With a total talent pool of 100 points, one can have a talent that is graded along the percentages of 5%, 10%, 20%, 40%, and 80%. Each grade is labeled from grade one to grade five, with grade one being the poorest talent.
But if someone is poor in terms of the body, they can't be poor in terms of mana affinity or spiritual acuity.
This is why it is said that everyone is talented. Even mediocre people with an average talent of 33% in the three groups are doing well.
But his situation is unfair because he is a late bloomer. The talent for the body affects the progress of the first mortal coil and the second mortal coil. It has a strong impact on cultivation right from the first mortal coil.
The talent for mana affinity, on the other hand, has a small impact on the first mortal coil. Its strong impact doesn't appear until the second mortal coil when the cultivator can leverage their talent for mana by going with the path of energy refining.
As for those who are talented in spiritual acuity, their talent doesn't have any impact on the first mortal coil and has a shallow impact on the second mortal coil. It won't show its effects until the cultivator reaches the third mortal coil. But by then, things might already be too late.
Even if someone has a great talent in spiritual acuity, they might die before they reach the third mortal coil. If they don't die, they will surely require many times more resources than those with talent in the aspect of the body and mana affinity.
The need for more resources will discourage families from sponsoring someone with talent in spiritual acuity. Without support, the cultivator will take too long to reach the tenth transformation of the first mortal coil. If they don't reach it by the time they are 24, they will miss their opportunity to gain the support of a sect, which they need very much.
He didn't have this problem because he had average talent in body refining and because he had the support of his body. There is also the fact that he started cultivating very early. But his average talent will surely catch up to him in the second mortal coil.
From what he can tell, he is similar to his mother in terms of talent. If she is struggling in the second mortal coil because of her average talent in body and energy refining, then she won't be able to support him to do better.
With her level of resources, she needs 60 years to complete the second mortal coil. By the time she is done with the second mortal coil, she will be 80 years old. If he is to do better than her, he will need more resources than what is available to her.
He clenched his fist and said, "This is a serious matter. I must succeed in this regional sect examination at all cost."
She nodded in agreement and said, "It is indeed a serious matter. It is so serious that you would be willing to kidnap your unruly son, who doesn't want to get in the good graces of his father for his mother's sake, unless he is forced to."
She glared at him when she said that. It made him chuckle awkwardly. Now that he knew how serious her situation was, he wouldn't have needed to be kidnapped to go to that party.
He would have been proactive in helping her and would have been willing to do more for her in exchange for some benefits from her. At the very least, even if he doesn't help her, he wouldn't sabotage her plans by saying what he said about being more talented than Augustus to his father's son.
When he thought about what he did that evening, he smiled and said, "Again, I'm sorry for that."
She shook her head. "I'm glad that you're sorry, but you shouldn't be sorry for prioritizing your power. You wanted to comprehend the force diagram, but I wanted you to help me. We wanted different things for our separate goals, so we clashed."
She pointed to the sea of people on the ground beneath the ship and said, "Look at all of these people. All of them have their stories and their difficulties. All of them are in a race with you to reach the third mortal coil. You can't be bothered with their problems, or you will fall short in your race."
"I will die at the age of 150 years if I am lucky to live that long. If I want to live more than that, I must reach the third mortal coil. But I am not unique with this situation. Everyone has this same problem, including you. Everyone dies."
She looked at him. "Everyone will die one way or another. The difference is when they die and how they die. If you don't want to die at the age of 150 years, then you must not let the fact that everyone else will die burden you. You must seek opportunities for your own advancement first, above all others."
He said, "So I shouldn't care that my blunder might lead to your death."
She was silent for a while and said, "Yes, you shouldn't care. As a good mother, I shouldn't hold you back. It is my weakness that I needed your help. You should not be weak like me, and you shouldn't let weak people drag you down."
"But as a selfish person myself, I have to say that if you care about me, what you should do is reach the third mortal coil quickly and help me advance. It will be better if you're at the fourth mortal coil. That way I will be able to latch on to a bigger thigh."
He laughed when he said that. Lady Vena laughed too. They laughed for a long while.
When she stopped laughing, she looked at him solemnly and said, "A lot is counting on the result of this exam. The outcome of this exam will affect you, me, and everyone else. You have to take it seriously and do your best. Don't do it for me. Do it for yourself."