TL: Etude
"Ye Tian, will you accept my invitation?" Yue Ling eagerly inquired.
Ye Tian hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Alright, I am willing to enter the secret realm with you."
In truth, he too was extremely curious about what lay inside the secret realm. At the level of a Great Martial Warrior, he considered himself nearly invincible and harbored no fears concerning any other Great Martial Warriors. For Yue Ling, venturing into the secret realm might be dangerous, but Ye Tian didn't care about the so-called risks. Furthermore, entering the secret realm could provide numerous benefits. Why wouldn't he seize the opportunity? However, it was prudent not to show excessive excitement and it was better to keep a low profile.
"Yue Ling, I'd like a report on the talented Great Martial Warriors at the Demon Sea Base. Can you obtain that? After all, we're entering the secret realm; it's better to know more about the other talents," Ye Tian said.
"No problem!" Yue Ling quickly agreed. "In three days, I will deliver the report to you. Additionally, the secret realm will open in twenty days. During this period, it's best if you don't go out. Any delay could prevent us from entering."
"Understood," Ye Tian nodded.
After bidding Yue Ling farewell, Ye Tian began his cultivation. With twenty days remaining, he could fully utilize this time to advance his training. Occasionally, he would go out; if he encountered talents worth copying, he would do so. If not, he would reserve his talent-copying opportunities. After all, in twenty days, he would meet many talented individuals with highly beneficial abilities. If he used up his copying chances now, he would be unable to do so in twenty days.
Three days later, a messenger from Yue Ling delivered a report several dozen pages long. Alone, Ye Tian slowly flipped through the data. Fortunately, Yue Ling had provided a simple ranking of these talents; otherwise, the sheer amount of information would have been overwhelming.
"Cultivation Geniuses!"
"Combat Geniuses!"
Talents were primarily divided into these two categories. Cultivation geniuses were those with exceptional cultivation talents, meaning the speed of their cultivation was higher. Combat geniuses, on the other hand, had talents that significantly amplified their offensive capabilities. They utterly dominated other martial warriors of the same level, to the extent that even cultivation geniuses dared not offend these combat geniuses. If one were both a combat genius and a cultivation genius, then they could truly be considered an exceptional talent.
"The number one cultivation genius among Great Martial Warriors—Yun Tian, the third young master of the Yun family. He is suspected to possess extraordinary talent; in just a year and a half, he reached the pinnacle of the Great Martial Warrior realm!"
Extraordinary talent!!!
Upon seeing the name associated with these cultivation talents, Ye Tian speculated that extraordinary talents must be a level above top-tier cultivation talents. He then continued to scan the list of cultivation geniuses. In total, there were only three talents suspected to have extraordinary abilities.
Within the vast Demon Sea Base, it was improbable that there were only three with extraordinary talents. However, at the level of Great Martial Warriors, there seemed to be only these three. Others were either just beginning their cultivation journey, or had reached the realm of grandmasters, or even higher.
"Sadly, these three geniuses with extraordinary talents would surely not make casual appearances before others. Their families must be providing them extreme protection. They might not even participate in the upcoming secret realm," Ye Tian guessed.
So, replicating the extraordinary talents of these three geniuses wouldn't be easy, but it was certainly possible. In addition to these three, there were even more geniuses with top-tier cultivation talents—no fewer than fifty—and these were merely the ones at the 'Great Martial Warrior' level. If the scope were expanded to encompass the entire Demon Sea Base, the number of such geniuses with top-tier cultivation talents would likely multiply many times over.
At this point, Ye Tian had to admit that the warriors of the Demon Sea Base far outclassed those from Linhai Base in terms of innate talent. This discrepancy had little to do with geography or population; it mainly stemmed from the cultivation levels of one's parents. If the parents had high levels of cultivation, then their offspring would be born with high innate talents.
The Demon Sea Base had flourished through generations, giving birth to numerous high-talent individuals. This was an advantage Linhai Base simply couldn't match. Even if Linhai Base did produce a genius, that individual would typically leave for a larger base, stunting the smaller base's development. For smaller bases, this was a vicious cycle, but for larger bases, it was a virtuous one.
"Let's look at combat geniuses next!" Ye Tian opened the page dedicated to combat geniuses and began to browse intently.
"The top Great Martial Warrior combat genius is Yun Feng, a peripheral talent of the Yun family. He's at the peak of the Great Martial Warrior realm and is suspected to have a top-tier Wind Blade talent and a basic-level Speed talent!"
"What, top-tier Wind Blade talent?!!" Ye Tian was stunned.
A Wind Blade talent was undoubtedly an offensive type, capable of amplifying attack power. A top-tier Wind Blade talent could probably amplify attack power by as much as 20 times. Coupled with the 2 elephant units of force that a peak Great Martial Warrior could wield, this amounted to an attack strength of 40 elephant units of force.
In terms of attack power, Ye Tian only had 27.6 elephant units of force.
"I underestimated these geniuses. Yun Feng can deliver attacks with 40 elephant units of force, which is even more potent than the attacks of the Titan Forest Ape I encountered earlier. However, Yun Feng's speed isn't as fast as the Titan Forest Ape's, and his defense isn't as formidable. Overall, his comprehensive strength is much weaker than that of the Titan Forest Ape," Ye Tian analyzed.
When compared to Yun Feng, Ye Tian's advantages lay in defense, speed, and healing talents. After all, he possessed top-tier Speed talent, mid-level Defense talent, and top-tier Healing talent. Even if he was at a lower realm than Yun Feng, he could still overpower him simply by relying on his talents.
However...
"I must make sure that this information is complete. If these guys have hidden other talents, then their real strength will not be as it seems. In the future, when encountering other geniuses, I mustn't underestimate them. I have to give my all," Ye Tian cautioned himself.
Besides Yun Feng, there were many other combat geniuses whose abilities should not be underestimated. Among them were those capable of delivering attacks with 30 elephant units of force. Some had particularly tricky abilities: their attack power might not be impressive, but they had devious skills that were cause for concern.
After spending a good half of the day, Ye Tian had gained a rudimentary understanding of these talented individuals. What came next was waiting for the opening of the secret realm.
In the midst of his busy cultivation, seventeen days quickly passed.
That day, Yue Ling sent someone to invite Ye Tian to the Yue family.
The time had come to enter the secret realm!
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