Only Jing Hongchen, Huo Yuhao, and Feng Yu were in the Quiet Heart Studio.
After watching the footage of Huo Yuhao piercing Lin Xi's Trigger-Activated Level 5 Shield with a single shot and the other details, Jing Hongchen wore a smile.
"That is the penetrating power a Live Ammunition Soul Guidance Sniper Rifle should have. But as for who can bring out its tactical significance to perfection..."
"I'm afraid it has to be Yuhao."
Jing Hongchen paused and glanced at Feng Yu. After a moment's thought, he said:
"Yuhao, I'll arrange for people to help you refine the design and production of level 5 and level 6 Live Ammunition Soul Guidance Sniper Rifles."
"However, even after we solve the Cooling Core Array problem, the soul guidance sniper rifle still has another major issue."
"Yuhao, do you know what it is?"
"Soul power storage." Faced with Jing Hongchen's test, Huo Yuhao answered calmly and confidently:
"Once a Live Ammunition Soul Guidance Sniper Rifle can fire repeatedly, its only requirement is the wielder's own soul power reserves."
"A soul engineer can only charge a soul guidance sniper rifle of the same level for two or three shots at most."
"Add in the time needed to charge it, and that has an enormous impact on combat."
Huo Yuhao then asked, "Teacher, could the existing Milk Bottle technology offer a way to solve the soul power storage problem?"
This was when the benefit of having an elder in the family became apparent.
If anyone knew the academy's and the Illustrious Virtue Hall's technological reserves best, Jing Hongchen was undoubtedly the foremost authority.
Administrative matters did not deserve to take up too much of his time.
After achieving fame and success and becoming hall master and academy dean, he had continued working on the front lines of research.
In particular, overseeing the large-scale, integrated Giant Humanoid Soul Tool development project had taken his understanding of their various technological reserves to another level.
"Of course." After a brief moment's thought, Jing Hongchen nodded and said:
"The soul power stored in the mainstream Milk Bottles of every level can currently only be supplied to soul masters."
"But there is another Milk Bottle technology called the 'Excited-State Human Soul Power Configuration Milk Bottle' that can power soul tools."
"Unfortunately, it has been shelved for two hundred years."
A Milk Bottle that could power soul tools? Huo Yuhao looked utterly astonished.
"Even such epoch-making Milk Bottle technology was shelved?"
Jing Hongchen shook his head with a smile.
"Its ability to power soul tools certainly deserves to be called epoch-making, but its drawback is also terrifying."
"Back then, even astronomical amounts of manpower and resources failed to solve the problem."
"It works by exciting the soul power inside it to simulate the effects of human soul power, 'tricking' the soul tool into thinking a soul master is powering it."
"But an indispensable step in that excitation process causes the soul power inside the Milk Bottle to become chaotic and unstable."
Huo Yuhao said gravely, "The soul power stored in this kind of Milk Bottle dissipates rapidly!"
"Correct." Jing Hongchen gave him an approving look and continued:
"And the higher its level, the faster it dissipates. Just how fast?"
"For a level 7 Excited-State Human Soul Power Configuration Milk Bottle, a soul master cannot even charge it as quickly as the soul power inside dissipates."
The corner of Huo Yuhao's eye twitched slightly. Then this Milk Bottle really did have little practical value.
But on second thought, it would be perfect for the tournament arena.
Jing Hongchen said pointedly:
"That brings up a new problem. The Milk Bottle outputs attributeless soul power, which is not currently compatible with the Ultimate Cooling Array."
"I heard from little Meng that your Spirit Eyes' second soul skill is the Fantasy Ice Butterfly's Divine Soul Unity. It can enhance your control over soul power to an extremely high degree."
Understanding dawned on Huo Yuhao. "Then, over the next two months, while doing everything I can to break through to rank thirty soul power..."
"I'll study how to solve this problem using Divine Soul Unity."
"You needn't worry about anything else," Jing Hongchen said with satisfaction.
"I'll assign a level 8 soul engineer to start a new project and resolve these issues as quickly as possible."
"Your senior brother Feng can act as the intermediary and coordinate things."
Huo Yuhao looked at the wryly smiling Feng Yu, his expression apologizing for the trouble.
Ah, senior brother Feng was great in every way.
It was just that he hadn't been providing quite as much chaos qi lately.
Was it because he had already grown numb?
Huo Yuhao did not need to worry too much about the soul guidance sniper rifle.
He adjusted the rhythm of his life for the coming days.
There was no need for now to push further into the theoretical knowledge he had originally needed to grind away at.
According to Feng Yu, his knowledge already exceeded the requirements for obtaining a level 4 soul engineer certificate.
Moreover, when he studied theoretical knowledge, once he grasped something, it stayed with him forever; he needed no revision.
If he kept studying ahead of schedule, his cultivation would instead drag down his efficiency.
Thus, apart from studying Divine Soul Unity, Huo Yuhao planned to devote himself to meditation and raise his soul power level.
Huo Yuhao's single dorm room finally welcomed its owner for an extended stay.
What he did not notice was that footage of his three-on-three battle had spread.
If he had previously enjoyed a little recognition across the academy's year groups, now his name was known to most people in the academy.
The students' opinions, however, were divided.
Under the influence of the intensified "soul engineer genius" publicity and Huo Yuhao's handsome official portrait for joining the Reserve Team...
The girls all considered him a promising prospect.
"I haven't heard of Huo Yuhao belonging to any faction yet. If I could win him over outright, haha!"
"Then it wouldn't be a marriage alliance. It'd be a future high-level soul engineer gained free and clear!"
"Unfortunately, judging by the footage, he seems a little close to Meng Hongchen."
"What if Meng Hongchen makes her move first?"
"So what if she's Meng Hongchen? My waist isn't exactly thick either!"
A certain girl in Year Two, Class One stared wistfully out the window, feeling as though she had let a wildly soaring stock slip away.
The boys were a different picture altogether.
Originally, only some of the boys had envied Huo Yuhao's closeness to Meng Hongchen, while most had thought nothing of it.
But once they saw so many girls discussing how to win Huo Yuhao over...
Huo Yuhao had now incurred the wrath of the masses.
If you really won over Mingdu's most dazzling pearl, we weren't harboring any hopes anyway. At most, we'd tell you you're fucking impressive.
But when you draw so many girls' attention, even making some girls with boyfriends praise you to their boyfriends' faces...
Then sorry, buddy, you're exactly who we're trashing!
Thus, the male students turned their jealousy and dissatisfaction into fuel for their verbal barrage!
"All Huo Yuhao can do is shoot straight. What's so great about him?"
"This so-called strongest person below intermediate soul engineers is only a level 2 soul engineer!"
"A guy who does nothing but bury himself in libraries and laboratories all day-what does he know about romance?"
"A lower-year student with no backing? Where's he going to get the money to become a high-level soul engineer?"
"Fuck, I heard Huo Yuhao was the one who spread the Simp Bible. He's driven up the cost of relationships for everyone!"
"Then he really does deserve to die!"
Year Four, Class Three of the Sun Moon Empire Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
Wang Shaojie was still preaching. He declared smugly:
"Zimu, Hu Mei and I have gotten closer again! She let me eat her leftovers again today."
"Really?"
Zimu stole a glance at Ju Zi. He was starting to envy Wang Shaojie's progress.
It seemed he needed to seek more guidance from Wang Shaojie. After all, his Simp Bible had been passed down directly by God Huo.
Having taken it all in, Ju Zi pressed a hand to her forehead and said:
"Wang Shaojie, what does that prove?"
Wang Shaojie countered, "Then why doesn't she let anyone else eat her leftovers?"
Ju Zi: "..."
Keke stood to one side, afraid to join in for fear that Wang Shaojie would start preaching to her.
Before you continue