Chapter 48 Reflections on the Second Soul Skill
[Ingredient: Iron-veined snail]
[Ingredient: Duckweed]
[Ingredient: Silver-scaled Spotted Fish]
[...]
As the afterglow of the setting sun dyed the lotus pond a golden red, Tang Chuan stopped and swam towards the shore.
After getting ashore, he dried himself off and changed into clean clothes.
He tallied up his harvest and found over 800 new ingredients. Although he didn't get any soul bones, it still pushed the progress of the Nine Trials of the God of Food forward a little.
It rose from 23% to 27%.
As night fell, the sounds of insects chirping and beasts roaring echoed through the Soul Hunter Forest.
Tang Chuan did not leave rashly. He had already explored almost the entire lake and was quite far from the entrance. It wouldn't be too late to go back tomorrow.
He chose a sturdy old tree on the bank and wove it into a suspended hammock.
"A thousand threads reappear, a hundred flavors emerge."
A pale purple soul ring lit up beneath his feet, and fluorescent fruit wrapped around the edge of the hammock. The light dispelled the darkness, and grass strands wove a protective net beneath the hammock, hanging with the peels of honey-scented shrub fruits to prevent insects from approaching at night.
"That's much safer."
Tang Chuan checked it over and nodded in satisfaction.
He took out the water chestnuts he had collected during the day from the basket, took a bite, and the sweet juice burst in his mouth, dispelling the fatigue of the day.
He then wove several pieces of roasted meat and iced tea from the blue silver grass, chewing them slowly to replenish his energy.
Lying in the hammock, Tang Chuan closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the sea of his mind, browsing the newly added entries in the "Ingredients Illustrated Guide".
Water chestnuts, ice-patterned shrimp, dark seaweed, giant crabs, swordfish...
He remembered every single item clearly.
"Go back to find it tomorrow morning, and that should be about it. Then we'll head back to Nottingham."
Tang Chuan made his plan and soon fell asleep.
On the third day, Tang Chuan woke up, washed up briefly, ate a few water chestnuts for breakfast, and then dived into the water again.
He explored almost the entire lotus pond and its connected tributaries.
He even ventured into several deep pools, where he discovered some shade-loving fungi and rare minerals in the dark depths.
[Ingredient: Ganoderma lucidum]
[Ingredient: Cold Iron Stone]
[Ingredient: Shadow Fungus]
[...]
As he swam back, searching, Tang Chuan stood by the lotus pond when the midday sun shone on the lake, but there was still no sign of the soul bone.
"Looks like my luck has finally run out."
Tang Chuan smiled helplessly, the last bit of hope in his heart dissipating: "To get even one piece is already a stroke of luck."
"Next time, I can bring my mistress along."
"Let's see if he, the original protagonist, has the luck..."
After three consecutive days of intense exploration and combat, although soul power can be restored by devouring the flesh of spirit beasts, mental fatigue is difficult to eliminate.
Without lingering, Tang Chuan packed up all his spoils and embarked on his journey home.
Before leaving, he didn't forget to use Blue Silver Grass to devour the remains of the Water Fly Demon Lotus. After all, it was a two-thousand-year-old plant spirit beast, and it might be able to open a new entry in the encyclopedia.
He was so happy that he forgot about it.
Fortunately, no other spirit masters had passed by here in the past two days, and no spirit beasts had caused any trouble.
[Water Fly Demon Lotus]
[Origin: Lotus Pond, Hunter's Forest]
[Duration: 2100 years]
[Features: Possesses abundant vitality; root system can be woven into waterproof ropes]
[Effect: Lotus seeds can be used as a medicinal food ingredient; stewing them can enhance the recovery speed]
"Good!"
Tang Chuan nodded in satisfaction, changed into clean and tidy clothes, used his first soul skill to weave a full basket of ingredients, carried it on his back, and walked towards the entrance of the Soul Hunter Forest.
Along the way, he occasionally encountered a few spirit beasts, which he dealt with to supplement his encyclopedia entries.
This caused the progress of the encyclopedia to eventually stop at 29%.
By the time he emerged from the Soul Hunter Forest, it was already dusk.
The guard saw him carrying a full basket on his back and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, but he didn't ask any questions. After all, it was common for many spirit masters to go into the forest to earn extra money.
"Tomorrow I'll organize the newly acquired aquatic ingredients and see if I can develop a new type of iced tea..."
"We should also ask Xiao San about his progress in inquiring about spirit beasts at the tavern."
As Tang Chuan walked, he mentally calculated: "I'll probably have to come to the Soul Hunting Forest twice more, and after that I'll have to go to places like the Sunset Forest, the Star Dou Great Forest, the Vast Ocean City, and the Death Desert..."
After finding Uncle Li, Tang Chuan got into the carriage.
The horse-drawn carriage wheels creaked rhythmically as they rolled along the dirt road in the night.
The carriage jolted along. Tang Chuan leaned against the side, his gaze fixed on the shadows of the trees passing by outside the window. The fatigue of the day was gradually fading away.
"Iced tea can only be kept for two days at most, and grilled meat will not be fresh after one day."
Tang Chuan murmured, his fingertips unconsciously tapping his knee: "This is only within the small area of Notting City and the academy. We'll have to go back to restock in three days at most."
"If in the future we want to expand our operations to neighboring Soto City, or even Heavenly Soul City and Star Luo City, in order to gather the power of faith, transportation and storage alone will be a major challenge..."
Establish a chain of stores?
It's unrealistic to expect to train a large number of reliable food-type spirit masters.
Looking for a way to preserve Soul Skill food in the long term?
"Spatial-type soul skills or soul tools..."
This was the first thing Tang Chuan thought of.
If there were storage equipment that could store live animals or keep them fresh, it might solve some of the problems.
But how rare are soul tools in Douyi?
Moreover, the capacity is not keeping up with future demand.
There are indeed spirit masters in the spirit master world who are skilled in spatial abilities and can teleport short distances, but such spirit masters are extremely rare and difficult to hire.
Not to mention, even if you could hire someone, they couldn't possibly be constantly busy with food delivery.
"Where's the mistress?"
Tang Chuan then thought of Tang San: "He can spend all his time delivering takeout, but with the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, even if he absorbs a space-type spirit beast, the Soul Skills he gains will most likely be control, storage, or defense-type, which are far from ultra-long-distance teleportation."
"It's too much of a gamble; it's unnecessary!"
"Just the Blue Silver Network alone requires Xiao San to gamble with his second, third, or even fourth spirit ring. There's no room to gamble with space teleportation-type spirit skills."
"The Clear Sky Hammer is completely out of place."
Tang Chuan shook his head, saying that he couldn't place his hopes on something so uncertain.
A horse neighed outside the carriage, and Uncle Li slowed down, probably because they were about to cross a bumpy dirt road.
As his thoughts wandered, Tang Chuan's gaze finally settled on himself.
"It has to be a divinely bestowed soul ring!"
"When I need to acquire my second spirit ring, perhaps I can use the divinely bestowed spirit ring to choose a spatial teleportation-type spirit skill... although it has nothing to do with food-related skills..."
Once the thought popped into his head, he couldn't suppress it anymore.
The characteristic of a divinely bestowed soul ring is that it can grant the most suitable soul skill based on the spirit master's own limits of endurance and their strong inner desires.
If, when absorbing a divinely bestowed soul ring, one desires an ability to solve the problems of food storage and transportation, then the God of Food might be able to grant such an ability.
After all, the first soul skill, [Blue Silver Weaves a Hundred Flavors], was designed to collect ingredients.
Now he needs to solve the problem of food transportation and storage. His second spirit ring might be able to grant him a spirit skill that extends the shelf life of food or allows for long-distance teleportation.
[end of the chapter]