Chương 2: Transcendence

Feeling a warm current coursing through his body, Kyle felt that his strength and familiarity with the sword increased ever so slightly.

"What was that?" Kyle was startled. He closed his eyes and tried to look for the source of the current. As he focused his mind, darkness quickly receded, leaving behind a glaring gold light. It was a golden prism, hidden in the depths of his mind. As he focused his mind on it, a series of information quickly flashed through his mind.

"This! This!!" Kyle's eyes snapped open in astonishment. This was beyond his imagination. This was an unrivaled talent he had inadvertently acquired during his journey to this world! And today… It had awakened. [Transcendence] This was the name of this talent. Transcending all obstacles to achieve chosen goals. No matter what kind of goal he sets his mind to, he only needs to work hard reasonably, and he will eventually achieve it.

It sounded unassuming at first, but upon thinking about it deeper, it was terrifying. A simple example would be "swinging my sword at the speed of light". Generally speaking, this was a feat beyond the imagination of mortals. Even those legendary powerhouses who can easily split mountains can't swing their swords at the speed of light.

However, as long as he set this goal in mind and swung his sword every day, his sword swing speed will increase every day, eventually reaching light speed, transcending all limitations and bottlenecks.

"This is incredible," Kyle muttered as he tried to suppress his trembling. What made this talent so incredible were its two core rules. No upper limit A fixed daily growth of 1% It was worth noting that the 1% fixed growth rule was not cumulative but exponential. A simple example would be physical training. If he trained daily with the goal of strengthening his body, then by the first month, he would be 34% stronger, and by the hundredth day, he would be 2. 7 times stronger.

By the first year, 38 times stronger, and by the end of the second year... Kyle shuddered with excitement after doing the math. He even felt a bit terrified by how ridiculous this talent was. The numbers would only get higher, eventually reaching inconceivable levels. Theoretically, there's nothing he couldn't achieve with this talent. Coupled with the 1% daily growth, as long as he set his mind to a goal and worked toward it, no matter how ridiculous, he will eventually transcend all obstacles and achieve it.

"However, this is a typical late-stage type of talent. Its true power won't show up immediately. Moreover…" Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Kyle gradually calmed down. His brow furrowed as he thought about one of its underlying rules.

'I can only set one goal at a time, and unless I accomplish it or give up on it, I cannot set another goal.' Although giving up on a goal won't cause the fixed growth he previously acquired to disappear. Upon setting up the same goal again, the time required to accomplish it will significantly increase. This is especially the case for abstract objectives that aren't possible through conventional methods. This prevented him from carelessly setting up grand goals while he's still weak.

'It seems that I have to carefully think about each goal before establishing it, especially the first one.' He pondered for a while before setting it aside. Before setting the first goal. He would need a concrete understanding of his situation and path. Reaching out for his money pouch, he silently peeked inside. 24 silver coins and 62 copper coins. These were all his funds.

'Daily accommodation at the Hearth & Horn Inn, including meals, is 40 copper coins. Over a month, that would be 1200 copper coins, or 12 silver coins.'' Kyle calculated as he tossed his money pouch up and down.

'Following just the basic consumption, my funds should last me just over 2 months, but that's impossible. Once I start training, the two daily meals that come with accommodation wouldn't be enough. Over the course of a month, I would need an additional 1 or 2 silver coins as food costs at least, adding the various miscellaneous costs, such as bathhouse and laundry money, and the 1 silver coin required for registration at the adventure guild, and other costs needed for adventure…' Kyle grimaced.

'I need to earn money as soon as possible.' Fortunately, his father left him a fine sword and polished leather armor, undoubtedly the most expensive pieces of equipment an adventurer could need. Most low-level adventurers don't have such equipment.

"My funds can last for at most one and a half months. I need to start earning money before this deadline," Kyle muttered somberly. However, he decided to take things slow for the first month. After registering as an adventurer, he won't join a team or set out on any time-lasting quests. For the first month, he'll start with adjusting to adventure life, taking on some basic quests at most, and focusing more on training and testing the power of his talent.

"Now, I need to determine what to train for this month. Typical training wouldn't yield significant results within just one month; my talent needs a lot of time to display its true power." Kyle muttered as he pondered. A month isn't enough for him to develop some overpowered technique, so he had to focus on the basics for now.

'Physical training? No, a month of training would result in just over a 30% increase in power. Swordsmanship training? No, my swordsmanship is already quite good for now. Mana enhancement training? Combat skills training? Maybe. I'm not far from mastering them; however, a month is just enough to master one. Is there a better option?'

He quickly went through all the options he could think of, one by one, finally deciding on one option, [mana enhancement] In this otherworld, the source of all extraordinary power was mana. It was what allowed mighty warriors to jump over mountains and cleave apart hills and mages to unleash their devastating magic. To embark on the professional path, while combat skills and magic spells were necessary, the core had always been condensing a mana core.

Mages condense their mana core in their mind, and warriors condense one in their heart. All subsequent growth stems from further condensing and polishing their mana core. After years of training, Kyle was already very close to condensing his mana core and mastering the warrior-type professionals' core skill, [mana enhancement].

'I feel that I'm very close to condensing my mana core and becoming a warrior-type rank 1 professional. After that, I'll only need to learn the two swordman-type skills, [superspeed slash], and [burst step], and I'll become a swordsman.' He pondered for a while before deciding to spend this month training [mana enhancement] to condense his mana core.