Hoo…
Inside the golden treehouse.
Su Wen sat cross-legged on the bed, slowly exhaling a turbid breath.
A soul core the size of a longan slightly expanded and contracted at his chest, surrounded by dense black energy, like a black hole, visibly absorbing the world's spiritual energy.
Level seventy-five.
The realm of Soul Saint. For ordinary people, no matter how talented, getting stuck for over a decade is normal; gaining one level a year is not unusual.
But Su Wen had reached Soul Saint in just a year and a half, advancing five levels in a row.
"Tsk, one level every three months—how is this different from when I was at the lower levels?" Su Wen absorbed spiritual energy, retracted his soul core, stretched lazily, and shook his head with a sigh.
Tang San was only a mild source of pressure, but it was there.
After all, his ultimate goal was to overthrow Tang San—not to coexist peacefully.
This guy is a double god, especially with the Shura God's position. With Xiao Wu as his sword sheath, he could almost control most of the divine power passed down from the previous Shura God. It wasn't like Ji Dong and Lie Yan, who needed time to adapt after inheriting their godhoods.
Tang San managed to become a rival to Destruction in just a few decades.
Buzz…
A pitch-black door slowly opened beside him.
Electrolux appeared.
"Teacher?" Su Wen was surprised.
"Aren't you in the God Realm—?"
"Oh, I just came down for a stroll," Electrolux replied with a gentle smile.
Su Wen: "…"
"Heh, just kidding. Since Tang San dared to set up a foothold on this continent, of course I can too. The current me is just a wisp of divine sense, not my true body, so I won't draw the God Realm's attention." Seeing Su Wen's disbelief, Electrolux explained with a smile.
"The God Realm is a makeshift troupe—Destruction and Sea God are busy fighting for power; who has time to care about me? Kindness and Evil are new gods, and even if they noticed, they wouldn't say anything."
"It's just as you said—if you don't weigh it, it's light as a feather, but once it's on the scales, it could be a thousand pounds."
"Tang San's own hands aren't clean—would he dare to report me?"
"I see…" Su Wen finally understood.
"Of course, I'm here for another reason." Electrolux mused.
"After becoming a god, my control over divine power is terrifying. It means I can now perfect some things I'd only imagined before."
"Like the contract between humans and soul beasts that you mentioned."
"Replacing killing with capturing."
"There's hope?" Su Wen's eyes lit up. He'd been promising this 'big pie' to the Silver Dragon King for a while now. He was confident it could be done, but every time he held her close, he still felt a tinge of guilt.
"Indeed." Electrolux clasped his hands behind his back and nodded proudly.
"The difficulty before was with the contract magic array for soul beasts—it was rather flimsy, just a system from my world, a simple contract full of bugs."
"But now… with divine power, I can change a lot."
"For example, I can perfect the 'Pokéball.' After capturing a soul beast, it can stay in a small pocket world. This can be achieved using the storage soul tool's space-folding technology, which is mature enough to be adapted."
"Second, after reaching a bottleneck, say level thirty, each person can capture a soul beast to advance to Soul Elder. No more killing soul beasts for spirit rings—every major breakthrough can be made by capturing a soul beast, like you did."
"This was always the hardest part—how to replace killing with capture. But after becoming a god, it's all resolved. The God King realm is just too powerful…"
Electrolux sighed, then continued.
"I also demonstrated the advantages of capturing over killing. Captured soul beasts will grow alongside their masters, amplifying each other. It's not one-to-one like you, but about three-to-one. For example, if the master increases by three levels, the soul beast can be boosted by one level. That's enough to tempt soul beasts to accept the contract."
"Of course, the contract conditions are relatively equal. Humans don't have life-or-death power over the soul beast, and soul beasts can't backstab their humans, or they'll face harsh contract punishment."
"Masters won't get soul skills, but they'll gain a powerful, growth-oriented soul beast companion. Not bad." Su Wen nodded. "By the way, Teacher, can humans acquire their pet's skills?"
"No, but they'll have improved physical fitness, synchronized with the soul beast." Electrolux smiled.
"Hiss…" Su Wen sucked in a breath.
That's still crazy OP.
If Pokéballs were introduced to the continent, he couldn't imagine how popular they'd become.
Sometimes, brute-force bans don't work.
Only by letting humans truly taste the benefits will they rush in headfirst, impossible to chase away.
"That means I can start working on my plan for Pokéball Dojos…" Su Wen's eyes sparkled.
"Yes, that's my last point. Establishing Dojos is extremely important to the overall plan. I want to set up a kind of 'transfer station' to ensure that when a human dies, their contracted soul beast can return here, then either choose a new master or leave and return to the Star Dou Great Forest."
"That's to prevent soul beasts from being maliciously captured."
"I once thought all this was just speculation, but now, with the Death God's authority in my hands, I control the cycle of life and death and can make it happen."
"Like those souls I recently took into the Death Space and sent to reincarnation—the Death God's authority is vast, with an insane upper limit. No wonder it can support my rise to God King." Electrolux exclaimed.
The Death God really is overpowered.
It can even interfere with the lower-level logic of the continent.
"As for soul bones…" Electrolux mused, "since the combat core is shifting from humans to soul beasts, the cost-effectiveness of humans absorbing soul bones will plummet. Soul beasts can't absorb them, so prices will drop, and humans will lose interest."
"As for spirit rings, I can't fully solve that yet. I can only gently guide humans to capture instead."
"That's enough, Teacher!" Su Wen was excited.
"More than enough!"
He could already imagine how happy Silver Dragon King and Di Tian would be. Without having to migrate to another planet, this was definitely the optimal solution.
Though many details still needed refining, the direction was good.
He wondered, though, if the protagonist ten thousand years from now might be named Ash…
…