Chapter 250 - 204: Talent Rewrite

"However," Xu Zihong said teasingly, his fingers gently tracing the surface of the desk, "you’d better be gentle... don’t go breaking these old bones of mine! You’re not going to put me in the hospital, are you? If you did, and that pack of senior brothers of yours came running... you’d have a hard time explaining yourself!"

Chu Bamboo silently moved behind Xu Zihong and gently pressed his hands to his teacher’s temples. His voice was soft. "Don’t worry, Teacher... Don’t forget, I’ve already shown you my... exceptionally exquisite Acupuncture Skill!"

"How could I possibly hurt you?" After a brief pause, Chu Bamboo added, "On the contrary, even if you find yourself at the Death Gate for some reason one day, I could probably pull you back!"

"...Is that so." Xu Zihong’s eyelids drooped. A wave of drowsiness washed over him, and he yawned before retorting, "An Acupuncture Skill without the acupuncture... Kid, you’d better not forget to buy some needles! The other old fogeys aren’t as gullible as I am."

"Yes," Chu Bamboo agreed softly, a smile in his voice. Then, he activated his talent. ’Rewrite!’

To Chu Bamboo’s surprise, this Rewrite was unexpectedly easy. Perhaps it was because this was simply another way to use his First Divine Power, Rewrite. Or maybe, just as his good brother had said, he had already reached the Peak of the First Realm in his cultivation, lacking only the Celestial Mandate.

And so, a massive amount of information flooded into his mind.

The Rewrite process largely filtered out the other person’s ordinary memories. This was partly because a massive influx of memories could lead to a fractured sense of self. Even though his good brother hadn’t fully grasped the risk to his self-perception back then, he had still been sharp enough to sense that it was bad for him.

Besides, it wasn’t really a way to directly read memories to obtain intelligence. His good brother had actually considered using this thing to directly extract intelligence from the minds of James Raven and his people! It was mentioned briefly in his journal.

But after one experiment, he never dared to try again.

After all, this Rewriting Technique could only perform a brute-force copy; it couldn’t be selective.

Without the ability to pick and choose which memories to copy, a single misstep could easily twist his own sense of self into that of James Raven.

Even if he came to his senses later, his worldview and values would likely be altered by the other person’s. To put it bluntly, a person’s identity is fundamentally built on memories. Even if you realized what had happened, it would be incredibly difficult to filter out the foreign influence!

If that were to happen, the trouble would be immense. But when it came to memories purely of skills, his good brother had apparently felt the risk wasn’t as great.

As it turned out, while his good brother hadn’t been entirely correct, his decision not to steal large quantities of memories from others was certainly the right one.

If he had brazenly started absorbing memories, he probably would have lost control completely after just two or three people! He never would have made it to the point where he’d copied the skills of countless brilliant geniuses and become a true polymath... before finally going completely mad!

「In the next breath.」

A flood of skills related to traditional painting, literature, and calligraphy poured into his brain.

Chu Bamboo’s pupils slowly dilated. These memories of skills combined with the many painting techniques he had already mastered, creating a chemical reaction. They forcibly elevated his painting skills—already at the pinnacle for his generation—to an even higher level.

’It’s comparable to... no! If I stack this on top of my own original painting skills... it would be perfectly logical if I’ve now surpassed even Xu Zihong in the art of painting, wouldn’t it?’

But compared to his painting, the change in his calligraphy was even greater. Although he had practiced with Xu Zihong, his work could only be described as "nice." He was far from being called a master.

But now, with the influx of skill... he felt his brush calligraphy had improved exponentially.

While he hadn’t completely surpassed Xu Zihong, he was now definitely on par with him.

And his literary knowledge...

Perhaps it was only an instant, or perhaps... a long, long time had passed...

Chu Bamboo’s body swayed. He fought to suppress his exhaustion, using a trembling hand to gently guide Xu Zihong’s head down to rest on the desk. Only then did he take a step back.

He collapsed onto the floor, his forehead drenched in cold sweat. His expression was dazed as he gasped for air.

’...Ugh! My head hurts. And... I am!’ Chu Bamboo jerked awake, shaking his head rapidly. He glanced at his arm, thinking he saw scales sprouting from it, but a closer look revealed nothing was there.

Chu Bamboo was speechless.

’How terrifying! This must be the ’contamination’ he talked about... I’ll have to see what the final result is after I ’kill myself’ later. If it’s not what I hope for, then even if this Rewrite talent is ridiculously powerful, I’ll have to ban it for good!’

Chu Bamboo slapped his own cheeks, then cast a complicated glance at Xu Zihong, who was fast asleep on the desk.

Even though he had tried his best to filter out memories, he had still captured a few scattered fragments—ones that had left an extremely deep impression on Xu Zihong.

That memory fragment... was the scene of Chu Bamboo bidding farewell to Xu Zihong.

Chu Bamboo felt a pang of emotion. So, Xu Zihong had never truly gotten over him abandoning traditional painting. ’Even though he acted like he had... well, I guess that’s only natural!’

But then, Chu Bamboo’s brow furrowed in thought. ’Incidentally acquiring a small portion of the most impactful memory fragments! Hmm, this mechanism could be very interesting...’

Chu Bamboo was contemplating a very serious question. If he were in the Real World and used Reproduction on the skills of James Raven or Howard Raven, what would be the most profound memory fragments he might obtain?

’Wait, speaking of which, do those two from the Raven Clan... even have any special skills worth copying?’

Chu Bamboo sank into deep thought. ’Whatever...’

’Maybe I should have my good brother test it out?’ Chu Bamboo felt a surge of eagerness. He had a feeling it was related to that secret room his good brother had failed to detect. It might even be connected to intelligence about the Golden Dawn’s true relationship with God.

The only concern was...

...would his good brother, knowing the risks, still be willing to take the gamble? Chu Bamboo had his doubts.

After resting for a good half hour, Chu Bamboo finally felt like he could breathe again. He called the housekeeper over to look after Xu Zihong, then began to ponder his next steps. ’If the risk proves to be manageable, should I... acquire more skills in the Dream World? But then again, there don’t seem to be any other skills there that I particularly value...’

Chu Bamboo sighed. He had already learned most of the useful, miscellaneous techniques the Dream World had to offer. In comparison... physics, chemistry, and mathematics from the Real World were ultimately more meaningful to him.