Chapter 2: Spirit Awakening Ceremony

Five minutes later.

The deskmate, who initially only planned to check the time on her phone, was still engrossed in watching short videos:

[Watch carefully, this man called Xiao Shuai accidentally drew a 'Snow Cellar Talisman' and evolved a 1-star 'Snow Ferret Slave' into a 9-star 'Jade Winged Flying Beast'...]

[You've never seen bizarre news like this before. A 'Eucalyptus Lizard' in its prime was ruthlessly killed just because it happened to pass by...]

[Folks, after two and a half years, there are rumors of trouble again at the Silver Coast. I, the host, have already bought my plane ticket and am preparing to explore the deep sea with 'Lan Qiu'. Follow me to stay updated...]

Noticing that Chen Xuan seemed interested in the video content, the female deskmate immediately issued an invitation with joy:

"Let's watch it together, this host wearing overalls is really funny."

"No need, thank you."

Chen Xuan shook his head politely, trying hard to calm his current mood.

If the previous test questions or exam points could still be explained as a combined official event.

Then, after watching so many short videos with his deskmate, he confirmed one thing - he had crossed into a parallel world with the "Spirit Manipulation Talisman Scripture" as the background.

After all, the content of the short videos involved various aspects of film, life, news, etc.

Maybe one or two videos could be faked, but surely not all videos were part of a coordinated performance?

'Wait, those cards I bought earlier...'

Chen Xuan suddenly thought of something and reflexively reached into his school bag.

As expected, his assembled deck of "Spirit Manipulation Talisman Scripture" cards was gone.

But...

He made another incredible discovery.

When he just thought about the cards related to this deck, images of the cards automatically appeared in his mind.

Every line and every rune on them was crystal clear.

"No wonder the official cards for five bucks a pack come with an 'electronic version'..."

Chen Xuan silently approved the meticulous attention of the manufacturers.

Having the deck of cards or not was way too important to him, who was now in a parallel world.

Because 'Spirit Binders' need to practice 'Talisman Skills' to assist the growth and battle of 'Spirits'.

The so-called 'Talisman Skills' could be simply understood as buffing spirits.

After all, it is difficult for spirits to develop new skills later in life, apart from their innate racial skills.

『If spirits can use more skills, they will surely become even more powerful.』

Based on this goal, generations of Spirit Binders and scholars have observed the similarities between various Spirit racial skills and combined them with 'Runic Studies' for analysis and conversion.

Eventually, a complete auxiliary system—the Talisman Skills—was formed.

By drawing talismans, Spirit Binders can help spirits use other skills besides their own racial skills during battle, greatly increasing their combat potential.

Even...

Some closely-fitted 'nurturing' Talisman Skills can even help spirits discover a whole new evolutionary path, such as the previously mentioned 'Snow Cellar Talisman' in the short videos.

Through the brief understanding just now, Chen Xuan discovered that the current parallel world's research progress on 'Talisman Skills' seems to be only equivalent to the initial version of "Spirit Manipulation Talisman Scripture".

In other words, there are many useful talismans yet to be drawn.

Such a huge information gap undoubtedly gave him a lot of options.

Whether he chose to be a researcher, producing various new talismans like a pig, or sending SCI and advancing up the ranks with his advisor

Or becoming a Spirit Binder to punch the South Sea Dragon King and kick the North Frost Bear with his unique Talisman Skills,

His future was bright!

Of course...

The prerequisite for all of this was—enrolling in Spirit Manipulation Arts.

"A world without Chen Xuan—no Talisman Skills to discuss!"

Chen Xuan, who had already made up his mind, stood up, went downstairs, and headed straight to the playground.

At the moment, the playground was neatly arranged with strange-looking devices.

They looked like height-measuring weighing scales, but were bigger, more technologically advanced.

'This must be the Spirit Awakening device, right?'

Chen Xuan guessed.

Before the introduction of the Spirit Awakening device, the criterion for determining whether a person could become a Spirit Binder was whether the 'Spiritual Energy' in their body could grow naturally to a certain value, causing a qualitative change by accumulating quantitative changes.

The role of the Spirit Awakening device is to stimulate Spiritual Energy, promoting a qualitative change in the absence of sufficient quantitative changes.

'I wonder how much 'Spiritual Energy' I have...'

Chen Xuan subconsciously felt his belly.

Spirit Energy is a special kind of energy that exists in the bodies of modern people, gradually growing like height, reaching a peak during puberty, then gradually losing its ability to grow naturally.

Although Spiritual Energy was discovered in the mid-19th century, current research suggests that the first appearance of Spiritual Energy in human bodies should be traced back to the mid-18th century, consistent with the time when Demon Spirits first appeared.

From another perspective, normal animals have acquired extraordinary powers and metamorphosed into Demon Spirits, and Spiritual Energy is another extraordinary power possessed by humans, isn't it?

In a sense, humans might be considered Demon Spirits as well.

"Next!"

There were uniformed personnel next to each Spirit Awakening device, and orderly queues formed in front of them.

At that moment, a male student was standing on the Spirit Awakening device, holding the handles of the device.

'Crackle!'

An electric light flashed suddenly, followed by a thunder-like explosion.

Looking closely, a talisman wrapped in lightning had unexpectedly appeared in front of the boy.

"Gosh! He actually awakened!"

"Isn't it too early? He just entered high school, and it opened?"

"And the awakened Talent Talisman is 'Favor of Thunder,' which amplifies all Thunder-based Talisman Skills. That's incredible..."

The students in line instantly started discussing fervently.

'So the sign of Spiritual Energy changing from quantitative to qualitative is the awakening of a 'Talent Talisman,' huh?'

Chen Xuan suddenly realized.

Unlike other table games, "Spirit Manipulation Talisman Scripture" requires two sets of cards, one fixed and one customizable by the player.

At the start of the game, in addition to drawing base 'Spirit Cards' and 'Talisman Skill Cards' as hand cards from the 'customizable card deck,' each player would draw a 'Talent Talisman' from the 'fixed card deck.'

Often, the tactical layout of the entire game revolves around the 'Talent Talisman.'

Because if used properly, even seemingly inconspicuous weak spirits can directly acquire terrifying strength to slaughter higher-level opponents.

For example, the Cannibal Rat.

With only a one-star racial rating and no evolutionary forms, it is practically cannon fodder on the battlefield.

However, it does have a rather unique Racial Skill—Demonic Bond.

The skill effect is to plant a parasitic worm in the opponent's body, sharing life and death, joy and suffering.

At first glance, it seems you can employ attrition tactics, opting for extreme one-for-one trades?

Not quite.

Because once the controller dies, the parasitic worm is immediately rendered ineffective.

In other words, if killed instantly by a single move, the 'Demonic Bond' cannot function.

But...

If the drawn Talent Talisman is 'Ten Deaths, Still Alive,' then the situation becomes entirely different.

Because the effect of this Talent Talisman is to help the Spirit maintain a near-death state once when receiving fatal damage, allowing them to keep fighting.

That means the extreme one-for-one attrition tactic can truly be implemented in a meaningful sense.

Even...

If combined with a first-strike type skill, a clutch counter-kill becomes possible!

'Although the broadcast only invited freshmen and sophomores to participate in the Spirit Awakening Ceremony, I, a senior, should be able to slip in without being easily detected, right?'

Thinking that way, Chen Xuan went to the back of the line, intending to sneak into the queue.

However, as he passed by the Spirit Awakening device, a buzzing sound suddenly filled his ears, followed by a wave of dizziness that overwhelmed his mind, making his feet stagger...