There was actually a small booklet atop part of the pendant. I was about to just push it away, until I read the cover. The booklet itself thin and nothing extravagant, only a simple brown cover, but the bold words on the cover made me give it another glance before I moved it.
The booklet interested me, so instead of directly heading back over to where ever I even came from and possibly getting lost I'll just stay here check out this booklet. Besides it's not like there's a time limit involved or anything.
I picked up the jade pendant and shoved it into my robe, making sure that it was secure inside before dragging one of the nearby chairs and placing it near the table with the book. After sitting down I finally picked up the book.
It read:
====================
Talent and it's Meanings
====================
I was sure that when talent was first inspected at that city, that some random dude would at one point for no reason at all just start talking about the very contents of this book.
I had envisioned them explaining how it works and how numbers would compare. They would just going into an in-depth explanation for no reason other than just to say it.
Thinking back to it, I remembered that those were usually already known facts that literally everyone knew. Why would anyone need to explain common knowledge?
A few times when I was in the sect's library I remember searching for this kind of book a few days after we gained access to the library for dozens of minutes, but there was no trace of it at all.
I might have given up a bit too prematurely, but even when I asked one of the disciples that were working there they just looked at me laughed and walked away. I didn't want another person to laugh at me for asking the question so I just stopped worrying about it.
Eventually I almost got talent was really a thing since I haven't heard many people even bring it up. It was only right now and seeing this book, did my curiosity for the subject spike once again. After all this time is it even still going to be helpful?
Well probably, it's not like it's going to hurt me or anything, and besides I'm not even that far into cultivation. More knowledge would be nice anyway. Even if I think I know the world, it might not be exactly the same as I envision it.
Turning to the first page a large number zero covered one of the pages. On the other page text covered it explaining how this talent would affect you. Flipping through I realize that they were mostly on ten point scales with a change in the tenths place being a new level, except for the zero and hundred points in talent. That had it's own page apparently.
Taking another look at the thickness of the booklet I decided I might as well read it and start at the beginning. Luckily it wasn't a terribly long so I finished after only a short while. Every section of talent had a cultivation limit you would reach
To summarize each little section it would be like:
=========
0 Talent
You'll never cultivate in your live! A mortal is all you'll ever be! ...That is unless you want to spend twenty-five years of your life on just level one. That is all the life you can even use to try and gain another level. There are legends that if you cultivate another fifty years you'll make it to the second stage, but most reach the end of their lifespan before they could finish.
...
1-9 Talent
Best I can do is Body Refinement level 5 and the slowest cultivation speed possible! You'll have a bottleneck every time you try to advance. You are lucky if you could even get to the first level within a year of starting it. But you will be more resistant to disease.
...
10-19 Talent
Stage one level nine! You'll make a good laborer or just any mortal job that requires physical strength. Only six months of your live and you'll become level one. Your youthful form will remain with you longer then others.
...
20-29 Talent
You got Stage two level two! Congratulations, you can now use Qi to do things. Three months is all I require and level one is yours.
...
30-39 Talent
It's Stage two level six. Some of your internal organs are improved, so you live a little longer maybe a few years more. Give me a month!
...
40-49 Talent
Stage two peak power! You can sense every part of your body, having control over most actions happening inside. Your lifespan could increase by a decade. Two weeks!
...
50-59 Talent
You'll enter Stage three and have access to the entirety of it. You can absorb the Qi around you for yourself and no longer have to wonder where you could get Qi from. Five days.
...
60-69 Talent
You're finally able to go wonder on your own, in Stage four! The stage where the world no longer becomes a death trap the moment you even step near a shady looking forest. Four days.
...
70-79 Talent
You're a powerhouse in minor regions, being in the Fifth Stage. Three days.
...
80-89 Talent
A kingdom's trump card, the Seventh Stage. Two days.
...
90-99 Talent
The Overlord of this continent, the Ninth Stage. One day.
...
100 Talent
You won't have a bottleneck until you pass the Mortal Stages. Same day shipping.
...
=========
The descriptions became more and more vague as the points went higher and higher. It seems they hade made this based of the face that talent couldn't be raised. There's always a way to raise talent, they're just extremely difficult to get for most. At least those exist in the novels I've read.
There might be some magical mushrooms, or technique, or any other item that could do it. Usually only protagonists have enough luck to find them, but maybe some of Chen Huang's protagonist luck could rub off on me. I'm fairly certain he is one after all, considering what he's shown already.
Closing the book I realize what lay ahead for me. If I don't find something that increases my talent, I'll become fodder! I need to find one of those items before my limit's up. It had to be at least ten percent or else it won't change much.
'Wait, what is Yao Ya's cultivation then? She had this legendary almost myth-like talent. Is it possible she's already in the-'
"Hey! You're still here? I found my scabbard, it wasn't actually that far."
Behind me Chen Huang walked over from the same place he left for. Gripped in his hands was the saber safely secured in the scabbard.
A small blue tassel could be seen dangling from the metal pommel of his saber, moving back and forth as he walked towards me. The handle was a simple wooden grip with a metal hilt above it.
The scabbard he had lost had metal at the end where the tip of his sword would reach and metal at the entrance of it for when it made contact with the hilt. The rest of the scabbard was the same blue hue as the one on the tassel making them seem like a set.
"Hey, are you reading something, let me see!" The moment he saw the booklet in my hand his speed increased as he leaned over to take a look.
He released one of his grips on his saber before snatching the book out of my hand.
"Let's see, what's go you so interested that you would so casually read in this situation... Wait, you're reading this? Are my eye's deceiving me!? This is basic knowledge, I thought everyone would of read it and even completely memorized it by now. You should have known this as a cultivator!"
I wryly smiled at him as I couldn't tell him my origins.
'Welp, he's going to ask me about this isn't he? Quick think of some kind of bullshit, that'll convince him or at least change the subject.'
"Hey, did you know we found survivors of this sect?"
"How could you of- ...wait did you say survivors? There are actually people who lived through that?"
"Yeah, I need you to help me and gather the others. Yao Ya and I made a deal with them, in turn they'll help us get out of here."
"Alright, I'll go get them."
"Find us at the central staircase, there's a secret room in the wall when you go up. It should be open now, but if it isn't just knock or shout and we'll open it."
I watched as he departed back into the exact some way he's entered and left and entered and left again. I dug my arm into my robes and fished out the jade pendant to make sure I still had it.
SSSssss...
And there goes my light talisman. Great.