The Fisherman Profits?

Aside from Gu Yuena, there were two other people at the scene watching Huo Yuhao work.

Mecha Master Association President Li Yucheng and Vice President Xia Haoxuan.

After having his talent bombarded by Huo Yuhao several times, Li Yucheng said he could already watch this scene calmly, but the person beside him clearly could not.

Xia Haoxuan watched as Huo Yuhao lightly tapped the rare metal, his fingers moving nimbly as if in flight, instantly completing a Three-Arc Cutting, so precise it was as though it had been measured with a ruler. Awe rose in his heart, and his love of talent had already been stirred.

Movements this precise, a state where body and mind were so perfectly united—many Level Eight Manufacturers he had seen could not achieve it. Only manufacturers accustomed to Level Nine Soul Tool Manufacturing could enter that realm at will.

A prodigy. He was simply a prodigy!

A disciple like this was absolutely the dream of every manufacturer who wished to pass on their mantle.

After observing Huo Yuhao's flowing, effortless Array Engraving movements for a while longer, as if they had been tempered through countless repetitions, Xia Haoxuan could not help saying:

"President, you're already old, and your energy isn't what it used to be. How about letting me teach Huo Yuhao instead?"

"Although I can't compare to you, I have more time than you, more energy than you, and more time to guide him."

"Go, go, go. Dream on!" Li Yucheng waved a hand, looking impatient. "You still want to steal him? Teach your own disciple properly."

Xia Haoxuan said unhappily, "President, you can't be so selfish. I was the one who discovered him first. You have to handle association affairs every day—where would you find the time to teach a disciple? We should swap. You keep handling affairs, and I'll do it!"

"He's from the Spirit Pagoda, and I'm already planning to introduce him to Headquarters. Don't overthink it." Li Yucheng blocked Xia Haoxuan's mouth with a single sentence. "Anything else you want to say?"

"...You're ruthless." Xia Haoxuan looked at Huo Yuhao rather regretfully, then turned and walked out of the room.

Seeing this, Li Yucheng focused his attention back on Huo Yuhao. Once Huo Yuhao finished engraving the soul tool array on the metal, he walked over with a beaming smile and inspected the work.

"Not bad. You've already thoroughly mastered the Energy Conversion Soul Tool Array I taught you before. However, here, and here, can be improved a little to make the soul tool array connect more perfectly."

Li Yucheng pointed at two spots on the rare metal and smiled at Huo Yuhao. "Of course, these are all minor issues..."

Gu Yuena watched Huo Yuhao humbly seek guidance and quietly listen, and for some reason felt as if she should not be here.

Designers and manufacturers overlapped in many areas of knowledge, but what the two of them were talking about now... she could not understand.

A young man in his teens was looking for someone in the association hall. When he saw Xia Haoxuan come out of a room, his eyes lit up, and he quickly walked up to him and asked:

"Teacher, I'm going to take the Level Three Manufacturer exam. Do you have time to be my examiner?"

Xia Haoxuan looked up at him, not very interested. "Level Three? How old are you, and you're only Level Three? Look at other people's..."

The young man stared at Xia Haoxuan in bewilderment, not understanding what he had done wrong to be nagged at by his own teacher.

Thinking back, he had once been that "other people's child" too...

After venting for a while, Xia Haoxuan still felt that he had lost out.

He had been the first to discover Huo Yuhao. When the other party came to take the Level Two Manufacturer exam, he had been the examiner.

It was just that Huo Yuhao came from the Spirit Pagoda, so he had assumed the other party would not join the Mecha Master Association. Therefore, following past practice, he had reported the other party's information to the president. He had not expected this to be the result in the end.

If he had directly accepted him back then, then...

"No, the more I think about it, the bigger the loss feels. Why should the president get to do nothing, just take a trip to the Spirit Pagoda, and pick up an unparalleled genius for free?"

After thinking it over, Xia Haoxuan decided to save the country through a roundabout route and took out his Soul Tool Communicator.

"Based on what I know about you, you're still hoping to take Huo Yuhao to Headquarters later to show off, aren't you? You probably haven't reported Huo Yuhao's existence to Headquarters yet... In that case, don't blame me for being impolite."

When the other side answered the call, Xia Haoxuan instantly revealed a smile. "Hello, Teacher? I discovered someone in Eastsea..."

Li Yucheng was guiding Huo Yuhao in engraving a soul tool array when he suddenly heard his Soul Tool Communicator ring. He took it out and glanced at it, apologized to Huo Yuhao, then turned and left the room.

When he came back after finishing the call and saw the situation inside the room, his face instantly darkened.

Guarding against everything, he had failed to guard against a thief in his own house. In the end, he had been careless.

Well done, Xia Haoxuan. You want me to make things difficult for you, don't you? Just you wait!

"Yuhao, you are the person with the greatest talent in soul tools I have ever seen in my life. My teacher is a Level Nine Manufacturer at the Mecha Master Association Headquarters. He heard about you and is very interested in you. How about it? Are you interested in becoming my junior martial brother?

And this female student here, you became a Level Three Designer at such a young age. Your future is similarly limitless. I can introduce you to a suitable teacher."

Xia Haoxuan said with a beaming smile.

Why rope in just one person when he could rope in two geniuses at once?

As for the two of them being from the Spirit Pagoda?

That was fine. Their Mecha Master Association even had people from the Body Sect!

"President Xia, you praise me too highly. Without seniors to guide me, I could not possibly have reached where I am now."

"Ah, being too modest just makes you seem insincere. How long has the president even been teaching you? He's old and doesn't have time to guide you. It isn't easy for him to squeeze out a little time every day. How about this? You study with me first, and in the future, I'll take you to Headquarters to meet my teacher."

Huo Yuhao glanced at Li Yucheng behind Xia Haoxuan, who was radiating black air, and his brow twitched wildly.

This was not a question of whether he was being modest or not. Sir, if you kept talking, he feared that after tonight, there would be one more floating corpse in Eastsea.

Xia Haoxuan had actually also sensed the person who had arrived, but he was someone who "did not fear power," so he directly took out a Storage Ring and handed it to Huo Yuhao. "There are some rare metals inside. It's a gift I prepared for you."

Li Yucheng took a deep breath and felt he could not keep watching. After thinking for a moment, he also took out a pass and a small soul tool from his own Storage Ring and handed them to Huo Yuhao.

"With this pass, you can go to most of the association's rooms, including the storage room on the third floor where design blueprints and concepts are kept."

He had prepared this pass long ago. Huo Yuhao's ability to self-study and self-discipline were both quite good, and he really did not have much time himself, so he might as well loosen the reins a little and let him study on his own.

As he thought this, Li Yucheng and Xia Haoxuan exchanged a glance, then tacitly looked away.

Although they had not communicated, they both understood that Huo Yuhao was from the Spirit Pagoda. If they wanted him to develop a certain sense of belonging toward the Mecha Master Association, they had to do their best to win him over while he was still young.

However, that's no reason for you to call your teacher behind my back! I'll make sure you wear those tight little shoes properly, Xia Haoxuan! Li Yucheng thought expressionlessly.

Huo Yuhao looked at the thing in front of him, his expression odd.

Did this count as... the snipe and the clam fighting while the fisherman profited?