William spent the next two days Cultivating while spending the breaks to refill his Protective Amulet. He hadn't broken through yet, but he now had 86 Spirit Qi stored in his Dantian, which should be enough for him to break through two levels at once.
He completed his last round of Cultivation and went ahead with the double breakthrough. He used up seventy Spirit Qi in total, further improving his physical abilities while his Mana Reserves increased by another 200 Mana.
His Status showed that his Health had also increased by another hundred points, confirming his earlier guess.
It seemed that each breakthrough in the Qi Refinement Realm applied a very specific boost to his stats, which made it easier for William to become accustomed to the changes in his body.
William checked through his Gravitas Ruins Ticket to see how much time had passed, finding that it was now day 33. His two Potential Farms had earned him fifteen Potential Points each per day, providing a total of sixty Points.
Since the previous Rank earned William three Potential Points per day, this meant his earnings had increased by five times, while the price to upgrade had increased by ten times. He still considered this manageable though, since it would only take two months for a Potential Farm to pay itself off.
With his increased knowledge of the world around him, William knew that earning Potential Points would become harder and harder as he became stronger.
Unless he could upgrade his Titles, find treasures, or complete System Quests, William was doomed to spend a lot of time waiting for enough Potential Points to improve his Talents in the future.
Cultivating is boring, let's break through and get some fresh air. William thought to himself as he patted Atticus' scales while the snake was coiled up on the ground.
The snake tilted its nose up towards William's hand, seemingly smiling in content at his Master's touch. It slithered up William's arm, wrapping itself around his shoulder as William walked outside the cavern.
Flame Dragon Uri was waiting for William on an island in the center of the lake, since the dragon didn't like the sensation of being wet. As William approached Uri, the dragon's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"You've become stronger, Master." the dragon's deep voice spread across the small island even though it wasn't trying to be loud.
"A little bit." William replied as he scratched his head.
Uri could tell that William's improvement wasn't as small as he claimed, but he didn't say anything more.
Dragons had good instincts for their opponent's strength, and William's aura was overbearing enough to pressure him. When he compared it to before...it couldn't be compared!
When they were in the trial tower, William gave off a pressure equivalent to a child facing an adult. Now, however, Uri's instincts were telling him that William could actually damage him if he wasn't careful!
William noticed Uri's expression was a bit odd, but he couldn't be bothered to ask what was on his mind.
"Where are we going, Master?"
"I have a few loose ends to tie up. Specifically in the form of a thousand idiots that dared to attack me in broad daylight." the time of day didn't really matter, but William thought it would sound cooler if he worded it that way.
Uri hadn't spent much time with William, so he took his words seriously and nodded. Atticus shook his head, aware of his Master's antics and seemingly ashamed of his corny phrases.
As the group traveled on a return trip to the Labyrinth of Tears, William and Flame Dragon Uri discussed strategy.
"Master, what do you want me to do when we arrive?"
Wiliam thought for a moment, "You were the trial on the second floor of the tower. You're very skilled in detection, correct?"
"I am not, actually." the dragon shook its head.
"In fact, detection is my weakest aspect. It's only because the weak Cultivators are so poor at concealing their auras that I can discover them at all. Against someone even one Realm below me, I won't notice their presence at all unless they release killing intent or intentionally reveal themselves."
So that's why a Soul Formation Magical Beast was placed as the main enemy in a Stealth Trial. Its strength is impressive, but its detection abilities are anything but!
William nodded his head, "It should still be enough. Can you do me a favor and fly above the Labyrinth and help me locate other Cultivators?"
He tried to keep his tone respectful, despite the fact that Flame Dragon Uri was his subordinate. William felt it was the right thing to do, especially since the dragon was much stronger than him.
"Of course, Master." the dragon had no reason to refuse such a simple order, not to mention William's incredible growth meant he would soon surpass him in ability. It was better to gain favor with William now before he acquired other Magical Beasts as companions.
Once the group reached the entrance to the Labyrinth, Uri did as he was asked and searched from the sky for groups of Cultivators. With his help combined with the Navigation Talent, William didn't even need to use the Life Element to find his targets.
He settled on a group of twenty Cultivators. Since their group was so large, William assumed it was a remnant of the alliances that were formed to take down William. They had to go as soon as possible.
William didn't bother creating any Complete Arrays, since that would be quite extravagant for dealing with small fry. Instead, he used two different improved Perfect Confinement Arrays, one designed to cover a large area, and the other fine-tuned to only restrict a Cultivator's hand movements.
The moment the Arrays were activated, the group of twenty Cultivators stopped.
"Fuck, what is this?" one of them shouted.
"It's an enemy attack!" another replied as they noticed William standing only a few dozen meters away.
The Cultivator wondered how they hadn't noticed William's presence before, but he didn't have much time to think about it before Will flashed to his position with the Space Element and absorbed his Mana with the Mana Gathering Staff.
The other Cultivators' hands dropped loosely to their sides as the Arrays glowed, while their entire bodies felt like they were stuck in a vat of honey, having to use every ounce of their energy to move forward.
Their expressions became fearful as they realized the predicament they were in. William flashed from one Cultivator to another, absorbing their Mana one at a time with a leisurely pace.
After the fourth Cultivator's Mana was absorbed, the Mana Gathering Staff lit up, the Staff extending by about half a meter as a second seal was removed. The abilities of the Staff increased from twenty to thirty percent, improving William's Magic Power, Mana Regeneration, Mana Control, and Concentration by an additional ten percent.
William flashed forward with the Space Element to the next target but misjudged the improvement in Magic Power and ended up teleporting too far ahead. He turned around in the blink of an eye and placed his hands on his hips, doing his best to make it seem like the act was on purpose.
"Surrender now, I won't kill you." he said to the group of sixteen conscious Cultivators. The four whose Mana had been absorbed were currently knocked out, having suffered from the aftereffects of Mana Sickness.
The group immediately surrendered themselves, dipping their heads in shame as William approached each of them one-by-one and absorbed their Mana.
Unfortunately for the group, William didn't say anything about not stealing their treasures.
When the Cultivators woke up, they found themselves both naked and missing their Space Rings. Having lost all of their valuables, a few of the Cultivators cried.
Even their Gravitas Ruins Tickets were gone, meaning they would have to compensate their Sect, but how could they do it when all their money was also stolen? What a cruel world!
Four days passed, William becoming a few hundred Space Rings richer, his Mana Gathering Staff unlocking another Seal, and the Labyrinth of Tears becoming filled with literal tears as Cultivators lost all of their valuables.
William found the interaction to be karma, considering these Cultivators had originally planned to steal his hard-earned treasures after he left the trial tower. It was only fair that they expect the same to happen to them. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ n0velfire.net
Fria, who had been in the Labyrinth of Tears this entire time, heard many rumors of William's ruthlessness and pouted. She had been collecting loot from various Cultivators herself, with a plan to trade the treasures with William in exchange for his loyalty.
Unfortunately for her, even this plan had failed epically since William would no longer need treasures past this point. At least, not any treasures that she could provide him.
This was the third failed attempt at recruiting him, and Fria felt it was probably time to give up on it until she became even stronger.
During William's battle with thousands of Cultivators, Fria had seen everything, but she had only managed to disable a few dangerous traps and save William some Mana but didn't have a large impact on the fight.
How can I catch up to him?? Fria thought to herself as she sifted through a few random Space Rings that she owned.