Soul Engineers of the Same Rank Also Have Their Gaps

"All Wang Family descendants participating in this Family Competition must use Soul Tools that they personally crafted during the first round in the second round of the competition."

"If a Soul Tool outside the permitted rules is used during the competition, the participant will be directly disqualified."

In the center of the Martial Arts Arena, a middle-aged man who appeared to be nearly fifty and possessed the cultivation of a Soul Sage descended from the sky. "For this Family Competition, I, Wang Yuan, will serve as the head judge!

Any cheating will not escape this old man's eyes. So, little ones, do not try to cheat.

For the first round of Soul Tool crafting, you must use the rare metals and other materials provided by the family to complete your Soul Tool within three hours.

At the very minimum, you must craft a Second Grade Soul Tool. If you fail to do so, you will be eliminated immediately."

One after another, silver-white Soul Tool crafting tables, two meters long and one meter wide, were set up across the Martial Arts Arena.

A large quantity of rare metals had been placed on the Soul Tool crafting tables, clearly materials provided for the Wang Family descendants to craft Soul Tools.

Though these Soul Tool crafting tables appeared simple, they possessed an extremely rich range of functions. They could handle mold-making, stamping, high-temperature shaping, and a series of other processes.

It could be said that as long as one had sufficient materials, crafting even fourth- or fifth-grade Soul Tools on these tables was not impossible.

With the announcement that the first round had officially begun,

all the Wang Family descendants participating in the Family Competition surged forward and began crafting Soul Tools under the watchful eyes of the many clansmen in the viewing stands.

For a time, the entire Martial Arts Arena rang endlessly with clanging metal, grinding, and the collision of metal against metal.

Wang Teng stood before a Soul Tool crafting table with his arms folded, wearing an arrogant expression.

This year, he was twelve years old. Not only was he a Three-Ring Soul Elder, but he was also a Third-Level Soul Engineer.

The latter was undoubtedly far rarer than the former.

Wang Teng took a blue carving knife from his Storage Soul Tool and considered what Soul Tools to make during these three hours, as well as how many to make.

Wang Teng spun the carving knife in his hand and thought to himself, Three hours is more than enough. It's enough time for me to craft three Third Grade Soul Tools.

My martial soul skills lack long-range attacks, so one of them must be a long-range offensive Soul Tool.

Hmm, a High-Temperature Soul Guiding Ray would be good. It has decent power and long range, and most importantly, it does not consume much Soul Power.

With an offensive Soul Tool, I must also have a mobility Soul Tool and a defensive Soul Tool.

That way, attack, defense, and mobility will be integrated as one. I will surely suppress the entire younger generation of the family.

Having made up his mind, Wang Teng selected a piece of third-grade rare metal from the silver-white Soul Tool crafting table and began inscribing the most important part of a Soul Tool: the core array.

Once the core array was inscribed, more than half of the Soul Tool's construction would be complete.

All that remained was to use the Soul Tool crafting table to make the outer and inner casings through mold-making, stamping, high-temperature shaping, and a series of other processes, then assemble them together with the core array to finish it.

As Wang Teng began crafting his Soul Tool,

Wang Chen, on the other side, also began. As a Soul Grandmaster whose cultivation had reached level twenty-nine, his cultivation was sufficient to craft and use Third Grade Soul Tools.

Thus, like Wang Teng, he was also a Third-Level Soul Engineer.

However, there were differences even among Third-Level Soul Engineers.

With the Black Book, his learning ability was exceptionally strong. Although his weaker cultivation prevented him from inscribing higher-grade core arrays,

among Soul Engineers of the same rank, his skill was absolutely unmatched.

To be more precise, Wang Chen's attainments as a Soul Engineer were at the third-grade peak, while Wang Teng was only at the initial third grade.

Wang Chen only intended to make two Soul Tools: one mobility Soul Tool and one offensive Soul Tool.

As for a defensive Soul Tool, he had no intention of making one. He planned to save the time needed to craft a defensive Soul Tool and use it to strengthen his mobility and offensive Soul Tools.

As the saying went, one perfected move could carry you everywhere. Rather than spend the same amount of time crafting three ordinary Third Grade Soul Tools, it was better to craft two Third Grade Peak Soul Tools.

After making his decision, Wang Chen took out a carving knife from his Storage Soul Tool and began inscribing the core arrays.

Naturally, crafting Third Grade Peak Soul Tools was not so simple. It required far more effort than ordinary Third Grade Soul Tools.

Moreover, it involved an advanced technique Wang Chen had learned from a Fifth Level Soul Engineer: Core Array Linkage Amplification Technology.

Most of those who had mastered this technique were Fourth Level Soul Engineers or Fifth Level Soul Engineers.

The core arrays of Third Grade Soul Tools crafted with this technique differed from those of ordinary Third Grade Soul Tools.

Wang Chen would use three Second Grade Core Arrays to assist one Third-Grade Core Array.

With the enhancement of the three Second Grade Core Arrays, this Third-Grade Core Array would be able to exert an effect close to that of a fourth-grade core array.

Not only could this increase the core array's power, but more importantly, it could greatly reduce the consumption of Soul Power.

This was exceedingly important for Wang Chen, whose cultivation was only at the Soul Grandmaster realm.

Otherwise, no matter how powerful a Soul Tool was, it would be useless if he lacked the Soul Power to use it.

Of course, this technique had a side effect: the core array's usable duration would be shorter than that of a normal core array. However, it was more than sufficient for participating in the Family Competition.

Wang Chen's distinct-jointed hand held the carving knife like a butterfly flitting among flowers, moving with nimble grace and dancing beautifully over the rare metal.

Such a spectacle immediately drew the attention of the Wang Family elders.

As the saying went, an expert revealed himself the moment he made a move.

By observing a Soul Engineer's technique, force, and movements when inscribing a core array, one could roughly judge that Soul Engineer's level.

Wang Yuan, the Soul Sage-level powerhouse and head judge of the Family Competition, stared at Wang Chen with shock on his face. "It's actually the Core Array Linkage Amplification Technology. This is truly incredible.

That little Wang Chen's talent on the path of Soul Engineering surpasses even his talent as a Soul Master. Incredible, truly incredible.

In that case, although that little Wang Teng surpasses Wang Chen somewhat in cultivation, he will likely have quite a headache if he wants to defeat Wang Chen in the second round."

As Wang Yuan stopped and remained beside Wang Chen, the other judges also looked over curiously.

They had originally been watching Wang Teng inscribe a Third-Grade Core Array, but when they turned to look at Wang Chen, they too were stunned.

Though both were crafting Third Grade Soul Tools, Wang Chen's technique was leagues beyond Wang Teng's. The gap was simply on a completely different level.

The several judges stopping to watch Wang Chen immediately caught the attention of the other Wang Family descendants competing.

Even Wang Teng, who had been intently inscribing his Third-Grade Core Array, could not help but glance over.

That glance was no big deal—until he saw it. Afterward, Wang Teng's confidence nearly shattered.

Damn it, is this a technique a Third-Level Soul Engineer should even know?