"By the way, what's your talent like?" Leaf Gray turned his head and asked.

Although Dawn Fielding's demeanor suggested her talent wasn't poor, Leaf Gray couldn't help but want to compare. He needed to know just how bad his own talent was, to the point that it caused Third Shixiong's attitude to change so drastically.

Dawn Fielding was originally holding her own jade token. Hearing Leaf Gray's question, she instinctively pulled it back slightly. This wasn't because she wanted to hide anything, but rather she didn't wish to discourage Leaf Gray too much.

Leaf Gray teased, "Looking down on me, are you? Creatures like men, the more they are beaten down, the more motivated they become!"

Dawn Fielding said helplessly, "Brother Gray, do you really want to see it?"

Leaf Gray smiled, "The result is already out, it can't get much worse than this anyway."

Dawn Fielding thought for a moment and said, "That's true. Brother Gray, you are truly a free-spirited person." She looked genuinely admiring.

Since Leaf Gray had put it that way, how could she refuse? Besides, the information recorded on the jade token wasn't something that couldn't be shown to others.

She reached out and handed her jade token to Leaf Gray.

Leaf Gray took it and looked closely. The side facing him was engraved with Dawn Fielding's name. He flipped it over to the other side, which showed her elemental affinity – the character for 'Wood'. It seemed Dawn Fielding's primary element was Wood. Below the Wood character was a number.

"Thirty-eight?"

Leaf Gray was dumbfounded. This seemed... somewhat different from what he had imagined?

He asked, "That's not right, Miss Fielding. How can it be thirty-eight? Isn't the maximum eight?"

He remembered clearly that there were only eight small saplings on the disk. How could there be an outrageous number like thirty-eight?

"The maximum is sixty-four," Dawn Fielding replied, somewhat confused by his question. She counted on her fingers, murmuring to herself, "Eight trees with eight leaves each... that makes sixty-four. The highest possible talent is theoretically sixty-four leaves."

Leaf Gray looked up at her, his eyes slowly losing their luster...

Dawn Fielding was startled and called out softly, "Brother Gray? Are you alright?"

Just moments ago, he was talking about how men become more motivated the more they are beaten down. How could he be so discouraged in the blink of an eye?

She really shouldn't have shown him her token, Dawn Fielding blamed herself inwardly.

"Cheer up, Brother Gray."

"Let me be quiet for a moment!" Leaf Gray waved his hand at her, looked up at the sky, his gaze vacant.

He roughly understood now. The character 'One' engraved on the back of his jade token didn't represent one small sapling, but one leaf on a small sapling!

In the talent test, each small sapling could grow eight leaves. With eight saplings in total, the limit was sixty-four leaves.

The 'thirty-eight' on Dawn Fielding's jade token signified that during the aptitude test, she had caused those small saplings to produce a total of thirty-eight leaves.As for him... he had only managed a single leaf, not even one entire tree!

Leaf Gray was truly dealt a heavy blow this time.

He had already tried his best to lower his psychological expectations, but only now did he discover that the baseline he thought was the bottom was actually nothing at all.

Being at the bottom out of eight tiers is completely different from being at the bottom out of sixty-four tiers.

"Brother Gray..." Dawn Fielding looked at him with concern, feeling as if Leaf Gray was enveloped in a murky aura, his previous vitality completely gone. "Although talent is important, it doesn't represent everything. Brother Gray, I once heard someone say, 'Heaven rewards the diligent...'"

"Then you probably haven't heard 'Heaven and Earth are ruthless, and treat the myriad creatures as straw dogs...'"

"Huh?" Dawn Fielding felt something was a bit strange about that.

Leaf Gray had already taken a deep breath and recovered. Although he still felt somewhat uncomfortable inside, as he had said earlier, the result was already out, so he could only face it openly.

Moreover, he still had the Talent Tree!

Even if his innate talent wasn't high enough, this miraculous Talent Tree should be able to compensate.

"Tell me about the basis for this talent test?" Leaf Gray asked. Although he had just been tested in the tent, he wasn't clear on the specifics of how the test worked, as he had kept his eyes closed throughout the entire process.

Dawn Fielding didn't explain immediately but looked at him seriously. Her eyes still held obvious concern.

Leaf Gray smiled, "I'm really fine."

Dawn Fielding sighed and began, "Since Brother Gray wants to know, I'll tell you what I understand."

She then proceeded to explain the principle of the array and the testing process in detail.

Leaf Gray understood now: "So, you mean spiritual energy is difficult to introduce into my body? That's why my talent is so low?" He couldn't help but recall his own sensations during the test: those external strands of spiritual energy drilling forcefully into his body, yet unable to penetrate fully, pricking him with pain all over.

Dawn Fielding nodded, "Exactly."

"So that's it!" Leaf Gray roughly understood, but then another doubt arose: "But what does all this really prove? How can one determine a person's innate talent level based solely on these surface phenomena? Don't misunderstand, Miss Fielding, I'm not just fixated on my low talent; I just want to know the reason."

Looking at his earnest expression, Dawn Fielding found it both amusing and exasperating. She patiently explained, "Brother Gray, do you know what methods cultivators rely on to become stronger?"

Leaf Gray said, "Taking spirit pills, absorbing and refining spiritual energy, refining essence into qi, using spirit stones?"

"Exactly," Dawn Fielding nodded. "However, the main methods are still absorbing spiritual energy and using spirit stones. The other two are just auxiliary means. If it's difficult to introduce external spiritual energy into the body, cultivation efficiency will naturally be low, hence low talent. Given the same time and resources, a cultivator with high talent can open more spiritual apertures, and their future achievements will naturally be higher. Since Brother Gray has already opened a spiritual aperture, you probably have felt the difficulty of cultivation yourself."

Leaf Gray thought back to those dark days in the mine, eating Vermillion Dawn Pills every day, then refining essence into qi, feeling himself grow stronger bit by bit... It didn't seem particularly difficult; in fact, it was somewhat... enjoyable?

Dawn Fielding said cultivators mainly rely on absorbing spiritual energy and using spirit stones, while taking spirit pills and refining essence into qi are auxiliary methods. But for him, it seemed... it was the opposite.

He vaguely felt that something wasn't quite right and asked, "Miss Fielding, after you opened your first spiritual aperture, how long did it take you to fill it to capacity?"

If he had a direct comparison, he could judge his own cultivation efficiency. He felt his talent shouldn't be as low as the test indicated.

"About over twenty days or so," Dawn Fielding replied. She didn't ask about Leaf Gray's situation, feeling that the question would only discourage him further.

With a one-leaf talent, wanting to fill the first spiritual aperture to capacity, even with spirit pill assistance, would probably take several months.

Remembering Leaf Gray had saved her before, she felt grateful towards him. The more she looked at Leaf Gray now, the more pitiful he seemed...

Sure enough, after she said that, Leaf Gray was stunned, murmuring in repetition, "Over twenty days?"

Dawn Fielding hurriedly said, "Brother Gray, our situations are different. I was previously taken away by a disciple of The Lunar Blight. She probably wanted to use me to practice some evil technique, so she helped me open a spiritual aperture and gave me a Spirit Nurturing Pill to take. That's why I could fill my aperture in just over twenty days."

And that was the cultivation speed with taking an spirit pill?

Leaf Gray considered his own situation: he ate the cheapest Vermillion Dawn Pills, and from opening the aperture to filling it, it should have only taken about ten-odd days, faster than Dawn Fielding.

What's going on here?