Three days seemed fleeting, but in truth, they felt endless!
Especially for Li Changsheng, it was sheer torture.
For those three days,
he spent the daytime in his hotel room cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill, entering a meditative state to sense the wonders of Soul Power and refine his Martial Soul.
Whenever he had an insight, he would summon the Immortal Execution Painting Martial Soul and put it to the test.
Of course, he hadn't neglected his practice with the Night-Startling Spear.
In one fight against a Level 12 Soul Master, Li Changsheng hadn't even used his Martial Soul. With an ordinary spear forged from refined iron, he used the techniques taught by the God of Wisdom and his own insights into the Night-Startling Spear to send his opponent sprawling!
At the Soul Master stage, the strength of one's Martial Soul wasn't all that apparent, especially among students at these Junior Soul Master Academies.
Their studies focused mainly on theory. Even the graduation exam only required them to obtain their first Soul Ring.
Was that easy?
Not exactly, but Soul Tools had been developing rapidly.
For low-level Soul Masters, as long as they were willing to pay, buying a Soul Tool with enough firepower made killing Soul Beasts easy.
And don't forget, teams were allowed into the forests where the empire raised Soul Beasts.
The Soul Beast hunting squads they formed might not have much practice working together,
but there weren't many powerful Soul Beasts in the forests raised by the empire.
Compared to the mysterious, terrifying Star Dou Great Forest and the even more distant polar regions, they were much safer.
So...
Li Changsheng had no interest in these fights at all.
They were too weak.
Every opponent was a pushover, unable to last more than a few moves against him before he pummeled them mercilessly.
Tonight, he had finished his fourth Exchange Battle.
His opponent was another student from Nuoding Primary Soul Master Academy, a sixth-year with Level 17 Soul Power.
A real prodigy.
At twelve, reaching Level 17 Soul Power was beyond the reach of many Soul Masters.
But the result was a shame.
This Level 17 prodigy seemed even more timid than Wang Hehe had been.
The moment he entered the world of the Immortal Execution Painting Martial Soul, he burst into tears.
Li Changsheng had wanted to see how his First Soul Skill would affect a Level 17 Soul Master.
But the other boy was already crying, and Li Changsheng couldn't bring himself to go on, so he let him off.
Under the referee's astonished gaze, Li Changsheng claimed his fourth straight victory.
"Ugh, there's no challenge at all. As expected, the beginner's village is just the beginner's village."
Li Changsheng lay on the bed with his legs crossed, holding the sheepskin notebook on Level 10 Soul Engineers that the system had rewarded him earlier. He struggled to make sense of its dense, obscure writing.
Li Changsheng wasn't especially clever, and academic subjects were even more beyond him.
But what could he do? He wanted to complete more tasks for the Sign-in and Clock-in System.
Just two sign-ins had already earned him so many good things.
If he kept signing in, what would the final sign-in location be like?
"Shrek Pre-Academy. A place teeming with prodigies. There must be a genius there who can withstand my First Soul Skill."
A petite figure flashed through Li Changsheng's mind.
Silver-white hair fluttered in the breeze, a zither floated before her, and one yellow and one purple Soul Ring shimmered together. Her delicate hands plucked the strings, unleashing an attack that struck seven opponents at once...
"The Seven Absolute Zither Master?" Li Changsheng leaned back against the bed and slowly closed his eyes.
But a moment later, he opened them again.
He casually activated the Sign-in and Clock-in System and checked his status and equipment, preparing for tomorrow's journey to Shrek Pre-Academy.
This was probably his preparation before leaving the beginner's village, wasn't it?
That was what Li Changsheng thought.
"Skills: God of Wisdom."
Li Changsheng's eyes lit up.
The God of Wisdom skill.
It was his greatest ally. Without it, he probably wouldn't even have known how to cultivate the Mysterious Heaven Skill. At best, he would have awakened the Genesis Book Martial Soul with Innate Soul Power at Level 9.
Li Changsheng murmured the God of Wisdom's functions:
"All-Knowing and All-Powerful: Analyze an opponent's Martial Soul, level, and Soul Skills; a Soul Beast's age, attributes..."
This was the God of Wisdom's first ability.
Through its all-knowing and all-powerful wisdom, it could analyze any existence.
"Parallel Calculation, which is basically automatic combat mode: once activated, it can assist with cultivation and combat. Cultivation comes with a perfect meditative state of insight, while combat comes with the most exquisite fighting techniques."
An earlier scene outside the forest in Spirit Soul City flashed through Li Changsheng's mind.
The God of Wisdom had turned the energy of the Night-Startling Spear into a towering black dragon.
With nothing but a breath and a few simple movements, it had swept through and slaughtered every Soul Beast.
"Inhumanity: Think without distinction. View everything with absolute impartiality. Also improves intelligence and speeds up thought."
That was what the God of Wisdom had told Li Changsheng.
Indeed, when the God of Wisdom possessed him, Li Changsheng could clearly feel that cold, detached sensation, utterly devoid of emotion.
At the time, Li Changsheng had immediately thought of how useful this ability could be...
"Formless Cycle: This ability is similar to how the Longevity System used to alter other people's perceptions. It can nullify all mental attacks and probes."
This was the fourth ability the God of Wisdom possessed.
Li Changsheng didn't think it was useless.
On the contrary, it made him think of even more possibilities.
This was probably one of the abilities every transmigrator needed.
To hide from the gods' perception.
Weren't gods there to maintain the proper development of a world?
The normal course of history, the ordinary cycle of life and death—gods had to maintain all of it. They didn't interfere with the world directly, but their so-called enforcers would clear out anyone who disrupted the order.
And transmigrators disrupted the order.
Without an ability to conceal their presence, they would have been discovered by the gods and eliminated long ago.
Just think about it: Li Changsheng was an ordinary person who had lived for ten thousand years.
Even a blind god would know something was wrong. It would surely use some means to erase him.
That was why an ability to conceal oneself from all perception was so important.
These were the four abilities the God of Wisdom had for now.
However, according to the God of Wisdom itself,
it had many more abilities that hadn't yet been unlocked. It needed Li Changsheng's help to activate them, but it hadn't said how he could help.
"With the God of Wisdom, it's like having a perfect, ultimate old-timer to guide me." Li Changsheng summed it up that way.
Then he looked at his second skill.
Longevity.
Ever since he had obtained this skill,
Li Changsheng hadn't inspected it.
Now, when he saw how many years he had left, he was more than a little surprised.
Eighty-nine thousand years.
That was an absurdly long time. Even if he kept lazing around, he could probably live forever.
But immortality like that would be meaningless.
"My life is long enough for me to cultivate to the absolute peak. So all I need to do is make sure I don't overlook the beautiful things along the way."
Li Changsheng smiled faintly. Becoming powerful was wonderful, of course, but the scenery along the road to strength was worth stopping to admire.
Naturally, that was only possible because Li Changsheng had so many years to spare.
"These are the abilities that come with the Sign-in and Clock-in System itself. Maybe more skills will appear in the future."
"Weapon: Night-Startling Divine Spear. Current affinity..."
Li Changsheng thought of the Night-Startling Spear. Over the past three days, he had used it for a while under the God of Wisdom's guidance, and he had discovered a few things...
But he hadn't had any strong opponents to test it on. When the Night-Startling Spear came out, someone would probably end up bleeding.
"Martial Soul: Genesis Book. Its current abilities are unclear and I haven't tested them."
The God of Wisdom had said that only after obtaining his First Soul Ring would Li Changsheng truly get to savor the Genesis Book Martial Soul's rich fragrance.
"Martial Soul: Immortal Execution Painting. Its current First Soul Skill is Three Thousand Sumeru Flames. It seems to form a vast domain, creating a shattered world. Further investigation is needed."
Li Changsheng hadn't forgotten the Sign-in and Clock-in System's tasks. For the next while, he would follow the path laid out by those tasks.
"New student assessment: unless something unexpected happens, taking first place shouldn't be a problem."
"Become a Soul Engineer: with the God of Wisdom's All-Knowing and All-Powerful ability to help me, that shouldn't be much of a problem either."
"Reach Level 13 Soul Power and become a Level 30 Soul Elder before turning twelve to complete the task. The Soul Ring must be at least ten thousand years old. That one will be a little difficult."
"The exploration task is somewhat dangerous too, but it's well worth attempting."
Before long, Li Changsheng had taken stock of his situation and the things he needed to do over the next six years.
"So, the main goal from here on is..."
Shrek Pre-Academy?
No, no, no.
Li Changsheng pulled the silk quilt over from beside him and covered himself.
"Sleep!"
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