Shrek Academy, Admissions Day.
As the Vice Dean of the Soul Tool Department, Huo Yuhao naturally possessed an independent office. Although he rarely visited, he was forced to come here to handle affairs today because he had opened his own specialized soul tool class.
While at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Tool Academy, Huo Yuhao had taken the opportunity to organize his subsequent teaching plan.
Naturally, he wouldn't have the time to teach classes every day. Therefore, while keeping the number of students to a minimum, Huo Yuhao opted for the highest possible quality.
At the same time, Huo Yuhao was considering whether to grab Ning Tian to serve as his teaching assistant. Teaching her alongside the others would allow him to fulfill his duties as her "teacher."
Although the two had not been in contact since he took Ning Tian as his student two months ago, the situation had changed.
Ever since the news of Huo Yuhao joining Shrek spread, the Treasure Pavilion had been sending updates on Ning Tian's cultivation progress to her nominal "teacher" every week.
One could say they showed great sincerity.
The talent of this former classmate was beyond doubt. Furthermore, as the young sect master of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, her management skills were bound to be excellent. In a sense, this was also helping her build her own future foundation.
If he invited her to be a teaching assistant, he believed the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would not refuse.
It should be noted that Huo Yuhao didn't particularly care if the students he trained could be used for his own purposes. What he cared about was expanding his influence and more effectively harvesting their emotions.
In a way, he and the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect were simply getting what they each needed.
However, after some thought, Huo Yuhao decided to let it be for now. He would wait until Ning Tian reached the Two-Ring level before discussing further instruction.
It is worth mentioning that after Shrek announced Huo Yuhao's affiliation, the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect immediately began selling the batch of 「Soul Power Storage Cores」 he had previously given them.
Simultaneously, the title of "Master Skydream" truly began to resonate throughout the three original nations of the Douluo Continent.
Huo Yuhao believed that once the 「Soul Power Storage Cores」 reached the Sun Moon Empire, the resulting emotional fluctuations would certainly satisfy him.
Just as Huo Yuhao was agonizing over whether to drag Fan Yu in to act as a "tool man," there was a knock on his office door.
Huo Yuhao subconsciously checked with 「Spiritual Detection」, and a look of slight surprise crossed his face.
After a moment's hesitation, Huo Yuhao spoke softly: "Come in."
The door opened, and the visitor was Qian Duoduo.
He first offered a greeting, then approached Huo Yuhao's desk and spoke cautiously:
"Um... Brother Skydream... what's the deal with that soul tool class you're opening? Why are you only recruiting ten people?"
Shrek's Soul Tool Department had almost zero prestige in the outside world.
Furthermore, students of the Soul Tool Department usually had to be recruited personally by the department's teachers—such as Fan Yu—going out on their own.
Now that the academy had finally opened a formal soul tool class for public recruitment, Qian Duoduo, Xian Lin'er, and the others naturally hoped to take in as many students as possible to help the department grow.
However, Huo Yuhao didn't play by the rules and limited the intake to only ten people!
Qian Duoduo had been stunned when the recruitment limit was released, but he had no recourse. After all, the control of the entire soul tool class was in Huo Yuhao's hands—a fact confirmed by Elder Mu. They didn't dare interfere at will.
Thus, out of options, Qian Duoduo could only come here to find Huo Yuhao to see if there was any possibility of change.
"Oh, so it's because of that."
Once Qian Duoduo explained his purpose, Huo Yuhao nodded slightly, understanding his intent, and fell into thought.
A tool man... seems like one has delivered himself to my door?
After a moment of deliberation, Huo Yuhao said:
"You should know that I have my own research to conduct; I don't have much time to teach students. Therefore, the fewer people there are, the more time it saves me.
"I can understand Dean Qian's perspective of wanting to recruit more students, but Dean Qian, I simply don't have that much time..."
Huo Yuhao placed a slight emphasis on the word "time." Qian Duoduo understood instantly and hurriedly spoke:
"Our other teachers in the Soul Tool Department can help!"
Huo Yuhao smiled and said softly: "Then let the enrollment expand to forty people—a standard class size.
"I will be responsible for the Monday morning lessons. For the other classes, Dean Qian, I'll have to trouble you and the others to take over. How does that sound?"
"No problem, no problem! It's our duty!"
Qian Duoduo laughed heartily and agreed immediately.
The total number of people in their Soul Tool Department across all grades, including teachers, was only about twenty. Now, with forty new students at once—even if they didn't all graduate in the end—it was a start!
"This is my teaching plan. Dean Qian, why don't you take a look?"
"Alright." Qian Duoduo quickly took the document handed over by Huo Yuhao and opened it.
As he read, Qian Duoduo's expression began to shift.
"Brother Skydream, this 「Engraving Cultivation Method」... is it real?"
"Yes, naturally. Otherwise, why do you think I cultivate so quickly?"
It is well known that most metals contain a special energy. While this energy is very weak, depending on the metal's properties, it can be used to resonate with the heaven-and-earth primordial energy
The so-called 「Engraving Cultivation Method」 involves a soul tool master engraving a specific soul tool array onto metal. This automatically triggers the special energy within the metal to resonate with the heaven-and-earth primordial energy.
During this process, the practitioner can exchange their own soul power for the heaven-and-earth primordial energy entering their body, achieving an effect similar to normal meditation.
Furthermore, because this process happens while engraving a soul tool array, it is essentially also practicing soul tool creation.
It is worth noting that all soul tool masters unintentionally resonate with the heaven-and-earth primordial energy to some degree while engraving arrays and manufacturing tools, thereby achieving a cultivation effect.
However, because this hadn't been systematically organized, and because this uncoordinated resonance usually only achieved about one-tenth or less of the efficiency of normal cultivation, no one had paid it much attention.
In his previous life, after giving up soul tool cultivation at Xuan Ziwen's persuasion, Huo Yuhao had occasionally wondered if there was a way to simultaneously cultivate soul power and engrave soul tools, but it had naturally been a fruitless effort.
In this life, Huo Yuhao had originally intended to develop a 「heaven-and-earth primordial energy Resonator」 to speed up his cultivation, but he accidentally discovered this method instead.
Moreover, after observing Xiao Hongchen's use of metals for cultivation, this method was refined and strengthened.
Of course, what Huo Yuhao provided was a "nerfed" version. Using this method for cultivation yielded only about 60% of the efficiency of normal meditation.
After all, the focus was still on engraving the soul tool array, so it naturally couldn't completely replace standard meditation.
Even so, it was enough to leave anyone in shock.