Chapter 77: Lopsided Talent
After nightfall, Yu Xian sat alone in the hexagonal pavilion in his garden, repeatedly attempting to meditate. He was constructing a relatively simple magical circuit in his mind. Compared to the visualization required for mystic art, building a magical circuit was noticeably more difficult. Moreover, the circuit he was attempting to construct wasn't for spatial magic. It was a light-and-shadow magic.
Mystic arts relied primarily on meditation, with the manipulation of Spatial Blood Energy playing only a relatively minor role. Magic, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. The focus was on precisely guiding Spatial Blood Energy, while meditation served mainly as a tool for constructing the magic circuit.
The moment Yu Xian completed the magical circuit in his mind, he shouted, "Mirage Clone!"
Magic placed great emphasis on conviction. When a caster shouted the name of the spell they were casting, its power received a significant boost, often increasing by nearly one-third.
Although Yu Xian thought that the practice was incredibly stupid—after all, it was basically announcing his next move to the enemy—he still followed the instructions to cast the spell. What followed was a brief silence. A cool breeze brushed through the pavilion, but absolutely nothing happened.
"I failed? That can't be right. My magic circuit was flawless."
Unwilling to give up, he carefully searched the area. He checked the hexagonal pavilion, the koi pond, and even the surrounding flowers and shrubs. Forget a clone, there wasn't even a trace of one.
Earlier that day, he had been convinced he was a prodigy at mystic arts. By nightfall, that illusion had been thoroughly shattered. A prodigy? Yeah, right.
Mirage Clone was the simplest light-and-shadow magic, using the principles behind a mirage to create numerous illusory duplicates of the caster. Yu Xian had expected to master it in ten minutes, yet three hours later, he was still at it.
Raising his hand, he immediately cast Appraisal on himself. He refused to believe that he had failed to learn the Mirage Clone.
Name
- Yu Xian
Codename
- Salted Fish
Race
- Shining Vampire
Gender
- Male
Age
- 17
Lifespan
- 5322
Rank
- Lower Serpent Rank
Affiliation
- Huaxia Dragon Dynasty
- Qilin Combat Division
- Wickedness Purging Squad
[Abilities]
Light Feeder, Silver Blood, Spatial Blood Energy, Appraisal
Piercing Insight Into Distant Shores
- Consumes mental energy and Spatial Blood Energy to create a visible red spider lily seed and place it at a designated spatial coordinate. Once the flower blooms, everything within the reach of its drifting petals can be perceived.
Spatial Leap
- Uses mental energy as an anchor and allows the user to jump and travel between different spatial coordinates.
Spatial Expansion
- Consumes Spatial Blood Energy to expand and stretch a section of space, creating a larger spatial volume.
Spatial Vortex
- Consumes Spatial Blood Energy to agitate space, creating a crimson spatial vortex that tears apart all matter within its area.
Spatial Folding
- Consumes Spatial Blood Energy to fold two spatial coordinates together, causing space to form a continuous loop.
Spatial Maze
- Consumes a large amount of Spatial Blood Energy to fold a vast area of space into a distorted labyrinth with no exit, trapping targets within.
Summary
- Among elves, those who are different from ordinary elves are known as shiny elves. And you are... a Shining Vampire!
Staring at his status panel, Yu Xian felt utterly defeated. I really failed!
Since spatial arts had come so easily to him, he had developed the illusion that he didn't need to rely on the abilities awakened every ten days. Perhaps, through sheer self-study alone, he could master countless abilities. But there was no point lying to himself.
After this failure, Yu Xian finally understood that he had not learned spatial arts so effortlessly because he was a genius. It was because his Spatial Blood Energy possessed a spatial attribute. Of course, Spatial Blood Energy was his own ability, so strictly speaking, he was still a genius, just one with a highly specialized talent.
Leaning back on a bench in the hexagonal pavilion, he felt somewhat discouraged, but not genuinely upset. After all, he had already gained an enormous advantage by learning so many spatial arts. Besides, it was hard to stay in a bad mood while living in a luxurious villa when the entire 2,000-square-meter estate belonged to him.
Even if he did feel down, all he had to do was look at the koi pond outside the pavilion, feed the plump goldfish swimming within, or take a stroll through the garden while enjoying the fragrance of the flowers and the surrounding scenery. His mood would improve in no time.
Sometimes, one simply had to admit that money could indeed eliminate a lot of worries. Yu Xian quickly got over it. "Since other mystic arts are such a headache, I'll just focus on spatial arts."
Spatial arts were among the most powerful mystic arts in existence, with only concepts such as time and fate able to stand alongside them. Other people desperately wanted to learn spatial arts and couldn't, whereas he could master them with ease. That alone was already a tremendous advantage.
Sure, he probably had to sacrifice some versatility, but spatial arts were ridiculously powerful. The only real regret was that Qilin didn't possess many spatial arts in its archives. Spatial ability users were extraordinarily rare to begin with, so naturally, there were fewer inherited and newly developed spatial arts.
The fact that Qilin had managed to collect several dozen spatial arts already placed it among the most well-established supernatural organizations in the world. In contrast, the supernatural organizations of most smaller countries would be lucky to possess even a single spatial art.
The night was long, making it the perfect time to settle down and study. Yu Xian opened the Qilin app on his phone and painstakingly worked his way through Fuxi's Sixty-Four Hexagrams. He needed to make up for the gaps in his knowledge first. Otherwise, even if the manual of a peerless art were placed right in front of him, he would miss out on it simply because he couldn't understand what he was reading.[1]
While he was busy memorizing passages by rote, Nora's guardian, Roche, arrived outside his villa. As Nora's guardian, Roche's feelings toward her were complicated. At times, he felt almost like a father. At others, he felt more like an older brother. Now and then, however, his feelings would veer into something far less healthy, causing him to view Nora as a treasured possession that belonged solely to him.
Roche had been her guardian since she was six years old. He had watched her grow from an innocent and adorable child into the bright, cheerful young girl she was today. As a vampire who could never bask beneath the sun, Nora had become the sun in his heart.
When Nora had stopped using her chauffeured transportation, Roche hadn't thought much of it. He assumed she simply wanted to become more independent. After all, the half-breed who had stolen her blood was now under the protection of the Huaxia, which meant the mission that her father assigned to her had effectively failed. If the setback had motivated her to work harder, then that was a good thing.
But as time passed, Roche gradually noticed something was wrong. Nora seemed to be enjoying school. It wasn't that she had disliked school before. Rather, she had attended it simply because everyone else did. She had never shown any real enthusiasm for it. Now, however, she left home every day with a smile on her face. That was far too unusual for Roche.
To make matters worse, Nora had started cultivating today. He did not know where she had learned to do that, which left him with serious doubts about whether it posed a hidden threat to her safety.
Roche immediately summoned the human bodyguards assigned to protect Nora. After a round of threats and intimidation, he finally learned the truth. Nora had been walking to and from school with that half-breed every single day. Worse, she had ordered the bodyguards to keep it a secret from Roche.
Roche's face twisted on the spot. Aaaaaaaargh! That damned bastard! The Blood Race has already shown extraordinary mercy by sparing his life. Yet that mongrel dares to set his sights on Lady Nora?
1. 伏羲六十四卦 (Fúxī Liùshísì Guà) refers to the sixty-four hexagrams of the Book of Changes (Yìjīng), a foundational text of Chinese philosophy and divination. In some Daoist and folk traditions, the hexagrams are traditionally associated with Fuxi, one of the legendary culture heroes of ancient China. ☜