Gu Yuena: Has Hard Work Paid Off?

Tian Meng roared, "What do you mean, negative improvement? Does he even understand the power of our Ice Silkworm Clan!"

The Ice Silkworm said, "Exactly, exactly! Even if our clan is at the bottom of the Extreme North, Great Emperor Tian Meng still came from our clan!"

Tian Meng's gaze snapped toward the Ice Silkworm.

Are you praising our Ice Silkworm Clan, or are you insulting us?

Why does that sound so subtle...

The Ice Empress glanced at the two indignant Ice Silkworms and gave a faint, indifferent snort.

Two clowns. That person can't even hear you. What's the use of raging helplessly in the Spiritual Sea? Besides, what he said was the truth.

That was simply how the Ice Silkworm Clan was. They were clearly Soul Beasts of the Ice and Spiritual Attribute, but the soul skills they gave people in terms of Ice Attribute were disappointing.

Perhaps it was because they had long been at the bottom of the food chain in the Extreme North, but their Ice Attribute offensive abilities had basically degenerated away, and all their skill points had been poured into the Spiritual Attribute.

Had you ever seen soul skills that could only create a bit of cold wind and ice flakes?

This was the normal state of the Ice Attribute soul skills granted by the Ice Silkworm Clan. What normal Ice Attribute Soul Master didn't know those kinds of skills?

Pure negative improvement.

So basically no one would choose this kind of Soul Beast for the sake of the Ice Attribute.

Mm... unless they were short on money, or wanted to make shaved ice more easily to sell for cash.

Oh, and being a humanoid air conditioner wasn't bad either.

Combined with the relatively small number of Spiritual Attribute Soul Masters, and the fact that the soul skill provided by Ice Silkworms was the notorious Simulation, this led to their reputation being extremely polarized.

Spiritual Attribute Soul Masters gave them good reviews, while other Soul Masters basically gave this kind of Spirit Soul bad reviews!

After learning that it was from the Ice Silkworm Clan, Li Yucheng temporarily gave up on the idea of buying a Spirit Soul and focused on preparing to make a Soul Tool with the help of Spiritual Detection Sharing.

Only before he began, he glanced at Huo Yuhao again.

When the other party had been crafting earlier, he had not revealed his soul rings. In other words, without relying on soul skills, he had reached that level...

Truly, each generation replaced the last.

Li Yucheng sighed inwardly as he took out Blue Pregnant Copper and a carving knife from his Storage Ring.

Huo Yuhao took this opportunity to carefully observe Li Yucheng's technique.

Watching others craft was also a form of learning.

After he had been immersed in his own world for an unknown amount of time, a knock on the door interrupted Li Yucheng's movements.

"President, President Mu Chen has come to visit."

Li Yucheng came back to himself, looked at the half-finished product before him, then turned to Huo Yuhao with a helpless smile. "That fellow Xia Haoxuan was right. I really don't have much time..."

At this point, thinking of the reason Mu Chen might have come to visit, Li Yucheng's eyes lit up.

Wait. Hadn't both his goals been completed?

An unmatched genius had been found... Although he belonged to the Spirit Pagoda and could only count as half, this half was worth ten. Good enough.

And Mu Chen should have come to cooperate. After all, over the past three years, he had brought up cooperation several times both openly and in private. For him to visit at this moment, it was very likely that they had reached an internal agreement and were prepared to agree to the matter.

Since both goals had been completed, didn't that mean he could just retire?

He had not figured out how to make things difficult for Xia Haoxuan before, but now he had. He would hand over the position of president to him, along with all the work that had piled up recently... He would just call it supporting the younger generation!

With that thought, Li Yucheng also wanted to bring Huo Yuhao to meet Mu Chen, but Huo Yuhao politely declined.

Over the past three years, he had gone to the Blacksmith Association many times to purchase rare metals, and he had specifically chosen rather particular times. He had also met Mu Chen several times, and had even spoken with him.

It was also at that time that he had understood the other party's attitude.

Getting along casually was fine, but becoming too close was not.

After all, Mu Chen was Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua's junior brother. Plenty of factions were eagerly waiting to be fed, waiting for Zhen Hua's Heaven Forging Metal.

If Mu Chen showed signs of leaning toward any one faction, especially a major power like the Spirit Pagoda, it would send a bad signal to the other factions. Unless one possessed astonishing forging talent, it would be impossible to move him.

Since that was the case, Huo Yuhao naturally would not try to get close to him either.

If it really came down to it, he could simply nurture a Divine Craftsman himself.

Thinking of this, Huo Yuhao suddenly remembered something.

Barring any accidents, after Tang Wulin came to Eastsea Academy yesterday to register, he should have gone to the Blacksmith Association to take the Level Two Blacksmith exam... Then was Mu Chen's visit today related to that matter?

Right now, Tang Wulin had a Soul Tool from the Spirit Pagoda on him.

Huo Yuhao's expression turned strange, but he quickly put the matter aside for the moment, found a staff member, asked around, and headed to a Mecha design room.

He had not forgotten that there was still a divine friend here. He could not just leave her here and go back to the academy by himself, could he?

It felt like doing that would really hurt a god's heart...

Entering the design room, Huo Yuhao saw a woman in professional attire and glasses giving Gu Yuena guidance on her design.

Simulated starlight flowed across the dome, plating Gu Yuena's black hair in a layer of cold blue. She leaned over the obsidian worktable, the pen in her hand hovering half an inch above the surface. As she listened to the instruction, she thoughtfully began drawing the blueprint.

Cheng Yixuan noticed Huo Yuhao and nodded to him, then shifted her gaze back to Gu Yuena, satisfied inwardly.

For once, her husband had been reliable. This girl's talent really was excellent; with proper training, she would be another future Ninth Rank Designer.

Huo Yuhao did not go closer. He used Spiritual Detection to observe Gu Yuena's blueprint, found several flaws, and did not speak up right away. Instead, he seriously studied her design logic and plan.

Gu Yuena truly was extremely talented in design...

Only after Gu Yuena finished drawing and Cheng Yixuan finished giving pointers and left did he speak.

"What you designed is a mecha arm component. Most of the materials used there are rare metals with strong Soul Power conductivity. Following your design logic, the position of the Energy Gathering Array can be adjusted..."

Gu Yuena had naturally noticed long ago that Huo Yuhao had arrived. Hearing this now, she was secretly delighted.

Had her efforts worked?

She had not expected that merely receiving ordinary guidance would bring such a pleasant surprise!

Seeing Gu Yuena listen so earnestly, even looking as if she had the urge to take out a little notebook and jot things down, the corner of Huo Yuhao's eye twitched, and he sighed inwardly.

I'm only returning the favor. Please don't look like you're listening to a God King expound the Dao!

Mu Chen was not in a very good mood.

Yesterday, a blacksmith had come to the association for a second-rank forging assessment. He had listened outside the room to the sound of the other party hammering metal, and that kind of profound foundation had amazed even him.

And when he learned that the other party was a nine-year-old child, Mu Chen felt even more pleasantly surprised.

The Blacksmith Association's record for Thousand Refinements had been held by a Saint Craftsman-level blacksmith: eleven years, three months, and two days old. This child had already surpassed that record!

Then... he discovered that the Spirit Pagoda had already cut in ahead of him.

Fuck. A kind of plant.

At that moment, a rare and intense emotional fluctuation rose in Mu Chen's heart.

Why did every good thing belong to your Spirit Pagoda? Why were you always one step ahead in everything?

But no matter how displeased he felt inside, Mu Chen knew that he could only accept it. It was not as if he could badmouth the Spirit Pagoda in front of that child, right?

He was not that kind of person, and that child did not seem like the type who liked hearing such things either.

In the end, Mu Chen could only force down his heartache, have his subordinates give Tang Wulin a pile of benefits, and start considering Li Yucheng's proposal.

The Spirit Pagoda's monopoly over geniuses from commoner backgrounds was severe, but they really were doing practical work. There was nothing to criticize about that.

As for those who did not come from commoner backgrounds... there were far too many places they could go, not to mention Shrek Academy, which only recruited "monsters," standing right there.

Those two major powers swept up many talents. Although associations like theirs also had their own base, their historical foundation could not compare to Shrek's, and their financial strength could not compare to the Spirit Pagoda's. Much of the time, it somehow felt as if they were eating the scraps left behind...

After thinking it over seriously, Mu Chen discussed it with the upper management of the East Sea Forging Association and decided to formally cooperate with the Mecha Master Association to jointly cultivate outstanding juniors.

Today, he had come to formally negotiate with Li Yucheng. As for the result, there was naturally no need to say much. Li Yucheng had long had such an intention, and Mu Chen did not raise any excessive demands, so they reached an agreement peacefully.

Mu Chen had thought this would improve his mood, but when he was leaving the association, he noticed a child he had already become familiar with—Huo Yuhao.

"..."

Looking at Huo Yuhao in the distance, chatting with Gu Yuena and two staff members from the Mecha Master Association, Mu Chen took a deep breath and silently walked away without greeting him.

To be honest, he did not want to see anything or anyone related to the Spirit Pagoda right now. He only wanted to use work to forget the displeasure in his heart.

Huo Yuhao noticed Mu Chen, but seeing that he seemed to be in a bad mood, he did not call out either and continued chatting with the two people in front of him.

"As for Student Wulin, I did hear his name during class assignments today. He was assigned to Class Two. As far as I know, their teacher is a Five Rings Soul King..."