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On the other side, so as not to appear too abnormal, Shi Quan still returned to the hotel as usual when dusk fell.
Since he knew Tang Hao had returned, Shi Quan planned to stay at the hotel for another two days before returning to the Academy.
Hotel room.
Shi Quan was playing with the white rhombic crystal in his hand. This rhombic crystal was the strengthened crystal created by the Blue Silver King.
According to the Blue Silver King, by continuously injecting energy while maintaining its strength unaffected, it could produce two such strengthened crystals with the strengthening modifier every day.
If he injected with full power, he could produce more such strengthened crystals. However, he would need time to recover his spirit power, which would create a window period where he couldn't guarantee Shi Quan's safety.
Shi Quan roughly sensed the strengthened crystal in his hand. This strengthened crystal was a basic strengthened crystal, containing pure energy, and could only increase the age of a Spirit Bone.
According to Shi Quan's estimation, this strengthened crystal could increase the age by about two to three hundred years.
Two pieces a day would be four to six hundred years.
Calculated this way, a month would be twelve thousand to eighteen thousand years.
But this was clearly impossible. According to the game's usual mechanics, this basic strengthened crystal should not be able to accumulate indefinitely.
To make a Spirit Bone evolve, higher-grade strengthened crystals would be needed. Strengthened crystals made purely with spirit power had limited effects.
After two days of attempts, this basic strengthened crystal was ineffective for the hundred-thousand-year-level Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone, but it was effective for the ten-thousand-year-level Illusion Wisdom Left Arm Bone, capable of enhancing the Spirit Bone's age to a certain extent.
In addition to the strengthened crystal made by the Blue Silver King injecting spirit power, Shi Quan also made another special strengthened crystal in these two days using an Immortal Herb named Illusion Heart Poppy, which he used to strengthen the Illusion Wisdom Left Arm Bone.
The aura of the Illusion Wisdom Left Arm Bone had also increased by at least 30% compared to before.
Unbeknownst to them, one-third of the tournament's preliminaries had already passed.
The Shrek Team, where Tang San was, had not encountered any particularly strong Spirit Master Academies so far. They hadn't met any of the Five Elements Academies yet and maintained a continuous winning streak.
In the Heaven Dou Empire division, for the five qualification spots, Shrek Academy's biggest opponents were the Five Elements Academies. To advance to the knockout stage, they had to defeat any one of the Five Elements Academies and maintain a perfect winning record against other academies.
This was also Yu Xiaogang's strategy because they currently maintained a perfect winning record, and as of now, one-third of the preliminaries had already passed. Yu Xiaogang and the others had already grasped a general understanding of the strength of all the academy teams.
Among the Five Great Elements Academies, except for Elephant Armored Academy which still maintained an extreme-flow team composition, the other four great Elements Academies had already adopted a balanced-flow approach to implement the extreme-flow, and their combat power had changed significantly compared to previous years.
In the current battles, Elephant Armored Academy had also successively lost to the other two great Elements Academies.
Therefore, the goal Yu Xiaogang set for everyone was for Elephant Armored Academy to go all out and achieve victory. As for the other Elements Academies later, they should try to minimize consumption, or even give up if necessary.
After all, this was just the preliminaries. As long as they could ensure qualification, it was enough. Especially in their current situation, where they might consecutively encounter teams from the Five Great Elements Academies within a few days, they needed to be even more thoroughly prepared.
While Tang San and the others were busily discussing strategies for the preliminaries, Shi Quan had already returned to the Academy.
The preliminaries held little interest for Shi Quan; he had already obtained the Spirit Bones anyway.
The days ahead would be dedicated to Cultivating and preparing for the upcoming finals.
Shi Quan briefly calculated: if he led the Heaven Dou Battle Team to snatch the Shrek Team's first place in the tournament and won three Spirit Bone rewards, the System would definitely trigger a Plunder Treasure Box first.
Then there would also be a Destiny Treasure Box. Upon reaching Spirit City, he would meet Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue, both of whom would trigger a Destiny Treasure Box. As the 'strongest villain' in the novel, Bibi Dong would certainly also trigger a Destiny Treasure Box.
And finally, the Prestige Treasure Box. With the title of champion of the All-Continent Advanced Spirit Master Elite Academy Tournament spreading, wouldn't that Prestige Treasure Box be easily within reach?
Shi Quan's original purpose for deciding to participate in the tournament was precisely for this Prestige Treasure Box.
He hadn't realized it until he calculated, and the calculation was startling.
Shi Quan also became exceptionally expectant for the upcoming finals.
His gaze returned to the Heaven Dou Great Spirit Arena.
On the central Great Martial Spirit Arena stage, a faint white cold mist enveloped the arena, and snowflakes drifted, revealing the figures of Tang San and the others.
"Preliminaries Round 17: Heaven Dou Royal Academy Shrek Team versus Skywater Academy Skywater Battle Team! Skywater Battle Team wins!"
As the host's words fell, Flender and the others rushed onto the stage to rescue them, breaking through the ice and carrying the frozen, purple-faced individuals off the stage.
In the hotel where they rested, everyone slowly woke up. For the first time facing one of the Five Elements Academies, Skywater Academy, Shrek's match ended in defeat.
"Those girls from Skywater Academy were still kind; their attacks weren't heavy. Xiao San and the others only suffered from simple cold qi entering their bodies. The injuries aren't serious. After a good day's rest, they should be fine by the second day," Flender said with a long sigh of relief after checking everyone's bodies.
The continuous victories had made everyone high-spirited, so the sudden defeat was somewhat of a blow to them.
Everyone who woke up fell silent. Although Yu Xiaogang had said before the match that they could give up this game, they only had one goal when they stepped onto the stage: to win. Yet, the opponent's Spirit Fusion Skill directly crushed them.
"Brother, you're awake?" Xiao Wu asked, her eyes red, looking at the awakened Tang San.
Tang San only felt a tingling numbness in his hands and feet. He smiled and nodded at Xiao Wu, reassuring her, "I'm fine."
In his heart, he couldn't help but feel a pang of distress, "What a pity. If my energy devouring ability were stronger, and my physical quality were stronger, I could have utterly defeated the opponent's Ice Phoenix in one go. That way, the team wouldn't have lost, I wouldn't have been injured, and Xiao Wu wouldn't have to worry. It seems it's time to acquire my fourth spirit ring."
"This opponent's Spirit Fusion Skill can serve as a perfect excuse."
"Brother, wait a moment." Xiao Wu quickly got up and went outside. "Little Ao, Xiao San is awake. Quickly bring some more recovery Sausages."
"Alright!" Oscar immediately summoned his Martial Spirit to make Sausages.
In the battle against the Skywater Battle Team, Tang San had the most severe injuries because he helped them share the attack. Even his Soul Devouring Eight Spider Lances were broken again. So, upon hearing that Tang San had woken up, Oscar immediately brought the Sausages over.
As the Sausages went down, a warmth spread through his body, and his stiff, numb limbs quickly regained sensation.
"Xiao San, feeling better?" Yu Xiaogang also walked in from outside at this moment.
Tang San looked up with an excited expression. "Teacher, it's not a big problem, and there's good news."
"Good news?" Yu Xiaogang looked curious. "What good news?"
Everyone else also gathered closer.
"I broke through to fortieth rank."
As Tang San's words fell, everyone was immediately startled, and Yu Xiaogang also showed surprise.
Tang San had only broken through to thirty-ninth rank less than two months ago, and now he had broken through again?
Tang San immediately explained, "It should be related to the Spirit Fusion Skill of Shui Bing'er and the other person. Teacher, you know that my Blue Silver Grass Martial Spirit has the ability to devour, plus the devouring of the Soul Devouring Eight Spider Lances. During today's battle, to break their Spirit Fusion Skill, I devoured a large amount of energy. This energy greatly impacted and expanded my Meridians, which allowed my spirit power to break through to fortieth rank in one go."
"Does that mean eating too much directly stretched your stomach?" Ma Hongjun couldn't help but click his tongue.
"Teacher, just saying, can't we stretch our Meridians a bit, expand them?" Ma Hongjun looked at Flender with a sly grin.
Flender couldn't help but roll his eyes at Ma Hongjun. "Can your small physique handle that?"
"The energy of a Spirit Ancestor-level Spirit Fusion Skill, that much energy, even a Spirit King would struggle to endure."
"That much energy isn't something just anyone can handle. One wrong move, and you could explode."
"Moreover, stretching like that indiscriminately damages one's Foundation. For ordinary people, this kind of operation is like pulling up seedlings to help them grow, which will harm their Foundation."
"Tang San's body has been modified by an external Spirit Bone, plus his twin spirits, so his physical quality far surpasses ordinary people, which is why he had such an opportunity."
"Ah..." Ma Hongjun sighed upon hearing this.
Yu Xiaogang said calmly, "Spirit Fusion Skill is not impossible to replicate. I've been researching a special Spirit Ability recently, called the Seven-in-One Fusion Technique. It's about fusing the spirit power of seven people into one and injecting it into one person's body to unleash powerful abilities comparable to a Spirit Fusion Skill. Originally, I was worried about not being able to withstand the impact of the spirit power, but from Xiao San's situation, the Seven-in-One Fusion Technique is not impossible."
"What is that Seven-in-One Fusion Technique?" Everyone looked at Yu Xiaogang in unison.
"You will know when the time comes." Yu Xiaogang looked at Tang San. "Xiao San, your external Spirit Bone broke again. How long will it take to recover this time?"
"Because I absorbed a lot of energy during the battle, this energy can help my Eight Spider Lances recover quickly. Plus, Little Ao and the others' recovery and healing, it should be almost fully recovered overnight."
Yu Xiaogang nodded, then looked at Flender. "In that case, Flender, call Zhao Wuji. Tomorrow, we will take Xiao San to acquire his spirit ring. Tomorrow's opponent is not strong. After the match, we can directly take a carriage to Sunset Forest. With your flying ability, we can greatly shorten the time spent searching for Spirit Beasts."
"No problem." Flender nodded.
"Qin Ming, I can't say for sure how long it will take for Xiao San to acquire his spirit ring. The upcoming matches will be presided over by you."
"For the matches, with Tianheng and Mubai as the core, there shouldn't be much of a problem."
"Good." Qin Ming nodded in agreement.