CHAPTER 74: STRONGEST MAN IN THE HISTORY OF HUMANITY!

Talent was a huge factor that determined one’s growth and their future. It was especially true for men who could only rely on their Talent to get stronger.

The higher the Talent, the faster they could absorb the Essence and refine it. This was the reason why Talent mattered so much for men, since they had no alternatives at all.

As for women, it signified the refinement of mana in their Soul and also how fast they could extract pure Essence from it. A Grade 3 Talent would need far more kills than a Grade 5 Talent, since the latter could refine the mana they gained from kills better and faster.

It was like Talent determined the Affinity of the Soul with Energy itself.

At least women could compensate by working harder and killing more Abyssal Creatures or monsters, but there was no alternative for men.

If they had a low-grade Talent, the only thing that could save them was having a rich and influential background with a limitless supply of Soul Shards. But even then, their progress would still be considerably slow and restricted.

This was the reason Wei Xiao didn’t want Leon to choose the Combat Department, which would eventually mean choosing to enter the Primordial Expanse.

But things were different now...

Hearing Wei Xiao’s words, everyone except for Akash and Amber was shocked. Grade 8 Talent was incredibly rare, as there had only been a handful of Grade 9 Talents. They could be counted on one hand, even if all of humanity’s history was included.

And none of them were natural.

That was why one could say that Grade 8 was the peak of what a Human could awaken. If someone just wanted to know how monstrous it truly was, then they only had to look at Amber.

She was a Grade 8 Talent. Granted, she was an exception even among them, but she perfectly showcased its true potential. Before the age of 30, she had already become an Ascended.

What was even more surprising now was the fact that Leon was a man. The highest Talent a man had ever awakened was Grade 7, and that had only happened twice in humanity’s entire history.

This just showed how ridiculous it sounded to have a Grade 8 Talent, especially for a man.

"Hehehe! My Student is too amazing, I know, but you can still praise him," Amber grinned as she swung her arm around Leon’s neck with a smug look.

"You... this..." Wei Xiao couldn’t even form proper words due to the overwhelming shock.

Only Wei Xue seemed to regain herself after the initial impact, as she asked, "Are you sure about it?"

"Why don’t you ask him about Leon’s current Level?" Amber wiggled her brows and teased.

As Wei Xue turned towards Wei Xiao, he muttered, still reeling in disbelief, "Level 12..."

"What the hell!?"

This time it was Akash who exclaimed. He practically shouted at Leon, "You brat! You leveled up so quickly?"

"You can call it beginner’s luck," Leon replied calmly. "My Talent mutated and reawakened as Grade 8. I think that’s just the starting effects of mutation that allowed me to level up so fast. It’ll probably slow down after a while."

Akash nodded in understanding. His explanation made more sense, otherwise Akash would have already turned green with envy.

How many days had it been since Leon joined the Combat Department? Not even ten, and he had already leveled up eight times. It was just plain ridiculous, but it also showed that Leon truly had Mutated Grade 8 Talent.

"No wonder you wanted him under your care. He has the best potential to reach new heights," Wei Xue said, her eyes filled with happiness. "If he grows under you, he will surely become the strongest man of all time."

’Just as I said. I’m standing between bright stars,’ Alena sighed to herself, as she was among the people here who were more of a background than an actual figure.

"The Academy knows about it already, huh," Wei Xiao said, finally calming down. "My apologies. He has a great future in our field, but even better in yours."

"Are you aware of the waves this news would cause?" Wei Xue asked seriously. "Not everyone likes an emerging talent like none before."

"Then I’ll just have to make sure they become ghosts of the past," Amber said, icy coldness dripping from her tone.

Everyone could already guess the outcome of anyone foolish enough to try to mess with Leon after this. They already had a living example of it.

"Then, if you want any help, you can ask the Wei Clan," Wei Xue offered. "Protecting a talent like him is our responsibility."

"You don’t need to, but I’ll keep that in mind," Amber replied casually.

"Alright, now that’s out of the way, who wants to test my potions?" Leon asked with a smile.

He also noticed that the way everyone looked at him had changed, but he didn’t really care. He was already prepared for such attention the moment he decided to be high-key.

There were benefits to being low-key too, but for someone like him, who wanted a lot of resources and would surely attract attention by his actions, it was better to announce it himself and gain some backing.

Humanity had only survived until now because they relied on each other, and that’s what he was going to do as well.

"Indeed. How could we forget your other achievement?" Wei Xiao said before turning towards Alena. "Why don’t you test it first? You’re the best among us for things like these."

Alena nodded and approached Leon, still thinking how she was standing before a miracle in person. But she was someone with a clear head, so she focused on the task at hand and picked up one of the Clearwill Potions.

She eyed the purple liquid carefully and asked, "What are its side effects?"

"As long as one only takes 100 ml of it in a single day, there aren’t any side effects," Leon said, knowing it from the game. "After that, it would become ineffective for a few days, and if someone takes more than 500 ml at once, then it’ll have the opposite effects."

"Opposite as in...?"

"It’ll make the Corruption agitated. Basically, the potion will work like a Corrupted Miasma then," Leon explained calmly. "As long as one doesn’t cross the limit of 100 ml per day, they shouldn’t have any issues."

"Is it different for stronger people, or the same throughout the Tiers?" Alena asked.

"It’s the same for Awakened. As for Ascended, I’m not sure," Leon replied honestly.

Alena turned towards Amber, who just shrugged, "I can test it if you want."

"No, it’s fine. We’ll just classify the risk for the Ascended," Alena shook her head before opening the lid of the glass vial. A sweet fragrance drifted out from it, making her lips curl up unconsciously.

She then took out a few drops of the purple liquid, consumed them, and closed her eyes to examine it properly. Her expression remained neutral, so no one could even guess what was going through her mind.

They trusted her completely because, while Wei Xiao and Akash were very good in their respective fields, when it came to the human body and the effects various medicines had on it, Alena held absolute supremacy.

This was also the reason she was invited despite not being as famous as the others. Her judgement would decide if Leon got the green light for the potion or not.

Even Leon was getting a little nervous, despite being confident that he had created the right potion.

Seconds turned into minutes as they all waited for her judgement in complete silence.