Hand Strength Matters

"Hello, Senior Ning."

Huo Yuhao had yet to recover from the shock of learning that the burly man before him was actually a Support System Soul Master. He greeted him somewhat shyly.

"Haha, no need to be so polite. A-Jie's friend is my friend. Treat this place like your own home—sit wherever you like."

Ning Ge looked at Little Yuhao, who was barely four feet seven inches tall, and laughed heartily. Then he dragged two chairs out from a heap of discarded Soul Tools for them.

"Old Ning, this dump of yours is seriously impossible to walk through. Not that I'm trying to criticize you, but if it weren't for your skills, you'd deserve to have no business all day long."

Jie Chu kicked a scrapped Soul Guidance Core back into the junk pile, then sat down without ceremony. Ning Ge did not get angry. After lighting a Leaf Cigarette, he took a deep drag and exhaled a Mist Dragon before handing one cigarette each to Huo Yuhao and Jie Chu.

"Go on, what do you need from me? You never visit without a reason. Are you short on money and here to borrow some, or did you wreck the Soul Tools I painstakingly fixed up for you again?"

Ning Ge narrowed his eyes at Jie Chu, looking as unlucky as someone who had slept through an inauspicious day and stepped in dog shit the moment he went outside.

"Neither. Don't worry, the Soul Tools you fixed for me are tough enough—they won't be scrapped anytime soon. I came this time because of Yuhao."

As he spoke, Jie Chu shifted the conversation to Huo Yuhao.

Ning Ge sized Huo Yuhao up and down, one brow lifting slightly. "Come on, Jie Chu. Brother Yuhao looks about ten at most. He can't be above Level 20, right? Isn't it a little too soon to get him a full set of Soul Tools?"

Huo Yuhao knew that this was when he needed to speak for himself. Often, it was not that others did not know why you had come; they simply chose not to say it outright because they were waiting to see how you would respond.

So Huo Yuhao stood up decisively. "Senior Ning, I just turned nine this year. I should count as a First Level Soul Tool Master now, and I want to apply for Special Enrollment at our academy. But I'm only Level 11, so my Soul Power Level isn't high enough yet. I'd like to work here as an apprentice for a while first, to get more practice making and repairing Soul Tools."

"Before my Soul Power Level broke through Level 10, I had already independently made several First Level Soul Tools. After obtaining my first soul ring, I only stayed home for a few days before coming to Shrek City. So the Second Level Soul Tools I was trying to make were only half-finished. Please have a look."

As he spoke, Huo Yuhao took a Soul Guidance Ray Gun, a Thermal Soul Guidance Spear, and two Soul Guidance Core Arrays that had clearly just had their circuits engraved from his Storage Soul Guidance Device, then handed them to Ning Ge.

Ning Ge accepted the items Huo Yuhao handed over and placed them on the only Soul Tool engraving table in the room that could barely be called tidy. He carefully examined the two Second Level Soul Guidance Core Arrays.

"Damn, A-Jie, where did you pick up such a treasure? When I heard Yuhao say he could make Second Level Soul Tools at Level 11, I thought the kid liked bragging as much as you did. But there isn't a single damn flaw in these two Soul Guidance Cores."

Shock appeared on Ning Ge's face as he scrutinized the two Soul Guidance Core Arrays. Their circuits were precisely engraved, without the slightest stray line or raised bump. The more he looked, the more unbelievable it seemed.

So-called stray lines were incorrect circuits carved when the hand holding the Engraving Knife wavered or shook during the engraving of a Soul Guidance Core Array. Raised bumps, meanwhile, referred to bumps carved when the engraver was too slow, causing the muscles in the palm to become exhausted from holding the knife for too long and spasm unnaturally.

Both were common mistakes made by low-level Soul Tool Masters. Even Soul Tool Masters from Level 4 to Level Six could occasionally make such basic errors.

As long as such minor mistakes did not appear too frequently, they basically would not affect the normal flow of soul power through a Soul Guidance Core Array. Therefore, unless it was the work of a master, the core arrays of low-level Soul Tools would more or less contain stray lines and raised bumps.

Ning Ge then picked up the two First Level Soul Tools from the engraving table and dismantled their core circuits. At last, his tightly furrowed brow gradually relaxed. The Soul Guidance Core Arrays in these two Soul Tools were not nearly as perfect.

Though raised bumps were almost nonexistent, there were still stray lines. The quality of the Soul Guidance Cores improved one after another, which showed just how terrifyingly fast Huo Yuhao's Soul Tool skills had progressed.

In truth, the reason Huo Yuhao had overcome the common issues of stray lines and raised bumps so soon after entering the world of Soul Tools was not merely his own diligence. It was also related to the continuous improvement of his physical condition.

Compared to other Soul Tool Masters his age, Huo Yuhao's physical strength could practically be described as monstrous. Generally speaking, the earlier one came into contact with the profession of Soul Tool Master, the better. Many great clans even had their children begin learning to make Soul Tools as soon as their Martial Souls awakened.

But this also led to a rather troublesome problem. You could not expect a child under ten to have much hand strength. Though Soul Tool Masters did not need to fight, their profession demanded an exceptionally high degree of hand strength. If the hand holding the Engraving Knife was not steady enough, all kinds of problems would naturally arise. But what sort of life had Huo Yuhao lived since awakening his Martial Soul?

He had run into a viscount's residence to secretly photograph the Viscountess's affair with her male lover, infiltrated a small sect's heavily guarded base to steal its land deeds, led a troublemaking unlucky bastard out of the city while moonlighting as his bodyguard, and had Soul Elders and even Soul Ancestors chasing after him in a life-or-death endurance race.

So, while Huo Yuhao had been shocked to learn that someone with Ning Ge's huge, burly build was a Support System Soul Master, compared with Soul Tool Masters his age who could not even kill a chicken properly and would get chased down two streets by a goose when they returned to their villages, Huo Yuhao's physical condition was just as absurdly explosive as that of a humanoid Soul Beast.

Why did the issues of stray lines and raised bumps, so common among beginner Soul Tool Masters, gradually cease to appear after they became intermediate Soul Tool Masters?

Because after their Soul Power Levels rose, their physical condition improved as well. Combined with the constant practice of holding an Engraving Knife, they had basically learned how to deal with the little problems that arose during the engraving of Soul Guidance circuits. Thus, the higher a Soul Tool Master's level, the less often such basic mistakes appeared in their Soul Guidance Core Arrays.

Huo Yuhao's physical condition was already outstanding, and he had also constantly trained in engraving Soul Guidance Core Arrays. That was why the Soul Guidance Cores he engraved almost never developed raised bumps. His hand strength far surpassed that of most children his age.

As for why he had overcome the problem of stray lines so quickly, he had to thank the Illusory Golden Eye Qian Daoliu had opened between his brows.

Aside from being useful for judging the heat of Grilled Fish, the Illusory Eye was also excellent at observing the circuits on core arrays.