Upon leaving the room where he underwent the Affinity Assessment, Mateus crossed into a pitch black void through the door which teleported him right into another room. A couple moments after he entered the new room and began looking around, the omnipresent voice returned and said, "Now then, to continue your assessment, we will follow the Affinity Assessment with the Type System Assessment."
'Type System?' Mateus frowned as his mind drew blanks.
"The Ephemeral Slipstream Sect, though traditionally a Energy System Sect, can more than care for the other two Systems of Cultivation. In the Type System Assessment, thus, you will be tested for your aptitude for each of the three Systems of Energy, Body, and Soul."
"For the Type System Assessment, instead of a qualifying assessment, you Provisional Sect Disciples will be assessed quantitatively. To ensure qualification, a rating of 100 or above would be ideal. Prioritization will go to those with aptitude for Triple or Double Systems in that order. Now, to begin, you all will find further instructions on the other side of your rooms."
"Oh?" Mateus suddenly recalled something from his newly integrated memories.
Cultivation in this world — "that fucking weeb magic shit," as Mateus would call it — was based on perfecting oneself to attain immortality and godlike power. To cultivate, and thus perfect oneself in their totality, one needed to perfect their body, or corporeal vessel, their energy, or source of physical power, and their soul; that which determined just about everything else.
The standard route of cultivation would see the average person cultivate their Body first in the Mortal Realm, then their Energy in the Spirit Realm, before consummating their Soul in the Immortal Realm. However, not everyone had equivalent talents for each aspect of cultivation, and though they could be mitigated with certain Cultivation Methods, the fact remained that not everyone would have the highest chance of ascending to immortality through the standard route.
Naturally, thus, pioneers in the field of Cultivation have created additional routes that need only require one to cultivate the aspect they have the most aptitude for. Those who practiced these new, albeit flawed, cultivation routes would never be as powerful nor perfect as those who followed the standard route as they failed to raise their aspects equally. But then again, if they could take their cultivation the slightest bit higher than they would have by abandoning the standard route, that would be a worthwhile tradeoff.
After all, as one's Cultivation Base grew, Cultivation in itself became harder. The higher one's Cultivation Base, the longer one's life. Even if one didn't become Immortal, each of the breakthroughs leading up to that Realm would see Cultivator's lifespans rise by the thousands, if not tens of thousands of years.
Better to be a flawed Immortal, than a perfect Cultivator that died too soon to make their final breakthrough, right?
"Hmm," Mateus found himself standing before another table. This time, instead of gems lined up for him to consume, he was presented with various scrolls to choose from.
'So I have an unlimited amount of time to pick through these scrolls and test my aptitude?' Mateus thought as he picked up a scroll.
[Consume?]
"Really now?" Mateus narrowed his eyes skeptically. "The gems, I could understand; they were consumables after all. But scrolls?"
[!Consume!
Name: Formless Qi Cultivation Method (Section 1 of 3)
Grade: Mortal
Type: Energy Dominant
Description: A basic Energy System Cultivation Method usable by people with any type of Affinity.
Consumption Effect:
Skill Creation: Formless Qi Art
Energy Affinity: Creation at Sub Trash Tier]
'Sub Trash Tier?' Mateus' eyes darkened considerably as he coldly thought, 'Unacceptable...' He was already beyond annoyed to have been assessed as Mediocre with regards to all the Elements. To be told that he was below trash at something…
"Hmph!" He snorted as he started consuming scrolls left and right.
'See if I'm less than trash after this!' He started laughing maniacally as the pile of scrolls became sparser and sparser until…
[!Alert!
Major Shift In Status Detected
!Status!
...
Skills:
Mortal Grade Energy Cultivation Methods: 8 (All Incomplete)
Mortal Grade Body Cultivation Methods: 6 (All Incomplete)
Mortal Grade Soul Cultivation Methods: 2 (All Incomplete)
Mortal Grade Dual Energy and Body Cultivation Methods: 3 (All Incomplete)
Mortal Grade Dual Energy and Soul Cultivation Methods: 4 (All Incomplete)
Mortal Grade Dual Body and Soul Cultivation Methods: 1 (Incomplete)
Mortal Grade Triple Energy, Body, and Soul Cultivation Methods: 1 (Incomplete)
Affinities:
Name: Energy Affinity
Quality: Trash
Description: You have terrible aptitude for the Energy System of Cultivation.
Generic Effect: Your Dantian can only tolerate cultivating 10,000 units of simple Martial Qi.
Name: Body Affinity
Quality: Trash
Description: You have terrible aptitude for the Body System of Cultivation.
Generic Effect: Your physique can only be partially refined through half the Stages in the Mortal Realm.
Name: Soul Affinity
Quality: Trash
Description: You have terrible aptitude for the Soul System of Cultivation.
Generic Effect: Though your Soul Land can be opened, it will not be able to hold more than a couple low grade Affinity Representations.]
"..." Mateus was speechless. He consumed all those scrolls and he was still mere Trash? Granted, he was no longer reduced to being Sub Trash worthlessness beyond mentioning, but—
"Ah!" Mateus suddenly knew all of the contents of all the scrolls he had consumed. Surprisingly, the reason he cried out had nothing to do with that absurd amount of information he had just digested; if anything, he didn't feel the slightest discomfort from it.
"Trash Tier isn't really that bad at all," Matues took a deep breath. "Sure, in the grand scheme of things — compared to what was required for reaching the Spirit or Immortal Realms — it is laughable. But for a novice nobody who's previously never so much as read a Cultivation Method… Shit, I already have a pretty big headstart."
Affinities could be cultivated, after all. They merely outlined what was one's current limit. They were just another obstacle Cultivators needed to break through to achieve their goals.
Yet, the brightness in Mateus' eyes dimmed somewhat as he thought, 'Still… It'd be nicer if my current talent wasn't demeaned at every assessment. First I'm Mediocre, then Sub Trash and Trash… Can't I get a break?'