Lin Xiurong looked out the window to see the sun beginning to set in the horizon, just then she heard foot steps behind her along with a voice.
"Boss, would you like to have dinner right now?"
Turning back, she saw the big kid that whispered earlier to Xiao Wu, not knowing his name, she asked.
'What's your name child of man?'
Not like she'll ever say it like that, so, she asked the guy normally.
"My name is Wang Sheng, Boss."
"Why are you even calling me boss? Or is that why you guys were fighting earlier?"
Wang Sheng rubbed his head, an apologetic smile appeared on his face, he nodded.
"It's like this boss, although there seems to be plenty of working students in this dormitory, we're only a fraction of the students studying here."
"There's more nobles or rich students than us working students, and more often than not, they like to assert dominance by bullying us working students."
While saying that, he took his shirt off, Lin Xiurong was about to leave, but, paused when she saw the countless scars on Wang Sheng's body.
"Is it them who did this?"
She asked, her face flat as she stared at the scars, wondering how much it hurt for a child to experience this at a young age.
Although Lin Xiurong is not a saint, as someone who also suffered from bullying in her previous life, she won't let this matter by, not when she had the power to stop it.
Looking at her getting ready to teach those students a lesson, Wang Shen quickly stopped her, he was just showing his scars to prove a point.
"It's fine now boss, since you're here, they won't be able to bully us anymore."
"Alright, let's go eat dinner first then."
There's nothing she can do if the person himself doesn't want to get revenge. She can only hope some blind bastard to start a fight, so that she can have an excuse to take action.
With Wang Sheng leading the way, the group headed for the canteen, at the front is Lin Xiurong and at the end of the group was the two other freshmen.
The canteen was already bustling with life when they arrived, students gathered in their own group, some sitting on the first floor and others on the second.
"Well, if it isn't Wang Sheng and his group of losers, hiding behind a kid today? How low have you fallen?"
A haughty voice sounded from the right, Lin Xiurong turned and see a girl with her own cohort laughing on the stairs.
"Don't be rude to the boss, Liu Xue. Start talking when you can beat me in a battle." Wang Sheng stepped forward, confronting the girl.
"Oh? Am I qualified then?"
Following along was a figure that leapt from the second floor, summoning a staff, the figure swung it at Wang Sheng's head.
Roar!
Wang Sheng's figure instantly grew larger as he slashed at the staff, they got locked in a stalemate before quickly separating.
The figure revealed itself as a male student about the same age as Wang Sheng, he dragged his staffed across the ground to cancel out the force, while the latter took 5 steps back to do so.
A teaching staff saw this from the second floor and shouted.
"No fighting in the school facilities! If you want to fight, there's the playground at the back of the school!"
The two parties glared at each other before going on to their separate ways.
Lin Xiurong stared intently at the faces and figures of Liu Xue and the male student, just in case she 'encounters' them later on.
"Sorry about that boss, how about I treat you to a meal for this?" Wang Sheng asked, embarrassed at being attack as soon as they decided to go out.
"It's fine, I also brought my own food from home." She lifted her small bag to show them.
Wang Sheng nodded and didn't say anything more.
They lined up in front of the counter to buy their food, Lin Xiurong bought two cups of rice which cost her 1 copper coin in total.
Occupying a whole long table, the group ate in peace in silence, no one wanted to talk much after what happened earlier.
"Wang Sheng, have someone to lead me to the garden that I was assigned to."
"You don't have to do those chores anymore boss, I'll have someone do it for you. In return, all you need to do is to get stronger to protect us working students."
"This is a benefit that only the boss enjoys, you can leave the chores to us and focus on cultivation."
Lin Xiurong nodded and didn't say anything further. She'll just stand up for these working students in time of their need.
Returning to their dorm, she quickly sat cross-legged on her bed to cultivate, trying to reach level 10 as soon as possible.
6 Months later...
Inside a small library, a small girl sat by the window, on her table was stacks of books about spirit beasts. A cute frown adorned her face as she flipped through the pages, which grew deeper as she went through the second book, the third, until she reached the final book where she did not see anything she liked.
"None of these matches what I want, aren't there any spirit beasts that can connect the strength and spirits of multiple individuals?"
Just then, a thin, dilapidated book was placed in front of her. Looking at the librarian in front of her, who smiled and said.
"I found this one from the inventory, maybe it had what you're looking for."
'Well, one more wouldn't hurt, right?'
Thanking the librarian, she opened the book with trepidation, only to be disappointed by the first page. As she flipped through the pages, her disappointment grew, before her gaze paused on the page near the end of the book.
[Weeping Willow]
[Attributes: Wood, Yin]
[Description: A sinister demonic beast that fed on the souls of other creatures, trapping its prey's soul inside its trunk, eventually turning them into sinful ghost for it to command.]
'Demonic Beast?'
Lin Xiurong was surprised, as demonic beast was a term only used for spirit beasts that has can't distinguish between friends or foes. Only having themselves in their minds, just like the Fallen spirit masters of today.
Shifting her gaze lower, she saw a list of spirit skills that those who absorbed its spirit ring gained. One in particular caught her attention, her breathing accelerated as she read its effects.
[Halo of Unison]
[Effect: Unite the strength and defense of your summoned beings, strength and defense can be distributed to one summoned being or evenly distributed on your summoned beings. Damage received will also be distributed amongst all of the summoned beings.
Note: The summoner also counts as a unit in this system.]
'What is this divine skill? This is practically made for me!'
Lin Xiurong laughed hard when she finished reading the skill's description, having made up her mind. She put back all the books she had borrowed, before she headed out of the library, not forgetting to borrow that last book.
The librarian's smile faded when the figure of the girl vanished from her sight. Sighing, she took a seat behind the counter, in her hands was another book, one that looked to be a pair with the one she gave Lin Xiurong.
'Don't let me down. The family had waited for two centuries for this opportunity.'