Yu Xiaogang Was Broken

Speaking of Yu Xiaogang, after his thesis stirred up a small wave in Spirit Hall, it was distributed through Spirit Report and quickly spread across the continent. Several days later, the Soul Master World was in an uproar.

Many soul masters with shallow inheritances learned for the first time that the upper limit of a soul ring was so closely tied to physical quality.

Many soul masters who had cultivated for years before reaching rank ten and had not dared take risks, hurriedly absorbing a ten-year first ring, regretted it so much their guts turned green.

According to the thesis, although they were commoner soul masters, they could completely endure a Hundred-Year Soul Ring. If they had known that earlier, they would have sold everything they owned to hire someone to help them hunt a soul beast.

Nuoding Academy.

Yu Xiaogang holed up in the small city, but his ambitions were anything but small. He had always insisted on subscribing to Spirit Report, studying the cutting-edge martial soul theories published by Spirit Hall.

Today, he picked up the newspaper from the gatekeeper, ignored the contemptuous looks from passersby, kept his zombie-like face, and steadily returned to his dormitory filled with books.

Yu Xiaogang sat down beside the desk and unfolded the newspaper in the sunlight pouring through the window. Under the golden brightness, a line of large characters was especially conspicuous.

"Shocking! The limit Years of a soul master's first soul ring Was Indeed wrong!"

—Da Mu

Yu Xiaogang froze, then said dismissively, "Ridiculous. A cheap stunt for attention."

But A little unease rose in his heart. If it really were just grandstanding, Spirit Hall would never have allowed it to be printed as a newspaper and sold.

He skimmed down rapidly:

"Through observation of Beast Martial Souls and Tool Martial Souls, the former provides a greater increase to Physique Strength. In the continent's history, those who Broke Through the upper limit of soul ring Years were also mostly soul masters with Beast Martial Souls. The only difference between the two lies in physical quality, which is sufficient as supporting evidence."

"Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang, born from a famous clan, awakened with half a rank of Innate Soul Power, yet was able to absorb two great Hundred-Year Soul Rings. This is undoubtedly related to the medicinal baths of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Family, which can enhance Physique Strength."

"From a historical perspective, the upper limit of the Years of soul rings that soul masters can endure has been continuously rising. Even if this is because soul masters keep producing descendants, the resources provided become better with each generation, and the vital energy of heaven and earth is also growing stronger, strengthening the basic qualities of soul masters. The optimal soul ring configuration for soul masters will also continue to change."

As each piece of evidence was listed, especially with a certain Grandmaster being specifically named, Yu Xiaogang's face darkened, and he slammed the table hard.

"Brat, how dare you step on me to make your name!"

Yu Xiaogang was furious. With one glance, he saw through Gula's sinister intentions. After all, he still had some reputation In the Eyes of commoner soul masters. Whether it was good fame or infamy did not matter—at least people remembered him.

Yu Xiaogang crumpled the newspaper. After venting for a while, he panted heavily and gradually calmed down, then unfolded the newspaper again and looked at the author column.

"Da Mu? Who is that? Most likely an alias. Hmph, refusing to show his real name—it must be some shameful rat."

Yu Xiaogang's words were contemptuous, but he was somewhat panicked In Heart.

This single article had denied one of his Ten Core Theories of Soul Masters, and had even taken veiled swipes at several others.

Yu Xiaogang feared seeing his own theories being called utterly worthless again, and firmed his resolve. "Isn't it just a thesis? I can write one too. I originally wanted to find a disciple to prove my theory, but now it seems I must make my voice heard."

He found paper and ink, pondered briefly, then wrote down the title: On the Study of Six Hundred and Forty-Seven Blue Silver Grass Soul Masters and the Development Route of Plant Type Soul Masters.

"Hmph, aside from me, I'm afraid no one would study a Trash Martial Soul like Blue Silver Grass. Those little training methods need time to verify—who knows whether what you said is true or false? Research aimed at specific martial soul routes is what can have an immediate effect on soul masters."

Yu Xiaogang smiled smugly. Inspiration gushed forth like a spring, and his writing flowed as if guided by a spirit.

"Blue Silver Grass is innately weak. If one wishes to become a Battle Soul Master, the best route is to attach Poison Attribute soul rings and follow the Control Type route..."

"By the same logic, Plant Type soul masters have weak attack power, and can likewise attach Poison Attribute soul rings to compensate. Furthermore, most Control Type soul masters can refer to this principle..."

Gula did not know how much psychological damage the thesis had caused Yu Xiaogang. One month after the thesis was published, the system finally settled the reward for the first thesis.

Deduction complete. Tens of thousands of people have read the Host's thesis. It will affect hundreds of thousands of New Trainers, with far-reaching influence. Congratulations, Host, on making your voice heard in the research world. Overall rating: S.

Rewards obtained: Points +1000, Divine Beast Equipment Coupon *1, Divine Beast Skill Coupon *1.

Gula could not help rubbing his hands together, excited yet anxious. "One thousand points. Enough for me to draw ten times, or exchange for Ditto five times. Which should I choose?"

Gula had looked at the prize pool. After the game became a system, the prize pool contained everything under the sun, and anything could be drawn from it. If fortune smiled, he could pull Arceus in one go.

Of course, now that everything had become reality, whether Arceus would listen to him was another matter.

So to be safe, directly using points to buy items would be safer and more stable. Although it was more expensive overall, at least he did not need to gamble on luck.

As for Ditto in the system, it was also different from the official games. It did not count as a Pokémon at all, but was instead more like a kind of synthesis material that could replace a Pokémon's nature and Individual Values.

When exchanging for Ditto, the nature and each Individual Value were random, but the total Individual Values would not be lower than ninety points, which at least guaranteed a floor.

Gula opened the God-tier Appraisal Eye and looked at the martial soul in the mirror.

Groudon: Rank 13

Attribute: Ground

Aptitude: God-tier

Individual Values: HP 18, Attack 29, Defense 15, Special Attack 20, Special Defense 16, Speed 21. Total: 119.

Nature: Careful (-10% Special Attack, +10% Special Defense)

Skills: Bulk Up, Scary Face, Dig...

Evaluation: One of the Three Divine Beasts from the Hoenn Region. As long as it grows steadily, it can grasp the authority of the Lord of the Land.

Pokémon were divided into species values and Individual Values, and the two were related to the attributes a Pokémon would have as it grew.

According to Gula's speculation, when converted to Douluo Continent, martial souls could be viewed as different kinds of Pokémon. Even identical martial souls still possessed different talents, representing differences in their Individual Values.

This was not merely talent in terms of Soul Power. Strictly speaking, it was all-around physical talent, including cell activity, muscle strength and developmental potential, Bones hardness, skin toughness and resistance, and many other aspects.

Most importantly, Individual Values were reflected in the martial soul. This meant that Su Ming could not change a martial soul, but through Ditto, he could change the talent of the Soul Masters under him.

He could make them stand out among those with the same kind of martial soul.

"For talent like mine to have only 119 Individual Values, I'm still far from the full value of 186. At most, I can be considered average. Mm, average among Groudons."

Gula certainly would not complain about his talent becoming better. In the game, the main team had to have their Individual Values raised to gold, which meant Individual Values above 150.

In reality, he also wanted to give it a try.

Gula pressed his palms together. "Jade Emperor, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Tathagata Buddha, bless me with insane luck and let me nail it in one pull!"

Other Places did not need points for the time being, so Gula went all in and spent all one thousand points.

Brilliant light burst before his eyes, and five Dittos with different background colors popped out.