You're the Worst Batch I've Ever Taught

The day after Chen Xinjie returned, Mo Yuan's plan shot forward like someone had kicked it hard from behind.

First, Huo Yuan's soul communicator rang at exactly nine in the morning.

His voice on the other end carried an excitement he could barely suppress. He said that the Academic Affairs Council's supplementary review process had been skipped that morning, with the reason being, "Certified by the Military Technical Evaluation Committee, this technology meets the Federation's strategic priority assessment standards."

Mo Yuan did not say much after hearing that. He could more or less guess who had pushed those words through.

It seemed Chen Xinjie had acted quickly. All the effort Mo Yuan had spent drawing him a grand vision had not gone to waste.

No, it could not be considered an empty promise, because he could actually make all of it happen. It should be called a plan.

Sure enough, that afternoon, Li Du hurried over to find him and said that the Federation had allocated a site in the industrial reserve zone on the eastern outskirts of Mingdu. It covered approximately fifty thousand square meters and had originally been idle military reserve land. It had now been placed under the Federation Academy of Sciences' management.

Li Du's hands trembled as he passed over a paper file bearing a red seal. He had done odd jobs for the association for so many years, yet he had never seen an administrative process move this quickly.

Mo Yuan took the file, glanced at it, and casually placed it in a drawer.

Three days later, the operation manual was complete.

Mo Yuan finished the supplementary notes on the final page, flipped through the entire manual from beginning to end to make sure nothing had been missed, then closed the cover and set the book on the corner of the desk.

Jin Ling was crouching beside him. It had not touched any rare metals for three full days. The golden radiance around its abdomen was now almost transparent, and the pulsing rhythm at the edges was growing faster and faster, like a timer counting down.

Mo Yuan reached out and stroked its frog head. It felt considerably warmer than before.

"Once I finish teaching this batch from the Federation, I'll take you to level up."

Jin Ling croaked twice, sounding fairly satisfied.

Two more days passed. The site in the eastern industrial zone completed its initial preparations, and Huo Yuan's side had organized the first batch of trainees.

The roster was delivered to Mo Yuan in advance. There were twelve people in total, all with backgrounds as Level-7 Mecha Makers.

A Mecha Maker was someone in one of the three major mecha-related soul-technique professions who was responsible only for engraving core arrays and assembly, without being involved in design.

Huo Yuan had written a note in the remarks column: "Meets your standard of 'Level 7 or above, able to master the core arrays within three months.'"

After reading the roster, Mo Yuan told them to come for training the next day.

On the first morning of training, Mo Yuan arrived ten minutes ahead of schedule.

The factory's main building had already been cleared out. The discarded equipment that had once been piled inside had been removed and replaced with a row of brand-new workbenches. Basic engraving tools and several ingots of ordinary alloy for practice sat on each tabletop.

The twelve people had already arrived. They stood neatly behind the workbenches, with no one chatting or wandering around. Their postures were upright, and some had even instinctively clasped their hands behind their backs, looking just like a group of freshmen waiting outside the principal's office.

When Mo Yuan entered the factory, all twelve pairs of eyes turned toward him at once.

No one showed surprise or doubt.

Their gazes were more like the curiosity and excitement of finally seeing an idol, but beneath it all was respect.

Seeing him in the news was one thing, but having the real person standing before them was another.

A nine-year-old Level-9 Soul Engineer had never appeared in the Federation's history. Before coming, these people had already moved past the stage of wondering whether they should acknowledge him.

They had come prepared. They knew very clearly that they were here to learn from him.

Mo Yuan walked to the front of the factory, placed a copy of the operation manual on the lectern, and spoke in a flat tone. "All right, I won't cover the basic theory. The parts you need to supplement are already explained clearly in Chapters One through Three of the manual. Read them yourselves later. Today, we'll begin directly with the principles of the core array."

After saying that, he began drawing on the blackboard behind him.

The moment the first line fell, his speed was incredibly fast, yet his hand did not hesitate in the slightest. With three strokes, he drew a complete energy resonance circuit.

More and more lines followed. The entire core-array schematic spread across the blackboard at a pace far beyond that of ordinary writing. In the middle of it, he found time to pick up an engraving knife and demonstrate the practical engraving method for an array node. The knife tip moved across the metal surface for less than half a minute before a complete miniature array had been engraved.

"This structure is the most crucial part of the entire process. You can see the complete diagram on page seventeen of Chapter Four in the manual. Now, engrave this structure once on the practice alloy ingots. The array's conductivity must be no lower than eighty-five percent. Go."

As soon as his voice fell, everyone behind the workbenches looked down at the material in front of them, then froze at the same time.

It was not that they did not want to begin. It was that when most of them looked at the alloy ingots in their hands, their minds were still digesting the details of that rapid sequence of movements.

The amount of information had been too great. Memorizing the entire array structure within a few seconds while simultaneously understanding the purpose of every line was not easy for them.

The factory remained quiet for about three seconds. Then someone picked up an engraving knife and cautiously laid down the first line.

Mo Yuan walked once through the aisle between the workbenches.

His gaze lingered on each person's finger movements for an extremely short time. Most of the time, one glance was enough, and he moved on without needing a second look. When he reached the third person, he stopped.

"Stop! Your entry angle is wrong. This alloy is relatively hard. If you tilt the knife fifteen degrees and draw the line using your usual technique, the line won't be deep enough, and the energy flow will break when it reaches the turn. Change the angle to around twenty-two degrees, reduce the engraving speed by one-third, and try a section first."

The person he had addressed immediately adjusted the angle according to Mo Yuan's instructions.

The moment the knife tip touched down again, he clearly felt the movement become much smoother. The line's depth also immediately reached the required standard.

Mo Yuan continued forward.

When he reached the sixth person, he stopped again. "You're using too much force with your left ring finger when controlling the knife tip's direction. Try shifting the pressure to your wrist. The ring finger should only make minor adjustments. You'll know the consequence of this pressure once you finish the line—the end will develop burrs."

The sixth person froze for a moment, then carefully examined the first half of the line he had just engraved. Fine burrs had indeed already begun to appear at the end.

He raised his head and glanced timidly at Mo Yuan, but Mo Yuan had already moved to the next position.

After completing a full circuit, Mo Yuan returned to the front of the lectern and stood there.

He checked the time. About seven minutes had passed.

The fastest person in the room had finished roughly a quarter of the structure. The slowest had only just drawn the second node.

Mo Yuan watched their busy backs in silence for a while, then spoke.

"I thought I had prepared sufficiently, but it seems I still overestimated you. You're the worst batch I've ever taught!"

His tone held no disparagement and hardly any emotion.

It sounded as though he were simply stating an observed fact.

Although this was actually his first time teaching anyone...

The atmosphere in the room froze for roughly half a second.

Everyone's movements stopped at once. They lowered their heads, but no one argued.

Their first reaction was not, "That's insulting," but rather, "He's absolutely right."

After all, judging by the speed at which Mo Yuan had demonstrated it, he had engraved the complete array in less than half a minute.

By his standards, their current speed was indeed absurdly slow.

"Of course, I'm not talking about your attitude," Mo Yuan added. "Your attitude is fine. Your learning habits are the problem. I've broken this array's structure down to the simplest form. There are no redundant circuits, and every step is necessary. In other words, every time you hesitate, you leave a hole for the subsequent energy conduction. An array's conductivity is built up by avoiding deviations at every step, not by making up for them afterward. So don't hesitate."

After he finished speaking, the room fell silent for a moment. Then someone lowered their head again, scraped away the line they had already engraved halfway, and started over with the first stroke.

Mo Yuan swept his gaze around and said nothing more. He returned to the lectern and sat down, took Jin Ling from his shoulder, and placed it on the tabletop. Then he opened the later sections of the manual himself, as though preparing for the next lesson.

Only the sounds of engraving knives scraping across metal remained in the factory. They rose and fell, gradually merging into a fine, even rustling.