Infinite Potential System

Chapter 510 Yes, Captain!

-Loot Goblin (Epic --> Legendary): Your affinity for Loot Goblinry has risen to unfathomable levels. Your greedy nature has not only affected your subordinates and those close to you, but you've also cleared an entire floor of a Dungeon by yourself. Looting speed increased by 30 --> 50%.

Hehe, all in a day's work. William smirked as he read the information related to the Loot Goblin Title.

The Potential Points reward and the increased looting speed didn't matter to him too much, but it was good to know that the Title could still improve. He guessed that it hadn't upgraded on the 16th floor because there were some treasures protected by complex Arrays, but the 17th floor was mostly packed with creatures and didn't have any hidden rooms.

The Sunny Pebblets on the 18th floor were much stronger than their counterparts below, likely reaching into the Middle Stages of the Initial Deity Realm since Will's Cultivation Talent couldn't see through them.

Using his same tactic as before, William entered close proximity to the Sunny Pebblet and launched four simultaneous Comet Pellets. The creature's forcefield triggered and tried to block the Comet Pellets, but it could only hold them for a second before the forcefield shattered.

Moments later, the Comet Pellets struck true on the Sunny Pebblet's four joints, killing it in a single blow. William collected six Quake Dungeon Gems from its body, storing roughly fifty percent more Solar Nectar in his Space Ring.

These guys are tough... They're basically a boss of their own! William exclaimed inwardly.

Their defensive strength was equally as strong as the Sun Stone Golem on the 15th floor, but the difference was these were just a trash mob. Within his line of sight, William could count four more Sunny Pebblets with the same hidden Cultivation as the first.

Their increased strength didn't deter William from trying to fight the Sunny Pebblets. If anything, it just made him more eager to battle. The stronger the enemies, the more loot he could get!

William moved like a ghost through the hallway, countless afterimages forcing the Sunny Pebblets' attacks to miss completely. Every time his real body appeared, one of the Sunny Pebblets would explode and its drops would teleport into William's Space Ring.

"Hahahahaha! Come at me!" William yelled as he launched into another looting frenzy.

***

On the 6th floor of the Quake Dungeon.

A searing inferno blasted down the hallway and incinerated dozens of Gnarled Bark in a row, its path continuing until the Spell landed harmlessly at a T-intersection. Behind the Spell, William's classmates walked forward and gathered the Quake Dungeon Gems that dropped.

"Felmus, you're the only Fire Mage here, so conserve your Mana. No flashy Spells." Mikaela ordered her classmate.

"Yes, Captain!" Felmus answered in a unique manner that made a few others turn their heads in confusion.

"Why are you calling me Captain? Are you secretly a weirdo?" Mikaela's eyebrow twitched, blaming William in the back of her mind for giving her such an odd title.

Why was she even going along with his decision? Even while he wasn't here, it felt like she was working for him.

As much as I want to complain, we're not following her anymore, and our coordination is way better...

"It just felt right, sorry..." Felmus awkwardly scratched his neck. He tried to change the topic, "If my half-brother were here, we'd at least have two useful Fire Mages."

"Hey! I'm a Fire Mage!" Yuhe yelled out in anger from the back of the group. "I happen to have the most Affinities out of all of you, don't you forget it!"

"He said USEFUL Fire Mages." Mikaela snapped. "If you want to be useful, go right ahead. Burn every Gnarled Bark you see."

Mikaela's response garnered silent cheers from her classmates. Everyone was thinking it, but no one but her dared to actually say it. Regardless of how annoying Yuhe was, the fact remained that she was a member of the Slightwing Family.

"You want me to use my Mana on those nasty things? Gross, no thanks." Yuhe waved her hand in dismissal.

"Tch. Do what you want, just don't get in our way." Mikaela knew this girl wasn't worth her time. She was merely hoping for Yuhe to cast a Spell or two to tire herself out.

Maybe if Yuhe spent her energy on fighting, she wouldn't have any left for yapping. It was a pipe dream, but Mikaela imagined that even pigs could fly in some Mortal Realms.

And other pigs have more than a dozen Affinities that they won't use...

***

The 18th floor was relatively small compared to the other floors, mostly because its hallways were twice as wide. There were only six treasure chests out in the open, and their loot was subpar to say the least, while the three remaining treasures were behind Arrays that he couldn't yet crack.

What should have taken William six to eight hours to clear only took half of the time because of this. Merely four hours later, William was scaling the stairs to the 19th floor with a considerable pile of Quake Dungeon Gems in his Space Ring.

Before he could reach the top of the stairwell, William felt a dangerous presence and his Accelerated Reflexes Bonus Effect kicked in. He couldn't see what was approaching him from this angle, but William made the smart decision and retreated until the Effect deactivated.

A full second later, a boulder the size of a grocery store parking lot landed atop the stairwell and created a deep impression that shook both the 18th and 19th floors of the Quake Dungeon. William's path upwards was completely blocked off, and worse yet he didn't know what had attacked him.

Was it a Sunny Pebblet? If it was, its Cultivation Realm was probably even higher than the ones on the 18th floor. Maybe it was in the Upper Stages of the Initial Deity Realm...

The Cultivation level of this Dungeon is rising faster than I expected. I thought I wouldn't see Middle Stages creatures until the 21st floor, but there's already more powerful enemies on floor 19. What's on the 40th floor?

William didn't have to think about it much to know that he didn't stand a chance of reaching the 40th floor in his current state. He wondered if he could even fight what was on the 20th!

It doesn't matter if I can or I can't. There's something good on the 20th floor and I'm not going to let anyone else have it! William made a decision on the spot and cast Earth Magic to split the boulder above into two pieces, leaving a small opening that he could jump through.

Whatever he was fighting had sensed him first, but the boulder took a long time to land. He deduced that the source of the boulder was either very far away, or had slow casting Speed.

Then I'll move before it has a chance to react! William jumped through the crack and landed on the 19th floor already at a full sprint.

Time slowed again from his Bonus Effect, signaling that something was headed his direction. William sprinted forwards down a narrow hallway towards the source of the attack, then dropped to his knees and slid under a second massive boulder.

His opponent still wasn't visible, but William's Navigation Talent was actively mapping out the possible paths of the 19th floor. The hallways were just as wide as the 18th floor, but the Navigation Talent was too weak to map out even a quarter of the floor.

Just from what was visible to him, there were dozens of winding labyrinthian paths and several hundred dead ends. Not only that, but several paths in his vicinity had a wall concealing a hidden room, suggesting this floor was full of loot.

The stairwell to the 20th floor was already displayed on the Navigation Talent. All he had to do was go straight down this path towards the source of the boulders, and William would be there. There was no need to take any turns at all, it was a straight shot.

William was tempted to check out the 20th floor first, fight the Boss, and collect whatever was triggering the System, but the loot goblin in him told him otherwise. He avoided a third boulder and took a sharp left, on a path that very clearly would become a dead end.

The time-slowing effect turned off the moment that William rounded the corner, making him sigh in relief. If he was forced to move at 400 times slowness for the duration of the 19th floor, William might lose his mind.

He approached the first area in a few seconds, shattering the wall with a single Spatial Slash and revealing a small room with a treasure chest in the middle. It was no different from the other floors.

When William reached out to open the chest, however, a set of Arrays that evaded his detection lit up, creating a barrier around the treasure chest that wrapped around his arm and held it in place.

"Damn it, just give me the loot already!"