Chapter 1 The Beginning
"First Soul Skill, Pierce!"
Beside the small wooden house, Wang Zhong shouted in a low voice. One yellow, one purple, and one black soul rings rose from his feet. Just looking at the soul ring configuration alone was enough to give one an extremely terrifying impact.
The giant tree martial spirit materialized from the void, standing silently behind him, exuding a terrifying oppressive aura.
The entire continent had never seen a monster whose second soul ring was thousand-year and third soul ring was ten-thousand-year.
Activating his first soul skill, a straight spike appeared abruptly in Wang Zhong's hand. It still had the same wooden texture as before, with a tip emitting a sharp chill. Visually, there were no obvious changes.
Gripping both ends of the spike, Wang Zhong began to exert force, continuously increasing the pressure. As the force grew, the spike bent more and more severely, until with a "bang," it finally broke under the strain.
"Using the same soul power as before to create the spike, its hardness has increased by at least ten times. With this spike in my hand, I could completely use it as a weapon martial spirit."
"Moreover... it can also change."
As he spoke, Wang Zhong dropped the spike end from his left hand. Before it hit the ground, it dissolved into soul power specks. Holding the other half in his right hand, he channeled soul power and reactivated his first soul skill.
The spike instantly returned to its original state. This time, when Wang Zhong gripped both ends and applied force as before, an astonishing scene unfolded.
Even when the spike was folded in half, it did not break. After Wang Zhong released his grip, it instantly snapped back into place with a hum.
"The spike generated by soul power can now be strengthened in two directions: one is hardness, and the other is toughness, and it's an extraordinary toughness."
Looking at a large tree in the distance, Wang Zhong's second soul ring began to spin.
"Second Soul Skill, Thousand Transformations · Mimicry, Whip!"
The spike in his hand suddenly changed shape, stretching and lengthening until it transformed into a wooden whip.
He swung it with a whoosh, lashing it at the distant tree. The whip tightly wrapped around it. He pulled with force, making the entire whip taut. The more force he applied, the more the tree's roots groaned under the strain, and a large chunk of earth was uprooted. Yet, the wooden whip in his hand showed no sign of breaking.
When he loosened his grip, the tree returned to its original position. The ground trembled.
"Even if I'm classified as a control system now, it seems perfectly fine! With the inherent toughness of the tree martial spirit, even for someone like Rou Yuzhu, who is a control system user, her purple bamboo vine is far inferior to mine!"
"Wait! Am I a control system or an assault system?"
Thinking of Rou Yuzhu's control system, Wang Zhong suddenly remembered this question. He had snapped back to reality.
Ying Yanyang had not yet decided whether Wang Zhong should be an assault or control system.
The reason for this was Wang Zhong's extremely peculiar combat style. Battles between soul masters always revolved around soul skills, with martial spirits playing a supporting role.
But what was Wang Zhong's combat style so far? Primarily hand-to-hand combat, with soul skills as a secondary option! For soul masters, their pride and joy, soul skills, were practically dispensable for Wang Zhong. In such a situation, Ying Yanyang could not rashly decide Wang Zhong's developmental path based on experience alone and planned to observe further.
However, Wang Zhong's progress was truly astonishing. In a year and a half, he had reached the level of Soul Elder. And among these three soul rings, only the first soul ring was acquired according to Ying Yanyang's requirements.
The other two were completely added by Wang Zhong out of boldness and necessity to resolve current predicaments, even Ying Yanyang only realized it in hindsight.
Under these two circumstances, how could Ying Yanyang possibly have the time to determine Wang Zhong's developmental path? If one path was set, the next soul ring acquired would completely alter the plan, requiring a complete reevaluation.
"Forget it, I'll ask later if I have time!"
Wang Zhong was carefree and felt that such matters were inconsequential. Whether assault or control system, as long as he was growing stronger, even being an auxiliary system would be fine.
"The first two soul skills have been tested. Next is the third soul skill."
"Let's see if this ten-thousand-year Ghost Tiger King can bring me a little surprise."
He subconsciously licked his lips, his eyes burning with intensity. The black ten-thousand-year soul ring beneath his feet began to spin slowly. Immense soul power surged within his body, and the tree martial spirit behind him swayed continuously.
Flexible, snake-like roots burst from the ground, coiling tightly in front of Wang Zhong, writhing and emitting drum-like beats that sounded like a heartbeat. Something seemed to be incubating within.
After ten breaths, the excess roots detached, revealing a wooden figure almost identical to Wang Zhong. Its height, weight, and appearance were exactly the same, even the clothes were identical. Unlike the wooden texture of the first two soul skills, this wooden figure completely compensated for that deficiency!
Judging solely by its appearance, no one could distinguish the wooden clone from Wang Zhong himself.
The moment the wooden clone appeared, Wang Zhong suddenly felt a change in his vision. He could see an image of his own back.
"Vision, no, are the five senses shared!"
Wang Zhong experienced it carefully, then circled the wooden clone, examining it from all angles. He found no differences. It was almost like a twin. He said with excitement.
"It's so similar, so incredibly similar."
"Not only are the five senses shared, but its appearance is also indistinguishable."
"Putting aside everything else, just based on the appearance of this wooden clone, I can accomplish things far beyond their comprehension."
Yes, with two identical existences, the possibilities were endless: deception, confusion, misdirection, disguise, even escape, all of which Wang Zhong could achieve flawlessly.
"But, what about its strength!"
His brow furrowed, Wang Zhong looked at the wooden clone, which was identical to him, and spoke with a more serious tone.
Even though the appearance was similar, if the strength was too weak, the flaws would be too obvious.
"And, how do I make this thing move?"
Yes, this was the most serious problem facing Wang Zhong. Although the soul skill had simulated an identical wooden clone for him, it was ultimately a simulated entity. To make it move, it would still rely on Wang Zhong himself.
"Making this fellow move is not as simple as activating Wood Spike or Thousand Transformations."
Wang Zhong sat on the ground, muttering to himself. The difficulty of making a person move versus a person moving an object was not ordinary.
"Do I need to inject mental power?"
With this conjecture, Wang Zhong tried it and succeeded in injecting it. However, after the mental power entered, he saw only dense wooden textures, making control impossible.
"Or do I need to evenly attach mental power to the wooden clone and then control it through that?"
He tried this idea again, but it was also useless.
After pondering for a long time, Wang Zhong was at a loss. "Alas, I should have observed more closely back then, to see how the Ghost Tiger controlled its clones. Your Eminence the Pope acted too quickly and decisively; there was no time."
Wang Zhong rested his chin on his hand, staring at the wooden clone, and said almost despairingly, "It's impossible that if I say 'extend your hand,' it will actually extend its hand, right!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the wooden clone's hand extended and was offered to him.
Wang Zhong: "..."