Spiral Staircase

"A king had a king's talents, and a chef had a chef's talents. Little Oscar, do you understand what that means?" Jodio rose, walked slowly behind Oscar, and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"It means a king can't do a chef's job?" Oscar asked, confused.

"What counts as useful depends on who's judging. A flying Spirit Beast might matter a great deal to the headmaster, but not nearly as much to Teacher Zhao," Jodio said slowly, his voice almost coaxing.

"Your Martial Soul is special. Otherwise, Shrek Academy wouldn't have admitted you. Right now, all you can do is make snacks for us, but once you gain Spirit Rings, I'm sure you'll become a top-tier support Soul Master. Heh. As a classmate of a genius like me, you're destined to be a genius too. You'd better be one~" Jodio continued.

"He's right about that, Oscar." Flender crouched beside him, his tone earnest. "Across the entire continent—remember, the entire continent—there's no record of a food-type Soul Master born with Innate Full Soul Power."

"Whether you're useful is for you to decide. If you think you're useless, there's no need to be my classmate or my friend. I, Jodio Joestar, only befriend the strong and the gifted!" Jodio declared proudly, gripping his shirt collar with one hand and planting the other on his hip.

There he goes again. Flender thought Jodio was remarkably proud, but it wasn't the kind of pride he expected. A gifted child who might come from a well-off family ought to look down his nose at his peers. Yet Jodio wasn't particularly sharp-tongued. He was good-natured, even willing to comfort others.

Another little monster, Flender couldn't help thinking.

"Boss Jo, why do you have to look so cool?" Oscar asked, unable to resist teasing him.

"Born this way. Soy milk~" Jodio shrugged and wandered back to the fire.

"Teachers, won't you try some? All-natural, pollution-free wild rabbit. Once you've tasted this sweet roast rabbit, even the Heaven Dou emperor couldn't compare to you!" Jodio said, eagerly offering them a roasted rabbit leg.

"Well, little Jo, how thoughtful. I'll accept it on Teacher Flender's behalf." Zhao Wuji shamelessly reached for it.

"Come on. What's wrong with you, snatching food from children? Go think about what Spirit Rings we should hunt for those two." Flender hooked an arm around Zhao Wuji's neck and dragged him away with a wave.

"What's there to think about? Power for one, agility for one, support for one."

"You haven't even figured out little Jo's Martial Soul, and you're calling him agility-type? Have you turned into a bear for real?"

"I don't like the sound of that. Fight me without flying if you've got the guts."

Listening to them, Jodio fell into thought. What would his second Spirit Ring be—or what should it be? For that matter, what had his Martial Soul become now? Even he would have trouble explaining it.

In the future, he had specialized in King Crimson. All nine Spirit Rings had essentially served it. At level ten came King Crimson Summoning; at twenty, King Crimson: Time Erasure; at thirty, King Crimson: Epitaph; at forty, King Crimson: Continuous Time Erasure; at fifty, King Crimson: Time Frame Extraction; at sixty, King Crimson: Time-Anchored Erasure; at seventy, King Crimson Avatar; at eighty, King Crimson: The World; and at ninety, King Crimson: Requiem—Ouroboros Dream.

Back then, every Spirit Ring he had fed into King Crimson, and the result had been devastatingly effective. He could kick around anyone at his level like a stray dog. Someone one tier above him could barely trade blows with him; two tiers above could pose a threat. Only at three tiers above would an opponent have the sort of advantage a level-twenty fighter had over a level-ten one. That was the invincible King Crimson. No need to fret over where to put his points. Its numbers were beautiful. All he had to do was keep playing with time.

But now? Silver Chariot couldn't follow King Crimson's path. He could hardly go with Silver Chariot: Time Erasure or Silver Chariot: Epitaph, could he? Then again, perhaps the whole approach was wrong. His first Spirit Ring might even give him a different Stand.

"Why couldn't it?" Jodio suddenly realized that this was where the secret of the Spiral Staircase lay. The words "Spiral Staircase" slipped from his lips—a secret phrase he had coined in the future for the key to ascension. Whatever else was true, Silver Chariot's appearance had far too much in common with the Spiral Staircase.

"Eat up. Once we're full, we'll hit the road tomorrow," Jodio said with a hearty laugh. Both boys shuddered. Boss Jo's choice of words was something else. Listening to him was like listening to bullfrogs croak in a field. He really needed to stop using phrases at random.

Conditions at Shrek were limited, but Jodio hardly cared. What a joke. He had spent more than a decade collecting corpses near the front lines between the Star Luo Empire and the Sun Moon Empire. What harsh conditions hadn't he seen? If both sides hadn't needed someone to clean up the dead, he would probably have been killed long ago. Compared with that unpredictable life, sleeping in a shared room was nothing.

"Boss Jo, where are you from? Some rich family, right?" Ma Hongjun asked. Jodio had practically forced him to wash his feet before bed, and only after wriggling under the covers and daydreaming about his future Spirit Rings did he poke his head out.

"What rich family? My dad collected corpses, and my mom was a seamstress. My grandfather was the first Soul Master in the family, and his Martial Soul was a shovel that wasn't much use. At best, we were the sort of family that didn't starve," Jodio replied without a care.

"How's that possible? You carry yourself so well, Boss, and your clothes look expensive," Oscar said, poking his head out too.

"You silly kid. A wealthy young man I met on the road took a liking to me and bought them. His name was Huo Yuhao. There, a full name and everything. Believe me now?" Jodio sighed helplessly.

He wasn't lying. Before beginning the Trial, Jodio had always dressed quietly; he had basically been another Scumbag Boss. Only after becoming sworn brothers with Huo Yuhao had he started showing off, wearing gold, and eating well. Little Huo really was rich. He had made plenty of money producing Soul Tools. Of course, Jodio had owned a share and helped design many of them.

Before level eighty, Jodio had always worn his hair like a moldy strawberry. It was only after obtaining the hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring "King Crimson: The World" that it had turned a flamboyant gold. Back then, Huo Yuhao had hated Jodio's provocative, shoulder-baring, backless sweater—the one Diavolo wore in the original—and insisted on replacing it with a black shirt, gold jacket, and trousers. Oddly enough, that outfit had shrunk along with him. He couldn't make sense of it. He really couldn't.

"Then, Boss, your dendrobium..."

"Little Oscar, you don't have to put your longing so delicately. I promise I'll fulfill your wish and find four huge guys wearing hardly any cloth in the Amazon rainforest to do that to you!" Jodio said with a smile, stroking Oscar's blue mushroom-cut hair.

"I was wrong, Boss! Long live the boss! You have my loyalty!"

Oscar and Ma Hongjun promptly rolled over to sleep. Before settling down, Jodio glanced at his watch one more time. Only then did he truly relax.

Time flowed at different rates. The watch was the only thing he had that could measure the difference between the two sides.

I hope it works.

Shrek Academy lay in the southern part of the Balak Kingdom, closer to the Star Dou Great Forest. Hunting Spirit Beasts there was still too dangerous for two level-ten children, but it posed little risk to Zhao Wuji and Flender, both Soul Sages. As long as they stayed out of the center, they could find a few century-old Spirit Beasts around the outskirts.

"Teacher Zhao and I have thought through your Spirit Rings. We've more or less made plans for you."

Flender spoke casually as he looked at the three youngsters following him with their luggage. Each carried little more than bedding, something even a six-to-eight-year-old Soul Master could manage. Getting there from the academy hadn't taken long, either. They had ridden ox carts for much of the journey, so it had hardly been difficult. Of course, perhaps the two Soul Sages had simply taken it easy because all three children were only six to eight years old.

"Oscar, you're a food-type Soul Master. Your task this time is to try using your abilities in a real fight. Mostly, I want you to gain experience and see how a Spirit Beast hunt works," Flender explained.

As soon as they entered the Star Dou Great Forest, the surging Soul Power made Jodio feel much better. It came from the resonance of Soul Power holders living together. A large population of Spirit Beasts could produce it too, provided the surroundings were peaceful enough and they weren't constantly slaughtering one another.

"Hongjun, your Martial Soul is the Fire Phoenix, an excellent power-type Martial Soul. But right now, Teacher Zhao and I can still guide the chaotic Soul Power out of your body. Once your level rises, that'll be much harder to control," Flender said, troubled.

In truth, Flender hadn't given up on treating Little Ma from the start. He valued Ma Hongjun, whose Martial Soul was also a bird, but the boy's condition was terrible. For now, Flender could guide the chaotic Soul Power out of him. Once Hongjun gained a Spirit Ring, though, it would almost certainly become difficult to control. They would probably need another solution.

"I have a way, Teacher. Go ahead and hunt a Spirit Ring for him," Jodio suddenly said. It had been a problem ten thousand years ago, and it was still a problem ten thousand years later. But to Jodio, it really wasn't one. Damn it, he refused to believe there was no other way to ease it. If he couldn't get immortal herbs now, he'd try training: drain Hongjun's Soul Power dry every time. If that failed, he could wait until he had Crazy Diamond or Gold Experience. Somehow, he would cure it.

"Don't joke about this, little Jo. Be serious," Zhao Wuji said with a frown.

"I am serious. The simplest option is training therapy. After that, we just wait for me to get the Spirit Ring I need," Jodio replied with complete confidence.

"Teachers, have a little faith in my Martial Soul. One day, you'll see it become famous across the continent."