Du Cha Ming let out a depressed sigh as he noticed the severe lack of attention he was getting on stage. Even a decent result would get overshadowed by Zhou Li's outstanding result. He shifted his gaze toward the carriage as he felt a burning stare pierce through him once more.
Interesting, he thought. Despite all the attention he is getting, Zhou Li is still watching me.
Cha Ming smirked as he made his way to the center of the talent testing formation. Elder Wang impatiently pressed his hand on the stone stele, and three circles lit up.
"Grade 3 talent, above average," Elder Wang intoned once again. Seeing that no one was paying attention, Cha Ming moved on to the elemental affinity formation. A half minute later, a strange sight appeared.
Five glowing lights lit up around Cha Ming, connected by a white circle and inscribed with a black star. Five crystals. Elder Wang was quite shocked. Not even one in ten thousand people had this configuration, and while it was not unheard of, like Zhou Li's result, it was quite rare. The result briefly took away a little of Zhou Li's attention among the academic staff. But their distracted attitude meant that they didn't notice how unusual his result really was. Affinity to the five elements didn't usually light up the circle and the star.
While a Grade 3 talent was worth paying attention to, especially with so many choices on how to cultivate, the different organizations were hesitant to make any firm commitments. This was because while he had the greatest ability to choose, there were certain optimal configurations for each department. For example, the alchemy department would want someone to dual cultivate wood and fire, and it was unknown whether he had significant innate soul force. He was also only a Grade 3.
Once Elder Wang got over his shock, he ushered Cha Ming forward to the soul testing formation. As Cha Ming turned pale, a white cloud even thicker than Zhou Li's sprung out. Perhaps twenty to twenty-five percent of people were now paying attention to his results instead of Zhou Li's. After all, he did not have an outstanding affinity like fate.
One by one, the soul pearls were added to the formation by Elder Wang. One, two, three, finally up to eight. This result pleased Cha Ming. When everyone thought that was the limit, a ninth pearl was added to the soul field. Cha Ming's result was now as good as Zhou Li's! It was a pity that he was only a Grade 3 talent, otherwise his results would have been just as outstanding as Zhou Li's.
Finally, Elder Wang tossed in the last of the ten soul testing pearls as a formality. Elder Wang and the audience waited for the inevitable shattering sound, but in the end, the sound didn't come. Elder Wang rubbed his eyes as he realized that all ten soul pearls were still orbiting Du Cha Ming.
"Innate Soul Level: 10!" he exclaimed. This result was inconceivable and exceeded that of Zhou Li's. The crowd started loudly discussing the result, trying to determine whether Du Cha Ming or Zhou Li was more outstanding. After a full five minutes of discussion, the audience came to the conclusion that, while his result was very rare, it was a pity that his talent was so low.
What shocked Elder Wang the most was not his soul talent but the combination of his talent grade and an affinity for all five elements.
First, perhaps only one out of ten thousand people would have an affinity for five elements, not considering talent. This alone, combined with his full innate soul talent, was just as rare as Zhou Li's result.
Typically, Full Innate Soul Force manifests itself within Grade 4 or 5 talent. Grade 3 cultivation talents with Grade 10 innate soul talent were basically unheard of. So despite his results being a thousand times rarer than Zhou Li's, it just came across as disappointing. Normally he would have attracted quite a bit of attention, but compared to the previous result, it was lackluster. No one from the various factions was willing to discuss an offer with him.
Looking to clear up the awkward atmosphere, Elder Wang decided to take initiative. "You have a very rare set of talents, young man. However, all of the various representatives will likely wait until you have made a decision on which elements to cultivate. You should bear in mind what interests you before you make a decision, and once you have made your choice, these representatives will likely want to speak with you. That being said, you have been accepted into Green Leaf Academy as a Grade 3 talent, and your future will surely be very promising!"
Smiling, Elder Wang gave Cha Ming his bronze identity badge and ushered the group off the stage. They were to meet up at the academy gates tomorrow morning. As Cha Ming walked off the stage, he couldn't help but notice that same burning gaze latched onto him again.
---
"It's a pity his cultivation talent is so low," said a man in gilded armor from within the golden pavilion. He shook his head in disappointment. Zhou Li didn't care about the amount of attention he had gathered, or how much Cha Ming had taken away from it. After all, he had told his family that this dog and pony show wouldn't amount to much. Only now did he realize that the reason was not because the people didn't care about him, but that the one who came after him would take away from the attention his family had hoped to gather.
"Protector Song, I predict that this young man is not so simple," said the armored man. "He is, after all, the only person who has been able to obscure my eyes of fate."
Protector Song gave Zhou Li a surprised look. Those with Zhou Li's unique talents would be able to predict the fate of almost anyone at their own level of cultivation. Anyone whose destiny was obscured was a very rare individual. Only people like them would be able to make true choices in life. Everyone else was just going with the flow.
"Let's go to the capital, Protector Song. After all, fate is a funny thing. It plays with people and pulls them around. It makes people love and it makes people cry." Zhou Li took one last look at Cha Ming before leaving. Elder Song followed behind him, still shivering at the words he'd just heard. After all, he had witnessed firsthand how funny "fate" could be.
--
As Cha Ming made his way through the parting crowd, he heard a familiar voice yelling out his name. He smiled as he saw the same three figures waving off in the distance. Hong Jin was very surprised by Cha Ming's performance and had long since taken out a cigarette to ease his nerves. Hong Xin was pouting in the ten-foot smoke cloud that surrounded them. The smoke cloud was devoid of everyone but his children, who were obviously used to these antics.
"Cha Ming, you're so talented! You're much better off than Xun and I!" exclaimed Xin. They were both going to be classmates, so Xin was very happy right now. Xun was also smiling to the side while Uncle Hong grinned from ear to ear.
"Don't worry about those old farts," Uncle Hong said, taking another puff of his cigarette. "They were so shocked by Zhou Li's recruitment that they missed the shining star of the show. They'll be crying once they figure out that they made a big mistake by not pouncing on you when they had the chance. Who cares what they think right now—effort proves everything. Besides, you're quite a bit better off than my children. They both have Grade 3 talent and a single affinity for fire, since they take after me. However, they don't have innate soul force or any elements matching to specific professions. Comparatively, your future is full of choices. Make sure you select a good dual-element affinity practice. With luck, you'll be able to become a decent alchemist or spirit doctor and be set for life!"
Cha Ming gave Uncle Hong a light smile as he sighed inwardly. This was much too similar to his past life. While he had been talented in many things, people had urged him to go to school to learn engineering because it was in demand everywhere. He was not intelligent or hardworking enough to be a doctor or pharmacist, so he had to give up on those career paths. In the end, he had disappeared from the world, dissatisfied after being dragged along through life by everyone else's whims.
Uncle Hong didn't notice Cha Ming's brooding and brought the children back home. They had a dozen dishes to celebrate his success that night. Uncle Hong could now rest assured that his daughter Xin and his son Xun would not be lonely at school; good friends were always in short supply.
--
Cha Ming, Xin, and Xun woke up early the next morning, eagerly making their way to the school gates. Cha Ming had thanked Aunt Xu profusely before leaving. He promised to come visit often and made a mental note to come and help her with chores when he was free. He hadn't felt the warmth of family in over a year now. Once they arrived at the gates, Xun promptly left to join his second-year class. Xin walked with Cha Ming as they joined the roughly one thousand people that had been recruited over the past week.
The new students had already gathered into cliques, a scene that resembled the recruitment platform earlier. Cha Ming noticed that not every student had a bronze badge like he and Xin. About one in ten people had a bronze badge and nine in ten students had a white badge. According to his understanding of talent distribution, the badges must have represented grades. More talented students tended to gather together, as their future growth prospects were correspondingly greater. There were twelve Grade 4 talents this year, and they were all clustered together in their own little group.
There were no Grade 5 students, as the only one had been pilfered by the royal family. This was considered an honor to Green Leaf Academy. The academy would surely see its yearly funding increase over the next few decades. Of course, there were other peripheral benefits to being in such a talented individual's hometown, such as preferential treatment from other entities to curry favor. But there were still a handful of Grade 5 talents, which the academy had accumulated over the past few years. These talents would eventually be referred to higher-level academies once they reached a certain level in their cultivation.
The students waited for the time it takes an incense stick to burn before a group of teachers, elders, and older students walked toward the crowd of youngsters. Elder Wang, who was standing toward the front of the group of elders, bellowed out in a loud voice, "Silence!"
The student's voices turned to whispers, and finally the whispers were too loud, and the speaking ceased entirely.
Elder Wang looked at the students from left to right, nodding in satisfaction at their obedient behavior. "First of all, you will now separate into your respective talent groups. Everyone with a white badge, line up to my left in forty rows. People with fire affinity will go to rows one through eight, those with earth affinity the next eight, followed by metal, water, and wood. Those with bronze badges will line up beside them in six rows, one for each element, and the sixth row will be for those with dual-element proficiencies. Those with silver badges will line up in a single row. These badges represent your talent and potential future achievements. Those of you with white badges will have to work twice as hard and encounter many strokes of luck to achieve what the others will achieve. Life is unfair that way.
"The heavens never seal off all exits. You currently have different badges, but each badge starts at the number one. This represents your current level in the academy. There are nine levels in total, and from now on, you will attend classes corresponding to your level. Students will graduate if they meet the minimum requirements in five years' time. The minimum requirement for graduation is reaching the fifth level of qi condensation, and perhaps half of you will be able to achieve this threshold.
"Another way to graduate is to break through to foundation establishment. Anyone who breaks through to foundation establishment will immediately become a nominal elder of the academy. While the position has no immediate responsibilities, an elder of the academy is entitled to VIP treatment in the Song Dynasty. The opportunities for employment are boundless once a person reaches foundation establishment.
"Now that these trivial matters are out of the way, I would like each group of students with single element specialties to follow their teachers."
A group of forty-five teachers and a hundred assistants broke out from behind Elder Wang and ushered off over ninety-five percent of the students. Cha Ming said goodbye to Hong Xin and made plans to meet for supper later that evening. Only twenty-eight students remained out of the original group.
"There are many of you remaining this year. It has truly been a good harvest!" Elder Wang said with a smile. He continued. "There are a total of twenty-eight new students with dual affinities. One of you has already been recruited by the alchemy department, another by our spiritual blacksmith, and two of you have been recruited by our spirit doctor teacher. Each of you can go ahead and follow your teachers in each field. These professions are often best pursued with a specific cultivation technique, so be sure to follow their recommendations." These four students departed with their three teachers.
"There are now twenty-four students remaining. Jin Lingfu, Song Jia, Wang Lin, please follow Elder Xing. Lin Chen, Feng Ming…"
Elder Wang continued until all students with dual-element specialties were divided up amongst their respective teachers, until only Cha Ming and a young man called Zai Chen remained. The group of eight remaining elders discussed amongst themselves for a few minutes before finally deciding how to allocate the two students.
"Zai Chen," said Elder Wang, "you will follow me for the time being since your elemental affinities in water, wood, and fire happen to match my own. Cha Ming, your case is a bit special since you have five-element affinities and full innate soul force. We'll have Elder Ling show you around."
A kindly elder man stepped forward. He was quite disheveled and balding with a few white hairs remaining. His wrinkled hands were stained in ink. Despite his unkempt appearance, he seemed to receive a lot of respectful glances from the surrounding elders. Cha Ming bowed to Elder Wang and the other teachers and followed the aged man obediently.
--
Elder Ling was a very efficient walker. He walked as though he didn't see anyone in front of him and he was the only man in the world. Most people would follow roadways and avoid grassy areas out of courtesy to the gardeners. This old man showed no such regard as he cut across lawns, wandered through rows of trees, and cut through long lines. Cha Ming, a little embarrassed, followed after him swiftly. At times, Cha Ming almost had to break into a run. At other times, Elder Ling would suddenly stop to admire a group of flowers. Unpredictable, erratic, and disorganized would describe Elder Ling perfectly.
"Kid, you may call me Elder Ling. Usually kids with your level of talent don't get their own personal tour guide, but your five-element affinity and high innate soul force have made you an exception. While I have quite a bit of experience, you're someone who has the ability to choose what you want to do. Regretfully, you aren't a top-grade talent, so your achievements will be very dependent on how much effort you put in. Luck is also very key. Aim to be lucky."
Cha Ming gave Elder Ling a fake smile as he broke into an embarrassed sweat.
Aim to be lucky? Yep, I'll give it my all! thought Cha Ming bitterly.
Elder Ling didn't seem to notice his fake expression. He simply assumed that this youngster knew how to take good advice.
"Most people have their own predispositions on what is better. I myself am not very talented, but I cultivate three elements. I had an innate soul talent of five, and later I learned to craft talismans. My teacher let me pick what I wanted to do, and I've never regretted the decisions I've made in life.
"Contrary to those other nagging elders in various factions, I'm going to do the same. More to the point, I believe a great deal in destiny. Your destiny has given you a path with many forks, and you are the most equipped person to choose your own path than I've ever seen. People who are too talented often get forced down a specific road. In fact, you would likely have been forced down a specific road if that genius Zhou Li hadn't popped up. While you might think that you've been overshadowed, I personally believe this is your good fortune."
Cha Ming pondered Ling's words a bit as he considered this. Most people would indeed see it as a stroke of bad luck, but unlimited choice was not a bad thing. He had always been lacking in this respect.
As they finished speaking, they arrived at the school library. The library was the third-largest building on campus, and it was built out of red cubic stones that looked like brick. These stones were three feet by three feet and just as deep. They were held together with a pristine white binding agent, forming a flush surface with the wall itself. The walls seemed as though they had been recently washed. He could see students on scaffolding with large brushes washing the sides of the buildings. These students were performing these menial tasks to earn extra income and contribute to the school.
The largest building on campus was naturally the cultivation pavilion, where the students spent the majority of their time training during the day. The second-largest building was the student dormitory, and the fourth largest was the treasure pavilion.
Various other buildings and specialized training grounds were scattered around campus, which was located at the very north of the city and was one of the few parts of the city that overlapped with the forest. From a bird's-eye view, the campus looked like a circle within a circle, the larger circle being Green Leaf City itself. It occupied five percent of the total surface area in the city, slightly larger in size than the city lord's manor.
This sizing arrangement was according to status, and the city lord's manor would never dare encroach on this status, at least not officially. While the city lord was the highest official authority in the city, Green Leaf Academy represented the Empire. It wouldn't be an understatement to say that the school head could cause a change in government over the span of a year or so. This authority was usually never exercised, but the threat of such a maneuver gave the academy a lot of influence in city politics.
As they approached the dazzling red library, they bypassed a long queue of groups and entered the side door. They were allowed in once Elder Ling was recognized. The teachers guarding the entrance let them through with a mixture of reverence and fear. Cha Ming shot him a surprised look while the elder simply smiled.
"There are privileges to being old. One of them is not having to wait in line. While I don't have the highest authority, I will be able to get you access to the best cultivation techniques in this academy." They walked for a short while and climbed two sets of stairs to the fourth floor of the library.
This floor contained many large study rooms and twenty mahogany bookshelves. A quarter of the bookshelves were filled with various technique scrolls, while the other three-quarters seemed to be filled with crafting recipes, encyclopedias, and other such things relating to professions. The last shelf was only a quarter filled and contained a few dozen scrolls.
"These are the best cultivation techniques in our school's possession," explained Elder Ling. "For each basic element, we generally have two or three training scrolls. Rarer affinities only have one. For example, we only have one wind-related cultivation technique. Technique scrolls at the mortal level are typically classified as mortal, bronze, silver, and gold class. We aren't a top-ranking school, so our best cultivation techniques are silver class. For certain uncommon disciplines, we only have bronze-class cultivation techniques. For example, we only have bronze techniques for wind, fate, and space. The other single elements all have silver-grade cultivation techniques.
"If you want to choose a single element, you can choose the Frozen Heart Sutra, the Burning Heart Mantra, the Growing Strong method, the Blade Melody, or the Desolate Earth method. These are all silver ranked, and in my humble opinion they are the best of the bunch. The advantage of a single-element cultivation technique is that you only need to comprehend the usage of one element.
"In addition, there is no need to split your qi pool between elements, as I will explain later. This makes it much easier to cultivate higher-ranked battle or auxiliary techniques, as you will have a much higher capacity for each element. Treasures specialized for each element will be easy to come by, medicinal pills will not need to be tailored for you, and many natural treasures will respond very well to your specialized constitution. The downside is that you lose any flexibility in techniques, and you lose out on a principle called augmentation or fueling."
Elder Ling eyed Cha Ming. "This brings me to my next point, dual affinities!"
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