The Accumulation of Knowledge

But he had no way to say it before.

Because the entire continent regarded Whale Rubber as a cheap, obscene substance. Why would a six-year-old village boy know its true use?

Saying it out loud would be courting death.

He needed an opportunity.

A reasonable opportunity that would not arouse suspicion, one that would let him reveal this information bit by bit.

And today was the first step in laying the groundwork.

"Teacher."

Ma Hongjun raised his head and called out to Flender.

Flender walked over from the counter.

"What is it?"

Ma Hongjun pointed at the illustration of Whale Rubber on the page and asked with feigned curiosity.

"This—Whale Rubber. The book says it can only be used as an aphrodisiac, and it is very cheap. But since it comes from inside a soul beast, could it have other uses? Maybe people just haven't discovered them yet?"

Flender glanced down at it, his brows knitting slightly.

"Whale Rubber? That thing really has no proper use. People studied it years ago, and the conclusion was that it was useless. Don't waste your time on it."

Ma Hongjun nodded and did not press further.

"I was just curious. I only asked casually."

Flender gave him a look, did not think much of it, and turned back toward the counter.

Ma Hongjun lowered his head and continued flipping through the book.

Whale Rubber.

Cheap, low-grade, and overlooked.

That meant he could buy it easily without drawing anyone's suspicion.

Later, when his strength hit a bottleneck, or when suppressing his Evil Fire became difficult, he could naturally suggest using Whale Rubber as assistance.

By then, Flender would only think—this child had always loved studying strange and unusual things. So there really had been a reason for it.

He would not think of anything else.

The groundwork had been laid.

An hour later, Flender called the two of them over to leave.

Oscar hugged a stack of books and looked reluctantly at the other books on the shelves.

"Teacher, can we come again later?"

"Yes," Flender said. "We'll come every month from now on. It is very important for soul masters to learn knowledge as well. We had no conditions before, so that was that. But now that we do, we need to study properly."

Oscar grinned.

The three left Ink Fragrance Library. The night had already grown deep.

Suotuo City's streets were deserted, with only a few distant barks breaking the silence.

Ma Hongjun walked at the very back and looked up at the stars overhead.

Whale Rubber.

This groundwork might not be useful until several years later.

But that was fine.

He had plenty of patience.

The day after returning from Ink Fragrance Library, Ma Hongjun's life gained another activity—reading.

Flender set the rules: they had to visit the library at least twice a week and stay for at least two hours each time.

Training continued as usual during the day. After dinner, if they were not going to the library, they would read at the academy.

Flender borrowed a batch of basic books from the library and placed them in the academy's simple study room, where they could be taken and read whenever they wished.

"You don't lack money now. What you lack are brains."

Flender's exact words.

Oscar raised both hands in support of the arrangement.

Not because he loved studying, but because sitting in the library was much more comfortable than being chased around the courtyard and beaten by Zhao Wuji.

Ma Hongjun, on the other hand, truly enjoyed reading.

He had loved reading in his previous life. He read every kind of book.

After transmigrating to Douluo Continent, he discovered a problem—his understanding of this world was basically limited to the scope covered by the original story.

And the information that could be written into the original story was only the tip of this world's iceberg.

There were far more kinds of soul beasts than he had imagined.

The original story mentioned no more than two hundred soul beasts in total.

But this book alone recorded more than three thousand named soul beasts with detailed descriptions.

There were many soul beasts whose names he had never even heard in his previous life.

But there were also some he had heard of, such as:

For example, there was a soul beast called the Mirror Shadow Beast. It had a thousand years of cultivation and strong offensive power, but its Soul Ring could grant a soul master an extremely rare soul skill—Mirror Image Clone.

It was not an ordinary illusion, but a real clone that could briefly replicate all the abilities of the original body.

Oscar had absorbed this kind of soul beast in the original story, though his had been a ten-thousand-year one.

This kind of soul beast was rarely discovered.

Not because it was weak, but because it was too rare—so rare that there might only be a few on the entire continent.

Oscar lay beside him, flipping through the thick Soul Beast Compendium and yawning nonstop.

"Hongjun, what's the point of all this? No matter how many kinds of soul beasts there are, we'll only ever use a few. Instead of memorizing three thousand types, wouldn't it be better to memorize the limits for each cultivation age?"

"Who says you can only use your own Soul Rings?"

Ma Hongjun said without looking up.

Oscar froze for a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"You're a Food-Type Soul Master. Your Sausage can provide boosts to anyone. The more kinds of soul beasts you know, the better you can tailor the most suitable Sausages for different teammates and different opponents."

Ma Hongjun put down his book and looked at Oscar.

"If your teammate were going to hunt a fire-element soul beast, what kind of Sausage should you make for him?"

Oscar thought for a moment.

"One with an ice attribute?"

"Right. Then do you know which ice-element soul beasts would be suitable sources for Sausage Soul Rings?"

Oscar opened his mouth but could not answer.

"That's why you need to read."

Ma Hongjun lowered his head again and continued reading.

Oscar fell silent for a moment, then buried his face back in the book.

This time, he did not yawn again.

Ma Hongjun was not interested in those common soul beasts.

He specifically chose to read the obscure, unconventional entries that mainstream soul masters ignored.

Like Whale Rubber.

He had already found a record of Whale Rubber, and it basically matched the information he knew from his previous life—an aphrodisiac, cheap, and ignored by everyone.

But Whale Rubber was not all he wanted.

Whale Rubber could be used to break through physical limits, and it could suppress and purify his Evil Fire.

But Whale Rubber's effectiveness was limited. At higher levels, it might no longer be enough.

He needed to find substitutes or supplementary materials.

He turned to a page.

"Dragon Blood Grass."

A medicinal herb that grew near the nests of dragon-type soul beasts, nourished by their aura and dragon blood.

It was extremely rare and had harsh growth requirements.

Its known effect was that it could strengthen the body when used in medicine, with remarkable strengthening effects on bones and muscles.

Ma Hongjun stared at that line, his brows furrowing slightly.

Strengthening the body.

That should only be Dragon Blood Grass's most superficial use.

Based on his experience from his previous life, things related to dragon-type soul beasts often had special effects on Martial Souls.

Dragon blood, dragon bones, and dragon souls were all top-tier materials for tempering Martial Souls.

Since Dragon Blood Grass absorbed the aura and nourishment of dragon blood from dragon-type soul beasts, it should possess the same characteristic.

But there was no way to verify it yet.

Dragon Blood Grass was too rare. There might not even be a few plants on the entire continent.

Even if he found some, the price would be astronomical—far beyond what Shrek Academy could afford now.

He would remember it for now.

He would see if there was an opportunity in the future.

He turned another page.