The Contract Method and the Classification of Soul Masters

Compared to Xiao Wu, Tang San knew a little about "symbiosis." It was nothing lofty or mysterious; there were plenty of examples in everyday life. The environment of the Douluo Continent simply made it difficult for people to discover such concepts.

For example, humans domesticated wolves as companions. Humans provided fighting strength and food, while wolf-dogs handled tracking, interference, and other supporting tasks.

That was still the result of human intervention. Natural symbiotic relationships in the wild were even more numerous than could be counted.

Xiang Yang gave a soft hum. "My idea is to work on Soul Rings. Think about it: what if the way to obtain a Soul Ring wasn't hunting and killing, but something like a contract? And what if the resulting Soul Skill was stronger than one obtained by killing? Wouldn't that work?"

"That's true." Tang San nodded. "But humans would still be the only ones benefiting, and low-age Soul Beasts aren't intelligent enough to cooperate." He didn't mention the problem of Soul Bones, choosing to see what Xiang Yang would say next.

"Mm-hmm," Xiao Wu chimed in from the side.

"So the benefit this method would give Soul Beasts would be greater intelligence." Xiang Yang's initial idea had been for both sides to improve each other's cultivation. After all, that was the "universal currency."

But after doing some careful calculations, he first used the age of the Soul Ring a Soul Master obtained at each rank to convert the two sides' cultivation to a common scale, adding a little to the Soul Ring's age. He found that a Soul Master had far less Soul Power in his body than a Soul Beast of the same level.

That wasn't hard to understand. After all, Soul Beasts were usually much larger than humans. The age of the vast majority of Soul Beasts could be judged by their size. Although some Soul Beasts didn't grow larger as they aged, it was certain that a large Soul Beast was bound to be old.

Xiang Yang continued, "As I see it, Soul Beasts also pursue greater intelligence. Otherwise, why would they become more intelligent as they age? It must be useful."

"And if they had greater intelligence at a low level, leaving everything else aside, their cultivation speed would surely increase."

"That makes sense," Tang San agreed.

"That's right," Xiao Wu said first, then asked, "What about Soul Bones?" She still remembered what had just been said: they were the reason Soul Beasts would be killed faster. Although Xiang Yang's proposed method could greatly ease the conflict between the two sides, this thorn still stuck in her throat.

"Well... I haven't figured that out yet, but I think if we can solve the Soul Ring problem, the solution for Soul Bones should be much the same." Xiang Yang waved a hand and spoke casually.

He actually had another idea, but it was rather shocking, and as things stood, it was simply impossible to put into practice...

Xiao Wu frowned. "I see." Though somewhat disappointed, she could only do her best to remain calm.

But Tang San still noticed that something was wrong and comforted her. "Don't lose heart, Xiao Wu. A-Yang is only human, after all, not some omnipotent immortal. But I believe he'll find a way eventually."

Tang San didn't know why she had reacted that way, nor did he want to press her for an answer. As long as she was all right, that was enough.

Time flew by.

The Star Dou Great Forest had a charm of its own at night. Moonlight, tree shadows, dancing fireflies, and the crisp scent unique to the forest, a mixture of earth and decaying leaves, made everyone feel as though they had arrived in a fairyland.

Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu in particular seemed to have been bolstered by a Soul Skill. They moved as easily as if walking on level ground amid the shifting light and darkness, appearing even more nimble than they had during the day.

For the former, it was because of the nature of her Martial Soul and her family's movement technique. For the latter, it was due to the influence of two moon-attribute Soul Rings. When she had used her third Soul Skill a couple of days ago, Xiang Yang had seen that her Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul had gained a few silvery-white markings, though they were still rather faint.

He didn't know why Xiao Wu could choose her Soul Skills as she pleased when he had merely proposed an idea. Although he had thought at the time that, since the Soft Bone Rabbit could produce Soul Skills like Invincible Golden Body, teleportation, and intangibility, the moon attribute shouldn't be much of a problem either, Xiang Yang was still astonished that she had achieved it so easily. Perhaps this was a privilege of Transformed Soul Beasts.

But that meant the right direction for Self-Created Soul Rings very likely lay with Xiao Wu. Come to think of it, Transformed Soul Beasts already stood between the two races, so it was quite reasonable that the opportunity to resolve their conflict lay with them too.

Uh, there seems to be another one...

As Xiang Yang gazed at the beautiful night scenery, his thoughts wandered.

"Little Yang, what are you looking at? The tents are all set up. Hurry up and get some rest."

Watching Xiao Wu hop about freely and casually in the forest, Xiang Yang thought that perhaps there was another reason. She had been born in the Star Dou Great Forest, and rabbits were nocturnal animals on top of that. It was quite possible she had been here before.

"Mm."

After answering, he found the boys' tent. Ma Hongjun and Oscar were already inside. According to Ma Hongjun, Oscar had fallen asleep as soon as he lay down. Come to think of it, he had been the busiest of them all today.

Their earlier plan had been for Tang San and Dai Mubai to stand watch for the first half of the night, followed by Xiang Yang and Ma Hongjun. The girls and the support-system members would help as needed.

In the silent forest, Tang San and Dai Mubai sat beside the extinguished campfire, watching the activity in the three tents gradually die down.

As they kept an eye on their surroundings, the two chatted on and off, and time slowly passed.

"Little San, are you still planning to make your third Soul Skill a support skill?"

"Hm? Yes."

"Even though I know Xiang Yang must be right, don't you want to go on the offensive?"

In Dai Mubai's view—no, in the view of Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent—the Power Attack System was the best choice. People only chose other systems because they lacked the qualifications for it.

It could be said that every tactic turned into power attack. That wasn't actually wrong, since people had to move with the times, including Tang San after he became a god in the original story.

But that made the other systems look like clowns. People said support-system Soul Masters could turn the tide and were the team's top priority to protect. But everyone knew that, so naturally they would keep a close eye on the opposing team's support. The support system therefore depended mainly on teammates: if the teammates were no good, the support was just there to make up the numbers; if the teammates were too strong, the support was merely adding flowers to brocade.

Besides, apart from top-tier Martial Souls like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda and Nine Heart Begonia, whose support abilities were strong enough, the boosts provided by other support Martial Souls weren't much to speak of.

The agility-attack system was even more useless than useless. What was the point of putting all your points into speed without strength? The most bizarre thing was that a Soul Master who claimed to be the fastest actually lacked attack power. If you could reach the speed of sound, even if your physical condition was a little worse, you could just ram into someone and knock them into performing a blood escape technique.

Failing that, how about carrying some equipment? Could it be that Soul Power came with some kind of mystique?

The control system claimed to counter power attack, but what use was that? Controlling someone didn't mean you could break through their defenses. What was more, Power Attack System Soul Masters basically all had shields or enhancement-type Soul Skills. If your side had no attack power, you were just wasting your mana bar.

Even an unorthodox approach like poison mostly lacked the ability to kill in one hit. Before you could poison someone to death, you would have long since been beaten to pieces. It was only useful for bullying weaklings—looking at a certain Poison Douluo.

Alas, perhaps that's the point of forming a team.

Oh, right, all of the above assumes the difference in level isn't too great.

"That's not it. This is what Xiang Yang told me." Tang San paused. "Blue Silver Grass starts out at too low a level, so it needs to be strengthened by absorbing the characteristics of other plant Soul Beasts. And grass-type Martial Souls are highly adaptable. As long as I raise the strength of my Martial Soul, I can combine its abilities into either attack or defense Soul Skills."

"But those various support Soul Skills aren't something I can easily train myself to produce."

"That's true..." Dai Mubai thought of his Golden Wing Soaring Transformation. Indeed, if not for a Soul Ring and Soul Skill provided by a Soul Beast, he wouldn't have been able to make himself fly no matter how much effort he put in.

"Come to think of it, although my White Tiger Martial Soul is naturally a little stronger, it's not as good as yours when it comes to developing Soul Skills."

"Mm, every Martial Soul has its own characteristics. They can't simply be divided into strong and weak."

Dai Mubai nodded, then suddenly grew a little awkward and asked with some puzzlement, "By the way, I used to think you and he were so close because you grew up together, but later I found out that wasn't the case. How did you two become inseparable?"

Tang San felt his question was a little strange, but didn't give it much thought. Following his lead, he recalled, "Speaking of that, back then we... and then Teacher..."

As the two talked, a ray of morning light broke the silence of the night, illuminating everything in the world.