Night.
Dorm Seven was brightly lit.
Well, technically, they'd lit two candles, but in the pitch-black dormitory, that was already pretty bright.
A group of people sat around the table, each with a pen in hand and a sheet of paper spread out before them, heads down as they copied books.
Wang Sheng was copying Battle Through the Heavens. As he wrote, he muttered to himself, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river... Don't bully a young man for being poor... Good! Well said!"
Gou Dan was copying Journey to the West. As he wrote, he suddenly burst out laughing. "This Zhu Bajie is just too funny! Hahaha—"
Er Gou was copying Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He looked the most serious, writing each stroke with such care that his characters looked carved into the page.
Tang San and Xiao Wu were copying too—even though they were going to hunt for Soul Rings tomorrow, they had nothing else to do tonight. Every extra book they copied was one more book.
Su Mo sat beside them, watching instead of copying.
It wasn't that he was slacking off. The books he copied were the "advanced editions," which had to be infused with mental power, so they couldn't be mass-produced.
Still, seeing how hard everyone was working left him quite satisfied.
Sure enough, money was the best motivator.
Big Black Ox lay in a corner, watching these humans stay up in the middle of the night, sitting around a table and writing. It gave a languid "Moo."
(Humans really are a strange species.)
It had only ever read the advanced editions Su Mo copied.
But nobody paid it any attention.
Early the next morning.
The door to Dorm Seven was pushed open from outside.
Mo Hen stood in the doorway, ready to notify the work-study students.
Then he froze.
Seven or eight people in the dormitory lifted their heads in unison and looked at him.
Every face had two enormous dark circles beneath the eyes.
Wang Sheng's eyes were swollen like walnuts.
Gou Dan's eye circles were as dark as a panda's.
Er Gou was worse. Not only were his eye circles dark, but his eyes were bloodshot too, red as a rabbit's.
Tang San and Xiao Wu weren't much better. They leaned against each other, their eyes half closed, looking ready to fall asleep at any moment.
Mo Hen opened his mouth, wanting to ask, "What were you doing last night?" But when the words reached his lips, they came out as:
"...Are you all right?"
Wang Sheng yawned and waved a hand. "We're fine, Teacher Mo Hen. We're doing great."
The moment he finished speaking, he yawned again.
Gou Dan added, "We just stayed up a little late copying books."
Mo Hen: "Copying books? What books?"
Wang Sheng pointed at the piles of handwritten manuscripts on the table.
Mo Hen's gaze swept across them—Battle Through the Heavens, Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms...
He fell silent.
He'd read those books yesterday too.
They were good, no question.
But even if they were good, was there really any need to spend the whole night copying them?
He looked at their dark circles, then at the neat stacks of handwritten manuscripts on the table, and suddenly understood.
If he'd been young again and trying to earn a little extra money, he might have done the same.
He'd seen how popular the book stall had been yesterday.
Mo Hen sighed.
"All right, morning class is canceled today. Get some rest."
Wang Sheng's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Mo Hen nodded. "Really. The whole school was engrossed in novels yesterday, so the principal held a meeting to deal with the situation."
"Oh, right. The principal also said to reserve a rental copy of the advanced edition of Battle Through the Heavens for him. Su Mo, you're excused from your work for the rest of the semester, but you'll still get paid."
With that, he turned and left.
A burst of cheers rose behind him.
"Fantastic! We can sleep!"
"I'm claiming a bed first!"
"Don't shove!"
"Zzz..."
Gou Dan had fallen asleep before he'd even lain down.
Su Mo didn't sleep.
He sat on the edge of his bed, gazing out the window as he thought about what to do next.
For now, he had enough money.
But money alone wasn't enough.
He, Tang San, and Xiao Wu all had Innate Full Soul Power, so they needed to obtain their First Soul Rings as soon as possible.
Especially Xiao Wu. Although she was a Soul Beast Transformation, now that she'd come to the human world, she had to follow human rules.
Besides, Su Mo remembered some theories he'd seen online in his previous life.
The upper limit of what Soul Ring a person could absorb was related to their physical constitution.
The stronger their body, the older the Soul Ring they could absorb.
So what if...
During the Soul Ring absorption process, they used medicine to keep repairing their meridians and healing damage to their bodies? Could they break through that upper limit?
Su Mo's eyes lit up.
That was what the protagonists in those fantasy novels from his previous life always did.
He didn't know whether it would work in this world, but there was no harm in trying.
Now that he had money, buying some good medicine wouldn't be a problem.
He looked at the pile of money left on the table.
Tomorrow, he'd buy some restorative potions first.
Then, he'd head to Star Dou Forest.
Su Mo glanced at Xiao Wu, sleeping beside him, and smiled.
After all, when you were out in the world, connections mattered.
That afternoon, Su Mo knocked on the door of Mo Hen's office.
"Come in."
Su Mo pushed open the door and saw Mo Hen bent over his desk, an ordinary edition of The Legend of the Condor Heroes spread out in front of him.
Mo Hen looked up, saw who it was, and paused.
"Su Mo? What is it?"
Su Mo nodded. "Teacher, I'd like to ask for a few days off."
Mo Hen frowned.
"Ask for leave? It's only the second day of school. What for?"
Su Mo had been ready for this. Calmly, he said, "To hunt for Soul Rings. All of us have Innate Full Soul Power, so we need to obtain our First Soul Rings as soon as possible."
Mo Hen's frown deepened.
"Go hunting for Soul Rings? You're all six-year-old children. You want to go to Star Dou Forest?"
He shook his head, his tone firm. "No. It's too dangerous. Wait until the academy organizes a trip, or until a teacher can lead you."
Su Mo had expected him to say that.
He took something out from inside his robe and set it on the desk.
It was a book.
Four large characters were printed on the cover: The Legend of the Condor Heroes.
But unlike the copy in front of Mo Hen, a faint golden glow shimmered across this book's cover.
The advanced edition.
Mo Hen's attention was instantly drawn to it.
He stared straight at the book, his Adam's apple bobbing.
"This is..."
Su Mo smiled faintly. "The advanced edition. I wrote it myself."
Mo Hen had already reached out, but he forcibly pulled his hand back.
He cleared his throat, trying to maintain his dignity as a teacher.
"About this... asking for leave really isn't easy..."
Su Mo nudged the book forward.
Mo Hen's eyes followed it.
"The academy has rules..."
The book slid a little closer.
Mo Hen's breathing grew quick.
"As a teacher, I can't..."
The book was right beside his hand now.
Mo Hen fell silent.
He looked at the book, then at Su Mo, then at the book again, and then at Su Mo.
At last, he sighed.
"No. It's too dangerous, unless you can guarantee that you'll be safe."
Su Mo smiled and called out to Big Black Ox.
Big Black Ox promptly revealed the aura of a six-hundred-year-old Great Demon King.
"This is Big Black Ox. It'll come with us."
"Moo."
Mo Hen was astonished by Big Black Ox's strength. But when school had started, he'd already been told that it was the bodyguard hired by that big shot, so it would be more than enough to protect a few Soul Scholars while they hunted for Soul Rings.
When you were out in the world, connections really did matter.
And so—
"Deal."
Mo Hen snatched up the book and hugged it tightly to his chest, as if afraid someone might take it away.
With his other hand, he grabbed a pen and swiftly wrote out a leave slip. He stamped it and handed it to Su Mo.
"Go on, then. Get back as soon as you can. Be careful."