"So you were persuaded to leave?"
A girl, fiery like a flame spirit, stormed out of the dorm in fury, ready to confront someone.
"My level-forty-one soul power was already a bit below the inner court's assessment standards." Chen Fu quietly continued packing her luggage.
Hearing this, the girl who had just rushed out ran back in again, fuming:
"I'm a level-fifty-five Battle Soul King and I still can't beat you. Their assessment criteria must be blind!"
"I only borrow external power." With a wave of her hand, the messy metal materials in the room flew in an orderly fashion into several spatial soul devices.
After the girl finally calmed down, Chen Fu continued: "Honestly, there's not much left they can teach me. Instructor Fanyu's level hovers around rank seven or eight. He's already taught me all his techniques. As long as I prepare the auxiliary equipment, I can slowly craft a conventional seventh-rank soul tool on my own."
"You can even power that kind of standard seventh-rank soul tool?" The girl stared at Chen Fu with her orange-red eyes wide open.
"Alright, Xiaotao, stop fussing." Chen Fu pushed her forehead lightly aside and removed the bedsheets. "The Ark Technology hasn't been updated yet. With only a rank-four Ark Core, using an energy-storage matrix, I can theoretically force out one activation after charging twelve times."
She gathered the removed sheets into a pile, pointed at them, and said, "Xiaotao, fire."
"Fire your head!" the girl snapped, punching Chen Fu in frustration. "Do you even know what this means… Wait!"
She suddenly calmed down. "Then why don't you directly teach them Ark Energy Technology?"
Behind Chen Fu, four mismatched spirit rings,yellow, yellow, purple, yellow,pulsed rhythmically as the clutter around them slowly turned into ash.
"This isn't just about overlapping soul-tool circuits. The design logic, layout logic, optimal material ratios, and macro-level variable control,all of this has to be solved."
"I figured all of this out thanks to my martial soul's characteristics. It's a perfect training project. But if I give them the answers outright, they'll be handicapped from the start and won't be able to innovate independently."
Chen Fu spread her hands, meaning the black-tech she created with her martial soul and understanding could be referenced, but not copied.
"So what are you going to do from now on?"
"Build a research institute in Shrek City and make some money. I'll update the Ark Technology while I'm at it,the fourth rank is a bit outdated."
"Oh, and when the time comes, you can help me refine metals. I'll give you a share."
"A share? As if! Who wants your shares?" The girl, born into an old aristocratic family, scoffed.
Walking along the lakeside and watching the girl stomp angrily ahead, Chen Fu couldn't help but smile.
"Don't be angry. I've got a gift for you." She took a matte black metal box from her wristband.
"What is it?"
The girl turned back, her long orange hair dancing in the wind, her golden-orange eyes reflecting the boy's figure.
"My real graduation project." He looked unusually relaxed, his expression carrying a hint of pride.
The girl accepted the box skeptically,not distrustful, just confused by his words.
"You can open it." Chen Fu gestured.
Inside the box was no dazzling color and no energy fluctuation,just a black-patterned, gold-edged metal ring. In its center was a red inscription of a phoenix spreading its wings.
"How do I use this?" Holding the oversized ring, Ma Xiaotao looked at Chen Fu curiously.
"Wear it around your neck…" Before he finished, she clicked it open and fastened it around her neck.
"Now try circulating your soul power."
The moment she did, she sensed something strange: the ring drew in her soul power, absorbing a portion of the flow, only to return it after a moment.
The soul power it returned felt more refined,purer.
"Calm down." Chen Fu raised a hand and formed an energy barrier, stopping the girl from losing control. Then he added, "It's just a soul-power purification device. It'll let you cultivate normally. Just remember to turn it off in battle, or it might burn out."
Chen Fu, once known as the "final boss guarding the academy library's last floor," naturally understood Ma Xiaotao's martial soul issues.
It couldn't cure the root cause, but it could steadily alleviate the symptoms.
"Thank you!"
As the girl hugged him tightly, Chen Fu suddenly didn't know what to do with his hands.
In the end, he gently patted her back in comfort.
"How long did you prepare this for?" her voice was hoarse.
"Since the second-year class division, I guess." At that time, he had just completed the first stable version of the Ark Energy Technology,not just a demonstration model for Instructor Fanyu.
"The technical design took almost two years. The final execution took one." His martial soul gave him natural advantages in microscopic material manipulation. The soul-tool rifle he tossed into the warehouse was just a side experiment. Most of his free time had gone into making this gift.
"So it must be… very valuable?"
"Yes. So please take good care of it. Making another is a pain."
It would take several days of rushed work.
The metal used for the ring was a new super-alloy nurtured by his martial soul, the one known as the Throne of Technology. The soul-power circuits were like integrated chips, carved out bit by bit.
"I'll take good care of it. Does it have a name?"
"A non-ranked auxiliary soul tool,an extension of Ark Technology. You can call it Nirvana."
From a technical standpoint alone, it would leave Fanyu confused for twenty years.
"As a birthday gift for your sixteenth birthday,are you satisfied?"
"Chen Fu…"
The girl squeezed him tightly, leaving him helpless.
"I'm here."
"In the future, I'll avenge you."
Silly girl. Always saying such joy-killing things.
…
After finally shaking off the girl who had just gotten a new toy, Chen Fu slung on a small backpack and headed toward the academy gate.
He said goodbye to several friends on the way,some from the inner court, but mostly from the outer court.
Among the academy's prodigies, his soul power was relatively low. At sixteen, being level forty-one made him merely average.
For example, in his and Ma Xiaotao's class, the average soul power was forty-eight. He was the one dragging the average down.
At the school gate, a stern-featured boy with a childlike face stood waiting with a young girl.
Seeing them, Chen Fu recalled that the new apprentice his instructor took in,the one nicknamed "coal ball",was a freshman this year.
"I remember you. This year's freshman chief, Bei Bei, right? Do you need something?"
Ma Xiaotao had dragged him to watch the first-year assessment that year.
"Hello, Senior Chen!" The boy greeted him respectfully, then tugged the girl beside him.
"We want to ask if Senior Chen has plans after graduation. If not, the Tang Sect would like to hire you as a guest elder."
"We also have secret techniques that can help you improve your cultivation speed," the girl added.
"That's unfortunate. I already have plans."
With the relationship between the Tang Sect and Shrek, it would have been a good place to go. The academy wouldn't interfere much, and the Tang Sect was extremely weak now.
But unfortunately, Chen Fu didn't like bullying little kids.
He patted the girl's head and left, ignoring her disappointed expression.
After walking some distance, he took out a pair of glasses, put them on, and swiped in the air. A panel appeared before him.
Name: Chen Fu
Level: 41
Martial Soul: Throne of Technology / Spirit Form (a shapeless pale-blue spirit body born from Chen Fu's subconscious reaction to something)
Martial Soul Passive: Microscopic Material Control
Soul Skills: Override ×4 (accelerates control and manipulation of materials)
"It still feels too simple. I can optimize it further. Maybe add a quest log. The Battle-Soul Analyzer could be one of the early research-institute products. Hmm. Not bad. Noted."
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