Infinite Potential System

"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 access to the Earth, Lightning, and Plant 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 blanket now, great... William complained 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.

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.

According 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 to commence. 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? William laughed.

-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! William complained 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 only lacking 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-related 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 were completely 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 accurately 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 accept his request. It claimed 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-Related 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 the last 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 will last 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 explain the full story.

He asked, Won't eating nineteen 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— 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 nineteen remaining Tier 10 Suppression Pills down his throat.

The combined effect of all the Pills made William feel as if he had been chained to a rock as a normal human, but the uncomfortable feeling was nothing compared to what came next.

Even with ninety-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 and combined from every Elemental Affinity William had, the ball of Mana grew rampant and tore apart swaths of land 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 and combined 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!