"Haah! How long has it been since I've slept in this room…" Lin Chen said with a happy expression on his face as he lay down on his comfortable bed, and let out a sigh of relief. "Home sweet home.." He whispered softly under his breath before closing his eyes to take a short nap.
Back in the magical world, Lin Chen never got time to sleep properly as he was always forced to train and fight without any rest for long periods of time. As a result, he rarely had time to get a good sleep. And even during the short time that he had received to take a rest, he would always be on high alert for any new tasks, training lessons and missions that the higher-ups might decide to push onto them. The tension and fear that he felt would make even his resting periods tiresome.
After a few hours, Lin Chen opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of his room, and for a split second, his eyes widened with surprise, before quickly readjusting. "Ah, that's right. It wasn't a dream.." He let out a short chuckle before continuing, "I had returned… To my world… To my home."
He slowly got up from his bed and looked around his room. It had been a long time since he last saw this place, but after looking at it for a few seconds, Lin Chen couldn't help but feel happy. No matter how much time had passed, this place was always going to have a deep connection with his heart.
"I actually hung it up on the wall? Wow!" Lin Chen's gaze suddenly turned towards his desk. Right next to his desk, hung up on the wall, was the 'Grand Central University Entrance Exams' pamphlet, with the word 'GOAL!' written down in bold letters using marker pens.
"I don't remember the old me having that much confidence in myself. Haha!" Lin Chen laughed out loud. He then got up from the bed and walked towards the desk.
He then pressed his fingers slightly against the pamphlet, rubbing his hands across the paper as he let out a long and heavy sigh. "I can't believe I don't remember…"
No. Maybe he chose to forget. After all, the humiliation he felt after realizing that his test results basically declared him as trash were too much for a young boy like him to bear. It was better for him to believe that he didn't put in even the slightest amount of effort during the test. After all, that made it easier for him to not even attend the entrance exams.
"But you did care. Even if you failed, you did try.." Lin Chen narrowed his eyes. The tests to determine the talent of the students were more favourable towards the ones who were gifted with the largest qi pools.
Qi pool, or life force energy pool, is the total amount of life force energy that a person is capable of possessing. It was essentially the maximum volume of life force energy that a cultivator's body could cope with.
Although the qi pool does go through development during the entire lifespan of a cultivator, the growth is especially massive during the early years of a cultivator, at least until the youth reaches the age of eighteen. The rate at which it develops is also different if different people, and mostly just comes down to inborn talent.
"It's unfair. But unfortunately, that's just life.." Lin Chen spoke as though he was consoling his past self. He knew that he had a crappy inborn talent.
The cultivators in the modern age go through three tests in order to determine the overall worth of a cultivator and whether or not they are worth investing for the guilds.
The first two tests, which are taken during the ages of three to six, are used mainly to determine the inborn talent of the child. These tests check the total number of meridians that were naturally cleared.
According to the martial dao, there were twelve major acupoints in a person's body, and twelve meridians flowed through them. One could clear a meridian by clearing an acupoint, and coalesce the body's energy into one current of true qi. These true qi meridians are connected to, and form the qi pool, similar to how rivers merge with the sea.
Altogether, there were twelve meridians, although there never once existed someone who had been able to obtain twelve meridians of true qi by clearing all twelve meridians in the earth realm.
Of course, it is possible to forcefully clear the meridians as opposed to naturally. However, this is where the natural and inborn talent affects the performance of the cultivator.
In the cases of those who possess a greater natural talent, similar to how their meridians cleared up naturally, it is also a relatively simple process to clear a few more meridians when compared to those who possess lesser natural talent.
To put it simply, it is like comparing the process of chopping wood to the process of breaking rocks. Both processes require different levels of power and abilities.
Lin Chen circulated qi through his body for a few seconds. Four meridians, he thought to himself. That was how many he had cleared up until now. It was definitely not good enough, even for an average cultivator. Of course, in a battle, the amount of meridians that you've cleared might not be what decides the winner. Perhaps there might even be a scenario in which an E-Grade talent beat out an A-Grade talent.
However, such scenarios are often rare, and as a cultivator starts to gain more and more experience, those scenarios only start to get more and more rare.
"It might be tough, but it is certainly not impossible." Lin Chen said to himself as he clenched his fists tightly. This time, he would make sure that he lived a life without any regrets.
Although he would be at a disadvantage due to his crappy natural talent, it was not the only factor that decided the end result of the third and final test. After all, this wasn't like the first two tests, which were done at a very young age in order to understand how much effort and resources the child requires.
No, this was to understand the true value of a cultivator. To know whether or not you'll be a worthy investment. It's essentially labelling the base price of the cultivator for the guilds and universities. Of course, bargaining is an option, and as you build up achievements and experience, your bargaining power and value does in fact increase. But the base price is where it all begins, and if you're not valuable enough even at base price, then there's no platform to bargain.
And as such, the third test involves trials that test your skills, fighting prowess, ability to think quickly and strategic thinking. These trials, along with the natural talent of the cultivator, are taken to produce an overall grade for the person, on the basis of which their future shall be decided.
"Let's think logically," Lin Chen said to himself. He placed his finger under his lips as he fell into deep thoughts. There was absolutely no way he could gain an A-Grade. The test to decide the Final Talent Grades would be held a week from now, and to attain an A-Grade talent, he would have to improve at an impossible speed. To receive an A-Grade, he would have to open up another four meridians while also obtaining a perfect score in all the other trials.
"There's no way that would be a realistic scenario. At least, not during this short timeframe." Lin Chen shook his head as he dismissed the idea.
It was then…
[ Are you sure about that? ]
A loud voice echoed in Lin Chen's head as soon as he finished speaking, and his eyes widened with surprise.
"Boar demon?"