Xuan Ziwen: Your teacher has considerable wealth too; Spiritual Operating System

Lu Cheng wasn't stingy. He led the lab members to a rather luxurious hotel outside the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, where a table was laden with expensive food. He smiled and said to everyone, "Fellow junior brothers and sisters, this meal is on me."

"Wow~" Ke Ke exclaimed at the opportune moment.

Ultimately, their families were only of average means, and this meal costing thousands of Gold Soul Coin was indeed a luxury. Their monthly expenses, excluding the cost of their Soul Tool, were far less than the price of this meal.

He is definitely the son of a duke, or a member of a local wealthy and powerful family.

Ju Zi glanced calmly at Lu Cheng, noticing that he was chatting happily with Ke Ke, with Zi Mu occasionally chiming in, creating a harmonious atmosphere.

But for some reason, she felt that something was wrong...

"Ju Zi, why do you stop talking as soon as you see a handsome guy?" Ke Ke teased with a grin, "You weren't like this before."

"..." Ju Zi rolled Ke Ke eyes at Keke.

"Hehe, Grandmaster, want to pursue Ju Zi? I'll give you some advice. You two are a match made in heaven." Ke Ke became a divine wingman.

Zi Mu's expression stiffened slightly, and he sat down dejectedly to one side.

Everyone knows he likes Ju Zi, but everyone also knows Ju Zi doesn't like him. There's no way around it; a cook can't win love. Only the strong, the strong enough to lead a powerful army north to trample the Star Luo Empire and kill the White Tiger Duke, deserve Ju Zi's love.

And coincidentally, the new senior student Cheng had all of these things.

If he joins the army after graduation, he will most likely start in a high-ranking position with a promising future. Even becoming the Four Beast Soul Engineer Legion is not out of the question.

Not to mention his privileged family background and handsome appearance, all he could offer was probably a Sisi, insignificant amount of love.

"Ke Ke, Soul Engineer should prioritize her studies," Lu Cheng said with a smile.

"These things need to be done sooner rather than later." Ke Ke said mysteriously, leaning closer. "Don't end up like Teacher Xuan, who's so old and still single, and looks like he's never even held a girl's hand..."

"Ke Ke..." Ju Zi's eyes twitched, trying to remind her.

"What's wrong? Isn't it common knowledge that Teacher Xuan is unwanted? Senior, you don't know, he... cough cough cough, Teacher Xuan, what a coincidence, you're here too?" Ke Ke stared blankly at Xuan Ziwen, who was standing to the side with several black lines on his face.

Xuan Ziwen walked into the dining table, and everyone stood up.

He patted Lu Cheng on the shoulder, handed him a file, and then, meeting Ke Ke's trembling, pleading eyes, said expressionlessly, "Get to the lab early tomorrow; I need to check on your studies."

"Yes." The little girl hung her head, looking utterly dejected.

The coursework for the Illustrious Virtue Hall disciples is no easy task. Even for these geniuses who graduated from the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, it would be quite a headache. Xuan Ziwen usually focuses on his own research and is relatively lenient with them, but once he gets serious...

"Oh no... I'm still stuck on the last semester's coursework. What are my assignments?" Ke Ke cried after Xuan Ziwen left.

"It seems like making Level 5 Milk Bottle requires designing blueprints and carving the core array, all of which need to reach a normal rating." Zi Mu looked at Ke Ke with sympathy.

"Ah!" Ke Ke slumped into her chair. "Illustrious Virtue Hall, just hurry up Destruction it..."

The Milk Bottle, regardless of its grade, is of medium to low difficulty. Even some veterans who have been immersed in the Level 5 Soul Engineer for many years would find it quite challenging, let alone a newbie like her who just loafs around all day.

"Of course," Ju Zi said with a smile.

"You really think Teacher Xuan has a good temper?"

However, her gaze also fell on the letter in Lu Cheng's hand. It was clearly a sealed file, and judging from the dust that hadn't been wiped clean, it had been dormant for a long time...

"The secret files of the Spiritual Operating System. I came to this lab specifically for this. Only Teacher Xuan has done the most in-depth research on this project, and my future research topic will probably be related to this." Lu Cheng smiled and explained when he saw Ju Zi glancing at him. There was no need to deliberately hide it from his junior brothers and sisters. After all, the difficulty of this project meant that even if he studied it for three years without making any progress, no one would suspect anything.

Anyone interested in taking a look?

"Forget it, I can't even handle my own research project." Seeing how readily the other person agreed, Ju Zi's doubts dissipated considerably, and she stuck out her tongue.

Moreover, this is considered a confidential file. Teacher Xuan dared to give it to Senior Cheng because the latter was qualified to apply for access. As for them... if they wanted to see it, they would probably have to sign a confidentiality agreement or something. In short, it's very troublesome. Even if this thing has been sealed away for many years, it's not something they are qualified to touch.

Zi Mu and Ke Ke also shook their heads and refused.

Nobody wants to create trouble for themselves.

After the meal, everyone dispersed.

night.

Inside the girls' dormitory.

Ke Ke pushed open the door wearily, threw herself onto the bed, and rolled around a few times before regaining some energy. Her last-minute cramming had yielded some progress; hopefully, she wouldn't get a severe scolding from Teacher Xuan tomorrow... right?

Forget it, who cares?

"Ju Zi, what do you think of the new Grandmaster?" Mentioning gossip, Ke Ke regained some of her energy. She changed into her pajamas, jumped onto Ju Zi's bed, and hugged Ju Zi's slender waist with a mischievous grin.

"It's fine."

Ju Zi said calmly, "From now on, besides Teacher Xuan, we'll have someone else we can consult about soul guidance."

"That's it?" Ke Ke, somewhat disappointed.

"Otherwise what?" Ju Zi glanced disdainfully at Ke Ke and chuckled, "You really think I'm out of my mind, rushing at every man I see?"

"But he's different from other men. With this talent, he'd be a candidate for hall master in the Illustrious Virtue Hall, or a candidate for legion commander in the military. He's definitely a rising star of the empire. For someone like him to come to our lab is simply... a stroke of luck! Aren't you going to seize the opportunity?"

"And he's a reliable person..."

"Pfft~"

Ju Zi couldn't help but smile broadly. That man was definitely not an honest person. His style was completely different from Zi Mu's, but somewhat similar to Xu Tianran's. Both seemed to be wearing a mask, making people want to lift the mask and see what was underneath.

"What are you laughing at?!" Ke Ke said, annoyed, and slipped her hand inside Ju Zi's clothes to tickle her waist and abdomen.

"Hahaha... I was wrong, I was wrong..." Ju Zi laughed until tears streamed down her face, begging for forgiveness.

"In short, stay away from Wang Shaojie." Ju Zi lay on the bed, her ample bosom pressed together, and smoothed her hair with her delicate hand. Her beautiful face finally showed a bit more seriousness. "Stop fishing. That guy isn't suitable for you, especially now that Senior Cheng is here. If you get entangled with him again, you'll be in trouble."

"I didn't fish for it, it just bumped into me," Ke Ke said, distressed.

"I've warned him several times, but he just won't listen and keeps pestering me."

"..." Ju Zi rolled her eyes at her, not wanting to say anything.

If they really wanted to get rid of her, given Ke Ke's fiery temper, how could Wang Shaojie possibly still be here?

"That guy has a terrible character. We couldn't do anything about it before since we were in the same lab, but now... he'll be dealt with by Senior Cheng sooner or later." A hint of disdain flashed in Ju Zi's eyes. A mere scrap of royalty, always swaggering around. Now he's messed with the wrong person.

This senior Cheng, even she can't see through him, does she really think he's someone easy to deal with?

But then, Ke Ke's words came back to her mind.

He seemed nonchalant just now, but he had actually spoken to her heart.

Can that prince really be trusted? Even she herself is constantly on edge, trembling with fear, worried that she might do something wrong or say something inappropriate, thereby incurring his wrath and suffering disgrace and punishment.

And this Senior Cheng... his future achievements will probably not be inferior to His Highness the Crown Prince. It seems that, just as Ke Ke said, he is indeed a good person to stay with.

The next day.

Inside the laboratory.

Lu Cheng smiled as he flipped through the documents, while on the other side, Ke Ke was being scolded until her face turned red. Clearly, this lax attitude had provoked Xuan Ziwen's strong dissatisfaction, and Ke Ke didn't dare to utter a sound, hanging her head and fidgeting with the hem of her clothes.

In the past, she dared to tease Xuan Ziwen in person and got along well with Teacher Xuan, but that depended on the occasion. Teacher Xuan became really strict, she was also afraid, otherwise she wouldn't have studied so late last night before going home.

After all, as the owner of the laboratory, Xuan Ziwen also had absolute "life and death power" over Ke Ke. He could expel her at will, and he could also add a little bit of "dissatisfaction" to her recommendation letter after graduation. And that little bit was enough for Ke Ke to fall from grace.

The teacher-student succession system of the Sun Moon Empire is still quite ancient and serious; generally, no one dares to disobey their senior brothers or teachers.

"The core of the Spiritual Operating System lies in the resonance of Spiritual Power, similar to the way one mobilizes their own Soul Power when releasing Soul Skill. However, the difficulty lies in how a Soul Master's Sea of Consciousness connects with these nodes one by one..."

Lu Cheng flipped through the documents, his head spinning.

No wonder even Jing Hongchen gave up. Generally speaking, the larger the Sea of Consciousness, the harder it is to find a connection point. The vastness of the Sea of Consciousness of strong individuals like Kong Deming and Jing Hongchen goes without saying. No wonder the stronger one is, the harder it is to implement the operating system.

The task system for Soul Master Soul Saint and below them is relatively easy to implement.

This era had very little research on Spiritual Power, far less than the Dragon King era ten thousand years later. Therefore, most Soul Saint did not deliberately cultivate, and could not even be considered to have just entered the threshold of Spiritual Power.

However, after stepping into the Titled Douluo, every step forward requires transforming Soul Power from solid to liquid, which necessitates extremely strong Spiritual Power. This forces you to cultivate, causing your Spiritual Power to surge dramatically, spiraling upwards. Super Douluo are even more exaggerated in this regard. This results in a Spiritual Power gap between Title Douluo and Soul Douluo that is... celestial.

No wonder the Sun Moon Empire quickly developed a large number of systematic mechs in the later stages of the war. In his memory, those mech legions were piloted by level six or Level 7 Soul Engineer on average, and their basic Spiritual Operating System were indeed simple.

However, in the secret files, a researcher also recorded a conjecture: for high-level humanoid mechs, Soul Power is necessary but not important, as Milk Bottle can replace Soul Master; but Spiritual Power is absolutely the most important.

Any spirit-type Soul Master is capable of "leveraging" massive mechs dozens of times stronger than themselves, because the Milk Bottle compensates for the innate deficiency of Soul Power. As long as the Spiritual Power is sufficient, the Spiritual Operating System can be used to activate and operate it.

This is indeed a development direction for high-level mechs.

This is also the most suitable development direction for Lu Cheng.

He currently possesses Spiritual Power comparable to Titled Douluo, but he can only use it for detection and illusion, which are auxiliary functions. He cannot actually convert it into powerful combat strength. However, with a high-level humanoid mecha, things might change.

Only his vast, ocean-like Spiritual Power could unleash its terrifying power.

Even at that time, his combat power alone would be enough to fight Titled Douluo... He is only at the Soul Emperor realm now.

"Finished watching?"

Xuan Ziwen waved his hand, somewhat exasperated, signaling Ke Ke, who was wiping her tears, to go back. He wasn't the type to settle personal scores, but maintaining the dignity of a teacher was still necessary. This girl had been too cocky lately; he needed to teach her a lesson.

His attitude towards Lu Cheng was much more amiable, even giving the impression that he was communicating with a researcher of similar status.

He was, after all, the Grandmaster in his lab and a pillar of strength.

"Hmm." Lu Cheng nodded slightly, pondered for a moment, and then said, "It is indeed a huge project, especially in terms of mental connection. The cost of researching it would be extremely high, and..."

"To continue developing further, we need even stronger, more durable rare metals... Even a wealthy organization like Illustrious Virtue Hall probably couldn't afford the consumption involved."

The original story is about an entire ice cave Ice Extreme Divine Crystal. It is unknown how much was lost before a Spiritual Operating System was created. Ice Extreme Divine Crystal are the most top-grade metals in the world, comparable to metals that Heavenly Refinement, not to mention ordinary rare metals.

"Hehe, not bad." Xuan Ziwen smiled and nodded slightly.

"Actually, if we really grit our teeth, the top-tier metal reserves in the Imperial Warehouse would be enough to support the formation of this Spiritual Operating System. However, after discussions among the higher-ups, it was decided to focus on basic mechs. As long as we can create linked... cough cough, and humanoid mechs, that will be enough to sweep across the continent."

Lu Cheng remained silent.

In fact, the Sun Moon Empire's decision was correct, and he knew what Xuan Ziwen was going to say.

The terrifying aspect of the Linked Defensive Soul Tool is that it can treat all strong individuals equally. Even if you are as strong as Limit Douluo, you cannot break through the defense under the combined attack of thousands of Soul Engineer. In the original work, Xuan Zi was helpless against this. Of course, there may be reasons for Xuan Zi's incompetence, but it is enough to show the terrifying nature of the word "linkage".

With the addition of a large number of sixth and seventh grade humanoid Soul Tool, an iron legion was mass-produced, a torrent strong enough to sweep across any corner of the Douluo Continent.

In comparison, the weapon of a Titled Douluo- level powerhouse, and the boost to top-tier combat power, are not so important.

It's not that we don't do research, it's just that everything has its priorities.

"Since you're interested, and I'm quite wealthy myself, let's give it a go." Xuan Ziwen was clearly intrigued as well, handing Lu Cheng a black card. "Here, this is my entire net worth, roughly four million Gold Soul Coin. I'll leave the purchasing to you."

P. S.: The next chapter will be updated at 1 AM.