Chapter 215: Improved Storage
With no need to sleep, William spent the night modifying the Titanium Rings he bought into specialized Space Rings.
Creating the Arrays that expanded the Space within and allowed for storage was easy, but William needed to ask the System for help constructing an Array that would prevent anything that went in or out of the Space Ring from becoming damaged by the violent Mana.
He was offered a few options, of which William decided to create a barrier on the edges of the portal. To make this work, he added a set of Arrays on the edge of the portal itself that would attract the Space Mana Particles to them.
This way, once the portal was open, the center of the portal would be the most docile, while the edges would be violent. A second and third set of Arrays were made to trap the violent Space Mana on the edges, while simultaneously raising a barrier that would prevent any items sent inside from touching the edges of the portal.
With this, William's Space Ring was semi-complete, but there were a few downsides.
Because he locked the Space Mana in place after opening the portal, it would take a few seconds to open and close the Ring every time he used it. This wasn't a serious issue as long as William didn't intend to use the Titanium Rings for battle, but another issue was more serious.
If he was moving while using the Space Ring, the portal would remain open in the original place the Space Ring was opened, meaning someone else could reach in and steal his items if he wasn't careful.
William opted to fix this second issue immediately.
He added an Array that would only allow the Space Ring to be opened if one used both Dream and Space Element Mana at the same time. Only a tiny amount of Mana was needed, so an outsider wouldn't be able to tell what kind of Mana William used, but it would prevent most people from opening his Space Ring.
If someone did by chance have both the Dream and Space Element, William created a simple wooden tablet with Plant Magic that had a set of identification Arrays on it. This one would check to see if William was within two meters of the Space Ring when it was opened and would automatically close the portal if he wasn't nearby.
If the person trying to open his Space Ring failed either of these tests, a highly complicated trapping Array Formation using Complete Runes would activate, making anyone who wanted to steal William's items regret it for the rest of their lives.
That is, if they survived the Arrays.
William used the remaining space on the Titanium Ring to add a few miscellaneous functions, which would allow him to track the Space Rings if they were lost, and automatically repair them if their Arrays were slightly damaged.
He would need to recharge some of these Arrays periodically, but the Mana cost wasn't high so William could link them to his batteries without a problem.
I have so many Space Rings now...I need a better way to carry them all.
While a few Space Rings became damaged during his fights and couldn't be used anymore, William had also both created and stolen quite a few from other Cultivators. Even after disposing of the least useful ones, William's collection of Space Rings wasn't anything less than a hundred.
Most of the time, William kept one Space Ring on each thumb and two each on his other fingers, but that could only cover for a mere eighteen. He eventually started looping the Rings on a necklace, but it was quite uncomfortable with the Luck Pendant and the Tribulation Amulet.
William set his thoughts aside and called down to the hotel staff who answered before the communicator could dial a second time.
"Yes, Mr. Yuming? What can I do for you?" a young man asked from the other end.
"I'm a blacksmith, can I construct a temporary forge in my room?"
"Um...hold on a second." the staff member set down the communicator and relayed the question to their supervisor.
The supervisor laughed after hearing about William's request, "A forge? You don't hear that one every day..."
"I know right? Although recently there seems to be a group called Players that have very unusual lifestyles. Maybe he's one of them?"
"Maybe..." the supervisor trailed off. "Anyways, let him know he can build his forge, but he needs to be mindful of the room. He must compensate for any damage."
The staff member nodded and returned to the communicator. He hung up immediately after relaying the information back to William.
In his room, William constructed a duplicate forge of the one provided to him by Sir Reynolds in his old residence. It took a bit of time and a multitude of Elements, but the end product was no worse than the original.
He also reconstructed many of the tools he had before and inspected each one before proceeding with the next task.
He took out four pieces of Starmetal Ore and spent a few hours of the night refining them into malleable material. He shaped the Starmetal into similar plates to the batteries, leaving circular slots on the sides that would fit the Space Rings perfectly, with clasps that would hold them in place.
Each Starmetal Plate had just enough space for 21 Space Rings, in a 7x3 pattern that would line the sides of his thighs.
The shaping process was quick and easy, sped up by the Ice Element during the cooling stage. When he was done, William held the two plates up to the outside of each thigh to make sure they fit.
It works, but I don't want to use straps for these...
William could tell that the Starmetal Plates would slide down his legs during heavy movement if they were too loose, and if they were too tight it would reduce his speed or even cut off his blood circulation.
He created the necessary tools for tailoring and created a new set of pants that were somewhere in between track pants and leggings. The Starmetal Plates were stitched inside the pants, then reinforced with the necessary Arrays.
William used the System to help him create a simple iron zipper for the pants that would allow him to access the Space Rings at all times, then linked the entire Artifact to his batteries.
42 Space Rings can be stored on my legs, 12 on the necklace, and 18 on my fingers...that's 72 Space Rings!
William took off the Space Rings from his necklace and slotted them into the Starmetal Side Carriers as he would name them, opting to provide himself a bit more comfort. Even without the necklace he could store 60 Space Rings, which was more than enough for the moment.
If 60 Space Rings wasn't enough, he would prefer to improve the Space Rings themselves in the future.
William queued up the Artifacts to be evaluated by the System, which were listed as Epic and earned him another 75 Potential Points.
He also evaluated the Titanium Space Rings, whose immense Space, Trap Arrays, specialized storage system, and self-repairing functions labeled them each as Legendary.
Since the 5 Space Rings were duplicates, William only earned the 225 Potential Points for one of them, but the progress was enough to level up his Artificer Title to the next rarity.
-Title upgraded: +500 PP
-Artificer (Legendary --> Mythic): You have created ten Artifacts using rare materials and multiple trade skills, causing their qualities to greatly exceed the desired purpose of the items. Quality of forged items +40%, Quality of tailored items +40%, Quality of Arrays +40%.
800 Potential Points, I'm getting close to twenty thousand now... William thought to himself.
He had enough Potential Points to push his Mind Talent to the next rank, but it would require a total of 25 thousand to push both the Mind Talent and the Arrays Talents up, so William was still a little bit away.
He planned to upgrade Uri to Tribulation Transcendence next anyway, which would increase his power more in the short-term than the Arrays Talent could. If William had a powerful dragon at the peak of the world, he wouldn't have to be so concerned when going out in the future.
Although it would be better to complete his Impossible Quest, which would earn him fifty thousand Potential Points in one go. If he had this, William could upgrade many of his Elements to S-Rank immediately!
Or he could push all of his Physical Talents to the next level. Or...
There are too many Talents to upgrade...I can't pick just one!
With nearly a hundred Talents to manage, William's brain spun every time he thought about upgrades. Not to mention, he still had the Talent Shop!
I shouldn't let my strength remain stagnant. I'll spend five thousand Potential Points, then I'll save the rest for later.
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