Infinite Potential System

Fria woke up with the worst headache one could imagine. Her legs were sore from laying in an awkward position, and her arms felt as heavy as lead. Both of her bodies seemed to have successfully merged together, but everything other than her mind was severely weakened.

It took all of her energy to get back to her feet, but when she did it became obvious that she hadn't left the Ascension Portal yet.

What time is it? It feels like I've been here for days... Fria wondered.

Her silky hair waved back and forth as she stood up, trailing behind her while she walked through the portal. In a similar manner to others who Ascended, Fria marveled at the various Worlds and objects that dotted the void outside.

Heads or Tails. Choose or die. A voice entered Fria's head from afar.

She traced the direction of the thought and noticed the peculiar creatures that had labeled themselves as Janus. She realized the World the Janus was on was shaped like a coin, so she was able to put two and two together.

Do I really have no choice? Why do I have to die if I don't play? she transmitted her thoughts back to the Janus, unaware that they can read minds.

It's the rules. Choose or die.

Tails, then. Fria didn't think much about it and picked a side. If it was a coin flip, the odds should be fifty fifty. Unless the Janus were using some kind of dirty trick, there was no need to think about it.

The Janus didn't say anything more and the World started spinning. It spun faster and faster, eventually moving so fast that the afterimages made the World look like a perfect sphere.

Fria became slightly worried when the World slowed down, her intuition telling her that it was going to land on heads, but the World suddenly sped up again and continued rotating. Several seconds passed until the World finally stopped spinning, the Janus without horns facing outwards toward Fria.

Tails. You are correct. It said.

Fria heaved a sigh of relief. Is that it, then? I can go now?

You'll have to choose a reward, first.

What kind of rewards can you offer? Fria asked.

We can do most things, but if you request something we cannot do, then you will not receive it and your reward will be wasted.

Hmm. Fria thought for a long time, thinking of what she could ask for from a Magical Beast that was the size of a planet.

After a while, she decided that if it couldn't provide her wish, then so be it. She had merely guessed heads or tails. If she was William, Fria might have tried to come up with some elaborate scheme to get more loot, but she wasn't a hoarder like him.

I only ask for things that I need, so I guess I'll ask for... she looked aimlessly into the void as she thought of several things, though most of which were hardly possible.

I want the most powerful Soul Cultivation Technique you can offer. She said.

Then it shall be done. Accept our knowledge, and the Primordial Soul Devourer shall be yours. Use it well. The Janus with horns showed no expression, but the hornless one wore a devious smile that was far past unsettling.

Fria didn't have a choice whether or not to accept the Janus' offer, since the knowledge flowed from the Janus without any hesitation. Her Sea of Consciousness, which had just recently formed, was strained before the knowledge transfer even started.

It couldn't be compared to when William upgraded the Arrays Talent, where he'd be thrown into a simulation to instantly gain hundreds of years' worth of knowledge in an instant. It was worse; much worse.

Fria's Sea of Consciousness cracked, literally, as the Primordial Soul Devourer sent wisps of information to her. While she learned about advanced methods to extract Soul Strength from bodies, Fria's mental state became highly unstable.

She screamed out loud and clutched her head in pain, the Primordial Soul Devourer taking up every inch of space in her Sea of Consciousness and pressing at it from the inside like an animal in a cage much too small for it.

-Your mind has expanded. Automatically unlocked the Mind Talent.

The System message came at a perfect time, finally granting Fria with a Talent that was merely a rumor among Players in the past. It seemed that the unbelievable stress to her Sea of Consciousness is what caused it, though gaining the Talent wasn't enough to help her in her current state.

The pain only worsened over time, and Fria felt that if it went on any longer, she'd explode. In her nervousness, Fria used all of the Points she'd saved up over the years to max out the Mind Talent, greatly improving her clarity.

For a moment, Fria felt refreshed and her Sea of Consciousness stabilized. She was about to heave a sigh of relief, but the Primordial Soul Devourer Technique didn't need long to completely cover the expanded area.

Within seconds, Fria's Sea of Consciousness was once again under pressure, cracking in several places while unbelievable amounts of knowledge filled her brain. Information about how to gather Soul Strength from the environment, methods on how to locate optimal Soul Cultivation areas, and even methods that would be forbidden in most if not all Worlds.

Ancient and cursed knowledge overwhelmed Fria nearly to the point of madness. She laid on the ground and curled into a tight ball, tears forming in her eyes while she waited for the pain to stop.

It never did. The Primordial Soul Devourer continued to explain concepts, methods, and sub-Techniques based on its original Technique. When she thought it had explained everything possible, it simply moved onto the next topic and sent information about that as well.

This Technique was so advanced that Fria couldn't possibly store everything at once. She had not only underestimated the power and knowledge of the Janus, but she had also severely underestimated just how far the Cultivation journey could go.

Ascension was the peak in the Mortal Worlds, but the Ascended Realms went further past that. From the games Fria used to play, she knew Cultivation would have at least a few more stages afterwards, each with increasingly larger gaps from another.

It was obvious that the Technique transferred to her was the type that far exceeded the Ascension Realm, and likely the Realm after that. Fria had naively asked for a treasure that came with a steep price, a seemingly harmless request with sinister effects.

There was no stopping it no, and Fria could only regret her actions. She closed her eyes and shut off all of her senses, committing all of her focus to holding her Sea of Consciousness together.

***

In the Ascended Realms, on the Slightveil Plane, in a familiar Dungeon.

William was clearing waves of Sunny Pebblets with his team with incredible efficiency. They, like he had before, developed a quick and effective method of wiping out the four marble joints of the Pebblets, then storing the loot in containers made from earth or glass.

It was the same method as William used, mostly because he had originally suggested it. They hadn't decided how to distribute the loot amongst themselves yet, but that could wait until they left for class like usual.

In the middle of a Comet Pellet Spell, William suddenly received a mental transmission from a voice he hadn't heard in weeks.

Another challenger has received a reward from our game of heads or tails. As promised, you will receive a portion of the reward.

William stopped everything he was doing and backed away from the group, signaling to Mikaela that he needed some time. He teleported to the fourteenth floor and seated himself in a hidden room, then responded to the Janus.

I'm ready. What is my reward? Spirit Jade?

The challenger requested a Soul Cultivation Technique, and it's impossible for us to transfer a portion of a Technique, so you'll receive the entirety instead.

William's eyes lit up. He guessed that it was Fria, who had recently Ascended, though hadn't it been several days since then? Either way, he was glad that he could profit more than expected from his reward.

No problem. I'm ready for it. Explore more stories at My Virtual Library Empire

The Janus didn't respond, but William suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. After several seconds of delay, the same waves of information that overwhelmed Fria was sent into William's brain.

Maybe it was due to his distance from the Janus, or something else, but the "waves" were more like tsunamis, as they shattered the walls of William's Sea of Consciousness like it was nothing.

His overwhelming Soul Strength and the three World Seeds had to commit everything to defending from the mental invasion, though it only suppressed the effects by a small amount. William doubled over in shock as his already cramped mind was flooded with millennia of knowledge.

With hardly any warning, two siblings found themselves in a very dangerous position.