Change of plans (Filler)

Douluo Continent

Eastsea City.

Spirit Pagoda Eastsea branch.

The Spirit Pagoda's reach spread throughout the continent. Not only was it present in the Douluo Continent, it was even able to spread to the other two continents several thousand years ago.

Ten thousand years ago, the remnants of the Heaven Dou Empire after its defeat at the hands of the Sun-Moon Empire had embarked on a voyage and had experienced many hardships and perils. In the end, they discovered a huge continent which also had some indigenous humans. However, their development couldn't even compare with the Douluo Continent's. They were conquered by the Heaven Dou remnants and the continent was named the Heaven Dou Continent.

On the Douluo Continent, the conflict between the Sun-Moon Empire and the Star Luo Empire was never ending. While the Sun-Moon Empire rapidly developed, the Star Luo Empire gradually declined. Instead, they chose to take a different route. The Star Luo Empire decided to invest in seafaring technology. Thanks to their research, they were able to discover another large continent which was followed by a quiet occupation shortly afterwards. With the whole continent taken, the Star Luo Empire migrated the whole empire over along with their many resources and named it the Star Luo Continent. Afterwards, the Star Luo Empire also changed to a federal system and became the Star Luo Federation.

The Sun-Moon Empire was able to unify the Douluo Continent and became the Sun-Moon Federation.

The Spirit Pagoda had a ten thousand year history. Due to their importance to Soul Masters and their groundbreaking research into artificial spirit souls, their status had risen dramatically to its current state. Throughout the three continents, they were the strongest power.

Glorybound City also had a Spirit Pagoda branch located in the heart of the city. It was a three layer pagoda. This was the lowest rank possible for a Spirit Pagoda branch. A mid-sized city would have a seven layer Spirit Pagoda branch. Major cities would have a thirteen layer Spirit Pagoda branch.

However, the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters was situated in Shrek City. The headquarters had gone through many renovations over the years and it now had eighty layers. It was said to be the most magnificent building on the Douluo Continent.

Spirit Pagodas were shaped like an octagon with floors while its interior was very spacious and the marble floor carried the symbol of the Spirit Pagoda. Inside the huge hall, there was a circular door which led to an unknown location.

Eastsea's Spirit Pagoda was incomparable to the one in Glorybound City though. This Spirit Pagoda was one of the eighteen great pagodas, collectively known as the Eighteen Pillars of Heaven.

The towering pagoda was visible from kilometers away. It was at least one hundred stories tall, surpassing a height of 400 meters. Even among a forest of skyscrapers, it was tall enough to become a giant landmark.

Spirit Pagoda's foundation was in the shape of an octagon and covered a large area. The pagoda then narrowed every ten layers until it reached the peak of the spire.

Even by just admiring it from a distance, one could feel its grandeur.

The Soul Master had already stood up by the time he arrived in front of the counter and was inspecting Fan Lin, "Hello, may I ask what you're here for?"

Fan Lin looked at the receptionist and smiled,"To get my first spirit soul."

The receptionist looked at Fan Lin and asked," Do you have any requirements?"

"None." Fan Lin replied.

"Okay. Can you provide your spirit master ID card that was issued to you by the staff of Spirit Pagoda when you were awakened in your school." The receptionist professionally ignored the fact that Fan Lin was a child.

"Here." Fan Lin gave his Spirit master ID card and watched from the sidelines as the receptionist put the card in a slot and started to type something's in the interface in front of her.

"Sir, will you look at the camera in here." The receptionist asked and Fan Lin did as he was told without any words.

The receptionist once again began typing on the interface and stopped in less than a minute.

"Fan Lin, age 9, Martial Soul– Blue Silver Grass, Rank 10 from Glorybound City. Is anything wrong in the information that I told you?" The receptionist asked.

"None. When can I get my spirit soul?" Fan Lin asked what he wanted to ask for a long time. Not that long actually as the whole process took less than a minute.

"Sorry Sir but we have to upgrade the picture and information of each Spirit master when they get come here for a spirit soul. This is done to ensure that no one could misuse someone else's ID to do bad things. Here is your new Spirit Master ID card and follow me to get your spirit soul." The receptionist patiently explained about the upgradation system and other things to Fan Lin on their way to the Spirit power testing room.

Fan Lin listened to the explanation about the benefits provided to Spirit Masters while looking at his new Spirit Master ID card.

It had his picture that was taken a few minutes ago along with upgraded information.

The receptionist and Fan Lin got on the lift and stopped at the third floor.

The receptionist hinted at Fan Lin to follow her.

When he was entering the pagoda's first floor, he was met with a dazzling sight of the interior. Dark gold stone tiled the floors, creating a beautiful granular pattern. Several obelisks stood tall in the center of the space, propping up a dome over ten meters in diameter. The most shocking thing, however, was that the dome being held up by those obelisks had a magnificent and colorful mural on it.

The mural was resplendent, the scenery painted on the mural seemingly recounting its characters' tales.

The receptionist began talking while walking,"This mural portrays the tale of the Spirit Pagoda's founder, a legendary Soul Master and inventor of spirit souls. It tells of how the Spirit Ice Douluo guided humanity's Soul Masters in resisting a tide of soul beasts. This is merely a part of the complete mural, the mural having eighteen parts in total."

"The mural within the headquarters depicts the Spirit Ice Douluo battling the strongest Soul Beast God, Di Tian. The Spirit Ice Douluo disappeared after that epic battle, never to be seen since. Yet, it is rumored that he was victorious, for the Soul Beast God, the Golden-eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian, hasn't appeared since."

He could feel the impressiveness of the scene that the mural depicted. Within the soul beast tide, one giant soul beast after another advanced toward the walls of a great city, creating an atmosphere of extreme terror.

Floating above the city was a person with shining eyes. Surrounding him were several floating figures. One of them was a beautiful woman in white, another a woman dressed in green. Upon his shoulder was an existence that looked like an ice crystal, a gigantic bear, and an enormous white worm. Brilliant soul rings revolved around his body.

"That's the Spirit Ice Douluo!"

"He was a genius from ten thousand years ago. Despite being an ordinary child, he entered the legendary Shrek Academy and, taking one step at a time, walked the path toward becoming a peak expert, resulting in might that caused the entire continent to tremble. Rumours had it that he had broken through the boundaries of humanity and left for the Divine Realm."

"The origin of this rumour was due to the fact that his wife had disappeared soon after he did."

"Overwhelmed." The receptionist finally stopped to ask.

"Umm, I am and I already know about them." Fan Lin calmly replied but the dissonance in his mind was something that he couldn't change.

Fan Lin asked once again," when can I get my spirit soul?"

The receptionist looked at Fan Lin and said," before we can give you a spirit soul, let's first check your spiritual power. Do you know why we why test spiritual power?"

The Spirit Master explained without waiting for Fan Lin to reply, "This is your first time coming to choose a spirit soul. After fusing with a spirit soul, you'll become a true Soul Master and the Spirit Pagoda will make a record of your spiritual power's strength, the level and type of spirit soul you fused with, and other things. You'll most likely attend an intermediate Soul Master academy later on."

"Moving on, for normal Soul Masters, spiritual power isn't too important. It's also divided into ranks, but it isn't divided the same way soul power is. However, when it comes to high level Soul Masters, the strength of their spiritual powers becomes much more significant. A strong spirit soul requires spiritual power equally as strong to fuse with."

"Before the existence of spirit souls, there weren't any ranks for spiritual power at all. But when spirit souls first appeared, the previous generations gradually realized that fusing with a spirit soul required much more spiritual power than fusing with a spirit ring. After extensive research, they created the rankings for spiritual power. It was only in the last two thousand years or so that the rankings were completed."

"From low to high, spiritual power is divided into: Spirit Origin, Spirit Connection, Spirit Sea, Spirit Abyss, Spirit Domain, and the fabled Divine Origin. These six realms are quite simple. Everyone is in the Spirit Origin realm when they are born. As for the meaning behind Spirit Origin, it means that it's the single origin everyone starts from. Afterwards, nature takes on a new look. This is the most basic of soul levels. You should be at this level. As for the rest, you'll learn it in school so I won't speak of it. Alright then. I'll start testing what degree of Spirit Origin you've reached."

The attendant took him to a small room and strapped him on a chair. A metal helmet fell onto his head. Then, metal arms linked together and strapped his head in.

"Don't be so tense. Relax your body. You might feel a bit of vertigo in a bit; that's normal. You just need to stay relaxed." The Spirit Master warned the already calm Fan Lin in fear he may do a sudden action and damaged the machine.

Soon the results showed on his helmet.

The receptionist saw the number and noted it and took out Fan Lin's helmet.

22.

She showed the number to Fan Lin.

"It is your spiritual power. Spirit Origin realm can be ranged between level 1 to 50 spiritual power. Levels 15 and below are elementary ranked. Levels 15 to 30 are intermediate ranked. Levels 30 to 45 are advanced rank. Levels 45 to 50 is the peak of Spirit Origin. Currently you can only fuse with a white ten years old spirit soul but worry not, you can raise the age of your spirit rings in the Spiritual Ascension Platform."

The receptionist kept talking all the time while Fan Lin was staring at her.

"How can I enter the Spirit Ascension platform then?" Fan Lin asked when the receptionist stopped.

The receptionist took a deep look at Fan Lin and began to speak,"On our Douluo Continent, only the Spirit Pagodas of major cities have a spirit ascension platform. In total, there are eighteen on this continent. They are the best place for us Soul Masters to cultivate."

"The spirit ascension platform was created by the Spirit Pagoda. Soul Masters can go there to gain experience and increase their strength. Moreover, you can experience the charms of the ancient Soul Master's world. I'm not really sure what principles it operates on, but I heard that over ten Title Douluos were involved in its creation, and the greatest researchers of the time poured their efforts into it. Only after the Spirit Pagoda invested an enormous amount of resources was the spirit ascension platform completed."

"Originally, the spirit ascension platform was used as a step in the Spirit Pagoda's research into artificial spirit souls. They hoped that it would be able to upgrade artificial spirit souls, and hence manufacture even stronger spirit souls. After completion, however, they discovered that it was only a partial success. Although the spirit ascension platform could upgrade spirit souls, its effects weren't as great as they expected, and its nature wasn't too clear.

"Naturally, after making such a large investment, the Spirit Pagoda couldn't discard the product. After another period of development, the spirit ascension platform became a unique place. To put it simply, it's the crystallization of the continent's best soul devices and the efforts of the greatest Soul Masters and researchers. After entering the spirit ascension platform, a Soul Master will feel that they had entered a whole different realm, yet they would still be protected by the spirit ascension platform. The danger inside isn't too high, but Soul Masters can battle with soul beasts to increase their combat experience in there. If you're lucky, you might even be able to improve your spirit soul."

Fan Lin got up from the chair and asked again,"How?"

But the attendent didn't seem to understand the meaning of his question as she faithfully began her chatterbox mode on and talk about things he already knew about, "It's not easy at all! Our spirit souls are actually pretty good. In the past, you would directly absorb a soul beast's soul ring, and its power would be limited by its cultivation age. Now, however, when we upgrade a spirit soul, we actually increase its cultivation age. This reminds me, since you are going to have a ten year spirit soul, you have a decent chance at upgrading it. If you can cultivate for an extended period of time in the spirit ascension platform, you will have an even greater chance of upgrading it to the hundred year level. Although the higher its age, the harder it is to upgrade it."

The receptionist started to move once again. Fan Lin followed her.

"What do you need to enter the spirit ascension platform?"

The receptionist said with zeal, "Two things; money and space! The spirit ascension platform has multiple layers. It costs about 500,000 federal coins per entry into the elementary spirit ascension platform. Space is even more valuable though! There are only one thousand spots each month for the elementary spirit ascension platform. There are over a million Soul Masters on the continent right now, so can you imagine the demand… And spaces for the intermediate and advanced spirit ascension platforms are even fewer. This is because they consume even more resources, so the cost of entry is also several times higher."

Fan Lin and the receptionist were taking the stairs to the second floor.

The receptionist continued without turning, "It isn't easy to buy a spot. Most of the quotas are given to the large and influential clans, so it seems that our academy actually has some influence."

"Most of the times, it is either a periodic or group booking. That is, you either book a lot of slots or you can book a slot for a period of time. Most of the clans do it like that. Here, we have finally reached your destination, dear Sir." The receptionist finally showed the location of the spirit soul purchasing room and it was empty, there were people. Plenty of them as well.

"Did you think that it would be grander than this. Sorry but it isn't." The Receptionist calmly said although the smirk in her eyes could be easily seen.

"Where should I get my spirit soul?" Fan Lin mentally sighed while asking this.

"Come here with me sir, your spirit soul is already ready." The receptionist said.

Fan Lin went along with her and look at the three Pokeball looking thing in front of him.

The receptionist started to speak feeling the confusion in Fan Lin," Sir, on the left is the white spirit soul Datura snake, a soul beast that has good speed, reflexes, defence and poison. It will provide an overall increase in the attributes of your martial soul but once it reaches the thousand year level, the benefits that you can gain from it is a lot. Really lot."

"In the middle is the white spirit soul poison dart frog, a soul beast feared for its toxicity, it is extremely toxic and can provide a potent poison attribute to your martial soul."

"On the right is the white spirit soul Pheonix tail crest serpent, it can increase the speed of your martial soul. Generally, most people don't prefer them for their Blue Silver Grass. They like the stronger and better Datura snake more."

Fan Lin glanced at the receptionist and put his hand forward to pick the Datura snake.

"... the Shrek Academy admission will happen in an year."

Fan Lin's hand movement stopped when he heard about the Shrek Academy.

'That's it. I had nearly forgotten about it. They held examinations once every three years.'

He looked at the group of people who said that. He glanced at the receptionist and she began to speak. She really liked to speak.

"Well, the Shrek Academy admits students from all around the world once every three years. The next entrance exams will happen in the next year."

*Stare*

"Well~ the chances of getting a spot for the Shrek Academy entrance exams is really hard., The whole Skysea Alliance had just 100 spots and Eastsea City is a part of the Skysea Alliance. Only the nest of the academies and only the best students in those academies gets the chance to have a spot in the entrance examination."

"Hmm~"

'I know all that, give me something more.'

[Flashback]

Know it All –Did you know, humans can digest around only 90% of their food, the rest is taken out from our anus, well ass, if you don't understand. So ever thought what would happen if humans are able to digest 100% of their food. Half-energy body. We will be like those immortals and Gods in the myths that can eat tons of food in a single sitting. The food will generate energy would be enough for our body to do things a normal humans can't. That energy must to able to support a person who is better than normal humans, right? It can help him, right? I should research on it more.

Chunnibyou–Stupid, that is not possible. Now go back and complete the preparations for even he can become mad, just the usual him is scary.

[Flashback ends]

[Another Flashback]

Altruist one – It can work, you know, just the consequences would be...

Chunnibyou – Theoretically yes. But not possible.

Gloomy Forest – We don't have the materials that can help us create that. Chunnibyou had already tried it once, I as well. We both failed.

Chunnibyou – The problem is that we lack the required materials. The materials that we have doesn't have the potency to reach that threshold. None of it can. We can raise the potency but it would take around two to three years...

Altruist – What if... that will be a disaster.

[ Flashback ends ]

Fan Lin recalled the words that they had, the only problem was the low potency of the materials.

'Except that wasn't a problem anymore. This world has materials which are potentially thousands of times better than my world. Just this increases my chances to more than 60 percent. Perfect.'

"I am going to choose is this one then." Fan Lin looked at the spirit soul at the right.

"Why? The Pheonix Tailed Crest Serpent isn't that good of a spirit soul for you martial s." The receptionist said with a low voice.

"My need is different that what it was before. I know what I need to do and this one is my best choice in the current scenario."

'I am already a poison expert and with the half energy body, I would be able to increase my physical stats, currently, having a fourth of the physical capability of Captain should be enough to pass the exams. What I need now is the possible speed increase for my future goal.'

Fan Lin chose the Pheonix tail crest serpent spirit soul and paid for it.

"Sir, we provide free rooms for soul masters under rank 30 to absorb their spirit soul. Here is a small guidebook that has the information that you will need regarding the spirit soul. May you have a nice day." The receptionist didn't explain about the process regarding the absorption of the spirit soul and began to leave the room after giving a small small guidebook to Fan Lin.

Fan Lin looked at her back and spoke," What is your name?"

The receptionist turned back and glared at him but answered," Xing Mo."

"Xing Mo. Thanks a lot for all the things that you have done." Fan Lin said while slightly bowing towards Xing Mo. Despite her chatterbox nature with him, he can still sense her kind intentions towards him mixed with something else that he couldn't quite put his hands on.

She was taken aback and during this time, Fan Lin chose to leave.

The small guide had everything, including the location of the spirit soul absorption rooms, emergency counters, purchase counters and many more.

He followed the directions given in the guide and reached the spirit soul absorption area and chose one of the empty room with his Spirit master ID card.

He entered the room and the door closed on its own.

The room wasn't that big and it was empty.

Fan Lin chose to sit at the centre of the room and put the spirit soul in front of him.

He began to formulate the plan.

"This is going to be crazy."

'I have one year and in that, I have to successfully concoct the half energy body serum with the new materials of this world(I miss Chunnibyou), get enough money to spend on the purchase of ingredients, Shrek Academy entrance examination spot and finally to spend on my future expenses.'

'I also have to train myself for the Shrek Academy's exams and I need to be at least rank 25 by the end of the year and I have to increase my spirit soul to at least yellow hundred year old ring. I am so ducked up, should I choose the easy way and prepare for the next exams? I can't. Three years is too much of a time to waste mopping around when I can use that time to further cement my strength, set the foundation of the plan and finally do it.'

'I am nine years old now... Let's put the end date of the plan as me reaching 20 years old.'

'If I still haven't succeeded by then... let's use the D-S then.

'So my current plan of action should be either to hide myself in the Eastsea City for this year and plan for the future while training hard or I can be on the run and collect money from everywhere. Both are feasible.'

But most of all, I need to weaken the forces of humans slowly as the opposition that I will face will no be a joke.

If I can wither their forces out, then that would led to stability later on.

.....

You can ignore this chapter, if you want to. I still don't know what I was thinking when I wrote this.

A picture of the Spirit Pagoda will be in the comments.