Infinite Potential System

Chapter 362 He Can't Be Trusted

As the source of the Auras, William obviously didn't have a good understanding of what his opponents felt when they came into contact with it. He only knew that it was strong.

Seeing thirty-eight unconscious peak Cultivators and a shivering Anula, William finally realized just how much impact his Elements had on the mental state of a person. He was thankful that the Heavens didn't see the remainder of his Elements, lest he add more troubles to his list.

"So much for your intricate plan." William walked up to Anula and suppressed her movements with the Territory of Sealing. With her and the remaining Tribulation Transcendence Cultivators, William transformed into the Poison Elemental Form and touched each of them with the Soul-Sapping Necrotoxin.

With fine control of the Poison and Life Elements, William kept each of his targets alive while slowly stealing their Soul Strength. As long as they had a little bit left, they could still survive, but all the extras would belong to him!

It's basically loot, if you think about it. Why would I pass up on free Soul Strength? William tried to justify his actions, though it was definitely something a righteous person wouldn't do.

After a day of work, however, even the System had to admit that William's method was very efficient.

-Soul Strength: 255981

All those peak Cultivators and only this much Soul Strength? Either these guys suck or Marcus was loaded! William smiled before wincing in pain. His soul had condensed by about eighty percent, but William was actively trying to suppress the final formation.

The System confirmed that the Soul Condensation was the final stage before Soul Ascension, and it explained that once his soul had fully condensed, the Ascension portal would remain in the sky permanently until he Ascended.

While William could resist, he wasn't eager to have the Heavens watching him 24/7, and he also didn't want to find out what would happen if he moved around while the portal was above him.

What if he teleported to another Continent and the Ascension portal followed? What if an opening to the higher Realms caused the deaths of millions of people like with the Velos Continent? William wasn't a saint, but he wouldn't actively kill innocents without a reason either.

He teleported the thirty-eight suppressed Cultivators to the Azures Continent. There, they were suppressed by a series of Tier 6 Arrays for the time being. The previous batch of Cultivators from the Laotonus Faction's territory were already there, but William hadn't assigned them any tasks yet.

To be honest, he had no idea what he was going to do with so many peak Cultivators. Make them work in the mines? How could he stop them from escaping? The Enslavement Arrays he knew weren't nearly enough to trap such high-level Cultivators; they'd escape in a matter of days.

He would think about that later. For now, William took Anula Andorea to Patriarch Vitruvius to be verified. Since he had already seen William twice this week, the Patriarch expected to see him again within four days, but the boy continued to exceed expectations. No matter how powerful his opponents were, William managed to subdue them within twenty-four hours.

So much for the war... Vitruvius thought, though it wasn't a bad thing at all. If anything, William's speedy capture of the Patriarchs and Matriarch would save many lives in the end, from both sides.

The Velos Faction only took a small portion of each Faction's resources as compensation for their troubles but didn't press any further. While they were the undisputed number one Faction, Vitruvius didn't need immense swaths of land that he controlled alone. It was better to leave them in the hands of trusted members of their enemy Factions.

With binding oaths made, of course.

Rudeus Velos had already begun refining William's Suppression Pills, though William still returned to the man to watch the process. With the assistance of the Alchemy Talent, William was even able to slightly improve the final quality of the Pills through a series of instructions that even Rudeus couldn't help but be astounded.

"You're good at everything, boy. Is there anything you can't do?"

William shrugged, "There are many things."

Rudeus nodded and kept his next thoughts to himself. Everyone had secrets they wanted to keep, and William seemed to carry many more than the average person. He continued refining the Suppression Pills, which took just over six days before they were all complete.

William wrinkled his nose in disgust at the pure-black colored Pill that reminded him more of a ball of rubber. Not only did it look like rubber, but it smelled like it too, hardly seeming edible. Regardless, he knew that these were just the physical characteristics of the Tier 10 Suppression Pills, and their effects were not to be trifled with.

"Try one out. Each Pill should last a hundred years, but it depends on one's physical prowess and stamina usage. For someone like you, I'd be surprised if each Pill lasted a single year." Rudeus informed William of the Pill's effects, though he already knew because of the System.

William popped a Pill in his mouth and crunched it like a hard candy. His taste buds complained on first contact with the Pill's rough outer shell, but William managed to choke it down with a slight struggle.

As the Tier 10 Suppression Pill traveled down William's throat, he could feel the shell cracking and dissolving to unveil an even more disgusting taste. Thankfully he had already swallowed, otherwise he probably wouldn't have been able to consume the Pill in its current state.

The contents of the Suppression Pill dispersed throughout William's body and targeted his muscles directly, filling him with a sense of weakness that was comparable to when he was still a non-Cultivator.

William loosened up the suppression of the Territory of Sealing, finding that he only had to use five percent of the usual effects to maintain his body in peak condition. The only downside to this was that William could sense the Suppression Pill's effects weakening almost instantaneously.

Rather than taking a year for the effects to expire, the Suppression Pill would likely only persist for a week at this rate. Thankfully this could be mitigated by increasing his Seal Territory's effects to roughly eighty percent.

As long as he could balance his use of the Seal Element and Suppression Pill with his ever-growing strength, William could hopefully make the twenty Suppression Pills last ten years.

"Thank you, Alchemist Rudeus." William bowed respectfully. The man had done him a huge favor by expending such valuable ingredients for him, and he was not one to forego appreciation.

"I should be thanking you. You've eliminated hundreds of years' worth of planning by our adversaries in a few days. If we had a few young ones like you in our Faction, we would be unstoppable by the end of the year!"

Rudeus' flattery made William feel both awkward and suspicious. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the old Alchemist, "You're not trying to butter me up so you can meet my friends, are you?"

Rudeus pressed his hand against his chest and feigned a mixture of shock and hurt, "I can't believe you would say something like that about me after I refined such precious Pills for you! I've worked very hard these last few days..."

William wasn't convinced by Rudeus' terrible acting. "Whatever you say. Thanks for your help but I'll be leaving now."

"Where will you go?" The old man asked abruptly.

"Back to my home Continent, there's no more reason to be here."

"Oh... Well take this before you go." Rudeus reached into his Space Ring and pulled out a small black box with a circular lens on the front that appeared as if it could be zoomed in and out.

The black box contained multiple small buttons for various uses, while a single red light was slowly blinking.

"Wear this with you wherever you go, it'll protect you." Rudeus gave an ingratiating smile and waved William in dismissal.

"..." William stared at the black box speechlessly. It was a video camera, set to record anything and everything that happened involving William. Of course he would know what it was, because it originated from his home World!

He accepted the camera with thanks, opting to not refuse Rudeus' kind intentions, but the moment he was out of sight he pressed the power button and turned the camera off. He then inspected the item for any hidden Arrays, locating a sneaky one that would send the picture to a set of coordinates in real-time, depending on William's distance from the coordinates.

It was incredibly complex for a simple camera, and well beyond what Rudeus could achieve. But it was also incredibly... perverted to say the least.

I better keep my friends away from that damned old man, he can't be trusted. William thought as he opened a long-distance portal back to the Revista Faction's Cultivation Site.