Infinite Potential System

"No Spirit Jades, but I'll give you something better. What Elements do you have?" William asked as he reached into his Space Ring.

"I'm an S-Rank Plant Mage. You better not mess with me, or I'll use my Domain on you." the boy puffed out his chest.

William laughed as he pulled out a Plant Dial and handed it to the boy, "Take a look at this."

Seeing an Artifact that appeared to be made of a common metal and engraved with Tier 4 and 5 Arrays, the boy frowned.

"What is this trash? I don't want it."

"Are you sure? It makes your Plant Magic at least twice as strong, even with your Domain. It will help you all the way until you reach the Ascension Realm." William offered.

"That much? There's no way."

"Try it." William crossed his arms in front of his chest while the boy tried on the Artifact. Since William had ownership of the Plant Dial, it was easy to remove the ownership for a while so others could use it.

"Turn this here, and channel some of your Mana, then you should be ready to cast a Spell." William gave the boy a series of instructions, which were easily understood.

With a flick of his wrist and a large amount of Plant Magic, the boy cast a Spell that was very familiar to him.

"Forest Emerge!" he shouted, as a group of seeds formed in the ground ahead of them and quickly grew into a thick patch of trees. Technically, casting Magic like this would be against the rules, but since they were in a park and the Spell was reversible, the boy knew he wouldn't get in any serious trouble if he was caught.

Seeing that the trees grew almost twice as fast as before, the boy beamed with delight. The old man's trash wristwatch was actually a hidden gem!

"I can keep it, right?" the boy asked.

William nodded, "How can I sign up for that competition?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

He turned around to walk away before William could respond, hoping to leave the matter at that.

Overall, it was a good day for him. He saw an awesome and brutally one-sided fight in the early morning and earned a powerful Artifact just before lunch. He reached at his wrist to turn off the Artifact, then—

The boy turned around to see William smiling calmly with the Plant Dial in his hands, "I wonder if any of your other friends know how I can sign up."

The group exchanged glances while William waited for a response. Clearly this person that they offended was a big shot well above their combat power. It should have been obvious given they referred to him as "old man", but not everyone was able to put two and two together.

"We signed up through our school, but you can't attend the school unless you're 25 or younger, even though the Lower Bracket Competition is between people under the age of five hundred years." one of the girls replied.

"Bone age?" William asked.

The girl nodded.

Hmm, I should be able to join if it's testing my bone age. What do you think, System?

-You'll have to join a school to attend the competition, unless you want to become staff for the city or marry into the Slightwing Family.

Why?

-Politics. It's complicated, but the Slightwing and Riverveil Families both do this; they don't want any rogue Cultivators joining from their territory.

I'll take your word for it. What are the restrictions if I attend the school?

-Just basic restrictions. Students can go out and hunt Beasts if they're strong enough, but otherwise they remain within the city. They won't stop you from leaving.

"Where is your school?" he asked the girl to point the direction, which turned out to be only a few kilometers deeper into the city. It was in the Zone of Excellence, though.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Shit. William cursed as he brought out a communicator and dialed a number.

"Ascended Cultivator William, I didn't expect you to call so soon!" Vera's cheery voice sounded from the other end.

William really didn't want to talk to this woman that had clearly been charmed by his Talent, but he had no choice. Other than her and the guard that escorted him through the market, William had no connections in the Slightveil Plane.

"Haha, I was looking to join the Filem Academy, but I realized it's in the Zone of Excellence..." he trailed off.

"It is. You won't be able to join unless you're registered as an Excellent." Vera subconsciously entered work mode.

"Can I register, then?"

"As an Excellent?"

"Yeah."

William's simple confidence was enough for Vera to guess that he was hiding his strength, which made him appear even more attractive in her books.

She opened up a notepad on her desk, "When do you want to take the test?"

"Hmm, the sooner the better. Do you have anything for today?"

Vera flipped the pages of the notebook to today's date and scanned the document. All of the slots for registration were full. With a single flick of her wrist, one of the names were crossed off and William's filled in its place.

"Most of the day is open, I gave you the earliest one if you want to head down there right now."

William nodded even though Vera couldn't physically see him, "Thanks."

Vera hung up the communicator and closed her notebook. She stood up from her desk and used her authority to directly open a portal to the registration area, then sat on a bench and waited for William out front. Find your next read at empire

Less than five minutes later, someone showed up outside, but it wasn't William. Their gait didn't look anything like William, and they weren't anywhere near as handsome.

Before they could enter the building, Vera stood up, "Ascended Cultivator Griffin, something came up and we are going to have to move your test."

Griffin, a shorter youth in his early twenties with curly hair, stopped his movements and turned his head.

"What do you mean? I scheduled this visit four months in advance." he asked.

"We'll hold your test tomorrow, you can wait another day, right?"

"My Family's Gala is tomorrow, I can't take the test! I need to take it today!" Griffin argued.

Vera frowned. Her face turned cold, and her voice was low as she said, "You dare to question my decision? You're not even from one of the Excellent Families, where do you get your confidence?"

Griffin felt back start to sweat. He lowered his head and looked away, "Can I at least get an opening for later today?"

"Go away!" Vera released her aura in anger and directed it at Griffin, who was pressed to the ground in an instant. The difference between Cultivators in the Ascension Realm was huge, and Griffin was finding this out firsthand.

Vera was about to intensify her aura when William showed up. Seeing his face made Vera blush with embarrassment and she withdrew her aura calmly.

She smiled at Griffin, "Run along now, little one. I'm busy."

Griffin, not fully understanding the situation and fearing for his life, got to his feet and ran off into the distance. His Family didn't have the power nor drive to compete with the Staff of Great Rouge, so there was no point in staying behind.

He ran past William with his head down, then disappeared from view a few moments later.

"William! Good to see you, let's go in." Vera's smile seemed to brighten the sky as she opened the door for her now-favorite Ascended Cultivator.

William nodded politely and walked past Vera, who different from before followed him inside the testing area. The pedestal was already raised, but there was no ID card this time.

"Place your Signature ID Card on the pedestal and prepare yourself for the test. Everything is the same as before, but you'll have to try a bit harder if you want to become an Excellent." Vera explained.

William nodded and did as he was told. His Signature ID rested on the pedestal, initiating a sequence of voice commands. The Cultivation Orb was presented, and William waited for the commands.

Place your hand on the Cultivation Orb."

"Cultivation, Ascension Realm. Lower level. No change from last test. Next test."

The metal plate was presented, pristine and perfect as usual.

"Punch the Ascended Thorium Plate."

William used about five percent more strength than last time, punching through the Thorium Plate and creating a deep impression that seemed to be on the verge of tearing through the metal.

"Strength, Ascension Realm. Peak. Above Exceptional. Next test." the Thorium Plate was removed from view and the same target from before appeared a few meters from William.

William used Space Magic once more to attack the target, but this time he used his incredible Mana Control to compress the Mana into a much sharper Spatial Slash that split the target into two halves.

"Magic, Ascension Realm, Upper level. Above Standard."

"Overall score... Excellent! Congratulations on your successful test, we will now calculate your Excellence Ranking."

"Your current position is number 292 out of 312 on the Excellence Ranking. Feel free to test again in the future."