Twelve Gold a Month! Sweet! An Emissary from Above!

Early the next morning, the sky had only just begun to brighten.

The dull sound of heavy impacts already echoed through the courtyard of the Spirit Hall branch in Notting City.

Bare-chested, Li Long gripped a five-foot iron staff with both hands and repeatedly swung it against an iron post as thick as a bowl.

Sparks flew where the iron staff collided with the post. Every strike was solid and powerful, making the ground tremble faintly.

Sweat ran down his back, glistening in the morning light.

He had already been training for an hour.

"Li Long, that's enough. Come inside."

Fanolan's voice came from the entrance to the deacon's office. Holding a stack of papers, he beckoned to him.

Li Long lowered his staff and exhaled a breath of stale air. He pulled on his outer robe and strode over.

"Grandpa Fanolan, are we handling the registration today?"

"Yes. I sorted out your documents last night. We just need to go through the procedure this morning."

"For formal Soul Master registration, we need to enter information on your martial soul, soul power level, first soul ring age, and soul skill details."

"I asked you about all this yesterday. We're only following the process now. Check that everything is correct and sign your name."

Fanolan stepped aside to let him in and motioned for him to sit at the desk.

A form lay on the table, its neat handwriting clearly Fanolan's own.

Li Long took it and read through it from beginning to end. Martial Soul: Iron Staff. Innate Soul Power: Level Three. Current Soul Power: Level Thirteen. First Soul Ring: Five-Hundred-Year Mighty Vajra. First Soul Skill: Mighty Vajra Staff (200% increase to strength and defense).

Everything was correct.

He picked up the pen and signed his name at the bottom.

"Done."

"From today onward, you are a formally registered Soul Master of the Spirit Hall's Notting branch."

"Keep this badge safe. It bears the branch number and your personal registration code. You'll need it whenever you conduct business within the Spirit Hall system, collect supplies, or accept missions."

Fanolan retrieved the form, then took a bronze badge from beneath the desk and handed it to him.

Li Long accepted the badge and turned it over in his hand.

Its bronze surface had been polished smooth. The front bore Spirit Hall's emblem: a six-winged angel holding a holy sword, with the small characters for Notting pressed beneath it.

The back displayed a string of numbers: Notting-037.

He carefully fastened it at his waist.

"Next, let me explain your benefits."

"Under Spirit Hall's regulations for supporting grassroots Soul Masters, every formally registered Soul Master receives a base monthly salary of ten Gold Soul Coins."

"There is also an incidental allowance for equipment maintenance, medicinal material consumption, and the like. That amounts to one Gold Soul Coin, so the two together make eleven."

Fanolan returned to his seat and counted it out on his fingers.

He paused, took a palm-sized thin card from a drawer, and pushed it toward Li Long.

"This time, you broke through Level Ten. That counts as an outstanding performance for the branch, so under the rules, you also receive a one-time special subsidy of an additional Gold Soul Coin each month."

"So, you'll receive twelve Gold Soul Coins every month now." Fanolan smiled. "Don't think that's a small sum. A typical family of four in Notting City spends only one and a half Gold Soul Coins a year. It's more than enough for you alone to eat, drink, and cultivate, especially since food and lodging are provided here."

Li Long quietly ran the numbers in his head.

Over the three and a half years since he had transmigrated here, he had lived frugally and saved roughly sixty Gold Soul Coins in total through the branch's apprentice stipend and occasional odd jobs.

More than half of it had gone toward whale glue. He had started by buying ten-year-grade supplies and slowly worked his way up to hundred-year-grade ones. Now, he had just over twenty Gold Soul Coins left.

At twelve Gold Soul Coins a month, that came to one hundred and forty-four in a year.

He had asked about the price of eight-hundred-year whale glue last time. The apothecary owner had quoted forty-five Gold Soul Coins.

In later times, it would definitely cost far more than that.

After saving for three or four months, he could buy another portion.

If he could accept tasks for reserve deacons in the future, he would accumulate money even faster.

"Twelve Gold Soul Coins are enough." Li Long spoke seriously. "Thank you, Grandpa Fanolan, for securing this subsidy for me."

"You earned it yourself." Fanolan waved a hand. "Anyone else would have exploded from a five-hundred-year soul ring. All right, the important business is done for today. Go take care of your own matters. I'll call for you once a reply comes from Spirit City."

"Yes."

Li Long put away his badge and salary voucher, then rose and left.

Over the next three days, he did not idle around.

He trained as usual during the day. Every morning, he performed five hundred weighted staff swings, then went to the branch's rear courtyard in the late morning to spar with several low-level Soul Masters.

His opponents were all one-ring Soul Masters just above Level Ten. Although the strength of their martial souls varied, they were more than sufficient for honing his reactions in actual combat.

Fanolan occasionally watched from beneath the corridor eaves, observing how Li Long dealt with harassment from agility-type opponents and how he used the iron staff's attack range to control the field when surrounded.

His conclusion was that Li Long had good combat instincts, but his lack of speed was obvious.

If he encountered a true agility attack-type Soul Master who refused to meet his attacks head-on and instead circled around to wear him down, he would be forced into a passive position.

"I need to find a way to make up for that, either with my second soul ring or movement technique training." Li Long understood this clearly himself and silently committed it to memory.

On the third afternoon, he volunteered to accompany the patrol team into the outskirts of Soul Hunting Forest for a support mission.

They cleared out several ten-year soul beasts that had slipped out from deeper within, preventing them from disturbing the villages along the forest's edge.

The mission was not difficult, merely practice, but during the running pursuit, he unexpectedly discovered one benefit of his strengthened body.

His explosive sprints were much faster than before. His endurance was still average, but his short-range bursts were enough to let him catch most opponents of the same level.

When he returned that night and meditated cross-legged, he sensed his soul power stirring faintly within him.

It was a sign that he was about to reach the barrier of Level Fourteen.

"The foundation brought by a five-hundred-year first soul ring really doesn't stop at Level Thirteen."

A trace of delight rose in his heart, but he did not rush to break through. Instead, he settled down and continued strengthening his foundation.

At noon on the fourth day.

A shrill bird cry tore through the sky above Notting City.

Everyone in the branch looked up.

A massive blue-gray bird with a wingspan of nearly five meters swooped low overhead. The wind pressure from its beating wings knocked over the clothes racks drying in the courtyard before it landed in the plaza before the main hall.

A man leaped down from the bird's back.

He was a gaunt, stern-faced middle-aged man in his early forties, dressed in a dark-blue fitted outfit with a silver badge pinned to his chest.

That was the emblem of Spirit Hall's Deacon Hall. It was completely different from the branch's bronze badges, and its quality was plainly several tiers higher.

Fanolan had already hurried out to greet him. From a distance, he clasped his hands in salute. "Special Envoy Ling Su, you have come from afar. Forgive me for not welcoming you properly."

Ling Su nodded and got straight to the point. "Deacon Fanolan, headquarters received your message. They take the record of a five-hundred-year first soul ring and a first soul skill that increases strength and defense by 200% very seriously. Spirit City ordered me to conduct an on-site retest."

His gaze passed over Fanolan and landed on Li Long, who had come out behind him. He looked him over from head to toe. "This is the kid?"

"That's him." Fanolan stepped aside. "Li Long, come and greet Special Envoy Ling."

Li Long stepped forward and bowed with neither servility nor arrogance. "Junior Li Long greets Special Envoy Ling."

Ling Su did not waste words. He directly took out a soul-testing orb slightly larger than Fanolan's from his robes. It was crystal-clear, with faint light flowing across its surface. "Put your hand on it."