Thoughts! Persuasion!

On the evening of the third day, the group arrived at a small town on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.

The town was not large, with only one main street lined with all kinds of shops.

Soul Tool shops, herbal medicine shops, equipment stores, taverns, and inns—it had everything.

Most of the people coming and going were soul masters, some traveling alone and others in groups.

Flender found an inn that looked fairly clean, booked three rooms, and settled everyone in.

They had dinner in the inn's main hall.

The table was packed with dishes: braised pork, steamed fish, stir-fried vegetables, a large bowl of soup, and a basin of snowy white rice.

Teacher Shao Xin had specifically told the kitchen to prepare several extra dishes, saying that the children were still growing and could not be deprived of nourishment.

Ma Hongjun and Oscar kept their heads down and ate voraciously. Flender and Zhao Wuji chatted as they ate, while Shao Xin held a wine cup and occasionally chimed in.

Halfway through the meal, Flender set down his chopsticks and looked at Oscar.

"Little Oscar, what do you want for your second Soul Ring?"

Oscar also set down his chopsticks, his expression turning serious.

He had been thinking about this question for the past few days.

The choice of his second Soul Ring concerned his future development. He could not be careless.

"I want..." Oscar opened his mouth, then hesitated.

Flender watched him, waiting for him to continue.

Oscar took a deep breath, as though he had made up his mind.

"Headmaster Flender, I... I don't want to be just a pure support."

The atmosphere at the table shifted slightly.

Zhao Wuji set down his wine cup. Shao Xin's hand holding his cup paused, and Flender's gaze sharpened.

"Go on." Flender's voice was calm.

Oscar clenched his fists. His voice was a little tight, but he spoke every word clearly.

"I want to become a well-rounded soul master. Attack, defense, speed, support, recovery, control—all abilities gathered in one body. I don't want to just stand in the back making Sausages for everyone. I want to charge to the front and fight alongside everyone."

After saying that, it seemed as if he had exhausted all his strength. His shoulders trembled slightly.

Flender said nothing and turned his gaze toward Ma Hongjun.

"Hongjun, were you the one who put this idea into his head?"

Ma Hongjun did not deny it and nodded.

"Teacher, I was the one who suggested it to Little Oscar."

"Tell me your reasoning."

Ma Hongjun set down his chopsticks and organized his thoughts.

"Teacher, my idea is actually very simple. Little Oscar's Martial Soul is a Sausage, a food type. Food is made for people to eat. Who eats it? It can be someone else, or it can be himself."

Flender's gaze shifted slightly.

"The effects of Sausage soul skills work on the person eating them as well. In other words, Little Oscar can absolutely eat his own Sausages to gain the benefits of all kinds of soul skills. An attack Sausage boosts attack, a defense Sausage boosts defense, a speed Sausage boosts speed. A Food-Type Soul Master who stacks himself full of buffs would not be weaker in battle than a Battle Soul Master of the same rank."

Ma Hongjun spoke more and more smoothly. This idea had been brewing in his mind for a long time, and he had pondered every detail countless times.

"Besides, when Little Oscar hunts soul beasts and obtains Soul Rings, the Soul Rings grant him soul skills. Those soul skills do not necessarily have to be made into Sausages for others to eat; they can also be made into Sausages for him to eat himself. Attack-type soul skills can become attack Sausages, control-type soul skills can become control Sausages. With every Soul Ring he gains, he will gain another method of combat."

"If this line of thinking works, every Soul Ring Little Oscar gains will give him another combat method. Other people only have one Martial Soul, but he will effectively have countless Sausages and countless abilities."

"He will be the only food-type soul master on the continent capable of possessing attack, defense, control, support, recovery, and many other abilities at the same time."

After Ma Hongjun finished speaking, the table fell into a long silence.

Zhao Wuji held his wine cup, his brows tightly furrowed as though he were pondering something.

Shao Xin set down his chopsticks, his eyes flickering as no one knew what he was thinking.

Flender closed his eyes and lightly tapped the tabletop with his fingers.

Oscar looked nervously at the three teachers, his heart pounding like a drum.

"Interesting." Zhao Wuji was the first to speak, his voice deep. "The idea of a Food-Type Soul Master buffing himself is something no one has really considered. It is not that it could not be considered, but that the thinking of the entire continent has been boxed in—food exists to support others, and no one has ever considered that it could support oneself."

"From the moment Food-Type Soul Masters awaken, they are fed ideas like, 'You are support,' 'You must stand in the back,' and 'Your duty is to protect your teammates.' Over time, even Food-Type Soul Masters themselves come to believe it."

Shao Xin suddenly spoke, his voice somewhat excited.

"Hongjun, following your reasoning, could my Candy Beans also..."

Halfway through, he stopped himself.

He lowered his head and looked at his own hands, then gave a bitter smile.

"Forget it. I'm already a Soul Emperor, and my six Soul Rings have already been fixed. If I want to try, I would have to break through to Soul Saint and gain my seventh Soul Ring before I have a chance. But who knows when that will be."

There was a trace of regret in his voice, along with a trace of envy.

He envied Oscar for encountering someone who could open up a new way of thinking for him at the very beginning of his journey.

Flender opened his eyes, his gaze falling on Oscar.

"Little Oscar, no one has ever walked this path."

Flender's voice was grave, each word deliberate. "You need to think this through. Once you fail, it may have an enormous impact on your future. None of us can guarantee that this will succeed."

Oscar opened his mouth, about to speak, but Ma Hongjun spoke first.

"Teacher, even if it fails, the impact will not be that great."

Ma Hongjun said, "Little Oscar's Sausages will still have the abilities they are supposed to have. At worst, he will only waste one Soul Ring. But Soul Rings can be made up for gradually, and the later Soul Rings can still be adjusted in a different direction."

He paused, then added, "No matter how bad it gets, it won't be worse than it is now."

Flender glanced at Ma Hongjun, then looked at Oscar.

"Little Oscar, what is your decision?"

Oscar stood up and faced Flender, his back straight as a rod.

"Teacher, I want to try."

His voice was not loud, but it was resolute.

"From the day I awakened my Martial Soul, I have had one dream—to become a warrior. I know that Food-Type Soul Masters cannot fight. That is common knowledge; it is everyone's consensus. But I simply cannot accept it."

"Hongjun gave me hope. Even if this path is wrong, I still want to walk it. If I take the wrong path, I can always turn back. But if I do not walk it, I will regret it for the rest of my life."

He took a deep breath and looked directly into Flender's eyes.

"I want to become a well-rounded soul master. I want everyone to know that Food-Type Soul Masters are not merely support who can make Sausages."

The table fell silent once more.

Flender looked at Oscar, and a complicated emotion flashed through his eyes.

He remembered many years ago, when he had possessed the same look—unwillingness, stubbornness, the desire to prove himself.

The silence continued for a long time.

At last, Flender spoke, his voice several degrees gentler than usual.

"Fine. Then we'll try."

Oscar's eyes immediately lit up.

"But—" Flender changed course. "Since you chose this path yourself, you must take responsibility for it. Starting today, your training plan will be redrawn. Zhao Wuji will double your physical training, and Li Yusong will teach you fighting techniques. You must cultivate not only your Soul Power, but also your body."

Oscar nodded hard.

"No problem!"

"And another thing," Flender said, looking at Ma Hongjun. "You won't be getting away with this little scheme either. You will plan Little Oscar's growth path. If anything goes wrong, the two of you will shoulder it together."

Ma Hongjun grinned.

"Rest assured, Teacher. I know what I'm doing."

Flender snorted, raised his wine cup, and drained it in one gulp.

"It is still early. If it is wrong, it can be corrected later. At worst, only one Soul Ring will be wasted." He set down his cup and swept his gaze across their faces. "But if it succeeds—"

He did not continue, but everyone understood what he meant.

If it succeeded, Oscar would become something unprecedented on the continent—

The strongest well-rounded food-type soul master.

Outside the window, in the direction of the Star Dou Great Forest, the night was deep and all was silent.

Tomorrow, everything would begin there.