Chapter 7
Xiaobai, who observed the expression on Ray's face, couldn't help but frown in disbelief. The burly young man knew what abilities Ray possessed, but he never expected that there was a skill that could be copied from him. The sight before Xiaobai made him reconsider his initial judgment.
"So, that thing was a passive talent?" Xiaobai thought to himself. He had mistaken the white aura as part of his active talent, as it only appeared when he activated his ability.
While Xiaobai was lost in thought, Ray saw an opportunity and swiftly moved towards him with agility.
"Roar!" The tiger's roar echoed once again, and the momentum Ray generated was no less powerful than what Xiaobai had displayed earlier.
The spectators on the field were astonished. Even Teacher Jasmin couldn't hide her interest, a sweet smile forming at the corners of her mouth.
"Hey, this is interesting," Teacher Jasmin muttered involuntarily.
Xiaobai was taken aback when he heard an unfamiliar tiger's roar. Being familiar with the species, he could distinguish between different roars.
Motivated, Xiaobai adjusted his stance and lunged toward Ray.
"Roar!" Another angry tiger's roar reverberated through the air.
The two individuals collided with each other, generating a sound of impact that was even more immersive than before. The momentum from the collision created the image of two heroic youths intertwined with a white aura enveloping them.
Their actions mirrored each other, and both were pushed back ten steps.
Ray, witnessing this, inwardly groaned. "Tch, if only I were more familiar with martial arts, I might have incapacitated him with just one attack."
Meanwhile, Xiaobai found himself in an even worse position.
"Am I really on par with that F-rank brat?" He couldn't accept the outcome and assumed a similar posture to his previous movement.
With determination, Xiaobai swiftly charged toward Ray, accompanied by the roar of an angry tiger.
Ray, not one to stay silent, took action.
The two young men engulfed in a white aura, collided once again, resembling goats vying for the attention of a female during mating season.
After a considerable amount of time, both individuals were left panting heavily, exhausted from their efforts.
Ray felt annoyed that he couldn't overpower Xiaobai despite combining the talent he had copied and the martial arts he had diligently trained in his past life. He started to worry about the duration of his talent activation.
Ray's copying ability wasn't all-powerful; certain conditions had to be met when using it. The duration of Ray's talent depended on the rank of the talent being copied: 10 seconds for an S-rank passive talent, 30 seconds for A-rank, 60 seconds for B-rank, 90 seconds for C-rank, 120 seconds for D-rank, 180 seconds for E-rank, and 240 seconds for ranks below.
There were three corridors for storing copied talents, and each corridor could hold talents that Ray had copied before. The talents remained in the corridors for 24 hours. If talent was not used within that time frame, it would vanish into nothingness.
Each corridor has its own cooldown time that doesn't affect the others. The cooldown for the corridor that activates an S-rank talent is 240 seconds, followed by 180 seconds for rank A, 120 seconds for rank B, 90 seconds for rank C, 60 seconds for rank D, 30 seconds for rank E, and 10 seconds for ranks below.
Ray didn't have all the information about the talent he copied for the first time since he didn't have a system like the ones in novels. Therefore, he had to figure it out for himself by activating his talent. Once activated, Ray would name the copied passive based on its utility.
During this week, Ray continued to explore the abilities of the people around him, even mustering up the courage to seek talents he considered useful for his skill set. Ray had already activated his talent twice: first, he used a C-level bending body talent, and second, a B-level tiger intention talent.
It had been 53 seconds since Ray used the tiger intent passive, and he only had a few seconds left before the talent would fade away, causing him to lose his momentum. "Damn, what should I do now?!" Ray thought, feeling overwhelmed.
While Ray was caught in his internal conflict, Xiaobai wasn't faring any better. The burly young man felt embarrassed by his evenly matched fight against Ray, which led him to reconsider what Teacher Jasmin had said earlier.
He realized that his arrogance had prevented him from truly recognizing his talent. Despite trying to excuse his current situation by attributing it to Ray's impressive martial arts skills, Xiaobai couldn't fully accept it.
Unbeknownst to Xiaobai, his mindset had undergone a shift at that moment. Meanwhile, Ray, who was about to launch one final attack before his tiger-intent talent completely faded, suddenly halted.
Ray was stunned by the drastic changes occurring in Xiaobai's body. The burly white-haired youth now had bloodshot eyes and two fangs protruding slightly from his lips. A sense of danger overwhelmed Ray's mind.
Feeling trapped, Ray decided to strike while Xiaobai was still in a daze. He swiftly lunged forward, aiming his claws at the frozen Xiaobai.
Just as Ray's hand was about to reach Xiaobai's neck, a sudden chill ran down his spine. The ordinary young man sensed an imminent crisis. In response, Ray activated one last corridor of talent he hoped would come in handy.
As the talent activated, Ray's muscles tensed, revealing grotesque bulges of tendons. Master Jasmin, along with the shy woman she had brought with her, displayed rare expressions of surprise.