Having a powerful lord as a father figure, what's wrong with just wanting to draw cards?

Before Osmond could even help him lift his hand, Domi reached out and placed his own hand on the magic ball.

"Wow, it's quite insightful."

He then focused on the magic ball, observing its changes.

The moment Domi touched the magic ball, she felt something boiling inside her body, like gas or energy, which then flowed along her meridians to her palm and then rushed out of her body into the magic ball.

The originally transparent glass ball began to turn pitch black, as if it had been dyed with ink.

"Shadow-type talent, not bad~"

The darkness deepens, which is an indicator of talent level.

The higher a person's talent, the more magical power they will accumulate within their body, even if they don't know how to use magic. Calculating the total amount of this magical power can indirectly determine a person's magical talent.

Therefore, testing again after seven days is a standard number of days.

But as time went by, Osment's brow furrowed:

"Shadow-type talent only at the beginner level... How is that possible?"

The Bloomfield family has excellent talent bloodlines, with a minimum requirement of intermediate level. Why would someone have a beginner level talent? Is it another case of recessive inheritance?

Domi was also helpless, but he was still very grateful that he had a basic talent.

If I hadn't drawn that card back then, I'd probably still be a talentless loser now, which would be even more embarrassing and would probably shock the head of the guard out of his front teeth.

It's not that you have to have talent to learn magic; you don't have to. It's just that if you have talent, it will be much easier and more efficient to practice the magic corresponding to your talent.

But Domi wasn't worried at all. When he drew the [Shadow Talent (Beginner)], he noticed that it was followed by the words [Upgradeable].

Therefore, as long as his villainous qualities are in place, he can even maximize his talents. His current show of weakness is just a means for him to fade out of the public eye.

The results of the three brothers' talent tests came out quickly.

The eldest brother, Argyle, possesses a near-perfect earth-type talent, a level higher than advanced, second only to the "gift from heaven" level, just a hair's breadth away from the highest level of talent.

Edward, the second brother, possesses advanced fire-type talent. Although not as good as his eldest brother, fire is the ultimate violent magic type, which is more advantageous than earth, which is a combination of offense and defense.

Domi's situation was rather tragic. When Carlos and Greta learned that he only had a basic level of Shadow magic, their eyes dimmed, but more than anything, they felt sorry for him.

Carlos told the shadow, earth, and fire mages to stay behind, waving them away to take the children and begin their education. He then spoke to Greta:

"Fortunately, the eldest and second eldest are doing alright. In the future, let them protect the third eldest. In these chaotic times, it wouldn't be bad for the third eldest to be a wealthy man, at least he can live a peaceful life."

Grace looked down at the tips of her shoes. What mother doesn't hope her child is gifted and outstanding? But compared to these things, being safe and sound is the most basic wish.

She remained silent for a moment before raising her head and looking at Carlos with a determined gaze:

"From now on, you can't favor the eldest and second eldest. On the contrary, you have to treat them equally and give the third eldest more resources to ensure his safety and well-being. That's compensation for him. In the future, whether he wants to be a wealthy man or go his own way, don't stop him. Promise me, Carlos!"

This is a form of balancing.

Carlos understood Greta's thoughts perfectly. A child's talent depends on fate, but also on their parents. Domi only had a basic Shadow talent, and they were partly to blame.

He stepped forward and embraced Greta's delicate body, resting his head on their shoulders, and whispered gently in her ear:

“I understand. Actually, I would treat all three children equally even without you saying so. Whether it’s Argyle, Edward, or Domi, they are all our own flesh and blood. What parent in the world wouldn’t treat their own child well?”

Chapter 6.6 Unexpected Fortune

Kelsey carried Domi to a room in the castle specifically for meditation, which had been set up to be the most suitable place for shadow magicians to cultivate.

Crystals rich in shadow magic were piled up in a corner, forming a small mountain. These dark purple crystals would slowly emanate magic, which would be absorbed by mages to accelerate the storage of magic in their bodies or to use sufficient magic to modify their bodies.

Of course, users can also choose not to move these energies, thus creating a shadow-like atmosphere.

That's exactly what the sorcerer did. He used his magic to concentrate the magic that was evenly distributed in the room around Domi, so that Domi could be bathed in the most intense atmosphere.

He could feel the energy flowing into his body in a direct way, merging with the energy he already had, rising together and flowing throughout his body.

[The host is currently in an environment rich in shadow energy...]

[Residual innate energy detected...]

[The energy will work in conjunction with innate energy to transform the host's body to the level most suited to this type of energy...]

[Error!]

[The host's unique talent was acquired by the system and cannot be enhanced in a normal way. A solution is being sought...]

[Converting excess energy into "Villain Values ​​Required to Upgrade 'Shadow Talents'".]

[Current progress: 1/10000]

One minute later.

[Current progress: 2/10000]

Domi was overjoyed upon seeing this. Upgrading the Shadow Talent to the intermediate level originally required 10,000 villain points, but now he could achieve the same effect with the innate energy of this baby. Most importantly, he did not need to pay any extra villain points.

Abbreviated as "White Girlfriend".

The progress of only one second per minute is a bit awkward. To reach 10,000, I would need to stay here for at least seven days without eating or drinking.

Even if he wanted to stay here, his parents wouldn't agree. Babies need a lot of sleep, and Domi is no exception; this is an inevitable limitation imposed by his body.

If we can't extend our stay here, then we should speed up the absorption process!

Domi sat on the mat, staring blankly at the floor in front of him, but in reality, he was scrolling through the system's previous chat history, pondering something:

"Energy, combined with innate Qi, transforms my body. It is clear that innate Qi cannot be increased through acquired means, but energy can be increased."

It is known that people slowly absorb free magic energy from the air into their bodies, and the amount depends on their talent. In other words, the higher the talent, the more energy is absorbed and the faster the efficiency!

If my talent were to improve to the next level, and my energy absorption efficiency increased, wouldn't my progress increase even faster?

This should be the only available option at the moment.

"It's only 10,000 villain points." Domi looked at his savings, which totaled 9900 villain points. He only needed to save another 100.

That would be a great experiment. If it could really improve efficiency, even just a little, he would be confident that he could raise his talent to the "advanced" level within a year! And the cost would only be 10,000 villain points to raise it to the "intermediate" level, which would be an investment that he wouldn't lose money no matter what.

100 villain points are easy to obtain; you can easily get them by feeding him milk or spraying his brother. When he came to the meditation room the next day, he already had a huge sum of 10,000 yuan in his pocket.

"Whether our grand plan succeeds or not depends on this!"

Excited heart, trembling hands.

The moment he pressed "upgrade," his villain points were cleared.

At the same time, the surrounding shadow energy began to stir, and the sudden change almost caused the mage to lose control of it.

Wow! What a gold mine?!

The mage's eyes were filled with disbelief. He hadn't done anything. According to the contract between him and the duke, he hadn't even touched the energy. Why would the dead energy move on its own?

He didn't even consider the possibility of it being related to Domi.

After racking my brains, I still couldn't figure it out, so I could only attribute it all to celestial movements causing geological changes, resulting in abnormal climate, and so on...

When the energy returns to calm, everything is as if nothing had happened.

The monk relaxed his guard and went back to daydreaming as usual.

The system issues a prompt immediately following the previous one:

[Shadow talent upgrade complete: Beginner → Intermediate]

Domi waited anxiously for a minute, his eyes glued to the progress bar—

Current progress: 186/10w

Yesterday's progress was 180/1, not counting the overflow, so this time we added six points!

"Success! Wuhu!!"

Domi cheered inwardly; it seemed that upgrading talents really could improve efficiency.

He suddenly realized that sitting in meditation could be such a wonderful thing. Master, I've got it!

However, at this rate, even if he stays here for three hours every day, it will take ninety-three days to advance to the next level. But that's not a problem. For babies, time is the least valuable thing.

The real problem is that he can't predict when his innate energy will dissipate, at which point he won't be able to exploit this bug.

"We need to put more effort into increasing the villain's value."

Domi made up his mind in secret.

So during those ninety-three days, Domi didn't miss a single opportunity to earn villain points.

He always manages to make Kelsey giggle during bath time, just for the extra few dozen villain points he gets for "good behavior"; he always tries to stick close to his cheap parents when they're together; during Becky's introductory class, he always drags it out until the fiftieth time before harvesting the leeks...

However, he lost a way to make money at the dinner table. To prevent him from spewing nonsense again, he and Kelsey were relegated to the most secluded corner, where he couldn't spit food on anyone no matter how much he pouted...

Ninety-three days later, he finally reaped the rewards, accumulating over 60,000 villain points, half of which were provided by Teacher Becky. He thanked her.

Most importantly, the Shadow talent has been upgraded from intermediate to advanced over time, but it seems to be limited by the limited innate energy. This time it only increased by four points, becoming ten points per minute.

What is it like to have advanced Shadow talents?

Perhaps his brother hadn't yet noticed anything, but he could sense that the shadow magic around him was entirely under his control, like stars surrounding the moon. He was the center of this mini-universe, and no shadow magic could escape his will.

If the mage merely gathers these magical powers without controlling them, it's like an adult deliberately letting a minor win. His talent, inferior to Domi's, would instantly lose control of these energies, should Domi so choose.

This is the rank suppression brought about by talent.

In actual combat, if two mages of the same level and with the same talent attributes fight, the one with higher talent will be able to control the free-floating mana particles on the battlefield and slowly replenish their own power, while the opponent cannot. Given this disparity, the one with higher talent will definitely win, which is almost universally agreed upon.

That's why people in this world value talent so much.

Chapter 7.7 Body Tempering Breathing Technique

A year has passed in the blink of an eye, and the upgrade progress of the Shadow talent tree has finally hit a bottleneck at [47.7/100], just a little short of halfway.

It's not that Domi can't work, it's just that the system notification says her innate energy has completely disappeared. Without this most important ingredient, Domi is willing but unable to do anything about it.

This result is still acceptable. Over the past six months, he has gradually accumulated 18 villain points. At this rate, he can quickly make up for the shortfall. Just thinking about being able to receive a perfect-level talent when he logs in makes him laugh out loud even in his sleep.

He currently has a total of 24.1 yuan in savings, but he doesn't plan to put it all into talent upgrades. The reason is simple: since he got this card-drawing system, the only time he drew a card was when he was still in the womb. He has been saving it for a year and hasn't used it once. It's probably gathering dust by now.