Infinite Potential System

After handling the situation on Reius, William returned to his main body in the Celestial Planes. During the process of returning, he tried to get a feel for the consciousness splitting method that formed essentially a second body, resembling the clones that Supreme Left used.

If William could master it, perhaps he could gain an additional skill that didn't rely on his Talents. Alas, the process wasn't as simple as it seemed, and he had yet to gain anything valuable from his first experience.

Before William could fully return to his senses, two voices shouted simultaneously, "Halt!"

Without turning around, William scanned the newcomers. They were both clad in red uniforms accented by black, while a crest sporting a pair of lifelike wings was seated on their chest area above the heart.

As he concentrated on the wings further, William realized that they weren't just lifelike. They were moving, and the functions had nothing to do with Arrays. It both surprised William and made him curious at the same time, wondering what kind of sorcery could produce such a visual effect.

He turned around, but a pointy stick poked William in the side before he could do anything further. He felt a slight sense of weakness and a hint of pain, but other than that nothing had changed.

The voices from before spoke simultaneously again, "Move again and it won't just be your kidney!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"My kidney? What?" William looked down to see an Array-enhanced spear of high quality had pierced right through his Forcefield and his side was bleeding. Not only that, but the guard wasn't affected by the Attack Reflection Talent in the slightest, as if he was immune.

-The Attack Reflection Talent won't be as effective against opponents with much greater Cultivation than you or reinforced counter-spell equipment. They have both.

"We said DON'T MOVE!" a second spear poked through William's left lung and made him cough out a small amount of blood.

That said, the pain still wasn't nearly as unbearable as what he had to endure while preventing his soul from merging. In fact, William felt like he could tear out both spears with his hands and walk away mostly unscathed. Even the Ascended Recovery Talent had yet to issue an aging notification.

These guys are guards in the Celestial Planes. They might seem more ruthless, but this is probably the only way to threaten a Cultivator at my level. I guess it makes sense. William thought to himself.

"Alright, I'll listen." William stayed perfectly still as the guards let go of their spears and allowed them to dangle from his body. It was quite brutal treatment, which made William wonder what he could have done to anger the guards in such a way.

The guards approached William's body mostly cautiously, then patted him all over, making him slightly nervous. Various Artifacts and unknown pieces of equipment were used to scan him, making William even more worried.

He wondered if allowing the guards to do as they pleased was the right choice. What if they were looking for the System?

One of the guards stepped back, "You're not registered. Which city are you from?"

"City? I'm from Thin Creek Village." William replied with a questioning gaze.

"Thin Creek Village? Which Plane is that in?"

"Plane? I just Ascended."

The guard furthest away instantly understood William's situation, "Oh, an Ascender huh?" he pulled out a long rod and handed it to the other guard, who extended the rod by two times and swept it over William like a metal detector.

When they looked at the results, they nodded to each other as confirmation, then reached for their spears and yanked them out of William's body without much hesitation. "Sorry for the treatment, Mr...?"

"William." he glared at the two while clutching the wound on his side that rapidly closed up. In full view was his chest wound, which healed at almost the same rate.

"William. We apologize for the, uh, spears. We were expecting a wanted criminal to appear around this time, and we thought it was you considering how you reacted earlier."

"Oh, it's alright." William shrugged off the matter as if it was inconsequential, though he was incredibly angry internally.

So, it was a misunderstanding, huh? You motherfu— how about you come misunderstand my fist?

He couldn't say it aloud, though. William wasn't a big fish here, and he couldn't even read the guards' Cultivaation Realms, meaning they were above the Ascension Realm and exceeded the limits of his Ascended Cultivation Talent. They might even be in the Deity Realm!

"Now that I think about it, what kind of Technique do you use? Normal Ascended Cultivators can hardly stay awake after the first spear, yet you're still standing after two vital spots were damaged. You're not even hurt! That's some regenerative ability..."

"It's genetic." William explained without much elaboration. Explore stories on empire

The two guards nodded in unison, seemingly understanding without further need. "We'll be off then, but you still need to come with us. All newly Ascended must receive their Signature ID." they turned around to leave.

"Aren't you going to compensate me or something?" William frowned. He didn't mind coming along with the guards, but he didn't like getting stabbed for free.

"We can't compensate you. Any issues must be resolved with a branch of the Slightwing Family, we have no power." the guard explained in an apologetic tone.

"Alright, let's get on with it." William grumbled as he walked behind the two guards. His day had started with a surprise battle with a peak Ascension Magical Beast, reached its midpoint with a near world-ending war, and was quickly followed by an aggressive encounter with some local guards.

If it was the old William, he would have killed these two on the spot before they could spear him a second time.

He looked up to the sky to tell the time but was left puzzled for a moment.

"Hey, what time is it? The sun hasn't moved at all." William asked.

"Haha, the sun never moves. Did it move in your Mortal World?" the guard laughed as if William's question was the funniest joke in history.

William nodded.

"Well, if I was suspicious of you before, I'm definitely not now. It might not be too obvious right now, but there are literal Gods in this World. Even Planar Deities can shift the stars and adjust the moons; holding a Plane in eternal sunset is easy for them."

A Planar Deity? Is that the leader of this Plane? William wondered, but the System didn't respond. From the mental waves it sent, the System was currently the equivalent of taking a nap.

"What else can they do?" he asked. There was no reason not to gain as much information as possible while it was available.

"Who knows? The last time anyone recorded a battle at the Planar Deity level was around ten thousand years ago. I'm only in my five hundreds, and this guy next to me is barely a thousand years old. You'll have to ask someone else."

William nodded. How could simple guards know all about the history of the World? It was as if he asked a child in the fifth or sixth grade to explain foreign politics. It might happen, but it was unrealistic.