Ingrain

"Mu'er, your martial soul seems to have mutated from my Green Toad."

On the way back to their territory, Qing Tianfeng shared his discovery with Qing Mu.

After hearing Qing Tianfeng's words, Xu Yao curled her lip. "Why couldn't it have mutated from my Narcissus Flower? Look at the thing on this little fellow's back—it looks exactly like a narcissus seed."

Seeing this, Qing Mu hurriedly said, "Father, Mother, I think your martial souls were probably of similar quality, so they fused and mutated together. That's why it turned out like this."

Qing Tianfeng and Xu Yao froze upon hearing Qing Mu's explanation. It really did seem to be the case.

About an hour later, the carriage arrived at their territory.

Qing Tianfeng was a viscount of the Hagen Das Kingdom. He governed a small town and more than a dozen nearby villages, with a population of three to four thousand. Every year, the territory brought Qing Mu's family several hundred, or even over a thousand, Gold Soul Coins in taxes.

Of course, Qing Mu's family's actual income was certainly far higher than that. Soul Masters found it relatively easy to make money. Qing Mu's mother, Xu Yao, received 1,200 Gold Soul Coins a year just from Spirit Hall subsidies.

The currency system of this world, from lowest to highest, was copper soul coins, silver soul coins, and Gold Soul Coins, with an exchange rate of 1:10 between each tier. In other words, one Gold Soul Coin was worth one hundred copper soul coins.

Based on Qing Mu's own testing, a Gold Soul Coin had roughly the purchasing power of over a thousand yuan in his previous life. However, commoners in this world earned very little, usually only two to three silver soul coins a month.

This was especially true for farmers. They might not even save up a single silver soul coin in an entire year.

That was why Soul Masters held such high status. Even the lowest-ranked one-ring Soul Master could receive one Gold Soul Coin from Spirit Hall every month without doing anything, equal to four or five months of an ordinary person's wages.

But becoming a Soul Master was not easy. It depended on one's bloodline and required Innate Soul Power. Soul Master families and powerful factions were more likely to produce them. Yu Xiaogang's martial soul had mutated from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon into a Gong Pig, yet he still possessed soul power—this alone proved it.

As for ordinary commoner families, the chance of awakening Innate Soul Power was less than one percent. Even among those who did awaken it, their level generally did not exceed three; most were only level one or two.

The carriage entered the castle. After returning to his own territory, Qing Mu finally had the chance to study his martial soul, Bulbasaur.

"Come out, Bulbasaur!"

Arriving in the castle garden, Qing Mu summoned his martial soul. Bulbasaur immediately appeared before him.

After being summoned, Bulbasaur looked around. Upon realizing it was standing on grass and sensing the wood-element energy drifting through the surroundings, it happily cried, "Da Na, Da Na~"

Qing Mu smiled at the sight. "Looks like you really like this kind of environment."

Then Qing Mu crouched down and asked Bulbasaur, "Bulbasaur, can you use moves now?"

The first thing Qing Mu needed to figure out was whether Bulbasaur could comprehend moves on its own like in the games and anime, or whether, like the martial souls of Douluo Continent, it had to obtain Soul Rings before gaining skills.

Logically speaking, a level-five Bulbasaur should already know some moves.

"Da Na?"

Hearing Qing Mu's question, Bulbasaur tilted its head in confusion, unable to understand why Qing Mu would ask something so obvious.

Seeing this, Qing Mu's heart tightened. If Bulbasaur could not comprehend moves on its own, then the greatest advantage of his Bulbasaur martial soul over the martial souls of this world would cease to exist.

"Forget it. If it can't comprehend them, then it can't. At least I have innate level-five soul power, and Pokémon are born with the genes to evolve. Maybe I can make Bulbasaur evolve later on."

Qing Mu lowered his head and inwardly sighed.

But just as Qing Mu was about to accept reality, Bulbasaur suddenly extended two slender vines from either side of its neck and gently touched Qing Mu's shoulders.

Qing Mu froze at the touch on his shoulders and quickly looked up.

Then he saw the vines extending from Bulbasaur's shoulders.

"This is... Vine Whip!"

After a brief daze, Qing Mu was overjoyed.

What did Vine Whip's appearance mean? It meant that Bulbasaur might be able to use Pokémon moves. It was not entirely bound by the rules of this world's martial souls.

Still, Qing Mu forcefully suppressed his excitement and had Bulbasaur demonstrate its other abilities.

After all, Vine Whip alone could not prove everything. Many wood-element martial souls possessed similar abilities.

Yet as Bulbasaur began showing the other moves it had mastered, Qing Mu could no longer suppress the grin on his face.

Hahaha~ His Bulbasaur really was the Bulbasaur from Pokémon after all. It had not been affected by the laws of this world.

Overcome with excitement, Qing Mu scooped Bulbasaur up in both hands and spun around in delight.

After testing it, Qing Mu confirmed that Bulbasaur currently knew three moves: Vine Whip, Tackle, and Ingrain.

There was nothing much to say about Vine Whip and Tackle. Both were ordinary attack moves. The interesting one was Ingrain.

It was a recovery-type move. When used, Bulbasaur's four feet extended countless roots into the ground, drawing nutrients from the earth to continuously heal its injuries.

Qing Mu also discovered something surprising: while Bulbasaur used Ingrain, the soul power in his body was not consumed. Instead, it slowly increased.

This was extremely important. At Qing Mu's current level, he could not keep Bulbasaur manifested for long. If it used moves, the duration would become even shorter. That was why Qing Mu had needed to summon Bulbasaur again after returning home.

But now that he had Ingrain, he no longer needed to worry too much about soul power consumption and could train for extended periods.

Yes, train. Simply being able to use moves was not all that meaningful. Only by mastering them, by being able to use them in the most appropriate way at any moment, could one truly unleash their full power.

This principle applied everywhere. Even the Soul Masters of this world did not spend all their time cultivating; they also devoted time to practicing how to use their soul skills.

A while later, Qing Mu's excitement finally calmed down. He rubbed his face against Bulbasaur like he was nuzzling a cat before setting it back down.

"It's so good to have you!"

At that moment, Qing Mu's heart surged with emotion. With his unrestricted Bulbasaur martial soul, he would surely make a name for himself on Douluo Continent.

Perhaps, many years from now, people would respectfully call him...

Bulbasaur Douluo!