Chapter 137 – Talent: I’m Background Extra A? (5000-character mega chapter)

Chapter 137 – Talent: I’m Background Extra A? (5000-character mega chapter)

【Ding! This simulation consumed 3,800 energy points. Remaining energy: 55,780,000 points. Remaining simulations: unlimited.】

【Simulation begin!】

【Drawing a green talent costs 1,000 energy points, a blue talent costs 10,000 energy points, and a purple talent costs 100,000 energy points. Would you like to draw?】

“Draw a purple talent!”

Su Xing said silently.

【Congratulations! You have obtained the purple talent: I’m Background Extra A!】

Su Xing froze for a moment when he saw the talent’s name.

“I’m Background Extra A? What kind of talent is this? Why is the name so strange?”

His gaze turned to the simulation panel.

【I’m Background Extra A】: Your presence is extremely low, like a background extra in the corner of a manga. Even those closest to you, or even your enemies, will often overlook your existence. Note: After obtaining this talent, please do not jaywalk — drivers are very likely to not notice you.

Su Xing instantly understood after reading the talent’s description.

This was yet another conceptual talent!

If The Prettiest Guy in the Room was a talent that could draw anyone’s attention—

Then this Background Extra A talent was the opposite, reducing one’s presence to an extreme low.

“This seems… like a pretty good infiltration talent!”

Su Xing stroked his chin, deep in thought.

“But exactly how effective it is will need to be tested through simulation.”

His gaze turned to the simulation panel.

【In the Blessed Spirit Field, you realized you were in a simulation.】

【The spirit chickens you raised were clucking hungrily. You helplessly grabbed a handful of Spirit rice to go feed them, but the spirit chickens acted as if they couldn’t see you at all and kept on clucking nonstop.】

【In a fit of anger, you stewed two large pots of chicken soup.】

【After eating your fill, you began your daily pill refinement.】

【One week later, you prepared to bring the pills to Jin Congxue.】

【However, Jin Congxue wasn’t at the villa at all. You called to ask if something had happened, and Jin Congxue said she had forgotten about the weekly meeting, then hurried over.】

【Over the following period, you devoted yourself to pill refinement every day and rarely went out.】

【Because going out was no different from staying in, as far as you were concerned.】

【When you went to a noodle shop, the owner always forgot to make your noodles. When you went to the supermarket to buy things, people always cut in front of you at checkout because they simply didn’t notice you were there.】

【You even brazenly grabbed a bottle of drink from a convenience store, and the cashier didn’t notice you when you walked out.】

Su Xing’s eyes lit up slightly at this.

“It seems this Background Extra A talent is really powerful! The side effects are pretty obvious too… but at certain moments, it could produce unexpectedly useful results!”

Su Xing continued the simulation.

【Soon, several months passed, and you prepared to wait for Wang Qingxuan to bring you into the Advent Cult.】

【But after waiting a long time, Wang Qingxuan never came to find you. So you inquired about her, only to discover that Wang Qingxuan had already dropped out of school.】

【You knew in your heart that Wang Qingxuan had likely already joined the Advent Cult, and because you were a background extra, she had forgotten to tell you about it.】

【With no other choice, you could only secretly investigate the Advent Cult’s location on your own.】

【Relying on scattered clues from your memory and information gathered from multiple sources, you roughly determined the Advent Cult’s approximate location.】

【You decided to go alone and recommend yourself for membership in the Advent Cult.】

【In the second year, after searching for nearly half a year, you finally pinpointed the location of the Advent Cult’s headquarters and entered it.】

【When you went in, the Advent Cult’s Elders and Protectors were holding a meeting, but you strolled into the conference room as if walking through an empty field — not a single guard noticed you.】

【Looking at the assembled Elders and Protectors before you, you coughed loudly several times before the three faction leaders finally noticed your presence.】

【Their faces turned to shock as they demanded to know when you had infiltrated the conference room. The Elders and Protectors surrounded you.】

【You hastily explained that you wanted to join the Advent Cult and demonstrated a bit of your strength.】

【Unexpectedly, this made the leadership even more cautious, as they all suspected you were someone with ulterior motives.】

【After much back and forth, and after exhausting every effort, you finally managed to earn a tentative degree of trust and joined the Advent Cult.】

【But because of your unknown origins, the Advent Cult’s leadership still didn’t fully trust you.】

Su Xing was instantly speechless at this.

“Good grief — this is Background Extra A, not an invisibility spell!”

“Is a background extra’s presence really this low? This is way too absurd…”

“Sigh, this talent’s effect is strong alright, but the side effects are way too obvious. Even when you don’t need it active, you’re still stuck in background extra mode… it could really mess things up!”

“But I can store it in the talent pool, and at a critical moment, it might prove extremely useful!”

Su Xing thought contemplatively.

【After entering the Advent Cult, since you hadn’t yet earned their trust, you decided to lay low for a while.】

【Over the next few months, you diligently completed tasks and performed well, gradually earning the Advent Cult’s trust.】

【Once you had their trust, you found an opportunity to contact Luo Shuying and successfully gained her trust as well, then obtained a large batch of medicinal ingredients.】

【You began your daily pill refinement, and in just two years, you had stockpiled a massive quantity of pills.】

【In the third year, before leaving, you and Luo Shuying infiltrated the Advent Cult’s treasury.】

【Thanks to the “I’m Background Extra A” talent, Protector Dragon, who was guarding the treasury, didn’t even notice you. You successfully cleared out half the treasures in the Advent Cult’s treasury. In addition to spirit medicines, you also obtained many special items.】

【After defecting from the Advent Cult, you and Luo Shuying joined the Great Xia Military. The Advent Cult immediately issued a kill order on you both.】

【But you didn’t care. You began preparing to challenge the Trial Of Fear among the five trials of Spirit Transformation once more!】

【Within the illusory realm, you once again became a figure blessed with the fortune of a chosen one, your strength soaring all the way until you achieved immortality.】

【Then the colossal beasts attacked. Facing the sky-blotting, earth-shattering monstrous beasts and the endless demons that had crawled out of the Abyss, you still could not prevail.】

【But you never gave up. This time, you chose to face your fear head-on!】

【You continuously challenged stronger foes. Facing opponents as vast and insurmountable as mountains and abysses, you bravely fought to the very end!】

【You successfully shattered the Trial Of Fear and emerged from the illusory realm!】

Su Xing’s lips curled slightly upward at this.

“Just as I thought — with the experience from previous simulations, this time was completely different! The Trial Of Fear… you break through by conquering your fear?”

Su Xing pondered thoughtfully.

“If that’s the case, then the five trials of Greed, Pride, and Wrath should correspond to greed, arrogance, and anger!”

Having figured out the pattern for passing the five trials, Su Xing felt much more confident.

“But before attempting the five trials, perhaps I really should make some preparations…”

A plan began forming in Su Xing’s mind as his gaze turned to the simulation panel.

【After breaking through the Trial Of Fear, your mental state advanced further! In the face of fear, you now possessed the courage to fight with everything you had — even if it meant death and the annihilation of your Dao, you would have no regrets!】

【After returning to the real world, you rested for a period of time.】

【During this time, thanks to the pills you had refined, more and more powerful experts emerged in Great Xia.】

【Your status rose steadily with the tide, and you became one of the most prominent figures at the very top of Great Xia.】

【And under these circumstances, the Tarot Society leaped to become a top-tier merchant guild.】

【In an instant, wealth, treasures, beauties, and countless honors were all within your effortless reach!】

【This time, you no longer chose to keep a low profile. You told every citizen of Great Xia that you would usher in a golden age for Class Users!】

【At the same time, you announced your plan: you would cultivate a batch of precious Spirit rice. With this batch of Spirit rice, the strength of all human Class Users would rise to a new level!】

【In an instant, every Class User across Great Xia was electrified. You became the nation’s hero!】

【In the fourth year, you indeed did as you promised and began cultivating Spirit rice. With its aid, the number of low-rank Class Users in Great Xia increased by hundreds of thousands in just a single year.】

【This propelled your power and prestige to the very peak. With these, you could obtain anything you desired.】

【And in order to better pass the Trial Of Greed, you decided to unleash the dark impulses within your heart.】

【You began frantically collecting every treasure you desired. With the wealth at your disposal, countless treasures were swept into your possession.】

【You built yourself a palace. Inside, fist-sized gemstones and pearls could be seen everywhere, strewn across the floor like discarded sandals.】

【Upon the gilded, resplendent walls hung sabers, spears, staffs, and axes—weapons of every kind. These were not decorations, but genuine legendary-grade weapons!】

【Every day, countless people came to visit you. They wished to curry favor, hoping to obtain a precious Life-Sustaining Pill from your hands, and presented valuable gifts in return.】

【You refused no one. The treasures in your vault grew ever more numerous, and you used your power to amass wealth like a madman.】

【In the fifth year, in just a single year, you became the wealthiest man in Great Xia.】

【After possessing boundless power and wealth, you gradually grew arrogant. You looked down upon ordinary merchant guilds and began secretly maneuvering to swallow them up, steadily expanding the Tarot Society.】

【Your wealth grew by the day, and with it, your greed and arrogance deepened.】

【Gradually, voices of opposition emerged across the nation. They declared you arrogant and avaricious, no longer a hero of the human race.】

【But you also had a loyal base of supporters. They argued that you had made such tremendous contributions to the human race—what was wrong with enjoying yourself a little?】

【Your arrogance made you deaf to everyone’s words. You continued doing as you pleased.】

【In the sixth year, aside from your daily cultivation, you began indulging in your wonderful life. Any wealth you desired was yours for the taking, and this only fed your ever-growing greed.】

【Gradually, the friends and family around you began to urge restraint, saying you were no longer the person you used to be. But you had no choice—to break through the Trial Of Greed and the Trial Of Pride, this was the only way.】

【In the seventh year, though you had been arrogant and greedy throughout these years, you never neglected improving your strength. This year, your Body Tempering cultivation successfully broke through to Divine Power Realm, Second Layer!】

【In the eighth year, you continued spending extravagantly, enjoying every bit of power and wealth in your hands. Occasionally, you would fire up the furnace and refine a batch or two of pills for the important figures who came seeking medicine, and they were immensely grateful afterward.】

【In the ninth year, you discovered that beyond arrogance and greed, you were also becoming increasingly prone to fits of rage.】

【The slightest thing that didn’t go your way would send you into a thunderous fury.】

【You understood in your heart that this was the result of accumulated wealth and power—without restraint, you had become ever more quick-tempered.】

【But this was exactly what you wanted!】

【Before breaking through the remaining three trials, you intended to ride this momentum and experience all three negative emotions thoroughly. Only then would you have greater certainty of breaking through the five trials and entering the Spirit Transformation stage!】

【You continued to leave your desires and arrogance unchecked, absorbing and feeling the impact these emotions had on you.】

【You watched as the people who once supported you turned to attack you. You watched as your closest friends gradually drifted away.】

【Something seemed to dawn in your heart—you began to understand what these emotions had cost you.】

【In the tenth year, you began to gradually reflect on everything you had done over these years, contemplating what money and power had brought you—both the good and the bad.】

【Perhaps this state could be called enlightenment. But unlike the grand Dao of heaven and earth that immortal cultivators comprehend, what you were comprehending was the Dao of humanity—the Dao of the seven emotions and six desires.】

【You vanished from the public eye for a time. During this period, you forced yourself to stay in the Blessed Spirit Field, spending each day among the flowers, trees, and plants. Each day you ate Spirit rice, drank spirit spring water, and lived a life of simple meals.】

【At first, you were deeply unaccustomed. You missed the fine wines and wealth of the outside world, missed those gazes of respect and adoration people had given you.】

【But you knew you had to push through this trial, or you would truly lose yourself in those emotions and desires.】

【So you forced yourself to remain in the Blessed Spirit Field. Each day, aside from arduous cultivation, you studied pills and spirit plants, spending your days in the company of mountains and water.】

【In the twelfth year, gradually, your heart settled. You no longer obsessed madly over the power and desires you once held.】

【Each month, aside from the essential Demon Emperor Blood Essence, you rarely met with outsiders. You grew accustomed to solitude and restraint.】

【That same year, your Body Tempering cultivation broke through to Divine Power Realm, Third Layer!】

【In the thirteenth year, you could already control your emotions well. You believed you had taken the greater part of the step in the heart-tempering trial. But cautious by nature, you decided to play it safe and did not rush to attempt those three trials.】

【Two years passed slowly. Your mental state grew ever more tranquil, and you gained a deeper understanding of emotions like greed and arrogance.】

【In the fifteenth year, you returned to the real world and became active in the public eye once more.】

【But this time, you donated every bit of wealth you had previously accumulated. Treasures, equipment—you desired nothing. Your heart was set solely on the Dao.】

【Your actions earned praise from countless people, but you merely smiled and let it pass. The approval of others might bring you a moment of happiness, but it could no longer shake your true self.】

【In the sixteenth year, you believed you had made every possible preparation. You began preparing to break through three trials!】

【On a fine, sunny morning, you returned to the Blessed Spirit Field. After ensuring no outsiders would disturb you, you initiated the trial of the third of the five trials of Spirit Transformation—the Trial Of Greed!】

【Your consciousness slowly sank into your Nascent Soul. When you awakened again, you had become the most powerful and wealthiest person in the world.】

【In this world, one hundred percent of the wealth was held by one percent of the people, and your family was part of that one percent.】

【You had become this world’s ultimate inheritor of all!】

【All the wealth that everyone created belonged entirely to you. As far as the eye could see, every factory, every building, every plot of land bore your name.】

【Your brothers and sisters reveled in all of this. They believed themselves born superior to others.】

【You went along with the current, drowning yourself daily in money and power.】

【But you always felt you were different from those brothers and sisters around you. The wealth they were obsessed with somehow felt lacking to you—a bit uninteresting, a bit uninspiring.】

【Yet you could never quite grasp why you were different from them.】

【Until one day, you saw a little girl rummaging through a garbage heap for food. Those deep blue eyes, pure and beautiful, awakened your memories!】

【You realized that you were inside the illusion of the third trial of the five trials of Spirit Transformation—the trial of greed!】

【The moment you realized this, the illusion around you slowly dissolved!】

【Congratulations! You have successfully seen through the Trial Of Greed of the five trials of Spirit Transformation!】

Looking at the long stretch of text before him, Su Xing let out a deep breath and said with some surprise:

“I didn’t expect my simulator self to have such boldness… To break through the three trials, he actually tempered his mental state in advance!”

At the same time, Su Xing gained a deeper understanding of the rules for passing the five trials of Spirit Transformation.

“So that’s how it is. In the real world, a cultivator’s mental state also provides a certain boost to their self within the illusion!”

“Even though the memories are lost, the mental state remains… If the cultivator themselves is someone who cares nothing for fame or profit and is single-mindedly devoted to the Dao, their chances of passing the five trials of Spirit Transformation are much greater!”

Su Xing seemed to have reached an epiphany. Everything he had done in the simulation had indeed helped him better see through the Trial Of Greed.

“Then next, it should be time for the remaining Trial Of Pride and Trial Of Wrath, right? What kind of illusions will they bring?”

Su Xing was somewhat curious, his gaze turning to the simulator panel.

【After seeing through the Trial Of Greed, you emerged from the illusion and successfully returned to the real world.】

【As you passed through the five trials one by one, you sensed subtle changes within yourself. Your perception of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth grew ever stronger—with a mere thought, you could wield spiritual energy as naturally as moving your own arm.】

【At the same time, you felt as though you had grasped something, though the feeling was beyond words. After reflection, you concluded that only by completely breaking through all five trials could you master this profound sensation.】

【So after resting for only three days, you entered the fourth trial—the Trial Of Pride!】

【Your consciousness slowly drifted away. When you opened your eyes again, you had become the king of an empire!】

【The empire you ruled was the most powerful nation in the world. Every small country trembled at your every move.】

【Your joys and sorrows determined the fate of nations!】

【You reveled in this feeling, in the sight of others prostrating at your feet.】

【But what you didn’t expect was that one day, a small vassal state under your rule actually dared to defy your command!】