Who knew how long had passed before the pain finally subsided.
Curled up on the floor, Gao Shang took a good while longer to recover before slowly moving his already numb hands away.
The first thing he felt when he opened his eyes was clarity!
Unparalleled clarity!
The things in the room were still the same, but the details he could see were completely different now.
A mosquito flew over his head.
Gao Shang instinctively looked up, and even the tiny patterns on its wings were clearly visible.
"What have I... evolved into?"
As his words fell, information about his martial soul automatically surfaced in his mind.
Gao Shang pushed himself up off the floor, wiped the blood from his face, and staggered back to his chair. He closed his eyes and carefully sorted through the information in his mind.
A moment later, his eyes snapped open.
An irrepressible smile hung on his bloodstained face, making him look particularly frightening.
All he could say was that this eye replacement without anesthesia had been well worth it!
His martial soul was no longer that ordinary body martial soul, but the renowned Sharingan from the world of Hokage!
The difference was that his Sharingan was a martial soul. As long as his soul power increased, it would evolve naturally, without requiring stimulation from extreme emotions.
In other words, as long as he cultivated normally, awakening the Mangekyō was only a matter of time.
Not only that, after his martial soul evolved, his innate soul power had risen straight to level ten, giving him genuine innate full soul power!
After digesting the information about the Sharingan, Gao Shang opened the system panel again.
On the pale blue interface, a row of small slots had appeared beneath the search box, looking like an inventory in a game.
Each of the first two slots held a card.
The purpose of the 90% Off Item Card was obvious from its name alone.
Gao Shang skipped over it for now and turned his gaze to the other card.
Through its item description, he quickly figured out what the Titled Douluo Experience Card did.
Simply put, it would temporarily raise his strength to level ninety-one for two hours.
However, this temporary enhancement would only grant him a physique, soul power, and mental power on par with a Titled Douluo. It would not let him awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan ahead of time.
"Level ninety-one..."
Gao Shang rubbed his chin.
It was certainly powerful.
Even at only level ninety-one, that was still a Titled Douluo. Across the entire continent, it could absolutely be counted among the highest levels of combat strength.
The problem was that he was currently in Nuoding City.
Based on what he had learned from Su Yuntao, he could confirm that Tang San would also awaken his martial soul this year.
Once Tang San came to Nuoding City to attend school, that "Tailing Douluo," Tang Hao, would naturally follow him here.
Gao Shang had no intention of provoking the father and son.
But not wanting to cause trouble and having the ability to protect himself when trouble arose were two entirely different things.
After all, he would be enrolling too, and he would definitely have to obtain his first ring before then. When that happened, he would not be able to keep a low profile even if he wanted to, and it would be difficult not to attract Tang Hao's attention.
Wait.
Gao Shang raised his head.
"System buddy, if my soul power increases, what happens with my soul rings?"
[Dear host, please rest assured. During the trial period, the system will temporarily fill your missing soul ring slots with suitable soul rings based on your circumstances.]
"Oh?"
Gao Shang's eyes lit up.
"Then do you think I could beat a severely injured level ninety-five Titled Douluo?"
[Dear host, all soul rings supplied by the system will be hundred thousand year soul rings.]
"Hiss-"
Gao Shang sucked in a breath of cold air.
The system had not directly answered whether he could win, but its meaning was already obvious.
Even excluding his first ring, he would still have eight hundred thousand year soul rings. With that setup, if he still could not pin Tang Hao down and hammer him, it would be rather hard to justify.
"System, you're fucking awesome!"
[The host is fucking awesome too.]
Gao Shang: "..."
Helplessly raising a hand to his forehead, Gao Shang could not tell for a moment whether this idiotic thing actually had any intelligence.
"Ah, forget it..."
Gao Shang reined in his excitement and looked back at the panel.
However powerful the experience card was, it was still single-use. What mattered more right now was his own first soul ring.
Logically speaking, eyes belonged to the mental category of martial souls, so mindlessly stacking soul rings with mental attributes should pose no problem.
But his was the Sharingan, not an ordinary mental martial soul. The burden this thing placed on the body was anything but small.
According to the setting of the Hokage world, the Sharingan belonged to Yin Release.
To unleash its true might, or even take the Sharingan a step further, he would need to supplement it with Yang Release, the opposite of Yin Release.
And Yang Release was primarily reflected in a powerful physique and vitality.
Therefore, his soul ring choices would ideally lean toward strengthening his physique or vitality.
As for improving his mental power, setting aside the fact that every evolution of the Sharingan would enhance it, his mental power would have a hard time falling behind.
Even if it really did fall behind, did he not still have the system shop?
The Sharingan's various mechanics were already heaven-defying. If his body could keep up as well, he would have the stats when he needed stats and the mechanics when he needed mechanics.
Would that not make him a thoroughly overtuned monster?
"All right, it's settled."
Gao Shang struck his left palm with his right fist, deciding on his future development path then and there.
"But soul beasts that meet my requirements won't be easy to hunt. I wonder if Brother Tao can handle it..."
At that thought, Gao Shang looked at the system panel again.
He had yet to study the system shop's functions closely.
According to the system's earlier introduction, it should have everything.
Gao Shang entered "soul ring" directly into the search box.
The next moment, the panel refreshed, and rows upon rows of merchandise spread out.
The first few rows consisted entirely of million-year items, gleaming with dazzling golden light. The very first was even an item Gao Shang knew well.
[God-Given Soul Ring, price: 100 million Gold Soul Coins]
The exorbitant price made the corner of Gao Shang's mouth twitch.
"Come on, System, at least take my spending power into account. Can I afford this thing?"
[Dear host, you can set the item price range yourself~]
"..."
"Ahem... It's been so long since I browsed an online shop that I forgot about that feature."
After a couple of awkward dry coughs, Gao Shang found the filter options and set the price range from zero to ten thousand Gold Soul Coins.
The panel refreshed again.
This time, the items that appeared finally gave him something to consider.
Of course, that was provided he used the 90% Off Item Card.
[Thousand-year Tyrant Dragon origin fossil, price: 10,000 Gold Soul Coins] [Thousand-year Heavenly Fox heart, price: 10,000 Gold Soul Coins] [Thousand-year Deep Sea Giant Clam pearl, price: 10,000 Gold Soul Coins]
Fossils, hearts, pearls-all sorts of bizarre things appeared one after another, leaving Gao Shang utterly bewildered.
"Uh, what is all this stuff? System, I want a soul ring. I'm not starting a collection."
[Dear host, all current items are related to soul rings.]
"What do you mean?"
Puzzled by the reply, Gao Shang opened the first item.
[Thousand-year Tyrant Dragon origin fossil: A special fossil formed through multiple coincidences, containing the complete origin of a thousand-year Tyrant Dragon. Refining and absorbing it grants a thousand-year soul ring from that beast.]
After reading the item description, Gao Shang finally understood what these items did.
They were probably the same sort of item as the Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent's inner core that Ma Hongjun had refined in the original story.
Although they were not soul rings, they could serve the same purpose.
There were not many things that could replace soul rings, and Gao Shang soon looked through most of them.
Then, once the prices dropped below ten thousand Gold Soul Coins, the shop began showing items with lower ages and repeated categories.
Two unusual things caught his attention.