Soul Tools Are Not Swords, Spears, or Staves

"Xuan Zi, you were too fixated on appearances."

A calm voice rang out beside everyone's ears.

"Mu En!"

"Pavilion Master!"

Everyone immediately rose and bowed respectfully.

"Enough with the formalities."

A kindly old man seated in a wheelchair quietly appeared before them.

"I had kept an eye on that child. His spiritual power was strong and of high quality, and his temperament was fairly gentle. But his ambitions were lofty."

Gazing at the Blazing Sun burning quietly in the distance, the old man continued:

"When did Shrek Academy become an aristocratic faction? Though we have trained quite a few nobles, Shrek was first and foremost an academy."

"Xuan Zi, what use do you have for noble status? And you too, Fan Yu. Nobles need Shrek, but Shrek does not need nobles."

Feeling the warm sunlight, the old man felt as though he had returned to the time he first met that little fellow...

"Sir, could you move aside? I need to get the books over there."

The old man sunning himself in the corridor on the library's top floor was interrupted by a youth.

"Don't you know to respect the elderly and care for the young?"

"I waited half an hour, and you still didn't wake up."

"Oh..." Hearing this, the old man moved his chair aside. The youth's presence was too faint; he had barely noticed him. I shouldn't sleep in the corridor next time.

"Say, you're a second-year student, aren't you?" The uniform on the youth was that of a second-year student.

The youth pointed at his clothes without answering, then went to retrieve the books he needed.

"Martial Soul True Body Secret Explanation? Why is a little fellow like you interested in this?"

The youth before him was merely a Soul Grandmaster who had just broken through, yet he was already aiming so high. The old man could not help but become interested.

"Everyone says the Martial Soul Avatar provides an all-round increase. I think that statement is wrong."

"Oh? And why is that?"

After glancing at the book's author and seeing that it was from a rather distant era, the old man finally examined the youth closely.

"In terms of the spirit, the Martial Soul Avatar can still enhance the body's mental resistance and perception, but one state does not receive any enhancement."

"What is it?"

The old man smiled as he listened.

"Intelligence."

The youth pointed at his head. "This is a very serious issue. In most people's subconscious minds, intelligence does not count as power."

"The power Titled Douluo take pride in does not include intelligence. That is rather tragic."

Imagining a group of high-spirited Titled Douluo who were actually idiots, the old man could not help but laugh.

"How did fire-attribute Soul Masters make fire?"

"They ignited it with Soul Power."

"What else?"

The old man was stumped at once. He did not answer Soul Tools, because they still required Soul Power.

"How could you make fire without Soul Power?"

The old man wanted to answer, but after thinking it over, he ultimately shook his head.

The youth took two stones from his space ring.

Crack!

Sparks flew as the stones collided.

"Someone discovered that striking certain stones together could create sparks, then quickly told others. Before long, everyone knew how to make fire."

"Someone discovered that fire-attribute Soul Power could make fire, but in the end, only fire-attribute Soul Masters could do it."

"...What you mean is?" The old man could not help sinking into thought.

"Soul Power is a means, not the end, Douluo Lord."

"I quite liked something he said: Soul Tools are not swords, spears, or staves."

Mu En came back to himself, then slowly wheeled himself away.

"He might be able to change this lifeless world. Do you understand? Learn more technology. This is an opportunity. Just provide suitable protection."

Xuan Zi and Fan Yu looked at each other. That was an exceptionally high evaluation.

Before they knew it, two months had passed. During this time, Chen Fu had been renovating Mo Ling's floor, adding plenty of alloy structures and decorating it with the original flowers from Orchid Fragrance Pavilion.

During that time, he had also delivered twenty custom Soul Tools, all of them Level Five Soul Tools. Some people even provided precious metals for their custom orders, and Chen Fu greatly welcomed such customers.

Chen Fu produced Soul Tools very quickly, and most custom orders were small Soul Tool weapons. With the cooperation of his Martial Soul, countless invisible tentacles rapidly traced the circuits. A standard Level Five Soul Tool could go from a rough blank to a finished product in two hours.

At the same time, Chen Fu was slowly clearing out his inventory, putting the scrap materials and practice pieces from his Space Bracelet up for sale in Lin Pavilion's exhibition hall.

After costs, he earned around a hundred thousand each month.

Level Five Soul Tools generally cost just over five thousand, while custom orders were much more expensive.

After completing the final sealing process on the bracelet-shaped Soul Tool in his hands and leaving his own [qilin] mark on it, Chen Fu finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Finally finished. Handcrafting integrated circuits really is troublesome."

Compared to the endless trial and error involved in creating [Nirvana], as well as its more complicated spirit-related purification techniques, this filtering device that targeted only Soul Power was undoubtedly far easier. He had completed it in his spare time over the past two months.

"It uses the Jade Phosphor Serpent's mimicry technique, and the alloy contains quite a few scales. I'll call it [Emerald]."

The bracelet was platinum-white throughout, with emerald-green serpent patterns distributed across its center. Once it officially began operating, the patterns would turn an even deeper green as snake venom accumulated.

Once the toxins reached a certain level, the core's processing program would activate, driving the specially formulated Jade Phosphor alloy to devour them.

Given enough time, [Emerald] would eventually condense Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor venom.

Of course, Chen Fu had calculated Mo Ling's venom-stacking speed. Even if she cultivated diligently, it would take fifty years to produce a single drop.

Chen Fu went downstairs to call Mo Ling, who was promoting flowers to customers. He had received quite a few complaints over the past two months about a woman constantly disturbing them while they selected Soul Tools. Chen Fu was rather helpless about that.

Perhaps he could have her consider expanding into plant cultivation technology? Chen Fu thought to himself.

"This is what you wanted. Give it a try." Chen Fu handed Mo Ling the box containing [Emerald], eagerly anticipating the result.

As the serpent patterns on [Emerald] began to ripple and Mo Ling's face filled with delight, Chen Fu knew his wish had been fulfilled.

"Read these books when you have time. They contain my ideas about plant cultivation. You can use them for reference."

He tossed a space ring to the Big Hamster, who was about to start bouncing around, then went upstairs again.

As for Space Rings, Chen Fu had achieved maximum utilization of limited space, maintaining one cubic meter of storage space in the form of a ring. It was very convenient.

Chen Fu planned to optimize it further and make it next month's standard Soul Tool.

As for differentiated ring designs, that would require a dedicated apprentice. Chen Fu guessed that person would be arriving soon.

As for Soul Power, it was great. Chen Fu had risen one level in two months, reaching Level 42. The cultivation maniac in the neighboring inner courtyard had reportedly risen two levels and was said to be close to Level 58.

Wasn't cultivation supposed to get slower at higher levels? Why were you not following the script?

It was also unclear what had stimulated her, but she had buried herself in cultivation for the past two months and had not come to disturb him. That was quite nice.

Chen Fu was happy to have some peace and quiet. He happened to have time to study the structure of his Soul Rings. The mismatched yellow-yellow-purple-yellow configuration always felt awkward to him.

The yellow-yellow-purple rings had been tests of his Martial Soul's Soul Skill. He had ultimately discovered that, like the Nine Heart Begonia, no matter how he added Soul Rings, his Martial Soul had only one Soul Skill. The final yellow ring had been a test made in resignation, and he discovered that its Soul Skill strength had not decreased.

However, compared to the Nine Heart Begonia's "no Soul Skill," Chen Fu's Technology Throne had a slight sense of participation. The [Compulsion] skill stacked its intensity exponentially, and Chen Fu could increase or decrease the amplification multiplier according to the number of activated Soul Rings.

Under normal conditions, Chen Fu's speed of analyzing matter was 1. With one ring, it became 2; with two rings, 4; with three rings, 8; and with four rings, 16. Naturally, the consumption also rose exponentially.

"Open the Record Panel."

[Record Panel opened]