King of Kings

"Zzz--"

The final stroke landed with precision, a perfect finish that fully connected the entire network of the soul guidance array.

An Lan tossed his carving tool aside and instantly slumped into the spacious chair, his body going limp with relief.

"Hoo--"

He let out a long breath, the exhaustion etched into his brow impossible to hide, yet it was overshadowed by the sense of release that comes with a job well done.

He raised his eyes to the two teachers behind him and said softly, "Teachers."

Le Lingzhao stepped forward, picked up the crimson metal from the table, and channeled her soul power into her fingertips; a faint, spiritual glow flickered across the soul guidance array on the metal.

The array's lines pulsed in orderly fashion, the flow natural and without the slightest obstruction.

"Not bad," Le Lingzhao nodded slightly. "A first-level soul guidance loop array, successfully crafted."

She looked down at the crimson gold in her hand, then glanced at the purple copper scraps on the table nearby, and couldn't help but ask, "Little An Lan, the purple copper was working just fine. Why did you switch to a piece of crimson gold, which is much harder to work with, right when you were about to succeed?"

Purple copper, being softer in texture, is best suited for beginners practicing soul guidance arrays.

Crimson gold, being harder, is mostly used for the construction of loop systems in soul guidance motorcycles or low-tier mechas.

Compared to the former, the difficulty of engraving an array onto crimson gold—and the requirements for soul power control and precision of force—more than doubled.

An Lan replied casually, "Once I become a mecha designer, I want to design and build a soul guidance motorcycle with my own hands."

Le Lingzhao understood immediately upon hearing this, finally grasping why An Lan had ignored so many simpler arrays to focus specifically on the loop array, which was among the most difficult of all first-level soul guidance arrays.

Beside them, Leng Qingning curled her lips into a smile.

She never interfered with the boy's interests, feeling only deep gratification at his growth: "Congratulations, my student. The standard for a first-level mecha manufacturer is to be proficient in ten types of first-level arrays. Having conquered the most difficult loop array, you are now qualified to take the first-level mecha manufacturer examination."

A bright smile finally appeared on An Lan's face.

He knew well enough that the loop array was considered the most difficult of the first-level soul guidance arrays; very few soul masters would choose to attempt it during the mecha manufacturer examination.

As for those simpler first-level arrays, let alone ten, he could easily engrave twenty of them with his current foundation.

And the reason he was so obsessed with building a soul guidance motorcycle was rooted in a boy's grudge.

Three months ago, he had met up with Yuanen Yehui full of anticipation, and the two had been having a great time.

But less than an hour later, Yuanen Tiandang had arrived with a dark expression and dragged Yuanen Yehui away.

Although the old man had been polite enough to pay the bill and even bought him milk tea, An Lan had seen the intense hostility and vigilance in his eyes clearly.

The petty thoughts of an adult couldn't hide from him, and the mere thought that his character had been questioned made him very unhappy.

At that moment, a thought had taken root in An Lan's mind: in the future, he would ride a soul guidance motorcycle he had built himself, carry Yuanen Yehui on it, and frequently cruise right in front of that old man.

Not only that, he would twist the knife: he would make it crystal clear to that old man that every bit of forged metal used in the entire motorcycle had been prepared for him by Yuanen Yehui herself.

Watching the smile on An Lan's face grow increasingly brazen, Leng Qingning and Le Lingzhao exchanged a look and shook their heads with a laugh.

With their discernment, they could naturally see where An Lan's advantage in mecha manufacturing lay.

Generally, when engraving a soul guidance array, the slightest error leads to immediate failure; even a hair's breadth of difference in depth can cause the entire array to collapse.

An Lan's spiritual power, however, was as high as 250.5, making him a natural of the Spirit Connection Realm.

The bottlenecks of trial and error that others struggled to overcome simply didn't exist for him; he rarely made the same mistake twice.

This was why, even though An Lan had only succeeded in engraving the loop array through repeated practice, the two of them could confidently declare him a quasi-first-level mecha manufacturer.

Having mastered the basics of mecha manufacturing in a single night, Leng Qingning was extremely satisfied with An Lan's progress and said with a smile, "That's all for today's lesson. Lingzhao and I have discussed it and decided to take you out for two days of fun."

An Lan couldn't help but yawn at the news.

After becoming a soul master, he could go days without sleep, but his mind had been highly strained all night, and the consumption of his spiritual power was immense; he felt exhausted in both body and soul.

"Teacher, I don't want to..."

Before An Lan could finish, he heard Leng Qingning say leisurely, "For the next few years, Lingzhao and I have arranged a very full curriculum for you."

"Mornings for auxiliary profession theory, afternoons for actual combat in the Spirit Ascension Platform, and evenings for meditation to cultivate soul power and spiritual power. Are you sure you don't want to cherish your last vacation?"

An Lan swallowed his refusal, his resolve instantly hardening: "Play! We must go out and play!"

He never expected that, in just one day, he would go from a carefree, self-motivated overachiever to a miserable wretch with no days off and not even time to sleep.

Even someone as self-motivated as An Lan didn't enjoy such high-intensity learning.

The massive drop in expectations left him momentarily dazed, and he wilted completely.

Le Lingzhao looked at her dejected little apprentice, smiled, and ruffled his hair, comforting him: "Don't listen to Qingning scaring you. We are very democratic; you get weekends off~"

"Really?" An Lan perked up a little.

He knew it! He was the favorite child of his two masters; how could they bear to exploit him like that?

Of course, he was an overachiever; even as a privileged person with weekends off, he would never slacken.

He would work hard in silence, improving frantically where no one could see, and then stun everyone!

Le Lingzhao nodded slightly: "Weekends are a given, but..."

She paused, her smile deepening: "You want to design a soul guidance motorcycle yourself, don't you? And all the designs to follow—you can't just leave them on the blueprints, can you?"

An Lan pondered for a moment, feeling that something was off, yet unable to pinpoint any flaw. He could only nod in agreement, "Alright then, I'll use my weekends to design and build it."

"Such a good boy!" Le Lingzhao's lips curled slowly, thinking to herself that children were just so easy to fool.

If she had told him he would have no days off all year, An Lan certainly wouldn't have been happy.

But by shifting the practical mecha manufacturing lessons to the weekends, he would subconsciously feel that he still possessed his holidays and was merely using his free time to do what he loved.

Although it was just a change in phrasing, the master teacher Le Lingzhao believed that this psychological buffer and comfort were equally important.

This would not only maintain An Lan's enthusiasm for learning but also prevent him from becoming overly tense, which was beneficial for his physical and mental growth.

As for sleep, a Soul Master's meditation was the best form of rest, so there was absolutely no need to waste extra time.

Of course, appropriate relaxation was also necessary, and she would arrange it as the situation required.