Infinite Potential System

William's Poison Elemental form dissipated in an instant, returning to his complete human form. He couldn't help but curse as he entered the usual state of Mana Sickness, but his Mana Regeneration and Recovery Talents offset the effects near instantaneously.

I can't believe I didn't check my Mana, but it seems I can still bear the effects of the miasma with my current health and Cultivation.

The Nascent Soul Realm wasn't just for show. Compared to his previous Golden Core 5 self, the first level of the Nascent Soul was roughly sixty percent more resilient. The special effect of his Nascent Soul greatly assisted his X-Rank Poison Resistance Talent, allowing him to spend roughly ten extra minutes in the poisonous miasma even without his Elemental Form as he would call it.

Since being damaged continuously by poisonous miasma was considered being in combat, William's Mana Regeneration was a lot slower than it could have been. Thankfully he was able to hold the Mana Gathering Staff for extra regeneration, otherwise he truly wouldn't have been able to survive.

When his Nascent Soul started to take damage from the miasma, William reverted to his Poison Elemental Form and simultaneously spent thirty-five thousand Potential Points to upgrade his now rarely used Forcefield Talent from S to SSR-Rank.

With the continuous recovery of the Forcefield and alternating from his Poison Elemental Form to his regular self, William was able to delay the poisonous miasma's effects for the entire hour, albeit barely.

-Your resistance to the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin has increased. Total: 10%

The moment the System's notification sounded, William dashed out of the poisonous miasma to catch his breath. His Soul Strength had decreased by sixty-six, costing slightly more than what he gained from reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, while his Recovery Talent's side effect aged him by two years.

While it felt like a slight loss, William knew that he was gaining an incredible boost in return. This was poison from the higher Realms, after all. If he could gain complete immunity, William's Poison Elemental Form would be able to mimic the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin's attributes, turning him into a walking miasma.

Just thinking about becoming a Soul-Sapping Poison Elemental made William drool. Could he use the Elemental Form to increase his Soul Strength?

He sat down at the edge of the poisonous miasma with the Mana Gathering Staff in hand while recovering his Mana. Since he was out of combat, William's Mana fully recovered to the maximum 9800 in roughly twenty minutes; a huge difference compared to while he was inside the miasma.

He switched to his Poison Elemental Form and entered the miasma once more, following the same procedure for the first half-hour while the ten percent resistance allowed him to spend an extra few minutes inside the miasma without losing Soul Strength.

By the end of the second hour, William had only lost 41 Soul Strength, and significantly less in the third hour. At hour six, William no longer lost Soul Strength when inside the poisonous miasma and his resistance to the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin allowed him to remain inside continuously even without the Poison Elemental Form.

-Your resistance to the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin has increased. Total: 100%

-You are now immune to the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin.

-Your Poison Elemental Form now carries the properties of the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin.

-Soul-Sapping Poison Elemental: Affecting others while in this form will now absorb a small portion of their soul over time. Effects are dependent on the opponents' Soul Strength and Poison Resistance. Effects persist until the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin has been eliminated from the opponents' body.

That's overpowered! System, you've been in my body for a long time now, you should know what I'm going to use this ability for... William would have narrowed his eyes mentally if he knew how to.

-It's not overpowered at all.

William smiled and didn't give away his thoughts. Clearly the System hadn't balanced this Talent properly, but he wasn't going to risk explaining why.

Instead, William teleported across the Velos Continent back the way he came until he reached the first small city he and his friends had entered. He continued to expend his Mana on long-distance portals, crossing the ocean and reaching the Azures Continent in a matter of hours.

William couldn't do this to cross the Velos Continent before because he could only accurately track coordinates of places he could see or had visited, but that wasn't an issue anymore.

A few more teleports later, William reached a small, inverted pyramid that looked like an Ancient Ruin at first glance. When one took a closer look, however, they would realize it had already been looted and move on.

But this was only a trick set up by the Thieves' Guild to prevent outsiders from discovering their main headquarters. William had thought the same thing at first when he was mapping the Continent, but the underground facility located roughly a hundred kilometers beneath the pyramid said there was more going on than met the eye.

He used the invisibility effect of the Stealth Talent to move through the Thieves' Guild hideout undetected, then arrived in a certain room containing three massive kegs full of a rich-smelling alcohol.

Smiling to himself, William poked an infinitesimally small hole at the top of each keg, then swapped to his Poison Elemental Form and put a single drop of the necrotoxin inside each keg. Additionally, William made sure to conceal the unique smell of the necrotoxin so it'd be harder to notice.

Before anyone could discover William's tampering, he teleported outside the headquarters and returned to the Velos Continent.

And now we wait! William smiled with glee.

No matter how things turned out, he would be killing two birds with one stone. He hoped his move would hook a big fish, possibly even the Thieves' Guild's elusive leader.

With the side tasks taken care of and having only spent half the day, William had nothing left to do besides locate Rudeus Velos.

He had no clue where to find the man, but he was positive the Velos Faction would know. William crossed to the opposite side of the Continent and entered the largest City his Navigation Talent could see, searching with his Cultivation Talent for strong individuals in the area.

A Soul Formation Cultivator crossed his eye first, so William teleported directly in front of the man, scaring him nearly half to death with his well-concealed but still overwhelming aura.

"Hello." William said.

"H-Hello... W-What can I do for you, Sir?" the Cultivator looked at William nervously.

"I'm looking for a Rudeus Velos. Do you know where I can find him?"

"Uh... I don't know..."

William frowned, "Then I guess-"

"But he might!" the Cultivator pointed behind William, where a bulky man wearing a green cloak was leading a group of guards. The guards were all in the Nascent Soul Realm, while the bulky man was in the middle of the Soul Formation Realm.

Before William had a chance to repeat his question, the guards circled around him, "You've infiltrated the City illegally. What do you say for yourself?"

William sighed and released half of his aura, pressing everyone within a hundred meters of him to the ground while the bulky man was forced to his knees. "I'm looking for Rudeus Velos. Do you know of him?"

The guards resisted William's aura and tried to stand up, "You entered illegally, you must-"

The bulky man stood up and pressed a hand on the subordinate's shoulder, "Let it go."

William watched as the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a communicator slowly.

"Belius, what do you need? I sensed a commotion in the City, is that you?"

"Patriarch Vitruvius, there's a man here looking for Rudeus Velos."

"Is that all? Send him away!"