Chapter 48: Two "Ordinary" Soul Skills?

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Xu Yuan felt somewhat helpless.

He couldn't figure out why the Dream Fiend's growls were just a series of "hmphs." 

However, since this was communication through spiritual power, Xu Yuan could roughly understand its meaning.

"You're saying you haven't grown to your full potential yet? That it's unfair?"

Xu Yuan had been waiting for the Dream Fiend to express its dissatisfaction.

"But I'm only seven years old—among human soul masters, I've just awakened my martial soul."

The little Dream Fiend's angry eyes widened in surprise, and for a moment, it looked flustered, creating a rather comical sight.

"I could actually force the fusion with you, but I don't want my partner to harbor hostility toward me. That's why I'm explaining things beforehand," Xu Yuan patiently reasoned. "When you encounter a powerful soul master, you'll inevitably be fused anyway. In the past, weaker soul masters may have chosen you, while stronger ones who have already grown didn't consider your cultivation worthy."

"But you need to understand that humans have Ascension Platforms. The years of cultivation and other thresholds are meaningless to truly powerful and influential soul masters. If they set their sights on you, there's no escape."

"In the end, you're going to be fused either way. Why not choose me, the most talented soul master?"

Xu Yuan employed the most common persuasion tactics he had seen.

In truth, these were also the most effective.

The tiny Dream Fiend stopped struggling wildly and began seriously considering Xu Yuan's words.

"Hmph, hmph, hmph~~~" (You humans are all bad.)

"There are good and bad soul beasts too. Among soul beasts, it's survival of the fittest. Humans need spirit souls, so they capture soul beasts—but that's only a small group of soul masters. You can't generalize that to all humans, can you?"

The ghostly, light-based form of the Dream Fiend condensed two arm-like appendages. It crossed its arms and turned its head away stubbornly.

"Hmph~" (What you said… makes some sense.)

"Then become my partner."

Xu Yuan extended the invitation.

"Hmph~"

Xu Yuan began refining the essence of the Dream Fiend.

With its cooperation, the process went smoothly and quickly.

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Outside World

Zhen Hua and Mu Ye watched as a yellow soul ring began to form around Xu Yuan's body. They let out a sigh of relief.

The yellow soul ring formed quickly, taking only half an hour. However, as the first yellow soul ring settled onto Xu Yuan's body, a second soul ring immediately began to form.

After a total of one hour, both of Xu Yuan's soul rings had finally formed.

Opening his eyes, Xu Yuan felt his mind operating faster than ever before.

"How are the soul skills?" Zhen Hua asked curiously.

This Dream Fiend was a rare spirit beast with bizarre abilities, being a pure energy form. What kind of soul skills could it grant?

"They're fine, both within the normal range of soul skills," Xu Yuan said after carefully sensing them.

"Oh?"

Normal range of soul skills?

Both Zhen Hua and Mu Ye looked at Xu Yuan, curious to hear what "normal range" meant.

Could it be that the Dream Fiend spirit soul they had gone to such lengths to obtain was useless?

"My first soul skill is Mental Link—it allows me to connect with someone else's spiritual power for more efficient communication. It might be quite useful in team battles."

When Xu Yuan sensed this soul skill, his first impression was that it was comparable to Huo Yuhao's Mental Sharing.

"As for the second soul skill, it's called Dream Realm—a type of illusion technique that pulls enemies into a dreamscape I create to punish them."

He could only vaguely sense the general scope of the abilities. The true effects of the soul skills would require testing.

However, based on his simple perception of their abilities, Xu Yuan wasn't wrong when he described these two soul skills as being within the normal range.

"Mental Link? Is it a connection through spiritual power? Or a connection with the soul?" Zhen Hua frowned.

"I don't know," Xu Yuan shook his head.

"Try using your first soul skill to connect with this." Without hesitation, Zhen Hua took out a piece of rare metal from his storage-type soul-guided device.

Xu Yuan was momentarily stunned.

Quickly recovering, he directly activated the soul skill.

"First soul skill, Mental Link!"

Xu Yuan suddenly felt his spiritual power connect with something chaotic and vague.

Looking up at Zhen Hua, he nodded.

"This metal has undergone Soul Forging. Now try it with Spirit Forged metal."

Zhen Hua replaced the rare metal with another piece.

Xu Yuan tried again.

"It connects, but it's very chaotic and difficult to communicate."

"Hmm, that's correct. Spirit Forged metals, though abundant in spirituality and awakened with life, still possess low intelligence," Zhen Hua explained. He then switched to another piece of metal.

"This is a thousand-refinement grade-one rare metal, with faint traces of spirituality. Try connecting to it."

Xu Yuan activated the soul skill again.

He didn't connect to a specific target, but he could sense the faint traces of spirituality.

After hearing Xu Yuan describe his experience, Zhen Hua chuckled.

"The combat application of your first soul skill is about what you imagined, but its scope is much broader. It can connect not only with human soul masters but with any intelligent entity, even establishing weak connections with the faint spirituality of rare metals."

Xu Yuan pursed his lips.

He understood what this soul skill represented.

It meant that his communication with metals would be exceptionally smooth.

Whether advancing to level four in forging by awakening the spirituality of rare metals or communicating with metal spirituality in other secondary professions, Xu Yuan would find it infinitely easier compared to other soul masters.

And it wasn't just about reaching level four. This single soul skill would prove invaluable in every aspect of dealing with rare metals across his four secondary professions.

Just this one soul skill alone would greatly alleviate the pressure of Xu Yuan simultaneously mastering four secondary professions.

"Your second soul skill should also be impressive. If you get the chance, give it a try," Zhen Hua said. Neither he nor Mu Ye allowed Xu Yuan to test it on them due to their immense spiritual power.

Such illusions were prone to backlash.

Even if Xu Yuan reined in his spiritual power, their instincts might still resist, which could pose a danger to him.

"When are you planning to visit the Ascension Platform?" Mu Ye asked.

"Or maybe we should start with the blood and qi contract first?" Xu Yuan suggested.

"That works. Your mind is definitely sharper now. First, review the blood and qi contract technique again," Zhen Hua instructed. "If there's anything I need to prepare for the formation array, review it and let me know."

"Alright."

The entire contract formation array was quite complex, and it took Xu Yuan a good half-day to thoroughly review it.

He spent three hours organizing the external part of the formation and handed it over to Zhen Hua.

Zhen Hua began inscribing the required formation arrays in the forging room.

Meanwhile, Xu Yuan continued reviewing the other two sections. Once everything checked out, he began analyzing the combined effects of all three parts.

By the time he fully confirmed there were no errors, Zhen Hua had already completed the inscription of the formation arrays.

"Take a look and see if there are any mistakes or omissions," Zhen Hua asked.

"No issues, Uncle Zhen Hua. Let's begin."

"Good, but remember—your goal today is simply to integrate blood and qi into the contract and form a quasi-spirit soul contract with the Five-Element Spear Spirit. Don't attempt any other operations for now," Zhen Hua reminded him firmly.

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Author's Note: Some people always say that the protagonist spreading himself thin by cultivating so many things will dilute his focus.

Honestly, in the world of Douluo, if you use god-level learning abilities to study four professions below the god level, what's wrong with that?

Why not cultivate all four until you reach the peak of existing technology, then integrate the four professions to seek higher, god-level breakthroughs?

Studying more isn't an issue as long as you can keep up with all of them. The more you learn, the more accumulated knowledge you'll have when you hit a bottleneck, increasing the chances of finding a breakthrough.

As for those who say he's too confident or directly compares himself to a god—I won't argue with that. But does having ambition mean you can't strive for greatness?

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