I Was Too Extreme

What could possibly be inappropriate about it?

If I were still a member of Shrek, then revealing this intelligence would count as betraying the academy, and you could condemn me morally. I would have no objection.

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

I no longer had any connection to Shrek.

If I had once received Shrek's favor, then I would have reason to refuse Jing Hongchen. After all, I could not betray my benefactor.

But after carefully thinking it over, Ye Luochen found that he could not recall any tangible favors or cultivation.

If he had to name something, then his strong physique was indeed somewhat related to Shrek's running lessons.

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

After all his efforts had been dismissed with a single sentence, Ye Luochen no longer felt the slightest attachment to Shrek.

This academy that called itself the continent's best was rotten to the core.

Then there was the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy.

Whether they were putting on an act or were genuinely like this, whether they had some ulterior motive toward him or not—

the massive investment of resources was no lie. It was something Ye Luochen could truly feel.

Since that was the case, Ye Luochen was naturally willing to share a little information.

The change in Ye Luochen's expression naturally did not escape the eyes of an old fox like Jing Hongchen.

With a flick of his hand, Jing Hongchen entered something onto a screen, then turned back to Ye Luochen and said,

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

In three days, once Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen have recovered as well, you'll report to the academy together."

After nodding, Ye Luochen left.

However, he did not head back to rest right away. Having just absorbed the soul ring's energy, he was currently at the peak of his physical and mental condition.

Using such a state for rest would undoubtedly be a tremendous waste.

So Ye Luochen took a turn and made his way to Xuan Ziwen's laboratory.

With the soul ring fully absorbed, there was no need to rush his Soul Power cultivation for the moment.

But he still had plenty of room to improve in Soul Tool technology.

When he arrived at the laboratory, Xuan Ziwen was bent over a Stamping Machine Tool, debugging it. Now and then, frustrated sighs escaped his lips.

Hearing the movement and seeing who had arrived, Xuan Ziwen's eyes immediately lit up.

He crossed the distance in a few quick strides and dragged Ye Luochen to the experimental bench.

Then he spoke rapidly.

"You came up with this concept. Hurry and see if there's any solution."

"Last night, I improved the components of each machine tool again. Now, every machine tool is capable of independently producing parts for a Class 3 Soul Tool."

"But the problem is that several consecutive assembly attempts have all ended in failure. The finished products simply cannot withstand the energy released by the core formation."

Hearing this, Ye Luochen asked,

"Could it be the materials..."

But before he could finish, Xuan Ziwen decisively shook his head and cut him off.

"No. I naturally wouldn't overlook a problem with the materials. Based on past experience, the materials I used are absolutely strong enough to withstand the impact of a Class 3 Soul Tool core."

"Of course, using better materials would solve the problem, but that would contradict our original concept.

Better materials would inevitably mean higher costs. Then this assembly-line production method would lose its greatest advantage."

"And it isn't merely a matter of cost. Rare metals are precious because their output is limited.

Therefore, the rarer something is, the more it should be used in important Soul Tools, so it won't be wasted."

"If higher-grade materials were used to produce Class 3 Soul Tools, then this wasteful project would never pass Mingde Hall's approval."

Ye Luochen was not particularly surprised by Xuan Ziwen's lengthy speech.

In fact, he had anticipated this problem long ago.

Because Blue Star had already stumbled into all these pitfalls in his previous life.

Stepping forward, Ye Luochen picked up a freshly manufactured Soul Guidance Cannon from the terminal and placed it on the experimental bench. In no time, he disassembled it again.

He neatly arranged all the components.

Then he asked,

"Teacher Xuan, if this Class 3 Soul Guidance Cannon is produced this way, how many stages are required in total?"

Xuan Ziwen wanted to say that Ye Luochen had already taken it completely apart and laid it out before them, so wasn't the number of stages already obvious?

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

With that in mind, Xuan Ziwen answered,

"The formation, core template, cannon barrel, outer casing, handle, transmission mechanism... twenty stages in total."

"And how many stages does the traditional production method require?" Ye Luochen asked again.

"Isn't that obvious? Two. One core formation and one external framework," Xuan Ziwen replied.

"Then, Teacher Xuan, don't you think twenty is a little too many compared to two?"

"Hm?"

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

"It is quite a bit more, but that is to improve the Soul Tool's repairability.

If all its components are subdivided, repairs and replacements naturally become much easier."

"Wasn't that the line of thinking you proposed in the beginning?"

Ye Luochen gave a bitter smile and nodded.

"Yes. In theory, such a design does indeed have extremely strong repairability.

But at the same time, having too many components also means its failure rate will be quite high."

"Whenever two components are assembled together, there will inevitably be a joint, right?

And that joint is often the place most likely to break."

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

"Take a hammer. First, you make the hammerhead, then the handle, and finally insert the handle into the hammerhead. Then the hammer is complete."

"But, Teacher Xuan, how many hammers have you seen where the hammerhead was smashed apart or the handle itself broke?

Out of ten broken hammers, at least seven or eight broke where the handle connected to the hammerhead. The joint could not bear the strain of repeated impacts."

"The same applies to Soul Tools. The joints between components often bear a greater load than the components themselves.

When there are more components, there will naturally be more joints. Then, when using the Soul Tool, its failure rate will naturally be very high."

Only after listening to Ye Luochen did Xuan Ziwen suddenly understand.

As an eighth-class Soul Engineer, he naturally understood this characteristic.

"My fault, my fault."

Xuan Ziwen smacked his forehead and said regretfully.

"I got a little carried away before. I only thought about pursuing extreme modularization and separating every component individually, yet I actually overlooked this."

"A Class 3 Soul Tool truly doesn't need so many stages. I was a little too extreme."