Infinite Potential System

William shifted his focus to the origin of the Ice Spell, spotting a group of three light-skinned male students. With his Cultivation, Vision Talent, and Mana Dominator Talent, William could see and feel a residual aura akin to Ice Magic coming from the student in the middle.

The students wore matching red and grey robes despite there being no set uniform or dress code for the Filem Academy. On their left shoulders was a badge with the Roman numeral III.

Jeron noticed the group half a second after William did. His posture became more tense while he adopted a more defensive stance. He signaled for the team to fight defensively, then asked, "Third years? What are you doing here?"

The group laughed, "Who are you, a second year, to ask questions?"

Jonas scowled while continuing to pour Mana into his Earth Spell, holding the Morphing Devil Tree in place. If they weren't in the middle of a battle with the tenth-floor boss, he would have given the newcomers a piece of his mind.

Benny felt the same way, but he wasn't as reserved as his older companion. "You bastards! Everyone knows that only the trash of the third year comes here. If you want to clear a Dungeon, go to the Academy and train properly!"

"Benny, quit it." Jeron flashed a glance of warning to the teenager, then quickly returned his attention to the third years. He dipped his head in an apologetic tone, "We're sorry, seniors."

"I'm not sorry!"

William was confused about the turn of events, but he didn't question Jeron's decision. He opened a set of portals and redirected the Morphing Devil Tree's poisonous needle attack once more, then transitioned into a weak Spatial Slash that cut a few inches into the Tree's trunk.

Despite having used the Legendary Space Element, the three students didn't even raise an eyebrow in William's direction. One of them even smirked and exchanged glances with the leading student, who promptly teleported in front of the Morphing Devil Tree and gripped its trunk with a bare hand.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Who cares if you apologize or don't? I'm not here to wait on weaklings."

A splintering noise sounded as the boy's grip intensified, dozens of pieces of the Morphing Devil Tree scattering around the room in all directions. Before the natural poisons of the tree could affect the student, a pale greenish-purple glow enveloped his hand and countered the Morphing Devil Tree's needles.

Ice, Space, and Poison Magic? Or is it a combination of Life and Poison? His physical strength is also off the charts! It might even be above mine! William couldn't help but reevaluate his first impressions of the trio.

Not only had the boy entered the range of the Morphing Devil Tree before it could react, but he also seriously injured it with one attack. If he targeted the Tree a second time, the boss would be as good as dead! Enjoy new tales from empire

The leading student didn't wait for a reaction and drew a line with his finger across the base of the Morphing Devil Tree, casting a Fusion Spell of Space and Ice Magic to separate the Beast in two halves while simultaneously freezing the parts.

Before the splintered portions of the Morphing Devil Tree could regenerate into more Devil Trees, all vitality leaked away from the fragments while the main body died. There was no need to burn the limbs at all, since overwhelming strength was enough to finish the job.

More than two dozen Quake Dungeon Gems burst from its body alongside a small brown stick of peculiar shape, all of which the third years stored in their respective Space Ring. The leading student glanced over his shoulder at Jeron, then walked towards the stairwell to the 11th floor.

He paused at the bottom step, "You're lucky we're in a hurry. Don't waste my time again or I'll leave you here to deal with the fragments."

When the group of three left the tenth floor, Jeron heaved a sigh of relief and laid on the ground with his back against a wall. He was completely uninjured, but the pressure of facing a boss while dealing with the emotions of his seniors had taken its toll on him.

"Boss, that middle guy is strong, but we had numbers advantage. We're proud second years. We could have taken him!" Benny voiced his frustrations, to which Jonas nodded in agreement.

"It's not worth it. The tenth-floor boss is too unpredictable, especially if we let the fight go on for a long time. The more time we wasted on them, the less time and medicine we'd have for the later floors. We're here to gather Quake Gems, remember?" Jeron replied.

Benny sighed. "Boss, you're different from everyone else, you know that?"

"Is that a bad thing?" Jeron looked over with a questioning gaze.

"Of course not! As long as you let me teach those assholes a lesson later!"

"Language."

William watched the interaction between Benny and Jeron with an amused face, but he was surprised that the pair could be so carefree while in the middle of a Dungeon that could kill them at any time.

Moreso, the arrival of third-year students made William realize that his group was not the biggest fish in the sea. Depending on the mood of the students, Benny's outburst could have been considered either courageous or suicide.

It's not like they had a System granting dozens of powerful Talents, three World Seeds, and a near-infinite knowledge database. The only advantage they had over him was their modified Mana Circuits.

"I can't believe we made it through ten floors in half a day." Jonas murmured while looking at William. It could be said that William's Space Magic was a part of the reason why everything went so smoothly.

"We have an extra twelve hours to gather Quake Gems. What do we want to do?" Benny asked.

Jeron shrugged, "Let's stick to the plan. We'll spend a few hours on 11 and use the extra time to find resources on the later floors. I want to be out of the Dungeon in 36 hours."

Everyone agreed to the plan and followed Jeron to floor 11, where the color transitioned once more from the usual light green wood to a dark green dungeon brick. At the same time, the natural light on the floor was much lower than before, only offset by an increased density of Spirilights.

There was no sign of Gnarled Bark or Morphing Devil Trees, but William's Bestiary notification told him that the dim brown puddles that looked like mud on the ground were anything but puddles, nor were they mud.

[Bestiary] Quake Slime: +1PP

According to his Cultivation Talent, each of the Quake Slimes were in the upper stages of the Ascension Realm, yet another leap from the previous few floors. Their bodies oozed across the ground at hardly the rate of a Nascent Soul Cultivator, but William's instinct told him that they weren't complete pushovers.

While entering a battle formation with his group, there was but one thought on William's mind.

Their Cultivation is getting higher and higher with each floor! At this rate, I'll probably see Initial Deity Realm creatures soon!