Chapter 25: Half a Year

"Ha ha, I finally have money! Xiao Wu, tomorrow I'll take you to buy delicious food."

After the transaction, Hu Jiu happily played with the Gold Spirit Coin in his hand and generously said to Xiao Wu.

"Great! I want to buy candied hawthorn, I want to buy sugar figurines, and I also want to buy…"

For a moment, Xiao Wu laid out all the things she wanted to buy with Hu Jiu's money.

"Sure thing." Hu Jiu has always been generous with Xiao Wu and didn't care about money at all.

That night, Hu Jiu, as usual, took a look at the AFK Panel before going to bed.

But that one glance almost made him jump in surprise.

"102 years, that's right, it's really 102 years!"

Looking at the Spirit Ring Idle Slot hanging high, Hu Jiu instantly lost his composure.

Initially, he thought that his Absorption Spirit Skill would only increase the idling speed of the Spirit Ring Idle Slot by ten percent!

He never expected it to actually double, which was… truly fantastic!

Calculating this way, wouldn't it mean that in just a little over a year, he could upgrade his Spirit Ring to a thousand-year-old Spirit Ring?

How much would his cultivation speed increase then?

He looked forward to it!

...

Half a year later.

In a remote location, a figure stood with closed eyes, his expression calm.

Suddenly, this figure opened his mouth, and a shadow faster than lightning flashed by, causing a fruit in front of him to suddenly disappear.

"Yuck! So sour."

The person was Hu Jiu, and after half a year, his height had shot up significantly; he now looked like a nearly grown child.

Today, he came here alone to experiment with his upgraded External Spirit Bone.

His External Spirit Bone is a tongue, which was useless before the upgrade; it could only extend half a meter and lacked hardness, resulting in almost no attack power.

However, after the upgrade, his tongue could now extend five meters in an instant, and it became quite tough, resembling cowhide, to the extent that ordinary swords couldn't cut it.

Although the attack power was still insufficient, if necessary, it could definitely be used to bind someone with precision.

"It's passable," Hu Jiu commented lightly, his tone still full of disdain.

This External Spirit Bone had always been something he was embarrassed to use; it wasn't because it was precious or he was afraid of it being stolen, but because he felt awkward using it in battle.

If he were facing a beautiful woman, he might consider using his tongue to bind someone, but what if he encountered a man?

Ugh, stop!

…

It has been over half a year since arriving at Nuoding Academy, and his Soul Power level has reached level twenty. Aside from not having a second Spirit Ring, he is now a proper Spirit Grand Master.

It was precisely because he reached this significant realm that his External Spirit Bone upgraded as well.

Besides his own Soul Power level, the greatest improvements have come from his Spirit Ring and skills.

First, the Spirit Ring; after more than half a year of idling, its age has now reached five hundred ninety-six years, which is even stronger than Tang San's first Spirit Ring.

Currently, in terms of Soul Power, he has surpassed Tang San.

Next is the Soul Power Meditation Method, which just reached level seven not long ago, increasing his cultivation speed by sixty percent.

His rapid increase in Soul Power is also due to the level boost from the Soul Power Meditation Method.

The Five Senses Enhancement Technique is also at level seven. Within five hundred meters, as long as he wishes, he can distinguish even the most complex odors. His ears can hear all sounds within a kilometer, and as for his vision, he has become like a telescope, able to see large objects, such as trees, over five kilometers away.

Of course, generally speaking, unless he is standing at a high point, he cannot see very far due to the presence of obstacles.

As for his sense of touch, since reaching level seven, it has subtly transformed into a kind of magical perception. Just like during his time at the Academy, he often sensed a hidden, overwhelming aura, like a compressed barrel of gunpowder that would explode upon contact.

This aura, without needing to guess, is clearly from Tang Hao. Aside from him, who hides in the shadows to protect Tang San, who else could possess such an overwhelming presence?

As for taste, well, it's better not to mention it. If it weren't for Hu Jiu sealing this ability, he might have starved by now.

Regarding Soul Power Control, he is currently halfway through level six. At this level, he can run freely in any environment.

Aside from not daring to venture into volcanic lava areas, there is practically no place that poses a challenge for him.

The Soul Power within him has also allowed him to create new tricks. With Soul Power transformed into threads, he can move up and down effortlessly, like Spider-Man.

After transforming Soul Power into threads, his agility is such that even Tang San cannot catch him in a short amount of time.

The last one, and the highest level, is the Disorder Splitting Winds hammer technique, at level eight. After the final strike of the eighty-one consecutive hammer blows, it can increase his strength by five thousand pounds.

This level of enhancement frightens Hu Jiu, making him hesitant to use it.

It's important to know that the effects of force is mutual; he fears that if he uses the final strike, he might end up injuring himself.

Additionally, his golden finger, the AFK Panel, has now unlocked the sixth Idle Slot over the past six months. Unfortunately, there are no skills available for idling, leaving two Idle Slots empty, which is quite a waste.

Because of this, he has been playing with balloons during this time, trying to create the Rasengan.

Sadly, it seems that his level of Soul Power Control is still lacking a bit, and he has not been able to create it.

...

Sneaking back to the Academy, he happens to encounter Tang San and Xiao Wu waiting for him.

"Quickly tell me, where did you just run off to? We couldn't find you anywhere!" As soon as they met, Xiao Wu glared at him fiercely, as if he had abandoned her.

"Ah, haha, I just went to buy you some good food," Hu Jiu said with a smile, feeling a bit guilty as he took out a bag of candies.

"Is that so?" Xiao Wu looked at Hu Jiu suspiciously, uncertain about his explanation.

"By the way, Xiao San, do you need something from me?" He made a face at Tang San; in times like these, he definitely needed his brother's help.

"Hmm, after more than half a year of training, all three of us have reached level twenty. Now we should consider the matter of our second Spirit Rings. I came to discuss this with you," Tang San replied with a smile, subtly helping Hu Jiu without leaving any trace.

"So what are your thoughts?" Hu Jiu asked.

"I've already discussed the Spirit Ring matter with my master. I've decided to focus on enhancing the toughness of the Blue Silver Grass, and I will look for a Spirit Beast related to that," Tang San explained. "I came to ask if you have decided on your second Spirit Ring yet?"

"Second Spirit Ring, huh?"

Hu Jiu gazed affectionately at Xiao Wu, who was happily munching on candy, and replied with a calm smile, "I plan to choose the Hundred Change Monster as my second Spirit Ring."

"What? Are you crazy?" Even the usually calm Tang San was shocked by Hu Jiu's words, exclaiming loudly.

What is the Hundred Change Monster?

It is the most useless Spirit Beast in the Spirit Master World. A ten-year cultivation would make one a king among the Hundred Change Monsters. Some even believe that the Hundred Change Monster shouldn't be classified as a Spirit Beast and should be excluded from the category entirely.

Such a Spirit Beast wouldn't be chosen as a Spirit Ring even by the Spirit Master with the lowest talent for cultivation.

Not only is its age extremely low, but more importantly, absorbing the Hundred Change Monster would only grant a skill called Transformation, which can merely change one's appearance in a simple manner. Beyond that, it is utterly useless.

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