Le Bai returned home before nightfall.
He had skipped lunch and spent half the day pumping the bellows, leaving him so hungry his chest nearly stuck to his back.
Dinner was therefore quite lavish: ten large steamed buns, a pot of porridge, a huge plate of greens, and half a rack of meat.
That was not an amount a six-year-old child could finish, even if he was a Soul Master.
Le Bai glanced at the progress bar behind the level of the [Eating] skill on his Panel and sped up his eating even more.
"Today's food expenses went a little over budget."
As he ate, Le Bai thought, Those toys I sold today can be copied soon enough if anyone bothers to study them, so they can't serve as a continuous source of income. Even if I brought out slightly more advanced ways to make money, I'm not a Soul Master yet, so it would be hard to ensure that the money I earn remains mine... Sure enough, the safest way to secure a livelihood is to become a Soul Master.
During the day, Le Bai had tried controlling the Soul Power inside his body, and it had gone very smoothly. Perhaps because he had so little Soul Power?
As Le Bai controlled the Soul Power within him and sent it wandering throughout his body, the [Soul Power Control] skill appeared on the Panel at some point.
Later, while learning to pump the bellows and tend the fire, Le Bai continued making his Soul Power wander through his body, eventually sending it through every place his Soul Power could reach.
Originally, Le Bai had only wanted to raise the level of Soul Power Control. Instead, after his Soul Power completed one circuit through his body, a [Soul Power Cultivation] skill appeared on the Panel.
Yet after only half a day, Soul Power Control had already surpassed Lv3, while Soul Power Cultivation was still Lv0, its progress bar having risen to just 0.00003/100.
That progress bar was outrageous, but Le Bai knew why.
The Panel's effect was ultimately just to turn his own condition into data. Since Le Bai had not mastered the correct cultivation method, the progress bar grew so slowly.
There was a solution.
It simply required enough patience—by using the Panel's real-time feedback on changes in the data, experimenting bit by bit, he could eventually find the route through which Soul Power could travel in his body that increased the Soul Power Cultivation progress bar the fastest.
It was an effective method, but also the dumbest one.
The places within the human body where Soul Power could travel could tentatively be called meridians, and there were an extraordinary number of possible routes. Moreover, the order of traversal was not as simple as a single straight line.
If the directions between different meridians and the routes that needed to be repeated within a single cycle were added in, the number of possible Soul Power circulation methods would be so large that scientific notation would be needed to display it.
"I can only hope Oscar's cultivation method is good enough. Using exhaustive search to grind progress... just thinking about it makes my liver hurt..."
Even so, before falling asleep, Le Bai used that foolish method to slowly send his Soul Power through the meridians in his body once.
Unfortunately, without light or paper and pen, Le Bai could not draw a map of his meridians.
Early the next morning, when the sky had only just begun to brighten, Le Bai was awakened by Oscar's booming voice. "Le—Bai—! I've become a Soul Master!"
His voice was genuinely loud enough to startle the early-rising birds from the nearby trees into flight.
Le Bai sleepily opened the second-floor window and looked down. Oscar was beaming up at him, both hands waving wildly. "Le Bai! I'm already a Soul Master!"
"I know."
Le Bai was in a poor mood after being woken so early, but seeing Oscar's smiling face somehow made that trace of displeasure vanish like smoke. "The door isn't locked. Push it open and come in yourself."
A few minutes later, after washing up, Le Bai met Flender and Oscar sitting in the main hall.
"Dean!"
Le Bai greeted Flender first, then turned to Oscar. "You became a Soul Master early in the morning, so why aren't you going to Spirit Hall to register? Why did you come here to disturb my sleep?"
"Didn't I want to share my joy with you as soon as possible? Hehe, I'm a Soul Master too!"
Oscar grinned. "Oh, right, Le Bai. Guess what effect my First Soul Ring skill has?"
"The effect of your First Soul Skill..."
Le Bai scratched his head. "Is it a recovery effect?"
"Uh..."
Oscar's expression instantly froze. "Tch, you guessed it right away. That's no fun."
Flender looked at Le Bai strangely. He recalled that when the two had awakened their Martial Souls a few days ago, Le Bai had also guessed correctly at the first try.
"One or two times could be called coincidence. The possibility of three times in a row being coincidence isn't nonexistent, but it's far too small."
Flender stroked his beard as he thought, But he doesn't seem to have anything particularly unusual about him...
After thinking for a while, Flender truly could not come up with an answer, so he asked as though casually, "Le Bai, you seem exceptionally accurate when guessing things about Oscar. During the Martial Soul awakening, you got both his Martial Soul and Innate Full Soul Power right. And now you got this First Soul Ring right too."
"Eh, now that you mention it, that does seem true!"
Oscar remembered as well. "Le Bai, tell me honestly—do you have some special feeling about me?"
"Ptooey! Even if I did, I wouldn't go feeling it."
Le Bai looked at Oscar with utter disgust. "I just guessed casually. The Support System only has a few effects going back and forth—recovery, enhancement, removing abnormalities. You're a Food System Soul Master, so recovery or removing abnormalities suits you better. I just happened to guess right in a fifty-fifty choice."
"So that's how it is."
Oscar looked disappointed. "I thought you could sense what I was thinking inside, tch."
Le Bai rolled his eyes. "Is there anything else? I still have to go to the Blacksmith Shop this morning to learn smithing. I don't have time to waste with you."
"Smithing? Is that your choice?"
Flender looked at Le Bai. "In that case, Oscar, teach Le Bai what you've learned. It will help him."
"Yes, Dean!"
Oscar was overjoyed. "Ha, Le Bai, come on, come on—I'll teach you!"
Throughout Oscar's short life so far, he had always been the one taught by Le Bai. This was the first time he would teach Le Bai instead, and it gave Oscar the exhilarating feeling of finally turning the tables!
However, that exhilaration came to an end barely ten minutes later.
"Ahhh! Why do you learn so fast, Le Bai?!"
Oscar cried out, unable to accept reality. "I clearly had to practice several times before I got it!"
"Maybe because I have little Soul Power, so it's easier to control."
Le Bai casually made up an excuse. Most of his attention was already focused on maintaining the circulation of Soul Power inside his body—after mastering the cultivation method Oscar had passed on, which Flender had taught Oscar, Le Bai immediately controlled his Soul Power and began circulating it through his body along the prescribed route.
The improvement was obvious and immense, as could be seen from the Soul Power Cultivation skill on the Panel shooting up to Lv7.
"Circulating Soul Power really is completely different. It feels like my body is brimming with strength."
Le Bai carefully sensed the Soul Power within his body. With every completed circuit, he could feel something from his surroundings being drawn into his body, after which his Soul Power increased slightly.
The growth of the progress bar behind [Soul Power] Lv2 on the Panel proved the same thing.
"Since you've already learned it, cultivate properly."
Flender stood up. "We'll be leaving for now. Also, the academy will have classes every day from now on to teach reading and writing. Arrange your time for smithing and classes yourself."
"Thank you very much for your help!"
Le Bai bowed deeply to Flender.
"Le Bai, I'm leaving first. Remember to come to class!"
After saying that, Oscar followed Flender out.
"Learning smithing, maintaining Soul Power circulation, and attending classes... The next few days will be difficult."
After running through everything he needed to do in his mind, Le Bai felt his liver ache faintly again...
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