1643 Your Expression Seems Weird… (1) Ancient Runes: 65/1000 (foundation) Wang Teng glanced at his attributes board. His Ancient Runes mastery had reached the foundation stage. Now he was able to comprehend a small portion of the runes whenever he looked at them. The feeling of dizziness had lessened further. Round Ball noticed something amiss. The longer his master stared at the wall, the more appalled it was. Is Wang Teng really able to comprehend Ancient Runes? This guy is cheating again! This was not the first time happening. Whenever the little helper felt that something was impossible, the young hero made it possible. Wang Teng furrowed his brow, realizing that the symbols were indeed profound and difficult to grasp. Just the foundation stage alone required a thousand points. Mind you, he only had sixty-five points at the moment. However, it was surprising to find that the runes stat was appearing as a separate category on the board, as if unrelated to the attributes of a rune master. The Ancient Runes element was considered as a separate component altogether. Of course, Wang Teng’s rune mastery was at the grandmaster stage; this implied that his cypher understanding had far surpassed that of an average rune master. That was an unchangeable fact. Round Ball no longer urged the young man to leave. It now wanted to see how much the latter could comprehend. Half an hour later, the hero shook his head and turned to leave. “You’re not looking anymore?” Round Ball asked. “I’m done,” said the former as he left in the same way he came. Alas, the wall had stopped dropping attribute bubbles, so there was no use in staying any longer. The little one asked after some hesitation. The fellow didn’t find it strange, as it was impressive enough that Wang Teng could resist for so long. “I comprehended a little,” he replied casually. Round Ball took a deep breath, feeling stimulated. This fellow is definitely not normal! “What do the ancient runes on the wall mean?” the helper asked curiously. “It’s a protective and isolating runic array, with much greater effectiveness than our current rune sets. However, I only understood a small portion of it.” Wang Teng shook his head in the end. “Protection and isolation? Kind of what I was guessing.” Round Ball thought for some time and asked, “Can you understand more of those symbols?” “I need more examples. That wall alone is not enough,” Wang Teng said. “You’re right. The ancient runes shown on the wall aren’t that many. It’s already impressive that you were capable of deciphering some of them. It’s definitely easier to comprehend and extrapolate when there’s a larger number of runes; this would help us understand the meaning and implications behind them.” Wang Teng blinked and nodded. “Meaning and implications?” The thing on the other side of the wall had to be the main reason why it could drop attribute bubbles. The hero returned to his room, choosing to end the exploration for the moment. He locked himself in the cultivation room and started to meditate. He was well aware of his strengths. The system had allowed him to achieve a well-rounded development; he also acquired a wide array of battle techniques. Since his cultivation stage couldn’t be improved for the moment, he shifted his focus to his battle techniques and domains. Universe and eternal stage battle techniques could be used to tackle normal talents, but they were definitely insufficient for the geniuses in the Stellar Academies. If our hero wanted to defeat someone of a higher stage, he would need powerful moves at the eternal stage or above. He had a few extremely powerful ones: Ancient God’s Body, Godslayer Sword Scripture, Huang Heaven Blade, The Twelve Tyrant Swords. There was shock after carefully assessing his stock, since he had four techniques of divine level! He also had his self-created Space Tornado! Its power was definitely on par with the other techniques. The ones of the tornado series were also good, but they weren’t as strong as the Space Tornado. He couldn’t increase the first four’s level unless he used his blank attributes. However, the hero was planning to keep them for his breakthrough to the cosmos stage. Once he broke through to the cosmos stage, he foresaw that he would be completely different from ordinary warriors. Thus, he shifted his attention to his tornado series. Those include the Blade-Sword Tornado, Snowstorm Tornado, Firestorm Tornado, Lightning Tornado, and Space Tornado. Those moves were incredibly powerful as they were. The hero wondered what kind of transformation would take place if he were to combine them. He felt excited just by thinking about it. Wang Teng’s gaze shimmered as he decided to give it a try. He raised a hand; the lightning and wind Force surged from his body. They gathered and combined in his palm, forming a mini Lightning Tornado. Thunder crackled and echoed within the cultivation room, accompanied by a deep rumbling. The mini tornado was only palm-sized but the power it contained was nothing to sneeze at. The hero didn’t want to cause damage to the warship if he released a larger-sized tornado. Hence, he made a mini one. Moreover, he wanted to fuse the two powers. Success on the first try wasn’t certain; there was a risk of producing a massive explosion upon failure, potentially unleashing an even more astonishing force. Once the mini Lightning Tornado was formed, he started to add ice Force. An intense repulsion force was immediately produced. The power of lightning was overwhelmingly dominant; incorporating another Force into the already formed tornado was a challenge. It was especially the case when using the equally powerful ice Force. Suddenly, a violent power erupted from the vortex, causing a drastic explosion. Wang Teng’s expression changed a bit. He released the mini-tornado and darted out of the cultivation room. Boom! The entire cubicle vibrated as a violent explosion took place within. Fortunately, his foresight paid off. It would have been perilous to release a bigger tornado. The aftershock gradually subsided. Wang Teng reentered the room and tried again. He closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, recalling the details of the previous merging, trying to identify the cause of failure. An idea popped in his mind. I instilled the fire, metal, and wind origins into the Space Tornado when I fought in the League of Talents, but nothing bad happened. His eyes opened with an abrupt motion, knowing what he should change. He extended his palm once again, but this time he didn’t unleash a Lightning Tornado. Instead, he released a miniature Space Tornado, even smaller than the previous attempt. This vortex was in fact several times more powerful than the other. The cultivation room could withstand eternal stage attacks, but it was better to be careful. Furthermore, his choice would help him economize the use of his Force reserves, and could make more experiments this way. The miniature Space Tornado took shape, and the hero gradually began to infuse it with the power of lightning. The spatial power exhibited some resistance at first, but the repulsion wasn’t as strong as before. The space element soon took the dominant position, and the lightning power was on par with the wind power. The hero’s eyes lit up. He controlled the three powers and slowly merged the lightning power. It can be done. Wang Teng heaved a sigh of relief after some time. There was no explosion this time. The three powers coexisted in a peculiar state of balance. The power of space was acting as the leader, while the powers of wind and lightning were like its subordinates. They existed in harmony. “Continue!” Showing determination, he manifested ice power, and gradually merged it into the existing combination. The emergence of a fourth power disrupted the existing balance. Lightning was the first power to react, furiously resisting the new element. The newfound understanding helped the young expert to immediately harness the power of space to suppress the insurgent lightning. That way, both ice and lightning were subdued by the power of space. Of course, the process wasn’t as simple as it sounded. Time and effort were needed to ensure that the four different powers kept a balance. The integration took half an hour this time. Wang Teng finally heaved a sigh of relief. The formerly conflicting ice and lightning could be vaguely seen inside the tornado. Wang Teng blinked and the fire Force appeared on his other hand. He wondered if he should add it, given that ice and fire were opposing elements, and the new addition could trigger another turbulence. He gritted his teeth after a moment of hesitation. The fire element was a powerful attacking Force. He wanted to use his divine flames in the future, so he couldn’t ignore it. The fire in his left hand gradually approached the vortex. The hero felt a bit nervous. The next second—the fire Force was completely merged with the tornado. Bang! A loud explosion was heard and Wang Teng’s expression changed somewhat. He quickly threw the vortex away, rushed out of the cultivation room and swiftly closed the door behind him. The series of actions were executed with remarkable fluidity. The turbulence within the cultivation room lasted for a long time. Even though it was just a miniature tornado, there was a qualitative change after fusing various Forces. There was an immense power increase. A figure suddenly appeared behind the hero. The person stared at the cultivation room curiously and asked, “What are you doing?” “Instructor Sikong!” Wang Teng jumped in fright. Turning around, he saw the old expert. He didn’t expect that his actions would disturb the senior, so he awkwardly said, “Ah, it’s nothing. I was just trying out a self-created skill!” The expert had a sudden thought. “Was that the move you used to defeat the Crown Prince back in the League of Talents?” “Yes,” Wang Teng nodded. He didn’t hide the fact. “That move is powerful.” Sikong the Second sized up the young earl in astonishment, “I didn’t know it was a self-created move.” “Just a series of coincidences,” Wang Teng replied humbly. The elder touched his chin and asked, “I noticed space power in that move. Do you have the talent to harness space Force?” “Yes.” The young one nodded. “Space talent is rare and special. I’m afraid only a few individuals possess special talents that can compare to yours, even those found in the Seven Stellar Academies.” The old fellow sighed. “Instructor, are there many people with special talents in the campuses?” Wang Teng’s eyes lit up. Sikong the Second looked at him curiously. “Your expression seems a little weird.” “You must be mistaken,” the young hero replied with an earnest expression.