Graduation from the Primary Soul Master Academy was official, marking my transition from academy student to genuine soul master. The first soul ring pulsing within my spirit root wasn't just a badge of achievement—it was proof that I'd crossed the threshold from ordinary human to cultivator. Sure, it was only the beginning, but everyone starts somewhere.
I'd always claimed I wanted to walk my own path, maintain my independence from the major powers. But honestly? Being affiliated with Spirit Hall came with undeniable perks, especially at this stage. Protection from those who might target a young soul master, connections to resources and information networks, access to cultivation knowledge that would otherwise take years to acquire independently. These weren't compromises to my principles—they were smart investments in my future.
The next milestone loomed ahead: enrollment in the Intermediate Soul Master Academy. This represented a significant upgrade from my previous education. Where Primary Academy had focused on fundamentals and basic soul master theory, Intermediate Academy promised advanced cultivation techniques, deeper theoretical knowledge, and most importantly—comprehensive libraries. The kind of repositories that held centuries of accumulated wisdom, research notes from legendary soul masters, and technical manuals that could accelerate my development by decades.
While waiting for the enrollment period to open, I refused to remain idle. My toy business continued generating steady profits, and I'd expanded the product line strategically. The Rubik's Cube proved popular among both children and young soul masters. The chess sets found their niche with families and academy students, teaching strategic thinking and long-term planning. Both products served dual purposes: generating income while subtly training the cognitive abilities of their users.
My new status as an official soul master also qualified me for monthly stipends from Spirit Hall—one gold coin per month. It wasn't a fortune, but for someone my age, it represented reliable passive income. Every coin went straight into my growing treasury, building the foundation for larger investments.
Speaking of investments, I made my biggest move yet: purchasing a shop.
Soul master status carried weight in Wuhun City's business district. Merchants and property owners treated you differently when you could demonstrate genuine cultivation. Using a portion of my accumulated earnings, I acquired a modest but well-positioned storefront in one of the city's commercial areas. I hired two clerks to handle daily sales and a general helper for inventory and maintenance.
Was it risky? Absolutely. Most nine-year-olds weren't making real estate investments or managing employees. But I'd learned that taking calculated risks early, when the potential losses were manageable, was far better than playing it safe and missing opportunities entirely.
My personal development had accelerated significantly since absorbing my first soul ring. Mental-type martial souls create an interesting cultivation dynamic—unlike beast-type or weapon-type souls that develop relatively balanced attributes, mental cultivation creates a pronounced specialization effect.
My physical strength and base soul power increased according to normal progression curves, rising steadily with each level gained. But my spirit power? That experienced exponential growth. The difference was immediately noticeable. Information processing became effortless. Memory recall sharpened dramatically. Complex calculations that once required conscious effort now happened almost automatically.
To put it in perspective, if my pre-soul ring mental capacity was like using dial-up internet, post-absorption felt like upgrading to decent broadband. Still nowhere near the theoretical maximum, but the improvement was transformative.
The soul skill itself proved fascinating: Bloodlust. Classified as an auxiliary ability, it provided a 10% boost to both speed and strength for one minute. However, it came with a significant complication—a berserk effect that gradually intensified throughout the duration. The power boost was substantial, but the mental toll was severe, draining both physical stamina and spirit energy simultaneously.
For a yellow soul ring to provide dual physical buffs plus an altered mental state was genuinely rare. Most first rings offered single-attribute improvements or basic elemental attacks. This suggested my approach to soul ring selection—prioritizing compatibility and potential over raw age—was paying dividends.
But here's what bothered me: in orthodox soul master development, skills become fixed entities. Once absorbed and integrated, they remain static. Most soul masters treated their early abilities as stepping stones, eventually abandoning them entirely in favor of more powerful high-level skills.
That seemed like tremendous waste to me.
Instead of viewing soul rings as rigid menu options, I wanted to treat them as frameworks—foundational structures that could be developed, refined, and evolved through understanding and practice. If I could grasp the underlying mechanisms of how Bloodlust functioned, maybe I could modify or improve it beyond its initial parameters.
Three years passed in focused development. By age nine, I'd reached level 10—respectable progress for someone with rank 7 innate talent. Academy graduation was completed successfully, Intermediate Academy acceptance was confirmed, and my business ventures continued expanding profitably.
But the real breakthroughs came from detailed analysis of my soul skill.
I became obsessed with understanding Bloodlust's mechanics. Rather than simply activating it during combat or training, I studied every aspect of its operation. The process wasn't straightforward—mental-type abilities are notoriously difficult to analyze because they affect the very consciousness trying to observe them.
My solution was practical experimentation, starting with external subjects. I purchased a chicken from the local market and named her Eve. Over several weeks, I carefully observed how different applications of soul energy affected living creatures. Eve turned out to be surprisingly aggressive for poultry—possibly the most intimidating chicken I'd ever encountered—but she served her purpose as a research subject.
Through systematic testing, I discovered that Bloodlust didn't simply release stored energy randomly. The skill used soul power to influence spirit energy in specific patterns, creating a resonance effect that cascaded through my entire system. The strength and speed improvements came from spirit energy vibrating at frequencies that enhanced physical performance—essentially a version of a magical adrenaline rush.
The berserk effect had a different cause entirely. It resulted from the skill altering the spirit energy pattern, changing the baseline frequency at which my consciousness operated. Understanding this distinction was crucial for developing countermeasures.
The key insight was that spirit power manipulation depended entirely on energy flow patterns. If I could learn to consciously control those patterns, I might be able to replicate or modify soul skill effects through pure technique.
My first attempts at self-experimentation were... educational. The initial time I activated Bloodlust to myself while trying to maintain awareness, I completely lost control. The rage effect overwhelmed my consciousness, and I blacked out entirely. When I regained awareness, poor Eve had become an impromptu dinner. She was delicious, but I felt bad about the circumstances.
Subsequent attempts proved more successful. My increased spirit power provided better resistance to the berserk influence. While I couldn't eliminate the anger entirely, I could maintain rational thought underneath the emotional static. More importantly, I could feel exactly how soul energy flowed through my system during skill activation.
This opened up entirely new training possibilities. Within my virtual mindscape—that mental space I'd developed for information processing—I could activate Bloodlust while observing the effects on multiple levels simultaneously. Standing before one of my consciousness monitors, I watched red energy patterns flash across the display as I adjusted spirit power vibrations.
The result was effectively overclocking my brain. Not to supernatural speeds, not yet, but noticeably faster information processing, enhanced memory access, and accelerated logical reasoning. I spent hours fine-tuning the effect, pushing the enhancement further until my mental energy crashed from exhaustion.
I have become a search engine. That was the plan for my first soul ring. This raised an intriguing possibility: was I developing my first self-created soul skill?
As Intermediate Academy enrollment approached, I intensified my preparation. Soul beast meat became a regular part of my diet to support physical development. Mental exercises grew more complex and demanding. Physical training focused on building the foundation strength that would support whatever martial techniques I learned next.
I understood my limitations clearly. I would never match the raw physical power of beast-type soul masters or the elemental destruction of weapon-type cultivators. But that was never my goal anyway.
My strength lay in the mind—in analysis, spirit power, innovation, and the patient development of techniques others might overlook. While other soul masters focused on accumulating power, I was building understanding.
When enrollment day finally arrived, I was level 13. I walked through the gates of the Intermediate Soul Master Academy as a properly prepared student. No dramatic declarations or flashy demonstrations. No conflicts with arrogant young masters who couldn't recognize true talent.
Just steady, purposeful progress toward goals that extended far beyond what anyone else might imagine.
The next phase of my journey was beginning, and I was ready for whatever challenges awaited.