Ever since he had gotten those books, Huo Yuhao had been immersed in them.
Elementary Soul Tools corresponded to Level 1 through Level 3 Soul Tools in the Sun Moon Empire's system of Soul Tool knowledge.
Compared with Introduction to Soul Tool, a book intended to lay a theoretical foundation for Soul Tools, Principles of Elementary Soul Tool focused more on presenting the various structures of elementary Soul Tools and the operating principles of their Core Arrays, deriving theorems and empirical formulas.
Elementary Soul Tool Design leaned toward combining Core Arrays appropriately. Its main content covered how to calculate stability coefficients using the relevant theorems and empirical formulas, a key indicator in determining whether a Soul Tool met the standard.
Generally speaking, the more dangerous the field of application, the higher the required stability coefficient.
Principles of Elementary Core Array Drive covered eighty-three basic Core Arrays across thirteen categories. Even the Core Arrays of many advanced Soul Tools had mostly developed gradually from these arrays.
Key Points of Level 1 Core Array Engraving, meanwhile, was purely a practical manual.
For Huo Yuhao, once he could enter a flow state at will, mastering theoretical knowledge was merely a matter of water flowing into a channel once it was ready.
Whenever he discovered a conflict between Feng Bujue's notes and the books, or something he did not understand, he would also seek Feng Bujue out to get it clarified.
His days still consisted of buying supplies and cultivating Soul Power in the morning, selling grilled fish in the afternoon, and using spare moments to read. Only now, he devoted his entire evenings to reading and studying on his own.
Over ten days passed, during which a small incident occurred.
While selling grilled fish, Huo Yuhao heard some senior Shrek Academy students who had come to buy fish talking quietly:
"Have you heard? There's a boys' dorm building for the new students where four hundred people are fighting over two toilets. That scene..."
"I know. I heard loads of people got beaten until they pissed and shit themselves on the spot. Several were so scared they dropped out outright."
"Pfft, what's that compared to this? Wasn't that old witch Zhou Yi running another obedience test? Some grind-happy bastard in her class demanded they run two hundred laps, and he ended up getting thirty or forty people expelled outright."
"His name's Tang Yin, I think? That prick seemed to be promoting something about restoring the Tang Sect's glory. The old witch achieved her goal of screening students too, though luckily, Teacher Mu Jin and Teacher Wang Yan took some of them in."
"But a dozen or so were still forced to drop out. I heard one girl from some small place in the Heaven Dou Empire, who'd paid a huge price just to get a recommendation letter, had a complete mental breakdown and went mad."
"Poor thing. She thought coming to Shrek meant reaching a Soul Master's paradise, that life was about to get better. Who knew she'd run into those two lunatics, Tang Yin and Zhou Yi?"
"Ah, as if this sort of thing is rare. Remember what happened with the inner court's eldest senior sister a few years back? A Level 98 Super Douluo led a Soul Hunting expedition, and a whole crowd of geniuses was gone just like that. Tragic!"
"Shh! Keep your voice down."
"I've never planned on entering the inner court anyway. My family can provide most of what the outer court teaches. I'm only here to make connections. The inner court's graduation requirements are bizarre too. Where are you supposed to find thirty Evil Soul Masters to kill? Who knows how much shady business goes on in there?"
"Ahem, let's stop talking about that..."
Huo Yuhao grilled the fish with an expressionless face, merely sighing inwardly.
That evening, when Huo Yuhao brought it up with Feng Bujue, Feng Bujue sighed as well, his tone heavy:
"I know about that girl. I heard the administrator of that area promised to support her. Her mother's looking after her for now."
"There have been plenty of cases like this in previous years too. But how long can they rely on an administrator's sense of righteousness? If that girl doesn't get better soon, life will be very hard for her and her mother."
Huo Yuhao said, "Brother Bujue, aren't you an immigration broker? Would people in their situation be suited to moving to the Sun Moon Empire?"
"Even running off abroad takes capital." Feng Bujue shook his head and exchanged a glance with Huo Yuhao. "Just like how I've never asked whether you want to run off to the Sun Moon Empire right now."
"Running off abroad costs a lot of money. That mother and daughter couldn't even afford a recommendation letter that could be bought outright with Gold Soul Coins. They probably don't have much money."
"You're a lot like I was as a child, without a soul to turn to, but with a little... talent for Soul Tools. I want things to get better for you. Without enough Soul Engineer talent, it would be hard to get much attention even if you ran off to the Sun Moon Empire. You wouldn't necessarily live very well."
"It's the same for that mother and daughter."
"In this world, ultimately, the bigger your fist, the more say you have. Of course, geniuses who will become powerful in the future have a say too."
The bigger your fist, the more say you have.
Huo Yuhao drew a breath and extended his Spiritual Detection to its fullest. First, he examined himself like a spectator, adjusting any improper physical and mental states. His mind was intensely focused, his breathing exceedingly gentle. With his entire attention, he controlled the Soul Power clinging to his blade's tip as it moved precisely across a flat metal plate, scraping out graceful array lines with the required variations in thickness and depth.
Then the engraving blade's tip paused and turned, connecting the preceding and following array lines into a whole. The Level 1 Core Array, Compression, was complete.
"Let me!"
Feng Bujue, who had been standing silently to one side, spoke softly. Seeing Huo Yuhao step aside, he moved forward and gently fanned his right hand. A breeze arose from thin air, softly carrying away the metal shavings.
This was Feng Bujue's Martial Soul: Breeze.
A complete Core Array was revealed on the metal plate. Feng Bujue injected a strand of gentle, cyan Soul Power into it. The Core Array rapidly compressed the Soul Power, forming a fairly bright, thumb-sized sphere of high-pressure Soul Power that lit Huo Yuhao's little room even more brightly.
"It worked!"
Although Feng Bujue had personally experienced Spiritual Detection before and marveled at it as a godly skill, he still found this unbelievable. Huo Yuhao had reached this point in just twenty-odd days. The casing and assembly that came next would not be so difficult.
In other words, despite having started with no foundation in Soul Tools whatsoever, Huo Yuhao might become a Level 1 Soul Engineer in less than a month!
Even in the Sun Moon Empire, where Soul Tools were highly developed, Feng Bujue had never heard of such a thing.
Huo Yuhao was not entirely calm inside either. "Brother Bujue, how's my Soul Engineer talent?"
Feng Bujue took a deep breath and said gravely:
"Strong. Very strong. Even without relying on Spiritual Detection, your talent surpasses that of my cousin, who has a research project in the Illustrious Virtue Hall."
"Yuhao, if you trust me, take my advice. Reach Level 2 Soul Engineer here in Shrek City first, and I guarantee I'll get you into the Sun Moon Empire Royal Soul Engineer Academy. My cousin will definitely be interested in becoming your teacher."
"All right."
Huo Yuhao knew little about the Sun Moon Empire, but from his spectator's perspective, Feng Bujue's sincerity was not feigned.
"But I remember you saying before that a Soul Engineer with a research project in the Illustrious Virtue Hall had to be at least Level 7, Brother Bujue. My Innate Soul Power was only Level 1..."
Feng Bujue explained with a smile:
"That's fine. With the talent you've shown, even if you could only consistently produce Soul Tools of your own level, that would still be astonishing. The pills you could get would definitely be higher-grade than what I received back then, with fewer side effects."
"And for outstanding students at the Sun Moon Empire Royal Soul Engineer Academy, the most efficient way to obtain high-quality pills and top-tier resources is the Level-Up Ranking."
Huo Yuhao asked, "What's the Level-Up Ranking?"
"You'll find out once you get there. In any case, its rewards include things on par with the Mystic Water Pills here in the Douluo Three Kingdoms."
"But the competition is fierce, especially from Level 1 to Level 2."
Huo Yuhao asked again, "Why?"
"Because there are plenty of geniuses from powerful, wealthy clans. These people often enter the academy with the foundations of Level 2 or even Level 3 Soul Engineers. They just hold off on taking the certification tests, planning to fleece the academy."
"So in your first year there, you'd have to compete with students steeped in generations of family learning. Even with exceptional talent, it would be hard to gain an advantage without foundations beyond Level 2 Soul Engineer, and the resources you could obtain would certainly be limited."
"You'd be better off improving yourself here in Shrek City with me, then going to the Sun Moon Empire next year. As for your age, that won't make much difference."
"Don't judge your Brother Bujue for only being a Level 4 Soul Engineer. That's because I'm stuck at Level 50 Soul Power, or I'd have become a Level 5 Soul Engineer long ago. Though that still doesn't amount to much, it's enough to guide you through a systematic study of basic theory and, together with my savings, get you started."
"I have one more requirement: while you're in Shrek City, hide your progress in studying Soul Tools and your Spiritual Detection Sharing Soul Skill!"
"Trust Shrek Academy's military might, not Shrek Academy's morals."
Huo Yuhao nodded firmly. Everything he had seen and heard over these past days had also completely stripped away his illusions about the continent's foremost academy.
Before you continue