Infinite Potential System

Frostile City, Velos Continent, Efretta.

A cold beauty with silver hair that reached her waist entered the main hall of the Velos Continent's now largest City, the Soul Formation Realm guards at either side kneeling with respect as she passed.

Past a massive doorway was a hallway enhanced by Arrays to expand the space inside, easily lengthening it to several kilometers. Hundreds of decorative paintings and several banners lined the walls, the entire room sparkling with wealth and power.

Near the end of the hall was a short table and six seats, one for the visitor and the remaining five occupied by a male Mage with several summoning scrolls nearby, an innocent girl who was once the Thin Creek healer, a now-powerful Ice Mage, and his wife the battle maniac who preferred fists over her Earth Magic. The last seat was reserved for a particular Alchemist who was now renowned across Efretta for his age-defying skill.

"Fria, you're finally here!" Carl called out in relief. He had been sitting in this cold seat for almost four days, which wasn't much for a Cultivator in the Soul Formation Realm, but it was still longer than he felt was necessary.

"Sorry. I know I called you here, but I had an enlightenment during my last Cultivation session. I couldn't get out of it in time to come here..." Fria apologized in embarrassment.

She didn't expect the group to actually wait several days for her. After all, they were William's friends, not hers. She barely knew them outside of a few travels.

Tia spoke up, "Don't worry about it. We understand, but what did you want to meet us for? Aren't you busy handling things in your other World?"@@novelbin@@

Fria sighed, "Actually, that's exactly what I came here to talk to you all about. Since my brother trusted you, I feel like you'd be the right people to ask. I need your help."

"Help? You're just a step away from Ascension, not to mention you're just as much a monster as William... How could we possibly help you?" Carl raised an eyebrow.

Charlotte suddenly spoke up, "Carl, you're not helping, be quiet."

She then looked at Fria with a supportive smile, "Whatever you need, you've got it! I don't know much about Reius besides what Will said last time, but I'll help as much as I can!"

"That goes for me as well!" Tia added.

"And me!" said Gunther.

"Well, it'd be weird if I didn't do anything to help..." Carl sighed.

"Thanks, everyone." Fria nodded in appreciation. "In that case, I'll explain the situation."

She took a seat at the empty chair in front of her, crossing her right leg over her left while looking at William's friends seriously. Her attitude had been solemn since her arrival, but now the air had become thick with tension.

"I'm sure you've all noticed that the density of Mana here is much thicker than before, at least three times as thick as it used to be." She started, to which they all nodded.

It had started about a week ago, not long after William Ascended, but the entire World could feel the change. The difference was so immense that Cultivation was leaps and bounds faster than before, spurring several breakthroughs among the Qi Refinement through Tribulation Transcendence Cultivators in the last few days.

Several old men who previously had no hopes of reaching the next Realm suddenly found their bottlenecks loosened, allowing many to regain years of their youth. It was as if the entire World had become a weakened Cultivation Holy Ground.

"Efretta wasn't the only World affected, though. I also felt it from my real body on Reius, but on a whole new level. My home World is much smaller than Efretta, and there aren't many Cultivators that can effectively monopolize the Mana there, yet." She explained.

Everyone's eyes widened with shock. They assumed that the increased Mana was because of William absorbing all the World Cores. The World had had a few months to recover, and this was the result.

That was their original deduction.

But the fact that Reius was also affected... It couldn't be the World Cores at all!

"I can imagine that if you're explaining all this, you must have a theory as to why it happened?" Yuming spoke for the first time since Fria's arrival.

Fria nodded, "Not long after the Mana sent into the World increased, the various nations—"

"Nations?" No one had heard the term before besides Fria.

"Ahem. Factions. The various Factions went to war over Cultivation and almost destroyed themselves, but Will suddenly appeared and stopped the wars before things became too dangerous. I'm sure he had something to do with the change in both Worlds, so I've put all of my focus towards Cultivation on Reius."

The others were surprised to hear that William had appeared in the other World when he was supposed to be Ascended, but since it was him it made sense. Only Will would be able to descend immediately after Ascending, or maybe he had done something even more outrageous.

"But why would you bother Cultivating on Reius when you have such a solid foundation here? Without your real body here, you're practically invincible in that body. No one could easily kill you." Carl asked in confusion.

"We don't know that for sure." Fria shook her head. "There have been a few mysterious deaths in my home World that can't be explained. Maybe dying in this body could actually damage my soul, and too many "fake" deaths will lead to a real one?

I also have a lasting suspicion that I'm weakened without my main body. What will happen when one of them is in the Ascended Realms and the other stuck in a Mortal World?"

Fria's explanation made sense to them, but they still wondered if they would do the same in her position. Her fears weren't proven anyway.

Fria continued, "It's okay if you don't agree with my thinking, but I was hoping you could help me Ascend."

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Tia nodded, "I'll help you, but what do you need us to do?"

Fria thought for a moment, making a plan in a series of steps while silently cursing herself for not thinking this far before calling the meeting. She knew she'd need help, but she lacked the foresight to prepare for their positive response.

She finally came up with something after a long pause. "For starters, I want to find out where William Ascended from and do it from there. If I'm lucky, I can meet up with him early on. I play tons of Cultivation games, so I already know that I'll be cannon fodder the moment I Ascend."

The others didn't understand what it meant to be "cannon fodder", but they nodded in agreement.

"I can show you where that is." Charlotte said, "His Ascension was so flashy that it would be hard not to know which one belonged to him."

"Great!" Fria smiled. "Next, I'd need to log out while taking the Ascension Tribulation. It'll be dangerous, but I'll be relying on you to protect me if things go south."

"Huh?! You expect us to block an Ascension Tribulation for you? Do you understand what that will mean for us? How are we going to survive that?!?" Gunther couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Sure, they defeated most of the top powers from the Velos Continent in the months since William gave them his Blessings, but that didn't mean they were strong enough to deal with an Ascension Tribulation. Especially not one made for a freak on William's level!

"I think if I use some Pills and take a defensive treasure or two, I can survive three or four Lightning Bolts by myself." Yuming said. "But that's the limit! I don't know about the rest of you guys, but you can't be that weak, right?" He looked at the group of friends.

Gunther snorted, "I could easily block four or five Ascension Tribulation bolts, but William Tribulations? Hell no! Maybe one or two, but that'd take everything from me!"

Tia raised her fist up high, "I can smash two William Bolts to pieces! I'll help you!"

If William were here, he'd question Tia's choice of words. "William Bolts? Seriously?", he'd say, but it was hard to refute that comparison. No Tribulation could compare to the ones created for him.

Carl sighed, "If I'm by myself, I can block one bolt at most. But if I sacrifice a Magical Beast or two, I can definitely block the entire thing by myself. Don't ask me to sacrifice my summons, though! They're my trusted companions and I wouldn't trade them for the World!" he looked at Fria suspiciously.

Fria nodded, "Naturally I wouldn't ask you to do that for me. So, we can block 10 to 11? That's not bad at all. It should be possible even if we misjudge the power of the Tribulation. What about you, Charlotte?"

Charlotte shook her head, "I can't block any of the Tribulation, but I can heal anyone that gets injured and create a few weak barriers from Life Magic. If we work together, I might be able to improve our chances by one more Bolt."