When they arrived at Flender's office, the headmaster was in quite a good mood that afternoon—after all, he had just accepted a new student earlier that morning.
Originally, he had planned to spend his afternoon strolling through his small shop in Soto City, but now it seemed that trip would have to wait.
Flender took the Lightning Mink out of the Soul Guidance Device it had been sealed in and examined it carefully. He quickly noticed that the Lightning Mink's right hind leg was indeed broken.
Not only that, the fractured bone was already close to piercing through the skin—it was a very severe injury.
Flender took out a sterilized knife. Taking advantage of the fact that the Lightning Mink was still unconscious, he cut open the skin to help realign the bone.
But after examining the fracture closely, Flender frowned. This injury had to be at least a week old—and judging from the break, it hadn't originally been this serious.
That was very strange. The Lightning Mink was known to be an intelligent species of soul beast.
Even if a century-old Lightning Mink didn't know how to treat a broken bone, its biological instincts should've prevented the injury from worsening this much.
Soul beasts' physical bodies were far stronger than those of human Soul Masters. If the injury hadn't worsened, a week should've been enough time for it to heal significantly.
Yet the condition of this Lightning Mink clearly told everyone in the room that after breaking its leg, it hadn't rested at all.
Not only had it refused to rest, it had dragged its broken leg for quite a long journey—most likely all the way from the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest to this place.
What could have attracted it here so desperately? Its actions were practically suicidal.
At this stage, without help from a human, there was no way it could heal itself.
Speed and poison were the two things the Lightning Mink relied upon for survival. A completely broken leg meant the loss of its speed. Without speed, its venom wouldn't be of much use either.
Losing both its strengths, the Lightning Mink was basically unable to survive on its own.
Out of curiosity, after setting the bone, Flender examined its body more thoroughly—and then made a new discovery: this Lightning Mink had recently given birth.
The revelation made the room fall into silence.
Looking at the beautiful, silver-white mutated fur of the mother Lightning Mink, they couldn't help but think of the nobles in nearby Soto City who loved collecting rare and beautiful soul beast cubs.
It was now obvious—only the kidnapping of its newborn could drive a mother Lightning Mink, freshly after giving birth, to chase so desperately despite a broken leg.
And the Soul Masters who had captured its baby must have taken it into Soto City, selling it to one of those nobles.
This sort of thing, while cruel, wasn't something they had the standing to condemn. Those Soul Masters might've simply been desperate for money and risked entering the Star Dou Forest.
Still, watching the mother Lightning Mink fight for her child left everyone in the room feeling deeply guilty.
"Alright," Flender spoke, breaking the heavy silence.
"No matter what reasons those Soul Masters had, such things are not to be glorified. We may not have the power or the right to control others' actions.
But as students of Shrek Academy, you must remember this: Soul Masters and Soul Beasts are mutually dependent. The loss of either side would bring great imbalance.
We can't dictate how others behave, but for ourselves, apart from the necessary soul rings for advancement, we must never slaughter wild soul beasts recklessly."
"Yes, Headmaster," the four Shrek students replied in unison.
Because of one accidentally captured Lightning Mink, Dai Mubai, Oscar, Ausin, and Ma Hongjun received an unexpected lesson—one that left a lasting impression, and one they vowed to uphold.
"Speaking of which," Ausin muttered absentmindedly as they left the office, "wasn't there something called Spirit Souls later on—an alternative Soul Master method to solve the problem of soul rings?"
After returning to the dormitory area, Ausin and Oscar worked together to bathe Cowen, then called Ma Hongjun and Dai Mubai along and headed to Soto City. They decided to have dinner at the Soto Grand Hotel.
Partly, it was to celebrate Dai Mubai's official enrollment—and partly to fulfill the bet Oscar and Ma Hongjun had lost earlier.
The next morning, just after finishing his morning training, Ausin returned to the dormitory area and saw Vice Dean Zhao Wuji drag Dai Mubai out of a small hut by the collar.
From a distance, Ausin could already hear Zhao Wuji's booming voice:
"You little brat! I don't know what bad luck I've got! There are other teachers available, but that stingy old bat Flender just had to assign me as your instructor!"
Seeing Dai Mubai's sleepy, confused face, Ausin couldn't help but laugh. Studying under Teacher Zhao—whether or not Dai Mubai survived, he'd definitely shed a layer of skin.
Still, among all the remaining teachers at the academy, Zhao Wuji was the most suitable to teach Dai Mubai.
Both were power-type Beast Spirit Masters, and both walked the path of direct, overwhelming strength.
Zhao Wuji obviously knew this, too. His complaints were just words—he would still teach Dai Mubai seriously.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered dragging him out this early for morning training.
Of course, Zhao Wuji was famously impatient, and his teaching style was… simple and brutal. Dai Mubai had better be ready for some pain.
Still, if he could endure it, his progress would be substantial.
And so, another school year passed. Dai Mubai had already started designing his own Soul Guidance Devices suited for his personal combat style.
Though he spent quite some time learning Soul Tool crafting, thanks to Ausin's first soul skill—Charcoal-Grilled Cheese Beef Burger—his soul power cultivation hadn't fallen behind.
He had already reached rank 29 some time ago and would likely break through to rank 30 by the start of next semester.
Of course, Ausin and the others weren't far behind.
Ausin himself had just reached rank 29 but would probably need another four or five months to advance further—likely within the next semester.
Since there was still a gap between him and Dai Mubai, they probably wouldn't obtain their next soul rings together.
Oscar was now at rank 27, though he claimed he'd reach rank 28 in two or three more days.
Ma Hongjun lagged a little behind at rank 24—but then again, he was only ten years old.
His cultivation was also hindered by the evil fire within his Martial Soul, which made it difficult for him to meditate and circulate soul power freely.
Flender was also finding it increasingly difficult to suppress that growing evil fire and was currently searching for other solutions.
The day before the vacation began, Ausin reflected carefully on the past school year and realized how different it had been from before.
First, because of Dai Mubai's addition, he and Ausin had formed a two-on-two battle team to compete in the Great Spirit Arena.
After all, one of Flender's graduation requirements was earning a Silver Spirit Fighter Badge.
Unlike last year, when Oscar and Ma Hongjun struggled at the start, Ausin and Dai Mubai thrived among the Great Spirit Masters.
Their soul power levels were already at the upper end of that rank, and with Ausin's ranged attacks and Dai Mubai's close-range might, they were a perfect combination—rarely meeting any opponents who could counter them.
As a result, their winning streaks came naturally, and they successfully advanced to the Bronze Spirit Fighter level.
As for Oscar and Ma Hongjun, they had lost too many early matches, so they were still short on points to advance to bronze.
The two, however, made a pact to fight three matches every week during the break until they leveled up.
The second major difference this year was that Ausin had finally completed the Communication Soul Tool.
He'd been obsessed with the idea for four years—ever since he first wanted to create a Soul Tool for communication—but until now, he had never succeeded.
He'd long found the blueprint from the Omniscient Library, but his technical level back then simply wasn't high enough to make it work.
This year, though, since he had already mastered crafting the usual practical Soul Tools, he dedicated extra time to refining his engraving skills—particularly in carving core arrays.
By now, Ausin could roughly engrave micro-combined core arrays, meaning he could inscribe multiple complementary arrays on a Soul Tool that previously could only hold one—for example, bullet creation.
He could also miniaturize large devices such as railguns or communication Soul Tools.
The final version of his Communication Soul Tool looked almost identical to a touch-screen phone—but its functionality was far more limited.
Currently, it only supported calling, messaging, and video links, with an effective range barely covering the distance between Soto City and Shrek Academy.
Even so, Ausin named it "Mobile Phone"—a name that reflected his hopes for what it could one day become.
...
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