Unlock Kamen Riders in Douluo's Way Ch 70

Early the next morning, a tremendous roar reverberated through the streets, capturing the attention of everyone in Soto City. The source of the noise was a colossal steel monstrosity shaped like a skull, lumbering down the main thoroughfare. Soul Masters recognized it as a large-scale, mobile prop-type soul tool. However, the majority of ordinary citizens, unfamiliar with such devices, panicked, believing some kind of monstrous soul beast had invaded the human world. It took the intervention of the Soul Master Guild to quell the ensuing chaos. Even then, a crowd continued to surround the steel chariot parked at the guild's gate, gazing at it with a mixture of fear and fascination.

"..."

Yin Xiaoya stared at the Meteorstar, now resembling a mangled pineapple, and couldn't help but twitch his lips. He hadn't anticipated that the "female driver's curse" could manifest itself in this world.

"How could it end up in pieces like this?" he asked, incredulous.

Su Xuan lowered her head, a blush creeping up her neck. "I'm so sorry," she mumbled. "When you were driving, it looked so easy. When it was my turn, it turned out to be surprisingly difficult to control."

Yin Xiaoya sighed and reluctantly stowed away the Meteor Driver, then spent a hefty sum of points with Xiaoman to get it repaired.

Well, at least the repairs are cheap, he thought wryly.

The journey to the lava mountains had come to an end, with a harvest that exceeded his expectations. Besides the Kamen Rider items, he unlocked himself, he gained more powerful knight abilities with the help of Emperor Yan and the others. Moreover, through these events, his accumulated rider points soared to over 500 million, enough for ten consecutive lottery draws.

With that many points, he could directly purchase complete forms for several secondary Riders. However, that was an extravagance he couldn't afford right now.

For example, he mused, take my three current Rider forms. Meteor is the basic form I got from the lottery, Storm is an upgrade I bought with points, and Skull was also from a lucky draw. The first two don't generate soul power, so their power will always be limited until I find soul beasts to fully unlock them. Amazon Alpha, on the other hand, is completely unlocked because I acquired it from a soul beast. Buying that with rider points would have cost at least 100 million! And even then, I'd still need a Devil Belly Flame Lizard to unlock it fully.

He concluded that directly using a soul beast to unlock the Rider form was not only more powerful, but also saved a ton of knight points.

Xiaoman told me that points have an even greater purpose when the system upgrades, so I should save as much as possible he reminded himself.

"Wow~~," Ma Hongjun circled the Skullgarry, his eyes wide with excitement. "Senior, this is so awesome! Are we really setting off in this?"

"Of course," Yin Xiaoya confirmed with a grin. "You won't have to be jostled around anymore, and we don't need someone to hold onto a soul beast for transport. It's intelligent—well, it can automatically find the route and move forward. And there's enough space inside for all of us."

As he spoke, he scanned the crowd, noticing one teacher missing, but one girl was added. The missing teacher must have been Su Xuan, sending the stored soul tool on the evil soul master back to Shrek. The extra girl was... familiar.

"Oh, her. Didn't you rescue her?" he asked Su Xuan.

Su Xuan nodded, reminding him, "That's Astra, the one you saved from Canghui Academy."

Yin Xiaoya finally remembered. "Oh, right!" That's the girl I met when I was looking for Su Xuan that day! Why did she look so afraid of him?

"Then...you looked so scary that day," Astra stammered, avoiding eye contact. "It felt like you were going to eat someone else."

Ah, that's right. The Alpha Amazon persona at that time was pretty scary.

"I'm sorry, sorry," he apologized sheepishly. "That Rider form is like that. It definitely wasn't meant to scare you."

Astra also seemed bewildered. The warm, easygoing guy in front of him was very different from the bloodthirsty figure he'd witnessed that day.

"Actually, you don't need to apologize," Astra spoke up. "I have to thank you for sending me out of there. And from today on, I'll be in your care."

"Eh? What do you mean?" Yin Xiaoya took a step back, alarmed. What the hell? Did I do something to make me responsible? Seeing his reaction, everyone burst into laughter, so Su Xuan explained Astra's situation.

Throughout the explanation, Astra fidgeted, worrying that the leader of the Kamen Riders wouldn't want to protect her. Meanwhile, Ma Hongjun was even more flustered. He had used the name of Kamen Rider without permission, forming a relationship with outsiders, and worried he'd incurred Yin Xiaoya's wrath.

Fortunately, Yin Xiaoya's final reaction eased their fears, and he affirmed Ma Hongjun's actions without hesitation. "Your behavior has begun to align with the spirit of a Kamen Rider," he praised. Ma Hongjun's face turned red with pride.

I should thank Su Xuan too Yin Xiaoya thought, After all, no matter how bad Canghui Academy is, I would never agree with their actions. She also sent money to them in my name, this girl is too good!

"Thank you," Yin Xiaoya thanked Su Xuan in a low voice. "I'll pay you back later."

Su Xuan shook her head, a playful smile on her lips. "No need. Just take it as repayment for the kindness you, Mr. Kamen Rider, showed in saving me from the evil soul master. But you still have to be careful. Even so, I don't think Canghui Academy will let this go so easily."

"Don't worry," Yin Xiaoya said dismissively. "They're just delivery people. After the mission is completed, it won't be long before they can jump around."

Hearing this, Su Xuan frowned, at a loss. "Delivery? What did you deliver?"

Yin Xiaoya shrugged, not offering any further explanation. He glanced at Ao Jia, who was now getting along with Ma Hongjun and the others.

It's God's will...

If it wasn't for Astra's martial soul, he wouldn't have recognized her as the Sausage Auntie Oscar even if he killed him. He never expected Oscar's counterpart in this world to be a woman.

Sure enough, as the protagonist of Douluo World, some kind of miraculous effect is brewing, finally bringing these people together. I wonder if the remaining three will also appear?

Wait? Oscar's counterpart is female, so Ning Rongrong's counterpart isn't a man, right? It's not impossible...

In short, since Astra had appeared, Yin Xiaoya had no reason to reject her. He now had a premonition that great things were about to happen to these people. And, not surprisingly, those events would undergo earth-shaking changes due to his intervention.

"Okay, since everything has been agreed upon, we can almost go."

"Sorry, I can't let you leave just yet," a voice interrupted. "The Soul Master Guild has been waiting for you for a long time, Mr. Yin Xiaoya. It's time for you to meet us."

Yin Xiaoya had planned to set off immediately after preparing to join the crowd. But Liu Zhou, who had been waiting for him for several days, insisted on hosting a banquet for him.

Under Su Xuan's explanation, Yin Xiaoya realized that his secret fight against the evil soul masters had been exposed. And this Liu Zhou, as one of the people in charge of dealing with the evil soul master incident, wanted to cooperate with him directly.

"Mr. Yin Xiaoya, you may not realize how serious the recent activities of evil soul masters have become," Liu Zhou said gravely at the banquet. "But the most troublesome thing isn't their increased activity; it's that these evil soul masters are different from those of the past. They've mastered an ability that allows them to squeeze the cultivation of others. Because of this, the price we have to pay to subdue them has more than doubled. The growth of soul masters is not easy, and if this continues, it will inevitably cause chaos in the balance of the soul master world..."

After listening to Liu Zhou's description, Yin Xiaoya understood why he wanted to see him. The evil soul masters who'd appeared had gained the ability to steal other people's cultivation from somewhere. In a sense, this restrained the orthodox soul masters.

Unless there was a significant level difference or a lot of sacrifices were made, these evil soul masters couldn't be taken down.

Because I'm not a soul master, I'm immune to their powers Yin Xiaoya realized.

Yin Xiaoya carefully recalled his battle with the evil soul master, especially his first fight in Skull form. The other party had tried to absorb his power but found he didn't have the slightest soul power. The opponent's first reaction, upon discovering this, was to turn around and run.

"Indeed," Yin Xiaoya agreed. "Once they realize that special ability doesn't work, they understand they have no advantage. But is there no way to prevent the soul power from being absorbed by them?"

Liu Zhou shook his head helplessly. "If it was just to prevent the absorption of soul power, most soul masters would have their own methods. The problem is that their ability is mainly to squeeze cultivation. And we've found that the targets most attacked by these beasts are younger soul masters below the thirtieth level. We've received many reports of excellent seedlings from all over being targeted by them..."

Yin Xiaoya's face darkened. He'd thought the evil soul masters preying on younger masters in the soul beast forest was a localized issue. He hadn't expected this to be a widespread problem.

"Huh? That's strange," Yin Xiaoya frowned. "Shouldn't they be targeting higher-level soul masters to extract more power? Why are they mostly staring at the younger generation?"

Liu Zhou explained that the captured evil soul masters claimed that, until three months ago, they'd been ordinary people with no cultivation. They'd been recruited into a mysterious organization and granted this exercise. Therefore, their cultivation was extracted from others, which was why they targeted the younger generation.

Yin Xiaoya gasped. He had suspected someone was manipulating things from behind the scenes, but he hadn't expected these evil soul masters to be cultivated this way. It was no wonder they focused on the younger generation; they lacked combat experience and only picked on the weaker ones.

This also suggested that these released evil soul masters were pawns destined to become someone else's wedding dress. But who was squeezing the power of the entire soul master world, and for what extreme purpose?

Liu Zhou regretfully shook his head, stating that the investigation hadn't reached that level yet.

"I only know that this organization and the exercises they practice appeared out of thin air, and have no connection to existing evil soul master organizations," he explained. "Of course, they've also destroyed a small number of evil soul master organizations to recruit members. These recruits already have a certain strength, and with the blessing of this exercise, they've become the most threatening group of people. Oh yes, the three evil soul masters you killed in the lava mountain belonged to other evil soul master organizations before."

Yin Xiaoya and Su Xuan exchanged a look. They both had the same thought: the storage soul tool sent to Shrek.

If ordinary people recruited to become evil soul masters were likely to be used as pawns, recruiting evil soul masters with existing strength and backgrounds was likely a form of cooperation. Clues had to be found with those people.

"Mr. Yin Xiaoya, I witnessed the apprentice transforming into a Kamen Rider. The power displayed doesn't come from the soul master but depends on the transformation. It's based on your own strength and willpower," Liu Zhou said earnestly. "If our soul masters were equipped with such power, they could protect themselves from harm and show the same strength. Therefore, the Soul Master Guild would like to invite you to cooperate. We are willing to buy the knight power in your hands at a high price, even if it's just to rent it..."

Indeed, the power of a Kamen Rider came from willpower, but not everyone could possess that idealistic drive. The strength of the transformed person also determined the power of the transformation.

Just like Kamen Rider Meteor, Yin Xiaoya mused. If Su Xuan transformed, the power would be many times stronger than what I could achieve. Even without using her soul power.

To be honest, Yin Xiaoya was surprised by Liu Zhou's insight. He'd almost grasped the essence of a Kamen Rider.

But you can't just buy this power with money, Yin Xiaoya scoffed internally. And where am I going to get this power from...

[Host, yes, there are several mass-produced knights to choose from]

Yin Xiaoya froze for a moment, then slapped his head. That's right! Mass-produced knights... But even if they were mass-produced, they still possessed the power of Kamen Riders. He was still wary of handing them over to strangers like this.

Besides, how many would be needed? His 500 million points, as intimidating as it sounded, would probably vanish quickly.

[The host doesn't have to worry about the rider's power being abused. Xiaoman can add restrictions such as preventing transformation for those with evil intentions] Xiaoman reassured him. [As for the exchange price, it is definitely not expensive. Most importantly, these people who use the power of Kamen Riders will bring more points to the host. Therefore, this is a guaranteed profit that you can consider.]

"Then what are you waiting for? Do it!" Yin Xiaoya thought excitedly.