The higher-ups weren't suppressed in the slightest, but the onlookers could tell that they didn't dare to run away. It was as if they were fearful of William's stength, and knew they didn't even stand a chance to escape!
But those are peak Tribulation Transcendence Cultivators! they thought in unison.
William smiled and spent a few minutes explaining the general duties of the eight higher-ups, then asked Wen Xai to report to them regularly. The mining system wasn't fully established yet, and probably would never be, but William hoped that he could leverage this sometime in the future.
"Do well, I'll take my leave first." William said before disappearing through a long-distance portal. The destination was at the edge of the Far East Mistlands, where a massive mountain chain covered in a thick fog would hopefully hide what he was about to do next.
System, I have a lot of Potential Points to spend. I think it's time to make some purchases.
The System didn't respond, so William scrolled through his System Panel and searched from the bottom up. The S-Rank Mining and C-Rank Herb Gathering Talents were still quite cheap, so he pushed both of those to X-Rank first, spending 126,350 Points in one go.
The Mining Talent gained an ability that simply enhanced the speed of his extraction, while the Herb Gathering Talent did the same, though both had their quality enhanced greatly. Even if it was a tough ore like Obsidian or Dragonstone, William would be able to accurately strike the weakest point every time, loosening the ore from the rock face in mere minutes.
These two upgrades were only twelve thousand Points shy of upgrading the System to B-Rank, so William quickly chose to upgrade his Cooking Talent from S to SSR-Rank for 12500 Points.
———
-DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE--
--UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT--
...
...
--UPGRADE SUCCESSFUL--
SYSTEM RANK: (C+ --> B-)
-404 Extra Potential Points added to progression towards the next System Rankup.
Next rank up: 1999596PP
*New Changes:
-System has reached version 2.3 and has improved the System Panel.
-Host's concealment from the Heavens have improved slightly.
-Companion Beasts of the same Rank, Rarity, and Species will now be grouped in the System Panel and can be upgraded simultaneously for the same total cost.
-Ask Function has improved. All questions have been halved in cost. Questions related to the Heavens and the World will still be locked until successful completion of the related System Quests.
Not to mention, the Order Element was still at E-Rank, the lowest of all his Elements. It would be a shame to not do anything for it. It's a Mythic Element, after all, it had to be insanely strong!
Right next to the other Potential Farms in William's mind, a small apple tree grew from the ground up in mere seconds. On it, tiny red bulbs grew from its leaves, barely the size of strawberries.
The tree stopped growing after reaching a moderate height of about ten meters, which made William think that was the end, but then he sensed a slight disturbance in his Mana Reserves.
William felt a wisp of his Order Mana leaving his body and entering the apple tree, which made it shine brilliantly like a group of stars. The tree turned pure silver, while the red bulbs were no longer red and looked more like multicolored Christmas ornaments.
Below the tree, William saw a small timer that read: 29d 23h 58m.
A month to wait, huh? How much is it to upgrade?
-10000 Potential Points for the next upgrade, increasing by ten times every upgrade.
So much already? The Element Farm is only F-Rank! William complained.
What are its effects at least?
-Increased comprehension and more fruits.
That's it?
-Yes.
So simple, why is it so expensive? William asked but proceeded with the upgrade anyway.
The tree grew taller and the branches spread outwards, a few more tiny bulbs appearing in its leaves. William continued to upgrade the now E-Rank Element Farm, for one hundred thousand Points to D-Rank, to one million Points for C-Rank.
Each upgrade expanded the tree taller and taller into the sky, until it was nearly a thousand meters tall. If William was a normal Cultivator in the Golden Core Realm, he might not have even been able to see the top.
The number of fruits on the tree increased exponentially as well. He could already count over a hundred little Order Fruits as he would call them, which were in the same growth stage as before. Regardless, William would still need to wait another month before he could see what the fully-grown version looked like.
POTENTIAL POINTS: 2,702,504
I have enough Points to upgrade two of my three Potential Farms to B-Rank, but I feel like that would be a waste right now. I'll upgrade them all the next chance I get, but not this time.
William wanted to upgrade his Magic Affinities to X-Rank, but there was a small problem with that. The Time Element would cause him to age rapidly, stealing away his lifespan bit by bit until he was dangerously close to death.
Repeated by the Chaos Element's upgrade, the Time Element was able to affect William twice per rank. This had happened once before, and William was not going to let it happen again.
And the only way to solve that was...
It's time to buy more Talents! System, show me the Talent Shop!