Dragon Horse

The Shadow Clone switched places with Silver Chariot in a blur. Fierce Toad lunged at empty air, its tongue striking the phantom. Two more Shadow Clones stabbed at it, forcing it to retract its long tongue and curl up in defense.

This time, Fierce Toad grew cautious. It watched the four-foot-tall human child and tried a different approach: an area attack!

Mud splashed everywhere as Fierce Toad rolled, sending venom-laced sludge flying at Jodio. Silver Chariot immediately turned to shield him. Standing sideways just like Jodio, one hand on its hip, it whirled its sword and knocked every glob away, venom and all.

"Too slow. Too slow." Jodio drove Silver Chariot's sword into the mud, then flicked a spray into Fierce Toad's eyes. The moment it squeezed them shut, he switched to Stone Free, used it to pull himself forward, and slammed a fist into its wound. Fierce Toad cried out.

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

"Why stop?" Flender asked curiously.

"No need. Its injuries won't heal for three years. I have no grudge against it, and I don't need its Spirit Ring. There's no reason to kill it," Jodio explained.

"Teacher, spirit beasts take a long time to mature. If we don't protect them and avoid needless killing, our descendants will eventually have no Spirit Rings left to use. Better to spare one whenever we can."

"That makes sense." Flender nodded firmly. Humans and spirit beasts might be mortal enemies, but from Jodio's perspective, this way of thinking seemed reasonable. They were a resource, after all. Slaughtering them indiscriminately would be foolish.

"Let's find one with a strong life force. Ideally, something suited to a healing-type soul master," Jodio suggested.

"Those aren't easy to find." Despite his words, Flender picked Jodio up and resumed the search. A spirit beast with a strong life force, suited to a healing-type soul master? Those creatures tended to hide in the most inaccessible parts of the forest. Finding one would be difficult.

"Though healing-type and food-type soul masters rarely need a specific kind of spirit beast. That's where your reasoning is off, little Jodio," Flender added.

"I know, but my martial soul is unusual. It needs the right kind of stimulus." Jodio understood what Flender meant. Healing-type and food-type soul masters could take almost anything because the paths of their martial souls were already set. His was different. Something with similar qualities would be best.

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

"Wrong attributes. It's better suited to a stealth-type soul master. If I used it, I'd probably get Yellow Temperance or Khnum," Jodio explained.

The Clover Leopard was a green leopard spirit beast. Once it lay down in the grass, it was almost impossible to spot—a born master of hiding. It might suit Zhu Zhuqing when he arrived, but Jodio had no need for support Stands like Yellow Temperance or Khnum. He already had a plan for every Stand he might obtain.

"I think I see a Golden Dragonfish in that pool. How about it?" Flender asked, looking another way.

"The color fits, but the attributes don't. I might end up with Lovers or Kraft Work." Jodio could not take that risk. He needed something with at least a trace of life-related power.

If he chose freely, he could certainly assemble an unbeatable set of Stands. Red Hot Chili Pepper was powerful. So were High Priestess and Cream. But those offered raw strength and potent abilities, not a path beyond godhood. What he wanted was the road Dio had once walked.

"Wait. There are Dragon Horses near Golden Dragonfish!" Jodio suddenly remembered. Flender had clearly forgotten such things after spending so long coasting along, but Jodio was still young. A Dragon Horse would be perfect!

A Dragon Horse was a spirit beast that looked much like a Qilin. Apart from its lack of fur, it had the same golden gleam, deer's body, and dragon's head. Its abilities were far weaker, though. Aside from remarkably fast self-healing, it had little to offer. It even had an impressive set of teeth despite being a herbivore. Among spirit beasts, it was small fry.

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

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

"Here we go!" Once Flender had descended far enough, he hurled Jodio forward. Jodio used Stone Free's threads to swing rapidly through the trees toward the Dragon Horse. At ten meters away, he threw a punch. Stone Free's heavy fist shot from its arm and struck the beast in the neck!

The Dragon Horse survived the blow and bolted in panic. But Stone Free's other hand caught up, clamped around its neck, and pulled Jodio toward it at high speed. He landed astride its back!

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

"We'll even 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 so young," Flender said with a helpless, self-mocking sigh.

"Two hundred years is fine. Plenty of soul masters have a ten-year Spirit Ring as their first." Jodio waved it off. What mattered to him was the catalyst, not its quality. In the future, those geniuses would work out how to form their own Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones. From their sixth Spirit Rings onward, several of them would create and tailor their own. If his second Spirit Ring fell a little short, so be it.

Whenever Jodio had spare time in the future, he would pursue research and compete with Tang the God King in an arms race. From personal power to raising everyone's potential, he, Huo Yuhao, and the other young monsters would develop methods for forming their own Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones. Between those methods, the Spiritual Power Cultivation Method, Soul Power Refinement, and Martial Soul Ascension, they would have the whole process covered. Even someone born with just half a level or one level of Soul Power could reach level thirty. By then, Soul Power would no longer be the only thing that mattered. Soul Tools would be in a league of their own, transforming society like a technological revolution.

Come to think of it, should I work on Soul Tools? Jodio wondered as he sat down to meditate.

Currently public information:

Level 20 Stand: Stone Free

User: Jodio Joestar

Spirit Ring: yellow — 400-year Great Rock Python

Destructive power: B+; speed: B; range: C+; stamina: B+; precision: C; development potential: A

Stand ability: Jodio can turn his body into threads and control them freely. The threads remain part of his body, so he is injured when they break, though he can gradually recover.

The threads have a wide range of uses. In humanoid form, the Stand's range is only about 1.3 meters, and its range rating drops sharply to E+.