"Wait a minute, what did you just say I should become? A Soul Engineer? Me?" Inside the Spiritual Sea, Tianmeng stared at Xiao Qiang in utter disbelief, unable to believe his ears.
"Yes."
Xiao Qiang nodded. The idea of making Tianmeng a Soul Engineer had popped into his head the moment he learned he needed to reach Rank 40 to fuse with the Ice Empress.
The reason was simple. Whether it was when he was at Rank 32 or now at Rank 33, reaching Rank 40 in less than a year was, under normal circumstances, completely impossible.
As for the abnormal ways to achieve it: the first was like the founding Shrek Seven Monsters, consuming Immortal Herbs.
That was completely out of the question for him right now. The toxic miasma outside the Sunset Forest alone was something the current Xiao Qiang couldn't handle, not to mention that he would run into Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts later on. Going there would most likely not be a nine-out-of-ten chance of death, but a ten-out-of-ten.
The second way was receiving heavy backing and cultivation from Shrek Academy—yes, exactly that.
Although Shrek Academy was often joked about as an academy that only knew how to run laps, Shrek's ten-thousand-year heritage was real. When it came to genuine good treasures, they definitely had them.
Putting everything else aside, just that room inside the Golden Tree that helped Huo Yuhao boost his Spiritual Power and Soul Power—why, that was made from the head Soul Bones of over a thousand Fear-Dread Dragons. And sigh, that room was merely one of the hundreds of rooms inside the Golden Tree.
Shrek definitely had genuine good treasures; they simply hadn't actually given them to Huo Yuhao.
The Soul Bone Mu En casually handed to Wang Dong was of the hundred-thousand-year level. Shrek had never lacked good treasures since Douluo II. Immortal Herb-level items aside, lesser heaven-and-earth treasures certainly existed; the people at the top simply didn't want to give them to Huo Yuhao.
As for heaven-and-earth treasures one tier below Immortal Herbs, if one consumed two of them successively after a certain interval and combined them with proper cultivation, gaining the seven or eight ranks of Soul Power needed for a Three-Ring Soul Elder within a year was definitely not a difficult task.
However, because Shrek was not his country's academy, and Xiao Qiang also knew that Shrek would never give him tangible, concrete benefits—even if he joined Shrek, the ultimate result would just be getting his blood heavily sucked, so he might as well forget about getting any benefits, and actual good treasures like heaven-and-earth treasures were completely out of the question.
Therefore, Shrek was ruled out by Xiao Qiang. The remaining factions that could help him grow stronger were only the Body Sect and Mingdetang.
As for the Body Sect, firstly, Xiao Qiang couldn't find them, and secondly, Xiao Qiang was a citizen of the Sun Moon Empire. Although the original work stated that the Body Sect protected their own and treated everyone in the sect like family, considering the future hostility between their countries, even if the Body Sect truly didn't mind, Xiao Qiang couldn't guarantee he wouldn't overthink it.
If the Body Sect were truly his only option, Xiao Qiang would try to find them, but the problem now was that Xiao Qiang had another choice.
Mingdetang! In Douluo Continent II, Xuan Ziwen, who defected from the Sun Moon Empire to Shrek City, had said that aside from soul tools being number one, the Sun Moon Empire's apothecary arts were also number one.
Precisely because of this, the Sun Moon Empire was able to allow many people with mediocre Martial Soul talent to cultivate up to Titled Douluo.
Mingdetang certainly didn't have items like Immortal Herbs, and heaven-and-earth treasures slightly inferior to Immortal Herbs couldn't match Shrek's backing of the Star Dou Great Forest either, but when it came to finished medicinal pills, Mingdetang would definitely not be inferior to Shrek.
And since Xiao Qiang was a citizen of the Sun Moon Empire, if he joined Mingdetang, he wouldn't have to worry about the situations at Shrek or the Body Sect. A native joining a native faction meant there was no possibility of a background check issue.
The only thing Xiao Qiang needed to worry about was how his talent was graded in the eyes of Mingdetang's upper management. As long as Mingdetang's higher-ups thought his talent was sufficient, Xiao Qiang could secure resources; and if his talent reached a terrifying degree, he could secure an immense amount of resources.
Yet Mingdetang presented a problem as well: Xiao Qiang was currently a bit lacking when it came to soul tools.
Having rank 5 innate soul power and reaching Rank 30 at thirteen and a half years old meant Xiao Qiang was destined not to waste too much time and energy on soul tools. In Douluo Continent I, Tang San and Xiao Wu, who possessed innate full soul power, only reached Rank 30 close to their thirteenth birthdays. For someone with rank 5 innate soul power to cultivate at a speed rivaling or even surpassing innate full soul power—that was no easy feat.
Trying to cram knowledge about soul tools in a short time given Xiao Qiang's current situation and turning himself into a soul tool genius was practically impossible.
Fortunately, Xiao Qiang still had Tianmeng, a hundred-thousand-year-level soul beast with Spiritual Power far exceeding that of an average Titled Douluo.
As a Three-Ring, Xiao Qiang couldn't quickly learn soul tools and turn himself into a soul tool genius, but Tianmeng might not be unable to borrow Xiao Qiang's body to turn Xiao Qiang into a soul tool genius.
As long as Xiao Qiang displayed talent in soul tools, combined with the ability of his Third Soul Ring, getting his hands on sufficiently good resources wouldn't be all that difficult anymore.
Of course, that was what Xiao Qiang thought in his heart, but he phrased it quite differently out loud.
"It's like this, Brother Tianmeng. Don't you want to take revenge on those hateful hundred-thousand-year soul beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest? Once my strength reaches Limit Douluo, helping you exact revenge certainly won't be a difficult task, but would that kind of revenge make you happy?"
"What do you mean? Of course I'd be happy if you helped me get revenge."
"Brother Tianmeng, what I mean is, compared to me helping you get revenge, wouldn't it feel much more satisfying to pin them down and beat them up yourself?"
"Huh? Me pinning them down and beating them up? How is that possible? I don't have any offensive power."
"Normally that's true, but that's in the absence of soul tools, Brother Tianmeng. As long as you infuse soul power into soul tools, you can transform it into any kind of attack you want."
"Actually, I was already thinking about it when Brother Tianmeng told me about your experiences over the years. If you had come into contact with soul tools when you were nine hundred thousand years old, learned how to make and use them, and used soul tools to convert your soul power into offensive power, wouldn't you have become the true king of the Star Dou Great Forest in that scenario, rather than those soul beasts under nine hundred thousand years?"
"Maybe, but combat really isn't my strong suit, and besides, I'm quite content with my life right now. Having things to eat and places to sleep is already pretty good."
"Is that so? I thought Brother Tianmeng would like to overpower all the Fierce Beasts across the entire Douluo Continent, and then have numerous female Fierce Beasts look at you in adoration, hoping to bear your offspring."
Suddenly, Tianmeng caught a keyword. "Huh? Numerous female Fierce Beasts looking at me in adoration, hoping to bear my offspring? What do you mean?"
"Oh, this? Well, the human world is survival of the fittest after all; all females love powerful beings who can give them a sense of security. In the world of soul beasts, this point should be even more intense, right?"
"What did you say at the very beginning?"
"What I said at the very beginning... Brother Tianmeng, how about you become a Soul Engineer?"
"Deal."