"Hahaha, watch my Spirit Soul Mecha Operation!"
In mecha control class, Xie Xie watched as his Spirit Soul merged into the training mecha, operating it and enjoying the envious looks around him.
They had been at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy for some time.
The learning atmosphere here was more relaxed than they had imagined. Competition certainly existed, but it was not as intense as they had expected.
Perhaps it was because the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy focused more on the innovation and practice of soul tool technology, rather than a simple comparison of strength.
The entire academy felt more like a vast research institute. Students could be seen everywhere, gathered in small groups discussing soul tool designs or testing new core arrays. The atmosphere was full of academic spirit. Xie Xie felt he was adapting well.
The spirit soul controlled the mecha, nimbly turning a corner on the training ground. The metal joints made a smooth clicking sound.
With his spirit soul's enhancement, the response speed of this basic training mecha was noticeably faster than those controlled by most others. Only a few others from mecha pilot families could match Xie Xie.
He had successfully shown off.
"Tch, that guy Xie Xie..."
Zhang Yangzi clicked his tongue. For some reason, he felt a bit annoyed.
One's own poverty was nothing to speak of, but a teammate's wealth made one want to die of envy.
The Inherited Spirit Souls in their families could all control mechas. In a class like this, they were naturally like a tiger with wings.
"This is the result of his family's many years of effort. Don't envy him. We can also leave wealth for future generations." Wang Jinxi patted his shoulder and smiled. "Besides, the thousand-year Spirit Souls Teacher Luo carefully selected for us are not much worse than his."
Except for Wulin and Xiaoyan, they had all absorbed their second Spirit Souls. This was the choice most spirit masters made for safety.
After all, a yellow Spirit Soul could only provide two spirit rings, a purple Spirit Soul only three. If someone upgraded their first Spirit Soul to purple, then unless they were confident they could break through from the Spirit Connection realm to the Spirit Sea realm as a four-ring Spirit Ancestor, they would be in some trouble.
Were they supposed to fuse a hundred-year Spirit Soul as a four-ring Spirit Ancestor, or go overseas to hunt spirit beasts?
The former seemed a bit ridiculous. No one knew how long the latter would take. Neither was advisable in this era.
Not only that, the Spirit Sea realm was called the threshold to becoming a Title Douluo. If one wanted to break through to Title Douluo, Spirit Sea realm spiritual power was necessary.
This was because the Spirit Sea realm's upper limit for fusing Spirit Souls was three. If one fused one yellow, one purple, and one black Spirit Soul, they could exactly obtain the two yellow, three purple, four black spirit rings needed to advance to Title. So occasionally, one could see Title Douluos with such a spirit ring configuration.
If one chose to upgrade their first Spirit Soul to purple and use a ten-thousand-year Spirit Soul for the second, they would need to advance to the Spirit Abyss realm before becoming an eight-ring Soul Douluo.
Xie Xie and the others were not currently confident enough for that. Luo Yanglu's past advice to Tang Wulin not to rush his spirit elevation had also been to observe whether he could possibly achieve this.
Based on the speed of spiritual power improvement over the past two years, only Xu Xiaoyan and Tang Wulin had the highest probability.
Hearing Wang Jinxi's reassurance, Zhang Yangzi's emotions gradually calmed. He looked at Tang Wulin, who was excitedly playing with a training mecha.
He really did love mechas.
Thinking this, Zhang Yangzi said in a low voice, "It's about time we put some real effort into our secondary professions. Wulin is almost reaching the Spirit Forging level."
It was hard to say what they had thought in the past. But after their time with Teacher Wu, they understood that he was right. Battle Armor Masters were simply stronger than mecha pilots now. That was fact.
If they didn't want to stay under someone else's wing forever, becoming Battle Armor Masters was the best choice.
"...Can't we just coast?"
Xu Xiaoyan popped out from a corner, her tone strange. "Yuhao can handle the design and manufacturing by himself. Wulin does the forging. We only need to learn repair."
Among the secondary professions, repair required the least effort. If someone else could handle the forging, design, and manufacturing for you, choosing repair was the most effortless operation.
The people around her were too extreme. She even wanted to coast in her secondary profession.
"...That hit hard. How were they supposed to respond to that? Let them encourage themselves a little!"
Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi exchanged a glance and sighed inwardly.
They had only learned later that Yuhao hadn't fully explained his secondary profession abilities the first time. The gap was even greater than they had imagined.
Xu Xiaoyan continued, a bit puzzled. "Come to think of it, Na'er's secondary profession is still designer, isn't it? Then who are Yuhao and the others getting to do the forging?"
Given Yuhao's abilities, they had probably already started manufacturing their Battle Armor. But they hadn't seen him ask Wulin for metal.
"I don't know."
Wang Jinxi shook his head. "Maybe they found a Saint Craftsman to forge Spirit Forged metal? The gap between their progress and ours is just too big."
Upon hearing this, Xu Xiaoyan nodded silently.
Indeed. There was very little they could do to help Yuhao and Na'er.
"Xiaoyan."
A cool voice suddenly sounded in the three's ears. Xu Xiaoyan turned her head at the sound, a smile appearing on her face. She asked softly, "Sister Shen Xing, what is it?"
The person who had arrived was Shen Xing. Her figure was graceful, her gait light. Even in a simple school uniform, she couldn't hide her shapely curves.
However, contrasting sharply with her striking appearance was her delicate face, as cold as ice. It seemed to carry an aura of keeping people at a distance, inspiring awe and making it hard to approach.
"Can't I just chat with you?"
But upon approaching Xu Xiaoyan, a smile appeared on Shen Xing's cold face. She began chatting with her as if no one else was around.
Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi looked at each other.
When had these two become friends?
To this, Xu Xiaoyan indicated that she had already met one girl who liked to keep a cold face, and had successfully become friends with her. After all, in terms of affability and being "favored," she was number one in their group. Shen Xing had long since succumbed under her repeated calls of "Sister, sister."
This was also a special operation to avoid Xie Xie causing trouble. As long as they became friends, the effect of Xie Xie's sharp tongue would be diminished.
Xu Xiaoyan thought to herself.
Xu Yucheng had also walked over at some point. "Wang Jinxi, Zhang Yangzi, next class is combat in the virtual space. Interested in teaming up?"
Zhang Yangzi looked him up and down, glanced at Wang Jinxi, and finally nodded slightly. "Sure."
Their relationship with this one was ordinary, but some courses at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy required cooperation. So they had teamed up with Xu Yucheng before. They could be considered friends.
Xie Xie had just exchanged a few words with Tang Wulin after getting off the mecha when he noticed this scene. The corner of his mouth curled.
He was the one told to be careful, yet they were the ones making friends.
As he thought this, Xie Xie turned his head and found that someone had also come to Tang Wulin, leaving him out.
The world had forgotten him.
"Student Tang Wulin, can you forge Spirit Alloys?" Yuanen Yehui asked.
"Yes."
Yuanen Yehui's eyes lit up. "What is the fusion degree of the Spirit Alloys you forge?"
"Ninety... percent." Tang Wulin almost said one hundred percent, but thankfully changed his answer at the last moment.
The fusion degree of the Spirit Alloys he forged was currently ninety percent. This was exceptional even among Saint Craftsmen. Many Saint Craftsmen could not achieve it.
However, if he gave the metal to Yuhao, he could give him an alloy with one hundred percent fusion degree to forge. That was something even a Divine Craftsman might not be able to do.
Tang Wulin didn't know how he did it, but he understood that this was not something to be spread around.
Unless he and his companions needed to manufacture Battle Armor or mechas, he would not use the special alloys Yuhao had given him.
"I see..."
Yuanen Yehui nodded thoughtfully.
"Then, could I commission you to forge a batch of Spirit Alloys?"
"Of course." Tang Wulin skillfully took out his soul tool light screen, making the corner of Xie Xie's eye twitch. "For a piece of Spirit Alloy, if you provide the materials, the processing fee is 100,000 Federation coins. No problem?"
Once upon a time, little friend Tang Wulin, who couldn't even scrape together 70,000 Federation coins, was now a wealthy man.
Asking price: 100,000.
"Okay."
Yuanen Yehui nodded without changing her expression. Then, after hesitating for a moment, she asked, "You are companions of Students Huo Yuhao and Gu Yuena, aren't you? Could you arrange a meeting for me? I would like to see them."
Tang Wulin and Xie Xie exchanged a surprised glance.
Was Yuanen a friend of Yuhao and the others?
"We'll tell them."
Upon hearing this, Yuanen Yehui breathed a sigh of relief. She smiled. "Thank you. Oh, are you interested in participating in the exchange match with Shrek a few months from now?"
"An exchange match?"
"Yes. I heard it was initiated by Shrek Academy two years ago. For them, it seems to be part of their final exams. Teacher Lin has already selected me. I'm looking for other team members."
A look of interest appeared on Xie Xie's face.
Did this mean... they had a chance to face off against Shrek again?
Last time, they had been just backdrops. This time, could they be the protagonists?
But, the end of the term... that was about the time scheduled for the trip to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, wasn't it?
Xie Xie couldn't help frowning.
He felt there would be quite a bit of trouble.
***
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