Scheming Against Tang San

"You..."

Rogue Rabbit had not expected Su Mo to be so ungrateful. Embarrassment and anger flashed across her face.

"I'm the boss of this dorm. What I say goes!"

Rogue Rabbit raised her chin and spoke forcefully.

"Then I'll expose your secret!"

Su Mo chuckled and whispered into her ear.

"Hmph! I won't sleep there, then. You think I'm dying to sleep beside you?"

Rogue Rabbit glared at Su Mo and snorted.

In the end, though, Rogue Rabbit did not go back to Tang San. Instead, she took the bed belonging to the student beside Su Mo and sent him to her old one.

Rogue Rabbit had been close to Tang San partly because he was outstanding, but also because something about him felt familiar to her.

Now, however, she was even more curious about Su Mo, so she tossed Tang San to the back of her mind.

She wanted to stay closer to Su Mo so she could hear about the latest progress on his Self-Created Soul Ring as soon as it happened.

Su Mo felt a headache coming on, but he said nothing more.

He would not be staying at this academy much longer anyway.

Soul Beasts were extinct. Most of what the Soul Master Academy taught would become useless.

Things like identifying Soul Beasts, or knowing which ones were more likely to grant which Soul Skills when their Soul Rings were absorbed...

"Lights out! Lights out!"

"Everyone, get ready to cultivate!"

"Soul Power in the air has surged, and we're cultivating several times faster now. We should work even harder!"

"Yeah! I wasn't even sure I'd reach level ten before graduation, but at this rate, I definitely will..."

"Me too..."

"At this rate, I'll reach level ten in fourth year..."

"I might reach it in third year..."

"..."

After lights-out, the students in the dorm were fired up. One by one, they began cultivating diligently.

Once cultivation sped up severalfold, it became addictive.

The thrill of progressing several times faster than usual was intoxicating. Even a short session felt like striking it rich.

Su Mo began cultivating too.

Rogue Rabbit was the only one in the dorm who went to sleep first, after putting on a show of cultivating for a while.

After an unknown stretch of time, the other students gradually stopped cultivating and fell asleep.

When Su Mo stopped, he found that, sure enough, Tang San was the only one still cultivating.

He had to admit, Tang San worked hard at it.

But that only made Su Mo more certain of one thing.

Tang San's aptitude for cultivation in his early years was actually quite ordinary. He had maintained a cultivation speed worthy of a genius with Innate Full Soul Power only because he had the Mysterious Heaven Skill to rely on.

The Mysterious Heaven Skill!

Heat surged through Su Mo's chest.

If he had a Cultivation Technique like that, he could surely accumulate enough Soul Power to form a Soul Ring much faster.

So Su Mo stopped cultivating and watched Tang San instead.

[Ding~ By observing Tang San's cultivation, the host has gained a new glimmer of insight into Cultivation Techniques...]

This might work!

Delighted, Su Mo watched Tang San cultivate while trying to recall every description of meridians from the novels he had read in his previous life.

But he soon discovered that he could not remember a thing.

At most, he remembered the names of a few acupoints.

They were practically no help in creating his own Cultivation Technique.

Instead, the biology he remembered about the structure of the human body gave him a few more insights.

[Ding~ Congratulations, host! You have created a new Cultivation Technique. Please name it!]

Before long, a complete Cultivation Technique appeared in Su Mo's mind.

After examining it, Su Mo found it was considerably better than his previous Meditation Technique, though only to a point.

After all, he had not actually observed an internal energy Cultivation Technique like the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

If only I could learn Tang San's Mysterious Heaven Skill. With the system, I could create something even more advanced from it.

As Su Mo thought this, his gaze drifted to Rogue Rabbit in the next bed.

If anyone could get the Mysterious Heaven Skill out of Tang San, Rogue Rabbit had the best chance.

Even if she could not obtain it, getting some knowledge about Internal Energy Methods from Tang San would still help.

With that thought, Su Mo, who had wanted nothing to do with Xiao Wu, began to see just how useful this Rogue Rabbit could be.

And it isn't just the techniques Tang San cultivates. Rogue Rabbit herself knows a few Soul Skills!

Soul Masters gain Soul Skills by absorbing Soul Rings, so they might not understand the principles behind them. But Soul Beasts surely do—or at least, they know more than Soul Masters!

Soul Beasts are extinct, and I'll need to create my own Soul Skills later. So I might as well keep plucking fur from this Rogue Rabbit.

If I can create life-saving Soul Skills like Teleportation, Invincible Golden Body, and Intangibility, I'll have struck it rich!

Those Soul Skills would be useful at any level!

Starting the next day, Su Mo no longer kept Rogue Rabbit at arm's length when she approached him.

When Xiao Wu asked about his progress on his Self-Created Soul Ring, Su Mo shared a little, keeping her curious about him.

"Xiao Wu, you're pretty close to Tang San. Have you noticed that the Meditation Method he cultivates seems different from ours?"

"I feel like he cultivates much faster!"

When the moment seemed right, Su Mo brought up Tang San.

He did not say much, though. He merely expressed his curiosity.

He had already mentioned that he needed to accumulate Soul Power if he wanted to form a Soul Ring successfully.

With a better Cultivation Technique, he would certainly accumulate enough Soul Power sooner.

At first, Su Mo worried that Xiao Wu might not be clever enough to make the connection.

But he had clearly underestimated her.

Under normal circumstances, Xiao Wu was quite clever.

"You want me to trick Tang San into giving me his Cultivation Technique, don't you?"

Not only had Xiao Wu made the connection, she had seen straight through Su Mo's scheme.

"Ahem..."

Su Mo was embarrassed. He had not expected Xiao Wu to be so sharp.

Wasn't this Rogue Rabbit supposed to be rather dim?

"I'm just interested in anything to do with cultivating. Tang San seems cold toward everyone except you, so I wanted to see if you could find anything out..."

Since she had seen through him, Su Mo stopped hiding it.

"Hmph! You're awful!"

Xiao Wu tipped her head back, glared at Su Mo, and wrinkled her nose as she snorted.

Then she lifted her chin proudly. "But I like it. Just wait for good news from Sister Xiao Wu!"

With that, Rogue Rabbit turned and skipped away.

Though she had realized Su Mo was scheming to use her, Xiao Wu was not upset in the slightest.

She only found this human brat even more interesting.