Born a Waste

Born a Waste

[This story is purely fictional. Please do not imitate it.]

A transparent bead the size of a fist sat in the middle of the platform, covered by a small wheat-colored hand. The owner of that hand was a child who looked about five or six years old.

At that moment, his normally lively eyes were filled with confusion and disappointment. He could not understand why the bead was not glowing.

This bead was called a Talent Testing Bead. As long as someone placed their hand on it, it could measure their cultivation talent.

The Talent Testing Bead had been ingeniously crafted. Its material was a transparent substance capable of sensing a person's constitution and soul.

The bead's interior was divided into ten regions. The boundaries between them could not be seen with the naked eye. Why was that?

That involved Seventh Order Emperor Rank warriors. Once a warrior reached the Seventh Order Emperor Rank, they could make initial contact with the power of space. Through comprehension, they could wield some of that power, but only in a crude manner. Spatial power was not particularly useful to Emperor Rank warriors.

If there was one useful technique, it was the Spatial Shield. It possessed a certain defensive ability, and those below Emperor Rank generally could not break through it.

The interior of the Talent Testing Bead had been divided into ten regions by Emperor Rank warriors using spatial power. The ten regions corresponded to the ten levels of talent, which had been established by the War God Continent.

When testing someone's talent, the Talent Testing Bead began by lighting up with white light in the outermost region. If a person's talent was First Grade, the bead's outermost region would light up. If their talent was Fifth Grade, the bead would begin lighting from the outermost region and advance inward until it reached the fifth region.

Of course, if someone's cultivation talent was Tenth Grade, the Talent Testing Bead would light up from the outermost region and continue inward until it reached the central region—the tenth region. The brightness of the ten regions also differed. From the outside inward, the brightness increased successively, and the difference between the ten regions was so distinct that it was easy to identify.

The tenth region—the innermost region of the Talent Testing Bead—naturally emitted an extremely intense radiance. However, the central region of the Talent Testing Beads on the War God Continent had not lit up for a very long time.

That was because anyone with such talent existed only in legend. From ancient times until now, people's cultivation talent had gradually declined, and no one knew why.

This great invention had been used for several thousand years. It was said to have been invented thousands of years ago by the great War God Tirches after years of research into the human body and battle aura.

Of course, Talent Testing Beads were also extremely precious. They were generally crafted by Battle Emperor experts, yet among the continent's several billion people, there were not many who could cultivate to the Battle Emperor Rank.

If people wanted to ask an Emperor Rank expert to craft a Talent Testing Bead, they needed to offer a benefit tempting enough to move them. Otherwise, they would not bother with such a boring task. That was why Talent Testing Beads were so rare.

In the space of the War God Continent, only one kind of energy existed for cultivators to refine: battle aura. It was a strange, transparent energy whose attribute was difficult to discern.

Everyone knew that all things in nature were divided according to attributes, and the War God Continent was no exception. Yet no one knew why the entire space contained only battle aura, an energy with an inexplicable attribute, while all the myriad things on the continent still possessed attributes. It was simply that the attribute energy within them existed in a completely sealed state.

In other words, under natural conditions, it would not disperse into the outside world. Moreover, this attribute energy was scarce, only enough to sustain the existence of all things. This phenomenon left many experts who had reached a certain realm utterly puzzled.

Of course, because day and night were distinct, light energy was fairly abundant during the day, while dark energy was likewise more abundant at night. The higher one went, the denser the energy became.

Strangely, however, neither of these two energies could be absorbed for cultivation. Many people had tried, but no matter what they did, they could not draw either energy into their bodies. In other words, no cultivator could cultivate any other energy. They could only cultivate battle aura.

At that moment, an old man with completely white hair and beard sat beside the platform. He was broad and sturdy, and he stared at the bead in stunned disbelief. Only after a long while did he cry out, "Level Zero! My heavens! How is this possible? This..."

Because they had lived for a long time in a space rich in battle aura, the bodies of the continent's people had been imperceptibly transformed by battle aura into constitutions suited for cultivating it.

Therefore, according to statistics, the worst cultivation talent among the continent's people was First Grade. Of course, that did not mean someone with First Grade talent could cultivate to the Battle Warrior level. In theory, a given talent level could allow someone to cultivate to the corresponding level.

But the path of cultivation was fraught with difficulty, and its dangers went without saying. Anyone seeking powerful strength had to pay a price, sometimes even with their life. Thus, among people with the same level of talent, very few could cultivate to the corresponding level. Still, a tiny number of determined and tenacious people managed to cultivate beyond the level of their innate talent.

And Level Zero talent—what did it mean? It meant he could not sense the existence of battle aura, let alone absorb it for cultivation. He was a born waste, a waste beyond all wastes. He was truly a child cursed by the gods!

If this news spread across the continent, it would likely cause quite a stir. After all, such a thing was simply too bizarre.

The entire continent had always revered martial strength. Everyone made acquiring powerful strength their lifelong goal. It could be said that if a person could not absorb battle aura, they were an outcast throughout the War God Continent, with a status even lower than everyone else's—in other words, lower than that of commoners. Commoners were those who could not cultivate to the First Order Battle Warrior level. Of course, slavery did not exist in this world. Human rights were still given a certain degree of importance here!

Chen Yun, which was the child's name, silently withdrew his hand after hearing the tester's words and walked out of the courtyard. A wave of mocking laughter followed from within, while dozens of disdainful gazes stabbed into his back like needles. Chen Yun suddenly clenched his fists, but then, as though he had thought of something, he slowly loosened them. He gave a self-mocking smile and walked toward a dilapidated house in the distance...

More precisely, this Chen Yun was not the original Chen Yun. Another soul occupied his body—a high school student from the twenty-first century whose name was also Chen Yun. The world truly was marvelous; such a coincidence had actually occurred.

Chen Yun had been in this world for six years. As for how he had come here, the story touched upon the pain of his previous life. In that life, he had been born with an intellectual disability and found studying extremely difficult.

Yet for a rural child, studying seemed to be the only way out, so his family had no choice but to let him continue. He had only entered high school by paying a hefty fee, and it was still a third-rate school. As a result, he had been mocked constantly, and even his relatives and friends had looked at him with contempt.

Thus, he had lived under that pressure for years. Later, for some reason, he had beaten a powerful man's son at his school and been expelled.

Feeling too ashamed to return and face his parents, he had thrown himself off a cliff to commit suicide. But somehow, in his dazed state, he seemed to have heard a voice before losing consciousness. When he awoke, he had become a baby, abandoned in the wilderness by someone. Later, an old man—his current grandfather, Old Ent—had found him. Old Ent had worked himself to the bone to raise him this far!

Later, he learned that this world was called the War God Continent, a world where the strong were revered. People cultivated an energy called battle aura. There was none of the dazzling magic or indestructible battle qi found in novels. In this world, only possessing powerful strength could guarantee one's survival.

When he returned home, the first thing that greeted him was his grandfather's concerned gaze. Before Old Ent could say anything, Chen Yun said dejectedly, "I'm sorry, Grandpa. I failed, and... and... my talent level was... was... Level Zero!"

"What! Zero-level talent! This... this can't be!" Old Ent cried out in disbelief.

Seeing his grandfather's expression, Chen Yun felt even worse. In his previous life, he had already been a useless person despised by others, yet after transmigrating to this foreign world, he still had not escaped the title of born waste. Looking at Old Ent's expression now, he felt a tightness in his chest.

"Why?! Heavens, since you gave me another chance at life, why make me continue living so miserably?" Chen Yun screamed inwardly as tears streamed down his face.

When Old Ent saw Chen Yun's pained expression, he suddenly came to his senses. Remorse flooded his heart. His expression just now must have made his grandson feel even worse.

So he gently patted Chen Yun's head and said softly, "Little Chen, it's all right! Ah! So what if you can't become a warrior? The continent has more than six billion people in all. Aren't there plenty of commoners? Stay here with Grandpa, live honestly and work hard. Later, marry a wife and lead an ordinary, peaceful life. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Ah, don't cry. Men don't easily shed tears—you remember that! You're a man. No matter what difficulties you encounter, you must never lose your fighting spirit! Understand?" By the end, Old Ent's voice had turned stern.

"That's right! I've already lived so miserably in my previous life. In this life, I have to change completely!" Chen Yun abruptly raised his head. Staring at Old Ent's deeply wrinkled face, he revealed a faint smile.

Chen Yun used his small hands to forcefully wipe away his tears and said firmly, "Thank you, Grandpa! I will rely on these two hands of mine to change my fate. I won't sink into despair!"

Old Ent smiled in relief, patted Chen Yun's head kindly, and laughed heartily. "Good! Hahaha...!"

The purple and golden moons in the sky continued to shine with their eternal radiance. Yet on this night, a seed of miracle was quietly taking shape, preparing to burst through the earth!