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First Spirit Skill: Enhance.
Second Spirit Skill: Control.
Su Wen sensed the general nature of his second spirit skill and was very satisfied.
This type of skill, with its auxiliary properties, was the best kind.
Although it couldn't exactly be called an auxiliary spirit skill, a skill that possessed an auxiliary effect for oneself—whether it was an enhancement-type or another category—was an amplification at the most fundamental level. If it could be utilized well, its upper limit would be extremely high.
Of course, if it wasn't utilized well, it could also become very useless.
Su Wen did not test the spirit skill inside the cave, preparing instead to leave the Star Dou Great Forest first.
The small town outside the Star Dou Great Forest.
Su Wen returned to the small town and washed up thoroughly, scrubbing away the fatigue of the past three months as he pondered his plans for the next step.
"My second spirit ring, a thousand-year Three-Eyed Phantasmal Spirit Fox, far exceeded my expectations. The degree of my spirit's metamorphosis was in no way inferior to the one brought about by my first spirit ring."
It could be said that with just these two metamorphoses, Su Wen's spirit had completed the leap from a low-level spirit to a high-level one.
Although his innate spirit power was a full five levels, that number was highly inflated; the quality of his Book Spirit itself was still extremely poor.
The first spirit ring from the Starlight Fruit Tree brought his spirit its first metamorphosis. The complete and total transformation caused it to leap in quality, putting it on par with intermediate-level spirits.
This time, the second spirit ring not only strengthened the characteristic his Book Spirit had derived last time—further metamorphosing the spirit in its spiritual attribute—but also, the combination of absorbing a ring beyond his rank, the surge in spiritual power from opening his Sea of Consciousness, and the absorption of the External Spirit Bone triggered a chain reaction during the process, causing his spirit to undergo yet another metamorphosis that could only be called an evolution.
It was now in no way inferior to a high-level spirit.
"After I absorb my third spirit ring, and then absorb and refine the immortal herbs, my spirit will completely become one of the most top-tier spirits!" Su Wen eagerly awaited the arrival of that day.
At that moment, perhaps his Book Spirit would truly be qualified to be called a Heavenly Book!
Absorbing a thousand-year second ring, far exceeding his limit, had brought him indescribable benefits.
But at the same time, it also brought Su Wen certain troubles.
First, he was conflicted about whether he should even go and collect his Spirit Master stipend in the future.
"A thousand-year second ring is a massive shock to the current Douluo Continent."
Even though he was technically a member of Spirit Hall, Su Wen couldn't be certain that someone wouldn't take a desperate risk and make a move against him.
Whether it was being forcibly "invited" to join another faction, or being threatened with his life to reveal the secret of absorbing a spirit ring beyond his limit, these were all possible scenarios.
This was a world where the strong preyed on the weak!
In fact, these were just the basic risks.
The worst fear was someone thinking his spirit was special and then... using him for breeding...
Especially as Su Wen's spirit underwent more metamorphoses in the future, this possibility would only grow larger.
"I need a backer, a real backer!"
Not a false, grandiose, and empty backer like Spirit Hall currently was.
Su Wen was well aware that to Spirit Hall, he was still far too insignificant. There wouldn't even be a Spirit Saint willing to stand up for him.
Was it only the covetous gazes from the outside he had to fear?
Without a powerful expert backing him, it would be difficult to get by even within Spirit Hall itself.
What's more, Su Wen had no desire for his backers to be those two elders from Spirit Hall.
"The easiest backer to find, really, is Dugu Bo."
Su Wen decided to head to Tian Dou City and find a way to join the Tian Dou Royal Academy.
He wrote a letter to Old Jack to report that he was safe. He also told Old Jack to temporarily stop providing Little Sweet Potatoes; when he needed them again, he would write another letter. By that time, he should be settled in Tian Dou City.
After sending the letter, Su Wen rented a small courtyard in the town.
"This monkey wine can't be wasted."
Although the potent initial effect of the monkey wine diminished as he drank more, that was just the burst effect.
The rich nutrients and energy contained within the wine were still present. By carefully refining them, he could still accelerate the growth of his spirit power and spiritual power.
It was a pity he didn't have a storage spirit tool, so Su Wen hadn't stolen all the monkey wine. However, since he knew the location, he figured he could just make a few more trips.
Five days later, Su Wen had transported the Clarity Ape's entire stock back to the small town and began a new round of closed-door cultivation.
At the same time, he also mailed about twenty jin of the monkey wine to Old Jack in New Moon Village.
Perhaps, with the help of this monkey wine, Old Jack might be able to break through to Grand Spirit Master or even Spirit Elder in his lifetime.
Excluding the monkey wine sent to Old Jack, Su Wen still had over fifty jin left on hand.
After absorbing his second spirit ring, Su Wen's spirit power had directly reached level twenty-two.
Consuming one jin of monkey wine a day while cultivating both internally and externally, two months passed in the blink of an eye.
"Two months, and I'm level twenty-three!"
Su Wen had completely digested all the monkey wine, and his spirit power had also broken through by one level, reaching level twenty-three.
He still did not go to Spirit Hall to collect his Spirit Master stipend.
"It's time to set off for Tian Dou City."
Map in hand, Su Wen set off from the small town and headed towards Tian Dou City.
One month later.
Tian Dou City.
Spirit Holy Temple.
Su Wen slowly walked into the Holy Temple.
He felt rather helpless. Even with his talent as a fallback, he hadn't managed to get into the Tian Dou Royal Academy.
It truly required noble status to enter; the admissions teachers he met all said they wouldn't even consider him otherwise.
If he couldn't meet the academy's three great education committees or the upper management, it didn't matter how high his talent was; no one would approve his admission.
"In the original story, the Shrek group was likely only able to get in because of Qin Ming's recommendation, coupled with the three committee members having already agreed to it in advance."
Of course, Su Wen's cautious mentality also played a part.
He was worried that even if he revealed his thousand-year second ring, the information wouldn't make it to the committee. Instead, he would be targeted by the admissions teacher, and by the faction behind that teacher.
One could only say that Su Wen's persecution complex was a bit severe.
But in a world like this, such a symptom was not entirely a bad thing.
Upon entering the Spirit Holy Temple, Su Wen stated his identity.
"Su Wen? A member of the Nuoding City Spirit Hall branch? What are you doing here in Tian Dou City?"
"Oh? You obtained your spirit ring and then came directly to Tian Dou City?"
"Not bad, little guy! You're not even twelve yet, are you? And you're already a Grand Spirit Master?"
"Alright, come on. Test your spirit power, and release your spirit. We need to register your basic information."
Su Wen took a deep breath and released his spirit.
Bathed in a splendid halo, a book adorned with purple patterns floated in front of Su Wen.
The most eye-catching thing was that flash of a purple spirit ring.
The deacon in charge of registration saw the purple spirit ring and instantly assumed Su Wen was here for a Spirit Elder certification. But in the next moment, he remembered Su Wen was here for a Grand Spirit Master certification, and his spirit power test had just come back as level twenty-three.
He carefully counted Su Wen's spirit rings.
One yellow, one purple!
Even if that second spirit ring's purple wasn't vibrant, just a faint purple halo, it was still a thousand-year spirit ring!
Hiss...
This deacon realized the situation was not simple.
Looking at Su Wen's faint, ambiguous smile, the deacon composed himself. He didn't ask any more questions and chose to report this matter up the chain.
This registration job is way above my pay grade. I can't handle this.
(End of this chapter)