Douluo Continent.
Eastsea Academy.
Ye Yingluo looked at Ye Yingrong who was cheerfully explaining how she got her victory over that Fan Lin kid and now she can finally pay attention to her whole class.
Ye Yingluo found it a bit odd but Ye Yingrong's behaviour had no other signs of changing except the excitement for Fan Lin had dwindled a lot.
She thought of it as a sign of Ye Yingrong's improvement in teaching mentality.
After a week, Ye Yingluo also put her uneasiness to an end as Ye Yingrong was perfectly fine, even a little better at grasping the various students and their ideas than before.
Days passed in a blink of an eye as Fan Lin was able to reach Level 20 and transferred to Class 2, finally arousing the attention of his class towards him but for not long.
Ye Yingrong still cheerfully congratulated him as she was the one who sent him to class 2 due to his cultivation.
Fan Lin continued his cultivation without upgrading his rank and spent his time learning about the various basics of Soul Master world and secondary professions.
Nothing special happened after this which let Fan Lin a little surprised since he thought Gu Yue might get sus and at least try to get an answer out of him but she never came and this raised his paranoia considering this wasn't normal.
Fan Lin had read her character and he knew that Gu Yue wasn't the stupid type(until Tang Wulin was involved) and made most of the decisions (excluding those that don't involve Tang Wulin) rationally.
Her not coming to him and asking about when or where she was found felt a bit problematic to him.
Hence he waited but nothing happened.
Soon the two months time period ended and it was his time to leave the Eastsea Academy and go to the Earthrock Alliance.
The transfer procedure was done without any problems and the next day, Fan Lin was sitting in the soul train for the Earthrock Alliance.
....
Earthrock Alliance
Moon Rock City
Shining Moon Academy.
This was Fan Lin's new school starting from then. He would spend the rest of his intermediate school year here. This was also the academy where the Earthrock Alliance President gave him the quota for Shrek's admission for him.
He got admitted to the shining moon academy on the recommendation from the Earthrock Alliance President as according to Shi Hun, he was the only one corrupt enough to sell a quota for Shrek and at a lower cost at that.
Shi Hun dig deeper into the past of the Earthrock Alliance President and found that he had sour blood with Shrek and hence have been sending poor students to it.
Shi Hun still didn't understand exactly how it was benefitting the Earthrock Alliance President but he got what he wanted and signed the deal.
(Onto the present)
The Principal of the Shining Moon Academy himself was waiting for Fan Lin.
Fan Lin greeted the Principal and went with him to complete the other formalities.
While on his way, Fan Lin observed the Shining Moon Academy.
The school was a little dilipdated. The walls were old. The trees were not groomed properly and the path was a little empty. It wasn't as crowded as the Eastsea Academy nor it was that big. It was just a small unknown school in the countryside.
This was the perfect place for him to lay low till the Shrek's entrance examinations.
He went to the classroom and introduced himself. After sometime, the class started. Fan Lin thought students would pester him or ask him questions but no one did.
What he didn't know was that the Principal has repeatedly told the teacher and students to not annoy or disturb him because he thought Fan Lin was a rich young master or Alliance President's relative. Both were things he and his small academy could not afford to offend.
On the other hand, Fan Lin was finally able to heave a sigh of relief and contact the handler through Shi Hun.
Soon his classes ended and he, this time, paid proper attention to the classes, except for the call to Shi Hun in the beginning.
During his short conversation with Ye Yingrong, he had realised the significance of basic information about the Douluo world and his two months of learning had made this decision firmer.
He knew that information was power but the information that he often collected were records of corruption, crime and other darker things but he had no knowledge of the superficial and common things.
The current him knew the importance of secondary profession that he previously ignored. That's the seer proof of his mental growth.
[Or is it?]
....
Fan Lin's new dorm.
Fan Lin was sitting in his personal dorm that was given to him by the Principal.
'Money really changes lot of things.'
Fan Lin took out his soul communicater and waited for the call.
Fifteen minutes later.
*Trink trink trink*
Fan Lin picked up his soul communicater and answered.
"Give me the contact of the handler."
"... You have work for me the moment I called huh."
The receiver being Shi Hun.
"It's not for you but the handler."
"Okay but what do you want?"
Shi Hun asked.
"Ask her yourself."
"Still acting so secretly."
"Did the three months make you hearing bad? Or have you lost your sense of reasoning?"
"Ok ok, you could have just said it's urgently needed. I will inform the handler and she will complete your task."
"What are you planning next?"
Shi Hun asked Fan Lin who remained silent for a few seconds before speaking.
"... Will decide that after a I have thought it more.."
"So going commando, aren't we? Well I should also get my two words battle Armor ready. I will reach Rank 70 in a month or so. What about you?"
Shi Hun said to Fan Lin cheerfully.
"Rank 20."
"Ohh, wait a second! You were rank 13 when I left, you attained seven ranks in 3 months! You really weren't joking when you said your soul skill will help you cultivate."
Shi Hun said in surprise.
"You thought I was joking? Again?"
Fan Lin said while wondering exactly how did Shi Hun got his post in the Wargod temple with his stupidity.
"Well not my fault. You just say things that didn't seem real(at least not by you)"
"Well true, even poisonous frogs are colourful."
Fan Lin remarked.
"What does that mean? Well I know what it means but what's the hidden message in it?"
"Nothing. It was nothing."
Fan Lin quoted and cut the call.
Shi Hun also looked at the soul communicater and smiled. Sometimes he was scared of Fan Lin and sometimes he just realised how useful he was.
.....
A few hours later.
Evening.
Fan Lin looked at the list of the people who can help him create his Three Word Battle Armor. The Handler was quick as always and finished his quest in an hour.
"The number of Rank 8 and Rank 9s secondary profession specialists are really low."
Fan Lin peered through the list and finally settled on four people to get job done.
"Let's go and get it done as fast as it could. I only have like five- six months before the examinations."
Fan Lin thought and left the Shining Moon Academy for the Spirit Pagoda.
Moon Rock City had a Spirit Pagoda but Fan Lin wasn't going there.
The main reason why Shi Hun chose the Shining Moon Academy was because it was closer to the Skyorder city Spirit Pagoda, but it wasn't a normal Spirit Pagoda.
It was one of the Eighteen Spirit Pagoda's that have the Spirit Ascension plane in it. And it was just a 6 hour ride to that Spirit Pagoda.
This was also the vantage point for them to meet as Fan Lin didn't know most of the locations in the Earthrock Alliance.
The Skyorder Spirit Pagoda being well known would have to work as his meeting place with the Mecha craftsmen for now.
Nighttime.
Fan Lin got out from the cab and stretched his body.
He took the grandiose sight of the Skyorder city Spirit Pagoda in his eyes and went towards the meeting place where the others were at.
.....
In the small cafe just a little distance away from the Spirit Pagoda.
"So you kiddo, want a Three Word Battle Armor piece, for yourself. How old are you? Thirteen, fourteen? What about your cultivation? Soul King? Soul Emperor? Stop wasting our time kiddo!"
An old man aggressively said to Fan Lin while the other three sat there in silence, their thoughts aligning with that of the old man.
"Why can't I have one? A three word Battle Armor piece for myself. I will pay thrice the market price for it."
Fan Lin calmly said while drinking orange juice.
"You are too weak for even a two word Battle Armor. You would either die or be left crippled in the creation of it, much less be able to use it. A three word Battle Armor, even if it's just a piece of it, can completely suck your soul power dry, use it more than a second and you will destroy your cultivation along with your body."
Another middle aged man explained to Fan Lin calmly. The moment he spoke the old man became silent and just nodded his head at his statement.
"That's what I want as well. Let me be clear with you all since you will be creating a part of me by your hands. My problem is the excess of energy inside my body. I need a way to drain it and this is the best way. As for me dying during the creation process of the Three Word Battle Armor, I have survived having my body imploded by my own energy, I can survive the creation of my three word Battle Armor piece as well."
Fan Lin also calmly said.
"And how can we believe you? What if you die? Our reputation will be ruined and our license could also be revoked."
The middle aged man calmly refuted.
"I never said that you have to make it official and don't think too lightly of me, I am not just any rich kid with attitude, I am a catastrophe by myself."
Fan Lin said something that he himself thought was cringy and sliced his neck while saying that.
The old man was shell shocked and immediately went near Fan Lin to cast his healing type soul skill on Fan Lin.
8 rings emerged behind him, he was clearly a Spirit Douluo in the healing department.
Fan Lin looked at the old man like he was stupid.
"Why are you healing me?" He even asked.
"Shut up kid, you think you could make us do you work by trying to suicide?"
The old man hurriedly said as the wound on Fan Lin's neck healed at an extremely high rate and in just a few seconds, even before the old man could finish his words, Fan Lin's slice wound had healed.
"I was just demonstrating my soul skill."
Fan Lin said to the old man.
"Then where is your soul skill, I don't see it."
The old man countered and he was right at that, Fan Lin still hasn't taken out his Spirit Soul or used his Spirit Soul ability.
"I wanted to show you guys that the wound on my neck was real before using my soul skill. Forget it, let me cut my hand and let it be the proof for you."
Fan Lin said while taking out another knife from his storage soul guide.
"Let him do it. You can heal him anyway."
The calm middle aged man said to the old man. The old man nodded and looked at Fan Lin. His spirit souls still floating beside him, he was ready to heal Fan Lin the moment the situation was out of control.
Fan Lin on the other hand, calmly cut his wrist, activated his Soul skill as a disguise and in around fifteen seconds, the slice wound healed without leaving any scars.
[Fan Lin's healing and digestion are passives and comes from his physique. His soul skill just improves his digestion. Doesn't provide any type of healing. Read the Blue Silver Grass to know more.]
The old man looked at the middle aged man. So did the others. All of them knew each other as they had worked on lots of different projects and the middle aged man has the highest rank among them; A Rank 9 Saint Craftsman (Mecha Maker).
"It won't be as simple as a mere flesh wound that didn't even penetrate the arteries, it will be far worser but you said that you have survived an energy implosion. Then you better be saying the truth kid because once the actual creation starts, we have to meld the Battle Armor inside you, a three word Battle Armor is basically external soul bones just artificial."
"Once we start it, we can't stop it as it will kill you but remember that the pain when the three word Battle Armor melds with your flesh and bones will be something that you can't even imagine. Will you still proceed? Because if what you said is wrong then you will die 8 out of 10 times."
"The other two will be you being crippled be it mentally or physically. You are too weak to get out of it unscathed to begin with. So what are your thoughts now?"
The middle aged man patiently explained the reason why the old man refused Fan Lin.
"I will proceed. Prepare the Three Word Battle Armor for me. Just a piece for now."
Fan Lin still proceeded with his request. All the people looked at him and then at the middle aged man.
"Then we proceed. How much do you know about three word Battle Armor? Answer truthfully."
The middle aged man said and the others turned to look at Fan Lin with a pen and and paper in their hands. They like to take literal notes instead of using notepads.
"It's higher than two word Battle Armor. That's it."
The people once again looked at the middle aged man who calmly looked at Fan Lin.
"So we have to do everything. Indeed a rich kid with attitude. All of you, teach him some basics and get his requirements; then we will proceed with his order."
The middle aged man said with composure. What has he not seen in his long life?
And then all the people started teaching Fan Lin about the basic requirements of metals, refining, design process, soul circuit implementation choices, usage of Battle Armor, synergy of metals, spirit refining, high level custom soul circuit designs, spirit alloys and finally his Martial Soul synergy with his Battle Armor.
It took them a whole night to teach him about the various things and by the morning, they finally came up with a plan for his one piece of Three Word Battle Armor that he wanted (and needed).
"Okay, now we have a general idea of what you want, first we will have to Spirit refine the alloys to create spirit alloy with your blood, then I will carve it, the old man here will create the required soul circuits for it and then we implant it to your hand."
"Any problem."
The middle aged man said, still in his composure, although the same couldn't be said about the old man. The other two were also calm. They had their fair share of troublesome employers.
"Okay, when do we start?"
Fan Lin asked.
"Next week, it will take time for them to find above 95% harmony rate metals, a week should be enough for it and then we should be done in about another week. Your requirements are high to begin with."
"So I should be able to use my three word Battle Armor after two weeks?"
"If everything goes well on your side then yeah, you will have it in two weeks time."
"Good. And as I promised, I will pay three times the market price, just keep it a secret."
"That's what we promised kid and I can swear on my title that you can trust us to keep your identity safe."
The middle aged man seriously said.
"Okay."
Fan Lin nonchalantly stated and left the cafe for the Shining Moon Academy.
'Why is the Spirit Pagoda always build in the outer parts of the big cities?"
Fan Lin wondered as he thought about the 6 hour trip for the Shining Moon Academy when his first class was just two hours away.
"Hello sir. I am at the Skyorder city Spirit Pagoda at the moment and would be late for classes."
Fan Lin called the Principal of the Shining Moon Academy and explained his situation.
"No worries about it student Fan Lin. I will inform your class teacher about it."
The principal politely said.
Fan Lin cut the call with a thanks.
He hailed a taxi and left the Spirit Pagoda plaza.
...
A week has passed since his coming to the Shining Moon Academy.
And in that week, Fan Lin realised that everyone in his new school were adjusting themselves for him. They often didn't talk loudly when he was present, he was allowed to leave the classes whenever he wanted and he also had the right to choose to participate in his classes.
No one ever forced him to do anything and it wasn't the 'treat him like air' kind of vibe, it was a 'serve him like a king' feeling.
Fan Lin was on the other hand happy since he won't have to do anything to them.
And when the week ended, he personally went to the Principal and got a week holiday.
The principal happily obliged and granted it because can he not?
Fan Lin took a cab to the Spirit Pagoda and silently studied the various stuff his teachers will taught in his week long absence.
He, as he had said before, was taking his studies seriously.
There was a reason for it as well.
'The Shrek Academy never took the same exams twice'
"At least that's what everyone says."
Fan Lin knew what was coming in the next entrance exams but he did not have even a single idea on what could come in the upcoming entrance examinations that he was bound to take.
And that's why, he was learning for what if– Shrek decided to take written exams. There were around ten examinations and considering that Shrek has been doing it for a long, long time, who knew if they had run out of ideas for his exams and decided to take written tests for it instead.
Who knows because Fan Lin didn't know, neither did Shi Hun nor the Handler.
No one knew because it was the future.
And in six hours, he was in front of the Skyorder City's Spirit Pagoda and went towards the cafe where they previously met.
The middle aged man was waiting for Fan Lin and took him to the Skyorder city.
[The Spirit Pagoda where the Fan Lin of Blue Silver Grass trained was from the Skyorder city, I forgot to mention it in that book and Earthrock Alliance wasn't a place, it was like European union, kinda like that and there is Skysea Alliance based in Skysea city, Silvasa Alliance from nowhere, don't know exactly where since I forgot.]
Thankfully it was just a 3 hours ride and Fan Lin once again spent that on studying.
...
In the Blacksmith Association of Skyorder city.
The middle aged man took Fan Lin to the personal workshop of the Blacksmith that Fan Lin hired.
The old man and the other two were waiting for Fan Lin to come.
"Let's start then. It may be painful but please persist."
The Blacksmith said to Fan Lin and took out the necessary things for this work. The old man stood at the side with his spirit rings floating beside him while the middle aged man and the last person were waiting for the Blacksmith to finish his work.
And a day later.
Fan Lin looked at the right hand Battle Armor of his with a small smile.
That's all the emotion he felt for it since the cost was too much. He should have used the Energy combustion method to train instead of this.
On the other hand, the four people were looking at Fan Lin with awe and wonder.
Fan Lin's cultivation, age and physique was to play a certain role in the forging and melding of the Battle Armor.
The middle aged man thought that even if Fan Lin's words were to be trusted, it would still take Fan Lin a few days to recover from his spirit alloys forging fatigue because it would require him to continuously use his blood and essense during the forging and the final product might not be what they wanted and hence they had to do that again and again till they forged the spirit alloy that Fan Lin required. Just that would have taken 5 to 6 days. Then the soul refinement will happen but that depended on the Blacksmith so Fan Lin can rest most of the time.
The pain of the Battle Armor melding process which might increase in intensity due to his low cultivation would also take around a few days of rest.
So all in all, a week time period solely depended on Fan Lin.
They were professionals and they could create a three word Battle Armor in a day since all of them had different jobs to do and there was no conflict of time between them.
The rank 8 Blacksmith could do the spirit refining in no time and in a few tries, they got the 97% harmony rate spirit alloy that met Fan Lin's above 95% harmony rate requirement.
After that was the most important step, the Soul refining and it weirdly ended with just a single time.
The whole soul refinement was done in less than an hour as Fan Lin's spirit alloys were perfectly in sync with him and in a single try, the metals were soul refined. The Blacksmith and the Old man raised an eyebrow at this but remained silent and thought about discussing it later.
Then the middle aged man carved the soul alloy into a hand piece of the Battle Armor as Fan Lin wanted.
The old man then engraved the custom soul circuits and finally the middle aged man and the last man did a final check and transferred it to Fan Lin's body.
In all the process, Fan Lin had to scream in pain and terror but nothing like that happened.
Fan Lin remained quiet in the forging process, even when he became deathly pale due to the loss of blood due to multiple refinings.
He ate some green beans and tomatoes, and was ready to splash his blood on his spirit alloy like he didn't understand what blood loss meant.
Even during the melding where he was to scream due to the excruciating anguish due to his low cultivation he remained calm.
He remained calm even when the bones in his arm had torn apart due to him being able to contain the Battle Armor due to an inefficient vessel (his weak body) which caused his body to destroy from the inside.
At one moment, even the four people had thought of stopping the process and saving his life because a cultivation crippled kid was still better than a dead mushy kid but Fan Lin stopped them with his dead calm eyes and nearly emotionless voice.
The reason being simple, he already experienced it two times. Now adding some more would not change anything.
And in the eyes of the four people, the more serious Fan Lin's situation became, the faster it recovered.
And hence, Fan Lin got this three word Battle Armor piece in a day. While the four people got a trauma and decided to not do anything like that again, to a kid that is. Even if he said that he is tough.
Fan Lin checked the effects of the soul power sucking side effect of his battle Armor and he was extremely satisfied with it. Even with his 14 times the higher soul power quantity, he felt nearly dried in less than a second of releasing the armour.
"This will do. Thanks for creating it. As I promised, I have transferred the amount to your accounts. Bye."
He said to the four people.
"Don't think about getting another piece for now kiddo. Wait till you are at least a Soul Emperor or even your soul skill won't be able to save your body. You do realise that it's not a healing type soul skill. I advise that you don't use it that often."
The old man said to Fan Lin.
"I know and I got this for just that. How much did I lose though?"
Fan Lin replied while showing the arm where the Three Word Battle Armor was stored.
"Around 30-40 years of your lifespan"
"Oh."
Fan Lin bade them farewell and left for the Skyorder City's Spirit Pagoda because that was still the only place where he knew of.
He still hasn't done any improvement in his geography knowledge.
'Gotta learn that as well.'
He thought as he sat in the cab for the Skyorder City's Spirit Pagoda.
'Now I can cultivate faster without harming my body but I think it's a little to late to say that.'
Fan Lin mentally denoted himself as in the forging and melding of his Battle Armor, his body had to undergo 19 complete regeneration cycles. The same as he did when he suffered his first energy implosion.
Now his body was weaker than before and he was pretty sure that his so called physical potential (aka cellular damage in his old world) was hurt far more than he can estimate for now. Even the Old Man had given a rough estimate of the lifespan he had lost.
'I will check it for myself when I reach my dorms.'
'For now, I should exclude the physical training out of my list. My physical abilities are already buffed by the half Energy Serum and Psuedo Energy Serum, so I won't have to worry about it for the meantime but no training for at least a few years or before I create a better Energy Serum.'
'Hopefully this time the actual Energy Serum but considering my previous failures it seems impossible until I improve my expertise and knowledge in my herbal creation but...'
'That's what I want to avoid in the first place. Plus, I already have a three word Battle Armor piece, a really good cultivation rank for my age(9 and a half years old) and an entry chance for Shrek.'
'I should stop depending on my past and became strong like how other Spirit Masters do, by focusing on cultivation, secondary profession and knowledge attainment.'
'Because I have told myself many times that I am Fan Lin not Surya Jayvardhan but do I really want to accept that. I don't think so.'
'I still don't want to readily accept to be thrown into this world that I hate and being a part of it.'
'I have said, thought and even so called 'accepted' myself but did I?'
'I don't know, sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it's no, my mind feels conflicted, by my own nature at that.'
'Things feel a bit forced, sometimes childish and many a times lifeless and I think I know why. That God is doing this. All of it. Interfering with my life, influencing my decisions and even changing my mindset. It's all that God.'
[... Really. Don't blame me for your own mental health.]
Fan Lin was once again lost in thought. Soon he reached the Skyorder city' Spirit Pagoda, looked at its grandiose sight and then booked another cab for the Shining Moon Academy.
"I still haven't slept since I took the half energy serum."
"I did say I would but once I got immersed in studying and cultivation, I completely put sleeping aside."
"Now more than two months have passed and I have achieved most of my goals. I should sleep. Today at that."
"There is still 6 days remaining before my leave period ends."
"Hmmm. It's 4 in the afternoon and this thing will take 6 hours to reach the academy. I should sleep today then. Yup I should."
"I will attend my classes tomorrow."
Fan Lin called the Principal on his Soul Communicator and informed him about his change of events.
The Principal happily obliged.
6 hours later, Fan Lin dropped off the Shining Moon Academy and went towards his dorm.
Once he was in his dorm. He took out a transperant vial and threw it on the floor, in less than a second the vial disintegrated with its contents.
Fan Lin on the other hand summon his Battle Armor for a tenth of a second and unsummoned/returned/de-equiped it.
His soul power was less than a tenth.
"Now lets sleep."
Fan Lin took a small amount of sleeping toxin and went into deep sleep (coma) for 8 hours.
....