Forceful Killing Move: Three Meals a Day!

"Hmm, I don't know. This little guy doesn't seem to have changed at all?"

Qin Qi examined the Strength-Eating Immortal Gu. It was still plump and round overall, with no strange new patterns appearing on its body.

Nor did he instantly know what his soul skill was, like learning a skill in a game.

"Let's head back first. We can slowly figure out the soul skill once we return to the academy."

"Don't worry. The soul skill brought by a thousand-year soul ring definitely won't be an ordinary one."

Seeing Qin Qi staring at the soul beast's corpse, Qin Ming assumed he was worried about his soul skill.

He patted Qin Qi on the shoulder and spoke.

"Yeah, bro, how do you think we should transport this guy back?"

"Or should we roast it right here?"

Qin Qi looked at the soul beast. He was not pondering what his soul skill might be—he was figuring out how to eat this thing.

This was a soul beast, a great tonic. Leaving it here would be such a waste.

"Um... forget it."

"It's too big to carry around, and it could easily attract attacks from other soul beasts."

Qin Ming was somewhat taken aback by Qin Qi's words. Ever since awakening his martial soul, his little brother seemed to have turned into a foodie.

"I know, but seeing such a huge chunk of meat, I really can't bear to waste it."

As Qin Qi spoke, he could not help licking his lips. The Strength-Eating Immortal Gu perched on his shoulder nodded as well.

It seemed to agree with Qin Qi.

"Do external beast martial souls affect a soul master's personality? Or does a soul master's personality determine what kind of external beast martial soul they awaken?"

Looking at the man and bug, Qin Ming unconsciously began to ponder the question. He had been a teacher for too long; it had become an occupational habit.

"Ahem. We can buy soul beast meat anytime. Safely leaving the forest is more important right now."

"Let's go, let's go."

Hearing the roars of beasts in the forest around them, Qin Ming pulled his attention away from his thoughts.

He grabbed Qin Qi's hand and hurried away. The soul beast's blood would attract nearby predators.

"Ah... what a pity."

"It would definitely smell amazing roasted. Why do I suddenly feel so hungry?"

A fierce wave of hunger suddenly rose within Qin Qi. Wearing a regretful expression, he let Qin Ming pull him away.

After returning to the village near the Star Dou Great Forest and entering an inn, Qin Qi immediately ordered a table full of dishes.

"Mm! Mm! Mm!"

The Strength-Eating Immortal Gu repeatedly bumped its head against Qin Qi's neck, as though it were trying to say something.

"Are you hungry too?"

Qin Qi looked at the Strength-Eating Immortal Gu and asked instinctively.

"Mm! Mm! Mm!"

The Strength-Eating Immortal Gu nodded frantically.

"Here."

Qin Qi fed the Strength-Eating Immortal Gu a piece of pork, which it quickly finished.

"Mm! Mm! Mm!"

The Strength-Eating Immortal Gu continued bumping Qin Qi's neck.

"You're still not full?"

"Mm! Mm! Mm!"

"Then have two more pieces."

Qin Qi fed the Strength-Eating Immortal Gu some more food. Once it was full, it curled into a disk and fell asleep.

"Bro, I think I know what my first soul skill is."

As Qin Qi ate, feeling the energy continuously flowing from the Strength-Eating Immortal Gu into his body, he spoke.

"What is it?"

Qin Ming asked.

"It seems the Strength-Eating Immortal Gu's appetite has grown. It could normally only eat one piece of meat, but now it can eat at least three times as much."

"I think we can switch what we feed it from pork to soul beast meat later on. Its digestive ability should be sufficient now."

Qin Qi could not help laughing as he spoke. The effect of the first soul skill from his thousand-year soul ring was turning him into a bottomless pit.

"My soul skill... seems to have turned me into a bottomless pit."

Qin Qi smiled and said, "Even a good-for-nothing has its strengths. You can't look down on it just because it's a good-for-nothing."

Qin Ming pushed up his glasses and spoke with a serious expression.

After eating their fill, Qin Qi and Qin Ming went to rest. The next day, they set off back to Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

Qin Ming first went to greet the three instructors, then returned to help Qin Qi measure the specific changes brought about by obtaining this spirit ring.

Soul power, physical attributes, increased food intake—after three full days of precise measurements, they finally compiled the data.

First, his soul power had surged all the way to Rank 17!

"The boost from a mere thousand-year spirit ring shouldn't have been this enormous. Over the past year..."

"Although your soul power appeared not to have increased, it had actually been accumulating the entire time. Once you absorbed your first spirit ring, all that accumulated soul power erupted at once."

"Looking at it this way, not only was that year not wasted, it actually allowed your cultivation progress to far surpass that of others."

"At the same time, it has made your foundation incomparably solid. So long as nothing unexpected happens in the future, becoming a Soul Douluo is practically certain!"

Qin Ming looked at his younger brother with an extremely gratified expression. In this era of Soul Land I, there were no specific cultivation methods. If one wanted to grow stronger, they could only rely on talent. That was why Titled Douluo still carried such immense weight in this era.

"Mm."

Qin Qi nodded and felt the energy within his body. For some reason, he seemed to be hungry again.

"Next is the improvement in your physical attributes. According to our previous test data and the academy's collected records..."

"Your various physical attributes are now roughly comparable to those of a Rank 30 or so beast spirit master after possessing their martial soul."

Qin Ming's expression became a little strange as he said this. How should he put it? His younger brother...

Although his martial soul had no direct combat abilities, and his spirit ring did not provide any combat-type soul skills, with his martial soul's assistance, he was simply strong. At just over Rank 10, his physical attributes alone rivaled those of a Rank 30 spirit master.

Question: What ability does your younger brother have?

Answer: He's strong.

"Ah, the path of strength is fading away."

Qin Qi could not help shaking his head. How great would it have been if he had been given an Immortal Gu of Refinement Path or an Immortal Gu of Luck Path?

Now, all he had was brute strength. No skills, no special effects.

When he fought others in spirit battles later, everyone else would have special effects flying everywhere, while he would have, at most, two spirit rings.

Then he could only clench his fist and Eula his opponent.

"Then there's your food intake... Your appetite has tripled compared to before, and the same is true for your martial soul."

"Your digestion speed has also tripled."

"Originally, your martial soul could only eat once a day, roughly a fist-sized piece of pork each time."

"Now, it needs to eat at least three meals a day. And pork doesn't provide enough energy anymore—it has to eat beef."

"Your own appetite has also increased. You used to eat three meals a day, but now you need at least five or six."

"However, the increased food intake has brought faster improvements in your physical attributes. According to the data, your rate of improvement has roughly doubled compared to before."

Qin Ming looked at the data and drew a question mark on it with his pen. His food intake had tripled.

Logically speaking, the improvement in his physical attributes should have tripled as well. Yet the data showed that it had only doubled.

He guessed that some of the energy was being expended during conversion, or perhaps it was being directed elsewhere.

"Big brother, do you think I still need to do all that physical training now?"

Qin Qi rubbed his stomach with a smile on his face. Great, he had really become a good-for-nothing now.

"Mm. Based on the data, there's no need. Rather than spending time on that, you might as well eat more."

"Simple physical training is of limited help to you now. You'd be better off spending that extra time refining your combat techniques."

"That would make the best use of your abilities."

Qin Ming said.

Originally, I planned to show the protagonist's improvement in terms of jin of force, as that would make the progression more intuitive.

But the original author was so bad at math that the strength portrayals contradict each other before and after.

I was also afraid of getting it wrong, so I decided not to use numerical strength values in jin.