The moment Yu Kuangtu finished speaking, Ren Suo felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.
It was like when a teacher discovered he had not done his summer homework, when his dad found out about his 59-point test paper, or when relatives discovered the ***** he had downloaded...
Nine years of compulsory education had made Ren Suo sensitive to numbers. The average was 1.77, while his was 1.25. What did that mean? It meant he was 1.77 - 1.25 = 0.52 away from the average!
And at a ratio of 0.52 / 1.77, he was 29.3% below the average!
29.3%—rounded up, that was practically a hundred million!
If Ren Suo's situation were compared to height, the average Xuan Kingdom male was 167 cm tall, while Ren Suo would be 118 cm. He would not even need to buy a ticket to enter a children's playground!
If described in terms of lifespan, the current average lifespan of Xuan Kingdom men was 74 years, while Ren Suo would be 53! He would not even have finished paying social security or received a single cent of pension before directly making an outstanding contribution to easing the nation's aging population and pension deficit.
Although the author did not have data on the average Xuan Kingdom college entrance examination score, if he was 29.3% below average, Ren Suo would probably have to pay tens of thousands just to attend some vocational college...
Seeing Ren Suo's gaze quickly dim, a black vest girl snorted with laughter. "Boss, stop scaring him."
Ren Suo came back to his senses and saw the faint smile on Yu Kuangtu's lips. The Essence, Energy, and Spirit he had lost seemed to return to his body with every breath.
"The National Security Bureau only requires cultivators to have an aptitude of 1.00. You're even 0.25 above that." Yu Kuangtu smiled. "Don't panic. Low aptitude isn't some huge flaw—at least, for ordinary people, it's not as earth-shattering as you imagine."
"I don't know whether your instructors told you, but aptitude can slowly improve. As long as you cultivate diligently, it isn't impossible to raise it to 2.00, 3.00, or even higher. But don't get your hopes up too much. Improving aptitude is like the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill from a certain wuxia novel: it's easy at the beginning, but becomes harder than ascending to heaven later on..."
"But raising your aptitude to the average level isn't particularly difficult. You may not have an aptitude advantage on the path of cultivation, but there's no need to dwell on it."
Ren Suo asked, "Is it like a student who can only score ten points trying to reach a passing grade?"
"Mm... more or less." Yu Kuangtu nodded. "You should be grateful—there are many people in this world who do not even have an aptitude of 1.00. If they want to cultivate, they can only wait... At least you've already crossed that most important threshold. Otherwise, you could only be like ordinary people, saying envy, jealousy, and hate out loud while genuinely feeling envy, jealousy, and hate."
Huh?
Ren Suo realized that Yu Kuangtu, the deputy director of the National Security Bureau, was not particularly stern—or rather, he realized that this man was actually quite young. At around twenty-four years old, he looked about the same age as Ren Suo, like someone who had just graduated from university, with a trace of youthfulness still on his face.
Yu Kuangtu was not especially handsome. He did not fit the currently fashionable look of a fair-skinned pretty boy, but calling him rugged like a soldier would also be nonsense. Ren Suo had never seen a soldier with skin so pale. He could only be described as unremarkable.
Yet he possessed a strange sort of presence. Even though Ren Suo was standing while he sat, Yu Kuangtu appeared utterly relaxed and serene, brimming with confidence. Just looking at him made Ren Suo feel a head shorter.
It was an attitude that believed he could perfectly control the situation and feared no surprises. If Ren Suo had previously thought Yu Kuangtu had become deputy director through his combat strength, he had changed his mind now.
Anyone could tell with a little thought that in a core department like the National Security Bureau, which arranged cultivators, those who could enter the leadership either had deep backgrounds or exceptional skill. Yu Kuangtu was likely both. After all, Lian Province was one of the Xuan Kingdom's top four core provinces. To serve as deputy director in Lianjiang City, the provincial capital of Lian Province, Yu Kuangtu had to be someone deeply trusted by both the Party and its leaders.
And to Ren Suo, Yu Kuangtu was simply wonderful—far better than Li Dan!
The key aura emanating from him grew richer as Ren Suo stared at him. Ren Suo hurriedly turned away, lest he lose control and pounce on the deputy director—otherwise, he might get turned into glass by a giant fireball.
"...You're from Lianjiang City, right?" Yu Kuangtu suddenly asked.
"Mm-hm, yes." Ren Suo replied.
"Then you can leave. Cultivate properly from now on, and don't daydream about finding something like an old man in a ring." Yu Kuangtu said, "Just remember your aptitude yourself. If you tell anyone else... I don't know what might happen. You'll be responsible for the consequences."
After Ren Suo left, Yu Kuangtu finished registering his information and placed Ren Suo's file onto the smaller stack of files to his right. The black vest girl beside him smiled. "Changlong City is short on people. Why not give us this one with poor aptitude?"
"Get lost. Where isn't short on people right now?"
The morning passed quickly with the aptitude examinations. When they ate their final completely free meal of two vegetable dishes and two meat dishes in the dining hall, the trainees were all tremendously excited. A few nosy people even went around asking others about their aptitudes.
"My aptitude is 2.20. What's yours?"
"My aptitude is 2.55. I'm such trash, it's so low. You guys are so much better... What's yours?"
"Damn, mine is only 2.43. Looks like I don't have much talent for cultivation... What's yours?"
Sensible people naturally ignored these show-offs. Instead, they silently memorized their faces, then... asked for their contact information.
The higher one's aptitude, the greater one's future prospects. That was beyond doubt. It was not merely a matter of greater personal strength; in the era of Aura Resurgence, the ripples they might stir in the future were also beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
The Eighth Team members were all quiet. They merely chatted about finally getting their phones back later. Jie Qiansi said, "So I've already spent five days cut off from my phone... By the time we get out, the world might have changed. Sigh, there must be lots of people looking for me. My WeChat and QQ must be blowing up."
"And yet, in reality, you don't have a single message." Qiao Muyi across from him mocked.
"Impossible!" Jie Qiansi firmly believed it.
Although something had happened between Qiao Muyi and Ren Suo that everyone understood, it did not affect them building rapport in the dining hall. Everyone knew that as cultivators, they would surely become important members of various departments in the future. Building good relationships and forming favorable ties now might come in handy someday.
After lunch, they packed their luggage and boarded buses to return to their respective cities. When Ren Suo got on the bus, he saw Qiao Muyi still sitting in that same seat. His eyes lit up, and he intended to head over—
"Come on, Brother Suo, sit over here. Let's play cards!" Yuan Dang and Jie Qiansi enthusiastically pulled him to the other side. Ren Suo wanted to resist, but the seats near Qiao Muyi were soon occupied by the girls from her dormitory.
"I have a line about grass... grass... borrowing arrows with straw boats that I want to tell you."
Before you continue