Kanna's First Soul Ring

"You? Watch how you talk. You're nothing but gatekeepers. Are you looking to die?"

Wu Liang looked coldly at the gatekeeper who had mocked them.

Even Tang San had his Sleeve Arrow ready to fire at any moment. Though they really had come from the countryside, being mocked like this still made him very unhappy.

"This..."

The young gatekeeper was beginning to panic. He had only seen Old Ye Ge approaching with the children and assumed they were country folk, so he had wanted to mock them a little. Who knew they would not be afraid of him? It left him in an awkward position.

Seeing the atmosphere grow tense, Old Jack hurriedly forced a smile. "Little brother, we're from Holy Soul Village. These three children are the Work-Study Students our village sent this year. What procedures do we need to complete?"

The gatekeeper frowned and said sarcastically, "Can a straw nest really produce a golden phoenix? A tiny village has people with Soul Power? Notting Academy hasn't had Work-Study Students in years. You wouldn't happen to be frauds, would you?"

A flash of anger crossed Old Jack's eyes, but he still swallowed it and took out the certificates Su Yuntao, the Spirit Hall deacon, had issued for the three children during their awakening. He handed them to the gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper took the certificates and looked them over. "Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, and Innate Full Soul Power? What a joke. This is utterly absurd. I've worked as a gatekeeper at the academy for four years, and I've never heard of a student with Innate Full Soul Power. This kid's Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass, and you're saying he has full Soul Power? I'd say this Spirit Hall certificate is forged. Those other two children's Martial Souls are somewhat interesting, but do you think I'm that easy to fool? Three super-genius Spirit Masters from some mountain village, yet Spirit Hall didn't recruit them? Do you take me for an idiot?"

Hearing the young man say that, Kanna looked at Wu Liang. "A Liang, is he saying he's an idiot?"

Wu Liang laughed. "That's right. He's probably an idiot. He even dares question a certificate issued by Spirit Hall. He must have gotten stupid from guarding the gate."

"You—" Even with Jack's good temper, he was reaching the end of his patience. "You're deliberately making things difficult for us. Fine, just wait. I'll go find the deacon at the Spirit Hall branch. Little San, let's go." With that, Jack led Tang San and the other two toward the city.

Naturally, a certificate from the Spirit Hall branch could not be fake. The gatekeeper knew that as well. However, those who brought in new students would usually offer something extra, especially commoner families. As the saying went, it was easy to get past the King of Hell, but difficult to deal with his underlings.

Old Jack came from the countryside. Though he was a village chief, how could he understand such tricks?

The gatekeeper felt somewhat uneasy. If someone from Spirit Hall really came, it would not be something he could bear responsibility for. Still, he believed that Spirit Hall would never come to the academy to question them over a few country bumpkins.

Already frustrated, his words naturally became even nastier. "Holy Soul Village? I think Beggar Village would suit you better."

"What did you say?" Old Jack suddenly turned around. The gatekeeper's words had struck at his greatest source of pride. Back then, he had even fallen out with Tang Hao over it. Now that this gatekeeper was an outsider insulting the village, he found it even more unbearable. He strode back and glared furiously at the gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper was startled by Old Jack's fierce manner and could not help taking a step back. But he quickly recovered, silently cursing himself. He was just an old man. What was there to fear?

"What, not convinced? I said you came from Beggar Village. Was I wrong? Look at this little pauper. His clothes are covered in patches. I think you'd better go find somewhere to beg. Notting Academy isn't a charity hall. Get lost. Hurry up and get lost."

As he spoke, the gatekeeper raised his left hand and shoved toward Jack's chest, intending to drive them away.

"Enough. Stop what you're doing." At that moment, a somewhat hoarse voice rang out, stopping the gatekeeper's movement.

The gatekeeper froze for a moment. Then, the anger on his face instantly turned into fawning flattery, the change so swift it was hard to imagine. He bowed and scraped to the newcomer. "Master, you're back."

Tang San and the others turned to look. A medium-height, somewhat thin man had appeared beside them at some point. He looked to be around forty or fifty. His short black hair was parted three-seven, and his appearance was very ordinary. His hands were clasped behind his back, yet he possessed a peculiar temperament. His half-lidded eyes carried a trace of laziness and despondency.

This must be Master Yu Xiaogang. But isn't he a little too depressed-looking? Wu Liang thought.

Master merely glanced sideways at the gatekeeper and ignored him. He turned to Old Jack. "Sir, could I see the Spirit Hall certificate?"

Old Jack had been a village chief, so he knew how to read people. From the gatekeeper's expression, he could tell that this middle-aged man held no low position in the academy. Not to mention he had the title of Master. Jack hurriedly handed over the certificate in his hand.

Master examined the certificate, then shifted his gaze to Wu Liang and the others, looking them over from head to toe. For some reason, although Master's gaze was not sharp, they felt as though he had seen straight through them. Of course, Wu Liang was certainly an exception.

"The certificate is genuine. Sir, on behalf of the academy, I apologize for what happened just now. Leave these children to me."

A person who was at least a Spirit Master was apologizing to him, greatly satisfying Old Jack's vanity. He hurriedly waved both hands. "No need to apologize, no need. We weren't entirely blameless either. Master, then I'll trouble you with these children. Little San, follow Master inside. Be sure to behave."

Tang San nodded but said nothing.

Earlier, when this Master had stopped the gatekeeper from driving them away, Tang San had already raised his left hand and released the safety on his Sleeve Arrow. If Master had spoken a moment later, perhaps there would have been a short arrow lodged in the gatekeeper's throat.

After Wu Liang and the other two finished the procedures with Master and returned to his residence, Master lowered his head to look at the three children. He forced out a faint smile. His facial muscles seemed a little stiff, and the sight of his smile was rather hard to compliment.

"Teacher, thank you." Tang San spoke to Master.

"Teacher? I'm not a teacher at the academy." Master looked down at Tang San and replied flatly.

"Not a teacher? Then why are all those teachers so respectful toward you? Oh, I know. You must be the headmaster, right?"

Kanna raised her head, looking as though she had figured it out.

Master was also quite interested in the little girl before him. After all, his family's Martial Soul was of the dragon type. The certificate issued by Spirit Hall described hers as an unknown dragon-type Martial Soul, and he wanted to see it for himself. So he said to Kanna, "Little sister, your name is Kanna, correct? Could you release your Martial Soul and let me take a look?"

"Sure, no problem."

After Kanna spoke, she released her Martial Soul. The Angel Dragon's elegant form appeared behind her amid blue-white lightning. A yellow Soul Ring with a faint purple tint also emerged beneath Kanna's feet. This was the Soul Ring she had obtained two months ago, when Kanna's Soul Power reached level ten and Segghardt took her to Dragonkin Tower to hunt a 980-year Light Attribute Small Flying Dragon.

"This... what kind of dragon Martial Soul is this? And her Soul Power strength should have reached at least level sixteen. Her first Soul Ring is also nearly a thousand years old. How is that possible?"

Seeing Kanna's Martial Soul and Soul Ring, Master was nearly speechless.

"No, Kanna is only level thirteen. Her Martial Soul is the Angel Dragon, a very rare agility-attack Beast Spirit with support attributes. Her first Soul Ring came from a 980-year Light Attribute Flying Dragon. As for why she was able to absorb a Soul Ring nearly a thousand years old as her first Soul Ring, it's because her physique was born many times stronger than ordinary people's." Wu Liang explained.

After hearing this, Master nodded. "I see. Then what is her first soul skill?"

When Kanna heard Master's question, she was about to release her soul skill, but Wu Liang quickly stopped her and had Kanna withdraw her Martial Soul. What a joke—if she used her soul skill here, would this house even survive? Only then did he say, "Kanna's first soul skill inherited the Light Attribute Small Flying Dragon's signature move. It's called Dragon Roar Wave. It releases a roaring wave of mixed light and lightning from both hands. Anyone hit will suffer a combination of burning and paralysis. It's quite a powerful long-range attack."

Master nodded, gaining a basic understanding of Kanna's information. Then he turned his gaze toward Tang San and Wu Liang. "And what about you two? Wu Liang, I cannot determine yours yet, but Tang San, you should have Twin Martial Souls, correct? Release your other Martial Soul and let me see it."

Hearing Master state it so firmly, Tang San instinctively wanted to activate his Sleeve Arrow again, but he held himself back. Then he asked, "Why does Master believe I have Twin Martial Souls?"

Master looked at him with a composed expression and smiled. "Are you wondering how I knew you have Twin Martial Souls?" As he spoke, he shook the certificate Old Jack had given him. "It's because of this certificate. Others may not see the flaw in it, but if I couldn't see it either, then I wouldn't deserve the title of Master."

"I once investigated 647 people whose Martial Souls were Blue Silver Grass. Of those, sixteen possessed Soul Power, a probability of less than three percent. Yet among those sixteen with Soul Power, not one had Soul Power exceeding level one. But you possess Innate Full Soul Power at level ten. According to one of the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul I researched, Innate Soul Power is directly proportional to the quality of one's Martial Soul. Blue Silver Grass clearly cannot meet that requirement. Therefore, I can be certain that you have another Martial Soul, and it is an extremely powerful one."

Tang San's gaze gradually calmed. He argued, "There are exceptions to everything. Why can't I be an exception? A Liang also has Innate Full Soul Power."

Master nodded seriously. "That's right. There are exceptions to everything. But your Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass, so you clearly are not that exception. Over the past hundred years, only two people with Twin Martial Souls have appeared in the Heaven Dou Empire and Star Luo Empire, but nineteen people with Innate Full Soul Power have appeared. I carefully studied every one of their Martial Souls. Every single one was powerful. Even the youngest among them has now reached the level of Soul Grandmaster. Aside from fourteen who inherited powerful Martial Souls through family bloodlines, there were five exceptions."

"They were not born into noble families, yet they still possessed Innate Full Soul Power. Such exceptions were the result of Mutated Martial Souls. Based on my many years of research into Mutated Martial Souls, no Martial Soul can mutate in combination with Blue Silver Grass. And your Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul is ordinary Blue Silver Grass. Therefore, I can be completely certain that my judgment is correct."

"As for Wu Liang, I don't know what his Martial Soul is either. But the certificate says it is an unknown powerful Beast Spirit or Weapon Spirit. I cannot determine whether his Martial Soul is mutated or whether he has Twin Martial Souls, so I did not dare make a definite claim."