The next second, Jiang Lan reached level 11.
"Little Guga?"
Jiang Lan scratched his head in confusion. He hadn't expected this.
Everyone knew a Divine-bestowed Soul Ring wasn't something handed out casually—with the Clear Sky Sect in Douluo II being the exception.
He remembered what went on at the Clear Sky Sect: Tang San gave his own family special treatment.
As for the Tang Sect?
God King Tang San would ask what that was. He didn't know them.
When Bo Saixi sensed Jiang Lan's breakthrough, the corners of her mouth twitched.
No, Lord Sea God, aren't you being far too biased?
Normally, receiving a divine gift required passing Lord Sea God's trial.
But Jiang Lan?
He hadn't done a thing, yet he'd received a Divine-bestowed Soul Ring.
She guarded Sea God Island and presided over the Sea God's Nine Trials. Of the geniuses she'd seen, there were eight hundred if not a thousand.
Those geniuses fought tooth and nail to complete the First Trial. After escaping death by a hair's breadth, battered from head to toe, they knelt before the Sea God Palace and begged Lord Sea God for a reward through streaming tears.
And how did Lord Sea God treat them?
He barely acknowledged them.
He pushed the trials' difficulty to the limit and pinched every possible scrap from the rewards. Giving someone one extra Soul Ring seemed as though it would kill him. His stinginess was outrageous.
For a time, Bo Saixi had thought Lord Sea God was simply aloof and treated everyone alike.
Now she knew better.
Aloof? Treating everyone alike? What nonsense.
He just hadn't met his own little boy yet.
Just look: Jiang Lan had only just awakened his Martial Souls at six and hadn't even reached the threshold for the First Trial. Yet Lord Sea God had eagerly delivered a Divine-bestowed Soul Ring to his doorstep, terrified his own illegitimate son might start half a step behind everyone else.
He'd even wrapped the Soul Ring in a blue glow to send it down looking pretty. He'd gone all out.
Bo Saixi hadn't received that treatment even after completing her trial!
Hmph. Men.
Bo Saixi sneered inwardly.
Jiang Lan hadn't thought that far. His body just felt warm and cozy, as comfortable as soaking in a hot spring.
Once the blue orb had completely merged with him, he stretched his arms and legs and felt power coursing through his whole body.
"Mom Bo Saixi, I think I got stronger, guga!" Jiang Lan waved his stubby little arms excitedly, the sleeves of his penguin onesie flapping with sharp smacks.
Bo Saixi looked at him without expression. "Mm. You're level 11."
"Only level 11?" Jiang Lan pouted in disappointment. "I thought I might jump straight to Titled Douluo."
Bo Saixi: "..."
Did he hear himself?
Most children who awakened their Martial Soul at six counted themselves blessed if they had any Soul Power at all. Innate Full Soul Power was a once-in-a-century talent.
And you awakened two Martial Souls, got a Divine-bestowed Soul Ring for free, shot up to level 11, and still think it isn't enough?
While Bo Saixi was grumbling inwardly, Jiang Lan decided to try his first Soul Skill.
He was quite curious about it, because his first Soul Skill was called Sea God Form.
"Mom Bo Saixi, I'm going to try my first Soul Skill, guga!"
Before Bo Saixi could stop him, Jiang Lan channeled his Soul Power.
Golden light burst from his body, illuminating the entire Sea God Palace as brightly as day.
Bo Saixi narrowed her eyes instinctively. She even felt a flicker of anticipation; after all, Lord Sea God had bestowed this Soul Ring himself.
When the light faded, Bo Saixi saw what Jiang Lan looked like, and her expression fell apart.
How to put it?
Judging by its name, Sea God Form ought to be a majestic, imposing figure: golden light blazing all over, Trident in hand, looking down upon the world.
Jiang Lan was indeed shining gold. He had gained a suit of golden armor, and he held a Trident.
The problem was that the armor had been scaled to fit his current size.
There stood a round little dumpling who barely reached an adult's knee, wearing a miniature suit of golden battle armor.
The armor bulged over his thick penguin onesie. His breastplate stuck out round as a ball, and his shoulder guards were jammed against either side of his penguin hood. He looked like a penguin stuffed into a golden tin can.
And the Sea God's Trident in his hand should, in theory, have been a mighty divine weapon over two meters long.
Instead, Jiang Lan held a miniature Trident about as tall as he was, only a little longer than a barbecue skewer. White fluff rubbed off his penguin onesie still clung to its prongs.
Jiang Lan looked down at himself and moved his arms. The golden armor went clack, clack.
"This armor fits pretty well, guga!"
Then he raised the miniature Trident, pointed its prongs upward, and planted its butt on the floor, trying to strike a dashing Sea God's Descent pose.
But he forgot that his penguin onesie had nonslip soles, while the Trident's shaft was too thin. When he planted it, he lost his balance and toppled backward, Trident and all.
"Little Guga—!"
Splat.
Jiang Lan landed flat on his back like an overturned turtle. His two stubby legs kicked several times in the air, but he simply couldn't flip over.
The back of the golden armor curved out too far. His penguin suit had already made him round, and the armor made him rounder still. He was a golden roly-poly toy now—except he'd fallen and couldn't get up.
Bo Saixi looked down at Jiang Lan flailing on the floor, the corners of her mouth twitching wildly.
Sea God Form.
This was Sea God Form, the first Soul Skill granted by Lord Sea God's Divine-bestowed Soul Ring.
The Sea God Form she had imagined: clad in golden battle armor, wielding the Sea God's Trident, standing atop towering waves with the Sea God Phantom rising behind him, radiating world-shaking might before which ten thousand beasts bowed.
The Sea God Form she got: a round little dumpling in a penguin onesie, squeezed into miniature golden armor, clutching a short Trident with fluff on its prongs and unable to roll over.
"Mom Bo Saixi, help, guga!" Jiang Lan gave up struggling and lay sprawled on the floor, the miniature Trident across his chest rising and falling with each breath. "I can't get up!"
Bo Saixi took a deep breath, bent over, and pinched the collar of Jiang Lan's golden armor between two fingers. She lifted him bodily, then set him straight on the floor like a potted plant.
Once Jiang Lan had found his footing, he patted nonexistent dust from his armor. Then he raised the miniature Trident again and looked up at Bo Saixi, his eyes bright enough to glow.
"What do you think, Mom Bo Saixi? Don't I look super cool like this?"
Bo Saixi looked at the crooked helmet on his head, his round golden breastplate, and the miniature Trident in his hand that looked more like a toy than a toy. Then she looked at the tail of his penguin onesie poking out through a gap in the armor over his backside.
Silence.
Five long seconds of silence.
"...Cool." As Bo Saixi said the word, her throat felt as dry as though sandpaper had scraped it.
Jiang Lan grew even more enthusiastic. He thumped the miniature Trident against the floor.
"I bet this Soul Skill can evolve later!" Jiang Lan said with utter confidence. "Once I'm a Titled Douluo, this Trident will definitely grow to two meters long!"
"Then I'll stand at the entrance to Sea God Island in my golden armor, flash my Trident, and who'll dare attack, guga?"
An image sprang unbidden into Bo Saixi's mind.
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