Chapter 14 - Talent Testing
Li Fen found herself in a bustling market place, around her were stalls which were ran by different merchants who were yelling about their wares.
Around them were people who came from all different backgrounds, particularly because this is the date of the Talent Testing the marketplace was packed, filled with clear visitors such as them.
She was in a city for the first time in ten years. However, this city was nothing like her old multicultural and technological world, so for her, everything was new and a completely different experience to her. Taking in the atmosphere of the City made her think about how they arrived a day ago.
As the Townsmen had arrived a day before the Talent Testing began, they went exploring through the city. Throughout her day spent in the City she had seen a number of shops and stalls that were all around, and even market places that seemed to be owned by the different noble families within the city.
Li Fen managed to get a good look at everything the city had to offer, to the commoners anyways, as some areas such as the City Lord's residence were clearly off limits. To Li Fen this was a unique experience to her, and something she found greatly refreshing.
She had admired ancient Chinese architecture since a young age, so viewing a City which was basically a replica of a City found in Ancient China, was a dream come true for her.
Of course there was some differences, likely influenced by the Mages within this World, there was some objects which were to do with magical elements.
Li Fen identified one which seem to resemble a cannon, but was informed by Uncle Cheng, when she asked about them curiously that they are Magical Cannons created by an Artificer, they were low level ones, but to the Kingdom this was still an extravagant and expensive purchase, one not many in the Kingdom can afford to make.
This shows just how wealthy the Wang Clan, the rulers of Yueguang City are.
While admiring the surroundings once more, she couldn't help but feel it was if she was travelling back in time.
As if seemingly noticing her thoughts, Zhang Wei voiced, 'This style has been around in this world for thousands of years' Zhang Wei said with pausing, only deciding to speak now when Li Fen was no longer distracted spending her time around the City, 'The reason it has become popular in your world is most likely because an expert visited this plane and returned home with the designs or the other way around.'
'You can travel between the worlds?' Li Fen asked with amazement, if you could do so it would be incredible.
'Yeah,' Zhang Wei answered as if it was common knowledge, 'if you are strong enough, then you can create your own path between the different planes. Because of that you will see a lot of different styles and cultures all over the different planes. Everyone steals their ideas from other places.'
Li Fen nodded in understanding, she knew how every part of Earth itself had different designs and styles depending on where they went.
'When you become an expert your lifespan increases. The stronger you get the longer you can live. Eventually, if you grow strong enough in cultivation to the point that you rival a God, you can live for an eternity.' Zhang Wei continued, 'Imagine living such a long time in one place, eventually it would grow dull to an expert who had seen everything their home plane had to offer, and they would travel to another plane.'
'Gods?' She asked questionably, she had a feeling there were Gods when Zhang Wei described reincarnation, but how many are there?
'Oh, Gods is are not as uncommon as you think. However, their strength greatly differs. The Creators Gods are practically the most powerful of them all, they don't interact much with others, but the weaker Gods are pretty much found in every plane. Typically they are rulers of the plane they are in, compared to us Gods are natural born power houses, from the moment they are born they control great power and have an infinite lifespan, however their weakness is that their growth rate is just to slow. Although we have a lesser starting point with cultivation we can eventually reach their level of power, the weaker ones anyways, as for the Creator Gods, well they are unfathomable, and I haven't heard of anyone who could match them.' Zhang Wei said.
'Are there Gods in this plane?' Li Fen asked curiously.
'Oh, no... you see Gods were in this plane also, but an expert from our plane defeated and freed us from that God's control. To Gods they rely on people's faith to grow, and they dislike people who can compete with their power. So before in this plane the cultivation of Mages and Warriors was suppressed by the Gods, until eventually an expert cultivated secretly until he reached their level and engaged in an earth shaking battle with them, after a long battle, the expert was victorious but it wasn't without a cost he pushed the Gods back as he was gravely wounded. He also had to seal the God as the faith energy they built up was to strong, to a God they are immortal unless they run out of faith energy, so he has had to seal the Gods until their faith runs out, all followers of those Gods were then uprooted and purged.' Zhang Wei answered.
Li Fen felt shocked after hearing Zhang Wei's description of the Gods, and you can eventually match their power if you cultivate to a high enough level?
Though she felt a great deal of curiosity to the Creator Gods, as they don't seem to be reliant on faith energy and didn't force people to worship them like the other Gods.
'So, so all Gods require faith energy, including the Creator Gods?' She asked curiously.
'Hmm? Oh no, the Creator Gods are the only ones who don't seem to need it. For some reason they don't force any to worship them, and are not tyrannous like the other Gods, it is why they are respected even by Mages and Warriors who pursue a higher level of power. However, the other Gods, even the most powerful all requires faith, it is why the more powerful ones rule over multiple planes, on occasions if a powerful expert encounters a God in another plane they travel to, they would have to fight the God themselves as the God would treat them as an invader of their plane.' Zhang Wei said.
Thinking about this, she wondered how many people did Zhang Wei knew who had the power compared to a God?
'Has there been many experts you know who were comparable to that man who can match the power of Gods?' Li Fen questionably asked.
'There are only four people from this plane who I can think of comparable to that man,' Zhang Wei explained, 'and while I lived on this plane only five, including that man had ever existed here who had a power level which can match a God. But there are so many planes in the world and gods are able to create planes if they wish for it to happen. This plane is considered a very young plane and it is around the same age as the one you came from.' This knowledge shocked Li Fen, as she did not consider millions of years to be young, but before she commented Zhang Wei continued, 'It is obvious that so many planes will create an insane amount of experts. Not even I know how many gods there are or where they live. If I were to travel around outside of this place, I would be considered a weakling, despite being Divine Ranked.'
After hearing Zhang Wei's words, Li Fen felt as if her horizons were once again widened, she wondered if eventually would her power match up to a God, a level even Zhang Wei never reached in his lifetime.
According to Zhang Wei words even he was considered insignificant outside of this plane, and could she be even be comparable to him?
This caused Li Fen to feel a great deal of shock because of the information she been provided with.
However, she quickly pushed these thoughts aside, as that would be a long way away and it was pointless for her to dwell on that now.
"Alright, Little Fen it is time for us to go, we have to make it back in time to meet Uncle Cheng and the boys for the testing." Hui Bingweng said as it was time for them to go back.
"Alright, Dad I've finished exploring now, let's go." Li Fen said excitedly, resembling an enthusiastic kid who can't wait to get his tests result.
Taking Li Fens hand, Hui Bingweng lead the way to the area which was designated in the Town to be used for Talent Testing.
By the time they arrived, they quickly found Uncle Cheng, Hui Bai and the other boys who were awaiting them.
Li Fen's arrival caused a bit of a sensation to the crowd as they saw her appearance, Li Fen was a incredibly beautiful child anyways, and her exotic white hair and silver eyes just made her stand out even more.
"What a beautiful child..." A woman murmured as she stared at Li Fen with fixed eyes.
"She is so adorable, if I had a daughter as cute as her in my lifetime I would be satisfied." A woman said.
"I don't think I have seen any Noble who can compare to her looks even as a child, I wonder who's parents this child belongs to are." A man voiced.
The crowd continued chatting as Li Fen made her way to Uncle Cheng, with the people voicing their curiosity about her, Hui Bingweng who was her Father seemed to be ignored as a bodyguard.
'Ah, maybe this is what it is like to create such a perfect child, a good looking man like me has seemed to be delegated into becoming a side character.' Inwardly thought Hui Bingweng but in reality he stared at his daughter with proud eyes, as which Father wouldn't feel accomplished having such a good daughter? His daughter was surely the cutest.
Suddenly, the lively atmosphere became silent as an old man stood at the front of a podium.
Observing that the previous crowd grew solemn and respectful upon the arrival of the old man, Li Fen put her attention on the old man, as she knew that he much be an important figure.
"Everyone as you know, this years Kingdoms Annual Testing will be underway. Now, my next this next message is to the children who have come in attendance, as a Kingdom we do this testing in order to ensure that everyone in the Kingdom including the commoners potential is unearthed." The old man paused as he let his words soak in. "As a Kingdom we must be unified, Humanity is still competing for territory with the other races, and Magical Beasts are still a threat which cannot be ignored. We, the Kingdom give you an opportunity for those who have talent, to train in our Academies in order to become experts in the future who will not only better the Kingdom, but the human race as a whole! So, I bestow upon you fortune, for those of you who may be disheartened by a lack of talent then don't, there is always a place in the military for soldiers, and even the ones who are not comparable to the experts and geniuses are a indispensable part of the Kingdom." The old man said, he then went on to briefly describe the other important roles in the Kingdom to highlight the importance of those who may not have any talent in becoming a Warrior or Mage.
The crowd grew solemn by listening, as they knew that every annual testing a child's hope and dreams may be crushed upon discovering they do not have the talent to make it far in becoming a Warrior, or Mage.
This is why this part of the old mans speech is procedure as many would often feel disheartened after discovering their results, but to the Kingdom there are many areas which require man power, so it was important to encourage these children into going to these areas if they possess poor talent.
The Old Mam then finished his speech by saying, "As the younger generation, you will be the life blood of our Kingdom in moving forward!"
After finishing his speech the crowd let out a round of applause as the old man left the podium.
"Who is that?" Li Fen asked curiously, realising the old man seems quite important.
"Hmm. That is Wang Liang, the City Lord's Father. Despite retiring from his duties, he is still the strongest cultivator present in the City at the moment so he usually introduces the Talent Testing." Uncle Cheng answered.
After that they brought a few devices on stage presumably the objects they use to test an individuals talent.
As a boy stepped up stage, they gave him some instructions to place his hand on an orb, after doing what they say a suction began to emerge as the boy began to absorb essence into his body.
After observing the boys absorption speed, the man announced, "Average talent. Good enough to at least enter the Journeyman Rank."
When the results were told by the man, the boy appeared fairly happy, as this level of talent for a commoner was decent and good enough for him to achieve a bit of status.
After that boys continuously went up on stage for testing, the Mages test seemed more complicated in comparison to the Warrior one, in which only requires to see the speed of which you absorb essence into your body.
Not one person so far has the potential to become a Mage.
Watching the testing for Warrior potential Li Fen couldn't help but think, 'Isn't this a bit to simple?'
'For a Warrior the testing is never very complicated, that orb injects essence into you without a cultivation method, so it measures the speed and amount of essence your body can absorb, this is enough to determine the potential of your body. You are required to absorb the essence just purely with your body, and not a cultivation method which would affect your results. Having a high cultivation speed is an indicator of a higher potential, if you have a low speed in absorbing the essence in which the orb injects into you, it means your potential isn't great and means the limit which of your bodily strength will be isn't high. This makes it a simple test to do, it is only done this way for Academies to have an easier time to scout, and the equipment is to expensive for commoners to afford. It also prevents nobles from cheating by using a better cultivation method in order to get better results.' Zhang Wei said, as the Warrior testing method was nothing new to him, all human Kingdoms have been carrying it out this way for years.
Realising the Warrior potential testing was a simple process because it didn't need to be made complicated, she turned her eyes toward the Mage testing area, unlike the Warrior one it seemed a fair bit more complicated and not one person was shown to have potential so far.
She felt curious about it, but decided she will ask Zhang Wei about it when the time comes, after all Zhang Wei said at the start they will need to alter her results, as having all elemental talents and having high potential to dual cultivate was to heaven defying in this Kingdom.
At the moment she had no background at all, so to show such talent here would be asking for trouble which she could not afford to have right now.
Time passed quickly as the line of children grew smaller and smaller, some of the ones who went up for testing looked excited and proud whereas the remaining had a dejected look.
This was the cruel reality, those who have talent are fewer than those who do so, many children will be leaving today with their dreams of becoming a Warrior and Mage crushed.
Eventually, it was Hui Bai's turn and compared to the other children he was different, after hearing Li Fens word, instead of being nervous like he previously was, he exuded a confident look as he walked up be tested.