A Brief Discussion of Soul Tools

Over the next few days, Xu Tianyang and Xu Nianshuang's training schedules were packed full, leaving them almost no free time.

After completing a day of training and returning to his room, Xu Tianyang sat at the desk beside his wooden bed. Scattered across the desk were fragments of rare metals in various colors.

The most conspicuous among them was a skull from a Thousand Year Ghost King Whale—the very Ghost King Whale he had eaten before.

Not only had none of its flesh gone to waste, even its bones had been put to use.

When it came to developing and utilizing resources, the Douluo Continent could not compare to the Sun Moon Continent even if it whipped its horse to exhaustion.

This Thousand Year Ghost King Whale skull was harder than refined iron and was an excellent material for crafting Soul Tools.

Obscure and intricate patterns glimmered with a dark red light around Xu Tianyang's pupils. In his right hand, he held a slender, fiery-red knife as he engraved a piece of deep-blue metal.

This small knife was called the Sunflame Engraving Knife. It ranked fifty-seventh on the Engraving Knife Ranking and had once been part of the imperial palace collection. Xu Yunxiao had now given it to Xu Tianyang for use.

His movements were quick, yet his hand remained steady. Every stroke of the knife was firm and composed, flowing like a dragon and serpent in one seamless motion.

As the final trace of metal shavings fell onto the desk, intricate patterns quietly emerged on the metal.

Xu Tianyang frowned slightly and slowly infused it with gentle soul power. At once, the deep-blue metal block emitted a dazzling blue-gold radiance. A soft halo rose into a beam of light over two feet tall, its blue glow straight and unwavering without the slightest tremble, while the metal itself became a translucent blue.

"The Level 2 Soul Power Amplification Core Array succeeded." Seeing this, Xu Tianyang finally relaxed, a faint smile appearing on his face.

Successfully engraving a Level 2 Soul Power Amplification Core Array did not mean he could now be considered a Level 2 Soul Engineer. However, since he had managed to inscribe a Level 2 core array, the rest would naturally fall into place.

Generally speaking, a Soul Master's rank corresponded to a Soul Engineer's rank. It was rare for a low-level Soul Master to produce a high-level Soul Tool, and those capable of doing so were unquestionably geniuses.

Xu Tianyang was clearly one such genius.

Soul Masters with a Spiritual Attribute indeed possessed an innate advantage in crafting and using Soul Tools.

With his Sun Pupil martial soul, his eyesight was at least several times sharper than that of an ordinary person. This allowed him to avoid many unnecessary mistakes when engraving core arrays. With his powerful Spiritual Power, he could also easily memorize those complex core arrays one after another.

The advantages of his martial soul allowed him to push his Soul Tool proficiency beyond Zui Hongchen's, despite not working as hard at Soul Tool research and cultivation as the other boy. That was talent—unreasonable talent.

Xu Tianyang put all the materials on the desk into his Soul Tool Ring, then stood and stretched. His entire day had basically been filled with the training regimen Xu Yunxiao had arranged for him, and he still had to "work overtime" at night. He had not expected that even after coming to the Douluo Continent, he would still have to work himself so hard!

Shaking his head with a laugh, he understood that too much was as bad as too little. Whether cultivating or crafting Soul Tools, one needed to balance work and rest.

After putting away the materials, he prepared to rest as well.

"What is this?" In a garden within the Prince's Mansion, Xu Yunxiao stared curiously at the strange object before him, then looked at Xu Tianyang in confusion.

That morning, Xu Tianyang had said he wanted to give him a surprise, so he had brought Xu Yunxiao, Xu Nianshuang, and Feng Tianxiang here. Before the small waterfall, they had found this peculiar machine.

Xu Yunxiao was certain that, with his knowledge as the foremost Soul Tool expert of the Sun Moon Empire, he had never seen such a machine before. Nor was it a product of the Moonflower Empire.

This new kind of machine piqued his curiosity, and he examined it with great interest.

Seeing this, Xu Tianyang silently sighed. The Soul Tool technology of the Douluo Continent was indeed impressive, but development in certain areas was severely unbalanced.

Take this simple small-scale hydraulic forging machine he had made. The Sun Moon Continent had already developed Flying Soul Tools, yet they had absolutely no concept of using machinery to replace manual labor.

This was not yet an era where they had reached god-grade Mechas or Battle Armor, when every component and every piece of metal had to be personally forged by hand.

"Father, this is a Hydraulic Forging Hammer..."

After explaining its use in detail to the three of them, Xu Tianyang personally used it to forge a metal blank. He then refined it further by hand, engraved several Level 1 Soul Tool arrays, and verified through testing that they could function normally before continuing.

"With this labor-saving machine, our empire's Soul Tool components can save a tremendous amount of forging time. We would only need to spend time on refining the metal blanks, which could speed up the production of Soul Tools. It should be of some help to the empire's Soul Tool manufacturing."

"Good, good, good!" After watching Xu Tianyang's demonstration, Xu Yunxiao said "good" three times in a row, an excited smile spreading across his face.

Feng Tianxiang also stared at Xu Tianyang in astonishment. Xu Nianshuang's delicate face was filled with admiration, making Xu Tianyang secretly pleased with himself.

This thing might not be of much help to ordinary civilians for now, but its benefits for military production were obvious. It could greatly accelerate the production speed of Soul Tools.

The Sun Moon Empire and the Moonflower Empire were currently at war, and war was fought through logistics. How could Xu Yunxiao not be delighted by something that could strengthen Soul Tool logistics?

Though the current situation did not truly require the Sun Moon Empire to have this, considering they had already conquered half of the Moonflower Empire's territory, the better one's odds of victory, the better.

"Tianxiang, have Mingde Hall send several people over to take this Hydraulic Forging Hammer back for study. Put it into production as soon as possible. Hurry." Feng Tianxiang swiftly departed with Xu Yunxiao's orders.

"Yang'er, this counts as a contribution. How would you like your father to reward you?" Xu Yunxiao looked at Xu Tianyang with a smile, in an excellent mood. Not only was Xu Tianyang's talent as a Soul Master unmatched, but now it seemed his talent in Soul Tools was no less remarkable.

Worthy of being his son—just like him!

"I would like to ask Father for several master blacksmiths." Xu Tianyang's eyes lit up as he thought of the Spirit Forging research Zui Hongchen had been conducting, and he immediately spoke up.

Zui Hongchen was certainly talented, but his talent lay in Soul Tools. Having him delve into the path of forging was somewhat wasteful. Moreover, he was still young and should not spend too much time on other crafts.

Were there not already plenty of geniuses on the Douluo Continent who had wasted their talents researching other skills?

Isn't that right, Feng Xiaotian?

Having master blacksmiths who had immersed themselves in forging for many years conduct the research would yield twice the result with half the effort.

"You want them to research the thing that boy from the Red Dust Family has been studying, don't you?" Xu Yunxiao glanced sideways at Xu Tianyang, immediately seeing through his son's intentions.

The entire Imperial Capital was under his watch, and Xu Tianyang's daily movements were even more directly under his nose. How could he possibly not know about what had been going on between him and Zui Hongchen?

"You need not concern yourself with this matter. Your focus right now should be on cultivation. Your father has already established a dedicated research group for forging. At present, everything in the empire is giving way to the final battle against the Moonflower Empire."

"Many top-tier Soul Engineers and blacksmiths cannot spare the time. Once everything is over, your father will intensify the research. Hundred-forged metal has already been proven to enhance the power of Soul Tools. Your father is also looking forward to the effects of the subsequent Thousand Forging, and even the possible Spirit Forging you mentioned."

Xu Yunxiao spoke calmly. As the Executive Vice Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire, the power and resources at his disposal were far beyond anything Xu Tianyang could compare to.

After learning of the effects of the hundred-forged metal Zui Hongchen had tested, he decisively classified the subject as one of the Sun Moon Empire's highest-priority research projects.

After hearing Xu Yunxiao's arrangements, Xu Tianyang said no more. His father was planning from a nationwide perspective, and for the Sun Moon Empire, it was the optimal choice. Besides, he was not in a hurry. Trailblazers always required the efforts of generation after generation.

Assigning people to research it did not mean results would come immediately. He had long prepared himself for a protracted battle.

"Yang'er, you're now a quasi-Second-Rank Soul Engineer. Tell your father—what do you think the future of Soul Tools will look like?" Xu Yunxiao asked casually, a glint flashing through his eyes.

Xu Tianyang was inwardly speechless. After quietly recalling the Soul Tool technologies currently possessed by the Sun Moon Empire, he slowly said, "In your son's view, Soul Tools should ultimately develop along two main paths. One would be Soul Tools that can be powered without Soul Power. Such Soul Tools could see widespread use throughout the empire. After all, compared to soul masters, those without Soul Power still make up the overwhelming majority."

Xu Yunxiao nodded almost imperceptibly, surprise filling his eyes. What Xu Tianyang had said coincided perfectly with one of Mingde Hall's current research directions.

He had not expected Xu Tianyang to possess such insight at such a young age.

"The other path would focus on increasing a soul master's combat strength, rather than the current clumsy method of using them as mere tools to enhance combat ability."

"Instead, it would be another kind of humanoid Soul Tool—Mecha..."

Time passed quickly. Since that day, after briefly discussing the future development trends of Soul Tools with Xu Yunxiao, Xu Tianyang had returned to his busy daily cultivation.

In the blink of an eye, it was time for school to begin.

Ten days before Xu Tianyang's term started, Xu Yunxiao and Mu Mengyu left the Prince's Mansion once again.

The Sun Moon Empire's army had already broken through ninety percent of the Moonflower Empire's cities. Its army of three hundred thousand was now advancing toward the Moonflower Empire's Imperial Capital, Moon Yao City.

The final battle between the two empires was about to begin. Xu Yunxiao needed to head to the front lines and personally witness this moment of unification.