"Weapon-Type Martial Soul: Stone Staff," said the Spirit Grand Master sent by Spirit Hall to awaken the Spirits of the new batch of children within the remote Cha Village.
Standing in the middle of a set of stones, holding a stone staff as tall as him, was the one who just had their Martial Spirit awoken. A child who had only turned six a week prior- Tian Sheng.
Topaz eyes curiously looked over the weapon in his hands, a small and pleased smile crawling onto his face. He clearly showed no resentment or despair to his Martial Soul- in fact, he seemed perfectly fine with it, unlike the many children who had gone before and left dejected with no potential.
The Spirit Grand Master gently gestured to the nearby crystal ball, "Please step forward and place your hand upon it- we will now test your Soul Power."
Tian Sheng nodded, his Martial Soul dissipating, before he stepped forwards and placed his small hand upon the Crystal Ball.
Instantly, the ball lit up with brilliant white light as it was filled with energy, and the Grand Master's eyes lit up in surprised joy.
"Full Innate Soul Power!" He declared boldly, making many of them gasp and look upon Tian Sheng with awe. In this small village, in the world of Douluo Dalu, just having one Soul Power would have been enough to impress people in such a small village.
But Full Innate Soul Power?
It was equivalent to a genius being born within the suburbs.
Tian Sheng didn't show much emotion, save the small and pleased curling of his lips as he received his result- completely unshaken.
"To think I'd find a Great Talent here, truly blessed," the Grand Master- Lin Guang- had a very pleased smile on his face as he looked at Tian Sheng. "Young man, would you be interested in joining the Spirit Hall?"
Normally, Lin Guang wouldn't bother with someone with a mere stone staff for a Martial Soul. However, Full Innate Soul Power? That meant that the staff must not be ordinary- it was well known that Innate Soul Power was closely related to the quality of the Martial Soul, hence why most Blue Silver Grass had no Innate Soul Power.
Tian Sheng merely smiled and bowed politely, "It would be my honour to do so," he told Lin Guang sincerely. "However, I believe I am not yet ready to step into the illustrious ranks of the Spirit Hall. I would like to pursue solo cultivation first, so that I may experience the harshness of the world and grow my own opinions. You have my word, however, that I will one day grace the glorious Spirit Hall."
Lin Guang looked down at the child in surprise, not expecting a six year old to be so well spoken- but also to speak with such wisdom. Rather than allowing himself to be arrogant, instead he had decided to experience the harshness of the world... Wise, but foolish in Lin Guang's eyes. The harsh lessons could come later, why not seize the opportunity to grow strong sooner?
Still, he could not force the child, so he merely smiled and nodded. He waved him off, beckoning the next child to step forward with hope that they would achieve similar results.
Tian Sheng stepped away from the gathering, returning to the orphanage he'd spent his entire life in, to gather what few belongings he had with a small smirk on his face- his eyes looking at something nobody else could see.
[Detected the Host's Martial Soul has awoken. System Booting...]
'It took you long enough,' he thought without anger or scorn, just pure delight.
Tian Sheng was a Transmigrator in this world- the World of Douluo Dalu. Just like the infamous 'Tang Buddha' or Tang San, as was his actual name.
He didn't recall how he died, nor did he care to try and remember. What mattered that he was alive, and he had another chance. He certainly would miss common amenities, but it was sure better than being dead.
He hadn't been as fortunate as Tang San, however. No mother nor father in sight, nor were the people in the Orphanage particularly good- it was a struggle to survive every day, and he had learned from a young age how ruthless the world was when he was beaten up so other children could take only a single loaf of bread from him.
That was the secret behind Tian Sheng being as humble as he was now. He had certainly isekai'd all cocky, that had quickly been beaten out of him.
He had patiently waited, training as hard as he could push his young body, all for the day his Martial Soul awoke.
Truthfully, even he had been surprised by the Innate Full Soul Power. But he was a serious poker player in his previous life, and that ability to hide his true feelings had served him well growing up.
The fact he was obtaining his system finally- he didn't dare show any ingratitude- instead he was just happy to have a System at all! Even if it was a bare bones system that only recorded his progress in skill growth, he was happy take it and use it on his journey to become stronger!
[System Boot up Complete! The Freedom System is online!]
Sheng tilted his head curiously... Freedom System? What a peculiar System name, nothing like the ones he'd heard about in the past. Still, that only interested him more.
[Life is meant to be enjoyed- to soar the highest peaks, fall to the deepest lows- and to do it all because it was what you decided for yourself, not anybody else!]
[The more one lives life on their terms, be it the highs or the lows, they will obtain points! These points can be used to increase one's attributes, increase the proficiency of skills, Soul Rings, even the Martial Soul, or even purchase things from the shop! Live as free as you desire- that is the will of this System!]
Sheng stared at the screen... And the grin that crawled to his lips threatened to split his face.
This System truly understood him, didn't it? To live life on his own terms, to do as he wanted- even if it resulted in disaster. So long as he could live a life that he himself was proud of- that was his truest desire.
That was why he'd turned down Lin Guang, even if he intended to join the Spirit Hall in the future. Because he wanted to live freely, to experience this world boldly- even if it meant his death.
[The System is pleased to have such a compatible host! System bestows host with a One-Time Newbie Gift Pack! Would you like to open it?]
"Of course I'll open it," he chuckled softly, gathering the rest of his belongings.
[Bestowing Newbie Gift Pack...]
[Congratulations! You have awoken to Triple Martial Souls!]
His eyes widened as he felt a surge rush through his body, trembling for only a moment. Luckily, everyone was in the village centre, and nobody was able to see or sense what was happening.
Manifesting behind his body were two new Martial Souls.
The first was a Golden Cloud, floating in the air and looking big enough to carry him.
The second was what was clearly a Gourd... Full of wine too, if his nose wasn't playing tricks on him.
[You have successfully awoken Tool-Type Martial Soul: Golden Cloud, and Food-Type Martial Soul: Wine Gourd!]
His eyes lit up with pure joy, feeling giddy as he realised just what he had.
One had to understand, while Weapon and Tool-Type Martial Souls were put under the same Umbrella, they were not the same kind of Martial Soul despite what people thought.
Tool-Type Martial Souls were closer to Auxiliary Martial Souls, a different category- just like Food-Type's were their own category of Auxiliary different from the Seven Treasure Glazed Pagoda.
The reason this was good news?
It meant that his Martial Souls had no overlap.
No matter how skilled one was, they could only use Martial Soul at a time. There were exceptions to this rule in the future, Tian Sheng recalled. He didn't remember who it was, but someone was able to use two of their Martial Souls at once- bypassing the ordinary rules.
Perhaps because his was a gift from the System, he could tell that he could manifest multiple Martial Souls at once- an unprecedented feat at this point on the Douluo Continent. He was even luckier, because his Martial Souls had no overlap. The system didn't classify 'Weapon' and 'Tool' as the same thing, it even differentiated 'Plant' Martial Souls. This meant that he could bypass the ordinary rules of the world as well, using all Three of his Martial Souls at the same time.
Once he put more points into Mental Power, he would have no limitations in using multiple Martial Souls at once... And he had three of them!
With these Martial Souls, he could live as free as a bird.
"System, bring up my Status Panel."
[Status]
Tian Sheng
Age: 6
Martial Souls
Stone Staff (Weapon-Type) (Yellow)
Golden Cloud (Tool-Type) (Purple)
Wine Gourd (Food-Type) (White)
Attributes
Soul Power: 10
Mental Power: 15
Physique: 2 (+)
Control: 2 (+)
Divine Power: 0
Freedom Points: 10
System Note: Average Adult's Physique and Control are both 5.
Skills
Cooking (Yellow)
Soul Meditation Technique (White)
He hummed as he looked over his stats... The inclusion of Divine Power surprised him, though he wasn't at all surprised that it had no levels. Likely, this stat wouldn't be upgraded for a long time- a stat like that probably required a lot of Freedom Points in order to upgrade.
Soul Power- this was something better to raise during bottleneck moments when he struggled to progress, otherwise it was better to raise it naturally. He didn't doubt the system would immediately stabilise it, but better to save points on more important things- Soul Power could be worked on over time.
Mental Power, this was something definitely worth investing in as needed. The higher his Mental Power and Physique, the higher the years of Soul Rings that he could absorb- he knew this information from Douluo Dalu 2, and there were several examples of it throughout the first series as well.
Physique obviously referred to his physical body strength, health, and endurance all in one. Control, however, likely referred to his ability to manage his body's power. He would have to do his best to keep these two things balanced as much as possible for the best results, perhaps even increasing control over Physique at times.
His skills had colours beside them as well- likely equating to Soul Ring Colours to keep things simple. White was absolute beginner or trash, Yellow showed some experience, Purple as being very experienced, Black as being a Master, Red as being a Grand Master, and then Gold as a Deity.
His eyes next focused on his Martial Souls- and it did leave him confused.
Stone Staff was only Yellow Ranked, basically meaning that it was just above a Trash Martial Soul like Blue Silver Grass. However, why then did he have Innate Soul Power at Full?
The answer came to him quickly- reincarnation.
A soul travelling to another world, the soul would definitely have to endure hardship when arriving. Pressure makes diamonds, and the hardship would result in the soul being strengthened- thus resulting in a higher Innate Soul Power despite his lower ranking Martial Soul.
The Golden Cloud being Purple Rank also made sense to him, it was definitely a step above a typical Martial Soul and had great potential.
As for the Wine Gourd only being White Rank, he didn't let it bother him. Food-Type Martial Souls had their own unique advantages, and he was sure he'd find a way to make his Wine Gourd useful.
As for his Meditation Skill only being White- no explanation needed for that one, he'd only just awoken as a Soul Master. He only had an instinctive understanding of how to gather Soul Power- it would get stronger the more he used it in the future.
With his assessment of everything done, he slung his bag with all his belongings over his shoulder before he left the Orphanage and headed for the outskirts of the village.
He smiled as he didn't hesitate to look back. Cha Village would always be his first home- but he had to move onto bigger and better things.
His journey in this new and unfamiliar world had officially begun.