Chapter 34: The Choice of Fate
[Checking in progress...]
[Hunter has completed the Talent Awakening Quest. Completion rate: 95% (Extremely Excellent).]
[Judging... Judgment complete. As the Hunter's Talent Awakening Quest completion rate is 95%, the talent ability will awaken 43%. The maximum awakening degree for the first awakening is 45%.]
[Please ensure the Hunter's current location is safe. The Hunter will be extremely weak during the talent awakening process.]
[Talent Awakening begins.]
As Reincarnation Paradise's notification ended, Su Xiao's arm's Reincarnation Mark became abnormally hot. His body began to weaken, his consciousness grew drowsy, and a few seconds later, he collapsed onto the bed in a deep sleep. This was Reincarnation Paradise's protective mechanism; talent awakening was by no means an easy process.
In a pitch-black space, Su Xiao's consciousness awakened, yet everything before him was dark. He didn't know how long passed when a streak of light flashed before his eyes. It seemed to be a shooting star.
Boom!
A buzzing sound rang in Su Xiao's ears. That wasn't a shooting star at all, but a meteor.
The meteor shattered this pitch-black space, and beams of white light surged in from the cracks. When the white light shone on Su Xiao, his body melted like snow in the sun.
"Su Xiao... Su Xiao, wake up, hurry up, or you'll be late."
A faint, indistinct calling came from beside his ear. Hearing this familiar voice, Su Xiao abruptly opened his eyes.
His mouth opened and closed. After a moment, Su Xiao shook his head. He was in the middle of awakening his talent ability, and everything he saw before him was a memory from his past.
That was exactly the case. The scene before him changed, and Su Xiao was now standing on a road. His body had shrunk, seeming to be only about seven or eight years old.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The harsh horn of a truck came. Su Xiao involuntarily turned his head, and an overloaded red truck was barreling toward him.
Squeal~
The tires left two black rubber marks on the asphalt road. The truck's front, like a monstrous beast, slammed into Su Xiao.
Bang.
The world spun, Su Xiao's vision was stained red, and his young body gradually lost its life.
"Thump, thump..."
The heartbeat of the small body was amplified to the extreme in Su Xiao's ears.
Su Xiao knew what would happen next. Although he was sent flying by the truck and should have been dead for sure, he miraculously survived. As for the reason, he had long since forgotten. After all, he was too young at the time. If it weren't for the pain of the injections during his hospital stay, he might have already forgotten being hit by a car.
Even now, Su Xiao still remembered the nurse sister, who in his childhood memory was a healer, giving him a fierce injection. He cried miserably at the time.
Thinking of this, Su Xiao smiled. Why was Reincarnation Paradise showing him this? Just as he was puzzled, the scene before him made him very surprised.
The young Su Xiao lay on the road, in a pool of blood. The slightly chubby driver, his face pale, knelt before him, his expression full of guilt and regret. Just as Su Xiao was about to die, a 'seed' inside him awakened, and his shattered internal organs began to repair. Strangely, his external injuries did not recover.
[Detected that the talent seed has been activated over 20%. Repair complete. Reserve contractor has escaped the brink of death. This batch has selected a total of 3943 reserve contractors.]
A line of text, all too familiar, floated in midair. This was clearly Reincarnation Paradise's notification format, and the bystanders watching the accident did not notice this line.
Seeing this, Su Xiao suddenly understood. He finally knew why Reincarnation Paradise was showing him this scene. This was the process of him obtaining his talent.
Some people's talent abilities were innate, while others awakened a talent seed later in life. Su Xiao belonged to the latter category.
Compared to those with innate talent abilities, the talents of those who awakened talent seeds later were somewhat weaker.
Of course, the strength of a talent after entering Reincarnation Paradise also depended on the life experiences of the individual. Clearly, Su Xiao was the type who had a rather unfortunate life.
A blessing in disguise. His unfortunate life allowed him to obtain a stronger talent ability.
The scene before Su Xiao changed. When his vision returned, he was in a spacious passageway.
This passage stretched endlessly. Su Xiao stood up from the ground and looked around.
Surrounding him was a pitch-black steel passage. One side of the passage was sealed off, while the other stretched endlessly, with darkness at the end.
"Paradise?"
Su Xiao tried to ask Reincarnation Paradise, but it gave no response. After looking around, all he could see was pitch-black steel.
He tried knocking on the steel with his hand, and Su Xiao immediately understood that this passage was indestructible in a certain sense.
With no other choice, Su Xiao could only walk toward the endless side of the passage.
He walked forward, walking endlessly. In the end, Su Xiao's walking steps became almost a habitual motion.
He didn't know how long he walked. His legs felt as heavy as lead. Time and space lost their meaning here. Perhaps he had only been walking for a second, or perhaps he had been walking for years.
"What kind of talent awakening is this?"
Su Xiao sighed. Could it be that he had awakened a running-away type talent ability? Why was he being made to walk endlessly? His talent should be an auxiliary growth type.
Just as Su Xiao's legs were too heavy to lift, the scene before him finally changed.
Ahead on the black iron passage, a three-way fork appeared. There were three passages, and above each of these three passages was a pattern.
The pattern on the first passage was a wooden stick. No, it should be a staff.
The pattern on the second passage was a shield. This shield emitted a sea-blue light, as if combining mana with defense.
The pattern on the third passage was a sharp sword. This sword seemed to have just cut off an enemy's head, dripping with blood.
"Fate... is yours to command."
A deep, majestic voice came. The entire black iron passage vibrated with a loud hum from the sound, and Su Xiao's consciousness even felt like it was about to shatter.
After recovering for a few minutes, Su Xiao took deep breaths. The owner of that voice just now must have been an extremely terrifying existence. Not to mention fighting, perhaps if the other party just glared at Su Xiao, he would be in danger of dying.
Temporarily putting aside the origin of that voice, Su Xiao looked at the three passages ahead. This was a choice, the direction of his talent awakening.
The first passage awakened abilities leaning towards a mage. This was directly ruled out. The second passage was interesting. From the appearance of that shield, it was most likely a magic-tank type talent. Su Xiao didn't expect that he had the talent to become a magic tank.
Although somewhat surprised, Su Xiao would not develop in the direction of a magic tank. Being a tank was too frustrating; getting beaten without being able to fight back. Chopping people was much more satisfying.
As for the third passage, Su Xiao only took a rough glance at the pattern on it before stepping towards it. Clearly, the third passage was prepared for melee combat.
The moment Su Xiao entered the third passage, Reincarnation Paradise's notification appeared.
[Prompt: Does the Hunter choose this type of talent inclination? Based on the Hunter's Stamina attribute judgment, the chance of successfully mastering this talent is 70%, the chance of death is 29%, and the chance of unknown mutation is 1%.]
Su Xiao ignored Reincarnation Paradise's prompt. He had no other choice.
[Talent activating...]
[Talent awakening...]