The matter between the teachers is still unknown to Xu Zhou for the time being.
At this moment, he returns to the classroom, immediately causing the whole class to cheer.
"Xu Zhou, the eternal god!"
"Classmate, I want to make you my sworn brother!"
"Xu Zhou, I love you!"
"Bro, do you have a boyfriend?"
"..."
The classmates are very enthusiastic, surrounding Xu Zhou tightly.
In the eyes of his classmates, Xu Zhou, who awakened an S-level talent, is an incredibly dazzling prodigy.
The pride of the entire Class Eight!
And in the corner, Wen Yuehui looks on with envy, yet with bitterness.
He very much wants to say, "I have an A-level talent, I'm a genius too!"
Why does no one come to welcome me?
However, no one knows that at this moment, Xu Zhou also feels quite helpless in his heart.
He really didn't expect his classmates to be so enthusiastic, even some girls he rarely interacted with confessed to him in public.
Girls are one thing, but even a few boys did so, causing Xu Zhou to sweat a bit.
After a while, Xu Zhou finally manages to extricate himself from the crowd and return to his seat.
Beside him, Wen Yuehui sighs, "Xu Zhou, I never thought before that you would consider liberal arts, but now it seems martial arts is where you really belong."
Xu Zhou modestly replies, "You're not bad yourself, awakening an A-level talent."
"Not at all, compared to you I'm far off." Wen Yuehui shakes his head.
Xu Zhou gives a wry smile, in fact, he doesn't regard his talent as highly as others do.
What truly sets him apart from others is that chicken avatar that gains a kilogram each day.
Before, Xu Zhou had been ready for the possibility of a failed awakening, thinking even if his main body could never practice, he would lie low and wait for the avatar to develop.
Now that he awakened an S-level talent, it's indeed a pleasant surprise but not enough to make Xu Zhou lose his mind with excitement.
"I wonder what my talent really is?" Xu Zhou thinks to himself, "Will Teacher Cao tell me?"
Just now he looked, and for some reason, the panel didn't display his main body's talent, which gave him a bad feeling.
At this moment, a loud voice suddenly rings out.
"Xu Zhou, come to my office." It's Cao Yong's voice.
Xu Zhou responds, quickly gets up and walks out.
...
Cao Yong's office.
"Xu Zhou, do you want to know what your talent is?" Cao Yong asks, looking at Xu Zhou.
Xu Zhou nods, feeling a bit expectant, "Teacher, can you tell me?"
Judging by the principal's demeanor earlier, his talent seemed like a national secret, making Xu Zhou quite nervous.
Cao Yong nods and says calmly, "To put it this way, your awakened talent ranks among the top tier of all talents."
"This talent is extremely rare, but also immensely powerful!"
"Moreover, once you've mastered your cultivation, you'll be invincible among peers, no one can beat you!"
Xu Zhou holds his breath.
Invincible among peers?
Is it really that strong?
Cao Yong continues, "And your talent has another major advantage, which is, it's costly!"
"Costly?" Xu Zhou is stunned, "Is that really an advantage?"
"Of course, spending money can make you stronger!"
Cao Yong laughs, "While others need to accumulate day by day to break through realms, you're different. As long as you have enough cultivation resources, you can break through instantly!"
"You see, is this not an advantage?"
"Of course, you will need a massive amount of cultivation resources, otherwise, your cultivation speed may slow down."
With Cao Yong's words, Xu Zhou understands.
His talent can be summed up in one word: costly!
But if there are no resources, could the cultivation speed possibly slow down?
Xu Zhou suddenly frowns and asks, "Teacher, why does the cultivation speed slow down without resources?"
"Because you mutated!"
Cao Yong explains, "The awakening ceremony caused a mutation, your physique is much stronger than others', top-notch in every way, even surpassing other S-level talents!
So the progress will be a bit slower, understand?"
Xu Zhou shows a bit of shock.
According to the teacher, his awakened talent is superior to regular geniuses?
Even surpassing other S-level talents!
The only downside is, it's costly in terms of money and resources!
Soon, Xu Zhou curiously asks, "Teacher, exactly how costly do you mean?"
Cao Yong replies calmly, "You'll know once you start cultivating."
"Regarding cultivation resources, in addition to the school's monthly supply, I can provide you with double resources along with some guidance."
Xu Zhou feels a burst of joy inside, "Thank you, teacher."
Students at Linjiang First High School receive a set of cultivation resources every month.
Getting double the amount is a treatment reserved for the top ten in the school!
"The school also has certain channels," Cao Yong reminds, "like tasks released by the school or climbing onto the top hundred list, which can get you a lot of cash and resources."
"Understood, thank you, teacher."
After that, Xu Zhou chatted with Cao Yong for a while, discussing the strengths of his talent, while no challenges were mentioned.
After half an hour, Xu Zhou bids farewell and leaves.
...
After Xu Zhou leaves.
Cao Yong lets out a faint sigh.
"Hope these encouragements have some effect..."
The words he said earlier were meant to instill a belief in Xu Zhou,
You're a true genius!
Your talent is ancient, mysterious, and powerful!
You surpass other geniuses, destined to shine!
It seems like Xu Zhou's future is a bright and broad path.
And the difficulties and obstacles on this path, Cao Yong glossed over, merely saying that the road ahead will be a little tough, but Xu Zhou will definitely overcome them easily.
"I don't know if this is the right thing to do or not?" Cao Yong murmurs.
In a sense, he feels like he's deceiving Xu Zhou.
Because he knows well that even with cultivation resources, it's difficult for beast-type talents to cultivate, and breaking through realms is tough!
But he doesn't want to tell Xu Zhou, as it would be too heavy a blow for him.
...
"Ring ring ring!"
The end-of-school bell rings.
Xu Zhou, carrying his backpack, walks out of the classroom.
In the campus, many students aren't in a hurry to go home, running wildly on the football field and basketball court, behaving recklessly, playing and fighting.
On the tennis court, some bright girls roll up their trouser legs, revealing fair and tender calves, swinging tennis rackets, exuding a vibe full of energy.
"Ah, youth!" Xu Zhou sighs, watching these scenes.
In fact, if he had chosen liberal arts, he too could be here celebrating youth.
Of course, this doesn't mean that students focusing on martial arts can't celebrate youth; it's just that compared to liberal arts students, cultivation is their main theme.
And with Xu Zhou's awakening of an S-level talent, he should work even harder on his cultivation.
"Time to go back and cultivate," Xu Zhou thinks, stepping on the road back home.
The teacher said that even though he awakened an S-level talent, without cultivation resources, the progress would be slow.
He's not actually bothered by it, because his cultivation speed was slow before, how much slower can it get?
And the chicken avatar, it'll be 5 kilograms after tonight.
Logically speaking, for this type of chicken, 5 kilograms should be the limit, right?
"I wonder if it can start evolving tonight?" Xu Zhou ponders.
...
While Xu Zhou ponders.
In Cao Yong's office, he receives a call from the principal.
"You didn't tell him the truth?" The principal is somewhat surprised over the phone.
Cao Yong nods, saying in a serious tone, "I don't plan to tell him for now."
The principal seems to frown, then says, "This may not be a good thing, when Xu Zhou finds out the truth later, he might blame you."
"If he can't grow, what does it matter if he knows the truth?" Cao Yong says with a faint smile, "If he really does grow, then let this secret be buried forever."
The characteristics of a beast-type talent are indeed obvious, but Cao Yong believes that as long as he constantly instills a belief of invincibility in Xu Zhou, even if Xu Zhou discovers the truth in the future, he might not believe he has a beast-type talent.
The principal remains silent for a while, then says in a serious tone, "Cao Yong, you don't intend to nurture him, do you? In my opinion, there's no need."
Cao Yong says calmly, "Principal, he is my student, and how to train him is my decision."
"I am just reminding you." The principal sighs, "You're approaching retirement, there's no need to spend too much effort on someone destined not to grow."
"I understand." Cao Yong doesn't argue further, after chatting a bit more, he hangs up the phone.
Moments later, Cao Yong turns to look outside the window, a bit of confusion in his eyes.
Indeed, as the principal said, he's getting old, now with a full head of white hair, nearing retirement.
But in his career, he has never taught an exceptionally outstanding student.
Now, witnessing Xu Zhou's awakening of an S-level talent, even though the principal and other teachers have little hope for Xu Zhou, Cao Yong is unwilling to give up easily.
Actually, there's another key reason he hides the truth from Xu Zhou.
"Beast-type talents might not be impossible to cultivate." Cao Yong murmurs, "There have been many historical examples where even talents deemed untrainable achieved significant accomplishments through immense determination."
"But those people didn't know their talents were untrainable at the beginning."
Gradually, the confusion in his eyes fades, replaced by an unwavering determination.