2 days later...
William stood inside the domain of infinity; he had been diligent with his cultivation for the past months; now soon his hard work would be tested during the attack on the Clayman cult.
But it had been almost three months now since he had taken any cultivation and other training feedback from his bonds.
"Show me my status screen," William asked the system with a calm expression.
————⁜⁜⁜————
Name: William Kaiser
Race: Human (98%), True-Fire Dragon (2%)
Age: 15
Mana Rank: SS
Spiritual Rank: SS
Demonic Rank: S+
Path: Eternal Sovereign (Stage 1: Bending Mortality)
———— TALENTS ————
Lawless Adaptation (Supreme)
Fatebound (Supreme)
Beloved of the Universe (Supreme)
Heaven-Piercing Archer (Legendary)
Sovereign Spirit Transformer (Legendary)
Omniscient Eyes (legendary)
Heavenly Merchant (SSS)
Natural Actor (S)
———— SHARED TALENTS ————
Ruler of Eternal Darkness (SSS) (Shared via Tamasya)
Shapeshifter (SS) (from Amorphous)
———— TRAITS ————
Fusion Core
Primordial Affinity
Resistances: Water (D), Wind (D), Thunder (D), Storm (D), Space (D), Poison (D)
———— ABSOLUTE AFFINITIES ————
SUN
NETHER
DARKNESS
ICE
LIGHT
SHADOW
FIRE
SPACE
STORM
THUNDER (NEW!!)
METAL (NEW!!)
BLOOD (NEW!!)
EARTH (NEW!!)
WIND (NEW!!)
WATER (NEW!!)
—— PHYSIQUES ———
Divine Sun-God Physique
True Fire-Dragon Physique
———— WEAPON ARTS & TECHNIQUES ————
Heaven-Sundering Divine Sword Art (God Rank)
Tempest Sword Technique (Saint Rank)
Sinclair Serpent Blade Art (Heaven Rank)
Radiant Flash Steps (Heaven Rank Movement)
True Armament Subjugation Art (Unranked)
———— SPELLS ————
Void Sovereignty Spell (God)
Shadow-Born Manifestation Art Mastery (unranked)
Eclipse Veil (Grandmaster)
Purification (Grandmaster)
Blizzard, Glacial Bind, Ice Spear (platinum)
Luminous Embrace (gold)
Crimson Dominion Art (heaven).
———— BONDS ————
Ethan
Maximus Sinclair
Leila Ravenclaw
Seraphine Sylvaris
Katherine Nightreign
Sara Babylon
Lia
———— FATEBOUND ENTITIES ————
Tamasya (Mark of Destiny)
Seraphine (Mark of Destiny)
Sunchaser / "Sunny" (Mark of Comrade/Spirit Contract)
Maris (Mark of Servant)
Emily (Mark of Servant)
Slaves: 834
———— ITEMS ————
Armament Nexus (Soul Weapon):
Crimson Aeon Blade (Divine)
Nine-Heavens Stormcleaver (Ancient)
Univector Bow (Mythic)
Red Oath Daggers (Mythic)
Serpent King’s Fang (Diamond)
Array hijacking stamp
Bio-mech orb
Infinite Chocolate Machine
Trickster’s veil
Mana stone generator
————⁜⁜⁜————
Current SP: 45,000
————⁜⁜⁜————
William looked at the SS ranks in mana and spiritual energy with a sigh. His gaze lingered on those letters a bit longer, as if expecting them to change just by staring harder.
He wondered something while looking at his bonds as he asked the system about it.
"Can’t I make Sera cultivate inside the domain of infinity?? And then take in all the cultivation as feedback? Won’t that be super efficient??" he asked.
Introducing others to the domain was out of the question; he only trusted Tamasya and Seraphine enough.
Even the thought of letting others step into this place felt like exposing his most guarded secret.
If you manage to place a mark of soulmate on both of them, then sure, it’s possible. For now, the answer is no.]
"Why?? What will the system do if I try to force this now?" There was a hint of impatience in his voice.
[Nothing much as a penalty, but the cultivation gains of yours will equalize to what you get normally.]
Even if you make Sera cultivate inside the domain of infinity right now, the cultivation feedback would just be reduced to what you get normally in a day, and the effect of time dilation would be canceled out, and unless you manage to place the mark of soulmate on her, that limitation will remain imposed.
William frowned slightly.
"Why is the mark of a soulmate so special? Won’t I get it when I marry her?" William asked.
The concept felt both simple and complicated at the same time.
[No, even if two individuals are married, that doesn’t make them soulmates; you need to fulfill special conditions or pass some trials together that test you as soulmates to get one.]
William pondered on those words for a moment but then looked at the description of the mark of a soulmate.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he focused.
————⁜⁜⁜————
Mark of Soulmate
Placement conditions: The mark of destiny evolves in case a woman is recognized as the true soulmate of the host.
————⁜⁜⁜————
The words "true soulmate," which William had been ignoring in the past, now stood out to him the most; he finally understood what the system wanted to say.
Those two words carried a depth far beyond mere relationships.
Being married wasn’t enough; their bond had to be recognized by the system for it to grant the mark of a soulmate.
"Well, I guess I will understand with time what it means to be a soulmate." William spoke with a slight smile.
There was no frustration in his tone, only quiet acceptance. He had learned to not rush and panic in the matters of love.
Especially after the calm Seraphine had shown and resolved the insecurities festering in his heart for months in a few moments.
That memory alone brought a faint warmth to his expression.
He realized that he had been needlessly getting tense about things that were not in his hands.
"Let’s move ahead; provide me the cultivation feedback of the past 3 months," William instructed the system.
His focus returned instantly. In an instant the system complied: "Understood, host."
Within a few moments, waves of mana and spiritual energy flowed into William’s cores.
The sensation was overwhelming.
It felt as if rivers of energy were being poured into him, filling every inch of his being. His cultivations elevated by a huge margin, though not enough to cross the SSS-ranked threshold.
In total, he had gotten a bit over 500 days of average cultivation in mana.
Even then it was not enough to break through; he knew that he had not even reached halfway there.
William grimaced; his mana capacity, though increased by a bit, was still at SS rank.
The frustration surfaced briefly.
"System, can you estimate how many days’ worth of cultivation I need to break through from my current number of binders??"
[Host, you still need about 2000 days worth to cross to the SSS rank with just your binds cultivating; that’s roughly 11 months. If you also keep cultivating yourself diligently, the time can be brought down to roughly over 9 months.]
William sighed.
The number felt heavy, yet not impossible.
"I need to bind more people; let’s hope to do that in the coming month, unless my free purchase is used for an emergency."
William then instructed the system for the training feedback that his binds were doing.
The system complied, and William was rewarded 100X gains for all the techniques and other forms of training.
The results of gravity training were generous, and William’s limit rose from the latest 80g to 100g in a matter of instant.
His body trembled slightly as it adapted to the sudden surge in physical capability.
William also noticed that Ethan had started training in the third form of the tempest sword technique.
William only now paid attention to Ethan’s pace. In the book, Ethan had started training the third form of the tempest sword much sooner.
A faint crease formed on his forehead.
William knew that Ethan was bound to get a huge burst of power after he got recognized by the storm element.
In the book, Ethan had awakened the element with the help of a storm stone gifted to him by the storm dragon after he got first place in the world academy trials.
But now since William had intervened, Ethan had gotten a mythic weapon instead, which was good on its own but not compared to an affinity.
"Hopefully he strolls around the storm dragon’s domain and awakens the storm; otherwise it will be too difficult for him ahead," William spoke before leaving the domain.
William appeared in the outside world; he appeared inside the washroom.
This was the only place where even the strongest wouldn’t pry their eyes open and also the place from where William preferred to disappear into his domain.
The quiet isolation of the space gave him a sense of secrecy.
William came out and walked into his barracks; inside, an officer was waiting for him.
The officer turned to look at him. William saluted the senior.
The man nodded `and said, "Colonel Draven has summoned you to his office."