Inside the Fire Domain, William felt invincible. Any Fire Element spells he launched would receive a boost from the Fire Domain, increasing their power to an unbelievable level. If he used the Meteor Spell, its power would definitely enter the Nascent Soul Realm!
Just the Fire Domain was a huge bonus for the upgrade to S-Rank Affinity, but it wasn't the only change. William's Fire Spells now cost half as much Mana to cast, meaning he could launch over a thousand giant fireballs before running out of Mana.
The difference was massive compared to just a few months ago when a regular fireball could exhaust his Mana after just a few uses.
William still had 16720 Potential Points left, but he wasn't willing to upgrade his most powerful Elements yet. First, he needed to increase his chances of surviving the upgrade.
System, upgrade my Life Affinity to S-Rank.
Life Affinity: (C --> B)
Life Affinity: (B --> A)
Life Affinity: (A --> S)
The expenditure wasn't small, but William couldn't afford to risk his life during another upgrade. A wave of refreshing Mana washed over him, healing even the smallest injuries invisible to the naked eye. His lifespan even extended to 240 years by the end of the upgrade!
He tested out his Life Sense spell, noticing that its range had increased to a hundred kilometers in every direction. He could now see that the bottom of the Gravitas Ruins was a mysterious area, filled with massive lifeforms that were probably above the Nascent Soul Realm.
Similar to the Fire Element, the Life Element had its own unique Domain that greatly increased the natural healing of anyone inside. With this, William could regrow an arm in an instant, or even heal multiple people simultaneously!
Now William understood why Supreme Left was revered so much. With an S-Rank Element, anyone would be invincible inside their Domain against anyone with the same Element.
William wondered if he could fight with Supreme Left if they shared the same S-Rank Affinity. After all, he has the Manamatus Title to further improve his strength.
William had a new goal. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novel_fіre.net
With the Life Element upgrade out of the way, William now had to improve his Mind. Not only did the upgrades damage him greatly, but they almost made him pass out multiple times. The Life Element would be useless if William wasn't conscious to use it.
He felt bad for Atticus, whom he could upgrade with five thousand Potential Points. It couldn't be helped though, since the Gravitas Ruins would probably force him out if his Cultivation reached the Golden Core Realm.
I'll give you plenty of upgrades later my friend, don't worry. He caressed Atticus' scales in a comforting manner. The snake was with him 24/7, it was only natural for William to become attached.
System, upgrade my Mind Talent to S-Rank.
William felt his mind clear up greatly, as if more space was made. His memory greatly improved, allowing him to remember even up to what he ate every day when he was three years old. He could even remember specific details from the Sect that previously went unnoticed.
The few Cultivation Techniques he read through at the Great Hall were imprinted in his mind, and he could Cultivate them even without using the books as a guide.
Most importantly, he could finally remember Su Yanyu's face, which meant he had surpassed the limits of her mental ability. Unfortunately, the increase in mental power still was not quite enough to resist the Enslavement Array.
Of course, it would only make sense considering the caster was someone loyal to the Sect Master and was probably just as powerful if not more.
He was going to upgrade more Talents, but was interrupted by a sudden System notification.
-DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE--
--UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT--
--UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL--
SYSTEM RANK: (E+ --> D-)
-782 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup
Next rank up: 24218PP
*New features available
-Companion Purchase: Buy Companion Beast Eggs from the Companion Beast Menu with PP. Can only purchase Eggs of discovered Magical Beasts in the Bestiary.
-System has reached version 1.7, new Talents have been added to the Talent Shop.
-All new Talents will be automatically raised to D-Rank.
-Rare Talents are even more likely to appear.
-Ask Function has improved. Questions that cost only one PP will be free. All other questions cost half as many PP.
Companion Eggs? Sounds pretty good, but I already have Atticus. Maybe in the future though.
The System upgrade was somewhat disappointing considering it was finally upgraded to D-Rank, but William couldn't complain too much. The automatic upgrade on new Talents was nice.
I'll check out the new Talents later. System, upgrade my Hard Skin Talent.
The upgrade went by smoothly, further increasing the density of William's skin cells. There was now a slight luster on his skin, as if William was partially made of silver. He tested his defense but was unable to find the limit. Only with the Sword of Shifting Sands could William even make a cut on his skin, the Ornate Throwing Knives completely useless.
Just one more thing. System, upgrade my Regeneration Talent to S.
Regeneration: (B --> A)
Regeneration: (A --> S)
He waited for the upgrade to finish, but the effects weren't obvious yet since he wasn't injured. William still had over 6 thousand Potential Points left, so he spent 3950 points on upgrading the Earth, Ice, and Wind Elements to S-Rank first.
Each Elemental upgrade came with its own respective Domain, which powered up William's spells even further. He did some testing with the Domains, pleasantly surprised that he could activate multiple at the same time without an issue.
The only downside was the immense Mana cost. Each Domain spent 10 Mana when used and an additional 1 Mana per second, meaning he could only last around 5 minutes with all five of his Domains active.
Of course, William would be surprised if any single enemy survived 5 minutes against even one of his Domains unless they were at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm.
Speaking of Nascent Soul Realm, I wonder how I compare against the Elders of the Five Elements Sect now...
William was beginning to love the Gravitas Ruins, which had already earned him way more Potential Points in a single day than he had in the last month.
William was exhausted from all the fighting and System upgrades, finding it was already past midnight. He set up a few Perfect Arrays to prevent any intruders from entering the cavern, then double checked the surroundings with his Life Sense.
He was in the middle of the desert and underground, but it didn't hurt to prevent any accidents. Once he was done, William made some omelettes for dinner using the equipment from his Space Ring.
He asked Atticus to keep an eye out for enemies and cover them with Illusion Magic if needed, then laid his head down for a nice long rest.
-Potential Farm: +3 PP
William woke up to the familiar ding of the System rewarding him with Potential Points. This had become somewhat of an alarm for him the past few weeks, always triggering at around 6 in the morning.
He checked with Atticus, who shook his head to communicate that there were no issues overnight. He gave the snake a pat, then allowed it to rest on his shoulder while he prepared for the day.
William wasn't in a hurry, so he made a large breakfast first. Since he brainlessly made omelettes the previous night, he felt it would be suitable to make some spaghetti.
He used Water Magic to fill a cauldron and boiled it with Fire Magic, then poured in some dried noodles that he bought from the market. While waiting for the noodles to cook, William placed some Sea Snake meat into a skillet and chopped it up until it was ground into small pieces.
Using some sauce he purchased and a bit of salt from the Earth Element, William was able to make two tasty plates of spaghetti, one each for him and Atticus.
The snake wasn't too keen on the noodles, but the meat sauce made its eyes gleam with anticipation as William set down the plates on a wooden table made from the Plant Element.
Man, this is awesome. How can I miss my old world when all of the tedious parts of cooking can be speed up with the use of Magic? I don't even need to work!
In a sense, the work in this world was killing beasts. But with the addition of Potential Points, it was more like grinding for fun in a video game. William couldn't complain at all!
If it weren't for the constant threat of powerful Cultivators wiping him from existence, this world could turn into William's paradise!