Force Within Violence
After explaining the club's renovation plan to Weizhi, Xue Ming transferred the last 4,500+ Hui Stone Currency from his HC card to Weizhi's name, and then hurriedly left with Xiao Qi.
They headed towards the VIP tea room to verify the identity of [Sweet Dreams· Fragrant Dream].
After his journey through the [Dead Puppet Agency] ended, Xue Ming had already gone through a detailed process according to the VIP review standards. This time, he shaved his head again and completed the screening of the three elements. In the soul element review process, there was an additional soul power test.
The whole process was extremely boring.
--When Xue Ming entered the comprehensive testing and training building, he saw various equipment and supporting staff.
The Soul Might test has six main categories: [Destructive Power], [Speed], [Endurance], [Range], [Precision], and [Potential].
In the test of destructive force, the main test object is a set of hydraulic transmission pressure gauges. Xue Ming needs to drive the Soul Might to push its guide rod and calculate the thrust of the Soul Might based on the depth of the push into the guide rod.
It should be noted that Jiang Xueming's soul essence during the pupa stage was already quite outrageous. He could use his spiritual silk to hook and carry suitcases, lift heavy objects, and the airflow and wind pressure generated by his soul essence contained carbon dust and sand, which could be transformed into various tools to cut steel.
Despite the safety officer's thorough preparation, the result was still unexpected.
When Fragrant Dream appeared before everyone, clad in dazzling gold and silver armor, the cat-headed knight's metallic whistling entrance drew almost everyone's attention.
It wasn't quite used to this kind of situation. After leaving Xue Ming's body, it hid behind its owner, secretly watching the strangers in the testing area.
"Hey, why are these guys staring at me like that?"
Jiang Xueming: "Stay focused and push that dark guide rod."
Fragrant Dream, following orders, tiptoed to the large iron block with rubber edging, and examined the slider of the guide rod closely, as if carefully studying the structure of the testing instrument.
"That's what we need to do, right?"
Jiang Xueming: "That's right."
Fragrant Dream: "Push forward? How much should we push?"
At this point, Jiang Xueming asked the safety officer a question.
"I don't understand the point of doing this. How much effort does it require? To what extent? Could you please explain it to me, brother?"
The safety officer had never encountered such a peculiar spirit before.
--Most other VIPs' soul power lacks independent consciousness. Occasionally, one or two exceptional individuals with particularly strong ideas, almost like schizophrenia, can be found, but their soul power cannot speak.
Unlike other things, Fragrant Dream has a part of its soul essence coming from Ming De, making it particularly difficult for Jiang Xueming to command.
"Excuse me," the safety officer said, holding a notebook and pointing to the end of the torque guide rod's travel, "Use as much force as you can, push it as far as you can to the end, just don't damage the instrument."
"Hmm," Fragrant Dream frowned, and a muffled voice came from inside the gold-inlaid and silver-trimmed iron helmet, "Okay, I understand."
Immediately afterwards, the safety officer shouted loudly, warning other testing teams in the vicinity to take precautions.
--The hydraulic gauge's pump and valve structure has a safety relief device, but this kind of thing called Soulway is very unpredictable and accidents are inevitable.
The steel cat placed its two paws on the rubber pads and tested the force of pushing the slider. Then it stretched its legs and tested the grip of its toes.
These behaviors are remarkably human-like.
The safety officer was almost speechless with astonishment. In his work, he had never seen such a vivid spirit, just like a human with self-awareness and intelligence, repeatedly testing unfamiliar tools and only officially starting to use them after learning how to use them.
Fragrant Dream began to push the slider, without making any hissing sounds, including the twisting and grinding of bones and meridians, or the roar of anger. None of these were present; it was perfectly quiet.
Everything seemed perfectly normal to Jiang Xueming, as he had already witnessed the [Drunken Madman's] divine power.
A spirit has no blood, no body temperature, and no muscular structure to support its physical exertion.
They are more like machines; every punch from [Drunkard] is a desperate charge, a full-force attack.
For a normal human being to throw such a high-quality punch, they would inevitably be constrained by their physical body. They would have to transmit the power originating from their calves through their muscles, accelerate it through their waist, and then send it to their arm to deliver a full-force blow.
However, [Drunken Madness] skipped this process. Soul Power is a high-pressure magnetic storm cloud. Its power depends on the master's will. It looks like [Drunken Madness] is punching and attacking, but it is more like a gun that can compress gas is constantly performing shooting actions.
Therefore, the same applies to Fragrant Dream; its exertion process is completely silent.
As the guide rod continues to move forward, the [Destructive Power] indicator rises from [E-] to [B+], and finally stops at B+.
The Fragrant Dream stopped, and it neither moved nor showed any sign of returning.
The safety officer anxiously asked Jiang Xueming, "Can't you push it?"
"You'll have to ask it, I don't know." Jiang Xueming felt extremely troubled. He really didn't know how far [Fragrant Dream] could go. "Ever since it gained a complete human form, it has become very disobedient. If it can't hold on, I will feel tired. If its claws touch something, I can feel strange sensations through my fingers—when its tail curls up a water glass, my tailbone goes numb. It's very strange."
Upon hearing this, the safety officer immediately looked at Fragrant Dream and asked, "Can you push it forward any further?"
The steel cat remained motionless, then suddenly clenched its teeth, unleashing a torrent of air from every seam of its armor.
The giant slider, which had been stationary, began to move rapidly, lightly touching the finish line and stopping only after successfully hooking onto the [A] mark.
This change baffled the safety officer. It seemed that Jiang Xueming's soul power was using a special method to enhance its strength, much like compressing the internal structure of the spirit body to change the airflow direction and output mode to focus on the [push-pull] action.
After completing these tasks, Fragrant Dream returned to Jiang Xueming's body without any abnormalities.
The medical staff immediately began to examine Xue Ming's mental state, check his blood pressure and heart rate, pupil status and intraocular pressure, and observe his brain wave spectrum and nerve reflexes.
The result was that everything was normal.
The safety officer thought for a long time, staring blankly at the test record book. Even after the guide rail slider returned to its original position, he still hadn't written down the data for [Destructive Power: A]. He didn't dare to write it down because [Fragrant Dream] definitely hadn't used its full strength.
According to the rating criteria, pushing the slider of this hydraulic testing instrument to the end point requires a thrust of 30 kN, without needing to overcome friction; only parallel movement is considered.
Different types of Soul Power will use different methods to complete this action, which is used to assess its overall strength quality.
A Soul Power that meets this standard can overcome ground friction, easily push aside a family car, overcome naturally collapsing building slabs, and help its owner escape from harsh environments such as mudslides or avalanches.
They can deal with most ferocious beasts in nature, and are also hard to beat in the underground niche of predatory beasts.
Tearing apart the fragile human body is as easy as tearing paper. Previously, FE204863's Soul Power [Regret Pill] had demonstrated extremely powerful destructive force, with punching the chest being a common operation.
For Xue Ming, during his early life, during his journey in Niflheim, he once commanded his spirit to break through the doors and windows of a truck, shattering the armor of materialism, and ultimately surviving the car accident, all thanks to this power.
The safety officer decided to let [Fragrant Dream] try a few more times to avoid unpredictable deviations in the test results.
But the Steel Cat was very cunning. It was like a lazy, slacking employee who would leave work on time to take a paid dump—at first, it was obedient, following the safety officer's instructions to push the slider to the finish line again. Just like before, it gently hooked the guide rod and slider into the locking mechanism, and then immediately ran back into Xue Ming's body.
It's as if that [A] grade is a passing grade; as long as the Steel Cat can pass, it can immediately start a new phase.
In subsequent tests, its speed increased, much like that of Teacher Ke after drinking chocolate milk. The moment his soul power left his body, his whole body burst forth with surging energy arrows, rushing towards the slider, gripping the rubber, and his legs gripping the ground. The entire process was completed in one go, taking only two seconds to finish the whole sequence.
It pushed the slider five meters away to the passing line, and then immediately returned to Xue Ming's body.
The safety officer stared with his mouth agape, unable to close it for a long time.
He flipped through Jiang Xueming's crew Braille card again and saw the different rating standards for humans and monsters. His combat skills were both maintained at "[outside the specification]". Finally, he felt relieved, certain that he wasn't seeing things and that there was nothing wrong with his perception.
"Okay, that's enough."
The safety officer replaced the scale lines on the hydraulic tester with another one, and the thrust data was changed to horsepower. The measured data standard is similar to that of an engine, and the output power of the moving slider needs to be calculated based on the slider's movement speed and stroke.
He then said to Jiang Xueming, "Summon your soul power; we're going to test its explosive power next."
Fragrant Dream reopened for business, its eyes squinting and brows furrowed, looking as if it hadn't slept well. It seemed the repetitive exercise had exhausted its patience. It had initially been somewhat curious about the testing equipment, but like a child getting a new toy, it became bored after playing with it a few times.
The safety officer pointed at the slider. "Any method will do. Keep your soul power in place and push the slider forward. You can punch or kick it, or even use your full body strength to ram it."
Jiang Xueming asked, "Do we have to stay where we are? Can we take a running start?"
The safety officer shook his head. "No, you must stay where you are."
Fragrant Dream returned to the slider, and like a child throwing a tantrum, kicked the ugly piece of rubber away.
The guide rod suddenly retracted, and the result was exactly the same as before. It smoothly and naturally locked into the [A] grade slot, just like a billiard ball sinking into the hole.
The safety officer was now in a panic and decided to give up, not wanting to try again.
"Let's go, let's move on to the next part."
Fragrant Dream was as happy as a child hearing the safety officer's words, just like a child hearing their teacher say "Class is over."
It followed Xue Ming around, occasionally peeking at Xue Ming's bald head with its eyes full of curiosity.
The same thing will happen from then on.
--In the test of [speed], Xue Ming's Soul Power had a limited range. Its movement speed just broke the sound barrier and happened to be caught at the moment the Mach ring appeared. The sonic boom started and then stopped.
--In the [precision] test, Fragrant Dream had sixteen testers carve various human figures using copper pillar nuts. The process stopped just when the precision was reduced to one-hundredth of a millimeter, which was also the [A] level.
--In the test regarding [range], it could not move forward after leaving Xue Ming by sixteen meters, and could only get a [D] grade rating.
--In the [endurance] test, it looked at Xue Ming's phone. The test started at 12:50. Xue Ming had been in a state of soul separation for two hours, barely reaching the passing grade of A-. Later, the cat left work on time, yawning incessantly to indicate that it couldn't go on.
The staff present whispered amongst themselves, having never seen such power before.
Finally, during the special ability test, Xue Ming returned to the soul essence testing agency and began to use Fragrant Dream to launch soul power attacks on various plants, animals, and even microorganisms.
Almost all living things are susceptible to this. Any organism with a complex brain system that needs sleep will be affected by Fragrant Dream, accompanied by unnatural eye and finger movements and brainwave spectra. It can be basically confirmed that they are dreaming.
From whales, tiger sharks, rhinos, and giant elephants to cats, dogs, rats, bats, squid, shellfish, shrimp, and crabs.
Xue Ming slept through almost half of the biosphere.
After completing the entire test, Jiang Xueming received an additional page form containing various data results for Soul Might.
[Real name: Jiang Xueming]
[Soul Might (Half-Humanoid): Fragrant Dream]
[Destructive Power: A]
[Speed: A]
[Range: D]
[Endurance: A]
[Precision: A]
[Growth Potential: A]
[Special Ability ①: [Euthanasia]: If you are touched by Jiang Xueming's palm, it means you will have a wonderful dream experience. This touch, which unites the body and soul, can send you into a sweet dream, perhaps related to his experience in [Fang Feng] —Xue Ming rarely dreams, but he has the talent to control his sleep time. In Fang Feng, he was influenced by the spiritual pressure of the Canaanite deities, which determined his subsequent spiritual evolution path.]
[Special Ability ②: [Craftsman King Mode]: Reluctantly, I initially didn't want to categorize this ability and create a seemingly redundant entry for it, but the superpower derived from the precision of [Fragrant Dream] is simply too dazzling. When it uses its arm like a drill, it terrifies my Research Station staff. It's a mobile machining center; except for a very few difficult-to-process materials like diamonds and nanomaterials, as long as there's enough material, it can create almost any weapon, part, decoration, or jewelry you want, and can even handle some pyroxene cutting.]
[Background: When I first saw this young man, I was deeply attracted to him. His melancholy eyes in front of the offal stall, his clean chin, his nimble movements, his business-like fake smile, and the way he handed out snacks like swirling a glass of red wine. I immediately knew that this was the person I had been waiting for.]
He came from a poor family and was raised by human traffickers. This upbringing gave him an extremely keen sense of crime, and he was also unsociable and taciturn. Apart from his younger sister Jiang Bailu, he trusted and was not close to almost anyone. His subsequent experiences were full of twists and turns, and it would be impossible to read them all from this thin document.
Returning to the main topic of Soul Power, [Fragrant Dream] possesses a portion of my Ming De spirit essence, which will affect Xue Ming's transmission of commands to the spirit. However, I believe this is not a difficult task for him, after all, he once commanded Bu Liuxing on how to fight, and should have a complete set of tactical methods.
After entering the station, this arrogant dragon, apart from being slightly injured at the beginning, completed all exploration missions with almost zero casualties, achieving a perfect score. He was an indestructible blade, extremely efficient at killing humanoid units, but somewhat struggling against the calamity beasts.
He's like a protagonist in a wish-fulfillment novel, invincible throughout the entire story, killing enemies of different levels as easily as drinking water, transforming at rocket speed, having friends all over the world, and knowing a little about Jiang Xueming.
Although I haven't emphasized this point, he has already proven it with his abilities, demonstrating that he is fully capable of wielding the Senate's power and shouldering great responsibilities.
Strange fate has led me to hang a portrait of the Church of the Hand of Omnipotence next to the fireplace, hoping every day that this lively organization will send me more benefits. But the Hunter King forbids me from doing so, which infuriates me.
Jiang Xueming is not yet a VIP, but he performed exceptionally well in the Niflheim and Harvest Season operations. I have already booked a railway line for him, and I hope he can successfully complete the trial mission.
Currently, I'm whispering with Hunter King every day, telling her to say a few nice things to 9527, to take it slow, and not to drain my precious SSR all at once.
In addition, [Fragrant Dream] also has the trait of being lazy and slacking off. During the test, it seemed to perfectly demonstrate what it means to stop when you've hit the mark, showing great sportsmanship and not taking the rating seriously at all.
I have never seen such a strange person. If you are unfortunate enough to become his opponent, in addition to being wary of his soul power, please be careful—powerful hunters often appear as prey. His stats are outrageous; he is a monster with overwhelming strength.
However, there is one more thing that I am very concerned about, and it is a source of lingering worry.
Every time Jiang Xueming returned to the station, he would deliberately disrupt my inner drama. For example, if I asked him to act opposite me, he would ruthlessly tear down the curtain, turn off my phonograph, and ruin my sense of ritual.
Later, the Hunter King slapped me, kissed me, and told me to watch fewer movies.
[Note: <Sweet Dreams> -- performed by the Dance Choir]