Innate Talent

"Nothing can be done about it — his merits aren't something anyone else can replicate. But I imagine you feel the same as I do. What right does someone who struggled *this* hard just to crack rank 19 on the Fire Rankings have to stand over us?" Zhou Shuming said.

Dongfang Lie brooded for a moment, then let a thin smile cross his face. "Things aren't that complicated. Whether it's the World Academy Tournament or the Huang Rankings, strength is the only thing that ever settles the argument. We defeat him directly — I can't imagine the Magic Association would ignore a loss in an academy ranking bout when they're evaluating candidates."

"You have a point. I've never once heard of a Huang Rankings powerhouse getting thoroughly demolished. Social merits are social merits, but without the strength to back them up, no one ever climbs to the Xuan Rankings!" The moment Dongfang Lie framed it that way, Zhou Shuming's mood lifted entirely.

Mo Fan had no idea he'd already been put in someone's crosshairs. After the string of campus challenges, he'd come to recognize that his strength wasn't especially outstanding. No matter what, he needed the Three-Step Tower to push his cultivation further — otherwise, whenever he ran into a student with one foot already past the advanced threshold, the defeat would be crushing.

By breaking into rank 19, Mo Fan had earned five days of training time in the Three-Step Tower for the month.

He threw himself into those five days completely, pouring every ounce of focus into cultivating his Lightning Element Star Nebula.

On the third floor of the Three-Step Tower, he managed to hold out for two full days. Devouring lightning elements in a frenzy of Meditation, he finally forced his Lightning Element Star Nebula to the third level.

The remaining three days he spent on Shadow Element. It had been waiting long enough. In the final hours of day five, the Shadow Element broke through to the second level.

Come to think of it — if Demonization hadn't knocked his cultivation back by a full tier, he wouldn't be lagging this far behind the top-twenty Fire Rankings powerhouses. By now he should have had all Four Elements sitting at level three.

Mo Fan had more elements to train than anyone else, which meant more ground to cover. For other high-ranked students who had visited the Three-Step Tower again and again, each visit yielded diminishing returns — Fire Element on the third floor barely moved the needle after so many sessions. But his Shadow Element and Summoning Element were entering it essentially fresh. The gains were extraordinary.

That was why he pushed so hard in the rankings. The higher his standing, the more time he earned in the Three-Step Tower — and only with that time could all Four Elements advance together.

Once the Summoning Element reached the second level, the little Flame Queen's growth rate would quadruple.

That mattered enormously. The sooner she stepped into the Growth Stage, the sooner Mo Fan would effectively have a Commander-class Contract Beast at his side.

Lightning Element at level three. Shadow Element at level two. Next time in the Three-Step Tower, the Summoning Element was next.

Mo Fan emerged from his isolation in high spirits.

He was a Mage who lived on Field Expeditions and bounty fights, not one of those monks sealed behind academy walls day after day. Every visit to the Three-Step Tower hit differently for him.

It was like a martial artist soaking in medicinal wine. Daily immersion would build up the body, no question — but nothing compared to the fighter who had bled through a hundred real battles and then submerged himself in that same brew afterwards. The potential unlocked through real combat and tempered in recovery was something pure training could never replicate.

So every single time Mo Fan stepped into the Three-Step Tower, his cultivation moved.

With both Lightning and Fire at level three, he had the foundation to challenge higher-ranked students. His next goal was clear: push the Summoning Element to level two.

The Summoning Element was the one he'd neglected most. To force it from almost no accumulated base all the way to level two in a single stretch, he'd need seven full days inside the Tower.

Seven days in the Three-Step Tower was a privilege reserved for the top ten of the Fire Rankings.

"Mo Fan, are you seriously planning to skip straight from rank 19 to challenging the top ten? That's going to end badly." When Ai Tutu heard his plan, she put her foot down immediately.

"The top thirty is brutal to climb even one rank at a time, let alone nine. There are nine Fire Hall powerhouses between you and the top ten. You really should start with whoever's sitting at rank 15 and work your way up." Mu Nujiao was of the same mind as Ai Tutu. She thought Mo Fan was being dangerously reckless.

Mu Nujiao's own growth this past year had been nothing short of fearsome — she'd already climbed to rank 47 in the Wood Hall, and showed every sign of pressing higher still.

She'd thought her own pace was aggressive. Mo Fan wanted to go straight to the top ten.

The top ten were... there wasn't a kinder word for it. Monsters.

"It's a waste of time. The sooner I crack the top ten, the sooner the resources come in. The Spirit Seed Fragments from top-ten slots are far better — and you both know how broke I am right now." Mo Fan pulled a long face and shot a vicious glare at the little Flame Queen, who had been happily yanking strands of his hair.

"I understand the reasoning, but — from what I know, some of the top-ten students have Innate Talents. If you're going to challenge them, you need to find out exactly what those Talents are first." Unable to talk him out of it, Mu Nujiao settled for giving him something useful instead.

"Innate Talents?"

"Right — similar in nature to your innate Dual Elements, just nothing nearly as dominant. The higher the rank, though, the stronger the Innate Talent tends to be." She said.

The mention pulled Dongfang Ming to mind. He'd had an Innate Talent too — his Star Chart drawing speed was double the normal rate. A shame the man was all spectacle and no substance, never getting real mileage out of that remarkable gift.

Innate Talents were vanishingly rare in the broader world. Any Mage born with one who didn't waste it could expect to stay leagues ahead of the competition. Mo Fan hadn't crossed paths with many Innate Talent holders before, but this was Pearl Academy — the most renowned magic school in the country. It stood to reason that every gifted anomaly in the nation would eventually find their way here.

Several of the top ten had Innate Talents.

*No wonder everyone says the top ten is the hardest wall to breach.* One early advantage, compounded over time, became an insurmountable lead. Pair that with inhuman diligence, and what ordinary Mage could even begin to close the gap?

Mu Nujiao's point was simple: Mo Fan was still a newcomer. Even with his overwhelming Innate Talent, there was no reason to go charging at the top ten. Those students had been rooted in Pearl Academy for years, hoarding its resources for longer than anyone cared to count.

Their cultivation maxed out, their Enchanted Gear complete, Dual Elements already seeded with Spirit Seeds — at the Intermediate level with Domain mastery, they were essentially untouchable. If one of them also carried an Innate Talent, Mo Fan had no realistic shot. He'd be ground into the dirt without a shred of dignity left.