Culinary Experiment, Academy Class Assignment

The moment he thought of Hu Liena pinching his face and calling him cute earlier, goosebumps rose all over his body.

Venom poked its head out again just then.

[Hahaha, little Ning Yuan got teased. You looked as helpless as an incompetent husband just now!]

[Get lost!]

Ning Yuan was speechless. Why did Venom have to blurt out every single truth?

[Ning Yuan, didn't that old man say so just now? Contribution points can be exchanged for good food. I want to eat brains.]

After seeing off Xie Yue and the other two, Venom started getting restless again.

Looking at the eager Venom, Ning Yuan had some other thoughts in mind.

Yue Guan had already introduced it to him earlier. Spirit Hall had abundant resources, and as long as you wanted something, you could exchange contribution points for it.

Thinking of the virtual panel only he could see, he pondered how the progress bar on the panel had risen after he ate the fishman's brain last time. So what exactly caused it to increase?

Could it be that simply eating brains was enough?

Then how old did the brain have to be?

Would any age do, or did it have to start at a thousand years?

And with these brains, was there any difference between eating them raw and cooked?

Thinking this, Ning Yuan decided he still had to run an experiment.

He planned to spend contribution points at the cafeteria and exchange them for some brains from common soul beasts.

To control the variables, he found several control groups.

After all, experiments required controlling variables.

A hundred-year and a thousand-year specimen from the same kind of soul beast.

As well as brains from different soul beasts of the same age range.

And one raw and one cooked portion of the brain from the same type of soul beast.

[You're right. We do need to get some brains and try them.]

[Did I hear that right? A thousand-year-old iron tree finally bloomed, and you're actually not being stingy anymore?? Did the sun rise from the west!]

It was so happy now, its head full of the soft, tender texture of brains, and it could not stop chattering. The corner of Ning Yuan's mouth twitched, and his heart felt like it was bleeding.

The four portions of brains did not look like much, but ingredients from thousand-year soul beasts already came at a premium, and the raw ones also needed extra soul-power freshness-locking treatment, which directly doubled the price.

The moment the checkout number finished jumping, the new-student reward contribution points Yue Guan had just transferred to his token instantly bottomed out and hit zero.

His face drooped a little.

The start-up capital he had just received was all blown on one meal. Back to square one overnight.

Ning Yuan directly told the cafeteria his requirements through his token.

The people over at the cafeteria were completely dumbfounded after receiving the order.

What kind of fetish did this student have? Specifically eating brains?

And that was not all—he wanted both raw and cooked!

However, after working at Spirit Hall for many years, they had already seen all kinds of things. Many students had special requests, so Ning Yuan's request could only be called a bit more special.

After Ning Yuan finished ordering, he waited there.

Before long, the doorbell rang, and Ning Yuan opened the door.

When the delivery person saw that it was a six-year-old child, even his gaze changed.

This child's tastes were too heavy. He wanted to eat this many brains in one meal? He did not understand. There was a generation gap.

[All right, start with this big one.]

[Are you sure? This thing won't be easy. It's too big.]

[It's fine. I can swallow it.]

[Your mouth isn't that big, is it? Don't force it.]

[Just take it slow. Dip it in some sauce first to lubricate it.]

[Then take it easy. Don't choke after one bite.]

[Cut the crap. Hold it for me. I can't get the strength on my own.]

[Fine, fine, fine. Relax. I'll help push it in... yes, just like that... is it in?]

[Halfway in. Don't rush. I'll move a bit myself.]

Before him were the tempting brains, though of course, only Venom found them tempting.

At this moment, Venom was already drooling with greed.

Before Ning Yuan could agree, the possession was already complete.

Venom was opening his mouth wide right then, stuffing brain matter inside.

Because their senses were shared at the moment, Ning Yuan felt every bit of that sticky, greasy texture with perfect clarity.

But to distract himself from the sensation of forcibly holding back vomit, he focused his attention on the virtual panel.

Every time Venom ate a portion of brain matter, he glanced at it.

First came the century-old cooked brain matter. Venom swallowed it in two bites, but the panel's progress bar did not budge, and his body gave him no energy feedback at all.

Next was century-old raw brain matter. It tasted much fishier, but the progress bar remained quietly still, showing no sign of rising.

The third portion was thousand-year cooked brain matter. Venom chewed a little more slowly, and Ning Yuan felt that this one should work. After all, the thousand-year one was more expensive.

But when he lifted his eyes to look at the panel, the progress bar was still stuck where it had been.

Not until the final portion of thousand-year raw brain matter had been completely devoured by Venom—

The virtual panel trembled lightly, and the gray progress bar visibly jumped forward by a small segment, clear as day.

At the same time, a mellow, heavy stream of energy fed back from Venom's symbiote body and slowly flowed along his meridians through his entire body.

It was like soaking in warm water, every limb and bone relaxing from the inside out.

His muscles and bones, still somewhat thin because of his young age, seemed to be carefully nourished once over, and his sense of strength silently increased by a trace.

He also tried a more expensive portion of thousand-year brain matter.

This soul beast had been stronger than the previous one, and its quality was higher, so the progress bar rose by a larger amount as well.

At this point, the conclusion of the experiment was obvious. Only raw brain matter from soul beasts of a thousand years or above could push the panel's progress.

It had now risen to 26%.

As for why the increase was lower than the brain of the fishman soul beast, it was probably because this brain was not at its freshest, so its energy was somewhat discounted.

And the energy Venom fed back after digestion could still strengthen his physical body. Right now, he felt that his strength had increased by another thirty percent.

Venom gave a satisfied burp and sprawled on his shoulder, swaying there as if he had entered sage mode.

[Mm, tasty. Satisfied!]

Ning Yuan, however, looked at the completely empty contribution point balance in his token and let out a long sigh.

Venom had enjoyed himself, but he was the one who had become poor.

He had to hurry up and think of a way to earn contribution points.

And he also had to get his second soul ring as soon as possible.

Just because he had joined Spirit Hall now did not mean everything was settled.

All of Spirit Hall's resources had to be fought for. There was no such thing as getting them for free.

Even if one's talent was powerful, one still had to first display enough strength and show enough value.

Only then might Spirit Hall send people to take you to hunt soul beasts and obtain a soul ring.

Hadn't Yue Guan said that in three days, this year's new soul masters would have an assessment?

Perfect. He would use this chance to make that woman Bibi Dong realize just how impressive he was.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

At Spirit Hall Junior Academy, the training field was packed with noise and people.

The four areas of Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow were clearly divided.

On the high platform stood Li Chong, the principal of Spirit Hall Junior Soul Master Academy. He was at the Soul Sage level, and his martial soul was the Gale Demon Wolf.

He held a list in his hand. The new students' files and records had already been submitted by the various Spirit Hall branches three days earlier.

In the shadows slightly behind him, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan leaned against a corridor pillar without showing himself. He was only here to take a look at how a certain specially recruited little fellow was doing.

At the other end of the training field, Xie Yue, Gu Yuena, and Yan had also come.

As for whom they had come for, it went without saying.

Li Chong swept his gaze across the entire field, his voice like a great bell as it suppressed all the clamor.

"New students entering the academy will be assigned to classes according to Spirit Hall's unified registered records."

"The Heaven Class will be led personally by me and receive the greatest resource allocation. Earth, Black, and Yellow follow in descending order."

"Next, when I call your name, step forward."

He lowered his head, glanced at the list, and read out the first name.

"Luo Lie. Awakened three months ago. Innate full soul power, level ten. Martial soul: Crimson Flame Lion. Heaven Class."

The crowd below exploded at once.

"Crimson Flame Lion? That's a top-tier beast martial soul!"

"Innate full soul power plus a top-tier martial soul—he's got the makings of a Titled Douluo from the start!"

Six-year-old Luo Lie walked onto the high platform with his head held high, his gaze burning, as if he had been born to stand beneath the spotlight.

Li Chong raised a hand to quiet the noise and read out the second name.

"Lin Xiao. Awakened two months ago. Innate full soul power, level ten. Martial soul: Black Gold Heavy Halberd. Heaven Class."

Another commotion broke out.

"Another innate full soul power?!"

"What's going on this year? In past years, getting even one was big news, but this year there are two right away?"

Lin Xiao walked onto the stage with an utterly cold expression and stood beside Luo Lie.

The two exchanged a glance, and there was a hint of arrogance in both their eyes, because they were the same kind of person.

The people below the stage still had not recovered from their shock when Li Chong had already read out the third name.

"Ning Yuan. Awakened four days ago. Innate full soul power, level ten. Martial soul: unknown mutation. Rating: top-tier. Heaven Class."

The entire place fell silent for an instant.

Then it exploded with an even louder buzz.

"A third?! Three innate full soul powers in this class? Since when did innate full soul power become so common?"

"Is the overall standard of this class really that high?"

"In past years, getting one innate full soul power every few years was already pretty good. Today, three showed up at once!"

"A mutated martial soul... The gap between its upper and lower limits is way too big. If it's strong, it can destroy heaven and earth; if it's trash, it's not even as good as Blue Silver Grass."

"If it could be rated top-grade heaven tier, then its quality at least isn't bad. But with mutated martial souls, who knows whether something might go wrong later."