♢ 「Mortal Realm」
The year of the Snake.
16th day of the 3rd month.
That was the day the young master of the Feng Clan was born.
And that was also the day I once again was born into the world.
Lin Feng.
He was my half-brother and was the youngest legitimate son of the current patriarch of the Feng Clan, Liu Feng.
On the other hand, I, Wan Feng, was born as a bastard son from the union of the current patriarch and a prostitute.
It was fortunate that he was responsible enough to take my mother as his concubine and brought both of us into the main clan.
You must've realized what I am already—Yes, I am a reincarnated person.
It still feels weird for me to live through the life stages of a baby despite being mentally a 50 years old man.
Thankfully, that doesn't need to happen anymore as I reached the age of 12, where I am going to attend the [Talent Assessment Ceremony].
♢ 「Talent Assessment Hall」
The building stood tall, its design stands out among the buildings, above its gate was a giant wooden sign that reads; Talent Assessment Hall.
"Goodbye, mom." I said to my mother.
"Goodbye Xiao Wan. Remember, it doesn't matter how talented you are, you'll always be my little prince~" My mother said with affection riddled all over her face, her voice soft and reassuring as she ruffled my red hair.
I smiled warmly at her, fixed my hair and quietly walked away.
Entering the Talent Assessment Hall, I saw multiple silhouettes standing before the examiner.
It was my cousins and half-siblings but the young master was nowhere to be seen.
Just as I gathered with the rest of the examinee, I heard hurried footsteps and labored breathing came from the entrance.
It was the favored young master, Lin Feng.
"Ah, I'm sorry for being late!" He bowed.
Outside of me and Lin Feng, there's only 9 other examinee alongside us. 6 of them are males and 4 of them are females.
"Now that everyone has gathered here, let's start with the talent assessment!" The examiner said as he moved to the side revealing a huge green jade stone.
"Just put your hand on the stone, it will show us what your spiritual roots attribute and quality," The examiner said as he called the first name. "Mo Feng!"
It was a girl, her hair was long and flowy, it was colored in midnight blue with white streaks reminiscent of a falling star. Her determined and vibrant blue eyes locked onto the jade stone.
Mo Feng, the youngest mistress of the Feng Clan, the daughter of the second wife of the Patriarch.
I barely interacted with her as we lived in different areas, though from what I've seen she wasn't a bad person and she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed either which should be understandable because she hasn't truly entered her teenage years and the fact that she was somewhat isolated for many years of her life.
She put her hand on the stone with a hopeful expression.
The large green jade stone shined brightly before an image materialized within it.
"Congratulations, young mistress, you have awakened a Monarch Grade Water-Earth Spiritual Roots!" The examiner said with an impressed look on his face.
It was powerful in our clan that is. As far as I can remember, the Feng Clan is one of the lowest level clans.
The Spiritual Roots were split into multiple branches; Elemental Spiritual Roots, Bloodline Spiritual Roots and Phenomenon Spiritual Roots.
Elemental Spiritual Roots are what Mo Feng acquired though she possessed Dual Elemental Spiritual Roots which was rare, a spiritual roots with elemental attributes.
There have been a myriad of elements that have been recorded throughout history; Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Dark, Light, Space, Time, Blood, Lightning, Ice, Metal, Storm, and Lava.
Meanwhile a Bloodline Spiritual Roots were spiritual roots based on your own bloodline, this type of spiritual roots was dominant among other races such as Demons, Monsters and Spirits but also prevalent among cultivators of higher realms due to remaking their entire being and making a dual branch spiritual roots.
For the Phenomenon Spiritual Roots, it's an allegedly a fairly new type of spiritual roots, it works based on the phenomenon of the natural world such as the night and day cycle and the weather.
There's also another layer to these spiritual roots which is a grading system that has been splitted into 7 Grades, from lowest to highest: Mortal, Lord, King, Monarch, Emperor, Sovereign and Saint.
"Wan Feng!" As he exclaimed my name, the examiner began to observe me thoroughly.
Finally, it was my turn.
Though, I already expected that I would be the last name to be examined.
Everyone else already has remarkable talent, I really hope I'd at least get a decent one.
I walked towards the jade stone and after a deep breath put my hand on it.
The jade stone glowed briefly before my spiritual roots were shown.
"Oh? Incredible! A Saint Grade Freezing-Growth-Death Spiritual Roots? Is this really the talent of a bastard son? I mean young master Lin Feng really does have a great spiritual roots but Wan Feng is different," the examiner said with a smile as he continued, "This is the first in history."
Wow, I guess that's great but… I am more concerned about this thing.
A holographic blue user interface has suddenly appeared in front of me after I touched the jade stone.
So is this what those novel protagonists call a 'Golden Finger'?
[ You have awakened the 'Ever-Expanding Frozen Touch of Decay' Spiritual Roots. ]
That's a rather intimidating name and kind of edgy.
Well, I guess it wouldn't be a death or ice related object without that kind of name.
Does everyone have a system? Probably not, at least I hope so because from the intel I remember systems were usually pretty much a golden ticket to Godhood.
◆「 Ever-Expanding Frozen Touch of Decay 」
Type: Phenomenon Spiritual Roots
Grade: Saint
Description: This spiritual roots were imbued with the natural phenomenon of Growth, Freezing and Death.
Saint Grade, the first and strongest Patriarch of the Feng Clan only had around King Grade.
I'm several grades above him, thank goodness.
I'm practically a prodigy among the Feng Clan's lineage and almost everyone else in the Hongxiao Continent.
I said almost because there's the monstrous legend about a white haired boy that has a Saint Grade Demon-Angel-Lightning-Space-Gravity Mixed Branches Spiritual Roots.
After the talent assessment, me alongside Mo Feng, Lin Feng and his slightly older brother, Dai Feng was put into an intense training program.
When I awakened my Saint Grade spiritual roots, everyone around me began to act more kind and try to be humble just to gain favor from me, though I barely pay any attention to them.
'How do I summon the system? Do I just need to call for them?'
Just as I thought about it, the light before my eyes condensed into a hologram user interface.
To be continued…