Chapter Eight: The System Activates, Talents Awaken

The jade piece in his hand had vanished. A million expletives thundered through Yang Fan’s mind. Just moments ago, he had been determined to safeguard the stone no matter what, and now—gone in an instant.

Cold sweat broke out across his body. “What the hell? How could something in the palm of my hand just disappear? This makes no sense! There’s no one else in the room, and the jade was right in my grip. Who could possibly snatch it from a distance like that?” Bewildered, Yang Fan’s consciousness suddenly faded, and he collapsed to the floor.

“System initializing.”

“Scanning host.”

“Host confirmed.”

“Binding host.”

“Binding complete.”

When Yang Fan regained consciousness, it was already the early hours of the morning. He sat up, drenched in cold sweat, confused as to what had happened. He hadn’t done anything—how could he have just blacked out like that?

Then, Yang Fan noticed something before his eyes. Blinking, the vision sharpened into clear words:

“Host: Yang Fan”
“Level: Unranked”
“Title: None”
“Wealth: 2,980”
“Vital Energy: 0.1”
“Mental Strength: 0.1”
“Available Points: 2”
“Assignable Attributes: Vital Energy+, Mental Strength+”
“Shop: Locked”
“Draw Chances: 1”

Yang Fan stared in astonishment. The words had materialized out of nowhere, without warning. “A system? Seriously? Do systems like this actually exist?”

Who hadn’t read novels? Even before mobile phones, bookstores had been filled with fantasy and science fiction. Whenever Yang Fan had free time, he would sneak into a bookstore to read a few chapters. He never finished any, but he’d picked up enough to recognize the trope—the system before him was identical to those in the stories.

“Wow, I’m really going to hit it big. My talent was already good, and now I’ve activated a system? This is practically unfair!”

Past worries forgotten, Yang Fan focused on the system. There’d be time to wonder why it appeared later; for now, he needed to figure out how it worked. Someone once said, “When fortune falls from the sky, don’t question why it’s you and not someone else—just enjoy it.”

The system was simple. After a quick look, Yang Fan had a basic grasp: Wealth reflected the cash he had—2,980 yuan, which matched. Vital Energy and Mental Strength seemed to be foundational stats for cultivation. Available Points could presumably be used to increase those stats, though their source was unclear. The shop was locked, likely due to his low level. There was one draw chance, but no instructions on how to use it or what could be won.

Yang Fan silently thought, “Draw.”

His consciousness plunged into darkness. At the center of the void, a giant wheel awaited, divided into many segments. In front of it was a black button. Yang Fan stepped forward and pressed it. The wheel spun rapidly, slowing after about thirty seconds. The pointer stopped at a segment marked with a bolt of lightning and, beneath it, a fruit.

Yang Fan’s awareness snapped back to his body, and he found a purple fruit in his hand.

“This must be edible, right? There’s no explanation, though. Systems in other stories explain everything in detail—why do I have to guess?”

He stared at the fruit, hesitating—should he eat it or not? After a minute, he steeled himself. “Fortune favors the bold,” he thought, and ate it.

It was a large fruit, but as soon as it touched his lips, it transformed into a flash of lightning, numbing his mouth. Suddenly, his body convulsed violently. He collapsed onto the bed, twitching, as arcs of electricity danced across his skin. Lightning began to seep from his pores, eventually cocooning him in a shimmering web. Yet the lightning was strangely gentle, causing no harm to the bed or the room.

Time ticked by. As dawn approached, the cocoon faded, revealing Yang Fan within. He was still shuddering, but the spasms soon subsided. When he finally stood, he glanced at his hands. With a thought, a spark of electricity flickered across his palm, but this time, there was no pain.

“What’s happening? I can feel lightning coursing through me, and a single thought brings it forth.”

He experimented further, sensing the power inside him but unable to manifest more than a fleeting spark on his skin; anything beyond that was impossible. “So, this must be the awakening of a lightning talent. That fruit likely gave me the ability to awaken.”

Awakened ones were a class apart from regular cultivators. Human potential was limitless, but only some could unlock it. Ordinary people could slowly become stronger through cultivation, but the truly gifted might suddenly awaken extraordinary abilities—sometimes tied to elements like gold, wood, water, fire, earth, light, or darkness; a rare few gained spatial, shadow, or lightning talents.

Cultivation depended on perseverance; awakening depended on luck. Sometimes, people awakened talents after sleep, sometimes in the middle of a meal—it was all possible. Awakened individuals rarely had poor cultivation aptitude; none were ranked lower than fifth tier. As they cultivated, their talents grew, and a lucky few might even undergo a second or third awakening—though that was exceedingly rare, perhaps one in ten thousand.

If a cultivator was also an awakened one, they possessed more methods than their peers, and their elemental abilities could make them far more formidable in battle—where one plus one equaled more than two.

Having experimented, Yang Fan realized that his fledgling lightning power was not yet of much practical use—he hadn’t even begun to cultivate, nor did he know how, so he couldn’t strengthen or utilize the lightning within him.

He turned his attention to the system’s assignable points. Curious about their effect, he mentally selected “Vital Energy+.” Instantly, a sharp pain knifed through his abdomen, intense but fleeting. When he checked his stats again, he saw the change:

“Host: Yang Fan”
“Level: Unranked”
“Title: None”
“Wealth: 2,980”
“Vital Energy: 0.6”
“Mental Strength: 0.1”
“Available Points: 1”
“Assignable Attributes: Vital Energy+, Mental Strength+”
“Shop: Locked”
“Draw Chances: 0”

“So, each point gives half a unit of Vital Energy,” Yang Fan mused. He felt a subtle change in his body, walked to a chair, and lifted it with one hand. “Wow, my strength really has increased.”

Previously, he could only lift such a chair a few centimeters off the ground with one hand; now, he could raise it over thirty centimeters effortlessly, without feeling any strain in his arm. “I wish I knew the exact numbers.”

Dawn was breaking. Yang Fan decided against increasing Mental Strength, haunted by the sharp pain he’d just endured. Given his lack of cultivation, he worried his body wouldn’t withstand the strain.

He hadn’t slept all night, only experienced unconsciousness and torment. Exhausted, he glanced outside—the sky was brightening. Checking the clock, he saw it was 7:20, just forty minutes before the time he’d agreed to meet Zhou Ting the night before. There was no point in going back to bed now.

He went to the bathroom, washed up, changed clothes, and sat down to check his phone. He wanted to research cultivation, even though he knew information online would be limited. Still, anything was better than nothing, especially since he knew so little. He also wanted to look into the awakened, hoping to find answers.

His own awakening hadn’t granted him any overwhelming strength. Though he sensed the power of lightning within, he couldn’t wield it—not like the stories where awakened ones unleashed terrifying abilities from the outset. He couldn’t even discharge any lightning.

While browsing Baitu Forum for discussions about cultivators, his phone rang.

“Hello, Yang Fan, come downstairs in five minutes. I’m waiting for you.” The call ended abruptly, but Yang Fan recognized Zhou Ting’s voice.

He glanced at the time—7:53. After packing his bag, putting yesterday’s clothes in his suitcase, and grabbing his room card, he headed downstairs.