"I've lost. Quickly get off me." Srinivas said angrily. His eyes were filled with a look of hate and denial.
However, Sai Joshi didn't release him. Instead, he coldly replied. "The five conditions that you previously set aren't something that I'm unwilling to do, however, I'm not doing it because of your threats, but because of the respect I have for a roommate. I know that you're stronger than me, and that I definitely wouldn't be your match if we were both to use our martial souls. However, remember this. If you dare to humiliate me again, then even if I'm beaten to death by you, I'll definitely make sure you pay the price."
When he saw Sai Joshi's increasing viciousness, which got to the point that felt like he was looking into the eyes of a blood-thirsty spirit beast, the hate in Srinivas's eyes dissipated. What replaced it was a slightly dismayed look. In the field of strength, Sai Joshi was clearly a lot weaker than him, but in the field of imposingness, he'd completely lost.
Sai Joshi slowly released Srinivas and stood up. While facing Srinivas, he retreated a few steps. Then, he turned around, and headed back towards their dorm room.
Srinivas sat dazedly on the ground for a while, before finally standing up again. Then, he slowly walked towards their dorm room as well. When he arrived at the dorm's main entrance, the voice of an old man echoed out, "You have indeed lost. Not just in battle, but even your heart has lost."
"Why?" Srinivas suddenly turned around to gaze at the old man. With an unresigned look on his face, he replied, "I'm clearly stronger than him. If I were to really fight against him, he wouldn't have even been able to touch me. In which way did he achieve victory over me?"
The old man pointed towards his own heart, "On the basis of this. He has a fearless heart, while you lack one. Not being afraid of death isn't something that just anyone can do."
Srinivas was stunned. After a while, he bowed deeply towards the old man. "Grandpa, thank you for your advice." After speaking, he walked towards the dorm room with large strides.
Upon his return to the dorm room, Srinivas saw Sai Joshi, who'd already begun to meditate on his wooden bed. He wanted to say something, but in the end, he held it in. After letting out a snort, he made his bed.
Compared to Sai Joshi's poverty-stricken conditions, Srinivas's bed was set up with a thick fur mattress that had been made from the fur of some unknown spirit beast. It looked thick and soft. Furthermore, he even had a soft quilt. His luggage had already filled the wardrobe beside him, but there were still many things left out on his table. Srinivas seemed to be too lazy to finish unpacking, instead pulling the quilt over his head to sleep with feeling of injustice.
Over the following two days, Sai Joshi and Srinivas minded their own business, and did their own things without bothering one another. The thing that astonished Srinivas the most was that Sai Joshi seemed to be in a cultivation state at all times, except for when he was eating. He could faintly sense the strength of Sai Joshi's spiritforce, but the more he sensed it, the more incredulous he felt. Just by relying on his strength, how was able to beat me?
The admission period for new students finally ended, and the freshmen dormitory also became lively. Although the rooms weren't big, they could still fit two people in them. It was very noisy outside, but the sound-proofing abilities of the dorm rooms were very good.
Sai Joshi had been cultivating incessantly during these past few days. His previous fight with Srinivas had inspired him quite a bit. The reason that he'd previously been able to overcome his opponent, and was able to achieve victory, was because he'd relied on the skill that the Stardream Iceworm had given him after awakening.
Iceworms truly weren't very strong spirit beasts, the four spirit skills that the million-year Stardream Iceworm had bestowed on Sai Joshi weren't very strong either. They were, respectively. Spirit Detection, Spirit Sharing, Spirit Interference, and Spirit Shock.
Sai Joshi was relatively more skilled with the first two skills, and had already verified their impressiveness with Kabir. On the other hand, Spirit Interference was a domain-type skill that could interfere with all living creatures inside a fifteen metre radius of Sai Joshi, who would produce spiritual undulations. However, the strength of its interference wasn't high. With his current level of cultivation, the most he could do was make people turn absent-minded for a moment. Furthermore, he wasn't even able to maintain the skill for a full three seconds, the spiritforce consumption was much higher than his previous two skills.
Spirit Shock was the only skill among the four that had even a tiny bit of attack power. Since it was a single-target skill, the strength of its attack was slightly stronger than the domain-type Spirit Interference. However, it wasn't much stronger than it either. The reason that Sai Joshi had been able to overcome Srinivas and achieve victory in that fight was because he'd combined Spirit Shock with his Purple Heavenly Eyes. The combined effect of the two was even better than he'd imagined. Naturally, this was also because Srinivas hadn't been able to put up any defenses due to the sudden nature of the attack. If he'd made any preparations, the strength of his Spirit Shock would've been heavily reduced.
However, no matter what way you put it, Sai Joshi finally had the basic requirements to become a control-type spirit master by relying with these four spirit-type skills. However, his eldest senior brother had previously told him that new students wouldn't be separated into departments during their first year. Everything could be done after he'd survived their first year.
"Oi, class starts today. Are you still going to sit there like a fool?" Srinivas's voice roused Sai Joshi from his pondering state. He'd just returned from his breakfast, and was planning to cultivate for a while.