(Comic-version Dugu Yan)
"But amplification-type Soul Skills are different."
Lin Jiang raised one finger.
"As your level rises, the benefits you get from amplification-type Soul Skills grow greater and greater.
A ten-percent increase in strength might add only ten pounds at level ten, but at the Titled Douluo level, it could mean a difference of tens of thousands of pounds."
"So choosing amplification-type Soul Skills for your first few Soul Rings is the most efficient choice."
When he finished, he looked at Dugu Bo.
Dugu Bo froze.
He opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but realized he couldn't find a single point to refute.
Damn... that made sense!
He'd lived for decades. How had he never thought of that?
Dugu Yan froze, too.
She blinked once, then again, and suddenly clapped her hands.
"Grandpa! I want an amplification-type Soul Skill for my next Soul Ring, too!"
Dugu Bo's mouth twitched. "You little girl, you learn fast."
"Of course!" Dugu Yan said, full of conviction. "Lin Jiang can't be wrong!"
Dugu Bo shook his head helplessly, but there was a little more admiration in his gaze when he looked at Lin Jiang.
Not only was this young man knowledgeable, but he also had such far-reaching vision.
His future achievements would be impossible to measure.
He gathered his thoughts and said seriously,
"Still, finding the right Soul Ring is a matter of chance. If you want the Soul Skill you have in mind, you'll need patience. Let's search the Sunset Forest first."
Lin Jiang nodded.
The Sunset Forest...
He looked up at the forested mountains stretching into the distance.
He wondered what kind of Soul Beast he'd encounter for his First Soul Ring.
The three of them headed deeper into the Sunset Forest.
The farther they went, the denser the trees grew and the dimmer the light became.
Suddenly, a chorus of ape cries echoed ahead.
As they moved forward, the scene before them made all three stop in their tracks.
A troop of baboons!
At least thirty or forty of them, clambering and leaping among the trees and vines.
They were powerfully built, their arms as thick as tree trunks, and each stood four or five meters tall.
But the strangest thing about them was their eyes.
Every one of them was blood-red!
Dugu Bo's eyes lit up. "Lin Jiang, you're in luck! Those are Berserk Baboons!"
Lin Jiang turned his head. "Berserk Baboons?"
"That's right." Dugu Bo pointed at the troop. "This Soul Beast has only one skill—Berserk!"
Dugu Yan leaned closer. "So if we hunt one, its Soul Skill will probably be something like Berserk, too?"
Dugu Bo nodded, then looked at Lin Jiang. "Berserk is an extremely powerful amplification-type Soul Skill. It can instantly increase your strength, speed, and reflexes, though you'll be weak for a while afterward. What do you think?"
Lin Jiang stared at the baboons and nodded. "Berserk is indeed pretty good."
He paused, then asked, "Old Poison, how old are these baboons?"
Dugu Bo narrowed his eyes and looked them over.
"This is a troop of Berserk Baboons. The bigger ones are several hundred years old. Four hundred years is about the limit for your First Soul Ring, and there are quite a few around that age here."
He rolled up his sleeves, ready to act.
"Wait."
Lin Jiang reached out to stop him.
"Four hundred years is too low."
Dugu Bo froze.
Lin Jiang pointed to the largest baboon in the middle of the troop. "About how old is that biggest one?"
It was more than a head larger than the others, crouching on the highest branch. Its blood-red eyes swept across the surroundings, giving it the air of a king.
Dugu Yan grew anxious. "Four hundred years is too low? A Soul Master's First Soul Ring can only go up to a little over four hundred years! Even absorbing one that old is pushing it! Someone with a weaker constitution would die on the spot!"
Lin Jiang said nothing.
Die? My body's been tempered by the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, and the system rewarded me with a thousand-percent increase in physical strength. How could my limits possibly be the same as an ordinary person's?
Dugu Bo said gravely, "That one should be the leader of the troop. It's at least two thousand years old."
Lin Jiang shook his head.
"Two thousand years... is still too low."
Dugu Bo: ???
His eyes widened. He thought he must have heard wrong.
"Have you lost your mind, kid? Even a Soul Master's third Soul Ring usually tops out at only a little over a thousand years! I won't let you absorb a two-thousand-year Soul Ring. You'd explode!"
He turned to grab the four-hundred-year-old baboon.
"Don't!" Lin Jiang seized his arm. "I know what I'm doing!"
Dugu Bo shook off his hand. "You!"
"Grandpa," Dugu Yan suddenly said.
She looked at Lin Jiang, remembering how he had become a god at the end of the Simulator.
If he'd made it that far, he must have had his reasons.
"Just trust Lin Jiang."
Dugu Bo froze.
He looked at Dugu Yan, then at Lin Jiang, his beard practically twisting with anger.
"Why are you going along with this nonsense, too?!"
Lin Jiang said nothing. He was only thinking:
Two thousand years...
That really was a little low.
They'd better keep looking.
A day passed.
They found nothing.
There were plenty of Soul Beasts in the Sunset Forest, but very few met Lin Jiang's requirements.
Dugu Bo sat crouched on a branch, his beard drooping.
"That troop of Berserk Baboons was pretty good," he grumbled. "You just had to look for something better. It's been a whole day..."
Lin Jiang shook his head.
Berserk was indeed pretty good, but the oldest baboon in the troop was only two thousand years old.
He didn't want "pretty good."
He wanted "the best."
Watching Lin Jiang stubbornly refuse to budge, Dugu Bo sighed helplessly.
Fine. The kid was his savior, after all.
He might as well humor him.
If all else failed, he'd forcibly interrupt Lin Jiang while he absorbed a high-year Soul Ring, so he could learn that he couldn't handle a Soul Ring beyond his limits.
It was getting late.
The three of them set up camp beneath a sheltered cliff.
Dugu Bo pulled a tent out of his Storage Soul Tool. There was only one.
He looked at Lin Jiang, then at Dugu Yan, and waved his hand.
"One tent! You two little brats can squeeze in together!"
Lin Jiang: "...All right."
Dugu Yan: "..."
She lowered her head, her face a little red.
But fireworks were already going off in her heart.
Grandpa! You're my hero!
Inside the tent.
Lin Jiang lay down and closed his eyes, ready to sleep.
They'd been on the move all day, and he was a little tired.
Then he heard a rustling sound.
He opened his eyes. Dugu Yan was taking off her outer garment.
Lin Jiang: "???"
He shot upright, his eyes as wide as bells.
"Yan Yan, what are you doing?!"
Dugu Yan turned her head. Her eyes gleamed in the dim tent.
She licked her lips.
"Take out the 'what.'"
Lin Jiang: ??????
Dugu Yan's thoughts: Tonight, I'll make the raw rice cooked! Then Lin Jiang will be completely mine!
She took off her outer garment, revealing a little white silk camisole underneath.
Moonlight streamed through the gaps in the tent, falling across her.
Though she wasn't fully grown yet, Soul Masters matured faster than ordinary people.
The young girl already had a graceful figure, delicate collarbones, a slender waist, and skin that glowed softly in the moonlight.
Lin Jiang swallowed.
No, this wasn't right.
Dugu Yan crawled toward him...
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