Chapter 24: Choice Ability
The old warrior from the island country is obviously a person who misses his hometown very much. Although he is in North Africa, he has built an elegant and quiet house full of Zen.
After a good night's sleep last night, Andy saw all this early the next morning.
Leaning against the lattice window of the bedroom and lowering your head slightly, you can see the frightened bird made of a bamboo tube under the window constantly splashing water back and forth.
Drop by drop, it makes a clear sound.
Not far away there is a very beautiful stone lantern with some intricate hieroglyphics carved on it.
Further away, gravel and moss formed the path in the yard, with lush green plants on both sides, covered with many dewdrops.
Refined, simple, elegant and quiet, being in this courtyard can naturally calm one's mind.
"This is the power of the extraordinary." A voice suddenly came from the side.
Andy turned around and found that the ugly man from last night was now sitting in front of a small-leaf boxwood tree in the corner of the courtyard, constantly trimming the branches of the green plant.
"It was impossible for these plants to survive on this land, but in the hands of extraordinary gardeners, the impossible has become possible."
He said this without turning his head, but it was obvious that he knew nothing about gardening. He seemed to be using the scissors skillfully, but in fact the poor plant was becoming uglier and uglier, and it became increasingly incompatible with the overall style of the courtyard.
But Andy had no interest in embarrassing the other party.
"Are you ready?" he asked with his head tilted.
The two parties had an agreement last night that he would be allowed to come into contact with the extraordinary today, so the reason why the other party came here now is actually self-evident.
"Honestly, there's nothing to prepare for."
The ugly man patted his butt as he spoke, and stood up, picking up a black wooden box next to him.
"Semi-transcendents are not like true transcendents. They need complicated steps and a huge amount of resources to change their job."
As he spoke, he stepped into the living room behind the threshold, and Andy left the bedroom at the same time.
The two of them finally sat on either side of a coffee table in the middle of the living room.
"What is a true extraordinary person like? It's actually very simple. Let's take the profession of thief as an example."
The ugly man began to pretend to be sophisticated and showed off his tea-making skills in front of Andy, a "foreigner", but his technique seemed extremely amateurish.
"If you become a thief, you will be qualified to learn extraordinary abilities in the three major areas of stealing, stealth, and treasure hunting without any obstacles."
“But if you don’t have a job, it will be very difficult for you to learn those skills as an ordinary person.”
"How difficult is it? A normal person may not be able to learn a basic skill in his entire life."
"Those with some talent can learn it after studying for ten or twenty years, and then become what we call semi-transcendents."
"But that's all. One or two basic abilities are the upper limit of a semi-transcendent. No matter how hard they try, they simply can't learn high-level abilities."
"Because the life essence of a semi-transcendent is very different from that of a true transcendent."
Seeing Andy's expressionless face, the ugly man smiled and said, "Don't be discouraged. After becoming a semi-transcendent, your illness will surely be suppressed. Although it won't take long, during this period, we can find a way to help you become a real transcendent.
"This is the only way to maximize your talent. Otherwise it would be a waste."
He said something similar last night.
Andy nodded to express his gratitude.
Seeing this, the ugly man said, "For someone as gifted as you, according to our estimates, it will take at least a month to learn the basic abilities of a profession and become a semi-transcendent."
“And, to be honest, that’s the most optimistic estimate.”
Having said that, the middle-aged man with light brown hair gently opened the black wooden box that he had placed at his feet.
Inside the box were long wooden boxes. After placing them neatly on the coffee table, the ugly man carefully opened them one by one.
Some ordinary-looking yellowed parchment scrolls appeared in front of Andy.
"Ordinary paper cannot be used to record the knowledge of extraordinary people. This scroll is made of the sheepskin of the Eastern European Kazt magic-horned sheep. It is very precious."
"But what is even more precious is the uniqueness of the scroll."
"Uniqueness?"
"That's right. Extraordinary knowledge is not just some written records. It contains special energy. Without the assistance of this special energy, no matter how amazing your talent is, you will never be able to learn the abilities hidden in it."
"And this energy will continue to be lost as you learn. The specific number of times a scroll can be used for learning will depend on the material of the scroll itself and the ability of the scroll scribe."
It's like a skill book in a game.
Andy thought.
This is one of the reasons why the extraordinary is monopolized in today's era. There is no possibility of wide dissemination, and the qualification to learn each ability is extremely precious.
You can tell from the careful look on the ugly man's face when he showed the scroll.
They don't have many of these scrolls, or these resources, that record special abilities in stock.
"The silent footsteps of a thief, the bullet affinity of a gunsmith, the clue tracking of a bounty hunter..."
Seeing that Andy had no questions, the ugly man began to point at the scrolls and explained their names and functions in detail, and finally said:
"Choose one, and try to learn it within a month. Then you can become a semi-transcendent and impress us."
"I'll try my best."
Andy said, reaching out and picking up one of them without hesitation.
"Communication with spirits by a psychic?"
The ugly man who was about to moisten his throat with a cup of tea was stunned when he saw this. "What an interesting choice... I mean, you are also talented in the profession of psychic?"
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
"I've seen a lot of ghosts and spirits."
Andy replied.
The ugly man uttered an "oh" when he heard this, and instantly remembered what Father Matthew had said about the boy's past experience.
Seems like you have an unreliable mother? "Okay."
He then said: "However, it should be emphasized that psychics and exorcists are two different professions. Although they have certain similarities, their actual abilities are very different."
"For example, the ability you chose can only be used to communicate with spirits, but cannot be used to purify, expel, or force them to do anything."
Having said that, the ugly man hesitated for a moment, as if he wanted to persuade Andy to change his mind.
Because in his opinion, this ability is really useless.
Spirits are not limited to ghost-like monsters. Humans, birds, beasts, and even plants all have spiritual beings in their bodies.
Therefore, the meaning of spirit communication is very clear.
But what's the point? Being a bestiality translator?
Or like those witches in the folk, they transmit messages between humans and spirits, give the poor bereaved people some useless comfort, and earn a lot of money? In the eyes of the ugly man, these uses cannot be said to be useless, but only impractical.
Not practical for Andy.
It is not lethal and cannot be used in combat, but it can have a certain auxiliary effect in taming animals and studying herbology.
But Andy's current situation makes it impossible for him to go out casually.
Moreover, even if he could go out freely, there were actually no powerful beasts for him to tame within his own country.
As for herbal medicine? Who would expect a country where desert occupies most of its territory to have any profound achievements in the field of herbal medicine?
Without the necessary educational resources and knowledge base, no matter how talented you are, you will get half the result with twice the effort if you try to figure things out on your own.
Moreover, according to the ugly man's understanding, Andy did not seem to have any talent in herbology - he had gone to observe the church's assessment.
All in all, the ability to communicate with spirits is not a very suitable choice.
But thinking about the situation Andy is currently facing, it seems that learning other skills will not bring any help at all.
Even a group of senior extraordinary people like them couldn't openly fight against the York royal family. What could a child who hadn't grown up yet be expected to do? The ugly man didn't speak.
Not bad.
He changed his mind.
The ability to communicate with spirits can at least be used to play with birds and animals.
It was more or less a diversion for Andy's rest of his life.
"What do you think about finding a place to hide?"
he then asked.
(End of this chapter)