switched to the Poison Elemental Form and created some Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin to add to his Spell, then threw it all at once towards his opponents. The same scene unfolded, Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators much too quick to be hit by the poison, but William''s Spell was strategically sent to reduce their freedom of movement. The Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin remained in ce, stretching upwards toward the sky in the same manner as the territorial boundaries. "You can use the higher Realm''s Poison?!" An gasped as she saw the unique effects of the Spell that were nothing like their cheap imitations. It was the real deal! "A little." William smirked as he threw more Poison Spells to entrap his opponents in a giant cage of Poison. Unfortunately for him, there were Space Mages in the group that teleported across the wall without trouble, bringing their group with them.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om William wasn''t frustrated. He could have easily prevented this by opening the Domain of Space, but he was distracted by a series of System notifications not rted to his current battle. Find more to read at empire Instead of doing his best to restrain his current opponents, he could see many ethereal blue lights speeding towards him from a distance with Spirit Mode. They entered his body one by one, but rather than damaging William, he felt his strength growing. -Your Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin is in effect: +1 Soul Strength -Your Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin is in effect: +1 Soul Strength -Your Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin is in effect: +1 Soul Strength -Your Soul-Sapping... The System panel showed William''s Soul Strength rapidly increasing by hundreds per second, eventually climbing by the thousands. It seemed the Thieves'' Guild had finally taken the bait, consuming the poisoned alcohol without a second thought. To be honest, William only expected to affect a few dozen individuals, since the first to drink would clearly show signs of poisoning. No matter how much William tried to suppress its effects, this was Poison from a higher Realm. *** One minute earlier, in the Thieves'' Guild hideout. "Alright boys and men!" the Thieves'' Guild leader Barnabus shouted from the top of his lungs amidst a crowded room. His usually cold face currently sported a wide smile as he walked around on a stage with two deep green eyes, his blue eyepatch nowhere to be seen. The poisoned kegs were in ce in the center of an opera house-like room while streamers hung from the ceiling and expensive¡ª likely stolen¡ª silverware sat on ornate tables created by the nt Element. "Your leader has restored his sight after almost five hundred years, it''s time to celebrate!" Barnabus shouted again as he fired a bolt of Lightning into the air, poking through the ceiling in the room while small amounts of dirt and dust fell from above. The other thieves in the room raised their empty mugs and cheered, though some were still a bit nervous that their leader would randomly decide to kill someone. They stood up and rushed to the kegs to fill their sses one by one. "Huh?" one of the thieves wrinkled his nose as he poured alcohol from the tap. The usual pungent smell of alcohol was slightly suppressed, which made the thief a bit confused. What more, the keg seemed to be slightly unstable, shaking slightly from some kind of movement. He paused for a moment, but a series of jeers from his fellow thieves urged him to finish pouring his alcohol. "Go on! Pour the damn beer already!" "What are you waiting for? I''ll be a grandfather before you''re done standing around!" He turned his head back to the keg, but a sizzling sound distracted him once more. He looked at the center of the keg, where the usual brown color had turned ck, quickly spreading to cover the entire barrel. As he realized what was happening, the thief in front was terrified. "It''s a trap! Run!" he turned around and scrambled to the nearest exit, but it was toote. The three kegs exploded simultaneously, spreading Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin throughout the entire room despite their small dosage and drowning everyone in a green cloud of smoke. Even Barnabus on the stage was affected, coughing and wheezing as the Necrotoxin damaged his cells. His newly repaired eyes were damaged once more, this time bingpletely blind, while a soul-tearing pain came from his chest. If he had Spirit Mode like William, Barnabus would notice that his Soul had been split up and was rapidly being siphoned towards the East. *** -Soul Strength: 99244 -Soul Strength: 100012 -Soul Strength: 101583 Less than five seconds after the first notification, William''s Soul Strength reached over a hundred thousand points, where he felt a unique sensation that made him instinctually want to condense his soul into something else. It was a unique feeling, as if William''s soul wanted to evolve, but he suppressed it for the time being. Despite ignoring his soul, the feeling persisted and became even stronger as his Soul Strength increased. If this is the path to Ascension, I shouldn''t be hasty. William thought as he watched his opponents make preparations for another attack. His brief pause and an indescribable change to his body seemed to give them hope, thinking they had finally exhausted William. "Now!" An shouted to her group, having waited for this moment since the beginning. The thirty-eight Cultivators seemed to know exactly what to do, standing in a near-perfect circle around William and casting their Spells simultaneously. In opposite corners, Darkness Magic was used first to mimic a Reversed Darkness Domain, while Fire, Earth, and Wind Magic were the same. The three Cultivators in front and two behind William cast a triple Element Fusion Spell from Light, Gravity, and Space Magic to create a high-speed spatial vortex around William. Since the Light Element was at y, William found his vision distorted and unable to lock onto his targets, while the gravitational pull held him in ce. Even if William were tounch a Spell from his current position, the spatial vortex would absorb all Magic and send it to the thirdyer of Space. What more, William may have impressive strength and speed at his peak, but he had to actively suppress himself to remain on Efretta. The more power he released when using his real strength, the more the World and Heavens would fight to force him to Ascend. William was essentially blinded and couldn''t see his opponents anymore, but he couldn''t refrain frommenting. "Impressive. You''ve forced me into a difficult position. Either I stop suppressing myself and Ascend, or I hold on and ept your next attack, right?" he smiled. He didn''t regret ying with the group, and actually felt like he had gained something. So, I can use Fusion Magic like this, huh? Interesting... Chapter 361 World Suppression Formation "Since you understand your situation, I suggest you make your choice now. Ascend or die." An''s voice sounded from everywhere all at once, spinning around William in the same direction as the spatial vortex he was trapped in. Stay updated via empire "Hmm. How about no?" William smiled as his Soul Strength continued to grow. The feeling in his soul had be almost unbearable, to the point that his soul took the initiative to condense a little on its own. -Your Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin is in effect: +1 Soul Strength -Killed a human: +5 PP -Killed a human: +5 PP -Your Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin is in effect: +1 Soul Strength -Killed... -The Leader of the Thieves'' Guild is severely injured. -Your Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin is in effect: +1 Soul Strength -Killed a human: +5 PP The messages slowed down dramatically as a wave of death notifications entered William''s view. There was only one remaining message that ticked every two seconds, but that onlysted for half a minute before that too ended abruptly. -The Leader of the Thieves'' Guild has perished. +5 PP -Soul Strength: 116700 Why the unique message, System? Do I get extra benefits from killing important people? -No. I just thought you should know. Ah... "As you wish." An''s voice sounded, before a series of Magic Spells breached the light as if it were nothing andnded on William''s body. Their effects seemed enhancedpared to before and caused slight damage to William, likely abination attack from multiple Cultivators. The Mana Regeneration Talent finally notified William that he was inbat, but he wasn''t concerned at all. Just this small amount of damage couldn''t do anything to him, and judging by the state of the Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators, they didn''t have enough Mana to even force his Recovery Talent''s side effect.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Instead of attempting to fight back, William opened the Life Domain and rapidly healed his injuries, then closed it immediately afterwards to keep his Mana at the peak. If they wanted to fight a battle of attrition, William was more than happy to oblige. He studied the unique effects of each Spell that attacked him, gleaning information one by one from the attacks. At the same time, An and her subordinates were inspecting William and analyzing his various abilities. As the undisputed strongest person on the Continent, William''s abilities were like a treasure trove of information. They didn''t understand how someone could have so many Elemental Affinities, but the most intriguing of all was William''s Forcefield Talent which acted like an improved Spirit Aura. If they weren''t paying close attention, they would have treated it as just that, but An noticed that William had yet to expend any Spirit Qi, which meant this "Spirit Aura" was only an imitation and not actually the real thing. Some specialized Cultivators watched the flow of Mana and Spirit Qi with incredible focus, but they couldn''t identify what was fueling his Forcefield. It was as if... They realized something and informed An immediately, "Matriarch, some of his abilities are fueled by the World! We need to cut off his connection with Efretta!" "What?! How can this be?" An was shocked. She had never heard of someone able to connect with the World. Could it have something to do with the World Cores he absorbed? "We don''t know, should we use the Heaven Suppression Formation?" they asked. "How can that help us?" she asked in annoyance. "We use that to help our juniors avoid the Heavenly Tribtion for longer, how is that going to deal with the World?" "If we modify the target from Heaven to the World itself, we may be able to iste his ability." one of the Cultivators said suddenly. An realized what they were getting at and nodded, "Do it." The Cultivators spread out into their respective positions and used their Spirit Qi to weave a in the sky that shielded William from the Heavens above. The Superior Tribtion was temporarily cut off, but they reversed the and twisted its position until it was seated underneath William, allowing the Superior Tribtion to continue. In reality, only one Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator was required for this Formation, since it didn''t take an incredible amount of Spirit Qi, but for the sake of ensuring sess, three Cultivators participated. On William''s end, he found his Forcefield Talent closing on its own and disappear from existence, while some of his other Talents did the same. A series of five System notifications entered William''s vision, sending a chill of fear down his spine. -Forcefield Talent''s source has been cut off. -Attack Reflection Talent''s source has been cut off. -Recovery Talent''s source has been cut off. -Coteral Damage Talent''s source has been cut off. -Stealth Talent''s source has been cut off. While it was only five Talents, and none specifically rted to William''s defensive ability, the most jarring was the loss of his Recovery Talent. If he ran out of Mana, William would have no other way to recover! System, what happened? -Your Talents don''te from nowhere. Your opponent has discerned the source of your Talents and cut them off temporarily. If you cannot break their Formation, you will not be able to use any of these abilities for the time being. What?! William thought back to when he was in the Gravitas Ruins, when one of Riyald''s trials cut off his Forcefield Talent. Was this the same thing? Either way, things weren''t looking good. On An''s end, William''s previously suppressed aura was released all at once. His Nascent Soul Cultivation was revealed first for all to see, but that wasn''t nearly as terrifying as everything else. William''s Soul Strength became an overbearing aura that silenced all present, as if they had met with an otherworldly ghost that could steal their very being with nothing but a thought. The Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators with weaker Soul Strength coughed and choked, unable to breathe properly in the current situation. William''s Elemental Aura burst forth in waves, starting with the basic Elements. Many felt overwhelmed by the Domain-equivalent Magic that fought with the suppression of their mimicked Reverse Domains, while the few that weren''t suppressed showed their full prowess. The Rare Elements came next, the X-Rank Life and Poison Elements showing first. It was obvious to the Cultivators that these two Elements were both above the Domain level, at the mythological Territory-level. Scared shitless, the weakest Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator passed out directly, unable to withstand William''sbined overpowering auras. Two more followed as soon as the Blessing and Curse Elements were revealed, bing the straw that broke the camel''s back. Before they could even experience the Epic Elements, all of the Cultivators aside from An were unconscious, the World Suppression Formation unraveling on its own and restoring William''s use of his Talents. Additionally, the triple Fusion Spell that was fueling the vortex stopped, allowing William to see his surroundings clearly. Oh, they''re back. I guess I had no reason to be worried after all. William smiled as he scanned his surroundings. His opponents had all passed out, and the only remaining enemy was An, who had soiled herself at some point. "Y-You..." An sputtered as she tried to regain her footing. She was incredibly embarrassed, but there was nothing she could do about her current situation. Chapter 362 He Cant Be Trusted As the source of the Auras, William obviously didn''t have a good understanding of what his opponents felt when they came into contact with it. He only knew that it was strong. Seeing thirty-eight unconscious peak Cultivators and a shivering An, William finally realized just how much impact his Elements had on the mental state of a person. He was thankful that the Heavens didn''t see the remainder of his Elements, lest he add more troubles to his list. "So much for your intricate n." William walked up to An and suppressed her movements with the Territory of Sealing. With her and the remaining Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators, William transformed into the Poison Elemental Form and touched each of them with the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin. With fine control of the Poison and Life Elements, William kept each of his targets alive while slowly stealing their Soul Strength. As long as they had a little bit left, they could still survive, but all the extras would belong to him! It''s basically loot, if you think about it. Why would I pass up on free Soul Strength? William tried to justify his actions, though it was definitely something a righteous person wouldn''t do. After a day of work, however, even the System had to admit that William''s method was very efficient. -Soul Strength: 255981 All those peak Cultivators and only this much Soul Strength? Either these guys suck or Marcus was loaded! William smiled before wincing in pain. His soul had condensed by about eighty percent, but William was actively trying to suppress the final formation. The System confirmed that the Soul Condensation was the final stage before Soul Ascension, and it exined that once his soul had fully condensed, the Ascension portal would remain in the sky permanently until he Ascended. While William could resist, he wasn''t eager to have the Heavens watching him 24/7, and he also didn''t want to find out what would happen if he moved around while the portal was above him. What if he teleported to another Continent and the Ascension portal followed? What if an opening to the higher Realms caused the deaths of millions of people like with the Velos Continent? William wasn''t a saint, but he wouldn''t actively kill innocents without a reason either. He teleported the thirty-eight suppressed Cultivators to the Azures Continent. There, they were suppressed by a series of Tier 6 Arrays for the time being. The previous batch of Cultivators from the Laotonus Faction''s territory were already there, but William hadn''t assigned them any tasks yet. To be honest, he had no idea what he was going to do with so many peak Cultivators. Make them work in the mines? How could he stop them from escaping? The Envement Arrays he knew weren''t nearly enough to trap such high-level Cultivators; they''d escape in a matter of days. He would think about thatter. For now, William took An Andorea to Patriarch Vitruvius to be verified. Since he had already seen William twice this week, the Patriarch expected to see him again within four days, but the boy continued to exceed expectations. No matter how powerful his opponents were, William managed to subdue them within twenty-four hours. So much for the war... Vitruvius thought, though it wasn''t a bad thing at all. If anything, William''s speedy capture of the Patriarchs and Matriarch would save many lives in the end, from both sides. The Velos Faction only took a small portion of each Faction''s resources aspensation for their troubles but didn''t press any further. While they were the undisputed number one Faction, Vitruvius didn''t need immense swaths ofnd that he controlled alone. It was better to leave them in the hands of trusted members of their enemy Factions. With binding oaths made, of course. Rudeus Velos had already begun refining William''s Suppression Pills, though William still returned to the man to watch the process. With the assistance of the Alchemy Talent, William was even able to slightly improve the final quality of the Pills through a series of instructions that even Rudeus couldn''t help but be astounded. "You''re good at everything, boy. Is there anything you can''t do?" William shrugged, "There are many things." Rudeus nodded and kept his next thoughts to himself. Everyone had secrets they wanted to keep, and William seemed to carry many more than the average person. He continued refining the Suppression Pills, which took just over six days before they were allplete. William wrinkled his nose in disgust at the pure-ck colored Pill that reminded him more of a ball of rubber. Not only did it look like rubber, but it smelled like it too, hardly seeming edible. Regardless, he knew that these were just the physical characteristics of the Tier 10 Suppression Pills, and their effects were not to be trifled with. "Try one out. Each Pill shouldst a hundred years, but it depends on one''s physical prowess and stamina usage. For someone like you, I''d be surprised if each Pillsted a single year." Rudeus informed William of the Pill''s effects, though he already knew because of the System. William popped a Pill in his mouth and crunched it like a hard candy. His taste budsined on first contact with the Pill''s rough outer shell, but William managed to choke it down with a slight struggle. As the Tier 10 Suppression Pill traveled down William''s throat, he could feel the shell cracking and dissolving to unveil an even more disgusting taste. Thankfully he had already swallowed, otherwise he probably wouldn''t have been able to consume the Pill in its current state.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The contents of the Suppression Pill dispersed throughout William''s body and targeted his muscles directly, filling him with a sense of weakness that wasparable to when he was still a non-Cultivator. William loosened up the suppression of the Territory of Sealing, finding that he only had to use five percent of the usual effects to maintain his body in peak condition. The only downside to this was that William could sense the Suppression Pill''s effects weakening almost instantaneously. Rather than taking a year for the effects to expire, the Suppression Pill would likely only persist for a week at this rate. Thankfully this could be mitigated by increasing his Seal Territory''s effects to roughly eighty percent. As long as he could bnce his use of the Seal Element and Suppression Pill with his ever-growing strength, William could hopefully make the twenty Suppression Pillsst ten years. "Thank you, Alchemist Rudeus." William bowed respectfully. The man had done him a huge favor by expending such valuable ingredients for him, and he was not one to forego appreciation. "I should be thanking you. You''ve eliminated hundreds of years'' worth of nning by our adversaries in a few days. If we had a few young ones like you in our Faction, we would be unstoppable by the end of the year!" Rudeus'' ttery made William feel both awkward and suspicious. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the old Alchemist, "You''re not trying to butter me up so you can meet my friends, are you?" Rudeus pressed his hand against his chest and feigned a mixture of shock and hurt, "I can''t believe you would say something like that about me after I refined such precious Pills for you! I''ve worked very hard thesest few days..." William wasn''t convinced by Rudeus'' terrible acting. "Whatever you say. Thanks for your help but I''ll be leaving now." "Where will you go?" The old man asked abruptly. "Back to my home Continent, there''s no more reason to be here." "Oh... Well take this before you go." Rudeus reached into his Space Ring and pulled out a small ck box with a circr lens on the front that appeared as if it could be zoomed in and out. The ck box contained multiple small buttons for various uses, while a single red light was slowly blinking. "Wear this with you wherever you go, it''ll protect you." Rudeus gave an ingratiating smile and waved William in dismissal. "..." William stared at the ck box speechlessly. It was a video camera, set to record anything and everything that happened involving William. Of course he would know what it was, because it originated from his home World! He epted the camera with thanks, opting to not refuse Rudeus'' kind intentions, but the moment he was out of sight he pressed the power button and turned the camera off. He then inspected the item for any hidden Arrays, locating a sneaky one that would send the picture to a set of coordinates in real-time, depending on William''s distance from the coordinates. It was incrediblyplex for a simple camera, and well beyond what Rudeus could achieve. But it was also incredibly... perverted to say the least. I better keep my friends away from that damned old man, he can''t be trusted. William thought as he opened a long-distance portal back to the Revista Faction''s Cultivation Site. Chapter 363 Enlightenment Charlotte had just finished a Cultivation session when William returned and was seated on a bench made from nt Magic. She was thest of the group to reach the Nascent Soul Realm, but she was still satisfied. At least she had caught up to William, albeit barely. Seeing the Superior Tribtion Clouds above William''s head didn''t surprise Charlotte in the slightest, but she couldn''t help herself frommenting. "Are you still breaking through or have the Heavens decided they want you dead?" she pointed to the sky with a gentleugh. "Probably thetter. It''s been going on for weeks now." William sighed as he sat down next to her, cutting off the Tribtion''s view using the power of the Cultivation Site. If the Tribtions didn''t end soon, he''d probably turn into a local myth. How could he sneak up on his enemies with a massive Tribtion above his head 24/7? "Oh." Charlotte stole a nce at the others, who were still Cultivating. "It looks like it''s just you and me right now." "Yeah..." "What do you want to talk about?" "Uh, I don''t know. Is there something on your mind?" Charlotte''s fingers danced on the table absentmindedly as she thought for a long time, "Do you remember the night we spent together before we left?" "How could I forget?" William smiled, making Charlotte blush a little. "Well..." Charlotte couldn''t finish her words, but William knew what she wanted to ask. "It was amazing, but I know we moved a little fast there. I''m sorry if I let my emotions get out of hand." he had no intention of ming the Humanity skill for that night. Charlotte smiled sheepishly, "It''s okay. We''re adults, right? Things are supposed to be like this." William realized then just how innocent Charlotte was despite her actions the other day. He wondered if his B-Rank Physical Charm Talent had something to do with the way Charlotte acted. Their conversation was interrupted by arge Mana fluctuation surrounding Gunther. The ground in a one-meter circle around him was transmuted directly from earth to ice, chilling the environment by dozens of degrees in a matter of moments. Tia, Carl, and Yuming were all awoken from their Cultivation at this moment, unable to continue because of the intense cold that assaulted their five senses. Even William and Charlotte were affected, though they were over a dozen meters away. "He''s entered Enlightenment!" Yuming eximed with a mix of surprise and jealousy. Enlightenment appeared incredibly rarely during Cultivation and had a plethora of different effects. It could give a cksmith insight on how to better refine ores, or an Alchemist might spontaneously learn new properties of an ingredient they work with often.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om In Gunther''s sense, it seemed to have something to do with his Ice Element, but they didn''t know what. William looked intently at the process, hoping to glean some information from his friends'' Enlightenment. My chances for Enlightenment are naturally higher than everyone else''s, yet I haven''t been Enlightened once... "We can talk about thister." Charlotte smiled slightly, touched that William was thinking about her the entire time. "I had fun, though." Tia walked over from afar and gestured to the seated Gunther, "How long has he been doing this?" "Just a few seconds. You woke up right away." William replied, still looking directly at Gunther. "Don''t bother trying to learn anything from it. The Enlightenments are individual-specific and usually rte to hidden or innate Talents." Tia replied. "You''ve seen one before?" "No, but I heard about it often from the Sect Elders. It''s a rare urrence, but when there are thousands of Disciples Cultivating at the same time, they''ve probably seen Enlightenments dozens of times." William nodded, "How long is it going tost?" "Could be days, weeks, or even a month. Depends on how thorough his Enlightenment is." she looked at a bright golden barrier surrounding the Cultivation Site, "Did you use Arrays on this ce?" "Yeah, I had to go away for a while and didn''t want you meeting any trouble. Why do you ask?" "There was a group of people here the other day, but they left after a few hours. We didn''t pay much attention to them, though." Were they enemies or just regr Cultivators? I can''t imagine the Revista Faction would send people here when they know I''m using the Cultivation Site... William didn''t think too much on it and asked, "When he''s done, are you ready to leave?" "Right now? I was nning to stay here for at least a year until I reach the Soul Formation Realm. I don''t know about the others, but Gunther and I are on the same page." Oh right, this ce is probably much more attractive to people that don''t have the Cultivation Talent. Their breakthrough speed is even faster than mine was when I had the S-Rank Cultivation Talent. William realized. "Alright then, I''ll reinforce the Arrays and set them up so you can leave whenever you want but be careful. I''ve made a lot of enemies on the Continent in thest few weeks, and I don''t think they''ll treat you kindly if they know your connection to me." William warned. While his position as the strongest may be a powerful deterrent for many, there was a chance of having a converse effect. William was reluctant to leave his friends alone in a dangerous Continent, but he needed to finish mapping for the System Quests as soon as possible. Just like Briar and Jenny, they each make their own choices. I can''t helicopter over them all the time. "What about you, Charlotte?" he looked at the brown-haired girl seated next to him. "Hmm. I think I''ll stay also." she replied calmly. This is the best opportunity to keep up with him, how can I go back to the Ruins where the Spirit Qi is thinner? William nodded, expecting as much. "In that case I will be leaving, but I''ll visit when I have time." He bade his friends farewell for now but didn''t wake Gunther from his Enlightenment and instead asked Tia to pass the message for him. Afterwards, William called me Dragon Uri through the System and stepped outside the Cultivation Site. Since Uri couldn''t reach the Revista Faction''s territory alone without running into the poisonous miasma, William had to teleport to the shoreline of the Velos Continent like before to wait for his Companion Beast. "I''m here, Master William." the dragon bellowed from the sky as his ws touched the ground and wings folded inward. He looked up at the Superior Tribtion Clouds nervously, but since William didn''t say anything about it, neither did he. "Don''t worry about the Tribtion," William said as his body deflected a Heavenly Lightning Bolt into the distance, "I''ll protect you." "Yes, Master. Where do you want to go?" Uri knew full-well to trust what William said. If the boy said he would defend him from the Tribtion, then he definitely would. William would have liked to map out the Velos Continent in its entirety before leaving, but the poisonous miasma would make it impossible to bring Uri along. William couldn''t Cultivate while walking, as much as he would like to. "I think it''s time we visited the Dragon Continent. What do you think?" Chapter 364 Purple Snake Lightning "As you wish, Master William." Uri said, although he was very happy. With a powerhouse like William traveling along with him, there was a high chance that he could learn what truly happened to the Dragons of Dragon Continent. His first trip to the Dragon Continent had left some emotional scars in his heart that would take a long time to heal. If he were a human, his condition might be described as slight Cultivation Deviation. He wanted to know what the humans were doing on the Dragon Continent, how the dragons disappeared in the first ce, and whether they were still alive. Only after these three questions were answered could he be satisfied. "Before we go back, I need to visit Master. It''s on the way, so we won''t be wasting much time." William said as he opened a series ofrge long-distance portal that would take them directly to the entrance of the Gravitas Ruins. With the help of the Artifact Belt and his Cultivation in the Nascent Soul Realm, William''s S-Rank Space Element was able to cross the entire ocean in one go, though he couldn''t quite bridge the gap to the Gravitas Ruins or Providence Zone, yet. He left Uri outside to wait for a while, entering the Ruins and teleporting directly to Riyald''sboratory. Before the Superior Tribtion could descend, William used the Illusion Element to better conceal his presence while maintaining his original form. Outside the Gravitas Ruins, this wouldn''t work at all, but since the Ruins were built with many Arrays designed for concealment already, the effects stacked well and allowed William to shift the Superior Tribtion''s attention away for a while. He scanned his surroundings and released a sigh. Waiting for William in theboratory was a series of improved crossbows that sent Soul Formation-level attacks repeatedly at William, their bolts whizzing through the air before William had even finished casting his Illusion Magic. "Oh,e on Master. You should know these can''t hurt me." William said calmly. He opened the Forcefield Talent and allowed each of the bolts tond harmlessly on its surface, the poison-tipped bolts unable to reach his real body. "Are you sure about that?" Riyald released a cynicalugh as a panel slid away from the ceiling to reveal a harpoon gun fitted with some sort of purple lightning in a jar. Stay updated through empire The harpoon fired directly at William, the jar exploding in midair to release a bolt of snake-like lightning that resembled Atticus'' form. The bolt expanded in midair, reaching a length of two hundred meters in an instant and flooding the room with bright purple light. The bolt shattered William''s Forcefield in an instant and mmed into William''s body, covering him in its entirety as it split into tiny Lightning Mana Particles that wormed their way through the miniscule gaps in William''s skin cells. Momentster, William felt a slight jolt from his internal organs, while Riyald appeared in front of him through one of his Portal Stones, wearing a wide grin as he looked at his Disciple. "So? What do you think?" "I think you''re a god damned maniac! How did you evene up with this, and why? Just to torture me?" William was enraged by the tiny bolts of Lightning that did little damage but would spark every few seconds to remind him they were still inside his body. Riyald raised his left hand to reveal a purple and silver ring. "I call it Purple Snake Lightning, after your little Companion Beast. Since I don''t have to worry so much about my enemies, I went out for a while and explored a Ruin of the Yu Royal Family''s that I wasn''t able to explore before. The Ruin was cleared out a long time ago, but some of the traps are still active. I was especially interested in a certain trap that modified the Lightning Element slightly and changed its color, though it''s only for visual effect and has no impact on the Lightning''s quality. What really interested me, though, was the secondary set of Arrays that broke apart the Spell and reformed it before hitting you. Since Mana Particles are so small, they can technically break past any defense..." he continued rambling for what seemed like an eternity, but William understood the general idea at this point. "So, you can use Lightning Magic now?" William asked. "Huh? No, this is merely the effects of my Artifacts. I can only cast this Spell once before exhausting the entire Mana pool. Although you could charge it for me in a few minutes since you have the Lightning Affinity." he looked at William with a pleading gaze. "No." William said. "You just attacked me, and now I''m supposed to charge your Spell? I''m still being attacked, what if I died?!" "You? Die? You''re hrious. If you could die so easily, I think you would''ve been killed by my Trials long ago." Riyaldughed. William was the best test subject; how could he not take advantage of his powerful Disciple for a little experiment?" "Maybe not, but don''t you fear for your own life?" William narrowed his eyes at his insufferable Master. He had forgotten Riyald''s true character was like this. "Alright, my young and powerful Disciple. You''re right, but aren''t you impressed? If I can make more of these, mybat strength might rise to a new level! It''s a huge achievement, and I have you to thank for it!"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Well, that''s good, because I went to the Velos Continent and the Soul Cultivation Technique you wanted is much moreplicated than we expected. You won''t be able to learn it." William exined with a sigh. "I can learn anything! Let me see it." "I can''t show you." "Why not?" Riyald asked, "What''s wrong with the Technique?" "Apparently only one person can use it, it''s the Soul Inheritance Technique. Are you familiar with it?" "Never heard of it. What do you mean only one person can use it?" Riyald was confused, though he had half an idea given the Technique''s name. "It takes the Soul Strength of the previous user and gives it to the next." William exined in short. "Ah... then I suppose it really is impossible..." Riyald looked down in disappointment. He was really riding on being able to Ascend with Soul Strength, but the Soul Inheritance Technique had already been inherited. System, is there another way to help out my Master? -Request requires 730 Potential Points. Yes/No? Confirm. The System sent William a long series of messages, informing him of a particr process that would be able to help Riyald if performed correctly. "But I have an idea, Master." William said suddenly, giving Riyald some hope. "What is it, my Disciple? Say it quickly." "Do you have any enemies on the Dragon Continent?" "The Dragon Continent? What''s this about? Of course I have enemies, but I''m not sure where they are at this point in time." "Oh, right." William realized. "Come with me to the Dragon Continent anyway, maybe we''ll find some enemies of yours." "Why are we looking for my enemies? And you still haven''t exined what your idea is. Get on with it!" "It''s simple." William said. "You like stealing, right? We''re going to steal some souls." Chapter 365 Bloodline Pill, Still Searching In a dimly lit room of Retribution''s Headquarters, the Blue and Green Region leaders were strapped to Array-reinforced tables with their arms at their sides and bound by the leather of a Tribtion Transcendence Magical Beast. In front of them were two yers in the Nascent Soul Realm, wearing white gloves and each holding a blue and purple Pill that emitted a light purple fog, almost like poison. They were both nervous, but they had no choice but to listen to their Region Leaders'' orders. "Are you ready, Masters Blue and Green?" they asked. "Do it. There''s no going back now." Blue said quickly, closing his eyes and opening his mouth. He and Green had gathered enough blood from Atticus that they were able to refine two Tier 8 Bloodline Pills, so they both decided to go through with the process. "Alright, we''re dropping the Pills now, and then you''re on your own, Region Leaders." the two looked at each other and started a countdown. They hovered the Bloodline Pills above both Region Leaders'' mouths, the bitter scent reaching their uncovered noses. "3... 2... 1... Dropping now!" they released their holds on the Pills and ran to the opposite side of the room as quickly as possible, closing a steel door behind them and engaging a series of locks that would probably not do much good. On the other side, thirty other Nascent Soul Cultivators had prepared tens of thousands of Advanced Arrays that would hopefully protect them from what was toe. As they hid inside the Arrays, a series of inhuman roars came from the other room, followed by snapping sounds. "The side effects have already started? It hasn''t even been ten seconds!" one of the subordinates looked at the closed door in shock.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Bang! A massive bulge appeared in the steel door as it bent from the strength of a heavy punch. The Nascent Soul Cultivators added more Advanced Arrays to their defenses out of fear, while a few took out their protective Amulets and checked to make sure they would activate properly. Bang! Bang! Two quick punches near the top of the door knocked one of the hinges off and shattered two of the locks, the door bending fifteen degrees outward and on the verge of copse. A fourth punch followed soon after, tearing down the door and revealing two shadowy figures inside. The Blue and Green Region Leaders were shrouded in a purple smoke that emanated naturally off their bodies, the signature effect of upgrading the Illusion Element. Their eyes were the same color as normal, but they seemed cloudier, as if the two weren''t in the correct state of mind. Their heads turned left and right as the Region Leaders looked at the thirty-two subordinates hiding behind the Arrays, terrifying the group to no end. Their subordinates had powerful Concealment Arrays protecting them, but the Region Leaders could still see them. Find exclusive stories on empire "GRUAH!" Blue roared as he punched at the Arrays, shattering over half of them with a single hit. His Illusion Mana spread out, covering the remainder of the Arrays and eliminating their presence from the World, essentially rendering the subordinates behindpletely defenseless. A series of screams followed not long after as the two Region Leaders ughtered their subordinates like sheep. yers and NPCs alike were killed wantonly, unable to resist or run at all. The two Region Leaders'' rampagested for about ten minutes, and only then did they regain rity. "Damn, we killed so many of them. The bloodline of this Magical Beast is insane!" Greenmented with a gasp. "Oh well, the yers will respawn, and the rest are just NPCs. I don''t care if we kill a thousand, this bloodline is awesome!" Blue released a hint of Illusion Mana, trying to regain the feeling he had before when he was using it with extreme precision. It would take some time before he gained an understanding of the Element. "Right, well hopefully Master ck isn''t too upset. I don''t want to lose reputation over this." "He won''t be upset. After he sees ourbat power, he might give us even more benefits!" *** At the edge of the Velos Continent, a man dressed in simple overalls and ck leather boots approached a silver-haired girl seated at a table with a smile. "Honey, are you from another Continent?" "Don''t call me that. And yes." Fria returned her attention to a map she had just purchased from an unsightly woman in one of the stores. "Ah, well I happen to be a Miasma Navigator. Name''s Gro. I can take you through the poisonous miasma spread throughout the Continent, at a price, of course." Fria already knew about the poisonous miasma and nodded. "I see, I''m also looking for some information, perhaps you know about someone named William? He''s pretty high-profile." "William, huh? I have actually. What do you need to know?" Fria handed Gro a bag of a thousand Gold Coins and asked, "I''m looking for him. Do you know where he went?" "Well... he''s quite fast and difficult to track, but if I remember correctly he went to the Revista Faction with his friends first, then to the Velos Faction. He started a war with the Laotonus, Beronius, and Andorea Factions, then captured the Matriarch and both Patriarchs. He disappeared for a little while, then his dragon mount was spotted flying to the shoreline yesterday. He''s a Space Mage, so he could be anywhere." Fria frowned. He did all that in a few weeks? What the hell, I just got here! "Maybe I''ll go to the Revista Faction then, can you take me there?" "Not a problem. I''m curious, though, what are you doing searching for a man at the peak of the World? If you catch him in the wrong mood, he might just kill you." "I have my reasons. I''m not afraid." Fria said simply, though she doubted even a peak Cultivator could kill her in a short amount of time. She had fought the Kamei Hamei turtles already, even if William was a bit stronger, it couldn''t be too far past that. "Alright, then. Take this medallion for your protection and meet with me tomorrow morning. It''s going to be a long trip." Gro said as he handed Fria a few things, to which she epted with a nod. She checked into a hotel but asked around for more information on William just in case, not fully trusting the words of a random man in dirty clothing. Unfortunately, his words seemed to be the truth, William''s current whereaboutspletely unknown. If this was the Azures Continent, I would have known where he was almost 24/7. Why is the flow of information here so bad? she could only me the poisonous miasma. Thankfully she had the Forums, so hopefully she would glean some information about the NPC soon. Just in case, she switched the notifications setting to the entire World, just in case William had already left the Continent. As she set her character to rest in the hotel, Fria took off her headset to rest in the real world, but her mind was so full of questions rted to the game that she couldn''t sleep well. I don''t even know what I''ll say when I meet him. Hi, I feel like you remind me of someone, do I seem familiar? No, what the hell? I must be crazy, who would listen to the words of a crazy person? Maybe I''ll just challenge him to a duel. What if he Ascends before I can find him? Chapter 366 On The Western Shore After a bit of convincing, Master Riyald eventually decided to join William on his trip to the Dragon Continent. William still didn''t exin clearly how he was going to help Riyald Ascend, but the old man could tell at a nce that William''s intentions were good. It wouldn''t hurt to trust his young Disciple every once in a while, would it? While William and Riyald rode on the me Dragon''s back across the ocean to the Northwest of the Azures Continent, William expended most of his Cultivation Base to break through to the fourth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. Each breakthrough cost 250 thousand Spirit Qi more than thest, making William realize why thest few stages of Cultivation took such a long time to reach. If the Nascent Soul Realm already cost millions of Spirit Qi, he didn''t want to see the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. It took roughly three weeks for me Dragon Uri to reach the edges of the Dragon Continent while William Cultivated to recover some of his lost Cultivation Base, mostly because William asked him to reduce his speed when passing over a thousand-kilometer-wide sphere of a royal blue color. When inspecting more closely, William realized it was actually the Superior Water Vein, surrounded by five equidistant Greater Veins that had their own protective formations made up of the lower level Veins. They can be in the ocean too? Or is it just the Water Element? -Just the Water Element. William heaved a sigh of relief. If he had to map out the entire ocean as well, he was afraid it would take much longer than ten years to reach some of these locations; especially if there were Veins hidden in tiny crevices or deep ravines that were hundreds of kilometers past the limits of William''s Vision and Navigation Talents. After crossing the massive Water Vein, William returned to his Cultivation, reaching just over two million Spirit Qi by the time he saw the shores of the Dragon Continent. "Are there any weird obstacles this time? No immortal dragon''s fire or anything like that?" William asked the me Dragon. "Not that I''m aware of, Master. I was able to cross the entire Continent unimpeded." Well, you''re a dragon, you might be special. But William didn''t say anything out loud. He looked at Riyald, who shook his head. "I also don''t remember any traps like that on Dragons'' Veil." "Dragons'' Veil?" William repeated back to Riyald. "Just a nickname I made for their Continent. Nothing important." Riyald shrugged his shoulders. William nodded and jumped off Uri''s back before he couldnd, opening his Navigation Talent and Life Sense immediately to scan the area for any sign of dragons. At a nce, the Dragon Continent looked more like a jungle than it did a rocky cove or mountain fit for the World''s peak Magical Beast. Thousands of presences appeared in William''s vision right away, but none of them emitted the usual aura of a dragon. Instead, they came from a series of small towns just twenty kilometers north of the Western shore. He could also see a few random species of Magical Beast, from fierce looking lizardmen wearing orange loincloths to vibrantly colorful snakes of red, green and yellow. There were also green and blue blobs of liquid moving through the trees, registering as Elevated Slimes in William''s Bestiary. Read thetest on empire Huh, there are even slimes in this World? Where did theye from, and how do they live? -Request requires ten Potential Points. Yes/No? It''s so cheap, why not. William thought as he epted the System''s request. -The Elevated Slimes and other species are a unique Magical Beast that were created by Ascended Cultivators long ago. Their mastery of the Life and other Elements allowed a group of Cultivators to sessfully establish brand-new races that subconsciously share information and ept orders from above. Someone created new life in this World? And with the Life Element? Does that mean I can do it too? -Your level is too low. Perhaps in the future. William sighed. It was expected, but he couldn''t help but be interested in what was toe. Instead of relying on the purchase and hatching process of the Companion Beast Shop, William could create his own beings. The Companion Beast Shop is pretty cheap, though. And I don''t know how I would ensure that the thing I make will be of the proper Rarity. For all I know, I could make a hundred Common Beasts before Ie up with a single Rare or Epic.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om William decided to push these thoughts to ater date. For now, it was better to remain vignt and focus on mapping out the Continent. He scanned the Western shoreline first, his hands scribbling at insane speed as he drew a rough outline of the Western portion of the Dragon Continent. The Navigation Talent made this task incredibly simple, but William still had a lot of trouble adding the small details to the map. As long as it made sense to him, though, that was fine. Riyald entered one of the human towns to chat with the local residents while William was mapping. Just like Uri, the old man was surprised to see that there really wasn''t any presence of dragons nearby, not a single one. Another three days passed before Williampleted the initial work, having surprisingly already located both the Superior nt and Wind Cores on separate ends of the shore and hidden almost two hundred kilometers underground. William was thankful for the Mana Mode of his Vision Talent, because the S-Rank Navigation couldn''t even see that far underground. Regardless, it was better to rely on the Mana Vision, since the Illusion Vein and others would probably be incredibly difficult to find otherwise. -Your Order Fruits have grown -Your Seal Fruits have grown Has it been a month already? Damn... William thought as he entered the mental space to check on the Element Farms. Sure enough, a silver and ck-gold tree next to each other were each bearing their respective fruits, though the Seal Tree seemed to only have five fruits grown rather than the usual twenty-five. It surprised William to see that the difference between D and C-Rank was so vast, but it made him excited for when the Element Farms could reach S-Rank one day. Would all the fruits grow at the same time then? I wish I had enough Points to upgrade the Seal Element Farm right away, but I''ll just have to make do with five fruits for now. William thought as he traveled to his warehouse and entered the spacious room. Since his Seal Element was already X-Rank, William knew he had the ability to consume the freshly grown Fruits this time. He picked up a ck-gold apple and shoved it into his mouth directly, hoping there wouldn''t be any surprise consequences to his sudden action. His throat felt warm as the Seal Fruit traveled towards his stomach, a unique sensation filling his mind in the process. A few thoughts entered William''s brain rted to the Seal Element, including small details that he had missed in the past. Brand new never before seen Spells wereprehended in an instant, while the Seal Element in William''s body felt slightly stronger than before. His current self-suppression was around eighty-five percent, but he felt like only eighty-four percent would be needed to maintain the same level of suppression. Chapter 367 Points Harvest It was a miniscule increase to say the least, but William had only eaten one of the five Seal Fruits. Before he could pop the second one in his mouth, the System sent a message in the corner of his view.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om -Consumed a Seal Fruit: +0.1% Comprehension of the Seal Element A tenth of a percent? So, I have to consume a thousand of these Fruits to reach one hundred percent?? William did the math. If he didn''t upgrade his Seal Element Farm again, it would take over sixteen years to fullyprehend the Seal Element. In retrospect, it would only take three and a quarter years if he upgraded the Farm to C-Rank. POTENTIAL POINTS: 343,940 William sighed. The answer always seemed to lie with Potential Points, but he just didn''t have enough! The Fire Mine probably has a good number of Points waiting for me. I should visit them really quick. William thought as he opened a long-distance portal back to the Azures Continent. In a series of short hops that would take a non-Space Mage months to travel, William reached the Fire Mine in less than ten minutes. At the entrance of the Fire Mine, Wen Xai could be seen casually writing down notes in his journal, but he bowed deeply the moment William appeared in the distance. Your next journey awaits at empire "How are things going so far, Wen Xai?" William asked with a smile as he approached. "Very well Sir, we have extracted arge portion of merium, but the Dragonstone is a bit too tough to efficiently mine for now." Wen Xai said as he handed William his notebook, listing the numbers. William checked over the sheet and went to the warehouse, nodding in satisfaction as he swept all the ores into his Space Ring. -Acquired merium: +250 PP -Acquired merium (x18153): 4,538,250 PP That''s a lot more than I expected, this was a good idea! They''re pretty efficient to have gathered so many in just a few months. Williammented inwardly. While his Companion Beasts and the Potential Farms earned him quite a few Potential Points passively, nothing couldpare to the earnings from the Fire Mine in itself. He made a mental note to make use of the other Elemental Mines on the Continent in the future. After a moment of deliberation, however, William realized he was being stupid. Why wait untilter? Time wasted is money lost, let''s do it now! He teleported to the cave abode where he was storing the forty-four Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators from the Velos Continent, having almost forgotten about them during his trip to the Dragon Continent. Cultivators at the peak of the World were usually well-known for having pristine clothing with no wrinkles or stains whatsoever. Even while fighting, the peak Cultivators would almost never allow dirt to touch their clothing. When William saw the state of his captured opponents, however, there was no trace of dignity left in their expressions. Other than allowing them to breathe and blink, the Cultivators were unable to do anything for almost an entire month. They couldn''t eat, drink, or urinate whatsoever, forcing their dders to remain full throughout the entire process. Even peak Cultivators had to poop every once in a while, but the Seal Element wouldn''t let them, forcing a cycle of endless constipation. The suppression of the Seal Element also forced them to remain awake during the entire period, cutting off their only chance at skipping through this nightmare. When William saw what state he had left them in, he was surprised to find he felt nothing, ming the experience on his Humanity statistic. "Do you want to get out of here?" William asked simply while cleaning the dirt from under his fingernails. He restored some of the Cultivators'' ability to speak, waiting to hear their response. "We''re sorry!" one of the Cultivators cried out the instant his voice was restored. His eyes became watery as he asked, "Please can you let us go? I need to use the bathroom!" "I could, but in exchange will you work for me in the mines for a year or two? I''ll even pay you, though it might not be as much as you would normally earn." William asked. "I''ll do anything, Sir! Please!" the man didn''t hesitate at all to ept William''s offer. "In that case, let''s do it this way." William said as he called a portion of his Seal Mana to enter the bodies of each Cultivator and attach itself to their hearts. As long as he was within a hundred kilometers of the Cultivator, William could control the Seal Mana to stop the Cultivators'' hearts in an instant. Even if they didn''t need their hearts to survive, William could track them through the Seal Mana as well, ensuring they would never escape as long as they didn''t Ascend. Next, William checked their Cultivation levels and had them waste three years'' worth of Spirit Qi if they were close to Ascension. Even if they wanted to leave, they had nowhere to go, but William tried not to be too harsh with the punishment. "You''ll work for me in the mines for a period of one year. If you do well, I will let you go early, and if you perform poorly, I will extend your service by another year. Does this sound good to you?" William asked. The group readily epted his offer, grateful rather than upset that he burned some of their Cultivation. Any other opponent wouldn''t hesitate to kill them or even cripple their Dantians, but William seemed to be different. They couldn''t help but be thankful, and a year in the mines was nothingpared to their long lives. "Great!" William snapped his fingers and unsealed the Cultivators'' movements simultaneously, wrinkling his nose as a putrid scent immediately filled the air. He used the slightly improved Territory of Sealing to halt all their movements in an instant, granting him time to extend the distance between himself and the puddles forming on the ground. "Follow me, I''ll show you to your posts." He opened a medium-distance portal to a nearby Oasis and dropped the Cultivators into it, granting them an hour to clean themselves up. Once they were ready, he took them to the Providence Zone, where Kamei the ck Turtle Hatchling was already waiting. "Is there something you need, Master?" Kamei asked as he nced at the forty-something Cultivators behind William. "Ah, yes. Good timing. Can you call for the Region Leaders I caught before? I need them to supervise these guys." William asked quickly. He honestly couldn''t remember where he left the old men that used to be the higher-ups of Retribution, but thankfully his Companion Beasts were reliable. In a matter of minutes, William was sent the coordinates to their locations, where he opened a series of long-distance portals and brought them over. Seeing the group of peak Cultivators from the Velos Continent, the Region Leaders couldn''t conceal their shock. "Ah... Master William, where should we have them work?" "Since they''re at the peak, I think it might be suitable to have them here." William said as he projected a holographic map that disyed the different resource nodes of the Azures Continent. At one particr spot in the Providence Zone, William ced his finger and showed the group. "T-That''s... are you sure, Master?" the old men trembled in fear as old memories resurfaced. "Absolutely. Send them to the Superior Death Mine." Chapter 368 Upgrade It All! Many of the Velos Continent Cultivators didn''t know what William was referring to, but the moment they heard "Superior Death Mine", bits of information from hundreds of years ago entered their brains. "Sir William... You don''t mean that Superior Death Mine that is overrun by Soul Formation and Tribtion Transcendence Beasts every few months? It''s not that Mine... is it?" one of the Cultivators asked nervously. William nodded, "Don''t worry, I''ll have my Companions take care of the Beast Tides whenever they appear. You won''t even have to fight." he looked over to Kamei as he spoke. Seeing the powerful ck Tortoise Hatchling in the background eased the tensions of many Cultivators and they epted the offer, though they weren''t entirely convinced. That said, there were forty of them and they were all at the peak of the World, how could they be afraid? William passed along their instructions and set them to work at the highest level of the mines where Greater Death Shards appeared first. Once they had been taught how to properly extract the crystals, William asked the Region Leaders to contact him once all the Greater Shards had been retrieved. Further down the Mines were the Superior Death Shards, but William didn''t want to risk losing any valuable Potential Points if the newbies messed up. For now, the Greater Shards would have to do. Afterwards, William promptly returned to the Dragon Continent. Riyald was still in the human town, while Uri had returned and was resting on the shore while waiting for William toe back. The Dragon Continent had be too dangerous for the old dragon, and it didn''t dare to explore too much. William looked at his System Panel. POTENTIAL POINTS: 4,882,440 SYSTEM RANK: B (2,981,096PP to next rank) If I spend most of my Points today, I can upgrade the System and probably earn another Farm Slot. If I''m going to improve my Elements past the limit of this World, I''m going to need to increase myprehension of them. William started by spending a million Points to upgrade the Seal Farm to C-Rank, increasing the number of growing fruits from five to twenty-five. With the System Quest requiring ten years of him, William felt this was a suitable limit for now. System, are there any benefits to upgrading my Element Farms past C-Rank?n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om -Later upgrades give higher quality Fruits, but you won''t be able to use them in your current condition. William nodded in understanding. So, the upgrades aren''t always about quantity... He scrolled through the System Panel looking for more Talents to raise to the next level. -Mana Regeneration: SSR (75000PP to next rank) My Mana Regeneration was never maxed out this entire time?! What am I doing? System, upgrade the Mana Regeneration Talent. -75000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Your next chapter awaits on empire Mana Regeneration: (SSR --> X) Effects: Recover 8320 Mana per hour >> Recover 16640 Mana per hour X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Calm Recovery: Mana Regenerates four times as fast out ofbat. -Mana Lord: All Mana within one meter of you is slightly more susceptible to your control, allowing you to manipte even Elements you do not have an Affinity for. Can be used when upgrading your Elemental Affinities. Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª An ability I can take advantage of even during the Chaos upgrade? This could be very useful! William eximed in his mind. He wished he had upgraded the Mana Regeneration Talent sooner since it might have saved him a year or two of his lifespan. He moved on to more of his supporting Talents, opting to max out as many as possible. First came the Stealth Talent which mostly improved his invisibility capabilities and further reduced his Mana and Spirit Qi fluctuations. Afterward, he rose all of his remaining Trade Talents to X-Rank, costing a total of 416,875 Potential Points. His Alchemy rose from SSR to X-Rank, further improving his Pill refinement process by leaps and bounds. No matter what the ingredients were, William could refine all of them into a Pill perfectly, and he could even refine multiple different Pills at once if he had the cauldrons avable. The Tailoring, Sales, and Carpentry Talents all rose from A to X-Rank directly, teaching William many new skilled rted to creating new clothing that was both more stylish and durable. The Sales Talent gave insights on how to better bargain with others, and even allowed him to see the mary value of all gear throughout all regions. Even though William was on the Dragon Continent now, he could see that his Abyssal Weapon Shifter was actually worth more on the Velos Continent than across the rest of the World. He even saw that there were two locations other than the Dragon he had yet to explore: the Arcturis Continent and the Slyte Ind Nation. The value of his Abyssal Weapon Shifter wasn''t great in either Continent, but the value of his Starmetal Bow was insanely high on Arcturis. With the Carpentry Talent, William learned advanced techniques for creating solid structures that would better withstand the natural Elements. Additionally, he received multiple speed boosts rted to carpentry, allowing him to multitask and work as fast as a hundred people as long as his mind could keep up. His Forging Talent went from S to X-Rank, and his previously D-Rank Cartography was maxed out in an instant. Once the SSR Cooking Talent was raised one more level, William had finished off all the Trade Talents in his System Panel, only spending half a million Potential Points. William''s upgrade spree was interrupted by the usual sound of his Forcefield shattering into pieces. While the Superior Tribtion couldn''t normally break through his Forcefield, the repair process was slowed by William''s upgrades and the Forcefield eventually shattered on its own. Let''s fix that right now, upgrade the Forcefield Talent to X-Rank. The Systempleted the upgrade instantaneously, elevating William''s defensive ability with the Forcefield to the Ascension Realm. No matter if it was the Superior Tribtion before he consumed the Ascension Dragon Tears, or if it was Marcus'' full-powered attack, William could handle it all with the Forcefield alone. Next came the Navigation Talent, which expanded its coverage to the majority of the Dragon Continent. Thisbined with the upgraded Cartography Talent would greatly speed up the rate at which he mapped out the Continent, but he would still need to search for the Superior Cores manually using his Mana Mode Vision. I haven''t had a serious need for these other resistances yet, but I might as well upgrade them for the Elemental Formter anyway. System, upgrade my Heat, Cold, Sleep, Slow, and Charm Resistance Talents to X-Rank. -251260 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Heat Resistance: (SSR --> X) Effects: Resistance to all forms of heat and their residual effects +4800% >> +9600% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Heat Body: When your body is affected by mes, increase the power of your Fire Magic by 100%. When your body is affected byva, increase the power of your Earth and Fire Magic by 100%. When affected by both, both effects apply and stack doubly. -Heat Absorption: Locked. Upgrade your Fire Affinity to X-Rank. Next rank up: Requirements Locked. Ascend or upgrade the System to A-Rank to unlock the next Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Chapter 369 Theyre All X-Rank?! 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 ¡ª¡ª¡ª 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 ¡ª¡ª¡ª 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. ¡ª¡ª¡ª 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. ¡ª¡ª¡ª -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. Chapter 370 Fight Me Like A Snake! Coiled up leisurely near Blue Moon City, Atticus was smiling in satisfaction as four Nascent Soul Cultivators fanned him simultaneously withrge leaves made from the nt Element. After thest few Beast Tides, Atticus had beenbeled as the Guardian Beast of Blue Moon City, even though many acknowledged that Atticus was one of William''s Companions. His feats were so widespread that many Cultivators would travel from the other Regions just to peer at this Mythical Rat Snake in all his glory. "Master Snake, Master Snake. Won''t you let us fight the Beasts this time? We need contributions..." one of the yers fanning Atticus asked. They had missed out on quite a few Potential Points since Atticus took over this Region''s Beast Tides and had fallen behind the other yers.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The only thing keeping them loyal to Atticus was their current System Quest, which asked them to take care of the snake''s needs in exchange for a chance at some of his scales. If they could earn even a single scale from a Mythical Beast at the peak of the Soul Formation Realm, they could recover all of what they lost and much more. Atticus turned his head and looked at the Cultivator that spoke, "But of course. If you wish to fight, then fight. I won''t get involved this time; you kids have grown up well." he finished as he conjured a pipe using the Illusion Element and stuck it in his mouth. As a Soul Formation Beast, Atticus'' maturity had increased by leaps and bounds. He even learned how to smoke a pipe from a Blue Moon City Cultivator that he had befriended during his most recent battle. "Thank you, Master Snake!" the Cultivators shouted in unison. Not only could theyplete their Quest, but they could earn Potential Points at the same time. There was no loss at all! Atticus curled back up andzily watched the other Cultivators prepare for a battle against the next Beast Tide. The standards of the yers had increased greatly in thest month, many reaching the early to middle stages of the Nascent Soul Realm inbat power, while the more devoted yers were approaching the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm. Those on the same level as Fria already had Soul Formation Realmbat power, their differences only separated by the number of Talents they had learned. If Fria and the others at her level were to battle with the peak Cultivators of the World, the battle''s oue would be decided by who could counter whose abilities, not their overall strength. Experience more on empire While the battle against the Beast Tide was still ongoing, Atticus noticed two obscure figures enter his perception from the corner of his view. With a flick of his tongue, Atticus recognized his own aura and chose to ignore the two, though he felt something was odd about the situation. Were there always others of my species on this World? Should I go meet them? Nah. They''reing to me anyway. Atticus thought as he lowered his head until his lower jawid against the ground,zily staring at the duoing his way. Rather than slowing down to engage in introductions, the two auras both fluctuated slightly before massive amounts of Illusion Mana condensed into a false Domain, one created artificially with the use of more than one individual with the same Element. Using this Domain, the two Cultivators slightly distorted Atticus'' Illusion Territory, forcing him to remain as a tangible form for a fraction of a second. The false Domain was weak, but a fraction of a second was more than enough time for a beam of high-powered Light Magic shot over from the other direction, mming against the side of Atticus'' face and forcing him to tilt to the side. The snake recognized the two auras as enemies and not friends, hissing as he raised his head and called the Illusion Element to distort his environment. A second Light Beam that was supposed to strike the same spot on Atticus'' head was diverted to the sky, as if it had been controlled to do so. The reality of the situation was that the Illusion Element made the Spell think that Atticus was in the sky, so it naturally changed directions. This was one of Atticus'' most powerful moves, and he was surprised to see that he had to use it so early on in a battle. "Just give us your heart and forget about us. That''s all we''re here for." the Green and Blue Cloaked Region Leaders said as they sped towards Atticus. They didn''t expect the snake to respond, but they hoped to at least distract him for a while. Magical Beasts at Atticus'' level no longer needed their hearts to continue functioning properly, but losing one''s heart would always result in decreasedbat power. For Atticus to readily ept such an unfair offer would be tobel him at his Master''s level. "My heart? You''re inssane. How about you let me eat you up and I''ll forgive you for targeting me." Atticus counteroffered. The two Region Leaders responded by allowing two more beams of Light to target Atticus from different directions. They had made additional preparations beforehand, rigging up three separate Light Cannons at the same time and fueling them with six times the number of Cultivators. If one peered into the distance about a hundred kilometers in each direction, they could see the group of Retribution members consolidated in one location and feeding their Mana to the Light Cannons. Tasked to be the distraction, Masters Blue and Green were only meant to corral Atticus into the Light Beams'' paths as they fought, which worked wonderfully so far. Atticus was forced to switch to the defensive after being hit over forty times by the Light Cannons, even retreating a little to catch his breath. Atticus managed to easily counter the false Domains with his Illusion Territory each time, but hisbat experience was still too low. Every time his Territory opened and he tried to phase into the World, the two Cultivators would reopen their false Domain and cancel just the phasing ability. If their efforts were focused on only one portion of the Territory, even a false Domain could reign victorious for a short period of time. They consumed countless Mana Regeneration Pills to keep up during the fight, exhausting Atticus little by little and keeping him near Blue Moon City. Their battle ended up affecting the Beast Tides slightly, but the yers quickly made preparations and rose multiple defensive barriers that could withstand the shockwaves for a few rounds. As long as they continued refreshing the barriers, no outsiders would be injured by this battle between Atticus and Retribution. Multiple scales were knocked loose by the Light Beams, while dozens of liters of blood rained down from above, soaking any Cultivators unlucky enough to pass underneath their battle. Atticus hissed in pain and frustration as his Mana reserves were quickly exhausted, the Region Leaders countering every move he made and avoiding those that were too strong for them. "Cowardss! Fight me like a man! Or... ssnake!" Atticus hissed as he coiled into the sky, trying to gain enough distance so that he could open his Territory unimpeded. Chapter 371 Juhi Battling fiercely with the two Region Leaders, Atticus eventually managed to trace the Light Beams back to their source. Even if Atticus didn''t have sightparable to William''s, Atticus wasn''t stupid. He slithered across the sky to the Region Leaders'' dismay, heading directly towards the first of the three Light Cannons. The Cultivators sending Mana into the Light Cannons saw Atticus rushing to their position and panicked. They stopped the flow of Mana immediately and spread out in all directions, hoping to confuse the Mythical Rat Snake. Atticus snorted. How could Nascent Soul beings possibly hope to escape? Still within the range of his opponents'' false Domain, Atticus was unable to use his Territory to its full capacity still, but there was no need. With a single flip of his massive tail, a group of Cultivators became a cloud of blood while the Light Cannon was smashed into pieces. The few surviving Cultivators were scared out of their minds and used secret Techniques to burn their life force and speed off into the distance. "Sstupid machinesss. You can''t fight with your own sstrength?" Atticus taunted the Region Leaders that were still chasing close behind. His tail flipped back and forth wildly, warning them not toe too close lest they end up like their subordinates. The other two Light Cannons promptly stopped firing at Atticus, realizing that he was tracing their shots. Instead, they moved a few kilometers at a time during his battle and fired off one or two shots. Atticus became more and more frustrated throughout the battle, but he still managed to destroy the remainder of the Light Cannons, at which point the enemy Cultivators werepletely exhausted and were forced to retreat. Atticus himself was missing quite a few scales and covered in blood, but he was mostly okay. He could easily fight an entire day with his current stamina, but the same wasn''t true of the Region Leaders. Even with the support of Atticus'' bloodline, it wasn''t enough to breach the massive gap between them. Not only was Atticus'' Cultivation half a Realm higher than theirs, but he also carried a stronger Illusion Element than they could achieve even withbined power. They epted that they were no match, but they didn''t fail to collect more of Atticus'' blood before leaving. Atticus tried to chase after the group, but the appearance of long-distance portals made him abandon the thought. He couldn''tpete with the Space Element at all, and following might lead to a more sinister trap than the Light Cannons. Without the Life Element or any additional forms of self-recovery, Atticus had no method to heal his injuries quickly. At their current rate, it would be an entire year before he was back to peak physical condition, but Atticus knew the other Cultivators wouldn''t wait for him to recover. I could contact Master through System-San, but I don''t want to rely on him all the time. He''s done so much for me already. Atticus thought as he returned to the Beast Tide''s battlefield. With a few quick flips of his tail, Atticus wiped out the remaining hundred Beasts and marked the end of their battle. He scanned the environment, making the Cultivators nervous as his eyes locked onto a group of healers. "Can you still heal?" Atticus asked the nervous group, who had only just noticed Atticus'' condition. One of them nodded quickly and cast multiple Life Magic Spells on the snake, exhausting their entire Mana Reserve to close a small scratch on his side. The Cultivator passed out momentster. The others paled at this sight. "Master Snake, it might take a while to heal you."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Atticus nodded, "Thankss." Enjoy new tales from empire *** The same day, atop a mountain in the Hillvire Empire. Tenebris was seated in front of an Ancient Array Formation made of Tier 6 Arrays. He pulled out a thousand Mana Stones from his Space Ring and ced them in front of the Array Formation. The Formation lit up the moment the Mana Stones appeared, absorbing the Mana Stones at a rate of one per second. A pir of light as thin as a fingernail pierced into the sky, connecting to the Ascended Realms. In response, a second, simrly sized pir came down from above at a slight angle, creating a holographic humanoid form so blurry that one couldn''t even tell if they were male or female. "What is it, Tenebris? You''ve made a fifteen-minute connection; do you already have the heart for me?" the unknown Cultivator asked. "Not yet, Esteemed Ascendant Juhi. While the strength of my organization has never been higher, we still fall short of acquiring the heart you seek. I fear that the Magical Beast may break through soon. By then, it will be toote for us to have an effect." Tenebris exined. He found that his new Blue and Green Region Leaders were exceptionally skilled for their ages. Not only that, but they were able to use tricks to defeat opponents of greater strength with ease. They didn''t allow their superior abilities to go to their head, and even made the best use of his lesser subordinates to have an impact inrger-scale battles. They were theplete package, and Tenebris had learned much from this new group of people. The only problem was, the Mythical Rat Snake belonged to someone even more powerful than them, and his progression speed even seemed to exceed that of his subordinates. If Tenebris continued to wait for them to seed, William might show up and kill these geniuses. He only had one option left: to call for help. "So, you''ve failed, and still want to ask me for assistance?" Juhi''s tone became cold. "We are too weak, Senior. If you want to descend and obtain the Mythical Beast''s heart, we can help you, but that''s all. Worse yet, this William continues to grow stronger, yet he''s still present in this World. The Superior Tribtions attack him constantly, so we know where he is at every moment, but they have no effect on him. He even ignores the Tribtion!" "Even the Superior Tribtion can''t do anything?" Juhi paused for a moment to think. If what little Tenebris says is true, this person might be trouble for the Ascended Realms. I would be doing the Heavens a favor by killing him. Tenebris nodded, but he didn''t say more. Further attempts to convince Juhi might backfire, and Tenebris was bing increasingly concerned about William. He already wasn''t a match for the boy, but he was even inciting William''s wrath by targeting his Companion Beast. If William returned to the Continent and discovered his Beast had been injured by none other than Retribution, that might just spell the end for the organization. No matter what I do, the boy is the problem. If I attack him, I risk death. If I avoid him and allow him to absorb the World Cores, I will lose an entire century of nning... the only option is to allow this Juhi to be a hired de... Juhi remained still for almost fifteen minutes, only answering when there were just a few seconds left on the connection. "Wait for me. I''ll kill them both." Chapter 372 More Territories! William looked at the new abilities of his Elemental Territories one by one. Each had their own benefits to use in battle, but he noticed a few things rted to the Elements that weren''t particrly used when fighting. Create a moltenke with Fire? A frozenke with Ice? An Ocean with Water? Createndmasses with the Earth Element? Can I create my own World at this point? William wondered to himself. His Seal and Poison Territories didn''t have as obvious effects as the Common Elements, but weren''t they just establishing the rules of the environment? The Poison Territory would create miasma as forbidden zones for others, while the Sealing Territory would restrict those that entered. If William could handle the immense Mana Cost when using his Territories, he could control all of Efretta by himself! My Mana Regeneration is already insane, so I can handle most of this already, but the amount of time would already be insane. I could probably build that City I talked about with my friends before, though. William realized he was getting off track and returned his attention to the System Panel. While he would love to create his own City or Continents, he had System Quests toplete, a Master to help Ascend, and Points to spend. The rest could wait untilter. Onto the Rare Elements! System, upgrade my Light, Darkness, Curse, Blessing, and Death Elements to X-Rank! -487500 PP In a sh, another half a million Potential Points were gone while the System upgraded his next batch of Elements. The Light Element was surprisingly calm, while the Darkness Element was only able to corrode his skin a small amount before receding. Neither were able to force out William''s Recovery Talent. The Curse Element messed with William''s flow of Mana and made it more difficult to move around, but the effects were so minimal it could hardly bepared to the Seal or Chaos Elements. Other than being immune to William''s Mana Lord effect, the Curse Element wasn''t anything special. The Blessing Element was one of the few like the Life Element that didn''t inherently attack William, while Death was theplete opposite. Absorbing his lifeforce directly, the Death Element eventually aged William to 386 years old, twenty years more than before. Compared to William''s 3600-year lifespan, though, it wasn''t worrisome. Unless the Death Element stole two hundred years, he didn''t mind too much. How can I be upset with an Element for its natural functions? That would be like telling a bird not to hunt for food in the morning! Without my Recovery Talent, I might have lost thousands of years of lifespan. If it takes away twenty years of my lifespan, it must be able to steal even more from my enemies! William thought in excitement. He looked at the effects of his new Territories. The Light Territory had a wide-range blinding effect, while also greatly enhancing the speed of him and his allies inside. The Darkness Territory could also blind others, but with the absence of light instead. Additionally, Darkness would slow anyone designated as an enemy. Together, the Light and Darkness Territories were perfectly suitable for each other, while shing at the same time. If he cast them separately, they could each blind, but when cast together there would be no blinding effect, though the gap between his and his enemy''s speed would be immense. The Blessing and Curse Territories had the same effect as their Domains, but on a whole other levelpared to before. Not only did the radius of each Territory increase, but their effects were greatly enhanced, more than double what the normal Domain had. --Upgraded Title: +5000 PP -Seven Colored Mage (Mythic --> Celestial): You''ve acquired seven Common Elements and Seven Rare Elements, raising them all to X-Rank. Spells are 100% more Mana Efficient. POTENTIAL POINTS: 2,399,105 I still have plenty of Points left, let''s use them all! William thought to himself as he moved on to the Epic Elements. System, raise my Necromancy, Blood, Sound, Summoning, and Dream Elements to X-Rank! -675000 PP The Necromancy Element started first, filling William with negative emotions that targeted his deepest desires and worst fears. The effects were supposed to be intense, but William was surprised to find that the upgrade to SS-Rank was even weaker than he remembered the B-Rank upgrade being. In fact, he hardly felt a thing! -The Necromancy Element targets the soul. Your Soul Strength is much higher than it was before, so it can''t breach your defenses at its current Rank. William nodded in understanding, watching silently as visions appeared in front of him. Friends and family members would appear and say mean things or die repeatedly, but William wasn''t flustered. The Necromancy Element was like a poor actor, and the visions were more like cardboard, they hardly looked real at all, and the lines were scripted. Even the emotions that were supposed to fill William with rage were suppressed in an instant. It was hardlyparable to what he had to frequently deal with when suppressing the Humanity statistic. The Blood Element was next, but it was almost just as useless as the Necromancy Element. It tried to drain the blood in William''s body through his pores, but his Hard Body Talent had tightened up many aspects of him, not even a drop of blood could leak out. Other than a weak nosebleed, William had little trouble dealing with the Blood Element. The Sound Element sealed his sense of hearing and jarred him from the inside with soundwaves, but he only lost a year of lifespan, nothing much. The Summoning Element had no effect whatsoever, and the Dream Element wasn''t able to pull him into the Dream World because his Soul was too powerful. With the Hard Body Talent to deal with the physical Elements and the Soul Strength to handle the non-physical, William had be mostly immune to the effects of such unorthodox Elements. The Epic Elements were turning out to be easier to handle than the Rare ones! William stole a nce at the effects of his new Elements. -Territory of Necromancy: An improved Domain, designed to automatically bring to life all beings killed within its area. While the Territory is active, any creature or human corpse up to one Realm above you will bepletely under your control. The longer the Territory is channeled, the more range it covers. Does not affect other beings with the Necromancy Affinity at or above the Domain level. -Territory of Blood: An improved Domain, designed to control the blood of any being within its area. The longer the Territory is channeled, the greater control you gain. -Territory of Summoning: An improved Domain, designed to create a summoning zone for your Companion Beasts. Regardless of distance or number, the Host may summon all creatures under their control. Creatures are sent back to their previous location when the Territory is closed. -Territory of Dreams: An improved Domain, designed to manifest the Dream Element in the real world. Physical abilities be useless, and power is determined by Soul Strength. As William scrolled through the list of Talent upgrades, he found each new Territory to be more interesting than thest. The Summoning Element alone would have amazing potential as he increased the number of Magical Beasts under his control. These are true Epic Elements! I can only imagine how terrified someone would be if I summoned all of my Companion Beasts to a battle... William didn''t regret upgrading his Elements one bit. Even if he ran out of Potential Points, he decided to upgrade as many as he could today! Before William could continue, however, he was interrupted by a System notification. ¡ª¡ª¡ª SYSTEM RANK: (B --> B+) -182,239 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup. Next rank up: 9,817,761PP *New Changes: -System has reached version 2.5 and has improved the Ask Function. More information is avable upon the Host''s request. -Host''s concealment from the Heavens have improved slightly. -Host can now absorb Superior Veins. -Two Additional Farm Slots. -Upgrading Farms will now count towards System Rank up.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om ... ... -Certain trigger words will no longer result in a memory wipe. ¡ª¡ª¡ª William scrolled quickly through the System upgrade and nodded in satisfaction when he saw the two additional farm slots. He needed as many as possible to raise his Comprehension and was somewhat worried that he would forever be limited to just the few Elements. Just as he was about to close the System panel, William noticed thest message. What do you mean, memory wipe? System? -Exactly that. Have you been wiping my memory? How did I not notice? -It''s hard to remember something you''ve forgotten, isn''t it? ...Why would you wipe my memory? -No reason. You''ll find out when the timees. William shook his head and opted to not argue with the System further. Just the fact that it mentioned the memory wipe was enough sincerity. If the System wanted, it could avoid mentioning it the entire time and he would be none the wiser. Which led William to his next question: Why would the System choose now to say something? Chapter 373 Provoking Space Including Order, I have five Elements left to upgrade. Let''s start with Gravity, System. -Upgrade Gravity to SS-Rank? No, all the way to X-Rank. -Confirmed. -650000 PP Ouch. Just upgrading the Gravity Element is thebined cost of all the Epic Elements... William winced in pain as almost half of his remaining Potential Points were gone in the blink of an eye. From S-Rank to SS-Rank, the Gravity Element pressed William down to one knee, his body shaking as he struggled to maintain his position. The difference between an Epic and Legendary Element was made obvious at a nce. Even with all the effects of his other Talents, William was ced in a difficult position right from the start. The Gravity Element was domineering, finally able to showcase its strengthpared to when it was being ordered around by Chaos. While its consciousness wasn''t nearly as developed as the Chaos Element, Gravity also had a mind of its own, though it usually stuck to the rules and kept to itself. Seeing that its Host had chosen to remove multiple seals at once, however, it was determined to destroy William and gain its freedom. The SS-Rank upgrade finished, but the next one started immediately after, granting the Gravity Element enough strength to force William to the ground and crack some of his bones. William was forced to open the Life Territory to heal himself quickly, but the Gravity Element was expending his Mana at an incredible pace already. Half an hour passed before the Gravity Element reached SSR-Rank, its intensity rising as the X-Rank upgrade started. William''s bones were shattered by the Manamatus-Title enhanced Gravity Element, reformed by abination of the Recovery Talent and Life Element, at the cost of fifteen years of lifespan. William panted heavily as the Gravity Element receded into his body, happy that he had chosen to upgrade one Legendary Element at a time rather than multiple. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Gravity Affinity (Legendary): (SSR --> X) Effects: -Gravity-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +960% >> +1920% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Gravity: Takeplete control over all Gravity Mana within a radius of 50 kilometers >> 100 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Gravity Domains of greater strength. -Territory of Gravity: An improved Domain, designed to modify the gravitational pull of the nearby area at will. Effects are permanent unless modified again. -Primary Law of Gravity (0.1%prehension): You don''t understand enough of this yet. Comprehend the Gravity Element or visit ??? to learn more. -Gravity Elemental: Locked. Host does not have the Prity Resistance Talent. Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ªn/?/vel/b//in dot c//om All that to get a Territory that can change Gravity? It''s basically the same as the Domain! Williamined inwardly. -With permanent effects. Permanent? So what? Why would I want... wait a minute. William looked in the night sky above his head, where the sun had almostpletely dipped into the horizon while the moon was appearing on the opposite side. -That''s right, you could create a small moon if you so wished. William''s eyes glimmered. His Elements were bing so powerful that he could be like a God of his own new. Was this the source of many Myths? Were Gods really just Cultivators with powerful Elements? Even if the Territory wasn''t unbelievably effective, he had to admit that the power of the Gravity Element was nothing like its S-Rank version. He could suppress Cultivators like Marcus with ease using just Gravity, the same as he did with the Seal Element. I have a bit over a million Points left. It''s only enough to upgrade one more Element to X-Rank, so I should pick one that''s useful. The decision was easy, since his Space Element was still only S-Rank. Williammunicated his thoughts to the System, bracing himself for the spatial storms that would destroy his manhood again and again. This specific feature was the main reason why William hadn''t upgraded the Space Element again up until now, since its violent features had a greater impact on his mind than the Necromancy Element could ever have. Before the upgrade could begin, William removed all of his clothing and his Artifacts, since the stronger Elements were able to damage even Starmetal with their wanton attacks. If anything happened to his precious items stored in the Space Ring, William didn''t know what he would do. Thankfully most of the best things are in my Starmetal Safe, but I still have quite a bit on me. It would be a shame if I lost any of them. "Bring it on, Space!" William flexed his muscles as the spatial storms opened,mencing the SS-Rank Space upgrade. The Space Element became angry at William''s provocation, targeting his groin right from the start. Since he was able to move, William dodged left and right at extreme speed, redirecting the Space Element''s attacks so that they damaged his arms and legs instead, protecting himself to the best of his ability. This tactic worked wonders for the first upgrade, but the Space Element seemed to be smarter on the second. Its attacks became feints, appearing as if they''d attack his face and groin at the same time. The moment William went to dodge, the spatial storms would intensify and wrap around him, targeting his entire body all at once. William caught on to the Space Element''s strategy almost immediately, but when the X-Rank upgrade started, the Space Element''s attacks switched up again. Instead of attacking him thousands of times per second, the Space Mana floated away as if it was running, gathering together into a massive tornado made entirely of Space Mana. Seeing the tornado made William''s face turn slightly pale. He could tell with a nce that this attack was nothing like any of the other Elements could achieve, even surpassing the Chaos Element''s viciousness. Most of this was because William didn''t have many great counter strategies to the unique Space Mana that could even tear through the miniscule gaps in his skin cells. His Hard Body Talent was rendered almost ineffective when the Space Tornado enveloped William''s body, cutting him up into thousands of tiny pieces that were dispersed in all directions. The Recovery Talent''s side effect shed wildly, increasing William''s age by four years a second until half a minute had passed. By the end of the upgrade, William had lost one hundred and twenty-six years of age, bringing him to a whopping 527 years old. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Space Affinity (Legendary): (SSR --> X) Effects: -Space-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +960% >> +1920% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Space: Takeplete control over all Space Mana within a radius of 50 kilometers >> 100 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Space Domains of greater strength. -Territory of Space: An improved Domain, designed to lock your opponents into an ever-evolving spatial maze with no path to escape. If the Territory is maintained for more than five minutes, spatial fissures will form and pull all enemies inside. Who knows where they will end up? -Primary Law of Space (0.1%prehension): You don''t understand enough of this yet. Comprehend the Space Element or visit ??? to learn more. -Space Elemental: Locked. Host''s body is too weak. Reach the Body Tempering Realm first. Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Chapter 374 Searching For An Answer William was surprised to see that the Space Elemental''s unlock requirements weren''t like the others. Instead of requiring some sort of resistance skill rted to the effects of the Element, William was actually required to temper his body. I wonder what kind of Realm Body Tempering is though, System? -Request requires 1.5 million Potential Points. Yes/No? So expensive? I''ll pass. William could already specte that it was something to do with Cultivation, why would he need to spend so many Points for such an easy answer? Was it because it had something to do with the Ascended Realms? William closed up the System Panel and contacted Riyald through hismunicator. He only had around four hundred thousand Potential Points left, which wasn''t enough to upgrade any more of his Elements to the maximum Rank. It was time to help out his Master, while simultaneously looking for the missing dragons. Riyald invited William to the nearby town, known as Dragonsvale. It was roughly half the size of Blue Moon City, but its poption was less than a tenth inparison. While there were many Cultivators of Nascent Soul and Soul Formation Realm, Core Formation and below Cultivators were surprisingly rare. "It seems the Dragon Continent has adopted an old tradition of Azures." Riyald said wistfully. "What do you mean?" William asked. "Because it''s so dangerous in a Cultivation World, many parents used to force their children to remain at home until they reached a certain Realm. Many would live with their parents until they were in their fifties or even a hundred years old before reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. Only then could they go out and search for a partner." he exined. William nodded in understanding. While it seemed a bit odd at first, he could understand why it was a tradition in the first ce. No parent would want to see their children die before them; this was just a manner of protection. Their conversation garnered the attention of a few natives of the Dragon Continent, but they weren''t as wary of outsiders as those from Velos. It wasn''t unnatural for visitors toe to the Continent, though these traditions were usually exined beforehand. After enduring the odd gazes of the natives, William and Riyald visited the library to learn more about thest few thousand years of history. Riyald hadn''t been to the Dragon Continent in a long time, and even he was unaware of the humans'' settlement. While they could ask directly, the sources wouldn''t be as credible as a legitimate history book. They spent hours flipping through the pages, searching for anything that exined the humans'' presence on the Dragon Continent, but to no avail. Other than naming the first through sixth Monarchs, the overall leader of the Dragon Continent, there wasn''t much to tell about its history. It was as if these people just appeared out of nowhere in thest few thousand years. Not only did they not have a heritage, but the ancestors of these people had incredibly unique characteristics. Some sprouted horns from their heads, while others had an additional limb or eyeball, each ced in odd locations. Compared to the current normal-looking humans, the ancestors were quite freaky. "Okay, so we know that they arrived here somewhere between one and two thousand years ago, but none of these books say how..." Williammented. "Which means either they truly don''t know how they appeared on the Dragon Continent, or someone with power and influence over published work is hiding something." Riyald finished William''s sentence. "I''d like to believe it''s the former, but if it''s thetter, then maybe the humans really did cause the disappearance of the dragons. Though I don''t know how they would manage such a feat without making any noise. The other Continents should have heard about it." William replied. Riyald nodded. "We probably won''t find anything additional here. Let''s go find the Monarch themselves. They should know the answer to our questions."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om William agreed and followed Riyald outside the library. In a building right next to it, they met with a representative of the City Hall, whose responses were anything but helpful. "I''m sorry, Sirs, but we don''t have that kind of information avable to us. It happened so long ago, and the records weren''t properly kept." the representative apologized with a slight bow. The pair sighed and thanked the man for his time, then moved on to other Cities, where they received mostly the same answers. Either this was an incredibly well-kept secret, or they truly didn''t understand the reason for their appearance on the Dragon Continent. Even the Monarch, a brown-haired young man seemingly in his twenties and full of vigor, had no answer for them. "I couldn''t tell you. Maybe my ancestors did hunt the dragons, but that has nothing to do with me. This is what I''ve learned from them." he said as he waved around a long spear and showcased many anti-dragon techniques. William''s Weapon Master Talent analyzed the moves perfectly and was able to mimic them at will, adding the movements to his list of fighting styles. As he inspected each individual swing, William noticed that while the attacks were powerful, they were mostly non-lethal methods. Stay tuned for updates on empire It wouldn''t kill a dragon unless one was serious about it. "Do you know anyone else that might know the answer?" Riyald asked. The Monarch shook his head, "There are many who have lived a long time, but the ones you''re looking for have Ascended already." "Figures." Williamined. Hemunicated through the System instead, seeing that this was going nowhere. System, what happened to the dragons of the Dragon Continent? -Request requires 325000 Potential Points. Yes/No? Ugh...I won''t find out any other way. If it''s for Uri, I''ll do it. As William watched his bnce go down from over four hundred Potential Points to a measly 74 thousand, the System sent a series of notifications, requesting that he find a safe space and close his eyes. He did as instructed, waving farewell to the Monarch and asking Riyald to return with him. In a nearby hotel, Williamid t on his back and allowed the System to proceed with the Ask Function. His consciousness was pulled into an unknown space filled with darkness. As time passed, what appeared to be paint filled his vision, showing andscape of the Dragon Continent from above. The shape of the Continent was unique, looking like the drawing one would make of goldfish when they were younger. The painting became more colorful, dotting the watery shoes of the Continent with blues and filling the inner portion with vibrant greens. As the painting continued to form, so did the quality, bing increasingly more detailed until it no longer looked like a painting, but a true memory from someone''s mind. He turned his head to the side, noticing a set of grey wings to his left and right. He was a dragon, flying over the Continent one powerful p at a time. The air currents seemed to listen to him, even helping to carry him higher and higher as if they wanted to curry favor with the king of the Magical Beasts. Chapter 375 A Divination Whose memories are these? System, how did you get this? -Pay attention. I won''t be ying this a second time. William nodded and continued to focus on the memory. He spent three hundred thousand Points on this, and he wouldn''t know where to cry if he missed out on the answer. The dragon whose body he was inhabiting descended from the sky, until it hadnded in a cave system attached to an inactive volcano. There, dozens of other dragons with varying colors of mostly red, grey, and ck were grouped. There was even a juvenile dragon in the room, probably no less than a few hundred years old. Its red scales were much more vibrant than its counterparts, and the youngling seemed to be smiling as it chewed on a piece of wild boar meat. "Little Uri, how have you been." William''s mouth moved on its own, but the voice wasn''t his. Seeing the grey-winged dragon, Uri beamed with joy and ran up to it, "Grand Uncle Vivax!" William smiled. Younger Uri was so adorablepared to his current serious self. Seeing such an innocent young dragon made him want to help out Uri even more. Vivax spoke again, "It''s good to see you. Where is your grandfather?" "Grandpa Validus is in the me tempering room working on his Dragon Fire. I''m so jealous, I still haven''t learned how to use mine yet, probably because my Cultivation is low..." Uri looked down in shame. Even though Magical Beasts didn''t need to actively Cultivate, their breathing technique that absorbed the natural Mana of the World and converted it had strengths and weaknesses determined by one''s talent. Uri was a talented dragon, but not that far above his other peers. While he would probably reach the peak in a few thousand years, he was worried that he''d never learn Dragon Fire. Vivax looked at Uri with a light smile, "You''re still very young. Most of us don''t learn how to use Dragon Fire until we are a few thousand years old. It''s not about Cultivation, it''s about spirit. I know you''ll get yours eventually. Even if you don''t learn Dragon Fire, your ability to manipte the natural Fire Element is quite good among the n. You should be proud of yourself." Vivax finished. "Thanks, Grand Uncle." Uri nodded as Vivax walked towards the me tempering room. With a simple movement of his front ws, Vivax pushed open a pair of stone doors to reveal an intense red-orange light that forced him to squint. On the other end of the room, a spitting image of Uri was standing, though his Cultivation was in the Soul Formation Realm and he was thousands of years older.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The me Dragon was holding a crouched stance, his jaws open wide as the powerful jet of Dragon Fire flowed freely likeva. His expression was serious as he spat the mes, seemingly wanting to burn down the entire room with him. "You''re too serious, Validus." Vivax said from afar when the dragon had finished. "As if! I lost to a mere human in the Soul Formation Realm. The entire Dragon Continent! It''s shameful!" Vivax shouted angrily. "Rx. You should know better than anyone else that the human clearly used underhanded means to fight us. Didn''t you feel weaker than you are now? I wouldn''t be surprised if he had nned for you to challenge him to a battle so he could pick the location." Vivax said. "I know that just as well as you, but if I was stronger even those measly Arrays that humans use would be useless. It''s still a matter of weakness." Vivax nodded. He wasn''t going to argue with this brother of his any longer, else their conversation go on for days. "Have you decided what you''re going to do? Didn''t he want dragon subordinates in exchange for winning the duel?" "We can give them some rare dragon blood that we''ve collected over the years. The humans can do more with that than we can, they''ll regard it as a precious treasure. Additionally... I think I''ll send Uri out." "Send Uri? With that human? Why?" Vivax was surprised. He didn''t expect his brother to want to send his own grandson to serve a human for years toe. Who knew if Uri woulde back in one piece? "Uri is talented, but he''s different from the rest of us. He needs stimtion that can''t be found on the Dragon Continent. Also..." "Also?" "I''ve received a divination. From Duon." "Duon? Yet another human? What is it with you and humans these days? I thought you hated them." "I dislike their method of fighting, that''s all. As dragons, we respect strength, but the humans can use lesser strength to create more. We should learn from them, it might make us even more powerful someday." Validus responded. "You still haven''t answered my first question. Why are you interacting with Duon The Timeskipper?" "He visited me. I had no choice but to listen. You should know his strength more than I do." Validus'' words reminded Vivax of a scene from a few decades prior, when Vivax met with Duon in battle and was defeated before he could even open his mouth to use Dragon Fire. Facing Duon was like a Qi Refinement Cultivator facing a Tribtion Transcendence Magical Beast. One thought and he would be dead. That''s the power of the Time Element, though. How can youpete with it if you don''t carry the Affinity yourself? Vivax sighed. "I understand. So, what did Duon tell you? What kind of divination did you receive?" "It wasn''t entirely clear." "Are divinations ever clear? Go on with it." Vivax snorted. "Alright. It goes like this: A greed beyond what Heaven can stand, the World responds with an iron hand. Guard your lifeline with blood and tears, else find yourself with much to fear. The Dragon Continent''s existence is at stake." Validus looked at Vivax with a questioning gaze. His brother was the intellectual, not him. "Why does Duon always do this? Can''t he just tell us what''s going to happen?" Vivax became angry. He tried to break apart the divination bit by bit, but he could onlye up with a guess. "Judging by the green and the Heavens'' involvement, I''d have to guess someone pissed off the Heavens, but that''s all I''ve got. It''s too vague, it could mean anything." "I felt the same way. Regardless, the only blood and tears we have are our own, so that''s why I''m giving that Riyald some as a gift." Validus exined. Enjoy new stories from empire "That''s why? I don''t think it means literally..." Vivax didn''t bother to exin. Blood and tears could also mean fighting. The divination clearly wants them to fight, but who? Who in the World would be able to threaten the Dragon Continent so much that it would require them to fight? How long had it been since a battle of such scale was fought? As he thought about the implications of the divination, Vivax became increasingly worried. How much time did they have? A thousand years? A hundred? ...Ten? But the longer he thought about it, the more he realized that no amount of time would be enough to prepare. He only hoped that the divination wouldn''te to pass. Chapter 376 Heed The Summons The scene transformed and William was no longer inside Vivax''s body, rather spectating the region from above. His body felt like a cloud, floating along passively as events unfolded below.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Weather shifted and time sped up by multiple times as William watched the progression of the Dragon Continent. me Dragon Uri left with Riyald and went on his own, while another generation of dragons was born a few decades afterwards. Decades passed, then a hundred, followed by roughly a thousand years. In this time, Vivax Ascended to the next Realm, while Validus remained on the Dragon Continent and honed his strength further. His Cultivation was at the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, but Validus held back from Ascending for as long as possible. His Dragon Fire had be an unstoppable force on the Dragon Continent, with power easily breaking into the Ascension Realm. Even if Riyald were to suppress Validus with Arrays a second time, he wouldn''t stand a chance at all. While Validus wanted to go challenge the old man again, he refrained from doing so and continued to focus on his strength. No matter how he felt, Validus nned to do everything in his power to prevent this divination froming true. Eventually, the time came. Tens of thousands of kilometers away, on the Azures Continent, dark clouds formed in the sky. Not a single ray of sunlight could be seen amidst the clouds, and endless amounts of Lightning Mana appeared from the second, third, and even fourthyers of space. While Validus couldn''t see all the way to the Azures Continent, something within him sensed the development, an inherent fear building up in his chest. He looked to the sky nervously, but there were no clouds above the Dragon Continent, so he couldn''t exin what he was feeling. He continued through his daily routine like normal, but Validus couldn''t help but feel nervous. Months passed, and the clouds over the Azures Continent thickened and expanded to cover part of the ocean outside it, touching the Tier 6 Arrays on the Continent''s edge and corroding them slightly. The moment the Arrays were weakened, the entire World felt the waves of Mana emanating from the Azures Continent. It was unlike anything anyone had ever seen, and even Validus was left perplexed. What happened on Azures? Everyone wondered. Many Continents including the dragons sent representatives to check out the situation, curious to find out what the source of the Mana was. The following day, information leaked out from the Azures Continent that someone had attempted to absorb one of the Superior World Cores, and this was the Heavens'' judgement. The Azures Continent was set to be destroyed as a result of their inhabitants'' bad decision, Beast Tides forming one after the other to target those responsible. Not long afterwards, a small patch of clouds formed above the Dragon Continent, an ethereal voice drifting down from above. "Dragons. You were created to assist the Heavens, and now is your time. Heed the summons and go to the Azures Continent." it said as a massive long-distance portal opened,rge enough to fit a hundred dragons side by side. Without the ability to resist at all, Validus and the other dragons subconsciously entered the portal, arriving in the Providence Zone of the Azures Continent near the Superior Death Vein. In an instant, their eyes turned blood red as they went into battle mode, fiercely wing at a few human Cultivators nearby. Validus opened his jaws wide and let loose a pir of Ascension-level Dragon Fire, incinerating two Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators in an instant. It was hell on earth, and the dragons turned out to be their own enemy in the divination. Validus and the rest had no control over their actions, continuously ying humans for what would be years toe. Magic Spells rained from both sides, permanently transforming the Continent into a versionpletely unrecognizable to William. The Hillvire Empire was ttened, while the Southern ins turned into a volcanic region and the Far East Minds were sunken underwater by Spells that resembled a tsunami. The Far West Forest Region suffered the least amount of damage, but by the fourth month of battle, trees were amodity. In less than a year, therge-scale battle at the peak of the World turned an entire Continent into an inhabitable zone. So this is what happens when hundreds of Tribtion Transcendence beings fight seriously... William thought as he looked upon the wave of destruction. If he were to battle like this on the Velos Continent, the same probably would have happened there. Thankfully, William was too afraid of losing more Humanity to allow innocents to die inrge numbers. At most, a few hundred would perish, but that was nothingpared to the billions that died in this incident. Only when a cloaked figure wearing a pure white mask appeared did the nightmare end for the humans. His aura was perfectly concealed, but William could tell at a nce that this person was not to be trifled with. It was something about the way he carried himself, and the way he looked at the powerful dragons as if they were mere chickens. He pitied them for being forced into this state, but there was nothing he could do to change the fate of the dragons. With a wave of his hand, a mysterious Elemental force swept over all the dragons at once, their bodies exploding into clouds of blood that rained over the Providence Zone for half a day. The Cultivators previously forced into a corner were rendered speechless, watching in awe at the god-like figure that saved them with a single move. The process was incredibly swift, but while the crisis was averted, it filled William''s heart with pain. Validus was among the group of dragons wiped out by the Cultivator''s Spell, and seeing Validus'' hard work all go to waste was saddening, to say the least. The dragon had spent a thousand years of his life devoted to preventing the divination froming true, but to no avail. His efforts were useless, unable to defy the gruesome fate set by the Heavens. The only thing he had aplished was saving his own grandson from the same end as he and the rest of his n. If Validus knew this was how things would end, he probably would have tried to Ascend with Vivax. At least then there would be a chance to meet his grandson again. Using another unknown Spell, the mysterious Cultivator restored thend to its previous condition. The wastnd that used to be the Hillvire Empire was restored to a series of mountains and hills, while the now-scorched Southern ins were terraformed into a rocky barrens. The sunken Far East Misnds were raised from underwater, while the forests regrew from the earth in an instant. It seemed this unknown Cultivator had quite the attainments in both Earth and nt Magic, among a few others that William didn''t fully understand. Using the dragons'' blood as fertilizer for the region in the center of the Continent, the Cultivator finally developed the Providence Zone to be a prosperousnd once more. Peace returned to the Continent, and the Cultivators cheered in support of this unknown individual. Just when William thought the Ask Function was about to end, time started to roll backwards. Chapter 377 Duon The Time Element? What''s happening? William wondered as he looked at the unknown Cultivator. The person was also moving backwards, and there were no fluctuations of Time Mana at all. It''s not him? I thought this guy might be the Duon the dragons were talking about... William traced the source of the Time Element, finally catching a trail that led to the Misnds Region. His body wasn''t restricted in this part of the Ask Function''s simtion, so William was able to follow the trail to a small underground structure roughly the size of a tool shed. Seated cross-legged in the room with closed eyes, a boy of roughly sixteen or seventeen was channeling Time Mana into aplex Spell. The boy''s Mana flow was like William had never seen before, winding and coiling around his fingertips as if Time Magic belonged to him. His hair was blue, with white and gold tips that were like the contrast from the sun to the moon, while his face was pristine: not a blemish, freckle, or a hint of e. Even his eyebrows were in perfect condition, as if they had been drawn on, and not grown. His narrow eyes opened, their golden-brown irises locking onto William, who was supposed to be undetectable since this was only a simtion. Despite this, the character opened his mouth to speak. "Who are you?" the boy asked. He didn''t seem threatened by William, nor was he surprised that William was even here. Instead, he was merely curious about William''s identity, like a stranger meeting another on the street. "You can see me?" William asked in surprise. "Should I not be able to? I''m leagues above your understanding, boy."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om William shook his head. "Are you Duon, then?" The boy''s eyes shed with slight panic and worry before switching to surprise, "Where did you hear my name? You''re merely in the Nascent Soul Realm; You should have exploded." "Exploded? That''s a bit extreme, don''t you think?" Williamughed, but now that Duon mentioned it, he did feel a little ufortable. It was as if his existence was reacting to the mention of Duon''s name, which was unbelievable to be honest. If the special properties of the Ask Function hadn''t protected him, maybe he would have blown up right then and there. Who is this guy?!? He''s definitely an Ascended Cultivator! William panicked slightly as he realized why the System refused to tell him many things about the Heavens. If just knowing a first name could kill, he didn''t want to imagine what it''d be like to know about the Heavens. Would he spontaneouslybust for figuring out their favorite breakfast cereal? "Not in the slightest. Anyways, you''ll know more when you Ascend. You still haven''t answered my question, by the way." Duon replied. "William." "Last name?" "Why does everyone want to know myst name? I don''t have one." William replied angrily. "Hmm, I see." Duon muttered as he twirled his fingers, calling Mana of the Time Element. "Well, I hate to say this, but you''re going to have to disappear. Goodbye." The Time Mana gathered around his fingers suddenly entered William''s body, reversing every movement he had made since arriving and taking him back to the center of the Providence Zone. There, he saw the blood of the dragons reform into their bodies, still moving in reverse. Time continued to move further and further backwards, but William''s body stopped moving in reverse, held in ce by the Ask Function. He saw the dark clouds of the Azures Continent shrinking bit by bit, only stopping at the point when the Greater Death Core was absorbed. "Huh? Why stop now?" William was confused. Time flowed properly again, but the World Core had already been absorbed. With time, the same series of events would unfold once more, the rest of the World none the wiser of anything that happened. William flew back to Duon''s underground room. "What did you do that for?" he asked the blue-haired boy that was still seated in his original position. "You''re back already? And you remember me?" Duon narrowed his eyes as he looked at William closely. If they were in the real world, William''s Elements might have been exposed at this point, but he was in the Ask Function''s simtion, so Duon didn''t notice anything. "You must have a good memory." he said. William nodded but didn''t say more. He knew very well that it was the presence of the Time Affinity that allowed him to understand what had happened, not his memory. "Why would you reverse time for nothing? Couldn''t you have stopped the World Core from being absorbed?" "Not a chance. I can''t control matters of such magnitude, even if I was at my peak." Duon shook his head. "Then why bother? Are you going to go out there and stop the dragons from getting killed?" William asked. "Why should I? I don''t care about the dragons. They were created specifically for this purpose; it''d be suicide to sh heads with... them." Duon chose his words carefully, lest he expose secrets about the Realms above to an unprepared soul. "Even you are scared of the Heavens? Just how strong are they?" William asked. "Heh." "Well?" "Don''t ask what you shouldn''t ask. I think you''ve learned that by now. You carry the mark of the Ultimate Tribtion; you''re just like the others." "The others?" "A group of idiots like you that think they can oppose the Heavens directly. You get a little bit of power and think you''re all that. Well newssh. It''s not that easy. I can tell your body is well cultivated, and I can tell you''re a Mage by your equipment, but there are no Mana fluctuations. Your concealment Technique is extraordinary, and your ability to find me already proves that you have some talent, but who cares? Everything pales in front of them, even if you had the strength to defeat me." Duon exined. "Are you trying to say there''s no point in fighting for what you believe in?" William probed. "I''m trying to say that there''s a limit to how much your strength can grow. There''s a limit to how hard you punch, how fast you run, how smart you are. There''s always a limit. And the Heavens are the limit above that limit. You can''t break the first limit, so how will you break the second? It''s impossible!" William became deep in thought following Duon''s words. If what the man said was true, then the Heavens truly were an obstacle above the rest. Were the abilities of the Potential System enough topete with that? A memory entered William''s brain. A long-lost phrase he heard as a baby from his biological parents as they spoke to each other. "Years before either of us were born, people thought it was impossible to fly. Now, we have airnes that can cross the entire World in a few hours! Decades ago, reaching the moon was a fool''s errand, but what happened? We made it! How can we say that something is impossible, when the simplicity of the matter is that it hasn''t been done yet. The emphasis is on yet, because it will happen, we just don''t know when." William repeated those words to Duon, "How can we say that anything is impossible? It just hasn''t been achieved yet. Maybe I''ll be the first to reach that point, or maybe it''ll be someone else. Either way, I won''t give up until I''ve tried." Chapter 378 Williams Divination "I apud your efforts and wish you luck." Duon replied, though he didn''t seem enthusiastic. It was more like the boy was nning out William''s funeral. For some reason, Duon''s nonchnt attitude towards his resolution made William feel angry. He looked at the Cultivator who even his Cultivation Talent couldn''t appraise, "Why are you even here? Shouldn''t you be in the Ascended Realms or wherever?" "Didn''t I tell you not to ask what you shouldn''t? Why are you so obsessed with me?" Duon weaved Time Magic to send William back to the Providence Zone, but William didn''t give up and resisted with his own Time Mana, reducing the speed at which he was sent backwards. The moment Duon''s Time Spell ended, William opened a portal to the boy''s underground location, but another portal was open, and the boy was gone. Since it was a simtion, William chose to take a risk and follow Duon through the portal. His vision blurred greatly, and cracks appeared in the corners of his vision as the simtion experienced glitch-like behavior. -Warning. Host has left the boundaries of the simtion. Return within five minutes or the simtion will end prematurely. The tunnel was much longer than the normal portal, traveling for hundreds of meters before the exit appeared. The portal closed behind William, sealing his return route, so he had no choice but to continue. Even if he wanted to listen to the System, it was toote. On the other end of the portal, William wound up in another dimly-lit room somewhere underground. He could sense that there were thousands of powerful Magical Beasts in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm outside, but the Navigation Talent didn''t recognize his environment at all. Duon was silently Cultivating in the center of the room, having seemingly forgotten about William already. Discover exclusive tales on empire "Why did you run away?" William asked. "Huh?" Duon opened his eyes and looked at William with unconcealed shock. "How did you..." He didn''t continue, but Duon''s eyes switched from a golden-brown to pure silver as he looked at William from head to toe intently. His eyes seemed to peer into William''s soul, where Duon discovered the reason for William''s repeated surprises. "You''re just a reformed consciousness... who''s helping you?" Duon looked at William warily, as if the boy had be a threat to his very existence. If William could resist his Superior Time Reversal and even follow him here... William could destroy everything he had worked for. -I wouldn''t push him further if I were you. But System, isn''t this the answer I was looking for? Shouldn''t this be rted? I need to know what he was doing! If he can reverse time to such an extent, why didn''t he stop the World Cores from being absorbed? Why bother? -Sigh. If you want your answer, ask for a divination. He won''t help you otherwise. William was still angry at Duon for not saving the dragons, but he did as the System asked anyway. "I''ll leave, but I want a divination." he said. Duon was about to shame William for being a hypocrite and not answering his question, but he sensed something peculiar when William made the brief pause. He was having a mental conversation, but with who? Why would he want a divination now? Is this a trap? He scanned the environment for anything that could damage his body, but there was nothing in this World that could so much as scratch his clothing. He was perfectly safe. "Alright." Duon said simply as he closed his eyes. A soft pink light flooded the room as Mana of an unknown Element appeared. A fraction of a secondter, the pink was turned magenta by a second Element that William wasn''t familiar with. Duon''s eyes turned silver once more as he opened his palms to the sky and looked up. His mouth opened slightly, ck and white text flowing forth and imprinting into all four walls of the room. When all the text was in ce and Duon''s mouth closed, he lowered his head and looked at William. "A man with heart collecting more, a boy is not prepared for what''s in store. His power grows with what he earns, but how many bridges will he burn? A fate beyond what I have seen, his only hope lies with Celestine..." Duon spat out a mouthful of blood and his eyes returned to their normal color. Great, more riddles. How is this supposed to help me, System? Williamined inwardly. -I''m sure it has meaning. Do you even know? -Nope. Then how would you know the divination would help me? -I just did. ... Duon coughed a few more times while grasping his hands on his knees for stability. After a few uneasy breaths, he raised his head to speak, "Y-You..." But he didn''t get a chance to finish his sentence before his eyes turned silver once more. Instead of his usual voice, it was reced by the Language of the Elements. "??? ???? ??§Á!" The magenta light intensified, while the text covered William''s body from head to toe. He struggled to break free, but the text was too strong and bound him like titanium chains to a child. No matter how much physical strength William used, it waspletely useless. -Discovered the Fate/Karma Element: +2 PP The text constricted, squeezing the air out of William''s lungs and crushing his bones. The Recovery Talent kicked in, but even that couldn''t keep up with the damage. He channeled Life Mana to support his recovery, but it still wasn''t enough. System, it''s a simtion, can I really die here?! William shouted in his mind. -No, but without a consciousness you will basically be an empty husk. So basically yes. Fuck! William regretted following Duon through the portal, as well as listening to the System. If he hadn''t asked for a divination, he wouldn''t have gone through this. -Host left the boundaries of the simtion for too long. Ending simtion... The System notification gave William a spark of hope. All he had to do was survive long enough for the simtion to pull him away. He looked at Duon, whose body had just recovered. "I''m leaving now, as promised. Where can I find you in the future?" he asked. Duon looked at William''s slowly fading body and understood something. After suffering such a setback from what was supposed to be a simple divination, Duon realized that William wasn''t nearly as simple as he thought he was. "Celestine, huh? Interesting fellow... interesting indeed..." he muttered to himself as he gathered Time Mana from the surroundings andpressed it thousands of times until it was many times denser than William''s Elemental Spheres attached to his Artifact Belt. With a single fluid motion, Duon pointed forward with his finger and shot out thepressed Time Mana, piercing William''s skull in an instant but causing no damage. Thepressed Mana traveled to William''s mind, hiding in an obscure corner and concealing its aura entirely.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Even if William wanted to find the Mana, he wouldn''t be able to do so without the System''s help. As William''s body faded into nothingness, Duon smiled and sat cross-legged once more to Cultivate. "Not where, but when. We''ll surely meet again, young William." Chapter 379 Bargaining Discover hidden tales at empire William blinked. One moment, he was being crushed to death by a wall of text, while the next he was back in a luxurious room where the Monarch of the Dragon Continent and Riyald were both standing. With his Time Affinity, William could tell that barely a second had passed since he entered the simtion, and neither his Master nor the Monarch were aware of his disappearance. While Riyald and the Monarch exchanged questions, William became silent as he tried to understand what had just happened. That Duon person... he at least has the Time and Space Elements, and... Fate sh Karma? What is that all about? Not to mention the divination, I can''t make sense of it at all. A man with heart collecting more, a boy is not prepared for what''s in store... The first part is so obscure. Is the man me, or am I the boy? If I''m the man, then why would me having heart be important? I''m probably the boy, since the rest of the divination is talking about the boy. What am I not prepared for? There were too many questions, and not enough answers, which seemed to be the trend in this World. As his strength grew, the number of questions William had increased, rather than decreasing. He tried to organize his thoughts in a simple manner. I don''t know much about the Heavens, I hardly know anything about the World. I don''t know the rtionship between the World and the Heavens at all, but at least I know what happens when World Cores are absorbed, and why the dragons of the Dragon Continent disappeared. It seemed that humans were the reason for the dragons'' disappearance, but not specifically the natives of the Dragon Continent. Instead, a now-dead branch of the Yu Royal Family was at fault, while the Heavens were the true reason. To create Magical Beasts just to deal with humans that absorb World Cores... it''s not right at all! In William''s opinion, Magical Beasts were more like the wild animals of his previous World. Regardless of how vicious they were, animals were part of the ecosystem and shouldn''t be used in such a way. Except mosquitos. Mosquitos can burn in Hell. If the Heavens were a person in his old World, they''d be jailed for animal abuse at the very least. Thinking of that made Williamugh for a moment, but then he thought of Golden Girl. Is she the one doing all of this? She gave me the Heaven''s Aura Mark, could the secondary effect be a bad thing that she will use to control meter? Will I be treated just like these Magical Beasts, unable to resist and forced to fight for their cause? The more questions he asked, the more muddled William''s mind became. He clutched his head in pain as a massive headache formed, drawing the attention of the Monarch and Riyald. "Disciple William, are you alright?" Riyald asked. He had never seen his Disciple show an expression of pain like this one, and it made him wonder if William had been secretly attacked from under his nose. "I''m fine." William waved his hand in dismissal as he regained hisposure. The pressure on his mind was still intense, having been overworked by both the simtion and his deductions, but he suppressed his thoughts and focused on his original task. He looked at the Monarch, "Esteemed Monarch, I hear that you have an interesting burial ceremony." William had heard this information from the System, of course. When asking about methods to assist Riyald, he was told that the Dragon Continent typically sealed their dead with Arrays instead of giving them a proper burial. This was in the hopes that they could revive their allies during times of need with the Necromancy Element. This was the Dragon Continent''s most powerful trump card, able to restore two thousand years'' worth ofbat power for a few days'' time. At the same time, the location of the burial chambers was a closely guarded secret. When William asked the System about its location, it wanted to charge him a whopping forty thousand Potential Points. "Ah...yes we do." the Monarch replied nervously. Something about William''s expression made him feel as if William was nning out his funeral. "Great! Do you mind if we take a look?" William smiled calmly. "Uh... we don''t usually show that to outsiders." the Monarch began to sweat. If William continued to press him for the information, he would probably have to fight, and the Monarch could already tell that William would destroy him in an instant.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Should I have them revived now? We might stand a chance if we... "I wouldn''t count on your dead as support." Riyald warned before the Monarch could finish his thought. As an old man having lived a long time, Riyald could tell when someone was nning to make a move. "I really can''t show you the chambers..." the Monarch said helplessly. No matter what happened to him, he wouldn''t risk the safety of his Continent. William looked at the Monarch silently. He previously nned to kill the Monarch the moment he proved their involvement in the disappearance of the dragons. He would search for the burial chambers on his own with the Navigation Talent and Life Sense, which probably wouldn''t take long. Now that William had experienced the simtion, however, he would feel bad knowing that they werepletely innocent. Not to mention he might lose Humanity points if he was too forceful. Instead, he decided to bargain. "Monarch, Sir. What Elements do you use?" "Lightning and nt Magic, why do you ask?" William pulled out the Lightning and nt Dials from his Space Ring, both of which had been collecting dust in his Space Ring for a long time. "If I give you these, will you consider allowing my Master and I to visit the burial grounds?" "This..." the Monarch hesitated to give a response. He could tell at a nce that the two Artifacts were designed to improve the quality and quanity of both Lightning and nt Magic by a considerable amount. In an auction, these would be priceless treasures fought over by anyone. But William just casually brought them out! "Don''t misunderstand. If you decline my offer, we will still be going to the burial grounds. You really don''t have a choice." William added. "Then I suppose I must ept." the Monarch replied as he took the two Dials from William. "I''ll take you there whenever you''re ready." "We''re ready now." William nodded as he exchanged nces with Riyald. The Monarch had a subordinate open a series of short-distance portals until they arrived at the base of a small hill, where William could see arge number ofplex Arrays dotting its surface. They were all improved Perfect Arrays, but the sheer number made them almostparable to a Tier 6 Array. While they could be destroyed by attacks at the Soul Formation level, it would probably take years if not decades. The entrance to the burial ground was opened, and the Monarch ushered them both through a wide tunnel fit for three people side by side. While they walked, torches lit up on either side in a methodical manner until they reached arge opening. Chapter 380 Burial Chambers The interior of the burial chambers was a circr room expanded with Space Magic. William scanned the room with interest, counting the number of coffins that lined the walls. It''s like an ancient morgue... William thought to himself as his count reached a hundred thousand easily. He had only looked at a small fraction of the room, but the indents where the coffinsid were stacked thirty high and extended as far as the eye could see. "All of our dead that have reached the Nascent Soul Realm and above are buried here, while the rest are buried in another chamber. Two thousand years'' worth of history is truly a sight to see, isn''t it?" the Monarch smiled at his guest''s expressions. Even if his tour was forced, the Monarch took pride in their burial ceremony, which was held at the end of each month. Then, thousands of corpses would be added to their walls, ranging from every Realm of Cultivation. Of those corpses, roughly a dozen Nascent Soul and above Cultivators would be brought here. Riyald glowed, but not because of the corpses. Instead, he was focused on the incredibly denseyer of consciousnesses in the environment, which could be absorbed by his current Cultivation Technique. If Riyald spent a few weeks here, he could Ascend right away! He looked at William, who nodded to confirm that this was his n all along. Riyald turned once more to face the Monarch, not afraid in the slightest of the consequences of his next words. "I''m going to absorb some of these souls." he dered. With William as his backer, Riyald could speak freely, even to the leader of the Dragon Continent. He looked the Monarch directly in the eye as the other party''s expression switched from fury to worry and finally to anguish. William used a Tier 6 Array to seal the movements of the Monarch, then sealed his senses with the Seal Element. No leader would want to see what was about to happen next, and William didn''t n to torture the poor man. "Go ahead, Master Riyald, but only absorb what you need. Don''t go too far." William warned as he made preparations of his own. He hadn''t forgotten about the dangers of the Ascended Realms, and he had no ns to let his Master suffer. I don''t know how strong that Duon person is, but there''s probably many more like him. I can only hope that Master doesn''t meet any of them from the start. While Riyald activated his Forbidden Soul Cultivation Technique, William used his X-Rank nt Element to create eight incredibly tough blocks of wood. With the assistance of the Carpentry Talent and the Abyssal Weapon Shifter in saw-form, William carved the wood into defined shapes that would give them a more human-like appearance. He also created arge hole in the stomach area of each Array Puppet, seating all seven of his Beast Cores into the first set and his only Greater Beast Core into the other. He added special Tier 6 Arrays that were much better than his previousmunication method, allowing him to control them even from the other side of the World at all times. The entire time, William was worried that the Tier 6 Arrays would be too much for the Beast Cores to handle, but they seemed to do just fine as long as it was only formunication purposes. Only after the holes were covered with ayer of wood could he begin to add Arrays. He started with Complete Arrays to further reinforce the material, then performed some tests and found that the current Array Puppets could handle three additional Tier 6 Arrays each. The Puppet with the Greater Beast Core could handle 5 more. Discover hidden content at empire He chose his Tier 6 Arrays wisely, using one for physical defense, a second that would raise a replicated Spirit Aura, and a third for strength that would enhance the power of the Puppets'' attacks. For the Puppet with the Greater Beast Core, William used five thousand of his own Soul Strength to establish a permanent connection with it through a Spirit Array, then used thest remaining slot and another five thousand Soul Strength to create a defensive Array to protect his soul. This way, even if themunication function didn''t work in the Ascended Realms, William could still perceive everything that happened. He could even control the other seven Array Puppets through the one with the Greater Beast Core, though he wasn''t skilled enough to truly bring them to life, even with the assistance of the Beast Cores. With the remainder of the space on the Array Puppets, William filled it to the brim with improved Complete Arrays. The entire process took five weeks and William even harvested the Seal and Order Fruits twice, but it was worth it in the end. Seated at the side, Riyald was only a few hours away from Ascension. His soul was fluctuating wildly, attempting to merge together against his will, but he resisted. Riyald could tell that William was busy with the Array Puppets, so he opted to wait until his Disciple was finished before saying his goodbyes. After a thousand plus years in the Gravitas Ruins, Riyald had no issue waiting a bit longer for his Disciple that made his Ascension possible. William wiped the sweat off his brow and inspected his work. Standing in front of him were eight powerful Array Puppets each carrying strength in the Ascension Realm. Each Puppet had the ability to take on Marcus by themselves if controlled properly, and the Greater Puppet was even stronger, but William had yet to test their capabilities. He gave two of the Puppets a Starmetal Bow, while another two received Starmetal Shields. The Enchanted Starmetal Dual des that he had yet to use were given to the Greater Puppet, and the Starmetal Javelin, Staff, and Greatsword were given to the remaining three Puppets. With that, William''s Puppets werepletely outfitted and ready for a battle in the Ascended Realms, hopefully. He spent two thousand Potential Points to ask the System for a suitable Ascension point for Riyald, then asked the old man to follow behind. When they were about to leave the burial chamber, Riyald looked behind him and stopped William for a moment. "What about the Monarch?" Riyald asked. "Oh right, I forgot about him." William snapped his fingers and unsealed the Monarch, allowing him to move freely again. The Monarch, only able to breathe for five weeks, was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to use the bathroom, but he was stunned speechless when he sensed the condition of the burial chambers. It was slight, but the Monarch could tell that roughly two percent of the stored souls had beenpletely absorbed, which meant... "We have to go. Thanks for the hospitality!" William waved and started to cast a Space Magic Spell. Before the Monarch had a chance to speak, William dragged Riyald through a long-distance portal that took them to the western edge of the Dragon Continent. Tears welled up in the Monarch''s eyes, realizing what had happened in an instant.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om At least I got two Artifacts out of it... The Monarch thought to himself as he reached for his Space Ring. As he reached for his Space Ring... His Space Ring... "Where the hell is my Space Ring!" Chapter 381 Say Goodbye, Riyald Ascends! "You should be able to Ascend here, Master. I''ve already checked with a special Technique, and I think this is a safe spot." William said as he fiddled with a red and gold Space Ring the size of his thumb. He didn''t have any space left in the Starmetal tes at his sides, so William returned to his old method of looping the rings on a ne. Once he returned to the Gravitas Ruins, William would offload some of the less useful Space Rings into his storage area. "Really? Well, alright then." Riyald said before allowing his soul to start changing on its own. The process would take a few minutes, so the old man used the extra time to speak to his Disciple. "My dear Disciple William, I thoroughly enjoyed teaching you. In such a short amount of time, you''ve grown from a talented youth with a knack for getting into trouble to a monstrous superpower that no Continent dares to offend. It all happened so quickly that I don''t even know if my involvement had a serious impact or not. Perhaps you would have grown just as much without me..." Riyald looked down in shame as he said thest bit of words. "That''s not true, Master. You''ve done more than you know." William replied earnestly. Without the dozens of treasures and the Potential Points earned forpleting Riyald''s Trials, William probably wouldn''t have nearly as muchbat strength as he did now. Being able to Cultivate safely in the Gravitas Ruins was the greatest security that allowed William to reach the peak of the World. If he had left the Ruins after the allotted period, William would have died at the hands of the Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators immediately afterwards. If me Dragon Uri hadn''t helped him escape his envement, William might have ended up working for Retribution for the rest of his life. He might have been used as cannon fodder during a battle or forced to absorb more World Cores for the benefit of the organization. It wasn''t just William''s safety that was guaranteed by Riyald''s mentorship. He had also taught William so much about the Elements that many were automatically upgraded to B-Rank a long time ago. Considering Riyald only had a few Elemental Affinities, having so much knowledge about the others was very impressive. Riyald felt touched by William''s words, but he didn''t shed a tear like he thought he would. Instead, Riyald smiled and allowed his soul toplete its transformation, a massive silver-golden portal appearing in the sky that elevated his entire body automatically. Even if Riyald had an X-Rank Gravity Element like William, there was no escaping the pull of this force. It was as if the Heavens were telling Riyald "Up" and simply that. "Master, it''s dangerous up there, be careful. I''ll help you however I can." William said as he controlled the Array Puppets to fly alongside Riyald. Riyald nodded and looked at the Array Puppets following him. As an Array Master at the Complete level himself, Riyald naturally understood the intent behind William''s actions. He looked at the Array Puppet that housed the Greater Beast Core he had once given out, surprised to see that his Disciple had surpassed him in yet another aspect. "So you''ve learned the mythical Tier 6 Arrays, thousands of years ahead of your own Master... It seems I have nothing left to teach you." Riyald sighed as he looked to the sky. It was time for the young ones to take over, he was getting old. "If something happens to these things, I''ll hold onto them. Trace their aura and find your Master." Riyald said as his body phased into the portal as if they were bing one. The Array Puppets followed close behind, but the fluctuations of the closing Ascension Portal caused slight cracks to form on the bodies of the seven weaker Array Puppets. Only the Greater Puppet was left unharmed. William sensed his control over the seven puppets weaken until they could no longer be sensed, switching his perspective to that of the Greater Puppet.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Through its eyes, William could see a myriad of colors surrounding Riyald as he traveled through the portal, his body bing younger while he even grew a few inches. While the old man was still quite short, William could now see a slight bulge of muscle on his arms and legs, as if he had suddenly be a Nascent Soul level body Cultivator. At the same time, a special type of Spirit Qi seemed to enter Riyald''s body, pushing his Cultivation to the 6th stage of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm without forcing him to undergo any of the usual Tribtions. He still wasn''t at the peak, but William was a little more confident in his Master''s survival. He controlled the other seven Array Puppets with the main Puppet to maintain close proximity and keep them from bing separated during the travel, but William''s connection was bing fuzzy and his control over the Array Puppets was reduced by around twenty percent. When Riyaldnded in the Ascended Realms, he stared in awe at his surroundings, but William''s Array Puppets could only see in ck and white, and the view was incredibly fuzzy. He could only barely make out thendscape, which seemed to be tall rocky spires that stretched as far as the eye could see. It was as if Riyald and the Puppets hadnded on a giant sea urchin made of stone. They moved around and explored their surroundings, but it wasn''t long before William''s Array Puppets sensed a threatening presence explore from afar. The connection between William and his Array Puppets was cut offpletely at that moment, but he could sense that the portion of his soul was still active, meaning the Greater Array Puppet could still move based on his orders. Damn, I really wanted to see more of the Ascended Realms. Hopefully the Array Puppets can protect Master... William thought to himself as he flew in a certain direction. Now that his Master had Ascended and he had discovered the true reason for the dragons'' disappearance, it was time to go back to Uri. Instead of making a portal directly to Uri, William took it easy and contemted his divination. Where is Celestine I wonder... If it''s my only hope, it must be in the Ascended Realms, right? William pondered. His thoughts were interrupted by a bright sh of golden light. The Superior Tribtion around him was dispersed by an unknown force asnguage akin to a higher power descended from above. "William, deliver your Beast to me or taste my divine intervention!" the voice covered the entire World. Stay updated with empire From the Dragon Continent in the Northwest to the Velos Continent in the far West, to the Arcturis Continent in the Southwest, every Magical Beast, Cultivator, and non-Cultivator heard these words. Those who didn''t know William were incredibly afraid and confused, while those familiar with the name became worried. "Who are you?" William amplified his voice with the X-Rank Sound Element, covering most of the World with his voice, but not quite at the same level as this unknown higher power. "Weaklings like you can only hope to record my name in legends. My name is Juhi. Deliver your Beast or suffer!" Chapter 382 Did You See, Master? William looked to the sky with a hint of worry. He couldn''t sense his opponent at all, which meant either he was too far away to be spotted by his Life Sense, or William''s various X-Rank Talents weren''t enough. Either way, it was an indicator that the enemy Cultivator was probably the strongest opponent he had ever faced. That being said... "If you think you can threaten any one of my Companions and get away with it, you''re sorely mistaken!" William shouted angrily. "Threaten? I''ll do more than threaten!" Juhi replied. In the distance, a group of golden clouds condensed into a ball and shot a ten-kilometer-wide pir of Light Mana in a certain direction. William narrowed his eyes as he traced the path of the pir, realizing it was headed directly towards the Azures Continent. If he wasn''t sure before, he knew which Magical Beast Juhi was referring to now. "Atticus!" he cried out as the Light Mana arrived at the Azures continent in an instant. At the same time, the massive Tier 6 Array Formation that lined the Azures Continent lit up, a massive barrier forming in the path of the Light Mana. Boom! Your next chapter is on empire The barrier intercepted the Light Mana perfectly, absorbing the impact of the Ascended Cultivator''s attack at the cost of its own stability. The Tier 6 Arrays cracked all over, and it probably wouldn''t be able to defend against a second attack at the same level. William didn''t sit idle and used his newly upgraded X-Rank Space Magic create a long-distance portal, pouring hundreds of Mana into the Spell despite all of his Mana Efficiency buffs. At the same time, he ordered Uri through the System to hide, as he wouldn''t be able to protect both Companion Beasts at the same time. "Damned mortal Realms. Of course you''d have a Tier 6 Defensive Array Formation. Well, no matter." Juhi muttered as he conjured a second identical Light Pir and sent it forward. The already weakened Array Formation couldn''t handle a second attack at such a level in a short amount of time, shattering to pieces while the Light Pir continued towards Blue Moon City. Atticus had already noticed the first attack and was on guard, but seeing a second one so soon made him realize it was just a casual strike from the Ascended Cultivator. The Mythic Rat Snake looked at the city only a few kilometers away from him. It could see many Cultivators and non-Cultivators alike looking to the sky in awe, but clearly none of them understood the gravity of the matter. If Atticus didn''t do something, the entire Blue Moon City would be wiped out by Juhi''s attack. William''s long-distance portal was opening next to him, but Atticus could tell that William wouldn''t arrive in time. It''s up to me to save them. Atticus realized as he opened the Territory of Illusion to its maximum capacity. Clouds of purple Mana enveloped the area a few kilometers around Atticus, separating the region within from the rest of the World. Just like Atticus'' ability that allowed him to phase through solid objects, he channeled his Mana into doing the same for Blue Moon City. The cloud covered ny percent of the city, but there was still arge portion that Atticus couldn''t reach even with his Mana Reserves. He pushed as far as he could, but he was only able to make up for an additional five percent. The Elemental Territories were supposed to cover a radius asrge as the respective Domain, but it was still dependent on the amount of Mana avable to the user. Atticus didn''t have the insane Mana Reserves that William did, nor did he have even a fraction of his Master''s Mana Regeneration, so his efficiency when using the Illusion Territory was greatly reduced. In the remaining five percent of Blue Moon''s territory, Atticus spotted a gentle woman with medium-length ck hair. She looked to be in her thirties, but he wasn''t focused on her age. Instead, Atticus noticed that this woman''s aura was very simr to William''s, indicating a biological rtionship. It was Misha. Though Atticus had never met the woman a day in his life, he could tell at a nce that it was William''s mother. A tear formed in the snake''s eye as he realized a difficult choice needed to be made. I can save everyone, but... I can''t save myself. He sent a message through the System to William. Master, I''m counting on you. He said as Atticus excluded himself from his own Illusion Territory, using the extra Mana to cover thest of Blue Moon City. The Pir of Light crashed down from above andnded directly on Atticus'' back. The Spell condensed to a small area around a meter wide to focus its piercing power, slicing through his tough scales in an instant. A massive hole appeared on an area just below the base of Atticus'' head, blood spurting forth and showering the environment for kilometers. The Mythic Rat Snake''s eyes shuddered for a moment, before Atticus fell over to the side.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The Illusion Territory began to fade away, but Atticus had sessfully protected Blue Moon City. He smiled weakly seeing that he had protected everyone. I did my good deed. Did you see me, Master? Atticus thought as he lost consciousness. -Your Companion Beast (Atticus) is severely injured. William''s vision was met with an ominous System Message the moment he passed through the long-distance portal. His hands shook slightly as tears welled up in his eyes, memories of his first Companion Beast resurfacing. He remembered when Atticus was first hatched in a simple hotel room of Blue Moon City, the tiny snake that was evaluated as Mythic right from the start coiling around his fingertips as it inspected its new Master. He remembered fighting with Atticus many times, from the Blue Moon City guards when he was but a naive boy that had gained some power, to the Foam Desert. Afterwards, William had traveled with Atticus to the Five Elements Sect, explored the Gravitas Ruins, and eventually moved on to dominate the rest of the World with overwhelming strength. For almost the entirety of William''s journey, Atticus had been there. Either to eat omelettes with him and listen to his thoughts or help him practice his Magic. Companion Beast aside, Atticus could be considered William''s closest friend, and something about the current situation made William feel... Angry. William''s Humanity statistic fluctuated slightly, while his eyes turned deep red and his fists clenched tightly. A momentter, William''s eyes returned to their normal color, but only because he wanted to be in control while looking at his opponent''s pitiful face. "Ahaha! You see that, weakling? You can''t even protect your Beast. In fact, he''s about to die because he protected someone else. How noble of him..." Juhiughed from above, though William still had no idea where the Cultivator was. System, find him for me. -Request requires... Just do it. -5400 PP -He''s merged with the golden clouds above you. You can reveal him if you disperse the clouds. William smiled viciously upon seeing the System''s quick response. He opened his Life Domain and covered Atticus to stabilize his condition, then looked at the golden clouds. "Juhi, right? Congrattions, you''ve been chosen for a promotion. Your new position will be... Corpse." Chapter 383 You Have Two?! Within the clouds, Juhi opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a violent whistling sound. Below him, William had flown into the air and opened his Domain of Wind, slicing through the clouds and breaking them into smaller pieces that were then scattered. In mere moments, Juhi''s disguise was gone, revealing a man in his thirties with brown hair and thin shoulders. His entire figure was shrouded in a light golden hue, which seemed to be some sort of Spirit Aura. While Juhi was slightly surprised that William had found him so quickly, he shook off the matter and looked at William with an intrigued gaze, "What makes you so confident that you can handle me, little boy?" Little boy? While my real age is barely 21, I''m 527 years old! What does he mean, little boy? William ignored Juhi and turned on his Artifact Belt, greatly enhancing the effects of his Magic. Simultaneously, he opened the Domain of Fire and gathered an incredibly dense ball of Fire Mana in his palm and sent it at Juhi. Sensing William''s aura more distinctly than before, the Eternal Tribtion that had been dispersed temporarily returned with a sh, the sky darkening while Lightning Bolts formed in the sky to attack William. "Ha! Two Domains? You might think that''s something here, but you have much to learn. Allow me to teach you!" Juhi said as he opened both a Light and Fire Domain. He used the Light Domain to blind William temporarily, while the Domain of Fire shed with William''s own. "As you can see, your Fire Domain can''t possiblypare to... What?!" Juhi eximed in shock as William''s Domain of Fire consumed Juhi''s in an instant. He channeled more Mana into the Spell, but even with a massive difference in Cultivation, Juhi could only cancel out William''s Domain with his own, he couldn''t beat it at all! William still didn''t care tomunicate with Juhi. After taking another nce at Atticus'' condition, William decided death wouldn''t be enough for the Ascended Cultivator. He opened the Territory of Sealing immediately, a massive grey cloud of Mana changing into a giant palm that reached out and tried to grab hold of Juhi. "A Territory! And of the Seal Element as well!" Juhi looked at the cloud of Mana in shock. William''s previous weak presence had suddenly be overbearing, pressuring Juhi to dodge and defend himself from the Seal Territory. Juhi expected his trip to the lower Realms to be simple. Descend, kill the Mythic Beast and take its heart, then return. Three easy steps. He might meet a bit of resistance, but what can ants an entire Realm below him do? They didn''t have the protection of the higher Realms, their Spirit Auras couldn''tpare! Seeing a Territory, however, made Juhi feel nervous. A Territory implied that William''s Element was at least SSR-Rank, meaning he had the ability to make up the difference in ranks by at least a Realm. Ascension Realmbat power in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm was easy for a Cultivator with a Territory. Even if he didn''t die, Juhi would likely waste a lot of time fighting William. I paid for an hour. I can''t let this mortal get in my way, or it''ll be a wasted trip! Juhi thought as he controlled both the Light and Fire Elements at the same time to counter the Seal Element temporarily. A massive wall of Mana covering a range of fifty kilometers appeared, blinding William and blocking his view. In doing so, Juhi''s Fire Domain was suppressed by William''s just momentster, but he achieved his goal. He rushed towards Atticus at high speed, trying to reach the Magical Beast before William recovered. "What do you think you''re doing?" William said as he appeared in front of Juhi. His arms were crossed and the immense amount of Space Mana surrounding his body caused a small amount of his aura to leak out despite the Stealth Talent. Juhi tried to ignore William and continue towards Atticus, but he realized something was amiss. It wasn''t William that moved, but him! Not only this, but the Tribtion Clouds that had just reappeared were dispersed. That''s the Punishment of Eternal Tribtions, but he dispersed it?! And I''m back in my original position in front of him! How is that possible? Unless... He looked at William with a fearful expression, "The Territory of Space! You actually have two Territories!" While the Territory of Space was usually well-known for trapping Cultivators inside and preventing escape, the natural properties of Space Mana could actually even disconnect the Heavens'' connection with the lower Realms at a high enough level.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om It could even temporarily suppress the effects of the Eternal Tribtion, though it would return the moment William closed his Space Territory. Usually this wasn''t achievable by a Cultivator that hadn''t Ascended, but if one had X-Rank Space Magic and high enough Cultivation... it was possible! William''s Cultivation wasn''t at the peak, but his Artifact Belt made up for the difference in strength. Combined with his Affinity, William''s X-Rank Magic made him equal to and even above Juhi in some aspects! Realizing that he was facing a one in a million years genius of the lower Realms, Juhi was no longer as confident as he was when he descended. If the boy survived long enough to Ascend and seeked him out in the future, wouldn''t Juhi be screwed? He has to die right now! Violeta, I''m going to have to renege on our agreement, but I''llpensate you for it. Juhi said in his mind. Good luck with that. You better keep the Continents in one piece, I can''t risk loosening the seals any more. A female voice responded in his mind with amusement. When she realized that Juhi''s actions would leave a mess for her, her tone switched to annoyance. Explore stories at empire Juhi nodded and unsealed his aura, releasing the full strength of his Cultivation. Spatial fissures formed all around him as he moved, and an Ascension Portal appeared overhead. Instead of pulling him upwards, a soft golden light covered the Ascension Portal, removing the gravitational pull and allowing Juhi to move freely. "You shouldn''t have shown so much. I can''t let you live now." Juhi said as he released six Elements all at once. Fire, Light, Lightning, Ice, nt, and Poison. All six Elements opened their respective Domains and absorbed the ambient Mana of the environment. Rather than trying to suppress William''s Domains, the six Elements merged into one singr fusion Spell that covered a radius of fifty kilometers. "Sixfold Fusion Domain. Open!" Juhi shouted as a multitude of colors burst forth. Before William had a chance to open his own Domains, Juhi cast another Spell, forcing all six Domains to copse at once and enter his body. "Sixfold enhancement. Start!" Juhi''s body grew to three times the previous size, while his aura skyrocketed. His Mana fluctuations were wild, but William couldn''t sense any Spells forming. Regardless, the time-slowing bonus effect from the Fitness Talent showed Juhi heading towards him at incredible speed. Even though his speed in William''s perspective was slowed by 96 times, Juhi still arrived in front of William in the blink of an eye. "Kyah!" Juhi threw an earth-shattering punch, breaking through the second, third, and even fourthyers of space. Chapter 384 Ascended Cultivator, Suppressed! Just the shockwave from the punch was enough to crumble the walls of Blue Moon City. William was knocked backwards a hundred meters and had to use the Wind Element to catch himself. His body was bloodied in an instant, but the Recovery Talent kicked in and restored the damage before it could be serious. You can fuse Domains into your body like that? Why haven''t any of my other enemies with Domains used this method? he couldn''t believe his eyes. -The process is moreplicated than it looks. Without a strong enough body or an Ascended Aura, Domain Integration is impossible. Domain Integration? -What that Juhi is doing. Fusion is when you meld the effects of the Domains together and use them as if they are a singr Domain, while Integration is simplybining them in mass and merging the Mana with the cells of your body. If your cells aren''t resilient enough, they won''t be able to handle the iing mass of Mana. William understood now why the System said Integration was impossible normally. Juhi didn''t seem to be a Body Cultivator, so it was likely the Ascended Aura assisting him. It must be that golden aura of his. Even my Seal Territory probably can''t break through that defense easily. William realized as he inspected Juhi''s body. After hearing the System''s exnation, it was easier for William to notice the functions of the golden aura. It wasn''t a simple glow that one might see when illuminated by the sunlight, rather a veil that came from within Juhi''s own body. It was as if his cells were the source of the glow, not his ambient Spirit Aura. At the same time, William could see tiny specks of green, red, and all the other colors of Juhi''s Domains that indicated slight disturbances in his aura. Even though he was an Ascended Cultivator, Juhi still couldn''t properly control the enhancement of his Fused Domains. William smiled and released arge portion of the restrictions surrounding his physical strength, matching Juhi''s power while opening an Ascension Portal of his own. Using the X-Rank Gravity Element to suppress the portal, William collided midair and exchanged punches with Juhi. Boom! Boom! Boom! Both Cultivators were thrown backwards time and time again, neither with an advantage over the other. William took advantage of Juhi''s surprise to sneak in a few blows and damage the golden spirit aura, while Juhi himself looked downtrodden.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om William''s Attack Reflection Talent seemed to have no effect as Juhi didn''t suffer any recoil damage, but Juhi couldn''t believe that a mere mortal could keep up with his strength and speed. The fabric of the World was ripped to shreds by their battle, creating massive spatial fissures that would pull in any random Cultivator that came too close. Even Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators wouldn''t be exempt if they weren''t careful, so the spectators made sure to keep a considerable distance from the fight. At the same time, William controlled the direction of the fight to stay away from Blue Moon City so Atticus could recover properly. Even William couldn''t protect the city while engaged in such a high stakes battle. Juhi became more and more flustered as William wasted his precious descent time, switching to a more aggressive offense andpressing the Elements onto his fist as he threw a massive punch. William''s Forcefield shattered and reformed multiple times under the effects of the single punch, but as a result, Juhi''s golden aura began to fade away. At the end of Juhi''sst punch that targeted William''s head, his golden aura waspletely gone, finally triggering the Attack Reflection Talent. Juhi''s neck suddenly snapped backwards at an awkward angle, the sound of broken bones following suit. Explore more at empire William took advantage of the Ascended Cultivator''s surprise to finally catch the man with the Sealing Territory, reducing the efficiency of Juhi''s movements by over fifty percent. With the support of a dozen Tier 6 Confinement Arrays, that number was increased to seventy percent. Ice began to crawl up Juhi''s body and thick tree roots wrapped around Juhi''s legs as William called various Elements to continue suppressing the Cultivator. He channeled Water Magic to encase the man in a dome that would slowly drown Juhi, then followed up with Death Magic that drained away Juhi''s life force bit by bit. With this, Juhi waspletely suppressed without a chance to escape. He shook his body left and right to break free from William''s restrictions, but more Ice and roots formed, recing what was lost in an instant. Even when his golden aura started reforming, it wasn''t enough to defend him from William''s suppression. "N-No!" Juhi shouted in fear as the Death Element started to sap away his life force, slowly turning his hair grey while wrinkles formed on his cheeks and forehead. William continued channeling the Death Element until Juhi had be a wizened old man with almost hollow cheeks. "You can''t do this to me! I''ve lived almost ten thousand years, and I don''t n to die like this!" Juhi shouted as he activated a Protective Artifact that served as his ne. The Ascension Portal that was previously suppressed started working again, pulling Juhi into the sky at high speed. "Oh no you don''t." William said as he activated the Territory of Gravity, reversing the gravity around Juhi and forcing the man to m into the ground. William channeled more Ice Mana topletely cover the man''s body, allowing him to sap at Juhi''s life force until his winkled skin became like paper. At this point, Juhi''s golden aura couldn''t reform anymore, unable to protect the husk that looked like he could die with a single gust of wind. William opened up the Domain of Time, halting the movements of everything within close proximity to him and Juhi. Before the old man could register what had happened, William teleported in front of him and sliced off an arm with the Abyssal Weapon Shifter. System, how much time does he have left before he is sent back up to the higher Realms? William asked. -About fifteen minutes. Perfect. William revealed a sinister smile as he chopped off Juhi''s other arm. Even with the enhancement of the six Domains, Juhi''s defensive power didn''t seem able to block William''s Abyssal Weapon Shifter, likely because the density of the man''s cells hadn''t changed in the same way that the Hard Skin Talent used to modify William''s body. Juhi gritted his teeth in pain as both arms started to bleed out, but William wasn''t satisfied. He noticed with Spirit Vision Mode that Juhi''s Soul Strength wasn''t impressive, so he channeled Dream Mana to force Juhi into a terrifying nightmare, filled with all of the most horrifying beings William could think of. Juhi imagined himself being eaten time and time again by massive horned demons with razor sharp teeth, starting with a certain sensitive body part. He felt the sensation of his brain being removed from his head and drank like a soup, and helplessness overwhelmed him as the cycle repeated itself for what seemed to be a thousand years. That wasn''t an exaggeration, since the Dream Element could turn a few seconds into a dreamsting an entire year. With the support of the Time Element, William could extend that tost a lifetime. After setting the events to repeat over and over, William added his own voice to the nightmare. An endlessly looped message that would haunt Juhi for the remainder of his thousand-year dream. "Your ignorance has led to this moment. Admit your wrongdoing and I will let you go." William''s words echoed throughout the nightmare. Juhi resisted and fought against the nightmare for an entire year before eventually giving in to William''s demands. "I was wrong! Let me go! I won''t bother you ever again!" But William didn''t respond. "Please!" Juhi cried out. "I''ll give you anything! Spirit Stones, Cultivation Techniques, Priceless Artifacts. Anything you want!" But William still didn''t respond. Hisst message was only meant to give Juhi hope that he would be released, but William had no intentions of letting the old man go. Even if William''s loot goblin tendencies made him want to ept Juhi''s requests, William had already snatched the old man''s Space Rings while he was in the dream. To expect anything else from Juhi would be an idiotic mistake. What kind of Cultivator would return to their captor to deliver goods? William knew he wouldn''t. -Juhi''s time is running short. He has five minutes before the Heavens automatically forces his body back to the Ascended Realms. Will the Heavens even be able to bypass all of my suppression? I''ve even suppressed my own Ascension Portal, how can this not work? -Yes. The Heavens won''t tolerate allowing someone to descend past the allotted time. And killing him won''t have any greater effect than you''ve had now, this isn''t his real body. It''s only an incarnation that shares the thoughts and emotions of the true body in real time. Shit, it''s not even truly him? I want to kill this guy so bad! William racked his brain for ideas. Chapter 385 Cursed! Curse Again! Curse Some More! William suddenly came up with an idea. If I can''t kill him, I might as well make him suffer as much as possible! He thought as he channeled a massive amount of Curse Mana to his fingertips. The Curse Element was an incredibly niche Element that had only a few effects but could be incredibly powerful if used correctly. The only problem was that the Curse Element was somewhat painful to use, since powerful Curse Spells would bacsh on its caster. This was the main reason why William hadn''t used Curse Magic very much up until now. That and the fact that his other Spells were more than suitable enough to handle any issue thrown at William. Now, however, was the best time to use Curse Magic. ording to the System, as long as William followed three rules of the Curse Element, he could achieve incredible things. The first rule was that the speed of casting a Curse Spell could not be sped up no matter what. While there might be a way to bypass this in the future, William didn''t have the ability to do so yet. The second rule was that Curse Magic could only affect those that William had line of sight of and that weren''t concealing their aura. If William''s Curse Spell couldn''t attach to an aura, it would have no effect when cast. It didn''t matter if the Cultivator concealed their aura after the Spell was cast, but it must be disyed when assigning the target of William''s Spell. Thest and most important rule was rted to the Spell''s efficacy. The strength of the Curse Spell could be magnified immensely the longer the Spell was channeled, but the stronger the Spell, the greater the bacsh on its caster. Despite this, William was able to follow all three rules no problem. William had five minutes to cast his Spell, which was more than enough time, and Juhi was an arrogant individual that hadn''t bothered to conceal his aura from the start. As long as William could handle the bacsh of his Spell, he could make it as powerful as he wanted it to be. But what effects should I add to the Spell? William thought. He had many options, from a Suppression Curse that would reduce Juhi''sbat power by arge amount, or a Blood Curse that would weaken Juhi''s bloodline while the Curse was active. He could even perform a Fertility Curse, making Juhi unable to have children for the rest of his life. Depending on the individual, this would be a hard enough blow to cripple one''s mentality. It''s not enough. I want him to really suffer. No one hurts Atticus and gets away with it. If he''s going to live, I''m going to make sure he doesn''t want to live! William decided as he used the full capacity of the Artifact Belt to grant him additional Mana Regeneration. -Mana: 9799/9800 My Mana Regeneration Talent and the Artifact Belt kept me at my peak for the entire fight, but it''s time to see how far we can actually go! William thought while adding massive amounts of Mana to his Curse Spell. In his hands, a dark ck and purple orb formed slowly, increasing in size while a thin line attached itself to both William and Juhi''s heart. First, I need to target his main body. For that, let''s focus on the soul. William added a Curse of Soul Ensnaring, which would reveal Juhi''s real position to William at all times. He wasn''t sure if it would work between Realms, but the moment he Ascended William nned to track down this Juhi. Next, William targeted the soul again with a Spell Transference Curse. This was the most powerful of all the curses that allowed William to transfer the effects of a single Spell across any distance, the downside being that William would be affected by his own Spell. For this, William was smart and decided to send over a small amount of Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin from his Poison Elemental Form. Afteryering the Spell Transference Curse a few hundred times, William would be able to trigger the curse once a month. Since William waspletely immune to the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin, the bacsh of this Spell would have no effect on him at all. He moved on to target the body, Cursing Juhi to always be fully erect, unless he was sexually stimted, in which case he would bepletelyid. Experience tales at empire In meetings, this would probably be incredibly awkward. Even worse, if Juhi managed to have a rtionship while affected by all these Curses, he''d find himself in yet another awkward situation. At that point, it might be better for Juhi to consider seppuku. Even the System apuded William''s devious actions, waves ofughter reaching William through their mental connection. It watched with glee as the number of Curses caused William''s Spell to be the size of half a kilometer, the spectators fleeing in fear as they didn''t want to risk getting caught in the aftereffects. He wasn''t done yet, though. William added a Curse of Weakness to the Spell, which would weaken the resistance of Juhi''s body by around twenty percent depending on how effective the Curse was. Next, William added one final Curse, which was guaranteed to make Juhi regret ever offending him. Using the remainder of William''s Mana, he copied his own aura and added it to Juhi in a Curse. If William made any more Ascended enemies, Juhi would be the first to pay. I don''t know exactly how many Ascended enemies I''ve made, but just the Heavens alone are enough to scare someone. That Juhi is not going to have a good time. Williamughed as he sent the Curse Spell flying towards his opponent. Space warped as a massive ball of Curse Mana traveled incredibly slowly towards Juhi. If the man wasn''t suppressed by dozens of Elements and forced into the Dream World, William''s Spell would have had no chance ofnding. The moment the ball of Curse Mana hit Juhi''s body, it shrunk in size by dozens of times and merged with Juhi, the old Cultivator grunting in pain but seemingly uninjured. When William sensed his own aura emanating from Juhi, William knew his Spell was effective. He watched as Juhi was turned into a tiny golden light by an unknown force, floating into the sky and entering the Ascension Portal with no signs of returning. William closed his various Domains, causing the Eternal Tribtion to reappear and strike him with Heavenly Lightning, but he smiled. -Your Curse of Soul Ensnaring is in effect. -Your Curse of Spell Transference is in effect. -Your Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin is in effect: +1 Soul Strength -Your Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin is in effect: +1 Soul Strength -Your Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin is in effect: +1 Soul Strength -Your Curse of Reverse Libido is in effect. -Your Curse of Weakness is in effect. -Your Curse of Aura Imitation is in effect. -Your Cursed enemy is weak. -Your Cursed enemy is recovering.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om -Your Cursed enemy is weak. -Your Cursed enemy is recovering. Endless System Notifications flooded the text box in the corner of William''s view, but he wasn''t frustrated. In fact, William smiled upon seeing that his opponent was already trying to recover without any luck. Chapter 386 Qi Refinement To The Peak It seemed that Juhi would probably be dealing with William''s Curse Spell for a while. William wasn''t confident that his Curse would have a serious long-term effect, but he at least hoped that the man wasn''t friends with any Curse Mages that could undo William''s Spell. The Eternal Tribtion struck down lightning after lightning bolt on William''s body, but he continued to ignore it as he inspected Atticus'' body nearby. The Mythical Rat Snake had a serious wound at its neckline that even the Life Domain couldn''t fully heal, and the injury was corroded by a trace of poison. That damned Ascended Cultivator... Who does he think he is, attacking my Companion Beasts like this? I''ll never forgive him! William thought angrily as he switched to his Life Elemental Form and cast an iparably powerful healing Spell on Atticus. The lingering poison was detoxified in an instant, while the Light Mana that lined the injury was dispersed and returned into the environment. Afterwards, the flesh grew back and even Atticus'' lost blood was reced after only a few moments, restoring the snake to perfect condition. Compared to the group of healers that took almost an entire week to heal a few scratches and regrow some scales, William''s method was incredibly efficient. Atticus even found that his stamina had been restored somewhat, so he looked left and right in search of the cause of his injury. "Where iss he. I sshould eat him." Atticus hissed as he looked to the sky for any hints of the unknown golden aura. "You''re pretty eager to fight considering you almost died, little buddy." Williamughed as he watched Atticus soar into the sky. "Little buddy? Masster, I''m bigger than Big Brother Uri now, you can''t call me little." Atticus was slightly annoyed by William''sment. Little meant that Atticus was still much too weak, and it was true. Against William''s current level of enemies, Atticus didn''t stand a chance. A single attack from Juhi was enough to drive Atticus to the verge of death, and it made him feel useless. "Masster. I want to be stronger. Can you upgrade me soon?" William was surprised to see that Atticus was so proactive, but he didn''t decline. "I can upgrade you right now." System, can you do it? -You will be charged 250,000 Potential Points. Is that alright? Since when are you so formal? I have 324 thousand Points, which is barely enough. Let''s go for it! -250000 PP Find exclusive stories on empire Atticus felt a deep and profound fear within his body as a small number of clouds gathered in the sky. Instead of the red that resembled a Superior Tribtion, these clouds were rtively normal looking, which made Atticus wonder why he felt fear. Lightning Bolts formed like usual, but Atticus'' body didn''t increase in shape or size like it did with previous upgrades. Instead, he remained exactly the same, as if the System hadn''t performed an upgrade at all. Three Heavenly Lightning Boltsnded on Atticus, but their aura was so weak that he didn''t even feel the attack. It was as if he had just gone through a Qi Refinement to Foundation Establishment Tribtion, and not one for a Tribtion Transcendence Beast. The clouds dispersed, the blue sky appearing once more while Atticus and William looked up in confusion. At the same time, a small wisp of something Heavenly in nature floated down and nourished Atticus'' body, but the effects hardly raised the Mythical Rat Snake''sbat power at all. "That''s it?" William couldn''t believe what he was seeing. A mere Qi Refinement Tribtion had formed and was dispersed in the blink of an eye, but Atticus was supposed to reach the Tribtion Transcendence Realm! How could this happen? William was about the ask the System if it had made a mistake when he saw clouds forming once more. This time, the strength of the Tribtion seemed to break into the Foundation Establishment Realm, but it was still nothingpared to a peak Soul Formation Magical Beast like Atticus. -Your Companion Beast must undergo all the previous Heavenly Tribtions before attempting the nine Tribtions. Ohhh, that''s right. Atticus hasn''t taken a Tribtion since the beginning. William realized. He watched as Atticus'' Tribtions rose from the Foundation Establishment Realm to Core Formation, then Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and finally the Soul Formation Realm. After passing each Tribtion, Atticus was nourished by slightly more of the Heavenly energy than before, hisbat strength increasing by around fifteen percent by the end of all the improvements. Only then did Atticus'' body begin to change and grow, his length extending to two kilometers while the scales became asrge as two-story buildings. He hissed at the sky as nine differently colored and dark Tribtion Clouds formed, the nine Tribtions beginning all at once. A massive bolt of red lightning fell from the sky, its strength already at the eighth stage of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. Before it couldnd, an orange lightning bolt in the ninth stage followed suit, merging with the red lightning and bing slightly stronger. Atticus defended each strike with ease despite his Soul Formation Realm Cultivation, his hard scales making up for the difference in strength. Only when the third yellow and fourth blue boltnded did Atticus suffer some damage, but it was hardly anythingpared to Juhi''s attack. His scales were dislodged by the green lightning, then the purple lightning struck the same spot and drew massive amounts of blood. Atticus hissed in pain, but he continued to undergo the Tribtions, trusting that his Master would protect him. The next two lightning bolts were the seventh and eighth, ck and white in color. As they formed and merged, Atticus twisted his body to force the lightning to pierce through his tail, the scalespletely unable to defend against theirbined strength at all. The clouds condensed into a single massive form and changed to a pure golden color, attracting the attention of spectators from hundreds of kilometers away. This was the signature move of the nine Tribtions of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, the Bolt of Golden Heavens. This was the killer of Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators, the ultimate and final obstacle that even Riyald didn''t dare to attempt. If Atticus could surpass this final Tribtion, he would be just a single step away from Ascension. If William proceeded with his next System upgrade, Atticus would go to the higher Realms right away. As the Bolt of Golden Heavens fell, the sense of dread that filled Atticus'' body was intensified, but he stood strong and opened his Illusion Territory, redirecting the lightning to a non-vital area near the base of his tail.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Despite this, the lightning split into tens of thousands of miniature lightning bolts, spreading through Atticus'' body like countless termites attacking a wooden shed. Atticus roared in pain as the Bolt of Golden Heavens even affected his soul slightly, but the System upgrade was true to its word. At the same rate that the Bolt of Golden Heavens destroyed Atticus'' body and soul, he felt himself strengthened by an unknown power that could only be described as the System''s interference. No matter how hard the Heavenly Lightning worked to destroy Atticus, William ordered for him to be upgraded, and so he would be. Chapter 387 Get Out Of My Sight! As the final lightning bolt was finally defeated, Atticus became wrapped in a golden cocoon of the Heavenly energy while the System Panel informed William of the sessful upgrade. Atticus was now at the very peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, and would immediately Ascend on his next upgrade. Unlike the Epic-Ranked me Dragon Uri whose upgrades always ced him at the first level of the following Realm, Atticus would always be pushed to the peak of the next Realm. It made William wonder if he should upgrade Atticus right after Ascending, since the Mythical Rat Snake would instantly be a peakbat power in the Ascension Realm. Not that William was afraid of anyone in the Ascension Realm, but he didn''t want Atticus to suffer any more. ¡ª¡ª¡ª BEAST UPGRADED Atticus: (S --> SS) Learned 7 new abilities. Strength improved. Speed and Stealth improved. Defensive abilities improved. Size massively increased. Intelligence slightly improved. Illusion Territory has improved. Comprehension of the Primary Law of Illusion has reached fifty percent. Next rank up: 500000PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª He has the Law of Illusion and it''s at fifty percent? My Primary Law of Sealing is only at 0.6 percent! William eximed. Speaking of which, I should probably eat the rest of those Seal Fruits soon... The increased strength of my Seal Element would help the Suppression Pillsst longer. "Atticus,e here." William ordered to the Mythical Rat Snake. "Yess? Masster?" Atticus asked as he floated down from the sky. His movements were incredibly fast and agile, but the Mythical Rat Snake identally crushed part of a nearby forest when his tail hit the ground. He had forgotten to use the Illusion Territory. William took a peek over Atticus'' shoulder and sighed. "Your Illusion Element has improved. Can you sense the Law of Illusion?" "Ah... yes, I think I can." "Good." William nodded in satisfaction. "Practice well with it and show me what you can do when I see you next. You may be stronger now, but that doesn''t mean you can do whatever you want. Don''t identally kill anyone." "Kill? I couldn''t hurt a fly unless I wanted to!" Atticus looked to the sky proudly and flipped his tail back and forth, as if iming to be a righteous Cultivator with a pure heart. "Oh, really? Then what''s that?" William pointed behind Atticus, where a bundle of trees had been thrown to the sky while the forest and some nearby hills werepletely leveled. At the same time, a number of System notifications entered William''s vision. -Atticus has killed a Qi Refinement Beast (x110): +111 PP -Atticus has killed a Foundation Establishment Beast (x32): +63 PP -Atticus has killed a Core Formation Beast (x6): +19 PP Atticus, still proud of himself, turned around to see what William was pointing at. When he saw the group of trees that still hadn''tnded and were already a dozen kilometers away, Atticus felt a little awkward. He used the improvements of the Illusion Element to change his shape and size to that of a five-meter-long snake with big eyes, staring at William with a cute expression, "Mastaw, it was an ident. Pwease fowgive me."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om William looked at Atticus with a nk expression. System, you said his intelligence improved... -He takes after you. I can''t fix whatever that is. Hey! William eximed angrily. The Systemughed. How could it miss the opportunity to poke at William? It was the System''s favorite hobby. *** In an unfamiliar area of the Ascended Realms. Ascended Cultivator Juhi was currently inspecting his body with a sense of urgency. The myriad of Curses applied by William were all in effect, and he could feel his Soul Strength being drained away little by little. If he wasn''t a Poison Mage himself, Juhi would have been unable to eliminate the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin from his body at all, but his SS-Rank Poison Affinity was still too weak to take care of it in a short amount of time. It would take almost an entire month to eliminate it fully, and by then he would have lost almost five percent of his Soul Strength! How did he get his hands on poison from the Higher Realms? Damn it, was it from that incident back then? Juhi thought angrily as he opened his Poison Domain to counter the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin. This method would greatly slow the speed at which he lost Soul Strength, but it heavily relied on how much Mana Juhi had in Reserve. Unfortunately for him, his Mana Regeneration wasn''t as absurd as William''s so he wouldn''t be able to do this constantly, but it was enough for now. Damn that William! I need to inform the Heavens, or he''s going to be the death of me in a thousand years! Juhi retracted his Poison Domain temporarily and entered a permanently open portal in the back of his home that took him directly to his ce of work, the Pewot City Defense Force Headquarters or PDF HQ for short. As its name implied, the PDF HQ served as Pewot City''s first line of defense against outside threats. Juhi''s role in the organization was as a Defender, and his mission was to increase his strength however possible. The strong ones were paid well and promoted to be Great Defenders, while the weak ones were treated as cannon fodder for wars. Juhi was one of the more powerful Defenders of the PDF HQ, but he still had a long way to go before promotion. Acquiring the heart of a Mythic Beast in the Lower Realms was supposed to be his guaranteed ticket to promotion, but unfortunately Juhi met William. It''s fine though, all I need to do is get rid of these Curses. I still got the Beast''s blood, so I can improve a little bit. Juhi thought as he approached the front counter. A secretary looked up from her notebook and asked, "Defender Juhi, what can I do for you? You look unwell..." "I need to see Great Defender Mia, please." he ced his hands on the counter and looked at the secretary seriously. "I see... I''ll let her know." the secretary picked up amunicator and dialed for Mia. She ryed Juhi''s request, hanging up once the other party was finished speaking. Read exclusive chapters at empire "Great Defender Mia is on her way. You may sit for now." she said simply. Juhi nodded and took a seat, waiting only a few minutes before a beautiful woman with long red hair stepped out of a nearby room. She looked at Juhi with narrowed eyes, "What do you need, Defender Juhi?" Juhi stepped in close, "I needed to speak with you, Great Defender. It''s important. Can we go into another room?" Great Defender Mia felt something touching her thigh and looked down, disgusted by what she saw. Her voice grew loud as she pped Juhi in the face, "If it''s because of that, I think I''ll have to decline. Get out of my sight." Juhi looked down and noticed that William''s Curse, Reverse Libido, was in effect. He felt incredibly awkward and apologized immediately, "Great Defender Mia, it''s not what it looks like!" he cried out as he tried to exin. "I think it''s exactly what it looks like. Don''t ever reach out to me again." Juhi was left devastated by Mia''s words, crouching on the floor in shame. I only wanted to find a Curse Mage to heal me... Damn you, William! Chapter 388 Anti-Dragon Techniques Following Atticus'' full recovery and a small cleanup project near Blue Moon City, William returned to the Dragon Continent. He took half a day to recover his mental strength, then met with me Dragon Uri to pass along what he learned during the System''s simtion. The sun had just started to set by the end of William''s story, and the sky was currently highlighted beautiful shades of red, orange, and pink. After a taxing day like today, seeing such a beautiful scene made William feel unnaturally rxed. When Uri heard that the humans of the Dragon Continent had nothing to do with his n''s disappearance, he felt both relieved and guilty at the same time. If he hadn''t joined Master Riyald back then, Uri might have been able to make a difference. "Don''t worry about it, Uri. There''s nothing you could have done; you were too young." William patted Uri''srge scales infort as the dragon solemnly stared off into the distance. "I was already hundreds of years old. You''re a fraction of that, and look what you''ve aplished, Master." Uri shook his head. "Don''tpare yourself to me." William sighed. Without the System''s help, William would be even worse than the average Magical Beast. Hearing Uri speak highly of him was a bit embarrassing, to say the least. "Mm." Uri replied. He shifted his gaze to a nearby human city, randomly focusing on various humans as they went through their day-to-day assignments. "What do we do now, Master?" William traced Uri''s gaze, watching along as a group of human carpenters worked on a newly built home. They seemed to be in a rush to finish onest assignment, eagerly talking about going to a nearby bar afterwards. "I have to locate the other Superior Cores, but you don''t need to escort me anymore." "I don''t?" "Nope, but that doesn''t mean I don''t have anything for you to do." William replied. "I''d like you to learn about these anti-dragon Techniques from the humans. If you can master some of them, perhaps you will really be considered the strongest dragon." "Huh?!?" Uri couldn''t believe what he was hearing. He turned his head to face his master, the bright red scales glimmering in the final light of day. "You want a dragon to learn... anti-dragon Techniques?!" "Why not? If they work on you, they''ll work on other dragons. Just because you''re strong doesn''t mean you can''t resort to strategy in a difficult fight. It might save your life someday." William exined. He knew dragons were a proud race, but Uri could progress smoothly with the System''s help. All Uri needed to do was make sure his Techniques were always the best they could be. Without refining his skills, Uri would be like a bull, wildly thrashing his power with no clear goal. But if he could learn Techniques that amplified hisbat power, he had the potential to be unstoppable. "I don''t know, Master..." Uri trailed off. "You don''t have to use them, but it''s easier to counter an ability that you know how to use yourself, right? Maybe it''ll be the deciding factor in the future." William exined once more. "As you wish, Master. I''ll learn the Techniques. Who should I go to?" "I''ve already figured that out." William replied as he created a portal to the Dragon Continent''s Monarch''s throne room. Using his X-Rank Space Element, William could slightly sense what was on the other side of his portal without going through. He was even able to pull the Monarch through the portal with the Gravity Element, bewildering him as hended on the ground in front of William and his Companion Beast. "Ah... Esteemed Cultivator William. What can I do for you today." the Monarch groggily wiped his eyes as the side effects of spatial transport kicked in. He noticed Uri to the side, narrowing his eyes as he recognized the Magical Beast that tried to threaten him some months ago. "I want you to teach him your Techniques." William pointed to Uri. "And why should I do that? You stole my-"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Space Ring? I''ll give it back if you teach him." William smiled. The Monarch was left stunned by William''s interruption, then swiftly nodded. "As you wish, I can have my subordinates teach him some. They''re just as familiar with our Techniques as me." "You will teach him all of your best Techniques. Not just a select few." William released a hint of his aura, causing beads of sweat to form on the Monarch''s forehead. "A-All of them? But our Ancient Family Techniques are supposed to be closely guarded secrets. No outsiders can learn them." the Monarch tried to argue. "What do I care about that? Just teach him." "I won''t." the Monarch frowned and crossed his arms. "Even if I give you back your Space Ring?" William questioned. "Even then." Readtest stories on empire "Then I''ll just destroy your Continent if you don''t teach him." William shrugged his shoulders. "You''ll destroy the Continent for such a simple matter?" the Monarch couldn''t believe what he was hearing. "You''re bluffing!" "Am I? The strength of my Companions is not a simple matter." William called Mana of the Chaos Element to gather on his fingertips, slowly opening the Territory of Chaos for added effect. The Monarch felt a disturbance within the environment, watching as the ambient Mana went haywire and refused toply with his orders. Even the Elements located within his own body ignored his calls, running rampant and causing slight amounts of internal damage. He watched in horror as an area within one meter of William started to destabilize, spatial fissures destroying everything in their path. When the Territory expanded to three meters and was about to touch the Monarch''s body, he truly believed that William had the ability to destroy a Continent by himself. He prostrated himself on the ground and pleaded with tears in his eyes, "Alright! I''ll teach him! Just don''t destroy my beloved Continent!" William closed the Territory of Chaos and smiled, "That''s more like it. You can teach him tomorrow. And..." William leaned in close to whisper into the Monarch''s ear. "If something happens to my Companion Beast, the Continent''s destruction will be the least of your worries. It was an empty threat, since destroying the Dragon Continent would lead to reduced rewards from one of his System Quests, but the Monarch didn''t need to know that. His body shook as he nodded repeatedly, epting every demand that William had made thus far. Since both Atticus and me Dragon Uri had been assigned tasks that would take up much of their free time, and his friends were still probably Cultivating in the Revista Faction''s Cultivation Site, William had no reason to keep his own schedule empty. He finally consumed the additional fifty Seal Fruits in his mental warehouse, raising theprehension of his Primary Law of Sealing to a whopping 5.6%. He felt his ability to suppress his own strength improve by leaps and bounds, but most of all, William felt like he was on the verge of learning something profound. Just a few more Seal Fruits, and perhaps the System would give him more information about the functions of this Primary Law... Chapter 389 Final Steps Before William knew it, an entire year had passed. Using the first two million or so Potential Points he earned within the first month from his Magical Beasts and the two Mines, William purchased two additional Element Farms and upgraded them to C-Rank. He assigned the Space Element to one of the farms, while the other would grow Fire Fruits. He chose these Elements specifically for a few reasons. For one, Space Magic was an incredible utility Element that was not only ideal for travel, but amazing forbat. It was a no brainer that William would want to raise hisprehension of the Space Element early. The Fire Element was chosen for almost theplete opposite reason. Alongside the rarer Elements, William wanted to see howprehension affected the basic Elements. Additionally, if he wanted to be low-profile, William could hopefully depend on the Fire Element to handle his problems rather than a rare one like Space or Seal. It was always best to hold onto a few trump cards, as a few wise ones once said. William assigned both the Fire and Space Trees to grow on the same cycle, harvesting his 80th total Seal Fruit and 125th Order Fruit in April. All four Elemental Farms would now grow on the 20th of each month, and each would give him 25 Fruits per harvest. The only thing that bothered William was the Seal Elemental Farm, which had already been harvested for 5 Fruits in the past. The System said he could fix that by not harvesting some of the Fruits in the next cycle, but William ended up not doing what the System suggested, since that would mean he was losing out on five Fruits. It was a tough battle between OCD and loot goblin tendencies, but the loot goblin in him won. William decided to fix the Seal Fruits only after hisprehension had reached one hundred percent. After raising the Element Farms, William spent the next three million Potential Points upgrading all three of his Potential Farms to B-Rank, increasing their individual Points earnings from 1500 Points per day to 15000, a ten-times increase.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om With passive Potential Pointsing in at a rate of forty-five thousand per day, William earned well over a million Points per month! By the following year, William''s Potential Farms had generated just over fourteen million Points! Of course, William continued to spend his Points as needed to hatch more Companion Beasts and assign them to different parts of the World. He created a brand-new n of a hundred Rare-Ranked me Dragons in the early stages of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm to lord over the Dragon Continent, which the Dragon Monarch and others revered as holy beings. Theirws were amended to forbid the hunting of any me Dragons on the Dragon Continent, and many even gave offerings to the Dragons in exchange for their protection. After spending a long time exploring the World, everyone knew that William was rted to the me Dragons, and no one dared toy a finger on his Companion Beasts. me Dragon Uri was the most enthusiastic about the oue, since it made him feel as if his n had returned, even if it was only made up of one species of dragon. He didn''t have to ask William how these Dragons came to be, considering the Heavens were able to create Magical Beasts from scratch. After feeling the intense aura of the System, Uri already had a feeling that it was at the same level¡ª if not stronger¡ª than the Heavens. The only concern was with the humans, who wondered how such a massive group of peak dragons could appear out of nowhere. William''s excuse was that he explored a mysterious Realm where he found them all trapped together. He took them in, and they were so thankful that they decided to serve him in the future. While it wasn''t a story without holes, no one would dare to question William. The entire year wasn''t spent entirely on mapping out the Dragon Continent. In fact, the Dragon Continent only took a month and a half. The remainder of the year was spent traveling the Arcturis Continent that was a few thousand kilometers south of the Dragon Continent. Afterwards, William visited Ind Nation Slyte, which was a series of sparse inds dotted southwest of the Velos Continent. Neither Continent was much different from the others, each containing a few interesting ruins and features, but nothing as fantastical as the Trials of the Gravitas Ruins. With some final touches, William had finally finished mapping out the entire World by March of 2026. With the Azures Continent in the center, Velos to the far East, Ind Nation Slyte to the SouthEast, the Dragon Continent in the NorthWest, and the Arcturis Continent in the SouthWest, every Continent had been thoroughly explored. William had physically seen all of the 27 Superior Veins in the World except for a single one, which he could sense was buried incredibly deep underground. If not for the fact that his Navigation Talent had been upgraded to X-Rank and could even see almost to the deepest underground areas of the World, William wouldn''t have noticed this Vein at all. That said, he could sense a dangerous presence underground as well, and the System informed him that it would be best to save that Vein forst. William didn''t have to be told twice, continuing to hatch Magical Beasts and disperse them throughout the Continents. Over time, he even found two additional fragments of the Mythical Array Wheel,bining with the rest to make seven out of eight fragments. He was only missing a single one, which he had sensed in the Hillvire Empire but never located. Read new chapters at empire It didn''t matter much to William at this point since the Array Wheel wasn''t able to store Tier 6 Arrays, but he did it for the extra fifty thousand Potential Points. Even if his Potential Farms earned almost as much in a day now, Points were Points. Every three months, William visited his group of friends that were still happily Cultivating in the Revista Faction''s Territory. Each of them had undergone enlightenment except for Yuming, surprisingly, and their Cultivation had skyrocketed to the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm. Carl and Gunther had even broken through and were already in the third stage of the Soul Formation Realm, which was incredible to say the least. For only a single year to pass but with such an improvement, they were almostparable to the newest wave of talented humans that appeared out of nowhere. When William spoke of these people, of course, he still had yet to realize that these were yers from his original World. It wasn''t that he was being hindered in any way, he just didn''t interact with them at all. What he did notice, however, was that some of these people had already begun to Ascend, moving upwards in droves that caused dozens of Heavenly Tribtions. They weren''t muchpared to the weaker Cultivators'' frequent Tribtions, but the damage to the environment was immense. For a time, Cities even had to establish their ownws rted to Tribtions, only allowing them to be taken in specified areas. Chapter 390 Dragonewts The only exception to this rule were Cultivators like William, who did as they pleased. If he wanted to take a Tribtion in the middle of Blue Moon City, who could stop him? In fact, he was still being punished by the Eternal Tribtion, he didn''t have a choice! William wouldn''t do that, though, unless he hated the city. Because of the Eternal Tribtion, William often found himself intentionally avoiding popted areas in case he causes an ident. Only when he needed to buy some things from within did he use the Illusion Territory or Stealth Talent to hide from the Tribtion. Seeing all the other Cultivators attempt Ascension one at a time, William felt pressed to speed up his own activities. With the mappingplete and thousands of Companion Beasts at or near the peak of the World, William could finally begin his System Quests. Because of his Curses that were still affecting Ascended Cultivator Juhi, William''s Soul Strength continued to grow day by day until it started to be unbearable once again. Thankfully, the Seal Element''s suppression effect improved with the consumption of the Seal Fruits, allowing him to slightly seal his own Soul Cultivation. Now, as long as he didn''t absorb too much Soul Strength at once, William wasn''t at risk of Ascending with his soul either! He quickly reached 350 thousand Soul Strength from Juhi''s soul alone, yet the Cultivator didn''t seem to be close to death even now. I really found the jackpot with that guy. Not to mention his Space Ring contains some interesting things that I might be able to use when I Ascend. William smiled as he thought about the miniature treasure trove he found inside Juhi''s Space Ring. To begin the first System Quest, William started with the Elemental Veins of the Azures Continent, moving up from Lesser to Standard and eventually the Greater Veins. The Superior Veins were left forst, which William didn''t n to absorb until afterpleting the first Quest. Unfortunately, the process took at least a few minutes just to absorb a single Lesser Vein, and William couldn''t speed it up in any way. Using the Time Element to speed up his actions or slow down the movement of time in the outside World seemed to have no effect while in range of the Veins, and the System didn''t have any methods on its own end to help. William couldn''t affect the absorption process at all, so he decided to Cultivate while waiting for the System''s confirmation. In this way, he could improve his strength in two ways at the same time! Well, absorbing the Lesser Veins didn''t seem to have any effect on his X-Rank Elements, but William didn''t mind. Perhaps he could get a free upgrade for his S-Rank Time or Illusion, or the A-Rank Order Affinity, though.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The moment William''s System Quest started, he no longer had time for anything else. He devoted his entire attention to both absorbing the Elemental Veins and increasing his own Cultivation. From the fourth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, William pushed his Cultivation to the peak in less than two months. There didn''t seem to be a hidden tenth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, but William wasn''t bothered. He continued to push his Cultivation upwards until he broke through to the Soul Formation Realm. Readtest stories on empire His lifespan increased by five times, from the previous 3600 years to a whopping 18000, but the biggest change was to his Soul Strength and Mana Reserves. His Soul Strength increased by an additional fifteen thousand right off the bat, and his maximum Mana was now 14800, five thousand more than before. Even if William opened all of his Territories at once, he could afford to fuel them for a few minutes before running out of Mana. If he was out ofbat when casting them all, he wouldst even longer! Of course, with the increase in Cultivation and additional Heavenly Tribtions came Additional points towards his Attention statistic, which had just reached 50 points. Repeatedly absorbing the Veins that were supposed to seal the World also didn''t help, essentiallybeling him as an enemy of the Heavens. The usual System messages of "The Heavens are watching" or "The Heavens are interested" transformed into "The Heavens are offended" and "The Heavens condemn the Host". Regardless, William had already expected these types of interactions with the Heavens. He continued to absorb Vein after Vein, even raising his Treasure Hunter Title to the Celestial Rank in the process. --Title upgraded to Epic: +20PP --Title upgraded to Legendary: +50PP --Title upgraded to Mythic: +500PP --Title upgraded to Celestial: +5000PP -Treasure Hunter (Rare --> Celestial): You''ve absorbed at least 1000 natural treasures. Your ability to sense treasure has increased by 100%. While William was happy to see the effects of his new Title, the next two System Messages sent chills down his spine. -The Host has offended the Heavens greatly. -The Heavens are preparing for war. System! You never said something like this would happen! Williamined inwardly as he noticed a group of dark Tribtion clouds gathering in the sky. Different from the Ultimate Tribtion that reminded one of death and had strength exceeding what should be possible in the Lower Realms, this Tribtion was ck like a night sky without stars and seemed more like a portal than it did a cloud. William''s Eternal Tribtion was dispersed by the iparably powerful Tribtion cloud, but there were no lightning bolts forming in the sky. Instead, dark and sinister humanoid creatures with humanoid figures and dragon-like wings formed. In their hands were massive tridents twice the size of their own body, and their eyes were cold and soulless as if they had but one order: kill. [Bestiary] Dragonewt: +1PP At the same time, an unfamiliar voice not like Golden Girl''s drifted down from above, "Cultivator William. You have vited the Heavenly Decree, despite repeated punishments. Your actions have doomed both yourself, and the rest of the World. We are always watching, no matter how much you may think you are hidden from our view. We have tolerated your actions up until now, but this is unforgivable! Regardless of your next move, your fate is sealed and your soul shall be sent to Hell. Prepare, for this will be yourst!" The voice receded, but the formation of the Dragonewts continued, their densely packed figures blotting out the sky as their numbers reached a hundred thousand easily. William inspected the Dragonewts from afar, shocked to find that each creature''s Cultivation was at the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. Chapter 391 A Thousand To One, But Not Enough! This is absurd! What are the Heavens doing! Williamined inwardly. He had hardly absorbed a quarter of the Lesser and Standard Life Veins, yet the Heavens were already responding in kind. He hadn''t even messed with the Greater Veins yet; outside the Greater Fire Vein he absorbed a long time ago in the Southern ins. -If you saw a person in a ski mask outside your house, would you wait for them toe inside to do something about it? Okay fair, but this is absurd! If someone wants to break into my house, I might yell and shout or threaten them with a weapon, but I wouldn''t drive a tank up to their house in return! Actually... that sounds pretty fun. William couldn''t help but smile. -Even in this situation, you''re still an idiot. Thanks! William beamed as he scanned his surroundings with his Life Sense. He was currently close to the Foam Desert, so most of his Companion Beasts on the Azures Continent including Atticus were centralized around there. Dispersed roughly fifty kilometers from each other were fifteen groups of ten Tribtion Transcendence Desert Beetles that William had chosen specifically for one reason. The 150 Desert Beetles were all Legendary Rarity, which made their upgrades insanely expensive at a whopping 9.7 million Points, but it also gave them ess to the Domain of Earth. The Desert Beetles'' upgrades were almost equivalent to the number of Potential Points needed to raise his System to A-Rank, but unfortunately upgrading Companion Beasts didn''t count towards the System''s upgrade. William would havemitted his resources to raising more dragons, but they were toorge, too high-profile, and weren''t necessarily a counter to the Heavens. Of the dragons listed in Williams'' Bestiary from his travels over the years, he only had Lightning Drakes, Azure Wyrms, me Dragons, and Forest Dragons. The Lightning Drakes were discovered in passing close to where Thin Creek Vige used to be, while the Forest Dragon was found on the Arcturis Continent. It would have been added to his Bestiary much earlier while in the Gravitas Ruins, but that creature was artificial and didn''t count. The strongest of the group was the Azure Wyrm, while the me Dragons ranked second, but Fire and nt Magic weren''t ideal for countering Heavenly Lightning. Instead, William decided to raise the Magical Beasts with the greatest defensive power and the best Earth Magic: Desert Beetles. As the Dragonewts fell from the sky with their spears pointed downward, William didn''t have time tomunicate with the Companion Beasts one by one, so he channeled Sound Mana to his voice and shouted an order to his group. "Beetle Bros! Assume defensive positions. Cast your Domains!" The Beetles responded instantly, having coordinated together with William as practice in the past. Their intelligence wasn''tparable to me Dragon Uri, but they were reliable enough to follow orders. The movement of all Earth Mana within a radius of five hundred kilometers made the Dragonewts pause briefly, searching the area for the source. Even after a few moments, they couldn''t locate the Desert Beetles that were each buried underground. Of course, that was all because of William, who had created Tier 6 Concealment Arrays in each zone that the Desert Beetles upied. Unless it was someone on the same level or above William in Arrays, they wouldn''t be able to find the Desert Beetles even if they had weeks. Without fear of being discovered easily, half of the Desert Beetles pouredrge amounts of Mana into creating a massive barrier of Earth that separated the Dragonewts from William. As the Spell formed, the other half channeled a different Spell, forming massive Earth Spikes that shot towards the Dragonewts in waves. Despite the Dragonewts'' incredible speed, the Earth Spikes were shot in waves that were perfectly timed from one another, forcing the Dragonewts to either be hit by a Spike or dodge it and find themselves impaled by another. -Your Companion Beast has defeated a Dragonewt: +1001PP -Your Companion Beast has defeated a Dragonewt: +1000PP With a mix of offense and defense, it was the perfect defensive measure! 150 Desert Beetles with almost peak Cultivation were able to temporarily stop a hundred thousand Dragonewts in their tracks! Not only this, but the rewards for killing Tribtion Transcendence Beasts were not small at all. The Heavens were basically gifting William Points! To support them, William found out through the System that the Dragonewts carried both the Wind and Lightning Affinity, so he opened both Reverse Domains and took away their Magic ability in its entirety. The Dragonewts were now forced to use physical attacks to battle the Desert Beetles, which would not be very effective.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Of course, how could William allow the Dragonewts any advantage? They were fighting at odds of almost a thousand to one, how was that fair? The Desert Beetles were impressive, but they weren''t nearly enough to take on more than ten by themselves. Only with cooperation and orders from William did the Desert Beetles have a chance of winning, so William decided to even the odds some more. "Atticus! Use your Territory and keep them away from the wall!" William ordered to the Mythical Rat Snake that was quickly approaching. Hearing William''s words, Atticus gave a hiss of acknowledgement and flew above the Earth Barrier and released his Territory of Illusion, turning the skies into a maze that made the Dragonewts unsure of which way was up or down. With their vision clouded, the Dragonewts ran into each other and sustained serious injuries from the Earth Spikes that continued to strike their bodies, the Potential Points flooding into William''s bnce a thousand at a time. "Let us handle this from here, Master. We''ll clear them out." Atticus dered confidently, his massive body twisting and coiling midair to sweep away a group of Dragonewts that identally came too close. Stay updated via empire -Your Companion Beast has defeated a Dragonewt (x7): +7000PP William smiled and epted, but not before asking me Dragon Uri to fly over and keep an eye on things. If anything went wrong, Uri would let William know immediately. With Atticus around, the Dragonewts'' Elements would be just as useless even without William''s Reverse Domains, so he was able to freely return to absorbing some Lesser Earth Veins in the area. The battle between the Desert Beetles and the Dragonewts went on for an entire month, destroying much of the territory in vicinity of the Foam Desert. William had made ample preparations beforehand to protect each city on the Continent, but even Tier 6 Arrays weren''t enough to handle such unrelentless attacks. Without the yers in the Soul Formation and Tribtion Transcendence Realm, many of these Cities including Blue Moon City would fall. Hearing about their efforts, William was thankful that this newest batch of peak Cultivators wasn''t as cowardly as those like Rodger from the Night Market. He continued to absorb the Veins, moving on from Lesser Earth to Standard Earth, then skipping the Greater Veins and moving on to the next area. With his incredible memory and the Space Element, William didn''t have to worry about losing time because of this. Even after the Azures Continent''s Lesser and Standard Veins had been absorbed, the Heavens still hadn''t sent anything else at William. William wasn''t sure if they had given up on targeting him, or if they were preparing something big. Either way, he didn''t n to sit idle and wait for something to happen. William moved on to the Velos Continent next, which had Veins of the Poison, Blood, Sound, Seal, Necromancy, and Darkness Elements. Of all of the Continents, the Velos was the most difficult to deal with. Many of the mutated Magical Beasts had strength exceeding even the Dragonewts, and their abilities were very unique and odd. If William were to decide between fighting another hundred thousand Dragonewts or fighting a thousand of these things, he might choose the Dragonewts, and not just because of the Potential Points. A single Magical Beast was especially unique. ording to the System, it was a Rat Snake just like Atticus, but its scales were deep red and it carried both the Darkness and Illusion Element. It was guarding the Superior Darkness Vein, but William could sense its aura even from a hundred kilometers away. That thing has to be almost as strong as Marcus! It probably would have Ascended already if not for the Illusion Element. William thought as he approached the Mutated Rat Snake. As he entered the dark cave that it resided in, William was overwhelmed by a thick cloud of Illusion Mana that seemed to have condensed over the course of thousands of years. His sense of direction was briefly obscured, and even his sense of sight and smell were impacted slightly. He coughed heavily, expelling the disgustingbined Darkness and Illusion Mana from his lungs. It can suppress me to this extent, it must be something amazing! William gleamed as he pushed through the cloud, delving deeper and deeper into the cave while covering his mouth and nose. Chapter 392 Primary Law Of Darkness As William descended the cave seemingly unimpeded, the red Rat Snake became a bit nervous. Its purpose was to guard the Superior Darkness Vein at any cost, but it could sense that the human was a true monster. As a mutated Beast that had lived underground for a very long time, the Mutated Rat Snake had developed a keen sense of smell and hearing, and its ability to detect one''s strength had been honed to an almost impossible level. That said, when the Beast looked at William, it saw an overwhelming amount of Mana stored within the man''s body, while his physical body seemed to be tougher than any material found on Efretta. The Mutated Rat Snake found itself retreating before William even entered the main cavern opening, reducing its massive frame of five hundred meters to one meter long and sliding into a secret passage it had a subordinate create almost four-thousand years prior. William walked right by the Superior Darkness Vein, which was a massive ball of ck Mana. Protecting it were seven streams of dim light that resembled Darkness Mana but wasn''t quite the same. William passed his hand through the dark light, which turned out to be a big mistake. Just like his first interaction with Space Magic inside Array Master Fowley''s room, William''s hand was disintegrated in an instant, the base of the wrist spewing blood at a rapid pace. What more, William''s Recovery Talent didn''t activate for almost ten seconds, as if it was dyed by something. The dark light continued to flow forward, as if William''s hand had never passed through it at all. What is that, System? -Oh, now you want to ask? Are you stupid or something? I just... -You didn''t want to waste Potential Points. I''m well aware of your antics. ...Fuck. William really couldn''tpete with the System at all. -To answer your question, that is the Primary Law of Darkness. That''s a Law? William looked at the stream of dark light in surprise. No wonder he didn''t understand anything about it. It was on apletely different levelpared to the Domain or Territory of Darkness. Even if hemitted a hundred percent of his defensive strength to protecting his body, William wondered if he could survive more than a few seconds. Wasn''t he still weak, then? Compared to the Primary Law of Darkness, William was nothing! -Don''t feel that way. There''s more to it than you think. Like what? -Raise the Comprehension of your Elements and you''ll naturally understand.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Can''t I just use the Ask Function? -You can, but I won''t tell you. Why not? -Rules Rules? -Are you a parrot? Yes, rules. William nodded in understanding. It seemed that the System had more limitations than he thought. Or maybe it was lying to him, who knows. He ignored the stream of Primary Darkness Law and continued towards the Mutated Rat Snake that seemed to be hiding nearby. With a flick of his finger, a hidden alcove in the wall was opened, revealing the Mutated Rat Snake. It had thought about escaping through the tunnel behind it multiple times, but seeing William approach the Superior Darkness Vein made something within it change and forced it to stay. If William dared to approach the Vein any further, the Mutated Rat Snake could tell that it would be forced to fight. "Who are you, little guy?" William looked at the Mutated Rat Snake with a hint of yfulness. It seemed that Atticus wasn''t the only one that could reduce his size so much. "I am no one, but if you touch that World Core, I will have no choice but to destroy you." the Mutated Rat Snake red at William, though it was currently very afraid. "You''re very threatening." William smiled as he sealed the Rat Snake''s movements. The Mutated Snake struggled as hard as it could to move, but it was as if its entire body had been turned to stone,pletely unable to resist. "What did you do to me?" It asked when William allowed it to speak. "Seal Element." William said simply. "Would you like to be my Companion Beast? You''re very interesting." -Cannot contract Magical Beast. Target already has a Master. Already has a Master? Who? -I don''t know. "Who''s your master?" William asked the Mutated Rat Snake suddenly. "My Master? I¡ª" images shed through the Rat Snake''s mind of a woman with long red hair that flowed down to her waist. It was only an outline, but the Rat Snake could clearly tell that the woman was smiling. Before the Mutated Rat Snake could answer, another series of images appeared, of a bright aura that couldn''t be described as male or female. A humanoid figure condensed, but it was made up entirely of text that didn''t make sense. "I have two Masters." it replied. William was confused. If it has two Masters, why can''t it have a third? -One Master is likely not a real Master, but their Grandmaster. The Mythical Rat Snake is probably mistaken... Wait. Hmm? -This Mutated Rat Snake... I can''t tell how old it is. William was even more confused at this point. How could the all-powerful System not know the details of a simple Magical Beast? It might be mutated and have two Masters, but the System knew almost everything, or so William thought. "How old are you?" William asked. It was better to ask the Beast directly. "One... two...? Maybe three?" it wondered out loud. "Three thousand years?" William asked. Your journey continues on empire "No. Not at all. I can''t remember clearly, but I think I''m around three hundred thousand years old." the Mutated Rat Snake replied simply. Three hundred thousand?! William and the System had the same reaction. -If that''s the case, I think I know who its Master is. You think? Will I be charged if you''re only guessing? -No need. I think its Master might be Efretta, the Goddess of the Mortal Realms. Why do you think that? Didn''t she Ascend already? Why would she leave her Companion Beast behind? William asked. The System stayed silent. There were too many uncertainties, and too much time had passed. Anything could have happened during the System''s dark period, and it didn''t want to give William misinformation. Also... I can''t tell him about that yet. the System thought to itself. William didn''t want to pick a fight with such a powerful being as Efretta, so he listened to the System and gave up on trying to contract the Mutated Rat Snake. That aside, he still asked for four of its scales, as the System mentioned it could be quite useful in the future. Another month passed, and William finished absorbing every Lesser and Standard Vein on the Velos Continent, so he moved on to the Slyte Ind Nation. There, William only had the Light and Order Veins to absorb, both of which didn''t give him much trouble at all. In fact, after absorbing thest Standard Order Vein, William''s Order Element was automatically raised to S-Rank for free. He now had ess to the Domain of Order, but the Element wouldn''t listen to hismands and the Domain refused to open. To say the least, it was William''s most expensive and most useless Element. Speaking of upgrades... I haven''t checked my System Panel in a long time. William realized as he opened his Status for the first time in months. POTENTIAL POINTS: 107,366,707 SYSTEM RANK: B+ (2,845,761PP to next rank) "W-What?!" William eximed out loud. Last time he looked, it was merely a few million. How could it have climbed so much? -Did you forget that the Dragonewts are worth a thousand Points each? "..." Chapter 393 Double Upgrade! William couldn''t help but be speechless for a long time. If his Potential Points bnce had reached over a hundred million, that meant he could literally upgrade anything he wanted! The System would even reach A-Rank, meaning he would unlock a bunch of new Ascended Talents right away! He started by upgrading the Time and Illusion Affinities to X-Rank, spending 1.3 million Potential Points in one go. As the upgrademenced, the air twisted and swirled while the time around William moved backwards then forwards, sending William''s body into disarray. The Time Element''s upgrades alone were enough for William to lose almost four hundred years of his lifespan, but the Illusion Element seemed to do almost just as much. William found his body disconnecting from the World temporarily, as the Illusion Element created apparitions around him that threatened to tear William apart. Between the two Elements, William''s lifespan increased by almost seven hundred years, reaching 1218 years old. Even so, William had over eighteen thousand years of lifespan total, so this wasn''t too much. In fact, William hoped that he could push his Elements even further the moment he Ascended! ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Time Affinity: (SSR --> X) Effects: -Time-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +960% >> +1920% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Time: Takeplete control over all Time Mana within a radius of 50 kilometers >> 100 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Time Domains of greater strength. -Territory of Time: An improved Domain, designed to create a field of time within a small radius that speeds up or slows down time within. Only affects self. -Primary Law of Time (0.1%prehension): You don''t understand enough of this yet. Comprehend the Time Element or visit ??? to learn more. -Time Elemental: Locked. Host does not have the Aging Resistance Talent. Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Illusion Affinity: (SSR --> X) Effects: -Illusion-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +960% >> +1920% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Illusion: Takeplete control over all Illusion Mana within a radius of 50 kilometers >> 100 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Illusion Domains of greater strength. -Territory of Illusion: An improved Domain, designed to modify any individual or material within its range to take the form the Host desires. Effects are lessened when targeting opponents of significant strength. -Primary Law of Illusion (0.1%prehension): You don''t understand enough of this yet. Comprehend the Illusion Element or visit ??? to learn more. -Illusion Elemental: Locked. Host does not have the Illusory Talent. Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª While William already knew quite a bit about the Territory of Illusion from Atticus, he was surprised to see such extravagant effects on the Territory of Time. Even with his Domains, William was unable topletely control Time, only manipte it a bit. He wondered just how much effect the Territory would have. Would it be able to slow time by fifty times? Could William spend fifty years living in his Time Territory while only a year passed outside? If so, this could be amazing for both his Trade Skills andbat! Now that that''s done, let''s upgrade the Potential Farms again! With this, it should upgrade the System! -30,000,000PP -Potential Farm (x3) have all been upgraded to B-Rank. Daily ie per farm will be raised from 15000 PP to 75000 PP, for a total of 225000 PP per day. A quarter million Points in a single day?!? This is insane! William eximed in his mind. He no longer had any reason to make use of the Fire Mine and Superior Death Mine, since both of their earnings paled inparison to his daily ie. He even considered firing his workers, or at least allowing them to have a vacation. I''ll give them a day off, I suppose. William was in a good mood, and he felt magnanimous today. -Only one day? What? I still have to earn Potential Points! William replied quickly. -You just said they were hardly useful. Points are Points, you wouldn''t get it. The System didn''t respond, but it seemed to be calling him an idiot through their shared mental connection. He ignored the System''s harsh words and continued scrolling through the System Panel. ¡ª¡ª¡ª SYSTEM RANK: (B+ --> A-)n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om -28,454,239 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup. Next rank up: 21,545,761PP *New Changes: -System has reached version 2.6 and has improved the Ask Function. -Many Talents will now disy their Ascension Requirements. -Bestiary has improved. Magical Beasts from the Ascended Realms will now be added when they appear. -Talent Shop has reached its current limit. Ascend to gain ess to more Talents. -Host''s concealment from the Heavens have improved slightly. -Two Additional Farm Slots. ¡ª¡ª¡ª William looked at the new System upgrades with excitement. Not only had he gained more Farm Slots for the Element Farms, but William''s Bestiary had improved. He didn''t know before that Ascended Beasts wouldn''t be listed in the Bestiary, but now that they could, couldn''t he hatch brand new Magical Beasts that were from the Ascended Realms? Man... the Fruits were harvested only five days ago too... I probably shouldn''t grow new Element Farms until after the others are ready to harvest. -I said this before, but you could wait an extra few days while the Fruits are still on the tree. Oh, right! Let''s do it then, give me the Time and Illusion Farms! William decided in an instant. The two trees grew right next to each other as little sprouts formed, but William wasn''t quite done with them yet. He instantaneously upgraded both of them from their base F-Rank to B-Rank, one Rank higher than the other Farms. He did this for one reason and one reason only: to upgrade the System once more. The System epted William''s payment of 22.2 million Potential Points, starting the upgrade of the two farms immediately. Their yield was raised from 25 fruits per month to 50 Fruits, essentially doubling the rate at which Williamprehended the Time and Illusion Elements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª SYSTEM RANK: (A- --> A) -676,239 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup. Next rank up: 99,323,761PP *New Changes: -System has reached version 2.7 and has improved the Ask Function. -Host''s concealment from the Heavens have improved slightly. -Two Additional Farm Slots. ... ... ¡ª¡ª¡ª Other than the main notifications from the System, it also listed quite a few minor things, such as how it would respond in the future with the Ask Function, and what kind of information the System now had ess to. It was incredibly in depth and difficult to understand, but the System mostly exined that it would now be able to fully exin many aspects of the state of the World as long as a few pieces of the puzzle were filled. Rather than calling it an Ask Function, it was more like the System''s deduction. And just like that, I have only fifty million Potential Points left... William sighed as the requirement for Potential Points never ended. His strength continued to increase dramatically, however, so William wasn''t too upset. In fact, the System had implemented many new ways for him to earn Potential Points passively, otherwise reaching a million Points without the assistance of the Heavens would be impossible. William looked through the System Panel some more, finding that only a few Talents had yet to reach the maximum Rank. Chapter 394 Another Ascended Talent! "Hm? What''s this?" William was intrigued by new lines of text next to a few of his Resistance Talents. --Heat Resistance: X (1,000,000PP + T10 Sun Bomb Flower) --Cold Resistance: X (1,000,000PP + Hard Frost Feather) --Poison Resistance: X (1,000,000PP + Antitoxin Stone) --Sleep Resistance: X (1,000,000PP + T10 Stimnt Pill) --Slow Resistance: X (1,000,000PP + Quicksilver Ore) --Charm Resistance: X (1,000,000PP + Stained ss refined by a Master zier) Oh that''s right, since the System upgraded to A-Rank, Ascending some more Talents is possible... but I''ve never heard of most of these things before! William eximed. Other than the Sun Bomb Flower which he currently had in his inventory, William had never seen a Magical Beast that dropped the Hard Frost Feather, nor did he see an Antitoxin stone in the Velos Continent''s poisonous zones. The Tier 10 Stimnt Pill could be refined, but two of its ingredients were incredibly rare in the lower Realms and William had yet to see either one of them. Not to mention, Quicksilver Ore didn''t exist as far as William knew. I don''t have a zier Talent or the like, so I would have to find someone to refine the stained ss for me. I might be able to unlock the Talent in the Shop, though. William scrolled down a bit further, finding that his Arrays and Mind Talents could both be upgraded again as well. --Mind: X (1,000,000 PP + 1x vial of Superior Calming Liquid) --Arrays: X (1,000,000PP + Memory Stone) Two more items I have yet to find... damn. William was a bit disappointed, but he was at least thankful that the upgrades were visible. If every Talent Ascension required an item to upgrade them, William should spend more time hoarding items. Well, I have so many Points left, I might as well Ascend what I can. William decided. He brought out the Sun Bomb Flower andid it in front of him, then spent one million Potential Points to proceed with the upgrade. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Ascended Heat Resistance: (F) Effects: Resistance to all forms of heat and their residual effects +9600% >> +20000% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Heat Body: When your body is affected by mes, increase the power of your Fire Magic by 100%. When your body is affected byva, increase the power of your Earth and Fire Magic by 100%. When affected by both, both effects apply and stack doubly. -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 heat of your environment. -Ascended Bonus: 5% Resistance to ??? Next rank up: Ascend to view requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Other than improving the heat resistance to twenty thousand and adding an unknown Ascended Bonus, it seems that nothing else changed. System, you''re really forcing me to Ascend here, you know that? -But of course. Ascension is most important. Even more important than unsealing the World? The System didn''t respond, but waves of nervousness and anxiety made William feel that the System didn''t have a great answer. Perhaps the System was attached to the World in some way. Did you once live here, System? William asked. -No. Then what is it about the World that makes you feel this way? -Feel what way? Don''t try to dodge the question, heh. -Hmph! William returned his attention to the System Panel. Now that his Heat Resistance had Ascended, a new line of text reced the old one in his Status. --[Ascended] Heat Resistance: F This seemed to be part of one of the System''s upgrades, because the previous System Panel didn''t show the Ascended Recovery Talent in such a way, but it did now. Even though it''s back to F-Rank, it doesn''t feel like it''s been nerfed at all. I still have the X-Rank Bonus Effects, and the stats keep improving with each upgrade. If anything, this just tells me I can reach some sort of Ascended X-Rank. How strong would I be then? William fantasized about raising his Fire Affinity to the Ascended X-Rank, creating waves of fire from nothing and engulfing entires. Will the Ascended Realms haves? Or will it be one giant Continent? William wondered, tempted to use the System''s Ask Function to find out. But that''s boring. Why would I ask when I can see it for myself? I''d hate to spoil it for myself. -I''m tempted to spoil it for you now.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om You wouldn''t! William eximed in his mind. -Hehe. The Ascended Realms are¡ª Llla! I can''t hear you! William covered his eyes and ears as text started to appear in front of him. The text appeared in his mind this time,pletely bypassing William''s attempt to not listen to the System. -You realize that won''t work, right? I''m just kidding anyway. There are rules, remember? What are the rules? You''ve never told me. -You can''t know; that''s part of the rules. Maybe you''ll find out on your own someday. I thought I wasn''t worthy. Isn''t this your way of saying you have hopes for me? Maybe I''m better than you say I am! William smiled. -You''re still trash. .-. By the way, since I have so many Potential Points, can you upgrade the rest of my avable Talents to X-Rank? Except the Order Affinity, of course. -All of them? Your Weapons Master Talent is Mythical, remember? How much would they cost all together? -1.85 Million Points for your Weapons Master Talent, and thebined total will be 3,303,625 Potential Points. This includes: Weapons Master, Soul, Coteral Damage, Wrestling, and the Physical Charm Talent. Just 5 Talents? That''s fine, even if it costed twice as much. Wait, leave out the Soul Talent. Come on System, you told me that upgrading my Soul would make me Ascend. -You asked for all of them. Well, you warned me about the Weapons Master Talent too, didn''t you? -I did. Alright, upgrading the Weapons Master, Coteral Damage, Wrestling, and Physical Charm Talents to X-Rank for 2,642,125 PP. Confirm? Yes. --Talents upgraded. View their new effects within your Status Panel. Thanks System. William said, but he had no intention of checking the Statuses for the Talents except for his Weapons Master and Coteral Damage. The other two were basically useless in his opinion. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Coteral Damage (Legendary): (X) Effects: Physical strikes using your own body have an attack radius. -Current Radius: 16 meters X-Rank Bonus Effects: -I Missed? Are You Sure?: When struck by the radius of your attacks, your opponent bes confused and is less likely to confront you in closebat. -Afraid To Fight Me Now?: If your opponent retreats after being struck by the above Bonus Effect, taunting them increases your physical attack and defense by 100%. Next rank up: Requirements Locked. Ascend or upgrade the System to S-Rank to unlock the next Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Weapons Master (Mythic): (X) Effects: -Comprehension of all weapon types and their variants increased by 15000% >> 30000% -Instant knowledge transmission of basic and advanced weapon techniques. X-Rank Bonus Effect: -Teacher: Your ability to teach physicalbat has reached a profound level. Next rank up: Requirements Locked. Ascend or upgrade the System to S-Rank to unlock the next Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Chapter 395 Nothing? Nothing! William looked at the twobo effects from his Coteral Damage Talent and smiled. System, did you seriouslye up with these names? They''re hrious! -I had you in mind when naming them. Williamughed and nodded in understanding. If he had the choice to name his own skills, he would definitely name them like so. With over 47 million Potential Points remaining, William had plenty left to spend. His first goal was to collect the remaining Resistance Talents, which should allow him to gain ess to each Elemental Form. With that, I need to purchase as many Passive Talents as possible, but let''s try our luck with Random Talents first since they''re cheaper. The cost to buy a single random Passive Talent would cost 350 Potential Points and its price would increase by 25 per purchase. In contrast, the Random Talent option would only cost 75 Points currently and increase by 5 per purchase. He asked the System to purchase a hundred Random Talents at once, then waited silently for the System to spin them one by one. The entire cost was only 32,250 Potential Points, and the next purchase would cost 575 Points, but William barely felt it considering the total number of Points he had. Even if he went with the other option and purchased 100 Passive Talents, William would have only spent 156,250 Points. The cost was much higher than the other, but it was still less than a single day''s earnings from the Potential Farms. It hardly made a difference. Although William had millions of Potential Points and either option was perfectly fine, William didn''t care. Points were Points and he put hard work into earning each and every one of them. Well... he didn''t do the work, but someone did! Just thinking about how William had enved loads of peak Cultivators and put them to work in the mines made him feel both like a viin and a genius. Most of them didn''t deserve it, but William didn''t mind. At least I pay them well. William consoled himself. He wasn''t really a bad guy, just a capitalist.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om -Yes. You sell some of the Greater Fire Shards, merium, and Dragonstone to cities for their Mana Stones, then pay the Cultivators with a fraction of the earnings. You''re suuuch a good person. The System''s sarcasm was thick like msses. Hey, they agreed to it! -Only because they were afraid that you''d lock them in a musty cave for months toe. Who would refuse? Well... "I would dly ept, Master." Atticus said as he flew over from afar. With thebination his connection to the System, his Cultivation, and his increased closeness to William, he was sometimes able to hear the mental conversation between William and the System. Mostly because the System allowed him to, of course. "How did you get here?" William asked with surprise. He was currently on the Arcturis Continent, tens of thousands of kilometers away from Atticus'' cave abode near Blue Moon City, and thest stop after clearing out Ind Nation Slyte. "You should make me some omelettesss, Master." Atticus'' tongue flicked back and forth in anticipation. "You came here for omelettes? Are you kidding me, Atticus? I know you have a whole team of chefs that cook you food regrly. After saving the City, they even make you Spirit Food." William shook his head and sighed. "You make them better though... ouch!" Atticus looked sad as his nose poked against William''s shoulder, triggering the Attack Reflection Talent and causing a few dents to appear in Atticus'' scales. Williamughed at the interaction and felt slightly bad. He had forgotten to disable most of his Talents, since he had been mostly alone for a while now. There was no need for Atticus or Uri to apany him, since he could call them at any moment through the Summoning Element. Experience more tales on empire Even so, there was no one in Efretta that couldpare to his current strength, and William had been revered like a God. He had even overheard a few conversations from within family homes from time to time. Four months prior, while he was flying roughly a dozen kilometers away from the nearest civilization on the Azures Continent, one particr child had asked their mother about the Tribtion Clouds that surrounded William. Her mother''s response was, "That''s William''s Tribtion, I heard that he eats little kids that don''t eat their vegetables..." Since then, it seemed that the number of children thatined about eating their veggies dramatically decreased, though William didn''t understand why he was so scary. "Alright, Atticus. I''ll make you some omelettes." William smiled as he brought out his Spirit Cookware Set. With the X-Rank Cooking Talent, William could make the most impressive dishes in no time at all, using his Mana to multitask and prepare many ingredients all at once. From the simple egg and cheese omelettes with a cheap butter from markets in the Five Elements Sect, William hade a long way. He teleported to a few cities across the globe and purchased all of the ingredients he needed in less than half an hour, at optimal price because of his Sales Talent. Having already visited these locations many times, William had perfectly memorized which locations had the tastiest ingredients. Once he was done, William prepared three hundred jumbo-sized eggs of the best quality bybining them using magic in arge cauldron that should have been a few eggs in a bowl if it was just serving one or two people. Next, William melted the perfect ratio of butter on a massive skillet, then added ham and small number of onions with bell peppers created from the nt Element. Using a careful amount of Fire Elemental Mana, William heated them up each to individual perfection, then poured in the eggs and mixed it briefly. He finished off the recipe by sprinkling cheese and cayenne pepper, then cooked the rest until it was ready to be folded in half, creating a massive omelette around the size of an office desk. From it, William cut off a corner that didn''t contain onions for himself, then offered the rest to Atticus. The entire time, Atticus was seated by the side eagerly staring at the array of perfect-quality ingredients with the best cooking possible. When he saw that William was finished, he wanted to gobble it all up in one bite, but he restrained himself and reduced his size to equal that of William, sitting at a custom-made table and chair perfect for Atticus. "Thanksss!" Atticus aterge portions of the omelette in one go, despite his reduced size. How could he wait for those measly chefs to cook for him when William was just a few thousand kilometers away? Atticus could clearly tell who was more skilled. William smiled and took a bite himself, relishing the unique and savory vor that made him want to take another bite right away. He calmly ate his omelette while scrolling through the wave of System Messages announcing the arrival of his new Talents. He read them out quickly. Nothing, Shockwave Resistance, Knitting, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing. Drawing, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing. Man nothing again! Pickpocketing! Nothing, Paralysis Resistance, Root Resistance, Nothing. Nothing, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing. It was starting to sound like a fake word at this point, William lulling over as he read off the list of Talents that the System purchased. The biggest downside of the Random Talent option was the high chance of purchasing nothing, but William didn''t mind too much. Nothing, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing... Chapter 396 Talents? Talents! "You''ve got to me kidding me." William sighed as he read over thirty nothings in a row without a single new Talent. By the end of the one hundred System notifications, William had only learned a total of eight new Talents. Shockwave Resistance, Paralysis Resistance, Root Resistance, Knitting, Drawing, Pickpocketing, Light Footsteps, and Gills. The three Resistance Talents gave him ess to the Earth, Lightning, and nt Elemental forms, but four of the five others were mostly trash. Tailoring was like a better version of Knitting that William didn''t need, while the only difference was in how he used the materials he had. I can make a nket now, great... Williamined inwardly. Drawing wasn''t much better, mostly a lesser version of his Cartography Talent. The only difference was that the Drawing Talent would activate at all times, while Cartography''s neat drawing abilities only worked when he was creating maps.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om I guess in that aspect the Drawing Talent is better... William realized. The Light Footsteps Talent paired well with Stealth and allowed him to move even more fluidly than before, but it wasn''t exactly necessary. If William used his Invisibility Bonus Effect from the Stealth Talent, there would be no need for the Light Footsteps Talent at all. Gills was even more useless, since it did exactly as the name implied and added gills to his body when he was underwater, but only for limited time. That said, William was almost a peak Cultivator. He could hold his breath for days if he wanted to. Wait. William took another look at the Gills Talent. It turned out that this was the requirement for the Water Elemental form, and it wasn''t associated with the word Resistance. Even so, he still acquired a few Talents that he didn''t see himself using in the future. My Talents have merged before. I just need to keep buying more and make something amazing. William''s favorite Talent among the batch was definitely Pickpocketing. It was the only Rare Talent amidst the group, but its Rank started at S-Rank rather than A-Rank, surprisingly. ording to the System, William''s ability to pickpocket had already reached S-Rank before receiving the Talent, so it was naturally upgraded for free. The same would apply to other Talents he unlocks in the future, but unless it was a Loot Goblin Talent or the sort, William wasn''t likely to improve anything for free. I didn''t get all the Resistance Talents I needed, so let''s spin another 100 Random Talents. System, can you do that? -Price will dramatically increase. No problem. I have enough Points. -82250 PP -Spinning Talents. Please wait... William idled patiently while he waited for the System upgrades tomence. The process only took around an hour like before, and he was overjoyed to see that his luck this time around wasn''t nearly as bad. In fact, William earned almost twenty new Talents! He ordered them together and listed them all in one go, avoiding the useless "nothing" notifications. Ooh! An Epic-Ranked Forcefield Recovery Talent right off the bat! Climbing, Stable Footing for the Wind Elemental Form, Mana Control, Blind Resistance for both Light and Darkness Elemental, Mana Pool, Soul Cultivation... Heaven Bruising, Curse Resistance for Curse Elemental, Misdirection, Singing, Critical Chance, Blessing Resistance for the Blessed Elemental, Aging Resistance for the Time and Death Elements... The Heaven Bruising Talent seemed interesting, and it made William want to know more. He was also curious about why Blessing Resistance would be a good thing to have, but he decided to wait until after he had finished spinning Talents to check. Still Breathing? So I stand still while breathing for a bonus? Williamughed. -No, your breathing is shallow and has less presence... I know I know; I was joking. -It''s hard to tell with you. You''re quite stupid. You don''t have to tell my I''m stupid every day! Williamined as he continued reading the Talents. Blood Bound for the Blood Element and Summon Resistance for Summoning as well. I''m only missing a few Elemental Forms now... William thought to himself. He was onlycking the other four Epic Elements and four of the five Legendary Elements. Considering how many Talents there probably were in the Talent Shop, William was surprised that he only needed ten or eleven more Resistance-rted Talents. Other than the first eight missing Elemental Forms, he had yet to see the requirements for the Order Element and he didn''t have the Fate/Karma Affinity, whatever that was all about. Even after exploring the World and seeing the location of every Vein in the World, William was still confused about why the System would loop the two together. The Fate and Karma Veins werepletely separate from each other, and even had their own Superior Veins they were guarding... Which made the System''s math wrong. It had said that there were 27 Superior Veins to absorb, but he counted 28. No matter how William looked at it, he didn''t think the System was stupid and would fail to urately number the Elements. I remember the System said I only needed one Element, but there are clearly two Affinities to gain. Do I have the choice between one or the other, or is there something else going on? William wondered to himself. He tried using the Ask Function, but the System didn''t ept his request. It imed that since William was in the middle of a System Quest too closely associated with the answer to his question, it couldn''t tell him anything. William read out the final three Talents, pleasantly surprised to see both a Legendary Talent and a new Talent upgrade. -Talent Purchased: Bounty Hunter (Legendary) -Talent Purchased: Sleight Of Hand (Common) -Talent Purchased: Mana Efficiency (Common) -Requirements met for a Talent upgrade. Please raise Mana Regeneration, Mana Control, Mana Pool, and Mana Efficiency Talents to the same Rank. A Mana-Rted Talent upgrade? I''ve been waiting for this for so long! William rejoiced in his mind as he immediately queued the System to upgrade the three remaining Talents directly to X-Rank. -Requirements met for the Talent upgrade. Merging the Mana Regeneration, Mana Control, Mana Pool, and Mana Efficiency Talents... Your ability to use Mana will be restricted at this time, confirm? Wait! William''s face turned pale as he looked at thest bit of information. If his Mana was restricted during the upgrade, wouldn''t that mean his Sealing Territory would also be useless? He would Ascend right away! -Your Suppression Pills willst you until the end of the upgrade, if you consume all of them at once. The System''s information gave William a spark of hope, but he knew that the System didn''t always exin the full story. He asked, Won''t eating neen Tier 10 Suppression Pills have a negative impact on me? Stay tuned with empire -You''ll probably explode midway through the upgrade, but your Recovery Talent will reform your body. It''s a very insignificant effect. Oh, just that? Okay¡ª What the fuck? System! Are you trying to watch me explode? -You can survive it. I would still feel it! William shuddered when he remembered the Space Element''s upgrades in the past, which only cut him to pieces. Self-explosion would probably be even worse. -Either you explode, or you don''t upgrade the Talents, your choice. Damn it... William really wanted the Mana upgrades, which were the main thing holding him back from making full use of his Territories. If that issue was solved, William would be unstoppable even if the Heavens were to send a million Dragonewts. If Dragonewts are the best the Heavens has, I''ll destroy them in an instant! System, I''ve made my choice. Upgrade the Mana Talents. William ordered as he poured all neen remaining Tier 10 Suppression Pills down his throat. Thebined effect of all the Pills made William feel as if he had been chained to a rock as a normal human, but the ufortable feeling was nothingpared to what came next. Even with ny-nine percent pain resistance from his X-Rank Mind Talent, William could sense every individual thread of Mana that forced itself out of his body and gathered in midair in a giant ball. Without William''s Stealth Talent to suppress it andbined from every Elemental Affinity William had, the ball of Mana grew rampant and tore apart swaths ofnd with relentless and disorganized attacks, even forcing the Tier 6 Arrays William cast around every city to appear, shielding everyone inside. The ball of Mana calmed down briefly, but it wasn''t long before it started to emit controlled shockwaves in all directions, sending waves of both neutral andbined Mana tearing through everything in its path. With William''s Vision Talent, he saw the shockwaves reach across the entire Arcturis Continent, even ranging past what he could see and wrapping around the entire World. All of Efretta was in chaos, and it was most definitely, absolutely, because of William. Wait. Didn''t the System fail to mention this? Is it really William''s fault? Damn it, System! You''re lucky I shielded every City in this damned World! If my friends die because of this, it''ll be your fault! Chapter 397 Threads As the System foretold, William''s body promptly exploded roughly halfway through the upgrade process. The Mana that had been forced out of his body dispersed all of its energy evenly throughout the World, not returning to William until after the Talent upgrade waspleted. Other than the initial scare from the System and wave after wave of Mana fluctuations that shook the World, there really wasn''t much damage. Many of the Magical Beasts under William''s control were also targeted by the rampant Mana, but it wasn''t as damaging to a living body as it was to the environment. Seeing that his friends and Magical Beasts were safe, William heaved a sigh of relief. Alright, System. I guess you get a pass this time. -Don''t I always? I clearly answered your questions. Read new chapters at empiren/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Well... yes. But it''s almost as if you want me to die sometimes. Williamined. -I wouldn''t wish so much misfortune upon my Host. Besides, you probably will die anyway. Hearing the System''sst words annoyed William. How do you know? I''ll show you! -Show me then. The System''s words ended at the same time as his Talent upgrade, a new set of notifications filling William''s screen. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Talent Merger Complete Mana Dominator (Legendary): (X) Effects: -Recover 32000 Mana per hour -Mana Efficiency +20000% -Mana Control +20000% -Maximum Capacity of Mana Reserve +20000% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Mana Lord: All Mana within one meter of you is slightly more susceptible to your control, allowing you to manipte even Elements you do not have an Affinity for. Can be used when upgrading your Elemental Affinities. -Mana Siphon: The ambient Mana will assist your Spells within their cast range by five percent of the Spell''s total cost. If the ambient Mana is of higher quality than the Host''s, the Spell''s power will be slightly increased. -Calm Recovery: Mana Regenerates eight times as fast out ofbat. Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Upon seeing that his Mana Reserves were affected by such arge amount, William hurriedly opened his Status Panel. INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Human -Birth Age: 22 -Real Age: 1218 -Lifespan: 18000 Years -Cultivation: Soul Formation 1 (0/10000000) -Heavenly Mark: Heaven''s Aura, ??? STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 6m/6m -Mana: 2.96m/2.96m -Fame: 145 -Humanity: 53 -Ascended Value: 1 -Attention: 70 -Soul Strength: 365985 -Cultivation Base: 0/50000000 William couldn''t believe his eyes. From the original measly fourteen thousand or so Mana, William''s Reserve had increased by such a dramatic amount. Considering how much his Mana Efficiency had improved, William wondered if expending all of his Mana at once was even possible. I can easily use all my Territories at once at this rate! I could create my own Continent right now! William eximed. He refrained from doing so right away as that might affect the System Quest somehow, but William was extremely tempted to follow through. "There will be time for thatter. Let''s not get distracted." William scolded himself out loud as he scrolled through the System Panel. While he wanted to look at the information of all his new Talents, he had yet to gain all the Elemental Forms. System, spin another one hundred Random Talents. William still had no intention of using the Random Passive Talent option until the other was overly expensive. -131750 PP -Spinning Talents. Please wait... William''s use of the System was rtively limited during the continuous Talent Shop purchases, but he was still able to view the descriptions of some of the most interesting Talents. The Heaven Bruising Talent was first on the list, since it was Legendary-Ranked and also a Passive Talent, like many of his other best Talents. ording to its description, the Heaven Bruising Talent increased William''s damage towards Heavenly Tribtions, allowing him to disperse them more easily. He initially didn''t think it was a very useful Talent since dispersing Tribtions would only anger the Heavens and force them to send stronger ones, but then... Isn''t the Ultimate Tribtion the best they can do? Even the Eternal Tribtion above me right now can''t do anything to me... William realized. While waiting for the System to spin for more Talents, William decided to make use of the A-Rank Heaven Bruising Talent. He controlled arge amount of Space Mana on his fingertips and shot it into the sky, scattering the Eternal Tribtion into many directions. The clouds reformed, but William could tell at a nce that their strength had grown weaker by a small amount. He spent the next thirty minutes continuously targeting the Tribtion with different Elements, finding Earth to be the best counter. By the time the Talent Shop purchases had beenpleted, William had almost entirely dispersed the Eternal Tribtion, with only a small cloud roughly half a kilometer in size remaining. If the Heaven Bruising Talent was X-Rank it probably would have only taken a few strikes to destroy the Tribtion, but William wasn''t able to upgrade it while the System was spinning Talents. Regardless, even the A-Rank Talent was quite effective, and William was more than satisfied with its effects. As expected of a Legendary Talent. Even though it only has one effect, it''s much more useful than something like Knitting or Herb Gathering. William smiled. -Talent Purchased: Nothing -Talent Purchased: Nothing -Talent Purchased: Nothing ... System, can you list out the unlocked Talents in a more precise way? -Fine. -Talents Purchased (x81): Nothing -Talents Purchased (Common): Hearing Protection, Jeweler, Restriction Resistance, Unstable Elements, zier, Masonry, Prity Resistance, Illusory, Carving, Awareness, Stone Skipping, Soul Bound, Resist Karma, Resist Fate, Resist Disorder -Talents Purchased (Rare): Lockpicking, Bodyguard, Tracking -Talents Purchased (Epic): Dream Stealer -Requirements met for a Talent upgrade. Please raise Heat Resistance, Shockwave Resistance, Cold Resistance, Stable Footing, Paralysis Resistance, Root Resistance, Gills, Vitality, Blind Resistance, Sleep Resistance, Slow Resistance, Charm Resistance, Hearing Protection, Poison Resistance, Curse Resistance, Blessing Resistance, Aging Resistance, Blood Bound, Soul Bound, Summon Resistance, Restriction Resistance, Awareness, Prity Resistance, Unstable Elements, Illusory, Resist Disorder, Resist Karma, Resist Fate Talents to the same Rank. -Detected Vitality is a SubTalent of Ascended Recovery. Skipping Vitality requirement. Finally! I got all the resistances! William eximed out loud as he looked at the much more condensed version of the previous System notifications. Of the 19 Talents that he earned, most of them were Resistances, while the rest were still rtively useful. Other than Carving, which was a Trade Talent that allowed him to carve wood, stone, or ice into beautifully designed sculptures or totems, and Stone Skipping, which simply allowed him to better skip rocks over water, the others had some form of practical use. William didn''t know what the Ascended Realms were like, but he assumed that his current strength wouldn''t be enough to get him out of every situation. He might find himself using the Lockpicking Talent at some point. With a whole slew of new Talents in his Status screen that made William feel dizzy and a pending Talent upgrade for his Resistances, William gave onest request to the System. System, upgrade all of my Resistances rted to the Talent upgrade to X-Rank. -1.27 million Potential Points will be spent, but you won''t be able to merge the Talents unless you can Ascend all of them to match the Heat Resistance Talent. Confirm? Ahh, shit. I forgot about that! William pped himself in the forehead. After seeing that he had the Sun Bomb Flower already, William had jumped the gun and proceeded to upgrade his Heat Resistance Talent without thinking about it. -It''s no matter. Even if you could merge the Talents, the requirements to Ascend the resulting merged Talent would be so incredibly high and stringent that you would likely fail to Ascend it for a very long time. This way may work out better for you, which is why I didn''t issue a warning beforehand. Hearing the System''s words made William feel a lot better. He decided to trust the System, which seemed like it did it''s best to bypass its own rules just for his sake. In that case, I''ll forget about it for now. That said, yes. Upgrade the Talents. The System upgraded William''s Talents incredibly quickly, each taking only a few seconds while he hardly felt a thing. At the end of the upgrade, William didn''t feel much different than before, but the World around him hadpletely changed. He wasn''t sure whether it was the Fate, Karma, Order, or abination of many Elements, but William could now see that the entire World was covered in a bundle of reddish pink threads enveloped by a bluish-purple aura, turning the sky magenta. As he peered further, William noticed that many of the threads above actually branched off and trailed towards the ground, each leading to an individual. From them, the threads branched off once more into even smaller threads, poking into one another and branching dozens of times after that. The more William looked, the more he could see these tiny threads that almost seemed to encapste the entire World. He tilted his head downwards, noticing a bundle of threads poking out of his own chest and leading towards ces incredibly distant from his current location. Are these...? -Indeed. What you are seeing are the threads of Karma, enhanced with Fate. Each individual you have interacted with, whether it be a simple passing on the street or extreme intimacy, is tied to you through these threads. They''re tied to everyone. Tied to everyone, including me and my friends? Even with your support? William continued to stare at the group of threads attached to his chest. With his Resist Fate and Resist Karma Talents fully upgraded, William could even identify which individual his threads were attached to. But there was one individual thread that was muchrger than the rest, and its name was written out clear as daylight. "Fria." Chapter 398 Find William, Find Fria Fria took off her headset andid back with a heavy sigh, her silvery hair spreading out and flowing over both sides of the bed. Even after reaching the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm and improving her Soul Strength to insurmountable levels, Fria still failed to catch up to William. "If he wasn''t a Space Mage, this would have been easy!" Fria''s lips formed a pout and she punched at the air above her in frustration. Who would have thought that meeting with and recruiting a mere S-Rank NPC would be so difficult? After almost two years of the constant back and forth, William''s rank had even grown to X-Rank, baffling the entiremunity of yers. He was regarded as the most powerful, and most unpredictable, NPC in all of Otherworld Prime. Compared to the various leaders of Ind Nation Slyte and the Azures, Velos, Arcturis, and Dragon Continents, William''s recruitment difficulty truly was a pain. Any powerful yers that thought they could threaten William were beaten to a pulp, while the remainder were ignored unless they had treasures. The worst part of it all was... William didn''t even notice! ording to all the reports of yer interactions with NPC William, the man had some sort of ability that reflected physical attacks on his attacker, while his body itself was too strong for anything else to damage him. Those that attacked him physically ended up killing themselves. The ones that met with William and gave him gifts also found themselves going nowhere. If they said it was a gift, William would ept the item without a second thought and leave immediately, but if they said they wanted a favor, William wouldn''t even hear them out! Fria herself was the unluckiest of all, unable to even find the NPC after two years of travel. Even after exploring dozens of Ancient Ruins and various Mysterious Realms that linked to worlds much like her own, Fria had run out of things to do. She could continue to increase her strength slightly by gaining more Talents, but Potential Points had be increasingly difficult to obtain because of NPC William. It had be widely known that messing with his Companion Beasts would have severe consequences, but they couldn''t farm regr Magical Beasts either. Every time a Beast Tide appeared, William''s Companions would wipe them out in an instant, making yers wonder why the developer would add such an overpowered character. As a result, two main yer Factions formed: Avarice and Purity. Avarice had adopted many of the qualities that NPC William was known for, looting any and all items of considerable value while raising Magical Beasts of their own to do battle for them. They worshipped NPC William like a God, but like many others they were unable to get close to the man. Purity was theplete opposite. They incorporated much of the propaganda spread by the old higher-ups of Retribution, dering William to be an enemy of all yers that needed to be eliminated. Because Potential Points had be much scarcer recently, many yers sided with Purity over Avarice, but they were afraid of William''s retaliation and only supported the group secretly. Fria didn''t think of herself as a loot goblin like Avarice, but she also didn''t support Purity, so she remained in the middle as an individual. To her, joining a Faction would only hold her back. Unless she created her own Faction, Fria didn''t see herself ever being part of one. That said, theck of Potential Points and little need for Talents caused Fria to make a decision on the spot. I''ll Ascend tomorrow. If he''s as powerful as the Forums say, I''ll meet him in the Ascended Realms at some point. *** A few minutes earlier. "Fria." William spoke her name once more with an unnatural amount of calm, but a slight shift in his expression was all it took for a few tears to flow. She''s here? When did that happen? How did I not notice? William''s mind was filled with questions. How could he have explored the entire World without seeing her even once? He was a peak Cultivator, and even if he didn''t know that Fria was around, some red gs should have triggered at some point along his journey. He traced the thread with his vision, but it led to an area much further than his Vision Talent could manage, meaning she was at least a thousand kilometers away. Based on the direction of the thread, Fria was somewhere on the Azures Continent, so William opened a long-distance portal to the Providence Zone. The thread attached to him moved with the teleport, magically adjusting its and direction so quickly that William couldn''t even tell when the change happened. He used the Vision Talent once more, but Fria seemed to be on the edge of the Continent, so William had to teleport once more. Immediately after the second teleport, William stopped his movements and looked down to his chest in confusion. Therge thread attached to Fria was still present, but its edge had been cut and there was no trail leading to his target. Did she die? William became extremely worried. He teleported from one location to the next, expanding his Life Sense to the maximum range in the area around where hest tracked Fria. Unfortunately, there was nothing. -The distance between you and the target is too great. The threads of Karma have lost their target temporarily. When you are within range again, the threads will reconnect. The System''s exnation put William''s mind at ease, but he still wondered how the threads could have lost track of her so easily. Where did she go? he asked the System. -Perhaps she entered a Mysterious Realm. A Mysterious Realm? Is there one nearby? The System didn''t respond, even after William tried using the Ask Function. He asked more and less specific questions, hoping to get an answer out of the System, but nothing seemed to trigger a response. System, you pulled me away from my World and I thought my sister was still on Reius. What happened? Was she taken here with me? Are there more than just her? -Sigh. What is that about? William asked with a frown. He knew there was something the System didn''t want to say, but he didn''t understand why it was such an issue.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om -Your questions will be answered if youplete the two Quests. Focus on that for now. Why? It can''t be rules again, can it? William found the System''s deration that it was following the rules more of an excuse than a proper reason. -It is. But it''s more than that. Finish the Quest and you''ll naturally find out. And I''m supposed to forget about my sister? What if something happens to her before I see her again. -Don''t worry. She is strong. So, she''s a Cultivator too? How strong is she? -You''ll know when you meet her. William''s mind spun as he thought about what the System had said. If the threads of Karma were attached before and they aren''t now, yet he couldn''t detect a Mysterious Realm nearby, William guessed that there was something else at y. Explore hidden tales at empire Does she have some sort of dimensional artifact like my Starmetal Safe? Or maybe she really did go into a Mysterious Realm, but it''s only open at certain times and I barely missed it? Regardless of the reason, William decided to remain in ce and wait for Fria''s return. Chapter 399 Its Been A While Since William would be waiting for Fria to reappear for who knew how long, he decided to reorganize the System Panel and consume his Element Fruits. He currently had 450 Order Fruits that couldn''t be consumed, but other than that he had 350 Seal Fruits that hadn''t been eaten, along with 300 Space and Fire Fruits. It took him almost half a day to consume each Fruit, but by the end of it his Comprehension of the Seal Element had reached 40.6 percent from the original 5.6 percent. With this, his ability to restrict his own strength had been improved to an unimaginable level, only requiring twenty percent of the Seal Element to fully seal his Ability to the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. Additionally, a small amount of text changed in the Seal Affinity''s description. -Primary Law of Sealing (40.6%prehension): You understand some of this. Your Seal Element has been partially enhanced by your Comprehension and you feel like there may be additional effects. Comprehend the Seal Element or visit ??? to learn more. His Fire and Space Elements didn''t change in description yet, but William could still feel his Magic growing much stronger than it was before. While testing the Fire Element, William made a fireball that radiated heat so intense that the very ground beneath his feet started to melt. Whenunched into the sky, the fireball became a raging sun that tore apart the first twoyers of Space with no trouble at all, even igniting the thirdyer. Even after William canceled the Spell, the spatial fissures remained, still smoldering. His Space Magic had improved by the same amount, but the effects were even more obvious. William hadn''t needed to use his Reverse Domains to open a portal for a long time, but he felt as if he could teleport long distances even while the ambient Mana was overwhelming. Additionally, William''s teleport reached an incredible level of uracy, down to the very meter. If he wanted to teleport inside the Night Market right now, there would be no trouble at all. There was no distance that held William back across all of Efretta, and he could even wrap the world twice over with a single portal. I can cover twice the distance of the entire world! William eximed as he cast many unique Spells of the Space Element. While it was mostly used as a utility, Space Magic was meant for more than just traveling from one ce to another. No, it was made for so much more. With a point of his finger and a miniscule amount of Space Mana, William split a mountain in half, a thin line roughly two centimeters in width separating one half of the formation from the other. While splitting mountains was easily achievable by Tribtion Transcendence Cultivators, William had used but a single point of Mana to gain the same effect. The Mana Dominator Talent pairs so well with my Space Magic now! William smiled from ear to ear. He continued messing around with both Space and Fire Magic, learning a few new things about both in the process. The residents of a city on the Northern coastline of Azures were terrified. Not long after spotting a beautiful goddess with peakbat strength, a brute with Fire and Space Magic appeared, blowing holes in the sky and tearing apart the scenery. Enjoy new adventures at empire Many wanted to confront William and plead for him to stop, but they were all too afraid of what he might do to them or their families in response. Peak Cultivators were incredibly unpredictable, and the rumors surrounding William''s behavior were all terrifying. Not only would he seal his opponents and lock them up for months, but he would also force them to work in the mines afterward and even steal all their valuables. If your clothes looked too shiny, he might even take those! When the goddess with blue eyes and silver hair reappeared, the residents quickly approached her and begged for her assistance. "Goddess Fria, Goddess Fria! Please help us, there''s a demon destroying the mountains!" they cried out as she walked down the street calmly. "A demon?" she asked. I haven''t seen a demon in a while. Thest one was pretty tough...n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Well... not really a demon... But he might as well be! Please help!" "Hmm. Alright, take me there." she replied simply. "This way!" they flew above the city and headed in William''s direction. Their guidance turned out to be pointless as a shockwave followed by a muffled explosion caused the Tier 6 Arrays to appear around the city. A frown appeared on her face as she spotted three massive holes in the mountain chain that weren''t there before, dozens of vertical lines that lookedser-made, and a massive fifteen-kilometer-wide pit that stretched halfway to the core of the world. Thankfully NPC William put up these barriers, otherwise whoever is causing trouble could have identally killed hundreds of thousands of people. What kind of idiot would be so reckless? As she looked up at the back of a young man with tinges of grey in his hair, Fria''s expression shifted. "It''s you!" she said angrily. "Do you know how long I''ve been tracking you?" With William''s Vision Talent, he could see 359 degrees around him, so he naturally would have noticed the girl approaching if his eyes were open. Even without seeing her, though, he could feel the Karma thread in his chest shortening meter by meter until Fria was only a few hundred meters away. "It''s me." he said softly, but he still didn''t open his eyes or turn around. The memories from his life in the old world were flowing through his brain at high speed, a stark contrast from the life he lived now. He didn''t know why he was thinking about this just now, but William felt somewhat guilty. Guilty for his past actions. Guilty for how he treated human lives as nothing if they weren''t on his side. Would Fria still think of him as her brother? Even after all he had done in this World? He had killed Magical Beasts, Cultivators, caused many innocent deaths by absorbing the World Cores. He had stolen, trespassed, battled with the local governments, and even enved his enemies to work in the mines. The first few months living in Efretta were spent growing ustomed to inhuman strength, even being a little overwhelmed by it. He did whatever he wanted with no purpose but to have fun and use his power, and now was almost no different. He had a purpose now, but the reasoning was still the same. William wanted to grow stronger, collect valuable items, and discover the secrets of the world. Other than thest reason, weren''t the first two... selfish? The fact that Fria was here meant something. It meant that Reius still existed. It meant that his adopted family was still around, and that he could return someday. It also meant that he might have to make a choice someday. William shook his head. He was rambling for nothing. Why did any of that matter now? He turned around and looked at his sister, "Hey Fria. It''s been a while." Chapter 400 [Special] One Element, One Word 880 thousand years before William met the System. In a vast and unweing void far from the Mortal Realms, a graceful woman enshrouded in mes that matched her hair faced off with fifty opponents enshrouded in a blinding golden light. The woman''s brows were furrowed as she red at each of her opponents carefully. "How did you find me? And who hase for me this time?" she spat mes as she spoke. "We see all that happens in the Ascended Realms, even this dark ce you call sanctuary, Efretta. It doesn''t matter who we are." one of the figures responded with a calm smile, as if everything had been predetermined since the beginning. "Ha! You''re not as strong as you im to be. Why else would you send fifty just for me?" Efretta scoffed. "You''re a dangerous individual. We can''t have you running away, can we?" the individual ignored Efretta''s provocation. He issued an order, "Get her." The one that spoke sat to the side while the other forty-nine figures moved in unison, surrounding Efretta from all sides. An iparably strong Array formed between the group, erecting a barrier a million kilometers in every direction that would prevent anyone from escaping in a short amount of time. Efretta smirked, her petite lips curling up as she said a single word, "Burn." In an instant, the entire arena was set aze, the Barrier Array and all fifty golden-shrouded individuals included. The Barrier Array cracked as the group cast various Spells to counter Efretta''s attack, nearly destroyed the moment it was created. "Tch." Efretta frowned at the state of the Array, which should have been disintegrated the moment it formed. "You''ve put a lot of effort into this. You even brought a Superior Time-Altering Stone." "And we will make sure you are caught this time." the individual gloated as he crushed a colorful triangr crystal. The Array Barrier that was initially very weak was restored in an instant, duplicated by an unknown force that seemed to move time forwards and backwards simultaneously. At the same time, the injuries to the group were all healed, and their mana was restored to their peak while a chunk Efretta''s Mana Reserves were consumed. She gritted her teeth as a sense of weakness overwhelmed her, Mana of the Darkness Element drawn to her lips as another word formed. "Disintegrate." The golden aura on Efretta''s opponents disappeared little by little, consumed by the innate power of the Darkness Element. The Cultivators hidden behind the aura became visible and less otherworldly than they did before. "See. You''re nothing special." Efretta channeled a mix of Sound and Dream Mana into her voice, her words reaching the ears of everyone in the arena while simultaneously convincing them that they were nothingpared to her. It was an emotional attack unlike any other, one that would even cause saints tomit atrocities if Efretta wished them to do so. Read chapters at empire The Cultivators screamed in agony as their confidence wavered, but the ringing of a bell was enough to wake them up from their stupor. Efretta was left annoyed once more as the holder of said bell was the same individual. "You''re annoying." she said as Death Mana burst forth. "Die. Quickly." With unnatural speedparable to that of the Light Element at its peak, the Death Mana burst from Efretta''s mouth and wrapped the leader of the Cultivators tightly, aging him by tens of thousands of years in an instant and siphoning the life force to Efretta. In the middle of its path, Efretta noticed something odd about the life force and decided to stop it with Ice Mana, "Freeze." A raspy voice came from within the Death Mana, "You''re just as powerful as ever, Efretta. Too bad for you, I have plenty of methods to deal with you." Efretta''s eyes widened as her Death Mana dispersed, revealing a husk that almost resembled the man that she had targeted. Upon closer inspection, however, she noticed that this person was not the same. "A substitute... And they match your aura so closely. You dared to sacrifice your own blood for me?" Efretta couldn''t believe what she was seeing. "Anything if it means you''ll stop meddling. I''ve lost more than my cousin because of the things you''ve done." he said seriously. "Don''t me what the Heavens did on me." Efretta said as she countered a series of sword lights with her fingernail. If not for the consecutive suppressive effects and a prior injury, Efretta would have obliterated this entire group already. The man remained silent as he spoke a Necromantic Spell into existence, "Dead Souls, Revive." Millions of wisps of light floated over from afar and condensed into hundreds of thousands of humanoid figures. Their clothes were ragged and their eyes turbid, but they each stared directly at Efretta as if they already knew the purpose of their existence. "Go." the Cultivator said, causing the revived souls to charge at Efretta without abandon. Life or death mattered not to them, only the opportunity to bury their opponents the same way they had been once before. "Charles the Soul Snatcher. That''s who you are. It all makes sense now why you''d use your own cousin as a substitute. I felt some pity before, but now I could care less. Fate Reversal." Efretta red at the man named Charles as she banished the group of souls to an unknown dimension. "Hehe. It seems that even if I change my appearance, my skills are too noteworthy." Charles smiled mischievously as his form changed to a three-meter-tall man with arms so skinny that a normal human might be able to snap them in half. His skin was yellowing, but it carried a strong life force that seemed to belong to an uncountable number of people, a sign of how many innocent lives had been imed by this person. "So even the Heavens have bent you to their will, huh? You''re just as trash as the rest." Efretta looked at Charles much more warily than she did before. Charles the Soul Snatcher was no cannon fodder. "They think they can control me, but I''m after much more than their good graces." Charles'' smile widened, bing almost monstrous as a row of jagged teeth poked out.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Ew. You concern me." Efretta frowned. "You should be concerned about yourself!" Charles shouted as he leaped forward, Necromancy Mana forming a cloud around his hands as he reached for Efretta. She backed off, using Necromancy Mana of her own to counter her opponent''s. The two Mana collided in midair, Efretta''s quickly devoured by Charles'' much stronger version, but her move did the trick. "Oho? The Talented Mage Of All has a weaker Element than me? What a surprise!" Charles sent more of his Mana to sh with Efretta, forcing her to waste more of her Mana inparison. The other Cultivators joined in, adding more Mana to the mix and forcing Efretta on the defensive, exhausting her Mana Reserves at a visible pace. Ten dayster, Efretta was in horrible shape, while her opponents were still in good condition. Thebined assault from Charles and the rest was too much even for a peerless genius like Efretta. Her head hung low as she secretly sent out a wisp of her soul in a certain direction, which would return to her main body and form a double sometime in the next million years that would hopefully free her. Charles walked up and used a special set of chains to bind Efretta, sealing all of her Magic and other Talents in an instant, but he failed to notice the wisp of light that sped off in the distance. Seeing Efretta''s miserable condition, Charles adopted a serious attitude and issued an order to hisrades. "It''s time to turn in. Guard her well and don''t let her leave your sight." Chapter 401 The Memories Return Fria looked at William with visible confusion in her eyes. As far as she remembered, this NPC shouldn''t know her name. This wasn''t the type of game where the NPCs would automatically know you, you had to introduce yourself first. Maybe he has known my name ever since we met in the Gravitas Ruins? That must be it. Fria concluded. "I guess it has." she smiled. "You''ve be a lot stronger since the Trial Tower." Unconsciously, tears began to flow from Fria''s eyes, but she didn''t understand why. She assumed it had something to do with one of William''s many unique skills. Now it was William''s turn to be confused. Something about Fria''s expression was off, and the way that she greeted him wasn''t like his lovable sister that yed video games and enjoyed cking off. It was almost as if she and William had be two strangers on the street that had met once before. Also, the Trial Tower? images shed through William''s mind as he tried to remember faces and names from when he was inside the Gravitas Ruins. In an instant, a masked girl wielding an ethereal greatsword popped up. It was her?!? I was so close the entire time? Has she been here as long as I have? William didn''t fully understand, but all of his answers were right in front of him. "Fria, do you not remember me?" "Of course I remember. We fought the Ancient Gravitas Mummy together." she gave William a thumbs-up. "Not that... I''m your brother, remember?" he didn''t know how else to word it. "My brother? I don''t¡ª" Fria paused. "You don''t?" William asked, but Fria didn''t respond for a long time. Instead, her body shifted left and right while a series of images and memories returned, while the conflicting memories faded into nothingness. First came her childhood. Memories of her climbing trees by herself in the backyard started to include William''s faint outline, which became clearer and clearer as time passed. Her middle school years spent struggling with difficult math problems became her and William working together on a difficult problem. Even her early adulthood changed. Instead of her working by herself to earn money for the new game, it became William purchasing it for her while she didn''t even have a job.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om And then came the memory of her on the bus. She watched it all over again as William''s figure disappeared, and even the breeze that tried to alter her memories was there. This time, however, William''s Resist Fate Talent came into effect, wiping away the breeze before it could reach Fria for a second time. "Will!" tears streamed from Fria''s face as she rushed forward to hug her brother. William smiled as he returned the hug, relieved to see that his sister seemed to be her old self once again. "What happened? How are you here?" "I could ask the same of you! How did you get the NPC tag?" "Huh? NPC tag? What do you mean?" William was also quite familiar with many games, so he understood the term NPC, but he didn''t know why Fria was using it while referring to him. And the way her eyes glowed uniquely when she looked at him... System, what''s going on? -Fria thinks you are an NPC inside a video game. I get that, but is it true? -Finish the Quests and you''ll naturally know. Damn it! William became visibly frustrated. If he was in a video game, why not just tell him when he first arrived? Why wait until now? Being in a video game made sense when William thought about it, what with the System, a Guild Hall, various Sects and dozens of Factions that always wanted to kill him, but at the same time... Stuck in a video game... that''s so cliche and boring. Not to mention the Heavens, Duon, and the System itself seem very realistic. It can''t be just that... "The text above your head says NPC. Did you get that from a developer or something?" Fria asked excitedly. She hadpletely overlooked the memory of William''s strange disappearance, assuming he was simply somewhere else. "Uh... No." William scratched his head as he contemted her words. He avoided revealing his own System''s existence, but he exined his situation as best he could to Fria, who looked at him with wide eyes the entire time. It was the first time she had heard of someone being stuck inside the game, but it wasn''t too surprising considering all the weird things that happened with VR. While he exined his situation to Fria, William simultaneously held a conversation with the System in his mind. Text box? Are you attached to her too, System? -It''s not the same being as me, but a weaker imitation. Most of the functions are simr to mine, but they couldn''t possiblypare to the real deal. Is that so? You must be quite strong, then. -Naturally. William sensed a hint of pride from the System as it spoke, reminding him of its tsundere attitude. "Are you nning to Ascend soon?" Fria asked William suddenly. "Ah, yes. But I still have something to do first." William replied. "Are there other people here with you?" "What else do you need to do? You''re already so strong..." Fria started, "I had my Elder with me, but he''s Cultivating right now because he said he''s too weak to protect me. Other than that, there''s a few other yers that join me for Quests from time to time." Other yers? I get it now. William smiled, having gained a slightly clearer picture of the World as it was. If his deductions were correct, Fria and the other yers hade to this World through some sort of transport method, and they coulde and go as they pleased. It was the only way to exin how they thought this World was a video game, and why they thought he was an NPC and not a real person. While William wanted to believe that this World was fake and that he would live a peaceful life eternally, he could tell that there was much more to the story. The System didn''t react like a bunch of lines of code, and the interactions he had with many of the others didn''t line up with any video games he knew of. The technology was way too advanced, and likely not cost effective for anypany. No, it had to be real. And if that was the case... William had a guess, but he wasn''t fully confident, so he refrained from asking the System. He knew it wouldn''t respond anyway. "I have to unseal the World. Do you want to help me?" William asked. "Will I get a lot of Points for helping?" Fria returned. Points? She gets them too? -They''re earned the same way you gain them, but with many more limitations. They also can gain Talents, but it''s not through a Talent Shop like the advantage you have. "We just reunited and you''re already trying to take benefits from me?" William frowned. "Hehe. You know it!" Fria beamed. Well, I guess helping my sister isn''t a bad thing. I already have so many Potential Points anyway. "There will be a lot of Magical Beasts. I''ll leave some behind for you as long as you can handle it." William replied. "Yay!" Fria was overjoyed. Theck of Potential Points in the Lower Realms was the main reason why she didn''t Ascend. Who would have known that her adopted brother would solve that issue for her? Chapter 402 Resistance Requirements William needed to finish testing out his Magic, so Fria ended up returning to the city to gather some minor supplies and send a message to Elder Fan. She didn''t forget to tell William not to destroy the Continent with his Spells, since he was terrifying the locals. In her message, she told Elder Fan that she had met with William and nned to join him on a trip to the Arcturis Continent. She was sure that Elder Fan would probably try to convince her not to go with the madman Cultivator William, but she had made up her mind and wouldn''t listen no matter what he said. He''s my brother, and it''s only a game. So what if he''s killed a lot of people? William sneezed. Is someone thinking about me? He shook his head and continued scrolling through the System Panel, also separating all the Resistance rted Talents to their own section so it was easier to keep track of them. There were a lot of new Talents that he wanted to upgrade, and many more that he nned to purchase. Even though I have all the Resistance Talents, the Talent Shop doesn''t seem to have run out of options yet. System, let''s spin for a thousand Talents this time! -Request will cost 4,062,500 Potential Points, and there is roughly a 90% chance on average that you will not receive a Talent on each spin. Continue? That''s a sharp increase in cost, but I''m buying a thousand Talents at once. Even with a ny percent failure rate, that''s still about a hundred new Talents that I will earn. Let''s do it! Discover stories at empire William didn''t want to be stingy with the Talent Shop at this point, since he was so close to Ascension. More than anything, William just wanted to gain ess to as many Talents as possible that he could upgradeter. After seeing what initially useless Talents like Navigation and Tailoring could do, William nned to make use of every possible Talent to increase his strength to the absolute maximum. Only then would he feel confident in surviving the Ascended Realms. -Spinning Talents. This will take a long time... You sound exasperated.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om -You''re working me like a ve. You''re an all-powerful being. How could I possibly tell you what to do? -Well you are! I''m asking nicely. I''ve always appreciated everything you''ve done for me, System. William said honestly. William sensed a tinge of annoyance mixed with something else, but the System didn''t seem to hate his response. -Please wait... William continued testing his Magic while waiting for the System to finish spinning for Talents, but he refrained from using anyrge-scale attacks at Fria''s request. Instead, he focused on incredibly precise moves that were both urate and lethal. He twirled a mix of Space and Fire Magic around his fingertips, mixing the two in perfectbination before sending a sewing needle-sized strand of Mana into the distance. There was no explosion, but the air in the Space needle''s path was ignited until a massive wall formed that separated theyers of space and acted as a barrier. It was both an offensive and defensive move. As an offensive attack, if the needle hit a Cultivator, their body would be pierced through with little resistance while their organs were set aze, and the needle could even teleport back inside of themter. If it was used for defense, William could control the needle to loop around him in a circle, while any projectile that entered its path would be redirected somewhere else, and William could even open portals along the needle''s path that teleported an opponent''s attack back towards them. Even if one''s Mana couldn''t hurt themselves, it could be used to hurt allies if one didn''t react ordingly, and William nned to take advantage of that. He named it ming Space Needle and mentally added this move to his list of tricks to use when facing a tough opponent. Even after half a day passed the System still hadn''t finish spinning his new Talents, so William scrolled through the list of now organized X-Rank Resistance Talents and viewed their Rankup requirements. All of the Talents were Common-Ranked, but it seemed that Rank didn''t matter when considering the price to Ascend, because the cost was one million Potential Points for each individual Talent. Additionally, every Ascension had a secondary requirement, usually in the form of a unique item William had never heard of. Lead Ore for the Shockwave Resistance Talent, that''s easy. But where am I going to find an Advanced Electro Core for Paralysis Resistance? Also, what the hell is a Thagnur Forest Sapling? I''ve crossed the entire World and have never seen the word "Thagnur" on anything! -Thagnur Forest Saplings can be found only in the Ascended Realms. So even if I wanted to, I couldn''t merge these Talents until after I ascend? -Yes. Damn. He looked at the other Talents'' requirements, listing them off one by one. Absorb Superior Wind Vein for the Stable Footing Talent. I can do that. I also need to absorb the Superior Water Vein for Gills. Then there''s an Illuminant Eyeball for Blindness Resistance, a vial of Superior Holy Water for Blessing Resistance, and... What the hell? You want a Bible for the Curse Resistance Talent? Is this a joke? -A bible blessed by the Great Saintess, yes. If it''s not blessed by her, it won''t do. Why do you need all this stuff just to upgrade my Talents? -Your Talents can no longer improve simply through the use of energy. They need a catalyst to direct their growth in a certain way. What you were doing before was throwing money at a man on the street and asking for him to help you take out your trash, which any person can do. -But now, throwing money at the same person and asking him to remodel your house probably won''t get the job done as well as you''d like it to be. You need to throw the right amount of money at the right person, or in this case, spend the right amount of Potential Points and use the correct item. -Surely, I can Ascend your Talents simply for one million Points, but do you really want a Resistance Talent that can''t resist the powers that exist in the Ascended Realms? The System''s words made sense to William after a quick exnation. Had he already reached the point where the System couldn''t simply help him on its own? Didn''t this mean the stakes had gone up, and consequences would be immense? -That''s right. You may have arrived in this World as a man-child, but how you acted before will not keep you alive in the Ascended Realms. You are not invincible; you better be fully prepared for that. William nodded his head seriously, scanning the Talents for those that were upgradable right now and separating them from the impossible ones. Since he had the zier Talent now, he could raise it to X-Rank and refine his own stained ss to upgrade the Charm Resistance Talent. Additionally, he needed to absorb the Superior Wind and Water Veins as said before. Other than that, I need a piece of Lead Ore, another Blood Bead, twenty thousand Soul Strength, a Tier 10 Appearance Restoration Pill, and... Chapter 403 Celestial Talent --Prity Resistance: X (1,000,000PP + 100% Comprehension of Primary Law of Gravity) --Resist Karma: X (1,000,000PP + Severed Karma Thread) I need toprehend my Gravity Elementpletely?! That''s going to take a while, I don''t even have a Gravity Farm! Not only that, but... Severed Karma Thread sounds kinda ominous. -A Severed Karma Thread is obtained when you destroy one of the threads attached to yourself. I expected as much, but what will happen when I sever the thread? -Your attachment to the individual willpletely disappear and you will suffer a bacsh, entering a period of weakness for ten days. Conversely, the less Karma you have with others, the harder it is for outsiders to deduce your location and status. -If you sever Karma with more powerful individuals, there is a high chance that they will detect it immediately and trace the severance to your location, so it''s best to be careful. Seems like it does more harm than good, but it wouldn''t be a terrible idea to sever my Karma with someone I barely know... William thought to himself. The Talent Shop finallypleted its cycle and issued out the list of William''s new Talents. Despite the System iming that he had roughly a ten percent chance of sessfully unlocking a new Talent, William found that his luck was much worse than that. Even after counting them all out, William had only gained a total of 56 new Talents. On the plus side, four of them were Epic Talents and one was Legendary, so he couldn''tin. -Talents Purchased (x944): Nothing -Talents Purchased (Common): Weaving, Organization, Mathematics, Chemistry, Pottery, Electrician, Shoe Shining, Decoration, Flower Arrangement, Etiquette, Field Dressing, Juggling, Leadership... -Talents Purchased (Rare): Escape Route, Thief''s Wit, Pill Efficiency, Pill Efficacy, Saturated, Meal Boost, Charisma, Air of Nobility -Talents Purchased (Epic): Natural Instinct, Weapon Sharpness, Attack Combo, Spell Fusion -Talents Purchased (Legendary): Magic Homing The Common Talents were endless, consisting mostly of Trade Talents and other mostly useless skills. That said, a series of System Notifications followed immediately afterward, making William''s eyes glimmer with delight. -Requirements met for a Talent upgrade. Please raise all Trade Talents to the same Rank. -Requirements met for a Talent upgrade. Please raise Still Breathing, Light Footsteps, Pickpocketing, Lockpicking, Escape Route, and Thief''s Wit Talents to the same Rank. -Requirements met for a Talent upgrade. Please raise Natural Instinct, Tracking, Field Dressing, Archery, Still Breathing Talents to the same Rank. -Detected Archery is a sub-Talent of Weapons Master. Skipping requirement. -Detected Still Breathing is required for two Talent upgrades. Still Breathing will be considered a sub-Talent after its first merger... Enjoy new tales from empire -Requirements met for a Talent upgrade. Please raise Organization, Flower Arrangement, and Decoration Talents to the same Rank. -Requirements met. Merging Natural Instinct, Tracking, Field Dressing, and Still Breathing Talents... -Lost Talents: Natural Instinct, Tracking, Field Dressing, Still Breathing. -New Talent: Hunter (Legendary) -Requirements met. Merging Organization, Flower Arrangement, and Decoration Talents... -Lost Talents: Organization, Flower Arrangement, Decoration. -New Talent: Arrangement (Rare) -Requirements met for a Talent upgrade. Please raise Pill Efficacy, Pill Efficiency, Meal Boost, and Saturated to the same Rank. -Requirements met. Merging... -Lost Talents... -New Talent: Consumables Expert (Legendary) -Requirements met for a Talent upgrade. Please raise Etiquette, Arrangement, Charisma, Leadership, and Air of Nobility Talents to the same Rank. -Requirements met. Merging... -Lost Talents... -New Talent: Noble Prowess (Legendary) Before he continued with anything, William quickly paid the System 2,857,500 Potential Points to raise the 39 new Trade Talents and 6 from the previous batch to X-Rank, then spent six days absorbing all the information. He had already expected to gain a load of new Talents, and William had no intention of checking the abilities of each individual one if he was just going to merge them all anyway. Once the 45 new Trade Talents reached X-Rank, they merged with Cooking, Sales, Carpentry, Cartography, Forging, Tailoring, Arrays, and Alchemy which were all at X-Rank already. With that, 53 X-Rank Talents merged all at once, and William felt a massive headache forming as the Mind Talent almost couldn''t keep up. -Talents merged sessfully. -New Talent: Jack Of All Trades (Celestial) -Unlocked your first Celestial Talent: +1,000,000 PP -Trade Talents section removed. Jack Of All Trades is now considered a Passive Talent -Unlocked your first Celestial Passive Talent: +500,000 PP While William was extremely tempted at this point to check the information of his first Celestial Talent, he held back and first upgraded all the other Talents that could be merged to X-Rank directly. His Light Footsteps, Pickpocketing, Lockpicking, Escape Route, and Thief''s Wit Talents merged into the Legendary-Ranked Master Thief Talent, finishing off the list of new upgrades avable. With that, William had gained three new Epic Talents, four new Legendary Talents, and a Celestial Talent. Even better, William had lost less than ten million Potential Points! With the six days spent absorbing the information from the Trade Talents, William''s Potential Farms had even earned back arge portion of what he spent. POTENTIAL POINTS: 41,558,482 Phew! That was a lot of System upgrades! William leaned back and opened his eyes to stare at the clouds overhead, where a silver-haired girl was currently practicing fighting techniques with a massive ethereal greatsword. Fria had already returned long ago, but she could sense William''s unique aura that indicated Talent upgrades, so she waited. And she waited and waited some more. She would log out of the game and go to her college sses, only to find William still seated in the same spot when she returned. After a week went by, she had be tired of waiting and looked around for Magical Beasts to fight, but there were none! All of William''s Companion Beasts were still wiping out the Beast Tides, and nothing had changed from before! The instant that William''s eyes opened, Fria rushed towards her brother with an excited look. "Are you done now? Let''s go!" "Hold on a moment." William replied as he scrolled through the System Panel. "No! I''ve been waiting here forever! You can check your new skills outter, let''s go now!" Fria pushed William forward from behind, urging him to generate a long-distance portal so they could leave. William heaved a sigh and smiled. This was just like his sister, always energetic. He twirled his fingers and opened a portal to the Arcturis Continent, then walked through to the other side with his sister close behind. "We''re here." he said.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Fria looked around in amazement. "Really? We''re here already? Don''t you need at least ten or fifteen portals to cross this muchnd?" William was confused, "Who told you that?" "Well... there are a lot of yers with Space Magic and they''ve tested a lot of things. No one has been able to do what you''ve done so far." Fria exined. "Heh, whatever those yers can do, I can do better." William boasted, but Fria''s words sparked a question in his mind. "If these yers are at the peak already, howe they haven''t absorbed the World Cores?" William asked. This had been at the back of his mind for a while now, since the System said that anyone with Nascent Soul Cultivation could absorb the weaker World Cores and peak Cultivators could absorb even the Superior World Cores if given the chance. Chapter 404 Now Thats More Like It! "Huh?" Fria wasn''t expecting the sudden question. "Oh, that''s because they''re afraid of you. The death penalty is quite steep, you know. Most yers are convinced that you''veid im to the World Cores, and they don''t benefit the more powerful Cultivators that much anyway, so they''ve chosen to ignore them as a whole." Fria exined to William how when yers died, they would lose forty percent of their Potential Points and twenty-five percent of their stored Cultivation Base. For a Cultivator in the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, twenty-five percent was equivalent to millions of Spirit Qi. Not to mention how difficult it already was to earn Potential Points. Many yers would have to spend months saving up Potential Points just to upgrade a single Talent to SS or SSR-Rank. They couldn''t afford to die in this stage of the game. William nodded in understanding. yers didn''t have ess to the Potential Farms like he did, so they were missing out on a huge advantage. He wondered if he would be the same way if he was a yer. System, if these yers can respawn, doesn''t that mean that I can too? -Nope. Your death will be permanent, and both your soul and consciousness will be sent to Hell. Damn it. Williamined inwardly. He had expected that his death was different from the others, but the System confirming it made him feel bad. "You wanted to hunt Magical Beasts, right?" William asked his sister. "Yes! I''m so bored, all I want to do is beat something up!" Fria made an aggressive expression as she punched at the air. Williamughed, "Alright,e with me." He and Fria only had to fly half a kilometer before William reached a group of seven Lesser Chaos Veins. He sat down cross legged in front of each of them, asking the System to absorb all seven at once. With his Cultivation in the Soul Formation Realm and the System at A-Rank, absorbing seven Lesser Veins at once was an easy task, even if it was rted to the Legendary Chaos Element. In less than thirty minutes, William hadpletely absorbed the Lesser Chaos Veins in the area and a small Beast Tide of roughly two hundred Magical Beasts in the Golden Core Realm formed. William had the System hatch a group of ten Legendary Ancient Gravitas Mummies and push them to the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, but he ordered them not to fight the Magical Beasts in the area unless he and Fria were not present. This way, the Companion Beasts could deal with the regr Beast Tides after they left, but Fria could farm for Points now. With a single sweep of her ethereal greatsword, Fria cleaved all two hundred Magical Beasts in half, hardly a warmup for someone like her. She turned around to face William angrily, "That''s it? These small fry are useless, that was hardly a few hundred Potential Points!" "I''m not done yet, there will be more." William waved his hand in dismissal as he reached a second area full of Chaos Veins. Just like before, he absorbed all of them at once and triggered a slightlyrger Beast Tide to form, which Fria swept away in an instant. He continued this routine for the next few hours, absorbing more and more Chaos Veins until every Lesser and Standard Vein had been absorbed. Even after all the Standard Veins of the Chaos Element were gone, Fria still wasn''t satisfied. She flicked the edge of her greatsword away, dispersing the blood on its ethereal surface into the environment as her brows furrowed. She had to admit that the Points were better than before, but they still weren''tparable to what she could probably earn from the Ascended Realms. William looked at his sister''s expression and could clearly tell that she wanted more Beasts to fight, so he looked in the distance at the group of five Greater Chaos Veins. I have ten years to absorb all the Lesser and Standard Veins, yet it''s only been a bit over a year. In four months or less, I''ll have finished the first Quest. he calcted in his mind. Considering how long it took me to absorb the Greater Fire Vein back then, it should take me roughly the same amount of time to absorb the Greater and Superior Cores. Even if it''s quadruple that, I''ll still have almost two years to spare... With that in mind, William decided to initiate the second System Quest and give his sister some higher-quality Magical Beasts to fight. Just in case, though, he hatched ny more Legendary Ancient Gravitas Mummies and upgraded them all to S-Rank, pushing them close to the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. The total cost for all one hundred was only 1,382,500 Potential Points, so William barely even felt the purchase. He still wasn''t sure if it was enough to handle the might of the Heavens, but William supposed that as long as he was present to assist, the Magical Beasts could defend the Continents until he fully released the World''s suppression. William wasn''t able to absorb all the Greater Chaos Veins at the same time as he could with the Lesser and Standard Veins. The distance between them was too great, and the System couldn''t reach so far. That said, his absorption speed was much faster than before, only taking roughly half a day to absorb one. To Fria''s dismay, William informed her that the Beast Tides probably wouldn''t appear until the next day, so she was forced to log off and wait yet again. This was the trend of Cultivation games, though, so she was used to it. Golden light enveloped the World as the third Greater Chaos Vein was absorbed, followed by dark clouds that covered the Arcturis Continent as far as the eye could see. The native Cultivators of the Arcturis Continent looked to the sky in shock, while the older ones were surprised to see a duplicate scene of the one from hundreds of years ago. "This is just like... the one on Azures..." the peak Cultivators muttered to themselves as they concealed their auras and hid inside their cave abodes. They had no intention ofpeting with the Heavens that ruled over the very Tribtions they worked so hard to endure. Magical Beasts across the globe lost all sense of self, only the ones hatched by William immune to the bloodthirsty emotions that told them to kill all humans. They broke free from their restraints, ignoring their summoners andshing out with immense strength. Even Carl, who was still on the Velos Continent, felt his summoning scroll tremble as the Shadog and other Beasts fought hard to break free. He was forced to trigger his heavenly mark to wrest them back under his control, but even that would only hold for a short amount of time. A massive portal opened in the sky, sending all the bloodthirsty Magical Beasts raining down on the Arcturis Continent, their ws, paws, and hooves creating massive craters in the earth. Wisps of golden light enveloped each of the enraged beasts, boosting their strength to the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm in an instant as they roared to the sky.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om William tried to count all the Magical Beasts, but he couldn''t, even with the X-Rank Mathematics Talent as part of his Celestial Jack Of All Trades. Their numbers easily reached the tens of millions, billions if one included the tiny insect-like Magical Beasts whose strength was also artificially increased. "Now that''s more like it!" Fria gleamed as she extended her ethereal greatsword to a length of ten kilometers, mming downward with incredible strength and nearly shattering the Continent into two halves. Chapter 405 Mortal Threat William watched with a smile as Fria''s greatsword cleaved apart dozens of peak Magical Beasts in an instant, slightly disturbed by her carefree attitude that allowed blood and guts to spray everywhere. Damn, she really doesn''t hold back. hemented while using Wind Magic to keep the blood fromnding on his Illusionist''s Cloak. "Hehe! Do you see this?" Fria waved her greatsword around excitedly while shouting to William, a stark contrast from her usual cold personality. She raised her sword for another heavy strike, extending its length even further. -The Arcturis Continent is on the brink of destruction. William''s expression changed, "Fria! Don''t destroy the Continent you idiot!" Fria lowered her greatsword and looked back at William, "How are you going to call me the idiot? Weren''t you doing the same thing a few days ago?" "Not like you are!" "Ugh, fine." Fria switched her stance and performed a horizontal sh, dividing the group of Magical Beasts in half, literally. William heaved a sigh of relief and asked the Ancient Gravitas Mummies to control the situation, then returned to absorbing the fourth Greater Chaos Vein. With the Gravitas Mummies keeping an eye on things, William felt at ease leaving the rest to Fria. While there were millions of Magical Beasts on the other side, the majority of them only had the strength of a Tribtion Transcendence creature and not the experience. A few stronger than usual Magical Beasts were nothingpared to a peak Tribtion Transcendence Cultivator with dozens of Talents, and Fria wasn''t just any yer. Worst case scenario, William was close enough to deal with any idents. *** "Damn it! How many times is he going to poison me?" Juhi scowled as he downed a green and ck Pill that tasted bitter. He coughed a few times before controlling his Spirit Qi to protect his internal organs. Despite the effects of the medicine, Juhi only managed to offset a majority of the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin''s power, but not all of it. He still lost a few dozen Soul Strength each hour, and only with his Spirit Qi could he avoid taking physical damage. After being kicked out of the PDF for allegedly harassing Great Defender Mia, Juhi had lost many of his connections with the Curse Mages that could properly heal his condition. Even his wife had left with the valuables, thinking that he wasn''t faithful and had eyes for Mia. With no connections, no wife, and almost no money, his only option was to spend some of his savings on Tier 11 Soul Guarding Pills. Damn it. The Curses are starting to wear off, but I won''t be able to get my revenge on that kid when he Ascends. He''s already too strong. Juhi thought to himself. "I must leave Pewot and find someone that will take action for me." Juhi made a decision on the spot, though the danger he''d have to face was nothing short of terrifying. If Pewot wouldn''t help him, he would join another city that listened. He packed up what little items he had into a cheap Space Ring that he recently purchased, then walked past a group of houses identical to his own towards the city gates. Flying was impossible in most cities of the Markosh ne due to their defensive Arrays, unless one''s Cultivation was high enough or they were registered as a member of the PDF. Regardless of rules, Juhi was no longer part of the PDF, and he wasn''t nearly strong enough to resist Pewot City''s Defensive Array Formation. He had no choice but to walk. "Former Defender Juhi, it''s good to see you." a friendly city guard waved to Juhi from the gates. "Mm. I''m going out, is that okay?" Juhi asked. He wasn''t in the mood to talk with the man, even if they were former ssmates. "That''s not a problem... but you''re going out alone?" the guard looked visibly concerned for Juhi''s wellbeing. "Do I have a choice? After what Great Defender Mia said, my life in Pewot is over." "I suppose you''re right..." the guard reached into a satchel at his waist and brought out a worn cloak. The green dye in its fabric had begun to fade from overuse, but a series of glistening Arrays suggested it was still functioning. The guard transferred authority of the cloak''s Arrays, then handed it to Juhi, "Take this, I don''t use it anymore. It should help conceal your aura from the demons and any other creatures that might target you otherwise." Juhi didn''t stand on ceremony and epted the cloak with an earnest smile. He used to have one of his own, but it was still within the Space Ring that William took. "I''ll make good use of it, thank you." "No problem, good luck!" the guard nodded to hispanion, who turned a massive dial that allowed the city gates to swing outward. Juhi stepped through the gates quickly, which closed mere moments afterwards. This was standard procedure to keep the auras of tens of thousands of human Cultivators from leaking out and attracting any unwanted attention. He wrapped the cloak around him and activated the Arrays, then carefully stepped out into the wilderness that some might consider a living Hell. Otherworldly roars and monstrous screeches were heard for thousands of miles, and Juhi found his strength instantly suppressed to the Soul Formation Realm. Without the cloak to protect him, Juhi would be even weaker, likely restricted all the way to the Golden Core Realm. He shuddered, looking left and right as if paranoid that something was already onto him, but Juhi continued walking regardless. There was only one way to reach the other cities without paying an exorbitant sum to teleport, and Juhi couldn''t afford thetter. Step after step, kilometer after kilometer, day after day, Juhi trudged northeast through the Wild Zone towards his next destination, Jeraldo SuperCity. Along the way, Juhi had quite a few close encounters but somehow managed to survive the entire trip. "Entrance fee is fifteen Spirit Stones." a rough-looking guard held out an open palm with his other arm crossed over his chest. What? The normal fee is only five. He''s clearly robbing me blind! Juhi eximed inwardly but didn''t show it on his face. He nodded and paid the fee without another word, unwilling to cause any trouble despite the clear upcharge. If the guard found reason to deny him entry, Juhi probably wouldn''t survive the return trip to Pewot. "Good. Reason for entry?" the guard asked a probing question following the paid entry fee. "Seeking employment." Juhi didn''t dare to reveal the true reason for his visit, and he would be visiting the City Hall regardless, so his exnation wasn''t wrong.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The guard nodded and allowed Juhi to enter, leading him a short distance before pointing towards the City Hall. "Go there and find your employment." Juhi nodded and thanked the guard, grumbling to himself as he walked towards the City Hall. "Damn guards, I wish I could give them a piece of my mind..." He entered the City Hall and met with a male secretary with pure white hair and pointy ears at the front, "I need to report a Mortal Threat." Chapter 406 A Warning A monthter, William had just finished absorbing most of the Lesser and Standard Veins on the Arcturis Continent. Other than the Fate and Karma Veins that were untouched, there were only a total of 25 Greater and 6 Superior Veins left. William would have been done much sooner if not for the fact that Fria had to regrly log out each night. She wasn''t able to stay online 24 hours a day like William, so he had to take her ce while fighting the Magical Beasts whenever she was gone. With the improvements of his Elements, though, this was a very simple task. He made use of the ming Space Needle move to pierce through dozens of enemies per second, setting their organs aze and burning them to a crisp before they could reach his position. He never ran out of Mana, and the few attacks thatnded on his body caused such a minimal amount of damage that he couldpletely ignore it. The only downside of the battle was that the Potential Points earned were only rted to the real Cultivation of the Magical Beasts and not their strength. "Is that the best you''ve got, Heavens?" William smirked as he sent a tsunami of mes to wipe out a hundred thousand Magical Beasts in one move. -Defeated a Qi Refinement Magical Beast (x35299): +35299 PP -Defeated a Foundation Establishment Magical Beast (x28090): +56180 PP -Defeated a... --Title upgraded to Celestial: +5000 PP -Beast yer (Mythical --> Celestial): You''ve personally killed at least 100000 Magical Beasts. +100% damage to Magical Beasts. --Title upgraded to Celestial: +5000 PP -Multikiller (Mythic --> Celestial): Killed at least 10000 enemies with the same spell or its aftereffects. +100% Area of Effect (AoE) radius.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om In total, William only earned a day''s worth of Potential Points from the single attack, but at least his two Titles upgraded to their maximum Rank. If he were to fight a Magical Beast on the same level as him now, it wouldn''t stand a chance just because of the increased damage. The clouds rumbled from William''s provocation, but nothing changed about the environment. It seemed that peak Tribtion Transcendence enemies were the best the Heavens could do for now, so there was no point in wasting energy when William could kill anything below the Ascended Realm. Fria returned a few hourster to see a massive pit filled with smoldering Beast corpses. Seeing that there were no other Magical Beasts in the area, she pouted, "Did you leave any for me?" "Hehe, sorry." William smiled as he scratched his head. He had gotten a little too carried away this time around and had identally wiped out the remainder of the group. Even if another portal was made to send Magical Beasts, William doubted there were any left to battle. The dark clouds brightened as a pair of massive golden eyes appeared in the sky above. It looked left and right across the battlefield very slowly, before locking onto William. Because of William''s X-Rank Physical Charm Talent, his appearance looked less like himself and more like the most ideal image of himself. Because of this, Golden Girl found herself slightly stunned for a moment before she could regather her senses. William looked up and waved to the pair of eyes above, "Oh, hey Golden Girl! How are you doing on this fine evening?" The pair of eyes blinked, then narrowed slightly before a massive circle appeared in the sky above. Its designs were incredibly intricate, and the density of Mana was immense, but it wasn''t an Array. Instead, William could tell at a nce that this was merely a Magic Spell. "Get behind me." he told his sister quickly, who didn''t hesitate to listen. Fria used her Soul Strength to erect a shield around the both of them, while William opened his Forcefield and used Earth Magic to build a dome. Using Illusion Magic, William concealed his and Fria''s exact position so that the Spell couldn''t lock onto them, then waited silently for whatever attack it was to form. Man, I harvested my Illusion and Time Farms a few days ago, but I haven''t eaten the Fruits yet. I could have tested them out on Golden Girl''s attack... An explosion rang out and the Earth Dome trembled, crumbling away to reveal the pair of eyes had drawn closer and were now just a few dozen meters away from William. "Do you really think hiding is going to help you?" William scratched his head, "I guess since your eyes are so big you can see all, right?" "No, that''s not¡ª" "I''m kidding." Williamughed at the other party''s reaction, "Are you here to kill me?" "I''m here to warn you." Fria leaned forward to whisper, "Will, who''s that?" "It''s the Heavens, or at least one of them, I think." William tilted his head to reply. Golden Girl was just the nickname he had given the girl, since she refused to introduce herself on their first meeting. "Oh, are they strong?" William shrugged his shoulders, "Probably." "Are you done? I can hear everything you''re saying." Golden Girl was bing annoyed with William''s attitude. He was way too casual considering she was the threat to his very existence. "One sec." William held up a finger and returned his attention to Fria. "If you ever see one of these "Heavens" individuals, they can''t hurt you in this World unless you offend them somehow or break one of their rules. Once you Ascend, however, the rules change, and they can do whatever they want. This is why you need to be careful not to make them angry." "How do you know that?" Fria asked. William pointed to his head, implying that the System had told him once before. In fact, the System had only just now told him at the cost of 800 thousand Potential Points. Golden Girl didn''t know whether to be annoyed with William for continuing to ignore her or surprised that he had such urate information on the Realmic Rules that bound the Heavens. She nced between Fria and William, looking for something that would tell her how he found out. Additionally, she wanted to know what made William trust this girl so much despite how little they interacted in Efretta. "22 years old male, 23 years old female... both share a simr aura, but blood doesn''t match... the same upbringing? But that doesn''t make sense..." she muttered out loud, of which both William and Fria could hear. She continued, "Their Karma is thick, but they''ve only had two meetings... which means." Her eyes widened with shock as she realized something. A ray of golden light shot out from in between the pair of golden eyes, piercing through the sky and traveling to an unknown location in the Ascended Realms. William and Fria both felt awkward with how Golden Girl was describing them, but he didn''t understand where this attitude hade from. "Are you done being creepy?" he asked. "Creepy? You''d have to be insane to think¡ª never mind. Think what you must, I''m here to deliver a warning." "You already said that." "You! Ugh. Stop absorbing the World Cores or you will suffer. I''m leaving now." the pair of eyes blinked twice and disappeared in an instant, unwilling to stay near William any longer. Chapter 407 Skeletal Dragon William looked over to his sister with a slight grin, "I''m gonna be honest, that warning wasn''t very convincing." Fria smiled and pinched her nose, "Stop absorbing the World Cores or else!" she mimicked Golden Girl''s voice. William burst outughing and used Illusion Magic to conjure a still image of the golden eyes, controlling them to narrow slightly before copying Golden Girl''s voice, "Hmmm 22 years old, a delightful meal for a powerful being like me. Better stop absorbing those Cores or I''m gonna get ANGY!" -This is an effective use of my abilities... Fria rolled across the ground while clutching her stomach, "Stop! Stop! I can''t anymore!" She opened her eyes and looked up to the sky while stillughing, but then her expression froze. William continued mocking the girl, "You''d be a fool not to listen to me, I am the overlord of thisnd, you can''t oppose me!" "Will, quit." "What? You think you can tell an all-powerful being like me to stop? I answer to no one!" "No, seriously." Fria pointed to the sky. William looked up to see a pair of Golden Eyes that carried the heaviest "done with life" expression William had ever seen. He dispersed the Illusion Mana and smiled ingratiatingly, "You''re back! Good to see you!" "Were you mocking me?" Golden Girl asked. "Whaaat? No..." Is this really a good idea, System? William asked in his mind. -Of course. If you anger them now and force them to waste energy, they won''t have as much to use in the final stages. Won''t they hold a grudge for when I Ascend? -This is hardly worth holding a grudge over. Besides, unsealing the World is probably a bigger threat to them than being mocked. Alright, it''s toote to back down now. "You were." in the Ascended Realms, Golden Girl clenched her fists tightly. Damn this mortal brat! If I could take back the gift I gave him, I would. "What, just this?" William reformed Golden Girl''s eyes once more with Illusion Magic but made them absurdly wide. "Y-You!" a portal formed in the sky as a massive white dragon crawled out from within. Upon closer inspection, the dragon wasn''t white, but was rather entirely made out of bone! [Bestiary] Skeletal Dragon: +1 PP It opened its maw to release an earth-shattering roar, the resulting shockwave knocking Fria off her feet and forcing her to cover her ears. Beyond her, the few trees still standing across the continent were knocked over, while many of the Tier 6 Barrier Arrays on the cities cracked. Sensing that a being was present on Efretta that shouldn''t, an Ascension Portal automatically formed overhead and started pulling at the Skeletal Dragon. Momentster, the pulling force stopped as a golden light shrouded it and kept the dragon from returning to the Ascended Realms. William used his Cultivation Talent''s Bonus Effect to inspect the Skeletal Dragon, but the little information that showed up surprised him to no end. [Skeletal Dragon] {Cultivation Unknown} Cultivation Unknown? But my Bonus Effect should work no matter what, right? William checked through the System Panel to verify. -Cultivator''s Intuition: Can see through others'' concealment techniques, revealing their Cultivation without fail. Yeah, without fail! -Ascended Beings are an exception. Of course, you never bothered to check before now so you''re only just finding out. If you want to view the Cultivation of Ascended Beings, your Cultivation Talent must be Ascended itself. The System''s words made sense, but didn''t that mean... The Skeletal Dragon is a true Ascended Being? Just like Ascended Cultivator Juhi? -It''s much stronger than Juhi. William now understood why the System wanted him to waste the Heavens'' energy now rather thanter. If this was only an angry outburst from Golden Girl, would he have to face multiple things at this level in the future? "I''m surprised you are unaffected by the Skeletal Dragon''s roar." Golden Girl mused, "But can you survive an attack?" The Skeletal Dragon''s eyes locked on William, channeling massive amounts of Chaos Mana to its mouth and spewing it over the entire Continent all at once. The mere scale of the attack was enough to block out the sky, causing many natives to cower in fear. -The Arcturis Continent is on the brink of destruction. I can see that! William shouted in his mind as he used Gravity Mana to create a makeshift ck hole, drawing the Chaos Mana in and expanding in size dramatically. William made use of the Mana Dominator Talent to keep fine control over the ck Hole Spell, maintaining its shape despite the Chaos Mana''s attempt to break free. Once all the Chaos Mana had been absorbed, William channeled his own Chaos Mana into the ck Hole, then opened his Territory of Gravity and swapped the prity over the Continent. Since Fria had been designated as an ally, the Territory of Gravity had no effect on her, while the Tier 6 Arrays covering the cities protected the residents. Other than them, everything in range of the Territory including the ck Hole flew upwards, directly towards the Skeletal Dragon. "Roar!" it bellowed as it tried to use more Chaos Mana, but William had already opened his Reverse Domain of Chaos. Other than what was contained in the ck Hole Spell, there was no Chaos Mana within a hundred kilometers.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The Skeletal Dragon didn''t give up, continuing to draw in Chaos Mana from outside the range of William''s Reverse Domain, but it was too slow. The ck Hole rammed into the Dragon''s chest, cracking some of its bones while fragments flew upwards into the sky. William reversed gravity again, the bone fragmentsnding in William''s palm before he stored them in his Space Ring. He flipped gravity multiple times, forcing the ck Hole to grind against the Dragon''s body continuously, turning its ribcage into a fine dust that would probably be good for Alchemy. Golden Girl was watching everything from her residence in the Ascended Realms, frowning as she saw the Skeletal Dragon losing every exchange. William''s ck Hole Spell was too powerful, and the Skeletal Dragon''s Chaos Magic couldn''t even reach the boy. Even as a Magical Beast at the peak of the Ascension Realm, the Skeletal Dragon wasn''t a challenge for the human in the first stage of the Soul Formation Realm. Perhaps if it had something that the Gravity Element couldn''t counter like Time or Death Magic it would stand a chance, but William would probably have alternatives for that too. It wasughable, and slightly concerning that William was so strong, but Golden Girl had no intention of telling the others what was going on in Efretta. In fact, William''s talent made her even more adamant not to disclose anything. I just need to make sure that other guy that meddled earlier doesn''t say anything. If he''s going to send Eternal Tribtions to one of MY Worlds, he better be prepared to do me a favor. As the Skeletal Dragon''s body weakened further and further, Golden Girl sighed. There was a good chance that William wouldpletely unseal the World, and at that point there was nothing she could do. It''s a shame to see that monster released, but oh well. Someone else''s problem. Chapter 408 Superior Karma Vein -Defeated an Ascension Realm Skeletal Dragon: +10000 PP Ten thousand Points for an Ascension-level creature seems kind of low... Williamined inwardly as he stored the remainder of the Skeletal Dragon''s bone dust. He also realized by now that the peak Magical Beasts he had hatched to protect the World were mostly useless against an Ascended creature. If more of them formed while he was absorbing the World Cores, William probably would have to do most of the fighting himself. That said, his Companions would be useful enough to deal with the normal Beast Tides, at least. Other than wasting some of the Heavens'' energy, William felt like he hadn''t achieved much. For a being as powerful as the Heavens, would sending down a single creature really be a huge loss? William didn''t think so, but the System said otherwise. -It''s not the level of the beast that matters, it''s the fact that they have to prevent it from being forced into Ascension. Halting the movements of an Ascension Portal is not cheap. I get that, but there are Ascension Portals all over the cetely. How can a single portal make a difference? -The Heavens CAN make an Ascension Portal, but they don''t do it often. Normal Ascension Portals are just an automatic response of the Realms when they discover a being too powerful for the World, while the Heavens can artificially create one with a lot of energy to force one to Ascend to a certain location. William understood what the System was saying. So, to stop the automatic portal, the Heavens have to use the same amount of energy they would as if they were making their own? On top of the energy spent to send the being down in the first ce? -Exactly. Ascended Cultivator Juhi was helped in the same way. So, he colluded with the Heavens to target me? -Not really. He paid them so he could Descend, with the intention of collecting Magical Beast materials. He was after Atticus'' heart. The fact that he made a move on you was already breaking the rules of their agreement, but the Heavens don''t care much about those matters. Just remembering Juhi''s attempt to take Atticus'' life made William want to destroy a Continent, but he held himself back for the sake of the System Quest. The pair of Golden Eyes receded without another word, so William and Fria had nothing left to fight. He approached the first group of Lesser Karma Veins and sat down cross-legged in front of them, their subtle pink light and unusual shape just a few meters away from William''s face. System, can you absorb these five all at once? William asked. -Absorbing Karma Veins... A few minutes passed as the pink light was grouped together in strands from all directions and sucked towards William''s body. With a light whooshing noise, all five strands intertwined and entered William''s chest at the same pace. -Absorbed Lesser Karma Vein (x5): +25 Potential Points -Host does not have the Karma Affinity. Acquiring... -Failed -Failed -Failed ...n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om -Failed -Failed -Karma Vein too weak. Other Elements are suppressing Karma. They''re suppressing the Karma Element? Well, you did tell me that only the Superior Veins would grant me the Affinity. William opted to ignore the failure messages for now. He moved on to the next group, absorbing each Lesser and Standard Vein with no change from before. Once he was finished, William pressed forward to absorb the Greater Karma Veins so Fria would have more Magical Beasts to fight. Surprisingly, William found that only after absorbing four Greater Karma Veins did a Beast Tide form, rather than the usual three. Not only this, but the number of Magical Beasts that the Heavens sent was merely a tenth of what it was before. So, the Heavens really are using a lot of energy. If I''m fast enough, I might be able to unseal the World before the Heavens can react! Thinking this, William urged the System to absorb the Veins faster, to which it ignored his request. -I''m already absorbing them at the fastest rate possible. If you want me to absorb them faster, upgrade the System. Damn it, you know I don''t have enough Points... Williamined. POTENTIAL POINTS: 41,635,982 SYSTEM RANK: A (86,962,836PP to next rank) Even if he was the one killing all the Magical Beasts instead of Fria, he still had 45 million Potential Points to earn before he would have enough. On top of that... What the hell would I even spend almost 87 million Points on? Either he would have to save up for 100 million Points and upgrade a Potential or Element Farm to A-Rank, or William would spend 40 million on the four remaining C-Rank Element Farms and only meet half of the requirements. Until he Ascended, William guessed that there was almost no way to upgrade the System again unless he spentrge amounts of Potential Points on random Talents and upgraded them to X-Rank. He continued allowing the System to absorb thest Greater Karma Vein, finally unsealing the Superior Vein after two days. Alongside the Superior Chaos Vein, this was the second Vein that was fully exposed, ready to be absorbed at any time. System, should I absorb it now or wait untilter? -It''s up to you. Why would you ask for my opinion? Because I trust you and you''re the System, why else? Which will have lighter consequences? William''s ttery didn''t seem to work, as the System still requested 800 Potential Points for an answer. -Neither. They''re both the same. Really? You charge me for that? -Never pass up on an opportunity to gain loot. You taught me that. That''s fair. You''re bing like me, System! -Gross. What do you mean gross? Well anyway... If the decision doesn''t matter... Let''s get the Karma Affinity! -Absorbing Superior Karma Vein... Streams of pink light entered William''s body at a rapid pace, causing slight difort despite his pain resistance. If any other peak Cultivator tried to absorb a Superior Vein, the intense feeling of an Element ravaging their insides would probably lead them to pass out. It was yet another reason why no Superior Veins had been absorbed up to today. Five days passed, yet William was still in the exact same position. Fria had wiped out the horde of Magical Beasts two days prior, but she could sense that William was in aplicated state, so she opted to protect him to the best of her ability. Using her SS-Rank Array Talent that she learned by chance and upgraded, Fria covered William''s body with Complete Arrays that became aplicated Concealment Formation that duplicated William''s aura and dispersed it across the Continent. Even if the Heavens were to send a Beast Tide directly to William, they wouldn''t be able to locate his real body for days. Six more days went by, but there was still no response from William. The pink light from the Superior Karma Vein was slowly flickering at this point, but everyone''s attention was on the sky, which reflected the same pink light as the Karma Vein. Another day passed, and suddenly the pink light faded away, and a few rare individuals with the Karma Affinity found themselves unable to cast their Magic. As they investigated the problem, many came to a shocking discovery. Across all of Efretta, the Karma Element was no more. Chapter 409 Cerulea -Absorbed the Superior Karma Vein: +500 PP -Karma Element Acquired: +1 PP Alright! It''s been so long since I got a new Magic Affinity! William gleamed as he tried to call Mana of the Karma Element. -Detected the state of the Karma Element is unusual. Cannot use Karma Element. What?! Why can''t I use it? -The Karma Element seems to be blocked. Only individuals born with the Element seem able to use it... Blocked? How can that happen? -When one creates a World, they also establish its rules. It seems that the creator of this World didn''t want unnatural use of the Fate or Karma Element. -I realized this while you were in the Gravitas Ruins, since granting you both the Fate and Karma Affinities were blocked by the rules of the World. Somehow, even my scan of the World was blocked and it made me believe there were only 27 Elements, not 28. -I''m updating the System Quests now. It''s above my current level but absorbing the Superior Fate Vein should allow you to use both Elements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª System Quest: The Host has expressed a desire to learn more about the truth of the World and the Heavens and has issued a challenge to the System. In exchange for three free responses rted to the Heavens or the World, the Host will be required to absorb every World Core of Lesser and Standard quality. Note: The Host''s actions will be met with resistance from the Heavens. Regardless of sess or failure, the Host will be regarded as an enemy of certain members of the Heavens. Lesser Veins Absorbed: 4725/4900 Standard Veins Absorbed: 675/800 Difficulty: Impossible Rewards: 250,000 Potential Points, +100 Reputation with the World Efretta, 3 Free Ask Function Responses, -100 Reputation with ??? Heavens, A Memory of the Past. Penalties: Instant Death Time Remaining: 8 years, 2 months ¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª System Quest: The Host has chosen to absorb Greater and Superior Veins to further increase reputation with the World and greatly increase Potential Points rewards. Additionally, the Host must bear the consequences of his actions and defend the World from the resulting Beast Tides when absorbing the World Cores. Note: The Host''s actions will be met with resistance from the Heavens. Regardless of sess or failure, the Host will be regarded as an enemy of certain members of the Heavens. Greater Veins Absorbed: 19/140 Superior Veins Absorbed: 1/28 Continents Destroyed: 0/4 Difficulty: Apocalyptic Rewards: 2,500,000 Potential Points, +250 Reputation with the World Efretta, 1 Random Celestial Talent Penalties: For every Continent destroyed, lose 500,000 Potential Points and 50 Reputation with the World Efretta. If all four Continents are destroyed, all rewards will be lost, and the Host will be ced in eternal purgatory. Time Remaining: 9 years, 10 months ¡ª¡ª¡ª It''s weird to see you wrong, System, but I won''t give you problems for it. Everyone makes mistakes. So, I just need to absorb the Superior Fate Vein then? Well good thing we''re on the right Continent for that! William didn''t linger and headed straight for the Lesser Fate Veins. He didn''t fail to notice that the World seemed different somehow, but he didn''t have time to ask questions. He sat cross-legged in front of the Fate Veins and requested for the System to absorb the first batch. *** "Efretta has been very activetely, don''t you think?" a golden-haired man with pointed eyebrows looked at Golden Girl from across the banquet table with a flirty smile. A woman with star-shaped pupils and hair matching her siblings spoke up with a worried expression, "Something''s happening on your World, Cerulea?" "Brother Aegion, this must be another one of your pranks." Cerulea waved in dismissal, her mouth slightly open as she grinned, "Efretta has been slightly more interesting than usual, that''s all." "Is that so? Then why have the Rules of Karma been fluctuating so much?" Aegion leaned backward in his chair, tilting it until only two legs were on the ground. His left leg crossed over his right, while pulling with his finger to draw a floating goblet to his lips. "Just an experiment of mine. Nothing to pay attention to. You''re not nning to do something to my World, are you? You''ve never paid this much attention to my things before." Cerulea narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Hahaha! That''s exactly right. Now that you mention it, I don''t usually pay attention to things that don''t interest me." Aegion set his chair down and snatched the goblet from midair, standing up to walk towards Cerulea''s side of the table. He leaned in to whisper in her ear, smiling as he did it. "So what IS it, that''s gotten even me interested? Huh? Care to make a guess?" Cerulea clutched her dress from under the table, forming white marks on her legs as she scowled, "Stay out of my business." "Or what? You''re going to tell father? Please." Aegionughed as he snatched a piece of Royal Spirit Duck leg from Cerulea''s te. He took a bite of the duck, savoring its juicy taste as he walked over to his second sister''s seat. "Have youe to steal my food too, brother?" the star-eyed girl nced over with infinite grace in her movements. "Of course not, my lovely sister. You''re not as fun." Aegion finished the duck and licked his fingers, setting the clean bone on his second sister''s napkin. "But I wonder if you''d be interested in a rumor about a human?" "A human? What could a human do that interests us? Are you telling me that this human has interested you?" the second sister asked. "Only the one, but interested me he has!" Aegion raised his goblet animatedly and took another sip, the red wine dribbling down his chin beforending on the table just centimeters away from his second sister''s te.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Then do tell." the second sister didn''t even react to Aegion''s obvious intent to annoy her. "Tch." Aegion frowned. "Very well, his name is William¡ª" "A boring name. Continue." "I was!" The sister went silent, but a light smile crept up on her beautiful lips. +1 for me, hehe. "His name is William, and he has received¡ª" "Received what?" "Damn you!" +2! "Continue." "He has received a Heavenly Mark from our unruly first sister herself!" Aegion announced, finishing off the wine in his goblet with a single swig. "The Heavenly Mark? From you?" second sister looked at Cerulea with surprise, though it was only shown in her eyes. Cerulea nodded, "Brother, you''ve been spying for a while now, haven''t you?" "I have. I won''t deny it." Aegion nodded, approaching Cerulea once more and cing a hand on her shoulder. "Which means you know what I know. Are you sure you''re going to let him get away with this?" Cerulea looked at Aegion calmly, her voice low as she said, "I have more to gain than there is to lose." Aegion nodded multiple times, his head bobbing up and down in an almost rhythmic manner. "But you can still lose a lot." he leaned downward a second time and whispered, "Of course, I can help you if you give me a share. Our old father won''t even have to know." Chapter 410 Memory Of The Past -Absorbed Standard Fate Vein (x5): +50 PPn/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om -System Quest Completed. Issuing rewards... William heaved a sigh of relief as he felt the unnatural Fate Mana coursing through his body with nowhere to go. Unlike the other Elements that usually remained idle inside him, the Fate Mana acted just like Karma before he had the Affinity. It gave William an itchy feeling that made him want to expel the Mana immediately, but the System stopped him from doing so. -The Mana from these seals is unique. You may not have a use for them, but I do. William had inspected the Veins before when his Vision Talent upgraded, so he somewhat understood what the System meant. The Mana emanating from the Veins was a lot like Spirit Qi, but also like traditional Mana, and was more powerful than both. It was almost like a type of energy of its own, though it clearly leaned more towards Mana. What''s different about this Manapared to the ambient Mana in the environment? -Request requires 50000 Potential Points. Yes/No? It must have something to do with the Ascended Realms. Only those types of questions are so expensive... William thought to himself as he confirmed the transaction. -The Mana contained within the Elemental Veins is sourced from the Ascended Realms. While it has many names, today it is called Godly Mana, which can be refined into almost ten times as much Spirit Qi as regr Mana. -Additionally, with the proper Cultivation Techniques, the Mana can be refined into Chaotic Qi, a special type of Spirit Qi that is many times stronger than normal Spirit Qi, but it can only be stored by Cultivators with a resilient body and firm Dantian. So, this entire time I''ve been absorbing Mana of the Ascended Realms? William asked. -Yes, but I''ve been making use of it myself, so you haven''t gained any additional benefits. Isn''t that against your rules? -Not at all. Besides, you can''t create Chaotic Qi until you develop a stronger Cultivation Technique. It would be a waste. William nodded in understanding, but he didn''t like the fact that the System stole some of his benefits without informing him. Since the System had done so much for him already though, he let it slide. -Quest Rewards: +250,000 Potential Points +100 Reputation with the World Efretta +3 Free Ask Function Responses -100 Reputation with Heavens member Cerulea ... Triggering A Memory of the Past once Host is prepared... William didn''t care much about the quarter million Potential Points anymore, but he was very interested in the rest. When he saw the name Cerulea listed next to the word "Heavens" William instantly guessed that Cerulea was the real name of Golden Girl. It only made sense that way, since William had yet to meet anyone else associated with the Heavens. System, I get my three free questions, right? William asked. -Of course, but you might want to wait until after the memory. William nodded. Let''s see the memory now then. -Close your eyes and count to five. Uh, okay... One... two... three... four... five. -Now spin around and p your hands. Okay fuck off! William immediately realized what was happening and opened his eyes. -Hehe. Transporting Host... William felt as if his soul had been sucked from his body through a hose. His eyes were forcibly closed by an unknown force, and he lost sense of every Talent he had gained thus far. What''s happening? -Don''t worry, you cannot be harmed in this state, and no one will sense you like Duon. I''ve made sure of that. William decided to ce his full trust in the System and waited until a few seconds had passed before opening his eyes. He was back on the Azures Continent, in the center of the Providence Zone, though it looked much different from before. The grass was infinitely greener and the number of Magical Beasts in the area was much fewer. Not only that, but William could see a multicolored aurora above the Providence Zone bursting with Spirit Qi. He blinked, and suddenly a small wisp of light was just a few meters in front of him. It condensed and started to transform into a woman in herte twenties with long red hair and a pair of petite lips. Her figure itself was blurry at first, but a pair of stylish jeans and a modern leather jacket formed before William could see anything. He was slightly disappointed, but he didn''t express it. -What would Charlotte think? You''ve visited her merely a dozen times throughout thest year and you''re looking at other girls? That''s Efretta, you know. She could kill you with a single word. I couldn''t help it, oops. -Oops? Why are you the angry one, System? This is the person I''m supposed to see, right? You''re the one ying the memory. The System didn''t respond, but William sensed the usual tinge of annoyance amid some other muddled emotions. He watched as the red-haired woman muttered to herself while scanning her surroundings. "This isn''t where I expected to be... what is this ce?" Efretta pinched at the air to deduce her location. Her eyes widened as she realized something, then awkwardly walked a few steps to test her motor skills. "I''m doing pretty good considering it''s been eight hundred and fifty thousand years... but it seems this body double is only at the Nascent Soul Realm. I can''t do anything in this state." Efretta sighed as she propelled herself high into the air and flew in a certain direction. William automatically followed Efretta without making any moves of his own,pletely unable to resist the System''s control. He watched as Efretta flew from one ce to another, quickly learning the functions of the World. In less than a day, Efretta was able to understand the functions of the Guild Hall, various Sects, the Yu Royal Family''s leadership, and even the general disposition of rare resources scattered across the World. Her pure efficiency and talent were enough to put William''s efforts over thest few years to shame. She ran from city to city, sharing insights about cksmithing and Arrays to various tradesmen, earning their trust while simultaneously requesting a favor from them. By the end of the week, she had hundreds of individuals working for her all at once, bing a self-sufficient production chain that harvested minerals, refined them, turned them into weapons and equipment, then enchanted them with Arrays before final sale on the market. Before selling the gear, Efretta would inspect each piece individually,menting on the craftsmanship of the locals and even providing more tips that would better produce the gear. Other than that, she hardly had to lift a finger! Less than a week after her first inspection, Efretta had earned over a hundred thousand Mana Stones, which she promptly used to speed up her own Cultivation. She rose from the Nascent Soul Realm to the peak of the Soul Formation Realm in a matter of months, even sparing time to visit the other Continents and spread her name. The few arrogant individuals who didn''t benefit from Efretta''s appearance became vengeful and sent many subordinates to try to kill her, but Efretta''s followers handled most of the problems while her incredibly fine control over the Elements allowed her to dominate even the peak Cultivators with just a single Domain. Chapter 411 Eighth Host When William tried topare himself to Efretta, he was only left disappointed. His strength was higher than hers, but her ability to get others to do things for her was unmatched. After being targeted by a weaker enemy, she didn''t even bother to take care of them herself, finding it a waste of time. Instead, she used tricks or her loyal subordinates to handle the issue either politically or with force. There was no need to get involved directly. System, how long ago was this? William asked as he watched Efretta toying with an Ascended Cultivator. The man cloaked in golden aura was casting dozens of Spells in quick session at Efretta, but his attacks seemed to narrowly miss each time. When he became frustrated and went for arge-scale attack, Efretta cast Space Magic on the man and teleported him to the center of his own Spell, then marked him with Chaos Mana and teleported herself away. His own Magic that wasn''t supposed to be able to injure him went mad when it felt the Chaos Mana, destroying the Cultivator''s body in mere seconds with no chance of revival. -Are you using your free Response? No, how much is it? -160,000 Potential Points. Confirm. -This was roughly thirty thousand years ago, ten thousand years after Duon the Timeskipper''s Disciple pierced a hole through the nar Veil and unleashed a portion of the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin over the Velos Continent. Thirty thousand years ago... it exins why Efretta is revered as a Goddess even now. There''s a good chance that many who knew Efretta are in the Ascended Realms. She said something about being a body double, so this isn''t the real her? How can a body double be so strong? William continued watching, hoping to notice some secrets of Efretta''s strength, but there was just too much to pay attention to! Her Spirit Aura was immensely strong and repaired itself almost instantly, while her skill with the sword was impable. At some point, Efretta found herself on the opposing side of the Heavens, but the Magical Beasts they spawned were nothingpared to her. All they could do was roar in frustration as Efretta effortlessly dodged all of their attacks just like she did with human Cultivators. During one battle, William saw Efretta make her first mistake. A Cultivator tossed their spiked ball and chain weapon at Efretta during a moment when her Spirit Aura had been broken. When she tilted her head to the side to dodge, the Cultivator twisted his wrist and made the bulky part of the weaponnd directly on the back of her neck. A small wound developed on Efretta''s body, but it healed rather quickly. What surprised him, however, was not the fact that Efretta was actually wounded for once, but the state of the Cultivator that threw the weapon. Not only his neck, but everything above the base of the Cultivator''s neck promptly exploded into a cloud of blood mist. He noticed a slight scowl on Efretta''s expression, but he didn''t understand exactly why. Not only this, but the unknown skill she used matched nothing William knew about the World. Except... The Attack Reflection Talent? William made a guess, but he wasn''t entirely sure. Now that his train of thought went down that route, however, William started to notice a few things that suspiciously made sense now. Regeneration Talent, Forcefield, many Magic Affinities... exceptionally good at cksmithing, Alchemy, and Arrays... William couldn''t believe what he was seeing. After reviewing what had happened in his mind, didn''t Efretta do quite a few things that he would normally do? A few dayster, William watched as Efretta "inspected" the quality of the weapons and equipment produced by her subordinates. After a closer look, wasn''t Efretta really just making sure she touched everything?n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Is she... earning Potential Points? William realized instantly. If he thought about it, William rarely saw Efretta kill a human herself. This was the first time, and her expression suggested she wasn''t exactly happy about it. If my guess is right, she''s probably losing Humanity Points for that. What is she so concerned about, though? It''s only one human. William suddenly felt like he should start looking for ways to increase his Humanity Score. Something about Efretta''s reaction suggested that it wasn''t as harmless as he thought. System, is Efretta a Host? How many Hosts have you had? William decided to ask suddenly. -Request requires 12.5 million Potential Points. That''s a lot of Points, System. I think I''ll use one of my Free Responses this time. -Efretta was my 8th Host... the System you''re seeing is just a fragment of myself, a weaker versionpared to what is attached to her main body. This is why Efretta has been harvesting Potential Points, so she can grow to the same point as her previous self. The System responded to William''s request with a slight sadness in their tone, making him feel a little guilty for asking. He nodded earnestly and waited for the System to continue. -You are the 10th Host, and also the slowest to progress of all my previous Hosts. By the end of their first year, my other nine Hosts had already Ascended and made a name for themselves in the Celestial nes. The slowest? Maybe that''s not a bad thing. If they rushed to Ascend too much, maybe that was their downfall. William replied simply. If he spent the entirety of his time and being on trying to earn Potential Points as quickly as possible, he was doomed to fail eventually. If even the System wasn''t able to protect its Hosts from whatever was toe, that meant their enemies were probably on a simr level to the System. They might even be actively searching for individuals like William that express a unique need for mass amounts of resources, or those that killrge numbers of Magical Beasts. It was another form of being high-profile. System, do you think I have a chance against whatever your previous Hosts had to face? -As it stands, your chances of achieving what the others hadn''t is less than one percent. You''ve truly maintained the status of "Not Worthy" the entire time. William frowned. I thought I was getting stronger... -You are. Your chances before were barely a tenth of what they are now. You''ve proven that you may be able to change and improve. Like you said, maybe slower progression is the Host I need to¡ª You need? What would you need me for? -Nothing. I''d like to use the Free Ask Function Response for your answer. -Denied. What?! What''s the point of giving these to me if you get to choose what you tell me? -Ask another question for free. Never mind... William continued to watch Efretta progress through the lower Realms, making a name for herself as her Cultivation climbed steadily. When she reached the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, a time skip of a few thousand years took ce while she prepared some things that the System said were menial in nature. The memory of the past promptly ended immediately after Efretta''s body double Ascended, but there were still many gaps that had yet to be answered. First and foremost, where was the real Efretta? Did she die? Chapter 412 The Celestial Planes? Talent Effects! The Ask Function has improved a lot over the years, and the questions are rtively affordable now, so why not use it? William thought to himself, though he felt somewhat bad. He didn''t know how close the System was to Efretta, but he could imagine that spending a few hundred thousand years with a person would be enough to form some sort of connection. He started to feel guilty before even asking the question. System, did Efretta die? -The body double has perished since its Ascension, but her main body is still alive. William heaved a sigh of relief. William felt that if even Efretta had died, then he didn''t stand a chance in the Ascended Realms. He continued to ask questions that he had been holding onto. System, you said something about the Celestial nes. What is that? The System answered William''s question for free. -The Celestial nes are another name for the Ascended Realms, though over time this name has been forgotten. It''s more urate to refer to the Ascended Realms this way, since a Realm is usually part of a ne, and there are many nes in the Celestial nes. Multiple nes? Are they two-dimensional? -Not quite. Their sheer size may make it seem that way, and it was once considered as such, but the Elements and multiple powerful Cultivators over the millennia have changed the environment to fit their needs. -There is much to exin, but it''s best to see it for yourself. Hmm... William thought. He could already sense that the Celestial nes werepletely different from the World Efretta. And if his old World was also in the picture, some pieces were starting to click together in his head like a puzzle. With the Celestial nes at the top, would it be wrong to think of Efretta as theyer in the middle, while my old World is at the very bottom? We didn''t have Cultivation or Magic, but they were regarded as myth, rumor, or superstition by many. It''s almost the same as Efretta''s knowledge of the Ascended Realms. -You can think of it that way. There are many Worlds like Efretta, but most function the exact same. What''s unique about Reius, though, is that it cannot be easily located. Why''s that? -The only ess points to Reius are from Efretta directly. Huh? William didn''t expect such a shocking piece of information. Did that mean that no matter what he or anyone did, they had to be on Efretta to reach Reius? Was it in a separate dimension? There were too many questions, but William was getting distracted. The memory of the past had ended a few minutes prior, and Fria was nowhere to be seen. Since the Lesser and Standard World Cores across all of Efretta had been absorbed, William now only had the Greater and Superior Cores remaining. Finally! A moment of peace where I can look at my new Talents! I''ve been itching to do this for weeks! William smiled as he opened his Status Panel. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Weapon Sharpness (Epic): (A) Effects: Weapon Sharpness improved by 300% Next rank up: 5000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª Attack Combo (Epic): (A) Effects: Each sessive attack of the same type (Weapon-Dependent) increases the strength of your attack by 4% Next rank up: 5000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª Bounty Hunter (Legendary): (A) Effects: Defeating criminals with the same Cultivation Realm or above the Host will grant a Bounty Hunter Stack. Each stack increases the Host''s immunity to Humanity Deprivation by 0.1 percent. Bounty Hunter Stacks: 0/100 Next rank up: 10000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª Humanity Deprivation? -The negative status thates from the Humanity Statistic. If the effects are great enough, the Host might find himself ovee with one of the seven deadly sins: Lust, Sloth, Greed, Envy, Pride, Gluttony and Wrath. So, that night with Charlotte? William asked. -Yes, but was that really a bad thing? The System''s reply seemed slightly flirtatious, as if it was telling William that it had his back. He shook his head and continued scrolling through the System Panel, not knowing what to answer. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Critical Chance (Rare): (A) Effects: Hitting a weak point with a Spell or physical attack has a 15% chance to redirect the full power of the attack into that weak point, dealing twice as much damage. Next rank up: 3000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª Bodyguard (Rare): (A) Effects: Mark three allies. Regardless of distance (as long as you are in the same ne) 10% of any damage taken by them is redirected to your body instead. Marks used: 0/3 Next rank up: 3000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª Forcefield Recovery (Epic): (A) Effects: Forcefield Talent recovers 320% faster. Next rank up: 5000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª Soul Cultivation (Epic): (A) Effects: Soul Cultivation is 320% faster Next rank up: 5000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª Spell Fusion (Epic): (A) Effects: Fusing two Spells together increases their power by an additional 40%. Next rank up: 5000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William was surprised to see that he had still gained loads of Talents that were still useful to him even now. Just being able to recover his Forcefield at a decent rate was huge, considering he usually only had a chance to use it a few times during battle. The next Talent he scrolled through was the Heaven Bruising Talent, but he had already looked at that earlier and knew that it allowed him to destroy Heavenly Tribtions easier. He moved on to the next interesting Talent: Magic Homing. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Magic Homing (Legendary): (A)n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Effects: Your projectile Magic Spells now home to your intended target, but their turn radius is limited and improves with Rank. Next rank up: 10000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª I can already home Magic to my enemies. How does this help me? William didn''t understand how this could be a Legendary Talent. -You won''t have to focus on the Magic and can start casting another Spell immediately, saving you time. The System''s exnation immediately triggered some thoughts in William''s mind. If he casted the ming Space Needle Spell that targeted multiple enemies in its flight path, wouldn''t he be able to cast a second one immediately? Then a third? This is broken! William''s eyes widened. The simple exnation from the System made William want to take back his earlier words, since Magic Homing could very well be one of the most powerful Talents in his arsenal. If the Jack Of All Trades Talent that gives me knowledge of every profession Ie in contact with wasn''t so useful, Magic Homing might be at the very top! When he thought about how the ck Hole Spell was always on top of the Skeletal Dragon, William realized that part of that was because of this Magic Homing Spell. How else would the Dragon go down so easily? ¡ª¡ª¡ª Misdirection (Common): (A) Effects: Apply simple distraction techniques used by fake magicians to redirect your opponent''s attention. Next rank up: 1000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª After seeing a series of Epic and Legendary Talents with amazing effects, the Misdirection Talent was a bit disappointing. It could hardly be considered a Talent, since William''s Illusion Affinity did the same thing and more. The same could be said for the Sleight of Hand Talent. William scrolled past the Sleight of Hand, Drawing, and Stone Skipping Talents, moving on to thest four: Dream Stealer, Hunter, Consumables Expert, and Noble Prowess. Chapter 413 The Rules That Bind ¡ª¡ª¡ª Dream Stealer (Epic): (A) Effects: Approach a sleeping target and ce your hand on their head to scan their consciousness for memories. Effectiveness and precision increases with Rank. Next rank up: 5000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡ª¡ª¡ª Hunter (Legendary): (X) Effects: -Track any target that has ever entered your detection range for up to 10,000 kilometers. Once within 1 kilometer of target, an aura of light only visible to you surrounds the target, allowing you to see them even through solid material. -Damage to wild creatures +200% -Field Dressing a creature is 9800% easier. X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Hunter, Not Hunted: When being tracked by an opponent, you are 40% more likely to detect them first. -Scent Concealment: Your scent ispletely undetectable.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om -Navigation Support: Your Navigation Radar now disys names and location of targets you are tracking. Tracked Targets: 0/10 Next rank up: Ascend to view the next rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª William couldn''t help but smile when he saw the effects of the Hunter Talent. Tracking was previously William''s weakest ability, since individuals like Tenebris have continuously escaped his detection for multiple years now. Every time William came in contact with the man, his figure would fade into a plume of smoke and disappear into nothingness. William could even tell that it was a Magic Spell of the Darkness Element, but it was one that he had yet to learn how to cast. It couldn''t be helped, though, since William never saw Tenebris'' Mana fluctuate when the Spell was cast, as if he was always preparing it well in advance. Speaking of, I''m going to have to track down that old fool at some point. Maybe I''ll have one of my friends take his position as leader of Retribution after his death. Who should it be...? William didn''t know, but he decided to spend some time testing out the Hunter Talent to make sure he understood the Tracking Function and the Navigation Talent''s updated Radar. After a bit of thought, William didn''t hesitate to turn off the Scent Concealment function. If he concealed his scent now, his enemies wouldn''t rely on it to track him. It would be better to keep his scent active, then turn it offter when he was being targeted by something much stronger than him. Fria''s figure appeared in the distance, but she didn''t notice William yet, so he decided to check the next two Talents first before his annoying sister tried to pull him into doing something else. He could tell from her expression already that she was getting bored, which meant he''d have to start absorbing the Greater and Superior Veins again soon. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Consumables Expert (Legendary): (A) Effects: -Refining Pills with Alchemy will always create one extra Pill, unless the Pill is at Tier 11 or above. -Refined Pills will have their effects enhanced by 5%. -Spirit Food you consume will have a 10% greater effect on your body, including negative effects. -Food you consume will satiate your hunger for 640% longer. Next rank up: 10000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª William assumed that the System still allowed negative effects of Spirit Food because of situations like now when he had to suppress himself just to remain on Efretta. He was slightly awed by the System''s foresight. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Noble Prowess (Legendary): (A) Effects: -Etiquette when required will be enhanced by 640%, allowing the Host to not look like an idiot even if he wants to. -Decorations and furnishings will always match the interior of a room or enclosure. -Charisma increased by 200%. -When leading a group, the members are much more likely to listen to your orders. -Your aura exudes nobility, decreasing the chance that enemies will openly oppose you, but increasing the chances that they will secretly scheme behind your back. Next rank up: 10000 PP ¡ª¡ª¡ª While most of the Noble Prowess Talent''s effects were somewhat useless to William, he liked the effect of the Leadership sub-Talent. He wondered if at higher Ranks, his team would willingly jump off a bridge for him. If he didn''t like a certain person, that could be funny. -My other Hosts said the exact same thing. What is wrong with you all? I don''t know, but you chose me so it must have something to do with you. -Actually, I chose your sister. But you got in the way and signed your name instead of hers. In fact, her natural talent far surpasses yours, so she probably would be the best Host I''ve ever had. And you ruined it. Huh?!? Why are you saying it like it''s not a big deal?! This was the first time William was hearing this. Why would a mere contract bind you to me? Also, if you wanted my sister as a Host, having someone without a job purchase a game is probably not the best way to go about things... Even I would have thought of some better method... -Rules are rules, and I made a mistake. Once I''m bound to a Host, I can only leave under certain conditions. Usually, the condition is death. Except for Efretta, right? That must be hard for you... William couldn''t imagine spending thousands, tens of thousands, or maybe even millions of years with a Host, only for them to die while you''re left alone to find a new one. William could tell that the System wasn''t a heartless, soulless robot. It had feelings, and maybe even a heart. It wasn''t like the Systems he had read about in novels. This one was a unique being, and something about its condition made William want to help. Is there a way to remove these rules that bind you? Wouldn''t you like to be on your own one day? William asked. -I don''t dare to think about it. There is always more to the World than meets the eye, and you''ll one day find out just how ludicrous your statement just was. Even if I''m not strong enough, you''ll help me right? You know what to expect, all you have to do ise up with a solution. You want to keep me alive as much as I do, so let''s do it together and one day you''ll be you, and I''ll be me. -It''s impossible. You remember what I said to Duon about impossible, right? The System didn''t respond, but the mental waves told William that it was deep in thought. He silently made a decision to do what he could to help the System. He would learn more about the World, more about the Heavens, and more about the Celestial nes. He wouldmit his resources to unraveling the secrets of the System, learning about the Rules that bound it, and releasing it bit by bit. Even if he made mistakes or found himself in difficult situations, William would do his best to ensure the System could have a future of its own, without needing to rely on another Host. It''s lived a hundred million years, trapped inside bodies like mine and used like a tool. I''m only 22, and I can''t imagine spending even a year locked up, much less a hundred million! Another goal became clear in William''s mind as he pondered helping the System. But for that, he needed more strength, and more Potential Points! Chapter 414 Suppressing Order A little over three weekster, William had absorbed all five Greater Fate Veins and the Superior Fate Vein, granting him the Fate Affinity while simultaneously changing the World for a second time. The rare Fate Mages now found themselves just like those with the Karma Affinity,pletely unable to use their Magic unless they were born a Manamatus. Thankfully, the number of Karma and Fate Mages were incredibly few across all of Efretta, so there was no mass hysteria or anything of the sort, yet. William was no exception to the rule, also unable to use the Fate Element despite the System iming he could use both. After a brief recalction, the System stated that upgrading the Elements to SS-Rank or above would restore their functions. In the meantime, the System did notify him that the two Elements were now visible in the Status Panel. -Mythic: --Fate: F (100PP to next rank) --Karma: F (100PP to next rank) --Order: S (250000PP to next rank) While William was happy that the two Elements were Mythic-Rarity, he couldn''t believe that absorbing all of the Veins had no effect on their Rank whatsoever. Now he would have to spend millions of Potential Points just for them to reach the Maximum Rank, and William wasn''t entirely sure if he could handle that. Wait, I have the Resist Fate, Karma, and Disorder Talents now! William realized suddenly. Not only did have resistance to the effects of the three Mythic Elements, but all of his Resistance Talents were also at X-Rank! Fria and William''s Companion Beasts were busy across the entire World, dealing with waves of Magical Beasts spawned by the Heavens. For the time being, William''s preparations seemed to be enough to handle the Beast Tides by themselves. Which means... let''s upgrade some Talents! William smiled as he asked the System to upgrade the Order Element to the next Rank. -250000 PP He chose the Order Element first specifically for two reasons. For one, he had already upgraded the Order Element before and was familiar with its methods, so he would instantly be able to tell how much his Resistance Talents assisted the upgrade when dealing with a Mythic Element. The second reason was because his Soul Strength had increased a lot since thest upgrade, reaching almost four hundred thousand points before his Curses on Juhi expired. With thebination of the Resistance Talents and his Soul Strength, the Order Affinity should be the easiest of the three to push to the maximum Rank. Once he had pushed the Order Element as far as it could go, William could mostly be rxed when dealing with the other two. ording to the System, Karma required a strong body to resist, and Fate required a strong mind. Between Soul Strength, Mental Strength, and Physical Strength, William had to guess that his soul and body were almost equal, while his mind was slightly weaker. Only the Fate Element should give him some trouble. As expected, William sensed a slight ufortable situation within his own body, but the Order Element didn''t show itself, nor did he feel his soul and body separating like before. He temporarily disabled the Disorder Resistance Talent, trying to get a feel for how much strength the Order Element had at this point. Even without Disorder Resistance, William had more than double the amount of Soul Strength than he did for the S-Rank upgrade. His action wasn''t risky at all. He calmly closed his eyes and used his senses to feel the Order Element rushing through his body. His soul and body tried to split apart, but he was able tofortably resist as expected. That said, the Order Element finally chose to say something. "Are you toying with me?" William frowned for a moment before realizing what the Order Element was getting at. Clearly it could tell that William had weakened his resistance against it, and it was probably offended. If I''m going to make use of these Elements in the future, it''s better not to get on their bad side. he thought. "I wanted to talk to you, and you didn''t want toe out before." William replied. "There''s nothing to talk about." the Order Element went silent. Even after William tried to call out to it multiple times, it ignored himpletely and receded back into the depths of William''s body, to an unknown location that he didn''t understand. With the SS-Rank upgradeplete, William didn''t stop there and spent half a million Points to push the Order Element to SSR. He didn''t dare to disable the Disorder Resistance Talent this time, knowing for a fact that he would regret it if he did. The Order Element that had receded was drawn back in an instant, but it left just as quickly. It didn''t even have to struggle to know that William''s protections against it had thoroughly improved, meaning its chances of killing him were slim to none. William proceeded smoothly through the SSR-Rank upgrade, then immediately spent a million Potential Points to approach the final Rank. Order, drawn back for a third time in a matter of hours, waspletely stunned at this point. William had loosened multiple seals in one go, allowing it to roam his body almost fluidly. That said, even the X-Rank upgrade wasn''t enough for Order to break free, and it could sense that the boy was still in the lower Realms. "You haven''t even Ascended yet, but you''re able to suppress me even in this state..." Ordermented. William smirked, "I thought there was nothing to talk about." "Then I will leave." Order began to draw its Mana back into William''s body. "No, wait." William said. It paused, seemingly waiting for William to speak. "Order, why have you and Chaos been trying to kill me?" "You must be joking. How can you not know?" the Order Element scoffed at William''s nonsensical question. "I really don''t. Tell me." "Hmph. You''re not ready yet." the Order Element continued pulling back its Mana. This again? Williamined. Not only was the System not telling William anything, but even the Order Element located within his body refused to talk. What was so serious about these questions, that they couldn''t even get an answer? It''s probably another thing I shouldn''t know about, lest I attract powerful enemies h h h. "Wait." William said again. "No, I''m leaving this time." Order didn''t pause at all. "At least let me use your Mana this time!" William frowned. "I won''t disrupt you. Use what you must, but don''t overdo it." Order replied before going silent. William felt something within the Order Mana change, growing and intensifying as it tried to organize all the other Elements within his body. Even the System Panel changed subconsciously, organizing each of the Elements in their proper alphabetical order as they should have been all this time. That was it, though. Only the Elements were changed, and not the remainder of the System Panel. It made William a bit confused, but he didn''t ask why. Instead, his face was brighter than a midday sun. Finally, I can fully use the Order Element! William shot off tiny bits of Order Mana left and right, disassembling material into theirponent parts and even improving their structure slightly.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Even better, the Order Affinity''s information showed up in his Status Panel. Chapter 415 Testing Order, Severed Threads ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Order Affinity (Mythic): (SSR --> X) Effects:n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om -Order-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +1280% >> +2560% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Order: Takeplete control over all Order Mana within a radius of 50 kilometers >> 100 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Order Domains of greater strength. -Territory of Order: An improved Domain, designed to either disassemble all targets into theirponent parts or improve target''s condition to their peak potential. Strength of effects increases if the Elements cooperate. -Primary Law of Order (0.1%prehension): You don''t understand enough of this yet. Comprehend the Order Element or visit ??? to learn more. -Order Elemental: Solid objects below Ascended Graphite toughness cannot hinder your movement, allowing you to pass through them at will. Additionally, the Territory of Order bes a radius of one hundred meters around you, while its effects are enhanced by 100 times. Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª William looked at the effects of the new Order Element with awe. Just the fact that he was able to use the Element was more than enough for him, but already having ess to the Territory of Order and the Order Elemental was even better. Not only that, but William would be able to consume the five hundred Order Fruits that had stocked up over the course of his travels, meaning he could instantly reach fifty percent Comprehension! All was well in the World of Efretta, at least in William''s books. I should listen to what Order said, though. I don''t exactly know what it means to "overdo" it, but I can guess that it doesn''t want me using too much of its Mana. William thought to himself. It wasn''t like he nned to do so in the first ce, especially since Order was supposed to be an incredibly rare and powerful Element. Its appearance would probably stir waves among the Heavens, something William didn''t care to do even if he had already angered them. William kept things simple by calling a hint of Order Mana to his fingertip and pressing it lightly into the ground. He had already seen the effects of the Order Element before, but he wanted to get a feel for how much strength he needed to use in a battle if push came to shove. William didn''t even feel the sensation of his finger touching earth, as the individual particles were disassembled by the Order Mana before they even had a chance to reach him. With his Vision Talent, William could barely make out some extremely small objects dispersing into the air, while a few others sunk into the ground. The lighter particles of the Element float, while the heavier ones sink. After that, the only ones remaining are the neutral particles that don''t have much of a purpose... William deduced the functions of the Order Element rtively quickly. With a small amount of control, William was able to force the dispersed particles toe back together, but in a neat and tightly packed formation that didn''t resemble the exact same particle structure. In fact, it was much denser and less susceptible to natural weathering. If William''s Vision Talent was a little better, he might have seen that the atomicposition of the material itself had changed, and it could be considered apletely different kind of Earth at this point. In short, the Order Element was able to break up something weak, call back itsponent parts, reform them, and make them stronger. It made William wonder if he could do the same thing with living beings. What if I could reform one of my Companion Beasts'' bodies to make them even stronger? -I''ll save you the wasted Points on the attempt. You''re not strong enough. Really? William was slightly disappointed, but he felt that it was already. The System didn''t say that it wasn''t possible, which means he still had a chance to do so in the future. He performed a few more tests, quickly growing ustomed to how much strength he should use when casting Order Spells. His fluidity was mostly enhanced by the Mana Dominator Talent, which made casting Magic both easier and more efficient. Next, William upgraded the Karma Element one Rank at a time, incredibly cautious and not willing to let down his guard one bit. He did disable the Resist Karma Talent for the first few upgrades, but only for the first few Ranks so he could sense the Karma Element''s growth. At first, everything waspletely fine, with no noticeable effects to either his mind, body, or soul. After reaching A-Rank, however, William felt an uneasy sensation and immediately reactivated the Resist Karma Talent. The Karma Threads poking out of his chest shuddered slightly, before light waves of pain entered William''s body from each individual Thread. The weakest Threads, tied to individuals like random guards on the street from cities he had visited, trembled wildly before thinning and fraying like a worn rope. As time passed and the upgrade continued, William saw the weakest Thread snap, his connection with a bellhop at one of the Hotels suddenly severed, a thin strand falling to the ground and slowly disappearing before William had a chance to grab it. His body entered a period of weakness like the System warned, but it wasn''t as strong as expected, only hindering his movements by a few percent, while the rest of him was unaffected. -This is the effects of the Resist Karma Talent, as it says in the description. William nodded in understanding, having already read through the information of all the Resistance Talents. The only part of his Status Panel that he hadn''t read through yet was the Jack Of All Trades Talent, but only because the description was so long that he hadn''t yet bothered. That said, William nned to check Jack Of All Trades once he finished upgrading and testing the Karma and Fate Elements. This way he could avoid any idents like when he used the Vision Talent and identally switched between modes. -Oh, you n to read something for once? Can you stop giving me trouble about that? I''ve read tons of stuff over thest year. I even went to libraries to search for more information on the Thieves'' Guild a while back! -You did it because you had to, not because you wanted to. I could have used the Ask Function, couldn''t I? -At the time, you were too afraid of spending Potential Points. You wouldn''t have used it even if I only charged you a few dozen Points. ... William didn''t have aeback to refute the System''s words. He used to be incredibly stingy with his Potential Points, even failing to acquire new Talents for a long time because he was afraid of wasting them on some useless Talent. He continued upgrading the Karma Element to S-Rank, snapping a few more of his Karma Threads in the process, but still among the weakest ones. After a while, William realized that he could focus his resistance on specific Threads, making sure that he only lost connections with the useless individuals. Person after person found themselves losing their memories of William, perceiving him as only a fuzzy thought in the back of their minds, before recedingpletely to the point where they couldn''t even remember his name. Only when rumors of William''s feats were brought up in taverns or marketces did the people remember that they had once met with him, but the memories would promptly disappear not longter, as if they had absolutely nothing to do with the man. William had the same experience, even his amazing memory unable to recall a single detail about the people whose Karma Threads had snapped. He managed to store the remainder of the severed Threads inside his Specialized Titanium Space Rings before they disappeared, but he could care less about those he forgot about. Chapter 416 A Past Of Karma When the SS-Rank upgrade for the Karma Element started, William had already collected almost two dozen Severed Karma Threads. Inparison, triple that number of threads had snapped but some didn''t produce a thread of their own. William''s body was incredibly weak at this point, and he needed some time to recover from the period of weakness before upgrading the Karma Element any more. ording to the System, this would take anywhere from three to eight days, depending on whether William had to fight again during the time frame. That said, William now had the required material to Ascend his Resist Karma Talent, which he started immediately. There was no reason to hold back on William''s resistances, since they were key to surviving the dangerous Talent upgrades. If William could help it, he would make sure to raise all of his Resistances to the peak so he could merge them. With the sheer number of materials and Potential Points going into their upgrades, he was sure that it would at least be a Mythic Talent! -1,000,000 PP -Detected the Host has multiple suitable materials. Select a Karma Thread to consume. Does it matter which Thread I use? William asked. -It doesn''t matter. As long as your material meets the requirements, it can be used. The standards I have set are already quite high to ensure you get the most out of your upgrade. Awesome. I was hoping you''d say that. William replied as he pulled out the weakest Karma Thread of the bunch and selected it for the System. With a puff of pink smoke, the Karma Thread turned into fine particles that were sucked into William''s chest. A few blurry memories appeared in William''s mind, but they could hardly be distinguished and disappeared in an instant. -Consumed Karma Thread. Talent Ascension in progress... The weakened feeling in William''s body suddenly burst forth in storm, making him yelp in surprise as an intense pain cracked his skin, muscles, and even his bones. As time went on, the pain only became more unbearable and even his natural vitality was effected. Health: 2.6m/6m The Ascended Recovery Talent did its best to restore the damage, stabilizing William''s condition for the half hour that the upgrade progressed for while simultaneously taking away almost sixty years of his lifespan. Ouch! I didn''t expect that at all! Williamined as he inspected his newly healed hands. The System had yet to inform him of the sessful Ascension, but at least the pain had stopped. -When your Talents are Ascended, I have to temporarily take them back and transform them into something new. Because of this, the weakening from your Karma upgrades were in full effect. William understood that he had subtly made a mistake without realizing it. That said, he was once again thankful for continuing to support the then Regeneration Talent into what it was now. If he hadn''t chosen to merge it with the others and then Ascend it to Ascended Recovery, William probably would have died long ago. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Ascended Resist Karma (Common): (F) Effects: Resistance to Karmic Intent, Karmic Weakening, and Karma Deviation +9600% >> +15000% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Karmic Nature: Karmic Weakening only deals 1% of its usual damage to those whose Karma Threads you sever, also rendering them temporarily immune to pain during the process. -Karma Tracer: Human Karma Threads are always visible to you, unless this function is disabled. Ascended Bonus: 5% Resistance to ??? Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next Rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª With a hundred and fifty times more resistance to the effects of Karma than the average Cultivator of his Realm, William felt slightly unstoppable. He had yet to experience an attack rted to the Karma Element, but William guessed that a Mythic Element couldn''t be weak. -That''s not true. What''s not true? -You were targeted by the Karma Element a few times before; you just didn''t realize it. Really? William scanned his memory for any indication of a Karmic attack, but it was too difficult. It wasn''t a matter of memory, but that he didn''t know exactly what to look for. -Request requires 15 Potential Points. Yes/No? If it''s only fifteen Points, sure why not? -The Wild Clover waitress known as Su Yanyu from the Five Elements Sect. Born as a dual Karma/Fate Manamatus and simultaneously gifted with high mental acuity and decent Soul Strength, Su Yanyu manipted you and many others into visiting her restaurant more often and providingrger than usual tips. -At the same time, she made sure you didn''t always remember who waited on you so you wouldn''t get suspicious. Secretly, she was the most powerful Outer Core Disciple in the Five Elements Sect when you were a Disciple, but she kept her Affinities hidden even from the Sect Elders. Damn it! I can''t believe she used me like this! William didn''t care if he was manipted into visiting Wild Clover more often but forcing him to pay higher tips was absolutely uneptable! His fingers turned white as he clenched his knuckles, but he loosened them a few momentster.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Su Yanyu may be around the same age as William, but they were probably Worlds apart now when it came to strength. Even if she had two Mythic Elements from the start, William''s strength grew leaps and bounds every month, and it was still increasing even now after reaching the peak of the World. If William were to meet Su Yanyu again, she probably would be at most a Realm stronger than Gunther or Tia. Not only that but... William smiled ingratiatingly, as if he had be a wise and magnanimous old man that didn''t care about Worldly matters. It happened a long time ago; there''s no point in dwelling on it. You can continue, System. -The Cultivator Glen from Retribution was given a device that regrly sent artificial Karma Threads to and from your body, helping him track your Karma throughout the Gravitas Ruins as long as he was rtively near. This device was slowly destroyed over time by your Attack Reflection Talent. -Torc the Gold-Ranked Adventurer''s Karmic attachment to you allowed... allowed... The System suddenly cut off, making William confused. System? -I miscalcted. To answer the remainder of your question, the cost is 1.5 Trillion Potential Points. Yes/No? T-Trillion?!? William''s eyes suddenly widened in shock. He remembered Torc rtively clearly. He was the first person with a low Cultivation that had impressed him, having a unique fighting style and even able to fight multiple opponents with simr ability at the same time. It was also around Torc that William had killed his first human, having been attacked multiple times secretly while fighting a Foundation Establishment Wind Wolf. If not for the Adventurer, William probably would have killed a second human and regretted it very muchter. Afterpleting his Quest to reach Gold-Rank, William had joined Torc on a long trip to Blue Moon City, where William''s real journey started. Thinking back on all these events gave William a lot of nostalgia, but one question was on William''s mind at the current moment. What was so special about Torc that the System would suddenly increase the price of the Ask Function to such an absurd amount? Chapter 417 Enlightened Where can I find Torc? Maybe I can ask him myself instead of spending a lot of Potential Points. William asked the System. -He''s dead. You can find him in Hell. ...n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om William became downtrodden after hearing that. His eyes drooped as the nostalgic memories washed over him a second time, though with a much sadder tone. How did he die? -He was helping to evacuate Thin Creek Vige during a Beast Tide. Wind Wolves had surrounded Misha''s house, and he chose to trade his life for her safety. William ced his hand across his heart and muttered a silent prayer for Torc. He wasn''t very religious, especially in a Cultivation World like this where the Gods might very well be his enemies in the future, but William didn''t care. Heavens, Gods, Beings Above... whatever you are. Hear my call and please guide Torc to prosperity. If he remembers me, please tell him that I am grateful for his sacrifice and hope to repay him one day... Good luck, Torc... As the prayer ended, William saw a tiny wisp of light float from his head into the sky and disappear from his view. He stared in awe at the effect, secretly hopeful that his prayer had actually done something. Regarding the question that the System wouldn''t fully answer, even if William thought about it for weeks, he probably wouldn''te up with anything on his own. For now, he chose to forget about it until he either had enough Potential Points or could meet with Torc in Hell. Since William still had to wait a few days to recover from Karma, William decided to go ahead and upgrade the Fate Element as high as he could next. Different from Karma, William found that the first few Fate upgrades still had an effect, but they were incredibly minor. His mind automatically trailed to thinking about the future, doubting what he had done in the past. Subconsciously, William felt disappointed in himself for not doing more, and even past phrases of the System came back to him. -You''re not worthy. You won''t make it. Your chances of survival are slim. Phrases continued to pound William''s brain almost rhythmically, but he could tell that they weren''t real. They were just taunts by the Fate Element, meant to fluster him. When the Fate Element reached B-Rank, things started to change. William was ovee with an extreme desire to do things, such as break objects or travel to dangerous areas. He was even tempted to Ascend right now, as if the Fate Element that this was the most life-threatening thing to his existence currently. By the S-Rank upgrade, William almost listened to the Fate Element, but not of his own free will. He knew all the way through that the Fate Element was toying with him, but it began to possess his body just like Order, controlling him to manipte his Seal Element and slowly undo the suppression. It was different from the Chaos Element, which usually treated the Elements as subordinates, but it was also different from Order, which inhabited William''s body and wrested full control of his limbs. Instead, Fate was able to manipte William''s own Mana as if it was him, but it''s control over his body was minimal. It was only able to make a few waves and call the Seal Mana from inside William''s body, but any mental resistance from him would disrupt the Fate Element''s n. It''s a battle of wills, I see. The Fate Element wants to break into my mind and force me to give up, then use my Mana to ce me in a dangerous situation. If it can''t breach my mind, however, it has to do its best to brute force the process. William smiled as the Fate Element failed to take over and the upgrade to SS-Rank waspleted. It seemed the Fate Element would actually be the second to X-Rank! He immediately purchased the next upgrade, mentally preparing himself for increased aggression from the Fate Element. To his surprise, though, it didn''t react in the same way. Instead, it muttered a few times in the Language of the Elements before calling out. "Boy, call Order for me." William was confused, but he had no intention of doing what Fate asked, "Why should I?" "Because I said so," it started, then William felt a pair of purplish-golden eyes peer directly into his mind, almost like it could see all the thoughts inside his brain, "Do it because it is your destiny." William felt himself start to lose control again, but he resisted fiercely, not allowing the Fate Element to have its way, "Order doesn''t want toe out. It''s already granted me power over its Mana." Fate paused for a moment, as if it was surprised, then continued peering into William''s mind, "You''re lying. I can see it in your mind. Your ims are illegitimate." Is it... trying to gaslight me? William inspected the eyes with an odd expression. "Then you must be the one lying, because I can prove it." he said as he controlled a slight amount of Order Mana to disassemble a small grassy area next to him. As he did so, however, the Fate Element wrested control of that finger and continued to funnel Order Mana from William''s body, twirling his fingers in the attempt to weave some sort of new Spell. William resisted again, managing to cancel the Spell before it fully formed. He realized that the Fate Element had tricked him, which was much different and more unexpected than some of the Elements. If any Element was going to be the trickster, William would have expected it from the Illusion Affinity, not Fate. "You''re supposed to be serious, unchanging, and unaffected by external matters." William scolded the Element as the SSR-Rank upgrade neared its ending. "You are the Fate Element, able to see one''s past and predict their future. To you, all should be set in stone with little changes unless someone intervenes..." "So why are you acting like this? You aren''t yourself." William finished. -You have been enlightened by the pressure of conflict. -Yourprehension of the Fate Element has increased. Total: 8% It''s not even X-Rank, though. William looked at the System message in confusion. -There are some exceptions, and this is one of them. The Fate Element was left stunned by William''s words. It didn''t know how, but the boy had actually urately guessed its true meaning, its Elemental Purpose. While many would begin to do this at a certain age, William was much too young to have pondered these things to such an extent, so how did he know? "I once read a book about the mysteries of fate and how many would often give up on their aspirations after discovering that they weren''t destined to achieve something. It was so long ago that I had almost forgotten, but your actions reminded me somehow. While I don''t agree with what was said in that book, I do have to say that it matches exactly what I would expect of the Fate Element." William exined. The Fate Element receded into his body without another word, still awestruck by William''s sudden mental breakthrough that allowed him to gain a thorough control over its abilities. Chapter 418 One Element Left! William queued up the X-Rank upgrade for the Fate Element immediately afterwards, finding it to be even easier to handle than the previous two upgrades due to his recent enlightenment. In less than an hour, the Fate Element had reached its maximum Rank, unlocking all of its X-Rank Bonus Effects because he had the Resist Fate Talent. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Fate Affinity (Mythic): (SSR --> X) Effects: -Fate-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +1280% >> +2560% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Fate: Takeplete control over all Fate Mana within a radius of 50 kilometers >> 100 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Fate Domains of greater strength. -Territory of Fate: An improved Domain that extensively shows the Host its enemies'' immediate future. Can be enhanced with Time Mana to establish a never-ending cycle of events that repeat until the Host closes the Territory or runs out of Mana. -Primary Law of Fate (8.1%prehension): You don''t understand enough of this yet. Comprehend the Fate Element or visit ??? to learn more. -Fate Elemental: Your Fate cannot be read or manipted while in this state unless the level of opposing Fate Magic exceeds your own Affinity. Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª William looked at the description of the Fate Element with wide eyes. If what he was thinking was correct, he could use the Territory of Fate to hold the advantage in any fight. Unless someone could forcibly break through William''s Fate Territory, they would be forced to repeat the same actions again and again until William found a method to maintain the advantage. If anything could be considered overpowered, it''s this! William smiled as he tested the Fate Element for himself. Without a target to focus on, William didn''t really know what to do with the Fate Mana. He was left searching aimlessly for any nearby living beings, and a regr groundhog over fifteen kilometers away seemed to be the only suitable one other than a human. "Show me your future." William said as he pierced through the groundhog''s head with a wisp of Fate Mana, though the creature wasn''t hurt in the slightest. Instead, William saw a second groundhog burst from the first, slightly ethereal in nature while it cowered in fear from William''s aura. The ethereal groundhog suddenly dashed forward at a speed much faster than a normal human could react, just in time for the original groundhog to start cowering. Based on the time period, it should run right about... now! William reached forward in an almost predictive manner, allowing the groundhog to run straight into his hand. Since William moved in its way, the groundhog''s trajectory was slightly different than before but almost the exact same. This isn''t Fate, this is prediction! William smiled as he set down the poor groundhog that was only a bystander in William''s madness. This Element would be incredibly useful in battle, and this specific Spell reminded him of those ghost cars during racing games that showed one''s previous best time. After a few more rounds of tests, William realized that the Fate Element was used for more than what he expected. Not only could one peer into another''s future, but they could also manipte it slightly, which is something he didn''t fully understand until he recalled what the System said about Su Yanyu. If he ced some of his intent into the groundhog, William could will it to jump straight into his arms, even without his own movement. To the groundhog, it would feel as if jumping into William''s arms was part of its purpose in life. It would feel a familiar "calling" as if it was answering to the Gods. In the terms of a regr groundhog, this could not be described as anything other than bullying. William was a sentient being with immense power that exceeded its understanding, so it had no idea that it was being manipted at all. If the Spell was used on a creature or human capable ofplex thought, however, the effects might be degraded slightly. A Magical Beast might find a certain action odd or unnatural, while the human would immediately notice that something was wrong, as long as their Cultivation was close to William''s. That said, it would be extremely difficult to break a Spell of the Fate Element, and William was only testing the most basic of Fate Spells. With time, William guessed that Fate Magic would be yet another one of his most valuable Elements. Phew, there''s only one Element left that needs to improve to X-Rank. William wiped a bit of sweat from his brow after spending almost an entire day learning the ins and outs of the Fate Element. His time wasn''t wasted, however, as he now had a few new and powerful Spells in his arsenal that were sure to surprise the next Cultivator that forced him to use it. William almost felt bad in advance for anyone that dared to cross the line. Ah, speaking of which... William smiled as his Hunter Talent disyed a few individuals crossing into its range. Given that the Hunter Talent at X-Rank had a range of ten thousand kilometers, this wasn''t difficult and it almost covered the entire World, but William wasn''t focused on that. Instead, he realized that the group of individuals that the Hunter Talent detected were actually the Cultivators responsible for injuring Atticus the first few times before Juhi Descended.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om William had heard the full story from the snake after the battle, but at the time he didn''t have any method to track down the few Retribution members other than camping out at their Headquarters. William had too much to do and decided to serve his revenge cold, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity. With a flipping of his wrist and a calm smile, William teleported close to a group of two dozen members of Retribution of whose ranks he didn''t understand. All he could tell was that there were three leaders, two of which were the individuals that shared Atticus'' bloodline and could cast Illusion Magic. But Illusion Magic can''t save you from this! William opened his Territory of Fate and wrapped the entire group in its range. Even if a few of them weren''t involved in the battles against Atticus, William could hardly care less. Instead of weaving Time Mana into the Territory like the System''s description exined, William opened the Domain of Time directly, controlling the ambient Time Mana and slowing down time to an absolute crawl. The Territory of Time only affected himself, but the Domain was different and could be used for anything. That said, weaving the Domain of Time into the Fate Territory had an even greater effect on the Territory than the System description, creating three alternative futures for the Retribution members and forcing them to follow each future one at a time. William retracted the time-slowing effect and spent his Mana entirely on looping the time within, keeping the group inside of the Territory of Fate for what seemed like years to them but was only a few minutes on William''s end. With his almost three million Mana in his Mana Reserves, William wasn''t afraid of running out of Mana anytime soon. Thebined Domain and Territory burned through roughly two hundred Mana per second, but it would take much more than that to exhaust his Reserves. He could go on for hours! And so he did, spending almost three hours channeling the Territory of Fate and forcing the Retribution group to walk around in circles for entire decades of their lifespan. Even after noticing that something was wrong, there was nothing they could do to break out of their situation, and they were forced to ept things as they were. Though that was the problem. The moment the group epted their fate, their mental energy was extracted and sent to William, giving him a few sparse memories while also surprisingly increasing the mental capacity of his own mind. It was like a miniature version of the Mind Talent upgrades, allowing William to expand his mental storage without the direct help of the System. The improvement was hardly anything much, but William was excited about having discovered a method to improve himself even further before Ascension. I''m getting close to leaving, I have to make the most of what I have down here while I can, because it definitely won''t be as easy as it was on Efretta. I think I''ll Ascend right after finishing the System Quest... Since William had gained loads of new Talents and was only two upgrades from maxing out all of his Elemental Affinities, he didn''t have much left to do. He could always choose to stick around and idly collect Potential Points while upgrading his Elemental Farms and the Potential Farms, but that was incredibly boring, and might turn into the bad choice in the end. What if he missed out on some opportunity in the Ascended Realms that could earn him fifty years'' worth of Potential Points? If prices to upgrade his Talents kept increasing, the number of avable Points should also be better in the higher Realms, right? Chapter 419 Maxed Out William spent the next two weeks absorbing the Superior Chaos Vein, marking three fully absorbed Superior Veins out of the total twenty-eight. The weakening from the Karma Element upgrades had ended a few days prior, and William pushed it from SS to SSR, then X-Rank sessfully, the only cost being another long period of weakness. Even the Karma Element''s consciousness that tried to break free couldn''t do anything to his powerful body. The downside was that in the process of the final two upgrades, William lost his connection with over a thousand people. Surprisingly, he never lost the Karma Thread attached to his mother in this World, Misha, which was slightly thicker than he expected. Even though he had hardly spent any time with the woman, William''s Karma Thread was almost asrge as Charlotte''s, which made him wonder if it had something to do with the previous William. William counted the number of Karma Threads in his Space Ring to be 688, then widened the System Panel and looked at the Karma Affinity. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Karma Affinity (Mythic): (SSR --> X) Effects: -Karma-rted Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +1280% >> +2560% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Domain of Karma: Takeplete control over all Karmic Mana within a radius of 50 kilometers >> 100 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Karma Domains of greater strength. -Territory of Karma: An improved Domain, designed to use enemies'' negative Karma to inflict damage per second. The stronger the opponents'' negative Karma, the more damage the Territory deals. If the opponent has no negative Karma, this Territory has no effect. -Primary Law of Karma (0.1%prehension): You don''t understand enough of this yet. Comprehend the Karma Element or visit ??? to learn more. -Karma Elemental: Iste the Karmic forces and prevent them from affecting your body under most circumstances. In this state, the Host may choose to wash away their negative Karma at any time. Next rank up: Ascend to unlock the next rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Hmm, this one is a bit situational... William thought as he looked at the Karma Territory. If he was against something like a Demon that had incredibly dense negative karma, this would probably be a great counter to it. But, if he was facing a member of a righteous organization, the Karma Element wouldn''t be useful for much. Even so, this was an incredibly powerful ability that would be perfect in the right situations. He even had the Karma Elemental Form, which would allow him to wash away his own negative karma at any time. I wouldn''t be surprised if there''s a Karma Mage with the ability to create a Territory in the Celestial nes, but with the Elemental Form this shouldn''t be an issue. William smiled as he looked at the System Panel. POTENTIAL POINTS: 43,112,082 I have four Element Farms that aren''t B-Rank yet, and they cost ten million Points each. I wanted to save these Points for somethingst-minute, but I think waiting three years to fullyprehend my Elements is actually too long... The Potential Farms were enough to earn William a few million Points every two weeks, so he didn''t hesitate to spend most of his remaining Points to push all four Farms to B-Rank. At the same time, he harvested the Element Fruits that had been fully grown since four days ago, changing the harvest cycle for his Element farms to the 24th of each month. He consumed the 150 Illusion and Time Fruits in his warehouse, then moved on to eat 75 Fire, Space, and Seal Fruits. Lastly, William ate the 525 Order Fruits that he had been saving up the longest, pushing hisprehension of the Illusion and Time Elements to 15.1 percent, Fire and Space to 37.6 percent, Seal to 48.1 percent, and finally Order to 52.6 percent. Along with the Fate Element that gained eight percentprehension from a random enlightenment, William had 7 Elements that were stronger than anything that anyone in the Mortal Realms could possibly achieve. System, if I upgrade the Element Farms to A-Rank, will I still be able to eat the Fruits? -Yes. The A-Rank upgrade will grow one hundred Element Fruits at a time, but their quality will be the same. Once the Farms be S-Rank, the quantity of Fruits produced will double once more, but 25 of which will be too powerful for you to consume in your current state. William nodded in understanding. From the way the System exined it, upgrading Farms like Order to A-Rank would be a waste since he was almost halfway doneprehending the Element, but pushing it to S-Rank would be a good idea once he was able to eat the better Fruits. Wait a minute, what do the better fruits do? Are they just more Comprehension? That would be a waste. -Better Fruits allow you toprehend more powerful Laws. Stronger Laws? William understood what the System was saying, but its exnation sparked a whole new level of interest. After seeing how much the Seal Element''s restriction improved over time, William knew that the Elemental Fruits were no small matter. In fact, he could sense that his Order Element was over five hundred times stronger than it was before he ate the Fruits. If that was the case, fullprehension should be around a thousand times! Five hundred times stronger than an X-Rank Mythic Element... if Juhi descended again, I could obliterate him with a single move! That said... what am I going to do when I try to Ascend these Elements? I''ll be destroyed by the Laws in an instant! William shook his head and decided it would be better to figure that out at ater date. He already understood how the upgrade process worked for the Elements, so he would be sure to fully prepare for the eventual upgrade. Even if the Order and other Elements had grown stronger, William could gauge how strong their improvements were. All he had to do was wait until he was confident enough to handle the Laws. Bonus Effects like Mana Lord from the Mana Dominator Talent and the various upgrades from the Hard Body Talent would be enough to hopefully counter the worst effects. All he had to do was upgrade those and his Resistance Talents first. Speaking of Talents... I haven''t looked at the Master Thief Talent or Jack Of All Trades yet. Now that all of my Elements are maxed out, I should do that... William remembered as he opened the System Panel. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Master Thief (Legendary): (X) Effects: -Pickpocketing Skill +9800% -Lockpicking Skill +9800% -Footsteps arepletely silent. -Stealth Talent enhanced by 200% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Escape Route: When confronted by opponents stronger than you, optimal escape paths will light up in yellow that are only visible to you. -Master Thief''s Wit: Hidden traps will be visible at all times. Does not apply to Arrays above Tier 6 or other methods at the same level. -Assassin''s Sight: You have a keen eye for important targets. For further information, Ascend and unlock the Weak Point Talent. Next rank up: Ascend to view the next rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ªn/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Finally, a Talent that helps me steal- I mean grab more loot! I can even use this as a tool to run from anything stronger than me! Though I doubt anything could make me run... William smiled. Seeing that the Stealth Talent was enhanced made William curious. The Stealth Talent was only Common, and in his opinion, it should be one of the most suitable Talents for merging into Master Thief, but it hadn''t. It waspletely separate from the rest, and the System didn''t say anything about it. William decided to ask. System, does the Stealth Talent merge into anything? -Request requires 3.2 billion Potential Points. Yes/No? Is there a cheaper option? -I can omit the things rted to the Ascended Realms. Request requires 144 Potential Points. Yes/No? Sure. That''s better -The Stealth Talent merges with Master Thief, Critical Chance, Fitness, and two other Talents only avable after you Ascend. Once merged, they will be a Celestial Talent. William nodded in understanding. The upgrade path for the Stealth Talent was a bit odd, but he was happy that the System was able to exin the situation to him for cheap. So, there are Talents that I can only get when I Ascend, huh? -There are many, but the requirements are different from what you''d expect. William frowned slightly. He could tell by the System''s tone that it meant he wouldn''t be able to gain Talents as easily as he was now. Will the Talent Shop be taken away when I Ascend? William was slightly worried that he would miss out on many things. -No. He heaved a sigh of relief, moving on to the Jack Of All Trades Talent before he could forget about it again. As he opened the description of the Celestial Talent, the message box of the System automatically widened, extending a few meters above William and spreading downward as if someone had unfurled an absurdly long scroll. Chapter 420 Arcturis Unsealed William knew the description of a Celestial Talent consisting of over fifty Trade Talents would be long, but even he wasn''t prepared for the massive amount of information that filled his view. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Jack Of All Trades (Celestial): (X) Effects: -Knowledge and Talent of Arrays +45000% -Level of usable Arrays: Tier 6 -Forging suitable materials is 45000% faster -Purity of forged materials improved by 45000% -Pills are 45000% easier to refine -Level of refinable Pills: Tier 11 -Skill with needles and thread improved by 45000% -Any technique involving the creation and maintenance of clothing is 45000% easier -Range of your vocal cords improved dramatically. -Singing ability improved by 45000% -Architectural designes naturally to you -All carpentry techniques in the Mortal Realms are known by you -Artifact creation is 45000% easier -sswork skill improved by 45000% -Equipment you craft is 45000% more resilient to Arrays you create. -Juggling skill improved by 45000% -Culinary and baking skill improved by 45000% -Sales techniquese naturally to you -Alchemicalbinations are 45000% less likely to fail Your next chapter awaits on empire -Welding skill improved by 45000% -Maps are 45000% more urate to your knowledge -Skill of instation, repair, and maintenance of Magical or traditional electrical systems increased by 45000% -Plumbing skill improved by 45000% -Cosmetology skill improved by 45000% -Farming skill improved by 45000% -Teaching skill improved by 45000% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Puppetry Master: Can control up to 12 Puppets made with Tier 6 Arrays. Number of controble Puppets doubles for each Tier lower than 6. -Array Analysis: Can analyze the workings of an Array at a nce. Only applies to Arrays, Array Formations, and Runes the Host already knows.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om -Forging Expertise: When maintaining multiple forges at the same time, a window appears in front of the Host showing the status of each forge. -Purity Control: The purity of forged material is maintained at the optimal level dependent on the Host''s needs. -Alchemical Perfection: Perfectly refining Pills improves their effects by 100%. This stacks with the Alchemist Title. -Grandmaster Clothier: Clothing that is created entirely by the Host will sometimes gain special bonus effects. -Singing Attraction: Your singing is like that of the Mythological Siren, allowing you to attract your target''s attention with a beautiful tune. Effects weaken against targets with high mental strength. -Grandmaster Architect: When nning out the creation of one or multiple structures, a System window will appear, allowing you to n theyout of your structure beforehand. Potential problems with the build will automatically be shown in the Architect Window. -Artifact Compatibility: Artifacts that do not belong to you will sometimes feelpatible, allowing you to use them even without the original owner''s permission. -Juggle Them All: Shape and size of item do not affect the Host''s ability to juggle. -Grandmaster Chef: All regr food you cook will be automatically elevated to the level of Spirit Food. All Spirit Food you cook will be improved dependent on how close to perfection the dish is prepared. -Master Salesman: Bargaining may sometimes result in up to a 40 percent discount on purchases. -Mad Scientist: Your emotional state has no effect on your ability to conduct Alchemy or Chemistry. -Farmer''s Intuition: When farming crops, a window will appear disying the most suitable nts to grow in a given area dependent on season and climate. When crops are ready to harvest or have exhausted fertilizers, a notice will be sent. -Thought Transference: Your otherworldly teaching skill allows you to transmit your thoughts at will to anyone within your line of sight. Next rank up: Upgrade System to SS-Rank. ¡ª¡ª¡ª I have ess to more Puppets, the effects from the Array Talent are multiple times stronger, and multitasking with forges. All of these bonus effects are insane! William gleamed with excitement as he looked through each of the effects one by one. Even the bonus effects from the less useful Talents like Juggling that shouldn''t really be called a Trade Talent were impressive, since William could essentially juggle his weapons during a battle andunch them one by one at his enemies. Considering he had the Weapon''s Master Talent, this would be an easy feat for William, though not necessarily good for anything other than showing off. A truly skilled opponent would probably just steal his weapons while they were in midair. What if I made explosives though? William suddenly had an amazing thought. With the Earth Element to make the less-rare natural resources and the nt Element to make paper, William could use Chemistry to make gunpowder. Afterward, he could wrap the gunpowder in paper and enhance it with Arrays to make his own customized explosive device! He could even set the Arrays to dy the explosion if he wanted to! -Or you could juggle fireballs. Why go to such great lengths for an attack with almost the same amount of power? Heh. System you don''t understand the minds of weak humans that have never used Magic. If I can save Mana by making explosives beforehand or trick people by dying the st, I might just gain the upper hand even against someone stronger than me. -This might be the first time you''ve said something smart. Aww, thanks System. I can''t believe you would call me smart. William was slightly touched by the System''s words and chose to ignore the hidden insult. -You''re not. You''re just an idiot with a good idea once in a blue moon. The fact that I am praising you for being smart attests to how often your IQ exceeds one hundred. Well... you''re a... uh. William had some words to say but he was afraid of angering the System. -Got nothing? Damnit. William shook his head in forfeit. He couldn''te up with anything that wasn''t too harsh. -Hehe. I always win. William nodded somberly and filtered through the System Panel for a while, organizing his Talents and devising a set of skills he could use during battle, while setting aside others that weren''t rted to fighting. With a System like this that had hundreds of Talents and probably around the same amount of bonus effects, it took William a lot of effort to keep them all in order. Once he was done, William moved on to spend the next two months absorbing the Greater and Superior Illusion, Space, and Time Veins that were remaining on the Arcturis Continent. During the process, William came in contact with a group of three Standard Demons in the Nascent Soul Realm, all of which produced a Blood Bead that glimmered with a pure red glow. He immediately used a Blood Bead to Ascend the Blood Bound Talent, which improved his resistance to the various effects of the Blood Element. Since he only needed one Blood Bead for the upgrade, William stored the other two in his Space Ring just in case he needed them in the future. One can never have enough Blood Beads. William thought as he switched the mode of his Vision Talent to look at the Mana of the Arcturis Continent. He had half expected for Time topletely stop as soon as he absorbed the Superior Time Vein, but that didn''t seem to be the case. Instead, all of the Time, Illusion, and Space Mana seemed to have been extinguished, but time continued to flow as usual, and space was still rtive and not destroyed in an instant. This wasn''t the most surprising thing, though. As William peered downwards, he noticed arge mass of Mana almost a thousand kilometers underground that gave him an odd sense of familiarity. Chapter 421 The Chains That Seal William probably wouldn''t have noticed the Mana if not for his Cultivation, which enhanced his vision to exceed a thousand kilometers at the Soul Formation Realm. As he used the Earth Element to dig underground and inspect the familiar Mana closely, William suddenly had a realization. System, is what I''m thinking true? -Most likely. I''m only ny-five percent confident, though. William nodded, not bothering to question the missing five percent. He continued to tunnel underground, even passing throughyers of moltenva until he neared the edges of the World''s core, where he was eventually met by a thick wall of Mana that resembled both the wall of Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin in the Velos Continent and the rays of Mana that connected the Greater Elemental Veins to the Superior. Damn it, I can''t break in with my current strength. William gnashed his teeth as he realized he was looking at a tight group of Laws that consisted of every Element. Wait, not every Element. William noticed a few holes in the wall that seemed out of ce. If he had to guess, these were probably the six Elements whose Superior Cores had already been absorbed. He leaned forward and peeked through the holes, careful not to physically touch any of the Elemental Laws that would probably kill him in a heartbeat. Beads of sweat not rted to the heat developed on his face as he failed to see anything inside, forcing him to lean closer and closer until he was almost touching the wall of Laws. Finally, William saw a cocoon made of thick chains about two meters in height and one meter around. All external light was blocked by the wall of Laws, so he couldn''t see what was inside the cocoon, but a red glow from the inside made him pull back and maneuver around the core in a circr motion until he was on the opposite end. Repeating the same motions as before from the other side of the core, William saw a pair of red eyes that smoldered like the embers of a nearly extinguished campfire, their dull brilliance making him unsure of if the figure was alive, dead, or sleeping. It really is her. William concluded as hepared the weak Mana signature to the memory of the past. They were almost the exact same, meaning this woman was most likely Efretta, and her real body at that. -Efretta''s body double was supposed to return to her after roughly a million years, which is why I guessed long ago that her real body was located somewhere on this World. I suspect the body double came back a hundred and fifty thousand years early because of what happened in the Velos Continent ten thousand years prior. William nodded. Can you tell what condition she''s in? -She''s weak, but alive. Ascended Cultivators can''t survive long periods of time in the Mortal Realm, which is why this World is the perfect prison for her. The Mana quality here is too weak to support their natural body functions, meaning they have to tap into their own reserve to survive. William looked at the cocooned figure once more. Even if he could only see her eyes, he could tell at a nce that she was both a beautiful and fierce woman. That said... How did she get sealed here? During the memory, even her body double dominated this World in a matter of months! I can''t imagine someone would be able to fight her by themselves. System, she was your Eighth Host, right? -She was still too weak. Read new chapters at empire The pair of eyes shifted slightly, drifting idly until eventually locking on William. A slight glimmer appeared briefly, before the eyes returned to their previous dullness. "???T??§Á?? ¦«????????." she said in the samenguage as the Order and Chaos Elementmunicated in. William was about to ask what Efretta said when a refined and elegant voice that wasn''t his own erupted from his lungs. "??§Á ?????? ???????§Á." A hoarseugh filled with ridicule resounded from within the chains, jostling them slightly. "I''ll believe it when I see it." Efretta nced around at the unusual state of her prison, realizing that it was much weaker than before. "How much time has passed?" Again, William was interrupted by the Order Element, though it didn''t use the Language of the Elements this time. "Eight hundred and eighty thousand years." "Hm. What about their status?" she asked. "We don''t know." "The Heavens?" "Functioning." "A shame." the pair of red eyes closed for a moment. "Have him release me and I''ll help you take care of them in a few thousand years when I recover." William could have taken control from the Order Element a long time ago, but he chose not to because of a simple message from the System. -Forgive her rudeness, she doesn''t mean it. Just the fact that the System had to justify Efretta''s actions made William release any trace of suspicion in an instant. Before, he felt that the person caged in front of him might not actually be Efretta and that it was just an imposter acting as her, but the System rarely apologized or admitted to its mistakes. In this scenario, just that one sentence was enough for William to believe that this was truly Efretta, so he allowed the Order Element to speak through him for the time being. "I don''t have control. I can''t force him to do anything, much less release you." the Order Element replied through William''s body. "What are you waiting for? Just possess him and get on with it, he''ll have to listen at that point. He''s one of mine anyway, and I know the limits of their ability more than anyone." One of hers? One of her what? William asked the System, but it didn''t respond. Instead, William felt a subtle tone rising from his throat that waspletely different from both the Order Element and his own voice.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om It was as if he was an instrument, and a single, eternal note was being yed at an incredibly slow pace. Somehow, even though his mouth only opened a single time, entire sentences left his mouth. "There''s no need to treat him this way. He''s been actively working to free you, yet you still want to hurry and even dare to propose Integration. I taught you better than this." Hearing a voice that had been separated from her for almost a millennium, a single tear formed at the corner of one of Efretta''s eyes. She nodded simply as she replied, "Yes Master. It''s been so long and I have be impatient." Master? William asked. The System chose to respond this time. -I''ve been called many things. Teacher, Master, System, Leader, Trainer. They''re all the same. What about what she said earlier? You didn''t answer me! William frowned. "Silly boy. You still don''t understand Master well enough. Just because Master can answer every question you ask, doesn''t mean you should ask even the simplest questions. You should be able to deduce the intent behind my words." Efretta responded instead of the System. "Did you read my mind?" William asked carefully. "No, you transmitted your thoughts directly to me by mistake. Have you just learned Thought Transference?" Efretta''s eyes blinked as if surprised that William could qualify as a Host. She continued, "No matter. Since you''re unwilling to deduce it yourself. I''ll tell you just this once. There are limits to your strength because you are one of mine. You were created by me. Indirectly, you are my child." Chapter 422 Ancestor The area became silent for what seemed like an eternity, even though only a few seconds passed. William, still reflecting on Efretta''s words, found himself questioning his own upbringing. I am her child? Even if she said it was indirectly... how is this possible? William thought back to his early childhood. He remembered his parents clearly, even though he couldn''t before. His biological mother had red hair, but her facial structure and even personality werepletely different. She couldn''t possibly be Efretta. His father looked like your average soldier, with a tapered haircut and neat appearance at all times, but his natural aura had nothing inmon with Efretta''s. When William looked at his old self from an outward perspective, his aura also didn''t share any simrities with hers. There was no connection at all! It wasmon knowledge that family members had very simr auras to each other, and twins would often have identical auras at birth. Since Efretta''s aura waspletely different from his own, there was no chance that they could be blood rted. She created me...? William still didn''t understand, even after picking every bit of her statement apart. A tiny wisp of light suddenly flew through the chains and past William''s head, passing through the wall of Laws as if it didn''t exist. He turned his head to follow the wisp as it glided a few meters further and hovered next to the moltenva. The wispnded shortly after, slowly transforming into a bare human figure with no distinguishable features as a barrier appeared and protected them from the heat. The transformation didn''t end there, as a pair of green eyes, reddish-brown hair, and a defined nose took shape while clothing wrapped around the human. By the end of the process, the figure looked just like a random stranger that William might have passed on the street, no different from him or another. It stared in confusion at the environment around it, then another wisp of light flew over and entered its head, providing a purpose for its existence. Understanding what it was supposed to do, the human figure nodded and twirled its fingers, conjuring a knife out of nowhere and slitting its own throat before falling lifelessly into theva. Read exclusive content at empire Even though he saw the entire process, William couldn''t believe his eyes. She was bound by a massive number of Laws, yet Efretta was able to create human life and control it to kill itself in an instant. What more, the newly created human used some sort of ability that William had never seen before! "That was cruel." William looked at Efretta with disappointment. He revered this woman for her strength and ability, but something about the way she could easily create and take the lives of others made him feel uneasy. -You''ve done the same before. I get that, but even I wouldn''t go this far. Especially not now. William shook his head. "It was the only way for you to understand. I already said I created you, but you didn''t get it until now, right?" Efretta said. -Status Panel updated. Race is now registered as Efretta''s Lesser Human. William nodded, "You created the human species, then? My entire World, and everything I know, was fake?" "I created a series of human races. I don''t dare toy im to the formation of an entire species that has existed for longer than I can remember. I am a human myself, after all." Efretta exined. She continued, "Reius, if that''s still what you call it, is not fake. It''s my World. I created it, just like its inhabitants. I am your World''s God, if you will." "What about this World, then?" William asked. "Ha! This is nothing but a prison to bind me. That should be its real name, My Prison." Efretta scoffed. "It''s not a true World, but after feasting on my Mana for so long, it is close. If I died, so would this World, and when I escape, the same oue awaits it unless I don''t want it to." William organized the thoughts in his head. If what Efretta said was true, then she built Reius and transformed it into what it was now. Not only that, but she created the humans inside, who propagated over and over until he was eventually born. In that case, her im as his mother made sense, though he would ratherbel Efretta as his Ancestor. William thought about Fria and the yers that were able to move freely between Reius and Efretta''s Prison. From what Fria told him, she was able to pass to this World through her VR headset, which implied some sort of soul or mind transference. Did it have something to do with the wisps that Efretta could make? He decided to adopt a respectful tone and ask, "Ancestor, where is Reius? And how are your... descendants outside when you''re trapped in here?" "It seems that Master was wrong. You do use your brain sometimes!" Efretta praised William in a mocking manner. "Reius is inside me, the same way your Dantian is inside you. I''ve been trapped here for a long time, but my captors have bezy." A small vortex opened just outside the wall ofws, hundreds of wisps of light flowing in from afar while others exited the vortex just as quickly. The exchange happened many times a second, speeding up and slowing down with seemingly no pattern at all. "I keep this open at all times, you just couldn''t see it before because its level surpasses your current understanding. If you can survive the Ascended Realms and be anything other than cannon fodder, you might be able to do the same someday." William was too focused on the vortex to pay any attention to Efretta''s rude remark. "How do you have enough Mana to maintain this?" "I have my methods. You don''t need to know about this."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The vortex and wisps disappeared from William''s view, though he could still sense its presence. He switched his attention back to Efretta, whose eyes blinked a few times before looking elsewhere. "I have nothing more to say to you." she said simply. William frowned. He still had so many questions for Efretta, but she didn''t seem to want to talk. For someone that was trapped for nearly a million years, William would have expected theplete opposite. He decided to remain, since Efretta had no choice but to listen to him. Even if he was her descendant, so what? There was no way Efretta was stronger than the System she called her Master. "What about the others? If I release you, what will happen to them? And you said this World won''tst without you. I have friends here." William asked. "You care about these beings? You''re going to Ascend soon; friends and family will only be a liability. Even with fragments of Master''s soul supporting them, they won''t be able to keep up with the main body. Those without Master''s help are even more worthless." Efretta''s disregard for human lives made William feel somewhat cold. Is this what happens when the Humanity stat bes too low? Will I be like her? -There''s a possibility. William shook his head. His respect for Efretta had declined even further, but he also felt some pity for the woman. Clearly she had gone through a lot to be like this. "They''re your children, and this is an entire World of humans. OUR race! I''m not a viin or a saint, but I won''t allow you to throw them away like trash, even if you are our Ancestor!" Chapter 423 World Seed William couldn''t see it, but Efretta shed a wide smile after hearing his words. The embers in her eyes rekindled a me deep within her soul while her hair extended a few centimeters, her entire body subconsciously resisting the Fire Laws that bound her. "Are you going to keep me here, then?" William nodded seriously, "If that''s what it takes to protect everyone. I don''t care how powerful the Heavens are, I''ll take them on by myself if I have to. I don''t need your help."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He hung his head low as he finished his statement. I''m sorry System. I might have to fail your Quest, but I''d rather try to escape from purgatory than allow your Eighth Host to let people like Fria, Charlotte, Carl, Gunther, Tia, and Yuming die. I just can''t live with that. -There''s no need to apologize. Look up. William did as he was told and raised his head, only to be met by two orbs, one the size of his thumb while the second was asrge as his fist. The first orb was multicolored and resembled every Elemental Affinity he had, while the second was a pale white filled with clouds. -Acquired World Seed (x2): +200,000,000 PP William didn''t even have to wonder what Efretta had given him after seeing the System messages. "Why?" he asked. Efretta''s voice became somewhat hoarse for a second before returning to normal, "You passed the test, of course. These World Seeds will allow you to achieve exactly what you seek: to protect those you care for while still pursuing the peak of Cultivation. The first World Seed is my prison, which isn''t a fully formed World yet, but can still be of some use. The second is from Reius, my own World. Once you Ascend, merge Reius with your own World Seed and all the inhabitants will be under your protection. No one will have to die, and you will grow stronger as a result." she exined. It was all a test? William wanted to be suspicious of Efretta, but the two World Seeds in his hand gave him no reason to. There was a chance that the System and Efretta were working together, but what was the point? William had lived a rtivelyfortable live because of the System and its Talents. It had even pushed him to Ascend instead of rushing him to absorb the Elemental Veins. If it wanted to save Efretta so badly, it would have issued the System Quests much sooner, or at least given him a shorter time limit. There was just one thing bothering him. "If I take these now, what''s the catch? Also, what will happen to you?" he asked. "Naturally, you will have to spend your own Mana to keep the Worlds running. I took away Reius'' ability to use Mana, so the cost is extremely small to maintain it right now, but this World is different. It will continue to exhaust my Mana until I am gone, but you will have to shoulder the responsibility afterwards. As for my future, I lost control over Reius the moment I gave you the Seed, so I will have to reform a new World and start from scratch. My Cultivation will drop to the Ascension Realm, and I will be killed off by this World''s suppression in less than ten years. As of right now, I can no longer be considered a God." Efretta exined her bleak future as if it was a simple matter. So, in order to save my people, she has to sacrifice her own Cultivation and potentially her life... Is this true, System? -Request requires 3.5 Trillion Potential Points. Yes/No? Between Torc''s situation and Efretta''s exnation, William felt like the System was just trying to make him use his two remaining Free Ask Function Responses as soon as possible. That said, this matter was too important to ignore. I''ll use one of my Free Responses. -Yes. Ascended Cultivators develop a minor World Seed when they reach the Celestial nes. As their Cultivation grows, their World grows and expands with them. Destroying or removing this is just about the same as destroying one''s Dantian in the Mortal Realms. -Additionally, Efretta''s soul will receive a bacsh for giving up her World, and she will enter a period of weakness for five years. She''s doing all of this for me? William didn''t know what to think. His perception of Efretta had be like a rollercoaster, up and down with no clear end in sight. After hearing that she would willingly sacrifice tens or even hundreds of thousands of years'' worth of Cultivation for him, William felt grateful. "Thank you, Ancestor." he bowed slightly and opened an empty Space Ring. He threw both of the World Seeds inside and promptly closed the portal without a second nce. Efretta, whose spirits had been lifted by William''s desire to protect those close to him, suddenly felt the urge to smack herself in the forehead. She peered past William''s Arrays to look at the Starmetal Artifacts that stored his Space Rings, not surprised to see one in particr slowly turning into liquid. The System, sensing that William hadn''t yet noticed, suddenly felt like giving out some information for free. -Chaotic Treasures are a very special type of material that form during significant events across the Universe. Whether it''s a nar-Scale battle amongst the strongest Cultivators in existence, Mortal Ascension, or the copse and rising of nes, these Treasures are usually unparalleled and have a wide array of uses. -World Seeds are one of these Chaotic Treasures, and like the rest they cannot be stored in Space Rings as simple as yours. William pressed his hand against his leg, only to remove it and see a silvery liquid seeping through his clothes. The Space Ring waspletely destroyed, and the World Seeds were slowly drifting back to Efretta. William reached out and firmly grasped the World Seeds, then cleaned out the liquid titanium from his Artifact and heaved a sigh. Efretta heaved a sigh of her own, "Magic is a mysterious thing, but the greatest mystery is how a moron like you can wield it without killing yourself." "It was an honest mistake; I''ve never had a Chaotic Treasure before!" William argued back, hoping to retain a shred of dignity. -I may no longer be attached to the Eighth Host, but we can still exchange thoughts. She''s already aware of your experimentation with the Space Element. A memory shed through William''s mind of himself identally detaching his own head with Space Magic while trying to teleport. If not for the Regeneration Talent, William''s journey would have ended there. You told her about that? But I''m your current Host, shouldn''t you be on my side? -Doesn''t apply when ites to your natural stupidity. Well at least I didn''t forget that there are 28 Elements and not 27! William retorted. -My information was suppressed. I didn''t forget. Hehe, whatever. William smiled. In his books, he had won that argument. "So, what are you going to do now? Are you still going to keep me here?" Efretta asked. William smiled, "We got off on the wrong foot, but I think it''s obvious that ourmon enemy is the Heavens. If I want to deal with them, I''m going to need all the help I can get." Chapter 424 Efrettas Plan "Don''t make me wait too long. I need to recover my strength so I can destroy those bastards." Efretta said as William prepared to take his leave. She also didn''t forget to exin to William how the specific functions of the World Seeds worked. Since he didn''t have the ability yet, Efretta offered to maintain the vortex until William coulde up with another solution. He nodded and bade Efretta farewell, returning to the surface where Fria had just about finished off all the Magical Beasts from thest Beast Tide. As she killed more Beasts, Fria was able to upgrade her Talents further and further until they werepletely maxed out. Until she gained ess to more Talents, Fria would have no use for her current Potential Points, so she started selling them through the Forums for money on Reius. Given the massive amount of money that flowed in and out of Otherworld Prime, William felt this was a good thing for Fria. Her real body wasn''t as a Cultivator, so she still needed to eat and sleep, and she was even able to buy her own house with the money she earned. At the same time, William''s new understanding of the World allowed him to see past the facade of Otherworld Prime. Everything was set up and directed by Efretta from the start, and the System was able to fill the few gaps in his understanding to paint a clear picture at the cost of merely two million Points. -If one was a normal human that found Magic to be a myth and Cultivation to be a simple superstition, how would they react when finding out that these myths and superstitions were real? -For one, they might be overjoyed, excited even, that there was more to the World than just the nd day to day. That they could cast Spells of their own and increase their strength simply by meditating. -They would probably seek out information about the World around them, to learn the most they could about Magic to achieve things they would have never thought possible. -But while that was amazing to think about, suddenly sending millions or even billions of people into a World like Efretta''s Prison would almost certainly lead to chaos. To mitigate this, Efretta had to carefully manage and manipte a series of events to convince the citizens of Reius that it was nothing to be rmed about and that it was just a game. -She introduced books, movies, and other video games rted to Magic and Cultivation that would spark the interest of a select group of the poption, nting the seed for their eventual transition.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om -Later, Efretta sparked a war between the nations of Reius and used it as a filter to eliminate the weakest individuals that would either hinder her n or wouldn''t survive on Efretta. This seemed simple and almost unnecessary at first nce, but the war saved her almost five years'' worth of Mana that would have been wastedter. -Lastly, she ended the war and brought the nations to peace, following up by introducing virtual reality games that would justify her Soul Transference Vortex. She was even able to use some of her power to infinitely resurrect the yers, but she assigned heavy consequences to incentivize not dying frequently. How was that supposed to change things, though? Why would she go to such great lengths to send the residents of her World to the outside? William asked. -Her n was to allow the yers to grow in strength over time and eventually absorb the Superior Veins that bound her. To do that, though, she had to first allow her yers to grow stronger than the native humans that were created by the Heavens. -The only problem was that there was a limit to how much she could help the yers. If not for my Ninth Host dying, Efretta''s n probably would have failed. What do you mean? How did you get separated from Efretta in the first ce if she didn''t die? -I... bent the rules to try and save the Eighth Host. When Efretta was captured, I split myself into two fragments, leaving a quarter of myself with the Eighth while the remaining seventy-five percent attached to another, who became the Ninth Host. -The Ninth... we''ll skip that part. -When they died, I tried to return to the Eighth Host but was blocked by the very Laws that bind her now. Only by passing through the vortex she created was I able to return to her properly, but I spent arge amount of my energy in the process. So, when you said you would make me use the weakest version of yourself, it wasn''t by choice but actually because you were weak? William felt like he was catching onto the story. -...Correct. I was going to return to the Eighth Host directly, but then I saw Fria. -Fria was like a blinding light of Soul Strength and natural talent that made me want to attach myself to her directly no matter what, so I was hasty and followed the rules of Reius to form a contract with her. -I thought she would be the most useful tool to regain my strength, and that she might even be able to help me reconnect with my Eighth Host. Unfortunately, you were the one to sign the contract, which left me in despair. William was irked that the System essentially called him useless, but he understood that the System didn''t mean it that way. At least not anymore. -After I reconnected with you, the Tenth Host, I was able to use some of my power to transport you outside of Reius and into a World where you could Cultivate. In the process, I fragmented myself further and dispersed the pieces amongst the humans on Reius, allowing them to improve their strength the same way you do. -It was mostly a failsafe, since I didn''t have much hope for you, but now it seems like it was unnecessary to give a fragment to anyone other than your sister, who saved you in the Gravitas Ruins. Since you fragmented yourself a lot, does that mean all the others with your fragment can grow as strong as me? William asked. He had been thinking about this ever since Efretta mentioned fragments, having guessed that it referred to the System. Only now when the System actually confirmed it themself was Williampletely confident in his deduction. While William didn''t mind if there were others like him out there, he worried that there would be a few who chose to use the System''s powers to cause trouble for him. If they could improve just as quickly as he could, then he might find himself in a very tricky situation in the future. -Never. Not even Efretta herself could catch up to you if not for her own natural talent. You Host the main fragment of my existence, and that cannot be duplicated. Of course, thates with a risk. -Since I''ve separated myself into so many parts over the years, you will be myst Host. You will be the final human, Magical Beast, Spirit, Demon, or otherwise that I will ever have an interaction with, since my existence will burn out along with you. -If you die, so will I. Chapter 425 System Upgrade, Wasted Points? William felt his blood boil somewhat when the System exined the situation to him. Thinking about how many reckless activities he engaged in previously, William realized that he was almost always cing the System''s life at risk. It was weird to think, that such a powerful being could be at the mercy of a weak human like himself, but it also tacked on a bit of responsibility to William''s shoulders. I''m not just fighting for myself, I''m fighting for the System, Efretta, and even the citizens of Reius. How long has it been this way? How long have I been treating this like a game when it''s much much more than that. This just proves that no matter how strong someone is, there''s always a weakness. There''s always someone stronger. Nine other Hosts were captured or killed before me, which implies that even the System won''t be able to protect me forever.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Have I prepared enough? William doubted himself for a second. He wondered if he should just avoid Ascending forever and remain on Efretta''s Prison after releasing her. -My Third Host spent his entire life in the Mortal Realms, and he could have Ascended thousands of years before his death. Don''t assume that this ce is untouchable, their inaction is by choice, not limitation. William nodded. After thinking about it, he realized that it would be weird for powerful Cultivators to move freely through the Ascended Realms yet be unable to touch a simple Mortal World. The only thing stopping them was probably the intervention of other Cultivators at the same level. That said, William was starting to feel slightly powerless despite the dozens of Talents in his arsenal. He needed toe up with more ways to improve his strength in the short-term. To start, he wanted to make use of the Potential Points he had earned from the two World Seeds. POTENTIAL POINTS: 231,173,082 SYSTEM RANK: A (40,760,136PP to next rank) System, upgrade one of my Potential Farms to A-Rank. -100,000,000 PP -Farm upgraded to A-Rank. Daily output has increased from 75,000 per day to 750,000 per day. -Total output of Potential Farms is 900,000 Potential Points per day. ¡ª¡ª¡ª SYSTEM RANK: (A --> A+) -59,239,864 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup. -Error. Potential Points no longer suitable to upgrade. Overflow Potential Points have been wasted. Next rank up: 25AP *New Changes: -System has reached version 2.8 and met the limit of the Mortal Realms Ask Function. Because of the Potential Points overflow, most questions rted to the Mortal Realms will be free. -Host''s concealment from the Heavens have improved moderately. -Two Additional Farm Slots. -Ascended Points can now be obtained. -Unlocked Extended Currency: Ascended Points (AP) -Ascended Points: Energy extracted from all things rted to the Celestial nes. One Ascended Point is equivalent to one billion Potential Points and can be exchanged either up or downward. -Talent Shop has reached the limit. Ascend to unlock more Talents. -Companion Beasts without a unique name will now be grouped in the System Panel. When trying to upgrade a specific Beast without a name, be sure to carefully identify which Beast you n to upgrade. -Element Farms will be automatically harvested and stored in the warehouse. -Farm warehouse size expanded. -Chaotic Storage is now avable. Spend Ascended Points to unlock a storage area for Chaotic Treasures. -System Shop category now avable. Within the System Shop, the Talent Shop, Companion Beast Shop, Chaotic Storage Expansion, Farm Panel, and any future shops will be co-located. ... ¡ª¡ª¡ª What? Potential Points don''t work anymore? William looked at the System upgrade information in surprise. He wasn''t expecting this upgrade to be a big deal, but it seemed that he had actually reached the current limit for the System upgrades. If he wanted to improve the System any further, he needed to earn something called Ascended Points, which would require him to either earn a billion Potential Points and exchange them for a single AP, or he had to gain them somehow from within the Ascended Realms. Other than the newly introduced Ascended Points, William also noticed that something called Chaotic Storage had appeared in the System Shop. For just a single Ascended Point, William could buy one cubic meter of space that could store the two World Seeds that were currently just hidden within the folds of his Illusionist''s Cloak. But again... a billion Potential Points... William was excited about the upgrades, but the absurd prices made him almost want to cry. He wondered if killing the Ascended Skeletal Dragon from before would have awarded him AP now. If only I was a little faster at upgrading the System. I might have had a chance to earn an easy billion. William decided not to dwell on the matter and promptly purchased two more Element Farms, filling them with the Chaos and Gravity Elements respectively. Since it was the day of harvest for the other farms, William didn''t have to wait at all to grow the additional two. Immediately afterwards, William spent another hundred million Points to upgrade his second Potential Farm to A-Rank, raising his daily ie to 1.575 million Points per day. At this rate, William would passively earn an Ascended Point in just under two years! William realized that the System was almost doing him a favor by requiring Ascended Points, since he wouldn''t need to count how many millions or billions of Points he needed for future upgrades. POTENTIAL POINTS: 8,951,082 Those Points went fast, but they were well spent. Williammented in satisfaction. He met up with Fria and brought her to the Slyte Ind Nation, where he started absorbing the Greater and Superior World Cores rted to the Order and Light Elements. During the process, William thought of methods to increase his strength further, and it didn''t take long before he realized he simply needed to Cultivate more. While he could Ascend right now as it was with either his body or his soul, William wascking the Cultivation that would boost his strength even further. He was only at Soul Formation 1 right now, which had six stages to cross before reaching Tribtion Transcendence. Since he was pushing to increase his strength even more, William felt that he might as well go all out and upgrade his Cultivation Technique while he was at it. He was currently using the Epic-Rarity Mana Devourer Technique, but William knew that it was quite inefficient, and he could do much better now that his Cultivation Talent had reached X-Rank. After absorbing the Light and Order Veins in just under a month and giving Fria more Magical Beasts to battle against, William spent almost three months idly developing a Cultivation Technique that would make any Cultivator in the Mortal Realms salivate. Not only the Mortal Realms, but William wondered if an Ascended Cultivator would be interested. Using the X-Rank Chaos Element, William was able to directly force the surrounding Mana across thousands of kilometers to approach his position like a tsunami. With a bit of Mana from the Order Element, William then directed the Mana to approach him in an orderly manner and condense itself into incredibly dense strands of Spirit Qi that awarded him exactly twenty-five thousand Spirit Qi per minute. -Invented a new Cultivation Technique: +5 PP -Evaluating Technique quality... Chapter 426 Primordial Mana Wait, System. I''m not done yet. William said in his mind as he drew more of the surrounding Mana into close proximity of him. It had started evaluating his Cultivation Technique on its own, but there was more to be done. After absorbing so many World Cores over thest few months, William had gained a general understanding of Chaotic Qi. The System exined a little bit about how Chaotic Qi worked, but there was much more to it than that. First, he understood that the only Mana suitable to be Chaotic Qi was what had been stored within the World Cores. The stronger the World Core, the more Primordial Mana, as the System called it, was stored. Both of these things became obvious after he tried to create Chaotic Qi of his own, despite the System iming he couldn''t harness it yet.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Second, Chaotic Qi was formed by thepression of Primordial Mana, which exined why the System said his Cultivation Technique wasn''t strong enough. In order topress Primordial Mana into its Qi counterpart, the force of his new Cultivation Technique needed to be at least a thousand times stronger than the Epic-Ranked Mana Devourer Technique. If one wasn''t able to meet this standard, thepressed Mana would never exceed the level of Spirit Qi. The only bonus was that highlypressed Spirit Qi was still more useful than regr Spirit Qi and could enhance one''sbat power, just not as much as Chaotic Qi. The final and least obvious characteristic of Chaotic Qi was its character. While absorbing the Light Veins a few months prior, William noticed that the Primordial Mana within wouldn''t react to his call no matter how he tried to extract it on his own. Only the System was able to do so, and it took him weeks to figure out that the System was actually using Mana of the Chaos Element to resonate with the Primordial Mana. It quickly activated and deactivated the Chaos Element from somewhere deep within his body, drawing the Primordial Mana out of the Vein and into William''s body where the System took it for itself. After reviewing his memories and going all the way back to when he absorbed the first Lesser Life Vein, William realized that the System had been doing this even then. Of course, it would have been impossible for the old him to notice this fact, since he hadn''t acquired the Chaos Affinity until muchter. With a much greater understanding of how Primordial Mana worked and how it could bepressed into Chaotic Qi, William teleported to the Dragon Continent and expanded his range even further. Instead of targeting everything within range of him, however, William decided to go one step further and target only the Greater Elemental Veins. With Cultivation at the Soul Formation Realm and not yet at the peak, William didn''t have the ability to absorb the Superior World Cores on his own. He still needed the System for that. Regardless, the Greater World Cores would serve as a suitable enough experiment. The Dragon Continent housed the Elemental Veins of the nt, Ice, Wind, Dream, and Summoning Elements, which allowed William to simultaneously target twenty-five Greater Veins at once! William used the Chaos Affinity to draw out the Primordial Mana the same way the System did, then pulled it all towards him at the same time. After the Primordial Mana had all been drawn to him, William switched to the Order Element and performed the same movements as he did before, organizing andpressing the Mana into Spirit Qi. Thepression didn''t stop there, however, as William opened the Territory of Order and activated its second function that allowed him to improve the Mana''s condition to its peak potential. The Spirit Qi waspressed dozens, hundreds, and eventually a thousand times until it became a single drop of ck and purple liquid that William promptly pulled towards his body. The moment the liquid touched William''s Illusionist''s Cloak, the material divided into two parts and was corroded like a tough acid through wood. Even with all the Arrays that William continued to upgrade alongside his improved strength, the material waspletely unable to withstand the natural properties of the Chaotic Qi. When it came in contact with William''s skin, almost the same series of events unfolded. Regardless of the Hard Body or Fitness Talents, or even his own Cultivation, nothing could suppress the Chaotic Qi at all. It melted William''s body like ice cream on a hot day, passing through theyers of skin, muscle, and bone in an instant until it reached his Dantian. William, afraid of the effects of the Chaotic Qi on his Dantian, released arge amount of Chaos Mana and wrapped it around the Qi, allowing it to take the brunt of the damage. Additionally, he wrapped the Chaos Mana in Seal Mana enhanced by hisprehension, finally suppressing the drop of Chaotic Qi. -I told you that your body and Dantian need to be strong enough to handle the Chaotic Qi. I know, but... -You didn''t expect the Chaotic Qi to be so strong? Neither did I my first time. I apud your ability to handle it without my help, though. Were you going to let me destroy my Dantian if I didn''t ask for help? William asked in his mind. -The Chaotic Qi would have at most sent you back to the Golden Core Realm before dissipating. There was no need to assist you. -Chaotic Qi is not a violent attack, else the damage wouldn''t be as simple. With a few months of Cultivation, your Dantian would have recovered. William was surprised to hear that a single drop of non-violent Chaotic Qi was enough to ruin an entire Realm worth of Cultivation, but he heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that the Chaotic Qi was calmly seated next to his Dantian. He couldn''t absorb it unless he removed the dual-Element sealing, but William was satisfied to know that his Cultivation Technique was able to draw in Chaotic Qi on its own. Seeing the strength of the new Qi, William was motivated to improve his body so he could make use of it sooner. -Pending Cultivation Technique has been modified. Restarting evaluation... -Created a new Cultivation Technique: +5 PP -Evaluating Technique quality... ... ... -Invented a Mythic Cultivation Technique: +1000 PP -Name your Technique. William was prepared for a high rating from the System, but he hadpletely forgotten to choose a suitable name for his Cultivation Technique beforehand. Considering he spent three months devising it, one would have thought a name would already be prepared. This will probably be thest Cultivation Technique I create on the Mortal Realms. Eventually I will Ascend, and this final Technique will be a new beginning for me. One day I may use even better Techniques, but this will be the end of the beginning, then the beginning of the end. To a regr human, my Cultivation range seems near infinite... infinity... The end of the beginning, the beginning of the end, but infinite. Omega is infinite, and it''s also thest letter of the Greek alphabet. But if I want to call it reverse infinity, I should flip the word around... As William''s mind spun at a rapid pace, a phrase formed in his mind, perfectly describing the Cultivation Technique he had just created. System, I think I''ll name it Agemo Primordial Compression. Chapter 427 Ascended Cultivation -New Technique: Agemo Primordial Compression -Adopt this as your new Cultivation Technique? Yes/No? How far will my Cultivation regress when I adopt the Technique? -One full Realm. Hmm, I guess there''s no way to avoid having to take another Tribtion. I might as well start using the Technique now. Adopt the Technique, System. Compared to the simple process when he swapped his Umon Cultivation Technique with the Epic-Ranked Mana Devourer, William''s body took much longer to grow ustomed. Only after a full three days had passed did William actually fully regress to the first stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. His Lifespan dropped from a maximum of 18,000 years to 16,000, while William''s Health and Mana Reserves remained the same. Thergest change was William''s Cultivation Base, which could store twice as much Spirit Qi as before at a hundred million. Other than that, the requirements to reach the second stage were five million Spirit Qi, which was half as much as it would have taken to reach Soul Formation 2, but five times as much as progressing through the Nascent Soul Realm. That being said, William wasn''t worried at all. The Agemo Primordial Compression Technique allowed him to refine and absorb twenty-five thousand Spirit Qi per minute, which was almost a thousand times faster than his old Technique. If he Cultivated for an hour, he would earn 1.5 million Spirit Qi, meaning he could reach the next stage in less than four hours! If anyone in the Mortal Realms were to hear that William could Cultivate most of the Nascent Soul Realm in a single day, they would probably want to die in regret. How long would it take me to reach the peak? A month? Two months? William didn''t know the answer, but he was excited to find out. He used his new Cultivation Technique to absorb all twenty-five Greater Veins at the same time, allowing the System to take the Primordial Mana for itself since absorbing it was too dangerous. At the same time, William pulled in the surrounding Mana andpressed it into Spirit Qi at a reduced rate of five thousand a minute. In this manner, William was able to both Cultivate and absorb the Greater Veins simultaneously, even progressing with the System Quest faster than before. It only took William four days to absorb every Greater Vein, his Cultivation Base reaching 28.8 million Spirit Qi. Before the System began absorbing the Superior Cores, William used 26 million Spirit Qi to return to the fifth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. Each upgrade costed one million Spirit Qi more than thest, which meant to reach the sixth stage he needed nine million Spirit Qi. Compared to the months spent trying to reach the Soul Formation Realm before, this was nothing! William even enjoyed the feeling, since his strength had improved dramatically since swapping out his Cultivation Technique. He didn''t forget to look at the bonus effects of the Cultivation Talent, which had been improved since upgrading his Technique. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Cultivation (Common): (SSR --> X) Effects: Cultivation Speed +17600% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Cultivator''s Intuition: Can see through others'' concealment techniques, revealing their Cultivation without fail. -Enlightened: Chance of Enlightenment increased by 30%. -Natural Spirit Aura: Spend 1000 Spirit Qi to create a Spirit Aura that defends against physical or Magic attacks with ease. Strength of the Spirit Aura is equal to your Cultivation Realm plus two stages per the Rarity of your Cultivation Technique above Common. Spirit Aurasts until broken and can be recast until the Host is out of stored Spirit Qi. Next rank up: 1,000,000 PP and one drop of Chaotic Qi ¡ª¡ª¡ª William was originally checking the Cultivation Talent to see how powerful the Natural Spirit Aura would be after acquiring a Mythical Technique, but he was surprised to see that he had also satisfied the requirements to view the Cultivation Talent''s rank up. Since I''m in the fifth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm right now and I have a Mythic Technique, my Natural Spirit Aura should be ten stages above me, equal to Soul Formation 5. If I can reach the peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, my Natural Spirit Aura would be equal to the peak of the Ascension Realm! But that''s not all, I can actually upgrade my Cultivation Talent right now! System, let''s do it! The drop of Chaotic Qi that was sealed next to William''s Dantian was absorbed by the System, followed by a light popping sound as a new window appeared in front of him. The entire process was incredibly fast, but the effects of his new Technique were enough to say it wasn''t a simple upgrade. ¡ª¡ª¡ª TALENT UPGRADED Ascended Cultivation (Common): (F) Effects: Cultivation Speed +17600% >> +35200% X-Rank Bonus Effects: -Cultivator''s Intuition: Can see through others'' concealment techniques, revealing their Cultivation without fail. Applies to Ascended Cultivators up to one Realm above the Host''s Cultivation. -Enlightened: Chance of Enlightenment increased by 30% >> 40%. -Natural Spirit Aura: Spend 1000 Spirit Qi to create a Spirit Aura that defends against physical or Magic attacks with ease. Strength of the Spirit Aura is equal to your Cultivation Realm plus two stages per the Rarity of your Cultivation Technique above Common. Spirit Aurasts until broken and can be recast until the Host is out of stored Spirit Qi. Ascended Bonus: +5% Resilience towards Chaotic Qi Next rank up: Ascend to view the next Rank''s requirements. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Does this mean I can absorb Chaotic Qi now? William asked as he looked at the Ascended Bonus of the Cultivation Talent. It was the first Ascended Talent he had that didn''t have a group of question marks concealing its details. -No. You''re still not strong enough. Damn... William didn''t think about it too much and allowed the System to absorb the Superior Cores. In the meantime, he looked at his other Talents and set aside the Resistance Talents that he would be able to upgrade in the Mortal Realms.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om --Charm Resistance: X (1,000,000PP + Stained ss refined by a Master zier) --Shockwave Resistance: X (1,000,000PP + Lead Ore) --Stable Footing: X (1,000,000PP + Absorb Superior Wind Vein) --Aging Resistance: X (1,000,000PP + T10 Appearance Restoration Pill) --Summon Resistance: X (1,000,000PP + 10,000 Soul Strength) --Gills: X (1,000,000PP + Absorb Superior Water Vein) --Prity Resistance: X (1,000,000PP + 100% Comprehension of Primary Law of Gravity) --Soul Bound: X (1,000,000PP + 10,000 Soul Strength) The stained ss was something he could refine himself in a matter of minutes, while he already had Lead Ore in his possession. Even if he didn''t, his Earth Affinity was enough to create lead on its own. He was currently in the process of absorbing the Superior Wind Vein, and the Water Vein was in the Ocean and could be easily essed afterwards. The Appearance Restoration Pill was something that William had been nning to refine for a while now, but he was just missing one material for the Tier 10 Pill: A Superior Life Shard. He already knew where to find them, though, so that also wasn''t an issue. Other than those Resistances, William only needed to spend twenty thousand of his Soul Strength and fullyprehend the Gravity Element, then he would have every Ascended Resistance Talent avable to him! Chapter 428 Rapid Growth Once the System had finished absorbing the Superior Wind Vein, William brought out the necessary tools and created some sand with the Earth Element. Additionally, he spent arge amount of Mana to produce gold that would serve as a metallic oxide for the stained ss. The requirements for the Charm Resistance Talent''s Ascension were simply stained ss and a million Potential Points. It didn''t specify what kind of stained ss, so William went through with the easiest method he coulde up with. With a few hours and a series ofplex steps, William was able to produce a pristine shard of yellowish-brown stained ss. Even though it was his first attempt as a zier, the Jack Of All Trades Talent served as more than enough of a handicap to perfectly refine the ss. He immediately used the stained ss to Ascend his Charm Resistance Talent. As the name implied, the Charm Resistance Talent gave William increased resistance to any form of charming effect, such as certain Spells of the Dream or Illusion Element that targeted his psyche, or simply extreme beauty that might be distracting. William didn''t waste any time and immediately spent twenty thousand Soul Strength to Ascend his Soul Bound and Summon Resistance Talents. The Ascended Soul Bound Talent would better preserve William''s Soul Strength if he was affected by something simr to the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin, while Summon Resistance stated that he would be able to resist Spells of the Summoning Element that targeted his body. ording to the System, the Trial Tower''s entrance in the Gravitas Ruins used the Summon Element to pull Cultivators inside when they looked at its interior. The Ascension Portals also used abination of the Gravity and Summoning Elements to draw Cultivators toward it. William wanted to get the upgrades out of the way as quickly as possible, so he brought out a piece of lead ore and Ascended the Shockwave Resistance Talent next. Since he had just absorbed the Superior Wind Vein, he was also able to Ascend his Stable Footing Talent. I have eight Ascended Resistance Talents now. If I count the Cultivation and Recovery Talents, I have a total of ten Ascended Talents! William smiled as he closed the System Panel and Cultivated for a day before allowing the System to absorb the Superior nt Vein next. He didn''t forget to use the Potential Points he had passively earned to upgrade hisst Potential Farm to A-Rank, raising his daily ie to 2.25 million Potential Points per day. At the current pace, he would have an Ascended Point in roughly a year and a third. Over the next month and a half, William would absorb a Superior Vein, then Cultivate for a day. Since his Cultivation Talent had improved even further now, William was able to absorb fifty thousand Spirit Qi per minute. His Cultivation Base was almostpletely full by the time he finished absorbing the Superior nt Vein, and by the time the Dragon Continent waspletely clear, William''s Cultivation had far surpassed his previous record. INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Efretta''s Lesser Human -Birth Age: 23 -Real Age: 1219 -Lifespan: 64000 Years -Cultivation: Soul Formation 5 (0/70m) -Heavenly Mark: Heaven''s Aura, ??? STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 12m/12m -Mana: 3.96m/3.96mN?v(el)B\\jnn -Fame: 145 -Humanity: 53 -Ascended Value: 1 -Attention: 80 -Soul Strength: 377985 -Cultivation Base: 7.8m/1b William was about to question his real age, but when he checked his mental calendar, he realized that it was already April 3rd, 2027. So much time had passed, and William realized he had already been on Efretta for three years now. His eyes widened as he scrolled down, surprised to see that his lifespan was getting close to six digits long. My maximum lifespan quadrupled, and my Health doubled while my Mana Reserves increased by a million in one go! Wait, am I reading this right? My Cultivation Base can reach a billion Spirit Qi now?!? -That is correct. The numbers have been shorthanded so it''s easier to read. William nodded in agreement. No matter how good his memory is, shorter numbers are better numbers. He was d that his Cultivation Base had increased by such arge amount, because his previous storage was barely enough to contain a day and a half worth of Cultivation. Now that it had expanded, William could Cultivate for almost two weeks straight without having to spend his Cultivation! Better yet, more storage meant William would be able to use his Natural Spirit Aura more often. Since the Soul Formation Realm had only 6 stages, William''s Natural Spirit Aura was currently equivalent to a Cultivator at the ninth and final stage of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. If one were to rank William''s Talents by themselves, the Ascended Cultivation Talent would be in the top ten even though it was only a Common Talent. While top ten didn''t seem like much, one had to remember that William had three Mythic Elements, and powerful Talents like Fitness, Hard Body, Forcefield, and Jack Of All Trades. My Cultivation is so fast, and there are only fifteen Superior Veins and seventy-one Greater Veins left to absorb. At this rate, I''ll Ascend in less than a year! Thinking about this made William realize that hisprehension of the Gravity Element would be holding him back. If he didn''tprehend it fully, he couldn''t Ascend the Prity Resistance Talent. System, you said the A-Rank Element Farm would still be consumable, right? -Yes. Each month, the Element Farm will grow one hundred Fruits instead of fifty. William did the math. If he grew one hundred Fruits per month and he already had two hundred Fruits, he could fullyprehend the Gravity Element in exactly eight more months. This would be about perfect for his current rate of improvement! Great, I still have 116 million Points, so let''s upgrade the Gravity Farm to A-Rank! The System did as it was asked, wiping away yet anotherrge portion of William''s Potential Points in an instant. He was growing further and further away from earning the Ascended Point needed to buy a Chaotic Storage, but William wasn''t bothered. -Element Farm (Gravity): A (1AP to next rank) One AP to upgrade? Well, I guess it makes sense because ten times a hundred million Points is a billion. Either way, it would be the same. William smiled and left the Dragon Continent to absorb the Superior Water Vein. He used the Agemo Primordial Compression Technique to absorb the Greater Veins first, then allowed the System to do the rest after a brief period of Cultivation. The rate at which the Veins were absorbed greatly exceeded the rate at which the Heavens could produce and send Magical Beasts towards him. The number of Beasts drastically plummeted from the millions to just a few hundred thousand to barely even that. With his overpowered sister around most of the time and his Companion Beasts nearby as needed, William didn''t even have to lift a finger against the Heavens'' summons. He continued to leisurely Cultivate in between his absorption sessions, quickly exhausting the natural Mana scattered across the World. After three more months passed and William had absorbed half of the Superior Veins on the Velos Continent, many yers that had yet to Ascend found themselves unable to Cultivate at all! The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 429 Frostile As the time passed, William found himselfmitting more and more time to his Cultivation. He quickly progressed to the peak of the Soul Formation Realm, his Talents and the effects of the Ascension Dragon Tears offsetting the majority of the Ultimate Tribtion''s damage. The Heavens had reached the limit of how strong they could make the Tribtions long ago, so William was unperturbed even after reaching the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. Better yet, the System no longer needed to help him absorb the Superior Cores, so he could absorb them himself while simultaneously Cultivating. INFO: ( - ) -Name: William -Race: Efretta''s Lesser Human -Birth Age: 23 -Real Age: 1219 -Lifespan: 128000 Years -Cultivation: Tribtion Transcendence 9 (990m/1b) -Heavenly Mark: Heaven''s Aura, ??? STATUS: ( - ) -Health: 48m/48m -Mana: 7.92m/7.92m -Fame: 145 -Humanity: 53 -Ascended Value: 1 -Attention: 82 -Soul Strength: 407985 -Cultivation Base: 3.6b/10b I can Ascend at any time now. William thought as he looked at the Status Panel. His lifespan had finally reached six digits, making him feel invincible in his current state. Even if he were to let the Recovery Talent run wild for years, William would probably still be able to handle the side effects. As a consequence of breaking past the Soul Formation Realm, William found himself earning thousands of Soul Strength in one go, which only increased as he progressed through the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. By the time he reached the peak, William had earned back more Soul Strength than what he spent on Ascending the Soul Bound and Summon Resistance Talents. His Soul Inheritance Technique already allowed him to passively gain Soul Strength over time, but it wasn''t even close to as exaggerated at this. Inparison, it would probably take William two or three thousand years to gain twenty thousand Soul Strength normally. Unless he fully upgraded his Soul Cultivation Talent, of course. Only the Seal, Sound, and Darkness Veins are left on this Continent, then I still need to absorb everything on the Azures Continent... Anything can happen in these next few months, so I think this is a good time to see my friends once more. William stood up from his cross-legged position and flew in a certain direction towards the old Revista Faction''s Headquarters. He said old, because in recent months Gunther and Tia decided to take over as dual Patriarch and Matriarch of the Faction. Following Gunther''s enlightenment, he gained an absurdly powerful ability rted to the Ice Element that was no less overpowered than one of William''s Legendary Talents. Using this ability and following an altercation between them and a younger member of the Revista Faction, Gunther and Tia suppressed the higher-ups in a much more aggressive manner than William had. Afterwards, they married and adopted thest name Frostile, changing their new Faction''s name to be the same. Tia was a bit sad that William didn''t show up for her wedding, but she quickly forgave him when a portal sent her a pair of enhanced Starmetal Staves that attached to her gauntlets.N?v(el)B\\jnn If she willed it, each Staff would fold many times over and conceal itself within the gauntlet, hidden from view until she wanted to surprise her opponent. As a slight battle maniac, Tia couldn''t help but retract her previous negative opinion of William. While her power saw arge boost because of William''s gift, another event had a much more significant impact. During the marriage ceremony, a rudement made by one of the guests resulted in Tia''s enlightenment rted to martial arts, which unfortunately for the guest resulted in their untimely death. She quickly made use of the Starmetal Staves, crippling the man''s Dantian with the first strike and shattering his heart on the second. The Frostile couple weren''t the only two to change over the years. No one could remain the same forever, and that stood true for Carl, Charlotte, and Yuming as well. While none of the three had yet to undergo enlightenment, Charlotte''s Life Element had reached its peak potential at C-Rank, and she even learned many Spells that made up for herck of Affinity with great expertise. Boosted by her now Soul Formation Realm Cultivation, Charlotte''s Life Element was a great asset to Tia and Gunther while maintaining their Faction. Yuming continued studying Alchemy, and with the asional tips from William was able to refine peak Tier 8 Pills. He was still very far behind the others in terms ofbat power, but Yuming had be a renowned Alchemist of his own, praised as a talented youth beyond his years. Carl saw the greatest improvement among the group. His Heavenly Mark became stronger and stronger over time, allowing him to contract more and more powerful Magical Beasts as his Cultivation grew. With the constant battles between Magical Beasts and Heavens'' call for supporters, Carl learned how to resist themands and remain in control of his creatures. He regrly visited the battlefield where Fria and William''s Beasts fought, collecting tens of thousands of peak Magical Beasts and storing them into a series of extremely intricate scrolls. When William and Fria reached the old Revista Faction''s pce, the group was enjoying a banquet consisting of hundreds of rare Spirit Food sourced from Magical Beasts. It seemed that Fria''s efforts were quite beneficial to the World''s food supply. "Will! You''re back!" Charlotte dashed from her seat and ran to William with an open-armed hug, casting a suspicious nce at Fria in the process. Charlotte had seen William only a few months before, but for a girl her age that was an extremely long time. Not many could withstand being away from their partner for so long, and Charlotte was no exception. It didn''t help that Fria was with Williamst time, who had been left behind to fight Magical Beasts during his previous visit. Her only source of sce was that William''s feats regrly spread around the World. No matter where she was or what she was doing, she always knew what William was up to at any given moment. Only when he swapped from one Continent to the next to absorb different Superior Cores would she briefly lose track, but his strength was so absurd at this point that Charlotte had no reason to fear for his safety. "Who is this?" Charlotte asked with narrowed eyes, her icy tone lowering the room temperature by a few degrees. William followed Charlotte''s gaze to Fria, who was looking at Charlotte in almost the same manner. The only difference was that Fria actually had an Affinity for the Ice Element, so the temperature dropping was literal. "This is my sister, Fria. Fria, this is Charlotte, my..." William exined quickly before any misunderstandings could form. "Friend. We''re friends." Charlotte exined quickly before William could finish his statement. Friends? But we spent the night together. William questioned in his mind. In the briefpse of emotions, William identally used his Thought Transference ability, so Charlotte heard everything. Her expression briefly switched to surprise before her eyebrows furrowed and she mouthed the words "we''ll talk" to William. From William''s experience, this gesture was usually the worst sort of omen, but the exchange of words seemed to lighten the mood a little bit between Charlotte and Fria. They quickly warmed up to each other and held a side conversation while William''s other friends called him over to eat some Spirit Food. Chapter 430 Parting Gifts (1) While William and his friends ate, he mentioned many of the things he learned about the World in thest few months. About how Efretta was actually a World created to seal a powerful Cultivator with the same name. About how the Magical Beast Tides were all caused by his attempt to free Efretta, and how he was actually from another World that was created by Efretta. The only thing that William didn''t mention was the appearance of the System and how it was the reason for both his and Efretta''s strength. While he trusted his friends, both he and the System felt that it was unnecessary and dangerous to reveal its existence. For most of his friends, hearing that William was from another World wasn''t too eye opening, and Fria already knew everything. Charlotte, however, was different. She knew the previous William quite well, and he acted almost the same way as the current William. They even had almost the exact same mannerisms, as if they were parallel to each other. The only difference was that the other William wasn''t nearly as talented as William was now. "How long have you been like this?" she asked.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Since the day you visited me at my house. I think the other William died... I''m sorry." Charlotte nodded, having expected this. That was the same time that William started acting slightly differently too, but she had previously med it on the side effects of Mana Sickness. She didn''t hate William for not telling her, but knowing that he had been a different person this whole time made her feel distant. To suddenly find himself in a new World surrounded by new people, it must have been difficult for him to keep that secret. Even if he had said something, would she have believed him, or would she have thought it was just another side effect of the Mana Sickness? But he could have told me in the Five Elements Sect, or even when we went to this Continent for the first time... why did he have to wait until now? she wondered. "I know that''s a lot to ept, but this is the truth about me." William finished his exnation. "But you were always the same person at the Sect, right?" Carl asked. William nodded. "Then there''s no problem! We''ve been friends the entire time, and that won''t change. So what if you''re from another World, we''ll all be the same when we Ascend, right?" Carl smiled. "That''s right! You''re already a monster, so what''s the difference between a monster from here and from somewhere else?" Yuming added. Williamughed, "Speaking of Ascension, I''m going to do it soon. That''s why I came to visit you guys." Tia looked at William with a hint of surprise, "But weren''t we going to build a city together? It was going to be the six of us; seven if we could convince Filipe to join. With your strength and the resources we''ve been gathering, constructing a city of our own would be simple!" William''s eyes glimmered at the mention of resources, but he really couldn''t ept Tia''s offer, "It''s too dangerous for me to stay here for long. You can build the city without me." Tia frowned, but they could all tell that William wouldn''t pass up on loot easily. If he said he needed to go, then so be it. "We might never catch up to you, but you can bet on us Ascending someday ourselves. It might not be for a few hundred years, but we''ll do it and build the city up there!" Gunther smiled as he made a decision. If William couldn''t stay with them, they would have to go to him! "Hahaha, I think I can help with that." William said while simultaneouslymunicating with the System in his mind. The Blessing Element works just like the Curse Element but reversed. If that''s the case, can I use more Mana to extend the duration of the effects? -Request requires¡ª Didn''t you say it was free rted to the Mortal Realms? -You remember that? Ahem, I mean... How does a text box cough? -Do you want the answer or not? William stifled augh and waited for the System to continue. -The more Mana that is used, the longer the effectsst. There is a limitation to how powerful a Blessing can be, though. You can also further extend their duration by weakening the strength of your Blessings. Perfect, just what I wanted to hear! William raised one of his hands and called Blessing Mana to his fingertips. Gunther and the others looked at William with confusion while the Mana gathered. Since Blessings and Curses were rtively weak unless one had a high Affinity with the Element and William hardly ever used the two Elements, the World had yet to see any Blessing or Curse Spells that couldst for longer than a few hours. The best one could do was dy the effects of the Spell, much like the assassin in the Five Elements Sect had done to William. This was around the same time as the Alchemy Competition, and William remembered it very clearly because he had severely underestimated the strength of his Arrays Talent back then. Three hundred thousand Mana was channeled from the depths of William''s body and gathered on his fingertips, shaking the pce walls as itpressed to the point that it filled Gunther with a sense of fear. Carl used the Earth Element to stabilize the building, holding everything steady as William sent the highlypressed ball of Blessing Mana at Gunther''s body. "Are you trying to kill me?!" Gunther screamed like a little girl and frantically dodged to the side, but William''s Magic Homing Talent kicked in. The Blessing Mana followed Gunther''s every move, entering his chest and bathing him in a bright golden light. The others, who were also slightly concerned about William''s sudden action, burst out inughter when they heard Gunther scream. Carl started wheezing, almost losing control of his Earth Spell in the process. Bits of dust and dirt fell from above, showering everyone inside and dirtying their clothes. Everyone except William, of course. -Blessings of Magic Power, Mana Efficiency, Mana Control, and Mana Regeneration applied. -All aforementioned effects will be enhanced by forty percent. -Effect duration: Fifteen years. Hmm, I nned for it tost twenty years at least, but I guess this is good enough for the first set. William thought as he started gathering Blessing Mana once more. Noticing that he wasn''t injured, and even feeling a little stronger than before, Gunther dusted himself off and red at his friends forughing at him, then waited silently for William to finish casting his next Spell. -Blessings of Cultivation Speed, Cultivation Intuition, and Enlightenment applied. -All aforementioned effects will be enhanced by forty percent. -Effect duration: Fifteen years. Two more. William gathered his Mana for a third time. -Blessings of Strength, Speed, Visual Awareness, Reaction Time, and Battle Consciousness applied. -All aforementioned effects will be enhanced by forty percent. -Effect duration: Fifteen years. Last one. -Blessing of Ice Boost applied. -Effect will be enhanced by forty percent. -Effect duration: Fifteen years. By the end of William''s blessings, almost a million Mana was spent while Gunther received an all-round forty percent boost to both his best and worst abilities. If he were topete with Tia with his physical body, he would now have a slight fighting chance! Chapter 431 Parting Gifts (2) Tia saw Gunther looking at her and bared her teeth like an animal, "What? You wanna fight?" "No ma''am." Gunther averted his gaze before Tia decided it was time to spar. Everyoneughed while William gathered his Mana and casted simr Blessing Spells on everyone present. With almost eight million Mana in his Reserves, William had no problem with going all out. In addition to the other buffs, Carl received a boost to his Earth and Summoning Magic, allowing him to better control the peak Magical Beasts under his control. If he had ess to an Ascension-level Magical Beast right now, Carl might just be able to pacify it. Controlling it would be another matter, but he would at least not be at risk of death in the next fifteen years or so. Yuming''s Fire Magic was boosted, but William also used the Thought Transference and his profound teaching ability to enhance his understanding of Alchemy, instantly allowing him to break the barrier between the eighth and ninth levels of Pill Refinement. Seeing that Yuming gained knowledge rted to the Alchemy profession, Carl decided not to be polite and asked for William to impart Arrays to him, so he passed along as many Advanced Runes and Arrays as he knew to Carl. Anything past that might result in some sort of bacsh, so William ended it there. Perfect Arrays would be something for Carl to learn on his own, though his progression speed fast enough that William wondered if the man would ever have a need to use Arrays. It would probably take him a few hundred years to learn Complete Arrays. By then, he might be ready to Ascend, but who am I to tell him what to do. William shrugged as he finished passing along the information. He moved on to Tia, Blessing her with mostly the same effects and transferring some of his knowledge of the Weapons Master Talent. Regardless of if she chose to use no weapon or some, understanding her opponents'' weapons should make it easier for her to counter them. He didn''t forget that Gunther was interested in cksmithing, so William went back and passed along some information to him. Gunther''s mental strength wasn''t nearly as high as the rest, though, so William was only able to give him a little bit of knowledge and some general tips. Lastly, Charlotte received her buffs along with a boost to her Life Element. It was a bit ironic for her to be gaining from William when their first interaction was her healing him, but she didn''t say anything. Instead, she pursed her lips and gave William a slight smile and a simple "thank you". "I know it''s not a lotpared to the trouble I''ve put you all through..." William apologized earnestly. "What do you mean? The Gravitas Ruins was basically a Cultivation Hotel that you reserved for free, and then we got to stay in the best Cultivation Ground in the entire World, all because our enemies are afraid of you!" Carl said. Gunther spoke up, "Yeah, I would probably still be in the Golden Core Realm if not for you, Nascent Soul if I was lucky. And with these Blessings, I might be able to Ascend in the next few dozen years!" William was touched by the words of his friends, but he didn''t have the luxury of time to remain much longer. He signaled to Charlotte, who nodded and went off to another room while waiting for William to say his goodbyes. While Will would be around for a few more months, this was thest time he nned to visit with his friends before Ascending. Other than seeing Misha for a while, William didn''t intend to let anything else hold him back. -You won''t even spend a few days with her? She''s not even my real mother and staying close to her is only going to make me feel more and more guilty. William retorted. If it was his biological or adopted family from Reius it would be one thing, but he had barely ever spoken to Misha since arriving on Efretta. I already felt bad enough teleporting piles of Gold Coins to her new house with apologetic notes. What am I supposed to say? "Hi mom, or actually not my real mom. I stole your son''s body and left you in confusion for three years." "Oh, by the way, I caused the Beast Tide that destroyed your home and vige, and you would have died too if not for Torc. Oopsie!" -I suppose you''re right. You dare to admit that I''m right? Are you okay? I was expecting a much longer back-and-forth with you. -You want to be bullied? I have no problem bullying you. In fact... Ugly, Idiotic, and Embarrassing. What are you saying? Are you insulting me? -I''m just describing you. Fuck. Fine, you win again! William heaved a sigh, drawing his friends'' attention. "Don''t worry about him," Carl waved his hand in dismissal, "Will does that all the time. I''m starting to think he has conversations with himself. He might even be r... I won''t say it." -Hmph! They agree with me. He didn''t even say it! -Even you know what he was about to say! William shook his head and ignored the System. He bade each of his friends farewell, then headed to the nearby room. Charlotte was already waiting on a couch fit for two, two teacups filled with a sweet-smelling liquid ced on a table in front.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om One of her legs were crossed over the other in a slightly elegant manner while her hand rested on her chin, her fingers curled and concealing half her lips. For a naturally cute girl like Charlotte who was usually bursting with energy, this attitude sent warning signals that told William he was in for a long conversation. "Hey." he said as he sat down next to her. "Hey." William paused for a moment, "Is there something you wanted to talk about?" Charlotte looked down and adjusted the folds of her dress. She was very quiet for a long time, not speaking even after five minutes had passed. These moments became a miniature form of torture for William as he tried to guess what was on Charlotte''s mind. Was she mad at him for not visiting more often? Was she disappointed that he didn''t give her more Blessings than the others? Did she think his sister Fria was some sort of threat to her? It wouldn''t be umon in a Cultivation World, but William found it unnatural. Ten minutes passed, then fifteen before Charlotte finally chose to speak. "I can''t keep up with you." "Keep up with me? Why would you need to do that?" Charlotte raised a finger to her lips, as if asking William to stay quiet. "Ever since you left Thin Creek Vige, I had been following you, trying to keep up so you wouldn''t leave me behind. At first, it was because I had grown close to the old William, but you are a spitting image of him. Even if you say you''re different people, I still want to treat you the same. But... When I was recruited by the Five Elements Sect and found you again, you were already far above me in strength. I''m a healer, I can''t be strong like other Mages. I had to learn how to fight, but I''ve never been good with weapons like you and the Sect Elders or fists like Tia. I''m useless, and I always have been. I''ll never be able to keep up with your progression, and I''ll always be the burden that holds you back." Charlotte looked away with a heavy sigh. William was about to speak, but Charlotte locked eyes with him once more. "You asked me what we are. I think you should forget about me." Chapter 432 A Bet, Scheming "Forget about you? What do you mean? Just because you can''t keep up with my Cultivation doesn''t mean that you''re a burden. Besides, I never expected anything like that in the first ce." William tried to console Charlotte. "It''s not just that... I''ve only seen you a few times since you started your Quest, and now you''ll be Ascending. I might not be able to see you for a long time, so I don''t want you to wait for me..." William shook his head, "I don''t mind waiting." "You say that now, but what if a beautiful Goddess tries to seduce you? You never know!" Williamughed, "I have Charm Resistance, that won''t happen. Though I''m impressed you think so highly of me, you''re the only Goddess that''s seduced me so far." Charlotte blushed a little at William''s words, though she didn''t fully understand the first bit. How could someone be resistant to beauty? Her expression returned to her usual energetic self, "Let''s bet on it then. If someone in the Ascended Realms manages to catch your heart, I win, and you have to treat them better than you did me. You will take them out on loads of amazing dates and cook them tasty food, and you''ll never leave them to wonder how you''re doing for months at a time." "And what if I win? What are the conditions?" William asked. "If you don''t find anyone new by the time I Ascend, then we''ll be engaged. And you still have to do all those things I said." Charlotte winked. "Haha, sounds like an unfair deal but okay." William reached out his hand and acted like he was going to shake Charlottes. She grabbed his hand firmly in hers, then pulled his arm towards her to make him lean forward. Since William had such a strong body, Charlotte wouldn''t normally be able to do this, but he let it happen. He leaned forward and gave Charlotte a kiss that seemed almost made to relieve his stress. It started it very slow and rxed, gently tapping at his upper and lower lip, but eventually the kiss became fierce and solid. By the end of it, William''s lips felt tingly, as if Charlotte owned a special vacuum built just for him. "Well?" she asked with a light smile. "It''s a deal." William returned her expression with a beaming smile of his own. *** "You mean to tell us that a Mortal Cultivator known as William has be strong enough to for us tobel him as a future threat?" A small group of golden-shrouded individuals looked at Juhi with a mixture of ridicule and disgust. Their faces were covered in thick cloaks, concealing everything about them except their voice, but Juhi still bowed very deeply to express his servitude. There was no need to verify their identities. Juhi nodded seriously, "The boy has mastered many powerful skills that even I am not entirely aware of. I believe he could cause you all some trouble if he Ascended." "Hah! This was a waste of time I can see. No Mortal Cultivator has been able to challenge us for a long time. I think you''re full of shit!" one of the figuresughed at Juhi, his smile curving up widely in an almost monstrous manner. Another spoke up, "Have you underestimated us? We are the Heavens, not just some wandering trader you''ll meet on the street. Just because you don''t know someone''s ability doesn''t mean ours is no match!" A third opened their mouth to speak, ready to issue a final sentence and kick Juhi out of the meeting room, but then a thought came to them. Their voice lowered as they asked, "Which World is this again?" Juhi answered swiftly, "Efretta, sir." "Efretta..." the one that asked and the others echoed the word in an almost nostalgic manner. "An interesting World to be spawning talented youths. Is she escaping?" A fourth figure that had yet to speak finally said a word, "No, my World is fine. The seals have weakened slightly, but that''s it." If William were here, he might have recognized the voice as Cerulea, or Golden Girl. Juhi didn''t see it, but her lips formed a slight pout when Efretta was mentioned, cursing her back luck for already being reported on so soon. I can''t let father find out about this. she thought to herself as she proceeded to exin a fabricated version of the state of her World. There was a mention of William, but his feats were toned down so much that he didn''t seem like much more than slightly more talented than the average Cultivator. It was enough to raise some eyebrows, but not nearly enough to draw their full attention. For beings like the Heavens that could easily live millennia, Cerulea''s description wasn''t even enough to make them want to treat William''s life as a soap opera. They preferred to focus on their own Worlds, if they had one. When it came time to exin why the World Cores were being absorbed and the seal weakening, she described it as a little experiment to see if she could benefit from Efretta''s hard work, which was partially true. "Is that all, Miss Cer-" "That''s it." Cerulea snapped before one of her counterparts could make a mistake and expose her name. It wasn''t an issue for the Heavens, but very unprofessional. If Juhi were to call her Cerulea in the future, she might just puke. The group nodded and decided to put the matter to rest, ending the matter immediately. Juhi was forced to go back in shame, having been identified as the equivalent of a false rm. It was disappointing, to say the least, but Juhi had no intentions of fighting with the Heavens. He didn''t truly know how strong they were since he was just a lowly Ascension Realm Cultivator in the fourth stage, and William was a mortal. Compared to the Heavens that were multiple Cultivation Realms above the general poption of the Ascended Realms, Juhi guessed that William really wasn''t much. "Cultivator, please wait a moment." Cerulea called out as a tiny golden light floated over to him from afar. Juhi was confused, but he understood the moment that the golden lightnded in his hands. It was a pile of almost two hundred Spirit Jades, enough to allow Juhi to either buy a nice weapon from a local cksmith or Cultivate in seclusion in a big city for a few dozen years. He bowed deeply and thanked Cerulea for her time, pleasantly satisfied with the gift. The other Heavens members looked at Cerulea nkly though, as if they didn''t understand her intention. "If it concerns my World, any information is valuable. It''s good to see the others caring so deeply about my territory." Cerulea exined with a wave of her hand. As her hand waved to the others, her shrouded figure slowly dissipated to nothingness, having likely returned to her room. When Juhi left, a few other figures frowned and spat, "Damn that Cerulea! She thinks she can do anything she wants just because her father is a big shot. It''s obvious that something is happening in her World, but without the Mortal Threat notification, no one is supposed to get involved." Someone else shrugged, "Why does it matter to you? It''s just a World, and it''s hers anyway. If something bad happens, it''ll naturally be on her and not us." A third smiled, "You know, if miss Cerulea messes up big time, I wonder if her father will give her inheritance to someone else..." The thoughts of a godly inheritance from a man as great as Cerulea''s father made all of the Heavens members that remained drool slightly, theirposure aplete differencepared to how they acted around Juhi. As they continued to scheme behind Cerulea''s backs, the woman in mention watched all the events unfold on a small crystalline orb with a smile. Those idiots. If they know I have a World of my own and they''re even aware of who my father is, how dare they try to talk poorly about me behind my back? Cerulea twisted her finger and saved a recording of their conversation. Showing this to someone now wouldn''t help her at all, but perhaps this little piece of information would be very useful at ater date. She smiled as she thought the reverse of what the other Heavens members did. If they can plot and scheme about taking my inheritance, I guess I can scheme about taking everything they have! All I need is for that William to show me a little more and I think I can do it! A booming voice resounded in Cerulea''s bedroom while she thought, "My sweet little silly bear! I heard you had a meeting about a Mortal Threat, did everything go well?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Ugh, dad. I told you not to call me that. I''m already four hundred and fifty million years old, can''t you call me something normal like daughter, miss, or even just my name?" Cerulea crossed her arms in front of her chest as she groaned. "But pookie-doo!" "No! That''s even worse!" Chapter 433 Mana Pattern, Stabilizing The World After William sorted out everything with Charlotte, he had no reason left to remain in the pce. There were still a few Superior Cores left to absorb on the Velos Continent, thenst would be Azures. William didn''t forget to spend some of his Potential Points to upgrade the Gills Talent, since the Superior Water Vein had been absorbed already. There were only two Resistance Talents left to Ascend: Prity Resistance and Aging Resistance. So far, the Gravity Farm had earned William 350 Fruits, but he would still need seven more months before it was fullyprehended. William had originally nned for the Gravity Element to be fullyprehended at the same time that he reached the peak in Cultivation, but he hadn''t expected to be able to Ascend his Cultivation Talent so soon. Because his new Cultivation Technique was absurdly strong, and the Cultivation Talent boosted his speed by three hundred and fifty-two times, William needed hardly any time at all to reach the peak. Inparison, the Element Farms were just too slow. But to reach A-Rank with any Element is a hundred million Potential Points, and S-Rank is a full Ascended Point. If I waste my Points time and time again, I''ll never unlock the Chaotic Storage. William thought as he caressed his finger over one of the World Seeds. They had been hidden under his Illusionist''s Cloak this entire time, and William was worried that getting into battle would damage them somehow. To prevent this, he needed the Chaotic Storage more than anything. System, does this mean I''m finally going to get my absurdly broken storage system that every protagonist has? William asked. -Who would make you the protagonist of any novel? Be more realistic. I like to think that there are people out there that like my personality! -Probably not. ... What about the storage, though? Is it good? -You''ve seen the shop. It''s one cubic meter. What about afterwards? -You''ll know when you buy the upgrades. Damn it, don''t tell me this is one of your rules again? Wait, no you told me about the Element Farms so it must be something else. William''s mind was a mess trying to figure out the System''s rules. Either he was missing something, or the System''s rules weren''t static. The System didn''t respond, so William chose to consume the Element Fruits that had grown so far. It had been almost nine months since he checked the warehouse, so 450 Fruits of each Element besides Gravity and Chaos were waiting for him. The Chaos Farm was purchased seven months prior, and the Gravity Farm was bought two months after that. Since the Gravity Farm was A-Rank, William earned five hundred Gravity Fruits, but there were only 350 Chaos Fruits in storage.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Regardless, it was a good haul. After spending nine days to consume the Element Fruits, William''sprehension of the Order Element was the highest at 97.6 percent. Since it was currently July 11th, the Order Element would be fullyprehended by the next harvest in 13 days. -Primary Law of Order (97.6%prehension): You understand almost the entirety of the Order Element''s Primary Law. Your Order Element has been enhanced greatly by yourprehension and you notice something different about your Order Mana. There may be even more effects. Comprehend the Order Element or visit ??? to learn more. After reading the description, William mobilized some of his Order Mana to circte around his fingertips. As he inspected its movements and natural properties, William did in fact notice that something was different about the Order Element. To phrase it better, it wasn''t that there was anything different about it, but that William couldn''t see it before. The Mana particles that usually moved around in an almost unpredictable manner were appearing one by one in his mind. Even without the Vision Talent, William would have noticed that the Mana Particles were more like an absurdlyplex game of connect the dots. Some Mana Particles wererger than the others and would remain almost perfectly still, only vibrating slightly in response to the movements of the smaller Mana Particles. These were the "dots" of connect the dots. The smaller Mana Particles were like the line, rushing from onerger Mana Particle to the next. When he followed a single Mana Particle, William saw that they formed the same circuit, repeating its movements after roughly two or three seconds. When he channeled more Mana around his hands and arm, William noticed that the pattern didn''t change at all! The amount of Mana was greater, but the pattern was the same unless he manipted the Mana in a way that it wasn''t supposed to move. Even more fascinating was that the Order Mana would grow stronger and weaker depending on how much he stuck to this specific pattern. If he tried to break the pattern, the Spell would fall apart immediately. If he modified it slightly, the Spell would still work, but it was much weaker than usual. The X-Rank Order Element was onlyparable to when it was S-Rank with certain patterns. It''s good to see that there''s a pattern, but there''s something special about the way these Particles move. I need to test this more. William thought to himself as he controlled the Order Mana to circte around his pointer finger. He opened a portal to the Superior Death Vein, allowing the System to do the absorption this time while he tested the Order Element. There was a good chance that he wouldn''t learn anything until the Element was fullyprehended, but he wasn''t wasting very much time by testing it now. At the most, a few extra weeks would pass since the System couldn''t absorb multiple Superior Cores at once. While William was fiddling with his Order Element, the sky darkened until it was almost a pure ck, dimmer than the usual night sky. The yers and residents of Efretta had grown ustomed to the sky changing over thest few months, but this time it felt a little different than usual. It wasn''t a Heavenly Tribtion forming, or a massive Magical Beast Tide. There was no Ascension Portal, no Heavenly Lightning, no roars and growls of dangerous creatures. Actually, there was nothing, and that was the most ominous thing for normal people and weak Cultivators. After all, William, Fria, and his Companion Beasts had been dealing with the Beast Tides by themselves up until now. As long as normal people remained under the protection of the Tier 6 Arrays surrounding their cities, no harm woulde to them. Their fears only grew when the Superior Necromancy Vein was absorbed next, cing many Necromancers in danger when their weaker undead fell apart while the stronger ones turned against them. This also seemed to be a turning point for the World, which finally started to destabilize from theck of so many Elements. The natural Mana became incredibly thin, turning many prosperous areas until barrennds, which would be a trend across the World as long as Cultivators kept Cultivating. The Mana density became so low that William found himself unable to castplex Spells that drew Mana from the environment, even with the Life and Earth Elements that had yet to be disabled. At this rate, the Heavens could just wait for all of his Elements to be disabled, then swoop in and capture him. In the process, they would probably strengthen Efretta''s seals and all of William''s efforts would be wasted. To prevent this, William decided to make use of some of the things Efretta taught him. The World Seed for Efretta was in his hands now, so William could channel his own Mana inside to fuel the World. With the help of his Mana Dominator Talent, William recovered 32 thousand Mana per hour, meaning he couldmit a portion of that amount to slow down the rate of the World''s destruction. He used a Complete Mana Absorption Array on himself that would draw out his Mana, then improved it as much as possible until it could draw out a thousand Mana per hour. After creating a total of eleven identical Arrays, William diverted ten of them directly into the Efretta World Seed. Thankfully it had been long enough since William casted repeated Blessing Spells, so his Mana Reserves were currently full. Since his Mana Regeneration was essentially reduced to 21 thousand Mana per hour, William would need almost sixteen days to fully recover from 0. He made sure to allow the Absorption Arrays to take Mana of any Element, which showed its value when the dark sky shifted in color again until it was a pale blue. The Fate and Karma Mages that were equivalent to normal people for months found themselves able to use their Elements again, and the Necromancers fighting their own undead wrested control once more. That said, people like Su Yanyu found that their Elements were much weaker than before, C-Rank Magic onlyparable to D or E-Rank and F-Rank Magic almost worthless. Those with weak Cultivation and F-Rank Water Magic found themselves hardly able to spray water more than a meter in front of themselves, but it was better than nothing. The functionality of all the Elements across the World had returned, and that was enough to stabilize Efretta once more. Chapter 434 Fully Comprehended With thest Absorption Array, William directed it to send its Mana into the Reius World Seed. He hoped that by sending Mana into his home World, William might be able to help Fria improve her real strength. As of right now, the strength of Fria and the other yers was mostly false. Since their Soul Strength was the only thing that could truly improve, Fria was probably one of the strongest people on Reius and she didn''t even know it. If Mana started pouring into Reius, however, there was a slight chance that some people would notice immediately. Eventually, Cultivators would appear and the overall strength of Reius would grow. William didn''t care much about the others, but giving his adopted family a chance to Cultivate while protecting his sister was the ideal oue. He was confident that any resulting chaos would be manageable by Fria and her absurd Soul Strength. "What if people be criminals like the Thieves Guild?" Fria asked after William exined everything to her. "If I''m in the VR headset when something big happens, I''ll die." William hadn''t thought of that fact, and it made him realize that he might have just ced his sister in greater danger than before. That being said, the System told him that Fria was the most suitable Host, so he should have some faith in her. "You''ll do great. If there are criminals, you''ll take care of them, right? I remember how much you begged me to buy this game, but isn''t it fun to think that it''s a real thing? There''s no need to go to College anymore, just Cultivate and reach the peak before anyone else." William smiled. Fria nodded, "Do you think I can use my Cultivation Technique there?" William looked at his sister in confusion, "Is there something special about it?" "My old Technique helped me Cultivate faster in certain areas. I have Water and Ice Magic, so I have to be close to a beach or snowy area. But it''s summer and we don''t live near a beach!" "What about your other Technique? Also, with the System can''t you gain more Magic Affinities?" William asked. "It''s a Soul-Mana Technique. I found it in an Ancient Ruin. Also, it takes a long time to gain new Magic Affinities and Potential Points were rare before. I nned to mostly specialize on my Soul Strength." William was even more confused now. Soul-Mana Technique? -It''s a Cultivation method where one absorbs Souls and Mana at the same time. It works great in Cultivator graveyards and after a long battle, but it would be useless on Reius where there are no Cultivators. It''s a semi-forbidden Technique, but it seems like she only uses it on Magical Beasts. William nodded in understanding, "I''m not good enough at controlling the Mana yet. I don''t know where in the World it''s going, so it will be up to you to find the best ces to Cultivate. Don''t worry, you already have an advantage by being my sister. I''ll definitely help you when I can." Fria smiled, "You''re the best!" "I am." -And humble too. *** 28 dayster, on August 24th. William had just finished absorbing the Superior Fire Vein on the Azures Continent when the System sent him a series of notifications. -Your Elemental Fruits have grown.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om -Your Fruits were harvested. -You have 100 Order Fruits in storage, but your currentprehension only requires 24 more Fruits to reach one hundred percent. Note that consuming additional Fruits will have no effect. -You have 100 Seal Fruits in storage, but your currentprehension only requires 69 more Fruits to reach one hundred percent. Note that consuming additional Fruits will have no effect. My Farm was harvestedst month, but I was so busy with keeping an eye on Reius'' growth that I didn''t eat the Fruits yet. Let''s check it out! -What do you n to do with the rest of the Fruits? Is there anything I CAN do with them? You said eating them will have no effect. -No, they''re useless. Entirely useless, or useless to me? -Entirely useless. They can''t be taken from your warehouse or given to others. Hmm... I''ll just store them anyway. If I run out of storage, then I might start getting rid of them. William replied in his mind as he visited the warehouse. He consumed the Order and Seal Fruits both in quick session, leaving the other Elemental Fruits inside the warehouse until his next visit. -Fullyprehended an Element: +50,000,000 PP -Fullyprehended your first Element: +200,000,000 PP -Fullyprehended an Element: +50,000,000 PP Three hundred million Points just for eating? How can Iin about that? William smiled as he opened the System Panel. With a few practiced motions, the System Panel disyed the information rted to both the Order and Sealing Laws. -Primary Law of Order (100%prehension): The Order Element''s Primary Law has be clear to you. Your Order Element has been enhanced significantly by yourprehension, and you''ve discovered the Order Mana Chart. Your phrases have meaning and can be substituted for silent casting. Huh? William looked at thest line in confusion. He understood that the Order Mana Chart was probably the pattern of Mana Particles that he was able to see earlier, after taking a cursory nce at the Mana Chart, William noticed that it was even clearer than before, and he inherently understood how to modify the Mana Chart to his advantage, further reducing the cost of some Spells while increasing their output. What he didn''t understand, however, was the mention of substitution. Where was the benefit of shouting his Spell out loud when he could cast it silently and surprise his enemies? -When you speak with slight intent, the Mana will be called out on its own, forming a Spell almost automatically. William felt enlightened at the System''s words. If he didn''t have to channel the Mana himself and it was called out on its own... Could it be? He tried it out, staring at a patch of boulders that weremon in the Southern ins. "Destabilize." Nothing. -Not enough intent, the phrase is too short and unambiguous. You haven''t reached that level yet. Hmm, alright. "Order, scatter the particles of that boulder!" William shouted, his body releasing a massive amount of Order Mana that sped towards the boulder in the distance. Momentster, the individual particles separated, and the boulder became dust that scattered in the light breeze. -Too much intent, and that was very awkward. The length is about right, but you can go a little shorter. The System''s words sounded harsh, but William agreed. While hisprehension was high and he understood a lot about the Order Element, he hadn''t used its Magic very muchpared to his other Elements. I know the Seal Element better, so let''s try switching to that. He opened his Life Domain and searched for any signs of life within a hundred kilometers. A dozen or so figures were visible around fifteen kilometers from his position, so William teleported in front of a group of nine Fire Hawks that were flying north in a V-Formation. It was odd to see hawks flying in a method typical to geese, but William didn''t question it. He closed his eyes and calmed his breathing, opening them while simultaneously issuing an order. "Seal my targets." Chapter 435 Definition Is Law, The Appearance Of Mana The Seal Element understood William''s intention this time and seemed to step away from his body on its own to carry out the task. It billowed out like a thick smog, then covered each of the nine Fire Hawks at once and forced their movements to halt midair. Since the Superior Seal Vein was located on the Velos Continent and he had already absorbed it, the strength of the Spell was a lot weaker than normal, but it was still enough to do the job. The only reason the Order Element was still powerful was because it was simply a Mythic Element. The two X-Rank Elements were about as strong as an SSR-Element, but when targeting boulders and hawks, the difference wasn''t noticeable at all. -This is the effect of a Law. Before, you were borrowing the strength of the Element, but now you are making the Element itself do the work. This is the first Realm of Laws: Definition Is Law. -I wanted to see if you could figure it out yourself, and you''ve done surprisingly well. There are three steps to Definition is Law. Dere the Element, define your target, and determine the effects. As long as you meet these three requirements, your Spell will work. -After the Spell is cast, you don''t have to do anything else. William nodded in understanding at the System''s words. He was going to catch the Hawks before theynded, but he realized that something was different about his Mana. It wasn''t actively being channeled, which meant he could cast Magic right now! I had a feeling that this is what you meant, System, but this is amazing! William thought as he channeled Wind Mana to wrap around the Fire Hawks and allow them to safely drop to the ground.N?v(el)B\\jnn He enjoyed looting and earning Potential Points, but the Hawks were merely in the Core Formation Realm. They were hardly worth anything, and their materials weren''t useful to any Pills above Tier 3. William could afford to let them go, and he already felt bad for using them as test subjects. That said, he realized that he could essentially chant Spells into existence. Not only that, but he had the Magic Homing Talent, which would also allow him to multitask, just only with projectiles. If I chant Seal Magic, then an Order Spell, and follow it up by shooting offpressed Fire Bullets, won''t I be casting three Spells at the same time? How can anyone deal with that?!? William was starting to realize just how powerful Cultivators at high levels were. Considering how long Efretta had lived and the fact that she was a Host of the System, William guessed that she was also able to do the same, possibly even with more Elements. If that was the case, to be captured meant her enemies were even stronger! Is everyone overpowered? System, what are you getting me into? William was a bit fearful now. He had been confident in his defensive power for a long time, but he knew that Laws were absurdly strongpared to normal Magic. -You''re overthinking it. There are many much stronger than you, but do I need to remind you of how you treated that Ascended Cultivator? He wasn''t a match for you at all! He was just your average Ascended Cultivator, but the current you would kill him with a few words, literally. William paused for a moment, then nodded. He had to admit that the System had a point. It seems it goes both ways then. There are strong ones and weak ones, and I should be careful of who I offend. -Now you get it, but can you actually stick to your words? I remember at least half a dozen times where you nned to be low-profile but then overdid it. Some of those were because of you though! Exin to me how I was supposed to win the Alchemy Competition without being high-profile? I was brand new to the Sect! -I''m pretty sure I said this before, but the Quest wouldn''t have been issued if you hadn''t arrogantlymented on the Disciples'' refinement methods. This was a long time ago, but I know that you remember. Okay, then the Ranking Board! How could I not be high-profile then? -By paying attention to who you were challenging and studying your opponents. If you had just challenged number 302 instead of 301, then you wouldn''t have had to fight Yu Ren. You only would have had to fight one more battle, and beating the Rank 1 wouldn''t have drawn the attention of the Yu Royal Family. -This was the chain of events that led you to very, might I remind you. William shook his head. The System was right; he was a little overconfident in the past and made a lot of rash decisions. With a System backing him, how could he not be? Who would waste their time studying their opponents when they could say the word and upgrade their abilities? We''ll just have to see what happens when I Ascend, then. William finished as he teleported to an area close to the Livingwood Forest. Following a particr path and entering an inconspicuous cave, William descended deeper and deeper until he reached the Superior Life Vein. He also didn''t forget to gather the necessary Shards for his Appearance Restoration Pill. Over the course of a few months, William kept track of Reius'' progression while absorbing the Superior Veins. The Mana he channeled into the World was slowly improving the state of everything within, many magical things appearing one after the other. First came the nts, which became medicinal herbs countless times better than the original. When these were used in prescription medication and for hospital treatment, many injured and sick found themselves healing at a faster rate than before. Some incurable diseases were magically cured, and hospitals all over the World found themselves emptier and emptier. This was still written off as just a wave of good fortune, but the events of the next month left many experts confused. Taxonomists reported the appearance of many new species of animals that wererger and stronger than their previous versions. They had been eating the herbs that grew naturally, which led to their offspring developing interesting traits. While the taxonomists determined they were still the same creature, many conspiracy theorists guessed that the government was doing some sort of biological testing that spilled off into the environment. As the cases increased, so too did the environmentalistints. Protests across the World destabilized the situation briefly, but everything went off the rails when the first babies born with unusual abilities appeared. Cases of children touching mes and not being hurt at all, or bathtubs suddenly overflowing for no particr reason becamemon. The protests became riots as angry parents believed their children had been exposed to some kind of chemical, and the third month ced many nations on the verge of Civil War. And then the fourth month came. By this time, Fria had secretly reached the Foundation Establishment Realm on Reius, but the first Cultivator had been dered to the public, having just broken into the Qi Refinement Realm. And thus began the greatest¡ª and likely most dangerous¡ª era of Reius'' history. Chapter 436 Released While events unfolded on Reius, William was in the final stages of absorbing the Superior Blessing Vein, thest Elemental Vein in the World. It was also the final seal to break before Efretta was released, which ced William on high alert. Fria was busy increasing her strength on Reius and preparing for any idents, so William was all alone at this point. His Companion Beasts were able to handle the Beast Tides for the most part, but without Fria around he often found himself needing to hatch more creatures. The Companion Beasts weren''t invincible. If they died, they died. When this happened, William received a bacsh that caused an incredible amount of pain and locked out a portion of his soul. Because of this, William found that he wasn''t able to unleash the entirety of his Soul Strength. During the course of four months, William never saw another Ascended creature. It was as if the Heavens had given up on sending strong beings after him. I guess it''s a waste of energy to try to stop me now. If the Skeletal Dragon wasn''t enough and that''s the limit of their ability, there''s no reason to try harder. William grinned as he thought of this. I wonder what Golden Girl is up to... At the mention of her nickname, Cerulea sneezed from across the table during family breakfast. "Little Ceru, are you feeling alright?" a kind-looking man with a thick beard asked. His name was Korin, and while his expression was calm, his foes on the battlefield would see apletely different side of him. "Just some dust, dad. How can we possibly get sick?" Cerulea replied while wiping at her nose.N?v(el)B\\jnn "You never know what''s out there. Even in the Mortal Realms, there sometimes exist dangers that can damage us. Speaking of, how is Efretta doing?" Cerulea''s father could have just peered at William''s World, but Cerulea knew that he wasn''t the kind of person to snoop in others'' business. She shrugged her shoulders, "It''s going well." A few seats away from her, Aegion smirked but said nothing. He knew the situation on Efretta as well as Cerulea, but he had no intentions of telling his father. After all, he had been promised a nearly developed World Seed if he didn''t tell, how could he pass up on that? World Seeds only appeared once every few hundred million years, and a developed one took even longer. Other than the initial seed that formed when one became an Ascension Realm Cultivator, there was no way to gain more. It went even further than that, though. Consuming undeveloped World Seeds would only give a slight improvement to someone of Aegion and Cerulea''s caliber. Even their unstoppable father could only spare three fully developed World Seeds for them both. Across the table from Aegion, Cerulea''s sister could read her expression like an open book. Better than well, Cerulea was excited. But only Cerulea and Aegion truly knew why. It had only been a few months, but that William boy had almostpletely unsealed the World already. Cerulea put up a little resistance to show that she still cared, but she didn''t press him too far so he wouldn''t be slowed down. She was surprised at William''s tenacity and ability to produce his own Magical Beasts, but it eventually reminded her of someone. As she periodically watched William fight, Cerulea noticed the same things that Juhi did. William''s abilities were plentiful and unique, and... they were just like Efretta! "That''s great to hear. Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier. Are you familiar with Ninover?" Korin asked. "Ninover? The man that was parasitized by Efretta during the battle almost a million years ago? I heard he went crazy after a while, didn''t he lock himself up and enter seclusion?" Aegion asked with a raised eyebrow. "That''s right, but it was eight hundred and eighty thousand years ago. That woman was so talented for being only twenty thousand years old back then..." "I was rounding, father. But what about him?" "Apparently he died a few years ago." "Died? How?" Cerulea and Aegion asked in unison. They both knew how powerful Ninover was; his Cultivation should allow him to live to at least three hundred million more years. "The truth is, it wasn''t just a typical parasite that entered Ninover''s body. We couldn''t guarantee that killing Ninover would also destroy the thing inside him, so he chose to lock himself up forever. I would even check up on him every few years, but thest time I went to take a look... Now that he has perished, though, I suspect that whatever was in his body isn''t dead, but escaped somewhere. It might try to return to Efretta, so I''ll be raising the level of security around your World, Ceru." Neither Aegion nor Cerulea were surprised that the being inside Ninover wasn''t normal, having guessed so long ago through their information channels. She even assumed that the being her dad spoke about was already inside William, since his appearance was so sudden and his abilities matched Efretta. That said... Korin''sst sentence put Cerulea on edge. If her father goes to her World, he will instantly guess the situation. Her ns of using William to learn some new skills would bepletely wasted. Not to mention, her despicable mother would probably try to snatch away the World Seeds. "I''ll support her, father. There''s no need to push yourself like this." Aegion spoke up suddenly. Cerulea looked at Aegion with suspicion, but a quick nce from him told Cerulea everything she needed to know. He was still after the World Seed she promised. She smiled ingratiatingly, though she hated every moment of it. "Thank you, brother." "That''s great! The two siblings team up and protect the World; I approve!" Korin was happy to see the pair finally cooperating. Cerulea and Aegion both smiled, but the glimmer in their eyes was because of something else. Their act was effective, almost too good to be true, but an odd sensation from the Mortal Realms prevented Cerulea from thinking about it any further. Cerulea''s eyes turned golden, and she blinked a few times before looking down. Aegion noticed Cerulea''s change in demeanor and did the same, directing his gaze to the Mortal World Efretta. Ripples spanning the entire World were spreading in every direction, passing over its surface tens of times at great speed. In the center of it all, the Wall of Laws near the core fully dissipated, the pile of chains disintegrating into dust as an alluring figure with eyes reflecting a pool ofva stepped out. Just one step, but Efretta was already on the surface. Her Cultivation had dropped to the Ascension Realm, but nothing could take away herprehension of the Elements or her battle awareness. She lifted her head to the sky, staring directly at Cerulea across the myriad Realms. Cerulea broke out in a cold sweat as her view was shattered by an unknown force, but Aegion was still able to perceive the situation. He saw Efretta be extremely weak and kneel on the ground, but then she stood up once more and looked at Aegion next. Momentster, he was in the same condition as Cerulea, but he smiled. It''s finally begun. Chapter 437 No Time, Ascend! -Absorbed the Superior Blessing Vein: +500 PP -System Questpleted. Issuing rewards... -Host already has ownership of the World Efretta. Exchanging reputation with the World Efretta for reputation with the Cultivator Efretta. -Host haspleted both System Quests associated with unsealing the World. Time remaining for first Quest was 7 years and 5 months. Time remaining for second Quest was 8 years and 8 months. Issuing bonus rewards. +2,500,000 Potential Points +50,000,000 bonus Potential Points +250 Reputation with Efretta +50 bonus Reputation with Efretta +1 Random Celestial Talent -Bonus: Celestial Talent automatically raised to X-Rank. -Talent unlocked: World Authorityn/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om -World Authority (Celestial): Consuming World Seeds no longer results in a merging of the two. Instead, Worlds remain separate and can coexist within your body. Additionally, the number of World Slots is increased with each upgrade. This Talent is locked until you enter the Ascension Realm. William felt the World changing around him the moment the Superior Blessing Vein was absorbed, but he was too focused on the System notifications to pay much attention to the situation. Not only had the System issued him much greater rewards than before, but it also automatically enhanced his new Celestial Talent to X-Rank. If he was still on Reius, William might have thought it was Christmas. -Actually, Christmas is tomorrow. Today is December 24th, 2027. World Authority seems strong, but I don''t quite understand it yet. What''s the benefit of having two separate Worlds instead of a singrrger one? -There are many benefits, but the two main ones are quite simple. First, each World will develop individually and at the same pace, meaning having two Worlds will allow you to increase your strength twice as fast, three will be three times the growth speed, and so on. -Second, once the number of Worlds reaches a certain point, you can develop your own internal Sr System or ne. At this point, almost no one in the same Realm will be able topete with you unless certain conditions are met. William''s eyes gleamed when he realized what the System was saying. Efretta had said something before about this World being not fully developed. If that was the case, it could still grow further! If I have both Reius and Efretta right from the start, won''t I be entering the Celestial nes with an insane advantage? I''m already strongpared to other Ascended Cultivators, but this will just be the icing on the cake! I might even be able to fight against Cultivators in the Realm above Ascension! System, how does this Talentpare to the Cultivators in the Celestial nes? -I can''t answer that question urately, and it would be too expensive otherwise. If you want to know more about this Talent, I have additional information at a cheap price of 3 Ascended Points. You already know I can''t afford that! -Then I guess you better get earning. Why are you treating me like¡ª -Like the Cultivators working in the mines? You''ve already absorbed the Superior Death Vein, yet those poords are working tirelessly to earn you more Points. Do you know how many Magical Beasts the old Retribution higher-ups have killed in thest year? Oops, I forgot about those guys. -I know your memory better than anyone; there''s no way you could have forgotten! Well, I didn''t forget, but I forgot. If that makes sense. - ... William ignored the mental waves of annoyance from the System and finally focused his attention on his surroundings. Absorbing the Superior Blessing Vein seemed to have triggered a chain reaction across the World, releasing massive shockwaves that changed the direction of the World''s spin. Day became night and night became day, shifting countless times until William channeled over a million of his Mana Reserves into Efretta''s World Seed, focusing entirely on the Gravity Element. The time of day returned to normal, but an odd sensation forced him to look up. There, he saw a pair of golden eyes that didn''t belong to Cerulea. They were defined and just as beautiful as Cerulea''s, but he could tell at a nce that they belonged to a male. No words were said, but the eyes shifted direction before disappearing in an instant, leaving William confused as to what had just happened. He teleported to the core of the World to see Efretta, but she was already gone. William felt a mix of anger and worry as he realized the Heavens might not have been targeting him, but Efretta this whole time. He opened his Life Domain and teleported to many locations across the World, finally heaving a sigh of relief when he sensed her on the Dragon Continent. His relief onlysted a split second when he found her unconscious body lying on the ground. Her Mana signature was all over the ce, and he could sense with his Cultivation that she was about to fall from the Ascension Realm into Tribtion Transcendence. He hurriedly sat down cross-legged and used his Cultivation Technique to draw in Mana and refine it to match hers, then sent it into her body. s, he wasn''t skilled enough and her body wouldn''t ept the Spirit Qi, he hopelessly watched as she dropped into the Tribtion Transcendence Realm, all the way to the first stage. He waited next to Efretta for hours, silently ming himself for noting by sooner. -This is the bacsh of the Technique she used; it''s not your fault. There''s nothing you could have done, and I already expected her to do this. She''s not dying, so don''t feel guilty. William nodded. Why did she do it? -To block the senses of the Heavens that were watching. She''s given you a chance to Ascend without being tracked by them, you should be thankful. I am thankful. How long do I have? -Three days. It seems like a long time, but the further ahead you get, the better your chances of survival. I''ve pointed out a few suitable Ascension Points, you just have to choose one and leave her behind. What will happen to her? What if I leave her alone and she dies to something else? -She won''t, as long as you''re fast enough. Efretta is your World now. If you consume it, the Heavens won''t be able to peer into it anymore. They will lose all control, and you can keep her safe then. Okay. But the Ascension Portals are under their control, right? How can I Ascend without them? -Remember, the World automatically creates its own portals. Not all are controlled by the Heavens. Now go, before it''s toote! The System''s sense of urgency pulled William into action. He had originally nned to take the Starmetal Safe from the Gravitas Ruins and a few other things with him, but William decided it could remain here for the time being. He wasn''t at Efretta''s previous level, so he might not be able to physically manifest and draw items out of the safe yet, but it would at least be protected in the Gravitas Ruins. Like the System said, there was no time toe up with a good solution, he at least had his personal Space Rings on him. William teleported to the Providence Zone and sat down cross-legged to channel his Spirit Qi. Chapter 438 Ascending, Janus? Strand after strand of Spirit Qi was sent towards William''s Cultivation Base, pushing him closer and closer to the very peak of the Tribtion Transcendence Realm. "Bzzz!"N?v(el)B\\jnn The entire World hummed and vibrated, a massive Ascension Portal more than four times the usual size appearing in the air above William. When his Cultivation was just one Spirit Qi away from breaking through to the next Realm, the Portal grew once more. But this portal was simply meant for those who Ascended through Cultivation. It didn''t apply to Body or Soul Cultivators. I guess the only thing to do now is let go. William thought as he recalled his Seal Element and stopped resisting the condensation of his Soul. "Crack!" spiderweb cracks appeared all around William as the full strength of his body was released in the Mortal World. The cracks spread and expanded for many kilometers, stretching outward for twenty, fifty, then even a hundred kilometers in every direction. -Your body has greatly exceeded the limits of the World. Entering the Body Forming Realm... William''s body underwent a qualitative change all the way down to the cellr level, transforming every aspect of himself into a more powerful version that could better contain the overwhelming amount of energy that he exuded. It was much like how Cultivation breakthroughs would improve all aspects of a Cultivator, except this one targeted only the body and was much stronger than your usual breakthrough. Nothing changed about William''s appearance, but he could tell at a nce that his physical strength had improved hundreds of times, maybe even thousands. He waved his hand, and the cracked fabric of the World shattered like ss, bing a domino effect that wiped the Providence Zone off the map. If one were to visit this location in the future, it would not be called "Providence Zone", but instead be regarded as a region of death and destruction. In ce of the fabric of the World, a massive void appeared, darker and more mysterious than even the Chaos Element. William wanted to use the Seal Element again to limit the damage and stop its spread, but the System stopped him. -Don''t restrict yourself. This damage will heal with time when you leave. There was no time to think about the System''s words since William''s soul fully condensed at that exact moment. The pain that William had been suppressing for years dissipated in an instant, reced by the most rxing sensation that almost made him fall asleep despite his Sleep Resistance Talent. -Your Soul has greatly exceeded the limits of the World. Your Sea of Consciousness has formed. "Ahh..." William released a long breath while his body was automatically elevated towards the now eighty-kilometer-wide Ascension Portal. Finally, William channeled thest strand of Spirit Qi, elevating his Cultivation to the next Realm just as he passed through the Ascension Portal. Enjoy new tales from empire -You have entered the Ascension Realm. The interior of the Ascension Portal was unlike anything William had ever seen. When he sent his Array Puppets to follow Riyald through before, he only saw dozens of colorful lights before the transition ended. This time, however, William saw much, much more than that. He wasn''t sure if it was his X-Rank Vision Talent, his impressive Soul Strength, his Ascension Realm Cultivation, or something else, but William could see not only the interior of the wormhole-like portal, but also what was beyond it. The portal wasn''t solid like the Wall of Laws that surrounded Efretta. No, it was transparent, and incredibly beautiful. Beyond the transparent portal were thousands of Worlds, each unique in their own way. His body traveled for what felt like days, granting him plenty of time to inspect them one by one. Frozen Worlds, devoid of any life and plentiful in Ice Mana. The temperatures were so low that William''s Cold Resistance Talent might have trouble dealing with it alone, but there seemed to be a natural treasure buried deep within the ice. Stars, condensed entirely of Light and Fire Mana, with a hint of Gravity holding everything together. If their brightness didn''t blind you, the ambient heat would melt you into a puddle. Foreign human Worlds, packed with cities and megastructures even more grand than the Hillvire Empire''s Capital. The Mana density on this World was lower than normal, and there were strict regtions that forbade Cultivation without a permit. An interesting rule, but it makes sense. I suppose they act like environmentalists with Mana. He looked at the opposite side of the portal, where vast expanses of void were dotted with hundreds of Worlds more. These were the most fantastical ones of all, and many defied his current understanding of Magic and Cultivation. Two identical Worlds revolved around each other at great speed, a third passing through them as if it didn''t exist. It was more profound than the Illusion Element''s Territory, and the scale was muchrger too. Next to them, a perfectly t World with a circr shape spun like a coin on a table. At first nce, one might not even realize this World was t, but it truly was. There were no humans here, but in between spins William noticed one nearly identical Magical Beast on each side. The World stopped spinning suddenly, one of the Magical Beasts locking eyes with William from probably millions of kilometers away. Its figure reminded William of a centaur, but its face seemed sculpted from red y. The only difference between this one and the other was that the one looking at William had a pair of curved horns that poked into its own ears, while the other had no horns at all. An ancient voice entered William''s mind. Heads or Tails. Choose or die. William knew at a nce that it was the Magical Beast talking. System? -It can hear your thoughts. Choose one, I can''t help you. Who are you? William asked first. We have no name, but some call us Janus. Janus? Like the Roman God of Duality and many other things? The Magical Beast''s behavior instantly made some sense to William. Alright, heads. William didn''t know what the correct answer was, but he was an unlucky person and the usual him would choose tails. Therefore, he did the opposite of what he would have done. The World spun once more, around and around at dozens of revolutions per second, then suddenly went from full speed topletely still in an instant. When it stopped, the opposite Magical Beast appeared in front of William, its demeanor the opposite of gentle. Tails. Choose a punishment. Headless for a thousand years, weakness for a thousand years, or impotence for eternity. When William heard his three options, he felt like he was about to cry. He had only peeked outside the portal, yet this happened. -There''s a fourth option. Why did they leave this out? Hmm? William was confused. -Request requires 100 million Potential Points. Yes/No? William nodded his head to confirm the transaction. -The fourth option is to choose to y again. If you do this, your punishment will be doubled if you lose, but you will be rewarded for choosing correctly. You have a chance. William knew that this could very well result in disaster, but the System''s exnation made him realize this wasn''t entirely a game of chance. I choose to y again! William shouted in his mind, surprising the two Magical Beasts. They didn''t expect for this human to understand the rules of their game, much less find the fourth option that they left out long ago. That said, they both smiled in unison. Very well, choose or die. The Magical Beasts waited for a while, but William didn''t respond. Choose. William still didn''t respond, but the World started spinning on its own regardless. If he didn''t choose before the World stopped spinning, he would probably lose. William smiled as he activated his Fate Affinity to its fullest, allowing him to see just a few fractions of a second ahead of time. He watched closely as the World spun, then shouted loudly in his mind at thest possible moment. TAILS! The World stopped, and the Magical Beast with no horns was in front of William once more, its eyes wide in shock as it understood something. Its expression returned to indifference as it spoke. Tails. Your punishment has been nullified. Choose a reward. William was confused. What are my options? If it''s within the limits of our power, we will grant it. If it is not, you will receive no reward. Genie rules apply. William was left deep in thought. He didn''t know how strong the two Magical Beasts were, but for them to have control over his next thousand years, they must have incredibly high potential. That said... they probably had to follow some sort of rules, just like the System did. They might be strong, but they weren''t free. They also mentioned Genie rules, usually meaning he couldn''t request more requests or otherwise. If he asked for something too simple, it would probably be granted without a second thought, but if he asked for something that vited their rules, his reward would be wasted. He needed to pick something rted to the game they yed. I choose to profit! William suddenly said. Profit? What do you mean? the two Magical Beasts spoke in unison. William smiled. Whenever another ys your game and wins, I want a portion of the reward they choose! Chapter 439 Welcome To The Celestial Planes The two Janus blinked a few times in surprise, then looked at one another despite being on the opposite side of the World from each other. Based on the ever-changing expression of one of the Janus, William guessed that they were deciding how to handle the situation. They turned back to face him. Your request is within our power, but we offer apromise. William tilted his head, What is it? Your rewards will be given in the form of Spirit Jade if the request cannot be duplicated, since the requests of others might be outside our abilities to produce multiple of the same reward. William pondered for a moment, before doing his best to conceal his thoughts andmunicating with the System. System, what do you think? -This is an eptable offer. Then I ept. William replied with a light smile. He was thankful that the two powerful creatures he came across were magnanimous and gave him a way to survive. Stay tuned with empire The Janus nodded and their World started spinning once more, drawing further and further away as William traveled through the Ascension Portal. Their mere existence was a hint at just how unfathomable William''s future opponents were, and it made him excited. He pulled his gaze away from the walls of the portal, opting not to test his luck with any other powerful beings during this interim phase. In the meantime, William consumed all of his Elemental Fruits in stock that had yet to reach a thousand, fullyprehending the Fire, Space, and Gravity Elements in the process. Additionally, the Time and Illusion Elements were 90.1 percentprehended, and Chaos was at 65.1 percent. Not only would William be able to teleport much greater distances with Space, but he also had much greater control over the other four Legendary Elements. I really hope I can get more Elemental Farm slots though. Eight Element Farms isn''t nearly enough... William spent a million Potential Points to Ascend his Prity Resistance Talent, and even managed to bring out his Alchemy equipment to refine a Tier 10 Appearance Restoration Pill for the Aging Resistance Talent. Thankfully no outsiders saw William floating through the Ascension Portal while stirring a cauldron, because weird would be an understatement. System, I can summon Atticus to me, right? he asked. -Not right now, but when you exit the portal, you can. It''s too dangerous to pull your Companion Beasts into this area. William was relieved. He nned to upgrade Atticus and Uri to the next Rank as soon as possible so they could join him in the Celestial nes. There was no need for them to go through the stringent process of taking the Ascension Portal, but it made William wonder if the Summoning Element was secretly an overpowered Element, or if he was severely underestimating the power of the others. After all, to summon a creature from the Mortal Realms to the Celestial nes directly, it was like a better version of the Space Element but specialized to Companion Beasts. If the other Elements were just as strong, William had much to learn yet. Since he still seemed to have a good amount of time left, William spent a load of Potential Points upgrading the less useful Talents like Stone Skipping, Drawing, Sleight of Hand, and Misdirection to X-Rank directly. He thought about upgrading his useful Talents like Weapon Sharpness, but William decided against itst-minute. It was better to test his currentbat strength first, then upgrade his Talents gradually to stay low-profile. Even if William encountered a tough situation, he was confident in the various escape techniques he had acquired over the years. Not to mention that his Illusion Affinity was almost fullyprehended. William waited in silence for a few more hours, asionally peeking outside the portal walls to check his progress. During his most recent look, a massive expanse ofnd had be visible, its area separated into dozens of irregr regions that had abstractnd formations. One region in particr was illuminated by a dull purple light that seemed toe from underground, floating inds scattered as far as the eye could see. When the portal passed by this region, William spotted a few dozen purplish crystalline structures that made William drool in delight. He looked left and right at the other Regions, finding that they sportedpletely different but just as valuable natural treasures that seemed like they were just waiting to be snatched up. Loot! Loot everywhere! Who said I have bad luck? This is paradise! William gleamed as his feet finally touched down in arge grasnd where everything was dyed silver. No, wait. That wasn''t right. The grass was literally silver! It was made out of metal, that resembled silver perfectly! Even the particle arrangement was simr, and its purity was incredible! William didn''t hesitate to pluck a few dozen des of grass, but a long series of System notifications popped up at that moment. He was forced to halt his work and scroll through the System to see what the spam was all about. -Entered the Celestial nes: +1 AP -Host will no longer receive Potential Points for discovering new locations. -You have Ascended with Cultivation: +1 AP, +1 Ascended Value -Your World Seed has formed. Name your personal World at your earliest convenience. -Your Soul has Ascended: +1 AP, +1 Ascended Value -Your Body has Ascended: +1 AP, +1 Ascended Value --Title unlocked: +1000 PP -Triple Ascender (Mythic): Reaching the Ascension Realm is already difficult for Cultivators in the Mortal Realms, but you took it a step further and Ascended with all three possible methods. Cultivation Speed +100%, Physical Ability +100%, Soul Strength +100%. -Requirements have been unlocked to Ascend many Talents, but for the Host''s safety these features have been disabled for a period of one week. Upgrading Talents at this point in time would most likely result in imminent death, or in the best case, capture. -Requirements have been met to purchase a Chaotic Storage. -Requirements have been met to upgrade the Talent Shop, but this feature has been temporarily disabled for a period of one week for the Host''s safety. -Requirements have been met to reveal hidden features previously reced with question marks. Please view the new description of your Elemental Affinities and the Ascension Bonus for many Talents. -Requirements have been met to reveal hidden features rted to the Heavenly Mark. Secondary effect has been detected as a tracking feature unique to the Heavens n member known as Cerulea. Attempting to wipe tracking feature... -Failed. Attempting again... -Failed. Attempting again... -Failed. System is not strong enough to wipe tracking feature. Detected the Host has a period of one month to upgrade the System to S-Rank before you are discovered. ¡ª¡ª¡ª System Quest: The System has discovered a tracking feature on the Host. Upgrade the System to S-Rank within one month to avoid being targeted by the Heavens. Difficulty: Medium Rewards: 5 Ascended Points Penalties: Unknown Time Limit: 31 Days Note: Difficulty of Quest will now be more rtive to the Host''s current strength. Difficulty will decrease as Host''s strength improves. ¡ª¡ª¡ªn/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Finally, at the very end of the System Messages was one simple phrase. -Congrattions, you''ve survived the tutorial. Chapter 440 Carls Heavenly Mark Back on Efretta, Tenebris had just reformed his body from an obscure smog disguised as fumes from a cksmith''s workshop. He had been practicing his concealment technique for almost his entire life, and he even managed to evade William''s detection for years. That said, William had just Ascended and there was no more need to hide. Tenebris became his usual self and contacted one of his few remaining subordinates with the Space Element, asking them to create a long-distance portal for him to the Velos Continent.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Since the Space Mage wasn''t nearly as Talented as William, they needed to create multiple exit points that hovered over the ocean, but Tenebris was able to protect the subordinate from any rampant Magical Beasts. Only a few hourster, Tenebris reached the Velos Continent, where he hired a Miasma Navigator to lead him towards the old Revista Faction''s territory, now renamed to the Frostile Faction. But he wasn''t worried about the Frostile couple, even if their strength was a bit above average. They were nothing like William, and Tenebris had no reason to be afraid. Instead, he focused on the task at hand. He transitioned back and forth from humanoid figure to smoke to shadow and back to human as he passed through thin openings, under doorframes, and through chimneys to avoid detection by any of the peak Cultivators still present in the Faction. Hisbat strength was quite high since adding a few demons to the list of his summons, but Tenebris didn''t dare to expose all his cards here and now. He slid under yet another doorway, entering the pce and bumping into something. Wait. "What are you doing here?" a boy carrying multiple scrolls on his back and waist asked with his arms crossed in front of him. It was Carl. "Ah, just the one I was looking for." Tenebris reformed into his human figure and smiled slightly. "Why would you need to look for me? You didn''t care very much before." Carl frowned. "I''ve always cared, my son. I just didn''t want to coddle you too much." Tenebris hastily exined. Carl paused for a moment, then became angrier as he raised his tone hardened, "Well now I''m the one that doesn''t care. So, get out of here." "Not yet. I came here for a good reason." "And what reason is that?" "Well..." Tenebris struggled to say the rest of his sentence. "Get on with it." "I''m going to Ascend soon, and I want you to take over the organization." "Retribution? I don''t give a shit about them. Especially not after you all tried to kill my friend." Carl''s tone became almost as icy as Fria''s when speaking with her suitors. "He''s not here anymore, and there''s no reason to track him down. All of my ns were ruined by him, but I don''t hate him for it. He just beat me to the punch." Tenebris exined. "I hope that you''ll continue to lead Retribution in my stead while I search for more demons to contract. Once I''m finished, I''ll Ascend with them, and you won''t have to see me again." Tenebris'' words made sense at face value, but Carl wasn''t stupid enough to think that his father had his best interest in mind. If anything, Tenebris probably wanted to have Carl take care of all the side tasks just so that Tenebris would be able to smoothly Ascend. Find more to read at empire "You still haven''t taught me everything about our Heavenly Mark. Before, I was trying to gain your favor and seek your attention, but now it''s you who has toe to me. How ironic." Carl narrowed his eyes at his father. "What do you mean? I''ve taught you everything there is to know." Tenebris'' forehead filled with sweat as he sensed a foreboding feeling. "Oh really?" Carl''s eyes glowed with a silvery color, and he pointed at Tenebris. In a split second, a beam of silver-golden light shot from Carl''s fingertip and imprinted on Tenebris'' forehead, creating an Advanced Envement Array. That wasn''t all though. While the Array was only at the Advanced level and Tenebris was a peak Cultivator, Carl wasn''t worried at all. He channeled more of his mental strength into the Heavenly Mark, forcing it to transform the Envement Array into one countless times stronger than a normal Advanced Array. If one wanted to make aparison, it would now be considered to be half a Tier 6 Array. The improvements given by a Heavenly Mark were incredibly outrageous, but so was the price one had to pay. As a result of casting such a powerful Array on Tenebris that he wasn''t able to fully control, Carl''s hair turned slightly grey, and he lost almost a hundred years of his lifespan. Compared to his Soul Formation Realm Cultivation, though, it was hardly anything. While Tenebris was still deep in shock, Carl caught his breath and looked at his father coldly. "You''ve ruined the lives of many, created many troubles not only for your son but also your son''s friends, and even abandoned our mother. To make you a ve would be the lightest of punishments for someone like you." Tenebris hadn''t been granted the ability to speak yet, so Carl continued, "I''m doing this not because it''s the right thing to do, but because leaving you free to roam in a Cultivation World would be my greatest shame. I''ve grown up, and so should you have. Instead of Cultivating earnestly and seeking to improve your strength through understanding and expertise, you took shortcuts and stepped on other Cultivator''s bodies to get what you wanted. You even manipted your entire organization into doing your dirty work for you." Carl allowed Tenebris to speak at that moment, but Tenebris simply hung his head low in shame. He understood everything his son was saying, but it didn''t change anything. He was honestly more upset with himself for bingcent and not concealing himself better after William Ascended. Not only that, but Tenebris realized that raising Carl was a mistake, "You ungrateful brat! I gave you all kinds of things, sent bodyguards to help you gain Magical Beasts for your own summons, and even taught you how a merchant should be so you could earn your own money. Have you forgotten all of that?" Carl shook his head, "You may have helped me once or twice, but that was your obligation as a parent. While you didn''t have to go so far sometimes, the same is true for your actions within Retribution. You even nned to overthrow the Yu Royal Family!" Tenebris was left speechless by Carl''s words. His son had never spoken to him like that, what had changed? Was it his newfound power? His Cultivation? Or was it the peak Magical Beasts under his control? He didn''t know, but it was clear that Carl meant business. Tenebris couldn''t break free from Carl''s Envement Array in a short period of time, so he had to y nice. "I see..." he said simply. "You''re thinking of trying to escape right now, aren''t you?" Carl asked as he snapped his fingers, triggering the self-destruction aspect of the Heavenly Mark. Tenebris'' entire body exploded into a bloody mist, painting the walls and floor and releasing a thick scent of iron. Carl cleared off the blood from his body nonchntly, hardly perturbed by the fact that he killed his own father. "Now you won''t need to worry about escaping. William taught me that one." The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!