AN: I am trying to write this so that even if someone did not read Reverend Insanity they would still understand it, so don't worry too much if you haven't :).
Fang Yuan POV
I examine the girl. She has brown hair and has her short black hair held in a bun by a pin. She is also wearing a green robe. This is undoubtedly Shen Cui. She is Fang Yuan's personal servant, acting as a maid for him. The moment his…my? aptitude is revealed to be low C-grade instead of the expected A-grade she instantly switches her lovey dovey act towards my brother, Fang Zheng, who actually ends up having A-grade aptitude.
I just rise from my bed, keeping silent as I proceed to follow her outside. On our way I listen to the people we pass by, trying to see if I can understand anyone. By the time we arrive at the baths I haven't managed to understand a single thing I've been hearing around me. The only thing that I managed to find out is that the language everyone is speaking is mandarin, and that's only because I heard someone say Ni Hao to what I presume is their friend.
After helping me to clean up and dress Shen Cu then proceeds to lead me somewhere else. The only saving grace that I have is that my brother decided to get all of the positive luck bonuses in the CYOA. I haven't read far enough into the novel to be able to use foreknowledge to just bullshit my way through.
Shen Cui opens the door to what appears to be a dining room and leads me inside. There's three people sitting there and eating at this moment, a middle aged man, a pretty middle aged woman and a teenage boy. I go and sit down on the only remaining seat, whilst Shen Cui is moving to stay behind me, and quietly stare at the food in front of me for a little bit. Two pieces of chicken legs and some vegetables. Shen Cui says something from behind me once she notices that I'm not eating, as does my uncle.
I pick up the chopsticks, thanking my lucky stars that I had learned how to use them during my weeb phase, and begin eating not out of hunger, but mostly out of paranoia and not wanting to stand out. Despite only reading the novel up to about chapter one hundred I'd still ended up looking up some things up out of curiosity, so while I know that my luck is supposedly on the levels of looney tunes characters I'd still rather not rely on it or test it excessively. In Between bites I give Shen Cui a thoughtful look.
She would probably make for a good test run for my luck now that I think about it some. Originally, after the protagonist's aptitude is revealed she then attempts to sleep with him, her goal being to then claim that she was raped by him. She would do this on the orders of my uncle, who is almost certainly the middle aged man at the table, to have the grounds to have the protagonist disinherited so that he could keep his dead parents inheritance that he's supposed to be keeping for me and my brother. Her reason for doing all of that is simple, she wishes to marry into the clan in order to elevate herself above her current status as a servant.
Now that would become my problem to deal with. If that CYOA was right then today should be the day of the awakening ceremony. Every year the aperture of every clan member who is at fifteen years of age will be awakened. This singular event decides one's fate in this clan. If one ends up having good talent, they will be nurtured by the clan. If one ends up having bad talent, they will end up having to fend for their own. If one has the bad fortune to end up having no talent they become worthless.
I can see afterwards if I can somehow get her on my side, that should serve as a some-what risk-free way to assess exactly how lucky I'm supposed to be. All I need to make sure is that I don't sleep with her until I know whether or not she's trying to screw me over.
By the time I'm halfway through my food my uncle and the middle aged woman, whom I'm assuming is his wife, are done eating. They both put their chopsticks on the table. My uncle says some words to me and the teenage boy, whom I'm also assuming to be my brother, Fang Zheng. I really need to learn the language, until then I have to pretend to have gone mute with shock at being C-grade trash.
After hearing Fang Zheng give a short, clipped response I look at my uncle and give him a nod. That seems to have satisfied him, as he then rises from his seat and goes outside. My brother takes one last bite from his chicken and goes upstairs. I continue eating silently.
After I'm done eating I leave my chopsticks on the table, just like I saw my uncle doing, before I get up. I leave the house, Shen Cui ends up following me to the door. Once I get outside I go in the direction that everyone else appears to be going, hopefully I'll end up where I need to be for the ceremony.
After taking a right turn I find what is unmistakably where the awakening ceremony will take place. The building looks very similar to a shrine. Five meter tall wooden red arches mark the path to the entrance, the gates into the building itself are ten meters from said gates. The building is made of wood, painted white, is in the shape of a rectangle and is two stories tall. After I enter inside I give a quick look around.
A pool of water filled with tiny lights sits at the center of the building, the pool is carved into a big block of marble. A set of stairs lead up and then down into it, with about twenty teenagers sitting nervously near the entrance into the pool. The walls are painted the same bland white as the outside. Candles are scattered throughout the area around the pool, their flames providing just enough light to see. The pool itself however is lit much more brightly than its surroundings, with chandeliers hanging just high enough that a person going underneath won't hit their head on them.
I walk towards the teenagers, trying to see if I can recognize any of them. My brother is among them, other than him I don't recognize anyone else. Once I reach them I spend the time until the ceremony begins listening to the people around me. I recognize some of the names being thrown around, like Fang Yuan, which is me, Chi Cheng, Fang Zheng, Mo Bei and more. While we're waiting for the ceremony to begin, more teens start to gradually join us, one hour later there's about fifty of us.
A person, whom I'm assuming to be the clan leader, begins giving what I think is a speech. Can't tell for sure since I can't understand a thing he's saying. I gotta figure out a way to speedrun learning the damn language. Once he is done talking he begins naming people, the first of which is Mo Bei.
A dark haired and broadly built teen walks up to the entrance to the pool. He takes a deep breath, goes in, the water reaching up to his chest, and begins to walk as far as he can into the pool. I count the number of steps he is taking. When he reaches twenty he appears to be putting in considerably more effort than before. At the thirtieth step he begins to sluggishly shuffle forward. At thirty three steps he stops. His aptitude is B-grade, 66%. When exiting the pool he inevitably ends up spilling water near the entrance.
Aptitude is split in four categories, depending on how much primeval essence an aperture can hold.
A grade aptitude is between 80-99%. This means that one's aperture can hold up from 80% to 99% primeval essence, filling them with more that your aptitude is impossible. At this grade cultivation is a breeze, breakthroughs are easy and simple. In the Gu Yue clan this grade of talent is eligible to become clan head, appearing on average only once every three years. Reaching rank 4 is practically a guarantee for someone of this talent, with the higher end having much lesser difficulties reaching rank 5.
B-grade aptitude is between 60% and 79%. At this level cultivation becomes challenging. Reaching rank 4 will be challenging. Someone at this level one is able to reach rank 3 and become an elder inside the clan.
C-grade Aptitude is between 40% and 59%. This is the level where I am at, with an aptitude of 44%. At this level breaking through to rank 2 will be challenging, breaking through to rank 3 will be practically impossible for someone at the lower end.
D-rank aptitude is between 20% and 39%. For someone at the higher end breaking through to rank 2 will be extremely difficult, at the lower end it will be impossible. At this level one can be said to barely qualify to be called a Gu Master, their prospects are slim. Most at this level will become logistics masters.
I carefully listen to the people around me now, trying to correlate words and learn something from the language. Hopefully I'll be able to hold something resembling a conversation soon. The second person ends up stopping at the twelfth step. Their aptitude is D-rank, 24%.
After eight tries I hear the clan leader shout out my name, I take a deep breath, approach the pool and carefully enter it, making sure not to slip on any of the water that got spilled near the entrance. The first ten steps are effortless. The next five are more difficult. After the twentieth step I have to focus and concentrate as much as possible to take the remaining steps. After the twenty-second It becomes impossible to move further. It feels as though the water turned into steel, not as if I'm moving through simple water.
Everyone went silent. Their expectations were that I would have had great aptitude. Now that it's been revealed I am C-grade trash their esteem for me has completely gone. The walk back to the group is accompanied by surprised exclamations as everyone begins discussing my aptitude. When I exit the pool I take care once more not to slip. After I reach the group the clan leader shouts out my brother's name.
Fang Zheng nervously walks towards the pool. As he is stepping into the pool he ends up slipping. His head smashes into the marbled edge of the pool, spreading his brain everywhere. Thankfully none of the gore reached me, can't say the same for the guy next to me.
Everyone has gone silent. After a few moments the clan leader starts talking for a bit. Once he's done two mortal guards come over and wrap Fang Zheng's body in a big white cloth. Afterwards servants come and clean the small bits of gore. After everything gets wrapped up the clan leader barks out another name.
If they were aware of Fang Zheng's aptitude the clan would be much more somber, as it is he was assumed to be of low talent, since he displayed nothing out of the ordinary in either strength or smarts. This is also a benefit to me, since I can pass off becoming mute as being a result of trauma.
The next one to come is Chi Cheng. He ends up having B-grade talent. The thing is the guy cheated, his real talent is C-grade. The rest of the ceremony goes along without anything notable happening. Most of the group ends up having C and D grade talent, with a few being lucky enough to have B grade talent.
Once everyone is done the clan leader begins giving another speech. I pay attention in the hopes that it will help me learn the language. After he is done I wait for everyone else to begin leaving, making sure there's nothing else I need to be present for.
Once I arrive home I find Shen Cui waiting for me at the door. She guides me to dinner, where my uncle and his wife are waiting. Once I sit down he begins talking to me. I make sure not to nod or give any form of response to him. In the novel it's revealed he plans to adopt the protagonist as his son so that he can disinherit him and kick him out with no repercussions afterwards. If I give any form of assent then I might just fuck myself over.
Once he's done talking he waits for my response. I give no response. He talks some more, this time with a much more compassionate tone. I give no response. He sighs and talks a little more, beginning to eat afterwards. To pass off the image of trauma and depression I don't eat anything. Once he is done eating he gets up, patting my back and telling me something on his way. His wife finishes eating soon afterwards and follows him.
I take my plate of food, chicken and vegetables, and go to my room, Shen Cui following me as I do. When I reach my room I leave the plate on my table and sit on the bed. Shen Cui ends up standing inside the room, to the side of the closed door, seemingly unsure of what to say. Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out how to get her to teach me some of the language. Going through my memories of this morning there's a couple words that both her and my uncle said to me. I decide to take a risk.
I pick up the chicken leg and say that word, before leaving it down and picking up the chopsticks, keeping them in the air and pointing at them with my other hand as I do so. At first she looks at me confused, before her eyes go wide and she nervously gulps. She says a word, which I assume to mean chopsticks. I put the chopsticks down and pick up my pillow, she says another word. We spend the rest of the day this way, me pointing at things and her telling me the word for them.
Hopefully that eidetic memory perk helps here, the sooner I can learn the language the better. After night comes she leaves my room, having bowed to me before doing so. Once she closes the door I begin inspecting my aperture.
The Aperture is an ethereal, metaphysical organ located between the kidneys, the space inside of it is large, whilst it itself. Since I am at rank 1 initial stage right now it is currently 44% filled with jade green primeval essence. The walls holding the primeval essence are made of light. Inside of the aperture itself there is a Gu floating on the primeval essence sea. It looks very similar to a smartphone.
I pull it out of my aperture and it appears in my outstretched hand. It's size is about the same as my palm. Once I lightly tap its screen it turns on just like an actual phone would. Fiddling with it reveals that it's a form of information holding Gu, containing that rank 6 inheritance the CYOA mentioned. Information of all kinds of blood related Gu and their recipes are held, including the magnum opus of the man who left it. The Immortal Vampire Gu.
Other than the inheritance this holds some information about both the set of ten Gu I'm supposed to have and the three secret manuals. The gu are already decided, once I want I can 'will' each of them to appear In my aperture. The set is composed of the following gu:
Dream travel Gu
Dream wings Gu
Dream pillow Gu
Dogshit luck Gu
Liquor worm Gu
Blood qi Gu
Essence Lotus Gu
Slavery Gu
Amplify effect Gu
Blood-Step Gu
The ten recipes for Gu ranks 1 to nine are also for these Gu. I have no Idea what any of them other than the liquor worm actually do.
After some more fiddling I also manage to find the manuals. The first is named Soul Cultivation, it is a manual on soul cultivation, involving essentially damaging the soul just enough that it heals stronger. The second is a manual called Body Cultivation, obviously involving body cultivation, where one slowly changes their body to become procedurally stronger. The third manual is called Mind Cultivation, involving training the mind through the soul, pairing fairly well with the first manual.
Each of these three have limits however. None of them hold any form of techniques, each of them strictly focusing only on improving the body. The soul manual is practically useless, as its methods can't even scratch my soul, let alone injure it. The body manual is somewhat useful, since it can help mitigate some of the drawbacks that strength Gu have. The mind manual is equivalent to the body manual for me, since it seems to mainly concern improving mental functions, like reflexes, memory, etc. One thing I note is that while it can make you be able to think faster it won't make you think better.
Once I'm done skimming through everything on the phone I go to bed, not wanting to wake-up too late and end up having no clue where the academy is. If I wake up early I'll be able to follow everyone else and figure out where the academy is.