Infinite Potential System

William was surprised to see that the Space Elemental's unlock requirements weren't like the others. Instead of requiring some sort of resistance skill related to the effects of the Element, William was actually required to temper his body.

I wonder what kind of Realm Body Tempering is though, System?

-Request requires 1.5 million Potential Points. Yes/No?

So expensive? I'll pass.

William could already speculate that it was something to do with Cultivation, why would he need to spend so many Points for such an easy answer? Was it because it had something to do with the Ascended Realms?

William closed up the System Panel and contacted Riyald through his communicator. He only had around four hundred thousand Potential Points left, which wasn't enough to upgrade any more of his Elements to the maximum Rank.

It was time to help out his Master, while simultaneously looking for the missing dragons.

Riyald invited William to the nearby town, known as Dragonsvale. It was roughly half the size of Blue Moon City, but its population was less than a tenth in comparison. While there were many Cultivators of Nascent Soul and Soul Formation Realm, Core Formation and below Cultivators were surprisingly rare.

"It seems the Dragon Continent has adopted an old tradition of Azures." Riyald said wistfully.

"What do you mean?" William asked.

"Because it's so dangerous in a Cultivation World, many parents used to force their children to remain at home until they reached a certain Realm. Many would live with their parents until they were in their fifties or even a hundred years old before reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. Only then could they go out and search for a partner." he explained.

William nodded in understanding. While it seemed a bit odd at first, he could understand why it was a tradition in the first place. No parent would want to see their children die before them; this was just a manner of protection.

Their conversation garnered the attention of a few natives of the Dragon Continent, but they weren't as wary of outsiders as those from Velos. It wasn't unnatural for visitors to come to the Continent, though these traditions were usually explained beforehand.

After enduring the odd gazes of the natives, William and Riyald visited the library to learn more about the last few thousand years of history. Riyald hadn't been to the Dragon Continent in a long time, and even he was unaware of the humans' settlement. While they could ask directly, the sources wouldn't be as credible as a legitimate history book.

They spent hours flipping through the pages, searching for anything that explained the humans' presence on the Dragon Continent, but to no avail. Other than naming the first through sixth Monarchs, the overall leader of the Dragon Continent, there wasn't much to tell about its history. It was as if these people just appeared out of nowhere in the last few thousand years.

Not only did they not have a heritage, but the ancestors of these people had incredibly unique characteristics. Some sprouted horns from their heads, while others had an additional limb or eyeball, each placed in odd locations. Compared to the current normal-looking humans, the ancestors were quite freaky.

"Okay, so we know that they arrived here somewhere between one and two thousand years ago, but none of these books say how..." William commented.

"Which means either they truly don't know how they appeared on the Dragon Continent, or someone with power and influence over published work is hiding something." Riyald finished William's sentence.

"I'd like to believe it's the former, but if it's the latter, then maybe the humans really did cause the disappearance of the dragons. Though I don't know how they would manage such a feat without making any noise. The other Continents should have heard about it." William replied.

Riyald nodded. "We probably won't find anything additional here. Let's go find the Monarch themselves. They should know the answer to our questions."

William agreed and followed Riyald outside the library. In a building right next to it, they met with a representative of the City Hall, whose responses were anything but helpful.

"I'm sorry, Sirs, but we don't have that kind of information available to us. It happened so long ago, and the records weren't properly kept." the representative apologized with a slight bow.

The pair sighed and thanked the man for his time, then moved on to other Cities, where they received mostly the same answers. Either this was an incredibly well-kept secret, or they truly didn't understand the reason for their appearance on the Dragon Continent.

Even the Monarch, a brown-haired young man seemingly in his twenties and full of vigor, had no answer for them. "I couldn't tell you. Maybe my ancestors did hunt the dragons, but that has nothing to do with me. This is what I've learned from them." he said as he waved around a long spear and showcased many anti-dragon techniques.

William's Weapon Master Talent analyzed the moves perfectly and was able to mimic them at will, adding the movements to his list of fighting styles. As he inspected each individual swing, William noticed that while the attacks were powerful, they were mostly non-lethal methods.

Stay tuned for updates on empire

It wouldn't kill a dragon unless one was serious about it.

"Do you know anyone else that might know the answer?" Riyald asked.

The Monarch shook his head, "There are many who have lived a long time, but the ones you're looking for have Ascended already."

"Figures." William complained. He communicated through the System instead, seeing that this was going nowhere.

System, what happened to the dragons of the Dragon Continent?

-Request requires 325000 Potential Points. Yes/No?

Ugh...I won't find out any other way. If it's for Uri, I'll do it.

As William watched his balance go down from over four hundred Potential Points to a measly 74 thousand, the System sent a series of notifications, requesting that he find a safe space and close his eyes.

He did as instructed, waving farewell to the Monarch and asking Riyald to return with him. In a nearby hotel, William laid flat on his back and allowed the System to proceed with the Ask Function.

His consciousness was pulled into an unknown space filled with darkness. As time passed, what appeared to be paint filled his vision, showing a landscape of the Dragon Continent from above. The shape of the Continent was unique, looking like the drawing one would make of goldfish when they were younger.

The painting became more colorful, dotting the watery shoes of the Continent with blues and filling the inner portion with vibrant greens. As the painting continued to form, so did the quality, becoming increasingly more detailed until it no longer looked like a painting, but a true memory from someone's mind.

He turned his head to the side, noticing a set of grey wings to his left and right. He was a dragon, flying over the Continent one powerful flap at a time. The air currents seemed to listen to him, even helping to carry him higher and higher as if they wanted to curry favor with the king of the Magical Beasts.