Double Speed, Wuhu Takeoff

Six-year-old Bai Cai felt depressed. He stood on tiptoe, distracted, and pushed a bulky meditation manual onto the antique wooden shelf in the library.

The meditation technique provided by the Farnos Junior Soul Master Academy was incredibly crude and performed poorly, far worse than Bai Cai had expected.

Huo Gua had an Innate Soul Power of only level one and became a Soul Master around the age of eleven. Calculating from the age of six when he awakened his martial soul, his soul power increased by nine levels over five years, averaging about two levels per year.

Tang San reached level thirteen after absorbing the Man-Faced Demon Spider soul ring and became a Soul Elder near the age of thirteen. Excluding the soul power gained naturally from absorbing rings, Tang San had only increased his soul power by sixteen levels during his six years of training under the Grandmaster.

The difference in soul power was a mere seven levels!

Even though Tang San was a work-study student who worked part-time as a blacksmith and spent his spare time learning from the Grandmaster, the rate of his soul power growth was simply unworthy of his Innate Full Soul Power talent.

Huo Gua came from the White Tiger Duke Clan, where the quality of meditation techniques was extremely high. Even after switching to the Mysterious Heaven Skill, his soul power growth rate did not increase significantly. Therefore, Huo Gua's cultivation speed could be considered the pinnacle for a commoner soul master.

Possessing the inheritance meditation technique of the White Tiger Duke Clan, Huo Gua still only had an Innate Soul Power of level one and reached level ten at age eleven.

Bai Cai vaguely remembered that when Tang San fought on behalf of the work-study students, his opponent's martial soul seemed to be a wolf. He was twelve years old, his soul power level did not exceed his age, and he was a genius-level school bully.

As a martial soul, the wolf usually granted an Innate Soul Power of over level two. As a school bully at a soul master academy, Tang San's opponent surely had decent talent, perhaps reaching level three in Innate Soul Power.

However, this school bully with a wolf martial soul and level three Innate Soul Power had the same soul power level at twelve as a ten-year-old Huo Gua, excluding the levels added by soul rings. One must remember that Huo Gua's Innate Soul Power was only level one, and he was two years younger.

A high-quality meditation technique could even bridge the gap in talent.

At age twelve, accounting for the levels added by soul rings, Huo Gua's true soul power likely exceeded level thirteen.

With level one Innate Soul Power and a high-quality meditation technique, his soul power growth rate significantly surpassed that of an average soul master with level two Innate Soul Power, even rivaling those with level three!

Of course, the higher the Innate Soul Power, the smaller the gap created by meditation techniques. For example, the food-type soul master, the peach-eyed Oscar.

Coming from a commoner background, the quality of Oscar's meditation technique was nothing to write home about. Although the little witch Ning Rongrong was lazy in her training, her martial soul was of extremely high quality, with level nine Innate Soul Power. Even with the blessing of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's meditation technique, her soul power growth rate still lagged behind that of the Innate Full Soul Power Oscar.

An excellent meditation technique was something ordinary soul masters with low Innate Soul Power craved. For super geniuses with extremely high Innate Soul Power, it was like chicken ribs—tasteless to eat, yet a pity to discard.

If he practiced a high-quality meditation technique with his level five Innate Soul Power, Bai Cai believed his soul power growth rate could rival that of a genius soul master with level six or seven.

Unfortunately, the meditation technique at Farnos Junior Soul Master Academy was abysmal. Based on the cultivation speed Bai Cai calculated, normal practice would yield an increase of about two and one-third levels per year.

The holy land for soul masters on the continent, Shrek Academy, had extremely harsh admission requirements. Generally, the age limit was under twelve, and one's soul power had to exceed level fifteen.

If he practiced the technique provided by Farnos Junior Soul Master Academy, after four years, including the levels added by soul rings, Bai Cai would just barely reach level fifteen, scraping by the admission line for Shrek Academy.

Of course, Bai Cai could not afford the tuition unless Shrek Academy waived it. For instance, through a special recruitment like Huo Gua's Tang Sect status, or by becoming a Soul Grand Master.

If one became a Soul Grand Master before the age of twelve, Shrek Academy would initiate a special recruitment program, waiving tuition and providing free training resources, such as meals prepared with soul beast ingredients, access to simulated training grounds, and so on.

Naturally, most specially recruited genius soul masters had an Innate Soul Power exceeding level seven. Soul masters with level five or six had to possess high-quality meditation techniques and train diligently to meet Shrek's special recruitment standards.

Not being a noble descendant or a super genius, Bai Cai knew that in four years, his soul power level would likely be insufficient to trigger Shrek's special recruitment program.

Should he sell himself to a noble or a soul master sect to obtain a higher-quality meditation technique?

The Holy Spirit Cult, super soul beasts, the Sun Moon Empire, the Star Luo Empire, the Heaven Spirit Empire, the Heaven Dou Empire—if he were to get involved in the brutal struggles between these major powers, he would not only lose his own life but also implicate his parents and fellow villagers.

The only current solution was to deeply develop the potential and special properties of his external martial soul.

"Ralts." Summoning his martial soul, Bai Cai asked, "Did you learn it?"

"Ralts!" Ralts nodded. "Ralts! Ralts!"

He had learned it; the meditation technique was very simple. However, when circulating the technique, he could not control his telekinesis with fine detail, and both precision and strength would decrease.

"I see..." Bai Cai hesitated slightly. "What about Telepathy?"

Ralts's talent was not limited to telekinesis; reading emotions and thoughts was also an innate ability of Ralts.

He would not actively use Ralts to pry into others' minds. However, Bai Cai had to admit that Ralts's telepathy was highly effective and extremely important.

Distinguishing between goodwill and malice, the basic operation of telepathy could be considered a form of area-based danger perception.

If he lost the early warning of telepathy, the uniqueness of Ralts...

When applying to Farnos Junior Soul Master Academy, Bai Cai only revealed that Ralts was an external martial soul and that his development path was support-type. The nature of telekinesis was unpredictable, making it easy to pose as a support-type soul master.

Mental-type martial souls were extremely rare, and external martial souls were even rarer. A tree standing tall in the forest would be destroyed by the wind; at this moment, showing his talent would likely attract organizations with ulterior motives, such as Evil Soul Masters, the Holy Spirit Cult, or the Sun Moon Empire.

"Ralts, Ralts." Ralts tugged at Bai Cai's sleeve.

Circulating the meditation technique would not affect the effectiveness of telepathy. Ralts would protect him.

Gardevoir, the unofficial translation "Psychic Queen," truly meant "Guardian Angel." Beautiful, loyal, and powerful, it was widely known. With the same personality as a Gardevoir, Ralts would sacrifice its life to protect those who were important.

"That's great!" Bai Cai said, pleasantly surprised. "What about the soul power growth rate?"

Even if Ralts's efficiency in executing the meditation technique was less than half of his own, in four years, there was still hope to break through to the second ring and trigger Shrek Academy's special recruitment program.

Furthermore, Ralts was extremely unique—an external martial soul and a mental-type martial soul combined. If Shrek Academy's philosophy of recruiting "monsters" still held, they would certainly initiate a special recruitment program, waive his tuition and miscellaneous fees, and admit him.

"Ralts." Ralts thought for a moment. "Ralts!"

By circulating the meditation technique, he could increase his soul power by one level approximately every four months.

"That's absurd." His smile gradually froze as Bai Cai muttered to himself, "A martial soul that grinds levels for you—how terrifying."