William wondered if the Cultivation Talent was even necessary in the short term. Couldn't he just upgrade all his other Talents and still become strong?
William put a lot of thought into this. The idea was feasible, as he could use his beasts to perform many Cultivation-related tasks. The only problem would be to his lifespan. William didn't want to die at 60 years old in a place like this!
He made a decision.
William returned to hunting Beasts, clearing out Sections 7 and 8, then returned to his camp and checked his gains. William had to dump out all the Sand Husks into a makeshift storage area of the base camp because there was no more room in his Space Ring, but the number probably amounted to one or two thousand.
POTENTIAL POINTS: 1974
Here we go again. System, purchase 3 Passive Talents.
--Talent Purchased: Forcefield
-Unlocked your first Epic Talent: +25 Potential Points
-Unlocked your first Epic Passive Talent: +50 Potential Points
--Talent Purchased: Slow Resistance
--Talent Purchased: Charm Resistance
Forcefield? William didn't fully understand how it worked but was excited about his first Epic Talent. It must be powerful.
William couldn't really control the skill, but he felt as if he was constantly covered by a thin layer of light, like a set of armor. The forcefield didn't disrupt William's movements at all, and his clothes could pass through the forcefield without an issue.
Even Atticus seemed to be recognized by the forcefield, as he was still resting on William's shoulder and hadn't noticed a thing.
He pulled up the skill description.
"Repel your enemies or block their attacks with a powerful forcefield! Distinguishes friend or foe."
The description wasn't very detailed for an Epic Talent, but William understood how powerful it was. With a skill like this, William couldn't be easily assassinated!
Once again, he didn't receive the Cultivation Talent, but William felt this was still a big win. System, upgrade my Forcefield Talent.
———
TALENT UPGRADED
Forcefield: (E --> D)
Next rank up: 100PP
———
William felt the range of his forcefield expanding from a few centimeters to half a meter in an instant. The forcefield seemed to become stronger, comparable to an Intermediate Barrier.
Epic Talents are expensive! 100 Points just to reach C Rank? William felt like the System was taking advantage of his many points, but he went through with another upgrade anyway.
———
TALENT UPGRADED
Forcefield: (D --> C)
Next rank up: 500PP
———
The forcefield expanded again, this time reaching 2 meters in range. The strength improved drastically, now only slightly weaker than an Advanced Barrier. With this, William had become a bit of a defensive turtle. His Earth Element, Barriers, and the Forcefield could stack together and hold up against a Golden Core Cultivator's attack with ease.
He looked at the remaining Potential Points and realized he had a few options. He could upgrade Atticus to D Rank, improve his Mana Regeneration and his Arrays, or spin for two more Passive Talents.
William prefers buying Talents in groups of 3, and improving his Arrays wasn't necessary right now as there probably wouldn't be any Golden Core Beasts unless William entered Section 12 or further.
System, upgrade Atticus.
--Upgrading Atticus--
...
...
———
BEAST UPGRADED
Atticus: (D --> C)
Learned 0 new abilities.
Strength, Speed, Perception, and Stealth improved.
Defensive abilities greatly improved.
Intelligence improved.
Illusion Affinity improved.
Next rank up: 5000PP
———
There was no change to the snake's size, but Atticus' scales seemed to shine with a deeper purple glow. William raised his hand to pat Atticus, feeling how tough his scales had become.
He also noticed that Atticus had risen directly to the Core Formation Realm without a sound. There wasn't even a tribulation for Atticus to undergo, as if he was naturally hidden from the world and it couldn't sense him.
24 Points left, they go so fast... William had a massive number of Talents to spend his points on after all the purchases at the Talent Shop. The problem was with never having enough!
William decided he would return to Blue Moon City soon. He had already completed most of the Quests issued to him and had too many Beast Materials.
He spent one more day clearing Section 9 of the Foam Desert for another 400 Potential Points, then returned to the city with as many Beast Materials as his Space Ring could carry. William was forced to leave around a thousand Sand Husks in the base camp, but he planned to return frequently to search for Earth Veins and to kill Magical Beasts for points.
The trip to Blue Moon City was uneventful. William met up with a small group of Cultivators around the halfway mark, but they were going in the other direction. After speaking for a bit, William heard they were going to clear out the Foam Desert. He didn't speak of his killing spree and wished them good luck before continuing his walk.
The last half of his trip was beginning to look even less eventful. William was tempted to upgrade his Speed just so he could return faster, but he held back.
A few hours later, William had slowed his walking speed. His improved vision revealed four figures on a hill a bit over a kilometer away. As he approached, he noticed one of the figures was wearing a dark cloak and seemed to be using a pair of binoculars to scan the road.
Bandits? William wasn't sure, but the behavior was suspicious nonetheless. He told Atticus to prepare for battle just in case, then continued walking forward.
The cloaked individual noticed William and motioned to his group. Three more figures appeared in William's view, totaling seven cloaked men. They ran down the hill and laid in a patch of grass near the road. Yep, definitely bandits. Unless they really enjoy eating grass, I guess I can't judge.
William could tell based on their speed that he was faster than their entire group. They couldn't be stronger than the Core Formation Realm.
With that thought, William became much more casual. He was somewhat excited to see what the group had planned for him, and hoped it wouldn't disappoint.
With a few more minutes of walking, William had arrived at the group's ambush point. He saw a Basic Confinement Array on the ground and instantly understood their intent.
They wanted to kidnap him. Probably because he is so handsome, I mean who can blame them? With a face like William's, anyone that sold him would make quite the profit. William was somewhat flattered.
He stepped on the Array, triggering a Confinement Spell that held him in place. William could break free in a matter of moments, but he wanted to see their next move.
The group of seven jumped out, holding knives. Their actions were somewhat comical. What appeared to be their leader stepped out, "We don't want to hurt you, give us your valuables and you can go free."
William was confused, "You don't want to kidnap me?"
Now the bandits were confused. The leader looked at William's clothing, which was a plain set of traditional clothes that he bought during a deal before leaving the City. "Are you even worth kidnapping? You look like you bought that when it was on sale." the leader must have read William's mind.
William became annoyed. These weaklings don't understand my value!
He shot the leader an angry glare, "Then you better get out of here before I lose my patience!"