Master of the Stars

Chapter 389: Discussing Talent

Translator: Strivon

“You’ve invited many people, all who are close to you. Of course you need to reserve a private room! And you have to keep in mind that the two circles don’t really fit well together. You can reserve two rooms. You can just run between the two.” Papercut was basically holding his hand throughout the entire dinner. He was an instructor for elementary courses, but he never thought that he would be responsible for teaching the most basic of social knowledge.

Luo Nan couldn’t help being embarrassed. After all, he hadn’t been concerned about tonight’s event at Frost River Reality at all. He had felt that they were just going to a gaming center, and that bringing people along was fine. How was he supposed know that there would be so many details to take care of when being the host?

It was true now that he thought about it. A special room had been reserved for the meet up with Mo Qiu and Tian Si.

“I will reserve one immediately.” Luo Nan was a bit flustered as he rushed to contact Frost River Reality. Normally, their business was so good that he wouldn’t even have half a chance, but his luck was good. Someone just so happened to cancel, and he also had special privileges given to him as compensation for being a victim at the Frost River Reality incident. This allowed him to seize a medium sized room.

However, the idea of booking two rooms was something impossible to achieve.

“If we can’t split, then we can’t. This fatty doesn’t look old. With my appearance, it should be enough for me to pretend to be young.” Papercut gave himself a few words of comfort before sighing, “Let’s go then. Let’s go wait first. I’ll teach you a trick. Since you’re the inviter, the minimum courtesy you have to extend is to be earlier than the guests.”

The new flagship store of Frost River Reality still maintained its usual high-end image. Its venue was located above Aurora Cloud City. This was the sixth building in the Cloud City Water Village complex. This was the sixth step in the stair-like complex form. Aside from the main building, it was the highest building.

Monday wasn’t the liveliest time of the week. Luo Nan’s party arrived late in the day, but they made it there before the evening peak caused from all the office workers getting off work. Though this Frost River Reality hadn’t been open for long, it still managed to attract quite a number of players. A tide of students came from the surrounding large activity area, becoming the main consumers for this time period.

The main theme of the flagship store of Frost River Reality this week was the Wasteland. Under technological reality, which could be easily mistaken for the real thing, streams of people from the glorious metropolis of modern day society stepped into small villages of decay. The feeling was quite bad.

Frost River Reality was adorned with reality technology. It was like a hungry beast swallowing in streams of people in large bites, and practically no one was spat back out.

“Their business is really exploding!” Papercut clicked his tongue in astonishment.

Luo Nan and the others had yet to enter. They sat in a beverage shop that was standard to every Frost River Reality, the Frozen Star. They ordered three drinks as they waited for Mo Han and Mo Peng to come.

The Frozen Star was also decorated in Frost River Reality’s Wasteland theme. It was covered in this theme. All the cups were exchanged for dilapidated wooden and metal products. The furniture was changed as well. Sitting here was like sitting in some vagrant tavern in the Wilderness, if one were to ignore the clothes that people wore. Oh, if one ordered a beverage worth more than a hundred credits, one can get a cup with a vagrant cloak wrapped around it.

“There’s just one word for this. Burn! Burn, money, burn!” Papercut sipped his drink as he judged this place, “The activity planner had probably gone to the Wilderness before. The background is quite like the real deal. It’s limited to this beverage shop though. What the hell is up with that small town? No one dares to do construction in the Wilderness. They would all get flattened by the Mutants.”

One could tell that Papercut was just this sort of sincere person from this playful conversation. He couldn’t hold back from showing off, but this was all he said. Soon they got more personal and started talking about the Flywheel Arm.

Papercut was still teaching Luo Nan a few things to take note of. “This toy’s components are joined together in an exquisite and complicated manner. It is not robust at all. Think back to that emergency slice-shot. Wasn’t it strenuous to dig it out from the tree trunk? In a typical medium-high intensity fight, the ability to recycle components isn’t high. As a conventional weapon, it possesses considerable logistics pressure.”

Luo Nan wasn’t ready to use the Flywheel Arm as a conventional weapon. He just used it to practice control over his interference power after merging three orifices into one. It was better for him to increase his number of contingency methods.

In any case, logistics was quite a realistic issue. Right, didn’t Papercut say that there was after-sales support?

Luo Nan asked about this, and Papercut laughed heartily, “I was waiting for you to ask that. Of course there is after-sales support. You even know him. It’s Old Zhai, man!”

Luo Nan was shocked, “This is Worker Zhai’s work?”

Papercut shook his head, “He wasn’t the chief creator, but he created one of the auxiliary designs. He was also in charge of the components in the beginning.”

He looked all around him and whispered, “Actually, the Flywheel Arm was a joint project between the Society and the government. Its main purpose was to research materials that could be easily interfered with, as well as the matching and structural design. Unfortunately, the project was scrapped halfway. Most of the research was unpublished. The Flywheel Arm was the only concrete result, but it’s quite lacking in power. It’s impossible for follow-up research to occur.”

“You all know that Old Zhai is very enthusiastic about this sort of thing. And, this is the first time he participated in research with the Society. He can’t give it up. He took the opportunity created from the scrapping of this project and bought the intellectual property rights to this toy with his own money. He even changed it to be handmade. Unfortunately, he has yet to be successful. Right now he is only maintaining after-sales support. He has put quite a bit of money into it.”

Luo Nan shook his head, “It’s far too hard if it’s just Worker Zhai doing it all by himself.”

Papercut shrugged, “So this counts as me marketing the item for him. If the goods are free, then the after-sales support is no go.”

“That’s for sure.” Luo Nan answered decisively.

Papercut spoke emotionally, “Old Zhai is certainly on the expert level when it comes to mechanical design, but his ability and talent is mediocre. He didn’t have the strength to support it. It really is impossible for others to believe that he could successfully build an ability user weapon. He also lost his drive in the past two years, but something changed the last time you visited him. I don’t know what happened, but you gave him motivation. He has been very excited these days.”

It’s good to be excited, but Luo Nan didn’t forget that Gym Master Xiu’s dynamo core was still in Worker Zhai’s possession. Worker Zhai was doing deep research on it. Naturally, making progress was the best thing that could happen.

Xue Lei had an understanding of Worker Zhai, just not as deep as Luo Nan. An image came to mind, and he faced Luo Nan and whispered, “Is it that Worker Zhai doesn’t have enough soul strength…?”

Luo Nan laughed when he heard Xue Lei’s words. These were typical amateur words. “All right. Let’s say I’m assessing your strength. If I say you have a certain amount of pounds for your punching force, then you have a certain amount of strength. Understand?”

A light bulb instantly went off in Xue Lei’s head, “Understood.”

The measurement of soul strength must be done comprehensively. The Society has an all-around measurement standard. There were four basic measures: depth, intensity, sensitivity, and affinity. But it was quite lacking to say that these were precise quantifications.

Therefore, it was hard for Luo Nan to say what was the crucial element in inhibiting the growth of Worker Zhai’s strength. Soul strength was too mysterious and complex, after all.

Papercut gulped down his drink, ice-cubes and all, “Talent, talent, talent! I can state its importance three hundred times and it wouldn’t be enough. This is especially true in our field. If you start off as a blank slate and you’re unable to reach a certain level, then you won’t be able to reach it for a lifetime! Though Old Zhai has some skills, he’s just lacking that little bit. He won’t be able to make it in his life. As long as he can’t, then the many tempering methods to increase one’s power become completely meaningless.”

Luo Nan and Xue Lei glanced at each other. They both couldn’t quite accept it.

Xue Lei felt that, on one hand, some of his own skills were thanks to having the guidance of a famous teacher. On another hand, his skills were the product of his hard work and training. Talent wasn’t the decisive factor.

Luo Nan thought to his grandfather’s Formatting Theory. If he had talent, the talent’s foundation was his grandfather’s theory. He had used drugs to build and shape every step along the way.

Papercut was probably able to guess what these two teenagers were thinking, but he didn’t care. Of the sixty-thousand ability users in the world, nearly ninety percent lacked the aptitude. It was impossible for them to truly awaken. They could only be whittled away in torment under a state of being neither high enough nor low enough.

Seeing the light yet having one’s hopes obliterated was truly one of the most painful experiences in the world. Without long and vast experience, the two little fellows were incapable of truly understanding this community.

This had to be learned through experience…

The two sides locked gazes. The energetic youngsters and the negative uncle communicated without words, and the crackling of static noise rang through the air. A gap to talk just so happened to appear. Xue Lei couldn’t hold back from asking, “How is it possible for there to be zero tempering methods to increase one’s power? The gym master once said, ‘All people possess the three treasures of essence, energy, and spirit. Essence overflows and energy flourishes. Energy flourishes as spirit is ample.’ They’re linked down like this. If there isn’t enough soul strength, then it’s impossible to strengthen and exercise the body!”

Papercut laughed, “The physically enhanced and the mentally enhanced are different. The former is based in the material world. As long as one cultivates in the right way, they can build layer by layer and temper inside and out. There will be a day for when the clay hut breaks through to become a palace.”

“But the mental plane is illusory and drifting. The birth of an ability often forms out of nothing. There’s no flesh involved, and it can’t be increased through large volume of exercise. The main thing still lies in the fact that the differences in nature between the material world and the mental plane are far too large. It is impossible to find a connecting point. Even if one can find it, every situation is different, like a chicken speaking with a duck.”

Luo Nan was actually quite thoughtful, “So you’re saying that interference power is very important.”

Papercut put down his empty cup, “That’s right! Interference power is extremely important! President Ouyang once said that the modern theory of supernatural powers isn’t complete. Only when interference is applied can soul strength be infused into a systematic experience that could be understood, realizing the most crucial task of observation and understanding. Only then could effective growth be realized by relying on the material world as a foundation. The more powerful the interference ability, the faster the growth…”

Papercut then saw Luo Nan’s pure and innocent gaze and had to immediately retreat in defeat, “I know that you are an exception. Your interference ability was so trash in the beginning, but your soul strength was able to rapidly soar. You’re the only one. Formatting Theory is really out of the norm!”

Luo Nan loved hearing words such as these. His eyes beamed as he smiled. However, he didn’t believe that this small point could completely reflect the special characteristics of Formatting Theory.

“No, my Self-Format is also constructed atop the material world. It is constructed on a special structure of the nervous system. It’s not that it doesn’t have interference power, it’s just that a one-way channel is very likely to form. It can only interfere the mental via the material. The other way doesn’t work. This drives the rapid increase of soul strength, causing a critical imbalance between body and soul.”

Papercut blinked, as he was surprised that he actually understood, “What you said makes a lot of sense. If you could be seriously studied and analyzed…”

Luo Nan rolled his eyes, “No cutting! I don’t want to be a lab rat.”

Having spoken to this point, Luo Nan thought of Octopus. Octopus borrowed Luo Nan’s grandfather’s notes and formulas and had already made some progress. Hopefully, Octopus could produce some brilliant results.

Perhaps, Formatting Theory was truly flawed, but Luo Nan had shown that these flaws could be overcome through self-practice upon his own body. With aid from Gym Master Xiu’s guidance, as well as comprehending Coupling Theory, Luo Nan was able to turn this one-way street to a two-way street that ran in parallel without hindering each other. Such an experience could be completely integrated into Formatting Theory, making it more convincing of its validity and possibly become a hot topic within the inner world and perhaps even the entire world.

The momentum was excellent right now.

Luo Nan laughed involuntarily.

“Hello, penny for your thoughts?” Xue Lei saw Luo Nan laugh foolishly for some strange reason after talking about lab rats. He was a bit worried about problems occuring with Luo Nan’s mental circuits.

Only now did Luo Nan realize that he had forgotten his manners. He waved his hand quickly and said, “It’s nothing. I just feel that President Ouyang’s description is quite perfect. Last time at Frost River Reality…I’m talking about the one in the city center…Fairchild had said similar words, like ‘observation is order’ and so on. But he didn’t mention the words ‘system of experience’. This premise of President Ouyang’s is quite an excellent one.”

From Luo Nan’s understanding, the so-called ‘system of experience’ should be the resulting set of observations and understandings from the deduction and development of practice and validation.

Those ability users who found it hard to become Awakened lived their entire lives in the material world. Though they have a bit of talent in supernatural powers, it was insufficient when compared to the experiences of everyday life. Instead, these ability users found it easy to be lost within the illusory mental plane. They were unable to tell what was supernatural and what was fabricated.

Only when one realized interference and had it enter one’s normal realm of experience could soul strength become a real and non-virtual existence. Only in this way could one discard the chaotic barriers to awareness and have one’s innate potential transform bit by bit into supernatural powers.

Therefore, it was so very important to possess a stable, effective, and long lasting interference method…huh?

A light bulb suddenly flashed in Luo Nan’s head as an idea suddenly popped out. A little deduction gave off a complex feeling. Luo Nan might as well try his idea in practice. With a stir of a thought, a precise structure was engraved on the border between the mental and material planes.

The Condensation Ring.

This was a cold beverage shop. Water vapor was most abundant here. In the blink of an eye, a water bead coalesced out of thin air. It floated in the air above the table in the middle of the three people.

Whether it was Xue Lei or Papercut, everyone around them was sharp. They immediately sensed the water bead and locked their gazes upon it.

Papercut was quite shocked, “The Dripping Sword? My good man, you’re this good at it already?”

Luo Nan gave a wave of his hand and said, “Let’s first not talk about the Dripping Sword and focus on the Condensation Ring. So, I believe that this little thing may be more suitable for Worker Zhai. It doesn’t require that much interference power to form this thing, and Worker Zhai possesses an amplification device as well. Even if some of the precision is lost, Worker Zhai’s level should be able to make up for it. Once one is successfully produced, he would have a fulcrum forever and ever…”

Luo Nan spoke everything in a single breath, following his own train of thought. Then he saw Papercut with a blank expression of ‘not this again’. Clearly, Luo Nan had said these words in vain.

Luo Nan also felt that he didn’t describe things clearly. He prepared to clarify, “I’m saying that…”

“Nanster, where are you? We’re here.”

Mo Peng communicated perfectly, his voice cutting into the space and hanging in the air. He was at the entrance to the cold beverage shop, and he was taking the lead. He led a grand squad of people inside.

Luo Nan subconsciously counted, one, two, three…seven, eight, nine.

Nine people!

The cold beverage shop was densely packed with people coming and going. It had also been decorated in accordance with the reality-theme, creating the atmosphere of a dark pub. The shop’s space became quite crowded with the sudden burst of people coming in.

Luo Nan was confused; why the hell are there so many people?