Chapter 172
Ling Xiao's gaze was filled with satisfaction. This speed of Ling Lan's had indeed met his requirement, and was actually a hair better than what he required. Just as Ling Xiao was going to say that she had pa.s.sed, the ringing sounds of the crystal beads colliding sped up even more, merging the separate noises into one collective consistent peal of sound. Meanwhile, at this time, Ling Lan's fingers had disappeared...
Seeing this, the expression of the initially smiling Ling Xiao s.h.i.+fted. If he weren't afraid of disturbing Ling Lan's attention, he might have just yelled out in shock. Ling Lan's hand speed had actually reached the step of Void — this was a definite step into the standard requirement to become an ace mecha operator. His child should be no more than 10 years old... right?
With a dull 'puff', Ling Lan's fingers stopped and she woke up from the state of Void she had been in. Her brows furrowed lightly, and she opened her palm. Inside it were still four crystal beads, but now there was also a little powder.
"Clap clap clap..." Ling Lan heard the sound of applause coming from beside her. She lifted her head to look and saw Ling Xiao clapping sedately. He smiled and said, "Ling Lan, very good. You've actually reached the state of Void."
"Void?" asked Ling Lan, puzzled. Ling Lan had learned mecha training exercises on her own, other than those things taught by the instructors in the learning s.p.a.ce. Therefore, no one had explained the relevant standards to her. Little Four should have been the one to gather this information for her, but Little Four was under the mistaken belief that his boss only needed to learn the techniques of Mandora, and so had neglected this front.
Ling Xiao seemed to be prepared for this. Hearing Ling Lan's question, he explained, "The hand speed for mecha control is split into 5 stages. Base, representing the foundational speed — most mecha operators in training and low-level mecha operators are within the range of this level. Diligence, the next stage after Base — typically putting in hard effort will be enough to bring one up to this level. Intermediate mecha warriors belong at this level. Apex, representing the advanced mecha warriors — this means that one's hand speed has already reached the standard limits of the human body. Shade, a stage belonging to special-cla.s.s operators — of course, a part of those here could also advance into novice ace operators. Meanwhile, Void was the standard by which operators were judged to be ace operators or not... originally, my requirement was for you to achieve Apex speed, but unexpectedly, you've given me such a great surprise from the start."
Ling Lan listened closely to Ling Xiao's explanation, then after a pensive silence, she asked, "After Void, is there a higher speed? And also..." Both of Ling Lan's eyes focused on Ling Xiao, "What is your speed?"
Ling Xiao was silent for a long moment, but then he said, "Above Void is Form... but, that's still a long way away yet for you. You don't have to know about it now." Ling Xiao only mentioned a t.i.tle, but did not go into the specifics.
"And you?" Ling Lan doggedly continued to ask. The second question was the one she was more concerned about.
Ling Xiao looked placidly at Ling Lan, and Ling Lan looked back unflinchingly at Ling Xiao. Her gaze was filled with the message that she would not back off on this.
Ling Xiao sighed deeply. "My hand speed is s.p.a.ce..." His tone was somewhat fond, as if a little resigned at his child's stubborn personality.
"That's the highest speed, right?" said Ling Lan decisively. Otherwise Ling Xiao would not have become a G.o.d-cla.s.s operator.
Ling Xiao shook his head and said, "No one knows where the true limits of the human body are. s.p.a.ce may be the limit right now, but is it really the ultimate limit? No one is able to foretell the future with absolute certainty..." Ling Xiao's gaze was somewhat vacant, as if reminiscing about something.
Thoughtful, Ling Lan nodded. In her previous life, she had never even considered that humans could be this strong. Just looking at the physical body alone, human strength in this world was over ten times greater than it was in her previous world... For instance, the extraordinarily
Ling Xiao abruptly came to himself, and sensing that Ling Lan had no more questions, he continued to say, "Since you've already met my requirements, then the second part of the legacy is yours now."
That said, Ling Xiao waved a hand in Ling Lan's direction, and Ling Lan instantly felt a large surge of energy push her out. And then, she was falling rapidly, just as if plummeting uncontrollably from the sky.
Ling Lan's complexion was extremely pale. Even though she had already conquered her fear of heights after a period of bitter training, still, when faced with this sort of uncontrolled free-falling, she felt all the hairs on her head stand on end. If not for the fact that she was certain that her cheapskate dad Ling Xiao had no bad intentions towards her, she would certainly have started screaming by now. But even so, she was so scared that her body was drenched with cold sweat.
Ling Lan fell into a grey-coloured area. Mist covered everything, hiding the surroundings from her eyes. Just when Ling Lan was wondering what to do, countless information and precious images were crammed into her brain... numbers, movements, formulas, experience — in short, everything that Ling Xiao had learned, from control intuition, battle experience, and all sorts of miscellaneous insight were shoved unceremoniously into Ling Lan's little head.
"Once you've absorbed all this, come find me again then..." In a daze, Ling Lan heard this final statement by Ling Xiao, and then fainted dead away...
Oh, but before fainting, Ling Lan at least remembered to point a savage middle finger at her old man. h.e.l.ls, this legacy was just way too tyrannical! It was truly over the top!
Meanwhile, Ling Xiao thought: What a tenacious child! Luofeng, you raised her well!
When Ling Lan woke up again, it was already the morning of the next day. She climbed out from the virtual logon pod, and cradling her head, she shuffled to her bedroom to get some proper rest. Of course, this drew the concern of Lan Luofeng. However, Lan Luofeng still chose to believe in her child, thinking that Ling Lan had everything well in hand.
After a good sleep, along with Little Four's help, she managed to seal away anything currently inapplicable into the depths of her brain, thus clearing up a great portion of her overloaded brain. Only then did she have the s.p.a.ce to continue processing. This is when Ling Lan found that, in the second part of Ling Xiao's legacy, the most important bit was the training and control of spiritual power. Moreover, this was the key for an ace operator to advance to imperial status.
Most notably, after turning 10 years old, mutations may occur in a child's spiritual power... this would influence the developmental path of the child.
"Little Four, do you know anything about this spiritual deviation?" Ling Lan suddenly realised that she was currently at this crucial moment.
"This is how this world refers to it, but according to the studies of our Mandora star system, this is an inevitable manifestation. After 10 years of age, humans start to step onto the course where their various functions gradually mature. The initially slowly developing spiritual power enters a period of rapid growth, starting to awaken the innate talents within the body at the same time. This type of spiritual awakening combined with the stirring of the dormant talents are what this world calls spiritual mutation," Little Four reported all the information he found on their studies of the subject.
"If so, then spiritual mutation is a good thing." Ling Lan was instantly rea.s.sured.
"Of course it's a good thing, but it may not definitely be a good thing." Little Four's words made Ling Lan frown. So was this a good thing or a bad thing at the end of the day?
"It depends on what the awakened talent is. Not every talent is suitable for operating mecha."
"Oh? How so?" Ling Lan was curious.
"Some innate talents, like Decadent Voice, Soaring Dance, Conquering Smile..." Little Four began laying out the information he had gathered.
"Be detailed when talking about the talents. Just saying the name, what can I know?" Ling Lan glared fiercely at Little Four, dissatisfied with his laziness.
Little Four rolled his eyes. Something so easy to understand, yet his boss wanted to make things complicated. He pouted and said, "It's actually very easy to figure out. For Decadent Voice, the awakened talent affects the voice. It makes the bearer's voice attract people's attention without them noticing it, even able to make them drunk on it. Meanwhile, Soaring Dance is a type of body language, able to make people feel what it is conveying, as if they were in a dream or an illusion. Conquering Smile is even easier to understand. One smile conquers cities, another smile conquers countries, a third smile conquers galaxies... hehehe, in fact, Boss, you have talent in this area." Little Four started giggling behind his little hands. Naturally, he was then captured by an angry and embarra.s.sed Ling Lan for some domestic violence...
With great difficulty, Little Four finally managed to escape Ling Lan's demon clasp, and whined, "How violent, I can't even speak the truth anymore..." Seeing Ling Lan's pointed glare, he quickly clammed up and stopped joking around. Pulling on a straight face, he continued to say, "Those talents earlier are more suited for the entertainment industry. Many of the world's popular singers, dancers, and performers are all people with awakened talents in these areas."
"For instance, that evolved spectre hacker we met a few years ago was also due to a type of talent awakening. It's just that his awakened talent is destructive strength on the virtual side." Little Four raised another familiar example to clarify things for Ling Lan.
In the end, Little Four glanced at Ling Lan and said teasingly, "Actually, Boss, your innate talent is already awakened."
"What?!" exclaimed Ling Lan, "Why didn't I know of this?"
"Haven't you noticed, Boss? Isn't your ability to see through an opponent's weakness with a glance very miraculous?" Little Four pursed his lips, looking down on his boss for being so slow.
Ling Lan was enlightened. No wonder every time she fought she would see through the opponent's weakness straightaway. Even when she was on planet Demonbeast, fighting with the Twilight Empire mecha, she also had this feeling. That was why she had been able to successfully come up with a strategy on the fly, and make the opponents act as she willed so that she could finally kill them.
"Boss, this is your innate talent! It's just that Boss's innate talent still hasn't awakened completely. You still need to work on it. Right, Boss's number two follower (the number one follower is him, Little Four, the others are all after him), that one called Qi Long — that so-called animal-like instinct of his is also a type of talent awakening..." Little Four continued with the revelations.
"So Qi Long has also awakened his talent!" exclaimed Ling Lan in astonishment. Suddenly, tone puzzled, she said, "That's not right. Qi Long already had his animal instinct since young. Didn't you say that innate talents could only be awakened after 10 years old?"
"Silly Boss. Talented children can naturally awaken their innate talents earlier. Like you, Boss, and Qi Long, are both this type. Still, early awakening is relatively uncommon. Most children only begin awakening from 10 years old onwards. And even if the talents are awakened early, they won't be noticed unless the changes are extremely obvious. Like yours, Boss, and Qi Long's covert type of awakened talent, it is not obvious at all and will be easily overlooked... Before I said anything, didn't you yourself not notice anything, Boss?" said Little Four disdainfully.