Infinite Potential System

I can take in Chaotic Qi now? If the System is warning me about how dangerous it is, it's probably something I still can't take lightly...

William contemplated the System's words while he waited for it to upgrade. The last time he tried to absorb Chaotic Qi, it had burnt through all of his Talents to include his Forcefield and the layers of protection from the Fitness Talent.

If he hadn't used Chaos Magic to suppress the effects of the Chaotic Qi, it would have damaged his Dantian and sent him all the way back to the Golden Core Realm. That was some serious damage from a single drop of black liquid.

But it also spoke volumes of its power. If William could harness Chaotic Qi... even if it was a single drop...

His thoughts were interrupted by an earthquake within his own mind. The pain resistance effect of his Mind Talent that was supposed to activate was once again useless as the layers of Soul Strength protecting his mind shattered into pieces.

William writhed on the ground in pain while the Soul Strength reformed, its presence slightly weaker than before but the numbers unchanged within his Status. At the same time, William's attention was drawn by another event elsewhere in his mind.

Somewhere hidden deep within his Sea of Consciousness, a blurry humanoid figure formed out of nothingness, its body somewhere between 1.6 and 1.7 meters tall. It stood stiffly, as if its legs were made from wooden planks, and shuffled forward slowly without bending at the knees.

After a few minutes of stumbling around, the humanoid figure finally learned how to operate each of its joints, but it didn't become any clearer than before. It simply looked like a cloud of grey smoke, with no eyes, ears, mouth, or nose to give William any hints to its gender.

System, is that you? He asked warily. William wanted to guess that this newcomer could have only appeared because of the System upgrade, but he couldn't be sure.

The System didn't answer his question directly, instead displaying its usual message that told him it was done upgrading.

———

SYSTEM RANK: (A+ --> S-)

-11 Extra Ascended Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup.

Next rank up: 239AP

*New Changes:

-System has reached version 2.9 and has enhanced various concealment and detection techniques unique to the System. Tracking device attached to the Host has been fully disabled.

-Three Additional Farm Slots.

-When upgrading Talents, percentage bonuses past 200% will now be displayed as multipliers.

-Potential Spells feature unlocked within the Status Panel. Potential Spells will be organized by Potential Tier, starting from 1 at the lowest.

-Potential Tiers are similar to the strength of Alchemical recipes, meaning a Tier 10 Potential Spell is equivalent in strength to a Spell at the peak of the Mortal Realms.

-Talent Shop removed from the System.

-Ascended Talent Shop added to the System. Talents unlocked will automatically start at Ascended F-Rank.

-The requirements of several Talent upgrades have been revealed.

———

-System Quest completed. +5 Ascended Points

You didn't say anything about the gloomy-looking person in my mind. Care to explain, System?

-Yes, that's me. Or rather, a part of me that has manifested inside of your Sea of Consciousness.

Another side-effect of increasing your Rank, right? I think I'll call it Tiny Shadow System, since you're short and you're all grey. William laughed.

The System didn't answer William's mockery with a comeback of its own, but the shadowy figure responded by raising its right hand and producing a single middle finger. Somehow, this interaction perfectly represented how William imagined a human System would act.

Okay, okay. I guess there's no need to give you another name if it's still you.

-Hmph!

The shadowy figure dissipated into thin clouds of smoke and dispersed across William's Sea of Consciousness, making it impossible for even him to find in a short amount of time. If anyone were to enter William's Sea of Consciousness, they would think nothing of the grey smoke and simply ignore it.

William looked through the Status Panel to see if any of his Talents had changed since the System upgrade. To no surprise, the Fitness Talent was available for an upgrade, but it required an extra item before he could Ascend it. It was useless for the time being.

———

-Mythic:

--Fitness: X (1,000,000PP + Tier 10 Blood Refinement Pill)

———

Wait a minute! Maybe it's not useless! William exclaimed while digging through one of his Space Rings. According to his memory, William had used one Tier 10 Blood Refinement Pill to upgrade Atticus' bloodline, but the other was still stored somewhere!

There it is! William pulled out the Pill in question, though Atticus didn't react to it this time. Previously, the Mythical Rat Snake went wild from just a single sniff of the Pill, but now that his Bloodline couldn't be improved by such a low-quality item, it was as if it was another piece of trash on the street.

William stared at the Blood Refinement Pill suspiciously. System, will this change me into something else? While I'm not as opposed to changing Race as I was, this probably wouldn't be a great idea when I have to go back to school in a week...

-There's no issue. You'll simply improve your own human bloodline. If you want to acquire another bloodline in the future, that's also not a problem.

William nodded and popped the Tier 10 Blood Refinement Pill in his mouth, chewing on it while he spent a mere one million Potential Points to upgrade the Fitness Talent. Even if he hadn't Ascended, the new Potential Farms could earn more than twenty times this amount in a single day.

———

[Ascended] Fitness (Mythic): (X --> F)

Effects:

-Speed increased by 20000% >> 500x

-Jumping strength increased by 20000% >> 500x

-Balancing ability improved by 20000% >> 500x

-Flexibility improved by 20000% >> 500x

-Time to reach maximum speed reduced by 20000% >> 500x

-Reaction time improved by 20000% >> 500x

-Resistance to physical fatigue +20000% >> 500x

-Full-body muscular ability +20000% >> 500x

-Immunity to the effects of knockback

-Wall-scaling improved by +20000% >> 500x Stay updated through empire

-Ability to redirect your velocity in another direction +20000% >> 500x

-Your hands can be used with 20000% >> 500x finer detail and grace.

X-Rank Bonus Effects...

Next rank up: 100 AP

———

In addition to the Fitness Talent's now over 1.5 times improvement, several of its bonus effects also doubled in effectiveness. The most notable increase was William's Accelerated Reflexes Bonus Effect, which now slowed down time by 192 times compared to the previous 96.

Now, if William was targeted by a Spell that would reach him in one second, he would have over three minutes to decide how to respond. Even compared to a Time Mage, this was absurdly strong!

Now here's the hard decision... do I upgrade the Fitness Talent again, or Cultivation? Both will cost me one hundred Ascended Points, so I have to choose. Or maybe... Mana Dominator twice?

Mana Dominator was a Legendary Talent, which meant it would cost him 25 Ascended Points to reach E-Rank, then another 50 for D-Rank. He could do both upgrades right now for 75 AP and still have 73 left.