Choosing a Sub-Occupation

Lin Yu nodded and said to Principal Zhao, "Then thank you, Uncle Zhao."

After Na'er said goodbye to Principal Zhao, Lin Yu took her back to the Lin Residence. On the way home, he asked, "What do you think, Na'er? How do you like the school?"

Na'er nodded, then said to Lin Yu, "It's pretty good, Brother Yu. Besides, the money's already been paid. There's no backing out now."

Lin Yu waved a hand. "My family isn't short on money. If you really don't want to go, then next year you can just come with me to Red Mountain Junior Academy."

Na'er shook her head and said, "No need, Brother Yu. The school seems pretty good. Let's try it first."

Lin Yu also knew Na'er's background. He knew she had her own secrets, and no matter what, she would not suffer too great a loss. He nodded and did not press her further.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

Over those half a months, Lin Yu's soul power had not grown noticeably, but it had steadily become more condensed.

Yet during that time, Lin Yu had not only been cultivating his soul power. He had also been considering something else.

It was the matter of a secondary profession.

As everyone knew, a new bug-level item had appeared in the era of Legend of the Dragon King—Battle Armor.

The boost this thing gave to soul masters was practically unreasonable. Once a Soul Emperor put on Battle Armor, they could rival a Title Douluo without Battle Armor. It was an utterly absurd top-tier cheat that crossed entire realms.

One fundamental reason his father could not serve as the chief official of a second-tier city and could only come to a small place like Aolai City was that his Battle Armor had been damaged and was difficult to repair.

Without Battle Armor, you were nothing more than some loser getting elbowed to death on the roadside.

Because of this, although Lin Yu had not yet reached the minimum soul power requirement to use Battle Armor, he was already seriously considering matters related to it.

In the original story, there were four secondary professions well suited to Battle Armor masters: blacksmith, mecha designer, mecha manufacturer, and mecha repairman.

Mecha repairman and mecha manufacturer were the first professions Lin Yu ruled out.

There was no need to say much about mecha repairmen. It was a profession for people who had already found powerful teammates in other areas and had some spare cash to muddle through with, people like Xie Xie.

After all, high-level Battle Armor possessed self-repair capabilities, making it heavily overlapping with the role of a mecha repairman.

A mecha repairman's only use for Battle Armor was during the One-Word Battle Armor stage, where they could forcefully build sufficiently close connections. It was a Western-style approach, unsuited to a player like Lin Yu, who had started as a minor chieftain.

One only had to look at his unlucky father to know how weak this profession was.

As for mecha manufacturers, it was simply a path Heaven had denied him from the start.

By the middle and later stages of mecha manufacturing, one had to rely on the assistance of their martial soul to complete Battle Armor. Yet Lin Yu's martial soul naturally carried a metal-corroding poison.

In most cases, he would be working away, only to find the metal in his hands getting smaller and smaller until there was nothing left.

That path was impossible. Only two paths lay before Lin Yu—blacksmithing and mecha design.

Both seemed to have their own advantages and disadvantages, and Lin Yu had thought them over countless times during the past half month.

Given the nature of his martial soul, designing his own mecha would be best. But blacksmithing was far too irreplaceable. Only one Divine Craftsman could appear in any given era. If he did not pursue blacksmithing, it meant he would have to build a good relationship with Tang Wulin.

If he chose this path, however, it meant he would have to compete directly with Tang Wulin in the blacksmithing field.

Both options sounded pretty absurd. Trying to curry favor with Tang Wulin conflicted somewhat with Lin Yu's own plans.

But if he competed with Tang Wulin and went too far, there was no guarantee Tang Hao would not secretly deal with him using the great hand of fate. Tang Hao and his wife wielded terrifying authority in this era.

That day was a rest day. Lin Yu cultivated in his room for a while, only opening his eyes when his spiritual power began to feel exhausted. Then he wandered around the courtyard of the Lin Residence.

The few goldfish in the Lin Residence's pond had enjoyed some peaceful days ever since Lin Yu awakened his martial soul.

Since awakening his martial soul, Lin Yu had spent every day cultivating and thinking about the replication fluid. He had also handled several minor matters involving Na'er at Violet Noble Academy, leaving him with little time to fish.

He casually snapped off a branch, tied fishing line to it, and once again used the method of waiting for willing fish to bite.

"My little ancestor, you finally let these fish live in peace for half a month. Why are you fishing again?" Today truly seemed to be a leisurely day. Lin Yu had just caught and released a fish twice when Lin Qingye returned from the municipal office building.

Lin Yu turned to look at his father, his thoughts stirring. "Father, you came back early today."

Lin Qingye lifted the things in his hand and said, "It's your mother's day. I came back early to offer incense, then the two of us can have a few drinks."

At those words, Lin Yu's expression darkened slightly. He set down his fishing rod, and at the same time, made up his mind.

His father was, after all, an official within the Federation system. Following Tang Wulin and intercepting planes in the early stages might be manageable, since it would not cause the Federation any substantial losses—only make certain military units lose face.

But once Tang Wulin started selling weapons through the Tang Sect in the later stages, his father would most likely be executed to make an example of him.

The path of cooperating with Tang Wulin would not work. He should honestly compete with him in the field of blacksmithing instead. At least before reaching the level of a Divine Craftsman, Tang Hao probably would not bother to hold a grudge against him.

Otherwise, with so many blacksmiths in the entire Douluo Federation, a few could not possibly drop dead every now and then.

After offering several sticks of incense, Lin Qingye shed a handful of manly tears. Still, he had excellent control over himself. The moment the incense was lit, the tears stopped.

Father and son drank together over alcohol and all kinds of meat dishes. Only a tenth of a cup was poured for Lin Yu.

As Lin Qingye put it, although Lin Yu was now a soul master and had greater resistance to alcohol than ordinary children, he was still only a little over six years old. A small sip for the occasion was enough.

When Lin Qingye was pleasantly tipsy, Lin Yu suddenly said, "Father, I've made up my mind about my secondary profession."

Lin Qingye knew Lin Yu had been considering this matter lately. Though he subconsciously felt it was a little early, he did not wish to obstruct his son's plans for his own life. He looked at Lin Yu and asked, "Oh? Let's hear what you're thinking."

After Lin Yu stated that he wanted to become a blacksmith, Lin Qingye smacked his lips and said...