Back from Kunlun, I didn't rush Summon Element mastery. Time to tackle my long-held idea—get a talent.
Talent? Not violin skill or painting. Unique magical talent, like Mo Fan's double awakening.
Where from? Mages get theirs at first magic awakening. How to get one if I lacked it in both lives? Simple: steal it. How? From afar...
Over a century ago in China lived Wu Tu. Awakened in a small town like Bo City, got Wind Element. Unimportant. Key: his talent—Awakening Always Like the First Time.
Name's unclear, but it let him awaken a new talent per level, like a fresh first awakening.
After Mid Tier breakthrough, second talent: Element Transfer. Steal one mage's cultivation and give to another—even turn normals into mages. Post-awakening, Wu Tu went crooked.
Teamed with criminals, helped magic families/clans craft heirs with desired elements by stealing from commoners. And more.
With dark deed cash, Wu Tu hit High Tier, awakening Two Elements in One—earth and plants fused harmoniously in one stardust.
Then hunted for his skills; he hid in Mu Clan, providing services, cultivating safely, breaking to High Tier with Failed Awakening talent.
No more element awakenings. Talents can be debuffs.
During Spell breakthrough, a Mu Clan Spell mage attacked, ruining it; he became a lab rat till death.
Studying him, Mu Clan twisted his Element Transfer into Talent Extraction Ritual. Instead of clean transfer, it wrecked the victim's soul irreparably.
How do I know such dark secrets of one of China's strongest clans? Well, canon and my personal participation in the raid on that clan in my past life. There I familiarized myself with the ritual that I was going to use to get myself a talent. And not just one.
Unlike the butchers from the Mu Family, I'll only soul-cripple one person—Wu Tu. Since I'm intimately familiar with his life story, I know that after his breakthrough to Intermediate Tier, he awakened his second element in Jinglin. And this small city, like Bo City, has only one awakening association.
I don't know the exact date of his awakening, but I know the month and year. So I'll jump to the end of the month and steal the data on those awakened during that period.
Then I just need to kidnap him after the awakening and perform the ritual, taking his second talent so I can use it to steal other talents. The first one, with its possible debuffs, I don't need even for free. A mage who just broke through to Intermediate Tier, even without a Spiritual Seed, is clearly no match for me.
Why do I need Wu Tu's talent if I can steal talents with the Mu Family ritual?
I'm just not a soulless butcher. And among the talents that caught my eye, not all belong to die-hard villains. And if I just steal a talent I like from them, maybe even giving another in exchange, my conscience will allow it.
But inflicting irreparable soul trauma on that same beauty Heidi from Alpine University, with whom I had friendly relations in my past life, I can't. So it's time to go for the data.
Everything went smoothly. I jumped to the end of the required month. I pressed my spirit element on a simple clerk and asked where they keep the data on those awakened that month. I broke in, grabbed all the drawers with folders into my spatial ring, and was gone.
Good thing there was no such thing as digitizing documents a hundred years ago. My hacking skills are zero without a stick.
Flipping through a dozen folders, I found the day and time of Wu Tu's awakening. Time to head out on the job.
Jumping to Jinglin, I first exchanged some resources for local money and rented a spacious studio. Then I ambushed Wu Tu after he left the association and struck his mind with my spirit element, knocking him out.
Before his body hit the ground, I caught him and, pretending to be a guy taking his drunk friend home, led him to the studio where the ritual was already prepared on the floor.
Thirty minutes later, and the "Element Transfer" talent was in my hands. Now I need to practice on villains so I don't turn victims into this. I glance at Wu Tu's drooling body. I won't implant his foreign cultivation, but I'll be happy to take his talents.
Returning to my world, I started compiling a list of the talents I need and when to absorb them:
1. Qin Yu'er's innate ice calamity talent—mandatory absorption, but only at the Spell level, or I won't withstand it.
2. Reed's defense-ignoring talent from the German team in the world championships—need to dig up more info on him; he's my age. If no serious guards, absorb soon.
3. Ding Yumian's Mental Interaction—same as Qin Yu'er, only at the Spell level. Essentially, she's an innate spiritual calamity.
4. All in One—allows pouring the entire element reserve into one attack. Don't know the owner's name, but it should be in the country's top hundred talents; I'll check later. Possible peer; if no serious guards, absorb soon.
5. Heart of Three Apertures—Heidi's talent, allows creating three spells simultaneously. Absorb soon.
6. Mutated Stars—Dongfang Min's talent—raises star rank by one. Absorb soon.
7. Accelerated Recovery—talent of a possible peer. Boosts magic power recovery speed tenfold. Full reserve in 72 minutes. Absorb soon if no serious guards.
8. Random spell power boost from x2 to x5—does exactly what it says. Essentially an innate blessing. Talent of a possible peer. If not making it public, absorb after the university championships, or I'll get busted fast.
My plan is simple. I want to mimic Wu Tu's talent—Awakening Always Like the First Time. That'll explain how I have multiple talents and why nothing showed at the beginner level.
All that's left is to choose which talents I'll make official and practice on villains before going on the job. Also need to scour the lists of the world's best talents throughout history. Might find more good options.