"Zzt—"
The final stroke landed with pinpoint precision, a perfect finishing touch. The entire Soul Guidance Array was now fully connected.
An Lan tossed aside the knife and immediately slumped back in the wide chair, his body relaxing.
"Phew—"
He let out a long breath. The exhaustion between his brows was hard to hide, but above all, he felt the relief of having finally completed the task.
He looked up at the two teachers behind him and said softly, "Teachers."
Le Lingzhao stepped forward and picked up the red metal from the table. She infused it with Soul Power through her fingertips, and the Soul Guidance Array etched onto its surface glimmered faintly.
The array's lines flowed in orderly fashion, the process seamless, without the slightest hitch.
"Not bad." Le Lingzhao gave a slight nod. "You've successfully made a first-level Soul Guidance Array circuit."
She lowered her eyes to the red gold in her hand, then glanced at the Purple Copper scraps on the table beside it. Unable to resist, she asked, "An Lan, you were doing perfectly well with Purple Copper. Why did you switch to a more difficult piece of red gold just when you were about to succeed?"
Purple Copper was relatively soft, making it ideal for beginners practicing Soul Guidance Arrays.
Red gold was relatively hard and was mainly used to build the circuit systems of Soul Guidance sports cars and low-tier mecha.
Compared to Purple Copper, engraving an array on red gold demanded far greater control over Soul Power and precision in the force applied—more than twice as much.
An Lan answered casually, "Once I become a Mecha Designer, I want to design and build a Soul Guidance Motorcycle with my own hands."
Le Lingzhao immediately understood. At last, she saw why An Lan had ignored all those simple Soul Guidance Arrays and focused instead on the circuit array, one of the most difficult first-level Soul Guidance Arrays to start with.
Leng Qingning, standing nearby, smiled.
She never interfered with the boy's interests. She was simply pleased to see him grow. "Congratulations, my disciple. To qualify as a first-level Mecha Manufacturer, you need to master ten first-level arrays. Now that you've conquered the most difficult circuit array, you're already qualified to take the first-level Mecha Manufacturer exam."
At last, a bright smile appeared on An Lan's face.
He knew perfectly well that the circuit array was among the hardest first-level Soul Guidance Arrays. During the Mecha Manufacturer exam, few Soul Masters would choose it willingly.
If he'd practiced the simpler first-level arrays, he could have engraved not just ten, but twenty with his current ability.
And the reason he was so fixated on building a Soul Guidance Motorcycle had to do with a boy's stubborn grudge.
Three months ago, full of anticipation, he'd met Yuanen Yehui in person. They'd had a great time talking.
But less than an hour later, Yuanen Tiandang showed up with a dark expression and took Yuanen Yehui away.
The old geezer had politely paid the bill and even bought him milk tea, but An Lan had seen the intense hostility and wariness in his eyes, clear as day.
An Lan could naturally see through an immature adult's thoughts. The idea that the man doubted his character rubbed him the wrong way.
That was when a thought took root in An Lan's mind: one day, he would ride around in front of that old geezer on a Soul Guidance Motorcycle he'd built himself, with Yuanen Yehui riding behind him.
And that wasn't all. He'd twist the knife by telling the old geezer plainly that all the metal used to forge the motorcycle had been prepared for him by Yuanen Yehui herself.
Seeing An Lan's grin grow more and more brazen, Leng Qingning and Le Lingzhao exchanged a look and shook their heads with laughter.
With their keen eyes, they could naturally see An Lan's advantage in mecha manufacturing.
Usually, even the slightest error when engraving a Soul Guidance Array meant failure. If the cut was just a fraction too deep or a hair too shallow, the array would collapse.
An Lan's spiritual power was a staggering 250.5. He'd been born in the Spirit Connection Realm.
Others had to repeatedly learn through trial and error and struggled to overcome the bottleneck of mistakes. But with him, the same mistake was unlikely to happen twice.
That was why, despite having succeeded in engraving the circuit array only through repeated practice, the two of them could confidently declare him a prospective first-level Mecha Manufacturer.
He'd grasped the basics of mecha manufacturing in a single night. Leng Qingning was extremely pleased with An Lan's progress. Smiling, she said, "That's it for today's lessons. Lingzhao and I have talked it over, and we've decided to take you out to have fun for a couple of days."
An Lan couldn't help yawning.
After becoming a Soul Master, he could go several days without sleep and be fine. But he'd spent the entire night with his nerves taut, and his spiritual power was badly depleted. Now, he felt exhausted in both body and mind.
"Teacher, I don't want to..."
Before An Lan could finish, Leng Qingning said in a leisurely tone, "For the next few years, Lingzhao and I have planned an extremely packed curriculum for you."
"You'll study secondary-profession knowledge in the morning, train in actual combat at the Spirit Ascension Platform in the afternoon, and meditate at night to cultivate your Soul Power and spiritual power. Are you sure you don't want to cherish your last vacation?"
An Lan swallowed the refusal that had been on the tip of his tongue. In an instant, his resolve firmed. "I'm going! We absolutely have to go out and have fun!"
He'd never imagined that in just one day, he'd go from a carefree, self-motivated grind king to a poor soul with no days off—not even enough time to sleep.
Even someone as self-motivated as An Lan didn't enjoy studying at such an intense pace.
The huge reversal left him stunned for a moment, and his whole body wilted.
Le Lingzhao looked at her dejected little disciple and smiled as she rubbed his head, comforting him. "Don't listen to Qingning trying to scare you. We're very democratic. You get weekends off~"
"Really?" An Lan perked up a little.
He knew it! He was the two great masters' favorite. How could they bear to squeeze him so hard?
Of course, he was a grind king. Even with weekends off, he wouldn't slack off like some pampered person.
He'd work hard in secret, improve by leaps and bounds where no one could see, then amaze everyone!
Le Lingzhao gave a light nod. "Of course you get weekends off, but..."
She paused slightly, her smile growing wider. "You want to design a Soul Guidance Motorcycle yourself, don't you? And what about your designs in the future? They can't just stay on paper, can they?"
An Lan thought it over. Something felt off, but he couldn't find a flaw in her reasoning, so he could only nod in agreement. "All right, then. I'll use my weekends to design and build it."
"What a good boy!" Le Lingzhao's lips slowly curled up. Children really were easy to fool, she thought.
If she'd come right out and said there'd be no days off all year, An Lan definitely wouldn't have agreed.
But if she moved the practical mecha manufacturing lessons to the weekends, he'd subconsciously feel that he still had a vacation and was merely using his free time to do something he liked.
It was only a change in wording, but in the view of master teacher Le Lingzhao, that psychological cushion and comfort mattered just as much.
That way, An Lan could stay enthusiastic about learning without getting too tense, which would benefit his physical and mental development.
As for sleep, meditation was already the best form of rest for a Soul Master. There was no need to waste extra time on it.
Of course, it was important to relax from time to time. She would arrange that as needed.
Before you continue