Exploration, the Growth of a Child of Destiny

The night was ink-black, the stars few and far between.

While most of Shrek Academy's students had already drifted into dreams, two faint glimmers shone in a secluded clearing on the back mountain. They were Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong's Soul Power lights, stubbornly persistent in the silent night.

"Again!"

Huo Yuhao's voice was somewhat hoarse, but his eyes remained bright. Before him, Wang Dong sat cross-legged, her face pale and her forehead covered in fine beads of sweat.

This was their thirteenth attempt tonight.

Their goal was to construct the most basic Cooperative Soul Skill—the Phantom Blade Ring. In theory, it was simple: Huo Yuhao would construct the "cutting" structure of the Ice Ring, while Wang Dong would infuse it with the Light Goddess Butterfly's light-and-shadow energy, giving it the rule of "confusion."

But theory was unbearably fragile before reality.

"Begin!" Huo Yuhao barked.

His second soul ring lit up, and extreme cold gathered in his palm. This time, however, he did not rush to shape it. He carefully controlled every wisp of cold, trying to weave it into an absolutely smooth ring only millimeters thick. This was the foundation of Structural Optimization, and also the step that tested control the most.

At the other end of the Spiritual Net, Wang Dong sensed Huo Yuhao's intent as well. What she needed to do was, at the very instant Huo Yuhao's Ice Ring took shape, perfectly "apply" her Power of Light onto it like spilled mercury.

For two energies with utterly different attributes to merge without conflict was no less difficult than dancing on the tip of a needle.

"Now!" Huo Yuhao gave the command through the Spiritual Link.

Wang Dong immediately activated her Soul Power. A gentle golden beam shot precisely toward the transparent Ice Ring that was about to take shape.

However, something went wrong.

Perhaps Wang Dong's Soul Power output had fluctuated by one thousandth, or perhaps Huo Yuhao's Ice Ring structure contained an imperceptible flaw. The instant the Power of Light touched the cold energy, the two energies did not merge. Instead, they violently repelled each other!

Bang!

With a muffled explosion, the Ice Ring shattered in midair. Countless ice crystals and specks of light scattered in every direction. One sharp shard even sliced across Huo Yuhao's arm, leaving a long, thin streak of blood.

"Cough, cough..." Wang Dong abruptly opened her eyes and spat out a mouthful of blood. Her face turned even paler. The energy backlash struck her Sea of Consciousness like a Heavy Hammer, leaving her dizzy and disoriented.

"I... I failed, Yuhao." Wang Dong's voice was full of frustration and self-reproach. "My Power of Light seems to naturally reject your Extreme Ice."

"No, it's not your fault." Huo Yuhao covered his wound with his other hand as he hurried over to support her. At the same time, he swiftly severed the Spiritual Link to keep Wang Dong's injuries from worsening.

"It's my fault." Huo Yuhao's gaze was incomparably grave. "I took it for granted. I only considered the structure, but overlooked the most fundamental thing—attributes. Ice and light: one was supremely yin and cold, the other supremely yang and hot. They were naturally opposed. I tried to forcibly 'stick' them together instead of finding a structure in which they could coexist."

He looked at the wound on his arm, then at Wang Dong's pale face. For the first time, doubt arose in his heart about his "2.0 Plan."

Was this plan really feasible? Or was it merely an impractical, arrogant fantasy?

"Don't lose heart." Wang Dong panted as she leaned against Huo Yuhao's shoulder. Though weak, her gaze remained resolute. "We just... found the wrong algorithm. We can switch to another one tomorrow. For example, instead of making light and ice merge, what if we let light pass through the ice? Use the ice to refract the light and create illusions?"

Warmth rose in Huo Yuhao's heart. Looking at this partner who chose to believe in him no matter what, the confusion in his eyes vanished completely.

"Right... refraction..." he murmured, a new line of thought instantly taking shape in his mind.

"No. That's enough for tonight." Huo Yuhao decisively shook his head. "You've used too much Spiritual Power. If we force another link, it could cause permanent damage. We need to solve the stability issue with the net first."

This was the second bottleneck they had encountered that night.

Though the Spiritual Net was powerful, it drained both of them enormously. Wang Dong in particular—her Spiritual Power was already inferior to Huo Yuhao's, and after more than a dozen high-intensity links and backlashes, she was on the verge of her limit.

"We're like a computer running overclocked." Huo Yuhao gave a bitter smile. "Its performance is stronger, but the CPU and motherboard could burn out at any moment."

Supporting Wang Dong, he slowly walked back to the dormitory. Neither spoke along the way, but both were thinking about the same question.

After returning to the dormitory, Huo Yuhao did not rest immediately. Instead, he spread out a sheet of paper and began drawing complex structural diagrams on it.

He drew the Spiritual Net as a CPU—himself. Wang Dong, meanwhile, was an important External Device. He realized that the problem might be that, as the CPU, he was handling all the calculations himself. That left Wang Dong, the "device," only able to receive passively, unable to share the burden.

What if... I could write part of the Calculation Rules into the net itself? Huo Yuhao's eyes lit up.

"For example, establish an Automatic Filtering protocol that lets the net automatically block useless background information and reduce Wang Dong's receiving burden."

"Then establish an Emergency Disconnect protocol. Once it detects that Wang Dong's Spiritual Power fluctuations have exceeded the threshold, it automatically cuts the link and protects her."

This was the evolution from manual operation to Automation.

Although the Phantom Blade Ring plan had ended in complete failure that night, even leaving both of them injured, that failure was like a key that opened a new door for them.

It made Huo Yuhao understand that Soul Skill Structure Optimization was not merely about optimizing Soul Skills themselves. It was also about optimizing the Cooperative Structure between them.

Growth had never been smooth sailing.

Tonight, they had Sounded a symphony of failure. But Huo Yuhao knew that these discordant notes would one day compose the most magnificent movement of the future.

He looked at the night sky outside the window, still pitch-black. There was no weariness in his eyes, only burning fire.

"Tomorrow, we'll try Automation," he whispered to himself.