My Martial Dao Talent Increased Year by Year

A cold metal probe pressed against Chen Fan's forehead, and a soft blue light swept across his cerebral cortex.

This was the Neuroscience and Psychology Research Center at East Sea City First People's Hospital.

Chen Fan was growing somewhat impatient. It had been nearly eight years since he transmigrated to this world, and though he still had a child's body, he had an adult's soul in his head.

Faced with his "peers" at kindergarten, Chen Fan found it hard to summon the energy to interact with them. He often sat alone in his seat, lost in thought.

His inability to fit in naturally caught his kindergarten teacher's attention, and she told his parents about it.

That was how the present situation had come about.

"Look, this little bear is crying. Why do you think it's crying?"

The doctor in a white coat across from him held up a holographic projection, a kindly smile on his face.

Chen Fan couldn't even be bothered to lift his eyelids.

He found these tricks for coaxing children mind-numbingly dull.

If not for the limitations of this body and Federation law, he would have been in a training room tempering his muscles and bones, not wasting time here.

"I don't know."

Chen Fan gave a perfunctory answer.

"Then, if your teacher gave you a little red flower as a reward, would you be happy?"

"Mm..."

"Do you like playing games with the other children?"

"Mm..."

Half an hour later, the doctor looked at the series of data and behavioral analysis reports generated on his optical computer, his expression turning serious.

He called Chen Fan's parents aside, gathered his thoughts, and spoke in a low voice.

"While your little one was growing up, did he experience any kind of shock?"

"For example... being punished by you, or something like that?"

Chen Long thought for a moment, his face gradually growing troubled. He stammered, "Xiao Fan was quite bright when he was little. It's just that when he was three, we had his Martial Dao root aptitude tested. It was very poor, and there was basically no chance of him ever entering the Martial Dao!"

"Could that be the reason?"

Hearing this, the doctor had a rough idea of the cause.

"As things stand, your child's awareness of the outside world is relatively poor. There's a strong possibility that he suffered some kind of shock, which caused a degree of autism."

"Perhaps it has something to do with the result of his root aptitude test."

When Luo Mengjie heard this, her face filled with worry.

Both husband and wife were registered martial artists, so after Chen Fan was born, they took him to have his Martial Dao root aptitude tested when he turned three.

But who would have thought that Chen Fan's Martial Dao root aptitude would be so poor?

"Doctor, can it still be treated?"

Chen Long also looked at the doctor inquiringly.

The doctor hesitated. "You're both registered martial artists, so you should know that autistic states involve regions of the brain. It would be best to ask a Psychic Master to help, but..."

"Even an ordinary Psychic Master might not be able to cure him."

"Unless it's one of the top Psychic Masters!"

After saying that, the doctor looked at the couple. There was one more thing he didn't say: in his view, given Chen Fan's condition, even if an ordinary Psychic Master cured him, he would still be left drooling.

As for a top Psychic Master... they weren't so easy to persuade to help!

Luo Mengjie and Chen Long exchanged a glance, their faces full of conflict.

Although Chen Fan couldn't hear their conversation from inside the room, he didn't need to hear it to know the result.

Sure enough, when his parents came back in, Luo Mengjie's eyes were red, and helplessness was written all over Chen Long's face.

His father clutched a diagnosis in his palm so tightly that the edges of the paper had crumpled.

"Xiao Fan!" Chen Long crouched down, trying to bring his eyes level with his son's. His voice was strained. "Mom and Dad... have to go work somewhere very far away."

Chen Fan felt no stirrings in his heart.

He knew where that very distant place was.

The Starry Sky Frontline!

This was a magnificent age in which Martial Dao and technology advanced side by side. Humanity had long since stepped beyond its home planet and entered the Galaxy Conquest Era.

But the universe was no peaceful paradise. The threat of Alien Races followed like a shadow, and the shadow of war hung over every interstellar colony.

His parents were both powerful registered martial artists, pioneers stationed at the Starry Sky Frontline.

According to the regulations, they could have brought their child along with the forces to live at a frontline base.

But now, everything had changed.

"The front line is too dangerous," Luo Mengjie said through a sob, stroking his hair. "You... your condition makes you unsuited to the path of Martial Dao. All that fighting and killing is too cruel. We only hope you can grow up safe and sound."

In their eyes, a child with poor root aptitude and even a psychological defect could not endure the brutal training and life-and-death combat of a martial artist.

Rather than have him face unknown dangers at the front line, it was better to leave him in a safe environment, where he could live out his life in peace.

For them, this decision was no different from having their hearts cut out.

But to protect him, they had no other choice.

"From now on, you'll live with Grandpa, all right?"

Chen Fan looked at the pain, reluctance, and resolve mingled on their faces, then finally gave a gentle nod.

He couldn't explain, nor did he want to.

A light rain was falling on the day his parents left.

Two streaks of light shot into the sky, vanished into the clouds, and disappeared beyond the horizon.

They didn't even look back.

It wasn't that they felt no reluctance, but that they didn't dare.

Chen Fan was sent to an old house on the edge of the city. It was his grandfather's home.

Grandpa was an ordinary-looking old man. Every day, he either tended the flowers and plants in the courtyard or lay in his rocking chair listening to old-fashioned operas.

He took Chen Fan in without asking a single question and simply handed him a skewer of candied hawthorns.

In the eyes of his parents and everyone else, Chen Fan's future had already been fixed.

An autistic child who needed care and could never set foot on the path of Martial Dao would quietly live out his life in East Sea City.

Late at night, all was quiet.

Chen Fan lay on an unfamiliar bed as raindrops beat against the window lattice in a rhythmic patter.

He closed his eyes, and a screen of light quietly appeared before his eyes.

[Name: Chen Fan]

[Age: 7]

[Martial Dao Talent: 1270 (one in a thousand)]

[Countdown to increase: thirty-six seconds!]

There were only thirty-odd seconds until midnight. When it came... Chen Fan would be eight!

[Ding!]

[Annual talent calculation complete!]

[Martial Dao Talent +1280]

Chen Fan's eyes snapped open, his pupils startlingly bright in the darkness.

He eagerly looked at the most important line on the screen.

[Martial Dao Talent: 2550 (one in a thousand)]

Chen Fan could also feel that, as his Martial Dao Talent points increased, he himself seemed to have undergone a slight change.

Ever since transmigrating to this world, Chen Fan had awakened this system, which could increase his Martial Dao Talent every year.

"At age one, my Martial Dao Talent increased by ten points. At two, it increased by twenty; at three, by forty. Now that I'm eight... it's increased by one thousand two hundred and eighty points."

"In other words... the further along I go, the more Martial Dao Talent I'll gain."

Chen Fan looked at the information on the system panel, a brilliant light flickering in his bright eyes.

When Chen Fan was taken to have his root aptitude tested at age three, his Martial Dao Talent was only 70 points, which the system rated as [mediocre]. But at age four, his Martial Dao Talent points broke through one hundred, directly reaching [one in a hundred].

Now that he was eight, it had risen to [one in a thousand]!

"At this rate, sooner or later, my Martial Dao Talent will become the best in the world!"

"It's just a shame that after taking me for that one test, Mom and Dad didn't dare take me to have my root aptitude tested again, for fear I'd suffer another shock!"

Chen Fan lay on the bed, gazing at the starry sky outside the window, feeling somewhat helpless.

"According to the laws of the Human Federation, children can only begin Martial Dao cultivation and temper their foundations at eight. I've finally made it through the wait!"

Chen Fan spoke softly, a faint gleam flickering in his amber eyes.

"At long last... I can set foot on the path of Martial Dao!"