Ghost Nana

"I'm a ghost, of course..." the girl said with a soft laugh. Her figure flickered, and she appeared beside Xu Cheng, slipping her arms around his with practiced ease. "Master, I just reached rank twenty-seven yesterday. I'm almost catching up to you."

"Twenty-seven, huh." An unusual gleam flashed through Xu Cheng's eyes.

In the original story, Nana had already been a rank fifty-four Soul King and a peak Level 5 Soul Engineer at seventeen. Her talent was clearly extraordinary.

Even across the entire continent, she would certainly have ranked among the best.

Now, with Xu Cheng directing resources her way, her strength naturally grew even faster...

"But... how did you get up here?" Xu Cheng looked utterly baffled. Xiao Hongchen had needed to open the door for him.

"I'm in the Practical Control Soul Tool Department. Although I only enrolled today, I've already received my Level 3 Soul Engineer certificate." Nana puffed out her chest with a hint of delight, displaying the triangular crystal badge pinned there.

Forgot about that...

Xu Cheng smacked his forehead.

Practical control Soul Engineers were issued Soul Engineer certificates too.

Their requirements, however, were a little lower than those for people like Xu Cheng. As long as they could skillfully control and fight with Soul Tools of the corresponding level, they qualified as Soul Engineers of that level.

At rank twenty-seven, fighting with Level 3 Soul Tools was naturally a breeze for Nana.

"What time is it?"

"It's... three in the morning."

"Come on. Let's head back to the dorms and catch up on sleep. We have class tomorrow morning... also, call me Holy Son."

"Yes, Master."

"..."

The two walked out of the laboratory building.

The first-floor hall was still brightly lit.

At least another hundred or two people were engrossed in their research.

They walked along the tree-lined path back to the dorms.

Nana still clung tightly to Xu Cheng's arm, as though only that could make her feel a little more at ease.

After all these years, Xu Cheng had grown used to it.

From the sniffling little girl she had been back then to the young woman she was now, standing a full meter seventy tall, she had always loved sticking close to him-especially after that day, when he had witnessed that desolate scene and brought the little girl home...

He had raised her like a younger sister. Five years had passed since then, and calling them childhood sweethearts would not have been an exaggeration.

As for the branch leader from back then, with Xu Cheng pulling the strings, he too had died at Nana's hands...

It was not that Xu Cheng was stirring up trouble for no reason. He was taking the opportunity to cultivate his own forces. Did anyone really think the Holy Spirit Cult consisted of fools who could be persuaded with a few words to abandon evil and become Buddhas on the spot?

They had all slaughtered their way out of heaps of corpses. The branch leader in particular had committed towering atrocities, and when Xu Cheng tried to implement his policies of benevolence, he had sabotaged and obstructed them both openly and in secret...

Only by getting rid of him could those policies be implemented more effectively.

At least now, the Holy Spirit Cult's branch leaders in the towns around Mingdu were all Xu Cheng's people-or rather, people who accepted his benevolent practices. Those who refused were all dead...

"How did you get along with your classmates today?"

As Xu Cheng considered what he had gained that day, he asked with a smile.

"There are two I paid particular attention to. One is Meng Hongchen. Her Martial Soul is the Vermilion-Eyed Ice Toad, and her Soul Power is one rank above mine... twenty-eight. But her fighting style leans more toward that of a Soul Master, and she makes less use of Soul Tools. The other is Tang Ya, the girl you made a special trip to rescue a few days ago, Master..."

Xu Cheng smiled helplessly.

"That jealousy really reeks."

"Hmph~"

The girl was utterly unbothered.

"You'll both belong to the same sect in the future. Don't be too harsh on her. Her background is similar to yours, perhaps even more tragic. Of the hundreds of people in her sect, she's the only one left alive..."

Xu Cheng spoke in a subdued voice.

"..."

The girl pressed her red lips together, then finally gave a slight nod after a long silence.

"All right, let's split up here."

Xu Cheng stopped walking.

The boys' and girls' dorms were in separate buildings, and entering the other was forbidden.

"Big Brother."

"Hm??"

Xu Cheng's pupils contracted. He abruptly turned to look at Nana, who had spoken so unexpectedly.

This girl usually teased him by calling him Master. She only called him Big Brother when something serious came up...

Could it be...

"In two months, it'll be... the anniversary of my parents' deaths. I wanted..." Biting her red lip, the girl lowered her head and spoke cautiously.

Xu Cheng breathed a sigh of relief.

Oh, that.

He waved a hand casually. "I thought it was something serious. I'll go with you when the time comes. Get some rest. Don't keep giving me such a fright."

A smile flashed across Nana's pretty face.

She watched Xu Cheng's figure slowly disappear from view.

She hoped Xu Cheng could accompany her when she paid her respects to her parents because, in this world, he was the only family she had left. Family... not bound by blood.

Ever since five years ago, when that figure had appeared like a god descending from the heavens.

He had taken her away and saved her parents.

Then came his series of reforms within the Holy Spirit Cult.

All of it had made her revere him like a deity.

"No matter what you do, I'll stay by your side, Big Brother..."

In the days that followed.

Xu Cheng's life revolved around three places: the laboratory area, the dorm, and the teaching building.

Amid all that bustle, he came to understand most of the Level 2 Soul Tools currently circulating on the Sun Moon Empire's market and successfully reproduced them, gaining a great deal in the process.

He could even reproduce a small number of Level 3 Soul Tools.

The problem was that Xu Cheng had also hit a bottleneck... his spiritual power had stalled.

Without question, thanks to his Blood Eyes Martial Soul, Xu Cheng's spiritual power surpassed that of Soul Masters at the same rank. That was precisely why he had been able to advance from zero to level three in just one month.

Although he could analyze quite a few high-level Soul Tools, analysis and reproduction were ultimately two separate processes.

Thus, for many level five and six Soul Tools, he could only analyze them and remain at the theoretical stage, unable to carry out any experiments. Yet research into Soul Tools placed enormous importance on hands-on work...

It was like his previous life: he could have memorized every scrap of theory in the textbooks, only to find that the laboratory equipment was broken.

So frustrating.

Xu Cheng found himself missing a certain chubby little silkworm more and more.

Once he had Tian Meng's Million-Year Soul Ring and spiritual power as vast as the boundless ocean, his strength would truly begin to soar...

The sports field.

Xu Cheng sat on a bench, tilted his face toward the sky, and let out a long sigh.

"Why the long face? Got dumped?" Xiao Hongchen plopped down beside him and poked him.

"No. I've hit a bottleneck." Xu Cheng shook his head.

"You fucking..."

The corner of Xiao Hongchen's mouth twitched.

Ever since becoming this king of overachievers' roommate, he had personally witnessed Xu Cheng's leap from a level one Soul Engineer to a level three Soul Engineer. It had taken him only a month-a terrifying speed...

What was more, the Soul Tools he made incorporated his own insights, all with effortless ease, displaying the formidable understanding of a high-level Soul Engineer.

You've fucking hit a bottleneck?!!

Then what am I?! Tell me, what am I?!

"I..."

But before Xiao Hongchen could finish, a pretty little silver-haired girl interrupted him.

"Brother Cheng, something's wrong with my close-combat Soul Tool. Could you help me fix it?"

As she spoke, she took out a short dagger broken into two pieces. It was pale blue all over, and the intricate patterns on its casing made its considerable value apparent.

"Grandpa made this Soul Tool especially for me, so it would work better with my Martial Soul. But I never expected..." A trace of sadness crossed Meng Hongchen's pretty face.

"Meng..." Xiao Hongchen's head was full of question marks.

Wait... who's your actual brother here?!