Three Fulfilling Years

With his First Soul Ring, Le Bai could finally register at Spirit Hall and start collecting his stipend.

After leaving Flender's Office, he hurried straight to the Spirit Hall branch in Suotuo City, completed his registration, and collected this month's one Gold Soul Coin while he was there.

Because he had left the academy to register, the fact that Le Bai's First Soul Ring was a trash Decade Soul Ring became known to Oscar and Ma Hongjun by that evening.

But Le Bai had never intended to hide it.

After all, there were currently only three students at Shrek, and the only peers nearby who could play together were the three of them. Even if Le Bai did not summon his Martial Soul or release his Soul Ring, once Oscar noticed Le Bai's Soul Power Level, he would definitely ask about it. There was no way to hide it.

After hearing Le Bai's brief explanation and receiving "confirmation" from Flender and Zhao Wuji, Oscar and Ma Hongjun quickly accepted the fact.

Ma Hongjun took it fairly well. He even proactively challenged Le Bai, wanting to recover his dignity from before.

After Le Bai gave him a thorough beating, he behaved himself and cursed as he declared that he would never challenge Le Bai again until he gained the ability to fly.

Oscar had found it hard to accept at first. But after seeing Le Bai beat up Ma Hongjun and noticing that everything remained the same as before, he soon came to terms with it as well.

A few days later, Oscar's Soul Power broke through to level twenty, and he prepared to obtain his second Soul Ring.

At first, Flender and Zhao Wuji had only planned for one of them to take Oscar hunting Soul Beasts.

However, considering that Le Bai and Ma Hongjun would likely act together with Oscar in the future, Flender decided that both he and Zhao Wuji would go, along with another academy teacher. They would also bring Le Bai and Ma Hongjun along so they could gain some experience in the Soul Beast Forest.

Especially Le Bai. Because his First Soul Ring had inexplicably formed on its own, he had never even been to the Soul Beast Forest and had no experience encountering Soul Beasts up close. A Soul Master like that was unqualified!

The entire process went smoothly, and Oscar was quite lucky. Within half a day, they encountered a suitable Century Soul Beast.

Le Bai was also able to come into contact with Soul Beasts for the first time—and they were more dangerous than he had imagined.

It was not just because of the Soul Beasts. The greater danger came from the pervasive poisonous creatures in the forest. There were plants and animals alike. Though they were not as powerful as Soul Beasts, they were too numerous and inconspicuous to guard against.

Fortunately, the three teachers leading the group all had extensive experience operating in the wild. They had prepared items that repelled poison in advance, so small animals and insects avoided them. Only the plants required caution.

Other than that, there were the Soul Beasts.

Le Bai instinctively compared the Soul Beasts of this world with the ordinary wild animals of another world. To his surprise, he found many similarities, but there were also species that looked alike yet had no actual connection at all.

This made Le Bai realize that the ecosystems of different worlds truly could not be lumped together. He decisively discarded the relevant common knowledge from his old world and constantly reminded himself to understand this world in its own way.

However, Oscar was lucky, and they did not spend long in the Soul Beast Forest. Le Bai was unable to accumulate enough experience.

To make up for this deficiency as much as possible, Le Bai turned his attention to Shrek Academy's Library after returning to the academy.

The Library had the best facilities in all of Shrek Academy.

Most of the books in the Library had been purchased from the market after the academy was founded. A small portion belonged to Flender's personal collection, precious works he had gathered while traveling across the continent with his companions in the past.

Le Bai's memories from another world had taught him deeply how important books were to humanity.

But Shrek's Library was not open to outsiders. Before Le Bai officially became a member of Shrek, he had never been able to read there.

Now, Le Bai could finally enter.

Unfortunately, he did not encounter the legendary librarian, which made Le Bai unable to resist criticizing Shrek's lax management.

His subsequent reading experience taught Le Bai that the Panel could also provide an effect like "photographic memory." It was not particularly powerful, but it was extremely practical. (Thanks to the Panel's effect, instant memories became permanent memories.)

Furthermore, the existence of the Parallel Thinking skill allowed Le Bai to read two or even three books within his field of vision at the same time. It greatly improved his reading efficiency and let him grind out a wave of Parallel Thinking levels.

After grinding... after reading all the books in the Library, Le Bai's gains were somewhat subtle.

Most of the books contained things the academy teachers had already explained in class.

A small portion covered customs and local practices from around the continent, strange legends, and illustrated guides to plants and animals whose artwork was so terrible that their species could not be identified at all.

It would be excessive to call that information useless, but calling it useful was also a stretch. In short, it was the sort of tasteless stuff that was a pity to throw away.

Fortunately, there were still a few meaningful books, such as one about Soul Tools. It recorded, in considerable detail, the process of Soul Guidance Device Crafting, whose methods had already been lost.

The most important core content—the operating principles of Soul Tools, the Core Array, and the specific methods of Array Crafting—were mentioned only in fragments, making it difficult to reconstruct anything complete from them.

That was probably why this book had been tossed into the Library to gather dust.

But!

Difficulty reconstructing it only applied to most people.

For Le Bai, the complete and systematic theories and clear content provided by the book were already more than enough information.

The greatest remaining problem, and at the same time the most valuable thing, was reconstructing the Core Array and conducting further research.

That was not to say Le Bai could immediately research and recreate Soul Guidance Device Crafting. He was not that capable, and the Panel was not that overpowered.

The Soul Tool samples needed just to research Magic Arrays were beyond what Le Bai could obtain at present.

But Le Bai was confident.

Because the skill [Array Crafting] had already appeared on the Panel. Though it was still Lv0, and its progress bar was as low as 0.00001/100, the appearance of the skill allowed Le Bai to confirm that his ideas and conjectures regarding Core Array construction were correct.

Because the Panel could not create something from nothing. As long as a relevant skill appeared, it meant Le Bai had already grasped the corresponding ability—mistaken ideas could not produce results and therefore would not be reflected on the Panel.

All that remained was to use the Panel to capture those flashes of inspiration that came during repeated practice, then improve rapidly and master it.

In the end, the Soul Guidance Device Crafting method Le Bai mastered might differ from the lost one, but what did that matter? As long as it worked.

Am I thinking too far ahead?

Le Bai casually tossed aside the failed Magic Array, ending ten minutes of "resting the body, exercising the mind." He put on his homemade Weighted Suit and resumed training.

Le Bai valued physical training second only to Soul Power, and he invested just as much time and effort into it.

That was because Spirit Power Overclocking—the crucial skill that ensured Le Bai's combat strength—placed a heavy burden on his body. If Le Bai's physical strength failed to keep up, then no matter how high his Soul Power Control level became, the effect he could ultimately produce would remain very limited.

Unfortunately, the Panel did not regard physical ability as a skill, so it did not display specific values.

Thus, Le Bai had never dared relax his efforts to improve and strengthen his body. Every day, he set aside a fixed amount of time to train.

Fortunately, while physical ability did not count as a skill, training did.

Le Bai had already grinded the [Training] skill to Lv30. As long as he followed the Panel's guidance during his daily training, he could not only maximize the effects of exercising his body, but also avoid physical damage caused by overtraining.

Because before that happened, the Panel would guide his body to stop training.

As each fulfilling day passed, more than five months went by in the blink of an eye. Le Bai and Oscar officially completed their third year at Shrek and welcomed their fourth...