He sliced off a chunk of Deep Silver, and under Xuan Ziwen's stunned gaze, began kneading it. The hard metal seemed unusually soft in Su Wen's hands, as if he had just pinched off a piece of dough.
As a level-8 soul engineer, Xuan Ziwen naturally knew how incredibly tough this rare metal was. To mold it bare-handed at will… In his mind, Xuan Ziwen was rapidly computing the lower bound of Su Wen's physical strength.
Very soon, the metal, like modeling clay, was kneaded into pieces exactly identical in shape to the level-6 soul tool plate on the side. Then Su Wen took out a jade-green engraving knife.
Xuan Ziwen was dumbfounded.
Only now did he finally realize what Su Wen intended to do—replicate the core formation of the soul tool he had provided!
For someone who had only ever touched level-2 and level-3 work, this was sheer fantasy. The difficulty of making a core lies in both analysis and execution; generally, the former is harder because it requires pouring a massive amount of spiritual power into the formation. The formation is interlocked in many layers, and for cores above level-5, the complexity skyrockets compared to those under level-5.
And once analysis succeeds, replication is no longer far off.
Su Wen's hands never stopped moving.
He picked up the metal disc, infused spiritual power into the engraving knife, and as a green glow lit up, a line of inscription slowly took shape on the disc.
"Phew…"
"Done."
Su Wen looked over at Xuan Ziwen, who was already slack-jawed.
"Teacher Xuan, please take a look."
Without another word, Xuan Ziwen took the metal disc and examined the structure of the engravings. He then injected soul power. When the entire disc lit up with a green light, its dense lines linking together without the slightest fault, he fell silent…
Perfect.
Not meaning that this level-6 core formation had reached the pinnacle of this type in his mind, but that Su Wen's replicated core formation was identical to the level-6 core he had provided! He had even perfectly reproduced the minor, harmless mistake Xuan Ziwen had made in his original crafting.
You must know, for many reasons, even the same soul engineer making the same type of soul tool will produce noticeable differences.
This also meant Su Wen wasn't just putting on a show, pretending to analyze what he already knew; he truly learned it on the spot and did it live!
"A level-6 soul tool…"
"Even a level-6 soul engineer of Mingde Hall would need at least half a month to analyze and replicate a level-6 soul tool they've never seen before."
Xuan Ziwen spoke with difficulty, staring at Su Wen as if he were a ghost.
He was starting to believe it.
"But you only used two hours—and that even includes the time you spent carving the formation…"
"I'm just highly perceptive," Su Wen grinned.
"Perception, perception…" Xuan Ziwen rolled the word around, then shook his head after a while. "Looks like you're an all-rounder. I take back what I said. To have a monstrously gifted student like you, even if only once upon a time, is my honor as a teacher."
"Testing's over. Come with me."
Xuan Ziwen waved for Su Wen to follow.
They entered another lab before Xuan Ziwen explained, "You'll be based in this lab. Oh right, you should be a Soul Emperor, right? I've seen your physical test data. With this level of talent, you could probably attempt level-7 soul tools…"
"Soul King."
Su Wen shook his head.
"My soul power's just inflated on paper."
"…"
Xuan Ziwen staggered, the corner of his mouth twitching as he looked at the smiling Su Wen.
Soul power can be inflated on paper?!!
"Forget it. In any case, ten days from now, I'll make sure you pass. If you don't understand anything these days, just ask…"
He waved his hand.
"And this is my student, Ju Zi."
As he spoke, he nodded toward a girl in the lab wearing safety goggles, polishing metal. She raised her head to look at them.
The girl had fair skin. Beneath the goggles, she also wore rimless gold glasses, giving her a tranquil, scholarly charm. Her gaze on Su Wen was first blank, then amazed…
"This is… Su Wen?!!"
"Teacher, what virtue or ability do you have to teach him?"
Ju Zi was visibly shocked.
Xuan Ziwen's face darkened. "I am a consultant of Mingde Hall and a level-8 soul engineer, a single step from level-9. Why am I not qualified to teach him?"
"Oh." Ju Zi's brown eyes remained on Su Wen, clearly ignoring Xuan Ziwen's retort.
"He is handsome, though."
After a while, she nodded slightly.
"All right, when everyone's here, introduce them in my stead. I'm busy." Xuan Ziwen grumbled as he left, wounded by his disciple's doubt.
Su Wen wore a smile the whole time.
He also got a read on Xuan Ziwen's personality—more or less the same as in the original work. The quiet, slightly awkward engineering type, somewhat like Wang Yan.
Ju Zi, meanwhile, came over, peppering him with questions.
That was somewhat unexpected.
After all, he remembered that in the original, her initial attitude toward Huo Yuhao wasn't friendly, even triggering the Wang Shaojie incident.
Looks like first impressions vary by person.
In this year's Soul Master Tournament, he hadn't taken a killing hand against the Sun and Moon Empire's Royal Team, which earned him some goodwill. In the original, members like Xu Sanshi and Ma Xiaotao from Shrek's team slaughtered five or six from the Sun and Moon team. Huo Yuhao entering and only isolating or making things difficult was already very restrained.
…
Ten days flew by.
Besides lectures from Xuan Ziwen on every aspect of soul tools—theory and technique—there was hands-on practice. Su Wen's pace of improvement also created a second victim whose Dao heart shattered.
Xuan Ziwen watched with his own eyes as Su Wen went from a beginner who only knew the simplest soul tool bits to successfully replicating the pinnacle of level-7 soul tools—the fixed-installed soul tool.
Some even had formation complexity on par with certain level-8 designs.
Something else odd: the others in the lab all had assignments and were temporarily off-campus, but when Ju Zi counted on her fingers introducing members, there was one more junior—Huo Yuhao.
He really hadn't expected Huo Yuhao to stumble his way into Xuan Ziwen's lab as well.
Looks like that incident that day gave him quite the stroke of fortune.
Born anew from the brink of death.
Su Wen didn't mind. Huo Yuhao is Huo Yuhao. Even if he fell to the Holy Spirit Cult and joined the Body Sect, after losing a considerable portion of his luck, it would be hard for him to amount to much.
Mu Qiu'er was having a headache. She was quite enthusiastic about forging, but when it came to soul tools—which require embedding formations and manipulating spiritual power—she was a bit out of her depth.
Conversely, Wang Dong'er was very interested; perhaps Tang San's forbidden path had backfired, stirring the girl's rebellious streak, so she paid exceptionally close attention every day.
Lou Yingying and Song Lei had some basics. After ten days, they both successfully joined Mingde Hall.
As for Ye Xiaosheng and the others, needless to say.
"Buzz…"
In the lab.
Su Wen focused his gaze, holding the Devouring-Spirit Engraving Knife, fully concentrated on carving the formation. A line of emerald light etched itself onto the metal plate wherever the blade passed.
Ju Zi watched carefully from the side, not daring to make a sound.
Su Wen was attempting a level-8 defensive soul tool—the Sun and Moon Empire's most classic shield model: Titan Bastion 002. Although old and no longer top-tier among level-8 tools, successfully carving it would mean Su Wen could step into the ranks of level-8 soul engineers.
The higher the tier of the core formation, the more it requires absolute focus from the carver; the outside world must not be noisy.
So she was extremely careful, afraid to disturb him.
"Hey, this test went unexpectedly well. With Teacher Xuan's improvements, I think the all-terrain self-propelled probe can already be mass-produced. On the battlefield this thing is a slaughter machine—ignores terrain, adapts to any environment. Add milk bottles on top and boom, mass waves…"
With a metallic ding—
Ke Ke strode into the lab, radiant.
The others were all smiles as well.
The more weight Xuan Ziwen's name carried, the better the treatment for disciples graduating from under him, whether they joined the military or Mingde Hall.
"Let's refine it a few more times. It's still a bit early for the battlefield."
A gentle voice sounded.
Huo Yuhao spoke.
He was quite intrigued by this side of Xuan Ziwen. Because he had joined Tang Sect for a period, he'd learned some of Tang Sect's exquisite hidden weapon crafting methods. That was the key to why he could stay in Xuan Ziwen's lab.
Xuan Ziwen was clearly interested, and he agreed with Huo Yuhao's idea of integrating the delicate structures of hidden weapons into formations.
As for the all-terrain self-propelled probe, he was also quite interested. Whether used for recon or refitted with heavy guns to become a self-propelled turret, it had plenty of room to play.
In the future, he might funnel some to the Holy Spirit Cult, beef up their power, and counterattack Shrek Academy—or take revenge against the duke, freely roaming deep within the Star Luo Empire.
"Shhh!!!"
As everyone was chatting away—
Ju Zi suddenly covered the mouth of the loudest Ke Ke, widened her beautiful eyes, and raised a finger to her lips.
Seeing everyone quiet down, she pointed to Su Wen in the corner.
"Su Wen! He's carving a core formation."
Ju Zi lowered her voice.
"Su Wen?!!"
Only then did everyone realize that, in the corner of the lab, Su Wen was immersed in carving a core formation.
Huo Yuhao's breathing suddenly quickened, his pale-blue eyes fixed on Su Wen in the distance, a cold killing intent flashing through them.
His hands were stained with too much blood.
Though most deserved it, many innocents were among them too. This metamorphosis had made him colder and colder; no wonder Zhongli Wu had praised him as a born evil soul master…
Even if he killed Su Wen here, he would feel no burden.
And this was the best chance.
Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes.
His breath quickened.
If—if he could kill him here—
Shrek Academy would likely go to war with the Sun and Moon Empire. This was exactly what he, and the entire Holy Spirit Cult, wanted to see…