Over the years, thanks to his understanding of the laws of the world and his extraordinary affinity for the Fire Element, Lynn had made rapid progress in both mental strength and the accumulation of magic power and Dou Qi.
Most importantly, with his exceptionally high level of understanding, Lynn had never needed to worry about hitting a bottleneck before reaching Saint Domain.
As a result, in just four years, Lynn's strength had undergone a complete transformation. He had left his former days as a total weakling behind for good.
Now, if Lynn encountered another provocation like Kasa's had been at the beginning, he wouldn't be nearly as easygoing. Instead, he'd slap the other man into submission, then casually add:
"Even among geniuses, there are differences!"
After nightfall, beneath the dim lamplight, Lynn lay in bed. To anyone watching, he seemed to have already fallen into a "deep sleep."
In truth, Lynn was wide awake. He had simply focused all his attention on the Origin Bead.
According to the Origin Bead, the evolution of a life form could happen in two ways. The first was an evolution in Lynn's own life level, and the second was an evolution in the life level of one of his clones.
An evolution in Lynn's own life level would directly affect the Origin Bead. Not only would it speed up the bead's recovery, but, most importantly, it would also raise the maximum number of Talent Clones Lynn could create.
However, his innate talents couldn't be improved the way a clone's could. To improve them, he would have to assimilate a clone, permanently giving it up in exchange for its talents and cultivation.
The second kind of evolution, in a Talent Clone's life level, wouldn't affect the Origin Bead. It would only refresh the clone's talents, giving them a higher ceiling.
[Talent Clone: Xiao Yan]
[Life Level: Saint Domain]
[Race: Ordinary Human (Coiling Dragon World)]
[Talent: Fallen Genius (White Talent) (Refreshable)]
Seeing the words "Refreshable" on the panel, Lynn confirmed without hesitation.
"Refresh!"
Golden text began to flicker in the air.
[Talent refresh initiated.]
[Choose one of the following talents to replace the White Talent: Fallen Genius]
[Pseudo-Soul Mutator: White Talent]
[Thunder Dragon Bloodline: White Talent]
[You Have the Path to Death: White Talent]
[Protect Everyone Behind Me: Silver Talent]
[Do Not Bully the Young and Poor: Silver Talent]
[Pseudo-Soul Mutator: Silver Talent]
A great many talents appeared—hundreds in all. Quite a few were White Talents Lynn had already seen.
"So Silver Talents are above White Talents."
"Hm?"
"Why are there two Pseudo-Soul Mutators, one White and one Silver? Could there be a difference?" A glimmer of curiosity appeared in Lynn's eyes.
[Pseudo-Soul Mutator: White Talent. Equipping this talent will immediately put you into a state of soul mutation, but success is not guaranteed.
Talent Rating: Kid, feeling lucky? It's a gamble with your life, and there are no guarantees!]
[Pseudo-Soul Mutator: Silver Talent. Equipping this talent will immediately put you into a state of soul mutation. The chance of successfully mutating two elements will rise to fifty percent, while the chance for three or more elements will rise to one percent.
Talent Rating: A gambler to the bitter end. Just go for it!]
"Compared to the White Talent, the Silver Talent improves the odds. By that logic, there might still be a Pseudo-Soul Mutator among the higher-tier talents, only with better odds!" Lynn thought.
At that moment, Lynn couldn't help thinking of how Lin Lei had transcended the Coiling Dragon World.
"If there's a higher-tier talent that guarantees a successful Four-Element Soul Mutation, wouldn't I be able to transcend directly?"
Lynn let himself get carried away by the thought, but soon came back to his senses and focused on choosing a talent again.
"The Silver Talent Pseudo-Soul Mutator is pretty good, but it only gives me a fifty percent chance—and that's for the lowest ceiling, a two-element mutation. There's no need for me to take that risk."
"Let's look at the others."
[Protect Everyone Behind Me: Silver Talent. Enhances talent for the Wind Law. When fleeing, using the Wind Law grants an additional speed boost of at least double.
Talent Rating: There's no way we're all getting wiped out. I'll definitely be the fastest one running away.]
[Do Not Bully the Young and Poor: Silver Talent. This is a special talent.
Before equipping this talent, you must complete a prerequisite task: Find someone who bullied you in the past and shout, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. Don't bully the young and poor!"
Once activated, this talent greatly enhances your talent for the Fire Laws, and doubles your strength in battle.
Talent Rating: How can a young man not be fired up?]
[Heaven-Swallowing Beast Bloodline: Silver Talent. Become the divine beast Heaven-Swallowing Beast. Enhances talent for the Dark and Destruction Elements and awakens an Innate Divine Ability.
Talent Rating: An ordinary Divine Beast Bloodline, nothing special among the gods. Its only real advantage may be that it gives a decent boost to talent in two elements.]
[Dark Law Affinity: Silver Talent. Become a god in ten years, a Midgod in a hundred, and a Highgod in a thousand.
Talent Rating: If you only comprehend laws and never fuse them, you'll top out as the ruler of a Material Plane.]
After excluding the White Talents, there were still dozens of Silver Talents.
Lynn looked through them one by one. Setting aside a few that were either too extreme or practically useless, only four caught his interest.
After thinking for a long while, he recalled his clone's name and let out a quiet sigh.
"Perhaps this is how things were meant to be."
"I can only keep suffering as a clone!"
...A few minutes later, high above the Church of Light branch in Starfire City.
A figure appeared.
Xiao Yan stood high in the air, his expression cool and detached.
"Church of Light, thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. Don't bully the young and poor!"
"Four years ago, you hunted me down. Today, I, Xiao Yan, formally declare war on you!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, blazing red Dou Qi surged from Xiao Yan's body. In an instant, it condensed into a massive palm a hundred meters tall, which flattened the Church of Light branch in Starfire City with a single strike.
[Prerequisite task complete. Silver Talent "Do Not Bully the Young and Poor" bound.]
[Talent refresh complete.]
[Keep the effects of the White Talent "Fallen Genius"?]
After a clone's talent was refreshed, its previous talent didn't vanish completely. Some of its effects remained.
For example, if Lynn had initially chosen the White Talent [Wind Affinity], then after [Wind Affinity] was refreshed, the clone wouldn't lose all its talent for the Wind Law. At most, it would weaken.
If its Wind Affinity had originally been exceptional, after the refresh it might only be high-grade or even lower.
However... that was how normal talents worked.
With a talent like [Fallen Genius], which now had nothing but negative effects, Lynn naturally wouldn't choose to keep it.
"Don't keep it. Hurry up and refresh it."
"What rotten luck!"
"I broke through to Saint Domain through my own hard work. This lousy talent didn't do a thing!"
[Fallen Genius]: Speak up for me! Speak up for me!
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