An Upgrade? Easy as Pie!

The next morning, gentle sunlight fell over every corner of Spirit Hall. Lin Ze'an woke up early.

He first went out and headed to Yue Guan's palace, where he bowed properly. "Good morning, Master!"

Yue Guan was cultivating. Seeing Lin Ze'an, he smiled slightly. "Up so early?"

At that, Lin Ze'an nodded, then told him he was going out to gain experience.

To his surprise, his master didn't say much, only reminding him to be careful.

But then again, since he was traveling with Hu Liena, his master would probably accompany them and protect them in secret, right?

After leaving Yue Guan's place, Lin Ze'an went straight to Spirit City.

He wandered around for an hour, buying quite a few materials, some rare metals, and herbs.

When he got home with an enormous pile of materials, Lin Ze'an shut the courtyard gate and started tinkering in the yard.

Little Sprout sat off to one side, munching on herbs and watching him in confusion.

"Little Sprout, keep your eyes open." Lin Ze'an said mysteriously. "I'll show you what I can do."

Meanwhile, Yan had also gotten up early to prepare for cultivation.

Just as he was about to begin, a tremendous boom suddenly came from next door, followed by a thick cloud of smoke.

Yan froze for a moment, staring at the neighboring yard in disbelief, then hurried over.

"Lin Ze'an?!" He pounded on the courtyard gate. "Lin Ze'an! Are you all right?"

After a moment, Lin Ze'an's voice finally came from inside. "Senior, I'm fine! I'm making something!"

Hearing that he was safe, Yan let out a sigh of relief. He didn't ask anything else, just turned and went back to his own yard.

However, Yan's ears didn't get a moment's peace for the rest of the afternoon.

As time went by, the explosions didn't stop. If anything, they became more frequent.

Every so often, another deafening boom sent black smoke billowing into the sky.

At last, after an entire afternoon of painstaking work, Lin Ze'an finally straightened his aching back.

His face was covered in soot, and a few unruly strands of hair stuck up stubbornly, but his eyes shone with excitement.

"I finally did it!" Lin Ze'an's little face flushed red as he excitedly raised the necklace in his hand.

In the sunlight, the necklace, once so plain and unremarkable, now glowed softly. The gem at its center was clearer and more lustrous than before.

This was the necklace Yue Guan had given him, the one capable of storing living things. But now, it had been completely transformed, and the spiritual energy clinging to it was several times stronger than before.

Lin Ze'an carefully stroked the necklace, thinking back over his experiments that afternoon.

He'd started wondering about it as soon as he agreed to go out and gain experience. Bringing a spirit pet that so obviously looked like a Soul Beast along would make him stand out too much.

Since the necklace already had the ability to store living things, could he modify it into a more practical pet capsule?

If he could store Little Sprout in the necklace and carry it around, it would be safe and convenient—and let him catch his enemies off guard.

Limited by the materials and his skill, the finished product wasn't perfect.

For now, it could only store things. It couldn't restore a pet's condition like the capsules in Seer could.

Even so, this was the greatest improvement Lin Ze'an could make to the necklace with the tools and materials he had at hand.

And he had even upgraded it with the help of Mo Ruier's powerful life force.

Even a local of this world with the necessary skills wouldn't be able to make a container capable of storing Soul Beasts or spirits.

"Little Sprout, come give it a try!" He turned and beckoned to Little Sprout, who was watching curiously from the side.

Little Sprout came bouncing over and looked up at the necklace in Lin Ze'an's hand.

Lin Ze'an spoke gently to it. "Don't be afraid. I modified this necklace a little. From now on, you can live inside it."

Little Sprout tilted its head, seeming to understand what Lin Ze'an had said, then nodded firmly.

Next, Lin Ze'an gently stroked Little Sprout's head and carefully activated the necklace's storage function.

As he poured in his Soul Power, the gem at the necklace's center began to glow with a soft green light. The light gradually gathered into a tiny vortex that hovered in front of the gem.

"Now!"

Lin Ze'an gently picked up Little Sprout and pointed its tiny paws toward the green vortex of light.

Little Sprout was a little nervous, but it bravely took a step forward and slowly walked into the light.

"Dou..." Little Sprout's voice faded away as its body was gradually swallowed by the light.

As Little Sprout disappeared, Lin Ze'an stared intently at the necklace, afraid something might go wrong.

The moment Little Sprout's entire body entered the light, the gem on the necklace suddenly burst into an even brighter green glow.

The light lasted for a few seconds, then gradually dimmed until it vanished completely.

"It worked?!"

Lin Ze'an carefully examined the necklace, then tried to communicate with the space inside it through his Soul Power.

Almost at once, he sensed a familiar presence.

"Little Sprout!" he called excitedly, sending information and reassurance to Little Sprout inside the necklace through his Soul Power.

Then, the person and the sprout ran through a few more tests.

Little Sprout went from moving cautiously at first to doing it with ease, and the whole process grew smoother each time.

"It worked!" Lin Ze'an let out a long breath, his face breaking into a brilliant smile.

The necklace's structure was stable now, and its function worked properly. Little Sprout could come and go freely without any ill effects.

However, just as Lin Ze'an was about to test it one more time, a wave of intense exhaustion suddenly swept over him.

All afternoon, he'd not only poured a great deal of Soul Power into his experiments, but had also expended plenty of energy and brainpower.

Now, all the exhaustion seemed to hit him at once.

Still, he figured he'd simply forgotten to eat and had used up too much Soul Power. There wasn't enough Soul Power left in his body to keep it running, so his blood sugar had dropped.

Thinking this, Lin Ze'an sighed and slowly sat down, leaning his back against a small tree in the yard as he gasped for breath.

He thought he suddenly understood why there was no such thing as low blood sugar in Douluo Continent: Soul Masters mostly called it weakness caused by overusing their Soul Power...

The excitement and rosy glow had faded from his little face, leaving it pale.

Before his consciousness sank into darkness, a leaf gently rested in his palm, and a warm, soothing current of Soul Power slowly flowed into him.

After quite a while, once the depleted Soul Power in his body had gradually been replenished, Lin Ze'an finally recovered.

When he opened his eyes, Little Sprout was right in front of him, looking worried.

"Little Sprout." He sat up, about to say something, when Little Sprout suddenly bounced away from his side and darted over to the pile of herbs nearby, quickly rummaging through them.

In the blink of an eye, the little thing had picked up several herbs and turned to bounce back toward him.

"Doudou!" Little Sprout looked up at him, a green herb still clenched in its mouth.

It ran up to Lin Ze'an, then—

"Chomp!"

To Lin Ze'an's shock, it shoved a whole handful of herbs straight into his mouth!