Chapter 369

"The Shen Shen Shu requires at least six thousand points of mental strength to learn; you'll likely meet the requirement after reaching fifth rank."

Su Qingli's crisp voice echoed through the villa's living room.

Physical strength and mental strength—the two foundational attributes of psychics—have little to do with the rarity of their abilities.

They're tied instead to the psychic training methods used.

Even among those practicing top-tier training methods, slight differences exist between psychics.

But these differences aren't large; Xu Jingming, still only fourth-rank upper, shouldn't yet have enough mental strength to meet the requirement.

"Teacher, I think my mental strength has already met the threshold."

Xu Jingming blinked his eyes. "I obtained an SSS-grade Holy Essence Fruit inside the No. 9 Civilization Ruins."

"After consuming it, I felt my mental strength surge dramatically."

"An SSS-grade celestial treasure?"

Su Qingli paused slightly, then her eyes lit up with delight: "Show me your mental strength—I'll sense it."

At her words, Xu Jingming's mental strength surged outward, faintly swirling around his body.

The mental strength of mental-type psychics has countless extraordinary applications.

Such as hypnosis, intimidation, or even consciousness-level enslavement.

But as an electric-type psychic, Xu Jingming's mental strength doesn't have such strong effects.

At most, it slightly enhances perception or lets him remotely retrieve small objects.

"This mental strength has definitely broken past the six-thousand threshold!"

After a brief sensing, Su Qingli's beautiful eyes brightened instantly:

"With this, your path to becoming an Elementalist will be greatly shortened."

Su Qingli had originally thought Xu Jingming wouldn't reach fifth rank and become an Elementalist for at least half a year.

Yet he'd come and surprised her with this unexpected gift!

"Good, good, good—if so, take this original copy of the Shen He Guan Fa back and study it for two days."

Devote yourself fully to reading it; write down all your questions, and come back to me after two days."

"Also, I've already planned out the spell-based combat techniques you'll need to learn as an Elementalist."

Su Qingli shoved the original manuscript straight into Xu Jingming's arms.

Then she waved her right hand, and a holographic projection instantly appeared midair, listing three combat techniques with their descriptions.

"【Thunderball Technique (A+ Rank)】: Compress your electric-type psychic energy into a tightly condensed thunderball."

"Launch it to inflict massive area-of-effect damage."

"Note: Only psychics of third rank or higher with a B-grade ability may train this."

"【Lightning Chain (A+ Rank)】: Fire a powerful lightning bolt at a target; upon impact,"

"it automatically arcs to the next target, continuing until the energy depletes or no targets remain within range."

"Note: Only psychics of third rank or higher with a B-grade ability may train this."

"【Thunder Barrier (A+ Rank)】: Form a high-density barrier of lightning from your electric-type psychic energy; its defensive power is extremely formidable."

"Note: Only psychics of third rank or higher with a B-grade ability may train this."

"A+ rank combat techniques?" Xu Jingming blinked in surprise—he'd never seen such classifications at Mo University.

"Unlike Mo University, our Thunder Martial Hall classifies combat techniques more finely."

Su Qingli explained softly, "An A+ rank technique means it's exceptionally strong even among A-rank techniques."

"I also know your comprehension is extraordinary; even S-rank spells wouldn't be too difficult for you."

"But S-rank and even SS-rank spells drain psychic energy excessively—even as a fourth-rank upper, you couldn't unleash ten S-rank spells in a single burst."

"Moreover, S-rank combat techniques have excessively long casting intervals."

"For an Elementalist, long casting intervals are a fatal flaw."

"These three A+ rank techniques are perfect for you: their casting intervals aren't long,"

"their psychic energy cost is moderate, and you can fire hundreds of them in a single battle."

"That's precisely why I recommend these three for you to learn."

What makes the Elementalist path for psychics so terrifying?

Undoubtedly, their ability to cast spells without interruption—transforming into a spell artillery platform for overwhelming firepower.

Spells with excessive energy drain clearly can't achieve this effect.

She also knew Xu Jingming already mastered several S-rank combat techniques; forcing him to learn more would only burden him.

And in battle, he doesn't need so many powerful S-rank techniques.

He can learn them later, once his rank rises and his psychic energy becomes sufficient.

"Understood." Xu Jingming nodded inwardly.

It's like playing a game: ultimate skills are powerful, yes.

But true experts always chain together numerous small skills before unleashing their ultimate.

Otherwise, if you only learn ultimates and miss one, you're dead.

Otherwise, if you only learn big techniques and land one without killing anyone, you'll just be waiting to die.

reality isn't a game—once his rank rises further, using ultimates like basic skills will be effortless.

But fourth-rank upper is still far too low...

"As you saw in the contract, all our Thunder Martial Hall combat techniques are free for you to access."

"To learn these three spell-based techniques, just go to the library on the south side of the training grounds."

Su Qingli said slowly.

Combat technique manuscripts have always been the most prized possessions of psychics.

Most psychics join the Thunder Martial Hall specifically for these manuscripts.

Yet even so, acquiring them still demands a heavy price.

From this alone, Xu Jingming is being treated exceptionally well.

Judging from this alone, Xu Jingming was indeed treated with great favor.

his SS-rank ability and prodigious advancement speed truly merit such favor.

After a pause, Su Qingli added:

"But I advise you to master the Shen Shen Shu before studying these combat techniques."

"After all, only after learning Shen Shen Shu do you truly become an Elementalist."

"And the power of these spell-based techniques will increase dramatically."

"Student understands."

Xu Jingming nodded outwardly, but inwardly he was already planning to head to the library right away.

He still had 16, 00 psychic points left on his system panel—enough to learn both the SS-rank Shen Shen Shu and the three spell-based techniques.

"The Shen Shen Shu and your combat technique training plan are what I, as your teacher, should teach you."

Su Qingli smiled at Xu Jingming.

Then she clenched her right hand in midair—and a staff nearly two meters long appeared in her grip.

The staff was entirely black, its surface inscribed with mysterious runes.

At its tip rested a transparent crystal core, crackling with lightning.

"Every Elementalist needs an elemental weapon."

"This 'Yao Lei Zhang' is the lightning-element-specific weapon I used years ago."

I now give it to you as your initiation gift.

I now bestow it upon you as a master-disciple gift.