2: Chapter 2: Devouring All Spirits, the Rise Begins!

In Lin Yuan's mind, the system's prompt tone continued to sound...

[System activation successful! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Spirit Devouring skill, which can devour any soul body that has not yet dissipated for one's own use]

[System panel generating---]

[host]: Lin Yuan

[Ability]: F-rank Spatial Ability

[Martial Arts Level]: Not yet initiated

[Combat Power]: 10

[Martial Arts]: None

[Skill]: Spirit Devouring

[ability points]: 0 points

[Newbie Gift Pack detected, open now?]

"Open!"

Lin Yuan made his choice without hesitation.

[Opening Newbie Gift Pack---Congratulations to the host for obtaining S-rank Spatial Ability, 100 ability points]

[Ability]: S-rank Spatial Ability

[Combat Power]: 100 [Upgradable]

[ability points]: 100 points

Other items on the system panel showed no change aside from these three entries.

"My ability level was directly raised to S-rank! This system is too monstrous. If things continue like this, I'll be able to max out my ability level to SSS-rank soon, right? This feeling of cheating is truly awesome!"

"The Martial Arts Examination qualification test is tomorrow. Tonight, I must find a way to raise my Martial Arts Level to Body Tempering Initial Stage first," Lin Yuan thought to himself.

In this world, the division of ability levels, from lowest to highest, ranges across nine tiers from F to SSS.

S-rank is already a genius seen only once in ten thousand people. The Great Xia Dynasty hasn't seen an awakener of an S-rank ability for several years.

"But how do I raise my Martial Arts Level? The 100 ability points rewarded by the system are not enough for me to break through to Body Tempering Initial Stage."

On the system panel, there was no prompt indicating that the Martial Arts Level could be upgraded, only that Combat Power could be upgraded.

"I'll save the ability points for now. The urgent matter is raising my Martial Arts Level."

Huang Dongdong saw Lin Yuan looking stunned and thought he was still angry. To ease the atmosphere, he suggested:

"Yuan Zi, don't be angry. That idiot Wang Qing isn't worth it. Let's go to the Beast Fighting Arena after school. My dad got two tickets; we can go broaden our horizons and relax a bit?"

"Beast Fighting Arena?"

Lin Yuan's heart stirred. "Right, the Beast Fighting Arena! How did I not think of that?"

The Beast Fighting Arena was similar to the gladiatorial arenas in his previous life's movies—a place where Martial Artists fought fierce beasts.

Some low-level Martial Artists went to the Beast Fighting Arena to fight fierce beasts, some to gain combat experience, but many more went for money.

Ordinary people could buy tickets to watch the fights, satisfying their curiosity and yearning for Martial Artists.

Therefore, it was an extremely lively place, yet also one filled with the scent of blood.

Every fight would end with the death of one party, whether it was the fierce beast or the Martial Artist; one had to fall.

Since there was death, there would be soul bodies, and weren't these soul bodies exactly what Lin Yuan, who possessed the Spirit Devouring skill, needed most right now?

"Good! No problem, we'll go right after school!" Lin Yuan immediately agreed.

...

After school, Huang Dongdong treated Lin Yuan to a plate of spicy hot pot at a roadside stall near the school gate, and the two headed towards the Beast Fighting Arena.

Spring City was the provincial capital, after all, and the scale of the Beast Fighting Arena was truly massive. The magnificent circular venue housed the arena itself.

Before even entering, the two were already awestruck by the bright lights and the clamor of the crowd inside.

Huang Dongdong produced the tickets, and the two successfully entered the Beast Fighting Arena.

Walking inside, Lin Yuan looked around. There were truly so many people here, with the audience members all highly agitated, shouting encouragement wildly.

Below the circular stands was the fighting pit, where a match was currently underway: a burly man fighting a wolf-shaped fierce beast.

The large screen displayed the match introduction; this was a contest at the Body Tempering Mid-stage level.

The Beast Fighting Arena hosted many low-level fights. After all, higher-level Martial Artists disdained coming to such a place.

Martial Artists were noble; how could they allow themselves to be watched like clowns by a crowd of ordinary people? Only low-level Martial Artists who desperately needed money would come here.

At this moment, Lin Yuan, sitting in the stands, had his fiery gaze locked onto the fighting pit.

Floating there were numerous milky-white soul bodies, drifting around...

A rough count showed about thirty or so, all of them being soul bodies of fierce beasts; no human soul bodies had appeared yet.

"Dongzi, how many fights does this Beast Fighting Arena hold every day?" Lin Yuan asked Huang Dongdong beside him.

"This place has no less than ten matches daily. Today has just started; it should last another two hours. Hurry up and watch," Huang Dongdong replied hastily.

"Calculating it this way, the soul bodies probably don't dissipate for three days after the death of the fierce beast's original body. This point is absolutely heaven-defying..."

Lin Yuan was ecstatic internally. If soul bodies didn't dissipate for three days, wouldn't he be able to frequently eat ready-made meals in the future?

It didn't matter who killed the fierce beast; as long as the killing time was within three days, he could devour its soul body for his own use.

"I should try devouring these soul bodies first."

Lin Yuan stopped overthinking; raising his Martial Arts Level was the priority.

"Dongzi, you keep watching. I'm going to the restroom."

Lin Yuan made an excuse and left. Huang Dongdong was engrossed in the fight and only waved his hand without looking back.

He arrived at the entrance leading to the lower level of the Beast Fighting Arena and walked straight down.

The lower level was parallel to the fighting pit. Lin Yuan quickly spotted a large gate made of thick metal bars.

Lin Yuan approached the metal bars, looking at the soul bodies so close at hand, a look of intense craving and excitement on his face.

"These soul bodies are the first step to my rise..."