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After days of deep contemplation and poring over vast amounts of information, Ye Wen ultimately abandoned the idea of focusing on elemental attributes in the early stages.
The main reason was that soul beasts with multiple attributes were generally of noble bloodlines and possessed overwhelming strength—far beyond what someone like him, without status or background, could hunt.
However, even though he had given up on the elemental path, Ye Wen wasn't about to randomly absorb any soul ring. If he did, wouldn't he just become a second Yu Xiaogang?
Thus, after much deliberation, Ye Wen concluded that he needed to focus on the bloodline of his martial soul.
A soul master's martial soul was a wondrous thing—it could not only ascend and descend in compatibility but also cross species boundaries. As long as the soul master's body could endure it, theoretically, they could absorb any kind of soul ring.
Though Ye Wen's innate talent appeared to be only half a level, his martial soul, which had enabled him to reach Level 10 within less than a year, couldn't possibly be as useless as it seemed on the surface.
It was likely akin to Yu Xiaogang's Holy Dragon of Light martial soul—a top-tier martial soul whose overwhelming bloodline potential consumed the host's latent abilities.
Moreover, since Ye Wen's martial soul didn't exhibit any clear tendencies, it indicated that his martial soul had strong compatibility and could accommodate a wide range of soul rings.
What Ye Wen needed to do now was select the most suitable soul ring from among the countless soul beasts.
A powerful offensive soul skill?
No, even if Ye Wen were exceptionally gifted, his first soul ring would at most be a hundred-year-level soul ring, providing limited offensive power—whether for close-range or long-range combat. The future benefits would be minimal.
A robust defensive soul skill?
This also wasn't viable. While Nana's core seemed solid, the martial soul itself was primarily composed of the liquid surrounding the core, offering limited defense.
A control-type soul skill?
Possibly, but Ye Wen doubted it. After examining Nana's martial soul, he felt it lacked the necessary intimidation factor. How could something so seemingly harmless bind others or exert control?
After much thought, Ye Wen realized his options for his first soul ring were narrowing significantly, leaving only augmentation-type soul skills as a possibility.
But since Nana wasn't a food-based martial soul, this ruled out the idea of attribute enhancement.
While flipping through books in the library, Ye Wen sighed. Sometimes having an overly powerful martial soul was a source of frustration.
In the later stages, Ye Wen could hunt multi-elemental soul beasts to enhance his martial soul's elemental talents. However, randomly selecting elemental talents in the early stages would make him no different from Yu Xiaogang.
Thus, Ye Wen was left with only two paths:
Enhancing the foundational abilities of his martial soul or masking its weaknesses.
Based on over a year of experimentation, Ye Wen discovered he could manipulate Nana's form using his willpower, shaping it into weapons like swords, spears, or axes. However, the strength was limited since the outer liquid was essentially just thickened water.
"So, should I absorb the soul ring of a soul beast with metal-hardening abilities? That way, I could have a versatile weapon-type martial soul."
As Ye Wen flipped through basic soul beast knowledge, he entertained this thought but quickly dismissed it.
Even if the martial soul could transform into various weapon forms, it would still be limited by the hundred-year soul ring's constraints. This plan was a no-go.
But just as Ye Wen was feeling overwhelmed and mentally exhausted, his hand suddenly paused while turning a page.
At this moment, his attention was caught by the description of a soul beast on the page.
[Soul Beast: Parasitic Fungus Demon]
[Ability Traits: A ten-year Parasitic Fungus Demon can silently parasitize insect-type soul beasts, using them for nutrients and protection during battle.
Research has shown that parasitized insect-type soul beasts not only gain increased speed and strength but also lose their sense of pain, entering a berserk-like state.
However, once the Parasitic Fungus Demon advances to the next age bracket, it abandons its host, completely draining the host's nutrients and causing its death.]
[Age Bracket Identification: The mycelium of a ten-year Parasitic Fungus Demon is white. After reaching a hundred years, it turns yellow, gradually darkening to deep yellow. At a thousand years, it becomes purple. No ten-thousand-year Parasitic Fungus Demons have been discovered yet, but researchers speculate they would likely be black.
Detailed color identification charts are provided below.]
[Parasitized Soul Beast Identification: Insect eyes become cloudy or turn white, overall movement stiffens, and obvious fungal traces appear on the body surface.]
[Primary Distribution Areas: Star Dou Great Forest, Sunset Forest, Ice Forest, Galo Rainforest.]
[Soul Beast Evaluation: A rare plant-type soul beast, though not uncommon. It provides soul skills such as parasitism, berserking, and possession.
Additionally, this soul beast has significant medicinal value. After extracting its soul ring, it can be sold as a valuable medicinal ingredient.]
After reading this entry, Ye Wen's eyes reflected deep thought.
Previously, Ye Wen had prided himself on reviewing all the soul beast books available at Nuoding Academy's elementary library—though excluding those in Yu Xiaogang's possession. He believed he had thoroughly examined every relevant book.
Yet, he was certain he hadn't come across this particular page before.
Closing the book, Ye Wen carefully inspected it. The book looked quite ancient, but its cover bore the same title as the other books he'd seen: 'Basic Knowledge of Soul Beasts'.
Ye Wen stepped down from his chair and went to the bookshelf to compare it with the newer-looking copies of 'Basic Knowledge of Soul Beasts'. He quickly formed a conclusion.
"So, even this book gets updated, just like the 'Xinhua Dictionary'." (T/N: The Chinese equivalent of the Oxford Dictionary.)
Soon, concern flickered in Ye Wen's eyes. Could this soul beast have gone extinct, leading to its removal from textbooks?
However, another possibility existed—one Ye Wen was aware of. The teaching system across Douluo continent was highly disorganized, with each region using unique teaching materials.
Still, soul masters didn't care much about these differences. After all, Douluo continent was a world where strength mattered more than knowledge.
If he couldn't find the answers he sought in books, Ye Wen had another option.
Though he inwardly resisted this approach, wasn't this the perfect time to leverage the benefits of being a kept man?
That's right—Ye Wen was now heading to find Huo Yu'er.
Since they'd eventually be family, asking her elders for information about soul beasts wasn't a big deal, right?
As he walked, Ye Wen couldn't help but marvel at fate. He had originally thought he'd have to swallow his pride and ask Yu Xiaogang for soul beast data after school started. Who would've thought he'd stumble upon such a fitting soul beast for himself?
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