Ignaz surfaced to catch his breath, feeling an incredible sense of exhilaration. Ever since his battle with the Haipo brothers, he'd been considering this perfect method of body tempering. Using the intense water pressure generated by the high-speed movements of certain sea soul beasts, he could achieve the ideal effect of strengthening his body. Not only would his skin become rougher and tougher, but this pressure would also reinforce his internal organs, ultimately reaching the pinnacle of body tempering.
Isn't this even better than the Tide Tempering of the Sea God's Three Trials?
After calming his mind, Ignaz dove back underwater. Waiting for the right moment, he grabbed hold of the dorsal fin of a tuna—a creature with little intelligence.
"Be a good tool for my body tempering, and I promise to treat you to some tasty food afterward!"
Of course, the tuna didn't understand a word. It only knew that this human, who kept climbing onto its back, was extremely annoying. It sped up, trying once again to shake him off just like last time.
As expected, after barely holding on for six or seven minutes, Ignaz was thrown off again.
The tuna was furious now. This human had provoked it repeatedly—enough was enough. It charged straight at Ignaz, intending to knock him out with a headbutt.
"Bring it on!"
When the tuna was less than a meter away, Ignaz activated his soul power, dodged the fierce collision by sidestepping, and quickly grabbed its fin.
"See? I told you to help me train. I'll make sure you get some good food later. We humans are pretty reliable!"
The fish and the man tormented each other like this all day long. By then, the tuna was exhausted, floating at the surface gasping for the air trapped in the seawater.
Meanwhile, Ignaz rested on a large rock, panting heavily, completely worn out. As he ate some whale meat, a happy smile spread across his face.
He tossed some aged soul beast meat near the tuna. The moment the fish caught the scent of the richly infused soul power in the meat, it immediately swallowed a piece.
A look of longing appeared in its eyes—this seemed to be the highlight of its fishy life. When smaller fish came to snatch the meat, the tuna quickly darted over and claimed every piece, swallowing it all without leaving a scrap, except for some meat flakes it spat out.
At that moment, the rising tide had completely flooded the shallow bay, but the tuna still poked its head above water, staring at Ignaz on the rock, unwilling to leave.
"Who says a ten-year-old tuna has no intelligence? Isn't this a classic example of a wise soul beast?"
The next day, when Ignaz returned, the shallow bay looked the same—but the tuna was gone. He sighed softly.
"Ah, what a pity. The bond I formed with that good fish yesterday is gone. Looks like the tuna either died or forgot what happened—after all, fish only have a seven-second memory."
Still, Ignaz wasn't discouraged. Many fast-swimming sea soul beasts were trapped in the bay. Without the tuna, there were still swordfish!
But the swordfish was more aggressive—especially with the fifty or sixty centimeters of sharp spines extending from its head. This excited Ignaz even more.
He channeled his soul power into his feet and boldly provoked the swordfish right in front of it.
When the swordfish charged at top speed, Ignaz sprinted on the water's surface, dodging attacks to wear down his soul power and increase his running endurance—sharpening his soul power through this grueling practice.
As the swordfish closed in, Ignaz flipped backward and firmly grabbed its fin.
"Gotcha!"
Just like the tuna yesterday, the swordfish sped up, trying desperately to shake off its rider—but in the end, it became his best tool for body tempering.
During school, apart from his regular Martial Soul classes, Ignaz would spar with the Haipo brothers every now and then. The stakes were fifty pounds of whale rubber or various aged sea soul beast meats.
Ignaz loved this efficient way of acquiring resources. To encourage the Haipo brothers' competitive spirit and maintain sustainable progress, he often ended their bouts in a draw, winning slightly more than losing.
During breaks, Ignaz honed his physique through water pressure tempering and battles with soul beasts aged ten to even a hundred years. He ate whale rubber every three days to replenish himself. Though the strengthening effects of century-old and millennium-old whale rubber diminished over time, he kept consuming it—and sold the excess.
Although whale rubber was sold cheaply along the coast, it was far from affordable for ordinary people. A pound of century-old whale rubber cost 10 gold soul coins.
In just two years, by the time he was 11 by traditional count, Ignaz's body had grown stronger, his skin bronzed, and his height shot up to an impressive 1.7 meters. His soul power reached the level 20 bottleneck.
More importantly, from selling whale rubber and other high-quality soul beast meats, his wealth had grown to around 50,000 to 60,000 gold soul coins.
"Iggy, in a few months we'll graduate. During this time, we brothers are going to beat you."
"Come on, let's spar!"
Ignaz waved them off, shaking his head. "No thanks. I've reached the level 20 soul power bottleneck. It's time to get my soul rings!"
"What? That fast? I seriously suspect your duels these last two years were just for show!" Haibai and Haigui exclaimed, stunned.
Ignaz chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "No way! Your Martial Soul Fusion skills are amazing. Besides, you've both been training way faster to try and catch me, haven't you?"
"Haibai, you're already halfway through level 18 soul power, and Haigui has reached level 18. You guys should be proud."
Haigui looked up and suddenly had a realization.
"Right! Based on our usual pace, there's no way we'd have improved six levels in just two years. Our parents keep praising us for being ambitious and having the potential to become Soul Saints!"
Ignaz smiled faintly. Soul Saint potential—if they keep training this hard and continue taking whale rubber, they could reach Soul Emperor in at most twelve years. To become Soul Saints, they'd need to pass the Sea God Island trials.
"Well, I'm off for now. When I come back next time, I'll treat you brothers to a meal!"
Ignaz waved happily and headed toward the dean's office. Pushing the door open, he smiled and said,
"Dean, I want your help getting soul rings. My soul power has just broken through the level 20 barrier."
"Level 20? Each soul ring gets harder and harder to acquire, even surpassing the time needed for the first ring by half a year. Your training speed is that of someone born with full soul power!"
The dean of the Water Institute was incredibly excited but quickly composed himself and asked, "Since your first soul ring was absorbed ahead of schedule, how many years are you aiming for with your second ring?"
"You know the special changes the first ring's early absorption gave me. Naturally, I plan to absorb my second ring ahead of schedule too. The time range I'm targeting is between 1,300 and 1,600 years."
Ignaz's estimate was conservative. Given his current physical condition, adding another couple hundred years wouldn't cause much trouble—but better safe than sorry.