Thousand-Refinement Metal

"Gathered power shall become the spear that pierces the earth, the path illuminated by light!

"Shatter, Drill Warrior!"

Facing a Flash-Radiance Electric Lizard with a cultivation of four thousand years, You Jie performed a skillful Synchro Summon. With a single strike of the drill, he sent the lizard reeling with stars in its eyes, leaving it motionless on the ground.

Bei Bei, who had just finished dragonizing his right arm, hadn't even had the chance to use a soul skill before he, like Tang Ya and Huo Yuhao, was relegated to the role of a spectator.

Whether it was the Mandala Snake from earlier or this Flash-Radiance Electric Lizard, neither had lasted more than half a minute in front of You Jie.

This made the acquisition of soul rings for both Bei Bei and Tang Ya exceptionally smooth.

In less than a day, both had successfully obtained their soul rings, fulfilling the requirements for their respective grade advancements at Shrek Academy as set by Mu En.

Yet, even though Bei Bei was clearly superior to You Jie in terms of cultivation, Huo Yuhao's eyes were now completely glued to You Jie.

As for the invitation Tang Ya extended to Huo Yuhao to join the Tang Sect, it was completely ignored by him.

The Tang Sect might be a legendary sect, but Huo Yuhao had now seen a brand-new hope. He had a kind older brother figure taking him into the greatest academy in the world, and judging by his tone, this brother was even finding him the top-tier teachers in the institution!

What more was there to say?

Loyalty!

As for the Tang Sect, since his older brother hadn't joined, he naturally wouldn't either.

Tang Ya was rebuffed once again, though she didn't harbor any thoughts of "seeking death."

She had been rejected so many times now that if she were to trigger a "seeking death" maneuver every time, she should immediately go find a kind old man named Giant Shark and swear him in as her foster father on the spot.

Otherwise, without the strength to single-handedly crush the entire world, she couldn't support the sheer number of opportunities she had to "seek death."

Still, the darkness in Tang Ya's heart quietly ticked up by one.

After the hunt, the group immediately accelerated their return to Shrek Academy. Even with Huo Yuhao, whose cultivation was lower, they saw the east gate of Shrek City—the entrance to Shrek Academy—once again after just one day.

"You Jie, you take Huo Yuhao to report to the Soul Tool Department first. I'll go handle his enrollment issues for you."

Zhang Lexuan exchanged a look with You Jie and said gently before parting ways with the group.

You Jie and Huo Yuhao were heading straight to the Soul Tool Department, so they also separated from Bei Bei and Tang Ya.

In a sense, this was exactly what Tang Ya and Bei Bei wanted. Bei Bei was fine, but Tang Ya was about to burst.

First, she had been elbowed into unconsciousness by an unknown giant insect, and then she had been completely suppressed by You Jie's performance.

Moreover, they had been accompanied by Zhang Lexuan, whose mature, steady demeanor and faint air of authority had kept Tang Ya feeling particularly submissive.

Now that these bothersome people were finally gone, she had to seize the chance to get intimate with Bei Bei.

You Jie naturally ignored the mushy couple, one of whom was his own older brother.

He immediately took out a Soul Tool Mini-Motorcycle he had crafted himself and carried Huo Yuhao straight toward the Soul Tool Department.

This mini-motorcycle was a prototype he had built to gain experience for his Duel Runner. Its safety and performance were solid, allowing You Jie to take Zhang Lexuan for rides around Shrek Academy or even around Shrek City.

"Brother You Jie, is this also a soul tool?"

When he jumped off the mini-motorcycle, Huo Yuhao's eyes were clearly even more excited.

"Mm, I designed it myself. It counts as a second-class soul tool."

You Jie quickly put the mini-motorcycle away and led Huo Yuhao into the Soul Tool Department building, heading straight for Experimental Zone 12 in the deepest part of the facility.

"Old Qian, come out and receive someone! I've brought a promising seedling for the Soul Tool Department!"

"You Jie, you've come at the right time! Look at my latest forging result—look, it's still glowing!"

Hearing Qian Duoduo's excited voice, You Jie immediately perked up and led Huo Yuhao over to him in a few quick strides.

On the forging table in front of Qian Duoduo, a piece of metal with intricate patterns was still emitting a faint glow. Although it was fading, it looked remarkably distinct.

"...I didn't expect it. Old Qian actually managed to brute-force his way into a Thousand-Refinement. I don't know what grade of Thousand-Refinement this is, but it's a good start."

Looking at the rare metal on the table, You Jie felt a mix of surprise and genuine happiness.

Since the method of Thousand-Refinement to increase material strength had appeared, You Jie could now be bolder in his designs.

In terms of soul tools, aside from crafting necessary defensive or daily-use items himself, he mostly provided inspiration and design prototypes.

As for the rest, he left it to others; that was his attitude and specific approach toward soul tools.

"Congratulations, Old Qian. It seems our Soul Tool Department can take a step forward. At the very least, we can close the gap with Mingde Hall."

You Jie had studied the disparity between the soul tools of Mingde Hall and those of the three nations of the Douluo Continent; the main difference lay in the design and layout of the core arrays.

Mingde Hall's soul tools could always engrave more intricate core arrays onto the same metal materials, allowing their tools to achieve more powerful effects.

On the Douluo Continent side, although they were working hard to learn Mingde Hall's methods of designing and engraving core arrays, even Shrek Academy relied mostly on brute force, making it difficult to truly and systematically grasp Mingde Hall's design philosophy and methods.

Although You Jie, relying on his knowledge of science and engineering from his past life, had relatively easily reverse-engineered the design and production logic of Mingde Hall's core arrays, these things were like mathematics. It was unrealistic to expect everyone in Shrek Academy's Soul Tool Department to learn them and catch up to the level of Mingde Hall's high-ranking soul masters.

Therefore, aside from compensating through design philosophy, the only way to obtain higher-quality soul tools at Shrek Academy was to start with the materials.

The Sun Moon Empire already had mature lathe processing technology, which made large-scale production easier for them, but it also hindered their potential for further refinement of materials.

The emergence of Thousand-Refinement metal provided Shrek Academy's Soul Tool Department with a path to overtake them on a curve.

"Mm, this is all thanks to you. Not only did you help us crack Mingde Hall's design methods, but you also proposed the idea of increasing metal strength.

"Otherwise, our Soul Tool Department would truly have had no hope of catching up to Mingde Hall...

"By the way, You Jie, is this the promising seedling you mentioned?"

Qian Duoduo patted You Jie on the back in gratitude before turning his gaze toward Huo Yuhao.

After sensing the effect of the Spiritual Detection Sharing soul skill, Qian Duoduo immediately picked Huo Yuhao up in excitement and announced on the spot that he would take him as his personal disciple.