2: Talent
Tian Lang looked around the almost empty room, worn by time and filled with old furniture.
It didn't stink nor was there trash scattered everywhere, fortunately. It was simply an old place that had surely seen better days.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the flickering lamp and wondered how it was still working. With his body feeling stiff, he walked over to it and turned it off. He then sat on the bed, which was unusually comfortable, and looked out the window.
Had gone from a man with a stable but oppressive job, to a poor orphan.
If it were possible, he would have asked to bring his savings with him, although thinking about it, if he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have bothered to save at all!
"Well... what should I do now?"
He asked himself. He was in the body of Tian Lang, inside that novel he had cursed with more than 500 words...
He put his hand on his chin and began to remember. The novel had only 145 episodes; for a cultivation novel, that number of chapters was insignificant, yet there was enough information for him to have a basic idea of the universe he was in.
"If I remember correctly, this is the year 5518?" He took out the identification again; besides his name, it also had his birth date.
Born in the year 5500, this year he was about to turn 18 years old.
"The novel begins when the protagonist is disowned and almost expelled from her family for awakening a low-grade talent during the coming-of-age ceremony, so that means I have arrived roughly at the beginning." The main character and Tian Lang were the same age.
In this world, or rather universe, humans are born with spiritual roots inside their bodies. These spiritual roots can be called an organ but it wouldn't be incorrect to call them a part of the soul either. Tian Lang didn't fully understand it since the novel hadn't explained it in its entirety.
But the point was that these roots only matured and could be awakened when a human reached the age of majority. It was then that they could begin their path in cultivation. Of course, there were exceptions to this. How? Tian Lang had no idea, he only knew that there were characters who had awakened their roots long before the required age.
Maybe if the novel's author had bothered to explain it better, he would have understood it in depth, but it didn't matter. What he knew was enough to understand his surroundings.
Tian Lang was about to come of age and like the vast majority of humans, his spiritual roots were ready for awakening.
"Tian Lang had mid-grade spiritual roots." Of course, there had to be grades; how else would the protagonist be looked down upon? It was too cliché.
He stopped thinking about that. Cliché or not, this was his reality now. He should stop pondering the how and why and start focusing on what was important.
Tian Lang had awakened mid-grade spiritual roots, which was probably the biggest stroke of luck a poor orphan from a lower world could get.
Spiritual roots were divided into low grade, mid grade, and high grade. It was said that there were also special-grade roots, which were categorized only as being better than high grade.
As far as Tian Lang remembered, while spiritual roots were important, they weren't everything. They were simply a boost, a way to cultivate much faster than others. Still, the mentality of "I have something better than you" was always present. Despite the fact that, given enough time, someone with low-grade spiritual roots could catch up to those with high-grade roots, they were still looked down upon among cultivators.
In a normal world, this might be considered a "classist" and arrogant attitude.
But this world wasn't a normal world, or rather, a normal universe.
"This place is damn dangerous."
Being slow was the definition of being dead. The reason those cultivators with low-grade spiritual roots were despised was because they never managed to prove anything. In this universe, besides humanity, there were many other races and species, some friendly but many extremely cruel.
To put it simply, all races were in a constant state of war, and humanity was no different.
That's why growing fast and strong had become the norm. Those who couldn't keep up would eventually die, because the path to eternity was that cruel.
Having mid-grade spiritual roots was actually the norm if you wanted to live an "average" life as a cultivator.
In a normal situation, neither the protagonist nor Tian Lang would achieve anything significant in this life.
Of course, the protagonist couldn't just have low-grade spiritual roots, and likewise, the rival of said protagonist wouldn't fall behind.
"I must help her." While Tian Lang didn't know exactly what he should do with his life in this world, now that he was here, he should ensure his survival as the first step.
He was still too young to die, and since he was in a "fantasy" world, he might as well enjoy it.
But to do that, he first had to avoid his death. And with his knowledge of the future as a reference, he knew that if the protagonist didn't manage to awaken her true spiritual roots at the right moment, his death would be imminent.
"Group training journey." Remembering that "arc" where the protagonist demonstrated her true talent for the first time made him break out in a cold sweat.
If something went wrong, he and many others would be in serious trouble.
"Alright, first, let's make sure we don't die in the near future and then think about everything else." Small steps. Since he only knew the events of 145 chapters, there was no point in worrying about distant future events. He would simply deal with the immediate future, and after that... well, future Tian Lang would handle it.
While he was lost in his thoughts, the sudden sound of a ringing cell phone almost made him jump. He quickly started searching and found what seemed to be a mobile phone under the pillow; he had forgotten to check that place before.
He looked at the strangely familiar device and, thank heavens, it had no password, just a fingerprint lock or something similar since the screen lit up on its own when one of his fingers touched a specific spot by accident.
He looked at the notification on the screen; it wasn't a call but a reminder.
"Public awakening ceremony at Secondary School No. 12 begins in 30 minutes."
Of course, as an orphan, he didn't have a family, clan, or group to hold a private ceremony. Those humans with average families or simply orphans like him had to go through the whole process using a different method.
The perfect place for this was the secondary school they attended; it had the facilities and staff for it, and if you managed to obtain a suitable talent, you didn't even have to take the usual exams. A "cultivation university" would happily open its doors for you.
It was called a university, and in a sense, it was, but if Tian Lang had to say, it was more like the "sects" of common cultivation novels.
The only difference was that all of them were affiliated with the unified government of humanity.
"I must go." If he wanted everything to go well, he had to go through the ceremony and follow the steps of the original Tian Lang by entering the same university as the protagonist.
One would think that a university that accepted a student with low-grade talent would be bad, but you would be wrong. The protagonist didn't enter that university because of her talent but because of her family, as they were almost like sects from other stories. In this world, there were families and clans affiliated with various universities.
The protagonist's family was an influential clan in one of the best universities of humanity, and that's why she got in. Even if they despised her for her low talent, she was still part of her clan.
This, of course, caused discontent among those students with better talent who hadn't managed to get in.
It even caused the students who did get in to despise and judge her.
"Typical protagonist treatment, huh?" He was glad to be the rival. Even if his talent would now only be mid-grade, he would still be treated better and wouldn't have problems in that aspect.
In fact, his mid-grade talent was better than the average mid-grade, which is why the original Tian Lang had managed to get into the same university as the protagonist despite being a status-less orphan.
How could a mid-grade be better than another mid-grade? Well, Tian Lang had no idea. There should be an explanation that made sense, but the author hadn't bothered to provide it.
"I'll have to investigate that," he thought, his curiosity piqued. There were things in the original novel that were never explained, and now that he had the opportunity, he wanted to find out everything about them.
"But all in due time," he reminded himself. Even if he wanted to know, he first needed to ensure he had the time to do so.
He quickly changed his clothes; his old and worn uniform was still decent enough to wear, and he hoped to get better clothes later.
He grabbed his wallet and was about to leave when he suddenly stopped.
"Where am I supposed to go?" He didn't know the direction to the school.
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A wave of students filled the place. Tian Lang stepped off the bus, almost stumbling. He looked back and saw the vehicle take off into the air after dropping off its passengers. How did it do that? The question crossed his mind, but he quickly shook his head.
"Focus!" He looked towards the school gates; it seemed he had arrived on time.
The flying buses were much faster than he had expected, and riding one had been strangely exciting.
"I still have ten minutes," After checking the time, he prepared to enter. The crowd was immense, not just students, but their families, ordinary people, and even news stations.
The awakening ceremony was something important that defined the future of all the youth. Most of them would simply end up as ordinary people, but those who had talent for cultivation would "ascend" and be hailed as the "heroes" of humanity.
This wasn't without reason; in a universe plagued by powerful threats, ordinary humanity would be easily trampled. It was the cultivators, using their power, who protected humanity on the front lines.
That's why they were revered, and since anyone, even if the chance was minimal, had the opportunity to become one of them, everyone eagerly hoped to be or have a family member, friend, or acquaintance achieve it.
The awakening ceremony was famous for many reasons, but the greatest of all were the "dark horses"
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Everyone knew that ancient clans, families, and cultivation groups would produce geniuses all the time. It wasn't unusual and was even expected; they were the pillars of humanity and had to maintain a "standard"
The opposite happened with those who weren't part of that group. Ordinary people almost never awakened as geniuses, but sometimes, very rarely, a genius would emerge from nowhere.
Dark horses, surprises that everyone hoped to see. Because if there was a dark horse among ordinary people, didn't that mean they might also have a chance to be one?
Of course, for the most part, everyone knew it was harder than winning the lottery, but even knowing that, hope remained.
My son? My nephew? My friend? My partner? Could any of them "ascend"?
Of course, to be a dark horse, you had to have at least mid-grade talent.
Low-grade talent... well, nobody really cared much about it.
Tian Lang had to struggle to make his way through the crowd, his thin and almost sickly body nearly crushed several times along the way.
As an orphan, the original Tian Lang had suffered quite a bit. In a universe like this, while resources weren't lacking, it didn't mean they were easily distributed everywhere.
The poor didn't die of hunger, but they didn't live in luxury either. Nevertheless, education and healthcare were free for all. Tian Lang knew that the original owner of his body had simply been a sickly person until he awakened his spiritual roots.
Other orphans like him, even if they didn't have luxuries, seemed much healthier than several people from his previous life with "comfortable" lives.
It was a very strange contrast.
He soon managed to reach the front where the school staff separated civilians and students so that the latter could enter without any trouble.
They cleared a path for him, and soon he could breathe more easily, no longer surrounded by a sea of people. He looked at the school's central plaza; it was quite large. In the middle of it, a special stage had been set up where students would go up one by one for the ceremony.
Tian Lang was somewhat nervous; although this had been mentioned in the novel, there was never a clear description of how the ceremony took place, at least not the public ceremony.
He hoped everything would go smoothly.
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In a private place, two figures sat together in solitude, gazing towards the stage where everything would unfold.
"Why are we here?" Nangong Junhao wanted to sigh; he almost did, but he had an image to uphold. He looked at his younger sister and muttered under his breath.
"Remember that it was you who insisted on following me." As the eldest son of the newly appointed leader of the Nangong clan, he was supposed to set an example. He had been visiting and facing the various lower worlds affiliated with the Nangong clan.
In this era where humanity had spread across infinite space, there were thousands of worlds with humans on them. This was just one more, an inferior one, but still part of the Nangong clan. Coming to oversee the situation was simply another task. At any other time, it could have been delegated to someone else, but with the recent change in the Nangong clan, it was demanded that he, as the next heir after his father, begin to show his face.
He had already visited a dozen worlds in the last week, and this was just another one. Before coming here, he had returned to the clan headquarters to report his progress, and it was then that unfortunately, his younger sister had emerged from her training and joined him because, in her words, she was "too bored" staying at home.
Beside him, Nangong Ruoxue pouted, her golden eyes gazing towards the awakening platform with boredom. Her tousled blonde hair fell to one side as she tilted her head and leaned it against her hand.
"I thought it would be more... fun? I heard it's an event everyone eagerly anticipates," her subdued voice made it clear that nothing had been entertaining for her so far.
It was normal; since they arrived until now, they had been going from meeting to meeting, examining and verifying the state of the world, its production, growth, and viability. Maintaining worlds like this one cost a lot, and if there was no benefit, then the clan would abandon them. Therefore, a thorough check had to be made.
The older brother couldn't help it, and this time he sighed a little. His younger sister was special; she had been born with the greatest talent in the clan and had awakened her spiritual roots two years earlier than normal. Because of this, she had been closely supervised and kept within the clan for her training and protection. It wasn't until now, with their father becoming the clan leader, that she could have more freedom.
This was her first time outside their home world.
"Don't be discouraged; maybe something interesting will happen. I heard there's something called 'dark horses.' Who knows, maybe some amazing talent will appear," despite saying that, Nangong Junhao didn't believe it. This was just an inferior world among many others. He had seen ceremonies like this several times, and they had all ended the same way: low-grade talents and maybe one or two mid-grade talents, nothing more.
His sister knew he was just comforting her, so she didn't cheer up. She had also heard of dark horses, but they were more like tales and fantasies among the commoners.
For her, who was born with immensely great talent, even high-grade talents could barely catch her attention. In fact, throughout humanity, those with talent similar to hers in the same age group could barely be counted on one hand. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to encounter any of them yet, but now that she was about to go to university, she hoped to compare herself with them soon.
"Look, it's about to start; maybe something interesting will happen," Nangong Junhao pointed out, snapping her out of her thoughts and making her pay attention again.
Together, they began to observe from their private booth.
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Tian Lang got into line; fortunately, he quickly realized he would have to queue up and managed to secure a spot that wasn't too far back.
He raised his head and looked towards the stage where the principal of High School Number 12 began giving a passionate speech.
Tian Lang didn't pay much attention; he simply scanned the representatives of the universities. Whenever a ceremony like this took place, the various universities, regardless of whether they were small or large, sent their representatives. No matter how rare it was to see talent among common people, as long as there was a possibility, no university would remain idle.
Of course, they wouldn't send their best representatives to inferior worlds; they would simply send someone symbolically, and if there really was talent, then a more qualified person would be sent if necessary.
Tian Lang didn't think it would be necessary; he was just a mid-grade talent. Talking to the present representative should be what the original Tian Lang did.
He heard exclamations that snapped him out of his thoughts, and he quickly turned his attention back to his surroundings.
The principal and the teachers were on stage along with the student who had been first in line.
He saw what looked like a strange device; the best way he could describe it was as an individual platform with a frame resembling that of a door made of dark metal with blue energy stripes running through its structure.
The student stood in front of the door, and after the principal signaled him, he stepped through it.
"So that's why they call it the Ascension Door."
As the student walked through the door, the light began to increase until suddenly his whole body was surrounded by blue light, then as quickly as it came, the light disappeared, and the student staggered, almost falling to the ground.
He saw the energy lines on the door change color to a faint dark gray, and everyone around him sighed.
"The first one failed, huh?" he heard a student murmur behind him.
Tian Lang observed the reactions and remembered what he knew from what had been said in the novel, and he could understand it.
In the novel, it was said that there were two methods to awaken spiritual roots: one was naturally, where the body on its own and out of nowhere decided it was time to cultivate, and the other was through external help, namely the ceremony.
In ancient times, there were far fewer cultivators because only those who awakened naturally were considered worthy. That changed when humanity encountered its first "foreign" race and were almost annihilated.
Then they not only had to become stronger but also increase their numbers, so they researched and created a method to help anyone awaken.
It was also realized that awakening naturally or awakening "artificially" made no difference; you could awaken naturally with a low-grade talent and you could also use the ceremony and have a high-grade talent.
So, nobody cared about how your roots awakened; only their grade mattered.
"If I remember correctly, it's mentioned that in private ceremonies, a clan member injects their own stellar Qi into the person who wants to awaken, causing their spiritual roots to react and start generating their own Qi as a result. Then, depending on the quality and quantity of Qi generated for the first time, the talent is denominated."
In that case, what the door was doing was injecting stellar Qi into the individual while simultaneously detecting and measuring the quality and quantity of the Qi released after awakening.
If that was the case, the color should also be an indication; dark gray meant a failure.
That is, a talent worse than low-grade.
Knowing this, Tian Lang relaxed; it seemed quite simple. Go up on stage, pass through the door, let your mid-grade talent awaken, and then speak with the university representative.
He watched as one by one the students went up, most of them obtaining a dark gray light, and occasionally the light turned into an opaque white color, those were the ones who obtained a low-grade talent.
It was then that a light blue light filled the place, causing people to exclaim. Tian Lang quickly paid attention.
"T-That's it!"
"Mid-grade!"
"I can't believe it!"
People began to get excited around him.
"So, that's how it looks, huh?" It was good; he liked the blue.
The principal laughed, the teachers smiled, and the student seemed extremely excited. Unlike the others, the process didn't seem to tire him; in fact, his cheeks seemed redder, his skin shinier, and his posture firmer. It was as if he had suddenly become a little more handsome or something.
Tian Lang had to rub his eyes several times to make sure he wasn't seeing things wrong.
It seemed that the difference between grades was much more important than he thought. It was as if the boy had undergone a qualitative change.
He looked at himself and wondered if the same would happen to him.
Soon, the line shortened, and before he knew it, his turn had arrived.
He wiped his sweaty palms on his pants; despite telling himself it would be simple, there was still a certain nervousness, something natural that happened when you did something for the first time.
The fact that there were hundreds if not thousands of people watching didn't help; he had never done anything so public before. He took a deep breath and looked at the door; up close, it seemed much bigger.
The moment had come. Despite not even spending a day in this world, he couldn't help but eagerly anticipate the future. Living an exciting life had always been something he dreamed of. His previous life had been dull and repetitive; he often found himself escaping the monotony by reading novels. That's why he loved them; it was like living other lives—lives more exciting and free, lives filled with fantasy, drama, action, and adventure, with mysteries and suspense that made his heart race with desire.
Now, that was no longer a fantasy. Here and now, his opportunity for such a life was right in front of him, and without a second thought, he took a step forward.
As his body positioned itself in the middle of the door, it felt as if time slowed down around him. His pupils dilated, a shiver ran down his spine, and deep within him, something seemed to awaken.
Energy surged through his body like bolts of electricity. He clenched his fists, feeling every cell comprising his biological structure being stimulated. Describing it would be impossible because it went beyond the body—his soul, as if touched by something more, began to stir.
It was an unfamiliar, otherworldly sensation, if he had to compare it felt almost like the time he almost overdosed from stealing all the brownies from his roommate in college not knowing that what was in them wasn't normal.
No, this was better—or at least it seemed much better to him.
Then, he took another step, and the world began to make sense once more. He took a deep breath, feeling a bead of sweat on his forehead, and sighed as he looked at his hands. All those small scars that had been there before had disappeared, and it seemed like he had even gained some weight; he didn't look so gaunt anymore.
It was a significant change and much more intense than it seemed as a spectator.
He raised his head, ready to shake hands with the principal and receive the teachers' congratulations, but when he looked at their faces, he knew something was wrong.
Whether it was their eyes or their mouths, they were open to the extreme, their pupils dilated, and eyebrows raised. It was an exaggeratedly comic expression of shock.
Not only them, but the people behind them and the spectators, all seemed astonished. In fact, there were no cheers or exclamations of amazement; the entire place was surprisingly silent.
Furrowing his brow slightly, Tian Lang wondered if something bad had happened. Carefully, he turned his head only to be struck by a blinding golden light emanating from the energy lines of the door.
It was an intense glow that illuminated the entire stage, and he didn't know how he hadn't noticed it before.
He blinked in confusion. Wasn't it supposed to be blue? Then why was it golden?
"S-S-Special Grade!!!" the principal muttered, but it was loud enough for Tian Lang to hear, causing his body to freeze as he turned to look at him as if he had said something absurd.
Then another teacher shouted, "Spiritual Root of Special Grade!"
"Oh my god!"
"Impossible!"
One after another, the cries began to ring out. The university representatives had already stood up, and highly advanced cell phones began to make urgent calls.
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In a special booth, the two Nangong siblings had nearly jumped out of their seats with wide eyes filled with disbelief.
The younger sister gazed at the stage, unable to believe it. "Dark horse..." she murmured under her breath.
The older brother quickly composed himself and knew he had to inform the clan's superiors immediately. He also needed to deploy a defense fleet around the planet while requesting reinforcements.
Special Grade – in all of humanity, fewer than a hundred people had managed to obtain such talent in the last 100 years. One might think it's a lot, but humanity spread across thousands of worlds with trillions of living humans.
For one reason, his sister had been venerated and carefully nurtured within the clan. For one reason, their father had been able to obtain the position of leader despite being the third son.
Fortunately, they weren't in absolute danger. As his sister had come with him, of course, high-level bodyguards had come with them.
Humanity could barely qualify as a mid-level force in the vast expanse of the known universe, known as The Vast Eternal Starry Sky.
Their enemies were numerous, as were their allies. If this were one of the central worlds of humanity, then there wouldn't be so much danger, but this was just an inferior world on the border of human territory. Those who didn't like humans were surely eager to kill a potential future monarch of humanity.
In fact, his sister wouldn't have been able to come at all if one of the old and ancient patriarchs of the clan hadn't decided to go for a walk with them.
That was their strongest backup.
Looking at the boy on stage, Nangong Junhao couldn't help but want to laugh bitterly. Here he was, the son of the new patriarch of one of the largest clans in humanity, and what did he have? Just a high-grade talent.
Instead, a boy from an inferior world had awakened a talent as great as his sister's.
The sky was unfair, just like fate, but that was alright. So what if his talent wasn't as good? In the end, the path of cultivation had always been about defying the heavens.
To break destiny and become eternal.
Regardless of his talent, he, Nangong Junhao, would become eternal.
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Tian lang listened and saw the commotion around him with dull eyes.
A trembling smile formed on his face as he watched the golden light slowly disappearing from the door.
It wasn't supposed to go like this!, this wasn't supposed to happen! Where was his mid-grade talent? Where was his smooth and trouble-free journey to university!?
This script was wrong!!!
"Well, shit..."
Hadn't he said this before?
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Note:
Second chapter, this one is longer than the first so editing took me a bit more time, but here it is. Let me know your thoughts and suggestions.