Chapter 3

The man's eyes glinted gold before he said, "What a shame. Your spirit level is only 7, compared to your sisters who are 10." The man said, closing his fan and looking down at Steven.

Hearing this, Steven's dream was crushed. Staggering back due to shock, he looked up at the man.

'What a shame? What a SHAME!' He thought, wishing he could just scream. 'I have no cheat...'

The man looked at Steven's weird behavior, confused. "What's wrong, child." He asked, not bothering to do anything else.

'I came to a cultivation world with no line of cheat and a trash talent. This is going to be hard beyond anything.' Steven thought, grinning, 'That shouldn't hold me back. Yeah, maybe on my path to greatness, I will gain some cheats. Yeah, I am the MC, after all, there should be many plot armor around me.'

'Though, now that I think of it, what is a Spirit on this world term?'

Looking on the grassy ground, he found his book and picked it up.

Opening it to the first page, he wrote.

[What is a Spirit level? What Is your name?]

"You don't know my name... Well, it is Li Feng." Li Feng said, looking at the book. "So you are a curious one. Spirit level determines the level at which the training will start and is ranked from 1-10. As long as a person has at least rank one spirit power when their spirit is awakened can train their spirits. On some rare occasions, the essence has already reached the highest level when the spirit first awakens. This is a rare talent called Innate Full Spirit Power and is recognized as starting at rank 10. Depending on the rank a spirit master awakens at, will determine their cultivation speed."

'I see. This makes sense. So I am not too far from the genius level, only 3 ranks behind. Cultivating shouldn't be too hard.'

[I see. Ok, so, what is spirit rank?] Steven wrote in his book.

"Ranks are the rank of your power.

Rank 1 - 10 is known as Spirit Scholar, that's your current rank.

Rank 11 - 20: Spirit Master. At this rank, you can get your first spirit ring. You can't go past rank 20 until you have one ring.

Rank 21 - 30 Spirit Grandmaster, 2 Spirit Rings

Rank 31 - 40: Spirit Elder, 3 Spirit Rings

Rank 41 - 50: Spirit Ancestor, 4 Spirit Rings

Rank 51 - 60: Spirit King, 5 Spirit Rings

Rank 61 - 70: Spirit Emperor, 6 Spirit Rings

Rank 71 - 80: Spirit Saint, 7 Spirit Rings

Rank 81 - 90: Spirit Douluo 8 Spirit Rings

Rank 91 - 98: Titled Douluo 9 Spirit Rings

and lastly, Rank 99: Limit Douluo." Li Feng said before he sat crossed legs under the tree and faced the town below the hill.

[How do you get the rings?] Steven wrote on the books. He sat beside his grandfather and listened closely.

"You get them from spirit beast and the older that are, the stronger they are. Spirit beasts can take on a human form when they reach 100,000 years old." Li Feng said, bringing his hand in front of him and opening it. "When a spirit beast dies, they drop something called a spirit ring. This ring contains all the cultivation, the spirit beast has accumulated throughout its life as well as the innate ability it was born with. The grade of the ring is determined by the spirit beast's age or cultivation level. Spirit Masters kill spirit beasts for their spirit rings. They need one at each 10th bottleneck. Basically at rank 10, 20, 30, 40, and so on."

'So I awaken my spirit, then cultivate it like leveling up. When I reach level 10 and every ten-level after that, I gain a spirit ring that helps me breakthrough. The higher the years the better. I should aim for 100 thousand years only.' Steven thought, tapping his book before writing.

[So, how many 100,000 rings do you have?]

"Only 1. The rest are below that but none below 80,000 years. Also, each year of the ring has different colors. White-10 Year Spirit Ring, Yellow-100 Year Spirit Ring, Purple-1,000 Year Spirit Ring, Black-10,000 Year Spirit Ring, Red-100,000 Year Spirit Ring." Li Feng said, looking down at Steven. "Are you getting all this? I am not repeating myself if you don't get it."

Steven nodded, indicating he did. 'Now, it all depends on what spirit I awaken. Though that shouldn't be a problem. My soul is that of a 17+3 years old human. I hope that contributes to what kind of spirit I will awaken. Maybe something named primordial blooming of heaven and hell.'

"I wish there was a quicker way to communicate. Having to wait for you to write will her annoying quick." Li Feng said, looking down at his grandson who was in deep thought. 'What can he be thinking about.'

[I can teach you, sign language.] Steven wrote, also feeling that having to write all the time is annoying.

"What's that?" Li Feng curiously looked at the confident look on his grandson's face. He has never heard of such language.

[When you use your fingers to speak I made it up after years of boredom.] Steve wrote. 'I mean, I did invent it in this world so no harm taking the credit for myself. Not like anyone can file a Copywrite notice on me.'

"Interesting... Show me. I am a quick learner." Li Feng said, waiting.

Steven then showed him the ABCs in sign language before he showed some simple word combinations. Surprisingly, Li Feng was a really quick learner and in less than an hour, he was able to hold an actual conversation with Steven without making any mistake.

'Oh, ok. He is a... What rank is he? No matter, he must be strong.' Steven thought, nodding. 'Should I ask him his rank or is that some secret you can never tell those you don't trust. let's just stay quiet.'

"Amazing. Did you invent this?" Li Feng asked using sign language.

[YES!] Steven wrote, puffing his cheat out.

"This is great. It can be used for secret conversations without the enemy knowing. You are an intelligent child. I would have never thought of anything like this and I am known as the smartest in the spirit hall." Li Feng said out loud, excited. "I will have to tell the Supreme Pontiff and the seven seven priest elders. Don't worry, I will give you 50%, no, 60% of the credit. I mean, I am the one who is going to introduce it."

Steven looked at his grandfather like he is some kind of thief. 'Is spirit hall a high rank of this world, if so, fuck you and give me 100% of my credit. I need to gain their favor if I want a smooth sailing life.'

[100%] Steven wrote, holing the book up in Li Feng's face.

"Don't look at me like that. I will say you brought the idea and created the language and I just smoothened it out." Li Feng said, patting Steven's head. "I see a great future in you, my grandson. Come back here tomorrow." He said before shooting up into the sky like a bullet.

'That fucker. If I could speak, I would have cursed him out. But still, it is good enough. Now I will have the help of the spirit hall and my grandfather. My future is looking bright.'