Testing Again and the Old Rabbit's New Direction

After resolving the matter of the Spirit Bone, Gu You called Tang San to the blackboard.

Gu You added another regular hexagon outside the six concentric regular hexagons and said to Tang San, "Xiao San, this is the hexagon chart we made before. Starting tomorrow, we'll retest the fundamentals of our Martial Souls and see which aspects have improved. We'll also test the effects of our Soul Skills."

"Xiao San, after lunch tomorrow, take Xiao Wu directly to the plain where we tested last time. We'll need quite a few props to test the effects of the Soul Skills this time."

"My Survival Instinct... And Xiao San, what was your First Soul Skill called again?"

Tang San: "Weren't you the one who said you'd help name my Soul Skill? Why are you asking me what it's called?"

Gu You slapped his forehead, remembering that he had indeed said that to Tang San on the way to the Spirit Beast Forest.

"All right, let me think." Gu You scratched his head. "How about Gold Experience? It has something to do with vitality. Or Deep Forest Emergence? No, that won't do. Yours is grass, not a tree."

"Stop, stop, stop." Tang San was covered in black lines. "What kind of ridiculous names are those? Be a little more serious."

"You don't like them? Those names sound powerful the moment you hear them. Then how about Rooting? It's simple and straightforward, and it fits the requirement of standing on the ground to use the Soul Skill."

"So even someone who could rename the rooster at home the Beast That Summons the Dawn can come up with such an ordinary name." Tang San smiled. "Then Rooting it is."

"Tch, you don't know quality when you see it." Gu You smiled as well.

"Xiao San, I still need to look up some information. Do you want to find a Blacksmith Shop and work there?"

"Work at a Blacksmith Shop?"

Gu You nodded. "Exactly. Didn't you say you like forging? Then it's only natural to study at a Blacksmith Shop. You can earn money while working, hone your skills, and since I won't need to conduct experiments for the time being after finishing these tests, you'll have time to handle your own affairs."

"Besides, I have some new ideas after obtaining my Soul Ring. I might need your forging skills in the future."

Tang San replied, "All right. I'll find a Blacksmith Shop to work at in a few days. Once I find one, I'll tell you where it is. If you need anything, just come find me there."

Tang San nodded and left. He also went to find Ma Xiunuo, collected this month's Soul Master subsidy, and then returned to the academy.

Gu You continued reading through the materials, considering what to do next.

"I've obtained my First Soul Skill, and its effect happens to be the combat experience I lack most. My greatest weakness has been made up for. Next, I have to consider whether to stack stats for basic attacks or obtain an offensive skill."

"Obtaining a Spirit Bone was an unexpected delight, but researching it with my current level of knowledge is clearly impossible. I can only conduct some simple tests and wait until I have a chance to obtain more Spirit Bones in the future before considering it further."

"Although the old rabbit and Tang San aren't as close as they were in the original story, the two of them really do have the best relationship in the entire dormitory. Is it fate? Or the methods of some so-called gods... I'd better not think too much about it. I only have one Soul Ring. What the hell am I thinking about?"

"Still, it's a good thing that the old rabbit joined us. I can use her as a reference to compare the similarities and differences between humans and Soul Beasts. We can also test whether Soul Beasts' self-produced Soul Rings and Soul Skills can be created according to their own wishes. We might even be able to find out through her whether humans can produce Soul Rings on their own."

"Then there's the article. It's about time I started writing it. I owe Ma Xiunuo and the Spirit Hall a favor, so it's time to repay it. Whether I can gain fame and read through all the Spirit Hall's records in the future will depend on how well my article is received. Even that Yu Xiaogang guy managed to earn the title of Grandmaster with his trash. As a college student who lived through the modern information explosion, how could I not at least earn myself the title of Sage?"

"Yu Xiaogang isn't a problem anymore. The next problem is Tang Hao. Being too powerful is such a nuisance. I also can't be sure what Tang San thinks about his mother's death. Otherwise, I'd have taken him straight to the Spirit Hall."

"Forget it. I still have six years. I'll take it one step at a time."

Over the next few days, Gu You took Tang San and Xiao Wu through various methods of testing their Martial Soul attributes and Soul Skill effects. Although Xiao Wu wore a sour expression, she still completed every test according to Gu You's requirements.

During this period, the Work-Study Students' battle against the nobles from the original story also took place. Gu You hadn't been at the academy, so he didn't participate. However, when he returned to the dormitory that evening, he learned that the events seemed to have unfolded no differently from the original story. He didn't feel it was a pity, either. After all, Gu You hadn't obtained any attendance system. Watching an adult, an old rabbit, and four children fight was honestly rather pointless.

Two days later, after Gu You returned to the dormitory, he told Tang San and Xiao Wu to find him at the Spirit Hall the next day. Tang San knew the way, so Xiao Wu could simply follow him.

Tang San secretly asked Gu You, "Xiao You, should we find a room upstairs? Wouldn't the basement be a little inappropriate?"

Gu You patted his chest. "It's fine. I already asked Grandpa Ma Xiunuo about it. The moment he heard that it was another person with Innate Full Soul Power, he told me to use any place I wanted."

Seeing that Gu You had already taken care of everything, Tang San nodded and said he would arrive on time the next afternoon.

The next day, Tang San brought Xiao Wu to the Spirit Hall. After learning that Xiao Wu didn't know what a Soul Master subsidy was, Tang San first took her to find Ma Xiunuo. Only after registering her Soul Master information and collecting the subsidy did they go to the basement to find Gu You.

Pushing open the door to the storage room, they saw Gu You sitting behind the desk once again, wearing sunglasses and striking Commander Gendo's iconic pose.

"You shouldn't have come."

Just as Xiao Wu was about to blow up and curse Gu You for being the one who called her over, Tang San blocked her with one hand and covered his face with the other. With a sigh, he said, "Why are you doing this again? And didn't you already do this pose last time?"

Gu You broke character in one second. "Huh? Isn't this pose cool? I'm telling you—*$}%{&@"

Tang San ignored whatever Gu You was saying and apologized to Xiao Wu. "Sorry, Xiao Wu. Xiao You is just like this. He does strange things sometimes."

When he saw that Gu You was still muttering to himself, he said, "Xiao You, how are the latest results?"

At the mention of official business, Gu You stopped fooling around. He yanked off the cloth covering the blackboard. Besides "Ultimate Conductor Tyranno" and "Blue Silver Grass," it now had "Soft Bone Rabbit" written on it as well. The regular hexagons below had also increased from six overlapping hexagons, with a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 5, to seven overlapping hexagons, with a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 6.

Gu You first told Xiao Wu exactly what he had told Tang San. Under Xiao Wu's look of How could you possibly come up with this?, he said, "Now that the three of us are all one-ring Soul Masters, the hexagons have increased from six to seven, making our Martial Souls' growth easier to see."

"Let's start with the conclusion, Xiao Wu. I suggest that you change your development from a Power Attack System Soul Master to an Agility Attack System Soul Master. That would suit your Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul better."

P.S. Here are the protagonist's and Tang San's new six-dimensional stats.

Ultimate Conductor Tyranno: Strength 5→6 (strength increased), Speed 2→4 (reflected in enhanced limb coordination and greater precision of movement; absolute speed remained unchanged), Endurance 5 (unchanged), Defense 4 (unchanged), Energy 2? (unchanged), Special 0→2 (tentative; it exerted a suppressive force on Beast Martial Souls, suspected to come from food-chain suppression, but this had not been perfectly tested), Total 18/30→23/36.

Blue Silver Grass: Destructive Power 0→2 (increased along with its strength), Attack Speed 5 (speed unchanged, but more Blue Silver Grass could be produced), Strength 2→4 (significantly increased), Range 4→6 (the perception range had expanded greatly, and simply generating Blue Silver Grass was no longer limited to the center of the right palm), Energy 0 (unchanged), Special 5→6 (the total amount of vitality and recovery speed had increased greatly), Total 16/30→23/36.

Finally finished writing it. Please vote, bookmark, and send monthly tickets—ahhh!