Then, in the blink of an eye, six years passed.
Over those six years, relying on the bugged properties of his Command Spell Martial Soul, Lin Xi easily became the youngest Soul Elder on the entire continent.
In truth, Soul Elder was nowhere near his limit. If he had truly focused all his efforts on raising his Soul Power Level, he could even have surpassed level fifty, just like Yuanen Huihui twenty thousand years later.
After all, the power contained in a single stroke of a Command Spell matched his current level. In other words, the Soul Power increase a Command Spell provided was a fixed percentage-the longer he waited, the more valuable it became.
The reason he had not become a Soul King was that, rather than Soul Power, he had spent more of his Command Spells on improving his physical strength and increasing the ages of his Soul Rings.
To Lin Xi, Soul Ring age mattered far more than it did to the vast majority of Soul Masters. After all, the total amount of magical power possessed by the Heroic Spirits he summoned was directly tied to the ages of his Soul Rings.
So he usually increased his Soul Ring ages until his body could no longer withstand them, then improved his physical strength. Only once the rate of improvement in his physical strength slowed significantly did he raise his Soul Power Level.
Thanks to this approach, his ability to fight above his level was now absurdly powerful. He was undoubtedly the strongest Soul Elder in the continent's entire history.
The only slight problem had been summoning the Archer Heroic Spirit. The summon had gone off-target, but not completely, so it was barely acceptable.
He had never intended to summon a particularly powerful Archer anyway. The Lancer he had summoned was ridiculously strong, so his Archer only needed sufficient versatility. As for the most versatile Archer... everyone knew summoning him was practically like summoning a father to boss you around, so Lin Xi had set his sights on his natural enemy instead.
As for the result... all he could say was that Lin Xi had never expected the Sword-Spined Tiger he used as a holy relic to be a mutated dark-attribute specimen.
He had miscalculated. He had originally been hoping to have him solve the problem of feeding Artoria.
Still, it could count as a blessing in disguise. Lin Xi soon discovered that Black Emiya had better Independent Action capabilities than his normal counterpart and was more skilled at modifying firearms and artillery-or rather, Soul Tools. So Lin Xi used that absurd ability of his, which practically turned no investment into ten thousandfold profits, to start a Soul Tool business.
Although he could not be called particularly wealthy yet, he had at least accumulated some basic operating funds.
Over those six years, Huo Yutong had also changed considerably.
Oh, not her figure. Although she had grown taller, she had never managed to exceed the average height for her age. She herself seemed rather resentful about that, even though Lin Xi felt there was nothing wrong with a girl being a little petite.
What had grown was her strength.
With Lin Xi's help, Huo Yutong had gained far better living conditions than Huo Yuhao. With her nutrition and resources both reaching the standard of an ordinary person, she had pushed herself with efforts bordering on self-harm and reached level ten three years ago, meeting the most basic practical requirement for meeting Tian Meng.
She had also worked hard to learn swordsmanship and Magecraft from Lin Xi. Perhaps because her Spirit Eyes Martial Soul enhanced her ability to learn, she was even slightly better than Lin Xi in certain areas that required meticulous precision.
On top of that, Lin Xi had Emiya teach her some basic knowledge of Soul Tools. The current Huo Yutong could already be counted among the most outstanding of her peers.
Unfortunately, even with Lin Xi's help, Huo Yun'er had still failed to escape her fate of death and passed away a year earlier.
It was far too suspicious-so suspicious that Lin Xi suspected God King Tang's hand was behind it.
That man would surely stop at nothing to get the child of destiny into his clutches. There was a very strong possibility that he had tampered with Huo Yun'er, such a useful hostage.
If that was truly the case, every action Lin Xi took from then on would have to account for Huo Yun'er being held in Tang San's grasp.
After Huo Yun'er died of illness, Huo Yutong changed her surname and moved out of the Duke's Mansion, just as in the original story.
Lin Xi left the orphanage at the same time, taking Huo Yutong out of Star Luo City to travel across the Douluo Continent and broaden their horizons.
Reading ten thousand books was no substitute for traveling ten thousand miles. Many things really could only be understood more deeply after seeing them firsthand, and both Lin Xi and Huo Yutong benefited greatly along the way.
As the next round of Shrek admissions drew closer, Lin Xi began leading Huo Yutong toward the Star Dou Great Forest.
After all, that was where the main storyline officially began. They absolutely could not miss Tian Meng and Electrolux, those two devastating trump cards. They were the key to Huo Yutong turning her fortunes around like a salted fish flipping over.
And so, with ten days left before Shrek's admissions closed, Lin Xi brought Huo Yutong to the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.
"Wow, is this the Star Dou Great Forest you told me about, Lin Xi?" A silver-haired little girl in a blue dress hugged Lin Xi's arm and looked around curiously. "Amazing! It's so much bigger than even the largest forest in Britain!"
"Of course." Lin Xi smiled as he explained, "At the end of the day, Britain is ruled by fairies. The forests are full of weak fairies who can barely survive. This place is different. Right now, the Soul Beasts of the Douluo Continent can still just about hold their own against humans, so naturally, their territory wouldn't be small."
"Ah, right! I remember now. That Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian you mentioned lives here too, doesn't he?" The silver-haired little girl looked eager to give it a try. "We're both dragons. I wonder which of us is stronger?"
Lin Xi affectionately ruffled her hair. "Melusine is stronger, of course. You're the strongest, after all."
He was not talking nonsense. As a being born from the left hand of Albion, the Grand among dragons, Melusine was absurdly powerful. Judging by her feats alone, she had even reached the level of a chief god. If she transformed into the Calamity of Fire, a mere Di Tian would only take a single breath attack.
Unfortunately, as Lin Xi's second Soul Skill, she could not currently unleash even one ten-thousandth of her original strength. To fight Di Tian, she would have to wait until Lin Xi had at least seven rings.
Following behind Lin Xi, Huo Yutong asked somewhat nervously:
"Brother Lin Xi, that Sky Dream Ice Silkworm you mentioned will appear in the next few days, right?"
According to what she had learned from Lin Xi, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was essential for her to rewrite her fate.
Over those six years, Lin Xi had helped her so much that she had long since stopped bothering to count. For the current Huo Yutong, she not only had to take revenge on the duchess as in the original story, but also repay Lin Xi's kindness. She craved power even more than Huo Yuhao had at the same point in time, so Tian Meng naturally meant even more to her than in the original story.
No matter how she looked at it, she absolutely could not miss Tian Meng.
Lin Xi rubbed his chin.
"I'm not sure of the exact time either, but these next few days should be about right."
The original story had not specified the exact time Huo Yutong met Tian Meng, and there was nothing Lin Xi could do about that.
However, there was one thing Lin Xi remembered very clearly.
Not long after meeting Tian Meng, Huo Yutong had entered Shrek and begun attending classes.
In other words, although he did not know the exact time, he could establish a rough window.
So all they needed to do was come to the Star Dou Great Forest a few days early and stake the place out, just as they were doing now.
Easy as could be.