Chapter 94: Classification of Transcendents
Xu Zhi thought that Zhong Lingfan might have a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder. She noticed that as she quickly dried the moisture from her hair, Zhong Lingfan’s tightly furrowed brows relaxed.
Perhaps the reason she was so considerate and attentive to such small details in life was because she held herself to the same standard.
“All right, can we continue now?” Xu Zhi shook her head slightly and smoothed her no-longer-dripping hair.
Zhong Lingfan nodded. “How long will you stay this time?”
Xu Zhi thought for a moment. “Not sure. If there’s nothing major, I’ll leave soon. Let’s deal with anything urgent now—I probably won’t be here long.”
After all, every extra day she spent here meant another batch of her “crops” elsewhere might wither and die.
“I see.” Zhong Lingfan nodded thoughtfully. “In that case, before you leave, I need you to clear out all the mutated creatures in the area we’ve planned for the plantation. Can you do that?”
It was definitely a massive task.
But Xu Zhi just casually nodded. “That’s easy.”
Mutated creatures often fought each other. To ensure the eggs and hatchlings could develop safely, it was indeed necessary to clear the area first.
“Also, there’s a group of people whose strength is among the top in the residential area. Right now, there’s no issue, but I suspect they’re not entirely convinced by the current system. I need you to subdue them—I plan to recruit them as guards.”
Xu Zhi looked puzzled. “There’s no one else who can keep them in check?”
“There are, but not many. That’s why they’ve started thinking differently.” Zhong Lingfan glanced at her. “It’s also because you—the ultimate force—haven’t been around.”
Xu Zhi rubbed her nose. “All right, I get it.”
That sort of situation was understandable. It was the apocalypse, after all. If you had some strength and a small group, it was natural to develop dangerous ideas.
“Besides that, I’ve formed a research team that needs equipment. You’re planning to head to the second ring, right? There’s a lab there—can you help bring back some gear?”
Xu Zhi nodded. It wasn’t a difficult request. She didn’t bother hiding the fact that she had a spatial storage ability—others could just assume she had some kind of storage-type power.
But something suddenly came to mind. “Didn’t I have my pet bring back a rational cultist and a girl who could suppress him?”
“How are they doing now?”
“That’s also something I wanted to discuss with you today,” Zhong Lingfan replied calmly, as if reciting a string of experimental data.
“Because we lacked proper equipment, I only did some basic experiments and observations. So far, the man appears to be an ordinary cultist—nothing unusual. The only thing keeping him somewhat sane is the girl’s transcendent ability.”
“Her ability isn’t so much suppression as it is severance.”
Zhong Lingfan’s tone changed slightly at that point.
That lined up with Xu Zhi’s own guesses.
“It seems she can sever the connection that causes him to become a cultist and lose his mind. But that connection constantly regenerates after being severed, so she has to keep using her power.”
“But if she uses this ability on weak mutated creatures, it directly halts their mutation process.”
“Furthermore, when we experimented with transcendent materials—like how mutated beast bones are harder and sharper than regular ones—once she uses her power, the bones revert to being ordinary.”
“I suspect she can even sever the potential for weaker humans to become transcendent. But she would need to grow stronger, and so far, no one has volunteered to be a test subject.”
“It seems her ability severs the link between an object and the mystical. And it only works if she’s stronger than the target.”
“In summary, it’s an ability with massive potential once it matures.”
Indeed. The ability to instantly reduce a transcendent to an ordinary person—who wouldn’t be afraid of that?
But as long as Xu Zhi stayed stronger than her, it wasn’t much of a threat.
She thought for a moment and then asked, “You want to make use of her?”
That ability would be very useful to Zhong Lingfan.
Sure enough, Zhong Lingfan nodded. “Yes, her power can assist with many things.”
Xu Zhi waved her hand. “Then go ahead.”
She didn’t care too much—she was simply curious about the girl’s ability.
“One more thing,” Zhong Lingfan added.
“Transcendents today are different from before, so their classification should be different too.”
“I’ve observed most of the transcendents in the residential area and created a preliminary classification system to help people understand what stage they’re at.”
“Oh?” Xu Zhi’s interest was piqued. She was curious to know how transcendents were currently categorized.
“In the past, a transcendent’s power was determined the moment they awakened, so people were ranked by the strength of their abilities.”
“But the current transcendent system is completely different. We can no longer categorize based on ability alone—it needs to be based on developmental stages.”
Zhong Lingfan gave a brief overview of the old and new systems.
“Before, we used letters for classification. But I think numbers suit the current context better.”
Given their limited resources, there was no need for fancy code names.
“Currently, when someone first awakens, 99% don’t gain active powers. Most develop something instinctive and passive—and often quite weak. This is considered a Level One Transcendent.”
“Before awakening, everyone experiences a dream related to their attribute. Based on that dream, you can usually guess what type of power you’ll awaken. Then, through absorbing transcendent energy, they undergo a simple upgrade—also in a dream.”
“After that, they become Level Two Transcendents. At this stage, most awaken a second passive ability, and their physical abilities improve. A rare few with exceptional talent will awaken an active transcendent ability at this stage.”
At this point, Zhong Lingfan looked at Xu Zhi. “I believe this stage is where we can judge someone’s potential.”
“In the residential area, the strongest or most promising transcendents all awakened active abilities at this stage.”
So that’s how it was.
Xu Zhi silently admitted—if not for Zhong Lingfan, she really wouldn’t have known all this.
“And then? What’s next?” she asked with curiosity.
Because up to this point… this whole classification system…
Didn’t really seem to apply to her.
