Infinite Potential System

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 planned 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 related 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 planned 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 ninety 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 access to as many Talents as possible that he could upgrade later.

After seeing what initially useless Talents like Navigation and Tailoring could do, William planned 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.

-You're working me like a slave.

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 any large-scale attacks at Fria's request. Instead, he focused on incredibly precise moves that were both accurate and lethal.

He twirled a mix of Space and Fire Magic around his fingertips, mixing the two in perfect combination 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 the layers 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 ablaze, and the needle could even teleport back inside of them later.

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 accordingly, and William planned to take advantage of that. He named it Flaming 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.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

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 explanation. 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 Glazier Talent now, he could raise it to X-Rank and refine his own stained glass 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...