Just as Yang Zhiwen was about to explain to Xiao Bai why he was only selling the stockings for one Silver Coin each, footsteps approached.
"Lord, I have returned."
A thin middle-aged man with half-white hair walked in.
Seeing the person who appeared, a happy smile spread across Yang Zhiwen's face.
"Uncle Jike, you're back?"
"Lord, I have fulfilled my mission."
Saying this, Jike took out an iron box.
Looking at the iron box before him, Yang Zhiwen's expression became even more excited. He immediately took the box and opened it, revealing a pale blue crystal the size of a soybean inside.
Staring at the crystal emitting a faint blue light, Yang Zhiwen was completely mesmerized.
Because this blue crystal was an Awakening Crystal that could allow someone to awaken a Superpower.
In this world, which was completely different from Blue Star, powers like magic and battle aura did not exist, but other special powers did.
In this world, everyone had a chance to awaken various abilities. These abilities were strange and varied; one could say all kinds existed. Overall, the special abilities in this world leaned more towards things like Superpowers.
And those who possessed special abilities were called Transcendent.
Implying beings who had transcended the mortal.
There were three ways to become a Transcendent.
The first method was Natural Awakening. A very small number of people possessed extremely special talents and could naturally awaken various abilities without external influence.
These Transcendent, known as Natural Awakened Ones, often possessed extremely high talent. After all, a Transcendent who could awaken without external aid could certainly be described as a genius.
However, the number of Natural Awakened Ones was extremely scarce; even describing it as one in ten thousand would be generous.
The number of Natural Awakened Ones might not even reach one in a million.
Although Natural Awakened Ones had outstanding talent and great strength, their numbers were too few.
Since the appearance of Transcendent, ordinary people naturally sought to obtain the abilities possessed by Transcendent. Thus, through relentless effort, ordinary people found other ways to awaken Superpowers.
One of these methods was having children with a Natural Awakened One.
By marrying and having children with a Natural Awakened One, the possibility of their offspring becoming a Transcendent would greatly increase, reaching about one in ten.
This probability was much higher than that of a Natural Awakened One awakening naturally.
More importantly, after becoming a spouse to a Natural Awakened One, one might also awaken to become a Transcendent over a long period.
It just required a long time.
However, because Natural Awakened Ones were powerful, it was basically impossible for ordinary people to marry them.
More often than not, Natural Awakened Ones would seek partners similar to themselves; in other words, the spouses of Natural Awakened Ones were basically also Natural Awakened Ones.
For an ordinary person to marry a Natural Awakened One, they would need extremely high status, such as being the king of a nation, to have a chance.
Even if one could greatly increase the possibility of awakening an ability by combining with a Natural Awakened One,
the number of Natural Awakened Ones was simply too small. Even if Transcendent were willing to accept ordinary people as their spouses, the base number was still too low.
It could only satisfy a small number of people with high status and authority.
The majority of ordinary people still could not become Transcendent.
Therefore, there was a third way to become a Transcendent: using the Awakening Crystal.
The Awakening Crystal was a product researched by a Natural Awakened One long ago.
As for how the Awakening Crystal was manufactured, Yang Zhiwen did not know. After all, with his current status and knowledge, he did not know much about matters concerning Transcendent.
After use, the Awakening Crystal could greatly increase the possibility of an ordinary person becoming a Transcendent.
Initially, after using an Awakening Crystal, the probability of an ordinary person becoming a Transcendent was about 1%.
Through long development, the Awakening Crystal was gradually perfected during long-term research. Currently, the Awakening Crystals in this world were basically divided into two types.
One type was the ordinary Awakening Crystal, sold on the market for one Gold Coin each.
The success rate of awakening after taking it was 1%. There was also an extremely special type of Awakening Crystal, priced as high as 100 Gold Coins each, but this Awakening Crystal could guarantee that the user's possibility of awakening as a Transcendent increased to 80%.
Although it wasn't 100%, generally speaking, as long as one's luck wasn't too bad, becoming a Transcendent by using this special Awakening Crystal was basically not an unattainable dream.
However, this Awakening Crystal that could guarantee an 80% awakening probability for the user was extremely rare. The 100 Gold Coin price was merely the market price; in reality, the selling price often exceeded 200 Gold Coins each.
And the blue Awakening Crystal that Jike brought back for Yang Zhiwen was a special Awakening Crystal.
Looking at the Awakening Crystal before him, Yang Zhiwen did not hesitate for long and immediately held it in his palm.
Using the Awakening Crystal was also simple: just hold it in your palm and wait a moment; it would naturally integrate into the human body.
Not long after, Yang Zhiwen felt the Awakening Crystal in his palm slowly heat up. Then he clearly sensed the Awakening Crystal getting smaller and smaller. In just over ten seconds, the Awakening Crystal he was holding had completely disappeared.
Immediately after, Yang Zhiwen felt his whole body heating up, his face turning red, but this situation did not last long.
The awakening process brought about by the Awakening Crystal was very fast; it would not last for several hours or days, generally completing in a very short time.
Therefore, in less than two minutes after holding the Awakening Crystal in his palm, Yang Zhiwen completed the process of absorbing it.
When the awakening process was completely over, Yang Zhiwen stared blankly at his hands.
The good news was that Yang Zhiwen was not among the unlucky 20%. At this moment, he had successfully awakened an ability and become a Transcendent.
However, Yang Zhiwen, having just completed the awakening ritual, could not yet control the ability he had gained well.
And now, Yang Zhiwen was doing his utmost to control the ability he had just awakened.
As Yang Zhiwen exerted control, his hands began to slowly turn into a silver metallic appearance, starting from the fingertips.
The Superpower Yang Zhiwen awakened allowed him to transform his own body into something similar to metal.
However, the ability Yang Zhiwen awakened could not directly control metal; it only allowed his body to become a metal-like substance, increasing defense and attack power.
The abilities possessed by Transcendent could generally be divided into three categories.
One category was the External Force Type.
The so-called External Force Type refers to abilities awakened that have little to do with one's own body but rather with external forces, such as the ability to control water or fire. Such abilities are classified as External Force Type.
The second category is the Self Type.
The Self Type is categorized based on bodily changes. Abilities like Yang Zhiwen's, which allow him to turn into something like metal, belong to the Self Type.
And the third category is the Special Type.
There is no overly strict standard for classifying Special Type abilities. Simply put, all extremely bizarre abilities can be categorized under the Special Type.
For example, the ability to control someone to have diarrhea could be classified under the Special Type.
Among the three types of Transcendent, the External Force Type and Self Type are the most numerous, while the Special Type is often the smallest in number.