Infinite Potential System

Explore more stories with empire

Only a few minutes passed before the old man died, and William's self-formed Tribulation scattered on its own. The Players rushed forward to loot the man of his Space Rings, while William shook his head in disappointment.

I even slightly lowered the level of Tribulation for him, but it still wasn't enough. He was foolish to undergo a Tribulation while fighting. William retracted his consciousness and scanned his surroundings briefly to ensure he was still safe.

Only half an hour or so passed, but a decent number of Cultivators had arrived at the market and some of the stalls were open. A few looked at William briefly, but his Illusionist's Cloak was enough to keep the weakest ones away.

He still couldn't prevent the Tribulation Transcendence and Ascension Realm Cultivators from giving him flirty glances, though, but it was much tamer than before.

William tried to open a portal to teleport from one side of the city to another, but one of the Arrays supporting the city's functions prevented him from doing so.

The best he could do was compress the space between his legs and walk like he had been, so he maneuvered through side alleys until he reached a common area akin to a public park.

There, William simply sat on a bench and concealed his aura.

-What are you doing?

Waiting.

-For what?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The System didn't understand what William was up to, but it could sense that it was definitely no good.

Nothing much. I'm collecting information. William replied while honing his attention on the conversations of passersby.

-How is sitting in a park and listening to weaklings going to help you?

See, this is where you and I are different from each other. I'm focused on the immediate goal, to earn money. How am I going to make some? By either selling something I made or gathered, fighting Beasts for their resources, or fighting humans in a competition.

I could also steal things, join an organization and receive a wage, or sell my body, but all of those are based on one thing: information.

How am I going to know which group is the best to join, or which house to raid for their loot? I can't earn a lot of money fighting Magical Beasts if I don't know where the rare ones are. That's where even normal people come into play.

Mortals will talk about anything; all you have to do is wait and listen.

-Since when did you make smart decisions like this? You're like a completely different person!

The System was genuinely surprised at William's ingenuity, wondering if the boy had finally started to see the World in a new light. A part of it even sensed that William had grown more mature. He was no longer the young man in his early twenties that wanted nothing but to throw fireballs around at anything that moved.

That said, it gave most of the credit to William's Mind Talent, which allowed him to perfectly remember all of his mistakes so he wouldn't replicate them, and his own Cultivation, which further enhanced many cognitive abilities.

William shrugged in response to the System's question, opting to remain silent while he listened in on a group of friends in the Nascent Soul Realm. They were barely fifteen years old, but they constantly went back and forth, using occasional unfamiliar slang to describe the hottest topic.

As they drew further away from William, one particular conversation piqued William's interest and led him to train his hearing on the group for a bit longer.

"My guys, did you hear what happened to Sylphia this morning?" one of the boys asked randomly.

"Huh? What did Sylphia do? Does she have a new boyfriend or something?" another replied.

The first boy shook his head, "Nah, some random girl challenged her to a fight."

"Okay? She fights all the time, what's different about that from any other day. She even signed up for the Induction Competition this year."

"It's different. I have no idea who this girl was, but Sylphia lost, in ONE STRIKE! Whoever this girl is could probably place in the top thousand of the Lower Bracket of the competition.

I've never seen anyone under the age of fifty place so well!" the boy became excited as he waved his hands around in an attempt to replicate some sort of sweeping sword strike.

"Did they get it on the Array Recorders at school?" a girl at the back of the group was interested now, but her expression suggested she didn't fully believe the boy's story.

"... I don't know. Maybe? Those Array Recorders aren't very good; you know those things are almost brand new and they're still being tested. If we weren't part of Filem Academy for Excellents, we probably wouldn't even get them for a few more years."

The girl nodded, but she was mostly unconvinced.

See, System? Now I found out that there are brackets of the Induction Competition, and some random girl can place in the top thousand. There are even schools that participate, and you can sign up.

-I could have told you all of that.

For what price? William smirked.

-... three million Points.

Exactly. I just saved myself three million Points simply by sitting still for a while. I think you should learn from my example, System.

-And be idiotic? I'll pass.

William was at a loss for words temporarily. The System never failed to berate him, even when he was doing well.

He got up from his seat and approached the group of friends, "I heard a little bit of what you said. Where can I sign up for the competition?"

The boys and girls looked at William with a blank stare. The boy in the lead also looked at him strangely as he replied, "Who the hell are you, old man? Go figure it out for yourself."

Huh? William questioned in his mind. Since when did I become an old man? he looked at himself from a third-person perspective using his Soul Strength, but William didn't see any issues with his current appearance.

The Appearance Restoration Pill made him constantly look like someone in his twenties and would remain in effect unless some more powerful effect adjusted his age severely. Even so, he would generally always have a youthful appearance because he was now an Ascended Cultivator.

-There's nothing wrong with you. They're fifteen years old, anyone over the age of eighteen is an old man to them.

William understood, but that only made him angry. He looked at the boy with a frown, "Just answer the question, kiddo."

"Nah, go get a job or something you bum."

-Hahahaha! You're even arguing with a kid and losing! You're hopeless.

The System laughed at William's misfortune, but its mental waves expressed playfulness. It didn't really mean what it said.

William decided to take the moral high ground and change his tactic, "I'll give you something cool if you tell me."

The boy's eyes lit up, "Now you're talking. Give me fifty Spirit Jades." the boy held out an open palm in anticipation.

What the hell? I'm supposed to make the offer, why is he just requesting things?!? Nothing makes sense anymore!