Time Worm Soul Spirit: "Then let me ask—how much did it cost to make a soul spirit like me?"
Coldface: "Not worth much. You're just a defective product. Manufacturing cost is only a few thousand federal coins at best."
Star Worm Soul Spirit: "Hahaha, cheap goods never have high quality!"
Time Worm Soul Spirit: "What do you mean by that?" (皿)
Star Worm Soul Spirit: "Nothing much, just sighing at the fact that among us, a bargain-bin reject managed to sneak in. Tsk tsk!"
Nan Fusheng: "Enough. Back to the main issue. How we'll portray Deceptive Mentor can wait for later. What matters now is the promotion ritual."
Kamui Shinkami: "That's simple. For Shrek Academy's semester finals, aren't the students required to go out and challenge others? In the original story, when Tang Wulin and his group came to provoke Sun and Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, their battle was broadcast to all of Mingdu via soul tool screens. If and Rofa thrash them soundly in front of everyone, won't that provide the audience emotion needed for the role?"
Rofa: "That's indeed a workable plan. Kamui and I could take the chance to build fame as well. It'll benefit us when we enter the Federation later. More importantly, the more famous we avatars become, the stronger the anchor point for your humanity, main body. Like running smurf accounts, right?"
Kamui Shinkami: "Exactly. Just keep stirring up trouble. If Tang Wulin doesn't come to us, then we'll march right up to him. That'll probably make us even more famous."
Nan Fusheng's eyes lit up. It really was a good idea. His avatars were anchors for his humanity—the stronger the impression people had of them, the more stable his anchor became in turn.
Fors: "By the way, is it just me, or does it feel like someone's missing?"
Nan Fusheng: "You mean Fusheng No.1, right? I didn't pull him in this time. Tang Wulin is still next to him. For this meeting, I only summoned avatars who were alone or surrounded by trusted allies."
Nan Fusheng: "If anyone else has business, say it now. If not, I'll dismiss the meeting."
Rofa: "Main body, if fame is what you're after, it won't be hard. With your Fourth Soul Skill plus coordination from us avatars, getting attention will be easy."
Nan Fusheng paused. "I've thought of that too, but haven't tested it yet. I'll run a trial later and see how it works. For now, meeting adjourned."
Nan Fusheng exhaled heavily, rubbing his temples. Summoning over a hundred avatars at once into the "Origin Castle" for a council took a lot out of him. Luckily, as a half-god, the strain was still within his limits.
"But… the Fourth Soul Skill, huh?"
He summoned his martial soul. Four rings rose—purple, purple, purple, black. Over the past three years, he hadn't focused much on upgrading the soul ring years. Most growth came from the soul spirits themselves, improving inside the Spirit Ascension Platform.
His Fourth Soul Skill was named Plague Virus. Yes, that was the name. The skill came from his Fourth Soul Spirit: the Carcass-Eater Worm.
Anyone struck by the skill was directly infected, transformed into an alien-like abomination. At the same time, their innermost malice was magnified without limit. Each looked different depending on their personal psyche.
If the target was a soul master, the virus fused with their martial soul, making them even stronger.
Nan Fusheng could partially command them. The more malice buried inside the host, the greater the strength they received.
"…Why does this feel more and more like Cthulhu? Should I just call myself the God of Ochs?"
Nan Fusheng couldn't help ridiculing himself. The ability, combined with his Mythical Creature form's innate madness aura, was devastating to normal people.
Corrupting minds, driving insanity, infecting bodies into monsters—wasn't this basically an evil god?
"This skill is more suited to mass-production troops anyway. At least it lives up to the original intent behind creating this soul spirit."
It was also his only soul spirit with direct combat capability.
Time Worm, Star Worm, and Spirit Worm weren't combat types. But the Carcass-Eater Worm was different: it not only created swarms but also fought well on its own.
The problem was its size. After surpassing ten thousand years, its body had grown to over 150 meters and would only keep growing. Its enormous frame made Nan Fusheng wary of summoning it casually—there was no way to hide something so huge.
"…Still, using the Fourth Soul Skill to create mass infection, then sending avatars to slay them, could work well. Just need to watch out for the Federation's reaction. Wouldn't want them mistaking it for a plane invasion."
He mused over the plan. The infected, after all, looked nothing like humans. Being mistaken for monsters was likely.
"Let's call the infected Ochsers. Too lazy to name them any further. They can pose as Evil Soul Masters anyway—those guys are already considered anti-human."
As he thought, he turned to a soul tool screen. On it was a sealed chamber containing a vaguely humanoid creature.
It was "humanoid" only in outline. Its entire skin was dark purple, patterned with strange markings. Its face was twisted, a mushroom-like growth sprouting from its head.
This was a Soul King-class Ochser—and originally an Evil Soul Master. Nan Fusheng couldn't remember his name. He had been captured by Qiangu Bubei and given to Nan Fusheng as a test subject for the Fourth Soul Skill.
At first, the man had only been a three-ring Evil Soul Master. But after infection, his strength had skyrocketed—within three years, he had reached Soul King level.
His martial soul had originally been a low-grade Corpse-Eating Mushroom, a parasite that grew by devouring corpses. He had desecrated graves, then even killed people to accelerate his cultivation, until his downfall.
After infection, it mutated into the Wraith Mushroom, which not only fed on corpses but absorbed resentful spirits, releasing them as spores to attack enemies' souls.
"…Good enough for a test run. At least I've got the general scope of the Fourth Soul Skill."
My Fifth Soul Spirit is still under development. And I'll need to plan for a Sixth as well.