A Substantial Profit

Fearing that Huo Wu might get carried away in the heat of battle and kill him too, Lin Huo did not dare to linger and bolted back to his dormitory at lightning speed.

Lying on the sofa to rest for a moment, only then did Lin Huo have the mind to inspect the benefits he had just acquired.

First was the compensation for defeat from top-ranked big brother Huo Wushuang, a heavy, large bag of gold soul coins numbering at least five or six thousand.

The compensation previously won from defeating Huo Yun and the others had only amounted to a little over two thousand; looking at this lavish payout from Huo Wushuang, one could only say he truly lived up to the title of young master of the Fire Clan behind Blazing Fire Academy.

After careful counting, Lin Huo realized that he already possessed a total of over eight thousand gold soul coins in his hands.

Slumped on the soft sofa, with the scent of expensive sandalwood lingering at the tip of his nose, Lin Huo's eyes gradually drifted.

Eight thousand gold soul coins—to him, this was already a massive sum that had once only existed in his fantasies, and to New Town as a whole, it was an entirely unreachable astronomical figure.

Yet how long had he even been a soul master? He had already earned eight thousand gold soul coins into his hands.

Why else would people say that the soul master demographic was a born privileged class?

And these aristocratic soul masters of Blazing Fire Academy were privilege among privileges.

A mere trickle of wealth casually flowing from these people was enough to sustain an ordinary person's food and clothing for a lifetime, simply making it difficult to keep a calm mind.

I'll have to ask around at the academy later to see if there's any way to mail a thousand gold soul coins back.

Lin Huo had never forgotten the impoverished small town where he had lived for six years.

A mere thousand gold soul coins meant little to him, yet it was enough to change the living standards of the entire town, making it well worth the trouble.

Kicking the bag containing the eight thousand gold soul coins aside, Lin Huo pulled out the waist token that Huo Wu had shoved into his hand moments ago and examined it closely.

This square waist token was roughly the size of an adult's palm, its main body a deep shade of blue, with parts glowing a pale green somewhat resembling the color of oxidized bronze.

The material of the entire waist token was some kind of metal Lin Huo did not recognize, but the texture to the touch felt more like warm, smooth white jade.

No characters were carved onto the waist token; it was simply covered densely with patterns that looked entirely meaningless.

Three translucent black gems were inlaid in the center of the waist token, making the whole thing look quite extraordinary.

Fiddling with the waist token, Lin Huo found himself a bit puzzled.

Why would Huo Wu suddenly give him a waist token? Surely this thing wasn't a storage soul tool, was it?

With a self-deprecating laugh and operating on the mentality of giving it a try, Lin Huo simply channeled a bit of soul power into the waist token.

With the input of soul power, Lin Huo's spirit immediately established a connection with a mysterious space.

Holy crap! It really is a storage soul tool!

Judging from a rough estimate alone, the space inside this storage soul tool was around three cubic meters.

Currently, the entire space was empty, with only a single envelope floating quietly inside the dark space.

Having no idea what the principle or construction was, Lin Huo simply moved his mind and extracted the envelope into his hands.

Impatiently tearing open the envelope, the first thing that appeared before Lin Huo was a gold soul coin card with a face value of a staggering thirty thousand.

How many zeros? Five! How much? Thirty thousand!

Lin Huo drew in a sharp breath. His eight thousand gold soul coins had just arrived and hadn't even grown warm yet, and now a whole thirty thousand more had immediately come in!

Monstrous wealth suddenly smashed down onto his head, inevitably causing Lin Huo to feel dizzy.

Taking deep breaths until he had calmed down for a while, Lin Huo finally subdued his excited emotions and began to think calmly.

Thirty thousand gold soul coins paired with a storage soul tool—this was no small amount.

A mere piece of information on perfecting body-forging methods actually proved worthy of such a generous reward in the eyes of the academy.

That could only mean that the cultivation system of Douluo Continent was truly discouragingly backward.

His speechlessness regarding the cultivation level of Douluo Continent diluted the joy of acquiring the gold soul coins.

With a sense of insipid boredom, Lin Huo put the gold soul coin card in his hand aside, took out the letter, and began to read it carefully.

The word count on the letter was not high; it was a brief commendation letter which read:

"This storage soul tool is named the Quenched Copper Three-Jade Plaque, containing a space of three cubic meters, and is of precious value. It is hereby awarded to those with outstanding performance and exceptional talent in our Blazing Fire Academy. It is hoped that the recipient will continue to work hard in the future, remain humble and prudent, and avoid complacency."

Upon seeing this commendation letter, which was clearly written in advance, Lin Huo immediately understood the situation in his heart.

Outstanding performance, exceptional talent—these obviously had not a half-penny to do with him, who had yet to make any great display of his abilities.

To be able to receive this reward, the influence of Huo Tian and Huo Wu probably accounted for a significant proportion of it.

Otherwise, given his status as a nobody, following the usual practices of those in power, they would have simply shoved some gold soul coins at him to dismiss him; why would they ever give out something as precious as a storage soul tool?

After rejoicing for a while, Lin Huo stowed his entire net worth into the Quenched Copper Three-Jade Plaque for safekeeping, and then tucked the three-jade plaque into his bosom, fearing it might be lost.

Pondering on how he should find an opportunity later to properly thank Huo Tian and Huo Wu for their help, Lin Huo stood up, walked out of his dormitory, and hurried toward the direction of the academy library.

There would be plenty of opportunities to express gratitude and repay kindness later; for now, he had better get his own affairs sorted out first.

The trip to the library concerned his subsequent series of plans and had to be settled as soon as possible.

Moving in a hurried rush, Lin Huo quickly arrived at the library of Blazing Fire Academy.

With no mind to admire the exquisite architectural exterior of the library, Lin Huo eagerly walked straight inside.

Upon entering, what met his eyes was an antique-style interior decoration, with exquisite bookshelves made of red mahogany neatly arranged in rows on both sides, leaving a wide boulevard open straight to the depths of the library.

Luxurious desks were lined up all the way along the boulevard for people to retrieve books from the bookshelves on both sides and return to read them.

Gazing into the distance at the jam-packed bookshelves in the library that stretched endlessly out of sight, an expression of joy naturally crept onto Lin Huo's small face.

He wasn't afraid of books being endless to read; what he feared was that the academy's library truly had nothing worth reading.

Originally, he had guessed that given the speechlessly backward cultivation methods of the Douluo World, there probably wouldn't be much worth reading in the library either, but now it seemed he had worried far too much.

"Hello, little student Lin Huo. I am Huo Wushu, the librarian of the Blazing Fire Grand Library, and you may address me as Book Elder. I wonder what books you need to peruse during your visit to the library today?"

With the familiar service attitude dialed all the way up, the moment Lin Huo arrived inside the library, an old man with wrinkles on his face warmly hurried up to greet him.

"This is my first time visiting the academy library. Could you please give me a detailed introduction first, Book Elder?"

"Of course." Book Elder readily agreed, and then introduced the detailed situation of the library to Lin Huo in an aged voice:

"The library of our Blazing Fire Academy is massive in scale, having collected books from nearly the entire continent. Furthermore, it interacts mutually in certain aspects with top libraries such as the Spirit Hall Library, Heaven Dou Imperial Library, and Star Luo Grand Library.

The collection within the library is abundant, whether it be various schools of soul master theories, strange tales from across the continent, or the personal cultivation insights of soul masters—everything can be found here.

There are even copies of self-created soul skills stored within the secret vault, though certain conditions must be met before they can be opened.

Student Lin Huo, you may simply state whatever you need directly to the staff within our hall, and the relevant books will be retrieved for you by the staff."