Seeing this news headline, Andrew was reinvigorated with spirit, there being a particular reason for this.
Tomorrow he turned 18, and it marked the beginning of a new opportunity, in which he and the other students who were freshly turning 18 would undergo a talent awakening ceremony.
This world was similar in physics to his own, but with different constraints due to the martial awakening about a century prior.
Here existed mysterious beasts, ordinary animals having undergone evolution that was seemingly impossible at scale and speed.
The reason for this was only found out 10 years after the origin of the awakening, a new type of energy had begun to be released throughout the deep universe, for reasons unknown to everyone on earth.
It was shown that beings with higher natural affinity towards nature had an advantage of incredibly quick adaptation to the energy, which is why technological advancement had been thrown out the window by humanity.
This energy was named "Qi", adopting the name of chinese mythology as it most accurately described its functions.
Most creatures outside of humans could naturally obtain this in much higher quantities, but they had much lower speeds of increasing what they had naturally adapted too.
Humanity almost came to the brink of extinction.
However, a few yogis in the himelayan mountains who has properly detached themselves from the technologically advancing industrial landscape learned to actively absorb this energy.
They became gods among men, not hesitating to share their teachings to select individuals.
According to records, it started off with absorbing the energy into the cells, and the genome of each individual would determine what kind of natural affinitys/abilities they would obtain, later being named as "talents".
There was no way to properly test this, but as time went by and research blossomed, bearing fruit to talent testing crystals.
These became usable for the vast majority only after they reached a specific maturation of bodily function, typically at 18 years of age.
Some got blessed sooner, some got blessed later, and very few didnt get blessed at all, in which society deemed them worthless to helping humanity as a collective.
This forced the "talentless" to pick up odd jobs, success was still possible financially, but was impossible in terms of gaining real power to change the world.
From what Andrew knew, talents were rated across 9 levels, split into 3 major categories. The first 3 levels were low class talents, providing a difference in capability compared to an ordinary person by a substantial margin.
However they were still only considered barely effective compared to the beasts, whose natural talents were unknown.
If they desired real ability, they would have to pour their time into mastering techniques to close the gap between levels.
Mid grade talents were from levels 4-6, these produced a much more marginal effect even just after level 3, with a sharp qualitative difference in capability, these people were where they actually started to get useful for the sake of longevity of the species.
And then, levels 7-9 where high tier talents, anybody with these would be highly valued by the human race, they would become top priority candidates for development.
But there was a catch.
Even undergoing the threat from the same enemies, there was only a short period of time where similar global interest over ruled petty interhuman conflict.
As soon as things stabilized and everyone knew it would stay stable, countries immediately began their petty agendas once more.
If a prodigy showed up in one country, they would almost certainly face dangers even if theyre at the highest order of protection.
Many people suspect that there was a level beyond level 9 talents, only speculation existed.
"Well, not my problem, i still havent even awoken yet. information above what I currently am allowed access too is irrelevant to my already unknown long term goals…" he thought, turning his attention back to the news.
"Arthur Smith, awakening a level 7 talent has become a leading figure in the protection of humanity! From a young age his physical state has been optimized to ensure talent acquisition of one of the highest levels…" the news broadcast sounded.
Andrew sighed to himself, "they even name dropping him as well, i wish this kid luck in whatever challenges he faces…"
Andrew turned off the tv, even in this world, the news still made him sick.
Everyone knew what happens to the people put on blast like this, however news outlets never cared about decency or protection.
They were the exact same as his own world, benefit seeking.
"In a way i almost hope i dont get a good talent. Best case scenario a master will come to my door and allow me to be his disciple, mitigating partial detriment…"
"Worst case scenario, ill get killed by international covert spies before that…" he exhaled deeply.
This world was better than his last one in some aspects, but it still was far from perfect.
"As long as theres conflicting interest, there will always be conflict as a whole." He thought, before standing up from where he was sitting and walking over to the shabby dresser sitting next to his bed.
Taking off his clothes revealed Andrews unnaturally sculpted physique, even by his old worlds standards.
A very lean physique, yet stringy in a way.
But looking at him one could feel a slight presence just from his posture and packed muscle like apperance.
"In this year, I have not been slacking off even with a lack of resources…"
He walked over to the mirror and striked some ridiculous poses.
After about of minute of self glazing, he quickly got dressed.
Base physique before awakening did matter to a degree.
Although you couldnt change the genome, you could maximize capabilities which may enhance the overall potential of the talent.
Atleast, it would give a slight edge compared to people who didnt decide to train themselves, as any talent that did awaken would boost the body by a greater margin, as theres a higher baseline for it to multiply.
In a world where cultivation was becoming the norm, and where strength reined as absolute, every advantage mattered as much as possible.
Although Andrew couldnt utilize every piece of information he knew in his past life, he could still piece together things that would help him in this world, like optimal baseline training protocols.
This was all to help epigentic expression and increase his baseline capactity.
Andrew looked at the clock, realizing it was already close to 7:30 AM, meaning it was time for him to start heading out for his morning training routine.
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