Infinite Potential System

William forged a piece of Starmetal ore into thin chunks of metal that were be fitted both into the back of the gloves and around the knuckle area, much like the other Artifacts he had created in the past. It worked out well with the other items, so why fix something that isn't broken?

He also upgraded his Tailoring Talent to A-Rank to increase his skill and speed up the process, allowing him to finish the Artifacts in less than two hours.

For William, it was a new record time for creating an Artifact, although he essentially just created a duplicate Illusionist's Cloak that was both weaker and on a smaller scale. Regardless, it was a win in his books.

As usual, the System awarded William with 50 Potential Points for his Epic-Ranked creation and added 1 progress to his Artificer Title, leaving him with just 14 unique creations left until his Artificer Title upgraded again.

Carl watched the entire process with great interest. Seeing William effortlessly refine the Starmetal ore in his forge, while simultaneously weaving together cloth into a pair of gloves he could use, Carl couldn't help but wonder what other abilities William was hiding.

While William was adding Arrays to the Starmetal chunks, Carl couldn't help but comment, "You can pretty much do everything, how did you learn it all?"

William laughed, "I guess you're right, I'm basically my own production line. As for learning it, it was easy."

"Production line? What's that?"

"Oh, it's like a team of different people working on one part of an item each, then an Artifact pieces everything together into something useful." William explained.

He was confused by Carl's lack of knowledge, since he had seen his Master mess around with a steam engine, and there was a good amount of people in this World that wore modern-style clothing.

Perhaps there was another method to attain such careful stitching, and Riyald was an anomaly?

William returned his attention to finishing up the Gloves, linking them to the Starmetal Batteries and making sure each Array still worked as intended.

Carl hadn't noticed the wide array of Artifacts on William's body before, which was the original intention, but when William removed his robe to adjust the Starmetal Batteries, everything was in view.

"Damn!" Carl said.

"What?"

Carl looked at William with a blank expression, "What do you mean, "what"? You look richer than I am right now! I remember when you almost sold your first-place position to me during the entrance test."

He didn't know how many times he had asked William what happened while he was gone, but Carl was tempted to ask again. Everything this man did in front of him was absurd.

"No wonder you're constantly being targeted..." Carl muttered.

Ha, that's not why, but I'll let you keep guessing. William thought to himself. If anything, it was his competitive spirit that kept attracting enemies. This World was full of sore losers, and many took it personally.

With the gloves completed and William's new look perfected, the two no longer had any reason to remain in place. It was close to midnight now, and if they wanted to maintain the cover of darkness, they would need to get in and out in less than six hours.

"Are you sure you want to come with me?" William asked his friend. "You're not very strong, and I can't help you much for the time being."

Carl nodded, "I'm sure. I still have my summons, and I'm confident that you can protect me."

Carl's unwavering faith in William piled some pressure on his shoulders, somehow even more than the accumulated stress of being targeted by Supreme Left and many other powerful Cultivators.

He returned the nod seriously, intending to bring Carl back from the Thieves' Guild in one piece. If anything, William placed the lives of his friends above most everything else.

William tore down the Arrays at their temporary base and left with Carl in tow. Instead of using the Space Element, Will and Carl traveled through the shadows with the help of his Darkness Element, speeding along the sand dunes at incredible pace.

The Life Sense Arrays embedded in William's Illusionist's Cloak helped him to keep an eye on the nearby Magical Beasts and sparse Cultivators that were out hunting during the night. He made sure to avoid each one, no matter how weak or strong they appeared to be, opting to keep their presence hidden.

Before long, William and Carl arrived at a dilapidated structure that resembled that of an ancient Mayan temple. It was a pyramid of sorts, with four identical sets of stairs leading up to a square platform on top.

Differing from the ancient Mayan structures, however, William noticed that only the edges of the square platform were filled in. His Navigation Talent told him that at the top of the temple was a vertical tunnel that went downward for dozens of kilometers.

I wonder how long it would take an Earth Mage to dig out a hole this big... William pondered.

Even for him, to excavate a tunnel of similar size would probably take a few days, and that was considering his impressive Mana Regeneration. Even so, William would have to place all his focus on the construction and wouldn't have time to do anything else like eat, sleep, or Cultivate.

If he had to compare it to normal standards, William guessed that a single Earth Mage would need between six weeks and five months to complete such a tunnel, depending on the Rank of their Elemental Affinity.

He nodded to Carl, who released his Desert Beetle to investigate the area. He ordered it to tunnel underground, parallel to the path of the man-made tunnel. As it dug, the Desert Beetle relayed the information in real-time to Carl through a mental link, which William found incredibly convenient.

He hoped that the System would have a similar Talent in the future, so that he could remotely communicate with Atticus and Uri. William wouldn't have to worry so much about his Magical Beasts finding trouble while separated from him.

The Desert Beetle returned around half an hour later, to which Carl shook his head in disappointment.

"It didn't find anything," Carl started. "Not a trace of life, nor was there any stored food. There were a few rooms carved out, but they were dusty and no one had been inside for a long time."

William frowned. It seemed his information was more outdated than he thought.

He checked with the Navigation Talent one more time, double-checking each room that the Desert Beetle had investigated. He traced the Beetle's tunnel, making sure that it had actually visited each room and hadn't actually missed something.

"Hmm? What's this?" William suddenly said.

Carl looked at William with confusion, "Did you find something? But you haven't moved."

William didn't answer the question and turned around the way they came. He walked a few dozen meters until he came up to an average-looking rock, then flipped it over on its side.

Attached to the bottom of the rock was a tough string-like material that looked almost like a steel cable. When the rock was flipped, the string pulled upwards and revealed a second tunnel much smaller than the one near the temple.