First Generation Ultimate Invincible Overlord War God Soul Engine!

Inside the Separate Courtyard behind the Chen Family Ironworks, as the morning sunlight had just climbed over the wall and the cool, pleasant spring breeze brushed against the gauze windows, Chen Lin stood nervously in the middle of the courtyard, holding a fist-sized grenade—no, an Unstable Soul Power Storage Canister.

"Dad, don't be afraid. Just inject a little less Soul Power; it won't explode too badly." Chen Hong hid behind a section of wall, exposing a Crystal Lens through a gap between the bricks. Only through the refraction of light could one see an eye reflected in its smooth surface.

Looking at him hiding behind the wall, unwilling to even expose his eyes directly and choosing to observe the outside through a reflected image instead, Chen Lin felt increasingly uneasy.

Holy Gui Gui! You're telling me not to be afraid? Listen to yourself! It won't explode too badly? Looking at those reliable safety measures of yours, do you think I'd believe your nonsense?

Chen Lin cursed inwardly, finding the sealed copper canister in his hand increasingly troublesome.

But he called me Dad.

With that thought, Chen Lin gritted his teeth and temporarily chose to trust Chen Hong's nonsense. He summoned his three soul rings—yellow, yellow, and purple—activated his Soul Power to cover his arm, and then, under Chen Hong's remote instructions, slowly injected Soul Power into the "grenade" through a Soul Power Conduction Wire.

Buzz.

As Soul Power slowly flowed in, Chen Lin soon felt the metal walls of the copper canister in his hand expanding bit by bit, as though something inside were growing rapidly.

"Stop! Close the valve! Dad, watch out for explosions!"

Seeing that the charge had nearly reached the small copper canister's limit, Chen Hong immediately called out to Chen Lin and reminded him to prepare for any sudden accidents.

"..." Chen Lin's heart tightened at those words, but he still braced himself and stopped injecting Soul Power. At the same time, he twisted the valve atop the copper canister, forming an energy loop. Using its own internal pressure and relying solely on the material's toughness, the copper canister formed its own internal circulation!

Thanks to copper's excellent thermal conductivity, the moment he closed the valve, Chen Lin felt the copper canister in his hand gradually heat up. Its body even began to deform and swell slightly. Fortunately, it did not instantly explode as Chen Hong's crow mouth had predicted. It was merely a little hot to hold.

"How does it feel, Dad?" Chen Hong shouted from behind the wall.

"A little hot. Your bottle seems to be bulging too. If you injected any more Soul Power, it'd probably explode. What exactly are you doing, kid?"

Chen Lin carefully described the sensations from the scorching copper canister in his hand to Chen Hong.

Faced with Chen Hong's many unconventional thought processes, Chen Lin felt somewhat unable to keep up. Though they both seemed to be blacksmiths, compared with Chen Hong, Chen Lin felt like a primitive man who could only complete a few relatively simple procedures.

"Didn't you say I was lacking a Soul Power Storage Device? I just had a sudden idea and started conducting Soul Power storage experiments. So far, it looks pretty good. The remaining process is to keep testing new materials until I find one with Soul Power-absorbing properties. Soul Guidance Mithril is still too limited; it can only be used for energy conduction wires."

"It's about time. To avoid unnecessary danger, don't open that canister while holding it. Just throw it into a corner and see how powerful the explosion is. That'll tell us how much Soul Power is left inside. Wait! Don't throw it over here! Hey!" Through the gap in the bricks, Chen Hong suddenly saw his foolish father toss the canister filled with High-Pressure Soul Power toward the corner where he was hiding!

Screwing over your dad—no, screwing over your son!

Bang!

A muffled airburst rang out. A head-sized ripple of compressed air exploded in the corner where Chen Hong was hiding. The sound was not particularly loud, nor was the power great, but the shockwave from the explosion, combined with the momentum from Chen Lin's throw, still knocked down that section of brick wall. Bricks and tiles came crashing down, instantly burying Chen Hong beneath them.

"Damn it! My son!" Seeing Chen Hong buried under the wall, Chen Lin was instantly horrified. He rushed over and quickly overturned the rubble, trying to dig Chen Hong out.

Chen Hong, covered in dust beneath the bricks: "..."

There was not much wall to begin with. Chen Lin quickly dug the dust-covered Chen Hong out from beneath the rubble.

"Fine, no need to apologize. I've got a grudge now. Next time there's something good, you'll be the first one I look for." Chen Hong patted the dust from himself, shot Chen Lin—who was smiling awkwardly beside him—a glare, then went inside to find spare clothes and wash the dust off himself.

After filling the tub with water, Chen Hong sat in the large bathtub in the inner room, his head resting against the edge as he stared blankly at the little yellow duck floating aimlessly in the water.

He was not thinking about buoyancy, density, or anything like that. He was thinking about his Soul Power storage experiment.

Soul Power Compression Circuit... I'll call it Compression Engravings. Making it too complicated wouldn't fit this world's style anyway.

Drawing on some of his past-life experience, Chen Hong had accidentally created Soul Guidance Engravings capable of compressing Soul Power. That immediately opened up an entirely new perspective through which he viewed this world of Soul Power.

If Soul Power can be compressed... can it be compressed into a liquid? Hmm... I should wait until I'm strong enough before testing that. I'd hate to blow myself up. That'd be far too unprofitable.

However, a rather good idea sprouted in Chen Hong's mind: the Disposable Portable Soul Skill Launcher.

The basic concept was to make Energy Engravings—engravings with different effects—into different types of grenades. Whenever a particular effect was needed, he could throw out a grenade. The High-Pressure Soul Power inside would be activated and pass through the Soul Guidance Metal engraved with different types of engravings, thereby converting the High-Pressure Soul Power into Soul Skills with varying effects.

But wasn't that idea a little stupid? Why not simply go all the way and make a Permanent Soul Skill Launcher?

Hmm... wouldn't that just be the traditional Soul Tools found across the continent?

"So... it looks like I'm heading in the right direction. All that remains is constant practice—developing materials with energy-storage properties through practice, and developing alloys with more scientific and reasonable structures through practice."

Chen Hong's mind raced without pause, and his eyes grew increasingly bright.

He discovered that ever since he had broken free of his fixed perceptions, the underlying logic of this brand-new fantasy world had instead become increasingly clear before his eyes.

Sure enough, the world was dialectical. Metaphysics? If it didn't work, drop out. Dialectics was still scoring big!

"I need to find an angel investor. Dad's too useless. Perhaps someone from Spirit Hall Headquarters will be an opportunity."

Chen Hong stood naked and got dressed, then dismantled the 0.2-generation Soul Engine in his backpack. He appropriated Chen Lin's stash of precious materials and, using a sharp Soul Guidance Engraving Knife, began formally refining the First Generation Soul Engine according to the conclusions he had obtained from the past two experiments.

In short: the First Generation Ultimate Invincible Overlord War God Soul Engine!

("In short")