Book 2: Academy of Monsters
Chapter 10.3: First Experience with Soul Tools
Suddenly, a figure appeared blocked his way, scaring Huo Yuhao. When he raised his head to see who the figure was, he realised that it was actually Tang Ya.
“Teacher Xiao Ya?”
Tang Ya had a somewhat mysterious smile on her face as she pulled Huo Yuhao over to the side and whispered to him, “Little Yuhao, you don’t have any money, right?”
Huo Yuhao nodded. “That’s right! Eldest senior brother told me that there were some jobs that I could take for the academy if I needed some though. I was planning to see what was available after class.”
His yearly tuition was ten gold coins. At the same time, there were daily expenses that he’d need to spend money on. Although he was willing to spend all of his energy cultivating, he still needed to stay alive.
Tang Ya giggled and said, “You’re a disciple of my Tang Sect, so as your teacher, it’s only right that I take care of you. I’ve thought of a way for you to make money. I know the auntie who’s responsible for buying food for the canteen; I’ll help you ask her to buy twenty fish everyday. Afterwards, I’ll help you set up a grill outside, along with help you obtain some charcoal. I’ve also prepared some other ingredients. It should be fine if you just sell roasted fish by the academy’s entrance after school. With your cooking skill, you’ll definitely be able to sell them off. These fishes normally cost around one copper coin, but after you’ve finished roasting them, selling them for five copper coins won’t be a problem at all! If we do it this way, won’t you be able to make some money?”
Huo Yuhao’s eyes lit up. “Teacher Xiao Ya, that’s a pretty good plan. I have my Spirit Eyes, thus I’m able to very accurately control the fire. Why don’t we try this out tonight?”
Tang Ya nodded her head repeatedly. Afterwards, she revealed her true intentions. “About that... since I’ll have helped you buy all of these things, you’ll have to give me priority when you’re selling the roasted fish. Don’t worry, I’ll still buy them from you. As for your future ingredients, you’ll have to buy them yourself.”
Ever since she’d eaten Huo Yuhao’s roasted fish that day, she’d constantly thought about it. After finishing her exams yesterday, she’d finally thought of this method that would benefit them both. Naturally, she’d hid this from Bei Bei.
When he saw Tang Ya’s greedy expression, Huo Yuhao finally understood her motive behind doing this. He gave her a knowing smile and said, “Fine. Teacher Xiao Ya, why don’t we meet here tonight?”
“Yes, yes. I’ll go back first. Right, I have to tell you a piece of good news! Bei Bei and I have both been promoted to Year 4!” Tang Ya waved to him goodbye, and excitedly ran away.
After grabbing a simple lunch, Huo Yuhao returned to the dorms. Wang Dong wasn’t there, and no one seemed to know where he’d gone. Zhou Yi still wanted to drill them in the afternoon, so Huo Yuhao took advantage of their afternoon break to enter a meditative state. As he cultivated, he simultaneously recovered his physical strength.
Huo Yuhao’s was surprised when he cultivated. After the extremely taxing run that morning, he discovered that the growth was slightly greater than normal. Although it was only a strand more, he was still quite satisfied. He inwardly thought to himself, it seems like tempering my body to the limit boosts the growth of my soulforce. On the other hand, the physical fitness level of his body was originally very normal, so he should’ve tempered his body anyway. This was killing two birds with one stone!
When Huo Yuhao woke up from his meditation, he was stunned in that the instant that he opened his eyes, he discovered Wang Dong—who was sitting on the opposite bed—looking at him with a brilliant gaze.
“You’ve returned? We should go to class now.” Whilst speaking, Huo Yuhao jumped off the bed and began to put his shoes on. After what had happened that morning, their relationship had already warmed up.
Wang Dong spoke in a low voice, “Huo Yuhao, I’ve always found your martial soul strange. You’ve seen my martial soul now, so can you tell me what your martial soul is?”
Huo Yuhao finished putting on his shoes, then stood up and said, “My eyes are my martial soul. I call them Spirit Eyes. They’re a spiritual-type martial soul. I know why you’re baffled. My first soul skill is called Spiritual Detection. The reason why you were unable to hit me that day was because I used Spiritual Detection to predict your every move.”
Wang Dong suddenly understood what had happened. “So that’s the case... I didn’t think that you actually had a body spirit. Let’s go, we can’t be late. Earlier, I went and asked around. I discovered that Teacher Zhou has the nickname ‘Perverted Grandma’. The number of students expelled by her every year is supposedly equivalent to that of ten other teachers. We really have bad luck, having a teacher like her in charge of our class.”
Huo Yuhao shook his head and smiled. “You can’t think about it that way. Teacher Zhou is indeed strict, but as long as we demand the same level of strictness from ourselves, meeting her demands won’t be that hard. Right, I’ve seen your martial soul, but I don’t know its name. I also saw that you had a yellow and a purple soul rings; how did you manage to get a thousand year soul ring for your second soul ring?”
Wang Dong laughed mischievously and said, “Being able to use a thousand year soul ring as my second soul ring is a secret; I can’t tell you how. On the other hand, my martial soul is the Radiant Butterfly Goddess. It’s the most beautiful butterfly on the continent, but it’s already on the verge of being extinct. Having it as my martial soul is even rarer than your body soul. You’ll see its power in the future. Right, what did Teacher Zhou take you to do earlier?”
The two had already left their dorm and were headed towards the teaching buildings as they spoke to each other. It wasn’t just them; none of the students in Class 1 dared to be late.
Huo Yuhao didn’t conceal the fact that Teacher Zhou had brought him to see Teacher Fan Yu; there was no need to hide something like this from him. Thus, he told Wang Dong everything that had happened.
“What? You can even share your Spiritual Detection? Quickly, let me see.” After all, everyone here was only eleven or twelve years old. Due to his curiosity, Wang Dong excitedly asked for Huo Yuhao to share his Spiritual Detection with him.
Huo Yuhao felt helpless, and had no choice but to activate his Spiritual Detection Sharing and let Wang Dong experience it for a moment.
Due to everything within the surrounding thirty metres suddenly becoming clear, as well as the data-like feedback, Wang Dong immediately turned slightly blank. It was akin to the feeling a blind man would get when he was suddenly able to see the world clearly. This feeling of shock would appear in every soul master who shared Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection for the first time.
Furthermore, as Huo Yuhao continuously used his Spiritual Detection Sharing, his proficiency in it would gradually increased. As he allowed Wang Dong to experience it, he couldn’t help but think of Fan Yu’s words. He subconsciously attempted to extend his Spiritual Detection in one direction, then did his best to cover a slightly larger area with his Spiritual Detection.
Under the current situation where he was focusing his energy in one direction, Huo Yuhao didn’t know that the faint golden colour in his eyes had clearly become stronger, and that the spiritual undulations he was releasing had gotten much stronger as well. The originally omni-directional Spiritual Detection slowly contracted, and began to extend towards the front.
Wang Dong also felt the changes in Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection. He discovered that the three-dimensional scenes to his left and right had disappeared, and that only the three-dimensional image in front of him remained. Furthermore, the range of this image was slowly increasing.
To Huo Yuhao, just a few seconds of doing this felt like it took longer than when he’d released his Spiritual Detection for a quarter of an hour in the past. He felt his soulforce being converted into spiritual energy at an astonishing pace as it flowed out of his body. It was only a moment, but waves of exhaustion had already invaded him.
His body swayed, and he only managed to stand upright by grabbing onto Wang Dong’s arm. His Spiritual Detection Sharing had also accordingly ended.
“Huo Yuhao, what happened?” Wang Dong hurriedly supported him.