Respecting Her Fate

"Hello, Senior Brother He." Bai Jingtian did not neglect his manners. After greeting He Caitou, he turned back to Fan Yu.

"Teacher Fan Yu, could I borrow your equipment here every day from now on to make Soul Tools?

I have some ideas of my own that I want to try out. As for the cost of using the equipment and materials here, I can make conventional Soul Tools to pay for them."

Bai Jingtian had never expected to learn any real skills from Fan Yu. If Fan Yu had truly been the hardcore powerhouse who invented Stationary Soul Tools, that might have been another story. But as things stood, he was merely the tallest among the short.

Besides, the ceiling for the Blue Scientist could not be capped by Fan Yu just like that.

"Sure, no problem. As long as you can ensure safety, you can use whatever materials you like in the Soul Tool Department."

Fan Yu answered generously. Even his desire to keep pursuing Mu Jin had faded somewhat. All he could think about now was how to improve his own abilities and become more qualified to be Bai Jingtian's teacher.

Even Bai Jingtian had not expected Fan Yu to have this side to him. Perhaps that was why he disappeared without a trace later in the original story.

Whether it was He Caitou, Lao Huo, or the newcomer Xuan Ziwen, their skills as Soul Engineers had risen so high that they had left Fan Yu far behind, without even a glimpse of their taillights. So Fan Yu had most likely gone back to diligently teaching freshmen and cultivating hard. Unfortunately, he had never caught up, even by the end of the story, and had ultimately lost his role entirely.

Still, this is for the best. If Fan Yu had no drive to improve, I wouldn't want him as my uncle-in-law anyway.

Bai Jingtian thought as he looked over the equipment for making Soul Tools again.

Although Fan Yu had said he could use the materials here as he pleased, one of the people in charge of the Soul Tool Department was the exceptionally shrewd Qian Duoduo. If Bai Jingtian really threw restraint aside and piled on materials as he pleased, Qian Duoduo would probably come looking for trouble the very next day.

Besides, a true expert could not succeed simply by piling on materials.

So Bai Jingtian looked around the raw materials section again and took only a few pieces of relatively inexpensive rare metal before beginning today's attempt.

Is Fourth-Grade Thousand Refinement my current limit? Once my cultivation rises a little further, I should be able to try pushing for First-Grade Thousand Refinement.

But the materials on Douluo Continent are still a little lacking in strength. Without purifying and strengthening them through Thousand Refinement, I'm afraid I might not even be able to make a computer.

Anyway, I'll start by trying to make something simple, then make some Soul Tool Shields for protection. You can never have too much defensive equipment.

By the time Bai Jingtian left the Soul Tool Department, the sun had almost completely set.

He stretched, planning to return to his dormitory for a short rest before practicing some Hell-style martial arts.

But as he passed Shrek Square, he spotted a somewhat unexpected figure.

It looked rather short and somewhat bulky, and its footsteps were very heavy.

Which little fatty is this... damn, is that Huo Yutong?!

Has she lost her damn mind? Running in two layers of iron clothing—is she trying to get herself killed?!

Bai Jingtian's gaze froze. Weighted training was indeed a fairly effective method, and even Super Saiyans used it, but the amount and placement of the weight required careful consideration.

If you had the physique of a Super Saiyan, you could do as you pleased, whether that meant staying in a room with several hundred times normal gravity or piling weights onto your wrists and ankles at will.

But given Huo Yutong's frail little frame, Bai Jingtian could send her spinning like a top with a casual punch. Whether someone like her could use weights at all was another question, let alone the fact that Shrek Academy's iron clothing was abysmally made. Even Mu Jin had never given it to her students. Only that perverted old hag Zhou Yi was willing to use such shoddy trash to harm students and satisfy her twisted desire to expel them.

And now, Zhou Yi probably had not yet had the chance to use iron clothing to harm students, so where had Huo Yutong gotten this antique?

Could it be that Class One's new homeroom teacher had also inherited Zhou Yi's ways and liked to torment students in the same manner?

Soon, Bai Jingtian saw the answer.

"Keep it up, Little Yutong! This is precious iron clothing I secretly brought out. It's very effective for weighted training!"

"All right, so it's that bastard Tang Ya. Never mind, then."

After spotting Tang Ya, Bai Jingtian did not linger. He deliberately made a detour through the nearby grove before returning to his dormitory.

If Huo Yutong had only gotten this idea because of Zhou Yi's persecution, Bai Jingtian might have helped. But since this was the esteemed Tang Sect Master's advice, what could he say?

He would just respect her fate.

"The freshman assessment is next week. Starting today, I'll assign you to your groups so you have time to get used to working together beforehand.

"If you think anything is unsuitable, you can make suggestions to me. I'll take the class's circumstances into account and make appropriate adjustments.

"Also, anyone who wants to skip the freshman assessment and use the one direct-entry spot allocated to each class to continue studying in the Soul Tool Department can sign up with me."

Standing at the lectern with a thick stack of documents in her hands, Mu Jin spoke to the class in an offhand manner.

But Bai Jingtian knew that Mu Jin had been preparing for this moment since the start of the term. Aside from one student who had withdrawn due to illness, Mu Jin had not expelled anyone from the class.

As a result, leaving the Soul Tool Department spot aside, the class's ninety-nine students could form thirty-three teams.

And as expected, Bai Jingtian, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng formed the team that would make a bid for the championship, aiming to win the freshman assessment.

On paper, Bai Jingtian's team, with two Soul Elders, was already the strongest among the freshmen. Add Bai Jingtian's feat of killing a Soul Emperor single-handedly, and even Dai Huabin's team, with its Martial Soul Fusion Skill, might not be a match for them.

As for the other teams Mu Jin had assigned, apart from having no hope of contending for the championship, their overall compositions were excellent.

With Bai Jingtian's team making a bid for the championship, Mu Jin had no intention of gathering the class's top students together to chase high rankings. Instead, she spread their fighting strength evenly, aiming to get as many people as possible through the freshman assessment.

Perhaps that would leave Freshman Class Nine with less impressive results in the final top-sixty-four competition, but it could raise the entire class's chances of passing the freshman assessment.

In this respect, Mu Jin was an excellent teacher second only to Zhou Yi, and clearly she was also highly skilled at deploying her forces.

"Auntie, you can get some proper rest for a while now, right? Or are you still hoping to get everyone in the class through the freshman assessment?"

After class, Bai Jingtian looked at the faint dark circles under Mu Jin's eyes with some concern and could not help asking her in private.

"I know it's not very likely either, but... I really don't want to see my own students leave Shrek Academy in such a sorry state."

Mu Jin shook her head and answered with a feigned lightness.