The old man's words made Xue Dili, who was originally prepared to continue developing the "Eight-Section Light Wheel," fall into deep thought.
His swordsmanship and divine arts were all derived from the old undead, which clearly formed a coherent path of extraordinary power, so why did this old man say he was taking a wild path?
Wait a minute...
Xue Dili realized that although the old undead had systematic knowledge of the extraordinary, Xue Dili himself was just a fast learner!
He had forced himself to undergo elite-level crash training after 911 sessions with the Death Knight in the consciousness space.
The Imperial Swordsmanship he was most familiar with only consisted of a few basic sword skills plus the Dragon Ascension he created himself, and his divine arts were basically just the Holy Light Technique, with the rest being derivatives of the Holy Light Technique.
From previous interactions, the Great Sage seemed to be the type of old scholar from an academy; he probably viewed Xue Dili as a community college student amidst prestigious university professors.
Xue Dili wasn't a person who cared much about appearances; he considered himself just a fast-trained chick in the extraordinary path, groomed by the old undead.
Because the time was too short, in regard to the Imperial Language chanting for divine arts, he memorized many with homophonic characters in pinyin and forced his way through chanting.
Imperial Language dictionary?
No such thing exists; the entire Empire's language learning is taught via one-on-one tutoring, and 99.9% of the knowledge is held by the nobility and the Church.
Even the Church priests only know a few hundred characters related to religious doctrines and some needed for chanting.
Thus, Xue Dili often said that apart from a few people, the rest of the Empire were illiterates; even Old Barak, in Xue Dili's view, was a hopeless illiterate, only recognizing a few hundred characters.
What barely counted as a dictionary was only the Church's doctrines.
Xue Dili lay on the bed, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling, while the Great Sage tinkered with something in the consciousness space.
Having a good dream might allow one to see the Great Sage's memories.
Xue Dili thought so.
...
"Run! Yushua! Run!"
A short-haired girl desperately pushed away another boy, and behind the boy was a teleportation gate about to take shape, but Xue Dili saw that the distance was already filled with overwhelming… swarming insects!
There was no time to react, the girl unfolded a Magic Shield and began chanting a large-scale spell to try and fend off the swarm.
"The teleportation gate is complete! Let's go!" the boy named Yushua shouted, grabbing the girl.
"Run! Yushua!" The girl forcefully pushed him.
Yushua fell into the teleportation gate, and in his last sight, he saw a spike piercing the girl from below… and in his hand, still tightly gripping, was a severed portion of her arm.
...
"Attention all Neon tourists and foreign students, today the meteorological bureau detected thick black smoke rising from the Sakurajima volcano, accompanied by multiple small earthquakes. Please pay attention to your safety, repeating once more…"
In the morning, Xue Dili didn't sleep well.
He was awakened by the vibration of his phone, and upon opening it, saw a notification pushed by the national meteorological bureau.
Neon and its damned frequent earthquakes and volcanoes—it's just a volcano smoking.
He rubbed his head to wake up, recalling the dream from yesterday, which was becoming ever clearer.
He indeed dreamt of the Great Sage's past, but strangely, it was just this one segment.
Although the old undead's deepest memory was of Julia's escape, his memory also contained a large part of his early life's achievements, family reunions, and battlefield conquests.
But the Great Sage had only this few-minute brief scene; this scene replayed dozens of times in last night's dream, leaving Xue Dili somewhat mentally exhausted.
"Awake, huh? Come over and take a look, the framework is almost done." The Great Sage, gazing at the sluggish Xue Dili, knocked on the structure he had built.
"Morning…" Xue Dili rubbed his temples; he felt like he hadn't slept but rather endured a Tsukuyomi attack, feeling more drained than ever.
In the dream, watching that short-haired girl die repeatedly before his eyes.
Xue Dili understood what it meant to feel pain, to understand pain, and to accept pain...
After pulling himself together a bit, he entered the consciousness space.
Instantly, Xue Dili wasn't sleepy anymore.
A projected screen materialized in that consciousness space, displaying everything clearly like a game interface.
[Name: Xue Dili
Innate Protection: Geothermal Energy Protection (B-Class, when in direct contact with the concept of 'Earth,' all consumption is halved)
Innate Treasure: Birdman Armor (B+ Class, grants immunity to damage below B-Class, reduces pain, dispels diseases and curses below B-Class)
Innate Skills: Imperial Swordsmanship (D-Class), Holy Light Technique (D-B Class)
Current Level: Tier One
Experience: 91%]
Xue Dili's information was listed and clearly analyzed and displayed, with the option to click and view detailed explanations.
The Great Sage observed the structure he created and continued to supplement: "It will periodically scan your body and space, updating itself so that each time you level up, it will display timely results, guiding you in feasible directions when training body or magic. Continue with yesterday's magic development and see."
After the Great Sage spoke, Xue Dili eagerly began experimenting with the system, chanting in Imperial Language, Holy Light appearing in his hand, and trying to change the direction toward a circular saw disc.
At this moment, a new prompt immediately appeared on the projection.
[Holy Light Technique Development - Rotating Cutting Direction: Using the thermal power of light to create disc-like slashes by rotation, high feasibility. Estimated to become a B-Class magic upon successful development. It is suggested to primarily rely on light's thermal energy for thermal cutting destruction.]
Xue Dili: "!!!"
The Holy Light in his hand dissipated instantly, and he grabbed a straight cane to use as a sword, performing a Double Jump followed by a Dragon Ascension from above.
[Imperial Swordsmanship Modification - Dragon Ascension (C-Class): A slash formed by exerting force using the full body's muscles and the gravitational acceleration of a fall, increasing power by over 200%, but with significant start and end lag, please use cautiously if missed as it will cause prolonged stiffness.]
Xue Dili: "!!!"
The old man's night's work resulted in such a thing; even just the experience bar alone felt incredibly powerful to Xue Dili.
If he had such an experience bar while attending school, he could have achieved top scores.
Xue Dili had always been troubled by the lack of a clear quantification for his strength improvement, and now, with an experience bar in place, he felt he could grind away tirelessly.
Not only that, this thing could also scan his physical state and the abilities he was casting in real-time, even providing developmental feasibility and drawbacks.
The only downside was why was the armor simply called "Birdman Armor"? Shouldn't it have a cool name, like "Barak's Guardian" or something?
Noticing Xue Dili's complaint, the Great Sage said: "All displayed names are based on the names recognized in your consciousness, meaning you named the treasure 'Birdman Armor.'"
Xue Dili: "..."