"Continuing what I was saying, gray is the lowest, the initial talent. After that comes brown, my talent level. I'm quite fortunate to have been born with a bright brown talent. Most people with my talent can reach Spirit Apprentice, becoming protected disciples of their sects."
"I even know of someone with my talent who was able to reach Spirit Adept." Rella's eyes lit up as she spoke about this person. It was clear that she greatly revered this person.
Aisha was quite perceptive to people's emotions. Looking at Rella, she could see the praise in her eyes. "Are they important to you?"
Gently shaking her head, Rella responded, "Not especially. She is one of the core elders of the sect I belong to. I look up to her, just like everyone with lesser talents. She is kind to us, and she values hard work over innate talent. She is practically a shining beacon for people with low talents."
Aisha showed a gentle smile. "She sounds like an impressive person."
Rella smiled, nodding. "She really is."
After sitting still for a moment, Rella snapped back into reality. "Alright, back to the talents!"
Rella lifted her finger, waving it like an elementary teacher schooling kids. "After brown comes red. Almost every sect holds people with red talents in high regard. If they live long enough, red talents are almost always able to become powerful cultivators, especially if they are bright talents."
"After that comes orange. People with orange talent are very rare, destined to become powerful cultivators. Orange talents are held in the highest regard no matter where they go, even more so if they are bright talents. Sects that can recruit them almost always make them core disciples, giving them vast amounts of resources. There are actually two core disciples with orange talents at my sect."
Finally, there is the legendary golden talent." Rella's voice was filled with reverence. "People with golden talents are one in a million. Golden talents are always destined for greatness; every one of them becomes leaders of sects or heads of prominent families. Having a golden talent guarantees that one will become a Spirit Master at the least; some are even able to become legendary Grandmasters!"
"They are legendary figures that someone like me could never hope to reach. I would consider myself lucky if I was even able to lick the boots of such an individual. Haa…" Rella sighed, closing her eyes.
Rella's comment may have just been a random feeling, but it made Jaime show a pondering expression. "Grandmaster, huh? That sounds pretty doable." Jaime muttered silently.
As Rella was lost in her thoughts, the others were sharing strange looks. 'That's it! None of them even had a talent that she spoke of!'
…
Elder Biang once again found himself sitting at a familiar long table. People sat flanking him on both sides, filling the space around the table. Everyone at the table held a position of power within the sect.
Sitting at the head of the table was a lovely woman with flowing long dark hair. Her silver robe hugged tightly to her busty figure as she sat there. Her silver eyes glowed faintly, glancing over the people in the room.
The room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. No one said a word, looking around with strange expressions.
"Hahh…" A deep sigh finally broke the silence.
The lovely woman sat forward, pulling everyone's attention to herself. She leaned her elbows on the table. "So, I assume all of you had similar experiences?"
Several sighs followed her words. After a moment, a middle-aged man spoke up.
"Sect leader, The people we saw. How can so many high-level talents exist? It goes against everything I know."
The man received several nods in agreement. "That's right. And we even had to send them to the first circle. It makes no sense!"
The woman watched the people voicing their opinions. Several people seemed especially bothered by this incident.
After a minute or two, the sect leader cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention. "I know it's hard to accept, but there is nothing to be done. Now, we can only focus on damage control. Fortunately for us, they were all sent to the first circle, giving us some time to prepare."
"Now, I'd like to hear about everyone's individual experiences. Were there any outsiders whose talents were above the others?"
The woman closest to the sect leader nodded her head. "There was a single dark blue talent in my group."
"Same here." Another man spoke.
The middle-aged man who spoke earlier nodded his head. "I had a single bright blue talent. I made sure to give him and the two green talents our talisman."
The sect leader nodded her head. "Well done. Hopefully, some of them will end up joining us."
Everyone shared their experiences one after another. The middle-aged man's group with a bright blue talent seemed to be the highest talents of everyone there. But, there was one person who had yet to speak.
Elder Biang sat there silently, his eyes closed.
"So, Elder Biang. How was your group?" The sect leader asked.
"Haa…" Elder Biang sighed, opening his eyes. "Fearsome."
The sect leader raised an eyebrow. "Oh, even more so than the others?"
Biang looked around before slowly nodding. "Yes, even more so." Elder Biang paused for a moment. "The group had fourteen green talents. Nine of which were bright."
Everyone in the room let out a simultaneous gasp, almost like it was rehearsed. The sect leader let out a deep sigh, but, looking at Elder Biang, she could tell he wasn't done. "I take it that's not even the shocking part?"
Nodding, Elder Biang continued. "That's correct. My group had two blue talents, one bright, one dark."
The room was silent, hanging on Elder Biang's next words.
"There was even an indigo talent, and a bright one at that."
The room went into an uproar. "I've never even heard of a bright indigo appearing below the third circle!"
"The last time I heard of a dark indigo talent appearing was one hundred years ago. It was the son of an emperor from the third circle!"
The room couldn't stay silent at Elder Biang's words, filling the air with shouts.
The sect leader stayed quiet, silently inspecting Elder Biang's expression. 'If it was anyone else, I may assume they were embellishing the truth. But not Biang.' She studied his expression for another few moments before speaking, "There's more, isn't there?"
Elder Biang looked at the sect leader, the only person with higher authority than himself, the person he has been following for over a hundred years, the highest talent in the room. He nodded slowly. "Yes, there is more."
"One of them had a talent I've never even heard of before." Biang looked into the woman's eyes. "His talent was a mixture of every high talent we know of, even the ancient violet."
Nobody said a word, all of them lost in their heads. The sect leader closed her eyes, pondering his words silently.
Several minutes passed in silence before the leader spoke. "What does it mean? Do you know if it's a good thing?"
Elder Biang shook his head. "I have no way of knowing how good it is as a talent. But, there was one thing." Elder Biang's eyes became strangely serious. "The boy's affinity with spiritual energy is higher than I've ever seen. Even more, he was able to steal the spiritual energy gathered by my grandaughter's cultivation."
The room became silent enough to hear a pin drop. It stayed silent for only a moment before several voices began yelling.
Everyone had different opinions on the matter, but one thing was the same for all of them; they all feared this boy's power.