Then, Flender continued, "Since Oscar has broken through to level 30, today's task is simple: everyone must eat one of Oscar's sausages!"
Oscar's peach blossom eyes gleamed as he looked at the group before him.
Hearing this, the three girls immediately showed expressions of disgust.
Flender noticed their reluctance and added, "No matter what, you all have to eat it today. Tomorrow, during the journey, you'll need Oscar's sausages to replenish your strength, so you should get used to it today."
"And besides, while the process of making Oscar's sausages might seem a bit... indecent, the taste and effect are undeniably good. You can't just refuse to eat them forever!"
Flender stood there, his face stern and uncompromising, making it clear that no one would be able to get out of it.
Oscar, on the other hand, was overjoyed, a mischievous glint in his eyes. He was practically bursting with excitement, mentally thanking Flender. Not only would this gain him some recognition, but it also gave him a strange sense of satisfaction.
Although pursuing Ning Rongrong seemed hopeless now, the thought of her eating one of his sausages was enough to thrill him (as he thought in the original).
Oscar rubbed his hands together, muttering his incantation under his breath.
"Your daddy's got a big sausage."
"Your daddy's got a small sausage."
With a mischievous grin, Oscar held out two sausages, one thick and one thin. "So, who's going first?"
The three girls immediately turned their eyes toward Su Ming. Su Ming spoke up, "You three don't need to eat these. When the time comes, I'll use my fourth soul skill to restore your stamina."
With that, Su Ming stepped forward, grabbed Oscar's sausages, and without hesitation, ate them. Surprisingly, they tasted pretty good—savory sausages. Su Ming quickly ate both sausages and stared directly at Oscar, the message clear: there's no way the girls are going to eat these.
As for the other guys, they didn't care as much. It wasn't a big deal to them.
After finishing, Su Ming wiped his mouth and said, "Dean, since they don't want to eat Oscar's sausages, let's just leave it. Tomorrow, when they need to replenish their strength, I'll handle it."
Flender's face twitched slightly. Once again, it was Su Ming causing trouble. Even getting them to eat a sausage was a challenge! But remembering the appearance of Bone Douluo a few days ago, Flender was much more patient. "Su Ming, if I'm not mistaken, your support ability is from your fourth soul skill, right? You're only a Soul Ancestor, so you can't keep using it for long. Oscar's sausages would be more reliable for tomorrow."
Su Ming calmly replied, "Dean, as you said, we still have Oscar's sausages. We men can eat them, and they can help replenish my soul power as well."
Ning Rongrong quickly chimed in, "I can also use the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda to restore Su Ming's soul power!"
Seeing the girls' firm refusal, along with Su Ming backing them up, Flender could only sigh in defeat. "Fine, do as you please. But Su Ming won't always be around to help you. Eventually, you'll need to eat Oscar's sausages."
With that, Flender left, somewhat exasperated. Oscar, feeling disheartened that none of the girls ate his sausages, looked dejected.
In the diary, Ning Rongrong started chatting with Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing, "Do you believe what Su Ming said?"
Xiao Wu responded, "Of course not. Su Ming's third soul skill can already speed up soul power recovery, and his second skill can restore soul power too. I bet he could use his fourth soul skill all day if he wanted."
Zhu Zhuqing added, "Even so, Su Ming can't reveal that. After all, he's only a Soul Ancestor. Normally, a fourth soul skill should consume a lot of soul power. So, Ning Rongrong, you should still help restore his soul power tomorrow."
In the end, everyone except the three girls ate Oscar's sausages before heading back to their dorms to prepare for the trip.
Su Ming, however, wasn't in any rush to pack. There wasn't much to prepare—he had everything he needed, and if he needed shelter, he could easily make one with his wood abilities.
Then, Su Ming began writing his diary.
Su Ming's Diary Entry:
"Today, Oscar finally reached level 30, and tomorrow we'll be heading to the Star Dou Forest to help him and Tang San obtain their third soul rings."
"Today's task was for everyone to eat Oscar's sausages, but Xiao Wu, Rongrong, and Zhu Zhuqing were all reluctant. Naturally, I couldn't let them eat it, so after a bit of back-and-forth with Flender, they didn't have to. Us guys ate the sausages instead."
"If Oscar even dares to get the wrong idea, I'll break him in half."
At this moment, Oscar, alone in his dorm, suddenly shivered, feeling like something bad was about to happen.
Su Ming's Diary Entry (continued):
"I originally thought about suggesting Oscar find a better soul beast for his third ring, but now I've given up on that. Since I don't plan on taking him as a subordinate, what happens to him isn't my concern."
"In the original story, Oscar's third soul ring came from a thousand-year-old Phoenix-Tailed Cockscomb Snake. This soul beast has little attack power, with its only advantage being its ability to fly at high speeds. After absorbing its ring, Oscar's sausage allowed the user to fly for a minute at the snake's speed."
The three girls reading the diary were surprised. They knew that the Phoenix-Tailed Cockscomb Snake was fast, and a soul skill allowing someone to fly at such speeds for a minute seemed impressive.
But clearly, Su Ming didn't think much of this skill.
Su Ming's Diary Entry (continued):
"In the early stages, this ability is indeed pretty useful. The Phoenix-Tailed Cockscomb Snake is fast, so flying at its speed for a minute isn't bad."
"But in the long run, this skill is pretty mediocre. After all, the duration is only a minute. In both battles and real-life situations, most fights last longer than a minute, making this skill only good for emergencies."
"Moreover, strong soul masters can fly on their own as they get stronger. So later on, this flying sausage becomes almost useless. It just takes up a valuable soul skill slot."
The girls all agreed that while the ability seemed good early on, Su Ming's critique made sense. A skill with such a short duration would quickly become a liability in prolonged battles or later stages of their journey.
After hearing Su Ming's explanation, the three girls seemed to agree—it made sense. One minute really wasn't enough, and even if Oscar could fly at the speed of the Phoenix-Tailed Cockscomb Snake, that short amount of time wouldn't be very useful in battle. In the later stages, that flying ability would become practically useless. After all, it's not like Oscar could always be there to support others, especially as the Seven Shrek Monsters would always act together, and as a food-type soul master, Oscar's cultivation would inevitably lag behind the others.
By the time he reached Titled Douluo level, the others would definitely have surpassed that point as well. By then, Oscar's third soul skill would be essentially useless, and it wouldn't make sense for him to rely on it for support.
Su Ming's Diary:
"Originally, I planned to help Oscar find a rare soul beast with great speed and attack power to hunt and absorb. Even if it resulted in a flying sausage, the effect would definitely be better than the Phoenix-Tailed Cockscomb Snake's. Alternatively, a sausage that increased attack power would have been a good option too."
"But now, it's unnecessary. I'm not going to help this creepy rival of mine!"
Ning Rongrong blushed slightly when she read that part.
Su Ming's Diary (continued):
"Speaking of which, tomorrow on the way to the Star Dou Forest, there might be a small conflict in a restaurant."
This piqued the curiosity of all the girls, especially Xiao Wu, as it seemed to involve them.
Su Ming's Diary (continued):
"The cause is once again Ma Hongjun. While we're eating at a restaurant, Ma Hongjun can't keep himself under control and keeps staring at a girl from Canghui Academy. She gets upset, and a conflict breaks out."
"And Ma Hongjun's excuse? He claims Vice Dean Zhao Wuji told him that a soul master who doesn't cause trouble isn't a good soul master. To that, I say: what utter nonsense!"
"If soul masters who don't cause trouble aren't good soul masters, then why did Zhao Wuji stay silent and submissive when faced with Bone Douluo a few days ago? It's typical bullying of the weak and submission to the strong!"
"I believe that a good soul master is someone who doesn't actively stir up trouble. Healthy competition should be encouraged, but if someone messes with you, you should retaliate with overwhelming force."
"If every soul master became a troublemaker, this continent would fall apart!"
Bibi Dong read Su Ming's words and fell into deep thought. She agreed with Su Ming's view. In their Spirit Hall Academy, they also encouraged positive competition. Troublemakers were either warned or expelled, depending on the severity of their actions.
Su Ming's Diary (continued):
"But I've already taught Ma Hongjun a lesson. Will he still try to stir up trouble this time?"
Ning Rongrong thought it was entirely possible. After all, it's hard to change someone's nature. Ma Hongjun was still sleazy, and even the previous night he had gone with Flender to deal with his 'evil fire' problem. Even though it was done legally and consensually, she still found it disgusting.
"Still, it's none of my business. If he causes trouble again, he can deal with it himself. If I remember correctly, the teacher leading the other group was a Soul King. If Xiao Wu, the others, and I don't intervene, there's no way the rest of our group could stand up to him."
"But in the end, Zhao Wuji will step in to resolve it. He recently got humiliated by Tang Hao for bullying the weak, so he'll jump at the chance to vent on that Soul King teacher. Let's take a moment of silence for that poor teacher."
The girls couldn't help but laugh. Su Ming was humorous, but that Soul King teacher would indeed be unfortunate to cross paths with Zhao Wuji at such a time. As for the conflict, the girls would rather not get involved. They figured Ma Hongjun, Dai Mubai, Oscar, and Tang San would get a beating before Zhao Wuji arrived. In the meantime, they could just enjoy watching the chaos unfold.
Su Ming's Diary (continued):
"Nothing much happened today, so I'll continue learning talisman-making in the virtual learning space. Once I can make fourth-level talismans, I'll head to a large auction house or shop to purchase materials. I bet Rongrong would be very interested in these talismans, so I might as well make her some for protection when the time is right."
"Virtual learning space?" The girls' attention was immediately captured by these four words. Was this a new reward Su Ming had received? He hadn't mentioned it before!
If Su Ming hadn't casually brought it up, many of them would have forgotten that Su Ming had been learning talisman-making. After all, since arriving at the academy, he hadn't used any talismans.
Of course, Bibi Dong hadn't forgotten. Talismans were game-changing treasures that could completely alter the balance of the continent. She herself coveted them, knowing their vast array of uses. Although most talismans wouldn't be very helpful to a Titled Douluo like her, she was very interested in the special types of talismans. She could only hope that Su Ming would fully master talisman-making before joining the Spirit Hall. Ideally, he would teach a few trusted individuals and begin mass production, further strengthening the Spirit Hall's influence.
Ning Rongrong, however, wasn't thinking that far ahead. She was simply touched that Su Ming wanted to make talismans to protect her, and her affection for him grew a little more.
She also wondered when Su Ming would finish learning how to make talismans. Once he did, she could ask him to make more for her to distribute to direct members of her sect for protection—though, of course, that would depend on Su Ming's approval.
Curious, she asked the others, "Zhuqing, Xiao Wu, have you two ever used talismans? How were they?"
Zhu Zhuqing responded with her usual cool tone, "I only got a few space talismans. I used them to escape from the Zhu family, avoiding being hunted down like in the original timeline. But now I don't have any left—I've used them all."
"Space talismans are useful, but they can't transport you to a specific location. They just send you a certain distance in a chosen direction."
"The last time I used one, it transported me to a corner of the Rose Hotel in Soto City, where I happened to see Dai Mubai with a pair of twin sisters."
As she recounted the event, Zhu Zhuqing's voice held a trace of bitterness, though her anger had lessened compared to the past. After all, she no longer had any intention of staying involved with Dai Mubai, though her situation with her family still forced her to maintain appearances for now.
You may also Like
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT