Dismantling a Soul Tool (Part 2)

Just as Dai Mubai had said, Flender did not refuse his request for "a Soul Guidance Device with any function," and readily picked out a spherical Soul Guidance Device the size of a human head from his collection to give to him.

Ten minutes later, this spherical Soul Guidance Device changed hands once again.

"Boss Dai, look at this Soul Guidance Device. Even though it's spherical, it's pitted, rough, and not smooth at all."

Le Bai used his Soul Power to fix the spherical Soul Guidance Device in front of him, his hands moving rapidly: "Watch me polish it until it's smooth!"

Dai Mubai watched speechlessly as Le Bai pointlessly wasted his Soul Power and physical strength.

Le Bai polished the spherical Soul Guidance Device for a full minute before stopping.

"Ahem, sorry, I've finally gotten my hands on a Soul Guidance Device after wanting one for so many years, so I got a bit excited. Don't mind me."

Le Bai calmed down.

"It's fine."

Dai Mubai nodded with an understanding expression: "If you don't mind, could you tell me why you're so eager to dismantle Soul Guidance Devices?"

"Of course, but let's go somewhere else to talk."

Le Bai pointed toward the wooden house he lived in on the outskirts of the Academy: "I might need you to help provide some materials later on."

"You really don't stand on ceremony at all!"

Dai Mubai said with a laugh: "Fine! Whatever materials you need, as long as I can provide them, they're yours. But you have to tell me what you're planning to make first."

"Boss Dai, you trust me so much, I'm truly touched."

Le Bai said with a smile, but he meant it sincerely: "To put it simply, I'm close to being able to restore the lost methods of Soul Guidance Device Crafting."

Dai Mubai's smile vanished instantly. He looked around with a serious expression and quickened his pace toward Le Bai's wooden house outside the school grounds.

Entering the house and closing the door, Dai Mubai's stern expression finally relaxed: "Whew..."

"Why are you so nervous, Boss Dai?"

Le Bai felt like laughing: "I said I'm 'close to being able,' not that I 'already can.' Besides, Soul Guidance Devices aren't exactly something people pay much attention to anymore."

"That's because you don't know."

Dai Mubai found a chair in the room and sat down: "I once read in some books at home that the Soul Guidance Devices from a long time ago weren't as useless as the ones today. Although many Soul Guidance Devices are damaged now and the crafting methods have been lost, a portion of the design blueprints still remains. If you truly restore the crafting methods, then those blueprints..."

"That sounds a bit scary."

Le Bai offered his opinion calmly: "But Boss Dai, in this world, besides myself, you are the only one who knows I have an interest in Soul Guidance Devices. So you can rest assured, I am very safe."

Dai Mubai was stunned, then laughed: "You should have said that sooner!"

Le Bai placed the spherical Soul Guidance Device he was holding onto the table and spread his hands innocently: "You didn't give me a chance to say it!"

The two looked at each other and burst into laughter like two fools.

Once they were done laughing, it was time to get down to business.

"I learned about Soul Guidance Devices from books in the Academy Library."

Le Bai spoke of his experiences from the past two years: "If you go looking now, you should still be able to find that book, but I can't guarantee you'll gain anything from reading it. Although it sounds arrogant, even if others read that book carefully, at most they would only learn the crafting process. It's unlikely they could restore the crafting methods based on the information in the book, unless they were cheating."

"Uh, then how did you restore the Soul Guidance Device crafting methods from that book?"

Dai Mubai subconsciously skipped over the word "cheating," which he didn't understand, and asked: "If that book didn't mention specific crafting methods and only described the process, how can you be sure that the methods you've mastered can produce a finished product?"

"That's a hard question to answer. Hmm... let's put it this way: I have a special ability, or you could call it a talent."

Le Bai explained half-truthfully: "As long as I have already mastered a certain ability, whenever I imagine myself using that ability to do something in my mind, I can accurately judge whether my idea is feasible or if I will eventually be able to achieve it, without needing to verify it through actual action."

"There's such a convenient talent?!"

Dai Mubai looked envious, then suddenly realized: "I get it! You've been using this talent to help us create our cultivation plans, right? Yeah, it must be! Otherwise, how could they be so precise every time!"

"Boss Dai, you trust me so much that I don't know whether to be happy or worried."

Le Bai's mouth curved, his eyes and brows drooping: "But you're right. I do rely on this ability to formulate training plans. Whether it's yours or my own, they are all the product of this 'talent'."

"Of course you should be happy! I'm not someone who trusts others easily, but because it's you, Le Bai, I trust you!"

Dai Mubai said with a smile, pointing to the spherical Soul Guidance Device on the table: "Shouldn't you start dismantling it? Or are you planning to spend the whole day just on the dismantling?"

"That wouldn't be the worst thing."

Le Bai said casually, taking out a full set of tools he had prepared from his room: "Considering the convenience that comes with mastering Soul Guidance Device Crafting, sacrificing some cultivation time for it is worth it."

"That really surprises me."

Dai Mubai looked at Le Bai and said: "I never thought a cultivation fanatic like you would say something like that."

"Of course I would. Even a cultivation fanatic is still human."

Le Bai also felt that his behavior over the years fit the description of a cultivation fanatic perfectly: "Besides, as long as I can craft suitable Soul Guidance Devices, it will greatly expand our training methods. Take the weights I'm using now; the effect is poor, they're bulky, and they're very inconvenient to use. If I could use a Soul Guidance Device to increase my body weight or apply pressure to my body, I could achieve the same training results much more easily."

"Fine, it's still for the sake of cultivation!"

Dai Mubai was speechless, then remembered something: "By the way, after all that talk, you still haven't explained why you absolutely have to dismantle a Soul Guidance Device."

"That starts with the structure of a Soul Guidance Device."

Le Bai said as he began to use his tools to dismantle the spherical device: "Although there are huge differences in the structure, size, and function of different Soul Guidance Devices, generally speaking, a complete Soul Guidance Device can be divided into two parts—the Core Array, and the outer shell that complements the effect of the Core Array."

"For real?"

Dai Mubai expressed that he wanted to believe it, but found it hard to do so: "So many Soul Tools, they don't look like the same thing at all, yet the structure can actually be divided into just two parts?"

"That's why I said 'generally speaking.' If you were to categorize them carefully, based on the type of Core Array, the variations in the shell's construction, and the specific functions, you could divide them into hundreds or thousands of types."

As Le Bai spoke, the spherical Soul Tool had already been half-disassembled, revealing the internal structure, which was basically consistent with the structure he had detected using Soul Power when he was examining it earlier.

Le Bai pointed to a flat metal plate fixed at the center of the sphere: "Boss Dai, can you see that metal plate? The one with patterns and characters engraved on it."

"Move your hand a bit, let me see."

Dai Mubai leaned in close: "Hmm, there is indeed a metal plate with things engraved on it."