Infinite Potential System

Chapter 511 Faster!

William wriggled his arm back and forth, trying to break free from the trap, but the Arrays were quite strong. Even after punching the barrier with his free arm, not even a crack could be seen. This was different from the Tier 7 Arrays on the lower floors, since William could at least damage them slightly before they recovered.

This Array wasn't simply a level above his ability; it might even be close to Tier 8!

William bent at the knees and placed his feet against the barrier, pushing away with all of his strength until an audible "pop" separated the joints in his arm. He could tell immediately that it was dislocated, but his pain resistance was so high he couldn't even feel it.

He gave up on trying to pull himself free, instead taking out the Starmetal Longsword and slicing off his arm at the dislocated point before it could start to recover. William fell backwards while his severed arm remained suspended in midair, the barrier Array still active.

Welp, there goes a bunch of Space Rings... William sighed as he reviewed his memories to check what had gone into them. Thankfully, it seemed that some gains from the Gravitas Ruins trials were stored inside, amid several more junk-like items.

Sadly, one of the Space Rings also held the Abyssal Weapon Shifter and his remaining nine pieces of Star Ore. They were a terrifying loss for him, and there was no telling how long it would take for his skill with Arrays to improve enough to reclaim the lost items.

I still have a lot of time. This Dungeon is a training ground reserved for the First and Second Years of the Academy, so no one overly strong should be going through it. Only a few in the Third Year have appeared, but I doubt any of them could kill the Sun Stone Golem.

William tried to console himself, but there was one Third Year in particular that challenged that idea. He specifically remembered one individual who had nearly instantly killed the Boss on the 10th Floor.

Let's hope he's not good at Arrays. William decided to stop thinking about it and left the hidden room while his arm regrew. He checked out several other hidden rooms with treasures, but they all had a similar Arrays guarding them.

The entire trip ended up being a waste, earning William a flat zero treasures from the 19th floor while he wasted several hours searching for one treasure that wasn't protected.

Other than finding three more suspicious hallways where massive boulders were continuously launched at him, William could say there was nothing interesting among the entire Dungeon. With a loud and audible sigh, he returned to the main hallway and dodged boulders while he closed the gap to the 20th floor.

"Ah! So it was you!" William exclaimed when a hulking orange figure appeared at the end of his vision. It was over five kilometers down the hallway, a relatively short distance to an Ascended Cultivator but more than five times as far away as the 15th Floor Boss Room was wide.

He could tell by its unibrow and thick marbles for joints that this was a Sun Stone Golem. The Boss of the 15th floor had become a mere monster to guard the 19th floor, though this one's Cultivation was much higher.

William used the Mana from his right thumb to create a tightly compressed Comet Pellet, its density much greater than when he was on the 15th floor. It traveled at high speed towards the Sun Stone Golem's left arm joint, shattering the forcefield into pieces and continuing forward until it landed on the joint.

His practice against the Sunny Pebblets had improved his Mana Control by leaps and bounds, allowing him to fully adapt to the current state of his Mana Circuits. It would be safe to assume that William was more than twice as strong as he was on the 16th floor.

So when the Comet Pellet only created a few cracks in the marble joint, William knew he was in for a tough battle. He brought out the Starmetal Longsword, channeling from his Mana Circuits to set the blade on fire and increase its cutting power.

He held the blade at an angle away from his body, skillfully dodging the Sun Stone Golem's attacks as they targeted him. When he entered a range of three kilometers, the Sun Stone Golem switched tactics and fired off a spray of hundreds of condensed Earth Balls at him.

Each ball of Earth was more than ten times faster than the Boss would've been able to manage. Even within the time-slowing effect, William barely had enough time to dodge the first spray. When the effect ended, a dozen Earth Balls barely within range slid against William's Illusionist's Cloak, the friction tearing through the fabric and setting it ablaze.

Only then did William realize just how wide the gap was between Cultivation Realms. He doubted the Sun Stone Golem had entered the Deity Realm, so this was simply a few minor Realms' difference from the 18th floor.

William decided that now wasn't a good time to take things easy. He was merely three kilometers away from the creature, but its attacks were already too fast to dodge. If he moved forward another kilometer, William's body would be full of holes before he could even react!

It was obvious that if he wanted to defeat this Sun Stone Golem, he needed to be faster! A decision was made on the spot to stop concealing several Elements, casting several Spells in quick succession to amplify Spatial Steps.

Wind Magic kicked up a gust around his legs and back, treating his body like the sail of a boat and pushing him forward. Lightning Magic turned the Wind Spell into a violent storm, while Light Magic modified said storm and turned it into a beam that couldn't possibly be perceived by anyone below the Initial Deity Realm.

William didn't even bother to try controlling the path of this Spell, knowing that the increased speed wasn't something he could get used to on the first try. He simply held the Spell at the ready, not launching it until his path to the Sun Stone Golem's joint was a perfectly straight line.

It's too risky to aim for the arms, let's take out its knees!

He gripped the Starmetal Longsword tightly and continued funneling Fire Mana into it, knowing that such an unstable Spell could easily make him lose his weapon. The next wave of Earth Balls was approaching, but William held the Longsword in front and decided to tank this attack with the Ascended Recovery Talent.

The Spell was activated, space rippling up and down the hallway as William's figure completely disappeared. Dozens of Earth Balls in his path to the Sun Stone Golem were divided in two from colliding with the Longsword, while confusion flashed on the Magical Beast's face.

Before it had time to wonder where William had gone, the Sun Stone Golem was knocked backwards by a heavy force, causing it to stumble. This was the creature's first sensation, but little did it know that its right knee joint had been perfectly split in two halves just a millisecond earlier.

Solar Nectar showered on both William and the Sun Stone Golem, roughly five times as much as the Boss had dropped and almost a hundred times as much as what a Sunny Pebblet seemed to give.

Unfortunately, William was in no condition to collect the Solar Nectar, as all of his bones were broken by the impact of slamming into essentially a stone column in the Initial Deity Realm. His lungs collapsed, and his heart was beating so slowly that William couldn't think straight.

Or maybe that's the massive concussion I just got. Who knows. Where is my sword? William scanned the area visually until he spotted a metallic item in the distance.

It seemed that the Starmetal Longsword had escaped his grasp after cutting through the marble joint. It then flew past the joint and was currently on the ground more than a hundred meters behind the Sun Stone Golem.

William cursed, blaming his on-the-spot decision-making for what had transpired. In his efforts to follow a straight path, he had accidentally routed directly towards the Sun Stone Golem. All he had to do was shift his position a few meters to the left or right and he would have come out of the conflict unscathed.

A series of System messages gave William a small number of Potential Points at that moment, the final notification asking him to name his new Fusion Spell.

Not only had he cast a Triple Fusion Spell that was the requirement for Ascending the Spell Fusion Talent, but he had actually used four Elements! It was a merger of the Light, Wind, Lightning, and Space Elements, and William was still able to keep a separate Fire Spell active!

He had created his first Quadruple Fusion Spell!