Pollution Source

The sirens continued to blare as many traversers ignored the warning and dashed towards the source of danger.

"Yo, Neo. This seems interesting. It seems lots of people are going to check it out. Wanna go join the excitement?" Tu Fu asked with a hint of excitement as he stared towards where everyone else was heading.

Uh. Pro dully stared at the fatty. He then meekly replied, "No, you can go. I'm still exhausted from the dungeon. I'll head back to the school to rest up ..."

"Yo, alright then, Neo. I'll head over and gather some intelligence. I'll tell you in class tomorrow if you are interested!" Tu Fu responded in an understanding tone before bouncing away at a rapid speed.

Blinking his eyes, Pro stared in the direction where the event took place.

"That seems to be ... the Initiation Center? Well, whatever it is, it doesn't have anything to do with me. Only idiots would join in the fun. For a weak person like me, it's better to be stable."

Pro rolled his eyes and headed towards his school dormitory.

After returning, Pro entered the bathroom, where there were only a bathtub and sink. A soul body doesn't need to use the toilet ...

Turning on the faucet, Pro watched as crystal clear water flowed out. As the bathtub filled, a mystical white fog gradually formed above the water.

This wasn't normal water. This was spiritual spring! It can cleanse and nourish the soul body! Of course, this wasn't a cheap resource that is easy to come by outside, but it was a benefit during his stay in school.

After taking off his clothes, Pro stepped into the bathtub. As Pro laid in the midst of the spiritual spring, he could feel his fatigue slowly being swept away. It was an amazing feeling, but Pro knew that he still needed to rest later to recover fully.

Soon, it was bedtime. Laying on the bed, Pro delved into his spiritual realm. He began to check his gains while messing around with his book to see if it had any other functions.

To Pro's delight, Pro actually discovered that the book could appraise items! This just felt like another plot device thrown his way just so he can be omnipotent and over-powered. Pro almost thought he was the protagonist ... almost.

His appraisal function was limited.

First, his book can only appraise items within his spiritual realm. In other words, it can only appraise the items stored in his pocket space.

Second, his book requires a supply of negative energy in order to appraise items. The higher the grade of the item, the higher the cost in negative energy.

Items are split into four general grades. Low-grade consists of F- to D+ grades. Mid-grade consists of C- to A+ grades. High-grade consists of S- to SSS+ grade. Then, there was extreme-grade, its own separate grade.

However, Pro only knew that his book could appraise low-grade items at the moment because he only had low-grade items. Even so, the energy cost was estimated to be a fifth of his current energy capacity per appraisal.

[Low-Grade Soul Stone (F)] A stone filled with pure soul power that can strengthen the soul body that is low-grade or lower.

[Low-Grade Energy Hiding Basket (F-)] A normal basket, hand-crafted by a dungeon boss, that can hide low-grade negative energy emission of items placed within.

"Hmm ... a stone for strengthening the soul body, but I don't know by how much. Still, it is really useful for my current situation. My spiritual realm is growing faster, but my soul body, the container, hasn't grown much because I have no method to cultivate it. This soul stone can relieve my plight a bit."

Staring at the appraisal for the basket, Pro's eyes glowed with some happiness.

"It was worth it. Even if I can't figure out a way to use it, I can still sell the treasure for some merits. F- grade treasure is still worth something, maybe even more than a consumable soul stone."

After playing with the new appraisal function and messing around a bit more, Pro wasn't 'lucky' enough to discover any more new functions. So, Pro finally plopped his weary body onto the bed and closed his eyes.

The next day, Pro entered the classroom and was greeted by the fatty's pretend-to-be-mysterious look. Seeing this, Pro knew Tu Fu had some news he wanted to say, but wanted to wait for him to ask.

So, he played along, "What happened?"

"Yo, Neo! I knew you would ask! You should have come to join the excitement yesterday! You wouldn't believe what happened!" Tu Fu excitedly exclaimed as he patted Pro's back.

"Well?" Pro raised his brow and waited for him to continue.

"Listen, they sealed up the initiation center and lots of people are talking about it now, but who am I? I'm Tu Fu, and I got first class news! I heard it was due to ..." Tu Fu paused a bit to leave his audience hanging.

Clearly, there were others students listening in.

"Pollution source."

???

Like many others, Pro was confused when he heard the term. Was there pollution here? He thought there was only going crazy from not being able to endure the negative energy.

"What's that?"

Tu Fu opened his mouth to speak, then shrugged as he said with slumped shoulder, "Don't know. First I've heard of it, and even many of the seniors out there didn't know about it. They only said that it was a dangerous thing and that we should report it as soon as we discover it."

Pro froze for a moment. Another dangerous thing? How many dangerous things are there down here in the Negative Zone?

At this moment, the old granny entered the classroom and headed to her podium.

Before she could start class as normal, Ji Fan had already asked the question that the rest of the class wanted to know, "This emperor is curious, what is the pollution source?"

The old granny paused for a moment as she glanced at Ji Fan. Then, she looked at the curious class before she sighed.

"This isn't something that you need to know now as it rarely appear on the first layer. It is also something that is unspoken because knowing too much can be dangerous ..."

"Huh? Knowing too much can be dangerous? This emperor also dabbled with this sort of trick when he ruled the thousands of world. It was a mere way to listen to all beings who dare to speak ill of this emperor. This emperor doesn't believe that knowing about this pollution source is as dangerous as you say!"

Hearing Ji Fan, the old granny shook her head as her face turned solemn, "Don't think that you will be safe against the pollution. Some of you have a difficult time with negative energy, but I can assure you that the pollution will be worse. Even some esteemed high-grade lords had fallen to the pollution, let alone trifling lower-grades like you children."

Su Mei, the nine-tailed fox lady, chimed in as her eyes slyly creased, "But, I believe it would be best if we know some details. Lest we encounter it in the future, and don't even know how we die. I'm sure many here agree with me."

A chorus of agreements came from the group sitting around Su Mei while other students in the class stared at this group with mocking eyes.

The old granny was silent for a moment before she nodded, "I cannot tell you much as it is also a form of protection. Just know that some noticeable signs of pollution are black mist, incomprehensible ravings, strange contagious death, or rapid, abnormal mutations ..."

"If you see any of these signs, report to your nearest safe zone and have yourself quarantined. You may be infected without knowing it, and even dying can not get rid of the pollution, especially once the pollution has spread into your spiritual realm. If it spreads to your soul core, then it means your end."

A solemn silence descended upon the classroom as everyone was in deep thought. A while later, Ji Fan's arrogant voice broke the silence, "This emperor doesn't believe it to be that bad-"

The old granny glared at him as she reprimanded, "Don't take it lightly. I am not over-exaggerating. What is truly scary about the pollution sources is that the infected can also becomes a new pollution source! It's never ending, just like negative energy! If it is not snuffed out immediately, entire safe zones can fall!"

Staring at the class with a grim face, the old granny gave a final warning, "Just know that the pollution sources are a threat to our existence, but it is not something lower-grades like you can deal with. You will only become a burden and end up being a pollution source. Just remember there are threats to your existence out there, and you must get stronger to resist them."

Oh my lord. Pro can't help but have a headache. A new threat on the horizon. It is necessary to get stronger to resist it, but getting stronger means you have to resist the dangers of negative energy ... why does every choice seem to lead to a dead end?

Rapping on the podium, the old granny then began her lecture, "Enough about things you shouldn't worry about, back to the lecture. Previously ..."

Class ended and Pro rejected the fatty's invitation to go to the Tower of Negativity. In the midst of deep considerations, Pro strolled out of the school. After a while, Pro made a firm decision.

There are many different god sequences, each with many routes to choose from. Once a choice is made, it will be difficult to change.

"According to the granny's rough estimates in class, I should have enough merits for the low-grade god sequence! It seems it is time for me to choose a god sequence pathway!"

Some choices may seem easy, but may a trap later. Other choices could be extremely difficult to walk.

Unlike others who had already reached the top, there is a lot of unknown for Pro who is starting from scratch. This is even more so due to the fact that Pro could only afford the lower-grade part!

Unfortunately, Pro couldn't afford to wait. Pro knew that even if he completed the other two dungeon quotas, he won't be able to earn enough points for the high-grade knowledge. That will require grinding out in the wild.

So, Pro could only walk forward and hope for the best.

This will be Pro's first step on the road of godhood! If there is a mistake, there is no turning back! Pro's eyes gleamed with determination as he looked towards a tower in the distance. Target locked: Tower of Wisdom.

What god sequence will Pro choose? What will Pro's future hold?