"Level ten?! You really broke through?" Wang Sheng's mouth fell open. Though Tang San's words had prepared him, hearing Lin Mo confirm it himself still left him astonished.
How long had it been? Counting every day since Lin Mo's Martial Soul Awakening, it had only been a little over half a year, hadn't it?
Yet Lin Mo had actually cultivated all the way from innate level-six Soul Power to level ten?
At that pace, although Lin Mo's Soul Power Level still fell short of those two freaks with innate full Soul Power, Tang San and Xiao Wu, his cultivation speed had undoubtedly surpassed both of theirs!
The other work-study students also looked shocked and envious.
This was the realm they dreamed of reaching.
Level ten! That meant that once he obtained his first Soul Ring, he would become a true Soul Master!
"All right, all right, stop being so surprised." Xiao Wu waved a hand from the side, seemingly not too surprised that Lin Mo had broken through to level ten. Her attention was clearly elsewhere.
"Lin Mo, now you can finally show us your newly hatched Martial Soul, right? I can't wait!"
"Yeah, yeah, hurry up and show us!" Wang Sheng came back to his senses and urged him on.
Under everyone's curious, expectant gazes, Lin Mo took a deep breath and stirred his thoughts.
The next moment, a flash of red light passed before him.
Immediately afterward, a small dragon-like creature appeared at Lin Mo's feet, its body orange-yellow, its belly cream-colored, with large blue eyes and a tail that burned with flame.
It was none other than Charmander!
Charmander's appearance instantly drew the eyes of everyone in the dormitory.
"Wow!" Xiao Wu was the first to exclaim, her large eyes instantly lighting up. "What a cute little fellow!"
Almost instinctively, she reached out to stroke Charmander's smooth-looking head.
However, just as her fingertips were about to touch the top of Charmander's head-
"Raaawr!"
Charmander abruptly raised his head, a trace of wariness flashing through his large blue eyes, and opened his mouth.
With a whoosh, a small cluster of orange-red flames burst from his mouth, shooting straight toward Xiao Wu's outstretched hand!
The flames came suddenly, and their temperature was clearly far from low.
Startled, Xiao Wu pulled back her hand with lightning-fast reflexes, instinctively retreating half a step and narrowly dodging the flames.
The flames swept past her fingertips, stirring a searing current of air.
Had Charmander not clearly held back in time, keeping the flames small, they probably would have done more than stir the air; they might well have scorched Xiao Wu's scorpion braid outright!
"Ah!" Xiao Wu cried out. She looked at her faintly burning fingertips, then at Charmander, who was baring his teeth at her, the flame on his tail suddenly flaring brighter. Her eyes immediately widened in indignation.
"You... you little fellow! Why are you breathing fire?!" Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Xiao Wu glared fiercely at Charmander, her cheeks puffing up.
But she could only stand there glaring, no longer daring to reach out rashly and pet him as she had before.
At such close range, she really had no particularly good way to deal with a fire-breathing Charmander whose temper apparently wasn't very good either.
Xiao Wu knew perfectly well that if she failed to take the hint and approached again, she would definitely end up in a sorry state.
She certainly didn't want sparks burning a few holes in her hair or clothes.
Seeing this little incident, Lin Mo quickly crouched down and gently stroked Charmander's head, signaling for him to settle down.
Feeling Lin Mo's soothing touch, Charmander let out a rumbling purr, and the flame on his tail slowly steadied.
Yet his large blue eyes still watched Xiao Wu with a measure of wariness, as though he had seen through something.
"Sorry, Sister Xiao Wu," Lin Mo said, looking at Xiao Wu apologetically. "Charmander is a little shy around strangers. He doesn't like strangers touching him."
"Hmph!" Xiao Wu pursed her lips. Though she was still a little annoyed, she knew she had been too rash just now.
She could only withdraw her gaze in disappointment, muttering under her breath, "If you won't let me pet you, fine. Why be so fierce..."
Seeing Xiao Wu get put in her place, Wang Sheng and the others wanted to laugh but didn't dare. They could only struggle to hold it in as they turned their gazes back toward the unusual creature at Lin Mo's feet-or, more precisely, his Martial Soul!
Once the little incident had passed, Lin Mo began his introduction. "This is the Martial Soul that hatched from that egg. I call him Charmander."
Everyone gathered around Charmander, studying him curiously. The little fellow really did look like a kind of dragon, living up to his name.
The constantly burning flame on his tail, in particular, seemed especially wondrous.
"Charmander... that name really does fit." Wang Sheng rubbed his chin and examined Charmander closely. Suddenly, as though remembering something, he slapped his thigh.
"Hey! Lin Mo, this Martial Soul of yours... why do I feel like he's a bit like Grandmaster's... what was he called again? Oh, right, Luo Sanpao!
"He's a bit like Grandmaster's Luo Sanpao Martial Soul!"
At his words, the other work-study students also caught on.
"That's right! They're both beast Martial Souls, but they can exist outside the body just like tool Martial Souls!"
"But Grandmaster's Luo Sanpao looks... well, chubby, a bit like a dog and a bit like a pig. He doesn't seem to have much attack power.
"Lin Mo's Charmander, on the other hand, looks much livelier, and he can breathe fire!"
"Exactly! Judging by his presence, he feels far stronger than Luo Sanpao too!"
Wang Sheng looked at Lin Mo and asked, "Lin Mo, is that right? Is this Charmander of yours also one of those external beast Martial Souls?"
Lin Mo nodded, affirming Wang Sheng's words. "Yes, Wang Sheng, you're right. My Charmander Martial Soul is indeed an extremely rare external beast Martial Soul, just like Grandmaster's Luo Sanpao!"
However, that was all the information Lin Mo intended to reveal to everyone.
As for Charmander's "Entei" talent and the fact that he had already mastered multiple Soul Skills, there was no need to reveal any of that.
As an external beast Martial Soul, Charmander was inherently far too unusual, unlike his heart Martial Soul, which was easy to conceal.
Lin Mo knew perfectly well that one of his two great Martial Souls would have to be exposed to others.
Compared with his heart Martial Soul, which could remain hidden as a trump card that almost no one could detect, letting Charmander be seen was clearly more suitable.
It would explain both his innate level-six Soul Power talent and the source of his strength, while avoiding revealing the secret of his twin Martial Souls too early.
After learning the basic details of the new Martial Soul from Lin Mo, everyone looked at the spirited Charmander with satisfied expressions.
Witnessing a "trash Martial Soul" egg hatch into a powerful new Martial Soul with their own eyes was simply too novel and astonishing for them.