Inside the secret base, Xiao Lin shook his head and paused his research on the equipment revealed by the black-robed elder.
At this point, it was more important to first write a simple thesis for the Soul Masters who had been rejected by the Soul Hunting Squad and for others who didn't understand their own Martial Souls.
"Shocking! Even Trash Martial Souls Have Advantages Like These!"
Xiao Lin thought for a moment and decided to begin with the Soul Master whose Martial Soul was a ball of yarn as an example.
A yarn-ball-type Martial Soul had the greatest advantages of being long, thin, and highly concealable.
So Soul Masters with the yarn-ball Martial Soul could consider choosing soul rings like the following:
Let the yarn grow fine fur, giving it a perception ability similar to a feline's whiskers to sense the environment.
Make the yarn even finer and longer, enhancing its sensory range, pursuing a pure reconnaissance-type Soul Master path.
Grant the yarn metal-like sharpness and toughness. When sufficiently fine, the threads could cut like paper cuts, surprisingly painful and dangerous.
In a stealth or ambush scenario, with a bit of carelessness, the threads could slice through the human body.
Continue refining the yarn so it could stitch wounds, giving it exceptional healing capabilities for external injuries.
Give the yarn the ability to parasitize the human body, targeting acupuncture points and blood vessels, causing internal destruction.
...
And so on—Xiao Lin listed many advantages of the yarn Martial Soul.
In many cases, it's not that a Soul Master can't grow stronger, but rather they lack the eyes to see and the mind to adapt.
After the yarn example, Xiao Lin went on to present other similarly "ordinary" Martial Souls.
In the end, Xiao Lin even included a data panel for the yarn-ball Martial Soul as a reference:
[Martial Soul: Yarn Ball]
Destructive Power: D (Can't even beat a normal person)
Speed: C (Roughly the same as an average person)
Range: A (Can reach distances of several hundred meters)
Stamina: B (Can be used for most of the day with little energy consumption)
Precision: C (As precise as an ordinary person threading a needle)
Growth Potential: B- (Some potential, but requires very well-matched soul rings)
Special Energy Compatibility: C+ (Not well-suited for fusion with most energy attributes)
A perfectly regular heptagon (seven-sided figure) representing the stats made it all the clearer and more structured.
This was the new paper Xiao Lin was preparing to publish.
And in this paper, the most important part wasn't just the tailored soul ring advice, but this Martial Soul Data Panel at the end.
Everyone knows that graphics are easier to remember than text.
And the seven stats basically covered all key aspects of a Martial Soul's capabilities.
As long as a Soul Master used their brain, they could focus on growing their strengths.
Of course, the idea of a true heptagon Martial Soul or Soul Master, well... Xiao Lin didn't say that out loud.
Since he had already designed a data panel for Martial Souls, Xiao Lin figured, why not make one for himself and Tang San too?
After sketching a standard heptagon, Xiao Lin wrote the name of his own Martial Soul — Qiu Long Rod (Coiling Dragon Rod) — at the top, then began logging his stats.
[Martial Soul: Qiu Long Rod]
Destructive Power: S (Far exceeds the destructive power of heavy soul beasts)
He originally wanted to describe it as "stronger than a train collision," but held back.
First, he was only Level 16, and second, Xiao Lin didn't believe that his future strength would be limited to something like a train crash.
After becoming a Title Douluo or even a god, Xiao Lin felt his Qiu Long Rod would have the power of a meteor crashing into the Douluo Continent.
Unlike Tang San, who couldn't even break through a city wall.
Xiao Lin shook his head, brushing aside the fantasy.
No point in daydreaming too far ahead.
He continued:
Speed: C+ (Slightly faster than a normal person, only because the rod's weight was negligible to him)
Range: C+ (Can extend up to 2.5 meters, plus it can be thrown)
Stamina: S (As long as he doesn't use soul skills or Martial Soul True Body, there's almost no consumption)
Precision: B (Good control through multitasking; soul power is stable; True Body form is easy to handle)
Growth Potential: S (Judging by the first soul skill, the potential is massive—could become a god-level Martial Soul)
Special Energy Compatibility: S (Soul power is "Diamond Indestructible," offering both top-tier attack and defense)
Xiao Lin was very satisfied after writing out his own data panel.
The chart already showed that he had the makings of a well-rounded, heptagon powerhouse.
Once he boosted his speed, he could increase his range further too.
After all, the faster he was, the farther he could throw.
Unlike the yarn Martial Soul above, Xiao Lin's panel was just insanely high across the board.
A classic stats monster, so by just investing in strength and speed, he could already form a full heptagon.
If he wanted to go all-rounder, he'd need to focus on the Special Energy category.
For instance:
Extreme Strength
Extreme Metal
Extreme Ice (he'd mentioned this when discussing forming a soul core)
Extreme Lightning (enhancing both destructive power and speed)
All of these were placed under "Special Energy" by Xiao Lin, and he felt they wouldn't conflict much—except maybe ice and lightning, which could be a bit incompatible.
All in all, by the end of the writing, Xiao Lin was extremely pleased.
Since that was settled, his next soul beast should be speed-based, and if it came with lightning attributes, even better.
Lightning Rabbit?
Forget it, Xiao Wu probably wouldn't approve.
If he was going to ask Xiao Wu, the Beast-Lover, to help find soul beasts, it was better not to choose rabbit-type ones.
Even if the Lightning Rabbit was super fast and possibly had a teleportation soul skill.
Knock knock knock!
"Brother Lin, can we come in now?"
Outside the secret base, Tang San and Xiao Wu had finished today's lessons and were waiting at the door.
After all, unlike Xiao Lin, the two of them hadn't learned much about Martial Souls beforehand, so they still had a lot to study.
"Come in."
Xiao Lin answered casually—he still needed to make panels for Tang San and Xiao Wu.
Click!
Tang San and Xiao Wu entered the secret base, locked the door behind them, and exchanged amused glances.
This secret base setup was just too fun and thrilling.
Reaching the basement and seeing Xiao Lin drawing data diagrams, both of them peeked over curiously.
"Martial Soul Data Panel?"
"Empire's Destruction Dragon?"
They had instinctively read aloud the bold words atop the panel of Xiao Lin's Qiu Long Rod.
The "Empire's Destruction Dragon," of course, was Xiao Lin's self-proclaimed title.
"Brother Lin, what's this?"
Tang San understood part of the panel but still wanted a clearer explanation.
"This is my evaluation of my Martial Soul. With this panel, I can clearly see what path I should take in the future," Xiao Lin answered without looking up.
"So, 'Empire's Destruction Dragon' and 'Heptagon Warrior'—that's your path?"
Xiao Wu looked skeptically at Xiao Lin's data panel.
Holy crap! These stats were crazy!
"Something like that. I'm currently working on your and Tang San's panels—you can take a look later."
(End of Chapter)