William felt helpless.

If someone were to ask him to explore every inch of his old World, he'd agree without a second thought. He was no longer a mortal, and a casual stroll in the Ascended Realms spanned more than fifty times the size of Reius.

To search every nook and cranny of Reius would take a billion mortals thousands, if not tens of thousands of years. For William, it was but a few hours before the Navigation Radar recorded everything. As for finding an individual? Piece of cake.

This was the gap between William and the person he was a few years ago.

Now, if he were to compare Reius with the Slightveil Plane... merely the Quake Dungeon's 22nd floor. These things were so far below his notice that William didn't bother to think about it before, but the System's answer suggested he had almost returned to his mortal self.

He did some math.

Assuming the Slightveil Plane was a perfect square, which was most certainly untrue. Assuming Fria hadn't Ascended directly into one of the Plane's countless Dungeons. Ignoring changes in sea level or terrain height.

"Over four TRILLION square kilometers?!?"

For reference, William spent three days placing amplifiers to extend the range of his locators. He didn't expect to cover everything, but he could detect a buffer zone of several million kilometers from Great Rouge and westward to his current position.

I should have given them a backup plan. Damn! William cursed his lack of foresight.

To remedy the situation, the best William could do was send a strand of consciousness into Reius to leave a message for Fria. If she happens to return to Reius for any matter, he gave out the spatial coordinates to Great Rouge and mentioned the Filem Academy.

Without a certain level of experience involving the Space Element, this information was mostly useless, but William had faith that his sister could find the answers she needed. Her Cultivation path thus far had been quite fortunate, always meeting the right people and exploring the right places.

It spoke volumes of why the System had originally favored Fria over William.

This moment of reflection allowed William the time to relax and come up with some form of plan. Given the System was able to monitor Fria's condition, he knew she wasn't in any major trouble. Additionally, since she'd reached the Ascended Realms, there was a more than fifty percent chance that she had recovered to some degree.

The Primordial Soul Devourer Technique should also suit her quite nicely, should she achieve partial mastery.

Firstly, William decided to ask the System for as much geographical information related to the Slightveil Plane as possible. Some questions were quite expensive, but of those that he allowed the System to answer, William only spent thirteen Ascended Points.

According to the System, Slightveil is a medium-sized Plane with minimal curvature that makes it appear like a thin crescent moon from an outside perspective. From a birds-eye view, Slightveil is a conglomerate of large patches of multicolored land, the edges of which slowly became today's regional borders.

Together minus a few island chains near the edges, most Planes including Slightveil are like continents on the planet's crust, while the universe would be the upper mantle.

William had some difficulty understanding certain parts of the System's explanation, so he broke down the information by asking more specific questions.

Despite the last several days of travel, William learned that he was still located within a region known as the Big Earth Zone. Like the name suggests, the Big Earth Zone possesses a slightly higher concentration of Earth Mana, allowing Cultivators to comprehend their Earth Affinity roughly ten percent faster than elsewhere.

The other regions possessed similar traits, but to the Host of the Potential System this was nothing aside from a minor bonus. For some reason, however, William's loot goblin instincts triggered and he sensed there was a chance for future profit, so he kept the information stored for later.

I can't find Fria, Atticus is upgraded, and I've already digested all of my Elemental Fruits for the month. The Quake Dungeon is an option, but there's plenty of time before the System's Quest ends. I don't have to do it all at once...

So, What's next? William had to stop for a moment to think.

Placing amplifiers was a given, as William could use the locator for more than just finding Fria. The more he had across the Slightveil Plane, the greater his chances of meeting up with Carl and the others when they Ascended, or anyone else he wanted to meet in the future.

But he doesn't need to devote all of his precious time for such a monotonous task. There were better ways to get something done, and William is not a factory worker, he is a man of efficiency.

Killing two birds with one stone! But where's the second bird, and who says the limit is two birds if he throws hard enough?

-Something about what you're thinking doesn't sound right...

What? It's just a normal phrase. William was confused.

-The second part. It's giving dark humor vibes.

"It's giving"? "Vibes"? Maybe you're the strange one.

-This is how the children of your World talk nowadays. Watching you walk around aimlessly is exhausting. I needed something to do.

Ah, yes. Gen-Z System. Maybe I should call you that instead. William didn't hesitate to take a stab at the System for once.

-Shut up. Do something interesting.

What's more fun than exploring and looting? I've got places to go, things to ste— borrow!

-For starters, you could deal with the assassins I told you about a few days ago.

William paused for a moment, resulting in an audible sigh from within his mind.

-Don't tell me you forgot.

I was just thinking about which Element to use!

-You definitely forgot.

William didn't admit to anything, but the System had a point. Other than gathering items from the Quake Dungeon, earning Ascended Points, and attending school, William hadn't done much hardcore battling.

His skirmishes with the other students didn't count, as it wasn't to the death nor were they a real challenge for him. If anything, they were training material while he severely restricted his abilities.

Rather than asking the System for information related to the assassins, William treated this as an opportunity to hone his battle skills some more. He knew nothing about their Cultivation levels, quantity, or weaponry, but when did that ever stop him?

"You're up, Atticus. Show me what you can do." William ordered as he picked the purple cat off his shoulder and placed him on the ground.

"Yesss, Masster." His speech mannerisms didn't change despite switching forms. He awkwardly ran off in the direction William had come from, an aura of Illusion Magic allowing him to float a bit and maintain his balance.

William opened his Navigation Radar and inspected the nearest structures for any abnormalities, then set up a few Arrays that would enhance his abilities by a small amount.

In a life and death battle, every bit of strength counted. A tiny speed increase can be the difference between landing the first attack or being hit by another's, and William knew this very well.

Using what he'd learned in the Mortal Realms, William set up a series of traps in his general vicinity, consisting of Confinement Arrays, Speed-Reduction Arrays, and a brand-new Array he called Spatial Distortion.

Since they were able to follow William despite having teleported many times over the last few weeks, he guessed that they had some ability to sense his Spatial Mana. Either that or they were looking for the portals themselves.

Whichever it was, the Spatial Distortion Array would destabilize the space in the area around it, but only after an enemy entered the Array's detection range. This way, William could teleport here as a failsafe, execute a second maneuver, and the assassins would be left with no leads.