Test

He could not make out any of the other words clearly, but these four characters alone had already given Fang Ling some ideas.

Special Talent?

He already had one Special Talent—Battle Maniac Lvmax. Its effect was that practicing techniques yielded twice the result with half the effort.

Where had this one come from?

It seemed to have appeared after he absorbed the spirit ring. Could it be that he had some special talent yet to awaken?

Or had this spirit ring brought it to him?

Fang Ling could not figure it out, nor could he interfere with the changes to the Stats Panel, so he simply stopped dwelling on it.

As he always said, once he leveled up later, he would naturally find out.

Everyone was resting, and Fang Ling felt a trace of fatigue as well.

Conditions in the Spirit Beast Forest were crude, so there was no hope of getting good sleep.

Notting Academy's carriage was rather luxurious. Its suspension was excellent, it blocked out sound, and the seats were lined with soft cushions. Drowsiness naturally washed over him.

He soon fell into a light sleep.

By the time they returned to the academy, it was already the afternoon of the next day.

When Fang Ling returned to Dormitory Seven, the place felt distinctly different.

Perhaps because graduation was just around the corner, he even felt a faint sense of nostalgia.

These three years at Notting Academy had been the most fulfilling years since he came to this world.

Studying, slaughtering pigs for Points, practicing the Scythe Technique and Body Technique.

And cooking for Xiao Wu and the others.

He had never had a free moment, busy from morning until night, and had finally obtained an important cornerstone for his future.

How could Fang Ling not feel emotional about it?

It was early winter now. The weather was not freezing, but it was already cold enough that they needed to wear more clothes.

The young spirit masters were still unlike powerful spirit masters, who could wear summer clothes all year round and show off two long, pale legs even in the dead of winter.

They were stronger than ordinary people who could not cultivate, but only to a limited extent.

Tang San was not in Dormitory Seven, while Xiao Wu was asleep as usual.

Under her blanket, she wore a peaceful smile and slept soundly.

She was getting lazier and lazier.

Rather than a hundred-thousand-year Soft Bone Rabbit taking human form, she seemed more like a hundred-thousand-year pig taking human form.

All she did every day was eat, sleep, sleep, and eat.

Rabbits clearly did not hibernate, so he had no idea where she had picked up the habit.

"Xiao Wu," Fang Ling called softly by her ear.

But without the familiar scent of blood, the rabbit was still somewhat unaccustomed to it and instinctively wrinkled her nose.

Naturally, she smelled nothing.

"Food's ready!" Fang Ling shouted.

"Where? Where?"

Xiao Wu jolted awake in a panic, still looking half-asleep.

When she saw who it was, she immediately rubbed her eyes.

"Fang Ling, you're back from hunting spirit beasts? What delicious thing are we eating today?"

Xiao Wu suddenly froze and asked, "Oh, did you graduate? Are you leaving soon?"

"Mm." Fang Ling nodded lightly.

"Not for a while yet. Once I find out more about the Intermediate Spirit Master Academy, it'll be time to leave."

Xiao Wu recalled what Tang San had said to Fang Ling a few days ago and opened her mouth.

Yet she found that her meager words could not produce any suitable farewell.

"Then... happy graduation?"

Fang Ling chuckled. "Thank you."

"Xiao Wu, what do you want to eat today?"

"Um... Braised Pig Trotters?"

"Alright!"

Ten days quietly slipped by.

As the school year drew to a close, the flow of people through the academy had thinned considerably.

Only the teachers were still diligently at work, while Tang San continued forging iron every day as usual.

Fang Ling had stopped attending classes.

Ten days had passed. Through daily training in the little grove, he had finally adapted to his greatly enhanced Nerve Reflex.

By probing indirectly, he had also learned from Yu Xiaogang through Tang San just how much enhancement ordinary people gained from absorbing a Star-nosed Mole.

Fang Ling's earlier guess had been correct. The lowest was only ten percent, while the highest reached twenty percent.

Naturally, he had told Tang San it was twenty percent.

Saying ten percent would have been far too insulting to Tang San's intelligence.

He would have been exposed the moment Tang San saw through it later.

But in truth, Fang Ling's increase was an unprecedented thirty percent. Factoring in his talent, it could even double, reaching a full sixty percent!

Three times the apparent amount!

His combat strength had already risen drastically. Compared to before, it was more than just a slight improvement.

It could be called a world-shaking difference.

If he encountered a one-ring Fallen Spirit Master again, like he had over a year ago, he could now behead them head-on.

He would no longer need to flee first, use the environment, and finally resort to a disgraceful sneak attack on the crotch to secure victory.

He had also tested the specific effects of his other Body Talent, Digestion Lv2.

A normal meal could keep him from going hungry for an entire day.

His efficiency in absorbing energy from food had increased twofold.

Besides making one meal equal to three, Digestion Lv2 also allowed him to gain more energy by eating more food.

He could even eat some strange things, such as bark or soil full of humus.

Uh... don't ask how he had tested that.

He had not tried anything more disgusting.

Digestion Lv2 was a very good Body Talent.

Theoretically, as long as he ate well and kept his body full of energy, his injuries would heal faster as well.

But Fang Ling was not a masochist. He had no hobby of cutting himself just to see how long it would take to recover.

Such a good talent naturally had its drawbacks.

If he did not train in time to expend the energy, excess energy would accumulate and be stored as fat.

In other words, he gained weight more easily than others.

That was why the Star-nosed Mole looked so plump.

Eat a lot and move little—of course it would get fat.

But that was no problem. Only by eating more could he grow properly and train more efficiently.

Easy to gain weight?

Then train it off!

Fang Ling had been very busy these past few days, constantly running around.

Besides preparing ingredients for his final farewell, he had also been searching for a suitable intermediate academy.

His requirements for an Intermediate Spirit Master Academy were not high.

First, it needed to offer systematic instruction in close combat or weapon usage.

His skill talents had already encountered a bottleneck, yet he trained without interruption every day.

However, even with the Battle Berserker talent, he had not made the slightest progress.

His Scythe Technique and movement technique talents remained at Lv1, as though his daily training had all been futile.

When effort brought no visible progress, it would usually leave one with an indescribable sense of frustration.

But Fang Ling did not care. He persisted with his daily training, unaffected by it.

Still, this could not continue. Something had to change.

The opportunity had to lie in an intermediate academy!

His second requirement was that the city, or at least a nearby city, had to have a Great Soul Arena.

Only a Great Soul Arena could provide legal Life and Death Battles, allowing him to level up rapidly and reasonably, as well as quickly raise his Martial Soul.

That was right—his Martial Soul.

He had four Points saved up.

Besides spending two points to gain a level and become a Twelfth Level Spirit Master, he had also tentatively tapped the plus sign behind his Martial Soul.

He had not forgotten the description on the Stats Panel.

The Scythe Martial Soul was merely an agricultural scythe; neither its sharpness nor toughness was particularly high!

He could still use it now, but if he encountered powerful Martial Souls in the future—such as the Soul Breaking Spear, Seven Kill Sword, or Clear Sky Hammer—it might be easily destroyed.

Therefore, his Martial Soul had to keep growing stronger.

Figuring out how many Points its growth required was crucial.

After adding a point, the Stats Panel did not change much. Only one new figure appeared: (10%).

The meaning was obvious. Something would change once it reached one hundred percent.

However, Points were not easy to obtain at the moment, so cultivation naturally took priority.

He saved that final point. Even though the plus signs beside his soul ring and Martial Soul looked incredibly tempting, he did not try them.