"Both of you, follow me."
King Wu said to Su Hao and Yu Xiuxiu.
He led them to a large training ground at the rear of the estate. The training ground was open-air, surrounded by a thick ring of grayish-white stone walls, with pillars slanting inward toward the field.
He waved his hand, signaling the training puppet to step forward.
"Have your spirits unleash their ultimate moves on the training puppet, so I can get a detailed understanding of their current strength."
Yu Xiuxiu's two spirits were an elite-level Killer Mantis and a beginner-level Blade Leaf Warrior. She gave a low command, and the two spirits swiftly lunged forward.
The Killer Mantis's scythes gleamed with a metallic sheen, then ripples of green light swirled around them. Its figure flickered as it struck, delivering six slashes in an instant.
In comparison, the Blade Leaf Warrior's attack was more conventional.
All the strikes hit the invisible psionic shield in front of the training puppet, absorbed in a flash without even a trace of residual energy escaping.
Then the two spirits unleashed other moves.
After watching, King Wu nodded slightly, then shook his head.
"The attack power is sufficient, but it lacks other adaptive capabilities.
"Second, the Killer Mantis makes too much noise when attacking. Remember how its sneak attack was detected during the challenge round?
"Third, instead of slashing six times in succession, it's better to fuse all six into one, unleashing the strongest single strike to better decide the battle."
As he spoke, he tapped on his spirit ring. "I've transmitted a 'Blade Tremor' essence to you. Study it well with your spirits.
"Also, my suggestion for your third spirit is to contract a control-type spirit."
He then turned to Su Hao. "Your turn."
Misty Dream Butterfly unleashed techniques like Rice Pellet Machine Gun, Multi-Energy Orb, Silk Spinning Slash, Psionic Shock, Dual Illusion Scenes, and Five-Sense Manipulation.
Flame Velvet Crow used Flame Claw, Flame Fist, Flame Slash, and its final move—entering Flame Feather Stance to execute Instant Hell Slaughter Array.
Blades and flames danced, dreamlike and surreal.
As for Water Kirin Beast...
Emmm, it stepped on Cloud Step, activated the Wave Riding technique, leaving a watery path behind it as water dragons roared around its body.
It charged forward.
Boom~!
It was bounced back.
But its momentum still matched the big sister and the crow brother.
Yu Xiuxiu, who had been barely noticeable, was stunned.
Three spirits... well, aside from the Water Cloud Horse, the other two had so many killing moves!
None of these had been shown during the challenge round!
They had defeated the seniors with pure strategy!
Too strong!
She stole a glance, then lowered her head, standing there inconspicuously, quietly observing the spirits.
After watching Su Hao's spirits' demonstration, King Wu... kept his composure on the surface.
He had to stay calm.
Otherwise, how could he maintain his senior brother authority, or show off his king-level vast knowledge and insight?
Stay calm.
He cleared his throat, his mind racing.
He started with the simpler Water Kirin Beast: "I can see you've trained it as a mount, which is right. Of course, its combat power can be enhanced... Hmm, I've transmitted a 'Wave Stacking' essence to you. Study it when you get back."
He paused, giving himself more time to think, then 'calmly' moved on to the next spirit.
"Your Flame Velvet Crow is flawless in attack and speed, and its use of Feather Substitute is very skilled, giving it strong survivability. But of course... there are still areas to improve.
"For instance, its Flame Feather Stance can be considered a half-finished secret technique, needing the integration of a suitable essence.
"I'll provide you with two essences: 'Scorching Flame' and 'Blazing Fire.' You'll need to figure out which one fits better... Of course, I suggest you also look up reference books in the library. Perfecting a secret technique takes time and opportunity, so don't rush.
"Now, about your Misty Dream Butterfly..."
King Wu paused.
Originally, he planned to offer guidance on constructing illusions.
After all, illusion arts heavily rely on inheritance, and self-study is extremely difficult.
But who would have thought...
Based on the feedback from the training puppet, Misty Dream Butterfly's illusions and dreamscapes were already well-developed.
He couldn't find any shortcomings—after all, he wasn't an Illusion King.
'Isn't Little Su just a student from an ordinary background? How did he build such detailed illusions?'
King Wu quickly analyzed and finally found the key point.
He spoke, "Your Misty Dream Butterfly is strong, with very diverse methods, but it lacks a true killing move."
Su Hao thought about it.
To be fair, that was true.
The little one was highly proficient in several illusion techniques. Against beginner-level spirits, a single glance could take down a group.
It consumed very little psychic energy and mental power.
But against same-level opponents... it couldn't achieve a one-hit kill, and high-level illusions required setup.
Then King Wu said, "Of course, in team battles, your issue isn't severe, but you should still try to fill the gap... Here's a technique called 'Psychic Burst.' When your spirit applies illusion effects, even if the target breaks free, it leaves hidden marks on their psyche.
"These marks can deepen the illusion's influence or be detonated all at once... but the technique is quite hard to learn.
"Additionally, I recommend your Misty Dream Butterfly learn 'Psychic Perception,' which allows it to sense all lifeforms with psychic energy.
"In the wild, in the New World, reconnaissance ability is as important as survival ability."
King Wu rambled on for a while, finally voicing a concern.
"As a new-form spirit, your Misty Dream Butterfly has no path forward, no reference points... You'll have to work hard on your own and keep an eye on relevant information."
...
The news about the principal's disciple didn't spread widely.
In most students' eyes, Su Hao, who had made a big splash in the freshman challenge, was King Wu's student.
That was already impressive enough.
With King Wu as his senior brother, Su Hao could freeload many essences and techniques, get guidance, have sparring partners, and so on—but he still lived as an ordinary freshman, leading an ordinary life.
Striving for credits.
Struggling with course selection.
"The challenge round rewards have been distributed—two thousand credits, supposedly the highest reward... Senior Brother Wu fought for that for me."
"For courses, Senior Brother Wu suggested taking Instructor Pang Zhilan's 'Illusion Ability Application' course and Instructor Sun Gao'ang's 'Flame Art' course. As for others... I'll pick more.
"It's not the credits I'm after—it's the knowledge, the intel value!"
Starting September 1st, formal classes began.
Su Hao glanced at the course schedule.
Required courses included "Ideological and Moral Cultivation and Legal Basics," "Outline of Dragon Kingdom Spirit History," "Spirits and Philosophy," "New World Explained," "Spirit Master Ranks," and a few others.
The hours weren't many.
But... he couldn't skip them.
At most, he could apply for early assessment and then be exempted.
Of course... the first few required courses couldn't be exempted—they were top priority.
Su Hao understood.
Spirit masters were a group wielding supernormal power. Without strengthening ideological education and psychological counseling, if one went mad, their destructive power would far exceed that of someone with a gun.
That's why social training classes were rare.
Having some strength didn't qualify someone to teach.
He browsed information on the desktop computer provided in the villa.
Suddenly,
his phone vibrated, the screen lighting up. He saw Liu Ren's frantic "Holy shit holy shit holy shit..."
"What's going on..."
He swiped the screen open.
Clicked on the Four Little Kings group chat, and saw...
Liu Ren: "Holy shit, Song Ting was taken as a disciple by the Martial Combat King, just now!!"
Su Hao: "..."
Holy shit!
What just happened?!
—
Debt update: 31-1