Flander, You Don't Want the Academy to Go Under, Do You?

Early the next morning, Lin Yuan headed out with his fishing rod on his shoulder.

Two people stood at the door.

Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang had changed into a clean long robe and carried a bundle.

Tang San wore a bamboo basket on his back, looking a little uneasy.

"My dad told me to follow you."

Lin Yuan blinked. "Follow me?"

Tang San nodded earnestly. "His exact words were, 'Stay close to that kid. Watch how he gets himself into trouble, and learn from it.'"

"...Your dad has a vicious tongue."

Grandmaster coughed. "All right, let's go. The academy's twenty li from here. We need to arrive before dark."

The three set off.

Grandmaster walked in front at an unhurried pace.

Lin Yuan followed with his fishing rod over his shoulder, glancing now and then at the ditches beside the road.

Tang San brought up the rear, clutching Blue Silver Grass in his hand, lost in thought.

After half an hour, they passed a stream.

Lin Yuan stopped and edged toward the water.

Without looking back, Grandmaster said, "Don't fish. We need to keep moving."

"I'm just checking if there are any fish."

"You spent all afternoon fishing yesterday. Wasn't that enough?"

"Fishing buddy, that's where you show your inexperience." Lin Yuan crouched by the stream and dipped a hand in to test the temperature. "When an angler sees water, it's like a Soul Master seeing a Soul Beast. He can't walk past."

Grandmaster sighed and stopped.

Tang San came closer and whispered, "Grandmaster, does he have some kind of illness?"

Grandmaster answered gravely, "Yes. A compulsion caused by Martial Soul Mutation. It's the first case I've seen."

Lin Yuan ignored them. After staring into the stream for a while, he suddenly frowned. "There aren't any fish in here."

"How do you know?" Tang San asked.

"The water's too clear, there are no aquatic plants, and there isn't even a footprint on the bank. Someone's been netting it recently." Lin Yuan stood and scanned the stream. Then he pointed beneath an old willow. "There's something over there."

Grandmaster and Tang San looked where he pointed. A pitch-black hollow among the willow's roots lay half submerged.

Lin Yuan walked over and gently slipped his hook into the hollow.

Three seconds.

The line snapped taut.

Lin Yuan flicked his wrist. A two-foot eel came flying out of the hollow, golden from head to tail, writhing like a snake in the sunlight.

[Ding! Hundred-Year Soul Beast: Golden-Patterned Eel. Assessment: A slippery old customer hiding in a tree hollow.]

Grandmaster leaned in for a look, nearly dropping his glasses into the water. "You... you can catch one like that?"

"Eels nest in tree hollows. It hides in there by day and comes out at night, but it's overcast today. The light's dim, so it thought night had fallen." Lin Yuan took the eel off the hook and checked the system notification.

[Release reward: Soul Power +0.5 level. Current Soul Power: Level 6.5.]

He casually tossed the eel back into the stream.

Grandmaster grew anxious. "Why did you release it? That's a Hundred-Year Soul Beast! You could sell it in the city for several Gold Soul Coins!"

"Fishing buddy, you're thinking too small." Lin Yuan shouldered his rod. "There's an extra reward for releasing it. That's worth more than money."

"What reward?"

"Not telling."

Grandmaster: "..."

Watching from the side, Tang San suddenly said, "Lin Yuan, the way you looked at the water just now was exactly how my dad looks at iron ore."

"Obviously. We're both looking for something." Lin Yuan started walking. "Your dad looks for iron, I look for fish. Different professions, same principle."

The three continued on their way.

Near noon, a city wall came into view. It was low and drab gray, with people streaming through the gate.

Grandmaster led them straight to the east side of the city. The academy stood on a quiet street there. Its gate was shabby, half its signboard hung crooked, and there wasn't even a guard outside.

"This academy..." Lin Yuan looked up at the signboard. "It looks like it's gone out of business."

Grandmaster pushed up his glasses. "Not yet. But it's close."

"..."

The three went through the gate. The courtyard was small, weeds filled its corners, and three wooden posts on the training ground had snapped. Only one remained more or less intact.

A booming voice came from the main hall. "Yu Xiaogang! You've got the fucking nerve to show your face here?"

A burly middle-aged man strode out. He had a square face, thick brows, large eyes, messy hair, and a black Soul Master uniform washed pale with age.

Flender.

He walked up to Grandmaster and held out a hand. "Pay me back."

Grandmaster's expression did not change. "I have no money."

"It's been three years since you borrowed twenty Gold Soul Coins!"

"I came to bring you students this time." Grandmaster stepped aside, revealing Lin Yuan and Tang San behind him. "Two of them. One has Innate Full Soul Power, and the other has a Martial Soul Mutation."

Flender sized up Tang San, then looked at Lin Yuan.

"Innate Full Soul Power?" He walked over to Tang San and reached out to sense his power. His eyes lit up at once. "Good kid! Blue Silver Grass and Innate Full Soul Power! Yu Xiaogang, you've finally done one decent thing!"

He turned to Lin Yuan. "And you? What's your Martial Soul?"

Lin Yuan took the fishing rod off his shoulder and held it upright.

Flender stared at the emerald-green bamboo rod for three seconds.

"Yu Xiaogang."

"Mm."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Grandmaster coughed. "His Soul Power is level six."

Flender froze. "Level six? At six years old? What was his innate level?"

"Zero."

Flender looked as though someone had punched him. He looked at Grandmaster, then Lin Yuan, and finally the fishing rod.

"Zero innate Soul Power, and you went straight to level six after awakening?" Flender circled Lin Yuan three times. "How did you do it?"

Lin Yuan pointed toward the outskirts of the city. "At the river. I fished, and kept fishing, and then I leveled up."

Flender stopped and stared at him. "Are you serious?"

"Ask Grandmaster if you don't believe me."

Flender looked at Grandmaster, who nodded solemnly. "I saw it with my own eyes. He hooked a Hundred-Year Soul Beast, and it turned directly into Soul Power that flowed into his body. I studied it all night and still couldn't work out how it happened."

Flender was silent for a long time.

Then he suddenly laughed.

"Good!" He slapped his thigh. "Interesting! I'll take this kid!"

"Hold on." Lin Yuan raised a hand. "I haven't said I'm coming here."

Flender frowned. "What do you mean?"

"How much is tuition at your academy?"

"Five Gold Soul Coins a year."

"Does that include room and board?"

"A room, but no meals."

"That won't do." Lin Yuan shook his head. "I eat a lot."

Flender's mouth twitched. "How much can a six-year-old eat?"

Lin Yuan did not answer. He turned to Grandmaster. "Grandmaster, does Notting Academy have a pond?"

Grandmaster paused. "There's a small lake behind the hill..."

"Good." Lin Yuan turned back to Flender. "Headmaster, I'll pay the tuition."

Flender's eyes brightened. "Really?"

"Really. But I have one condition."

"...Go on."

"The academy's lake is mine to manage." Lin Yuan planted his fishing rod on the ground. "From today on, I'll supply the fish for the academy cafeteria. But I decide what happens to anything I catch in that lake."

Flender thought it over. No one ever went to the lake behind the hill. Aside from weeds and toads, there was nothing in the water. It was no use to him.

"Deal!" He held out a hand to shake.

Lin Yuan did not take it. He merely smiled. "Headmaster, one more thing."

"What?"

"Your academy's admissions notice says you train monsters. I think I could be its poster boy."

Flender looked at the fishing rod in his hand, then at his utterly serious face. Suddenly, he had the feeling he might have admitted an even bigger headache.

From the side, Grandmaster added quietly, "Flender, he can fish. Hundred-Year Soul Beasts, to be precise."

Flender took a deep breath. "Fine. Do whatever you want. But there's one thing..."

"Go ahead."

"Don't fish my academy out of existence."

Lin Yuan gave him a sincere smile. "Don't worry. I only fish for what's in the water."

He headed toward the hill behind the academy with his rod on his shoulder. After a few steps, he looked back. "Tang San, coming?"

Tang San hesitated and glanced at Grandmaster, then Flender.

Flender waved him on. "Go on. Following that kid will teach you more than sitting in class."

Tang San hurried after Lin Yuan.

Grandmaster watched their retreating backs, then suddenly spoke. "Flender."

"Mm?"

"What do you think his Martial Soul is?"

Flender folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. "No idea. But in all my years, I've never seen someone level up just by catching a fish."

He paused, then turned to Grandmaster. "You'd better give up that Martial Soul Theory of yours and find another line of work."

Grandmaster stood silent for a long while. Then he took a little notebook from inside his robe and wrote a line on the first page.

"Martial Soul: Myriad Worlds Fishing Rod. Attributes: unknown. Cultivation method: fishing."

After a moment's thought, he added another line:

"Recommendation: don't provoke him."

Beside the small lake behind the hill.

Lin Yuan crouched on the bank and cast his line into the water.

Tang San stood behind him and could not help asking, "Are you really planning to fish here?"

"Not yet."

"Then what are you doing?"

Lin Yuan looked back at him, his expression serious. "Baiting the spot."

"What does that mean?"

"It means letting the fish know there's food here."

Tang San thought for a moment. "And when the fish come?"

Lin Yuan propped up the rod and leaned back, hands behind his head, watching clouds drift slowly across the sky.

"When they come, I fish. If they don't, I wait."

"How long?"

"Depends on my luck."

Tang San was quiet for a while, then suddenly asked, "Yesterday you released two fish, a loach and a grass carp. Today you released an eel. Why?"

Lin Yuan closed his eyes. "The system gives me rewards for releasing them."

"The system?"

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you." Lin Yuan waved a hand. "Just think of it this way: I don't fish to kill fish. I fish to make a deal with them."

"What kind of deal?"

"I give them a way to live, and they give me Soul Power." Lin Yuan opened one eye. "A fair trade. No cheating children or elders."

Tang San nodded, half understanding.

Just then, the float plunged beneath the surface.

Lin Yuan sprang upright like a carp leaping from the water and seized the rod.

"Got one!"

He flicked his wrist. The line pulled straight, the rod bent into a full moon, and the shadow beneath the water shot more than ten meters away.

Tang San stood and stared at the water. "How big is that thing?"

Lin Yuan gritted his teeth, his face flushed crimson. "No idea, but it's definitely not a grass carp!"

The line carved a white streak across the surface at astonishing speed. Aquatic plants along the shore were knocked every which way.

Lin Yuan dug his feet into the ground and leaned back.

"Tang San."

"Mm?"

"Give me a hand! It's going to pull me in!"

Tang San grabbed the back of his collar.

Together, they finally hauled the fish into the shallows by the bank.

A silvery-white carp more than three feet long broke the surface. Faint blue sparks danced across its scales. It lashed its tail, sending spray bursting three feet into the air.

A system notification exploded in Lin Yuan's mind:

[Ding! Thousand-year Soul Beast: Thunder-Patterned Silver Carp. Fishing difficulty: Extremely hard. Assessment: Did the host check the almanac before going out today?]

Lin Yuan stared at the fish, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

"Tang San."

"What?"

"Do you think Flender would waive my tuition if he knew I caught a thousand-year Soul Beast on my first day here?"

Tang San didn't answer.

He had seen the Thunder-Patterned Silver Carp lash its tail. A streak of blue lightning raced up the fishing line.

"Lin Yuan! Let go!"

Lin Yuan didn't.

He took the jolt head-on. His hair stood on end, and a puff of black smoke escaped his mouth.

Then he laughed.

"A lightning-attribute fish?" He wiped his face, baring his white teeth. "The reward for releasing it has to be good."

He reeled in the line and hauled the Thunder-Patterned Silver Carp onto the bank.

The silver carp crackled with electricity on the grass. Lin Yuan crouched beside it, trembling with every shock as he asked the system, "What do I get if I release it?"

[Release reward: Soul Ring condensation progress +30%. Additional Soul Skill unlocked: Lightning Fishing Line.]

Lin Yuan turned to Tang San.

Tang San took a step back. "Don't look at me."

"Help me hold it down."

"It's electrified!"

"That's why I'm asking you! Your Blue Silver Grass is wood-attribute. It doesn't conduct electricity!"

"Then why don't you hold it down yourself?"

"I'm reasoning with it."

Tang San looked at the fish, still crackling with electricity, then at Lin Yuan's hand reaching toward its head.

"What kind of reasoning are you doing with a fish?"

Lin Yuan pressed his hand against its head. His whole arm shook from the shocks, but he spoke with a perfectly straight face:

"I'm telling it, 'Go on. Don't bite the hook next time.'"

With that, he cupped the silver carp in both hands, limped to the lakeside, and released it into the water.

The silver carp entered the water but didn't swim away at once.

It floated at the surface and turned to look at Lin Yuan. Its mouth opened and closed, blowing a bubble.

Then it flicked its tail and dived into the depths.

A system notification appeared:

[Release successful. Gratitude points +30. Soul Ring condensation progress: 50%. New Soul Skill unlocked: Lightning Fishing Line.]

Lin Yuan looked down at his hand. A thread of blue lightning, fine as a hair, danced across his fingertips.

He grinned.

Tang San stood beside him, watching where the fish had vanished. Suddenly, he asked, "Was it looking at you just now?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

Lin Yuan rubbed his still-smoking hand against his clothes and headed back toward the academy.

"Because it knows I'll come back to catch it again."

"You're going to catch it again?"

"Next time I reel it in, we'll be friends." Lin Yuan waved a hand. "Come on. Let's get Flender to cover my medical bills. After a shock like that, I need a good meal to recover."

Tang San followed him for a few steps, then suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right. Grandmaster asked me to find out what kind of Martial Soul that fishing rod of yours is."

Lin Yuan stopped.

The setting sun shone on the fishing rod, and the line swayed gently in the evening breeze.

"Tell Grandmaster," Lin Yuan said, turning back with a knowing smile, "that it's an Omnipotent Martial Soul."

"Omnipotent?"

"Yeah. It can catch fish, shock people, make friends, and even..."

He paused and pointed at the lake.

"Catch anyone willing to bite."

No one knew that deep beneath the lake, the Thunder-Patterned Silver Carp was issuing orders to a school of little fish.

Its mouth opened and closed.

As if it were saying:

"From now on, none of you bite that fisherman's hook."

"He isn't here to catch fish."

"He's here to recruit underlings."