"Hmm , it is for sure brother , you have no chance with father supporting you, at least if you had Rank C talent he would have cared to support you , now that is just a dream, he has gone crazy and giving his all his resources to nephew, hmph! why don't he just write the inheritance in his name, we would be the happiest people to see it." Shen Zhen said in sarcasm.
Shen Mu could only give a smile that is not a smile," Alas what could we do brother, even big brother Shen Kui and big sister Shen Qing have tough problems facing father , what could we someone so far down in succession say?"
"At least he could have given you some spirit stones, but for all Heaven knows, how much he is investing in nephew Ren, making someone a rank 4 is no joke, how many talented rank-B talents and rank-A talent appear every year in our Shen clan? how many could reach their potential?, this year itself we had four rank-B talent, this is modest and lower than usual , there are times when 5-6 rank B's and 2 rank-A's appeared, in my year itself a rank-A appeared but he died prematurely outside on a hunt, in my opinion he is betting blind rather than taking slow."
"Ok take these spirit stones, I could only give you these 5 spirit stones, and every month they will give you a spirit stone, which you should use very wisely, don't make unnecessary purchases."
At the Academy in the Shen clan...
In the academy pavilion Shen Mu was sitting in a section labeled 4, they were multiple sections in the academy for hundreds of student, and a student to teacher ratio was 25:1, and students are allotted to a particular section on luck based lottery system, fortunately or unfortunately Shen Mu's class did not a rank-B talent.
In a couple of minutes before students can familiarize with each other, the class teacher has entered the class. He looked handsome in his mid twenties.
"I am Shen Kong your class teacher and I will be your teacher for next couple of years until you graduate, now introduce yourselves." he spoke confidently, likely being a teacher for 2 or 3 years.
"I am ...."
"I am ...."
....
"What are Gu? why could they wield power of heaven and earth , but could not display, but we humans can display with help of Gu it but not inherently wield it?"
All students in the class looked at each other, that some other might have.
Shen Kong smiled and said-"It is because Gu are the thought manifestation of heaven and earth, they are all possibilities power of heaven and earth can turn into, heaven and earth might be one but it can also be everything, but Gu are unintelligent, while all the intelligent life-forms can have intellect but with their stature how can they grasp heaven and earth?"
Some of the students still kept a blank face on their faces, Shen Kong knew he could only take it slowly and not rush it.
Shen Mu thought "According to primordial records Shi Zu was not satisfied his power from awakening of origin core and started rampaging, it is said that energy at beginning of the world was vastly different from now, the primordial energy was the energy of creation , it could raise one self to a higher level, so when desire Gu created Shi Zu's origin core , it was vastly different from now, but his desire has no bounds, can a rich man be satisfied with a bar of gold and not desire for more?, so his desire grew clouding his judgement."
But suddenly there was a fog brewing inside Shi Zu's heart, all desires originate from heart, the fog condensed into a clump and appeared outside.
Shi Zu saw this and was happy-"Oh son , I am very happy for your birth, it brought me joy, no amount of power could give."
Ren Yu the Heart man whose body was fogy with no definite shape responded-"Oh great father, it is my blessing you have birthed me but with me your desires are taken away."
Shi Zu laughed in response-"My dear son you are mistaken, you could only bring away my desires that are access, how can the divine primordial creation energy be so simple, it gave a lesson to me , a man should not have excessive desires that he could not achieve it will only cause him to cloud his judgement, now my desires are in my control, now I can see the path forward, since desire Gu can awaken origin Gu why can't I take help from other Gu to gain strength, since so we can look for strength Gu."
Shi Zu and his son Ren Yu moved in search of Strength Gu.
Now thinking Shen Mu could only sigh-"If the great Shi Zu couldn't achieve strength on his own how can the likes of people in the world could."
Shen Mu continued listening to his teacher Shen Kong-" Choosing your first Gu is very important , because it will determine your future prospects, because choosing Gu is not about choosing Gu itself but choosing a path which you could master, for example there are multiple paths like pill path, refinement path, battle path, array path, and each path has many area aspect of specialization, each one would have a huge impact on your future as Gu master, it is not that you can't change your path in between or cultivate multiple paths, but think of a snow ball rolling from a mountain, as it rolls down it accumulates greater mass, Gu cultivation is also one of accumulation. Also some paths might not favour you for example in battle path- they are multiple areas based on strength , based on elements such as fire, water , earth etc, but in an environment such as our Northern Tundra region cultivating fire path is same as killing your future prospects yourself, so you will all be distributed some booklets having Gu available for our rank 1 Gu masters, so until our next class three days from now think carefully about the Gu you want to choose, also discuss this with your parents."
About Shen Kong's word Shen Mu has his own thoughts-" I agree that environment and other circumstances should be taken into consideration for choosing your path, but how can choosing your first Gu designate all your future prospects, should not one pursue their heart?, though I don't know much about Gu cultivation, if there is no heart of experimentation how can you achieve something great, that is worthy of memory for future generations?, even one has to change 10 paths he should , even changing hundred paths he should, unless he tries how can he know what is best for him?"
Shen Mu reached his home and started flipping the booklet, he watched as Gu of all bizarre shapes and sizes appeared before him
Under a rock shaped image a description was written-
"Rank 1 rock Gu , can make your body as hard as rock
subsequent ranks exist-
Rank 2 rock Gu
Rank 3 rock Gu
:
:
"
under a crystal mirror ice shaped image, a description was written-
"Rank 1 crystal mirror ice Gu, can reflect the attack on your body
subsequent rank exist-
Rank 2 crystal mirror ice Gu
:
:
:
"
under a ice spear shaped image , a description was written-
"Rank 1 ice spear Gu , can attack like a spear with various spear head and size variations
subsequent rank- ...."
Shen Mu saw multiple Gu out of which most are battle oriented , with few support type of Gu , most of the Gu are ice or water, related likely due to environment of Norther Tundra Region
When he asked Shen Zhen about it he said-"Brother you are too naive, did you think the clan gives us resources for free, and train us , it wants us to battle, and don't even think about those rare type of Gu related to pill, array , refinement or to say even for that matter normal healing type Gu worms, they are all held by elders and their descendants, they earn spirit stones through them , why would they give those precious Gu worms to us, for example elder Shen Ran controls array type of Gu worms , elder Shen Mo control - some precious Gu worms for battle and auxiliary Gu worms related to it like scouting etc , or else why would our old man think of making nephew Ren a elder even though it is nigh impossible?"