Two and a Half Years (First Update)

Chapter 37: Two and a Half Years (First Update)

On Eastsea Academy's field, a purple figure was heading toward the Academic Affairs Office. Compared with this year's new students, she was clearly taller, seeming to be a student from the Advanced Division.

"It's been almost three years, yet this place hasn't changed at all?"

As she walked, the girl occasionally glanced around. Though her words were far from polite, a trace of nostalgia showed in her eyes.

This person was Herta. More than two and a half years had passed since she last left the academy. During that time, just as they had agreed, Herta had gone with Mu Chen to where the God Craftsman Zhen Hua lived and studied there.

Because Mu Chen was Zhen Hua's junior martial brother, Herta naturally became Zhen Hua's niece, and she displayed astonishing forging talent before him...

She could perform Fusion Forging just past rank thirty, immediately stirring Zhen Hua's appreciation for talent. He said he was willing to take Herta as his disciple and teach her everything he knew. But Zhen Hua soon realized something was wrong. Why did this child learn so quickly?

He had no choice but to intensify his instruction, but for Herta, the only thing that still interested her was Heaven Refinement. Thanks to Mu Chen, Herta's theoretical knowledge had long since reached nearly the level of an eighth-rank Forging Master. If Zhen Hua did not reveal some real skills, this senior martial uncle of hers would become a laughingstock.

Thus, with no other choice, Zhen Hua demonstrated Heaven Refinement for Herta once. After all, no matter how good written knowledge was, it could not compare to seeing Heaven Refinement in person.

Then Herta lost interest in forging.

After learning how Heaven Refinement worked, Herta knew she had more or less reached the limit of what she could learn along this path. The only thing left was to raise her Soul Power.

Of course, she could forcibly perform Heaven Refinement with the Aeon's power, but there was no need. Besides forging, she still had plenty of unfinished ideas she intended to indulge in!

And so, what had happened at Eastsea Academy happened to Zhen Hua as well. In just two months, he no longer had anything left to teach Herta and could only let her do whatever she wanted.

Thus, Herta was given her own forging room at the Forging Association headquarters, though laboratory would perhaps have been a more fitting name, because she truly did everything there.

During that time, she also tinkered up quite a few interesting things, nearly making Zhen Hua's eyes pop out.

For example... Assembly-Line Spirit Refinement!

No Forging Masters were needed. Machines alone could automatically and rapidly produce Spirit Refined Metal, and the quality was absurdly high. The appearance of this thing directly turned those old Forging Masters who had spent years without reaching Spirit Refinement into a joke. I'm already mass-producing it, so why haven't you hammered one out yet?

At the same time, the Assembly Line machines dealt an incredibly severe blow to the forging profession. If Zhen Hua had not been suppressing the situation from above, quite a few people would probably have been so devastated that they would have quit the Forging Association...

For a time, Herta's name resounded throughout Douluo Continent. Everyone became deeply interested in the person who had created such machines. Unfortunately, no one found any trace of Herta, nor did they even know who she was. Herta was busy researching in her own laboratory. What did she care what those people outside thought?

Herta also made herself a set of Battle Armor, though because of her experiments, she had never really had an opportunity to use it.

Besides that, she made many other little gadgets, but not many could be shown to others. Most were casually placed in the association's collection cabinets, lest they be released and harm people.

And so, nearly two and a half years flashed by. During that time, Yao Lan received even more of the Aeon's great power, gaining the ability to create more avatars. At the same time, because Herta had reached Soul Sage and obtained Three-Word Soul Armor, she had even more room to maneuver.

In the blink of an eye, it was time for Herta to return to Eastsea Academy. She immediately bid Zhen Hua farewell, intending to head straight to Shrek Academy after obtaining her recommendation letter. She wondered whether that place could still teach her anything...

"Teacher Wu, it's been a long time!"

Looking at this teacher who was cold on the outside but warm within, Herta could not help recalling how he had guided her three years ago, as well as the sorrowful look he had worn when he took her to the cemetery... Though his abilities had been limited as far as Herta was concerned, that did not change the fact that he was a conscientious and responsible teacher.

"Herta... I never expected that after three years apart, you would already be all grown up."

Compared to the little Herta from three years ago, she was now clearly a medium-sized Herta. Surely, in the not-too-distant future, she would grow again and become a big Herta!

But that was for the future. Right now, Wu Zhangkong clearly intended to chat with Herta. "What rank are you now? Even I can no longer see through your strength."

"Rank seventy. Three-Word Battle Armor Master."

Those eight short words made Wu Zhangkong sigh again.

"I once thought that no matter what you did, I would no longer be surprised. But now, it seems I said that too soon."

"Twelve years old, rank-seventy Soul Power, a Three-Word Battle Armor Master... I'm afraid this continent will surely belong to you in the future."

"To be honest, I'm not even sure whether you'll still be able to learn anything after going to Shrek Academy..."

Wu Zhangkong had never seen anyone with talent as outrageous as Herta's. In three years, she had risen by more than forty ranks and become the rare Three-Word Battle Armor Master... Herta had completely left Wu Zhangkong behind!

If Herta fought Wu Zhangkong again now, he felt that whether he could even survive half a move was unknown. After all, Herta had often fought him, her teacher, across ranks in the past.

"You'll only know after you go!" Herta smiled slightly, then moved close to Wu Zhangkong's ear and spoke softly. "Teacher Wu, my 'Resurrection Experiment' has achieved some results. It can revive dead soul beasts..."

"I just haven't tested it on humans yet. Once it truly produces results in the future, I hope you won't refuse."

As soon as those words came out, Wu Zhangkong's eyes widened. He merely stared blankly at the girl before him, unable to say a single word.

How could he possibly fail to understand what Herta meant?

Resurrection... resurrection... So she was still doing this sort of thing?

Wu Zhangkong had wanted to say it was impossible, because the dead could not be revived. That was common knowledge in this world. To overturn the world's common sense, one had to possess power beyond everything. Ordinary people could never accomplish that, but...

Herta was not an ordinary person. She was a genius!

A one-of-a-kind genius unlike any this world had ever seen!

The words "impossible" were forcibly swallowed back down. Perhaps even Wu Zhangkong himself had not realized that, deep in his subconscious, he still held a trace of hope.

Today's first chapter!

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