Infinite Potential System

Chapter 504 Followers

To William's relief, his outburst didn't distract his classmates to the point where they'd forget about the Boss. That said, some were startled and received minor injuries in the process, pulling them out of the fight for a few seconds while they chewed on some Pills.

"And who the fuck are you?" an irritated Yuhe shouted back.

"That's William, our classmate that Ascended from the Mortal Realms." a meek student with round-rimmed glasses lowered his voice as he spoke to Yuhe.

She snapped her head towards the student and hissed, "I know who he is, Nihlo, it was for dramatic effect!"

"Tch." Nihlo couldn't stand his obnoxious leader and repositioned himself so he didn't have to deal with her antics. Several Earth Spikes were aimed at the Corpse Gatherer, creating a few marks on its body before the Spikes were shattered into pieces.

William ignored Yuhe and shouted once more, "You're all stronger than this! Let me show you what you can do! Earth Mages, block the Bone Bullets!"

His order fell on deaf ears as most of the class continued doing their own thing. This was the downside of the Noble Prowess Talent, which wasn't explicitly stated within its information panel. To gain the benefits of his Talent, William needed the students to accept him as their leader, even if only for a moment.

His charisma was still raised, increasing the chances that one would listen to him, but Noble Prowess wasn't an Ascended Talent. The effects were limited on those in the Ascension Realm or beyond.

He didn't give up, though. He continued to stand back and issue orders, using his Earth Wall to block Bone Bullets that sprayed in the direction of him and the classmates in its line of fire. After a while, others noticed how effective William's strategy was and adopted it themselves.

-You've gained a follower: Nihlo

Along with the System Message came a series of information that displayed above Nihlo's head. As he watched Nihlo cast an Earth Wall, the information updated in real-time, analyzing his strengths and weaknesses.

Nihlo's Earth Wall was sturdy enough to withstand almost the entirety of the Corpse Gatherer's attack, but it started to fall apart in the last few seconds, forcing William to reinforce his classmate's Spell at the end.

"Nihlo, good job! Reduce the coverage of your Earth Wall by about ten percent! Water Mages, take cover behind the Earth Walls and create a tsunami to knock the Boss off balance! Make sure you don't weaken the Earth Walls while doing so!"

"Yes!" the students stopped ignoring William's commands and followed through, cycling between Earth Walls and Tsunamis to control the flow of battle. Once they had the process down, William ordered the Ice Mages to freeze the water, trapping the Boss in place.

-You've gained a follower: Felmus Flamerium

-You've gained a follower: Mikaela Mirov

-You've gained a follower: Bethany Irisa

Follower notifications rained in until William had secured leadership over the majority of the students. He continued copying the strategy that he had used in Jeron, Benny, and Jonas' party, swiftly ending the Boss fight in less than fifteen minutes.

The Corpse Gatherer exploded into loot, dropping twelve Quake Dungeon Gems and two items this time. William really wanted to gather the items and Gems, but he knew it was more important that his classmates didn't lose trust in him.

He stepped forward and picked up a single Quake Dungeon Gem, then returned to his original position. "You guys can have the rest. You worked hard for it."

-You've gained a follower: Jonathan Irisa

-You've gained a follower: Shine

Two more students joined William's side, leaving only Yuhe Slightwing, who hadn't cast a Spell at the Boss since William's arrival. Their expressions were slightly different from when he was in class, but he didn't find that to be a bad thing.

At least my Physical Charm Talent isn't affecting them out here... William sighed in relief, glad that Ascension Realm Cultivators were mostly immune to its effects. Other than a slight blush on some of the weaker girls' faces, all was well.

"What now?" Felmus looked up at William expectantly. After how flawlessly William had led their group to victory, he didn't care what they did, as long as he didn't have to listen to that Yuhe.

"Well... I have some things to do, but if you work together like you did earlier, you should at least be able to make it through the seventh floor. If you're here for Gems, stay on the fourth floor."

It felt slightly awkward for William to be repeating the same things that were said to him when he visited, but he was just trying to signal to the group that he was going to leave again.

"Where will you go? You could farm Dungeon Gems with us, or maybe we can try to reach the next Boss!"

William shook his head, "The Boss on the tenth floor is too strong. It's nothing like the Corpse Gatherer. I'm looking for loot and I don't want to share it with you guys, no offense. I was just stopping by."

His response triggered murmurs among the crowd.

"Are you saying you've been to the tenth floor already?" someone asked in surprise.

Nihlo spoke up, "I'll come with you! You can have all the items too!"

William was surprised at Nihlo's enthusiasm, as were many of his classmates. While they wondered what kind of drugs Nihlo was on, William questioned other things.

Was this the effect of the Noble Prowess Talent? Was Nihlo's mental strength so low that he already wanted to follow William to the ends of the Plane?

He waved his hand in dismissal, "I can't do that to you. Besides, I'm testing how far I can go with my own strength. It would defeat the purpose if I had help."

"Okay..." Nihlo didn't press any further.

Now what do I do with them? William thought as he scanned his classmates' information panels. Each of the notifications said the same thing: they didn't want to be led by Yuhe Slightwing again.

"Mikaela, you can lead everyone while I'm gone." he said after some thought. This should solve the problem with Yuhe, hopefully.

-Appointed a Captain

"No problem!" Mikaela was overjoyed that William had picked her to lead. Wait, why am I happy with him right now? He's just an annoying pervert that surprised me once.

William didn't want to remain any longer, so he bade the group farewell and teleported directly to the seventh floor. He closed the portal before Nihlo or anyone else could pass through, then opened a second that took him to the ninth floor at the stairwell.

He sat down and organized his items while thinking about the recent interaction. His classmates had eventually listened to him during the Boss fight, but it took some time to convince them. Only when William took the initiative to follow his own strategy did others start noticing its advantages.

I didn't really "convince" them to join me, more like I showed them that my way was the best way. If I hadn't already fought the Boss before, it would have been much more difficult for them to follow my orders.

I guess I got lucky, but it was a good test. System, how many followers do I have right now? Will I lose followers over time?

-You have 11 followers. If your followers spend too long without a leader, they will eventually lose faith in you. Appointing that girl as your Captain should slow down the effect, so there's no reason to worry.

Then all I have to do is appoint a bunch of Captains! William realized.

-Once you've appointed a Captain, it's difficult to reverse the process without losing followers. If you appoint too many Captains, it may become a situation of "too many chefs in the kitchen."

William understood what the System was getting at. If everyone was a Captain, then technically no one was. There would be too many conflicts of interest that could do more harm than good.

I'll think about all of that later. William decided as he climbed the stairs to the tenth floor. There were a few second-year students already in the room, battling against a Morphing Devil Tree that was heavily damaged.

This particular group didn't seem to use the same pits of water that William's party had used in the past. Instead, they had several Earth Mages that could accurately detect the location of the tree branches when they moved underground.

Because of them, the Morphing Devil Tree could never catch anyone off guard. Even worse for it, attacking the group of Earth Mages would open it up to attacks from the remaining students. Without any assistance from William, the Morphing Devil Tree's lifeforce was wiped out just a few minutes later.

Its body burst into a shower of twenty Quake Dungeon Gems, an irregularly shaped stick appearing with them and landing on the ground. Before the other students could react, William teleported into the pile of loot, stuffed everything into his Space Ring, and teleported directly to the fourteenth floor.

I already did my good deed for the day. This loot is mine!