The sun set.
Tang Tian finally finished his last round of meditation.
He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.
He felt the Soul Power inside him growing at a snail's pace.
"This level-six Innate Soul Power is as trash as campus Wi-Fi when it comes to cultivation!"
He opened the System Panel again.
He had thought that after an afternoon of warmth,
the gloomy Blue Silver Grass should have been all sunshine.
But when he looked closely, Tang Tian was dumbfounded again.
The bubbles appearing above Blue Silver Grass were still filled with gloomy shades.
[Master just stopped cultivating...]
[Is it because I'm too stupid?]
[As I thought, I absorb Soul Power far too slowly. I don't deserve Master's hard work at all.]
[If I were a top-tier Martial Soul like the Clear Sky Hammer, Master would surely have broken through by now, right?]
[I'm sorry. I really am completely useless...]
Tang Tian was dumbfounded again.
Hadn't she just gotten better? Why was she falling apart again?
Wasn't his Martial Soul far too gloomy?
The slightest rustle of wind through grass sent her spiraling into self-destruction.
Was it because his life with Tang Hao, that drunken wreck of a father, had been so miserable?
Had even his Martial Soul grown gloomy watching it?
But the next moment, Tang Tian saw the system's notifications:
[Ding! Your gentle encouragement has touched Blue Silver Grass's heart.] [Affection Level +3! Current Affection Level: 33/100 (ordinary)] [First Affection Level increase achieved. Additional reward: Soul Power cultivation speed increased by 10%! Pure Soul Power feedback received!]
Before Tang Tian could react,
a warm current surged into his right palm.
It flowed along his meridians, instantly reaching every limb and bone.
The exhaustion from an entire afternoon of cultivation vanished.
Even the bottleneck in his Soul Power loosened a little!
Tang Tian discovered, to his shock,
that this so-called Affection Level feedback worked better than his grueling cultivation!
How was this a trash Martial Soul?
This was clearly a cheat that leveled him up automatically as long as he kept her happy!
"The gloomier she is, the more delicate her thoughts!"
"The more sensitive she is, the stronger her emotional feedback!"
"Give her just a little sunshine, and she'll shine for me!"
This was the essence of Galgame!
What was so interesting about an unattainable flower on a lofty peak?
Winning over a gloomy girl who lacked love, felt inferior, and saw you as her only salvation in the world-that was the true path!
It seemed that on the Romance Continent, romance really was the true path!
Tang Tian was wildly delighted.
He was just about to strike while the iron was hot.
He would give his Little Blue another combo of "cheesy pickup lines + head pats."
Suddenly,
a piercing metallic buzz exploded inside his mind.
A miniature silver iron hammer
burst angrily out of his left palm.
She hovered in midair.
With her head facing Tang Tian, she looked exactly like a little girl throwing a tantrum with her hands on her hips.
At the same time,
the portrait frame representing [Little Iron Hammer] in the system
flashed red madly, messages cascading down like a waterfall:
[Little Iron Hammer (extremely angry)]
[I'm furious! Absolutely furious!]
[Never mind that blind fool Su Yuntao-even that slovenly old man who does nothing but drink couldn't recognize my worth.]
[But why is my host blind too?]
[I am the noble Great Sumeru Hammer!]
[Though this tiger has fallen to the plains and regressed into an ordinary iron hammer, that ordinary Clear Sky Hammer isn't even fit to carry my shoes!]
[Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west-don't you look down on a girl because she's poor!]
[Give me enough resources, and I can flatten a Titled Douluo with a single strike!]
[But what is this idiot host doing?]
[He spent all that time gazing lovingly at that lousy blade of grass while leaving me out in the cold?]
[In what way am I not better than that weed?]
[Ding! Little Iron Hammer Affection Level -3] [Current: -3/100]
Tang Tian looked at the words about not looking down on a poor girl.
A vein throbbed on his forehead.
"Well, well. A gloomy girl with an inferiority complex on one side, and a delusional tsundere with twin tails on the other?"
"And the classic out-of-meta kind of tsundere at that? Throwing a tantrum whenever you don't go along with her?"
"What year is this? Still playing the 'don't look down on a poor youth' card?"
As an expert Galgame player,
Tang Tian knew full well
that girls with different traits called for completely different approaches.
With an insecure type like Blue Silver Grass, he had to be gentle, encouraging, and give her plenty of security.
But against a tsundere like Little Iron Hammer, who would climb all over him given an inch and had an overinflated ego!
He absolutely could not simp!
The more he fawned over her, the more she would push it!
The less she would treat him like a person!
The best approach was neglect play!
Otherwise known as giving her the cold shoulder!
So,
Tang Tian calmly glanced at Little Iron Hammer hovering in the air.
He ignored her protests outright.
With a turn of his left hand and a thought,
he shoved her straight back into his body.
The world instantly fell quiet.
Inside the system, however, all hell broke loose:
[Little Iron Hammer (enraged)]
[*???*]
[He shoved me back in? He actually dared shove my noble self back in?!]
[Does this idiot have negative emotional intelligence?]
[Aaaah! I'm so mad! Stupid Tang Tian!]
[Just you wait!]
[Next time, even if you beg me in tears, I won't come out!]
[...Even if you buy me the finest rare metals to eat, I still won't come out!]
Rare metals?
A tsundere through and through!
Just a little provocation, and she had spilled all her needs and weaknesses.
There was his intel!
Tang Tian chuckled inwardly. You little brat. You think I can't handle you?
Now that I know what you like, won't keeping you in hand be easy?
Just then, footsteps sounded nearby.
Tang San approached after finishing his Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer practice.
He was drenched in sweat.
Though he was only six,
his tender little face held a maturity beyond his years, and.
Looking at his older brother sitting on the grass, playing with grass,
a complicated look flashed through Tang San's eyes.
Then it turned into helpless consolation:
"Brother, let's go home and eat."
"Dad just lost his temper for a moment at the smithy. You know what he's like."
Tang Tian stood and brushed the dirt off his backside.
Looking at Tang San's earnest, pleading expression,
he gave a meaningful smile.
Giving up on myself?
No, my foolish little brother.
While you were hammering iron, sweating buckets,
your big brother was romancing his Martial Souls.
And my cultivation efficiency is much higher than yours.
"Got it, Little San."
In an excellent mood, Tang Tian waved a hand, taking none of Tang San's lecturing to heart:
"Come on, let's go home for porridge. I'm starving!"
They returned to the run-down smithy.
Beneath the dim yellow oil lamp,
the atmosphere was suffocatingly oppressive.
Rice porridge and a few steamed buns sat on the table.
Tang Hao still looked drunk, slumped in a broken chair.
But today he seemed in slightly better shape than usual.
At least his eyes held a little more of something called hope.
That was because of his younger son, Tang San.
When he saw his older son, Tang Tian, saunter through the door humming a tune,
his gaze instantly turned to undisguised disappointment and indifference.
In his view, awakening a trash Martial Soul was nothing to fear.
What was frightening was awakening a trash Martial Soul
and still being so content, without any desire to improve!
Mud that could never be plastered onto a wall!
"Eat."
Tang Hao spat out the word coldly.
He grabbed his bottle and took a swig of cheap ale.
Tang San keenly sensed his father's displeasure with his brother.
He sat at the table.
He looked at his father's cold face, then at his brother, who was chewing a steamed bun with complete indifference.
Inside, he was as frantic as an ant on a hot pan.
He wanted his brother to back down and admit he was wrong.
Even putting on an act and saying, "I'll work hard!"
That would have been something.
But with the words on the tip of his tongue,
he looked at Tang Tian's utterly couldn't-give-a-fuck expression.
He swallowed it back down.
The meal tasted like chewing wax.
Tang Tian, on the other hand, had quite an appetite.
He finished his porridge in a few gulps and casually wiped his mouth.
"I'm full. I'm going back to my room."
With that, he didn't so much as glance at Tang Hao.
He simply stood up and went back to the inner room.
Since you treat me like I'm invisible, I'll treat you like air.
Neither of us bothers the other. Works just fine.
Before you continue