"Come here, little one. Press this button, and you can draw your very own Spirit Soul." The Spirit Transmitter bent down, a kindly smile on his face.
"Okay!" Lu Chen clenched his little fists. Before drawing his Spirit Soul, he murmured the names of every Eastern deity he could remember from his previous life, from the Three Pure Ones to the Earth God, afraid of leaving anyone out, hoping one of them might lend him a little good luck.
Once he finished, he took a deep breath as though he had made some momentous decision, then pressed the button with a click.
The Spirit Soul Balls inside the machine spun so fast they became a blur.
Lu Chen held his breath and stared without blinking. Only when his clenched palms grew sweaty did he abruptly press the stop button.
With a soft thump, a snow-white Spirit Soul Ball rolled out of the opening and bounced lightly twice.
Lu Chen reached out and scooped up the ball. The moment his fingertips touched its cold surface, he sensed the presence of the Spirit Soul inside.
It was pitifully weak, as though a gust of wind could blow it apart.
Following the Spirit Transmitter's instructions, he carefully opened the Spirit Soul Ball.
"Your luck isn't bad, little one." The Spirit Transmitter leaned over for a look and rubbed his chin. "A ten-year Jiao Snake Spirit Soul. It's something of a partial defective. It originally had the makings of an elite Soul Beast with a good foundation, but unfortunately, something went wrong when its genes were fused with those of an ordinary wild beast, causing a reverse mutation. A perfectly good flood dragon bloodline actually degenerated into a Jiao Snake. That doesn't bode well, so it was put into the draw."
"Thank you, mister!" Lu Chen grinned, actually quite pleased inside.
This thing was much better than he had expected. A hundred-year Spirit Soul was the stuff of fantasy. To actually draw one, his luck would have to be so good that blue smoke rose from his ancestral graves.
But his family's ancestral graves weren't even on the Douluo Continent...
He scampered over to the director, grabbed her hand in his little one, and looked up with a smile. "Director Mom, shall we go back?"
"All right, let's go, good boy." The director gently stroked his head, her fingertips brushing his rather frail shoulders, a barely perceptible trace of heartache hidden in her eyes.
As soon as he returned to the dormitory, he saw Na'er clinging to the doorframe and gazing out eagerly, rising onto her little toes until she was almost a tiny spinning top.
Like a magician, Lu Chen produced the candied hawthorn skewer he had bought on the way and held it out to her. "Here, I bought this for you."
"Is it good?" Watching her munch on the candied hawthorns with her cheeks bulging, Lu Chen couldn't resist reaching out to poke her plump little mouth.
"It's good! Anything you give me tastes good, big brother!" Na'er spoke indistinctly around a mouthful of hawthorn, sweet juice trickling down from the corner of her mouth.
"Then be good and eat your candied hawthorns. I'm going to absorb my Spirit Soul." Lu Chen smiled and ruffled her hair, then turned and sat cross-legged by the bed.
He took out the featherlight Spirit Soul Ball and curiously poked it with a finger.
Unexpectedly, the little Jiao Snake Spirit Soul's horns, though slender-looking, were extremely sharp, and sliced his fingertip in an instant.
A bead of bright red blood welled up and dripped onto the Spirit Soul Ball.
The next second, the Spirit Soul seemed to come alive suddenly, surging around the drop of blood and sucking greedily at it.
Before his very eyes, the little Jiao Snake began to writhe violently, strange flashes of light flickering across its scales as it underwent earth-shattering changes.
Before Lu Chen could react, the Spirit Soul turned into a streak of white light and plunged straight into the space between his brows.
At the same time, a powerful suction pulled his entire body into a familiar space: Nibelungen.
As soon as he found his footing, he saw Fenrir and Constantine crouching on the ground with their heads together, muttering over a floating mass of light-the very Spirit Soul that had just entered his forehead.
Constantine looked up at him, his large amber eyes briefly freezing before he spoke somewhat timidly in a soft voice. "Hello, my name is Constantine... Have you seen my big brother?"
"Your big brother? It might be a long time before he can come." Lu Chen crouched down and ruffled his soft hair, his smile utterly sincere, not feeling in the slightest that he was coaxing a child. "But don't worry. He'll definitely come. As long as you stay here and behave and keep me safe, you'll get to see him."
After all, every word he said was the truth.
"Okay! As long as I can see my big brother, I'll definitely keep you safe!" Constantine's eyes lit up, excitement filling his little face, and even his voice rose a few notches.
Heh, he really is a full-fledged bro-con. Mention his big brother, and he immediately becomes as docile as a little lamb.
Come to think of it, it was fate. Back when Lu Chen was in the Dragon Raja world, he hadn't recovered his memories at all. He had even forgotten every last bit of the novel Dragon Raja's plot.
Yet by a remarkable coincidence, back when he played games, he and Old Tang had become friends through a fight, and the two had gotten along quite well.
By that reckoning, looking after Constantine was simply helping a friend take care of his little brother who never grew up.
Even if that little brother was actually older than him by who knew how many centuries.
As he pondered this, Constantine suddenly moved closer, sniffed at him with his little nose, and said solemnly, "You smell like Dad."
"Huh?" Lu Chen froze, blinking as he put on a bewildered expression, while his heart lurched. This little fellow's sense of smell is far too keen.
"One of us, Fenrir or me, should be able to take that little snake's place and become your first Spirit Soul." Afraid he wouldn't believe him, Constantine hurriedly added, "The World Tree just told us that. There's definitely no mistake!"
"I believe you." Coming back to his senses, Lu Chen asked without hesitation, "Then which of you is willing to be my Spirit Soul for now?"
Fenrir, who had been crouching silently beside them, pricked up his ears, his golden eyes brimming with anticipation. Even the tip of his tail couldn't help sweeping lightly back and forth across the ground. "Then... if I become your Spirit Soul, can I go out and see the world outside?"
Lu Chen nodded without hesitation.
"I want to go out! I want to go out!" Fenrir instantly began bouncing excitedly on the spot, his enormous claws scrabbling at the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust. "My big sister always keeps me shut up in here. She won't even let me out the door. I've wanted to go out and play for ages!"
Seeing how impatient he was, Lu Chen couldn't help laughing. He turned to Constantine, who stood quietly beside them. "Then it's settled?"
"I'm in no hurry to go out for now." Constantine shook his head, his little face somewhat earnest. "If there's anything you don't understand, you can come and ask me anytime. Whether it's making weapons or anything else, I know a little about it."
"Oh? What a coincidence!" Lu Chen's eyes lit up, his voice full of anticipation. "I'm learning forging right now. Could you teach me alchemy later?"