Two and a Half Months Later

Li Ruolan opened her right hand, and a gray radiance surged forth, followed immediately by a gray iron sword appearing in her grasp.

At the same time, four soul rings—yellow, yellow, purple, and purple—rose in succession from beneath her feet, emitting powerful fluctuations of soul power.

"Control your spiders and attack me!"

Li Ruolan stood with her sword held ready; after activating her Martial Soul, her entire temperament had shifted.

She exuded an air of heroic spirit and immense confidence.

"Understood."

Duan Fan immediately ordered all the spiders to launch their assault.

In an instant, six massive spiders charged toward Li Ruolan at high speed.

Li Ruolan showed no fear, moving nimbly between the six spiders while wielding her iron sword.

A six-hundred-year-old Soul Beast could exert immense pressure on Wen Xiyue, who only possessed one soul ring, but it posed no threat to Li Ruolan, a Soul Ancestor.

Facing the spiders' onslaught, Li Ruolan appeared completely at ease.

It was clear she was testing the agility of these spiders; she had yet to use any soul skills, relying purely on her iron sword to parry their attacks and knock them back.

After fighting for a while, Li Ruolan finally began to utilize her soul skills.

After repelling a giant spider once more, her First Soul Ring and Second Soul Ring lit up in quick succession.

Immediately, her hands were covered in a gray aura, and a layer of frost manifested upon her iron sword.

When Li Ruolan swung her sword again, her strength had clearly surged; she easily repelled the spiders, leaving deep sword marks on their spider spears.

Furthermore, a layer of frost remained, slowing the spiders' movements.

What followed was a one-sided battle without any suspense.

It took Li Ruolan less than a minute to slaughter all the spiders.

Upon death, the spiders left no corpses; just as when Duan Fan retracted them voluntarily, they dissipated into silver light.

After the battle concluded, Li Ruolan retracted her Martial Soul and immediately offered high praise for Duan Fan's performance.

"You have an excellent grasp of the battle rhythm. Being able to control six spiders simultaneously is truly impressive."

Duan Fan felt no ripples in his heart, having already guessed that Teacher Li would inevitably bring up his soul skill next.

Sure enough, Li Ruolan continued.

"Returning to the soul skill itself, this is the strongest First Soul Skill I have ever seen."

"To be able to summon three six-hundred-year-old Dream-Weaving Spiders to fight for you, and for those three to weave another three giant spiders—I can only describe your First Soul Skill as incredible."

"Because your First Soul Skill is so unique, I will be reporting the situation upward."

"I will find you later to learn more about the specific details of your First Soul Skill."

Duan Fan nodded, having long anticipated that something like this would happen.

He was indifferent to it; at most, he would simply face some disturbances later on.

No matter how much the academy teachers researched it, they would never reach any conclusions.

"Today was your first practical combat class, and you performed very well. Keep up the hard work!"

Li Ruolan offered one final word of praise to Duan Fan before turning her attention to the other students.

"Alright, today's practical combat class ends here. Everyone, head to the Mimicry Cultivation Area to train."

As soon as these words were spoken, many students sighed in disappointment.

To them, cultivation was far too dull and tedious.

But sighs aside, they still had to cultivate.

They left the Soul Fighting Arena obediently, and without exception, every one of them cast a lingering gaze at Duan Fan as they departed.

The bolder ones even gave Duan Fan a thumbs-up, signaling their admiration and recognition of his strength.

Even Wen Xiyue glanced at Duan Fan as she left, though her expression was complex.

Once all the students had departed, Li Ruolan led Duan Fan out of the Soul Fighting Arena, heading toward the Mimicry Cultivation Area as well.

Walking along the path, Li Ruolan asked about the acquisition of Duan Fan's First Soul Ring and many details regarding his First Soul Skill.

Duan Fan answered truthfully.

Li Ruolan listened very carefully and, pulling a notebook from somewhere, recorded all the important information.

Duan Fan did not feel there was any need to conceal this information.

It was only a First Soul Skill, after all; he would have to use it eventually.

His subsequent soul skills would only be even more powerful.

He might as well let the teachers slowly get used to it.

Furthermore, Duan Fan could sense Li Ruolan's professionalism regarding her teaching.

The more Li Ruolan understood, the more she might be able to help him with his practical applications in the future.

The Mimicry Cultivation Area of Spirit Hall Academy was located right within a stretch of forest.

Duan Fan, led by Li Ruolan, arrived there very quickly.

There was a teacher on duty at the entrance.

One could enter by presenting their school ID.

Because Duan Fan's martial soul was quite unique, the Mimicry Cultivation Area exclusive to him had just been completed, so the teacher on duty even took him there personally.

Duan Fan's cultivation spot was in a wooden cabin beside a large tree.

Walking into the cabin, the interior was hung with all sorts of paintings; furthermore, one could clearly see black, round stones embedded into the walls and floor.

Those black, round stones emitted a certain fluctuation of spirit power, and they were the key to the Mimicry Cultivation Area.

Duan Fan took a casual look around and soon began his cultivation.

He hadn't been cultivating for long before he felt the difference between cultivating here and in an ordinary environment.

That was the ability to enter a meditative cultivation state much faster.

And, his cultivation speed had become slightly faster as well.

Although this improvement could not be considered particularly massive, if one looked at it over a long period, the gains would still be quite considerable.

Duan Fan did not end his cultivation until evening.

He could clearly feel the increase in his spirit power, taking him one step closer to level fifteen.

The feeling of getting stronger every day is truly great.

It's about time to go grab some food; Uncle Fang specifically instructed me to eat well.

In the blink of an eye, two and a half months passed.

At dusk, Duan Fan walked out of the Mimicry Cultivation Area as he always did and headed straight for the academy cafeteria.

During these two and a half months, Duan Fan's daily life was almost a repetition of the day before.

After finishing his theory and combat classes in the morning, he would dive headfirst into cultivation, staying at it until evening before going to eat.

At night, he would read books like the Encyclopedia of Spirit Master Knowledge and the Encyclopedia of Soul Beast Knowledge in the dormitory, sketch out blueprints for firearm parts, and then cultivate until the second half of the night before finally going to sleep.

The next morning, he would be fully recharged and start the cycle all over again.

In these repetitive days, Duan Fan's spirit power had been steadily increasing.

His current spirit power level had already reached level seventeen.

Academy cafeteria.

After getting his food, Duan Fan sat in his usual spot by the window on the second floor and began to tuck in.

Suddenly, a figure walked up in front of him.

It was a six-year-old girl with very fair skin and a beautiful face, though her expression was somewhat cold.

It was Wen Xiyue.

"Teacher Li asked me to give this letter to you."

Wen Xiyue handed a letter to Duan Fan and then walked away without looking back.

Duan Fan did not mind Wen Xiyue's attitude toward him in the slightest; he even shouted toward her retreating back, "Thanks!"

He opened the letter to take a look.

As expected, it was sent by his uncle again.

Ever since Fang Qingshan returned to Notting City, he would send a letter to Duan Fan every so often.

The content of the letters was simple: just chatting about daily life, telling Duan Fan that everything was well, and asking about Duan Fan's situation.

The content of this letter, however, was a bit different.

Fang Qingshan wrote: "Notting City Elementary Spirit Master Academy is about to start its term. Once school begins, your aunt, Qianqian, and I will be able to set off for Spirit City."

Seeing this, Duan Fan subconsciously checked on Tang San's current status and attempted to modify Tang San's destiny.

Notting Academy was about to open, and the person of extreme importance to Tang San was about to appear.

During this time, Duan Fan had been keeping a close eye on this matter.