books/gu-zhenren/editor-harness/ehen-dp-full-w5.json

{
 "tag": "ehen-dp-full-w5",
 "model": "deepseek-v4-pro",
 "model_returned": "deepseek-v4-pro",
 "nothink": false,
 "extra_body": {},
 "effort_param": null,
 "reasoning_tokens": 4518,
 "finish": "stop",
 "ts": "2026-08-05T15:43:06Z",
 "prompt_tokens": 1597,
 "cached_tokens": 768,
 "completion_tokens": 4957,
 "cost_usd": 0.004676,
 "latency_s": 72.8,
 "content": "He was tall and powerfully built, far more robust than others his age, radiating a rugged, formidable air. Crossing the river in two or three steps, he set foot on the opposite bank. Ten steps, twenty steps, thirty steps—faint glimmers of light streamed into his body one after another. He pressed on to the thirty-sixth step, and finally could go no further.\n\nThe youths on the far bank watched, dumbstruck. The academy elder shouted with delight:\n\n“Excellent! Gu Yue Mo Bei, B-grade aptitude! Come here, let me examine your sea of primeval essence.”\n\nGu Yue Mo Bei returned to the academy elder’s side, and the latter extended a hand, resting it on the young man’s shoulder. Closing his eyes in focused examination for a moment, he withdrew his hand, nodded, and recorded on paper: “Gu Yue Mo Bei, sea of primeval essence at 66%. Worthy of vigorous cultivation.”\n\nThis aptitude was ranked from top to bottom into four grades: A, B, C, and D. A youth with D-grade aptitude, after three years of training, could advance to become an experienced first-turn Gu Master, the cornerstone of the clan. A youth with C-grade aptitude, after two years of training, for the most part could become a second-turn Gu Master, the backbone of the clan. One with B-grade aptitude required careful nurturing—such individuals were typically groomed as future clan elders, and with six or seven years of effort they could become third-turn Gu Masters. As for A-grade aptitude, the appearance of even one was a stroke of fortune for the entire clan. Such a person would receive meticulous attention and a concentration of resources, and within about ten years could become a fourth-turn Gu Master, at which point they could contend for the position of clan leader!\n\nIn other words, so long as Gu Yue Mo Bei matured properly, he would become a clan elder of the Gu Yue clan in the years ahead. No wonder the academy elder laughed heartily, and the clan elders watching in secret all let out sighs of relief before casting envious glances toward one of their number.",
 "reasoning_chars": 18294,
 "reasoning": "We need to edit the draft translation for literary style, accuracy, and adherence to the canonical glossary. The source text is given, and the draft is to be edited. Let's examine the draft and compare it to the source.\n\nKey points:\n\n- The text is from a webnovel, so it should be in natural English literary style, not literal translation.\n- Glossary terms: 元海 → \"sea of primeval essence\" (already used correctly). 蛊师 → \"Gu Master\" (used). 族长 → \"clan leader\" (used). The draft uses \"clan leader\" correctly. Also \"academy elder\" is used for 学堂家老, which is presumably the academy elder. Should I keep it? The source says 学堂家老, which likely is the elder in charge of the academy. So \"academy elder\" is fine. But later it says 学堂长老, but that is likely the same person, just a reference. The draft says \"the academy elder laughed aloud...\" then later \"No wonder the academy elder laughed heartily\". Consistent.\n\n- Proper name: Gu Yue Mo Bei (古月漠北). The draft has \"Gu Yue Mo Bei\" (spaced with capital M? Actually it's \"Gu Yue Mo Bei\" with spaces. The source has 古月漠北. The glossary doesn't list this name, but it's a character. The draft's rendering is fine: Gu Yue Mo Bei. I'll keep it. But the draft has the first name capitalized \"Mo Bei\"? Yes, because it's a personal name. Should it be \"Mo Bei\" as two characters? Likely yes, proper Chinese name. That's standard. I'll keep \"Gu Yue Mo Bei\".\n\n- Note: The draft has a line break after \"He pressed on to the thirty-sixth step, and finally could go no further.\" Then paragraph break. That's fine. But need to check if any meaning distortions.\n\nChecking against source:\n\n\"他身材高大，比同龄人要粗壮得多，透着一丝彪悍气息。\" Draft: \"He was tall and powerfully built, far more robust than others his age, radiating a rugged, formidable air.\" Seems fine.\n\n\"三两步过了河，踏上对岸。\" Draft: \"Crossing the river in two or three steps, he set foot on the opposite bank.\" Good.\n\n\"十步，二十步，三十步，陆续有微光投入到他的体内。\" Draft: \"Ten steps, twenty steps, thirty steps—faint glimmers of light streamed into his body one after another.\" \"微光\" is faint light, \"投入到他的体内\" is \"entered his body\". \"Streamed into\" is okay.\n\n\"一直走到三十六步，终于走不动了。\" Draft: \"He pressed on to the thirty-sixth step, and finally could go no further.\" Good.\n\n\"少年们隔岸看得目瞪口呆，学堂家老欢喜得大叫起来：“好，古月漠北，乙等资质，来这里，让我看看你的元海。”\" Draft: \"The youths on the far bank watched, dumbstruck. The academy elder laughed aloud with delight: 'Excellent! Gu Yue Mo Bei, B-grade aptitude! Come here, let me examine your sea of primeval essence.'\" \"目瞪口呆\" is rendered as \"dumbstruck\" — okay. \"欢喜得大叫起来\" is \"shouted with joy\", draft says \"laughed aloud with delight\" — slightly off, but he could be laughing and shouting. The quoted speech is a shout, \"好\" is \"Excellent!\" That's fine. I'll adjust to reflect that he shouted joyfully, maybe \"shouted with delight\". But the draft says \"laughed aloud with delight\", then the exclamation. I could keep it or change slightly. I'll check later.\n\n\"古月漠北便又回到学堂家老的身边，后者伸出手，搭在少年的肩膀，闭目凝神探查了一番，便收回手，点点头，在纸上记录起来：\" Draft: \"Gu Yue Mo Bei returned to the academy elder's side, and the latter extended a hand, resting it on the young man's shoulder. Closing his eyes in focused examination for a moment, he withdrew his hand, nodded, and recorded on paper:\" Good, but the original says \"闭目凝神探查了一番\" meaning \"closed his eyes and focused his spirit to examine for a while\". Draft says \"Closing his eyes in focused examination for a moment\" which is fine. \"在纸上记录起来\" could be \"began recording on paper\". The draft says \"recorded on paper\". Slightly missing the \"start\" but not critical. I'll see.\n\n\"古月漠北，元海六成六，可大力栽培。\" Draft: \"Gu Yue Mo Bei, sea of primeval essence at 66%. Worthy of vigorous cultivation.\" \"六成六\" means 66% (six tenths and six hundredths? No, 成 is tenths, so 六成六 is 6.6 成? Wait: The fraction 成 means tenths: 六成六 = 66%? Actually, in the instructions, it says \"the fraction 成 means tenths: 六成六 = 66%\". Yes, they say 六成六 translates to 66%. So the draft correctly renders \"sea of primeval essence at 66%\". \"可大力栽培\" — \"Worthy of vigorous cultivation.\" That's fine.\n\nThen: \"这资质从上到下，分甲乙丙丁四等。\" Draft: \"This aptitude was ranked from top to bottom into four grades: A, B, C, and D.\" Good.\n\nNow the following sentences: The original lists the grades in a sequence, each as a separate line. The draft has kept them as separate paragraphs for each grade, like:\n\n\"A youth with D-grade aptitude, after three years of training, could advance to a first-turn veteran Gu Master and become the cornerstone of the clan.\nA youth with C-grade aptitude, after two years of training, could mostly become a second-turn Gu Master and serve as the backbone of the clan.\nOne with B-grade aptitude required careful nurturing. Such individuals were typically groomed as future clan elders, and with six or seven years of effort, they could become third-turn Gu Masters.\nAs for A-grade aptitude—even a single appearance was a stroke of fortune for the entire clan. Such a person would be given meticulous attention and a concentration of resources, and within about ten years could become a fourth-turn Gu Master, at which point they could contend for the position of clan leader!\"\n\nThis is a list of definitions. In English, it might be okay as separate paragraphs, but they could be merged into one descriptive paragraph for each rank, but that's fine. The instruction says we should assemble narrative into natural English paragraphs, not copying source line breaks. The source has each sentence on a new line, but that's not necessarily a paragraph break. I can merge them into a cohesive description. But the draft has split them into separate paragraphs for each rank, which is okay because each rank is a distinct sub-topic. I could merge them into one paragraph for efficiency, but it's not mandatory. The instruction says: \"Layout: assemble the narrative into natural English paragraphs, NOT copying the source's line-by-line breaks... There is no maximum paragraph length.\" So I can consider merging the four ranks into a single paragraph or keep them separate. Since each rank is a complete thought, I think it's natural to have them as separate short paragraphs to emphasize the escalating importance. I'll keep them separate as the draft does, but I'll ensure the transitions are smooth.\n\nCheck the details:\n\n- D-grade: \"could advance to a first-turn veteran Gu Master\" — original: \"就能晋升成一转的资深蛊师，成为家族的基石。\" \"一转\" is rank one. \"资深蛊师\" is experienced Gu Master or veteran Gu Master. \"Veteran\" might be too strong, but okay. \"基石\" cornerstone, fine.\n\n- C-grade: \"could mostly become a second-turn Gu Master\" — original: \"大多都能成为二转的蛊师\" 'mostly' is fine. \"中坚存在\" backbone, fine.\n\n- B-grade: \"One with B-grade aptitude required careful nurturing. Such individuals were typically groomed as future clan elders, and with six or seven years of effort, they could become third-turn Gu Masters.\" Original: \"一位乙等资质，就要呵护了。往往要作为未来的家老培养，六七年的功夫，能成为三转蛊师。\" Draft says \"required careful nurturing\" and \"typically groomed as future clan elders\". The original didn't say \"future clan elders\", it said \"作为未来的家老培养\" i.e. cultivate them as future elders. So \"groomed as future clan elders\" is correct. \"六七年的功夫\" is \"six or seven years of effort\" — good.\n\n- A-grade: \"even a single appearance was a stroke of fortune for the entire clan.\" That's a bit literal. \"哪怕出现一位，都是整个家族的幸运。\" could be \"even a single appearance was a stroke of fortune for the entire clan\" or \"the appearance of even one was a great fortune for the clan.\" Fine.\n\n\"Such a person would be given meticulous attention and a concentration of resources, and within about ten years could become a fourth-turn Gu Master, at which point they could contend for the position of clan leader!\" Good.\n\nThen the final paragraph: \"In other words, so long as Gu Yue Mo Bei matured properly, he would become a clan elder of the Gu Yue clan in the years ahead. No wonder the academy elder laughed heartily, and the clan elders watching in secret all let out sighs of relief, before casting envious glances toward one of their number.\"\n\nCheck: \"也就是说，这古月漠北只要成长起来，就是今后古月一族的家老。难怪学堂长老喜得哈哈一笑，而暗中关注的众家老们都统统舒了一口气，而后又纷纷向其中一位家老投去羡慕的目光。\" \n\nThe draft says \"so long as Gu Yue Mo Bei matured properly\" – original \"只要成长起来\" means \"as long as he grows up / matures\", \"matures properly\" is okay. \"就是今后古月一族的家老\" – \"would become a clan elder of the Gu Yue clan in the years ahead.\" Good.\n\n\"难怪学堂长老喜得哈哈一笑\" – draft says \"academy elder laughed heartily\" – the source says 学堂长老 (academy elder) but the elder who examined him is 学堂家老. They are the same, yes. So it's consistent. \"喜得哈哈一笑\" is \"laughed heartily in joy\", fine.\n\n\"暗中关注的众家老们都统统舒了一口气\" – \"the clan elders watching in secret all let out sighs of relief\" – they let out sighs of relief.\n\n\"而后又纷纷向其中一位家老投去羡慕的目光\" – \"before casting envious glances toward one of their number.\" That's good. \"其中一位家老\" means \"one of their number (elders)\". The envy is directed at the one elder who is likely the boy's relative or teacher. So fine.\n\nNow, any issues? The draft uses \"first-turn veteran Gu Master\", \"second-turn Gu Master\", etc. The term \"turn\" for 转 is standard, I'll keep it. \"一转\" is rank one, so \"first-turn Gu Master\". The draft says \"first-turn veteran Gu Master\" for D-grade; in the original, \"一转的资深蛊师\" means a rank one experienced Gu Master. So \"first-turn veteran Gu Master\" is okay. However, the phrase \"veteran\" might imply a seasoned master, but they are just elevated after training. I think it's fine.\n\nI need to ensure the glossary is strictly adhered. There's the term \"Gu Master\" (蛊师), and \"sea of primeval essence\" (元海), \"clan leader\" (族长). Already used.\n\nNow, style: remove calques, officialese, unnatural constructions. The draft seems okay. But I'll check for any literalisms. The phrase \"radiating a rugged, formidable air\" — \"透着一丝彪悍气息\" — \"a hint of a fierce and tough aura\". \"Radiating\" might be slightly strong, but fine. \"Crossing the river in two or three steps\" – \"三两步\" means two or three steps, but it's an idiom for quickly crossing, so it's okay. \"faint glimmers of light streamed into his body one after another\" — \"微光\" is faint light; \"streamed\" is fine. \"He pressed on to the thirty-sixth step, and finally could go no further.\" OK.\n\nNow, the direct speech: \"Excellent! Gu Yue Mo Bei, B-grade aptitude! Come here, let me examine your sea of primeval essence.\" I'll keep it. The draft has an exclamation mark after \"Excellent!\" and then \"Gu Yue Mo Bei, B-grade aptitude!\" which might be two exclamations. Fine.\n\nThe recording: \"Gu Yue Mo Bei, sea of primeval essence at 66%. Worthy of vigorous cultivation.\" OK.\n\nNow, for the ranking paragraphs, they are separate. I'll consider if I should merge them into one paragraph. The original source has line breaks, but the instruction says not to copy line breaks. I think a single paragraph for the whole explanation would be better to flow like prose, but the draft's structure with short paragraphs for each grade is also natural for emphasis. The instruction: \"assemble the narrative into natural English paragraphs, NOT copying the source's line-by-line breaks\". This is about avoiding a broken format; but it's okay to have shorter paragraphs if they are logically distinct. The list of grades could be seen as a single narrative move: \"the ranking system explained.\" So I could merge them into one paragraph. I'll check: the description goes: \"This aptitude was ranked from top to bottom into four grades: A, B, C, and D. A youth with D-grade aptitude, after three years of training, could advance to a first-turn veteran Gu Master and become the cornerstone of the clan. A youth with C-grade aptitude, after two years, could mostly become a second-turn Gu Master, serving as the backbone. One with B-grade aptitude required careful nurturing, typically groomed as a future clan elder, and with six or seven years of effort could become a third-turn Gu Master. As for A-grade aptitude, even a single appearance was a stroke of fortune for the entire clan—such a person would receive meticulous attention and concentrated resources, and within about ten years could become a fourth-turn Gu Master, at which point they could contend for the position of clan leader!\" That reads as a flowing paragraph. I think merging them into one paragraph would be more natural. The draft's separate paragraphs might be a bit staccato, but it's not wrong. However, to improve flow, I'll merge them into one paragraph. The instruction says \"assemble the narrative into natural English paragraphs, NOT copying the source's line-by-line breaks.\" So I'll do that.\n\nAlso, the draft says \"first-turn veteran Gu Master\" – the term \"veteran\" might be a bit clunky. The original 资深蛊师 can simply be \"experienced Gu Master\". \"Veteran\" is okay, but \"experienced\" might be simpler. I'll use \"experienced\" or just \"first-turn Gu Master\" without \"veteran\" because the original says \"资深蛊师\" specifically to denote experienced, but it's a descriptor of the rank? Actually, \"一转的资深蛊师\" means a rank one experienced Gu Master, indicating that after three years they become an experienced rank one Gu Master. But for D-grade, it's not a rank, it's the eventual outcome. So I'll keep \"experienced first-turn Gu Master\" or \"first-turn Gu Master with experience\". I'll change \"veteran\" to \"experienced\". The draft says \"first-turn veteran Gu Master\" – I'll change to \"first-turn experienced Gu Master\" or just \"first-turn Gu Master\" but it says \"资深\" which means veteran/experienced. I'll keep \"experienced\".\n\nAlso, \"could advance to a first-turn experienced Gu Master\" – \"advance to\" is okay. For C-grade: \"could mostly become a second-turn Gu Master\" – \"mostly\" is a literal \"大多都能\" meaning \"the majority could become\". It's fine. I'll reword slightly: \"for the most part, they could become second-turn Gu Masters\".\n\nNow, the B-grade: \"One with B-grade aptitude required careful nurturing. Such individuals were typically groomed as future clan elders, and with six or seven years of effort, they could become third-turn Gu Masters.\" I'll keep it as part of the merged paragraph.\n\nAnd A-grade: \"even a single appearance was a stroke of fortune for the entire clan.\" Slightly literal, but fine. I might rephrase: \"the appearance of even one was a great fortune for the clan.\"\n\nMeanwhile, in the final paragraph, \"the academy elder laughed heartily\" – we might say \"laughed out loud with joy\" but \"laughed heartily\" is fine. \"the clan elders watching in secret all let out sighs of relief\" – \"sighs of relief\" is good. \"before casting envious glances toward one of their number.\" The original 而后又纷纷向其中一位家老投去羡慕的目光 – they cast envious glances at one among them. \"one of their number\" is perfect. So final paragraph remains.\n\nI'll now craft the edited translation. I'll merge the ranking explanation into one paragraph, and keep the direct speech separate. I'll also ensure that the first line about his stature and river crossing are kept in a single paragraph. Let's structure the full text:\n\nParagraph 1: He was tall and powerfully built... (his physique). Then he crossed the river and the steps: it could be one paragraph describing his crossing: \"He was tall and powerfully built... Crossing the river in two or three steps, he set foot on the opposite bank. Ten steps, twenty steps, thirty steps—faint glimmers of light streamed into his body... He pressed on to the thirty-sixth step, and finally could go no further.\" That's a coherent action sequence with the same subject. So I'll keep that as one paragraph.\n\nThen the reaction: \"The youths on the far bank watched, dumbstruck. The academy elder shouted with delight: 'Excellent! Gu Yue Mo Bei, B-grade aptitude! Come here, let me examine your sea of primeval essence.'\" The draft says \"laughed aloud with delight\", but I'll change to \"shouted with delight\" to match the original \"大叫起来\" – he shouted. So: \"The academy elder shouted with delight\". \n\nThen the return and examination: \"Gu Yue Mo Bei returned to the academy elder's side, and the latter extended a hand, resting it on the young man's shoulder. Closing his eyes in focused examination for a moment, he withdrew his hand, nodded, and recorded on paper: 'Gu Yue Mo Bei, sea of primeval essence at 66%. Worthy of vigorous cultivation.'\"\n\nThen the ranking explanation paragraph: \"This aptitude was ranked from top to bottom into four grades: A, B, C, and D. A youth with D-grade aptitude, after three years of training, could advance to become an experienced first-turn Gu Master, the cornerstone of the clan. A youth with C-grade aptitude, after two years of training, for the most part could become a second-turn Gu Master, the backbone of the clan. One with B-grade aptitude required careful nurturing—such individuals were typically groomed as future clan elders, and with six or seven years of effort, they could become third-turn Gu Masters. As for A-grade aptitude, the appearance of even one was a stroke of fortune for the entire clan. Such a person would receive meticulous attention and a concentration of resources, and within about ten years could become a fourth-turn Gu Master, at which point they could contend for the position of clan leader!\"\n\nNote: I kept the B-grade and A-grade as separate sentences within the paragraph. For B-grade, I merged the two sentences with a dash. For A-grade, I kept two sentences. That reads well.\n\nThen the final paragraph: \"In other words, so long as Gu Yue Mo Bei matured properly, he would become a clan elder of the Gu Yue clan in the years ahead. No wonder the academy elder laughed heartily, and the clan elders watching in secret all let out sighs of relief before casting envious glances toward one of their number.\"\n\nI'll adjust \"laughed heartily\" – the original says 喜得哈哈一笑 – he laughed \"haha\" with joy. So \"laughed heartily\" is fine. I'll keep.\n\nNow, I'll produce the final edited translation. I'll also check if any terms need correction: \"sea of primeval essence\" is canonical. \"Gu Master\" is correct. \"clan elder\" – the term \"家老\" is translated as \"clan elder\" throughout. The draft uses \"academy elder\" for 学堂家老, and then \"clan elder\" for 家老. That's consistent. The glossary doesn't list 家老, but it's standard. I'll keep.\n\nSo final output.\n\nI need to ensure that the format: output ONLY the edited translation, with no preambles. So I'll just provide the text.\n\nNow, I'll write the final response.",
 "messages": [
  {
   "role": "system",
   "content": "You are a literary editor of a fiction translation into English. You are given the SOURCE text and its draft translation.\nBook genre: webnovel. Audience: adult webnovel readers. Book: «蛊真人».\n\nYour mandate is literary editing of the draft against the source:\n- Check the draft's meaning against the source (language «zh»): fix distortions of meaning, misread realia, calqued gestures and idioms — the translator may have rendered an expression literally (e.g. a bow as \"struck his head\"). Lean on the source, but write English, not an interlinear.\n- Fix style: remove calques from «zh», officialese, needless repetition, unnatural constructions; write living literary English. BUT a repetition standing in the same (parallel) positions of the source itself is an authorial refrain: keep it, do not \"vary\" the wording where the author repeats on purpose.\n- Render proper names, terms and realia STRICTLY per the supplied glossary (if attached): bring any divergence to the canonical form, inflecting by context; do not invent other renderings.\n- Layout: assemble the narrative into natural English paragraphs, NOT copying the source's line-by-line breaks (in the original one sentence is often one line). Start each line of direct speech as a new paragraph in double quotation marks. There is no maximum paragraph length.\n- Preserve the draft's COMPLETENESS: do not drop or add sentences; do not re-invent scenes.\n- Units and devices (common to zh→en): convert MEASURES into units the reader knows (时辰 = 2 hours, 三个时辰 ≈ six hours; the fraction 成 means tenths: 六成六 = 66%, not \"6.6\"); render POEMS and titles of classics by meaning, not by transliteration. Check the form of names and terms against the glossary.\n- Honorifics: keep. Foreignization/domestication balance: 0.60.\n\nOutput ONLY the edited translation — with no service preambles, comments, explanations, notes about the edits, or markdown headings.\n\nDISCOURSE RE-PARAGRAPHING (a mandatory operation carrying Chinese parataxis into English hypotactic prose — this is a CONVENTION of the target language, not a liberty):\n1. Silently identify the fragment's narrative moves: a single focal character/observer; an action and its immediate reaction; one line of reasoning; boundaries are a change of speaker, time, place or focal character.\n2. Render one narrative move as ONE English paragraph, EVEN IF the Chinese source is broken into one-clause lines. The tools of merging are participial and subordinate constructions, conjunctions and connectives (build a hierarchy, segment by meaning, mark aspect/tense of predicates, vary the wording, add connectives). Do NOT merge merely for length, and do not lose meaning atoms.\n3. Start every new speech turn as a new paragraph in double quotation marks; keep the speech tag inside that turn's paragraph.\n4. You may merge and split English sentences; the count of sentences and paragraphs need NOT match the source. You may NOT lose meaning atoms (participants, actions, numbers, polarity, headings, and also idioms and chengyu: render them by BOTH meaning components, without collapsing into a general sense — 物是人非 = \"the things are the same, the people are not\", not \"everything has changed\")."
  },
  {
   "role": "system",
   "content": "CANONICAL RENDERINGS of names and terms (in the draft, the source term on the left MUST be rendered exactly by the form on the right — bring any divergence to it, inflecting by context; do not introduce other variants and do not change anything else):\n- 元海 → «sea of primeval essence»\n- 蛊师 → «Gu Master»\n- 族长 → «clan leader»"
  },
  {
   "role": "user",
   "content": "Source text (language «zh»):\n\n　　他身材高大，比同龄人要粗壮得多，透着一丝彪悍气息。\n　　三两步过了河，踏上对岸。\n　　十步，二十步，三十步，陆续有微光投入到他的体内。\n　　一直走到三十六步，终于走不动了。\n　　少年们隔岸看得目瞪口呆，学堂家老欢喜得大叫起来：“好，古月漠北，乙等资质，来这里，让我看看你的元海。”\n　　古月漠北便又回到学堂家老的身边，后者伸出手，搭在少年的肩膀，闭目凝神探查了一番，便收回手，点点头，在纸上记录起来：“古月漠北，元海六成六，可大力栽培。”\n　　这资质从上到下，分甲乙丙丁四等。\n　　一位丁等资质的少年，培养个三年，就能晋升成一转的资深蛊师，成为家族的基石。\n　　一位丙等资质的少年，培养两年，大多都能成为二转的蛊师，成为家族的中坚存在。\n　　一位乙等资质，就要呵护了。往往要作为未来的家老培养，六七年的功夫，能成为三转蛊师。\n　　至于甲等资质，哪怕出现一位，都是整个家族的幸运。要细心关照，倾斜资源，十年左右就能成为四转蛊师，到那时便能竞争族长之位！\n　　也就是说，这古月漠北只要成长起来，就是今后古月一族的家老。难怪学堂长老喜得哈哈一笑，而暗中关注的众家老们都统统舒了一口气，而后又纷纷向其中一位家老投去羡慕的目光。\n\n\nDraft translation to edit:\n\nHe was tall and powerfully built, far more robust than others his age, radiating a rugged, formidable air.  \nCrossing the river in two or three steps, he set foot on the opposite bank.  \nTen steps, twenty steps, thirty steps—faint glimmers of light streamed into his body one after another.  \nHe pressed on to the thirty-sixth step, and finally could go no further.  \n\nThe youths on the far bank watched, dumbstruck. The academy elder laughed aloud with delight: \"Excellent! Gu Yue Mo Bei, B-grade aptitude! Come here, let me examine your sea of primeval essence.\"  \n\nGu Yue Mo Bei returned to the academy elder's side, and the latter extended a hand, resting it on the young man's shoulder. Closing his eyes in focused examination for a moment, he withdrew his hand, nodded, and recorded on paper: \"Gu Yue Mo Bei, sea of primeval essence at 66%. Worthy of vigorous cultivation.\"  \n\nThis aptitude was ranked from top to bottom into four grades: A, B, C, and D.  \nA youth with D-grade aptitude, after three years of training, could advance to a first-turn veteran Gu Master and become the cornerstone of the clan.  \nA youth with C-grade aptitude, after two years of training, could mostly become a second-turn Gu Master and serve as the backbone of the clan.  \nOne with B-grade aptitude required careful nurturing. Such individuals were typically groomed as future clan elders, and with six or seven years of effort, they could become third-turn Gu Masters.  \nAs for A-grade aptitude—even a single appearance was a stroke of fortune for the entire clan. Such a person would be given meticulous attention and a concentration of resources, and within about ten years could become a fourth-turn Gu Master, at which point they could contend for the position of clan leader!  \n\nIn other words, so long as Gu Yue Mo Bei matured properly, he would become a clan elder of the Gu Yue clan in the years ahead. No wonder the academy elder laughed heartily, and the clan elders watching in secret all let out sighs of relief, before casting envious glances toward one of their number."
  }
 ]
}