To understand a soul ring, one first needed to obtain a soul ring.
Hence, finding and killing a soul beast became his top priority.
Walking several dozen kilometers deep into the forest, he suddenly realized something was off. Cursing as he walked, he muttered:
"Damn it, how am I supposed to fight a soul beast? I don't even have a dagger. What am I supposed to do, punch it or throw rocks at it? That annoying brat must be waiting for me to crawl back and beg her for help. No way! I'd rather beg anyone else than that irritating kid!"
When he had been acting earlier, it was fine, but now that his cover was blown, he couldn't keep the same facade.
Who was he? He was Ender, the leader of humanity, the strongest single combatant. How could he stoop so low as to beg a mere child?
After some thought, a realization struck him:
"Wait a minute, why did I forget about my martial soul? It's a miniature black hole, meaning it has incredible penetration power. Although I can't amplify its strength much with my current abilities, it should still be enough to destroy a brain, right? Hold on… doesn't this mean I'm basically invincible?"
Suddenly, something felt very wrong. He summoned his martial soul and directed it into his arm.
But contrary to his expectations, his arm seemed impenetrable, as if there wasn't a single gap to pass through. This was completely illogical.
"What the hell? Why can't it pass through? Is my body really that tough? Maybe I'll try again."
He picked up a small rock and directed the black hole into it. This time, it worked, but since he didn't infuse any soul power to sustain it, there was no suction force.
"Why did it work with the rock? Let's try adding some soul power."
As his soul power quickly depleted, the black hole's suction force increased proportionally.
The rock was entirely absorbed, inside and out, and then vanished into thin air.
Of course, it hadn't truly disappeared. It had been devoured by the miniature black hole and assimilated into its internal mass.
Satisfied with the result, he decided to experiment further—this time with an ant. The black hole successfully absorbed the ant as well.
After conducting several more experiments, Ender finally resolved to find a soul beast.
At that moment, a large rabbit crossed his path. One look was enough to confirm it was a soul beast. Ender grinned and said:
"Time to test this on something alive."
He launched the black hole straight into the rabbit's head. Surprisingly, it worked.
Seeing this, he tried to apply some force, but to his dismay, it caused no harm to the rabbit.
The rabbit didn't even seem to notice and continued hopping around leisurely.
Stunned, he paused and thought:
"Why isn't there any damage? Wait a minute… I get it now. The energy I used wasn't enough."
Determined, he poured all his strength into powering the black hole.
As his energy rapidly depleted, his face grew pale. The rabbit didn't even have time to scream before its body was crushed from the inside out by an overwhelming suction force, then absorbed entirely in the blink of an eye.
Ender retracted his martial soul and reflected:
"It seems I can't harm anyone whose soul power exceeds or equal mine. Maybe God set this mechanism in place to prevent me from becoming some overpowered hacker, killing the top-ranked players right after awakening my martial soul."
Suddenly struck by another thought, he muttered to himself:
"Wait a second. The black hole is my martial soul, which, in a sense, is part of my body. So… where does everything it absorbs go?"
With an idea forming, he immediately entered a state of meditation to push the martial soul test.
At the same time, he used this opportunity to examine his body for any abnormalities.
After a few hours of recovery and checking, he slowly opened his eyes, his face breaking into a wide grin:
"Ha ha ha! So that's how it works! While the black hole doesn't directly enhance my strength, it can help me accumulate energy for later use. This is utterly absurd, but hey, God can do whatever He wants in this world. Not that it matters—this thing can be considered a super energy core."
He chuckled before continuing:
"The only downside is that in its current state, my martial soul can only release energy outside my body and can't do much else. But if I have a decent enough robot, couldn't it continuously fire energy blasts? Looks like I need to build a robot soon. Thankfully, my memories are intact; otherwise, this would've been a real headache."
Having determined the uses of the black hole, he immediately tossed aside his pride and sprinted back.
.....
Standing before Ye Qingyun, he dropped to his knees and clung to her leg, shamelessly flattering her:
"Master, I was wrong! Please, I beg you, help me hunt for a good soul ring!"
What? You're asking where his dignity went? What dignity? Does anyone know what dignity even is?
Ender only knew one thing: he wanted a super VIP pro robot as soon as possible. Everything else, he didn't care about.
Ye Qingyun was taken aback. This time, looking at Ender didn't feel like the usual act he put on, leaving her brain temporarily frozen for a few seconds. She thought:
"What the heck? How did he go out for just a few hours and come back like… this?"
But seeing the shameless old man with his face pressed against her leg, begging for mercy, her expression turned sour.
She immediately kicked him flying and snorted:
"Hmph! Since you've humbled yourself to beg, I'll help you. What kind of soul ring do you want to absorb?"
"Anything is fine, as long as it's the highest level my body can handle." Ender replied obediently.
Seeing the old man behaving so meekly in front of her sent shivers down her spine.
She had a gut feeling this old guy was up to no good, but she couldn't prove it.
"Hmph. We'll set out tomorrow morning." she said coldly.
"Yes, long live the master!" he replied with a grin.
But no sooner had he spoken than he received another swift kick.
.....
That night, lying in his room, Ender tossed and turned, unable to sleep. He felt like he had overlooked something important.
Rolling around on the bed for a while, his eyes suddenly lit up. He muttered to himself:
"Ha ha ha! I've been in that body for so long, I completely forgot this one can cultivate. If I use the energy collected by my martial soul to cultivate, won't I break through much faster? Then I can create an enormous robot body—one even grander than before! I'll become the ultimate energy core and the pilot combined."
But as he thought about his current body, a sense of unease crept in:
"How much longer do I have to live? When cultivating, I noticed something strange about this body. It doesn't act like the body of an ordinary old man or even a typical cultivator. The more energy I absorb from nature into the black hole, the better this body seems to become.
Could it be that God gave me a biologically immortal body? That's the only explanation that makes sense—there's nothing in the basic cultivation guides that matches my situation. But I still need to hurry. If I'm wrong, I really don't have much time left."