All the so-called geniuses whose names are known throughout the world, the prodigies and the favored ones, should all feel so ashamed in the face of William Carter, this monster who descended from the heavens, that they’d want to bash their heads in. This was already beyond Emily Brooks’s comprehension.

With such terrifying talent, if he had a high-level soul essence, how brilliant and glorious would his future be? Emily Brooks didn’t even know whether she should envy William Carter or feel sorry for him. In any case, what a pity!

She just stared blankly at William Carter, until William Carter suddenly stopped everything and abruptly opened his eyes.

“You woke up this quickly?” Seeing William Carter’s eyes suddenly open, Emily Brooks, who had been staring intently at him, was startled once again.

Normally, when someone successfully communicates with their soul essence for the first time, doesn’t it take at least an hour or two to manifest the soul essence in the soul space? William Carter hadn’t even taken half an hour in total—how was that possible? Could it be that William Carter hadn’t actually manifested it, and what she just saw was only an illusion?

Impossible! Emily Brooks immediately dismissed her own thought. He was already able to absorb spiritual energy into his body, which was clearly a sign of completing the initial manifestation. But still, wasn’t this way too fast?

William Carter’s gaze lingered on Emily Brooks’s face, then glanced around her, not finding any sign that Emily Brooks had moved around much. He felt slightly relieved and calmly replied, “I saw that little fish, and there wasn’t anything else strange, so I woke up.” As for the matter of the gray shadow, William Carter didn’t want Emily Brooks or any other outsider to know about it.

“As expected!” Emily Brooks exclaimed inwardly, though her face didn’t show much, only a hint of surprise as she said, “You really were fast!”

“Fast?” William Carter didn’t understand this concept of fast or slow, so he simply asked in return, “How long does it usually take?”

“I—back then, all the adults said I was a genius!” Emily Brooks replied with a wry smile, pointing at herself. “I studied at the elementary academy for three months before I even started communicating with my soul essence, and it took me half a month to succeed the first time. So, how long do you think it takes for an average person?”

“Looks like my efficiency isn’t bad!” William Carter looked at Emily Brooks’s bitter smile and just curled his lips, as if he didn’t care at all.

Emily Brooks was so choked by this “isn’t bad” evaluation that she couldn’t say a word. From start to finish, William Carter had only listened to her explain a few half-baked things—he hadn’t even fully grasped the most basic concepts of soul essence, yet in such a short time, he’d achieved results that ordinary people couldn’t even dream of. And he just called that “isn’t bad”—if it were “pretty good,” how terrifying would that be?

The thing she’d always been proud of since childhood had been utterly shattered by William Carter in just half an hour. Emily Brooks really wanted the instructor who had mocked William Carter in the elementary academy today—pointing at his nose and calling him trash, telling him to get out—to know about all this, and then ask him what kind of performance wouldn’t be called trash.

By the time Emily Brooks calmed down, ten minutes had already passed. William Carter had been sitting there quietly the whole time, as calm and composed as ever, never showing any sign of panic.

“All right, that’s how it is. Once you’ve manifested your soul essence, its environment, and the conditions for upgrading, and everything is vivid and lifelike, and your soul essence can move freely, then your initiation is complete.” Emily Brooks finished explaining the last bit. “Of course, you probably won’t have any upgrade conditions.”

“Upgrade conditions?” William Carter raised his eyebrows and asked.

“Yes, the conditions for a soul essence to upgrade. For example, for a mountain eagle to evolve into a falcon, it has to fly over a mountain surrounded by fierce winds. That mountain with the fierce winds is the upgrade condition. The soul essence must become stronger and stronger, and only by flying over it can it complete the upgrade. For a forest snake to become a soaring serpent, it must leap across trees that are very far apart. That’s another example.” Emily Brooks gave two simple examples to explain.

“But, I’ve never heard of a carp being able to transform.” Emily Brooks shook her head regretfully. “I’m afraid, in the future, the best result will be your little carp turning into a big carp. What a pity!”

“No need to worry about me.” William Carter smiled at Emily Brooks. He could sense that Emily Brooks genuinely felt sorry for him. However, Emily Brooks would never guess that in William Carter’s world, there was always the legend of the carp leaping over the dragon gate, and William Carter had already decided that when the time was right, he would manifest a dragon gate in his soul essence space.

The girl in his dreams had, under William Carter’s guidance, transformed her sparrow soul essence into a phoenix—how could William Carter let his own carp become worthless?

“I’m going to hunt a demon beast in three months.” Emily Brooks no longer wanted to dwell on the topic of soul essence, lest the more William Carter learned, the less confident he’d feel. She cleverly changed the subject: “When the time comes, I hope you can help.”

The best way to give someone confidence is to let them know they can contribute and help. That’s exactly what Emily Brooks was doing now.

“No problem!” As Emily Brooks expected, William Carter agreed readily and confidently. Confidence is good, Emily Brooks thought to herself.

“By the way, there’s something else I wanted to ask.” Just as Emily Brooks was thinking she should leave and give William Carter some time alone, William Carter suddenly spoke up: “What kind of elixir can be used to treat a damaged soul?”