Hidden genius: Black belly snake

Tang Yue excitedly looked at the small plant in her hands steadily growing.

She had never experienced anything like this before.

She could feel an intangible link between her and the vegetation on her hands.

It was a cool and comforting sensation.

Standing next to her, Marvin broke out into a cold sweat.

He had just let his mouth run wild but was forced to face the consequences so soon.

He cursed himself for willingly falling into this hole.

He gritted his teeth in bitterness as he painfully watched the other party do better than him.

However, standing next to the duo, one anxious and one excited, the examiner Marcel surprisingly had an indifferent look on his face.

It was almost as if he had expected this to happen.

Soon, more and more leaves started emerging and the plant looked healthy and green.

It had even grown at a visibly faster pace than Marvin's plant.

But when things were beginning to get interesting, suddenly something unexpected happened.

The leaves and the stem which had been throbbing with life force and energy just a second ago, now for some reason seemed completely still and calm.

Huh?

Both Tang Yue and Marvin opened their mouth in shock at the same time.

The examiner, however, simply nodded and said. "Test complete. Tier 3 talent."

Tang Yue, as well, nodded, her eyes still gazing affectionately at the plant in her hand.

Even though she was slightly disappointed, this was something she had also partly expected.

A beast's life was always like this. They were destined to be ordinary and average in everything.

Even in their talent for cultivation, their ability to absorb mana from the environment, it was a similar situation.

A beast was able to naturally absorb the mana from the air around them without the necessity of any body tempering or complicated cultivation techniques.

It was a very casual and effortless process, that enabled them to cultivate even when they were sleeping.

But unfortunately, that's where it stopped. Because they were only ever able to absorb mana at that measly average rate.

It was physically impossible for them to improve the rate of absorption any further.

So when they attained a certain cultivation realm, it was also impossible for them to progress any further.

There was always an invisible threshold hovering above their heads, keeping them down and forcing them to kneel before the higher living beings.

And this is exactly what happened in the case of Tang Yue's herb synergy as well.

Not just Tang Yue, but all spirit beasts had an average synergy with the plants and vegetation and that's where it stopped.

As a spirit beast, she could never in her lifetime achieve the high and superior synergy level which Marvin had proudly demonstrated.

This was common knowledge and that is why the examiner Marcel was already aware of it.

He had only seen what he had expected and nothing more or nothing less.

So he simply noted down the result in a parchment and prepared to leave.

Marvin also knew this, but when it came to Tang Yue, he didn't dare take anything for granted.

He could only relax when he confirmed the result with his own eyes.

His heart had almost leaped out of his chest, but now he was back to his calm and composed form.

"Oh!" The chubby little elf smugly exclaimed.

"That's a very good affinity! Congratulations, Princess Yue."

"Keep working hard. You will eventually get to my level someday."

"Well… maybe at least close to my level."

"Tch. Tch. Too bad not everything can be achieved by copying and having lucky breaks huh?"

He sneered and materialized several tongues of flame in his hand, which burnt the plant on Tang Yue's hand to a crisp.

Tang Yue couldn't help but smile. She silently watched the elf bragging.

It looked like she had been too lenient the previous day.

It was obvious that the dosage of slaps she had given was not sufficient at all.

She dusted off the ash in her palm and crossed her hands.

"Just like your cauldron issues yesterday, maybe my seed had an issue?" The snake innocently asked with a smile that didn't quite reach her venomous eyes.

"Cough. Cough. Tier 3 talent is not bad, Princess. Congratulations. Now, please follow me."

The examiner quickly intervened and brought the bickering duo along with him.

He could already feel a headache coming with these two big personalities joining the association at the same time.

"I will assign you both to your respective fields and then hand over the first set of missions."

"Please remember to inform the disciple sitting at the border of the fields, in case you are heading out to missions."

"Your allotted herb field has to be taken care of and tended to every day, and in the absence of your availability, someone else will tend to it."

"So it is important that you notify the association about your presence and absence." Master Marcel explained.

Marvin chuckled and nodded and weirdly enough, Tang Yue as well smiled and nodded, each with their own convoluted thoughts in their brains.