The Strongest Talent Tree

At this moment, Feng Hao truly felt stark naked. Facing the Thief Master’s powerful Divine Sense, he couldn’t hide a thing.

Cold sweat trickled down his temples, his heart in turmoil. He glanced up at Lin Luo and the other two, then looked back at the old Thief Master and asked gravely, "Can I trust you?"

The Thief Master was slightly taken aback, his expression turning peculiar. "What, is your second bloodline that special?"

"It is a little special," Feng Hao said with the utmost seriousness.

The Thief Master pondered for a long while before nodding. "Everyone present is trustworthy. Just say it."

"Well..." Feng Hao hesitated. It took him a long time to make up his mind before he grit his teeth and said, "Actually, I don’t have a second bloodline, but my [Black-Pupil] has a mutation ability."

"A mutated bloodline?" the Thief Master mused, gesturing for Feng Hao to continue.

"My mutated bloodline allows me to graft Talent Branches of the same origin. In other words, I can have two Talent Branches at each tier."

The moment he said this, everyone stared at Feng Hao in disbelief. Lin Luo and the other three had their eyes wide with shock.

"What did you say?" The Thief Master’s face fell. He subconsciously waved his sleeve, sealing the small courtyard within a restrictive barrier. "Say that again."

"See for yourself." Feng Hao couldn’t be bothered to explain further. He directly withdrew the Bloodline Power that was concealing the grafted Talent Branch.

The Thief Master, filled with shock and disbelief, once again probed Feng Hao’s sea of consciousness with his Divine Sense. His eyes instantly went wide. It took him a long moment to snap out of it, and he couldn’t help but gasp.

Feng Hao shook his head with a wry smile. "Now you see why I didn’t want to say anything, don’t you?"

The Thief Master nodded grimly and asked with a heavy tone, "I see you have two talents for both the first and second tiers. What’s the situation with your third-tier branch?"

"My bloodline ability doesn’t directly awaken two talents. Instead, it grafts a Talent Branch of the same origin using another person’s blood. I haven’t yet found a suitable talent to graft onto my third-tier talent, [Shadowstrike]," Feng Hao explained honestly.

"Hiss...!" The Thief Master sucked in another sharp breath.

Lin Luo and the other three stared wide-eyed, unable to stop themselves from cursing, "Holy shit, Brother Feng, you’ve been hiding this deep!"

"Quiet down." The Thief Master grunted, his eyes glinting. "Xiaolinzi, don’t you have the [Shadowstrike Etherealization] talent? Give him some blood and let him try."

"No problem." Lin Luo naturally wouldn’t refuse. He strode over to Feng Hao, pulled out a dagger, and gestured toward his finger. "Brother Feng, just say how much you need. I’ve got plenty to spare."

"Uh, one drop is enough." Feng Hao gave an awkward smile. He hadn’t expected his big brother Lin Luo to have a follow-up talent for [Shadowstrike], and a powerful one like [Shadowstrike Etherealization] at that.

A "follow-up talent" referred to a Talent Branch that a Mage had a high chance of awakening after they had awakened a Secret Technique-type talent, which would serve to enhance it.

In fact, it wasn’t just Genetic Secret Techniques that had follow-up talents. After a bloodline talent was awakened, it was also possible to develop advanced Talent Branches that enhanced the bloodline itself.

[Shadowstrike Etherealization] was one of the follow-up talents for [Shadowstrike]. With it, a Mage would enter an ethereal state during the Shadowstrike. In this state, each point of their Stealth attribute was equivalent to 10 points of Defense.

When facing large-scale Secret Techniques that couldn’t be dodged by Shadowstrike, [Shadowstrike Etherealization] offered incredible self-preservation capabilities.

For Feng Hao, the benefits of [Shadowstrike Etherealization] would be even greater. His [Black-Pupil] had the effect of doubling his stealth ability, which meant that in the ethereal Shadowstrike state, he could gain a defensive bonus equal to twenty times his Stealth attribute!

"One drop is enough?" Lin Luo was slightly surprised. He made a light cut with his dagger, and blood quickly welled up.

Feng Hao wasted no time. Under the astonished gazes of the others, he easily used his Magic Power to envelop the drop of Lin Luo’s blood. Then, he sat down cross-legged on the spot and drew the blood into his sea of consciousness through the point between his eyebrows.

The next steps were relatively simple. Following his previous experience with grafting, he quickly grafted [Shadowstrike Etherealization] onto the [Shadowstrike] branch.

He opened his eyes, stood up, and subconsciously activated Shadowstrike. He could clearly feel the change in his body during the process—it was as if he had suddenly taken on a spirit form. It felt miraculous.

The Thief Master and Lin Luo’s group had already been staring wide-eyed, but when they saw Feng Hao actually use Shadowstrike Etherealization, they were completely dumbfounded.

"If Brother Feng is allowed to reach his full potential... it’s simply unimaginable," Kang Shuai said, his eyes filled with shock.

"Yeah, having one more Talent Branch than a normal person is already insane. Brother Feng basically has a whole extra talent tree," Wang Tongqian sighed in amazement.

Mei Meimei exclaimed as well, "Does this mean I’m doomed to be at the bottom for the rest of my life?"

"Haha, my eye for talent is just unparalleled!" Lin Luo roared with joyous laughter.

Meanwhile, the Thief Master snapped out of his stupor. He instantly teleported in front of Feng Hao and said with ragged breaths, "Kid, you’re the one! Hurry up and become my disciple, don’t waste time!"

"Huh?" Feng Hao was stunned.

The Thief Master looked at him impatiently. "What are you spacing out for? Hurry up and accept me as your master."

’Isn’t this why I came here, to find a master? Besides, the Thief Master is a Hundred-level Dark Force Mage; he couldn’t be a more suitable choice. And once we have a master-disciple relationship, I won’t have to worry about my grafting ability being exposed.’ Feng Hao thought.

"Master," Feng Hao said, bowing formally.

Seeing Feng Hao formally accept him, the Thief Master’s face lit up, and he couldn’t help but burst into laughter. "Haha! With a kid like you, the rise of my Thief God Hall is just around the corner! The Ten Great Sects, the Six Great Bloodlines—they can all go to hell!"

"..." Feng Hao was speechless.

"Get up, get up." The Thief Master, excited as a child, carefully helped Feng Hao to his feet, his eyes glowing with excitement. "Let your master get a good look at you."

"Not bad, not bad. Handsome, too. You’ve got my dashing style from back in the day." The Thief Master excitedly slapped Feng Hao’s shoulder, then turned and glared at Lin Luo and the others. "What are you four still standing around for? Go get that bunch of old geezers for me. Tell them the Fifth Thief has been chosen."

Lin Luo and the other three exchanged a glance and nodded joyfully. "Understood."

After speaking, the Thief Master waved his hand, dispelling the barrier around the courtyard. Lin Luo and the other three each hopped into a flying vehicle and sped off in different directions.

For a moment, only the two of them remained in the small courtyard.

"Your name is Feng Hao, right? I’ll call you Xiaofeng from now on." The Thief Master sized up Feng Hao, liking what he saw more and more. "Xiaofeng, don’t you worry. With my guidance, I’ll absolutely make you the strongest Dark Force Mage."

"Okay." Feng Hao nodded, feeling a bit awkward. After all, he had just met the Thief Master and they were hardly familiar with each other.

The Thief Master’s expression suddenly turned serious. "Xiaofeng, your bloodline is too outrageously powerful. Unless you have absolutely no other choice, you must never reveal it."

"I know." Feng Hao nodded gravely, then frowned. "But what if I encounter an expert like you and they see through it?"

"You can rest assured about that. The reason I was able to see through your Genetic Tree is because my Dao Fruit is rather special. Other Hundred-level Mages don’t have this ability. Besides, your bloodline’s self-concealment is very good. As long as you don’t say anything, no one will ever know," the Thief Master said with a faint smile.

Hearing this, Feng Hao couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. ’To be honest, when the Thief Master saw through me just now, I was genuinely terrified.’

"By the way, Master, what did you mean by Dao Fruit just now?" Feng Hao asked curiously.

"A Dao Fruit is the cultivation path one takes after their Genetic Tree reaches level one hundred. To put it simply, it’s a fruit that grows on the Genetic Tree. You need a certain level of comprehension of the Origin Law to condense a Dao Fruit." The Thief Master chuckled. "In any case, that’s still a long way off for you. You’ll naturally come into contact with these things after you reach the ninth tier."