And Just Like That... I'm an Extraordinary?

"The ritual has begun, Bai Zhou." Crow appeared before the mirror, speaking to Bai Zhou through the glass. Her calm voice steadied Bai Zhou's heart. "This is the crevice between the waking world and the Reflected Ruin Realm. In an Extraordinary's whole life, it can be entered only once—at the first awakening of the Fate Principle." "This is the one opportunity you will get in your entire life, because every wisp of mist you see is sediment of 'knowledge' gathered here!" Studying the rolling fog in the mirror, a trace of nostalgia crossed Crow's face. "Now you must go as deep into the mist as you can, and seize as much knowledge as possible to baptize your Fate Principle." "Because the quantity and quality of that knowledge determines the level of your awakening—and thus the talent you will have as an Extraordinary." Crow reminded him, her tone level: "If you can, I hope you will seize as much knowledge as possible and raise your Fate Principle as high as it will go. Because this world has always been a stage for geniuses, and what we call a genius is only the threshold for catching sight of the handful of people who ride the tide of the age." "Even most of the hidden inheritances I hold usually require a certain talent just to begin." "Genius..." Bai Zhou muttered inwardly. He had never harbored ambitions that grand, but he could sense Crow's seriousness and expectation, and his own expression gradually turned grave. "When the Fate Principle successfully breaks free of the Sea of Ignorance, the awakening counts as a success. Three cun above the sea, and your aptitude is barely passable." "Three chi above the sea—one in a hundred. The Fate Principle shines bright, and both learning ability and spirituality outstrip the average. That counts as the threshold of genius." Crow's expression grew serious. "There have even been legendary figures in history whose Fate Principles were suspected to lie three zhang above the sea—a perfect awakening, endowed with all manner of inconceivable talents..." "But that is only legend." The voice paused a moment, then Crow added offhandedly: "—Perhaps you should keep an eye out for golden glows that do not belong amid the mist." "That is extraordinary knowledge left behind by a prior civilization, the greatest stroke of fortune in the gray fog." "They are extremely hard to catch, and you cannot seek them, only stumble upon them... but if you are lucky enough to catch even one, the trip will have been worth it." "Because there is a very good chance it will help you break through the three-chi talent threshold!" Even as she said it, Crow shook her head, plainly not expecting it. "Anyway... go look." "Go seek knowledge. Anything will do." Finally, Crow said: "In this modern age, when all occult knowledge is strictly monopolized, an opportunity like this will never come a second time!" ... Bai Zhou engraved every word of Crow's into his heart. The mist rolled; the gray fog condensed from "knowledge" flowed like water. Bai Zhou pushed deeper into the gray fog, and the ashen vapors surged at his face one after another. A wisp of gray mist dissolved against his skin. Bai Zhou felt something flow into his body, then a coolness washed through his mind, and a string of "knowledge" branded itself into his brain— *Postpartum Anti-Inflammation for Sows.* And it was a fragment, only the first few hundred characters. "...?" Bai Zhou was dumbfounded. To a pig farmer, this was genuinely useful professional knowledge. But what was he supposed to do with it? Bai Zhou looked around at the gray fog and realized that the crevice world held the sediment of Blue Star's vast ocean of specialized skills and knowledge—knowledge covering every facet of daily life. And in the shallowest layer of fog, this was probably all the knowledge there was... Bai Zhou quickened his pace and headed resolutely for the denser fog. Passing through layer after layer of mist, wisps of gray fog rushed at Bai Zhou and lit gray radiance across his skin. —Sure enough, the value of the "knowledge" began to climb. First, a fragment of *Tractor Maintenance Manual*, about ten pages. Then half of *Inorganic Chemistry*, *Mechanical Mechanics* missing its opening, *Python: From Beginner to Practice* missing its ending... And even a complete set of *Calculus*! Bai Zhou absorbed knowledge almost greedily, like a dried sponge soaking up water, his horizons and breadth of mind seeming to expand with it. He was beginning to love this feeling of improving every moment. ...But just as a baboon can never eat enough bananas, human greed has no end. Bai Zhou had never experienced "gaining without learning." Since this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, there was no reason not to maximize the returns. If he were lucky enough to run into hidden knowledge left by a prior civilization, he could change his fate on the spot and leap straight to being a genius among Extraordinary! —So he needed more! He needed more and better knowledge! *Thud, thud, thud...* Hurried steps: Bai Zhou's figure flashed through layer after layer of gray fog. *Ma Zhenguo's Commentary on Baguazhang* missing its last section, *Military Combat Drill, 16 Forms* short two forms, *Probability and Mathematical Statistics* missing chapter three... No wonder Crow had said the chance was rare. Knowledge only manifested as this gray fog inside the crevice world. Seize the mist and you master the corresponding knowledge—a few steps and you took in what others spent years of hard study to learn... the experience was simply marvelous! There would never be a second time. Bai Zhou fell, from the bottom of his heart, in love with learning. And that was not all. Cluster after cluster of gray fog flowed into Bai Zhou's body, gray light circulating over his skin. The content of the knowledge was branded into his brain, while the gray fog that carried it was absorbed—almost greedily—by his Fate Principle. Bai Zhou could distinctly feel something inside him opening up, as though his entire level of life were slowly leaping and evolving. That indescribable sensation was probably his "Fate Principle" growing stronger. "Knowledge is power" was never better demonstrated than at this moment. The flood of knowledge into his head had already made Bai Zhou's skull feel swollen, his forehead warming, but his clear eyes held only the light of seeking knowledge. —No one understood the rarity of the word "opportunity" better than Bai Zhou, who had grown up on the charity of a hundred households. Tired? Rest? To hell with all that! I want to learn! Bai Zhou only lamented that he had not grown a few extra heads on his shoulders; he wished he could carry off the whole fog of knowledge in one go. ...Time slipped slowly by, and Bai Zhou—who had scraped the ground three feet deep the whole way—arrived in the deeper layers of thick fog. Visibility dropped further, until he could not see his own toes when he looked down. The harvest here was greater still. The darker the fog, the more complete and profound the knowledge it contained; all kinds of specialized knowledge and skills poured endlessly into his mind. His brain running far beyond capacity for so long, Bai Zhou's heated cheeks began to flush red. Yet in his bulging eyes there was no trace of fatigue, no wavering thought of giving up halfway—only a heartfelt craving for knowledge. —Keep going. I can still learn! His burning eyes shot with blood vessels, Bai Zhou strained to see through the gaps in the layers of mist toward the blurred distance, judging which way to go to find denser gray fog. "...Hm?" Suddenly, through a gap in the distant gray fog, Bai Zhou saw a fleck of golden light flash. The glimmer was far away and vanished in an instant, disappearing into the rolling fog—anyone else would never have noticed it. Thanks to Wancheng, Bai Zhou had slept well and read little since childhood; his good eyesight caught that speck of light at once! He immediately set off toward it, eyes wide, searching through the fog where visibility was so poor. After a long search, Bai Zhou saw no more golden light. Gray fog was all that met his eyes, and for a moment he wondered whether he had absorbed so much knowledge that he was hallucinating. But he was sure he had not been mistaken, and he kept circling the area. It was like fishing a needle from the sea. By comparison, plunging deeper into the mist in search of higher-quality knowledge seemed like the right answer. But no one had ever taught Bai Zhou how to cut his losses. He knew only to seize an opportunity and never let go, never to stop until the goal was reached. A fellow who had grown up on his own like him was bound to be a little stubborn. But sometimes Bai Zhou did not think stubbornness was such a bad trait. Like right now... At last! When Bai Zhou once more patiently parted a wisp of mist before him, what hid behind it revealed itself. A speck of pale golden glow hovered in midair, flickering, its golden radiance utterly out of place amid the rolling gray fog—like a star adorning the night sky. "Found you!" The instant he saw it, a fierce craving erupted in Bai Zhou's heart, a craving that was almost instinct. —But at a moment like this, Bai Zhou instead grew wary. Restraining his body's instinctive hunger, Bai Zhou cautiously circled the golden glow and studied it for a long while before carefully reaching out. "Buzz!" The moment his fingertip touched the pale golden glow, it transformed into a stream of golden light and flowed into Bai Zhou's body. Pale gold radiance lit across his skin, and a new piece of "knowledge" surfaced in his mind— To be precise, a cluster of characters he could not read. Between their strokes lingered an inexplicably ancient, sacred, wondrous quality, and at the very front stood a symbol of crossed swords. The instant he saw those characters, a sharp pain stabbed through Bai Zhou's forehead. Countless overlapping images blurred before his eyes, and a solemn, drawn-out whisper reached his ears, like some mysterious and ancient rite. Though the tone was entirely unintelligible, he understood its content as though by sudden revelation: —*Holy Oath Slash*! Bai Zhou's spirit lifted at once. So this was... the golden glow Crow had called unseekable and rare? The greatest stroke of fortune in the gray fog! Because it was extraordinary knowledge left by a prior civilization, it looked like incomprehensible scribbles? The next instant, as the golden glow of knowledge was absorbed by his body, a strange phantom sound reached Bai Zhou's ears, like a shackle breaking. *Crash—* He heard the echo of a boiling sea. Bai Zhou's gaze drifted down in a daze, to below his navel, the place that perfectly divides the upper and lower halves of the human body. According to Crow, this was where the golden ratio line of the human body lay, discovered by the famous ancient Greek Extraordinary, Pythagoras. It was also where the Fate Principle slept. Bai Zhou drifted into a hazy, chaotic space, its bounds invisible in every direction. Before him was... a pitch-black ocean the size of a date pit? Date-pit sized, like a single drop of water—yet looking closer, his gaze seemed to extend infinitely, and a vast, viscous ocean black as ink appeared before him. It was a miniature sea, yet utterly real. Gazing into it, he felt it boundless. The human body contains far too much that is unknown and mysterious. The boundless surface of the sea boiled and roared, dense bubbles rising and bursting one after another. A magnificent white light surged up from the depths, its pure brilliance blinding and immense, in stark contrast to the black sea, poised at the brink of emergence. The first instant Bai Zhou saw that pure white light, he understood— this was his Fate Principle. And that ink-black ocean was the Sea of Ignorance that drowned the Fate Principle. "Incredible..." The Fate Principle and the Sea of Ignorance, hidden deep in the human body and no bigger than a date pit, should have been still—yet they heaved like a real ocean, and the echo of that boiling sea nearly spilled from Bai Zhou's body. The next moment, the Fate Principle broke free and rose above. Under Bai Zhou's frozen gaze, at the far edge of the boundless black sea, where the water met the sky, a pure white sun leaped up from the seabed! A white sun rising over the sea— The black ocean was evaporated layer by layer by the sunlight; dazzling white radiance joined heaven and earth, stretching infinitely in every direction. Countless white ribbons of light flew through the air; the mist sea steamed. In an instant, heaven and earth were white in that hazy, chaotic space! "My Fate Principle..." Blinded by the white light, Bai Zhou felt warm currents spreading over him. "—is a sun?" In that instant, he suddenly, instinctively knew the name of his Fate Principle— *Chen.* The white sun broke free of the Sea of Ignorance's grasp and leaped from the surface, but it could not pull far from the water—it even seemed about to topple back. The black, foul waves surged, as if reaching for the pure white sun. That would not do. Fortunately, the golden glow Bai Zhou had "eaten" came into play. A thread of resplendent, mysterious golden light leaped from the sea surface and steadily held up the white sun of his Fate Principle. Then the glow bore the white sun aloft, higher and higher, until it stopped firmly at a certain height. Its mission done, the glow slowly faded. Only the miniature, date-pit-sized ocean remained, with a white sun hanging steadily above it. Bai Zhou gauged the distance, and a number appeared in his mind as though by instinct. Exactly right: three chi and three! Exactly three cun above the genius threshold! The fierce pure white sunlight shone far across the hazy space, its warm light falling on every corner of Bai Zhou. ...In a daze, Bai Zhou felt as though some switch deep in his body had been thrown, every corner of him awakened. Something asleep within was released, circulating and mingling through his limbs and bones. "What is this?" Bai Zhou knew almost instinctively what the light of his Fate Principle had awakened— "spirituality." All things in heaven and earth have spirit, and the human body too is full of "spirituality"—the most mysterious quality dormant deep within a person, often capable of inconceivable power. But only an awakened Fate Principle can ignite the dormant "spirituality" within a human body. The sound of the boiling sea faded from his ears, and Bai Zhou opened his eyes. His mind was extraordinarily clear; many questions he had never been able to work out suddenly resolved themselves. "An Extraordinary..." Raising his hand and clenching it, Bai Zhou felt the surging power ceaselessly welling up inside him, and murmured aloud. So... I'm an Extraordinary, just like that? —A new beginning. It was hard to put his feelings into words. His heart pounded. From excitement. Because these past days had been too surreal. In the Special Control Bureau he had never felt a moment of solid security, and every day he had been lost about where the road ahead led. —Until now. He had successfully awakened his Fate Principle and set foot on the mysterious path of the Extraordinary. As if suddenly, there was no longer any difference between him and that imposing veteran specialist, Section Chief Liu. If he could later find a way to get a briefcase like Section Chief Liu's, he ought to be able to spit scorching fire from his palm too. Become a Blue Star fire-spitter. In other words, from now on, no matter what happened at the Special Control Bureau, he finally had the ability to protect himself. And apart from Crow, no one else knew about this ability—for now! That made Bai Zhou feel he could finally breathe easy. "Time to head back..." Bai Zhou felt a flicker of anticipation. If Crow learned that his Fate Principle stood three chi and three cun high, would that face that never showed expression reveal a hint of surprise? With that thought, Bai Zhou prepared to recite the incantation Crow had taught him and leave, to return. —But as soon as he raised his head, he found that after the awakening of his Fate Principle, the world before his eyes was greatly changed. The rolling gray fog around him had become streams of characters spiraling through the air. Even on his own body, he could see faint, faint translucent white points of light coiled within. That must be where his "spirituality" lay. Yet, to Bai Zhou's surprise, two places on his body were flickering ceaselessly with golden light. "What's this...?" Bai Zhou immediately searched himself and quickly pulled out two objects from where the golden light flickered— two leftover Alpen-despicable lollipops. And the golden pass he had never figured out. Now that golden pass pulsed with faint light in Bai Zhou's hand, and the gray fog around it, meeting the golden rays it gave off, actually withdrew on its own. "...Wait." Bai Zhou suddenly felt his "spirituality" being drawn toward it, as though it were inclined to flow into the pass. Thoughtful, he simply followed that pull and channeled the spirituality inside him toward it. "..." Under Bai Zhou's tense gaze, a drop of white, translucent "spirituality" was slowly infused into the golden pass. The next instant— "Buzz!" The golden pass shuddered violently and flew up from his palm, hanging in midair as it unfurled ten thousand rays of golden light that shot straight into the depths of the gray fog. Bai Zhou faintly heard the sound of flowing water, as though Moses parting the sea were playing out before his eyes. "Rumble—" The gray fog churned and let out a low roar, yet before the golden light it slowly retreated to both sides. The golden light flowed amid the surging, dense fog, extending from beneath Bai Zhou's feet ever forward, forcibly paving a resplendent golden road. "This is..." Amid the rolling gray fog, Bai Zhou stared blankly at the golden road, his mind nearly blank. The road led to an inverted world—a ruin realm. Considering this was the crevice between the waking world and the Reflected Ruin Realm, Bai Zhou had reason to suspect the road ran straight to some place within the Reflected Ruin Realm. But that was not the point. The point was that in the middle of the road, Bai Zhou saw something like the earlier golden glow, formed of accumulated knowledge... a seven-colored seed of fire?! The seed was tiny but burned fiercely; a string of obscure, profound knowledge coursed ceaselessly within it, and its clear seven-colored radiance overlapped upon itself, colored mist swirling—as though it were alive, or held some lost truth. If the earlier golden glow had been a firefly hidden in the gray fog, nimble and hard to catch... then this seed of fire was like a brilliant star in the boundless fog, impossible to look away from. "...What is that?" Bai Zhou stood rooted, head swimming, yet his heart could not help pounding wildly. A single unseekable golden glow had awakened his Fate Principle in one go and raised it to the genius threshold of three chi. Then... what about this seven-colored seed of fire?"