This journey had been a complete success, but Oscar and Gai Yue did not plan to return to Shrek Academy for the time being. Instead, they stayed at Star Moon Lake to continue cultivating.
Xiao Wu, however, definitely needed to return to the academy. But there was no rush, since when Oscar had first taken her away, he had said it was for training.
So Xiao Wu could stay at Star Moon Lake for a while longer, spending more time with Da Ming and Er Ming.
Half a month later, Oscar and Xiao Wu were standing on the Titan Giant Ape's shoulders. Of course, this Oscar was a clone. Since Xiao Wu had not yet broken through to the Soul Elder realm, it was difficult for her to leave the Star Dou Great Forest alone, so the Titan Giant Ape escorted her.
Oscar's clone accompanied Xiao Wu back to the academy. Although his true body remained at Star Moon Lake with Gai Yue to continue sword cultivation, nothing was being neglected.
Oscar had already arranged everything else, leaving only the clones to carry out the tasks step by step. Since the clones were spiritually connected to him, it was no different from Oscar doing it himself.
From the Star Dou Great Forest to Shrek Academy, it took half a month for the clone and Xiao Wu to travel. To the others at Shrek, they had only been gone for just over a month.
When they felt Oscar's current improvement, Flender, Zhao Wuji, and the others found it hard to believe, since Oscar had already reached the terrifying level of fifty-five.
He had just broken through level fifty and obtained his soul ring, and yet his soul power had risen by five levels? Although everyone already knew his fifth soul ring must have been absorbed beyond his level, the fact that his power increased by five levels in one go still shocked them greatly.
After all, even Dugu Yan, the eldest sister-in-law, was already nineteen and only at level fifty-six. That was already considered terrifying enough. But Oscar, only fifteen, had already reached level fifty-five.
Oscar shared this joy with everyone. Apart from feeling envious, their determination to train diligently grew even stronger. After all, Oscar was a living example that only with effort and persistence could one gain unexpected rewards.
When Oscar explained the effect of his fifth soul skill, everyone was dumbfounded. His fifth soul skill could bring tremendous enhancement to the group.
This enhancement was not like Ning Rongrong's attribute buffs, but a direct boost to combat ability.
The only pity was that most of Shrek's students did not possess the six attributes contained within Oscar's fifth soul skill. However, Zhu Zhuqing did match with one of them, darkness.
Her Netherworld Civet inherently carried the darkness attribute. For her, Oscar's fifth soul skill was the most beneficial.
Once she consumed Oscar's fifth soul skill, her darkness attribute could reach an ultimate level for one hour. Normally, her grasp of the darkness attribute was shallow and simple.
Now, even if it only lasted for one hour, reaching the ultimate level would bring her an incomparable improvement in strength.
In this world, ultimate attributes were like a cheat, granting soul masters enough power to fight opponents above their level.
Among the teachers, Flender could also benefit from this.
His Martial Spirit, the Spirit Owl, possessed the wind attribute, one of the six. Though it was acquired later, Flender had mastered it.
As long as he consumed Oscar's fifth soul skill, his wind attribute would reach the ultimate state for an hour.
The ultimate wind meant unmatched speed, and even attack power would be greatly enhanced. For Flender, this was incredible news.
Just Oscar's fifth soul skill alone could give him a huge boost. If he fully mastered the ultimate wind, then within that hour, with his current level eighty-five strength, he could rival a Titled Douluo.
That was the terror of ultimate attributes.
Of course, not everyone could quickly adapt to wielding an attribute, let alone its ultimate form. To control such explosive power even for just one hour, training was necessary.
Oscar did not care about that. He could simply have several clones produce his fifth soul skill nonstop. As long as the clones did not fully exhaust their soul power, they could recover through cultivation.
The storage duration of Oscar's fifth soul skill reached three years, three times longer than his fourth soul skill, which only lasted one year. So as long as he could make them, there was no worry about preservation.
As a food-type soul master, Oscar's soul skills had unusually long storage durations. Normally, food-type soul skills lasted just hours, with days being rare.
But Oscar was unique. His first soul skill lasted seven days. Later ones lasted a month, three months, half a year, then one year.
Now his fifth soul skill could last three years. This meant Oscar could mass-produce and stockpile them with his clones.
In fact, both Oscar's and other Shrek members' soul tools were already filled with many of his first to fourth soul skills.
He had prepared special clones to work day and night storing soul skills, many of which circulated internally through the escort agency.
Auction houses still sold his first two skills, but his third was rarely auctioned anymore, as it had become the escort agency's treasure for travel, vastly improving delivery efficiency.
Back at Shrek Academy, the first thing Oscar did was split more clones to store the fifth soul skill.
The clone then unknowingly went to Dugu Yan's room.
Through his fourth soul skill, Oscar discovered that his clones and his true body were nearly indistinguishable to himself.
Since clones and body were spiritually connected, whatever the clone did was essentially what Oscar himself did. Clones had no self-awareness.
Otherwise, Oscar could simply let clones cultivate while he did nothing.
The only difference was that if a clone was destroyed, it did not matter, but nothing could happen to his true body.
And unless Oscar revealed it himself, no one could tell which was the clone or the real body, not even a Titled Douluo.
So when the clone entered Dugu Yan's room, she did not know her man's true body was elsewhere, and the one on top of her was a clone.
This was the strength of Oscar's fourth soul skill. Even someone as close as Dugu Yan could not tell the difference.
This discovery gave Oscar a mischievous idea. Though he had no intention of being with other women, he could still play tricks with his sister.
For example, letting her eat two clone sausages and having several clones play with her at once.
The best part was that the clone's energy did not come from his real body, so he never had to worry about exhaustion, while the sensations were exactly the same as his own.
As a young man full of vigor, after the first time, there was naturally a second and countless more.
Especially since Dugu Yan had quite the appetite. Just one month without it, and she was already impatient.
Still, Oscar wondered, if she ever found out she was with clones, would she tear him apart…
Oscar was not truly obsessed with women. A week later, he gave the Shrek group a three-month vacation, during which everyone could arrange their own plans.
The following tasks were many. Shrek was not an official advanced soul master academy and was not qualified to participate in the upcoming Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament. These three months were to solve that issue.
Normally, Shrek's members rarely had holidays, so this long break also made up for the lost rest.
Tang San in particular had long wanted to forge new hidden weapons. This was the perfect time for him to work.
Oscar fully supported everyone's choices. Those who wanted to return home could go, those who wanted to relax could relax. After this, there would be no more vacations.
Dugu Yan planned to return to Sunset Forest to spend time with Dugu Bo.
She thought her grandfather must be lonely there.
But she did not know Dugu Bo was anything but lonely now.
Still, she had not seen him for a long time, so it was indeed time to visit.
Oscar, however, could not accompany her. He had more important matters to attend to.
The night before parting, Dugu Yan passionately demanded Oscar's company. Fortunately, it was only a clone. Otherwise, Oscar might not have been able to handle it.
Of course, that was only a joke. With Oscar's current body, the only one who could not handle it was Dugu Yan.
After all, though the field may be small, the farmer was a wild ox.
The next day, the Shrek members separated. Some went home, others stayed behind to continue training.
Oscar traveled with Ning Rongrong to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
The construction of the Sunset Forest sect had only reached one-third before funds ran out. As the young sect master, he had to find money soon, or construction would stop.
A new rising sect was no match for the great old ones, who had foundation, strength, and wealth.
When they reached Soto City, Ning Rongrong immediately showed a token and brought back two young soul emperors as her guards.
Clearly, she carried a way to contact her sect's people.
That was only natural. How could a young lady travel without protection? Ning Rongrong was not foolish.
The two young men noticed a boy traveling with their young miss and looked slightly puzzled, but nothing more. There was no cliché "hostile guard" drama.
They simply nodded at Oscar without saying a word. Their job was to protect Ning Rongrong, not to question their mistress's decisions.
They were already over forty. Even if they had ambitions, could a thirteen-year-old girl possibly fall for a man that old just because he was nice to her?
Moreover, Ning Rongrong was their mistress. They were just guards, or to put it bluntly, servants.
That was the way of this world. Those with talent and strength were masters. Those with only strength but no talent often became guards or servants.
After resting one day in Soto City, Ning Rongrong became excited and dragged Oscar to the auction house. They did not buy anything special.
But Oscar noticed she seemed to be looking for gifts, like a thoughtful junior preparing to bring things home to her loved ones.
This surprised him. The Ning Rongrong described in the original story would never do such a thing. After a year together, Oscar was still caught off guard.
Though she had already blended into the group and cultivated diligently, this side of her was rare.
Noticing Oscar's expression, Ning Rongrong pouted and said, "Senior, what kind of look is that? Do you find it strange that I do something like this?"
Oscar smiled. "Not strange, just a little unexpected."
Ning Rongrong huffed, then sweetly explained, "Last night Hongjun told me that when going home, it's best to bring gifts for elders. I thought about it and agreed. I've never given anything to my parents before. I've always taken everything for granted."
"So I wanted to see if I could find something local to bring back. But after looking around, I didn't find anything worth taking."
Hearing this, Oscar raised an eyebrow. So Hongjun had a hand in this.
But considering their current ambiguous relationship, Oscar understood.
He himself only had Dugu Yan in his heart, so he fully supported Ma Hongjun and Ning Rongrong being together.
Oscar thought for a moment and said, "Gifts do not have to be valuable. As long as they carry your heart, your elders will feel it."
Ning Rongrong paused, then nodded. "I understand, senior."
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