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[Ding! Host, please don't make baseless accusations.]
Lan Minghua chuckled in disbelief—he hadn't expected the system to welsh on its debt.
"I had 200 Mentor Points left after drawing Wu Song in the ten-pull, right?"
[Correct.]
"Then I received 800 Mentor Points for accepting Dugu Bo as my disciple, didn't I?"
[Correct.]
"And after I taught him the art of poison alchemy, he successfully learned it, right?"
[Correct.]
"Then where did my 200 Mentor Points go?" Lan Minghua demanded indignantly.
[…]
[Ding! Correction made. Current remaining Mentor Points: 1200. Would you like to initiate a draw?]
"Hmph! Even if you're the system, don't think you can get something for nothing. After all, you're already getting me for free!"
Feeling smug for a moment, Lan Minghua immediately proceeded with another ten-pull.
"System, give me a ten-pull draw."
[Ding! Deducted 1000 Mentor Points. Remaining: 200.]
[Ding! Congratulations, Host. You've obtained the following rewards:]
[Thank you for participating, Thank you for participating, Level 1 Soul Power Enhancement Card x5 (White), Level 1 Soul Power Enhancement Card (Purple), Thank you for participating…]
When Lan Minghua saw yet another "Thank you for participating" at the top of the draw results, the corner of his mouth twitched.
"I'll tolerate all the 'thank you' messages, but what's the deal with these soul power enhancement cards? There are white and purple qualities?"
Curious, Lan Minghua checked the descriptions of the two types of cards.
[Item: Level 1 Soul Power Enhancement Card (White)]
[Effect: Usable only on purple-quality characters from the reward pool. Note: Can raise purple-quality characters from level 81 to 95.]
[Item: Level 1 Soul Power Enhancement Card (Purple)]
[Effect: Usable only on gold-quality characters from the reward pool. Note: Can raise gold-quality characters from level 95 to 99.]
Reading the descriptions of the two card types, Lan Minghua finally grasped the difference between purple and gold-quality characters in the pool.
Purple-quality characters start at level 81 as Soul Douluo and can be raised up to level 95, becoming Titled Douluo.
Gold-quality characters begin at level 95 as Titled Douluo and can be upgraded to level 99, reaching the rank of Limit Douluo.
"Hiss… If that's the case, then red-quality characters must be at least level 99 Limit Douluo—possibly even level 100!"
And level 100… that's the realm of gods!
If he remembered correctly, red-quality rewards have a guaranteed drop only after 1000 pulls.
And even then, the guaranteed drop might not be a character card—it could be a skill or cultivation technique.
Lan Minghua didn't dwell on it for too long, letting things unfold naturally.
After all, in terms of strength, he feared no one.
Suddenly, he remembered that Jianglong and Fuhu were both Soul Douluo. Maybe it was time to level them up?
"System, if I raise Jianglong and Fuhu to level 90, do they still need to acquire their ninth spirit rings themselves?"
[Ding! No. The levels of purple-quality characters are fixed. Aside from using soul power enhancement cards, they cannot level up through self-cultivation. Once a purple-quality character reaches level 91, they will automatically obtain a 100,000-year spirit ring.]
Lan Minghua hadn't expected the enhancement cards to be this useful. Titled Douluo with 100,000-year spirit rings are rare in the first Douluo series.
"Jianglong is level 89, Fuhu is 88. Raising them both to 91 requires exactly five white Level 1 enhancement cards. This damn system planned it out, didn't it?"
Thinking this, Lan Minghua curled his lips in annoyance—but lacking evidence, he let it go.
"System, use five white Level 1 Soul Power Enhancement Cards to raise Jianglong and Fuhu to level 91. Use the purple card to raise Wu Song to level 97."
[Ding! Use successful!]
Jianglong and Fuhu, who were working on building the Tianlong Gang headquarters, suddenly felt their soul power surge.
Eight spirit rings appeared under their feet: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black. Then, a red ninth ring materialized from thin air.
In a flash, the two officially became Titled Douluo with 100,000-year spirit rings.
At the same time, Wu Song—who was deep in the Star Dou Forest searching for tiger-type soul beasts—also noticed the change in his soul power.
"My soul power increased? As expected, Master's methods are truly unfathomable!"
Level 97 is significantly stronger than level 96—by a full 20%!
Originally planning to proceed cautiously, Wu Song now threw all caution to the wind.
He began to rampage through the forest, actively seeking tiger-type soul beasts without holding back.
After using up the enhancement cards, Lan Minghua still felt a bit regretful.
If these cards weren't restricted to characters from the pool, they'd be far more valuable.
After all, many people on the continent are stuck at bottlenecks like level 79 or 89. A single card could push them past that limit and make them recruitable.
Lan Minghua shook his head and opened his personal template for the first time in a while.
[Host: Lan Minghua]
[Template: Rotten Life Hua]
[Roleplay Progress: 41%]
[Overall Strength: Soul Douluo]
[Peak Experience Cards Remaining: 2]
"Already at 41%? Looks like the roleplay progress is going pretty smoothly."
After Browse for a while and confirming there was nothing else of interest, he exited the screen.
"By now, Oscar should be close to breaking through to level 30."
"In the original, his third spirit ring came from a thousand-year Cockatrice-Tail Serpent. The skill gave him temporary flight—pretty decent for a third ability."
Flying spirit skills might even be rarer than flying martial spirits.
So Lan Minghua decided to have Zhao Wuji accompany Oscar to the Star Dou Forest to obtain his third ring.
As for Oscar's fourth ring, Lan Minghua already had a great candidate in mind: The Mirror Shadow Beast—his sixth spirit ability in the original.
As a fourth ring, it would give Oscar a temporary but substantial power boost.
Having made up his mind, Lan Minghua wrote two letters—one for Zhao Wuji, and one for Oscar—and sent them off.
As for why he didn't return in person? He had his reasons.
After all, if he scared off a certain 100,000-year spirit beast that had taken human form, that would be a huge loss.
After handling everything, Lan Minghua strolled through Dugu Bo's courtyard, preparing to leave.
"Dugu Bo, I'm heading out."
As soon as he heard the voice, Dugu Bo appeared before Lan Minghua almost instantly.
He pleaded, "Master, why don't you stay for a couple more days?"
Lan Minghua gave him an amused glance—he knew exactly what Dugu Bo was thinking.
He just wanted Lan Minghua to accept Dugu Yan as a disciple too, hoping to gain more benefits.
But if he really took Dugu Yan in… would she call him senior brother, or grandfather?
"No need. I know what you're thinking. If fate allows it, I'll accept her as my disciple without your help."
"Well, I'm off. Go back to your business. I'll contact you if anything comes up."
Without giving Dugu Bo a chance to argue, Lan Minghua soared into the sky and vanished within seconds.
Dugu Bo sighed. "Sigh… I've gotten greedy."
Still, now that he was Lan Minghua's disciple, there would be many opportunities to meet again in the future.
And who's to say Dugu Yan won't become his disciple someday?
The next day, the two letters quickly arrived at Shrek Academy.
Zhao Wuji and Oscar both received Lan Minghua's messages.
In the infirmary, thanks to Zhu Zhuqing's careful nursing, Oscar had mostly recovered.
Upon reading Lan Minghua's letter, he jumped up like a monkey.
"Why didn't Master come back? I was planning to surprise him!"
(End of Chapter)