Second Profession

"Teacher!"

Gu You took the elevator to the twenty-second floor. When the doors opened, what greeted him was a vast, empty hall.

Glass walls surrounded the hall on every side, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone through, dyeing the place orange-red.

Leng Yaozhu stood before one of the glass walls, gazing out at Shrek City beyond it, a hint of gravity between her brows.

Gu You looked at her back and called out.

"You're here."

Leng Yaozhu turned around and smiled faintly.

"You're a little slower than I expected. Did something happen on the way?"

"It took me some time to find the elevator, and I also ran into a girl called Gu Yue."

There were sofas in the hall. Gu You sat down without treating himself as an outsider, then set down the Seven Deadly Sins on his back. He also took out the Ancient Map and the Sky Crystal Barrier, only then letting out a long breath.

"You met that child Gu Yue? Come to think of it, her martial soul has something in common with yours as well—an extremely rare command over multiple elements. After I agreed to let her join the Spirit Transmission Pagoda, I granted her Black-Rank Spirit Envoy clearance."

Leng Yaozhu walked over, first glancing curiously at the Seven Deadly Sins, then picking up the Ancient Map Gu You had placed on the sofa and examining it carefully.

When Gu You heard that Leng Yaozhu had given Gu Yue Black-Rank Spirit Envoy clearance as soon as she joined the Spirit Transmission Pagoda, he thought, Teacher, you're making a mistake. What good intentions could the Silver Dragon King possibly have?

If enough time passed, there would be no way to counter everything she did behind the scenes.

However, now that he had become Leng Yaozhu's disciple, he had temporarily suppressed the fact that Gu Yue could not possibly become Leng Yaozhu's disciple. In that sense, he had seized an opportunity.

But only temporarily. In the current era, taking a master was no longer as strict as it had been ten thousand years ago.

The more masters one had, the more paths one had.

One person could have multiple teachers. By the same logic, teachers were the same.

Aside from direct disciples, taking on two or three disciples was perfectly reasonable.

"Command over multiple elements? In recent years, our Spirit Transmission Pagoda has indeed been flourishing, with so many prodigies joining."

Naturally, Gu You could not reveal his true thoughts. After all, he was now a member of the Spirit Transmission Pagoda, and Gu Yue's talent was something any force would treasure.

If one prodigy came in and immediately suspected another prodigy in the same organization of having ulterior motives, that sort of thinking would be far too contemptible.

"The development of a faction inevitably requires casting out the old and bringing in the new. Only by following the tide of the times can one firmly hold first place." Leng Yaozhu shook her head and set down the Ancient Map. "Flourishing isn't wrong, though. With a generation like yours, I believe that in my lifetime, I may be able to see the Spirit Transmission Pagoda become even more prosperous."

"Teacher, it will..." Gu You clenched his fist, and a faint dimness flashed through his Golden Pupils.

He thought he now knew what he should strive and cultivate for.

Becoming a god. Changing things!

Leng Yaozhu's words "in my lifetime" served as a reminder to him. People died, whether it was him or his teacher.

The return of the Divine Realm would still take more than ten thousand years. He did not want the people beside him to clearly have the talent to become gods, only to exhaust their lifespans and pass away under the great trend of the era.

Who did not want to live longer? That was a fact.

Of course Gu You did not want to die either. Back then, what he had wanted was to enjoy life within the limited time he had.

There was nothing wrong with that. Such was the great trend of the times.

But even if he could come to terms with it, he could not come to terms with the people around him dying.

When he thought of Leng Yaozhu, Chen Hui, Bai Haoze, and the others, he thought of how ten thousand years later, there would be no trace of them, how they would have vanished into the long river of history. For some reason, it made him uncomfortable.

No one was perfect. Perhaps this was his flaw.

From now on, he would explore the path to godhood—for himself, and for the people around him—exploring a road toward a better tomorrow in the future.

"What's wrong? Are you in a bad mood?"

Leng Yaozhu's spiritual power was extremely strong. Even without releasing it outward, she could sense the subtle changes in Gu You's mood, so she asked.

"It's nothing. Teacher, can you see anything special about the Ancient Map?"

Gu You gently shook his head.

"I can't understand it. There are quite a few ancient script patterns, but it is undoubtedly a map. If we want to follow the map's guidance to wherever it leads, we'll have to find a specialist to decipher it. The time needed to decipher it is uncertain—at shortest, a few months; at longest, several years."

Leng Yaozhu waved her hand.

"Then I'll leave the map to you, Teacher. I'm not in a hurry about the secret on the map, but for that secret, I will personally make a trip there."

Gu You nodded.

"All right. I told you over the communicator about choosing a second profession. Have you thought about it? A good second profession can be of no small help on a soul master's path."

Returning to the main topic, Leng Yaozhu continued.

A second profession?

Gu You scratched his head and thought of what Leng Yaozhu had said about second professions at the end of their video call that morning.

In the Dragon King era, second professions had basically branched off from soul engineers and then innovated from there. A second profession was practically a required course for every soul master, and even ordinary people could study one.

Among them, Gu You was relatively optimistic about becoming a Blacksmith.

As for the others, such as Mecha Design, manufacturing, and maintenance, they were not very useful for a prodigy like him to learn. With the time it took to design and produce things, he might as well cultivate and raise his cultivation.

The same went for Blacksmiths, but they were the foundation of Battle Armor Masters.

For the metal for your battle armor, you could choose to have another Blacksmith forge it.

But metal had life. Battle armor forged personally through a blood sacrifice with your own metal was far beyond anything made from metal forged by someone else.

Of course, that wasn't to say other professions were useless aside from Blacksmiths. Everyone had their own pursuits.

"I want to try forging."

Gu You looked at Leng Yaozhu, his gaze firm.

"Forging?" Leng Yaozhu was a little surprised. "Forging is hard, much harder than you imagine."

"Teacher, don't look down on your disciple."

Gu You copied Bai Haoze and broke into a grin.

"I'll arrange a forging teacher for you. Aside from that, courses using the Federation's elementary and intermediate academy textbooks will be arranged as soon as possible. As for lodging, you'll still stay inside the Spirit Transmission Pagoda. The Heavenly Spirit Pagoda's accommodations are more complete. I'll take you later to the room arranged for you."

Leng Yaozhu looked at Gu You and thought of how this child had been an orphan since he was young. No matter how bitter it got, could it compare to the hardships of his childhood?

The more she thought about it, the worse she felt.

She had tried to investigate information about Gu You's parents, but there truly was nothing at all, as though Gu You had appeared in this world out of thin air.

In this world, there was not a single person who had been born for him.

"Sorry to trouble you, Teacher!" Gu You thanked her. "Oh, right, I'd like a storage Soul Guidance Device. I have too many things and can't carry them all. Then there's the soul power issue for using the Sky Crystal Barrier. It's my life-saving measure, so I need a Milk Bottle that can store enough soul power to use it."

When Leng Yaozhu heard that, she couldn't help laughing.

"You child, do you know how much money was in that black card I gave Bai Haoze? Around two hundred million Federal Coins! The money in there is enough for you to buy all of this, yet you actually came back to ask me for it. But since the black card is in your hands now, consider it my gift to you."

"As for the password, there isn't one. You can set one yourself. You may spend the money inside, but you're not allowed to spend it recklessly. I'll check. Understand?"

"Take this..."