29: The country is so beautiful

Lin Chen chuckled.

People truly laugh when they are speechless.

Lin Chen: Tell me about the opponents you were challenged by both times.

Jiang Yan: The first time, it was a pure numerical crush (crushing defeat). The opponent was genuinely strong, a Fourth-Stage early-phase, with combat power comparable to a Fifth-Stage peak. Their talent and profession were both very powerful, and they seemed to be only in their first year of junior high.

Jiang Yan: The second time, it was a counter. They had immunity to instant-death attacks and fixed damage reduction talents, a Third-Stage defeating me, a Fourth-Stage.

Lin Chen: Is your main body that weak?

Jiang Yan: Brother, stop scolding me. My aptitude isn't great; only my talent is relatively powerful.

Lin Chen: Then what should we do? The first person who challenged you is ranked ninth in the First Ring, and the second person's ranking has dropped. But their teacher definitely knows your situation and will target you for kills, just like you targeted me for kills.

Jiang Yan: Brother, I've accepted my fate. I'll go to the Second Ring. There are many I can instantly kill there.

Lin Chen: That's the only way. Don't try to pull a fast one at the end.

Jiang Yan: No way. When the training camp ends, I'll give Brother Chen an instant-kill equipment to thank Brother Chen for helping me.

Lin Chen: I don't accept rewards for no merit. Forget it.

Jiang Yan: No, Brother Chen, you deserve it.

The two engaged in a back-and-forth, ending with Lin Chen accepting the equipment; otherwise, Jiang Yan would have argued with him for a long time.

Through the lines of their chat, Lin Chen discovered that Jiang Yan was somewhat withdrawn, possibly because his talent was too dangerous, leading to no one daring to befriend him in reality, which resulted in his somewhat timid personality.

Lin Chen was also a little afraid. Being instantly killed three times left him with some psychological trauma. When the training camp ended, he estimated he would have to drag Lin Fan, his decoy, to stand by as a shield.

Jiang Yan's talent destined him to walk a solitary path, a very lonely path with few companions, as no one dared to walk with him.

Lin Chen stopped overthinking and prepared to continue improving his ranking, advancing as much as possible.

Within the rules, what needed to be strived for must be strived for.

Before Lin Chen could continue challenging upwards, he was challenged by a student from the Second Ring.

On the arena, Lin Chen did not start with a zero-frame move, simply because his opponent also followed the rules, and both sides were in the stage of introducing themselves.

"Shen Zhiyi, Class 1, Grade 2, Shanhe Martial High, Dongshan City."

"Lin Chen, Class 1, Grade 1, Nirvana Martial High, Feng City."

After the introductions, Shen Zhiyi immediately used her ultimate move, showing her respect for Lin Chen, a formidable opponent.

"Crescent Annihilation."

Shen Zhiyi was a Moon-element martial artist, and her awakened profession was Moonlight Knight, which perfectly matched her talent and cultivation technique.

In the current era, Shen Zhiyi was the version's choice.

"Abyssal Heaven—Burial of the Void."

Lin Chen didn't dare to be careless and responded with his own ultimate move.

"Mental Impact."

Shen Zhiyi had a hidden mental power move, attempting to interfere with Lin Chen and seize the moment of his mental disorientation to finish him with her ultimate.

However, Shen Zhiyi's Mental Impact was like a mud ox entering the sea; not only did it have no effect, but due to mental backlash, she fell into a state of mental disorientation.

Thus, Lin Chen easily won the battle.

If Shen Zhiyi had clashed head-on with Lin Chen, engaging in an open and fair duel, Lin Chen would certainly not have won so easily, as Moon-element talent and cultivation techniques combined with a Moon-element profession were truly powerful.

Unfortunately, Shen Zhiyi ran head-first into Lin Chen's most proficient domain.

Compared to his martial arts cultivation, Lin Chen's mental realm was stronger, having already reached the Fourth-Stage mid-phase, with his combat power estimated to be about ten times that of his martial arts.

Mentalists are inherently considered one stage higher than martial artists by default, and Lin Chen specialized in the mental path, making his combat power comparable to a Fifth-Stage late-phase, not weak even among Fifth-Stage practitioners.

Returning to the preparation space, Lin Chen reviewed the recent battle.

There were no weak Moon-element professions; their lowest rank was Rare.

The Human Race divides talents into two categories and six ranks.

The two categories are Combat and Life.

The ranks are Ordinary, Rare, Uncommon, Epic, Legendary, and Mythical.

Combat types, for example, Shen Zhiyi's Moonlight Knight, rank Uncommon; Oriental Red Sleeve's Frost Mage, rank Mythical, and so on.

Life types, for example, Zhou Heshan's Mechanical Remodeler, rank Uncommon, and so on.

From the age of 6 until now, 12 years have passed, and Lin Chen still hasn't awakened a profession.

He had given up hope, just waiting for the unified awakening of Ordinary professions at 18 to make up for some of his shortcomings compared to geniuses.

Awakening a profession provides the greatest improvement: compared to unawakened individuals, one gains an additional inheritance skill template and an extra certain power bonus.

The higher the talent rank, the higher its potential, the larger the database carried by its profession, and the more skills it contains, allowing it to find corresponding skills to deal with various situations.

Professions are the brilliant treasures of civilization condensed during hundreds of thousands of years of development of the Human Race.

Professions are the broad avenues opened by predecessors, a path of reliance. Successors can continue to walk on this grand path, quickly reaching the end and becoming a new generation of pioneers.

Some professions were initially very weak, with low ranks, and the initial skills they carried were also very useless. But with generations of innovation and development, professions would gradually improve, and their ranks would also progress accordingly.

Time passed by second by second, and Lin Chen challenged again and again, finally stabilizing his ranking at 89th in the First Ring, unable to advance further.

The most elite fifty thousand students from 13 cities gathered together, and the number of geniuses among them was countless.

The 88 students ranked ahead of Lin Chen all had unfathomable strength. Lin Chen could only pull the win-loss ratio to 1:9 even by giving his all, and even then, the win was usually theirs.

As the bell rang, the first ranking challenge of the second Nirvana Training Camp ended, and most people obtained training rooms that matched their strength.

After the challenge, everyone gathered for a meal as usual.

After more than three years of getting along, the classmates in the class had formed their own small circles. Lin Chen's trio was at the top, their strength being strong enough to set them apart from the other classmates in the class.

Next were the small groups of family disciples led by Zhou Heshan, and on par with them were the small groups of commoner disciples led by Zhao Changheng.

The two sides had no conflicts; they just played differently and talked differently, with little interaction. But they were all classmates, seeing each other often, and got along relatively harmoniously.

All 30 students from Class 1 arrived at the restaurant. While waiting for the dishes, they chatted with close classmates about the day's events.

Although the Virtual Divine Realm had a collective preparation space, everyone was busy challenging and being challenged, so their time together was not harmonious. The rare truce time was also used for rest and mental recovery.

"You two are quite fierce, making it into the top ten among a group of seniors."

"Brother Chen, it was all luck."

Lin Fan chuckled, somewhat excited.

Oriental Red Sleeve, however, was a bit more reserved. Ranked 6th in the First Ring, she was completely inconspicuous compared to Lin Fan, who was 8th in the First Ring.

Perhaps Oriental Red Sleeve cultivated some breath-concealing technique, which made her presence very low, and coupled with her not speaking much, Lin Chen easily overlooked her existence.

Lin Chen only remembered her when Lin Fan was mentioned; that breath-concealing technique was somewhat amazing.

"Brother Chen, you don't know how fierce that first-year student—Yu Shu—is."

"Oh, how so?"

In this training camp, there was a first-year student named Yu Shu, who, at the age of 12 and after half a year of cultivation, ranked 4th in the First Ring, overpowering fifty thousand students and dominating students from 13 cities. She was simply a prodigy.

"How to describe her strength? It's very strange. Her realm isn't high, and the basic strength she can use is also standard for her realm."

"But her techniques are very strong. At the Third-Stage early-phase, she bypassed the 'potential' realm and directly comprehended 'intent.' She overwhelms people with intent, and all ordinary moves become miraculous in her hands, turning Decay into magic."

Lin Chen thought Lin Fan and Oriental Red Sleeve were the most talented beings he had seen, but he didn't expect there to be even more powerful ones.

Comprehending 'intent,' which can only be comprehended at the Seventh-Stage, at the Third-Stage realm—this comprehension ability is simply heaven-defdefying. Her innate comprehension might exceed 50 points; otherwise, how could she comprehend the 'intent' realm at a low realm?

"Indeed, there's always someone better, and there's always a higher heaven."

"This talent is truly strong, with a hint of a young deity. If she can maintain this level, she will likely become a pillar of our Human Race in the future."

Everyone's discussion of Yu Shu was limited to envy and admiration for her powerful natural talent, but there wasn't much shock.

It was still the same old saying: there are too many geniuses in the Human Race; all kinds of beings are possible.

There have been even more outrageous performances than Yu Shu's, such as natural demigods, or those born under great fortune, advancing one stage a day and becoming gods in a hundred years—such cheat-like geniuses are not uncommon in Human Race history.

As a result, the Human Race added regional restrictions to the classification of geniuses and prodigies.

For example, within the Feng City area, geniuses are like Zhou Heshan, prodigies are like Lin Chen at this stage, and monstrous talents are like Lin Fan and Oriental Red Sleeve.

If Lin Chen and these others were placed in a larger area, they might be ordinary and not stand out, or they might still be outstanding and top-tier.

Only those geniuses who can make a name for themselves within the vast Human Race Territory are truly recognized by the Human Race populace as geniuses, as seeds of gods, enjoying the support of the Federation.

Yu Shu's current talent has not yet been fully realized, and her future potential is uncertain. She has the opportunity to become a Territory-level genius, a leader who will guide the Human Race forward.