Ji You said, "Which ear of yours heard me bad-mouthing your master, huh? Don’t be deaf..."
Sheng Qingyan retorted, "Hmph... You didn’t say it out loud, but I heard your belly talking... You poor dead ghost! No matter how much you bad-mouth my master, you will never win her favor..."
The expression on Sheng Qingyan’s face, how should I put it? It was just too serious, so serious that Ji You couldn’t bear to crush his feelings.
Don’t argue with an ignorant Little Cutie.
Ji You remembered something and asked, "Is it really hard to advance after reaching Double A?"
Speaking of which, she had encountered several people with Dual A Talent like Teacher Cheng Yu, Sheng Qingyan, and Zhang Ye... All these were Dual A. Cheng Yu’s strength—when he released his Spiritual Pressure in a lecture last time—gave Ji You a terrifying feeling, but she wasn’t exactly sure about his complete situation.
Then there’s Sheng Qingyan. His performance at the shooting range, hitting a hundred shots out of a hundred, clearly showed to Ji You that, not to mention anything else, at least in the application of spiritual power, he must not be inferior to her.
And what about Zhang Ye?
Zhang Ye is also Dual A, but it’s pretty obvious that his Dual A is far inferior to Teacher Cheng Yu and Sheng Qingyan.
Where does he fall short?
Ji You guessed that it lies in lack of experience and also in the control and cleansing of spiritual power.
Teacher Cheng Yu and Sheng Qingyan must have already trained their Physical Strength and spiritual power to the peak, with no further progress possible. But Zhang Ye clearly hasn’t reached that step yet, so, he looks much weaker than them.
But what exactly is the peak of Dual A like? Ji You hasn’t reached that step yet, so she didn’t have any real sense of it.
When Sheng Qingyan heard Ji You’s question, his tone was unusually normal, "It means you have already reached the peak... it’s especially difficult to advance to S-level... because Dual A means that your spiritual power and Physical Strength are actually in a balanced state, and to advance, both need to reach completion together to move to S-level... otherwise, without achieving balance, you might just be stuck in Dual A forever."
Seeing Ji You’s confused expression, Sheng Qingyan said somewhat disdainfully, "You poor dumb ghost, so poor and dumb... I’ve explained it so clearly and you still don’t understand... Okay, let me explain a few more times to you."
After that, Sheng Qingyan carefully explained it again.
After listening, Ji You finally understood.
It meant that for people with Dual A in spiritual power and Physical Strength, it’s actually very difficult to level up. Both have to reach balance to break the barrier to S-level and successfully upgrade. In comparison, if someone’s spiritual power is A and Physical Strength is B, one could first increase their spiritual power and when it reaches S-level, slowly upgrade their Physical Strength. Typical examples here include Shen Changqing and Yue Qiyuan.
Then, Chu Jiaojiao, Yue Qiguang, Lou, and Lance did the opposite, first boosting their Physical Strength to S-level and then gradually enhancing their spiritual power.
Of course, reality is not about choosing which one to boost first. Shen Changqing and Yue Qiyuan have strong Innate Spiritual Power, hence they could boost their spiritual power to S-level. Chu Jiaojiao and Yue Qiguang have developed Innate Physique, so they can easily enhance to S-level Physical Strength.
As for people like Teacher Cheng Yu, Sheng Qingyan, Zhang Ye, they are another typical case. Initially, their spiritual power and Physical Strength were not completely balanced, but as they continued training, both attributes tended to balance out. Even forced intervention couldn’t stop it unless you don’t want to level up, forever staying below Dual A, otherwise, you can only watch yourself become a person with Dual A Talent. Then—in the future, to break this balance barrier, it requires constant efforts, constant scheming... yet there are still many Dual A people who can never break through to the next level.
It can be said, having Dual A Talent is itself a tragedy, a helpless situation.
Is being Double A really that bad?
Actually, no. Across the whole Alliance, and indeed the entire human society, individuals with S-level talent are only a minority. The majority of humans, possessing Double A, A, and B level talents, form the main force of humanity and are the primary combat strength against the Star Beasts.
Some experienced Double A combatants can often challenge and defeat individuals with a single S-level talent. That’s a common occurrence.
As Ji You looked at Sheng Qingyan, a hint of sympathy appeared in her eyes, "After all that, turns out you’re just a loser too!" A loser stuck at the Double A balance point, unable to easily break through the balance barrier.
Sheng Qingyan was so angry she almost smoked from her ears and retorted, "You poor deadbeat... is that really what you should be focusing on?"
Ji You chuckled and said, "Thinking that you’re just like me, a loser, suddenly makes me feel great, makes everything taste better, I could probably even eat another Big Watermelon."
Having said that, she lifted a slice of watermelon and crunched into it.
Sheng Qingyan’s face turned dark with irritation and she snapped, "Even if others are losers, they’re not as bad as you... besides, I’m not a loser anymore... My Green Glaze Master will rescue me from dire straits..."
Ji You was halfway through biting her watermelon when she almost choked, and said, "Are you sure your master will save you from peril? What if she doesn’t like freaks or ’Little Cuties’ like you?"
Sheng Qingyan was overly confident and declared, "Impossible... my master is definitely a kind-hearted, broad-minded, life-saving Bodhisattva... After all, she is so cute and so beautiful..."
But I really don’t like ’Spicy Eye’ freaks.
Sheng Qingyan, excited thinking about her master, said, "You poor deadbeat... The master has already promised to post an announcement for the next new release, do you want to join me at the master’s shop to snatch a Soul Device? If you manage to get one, I’ll pay you a reward..."
Ji You flatly refused, saying, "Not interested."
Sheng Qingyan pouted, "You poor deadbeat... you deserve to be poor... you have no sympathy... If I manage to acquire more of master’s Soul Devices, I could level up to S... then I’d take you flying with me..."
Ji You pursed her lips, "We’ll see when the time comes."
Somehow feels a bit pitiful.
Ah! Next time, I might consider rigging the game for him.
This guy keeps calling me a poor deadbeat, yet I can put past grievances aside, indeed—I’m just the kind-hearted, broad-minded, benevolent, beautiful, and generous person Sheng Qingyan talked about.