Infinite Potential System

Sorting his Space Rings would be the least time-consuming on the list, but all the others would take multiple days to work through, some even weeks. William also wanted to teach his friends more Arrays that would be useful at their level, but that would have to wait until they had mastered the Basic and Intermediate levels first.

Depending on their comprehension, this could take months or even years. He wished there was a faster way, but so far it seemed impossible.

After checking in on Yuming, William formed up the enslaved Cultivators and asked them a series of questions as if they were each in a job interview. He asked questions like "What was your position in the Pillars of Justice?" or "What combat skills do you have?"

He also didn't forget to inquire about their trade skills. It would be most beneficial if he could find someone with the ability to cook that could provide regular meals for everyone.

There were indeed a few Cultivators with the ability to cook, but their skills were relatively poor and they usually relied on meals that had been prepared beforehand when they needed to eat. As Golden Core and Nascent Soul Cultivators, most of them would only need to eat once every few years. At that point, cooking was a useless skill unless as a hobby.

"What about you? What do you do?" William asked a middle-aged man with a large bald spot on the top of his head.

"Master, my name is Wen Xai and I used to supervise a Mana Stone Mine." the man responded almost robotically.

"Used to? Did something happen?"

The man nodded, "I was fired for trying to steal a few thousand Mana Stones. I had been storing a few each week from the extracted materials, but I was discovered by Perion during a surprise visit. Truly unlucky..." the man looked downward as if he was ashamed at getting caught, and didn't actually regret stealing.

This guy knows about mining! Even if he used to steal, the Enslavement Array should stop that from happening again. This guy is valuable!

William became excited and asked a few more specific questions regarding the man's skill with extracting minerals. When the responses came back mostly satisfactory, William decided to create a small team that would take control of the Fire Mine in the Southern Plains.

Even if their extraction speed and the quality of the minerals couldn't compare to his methods, William wouldn't find it as a loss. If anything, he would be able to form his own passive income of Potential Points, much like the Potential Farms moderated by the System.

He interviewed the remaining Cultivators, discovering a few other hidden talents that made him happy that he spared their lives.

Among the group were five Array Masters ranging from the middle Advanced to the early stages of the Perfect level. There were also two Blacksmiths able to refine the less rare metals, such as Iron, Aluminum, and Bronze-like metal alloys.

The remainder of the group specialized in combat, which made sense considering they were sent to fight with William. That said, the younger ones were still probably fit to learn a new skill or two.

"You, you, you, and... you." William pointed to four individuals that had above-average Detection Spells. "You will be in Detection Team A, and I'm going to assign you to watch the Fire Mine in the Southern Plains."

The four Cultivators each nodded in understanding, not sure what was on William's mind at the moment, but unable to defy his orders. William formed three combat teams made up of four Nascent Soul Cultivators each, then asked them to stand by for a few hours.

He allocated eight Golden Core and four Nascent Soul Cultivators to Wen Xai, ordering him to teach them the basics of mining while he organized the rest of the group. He stayed close by to listen in on Wen Xai's tutoring, stepping in as needed to correct a misconception or bad habit the Cultivator may have acquired.

One of the three most competent cooks was sent with the group as well, with a two-man security team that would protect their food storage. William set out his forging equipment, then made a specialized Space Ring for the cook, but he used Earth Mana-generated iron instead since he didn't want to use up the rarer materials he had on hand.

For the sake of more loot, this was a necessary expense. He needed to keep the team healthy and fed, and he didn't know how often he would come to visit the Fire Mine. It could be weeks, months, or even years before he stopped by, and he wanted to make sure no one died while he was gone.

Realizing he would need to make more Space Rings, William rescinded his order for the group to stand by, telling them he would pick them up in a few days. He returned to his room, then set up his forge for a second time.

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He started by creating a hundred standard Space Rings with decent room for Wen Xai and his team, adding in shelving and tens of thousands of storage boxes that would hold the Greater Fire Shards, as well as a few defensive Arrays that would trigger if anyone without William's customized Enslavement Array tried to open the Rings.

After this, William spent half a day forging twenty-four pickaxes, chisels, and hammers out of steel that would be used in the extraction process. He made twice the amount needed, just in case the tools were broken somehow, then added hundreds of Arrays to reinforce their durability, mining effectiveness, and self-repair functions.

For Wen Xai himself, William used the Plant Element to create a simple notebook, adding in hole punches and the metal to make it look like a modern-day college notebook. This would serve as Wen Xai's inventory book, which should help him keep track of the stored Greater Fire Shards and also how much space was left in the Rings.

While he was on a roll, William crafted custom communicators that should be able to reach him from within the Gravitas Ruins, handing one to each team lead to contact him in case anything went wrong. He had absorbed the Greater Fire Vein, which could lead to Elemental Beast Tides depending on how many had been absorbed already.

Even in a best-case scenario, William knew there would be an uptick in Magical Beast spawns near the Fire Mine, so he needed to be careful with how he controlled his subordinates. If he placed them in too dangerous a situation, all the work he had just gone through would be for naught.

In that case, I need to give Detection Team A better equipment as well...

William may be strong, but he couldn't be multiple places at once. In this case, however, he wasn't being a hypocrite towards his loot goblinry. Spend money to make money, some would say.

He spent another eight hours crafting multiple Artifacts that would help the Detection Team locate enemies, which along with the mining equipment raised the progress for his Artificer Title to twenty out of twenty-five unique Artifacts.

He presented the Space Rings, equipment, and communicators to his subordinates the next day, making their eyes widen in surprise at the incredible quality of such items. He even provided the cooks with medium to high-quality cooking ingredients.

When William promised special bonuses and even a chance at their freedom in the future, they almost wanted to cry in relief.

They may be enslaved, but the Cultivators still had feelings, and they didn't expect William to treat them so well. He had given them rooms to sleep in with guaranteed safety from their enemies, new equipment that was just as good as what they had lost, and even a promise to release them one day.

It was too good to be true, considering they had a life-or-death battle just a few days earlier. Some of the Cultivators that hadn't had a particularly pleasant experience within the Pillars of Justice even considered remaining with William permanently.

Once everyone was equipped with their new gear, William led the assigned groups out of the Gravitas Ruins and teleported them to the Southern Plains, where the Thieves' Guild had recovered custody of the Fire Mine.

When William showed up with his group, however, he didn't even bother to conceal his aura and the thieves scattered in an instant. They had caught wind of William's battle just like the rest of the World, and they knew they didn't stand a chance against the monstrous young man.