Infinite Potential System

Their reactions were to be expected, somewhat, since he was still a Commoner from the Mortal Realms despite having saved their lives. In William's travels, he'd met many who cared more about their image than their lives.

The students were polite, but he could tell that inwardly they held conflicted thoughts about their unique classmate. Even Mikaela, whom he had appointed as Captain, hadn't said anything since he arrived.

Why am I thinking like this lately? It must have something to do with all of my Talents... William shook away the negative thoughts and tried to focus on the current situation.

-This is just a normal side effect of your Noble Prowess Talent. It's only X-Rank, so it has minimal effects on Ascended Cultivators. When you're away from your group for too long, this is one of the side effects.

Why did you let me have all that internal monologue then?! What the hell, System! William wanted to complain out loud, but that would just make him look insane.

-You were still on the right track. These effects wouldn't be so obvious if they fully accepted your role as a leader. If you don't want to feel alienated next time you see them, maybe spend a bit more time leading them as a group.

William wanted to argue, but the System had a point. If the Noble Prowess Talent was like this after a day or two away from his group, it would probably be a good idea to try Ascending it now rather than later. Who knew if he'd get another chance like this?

He double-checked the requirements for the Noble Prowess Talent, verifying that he needed to lead a team of fifty before it was eligible for Ascension. If that was the case, William had to recruit quite a few more to his team.

This place is full of students, but I'll have to convince them to conquer the Dungeon with me. System, will this affect my Quest?

-The students aren't you, so I can't really punish you for using them. Be my guest, but you can't blame me if your mastery of the Earth Element suffers for it.

William nodded. It wasn't his intention to cheat, this time.

-This time?

Hehe.

Nihlo and Felmus had just finished recovering using some Pills and walked towards William, each offering their gratitude for his earlier efforts. Nihlo, whose family was of slightly lower status than the others, cared less about his actions and took the initiative to bring over some Quake Dungeon Gems that dropped from the Gnarled Bark.

"Sorry, William, for not thanking you sooner." Nihlo apologized as he handed William the Gems.

William accepted only two of the Gems, then waved his hand in dismissal towards the rest, "Keep these ones. We can start sharing later. Besides, you worked hard for it; I simply targeted the weakened ones."

Everyone present knew that William's statement was a complete lie. The reason why so many Gnarled Bark were able to surround them in the first place was because they didn't have enough Mana to damage them anymore. Defending was the only thing they could do, but physical weapons were nearly ineffective on everything except their extended vines.

"Suit yourself." Nihlo stored what was left in his Space Ring, though he would pool it together with the rest at the end of their trip. This is how the students agreed to divide up treasures previously.

Since William didn't want to take credit, they had no reason to refuse the extra Quake Dungeon Gems.@@novelbin@@

"How long do you think you'll need to rest before we leave again?" William asked the pair while scanning the room for any serious injuries.

"Hmm, two or three hours would be best for our Mana Reserves, but since it's a Boss I think Cap- Mikaela will want to rest twice as long. Why, are you staying here this time?"

William nodded, "To be honest, I thought you guys left when I didn't see you on the Sixth floor. Seeing everyone struggle here makes me worried that you'd get yourselves killed during the next Boss fight."

"We'd be fine. We just got a little bit complacent, that's all." Nihlo waved his hand in dismissal. If they hadn't squandered their Mana so quickly like before, this floor wouldn't have been an issue. There was no reason for William to be that worried about them.

Nihlo continued, "If you're planning to be our security person for the next three days, I'd suggest against it. Few will appreciate feeling babysat by someone our age."

"Well, they're just going to have to deal with it," William replied with a shrug. "The Tenth floor Boss is nothing like the one on the Fifth, and it is several times more dangerous than all the floors that came before it.

Felmus and Yuhe are the only Cultivators here that have the Fire Element, which means me being here is all the more important. You won't get anywhere against the Boss without my help." he finished.

"Hah!" Nihlo snorted but said nothing. William hadn't seen their progress in the last few days so it was understandable that he would think as much, but they could definitely deal with anything currently in the early or middle stages of the Ascension Realm, even if it was a Boss.

The Boss on the 10th floor definitely wasn't in the Initial Deity Realm, so Nihlo felt that he had nothing to fear. Nihlo took the initiative to return to his original position, suddenly much more motivated to plan out a strategy and collect information on the Boss.

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Mikaela had pulled Yuhe to the side and was angrily speaking to her down the hallway, her arms crossed in front of her chest to clearly show her stance towards Yuhe's attitude. Several minutes later, she returned to the rest of the group with a satisfied expression, then sorted out her medicinal Pills until it was time for the group to leave.

William offered his support during the battle, but he let Mikaela continue leading the group since she was actually from a Family with considerable status. Compared to William the nobody, her influence on the group was much greater.

"Are you ready?" she asked, to which everyone nodded. "Let's fuck this Boss up!"