While waiting for Hu Liena, Bibi Dong did not remain idle.
She was contemplating whether or not to release this article to the public. If released, Soul Masters across the continent would naturally benefit, but what about her enemies? Would the strength of the Upper Three Sects increase?
No, she reasoned. The Upper Three Sects already have fixed combinations for their soul rings. Centuries of experimentation have provided them with established patterns.
On the contrary, it would offer significant benefits to the vast majority of independent Soul Masters on the continent, which could attract their favor toward Spirit Hall.
"However, the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament is only three years away. Releasing this now offers no tactical advantage to Spirit Hall."
Bibi Dong pondered for a brief moment but ultimately decided to publish it anyway.
Spirit Hall had never feared any challenge.
Soon after, Bibi Dong arranged for Gui Mei to rescind the silence order.
Meanwhile, on the training grounds of the Spirit Hall Team.
A young girl, whose looks were not quite peerless but whose features carried a natural, innate charm, was undergoing rigorous training.
Hu Liena was currently only eleven years old.
Even for the Elite Tournament in three years, she wouldn't strictly meet the age requirements to participate as a primary member, yet she still participated in the training with immense pride. She didn't want to stand by and do nothing during the grand competition three years from now.
She wanted to step onto that stage, even if only once.
"Nana, come here."
At that moment, the voice of the Chrysanthemum Douluo, Yue Guan, reached Hu Liena's ears.
She turned her head curiously.
"His Excellency, Chrysanthemum Douluo!"
Hu Liena was pleasantly surprised. Yue Guan was a close confidant of her teacher, Bibi Dong.
If the Chrysanthemum Douluo was looking for her, it essentially meant her teacher had business with her. Hu Liena quickly abandoned her training and, with a look of joy, jogged directly over to the Chrysanthemum Douluo.
"His Excellency, Chrysanthemum Douluo."
Standing before Yue Guan, Hu Liena gave a respectful bow.
"No need for such formality. Her Majesty the Pope asked me to show you this article."
Yue Guan handed the paper to Hu Liena.
She took it and began to read with a look of intense focus. After a long while, Hu Liena looked at Yue Guan with a face full of curiosity.
"Your Excellency, does Teacher want me to give up on the Path of Charm?"
Hu Liena was genuinely puzzled.
She was certain of her path in Charm; it was an incredibly powerful control ability. One could even say she was invincible among those of the same rank. But after reading this thesis, she began to doubt.
Was her teacher suggesting she stop considering the team and focus only on herself?
Was that necessary? With powerful Charm abilities, she wasn't exactly devoid of combat power.
It was only when reaching the rank of Titled Douluo that the effectiveness of Charm would drop significantly. But when she truly reached that level, what did it matter if she was a little weaker? Besides, she had her brother and their Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
"Regarding that, I am not entirely sure myself. Why don't we go and ask for Her Majesty the Pope's opinion?"
Yue Guan gave a slight smile.
He naturally understood what Hu Liena was thinking.
Charm-type skills were indeed invincible among peers, but if she encountered someone immune to charm, Hu Liena would be left virtually defenseless, with no chance to resist. She wouldn't even be able to flee; she would be weaker than some Support System Soul Masters.
In fact, this was the reason why, in the original timeline, Hu Liena's life was in danger in the Slaughter City. Her physical foundation was too weak, even if she was the continent's top genius.
Fortunately, Yue Guan didn't care to overthink these matters. He grabbed Hu Liena's arm and flew directly toward the Pope's Palace. Let the Pope deal with the headaches.
Upon arriving at the Pope's Palace, Hu Liena felt a bit uneasy facing Bibi Dong.
"Teacher?"
"Nana, what are your thoughts?" Bibi Dong asked casually.
"Teacher, I feel that there is no need to change my soul ring choices. My teammates and I—"
"No, that is not ideal."
Before Hu Liena could finish, Bibi Dong shook her head and interrupted.
"Your Martial Soul is indeed suited for Charm, but sometimes being too extreme makes it easy for others to counter you."
Bibi Dong treated Hu Liena like her own child and was unwilling to let her have such a glaring weakness.
"I have thought it over, Nana. For your future soul rings, choose those with Mental attributes. The Path of Charm can be trained just the same," Bibi Dong said calmly.
By choosing Mental attributes, it essentially turned her original Charm skills into Self-Created Soul Skills.
Choosing pure Mental-attribute soul rings would bring Hu Liena nothing but benefits, significantly raising her future ceiling. According to the theory written by Xiao Yan in the thesis, this would passively increase Hu Liena's mental power.
"Yes. I will follow Teacher's instructions."
Hu Liena's face was full of respect as she bowed in response.
Her charm was innate—born with "charming bones"—so even if she focused on Mental attributes, she wouldn't be weak. Instead, it would grant her new possibilities.
"It is no trouble. It's just that pure Mental-attribute soul beasts are not easy to find."
Bibi Dong waved her hand dismissively.
"Yue Guan, I will trouble you with Nana's future soul rings."
"Yes, Your Majesty. I am also quite curious to see what Nana's Charming Fox Martial Soul will mutate into."
Yue Guan replied with a smile, clasping his hands.
"Thank you, Chrysanthemum Douluo," Hu Liena added gratefully.
"Let's go, Nana. Since you're following the Mental attribute path from now on, you'll need to train hard."
Yue Guan nodded, bid farewell to Bibi Dong, and took Hu Liena to the Spirit Hall Team's instructors.
This time, Yue Guan found Hu Liena a Rank 75 Mental-type Control System Soul Saint, hoping she would learn well.
Back in the Pope's Palace, Bibi Dong waved her hand.
"Gui Mei, find this Xiao Yan for me. And find his mentor, Lin Dong."
"Understood!"
Holy Spirit Village.
Lying in bed practicing the Mysterious Heaven Skill, Xiao Lin was idly researching his External Spirit Bone, while also feeling quite anxious about the aftermath of his thesis.
"Sigh, I wonder what happened with the paper. I hope it didn't just fail the review without so much as a notification," Xiao Lin grumbled to himself.
He then shifted his thoughts to his soul rings and External Spirit Bone.
What shocked Xiao Lin was that his soul rings and External Spirit Bone hadn't attracted Tang Hao's attention at all. Had Tang San really not told Tang Hao about his External Spirit Bone?
But wasn't his soul ring combination outrageous? Xiao Lin felt like he had failed to show off.
Perhaps in Tang Hao's eyes, an 800-year first soul ring was nothing.
After all, Tang San's first soul ring for the Clear Sky Hammer in the future would start at ten thousand years. As for the External Spirit Bone, after several days of experimentation, Xiao Lin discovered it currently had only one ability: doubling his strength.
A very simple, unadorned skill.
Furthermore, this External Spirit Bone could not be doubled again by his "Innate Tool Soul Avatar Physique." This made Xiao Lin, who was used to "cheating" through his perks, feel like it was a bit of a "chicken rib"—something of little value.
It seems this External Spirit Bone isn't all that great.
Fortunately, Xiao Lin's imagination was vast enough that he still managed to find creative uses for it. First, because his soul power was unique, it was very firm and difficult to compress.
When he tried injecting his soul power into the External Spirit Bone, he found that while the bone couldn't compress it either, it could store an additional 20% of his total soul power. Additionally, he found that the External Spirit Bone was excellent for channeling soul power.
Thus, he successfully used it to manifest the protective barrier of the "Invincible Vajra Divine Skill." The barrier's defense was more stable than when he controlled it himself, and it effectively freed up one of his hands.
Originally, Xiao Lin had planned to fire a laser from the small horns on the bone, but in the end, nothing happened except for his soul power being drained dry. Condensing soul power into a laser and firing it was still too much of a stretch for now.
The only thing he discovered was that releasing soul power through the small horns was significantly faster than other methods.