THE SYSTEM IS NOT MINE

When Yan and Chen Yu entered the hut, they saw a wooden desk at the front. A black-haired girl with brown eyes sat behind it.

”Welcome to the Resonance Tower,” The receptionist glanced at them.

”How may I help you?” She leaned forward.

But Yan did not look at her, his eyes were on a chart hung on the left wall next to her, listing the different Resonance levels and their corresponding talent:

Pale White — 1 Spiritual Line — Negligible talent.

White — 2 Spiritual Lines — Slow cultivation.

Silver — 3 Spiritual Lines — Ordinary cultivation.

Green — 4 Spiritual Lines — Talented enough to get noticed.

Light Blue — 5 Spiritual Lines — Exceptional, Elder-level talent.

Orange — 6 Spiritual Lines — Genius at absorbing QI, rare.

Violet — 7 Spiritual Lines — Super Genius, ultra-rare.

Crimson — 8 Spiritual Lines — Monster.

Black — 9 Spiritual Lines — Above Monster.

Silver Gold — 10 Spiritual Lines — Theoretical; ancient texts depict their existence.

”My friend here would like to measure his Resonance,” Chen Yu said.

The receptionist gave Yan a strange look.

Most people who came to get their Resonance checked were first-timers, young teenagers, or children. It was rare to see a late teenager or an adult come for a Resonance.

Still, she pointed toward the two closed doors.

”No problem. But someone is already using the Resonance rooms, so you’ll have to wait a bit.”

”Is there anything else I can help you with while you wait?” the receptionist asked.

”What’s the relationship between the Letters of Classical Script and Resonance?” Yan asked.

”They’re related, but not directly. Let me explain,” the receptionist said.

”Resonance determines how quickly you cultivate, while your understanding of letters determines how you use that cultivation.”

”But the important part is the limit.”

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”You may already know that at the Spiritual Qi Foundation Realm, you can understand only one letter. That’s your foundation letter.”

”The speed at which you reach Spiritual Qi Foundation Layer 9 is determined by your cultivation absorption talent.”

”However, your actual combat power depends on how well you understand and use your foundation letter.”

”You can’t break through to the next realm, Spiritual Qi Core Formation, with Resonance talent alone. You also need to reach a certain level of understanding of your foundation letter in your current realm.”

Yan nodded in understanding before asking, ”Why can cultivators at the Foundation Realm understand only one letter?”

The receptionist gave him another strange look.

”It’s because of the soul. At the Foundation Realm, the soul’s capacity for understanding letters is limited to one. Cultivation is essentially the process of strengthening the soul.”

”At the Core Formation Realm, the soul is considerably stronger, so its capacity increases to two.”

Yan nodded.

So one foundation letter was the limit at the Foundation Realm but he had two.

Mind and Ground.

He already had a hunch that something was wrong with him, he never encountered any foundation cultivators with two letters till now.

Just then, one of the closed doors opened.

A child around twelve years old stepped out. He glared at the receptionist, his face filled with frustration.

”Why? Why? Why does it have to be Pale White? I’m not any different from mortals!” he cried.

”I wanted to cultivate... I wanted to become strong... I wanted to protect my family... Why?”

He dropped to his knees.

”Kid, are you okay?” Chen Yu crouched beside him and extended his hand towards the kid.

”Do I look okay?” the kid snapped.

”Move away, ”

He kicked the ground, pushed Chen Yu’s hand aside before running off.

The receptionist looked at the event as if it was her daily routine, people came with high hopes and left with disappointment, it was nothing new to her.

Then the receptionist looked toward the now-empty room.

”Customer, the room is vacant. You can go in.”

”But before that, would you like to keep your results private or have them recorded in our records?”

”Private,” Yan said.

”Twenty silvers, please.”

Yan took the silvers from his pocket and handed them to her.

Then he entered the room.

A crystal sat on a wooden platform.

Yan stepped in front of it and placed his hand on its surface.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the crystal began to glow orange.

Text appeared on its surface.

Resonance: Orange.

Spiritual Lines: 1.

The door to the private room opened, and Yan stepped outside.

He walked back toward Chen Yu.

”Where should we go next?”

”Mm... There’s a Martial Arena nearby. We can go there.”

Yan and Chen Yu walked toward the Martial Arena.

Despite its grand name, it looked more like an empty playground where children were fighting each other.

Yan looked around for a moment before quickly losing interest.

”Let’s go.”

But Chen Yu didn’t move.

He drew his sword.

His hands and legs were still trembling.

Yet he pointed the sword at Yan.

”Let’s spar.”