Skydream roared: "What do you mean 'negative boost'? Does he understand how powerful our ice silkworm clan is!"
Little Ice Silkworm: "That's right, that's right! Even if our clan is at the bottom of the Extreme North, the Great Skydream Emperor still emerged from our clan!"
Skydream's gaze abruptly turned to Little Ice Silkworm.
Were you praising our ice silkworm clan, or insulting it?
Why did that feel so subtle...
Ice Empress glanced at the two indignant ice silkworms and let out a faint cold snort.
A couple of clowns. That person couldn't hear them anyway. What was the point of them raging impotently in the Sea of Spirit? And what he said was the truth.
That was exactly how the ice silkworm clan was. They were ice and spiritual attribute spirit beasts, but the ice attribute spirit abilities they gave people were barely satisfactory.
Perhaps because they had long been at the bottom of the Extreme North's food chain, their ice attribute attack abilities had basically degraded away. All their "skill points" had been allocated to the spiritual attribute.
Had you ever seen a spirit ability that could only produce a bit of cold wind and some ice shavings?
That was the norm for the ice attribute spirit abilities given by the ice silkworm clan. Which normal ice attribute spirit master wouldn't already know that kind of skill?
A pure negative boost.
So basically no one chose this type of spirit beast for the ice attribute.
Hmm... unless they were short on funds, or wanted to make better ice shavings to sell for money.
Oh, being a human-shaped air conditioner was also not bad.
Plus, spiritual attribute spirit masters were relatively rare, and the spirit ability provided by ice silkworms was the notoriously infamous "Imitation," which led to polarization in their reputation.
Spiritual attribute spirit masters gave good reviews and good reviews. Other spirit masters basically all gave bad reviews to this type of Spirit Soul!
After learning it was the ice silkworm clan, Li Yucheng temporarily gave up on the idea of buying a Spirit Soul and focused on preparing to manufacture a soul tool with the help of Spiritual Detection and Sharing.
But before manufacturing, he glanced at Huo Yuhao again.
The other had not activated his spirit rings during his earlier manufacturing. That is to say, he had achieved that level without relying on spirit abilities...
Truly, each generation replaced the old.
Li Yucheng sighed inwardly, then took out Blue Gestation Copper and an engraving knife from his storage ring.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Huo Yuhao carefully observed Li Yucheng's techniques.
Watching others manufacture was also a form of learning.
He was immersed in his own world for an unknown amount of time when a knock on the door interrupted Li Yucheng's work.
"President, President Mu Chen of the Blacksmithing Association has come to visit."
Li Yucheng snapped back to reality. Looking at the half-finished product before him, he turned to Huo Yuhao with a wry smile. "Xia Haoxuan was right I really don't have much time..."
At this point, remembering the possible purpose of Mu Chen's visit, Li Yucheng's eyes lit up.
Wait — he had already accomplished both of his goals!
He had found a genius... Even though the other belonged to the Spirit Transmission Tower and could only count as half, that half was worth ten. That was good enough.
And Mu Chen was probably here for cooperation. After all, over the past three years, he had overtly and covertly brought up the matter of cooperation several times. For Mu Chen to visit now, it was likely that the Blacksmithing Association had reached an internal agreement and was ready to agree to it.
Since both goals had been accomplished, why didn't he just retire?
He hadn't figured out how to give Xia Haoxuan a hard time before, but now he had it — he would just hand over the president's position, along with all the work that had recently piled up, to him... Consider it mentoring the younger generation!
Thinking this, Li Yucheng wanted to take Huo Yuhao to meet Mu Chen, but Huo Yuhao politely declined.
Over the past three years, he had gone to the Blacksmithing Association quite a few times to purchase rare metals. He had even chosen somewhat special times and had met Mu Chen several times even spoken with him.
It was also at that time that he had understood the other's attitude.
Polite interaction was fine, but being too close was not.
After all, Mu Chen was the junior apprentice brother of the Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua. Many powers were eagerly waiting for Zhen Hua's Heaven-Forge Metal.
If Mu Chen showed a tendency toward a certain power especially a major power like the Spirit Transmission Tower it would send a bad signal to other powers. Unless someone had astonishing forging talent, they would not be able to win him over.
Therefore, Huo Yuhao naturally would not attach himself to him either.
If necessary, he could just cultivate his own Divine Craftsman.
Thinking of this, Huo Yuhao suddenly remembered something.
Barring any surprises, after registering at Eastsea Academy yesterday, Tang Wulin should have gone to the Blacksmithing Association to take the Grade Two blacksmith exam... Could Mu Chen's visit today be related to this matter?
Tang Wulin now had a Spirit Transmission Tower soul tool on him, after all.
Huo Yuhao's expression became strange, but he quickly put the matter aside for now. He found a staff member, asked a few questions, and headed to a mecha design room.
He hadn't forgotten that there was still a deity friend here. He couldn't just leave her here and go back to the academy by himself, could he?
He felt that doing so would really hurt the deity's feelings...
Entering the design room, Huo Yuhao saw a professional woman wearing glasses giving Gu Yuena guidance on design.
Starlight-simulating light flowed from the dome. Gu Yuena's black hair was plated with a layer of cool blue. She leaned over the obsidian workbench, her pen hovering half an inch above it. While listening to the instruction, she thoughtfully began to draw a blueprint.
Cheng Yixuan noticed Huo Yuhao and nodded to him. Then she turned her gaze back to Gu Yuena, feeling satisfied.
Her husband had finally done something reliable for once. This girl's talent was truly excellent. With proper cultivation, she would be a future Grade Nine Designer.
Huo Yuhao did not approach. He used Spiritual Detection to observe Gu Yuena's blueprint, spotted a few defects, but did not speak immediately. Instead, he carefully studied her design ideas and solutions.
Gu Yuena's talent in design was indeed very strong...
After Gu Yuena finished her drawing and Cheng Yixuan finished her guidance and left, Huo Yuhao finally spoke:
"You're designing a mecha arm component. Most of the materials used there are rare metals with good spirit power conductivity. According to your design ideas, the position of the Energy Gathering Array can be changed somewhat..."
Gu Yuena had naturally noticed Huo Yuhao's arrival long ago. Hearing this now, she was secretly delighted.
Her efforts were paying off?
She hadn't expected that simply accepting guidance would yield such a surprise!
Watching Gu Yuena listen earnestly, even looking like she wanted to take out a small notebook and write things down, the corner of Huo Yuhao's eye twitched. He sighed inwardly.
I'm just returning a favor. Please don't look as if you're listening to a God King expound the Way!
Mu Chen was not in a good mood.
Yesterday, a blacksmith had come to the association to take the Grade Two blacksmith exam. He had been standing outside the room listening to the sound of the other's hammering. That kind of deep foundation had made even him feel amazed.
And when he learned that the other was a nine-year-old child, Mu Chen had felt extremely overjoyed.
The record for Thousand-Forged in the Blacksmithing Association was held by a Saint Craftsman Eleven years, three months, and two days. This child had already surpassed that record!
Then... he discovered that the Spirit Transmission Tower had already intercepted him ahead of time.
Damn. A certain plant.
At that moment, Mu Chen had felt strong emotional fluctuations.
How come every good thing goes to you Spirit Transmission Tower people? Why are you always leading in everything?
But no matter how unhappy he felt inside, Mu Chen knew that he could only accept it. He couldn't exactly badmouth the Spirit Transmission Tower in front of that child, could he?
He was not that kind of person, and that child did not seem like the type to enjoy hearing such things.
In the end, Mu Chen could only endure his heartache and have his subordinates give Tang Wulin a bunch of benefits. Then he began to think about Li Yucheng's proposal.
The Spirit Transmission Tower's monopoly on civilian-born geniuses was quite severe. But they were doing real work, and that was understandable.
As for those not of civilian birth... there were far too many places for them to go. Not to mention Shrek Academy, which only recruited "monsters," sitting right there.
These two major powers had cornered most of the talent. Although their own associations had their own base of support, they couldn't compare to Shrek's historical legacy nor to the Spirit Transmission Tower's financial power. Many times, they had a strange feeling of eating leftovers...
After thinking it over seriously, Mu Chen discussed the matter with the other leaders of the Eastsea Blacksmithing Association and decided to formally cooperate with the Mecha Designer Association to jointly cultivate outstanding juniors.
Today, he had come to formally negotiate with Li Yucheng. And the result went without saying — Li Yucheng had long been willing, and he had not put forward any excessive demands. They had reached an agreement peacefully.
Mu Chen had thought this would improve his mood. But as he was leaving the association, he noticed a child he had already become familiar with — Huo Yuhao.
"..."
Watching Huo Yuhao, Gu Yuena, and two Mecha Designer Association staff members chatting in the
distance, Mu Chen took a deep breath and silently walked away without greeting them.
To be honest, he didn't want to see anyone or anything related to the Spirit Transmission Tower right now. He just wanted to use work to forget the unhappiness in his heart.
Huo Yuhao noticed Mu Chen. Seeing that he seemed to be in a bad mood, he also didn't speak up and continued chatting with the two before him.
"Speaking of Student Wulin, I heard his name during today's class assignments. He was placed in Class Two. From what I know, their teacher is a Five-Ring Soul King..."
***
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