Douluo Continent
Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.
Spirit Soul Tower.
Employee area. Private space.
"So the agreement with the President is cancelled." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin asked while trying to find something to wear.
"Yes." [Elder Yang]
"Then about my prize?" [Fan Lin]
He asked again as he changed into a new pair of lower clothing.
"That, we don't know about that." [Elder Yang]
"So I did all this for nothing?" [Fan Lin]
He doned a new loose shirt and exited the Private space, now face to face with the Elder Yang who he wanted to kill.
"Sorry about that... What did he offered you? Maybe I can request the council and other Vice Presidents for it." [Elder Yang]
Elder Yang stopped midway as he saw him in clothes, especially his upper clothing. They were female apparels. It even had the fancy writing and a pinkish rose embroidery on it.
Thousands of questions rose in his mind like why did Fan Lin was in the possession of female clothing? Did he even know if they were meant to be for females or was it something adulterous/scandalous?
But after feeling his cold gaze on him when Elder Yang seemed to have stared at his clothes for a long time, Elder Yang calmly continued the conversation.
"The spirit soul of floor 108. The President promised me that if I could reach the 90th floor." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin asked in a cute and polite manner. Whatever Elder Yang thought didn't matter a dime to him. He was going to wreck his life anyway.
"The final floor's spirit soul? I don't think we can give you that... for now. That spirit soul would require not just strength but lots of contributions as well." [Elder Yang]
Elder Yang deftly shut down the conversation while internally cursing Qiangu Dongfeng's entire ancestry. To promise the 108th floor spirit soul for clearing 90th floor, now it was quite obvious why Fan Lin would gladly accept the Spirit Soul Tower challenge. Even Elder Yang himself wouldn't think twice before accepting such an offer. Qiangu Dongfeng really played well.
"Then can I take the 98th floor spirit soul, I need it." [Fan Lin]
'I should have finished the Dark Dragon King.'
"Well~ I was coming to that but first can you tell me about the various 'skills' that you used in the arena. 'WE' are wondering what they might be." [Elder Yang]
Elder Yang asked with a smile, clearly not hiding the hidden meaning of his words.
Although he had sympathy for Fan Lin and knew that he was most likely been fooled by Qiangu Dongfeng, Fan Lin performance had so many unknown surprises that the Spirit Pagoda would have no choice but to increase their evaluation of him and Elder Yang needed to know everything about him for that.
Only when they have a firm knowledge on Fan Lin's strength and abilities, could they judge(plan) his future activities.
In some regards, the council had the same purpose as Qiangu Dongfeng, to keep slaving Fan Lin until he runs dry of his uses but they were less radical than him. That was the only difference
Fan Lin obviously knew that and had chosen Qiangu Dongfeng for the same reason. It was always easier to control a single man than a group of men/woman with different interests at different times.
To him, Qiangu Dongfeng or the council, they were all the same, Puppets that he will fully utilise.
"Those are the variations of my Boundless Ring. I and President Qiangu Dongfeng discovered this by accident when I was planting trees by the swamp lake and my Boundless Ring plantation skill changed to cultivation improvement." [Fan Lin]
"After we discussed this in detail, the President analysed that my Boundless Ring could either be changing according to the environment, which in turn causes it to have a different skill according to a particular environment or," [Fan Lin]
"My Boundless Ring has different skills pertaining to different environment which are either the transmuted or evolved forms of my previous skills." [Fan Lin]
"So after some more discussion, and the fact that the protests on me was quite heavy, the President told me to take some time off and experiment with my Boundless Ring, saying that if it was true, I could be the next pillar of the Spirit Pagoda and possibly the next President as well." [Fan Lin]
'Qiangu Dongfeng did leave for a while.'
"So after some planning, he sent me to the west of the Douluo Continent, where the desert, sea and the Absolute North meet, saying that it would be the best place for me to check the various effects." [Fan Lin]
'So that's why he was there.'
"I obliged to his request because I... I don't dislike planting trees and such but... I also want to do more things like the other Spirit Masters of my age. I want to become strong... I want to reach my past glory and I saw an opportunity to do so." [Fan Lin]
"I took the chance and went towards the destination as per President's plans." [Fan Lin]
"And he was right, my Boundless Ring did have a different skill according to different environments, in the desert, I can cause avalanche, in the deep sea, my cultivation speed increased, in the Absolute North, I entered deep sleep." [Fan Lin]
"With each different terrain, My Boundless Ring changed and that lead to further experimentation and President Qiangu Dongfeng's years of experience, I was able to get a heaven defying skill set."
"First is the Quaptic Regeneration, gained through eating vast amounts of food and is most likely a mutation of my enhanced digestion skill,"
"Then the Energy storm, a wide area attack that could be fully controlled before unleashing it. After that it just exist, without any control from me, also using it without Quaptic Regeneration is both impossible and deadly, it destroys the whole body when I use it and it requires immense amounts of energy in the body."
"And then the final skill, Blue Silver Energy Spear, as its name suggests it is an enhanced form of my Blue Silver Energy Spear and its requirement is Energy terrain or the energy that is generated through the Energy storm." [Fan Lin]
"The President is a true genius for figuring out about my Boundless Ring. Those three skills are what I gained through the patient teachings of the President and when I told him about it, he proposed the idea of the Spirit Soul Tower challenge to me."
"He said that I was worthy of much more but I needed to show the Spirit Pagoda of my strength and usefulness. In the Spirit Masters world, strength was the only benchmark that proved out worth. He said he would help me in that and promised that if I can reach the 90th floor, he would request for the 108th floor's spirit soul for me." [Fan Lin]
"And that's why I decided to stop the plantation work for a while and practice my newfound skill to perfection and follow President's plan to take the Spirit Soul Tower challenge today. I thought Elder Yang would know of this already. Did the President not tell you anything?" [Fan Lin]
"I am sure that he said he had everything prepared regarding this and all the council members would be present to watch it. Looks like they left..." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin said, now returning to his usual cold and emotionless tone of voice and behaviour as he calmly pitted everything on Qiangu Dongfeng.
After his small talk with Elder Yang and the absence of Qiangu Dongfeng, he had a general gist of the situation. The situation being that Qiangu Dongfeng was doing his 'evil activities' as usual but then this guy showed up, somehow convinced or threatened him to leave Fan Lin and in anger, Qiangu Dongfeng annulled the bet.
Now what lead to this situation or how things turned out this way, he seriously had no idea. He knew that Qiangu Dongfeng wouldn't make half hearted preparations for the scenario so either this Elder Yang somehow outsmarted Qiangu Dongfeng and avoided the preparation or...
'He got help from a third party.'
As Fan Lin was observing the reaction of Elder Yang while thinking out the various stuff that he experienced, Elder Yang was also thinking about a lot of things.
Fan Lin's words might have been devoid of emotions but to Elder Yang, he still felt the innocence, resentment and calmness of the youth in front of him.
[Purely his own interpretation]
Elder Yang realised that Qiangu Dongfeng was far more crafty and prepared that they all had thought of.
After listening to Fan Lin's words, Elder Yang also had a rough understanding of the situation.
Qiangu Dongfeng must have been keeping a close contact with Fan Lin since the beginning, always on the lookout for an opportunity to score the kid under him.
[?]
During his spying on Fan Lin, he must have found out about the situation of his Boundless Ring and should have decided to keep it a secret.
Then when the protests happened and he got an opportunity, he decided to play the deal and lure Fan Lin in.
But then the question came, why would Qiangu Dongfeng want to destroy the future of Fan Lin's combat strength by equipping him with auxiliary and support type spirit skills?
Elder Yang had no idea about why Qiangu Dongfeng did this but he did have some speculations.
It could be that he feared that Fan Lin could possess a danger to his grandsons future achievements in the Spirit Pagoda but this was just a speculation and Elder Yang didn't want to hastily make a wrong decision, neither did he possess the power to.
All this would be left to the council and Vice Presidents investigation.
The council knew that he really wanted to acquire Fan Lin but this level of desire was still out of their initial estimations and the fact that Qiangu Dongfeng had nearly succeeded made them a joke.
After a moment of silence, Elder Yang spoke while clearing his thoughts.
"The Council members did watch your performance although most of them couldn't attend so it was just through live feed. You also have a guest incoming but she is going to miss it due to the change in your Tower challenge." [Elder Yang]
"Change?" [Fan Lin]
Knowing who she was, Fan Lin focused on the change in his schedule. That was something he didn't know. He needed to increase the number of his loyal staff.
"We had an important meeting in the afternoon so we advanced your trial by 3 hours. I hope you understand." [Elder Yang]
"Okay. So about the-" [Fan Lin]
"The spirit soul, I know. I was getting to that. Follow me." [Elder Yang]
'Don't cut my sentence you Deathbed Disgrace!'
Fan Lin kept his ravaging thoughts inside him and quietly followed behind Elder Yang.
"Before we get into what kind of Spirit Soul we have prepared for you, can you explain your skills in detail? The President is a busy person and had left to attend an important matter in a hurry, leaving me in charge of the trial." [Elder Yang]
"Truthfully speaking, I didn't know about your skills. The President and I didn't get any time to have a proper talk about you. After seeing your match, I am really interested in the skills you showed and now after your explanation I want to know more. Can you tell me about them, only if you don't mind?" [Elder Yang]
"Okay, but what was so urgent that the President had to leave so urgently, if I may ask?" [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin asked, wanting to know the excuse they would have prepared for the 'urgent departure' of honourable President Qiangu Dongfeng.
"Oh that; that's a confidential matter so I don't think I can tell you about it... but it is related to the mysterious death. You must have some knowledge about it." [Elder Yang]
"Oh. So about the Spirit Soul?" [Fan Lin]
"We will soon reach the room, why don't you tell me about your skills till then." [Elder Yang]
'Act like a fool and whole world thinks you are easy. Hmph!'
"Then, let's start with Quaptic Regeneration, it's a passive unlike my original skill and is activated when I have enough food, like 100kg or above food." [Fan Lin]
"How are you able to ingest that much? Is it somehow related to another skill?" [Elder Yang]
"I don't know. I can eat till a level before it becomes too much and I burst with energy. That is the second skill, Energy Storm." [Fan Lin]
"After I have ate a required amount, the Quaptic Regeneration automatically activates and I gain regeneration." [Fan Lin]
"After this, I can either choose to use the excess energy to summon the energy storm or it summons itself while blowing me apart if I eat too much." [Fan Lin]
"After the Energy storm, I finally gain access to the Blue Silver Energy Spear due to unlocking the energy terrain around me." [Fan Lin]
"How did you increase its strength and quantity?" [Elder Yang]
"It depends on the energy storm and energy output." [Fan Lin]
"So you can fully control the energy projectiles as you wish." [Elder Yang]
"Yeah." [Fan Lin]
"Now about the drawbacks, I can only use a single terrain skill at a time, with the only exception of Quaptic Regeneration which works passively on its own." [Fan Lin]
"Secondly, using the energy storm causes my body to be destroyed and regenerated, leading to mental unstablity for a period of time as the healing and retuning of my brain and such takes time."
"And all the terrain skills aren't useful like snow terrain gives the instant hibernation, sea terrain is a cultivation speed improvement skill(active), forest terrain grants me floral scent, basically perfume and raging wind terrain does nothing, still need more experimentation on that." [Fan Lin]
"Hmm, well that weirdly balances out the powerful skills it provides(and some possible weaknesses as well)." [Elder Yang]
"What do you plan to do next? [Elder Yang]
"I think I already stated that, I am going to the cities where there's not much protest for my work, starting from Bright City and beyond. Still need wealth for the various resources that I don't have." [Fan Lin]
"True. Cultivation is a bottomless pit of resources and, we reached the place." [Elder Yang]
Elder Yang took Fan Lin to a spacious room where two balls with different insignias and three women in skimpy clothing seem to be waiting for them.
[?]
"So which one do you like?" [Elder Yang]
Elder Yang cut the introduction of the three women and asked Fan Lin to choose between the two spirit souls without wasting any time.
Fan Lin had already asked twice about the spirit souls so making him say it for the third time didn't feel right to Elder Yang. Except he didn't anticipate the next question of Fan Lin.
"So which is which?" [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin asked while looking at the two choices he was given but no prior knowledge about the spirit souls.
"My bad, I thought you would recognise the insignia of the Ten Great Beasts. My bad. The right one is the Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear and the left one is the Ice Jade Scorpion."
Elder Yang stealthily signalled the three women to swiftly turn on the projector showing the image of the two soul beasts.
"Both of them are the peak level Spirit Souls that we can provide you at the moment and regardless of what you chose, I can assure you that you won't you regret it." [Elder Yang]
He passionately said to Fan Lin while thinking of the headache that he would gain while explaining to the council on why he gave them to him on his own accord.
But Elder Yang's mental pain wasn't something Fan Lin cared about as he replied the instant he saw the Ice Jade Scorpion projection.
"Ice Jade Scorpion." [Fan Lin]
He didn't even look at the description or stats, his eyes fixed at the ball whch held the Ice Jade Scorpion.
"You sure." [Elder Yang]
Elder Yang asked with uncertainty. Normally, wouldn't you give a lot of thought for things like this?
"I am. Now can I take it and leave, I need to reach Bright City before evening." [Fan Lin]
"Yeah, you can. Show him the way." [Elder Yang]
"No need. I am in a hurry." [Fan Lin]
He said and was going to leave when he turned around and asked something he was curious about.
"Why did you not inform me that President Qiangu Dongfeng had left?" [Fan Lin]
"I just wanted you to calmly finish your Spirit Soul challenge without any mental inhibitions. Did I somehow caused you trouble?" [Elder Yang]
Elder Yang said while wondering why Fan Lin asked that now.
"No, it actually helped me a lot. Now I know the importance of time and have a complete understanding of myself and my strength. Thanks." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin gave a smile as he answered, his voice losing their emotionless aspect.
"O-okay." [Elder Yang]
Fan Lin gave a slight bow to the Elder Yang and left the office, his face returning to the usual emotionless state and dead calm in his eyes.
I am calm, calmer than I ever was.
He left the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters, his next destination becoming the final point that proved the change in his heart.
.
.
.
.
.
I have restored his psyche to how it was. He put the blame on Qiangu Dongfeng for the spiritual interference and have already tossed that thought aside.
Truly a weird human. Truly.