Infinite Potential System

With his now incredibly high resistance to fire, William dove back into the white flames. His body swam forward at a normal pace, completely unbothered by the intense heat.

What used to feel like an uncomfortable 38 degrees Celsius now felt like a cool summer breeze, barely noticeable. Even as he dove deeper, the temperature hardly changed until he reached the very center of the flames, where the uncomfortable feeling returned.

It\'s still a bit too much to stay here for a long time, but I\'ve made it to the center now. System, can I absorb this Greater Fire Vein now?

The System didn\'t respond, so William did what he had done previously with the other Veins, resting his hand on a ball of white flames that were extremely dense and felt like jelly when he pressed down.

-Discovered Fire Vein: +50 PP

The Lesser Life Vein only gave me three Potential Points when I first approached it, and the Earth Vein was the same, why is the value increased now? William asked the System.

-Because I said so. Would you rather I only give you three points?

The System\'s tone seemed a bit angry, but William didn\'t know why it would be upset over a simple question.

Uh...never mind. Continue with the absorption process.

———

-Absorbing Greater Fire Vein...

...

...

-Cannot absorb Fire Vein. System Level too low.

———

To William\'s disappointment, the System relayed a series of messages that he hoped not to see. After upgrading his Heat Resistance Talent twice and going through so much trouble, it turned out that the System didn\'t even have the ability to absorb the Vein!

I guess the decision was already made for me. William thought as he exited the crack once again and put his Artifacts back on.

The System was nowhere close to meeting the upgrade requirements, needing another 62332 Potential Points to reach C-Rank. William only had just over seventeen thousand Points, so he would still need to earn another forty thousand somehow.

He looked at the Flamerium Ore dotting the walls and ceiling. If he could extract enough of these, it would probably earn him quite a few Potential Points.

The only problem was he wanted to be back in Blue Moon City in less than ten days, just in case the next Beast Tide arrived earlier than anticipated. Whether or not he could earn forty thousand Points from extracting Flamerium was unclear.

But I earned a few thousand Points from the Greater Fire Shards...I should extract those instead.

"Carl, we\'re going back up. Are you ready?" William asked.

Carl nodded, though he was a bit confused. "Already? Were you only here for the thing in the fire?"

"I couldn\'t get it," William shook his head. "We will have to come back for it another time."

"What if someone else gets it first?"

"I don\'t think that\'s going to happen. Did you see what that fire did to me?"

"Right. I\'m ready."

***

"What? He was here and I didn\'t get to see him?!?" Charlotte covered her mouth to prevent her surprise from being heard throughout the entire Training Area.

She had returned from her mission half a day ago, but since she wasn\'t that close with William\'s friends, they didn\'t relay the information until Tia and Gunther saw her by chance.

"Yeah, he was here. And he\'s super strong too." Gunther replied while showing off his own newly toned muscles. After seeing how much William had improved in a short time, Gunther had placed even more focus on keeping his body in top condition.

"Gunny, I\'m starting to think what he said about you is right. Why are you commenting on another man\'s muscles?" Tia laughed as she gave Gunther a slight side-eye, causing him to turn red with anger and embarrassment.

"Shut up about that. I\'m with you, aren\'t I?" Gunther complained. He didn\'t like it when Tia picked on him in front of others.

"Hey, I\'m still here." Charlotte looked at the arguing couple and placed her hands on her hips. "Where is he now? I\'ll go wherever he is."

"Oh, he\'s got a new identity, so you won\'t find him easily. Just wait for him to come back and pick us up. We\'re all going together." Tia replied.

"All of us? How many people are going with him?"

"Hmm, I think it\'s just me, you, Gunther, and an Inner Core Disciple. Yuppy, I believe?" Tia looked upward as she tried to remember the Alchemist\'s name.

"Yuppy?" Gunther looked at Tia with a raised eyebrow. "His name is Yuming, even I remember that. And don\'t forget Carl."

"Ah, yes. Yuming." Tia nodded. "That was my second guess."

"No it wasn\'t."

Charlotte stepped in before the two could get into another fight. "Okay, so five of us? When is he coming?"

Gunther shook his head, "I don\'t know. He said he\'d be around in maybe one or two weeks, so it could be any time now, but he also didn\'t sound very confident. Carl went with him, so I wouldn\'t be surprised if it took him three weeks or more."

"Are you saying that Carl is slow?" Tia asked.

"Not exactly, but it\'s not like he\'s fast either. You saw how fast William was during the Ranking match against Yu Ren and Hanzu, Carl is nowhere near that speed." Gunther explained.

"What do I do in the meantime? I can\'t wait here for him forever, I\'m a healer." Charlotte asked.

A mage with the Life Affinity was almost mandatory on most missions, so she was sent out frequently to act as support for Outer and Inner Core Disciples alike. If William took too long to return, she might be on another mission by that time.

"I can ask Filipe to contact him. He has a communicator that should be able to reach him from almost anywhere. We can go on a mission together and set up a new place to meet." Gunther said.

He explained how William had given Filipe a communicator to talk back and forth, since he wouldn\'t be leaving the Sect with the rest of the group. He didn\'t forget to explain the part where William improved its Arrays in an instant.

Charlotte knew that William was good with Arrays, but having no knowledge of the process herself, she didn\'t know just how impressive the feat was. In her eyes, a Perfect and an Intermediate Array were basically the same thing, though one was stronger than the other.

She smiled and accepted the offer, following the group to Filipe\'s residence. Gunther offered to just pass along a message and tell her later, but she insisted on coming along, since it would be "easier that way".

In truth, Charlotte just wanted to hear William\'s voice again, but how could she admit something like this to a group of people she hardly ever interacted with?

It was already awkward enough hearing news about William second-hand. Now that she was back in the Sect, why would she sit back and wait?

What am I thinking, I don\'t need to be flustered over this. Charlotte shook her head and dismissed her thoughts while Gunther knocked on the door of Filipe\'s residence.