The silver liquid metal hovered in the air, gradually spreading into a thin film at Jiang Mingyuan's command. He controlled his soul power to trace an amplification array across it.
Jiang Mingyuan extended his left hand, and the film settled over its back and palm. It gradually fitted itself to his hand, and a feather pattern emerged on its surface.
Tang Wulin and the others watched curiously. Even Wu Changkong could not help marveling inwardly at Jiang Mingyuan's exceptional talent.
Today was the first lesson since the first-year Class Zero had been established. Wu Changkong began by discussing one thing: mecha. More precisely, he wanted to use them to introduce the concept of battle armor.
"You've done very well, but this gauntlet still falls within the most basic category of mecha. Battle armor is essentially a suit of super armor for a martial soul. It is an extension of a soul master's strength, equivalent to a soul master inscribing a core array onto their own martial soul, causing it to undergo a transformation."
Wu Changkong pointed at the silver gauntlet on Jiang Mingyuan's left hand.
"But yours remains purely on the surface. It has no connection whatsoever to your martial soul. You're merely wearing an amplification array."
Xie Xie raised his hand curiously to ask a question.
"Then, Teacher Wu, are you a battle armor master?"
The students looked at Wu Changkong with curiosity in their eyes. Wu Changkong turned his head away and said coldly, "You'll see in the future. For now, follow me."
Wu Changkong led the five of them into a peculiar room. Its inner walls were all made of metal, and an enormous machine stood in the center.
"Next, I'll test each of your spiritual power and physical strength to help arrange your subsequent training. Xie Xie, you're first."
Hearing his name called, Xie Xie walked curiously over to the machine and sat down. Wu Changkong placed something resembling a helmet over his head.
As the machine started up, a soft white light illuminated the screen. The number began at 1 and kept climbing: 20, 30... It finally came to a stop at 60.
"Not bad. Sixty points of spiritual power. Not many people your age can reach this level."
Apart from Jiang Mingyuan, the other four did not really have a clear understanding of spiritual power. They only knew that when they bought soul spirits at the Soul Spirit Tower, a spirit transmitter had taken them to have their spiritual power tested.
"Teacher Wu, what is spiritual power used for?" Zhang Yangzi raised his hand and asked curiously.
"From lowest to highest, spiritual power is divided into six major levels: the Spirit Origin Realm, the Spirit Connection Realm, the Spirit Sea Realm, the Spirit Abyss Realm, the Spirit Domain Realm, and the legendary Divine Origin Realm. For ordinary soul masters, it may not be as immediately tangible as soul power, but for high-level soul masters, the strength of their spiritual power is crucial."
"First, spiritual power is the foundation for fusing with soul spirits. The more powerful a soul spirit is, the stronger the spiritual power required to communicate with it. If your spiritual power is insufficient, you simply cannot withstand the power of a high-level soul spirit. Second, strong spiritual power allows your mind to connect seamlessly with a mecha when piloting it, so that it responds the instant you will it to."
"Simply put, soul power determines your destructive power, while spiritual power determines how far you can go and how much power you can control."
Xie Xie also turned to look at his spiritual power reading: 60 points.
"Then, Teacher Wu, with sixty points of spiritual power, what level am I at?"
"Spiritual power starts at zero. The first hundred points fall within the Spirit Origin Realm. From 101 to 500 is the Spirit Connection Realm, and from 501 to 5,000 is the Spirit Sea Realm. Anything beyond that is still too distant for you. At your age, anyone whose spiritual power reaches thirty points can already be called a genius."
Hearing this, Xie Xie could not help puffing out his chest proudly. See that? I have a whole sixty points-twice the genius benchmark.
The second to be tested was Zhang Yangzi. His spiritual power reached a full 44 points, firmly placing him among the geniuses as well. However, considering that his martial soul, the Dark Phantom Demon Eagle, inherently possessed a certain mental attribute, it would have been concerning if he had failed to reach that figure.
The third was Wang Jinxi. His spiritual power was nowhere near as remarkable as the first two's, reaching only 18 points, within the range of an ordinary person. After all, his Bone Dragon King martial soul did not enhance his spiritual power at all.
The fourth was Tang Wulin, who actually had a rough idea of what to expect. Before school started, he had only just reached rank ten and gone to the Spirit Pagoda to buy a soul spirit. His spiritual power had measured 38 points then.
Unexpectedly, the number on the screen climbed rapidly, soon exceeding 40 points. Under everyone's expectant gazes, it finally crossed the 60-point threshold and surpassed Xie Xie, eventually stopping at 68.
The increase of a full 30 points left Tang Wulin astonished.
Tang Wulin turned back and met Jiang Mingyuan's eyes. Without speaking, the two communicated through their gazes alone. Tang Wulin guessed that this improvement must have come from breaking the Golden Dragon King Seal.
Wu Changkong could not help praising him. To think that a soul master like Tang Wulin, whose martial soul was Blue Silver Grass, could possess such strong spiritual power.
The last to be tested was Jiang Mingyuan, for whom Wu Changkong had considerable expectations.
Jiang Mingyuan put on the helmet, and the number displayed on the screen began jumping rapidly.
His spiritual power reading soon exceeded 40 points. No one was surprised; it would have been strange if Jiang Mingyuan's spiritual power could not reach 40. Before long, the reading jumped to 60, which was normal as well. But what happened next shattered everyone's composure.
The number displayed on the screen had already reached three digits and was still climbing. Finally, the ones digit rose slowly before stopping at 5.
Jiang Mingyuan's spiritual power had reached a full 265 points.
Wu Changkong's first thought was that the machine might be malfunctioning. After checking it carefully, he found nothing wrong at all. He looked at Jiang Mingyuan as though he were looking at a genuine monster.
Two hundred and sixty-five points of spiritual power-even a soul master with a purely mental attribute would struggle to achieve that, wouldn't they?
Xie Xie, Zhang Yangzi, and the others stared at Jiang Mingyuan, dumbstruck. Thinking back now on Jiang Mingyuan's performance in the class promotion tournament, there was a reason he had been so strong.
Next came the test of physical strength. Wu Changkong led them over to a target.
"Next, each of you will use your left hand first, then your right. Aim at the center of this target and strike with all your strength."
The first to step forward was Zhang Yangzi. His martial soul, the Dark Phantom Demon Eagle, provided almost no enhancement to his strength.
Bang! Bang!
Two readings appeared on the screen.
Left fist: 61 kilograms. Right fist: 69 kilograms.
Wu Changkong silently recorded the figures on the form. His strength was nothing outstanding.
The second was Xie Xie.
Left fist: 153. Right fist: 164.
This did not mean that Xie Xie's martial soul greatly enhanced his strength. It was simply that his family was well-off, and he had never lacked nutritional supplements growing up, so his physical development was better than that of ordinary people.
The third was Wang Jinxi. Despite his skinny build, his strength far exceeded that of ordinary people.
Left fist: 423 kilograms.
Right fist: 468 kilograms.
These figures were already very impressive, placing him relatively high even among power attack system soul masters of the same rank. The Bone Dragon King was certainly a formidable martial soul, exceptionally strong in defense and strength. Perhaps its only shortcoming was insufficient destructive power.
The fourth was Jiang Mingyuan. Standing before the target, he swung his fist in a full arc and slammed it hard into the surface.
The target visibly shuddered.