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"Senior, here are the promised pieces of jade silver."
Xu Yuan and Chen Feiyang exchanged goods and payment, each obtaining what they needed.
Weighing the three rings in his hand, Xu Yuan couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction.
With these three rare metals, he should have enough materials for his battle armor—for now.
Up to this point, Xu Yuan hadn't made any progress on his battle armor.
He was already far behind Tang Wulin and the others.
But there was no helping it. Due to his martial soul, Xu Yuan had only just begun designing his battle armor, which put him at a disadvantage from the start.
However, given his circumstances, catching up was still possible.
After all, others were limited by their cultivation levels when it came to making progress on their battle armor, whereas Xu Yuan had long since met the cultivation requirements—his issue was simply that he hadn't started crafting his battle armor yet.
Even third-year seniors didn't meet the standards as well as he did.
Approaching Soul King level, yet without even a single piece of battle armor crafted—or even a design completed.
This was truly an anomaly in Shrek's history.
Yes, ever since the advent of battle armor, Xu Yuan was the first to nearly meet the soul power requirements for becoming a battle armorer but hadn't even begun designing his armor.
Even in history, there were those who wanted to focus on raising their cultivation before dedicating themselves to battle armor—but none were as extreme as Xu Yuan, reaching level forty-nine without any progress at all.
"My battle armor will be directly crafted from spirit alloys, and once completed, it'll quickly be upgraded."
Xu Yuan planned to create a two-word battle armor in one go.
Of course, the step-by-step growth process was also important for battle armor, so he didn't intend to skip over the one-word stage entirely.
Since it would be crafted from spirit alloys, his one-word battle armor could undergo spirit forging right away. Afterward, he'd only need to refine the internal core formations to upgrade it to a two-word battle armor.
It could be said that Xu Yuan wouldn't skip the one-word battle armor stage, but he also wouldn't linger there for long.
Because although he could complete the one-word battle armor quickly, his soul power cultivation would progress even faster.
"Thank you, Senior Chen."
"It's mutually beneficial—I should be the one thanking you," Chen Feiyang replied with a smile.
These pieces of jade silver were also highly valuable to him.
After leaving Sanbao City, the group had only one stop left.
"The next stop is Mingdu. Our challenge will be against the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy. Luo Guixing, you're from there, so whether or not we can arrange a smooth exchange depends on you contacting them."
Luo Guixing forced a strained smile.
On the soul-guided train, his expression remained conflicted throughout the journey.
"What's wrong? Feeling guilty about your former academy? Or is there something else on your mind?" Xu Yuan couldn't help but ask.
He was genuinely curious. Luo Guixing came from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy—why did he transfer to Shrek?
Although Shrek held a higher status, better teaching conditions, stronger mentors, and higher-quality students, offering greater chances of becoming a battle armorer, there was still a millennia-old grudge between the two academies.
Though it wasn't a matter of life-and-death hatred anymore, the conflict between them was well-known across the continent.
Ten thousand years ago, it was the struggle between Shrek and Mingde Hall, and the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy could be considered Mingde Hall's reserve talent pool, supplying excellent soul engineers.
"I didn't fit into the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy's training system. If I stayed there, my progress toward becoming a battle armorer would've been much slower, and advancing further would've been incredibly difficult."
This was an undeniable fact.
To become a powerful battle armorer, Shrek Academy was the top choice—especially entering Shrek's Inner Court.
Simply because the peers there were exceptional.
Luo Guixing was a mech designer, but in mech manufacturing and forging, he struggled to find companions who could keep up with him.
In the journey to becoming a battle armorer, if one couldn't find like-minded companions, the path forward would be at least twice as difficult.
A patchwork battle armor would lack coordination and fall short compared to others at the same level.
Truly top-tier battle armor masters always had fellow battle armorers as companions.
The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy did have mech designers, but very few could match Luo Guixing's pace.
At this stage, a one-word battle armor might suffice for Luo Guixing, but in five years, it wouldn't provide the support he needed.
After careful consideration, Luo Guixing's family arranged for him to withdraw from the academy and secured him a spot in Shrek's entrance exam, sending him to Shrek.
Everything was simple—to become stronger.
"I can try contacting my former teachers to see if we can arrange an exchange match."
Xu Yuan nodded, patted Luo Guixing on the shoulder, and began meditating.
In his dreamscape, he formally began drafting the blueprint for his battle armor.
The Tianyuan Brush and the Tianyuan Five Elements Spear weren't fully stabilized yet, but their final forms were already foreseeable. The necessary rare treasures had already been consumed, leaving only three more to digest for the final enhancement of Xu Yuan's essence.
"My battle armor must first align with my three martial souls."
Among the three martial souls, his brain was currently the core and the most crucial factor in his current achievements.
His greatest advantage had always been his extraordinarily powerful spiritual power, which supported his cultivation system of mastering three martial souls simultaneously.
"The helmet is most deeply connected to the spiritual sea and matches the brain region perfectly. Using the helmet will maximize the activation of my brain martial soul. The breastplate will fuse with the middle dantian's blood qi, maximizing the activation of my blood qi martial soul, the Tianyuan Five Elements Spear. The waist armor and battle kilt correspond to the lower dantian's core."
(T/N: Had to check the wiki for the parts' names and even then some of the names are pretty awkward)
"The three parts represent three cores, corresponding to my three martial souls."
The entire battle armor consisted of eleven components. Besides the eight pieces for hands and legs, the remaining three would serve as the core of Xu Yuan's battle armor.
The crafting difficulty was extremely high.
However, precisely because Xu Yuan's three martial souls corresponded to essence, energy, and spirit, this design had the potential to be realized.
"..."
As Xu Yuan contemplated his battle armor design, the soul-guided train finally arrived in Mingdu.
Mingdu
Ten thousand years ago, this city was once the most prosperous capital—even surpassing Shrek.
Now, however, it no longer rivaled Shrek in terms of prosperity.
But in terms of the prevalence of soul-guided technology, Mingdu outshone Shrek. Towering skyscrapers, high-definition soul-guided screens, and neon lights filled the city, presenting a thoroughly modern landscape.
Xu Yuan and the others had no time to admire Mingdu's modernity. After disembarking from the train, they immediately hailed a taxi and headed straight for the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy.
Luo Guixing opened his soul-guided communicator and began contacting his former teacher.
Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy
"Teacher Zhou." Luo Guixing's expression was complex as he looked at his former mentor, his gaze slightly evasive.
"Boy, there's no need to feel awkward. Your current development is better than if you'd stayed at the academy, so your choice was correct," Teacher Zhou said, patting his former prized student on the shoulder reassuringly.
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