NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 52: Early Graduation
The room was estimated to be nearly three hundred square meters, with a ceiling height of four to five meters. The south-facing wall had a massive floor-to-ceiling window, clean and transparent, which was casting dazzling golden sunlight into the room.
In the center of the room, Ling Yi stood proudly on a large emblem-shaped pattern on the floor. At his feet was a sword motif at the center of the emblem, flanked on either side by images of a hammer and a dragon.
With an invisible ripple emanating from five fist-sized, pitch-black stones embedded in the walls, the room was filled, causing the soul power within Ling Yi to stir uncontrollably. His right hand extended instinctively, and his Blue Silver Grass spirit manifested, taller, thicker, with more leaves than before.
Simultaneously, a bright yellow ring of light emerged from Ling Yi's body, surrounding him and pulsating up and down.
At the doorway, Lu Yi watched this scene unfold, his eyes brightening, a smile curling at his lips.
Once Ling Yi retracted his spirit and soul ring, Lu Yi picked up a yellow crystal ball from a nearby wooden stand and strode toward the room's center, where Ling Yi stood.
"Xiao Yi, I never imagined~" Lu Yi said with a laugh as he walked, "that you could become a soul master so early, and even more surprising, your first soul ring is at the hundred-year level..."
As he spoke, Lu Yi stopped in front of Ling Yi, extending the yellow crystal ball in his hand toward him. "Here, test again and see how much your soul power is now...
Generally, with a century-level soul ring, your soul power should increase by one level..."
As Lu Yi finished speaking, the crystal ball under Ling Yi's palm began to emit a faint yellow glow.
This light wasn't particularly intense, but to Lu Yi and Ling Yi, it was incredibly clear.
"Wow!" Lu Yi exclaimed softly, raising an eyebrow as he shifted his gaze to Ling Yi, speaking with a hint of surprise, "Judging by your soul ring's luminous color, it's apparent your first soul ring isn't just at the century level. But looking at you, you're nearly at the twelfth level, it must be at least over three hundred years old, right?"
As an officially trained member of the Spirit Hall, Lu Yi was professionally trained. With the years of experience as a deacon and senior deacon, observing and meeting numerous spirit masters, his eye for talent was quite discerning.
Faced with Lu Yi's surprise, Ling Yi remained composed, merely nodding with a smile without saying much.
Similarly, Lu Yi didn't press for more details.
Ling Yi wasn't too surprised about his soul power reaching slightly above the eleventh level; after all, just yesterday, in the Wu Shi Division Hall at Bei Kou River Town, Yan Bin had already assessed him once.
Moreover, Yan Bin had proactively suggested to Ling Yi to come to the main hall in Wood City for a re-assessment and to take the opportunity for soul advancement registration.
A minor Soul Palace in a small town and a major Soul Palace in a duchy capital may yield similar detection results, but the Soul Master journal being crafted for Ling Yi will have a vastly different level of prestige and significance in its location markings.
The implications of this, while seemingly trivial, contain hidden depth.
Clearly, as much as Ling Yi understands Yan Bin, Yan Bin also holds a particular fondness for Ling Yi. Despite Ling Yi's unremarkable Soul Gift, his character and actions leave no room for criticism, making Yan Bin highly supportive and considerate of him.
“Alright, your advancement evaluation is now complete.”
With the Soul Power advancement test finished, Lu Yi said while leading Ling Yi out of the Soul Identification room on the second floor and headed to the archives registration room just down the hall.
Once you complete the registration and receive your unique badge, you can collect your first month's subsidy of one Gold Soul Coin. Each subsequent month, you can collect another Gold Soul Coin from any Soul Palace by presenting your badge. When you reach the Great Soul Master's level, the subsidy will increase to ten Gold Soul Coins.”
Thanks to the guidance of Lu Yi, an insider, Ling Yi quickly obtained his Soul Master badge.
The round badge featured the name 'Ling Yi' on its back, with two interlacing thorns embossed on the front, symbolizing the rank of the Soul Master. Crafted from unknown metal, Ling Yi—a senior blacksmith and the thirteenth direct disciple of Master Jin, the grand blacksmith—had handled countless types of metals over the years. He determined the badge was made of an alloy containing significant amounts of purple copper and black iron, among other unidentified materials.
In the first-floor lobby, at the left inside room entrance.
Ling Yi held his Soul Master badge and a gold soul coin in one hand, while in the other, he had a palm-sized metal plate.
Stowing the Soul Master badge and the gold soul coin into the inner pocket of his tunic, Ling Yi lowered his gaze to examine the metal plate that came with the gold soul coin.
This metal plate was his Soul Master's log book, crafted from a special alloy by the Spirit Hall, much like the Soul Master badge, making it extremely difficult to replicate.
Due to the complexity of duplicating this Soul Master's log book, it recorded the essential information of each Soul Master, along with a unique number assigned by the Spirit Hall. One might even say this log book serves as a Soul Master's identification card across the Douluo Continent.
According to Lu Yi's introduction, each time a Soul Master advances, the event is etched onto this palm-sized plate. The first line records the registration time and location, along with the Soul Master's spirit. From the second line onwards, it details advancement timestamps and the Soul Master's level. Despite its small size, the metal slip can accommodate up to ten lines of such information.
Regrettably, across the vast Douluo Continent, only a scant handful of over ten Titled Douluos have a chance of filling the Soul Master log book to capacity.
Ling Yi flipped the log book over, looked at the back, and, seeing the most familiar emblem of the Spirit Hall—a sword pointed downward—he shifted his attention to the front of the log book.
At the top of the small metal plate, there was a line of tiny engraved text:
Name: Ling Yi, Gender: Male, Registered in the Year 2597, Northkou River Town Spirit Branch Hall, Spirit: Blue Silver Grass.
Ling Yi had just received his Soul Master registration, noting down:
'Rank 10 Soul Master, registered in the year 2601 of the Douluo Calendar at the Wooded City Spirit Hall.'
This particular log did not include soul ring levels or the names of soul skills. As Lu Yi once put it, the Spirit Hall respected each Soul Master's secrets.
On the continent of Douluo, Soul Masters typically refrained from divulging the effects of their soul skills to others. As for soul ring levels, they couldn't be hidden – the moment a spirit was unleashed, the color of the soul ring automatically revealed its rank.
Fortunately, unless someone was exceptionally experienced, it was difficult to accurately determine the strength and rank of a soul ring simply by observing its hue and glow over the years.
After bidding farewell to Lu Yi, Ling Yi stepped out of the grand and majestic Spirit Hall. He greeted the two Soul Master guards at the entrance before heading straight towards the Green Leaf Elementary Spirit Master Academy.
According to the academy's regulations, once a student's soul power reached rank ten, becoming a one-ring Soul Master, they fulfilled the graduation requirements and could apply for early graduation.
Three years prior, Ling Yi had already memorized all the books in the academy's library and absorbed all the knowledge the teachers were willing to impart. There wasn't any reason to linger at the elementary academy, wasting time.
(End of Chapter)
