Infinite Potential System

William assigned the different teams their positions, then instructed Wen Xai to send daily reports. He scanned the area for any signs of Magical Beasts, but the nearest group was more than a hundred kilometers away and didn't seem to be moving towards the Fire Mine.

If he had to guess, William suspected that the Greater Fire Vein was just one of many, spread around the Region and hidden in cave systems or otherwise. Absorbing just the one Vein wasn't Beast Tide inducing, but he would have to be careful about the rest.
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If I can absorb enough Greater Fire Veins, I might be able to upgrade my Fire Element for free and save some Points, but I can't put the entire World in danger because of my greed.

Before William absorbed another Vein, he wanted to confirm three things. If the Heavens created the Magical Beasts, did they also create the Veins? Second, if they are, why are the Heavens using these Veins to suppress the World? And third, why are the consequences for absorbing the Veins so steep?

It all boiled down to one major question: Are the Heavens afraid of the World, or is it something else?

If I want to find out, I'll need to find another Vein and study it.

William left the Cultivators to their assignments and teleported to the outer ring of the Livingwood Forest. Other than spending a few minutes here to pick up his friends, William hadn't been here in a while and felt nostalgic.

Since the Life Veins had all been absorbed, William could sense that the Livingwood Forest was constantly losing vitality and would probably completely die off in ten to fifteen years. The number of Lifeshrooms and other medicinal herbs had greatly decreased, and even their size was reduced.

He wasn't here to sightsee, though, so William navigated through the forest until he found the tree where he had absorbed the first Life Vein. He blinked multiple times until his Mana Mode was active, but he couldn't find any traces of the Heavens' aura.

It had either been too long since he absorbed the Vein, or William needed to find an intact one first.

He teleported throughout the Far West Forest Region with Mana Mode still active, scanning the environment for dense Mana fluctuations. It didn't take long to find a Vein, just a hundred kilometers northeast of the Livingwood Forest.

Hidden within a large chasm and surrounded by Qi Refinement Magical Beasts was a Lesser Lightning Vein that was almost fully concealed by a layer of stone underneath. If William hadn't used Mana Mode, he probably wouldn't have even noticed the Vein even when walking right past it.

William flew down and landed in the chasm, quickly killing the few Beasts nearby and scaring off the rest. The Earth Element was then used, softly breaking away the layer of stone and revealing a subtle silverish-purple glow as the Lightning Mana escaped the enclosure.

As William inspected the Lightning Vein, he discovered that there was only a small amount of the Heavens' aura present. The Vein was made from some sort of unknown energy that he couldn't understand at his current level, while the Heavens only seemed to play a small part in its creation.

The unknown energy was like Spirit Qi, but also like Mana, but also stronger than both of them combined. William sat cross legged nearby and gathered some Spirit Qi, then released a small amount of his own Lightning Mana to mix with the Spirit Qi in the same ratio as the Lightning Vein.

A few seconds passed, but nothing happened. The Spirit Qi and Mana revolved around each other as if they were cooperating, but they didn't truly mix. There seemed to be a detail that William was missing; a trick or gimmick to the special energy that he wasn't seeing.

He tried a few more times over the next hour, but he gave up after gaining no progress. Whatever the method was, it would take more than just matching the ratio of the energies.

Either way, I've answered one of my questions already. The Heavens definitely were involved in the creation of these... World Cores. William thought to himself.

Finding out why the World was being suppressed wouldn't be answered easily. He would need to either speak to the World or the Heavens directly, and both options were much too risky.

System, how many Points would it cost to answer this question?

-Request will require 190000 Potential Points. If the Host absorbs another Greater Vein, the cost will be reduced to 120000 Potential Points.

You'll charge me seventy thousand less Points if I absorb another Greater Vein? Why?

-Because absorbing Veins will bring you closer to answering the question yourself. Since it's less difficult to uncover the information, the charge is obviously much less.

Hmm... interesting. William had never thought of the Ask Function in this way, but he wasn't about to wantonly absorb World Cores just because it would charge him less.

Yeah, absorbing them might lead him closer to an answer, but what if the answer isn't what he wanted? What if absorbing World Cores led to his untimely death?

The System and others already mentioned how dangerous it would be. What if removing the World's suppression led to its destruction? Where would he go?

But I need to find out somehow. The System's answer is definitely the least dangerous option, but I think I can afford to lower the price a little bit.

System, how many Veins can I absorb before it triggers a Beast Tide?

-Request requires 40000 Potential Points. Yes/No?

Damn, too much. What about the Greater Veins? How many are there?

-Request requires 32000 Potential Points. Yes/No?

Damnit, still too much.

How about this? Yes or no, are there more than fifty Greater Veins on the Continent?

-If you're trying to use the process of elimination to get a cheaper response, you forget that I'm still a sentient being. Your tricks won't work on me.

It was worth a shot...

William decided to find other ways to earn Potential Points while he was outside the Ruins. It would still be a while before he could afford the System's response, but he wanted to at least upgrade his Cultivation Talent before he returned.

The Fire Mine would be a great source of Points for a long time, but William had already decided not to spend years extracting the Greater Fire Shards himself, and he had already allocated as many capable Cultivators as he had access to.

He thought about what to do for a long time, until suddenly he had an idea that would essentially kill two birds with one stone.

System, can you confirm something for me? Does the difficulty of the Beast Tide differ depending on what level of Vein is absorbed?

-Request requires 720 Potential Points. Yes/No?

Finally, a somewhat cheap response! Confirm!

-Yes. Lesser Veins raise the maximum Cultivation level and frequency of the Magical Beasts that spawn by one-third to half a Realm each time one is absorbed.

-Basic Veins do the same, but double the frequency of Magical Beast spawns, while Greater Veins raise the maximum Cultivation level by three-fourths of a Realm each time one is absorbed and triples the frequency of spawns.

-Superior Veins directly raise the minimum and maximum Cultivation level of Magical Beast spawns by an entire Realm, while also quadrupling their spawn rates. If enough Superior Veins are absorbed in the World, there may be greater effects.