This Game Is a Treasure Trove of Soul Tools!

Shrek Academy, freshmen assessment area.

The battle involving Huo Yuhao's team and their flashbangs had ended, but the uproar it caused was only beginning.

On the platform, besides Teacher Wang Yan, who was still questioning his life, there stood a tall, dark-skinned middle-aged man staring intently at Huo Yuhao's departing back.

"That glowing thing just now..." Fan Yu frowned deeply, his eyes gleaming with fervor. "An instantaneous burst of light, using physical properties to blind the opponent... That wasn't a soul skill. It was a soul tool! And a new kind of fixed-installation soul tool I've never seen before!"

"That kid is a genius!"

Fan Yu was just about to chase after him and get some answers when he caught sight of someone in the corner of the stands.

It was Xu Sanshi, one of the outer academy's twin stars.

At that moment, the normally somewhat carefree defensive genius was crouching on the ground with a crumpled sheet of parchment in hand. He rapidly scribbled and revised it with a charcoal pencil while muttering under his breath.

"No... A barrel that's too long will affect the center of gravity..."

"Heat dissipation is a problem... What if I add a cooling core inside the shield..."

"Damn it! How am I supposed to draw the charging structure for this Wyvernfire?"

Fan Yu was a technical fanatic and exceptionally sensitive to things like blueprints. He instinctively glanced at the parchment.

After just one look, he could not move another step.

The blueprint depicted an extremely complex mechanical structure.

On the left was a heavy Tower Shield, but it was not a simple shield. Gears and hydraulic rods had actually been embedded inside it.

On the right was a thick, long spear. Its tip could fold away, while the shaft contained a rifled structure similar to that of an energy cannon.

"This..." Fan Yu's pupils instantly contracted.

As an eighth-rank soul engineer, he immediately saw what made this thing extraordinary.

It combined a shield for close-range defense with a cannon for mid- to close-range burst damage! This was the problem the soul tool department had always wanted to solve: soul tool integration for close combat!

"Xu Sanshi!" Fan Yu rushed over in a few strides and grabbed Xu Sanshi by the wrist, his voice urgent. "Where did you get this blueprint?"

Xu Sanshi had been completely absorbed in his drawing and jumped in fright. When he looked up and saw the legendary madman from the soul tool department, he immediately began stammering. "F-Fan Yu? I just drew this for fun..."

"For fun?" Fan Yu pointed at a detail on the blueprint. "Even a sixth-rank soul engineer couldn't come up with the design for this folding heat-dissipation vent! And you're telling me you just drew it for fun?"

Fan Yu took a deep breath and stared hard at him. "Tell me, where is the prototype for this thing? Who designed it?"

Xu Sanshi swallowed and pointed in the direction of the Star Dou Great Forest. "It... it's from Origin Internet Cafe. There's a game there called Monster Hunter. This is one of the weapons in it. It's called a Gunlance."

"Lead the way!" Without another word, Fan Yu dragged Xu Sanshi away. He had even thrown the matter of finding Huo Yuhao to the back of his mind. "I want to see for myself whether this Gunlance can really fire!"

Half an hour later, outside Origin Internet Cafe.

Fan Yu arrived out of breath. Just as he was about to charge inside, a golden light blocked his path.

"Stop." Wang Qiuer sat in a chair by the entrance, holding a bag of spicy strips she had taken from the shop. With one leg crossed over the other, she wore a cold expression.

"Get a membership card. Non-members are forbidden from entering."

Fan Yu froze. Sensing the faint yet dangerous aura around the girl, his instincts as a strong soul master made every hair on his body stand on end.

This little girl guarding the door... was powerful! Even more dangerous than the students in the inner academy!

"My apologies. I'm here to see the owner." Fan Yu had seen plenty in his time and immediately took out some gold soul coins. "I want to try that... Gunlance."

Inside the shop, Lu Yuan watched Fan Yu storm in like a whirlwind as the system panel appeared at the perfect moment.

"Owner! I want to see the Gunlance!" Fan Yu slapped a money pouch onto the counter without even asking about the price.

"Easy enough." Lu Yuan smiled as he pocketed the money. "Looks like Xu Sanshi is a pretty good salesman."

Lu Yuan led Fan Yu to a machine.

"Put on the helmet. Since you're a soul engineer, I won't teach you how to play. Go experience the charm of machinery in the training grounds yourself."

[Game Start]

[Weapon Selection: Gunlance]

[Training Grounds Mode]

When Fan Yu opened his eyes, he found himself holding a heavy, cold mechanical lance. The metallic texture made his breathing quicken instantly.

"This texture... this weight..." Fan Yu ran his hand over the patterns on the weapon's body. They were distinctive marks left by mechanical processing.

"So this is a Gunlance?" He tried swinging it.

It was heavy, but together with that enormous shield, it gave him an extremely reassuring sense of security.

"Let's try firing it." Fan Yu pulled the trigger.

Bang! A burst of flame shot from the muzzle, and the immense recoil traveled up his arm and through his entire body.

There was no soul power fluctuation, but this was the raw power of a gunpowder explosion!

"Normal shelling... Its power is close to a second-rank fixed-installation soul cannon, but the advantage is that it fires instantly without charging!" The light in Fan Yu's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Next, he tried Full Burst.

It was the violent aesthetic of unloading every shell in the chamber at once.

Boom boom boom boom boom! A string of explosions erupted across the training target, and the firelight reflected off Fan Yu's face.

"This is what a close-combat soul tool should be! Defense, suppression, burst damage!"

Finally, he saw the most powerful ultimate skill on the command list—Wyvernfire.

"Wyvernfire? It already sounds imposing." Fan Yu drew a deep breath, held up his shield with both hands, aimed the muzzle forward, and pulled the special charging trigger.

Sizzle—!

The heat vents at the front of the barrel instantly opened, spewing scorching steam.

A red glow rose within the chamber, a sign of highly compressed energy. To Fan Yu, this intricate mechanical charging process was practically a work of art!

"Fire!"

A thick pillar of flame roared forth with astonishing force, blasting the enormous wooden stake ahead into fragments! The powerful counterforce shoved him backward several meters, but the shield in his hands firmly protected his body.

"This..." Fan Yu removed the helmet, his hands trembling.

Not from fear, but excitement!

"This cooling system... and this recoil-canceling structure! The energy compression circuit is designed so ingeniously!" Fan Yu lunged onto the counter and stared fixedly at Lu Yuan. "Owner! Are you selling this technology? I'll pay any price! If this can be made into a soul tool and equipped to Shrek's heavy defense corps, our combat power could double!"

Lu Yuan calmly took a sip of Sprite and shook his head. "The technology isn't for sale."

Fan Yu's face went pale as he prepared to raise his offer.

"But..." Lu Yuan took an exquisite box out from beneath the counter.

It was official Monster Hunter merchandise—a 1:10 detachable, finely detailed Gunlance model, complete with detailed component breakdown diagrams.

"While I can't teach you how to make soul tools, I can sell you this model." Lu Yuan revealed a profiteer's smile. "If you can fully understand the mechanical structure on it, whether you can turn it into a soul tool will depend on your own ability."

"Also, besides the Gunlance, I have the transforming Switch Axe, the Heavy Bowgun that can fire in a sweeping barrage like a Gatling gun..."

"Teacher Fan Yu, would you like to take a look?"

Fan Yu's eyes were glued to the model as though he were looking at a peerless beauty. He could no longer look away.

"Buy it! I want all of them!"

"How is this a game... This is clearly a treasure trove of soul tools from the future!"

Fan Yu, vice dean of Shrek's soul tool department, walked out of the internet cafe carrying armfuls of figurine models.

His back looked somewhat miserable—his money was gone—but his steps were firm.

Behind him, Lu Yuan looked at the rapidly growing number of gold soul coins in his system account and nodded in satisfaction.

"Very good! Next, when the finals arrive and the entire academy watches Huo Yuhao take the championship, Shrek won't be able to sit still."