“Senior, can you tell me just why we’ll be going to the Northern Point this time?”
Bai Yunfei couldn’t help but ask Song Lin as the two walked over to their destination.
But Song Lin only smiled in response, “There’s no need to be so worried. It’s for something good…”
Segueing into a different explanation, he said, “You’ve already become the disciple of the headmaster, so you should have the things a disciple should be ent.i.tled to. You’ll be getting an even greater gift when we reach the Northern Point.”
“Eh?” Bai Yunfei started, “What do you mean by that, senior?”
“Ah, well. Junior Bai, how much do you know about soul armaments?” Ignoring the previous question, Song Lin immediately asked a question of his own.
“Soul armaments? Well… what about them, senior?”
“Do you know what determines the strength of a soul armament?”
A blank face greeted Song Lin’s question, prompting the senior to answer it himself.
“Well… soul armaments have several aspects, such as the tracing and the vein lines… you will come to understand that each soul armament has its own special circ.u.mstances on the inside as well as the outside. When using or even looking at a soul armament, you have to transmit your soulforce into it. You can’t just let your soulforce leak into it, and neither can you let it come in waves. Your soulforce must come in a steady flow without any fluctuations and it must be efficient while bringing out the most of the soul armament’s strength. The stronger the soul armament, the more these things must be focused on…”
Bai Yunfei didn’t really get it, but he nodded anyways.
Throwing up his shoulders to laugh helplessly, Song Lin continued, “It’s hard to explain it in a few words. I can’t tell you much right now anyways. Long story short, you have to follow the shape the soul armament is in. Sense the difference in soulforce, and use them in battle to get a better understanding of how strong a soul armament is…”
“I think I got it. Thank you for advising me, senior.” Bai Yunfei finally replied after a long period of silence.
Song Lin nodded, “As long as you understand. Now, let’s hurry on over there.”
Song Lin hadn’t even finished speaking when his feet began to pick up in speed. As they traveled, Bai Yunfei remained behind him with sparkling eyes—he had already come to a sort of conclusion with himself.
“The strength of a soul armament? That must mean the attack and defense of a soul armament… In that case, I’m willing to bet there’s no one that’ll know better than me…”
Some time pa.s.sed before Bai Yunfei realized the destination they were heading to was the very same mountain they went to for the second examination!
Seeing how Song Lin didn’t even pause before entering the cave, Bai Yunfei ventured out a guess, “Senior…”
Song Lin stopped briefly to turn his head back at Bai Yunfei. He was surprised on the reason why, but then the answer hit him just as fast. Smiling, he said, “Don’t feel worried; follow me in. The cave will feel different than before.”
“Oh…” Bai Yunfei still didn’t really understand, but he followed him in anyways.
Not much time went by before Bai Yunfei came to the startling realization that the cave was no longer exuding that same mysterious pressure like last time!!
“Wha—what’s going on!?” Bai Yunfei was dumbstruck. Thinking silently to himself, he said, “Could… could the power in this cave be controlled and banished so easily?”
Turning a corner, Bai Yunfei came to a realization that the countless troves of soul armaments were gone now, leaving behind only empty platforms where they used to be. By the time they turned the corner to the six kilometer mark, the platforms themselves were gone. As Song Lin said before, the mysterious power that had been present for the test measuring apt.i.tude in ‘crafting’ was completely gone without a trace…
About seven kilometers in, Bai Yunfei finally came to see a dead end in the cave itself—
—a few meters away, a stone gate, ten meters tall and five meters wide, barred the rest of the way.
Plenty of carved out rooms adorned the two sides of the cave for countless of meters. Each of the doors were closed so that Bai Yunfei wasn’t able to see the interior of these rooms.
“Junior Bai, please follow me.” Song Lin called out to Bai Yunfei when he realized that he was too preoccupied with looking around the place. Walking to the end of the hall, he turned to the room to the right of the giant gates.
When he entered the room, Bai Yunfei was startled to see five members already inside: the headmaster Kou Changkong, the first elder Xiao Binzi, and the second elder Huangfu Nan all sat by a circular stone table and smiled at the two of them when they entered the room. Li Tiechui and Ye Zhiqiu were both standing respectfully off to the side.
Hurriedly bowing to greet the three, Bai Yunfei said, “This student Bai Yunfei pays his respects to the master, first elder, and second elder!”
“Ah, Yunfei. Are you growing accustomed to the Western Point yet?” Kou Changkong wasn’t nearly as dignified as he was during the welcoming speech back then. Right now, he looked more like a friendly old man as he treated Bai Yunfei with a warm smile.
“Thank you master for your concern, your student has adjusted quite nicely to the school already…”
“Now that you’re here, let’s gets started!” Cutting to the chase, Xiao Binzi spoke first.
Kou Changkong and Huangfu Nan both gave each other a glance at first, but then they nodded to each other, “Very well, let us start then!” Kou Changkong agreed.
It was an unfathomable mystery to Bai Yunfei what the headmaster wanted with him. Even when he turned to look to Ye Zhiqiu off to the side for help, Ye Zhiqiu looked as equally confused as he was.
Rather than explaining the situation, the headmaster’s expression grew serious. Even more dignified than before, he waved his right hand…
Bai Yunfei could only see a flash of red light as if the headmaster was sprinkling some sort of sunlight from his hand, and in an instant, the light filled the entire room.
However, the sight that befell Bai Yunfei and Ye Zhiqiu’s eyes was so stunning that it knocked them into a period of silence…
As the red light scattered throughout the room, dozens and dozens of awe-inspiring soul armaments began to appear one after another! Floating in the air side by side, they began to circle around Bai Yunfei and Ye Zhiqiu in a fluid motion!
“The earlier examination to earn a soul armament was based on your own merits. You disciples today are worthy of owning a low-grade heaven-tier soul armament, so choose one!” The first elder’s calm voice shook the two stunned males out of their stupor, but even then, his words were still more than capable of keeping them in silence for a moment longer.
Heaven-tier… heaven-tier soul armaments as welcoming gifts—this was the spirit of the Crafting School!
Sparing each other a glance, Bai Yunfei and Ye Zhiqiu could both barely contain the emotions that swam through their eyes, but with time, they managed to take in a deep breath and quash the more rampant emotions in them. Soon they were impatiently moving to pick out the soul armament they wanted.
It was now that Bai Yunfei realized just what Song Lin was getting at earlier. His words from before were to explain how to measure the strength of a soul armament.
However—
Song Lin’s concerns were for naught.
For Bai Yunfei, seeing how strong a soul armament was was as easy as turning his hand over.
With all of the glittering jewel-like soul armaments, Bai Yunfei’s eyes sparkled with an equally bright light as they jumped from hatchet to sword to blade to dagger and then to even the defensive-type ones.
Holding out his right hand, Bai Yunfei’s hand touched at a golden dagger. As if picking an apple, the golden dagger floated down to his hands for him to take hold.
Equipment Grade: Low Legacy
Attack: 2230
Upgrade Requirement: 120 Soulpoints