Options one and five were both gray negative talents.
While 'Osteoporosis' was bad enough, the effect of 'Star of Solitude' was simply horrifying!
Su Yuan immediately ruled out these two gray talents.
Logically speaking, among the seven colors of talents, white and green were the most common. Gray negative talents, like high-level talents, were actually quite rare.
But he didn't expect two out of five talents to be gray this time. It seemed his luck was truly poor today.
"Good thing I have the System!"
Su Yuan felt a lingering fear.
He focused his gaze on the remaining three talents. To be honest, he was a bit disappointed.
After obtaining the System, Su Yuan had once fantasized about how cool and impressive it would be if he could acquire all Golden talents.
But fantasies were just fantasies in the end; the drop rate for Golden talents was still too low.
Su Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly as he pondered, "...This second green talent, 'Mediocre Talent', if my Aptitude was very poor, like a so-called 'trash' type, this talent would still be somewhat useful... But I haven't tested my root bone Aptitude yet... Let's put it on hold for now."
"The third is 'Nine Oxen Strength',"
"This talent is also green, and it's quite powerful in the early stages. Possessing the strength of nine oxen is more than enough to deal with ordinary people, or even other Martial Artists in the first Realm. However..."
Su Yuan frowned.
Each time one broke through a Martial Dao Realm, their physical fitness and strength would increase significantly.
Now that he was in the second layer of the first Realm, his strength was already equivalent to two or three times his previous self.
In the third layer of the first Realm, his strength could rival a yellow ox.
This 'Nine Oxen Strength' was probably only equivalent to the strength of someone just entering the second Realm.
The further he progressed, the less effective this talent would become.
"This should be considered an early-stage skill. Once I become an Advanced Martial Artist, the strength of nine oxen will be negligible."
Su Yuan's vision was quite long-term, so he had some reservations about this talent.
"Then only 'Zero-Frame Startup' is left!"
Su Yuan looked at the last talent, which was also the highest quality among the five—a blue talent.
Its effect was that Moves required no wind-up, speeding up the execution.
For strength improvement, it might not be as obvious as 'Nine Oxen Strength' in the early stages,
but it could remain effective continuously.
Even in the Late Stage of Martial Dao, it would still have a considerable effect.
"So... after all this research and analysis, I'll still choose the only blue talent, which is of higher quality."
In fact, there wasn't much need for overthinking.
Generally, choosing a higher-grade color would not be wrong.
Thinking this, Su Yuan selected 'Zero-Frame Startup' on the System interface. A flash of light appeared on his Martial Dao panel, and the information changed.
"Name: Su Yuan"
"Talents: Golden 'Equality of All Beings', blue 'Zero-Frame Startup'"
"...: ..." "blue is still somewhat an eyesore. I wonder if there will be a chance to upgrade it to gold in the future..."
Su Yuan pondered for a moment,
then shook his head and stopped overthinking. For now, upgrading was the priority.
He took out another qi and blood pill, swallowed it, and continued to refine it.
"Rank: Martial Dao First Realm, Second Layer (30%)"
... (49%)
... (65%)
After refining three more qi and blood pills,
when Su Yuan opened his eyes again, the window was already bright with daylight.
"It's time for class. I can only go to school first and upgrade again after school in the afternoon!"
Su Yuan felt a little regretful,
but there was nothing he could do. Today's classes were supposed to officially begin teaching Martial Dao.
Skipping class was absolutely out of the question!
After washing up and leaving his room, his mother had already prepared breakfast.
There wasn't much time left.
After greeting his Older Sister, he quickly ate a few bites and hurried to school.
He entered the classroom two minutes before the first class.
As soon as he sat down and organized his schoolbag, the Martial Dao teacher walked into the classroom with the bell.
"...The reason we are only teaching Martial Dao now is, on one hand, because you were younger before and your root bones and Meridians were not yet fully developed. On the other hand, without the panel activated, it was difficult to see results when starting Martial Dao."
"Now, it's different. With the aid of the panel, even a one percent progression can be clearly perceived."
"...The speed of entering Martial Dao is related to root bones, on one hand, and to talents, on the other..."
At this point,
the teacher looked around the class and said with some satisfaction, "I remember our class seems to have a student who Awakened the talent 'Effortless Success'. With half the Cultivation time, they can achieve double the effect... Who was it?"
"Uh..."
The students exchanged glances.
Under the Martial Dao teacher's eager gaze, it was a while before a boy timidly raised his hand:
"...Teacher, you misremembered. Mine is the gray talent 'Twice the Effort, Half the Result', not 'Effortless Success'..."
He had a mournful face, looking heartbroken, as if he saw his future prospects as 'dim'.
"Uh..."
The Martial Dao teacher was also embarrassed and could only comfort him, "Even 'Twice the Effort, Half the Result' is fine. As long as you put in double the effort, you can still achieve half the effect of an ordinary person's Cultivation..."
"Ah, woo woo woo!"
Hearing this, the boy could no longer hold back and burst into tears.
"Ahem, let's continue the lesson..."
The Martial Dao teacher quickly changed the subject, "Next, I will teach you the Cultivation Technique of breathing. Everyone knows that many places around the world have been invaded by Devilish Qi and transformed into demonic regions."
"Demonic regions are also known as Secret Realms."
"The condensation of Devilish Qi will breed demonic creatures. Killing demonic creatures has a chance to yield some Opportunities, such as talent fragments, or even inscribed weapon, and inscribed Cultivation Technique!"
"Who can tell me about 'inscribed weapon' and 'inscribed Cultivation Technique'?"
"Qin Zijing."
The Martial Dao teacher called her name.
Everyone looked over. Qin Zijing stood up gracefully, "Besides our Human Race Awakening talents, some animals and plants, objects, and all things in the world can also generate talents."
"inscribed weapon refers to weapons that possess talents. Those talents might increase the weapon's attributes, such as toughness, armor penetration, lifesteal, and so on."
"And inscribed Cultivation Technique,"
"naturally means that Cultivation Techniques can also have talents. The effect might be to make those who see it learn faster and better, or even experience an Epiphany. Of course, it could also have negative talents, making the Cultivation Technique seem more obscure and difficult to understand, and slowing down Cultivation efficiency."
"Good, please sit down!"
After Qin Zijing finished speaking, the Martial Dao teacher waved his hand, indicating.
"That's right, student Qin Zijing spoke very accurately. However, I need to add one more point: the so-called inscribed Cultivation Technique, the talent effect is only valid for the original Cultivation Technique with the attached talent. Copied Cultivation Techniques do not carry the talent effect."
Everyone nodded,
having heard about these things before.
"Our school controls several original Cultivation Techniques with attached talents. And what I am about to teach you next is a basic breathing technique from a Secret Realm, named—"
"Nine Shallow One Deep Breathing Technique!"
"As the name suggests, it involves breathing and absorbing Qi at a frequency of nine shallow breaths followed by one deep breath, and then circulating it through the Meridians..."
When the Martial Dao teacher got to the key points,
the classroom immediately fell silent. Many students had long looked forward to Cultivation, and at this moment, they naturally concentrated on learning.
"I have brought the original Cultivation Technique. I will first let everyone witness the talent of an inscribed Cultivation Technique."
The Martial Dao teacher took out a Jade Slip.
This Jade Slip looked quite ancient and worn, clearly showing the marks of time.
Even more striking was that
the entire Jade Slip emitted a faint, shimmering green light.
"Wow!"
Everyone gasped in admiration.
Most of them were seeing a true inscribed Cultivation Technique for the first time, and they all watched intently, wide-eyed.
"Cultivation Technique carriers come in various forms. They can be Jade Slips, or books, animal skins, gold foil, and so on."
The Martial Dao teacher explained.
He injected Spiritual Qi into the Jade Slip, and then a talent information was displayed.
It was no different from how Human Race talents were displayed.
"Talent Name: Simple and Easy to Understand"
"Talent Rank: green"
"Talent Effect: No matter how complex or obscure, it makes things seem simpler and easier to understand, making it easier to grasp and master."
"Wow!"
The students exclaimed again.
"Next, I will open the Cultivation Technique Jade Slip. Everyone will come forward in batches to observe."
"As long as you carefully look at the text on the Jade Slip and listen carefully to my explanation, everyone will surely be able to quickly learn and understand the Cultivation Technique."
Everyone looked excited upon hearing this,
all eager to try.
The font size on the Jade Slip was limited, so it couldn't accommodate too many people at once. In the end, they were divided into groups of ten according to their student numbers.
They took turns coming forward to observe and learn.
The other students also listened attentively to the teacher's explanation.
Although they wouldn't receive the talent effect bonus, they were still learning.
"Everyone must concentrate and be serious. The inscribed Cultivation Technique only has two class periods for observation."
"If you miss it, it will be difficult to easily understand the Cultivation Technique again!"
The Martial Dao teacher reminded them.
This Nine Shallow One Deep Breathing Technique was actually a very rudimentary basic Cultivation Technique,
after all, it was taught for free by the school.
Most schools possessed a few inscribed Cultivation Techniques to varying degrees,
therefore, the Cultivation Techniques and martial arts taught by each school
were also different.
For example, the Fourth High School next door taught 《Three Shallow One Deep Breathing Technique》, and the Experimental High School across the street taught 《Spirit Snake Breathing Technique》.
Each had its own characteristics.
Su Yuan's school's Nine Shallow One Deep Breathing Technique was balanced and harmonious. If he later switched to a more profound Cultivation Technique, he could easily transition... Su Yuan was in the third batch to observe, and only then did he realize its extraordinary nature.
The content of the Cultivation Technique was not entirely written in plain language,
but it felt very straightforward and easy to understand, and he grasped and integrated it instantly.
Following the teacher's explanation, he began to breathe and absorb Qi.
Gradually,
from time to time, some exceptionally talented students with extraordinary root bones entered a state of Cultivation meditation.
"Whoosh—"
Su Yuan's speed of entering meditation was not fast, but not bad either,
ranking roughly in the upper-middle of the class.
However, to determine Aptitude and root bones, in addition to the meditation time, the efficiency of absorbing Spiritual Qi also mattered.
Su Yuan sensed for a while and felt that his talent was also roughly in the upper-middle range.
"It's a good thing I didn't choose the 'Mediocre Talent' talent last night. My talent is slightly better than 'Mediocre Talent'."
Su Yuan felt somewhat fortunate.
The five talents he had rolled out last night were all somewhat unsatisfactory.
"I hope my luck explodes tonight and I get a Golden talent!!!"