Freedom
Douluo Continent
Shrek Academy
Working students dormitory.
Night.
Gu Yue was slowly walking towards the working students dormitory after her Master left her at one of the Shrek Academy's gate.
She saw Fan Lin waiting for her when she reached the working students dormitory.
He gestured and she followed behind him while maintaining a few metres of distance. Both of them silently walked towards their first fighting place. Also the place where Fan Lin sealed the deal with her.
"You were absent for a long time. Did something happen?"
Gu Yue asked first. Fan Lin had suddenly disappeared without any warning and half a month has passed since then. She thought about trying to find him but decided against it since he was still alive.
"Was getting the rest of my Battle Armor. What about you? Got anything useful."
Fan Lin asked back while explaining.
"Here."
Gu Yue gave him a few pieces of parchment which had the few bits of information that she found in the previous days. Since it was going to be a lot of explanation and she didn't want to talk that much, she compiled her daily findings in writing.
"That's useful."
Fan Lin burned them after reading.
"Why did you wait for me today?"
Gu Yue said while sensing the area. The vitality seemed to have increased since the last time she visited this place.
"I reached Rank 50."
Fan Lin took out the fruits that he previously brought with Gu Yue and gave her some of them.
She took them after some hesitation.
"You want to do the tower attack and need my help."
She calmly said and took a bite of the fruit. It was sweet.
"I somehow offended a person with my polite denial. The world is weird." [Fan Lin]
"I can easily imagine that. What's your plan?" [Gu Yue]
"I heard that the top ten spirit souls in the Tower Attack are of the strongest soul beasts to ever exist. Can you verify that with your Master?" [Fan Lin]
"Hmm, and?" [Gu Yue]
Gu Yue nodded while taking out her soul communicator to call her Master.
Her Master was surprised by the call since Gu Yue seldom called her on her own but still answered the question.
It was a yes. Gu Yue exchanged some pleasantries and cut the call while signalling Fan Lin the answer.
"You didn't answer. Also it's nine, not ten." [Gu Yue]
She asked him calmly as he still hasn't told her about his plan.
"I am at Spirit Abyss spiritual realm. Beyond that if I equip my battle armor." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin looked at her and slowly replied.
"I heard that if one didn't have an orange or red spirit soul before the Spirit Abyss spiritual realm, it was possible to fuse with a maximum of 5 spirit souls of any color, with no limits on their ranks. Is it true?"
"Hmm."
Gu Yue nodded her head.
"Then I want to take 5 of the nine strongest spirit souls for me."
Fan Lin casually stated. Gu Yue took a moment to respond as her eyes seem to constrict just a little as the realisation stuck her. She returned the gaze of Fan Lin and asked with a hint of excitement in her voice.
"Will they allow you?" [Gu Yue]
Normally, the privilege for the Tower Attack is only for Spirit Pagoda members and prodigies that the Spirit Pagoda has bestowed its approval upon. But even that has its limit.
If Fan Lin was planning on taking nearly five of the Spirit Pagoda top Spirit souls without even being a part of it, even if he was a part of it, the chances of the Spirit Pagoda directly rejecting him might be a fortunate thing.
As for the unfortunate ones, a sudden disappearence or death due to cultivation trouble wouldn't be that far off the mark.
Highly intelligent spirit souls can leave the owner whenever they want and Spirit Pagoda had their ways to get them on their side.
"What if the President of the Spirit Pagoda allowed it?" [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin remarked, his eyes still on her.
"So that's why you are trying to find a weakness of his to exploit. You want to blackmail him like you did with me." [Gu Yue]
Gu Yue looked at him and then thought of the thing that he was planning to do with anticipation.
"Tower attack is only for people under 30 years old. If you are planning five then-" [Gu Yue]
"I will be a Titled Douluo under thirty as well. You will have also cemented your position quite well at that time. Just help me a little bit more at that time and I... let's focus on the present for now." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin stopped in his words and finished the last part with a smile. Gu Yue took a bite of her fruit and thought about the future as well.
"I will arrange your tower attack as soon as I can. But will you be able to get to the top Nine?" [Gu Yue]
All was fine if the person in front of her did what he was saying. She had seen his strength a little bit but he had to defeat the virtual soul beasts to advance to the next level.
"I will try and they are fake, right?" [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin asked. She looked at him and understood what 'they' meant. It was the virtual soul beasts that he will face in the Tower Attack. She assured him.
"Yeah. They are. If the Spirit Pagoda had that many actual strong soul beasts in their grasp, they would have conquered the world a long time ago." [Gu Yue]
"And?"
Gu Yue asked again. If Fan Lin had nothing more to ask, he would have left already instead of standing beside her.
"Give me your contact number. It's a waste of time to stand in front of your house and wait when I can just call you to share information or fix our next meeting whenever we can." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin said while giving his soul communicator to Gu Yue. She looked at the soul communicator in his hands and then him before taking the soul communicator and adding her contact information in it.
"A hundred thousand year old spirit soul can help me a lot. Thanks for your help." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin said to her with a smile that caught her off guard.
"You can smile?"
She nearly sneered at him. She looked at her hands and began to eat the second fruit.
"I can." [Fan Lin]
He said after turning emotionless again.
"I thought you didn't like to show emotions." [Gu Yue]
Gu Yue said while recalling her encounters with him and understanding his nature.
"I don't. At least not now." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin flatly remarked.
"Hmm?" [Gu Yue]
Gu Yue stared at him, her eyes asking what nonsense was he spouting about.
"I used to laugh a lot in the past. Smile as well. I also cried, or got angry or sad. That's all in the past though." [Fan Lin]
His statement made her uncomfortable. He was getting to something and that something was gonna involve her.
"Why are you telling me all this?" [Gu Yue]
She questioned his intentions. His thoughts becoming difficult for her to understand. She can't think of what she didn't know and he was using it against her.
"You asked what I was planning?" [Fan Lin]
He calmly replied.
"That didn't answer my question." [Gu Yue]
She replied, keeping her calm while trying to think what was he trying to do. The taste of the fruit she was eating becoming bland due to it.
"I am atoning my last mistakes while trying my hardest to not repeat them again. That's my plan." [Fan Lin]
He said to her. No change in voice or emotions.
"What does your atonement has to do with planting a forest?" [Gu Yue]
She questioned in return. She still couldn't understand his motive for telling her about him.
"That's not my plan, that's my desire. My plan is to not repeat my past mistakes while fulfilling my desire. I just want you to do one thing. Think of it as a pleading of mine." [Fan Lin]
"Huh?" [Gu Yue]
Gu Yue tilt her head ever so slightly.
"That's why I don't talk about the future in the present. Too many variables. Just remember my words. Once I reach Rank 51, I will teach you the way to create a new nation." [Fan Lin]
"Forget the words of future and let's focus on the present for now." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin said and entered deep meditation. Gu Yue looked at him and after some time of brainstorming, she decided the eat the rest of the fruits and return to the working students dormitory.
She really can't think of something that she didn't even know. Fan Lin was really milking that fact against her.
...
The next day.
Fan Lin attended his classes like normal. The Lecturer and his classmates told him about the recent events that transpired in his absence.
The grade competition will be held in two months time. Yuanen Yehui planned to do tower attack. Some grade 1 students came to ask about him in different occasions. There were also many new students as well.
"Are there any exceptional students in grade 1?"
He asked them since his future knowledge has ended and he knew nothing of the rest of the grade 1 students in the Protagonist's class.
According to the basic trope, they should be the best in their generation acting as stepping stones to the protagonist.
His classmates answer was up to the point of Fan Lin's deduction.
With the end of the classes, Fan Lin's soul communicator rang with a familiar number.
"You need something."
He asked Gu Yue who was on the other side of the line.
"How much do you know about the attack patterns of the ten thousand year old soul beasts and above?"
She asked calmly.
"I know how to escape without hurting them."
Fan Lin answered truthfully. Throughout all his time, that's the only thing he had done whenever he faced a soul beast in the Spirit Ascension plane. He ran away or hid himself.
The only targets of his were the humans.
"I figured. Meet me at your usual place. If you are planning on taking down the top 5 spirit souls, you will need to fight hundred thousand year old fake soul beasts and I don't think you will fare any better."
Gu Yue stated. Last night she did felt assured by Fan Lin's words and plans but when she thought about it in more detail, there were quite a lot of flaws in it.
The biggest one being, can he even reach the hundred thousand year mark? What if he got defeated by ten thousand year old spirit soul.
Overconfidence has always been the downfall of a person and Gu Yue can't let a really good future prospect of her end before even starting because a stupid teen had too much confidence in himself.
"I am far stronger than I look. With my Three Word Battle Armor, I should be able to clear my way."
"Your usual place." [Gu Yue]
Gu Yue coldly repeated.
"It better be worth it." [Fan Lin ]
Fan Lin agreed to visit her. He never planned to fight soul beasts in reality and hence didn't need to know about them.
It's not like all humans learn how to kill others or how to cook, only those that were interested in would learn them.
'Or those that are forced.'
That whole afternoon Gu Yue explained him about the different soul beasts and their bloodline, origin, skills, variation skills and their nature.
Fan Lin listened to it half heartedly at first but became serious later on. Her words reminded him of his past when he was learning to lay traps and had to learn about all the movement patterns and possible chances of the animals falling into the trap.
It was both tiresome and boring at first but as he got good at it, it became fun.
More so when he caught his first poacher in his traps. Hahaha.
"What are you suddenly smiling about?"
Gu Yue threw a fireball on his face while asking.
She had been teaching him nonstop while giving away her precious cultivation time but he zoned out on her.
He shook his head while taking out some cherry like sour fruits.
"Nothing, just a memory of my past. Did you eat?"
He gave the fruits to her.
"You have been speaking for the past few hours, have something to eat and then we will continue. There is still time left." [Fan Lin]
"Five more days." [Gu Yue]
Gu Yue said and ate few mouthfuls of the fruits. It was too sour for her liking. She took the plum like fruit Fan Lin usually gave her and ate them together.
Fan Lin saw it and couldn't help but ask.
"You carry normal fruits now." [Fan Lin]
"Hmm." [Gu Yue]
She gave a slight nod.
"By the way, someone else in my class is also doing Tower Attack -" [Fan Lin]
"I know. Wulin is planning on helping her with my classmates. A seven person team. Your Tower attack is after us." [Gu Yue]
She cut his words again and talked about how Wulin and her group got to know that Yuanen was a female after Xu Xiaoyan bumped into Yuanen Yehui while trying to find Fan Lin to thank for the chair.
After that Xu Xiaoyan told them about her, and Ye Xinglan, the wild and unruly former inner court transfer student went to ask Yuanen Yehui directly and returned with the affirmation.
Yuanen later came to warn them against telling anything about this to Yu Zhengyu but Yu Zhengyu had went to the Elder Cai to inform her about the Evil Soul Master and she had cleared his misunderstanding while telling him about Yuanen Yehui.
Elder Cai didn't want some stupid stuff to happen since You Zhengyu was too straightforward and acted without fully thinking about the consequences.
After that, they all become acquaintances as Yuanen being the honour student she was, taught them about the extra knowledge that was above their grade and tips and tricks of the Battle Armor creations that was taught in the later semesters for a piece of thousand refine metal as price.
Which the grade 1 students happily obliged since Tang Wulin was the one who will forge it.
With her information, Tang Wulin's group project aka a one word battle armor piece, was far more easier to implement.
[Since Fan Lin intervened, the contents of the actual book never happened.]
"That's why." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin exclaimed after listening to her.
"What?" [Gu Yue]
Gu Yue asked while looking at him. She didn't understand the reason for his exclamation.
"My classmates said that she planned to take my help for the tower attack but she didn't ask me anything about it. She had found a team." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin replied while taking out some grapes and delivering it to Gu Yue.
"Your classmates talk with you?" [Gu Yue]
She bluntly remarked with eating the grapes and cherry together. It was a little disgusting as the symphony of both the flavours and their textures create a weird and intolerable mess of an umami that she had to take a bite of the plum like sweet fruit to cleanse her tongue.
Fan Lin observed her actions and said with a smile.
"You really remind me of someone. And I have a small group of classmates that taught me about Mecha Designing and were also my long time paid workers. They are good children." [Fan Lin]
"Using money to win loyalty." [Gu Yue]
She calmly stated, ignoring his remark.
"I can't just blackmail everyone." [Fan Lin]
He said while nodding to her statement since it was true in a sense.
"That's true." [Gu Yue]
She agreed and brought up a question that he left last night.
"What did you mean by your words last night?" [Gu Yue]
"Let's not waste time and learn about the soul beasts." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin changed the topic as if he didn't hear her.
"(●__●)" [Gu Yue]
"..." [Gu Yue]
"I see." [Gu Yue]
"Let's begin then..." [Gu Yue]
She started explaining about the various soul beasts while playing along with him. If he didn't want to tell her, she doesn't want to pry either.
Fan Lin also listened seriously to her words.
It was only after night came did she stop and returned to the working students dormitory.
Fan Lin silently sat there and began to meditate.
They continued the same routine till the day of the tower attack came.
Gu Yue shared a tiny part of her vast knowledge of the soul beasts and Fan Lin was more and more adamant on his desire after hearing about the different soul beasts that used to exist.
Both of them got a little closer to each other as Gu Yue quite openly used violence on him whenever she felt anger and rage against his behaviour.
The same with Fan Lin as well but he retorted with words and quips while often time expressing more of his emotions to her.
Not because he felt comfortable in her presence but because he trusted her to kill him if the situation turns wrong.
....
Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.
Day of the Spirit Soul acquisition.
Fan Lin was sitting in one of the many lobbies of spirit Pagoda, waiting for his appointment of the tower attack while the protagonist group was doing their tower attack. His chance was after them as Gu Yue planned it that way.
"I don't know if I am bad for thinking this, but Shrek should be destroyed. They denied me a tower attack quota for my polite and calm refusal at that time. I wasn't even rude."
"Weren't they the one who said contribution points this, contribution points that and everything that was related to cultivation can be purchased with the contribution points."
[They didn't say that.]
"Then why does a person has the influence to directly deny a student of his chance."
[You were the one who refused it.]
"Well, thinking from a different viewpoint, isn't it to stop and rein in kids like me. Destructive teens that has evil in their mind."
[Well said.]
"But even then, their planning hasn't been that accurate since I never planned to turn to the dark side."
[...]
Fan Lin whispered to himself.
What he didn't know was that Elder Cai had already prepared the token for him and was waiting for Fan Lin to ask them again. Even they have their pride as a Titled Douluo and instructor. Plus she had nothing to do with Fan Lin's situation and hence would not take the first step.
They just wanted to show some drama and say some meaningful words to him, then give the token while trying to show that things could be changed if one put in some efforts but he didn't ask them.
He didn't even ask about the situation of his token with his Lecturer so they didn't even get the chance to deliver the token as a gift of the Lecturer that 'he was paying out of his own pockets and had nothing to do with the academy'.
But did he ask? Nope.
Now who's in the wrong?
The academy that just wanted to test the mentality of Fan Lin for any hidden dangers or Fan Lin who never even tried to have a conversation with them since he thought it was a waste of time when he already had Gu Yue for his needs.
[That sounds wrong for some reason]
The answer was obvious.
"You have been summoned by the Vice President."
A receptionist come to Fan Lin and escorted him to a room.
The receptionist left after giving a small bow towards the gate.
Fan Lin stood there alone for a few moments before the gate opened and his eyes met the person sitting inside the room.
"Come inside."
A warm and pleasant to hear voice came to his ears. It belonged to a female that Fan Lin knew very well. She was one of the Vice President of the Spirit Pagoda and the master of Gu Yue, Leng Yaozhu.
She was also one of the few Four Word Battle Armorer in the whole of Douluo planet.
Fan Lin entered the room while observing her.
Leng Yaozhu was a tall woman in her thirties. She had a neat look to her, red hair falling straight down her back like a curtain. The woman was the most beautiful decoration within the room, her mere presence bringing life to it. She smiled warmly at him.
"Are you the one that my little disciple is interested in?"
That was the first question that she asked him.
"That's Wulin. Tang Wulin."
Fan Lin replied. His eyes calm and serene, not perturbed by her weird questioning.
"I know, I saw her secretly glancing at him multiple times."
She said with a smile. Her tone light and cheerful.
"Can we start?"
Fan Lin politely asked. He had seen the consequences of his previous actions so being polite wouldn't hurt. He was the one who needs the Spirit Pagoda's help now, not the other way.
"Just a few more moments and we can begin. Till then, let me explain the tower attack to you."
"The tower attack will happen in a virtual building and everything happening inside is virtual, except for the damages to your body. They are real and if the damages are too severe, we will forcefully stop the participants tower attack."
"It has 108 floor and each floor has a different defence mechanism according to the floor. If you conquer a floor, you'll get the opportunity to purchase the spirit soul found on that floor at a fifty percent discount."
"Since different soul masters need different kinds of spirit souls, and also taking support-type soul masters into account, the Spirit Pagoda allows the tower attack to be done in teams of up to seven people. As a result, the difficulty is also tailored to fit a seven-man team. The first eighteen floors are filled with thousand-year spirit souls, but the strength of those souls increases with every floor. The Spirit Pagoda has populated each floor from the eighteenth to the thirty-sixth with ten-thousand year spirit souls that it has collected over the years."
"Hundred-thousand-year spirit souls can be found from the thirty-sixth floor onward, and the final nine floors supposedly contain the spirit souls of the strongest soul beasts to ever exist."
Leng Yaozhu said, "Well, that should be enough of a introduction, let's not delay any further then. I'll escort you to the spirit soul tower."
She made for the door with a gentle grace, her body exuding the unforgettable charms of a mature woman.
Leng Yaozhu led Fan Lin down a corridor. Whenever they ran into another staff member, the staff member would stop and stand to the side in deference, their head slightly bowed as they snuck glances at the students.
They soon arrived before a large golden elevator. Leng Yaozhu pressed her hand on the door and it immediately slid open. He followed her in.
The elevator was spacious enough to accommodate a dozen people. The interior was painted a sparkling gold, energy humming in the air.
'Hundred refinements at the least.'
With a jolt, the elevator sprang into motion. It came to a stop seconds later, ushering the group into a circular hall several hundred meters in diameter and fifty meters tall. At the top of the roof sat a triangle with a gem dangling from its midpoint. It emitted a faint golden light.
At the center of the hall was a lofty hexagonal platform, a flight of stairs leading to its top. It gave off the impression of an altar. The platform covered at least one hundred square meters, and in the center was a golden door towering fifteen meters.
All sorts of equipment were littered throughout the room, staff members bustling about.
Leng Yaozhu's arrival hadn't affected them. Only those that noticed her stopped to salute before continuing with their work.
"You can go now. I've already arranged things for you." She pointed at the large golden door.
He nodded and entered the door. Gold filled his eyes the second he stepped through the doorway, his figure vanishing into the golden light.
Unlike entering the spirit ascension platform, he wasn't hit with a wave of dizziness. Instead, everything felt normal, as if he had walked through an ordinary doorway. The gold faded from his vision, eyes sharpening as he took in their surroundings.
'Fake, right?'
'I will kill everyone if it's not.'
He found themselves in a large hall. Thick pillars jutted out from the ashen-gray brick floor to support the ceiling. The hall was humongous, over one thousand square meters in area, empty apart from them. The place felt ancient, like they had travelled back in time.
Not a second after he had finished examining the environment, the golden door behind him disappeared.
Then, right before his eyes, an illusory pagoda formed, layer after layer swirling into existence.
'So it's virtual.'
As soon as it completely took shape, the illusory spirit pagoda faded away, and moments later, the hall was empty once more. Octagonal in shape, the hall had a diameter of at least three hundred meters. He stood in the center of the hall. Eight doors, each ten meters tall and five meters wide, surrounded him.
The door opened a second later and Soul beasts began pouring out of the doors, wolves with dark-green fur and emerald eyes. They were wind wolves, a type of soul beast usually found in forests. Despite the fact that none of them were powerful alone, they were terrifying in packs. Their strength lay in their numbers and how they didn't fear death. They would attack until either they or their prey were wiped out.
Over a hundred wind wolves surrounded Fan Lin as he prepared his mind to began the massacre.
[freedom]
The wolves slowly circled around him, gradually drawing closer and closer. Four spirit rings rose from his feet and merged into a green ring. It began shining in a brighter hue, signifying the usage of all the soul skills.
He put his palms outward and as if a signal, a small crystal shards shout out from the ground and turned into a hundred metres giant crystal donut, dropping off the soul beasts surrounding him.
All of them died before they could even attack him.
'Should I need to save soul power for the bigger ones?'
"First trial cleared," an electronic voice announced. "You may choose to absorb a thousand-year wind wolf spirit soul! You have ten seconds to decide."
A golden door appeared before him. It wasn't as large as the one that brought him here, but it was equally as mysterious and a transparent wind wolf hovered in front of it.
He looked at the floating spirit soul and continued to the second trial. He stepped through the doorway in a flash of light, and the next moment, found himself in a room identical to before. It was an octagonal room with eight metal doors as well.
Furious roars suddenly began filling the air as the eight doors suddenly opened. Eight giant flaming lions emerged, one from each door.
He calmly looked at them, his eyes showcasing the internal struggle of his mind.
'I have to change.'
Change was hard when you have been living with a habit for more than half your life.
Eight crystal spears rose from the ground at breakneck speeds and skewered the eight lions, their bodies disappearing into light particles.
'I have to do something greater. I can't be burdened from my past.'
The electronic voice filled the room once more, but this time he had ten seconds to choose whether or not he wanted a thousand-year blazing demon lion spirit soul.
The hall was silent. Ten seconds passed and another door of light formed and he entered it, proceeding to the next trial.
'I have already made many enemies.'
Some thousand year old Rhinos attacked him. Third floor cleared, he encased them with his Crystallokinesis and exploded the crystal coffin.
'I just need to kill one last time and end all of it.'
Some weird monkeys with clouds on their feet, thousand year old spirit beasts. Fourth floor cleared. Tore them to shreds.
'I need to be strong for that.'
Tiger type soul beasts, thousand year old soul beasts. Fifth floor cleared. Crystal platform rose from the area beneath their feet and slammed into the ceiling, making a mush out of them.
'I don't need to leave my enemies alive to become a threat later on.'
Ice Bears. Albedo'd them to death. Ninth floor cleared.
'I don't want to suddenly lost the things I like because I had a burden of my conscience to not kill and end what I have started.'
Fifteenth floor cleared. One shot death.
'Just one last time. A big wrap up and then I can move on.'
Twenty second floor cleared.
'No one will bother my desire. Humans are cruel, I am a human.'
Thirty first floor cleared.
'And in front of me, is an opportunity to leave everything that I was known for behind, leave my sins, my crimes, my past and my guilts.'
Thirty fifth floor cleared.
'I can start anew and no one would know anything. Not even me.'
Fan Lin cleaned his mind of all emotions and began to rationalise his thinking. He massacre his way to the thirty fifth floor.
The soul beasts were skewered, exploded to bits, teared apart, or turned into a mush in his hands as he showcased the might of the Crystallokinesis and its versatility in the various ways his killed the soul beasts.
He killed the soul beasts of each floor differently, not repeating a single of his previous methods as if pained to see their deaths in the same way twice.
Soon as time passed, he reached the boundary floor that was the gateway to the hundred thousand year old soul beasts.
He gazed at the golden door that was the gate to the thirty sixth floor and released his rational state of mind to not lose his self into the killing. He shouldn't have.
[... ]
His emotions flooded his mind as he stepped into the thirty sixth floor.
'I had to do this sooner or later. Can't spend the rest of my life in my past. I don't want to.'
He thought as a smile formed on his face while his three word Battle Armor gently enveloped his body. He looked at the panther type hundred thousand year old soul beast that was silently gazing at him with various thoughts in his mind.
"I will free you all."
He whispered as the whole floor was enveloped with his Crystallokinesis.
Fan Lin's Battle Armor was different.
He knew that. Those that made it knew that as well. Due to his Petrosapien physique, his body was able to attain harmony even when nearly all the pieces of his three word Battle Armor were made of different alloys and had different sub properties and enhancements of smaller proportions.
And this fact was thoroughly thought out by the Shrek's craftsmen, who after discussing with Fan Lin, planned the most simple but the ultimate way to strengthen him.
All the pieces, alloys and soul circuits in Fan Lin's battle Armor were searched and created to achieve just three things.
Soul power amplification.
Soul skill amplification.
Spirit Power amplification.
It was the most direct way but considering Fan Lin's physique. This was the best for him.
The result of it all;
[Soul skill Energy body enhanced to Superior Energy Body]
[Soul Skill Hymns of Aurora enhanced to Song of the Frost sirens]
His combined ring changed colour once again and turned into green ring with permafrost plants.
The whole room was enveloped with his Crystallokinesis becoming akin to a domain of his.
The Hundred thousand year old soul beasts warily looked at the green crystal surroundings him and opened his mouth to launch an attack at Fan Lin.
The room temperature reached by thousands of degrees as a terrifying flame covered the whole room burning everything to crisp while the defence mechanism seemed to fire up.
Let me repeat, a terrifying flame was released into the floor burning everything!
Even the crystals formed through Crystallokinesis.
The Hundred thousand year old soul beasts was the burning panther whose breath spew flames higher than 50000°C.
The fire breath was also its strongest attack and requires a few seconds to unleash. A few seconds that someone wasted while looking at it and internally monologuing
"Hm?"
Fan Lin tilted his head in confusion as this was the first time for him. The first time that his crystals had ever been damaged.
He looked at the thick 7 metres Crystallokinesis wall that was supposed to be in front of him but was nowhere in sight and immediately turned serious.
The seven metres crystal wall and his suits passive shield protected him from flame but he can't guarantee a second time.
Two crystal shards rose from the ground and floated behind him as Fan Lin poured all his soul power into it charging for a final attack.
The Burning Panther sensed the surge of soul power and immediately pounced at Fan Lin.
In less than a second, it covered the nearly 150 metres distance and attacked Fan Lin with a point blank breath attack. Except this on was weaker due to the low charging time.
Fan Lin also released his final attack as two extremely dense soul power beams sliced the hundred thousand year old soul beasts into four part.
This was his final attack, taken inspiration from the water cutter that were used to cut diamonds.
The application was simple, to condense a vast amount of soul power and release it through a small opening.
It was basically a laser made of soul power/energy.
Fan Lin had thought that with his Crystallokinesis and trump card of the laser attack, he might be able to breeze through the tower attack but looks like the history books lied to him.
The Hundred thousand year old soul beasts were far stronger than was written.
He did read about the various weird abilities of the soul beasts like changing destiny, luck, and they were also soul beasts with space and time attributes.
Gu Yue also told him about the various soul beasts and many of which he had encountered in the previous floor but even then he didn't think he would be hard pressed on the first hundred thousand year old soul beast floor as the sheer difference in what he imagined from their words and what he experienced were two entirely different worlds.
He had realised that he did overestimate himself and underestimated the soul beasts.
His plan needed to change now.
'At least I now know that my Crystallokinesis can be burnt away. And some other possible weakness as well.'
Fan Lin thought at rapid speed as the body of the hundred thousand year soul beasts disappeared into light and the electronic voice showed the hundred thousand year old spirit soul of the Burning Panther to him.
His combined Spirit ring floated in front of him as his Superior Energy Body skill was hastily recovering his empty energy reserves.
He looked at his half torn battle armor and clothes that didn't even spare his dignity and nearly burnt hands that were a sign of his carelessness. A point blank attack destroyed him quite a bit.
That's an understatement as his chest and calf battle armor remained, the rest got destroyed, along with his clothes and skin and flesh and guts.
"Should I?"
"I think I will get an excellent attack type soul skill from the Panther. It's an hundred thousand year old spirit soul, it will even provide two soul skills."
"And since this isn't a gift related skill than its power will increase each rank up as well..."
"... Let's try my way through a one more. The next one would be stronger than it for sure."
He sensed the total energy reserves in his body and began charging for the final attack.
He chose to enter the next floor.
Currently he looked like a half monster half human with his one side completely charred and slowly healing.
Thirty seventh floor.
He thought as the light faded from his eyes and the next beast came into his sight.
He immediately depleted his complete energy reserve to laser force the enemy into multiple parts.
The soul beasts didn't even get the chance to leave the gates properly before shrieking and turning into light spots.
On the other hand, Fan Lin's body also fell down due to the lack of soul power and his injuries.
His Three Word Battle Armor receded and he didn't even had the energy to use his energy body soul skill to recover energy.
'I hate active skills.'
He thought and preserved the last of his strength.
"Thirty seventh floor cleared. Would you like to absorb the 110,000 years old Emerald Swan Spirit Soul. You have ten seconds to consider."
The Electronic voice rang and Fan Lin used the rest of his energy to shout.
"YES!"
The door to the next floor disappeared and an extremely aggrieved looking Emerald Swan looked at him while shaking its head.
Fan Lin meanwhile closed his eyes and used the next fifteen minutes to recover a bit of soul power through the passive soul power absorbing effect of his Blue Silver Energy Grass martial soul.
'Even the weakest and most ignored things bring help at unexpected times huh?'
Fan Lin thought as he used the absorbed soul power to activate his energy body soul skill.
'One massive disadvantage of the Energy Serum gained Energy body is that it has a set durability and energy quota. Once it's finished, you are just fish on a chopping board.'
'I will improve it later on.'
He sat in a lotus position and started to meditate to recover his soul power.
Some minutes later, when he recovered sufficient soul power to release his spirit souls, he combined all the spirit rings to create the enhanced ring while his two spirit souls revolved around him.
The Enhanced ring's Energy body skill was thrice the amount faster than usual and Fan Lin slowly got up look at the Emerald Swan Spirit Soul that was looking at him in a pleading manner.
It was a hundred thousand year old spirit soul and was as intelligent as a human. It was obvious what it wanted.
"I am sorry that I have to force myself on you, on top of killing you. I will release you when my work is done."
Fan Lin politely and sincere bowed towards the Emerald Swan Spirit Soul.
He sat down and began to absorb the Spirit Soul. His current Spirit Power was enough to absorb it.
'How time changes.'
The Emerald Swan Spirit Soul didn't resist since it knew resistance was futile against the kid. It had seen his determined eyes and Spiritual Realm.
It was no match for his Spirit Power.
.....