Chương 6: A Cannon Fodder Family?

While my mind is in chaos, I could hear Ren Qingquan grumbling in his mind, 'When will this old fogey stop? I feel like my wound almost reopened from the stress. Is he calling me here just to complain about a useless thing?' Suddenly, Ren Qingquan paused, 'Damn it, I forgot I've already transmigrated. That guy is now my father, so even while thinking I need to call him dad. Otherwise, if I somehow think out loud, I'll be on for some trouble.' Ren Qingquan then continued to talk in his mind nonstop.

His endless whining, coupled with the nonsensical sound from Ren Shiluo, makes me feel the urge to bash my head against something hard and turn unconscious. So, to make him stop complaining, I decided to shift Ren Qingquan's attention to something else. [Ding! Data on strength comparisons have been updated. The host may activate 'Scan' on another creature to check the update.] As expected, Ren Qingquan finally stopped whining and looked toward Ren Wangzhen, who was currently busy sipping his tea with closed eyes.

In his mind, I heard him shout, 'Scan!' Since I was already prepared, I quickly sent him the screen I'd made. [Name: Ren Wangzhen Realm: Martial Lord, Unknown Stage. Description: Second elder of the Ren family.] After reading Ren Wangzhen's result, Ren Qingquan looked thoughtful and then looked toward Ren Shiluo who's still speaking like an author trying to pad their word count. [Name: Ren Shiluo Realm: Martial Lord or Martial Emperor, Unknown Stage. Description: Your super doting and nagging father.] (⁠・⁠o⁠・⁠) After reading the result of Ren Shiluo's scan, I could feel Ren Qingquan turn shocked. Luckily, he somehow kept his poker face. So on the outside, his expression remains calm and serene. Amid his shock, Ren Qingquan entered a state of thoughtlessness as too much information collided in his brain at once, freezing his thoughts. If he's a computer, it'll start lagging around now before suddenly crashing and turning into a bluescreen.

Without having to hear two chaotic noises at once, I feel much better and recall my plan to test [Anchor] on Ren Shiluo I took action and targeted Ren Shiluo via Ren Qingquan's [Scan]. Then, I willed [Anchor] to lend my [Scan] ability to Ren Shiluo. The instant I willed it, I could see that 1 point of energy in the dark space began to behave strangely. This is quite similar to how 1 point worth of energy began to act strangely when I first tried to upgrade my [Scan].

As I was only testing the cost, I immediately dismissed the idea of lending Ren Shiluo my [Scan]. Instead, I began to analyze my findings. It seems the cost of lending my [Scan] to others is only 1 point? Then, what about [Calculate], [Devour], and [Anchor]? I tried to lend [Calculate] and [Devour] to Ren Shiluo, then quickly canceled them. Just like [Scan], it requires 1 point to lend [Calculate] and [Devour] to others.

But, when I tried to lend [Anchor], the energy acted oddly but in a different way from when I am spending them. This time, they felt like a monkey that had been fed a lot of caffeine. The energy around me began to spin erratically at incredible speed. As I didn't quite understand what the movement means, I quickly canceled it by removing my intention to lend [Anchor] to Ren Shiluo. The instant I do so, the energy returns to its usual state and stops entering their high caffeinated state.

Looking at my 9 remaining points, I gritted my teeth and focused Ren Qingquan's [Scan] toward Ren Shiluo. Then, I activated [Anchor] and lent my [Scan] ability to Ren Shiluo. Immediately, I saw that one-ninth of the energy in that dark space disappears. In exchange, I could now feel that an additional existence had been anchored into me. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. That existence should be Ren Shiluo, who has just received the [Scan] ability I lent him.

I don't know how to explain it, but I felt the connection between Ren Shiluo and me was much fainter than the one I have with Ren Qingquan. It's like the difference in internet speed between a city and a wild mountain in the countryside. Feeling I've been distracted from the main topic, I shook my nonexistent head and focused on the connection between Ren Shiluo and me. I need to make sure I can indeed use the [Scan] I've lent to him. Otherwise, I would've just wasted 1 point for naught.

Soon, I followed the connection between us and focused on it. Different from when I connected with Ren Qingquan, which feels like entering an ultra-realistic VR. The only things I could sense from Ren Shiluo were information that can be captured by [Scan], like light, noises, smells, and energies. Just like sensing through Ren Qingquan's [Scan], I need to spend my calculation power to process the information I got from Ren Shiluo's [Scan] into something comprehensible.

But what has become my main concern is the distance I could see through Ren Shiluo's [Scan]. Instead of 11 meters like the one with Ren Qingquan, I could only sense around 10 centimeters around Ren Shiluo! Which means the range is only 1% of Ren Qingquan's! What the hell is going on! Is it because Ren Qingquan is someone who has long been anchored to me, or is it related to the amount of abilities I have lent to others? Or perhaps it is because I haven't lent Ren Shiluo my [Anchor] ability?

Well, guessing alone won't do shiet. So I chose to act and prepared to eliminate the guesses one by one. Because the only thing I could try for now is to lend more ability to Ren Shiluo, I decided to do so. Gritting my teeth, I hardened my will to add [Devour] on Ren Shiluo. After I willed 1 point worth of energy to activate Ren Qingquan's [Anchor] and lend my [Devour] to Ren Shiluo, I found the energy inside that dark space hasn't decreased at all.

I checked the energy and found them reacting just as they did when I tried to grant [Anchor]. They're moving erratically at high speed, but much less exaggerated in terms of speed. Huh? How come I couldn't do it? Did it fail? Think, me! Think! What could possibly do such a thing? I tried several guesses and arrived at the most likely possibility There is a very high probability that the failure is due to insufficient energy.

If it's indeed true, that means the cost of lending my ability will increase when more abilities are lent to the same person. Because when I tried to lend Ren Shiluo one ability before, it only cost 1 point to do so. As this was an extremely important matter, I quickly turned my attention to another person in the courtyard. I planned to lend one of my abilities to Ren Wangzhen. If it succeeds, that means my guess regarding increased cost when lending more than one skill to the same person is true.

Just like before, I found 1 point worth of energy began to turn into a vortex and disappeared. That means my guess is indeed correct! The cost of lending more than one ability to the same person will increase from 1 point to more. Also, does the speed of that energy's movement have something to do with the amount of energy I lack? Like the faster or slower they moved, the more energy I actually lacked? There is too much unknown here.

So, I'll put things on hold until I get more information and points to be used in my experiment.

Although it took such a long time for me to experiment with things, actually, only an instant has passed in the real world - Or not. I actually spent around ten minutes experimenting with my abilities. Even so, Ren Shiluo still hasn't finished blabbering nonsense. Currently, He has somehow pushed the topic toward how the son of some clan's aunties has already married, and when will Ren Qingquan find a suitable partner. After another three minutes, Ren Wangzhen suddenly placed a lid on his tea cup.

He narrowed his eyes while calmly saying, "Shiluo, you need to remember you're also a late bloomer who only married in your thirties. So let's not push the younger generation too far." Ren Wangchen easily silenced Ren Shiluo, then steered the conversation back to Ren Xuan.

"Regarding the matter about Ren Xuan, I will handle it on my own." Ren Shiluo quickly replied.

"Dad, you should seriously handle this matter. Don't just shrug it off like you usually do. I want that Ren Xuan to at least lose a layer of skin! How dare that unknown guy from a distant family branch dare to injure Qingquan!" Ren Shiluo's words made me speechless. He seriously sounded like some brain-dead xianxia villain. The kind that get killed in three chapters or less after planning some idiotic plan.

Even Ren Qingquan agreed with me as I could hear him think, 'Uwahh my dad sounds like some cannon fodder villain.' Now that I am on the topic regarding xianxia villain. This Ren Xuan guy is pretty suspicious, too. Although Ren Qingquan's combat experience is low, he is still a core member of the Ren family, which entails having a much better skillset compared to someone from a side branch.

Even so, Ren Xuan actually achieved a leapfrog battle at a crucial competition and defeated Ren Qingquan, who is at a higher martial arts realm than him. There is also Ren Xuan's name, which consisted of only two characters. In the xianxia novels I read in my past life, most of the protagonists have two character names like him. Meanwhile, most of the supporting casts or some cannon fodder in xianxia novels have three-character names like Ren Qingquan and his family.

Every clue points to the possibility that Ren Xuan might be a protagonist-like existence. Meanwhile, Ren Qingquan should be a young master who becomes a stepping stone for the protagonist to shine! Then, I laughed at my own guesses. Pftt~ there is no way, right? After all, l this is reality and not fiction. ┐⁠(⁠´⁠д⁠`⁠)⁠┌