Chapter 108: Awakening Talents

This was Gao De’s first time seeing a geopulse creature of such immense size, and his first time witnessing a 2nd-rank geopulse creature with his own eyes.

He felt both awe and a sense of melancholy.

The awe came from the purple worm’s colossal size and power—its visual impact was absurdly exaggerated.

It felt like a sci-fi film playing out in reality.

The melancholy arose because the giant geopulse creature’s flaws were glaring and fatal.

Their enormous size made their movement painfully slow.

And because of their size, their targets were far too obvious.

Thus, they could barely dodge spell attacks and could only choose to endure them head-on.

If they could withstand it, they were invincible—what could you do if you couldn’t break their defense?

If they couldn’t, they ended up like this purple worm, toyed with at will by the 2nd-rank mage Viersha.

This thing looked terrifying, but in terms of combat power among 2nd-rank geopulse creatures, it was among the weakest.

The purple worm’s sudden appearance caused five deaths, including an unlucky apprentice mage.

But it didn’t cause much of a stir.

People in this world had a casual acceptance of death that Gao De had never known in his past life.

Human lives were as worthless as grass.

Gao De still felt an odd emotion inside.

A soul from the Age of Order simply couldn’t become indifferent to life in such a short time.

But Gao De noticed he was gradually adapting to this atmosphere, learning to accept this environment.

People always had to adapt to their surroundings.

Next, the soldiers hastily tidied up the temporary camp, which had been thrown into chaos by the purple worm’s appearance.

Several soldiers approached and began dissecting the purple worm along the cracks in its chitinous carapace.

Half an hour later, the soldiers dug up the bodies of the five unfortunate souls who had been swallowed whole.

Less than an hour after being swallowed, their corpses were already unrecognizable, corroded beyond human form.

It wasn’t surprising—the purple worm’s stomach could corrode and digest leather armor, let alone human flesh. After briefly searching the bodies for belongings, the soldiers dug a grave in an open patch of ground and buried them together.

As for the belongings recovered, they would be returned to the families of the dead upon their return.

That was already considerate enough.

If they couldn’t bring back the bodies, at least they brought back the belongings—something for the families to remember them by.

Harvest Month, 9th day.

Last night’s accident didn’t hinder the continued expansion.

They still cleared the geopulse creatures dwelling in the dense forests along both sides of the official road, in batches and sequence.

Everyone had become thoroughly familiar with the entire process.

“We’re so far from the Hogan Geopulse; under normal circumstances, 2nd-rank geopulse creatures shouldn’t appear here.”

“Thankfully, Viersha was leading us—otherwise, it wouldn’t have been just five dead.”

Ma Qieyi, a relatively talkative mage, sighed aloud while no geopulse creature had yet been spotted.

“Viersha is a combat mage, and she’s been 2nd-rank for over a decade, so she could handle a 2nd-rank geopulse creature so easily.”

Whenever he spoke of Viersha, his face filled with admiration.

“Combat mage? Why is there such a distinction? What’s the basis?”

This was the sixth day of the expansion.

The temporary team had grown considerably more familiar with one another.

Hearing Ma Qieyi speak up, someone immediately picked up the thread.

Ma Qieyi didn’t mind explaining some knowledge that, to them, was “common sense.” “It’s normal you haven’t heard this—it’s usually only covered after reaching 1st rank,” Ma Qieyi explained.

Everyone else in the team, besides him, were apprentice mages.

“After each successful rank-up, a mage randomly awakens a special ability.”

“This ability can target a single spell, enhancing only that specific spell’s power.”

“It can target a category of spells—for instance, granting bonuses to protective spells, enhancing summoning spells, boosting all damage-dealing spells, or any combination thereof.”

“It can also be a universal enhancement applicable to all spells—like reducing casting time, increasing spell range, and so on.”

“Or it can be a personal enhancement—such as increasing resistance to certain elements, improving reaction speed, refining skill with a specific weapon, or even bluntly boosting one’s mana and mental energy.”

“It can even be an enhancement of craft skills—like increasing the success rate or speed of alchemical item creation.”

“Or it can be some strange auxiliary effect—like accelerating your cultivation speed.”

“It can even directly grant you mastery of a peculiar spell.”

“In short, any special ability you can imagine—or even those you can’t—might awaken.”

“These numerous, varied, yet astonishing special abilities are collectively called Talents.”

“There’s no universally accepted standard for Talent tiers, since finding two identical Talents in the world is extremely rare.”

“But based on their effects, Talents can be categorized into several types.”

“Namely, Combat Talents, Creation Talents, Meta-Spell Talents, Auxiliary Talents, and Special Talents.”

“Talents that significantly enhance a mage’s combat power are classified as Combat Talents.”

“Once a mage awakens a Combat Talent and studies multiple damage spells, becoming proficient in combat, they are called a Combat Mage.”

Though these were trivial common knowledge to Ma Qieyi, they were invaluable insights for the wild mages in the team who hadn’t yet entered the formal mage domain.

Everyone listened with rapt attention.

“Each time a mage ranks up, they gain one random Talent. Viersha, as a 2nd-rank mage, is said to have awakened two Combat Talents.”

“So even within the Enforcement Corps, she ranks among the top Combat Mages.”

At this point, everyone finally understood why Ma Qieyi had sighed in relief that Viersha was leading them.

“You said Talents awaken randomly—does that mean it’s all luck?”

“Could a wild mage awaken a Talent far superior to a genius mage’s?”

“Or could a genius mage awaken a useless Talent? Wouldn’t that make gifted mages terribly frustrated?”

Suddenly, someone in the team asked a question Gao De had also been pondering.

“It’s true it’s random—but not entirely random. It should be called pseudo-random,” Ma Qieyi shook his head and elaborated: “You can’t control which Talent awakens, so we call it random.”

“But the Talent awakened is linked to the mage’s existing knowledge, spells, cultivation guidance methods, and meditation techniques.”

“How exactly are they linked?” someone else, still unable to grasp the concept, couldn’t help asking.

Ma Qieyi didn’t show impatience and continued: “Take the simplest examples—if you only know utility spells and no damage spells, you’re extremely unlikely to awaken a Combat Talent.”

“If you know multiple protective spells and have your own unique understanding of them, you have a high chance of awakening a Meta-Spell Talent for protective spells.”

“Or if you’re an outstanding alchemist with far deeper knowledge of alchemy than anything else, you’re very likely to awaken a Creation Talent.”

“In short, experience has led to a consensus: the more spells a mage knows, the deeper their knowledge, the stronger their mana and mental energy, the higher the chance they’ll awaken a powerful Talent of a certain type.”

“So it’s random—but within a controllable range.”

“Genius mages, whether in knowledge or spells, vastly surpass ordinary mages—so in 99% of cases, their awakened Talents are exceptionally powerful.”

“I see,” everyone in the group, not just the questioner, thought this silently.

Everyone fell into thought, unconsciously considering what Talent they might awaken upon reaching 1st-rank mage.

(End of Chapter)