Soul Master Certification

If paired with certain support soul skills that caused people to lose their minds, the effect of one plus one would be far greater than two.

For example, the Frenzy Soul Skill used by the Berserker Team in the anime—if it were combined with Gu Ziyi's Purifying Heart Mantra, the target could gain tremendous explosive power while remaining clear-headed and calm. That would be terrifying.

In most cases, support soul masters rarely chose such extreme soul skills because they were difficult to control and could easily make one unable to distinguish friend from foe.

And support soul skills like the Purifying Heart Mantra seemed never to have appeared before.

At least, none existed in the soul skill knowledge Gu Ziyi had learned so far. Certain soul skills used by battle soul masters might have similar effects, but support-type soul masters truly had none.

So, based on the Purifying Heart Mantra alone, Gu Ziyi's martial soul held enormous potential and was worth cultivating.

If Gu Ziyi were willing, he already qualified to choose a faction to join.

"If I were to join a faction, which one would be the best choice?"

With the Purifying Heart Mantra active, Gu Ziyi immediately began to think it over.

He did not let a transmigrator's pride make him feel that becoming someone's subordinate was beneath him, because joining a faction was undoubtedly the better choice for him.

Powerful resources could help Gu Ziyi grow much faster!

"There are actually many choices. The Upper Three Sects, the Lower Four Sects, the Two Great Empires, and Spirit Hall..."

"But what kind of resources I can obtain will depend on how much they value me!"

"If they only see me as an ordinary support soul master, then there's nothing more to say!"

"Besides, the Purifying Heart Mantra isn't particularly precious. It is relatively important to low-level soul masters, but not so important to powerful soul masters, because powerful soul masters generally have strong spiritual power as well."

"If I only have the Purifying Heart Mantra as a soul skill, it still won't be enough to make them value me too highly!"

"For now, there's no need to rush into considering this. After all, the most important resource for a soul master's cultivation is actually soul rings!"

"When soul masters who have joined a faction hunt soul rings, they can receive better assistance. Other than that, there are medicines to nourish one's physique and money!"

"I don't need soul rings. I can condense them myself!"

"So cultivating on my own is perfectly feasible too!"

"I'll think about the rest later!"

After some thought, Gu Ziyi temporarily gave up on the idea of joining a faction.

The next day, Gu Ziyi went to the Spirit Hall Sub-Hall in Quicksand City to undergo soul master certification and registration.

"Name..."

"Age..."

"And martial soul..."

"..."

Under the questions of the registration staff at the Spirit Hall Sub-Hall, Gu Ziyi answered each one in turn.

Before this, Gu Ziyi had already summoned his martial soul and soul ring before the staff member as proof that he had truly broken through to level 11, added a soul ring, and become a genuine soul master.

That was right. After condensing his soul ring, Gu Ziyi had successfully broken through to level 11 as well.

After completing his certification and registration at Spirit Hall, Gu Ziyi would be able to receive a one Gold Soul Coin newcomer subsidy from Spirit Hall every month.

This was extremely important to Gu Ziyi. With the subsidy, he would no longer need to work as a Work-Study Student, attending classes while working at the academy.

"Alright, this is your Soul Master Badge!"

"With this, you can collect your monthly newcomer subsidy at the window outside. I hope you make good use of it to cultivate properly, contribute to the continent in the future, and become an upright and useful soul master!"

The registration staff finally handed the completed Soul Master Badge to Gu Ziyi, with Gu Ziyi's information recorded on it.

"Alright, thank you!"

Gu Ziyi accepted the Soul Master Badge and thanked him sincerely.

No matter who had issued this newcomer subsidy, it had been an enormous help to Gu Ziyi.

After graduating from a primary soul master academy, Intermediate Soul Master Academies did not really have Work-Study Students. Tuition had to be paid.

And the tuition was not cheap.

But as long as he completed soul master registration at Spirit Hall, the newcomer subsidy he received would be enough for Gu Ziyi to enroll in an Intermediate Soul Master Academy.

After leaving the certification office, Gu Ziyi immediately took his badge outside to collect this month's subsidy.

After returning to Quicksand Academy, Gu Ziyi also told Teacher that he no longer wanted the work assigned to Work-Study Students.

"Why do you suddenly want to turn down the work the academy arranged for you?"

Teacher naturally asked Gu Ziyi with concern.

"Teacher, it's because I've already broken through level 10, absorbed my First Soul Ring, and completed my certification and registration at Spirit Hall!"

As Gu Ziyi spoke, he summoned his martial soul.

"Good, good, good! You brat finally broke through level 10!"

"And I never expected you to be this fast—you even have a soul ring already!"

Teacher was naturally delighted when he saw it, and he praised Gu Ziyi again and again.

"It's thanks to the academy and Teacher's guidance that I was able to become a Soul Master!"

Gu Ziyi said with a smile.

"That's also the result of your own hard work. Is your Martial Soul a combat Martial Soul or an auxiliary Martial Soul? What is your First Soul Skill?"

Teacher smiled even more happily at that, then curiously asked Gu Ziyi.

Since he also believed Gu Ziyi's Martial Soul had mutated from a Paper Martial Soul—a mutation never seen before—he had no idea how to classify it.

Beast Martial Souls were all combat Martial Souls, while Tool Martial Souls depended on the effects of their Soul Skills.

"It should be an auxiliary Martial Soul. My First Soul Skill is summoning Purifying Heart Mantra talismans. They can dispel abnormal mental states and, at the same time, provide a certain degree of immunity against mental-type Soul Skills!"

Gu Ziyi pondered for a moment before answering.

It was fine to understand the Purifying Heart Mantra that way. That was indeed one of the effects it carried while active, so the Purifying Heart Mantra was quite powerful.

Gu Ziyi also did not mention its duration, because the duration of the Purifying Heart Mantra talismans he summoned was not fixed. It depended entirely on his proficiency and how much Soul Power he infused into them.

This was probably a trait of Soul Skills born from Soul Rings condensed by oneself: they could be used with tremendous freedom.

"It's actually an auxiliary type!"

"Purifying Heart Mantra talismans... are they Soul Skills similar to antidotes?"

Teacher was somewhat surprised. Such a Soul Skill was quite rare—at least, he had never heard of one. It could be considered very valuable.

It just seemed like there would not be many occasions to use it.

But none of that mattered.

What mattered was that Gu Ziyi had successfully become a Soul Master. The academy would now have another student graduating as a Soul Master.

This was an honor belonging to the entire academy!

"Work hard. Teacher believes that you'll definitely become a powerful auxiliary Soul Master in the future!"

Teacher encouraged Gu Ziyi one last time.

"Yes, Teacher. I'll work hard and make Quicksand Academy proud of me!"

Gu Ziyi also said all the right things. Who didn't know how to make empty promises? "Good, good. Teacher will be waiting!"