Food Soul Masters Should Naturally Understand Food

As Oscar expended Soul Power, a golden, crispy pigeon wing appeared in his right hand. It was about as large as two or three fingers laid side by side and gave off a faint gray glow.

"Hahaha, and this is my..." Oscar stretched out his right hand and laid his left across his forehead. Before he could finish, his hand was empty. "You damn fatty, what's the hurry? I haven't even explained its effects yet!"

Ma Hongjun couldn't stand watching him show off and snatched the wing. "What are you showing off for? It just lets you fly. Brother Yang already told us." He took a bite, and it melted in his mouth, leaving a lingering fragrance on his lips and teeth. "Mmm! Xiao Ao, this Soul Skill of yours tastes much better."

Before he finished speaking, a pair of gray wings appeared on his back at his shoulder blades. Ma Hongjun guided them by feel, making them flap hard. In an instant, a force sent him shooting upward. "Ah!"

In his panic, he nearly crashed into a tree trunk. Fortunately, he already had a flying Martial Soul, and the [Sky-Piercing Cloud-Penetrating Pigeon Wing Crisp] came with the Soul Beast's instinct for flight, allowing him to narrowly dodge it.

"Woo-hoo! Hahaha, I can fly!"

Everyone below could feel Ma Hongjun's excitement as they watched him dart freely through the dense forest. Dai Mubai especially understood. His third Soul Skill, Golden Wing Soaring Transformation, had made him the first member of the team who could fly. Ma Hongjun's expression at the time had been quite a sight: he was a genuine Phoenix Soul Master, yet he couldn't fly, while a tiger had taken to the skies long before him.

"Oscar, give me one too, quick!"

"I want one too!"

Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu stepped forward one after the other, and the others, who had originally been standing in a circle, crowded over as well.

Seeing his sweetheart speak to him with a radiant smile, Oscar's face lit up with joy. Without another word, he prepared to make another, only to find that the others wanted to join in too.

A bad feeling immediately came over him. His flying Soul Skill was very powerful: it not only reached a speed of three li per minute and concealed the user's presence, but also lasted a full three minutes.

As everyone knew, the stronger a Soul Skill was, the more Soul Power it consumed. Although his previous two soul tools consumed very little, he had a feeling about this one. With his current Soul Power, he could probably make only three or five at most, right?

"Xiao Ao, give your brother one first! I treat you all the time!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

Seeing Dai Mubai and Xiang Yang joining the clamor made his head feel twice its size. "Wait, wait, I..." He instinctively checked how much Soul Power he had left, and the result gave him a huge shock.

His miserable expression instantly turned to delight. "Holy crap! Sure, sure, everyone gets one!"

After giving the first two to Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu, he went on to shout "Swiftly Fly Through the Sky, Breaking the Wind" five more times in succession, under the astonished gazes of the others.

Xiang Yang felt the gray wings on his back and guided them with his thoughts, flying over to Oscar's side. "Looks like this Soul Skill consumes far less Soul Power than expected. Oscar, how many can you make in total now?"

"Hehe, that's right, and it's all thanks to you, A Yang." Oscar first thanked him sincerely. "With the Soul Power I have left, I should be able to make four more."

"Oh?" Oscar had just explained the Soul Skill's effects, and Xiang Yang had thought making eight would be his limit, or at least close to it. Who would have thought he still had so much left?

"Something's not right. This Soul Skill is much stronger than the one he originally had. It shouldn't consume so little Soul Power."

Xiang Yang recalled the manga he had read in his previous life. At first, he had borrowed the books from a classmate, and only the early part had been available then, so he had read it over and over. As a result, he remembered the early plot relatively clearly. He had a particularly vivid memory of this flying Soul Skill because Tang San later obtained an External Soul Bone.

Although the current "pigeon wing" was a little slower than the "mushroom," it wasn't much slower, and it lasted twice as long on top of the original duration. The specially selected Soul Beast also had concealment like a night owl's, and the skill had successfully inherited that trait. How could it possibly consume less?

Could this Soul Beast have some special bloodline he didn't know about?

The three minutes were nearly up. He shook his head. Forget it, he would leave it at that and take time to experiment after they returned. Next, there was still Tang San's third Soul Skill to deal with.

After all that, it was nearly noon. The group took out the tableware and fresh ingredients they had prepared in advance. As for why they weren't eating dry rations or the premade boxed meals Xiang Yang had "invented"...

Xiang Yang: Naturally, it was because they had two Soul Saints protecting them. Since that was the case, they could make themselves as comfortable as they liked in the thousand-year region.

Oscar got busy, with Xiang Yang and Tang San helping him. The others either went to gather firewood or patrolled the surroundings.

They were clearly in a dangerous Soul Beast forest, yet they acted as though they were on an ordinary outing in the wilderness. Flender felt as though his entire worldview were crumbling.

Half an hour later.

Flender appeared from behind a large tree. "You little ones eat first. Old Zhao and I will keep watch for you." With that, his figure flashed, and no one knew where he had gone.

"Huh?" Zhao Wuji hadn't expected Boss Fu to say that. He had already sat down, but had no choice except to stand up again. Reluctantly, he said, "All right. Don't eat everything, and remember to save plenty for me."

"Sure thing, Teacher Zhao." After answering, Dai Mubai picked up a chicken leg and took a bite. "Mmm, delicious! Xiao Ao, your cooking is improving fast."

Xiao Wu first tasted the pigeon soup, and her eyes lit up. "It really is! How about you make all our meals from now on? Sister Xiao Wu will cover the cost," she said boldly. Tang San smiled without saying anything. He didn't mind letting her have her way in this matter; the money was with him anyway.

Ning Rongrong chimed in as she ate. "Mmm, mmm!"

Hm? A flash of inspiration crossed Xiang Yang's mind. Cooking? Food Soul Skills? Food Martial Souls?

So that was it.

Up to now, of everyone in Shrek, Oscar had changed the least apart from Ning Rongrong.

That left only a few possible sources for the effect on his Soul Skill. First, he ruled out the training everyone did, then assumed it wasn't because of the Soul Beast. That meant the only difference between Oscar and his counterpart in the original story was that he had begun studying cooking.

That made sense. A Food System Soul Master should naturally come into contact with food, whether by eating it or making it, though the latter probably had a better effect.

And yet, no one did it... He could only say that was how things were in this era. Perhaps because of Soul Masters' status, their understanding of Martial Souls was extremely shallow. They ignored even things that were plain to see on the surface. Perhaps their muscles had taken over their brains.

Whenever he thought about it, he couldn't help complaining inwardly.

After a while, everyone had eaten and drunk their fill. Each of them used one serving of Tang San's first Soul Skill, and they set off for the next location.

"It's a little far from us. We won't make it today. At our current speed, we'll probably arrive tomorrow afternoon," Tang San said thoughtfully, looking at the map.

Xiang Yang looked into the distance and replied, "It's fine. We can use the time to gain some experience. I haven't spent much time in Soul Beast forests before."

"Mm." Thinking of the Soul Beasts they had just passed, Tang San suddenly spoke from the heart. "A Yang, I heard Soul Beast populations used to be much larger than they are now. A Soul Master needs at least two Soul Rings in a lifetime, and the average might be four or five."

"Most Soul Masters don't live any longer than ordinary people, seventy or eighty years at most, but Soul Beasts routinely take hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years to grow." He thought of the towns clustered around Soul Beast habitats. Most made their money by hunting Soul Beasts or through related businesses, such as weapons made by blacksmiths.

The more he spoke, the more deeply he frowned. "There might be fewer and fewer Soul Beasts in the future. If this goes on, Soul Masters will disappear too, won't they?"