I Don't Lack Anything Anymore!

The cold silver chamber echoed with savage growls. All three soul beasts were barely clinging to life.

The Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear on the far left had long lost the majesty of a forest overlord. Its dark golden fur was caked with mud and dark brown scabs.

The Devouring Dragon was in even worse condition. Not a single scale on its body remained intact, and its chest was caved in. An ordinary soul beast would have long since died, but it had barely survived on account of its earth dragon bloodline.

"So, what is your choice?"

The white-robed old man adjusted his glasses and looked at Lin En, his tone carrying a hint of intrigue.

"Let me guess. The Silver Hero Beast."

"I'm becoming more and more fascinated by you. Your Martial Soul is clearly bones and possibly blood, yet you want to choose a soul beast with a spiritual attribute.

"Of course, I'm not particularly curious about your secrets. I'll discover them eventually."

"You aren't merely level ten, are you? I imagine you can obtain a second Soul Ring as well. Of these three soul beasts, you may choose two as your Soul Rings."

Lin En did not care what the old bastard was thinking. Refusing benefits offered to him would mean something was wrong with his brain, so he directly chose the Silver Hero Beast.

But he hesitated over the second soul beast. The cultivation of all three was somewhat low; according to Little Sage's estimates, his first Soul Ring could theoretically have been a thousand-year one.

"Oh, are you worried about their age?"

"Heh, I didn't expect you to have such long-term vision."

The old man noticed Lin En's hesitation and pointed at the three soul beasts.

"Do you know? In some major factions, the foremost consideration when disciples choose Soul Rings is not age, but the practicality of the soul skill. Age can only come second.

"After all, what difference does it make if the first and second Soul Rings are thousand-year rings? Their raw power cannot be much higher. It is better to choose soul skills with useful mechanics, then pursue raw power in the third and fifth Soul Rings."

"As far as mechanics go, hundred-year and thousand-year Soul Rings differ little. Only the duration of the soul skill and some of its values may vary."

"There is another point. A Soul Ring's age is not fixed; there are always ways to raise it. Our Holy Spirit Cult has such a method."

Lin En knew that the Holy Spirit Cult possessed a method to increase the age of Soul Rings. The original work had not specified how it worked, but it might have been related to the so-called Spirit Ascension Ritual.

During the three years he had spent here, the old man before him had briefly mentioned the Spirit Ascension Ritual. He had said that only those who underwent it could be considered true members of the Holy Spirit Cult and gain access to the cult's core.

As for the Holy Spirit revered by the cult, the scattered words of those Holy Servants suggested that its faith was exceedingly hollow. What traits that deity possessed and what the central doctrine of the faith was remained a mystery. It seemed to be connected to slaughter.

Sweeping aside those superfluous thoughts, Lin En pointed toward the iron cage in the middle. He chose the Devouring Dragon.

The Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear might have a slightly stronger bloodline than the Devouring Dragon, but Dark Gold Terror Claw did not suit Lin En. What Lin En valued more was the Devouring Dragon's innate soul skill: Devour Heaven and Earth.

If he acquired this soul skill, it might produce a wonderful reaction with the Mysterious Heaven Skill. Working together, the two could strengthen the Devouring bloodline's abilities.

The old man was somewhat surprised. From his perspective, the Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear was more compatible with a skeletal Martial Soul, but he did not interfere.

If a Soul Master seeking strength did not even know what path he should take, he was no different from trash. He believed this clever child would choose the most perfect combination.

With a crisp snap of his fingers, the iron cages holding the Devouring Dragon and the Silver Hero Beast erupted with violent currents. Blue-white arcs danced across flesh and blood.

The two soul beasts let out miserable howls and slammed madly against their cages, but the cages were specially made Soul Tools. Mere hundred-year soul beasts could never break free.

It did not take long before both soul beasts collapsed onto the ground, barely alive.

The cages opened. The old man tossed Lin En a short blade and said,

"Kill them yourself and absorb their Soul Rings.

"I'll be waiting outside. Don't waste too much time."

The old man turned and left. The silver-white walls descended, creating a sufficiently quiet environment for Lin En.

Holding the short blade, Lin En entered the Devouring Dragon's cage first. This Devouring Dragon was five hundred years old, making it suitable as his first Soul Ring. The Silver Hero Beast could serve as his second.

The blue creature, extremely similar to a tyrannosaurus, lay on the ground with its massive jaws opening and closing faintly.

This was actually Lin En's first time encountering a living soul beast. Even with its scales shattered, it still possessed a striking beauty, making Lin En marvel at the wonders of biological evolution in a supernatural world.

But that sense of wonder did not stop Lin En from acting. The cold blade pierced precisely through the Devouring Dragon's eye and into its brain. With a twist of his wrist, he churned the brain into pulp and ended its life completely.

As the Devouring Dragon died, a faint yellow glow rose from its corpse and gathered above it into a yellow Soul Ring.

The moment the Soul Ring appeared, Lin En felt his Martial Soul emit a yearning emotion. Following his instincts, he sat cross-legged on the ground and used his Martial Soul to draw in the Soul Ring.

"Detected a large mass of high-purity Soul Power. The meridians have expanded. Beginning absorption."

"Estimated progress toward brain modification: five percent.

"Simulation: The energy from two Soul Rings will be sufficient to complete the final brain modification."

The dormant Little Sage spoke. It had sensed the Soul Ring's energy, which surprised Lin En. In the past, electric shocks, fire, and all kinds of elemental skin treatments had never provided such an enormous amount of energy in an instant.

Or rather, the utilization efficiency of those energies was far inferior to that of the Soul Power contained within a Soul Ring.

According to his original plan, once the brain modification succeeded, he could construct an open personal reality based on the Nibelungen Theory. Then he would have hope of escaping this place.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Lin En began absorbing the Soul Ring with all his strength. The energy of the five-hundred-year Devouring Dragon Soul Ring was far greater than that of an ordinary Soul Ring.

The difficulty of absorption was no less than absorbing an ordinary thousand-year Soul Ring as his first ring. Fortunately, Lin En was durable enough that he did not even need to sever his pain nerves. Compared to elemental skin treatments, this felt like a massage.

About half an hour later, the yellow Soul Ring completely merged into Lin En's body. Not a trace of energy was wasted; all of it was stored within his body's energy cells.

The lock suppressing Lin En's Soul Power Level shattered completely the moment the Soul Ring fully entered his body.

The Soul Power in his dantian surged upward at an astonishing rate, while the spiritual power within his Sea of Spirit rose as well.

If there had been an instrument to measure his level, it would have shown that he had reached level twenty. Like breaking through a world-level cap in certain large-scale games, the experience he had accumulated finally had an outlet.

Without taking the time to inspect the soul skill in his mind, he hurried to the second cage and sent the dying Silver Hero Beast to meet Tang Buddha.

Looking at the deeper yellow Soul Ring, Lin En's throat trembled. The energy contained within this Soul Ring would pry open the gates of this damned dungeon for him!

The Soul Power accumulated by the seven-hundred-year Silver Hero Beast poured into Lin En's body, nourishing every cell along his meridians. His unique energy cells erupted in celebration.

The high-energy Soul Power was locked within the cells, laying the foundation for an evolution. The Silver Hero Beast's Soul Power was much weaker than the Devouring Dragon's and gentler in nature, making it easy to absorb. There was a considerable gap between the two species.

This time, only ten minutes passed before the Silver Hero Beast's Soul Ring completely entered his body. The level-twenty shackles on his Soul Power shattered, and he could continue cultivating all the way to level thirty.

Information about two soul skills surfaced in his mind. Lin En calmed himself and sensed the first and second soul skills of his Immune System Martial Soul, a smile curling across his lips.

"Just as expected. As expected of you, Little Sage. Your calculations were right on the mark."

"Devouring and Memory!"

"I don't lack anything anymore!"