DD2—Chapter 30: Level 2 Soul Engineer (2-in-1)
"The grilled fish is out of the oven," Huo Yuhao said.
"Yeah." Meng Hongchen walked to the grill, took out a skewer of grilled fish, and started eating.
Soon, she said with a gleam in her eyes, "Huo Yuhao, your cooking skills are really good. This is the most delicious grilled fish I have ever eaten. Even the royal chef in the Sun Moon Palace cannot compare with you in grilling fish."
For a moment, Meng Hongchen became more and more curious about Huo Yuhao. He was a genius in the field of soul engineering, and he was also an expert in cooking. Such a person was rare.
"Senior Sister Meng, you're too kind," Huo Yuhao said modestly.
"Have you ever considered selling barbecue? Other meats and fish are similar anyway. With your cooking skills, you should be able to make this kind of meat very delicious."
"Senior Sister Meng, the profit from selling barbecue is too low. It is far less profitable than making a soul guidance device. If I only make one first-level soul guidance device and then sell it, the profit I get from it will be at least equivalent to a few hundred skewers of barbecue!" Huo Yuhao replied.
This is true. Even in Shrek City, where prices are extremely high, ordinary barbecues cannot be sold at exorbitant prices. After all, barbecue cannot enhance strength.
Meng Hongchen rolled her eyes and casually placed a soundproof soul guidance device to prevent the conversation from being leaked and overheard by other students nearby. Then she said mysteriously, "What I mean is, you make the barbecue and sell it to me, and I will buy it at a high price."
"Huh? Buy it at a high price?" Huo Yuhao was a little confused.
"Yes." Meng Hongchen moved closer to Huo Yuhao. She stared at him and said, "I'll give you some soul beast meat. You'll be responsible for processing it, and I'll be responsible for finding a channel to sell it. Don't worry, I have a perfect sales partner here. I guarantee that we can both make a lot of money!"
"This…" Huo Yuhao looked increasingly confused. He asked, "Senior Meng, may I ask who this perfect sales partner is?"
"Don't ask!" Meng Hongchen sighed. "Anyway, you just need to be responsible for the barbecue. Don't worry, it won't take you too much time. You only need to deal with one meal every day at noon. After all, that guy has a limited appetite! As for the price, I'll give you a processing fee of 200 gold soul coins for a skewer of barbecue!"
"Okay!" Huo Yuhao calculated his hand speed and felt that he could manage the job. After all, based on the original novel, if placed in the cafeteria of Shrek Academy, the top-notch dishes that Zhou Yi took Huo Yuhao to eat would only cost more than thirty gold soul coins per serving.
So, he continued to grill fish and worked hard to earn gold soul coins.
Although he could make money by creating soul guidance devices, low-level soul guidance devices do not make much money. Even the extremely novel fourth-level milk bottle in the Star Luo Auction in the early stages of the original novel only sold for 25,000 gold soul coins at the auction.
"Apart from the grilled fish business, my next main goal, aside from cultivating soul power, is to pass the second-level soul engineer assessment." Thoughts surged in his mind.
The fifth floor of the library.
"Teacher Xuan Ziwen is worthy of being an eighth-level soul engineer. I have benefited a lot from reading this book!" Xiao Hongchen slowly closed the book, a satisfied look on his face.
He stood up and walked slowly. When he reached the window, his mind was filled with thoughts. "However, even so, I cannot relax at all. After all, Huo Yuhao's threat is imminent. I must leave a record that he cannot surpass. Only in this way can I maintain my position as the number one genius!"
"Huo Yuhao, I want you to know that in the Sun Moon Empire, I am the number one genius who only appears once in a thousand years!"
He clenched his fists, and the scene of Huo Yuhao praising his excellent talent, expressing his inferiority, and yearning to be his younger brother emerged in his mind. Thinking of this brought a smile to the corner of his mouth.
At that moment, footsteps sounded behind him, followed by a female voice: "Xiao, you are studying secretly here!"
"Huh? Meng? Why are you here? What do you mean by studying secretly? I didn't hide the fact that I came to the library to study the fifth-level core magic array." Xiao Hongchen turned around and looked at Meng Hongchen at the entrance of the corridor.
"Xiao, you have been studying for so long; you must be hungry." Meng Hongchen asked.
"I'm indeed a little hungry, so I decided to go to the cafeteria to enjoy some special food," Xiao Hongchen replied.
"Xiao, I have some delicious barbecue here; maybe it can fill your stomach." Meng Hongchen placed her fingers on her storage ring and lightly wiped it, and several skewers of barbecue appeared in her hands.
"Barbecue?" Xiao Hongchen's eyes lit up. "You're giving it to me?"
For a moment, he felt somewhat touched and thought that although his sister often said things that made him angry, she was still reliable at critical moments and even knew to bring him food.
"It's not a gift; it's for sale to you. One skewer of meat costs five hundred gold soul coins!" Meng Hongchen said with a smile. Apart from the processing fee she paid to Huo Yuhao, soul beast meat also has costs, and she needed to make money, so she offered this price.
"Five hundred gold soul coins?" Xiao Hongchen was stunned and looked at Meng Hongchen with suspicion. "Is this meat from a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast?"
For the wealthy Xiao Hongchen, this amount of money was nothing, but he still wanted to clarify some things.
"No, it's just ordinary soul beast meat. However, I assure you that this skewer of meat is particularly delicious," Meng Hongchen said.
"Really? Okay, let me try a skewer." Xiao Hongchen was a little unconvinced.
Soon, Meng Hongchen handed over a skewer of barbecue. Xiao Hongchen didn't take it seriously at first, thinking that his sister was trying to trick him. But when he ate the barbecue, an expression of surprise instantly appeared on his face. "This barbecue tastes incredible! Where did you buy it?"
"I won't tell you. Xiao, I have a barbecue here; do you want some more?"
"Yes, of course! It's only five hundred gold soul coins per skewer! This is the first time in my life that I've eaten such a delicious barbecue. It's worth it!" Xiao Hongchen looked like a wealthy man.
After a while, Xiao Hongchen looked very satisfied, "Not bad; I am very satisfied with this meal. The person who made this barbecue has superb cooking skills that are unimaginable."
"Pay if you're satisfied. You've eaten fifty skewers of soul beast meat, so you owe me a total of 25,000 gold soul coins," Meng Hongchen said.
"Twenty-five thousand gold soul coins." Xiao Hongchen calculated silently, then paid directly and reminded her, "By the way, Meng, I have been reading a lot recently and don't have enough time. You must remember to help me keep an eye on Huo Yuhao and pay attention when he applies to take the second-level soul engineer assessment!"
Meng Hongchen waved her hands dismissively, "Okay, okay, I get it. I'm leaving first!"
Then she immediately left the library, found Huo Yuhao, and handed him a card. "There are 10,000 gold soul coins on this card, which is your reward for today. I have preserved the extra barbecue with a special refrigerated soul guidance device. I will sell it tomorrow, and we will continue to divide the money then."
"Okay." Huo Yuhao took the card, and a smile appeared on his face. No matter when making money is always a happy thing.
He knew that Meng Hongchen, as the middleman (broker), would make a profit from the price difference.
However, as Meng Hongchen made money, he also made money, and the person who bought the barbecue also got delicious food. There is no doubt that this is a win-win situation.
One and a half months later.
In the third laboratory.
Huo Yuhao stood in front of the experimental table and said to Xuan Ziwen beside him, "Teacher Xuan, I am ready. I will take the second-level soul engineer assessment today!"
"Well, okay. I'll prepare the rare metals for you. Please wait a moment," Xuan Ziwen smiled, then turned and walked into the laboratory.
For Xuan Ziwen, there were quite a few rare metals in his storage ring. However, the grade of those rare metals was too high, and they were not suitable for making a second-level soul guidance device.
"Okay, Teacher Xuan!" Huo Yuhao nodded.
These days, he had been working hard to learn the knowledge of soul guidance devices and finally reached the requirements to participate in the second-level soul engineer assessment. Of course, to be on the safe side, he deliberately practiced the skill of engraving the core magic array for a while, aiming to pass the assessment in one fell swoop.
Of course, he did not neglect his martial soul cultivation. After all, the soul power level is the foundation of a soul master, so he put a lot of energy into cultivating his martial soul.
Thanks to the efficient teaching system of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, Huo Yuhao truly made effective use of his time.
As for Zi Mu, who liked Juzi and pursued her wholeheartedly, the other party naturally did not bother him because of the rumors.
After all, everyone knew that he was a genius soul engineer, highly regarded by the dean and teacher Xuan Ziwen. Knowing all this, Zi Mu naturally did not dare to take action against Huo Yuhao!
For Huo Yuhao, his life in the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy is more comfortable than that at Shrek Academy. At least he does not need to compete with teachers in wits and courage.
Compared with the teachers at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, Shrek has too many incredible people. In addition to Xuan Ziwen, who has the reputation of being the supreme elder of the Holy Spirit Church, Shrek also has Zhou Yi, whose teaching philosophy is extremely backward.
Zhou Yi relies on her strength as a Soul Emperor and her husband, Fan Yu, an eighth-level soul engineer; otherwise, she would have lost the qualifications to teach students long ago.
After all, Zhou Yi, as a teacher, actually asked students to run around Shrek Square on the first day of school!
Although physical fitness is indeed very important for soul masters, can't we improve students' physical fitness through other methods? After all, it's the number one soul master academy on the continent; it can't be so backward!
Moreover, people come to Shrek Academy to study to improve their abilities, not to run. If they want to run, then there are places where they can't run. Do they have to run around Shrek Square?
It can't be that the running track in Shrek Academy is different from the one outside. Can the running track in Shrek Square increase soul power, or will it randomly drop soul bones?
Moreover, there is one point about Shrek that makes people want to complain, and that is that the cafeteria of Shrek Academy is extremely weird.
There are not even tables or chairs in the cafeteria of Shrek Academy, meaning that when eating in the cafeteria, students have to either squat, stand, or use martial souls to solve the issue of having no place to sit.
If a student wants to take the food bought from the cafeteria back home to eat, it is a violation of the rules.
After all, meals from the Shrek Academy cafeteria are not allowed to be packed away.
While reading the book, he thought about it and complained: why did they design such a cafeteria and set such rules? Isn't this pure torture?
"Yuhao, the rare metals you need are ready; you can start now. As long as you make a second-level soul guidance device that I consider qualified, you can pass this assessment and be promoted to a second-level soul engineer!
If you fail, then I can only judge that you have failed the assessment! You do your best, and I will continue to study the milk bottle." Xuan Ziwen came over and piled a lot of metal on the table.
"Well, okay, thank you, Teacher Xuan." Huo Yuhao responded politely and then watched Xuan Ziwen walk in another direction in the laboratory.
Then he began to forge metals step by step using the soul guidance forging equipment and used these metals to create the outer shell, inner shell, and core first. The outer and inner shells were quite simple to create, but for a soul guidance device, the core magic array was the top priority.
A moment later, a short black metal stick was placed on the experimental table in front of Huo Yuhao. There was a button on the lower half of the stick.
"Teacher Xuan, I'm done." Huo Yuhao called out.
"Okay, I'll come over now." Xuan Ziwen immediately walked over from the other side of the laboratory and looked at the strange metal rod with some confusion.
"What is this?" he asked. With his many years of experience in the industry, he couldn't figure out the function of this short metal stick at first glance.
"Soul-conducting electric rod. Teacher Xuan, do you want to see its function?" Huo Yuhao asked. The inspiration for this device came from an electric rod in his previous life. He made some magical modifications to it in the Douluo Continent. Anyway, soul power is an omnipotent energy source and no matter what kind of strange things, they can be explained by soul power.
"Well, do you still need a living soul beast this time?"
"Yes. However, this time I need you, Teacher Xuan, to tie it to the experimental table," Huo Yuhao nodded.
So Xuan Ziwen quickly brought a soft-boned rabbit and tied it to the experimental table according to Huo Yuhao's request.
Huo Yuhao used the top of the electric baton to press against the soft-boned rabbit and then pressed a button. The next moment, a dazzling electric light gushed out from the top of the electric baton and hit the soft-boned rabbit directly.
In almost an instant, the soft-boned rabbit that was still struggling turned into a piece of charcoal, and a burnt smell filled the air.
"This is at least equivalent to a blow from a Soul Elder. How can a second-level melee soul guidance device be able to do this? Yuhao, you are truly a genius!"
"You passed the test! From today on, you are a second-level soul engineer! Moreover, you have officially become my disciple. I will teach you everything I know without reservation," Xuan Ziwen said with a smile.
(End of this chapter)