Chapter 196: Chapter 78: Achieving the Extraordinary

"For an ordinary person, even after decades of Cultivation and accumulating a sufficient amount of Spiritual Power, their guidance speed will still be very slow. It would be considered quite good if they could make about one to five percent of the Spiritual Sand fly up.

As for the average Cultivator—which is the standard for the vast majority of Transcendents—the range is generally between ten and twenty percent.

Anyone who can exceed fifty percent is a genius. With this foundation, as long as they cultivate diligently and don’t slack off, their future as an Extraordinary is promising."

At this point, Professor Zuo seemed quite emotional. When he took the test back in the day, his own score was only around forty-one percent. Although it was better than the average Transcendent and could be considered an excellent Talent, advancing to the Extraordinary realm still required a certain amount of luck.

This was especially true given his age, which was simply too advanced. If he were younger, things might be different, but now, without some kind of Spiritual Pill, he was afraid there was no hope of him ever becoming an Extraordinary.

The testing proceeded quickly. Batches of people went forward, then stepped back down with either joyful expressions or ashen faces.

Just as Professor Zuo had said, the vast majority of people fell within the ten to twenty percent range. Occasionally someone would break through that, but no one had managed to exceed fifty percent.

This scene instantly made the team from First High even more nervous. Who knew if their own scores would be high enough to pass? No one knew for sure.

However, in the fifth batch of testers, the first student to surpass the fifty-percent benchmark finally appeared!

In fact, he shot straight to eighty percent!

It was none other than the round-faced boy from Zhengyi Academy who had been following Professor Zhang. He pulled back his hand, slowly retracting the purple Spiritual Power he had gathered. The smile that had been constantly on his face grew even more brilliant.

According to the official Zhengguo Government standards chart the round-faced boy knew, an A Class Talent was an individual at or above 80%. They were considered to have an Innate Daoist Body and were worth cultivating with every available resource.

B Class was for geniuses from 55% to 80%, who were also worthy of significant investment in their training.

C Class wasn’t bad either. At 30% to 55%, these were excellent prospects who were very much worth training.

Finally, D Class was the 5% to 30% group. They had Talent and could be trained.

As for those below D Class—the unranked 0% to 5% Tier—while they possessed a tiny bit of Spiritual Power Talent, that was all. An elementary school soccer team can play soccer, but you can’t say they’re ready to go pro, right? The comparison was on that level.

As for those with no talent at all, they generally wouldn’t even come for the physical—that’s not how you throw away money for nothing. At least when you throw money in water, it makes a splash.

In the tests that followed, more individuals with extremely high Talent appeared one after another.

The girl with the fierce gaze, who was also following behind Professor Zhang Fucheng, scored an excellent 83%.

Meanwhile, a "wild" genius emerged from the team from Twenty-Second High with a score of 77%, drawing gasps of amazement from the crowd.

But the highest score so far came from a student from Hongcheng Academy Affiliated Middle School named Guan Wanjing.

His build was so sturdy that he didn’t look like a normal high school student at all. When he stood before it, the person-high hourglass seemed small in comparison.

And his score, as formidable and terrifying as his presence, was a staggering 94%!

You could see that nearly all the Spiritual Sand in the entire hourglass had been guided upward by his Spiritual Power. The supervising professor from Hongcheng Academy broke into a proud smile—Guan Wanjing’s score wasn’t just good enough to compete for first place in Hongzhou, but could even contend for number one in the entire nation!

Especially now, in the era of the Spiritual Energy Revival, Guan Wanjing’s Talent could quickly be converted into real strength. When that time came, their faction would have another Powerhouse capable of holding the line! 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Gradually, the number of people tested passed the halfway mark.

The pinyin abbreviation for Shao Qiming’s name is SQM, so his rank was rather far back. Su Zhou’s pinyin is SZ, which put him even further back.

But after so much time had passed, it was finally their turn.

Shao Qiming went up first. He had taken an Ice Heart Pill earlier, so he wasn’t nervous now. Instead, a sense of calm clarity filled his heart.

"I’m up!" With a light laugh, Shao Qiming high-fived Su Zhou. Su Zhou smiled back and said, "Go for it!"

He walked forward step by step, then came to a stop before the person-high Spirit Sand Hourglass, which was protected by tempered glass etched with Runes. Shao Qiming took a deep breath.

He reached out his hand, gathering a pale white Spiritual Power and channeling it into the groove that led straight to the top of the hourglass.

SWOOOSH— In an instant, the white Spiritual Sand shot upwards as if it were iron filings drawn to a magnet, rapidly gathering at the top!

10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%!

It broke past the "genius" threshold, and his score was still climbing!

And in the process of channeling Spiritual Power into the hourglass, for some unknown reason, Shao Qiming felt his consciousness split in two.

One part was concentrating intently on gathering his Spiritual Power, while the other had its head in the clouds.

’So the Wisdom Fruit’s effect really is this powerful, huh?’

The number displayed on the hourglass’s screen had already surpassed 60%, but Shao Qiming felt no joy in his heart, only a faint sense of melancholy.

’No, it’s true that it was a fruit from the Divine Tree, but if I didn’t have a certain amount of Talent to begin with, it couldn’t have been enhanced this much... It’s like duckweed without roots. Even if a great power wanted to strengthen its foundation, it can’t create something from nothing.’

The number broke past 70% and was still rising, its speed unfaltering.

’But, in the end, this dazzling, eye-catching Talent I have now is all thanks to the fruit of the Divine Tree, thanks to that Great Being named Yara.’

’It’s thanks to... my friend, Su Zhou.’