In one hour Shen Cong felt his Talent rise by 0.001H. Nearly every second, every minute, the activated Firestarter grains gave off a powerful pull and drew in a great deal of Firestarter energy.

Firestarter energy was truly invisible and intangible — hard even for an Activity wave to perceive — but Shen Cong could judge it by the finest changes in his own body.

"In theory my body has already reached the ceiling of its Talent. It looks now as though the Firestarter grains have been activated and are giving off a powerful pull, but in fact the rate isn't fast. 0.001H an hour. Ten hours of cultivation a day is no more than 0.01H, ten days 0.1H. Reaching 0.5H would take fifty days."

"Which is to say, if I want to reach Beyond-Six-Star Talent, I need a month and a half."

Having arrived at Beyond-Five-Star Talent, Shen Cong naturally took Beyond-Six-Star for his next goal. Now, following the swallowing of iron cores, irradiation by Firestarter fragments, the Banner Body-Strengthening Method and the devouring of fire-spirit medium, there was at last a new way to raise Talent: the Primal Energy Fluctuation Method — and it was no wonder that Shen Cong should conceive the ambition of Beyond-Six-Star.

Jin people cultivating the Primal Energy Fluctuation Method could generally raise themselves by one to two times over.

Shen Cong did not expect anything like that for himself. He was an iron person, after all, and by the account of Li Sikai and the others an iron person would not gain more than one half at the very most.

"My Talent is too high. The body is already at the limit of what it can bear, so even if I get more skilled at the Primal Energy Fluctuation Method, even if I improve on it, I still won't manage a half…"

Half of 5.515H is 2.758H. The two added together would come to better than eight.

Beyond-Eight-Star Talent. All but impossible to reach.

What he hoped for now was Beyond-Six-Star. "Let the Primal Energy Fluctuation Method raise me by a tenth at…