Dragon Horse

The Shadow Clone flashed forward and swapped places with Silver Chariot. The Fierce Toad lunged at empty air, its tongue striking a phantom. Two more Shadow Clones stabbed at it, forcing it to pull back its long tongue and curl up in defense.

This time, the Fierce Toad was wary. It watched the four-foot-tall human child and tried a different approach: an attack that covered the whole area!

Mud splashed up as it rolled, sending venom-laced clumps flying at Jodio. Silver Chariot immediately turned to protect him. Standing sideways just like Jodio, one hand on its hip, it swept its sword through a flurry of strikes and knocked every clump away, venom and all.

"Too slow. Far too slow." Jodio drove Silver Chariot's sword into the mud, then flicked a spray of it into the Fierce Toad's eyes. As soon as it squeezed them shut, he switched to Stone Free, pulled himself forward, and slammed a fist into its wound. The toad cried out.

Its gaping mouth left its tongue exposed. Stone Free seized it and yanked it out, then smashed an elbow down, severing its nerves and muscles. But just as Flender expected Jodio to finish the Fierce Toad off, Jodio stepped back, recalled Stone Free, and swung up into a tree with it.

"Why stop?" Flender asked curiously.

"No need to go further. Those injuries won't heal for three years, and I've got no grudge against it. I don't need its Spirit Ring, either, so there's no reason to kill it," Jodio explained.

"Teacher, Spirit Beasts take a long time to mature. If we don't protect them from indiscriminate killing, sooner or later our descendants won't have any Spirit Rings left to use. Better to spare one when we can," Jodio added.

"That makes sense." Flender nodded in agreement. Spirit Beasts and humans might be mortal enemies, but from Jodio's perspective, there was nothing wrong with thinking that way. They were a resource, after all. They couldn't just be slaughtered at will.

"Let's find one with a strong life force. Ideally, something suited to a Healing Soul Master," Jodio suggested.

"Those aren't easy to find." Despite his words, Flender picked Jodio up and resumed the search. Spirit Beasts with strong life forces and healing abilities tended to hide in the hardest-to-reach parts of the forest. Finding one would be anything but easy.

"Though Healing Soul Masters and food-type Soul Masters rarely need a particular Spirit Beast," Flender added when he had a moment. "That's where you've misjudged things, little Jo."

"I know, but my Martial Soul is unusual. It needs something similar to bring out its potential." Jodio understood what Flender meant. Healing and food-type Soul Masters could use almost anything because their Martial Souls already had a fixed direction. His was different. Something closely related would give him the best result.

"There's a Clover Leopard due north. How about that one?" Flender asked as he scanned the forest with his eagle eyes.

"Wrong attributes. It's better suited to a Soul Master who relies on concealment. If I used it, I'd probably get Yellow Temperance or Khnum," Jodio explained.

The Clover Leopard was a green leopard-like Spirit Beast. Once it lay down in the grass, it was almost impossible to spot—a born sneak. It might suit Zhu Zhuqing when she arrived, but Jodio had no need for support Stands like Yellow Temperance or Khnum. He had already decided what he thought of each of his Stands.

"I think there's a Golden Dragonfish in that pond. What about it?" Flender asked, looking in another direction.

"The color fits, but its attributes don't. I might end up with Lovers or Kraft Work." Jodio couldn't take that risk. He had to find something with at least a trace of life in its nature.

If he chose on a whim, he could certainly assemble an unbeatable set of Stands. Red Hot Chili Pepper was excellent. So were High Priestess and Cream. But those offered raw power and potent abilities; none could take him beyond a god. What he wanted was that path—the path DIO had once walked.

"But wait. Dragon Horses live near Golden Dragonfish!" Jodio suddenly remembered. Flender had clearly forgotten after spending so long taking it easy, but Jodio was still young. A Dragon Horse would be perfect!

Dragon Horses were Spirit Beasts that looked much like Qilin. Apart from having no fur, they had the same golden glow, deer's body, and dragon's head. Their abilities were far weaker, though. Aside from rapid self-healing, they had little to boast of. They even had a fine set of teeth despite eating nothing but plants. Among Spirit Beasts, they were small fry.

"Will that really work? That one's only two hundred years old," Flender asked uneasily.

"Two hundred years is enough. Speed up, Teacher. I'm going in." Jodio summoned Stone Free and readied himself.

"Then here we go!" Once Flender had descended far enough, he hurled Jodio forward. Jodio used Stone Free's threads to swing through the forest toward the Dragon Horse. When he was ten meters away, he threw a punch, sending Stone Free's heavy fist flying from its arm into the beast's neck!

Remarkably, the Dragon Horse survived the blow. It fled in panic, but Stone Free's other hand caught its neck and pulled Jodio rapidly closer. A moment later, he was riding on its back!

"This ends here." Jodio switched to Silver Chariot and drove its blade into the back of the Dragon Horse's skull. Blood burst out, and Silver Chariot pulled him clear of the spray. A yellow Spirit Ring appeared. The job was done.

"We'll make it back in time for dinner," Jodio said with a smile.

"Is a two-hundred-year Spirit Ring really suitable? What a failure of a teacher I am, letting my student take one that weak," Flender said with a helpless, self-mocking sigh.

"Two hundred years is plenty. Lots of Soul Masters have a ten-year Spirit Ring as their first." Jodio waved the concern away. What mattered to him was the catalyst, not its quality. In the future, he and a few other geniuses would work out how to condense their own Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones. From their sixth Spirit Rings onward, most of them would make their own. If his second ring was a little weak, so be it.

In the future, whenever Jodio had time to spare, he would do research and race Tang the God King to develop new powers. From individual strength to raising everyone's potential, he, Huo Yuhao, and the other little monsters had more or less worked out methods for self-condensed Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones. Between those, the Spiritual Power Cultivation Method, Soul Power Refinement, and Martial Soul Ascension, they had a complete system. Even someone born with only half a level or one level of Soul Power could reach level thirty. Besides, Soul Power would no longer be the only measure of strength. Soul Tools had become a force for change on the scale of a technological revolution.

Speaking of which, should I try working on Soul Tools? Jodio wondered as he sat down to meditate.

← To be continued

Currently available information:

Level 20 Stand: Stone Free

Holder: Jodio Joestar

Spirit Ring: Yellow — 400-year-old Great Rock Python

Destructive power: B+; speed: B; range: C+; durability: B+; precision: C; developmental potential: A

Stand ability: It could turn Jodio's body into thread that he could control freely. But the thread remained part of his body, so severing it injured him. The damage would heal gradually.

The thread had a wide range of uses. In humanoid form, the Stand's range was only about 1.3 meters, dropping its range rating sharply to E+.