Nuoding Primary Spirit Master Academy (IV)

One week later.

Nuoding Primary Spirit Master Academy.

First floor of the teaching building, Class 1.

Teacher Mo stood at the lectern, teaching the students.

Some of the students below were distracted, while others took notes.

Both Xia Liang and Lin Xiao listened attentively.

Xia Liang in particular had memories of the original story. After listening to the theoretical knowledge Teacher Mo taught, he could draw inferences from one example to another. His learning efficiency far surpassed that of the other students, and what he learned was more firmly grounded.

After taking a sip of water, Teacher Mo stood on the platform and looked over every student.

"I've been teaching for a week now. You should all have a general understanding of Spirit Masters, this esteemed profession, right? That's all for the basic knowledge of Spirit Masters. Next, I'll focus on teaching you about soul beasts. Does anyone know what exactly a soul beast is?"

One student stood up and answered, "Soul beasts are animals with soul power."

"Correct. But you're only half right." Teacher Mo looked at the student who had answered and explained seriously, "It isn't limited to animals. Plants with soul power are also a type of soul beast. Other than us humans, all living beings with soul power can be called soul beasts. To determine whether something is a soul beast, one only needs to see whether it produces a soul ring after death."

"The soul rings produced by ten-year soul beasts are white. Those produced by hundred-year soul beasts are yellow, thousand-year ones are purple, and ten-thousand-year ones are black."

Although Xia Liang already knew the relationship between a soul beast's cultivation and its soul ring color from the original story, he was still completely absorbed.

It was said that Teacher Mo had once been a member of a mercenary group, making a living by helping people hunt soul beasts.

Since he was a Spirit Master who specialized in hunting soul beasts, he must have encountered quite a few different kinds.

Listening to Teacher Mo explain soul beast knowledge was certainly more insightful than studying it from books.

Whenever Teacher Mo mentioned a soul skill that a certain soul beast might provide, Xia Liang diligently took notes.

He remembered that there was a Spirit Master with a Sausage Martial Spirit in the original story named Oscar.

In order to obtain a soul skill with combat capabilities, Oscar had set out on a journey to find soul beasts.

In the end, due to his lack of Soul Beast Knowledge, he had wasted the slot for his fifth soul ring before finally finding a Sixth Soul Skill that could provide combat capability.

If Oscar had possessed extensive Soul Beast Knowledge, he could have obtained the soul skill he wanted from his fifth soul ring, and the soul skill from his Sixth Soul Ring would have been even more heaven-defying.

Every soul ring required by the Skeleton Martial Soul had to provide a soul skill in a stacking form.

To achieve that, he had to take Oscar's experience as a warning and master extensive Soul Beast Knowledge.

The time before ten in the morning was reserved for theory lessons.

After the ten o'clock bell rang, students from different grades would head to the academy training ground in batches for practical sparring classes.

The instructor for practical classes was usually the class's main teacher. The main content consisted of martial soul combat, along with simple physical exercises.

Only at noon did they finally get time for lunch and a break.

Xia Liang, Lin Xiao, Wang Sheng, and the other roommates from Dorm 7 headed to the cafeteria together.

The cafeteria was inside the teaching building, and they had to cross the entire training ground to get there.

At that moment, students who had just finished their practical classes were all heading toward the cafeteria in the teaching building.

Xia Liang, Lin Xiao, and the others blended into the crowd, lining up in an orderly queue to enter the cafeteria and get their food.

The cafeteria had two floors. The first-floor hall alone had three hundred seats.

Noble Students and teachers generally ate on the second floor.

Students without money or connections ate on the first floor.

The moment Xia Liang entered the first floor of the cafeteria, he felt several gazes from the second floor converge on him.

One roommate said that the students casting those looks were mostly nobles. Their leader was a guy named Xiao Chenyu, who was the Noble Student most fond of bullying Work-Study Students. They absolutely should not make eye contact with him, or they would be pestered.

With the Rib Defense of his Skeleton Martial Soul, Xia Liang felt that even without much practical combat experience, he could easily defeat Xiao Chenyu and the others.

But before he had the ability to protect himself, he did not want to stand out. So, he stuck to the principle of lying low whenever possible and refused to get involved in such meaningless disputes.

In a corner of the cafeteria's second floor, Yu Xiaogang sat alone. His lunch was lavish, but he had not touched it. From the very beginning, his gaze had been fixed on Xia Liang, who had just sat down to eat on the first floor.

For a child from the countryside, if his parents were not some reclusive powerhouses, then having the talent of Innate Level Five Soul Power most likely meant that his martial soul had undergone a Benign Mutation.

After observing him for the past week, Yu Xiaogang had become certain of it. During several practical classes, he had deliberately taken walks around the training ground to observe Xia Liang's state when using his Skeleton Martial Soul.

The instant the Skeleton Martial Soul was released, it gave off a grim aura of death.

This child named Xia Liang seemed remarkably similar in some regard to Spirit Hall's Elder Ghost Douluo, though he should not be Ghost Douluo's illegitimate son.

What puzzled Yu Xiaogang was that ribs should be able to block attacks like a shield, possessing a certain degree of defensive power.

Yet the ribs of Xia Liang's Skeleton Martial Soul were only palm-sized. Held in his hand, they looked as though they could be crushed with a single squeeze. They did not resemble a defensive means at all.

Could it be that, just as the martial soul certificate said, this rib-shaped Skeleton Martial Soul was a defective product?

Yu Xiaogang felt that was impossible. Once those palm-sized ribs were controlled proficiently, they should be able to freely shrink and expand.

When the ribs grew large enough to cover the entire body, perhaps they would not be limited to serving as shields. They might even be worn over the body, forming a defense like a protective barrier.

If the enlarged ribs could be placed over other people as well, that would amount to group defense.

The only question was how hard and resilient those ribs were, and whether they could develop in the direction of a Defense System Soul Master.

Watching Xia Liang sit down to eat, a strange glint flashed in Yu Xiaogang's eyes. He had always wanted to cultivate an ordinary Soul Master into an unparalleled genius, using that to prove his theories.

Although Xia Liang had come from the countryside and possessed Innate Level Five Soul Power, he was still far behind compared to true geniuses.

If he could help Xia Liang uncover the defensive potential of his Skeleton Martial Soul and cultivate him into the continent's strongest Defense System Soul Master, he would surely be able to shatter the world's doubts about him.

Those who had disparaged his theories would also be forced to shut up forever.

Ring, ring, ring.

The afternoon classes ended.

Lin Xiao, Wang Sheng, and the others hurried off to the areas they were responsible for cleaning.

As usual, Xia Liang returned to his dormitory, changed into a chef's outfit, and then headed to the Fish Roast Restaurant.

Unlike ordinary restaurants, the ingredients used by the Fish Roast Restaurant all came from ten-year Soul Beasts.

Fish such as crucian carp, grass carp, and perch became not only larger than ordinary fish after turning into Soul Beasts, but their flesh was also more tender and delicious. The soul power contained in their meat could serve as the finest nourishment for the human body.

The meat of these fish-type Soul Beasts was extremely expensive, something only nobles could generally afford.

Therefore, the Fish Roast Restaurant's primary customers were nobles, and it had been established in an area where noble private academies were concentrated.

Walking straight down the street ahead, Xia Liang soon entered the Noble District and spotted an upscale restaurant.

A whale-shaped signboard hung above the restaurant's entrance. The place was bustling inside, and nearly everyone coming and going wore luxurious clothing.

The upscale restaurant before him was the Fish Roast Restaurant. Ever since it had introduced a dish called Cold Mixed Crucian Carp, its business had become increasingly prosperous.

Standing dozens of meters away, Xia Liang could smell the fragrant aromas of all kinds of fish. Having not yet eaten dinner, his stomach suddenly growled.

There were two benefits to working part-time at the Fish Roast Restaurant.

The first benefit was naturally the considerable income.

Working hours were from six in the evening to eleven at night. A part-time chef worked around six hours a day and could earn fifty Copper Spirit Coins.

If the restaurant's daily revenue met its target, there would also be extra bonuses to collect.