In fact, over the past six months, Shangguan Mo had basically mastered Chakra extraction and successfully refined Chakra.
He had also largely mastered throwing techniques, catching up with the third-year curriculum, which surprised the Ninja Academy teachers, who thought he was indeed a child with impressive Ninja talent.
But this was only because Shangguan Mo was diligent enough; out of 24 hours a day, he spent more than 12 hours cultivating. He couldn't compare to cultivation fanatics like Lee, but he was certainly more hardworking than other students.
And as Shangguan Mo extracted Chakra, his Synthesis System also activated his personal panel, displaying his information "at a glance."
Host: Shangguan Mo
Race: Human
Summoning Beast: Earth Dragon Beast (E)
Health: 200
Chakra: 98
The introduction was extremely brief. Besides giving Shangguan Mo an intuitive sense of his Chakra cultivation progress, this attribute panel was practically useless!
The teacher lectured animatedly on the podium, but Shangguan Mo was zoning out, listening with one ear and letting it out the other. To others, he looked vacant and dazed, but he was actually looking at the attribute panel in his mind.
"Phew... After a long night of hard cultivation, I finally accumulated 98 points of Chakra. If I work hard after school today, reaching 100 points shouldn't be a problem. Based on my previous experience synthesizing the Earth Dragon Beast, white quality Summoning Beasts should all require 100 points of Chakra..."
"The Earth Dragon Beast's main ability is burrowing, so it's not really a combat-type Summoning Beast; it's more of a support type.
And danger is almost everywhere in the Ninja World. Next, it would be best to synthesize a combat type, but... what materials and animals should I look for to synthesize a combat-type Summoning Beast?"
Thinking of this, Shangguan Mo felt a bit troubled again.
The last synthesis was completely accidental; he had no synthesis experience whatsoever. To realize his idea of a combat-type Summoning Beast, he still needed to carefully ponder it.
Even during the ten-minute break, Shangguan Mo seemed somewhat quiet. His popularity was only average, which was also related to his usual taciturnity.
His single remark in class earlier that caused the whole class to burst into laughter was merely a momentary surge of curiosity.
Shangguan Mo genuinely had no desire to interact with these little brats whose mental age was less than half of his own.
And for these classmates who had lived together for three years, Shangguan Mo, the transfer student who was a head taller and several years older than them, while not ostracized, was generally not approached proactively unless necessary.
If they met in the hallway, they might exchange a few words.
The only one he had a good relationship with was Lee, who sat to his left and was also an orphan like him.
Lee was a war orphan from Tang Yin Village. Both of her parents were Tang Ninja, but they unfortunately died in a mission when she was very young.
A day passed quickly. For the first time, Shangguan Mo impatiently rushed back to his home. He didn't even have time to eat; he directly closed his door and began to extract Chakra.
Deep night!
The entire Hidden Hot Water Village was utterly silent. The dark night was filled with deathly stillness, with only a faint glow of moon light faintly scattering down, fighting a desperate battle against the endless darkness.
Shangguan Mo quietly opened his door and walked out, closing it behind him.
Walking past rows of houses, he arrived at a relatively secluded forest in Tang Yin Village.
By this time, even the chirping of insects had mostly died down. Dense branches and leaves blocked the already dim moon light, making the entire forest appear incredibly dark.
Shangguan Mo felt a bit apprehensive, but he couldn't resist the temptation of synthesizing a new Summoning Beast and began searching for suitable materials.
"The final Summoning Beast's level is related to the material's quality and the creature's level. The biggest factor for synthesis success should depend on the compatibility between the material and the creature. The greater the compatibility, the higher the chance of successful synthesis."
Shangguan Mo tried his best to recall the system prompts from the Earth Dragon Beast's synthesis, extracting useful information and experience from the limited details.
"Given my current Chakra reserves, I can only attempt to synthesize the lowest-grade Summoning Beasts! Even if I saw creatures above E-rank or materials above white quality, I would be powerless. Besides, I can't even obtain materials and creatures of that quality right now. Who knows, higher-level creatures might even be able to easily defeat me as I am now!"
Shangguan Mo's expression was somewhat helpless, and he frowned, pondering deeply.
"To synthesize a combat-type Summoning Beast, my choices are really limited right now. The most suitable materials are only common things like steel and iron. As for creatures... I can certainly do some good experiments first..."
Pulling out two iron blocks he had prepared earlier from his pocket, Shangguan Mo began to widen his eyes and search in this forest.
Although the birds and insects were quiet at night, there were still nocturnal animals like rats, cockroaches, and bats active. These omnivorous or even carnivorous animals were the excellent targets in Shangguan Mo's mind for synthesizing combat-type Summoning Beasts.
Iron + Mouse = ???
compatibility: 30%
Material: Iron, Quality (White)
Creature: Mouse, Level (E)
Synthesis Success Rate: 50%
Chakra Required: 100
Synthesize?
Looking at the system's prompt, Shangguan Mo slightly shook his head. As he expected, the synthesis success rate was too low.
Who knew if his Chakra would be returned if the synthesis failed? Chakra recovery was not easy, and he didn't want to take that risk.
He relaxed his right foot, then kicked the mouse he had been stepping on.
Under the moon light, the rotating, flying-away mouse's eyes were filled with confusion.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak--
You chased me all over the forest just to give me a kick like that?
Alright, alright, so this is how we're playing!
Shangguan Mo completely ignored the mouse, whose eyes were full of resentment, and instead tirelessly searched for his next target.
A few minutes later!
Iron + Bat = ???
compatibility: 10%
Material: Iron, Quality (White)
Creature: Bat, Level (E)
Synthesis Success Rate: 30%
Chakra Required: 100
Synthesize?
Seeing this, Shangguan Mo didn't say a word and directly released the struggling bat from his net bag.
"What the heck? It's giving me a headache. Should I not be so fixated on combat-type Summoning Beasts, and instead prepare more common and ordinary materials, and consider the compatibility between materials and creatures more? Maybe then I'll have some unexpected gains?"
Shangguan Mo held his head, somewhat troubled, muttering to himself in consolation. He had tried all the nocturnal creatures he could catch, and their compatibility with iron was too low, completely failing to meet his minimum requirements.
And each synthesis would consume almost all of his Chakra, which would take a long time to recover. He didn't want to waste this time for nothing.
Just when he had no good solution and was about to give up on his idea of synthesizing his longed-for combat-type Summoning Beast, Shangguan Mo's eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had thought of something!
He slapped his forehead, muttering to himself in annoyance.
"Hedgehog! A hedgehog! A hedgehog's compatibility with iron must be extremely high!
I'm such an idiot! The animals I can't find, I can have the Earth Dragon Beast help me catch them!"
Immediately, Shangguan Mo began to call out to the Earth Dragon Beast in his mind.