He remembered that he had not had time to explain the principles of the Soul Battle Hall Space to Bai Chen.
So Bai Chen told Zang Xin about the sensation he had just experienced.
After hearing him out, Zang Xin frowned as well.
"Hmm... I see. The phenomenon you described is indeed worth noting."
Soul Masters with the Time Attribute were exceedingly rare. Even throughout the Tang Sect's history, they had been encountered only rarely.
At the very least, the Soul Battle Hall had never previously had a Soul Master with the Time Attribute, so he truly had no idea such a phenomenon would occur when one entered it.
"Since that's the case..."
Zang Xin muttered something, then suddenly pulled out his Soul Guidance Communicator, dialed a number, and spoke quickly.
"Please come over. There's an urgent matter here..."
"Yes, the Skysea City Soul Battle Hall Headquarters..."
"Don't ask why. Just get here quickly..."
No one knew who he had spoken to or what he had said, but after putting down the Soul Guidance Communicator, Zang Xin looked much more relaxed. He smiled at Bai Chen.
"Wait a moment. A specialist will be here shortly to deal with the problem you encountered."
Half an hour later, the elevator doors before them opened again. A middle-aged man who perfectly matched Bai Chen's stereotype of an overworked office employee walked in. He pushed up his glasses and said wearily.
"Vice Hall Master, what is it?"
Zang Xin pointed at Bai Chen, who stood nearby.
"Give this child an examination."
Then, he roughly explained what had happened to Bai Chen.
As the middle-aged man listened, his eyes gradually changed.
He crouched in front of Bai Chen and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Bai Chen felt a gentle stream of Soul Power enter his body. At the same time, nine Soul Rings slowly rose from the middle-aged man's body.
He was also a Title Douluo-level powerhouse.
Zang Xin explained to Bai Chen.
"This is a renowned conditioning specialist of our Tang Sect. His Martial Soul is very special. Not only is it unsuitable for combat, it is not even suited for support or healing. Yet he can help people condition their bodies and keep them in peak condition at all times. He can even increase a person's cultivation speed to a certain extent. Most importantly, this improvement produces no side effects."
Bai Chen could not help blinking in surprise.
There were actually such bizarre Soul Masters?
But on second thought, it was obvious that a Soul Master like him held no lower status in the Tang Sect than any combat-type Soul Master of the same level. After all, rarity was value. The major factions lacked no combat-type Title Douluo, but a special talent like him was one of a kind.
The conditioning specialist paid no attention to how Zang Xin had introduced him. He withdrew his hand and nodded thoughtfully.
"Hmm... I see, I see..."
Seeing that he seemed to have understood something, Zang Xin hurriedly asked.
"Well?"
"Just as you thought, this child can remain in the Soul Battle Hall Space for more than twelve hours."
The conditioning specialist folded his arms across his chest and spoke calmly.
"I have performed physical examinations on quite a few people who entered that space. His condition is clearly different from theirs. The Time Law has a far weaker effect on him than on them."
Zang Xin asked urgently.
"Then exactly how long can he stay inside?"
This was no trivial matter. Although Bai Chen could not cultivate normally, he could learn other knowledge inside.
Even if it was only used for studying, that twelvefold difference in time was terrifying enough.
The conditioning specialist shrugged.
"How would I know? He can only try it himself. Don't worry. With me here, even if he develops slight assimilation, I can condition him back."
Zang Xin and Bai Chen exchanged a glance, then Zang Xin nodded to the conditioning specialist.
"Alright."
Thus, Bai Chen began the experiment.
He was extremely curious about the results. After all, they were closely related to his future development. If he could greatly extend the time he spent inside, many of his future plans would become much easier to carry out.
During this period, Zang Xin left once and specially prepared enough food to last him a month, lest he feel hungry.
However, Bai Chen did not finish all that food.
By the time the conditioning specialist stopped him, he had remained in the Soul Battle Hall Space for exactly half a month.
According to the conditioning specialist, if he stayed inside for more than half a month, even he would inevitably be assimilated by the Time Law within.
The interval between Bai Chen's two entries was the same as that of ordinary people: one week.
Everyone understood what that meant.
It meant that every week, he could trade thirty hours for half a month of study time. It was practically equivalent to gaining twice as much free time.
School Begins
This was undoubtedly wonderful news for Bai Chen.
Geniuses were geniuses because they improved far faster than ordinary people. Bai Chen was already a genius, and on top of that, he had twice as much time as everyone else. That had reached the level of a freak.
It could be said that in this brief single day, Bai Chen had received the second greatest surprise since arriving in this world six years ago.
Unfortunately, such surprises naturally did not come every day. After that, Bai Chen's life in the Douluo III Era gradually settled into a stable rhythm.
Every three days, he went to the Spirit Ascension Platform, where he increased his Soul Power and acquired Soul Skills by devouring Soul Beasts.
At the same time, every week, he spent half a month in the Soul Battle Hall Space, honing all the skills he possessed.
Soul tool knowledge, blacksmithing techniques, the Medicine Scripture and Poison Scripture, the various Soul Skills he obtained from the Spirit Ascension Platform... Although he could not cultivate normally in that space, he had so much to learn that he did not feel he had an abundance of time at all.
As Bai Chen's teacher in blacksmithing, Zhen Hua naturally learned about the Soul Battle Hall Space from Zang Xin. As a result, he raised his demands of Bai Chen and assigned increasingly difficult tasks.
But none of that troubled Bai Chen. Every time, he flawlessly completed the tasks Zhen Hua assigned. Although Zhen Hua could still maintain his composure on the surface, inwardly he was already overjoyed.
Aside from cultivation, his daily life also became stable.
Not long after Bai Chen joined the Tang Sect, Xu Xiaoyan and Xu Xiaoyu left Skysea City and returned to their own city.
During this period, they had become familiar with Na'er. When they left, Na'er actually seemed somewhat reluctant to part with them.
She seemed to regard Xu Xiaoyan as a role model and consciously imitated her behavior.
As a result, Na'er's previously withdrawn personality improved greatly, and she became much more cheerful.
She was very attached to Bai Chen as her older brother, and he was practically willing to grant her every request. As long as he did not have anything urgent to do, he would make time to accompany her.
Just as Bai Chen's life in this era gradually stabilized, his counterpart in the Douluo II Era welcomed the opening day of the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.
"Bai Chen."
Ning Tian pushed open the door to the soul tool laboratory and reminded him.
"It's time. Let's go to the square."
"Hoo—"
Hearing that, Bai Chen put down the forging hammer in his hand and let out a long breath.
During the period before school began, neither he nor Ning Tian had wasted any time.
Ning Tian, who had never touched a soul tool before, bought several introductory books and began teaching herself under Bai Chen's guidance.
Bai Chen, meanwhile, devoted most of his time to forging.
Using the knowledge he had learned from the Douluo III Era, he forged the first piece of Thousand-Forged Metal he had created in this era into a forging hammer and performed a Blood Sacrifice on it.
The characteristic gained from the Blood Sacrifice was not as powerful as the one in the Douluo III Era, but it was still an exceptional effect.
As long as he poured Soul Power into them, the weight of the two forging hammers would triple. Like the characteristics of the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff Martial Soul, it was a simple and brutal ability without any fancy tricks, purely increasing his own stats.
With the help of these forging hammers, he could already be considered a Level-Four Blacksmith by Douluo III Era standards.
If Zhen Hua learned of this, he would probably faint from excitement.
Seeing that he had finished forging, Ning Tian stepped forward and handed him a set of clothes.
"Change your clothes. You're drenched in sweat."
"Thank you."
Bai Chen smiled at Ning Tian, took the clothes, and quickly went into the adjoining room to change.
It had to be said that the power of time was truly terrifying. When they had first arrived at the academy, Ning Tian had still felt somewhat awkward around him. Now, that awkwardness had completely vanished, and the two had begun to grow accustomed to living together.
Strangely enough, Ning Tian had little of a young lady's arrogance around Bai Chen. Sometimes, he even suspected that she had mixed up their roles.
Still, it was precisely because of her personality that he had been able to live so easily during this period.
"Alright, let's go."
After changing, Bai Chen returned to the laboratory and beckoned to Ning Tian.
"Mm, mm..."
Ning Tian responded, but she did not move right away.
She looked at him, her gaze drifting for some reason.
Bai Chen moved closer and asked curiously.
"What's wrong? Is there something off about me?"
"Mm..." Ning Tian hesitated for a moment before asking, "Bai Chen, have you grown taller?"
"Hm?"
Only after hearing her say that did Bai Chen realize that Ning Tian seemed a little shorter than he remembered.
Of course, it was not because Ning Tian had become shorter. It was because he had grown taller.
Bai Chen shrugged and laughed.
"Isn't that normal? I've been forging at high intensity lately and moving my body thoroughly every day. It's perfectly normal for my body to develop early."
In fact, the most important reason he had become so passionate about forging in this era, aside from wanting to improve his blacksmithing skills, was that he had discovered his strength was quietly increasing while he forged.
The most direct way to strengthen one's body was exercise, and forging, which required exertion from the entire body, was one of the most suitable forms of exercise for Soul Masters.
Combined with the awakening of his Martial Soul, the innate strength talent hidden within Bai Chen's body was being developed at an astonishing rate.
Compared with a month ago, his strength had clearly risen by another level.
"Let's go. It's the first day of school. We can't be late."
Bai Chen naturally took Ning Tian's hand and led her out of the laboratory.
At that moment, quite a few children had already gathered in the square of the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.
Today was the opening day for the new students of the Young Masters' Class, so it was obvious that most of the children gathered here were very young.
Lin Jiayi stood at the front of the square, silently waiting.
"Ding-ding-ding-ding—"
As the bell rang, he gave two soft coughs.
Strangely, although his cough was not loud, it rang in the ears of every child in the square, instantly quieting much of the previous clamor.
Lin Jiayi smiled.
"Children, first of all, welcome to the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. I am Lin Jiayi, the dean of students. If you encounter any problems in your lives from now on, you may come to me."
Faced with these children who could bring enormous profits, Lin Jiayi's attitude was exceptionally enthusiastic.
He delivered an impassioned speech and warmly informed them of all the matters they would need to pay attention to during the coming semester.
After he finished, he waved his hand and said.
"I trust that all of you now have a basic understanding of the academy's rules. Next, please follow me. Before school begins, we must first conduct a physical assessment."
Class Monitor
Before you continue