Choosing Professions

"What are you thinking about? Let's look at the blueprints again."

"What blueprints?"

Shui Bing'er reached out, picked up the blueprints on the table, and waved them at her younger sister. "The Battle Armor design blueprints."

"Battle Armor? What's that?" Shui Yue'er's attention was successfully diverted. She leaned over the table and lowered her head to inspect the blueprints covered in intricate lines, her face full of curiosity.

Xue Wu walked over as well, took a chestplate outline from Shui Bing'er, and turned it over several times. "What is this supposed to be? I can't understand it at all."

"It's a type of armor that can greatly enhance a Soul Master's strength," Wu Changkong explained. "It isn't ordinary armor. It can fuse with a Soul Master's body."

"After putting it on, a Soul Elder can challenge a Soul Ancestor across ranks."

Shui Yue'er was skeptical. "Is it really that outrageous?"

"You remember the Skyfrost Slash I used on the spirit arena just now, right?"

"I remember."

"If I were wearing Battle Armor, that strike would be twice as powerful."

"It's that amazing?!" Shui Yue'er grabbed Wu Changkong's sleeve and shook it hard. "Changkong, Changkong, I want to learn too! I want to wear that Battle Armor thing too!"

"Would you two like to learn as well?"

Xue Wu and Gu Qingbo nodded one after the other. "We're willing."

"Good. This will be a secret between the five of us."

Gu Qingbo looked puzzled. "Why keep it hidden?"

Shui Bing'er said, "If word gets out, all the major powers will covet it. Would Changkong's safety still be guaranteed then?"

At that, the two girls apart from Xue Wu suddenly understood.

Shui Yue'er patted Wu Changkong on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Class Monitor. We definitely won't tell anyone."

Gu Qingbo hurriedly nodded. "I definitely won't tell either."

"Same here," Xue Wu said.

"Good." Wu Changkong looked at the earnest expressions of the girls before him and nodded. "However, making Battle Armor requires a division of labor. Bing'er and I alone aren't enough."

"If you're willing to learn, choose a field. There are four options: design, forging, assembly, and repair."

Shui Yue'er was the first to raise her hand. "Wait, wait, wait... What do these four jobs do?"

"I can roughly guess what a designer does—they draw blueprints, right? Forging means blacksmithing, but what about assembly and repair?"

Wu Changkong explained, "Designers are responsible for converting a Soul Master's physical parameters and martial soul characteristics into precise blueprints."

"Each of you has different height, arm length, shoulder width, and soul power attributes. The designer has to quantify all of that data and turn it into blueprints the forger can understand. If they're off by even a fraction, the finished armor won't fit."

"Forgers are responsible for crafting the parts on the blueprints out of metal."

"Someone without a forging foundation would need at least two years to get started from scratch, so I'll handle the forging."

"Assemblers are responsible for engraving the core arrays and putting everything together."

"This is the most delicate of the four stages. They have to carve energy-conduction pathways onto a metal plate no bigger than a palm, with every path's depth and width accurate to the millimeter. One tremor of the hand, and the entire armor plate is ruined."

"Repairers are responsible for routine maintenance and post-battle repairs."

"Battle Armor being damaged in combat is commonplace. A repairer needs to understand the fatigue curves of every kind of metal and the laws governing soul power decay, so they can assess the extent of damage and provide a repair plan in the shortest possible time."

"A good repairer can often determine a set of Battle Armor's service life."

Shui Yue'er propped up her chin, thought for a moment, and said, "I choose repair!"

"Why repair?"

"Because I'm an agility attack-type Soul Master. I run the fastest in a fight and get hit the least."

"My Battle Armor will definitely break the slowest, so repairing will be the easiest and least tiring job!"

Xue Wu slowly poured cold water over her from the side. "Repairers fix other people's Battle Armor, not just their own."

"You think you picked an easy job, but when the rest of our Battle Armor breaks, we'll all come looking for you. Don't cry when that happens."

Shui Yue'er froze for a moment, then vigorously shook her head. "That doesn't count! I'm choosing again..."

"Too late. You're the repairer."

"Nooo—!" Shui Yue'er let out a wail and collapsed onto the table, weakly pounding its surface with both hands. "If I'd known, I would've picked designer. Drawing is so much easier... Sis, trade with me."

"If a designer draws one line wrong, the entire blueprint has to be scrapped and redrawn."

"You still want to trade?"

Still lying on the table, Shui Yue'er thought about it. Then she recalled her artistic skill, which could turn a "-" into a "~," and silently sat upright, forcing out a smile uglier than crying. "Then I'll stick with repair. At least if I repair it wrong... I can repair it again."

"Your turn." Wu Changkong turned to Xue Wu and Gu Qingbo.

Xue Wu and Gu Qingbo exchanged glances.

Xue Wu shrugged. "My hands are fairly steady. I'll be an assembler."

"I-I want to learn assembly too," Gu Qingbo said softly. "I'll be very careful. My hands won't shake."

Wu Changkong nodded, picked up a pen and paper from the table, and wrote the three girls' names into their respective circles on the earlier division-of-labor chart.

Designer: Shui Bing'er.

Assemblers: Xue Wu, Gu Qingbo.

Repairer: Shui Yue'er.

Forger: Wu Changkong.

"Alright, that settles the division of labor for now."

"When I have time, I'll write an introductory guide, starting with the basics of metallurgy and soul power theory. You can take turns reading it."

Shui Bing'er frowned slightly. "You have classes, you work part-time at the blacksmith shop, and you still have to cultivate yourself. Where would you find the time to write a guide?"

"If writing it delays your cultivation progress, the loss would outweigh the gain."

Shui Yue'er immediately leaned in, nudged Wu Changkong's arm with her elbow, and waggled her eyebrows. "Exactly, exactly. My sister's already worried about you. Look at that gaze of hers—tsk, tsk, tsk. She practically wishes she could do all your work for you..."

"Yue'er." Shui Bing'er turned her head, but her glare was utterly lacking in force. Paired with the blush spreading across her face, it had no intimidation whatsoever and only made Shui Yue'er laugh harder.

At that moment, Xue Wu suggested, "How about this... You dictate, and we write."

"How long would it take you to write that many teaching materials by yourself?"

"But if you explain it aloud, the three of us can record it separately with six hands. The efficiency will be at least three times higher."

"We have free time outside class anyway. No reason to let it go to waste."

Gu Qingbo nodded as well and softly chimed in, "That's a good idea. Brother Changkong, you're already exhausted from swinging a hammer at the blacksmith shop. We can handle this copying and writing. My handwriting is fairly neat, so I can help organize your notes."

Wu Changkong watched the girls before him arrange everything so clearly for him, each adding a suggestion after another, and the corners of his lips lifted.

He did not refuse. Nodding, he said, "Alright. We'll arrange it when we have time. We'll set aside one evening each week. I'll explain, and you'll record and organize it. Ask anything you don't understand on the spot—it'll be more efficient than reading on your own."

"Oh, right, Changkong." Shui Bing'er recalled something, shifting the topic. "Since we're making Battle Armor too, do we also need to buy ore and iron?"

"Are those rare metals you bought from Uncle Tie yesterday enough for all five of us?"