Infinite Potential System

William decided to take things one step at a time. He wrote down the problem in a notepad with a list of other tasks he needed to finish so he wouldn't forget, then proceeded to add the next set of Arrays to the cloak.

The hood only took a few hours, but the remainder of the cloak took almost three full days. During this time, William didn't neglect his Cultivation at all and always made sure to commit at least eight hours each day to increasing his Cultivation Base.

Every eight hours spent Cultivating earned William 1600 Spirit Qi give or take, so his Cultivation Base was improving steadily. He had enough Spirit Qi to break through to level 5, but he enjoyed the feeling of breaking through multiple times at once, so William planned to store it for later.

Unfortunately, the new Cultivation Technique also increased the amount of Spirit Qi required to break through to the next level, so he would still need some time to reach the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

During William's Cultivation, he entered his first state of enlightenment, which was much different from what William expected. Instead of instantly comprehending a new skill or otherwise, William's mind was filled with ideas that would help solve his problem with recharging the cloak's Arrays.

Perhaps it was because this was the number one thought on William's mind other than Cultivation that things went this way, but he couldn't complain.

One idea in particular had William eager to return to his work on the cloak.

While the Artifact Belt's storage method wouldn't work for the cloak directly, he could still adopt this method to create a battery of sorts that would hold Mana and feed it to the cloak as needed.

William immediately approached the cloak lying on a table near the tailoring equipment he created. He added a few Arrays to the midsection of the cloak, which would accept Mana from an outside source. The placement of this would make sense later, when William had finished the battery.

For now, William just wanted to mark the Artifact complete so he could appraise its statistics.

System, I've completed an Artifact.

-Grab the item with your left hand. Once it is registered as an Artifact, the quality will be evaluated and Potential Points will be awarded one time only. If you edit the Artifact in the future, no points will be given out.

William had seen this message before when trying to appraise the Artifact Belt, but he hadn't gone through with the process since it was unfinished. This time, he grabbed the cloak and repeated the same words, confirming his choice.

-Artifact registered. Name your Artifact.

Illusionist's Cloak.

William felt this was a suitable name for his first Artifact and fit the main purpose of the item, even if its defensive properties probably weren't much inferior to a set of Array-reinforced armor.

Although I'm not that kind of Magician...

The System interrupted his thoughts.

-Evaluating Artifact...

...

While the System evaluated each individual Array of the Illusionist's Cloak, William worked on the next Artifact that would serve as the battery pack for the Cloak.

Hmm, what method should I use to store the Mana?

William looked at the storage device of his Artifact Belt, which was essentially just a sphere of Neutral Mana that was hollow on the inside when empty and filled with a milky-blue fluid when full. The liquid Mana was an indicator of the immense amount of Mana stored within.

William chose to store the Mana in the same way, but he wanted to add more protection to the storage device in case something happened. With his Forcefield, he hoped not to get to that point, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

He forged two pieces of Starmetal into a long rectangular plate less than a centimeter thick with a hollow center that curved in a complete circle to wrap around his waistline. He added metal joints and some Arrays to allow the Starmetal to comfortably flex around his waist, then added a clasp in the back so it could be removed easily.

He repeated this process four more times, then stacked them higher on his waist until they reached the lower part of his chest.

When he was finished with the initial product, it looked like a silver waist strap that one would use for fitness, albeit much taller. He added the necessary Arrays that would allow the belt to gather Mana from the environment at four different speed settings that could be adjusted at will.

The first setting was to turn the battery off, which would prevent it from gathering Mana or sending it to the Illusionist's Cloak. The second setting was Silent Mode, which gathered only one Mana per second. He could keep this active at all times, which should be almost invisible unless someone was actively looking for it.

The second setting was Normal Mode, which gathered slightly less than five Mana per second. This was a bit more noticeable, but only to powerful Cultivators or those with unique abilities to detect the flow of Mana.

It was a bit more eye-catching and would be obvious that William carried an Artifact, but who in the Golden Core Realm didn't have some sort of treasure? Most would assume it to be a basic Protection Amulet or the like.

The third setting was Recovery Mode, which would absorb twenty Mana per second from the environment. Too bad William couldn't absorb the Mana directly into his body at such a pace, otherwise he would no longer have a need for the Mana Regeneration Talent.

The last setting was Battle Mode, which recovered thirty Mana per second, but if active too long would damage the Artifact, so William had to use it sparingly. He didn't truly have any intention to use this mode, but it only took him a few minutes to add the necessary Arrays, so why not?

William spun some yarn from cotton and weaved it into fabric like he did with the Illusionist's Cloak, then layered it over top of the Starmetal Batteries to improve comfort. Once he was finished, he tried to register it as an Artifact, but the System was still evaluating the Illusionist's Cloak.

William tried on each of his Artifacts one at a time. He wrapped the Starmetal Batteries around his waist, then adjusted the Artifact Belt so it could be layered overtop.

Once the two items were worn and fit well, William replaced his Array Master's Robes with a simple white robe with no distinguishable markings.

He didn't want anything to tie him to Outer Core Disciple William from the Five Elements Sect, Platinum Adventurer William from the Guild, or Array Master William from Blue Moon City.

Should I change my name too? It's not necessary, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a second identity...

William readily accepted his new idea but decided to come up with a name later.

He made some fine adjustments to his clothing so it better fit with the various Artifacts and concealed their presence, then drafted out the blueprints for his next piece of equipment while the System continued its evaluation.

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