The next day, under everyone's watchful eyes—
Xu Tianxi stepped out of his private dorm room and followed Jing Hongchen to the entrance examination site.
"Tianxi, you already know the requirements. This is mostly a formality, so just do what you feel like," Jing Hongchen said, patting Xu Tianxi on the shoulder, reassuring him not to feel pressured and to stay relaxed.
Xu Tianxi gave a soft "mm" in response and walked up to the metal workbench in the center. He picked up a standard engraving knife with his right hand and casually pulled over a piece of metal with his left. With practiced ease, he began to work on the rare metal. The blade flashed with a cold gleam as he engraved a soul circuit array, immediately drawing everyone's attention.
Lin Jiayi was astonished. "Dean, he's incredibly fast! It looks like he's going straight for a Class 2 soul tool!"
Jing Hongchen's gaze remained fixed, and he replied in a low voice, "His technique doesn't look like someone limited to Class 2 soul circuit arrays…"
"You mean…"
"The materials on the table aren't enough—he's being held back."
Half an hour passed.
Xu Tianxi hammered and shaped, casting and tempering as he refined the soul tool's casing at the workstation. His swift and precise movements dazzled the onlookers, who could hardly keep up with his rhythm.
The tool was very familiar to them—a Class 2 fixed-installed soul cannon shell and its launcher.
"My soul tool is complete," Xu Tianxi announced, lifting the loaded fixed-installed soul cannon and giving Lin Jiayi a mock salute with the weapon.
"Dean, this…" Lin Jiayi broke into a cold sweat and looked to Jing Hongchen, visibly troubled.
In all previous entrance assessments, no one had ever crafted a Class 2 fixed-installed soul cannon shell, let alone done so within half an hour—when the allotted time was a full day!
Among the three main categories of soul tools, fixed-installed soul tools had the highest destructive power, the highest production costs, and the greatest complexity. Crafting a Class 2 fixed-installed soul cannon shell was harder than making many Class 3 soul tools!
And in terms of firepower, this shell far surpassed most Class 4 offensive soul tools. A single shot could easily obliterate a hundred-year soul beast—and even some weaker thousand-year soul beasts wouldn't survive. What kind of test would be necessary after that?
"Proceed with the standard assessment. As planned," Jing Hongchen said calmly, eyes closed as he gave the order. He now understood why Xu Tianxi's grandmaster had requisitioned so many fixed-installed cannon shells.
The passion in the boy's eyes while making the shell wasn't an act—his skill level was astonishing, far beyond that of a typical Class 2 Soul Engineer. He had almost certainly crafted Class 3 and above fixed-installed soul cannon shells before.
Even most Class 3 Soul Engineers would approach making a Class 2 shell with great caution. A single mistake meant starting over. Yet Xu Tianxi's technique flowed like water—clearly top-tier among Class 3 engineers.
His talent in soul tool crafting was absolutely on par with Xiao!
A hundred-year Earth Wolf was released for the assessment. It snarled and lunged at Xu Tianxi.
Xu Tianxi swiftly dodged back, mounted the launcher like a rocket tube, and pressed the trigger. A shell embedded with high-temperature effects blasted out, trailing fire.
BOOM!
The shell exploded with a concussive blast. The Earth Wolf was vaporized in a flash of light and heat, leaving behind a floating hundred-year soul ring.
"Don't waste it—collect it quickly," Jing Hongchen ordered.
Lin Jiayi rushed forward and used a specialized soul tool to store the soul ring.
"Excellent. Perfect pass!" Jing Hongchen led the applause, looking meaningfully at Xu Tianxi. "Your talent qualifies you to enter Year Four directly. Do you want to transfer in, or start from Year One?"
"I haven't taken the certification exams yet, and I'm still missing a lot of foundational knowledge. Naturally, I should start from Year One. After all, a skyscraper begins from the ground up," Xu Tianxi replied with a smile.
Jing Hongchen nodded. "Good! Then go report to Year One. Director Lin and I will personally oversee your progress."
"As long as you can earn the necessary certificates, I'll grant you special permission to skip grades at will. I look forward to seeing you break the records set by Xiao."
"Oh, Xiao—did you see Tianxi's performance? You'd better feel the pressure… Hey, Xiao? What's wrong?"
Following his gaze, Xu Tianxi saw that Xiao Hongchen, who had looked perfectly fine before, now had a grim expression. His brows were tightly furrowed, as if deep in thought.
Meng Hongchen covered her face and pushed her brother aside, forcing a smile. "Don't worry, he just didn't sleep well last night. He'll be fine after a nap."
Jing Hongchen and Xu Tianxi both nodded silently, tacitly choosing to ignore it.
Young people—sometimes the pressure's just a bit too much.
"Oh man, I'm so dumb. Seriously."
Xiao Hongchen raised his vacant eyes and said, "I always thought Xu Tianxi couldn't pass certification, that he could only make simple soul tools. I never imagined he specialized in the hardest category—fixed-installed cannon shells, and at such a terrifying level!"
"From the fire in his eyes while making that shell, I'm sure he's a veteran. Forget Class 2 shells—he's probably attempted Class 3, maybe even Class 4!"
Meng Hongchen asked, "How can you be so sure?"
"Heh! As the greatest genius of the Sun Moon Empire in a thousand years, I know the pride of geniuses well. We live for challenges. He wouldn't be satisfied with just Class 2—he's definitely tried Class 4 fixed-installed shells!"
Xiao Hongchen was full of certainty, excitement written all over his face.
Meng Hongchen glanced at their current location and asked suspiciously, "So this is why you dragged me to the roof of the Year One classroom—to eavesdrop on his classes? Sneaking around like this doesn't really suit a genius, does it?"
"Ahem! I just want to learn more about him. Even geniuses need motivation to grow."
Xiao Hongchen coughed a few times and sighed with deep emotion. "Meng, you don't know how lonely I've been at the Academy these past few years. Finally, someone who might catch up to me—it's just too exciting."
Meng Hongchen turned away, unwilling to look at him. "Xu's already introduced himself. Director Lin's giving the lecture now."
"Wait, Director Lin? Teaching a class? That's rare. But I bet it's just the same old boring talk that puts people to sleep again."
"…I think you're right."
Meng Hongchen sighed and facepalmed as she watched Lin Jiayi write on the blackboard:
'In the long run, will Soul Engineers replace Soul Masters entirely?'
These old-timers loved to go on tangents. Instead of explaining advanced soul tools, they wasted time on theory.
"Students, today I'd like to discuss the future development of soul tools," said Lin Jiayi, standing at the podium and enjoying the respectful stares of the class.
"Our Academy believes that, once soul tool technology advances far enough—specifically, to the point where soul tools can function without any soul power—then the profession of Soul Master will become obsolete, vanishing into history."
"But," he continued, "there are experts who strongly disagree. They believe Soul Master cultivation remains critically important. Today's topic is open for discussion. Speak freely—I, this old relic, am eager to hear the thoughts of our younger generation."
As soon as he finished his speech with dramatic flair, the classroom erupted in chatter.
"I think soul tools are all-powerful! Soul Masters can only have nine soul skills at most. How can that compare to the endless variety of soul tools?"
"But soul cultivation is still important. Sometimes you can awaken unexpected soul skills."
"How many soul masters with unique talents do we have in the Sun Moon Empire, though? You need a strong martial soul to get rare soul skills in the first place!"
PS: Read Advance Chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin