Infinite Potential System

Fria took off her headset and laid 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 Tribulation 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 entire community of Players.

He was regarded as the most powerful, and most unpredictable, NPC in all of Otherworld Prime. Compared to the various leaders of Island Nation Slyte and the Azures, Velos, Arcturis, and Dragon Continents, William's recruitment difficulty truly was a pain.

Any powerful Players 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!

According to all the reports of Player 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 accept 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 become increasingly difficult to obtain because of NPC William. It had become widely known that messing with his Companion Beasts would have severe consequences, but they couldn't farm regular Magical Beasts either.

Every time a Beast Tide appeared, William's Companions would wipe them out in an instant, making Players wonder why the developer would add such an overpowered character. As a result, two main Player 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 the complete opposite. They incorporated much of the propaganda spread by the old higher-ups of Retribution, declaring William to be an enemy of all Players that needed to be eliminated. Because Potential Points had become much scarcer recently, many Players 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, the lack 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 flags 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. The large 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 he last 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 explanation 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.

-Your questions will be answered if you complete the two Quests. Focus on that for now.

Why? It can't be rules again, can it? William found the System's declaration 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 play. 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 place and wait for Fria's return.