54: Talent improvement, college entrance examination is approaching!

While it was certainly a joy to have his Talent Rank increase,

after the initial excitement, Xia Qi looked at the Awakening value behind Congenital Double Pupils, and a frustrating feeling followed.

“10,000 Awakening Points, are they serious?”

To go from Rank 1 to Rank 2, he only needed one hundred Awakening Points, or ten Talent Potions.

To go from Rank 2 to Rank 3, it was merely five hundred Awakening Points, or fifty Talent Potions.

But to go from Rank 3 to Rank 4, the System actually told Xia Qi he needed ten thousand Awakening Points, which was equivalent to one thousand Talent Potions.

Firstly, it was questionable whether the entire black market even had that many Talent Potions.

Even if they did, one Talent Potion cost four million, so one thousand would be four billion!

Four billion, that was simply an astronomical figure.

Many professional players wouldn't earn four hundred million in their entire lives, let alone four billion.

At his current earning speed, if Xia Qi calculated it as ten million per run, that would be twenty million a day.

To earn four billion, he would have to work non-stop for two hundred days without eating or drinking.

The actual time would have to be extended.

Because it was impossible for a person to not eat or drink.

Furthermore, continuously running dungeons for long periods also put a considerable burden on one’s mental state, and people needed time to rest.

Even if all of that was set aside, earning four billion wouldn't be that easy.

Because there were still many places to spend money, such as equipment crafting, skill learning, class advancement, and so on.

Moreover, dungeons above Rank 20 could no longer be entered for free.

Many dungeons required payment to enter, and even more so, some required special tickets to gain entry.

These were all expenses, and the consumption was not small.

So, after thinking it over and over, Xia Qi felt a bit overwhelmed and couldn't think of a better way to earn money for the time being.

“I’ll just have to take it one step at a time.”

If this world was a parallel world to his original one, he could have used methods like stock trading or lotteries to get rich quickly.

But this was a world where everyone awakened, so urban methods wouldn't work.

Xia Qi couldn't think that far ahead, so he could only put it aside for now.

After his Talent Rank increased, the two enhancement uses he had used up today were replenished due to the increased limit, giving him two more enhancement chances.

Without thinking, Xia Qi immediately used both enhancements on [Lucky], which he hadn't enhanced for many days.

“Enhancing S-Rank Talent Lucky, obtained S-Rank Talent Lucky (5/10).”

“Enhancing S-Rank Talent Lucky, obtained S-Rank Talent Lucky (6/10).”

The effect of Lucky needed no further explanation; with the current SS-Rank Divine Lightning Talent, his combat power could transition smoothly.

The passive trigger effect of Lucky became the top priority.

Earning money was one aspect, but some valuable Materials also required Lucky to trigger to obtain them.

These Materials could be processed and crafted into rare equipment or items, which was equivalent to indirectly enhancing combat power.

So, there was nothing wrong with prioritizing the enhancement of [Lucky] to SS-Rank.

After finishing the enhancements, he opened his attribute panel.

“Name: Xia Qi”

“Class: Mage”

“Rank: 18 (40%)”

“Strength: 320”

“Agility: 160”

“Intelligence: 320”

“Physique: 160”

“Equipment: Inferno Longsword, Inferno Light Armor, Inferno Helmet, Inferno Gauntlets, Inferno Boots.”

“Talents: Congenital Double Pupils (Lv3), SS-Rank Divine Lightning, S-Rank Lucky (6/10), S-Rank Inferno Heart (2/10), S-Rank Instantaneous Movement, S-Rank Sword Intent, S-Rank Myriad Bones Great Art, S-Rank Time Jump, S-Grade Rapid Learning, S-Rank Storm, S-Rank High-Energy Recovery, S-Rank Weakening (2/10), S-grade Mechanical Heart, A-Rank Fifty Percent Chance of Being Disarmed.”

“Active Skills: Frenzy Lightning (Rank 4), Nine Heavens Thunderclap (Rank 4), Lightning Flash, Adhesion, Fire Sea (Rank 4), Flame Dance.”

“Passive Skills: Energy Reduction”

“Nine Heavens Thunderclap: Ten directions of lightning descend, annihilating everything within a hundred-meter radius.”

“Fire Sea: Burns the sky and extinguishes the earth, consuming all things, Fire Sea covers a hundred-meter radius.”

Looking at his almost entirely S-Rank Talents, Xia Qi showed a satisfied expression.

He currently possessed a total of thirteen Talents, but in reality, only five or six were commonly used, while the others were used very rarely, or even not at all.

For example, Storm, which was enhanced from a B-Rank Wind Blade, was also an elemental type, but he hadn't encountered any weak-point monsters yet, so its usage was almost zero.

Also, Mechanical Heart, enhanced from an A-Rank Talent Mechanical Transformation, had also never been used.

And Disarm, Time Jump...

Although these Talents hadn't been used much, who said Talents had to be used? It was also nice to just have them.

Besides these, there was also a category of Talents that were not actively used but passively applied.

S-Rank Lucky, S-Grade Rapid Learning.

Both of these Talents were excellent; Lucky goes without saying, but Rapid Learning had actually been subtly changing Xia Qi all along.

Both breathing techniques, including the skills he had comprehended before, were inseparable from Rapid Learning.

Therefore, the Rapid Learning Talent still needed to Rank higher in terms of enhancement priority.

S-Rank Myriad Bones Great Art was enhanced from Demon Bone Art; it could be used for both offense and defense, but Xia Qi mainly used it for defense.

As for Instantaneous Movement and Time Jump, these two Talents represented space and time, respectively.

They would definitely be powerful in the Late Stage, but because he lacked combat power in the early stages, their enhancement priority was placed lower. There was no rush for now, as S-Rank was sufficient.

After understanding his Talent situation, Xia Qi calculated that there were 12 days left until the college entrance examination.

He could still enhance 48 times.

That was enough to enhance five more SS-Rank Talents.

As for SSS-Rank, since the enhancement progress bar was 100, he would wait until after the college entrance examination to consider it.

After organizing all the information, Xia Qi lay down on the soft, bouncy waterbed; the comfortable temperature and pleasant experience quickly lulled him into a deep sleep….

For the next twelve days, Xia Qi chose to stay in the Rank 20 dungeon, clearing dungeons and then wild monsters, while also taking appropriate rest.

Just like that, time flew by.

The sun rose, and the sun set.

Everything’s shadows were stretched long under the setting sun.

On the high wall of Jiangcheng's East District, the principals of various middle schools stood together at this moment, gazing out into the wilderness.

“Tomorrow is the day of the college entrance examination.”

“The children should be coming back soon.”

“I heard that First High School has two S-Rank Talent Awakeners this year. I wonder what the results of this college entrance examination will be.”

“It's just like always, merely a difference in the quality of the academies.”

“Old Wang, I heard those two S-Rank Geniuses from your First High School are planning to test into Shengjing Academy!”

Wang Changyuan’s gaze returned from the distance to the present. “Yes, Xia Qi and Yun Qingyue have both registered to test into Shengjing Academy.”

“The Yun Family should have hope, but that Xia Qi, I heard he’s from a commoner background, it might be a bit difficult!”

“You can only test at Rank 18. An S-Rank Talent doesn't necessarily guarantee admission.”

“That’s not necessarily true, unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Unless he can reach Rank 20!”