Infinite Potential System

William wanted to keep all of the loot from the Boss to himself, but in the grand scheme of things, the value wasn't enough to risk losing rapport with his classmates. He pocketed two Quake Dungeon Gems, leaving the rest for the group.

Spirits were high among the group of First Years as they collected their loot. On their first attempt at fighting the Morphing Devil Tree, they were successful, and by a large margin. It was a feat that the Second-Year students would find very difficult without a sizable group of their own.

They knew that it was mostly because of William that they beat the Morphing Devil Tree. With his knowledge from the last visit, the students knew not to commit several mistakes such as letting the Boss heal using its own needles. Its poison was mostly ineffective too as it couldn't reach any of them.

Bethany and Jonathan Irisa took the rest period as an opportunity to approach William. They hadn't done much in the last few group fights, but this time they were able to support the fight with their weakest Elements.

"I can't believe you're able to watch everything and fight at the same time... and you aren't even sweating after casting so many Spells!" Jonathan said while handing William a Quake Dungeon Gem. It was his share of the loot, yet Jonathan had already decided to offer it up.

William smiled and didn't hesitate to take the Dungeon Gem from Jonathan, dumping it in his Space Ring with the others. He laughed as he replied, "The Mortal Realms are pretty brutal. I learned very early on that pure strength won't solve everything."

-That's a lie. You didn't learn shit.

I did!

"Oh, right. The Mortal Realms." Jonathan accepted William's explanation in a heartbeat. It wasn't unusual for Ascenders from the Mortal Realms to be abnormally powerful or cunning, though another question was raised when Jonathan thought about the Mortal Realms.

A moment of silence passed before Jonathan asked, "You're so young. How did you Ascend at your age? Isn't Cultivation super slow down there?"

William nodded, "It is, but my Mortal Realm had a lot more Mana than average. Apparently, someone opened a path to the Celest- Ascended Realms a few thousand years ago, which is the main reason why. My Cultivation was hardly slowed down at all."

Most of what William said was the truth, though it couldn't be said that this was the reason for his quick Ascension. The Velos Continent had many Cultivation Holy Grounds that would enhance one's Cultivation speed by several times, but even that couldn't compare to the Celestial Planes.

Jonathan nodded. "I wish I could have grown up in the Mortal Realms. It was probably a lot more interesting than here."

Bethany interrupted, "You can't be serious, Jon. The Mortal Realms are probably the most boring place around. And what do you mean by that last part? Is war not interesting enough to you?"

"War? You mean the Riverveil Faction? They're a bunch of cowards! They've been "ready for war" for a hundred years now! My father was going to school at Filem Academy when they were "ready for war". It'll never happen!"

Bethany frowned, "You say that... but the Cultivator's Competition was way too tense last time. They also sent more spies into the Academy than previous years, they might try something big in the next ten years. Who knows if anyone will even get the Planar Chart. No one's claimed it for the last few thousand years."

Jonathan scoffed, "If a war happens in the next ten years, I'll be your slave for a week!"

The Boss Room wasn't abnormally small and everyone around was a Tribulation Transcendence or stronger Cultivator, so the majority picked out keywords from their conversation and started eavesdropping. Within moments, several similar conversations among the group began.

"Can you believe him? He actually wants to see the Mortal Realms? Gross, I heard they eat trash there, like carrots and potatoes..." Shine made a disgusted expression.

"Carrots? We eat carrots here. Why would that be a problem?"

"Naturally, carrots grown in the Mortal Realms can't compare to ours. It'd be like eating macaroni without ketchup."

"Macaroni and ketchup? Are you sure you're not the gross one here?"

Elsewhere, Yuhe laughed. "What an idiot. He actually thinks Riverveil isn't doing anything. We've been at a war of information for decades. Once our Slightwing Faction makes a mistake, they'll send their armies to take control over everything they can."@@novelbin@@

"You think they'd do that? What's their motivation?" Mikaela asked.

"Heh. Like I'd tell you that." Yuhe replied with a smirk.

"You don't know?"

"Of course I do!"

Mikaela sighed while looking off in the distance, "I don't believe you, though... It's probably just another one of your attempts to get attention..."

Yuhe fumed with anger. "If you want to know so bad, I'll tell you!"

"Do tell. I'm curious what the great Slightwing Family thinks."

"Hehe, obviously they want to collect the Secondary Laws."

Mikaela's eyes flickered with surprise for a moment, "Why would they want those? Don't they already have a few experts with mastery over the Secondary Laws? Juras Riverveil, the leader of the Riverveil Faction, was supposed to have several Secondary Laws in his possession already. Why would he need more?"

"For the Planar Chart, of course! Everyone knows how powerful Erowin Slightveil is, and how much he hates cheating. How would either Faction think they could get away with swaying the odds of the Cultivator's Induction Competition? If they were caught, Erowin might even give the Planar Chart to someone else!" Yuhe's voice was hushed, but her quick speech and sparkling eyes betrayed her true emotions.

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It was clear that she had been waiting for an opportunity to show off her knowledge for a while, and Mikaela's awed expression spurred Yuhe to share even more.

She continued, "My Family knows that they're secretly producing a genius of all geniuses, a master of as many Elements as possible. If our guesses are correct, the Riverveil Faction is going to send multiple geniuses to sweep the next Competition! The Lower Bracket at that!"

Mikaela audibly gasped, "The Lower Bracket?"

"Shhh!" Yuhe put a finger to her lips. "Of course, the Lower Bracket! That's where the real competition begins! We think it'll be like a trial run to them."

Mikaela feigned excitement, "I can't believe you know so much about this, Yuhe. Do you know who they're planning to send?"

Yuhe's face tightened for a moment, "Uh... I don't know..."

"Huh? Of course you do! Maybe the Slightwing Faction is planning to compete with a genius of their own? I mean, if I was your Faction, that's what I'd do..." Mikaela tapped the side of her face with a thoughtful expression.

Yuhe's face twisted like a lemon, answering all of Mikaela's questions without a need for words. She shook her head several times, "I don't know!"

Mikaela smirked, "Of course you do. And I take back what I said earlier; you're not useless at all."

Ha! A useless blabbermouth. I see what you did there. William almost laughed out loud, but he kept his composure for the sake of the conversation. Exchanges like these were worth several Ascended Points to the System, so he didn't dare to miss anything.

Unfortunately, Yuhe stopped answering questions then and there, realizing that she had already revealed too much. She backed off from the rest of the group and silently organized her Space Ring.

William thought of something and excused himself from Bethany and Jonathan, then approached Yuhe across the room.

"What do you want?" Yuhe's hostility was obvious, but William didn't back off.

He wasn't a fan of roundabout conversation, so William got straight to the point. "Apparently you haven't fought at all since you came inside the Quake Dungeon."

"Okay? Does it matter if I help? Clearly you have everything under control."

"The later floors aren't this easy. It'd be nice to have a little more help to save Mana."

Yuhe snorted, "You seriously want to take this group even higher? We were already struggling on the Ninth floor, and the Boss was only easy because of our numbers. What's going to happen when the things we fight are as strong as the Boss, and outnumber us?"

Her intuition was sharp, catching William off guard. Obviously, he had been thinking of this too, since there was only so far that a group of students like this could climb. But he firmly believed they could handle everything up to the 14th floor, as long as they played it safe.

"If you know that, then why don't you help out a little? You were number one on the entrance exam. If I was you, I'd be the one doing the most work."

"That's what separates you and I. You're a Commoner, so of course you'd want to work more. And you trust others too easily. I'm a target everywhere I go, because of my Family. This is the first time I've been able to leave the city on my own without being pursued by countless enemies." Yuhe explained.

She continued with a sigh, "Why am I even bothering to tell you this... I doubt you've ever been the target of a large organization like the Riverveil Faction."