Chapter 15: Talent Spirit

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Su Ye set the bag of coins and the short sword on the sacrificial altar, then held his breath as he observed the altar closely.

Nothing happened.

“Is it faulty?” Su Ye reached out and slapped the sacrificial altar, then kicked it with his foot. That was the most common and traditional way of repairing things in this world, after all.

It was ineffective.

Su Ye picked up the bronze short sword.

There was no effect.

He set the bronze short sword down and picked up the bag of coins, but there was still no effect.

Su Ye stared at the sacrificial altar for a long while. Ultimately, he had no choice but to step on the altar himself.

Su Ye felt indignant that he was unable to use the treasure sitting in front of him.

Su Ye deliberated for a moment, then closed his eyes and again sought to return to his room.

Su Ye once again appeared in the bedroom.

The bag of coins and bronze short sword weren’t in his hands.

“Hm… If I can’t get the sacrificial altar to work, I can at least use the place as a storage space. Even the dean of Plato Academy wouldn’t have such a large storage space aside from his Legendary Mage Tower.”

Even Su Ye’s thoughts, he hadn’t resigned himself to using the Wasteland as a storage shed yet. Instead, he reached out and touched the bed in the bedroom.

“I want to bring this bed into the Wasteland…” Su Ye started to imagine the headless statue.

He entered successfully.

After that, Su Ye started to move his entire household.

Su Ye moved everything that could be moved from his house, other than the items in the living room, into the Wasteland Space.

After that, Su Ye placed item after item onto the sacrificial altar.

It was completely ineffective.

Then, Su Ye started to place all of the items onto the sacrificial altar at once. He spent some time piling up all the items.

There was still no effect.

Su Ye sighed. He finally admitted to himself that either the sacrificial altar was faulty or the items he presented weren’t worthy of being an offering.

Thus, Su Ye quietly moved all of the items back to their original positions. By the time he was done, he had worked up a sweat.

“Just how should I use the Wasteland and this mysterious sacrificial altar?” Su Ye thought silently.

***

In the backyard of the Dolphin River Restaurant.

“… and that’s what happened.” Hark stood before Kaerton, having finished relaying everything that happened from when he followed Su Ye from the restaurant to when he arrived at Su Ye’s house.

Kaerton let out a soft sigh and said, “That is what it means to be crushed by intelligence. Su Ye has already planted the seeds of fear in Lawrence’s heart. Even if Lawrence decides that he wants to kill Su Ye in the future, he will have to be very careful. My logic tells me that Su Ye has set up a trap and is inviting me in. However, my intelligence tells me that stepping into his trap and placing my bets on him is my best option.”

Hark was silent.

“You have grievances you need to voice?” Kaerton smiled.

Hark shook his head.

Hark had begun to realize what was happening when Su Ye asked him to enlist the help of the city guards. It was only in the Blunt Knife Bar when Lawrence asked him whose decision it was that he completely understood Su Ye’s intentions.

Kaerton had agreed to Su Ye’s request and asked Hark to protect Su Ye. Kaerton did so because Su Ye had displayed a higher value and potential. However, protecting Su Ye came with a price. Hark could be killed, and Kaerton might have to abandon him if Lawrence’s backer got personally involved in the matter.

Hark knew that he was being put at risk during the exchange between Su Ye and Kaerton.

Thus, Su Ye had tried to console Hark before he left. Su Ye had hoped that Hark wouldn’t hold a grudge against Kaerton.

Kaerton didn’t explain. Instead, he looked up at the starry sky and said, “I intended the hundred Golden Eagles to be a loan, but I’ve changed my mind. That money is now his property. That is my second investment in him.”

The corner of Hark’s lips twitched. “If you hadn’t decided to give it to him, would he actually have returned it ten years from now?”

“What you really want to ask is if he will return your magic short sword, right?” Kaerton asked with a smile.

Hark didn’t speak.

***

In Su Ye’s house, the Wasteland.

Su Ye took a deep breath. He looked at the bronze short sword and bag of coins in his hands and said in his heart, “I’ll try it one last time! I’ll give up if this doesn’t work!”

Su Ye walked up to the sacrificial altar and placed the bronze short sword on it once again. The sacrificial altar didn’t react.

Su Ye let out a long sigh. He tossed the bag of coins toward the altar, turning to leave the moment the bag left his hands.

The sacrificial altar lit up!

The entire sacrificial altar suddenly glowed with a faint white light. Then, a small amount of white fog rose above the bag of coins as the bag disappeared into the sacrificial altar.

The innermost gold ring of the sacrificial altar suddenly exploded with intense light. It was so blinding that Su Ye had to shut his eyes tightly against the radiance.

After the strong light died down, the first layer of rings started to turn slowly. It sounded like a metal wheel grinding against the ground. The mysterious black-gold symbols on the surface shimmered and moved like little tadpoles in the ring.

After that, white light shot up from the center of the sacrificial altar. Four thumb-sized humanoid spirits emerged from within the light.

Every little spirit had their eyes closed. They were all curled into balls, with their arms hugging their knees. Their bodies were transparent, with bits of starlight circling within them. They all had a transparent pair of wings on their backs.

“These are… Talent Spirits? That means…” Su Ye was elated.

Talent Spirits were not living beings. Instead, they were an incredibly rare kind of power. Some people have them since birth, while others received them as they trained. They could also be created using magic or gifted by the gods.

Every Talent Spirit possessed a unique type of talent. Possessing a Talent Spirit was equivalent to owning that talent.

Su Ye stepped forward and observed them closely. Indeed, there were triangular magic patterns covering the wings of three of the Talent Spirits. These were Basic Talent Spirits. The wings of the other Talent Spirit were covered in square-shaped magic patterns. That was a Battle Talent Spirit.

Su Ye hurriedly took a deep breath. He collected himself and observed the four Talent Spirits closely.

The moment Su Ye rested his gaze on one of the Talent Spirits, he automatically knew what talent it possessed.

After he finished looking through the four Talent Spirits, Su Ye was left a little dumbfounded.

He had tested his blood when he was very little. The results revealed that the bloodline of deities in his body was minuscule to the point of non-existent, and so he only had a tiny chance of activating the Divine Power in his body. Becoming a mage was the only path that could lead him to power.

Thus, Su Ye had focused his efforts on becoming a mage since he was little.

The problem now was that the talents of these four Talent Spirits were completely unrelated to mages.

One was “Musical Awakening,” which allowed a person to be adept in music.

One was “Alluring Voice,” which imbued any song or speech he made with magnetism.

One was “Sculptor’s Hand.” This was an ability only famous sculptors had.

The last one was “Magic Cow’s Physicality,” which drastically increased a person’s physical strength. It could make the body of an average person become as strong as a Bronze Warrior that wasn’t using Divine Power.

“What’s going on?”

Su Ye stared at the four Talent Spirits for a long time, trying to sort through his emotions.

If he chose the path of an artist, the first three talents before him would give him a solid foundation and help him grow if he chose the path of an artist. The Magic Cow’s Physicality would be custom-made for him if he took the path of a warrior.

Su Ye didn’t want to be an artist or a warrior. He wanted to be a mage.

Su Ye shook his head in frustration. From the looks of it, he had no other choice but to take the Magic Cow’s Physicality. Having a powerful body was still rather important for a mage.

“I… I won’t become a Meat Shield Mage like those in the fables, will I?”

Su Ye shivered at that thought. He immediately tossed that idea to the back of his head, then stared at the last Talent Spirit experimentally. He silently selected that spirit in his heart.