Night fell upon the forest, and Tian Sheng stood on his Golden Cloud- staff in hand as he began to slowly fly over the treetops, looking for his prey.
His eyes keenly watched over the forest for any sign of the ground rumbling- that would be the sign that the Burrowing Earth Worm was about to emerge. The instant it emerged; he would need to kill it with a single strike- only then would he be able to absorb the Soul Ring and truly become a Soul Master.
And he'd need it to emerge soon- he couldn't maintain both the Cloud and his Staff at the same time for too long...
Suddenly, his ears perked up as he heard the sound of shaking... No, burrowing. Like something was tearing through the Earth.
Sheng's gaze sharpened as he looked over the ground and his eyes finally locked onto a doe, startled awake by the shaking and looking around for the source.
Suddenly, the ground caved and split open- a massive mouth swallowing the doe hole as the Burrowing Earth Worm leapt up taller than the trees. Its entire body was a dark brown, perfectly matching the earth. With its prey caught, it began to turn and head back towards the earth.
Tian Sheng wouldn't allow that.
His eyes narrowed as he poured his soul power into his staff, dispelling his cloud as he fell towards the Earth Worm- staff pointed down.
The Burrowing Earth Worm's brain was located in an unusual place compared to other soul beasts, in the middle of its body- an evolutionary method in order to protect it from surprise attacks when coming out of the ground.
His staff- fuelled by his Level 10 Soul Power- pierced through its body and directly pierced the brain.
The Earth Worm screamed and writhed for only a few moments before it grew still, laying on the ground to never move again.
Tian Sheng took a deep breath and pulled his staff out only as he saw its body let off a faint glow, a yellow soul ring rising up over its corpse.
A grin came to his face, quickly finding his balance on top of its body and closing his eyes as he put his focus on attaching the Soul Ring to his staff.
He felt pressure slowly building on his body, the power of the Soul Ring putting pressure on him. Luckily, his Mental Power was able to compensate for where his body was lacking- and the Soul Ring obediently flew towards his staff before embedding itself in a circular indent in the staff.
His Martial Soul glowed softly, and he noticed that it appeared to have changed slightly. Not much, just slightly. It now looked a bit sleeker, more... Streamlined.
What intoxicated him for a moment, however, was the feeling of his Soul Power breaking through. It only broke through to Rank 11, but that was more than enough for him.
"System, open status Panel."
[Status]
Tian Sheng
Age: 6
Martial Souls
Weapon-Type Martial Soul: Stone Staff (Slight Mutation) (Yellow+)
...
Soul Power: 11
...
Spirit Rings
Stone Staff
First Soul Ring: Burrowing Earth Worm (412 Years) - Stone Hardening
Increases the 'Hardness' of the Stone Staff by 1% per Soul Power.
Tian Sheng frowned... While the Soul Skill was useful, it wasn't what he wanted to see. However, it was a growing soul skill and would only get more powerful the more his Soul Power increased so it was still useful. And the Burrowing Earth Worm did have the ability to harden its body to be like stone to defend from attacks, Tian Sheng's surprise attack merely stopped it from doing so.
His eyes also focused on the fact that his Stone Staff had slightly mutated and was now considered 'Yellow+' in terms of rarity.
"What is the mutation?" He asked the System, the Panel Changing.
Stone Staff (Slight Mutation)
Mutations: Absorbed the ability of the Burrowing Earth Worm, allowing it to grow and shrink. Freely increase size by 2m for every level of Soul Power.
Crimson eyes lit up with joy, looking at his staff with admiration.
This was exactly what he'd wanted, he hadn't expected for his Martial Soul to mutate and obtain the ability though. It was the opposite of what he expected, but it was still the same outcome regardless and it made him feel giddy.
He pointed his staff forwards, "Extend!"
The Stone Staff in his hands instantly shot out, increasing its length by 22 meters in a matter of moments.
"Shrink!"
It bounced back moments later, returning to its normal size.
Tian Sheng smiled, extremely happy with the result. Truthfully, this result was even better than if the two traits had been reversed.
This way, his opponents would have no forewarning when he extended his staff- as opposed to if the growing ability had been on his Soul Ring.
On top of that, with the growth now an inherent part of his Martial Soul, the amount of Soul Power he used was negligible. Of course, the longer the staff the more he would use- but it was still completely worth it!
He hummed softly, eyes locked onto the fact his Staff was now at Yellow+... Which meant that he now had to consider the Staff's Evolution Path.
His ultimate goal- of course- was to increase all of his Martial Souls to obtain the 'Ultimate' Attributes.
While they were introduced properly in Douluo Dalu 2, they were no less important in the first series. The best example of the 'Ultimate' Attribute was Qian Renxue's Six-Winged Seraph, which possessed Ultimate Light. Even Ma Hongjun possessed Ultimate Fire thanks to his Evil Phoenix Martial Soul- or he had the potential there, at least- and Bibi Dong Possessed Ultimate Evil due to becoming the Rakshasa God.
For his Staff, he didn't need things like Ultimate Earth- he needed Ultimate Attack and Ultimate Defence.
For his Cloud, he needed Ultimate Speed- perhaps even more ultimate attributes depending on how he chose to evolve it.
The Gourd was trickier, but Ultimate Life and perhaps Ultimate Luck would be very useful for the Martial Soul.
He grinned happily, feeling extremely pleased with his choice.
[Detected extreme satisfaction from making a choice of Spirit Ring and getting even more than you'd hoped! + 200 Points!]
His smile faded and his eyes widened in surprise and delight.
200 Points? That was almost double the number of points he'd obtained over the last few days... It seemed that choices related to Martial Souls or combat really did give more points- that also explained why drinking from his Gourd awarded him with 10 Points.
Suddenly his eyes widened in realisation, and he quickly scrolled through the System Store.
Ultimate Attribute: Strength - 200,000 Points (may be applied to a Martial Soul or absorbed into the body).
Ultimate Attribute: Defence - 200,000 Points
Ultimate Attribute: Luck - 1,000,000 Points
Ultimate Attribute: Ice - 200,000 Points
...
Even now, Tian Sheng realised he was still underestimating the System. He would even be able to buy Ultimate Attributes from the Store to apply to his Martial Souls.
Or perhaps... Maybe his thinking was still too closed? Out of curiosity, he checked for something else in the System.
Tool-Type Martial Soul: Nightmare Demon Pot (Growth-Type) (Yellow) - 10,000 Points
Nightmare Demon Pot (Growth-Type, Adapted to Douluo) (Yellow) - 30,000 Points
Tian Sheng stared at the result and gulped slowly...
The Nightmare Demon Pot, an item not from Douluo but coming from the world of Tales of Gods and Demons. It's ability was that, in that world, it was capable of taking Demon Spirits and Refining them- creating spirits of a higher tier and perhaps even a mutated bloodline. Unlike Douluo, Mutated Demon Spirits were always more powerful than their original counterpart.
If it was adapted to Douluo, was it possible that he could kill Soul Beasts, trap their rings within the Demon Pot... And use them to refine his own Martial Soul? Perhaps even create new Martial Souls with the Demon Pot, and bestow them onto others?
He swallowed... If he could obtain the Nightmare Demon Pot, he could change the world of Douluo Dalu forever- Twin Martial Souls would become as common as Blue Silver Grass.
On top of that, the Nightmare Demon Pot also contained a Soul Space in which there was a vast amount of energy- meaning the pot could also be used for Cultivation... Though this probably wasn't apparent until later rarities, it was still something to keep in mind.
"Mm... Maybe in the future," he chuckled. "For now, I'd rather just have fun- I am only six, after all!"
He hummed as he glanced around... It was still late at night. For now, he cut off some pieces of the Earth Worm to use as food for later, and then he left its corpse behind. Other animals- both Soul Beasts and regular- would soon come to devour the fresh meat.
Once he was far away and near the outskirts of the forest did, he finally set up camp for the night, grilling some of the Earth Worm meat as he began to think about his plans for the future.
The Revelation about the Nightmare Demon Pot being able to be bought also brought up various other items in other worlds he could likely buy as well... The Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting for one.
Akin to its own miniature world, not only was the heavenly energy in the painting extremely abundant- but it was even able to nourish and empower other artefacts... It would become a treasure if he got his hands on it. The only problem...
Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting (Gold) - 1,200,000 Points
Was that it was far too expensive, something to obtain only when he was much stronger. But the fact that even a priceless treasure like this could be bought...
"System... Anything can be bought from the System Store, correct?" He finally spoke up.
[Of course, host! Anything at all!]
"Even... People?"
The System remained silent for a moment.
And then the System Store opened of its own free will.
Kiana Kaslana (Pre-Awakening) (Purple) - 3,000 Points
Saeko Busujima (Yellow) - 100 Points
Saber Mordred (Black) - 65,000 Points
System Note: All beings purchased from the System Store will be adapted to the Douluo World and will come with Martial Soul Already Awakened. Purchased beings are considered property of the host and can be improved further with points. Purchased beings will maintain absolute loyalty to the Host.
The smile that crawled onto his face could illuminate the world.
This... This changed things.
Originally, his plan was to wander for a few years and push himself to his limits before joining Spirit Hall- after all, he knew that he and Tang San simply couldn't co-exist. They were simply too different.
But with this, he could also build up his own secret force, allowing him to roam the land even more freely with a big name to back him up... Even if he didn't end up allying with Spirit Hall, he could ascend in this world.
He'd originally thought this world was going to be extremely boring for him sometimes, but now he realised that fun would be right around the corner! All he had to do was focus on increasing his strength and heaving fun, and points would come to him naturally.
He grabbed one of the grilled skewers and took a greedy bite out of it.
[Enjoying meat from a 400-year-old Soul Beast! + 20 Points!]
He grinned... Like he'd thought, just enjoying Soul Beast Meat had increased his points by even more than the Soft-Boned Rabbits he'd had earlier.
Ordinary pleasures would only provide so much- if he truly wanted points, then it was best to obtain them from places of greater danger and higher rarity.
"As expected of the system," he smiled. "True Freedom comes with being able to enjoy things, even in the most dangerous of places, right?"
Of course, he wasn't surprised. This was par for the course with most systems- the more dangerous, the more benefits. His System merely preferred its host enjoy things even in the most dangerous of places, perfectly reasonable all things considered. It could have been far worse.
However...
"There's nothing in the store to travel the Myriad Realms," he murmured. "How unusual for a System capable of letting me buy people from other realms, and even items from other realms... Which means... There's something more to the System, but I'm just not strong enough yet."
"Eh, better to not worry about it! Other worlds can wait, for now~" He pulled out his gourd and grinned. "I'll celebrate obtaining my first Soul Ring~ I'm gonna drink 'till I pass out!"