Jiang Bai understood for the first time in his life the principle that "men shouldn't be too quick". Unfortunately, this realization came too late, and the price was too painful.

The Institute Director hurriedly explained, "You've already awakened your Sequence Ability during the third Mysterious Tide. This isn't your initial awakening. For a second awakening, the stronger your first Sequence Ability was, the weaker the second one will be, because powerful Sequence Abilities repel each other. This theory is still in the verification stage, and I was worried about affecting your mindset, so I didn't mention it earlier..."

Listening to the Director's explanation, Jiang Bai nodded slightly, showing understanding. His previously awakened Sequence Ability was indeed powerful. From another perspective, the weaker Jiang Bai's newly awakened Sequence Ability was, the stronger his previous one must have been!

Although Old Ma never had a good word to say about Jiang Bai, he emphasized one point in Jiang Bai's file: Jiang Bai was naturally optimistic. No matter what happened, he could always adjust his mindset quickly and face challenges positively. Even when the Cicada Project was close to failure and Jiang Bai had slept for 1200 years, after waking up, he still acted as if nothing had happened, eating and drinking as usual.

Compared to being sealed for 1200 years, awakening the second-to-last Sequence Ability wasn't a big deal for Jiang Bai. He quickly focused his attention on the ability, trying to familiarize himself with it and maximize his combat power.

[Interruption]: Able to interrupt Sequence Abilities or actions. Upon successful interruption, gain a small amount of Ability recovery and enhancement.

Sequence Abilities, also known as supernatural powers, were not unfamiliar to Jiang Bai. 1200 years ago, he was already one of the top Ability users in this land.

If we consider Sequence Abilities as skills, the effect of Interruption would be to interrupt spellcasting, with successful interruptions restoring mana and increasing the mana cap.

"Huh?" Jiang Bai opened his eyes again, looking very puzzled, "According to my understanding, [Interruption] should be a growable skill, so why is it ranked so low?"

As a veteran player of Nasus in League of Legends, who often occupied 5 ban slots, Jiang Bai always held growable abilities in high regard.

This question happened to be in the Director's area of expertise. He put down the dictionary and answered fluently, "Because the cost and benefit are disproportionate. [Interruption] consumes too much Ability to release, has a low success rate, recovers little Ability, and the increase in Ability cap is... extremely weak. You'd be better off spending that time on visualization to improve faster."

"I see," Jiang Bai nodded and muttered to himself, "High mana cost, long cooldown, small improvement. Not even a dog would play it."

Jiang Bai's evaluation was - not as good as Nasus.

Jiang Bai quickly came up with a new idea, "If [Interruption] interrupts spellcasting, what would happen if I used [Interruption] on myself while using [Interruption]?"

Shan Hongyi: ???

Institute Director: ???

The two stared at each other, momentarily speechless.

Shan Hongyi stuttered, "How... how did you come up with such a crazy idea?"

Using your own Sequence Ability on yourself? What for? Suicide? Does this guy still have suicidal tendencies?!

The Director lowered his head and frantically flipped through the dictionary, hoping to find some useful information. Jiang Bai saw words like 'exploiting bugs', 'madman', 'regular medication' floating above.

The final answer the Director got was: [From reading web novels.]

Obviously, Jiang Bai had seen protagonists in certain web novels shamelessly exploiting skill bugs and subconsciously wanted to imitate them.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The Director said earnestly, "Jiang Bai, you should read fewer web novels..."

Mentioning web novels, Jiang Bai's eyes lit up as he remembered something, "I can recite 'Battle Through the Heavens', do you want to hear it?!"

After 1200 years, many precious historical materials had been lost. This was both a loss and an opportunity!

Before entering the [Cicada] Project, Jiang Bai had spent nights reading web novels, preparing for this moment! To become a copycat writer, make big money, remove his Ability seal, reach the pinnacle of life, and break through his own limitations!

The Director smiled bitterly, "The servers of several major web novel sites have been excavated by archaeologists. At first, people thought they contained secret manuals for Ability cultivation. Various factions fought fiercely, resulting in numerous casualties. It wasn't until after the data was decrypted that people realized it was all a misunderstanding, leaving a mess everywhere. As for 'Battle Through the Heavens' you mentioned, it's ranked on various charts. Just for this book, over a hundred superhuman experts died, and even a Divine General fell..."

Jiang Bai: ......

Taking this opportunity, the Director introduced the hierarchy of Ability users to Jiang Bai.

Ability users are simply divided into:

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Hall of Fame Master, Superhuman Expert...

As for beyond Superhuman, it's currently beyond Jiang Bai's reach.

However, the Director specifically mentioned that there are some top experts who have been famous for many years, with resounding titles that Jiang Bai should know:

"Four Sky Emperors, Eight Earth Treasures, Twelve Divine Generals, One Human King."

These fourteen words made Jiang Bai raise an eyebrow, "There are still higher-level experts?"

The Four Sky Emperors refer to the four top experts of Sky-type Abilities, each possessing at least two Sky-type Sequence Abilities.

The Eight Earth Treasures and Twelve Divine Generals are the top experts of Earth-type and Human-type respectively.

"What does 'One Human King' mean?"

Shan Hongyi explained for Jiang Bai, "One Human King refers to the Human King. The Human King's identity is mysterious, and no one knows their true identity. Rumors say that the Human King should be a cross-system Ability user, mastering at least two types of Abilities, and has fought against the Four Sky Emperors separately without defeat..."

Human King, huh?

A total of twenty-five top experts. The Director didn't introduce too much because these people were too far beyond their reach.

Currently, Jiang Bai had just started and could barely be considered a Beginner Ability user.

Now that he had a direction to strive for, Jiang Bai immediately took action.

For the next day, except for eating and short rests, Jiang Bai continuously meditated and visualized, accumulating Ability.

Until sunset, the Ability in his body was still not enough to release [Interruption] once.

Jiang Bai gained a new understanding of this Sequence Ability ranked 107th.

It deserved its ranking!

Imagine meditating and cultivating for three to five days, finally accumulating enough for one use, then using it once in battle, and it's gone!

Charging for three days, talking for three seconds!

Want to use [Interruption] again?

Please charge for another three days...

How can you fight like this?!

What's the point of a Nasus that can only stack Q once in three games?

However, when Jiang Bai told the Director about his insights, the Director's expression was particularly complex.

"Jiang Bai... A normal Beginner Ability user would need at least half a month of cultivation to accumulate enough Ability to release [Interruption]..."

Jiang Bai's cultivation speed was five times that of his peers, reaching half that of an Intermediate Ability user!

Jiang Bai pondered thoughtfully, "It must be that the seal has loosened, allowing me to absorb Ability faster!"

When in doubt, blame the seal.

The Director also agreed deeply, nodding repeatedly.

After sunset, the three could finally return to the now-electrified research institute.

After a quick wash-up, the Director assigned Jiang Bai a small room, less than 20 square meters, with a bed, a wardrobe, and a desk.

Lying on the bed, Jiang Bai closed his eyes, recalling everything that happened today.

Soon, rhythmic breathing sounds could be heard in the room.

In Jiang Bai's mind, however, lines of golden text appeared one after another:

"Sky System, Sequence Ability: [Mandate of Heaven], Sequence 0"

"Earth System, Sequence Ability: [Geographical Advantage], Sequence 0"

"Human System, Sequence Ability: [Human Harmony], Sequence 0..."