Fortunately, he was a support-type Soul Master. If he were a control-type or power-attack-type Soul Master, he wouldn't even have the 39% attack boost from the weapon blessing. Now, what lay before Wang Teng was the Lord's Origin he would acquire in the future.
Should he prioritize adding points to Natya's Soul Rings, or continue opening the Magic Box? If he added points to Natya's Soul Rings first, another problem arose.
Natya currently didn't possess a single Soul Bone, making it impossible for her to sustain nine 100,000-year Soul Rings. Even with her current seven black 10,000-year Soul Rings and two 100,000-year Soul Rings, Natya was already pushing her body to its limit.
Therefore, to upgrade Natya's seventh Soul Ring to 100,000 years, she would need a Soul Bone to provide a boost to her physical attributes.
The age of the Soul Bone wasn't a problem; with Lord's Origin, even a 1,000-year Soul Bone could be upgraded to 100,000 years in the future. The only issue was the significant consumption of Lord's Origin.
After some thought, Wang Teng decided to put that aside for now and open the magic box first. Besides, if the magic box contained equipment used by Natya, the resulting boost to combat power would be greater than simply adding points to his spirit rings.
Another possibility was that if he opened another character card similar to Natya, summoning him sooner would mean more time for cultivation. However, finding spirit bones needed to be prioritized.
After all, it wasn't just Natya who needed spirit bones; besides Wang Teng himself, who had the Radiant Spirit Bone Set in the system shop and didn't need it, his family members Wang Chengkun, Li Chan, and Wang Chong also lacked spirit bones.
Moreover, they needed high-level spirit bones, since they weren't subordinates summoned by Wang Teng, unlike Natya, and Wang Teng couldn't use his Lord's Origin to add points to their spirit rings and spirit bones.
However, spirit bones were high-level items; most spirit masters rarely even had them, let alone possessed them. Furthermore, in the Douluo Continent, the most common spirit bones were those under 50,000 years old, or even just 1,000 years old.
Although the drop rate of soul bones increases significantly with the age of the soul beast, countless more low-level soul beasts die at the hands of soul masters than high-level ones. This results in most soul bones appearing in the human world being relatively young.
In Wang Teng's eyes, soul bones under 50,000 years old are beneath his notice; they must be at least over 50,000 years old. Otherwise, if a soul master reaches the later Title Douluo realm, low-level soul bones would be useless.
Not only would they be largely ineffective, but they would also occupy a valuable soul bone slot. It would be quite a headache if he were to acquire a precious 100,000-year-old soul bone in the future, while his own family members were full of low-level soul bones.
However, equipping Natya with low-level soul bones is not a problem. After all, the income of this seemingly ordinary little shop is quite high, and even if soul bones are expensive, they can still be purchased if one is willing to invest.
However, this will consume a significant amount of Lord's Essence. Assuming a Soul Master has six normal Soul Bone slots, equipping Natya with a full set of 100,000-year Soul Bones would require hundreds of thousands of Lord Origin Essence.
Thinking about this gave Wang Teng a headache. Hundreds of thousands of Lord Origin Essence—how many good things could he get from the Magic Box with that?
However, since Natya was his subordinate, Wang Teng couldn't be stingy. From now on, all six Soul Bones and nine Soul Rings would have to be at least 100,000 years old.
As for external Soul Bones, Natya was probably out of luck. After all, obtaining an external Soul Bone required absorbing the Soul Rings of the same Soul Beast.
But what if he could get an external Soul Bone from the Magic Box? Perhaps that would be possible? He just didn't know if he'd have that opportunity in the future.
"Hmm? I've got it!"
Instantly, Wang Teng thought of where to get Soul Bones. Where do Soul Bones come from? Naturally, they drop from Soul Beasts. If you were to ask which place has the most Soul Beasts, most Soul Masters would probably say the Star Dou Great Forest.
Actually, that's not the case. The place with the most spirit beasts is naturally the ocean. The ocean is vast, much larger than the continent. Although Wang Teng didn't know the exact size of the ocean, as there was no clear map, it was at least larger than the continent.
On the Douluo Continent, it wasn't just spirit beasts that inhabited the land; there were also human territories including two great empires and numerous kingdoms, and the remaining area was the spirit beasts' habitat.
Furthermore, due to the large number of land-based spirit masters on the continent, countless land-based spirit beasts were hunted down. In contrast, sea-based spirit masters were far fewer in number, only a fraction of the land-based spirit masters.
Even when sea-based spirit masters went to hunt spirit beasts, they mostly stayed in coastal areas; their footprints were rarely seen in the depths of the ocean. This wasn't because land-based spirit masters didn't want to hunt spirit beasts in the ocean, but because most sea-based spirit beasts were water-attribute, and their spirit rings didn't match their martial souls.
Moreover, sea-based spirit beasts had a geographical advantage in the ocean, and their sheer numbers meant that very few spirit masters would bother with hunting them for spirit rings.
If an ordinary Title Douluo could defeat a 90,000-year-old land-based spirit beast, then a sea-based spirit beast would be a different story. A 90,000-year-old one would likely be no match, and even a weaker one, perhaps even an 80,000-year-old, might be difficult to handle.
After all, if a sea-based spirit beast couldn't defeat a title douluo, it could simply retreat into the ocean, leaving the title douluo helpless. Underwater, unless one possesses a water-based spirit, a spirit master's strength is severely limited. A title douluo might even perish at the hands of an 80,000-year-old sea-based spirit beast. Therefore, land-based spirit masters generally don't hunt spirit beasts at sea.
Wang Teng, however, was worried about leaving Natya alone; he needed a teammate to look after her. What if she was unlucky, or incredibly lucky, and encountered a 100,000-year-old sea-based spirit beast? While Natya was quite strong, she was absolutely no match for a 100,000-year-old sea-based spirit beast in the ocean. Although Title Douluo can fly and run away if they can't win, what if they encounter a control-type or mental-type sea spirit beast?
Wouldn't that be the end of them?
Therefore, Wang Teng thought that the spirit bone issue couldn't be rushed. If he could find Natya a teammate, then this plan could proceed.
In Wang Teng's eyes, spirit beasts were similar to wild animals in his previous life. As long as he was quick enough and the cut was clean enough to prevent them from feeling much pain, it would be fine.
Besides, there were no wildlife protection laws on the Douluo Continent, so killing spirit beasts naturally didn't cause him much psychological pressure. Anyway, these spirit beasts couldn't escape their fate of being killed; they would die sooner or later.