Second-Level Soul Guidance Master, Rapidly Rising Cultivation

As the process continued, Chen An gradually calmed down.

The initial nervousness and unease faded, replaced by calm confidence.

He followed the routes in his memory as he engraved, letting his Soul Power flow naturally.

Under the guidance and adjustment of his metal-element power, the arrays he engraved were even more effective than ordinary ones.

Time slowly passed, and Chen An finished engraving several Soul Tool components.

Next came the assembly and the engraving of the Soul Guidance Arrays on the exterior.

He assembled the parts deftly, and before long, a fairly exquisite-looking spear had taken shape.

Chen An began the final step, engraving a Soul Guidance Array onto its surface.

The Soul Guidance Array on the surface was relatively simple and easier to engrave.

In less than fifteen minutes, he had completed it entirely.

"Teacher, take a look." Chen An handed the finished Soul Guidance spear to Xu Lin for inspection.

He was somewhat nervous, worried that the Soul Tool he was satisfied with might actually be nothing special.

Xu Lin accepted the Soul Guidance spear with a smile and inspected it carefully, nodding from time to time.

"Not bad. Even among Second-Level Soul Tools, this one is of above-average quality."

"You are now a Second-Level Soul Guidance Master. Congratulations." Xu Lin's face was full of smiles.

The corners of Chen An's lips rose slightly as well, revealing his emotions.

"This is the Second-Level Soul Guidance Master Badge I prepared for you." Xu Lin took out a badge and handed it to Chen An.

Before coming here, he had already decided what he would have Chen An do.

He had also prepared in advance the badge Chen An was supposed to receive after successfully crafting a Second-Level Soul Tool.

Chen An accepted the badge. Looking at the two stars on it, he felt an indescribable sense of accomplishment.

His dream had once been to become a Soul Master and a Soul Engineer.

Now, that dream could be considered partially fulfilled. Yet while he had achieved something, he also felt a trace of bitterness.

If possible, he would still rather have kept his old life.

It had been simple and natural. It could not exactly be called happy, but at least he had felt content.

Every day, he would help his father manage the family business, then go home and tease his mischievous little sister.

When he grew a little older, he would find himself a wife and have a few children. That would have made for a complete life.

Unfortunately, that life he had once considered ordinary had now become a luxury beyond reach.

"What's wrong?" Seeing that Chen An had drifted off, Xu Lin could not help nudging his shoulder.

Chen An came back to himself and shook his head. Looking at the badge in his hand, he said softly, "I'm just feeling a little emotional."

"I never thought I'd already become a Second-Level Soul Guidance Master."

Xu Lin could not help laughing. "You're getting sentimental already?"

"With your talent, it's possible that you may even become a Ninth-Level Soul Guidance Master in the future."

"Save the sentimentality for then. For now, just honestly study under me."

"Not to brag, but your teacher's Soul Tool craftsmanship is among the very best."

"As long as you can learn seventy or eighty percent of it, it will benefit you for a lifetime."

Before his disciple, Xu Lin could not help showing a bit of pride.

Of course, he was not merely boasting. In terms of Soul Tool skill, he truly ranked among the best in the Federation.

The only person who could firmly surpass him in this field was that person from the Federation Research Institute.

Chen An dispelled the gloom in his heart, forced a fairly gentle smile, and nodded.

"Next, I'll tell you about some of the problems with the Soul Tool you made just now."

Xu Lin got down to business and began going through Chen An's mistakes from the start.

He had watched clearly from the side and remembered every issue Chen An had.

Now, as he reviewed the process with him, he pointed out the problems while explaining how to correct them.

Chen An listened attentively. As Xu Lin pointed out more and more issues, the small trace of pride in his heart quietly vanished.

He no longer felt pleased with himself over his little bit of talent. He still had a long road ahead of him.

That entire afternoon, Chen An only made one Soul Tool before listening to Xu Lin review it and point out its flaws.

After just one afternoon of lessons, Chen An felt that he had gained a great deal.

On the way back, he carefully considered the methods Xu Lin had described for resolving those problems.

Afraid that he might forget, he wrote them down on paper, making them into a set of notes from his reflections.

After dinner, Chen An went to the academy's forging room.

The Sun Moon Royal Academy also had forging courses, with dedicated forging rooms open to students.

Chen An entered one of them and practiced forging for a while.

Because of his metal-element power, he did not need to spend too much time on forging.

As his Soul Power cultivation increased, his forging skill would naturally improve as well.

Still, he wanted to set aside some time to practice. Becoming more familiar with it would not be a bad thing.

After staying in the forging room for nearly an hour, he left the Sun Moon Royal Academy.

Sparring with Di Tian every day was something he had to do. It was very important.

Although Di Tian defeated him every time, Chen An always wore a smile.

Perhaps this was what people meant by pain and happiness intertwined. Losing to Di Tian was not embarrassing either.

Moreover, he firmly believed that one day, he would defeat Di Tian.

Defeating Di Tian was a goal he had set for himself.

After returning and resting for a while, he took out the Death Earth Dragon Core and absorbed it.

The next day, his Soul Power had reached the peak of Level Twelve, and he was about to break through.

For the next period of time, Chen An's life followed a fairly fixed routine.

He studied theoretical knowledge in the morning, then received instruction from Xu Lin in the afternoon.

Xu Lin not only taught him Soul Tool knowledge, but also cultivation and combat.

At night, Chen An forged for a while, sparred with Di Tian once, and then absorbed energy.

During this period, the Death Earth Dragon Core assisted his cultivation.

As a result, his progress was much faster than normal. He would basically rise one level every two days or so.

Under his absorption, the energy within the Death Earth Dragon Core slowly diminished.

Half a month later, the core turned to dust, its energy completely absorbed.

Chen An's Soul Power did not rise by the eleven or twelve levels Xu Lin had expected.

After completely absorbing the ten-thousand-year Death Earth Dragon Core, he had only risen seven levels.

He advanced from Level Twelve to Level Nineteen, still short of the Level Twenty bottleneck.

Xu Lin had underestimated the difficulty of Chen An increasing his level. The energy he required for advancement was far beyond that of an ordinary Soul Master.

This was related to his multi-attribute abilities, which required far more energy to sustain.

To adapt to such high consumption, the dantian within his body could only store more energy.

If an ordinary Soul Master needed one hundred units of energy to rise from Level Twelve to Level Nineteen,

then Chen An might need two hundred, or even three hundred—several times that of an ordinary Soul Master.

The greater amount of energy required naturally made advancing more difficult.

Of course, this greater difficulty also gave him Soul Power with much greater endurance.

Rising seven levels in half a month, Chen An was fairly satisfied with his progress.

He had even become somewhat reliant on this rapid advancement, and felt a little unaccustomed after it was gone.

He abruptly reflected on himself and realized that such reliance was very wrong.

He could occasionally take such shortcuts in cultivation, but he absolutely could not depend on them.

Cultivation still required keeping his feet on the ground. Constantly thinking of shortcuts would only backfire.

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