Chatting about meaningless topics along the way, Wang Lin led Huo Yuhao into the Sixth-Year Teaching Building where the Third Laboratory was located.
There wasn't really anything for Wang Lin and Huo Yuhao to reminisce about. After all, they had only spent a few days together before parting ways. It could only be said that they knew each other, but were not familiar at all.
Stepping up the stairs, they climbed all the way to the door of the Third Laboratory on the fifth floor.
Click!
The metal doors slid open to both sides.
"Come in, Yuhao."
Wang Lin led Huo Yuhao into the laboratory. In the huge laboratory, only Xuan Ziwen was sitting at the main seat, fiddling with a soul tool array with extremely complex patterns.
"Did you bring the person?"
Xuan Ziwen didn't even lift his head. Huo Yuhao looked at this middle-aged man who was only thirty years old, frowning slightly.
"I brought him. Yuhao, this is Teacher Xuan Ziwen, a Class 8 Soul Engineer of the Mingde Hall."
Wang Lin turned his head, noticed Huo Yuhao's expression, and introduced him.
As soon as the words "Class 8 Soul Engineer" came out, Huo Yuhao's frown instantly relaxed. He hurriedly took a step forward and said respectfully.
"Hello, Teacher Xuan. I am Huo Yuhao."
Only hearing this did Xuan Ziwen look up at Huo Yuhao. His tone was neither good nor bad.
"Huo Yuhao, right? Test first. Only by passing the test are you qualified to stay in the Third Laboratory. If you don't pass, I will help you apply to transfer to another laboratory."
"There's a test?"
Huo Yuhao looked doubtfully at Wang Lin beside him. Wang Lin had already taken out several pieces of soul tool metal commonly used for Class 3 soul tool arrays and placed them on the experimental table.
"Of course there's a test. A sixth-year laboratory isn't so easily entered. All exchange students must pass a test to stay. Students have the right to choose teachers, and teachers naturally also have the right to choose students."
Wang Lin explained, pointing at the soul tool metal on the laboratory table.
"You can start. Carve the best Class 3 soul tool array you can think of. The standard is to have enough ideas and creativity. Hmm, if you need other materials, tell me."
"No need, these are enough."
Huo Yuhao came back to his senses, took out an ancient carving knife that was pure black throughout, raised his hand and beckoned, and the Titanium Gold among the soul tool metals was already in his hand.
As soon as Wang Lin saw the carving knife appearing in Huo Yuhao's hand, he recognized it as the 89th on the Ranking of Carving Knives—the Toughness Carving Knife.
This carving knife was made of the hardest metal in the world. Its only effect was being hard enough to easily cut through any soul tool metal.
Obviously, there wasn't another Life-Devouring Carving Knife left for Huo Yuhao in the world, and fate's compensation for him was this Toughness Carving Knife.
Swoosh!
The hard and sharp Toughness Carving Knife glided across the surface of the Titanium Gold. Huo Yuhao, with Spiritual Detection activated, cut fast and ruthlessly, and flakes of silvery-white metal debris fell.
Soon, the palm-sized Titanium Gold soul tool metal was whittled by Huo Yuhao into a silvery-white sphere the size of a lychee.
The pitch-black blade tip left clear lines on the surface of the sphere, and fine titanium powder sprinkled lightly onto the experimental table.
In less than five minutes, Huo Yuhao completed the carving of the core array. He blew gently on the sphere.
Another layer of fine metal powder fell, and the carving was complete.
Lines of varying depth, straight and horizontal connections, or winding curves covered the lychee-sized metal sphere. At this moment, the sphere looked like a piece of hollowed-out carved artwork, full of three-dimensional sense.
"Done?"
Wang Lin, who had watched the whole process, asked.
"En, done."
Huo Yuhao nodded. Wang Lin took out a pile of metal materials and placed them on the experimental table.
"Then finish this soul tool. We have to test it to know if this soul tool array is creative. There is no time limit."
"Okay."
Huo Yuhao nodded. He picked up the Iron Essence on the table, which was often used to make soul tool shells, but then he hesitated. The soul tool he wanted to make was the Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannon, modified from the Tang Sect hidden weapon, the Zhuge Divine Crossbow.
It wouldn't be a big deal if the soul tool array part was learned by others, but the key was that the precise mechanical structures of the hidden weapon part were Tang Sect secrets.
"Um, Brother Lin, Teacher Xuan, the thing I'm going to make next belongs to the sect's secrets, so could I ask you..."
Huo Yuhao said very embarrassedly.
"Tang Sect?"
Wang Lin asked. In the original work, when Huo Yuhao was tested by Xuan Ziwen, he was secretive and specifically blocked Xuan Ziwen's view.
Considering that Huo Yuhao had just copied the structure of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's soul power testing device with Spiritual Detection right before this, it was somewhat hard to take.
So your Tang Sect's intellectual property needs protection, but the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy has absolutely no intellectual property rights, right!
(Preventing arguments!)
"En, Tang Sect. It involves sect secrets."
Huo Yuhao nodded. At this time, Xuan Ziwen frowned, but he still nodded.
"Then blur it yourself with spiritual power."
Since Xuan Ziwen nodded, Wang Lin naturally couldn't say anything. He withdrew his gaze and stopped looking at Huo Yuhao, completely indifferent to what Huo Yuhao wanted to hide.
What a joke. The original copy of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record was on Wang Lin. Wang Lin had seen those so-called precise mechanical structures.
Only Tang San and the people of the Tang Sect would treat that stuff as treasure. The only thing with a bit of value was that gunpowder formula, and it wasn't even the optimal ratio of 7.5:1:1.5.
Controlling his spiritual power to distort the light around him, only then did Huo Yuhao feel at ease to make the shell of the Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannon.
Click, clack, clang, clang...
Amidst a series of crisp metal sounds, Huo Yuhao finally withdrew his spiritual power. A long strip-shaped Iron Essence box about one foot long, three inches wide, and two inches thick was already in his hand.
"One charging, six accelerations. Let me see what peculiar effects this one-time-use soul tool of yours has!"
Xuan Ziwen had already put down the complex soul tool array he was holding and spoke up.
Although he said he hadn't seen the production of the shell of Huo Yuhao's soul tool, Xuan Ziwen still saw the soul tool core array clearly.
There was creativity, but absolutely no practical value. The extremity brought by six accelerations meant that even if the soul tool metal used was the relatively hard Titanium Gold, it was destined to be used only once.
It was too wasteful.
"Go to the testing area."
Wang Lin also spoke up at this time. The so-called Tang Sect hidden weapon modified soul tools truly had no value. If there was even a little value, he would have taken it and modified it for use himself.
It was the same in the original work. Xuan Ziwen's subsequent inventions, such as the Soul Ring Storage Device, the All-Terrain Self-Propelled Fort, etc., could be said to have absolutely nothing to do with Tang Sect hidden weapons.
Huo Yuhao didn't say much. He walked out from behind the experimental table and, led by Wang Lin, arrived at the soul tool testing area.
Such testing areas existed in large laboratories to test the power of newly completed soul tools. Of course, the testing area's bearing capacity was limited, and overly powerful soul tools could not be used.