Was I Too Extreme?

What could possibly be inappropriate about it?

If I were still a member of Shrek, then leaking this intelligence would be a betrayal of the academy, and I wouldn't hold it against you if you condemned me on moral grounds.

But now, I have long since left Shrek and become a member of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy.

I have no further connection to Shrek.

And if I had received any favors from Shrek in the past, I might have had a reason to refuse Jing Hongchen; after all, one cannot betray their benefactors, right?

However, after Ye Luochen carefully recalled the past, he couldn't seem to think of any tangible favors or cultivation he had received.

If he had to say something, his robust physique was indeed somewhat related to Shrek's running drills.

But clearly, that was far from enough to make Ye Luochen stand on Shrek's side.

After all his efforts were negated by a single sentence, Ye Luochen no longer held even a shred of attachment to Shrek.

This academy, which claimed to be the best on the continent, had too much filth hidden within.

Now, look at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy.

Regardless of whether they were putting on an act or were truly like this, or whether they had some ulterior motive for him or otherwise.

The massive investment of resources was undeniable, and it was something Ye Luochen could tangibly feel.

Since that was the case, Ye Luochen was certainly willing to share a mere bit of intelligence.

The shift in Ye Luochen's expression naturally could not escape the eyes of that old fox, Jing Hongchen.

He saw Jing Hongchen move his palm, input something into a screen, and then turn his head back to speak to Ye Luochen:

"Then it's settled. Go back and get some rest first.

Three days from now, once Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen have finished their rest as well, you will all go to the academy together to report."

After nodding, Ye Luochen left the room.

However, he did not go straight back to rest. Right now, having just absorbed the energy of a soul ring, his spirit and energy were at their peak.

To use this state for rest would undoubtedly be a massive waste.

Therefore, Ye Luochen took a detour and arrived at Xuan Ziwen's research lab.

With the soul ring absorption complete, there was no need to rush his soul power cultivation for the moment.

But as for soul guidance technology, he still had plenty of room for improvement.

Upon entering the lab, Xuan Ziwen was buried in his work, troubleshooting a stamping machine tool, with sighs of frustration escaping his lips from time to time.

Hearing the commotion, Xuan Ziwen looked up and, upon seeing who it was, his eyes immediately lit up.

He took two steps in one, walked up, and pulled Ye Luochen toward the test bench.

Then, he spoke at a rapid pace:

"This concept was proposed by you; come quickly and see if there is any solution."

"Last night, I improved and upgraded the components of each machine tool again. Now, every machine tool has the capability to independently process parts for a third-level soul guidance device."

"But the problem is, several consecutive assembly attempts have ended in failure. The final finished product is completely unable to withstand the energy erupting from the core array."

Hearing this, Ye Luochen asked:

"Could it be the materials..."

Before he could finish, Xuan Ziwen shook his head decisively, cutting him off:

"No, I certainly wouldn't be negligent regarding the material issue. Based on past experience, the materials I used have a strength absolutely sufficient to support the impact of a third-level soul guidance core."

"Of course, if we used better materials, this problem could be solved, but that would contradict our initial concept.

Better materials would inevitably lead to higher costs, and then this assembly-line production method would lose its greatest advantage."

"And it's not just a matter of cost. Rare metals are precious because their yield is scarce.

Therefore, the scarcer something is, the more it should be used in important soul guidance devices so as not to be wasted."

"If higher-grade materials were used in the processing of third-level soul guidance devices, this project of squandering natural resources would never pass the approval of Mingde Hall."

Facing Xuan Ziwen's long-winded explanation, Ye Luochen was not particularly surprised.

In fact, he had already anticipated this problem.

Because in his past life, Blue Star had already stepped on these very same pitfalls.

He stepped forward, picked up a newly produced soul guidance cannon from the terminal, placed it on the experimental table, and dismantled it in a few quick motions.

He arranged all the parts neatly.

Then, he spoke:

"Teacher Xuan, according to this model, how many stages are required to produce this third-level soul guidance cannon?"

Xuan Ziwen really wanted to say that since he had already taken it all apart and laid it out in front of him, wasn't the number of stages already perfectly clear?

But he knew very well that Ye Luochen would not ask such a meaningless question.

Thinking of this, Xuan Ziwen replied:

"Magic array, core template, cannon barrel, casing, handle, transmission device... a total of twenty components."

"Then, how many components does the traditional production method require?" Ye Luochen asked again.

"Need you even ask? Two. One core magic array, and one external frame," Xuan Ziwen replied.

"Then, Teacher Xuan, don't you think twenty is a bit excessive compared to two?"

"Hmm?"

Hearing Ye Luochen's words, Xuan Ziwen's brows furrowed slightly.

"It is quite a lot, but this is to improve the repairability of the soul tool. By breaking down all its parts, maintenance and replacement naturally become much simpler."

"Isn't this the line of thought you proposed at the very beginning?"

Hearing this, Ye Luochen nodded with a wry smile:

"Yes, such a design is theoretically extremely repairable. But at the same time, an excessive number of parts also means its failure rate will be quite high."

"Whenever two parts are assembled together, there must be a connection point, right? And this connection point is often the place most prone to damage."

As he spoke, Ye Luochen gave a more intuitive example:

"It's like a hammer. You make the hammerhead first, then the handle, and then insert the handle into the hammerhead. A hammer is complete."

"But Teacher Xuan, how many hammers have you seen with a smashed head or a broken handle? Out of ten broken hammers, at least seven or eight have snapped at the connection between the handle and the head. It's the connection point that cannot withstand the load brought by repeated hammering."

"It's the same for soul tools. The connection points between various parts often bear a load exceeding that of the parts themselves. When the number of parts increases, the number of connection points naturally increases as well, so the failure rate of this soul tool during use will naturally be very high."

Listening to Ye Luochen's words, Xuan Ziwen suddenly realized the truth.

As an eighth-rank soul master, he was naturally aware of this characteristic.

"My fault, my fault."

Xuan Ziwen slapped his forehead, annoyed.

"I was a bit muddled earlier. I was so focused on pursuing extreme modularity and splitting all the parts individually that I actually overlooked this point."

"A third-rank soul tool really doesn't need so many components; it's a bit too extreme."