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A Thousand Refinements, First Grade at the age of ten.
Even if Xu Yuan's success rate was currently extremely low…
After two years of practice, how absurdly high would his success rate climb?
The exclusive right to purchase all Thousand Refinements, First Grade metals forged by Xu Yuan over the next two years—what a reward!
The key point was that even though Xu Yuan had accepted this favor, it didn't mean Yuyang couldn't approach him for forging after those two years. He'd just lose priority.
At normal prices, he could still rely on Xu Yuan.
High-grade blacksmith-forged metals were in high demand and short supply. Having a stable channel to acquire them at normal prices was crucial for Yuyang's future advancement in Red-grade mecha crafting and Three-Word Battle Armor.
As for whether Xu Yuan could reach such heights in forging?
Yuyang might have slacked off for a few years, but his mind wasn't old.
Even knowing that Xu Yuan juggled multiple professions, achieving Thousand Refinements, First Grade at ten years old was an accomplishment that spoke volumes about Xu Yuan's forging talent. From handling Xu Yuan's task handovers, Yuyang also knew a bit about his other three secondary professions—they were all top-tier among peers.
With Xu Yuan's potential, all four of his secondary professions would shine in the future.
Having met Xu Yuan, Yuyang naturally explained the details of the mecha design in person. He also provided some direction and feasible ideas for designing the core soul arrays.
After seeing Yuyang off, Xu Yuan held the mecha blueprint, his mind swirling with thoughts.
"Perhaps I should try manufacturing this mecha next?"
Theory was one thing, but practice was another. A true mecha engineer could only improve through continuous manufacturing. However, limitations in part production could hinder progress.
There was a clear difference in performance between mecha engineers with experience crafting entire mecha systems and those without.
Similarly, mecha designers needed to observe the manufacturing process to identify gaps and refine their designs.
Currently, Xu Yuan's three mecha-related secondary professions were all at Level 3, still far from Level 4. If he wanted to catch up quickly in forging, manufacturing this Yellow-grade mecha might be the perfect opportunity.
"Most parts of a Yellow-grade mecha can be completed at Level 3, but the core components require a Level 4 mecha engineer. The workload is immense, making it excellent training. The consumption of rare metals will also be significant, which is perfect for solidifying my forging skills."
Xu Yuan made up his mind. For the next phase of his secondary profession studies, his goal would be to manufacture this Yellow-grade mecha.
"Senior Yuyang's talent in mecha isn't exaggerated—he's truly a man passionate about mecha."
Hopefully, he wouldn't end up like Teacher Mu Ye.
Xu Yuan sighed.
Being permanently unable to break through to Level 95 was truly cruel for Mu Ye.
One mistake had led to such severe consequences.
"Actually, Teacher's mistake wasn't being passionate about mecha—it was being too reckless, integrating a soul spirit…" Xu Yuan sighed, suddenly sensing something amiss.
He repeated his thoughts, summarizing the root of his teacher's problem.
A soul spirit integrated into a mecha?
It felt strangely familiar.
"My soul spirit is integrated into my blood."
Xu Yuan clenched his right fist and slammed it into his left palm.
Teacher had a chance!
He entered the workshop, placed the materials on the design table, took out his soul-guided communicator, and contacted his teacher.
"Teacher?"
"Mm, what is it?"
"Teacher, I have an idea."
"Speak." Mu Ye's tone was exasperated, tinged with resignation.
When Xu Yuan said he had an idea, it usually meant some eccentric direction in cultivation.
Sometimes good, sometimes bad.
Hearing that Xu Yuan had an idea now, Mu Ye naturally wasn't in a good mood.
Still, he listened.
"Hehe, Teacher, this time it's about your cultivation. After thinking it over, I realized that your inability to break through to Level 95 is because one of your closely related soul spirits has fused with the mecha, causing issues with the fusion between your martial soul and body, preventing you from advancing. But I've developed the Fusion Technique, haven't I? Even though your martial soul is inherently a Body Soul, your mecha isn't. Perhaps you could adopt my approach, using the soul spirit as a medium to integrate the mecha into your body."
Mu Ye fell silent for a long time.
Xu Yuan assumed his teacher was contemplating the feasibility.
Who would've thought that, after a long while, Mu Ye's sigh came through the communicator.
"Foolish boy, do you think I haven't considered this? Don't forget, I was well aware of your father's research back then. I collaborated with him precisely because I had similar needs."
"When your blood and qi contract succeeded, I revisited the calculations. It offered some psychological comfort, but there was no substantial change."
Xu Yuan refused to believe it.
"How could that be?"
"Theoretically, this should work, shouldn't it?"
Mu Ye sighed again. "Theoretically, yes. But integrating a mecha into my body and making it truly compatible with me and my martial soul is extremely difficult. Ordinary mecha simply can't achieve this. So far, the only hope I see is crafting the entire mecha out of Heavenly Forged metal."
Xu Yuan's expression froze.
Crafting the entire mecha out of Heavenly Forged metal?
Was he insane?
Wait… wasn't Teacher working as a chef for Uncle Zhen Hua paying off debts?
Xu Yuan's lips twitched. Out of rationality, he refrained from asking how much of Teacher's Little Red was already made of Heavenly Forged metal.
No need to ask—it was probably quite a lot.
A normal Red-grade mecha's enhancement to a soul master absolutely couldn't reach the level of a Limit Douluo. For a Limit Douluo, the enhancement would be even less noticeable. Yet, Teacher Mu Ye's Little Red, when paired with his Four-Word Battle Armor state, provided…
"Teacher, crafting a mecha entirely out of Heavenly Forged metal is still too impractical. My Fusion Technique is still a better option. What you're really worried about is the issue of a carrier, isn't it?" Xu Yuan steered the conversation.
A carrier?
Mu Ye felt his disciple's analogy was apt.
Indeed, a carrier was lacking.
Xu Yuan used his own bloodline as a carrier to fuse part of his soul spirit and martial soul.
But what could Mu Ye use to carry an external mecha?
At its core, Xu Yuan's fusion dealt with energy forms and essences, which were relatively easy to merge. But a god-tier mecha was essentially a massive hunk of metal. How could it be integrated into the body? What could serve as a carrier?
Integrating it like battle armor?
Was that even integration?
Unless it reached Heavenly Forging standards, there would always be a gap between soul masters and their battle armor.
This gap would continue to hinder Mu Ye's cultivation.
"Teacher, doesn't the human body have positions for soul bones? Could we consider fusing the mecha with a soul master's skeletal structure to form something akin to artificial soul bones, then fusing that with you?"
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Tian Dou City
Mu Ye frowned, listening to his disciple's wild ideas.
Researching artificial soul bones again, huh?
You're quite the ambitious one.
Still, could this work?
There were no pioneers to look up to.
No shoulders of giants to stand on.
There were researchers studying soul bones and others researching artificial soul bones, but no one had explored fusing mecha with a soul master's skeletal structure to create an alternative form of artificial soul bones.
"You brat, focus on your own cultivation first. I'll figure out a solution to my own problems."
The communication ended. Xu Yuan snapped back to reality and looked at the mecha blueprint Yuyang had given him.
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