The Soul Guidance Department

Gu Xingyue walked along the road leading from the Outer Court to the Soul Guidance Department.

When he reached the entrance to the Soul Guidance Department building, he did not go straight inside to find Huo Yutong. Instead, he turned a corner in the first-floor corridor and headed toward the department's live-combat training grounds.

During an earlier chat, Huo Yutong had said she trained there every afternoon, so this should have been just the right time.

The training grounds lay behind the Soul Guidance Department building, occupying a wide-open stretch of land.

Before Gu Xingyue even got close, he heard an unbroken series of booms from inside. Even the ground trembled faintly.

He pushed open the iron gate at the edge of the grounds and walked in, meeting a searing blast of air mingled with the smells of gunpowder smoke and scorched metal.

Two enormous soul-guided cannon barrels stood in the center of the grounds, one on either side. Each was as thick as an adult's arm, with soul power circuits densely engraved along its body.

Their bases were secured to the ground by heavy soul guidance alloy supports, and several crates of soul guidance shells of different specifications were piled nearby.

The two cannons were alternating their fire, each shot accompanied by a dull boom.

The soul power beams bursting from their muzzles drew straight white lines through the air, precisely striking the targets moving at high speed at the far end of the grounds.

The targets followed no predictable pattern whatsoever. Some slid sideways, some flew diagonally, and others would stop abruptly before shooting off in the opposite direction.

Yet under the two cannons' bombardment, almost no target survived two rounds of fire.

Their hit rate was absurdly high. Every shot seemed to have eyes, chasing down the targets along their paths and sinking its teeth into them.

Gu Xingyue could tell at a glance: this was definitely Huo Yutong using Spiritual Detection for an aimbot and wallhacks.

Even the very best Soul Guidance Department students could not achieve that kind of precision unless they had anticipated every trajectory in advance. But the targets' movement patterns were randomly generated, making prediction impossible.

Only someone who could see through the entire field in real time and lock onto every target's position could achieve a hit rate like that.

Watching made his hands itch for a turn.

In his previous life, even the laser guns at arcades had never quite satisfied him, let alone real hardware like this.

What guy could look at a giant cannon barrel capable of firing soul power beams without itching to try it?

He took a few steps forward and stopped in the spectator area at the edge of the grounds. Bracing both hands on the railing, he watched the firing rhythm of the two cannons. The longer he watched, the more he wanted to go up and fire a shot himself.

Finally, after a bombardment lasting nearly three minutes, both cannons ceased fire at once. The soul power patterns along their bodies slowly dimmed from blazing white, giving off a low hum as they cooled.

The target area at the far end of the grounds was a complete mess. There was hardly a single intact target still standing.

The hatches behind the cannons opened simultaneously, and two figures emerged.

The Soul Guidance Device on the left resembled a partially enclosed Close-Combat Mecha, looking many times larger than an ordinary person.

When Huo Yutong jumped down from the mecha's cockpit, her hair hung loose, and her cheeks were faintly flushed from spending so long in the enclosed compartment.

The device on the right leaned more toward a Long-Range Artillery Type and stood somewhat taller than Huo Yutong's. Only when its pilot climbed down from the back did Gu Xingyue get a clear look at her.

She had a darker, wheat-colored complexion and a tall, toned figure. Her black hair was tied neatly in a high ponytail, and her black athletic clothes fit close to her body. There was a crisp, athletic air about her.

Her features were not especially delicate, but together they gave her a cheerful quality that grew on the eye. Her one very obvious asset was her large bust.

The two chatted and laughed as they headed toward the exit.

He Caicai took two lollipops from her pocket, the same kind GG Bond had. She handed the red one to Huo Yutong, then unwrapped one for herself and popped it into her mouth.

Huo Yutong accepted the lollipop and lowered her head to unwrap it. She had just put it in her mouth when she looked up and spotted Gu Xingyue standing in the spectator area.

She froze for a moment, then her eyes instantly lit up, and she jogged over.

"Xingyue, what brings you here?" She stopped in front of him, her voice a little muffled.

"Obviously, I came because of the grilled fish we agreed on." Gu Xingyue leaned against the railing and smiled at her. "When your business gets big someday, remember me. I was your very first customer."

"You're exaggerating, but you can have all the grilled fish you want." Huo Yutong's eyes curved with amusement at his teasing. Then, as though remembering something, she glanced behind her.

He Caicai had already strolled over, twirling the lollipop stick in her mouth as she looked Gu Xingyue up and down.

She stopped beside Huo Yutong and nudged her lightly with an elbow. "I heard that. Don't think you can keep all the good food to yourself."

"Of course not. How could I forget you, Senior Sister?" Huo Yutong said quickly. Then she turned to Gu Xingyue and gestured between them. "Xingyue, this is Teacher Fan Yu's disciple, He Caicai. Since Teacher Fan Yu took me as his disciple, I've been calling her Senior Sister. She's also an extremely rare Food-Type Auxiliary Soul Master."

Gu Xingyue glanced at her. He Caicai. Hmm, that name. But he let none of it show, merely nodding and offering her his hand. "Hello. Thank you for looking after Yutong."

Rather than shake his hand, He Caicai took another lollipop from her pocket and offered it to him. "Don't mention it. She's my junior sister, of course I should treat her well. Besides, she's a one-in-ten-thousand genius with soul tools. Even though she'd never systematically studied soul tool knowledge before, she's already a Quasi-Level 3 Soul Engineer."

Gu Xingyue accepted the lollipop, glanced down at it, and casually tucked it into his pocket. Then he looked up at Huo Yutong. "A Quasi-Level 3 Soul Engineer?"

"It means..." Huo Yutong opened her mouth, wanting to explain, but did not know how to put it accurately.

He Caicai explained for her. "It means she's already passed the theoretical portion of the Level 3 Soul Engineer assessment, but she hasn't yet completed an entire Level 3 soul tool independently. So she can't officially be called a Level 3 Soul Engineer yet, but her skills are already at that level. That's why we call her quasi-level 3."

Gu Xingyue nodded.

But level 2 was level 2, and level 3 was level 3. What was a Quasi-Level 3 Soul Engineer supposed to mean? Would Huo Yutong get invited to Level 3 Soul Engineer meetings in the future or not?

He did not say that aloud, though. He merely gave Huo Yutong a thumbs-up. "That's Yutong for you. I told you you could do it. If you hadn't gotten into Shrek back then, wouldn't the Soul Guidance Department have let the equivalent of five of the Sun Moon Empire's Hands of the Protector of the Nation slip away?"

Huo Yutong lowered her head, blushing. "You're exaggerating."

He Caicai laughed beside her, her laughter bright and hearty as she leaned forward slightly. "Yutong, your friend's comparison really is apt. Without you, our Shrek Academy really would have lost combat power equivalent to a Hand of the Protector of the Nation for nothing."