Chapter : 9
TL : eris81194
PR : Adrian Katastofi
【Summoned Beast: Zhang Ping】
【Master: Zhang Ping】
【Species: Human】
【Potential: ⭐⭐⭐】
【Lifespan: 89】
【Rank: Junior Awakener】
【Level: 2】
【Talents】
【Contract Gem: Consumes stamina and mental energy to condense a contract gem. Once a target voluntarily accepts the contract gem, their fate, soul, and consciousness will be dominated by the summoner. At the same time, they will also receive potential and luck support from the summoner. After the first consumption, subsequent consumption will slightly enhance the target’s potential, with a 1% chance of awakening new abilities. Note: Summoner Zhang Ping’s talent, acquired through overdrawing intelligence, potential, and luck, is powerful but has significant drawbacks. Ambition might not always be beneficial.】
【Absolute Command: You have absolute control over the summoned beast. They cannot disobey your commands.】
【Absolute Obedience: You must absolutely obey the commands of the summoner, executing them with utmost loyalty.】
【Stable Identification Technique: Can appraise a target with a very small chance of obtaining information about them. The closer the power gap, the higher the chance of success. After a successful appraisal, subsequent appraisals of the same target will have a significantly higher success rate. Note: This talent was born from the combined curiosity of the summoner Zhang Ping and the summoned beast Zhang Ping.】
【Night Walker: Gains night vision, with significantly reduced presence at night. Movement speed increases, body weight decreases, and when in the shadows, becomes completely invisible.】
【Fire Eater: Can restore stamina by consuming flames and convert excess fire into elemental energy stored within the body. When energy is released, temporary fire envelopment is gained until the stored energy is exhausted. This ability will gradually increase the user’s resistance to high temperatures. Note: Potential is just potential; only when it turns into strength does it become true power.】
……
After some effort, Zhang Ping put the materials into the mold, pounded them with a sledgehammer, and then applied fire oil. He sat down to rest, checking his attributes.
The first thing he noticed was that his potential had decreased by one star.
But after reading the notes on his abilities, he understood the meaning of potential.
Potential is not strength.
It is the power within his body that has not yet been realized.
Only through training or acquiring new talents can potential turn into strength.
Other awakeners, and even mutated beasts, have limited potential, but Zhang Ping can continuously enhance his potential through contract gems, then convert potential into strength through training and awakening new talents.
This is an endless road to prosperity!
After reading the notes, Zhang Ping remembered a detail from observing the celestial foxes.
He observed that most celestial foxes had only two-star potential, but the cub he wanted to kill had four-star potential.
At the time, he mistakenly thought the cub was a genius among the celestial foxes, so it had stronger potential.
Now he realized that it was because the potential of the celestial foxes cub had not yet been realized as strength.
“No, I gained an extra star when I awakened Night Walker.”
Zhang Ping quickly recalled the situation the night he awakened Night Walker. However, it was hard to say how much potential Night Walker consumed.
Different levels of abilities certainly consume different amounts of potential.
For instance, he was initially categorized as having a useless level of ability.
If it were truly a useless level ability, it would consume very little potential.
Following this logic, Night Walker likely has limited potential, or perhaps didn’t consume much potential at the time.
The ability levels of awakeners are hard to accurately appraise, and evaluators can only make judgments based on experience.
Currently, Pearl City categorizes abilities into seven levels:
【Useless Level】
Simply put, these are abilities that cannot be activated or have no impact. Abilities that are of no use, such as silent farting or alien death ray.
“Silent farting” is a famous ability at Pearl Academy of Ability, whose owner’s name is unknown, but the ability is simple and straightforward: their farting sound is silenced.
In their first year, teachers often use this ability as an example.
The “alien death ray” is an ability where the awakened individual’s eyes emit invisible rays that can kill all aliens instantly.
The problem is, aliens have never appeared in Pearl City, so this ability is classified as useless, as the target of the ability doesn’t exist.
【Convenience Level】
Can provide some convenience but has no combat applications.
For example: immune to colds, regrowing teeth.
Once, an individual awakened the ability to be immune to colds and later became a doctor.
He dedicated himself to studying viruses that cause colds, even trying to use them as weapons. Eventually, he was infected by a virus that caused a fever but no cold, and his brain was fried, turning him into an idiot.
【Practical Level】
Abilities that provide positive assistance to the user.
Examples: storage space, food enhancement, eagle eye, enhanced sense of smell.
The first three abilities actually have good development potential. However, they are classified at a practical level because the users of these abilities often struggle to advance. Most of them reach the intermediate level and then stop progressing, finding it difficult to break through to a higher level.
In simple terms, these three abilities exhaust their potential at the intermediate level.
As for the higher levels, they are similar to the practical level. If they can be infinitely strengthened, they can be very powerful. The problem is that once their potential is exhausted, they will stop progressing at different levels. This is why they are classified into different levels.
Another situation that can lead to a downgrade in ability is when the activation conditions are too stringent.
Zhang Ping’s Contract Gem only requires stamina and mental energy, but some abilities require the consumption of soul, luck, lifespan, or humanity.
Such abilities cannot be used frequently, and thus their level rating is lowered.
【Combat Level】
Abilities that can be useful in battle, such as: iron body, rapid healing, enhanced senses, and appraisal.
【City Guardian Level】
Abilities with the potential to grow into protecting a city, such as: mind control, gravity manipulation, equipment forging, and clairvoyance.
【Nation Guardian Level】
Abilities with the potential to grow into protecting a nation, such as: enhanced sixth sense, and precognition.
【Infinite Level】
Abilities with unimaginable potential, making it difficult to determine their limits, such as: ability replication, artifact forging, and insight.
…
Among these seven levels, anyone who awakens a combat level ability is eligible to join the Patrol and Investigation teams. Certain special practical-level abilities, after evaluation, can also qualify for these organizations.
For example, practical level storage space ability users are often taken in by the three main organizations as logistics personnel.
Most of the awakened abilities at the Pearl Ability Academy are at the convenience and practical levels. Only a few talents can reach the combat level, such as Su Jingyao who awakened Psychokinesis. At the time of awakening, she could lift nearly half a ton, although only for thirty seconds.
Another example is the Rock Armor ability mentioned by Su Jingyao. It is also a combat-level ability.
As for the city guardian level, only one person from Pearl Ability Academy has ever reached it, and that is Luo Shiyu.
Luo Shiyu’s ability was Temperature Control, allowing her to easily change the temperature within a ten-meter radius centered on her body. If she had not been killed by the Celestial Fox too early, with her potential, she would have become a pillar of Pearl City.
Regarding the nation guardian and infinite levels, Pearl City has not seen such abilities in hundreds of years. These abilities exist only in textbooks.
For example, the infinite level Ability Replication was seen in Pearl City two hundred years ago.
This ability user could replicate all abilities below the nation guardian level. Whether it could replicate infinite level abilities is unknown since there was no one else with such abilities to experiment with during that era.
Zhang Ping can be certain that the Contract Gem ability is absolutely an infinite level ability.
He doesn’t need to replicate anyone’s abilities. By continuously consuming Contract Gems, he can naturally awaken various abilities.
Being omnipotent is just a matter of time.
He did not continue to think further since potential is only potential after all.
Although he gained a powerful ability, he is still a primary awakened. Any intermediate awakened can easily defeat him.
…
The second forging attempt failed without any surprises.
This was because the temperature in the furnace dropped too low due to the sudden awakening of the Fire Eater ability, causing some materials to not integrate well with the fine iron. As a result, many cracks appeared in the sword’s pattern, indicating that it was a failure.
Zhang Ping was a bit disappointed, but since he awakened a new ability, he was not too dejected.
He sat by the furnace, continuously absorbing the flames. Once the flames weakened, he added more firewood and continued absorbing.
Since he had just awakened, the Fire Eater’s capacity for fire elements was limited. After half an hour, he felt full.
He could sense an energy accumulating within his body, not stored in a specific organ but flowing with his blood throughout his body. When he wanted to control this energy, it moved like a heat flow with his thoughts.
With this new toy-like ability, he spent the whole afternoon manipulating this heat flow, sometimes focusing it on his fists, other times on his legs, and even trying to gather it in a certain unmentionable area.
To be honest, this ability is much more fun than the Contract Gem or Night Walker.
Although the Contract Gem is powerful, it ultimately only produces a gem. Both its visual effect and the feeling of use are average, similar to suddenly feeling a bit tired and sleepy due to the consumption of stamina and mental energy.
As for the Night Walker, it only passively enhances his abilities at night, making it a passive ability.
But Fire Eater is different.
Fire Eater allows him to consume flames and control the fire element energy within his body.
Strictly speaking, this is his first practical superpower.
By evening, he could already control a small amount of fire element energy to wrap around his fingers. Once this energy leaked from his fingers, it would turn into flames surrounding them. Visually, this ability is truly cool.
Another point is that Zhang Ping found that with sufficient fire element energy in his body, he could resist cold, which gave him more confidence to meet the mysterious woman who gave him the note.
At night, after dinner, he absorbed another round of flames.
After confirming that Liu Tiefeng was asleep, he left the Iron Soul and headed to the small park.
