The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 625: Five Stages for Talents

That day, Gao Yang had a three-hour-long conversation with Nainai, learning the details of how she had progressed with her Talents—in her chuuni language, of course.

Combined with Gao Yang’s experience and what he had learned to this day, he spent a night coming up with the five stages of level progression for Talents.

Level 1 to 3 was what Gao Yang would call the training stage. As the name would suggest, awakeners could quickly raise the level of their Talents through repeated uses and battles.

Level 3 to 4 was the Rune Circuit stage. Simply put, one had to be in contact with the corresponding Rune Circuit to level up a Talent, and the time it took differed case by case, ranging from a second to several days, even a fortnight.

Level 4 to 6 was the emotional stage. Many awakeners had had similar experiences—their Talents leveled up when they were hit with extreme emotions, be it excitement, heartbreak, fury, fear, or despair.

Level 6 to 7 was the belief stage. An awakener had to find a powerful belief and commit to it, which could be an ideal, an ambition, or a life goal. Only then would their Talents level up.

Before, Gao Yang had encountered level 7 Talents in Qilin’s Eidos, X’s Pestilence, and Lilia’s Elemental.

The one thing the three had in common was that they had found their path and devoted themselves to it no matter the price.

Nainai was the same. She had found her way after making the declaration: to seek the dawn from a dark origin with companions who earnestly understood and embraced her.

And Nainai’s situation proved another point: the belief stage applied to all Talents. No matter how many Talents one had, as long as they were level 4 and above, one Talent’s reaching level 7 would result in the other Talents jumping to level 7, too. Of course, it might not apply to Talents from serial number 101 to 187, which were said to cap at level 4.

Finally, there was the merge stage from level 7 to 8.

With a level 7 Talent, an awakener could reach its most powerful form by merging with the corresponding Rune Circuit, which had been demonstrated by X’s Pestilence and Lilia’s Elemental.

Gao Yang named his hypothesis the Five Stages for Talents, and the others agreed after hearing it from him.

Can flattered him, “Make it into a paper, Captain. It’ll drop like a bombshell in the awakener academia!”

Reaching level 7, Nainai’s Shapeshifter saw a drastic change at the core. Not only did the ability become more powerful, but she could now disguise other people.

The next few days, Nainai pinched and prodded Can and Hong Xiaoxiao like Nuwa molding people from mud[1], turning them into men and women of different ages and builds until they were sick of it.

Through her experiment, Nainai came to a rough estimate: with level 7 Shapeshifter, the change she made to someone’s face would last for about two days, but the change she made to someone’s body would only last about half a day.

Moreover, transforming the body took a lot of work. Nainai had to touch the target’s body with her hands, and for greater changes, she had to make changes to the muscles and bones and move the internal organs to achieve optimal results. Not only was the process painful to the target, but the transformation compromised the target’s ability to move and fight.

And drastic changes to one’s height and build were impossible. For example, she couldn’t make a 1.5-meter tall person 1.9 meters, nor could she trim a 100-kilogram person to 40 kilograms.

There was also the gender issue. It was fine for her to transform other women, but not so much men.

Therefore, when Gao Yang, Gao Xinxin, and Nine Frost made the short trip to Island Nation, Nainai only changed their faces and hair colors.

With the fake passports Lithe Snake had acquired for them, they traveled to Island Nation late at night for two reasons: first, to place Gao Xinxin somewhere safe, and second, to make a deal.

Gao Yang had been incredibly cautious. Sticking to their cover as backpackers traveling on a low budget, they settled down in one of the cheapest B&Bs and bought discounted lunch boxes for the best value, making sure their cover was airtight.

After dinner, they each washed up. Then past midnight, Gao Xinxin ran out of stamina and retired to bed.

The past few days, Gao Xinxin had been putting on a brave front, but she was terrified; she couldn’t fall asleep on her own.

Gao Yang stood watch by her bed. Wearing earplugs and a sleep mask, Gao Xinxin clutched his hand, her whispers slowly quieting, and she fell asleep.

Every once in a while, subway trains could be heard passing outside the window, and the whole room would shake slightly. That didn’t wake Gao Xinxin, but instead comforted her and coaxed her into a deeper slumber.

Seeing how serene she was, Gao Yang slowly let go of her hand and tucked her in properly, brushing her fringe to the side. Only after making sure that a Black Gold button marked for Time Reset was on her collar did he turn off the wall lamp and tiptoe out of the door, closing the door behind him.

In the living room, Nine Frost sat on the sofa with his eyes closed in rest.

Gao Yang checked his phone. There was still time.

He didn’t wake Nine Frost. Sitting down on the tatami with his back to the wall, he fell into deep thought.

Ring.

As soon as the old phone on the tea table rang, Nine Frost opened his eyes and took it. There were four messages from an unknown number, combined to form a list of awakeners.

Nine Frost smiled slightly. “Lithe Snake is good. He’s gotten the latest updated lists of members of the Qilin Guild and the Hundred Rivers Union.”

“Wonderful.”

Gao Yang trusted Lithe Snake’s ability, and Can was there to help him with her Invisibility.

Nine Frost spent a few minutes reading the messages. Then he threw his phone to Gao Yang. Gao Yang started from the top.

Qilin Guild, a total of 23 members.

Guildmaster: Qilin

Elders: Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Yan Liang (new)

Team Azure Dragon: Six Rime (Protector), Flower Turtle (Elite), Black Fish (Elite), Forest Crane (Elite), Old Lion (Elite), Veggie (Member), Core East (Member)

Team Vermilion Bird: One Stone (Protector), Raven Shark (Elite), Bumblebee (Elite), Stubborn Weasel (Elite), Crimson Bee (Member), Xiao Xin (Member)

Team Yan Liang: Zero Hatred (new Protector), Chaos Reflection (Elite), Correcting Sickle (Elite), Succubus (Elite), Nagging Mister (Elite), Small Luo (Member).

Gao Yang thought for a moment. Most of the names were familiar to him.

Yan Liang and Zero Hatred were new. They joined even later than Hong Xiaoxiao. The fact that they had become an Elder and a Protector without prior achievements and experience, as well as assigned members from Team Azure Dragon and Team Vermilion Bird by Qilin, meant that both were formidable figures not to be underestimated.

Gao Yang got to the second message, containing the basic information of the Guild’s members. There was nothing about Yan Liang and Zero Hatred. It seemed Lithe Snake hadn’t managed to find anything on them.

Gao Yang didn’t dwell on it. He got to the third message.

1. A Chinese goddess believed to be tied to the origin of human beings. ☜