The Half-Year Deadline, Setting Out for Spirit City!

Notting City, branch hall dormitory.

The night was deep as ink, and the wind slipping through the window cracks carried the dampness of early summer.

Li Long sat cross-legged on the bed, his breathing steady and prolonged, his chest rising and falling faintly.

Soul power slowly circulated through his meridians. After completing a cycle, it paused gently at certain subtle nodes, like water reaching a river channel that was not wide enough and having no choice but to slow down and wait.

He opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air.

"Level twenty."

He said it calmly, without much disappointment, more as if he were stating a fact he had long anticipated.

In half a year, he had risen from level fifteen to level twenty.

For a soul master with innate soul power at level three, such progress would draw attention in any branch hall.

Li Long got out of bed and rolled his shoulders.

His joints cracked crisply, and his muscles gleamed smoothly beneath the moonlight, noticeably sturdier than they had been half a year ago.

He clenched his fists, and the firmness in his palms confirmed it for him.

Over the past six months, he had not wasted a single day.

He had cleared all six C-rank missions within the first two months.

The first had been the extermination of a century-old venomous python on the outskirts of the Soul Hunting Forest. Its poison was deadly; even a graze would require amputation.

Li Long had probed it three times with his iron staff before figuring out its attack rhythm. In the end, he smashed its vital point with a single blow, taking two days to finish the mission.

The second had been escorting a batch of valuable ore to Soto City. Bandits had appeared on the mountain road, led by a retired low-level soul master with just over two soul rings.

Li Long shattered the man's weapon with one strike, and he immediately fled with his men. The mission was completed half a day ahead of schedule.

The third had been an investigation into unusual soul beast activity in the mining district west of the city. In the end, he discovered that an injured century-old cave spider had nested deep within the mine shaft.

The terrain was too narrow for his iron staff, so Li Long switched to its short-staff form and fought it at close range. He had worn it down for two full incense sticks before finally grinding it to death.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth missions.

Each had its own troubles and unexpected turns, but none of them could truly threaten him anymore.

The physical strength of a three-ring Soul Elder was there for all to see. The claws and fangs of century-old soul beasts could only leave pale marks on his skin. The so-called high risks of C-rank missions had become nothing more than physical labor to him.

On the day he cleared the missions, Fanolan updated his file. His bronze badge was replaced with an ordinary deacon badge of silver-plated iron.

His monthly salary rose from twenty-two gold to forty-four, directly doubling.

His authorization level also rose by one rank.

He could now apply to higher-level branch halls for transfers of goods.

It was also during an escort mission that he finally obtained that thousand-year whale glue.

It had been during his third escort mission to Soto City, when he had privately contacted the people from that merchant association.

They had traveled the Eastern Sea route for years and had their own channels.

He spent a full one hundred and eighty gold, along with a promise to continue accepting their escort missions in the future, before exchanging it for a piece of whale glue nearly a thousand years old.

It was the size of a fist, dark brown and translucent, and as heavy as a lump of iron.

He melted it down and consumed it that very night.

The moment its medicinal power spread, the violent heat nearly blasted him into unconsciousness.

It was more than twice as intense as the eight-hundred-year whale glue.

He even felt as though his organs were burning. Continuous cracking sounds came from within his bones, as if an invisible giant hand were reshaping his entire skeleton.

He gritted his teeth and endured.

For an entire night, his sweat soaked through three layers of bedding.

When he rose the next morning, he punched the wall. Stone dust showered down, and a shallow dent appeared in the wall.

His three-ring Soul Elder physical strength was firmly stabilized, while the lingering force of the medicine pushed his soul power to just above level seventeen.

After that, he gradually used another three pieces of century-old whale glue. Combined with training more than ten times harder than anyone else's and the resource allocation assistance he had received, he had finally managed to force his soul power to level twenty today.

He had just barely crossed the threshold.

But that was enough.

"Half a year of grueling cultivation, level twenty, the physical strength of a three-ring Soul Elder, mastery of every kind of staff technique..."

Standing before the window, he reviewed each condition in his mind.

The sun had just poked half its face over the horizon. Morning light dyed the outline of the Soul Hunting Forest dark gold. Notting City was still asleep, and the streets were empty.

"Half a year, innate level three, and I made it this far. It's enough."

He withdrew his gaze, turned, and walked to the table, tightening the pack he had prepared in advance.

He tucked the iron staff, shrunk into its short-staff form, behind his waist. Spare clothes, dried rations, the mission handbook, his ordinary deacon badge, and the remaining forty-odd gold soul coins all went into a leather backpack.

When he pushed open the dormitory door, the corridor was still dark.

He walked to the deacon's office. The door was ajar, and dim yellow light spilled from within.

Li Long raised his hand and knocked.

"Come in."

Fanolan sat at his desk with a letter spread out before him, as though he had just finished writing it.

He looked up, saw Li Long carrying his pack, froze for a moment, then smiled.

"You reached level twenty?"

His tone carried a trace of disbelief.

Level twenty in half a year.

The boy was simply insane.

That drive had exceeded his expectations.

"Yeah, I just barely crossed the line," Li Long said with a nod.

Fanolan sighed. "What a pity. There are only seven days left before registration closes for the tournament. It'll take you at least five or six days to get there. There isn't enough time to hunt your second soul ring, and otherwise it could delay you enough to make you miss this opportunity."

Li Long shook his head. "It's fine. I'm already satisfied to have reached this point. As for the second soul ring, I'll deal with it after I reach Spirit City."

Fanolan nodded. "That works too. As long as you perform well, someone will take the initiative to help you obtain your second soul ring. When do you plan to leave?"

"Today." Li Long nodded. "Grandpa Fanolan, thank you for taking care of me these past six months."

Fanolan waved a hand, folded the letter before him, and passed it over. "Don't thank me so soon. Take this letter with you. If you run into any procedural trouble after reaching Spirit City, take it to the External Affairs Office at headquarters and find someone named Lin Xiuyuan. He was a student I taught in my early years. He's an ordinary clerk there now and can save you some time standing in line."

Li Long accepted the letter, carefully tucked it into his clothes, and solemnly cupped his fists in salute.

Fanolan looked at him, his gaze somewhat complicated.

He seemed to want to say something, but his lips moved before he merely patted Li Long on the shoulder. "Go. Don't disgrace the Notting branch hall."

"Mm."

Li Long turned and strode outside.

Morning light flooded the corridor, stretching his shadow long behind him.

Fanolan stood at the door and watched him go until that figure vanished beyond the branch hall gates.

He sighed and muttered to himself, "Innate level three, level twenty at ten years old, and only four years... How far can this kid really go?"

That was right. Li Long was ten years old now.

Morning light passed over the eaves, bathing all of Notting City in warm gold. Far down the official road, a lone rider grew smaller and smaller before finally disappearing beyond the horizon.

"Spirit City... the tournament."

Those days of small skirmishes in Notting City were over.

The stage ahead was where all the gifted youths of the same age from across the entire Spirit Hall system would gather.

He did not know how powerful the people standing across from him would be, but he knew one thing.

He had to fight his way through this battle.

The fast horse streaked down the road like a flash of light, racing at full speed toward Spirit City.

Li Long closed his eyes, gripping the middle of the iron staff in his palm until his knuckles turned faintly white.

This was Spirit Hall's fastest horse.

Even so, it took a full six days of travel along the official road.

He finally arrived on the morning of the seventh day.

It was also the final day of registration.

Li Long opened his eyes and looked ahead, and the sight before him made his pupils contract slightly.

A city far more magnificent than Notting City sprawled across the land. Its walls soared into the clouds, and the flow of people was overwhelming!

At the very center of the city stood a massive palace. The statue of the Six-Winged Angel atop its dome gleamed with a silvery-white radiance beneath the moonlight, gazing down in all directions.

Spirit City.

He had arrived.