Chapter 167: Talent Upgrades, Cultivation?

System, upgrade my Ranged Weapons Master Talent to A-Rank.

William would have pushed the Talent straight to S-Rank, but William didn’t want to waste so many Potential Points all at once.

-1600 PP

———

TALENT UPGRADED

Ranged Weapons Master: (D –> C)

Effects: Damage, fire/reload rate, and accuracy with ranged weapons +30% >> +50%

Ranged Weapons Master: (C –> B)

Effects: Damage, fire/reload rate, and accuracy with ranged weapons +50% >> +75%

Ranged Weapons Master: (B –> A)

Effects: Damage, fire/reload rate, and accuracy with ranged weapons +75% >> +150%

Next rank up: 5000PP

———

In addition to the damage and accuracy bonuses, William learned how to better use various ranged weapons. He gained an ideal understanding of how he should be using each ranged weapon and in what situation, as well as reloading, storage, and maintenance techniques for each weapon.

The Epic Talent seemed much more useful in this aspect, since his other weapon-related Talents weren’t as in-depth on their use. At most, he was taught stances and movement techniques that applied to the melee weapons, but there wasn’t any explanation on how to maintain their condition.

William was overjoyed that the cost of upgrading his Ranged Weapons Master Talent wasn’t exceptionally high until he reached the S-Rank upgrade. There was, however, one piece of information that confused William when he checked the upgrade effects.

I understand damage being able to go above one hundred percent, but how does accuracy? Isn’t it just the same bonus? he decided to ask the System on this, which provided the answer for free.

-Accuracy can be lowered by various factors including poor visibility from fog or darkness, structures, or even mud being thrown in your eyes. Accuracy above one hundred percent affects these factors, ensuring that you still hit the mark even while vision-impaired.

Does that mean my arrows will hit even if I fire in the opposite direction?

-No. With your current Rank, your body will automatically lock onto whichever target you intend to shoot at, automatically adjusting your position depending on the target’s speed and acceleration or deceleration.

William found part of the System’s explanation confusing, but he understood the gist of what it was saying. He pulled out a Starmetal Bow to test its upgraded effects, nocking a wooden arrow in the blink of an eye while choosing his target from among the various plants hanging from the ceiling.

William chose a piece of hanging moss in the back corner of the room, his body automatically adjusting his position and firing an arrow the moment his intention was known. The arrow whistled through the air at great speed, piercing through the moss and embedding itself in the wall behind.

It’s not as game changing as the Forcefield Talent, but definitely isn’t a bad Epic Talent. William gave the Talent a mental thumbs-up, satisfied with its new effects.

With the help of the Ranged Weapons Master Talent, William’s arrows would probably pierce a Forest Dragon’s scales if he met with one in the Nascent Soul Realm again.

He might even have a chance of damaging a peak Nascent Soul Magical Beast if it didn’t have good defensive abilities, but William was only speculating. He had no intention of going head-to-head against anything higher than the middle stages of the Nascent Soul Realm.

System, upgrade my Acceleration Talent to S-Rank.

The System acknowledged the upgrade, charging William a total of 1375 Potential Points.

William wasn’t bothered with the specific stat boosts from the Acceleration Talent, but the S-Rank bonus effect was both intriguing and seemingly useless at the same time.

S-Rank Bonus Effect: Moving faster than the speed of sound does not trigger any soundwaves and instead creates additional afterimages.

That kinda sucks, but at least I’m even faster now. William thought to himself.

With greatly increased acceleration, William could now reach his top speed in less than a second, making it seem as if he was teleporting if one wasn’t paying close attention.

He looked at the remainder of his Talents, deciding to save five thousand for upgrading Atticus and another two thousand for emergencies. This left William with around ten thousand Potential Points he was willing to spend.

Raising the other Weapon Talents would be a waste in William’s opinion, since he would probably be required to upgrade them all if he had the option to fuse them.

System, upgrade my Forcefield Talent to S-Rank.

-5000 PP

———

TALENT UPGRADED

Forcefield: (A –> S)

Effects: Defensive Ability +300% >> +500%

S-Rank Bonus Effect: Shape of Forcefield can be modified at will, as long as it does not exceed previous range limits when expanding or contracting.

Next rank up: 10000PP

———

William felt the Forcefield automatically turn on, expanding to a range of twenty-five meters in the blink of an eye. He willed it to condense into a square, then a triangle, then even a spear that pointed forward.

It seemed at first to be another Talent with a weak S-Rank Talent, but William quickly realized this would be great in battle. If an enemy launched a spell at him that would clearly miss but had explosive power, he could save some energy of the Forcefield by changing its shape and allowing the spell to pass by William.

He put one thousand Potential Points each into his Potential Farms, deciding it wouldn’t be a bad time to raise them both to E-Rank. He was left with ten thousand Potential Points left, so William decided he would spend a good amount of it on the Stealth Talent.

System, upgrade my Stealth Talent to S-Rank.

-3000 PP

———

TALENT UPGRADED

Stealth: (A –> S)

Effects: Reduced Mana Signature and improved the effectiveness of stealth techniques by +100% >> +200%

S-Rank Bonus Effect: Turn completely invisible at the expense of 1 Spirit Qi per second.

Next rank up: 7500PP

———

Invisibility? Finally! William was overjoyed to see that his Stealth Talent now allowed him to completely remove his presence. He hoped that upgrading the Talent to S-Rank would be good enough for while.

William’s smile disappeared when he realized that he couldn’t activate the invisibility ability. He reread the System information, discovering that he hadn’t paid close enough attention. The invisibility effect required Spirit Qi, and not Mana. Something that William didn’t have access to yet.

Wait a minute, I CAN use Spirit Qi. I just need a bit of time! William immediately knew what to spend the remainder of his Potential Points on.

System, upgrade my Cultivation Talent using two thousand Potential Points.

-1625 PP

———

TALENT UPGRADED

Cultivation: (E –> D)

Effects: Cultivation Speed +30% >> +80%

Cultivation: (D –> C)

Effects: Cultivation Speed +80% >> +140%

Cultivation: (C –> B)

Effects: Cultivation Speed +140% >> +275%

Cultivation: (B –> A)

Effects: Cultivation Speed +275% >> +550%

Next rank up: 5000PP

———

William’s eyes bulged when he saw the bonuses given to him by the Cultivation Talent. Five hundred and fifty percent?!? That’s insane! Even though he had expected this to happen once he acquired the Cultivation Talent, William was still surprised at the effects. Was it because the Cultivation Talent was Epic Rank? If it fell into the Common Talent category, would the effects be diminished?

William sat cross legged to Cultivate by absorbing the surrounding Mana. He used a specific Cultivation Technique that he had learned from the Great Hall, known as “Fire Storm.”

While he was in the Sect, William had chosen the “Fire Storm” Cultivation Technique since it would allow him to recover Mana more quickly, but now that his Mana Regeneration was SS-Rank, there was no need for that. Despite this, it was the best Cultivation Technique he had access to right now.

He couldn’t reference the “Molten Skies” Technique that seemed better right now, since he didn’t own the book and reading the contents would have deleted them from that book. It was unfortunate, but William would rather begin Cultivating now before any other mishaps took place.

Before he did so, William spent an hour and a half to create a Complete Rune, followed by a Complete Array.

-Formed your first Complete Rune: +250 PP

-Formed your first Complete Array: +1000 PP

It was a quick 1250 Potential Points, which William wasn’t worried about spending at the moment. He refocused his attention on following the instructions written in the Cultivation Technique, absorbing the surrounding Mana and converting tiny strands of it into Spirit Qi.

According to the System it would usually take a Cultivator an entire day to figure out this first step of Cultivation, but since William was using a stronger than average Cultivation Technique and had a 550% bonus from his Talent, he was able to convert his first strand of Mana into Spirit Qi within an hour.

The effects were instantly noticable. Once the thin strand of Spirit Qi began to circulate throughout his body, William felt a painful sensation in an area close to his stomach. A dantian had formed, which looked like a small blue orb that was located within his body.

-Absorbed your first Spirit Qi: +5 PP

William knew all about dantians, having read about them in novels. Despite this, he didn’t want to risk misunderstanding how they worked, so he asked the System to give him a thorough explanation.

While the System prepared a response to William’s question, another message appeared.

-Unlocked the shackles of your mortal body: +50 PP