William continued upgrading the majority of the cheapest Talents to X-Rank. His Magic Homing Talent could now more accurately home to enemies and could be turned on and off, while the Heaven Bruising Talent increased his damage to Heavenly Tribulations by almost three times.
Heaven Bruising (Legendary): (X)
-Damage to Heavenly Tribulations increased by 300%
-The Heavens have to spend 300% more Mana to create the Host's Tribulations.
Next rank up: 1,000,000PP and 1x Heavenly Cloud Core
The existence of the Heaven Bruising Talent made William wonder what progressing to the next Realm would be like in the Ascended Realms. Were the Heavens really responsible for controlling this area as well?
Would he have to see Cerulea the moment he tried to reach the Initial Deity Realm, or would it be someone else? He hoped for the latter.
He maxed out Spell Fusion, Soul Cultivation, and Forcefield Recovery next, skipping over the Soul Talent for now. He still planned to upgrade Soul, but not until the end when he had a better understanding of his strength. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel·fiɾe·net
Next came Bodyguard, Critical Chance, and the Legendary Bounty Hunter Talent. The effects of each increased by a considerable amount, but the best part was Bounty Hunter.
The number of Bounty Hunter stacks was still 100 at maximum, but now William could gain 0.3 Humanity Deprivation Resistance per stack, meaning even if his Humanity was low, he'd be able to resist the effects a third of the time.
The Ascension requirements for the Bounty Hunter Talent weren't very steep either. William only had to collect 15 Bounty Hunter Stacks by defeating criminals at the same Realm or above him, which was a walk in the park at the current moment.
Once William reached the peak of the Ascension Realm, this task would only become easier until he broke through to the Initial Deity Realm. He could already fight against any Ascension Realm Cultivator, and Initial Deity Cultivators weren't too difficult in the lower stages.
By the time he was at the peak of the Ascension Realm, William wanted to be equal to or better than a peak Initial Deity Realm Cultivator. Being able to fight a full Cultivation Realm above oneself was the absolute minimum for him.
There were only two Talents left to upgrade other than the Soul Talent, Weapon Sharpness and Attack Combo. He pushed both to X-Rank, unlocking their Ascension requirements that weren't nearly as simple as the Bounty Hunter Talent.
For the Attack Combo Ascension, William would need to land a one thousand attack combo. Considering his damage output was already incredibly high, William wondered if he'd ever be able to land so many strikes before killing his opponent.
Even if he could, would an enemy allow William to do as he pleased for a thousand strikes? Absolutely not!
The Weapon Sharpness Talent wasn't any easier, requiring him to acquire a Tier 8 Weapon before it could be Ascended. If he managed to upgrade either one before reaching the peak of the Ascension Realm, it would all be considered luck.
Everything is fully upgraded except Soul, what do you think, System? William asked after all the other upgrades were completed. At the same time, he looked at his current Soul Strength.
-Soul Strength: 815970
-Your Soul Strength is already incredibly high. If you upgrade your Soul Talent now, it may become your greatest trump card, but also will draw the most attention if it's revealed.
William nodded. He had thought of this a few times, but he was willing to accept the risks. As long as he killed whoever entered his Sea of Consciousness, it wouldn't be an issue. The problem would lie in if someone entered that he couldn't kill, such as his Principal or an Exam Proctor.
There shouldn't be a need for any of that, but just in case, is there a way to suppress my own Soul Strength, System?
-You'll learn to better control it with time.
In that case, there's no reason to stop here! Upgrade my Soul Talent to X-Rank!
-Your Soul Talent is currently C-Rank. The total cost will be 663,500 Potential Points. Yes/No?
That's nothing. Confirm.
Soul (Legendary): (C --> X)
-Soul Strength increased by 240% --> 20000%
X-Rank Bonus Effects:
-New Statistic: Base Soul Strength
-Base Soul Strength: Represents your Soul Strength before it is modified by the Soul Talent.
Next rank up: 1,000,000PP and 1 vial of Resplendent Ectoplasm
William looked into his Sea of Consciousness, where the pool of Soul Strength vastly decreased for a moment. Its size decreased from the previous 800 thousand to around 340 thousand as the Base Soul Strength statistic came into effect, then an illusory pool of Soul Strength formed around it.
The illusory pool expanded dozens of times, then hundreds of times, until the Base Soul Strength was concealed deep within and was comparable to only a pinprick. Once it was done filling, William checked his Status again.
-Base Soul Strength: 339987
-Soul Strength: 67,997,400
-Cultivation Base: 3.6b/100b
Sixty-seven... million?!? William couldn't believe what he was seeing. He thought back to what the System said before about the Soul Ranks.
-If one has less than a million Soul Strength, they are Zeroes. Between 1 and 10 million are Level 1 Souls, then 11 to 100 million is level 2, 101 million to 1 billion is level 3, and above 1 billion to 1 trillion is level 4.
So... I jumped from being a Zero to a level 2 Soul Cultivator just like that? William couldn't believe that the Soul Talent was only a Legendary Talent.
He also realized just how much he was missing with his other Talents. If Tia had the Strength Talent, she would probably be in the same position as him, since she had been training her body for most of her life.
The Talent effects are all about percentages... is this what the System means when it says infinite potential? William reevaluated his past decisions.
He had been going about it all the wrong way with the majority of his Talents. He never trained his body, yet he continued to upgrade his Strength Talent in the past. He didn't try to enhance his speed alone, but he upgraded the Agility Talent.
Both of these Talents weren't nearly as effective as the Soul Talent.
Because he found an ingenious way to increase his Soul Strength, William was suddenly near the top end of the level 2 Soul Cultivators. He didn't know where that placed him in comparison to the exam proctor, but he now had another goal to achieve.
Even after practicing my Talents all the time, there's just too much to focus on. I have 94 Talents, but if I prioritize a few, I should be able to do the same as the Soul Talent.
He spent half an hour going through the System Panel and carefully selected a few that would hopefully help him survive in the Slightveil Plane. Not only that, but some of these Talents would progress with William, allowing him to continue growing while still hiding his strength.
He started with the first Talent, which only required William to have an Epic Cultivation Technique for its Ascension. With the Agemo Primordial Compression Technique being Mythic-Rarity, William had already far surpassed the requirements.
System, Ascend my Mana Dominator Talent!