"One thousand one hundred and forty-one."
"One thousand one hundred and forty-two."
"One thousand one hundred and forty-three."
"One thousand one hundred..."
In a corner of the campus, hanging from a gnarled old tree, Wang Zhong, with one arm suspended, was doing pull-ups, one after another.
His arms trembled with each upward pull, sweat streaming down his face, limbs, and torso, soaking his entire body.
Gritting his teeth, he pulled up halfway on the one thousand one hundred and forty-fourth rep. Wang Zhong's arms screamed in protest, waves of numbness and pain shooting through his muscles.
"Reaching my limit!"
Wang Zhong clenched his jaw, forcing his arms to exert more strength, but this last half felt like an insurmountable chasm; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull himself up.
His arms suddenly gave way, and Wang Zhong let himself hang from the tree, his sweat-drenched face etched with distress.
"Only a little over a thousand, and my body is already at its limit. With the system's penalties and a monthly increase of a hundred, I need to do at least fourteen hundred a day this month to pass without being electrocuted."
"Is this training method meant for humans at all!"
"And next month it's fifteen hundred, and then sixteen hundred the month after, and then the ever-increasing future, ten years from now it'll be twelve thousand a day!"
"How can anyone possibly do this!"
Wang Zhong hung steadily from the tree, groaning. He didn't dare relax his arms at all; if he fell, all his hard work for the day would be in vain, and he'd have to start over. Even if he took a break, he couldn't rest for more than ten breaths – this was a rule he'd learned through countless electrocutions.
"You're Wang Zhong, the guy with innate full soul power."
A tall, thin youth, wearing the same first-year school uniform as Wang Zhong, crossed his arms. Though he looked up at Wang Zhong, the arrogance and disdain in his eyes gave him an air of condescension.
Wang Zhong rolled his eyes, "Here we go again. Do these people have nothing better to do all day!"
"How many is this now?"
Glancing at the other boy out of the corner of his eye, Wang Zhong nonchalantly said, "It's me, so what! It's not me, so what!"
The tall, thin youth sneered, "Wang Zhong, if you're smart, you'll voluntarily give up your spot in Class A of the first year."
"Otherwise, heh heh, be careful not to bring trouble upon yourself!"
Wang Zhong, hands still hanging from the branch, glanced sideways at the other boy and said playfully, "So, you're saying you want to challenge me!"
"Yes, so what! No, so what!"
The tall, thin youth lowered his hands, his face filled with arrogance, and threw Wang Zhong's own words back at him.
"Are you sure?"
Wang Zhong's question, laced with a clear hint of scorn, caused the tall, thin youth's expression to change abruptly. He exclaimed,
"You've obtained your first soul ring!"
Wang Zhong burst into laughter, scoffing, "What a surprise. As someone with innate full soul power, why wouldn't I get a soul ring? What else was I supposed to do?"
"Wait for you, idiot!"
"I'll ask you again, are you challenging me!"
The tall, thin youth's face flushed, then turned pale. Facing Wang Zhong's scolding, he didn't dare reply.
A one-ring soul master was worlds apart from a soul apprentice like himself, still hovering around level seven. Their combat power was on entirely different levels.
"What's so special about a ten-year soul ring! You're just a step ahead of me. Battles between soul masters still depend on their martial souls."
The tall, thin youth gritted his teeth fiercely and said with resolve.
The longer a soul beast lived, the more powerful it became, and the more difficult it was for a soul master to defeat it.
The tall, thin youth was gambling. He bet that Wang Zhong didn't have the strength to hunt a hundred-year-old soul beast and had simply found a ten-year-old one somewhere to break through his bottleneck.
"Calling you an idiot isn't wrong at all."
"As the class with the most talented students in the entire year, would the teachers allow us to simply get by with a ten-year soul ring to fill a spot?"
"Think about yourself, would your teacher do that!"
Wang Zhong roared. These brainless guys were truly incredibly stupid. The previous few had only come to make threats, saying they'd wait for him at the grand competition.
But this guy, he wanted to fight right now. Wang Zhong really didn't know what was in his head – was it dung?
The tall, thin youth's face grew even uglier. As the most talented person in Class C, his teacher had personally told him that once he reached level ten, the teacher would personally help him obtain his first soul ring.
If that was the case for him, Wang Zhong was even more so.
"Fine, fine, Wang Zhong, you're amazing. I, Zhao Shi, admit that I'm not as good as you right now!"
"But don't get too happy too soon. Just as I said before, battles between soul masters still rely on martial souls!"
"My martial soul, the Extreme Cold Ice Lion, will not lose to anyone!"
"At the all-year grand competition, you just wait!"
With a fierce snort, Zhao Shi turned and left. Wang Zhong, meanwhile, almost ground his teeth to dust.
This was already the twelfth person, and every single one of them ended with the same final sentence. Even with Wang Zhong's good temper, hearing it so many times would make him snap.
"Did these people plan this together!"
"Ah, ah, can't I even train properly anymore."
Gritting his teeth fiercely, Wang Zhong angrily resumed his pull-ups.
With nowhere to vent his anger, he threw himself into the system's task, only letting go and falling onto the grass after completing the fourteen hundred reps.
His body lay there limply, his arms trembling slightly. Wang Zhong let out a heavy sigh of relief.
"Finally done, I'm exhausted!"
"It's not just my body that's tired, my mind is too."
"If you guys had come at a different time, I wouldn't be called Wang Zhong if I didn't beat you black and blue."
Children who grew up in orphanages all possessed a wildness and a spirit of defiance, a way to protect themselves. Wang Zhong was no different.
After resting for a while lying there, Wang Zhong flipped himself up.
"At this time, Nana and the others should be done with class. Let's go, I'll grab some food at the canteen and get us a table."
...
"Wang Zhong!"
In the canteen, Hu Liena waved her arms from a distance.
Her charming demeanor drew frequent glances from onlookers.
Wang Zhong smiled and waved back. As the three arrived beside him, the student meal sets they had ordered were served.
Hu Liena naturally sat next to Wang Zhong, while Xie Yue and Yan sat opposite.
As she handed Wang Zhong her notes, Hu Liena mumbled,
"I'm starving, starving! Let's eat, let's eat."
Saying this, she picked up her chopsticks and put a portion of vegetables into her mouth, her eyes narrowing, her pretty face filled with contentment.
"Oh, right, Wang Zhong, the teacher said you've already obtained your first soul ring. What's your soul skill?"
Hu Liena picked out the meat from her own plate and put it onto Wang Zhong's, asking him about his first soul skill.
Judging by her practiced movements, this wasn't the first time she had done this.
Wang Zhong looked at Hu Liena's actions and advised, "Nana, if you're so picky about what you eat, you won't grow tall."
Hu Liena wrinkled her cute nose and replied indignantly, "You won't grow tall! Eating meat makes you fat! I don't want to become a little fatty, that wouldn't be good-looking!"
Wang Zhong eyed her slender, well-proportioned body, completely clueless as to where this notion of "getting fat" came from.
However, his gaze was met with a fierce glare from Hu Liena. Wang Zhong shrugged and said, "My first soul skill is Pierce!"
"Pierce?"
Hu Liena bit her chopsticks, completely bewildered.
Xie Yue and Yan also cast curious glances.
"Like the thorns on a rose! My first soul ring came from a hundred-year-old Thorn Ghost King Vine, inheriting the thorns that grow when it strangles its prey," Wang Zhong explained as he ate.
Hu Liena's pretty brows furrowed, and she said with some disappointment, "It sounds a bit weak."
"The Thorn Ghost King Vine's strength lies in its rapid growth and tough body, which it uses to hunt."
"The thorns don't seem to be its primary means of survival, although they do grow when it preys on others."
"Heh heh." Hearing Hu Liena's disappointed tone, Wang Zhong grinned and said mysteriously, "What if I told you I can generate any length and quantity of spikes within a two-hundred-meter radius? Do you still think it's weak?"
"Moreover, these growing spikes will become increasingly hard and sharp the more soul power I inject into them!"
Hu Liena's small mouth dropped open. Spikes of any length and quantity within a two-hundred-meter radius – such a soul skill, appearing with the first soul ring, was simply too overpowered.
Xie Yue and Yan also looked astonished.
Even for control-type soul masters, the coverage range of their first soul skill was only about fifty meters, and that was considered genius.
But what was Wang Zhong? He was aiming for the offensive type. An attack range four times that of a control-type soul master – how could anyone control him or fight him?