The question of breaking my Potential limit demanded more than brute force training. It required understanding the fundamental architecture of power in Amazia. I needed a research session.
I sat at the rough wooden table in my cottage, a blank parchment before me (too expensive to write on, but a good mental prop). Using my Appraisal trait and the encyclopedic knowledge from Rise of the Five Heroes, I began to deconstruct the system.
SUBJECT: The Distribution of Potential
Potential is determined at birth, visible at age five via the Status. It is the universe's cruel lottery.
· >50%: Potential below D-rank. The common masses.
· ~30%: D or C-rank. (My bracket). The skilled laborers, low-tier adventurers, minor knights.
· ~15%: B-rank. The professional core, officers, respected adventurers.
· ~10%: A-rank. The elites, high nobility, army generals.
· ~5%: S-rank. Legends in their prime, archmages, sword saints.
· ~1%: SS-rank. National treasures, one per generation.
· ~0.1%: SSS-rank. Existential-level powers.
CONCLUSION: I am statistically mediocre. The system is designed to keep me here.
SUBJECT: Methods to Increase Potential
The novel described only three near-mythic methods:
1. Divine/Demi-God Blessing: A god invests a fraction of their power into a mortal. Can only be done once per millennium per deity. The Goddess of Light already used her current blessing on a commoner boy named "Light"—one of the five future Monster Protagonists. He is being secretly raised by the Church. Unavailable.
2. Worldly Treasures: Fruits or Seeds of cosmic rarity, like the "Soul-Transcending Fruit." Location: deepest dungeons, guarded by SS-rank monsters. Currently impossible.
3. Bloodline Awakening: Potent inherited power. My Status says [Bloodline: Unawakened]. But the White family are commoners turned minor nobles. Even if awakened, it likely holds little power. A faint, unlikely hope.
CONCLUSION: Conventional, known methods are closed to me. I must find an unconventional path.
SUBJECT: The D-Rank Barrier - Mana vs. Aura
This was the key. To break my ceiling, I needed to master the rules of ascension.
Mana Users (Mages): Draw energy from the world. The D-rank breakthrough involves forming a Mana Circle around the heart. Why the heart? It's the body's natural mana nexus. Ancient races like Dragons and Demons have specialized hearts that are mana reactors. Humans are weaker, so 10,000 years ago, the legendary "King of Magicians" devised the Circle method to artificially strengthen the heart's capacity.
· Rank = Circles: D (1), C (2), B (3), A (4), S (5 + Domain), SS (6), SSS (7 + special condition).
Aura Users (Warriors): Generate energy from within. They forge a Dantian in the lower abdomen, refining life force into combat energy.
The moment the first Circle or Dantian is formed, the practitioner officially leaves "apprentice" status. For mages, this also unlocks the ability to learn Tier 1 and above spells and wield Elemental Magic. What I've been using (Healing, Plant Enhancement) are Tier 0—the most basic manipulations.
HYPOTHESIS: The system is rigid. Mages build Circles. Warriors build Dantians. Hybrids fail. But what if the "King of Magicians" was solving the wrong problem? He asked, "How do we make the human heart stronger?" What if the question is, "What if we use a different organ as the core?"
My eyes drifted from the imaginary parchment to my own body. My Plant element. My half-elf heritage attuned to nature. Plants don't have hearts. Their life force is distributed, flowing through roots, stems, and leaves.
A wild, terrifying idea, born from my hybrid existence and outsider's perspective, crystallized.
What if I didn't try to form a Mana Circle around my heart... or a Dantian in my abdomen?
What if I used my Plant element and my Plant Creation (G) skill to do something heretical?
What if I tried to grow a Mana Root System?
Instead of a single, fortified core, I could create a network of minor mana channels—roots—throughout my body, using my own life force as the soil. It would be distributed, resilient, and inherently connected to my element. It might not follow the "Circle" rule at all. It might bypass the conventional Potential limit entirely, because it would be a foundation the system never accounted for.
The risks were catastrophic. Mana channel rupture. Organ failure. The complete corruption of my energy system. Death.
But the safe path led to a C-rank maximum. A death sentence deferred.
I stood up, my decision made. The grinding physical and swordsmanship training would continue—I needed a strong vessel for whatever happened next.
But my true focus, my secret project, would now be this: to use my understanding of mana, my Plant element, and my Growth-Type skill not to learn a spell, but to rewire my own metaphysical biology.
Tomorrow, after my sword drills, I would begin the first, cautious experiment: trying to guide a thread of mana not to my heart, but to anchor it in my solar plexus and visualize it sprouting, sending a single, fragile root down my leg.
It was time to stop trying to climb the ladder they gave me.
It was time to grow my own tree.