Chapter 2: First Soul Ring, the Auctioned Sausage
Oscar's first soul skill was still positioned as a recovery type. In the original novel, the effect of the first soul skill was quite good—after consuming the sausage, one would recover stamina, soul power, and heal injuries within a certain period.
This was already quite powerful. While the recovery effect might not match that of a specialized auxiliary-type Soul Master, it was still quite good overall. Moreover, it provided comprehensive recovery, making it an exceptionally powerful first soul skill.
Furthermore, as Oscar's strength improved, the recovery effect of this skill would also increase, making it a skill that could indirectly become stronger and upgrade.
After entering Star Dou Great Forest, Oscar proposed his idea. Zhao Wuji agreed after hearing it, as they had already discussed Oscar's choice of soul skills when they came.
With the goal clear, Zhao Wuji led Oscar toward a location where recovery-type soul beasts were likely to appear. Zhao Wuji was quite familiar with Star Dou Great Forest, as he came here every time he obtained a soul ring.
It had to be said, Oscar's luck was quite good. Zhao Wuji discovered a 430-year-old Blood Silkworm on a 200-year-old emerald green fir tree.
This soul beast was an extremely good match for Oscar, and the duration was just right. Zhao Wuji immediately captured the Blood Silkworm and threw it in front of Oscar.
This Blood Silkworm was 430 years old but was less than thirty centimeters long, making it a very small soul beast.
Looking at the Blood Silkworm in front of him, Oscar took out a dagger from his clothes and ended its life without hesitation. This was survival of the fittest; Oscar had no choice.
As a yellow soul ring lit up, Oscar couldn't help but feel excited again. Soon, he would be a Soul Master—a kind of power he had never experienced before.
Sitting cross-legged with Zhao Wuji guiding him nearby, Oscar's process of absorbing the soul ring went smoothly. Three hours later, a bright yellow soul ring was already floating around Oscar's body.
Oscar let out a long breath, stood up, and clenched his fists, which were now filled with strength. He thought to himself, 'So this is what it means to be a Soul Master.'
"~" Oscar didn't restrain his soul power, and a fluctuation of twelve levels of soul power spread toward Zhao Wuji, who looked at Oscar with delight.
"Little Oscar, your soul power has already reached level twelve. You truly are a genius with innate full soul power!" Zhao Wuji exclaimed.
"It's all thanks to Teacher Zhao finding me a suitable soul ring. My soul skill is also very powerful." Oscar replied with a smile.
In fact, if Oscar had had time to train his body when he awakened his martial soul after transmigrating, the duration of his first soul ring might have been even higher.
But even so, Oscar was very satisfied, as he didn't have much experience with absorbing a soul ring for the first time, and there was no need to take risks.
As for absorbing a soul ring of a higher rank, it shouldn't be a major problem as long as he worked hard in the future.
"Little Oscar, tell me about your soul skill?" Zhao Wuji nodded and asked.
"First Soul Skill: Super Recovery Sausage!" Oscar directly activated his soul power, and the yellow soul ring flashed as a sausage appeared in his hand.
"Teacher Zhao, my first soul skill is called Super Recovery Sausage. Its effect is that after consuming the sausage, soul power, stamina, mental energy, and injuries will continuously recover for a period of time." Oscar handed the sausage in his hand to Zhao Wuji and explained, "The Blood Silkworm's talent is very strong, so my soul skill's effect is also very powerful."
Zhao Wuji consumed Oscar's Super Recovery Sausage and then carefully felt its effects. A delighted smile soon appeared on his face as he excitedly said, "Little Oscar, you are a true genius!"
"But with my current soul power, I can only make about ten of them at most." Oscar added.
"Ten?" Zhao Wuji was surprised.
"Are you still not satisfied? Ten whole Super Recovery Sausages—if the team uses them together, it's a lifesaver!" Zhao Wuji said indignantly.
After obtaining the soul ring he desired, happily followed Zhao Wuji back to the academy. A week later, Oscar and Zhao Wuji returned to the academy.
However, what surprised Oscar was that his soul incantation was no longer as vulgar as in the original novel. This was something he was happy about, as Oscar was also someone who cared about his image.
Back at the academy, Oscar began his brutal training. In the week after returning, he tried meditating and cultivating, then compared his progress with Zhao Wuji's at the same level, finding that food-type Soul Masters had a harder time cultivating than other Soul Masters at the same level.
In terms of cultivation speed, Oscar was lagging behind by one-third, and this one-third required Oscar to put in much more effort.
After returning to the academy, Oscar first had a serious discussion with Teacher Shao Xin, as he was a food-type Soul Master and a genius at that.
Shao Xin was forty years old this year and had reached level 67 in soul power—an achievement that many could not attain, especially for a food-type Soul Master.
In the cultivation of food-type martial souls, Shao Xin had much experience to share, which Oscar found very beneficial, as others' experiences were worth learning from.
As a teacher, Shao Xin did not hold back his knowledge at all, explaining the characteristics and cultivation methods of food-type Soul Masters to Oscar without reservation.
However, Oscar was not cultivating himself purely as a food-type Soul Master. He understood that if he wanted to make a name for himself, simply assisting others was not enough.
In the days that followed, he attended theory classes in the morning. Although he was familiar with the original novel, he had not systematically studied the knowledge of this world, so now was the time to catch up.
In the afternoons, Oscar trained on his own. And since there was only Li Yusong, an attack-type weapon martial Soul Master, at the academy, Oscar also got an iron rod to practice staff techniques with him.
Usually, his main focus was on training his body and cultivating soul power, with staff techniques being secondary. However, Oscar didn't have any soul tools, so he couldn't store and retrieve things.
Although Oscar was now a Soul Master, he had originally planned to register as one, as that would earn him one gold soul coin per month. But Flender wouldn't allow it.
An auxiliary-type Soul Master with innate full soul power was too powerful, and Flender had his own selfish motives, so he didn't let Oscar register—at least not until he was ten years old.
Oscar didn't mind, as this could be considered a form of protection for him. If he were taken away by the Spirit Hall now, who knew what his future would be like.
It wasn't that he had to stay to follow Tang San; it was because besides his foresight advantage, he currently had no power to support him.
Therefore, to ensure that the future situation and plot were not affected, Oscar temporarily planned to follow the development of the original novel step by step.
If he had the good fortune to encounter some opportunities in the future, he could make plans then. After all, even if things developed according to the original plot, he would at least have a divine position to fall back on in the future.
Although he didn't have the income from registering as a Soul Master, Oscar came up with a way to make money: selling his sausages, but not ordinary sausages like in the original novel.
Instead, he would auction them at the auction house. His first soul skill, Super Recovery Sausage, currently had a storage time of seven days, which was quite long compared to other food-type Soul Masters, and its effects were better than most potions, so many low-level Soul Masters still needed them.
Moreover, this duration was only temporary. In the future, as Oscar's strength improved, the sausages' storage time would also be longer.
So Oscar made ten sausages every day for Flender to auction. However, Oscar's sausages were still a niche benefit and not very useful for high-level Soul Masters.
Even so, Oscar's sausages could still bring him considerable income each month.
Although ten sausages brought him gold soul coins, Flender, that cunning merchant, didn't exploit Oscar but still charged ten gold soul coins each month as transportation fees. Oscar had no objections to this, but he would deduct his tuition from it in the future and not pay separately.
However, Flender still suggested that Oscar not auction his sausages casually, as this was a trump card for a Soul Master. If everyone knew about it, it wouldn't be a trump card anymore.
But Oscar didn't mind, as these were just recovery sausages. Even if they were discovered, it didn't matter. As long as it wasn't an extremely powerful soul skill, Oscar planned to make a living by auctioning sausages in the future.
After all, this way he wouldn't expose himself. Martial souls were bizarre and varied, so no one would suspect that such a powerful sausage came from a six-year-old child.
Unless Oscar foolishly exposed himself, but Oscar wasn't stupid. Every time the sausages were auctioned, it was done by Flender; Oscar was only behind the scenes.
It had to be said, with Oscar's current soul power level, making ten Super Recovery Sausages every day to auction meant three hundred sausages a month. With such a terrifying quantity, Oscar gradually became wealthy.
Shao Xin was also inspired by Oscar and began auctioning his auxiliary and recovery-type soul skill beans. Shao Xin was a high-ranking Soul Emperor, and even his soul skills had enormous effects even for a Soul Emperor powerhouse. The shortest storage time could reach over a month, and soul skill beans from ten-thousand-year soul rings could be stored for a full three months.
With this income, the originally deficit-ridden Shrek Academy suddenly had a huge source of revenue, which made Flender extremely excited.
This also made Oscar a bit tongue-tied. For Soul Masters, making money should be particularly easy, and Oscar couldn't understand why Shrek Academy in the original novel was so poor.
Perhaps Shao Xin hadn't thought of auctioning his beans?
But Oscar didn't care about these things anymore. Now he was Oscar, and he couldn't possibly be as foolish and mediocre as in the original novel. He would do his best to improve his strength and enjoy life.
As for worrying about Shao Xin's soul skills being exposed, that was not a concern. The soul skill beans Shao Xin was auctioning now were common recovery and treatment types, so even if they were discovered by outsiders, it didn't matter.
He hadn't used any of his powerful soul skills.
However, because the auction house in Soto City suddenly had an item that was beneficial even to a Soul Emperor powerhouse, it caused quite a stir. Beans that could be useful to a Soul Emperor powerhouse meant that the producer's strength was at least that of a Soul Emperor.
Fortunately, Shao Xin had no enemies, so no one was plotting against him.
In short, ever since Oscar got things started, Shrek Academy began to prosper.