The system's thoughtful appraisal information appeared as well:
[Ten-year Soul Ring (Quality: Flawed)]
[Ten-year Soul Ring (Quality: Inferior)]
Most of the Soul Rings Chen Li possessed were of these two lowest qualities. Only that purple thousand-year Soul Ring had reached the [Ordinary] grade.
According to the system information, Soul Ring quality was ranked from low to high as: [Inferior], [Flawed], [Ordinary], [Excellent], [Perfect], and [Legendary]. None of the Soul Rings he had previously failed to absorb had even reached [Ordinary]. No wonder the Rumble-Rumble Fruit had despised them so thoroughly.
"Then, Munch-Munch Fruit, let me see what you can do." A trace of anticipation and resolve flashed through Chen Li's eyes. He controlled the shadowy phantom behind him, making it slowly open as an invisible suction force emerged and precisely enveloped the two White Soul Rings before him.
Whoosh!
The two Soul Rings offered no resistance as they were directly sucked into the shadowy phantom and vanished instantly.
Chen Li focused intently on the changes within his body. He could sense the Munch-Munch Fruit's furnace beginning to operate. A strange force wrapped around the two clusters of Soul Ring energy, breaking them down and washing over them... The process was swift, with the initial treatment completed in just a few breaths.
The shadowy phantom rippled slightly, then spat out a white Soul Ring that landed before Chen Li once more.
However, both the Soul Ring's form and its information had changed!
What had originally been two separate Soul Rings had now become just one. Moreover, the system's appraisal information updated to:
[Ten-year Soul Ring (Quality: Flawed, Fusion Progress 1/10)]
"Fusion progress?" Chen Li's eyes lit up as he grasped the crucial information. This meant the Munch-Munch Fruit could fuse and refine the energy of multiple low-quality Soul Rings, and there was even a clear "progress bar"! Once that progress was filled, a qualitative transformation would likely occur!
It was time to test it. Chen Li did not hesitate in the slightest. With another thought, he directly retrieved nine stored Ten-year Soul Rings from the system space and tossed them all into the shadowy phantom behind him.
The Munch-Munch Fruit accepted them all without discrimination. The phantom seemed to expand slightly for an instant, while a more distinct yet still silent sensation of energy churning and refinement came from within. This time, the process took a little longer, roughly the time it took to drink half a cup of tea.
[ Ding! ]
A crisp system notification that only Chen Li could hear rang out.
At the same time, the shadowy phantom flashed, spitting out an entirely new Soul Ring that floated in midair.
The Soul Ring's lustrous white color became even purer!
The system information clearly displayed:
[Ten-year Soul Ring (Quality: Ordinary)]
It had succeeded!
Chen Li shot to his feet, staring intensely at the Ten-year Soul Ring he had just refined. An uncontrollable excitement surged through his heart. It was only [Ordinary] quality, but its significance was entirely different!
It proved that the Munch-Munch Fruit truly possessed the heaven-defying ability to fuse and refine low-quality, low-year Soul Rings into Soul Rings with greater age and higher quality!
"So this is it... This is the method the system prepared for me to break the deadlock!" Chen Li clenched his fists, and the confusion and faint anxiety from before were swept away in that instant. The Rumble-Rumble Fruit was responsible for setting the high-quality standard and providing ultimate combat power, while the Munch-Munch Fruit processed substandard raw materials into products that met the requirements! The two complemented each other, forming a unique path of advancement!
Looking at the Ten-year Soul Ring before him, which was still white but had clearly changed from murky and dim to far clearer and more solid, Chen Li felt as though an electric current had coursed through his heart, igniting powerful exhilaration!
The previous system appraisal information for [Ten-year Soul Ring (Quality: Inferior)] and [Ten-year Soul Ring (Quality: Flawed)] had disappeared, replaced by a brand-new notification:
[Ten-year Soul Ring (Quality: Ordinary)]
That was right. Two bottom-tier Soul Rings had been successfully fused and refined by the Munch-Munch Fruit into a single, higher-quality Soul Ring!
This discovery was crucial! It proved not merely a simple accumulation of energy, but a leap in quality!
The core of the Munch-Munch Fruit's ability lay in removing impurities and preserving the essence, elevating the fundamental nature. This suited Chen Li's needs far better than merely increasing age. What the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was picky about was not a Soul Ring's age, but whether the energy laws contained within it were pure and advanced enough!
"The way forward... I've truly found it." Chen Li muttered under his breath, unprecedented sharpness gleaming in his eyes.
As long as he had enough Soul Rings as raw materials, he could use the miraculous factory that was the Munch-Munch Fruit to continuously purify and upgrade them, ultimately forging high-quality Soul Rings that the Rumble-Rumble Fruit would acknowledge and absorb!
His foremost task now was to use the materials he had accumulated to synthesize a Soul Ring that met the requirements as soon as possible.
Once he successfully absorbed his first Soul Ring, he could escape his current predicament and prove to Spirit Hall that he possessed growth potential. That would dispel their greatest suspicion and earn him a more stable position and greater resources.
With that thought, Chen Li's gaze inevitably turned toward the sole streak of purple in his system space: a thousand-year Soul Ring.
He remembered clearly that after leaving Star Luo City, he had spent a fortune hiring a temporary team of Soul Masters. Only after taking tremendous risks deep within a border forest had they managed to kill a Thunder-Horned Rhinoceros that had just passed a thousand years in age.
Yet even this hard-won thousand-year Soul Ring had failed when he attempted to absorb it. The system had judged it to be [Ordinary] quality and reclaimed it. Clearly, to the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, an ordinary thousand-year Soul Ring was still not worthy.
"But what if... I use this sole thousand-year Soul Ring as the main material, then add a large number of other Soul Rings as supplementary materials and fuel, using the Munch-Munch Fruit to raise its quality beyond [Ordinary]..."
Chen Li's breathing quickened slightly.
A [Excellent], or even [Perfect], thousand-year Soul Ring as his first Soul Ring? What a terrifying foundation that would establish!
A sense of urgency followed.
He remembered clearly that he was the same age as Tang San.
He was now six years old. Tang San was likely already at Nuoding Academy, and there were less than six years left before he entered Shrek Academy.
Time was not plentiful. He had to grow as quickly as possible during this period so that he could possess enough influence amid the turbulent events to come, rather than merely becoming an observer or someone dependent on others.
"Time waits for no one..." Chen Li took a deep breath, determination settling in his eyes. He no longer hesitated and used his thoughts to connect the system space with the Munch-Munch Fruit.
In an instant, all the Soul Ring reserves he had accumulated over several months, representing countless failures, were mobilized: 120 white Ten-year Soul Rings, 80 yellow Hundred Year Soul Rings, and that solitary purple thousand-year Soul Ring. Drawn by an invisible force, they were all hurled into the shadowy, unfathomable phantom of the Munch-Munch Fruit behind him!
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