"Why hasn't he woken up yet?" The beautiful young girl named Tang Ya, who seemed around 15 to 16 years old with long black hair tied into a ponytail and pink eyes, spoke with delicate concern.
Beside her stood a young man with a lazy yet refined temperament, roughly the same age as Tang Ya. He had short purple hair and amethyst-like eyes—this was Bei Bei.
"Both his qi and blood flow are smooth, and his soul power is perfectly normal—in fact, it's unusually active. If I'm not mistaken, he must have just broken through to Soul Master. His body needs time to adjust to this new power, which is why he's unconscious. Unfortunately, it seems he only obtained a ten-year Wind Baboon soul ring." Bei Bei explained, sighing slightly at what he assumed was a weak soul ring.
"How is that unfortunate? It's normal for someone's first soul ring to be weaker. The fact that he killed a Wind Baboon alone is impressive enough."
Bei Bei chuckled warmly. "They say the way to a woman's heart is through her stomach—though for you, your heart and stomach might as well be the same."
Tang Ya's face flushed. "Hmph! You're the one whose heart and stomach are the same! Don't forget I'm your teacher!" she retorted, embarrassed, while Bei Bei merely smiled.
"Ugh..." Yuhao groaned as he finally stirred, his head heavy.
---
Yuhao opened his eyes to see the System interface hovering over the two strangers, confirming that his earlier experiences—Skydream, Electrolux, and the System—weren't a dream.
"Little Yuhao, you're finally awake! You had me worried!" Tang Ya exclaimed in relief, while Bei Bei smiled.
"Little Yuhao, you're really brave, coming to the Star Dou Great Forest alone," Tang Ya said. Yuhao rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, acutely aware of how close he'd come to death against a mere ten-year Wind Baboon.
His embarrassment faded as he stood and sensed his soul power—not only had he broken through his bottleneck, but its quality now far surpassed his previous level.
"Yuhao! Try the soul skills I gave you! There are four of them!" Skydream declared proudly in his mind, accompanied by Electrolux's exasperated sigh.
"Four?!" Yuhao yelled internally, though he wasn't as shocked as he might have been. After meeting a million-year spirit beast, a god, and gaining a mysterious system, little could surprise him now.
Skydream transmitted the abilities directly to his mind, while Electrolux warned him not to reveal the System or his soul ring's true age to anyone.
Excited, Yuhao channeled his soul power—only to freeze when he sensed another bottleneck, similar to when he was stuck at Level 10.
"Ah, the lightning strengthened your body and allowed more of my power to merge with you. You're now a Level 20 Soul Master. Your body can currently handle a soul ring up to 2,300 years, and that limit is still rising," Skydream informed him mentally.
Yuhao ignored the absurdity of skipping ten levels and focused on his soul power. His soul ring materialized at his feet—purple.
"???" Bei Bei and Tang Ya stared in stunned silence. They'd expected a white, ten-year ring. A thousand-year purple ring defied all known conventions.
"Hmm..." Tang Ya made a sound somewhere between awe and speechlessness. Bei Bei, equally shocked, managed to ask, "It seems I was mistaken. Little Brother Yuhao, could you tell me which spirit beast this ring came from?"
(Skydream: Buddy, this brother is a million years old. I've exceeded your expectations more than you can imagine.
Electrolux: Little Bug, why a thousand years? I seem to recall that I said a hundred year old ring.)
"Ah? I don't know... it looked like a butterfly," Yuhao lied through his teeth. Years scraping by in the Duke's mansion had honed his ability to deceive.
"A butterfly?" Bei Bei muttered, puzzled.
Skydream hastily fed Yuhao information about a specific butterfly-like spirit beast.
"Um, it was large but weak—weaker than the Baboon. It had blue circular stripes on its wings and emitted a strange purple light," Yuhao added.
"...That sounds like a rare spiritual-type spirit beast—the Blue Spirit Butterfly. The purple light suggests it had just emerged from its cocoon, just reaching a thousand years and was at its weakest state." Bei Bei shook his head in amazement. "Little Brother Yuhao, you're unbelievably lucky."
"Amazing!" Tang Ya blurted, finally snapping out of her daze. Then, both she and Bei Bei noticed the spiritual fluctuations radiating from Yuhao's eyes.
"Little Yuhao... your martial soul?" Tang Ya began.
"It's a mutated martial soul—a spiritual-type body martial soul. My eyes are my martial soul, they're called Spirit Eyes," Yuhao replied with a smile.
Bei Bei felt the urge to slam his head against a tree. A top-tier martial soul, an unprecedented soul ring configuration—what next? Was he going to say he was already Level 20?
"...By the way, Little Yuhao, what's your current soul power level?" Tang Ya asked, curious how much a thousand-year soul ring would boost a Level 10 Soul Master.
"I'm Level 20, Sister Xiao Ya," Yuhao answered.
Bei Bei nearly stumbled. "I guessed right?!"
---
[Name: Tang Ya]
[Strength: Level 30 Soul Grandmaster]
[Martial Soul: Blue Silver Grass (Dark Blue Silver Grass—Sealed)]
[Favorability: 28 (Friend, Younger Brother, Sect Prospect)]
[Name: Mu Bei Bei]
[Strength: Level 41 Soul Ancestor]
[Martial Soul: Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon (Light Holy Dragon—Unawakened)]
[Favorability: 30 (Friend, Younger Brother, Strong Potential)]