60: Talent takes effect

“The seniors sure love to check in; their footprints are widespread.”

After the Gods Avatar planted the Human Fire, he sensed it entering the star core.

However, within the star core, four Human Fires were already burning brightly, never extinguishing, continuously releasing the power of the Human Fire to transform the entire planet.

“I, Hao Ran Tian Zun, planted the Human Fire on April 6, 9952, Federal Calendar.”

“I am the Torchbearer Daoist, I love bearing the torch, and I hope all of you will continue the relay for universal harmony. I bore the torch on July 11, 11258, Federal Calendar.”

“Night Knight, bore the torch on April 29, 18523, Federal Calendar.”

“Barbarian, bore the torch on November 11, 25864, Federal Calendar.”

Upon careful perception, each of the four Human Fires transmitted a piece of information, stating who bore the torch and when, according to the Federal Calendar.

The older the Human Fire, the more powerful it was.

The Human Fire planted by the Gods Avatar had a volume of 1, requiring a year to assimilate one cubic meter of space. In contrast, Hao Ran Tian Zun's Human Fire had a volume of 20,000, capable of assimilating 20,000 cubic meters of space per year.

The assimilation speed seemed slow, but once completed, it was irreversible, even with space-time abilities, unless one could modify the historical origin of humanity.

The Gods Avatar felt that he should also leave his information, and the choice of a designation was important, as it was for future generations and should not be too embarrassing.

Thus, the Gods Avatar proactively contacted Lin Chen's main body to discuss what the external torch-bearing codename should be.

After careful consideration, Lin Chen's main body determined the codename.

“Future Dao Lord, bore the torch on March 4, 31272, Federal Calendar.”

The codename Future Dao Lord reflected Lin Chen's ambition: in the future, he would undoubtedly wield a Dao and achieve the supreme position of Dao Lord.

After clearing the battlefield, Lin Chen (Copy Body) left this unnamed planet with the Sanbao Clone.

In the future, once this planet was fully assimilated, it might be named by the Federation, and a large number of ordinary citizens might be relocated there, but that would be a very long time from now.

The four did not choose to return to the Sixth Academy, but instead went to sell their spoils of war, and then proceeded to their second mission destination to execute new Academy missions.

Lin Chen's main body submitted the mission execution video to the Academy Mission Hall, which took only a few seconds to confirm Lin Chen had completed the mission.

The mission rewards were issued, and Lin Chen could directly accept new missions, which would then be completed by the Copy Body team already outside.

There was no need for the Copy Body team to return to the Academy; otherwise, the round trip would be too time-consuming.

As for the profits from processing the spoils, they could be directly transferred to Lin Chen's main body. federal currency was a federal network currency, a string of information regulated and issued by the federal currency Department.

As long as the Federation endured, federal currency would remain strong and usable anywhere.

The main body cultivated, while the Copy Bodys earned money.

This model was very common in the Sixth Academy.

As a 'Sixth Academy' student, unless a problem absolutely required the main body's presence, the main body would never act; anything a Copy Body could do, the main body would absolutely not do.

Therefore, although graduates of the Sixth Academy loved to court death and were staunch Federal hawks, their survival rate had always been good, with a death rate consistently below 1%, which was much lower than the over 3% death rate of other Academies.

As time passed, the Copy Body team became very accustomed to the space environment and developed their own understanding of executing space-type missions, allowing them to avoid 99% of risks.

Thus, Lin Chen's main body began to accept missions with higher difficulty and higher rewards, and the Copy Body team was able to complete them perfectly, resulting in consistently good academic credits and federal currency income.

Because he had no shortage of academic credits and federal currency, Lin Chen's cultivation speed was also unparalleled. He completely disregarded resource consumption, maximizing his cultivation speed and continuously converting his aptitude into solid cultivation and combat power.

Four months passed in a flash. The Copy Body team, having completed 28 missions, could finally return to the Sixth Academy for a period of rest.

Because Lin Chen was about to turn 20, his talent was about to take effect for the second time.

At this important moment, the Copy Bodys also needed to witness it.

On the eve of his 20th birthday, Lin Chen was too excited to cultivate. His four Copy Bodys also stood guard by his side, anticipating the changes in his main body.

After midnight, a surge of energy spontaneously appeared within Lin Chen's body. This energy nourished his body, making him feel as if he were in a primordial womb, experiencing infinite warmth.

This wonderful feeling came and went quickly.

It lasted only one minute; the spontaneously appearing energy was completely consumed. The next time he could experience this wonderful feeling would be when he turned 30.

Immediately, Lin Chen experienced the benefits of a 10% increase in aptitude. The world seemed to no longer hide anything from him, and various insights flooded his mind.

[Current Aptitude as follows]

Physical Strength: 15.62 + 31.24 = 46.86 (Limit)

Soul Strength: 21.56 + 43.12 = 64.68 (Limit)

Elemental Strength: 18.48 + 36.96 = 55.44 (Limit)

Elemental Resistance: 14.41 + 28.82 = 43.23 (Limit)

Comprehension: 14.63 + 29.26 = 43.89 (Limit)

Root Bone: 14.96 + 29.92 = 44.88 (Limit)

Spirituality: 17.38 + 34.76 = 52.14 (Limit)

The aptitudes that were originally to one decimal place now became to two decimal places.

The sum of all seven aptitudes exceeded 40 points, and the overall cultivation speed was more than double what it was before.

The sum of Soul Strength, Elemental Strength, and Spirituality aptitudes exceeded 50 points, already entering the Ascension to God domain. He already possessed the potential for Ascension to God; there were no more obstacles on the path before Ascension to God.

This was just the beginning. After 30, 40, 50, and many more years, his aptitude would only grow stronger, and ultimately, the divine barrier would not become an obstacle for him.

There was no clear numerical requirement for achieving godhood, but at a minimum, one aptitude had to exceed 200 points. This was just the basic requirement, and other conditions were also needed.

No matter how many or how high the conditions were, they would not be an obstacle for Lin Chen; they were merely peaks to be climbed.

The improvement in aptitude was only a part of the overall enhancement; other aspects of improvement were even greater and more immediate.

The foundation of the Qi Luck Soul Garment increased from 20 strands of Qi Luck to 22 strands, a permanent increase of 10%. The increased strength brought about better luck and greater favor from human luck.

The foundation of the Cognitive Barrier increased from 380 knowledge patterns to 418 knowledge patterns. The 38 additional knowledge patterns came from Lin Chen's sudden insights into certain knowledge.

The core implicit improvements were significant, leading to higher affinity for rules such as space-time, causality, destiny, and life and death. In the future, he would have the opportunity to achieve godhood by entering the Dao through these higher-level rules, giving him an innate advantage over others.

As for lifespan, there was no need to pay attention to it. He had already achieved virtual immortality; he would not die while alive, and having a long lifespan was useless when he died.

[Current Attributes as follows]

Name: Lin Chen

Age: 20 years old

Gender: Male

Lifespan: 5000 years

Cultivation: Eighth Order Martial Emperor Early Stage (104,562,586)

Spirit: Eighth Order Mentalist Early Stage (105,269,632)

Cultivation Methods: Suspended Qi Blood Refinement Technique (Limit Broken), Empty Mind Body Forging Technique (Limit Broken), Human Fire Seed God Method (Limit Broken), Spiritual Stealth (Fifth Stage, 95%) Essence, Qi, and Spirit San Bao Transformation

Martial Arts: Abyssal Heaven Burial (Demi-God Tier, Perfected), Peng Bird Levitation (Demi-God Tier, Perfected), Star Fist (Demi-God Tier, Perfected) ……

Mental Arts: Mental Impact (Demi-God Tier), Divine Strike (Demi-God Tier), Myriad Things Fall (Demi-God Tier) ……

Items: Heaven-tier High-grade Demon Slaying Blade, Heaven-tier High-grade Guardian Armor

Traits: Tian Yuan Domain's Might (Perfected), Tian Yuan Domain's Intent (Perfected), Tian Yuan Domain (Beginner)

Talent: Great Accomplishment Late Bloomer (2nd time)

Profession: Mirror Master (Legendary +1)

Overall Combat Power: Crushes Eighth Order, Peak Ninth Order at limit

After organizing his current physical data, Lin Chen only felt incredibly powerful. Now, he could easily defeat three previous versions of himself, with his combat power having increased at least tenfold.

Originally, Lin Chen was only at the late Seventh Order cultivation. Breaking through from early Seventh Order to late Seventh Order in half a year was already not slow.

After his talent took effect, he broke through to the early Eighth Order without any side effects, directly catching up to the cultivation level of the first echelon of his current cohort, saving at least three months of cultivation time.

Not only that, he also comprehended the advanced version of martial “intent,” martial “domain.” He only needed to continue accumulating qi and blood, mental power, and physique to ignore the Ninth Order realm barrier.

Although the Ninth Order barrier originally had no effect on him, breaking through the barrier in advance was still a good thing.

“Following this trend, before I turn 30, I will definitely be able to break through to the Tenth Order and step into the Demi-God level, initially touching the divine domain and deriving the first wisp of divinity.”

Lin Chen thought so. This cultivation speed was very consistent with his situation. With three Ascension to God aptitudes and the top-tier cultivation environment, achieving Demi-God before 30 was normal.

Among the graduates of the Ten Supreme Academies, those who could achieve Demi-God before turning 30 were not many, only about one in a thousand.

In other words, in Lin Chen's cohort, only about 150 people would be able to achieve Demi-God before turning 30, and then they would face the extraordinary curse where their cultivation speed would be halved after 30.

For ordinary people, if they did not break through to Demi-God before 30, the difficulty of breaking through to Demi-God after 30 would increase significantly, taking three to five times longer than if they had broken through before 30.

Thus, one step behind meant every step behind.

Demi-Gods before 30 could probably break through to the Ascension to God realm by 1000 years old, while Demi-Gods after 30 generally needed over 3000 years to break through to the Ascension to God realm.

“My advantage is too great. The extraordinary curse will not affect me. Even if my cultivation speed is halved and the difficulty of realm breakthroughs increases, I just need to wait two more decades, and the increase from my talent will offset the effect of the extraordinary curse.”

“Truly, the future is promising.”