Your Talent is Mine Chapter 4: Talent Metamorphosis

"Should I proceed with the merge?"

Right then, Ye Tian held back from merging, unsure of the effects it might trigger. A hidden location would serve better for the process.

The academy enforced relaxed rules, paying scant attention to students' arrivals and departures; absences carried no consequences.

Truthfully, after absorbing the body forging technique, pupils largely trained solo, given that academy instructors spent little time instructing on cultivation methods.

This described the Fifth Academy's reality. Conditions differed vastly at the First Academy.

In essence, just the First Academy stood as a genuine school, with the rest functioning more like oversized martial halls.

At home, his sister Ye Yu pored over texts filled with martial arts insights. These volumes, bequeathed by their parents, occupied her spare hours as she readied herself for training in two years.

Ye Tian slipped into his chamber by himself and bolted the entry.

"Merge!"

Boom!

A strange energy coursed through Ye Tian's frame, enveloping him entirely.

Pain!

Overwhelming agony flooded his consciousness, making his form seem ready to burst apart.

"Damn it, who knew that absorbing the duplicated talent would hurt this much!" Ye Tian grumbled inwardly with frustration.

Yet, even aware of the torment ahead, he would have fused it without pause. Such an opportunity to reshape his talent felt like a rebirth with fresh foundations. A bit of suffering paled in comparison.

"Big Brother, are you okay?" Ye Yu's gentle voice came from beyond the door, as if picking up on the disturbance.

"I'm fine!" Ye Tian forced out through clenched jaws.

He resisted crying out, lest he face awkward questions.

Luckily, the intense discomfort arrived swiftly and departed equally quick. After ten minutes, the ache in Ye Tian's body eased away, giving way to a soothing ease, akin to the bliss shared in intimate encounters.

Of course, Ye Tian remembered the key matter at hand.

He promptly examined his talent status.

Human: Ye Tian Cultivation Talent: Medium Talent

Gazing at the details on the holographic display, excitement bubbled within Ye Tian.

At last, his talent no longer ranked as feeble. This shift confirmed a real transformation, opening doors to boundless prospects.

Warrior, Elite Warrior, Grand Warrior ceased to mark his ceiling. By steadily acquiring fresh talents through fusion, he was destined to surpass Grand Warrior status someday.

"One month… I'll need to wait another month before copying talents once more!" That was the detail Ye Tian gleaned post-copy.

This implied talents could only be duplicated monthly.

"Time to test the cultivation pace from medium talent!" Eagerness filled Ye Tian.

Actually, having learned the first 18 forms of the body forging technique the day before, he had tested them out, but the results proved minimal. A faint prickling spread across his skin. Without his robust soul, he might have overlooked it entirely.

Since the sensation felt shallow, he attended lessons that day to check for errors in his form.

Unfortunately, his execution was flawless, indicating his original cultivation rate was agonizingly sluggish, yielding no gains without endless practice. Absent the fused talent, even a year's effort with his prior aptitude would leave him short of martial disciple rank.

"First form!"

"Second form!"

...

Ye Tian commenced the body cultivation routines inside his quarters. These poses appeared odd yet formed the finest foundational exercises humanity had honed through ages.

Executing the eighteen forms required half an hour. Completing the full set unlocked the body's strengthening benefits.

Before long, the half-hour elapsed, with Ye Tian flawlessly completing every one of the eighteen forms.

As the final form concluded, a wave of warmth abruptly rose within Ye Tian, circulating lazily to nourish his limbs, tempering them.

This thermal current embodied the body's latent power, and body cultivation served as a prime method to unlock it.

Still, excessive exploitation of potential risked bodily harm, so experts advised limiting sessions to ten daily, with no more than three in succession, drawing from collective human wisdom.

"Medium talent truly delivers, outshining yesterday's feeble practice by leaps… It's a hundredfold improvement. No surprise Chen Dong reached martial disciple in half a month, hitting 200 catties of power in a full month!" Satisfaction warmed Ye Tian toward his new medium talent, though he recognized superior levels existed, beyond his present grasp.

Thus, diligence became essential.

Once the warmth from the initial session faded, Ye Tian launched into the next round.

Following three straight body cultivation cycles, sweat drenched Ye Tian's body, mingled with subtle dark residues.

Ye Tian showered first, then devoured roughly ten steamed buns.

Body techniques drained vast energy, demanding extra intake for recovery.

A month passed.

Ye Tian trained in a modest wooded area of the Fifth Academy, a favored spot for his sessions.

"Phew, finished my ten daily rounds of body cultivation!"

Ye Tian halted and made for the third martial drill field.

Assorted rocks littered the field—some at a hundred catties, others two hundred, a few reaching three hundred.

Lifting a hundred-catty rock overhead for three seconds signaled 100 catties of might. A two-hundred-catty one denoted double that. It offered the most straightforward assessment.

By the eighth day of practice, Ye Tian had attained 100 catties, stepping into martial apprentice territory.

"Today ought to let me hoist the 200-catty rock. Chen Dong benefits from the dean's mentorship for swift gains. Yet my fused medium talent from weak and medium sources edges him out slightly in potential. Add a month of my unwavering effort, maxing out the ten rounds each day without slack—the later ones bring mounting agony, and few manage all ten. Given Chen Dong's nature, he likely sticks to seven or eight, so my advancement could outpace his."

Ye Tian mused silently.

After a brief pause, he approached the 200-catty boulder.

"Up!"

With mighty exertion, he hoisted the grounded stone and elevated it.

As the 200-catty weight cleared his head and he sustained it for three seconds, Ye Tian let it fall, collapsing to the earth in exhaustion.

He understood his power now matched 200 catties.

"A promising beginning. With medium talent, I might ascend to martial warrior in under a year!"

Ye Tian balled his hand, brimming with anticipation.

After roughly fifteen minutes' rest as dusk settled, Ye Tian departed the academy toward home.

Navigating the avenues, vendors kept their stalls lit, casting glows across the base.

This age lacked electric grids, though mighty strongholds harnessed elemental forces to mimic power, birthing wondrous tools that echoed pre-catastrophe splendor.

However, grand bases alone achieved this; tiny Linhai lacked such feats.

Folk relied on oil lamps or wax tapers. Amid these lanes, Ye Tian sensed a step back to bygone eras.

Abruptly.

"Ah, a ferocious beast!"

"Flee, a ferocious beast approaches!"

Terror and chaos erupted along the thoroughfare.