Advancement

Profession Skill (Runner), Space Perception lv1: You can sense spatial fluctuations in your surroundings.

Profession Skill (Gardener), Spirit Perception lv1: You can sense the spirits of nearby lifeforms.

As Lu PingAn's Spirit attribute broke through, these two skills appeared on his System Panel.

"Judging from the descriptions, they're both qualification-type passive abilities—abilities that let you do certain things. With them, the door opens for you?"

Their appearance was no accident.

Only when one's spiritual power reached a certain level could one project their senses outward and perceive the surrounding space and life.

Others had to first meet the hardware requirements, then gradually hone their techniques and train their spiritual power to sense the outside world and master Profession Skills.

But Lu PingAn already had accumulated experience. Once he met the requirements, he could use them.

But now that happiness had come too quickly, Lu PingAn found himself rather troubled.

"I originally only had Runner as an option, but it looks like Gardener works too. Which one should I do first?"

Black Iron Grade Spell: Ground Shrinking. Requirements: Light Chasing Running Method LV4 (Thunderstorm direction), Swift Flash Breathing Method lv4 (Tiger Fury direction), Space Perception lv1, Ground Shrinking Comprehension 100/100.

The pieces for Runner were already complete. Lu PingAn could feel that with a single thought, he could master Ground Shrinking and complete his advancement from an ordinary person to a supernatural being.

But the components for Gardener had also somehow nearly come together!

Black Iron Grade Spell: Listening to Life. Requirements: Planting (Taboo) lv4, Spirit Perception lv1, personally cultivated ten or more first-rank magical plants.

Though the final requirement was rather subtle, Lu PingAn had asked Chris about it and confirmed that he qualified.

His current Gardener Profession Skills were Planting lv3 (88/100) and Grafting lv1 (12/100).

Though he had not yet reached the lv4 standard, barring any surprises, he would definitely have enough after tomorrow's profit-sharing.

"I thought Gardener would take a long time. I miscalculated. Gardener and Runner training aren't the same; not every Profession Skill grows evenly."

A Runner's "running method" and "Breathing Method" were trained whenever they ran, so they naturally grew at an even pace. Lu PingAn had subconsciously treated that as the norm for professional training.

Gardeners, however, were clearly specialized to an extreme. Ninety-nine percent of low-rank Gardeners only knew how to plant and cultivate magical plants.

Grafting and modifying magical plants? That was the daily work of big shots and researchers.

Not to mention that most magical plant modifications and grafts ended in failure, the resources consumed were something low-rank Professionals simply could not afford. The "knowledge" required for modification was the most expensive cost of all.

Even a Gardener's first-rank professional ability did not require "Grafting" as a foundation, showing that it truly was a relatively late-stage professional technique.

Lu PingAn's "Grafting (Pollution)" had reached lv1 and even gained 12 experience points thanks to Miss Zhao Ying's hard work staying up late on projects and writing papers.

In the end, the grotesquely lopsided specialization of low-rank Gardeners, combined with the profit-sharing boost from the Life Secret Realm, had given Lu PingAn's "Planting (Taboo)" more than double its expected growth. It had overtaken everything else and reached the standard for advancement.

"Chris, Listening to Life. Is this the Gardener supernatural ability you mentioned before—the one that lets you 'communicate with plants'?"

"Yes, but it needs to be paired with another professional ability before it becomes communication rather than one-sided listening. Still, you'll understand once you advance. For a low-rank Gardener, listening is enough. There's practically no difference between that and communication."

"Then do you have any suggestions? Which one should I advance first?"

Lu PingAn was eager to give it a try. Becoming a superpowered individual was immensely tempting to him as well.

Compared to Gardener, which had to wait until tomorrow, he wanted to complete his advancement right now.

". Didn't I tell you before? For Professionals, balance is the most important thing."

"Both at once? I heard that every advancement comes with a qualitative pollution shock. Don't you need a long time to recover?"

Lu PingAn had heard that professional advancement was a form of controlled mutation. Even if many people succeeded, they would be left half-dead and often needed months or even half a year to recover.

"You said it yourself—that's 'other people.' Gardener first. It's your current main path, the thickest vine among all those tangled together. Its roots need to go deep enough."

"Is that why you told me not to take more than three side jobs before deciding on my main path?"

"Not entirely. There are plenty of other reasons, but there's no need for you to know them now, and you wouldn't understand them anyway."

The rest of the conversation was not particularly meaningful. Once he had settled on a direction, Lu PingAn's plans were set as well.

After arranging to return with Xue En at noon the next day, Lu PingAn obediently rested and prepared to sleep.

Waiting was always filled with anxiety. But when the appointed time arrived, Lu PingAn completed his qualitative transformation and took that step.

"So it was this simple."

He temporarily ignored the screen-flooding system notifications, but the moment Lu PingAn activated his "supernatural ability," the entire world changed.

All life came alive. The once-silent forest was actually so noisy.

Bright flowers swayed gently in the wind. The wild garden bloomed in dazzling abundance, yet they all fought to tell the bees—

"My nectar is the sweetest! Hurry and pollinate me so I can reproduce."

Towering trees rose from the earth, majestic and imposing. They gathered into a forest, green shade overlapping as they supported one another. But in truth, they were roaring angrily at their neighbors.

"My sunlight! That sunlight is mine! I want to grow the tallest and get more light."

The vast grasslands and countless plants all seemed to be making the same sounds.

"Water."

"Food. Nutrients."

"Sunlight."

"My territory. Living space."

In that vivid world, Lu PingAn was moved for only an instant before the astonishing clamor, greater than any wet market, dragged him back to reality.

Every plant was calling out for the resources it needed to survive. Survival and reproduction were the forest's only two themes.

". If anyone tells me plants are selfless again, I'll smear their face with mud."

But at that moment, Lu PingAn also understood why Chris had said Listening to Life was already enough for him.

These plants, which only craved resources for survival, had no basis for communicating with intelligent beings at all.

In fact, they were not speaking aloud. They had no vocal organs, and they did not even possess the tools for logical thought.

It was merely Lu PingAn's Spirit Perception capturing their instinctive "desires" and materializing them.

For a novice Gardener, this was an extremely useful ability. When your flowers noisily demanded water and sunlight or warned of an Insect Plague, caring for them became far easier.

Profession supernatural ability Listening to Life (Black Iron Low Rank Spell) has awakened. Please reverse-anchor it as soon as possible and determine the direction of its ability cost. Otherwise, it may determine its own "cost."

At that moment, the system's forceful intervention was utterly tactless.

But Lu PingAn knew he could not wait any longer. If it really became "random," things would get interesting in all the wrong ways.

"Anchor it to death. The Sacrifices are right in front of me."

Professions balanced one another. To prevent supernatural abilities from spiraling out of control, they likewise needed internal balance, though many people viewed that balance as a "cost."

Under normal circumstances, the target of an ability's anchor was a Same Kind competitor or enemy.

For example, a Life-type ability like Lu PingAn's could either anchor itself to other Life-type deities as competitors, or to the opposite of Life-type—the Death-type.

Just like Lu PingAn's previous shovel, whose cost was Death-type. In a sense, life and death were two sides of the same coin, and were classified as one of the six major systems: the Life/Death-type.

Please select a Sacrifice and manually perform the anchoring ritual.

The ritual for reverse anchoring was quite simple. The gods were more than willing to cause trouble for enemies and competitors.

Lu PingAn merely killed something at random, then recited a God Name and completed the anchoring.

But in an instant, the system flooded the screen again. It had actually turned the supposedly random, fate-dependent "cost" into something selectable!

Lu PingAn only glanced over the three options before secretly rejoicing that he could choose.

"No wonder the Keepers of Secrets value privacy and integrity so much. Some costs are truly fatal, while others are only mildly troublesome. With bad luck, a single cost could become a fatal weakness. Does that mean the stronger an ability user is, the more weaknesses they actually have?"

"Costs need to be hidden carefully."

The anchoring was complete after the choice was made, but Lu PingAn noticed a surprise—or rather, a fright—on the System Panel.

The host has completed advancement along the Gardener path, a subordinate path of the Maiden of the Forest, within Her Secret Realm. As this advancement is the host's first formal employment, the host has received a Rebirth Blessing from the Secret Realm Master, the Maiden of the Forest (simulated personality of the Secret Realm's will).

Maiden of the Forest's Life Domination Blessing (Black Iron Rank): Greatly increases the blessed one's affinity with magical plants and increases their controllability. Note: This blessing will dissipate after one day, but its effects are greatly amplified during its duration, equivalent to a Silver Rank blessing.

Message: Big sister loves you. Whatever you want to do, go do it!

Lu PingAn froze, even becoming frightened.

Was this a coincidence? Or had She truly seen through everything?

"That pretentious bitch! This is one of her usual tricks. Every Gardener who undergoes their first advancement in her Secret Realm gets a short-term, persistent blessing. Don't think too much of it."

Chris's reassurance came at just the right time.

But on the isolated island, she herself was somewhat puzzled.

. Aren't Rebirth Blessings supposed to be long-term, ineffective trash blessings—small favors meant to win people over? Giving a short-term explosive one isn't right. Could it really be... No, impossible. She has no way of seeing through it! Besides, if she had seen through it, she would've come to kill us already!

Outside, Lu PingAn relaxed. Now that he had a supernatural ability, naturally he had to use it more.

Ordinary plants were of little significance, so he turned his ability toward his own magical plants.

"Sure enough, you're also craving the resources needed for survival and reproduction."

"Hm? Strange. Aside from water and nutrients, you're craving me too? What do I have that you need? You can't accept Life Points a second time."

". Oh, the things in my warehouse? Life Essence? So that's how it's used. Interesting, so interesting!"

Lu PingAn smiled. He had already seen what would happen next.

"All right, goddess big sister. Maybe your guess was right. Very soon, you'll have something entertaining to watch."